New fic
This is the second part of that untitled fic; I've definately decided to call it "Battle Royale". so here we go, I hope the cut works again.
Title: Battle Royale
Author: Nightheart
Chapter Two: In which Gippal connives some more quality time with Rikku (that's goes rather awry), but he does get an epiphany out of it.
*
A month ago they'd all gathered together to attend Khimari's lifemating ceremony to Kaekla, the Ronso woman who had liked to give him backrubs. Khimari admitted (when pressed by Yuna) that they intended to have pups right away. Of course they'd all been happy for him, Khimari deserved it. She'd felt downright nostalgic at having all of the old gang together... all except one; Khimari's oath-brother Auron. Still, Rikku couldn't quite bring herself to feel too sad that Auron had died... or rather, been Sent. (really could you call it dying if they were already dead?) She imagined that he would have had a hard time adjusting to peace after a lifetime of fighting anyway, and he was reunited somewhere on the misty Farplane with his old friends Braska and Jecht, so Rikku imagined that he was probably happy (or as happy as Auron got anyway). Still, even on such a festive occasion, having all of them together did remind them of the one who wasn't with them. They'd once been seven, and now they were six.
she thought.
There were times when she felt nostalgic for the old times she'd had, traveling with her friends on the Pilgrimage. At the time it had been a journey frought with peril and a lot of sadness and worry for Yuna, her cousin who was going to sacrifice her life. That had kinda put a damper on things. Rikku thought it would be kinda fun to get all of her former Guardian friends together and do it all over, this time with no threat of death hanging over their heads... unfortunately right now Lulu and Wakka had an infant son to worry about and couldn't be taken away from thier baby boy for so long a period of time and Yuna was expecting. Tidus hoped it was a boy, but claimed that he'd be just as happy with a little girl to spoil, just as long as she looked like her mother.
she thought a little whistfully. Still, at least she still had her freedom. That, and lots and lots of gil. Her savings from her sphere hunting days in the Gullwings had been drained by having to buy parts from the Faction and pay for the shipping of others as well as pay for labor during those times when she just couldn't do it all on her own, and then outfitting her baby after she'd got it all together had been another expense. But in the last few months after she'd gotten her ship up and runing Rikku had made back most of the gil she'd had to spend getting the ship ready.
And now she was dropping by to visit Yuna and Tidus on her way to Bikanel Island to haggle with her good for nothing father over parts to upgrade her baby. The Ghiki ran just fine and it was plenty manuverable, but Rikku had thought of a new way she could route the power that might give it a little more speed and she wanted to try it out.
"Uncle Cid just called," Yuna said, after Rikku knocked on the wood framing of the little hut in besaid that she shared with Tidus.
"Oh? Hows the old curmugeon doing?" Rikku asked. "Has he blown up the city yet?"
Yuna smiled a little at her younger cousin's levity.
"No, but he's heard that you're here and he wants you to come home for a visit. He says he expects to see you by the end of the sennight. He's invited Tidus and I as well. he says that he has something of my mothers that he wants to give me."
"Well, I was going to go there anyway," she said cheerfully. "You guys are welcome to ride with me. In fact, I'd welcome the company."
"Then I hope you don't mind us coming along as well?" Lulu's dry voice said from the doorway. "Selda the weaver says that the fees at Kilika port just went up so she wants to see if she can make some extra gil by selling her wares to that new port on Bikanel Island. She's requested that Wakka and I act as her agent in the new city, just to scope things out for her."
"Oh, sure. The more the merrier!" Rikku said enthusiastically. "I've got room for everyone and I'd be happy to have you guys along. Independance is great but I do get lonely sometimes."
"Gippal from the Machine Faction just called as well," Yuna said, watching her younger cousin avidly without seeming to. "He said to tell you that Shinra finished with that programming chip for the ships main computer that you asked for and he also said that the part you ordered was in and he's willing to sell for a good price."
"Huh. Well that's generous of him," Rikku said, sounding mystified. "I wonder what he's up to."
Yuna shrugged.
"Well I guess I'll have to zip over there first before I take off. I won't be more than a day, we can leave when I get back."
"Lulu and I have packing to do anyway," Yuna assured her. "And Tidus and Wakka have to find an alternate coach for the Aurochs before they leave."
"Not Beclem," Rikku said, making a face. She remembered well that ass's unsavoy attitude from the last time they'd crossed paths; she'd nearly summoned Godhand and given him an personal demonstration of the kind of strength it took to fight Sin. She'd only backed off because Yunie had stepped up to the plate herself and made him eat his words. Personally Rikku wished she'd made him eat a bullet, but Yunie had always been too nice; even after she'd beaten his stupid gauntlet the High Summoner only got a grudging acknowledgement out of that jerk.
