::The Last Avatar::

Gamer Edition

0.3

From Cat to Coeurl

Rue found herself frozen by the piercing eyes staring at her from the darkness, or rather, she realised with a blink, staring at Tseng quite pointedly with a good deal of malice. Before she could say anything about that particular observation a stripy, spotty, and rather angry, cat-like creature sprung from the darkness that surrounded them and landed heavily on the stunned Turk with a snarl.

Sephiroth had Masamune out before Rue could think, Tseng was struggling with the creature, though, strangely, it appeared to be threatening rather than mauling him. Watching the scene unfold blankly Rue found the creature growling at the Turk was rather familiar, the noises coming from it in particular were rather- Sephiroth stepped in front of her and halted her train of thought. Again. He's good at that.

When Rue realised that Sephiroth meant to attack the creature she instinctively stepped forward to stop him. She knew, just knew, that the creature snarling at Tseng, was not attacking him, but simply protecting her from a perceived threat.

"Tera!" she called out sharply. The snarling halted and the creature almost whimpered as it looked back at the teenage girl staring wide eyed at the amazing animal before her. Tera was now easily the size of a large dog, the claws that Rue had once called 'deadly' now really, well and truly were. There were however, a few oddities that made Rue's eyebrows want to crawl up her forehead and into her hairline. For example, the cat, if she could be called that now, had a pure white furry mane framing her head and, strangely, two white and purple whiskers in place of where her normal ones had once been. Kinda cool now.

However, beyond that Tera's colouring had remained mostly the same, her Bengal heritage far more obvious now she was larger than the small domestic cat she'd been the last time Rue had seen her. Her sandy coloured coat was littered with dark brown spots and a few stripes here and there, her muzzle and belly were white, though the latter had some spots covering it.

Looking into the creatures golden eyes, Rue knew, for certain, that this was her pet, her 'animal guide' as it were. All she could think about was how amazing her beloved cat looked, and how smug she looked as she pinned Tseng to the ground with her large paws. Oh. She should probably call Tera off. Probably.

Glancing up at Sephiroth, who was studying her critically with a slight frown on his face if those slightly furrowed brows were anything to go by. Rue sighed and moved forward towards Tera and Tseng who was still trapped beneath the large creature. What in the hell had they done to her cat? "Tera, sweetie, get off the nice Turk now," she asked her furry friend. Tera, to her credit, had the sense to do as her owner requested, for once, and got off Tseng, though not without some unnecessary clawing as she jumped off the now rather rumpled looking Turk. HA!

"What's a Coeurl doing here? Aren't they native to the Northern Continent?" Tseng asked as he straightened himself. Rue looked down at Tera who was now pressed against her side protectively as she glared molten gold at Tseng.

"Well that is where I'm from, if you'd listen and stop being so suspicious," Rue rolled her eyes at the dark haired man. He stared at her for a moment, before looking down at the 'Coeurl' at her side and then back again.

"You have a monster as a pet?" he asked with a frown. Rue, knowing about Rufus' own monster pet, not that she was supposed to know about it, just smiled brightly even if she was still wrapping her head around all of this within her own mind. Don't panic, you're fine.

"Well, Tera was much smaller last time we met," Rue admitted with a shrug. She wasn't lying, so Tseng couldn't call her on it.

"He's quite ferocious," Sephiroth commented lightly. Tera growled warningly at him as her tail wrapped possessively around Rue's legs. Only stopping when her owners hand made contact with the top of her head.

"She, actually," Rue smirked down at her transformed cat. "Meet Tera the Terrible Terror," Rue was incapable of keeping a straight face when she said her pets full name. Seriously? Best. Name. Ever.

Upon hearing her own name the Coeurl made the high-pitched 'brrr' noise that Rue had always identified with her beloved cat, and possessively rubbed her face against Rue's hip.

"She attacked me," Tseng glared at her heatedly. His hair was falling out of the neat ponytail he'd had it in and his suit was rumpled, Rue thought it was good for him.

"You were threatening me," she countered without missing a beat.

"You-"

"Tseng I believe this can wait, are we not late as it is?" Sephiroth defused the tense conversation brusquely. Though he did look a mite perplexed and uncomfortable at the way she and Tseng were glaring at each other.

"I don't trust her," Rue rolled her eyes at his comment. Does he trust anyone?

"Fine, search me if you think it'll make you feel better," with that she tossed her bag at his face. Rue had a sudden empathy with whoever was in charge of her tutorials, throwing things suddenly at peoples faces was amusing when you weren't on the receiving end.

