0-0-0
The rest of the day had been spent trading information and even some stories. Rybbo had many stories to tell from times dating back to even classical Greece, and actually put down a lot of myths Augusto had shown him online. This was tacked on with the kwami's explanation of his needs, like being fed and a couple hours of sleep.
In exchange, Augusto introduced the kwami to the modern world. He covered many general topics for most of the day, explain things the best he could, and getting the food from Lara, until the clock finally struck twelve in the night. And when it did, the two had exchanged enough information for both to rationalize what was happening.
Augusto had decided to prepare himself for a long night of leaping around Paris by taking a nap at around ten PM, along with the small kwami who slept in midair, an amusing yet simultaneously mind-boggling issue for the Argentine's teen brain.
"Rybbo, stripes on!" grinned Augusto, this time noticing the surge of confidence and power that came with the transformation. It was very sharp, yet pleasant, in a way he couldn't quite explain. It felt like warm, energetic water dancing on your skin. It wasn't an apt explanation, but it'd make sense to Miraculous wielders (at least the tiger ones).
In a second, he wasn't Augusto Vega anymore. The issue was that he didn't really have a name as of yet. He had previously learned that most of the past tigers literally just used the name 'Tiger', as they only wielded the Miraculous temporarily, and usually no one short of the person who gave them the Miraculous knew that the Tiger even existed.
Rybbo's voice wasn't speaking in his head as it had before, so Augusto guessed he was on his own. He looked at himself in the mirror for a few minutes, going over a list of names in his head. He'd keep the 'Tiger', for obvious reasons, but he needed another word. He narrowed down a list of around twenty names to two names; Striped Tiger and Bengal Tiger.
After a few seconds, he leaned towards Bengal Tiger. Mostly because people could either call him 'Bengal' or 'BT' for short. 'Striped' doesn't sound as good, and 'ST' is very misleading, as it seemed to be spelling a very different series of letters.
"Bengal Tiger it is," he grinned to himself in the mirror, his eyebrows raising a bit and his mask moving to accommodate that. He then noticed that his bandolier was feeling a bit emptier than last time. And then he realized it was because the pistols and their holsters were gone. Under normal circumstances, he would've detransformed and asked Rybbo, but he was much too eager for his first run. He turned around heading for one of the windows. Taking a moment to admire his gauntlets, he quickly unlatched the window lock, opened it, and leaped out.
It was a bad move, as he pretty much momentarily forgot everything in his eagerness, and faceplanted into the grass around the house, his tail shooting straight up like an exclamation point. He was shrouded by darkness, though the loud thump had warded some nervous stares from people still walking around. He let out a quiet groan, rubbing his chest for a moment, before standing up.
He then remembered the knife that he had. He quickly pulled it out of its sheathe, checking if the string was there. Sure enough, it was. "Alright," he mumbled, "Let's give this a try."
He experimented for a few moments, seeing in which way he could throw it with the most comfort. He followed his gut, and pretty quickly decided that simply having his right hand next to his left shoulder was the most natural. He was somewhat nervous about throwing it, but, yet again, his eagerness was overriding any sort of sense of caution he'd usually have about interacting with most potentially lethal weapons, not that he handled such things on a regular basis.
Augusto furrowed his brows, concentrating on one of the rooftops of the buildings across the street. He then swiftly snapped his right arm outwards, and the small blade miraculously landed exactly where he had been aiming for.
He gave the string a tug, somewhat confused, "So, do I just tug or- WOAH!"
The exclamation came out of nowhere, as the string abruptly started pulling him towards the knife. The out-of-place shout also caught the attention of the many citizens that just so happened to be walking on the sidewalk at the exact time that Bengal Tiger was abruptly yanked into the air and soared over them.
Many had their phones out and snapped photos of him midair. Thankfully, Augusto's instincts with photos were pretty simple; he'd always default to a stoic face. And it stayed true even now, when he was in a moment of sheer terror and thrilling surprise.
He was a flash of orange, zooming past the Parisian streetlights. Had he not been transformed, and the powers contain heightened reaction times, he would've smacked face first into beige stone. But he didn't, thankfully, and actually gripped onto a windowsill that miraculously carried his weight. He was dully felt the clink of the knife dislodging from its position and sliding into his hand.
