Jenny Park, Pondering Past Lives

The buzz from your tablet signalling an incoming video call from Jenny isn't much of a surprise. You'd excused yourself from her wildly re-arranged household when Charlie attempted to make a play for the first showing of Ponyo to be immediately followed by a second showing of Ponyo, leaving Jenny to handle her squabbling sisters. Some could argue that you bailed? But you prefer to see it as giving your friend some space to figure out how her new life works and how she feels about it.

Also, you felt like bailing. You're thrilled that the Park family seems to be much happier now, and Jenny seemed to be down for it? But you're super glad that your experiences with milky magic didn't involve you suddenly gaining six siblings.

By now several hours have passed, and both dinner time and bedtime have presumably come and gone over at her place. And judging from what you saw at the newly formed Park household, those are two things Jenny almost certainly has now.

You're more than happy to dump the magical tome to the other side of your bed and roll over to your belly, feet kicking absently into the air behind you as you tap on Jenny's call. You'd been trying your best to make a bit more sense out of the absurdly esoteric pages that had been revealed to you, but no dice so far. So even if Jenny is calling up to tell you that things went wrong, and her new family are all turning into bears or something, you'd still be grateful for the excuse to take a break.

Hopefully it's not that one, though.

The girl who pops up as the call loads certainly doesn't seem to have been recently attacked by bears, so mark that down as a win. Her long hair is wrapped up in a little towel, still glistening from what must have been a recent shower, and she's changed into a light lavender pajama top. You wryly note the substantial line of cleavage she's showing; original timeline Jennifer Park certainly wore tight clothing, but to your recollection never showed cleavage. Can't let that go unremarked. "Hey! Are you calling to give me a little late night show? Because I didn't know we were that kind of friends."

Whatever Jenny was going to say takes a momentary back seat as she blinks at you, then glances down thoughtfully at her pleasantly displayed breasts. "Oh. A bunch of my tops are more revealing now. I hadn't really thought about it, but I guess I used to be a bit self-conscious about having implants. Clearly not an issue anymore, though." She abruptly looks back up, eyebrow cocked as she points down at you. "Anyways, I'm giving you a show? What about you, spooky tits?"

You glance down, and sure, yeah. You neglected to consider that taking this call on your stomach, propped up by your elbows, meant that your overgrown boobs would be all but spilling out of your tank top. Hell, the only reason they aren't totally out is the happy fact that, even with your back arched up, they are still easily big enough to squish against your bed. Awesome. You can only shrug, pressing your arms together to give them a little jiggle as Jenny scoffs. Well at this point, it seems unlikely that she called you up to scream about how awful things are, so it's probably safe to just dive right in. "So hey. Is everything okay over there?"

Jenny raises her eyebrows. "What do you mean? Oh, are you referring to the six people we created?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I was referring to."

Your friend gives an airy shrug, though she can't keep the ghost of a smile from her face. "I mean, they're pretty annoying. But I guess I'll keep them. Besides, we did such a number on Mom that if we magicked away any of her babies she'd probably become spontaneously pregnant with a whole new litter."

"I'm being serious, Jenny. The effects of the spell were so much more involved than I thought they'd be, and honestly? If I was in your shoes, I'm not sure I'd be able to take it all that well."

Jenny takes in your tone and slips into sincere reflection, a light frown of contemplation crossing her face. "....Mom called me 'ladybug'."

You cock your head to one side. "What about it?"

"She used to call me that when I was a kid, before..." Jenny hesitates, then shrugs helplessly. "...I don't know. Before whatever changed in her, and in Dad. I know I was happy back then, but...well, I guess I don't need to tell you that I wasn't all that happy recently."

You frown sadly at that. "Aw, Jenny."

"It's fine. And I mean, like, it's actually fine. She's calling me ladybug again! She never stopped calling me that, now! I know that my parents love me again." Her eyes take on a sardonic cast. "Partially because they've both told me. Like six times. Just as part of going to bed. God, is having good parents sort of annoying?"

You giggle. "Oh for sure. You're in for it now. So many hugs. So many family meals. So. Many. Photo albums."

Jenny sighs theatrically, but can't help giving you a grin. "Well that sucks, but I guess I can hang. I think I even love my brothers and sisters." She pauses, considering that. "....Which is probably the dorkiest sentence I've ever said, so let's just keep that to ourselves."

You cross your heart, or more accurately the upper slope of your breasts, in a promise. "So that's it, then? All's well that ends well?"

Your friend pauses, something more clearly on her mind. For a moment it seems like she might just shake her head and move on, but then she resolves herself and meets your eyes. "Not yet. So hey, listen. You said this wasn't the first time you did this? That you'd cast some spells before." You nod, and Jenny continues. "So did you already change history, or reality or whatever? Like we did when we made my family?"

"Um, well, sort of. I mean, yeah."

Jenny narrows her eyes a bit, her image scooting closer. "And whatever it was you changed, I wouldn't notice it right? Like, to me, it would just be as if everything was how it always was. But you know it isn't. Right?"

You nod slowly, a trickle of dread working its way down your spine. Fuck, this is the unrelenting Jennifer Park that you'd been spared from so far, and now she's got every barrel trained on you. "Yes..."