"Yevon, I hope not," Yunie muttered. Sure, she'd been nice and polite to him but she didn't like his attitude either. Rikku partially hoped that he'd cross paths with Tidus one day soon, the blonde never brooked anyone bad-mouthing his girl and he'd probably be only too happy to make mincemeat out of the rude Crusader, even over Yunie's protests.
"I'll be back in a bit," Rikku said, waving cheerfully from the docking bay of her ship. A few minutes later the hovering airship rose vertically up into the air, the engines pulsed for a minute as she oriented on her new heading and the Ghiki shot towards the horizon.
The Headquarters of the Machine Faction at what had once been Djose Temple was its usual hive of activity. Someone had gotten the brilliant idea to put some kind of recognizer-sensor machina on the door for when Rikku walked up to the enormous bas-relief, gilded, and ornately carved doors of the temple, an enormous mechanical camera-eye shoved itself into her face, sent a scanning laser over her and a mechanical voice from a speaker ordered her
"State your name."
"It's Rikku," she said, irritated at the reception.
"Voice print recognized. Owner: Cid's Girl," the chirpy voice of the computer informed her. She leveled a glaer at it as the doors opened mechanically on thier own and the camera eye shot back to its original position beside the door; she knew precisely who was responsible for that one.
"Very funny, Gippal," Rikku grumbled under her breath.
*
:Talk about a one-track mind,: Gippal thought a little ruefully as the computer informed him of her arrival. She doesn't respond to any of his attempts at seduction, but the moment he mentions cheap machina parts she comes running right over. Or make that strutting, he noted as he watched her walk into the room with the air of a reighning queen gracing her subjects with her presence. Only Rikku could walk into someone elses territory acting like she owned the place.
:Guess I'll just have to show her who's Leader here,: he thought smugly, straightening from where he crouched checking over the innards of a patroller machina. She walked right past Gippal without even sparing him a single glance. Well, that should make it easier to sneak up on her anyway.
"Hey Shinra!" she called over to her former Gullwing friend.
"You said you finished that new programmer chip?"
"Sure, got it right here," Shinra said. "Interesting idea, adding on a voice addressing system, took some doing to get the commands defferentiated out. This sphere contains a list and basic user guide. Let me know if there's any kinks, it hasn't been beta-tested yet so there could be some trouble."
"Thanks," she chirped. "I'll let you know if I have any problems. Hey, where's Gippal anyway? He said something about having a C-13 signal modulator that he was willing to sell me."
"Miss me, Cid's Girl?" he demanded, wrapping an arm about her waist from behind and yanking her off balance against his chest. Gippal figured that the reason she was so reluctant to take him as a lover was simple inexperience and the fact that she didn't know him that well. If he could make her more comfortable around him, she'd stop being so jumpy whenever he got near. The best way to make her comfortable, he figured, was to simply make her like being close to him. The only way to do that was regular physical contact.
"Gippal," she whined complainingly. "You nearly scared me to my Sending Party."
"Your reflexes must be getting dull," he teased her. "I snuck right up on you."
She hadn't shoved him away yet, which was a good sign.
"My reflexes are just fine," she replied, poking him in the chest with her pointer finger.
:Ow, she's got quite an arm there,: he was forced to admit after the poking had actually hurt a little.
"And you mentioned something about having a C-13 signal modulator in," she pressed, trying to shove him away. He moved out of the way by switching sides and steering her towards his office with his other arm.
"Here, let's discuss this privately; in my office," he said, fully intent of discussing other things privately in his office as well. Maybe he'd get to give her a "private interveiw" of his own; the position... potential lifemate. It came with a lot of perks, not the least of which was getting to be around him and all of his fabulousness all the time.
The rumors about Gippal being nothing more than a playboy who liked to have fun with women and went through lovers like popcorn were unfortunate; he really was attempting to find a good lifemate. He'd meet a girl and they'd spend a little time getting to know one another better, but then... it just never quite worked out. He'd lose interest, or (more rarely) she'd decide that he wasn't what she was looking for and they'd go thier separate ways. Oh, he liked women certainly, some said that he liked women a little too well, but this constant moving from one girl to the next to the next was frankly a trifle demoralizing.
Then there was Cids Girl, Rikku.
