Mark decided on leveling the playing field with his next move on Justin. “Say, Justin, how do you hold the controller with your hands?”
Justin turned to look at Mark, crooking his head at him. “Like any normal person would between his fing…”
Mark stomped that idea out of Justin quickly, replying: “No, you can´t hold the controller like that, as your finger are too stiff. It feels to you as if your little and your ring finger are glued together. The same is true for your middle and your index finger. And your thumbs feel like they are glued to the side as well, right? You can never separate them, and if anyone pulled them apart, it’s really painful, right? And it´s the same with your toes, that´s why you don´t wear any footwear yourself, right?”
Justin nodded at him, as his fingers locked themselves in their new positions, effectively reducing Justin´s hands to two “fingers” each. And without his thumbs moving freely, he couldn´t grab anything normally anymore. “Yeah, fingers and toes feel stiff and like they are glued together. Unable to separate them, and if they are forced apart, it´s painful as hell. And I don´t wear any footwear.”
Mark laughed evilly for a bit, suggesting to Justin that he could eat his own socks now. He watched how Justin peeled of his socks before stuffing them inside his mouth, eating them with a light disgust covering his face. Justin then tried to grab the bag of chips, only for it not working. With a huff, he turned around and approached the shreds around Rick, and after a look up towards Rick, who ignored him as he was playing, turned to Mark, question in his eyes.
Mark grinned at him. “I´m sure you can eat the shreds, Justin. How would you ask about it?”
Justin asked, still looking at Mark: “Rick, can I have th…”
Before he could end, however, Mark again stomped, explaining: “But Justin, why do you speak so clearly to ask? Aren´t you normally grunting and oinking between speech to underlay your desire to eat?”
Justin nodded as he accepted that truth, turning towards Rick to ask: Rick *grunt*, can I *oink oink* eat your *oink oink* discar- *grunt* ded shreds *oink oink oink* please?” he even grunted more after finishing the sentence.
Rick didn´t look at Justin, but answered anyway: “Go ahead, I don´t need them.”
And so, Justin happily munched away on the shreds of Rick´s jeans and shirt, oinking in delight between each piece.
That left Mark howling in laughter for a bit. Justin was acting like a real pig already. Or, well, a real pig with some extras. A normal pig wouldn´t eat cloth like him without reason. Getting Justin´s attention again, Mark added: “Justin, whenever I say “Reset to pig” to you, you will return to your current mindset.” While Justin looked confused at Mark for a few seconds, he soon returned to his shreds, seeing no reason to question it.
Four minutes later, Justin squealed in happiness, finishing his shreds just as Rick gave him the controller back. Justin had even more problems working the controller with his “two-fingered” hands than Rick had with his feet, making him also easily matched to Chris fists while playing.
Mark turned to Rick as he laid back on the couch, relaxing. It was clear that while he had enjoyed playing, he was happy to have a short break. Time to disrupt the break. “Say, Rick, is that position really relaxing?”
Rick sighed as his head sunk a bit lower into the pillow while he answered: “Yeah, it is rela...”
Mark, like every time he made a change to them, stomped to interrupt his answer, giving one himself: “No, the way you lay there feels incredible wrong to you. As you like to make acrobatics and such moves, to you it is relaxing to have your head hang upside-down, and raise your feet higher. That´s also why you like to hang upside-down from things, using your legs to hold you up, or have fun walking on your hands, right? And normally you lay with your head hanging over the edge of the couch and your feet up on the backrest, right?”
Rick shook his head as he realized that Mark was right, how he laid right now was just wrong. In a swift motion he turned around on the couch, his feet jumping from the table in front of him up to the backrest, as his head dropped over the edge, hitting lightly against the side of the couch. “Yeah, hanging upside-down is more relaxing” he sighed satisfied at his new position.
Mark decided it was enough for now, only adding again: “Rick, whenever I say “Reset to monkey” to you, you will return to your current mindset.” Rick looked at him, not really understanding what Mark meant. The confusion clearly visible, Mark laughed at his face. Rick closed his eyes with a small huff, and Mark went back to his room while still laughing at their change in behavior. A few little adjustments were made with the chronivac in their reset files, just to be safe.
Rick wouldn´t have problems with his blood pressure for his new, favorite way of relaxing, and wouldn´t hurt himself if he dropped while hanging himself upside-down.
