"Ah," Jon sighed, putting a hand on her stomach, "that hit the spot." She couldn't remember if Karyn's mom had ever made them gyros (or was it shawarma?) before, but between the meat, veggies, and that yogurt sauce, it'd scratched an itch she was only just now realizing she'd been feeling all day. There'd been mandarin salad and some kind of fermented-grain risotto thing which were also quite good; and the pickles, too - she didn't normally go in for them, but today they just seemed right.
Mrs. Black gave her a knowing smile. "Rachel told me you might be in the mood for something like this. Seems she knows her daughters well."
Jon was slightly confused as to how her mom would've gotten that notion; she hadn't mentioned anything to that effect, and indeed she hadn't known she wanted it 'til she smelled it cooking. But, well, she wasn't going to argue with the results. (Maybe there was a history there, in this reality?) She normally thought of "sleepover food" as more along the lines of pizza and soda, but this all felt so nourishing...
Karyn also got a funny look for a moment, like she was trying to recall something she couldn't quite remember; but evidently she decided it wasn't that important, and a moment later she was getting up from the table and flashing Jon a mischievous grin. "Mom, can we leave the dishes to you?"
"Of course, dear," Mrs. Black said. "It's been ages since you've had a friend stay over; might as well make the most of it."
Karyn hugged her mother tightly. "You're the best, Mom. C'mon upstairs, Joni!" She practically tugged Jon up and out of her chair, and led her down the hall towards the stairway.
"You didn't clarify that as 'off the record!'" the older woman called after them, a wry grin upon her face.
Jon didn't really know what she was in for; she knew her well enough to feel sure that she meant well, but Karyn did tend to get a little impulsive at times, and who even knew what "girl time" would entail; was that a thing, outside of this specific context...? It was strange enough just being this, feeling all these subtle and not-so-subtle differences in how she was put together, going through all the usual motions of daily life with a different face, a different voice, a different body, getting unfamiliar looks from familiar people; to have her closest friend approach her with the express aim of making her conscious of this other-side to the human experience that she was already stumbling through half-aware was a strange prospect indeed...
No sooner had they gotten up to Karyn's room and shut the door behind them than she was rifling through Jon's duffel bag. "I don't believe it," she said, shaking her head in astonishment. "You brought all pants and T-shirts? I know for a fact that you own more skirts than I do, Joni."
"Apparently...!" Jon shrugged, a little amazed herself. "This was my entire stock."
"Gosh, you really were a boy, weren't you?" There was a note of wonderment in her voice. "I mean, I'm the tomboy here, and even I wanna dress up a bit now and then."
Jon blinked. "You do? I don't think I've ever seen you in, um, 'girly' clothes."
She frowned. "...Really? I mean, I'm usually in casual mode, but it's not that rare. I wonder if it was different for me growing up around a, uh, a boy...?" She shook her head vigorously. "Wow, it's still so weird to think of you that way."
"A-anyway," Jon said, feeling a little awkward again, "I, er, don't really know anything about women's fashion; I'm lucky I got dressed without looking like a clown this morning. As for skirts, it was enough of an adjustment just getting used to girls' jeans; you weren't kidding with the rants about pockets, all those years..."
"I hell of was not," Karyn said, "even if I don't remember 'em. Absolutely criminal." Then she grinned, cocking her hips and placing her hands on them. "But well, okay! New rule, skirts 'n dresses only - for here, anyway, I won't make you wear anything to school that you're not comfortable with."
Jon stared at her, slightly intimidated but mostly confused. "But I didn't bring any."
"I mean, obviously, you can borrow mine." Karyn got a funny look. "Waaait, that's not a thing with guys, is it...?"
"Oh, uh, right," she replied, remembering times when she'd seen Athena and Zoe in one another's clothing. It'd always seemed a little strange, like a form of low-key intimacy he couldn't really grasp. To the extent that he thought about clothes at all, Jon had seen them as a sort of armor, there for the purpose of keeping stuff out and him in. They were like a part of your territory that went around with you, to the inner monkey-mind; was it really okay to let someone else into that space? Did Karyn actually feel comfortable with that...?
