(Based off of another Morpheus story, entitled "A Game of Give and Take")
"Where did you find it?" asked Brandon, looking down at the unremarkable wooden box sitting on the coffee table.
"Over at the thrift shop. You know, the one on Vernon street?" answered Naomi, Brandon's girlfriend.
"Oh, the one that looks like it hasn't been dusted since the Industrial Revolution? Yeah, I know the place," Brandon replied, smirking.
Naomi rolled her eyes. "Regardless, I figured it might help keep your cousins occupied. Especially Ellie."
Sighing, Brandon said "You're right. We don't need a repeat of the Maltese Teapot Incident."
"The what?" asked Naomi.
"I'll tell you later. So, what's the deal with this game?" asked Brandon.
Naomi opened the box and began to set out the pieces, before pausing. "Go grab the kids, it'll be easier if I just explain it to all of you at once."
"Fair enough, be right back." Brandon began to climb up the stairs, to the guest room which currently housed his cousins Ellie and Zack. They were visiting for the holidays, although Brandon's parents had gone out to see a play with his aunt. That left Brandon in charge of watching his cousins. He was grateful that Naomi could step in and help out, because they could be quite the handful.
Reaching the door to the guest room, Brandon saw that it was ajar. Knocking gently, he pushed it open.
Zack was in his usual position, sitting in a corner with his nose buried in a comic book. The thirteen year old was a stereotypical nerd-scrawny, nearsighted, and fairly bright for his age. He was also fairly skilled at drawing. Zack liked to bring this up to his mom, insisting that comic books really did teach you something.
He looked up from his book at Brandon, his features briefly forming a scowl before returning to his resting expression, which wasn't much friendlier.
"What?" Zack asked. Brandon sighed. The kid had an attitude on him, that's for sure, and he was doubtlessly jealous of him. He couldn't blame him, though. Here was Brandon, soon to graduate and go to college on a soccer scholarship, while Zack was a skinny geek. Hopefully the kid would hit a growth spurt soon.
"Nice to see you too," replied Brandon. "Naomi's setting up a board game downstairs, and you guys are invited to play."
"A game?" came a squeaky voice from behind the door. There was Ellie, Zack's younger sister. She had a circle of dolls and Legos in front of her, and wore a My Little Pony t-shirt. Ellie was the epitome of all things girly, something which Zack had teased her for many times over the years.
"What kind of game?" Ellie continued, while Zack rolled his eyes.
"She wouldn't tell me, it's a surprise." Ellie smiled.
"C'mon Zack, let's play! I wanna know what it is!" exclaimed Ellie, grabbing onto her brother's arm and trying to pull him out of his chair.
"Ow, ow! Okay, sure, whatever! Let's get this over with." Zack said, setting his book aside.
Ellie rocketed downstairs, and by the time Brandon and Zack got to the living room, she was already by Naomi's side.
"Tell me! Please!" Ellie whined.
"It's like I said, we have to wait for-Ah! There you guys are." Naomi gestured to the coffee table, where she'd set up the board. It was composed of a series of white squares in a looping pattern. Some of the squares had a golden border, but most did not. A space at one end read "START" and one at the other read "END." There was also a deck of cards, a die, and player tokens. All in all, pretty standard.
"So," Naomi began, reading the instructions. "The name of this game is Give and Take. We go in turns, rolling the die and moving forward by that amount. If you land on a square with a gold border, you draw a card, read it aloud, and do what it says. The first person to reach the end wins, but the game keeps going until everyone reaches the end."
Zack snorted. "Sounds like a snoozefest."
"There's another rule," Naomi continued. She leaned forward toward Zack, like a camp counselor telling a scary story. "Once you start playing the game, you must finish it!" Naomi waved her hand, trying to appear spooky. It didn't scare Zack, but she was able to get a laugh out of the kid, so she counted that as a victory.
"Well, we might as well get started," said Brandon as he flopped onto the couch. Naomi cuddled up next to him, leaving Zack and Ellie to sit on the rug across from them.
"I wanna go first!" Ellie proclaimed.
Zack was about to object, but Brandon spoke first. "Sure, I don't mind it. Let's go clockwise." Zack grumbled silently, upset at the idea of going last. "Whatever..." he muttered.
Ellie rolled the dice, and moved her piece forward. She happened to land in a gold space, causing her to look up at Naomi.
"Do I take a card now?" she asked.
"That's right, from the top of the deck," replied Naomi.
The nine year old grabbed the card and examined it, reading it aloud. "COPY. CHOOSE ONE OTHER PLAYER AND COPY ONE OF YOUR MENTAL TRAITS TO THEM."
"Hm? Copy mental traits?" Brandon looked at Naomi with a raised eyebrow.
"Maybe it's some kind of roleplaying game?" Naomi replied, although in truth, she was just as confused as her boyfriend. The instructions had been pretty vague about what the cards actually were.
"A roleplaying game? Like DnD?" asked Zack.
"Could be," answered Naomi with a shrug. "But the question remains, what trait do you want to copy, Ellie, and to whom?"
Ellie had been thinking about what trait to copy over, and when Naomi asked, she suddenly felt inspiration strike.
