Eden, Highpond

The sun irritates her eyes.

So what if she doesn’t like going outside?

So what if she doesn’t like speaking with people?

She’s not good at it, and she’ll never be!

Of course you’ll never be good at something you run away from, scared little girl.

…The memory of her last talk with Perla stops Avril dead in her tracks. Coincidently, her eyes happen to meet Aurora's green ones just as she does so, and Sara to nearly bump against her back.

“Wow! You okay there, Avril?”

“…Yeah, just thought of something. You go ahead and talk with Aurora. I’ll follow in a bit.”

Sara throws her a confused glance but does nod, continuing forward as Avril glances toward her character screen and frowns.

 

User: Avril Hayes | Species: Ratkin | Level: 01 | XP: 0%

Strength: 30 (30) | Agility: 90 (90) | Sturdiness: 30 (30) | Stamina: 99/100

Skills: Dark Vision 7/10, Animal Instincts 2/10, Enhanced Senses 1/5, Rat Cry 1/10.

Active Quests: Help The Lost Kitten Find Her Way!

 

Animal Instincts… It must’ve leveled during their chase last time. Because of the jump?

Avril looks down, ignoring the disgust she feels at seeing her bare ratkin feet (paws?) in order to search for…

Got it.

Finding a stone big enough for her purposes wasn’t hard, though Avril is already second-guessing herself even as she crouches to grab it.

Perhaps she’d have an easier time looking for something better shaped for what she has in mind… Avril throws her tail a glance, then shakes her head as she rises, stone in hand.

Whether she likes it or not, she’ll have to accept her ratkin class if she plans on beating the game. She won’t be able to run from it… And she’s not a scared little girl.

Avril takes a deep breath as she focuses on moving her tail, or at least tries to, since it becomes immediately obvious it won’t be as easy as she had hoped. The sensation is akin to attempting to move her pinky toe on its own… And her success is partial, as long as she moves her hips and arms as well…

Avril feels a wave a heat spreading throughout her face. There’s no doubt she looks ridiculous, shaking her hips and arms in the middle of the street, and it doesn’t escape her attention the looks her strange dance is attracting, including Aurora’s and Sara’s.

Fuck it, let them look if they want.

After a minute or so of pointless struggle, Avril furrows her brows. This isn’t going to work just because she wants it to; It might take several hours or days of training to get somewhere. Then again… Her tail did move when she was speaking with Sara about Leaf.

Instincts…

Releasing a sigh, Avril walks toward Sara and Aurora, interrupting their conversation as she approaches and points toward Aurora.

“You, cat girl, pretend you’re going to punch me, but make it look real.”

Aurora still has her mouth half opened, presumably from something she was about to tell Sara, but nearly a moment after Avril has finished speaking, she shrugs, steps forward, and throws a punch.

Fuck!

…A second later, Avril glimpses through half-closed eyelids to find Aurora walking away as if nothing happened, heading toward a large bag and crouching as she starts searching within it.

Avril would be lying if she said she didn’t expect the girl to punch her for real; It was the whole point of the experiment, after all. And she was able to confirm her suspicions by it; When her arms moved reflexively to stop Aurora’s punch, so did her tail.

“As I was saying,” Aurora speaks while still searching within her bag, “I left things ready for you at the farm; The place from the request you took yesterday. You were right in choosing it, or lucky… Regardless, it’s a good start for a level one… Before the war, we used to let the kids have a go at it, gain some levels… But now the outside has become more dangerous, and the city doesn’t have the manpower to supervise them… Okay, found it.”

Aurora rises with a bundle in her hands, which she unceremoniously throws toward Sara.

“You’ll find some clothes in there, and a pair of daggers. Suit yourselves,” Aurora finishes, pointing her thumb deeper down the alley of which the entrance they currently occupy.

Sara glances down at the bundle in her hands, then down the alley Aurora points at. She doesn’t seem particularly thrilled, but shrugs after a moment.

