"I guess I really can trade anything," Jon, now technically Zoe, mumbled to himself in awe.
"What was that?" His sister, the original Zoe, asked as she stepped into the kitchen behind him. "Trade?"
"Ah, nothing. Just talking to myself. Still waking up, I think." Jon half stretched and fake yawned to sell the illusion.
"Right..." His sister begins to fix herself a bowl of cereal. She could tell something was up with her brother, but decided that she'd really rather not know. She only hoped he hadn't be hanging out with crypto bros.
"Say, Sis, can I ask you a dumb question?"
"No, but it never stopped you before," She grumbled in reply.
"How do you feel about our names? Do you... feel like a Jon?"
"What kind of question is that? It's my name, isn't it?" Zoe rolled her eyes.
Jon raised a brow in thought. "Yeah, I guess most people don't think all that much about their names. A name is a name afterall. Anyway, I'm heading to Karyn's. I have to help her with... her... homework or something. Bye." He zips toward the door.
"You don't have to make up lies to see your friend. She's your friend, dipshit," shouted the girl through a mouthful of cereal. Jon, however, was already out the door.
The sun was shining, casting radiant warmth over Jon's cul-de-sac. "I love the weekend," he smiled to himself. Halfway to Karyn's, he noticed a teenage girl who was maybe a few years younger than himself riding a bicycle along the sidewalk. A slight pang of jealousy ricocheted down his spine to his gut. A week earlier, he had managed to completely total his own bike, going down a steep, stoney hill in the woods. He still had the bruises to prove it. If he hadn't, he'd probably already be at Karyn's by now.
"Well, it is a perfect day for a bike ride. And it's not like she'll miss it. Give me that bike!" He said, index finger pointed at the girl. In an instant, the girl was casually walking while he was gliding on two wheels. Maybe it wasn't his style, it was pink afterall, but it was in one piece and the breeze felt great on his skin as he picked up speed. "At least it doesn't have tassles."
After the thrill of having a bike again faded (about when he kicked out his kickstand in front of Karyn's house), he noticed that he didn't just have the girl's bicycle, he was also wearing her helmet, kneepads, and elbowpads. They were a pale pastel yellow, and really wouldn't have been all that girly if it weren't for the pink and white flower stickers stuck all over them. "Huh. That's kinda weird. I didn't ask for those. Maybe they originally came with the bike or something?"
"Hey, Zoe-boy." Karyn called casually from her porch. She fidgeted as she crossed her arms over her new breasts, but, overall, she seemed to be more comfortable than yesterday at the very least.
"Hey Karyn! Eh... what do you think of my wheels?" Asked the boy as he tugged his flowery helmet off and made way to the porch to meet her.
"Cute as ever," she teased. "If I had a little sister, she'd be jealous. You're lucky it's still in one piece after that stunt you pulled going down the hill last week."
Jon smirked. "Yeah, lucky me."
"So, what's up? Did you think of a way to fix me? Because to be honest, I don't think blonde is my look." She was trying to be casual about it, as if it wasn't a big deal, but Jon could sense the frustration behind her words.
"Yes. Maybe," Jon tucked his new helmet under his arm. "Um, I've tested on myself, but I still don't know if it'll work on you. Depends on whether it counts as reverting a wish."
"Tested what?"
"This," Jon pointed at Karyn with his middle finger, ensuring that she would be aware. "Give me that hair!" At once, twin preppy blonde ponytails were hanging from Jon's head and Karyn was left with his much shorter messy brown hair.
"Holy shit, Zoe! You've... swapped our hair?" Karyn runs her hands through the thatch of brown on her head.
"Yep! And no one will notice anything different, unless we tell them so." Jon grins. "Nice helmet hair."
She ignores his remark. "So If you gave me the same ability, I could have any hair and any boobs I want..."
"Or we could use the stone to give someone else your old hair and boobs and then just swap 'em back to you!"
Karyn pauses. "Do you really have to flip people off to use the power?"
"Oh, um, the finger I use determines the awareness of other people. If I point with my pinky, everyone is aware. If I point with my middle, only me and whoever I'm trading with is aware. Otherwise, by default, everyone but me will think we've always been like this."
"Right. Okay. And it can be easily reversed?"
"Uh huh. You can have it back."
Karyn jumped as she felt the weight of the twin ponytails suddenly reappear on her head.
"Ta-da," said Jon, with a little theatrical hand wave.
"Y'know, this is a surprisingly well-thought out power. I'm impressed. So, you gonna give the power to me too?"
Jon nods in agreement. "Okay, let me think... it was something like this: I wish that when Karyn says the phrase 'Give me', anything following this phrase until the conclusion of the sentence she will receive from the person she is pointing her finger at, and the other person will recieve the equatable thing of Karyn's in return."
"Alright, what was the next part? I... wish that when Karyn says the phrase 'you can have it back', the last person she traded with will have what they had before the trade returned to them and that Karyn will have what she had before the trade returned to her.'"
-> Flash! <-
"Okay, I wish that for each of Karyn's trades, everyone, excluding herself, will believe that she and the person she traded with have always had whatever it is they received."
-> Flash! <-
"I wish that if Karyn were to point at someone with only her middle finger, only the person who she is pointing at and Karyn herself will be aware of the trade, and, additionally, that if she points at someone with only her pinkie finger, everyone will be aware of the trade that has taken place."
-> Flash! <-
"Finally, I wish that if Karyn points out exactly what has been traded to or from a person and they are not already aware, they would become aware and immidiately recognize that the trade has occurred."
-> Flash! <-
"And there you go! That's more or less how I phrased it for myself, so you it should hopefully also work for you." Jon slipped the rock back into his pocket.
"More or less?" Karyn frowned.
Jon shrugged. "I mean, I'm pretty sure I hit all the important parts."
"Well, okay. Hold on a sec, I wanna try it out."
"Okay, cool! Just maybe don't use the pinky swap unless you have to. We don't need to cause mass panic."
"Hey, you know me, Zoe. I'm cautious."
