Since telling Rani all about the socks, not much had really changed as you came to the end of your second week of life at the cabin. You, George and Colby still hang out together, going down to the secluded lake to relax with a few brews, not to mention the frequent dip in the refreshing water. You had managed to salvage and repair one of the abandoned boats, taking it out one crisp morning to attempt to fish. You were out on the lake for most of the day and the only thing you caught was a wicked sun burn across your arms and atop your thinning scalp. Meanwhile, Rani still leaves to find peace and tranquillity in the forest by herself. Colby discovered an authentic Irish pub in the next town over that all four of you visited one evening. It was a rowdy night for you yet poor Colby was left to be the responsible driver and didn't enjoy it as much as he had hoped. George was still challenging you to eat every scrap of leftovers, although now he also occasionally attempted an eating challenge against you, gaining him little success and lots of heartburn.
Throughout the week, you had continued in your pursuit of a no restrictions summer as your facial hair had grown out of its awkward "is it stubble or beard?" period and into something that looked more purposeful, if somewhat itchy. The extra spread of salt and pepper hair coating your cheeks combined with your receding hairline helped to make you look even older than your forty years of age, but you were fond of your grizzled appearance. It made you feel a bit more individual from your own dad who was too attached to his goatee to try anything different. You were still eating a lot more than the average human should consume, which was responsible for your ever growing waistline. You weighed yourself earlier in the morning and were shocked to see you'd gained almost half a stone since arriving. Your round gut was turner softer and you struggled to do up the fastenings on your favourite pair of pants. You were thinking of starting up a weight training regime so you could convert some of those excess calories and fat into muscle. But for now, you'd resorted to wearing sweatpants and hoping nobody had noticed.
The biggest difference was that there was less of a feeling of conflict and secrecy between the three of you and Rani now that she knew what the socks could do. Which was a huge relief on your parts, that no-restrictions summer couldn't really work if there was a restriction on the main reason you came to the cabin in the first place. Not that you were ever thinking of using them, you were comfortable staying as your dad for the remainder of the summer just as you had planned, but at least the option was there. Colby had also stuck to staying as George's uncle, probably to keep up appearances for the locals, but it still surprised you nonetheless given how initially conflicted he was about being the oldest member of your trio.
Meanwhile, George was having a blast finally being able to change things up whenever he wanted to. He did stay as the portly, middle aged African for a couple of days until he came to find people were a lot more hostile to him in town than when he was a white muscle-head. Rani echoed his experiences, saying she would instead drive to the next town over if she needed anything as it was a lot friendlier. After this, he was changing his body at least once a day. One day he was a young, Korean man fresh out of college, the next he was an elderly man with a large moustache and a strong Canadian accent. You eventually grew tired of his constant abuse of the socks and threatened that he had to stick to a body for at least the next week or else you were confiscating his sock privileges.
So by the end of the week, he was sat on the floor in the living room in only his underwear and surrounded by dozens of shoes, you had no idea how he managed to pack so many, whittling down their occupants to his favourite few. Colby had driven into town to get some food and supplies for the upcoming week. This left just you and Rani sitting on the sidelines to watch the strange spectacle from the sofa as George would put on a pair of shoes, decide if he liked the body or not, then move onto the next. He was currently back in the muscular body he had arrived to the cabin in but even that was on the chopping blocks. As George mumbled to himself over the shoes, you called out "Those socks are going to fall apart if you keep on changing bodies every few minutes, make a decision already!". He gave you an unfriendly glare as he dropped the shoes into the 'no' pile, which dominated over the very tiny 'yes' pile that contained only two pairs.
Rani was transfixed by George's continual and casual use of the socks. She was very enthusiastic and inquisitive over their magical abilities and yet she hadn't even made an attempt to give them a try. While George slipped on yet another pair of shoes, his obscenely muscular body beginning to slim down and shrink, you gesture to him with a hand holding a half-empty beer can and say to Rani "I know it seems like the socks are permanently attached to Mystique over there, but you can give them a try if you want to".
She smiled sweetly and replied "Thanks for the offer but honestly, I'm happy staying as myself. It seems like those socks change both your body and your personality and I don't know how I'd cope with that. Besides, you've only got men's shoes here. Becoming another person is one thing, but a different gender as well? It sounds like a nightmare!".
You grunt understandably and turn back to see George had turned considerably younger, with a cute, roundish face and a very slender body that was free of any visible body hair. He looked fresh out of high school, not even old enough to drink alcohol. He had already thrown the shoes into the 'no' pile, muttering to himself "Oh god no, this is way too young, people would think I was their son or something!". He reached out and grabbed a pair of shiny derby shoes.
You laugh at his reaction, maybe constantly hanging out with two gruff middle aged men had rubbed off on him. Rani joined your laughter before trailing off and giving you a curious look. "You might be right about those socks being stuck to him. I haven't seen either you or Colby use them at all. I assume you have used them before right?".
You nod your head sharply. "I used them before we arrived to become the outstandingly handsome man you see before you!"
