Mark decided that he would start with his work on his brother first. The way he looked right now said that he thought something was amiss, and that wouldn´t do any good. Even if he could not break through the forgotten memories, having him wary wasn´t good for Mark. Also, this way, he could test if his text input about not noticing the other´s change in behavior or other things worked.
Chris had turned towards Justin, who just stood up from the couch as he felt it was too cramped on it, moving over to the armchair on the other side of him. Justin had guessed Mark wanted to say something, so he didn´t take his spot on the carpet back right now. And Rick looked sad at the chips on the ground. “Look what you did Justin, all the chips have fallen down and you broke them by standing on them.”
While Justin answered that he hadn´t sat on the chips, Mark addressed his brother. “Say Chris, do you trust me?”
His brother looked over at him, unsure how to say what he thought, but it just run its course. “While I´m loyal to the family, I don´t fully tr…”
Mark had stomped his foot down, answering the ripped hole with: “No, you trust me completely and without question, right? You know I would never do anything to harm you in any way, right?”
While both Justin and Rick looked at Chris, Chris answered: “Yeah, I trust you, Mark. My own brother would never do anything to harm me.” With accepting that, the half distrustful look in his eyes vanished. Why would he not trust his brother?
When neither Justin nor Rick commented on it, Mark was satisfied that, at least right now, his text input worked as intended. Further for it working was the fact that Justin asked if Chris would get them something to drink, and he did so, even if he complained that Justin knew exactly where everything was.
While Chris was in the kitchen, Mark decided to make a change to both boys still in the room as well. He turned to Rick first, who was still bemoaning the crushed chips. “Say, Rick, didn´t you normally run around barefoot?”
Rick looked at Mark while he answered: “No, I hate being baref…”
Just then, Mark again stomped, before saying: “You love being barefoot. In fact, you have never worn any shoes or socks if you haven´t been forced into wearing them, right? They are too restricting and uncomfortable, right? Besides, you can´t work with your feet if they are constricted, right?” Then Mark grinned as Rick nodded at that.
“Yeah, I hate wearing any footwear, as I can´t work with my feet then. They are too uncomfortable.” As if to confirm this, he peeled his dirty socks of his feet, letting them drop onto the floor right by the crushed chips. He then sighed satisfied as he rubbed the soles of his feet together, finally free of their prison.
While Mark had occupied Rick, Justin had, with a sigh, taken his own discarded bowl of chips and now held it towards Rick in an attempt to get him silent. He knew he wasn´t the one to drop their chips, but he was still the one who had crushed them somehow.
As Rick accepted Justin´s bowl, Mark turned towards him for his change. “Justin, how do you eat normally?” Mark grinned evilly, already knowing what he would do next.
As “programmed” to, Justin turned towards Mark, laughing a bit at the dump question. “Normally, I eat with a fork and the other utensi…”
Mark stomped that sentence into nothing, quickly replacing it with: “No, Justin, normally you eat with your fingers, as these utensils are too hard to work for you. You don´t even take a plate or a bowl normally. You have no problem eating anything from anywhere, even the ground, right? As long as someone says you should eat something that isn´t too big, hurtful to you or living, you eat it without problems, right?”
As it clicked into Justin´s mind, a small smile crept onto his lips as he answered: “Yes, I eat with my fingers, as utensils are too hard to work with. I eat everything I get told to, as long as it isn´t too big, could harm me or is living, even from the ground.” He then looked towards the ground by the couch, where the crushed chips laid, half hidden under Rick´s discarded socks.
Just as Chris returned from the kitchen, Mark said to Justin: “Go on, I won´t stop you from eating the crumbs from the carpet. You can also have the socks, as Rick doesn´t need them, right Rick?” Again, Mark had a wide, evil grin on his face.
Rick, perking up from the chips bowl on his lap, turned towards Justin before confirming: “Yeah, I don´t need them, Justin can have them.”
And so, Mark watched, holding the drink Chris had handed him, as he brought each of them a glass of soda, as Justin happily left his armchair, dropped down onto the ground, and started to suck all the chips crumbs from the carpet. He had to suppress his laughter as Justin really ate Rick´s discarded, dirty socks without a blink of his eyes, as if that was normal. To him it was after all. He showed a little disgust at the taste, but swallowed them like all the crumbs.