Well, she must, because she was already holding up a skirt and eyeing her thoughtfully, sizing it up in her head. She handed it to Jon, who took it with the delicate grasp of someone who wasn't 100% convinced it didn't harbor any residual cooties, and then started looking through her assortment of tops. "Figured we should start simple," she said.
Jon held it up for inspection, not consciously aware that she was holding it at arm's length. It was dark blue (not quite navy) and pleated, but it was otherwise simple and non-frilly. Still, she felt a little weird at the thought of wearing it, even knowing there was currently nobody in the world but her who'd find it remarkable. Okay, cross-dressing was less of a taboo nowadays than it'd been in her parents' day, but it wasn't something he'd ever been inclined towards. And yet now it'd somehow be "normal?"
Karyn handed her a blouse to go with it; it was white, and a tad frillier than the skirt. Nothing absurd, but the fabric had a satin-y texture to it that you'd never get in her usual men's tees, and there were some kind of ruffles around the neckline. She really was going in for this, wasn't she...?
She just stared at the things for a long minute while Karyn dug through her closet for something less slacker-tomboy than her usual wear; then she sputtered in surprise when her best friend abruptly shucked off her sweater and began to doff her slacks. "Uh, um...um! K-Karyn, wha...!?!?"
Karyn stared over at her in confusion as she slid her remaining leg out of her pants. "What 'what?'" she said, folding them up and setting them atop her dresser. "It's just us gir-" Then her eyes went wide. "Ohhh."
Jon felt herself reddening. "U-um, s-sorry!" she said, whirling around to face the wall, and noticing to her chagrin that some parts of her didn't stop whirling as immediately as the rest of her did.
Karyn chuckled softly and came up behind her, putting her hands on Jon's shoulders in a gesture that would've been a lot more reassuring if Jon didn't have the image of her wish-enhanced best friend standing there in nothing but her underwear seared into her brain. "You know, I don't mind," she said gently. 'John' or Joni, you're my absolute BFF; I think I can trust you to be a, uh, 'gentleman...?' Besides, the whole point of this exercise is to show you what it's like as part of 'us girls.' Here."
She took her by the shoulders and turned her 'round. "This is normal, okay?" she said; she looked maybe a tad embarrassed herself, but powered on through. "This is how girls are put together; and that includes you. It's nothing to be embarrassed about." She laughed. "On which note, at some point you're gonna have to stop treating my clothes like they're radioactive, if we're gonna do this. C'mon, you next."
Jon just stood there in a daze for a moment, marveling at the thought that this was actually happening. Hesitantly, she took her shirt by the collar and, with a deep breath, pulled it up over her head and off. She paused for a moment, suddenly much more aware of her own figure, and couldn't help comparing notes, which made her self-conscious in a different way; "Joni" had a perfectly decent bust for a seventeen-year-old girl, but out of the sweater and with the support of a bra that was clearly built to a higher standard, Karyn made her feel...well, small. With a vigorous shake of the head, she turned her thoughts elsewhere, and wriggled out of her jeans.
"See?" Karyn grinned. "Never mind the particulars; we're both girls here." In spite of herself, Joni did feel somewhat reassured; it felt like she really meant it, that she belonged here, that it was okay for her to be like this, even if "like this" meant standing around in nothing but a bra and panties with another girl in the same state of undress... "Now c'mon, I want you in that outfit stat."
She donned the blouse first, partly because it was the most familiar and partly because, reassurances notwithstanding, she felt a little weird about Karyn seeing her new breasts. (Well, not new to her, but...) Still, it took her a bit of fumbling before she realized that the buttons were on the other side compared to what he was used to with dress shirts. "Is, is it supposed to be like that...?" she murmured.
