Karyn was trying to decide if she should honk the horn or not when Jon came out. She bit back a big grin. Oh, he must be hating this, she thought. He was walking stiffly, as if unsure about his footing. The platforms he was wearing were excessive. The slim black purse that he had gotten from Melissa wasn’t too out of place, although it certainly didn’t go with it. Exactly why would be hard to explain. It was the wrong sort of black, and that was just a thing you learned.
Jon opened the door and handed the purse to Karyn, who immediately opened it to retrieve the stone. She had the words basically figured out, and now, with the stone, they could stick it to Sarah by attending her party. Somehow. Somehow that made sense. Karyn had lost the details a little bit, but the immediate objective was clear enough. She could make the wish while driving to the party.
Except that Jon was just sort of standing with the door open.
“Problems, Jon-boy?” Karyn asked, a little impatient as her focus was on the wording she was trying to keep straight in her head.
“I, uh, don’t really know how to get into the car. In a dress like this, I mean.”
Before she could help herself, Karyn laughed and said, “If you’re going to keep getting dressed like this, you’re going to need to learn how to sit and stand like a lady.” It was meant to be a tease, but the words slipped out before she realized it. And then she was on automatic, opening the car door and walking around to help, her hand glowing. “Here, copy off of me.”
Jon, helpless, took her hand, and the knowledge. He smoothed out the skirts, sat down, then swung his legs over as Karyn got back in the car. They were silent, in contrast to the squeal of the belt that was always there to announce that Karyn was getting into gear.
“Jon, I-”
“Nope, don’t want to talk about it.”
She glanced over to him. He was sitting primly, with his knees together. Very lady-like. She sighed.
“...fine. Let me tell you about the idea. We could just use your stone, or the copy power, to get you into a different costume. But those have risks, might not work, and they don’t really solve the problem. Imagine we had gotten into the party, and then your costume changed to…” she gestured towards him, “It wouldn’t matter that we had come in costume, because no one would remember.
“So, the fix that we wish up has to be ongoing. Whenever you change, I have to change with it. I was thinking a bracelet or something that’s connected to you. You change, then I change to match. And when the night’s over, I take it off and it stops.”
Jon thought it over for a second. “That… sounds like it might work? I don’t see why it wouldn’t.”
“Okay.” Karyn came to a stop at the light, then pulled out the wishing stone from the top of Jon’s purse. “I wish that Jon had a magical bracelet that was connected to his changes, such that anytime he changed, the person wearing the bracelet would also change, but in a way that made them more of a complementary match for Jon, as per the terms of the invitation.”
The stone did its thing, and Jon was suddenly wearing a bracelet. It was made of six silver squares, linked together by small bits of chain. Each of the faces looked intricately carved, with geometric patterns and strange symbolic characters. Jon’s grandfather had indicated some Incan origin and the bracelet reflected that, for sure. It hung loose on Jon’s wrist, easy to take off.
“Hey, here’s a question.” Jon suddenly said as he looked at it. “What if you have this on, and then suddenly we’re both, I don't know, made nudists or something.” Karyn laughed. “Okay, not a great example, it was just the first thing I thought of. But you know, someone who doesn’t wear bracelets. If the magic made the bracelet go away…”
Karyn sobered up. “You’re right, that would be a problem. An unlikely problem, but it would be a really big problem that would be hard to solve if we didn’t nip it in the bud right now.” She glanced over at his arm. “Also, that’s a really loud bracelet. Most of the time, it’s not going to go with whatever outfit, and people asking about it, or trying to steal it, would be troublesome. I got this.”
“I wish that the bracelet would stick around, no matter the changes made, and it would always look like a natural part of whatever outfit the wearer has on, so no one would pay much attention to it.” There, she thought, that should deal with all of that. She looked back over to Jon. The bracelet no longer looked big and gaudy. It’s not like it had changed at all, it just sort of accentuated the vampire queen look, rather than clashing against it. It didn’t stand out at all and if Karyn wasn’t specifically looking for it, she probably wouldn’t have given it a second thought.
“Time to see what it looks like on you.” Jon said, pulling the bracelet off and handing it to her. She set it down in the console between them. He looked at her quizzically.
“We’ll check out the other part as soon as we park.” She promised.
Finding parking was a minor ordeal, but they managed. Karyn helped Jon out of the car, then took a second to take off a few of her favorite parts of the outfit. The pants were just a pair of jeans, but the coat and the gloves had taken her time and effort to get just right. Hat and shoes added to the look, and it would be sad if those were also overwritten. They didn’t really know how to return an item copied over back to its original state. The cheer outfit was still in Jon’s closet, arbitrarily labeled a “Monday Problem.”
Karyn took a deep breath. “Alright, here it goes.” She closed her eyes and put the bracelet on. She felt it constrict around her wrist a little, as if the chains were shortening. It didn’t get tight, but it felt secure, like it wouldn’t just fall off accidentally.
There was a pause, and Jon asked “Why didn’t that work?”
She opened her eyes and looked down at her black t-shirt. She held up the wrist with the bracelet and gave it a shake. It just sat there. She bit her lip and looked at Jon, who suddenly looked worried.
“I was afraid of this, Jon. But the wish wasn’t that the person with the bracelet would be matching, but that they would change when you change. So…”
“No. No! Nooo!” Jon cried putting a bit of melodrama into it. He didn’t want to change, obviously, but Karyn could see his eyes kept being drawn to the door and the party within. He wanted to go, and he knew that this would be the last thing in the way.
“If I could make a suggestion?” She said, “Your face is a bit plain. If you had a bit of makeup on, well, it would make it look more intentional and less likely that someone else will comment.”
“Fine. Fine. This is for the party. I can do this for the party. And it’s my choice. Karyn, what sort of makeup should I do?”
“Well, I think you can get by with it being understated, and it will show up more distinctly, because you don’t normally wear makeup. You just need a bit around the eyes, and then paint your lips. Here, copy off mine.” Karyn hadn’t done much makeup. She tended to do a bit of a light hand. But the small bit of eye shadow and lipstick looked like a floating mask as she turned it to his face and applied it. She had time to think that he looked better, as if his look was intentional, before the bracelet on her wrist glowed.
In a moment, the transformation was done. She looked down. It was no longer a plain black t-shirt, but a velvet doublet, her pants were immaculate with a fine crease, and a blood red cravat at her throat accented the whole gothic look. Posing and trying to get a glance in the wing mirror, she looked like a noble vampire lord. She held out an arm to Jon, who took it, amused. “Well, shall we make our presence known?” She said, trying to make her voice deep and foreboding.
“Yes, let’s.” Jon said, in his normal voice, no falsetto. It wasn’t really going with the bit, but you couldn’t really blame him. He held up the stone. “I wish this stone was teleported to my room.” It vanished in a magical sparkle, and they headed to the party.
