Comm: Blaine, Yuffie, and the Sphinx situation

Kitsune were curious creatures, with magical powers. As beings of magic, they often acted as messengers or tricksters.

Blaine was one such trickster, who liked to inhabit the void of spaces. It was a curious place that linked her own world to the greater multiverse, and allowed her to see a myriad of possibilities for many worlds. Though some were divergences of one prime universe, she found them all fascinating. Some were remarkably alike, others so different that it seemed like a fiction a fan of the original world created. These worlds were most fun for Blaine to tug at, as she could interrupt them and still have fresh versions of the same people to toy with.

Among these worlds, there was one that was a world of magic and technology. Where members of a group called SOLDIER once existed, where an evil being had crashed and a concept called the Lifestream existed. Among the things there, there was a curious material called...Materia. Blaine found the curious gems interesting, but was far more interested in the one collecting them.

The girl was in her late teens and was a mysterious ninja, who trotted the globe in search of any and all materia. Blaine found herself fascinated by her playfulness and her devil-may-care attitude, so much so that she decided to visit the world to play a fun trick on her.

Blaine had created a special gem that looked like a materia and was activated similarly, with the intent of using it in order to transform the girl known as Yuffie into something amazing. Blaine spent day after day writing up lists of things.

“Let’s see...I could make her into a dog, but I did that to the other ninja with pink hair from that other universe. I could try an ostrich...but that blond android lady didn’t like that...What to do, what to do?” Blaine wondered to herself, banging her head lightly against a wall as she tossed another paper of possibilities to the veritable mountain of paper balls that housed a wastebin within. “This is such a riddle…” she said as she looked at the pile. If she turned her head properly, she thought it kind of resembled a pyramid.

“Wait a sec...Riddle...Pyramid...Yeah, I got it!” she said to herself, lacking for a friend to speak with. “I think this’ll be perfect!”

Rubbing her hands together in a mock villainous fashion, Blaine began to go to work, creating a pure gold colored fake materia. She also polished it repeatedly, trying her best to make it shine and glitter, despite it being about as valuable as pyrite.

Once she had finished, she placed it outside a place called Midgar. She hoped it would look like a simple lucky find for the ninja. She then cast a spell on herself so she could remain invisible, that way she could act and not be detected. She just tried to look around and make sure no one touched the faux-materia. She heard the sound of someone coming near and looked, eager to see.

To her disappointment, it was only the blonde hero with spiky hair.

‘Another of these guys?! First the elf, then the guy in all orange and the really short guy with the suit of armor for a brother, why are all the heroes blonde?’ she thought to herself, though she couldn’t deny he had an air of coolness about him. She never had paid much attention to him before, except to notice he had some importance in the world and often took the ninja with him. She would have to keep him far away and his friends as well to ensure they didn’t snatch her quarry away. Wherever they went, she was never far behind though.

She waited until he and his companions passed before she watched for the ninja again. To her glee she was coming up on them fast. Blaine knew if she didn’t hurry, they might fight, so she lifted the Materia, just as Yuffie began to see. She watched the ninja’s eyes go wide with surprise as she watched Materia come from practically nowhere. She moved it left and right for a bit, Yuffie’s gaze following it before she continued on at last attempting to nab it.

Blaine had to step aside, surprised by the ninja’s speed. She had to get her further away in order to keep the others from noticing. She then ran, with Yuffie following and shouting.

“Hey! Get back here!” she shouted, chasing the materia doggedly. Her enthusiasm turned almost into obsession by seeing a Materia move on its own. It had to be powerful if it had such a great ability. “I just wanna use you for my own personal reasons, nothing bad, I swear!”

Blaine had to stifle a laugh, the game becoming far more interesting. She ran faster, staggered by how fast Yuffie was. The two of them ran past many monsters before Blaine at last dropped the Materia in the middle of a field.

The way it glimmered and shone in the sun made it incredibly easy to find for Yuffie, who panted, out of breath but still glad.

“Aha! Wore you down at last. That’ll teach you to run from the single white rose of Wutai, Yuffie Kisaragi!”

