Jessica hands you a fish, then gives one to Aaron. He offers one to Mike, but she refuses.
Carefully inspecting between the branches of the overhanging trees, Mike searches out the spot with the most sunlight. It would have been difficult to tell that's what she was looking for, if not for the fact that the sun was mostly obscured at the moment, so there were only a few areas were sun rays peered through the tree canopy. Once content with her choice, she lays tummy down in the grass there, resting her head on her arms and letting out a content sigh, apparently sunbathing.
"What are you doing...? Aren't you going to eat...?" Jessica asked.
"I AM eating, silly~" Mike replies in a sing song voice and with a giggle. Her back arches slightly, as two lumbs portrude out of the back of her shoulder blades. They slowly elongate into branches, albeit with some noticable veins running through them. Six green buds form on the branches, then blossomed into large, wing-shaped leaves. With a slight creak, they repoisitioned themselves to get as much of the evening light as they could.
Jessica then looks over to Aaron, whom seems to be having trouble finding a good way to eat her fish. She struggles to keep it secured between her wings, but it keeps slipping and flopping out. Jessica sympathetically picks it up and hold the fish out for her to eat off of, but Aaron angrilly knocks it out of her paw. "It's FINE, I'll get it." Jessica shyly backs away and leaves Aaron to her fish. She tries several methods of grabbing the fish, finally settling on sitting open legged with one taloned foot holding it up as she rips the fish with her teeth, quite like an actual bird pecking at it's kill.
Jessica dejectedly heads over to a lonely tree away from the rest of you, and slumps his back up against it, slowly eating his fish. For a moment, you consider whether to go talk with him, or if he should be left alone.. It's still a bit difficult to shake the feelings earlier of when he attacked you. Even more difficult to shake those awkward embarressinging ones you feel now that he's your own species and... naked... It might be best to leave him be... But... it really looks like he could use a friend right now. Not wanting someone to have to feel alone against their will, especially in a place like this with a body they weren't comfortable with, you go over to him.
"H-Hey... how are you holding up...?" you ask, it coming out a lot more nervous than you meant for it to. You go to sit beside him, but at the last second feel to embarressed to sit directly at his side so shuffle a few feet over. Maybe now it'll be easier to not notice his, um, y'know.
Apparently noticing your reluctance to be close, Jessica lowers his head a bit more, further disheartened. "Everyone here won't have anything to do with me, they must hate me for what I did..."
"No!" you try to reassure him. "No one here hates you! Aaron didn't mean to be rude, she's just stubborn... Doesn't want attention drawn to her body, she prolly wants to fight giving in to the very end... And, Mike, well..." You both look over to her. Now propping her chin up in cupped hands, she's having what looks to be a deep conversation with a daisy growing infront of her. As best as you can figure, the flower is listening intently. ...Or doing nothing. "...She's...um, special. But I don't think she has a hateful bone in her body."
You lift yourself and move a bit closer to Jessica, your arm resting against the side of his, hoping it'll make him feel better. "And -I- don't hate you. It was just the magic that made that happen.. I know you're a good person no matter what your body is.. You're one of us, okay? You don't need to feel like anything less."
Jessica looks up at you, visibly blushing under his fur, smiling for the first time since you met. "Th..thank you. That means a lot to me..."
You smile back at him. "So... if you don't mind me asking, what's your story? How'd you run into the witch?"
He looked down again. "Mmm... I wish I had a better story there. All that really happened was... I never had any friends back when I was a human woman. I was always too shy to make any... So each weekend I would just go out and hike in the forests and hills, because... I didn't really have much else to do. I'm an okay survivalist because of it, and it's how I'm good at fishing." He motions at the fish you've both finished off. "I stumbled on to the witch's cabin in the woods one day. It's strange, I'm sure I was in that spot before and there was no cabin, but that day, it was just there. The witch invited me in, and asked me about myself... I told her how I wished I was braver... more confident... how I was lonely and that I could have friends... wished that people wouldn't push me around anymore... while I was.. well, complaining, she poured me a drink, as I talked..."
