Karyn found herself lost in the embrace. She didn't know how much time had passed, and wasn't thinking at all about the consequences of what had just happened. Was she kissing Jon's little sister? Was she kissing her own worst enemy? It was neither and both and everything, but none of it mattered.
The girls' lips finally parted, and Karyn could only get a single question, a single word, out of her mouth: "Zoe?"
The girl before her smiled an enthusiastic smile and nodded. "Let's go up to my room."
They ran up the stairs, Karyn intentionally lagging behind only just enough to get a view of this new Zoe's cheerleader-clad backside as they went, all bubbles and taffy the whole way.
They topped the stairs, turned down the hallway, passed the door to Jon's bedroom, opened the door to Zoe's, and then Zoe stopped short.
"Why does my room look like this?"
Karyn caught up and stood beside Zoe in the doorway, and then reality caught up and stood beside her. Zoe was now a near-copy of Sarah, but her room was still what it had always been. Dark, gloomy, walls full of Gravity Falls fanart. The latter of which had nothing to do with being goth, Zoe had just been a huge fan of the cartoon.
But now things were different. The room didn't match who Zoe was. But Karyn had an idea.
She gently put her right hand on Zoe's back, lead her inside the room, while the Salt of Desire was held in her left. Zoe was in shock, just standing in the middle of the room and staring at the unfamiliar surroundings that were supposed to reflect who she was. And while she was looking elsewhere, Karyn sprinkled some salt on the dresser beside the doorway, its thick black plastic giving way to light pink-stained wood.
Zoe turned. "The only thing that makes sense to me is this dresser. What's going on?"
Zoe's attention having shifted, Karyn now aimed her salt shaker at the black vanity beside Zoe's bed, making sure the salt touched every single item upon it.
"My dresser and my makeup table," Zoe said, slightly calmer, "Those are the only things here that speak to me at all."
This continued, and Zoe remained oblivious as Karyn slowly salted everything in the room. things did not begin to match Sarah McMillan's room, or even what this new Zoe remembered her room to be, but rather what kind of room Karyn desired her new girlfriend to have. And because Karyn was infatuated with Sarah, the room slowly became hyper-Sarahfied. The twin bed in the corner of the room didn't simply change its sheets or become more expensive, it grew into a queen-sized four-poster bed with wood that matched the dresser and the vanity, and taffeta ribbons all around. Fluffy pink blankets and far more pillows than necessary blossomed over the mattress. The wall across from the bed became fully mirrored. Every single outfit in Zoe's closet became a cheerleader's uniform, a large, proud "C" stitched into every left shoulder so that it was clear the wearer was the captain of the squad. Everything got brighter, floofier, pinker, and practically became a parody of what Sarah McMillan was, but the new Zoe became more and more comfortable in this room as the changes progressed.
As the very last Gravity Falls drawing became a Star Vs. the Forces of Evil poster, the last shred of unease left Zoe, who pulled her new girlfriend gleefully through taffeta curtains and onto the softest blankets either girl had ever laid upon.
Not that Zoe knew this was her first time on this particular bed.