It was as if the thought of her tutorials had summoned one as yet another screen exploded to life in front of her face. Thankfully, Rue managed not to react as vocally as she had the last time and only flinched a little. Tera's presence behind her kept her from stepping back, something she was grateful for.

Tutorial

Reputation, Morality and Titles

…

During Social Interactions the way you react to others influences how they perceive you. This in turn influences your overall Reputation. For example; being standoffish and argumentative towards someone who is acting that way towards you, will cause them to have a negative perception of you. Thus pushing your Reputation into the negatives, where it kinda already is.

Might want to work on that, kiddo.

There are also two kinds of Reputation, your Reputation with the people you're currently around and overall Reputation with Society as a whole.

Morality is tied to your Reputation, if you act in a bitchy way to people then it's probably going to go down. If you act nicer and were to, I don't know, take the high road instead of being a brat, you might find it going up.

But hey, it's your call.

Your Title, is tied to the previous two, but is also tied to how you're seen by society as a whole. Make a name for yourself, good or bad, and people are likely to hear about it.

Titles can change at the drop of a hat, and can also be influenced by; what you wear, who you're friends with, how well you perform in quests and how you act in public.

…

Current Reputation: Negative/Neutral - The Avatar has been ejected from Gaia upon failing repeatedly to keep balance in the world. The few that know it even existed aren't all that impressed to be honest. Turks don't like you much right now either.

Current Morality: Neutral-Chaotic - You're a fence sitter, who likes to fuck with people for kicks

Current Title: Ava-what now? - Nobody's heard of you and they really don't care.

…

Rue was really beginning to hate her tutorials. They were taking the fun out of things. Though she supposed it wouldn't kill her to be a little nicer to the high strung Turk. Even if he did have a valid reason for his distrust, Rue had done and said nothing to actually warrant it. He didn't need to know she was lying through her teeth about where she was from, what else could she say? The truth? Like they'd believe us anyway. You don't even believe it.

"Potions, a phoenix down and a blank notebook," Rue focused back on Tseng through the screen. He was done with her bag it seemed, though he almost looked put out that she had nothing incriminating in it. He handed it back with a nod that looked like it could have been painful if the grimace on his face was anything to go by. He wasn't happy she was clean. Rue used her taking the bag back to dismiss the tutorial screen, hoping she'd been discrete and neither Turk nor SOLDIER had noticed. She certainly wasn't feeling sneaky right now and considered it a very good thing she hadn't been able to choose 'ninja' or 'thief' for her 'costumes' right off the bat.

"As I told you, Rue is a civilian, now if you are done wasting time," Sephiroth verbally prodded Tseng. With a sigh and a hesitant glance down at Tera, Tseng nodded before turning and walking in the direction Sephiroth had been leading her in prior to his appearance. As he walked away Rue mouthed the words 'thank you' to Sephiroth who also nodded to her and motioned for her to follow once more.

Rue needed little prompting and followed after her unlikely and rather temporary protector with Tera bouncing around her lightly on long spindly legs and looking quite pleased with herself. Brat.

"Tera, behave for once," she pleaded quietly with the Coeurl. There was a playful and rather feral glint in her companions eyes that Rue knew was a precursor to the cat getting into all manner of mischief. She watched as Tera glanced at Sephiroth who appeared to be slowing his pace so Rue could catch up, or maybe that was all in her head. Yeah. That was it.

Once the two were walking side by side Tera seemed content in Rue's safety and bounded off into the darkness to do who-knew-what, though Rue had a feeling the Coeurl wouldn't go far. She glanced up at the stupidly tall man beside her, yeah, she needed some taller shoes or maybe she could find some materia that would make her taller. Or a djinn, did djinn exist on Gaia? She couldn't remember.

"It seems the Coeurl-" Rue gave him a look, "-Tera-" he corrected quickly, "approves of my protection for the moment," Rue snickered at that. The words were awkward and uncertain, things she would never have attributed to Sephiroth before now. Maybe he was younger than she thought he was?

"Yeah," Rue heard herself agreeing distantly. Her mind was on his behaviour thus far and how it seemed slightly less icicle-like and more, awkward teenage boy with too many hormones. She blinked at that thought. No. No, no, no,no,no. No. Bad thoughts. Coughing lightly Rue quickly realised she could hardly talk anymore now she'd been time-warped back to her teenage years and glanced around for a subject change to get her mind out of the gutter. "So," was she really this awkward? "I stumbled twenty-four times?" she asked after a moment of fighting her irritatingly blank mind.

