"... at the park." She sighed. "My new parents were showing me off, and I was trying to hold onto it since it was the only thing still that reminded me of my man hood. That's when my pudgy fingers just dropped it! I couldn't do anything but watch it fall and cry..." She drifted off. "...but that was when I was still a baby. Who knows if it's still even there."
"Well, it's a lead, which is better than I've had in a long time." Mary reassured her. She wanted to be a bit more mean but the thief was just too cute to be upset for long. "We'll start there."
"Thank you." She said, somewhat meaningfully. Part of her wanted to still be furious at Mary for the watch, but the other part knew it was her fault for stealing it anyway.
The two walked out and the playdate went off without a hitch. Mary chatted with her husband, trying to make idle conversation while she tried to think about how she would get to the watch. She loved her current life and form, but what really bothered her were the people she messed up without their knowledge.
Her old roommate Ben, for example, was her buddy when she was in college as a guy. Early on when he had bought the watch, it seemed like a funny idea to mess around with people, and Ben was a prime candidate since he could always be turned back right? Mary sighed at how stupid she had been when she was Mark.
Ben was a bit of a slacker compered to how Mary used to be as Mark, but they had still gotten along. Mark decided to try and get Ben into more of a fitness nut like he was, so he had taken him to the Gym so Mark could change him to fit with the local fitness nuts like him. Unfortunately, there happened to be a major fat group trying to loose weight occupying most of the gym, and as such, Ben ballooned to almost 500 pounds.
Turns out, Mark had liked this change better than he thought, because although he was severely overweight, his mindset had changed to match those inside. Ben really wanted to get healthy, and began to work with Mark to bring his weight down. Mary couldn't help but cringe at where Ben was now without her as Mark. Was he out of shape still? Was he trying anymore?
Then there was Mark's friend Betty, who he met in one of his classes at college. Betty was a nice blonde airhead with a good heart, and she hung out in some smaller groups with Mark and other friends a lot. Unfortunately, one night a few of his guy friends and Betty all joined him on a movie night out, and they had decided to only see a movie if everyone agreed.
Since Betty wanted to see a rom-com that nobody else wanted to see, the group was about to decide to leave and go bowling. But, because Mark was so arrogant and unwise with his watch, he decided to just blend Betty with the group, transforming her into Brett, an average guy and buddy of theirs who was thrilled to see the action flick with them.
After that, Mark didn't even stop there with Betty's life. He had decided to keep Betty as Brett for a while just to have an extra person on their ultimate frisbee team, but he later learned from a mutual friend that Betty's old boyfriend George was now a lonely wreck, since Betty never existed and never went out with him.
Mark, in his infinite wisdom, decided the best solution would be to transform George into a woman so that they'd still be dating. He didn't even try to find a group of girls which would be at least close to George's personality, and Mark just blended him with the first group that passed him. George became a busty, but a little chubby, gossip bitch who Mark didn't like much, but at least made Brett happy... especially in bed from what Mark and Brett chatted about.
Mary felt sick to her stomach now. Becoming an adult woman made her so much wiser and smarter. She could not believe how careless and cruel she was back then. Betty was such a sweet girl with unique interests and Mark had made her a generic, unimportant guy for a frisbee game. Then there was the sweetheart George who became a bitchy slut. What's worse, Mary wasn't even sure they were together anymore. If they weren't she would only be able to track down Brett, meaning Georgia had the lowest chance of ever returning to her male self.
Finally, the last change of someone Mary had known as Mark was her own sister, Jen. Jen was his obnoxious older sister, but Mark had never hated her. She could be annoying but at the end of the day they were family. Mark had decided to blend her with a first grade field trip, changing her from a 25 year old adult woman into a first grader, and Mark's younger sister.
Jen was the only one she kept close track of when she transformed, as luckily she had turned into Jen's aunt, and her own mother's sister. Jen was now in fourth grade.... again. According to Mary's sister, or new sister anyway, Jen was doing well but struggling a little bit in the friends department. Mary always felt awful about that one in particular, since she was always kept up to date on how her changes were affecting her life.
"Hey Mary, are you alright baby?" Greg asked concerned, gently placing his hand above hers.