Karyn laughed. "These days it's less universal, but yeah - 'historical reasons.' You get used to it. Hey, leave the top coupla buttons undone; you're not some old maid."
Jon had no plans to be this way long enough to get used to anything, but she declined to say that; she didn't want to make Karyn feel uncomfortable about "losing" "Joni" again, and it still made her head spin to try and comprehend that problem. The skirt was next; she was able to work past the awkwardness long enough to get it on, before stopping to boggle over how it felt.
"No, tuck the blouse into the skirt," Karyn corrected. "It's more secure and more flattering."
"God, this is weird." She flushed slightly as she made the adjustment. "I feel so exposed - like I've forgotten some other layer."
"Just think of it as a kilt?"
"I'm not Scottish." She shifted her hips back and forth, trying to get used to the feeling of the hem swishing around her legs. How did women do this...?
"Then you'll just have to learn to enjoy it," Karyn grinned, stepping into a skirt herself. "Loose 'n breezy, isn't it? Sometimes that's a nice feeling."
Jon reddened further. She doubted she'd ever get used to this, but she did have to admit that, by comparison, the jeans had made her feel pretty nearly shrink-wrapped. She glanced down, then craned her neck forward a little for a view that was less dominated by her bust. (Boy, was that a strange thing to see from a first-person perspective...) "I can see my knees, Karyn."
Karyn laughed bitterly as she adjusted her top. "Lucky girl! I'm afraid those days are but a happy memory for me."
"No, really, I don't even own shorts this short." She frowned. "Well, I think now I do..."
"It's only natural," Karyn chuckled. "You have nice legs, Joni; be a shame not to show them off."
Jon bit her lip; it was weird to feel complimented by a remark like that. "I'm, uh, not really used to showing anything off."
She grinned. "You should have more confidence in yourself. I know not every guy's a total peacock like Steve Farber, but...well, I don't remember 'John,' but your dad's not bad-looking for a guy his age; I have a hard time believing you were some Quasimodo."
"I mean, not really, I'm just...not used to drawing attention." Jon squirmed a little, feeling a rush of air from the heating register brush her thighs and ripple her skirt.
"Well, that's one of the things we're working on here, isn't it?" Karyn said, pulling the chair away from her desk. "If you're gonna sample the feminine experience, you oughta be able to feel good about looking nice. Now c'mon, have a seat. Your hair's kind of a mess."
She nodded, and sat down. "I didn't realize Zoe's conditioner was also mine, this morning. Took me forever just to get the tangles out."
"Mm, so 'John' wasn't the kind of guy with a metal mane, then. Data point!" Karyn came around behind her and took a lock of her golden-brown hair up for inspection. "And yeah, you definitely need Remedial Haircare. ...Not to mention Remedial Sitting," she said, glancing down at Jon. "My Gram woulda lit into you for sprawling out legs akimbo, young lady...!"
Jon was feeling all weird at hearing "John" referred to in the past tense, so she didn't really mind the shift in topic, but... "I mean, you do this all the time," she said. Her own aunt used to try and correct Zoe on this, but he'd never given it much thought at the time. Was it really that much of a thing for girls...?
"Yes, but I'm the tomboy here," Karyn countered. "Not as big of a deal when you're wearing pants; anyway, she still harangued me over it. Skirt goes under you - and legs together, sit up straight! If I'm gonna do your hair, you can at least put it at a convenient height for me."
"I thought this kinda thing was supposed to be relaxing," she said, clapping her knees together and straightening up into a more "correct" posture after taking a moment to sweep her skirt underneath herself (which did feel less weird than sitting her mostly-bare butt on the chair.)
"You can relax without slouching." Karyn produced a compact hairbrush from her purse, considered it for a moment, then ducked out to the bathroom and returned with a full-sized one. She felt gently around the base of Jon's neck. "Actually, relaxing might be our first order of business here; your shoulders are way tense."
She shook her head slowly. "I have, you might say, had A Day."
