For the first time Ed felt he knew his reality. He stared at the Chrinovac, intending to make some changes to his new reality.
His brother Jeff sat up and looked over at him. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"Nothing... just messing around...," Ed lied to Jeff. Ed wasn't paying attention as he clicked around their profiles.
When he looked down he had saw that the randomize option had been selected, as well as the awareness setting turned off. Before he could change it the Chronivac had already began to change them and the reality around them again.
His body became that of a 18 year old male, 5'9, 120 pounds, with short dark brown hair. He was still slender, but also very toned. The room around him changed from a typical American midwest suburban home, to one that was much older and built for a more tropical climate. This was the Philippines not the USA. He was sitting on a couch in the living room of a very old rickety looking house. The TV was an old one, with lots of scratches and stains on the screen from who knew how many years of use. He could see the channels changing as the new reality took hold. A news channel came on, and he recognized the language as Filipino. Still disoriented Ed could feel his former memories of his life as Ed slipping away being replaced with new ones. He tried to keep remembering his life as an American teenager but it was slipping away.
He was getting new memories as he remembered his life as Ejay, a closeted gay Filipino and aspiring photographer. He tried to remember everything about his high school life but it was too late, the new life had taken over and the new memories were taking hold.
Ejay opened his eyes and stared around his new reality.
He could no longer remember what he was thinking about a few minutes ago. He returned his attention back to his phone as he scrolled through twitter, his feed filled with sexy men, he was active online about his sexuality. He wasn't out in the world, but online through his online accounts he was fully open about being gay.
He scrolled through looking at the pictures of hot men. Some were shirtless and some wore shirts and gave no indication as to their sexuality, but all were buff and handsome. He scrolled down and saw a few of his friends. He noticed an app notification popped up on his phone. It was for some strange app called the "Chronivac". As he pulled it up he saw that it said randomization was complete. Ejay didn't really understand what that meant, but he clicked the notification anyway.
He opened the app, and saw a screen full of 'recently scanned profiles'
His name was top on the list.
The profile showed the following:
Name: Ejay Meraco
Age: 18 yeas old
Height: 5'9
Weight: 120 lbs
Sexuality: Gay
Nationality: Filipino
Location: Manila, Philippines
Language: Filipino
Education: Highschool Graduate
Occupation: Free lance photographer, aspiring social media influencer
Ejay was amazed and scared at how accurate his profile was.
As he looked at the other profiles, there was a message saying location of targets had changed and are no longer in range.
One was named Danilo and the other was Steven. Their location data said they were only a few kilometers away from his location.
Ejay could not believe his good fortune. He had two choices!
He could go find Danilo or Steven.
He decided to...
Ejay walked out the door and down the street in the direction of the closest target. Ejay decided to try to find Danilo, he walked down the streets of Manila, noticing all the familiar sites he had seen his whole life living in the Philippines.
He found a beer vendor on the side of the street, there was a small stand with a sign that said "Beer Here" written on cardboard. He went near the cart and found a large, burly man with a beer gut taking a smoke break.
"Excuse me."
The man grunted and put out the cigarette. "Yes?"
"Do you know where Danilo is?"
The man squinted at Ejay. "Is that the kid who gets in trouble with the cops all the time?"
"Yea that is him." Ejay said guessing it was the right Danilo.
The man chuckled. "Yeah, I guess. He's over there at the corner of the street. He's the one playing basketball."
"Thanks."
Ejay went over to where the man was pointing and noticed a basketball court. He wandered over and saw several young guys playing basketball. He looked down on his phone, the 'Chronivac' app allowed Danilo's profile to open, with the description Ejay was able to know which of the young guys was Danilo.
Danilo according to his profile, he was 26 years old, worked as a mechanic at a near by garage. Ejay watched as he played basketball. Danilo was bigger than him in size, more muscular, but not very toned. He wore a faded blue basketball shorts and a white tank top. He still looked like he could be around Ejay's age despite being 26.
Ejay watched him play some more, and noticed more about Danilo's body. While he was in better shape than most, his body still had the look of someone who spent most of his time in a garage or other kinds of jobs that did not require a ton of physical activity. His arms looked thick and powerful, but there was a lack of definition in his muscles. He had small, yet defined, muscles on his legs. He was not tall, yet he had a stocky build.
Danilo won the game and went to wash his hands at a public rest room. He came out and noticed Ajay.
"Who are you?"
Ejay introduced himself. He told Danilo his name and that he was a photographer who was trying to gain a following on twitter, "I was wondering if I could take some pictures of you for my twitter account..." Ajay said sheepishly.
"Yeah, sure. I guess."
Danilo looked bored. His eyes were narrow as he gazed at Ajay.
Ejay began clicking his camera. He noticed Danilo's expression and stopped. "Sorry, I didn't mean..."
"It's alright. I'm just not really that into it. You can still take pictures but..." Danilo began.
Ejay interrupted, "Yeah, of course. I think I got a good one of you so far. Let me continue taking pictures and you just sit back and relax."
"Yeah. Okay." Danilo made no attempt to play along.
Ejay started taking more pictures and took a few more. He was able to get some really nice ones of Danilo in a variety of different situations. The best one was when Danilo's expression was a neutral one. He didn't look away, but there was no interest or engagement. The picture was sharp with a good angle. Ejay thought to himself how Astig or masculine Danilo looked.
The pictures taken, Ajay said "Thanks, I think that's enough." and handed Danilo a piece of paper with his contact information. "Let me get a copy of these, and I'll send you the download link."
"Sure thing. Send them to my phone." Danilo took the paper and put it in his pocket. "Thanks."
"You're welcome."
Ejay left Danilo and walked back to his house. He opened up the 'Chronivac' app and read Danilo's profile. He was disappointed it said he was straight. He realized he could edit the profile, when he checked Danilo's sexuality. He decided to change it.
He changed it to bisexual and saved the change.
As soon as he made the update, a notification popped up.
"Awareness on or off for 'Danilo'"
He pressed the little blue arrow on the right.
"Awareness off."
The notification disappeared.