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One longest shower later.

Akari works to towel off her considerable fluff, still blushing a bit over how 'handsy' (for the measure that either of them really have hands at the moment) the two got in the shower, though not at all ashamed of any of it. The sensations of their proximity, the water, and their newly sparked love was all just the perfect catalyst. Now though, cooled at least a little bit, the two work to dry themselves.

"I see what you mean... I can feel it all, but it seems to be drying off pretty well. Much faster than actually washing a fursuit would be."

Cindi steps out of the shower a moment after Akari, actually having done a bit of shampoo on her considerable mane of hair. Now that she is done, she smiles at Akari though doesn't step closer just yet.

"Yep. Now..." She hums: "...there's something I want to try, that I'm pretty sure my body knows how to do..."

With that, she gives a very canine, thorough shake of herself, just a bit beyond of how a human would be able to move. Water spraying everywhere, though at least Akari is on the other side of the big shower space. "Brrrh!"

Akari lets out a half-hearted cry, giggling as she's splashed just a little, "Ahhh! Cindi! Hee, that's adorable. How did it feel?"

Cindi is now a moist pile of fluff, with all of her fur standing curled up. "Hehe, kinda funny. Wasn't entirely sure, so had to try." She then picks up a towel, wiping her face.

"I don't just look canine, in some ways, I'm noticing."

Akari nods, taking some extra time to shiny the scales on her shoulders with the towel, "Well... is that just because of the suit, or our headcanon for how Cindi acts? Or... I almost think it doesn't matter anymore, huh?"

She taps the hooves on her feet to the ground, though they don't exactly make a 'clack' noise, then takes a moment to wiggle her ears, "I'm way more deer than I am dragon..."

Cindi shrugs as she starts towelling her backside, being careful of her largely decorative but still very real wings. "I'm more a puppy than I am an insect. Which... Probably for the better." She shudders slightly at that mental image.

Akari grins, able to be a little less cautious in how she handles the towel, "Aw, you'd look cute more moth! They've got those big fluffy collars. I bet you'd still be adorable."

Cindi looks down at her already-fluffy chest: "Maybe. You know it was a thing I considered when initially designing Cindi?" She chuckles and continues toweling.

Akari hums, bringing a big cloven finger to her chin, "I think I remember those sketches, yeah. I kept scaling back the dragon-ness of Akari too. The designs were cool, but didn't feel very huggable. Well, some of them didn't anyways."

Cindi muses as she continues drying herself: "Concerns of practicality changed a lot of things. Which... kind of amusing in hindsight, since those same concerns would have been much more real if we had known of this advance." She pauses. "...in which case this might not have happened, but it's a funny thought."

Akari leans back against the bathroom wall as she thinks, "Hey, you know... I sorta wonder. If these bodies are all sorts of based on our own headcanons for the characters, what happens as that changes? I mean... with normal suits, we'd make adjustments over time, right? Both just to make them fit better, or do repairs, or even adding detail, the costumes change and grow along with us."

She pokes at herself, still blushing a bit as her hand caresses one of her breasts, "Do you think we can affect these suits over time?"

Cindi pauses mid-toweling, her eyes widening. "Oh... oh dang." She looks at Akari: "I have no idea. But... much as I dare apply logic to this, I want to say yeah, we could. But..." An image of her removing the wings from the costume and fur-self waking with bloody stumps on her back flashes in her mind: "...t-that I definitely want to double check from someone like Audie."

Akari sees the slight flash of horror on Cindi's face, tilting her head, "I uh, mostly meant it as personal perception too... like, if our mental image of the character changes over time, do our furselves change with them? Definitely something to ask about before, or even if we want to, attempt anything like that."

She glances down at herself, "I'm... pretty happy with my body as it is, honestly."

Cindi swallows: "Yeah, on that... I don't know, but I suppose far as headcanon stuff goes, we just... will find out anyway, without particularly trying." She then gathers herself, musing as she towels down her hips and legs. "Will have to find out from others, that. But I am curious."

Akari nods, turning her head to see if she can even bend her tail around to properly dry it herself, "Yeah... I just know how much characters stray from initial ideas once they get a life of their own... and it's safe to say no characters have ever gotten a life of their own as much as these two."

Cindi giggles: "Yeah, you got that right." She flips the towel towards her tail and twists around best as she is able to, to try and dry it. "Far as actual construction goes, that's potentially dangerous territory, but admittedly I am curious."

Akari grins, "Well, now I've got your mind working, so only a matter of time before you figure it all out. I do love that about you~"

Cindi blinks, then blushes. "I don't..." She starts, then sighs and steps over to give Akari a soft kiss on the cheek: "Fine. I do that. So guess it's good you like it."