"I'll bet. Here, let's start with this - take some slow, deep breaths, and I'll work your shoulders a bit."
Karyn set the brush aside and began gently massaging Jon's neck muscles with her thumbs. She felt a little silly at this, but she couldn't deny that it felt good to get the knots out; she hadn't even realized how much tension she'd built up over the course of the day. She started breathing deeply, feeling her chest rise and fall and trying not to think too much about how much more of it there was, timing it to match Karyn's movements until they settled into a rhythm. Okay, truth be told, this felt very good...
"There, see?" Karyn spread her fingers out along Joni's collarbone, and she felt her shoulders sag; yes, she did begin to see what Karyn meant about not slouching. She hadn't realized how much of a difference posture made in whether her spine properly supported the weight of her upper body 'til she was suddenly more front-heavy than he was used to...
After a bit, Karyn picked up the hairbrush again and began brushing her tresses out as gently as she could manage, though the oversight with the conditioner meant there were spots she did just have to power on through. "You do have nice hair, y'know," she said. "Was 'John's' like this?"
She shrugged. "It's a lighter brown now," she said. "I'm not sure if it's a bit wavier, or if I just didn't have it out long enough to tell."
"Mm." Karyn kept working at it. Joni was surprised by how soothing she found all this; it was a very low-key kind of intimacy, gentle and close and physically affectionate without being invasive enough to be weird and raise questions. She found herself wondering why they'd never done this before...
Eventually, they'd done all the brushing that was needed, and Karyn pulled her hair back and bunched it together, slipping a hairband around it to make a ponytail; then she took part of it and separated it into strands with her fingers.
"...What're you doing now?" Jon said, a little uncertain. Was this going to get weird? No, this was already a little weird, but apparently that was kind of the point...? Well, she trusted Karyn not to do anything too bizarre with her hair, probably.
"Mm, gonna try a bun," she replied, braiding the strands together. "You've got the right kinda face for it."
Jon frowned. "The 'dowdy librarian' kinda face?"
"Oh, come now," she chided. "Buns can totally be a good look if you know how to do 'em. Trust me, you'll...well, I dunno if you'll like it, but it'll objectively look great, I promise you that."
Karyn slipped some other puffy elastic thing over the ponytail, and began wrapping the hair around it; Jon felt like this was an awfully complicated process just to find something to do with all her excess hair. "How much extra hardware does it take?" she queried.
"Gosh, don't tell me you've never seen a hair donut before!" she laughed, snapping another hairband around the base. "You can make one from a rolled-up sock in a pinch, tho. And we haven't even gotten to the bobby pin yet."
Jon squirmed a little. "Please tell me that's one of those little alligator clip things and not an actual pin."
"Bingo!" she chuckled. "I guess even in your reality Zoe probably has 'em."
"They get everywhere; places she doesn't even go. I swear they multiply while we're not looking."
Karyn laughed again. "Sinister, mysterious creatures, these Wymmin's Haire Implementſ ." She took the braid from earlier and wrapped it 'round the base of the bun, then clipped it into place. "There, done! We won't 'set' it with hairspray, we're just playing around. Now you do me."
Jon frowned. "I, uh, I dunno how to do all that stuff." (Did "Joni," she wondered...?)
"We'll do a different style; I'll explain it to you." Karyn motioned her up out of the chair, and sat down herself. "But you can start by brushing it out; mine's also a bit tangled, after a long day."
She took the hairbrush and began tentatively working at it, marveling quietly at how weird it felt to have the back of her neck exposed to the elements after a day of having it wrapped in a curtain of her own hair. Her head was weighted differently, too, with all of it gathered up in one place. Funny how different even familiar states were, like this...
She wasn't as practiced at this as Karyn, and working on the back of someone else's head was its own challenge; she felt her friend wince a few times, before she got the hang of holding the hair in place as she tugged the brush through the difficult spots. Still, Joni found it strangely absorbing; this kind of low-key personal attention was almost as relaxing when she was on the giving end...
