"Well," said Stud Muffin to Karyn, "you think you're a little punk troublemaker, do you?" He waved toward her chest. "Maybe more than a little, actually."
Jon was silently saying to himself, Just don't make it worse, please, Karyn. Remember that I've got the rock. I can try to fix all this later, with the rock.
"That's not a bad idea," Stud Muffin continued. "You didn't get the exotic treatment that most of your compadres here did, so I'll try a different tack -- it's been a while since I've turned someone into a hot punk rocker." He started pressing buttons on his device. "I'll start you with a permanent Mohawk, and then --"
The device buzzed.
For a second, Stud Muffin lost the smug expression on his face as he looked at the device's screen. He pressed the buttons in the same sequence. Same result -- a buzz, but no glow.
"That can't be right," he muttered. He pressed a few buttons, and then showed the device to Suki. "What does this look like to you?"
Suki looked at it and said, "It won't let you change her hair?"
Stud Muffin nodded. "Something's blocking the magical energy from this device. But the only way to block it would be..." He stood still for a few seconds as if lost in thought, then glanced over in Jon's direction, and then looked back at the gorgeous, voluptuous blonde who stood in front of him, her heavily-made-up eyes fixed in an angry stare.
Now the smugness had left his face completely, and with a look of bewilderment and a slight quaver in his voice, he said, "You're Karyn, aren't you?"
