In the locker room, Zoe looked herself over and sighed. Now that the freakishness of the previous night had subsided a bit, she could admit that, objectively, being a sort of half-plant creature wasn't too terrible. She did at least have all her limbs, her size, and her sex, which was more than Jon and Mikey did. But on the other hand, this was absolutely the wrong look for her. Both Zoe and Athena were into the goth subculture, but where Athena had always been the one who went in for the more elaborate pseudo-Victorian stuff, Zoe had been more into the simpler, semi-punk look. No spiked hair or chains, but a lot of black, and sometimes some pale makeup as well.
But as a wood nymph, that just wouldn't work at all. Even without the makeup, which would just look stupid on her slightly green-tinged skin, she still had vines and leaves entwined around her body, and even flowers, for God's sake. Making that look even the slightest bit dark? Not possible. Not as far as she could see. Zoe wasn't one of the school's generic Hot Topic kids who thought that being Dark and Edgy automatically made her better than the average teenager, and she supposed that in the grand scheme of things this was kind of a minor complaint, but still...that was how she liked to look. She could still be the same person, but she'd never really be able to look the part. It might not be a crucial part of her personality, but it was still a part, and it felt unsettling to think that maybe it just wouldn't work any more.
Athena was standing nearby, also surveying herself, and feeling a little bit of the same thing. Her change of appearance was very noticeable in some ways, but for the most part, it wasn't as drastic as Zoe's. Granted, her lower body was a giant snake's tail, but from the waist up it was all her, exactly as she'd always been. Which meant that, aside from a complete inability to wear pants, she didn't have as much to consider with regards to her "look." Her dresses wouldn't be an issue, and although her hips were essentially vestigial now, they still allowed her to wear skirts, as well. But, well, she didn't look quite as much like she tried to, either. She turned to Zoe. "You know," she said, "maybe we should just swap styles."
Zoe stared at her. "Nah, I'm just kidding," she said. "But, I mean, I think you could make my look work for you, and I've already got the don't-tread-on-me thing going on, literally."
Zoe half-smiled. She still wasn't happy about this, but at least she had a friend going through the same thing. "Yeah, I suppose so," she agreed.
"See?" Athena said. "I got a smile out of you there. We should try it sometime, just for kicks."
"Not now."
"Okay, not now. But some time, just for the heck of it."
Zoe smiled for real this time. "Yeah, yeah, I know this part. This is where you keep bugging me until I agree. Okay, some time. But not just yet."