He quickly took a moment to compose himself, hanging three stories from the ground by a plain windowsill. Oddly enough, he was barely feeling any strain at all in his arms. He decided that he'd simply let tiger instincts take over, and oh boy, was that a great decision. His feet immediately searched for footholds and found one, with Augusto not even bothering to look down. He simply launched himself up, left hand launched out and grasping for the roof edge, right arm pressed firmly against his torso while clasping the kunai-dagger-rope-thing.
His hand grasped the metal roof edge, and he effortlessly yanked himself up, his tail whipping in an expression of excitement. He grinned widely, putting his hands on his hips and turning around to face the street. He quickly slipped the grin off and replaced it with a flat line of a mouth, but had a masked eyebrow quirked up in amusement as he stared down at the street filled with people snapping photos of him.
"You may call me the Bengal Tiger. And no, I'm not an akuma," he swapped his pose for clasping his hands behind his back in a sort of power-pose, puffing his chest out. And with that quick display, he turned around and started sprinting, enjoying the wind in his hair. He wasn't feeling taxed at all!
He grinned as he saw the expanse of Paris in all of its glory, the night making everything contrast. The night was warm, at a pleasant 79° F (Around 26° C). Now that he knew the basics of maneuvering around as the Bengal Tiger, everything was much easier. When it came to leaping across roads, he'd typically leap, land on the wall, and then grab something and jump up towards the roof. Most streets, though, he could clear in a leap. And when either of those weren't possible, he'd unsheathe his knife and use it as a grapple in a way similar to Ladybug's yoyo.
He also dully noticed that he was starting to make a stir, with countless people taking pictures and videos as he leaped around. He didn't pay much mind, though, as he simply continued his journey to nowhere in particular. After a few minutes of doing this, he spotted a small park he could relax at. The park was also next to a bakery, but he wouldn't really be able to take advantage of that as he had no money on him. He also noticed that it was almost across the street from his school that had attended during the schoolyear, and would do so again once the summer ended.
He quickly wondered why he had never took note of the nice-looking park practically next to his school, but he chalked it up to the path between the school and his house, with him coming from east of the school and the park being a building line west from it.
He shrugged it off for the moment, fluidly leaping down from the roof of one of the building he was standing, abruptly scaring a few people. "Uh, sorry," he stated awkwardly, giving a somewhat shy grin to the people he had spooked.
Before they could respond, he quickly dropped down on all fours and sprinted across the road before another car could pass, and then stood up on the other side, pretending to brush himself off.
The park was relatively empty, being so late at night, but a few night owls were still there, and a few were staring at him. Augusto was slightly confused as to why they weren't as interested as people had been before, but he guessed it was because he looked like some off-the-rails cosplayer when not legitimately doing flips and leaping around.
A few other park-goers were on their phone, sitting on benches, and enjoying the pleasant weather. Almost every bench was occupied by at least one person, so that decimated any hope of having a bench all to himself. Normally, if he was Augusto, he'd simply just put his hands in his pockets and go back home, but he wasn't Augusto. He was the Bengal Tiger. The mask and powers gave him a bit more confidence, and it's not like sitting next to someone on a park bench was something that needed courage.
So, swallowing any fear he had, he walked to closest bench, where a young, brunette lady was sitting. Without looking up, she said, "I already have a boyfriend, thank you."
"I was going to ask if this spot was occupied," Augusto replied, his voice completely monotone, a stark contrast from the awkward tone he had sported a minute before.
The lady looked up at him, with annoyed eyes and a frown, "What are you, some sort of drunk cosplayer?"
"Cosplayer? I'm a genuine miraculous wielder," he told her bluntly, clasping his hands behind his back and standing up straight. I feel a bit taller than before, he mused.
She laughed harshly, "Ha! You? A genuine miraculous wielder? Yeah, and I'm the Queen of France."
He quirked an eyebrow up, his mask morphing to accommodate it, "With looks like yours? Queen of the Sewer Rats would be more accurate."
The lady froze in shock, then shouted out, "Ugh! Fucking cosplayers! Get your ass away from me!"