That was when he decided to chuckle. Rue hated him for that. Really. Truly. Hated him. The sound made her heart speed up slightly and unwanted heat rise in her cheeks. She wasn't even going to mention what that sound did to her knees. It was embarrassing how easily he pulled that reaction from her. She kinda hoped he didn't notice. Since when are you that lucky?

"Indeed, I wasn't aware that it was possible to be that clumsy," the corner of his mouth twitched as he spoke. It was obvious he'd found her lack of coordination more than just amusing. Rue cursed her lack of grace at this point in her life, not that she had much more when she was twenty-five if she was honest.

"And you counted, because why?" she was starting to dislike Sephiroth's sense of humour. Still hot though.

"It was entertaining," he shrugged at her. Rue stared at him for a long moment before closing her eyes and shaking her head at him. She shouldn't have. Really. If she hadn't maybe she would have been able to dodge the startlingly bright pink lizard that threw itself at her. As it was, one moment she was walking peacefully next to Sephiroth and the next she was flat on her back trying to stop the blasted monster from eating her face. She really wasn't cut out for this shit.

Sephiroth and Tseng pulled the pink monstrosity off her before disposing of it. Much to her relief. She'd even escaped mostly unharmed, a few scratches on her arm were nothing when one owned a hyperactive cat. Speaking of.

Tera chose then to bound up to Rue in distress, checking her mistress over for injuries and growling when she located the scratches. The Coeurl 'mrow-d' at Rue as she butted her head against the teen before she began to prowl around the three humans protectively, growling lowly in warning to any other monsters in the area.

"You alright?" Rue looked up at the Turk suddenly standing in front of her. She grinned at him and held up her arm, the scratches weren't deep and hardly hurt, barely worth mentioning really. He had asked though. An olive branch?

"Had worse from her," she nodded to the aggravated Coeurl pacing around them.

"I don't doubt it," he was still suspicious, but it was his job to be. Rue was relieved that he appeared less so now, perhaps he'd eavesdropped on her awkward conversation with Sephiroth? It looked like he might have continued making nice with her, however Sephiroth approached the two of them and tossed her a small softly glowing green ball.

"I found this earlier, you can have it," he told her nonchalantly. Rue would have opened her mouth but;

CONGRATULATIONS!

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!

*Magical Glow-y Balls of Doom*

You have acquired your very first Materia, well done!

The brightly coloured words exploded to life in front of her eyes and Rue very nearly dropped the gift in surprise as she jumped. Thankfully the words did not stick around like the tutorials and vanished as quickly as they'd appeared. Closing her eyes and swallowing back the string of expletives that wanted to pour from her mouth, Rue smiled at Sephiroth as warmly as she could manage.

"Thank you, um, what kind is it?" she asked hesitantly. This is new. What is that? Never seen anything like that before.

"You've never used Materia before?" Tseng seemed somewhat surprised. Rue just gave him a flat look.

"We were never all that well off and not everyone has Materia available to them or a reason to learn anything about them, or did you forget that Mr. Spy?" the words came out unbidden. Rue just rolled with it, it was all she could do and would continue to do until she had a moment to sit and breath and think. Just focus on the now.

"My apologies, I'm not used to dealing with civilians," Tseng shifted slightly in discomfort. When he glanced at the space beside her hip the teenage girl realised her pet Coeurl had come to settle next to her now her prowling. Sighing lightly Rue placed a hand on Tera's head to stop the barely audible growling coming from the grumpy creature.

"It's fine," she looked to Sephiroth hoping to prompt him to answer her question.

"It's a Restore, seems like you could use one," he was looking pointedly at her arm as he spoke. Looking down at the scratches, the green Restore in her hand and then back to the silver haired man Rue nodded in thanks. "I'll walk you through using it later, right now we need to keep moving," he added after a pause.

"Agreed, we can't keep Kisaragi waiting long," Tseng commented as both men turned and started walking.

Rue just stared after them. Tseng had said Kisaragi, as in Godo? As in Yuffie's dad?

Ah shit.

AN: So, this chapter got away from me a little, but I did need to set some things up for the future so here we are. I do know that Coeurl's are spelled differently in the original game due to a mistranslation, but honestly, same thing different spelling and all that. Tera is a BengalXRagdoll domestic cat who enjoys tormenting her owner and getting into all kinds of problems. I suspect Yuffie will adore her.
Before I wrote this chapter I had to stop and do some serious Character Age Math, needless to say it hurt my brain. Hopefully everyone is at least in the right age range if my math was right.

Now before I sign off for the night I'd just like to thank everyone who has faved, alerted, reviewed and just took time out of their day to read the Shenanigans of Avatar Rue so far. You all rock.

TLDR: You guys are awesome, next chapter should be out soon!

RLK