“I suppose Leaf can keep watch for us… And I guess I’ll change first while Avril figures out her tail issues.”

Avril frowns, though she chooses not to comment. In fact, she’s still busy trying to get her tail to move more than a few inches in either direction, swinging her hips all the while as Sara moves away, and Aurora sets eyes emptied of emotion upon her instead.

“I’d ask who Leaf is, but I assume she’s referring to the squirrel following us since yesterday?”

“It can speak,” Avril deadpans.

Aurora raises her eyebrow. “…I suppose I’ve seen weirder things... And I’ve also seen ratkin children with better control over their tails.”

“They’ve had years of practice. I was cursed with mine less than two days ago.”

Aurora shakes her head. “As amusing as it looks, you’ll never get it to move by shaking your hips.”

Avril stops, frowning at her. “Got a better idea?”

“The stone was a good idea, but you aren’t ready for it. Learn to move the rest of your body, and moving your tail will become a natural extension of your training.”

Aurora demonstrates her point by performing a quick split, followed by having her tail coil around her neck.

Avril rolls her eyes. “Nice show, kitty cat, but not exactly helpful.”

Aurora’s green eyes flare to life with anger for a brief second before her cold expression returns.

“Fine, suit yourself.”

Before Avril manages to answer, Aurora is already gone, disappearing through the top opening of the alley and into the rooftops of Highpond.

Wow, that was… Fast.

Avril shakes her head, returning to the task at hand.

It is clear she won’t be able to catch up by simply stumbling through the dark, and she doesn’t have the time to train herself into a gymnast either; Even if her avatar does seem much more flexible than her real body.

However, even after several minutes have gone by, Avril still hasn’t made any significant progress, being forced to give up on her idea as Sara returns, better dressed and carrying her newly acquired dagger belt with pride.

“Aurora tried starting a conversation with Leaf,” she says, expression somewhat puzzled, “I guess you’ve told her about them?”

“She’d have found out eventually. And she’s not the type to run her mouth…” Avril throws Sara a glance. “I assume you’ve told them what to say?”

Sara shrugs as she smiles and spins around once. “Not really. How do I look?”

“Like every other peasant we’ve walked by so far.”

“Thought so. Aurora did a great job... Look!”

Sara quickly unsheathes her dagger as she stabs the air with it several times, then steps back and cuts downwards and diagonally, as if facing an invisible opponent.

Her expression is so serious... By all the Gods above and below…

Closing her half-opened mouth, Avril facepalms. “Please tell me the reason you took so long wasn’t because you were practicing your little show?”

Sara pauses, smiling awkwardly as sheaths her weapon once more. “Err… Was it that obvious? I mean, look, we’ll have to actually fight soon, right? It feels so weird, holding a real weapon… I’ll be honest, I don’t know if I’ll be able to cut anything resembling an animal or a person… I’m cringing just by thinking about it.”

Avril sighs, then shrugs as she walks by Sara. “Now that I’ve seen the game, I’m convinced it won’t be beat anytime soon. You’ll have time to grow used to the idea… And if we fail, it’s no skin off my back. I don’t give a shit about Eden, or Crecia.”

“I love you too!” Sara screams over her shoulder as Avril turns the alley’s corner and settles her eyes on the open bag lying nearby.

Her face heats over the idea of changing out in the open, though she doesn’t allow herself to hesitate before removing her spawn clothes.

In morbid curiosity, Avril glances at herself before reaching for her new change of clothes.

Everything seems as it should… No black bars or censorship of any sort… Then again, Eden is hardly the first game to allow nudity and sex as a part of its experience.

…Would touching herself feel like the real thing? And what about sex?

Her hand midmotion, Avril hesitates. While masturbating in public is the type of thing that’d usually turn her on, at least in theory, she doesn’t feel like it right now. Like, at all.

Could the game have reduced her levels of horniness, somehow? And why not, when the entirety of her senses is already being controlled by it?

