VENNgence Is Mine 3 revised
A Trust Machines story
This should be the last installment of Marvin's story. Thanks to dkfenger and trismegistusshandy for pointing out the errors and giving me some helpful suggestions.
Any errors left are mine.
While college campuses have changed with the times, Venn Machines have sped up those changes.
Like with the rest of the world, most people look exactly the way that they want to look.
The various college campuses are rife with young intelligentsia who have been recently freed from close parental supervision. Those kids feel positively encouraged to be daring and innovative. They feel free to venn each other into some rather daring forms.
The universities saw a renewed surge of enrollment shortly after Venn Machines started showing up. People who thought themselves to be too old for college started to reconsider. Those older students are not easy to distinguish from their younger counterparts. Nor, sometimes, are the professors.
The school's field house, the gym complex that was built over three decades ago, has been seeing less use than it has in the past. Why push weights when you can venn all the muscles you want? The students still enjoyed tennis, handball, racquetball, swimming, and the like, but there has been talk of removing the weight room.
Marvin Vining came limping out of the field house, looking tired and bruised. He made it a habit to practice mixed martial arts in a variety of bodies, including his unvenned form. He practiced martial arts for the same reason he put on his seat belt -- just in case. He figured that he needed to be ready no matter what body he happened to be wearing, so he practiced in all of the forms that he used frequently. Having been bullied in the past, he worked hard to put it firmly behind him.
Marvin walked to the Venn Machine, where a young couple sat under an awning. "Hi Jim, Sarah," he said.
Jim chuckled. "It looks like Gordon Sensei gave you some 'good training.' You look like ten miles of bad road."
"I feel like ten miles of bad road. I swear that man is a sadist. He likes to tell us how wonderful it is that Venn Machines can fix us in an instant."
"So that he can bruise us even more," Jim replied. "Yeah. I know. I get a good set of bruises every time I train. One time, they had to carry me out to the Venn Machine because someone overdid it and broke my leg."
Marvin pulled a venn token and two empty grocery bags out of his backpack and set the backpack down by Sarah. He handed the token to Jim. "Gimme my weekend form. I am sooo ready to relax."
Jim handed the token back. "Do the loaves and fishes thing with this stuff and we'll call it even."
Jim pulled out a mini cooler with a couple beers in it, and a small bag of snacks. Marvin looked at it and shook his head sadly. "Still drinking that swill?"
"Gee, I can't wait until I get as smart and refined like you so that I can drink the good craft brewed stuff," Jim said.
Marvin chuckled, then tossed a quarter in the machine. "How long? It doesn't matter to me, since Penny is likely to turn me into something strange."
"Why bother venning now, then?"
"Dirk jumped bail and is heading this way. I would rather not meet him all bruised and worn out."
"Makes sense," Jim said. "I'll watch out for him. Anyhow, eight hours ought to be good. That way, the beer will go away in the middle of the night."
Marvin set the machine and they both entered. As soon as the door went away, Marvin selected Jim's weekend body. Then, he expanded the cooler so that it held eighteen bottles of beer. Meanwhile, Jim selected the version of Marvin's weekend body that was casually dressed and held a cooler and snack bag.
"Hit me," Marvin said. Immediately, his pain and bruises went away. The two empty bags transformed into a cooler of beer and a bag of snacks.
While the green circle was counting down, Marvin opened a snack bag and took a bite. He immediately spit the so-called snack back into the bag.
Jim grinned and selected Marvin's weekend body without the baggage. "You know that never works." He tapped the vanishing green circle. Then, Marvin tapped the green circle, transforming Jim and adding to his beer and snack stash.
"I'm not going to give up without trying everything I can think of," Marvin replied. "What if Edison had given up before trying those thousands of different light bulb filaments?"
Jim chuckled. "I think the aliens or whoever it is that designed those things don't want us getting too lazy."
Marvin checked his cell phone. With a frown, he put it back into one of the armored compartments designed for delicate electronics. "I just got a message from the cops. According to Dirk's ankle monitor, he is in this area. I wish they would just arrest him and get it over with," Marvin said.
"Idiot," Jim replied. "It's not like he has his uncle to get him out of it again."
Sarah rolled her eyes. "He's been out of circulation for three years."
"Actually, he's been IN circulation for the past three years," Jim snickered.
Sarah giggled. "As I was saying, you aren't the timid geeky high school kid that he remembers. You've built yourself up, gone through the core curriculum, and are well on your way to earning your degree. He's just been flowing all about the world. He doesn't seem to realize that things have changed in the past three years."
Marvin shrugged. "Forewarned is forearmed. Call the campus cops if you see him."
"What about you?" Sarah asked with some concern.
"It's not like he can hurt me permanently. And all of the machines on campus are well attended, so he can't force me into one."
"I don't think he could, anyhow," Jim chuckled. "You've managed to put on some bulk."
Marvin's sensitive ears easily picked up the slap, slap, slap of Dirk smacking his palm with a baseball bat. Marvin tapped his smart watch, which alerted the campus police.
