Ilia Amitola: One of the White Fang's most skilled young recruits. Why her? Well because of her unique abilities. See, Ilia is a Chameleon Faunus which means she has certain traits of the reptile. One of them is her body, allowing her to change the colours of her skin and hair for stealth and sometimes changing having them naturally change to reflect her emotions. However, she didn't always used to just have this trait. She rarely uses it nowadays but a few years ago when she was a younger teen, Ilia had a… Certain Chameleon feature, one that she's since been banned from using in the White Fang. Why was it banned? Well you're out to find out… Here is the story of Ilia's tongue.
It was a casual day in the White Fang camp and the younger recruits were currently getting there lunch at the make-shift cafeteria, some getting food while others sat at logs together and ate their food, chatting away happily. The teens were roughly from ages 12-17, all of them being a different kind of Faunus from dogs to cats to cows. All of them wearing white and grey White Fang uniforms and holding trays on their laps with food like beans, sausages, vegetables and more.
"Hey, so did you guys hear about the mission the soldiers went on? It sounded so cool! They were stealing dust and beating up the bad guys and everything!" An older boy with cat ears spoke up, looking quite excited at the mention of it.
"Woooooaaaah." Everyone else looked up at him, seeming amazed by the story. All the younger ones in the White Fang looked up to and admired the higher up soldier, hoping to someday go on cool mission just like them to help make Faunus equal.
"Yep! And I heard they're gonna go on another one in a few weeks! So a little birdy told me… No offence, Sandra." The older boy spoke, looking to a younger bluebird Faunus girl who just ruffled her feathers and huffed.
The kids all laughed and continued eating from their trays, exchanging stories and just having a good time… Except for one.
At the edge of the forest line just next to where the kids were, there was some light rustling of buses and shrubbery, moving but not audible to the kids. There seemed to be… A figure there. Their body was brown like tree bark and their hair and scaly freckles were green like leaves. They seemed to be sneaking through the area, spying on the kids and sneaking up to them. You probably guessed it by now… It was Ilia, our favourite little Chameleon Faunus at age 12. Camouflaged and blending in pretty well with the rest of the woods, she began to get closer to the group, crouching down and hiding behind a bush, just… Staring at them.
See, Ilia didn't have very many friends in the White Fang. She was the only reptile Faunus in her age group which made her a bit of an outcast, the other kids not trusting her and shunning her out… Maybe with a little good reason. Ilia didn't really care about this as she enjoyed her alone time but she did enjoy messing with people and playing little pranks, just to give herself a little giggle. And she was about to do just that…
Ilia was still crouched behind the bush, camouflaged with it and only about 6 metres away from the older cat Faunus. No one had seen her… Perfect. Now to get ready to strike. Eyeing up a sausage on the end of his tray through her small Grimm mask, Ilia kept as still as a rock, preparing herself…
Suddenly, Ilia opened her mouth and something shot out of it at an incredibly fast speed, something long, sticky and stretchy. What was it? A tongue! But not just any tongue; This was a long Chameleon tongue which could stretch out at far distances and grab things with the tip of it, the thing currently in question being this sausage.
The tongue reached out at incredible speed, easily wrapping around the sausage and nabbing it, zipping backwards and straight into Ilia's mouth with it. As the whole tongue got back inside, so did the sausage and Ilia chewed down on it happily, smiling and humming softly as she ate it. Once swallowing, she quickly realised nobody had noticed her. Hmm… No fun if no one knows there was a prank. Gotta do something… Aha! Ilia knew exactly what to do! And it just happened to be her favourite method.
Staying crouched; Ilia looked back to the group of kids and kept very still only instead of food, Ilia was aiming at something else… The Older cat kid's human ear. Once she got locked on, Ilia let out a small giggle and grin before firing out her tongue once more, the long, stretchy muscle flying out like a bullet.
"And then the Beowolf was dea- WOAH!" The boy suddenly jumped and shrieked as his story was interrupted by something wet, sticky, warm and thick hitting the inside of his ear, making him turn around and rub it in an attempt to find where it came from… And he had a good idea of what happened. "ILIA! Why'd you do that!?"
Ilia stood up from her crouched position and changed to an orange and pink combination, laughing to herself in amusement. "Hehehehe! You should have seen your face! And you scream like a little girl! Hahaha!"
The older boy growled and stood up glaring at Ilia. He clearly wasn't amused. "You shouldn't do that! It's weird and gross!"
Ilia just shrugged and stuck her tongue out at him, this time however it looked normal instead of Chameleon like. It was interchangeable. With a shrug and a grin, Ilia once again turned brown and green, sneaking off into the forests to play with some animals. This area was safe.
The boy just growled and sat down, mumbling to himself in annoyance. "Stupid lizard… Weird tongue in my ear… Gross…"
/
It was a few weeks after the lunch incident and Ilia was sitting in her tent, humming quietly as she lay on her back reading a story book about two brothers. These past few months, she had been using her tongue quite a lot for... Annoying pastimes. Irritating other kids, getting on the nerves of soldiers and just being gross by eating wild insects. Enough people had complained that now, someone had to step in. And the higher ups of the camp knew just who…
There was a patting against the zipped up entrance to the tent followed by a male voice calling in. "Ilia? You in there? Can I come in?"