"Okay," Karyn said, when she'd gotten the tangles more or less worked out, "we'll do a French braid. It's not as complicated as you'd think."
"I, uh, didn't know it was supposed to be," Jon said.
"Well, it's a bit more complicated than a basic braid, is all." Karyn thought for a moment. "You can start at the top; what you're gonna do is take up a bunch of hair and divvy it into three strands, and just kinda hold 'em there for the moment."
She did so, holding them between her fingers as if her hand were a comb. "Okay...?"
"Right. Now start by 'swapping' the left and center strands."
"Um, okay." She had to fiddle a bit so she was holding the left and right strands in separate hands, but she managed.
"You don't have to be so delicate about it," Karyn said. "Keep 'em taut, or the whole thing'll just fall apart. Now swap the center and right."
"Got it." She tried to cinch things up a little tighter, though she was a little worried about pulling too hard; she didn't really have a feel for this the way someone who'd done it all their life would.
"That's better. Now what you're gonna do is take some of the loose hair from the side and add it to the left strand, then 'swap' with the center again."
"Hmm, okay...?" This took a little finagling; she wasn't used to juggling this many things with just two hands. "I think I got it."
Karyn grinned. "Right - now you just work your way down, same pattern, adding more hair as you go."
This was also weirdly absorbing, though she had to pay closer attention to what she was doing. "We used to have this old Windows 95 box with a game like this," she said. "Only you were un-tangling it."
"Yeah, I remember that," Karyn chuckled. "Guess there's one thing you both have in common, eh? Wonder what else was the same for 'John' and Joni. I guess one of these evenings we could look through your mom's photo albums..."
"Huh, maybe." Jon felt a little weird at that, wondering again if it'd get harder to remember which of her was the real one the more she learned about "Joni;" but she had to admit she was intrigued. "Um, I'm out of extra hair."
"Yup - now you braid the strands as-is, 'til they're too thin to work separately."
"Hm, okay." She kept at it for a few more passes. "I think that's it...?"
"Great," Karyn said. "Now, if you look on the desk, there's a tray with some random bits. There's a few little elastics - not the usual hairbands, the little rubber bands. Take one of those and tie it off."
"Is it me," she said dryly, wrapping the band around the tail end of the braid, "or are you enjoying this?"
Karyn laughed. "Hey, I've never had a protégée before. I always thought it was neat how Zoe 'n Michelle came to you for this stuff."
Jon blinked. "Um, actually, that was you. Well, for Zoe, not Mikey. You were her cool-big-sis figure, 'til she hit 'that awkward age.'"
"No way!" she gasped. "Aw man, now I'm jealous...but, well, you're the big sister now, Joni. Far be it from me to rob you of your title."
She flushed a little, feeling weird at taking that as a compliment; but Karyn was too busy running her hands over her hair to notice. "A bit messy," she said, "but not bad for a first attempt. See? You can do hair, if you know how."
"Uh, I guess so?" Another thing she'd never thought she'd feel complimented by; it hadn't exactly been a major life goal.
"No need to be so timid about it," Karyn grinned. "It's natural to feel good about looking nice, and it's totally valid to think of that as a skillset. I know a lotta guys think of that as stupid or 'girl stuff,' but, hey, you are a girl now." She took her by the hand and led her over to the closet, which had a full-length mirror on the inside of the door. "Here, see?"
She gazed into the mirror, and gasped. She'd seen her reflection this morning, but she hardly recognized herself now. That face - the cute one, the one that had enough of Jon in it to be familiar, but more of her mother - was no longer framed by a messy curtain of tangled hair; instead, it was crowned by a neatly-styled dome, with a fine braid artfully separating the bun from the rest.
Her neckline was decoratively ruffled, with just a hint of her cleavage peeking out. Her bra supported and enhanced her bustline, and the blouse smoothed it out into a sleek, flattering curve, the kind of thing she was used to noticing on other women; but seeing it on herself was entirely novel.
