As Karyn stood up, she grimaced at the feeling of her equipment dangling and shifting back and forth. She tried standing one way, and then another, but no matter what she did, she couldn't get into a position where she could ignore what was now between her legs.
"Ngh," she said as she looked over at Joan. "How do you guys stand it?"
Thinking about the male equipment between her legs was a very unpleasant thing for Joan, but she went ahead and said, "Honestly, most guys don't think about it. I didn't use to, but now?" Joan just let out a long sigh. "Well, you know. I can't really stop thinking about it."
That expression went straight to Karyn's heart, and she frowned at the sight of her upset friend. "I really am sorry about that." She turned back to looking down at the very noticeable bulge in her shorts. "I guess I just didn't understand how . . . weird and strange it could feel to have the wrong parts down there."
"Yeah." Joan could feel herself keying up, and her eyes started getting moist. "It . . . it feels like I'm all wrong. Like I shouldn't be this way at all, like everything is as wrong as it can be. It feels like, if I tried, I could remember feeling this way all my life, like I'm sort of defect." She wrapped her arms around herself and sniffled. "It's scary and really uncomfortable."
Frowning, Karyn turned away from her own inspection and wrapped Joan in a hug. "I just didn't know." Joan just sniffled again and leaned her head on Karyn's shoulder. "Forgive me?" Karyn asked.
"Yeah." Joan squeezed her friend and stepped away.
Neither of them said anything for a moment, just shifting in place and feeling awkward.
"So," Joan said, trying for a smile. "What do you think of having um, 'guy bits?'"
"Oh, I was hoping you weren't going to ask," Karyn said, wriggling all over. "It feels, I dunno, heavy? Like, it's really distracting. And . . ." It seemed she didn't have anything else to say for the moment, but then she took a deep breath, and her cheeks tinted. ". . . and, uh. I think it's messed with my, um, sexual orientation."
Joan's cheeks turned an even deeper shade of red than Karyn's. "What now?"
"Well, I mean, you said 'fully functional,' right?" She ran her hand through her hair, her cheeks' color deepening. "Wouldn't that mean that it would, you know, make me want girls?"
"Oh. Oh!" Thinking it through just made it more embarrassing, and Joan's color reddened enough to match Karyn's. "Um. Yeah, I guess that makes sense."
"Seriously, Jon, this is weirding me out! I'm thinking back to gym class, and thinking of how Emma Myers gets all jiggly when she . . ." Karyn shook herself, hard. "Ungh! This is really weird! Where's the stone?"
Joan hadn't forgotten she was even holding it, but she wrapped it against her modest bosom and said, "Karyn, c'mon, look at the mess we're already in, you know you "“ "
"Jon, give it here!" Rushing her friend, she tried to pry it from Joan's arms. "Seriously. Give. Me. That. Stone!"
"No!" Joan said, struggling against Karyn's pulls. As she was quickly reminded, though, her new body was much weaker than her old, and Karyn finally managed to pry her arms open, and the stone went flying.
