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Sunday Evening - Shortly after Dinner.
Akari hums, following Cindi back to the bedroom after a very filling dinner, planning to step out of fur for the night before they have to drive into work, lest they sleep in too heavily once again. "Mmmm, I'll miss this, but all good things, hm?"
Cindi nods with a warm smile as she gives Akari's paw a squeeze before letting go. "Unfortunately, that seems to be the case. But... at least we can always return when the outside world doesn't require us. Or something to that effect."
Akari giggles, "Next week we actually make a trip out of it and go meet other Realfurs, right? That will be interesting, even if it won't quite compare to just snuggling up to you."
Cindi nods: "...true, I almost forgot about that. Remind me to give the event owners a heads up that we're coming, I still didn't do that."
Akari blushes as she makes her way to the edge of the bed, lifting her tail up to sit down, "I'll make sure I will, since it um, is probably my fault you forgot."
Cindi follows Akari, smirking: "...maaaybe a bit. It's been a pretty... distracting couple of days, hasn't it?"
Akari nods, smirking back, the two having spent the weekend very distracted by one another, "Y-yeah... well... you do that. Being in fur just gives me more of an excuse."
Cindi hums: "More of an excuse, hmm?" She leans for a kiss: "Mmm, be that way, then."
Akari kisses back, "I don't really intend to stop snuggling with you once we're out of fur you know."
Cindi smirks: "Good." She then sits back and takes a breath. "...we should probably stop stalling, shouldn't we."
Akari puts a hoof to her chest innocently, "What, me? Stalling? Perish the thought!" She pauses, then shakes her head, "But... yeah, you're probably right..."
Cindi smiles warmly: "Next weekend can't come quickly enough." She then almost starts reciting the spell... before leaning to quickly steal one more kiss from Akari. "Okay. Now we can do it."
Akari giggles, "If you say so~" She hums, reaching up to the necklace and takes a deep breath, about to recite the spell as well, "Y-yeah, now we can."
Cindi takes that deep breath as well and starts. The words are familiar by now, and she recites them calmly as she closes her eyes. The change always feels a bit easier if her eyes aren't open, going either way.
"One's true form, fulfilled.
One's fake form, needed.
Become what you need to be,
To eventually return to what you are."
Akari hesitates, closing her eyes a few moments, then shakily repeats the words after Cindi finishes.
Some part of her doesn't want this, deep down, everything that's happened and all the sensations and feelings she's experienced this weekend have felt so good and right, They keep creeping up on her, even in the small moments, when she stops to think about things besides how close Cindi is...
The spare moments between those moments together, they all feel so... right. She sighs. "Ah well..."
Cindi takes a deep breath... inside the head, and shakily starts to lift it off, feeling a bit weak from the affair as always. She... he swallows as his human visage is revealed once again. "G-gah... that just doesn't get any easier, does it?"
Akari laughs, opening her eyes again, "No... not at all. Easier to deal with at least... I didn't even feel the uh, transition? The change."
Cindi... Jacinto nods, taking a deep breath before he looks at Akari. He blinks as it's instantly obvious it's still the doe-dragon talking: "Uh... love, you... I do not think you... transitioned, yet?"
Akari blinks,reaching up a hoof to feel her snout. "I... I haven't? B-but... I said the spell? D-did I say it wrong?"
Jacinto shrugs: "Try again, I guess." He puts Cindi's head carefully on the bed before turning his attention back to Akari.
Akari nods, but is clearly a little shaken. Why didn't it work? It's always worked for her! She takes a moment to breath deeply, closing her eyes, then recites the spell again.
She waits a moment, then cracks an eye open, lifting her hoof again, "It... I... s-still? What's wrong with me?"
Jacinto blinks and swallows: "Uh... w-well, maybe it is like that first time, it took a while, remember?"
Akari closes her eyes once again and just waits, "Y-yeah... I mean... fooey... but you're right... this h-has happened before. So it's nothing that crazy... I... I'm just..." She sighs, shaking slightly. "It's fine."
Jacinto lifts a now-costumed paw to Akari's shoulder. "Just take a deep breath. We have time." He tries to keep the shock and doubt out of his own voice and mostly succeeds.
Akari frowns, "I'm trying to take a deep breath! I- I was breathing fine!" She snaps, before quickly shrinking down in embarrassment, "S-sorry! Sorry! I just... y-yeah, deep breathes... m-my heart is beating so fast..."
Jacinto swallows, then leans over to hug Akari: "You can do it. You can do it." He opts to not think about what the alternative would mean for them.
Akari sighs, hugging Jac' back, "It's... just a hiccup right? Like, you couldn't turn back either that one time in the hotel...? It'll be fine in a moment, and... then I can change back, I guess."
Jacinto nods, squeezing best as he is able. "Yes. I promise you, this is just a small unexpected bump."
Akari shakes slightly, trying to force a laugh, "Y-yeah! Yeah! N-not like... I could get stuck like this. We've done this enough, and the whole Real Fur group that says that's not a thing..."
Jacinto nods, giving an encouraging smile as he lets go. "Yup. I will just... stay right here for you, in the meanwhile. Which I would do anyway, but you know."
Akari releases the hug as well, folding her hands in front of her and staring down at them, "I know you would. I'm just... tryint to think. At the hotel it was because you were upset right? We're supposed to be calm... but I feel perfectly fine! Shouldn't the words have worked?"
Jacinto tilts his head: "Yeah... it's hard to say..." He frowns: "...really should have done more reading by this point."
Akari sighs, "Guess that's catching up with us, huh... We keep rushing on ahead because it feels so good..."