Ilia's face immediately lit up upon hearing this voice, becoming so excited that she accidentally dropped her book on her face. "Oof!" Quickly throwing it to the side, Ilia got up onto her knees and shuffled over to the entrance, unzipping it and greeting the person at the door. "ADAM!"
It was Adam Taurus, a few years younger than how you'd usually see him and a lot less creepy at this point in time, even rather nice. He was a big hit with the kids here, especially Ilia who he caught in a big tackle hug, barely keeping his balance. "W-woah… Hey there, Ilia. Are you doing ok?"
"I'm doing great! I've been reading this cool book about two brothers! Its god light, dark, Grimm, how people were made and… Oh it's so much fun!" Ilia replied with an excited look on her scale-freckled face. Ilia really liked Adam and enjoyed talking with him. He wouldn't criticize her or be mean to her, just sit there and listen, even joining in with her fun and conversations.
"Hehe. That sounds neat. I know you like your reading." Adam smiled and shuffled into the small tent, sitting down next to Ilia. His warm smiled soon formed into a slightly stern look, showing her wasn't here to have much fun. "Do you know why I'm here?"
Ilia slowly frowned and looked away upon seeing Adam's expression. She knew exactly what that face was… It was the face he made whenever he was giving someone into trouble. "Um… You… Wanna read with me?"
Adam sighed and shook his head, lightly stroking one of the bull horns on his head. "Ilia, we all have unique and special Faunus traits. I've got my horns, others have ears… But you're special enough to have two. You know what those are, right?"
Ilia slowly nodded and put on a light pout, knowing now why she was in trouble. "My… My colours and… My tongue…?"
"That's right. Let's see them? I just wanna have a look. Is that okay?" Adam asked, giving a reassuring look to the nervous Ilia.
Ilia nodded and closed her eyes, opening her mouth to which the long, stretchy Chameleon tongue was now there, falling out of her mouth and making a small coil on the bottom of the tent by her knees. Her skin slowly turned to a light shade of red while her hair, scaly freckles and eyes turned to a lighter green, showing she was embarrassed and nervous.
"Hmm…" Adam let out a small, curious hum as he put a finger under the hanging long tongue, holding it up lightly with it. "I've been hearing some stories… You've been causing quite a bit of trouble with this. Is that true?"
Ilia sighed and slowly nodded, her mouth still open with Adam lightly holding her tongue up. "Uhuh…"
"Ilia…" Adam frowned and sighed, ruffling her dark brown hair lightly. "You know you shouldn't be misbehaving like this. It's not good for the camp."
Ilia looked down once more at her coiled tongue on the ground, nodding slowly and looking very guilty. She didn't like getting scolded by this, even by Adam. It made her feel bad and guilty for what she did…
"I…" Adam sighed once more, letting go of Ilia's long tongue. "I wouldn't do this if I had a choice but… The higher ups have decided that… You should keep that tongue hidden from now on. I'm sorry, Ilia…"
"'OT!?" Ilia asked in a distressed tone, her speech weird as she slurped her tongue back into her mouth and closed it. Once she opened back up, her tongue looked like a regular human's again. "B-but… It's my tongue! I… I like having it like that… I can't just hide it… It's part of me…" She spoke with teary eyes, looking up at Adam with a small pout.
Adam looked down at her sad little face, humming sadly and looking away. He hated it when he got those cute looks… They easily broke him. "I know… But it's not my decision. It's just a lesson from the higher ups to keep you in line. I'm sure maybe they'll let you take it back out eventually."
Ilia just looked back at him, sniffling sadly with an upset look on her face. Without saying a word, Ilia shuffled over on her knees towards Adam and embraced him in a tight hug, beginning to cry into his chest.
Adam let out a sad sigh, slowly rubbing Ilia's back with love and care. He hated seeing her like this… She was like a daughter to him. "It'll be ok, Ilia… I promise. Oh! I have to good news though."
Ilia sniffed and looked up at him with teary eyes, still hugging herself close to him. "What's that?"
"Well I've got a friend who's being transferred to our camp. She's just a little older than you but I think you two will great friends. She even likes books too! Does that sound neat?" Adam gave her a small, reassuring smile.
A new person who liked books like her? Hmm… This would be interesting. Hopefully she could make a good first impression… Without her Chameleon tongue though. "That… That sounds fun." Ilia gave a weak smile back in return at Adam, sitting back up on the bottom of the tent.
Adam smiled back much wider this time, patting Ilia's head and standing up. "I knew you'd like that. Now I gotta take care of some other stuff. You just…. Behave, okay?"
"Okay. I'll behave." Ilia nodded and gave him a small thumbs up, her skin and hair turning to its regular tan and dark brown colours.
"Good girl." Adam gave her one last nod before exiting the tent, going to deal with an owl Faunus who had been picking on a mouse Faunus.
Ilia just sat there and sighed, not even bothering to zip her tent back up. This was it. No more long stretchy tongue… No more pranks with it, no more stealing extra food and no more insect eating. This made Ilia really sad… Though it would help her stop getting into trouble. So that's a plus. Ilia huffed and tried to accept this in her mind, going back to her book. Who knows…? Maybe at least this new "friend" would be as nice as Adam said she was. Only time would tell.
And that is how Ilia was banned from using her Chameleon tongue.
The end.