"This is going to be fun," snarled Dirk.
"Aren't you in enough trouble already?"
"There's nobody here to see us," he said, still slamming the bat into his palm. "I'm gonna get your pansy ass for what you did to me and my uncle!"
"Your uncle brought it on himself. He was a blight to the police force. And you're nothing but a bully. I thought that a three year break would give you time to do some thinking."
"I did lots of thinking. I thought about how I'm going to kick your ass as soon as I can!"
"Try it and you'll end up in jail like your uncle. I've never liked how the police look the other way when prisoners beat on each other, but having been the victim of police looking the other way, I find it really hard to feel sorry for you or your uncle."
"He was a good cop! Your lies ruined his career!" Dirk growled
"No lies were necessary," Marvin said. "The truth is that he didn't do his job. He was willfully negligent. He and the rest of the police force ignored all of the bullying and blamed the victims."
"You lied about him hitting you," Dirk said.
Marvin laughed. "Nope. I never claimed that he hit me. He threatened me, which is still considered to be assault, but they said that threatening me with bodily harm wasn't enough to charge him. So we uploaded all of the footage to the Internet. After that, more than a dozen people came out of the woodwork and told stories about being beaten. The trial was quite the media circus."
Marvin shook his head. "Did you even read stories or watch the old news casts, or did you just make your own assumptions?"
They both heard the sound of people running. "Freeze!" yelled one of the police officers.
Dirk raised his bat and ran toward Marvin. Marvin dodged to the side. A shot rang out. Dirk hit the dirt right where Marvin had been standing.
Marvin scooped up Dirk. "I'm venned. He isn't!"
Fortunately for Dirk, the campus police used light load to reduce the chances of collateral damage. There was no exit wound. Marvin put his hand over the sucking chest wound to keep Dirk's lungs from collapsing, and ran toward the nearest Venn Machine.
"Coming through! Medical emergency! Three year venn!" he yelled as he tried to skid to a stop inside the machine. At the last moment, he turned slammed his back into the back wall of the machine. The door wouldn't close, even though Penelope had dropped a quarter into the machine and set it.
Marvin slapped Dirk in the face. "Wake up! Wake up or you will die!"
Dirk groaned and coughed up some blood. The door opening disappeared.
Penny's high school friends had gotten her into Venn Machine dueling, so she was ready and well practiced.
"Two Seeing hearing talking plushies pleasure!" she rattled off quickly. Several choices appeared. She tapped the pair of female pink poodles, then the green circle. Two plushies dropped to the floor.
While the green circle was counting down, she said, "Can you hear me, Marvin?"
Both of the plushies wiggled, but were silent. She tried another selection. "That's got it, Penny. I can see, too."
When the doors opened, she scooped them up.
"OK, which of you is Marvin?"
"I am," they both said.
The one in her left hand said, "I'm Marvin! Let me go!"
Penny laughed. She stuffed the one in her right hand into her cleavage, and looked the other in the eye. "You idiot! If you go inside a Venn Machine, you'll likely die. You just had to be an idiot again and buy yourself another three years. Just think! You'll be twenty-four years old when you finally change back. And we'll have had six years without you making our family get-togethers miserable, cousin."
She shook him a little. "You're lucky that Marvin saved your life. Nobody would have said a thing if he had just acted scared and scrambled away from your bleeding body."
"Stupidity is often fatal," Marvin the poodle said. "But that doesn't mean that I want to make it happen or allow it to happen. Besides, the cop doesn't need to have your death on his conscience."
"You almost messed things up for Marvin and me," Penny said. "After you attacked Marvin and ended up participating in the water cycle, Marvin started avoiding me. When I figured out that he wasn't blaming me, I had to chase him down and explain to him that I didn't blame him. In fact, I thanked him for taking you and Uncle Stupidhead out of our lives."
Penny squeezed Dirk the poodle, which caused him to croon. "By the way, I decided to be nice to you, even though you don't deserve it. Since I said 'pleasure' when I was venning you, it will feel really good if someone pets or hugs you. Good luck finding someone that wants to touch you."
Penny tossed Dirk the poodle to the police officer. "Your prisoner, sir! If he gets dirty, a quick dunking will clean him up, but it's actually pretty hard to get anything to stick to that fur. The materials science people are still trying to figure out how it works. Also, he can see and hear and speak, but is otherwise helpless. He can barely wiggle."
"No! You got the wrong person!" Dirk claimed.
Penny pulled Marvin out of her cleavage and cuddled him, squeezing him flat.
"Ow! ow! ow! ow! ow!" Marvin said in a very cute voice.
Penny looked at him. "Faker!"
Marvin grinned. "You can cuddle me any time!"
Dirk said, "I'm Marvin! Let me go!"
Marvin said, "If you get into a Venn Machine, you will probably die."
Mark, the other Venn Machine attendant, typed a few things into his laptop. He dropped a small dogtag into the printer, waited for it to print, then pinned the dogtag on to Dirk's collar.
The cop read it. "Dirk Stanwick. Prisoner. DO NOT VENN! If found, give to police." The tag also listed the time and date that the venn would wear off.