Her waist wasn't conspicuously narrow, but it tucked in enough to make it obvious how much her hips flared out. She felt a little weird at that; she was used to thinking of the "hourglass" as the abstract ideal, but what she was looking at wasn't unattractive. Her "back forty" dominated her figure a little, but it wasn't like she was fat, she was just built this way. She realized with a bit of a cringe that, absent any other cues, the word she'dve used for this kind of build was matronly...
But then, she wasn't "absent any other cues." The way her top enhanced her bust helped balance it out, and the skirt did set off her legs very nicely; the outfit as a whole was definitely more "schoolgirl," and the hairdo wasn't really the kind of thing you saw on anyone's mom. Still - God, she thought, I am so gonna turn into my mother...
Something about that thought struck her funny, but before she could think too much about it, there was a knock at the door. "Girls?" called Mrs. Black. "I made frozen-yogurt malts."
"Oh, neat!" Karyn said, going to open the door. Her mother came in carrying a couple tall glasses, filled not quite to the top with chocolate malt and topped off with a mint spring and a halved strawberry. She set them atop the blotter and turned to her daughter and guest.
"Oh, you look so nice, Joni," she exclaimed. "Seems like just yesterday that you kids were first learning to braid your own hair...and breaking into my makeup cabinet without asking," she added, with a wry grin.
"Chopped liver here, reporting for duty," Karyn put in, with mock bitterness.
"Off the record, dear, you look lovely as well." She glanced over at the windowsill, and got a nostalgic look for a moment. "Well, I'll leave you two to it. Let me know if you need anything - and remember, it's a school night."
"We will!" they called after her, as she left. Jon looked to the windowsill; there was one of those decoratively-painted wooden eggs (pysanky, she thought?) like she'd seen earlier. Was that from her mom's pile of kitsch, then? She had a vague recollection that there was a tradition of giving them as gifts, but it wasn't something that'd ever come up much, in her old reality. Karyn handed her a glass, and they sat down, Karyn on the bed and her on the chair.
You look so nice, Joni...
It was playing on a loop in her head, as she brooded over her chocolate malt. There was a prickling at the base of her neck and all down her spine. It felt nice to be complimented, nice to hear good things about herself; but it was weird to be complimented on stuff he'd never really cared about before, things that weren't even really true before...
"You better pick it up there." Karyn slurped on her straw. "It's not gettin' any colder. Something on your mind?"
"Mm?" she said, realizing she'd gone into a fugue. "Oh, uh, it's just...strange, you know? Someone walks into the room, and the first thing they do is tell me how nice I look. I dunno what to even make of that."
"You're allowed to feel good about it, y'know," Karyn said, with a sly smile. "I don't get why guys think it's something to be embarrassed by. Sure, it's not all you are - but right now, Joni? You're a pretty girl, and it's okay for that to feel nice, alright? It's a nice thing to be. I guess for you it's still unfamiliar, but it's not something bad."
She felt like she ought to retort, but all she could manage was "!?" Instead, she returned her attentions to the malt, focusing on the smooth, creamy texture, the gentle chocolate sweetness, the little hints of strawberry and mint wafting up from the garnishes she hadn't gotten to yet...
This reverie was interrupted by a gurgle from her stomach, as she polished off the malt and speared the strawberry from the bottom of the glass with her straw. She wondered for a moment if she was gonna embarrass herself in front of Karyn, but if her best friend noticed, she gave no indication; instead, she eyed Joni curiously. "Hm, I might be violating my own concept here - but I gotta ask, is it weird sitting like that?"
"Huh?" She glanced down at herself, and realized she was sitting with her legs together; funny, she hadn't even consciously thought about it this time. After a moment, she realized what Karyn was asking. "O-oh, uh," she said, flushing a bit, "you mean, uh..."