But RPGs tend to allow some sort of romance… Or, at least, most of them do.

Avril shakes her head; Not the time, nor the place for it. If sex is a part of the game, it won’t take long for it to become a hot topic, if it hasn’t already.

After changing (Avril found no shoes inside the bag, and Sara still wasn’t wearing a pair either. It seems most beastkin don’t wear them, aside from Aurora), Avril unsheathes her dagger as she inspects the gleaming metal under the sun.

She has held a knife before, of course. Even if the average Elysium tends to have little use for one these days, they’re still convenient to have around, and cheap. Avril herself doesn’t have one, since the Institute doesn’t allow them in the dormitory, but her parents did.

Avril tries to imagine herself stabbing Aurora with it… The blood running through her fingers as the catkin’s eyes widen in disbelief…

Avril frowns. Considering the game’s lack of censorship regarding nudity, she assumes it’ll be the same when it comes to gore.

It seems Aston wasn’t kidding when he said Eden isn’t for the faint of heart…

Sheathing her dagger, Avril nods to herself. Unlike the rest of her snowflake countrymen, she’ll do well here. As soon she learns how to fight, that is…

By the time Avril returns, so has Aurora, though the catkin pointedly refuses to look at her.

“Tell me when you’re about to run out of stamina,” she says, “Step where I step, or I won’t be responsible for what happens to you.”

Without waiting for an answer, Aurora runs toward the wall, steps against it, and lunches herself up, far surpassing the nearest rooftop’s edge.

However, defying Avril's expectations, she stops where she lands, crouching as she then offers a hand in their direction.

“…I don’t have all day.”

Sara and Avril exchange a glance.

“You first,” Avril offers, and Sara nods.

A few awkward seconds later, Avril once more finds Highpond’s rooftops extending before her, and Eden’s azure sky spreading above.

Despite her slightly shaking legs, she appreciates the view and the challenge it represents.

“You’re smiling,” Sara points out, both eyebrows raised as she stares at Avril’s expression.

Avril nods. She’s smiling. This game’s amazing, she has to admit as much. If not for For Glory, and how much she has dedicated… And sacrificed…

“Let’s go.”

Aurora straps her bag over her shoulder - which she must have brought up at some point - as though it weighs nothing, before wordless setting off.

Sara is the first to follow after her, though the catkin is moving so slowly this time Avril almost feels insulted by it… Or she’d have, had she not nearly fallen after her first step.

Both Aurora and Sara stop to look at her, as Avril clenches her teeth.

“Don’t mind me; I’ll catch up.”

Aurora shrugs, turning as she continues on her way.

Sara frowns. “Are you sure, Avril?”

“Just go! You think I need you to fucking babysit me?!”

Smiling hopelessly, Sara shakes her head as she turns and follows after Aurora. From the corner of her eyes, Avril catches something brown scurrying after them… Leaf, no doubt.

Avril takes a deep breath.

Alone, at last. She can finally think…

Avril stares down at herself. This whole time, she has gone about this whole avatar thing the wrong way; She has tried to pilot it, as though she’s still in front of her computer, pressing keys and giving inputs. But it is clear now she’ll never get anywhere like this. No, Eden’s synchronization goes much deeper than she initially assumed.

This… This repulsive, filthy creature isn’t merely an avatar, it is her, Avril Hayes.

Taking a second deep breath, Avril slowly lowers herself into a crouched position…

Flexibility, reflexes, speed, equilibrium… In real life, she possessed none of these things… But her avatar, on the other hand, is an animal, a machine built to survive in the wild even when put against bigger, scarier predators.

Avril narrows her eyes toward Highpond’s rooftops extending before her vision. Besides Aurora and Sara, several other beastkin seem to use them as a way to move around, even at this time in the morning. And for her, being crouched with her hands against the rooftop feels natural, even when she is certain to have never done something similar before.

