Branching Out
Branching Out By: Theo Winters
"Are you sure about this?" Claudia asked as I picked up the small vial from the box, brushing off the packing material. I looked up at her over the rim of my glasses; my wolf girlfriend had her arms crossed and a look of worry on her muzzle.
"I'm sure," I replied, setting the vial down and flicking out my tail. I was nervous, my hands were shaking and I didn't want to risk dropping the vial and loosing the potion inside.
She shook her head and sighed. "Pat, you're a horse, you should be happy with being a horse."
I gave her a long look, my hove fingers tapping at the countertop. "I am happy with who I am, but there are other things I want to be, and this is my chance."
"But... but... you won't be doing anything," she sputtered out.
Walking around the counter I moved to where she was standing, slipping my arms around her waist, locking them behind her back. "I'll be enjoying the sun, and you'll have a nice place to hang around for a couple weeks, until you turn me back."
She frowned, her ears folding back. "I don't want I place in the shade, I want you."
I lowered my head and kissed her gently on the nose. "Hon, we've talked about this. I thought you were okay with it as long it was only for two week?"
Claudia let out a sigh and lowered her brown eyes. "I am okay with it, but I'm not really keen on it. I'm not really happy about it. I know it's what you want, and I know it will make you happy but I'm afraid that you won't want to turn back, that you'll want to stay there forever."
"Why would you think that?" I asked, reaching up to brush her hair out of her eyes.
"Because it's all you've talked about since you found that mage," she said with a sigh.
Closing my eyes and let out my own sigh. I knew she was right, that for the last six months it had been all I had talked about, first focusing on getting the money for the mage, then on waiting for the potion to arrive. I could easily understand why she thought I wouldn't want to turn back, and would even admit there was always a possibility of that... but not this time.
"That's why you have the potion to turn me back, the only person who can decide what I am is you, and I trust you to turn me back when my two weeks are up," I said, hugging her to my large body.
She pressed her head against my chest and sigh. "I know hon, I know, and thank you."
I stroke my fingers along her back, trying to reassure her, really though, there was only one option. "If you don't want me to... I won't do it," I said in a soft voice.
Claudia looked up at me. "Really? You would do that for me?"
"Yes," I replied, meaning it. I loved her, I loved her more then I could easily say and I didn't want to hurt her. If that meant putting everything aside at this point, I would do it.
She slowly pulled away from me and nodded her head. Reaching back she picked up the vial and held it up for me. "I won't ask you to do that, it wouldn't be fair. Let's go, hon, before I change my mind," my girlfriend said and then stood up on her toes to kiss my nose.
I kissed her back and hugged her to me for a moment. "Thank you."
Pulling away, she gave me a slight poke then started out of our kitchen and towards the backyard. I followed right after her, watching her fluffy gray tail sway from side to side, watching the motion of her hips.
We walked into the center of the back yard, where a small section of grass had been cut free, leaving a patch of dark brown dirt. Without a word I stepped down into it, feeling my hooves sink down slightly into the soft soil.
"You might want to strip first," she said.
I blushed a bit and hurriedly worked myself free of my clothing, throwing my shirts and pants to the side, my underwear following a moment later. I blushed and covered myself as I stood in the hole, it wasn't like she hadn't seen me naked a hundred times before, but this time it felt different.
She moved up to me, smirking a bit and tapping a finger against my hand. "Are you ready?"
"I am," I said with a gulp.
With a deep breath she pulled the cork on the vial and held it in front of her. Her hands were shaking slightly as she lifted it up and poured the thick green potion down over my head. It rolled over me, soaking into my hair and fur, causing it to flatten down against my head.
The potion was oddly warm, just a bit more then the air around me. I could feel it as it rolled down my spine and over the small of my back, I could track it as it rolled over my ass and quickly down my legs and tail. It was moving too fast, rushing towards the ground.
I shivered as the potion rolled down the inside of my leg and over my hooves, as it touched the ground the whole of the potion flared around me, making me gasp out in surprise as the power rushing over my fur.
Closing my eyes I felt the potion flow sideways across my body, starting to wrap across my chest and around my legs and crotch. It soaked all of my fur, forcing it flat against my skin.
The potion pressed up around my muzzle, teasing along it as it brushed at my lips and around my ears and eyes. I could taste a bit of it on my lips as it completely covered my body, leaving my wrapped in the warm stickiness of it.
Slowly I opened my eyes, looking at my wolf. Everything had a tinge of green to it and blinking didn't clear it away. In fact the more I blinked the stickier my eyelids seem to get, fighting being opened once again. I tried to relax, looking down at myself as my fur started to vanish into my skin.
I watched in surprise and joy, feeling the fur as it was sucked back into my flesh, allowing me to feel the warmth of the sun on my skin. It was a wonderful feeling, like nothing I had ever felt before. It sent a surge of joy through my body, making me stand up straighter.
Slowly I started to stretching myself out, standing up as tall as I could and arching my back as I lifted my hands to the sky, reaching up for it, trying to touch it as the warmth filled me. I held myself like that for a few moments, my fingers splayed in the sun, before I realized I couldn't move my arms; they were locked into place above me.