Augusto pinched the bridge of his nose in an exasperated manner, "Lady, if I was a cosplayer, would I be able to do this?"
To emphasize, he whipped his tail sideways and twitched his ears. Her eyes widened and her mouth simply gaped open. She then proceeded to get up and walk away with a blank look on her face, with Augusto guessing she was going to rethink everything she called him.
Everyone else in the park was muttering among themselves.
He abruptly yawned, with no sort of warning. "Must be pretty late," Augusto muttered to himself, slightly annoyed that he forgot about a watch. Or any sort of weapon that was multi-use, like the weapons used by the main Miraculous users.
He quickly catapulted himself on to another building, heading home to make a few changes and test them out.
0-0-0
Chat Noir
"Plagg!"
"Yes, Adrien?" the sleepy cat kwami awoke from his sleep. Morning light was shining in through the room's large windows. It wasn't much, though, barely enough to actually alert Plagg to the general time.
"Am I the only Miraculous wielder with a cat-themed Miraculous?" Adrien asked.
This question came as a surprise to Plagg, and it fully woke him up enough to take in the situation. According to Adrien's clock, it was 6:15 in the morning, and Adrien was sitting at his computer, on the LadyBlog, with some video set to fullscreen.
"As far as I know," Plagg replied, zipping over to Adrien's shoulder, "Why?"
"Well, because last night, a 'knock-off Chat Noir' was spotted around Paris, leaping over buildings and generally running around in the city."
Adrien had been awoken by his alarm clock fifteen minutes ago. He usually woke up an hour later, but it seemed he had made a mistake when setting his alarm clock for the next morning. Having nothing to do, he had gotten ready and decided to check the LadyBlog. He had been greeted by discussions, videos, and post about a new, mysterious superhero. The latest post was at two AM, which meant that Alya had gone ballistic about this new hero.
It was slightly worrisome, as they didn't appear to be any sort of akuma, as the hero had simply been running about Paris, but it was primarily the possibly lethal weapons that they carried. Adrien counted two swords sheathed on their hips, and a bandolier strapped across their chest filled with at least two knives, and that's not even counting the blade that was similar to a kunai that the mystery-hero had used in a manner similar to Ladybug's yoyo.
Many of the discussion posts on the LadyBlog were of concern, whether it be of the weapons or the newcomer's general attitude, thanks to a video taken by someone at a park. Adrien wasn't sure what to think about it. On one hand, he was somewhat worried about the miraculous user's intentions, and on the other, he thought it pretty cool that he had some sort miraculous-bonded brother, even if the relation was somewhat flimsy.
What he knew for certain, though, was that he and his lady were going to have a long chat about this.
0-0-0
The Bengal Tiger
He had done some major re-arrangements regarding his suit's appearance. He had looked it over again and decided to streamline the relatively messy look it had.
He had left everything on his head and the belt-tail the same, but everything else was reworked. He now wore a patterned bodysuit, much more similar to Cat Noir's. His lower torso and inner thighs now were white, like a tiger's underbelly, and the rest was orange with black stripes. This was paired with two black sashes, one going across his hips and the other acting as a bandolier. His hands had much tighter gauntlets on now, not dissimilar to surgeon gloves, but remained with the retractable claws. He also had pockets built into the suit's arms, where he was currently storing fifty euros in case he needed to buy anything while in Tiger form.
Following these design changes, he had spent the rest of the night leaping about Paris' skyline, not realizing the time until the sun had started poking over the western horizon, and even then, he stayed out.
In those six or so hours, he had learned many things thanks to the guidance of Rybbo. He had learnt about Hunter's Vision, the Tiger wielder's special power, like Chat Noir's Cataclysm and Ladybug's Lucky Charm. Basically, he had an almost surreal connection to the outside world. Anything that had a pulse within a twenty-meter radius, Augusto would know its exact location and actions. The first time had tried it, he could see pretty much through the entire building he had been standing on. He had also been unlucky enough to have seen a couple doing the deed in one of the apartments and he had immediately called it quits after that. Where he had learned that he would time out after using his powers. Running on fumes, he quickly got home, and fed Rybbo some cooked meat he found in the fridge.