"I'm Marvin! Let me go!"
Penny laughed. "What's the derivative of X cubed?"
Dirk just sat there. After several seconds, Marvin answered, "Three X squared."
"Second derivative?" asked Penny.
"Six X"
"Third?"
"Six"
"Fourth?"
"Zero"
She looked at the officers and held the pink poodle-ized Marvin up. "This is a third year engineering student. Your prisoner isn't. By the way, you can stick him into an evidence bag. He doesn't need to breathe."
"Let me go!" Dirk insisted.
"Let's just make triply sure that I have the right person."
Penny dropped a quarter into the machine, then took Marvin's collar off and tossed it in. As soon as it got past the door, it transformed back into a backpack and a pile of clothes. She turned to the police. "If you want Dirk's ankle bracelet and bloody clothes for evidence, there's a good chance that tossing his collar into a Venn Machine will get it for you.
The officers got statements from everyone, including Marvin. "After your girl is done with you, go to the campus security office. They'll have your statement all typed up and ready to sign."
Several times during the long process of taking statements, someone would hand Mark, the other Venn Machine attendant, a token. They would then get into the machine. After a minute, the venned customer would walk out, and Mark would return to his seat.
"What's the deal with those strange coins?" one of the young officers asked.
"A few years ago, one of our economics students minted them up as an experiment. One coin for one venn. The people that act as attendants end up collecting a bunch of them, and can sell them for whatever the market will bear."
"Classic commodity currency," another student commented. "One token for one simple venn, usually from history. But some people started charging more for complicated venns, so some argue that it has become a fiat currency."
Penny said, "Out in the real world, people who don't have a trusted friend will pay a service like Venn Partners or Trust Partners or Fantasy Venn to do the job. We like this system because we can trade venns. Those that want to make money can attend the machines more often. Those who want to use the services without contributing can simply buy tokens. Everybody wins."
After the police left, Marvin said to Penny, "You know, you didn't need to venn him into a plushie. You could have just healed him.
"What's the fun in that?" she snickered. "Besides, there is the chance that we would have ended up with the two of you stuffed into one body. Would you want to share a fully animate body with him? For that matter, would you want to look like him, even for a minute?"
"Ewwwwwww!" Marvin shuddered. Then he added, "You know I'm not fond of this form."
Penny giggled, dropped a quarter into the machine, and set it for eight hours. "I'm sure Dirk hates it, and he's stuck with it for three years. I was tempted to make him into a rock, but this way, he can still stand trial. It won't cost much to incarcerate him, either."
Marvin said, "Now that we are done with that bit of unpleasantness, how about..."
Before he could finish, Penny threw him high and into the venn machine. He turned into his naked, bruised, and battered self as soon as he was far enough into the machine. The door disappeared.
As he found himself flying toward the back wall, his judo reflexes kicked in. He spun and slapped, letting the slap soak up the kinetic energy. But he was still nearly eight feet in the air. He spun and slapped again when he hit the floor. He groaned and touched the interface, accepting the change to his base form and the eight hour period.
Penny quickly scrambled inside, so she was treated to the sight of his naked muscular body. "My Little Pleasure Purple Pink and Blue Cushie Soft Poofy Silky Furry Foxie!" she said gleefully. She tapped one of the selections, then the green circle. A long furred plush fox, the size of a large body pillow, appeared. As soon as the door disappeared, the fox hopped up and ran.
Penny playfully chased the fox, following it around all the twists and turns it was making. She dove for it just as it made a sharp turn. But before she could face plant into the dirt, the fox reversed direction. She face planted into the soft fox.
Penny scooped up the vixen and hugged her so tightly that her middle was flattened against her chest. "Now you're mine, my little foxie!"
The fox purred.
Penny and Marvina hung around at the Venn Machine until the next pair of attendants arrived.
Eight hours after the venn, Marvin found his nude self wrapped tightly in Penny's arms. More snuggling ensued.
The next morning, they showered off the sweat of their exertions.
Inside the Venn Machine, the bag containing Marvin's only slightly used clothes turned into a bag of freshly clean clothes. The t-shirt, shorts, and slippers he was wearing turned into something a little better for the weekend.
They shared a long hug, donned their backpacks, and headed to Marvin's room.
Marvin and his friends followed Dirk's trial through social media and the news sites. They chuckled when they saw the results.
He was sentenced to ten years of probation, and to be a toy for the kids at a daycare center until the end of his venn.
Little Ginny dug through the toy box and pulled out the remarkably clean pink poodle plushy. "She is so kyooooooot! I think we should name her Miss Fifi."
Epilogue
Dirk's probation officer looked at the little pink plush poodle toy sitting on his desk. The DO NOT VENN tag was gone.
"Well, mister Stanwick, it appears that your venn wears off tomorrow..."
"Please," she interrupted. "I go by Miss Fifi now. Or just Fifi ."
"OK, Miss Fifi. What are your plans for tomorrow?"
"Um... Can you extend my venn for me?"