She snorts at your remark and says "OK seriously, you wondered why I haven't used them and I wonder the same about you. Surely being so, uhm, mature and rotund isn't the best option when you could look like that". She gestured to George who now looked like he stepped out of a cheesy romance novel, with a beautiful, flowing mane of brown hair and a toned, muscular frame that had just the right amount of chest hair to set someone swooning. He was nodding in approval, becoming one of the rare pairs of shoes to encounter the 'yes' pile.
You, however, cringe at the thought of looking so romanticized. Scratching at your growing facial hair, you reply "Well I can't speak for Colby, I know he brought his own collection of shoes for the trip. But unlike them, I stuck to bringing the one pair. I grew up surrounded by men like this; my family, their friends, people in town. It sort of became the standard for how I wanted to be when I grew up, just brawny and hairy. So once the idea to stay in the cabin came about, I decided I'd become this big lug and spend the summer in a body where I could relax and do whatever I wanted without any ramifications"
Rani raised an eyebrow. "No ramifications huh? I'm sure you've eaten enough for the entire cabin every day, and it definitely shows"
You blush at the mention of your weight gain. You'd tried to ease up on the food but you couldn't resist proving George wrong every time he bet you couldn't eat something. No restrictions, you keep repeating to yourself. As you go on to explain to Rani. "I mean, I can do whatever I want when in this body and when the summer ends, I'll go back to my old body completely refreshed, like a clean slate. Nothing carries over between forms. It's all contained in the shoes. Just look at Colby, the shoes he wore were actually a few years old. The guy he's impersonating should be older than Colby is now"
Rani thinks it over and says "So the socks act as sort of like a window to the past?"
"I guess you could call it that. I couldn't even begin to understand how they work, but the socks create a copy of the person from the last time they were worn"
"So if I put on a pair of shoes from when I was a little girl, I'll become the age I was when I last wore them? Fascinating... It has to be contained in the shoes, like an after-image or a memory. What would happen if you were to artificially put the shoes through wear and tear? Would you also become an older version of the person who wore them? And what about shoes without owners? If you bought a new pair of shoes, would you stay the same? Would it still turn you into a person if they only tried on the shoes once? Or do the shoes need time to capture the essence of the person wearing them?"
There was a dumb look on your face at her questions. You take a sip from your beer can and state "Well don't look at me, i only bought the things. They didn't even come with instructions. What's with the interrogation anyway? You're not clamouring for story ideas right?"
Rani scoffed and cried "Noo! I'm honestly curious. You guys have a legitimate magical item and you're using it for such a casual reasons without questioning how or why they even work. Surely you've thought about the possibilities?" You shrug your shoulders. For all intents and purposes, they're magic socks that turn you into other people and it's all you really needed to know. Rani looked a bit deflated at your response. "Well what about if you take them off while changing?"
You stroke your chin bristles in thought. It never occurred to you that you could do that. There was only one way to find out. "Hey George, take those shoes off right now!"
"What? But I'm still changing!" he cries. He'd long since passed Casanova and was in-between changing from an average looking mid-thirties office worker to a stocky, hairy mid-forties construction worker, guessing based on the dirt encrusted work boots. His hair was quickly receding and his stomach was turning flabby.
"Just do it, we want to see what happens"
George grumbled as he reached down with increasingly calloused hands and yanked on a dirty boot. He yanked on it hard, his face turning red from the strain, only to give up followed by a bout of heavy breathing. "No use" he said, wheezing. "Didn't even budge an inch. Must be a safety feature or something". He waiting another minute until he had finished changing and grabbed the boot again. This time, it slid off his foot with ease. He observed his body, stroking his furry chest and chunky stomach, patting his bald head and his stubbly cheeks. Eventually, the boots ended up in the yes pile. You raise an eyebrow at his choice. He noticed your reaction and got defensive. "What? Can't I like looking like you guys? This way, we could hang out without me looking like an outsider". You smirk at his response. You and Colby had definitely rubbed off on him.
Speaking of the devil, there was a rustling of keys at the front door as Colby stepped through the door carrying bags of groceries. You and Rani get up to give him a hand. As he walked through to the kitchen, he spotted George on the floor reaching for yet another pair of shoes. He smirked and said "Nice look. Just perfect for the next week". George looked up with a pleading look in his eyes but Colby shook his head. "We agreed that you would have until I came back to stick to a body. I'm back and you're stuck".
George groaned and pushed himself off the ground and into a standing position with a heavy grunt. He looked ready to argue, but instead smiled and sighed "Alright, you got me. I guess it could be worse". He sat down on the sofa in the spot you just vacated and tugged the socks off his hairy feet. He threw them aside and stretched out across its length, giving his belly a satisfying rub. Colby made an attention-grabbing cough and gestured to the bags in his hands. George groaned again as he got up once more, took a few bags from Colby and helped to restock the kitchen. You brought the remaining bags into the house and helped the others for a short while before releasing a lengthy yawn and excusing yourself to your bedroom. It didn't take long for you to fall asleep, ready for the upcoming week.