"...The potion." you say quietly.
He nodded solemnly. "And... then, well, I changed into that.. thing.. that you saw before..." He winced closed his eyes, as if having touched an old stinging wound. "I did... so many terrible things after that... b..but... that kinda bravery was what I wanted, she gave me what I asked for... so it was my own fault..."
You place a hand on his shoulder and move a bit closer. "That wasn't your fault! Bravery or not, you would have never done those things if it weren't for that witch's magic... And.. hey, you know what? You don't need to be lonely anymore! For better or worse, you have all of us now!" You try your best to make him feel better.
Apparently working, he smiles and laughs a bit. "I guess you're right. Maybe being in this place like this won't be so bad! Still though... I'm sorry if I got in the way of your plan... I hope I didn't wreck it or anything..."
"No, it went off just fine. Aside from the potions not being the ones that could change us back, anyhow."
"It's amazing that you were even able to coordinate an effort to get in... when I still had enough strength to fight off the naga's instincts, I tried to catch the witch off guard lots of times, but it never worked... What was your plan...?"
You went on to explain the plan you came up to Jessica...
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While the others go about their buisness, Aaron finishes off her fish, and waits for night-fall to come. Not wanting to worry about what'll happen tonight with the plan, the only other thing she can find to think about is the egg she laid earlier.
The egg sat infront of her innocently, resting on a patch of grass.
"You, you caused me a lot of pain, you annoying thing!" She looked at it, giving it a condescending glare.
The egg... sat there.
"And to think... a... a baby?! Of all the... Bah.. stupid STUPID dryad..."
She grabbed the egg. "Are you even listening!? I should just break this dumb thing!" With that, she lifts the egg above her head, preparing to smash it against the ground... "I didn't even mate so it's not even alive! Just smash it!!" ...but some strange feeling prevents her. She lowers it again slowly, placing it in her lap, and hugs her wings around it. She rests on it, clenching it tightly and holding it... strangely protectively, though keeping her weight gentle against it.
"You... Stupid egg..."
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"You came up with that? That was a really great idea..." Jessica said, just finishing intently listening to your strategy and how you formed it.
You blush softly. "It wasn't anything special..."
"But it is! You're very bright, you know that?"
"I...I don't know that..." You say, looking down. "It's not smart... I've risked Mike's life sending her in there, then I risked yours testing those potions that would do god-knows-what... now when nightfall comes, I'll be risking Mike again with this new one, maybe even all our livesif this goes wrong... How long before our luck runs out and my plans get one of us killed, or even something worse...? She definitely knows those potions are gone now and will step up security and be waiting for us.... An-And even if we do change the witch, what good's it going to do?!" you say, somewhere between frustration and falling into despair. "She could just change back, or if she can't, then she can't change US back... and we don't know our way around her potions, and-and..." You cringe for a moment as the weight of the reality hits you. Unable to hold back your emotions anymore, you start to cry, burying your head between your legs. You can't help but feel horrible and embarressed for acting like this, but feeling that just makes you cry even more.
"There, there... Everything's going to be okay..." Jessica instictly reaches his strong arms around you, pulling you close to him and resting your muzzle against his chest. "We all trust you, and will stick by whatever you decide or plan, okay? You've gotten everyone this far, we all believe in your choices."
You sniff a little and choke back some tears. "Th-thank.. you..." You bury your face against his chest, until you're all cried out. Evetually once you let your emotions out and feel better, you continue to rest against them. Your voice still quivering a bit every time you breathe in through your mouth, you decide to take a breath through your nose. You... can't help but notice how nice Jess smells... strong, warm, and.... safe. You're not sure how long you sit there like that... curled up in his arms. The feeling is so strange, you know it's awkward for you both, you can feel his lungs quiver as he breathes nervously. It really was an awkward situation... but... at the same time, none of that mattered. It just felt nice being there like that with him. You looked up at his eyes once, and somehow just knew he felt the same way...
You look up at the sky, and notice the starry night is now upon you.