"UNO?" Alicia dubiously watched the cards shuffling in Anastasia's hands. "We're actually playing UNO to decide this?"
"I dislike violence, as feminine as that makes me sound. Besides, a clash of wits is more refined than whatever your friend does on a daily basis. UNO is a classic game that requires patience, skill, and the ability to improvise and bluff."
A bit of luck as well, Alicia thought. "What happens if any one of us loses?"
"The loser shall speak up."
Speak up. If she loses, she'll have to tell her why she was "spying" on them. If she wins, she could make her fess up about the true nature of the Chinese Zodiac Club.
"And if they don't?"
"Then feel free to delete System 32...or have their social life ruined."
"Fair enough." I could just make up some BS if I lose, she didn't add. It's all for nothing. A favorable deal.
"We've had the chance to display our Stands," Anastasia said, separating the cards into piles and stacking them on top of each other in a random fashion. "And it was a total stalemate, so it would be only fair if we test the extent of our own capabilities. Those who rely on their Stand too much will lead to a lost cause in life. It is up to their users to bring out their full potential and keep them in check. I've heard people who had lost control of their Stands, simply because they were pathetic and weak-willed. We, as their master, have to assure our dominance, and in order to do that, we must find ways to improve ourselves with each chance we find."
"Are you done talking, Zen master?" Alicia scoffed. "Because if you are, I'm going to give you a fair warning. I came out on top of the UNO championship in my middle school, and believe me when I say this, but you might be a bit disadvantaged here."
"And I was the city's chess Grandmaster when I was 10, thank you very much. UNO was merely something I picked up after I quit of boredom. It's sweet of you to give me a warning, but I think we are evenly matched here. If you don't mind, I would like to begin now. One versus one format, using the rules traditionally proposed by the founding company. We play until one of us completely discards our hand. Best out of one round."
"Just one?"
"The period is going to end soon, and I have club meetings to attend to, something you surely have heard of, Alicia."
"I don't have time for those anyway." She looked at PATD, still hooked in Anastasia's laptop. The senior gave her own Stand a glance, and the dragon stopped typing its latest string of posts midway, deleting it. A temporary truce.
"Can I trust your shuffling?"
As if answering her, Anastasia tossed the deck of UNO cards. Alicia caught it with a hand, and meticulously rearranged the order of the stack. When she was done she placed it in the middle of the table. "Let's begin. Deal my cards. I'll let you go first."
"As you wish. Let's play without having to shout 'UNO' out loud when we evidently have one card left in our hand, shall we?"
"Agreed."
The match began. Alicia was dealt a Red 8, 7, 5, Green 1, 2, and two Draw Fours. Anastasia placed a Green 2 as the first card of the discard pile. Both of them adopted a neutral and placid expression, to prevent the two from reading each other.
The senior placed down a Green Skip, but since they were the only ones playing, it functions as a free card to put down, allowing her to discard another. But she chose not to and ended her turn.
Alicia put down her Green 1. When it was her turn again, Anastasia decided to draw a card. It's neither a Green or a 1, judging from the voluntary pass.
"UNO is a lot more complex than it appears to be, you know." The senior said. "It's notorious for ruining relations, even if they are healthy. You must remember the news three years ago when a married man murdered his own wife and children for putting down four consecutive Draw Fours on him, slitting their throats with the said cards."
"I still think that was fake." She has no power over non-Stand related cases, and so was unable to find out the truth. The Branch are only allowed to deal with its own problems.
"The point is, sometimes people get so emotionally invested in this card game that it dulls their senses. All they want to do is to fully discard their hand and win," she said as she watched Alicia placed down her Green 2. "Which is what you are doing."
Believe me, I know. She was dealt a favorable hand at the beginning of the game. Rushing down the opponent using half the colors available, with two Draw Fours acting as insurance. A balanced hand if she ever had one.
Anastasia drew and put down a Yellow 1. Not wanting to spend her Draw Fours, Alicia took a card from the draw pile. A Wild.
"Red." She said, tossing it at the discard section. Anastasia drew a card and placed it down as a Red 2.
Following up with a Red 7, the number of cards in her hand is now four. Anastasia's hand, is it really that bad? She has eight cards. Eight. It's too suspicious. A standard UNO deck has one hundred and eight cards, with eight Skips, eight Reverses, eight Draw Twos, and Four Draw Fours. Does she have the remaining two of the Draw Fours, then? If so, she'll have to carefully play around that.