Then the changes really started. There was a sudden twisting feeling in my feet, me hooves sinking down into the dirt then breaking apart. I could feel every moment of it as they spread and grew, digging down through the earth, rooting me firmly in the ground. They twisted and surged out in all directions, pushing through the dirt until one hit fresh water.
The sensation of the water on my roots was like nothing I had ever felt before. I let out a gasp and shook in pleasure as more and more roots surged towards it, drinking it up and into my changing body.
A few moments later I felt the same twisting feeling in my fingers. Looking up I watched as the thick hooves that caped my fingers split and started to grow out, arching over my as my hand simply vanished in a matter of moments, the skin falling away to be replaced by the new branches. Small green points quickly started to form along the length of theme, than slowly opened into budding leaves.
I had to close my eyes as the sun fell on them, the feeling of joy it brought me almost indescribable. Taking in a deep breath I held it as the changes ran down my arms, the length of them slowly splitting into branch after branch, the canopy rising over my head.
The air in my lungs shifted and suddenly moved in a way I had never felt before. I tried to exhale, but I couldn't, nor could I open my mouth or my eyes. Everything had been sealed closed, locking me inside my new form. A moment after that I felt my ears pressing down into my head, then simply fade away.
Shivering I swayed side to side, feeling the changes rush down my head and over the rest of my body. My head seemed to sink down into my chest... no, my arms were rising above my head; trapping it between my shoulders as they thick mass of branches became my crown. I could feel them swaying as more and more leaves grew along them, reaching for the sky.
My tail flicked in anticipation, but only long enough to feel it snap ridged and started to lift behind me, each stand of hair turning into a new branch. At the same time my hips started to thin out, stretching taller as my whole body grew, desperately trying to reach the sky.
And then my legs simply vanished, the two limbs merging into one, the mass rolling and pressing together, growing much thicker than they should have been. Small branches grew here and there as my skin started to turn to bark, wrapping around me in the tight embrace of wood.
I wanted to cry out as it covered me, my branches swelling and spreading wider, the leaves catching all the light that was shining down on me, not a single gap in the canopy that was now my head. I could feel it all: the leaves, the sun, and the wind rolling through me and swaying me from side to side. My roots were firm in the dirt, pressing deep down into the water below me... with one stay root wrapped around a leak in the water pipe near the foundation of the house.
I wasn't a horse any more, I was a tree, a tall proud tree dominating the backyard and granting shade to any who cared to partake in it. It was perfect, it was almost exactly how I imagined it, and so much better as well.
A few moments later I felt a soft vibration in the ground around me then the pressure of a hand on my trunk. "Pat?" a familiar voice asked, slightly muffled by my bark.
The only response I could provide was to sway slightly, but it must have been enough for Claudia because I heard her give out a relived sigh. I could feel the warm breath on my trunk, then rising up into my leaves were it was collected for my own use. It was such a strange and intimate feeling, to know I was capturing her breath inside of me.
"You look magnificent," she said, rubbing her hands against my bark.
Knowing that made me incredibly happy, but I had no way of showing it.
She stroked my trunk with her hands, and then slowly brought her muzzle up to nuzzle at one of my smaller branches. I could feel my wolf's fur against my leaves, the texture of her fur teasing them in wonderful ways. I wished she could join me, it know what it was like to be a tree, but I knew she wouldn't. She was happy as she was and didn't have the same dreams I did.
"It's going to be a long two weeks," she said softly, resting her head against my trunk. "I'm almost tempted to just leave you like this, a wonderful and strong tree, but I could never do that. You are to perfect as a horse and as a plant."
I swayed again at this, pleased to know how she felt about me... though tempted by the idea of never being an animal again.
She kissed a knothole, which felt very odd, then stepped back. Her hand rubbed my trunk again as she let out a happy sigh. "Marry me?" she asked.
That shocked me! We had talked about it before but she was never interested... but now. I shook with joy, this time for us, and let a small number of leaves fall from my branches to drift down over here.
"Is that a yes?" she whispered.
I swayed again.
Claudia laughed and kissed my trunk once again. "I love you so much, thank you, thank you." Then she did something I had never expected. She stabbed me in the side of the trunk! It didn't hurt, not really, but it stung like heck as she dug the blade through my bark. She worked quickly, kissing me once more time when she was done. "I'll see you in two weeks my love," she said, then slipped away from me.
The next two weeks lasted longer than I had ever expected, the joy of being a tree mixed with the anticipation of holding her again. She didn't talk to me at all during that time, but she did take to reading in my shade. When the two weeks were over she turned me back and gave me a ring. I was happy to wear it.
It was then that I discovered she had carved our names into my bark, right in the middle of a heart. It changes back with me, turning into a discoloration on my flank. I was happy to wear it, it made me feel a little like a tree every time I looked at it.
I only had one request for the wedding, one that she finally gave into. On our first anniversary we took a second honeymoon, and we both spent it as trees. For two weeks we stood together, reaching for the sun, our roots and braches intertwined as one.
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This story was written and copyright 2011 by Theo Winters, reposting and archiving are allowed as long as this copyright notice and the author's name are not removed. This story cannot be published without permission of the author. Violators will be planted.