(NOTE: Since no father is mentioned up till this point, I'm assuming that in this branch, he's either dead OR Jon's mom is a single mother. Now...on with the story...which I'm enjoying writing very much. More of a long process of mental change than anything else. Also, as she hasn't been named in this particular thread before, I'm just going to call Jon's mom 'Carol' when I have to use her name.)
(also, this is a LONG post ;>)
"That's a nice lady, She-Ra."
Karyn sat in Jon's room. A cramped 15X10 space with a bed, dressed, clothes hamper, desk and chair. The floor had been picked-up, and the hamper emptied...but it was already starting to smell musty and unlived in. Jon's walls were festooned with posters for bands, books, movies and TV shows he liked.
Despite the fact that an (ugh) MAN had lived here...Jonnie was intrigued.
"Hey, Weezer! That's a cool band. They're no Indigo Girls, but they're cool. Oh, what's that?"
Karyn looked at the poster of an wolf-mounted elf, leading a group if similarly equipped elves through a forest.
"That's for an old comic book, called Elf Quest. Do you think you'd like it?"
"Sure, it looks cool. The black chick's AWESOME lookin', ain't she?"
"Sure is...here, wanna read it?"
Karyn handed her a still glossy - if old and battered - trade paperback of the first 7 issues. It had been printed in 1982, and was Jon's favorite present as a boy. He'd been 12 when his grandpa had sent that and the following two collections to him, with a note written inside the cover - "Looks like fun, Jon. Enjoy!"
She watched as Jonnie opened the book, and puzzled over the words...but soon just lost herself in the pictures. Karyn looked away for a bit (hoping to find the stone...which she realized might have been left in his pants pocket and thrown away by his mom while washing his clothes.), then asked as Jonnie finished the book "So, Jon...do they stay in Sorrows End? I haven't read the second book."
That was a lie. She knew exactly what happened. She was just experimenting. Perhaps here - in a familiar setting and surrounded by known objects he had an emotional attachment to - he might just...
"Naw, this bunch'a humans wander in an' they go off lookin' fer the old forest, an Leetah comes with'em...an' there's a mountain...an' eagles..."
Jonnie seemed to trance out...then look at the other two books. She'd only looked at the pictures from the first book...and yet...
"How...how do I know what's gonna happen in th' nex' books...cause I never read...but, my grandpa gave me...I love these books...!"
Jonnie started to cry, pressing her hands against her face. Karyn ran to her, soothing her with soft words. "Shh, baby...it's going to be alright, Jon. I know you're confused, but we'll get you through this..."
"How can I know how th' story ends, Karyn? I never read th' damn thing! I..I never been in this room before! An I...I..."
Jonnie sniffed and wiped his eyes, unable to understand why this room seemed so...so known. She'd never been here...but it was her...no, his room!"
Jonnie cupped her big breasts - thought about the lingerie store - and remembered.
"I...Karyn, I was jus' walkin' in th' mall when I jus'...fell down, an grew these big tits an' big butt an' my hair...an' Suzie took me from some guys who were all pawin' me an' shit. An' she...took me home...an took care of me...an loved me..."
"She all but abducted you, Jon. After you called me from the store, I knew from my caller ID where you'd been, but she kept telling me she'd taken you home, and then that you'd run away and she didn't know where you were. She's been keeping me from talking to you, and using you like a pet..."
Jon shook her head, dismissing that idea. "Tha's not all it was, Karyn. Suzie really loves me, an' she wants to protect me from the world. She's wrong about some stuff, but she's a way nice person. She jus'...don't like guys. She's been more cool to me than anythin' else, and she's made me feel loved. If she hadn't taken me in, those guys might'a raped me or somethin' like that. An' I didn't know nothin' right at th' start. She's not a bad person, Karyn. Don' say that 'bout her, 'kay?"
Karyn looked into Jonnie's eyes, and saw a confused and muddled version of her best friend staring out at her. It was Jon again, but a Jon whose IQ had been cut in half somehow. The story implied that someone else must have wished this on him. Maybe someone who'd stolen the stone from him or...
"Jon?"
They both looked at the door, and saw Jon's mother with tears in her eyes. She held a tray with two glasses of iced tea, and a plate of cookies.
