Test 2: The Body Patch

"Let's try this one out," I said picking up the purple patch with the symbol of a cartoon person in a T-pose on it. "If that other patch is the 'Cross' patch, we should call this one the 'Body' patch."

Rebecca giggled as she briskly walked over and took the patch from me. "Sounds good to me. Where should I stick it on?"

I sat down on one of the examination beds and opened up the app. "Just try the same as last time, back of the neck. Don't want to add any unnecessary variables or something."

"Okay!" Rebecca said, placing the patch in the same spot as yesterday. As she did, she exclaimed in pain, making me look up from my phone. "Ow! It just... pinched me?"

"Wait really? The one yesterday didn't hurt, did it?" I asked, concerned.

"No, it was like a regular band-aid yesterday..." she contemplated, returning to the opposite bed and rubbing the spot where the patch was. "Maybe I got a hair stuck in it or something." She sat down on the edge with her feet hanging off as I looked her over worried. Rebecca noticed my concern and smiled to try and ease it. "I'm sure it's nothing, Brett. What's new with the app? Is it, like, completely different?"

I wasn't as convinced as Rebecca, but clearly she was too excited to test out the new patch to care too much. I looked down to inspect the changes to the layout with the new patch. At first, nothing seemed different. The main screen showed the same 2 options as last time, and when I clicked Load Profile, a list of menus relating to her body parts appeared on screen. On clicking one of the menus, however, I didn't get a ton of details like I had before. I had clicked on the first menu on the screen, Hair, and 3 options showed on screen in easy-to-click buttons: Color, Length, and Style.

"Check this out," I said, turning the phone around to show Rebecca. "It doesn't give a bunch of details like the last patch, just a few options to click on."

"Huh, what does clicking on one of the options do?" she asked.

"Let's see..." I said, turning the phone back to me and clicking Color. "When I clicked color, I got a palette of a bunch of different colors. Right now, the yellow color is selected..." I looked up, realization slowly coming to me what this patch might be capable of. I could tell from the look on Rebecca's face that she was coming to the same conclusion as me.

"No way..." she said breathlessly.

"If you weren't blond, what hair color would you want to have?" I asked with a mischievous grin.

"Red! I've always wanted to be a ginger" she said with a chuckle while trying to hide her growing excitement. Could this really change a person's hair color?!

"You got it!" I looked down at the open Color option and clicked Red. I then looked up and.... nothing was different.

"Well?" Rebecca asked excitedly. "Did you click it? Nothing is changing."

"Yeah, I did." I closed out of the Color option and opened up_ Length next. "Damn, that would've been cool if it really did have the ability to change things physically." The Length option, rather than having a palette of colors appear, had a slider drop down below it. The slider was set at roughly 30% or so, and I unconsciously moved it to about 50% not expecting anything to come of it.

Rebecca deflated in her seat, clearly as disappointed as I felt. "Man, that would've been incredible. Too bad this isn't a movie or fictional story or something."

I closed the Length option and was about to try out the Style one when I noticed 2 buttons on the bottom of the screen that hadn't been there before. Apply and Revert. They were in a green and red button respectively and, on seeing them, my heart pounded in my chest. Without a word, I clicked the Apply button.

"So, if this patch doesn't change you, what does it - WOAH!" Rebecca reached for the patch on her neck instinctively, but couldn't see the changes happening to her hair like you could. In matter of 2 to 3 seconds, an orangeish-red hue of color spread from the roots of her hair to the tips. As they neared the tips of her hair, the follicles seemed to grow and extend past her shoulder and down her back. With her hand resting on the back of her neck, Rebecca felt the hair move and seemingly grow. Her eyes grew wide and her mouth opened in shock. "NO FUCKING WAY!" she yelled, jumping up from her seat and grabbing a fist-full of her longer hair to inspect.

"Oh my God, it actually did it" I muttered, flabbergasted. "Your hair changed from blonde to re-"

"I know!" She was practically jumping up and down at this point in utter disbelief. "You just changed me into a ginger!" She bobbed her head side to side, her longer hair moving about with the motion. "This is incredible!!"

I got down from the examination table as well and put my hand through the hair Rebecca offered to me. "Your hair really did grow too.." I took a step back to assess the changes further. "How did it feel?" I asked.

"Honestly, it didn't have a feeling," Rebecca said, pacing while running her hands through her hair. "The patch grew super cold, which is why I reached for it. Then I felt my hair kind of moving and... wow, this is incredible!!"

And, before I could react, she rushed forward and gave me a massive hug that took the breath out of my lungs. I dropped the phone in my surprise and it bounced about the floor as we embraced. Just as quickly as it started, Rebecca stepped back, awkwardly breaking the contact. I leaned down to grab the phone and my thumb pressed the Apply button again accidentally.

Rebecca gasped and her hair seemed to freeze for a split second before rushing to her back in a blur of movement. In seconds, her relaxed red hair was pulled back in a messy but detailed french braid.

"What did you do? What was that?!" Rebecca said, reaching for her hair in fear. She pulled her braid forward to look at it and her eyes grew wide.

"Shit, I'm sorry, it must've selected that style when I dropped my phone." I said apologetically, but Rebecca was too occupied with inspecting her done-up new hairdo.

"This is incredible. I could never braid my hair like this..." She set her braid down so it laid over her shoulder and looked at me excitedly. "What else can we change?"

I looked down at the phone, still in shock with how much power I held in my hands. The Apply and Revert buttons were greyed out, probably because I didn't have any active changes selected. I backed out of the Hair menu and browsed the many many options I had. "What do you want me to pick?" The shock was starting to wear off now and hardly-contained anticipation took its place. "We can literally change anything with this program!"

Rebecca let out a dorky screech of excitement, trying to contain her own enthusiasm. "Surprise me! Go ahead! Do whatever!"