Alex and Eli ate their dinner by the fire, avoiding one another’s eyes while avoiding discussing what had happened out in the waterfall’s pool. The sun was starting to set, darkening the cave and forcing Eli to add a bit more wood to the fire to keep things bright.
Alex found himself staring out the mouth of the cave at the setting sun, feeling himself get strangely entranced as the sun disappeared beneath the horizon and the moon began to rise. He tried to focus on his meal, but he kept pushing the forest vegetables that Eli had gathered up to the side and only eating the salted meat that he was being served.
“You really are just a kid,” Eli said with a sigh. “Eat your veggies, or you’re not getting dessert.”
“You’ve got dessert here?” Alex replied incredulously, looking all around.
“No. Eat your dinner anyway.”
Alex grumbled and lifted a forkful of the vegetables up to his nose. He sniffed at them, feeling a little ill as their scent entered his nostrils. “Ugh… I don’t know if I can…” Alex admitted, getting an odd look from Eli.
“They taste fine. Actually, they’re great, if I do say so myself,” Eli muttered, leaning in and looking closely at his companion. “Something’s wrong here. Do you feel alright, Alex?”
“I’m fine. I’m just-“ Alex started to say, then a surge of warmth passed through his body, interrupting him from saying more. He began to pant, feeling sweat pour out of his skin and all of his strength leave him. He fell backward to the cave floor, groaning in discomfort as he curled up a fetal position.
Eli looked on in concern, getting ready to grab Alex and book it for the nearest healer. Alex felt a sharp pain in his head as his ears felt like they were being ripped off, but they were instead pulled up toward the top of his head and pulled into sharp points. The pain faded away and was replaced with an intense itchiness as fuzzy grey fur quickly covered his ears, leaving him with a pair of wolfish ears peeking out of his hair and twitching nervously.
Eli spotted a tent forming under Alex’s kilt as well, but not in the front. A bulge formed in the back of the kilt Eli had loaned Alex, growing bigger and bigger and making Alex growl in pain as his spine felt like it was being pulled out of his body. The lump grew bigger, until it started to be forced out the bottom of his kilt, revealing a thick, fluffy tail that wagged back and forth, lifting up the back of the young man’s kilt to show off his round bottom to the world.
After this, Alex felt the warmth in his body passing and his strength returning, and he sat up groggily and looked around in confusion. “Ugh… what the hell was that?” he mumbled, unaware of the wolf ears and tail that were now adorning his body. Other than the ears and tail, he looked exactly as he had before, but there was no hiding his new beastly features from Eli.
Eli had seen a lot of things in his time in the woods, but a partial wolf transformation was new for him. He cautiously approached Alex, hoping that he wasn’t still in danger of completing his transformation into a full werewolf like the ones they had just escaped. “Alex? Are you feeling alright?” he asked curiously. “You don’t feel like ripping my throat out or raping someone, right?”
“What kind of question is that!?” Alex asked indignantly. “Is that some kind of a joke or someth-“
Eli grabbed Alex by the hand and pulled him to his feet, dragging him outside to the waterfall pool again. By the light of a torch, Alex looked at his reflection in the water in awe, running his fingers over his fuzzy new ears as if he didn’t believe they were real and feeling his thick, furry wolf tail smacking into the backs of his legs.
“E-Eli… W-what’s going to happen to me…?” Alex whimpered, his ears lying flat against his head and his tail curling up between his legs like a scared puppy.
“Come on, we’re going to find Chel. I know he’s got another tree around here somewhere, and he’ll know more about this sort of thing,” Eli said impatiently, unused to not knowing what was going on in these woods. “For now, you seem to be just fine, so don’t worry.”
Alex nodded and tried to calm himself down, even though he didn’t like the idea of heading out into the dark woods full of who knows what else. Eli saw his companion was having a hard time, so he carefully reached over and gently scratched him behind the ears, instantly making Alex lean up against him and bury his nose into his chest, getting a noseful of the big hunter’s earthy scent.
“Always did mean to get a hunting dog one of these days,” Eli mumbled to himself, trying to lighten the mood. “Come on, pup. Let’s get going and see if we can find Chel.”