03.06.3502, 18:15, in one of the Arcane Operatives entertainment rooms.
“Augh.” Mimicry threw his cards onto the table, noticeably irritated. He had long figured out what his master was doing to consistently beat him, but how she did it eluded him. Collecting his thoughts he focused on Blur as she gathered and shuffled the cards, before handing them out again.
Quickly picking up his 10 cards he threw a glance at them, noticing nothing amiss so far. He waited for Blur to do what she had done for the past five games. He focused fully on Blur’s movements, keen on finally grasping her technique of deceit.
After she finished handing out the cards and placing the leftover stack onto the hardwood table she reached for her cards. Now! Mimicry's focus reached its peak, his world only encapsulating Blur’s delicate fingers grasping her cards. She would swap out her cards now. He was sure of it.
Then, with a soft chuckle, Mimicry's focus got shattered abruptly. Scanning the room again, a wave of perplexity washed over him. His hands, they were empty! Raising his eyes he caught sight of the very cards he held in his hands moments ago, being presented to him by Blur.
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She scrutinized him while leaning forward to hand back his cards, a teasing look on her pale face. “Always be aware of your surroundings. I thought I didn't have to remind you of that. As the one to have trained you, this reflects poorly onto me as well, you know?” Blur’s voice, tinged with mischief, reminded Mimicry of what he was so painfully aware of already.
Hastily taking back his cards, he realized that all ten were jokers. They had been swapped! “Argh.” He sunk back into his wooden chair. But how? He couldn't fathom what Blur had done in this short of a timeframe.
Blur's lips curled into a smug smile, seeing the puzzled look on Mimicry's face. “This act of maturity around the others, you still lack awareness and understanding. Makes it seem like all I ever taught you was how to bluff.” she quipped, her eyes gleaming with amusement.
“Well you spent around 2 weeks teaching me the art of deceit, didn't you?” Mimicry shot back, unwilling to let his humiliation go unretorted.
Just as Blur was about to counter her gaze fell upon the wall clock. “Our mission starts in 30 minutes. We have to move out now if we want to arrive on time.” Her voice betrayed her playful demeanor, carrying a fanatical flair with it.
At this moment Mimicry understood why there wasn't an in depth briefing about this mission on the day before: it was a mission driven solely by Blur’s belief, the same ones he had heard about from other members.
Surrendering himself to this realization, he stood up and set out to the missions starting point, trailing Blur, as she was the only one aware of this undertaking’s content.