CHAMELEON

last update: 09.27.24 sp: 2/20 chameleon | level 4 | note...

thread closing chameleon: 1,861 EXP | [3,618/10]*1*1 + 1,500 (Quest) 400 COL | 400 (1 Page) <<Disguise>> Skill

each at a drop of health, chameleon and the gemini stared each other down. one hit from either of the two spelled the end of the game. only one would walk away. and he was confident that it would be him. all it required was for the gemini to miss. it savored its next move, which it also believed to be their finale. it took its time molding the perfect knife, identical to chameleon's even in colour. he was impressed. then, it let it loose, its arm perfectly straight on release. maybe it was the wind. or maybe its finger was a centimeter or two off. either way, the knife drifted o

he compared their health bars. he estimated that two more successful hits would win him the match. if he were hit however, he would immediately lose. the odds were stacked against him from the beginning. unfortunately, in aincrad, numbers were what mostly mattered. it had the larger health pool, and so it would be able to survive for longer. it was basic, annoying math. it didn't matter, though. these were his rules, and he was comfortable with them. he would win. he always won. he let his knife loose in a large whipping motion. it was fast and straight. he could feel that it would h

it answered more than the gemini may have thought. so, it was aware—to an extent, at least. it knew that there was an overarching system in place, running things on the backend. it new that something created it and everything around them. but did it know that he wasn't the same? it must have. one look into his head and it would have seen an endless number of things not of this world. things that only existed outside of the game. motorized vehicles, buildings that reached the sky, modern architecture. surely it put two and two together. he had lived a different life before finding him

chameleon took his time, twirling a knife between his fingers. he hoped to exhaust his foe's patience, but very quickly realizing that he was pursuing an impossible goal. the gemini, quite frankly, did not care. it wasn't going anywhere. he wondered if it had a concept of time, and if it had emotions—not stolen, distorted ones, but feelings of its own. he wondered what it looked like when no one else was around. what did it see when it looked into the pond? he flung another knife at it. finally, one landed. it wasn't a perfect shot, but it would do. he couldn't see into its head like it c

the back and forth that followed was quick. chameleon tossed first, but this time there wasn't enough strength to make it all the way to the gemini. the knife arced, dipping low just before reaching the gemini, and found itself sticking out of the dirt. "nice try," it said. he ignored it. its toss was, thankfully, not much better. the dirt knife spiraled even faster than his own, curving slightly and missing his shoulder by a mile. it landed with a splash, stuck deep in the pond. he almost chuckled, watching the water ripple from the impact, but kept his composure. if there was

he took one of the knives between his fingers. pale blue eyes glared through the reflection of the metal, distorted by a slight rotation of the blade. he was new to the art of throwing weapons. moving targets were still difficult for him; however, he saw improvements in his ability to hit still targets. he wanted the game done with as quickly as possible, so he aimed for the head. with a flick of his wrist, the knife flew. too much power. like the toss before his, it embedded itself in a tree trunk quite far in the distance. "aw. shame," mocked the gemini, who was already prepar

it nodded and put its hands to the dirt. it pushed carefully, molding and shaping the earth until it looked just like one of chameleon's knives. pressing its fingers down on the edges, it formed the blade, making it as sharp as it could. then, he gave it a strong toss. it whizzed by chameleon's ear, thunking as it found its place in the tree behind him. the gemini scowled. "i see. i aimed too far to the right. its difficult—throwing these things. i'm not sure i've ever used one before. but i'll get the hang of it." he didn't offer a proper response; instead, he got on with his turn.

"i have a fun idea," the gemini finally cracked a smile. he didn't recognize it. before it even explained, he could see it in his mind. he was wondering when it would pick a game that was more their style. their previous matches were fun, but childish. there were no stakes. one of them was the victor, and the other a loser. then what? they shake hands and go their separate ways? pointless. they set out the rules. they would take turns tossing knives at each other. one knife per turn—no more than that. every time they landed a knife, they were allowed to ask a question. whatever they

"i'm sorry that you felt this way," responded the gemini, its face fully neutral. "don't patronize me." "i don't mean to." "fuck you." he wasn't usually so emotionally driven. there was something about talking to himself that drew it out of him. a spark of rage that lingered in the dark cubbies of his mind poked its head out for just a moment, announcing to the world that it was still there. although it appeared as though it might laugh, the gemini responded plainly. "maybe you're not the stoic genius you think you are." "i don't think i'm a genius," he bit back.

"how did you feel when your father left you?" "is this an interview?" "more like reflection." "i vaguely recall telling you that i don't need to reflect." the gemini expressed his first physical manifestation of emotion in the form of a sigh. chameleon rose a brow when he noticed this. was it learning from him? "reflection will happen, whether you want it to or not. you reflect every day when you think about your dad." "i don't want to talk about him." "how did you feel when he left?" "why do you say 'left,' as if he just disappeared one day and never ca

"i'm not all that interested in talking about myself," he stood and stretched his joints. "it's boring, and you can already see everything i've ever thought or done. what's the point?" it cocked its head. "reflection is important." "if you're missing something up here," he tapped his temple in a similar fashion to the gemini, "and you don't quite understand yourself, then sure, reflection is important." "but that's not you." "no. it's not," he spoke frankly, and emotionlessly. "you think yourself smarter than others." "i don't think that's a bad thing." "it's

"do you miss her?" it asked, dropping from the tree and landing gently in the grass. chameleon sat up. "i didn't know her." "oh," the gemini pursed his lips, staring off into space as if it were sifting through the fragments of his memory. "oh, that's right. she died during childbirth, didn't she?" he neglected to answer, instead pulling a deck of cards from his pocket. he tossed all but two into the pond, and held the remainder face down in his finger tips. "if you can guess these two cards, i'll tell you more." it hummed, deducting from what he cards it could see in the w

"something that is brown." he thought carefully before spitting out an answer. through their strange mind connection, it seemed they had settled on three maximum guesses per turn. it was arbitrary; he wasn't sure the game actually had a rule like that. still, it added stakes. "tree bark." "nope." it was a throwaway guess, really, to see if it would select something obvious and try to steer him off course. "that squirrel," he pointed. "nope." one last try. of the brown things in their vicinity, what would it have chosen? he threw a wild guess its way. "the dirt," h