Jenny stares at you for an unbearable, endless moment as you try not to give in to the urge to smash the tablet against the wall in a panic. She lets you squirm for an eternity before she finally deigns to speak. "Ash, I think I need you to tell me what you changed." She quickly cuts you off before you can even try to formulate a response. "And don't say your boobs, okay? I know that wasn't it, so don't bother."

...Wait, she knows that wasn't it? But that absolutely is something that was changed? You...might need to test this out a little. "Well...what if I told you that I used to be a boy?"

Jenny snorts a laugh at that, though her eyes quickly regain their steely tint. "Okay, that's hilarious? But I need you to tell me what you did."

Oh man, this is so wild.

This has to be the reality changing magic at work. Because Jenny is the one person that is fully aware that you can change reality, and she has every reason to be completely suspicious of any of her memories. But it seems as if, even with that knowledge, she's utterly incapable of considering that the things you did in fact change have been changed. Whatever power it is that perfectly molds everyone's memories to their new reality is so potent that even knowing about its existence won't help them see through it. That is pretty fucking spooky.

Jenny apparently takes your moment of introspection as ****, her eyes softening a little. "Look, Ash, I'm your friend, okay? We're best friends. And I saw first hand that whatever these spells are, they really don't always go as planned. So if you changed something, or, er, someone, and it was an accident, that's okay. But you need to tell me, right now."

Oh wow, she definitely has someone particular in mind and you have no idea who. Looks like you had best come up with something plausible that wasn't actually changed directly. Lying to earn your friend's trust isn't wrong, is it? Woof, don't think about it.

"Well, it's sort of embarrassing..." Jenny motions for you to go on, so you sigh and continue. "So okay. Puberty hit me pretty hard. I mean, obviously?" You indicate your overflowing rack, prompting another snort from Jenny. "But it wasn't all so great. I...my skin was really bad. I had super bad ache, like, medical book photos bad. And whenever I was in the sun I would just roast, which made it even worse. So...I changed that."

Jenny processes that for a moment, giving you a once over. "Huh...you have such great skin, though. You've always had great skin."

"Yeah, except I haven't. Yesterday I looked l tried to headbutt a fire ant's nest. Now I'm pretty sure I could star in skin care ads, like, tomorrow if I wanted."

Your friend nods, eyebrows furrowed as she mulls this over. For the record, you'd always had quite nice skin and, even given your pale complexion, weren't all that predisposed to sun burn. Jenny seems to have bought it, though, so you can only give an inward cheer and try not to dwell on how easily that lie came to your lips. "It's so weird. I mean, I can't remember you ever having a zit, or a red mark, or..." She shakes her head. "But yeah, that's sort of the point, isn't it. Scary." She quickly shoots you a bit of side eye. "But that's it? You didn't...change anyone else? Someone we both know?"

Uh, well, your mom, but you are quite certain that's not who she has in mind. "Just you and your family."

"You didn't...make anyone like you or whatever, right?"

"What? No! Jenny, that would be so gross."

Jenny nods at that, relief blooming across her features. "Okay. Okay, good. God, I hope I didn't offend you Ash, it's just...I mean, I trust you, but with all this crazy life changing stuff I - "

You lift a hand in a reassuring gesture. "No, Jenny, I totally get it. This magic stuff is cool and all, but if it hurt our friendship even a little I it wouldn't be worth it." Wow, that's actually true isn't it? "If you ever feel like you can't trust me, I'll throw the book into a goddamn fire. Okay?"

The Asian girl grins, though it briefly falters. "I didn't, um...make fun of you or anything before, right? About your skin?"

Aww, she cares. "You did not, which is crazy because you are such a bitch."

She laughs, the two of you sticking your tongues out at each other. After a moment, a bit of a sly gleam passes her eyes. "So you didn't make anyone be into you. Interesting. Hey, aren't you still messing around with David Wright?"

Uh, the star running back? Wait, you've previously messed around with David Wright? Are you into guys now?! Actually wait, in totally fairness you sort of suspected you were at least a bit into guys even as a boy. Let's just table that mess for now. "Not really, no."

"That's not an answer, but whatever. Well I heard a rumor that you're with Max Butler now, that isn't true is it?"

WHAT. God, you'd forgotten all about your psuedo-friend Max. "No! Definitively no."

Jenny hums, a devious look spreading across her face. "Interesting."

You squint suspiciously at your friend. "What? What are you on about?"

"Oh, nothing~," she singsongs. Her expression turns serious once again, though. "So okay, one more thing. Totally, for sure unrelated. Tomorrow we're gonna induct Isabelle into all of this."

Oh, oh boy. Crap. You hope you aren't turning red but you're quite confident you are. "Um, yeah?"

Jenny nods resolutely. "Yes. She's also my best friend, and she's completely outside of our reality-change immunity bubble, or whatever the fuck. I'm not going to keep doing this if it means I have to always wonder if she's remembering the same past I am. So tomorrow we're going to meet up, and then she can become a milky witch too. Join our whatever, our coven. God that sounds nerdy."

You smile wearily, hoping to cover up your nervousness. "Face it, Jenny. You're sort of a nerd now."

She jauntily flicks you off before waving goodnight and closing the video message. Christ, this was a long fucking day. And apparently tomorrow you're on the hook for meeting up with your crush and convincing her to blast milk out of her adorable little boobs. These are not the problems most high school seniors have to deal with.