Mary sniffled, realizing she was tearing up a bit. "Oh my, I'm sorry honey." Mary said giving him a kiss. She could never tell Greg about her real past. Even if he didn't think she was crazy, it might ruin their relationship or at least alter it forever. She told him she had some messed up things that happened to her in college, but nothing too specific. Still, he was always so supportive.
"I was just thinking about the past." She admitted.
"Hey now it's alright." Greg said. "Tell you what, let's take Lucy and her new friend somewhere fun, that'd take your mind off it right?" He asked.
Mary realized this was her opportunity. She had her chance to find that watch again and fix everything.
"You know what, sure! Why not?" Mary smiled. "How about the park?" She suggested.
"Great idea." Greg agreed. "Hey kids, who wants to go to the park?" Greg asked Lucy and Hannah. While Lucy seemed happy, Hannah was absolutely beaming.
As Greg drove, Hannah and Lucy practically bounced in their seats. Mary, meanwhile, was working on preparing herself for what she may find. If she did find the watch again, then she'd need to be extremely careful not to ruin everything again. Her goal was to transform everyone that needed to be back to themselves again, and then she would store it deep inside her home, just in case it was ever needed again.
"I guess I should see if I still remember all the functions." She though to herself.
There was the primary mode which simply scanned the users surroundings, and then alter them and reality so that you best fit the people and place you are surrounded by.
The secondary mode was the same as the first, except instead of changing the target to match the surroundings, it changed the people and surroundings to match the user.
The third mode was the one Mark had used often on his friends. It was one in which a separate person was selected, and then they matched the people or environment closest to them. The fourth was also a reverse of this where the environment could match the individual.
There were likely more, but those were the only ones Mary had ever actually investigated for herself. She had it for quite some time, but always figured that she could just look into it more later. It was only later when she became trapped in her current form that she truly realized how much more she should've investigated, and when she found the other cursed people, she realized how horrible she had acted.
She thought about telling Hannah some of its functions, but eventually figured it'd be safer to only keep her in knowledge of its use. Her mission was clear after all, and Hannah would have to wait a bit before she would find herself back to normal, if ever.
The finally arrived at the park, and the four of them hopped out and quickly began to walk towards the playground. Lucy held her father's hand, talking about something she saw on tv, while Hannah and Mary backed up slightly behind them to chat about where to begin their search.
"So you said over there?" Mary whispered to Hannah, pointing at the dirt next to the playground.
"Yes. I think that's around where it was." Hannah agreed.
"Damn, that's a pretty busy area. Even if it is still there in a bush or buried or something it's a pretty popular spot. Odds are there's a chance that it was stepped on or something... or, maybe if someone did find it, it could be at lost and found!" Mary thought.
"What? It was years ago!" Hannah disagreed. "There's no way it would still be there. I slobbered on it a bit as a baby, so I bet that no one touched it and that it's still buried around there."
"Fine, then we'll split up." Mary said. "I'll tell Greg I have to go to the bathroom and then I'll check at the main office in the center of the park. You stay here and try to dig it up, if it's there that is. Make sure you don't go too crazy or Greg might stop you."
"Got it." Hannah sighed before catching up to Greg and Lucy.
Mary told her lie and headed off towards lost and found, and while Greg chatted with some other parents near the playground, Hannah scouted out where she could look.
"Hey Lucy, I... uh, lost a unicorn toy a long time ago here." Hannah lied.
"Really?!" Lucy yelled. "That's so sad!"
"Yeah I know, could you help me look for it? It's probably in the dirt." Hannah smiled.
"Okay!" Lucy happily agreed as the two girls began to dig.
Hannah only had one goal in mind, return to normal. She had been a girl for years now, and had suffered far too many humiliating events. She'd find that damned watch, return herself tomorrow, and then get HIS revenge on every stupid person she had encountered as Hannah. While her "parents" were on the high end of the list, her first stop would definitely to teach Mary not to treat her like some baby.
Meanwhile, Mary was directed to where the lost and found bin was. She started searching through it desperately. Maybe, just maybe they could find the watch again. If she could, she could fix all the horrible things she had done! She could finally enjoy her life fully, knowing that the past was finally behind her.