"I want you to love ponies as much as I do, so you'll stop making fun of me for it!" Ellie said, looking at Zack. Suddenly, Zack's obscure comic t-shirt shifted and morphed, turning into a shirt identical to the one Ellie wore, but now in his size.
"What the heck?" Zack said, feeling the soft material.
Brandon stared, puzzled, and looked back at Naomi. "Okay...what was that? Is this a prank or something?"
Naomi shook her head. "No, I swear it's not. The shirt just transformed. It's like-"
"MAGIC!" shouted Ellie. "Magic is real! I'm a witch!" She then did her best impression of a witch's cackle, which sounded more like a parrot clearing its throat.
"Would you stop! Jeez!" said Zack, his arms crossed. His gaze softened a bit as he looked at his sister.
"I am sorry though, ponies are pretty cool," Zack said quietly.
"Wow, do you actually like ponies now?" asked Brandon. He surmised that Zack could be pretending, but the fact that his shirt transformed made this seem more legit.
"Who's your favorite pony?" interrupted Ellie.
Without thinking, Zack said "Rainbow Dash." Ellie squealed in delight. Yesterday, Zack didn't even know who Rainbow Dash was. But now he liked ponies just as much as she did! She couldn't wait to play ponies with him when this game was finished.
"Guess it's my turn," Brandon announced. After rolling the die, he moved his piece forward. He landed in the same space Ellie did, and drew a card.
"GIVE. CHOOSE A MENTAL TRAIT THAT YOU POSSESS AND GIVE IT TO ANOTHER PLAYER," said Brandon. "Hmm, I have to give something up? Let me think..."
He turned to Naomi. "You've been asking me to teach you how to snowboard, so let's take care of that right now."
Instantly, years of snowboarding experience entered Naomi's head. She not only knew the technical skills of how to do it, but had memories of going down various courses, taking nasty spills, and pulling off impressive jumps.
"W-wow! Thanks baby!" Naomi said, giving Brandon a quick peck on the cheek.
"Yeah, no problem. Just promise you'll teach me," Brandon said with a wink. Naomi's cheeks flushed slightly as she rolled the die. She moved forward, not hitting a gold space.
"Finally, my turn," muttered Zack. He rolled and landed in a gold space, so he picked up a card.
"TAKE. CHOOSE ANOTHER PLAYER AND TAKE ONE TRAIT FROM THEM." Zack's eyes lit up. There were so many options! He looked around the table, his eyes settling on Brandon.
Noticing his cousin's gaze, Brandon asked "What's it gonna be, buddy?"
"Well," Zack began, "I've always wondered what it's like to have a girlfriend..."
Brandon turned to Naomi, a look of concern in his eyes. Could Zack do that?
"I don't know if I count as a trait," Naomi said, arms crossed.
"But my relationship with you might," Brandon mused.
"We're going to find out!" Zack exclaimed, barely restraining his excitement. "Brandon, I take your girlfriend!"
Brandon, Naomi, and Zack all felt a shiver, like a ghost had levitated through them. Brandon looked at Naomi. He was certainly attracted to her, no doubts there. She had long black hair, a slightly curvy figure, and beautifully tanned skin. Plus, she was smart as a whip. They'd originally met when Brandon had hit her up for tutoring. But where previously he felt...something...when he looked at her, it was gone now. Describing it was difficult, but it was like their "closeness" was gone. Here was somebody he'd cared for deeply, but now he felt embarrassed, feeling as though all the deep conversations and intimate moments they shared were...inappropriate. Brandon shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
Naomi felt much the same. There was something missing. She still liked Brandon, being the lovable jock he was, and wouldn't be opposed to helping him with his homework. But having sex or going on dates with him felt wrong. She knew on a conscious level that this was ridiculous, the two had been dating for a couple years, but emotionally, she just didn't see Brandon that way.
Zack was a different story. When she looked at him, she felt that same warmth in her chest that she used to with Brandon. That grin he wore, which she would have previously found weaselly, now looked confident and attractive. Again, she knew this wasn't right, but she couldn't deny her feelings.
"Excuse me," Naomi said politely, as she got up off the couch. She walked over to her boyfriend, Zack, and sat next to him, cuddling against him slightly. Zack was beaming, and he shot Brandon a smug look. He then turned to the side and let out a nervous chuckle. This was the closest he'd ever been to a girl, and wasn't sure what to do. He decided to just let Naomi take the lead.
'Lucky guy,' Brandon thought to himself. 'Wait, why did I think that? I was the lucky guy a minute ago.'
"Brandon, are you mad?" Ellie asked innocently.
"Not really," he replied, "which, come to think of it, is kind of weird. I just lost my girlfriend. I should be angry, right?"
"I wasn't too mad about liking ponies either," Zack added. "Maybe the game is making us chill out, so we don't freak and stop playing. And I don't know, liking ponies feels right, y'know?"
Naomi wondered at that. It certainly felt right to be cuddling with Zack right now, even though it very much wasn't. She was eighteen and he was a middle schooler, them dating was definitely not okay. And yet...she couldn't deny her feelings. She shivered slightly, thinking of how deep the game's mental effects could go.
"I wanna go again!" Ellie said as her dice hit the board.