"I was coming to bring you some tea...and heard most of what was said. I...Jon, is that really you? Your face...your features are so much like his..."
Jon disentangled herself from Karyn, and ran to his mom. He stopped just before reaching her, and Jon's mom set the tray down. They looked at each other, before she held her arms out to her transformed son. Jon started to cry, and she held him/her in her arms, soothing and whispering that everything was going to be alright. It was plain that she didn't understand how this could be possible, but she DID believe that this girl was her son.
Karyn told her about the magic stone that his grandfather had given him, and though at first just listening quietly, she suddenly said ":OH, MY GOD! I...I think I know what happened! I..."
She reached around Jon's bed, and slipped a loose panel out of place...removing the stone and a handful of Jon's stroke mags.
The stone she held was obviously the same. A flat, rounded, slightly metallic piece of what might have been hematite. Reddish hue and about an inch across, it didn't look like much. Karyn knew better.
"I found it...and these on the day Jon vanished. I was gathering up his clothes, and saw this panel out of place. I reached in - fearing I might find drugs - and was actually relived to find...these. I didn't know what the stone did...and then you called Karyn, and I said something...I don't know. But I remember looking at...these..."
She held up an old, much viewed copy of "Score" magazine. On the cover, a girl with a body almost exactly like Jon's current one (except that Jon was now very tan and in better shape) posed, her giant tits on display. A blurb on the cover announced her as "Maxi Mounds".
"...and I said something...like 'Jon should have to carry around a pair of tits like that.', because men never realize how heavy and uncomfortable they must be like to..."
"Did you say something more along the lines of "I wish Jon had tits like these." or something like that? You have to say I wish for it to work."
Jon's mom nodded, wiping away another tear. "That...sounds right. Oh, I didn't know, Johnny. I didn't know that it would happen. It's just that boys never think of things like that, and I...I was just..."
Jon hugged his/her mother again, saying "I un'er stan', mom. It's not your fault. Guys are pigs, anyway. I'm glad I ain't one anymore."
"Oh, you don't mean that baby."
"Yes I do. I wanna be with you, but I don' wanna be Jon no more. I wanna be Jonnie, now."
She stroked Jonnie's hair, and said "Oh, why is she talking like that, Karyn? She sounds like an...idiot. Oh, no! I also said something about how women who looked like that were always bimbos! I...I did all this to my son! I ruined you, Jon! Oh, I'm so sorry!"
Jon's mom was crying again, and Jonnie was becoming agitated by her inability to calm her. Jonnie wanted to tell her again that she was glad she wasn't this guy Jon anymore, but she could tell that had hurt her last time. Instead, she just let herself be held and rocked back and forth by this woman who she still only half remembered.
Karyn was looking at the stone, not sure what to do. The big mystery was solved, but that meant little right now. They had the stone, they had Jon, but...
"The stone can't make a wish that totally contradicts a previous wish. We can't just wish Jon back..."
"I don' wanna be a guy again, Karyn."
"I know, Jon...Jonnie. And I don't think I can make you a guy again, without doing something freaky, like wishing you'd had gender reassignment surgery or something like that, but that wouldn't make you a REAL guy, just a woman with some guy parts..."
"I DON' WANNA BE A GUY AGAIN!" Jonnie shouted this time, getting frustrated that her opinions were being ignored. Jon's mother ran her hand down Jon's long, blond hair, and soothed her into quiet again.
"If she doesn't want to go back, then...it's not right to just do it against her will. I...I can get used to having Jon like this, Karyn. I'm just glad to have my son back. Even if she'll be my daughter now."
Jonnie smiled, and Karyn suddenly brightened.
"That's not a contradictory wish! Okay, I wish that Jonnie was Carols daughter, replacing Jon in history, and the memories of everyone outside of this room."
The change...was immediate and somewhat shocking. They all blinked, and Jon's room suddenly became Jonnie's room, with a brighter, girlier appearance. The room was straight and tidy (Sue had taught Jonnie to be a bit of a neat freak), and his clothes became her clothes - a mixed bag of revealing garments and lingerie for around the house, but also nice (though very feminine) clothes for everyday. Jon's poster for Weezer stayed, but the Primus poster changed to a painstakingly assembled Indigo Girls collage. His stroke books remained, but now a vibrator joined them in her secret hiding place.
