As Max pressed the new app, the Chronivac prompted Max to have to create a username and read a lot of text, which if he'd been a little older he'd have recognized as a standard user agreement and releasing the Chronivac company legally responsible for any problems that may arise from altering reality. The walls of text were daunting for Max to comprehend, and he quickly lost interest and hurried out of the living room to join the other boys outside.
Jeff had only to suggest to Tommy, Ryan, Joey, Josh, Chase, Tyler, and Artie that they should play a modified version of soccer, and off the boys were, setting up a half field out of the room the fenced in backyard afforded with makeshift goal designated with flower pots, digging out the red rubber kickball for their ball, and Josh volunteering as the goalie with the teams being Tommy, Chase, and Artie vs Ryan, Tyler, and Joey. They would play by similar rules to half-court Basketball. Harry would referee, reluctantly. Jeff watched to see how Tommy would react to a different sport than football, seeing if this might be laying the seeds for Tommy's life to go off in a different direction. Moreso, Jeff observed how Tommy interacted with his now younger brother Artie. Artie was eager to prove to Tommy that he could kick the ball straight into the goal--not yet succeeding as his aim wasn't all that great, all the while Tommy took opportunities to pass the ball to Artie, even when he could have taken an easy shot himself. Tommy was caring more that his little brother was doing better than he was--it made Jeff proud to see Tommy doing so well. Ryan and Joey meanwhile could have performed on stage for how mismatched a pair of players they were. Joey was neurotic that he didn't want to stub his toe bad because he'd seen something on TV about how black and blue toes can get gang green and then he'd lose a toe. That the program he'd watched on TV was about diabetics who didn't take good care of their health, Jeff knew better than to say. But this caused Joey to kick the ball slowly and precisely--aggravating Ryan who did everything he could not to take the ball from his own team member. At one point Harry, who was becoming more committed to the modified game the longer it went on, had to foul Ryan for that exact thing when Ryan just couldn't take it any longer and went in to take the ball from Joey. That led to Ryan arguing with Harry over the fact that he'd just been trying to score some points.
"Winning isn't everything," emphasized Harry.
"Says you!" said Ryan.
Josh meanwhile could read the yard and did his best to actually goal keep when either Tommy or Ryan were kicking, while feigning working as hard for Artie and Joey. The twins Chase and Tyler meanwhile took the excuse of being on opposite teams to put all their attentions on outwitting each other and stealing the ball from each other, almost ignoring their other team mates when they got the ball except for at odd moments that caught the others off guard. When Max came hurrying down the steps to play, Joey took that as the excuse to go and check on Barney, while Ryan excitedly declared, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" as Max replaced him on Ryan's team.
While all this was happening, Jeff started wandering off towards the front of the house, hoping to run into someone to potentially help finally fix the problem with Ms. Fuentes that he'd created.
Further down the street, Jeff could see one of his other older neighbors, Mr. Kartal. It was said he was a widower who largely kept to himself these days. He was a collector of fine and rare objects it was said. When he'd been younger, he'd inherited a fortune from his father, and spent a good deal of it traveling the world and having misadventures before marrying, settling down, and having a family of his own. Jeff got as close as he needed in order to scan him.
Name: Zeki Kartal
Age: 83
Mental age: 83
--Memory
----Relationships: Azat Kartal (son) & Esila Binici (daughter)
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 117 lbs
Build: Almost frail
Gender: male
With a few changes, largely in age and relationships, Jeff had set up the change by taking 50 years off of Zeki's life:
Name: Zeki "Zek" Kartal
Age: 33
Mental age: 33
--Memory
----Relationships: Alicia Fuentes (fiance), Azat Kartal (brother) & Esila Binici (sister)
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 173 lbs
Build: Lean
Gender: male
Jeff pressed Enter and watched as the elderly gentleman taking a late afternoon nap on his porch began to change. First was his hair, which had gone completely gray a long time ago, but now was starting to slowly shift back to a jet black color. His skin having gotten a little sallow with age, slowly began to regain its healthy olive complexion. Around the time he was re-entering his sixties, Mr. Kartal woke up, and stretched as muscle tone began to reappear on his form and better fit his otherwise baggy bowling shirt and khaki shorts. Soon, typical wake up stretching turned into calisthenics as his fifties returned, and he began to position himself for push ups. As he did, his clothes shifted to work out clothes of a sleeveless t-shirt and sweat pants. The pushups becoming easier the darker his hair became. It also grew out a little, the length of the top of the head only stopping when the tips of his hair was brushing just above his eyes, while the sides of his head were shaved rather close cut to his scalp as his forties settled in on him. Pushups turned into burpees as he re-entered his thirties, and some muscle became apparent on his arms. His sweat pants shortening into short gym shorts that showed off his legs--especially his strong calf muscles.
As Zek Kartal settled in on 33, Jeff recognized the older man as a rich trust fund kid who had been spending his parents' money he'd inherited on bumming from country to country, that is until recently, when he'd all of a sudden bought a house in this neighborhood and was apt to spend a lot of time over with Ms. Fuentes and her sister. All of that had been strange until a ring had appeared on Ms. Fuentes' finger not too long later. Apparently they'd met when Ms. Fuentes was vacationing with her sister on a cruise she'd won as a prize. They had hit it off so well, Zek it seemed was willing to put down roots just to be with her. Rumor had it that they'd gotten engaged because he'd gotten her pregnant--which Jeff knew in this reality was the truth of the matter.
When Zek was sweated and through with his calisthenics routine, he looked up to see Jeff staring at him. Unabashedly, Zek waved to Jeff and flashed him a confident and charismatic grin with a perfectly white smile. Zek ever since moving in had taken it upon himself to be a bit of a health and wellness influencer locally and on TikTok and YouTube. He was always trying out new material on Jeff and Harry. But just as Zek was about to ask Jeff to come over, Ms. Fuentes hurried out of her sister's house and hurried over to Zek's house where she immediately ran up the steps and began talking with him in a hushed tone that Jeff recognized as the early banter of something that had a good chance of turning into foreplay and having to be continued inside the house.
"Is there a reason you are working out on your porch, in full view of my window?" asked Ms. Fuentes.
"I gotta keep looking good for my girl, don't I?" asked Zek with a knowing smirk.
"If I'm a girl, then you're a boy... and a good boy at that. And how should I reward you for being so... good?"
"I'm sure we can come to some kind of... arrangement."
Jeff took that as his cue to go back to the backyard and check on the boys.