CHAMELEON

a quick learner. chameleon could appreciate that. he sent a party invite maxwell's way. real names, huh? "ikeno," he offered in return. "and i believe we are." of the many faune that had gathered at the edge of flora, they alone stood to the side. they stuck out like sore thumbs, while the rest trailed out of the gates. "we should get in line. we look out of place." they slipped in with the others, donning stolen looks and mimicking their every move. some spoke amongst themselves, others were perfectly silent. they funneled out of town like thralls, each one an exile or a descendant

holidays. a hint of the old world poking its head into the new. he didn't much care for them back then, nor did he now. however, with event came rare items, and he was not one to turn those down. gyan chauper. what the hell was that? didn't matter. he was pretty sure he was good at it. “it’s a board game in good faith, for fun and banter, over trivial matters that brings the spirits of people together. why not give it a go?” he agreed. what was there to lose? when the area was clear of other players, he took jai up on his offer and gave it a try. "and that's the game

in his notes, a series of numbers indicated a time and date; a location was written as well. flora, it read. the information was provided by a broker whose name he had already forgotten. the name of his contact was a mystery to him as well. he would know them when he saw them, he figured. he hated to come unprepared. he arrived in flora early to study anatomy. specifically, the physiques of faune (or rabbits, as he preferred to call them). some ears were stiff, others drooped low. they were a tall species, for the most part, with long fingers and oddly-shaped feet. he shook hands with a y

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

"pick another game," chameleon flopped back against the grass, crossing arms behind his head and staring up at his double. "why won't you tell me?" it prodded, twisting itself out of the tree branch and regrowing its legs. it sat in the tree, kicking its legs. it was very good at staring contests, he realized. it hadn't blinked once yet. he found it strange that there were flaws in its mimicry. they thought identically—at least, it seemed that way—but anyone with half a brain would be able to tell that it was not he who was dangling from the tree. "how about 'i spy'? that's a simple

"why come here?" the gemini asked. it fiddled with blades of grass, picking them out like a child at a park. "some seek this place for self-discovery. others to repent. but i look inside of your mind and see nothing of the sort. so," it asked again, meeting chameleon's eyes. "why come here?" he found the question annoying. "if you're a proper clone, then you should know." "i guess i do know. it's more like... i don't understand." "call it professional curiosity." "that's a vague and worthless answer." "i wanted to see if you were real." "i'm very real. but you alr

the gemini sighed. its streak had come to an end, but chameleon figured that it was only warmup, anyway. if it were to be a convincing copy of himself, it surely had something more engaging up its tracksuit sleeve. interesting. he hadn't noticed the colour of its tracksuit. "black?" "hm? oh, this? do you like it?" he shrugged. "not sure it suits us." "no? i think it's more honest." "how so?" his brow furrowed. "white is too pure—for you and i, anyway." "too pure?" chameleon looked unconvinced. "yeah, you know. we're muddy; flawed. we're not a good p

mancala was next. chameleon had only played once, and the gemini knew that. his memory of the rules was fuzzy. the terrain didn't have to work quite as hard to produce their set this time. pebbles rounded themselves out, and crevices formed in the dirt. "did you know that this game existed in ancient egypt?" "yes," he replied, awaiting the gemini's first move. it started with hole number one. it picked up the marbles one by one, and placed them gently into their respective holes. chameleon started with his sixth hole, recalling that it had given him some trouble the last ti

he nodded. it was a fair victory. "what's next?" it's gaze shifted up, as if to ponder the question. he hummed, and while he thought, the chess board reintegrated with the earth. something new took its place, just as a light went off in the gemini's eyes. a classic 7x6 vertical board grew from the ground. tiny disks were formed from the rocks around them. it was nostalgic, and recognizable. connect 4. a bit childish, he thought. "winner goes first," he offered, to which the gemini agreed. it dropped a disk straight down the center. he dropped one on the far left. it tried to sec

he made his first move. he lifted a pawn and examined it. grass had tangled itself into the white pieces, while dirt had hardened into the black ones. they played on a board made from stone. he moved the pawn to e4. it was his regular opener. mostly, he was curious to see what his opponents would do. that applied ten fold to this match. what would he do. c5. it was safe, he thought, and told him nothing. he moved his next piece, this time his rightmost knight to f3. it pushed a pawn forward to d6. they went a while longer, occasionally taking a piece from one and other. they were well mat

"thank you," chameleon said, taking the case of knives and inspecting each one individually. "these are well crafted." he paid, and passed the blonde on his way out of the shop. they would meet again, but neither knew it yet. he practiced with the knives for days after. he started with inanimate objects—trees, rocks, plants and such. when he could consistently hit them, he moved on to things that moved. the forests of floor twenty-two were packed with wildlife. rabbits, birds, deer. the system helped speed up the improvement process, thanks to weapon skills. he wondered how much of i