Jon shook her head, trying to clear the sleep out of her brain. The first - the absolute first thing she was going to do when they got home was have some honest-to-God real coffee. They'd brought some instant coffee with, but that didn't even come close to cutting it. Groaning, she heaved herself upright. Even if she wasn't fully awake, it was time to get going.
Michael was already up, butchering some small animal. Jon still felt kind of squicked out by that, but less so than she had at first. "Uh, you don't need to butcher that," she said. "I think I'm going to have breakfast at my house." The raptor-girl shrugged, grinned toothily, and tore into her kill happily. This was a little too much for Jon, and she went to go wake her sister.
She found Zoe sprawled out on top of the log she'd been living off of for the past few days. It was weird seeing her asleep; she was still clearly human in form even when unconscious, but her head had sunk into and partly merged with her arms, which were folded underneath like a pillow, and her legs merged together below her buttocks and gradually flattened out towards where her feet would be, draped out over the end of the log like a blanket.
Tentatively, Jon put a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed. The surface gave a bit under her fingers, but she didn't actually push through. It felt odd; not quite like human skin, but more like those sticky rubber novelty items you got out of vending machines in the supermarket, or the over-thickened jello in the school cafeteria. Still, for some reason, she didn't feel grossed out; maybe it was just that she knew this was her sister, but it felt on a gut level just like any other time she'd had physical contact with Zoe.
"Wake up," she said. "The sooner we get packed up, the sooner we can go home and have a real breakfast."
Zoe opened her eyes, squinted, and plunked her head deep into her arms. "Nngh," she moaned, her voice muffled. "don't wanna...dmn..." She pulled her head up, the now-shared surface of her face and arms stretching a bit before snapping back into two separate surfaces. "dammit," she mumbled, "arms dn't block the lite anymore...i hate being see-thru..." The slime-girl rolled over, half-sloshing onto the forest floor beside the log.
"I was doing so nicely until you woke me up," she said. "You better be right about a real breakfast; I'm starving."
Jon nodded. "Well, you have just pulled yourself back together from individual cells - I guess that'd take a lot of energy."
Zoe shrugged. "Guess so." She sat up, simply flowing from one state to the other rather than anything like the motion of someone with a real skeletal structure. Not that Jon was going to hold that against her, having nothing below the pelvis herself but skin and muscle. God, this whole business was weird.
They headed back to the camp. Michael was gone, probably to wash up; at least she'd thought to throw some dirt over the blood splatter were she'd had her meal. Jon set about dismantling and packing up the tents while Zoe took the dishes down to the stream to wash them out before packing them.
Michael came back while Zoe was gone. "So, you're heading out, then?" she asked.
Jon nodded. "Yep. We're pretty ready to get back home and out of the woods."
Michael smiled. "Yeah. I...I guess I should get home myself; my mom's probably wondering how long I'm going to be out hunting."
"Say," Jon said. "Uh, thanks a lot for your help. Especially with the food. It was a lot better than four days of plain instant ramen would've been."
The raptor-girl looked touched. "No problem," she said. "Thanks for...just thanks for not freaking out when I go all carnivore, and thanks for the company..."
Jon grinned. "You're welcome," she said. "Come visit sometime, okay?"
Michael smiled. "Thanks. I will!" With that, she bounded off into the woods.
Zoe came back not long after. "Okay," she said, "note to self: I'm not water-soluble, but I am way too absorbent. It too me nearly as long to drain all the excess liquid as it did to wash the dishes."
Jon chuckled. "Insert 'water weight' joke here," she said. Zoe scowled. "Har har. I'm going to have to find some unique and unsettling way of hurting you for things like that."
Jon drew back, half-expecting her sister to try something, but it seemed she was joking - at least for the moment. "Uh, anyway, we'd better get going," she said.
Zoe nodded. "Yeah. I just don't know how I'm going to explain my new look to Mom and Dad."
The slug-girl cocked an eyebrow. "Oh?"
Zoe sighed. "Yeah...it's, well, this is kind of my 'real' shape now," she said. "At least, that's how it feels to me. But I'm kind of afraid they're going to expect me to simulate clothes if it turns out I can't wear them, and...I mean, I can reshape myself to look clothed, but it doesn't feel quite right."
Jon shrugged. "I'm sure Mom and Dad will understand. Besides, you're not that malleable - unless it's like a heavy jacketor something, I'm sure you can wear clothes just fine."
Zoe smiled. "You're probably right," she said. "Anyway, let's go home."