He had also tried firing the firearms, but quit soon after, not comfortable with the thought of using them. The blades, he was still on the fence about. The kunai-rope-dagger thing (which really needed a name, actually) was still fair game in Augusto's eyes as it primarily served for transportation, and not much else.
When it came to his energy levels, he felt as if it was early afternoon, even though it was around seven thirty in the morning and he hadn't slept at all. Even after a night of leaping through Paris, he barely felt winded and was yet to feel some sort of strain.
He grinned, sitting on the rooftop facing the park he had first visited in his new form. He was sitting peacefully, enjoying the view he got from up there. That was until the smell of freshly-made pastries wafted his way. Usually, he would only catch a fleeting whiff or maybe even a full inhalation if he was lucky, but now, the aroma was overpowering. For a moment when he closed his eyes, he thought he was in some sort of pastry heaven. The smell of the confections promptly reminded him that he hadn't eaten anything since the prior day at ten.
He followed his nose, and quickly noticed the bakery next to the park. He didn't know how he had missed it before, but one thing was for certain; he hadn't missed it now.
Even from this distance, he could see clearly that a man inside was flipping the CLOSED sign, making it read OPEN. He looked inside the zipper pocket on his left bicep, making sure that he had fifty euros (he did), and launched from the roof like a rocket. He landed deftly on the grass of the park, startling a few morning-goers, and then catapulting over one of the iron-barred walls, landing neatly in front of the door. This had all been under ten seconds, and he had covered over thirty meters.
In these ten seconds, though, the man inside had turned his back, not seeing the teen's acrobatic feats. Augusto simply shrugged and walked in, a small bell ringing to alert the owners of his presence. The ringing sounded harsh and very loud to his ears, for some reason.
"Welcome to the Dupain-Cheng bak-" the man had turned around, hearing the bell, and started what was most likely a standard greeting, but his words died in his mouth the second he saw his customer.
Augusto internally chuckled at the man's reaction, a mixture of surprise and confusion. He glanced over to the counter to see a woman, about the man's age, have a similar, yet much milder, reaction. It was more surprise than anything, though. It was only a widening in her eyes, but to the Bengal Tiger's eyes, it was clear as day.
"Dupain-Cheng bakery, right?" he took a gander at guessing the man's sentence.
He simply nodded, closing his mouth.
"Do you do alfajores or turrones?" he asked, his voice monotone.
The woman, most likely the man's wife, was quick to recover, "We don't have any of those, sorry."
Augusto lowered his eyebrows a little, a small gesture of disappointment, but he was hungry, "What do you have, then?"
"Macaroons, croissants, pretty much most standard French pastries, but with a Dupain-Cheng twist," the lady grinned at the last part.
"Eclairs?" Augusto asked.
"Yep!" the man next to Augusto stated, seemingly coming out of his stupor.
"Okay, how much would it cost for a chocolate Eclair?" he asked, looking at his shoulder-pocket.
"Four euros," replied the man.
"I'll take four then," the teenager said, holding up four fingers.
"Coming right up!" the man then walked behind the counter and got to work on making the pastries with his wife. Sensing that it would take some time, Augusto slid over into one of the tables next to the window, leaning back. Paris in the early hours of the morning was like nothing Augusto had ever seen. Sure, he usually woke up at seven on the dot, but he rarely looked out on the street.
The foot traffic was a given, and many people were still walking where-ever. But the main thing that astounded him was that there weren't as many cars as he was used to.
His mind then wandered towards his attitude. Superheroes had a sort of trademark personality, right? Cat Noir was goofy, Ladybug was all business but with some jokes, Rina Rouge was somewhat mischievous and playful, and Carapace was protective. So maybe he should follow suit, and make up a personality. Well, not make up, but alter his original as to not attract any attention. He quickly decided to for a more dry-humored and monotone personality. He didn't know why, but it simply seemed to fit in an odd way.
"Yes, maman?" a groggy, younger voice pulled him out of his thoughts. His eyes snapped over to the counter, or rather behind it, where a girl around his age appeared out of a door.
His mind, almost instinctively, went into "Girl!" mode, where he pretty much had an internal melt-down and became absentminded. But then he realized that he wasn't Augusto right now. Rather, he was the Bengal Tiger. He was still getting used to the social effects that taking up an entirely new identity could hold, though.