Jon scarfed down the strawberry and mint, and took a deep breath. "Well, first off, if you wanna draw my attention to the experience of being female, this isn't not doing that." She thought for a moment, feeling like she should be more embarrassed than she was. It was so damned weird to be talking so matter-of-factly about experiences that normally wouldn't even be possible...
"It's, uh, not as weird as you'd think," she said. "My legs come together at a different angle, and it's definitely unusual to sit like this without, uh, things being either bunched up or pinned down, but it's hard to feel too weird about it 'cause...well, it doesn't feel like anything's actually missing, if that makes sense. Like, I know I had, uh, my 'bits' yesterday, but there's not some part of my brain that's freaking out over them not being there now."
Karyn nodded thoughtfully. "I wonder if that's 'cause you've got Joni's brain? But then, you've got 'John's' memories...man, how would that work...!?"
"Search me," she said, shrugging. "Plus, well, there's...uh, 'homology.' I dunno if it happened in this reality, but we had an extra-credit thing on it in biology last semester."
"Oh, we covered that as part of fetal development in women's health," Karyn said. "Organs that start off as the same thing, or part of a set, and develop differently depending on the sex of the baby, right?"
"Right." She frowned, thinking it over. "Huh - I wonder if there even is any part of me that's truly AWOL, or if it's all just 'the XX model?' Last semester feels like forever ago..."
"Heck, dinner feels like forever ago." Karyn shook her head, and looked at her watch. "Shit, it's getting late. And here I was hoping to hit more of the highlights; I guess we can try makeup on you tomorrow, but I dunno if 'John' is up for talking about boys," she said with a wink. "Or, uh, were you...?"
"Wha...? Uh, n-no!" Jon sputtered, her face reddening. "A-and, uh, you'll have to help me get, uh, this out..."
"Oh right, you've probably never had to put your hair up for the night." Karyn took her empty glass. "Here - you get ready for bed while I run these down, and then we'll get that sorted."
She headed downstairs, and Jon fetched her pajamas and travel kit from her bag and went into the bathroom. She squirmed a little uneasily as she used the toilet, still a bit self-conscious from the sudden turn in the conversation, but it wasn't really any weirder than this morning, and changing clothes and brushing her teeth were comfortingly familiar, at least...
She returned to Karyn's room to find her already back and changed, unraveling her braided hair with practiced expertise. "Uh, Joni," she said, giving her a funny look, "...d'you still have your bra on?"
She blinked, thought for a moment, and nodded. "Is that not normal?" Come think, she'd woken up without it this morning...
"Welcome to womanhood," Karyn said. "You need support during the day, then you want relief from the tension at night. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em...unless you're some kinda dirty hippie," she chuckled.
Jon spent a minute fumbling around under the back of her pajama top while Karyn gave her hair a quick brush-out, but she couldn't quite manage to get it off. Karyn laughed. "Here, let me."
She came over and fished around for a moment before finding and undoing a clasp in the back. Jon felt a little embarrassed; truth be told, she'd forgotten about it entirely in the whirlwind of strangeness that'd been her day. Another thing that must come perfectly naturally to someone who'd been living with it for years...
Well, Karyn wasn't wrong about the tension, anyway. The sense of relief was immediate and palpable; it wasn't that the thing had been uncomfortable, and feeling the weight of her breasts unrestrained and unsupported for the first time since this morning gave her a new appreciation for how much trouble it'd probably saved her during the day, but it was like finally getting home and kicking off your shoes after a long day on your feet...
She sighed wearily, and Karyn grinned. "Boy, I bet it's a whole new perspective for you. The rest of us had years to grow into this; you get hit with it all at once."
"Honestly, it's not the weirdest thing I've been through today," she said. She wasn't entirely sure what was, but having two different conversations about menstruation in the big-sister role was definitely up there in the rankings. Then again, so was trying to get her bra off without removing her pajama top; after a minute, she gave up and doffed it, freeing her arms to slip out of the straps.