Is that even possible, actually? Alicia decided it wouldn't hurt to find out. It's been a while since she had played, and her old, competitive mindset is long gone. Besides, Anastasia didn't say they couldn't cheat.
Stuffing her hand in her pocket, she summoned PATD and plugged it into her phone. A quick online search on some professional UNO plays could help. Since she could see her screen through her mind while possessed, Anastasia wouldn't suspect a thing.
But something made her blurt out a gasp.
The senior replied with a knowing smile and passed her turn without doing anything.
"When did you..."
"It's not nice to cheat, you know. As punishment, I'm going to defriend everyone you know."
She wasn't kidding. Imagine Dragon, which somehow was already inside her phone, dug up her FriendZone account and deleted her contacts right before she was able to react. Alicia reset her phone, and the pixelated creature disappeared with the black screen. It would be troublesome to add back her friends again, but at least it's not one of those posts Anastasia threatened to write before. It's better to not take another risk like this.
"You say you don't have time," Alicia said, putting down her Red 5. "But all you have been doing is skipping turns and hoarding your hand."
"I prefer the term 'playing control'."
"This is UNO. You don't 'control' anything."
"There are no monsters or minions to play in UNO, true, and there are not many special effects to alter the state of the game. UNO seems to be a casual game at a first glance, fun in parties and with families. But don't let its appearance fool you. It's precisely because of its casualness that it is complex. People tend to underestimate the depths it could go, the mind games." Said Anastasia, putting down a card that was with her since the first turn. A Red Draw 2.
Finally, a glimpse of her hand. Alicia drew two cards from the pile—a Blue Draw 2 and a Blue 4. As per rule with the draw cards, her turn was skipped. The senior used the card she just got, a Wild, and stated it to be Green.
She considered on using a Draw Four, but that will only increase the size of her opponent's hand, potentially giving her more tools to deter her from winning. Alicia chose to draw. To her luck, it was a Green 6. She proceeded to discard it.
Anastasia went with the Green 9 she found from the pile.
One Red 8, one Blue Draw 2, one Blue 4, and two Draw Fours. Alicia spent well over a minute pondering over her turn. In the end she made the choice to reach for the pile. Another 6, but its Blue this time. Her luck so far seems to be only from top deck draws. This game may not be over as quick as she had thought.
CURRENT HAND:
Alicia McCall - Five cards: Red 8, Blue 4, Blue Draw 2, and two Draw Fours.
Anastasia Pallas - Currently has 6 cards. One Red Draw 2 was used.
← To Be Continued
Stand name: Imagine Dragon
User: Anastasia Pallas
Appearance: A tiny, pixelated creature that is only slightly bigger than a computer's cursor, it takes on the form of the white, serpentine dragon from East Asia. I heard Anastasia's family has roots in Greece, but were there dragons like those in their ancient mythologies? It's like Josh's black knight again.
Destructive Power: E
Speed: A
Range: Situational (It's generally bound to the screen it's in, but if it is able to get inside a computer with working Internet it has limitless operational range)
Durability: C (Can you even harm pixels?)
Precision: A
Developmental Potential: B
Abilities:
Technological Intrusion – Imagine Dragon has the unique ability to enter any machinery that has a screen. From laptops to simple radios, so long the machine has a covered frame that displays projected pictures of any sort, it can freely traverse through it with relatively fast speed.
Digital Manipulation – Imagine Dragon is also able to interact with the projected displays behind a screen that is otherwise physically impossible for us to touch. I once accidentally clicked a suspicious file online in the school library, and my computer slowed down considerably. When I found the file that was causing the issue it was stubborn enough to resist my delete commands. Luckily Anatasia was nearby, and her Stand literally just kicked it into the Trash Bin on the home screen.
Notes: Anastasia Pallas, the Dragon. While not the direct leader of the Chinese Zodiac Club, she is the one who handles the work backstage and keeps the foundation of the club standing. Charming in a tomboyish sort of way, she tends to go around school and help students in need.
When Alicia first told me that Anastasia liked girls I thought she was joking, but when she called me "cute, but pitiable enough to be called a lonely Mandarin duck" and explained it as the reason why she had bothered to help me with the computer, all of my previous doubts were erased. It was one of the few enlightening moments in my life when everything just clicked.