Akari giggles, "I do. I'm just here to keep you from rushing too far ahead of me. Which... you rarely do, but sometimes."

Cindi glances aside: "Yeah I just get... excited, you know?" She blinks and relaxes: "... You know, that's another thing I've thought about as a Cindi thing, but it might actually just be a me thing."

Akari looks at Cindi, scrutinizing her carefully for a moment, "It's... getting hard to say where we end and they begin, huh...? I... I don't know if that's a bad thing or just... the way we are."

Cindi considers, spreading her wet-furred arms. "I would dare say that 'this is us' now. We can try to separate which parts are us and which parts are our furselves, but... where do we even draw that line when at times, both the human and the fur... Are us?"

Akari takes a deep breath, "I... I was trying really, really hard to keep that line drawn. But I think it's just making me more miserable."

Cindi offers her paw to her... girlfriend. "Hey. We're in this together. I promise to help you parse through this."

Akari takes the paw and smiles, "Me too... I mean, you too. I uh, I mean... I'm here for you too."

Cindi giggles and leans over to nuzzle Akari, a motion that is both new and feels so natural to do. "I know what you mean, and I agree." Her tail wags behind her, the puppy is obviously very happy right now.

Akari hums at Cindi's touch, lowering her snout to nuzzle back, "We were never really alone in any of this... but I'm glad we're 'together' now."

Cindi hums with a soft giggle. "Not alone, but in some ways, not really together either. But... maybe it took us getting a bit older, and one life-shaking crash, to see it?"

Akari hums, wrapping her hands around Cindi's paw. "Y-yeah... you don't really see what you've got until you're thrown through something like that. Every moment as Akari I just wanted to be sure you were okay. Maybe that was more Rowan too, I admit..."

Cindi smiles as she looks at their hands, then back up at Akari, just holding the contact in all their wet glory. "Maybe a bit silly, maybe it took a bit long... but I think we needed that. I certainly did..."

Akari nods, "I'd rather we do it slow and do it right, then rush it and folly things up forever."

Cindi lets out a bit of a giggle: "So, in the flesh, Akari and Cindi have dated for a week, on paper for years, and we - that is, our human selves - have avoided the topic for almost a decade? Suppose that's a sort of compromise." She nuzzles again, just making sure it's obvious she doesn't mind.

Akari giggles, "Well if anyone asks... err... well, no one is going to ask us to sort any of this out for them, I hope. I don't think I'd even know what to say."

Cindi nods: "Yeah I hope not. Except perhaps other furs, but we can just give them the simplified version: we're dating."

Akari: "They don't need to know the details. I... huh... I wonder. How many times has this sort of thing happened to two folks at once? I guess it's not that uncommon for people to suit together..."

Cindi shifts, tilting her head: "Huh. Probably a few times. It is a very social hobby... heck, we know of people who craft together." She blinks again: "Oh boy. Now I'm wondering if any of the crafters we know are already in RFC..."

Akari shifts back, snout twitching. "That's... a strange thought... I mean, Audie, for sure. We never met her in person before this con, but we've bought from her for years. How many people do we know online or that we've met at cons... It's... such a strange thing to think about now."

Cindi hums, smiling: "Sure makes next cons more interesting, don't it?"

Akari smirks, "Guess so. At least we sorta know what to look for now, right?"

Cindi lifts the pendant from her neck, glancing at it: "Yup. Besides this, it's just... the Bubble. Which is still weird to think about, but really I'll happily take it over non-furs actually seeing who we are. Would be a shame if this change meant we could never do cons again."

Akari frowns for a moment, ears folding back at the thought, "Would sort of defeat the entire point of it, wouldn't it? We didn't make the suits to hide them away from folks."

Cindi nods, then smiles again: "Well, thankfully that is not the case." She hums, lifting a paw to her chin even as the other is still in Akari's grasp: "You know, kind of makes me want to delve into finding other people nearby in RFC, if there are any."

Akari giggles, "Can always ask in the Discord... I've been too shy to really look around, but I know Audie said they had some regional channels... so wouldn't be too hard? Probably?"

Cindi shrugs: "We can find out in time. I think tonight I just want to cuddle up with you and watch something sappy."

Akari squeezes Cindi's paw between hers, moving their hands up between them, "I think I'd like nothing more."

Cindi smiles very warmly as she holds Akari's hooves in her paws: "Like we always did, just... with a bit more of the 'cuddle' part. Watch a movie, get a bit tipsy... probably kiss a lot if tonight so far is to be judged from." She smiles demurely: "...I like kissing you."

Akari blushes, "I like being kissed by you~"

Cindi giggles: "There is that~."

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