Paul decided to risk it all. He needed help if he was gonna figure this thing out, and being a 5 year old little girl wasn't going to help him get around or explain himself. He looked at one switch deeply. He was pretty sure it was the same one he had flipped before, though when he thought of himself as "Paula" he wasn't paying too close attention.
"Please please please." He whispered, flicking the switch.
The awareness shifted from "User aware" to "User and previous user aware."
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Emile was pissed. That stupid sister of his was always bothering him. Whenever he had friends over or was trying to do something fun Paula would barge in and mess it all up. He didn't even care that he messed the picture up... right? So what, his mom wasn't actually upset she was obviously just faking it to get on his bad side.
"Paula, that stupid little kid." He groaned, fixing another chain onto his dirt bike. "Maybe one of these days I'll tell her she was an accident or some... some.... woah." He said slightly slurred, dropping the chain suddenly.
His head spun and spun as all her old memories flooded her mind. Her? Wasn't he a guy? "No, no I'm not some girl, I'm... I'm Emily.... Oh God I'm Emily!" Emily gasped aloud, finally realizing who she really was. She looked down, and saw the skinny male body. She lifted up her pants just to confirm and cringed.
"I'm a boy all right. What happened? I thought Me and Rick agreed we weren't't gonna use it..." She thought, remembering back through all the changes to reality until she recalled where it all started. "It came from my room!" She said aloud. "Shit, Mom or Dad must've found it and changed us... and freaking turned the awareness off. Crap! I gotta find that thing before I'm unaware again!" She realized, running inside the house.
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Paul stood in the middle of the room, bracing for impact. After a few moments, he realized his memories were all still intact. His body was still that of fa little girl, but at least he still recalled the truth.
"Shoot." He whispered. "Just doing that once was crazy stressful, and I don't even know if it did anything!" He sighed.
Just then, the door opened to the back, and Emile came walking inside. Paul was confused. Emile wasn't walking right, but was walking rather girly with a sway in his hips. Paul's eyes shot wide. "Oh please be Emily please be Emily." He internally hoped just as Emile turned to see Paul with the camera.
"Um, hey... sis." Emily forced herself to say. "Could you, uh, hand that over to me? It's um, more dangerous than you know." She tried to explain.
"Phew." Paul sighed in relief. "Emily it's me, your father." Paul said as seriously as he could with his squeaky voice.
"Oh my god Daddy thank goodness you actually remember." Emily gasped, kneeling down to greet him at eye level.
"Yeah, I remember, but I don't have all the details. For example, why am I a stupid head little girl!" He yelled.
"Stupid head? Oh, let me guess, your body won't let you curse?" Emily guessed.
"Among other things, like reading." He growled. "You brought this home the other night from that garage sale down the block right? Now, care to explain?"
"Okay, well this is gonna be hard to believe..." She began.
Paul just tugged on his pigtails with an unamused gaze.
"Right right sorry. I'll give you the quick version. Me and Rick found this camera and bought it there, but when I took a picture of Rick it changed him, and we pretty much realized that it was too dangerous so we hid it in my room. If you don't know about it, then I'm guessing mom found it and used it, changing us all." She explained.
"And the house too?" He asked.
"Yes, it changes reality so that whatever you become, that's how the world remembers you." She said sadly.
"Oh, great! Just stinking perfect!" Paul growled. "Not only am I a little girl, but you're telling me my old life never existed?!"
"Well for now Daddy! It's gonna be ok now that we're aware and have the camera... though it may take a bit since it's random. Don't tell Rick but I tested the scroller for change options, and found that it will generally give you that choice, but it's no guarantee it will give you others. Like, if I picked male, it would make you male but it might make you 80 or turn you into a dog or something." She explained.
"Well that's horrifying." Paul sneered, imagining himself as a naked animal. "I didn't even know that was an option... I can't read yet in this body."
"Aww, that's cute." Emily laughed.
"Emily." Paul snapped, only making Emily giggle more which looked odd in a male teens' body.
"Sorry Daddy, it's just... you're too cute to take seriously. Your dress is TOTALLY adorable." She laughed, tugging on his dress.
"Look, let's just find Rick and your mother and fix this mess ok!" Paula yelled as his face turned red with embarrassment.
"Okay okay." Emily conceded. "But we should find them first if we're gonna make them aware. We don't want them slipping in the shower or falling off the toilet or something."
"Wait, turn me back first!" Paul demanded.
"What? Why? Shouldn't we all discuss the best way to turn everyone back?" Emily asked.
"I don't want your mother to see me like this!" He blushed.
"Dad, she's gonna get memories of being your father too, it's not like we can avoid this!" Emily countered.
"Fine, let's just get it over with." He replied, walking ahead of her as both went up the stairs.
They didn't make it too far up before they heard something coming from the master bedroom. Both of them looked at each other before continuing along. Paul's heart hit his tiny stomach as he suddenly recognized the noises. Inside there were grunts mixed with the squeaking of a bed. Two voices could barely be made out inside.
"Yeah baby, you like that?" Oliver asked.
"God baby, harder!" Rebecca moaned as the two went at it within.
"I'm gonna kill him." Paul blankly stated as he marched towards their door.
"No. No Daddy wait, you can't just go in there." Emily whispered as she pulled him back.
Paul tried to struggle free but with the strength of a little girl he was going no where.
"Emily that's my wife he's kissing! I mean, hugging! Argh! You know what I mean!" He complained.
"Well technically Mom's a man, so "he's" the one "hugging" Rick." Emily sighed.
"How can you be ok with this?!" Paul asked.
"I'm not, but it isn't their fault! They only remember this life. To them, they've always been Rebecca and Oliver! But, now we do have a problem. We can't just turn their awareness on right now... can we? Can we even turn it on at all? Could either of them be ok with this?" She wondered aloud.
"Maybe we should just change them real quick first!" Paul suggested. "Then I can get changed and teach that Rick of yours a lesson!" Paul yelled, louder and louder.
"Daddy shush!" She aggressively whispered.
"You hear something honey?" They heard a muffled "Oliver" ask.
"I think I heard Paula. Get out of me quick honey I'll go see if she needs me." They heard the muffled voice of "Rebecca" say.
"If we're gonna do something then nows the time." Paul growled at Emily.