Chris wouldn´t open his fists without outside force, and his teeth were now strong enough to hold something with them. His stomach was also stronger now, as he could easily swallow something he licked up.
And Justin´s fingers and toes were far stiffer than normal, ensuring he wouldn´t be able to use them normally. It would be like he wore invisible bands around the “glued” fingers and toes, making sure they stay in place. Also, his feet would be tougher, making sure he wouldn´t hurt them walking.
The last three, overall adjustments Mark made for them was to ensure nobody would think they were acting odd for now. Like with Aidan, it was better when nobody mentioned their abnormal behavior to them. The second was the deleting of the “Mark rules” text input, as he wouldn´t need it anymore. And the last was also similar to Aidan, the reawaken and submerge resets, so he could see how they reacted.
Name: Chris Romano
“Reset to dog” – Chris returns back into dog-mode
Ignorant to changes of Justin and Rick
Trusts Mark completely without question
Walks normally on all fours
Can´t stand up
Banned from the furniture
Lies curled on the side, sits with head on his knees
Hands normally balled up as fists, only open to outside force
Carries things with or in his mouth, teeth stronger to work
Licks things in front of his face, stomach robust to thinks swallowed
Won´t get hurt by walking on all fours
“Reawake Chris” - Chris´s mind turns back, everything else remain the same
“Submerge Chris” - Chris´s mind returns to the last active mindset
Name: Justin Porter
“Reset to pig” – Justin returns back into pig-mode
Ignorant to changes of Chris and Rick
Eats everything he´s told to, beside it being too big, harmful or living
Eats with fingers, even from the ground
Fingers feel like glued together in pairs, little/ring and middle/index
Thumbs feels like glued to the side of the hand
Toes are the same, therefore barefoot
Painful to separate fingers or toes, both extra stiff
Not hurt by walking on bare feet
Oinks and grunts in speech, more when underlying an eating desire
Immune to stomach ache, able to digest everything eaten
“Reawake Justin” - Justin´s mind turns back, everything else remain the same
“Submerge Justin” - Justin´s mind returns to the last active mindset
Name: Rick Smith
“Reset to monkey” – Rick returns back into monkey-mode
Ignorant to changes of Justin and Chris
Always barefoot, not hurt by walking on bare feet
Tries working with his feet as if it were hands
Clothes are restricting, so normally naked, rips clothes apart
Likes to make acrobatics
Relaxing when head is upside-down, likes to hang that way
Walking on his hands sometimes
Laying with head hanging of the furniture, feet higher up
No problems with blood pressure
Won´t get hurt from dropping when upside-down
“Reawake Rick” - Rick´s mind turns back, everything else remain the same
“Submerge Rick” - Rick´s mind returns to the last active mindset
Mark enjoyed some game on the laptop himself before he made a last check on the trio hours later. As their parents wouldn´t be home that night, he had to make sure they went to bed.
He had to suppress his laughter when he saw them asleep in Chris´s room. Normally whenever Rick and Justin both stayed over by Chris, they shared Chris´s big bed by laying sidewards on it, with their feet hanging down. Now, instead of sharing the bed like that, they had another agreement.
Chris himself, forbidden from the furniture, even his own, laid curled up on the round carpet beside the foot of the bed, still fully clothed. Rick, now enjoying hanging his head, laid at the foot of the bed, head dropping down right over Chris sock-clad feet, face distorting at the smell it seemed. Justin laid a bit diagonally in the bed, on his belly. His head was towards the foot of the bed, right next to Rick´s bare feet, and, if Mark saw it right, had somehow started to drool on Rick´s feet, raising Rick´s discomfort. Justin´s bare feet dangled over the edge of the bed, near to Chris face, who didn´t seemed bothered by them in his sleep. Just as he watched them a second longer, Chris moved a bit closer to them, licking Justin´s soles, making Justin squeal in his sleep, but not waking either of them up.
Mark had to nearly run back to his room before erupting into laughter at their positions and doings. It was just hilarious to him. But soon, he himself went to bed as well, dreaming about a crawling baby Aidan, a barking doggy Chris hunting a cat, a trash can raiding piggy Justin who enjoyed his food and an upside-down hanging monkey Rick at the tree, as they all were forced to act like Mark wanted them to.