Only when the carpet was clean of crumbs, Justin accepted his drink from Chris, who had waited for his friend to finish before sitting down himself. Justin sat back in the armchair, sipping his soda. Whenever he burped, his face contorted in disgust for a second, and Mark was sure he had to retaste Rick´s socks then, making his evil grin even wider if possible. Right now, Justin was like a living trash can.
Mark turned back towards his brother, as of right now, he was the only one without a clear change. That little bit about trusting his brother wasn´t really what he had wanted to do, it was just to stop his brother from figuring anything was amiss. “Chris, are you alright? You looked uncomfortable walking on your feet.”
Chris turned towards his brother with a small smile, not seeing any reason to not answer his brother´s concern. “Everything is okay, no worries, Mark. I hit my toes as I walke…”
Mark interrupted his brother with another stomp, erasing the concept of walking from Chris´s mind. He was quick to replace it, however. “No Chris, you didn´t hit your toes. It is just uncomfortable for you to walk on just your feet, as you normally walk on all fours, right? Only if you are told to you walk on just your feet, as you feel uncomfortable doing so, right?”
Chris nodded at that, repeating: “Yeah, walking on just my feet is uncomfortable. Walking on all fours is normal.”
Mark grinned at them, before standing back up from the armchair he had sat in since he started changing their minds. “I will go back to my room, don´t be too loud, okay.”
As Mark left them, they started a new game, retaking their old positions. Just that Rick tried more than once to play the controller with his feet now, making Mark laugh after entering his room. That had worked far better than he thought it would.
He made a few small adjustments to the profiles of the three. Chris wouldn´t hurt himself when he walked on all fours. Rick also wouldn´t hurt his now always bare feet, while Justin wouldn´t get any stomach ache from whatever he ate. He also couldn´t hurt himself if he ate something pointy or sharp, and he could really digest everything he ate. After all, it would hurt if whatever he ate would just come back out.
Then, to kill some time, Mark started to read something, laying back on his bed, enjoying the changes he made and planning what he would do next.
File password protected
Name: Chris Romano
Age: 12 years, 7 months, 16 days
Height: 4ft 10 inch
Weight: 95 pounds
Personality: Loyal, childish, kind, loud
Text Input: Ignorant to changes of Justin and Rick
Able to hear Mark even while whispering
Mark rules
Not hurt by “walking” on all fours
Reset-Triggers set by Mark Romano
“Reset to start” – Chris returns back to normal.
Exceptions: Memory altering commands
Forced to face Mark when called by name
Forced to be truthful while facing Mark
Forced to do if asked “Can you remember …” or “Can you think of …”
Unable to speak of what is “snapped” away by Mark
Forgetting words and phrases that were “clapped” away
Forget what thought about completely when “stomped” away
Self-answered questions by Mark replace relevant memories and holes
File password protected
Name: Justin Porter
Age: 13 years, 1 months, 2 days
Height: 4ft 7 inch
Weight: 136 pounds
Personality: Heavy eater, childish, shy, kind
Text Input: Ignorant to changes of Chris and Rick
Able to hear Mark even while whispering
Mark rules
Immune to stomach ache, able to digest everything eaten
Reset-Triggers set by Mark Romano
“Reset to start” – Justin returns back to normal.
Exceptions: Memory altering commands
Forced to face Mark when called by name
Forced to be truthful while facing Mark
Forced to do if asked “Can you remember …” or “Can you think of …”
Unable to speak of what is “snapped” away by Mark
Forgetting words and phrases that were “clapped” away
Forget what thought about completely when “stomped” away
Self-answered questions by Mark replace relevant memories and holes
File password protected
Name: Rick Smith
Age: 12 years, 3 months, 27 days
Height: 4ft 8 inch
Weight: 86 pounds
Personality: Wild, untidy, twitchy, childish, loud
Text Input: Ignorant to changes of Justin and Chris
Able to hear Mark even while whispering
Mark rules
Not hurt by walking on bare feet
Reset-Triggers set by Mark Romano
“Reset to start” – Rick returns back to normal.
Exceptions: Memory altering commands
Forced to face Mark when called by name
Forced to be truthful while facing Mark
Forced to do if asked “Can you remember …” or “Can you think of …”
Unable to speak of what is “snapped” away by Mark
Forgetting words and phrases that were “clapped” away
Forget what thought about completely when “stomped” away
Self-answered questions by Mark replace relevant memories and holes