Avril chuckles softly. She gets it now…

A third deep breath and Avril finally sets off, awkwardly at first, and nearly falling several times… But she doesn’t fight against it.

Relaxing, and allowing her body to move as it wants to, Avril continues a very unsteady run forward as the rooftop’s edge rapidly approaches.

Real Avril would’ve fallen to her death long ago; No, scratch that, she wouldn’t have been able to climb atop the rooftop to begin with. But ratkin Avril… Ratkin Avril moves her tail just at the right time and angle to catch herself before falling…

Doesn’t she?

Smiling savagely, Avril bolts forward at full speed, her movements becoming less awkward the less she thinks, and the faster she moves.

Even if she doesn’t know how to do it, her body sure does!

Jumping as she reaches the first edge, Avril misses her first step as she lands on the other side, falling embarrassingly as she rolls and displaces several rooftop tiles.

…Okay, maybe it’ll move by itself for her just most of the time.

Shaking her head as she rises, Avril takes a glance at Aurora and Sara, now several rooftops ahead, as the latter pauses and looks over her shoulder.

Moving without thinking is much harder in practice than in theory, it seems, even if endless hours of For Glory drills have given Avril more than enough preparation for the task.

But if the knowledge is somehow already imprinted on her brain… Then she’ll learn to wield it sooner or later.

Far from feeling discouraged by her failures so far, Avril sets off once more with renewed vigor.

Where did she fail? Did she jump too far? Did she overthink? No… She was too caught in the moment, and not paying enough attention to her landing spot…

Avril soon loses herself in her training… Rooftop after rooftop, and fall after fall…

Children learn by falling. Her ratkin instincts have much to teach her, and she… She’s a fast learner.

 

Sturdiness: 23 (30) | Stamina: 14/100

 

But this feeling… It’s worse than that one time she went jogging…

Avril doesn’t know for how long she run before having to stop, panting, after a particularly bad fall. Keeling, she raises her gaze as she narrows her eyelids against Highpond’s morning sun, a drop of sweat running down her forehead despite the mountain town's chilly atmosphere.

The sweat beneath her fur… How repulsive… Why would they even add… Gods, she can scarcely think…

Avril blinks as the shadow of a tall silhouette blocks her view.

“…Aurora?” Avril murmurs tiredly.

Green eyes lock against her own as the expressionless beastkin crouches before her, something resembling a protein bar hanging from her extended hand.

“You don’t wanna know what’s in it, but it’ll recover your stamina over the next ten minutes or so.”

Avril accepts the bar wordlessly, taking a first tentative munch as the beastkin turns in order to grab a waterskin from her belt.

…Weird taste. Then again, it’s already impressive for it to taste of anything at all.

“At this rate, we’ll reach the farm by nightfall,” Aurora says while handing Avril the waterskin, from which she drinks greedily.

“I’m getting the hang of it…” Avril lies in between heavy breaths.

“I’m sure you are. Just thought you should know… And here’s to hoping no one comes to check up on all of the noise you’ve been making.”

Aurora chugs from a second waterskin she grabbed from under her robes.

“You’re doing a lot more than I asked you to…” Avril points out, eyeing the catkin suspiciously as Aurora returns her gaze without shying away and shrugs.

“Wouldn’t you, if you were in my place? I did some asking around… With so many immortals running around these days, sponsoring you is the right move to make, even if I don’t like it.”

Avril snorts. “I’m surprised you know that word, kitty cat…”

With a sigh, Aurora rises and shakes her head as she turns and walks away.

Sitting cross-legged while munching on her bar, Avril watches as the catkin jumps effortlessly from rooftop to rooftop until rejoining Sara several rooftops over.

She makes it look so easy…

Once she’s done eating, releasing a sigh, Avril rises.

Now, to find a way to train while she waits for her stamina to recover…

Without any sort of weapon-fighting experience, she’ll have to forget about training with her dagger for now, which leaves...