Jonnie looked around, at a collection of stuffed Unicorns that she'd never had, a make-up table she'd never used, and an adjoining bathroom that hadn't been there before, and squealed "Oh, Karyn! It's jus' so...awesome! I mean, it's so me, y' know?"
"Yeah..." Karyn said, but still felt as if she were killing Jon. But what else could be done? Jon was Jonnie now, and at least Jonnie could be with her mother. Heck, she and Jonnie could be friends just like she and Jon were. Eventually, she'd grow used to Jonnie and her ways...
...which made her think about something.
She looked for Jon's once proudly maintained scrapbook of report cards and awards, and saw...nothing much. It was still here, but now...it spoke of a lifetime of flunking and summer school, finally resulting in her still being in 9th grade, while Karyn was about to graduate 12th. For what it was worth, Jonnie was still an airhead. And that was depressing.
"Okay, let's try something else."
"Don' change me no more, Karyn. I'm gonna be fine."
Jon's mother nodded, saying "I'm just glad she's back, Karyn. You don't have to do anything else."
"But I DO, Carol! Jon's back, but she's still a bimbo. I want to at least try to fix that. I mean, look at this..." she handed the book to Carol, and Jon's mom looked depressed as she flipped through what had once been stellar marks in difficult classes. The history of a boy who was obviously college bound, and with a scholarship to send him there.
"If I don't try, what's Jonnie going to do with her life? Jonnie, don't you want to READ that book, as opposed to just look at the pictures?"
Jonnie looked at the Elf Quest book again, then nodded. "Yeah, Karyn. I guess I do. I...don' wanna be dumb no more. I'm jus' afraid that I ain't gonna be me no more, y'know? That make any sense?"
"Yes, it does. You've only just remembered who you had been, and that's in conflict with who you are now. As such, you're nervous of any more tampering. Well...I'll tell you that I don't think I can do much to fix you, but I might be able to help you somewhat. Trust me?"
Jonnie nodded.
Kary held the rock tightly.
"I wish that Jonnie's apparent stupidity was more an affectation than anything else, and that she just never applied herself in school. I wish that Jonnie would now be more willing to apply herself to her studies, and that she could read and write up to her grades average level."
The changes were more subtle, with the papers and report cards not changing much (still repeating the 9th grade), but now showing comments like "You can do better than this, Jonnie" and "Has potential, but needs to apply herself." One obvious change to the room was the return of his comic collection, though it was now heavy with issues of "Betty and Veronica", "Strangers in Paradise", "Xena, Warrior Princes" and a full run of the post-Crisis "Wonder Woman" replacing all his "Lobo", "Wolverine" and "Spawn" titles. His "X-Men" were unchanged.
Jonnie opened the book in her hands, and suddenly...she could read again.
"I...I can read! Oh, Karyn...I don't know how to thank you! You're the best friend I've ever had!"
She still sounded a little lilting and bimboish, but no where near how she'd been before. She spoke clearly, and her words no longer just rippled and ran on like a train wreck. She sounded like any average school girl...which was better than nothing.
"Well, I'm going to leave you here then, Jonnie. I'm glad you're back...even if we can't be...you know, boyfriend and girlfriend anymore."
Jonnie stood and hugged Karyn, slipping an arm around her waist and squeezing her close. "Heck, I like girls, Karyn. We can still be girlfriends..and I mean that just how it sounds. I'm totally into chicks, not guys."
Karyn smiled, but stepped away. "Thanks, but...I'm not. I'll be glad to be your friend, Jonnie...but not your lover. I'll call you tomorrow, okay? And, if it's all the same...I think I should get rid of this stone. It's done too much damage as it is. I'll smash it...crush it...whatever it takes to destroy it."
"Okay...bye then, Karyn." Jonnie mumbled. She looked at her mom, and sighed. She gotten her life back, but she'd lost her girlfriend. That...really hurt worse than she'd expected it to. Despite all the time she'd spent with Sue during the last two months, she still loved Karyn more. She thought about Sue, and decided that she'd call her at work tomorrow. Goddess willing (she'd kept her Wiccan leanings), she'd still remember her. She wasn't sure, as Sue was outside the room and thus she'd had her memories changed by the rock too. Had the time they'd spent together happened now? Was it all blanked out of existence? They should call the police and see if they had Jonnie listed as a Missing Person, or if in this corrected reality Jonnie hadn't disappeared at all.
