Derek, with Chad in tow, quickly made his way home. Now that he had turned Chad into a miniature, he didn't know what to do with it. He had never played a tabletop game, and honestly didn't have any interest in starting.
Deciding that he should hand his prisoner over to someone who could actually use him, Derek walked up the stairs and turned towards Joey's room. Besides, he thought, this might help him win back some favour with the 14 year-old cousin.
"Hey twerp, how's it going?" he said, pushing the door open and casually standing over his small relative. Joey was sitting on the couch reading one of his game-books, which he had presumably hidden to avoid confiscation.
"Fuck off." he replied, mumbling as he did when annoyed. He had learned that being loud or confrontational never ended well with Derek.
"Oh, still being pissy, huh? And just when I was trying to make things up to you."
"Leave me alone, asshole." Joey said as he scowled and tried to turn away, only for Derek to grab his soldier and force him to turn back.
"Oh, so I try to bury the hatchet and you throw it in my face? Well twerp, I'll let you off this time, but you know your in for it if you swear at me again, yeah?"
Joey nodded vigorously, the memory of Derek's idea of disciplinary methods now fresh in his mind.
"Good." Derek picked up the game-book. "Now, I think this is meant to be in the attic."
Without another word, Derek left the room and began to head towards the attic. He supposed Joey would just have to wait the rest month to see his gift.
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At this point Chad had, to some extent, regained consciousness. He could hear and see very little from the inside of Derek's pocket. Examining his new condition for the first time, he found it quite perplexing. He was still unable to feel things in the traditional sense, but he no longer felt the dry paint covering his body. He could also determine that the small gaps between his clothes and skin were now filled in by the same material that now comprised his body, leaving the whole thing as a single piece of plastic. He could feel the warmth of his captors pocket, and the rough jumbling caused by his ascent up the attic ladder.
As the movement stopped a hand plucked Chad from the pocket. He could see by the slight illumination of an old bulb that he was in a small wooden attic. Numerous books and boxes were stacked up against a beam. He was turned towards the now gargantuan face of his captor, who was smiling amusedly.
"Like the look of your new home? ' hope so, cause you'll be here a while."
Derek began to look around the room, before closing in on one of the larger boxes. Chad saw that it read "Gamespaces, Misc".
Derek let out a small laugh. "Seeing as you might get bored if I leave you all on your lonesome, I'll put you in with the other guy."
Opening it up, Derek held Chad above the contents. Chad could see a flat board covered in what looked like shortly cut grass, with what appeared to be a small village in the middle. There were only four buildings, three houses and one church, all made from folded card. A sign indicated the town was named Westerbush. There was only one figure on the board sitting by a cardboard well. Like Chad, it was unpainted and glued to a black base. It's arms were raised as if holding onto an invisible bar and it's legs were spread.
"I'll leave you two to get acquainted." Derek said as he placed Chad behind the building to far right and closed the box lid. Chad heard his team member laugh once more as he left the room.
Within a few moments, Chad began to feel odd. His vision became fuzzy and his limbs began to loosen. He could feel the gaps between his skin and his clothes reopen, and for the first time in several hours his arms dropped from their position.
As his vision cleared up, Chad was surprised to see that the decorated miniature house had become real. He impulsively placed his hand against it, discovering that it's bricks were now made of real stone. Looking up, he could see a night sky covered in stars. Turning his examination towards himself, he notice he was still the grey colour he had been previously. Unlike before, it appeared that there was no covering of paint on his body. From what he could tell, this shade of grey was now the natural colour of his skin and hair, with his clothes following suit. He also saw that there was no black bas under his feet. With his shock at his condition overpowered by the relief that he could move again, he ran around the corner into the centre of the town.
There he saw the other model leaning against the well. At the sound of Chad's footsteps he turned around sharply. He was a young male, slightly older than Joey, wearing a button down shirt and a pair of jeans along with a school tie. Chad recognised him as Connor, an exchange student from the U.K.
"Who're you?" he said. Chad remembered that Connor was nearly blind, and that he often needed other students to help him get from class to class.
"Chad, from the football team."
"Really? Why'd he put you here, you're friends, right?"
"Not so much. Turns out he want's my position."
Connor sighed and sat down on the grass. "Well, it's nice to have company."
Chad walked up and sat down besides him. "So you're the guy he tested that paint on first?"
"Yeah, the prick grabbed me on my way to Joey's room and dragged me into the garage. Once I was there he dipped me into a tank of paint, posed me, and shrank me into a miniature."
"Any idea how this stuff works then? Like, how we're models one minute and now we're walking round here the next?"
"He read me some of the manual while waiting for the paint to dry. It's magic, apparently. When we are on a game board, it becomes real from our point of view, and we can move about it. People outside the board just see us figures, but this should allow us to experience the games first hand. How it works when people are play, we don't know. Either the players and dice rolls influence our behaviour in the game, or our behaviour influences them to match it. 'It's one of the great mysteries of Rob Co. Model Paint Adventures' or something like that."
"So we have to play out whatever scenario they put us in?" Chad asked, worried that this would be the rest of his life.
"Seems so." replied Connor with resignation. "I've been stuck in this unfinished set for a while now." He rubbed his arms. " 'pretty cold out here."
"Why don't you go inside then?"
"Try it." Connor curtly commanded.
"Huh?"
"Go on, try to open the door to that building there."
Chad leapt up and made his way towards the wooden door, before tugging hard on the handle. To his surprise it refused to budge. Tugging again, harder, Chad's hand slipped and he fell. Connor let out a brief laugh.
"See? Since the building prop wasn't designed to be entered, we can't get inside."
Chad picked himself up before lunging at Connor "You could've just told me that, dumbass."
Connor struggled futilely under the quarterbacks grip "C-come on, it was funny. B-besides, there's no point getting r-rough about it."
Chad released the scrawny Scotsman. "Fine, but you watch it, I can rough you up whenever I want, and I don't see very much else to do 'round here."
"S-sure." Connor readjusted his position to put some distance between them.
"How long are we going to be stuck here, anyway?"
"No idea, what time was it when you got here?"
Chad wondered. "Not sure about time, but today is the 7th."
"The 7th? Time must move differently in here than out there, I only counted two days in here, and I went in on the 3rd. We might be here for a while, but even if Joey does find us, I doubt he'll know how to reverse this."
Sighing, Chad spread himself out on the grass and tried to sleep.