Karyn was in a one-piece swimsuit, in a deck chair, sunning herself on the Artemis, floating across the emerald waters of the Gulf of Mexico. She felt a shadow and opened up her eyes. There was someone there, but she didn't recognize the person through her sunglasses, so she lifted them and squinted, but she still didn't recognize who it was.
"You know Karyn, if you want to get a tan, you're going to have to do it in a bikini," Jen said, hands on her hips.
"Who are you?" asked Karyn.
Jen giggled and dropped her own bikini-clad body into the deck chair next to Karyn's. "Oh, like you don't know. I'm Jen. Hello! We've been best friends since forever!"
Jen was still only partially complete. She entirely superseded Jon while he was dreaming at this point, but she didn't know that. She was essentially a wandering soul, going in and out of dreams at Jon's and the dreamer's will, acting her part and then moving on to the next dream. If she was aware that she could affect things, then she'd make Karyn believe they'd always been friends. But she wasn't aware.
Karyn sat up and said, "I have no idea who you are or how you got on this boat-"
But Jen didn't let her finish. She stood up herself, grabbed Karyn's wrist, and pulled her the rest of the way to standing, saying, "come on, we've got to find you a better bathing suit."
As Jen pulled, Karyn found herself unable to get out of the grip, and ended up following Jen below deck. But Karyn knew that there weren't any more clothes below deck. Or at least, she thought there weren't, until the door opened and what should have been a couple sofas, some cabinets, and a countertop turned out to be a giant walk-in closet, filled with hanger after hanger of outfits. Shoes lined the walls, a makeup vanity was placed beside the stairway, there was a full-length three-direction mirror at the far end of the room. What had happened? Karyn's boat would never look like this."š"šBut before she could protest, Jen had already grabbed something incredibly small and red off of one of the hangers and handed it to Karyn. "Here, you're wearing this now."
When Jen pulled her hand back, she was holding Karyn's one-piece, and Karyn's head darted downwards in shock. She was wearing the bikini that this crazy girl had just handed her. But it wasn't just a bikini. The bottom was a thong, and the top barely covered anything! Karyn blushed furiously and said, "I'm not going out on deck wearing practically nothing!"
Jen was flipping through the rack of clothing, but responded, "How else do you think you're going to get an even tan?"
"I don't care about a tan!" Karyn screamed."š"šJen shrugged and pulled something long and light brown off of the rack. "Fine, then wear this."
Jen handed Karyn the garment, and then pulled back an empty hanger. Karyn looked down and saw herself wearing a sheer, brown dress. It had one strap over the right shoulder, and was uneven on the bottom, coming down to the knee on the left, but exposing her entire thigh on the right. The material was thin enough that Karyn could clearly see red triangles through it.
Frustrated, Karyn stamped her foot on the floor. "What the hell are you doing? All I want is to sit outside in the sun!"
"But you want to look good while doing it, right?" Jen replied calmly, "Karyn, you're always so fashion conscious."
"Since when?"
"Since forever!" Jen pulled out some magazines, seemingly from nowhere, "don't try and tell me that these aren't yours."
She handed the magazines to Karyn, but Karyn didn't recognize them. They were glossy, and had models on the front covers, and talked about designers she'd never even heard of. She just looked up at Jen, confused.
For her part, Jen was now in a deep blue minidress with a wide black belt sitting loosely across her hips.
"Now we're ready for the sun deck," Jen said, pulling Karyn back outside. But something was wrong. Had the paneling always been pink? Karyn couldn't remember. Was that something that she'd want on a boat?
Karyn looked out into the horizon, and the blues and greens began to fade into browns and ambers. As her dream ended, Karyn found herself wearing a tiny two-piece underneath a revealing dress, completely dumbfounded as she stood on the deck of her boat, the Aphrodite.