‘So all ninja DO state their whole names before acting...’ Blaine observed before Yuffie tried to utilize the faux-materia. Blaine smiled as she looked at Yuffie’s expression, the glee of activating Materia turned to shock as she began to use it, feeling it go through her entire body.

She began to glow with golden energy, it coming around her like bubbles before she felt something in her eyes. They tingled before the whites became a bright, emerald green. A layer of black coloring went around her eye’s edges as their shape sharpened, her irises becoming catlike. She felt her teeth sharpen as well.

“What’s this materia doing?” she asked herself, when she felt an odd tugging right above her rear. Before she knew it, a long, golden-tan furred tail came through the seat of her shorts.

Before long she felt her legs change too. They were also covered in golden fur, becoming digitigrade, she felt her feet change shape too, becoming paw-like as her nails sharpened into claws. She gasped when she felt the soft pads come through the shredded remains of her footwear. Her legs had similarly annihilated her shorts and leggings, from the waist down she was feline, save for the fact she could stand erect if she desired.

She found herself soon falling onto all fours though, as her arms were next to change. Her hands received similar treatment, becoming paws as well and her arms were covered in the same coat of fur up to her shoulders. Her upper torso and head remained human, though her skin acquired a tan, not unlike what an Egyptian of old times might have. The last change was her ears becoming catlike.

Yuffie was now a sphinx, though due to her not being mature by the species’ standard, she lacked wings.

Shocked by her new shape, Yuffie had to comment on it.

“Something is amiss, this is plain to see. The form I have does not belong to me. Tell me what put me on this path, or else face my changed wrath!” she said, speaking in rhyme to sound like a riddle. Blaine forgot that happened when one first became a sphinx, but often faded before too long.

Deciding to show herself moments after, Blaine appeared.

“Hello there miss, I think you called for me.”

“Call for you, did I? Then answer my riddle and do not lie. Was it you who changed me so? Tell the truth so I may know.”
“Yep.” Blaine said, “Or rather, it’s because you used my Materia without asking. It does that when people try to steal it.”

“Oh…” Yuffie said, just as the rhyming part wore off, “Well...Sorry, but I’m a Materia thief, it kinda comes with the territory.”

“Yeah, you’re a real cat burglar now!” Blaine snickered, getting in a chuckle with Yuffie.

“Yes, with very real claws.” Yuffie said, threateningly, when Blaine sighed.

“Threatening me after you stole? You really are heartless…”

“Oh...Sorry again.” Yuffie said, looking sheepish as she stood on all fours. She had forgotten that it was her fault, or so she thought.

“Yes, well I’ll forgive you, and even let you go back to normal.” Blaine said, pulling out a contract. “If you’ll become a magical gi- er, I mean become my familiar.”

“Familiar? What does that entail?”

“You can read it in the fine print.” Blaine said, though the words were incredibly small. So small in fact, that even with a magnifying glass Yuffie would hardly be able to read. “All I need is a signature, or pawprint, whatever works for you right now.”

Realizing she had little other choice at the moment, Yuffie sighed.

“Fine, it can’t be that bad.” she said as Blaine placed a dish of Ink before her. With her right hand-paw, Yuffie placed her hand in it and stamped on the dotted line. The contract disappeared, alongside Yuffie’s transformation. Yuffie felt her body, surprised to be normal, when Blaine cheered and hugged her from seemingly nowhere.

“Yes! Thanks Yuffie, I promise this’ll be really fun, mostly for me, but I promise to try to make it fun for you too.” she said in a gushing manner. She was genuinely happy, for reasons Yuffie didn’t know. A full ten seconds later, after the near backbreaking hug, Blaine let go. “Sorry, I got a little excited was all. Anyway I gotta run, other places to see, people to contract. I promise you’ll see me again soon! Good luck with the Wutai thing!”

In a puff of smoke, Blaine vanished, leaving a confused Yuffie behind.

“What did I just sign up for?” Yuffie wondered before she sighed and shrugged. “Well, Materia isn’t gonna find or steal itself.”

From there, Yuffie left, not even realizing she never told Blaine her name, or that the contract had bound her and the kitsune together….