This time, Avril stands on a single leg as she attempts to move her tail; If she’s correct, the lack of balance will help her prompt the damn thing into moving, even if she’s still unable to control said movement.

 

Sturdiness: 24 (30) | Stamina: 88/100

 

Several boring minutes later, by the time her stamina is mostly recovered, Avril has managed to instigate quite a few wild swings from her tail, some of which she was even able to stir in a particular direction or another…

Progress, at last. Yay.

Taking a deep breath, Avril once more lowers herself into a crouching position.

If she continues crashing, it won’t take long before she ends up dying, or worse, breaking something.

Eyes wide, fangs bared, Avril sets off.

Running.

Jumping.

Landing.

Highpond’s rooftops pass by at fast speeds as Avril continues to run faster and faster while allowing her body to move as naturally as possible.

This time, it isn’t long before she has caught up to Aurora and Sara, though Aurora picks up the pace once she is about to approach, having all of them move together.

Avril feels the wind against her fur and the sun against her skin through her concentration, and she can’t help but imagine mornings of For Glory practice spent surrounded by the team, their bickering, their laughter, the room’s cold air…

What was it all for again?

So she could become the best?

So she would maintain her promise to a girl who had planned to leave her from the beginning?

…Or was it because she has never been good at anything else but gaming?

Her thoughts drifting in and out of focus, Avril quickly loses count of how many falls she has gone through… And by the group’s third stop, they’ve finally managed to approach the city’s wall.

 

Sturdiness: 7 (30) | Stamina: 16/100

 

Avril sits, panting, as she stares up at the massive structure towering above them; Highpond’s last line of defense, as the city is otherwise surrounded by mountains on all sides.

The large river cutting through the city - and most likely having given it its name? – runs by the building they stopped atop of, some sort of large boathouse dedicated to helping citizens cross the river, or fish in it.

From her advantageous position, Avril spots many beastkin working happily by the river and within it, who seem mostly unbothered by their presence other than throwing the occasional glance or sniff their way.

Some of their words are even picked up by her, which she attributes to her Enhanced Senses skill. Considering the time they entered the game - sundown for Elysium, or sunup for Eden – Avril assumes they’re about to reach midmorning, and the city is about to hit peak activity, nearly bustling with buzzing NPCs going about their day, many of which are easy enough to identify as foreigners…

“It’s a miracle you’re still alive,” Aurora comments, standing near the boathouse’s edge as she sweeps her gaze across the river, then up the wall.

Avril shrugs.

Today, learning how to fall was the first thing she did. It felt natural… And breaking her leg last time wasn’t exactly fun.

Reminded of her piggyback ride through the city, Avril grimaces.

“Miss Palmer! This is… This is…!”

Avril glances at Sara to find the girl scratching her squirrel’s belly and ear as the creature melts under her touch, eyes wide and expression shocked.

“What is… What is happening to me…!” the squirrel murmurs as his body slowly relaxes atop Sara’s lap, who continues to mercilessly assault her pet.

Sara laughs. “This is your reward for being a good boy so far! Just surrender and take it!”

Another second of these two, and she might vomit.

Avril averts her eyes as she sighs and rises, approaching Aurora.

“So, what’s the plan?”

Aurora points at the river and a series of arcs blocked by metal bars as it meets Highpond’s stone wall.

“Diving through is about the only way to enter the city undetected these days; If you’re good enough to hold your breath for the five or so minutes necessary to do it, that is.”

Avril raises a brow. “We’re not using the gate?”

“No, but we’re not using the river either. At your level, you wouldn’t make a tenth of the way before running out of stamina.”

“Knowing an escape route can’t hurt, I suppose.”

Aurora nods, then points at the wall. “Normally, civilians aren’t allowed up there, but I wet enough hands to get us a lift today. We’re late, but they should still honor their part of the deal if we hurry.”

Avril gives her a dubious stare. “Why?”

Aurora shrugs. “You’ll see.”