"Yeah, that's gotta be a stiff competition," Karyn said. Jon was suddenly very aware of the fact that she was topless in front of her best friend (well, not in front of, but the closet mirror probably exposed her,) though Karyn gave no indication that she thought anything of it, and she slipped her pajamas back on in a hurry. "Here, let's get your hair taken care of."
"See, when you have it out long," she said, unpinning the braid from around the bun and un-braiding it, "you don't wanna leave it loose at night, 'cause it'll get all tangled if you toss and turn. But you also don't want to tie it up too tight, or you'll put strain on your scalp and promote breakage. Uh, hair breakage, to be clear."
She slipped the elastic off the bun and took the "donut" out; then she undid the ponytail that the whole project had started with and started in on a quick brush-out. "So what you do is put it up in, like, a ponytail or a loose braid, and use a gentler style of tie to keep it from going anywhere." She pulled out a scrunchie and did Joni's hair up in a low ponytail. "I think the braid'd look nice on you, but it'll be easier to get going tomorrow if you don't have to figure out un-braiding it."
"And this is simpler than just cutting it short how?" Jon said dryly.
Karyn laughed. "Girl, ain't nothin' simple about looking good! Why d'you think I'm usually in slacker mode?" She took a moment to tie her own hair up. "But, well, it feels nice to be pretty, doesn't it? Not to mention 'socially advantageous.' Our dilemma through the ages..."
She slipped around to the other side of the bed and ducked down to pull out the trundle. Jon frowned. "Wait, I thought that was in the guest room...?"
Karyn blinked. "Huh? Oh, I guess it must've been, for 'John.' But no, you slept over often enough when we were kids that Mom 'n Dad just swapped my bed out for this one, and it never did get swapped back." She nodded towards the closet. "The bedclothes are in there. I'm gonna go hit the bathroom."
She left Jon to lay out the sheets and get the pillow and blanket ready...and to brood over all the strange questions that her day as "Joni" had raised. So many new experiences just on a physiological level, all these unfamiliar norms and alien social dynamics, a whole galaxy of questions about what it meant to be Jon in a world that thought Joni was the "real" her...
God, she'd been sleeping over regularly enough that Karyn's bedroom had changed to accomodate it. Jon hadn't slept over since before Karyn had even started wearing a training bra (though she'd told him about it all the same.) Yet suddenly it was "normal" again; and hell, she thought, folding it neatly and setting it atop her duffel bag, now I've got one...
Was "Joni" actually closer with her best friend than she'd been? (He'd been...?) She didn't know; the dynamic between them didn't feel all that different, aside from the part where Karyn was getting very into sharing all these new experiences with her, but it nagged at her all the same. Joni had had times with her that Jon simply hadn't; was the reverse true? If so, was it a worthwhile trade-off? If not...was it a worthwhile trade-off...?
God, it made her head spin...she spread out the blanket, fluffed the pillow, and stared moodily at the bed. Would she ever get to do this again...? She was so caught up in the question that she hardly even noticed when Karyn returned - until she found herself pulled into her best friend's embrace.
"I got a feeling you're over-thinking things," Karyn said, hugging her tightly. "Joni does that too, y'know."
She shook her head slowly. "I...I didn't even mean for this to happen, but...it did, and now I've got all these questions to figure out before I can even figure out what to do about it..."
Karyn nodded. "Seems like nothing gets you in over your head faster than real magic. But...well, we're here for each other, okay? 'John' or Joni, you're still my absolute BFF. We'll figure it out, one way or another."
She pulled Karyn round into a front-facing hug and held her tight. "Th-thanks," she said, her voice quavering slightly.
Karyn smiled and patted her gently on the back. "Any time...any timeline. G'night, Joni."
She took a deep breath. "Good night, Karyn."
They turned out the light, got into bed, and settled in for the night. Jon laid there, trying to sleep amidst a dizzying array of questions: who was who, what was what, what it meant to whom...
It was only as she was finally drifting off that she realized they'd completely forgotten to work on planning out the wish.