Jacinto nods: "Can't deny that." He gives Akari a weary, warm smile: "We can figure this out, though."
Akari hums quietly, thinking. "We can. I mean, I know we will... I just... I guess I wish we didn't have to, but that's just all wishful thinking."
Jacinto shrugs: "What can you do? Unfortunately we don't get to decide how the world operates."
Akari sighs, feeling slightly worse about it all, "I know, I know... ugh... it all makes me feel so rotten..."
Jacinto tilts his head: "Rotten? What do you mean?"
Akari frowns, "I... I don't know. Like... I shouldn't supposed to enjoy this the way I do? Like everything tells me not to want this..."
Jacinto pauses: "Not wanting... what you - what we - have enjoyed all weekend?"
Akari nods, "It... I don't know. It sorta... hurts, having to hide it." She glances meaningfully at Jac', then down at herself, reaching a hoof up cup one of her breasts. "Kinda... makes me a bit miserable all week, the more we've explored, the more I realize how bad I feel normally..."
Jacinto looks at Akari: "So you are not just saying you would want to stay in fur." He hesitates, then adds: "...or female, I'm guessing."
Akari's face falls slightly, embarrassment and fear crossing her face, "Y-yeah... fur... a-and... and female... I just... I wish I could stay like that, even out of the fur... I... I hope that's not too weird."
Jacinto considers for a second, then looks down at his fursuit breasts that are not currently a real part of his body, but neither are they quite the costume piece they once were. "...I don't think I can honestly claim anything is that weird anymore." He looks up: "If you could be Akari all the time, you would?"
Akari blinks, looking up at Jac', then back down to herself. "I... I don't know... maybe? Akari feels closer to being who I am than Rowan does sometimes... b-but I wouldn't want to give up any of what we have, not Akari and Cindi, or Rowan and Jac'."
Jacinto nods, leaning back on his costumed paws as he thinks. "I think I understand, on some level. Like, not completely wanting to give up anything, but... having a preference of sorts. It does feel incredibly good to be in fur, deceptively so even."
Akari raises an eyebrow at Jac', "D-decepitvely so? You... you think I'm just fooling myself with this?"
Jacinto gives a small sigh, then smiles. "No. I'm... m-maybe more talking about myself. I might be doing a bit of that fooling of oneself." He frowns. "...though I am now not certain of the direction."
Akari sighs, looking somewhat defeated, "I don't know either... I just keep thinking those thoughts, that... I..."
She swallows, "Th-that I'd rather be female. All the time. I... I wish I could just be a woman."
Jacinto blinks, feeling a cold feeling wash through his spine. Not really because of the admission he'd suspected may have been coming in some way, but the fact that it hits close to home. Very close to home.
"Uhm..." He runs his mouth once or twice. "I..." He pauses again, flexing the costumed paws, thinking of how it has felt this weekend and the last to be Cindi. "...I t-think I can see that."
Akari smiles softly, "D-do you? I... I was afraid you wouldn't, with the talks we've had about being gay or lesbian or... I don't know... I don't want to do something that'll push us apart..."
Jacinto swallows. "...I'm not sure what to think about it, c-certainly not for myself, but..." He gathers his thoughts, costumed claws grasping in the pillow behind him. "...the way you act, the way you are as Akari, you pretty much glow. And I don't mean in the literal sense."
Akari giggles, her scales glowing slightly "Though, it can be sometimes." She looks up at the ceiling, "Being Akari makes me happy... in a way that I've never felt... and when I'm Rowan, I can feel this emptiness..."
Jacinto hums, nodding. "It's... considering the circumstances we're in, not the strangest of desires I guess. And..." He shifts his position and offers one of the costumed paws to Akari: "...either way, I will stay by your side. Male or female, fur or not, I love you."
Akari smiles warmly, then takes Jacinto's hand. "I love you too."
She swallows, humming to herself, then, holding Jac's hand, closes her eyes and recites the spell once again,
"One's true form, fulfilled.
One's fake form, needed.
Become what you need to be,
To eventually return to what you are."
Jacinto holds Akari's hand in his, feeling a shiver that either comes from the spell, or just his own feelings on this... heck of a mess of a topic they've started on.
Akari... Rowan... opens his eyes inside the suit head this time, letting out a deep sigh. Keeping his hand on Jac's, he takes his other hand to remove the headpiece, smiling sadly at Jac'. "D-don't know how I knew it would work there... But... I guess I needed to vent some of that... I... I still feel it too."
Jacinto smiles: "Yeah... guess we still haven't figured all of this out. But maybe we will."
Rowan squeezes Jac's costume hand, blushing slightly, "I... I still think... it's not just Akari talking... I wish... I really do wish I were a woman." His expression relaxes as he breathes it out. "W-wow... that is... weird to say like this. But it's not wrong."
Jacinto swallows, mulls the thought in his head for a second... then just leans in to kiss Rowan and whispers: "I-it sounds strange, and a bit sudden, but... if that's what you want, I will support you."
Rowan laughs, turning to meet the kiss, "It is strange... and... p-probably way too sudden. I don't even know if there's anything I can do about it... but it feels right. Thank you."
Jacinto smiles, laughing a bit nervously: "You're welcome. Now... we should probably get out the rest of the way and get some sleep."
Rowan nods, "Y-yeah... yeah... sleep would be good, and I still get to snuggle with you."
Jacinto smirks: "That part you do not get to be rid of, regardless."
Rowan giggles, "Nor do I want to be." He reaches over to hug Jac', kissing him more intently.
Jacinto leans into the kiss and the hug, regardless of the amount of things that may or may not have been just changed in this conversation.
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