But that was later. Right now, she just wanted to be with her mother and sleep in her room. No mater that they couldn't be together as Jon had always wished, and Jonnie wanted as well, she knew Karyn had struggled hard to find her, going to lengths that few people would have ever been willing. It just felt wrong that, after all that...they couldn't be together.
(meanwhile)
Karyn was driving home, thinking much the same thoughts as Jonnie was. It was unfair that...after all that searching and struggling to find Jon...she and he (now she) were still apart. Jon had always wanted to take their friendship to the 'next level', but she'd shied away from that commitment. She thought that dating - boyfriend and girlfriend as opposed to just friends - would ruin something special she'd had with him, and now...that door was closed. She'd always thought of girl-on-girl as gross and unnatural, and though she knew it was really Jon in there...she just couldn't do it. It bothered her on a primal level. It was the major reason she'd taken the stone with her. She did intent on destroying it, but she was mostly afraid that Jonnie would wish her into a dyke or something like that.
It's shallow to think like that. She KNEW it was shallow. But...what else could she do?
She stopped at her house, and walked to her door, her thoughts a mixed bag of questions and troubles. As she slipped her key into the lock...Sue Golden stepped out of the shadows behind her and slipped a knife beneath her chin, whispering "Let's go inside, little miss. No sass or smart talk from you, or I'll spill your blood on the floor with no more regret than crushing a fly."
Karyn was frozen in fear, never having suspected that the bitch Sue Golden had ever had such a cold streak in her. Karyn unlocked the door, and they stepped inside. Sue slipped her hand into Karyn's pocket, and drew out the magic stone...as if she knew right where it was.
"I'm a witch, you stupid CUNT! I figured out what Jonnie was and who you were long ago. I took pity on the poor girl, and I gave her a place to stay. The world has enough men clogging it, and Jonnie was so sweet...and innocent..."
She started to cry, and Karyn slid her phone out of her pocket.
"But you COULDN'T STAY AWAY! You just had to get INVOLVED! You just couldn't let us be happy...and you took my Jonnie away from me...
Karyn wondered how Sue could still remember that Jonnie was ever any different, but didn't have time for that now. Instead, she quietly thumbed through the buttons by memory, calling Jons (now Jonnies) home.
"You took her from me, you bitch..." Sue was crying now "...and you had no right to. She was happy with me. We were happy together. And you...had...to...fuck it all UP!"
"Miss Giolden, how can you know what...?"
Sue raised the stone, saying loudly "I wish that for the next five-minutes, you had no mouth!"
Karyn's mouth...vanished! Not just the opening, but everything! Her lungs connected to her nose, but her throat...led nowhere! From the nose to the chin, a smooth and lipless facade was present. Inside, she had no teeth...tongue...jaw hinge. She had no mouth...period.
She started to panic, and Sue said "I wish you'd calm down."
She did.
Karyn quietly slipped the phone into her pocket again, hoping that Jonnie or Carol had sense enough to just listen, and guess what was happening. Perhaps someone would get here in time to keep this crazy woman from killing her, or at least be able to get the stone from her and unwish whatever was done to her. It was clear that Sue Golden knew about the stone, AND knew it's limitations. She'd wished that she have no mouth for five minutes, so she must know that any wishes she made would be permanent. All in all, that meant she probably didn't intend on killing her outright. Perhaps she could talk her down...once the five-minutes were up.
How did she know about the stone? How did she know that she'd had it in her pocket, or what it's abilities were? And did she say she was a witch? That was crazy!
"I'm not crazy, Karyn. I am a witch, though not a very powerful one. I can read surface thoughts of people I'm standing close to, and I have a talisman around my neck that makes me immune to most mind-effecting magics. Thus, I remember what you'd done with Jonnie. I also saw your thought about this stone, and decided I'd test it out. It works pretty well, I think. Now...for screwing-up my life and stealing my dream girl from me...I wish..."
She pointed the hand holding the stone at Karyn, and Karyn...