The bakerwoman (Augusto didn't know what to call her) quickly walked over to the girl, presumably her daughter, and said, "Sweety, we need you to put that batch of Eclairs your father made in the oven. Do you think you can do that without tripping?"
The girl seemed somewhat confused, "Customers, at this time of the day? During the summer?"
With that, she glanced over to the seating area, immediately noticing the stripe-clad boy. Her eyes widened a bit but were more out of recognition more than anything. And abruptly, the recognition disappeared, with confusion replacing it. For a second, Augusto feared that his identity was compromised, but he didn't remember her from anywhere. If he didn't remember her, there was a good chance she didn't know who he was.
She took a tray of something (Augusto wasn't at an angle to see) and put it in the oven, whispering to her mother, "Is that Chat Noir?"
Normally, it was at such a volume that he would've barely heard it a meter away from her, but he could clearly hear her across the bakery.
"I don't know, Marinette, but he's a customer."
Marinette. That was her name. Augusto added that to his mental contact list, which was surprisingly sparse, short of his family and some other assorted names. His ears twitched a bit at him being thought of as Cat Noir. He wanted to be a hero in his own right.
"Order's done!" the girl stated, waiting at the cashier stand. Bengal nodded, sliding out of his seat in a very cat-like manner, and walked over to the where the girl was standing, hesitant to make eye contact. He could feel her questioning gaze, though, "That'll be sixteen euros."
Augusto nodded, reaching into his shoulder pocket and pulling out said amount of euros and handing them to the girl. She checked the amount of money and nodded, handing him a small bag with four chocolate Eclairs in them, just as he had asked for.
He stood still for a millisecond before deciding to start testing his new persona, stating in a very monotone yet slightly playful voice, "I'm not Cat Noir, by the way."
Before being able to see the girl's reaction, he turned around and walked out of the bakery.
0-0-0
Ladybug
Marinette wasn't sure how to feel about the events that had just come to pass. At first, she thought it was Chat in some silly get-up. But it obviously wasn't Chat, though, and she had quickly noticed the difference in mannerisms. Chat was goofy and lively, while this person was much more restrained and dulled.
And then she thought that it might've been an Akuma, but it wasn't hurting anyone or doing anything.
She eventually came to the conclusion that it must be a rogue miraculous user. The boy looked to be around her age, but with a voice like the one she just heard, she wasn't so sure. It sounded much closer to a twenty-year-old's.
She felt incredibly nervous about the fact that there was a miraculous user that hadn't gotten their miraculous via her or Cat Noir. Maybe she had lost one, like with Chloé and her transformation into Queen Bee. But that wasn't likely, as she never recalled being given a tiger miraculous by Master Fu. Now that she thought about it, was there even a tiger miraculous? Well, it was either that or some boy was just really good at cosplay. But with the way his ears moved and tail seemed to slowly sort of just laze around and occasionally twitch, it was most likely the fore.
Marinette quickly made up the excuse of having to use the bathroom, told her parents as much, and used that time to check the LadyBlog. Due to having to wake up extra-early to help her parents out in the bakery, her sleep-deprived brain had pretty much skipped her everyday morning routine. And that included checking Alya's site.
She had expected a few reports and discussion posts, but when she typed the address into the search bar, it was pretty much all tiger-boy news. Scrolling through all the posts, there were photos of the boy, which she now knew as 'Bengal Tiger', doing a few things. Primarily, it was leaping through Paris. There was a lot of concern regarding Bengal's potentially lethal weapons. Marinette, taking a closer look at the photos, realized that he carried an array of bladed weapons, and in a few photos he even had firearms.
She then decided that she needed to make a 'threat assessment'. She had never had the need before, but now she had an unchecked miraculous user with potentially lethal weapons. Maybe she could take to Master Fu.
She was dragged out of her thoughts as screaming could be heard from outside alongside a person screaming, "Akuma!"
AN: So, that was the second chappie of 'The Tiger of Paris'. I think it's pretty good, honestly. Anyways, as always, leave a review after checking it out! Makes me finish chapters way faster!