Already famous in her own right, and not just because she was the current Leaders daughter. She was the Hero(ine) of the Al Bhed for facing down Sin and helping to defeat it. Gippal had seen for himself how effective she was in a fight (which made him give a little inward chuckle as to Cid's plans for her... the old man had no idea what he was getting into) when he'd watched her race right past him and put the whup on Vegnagun's big metal behind. She was skilled with machina, so skilled in fact that she might possibly give even him a run for his gil... maybe. SHe was independantly wealthy, which was really the only kind to be among thier people. She was already high-status so there was no inequality there.
She seemed like she could be perhaps the one he'd been waiting for; she already fit most of his criteria; she was cute. With that unconscious sensuality she displayed in her own ingenue manner he'd be willing to bet she'd be more than a match for him in the area of bedroom acrobatics. She was independant so he wouldn't have to worry about her becoming too clingy and driving him nuts with constant demands on his time.
:But come to think of it,: he thought. :I don't wonder if maybe she's a little TOO independent.: Among their people Al Bhed men prided themselves not on taming thier women but in getting their proud desert lionesses to hunt beside them.
:She's just shy,: he assured himself when she shoved him away.
He hadn't counted on Rikku's sharp instincts however and was unpleasantly surprised when she put her foot down (on his instep no less) and said
"Ooohhh-no, we'll discuss it here. There's no way I'm going anywhere alone with you."
"Ouch, Cid's Girl," he said. He tried once again to put an arm around her shoulder, but she moved too quikly. "Don'cha trust me?"
"Not a bit," she informed him cheerfully.
Gippal's workers guffawed around him, and no small number of them called out congratulations to Cid's Girl for being so smart. Most of those were followed by one of the Al Bhed sayings "even tender baby chocobo's know a chimera when they see one" meaning that even the most innoscent of creatures knew a threat to them when they were presented to it. Gippal was forced to ignore the slight.
"I'm hurt. Crushed," he insisted, miming a blow to his heart.
"It'd take a lot more than the truth to wound your ego," she repied. "Now let's talk machina. You are the Machine Faction Leader, right? or am I looking for someone else?"
"Alright, alright," he said. He'd play it her way, for the moment.
"Actually," he said slowly to stall her while he thought quickly. There was a way he could get a little time alone with her... and she probably wouldn't feel the least threatened by him.
"The part you're looking for isn't here, exactly."
It wasn't even a lie, exactly. He had one or two of the parts she was looking for here at th headquarters, but the ones that were already prepped for use were being moved from further down the moonflow.
She looked at him in puzzlement and said
"Then where is it?"
"Southbank of the moonflow," he replied. "I was just going to pick it up. You can come along if you want." He finally managed to snag his arm around her once again and pulled her outside with him. She tried to protest a little bit but he overrode his objections with a casual
"Relax, I'm an excellent pilot. You'll like riding behind me on my airsled."
"I have an airship," she pointed out but he ignored her and steered her towards a nearby airsledge, one of the ones that he had hired out for fast rides up and down the Mushroom Rock Road and down to the moonflow. He motioned with a quick move of his hand that current pilot should vacate his current seat and go find something else to do.
"We don't need that tub for a quick hop to the moonflow," he said sliding into position on the Faction airsled. "Climb on behind me."
"No way, I always drive the sledge," she told him.
"Except when I'm driving," he rebutted as he gave the controls a quick run-over and few short feild tests to make sure everything was in good working order. "My sledge, my part, my driving. Get on."
"How do I know you won't crash us into a tree?" she said looking dubiously at him while he looked over the controls.
"You're just gonna have to trust me," he said, giving her his best disarming smile. She looked even more nervous at that and muttered something that sounded like "said the sand-spider to the gorm."
She gingerly, very obviously trying not to actually touch him, slid into the seat behind him and sat there, holding onto the seat behind her.
"That's not gonna keep you on this baby when I get moving," Gippal informed her. "You'd better hang on to me."
"You're not gonna do anything weird are you?" she demanded suspiciously.
:Geeze, I'm starting to wonder just what kind of reputation I've got,: he thought.
"I've got both hands on the controls," he said, a little impatiently. "How am I supposed to do anything weird? Besides, you're a tough girl, I'm sure you can more than take care of yourself." He added that last in there to reassure her enough to get her to get on the damn bike already.
She scootched forward and tucked her body along his back, sliding her hands around his waist. He ignored to pang of attraction that speared his gut at the feeling of her curled softly against him.
:Her arms are so small!: he thought, privately a little taken aback. It seemed like he could snap one of her wrists with one hand. She always had just a big attitude that he often forgot just how small she actually was. He quickly revved the engine a little and took off down the little wooded path to the moonflow.
:This is nice,: he thought, a little enchanted by the feel of the wind rushing past them. :I should find excuses to go for a ride more often.: Or maybe it was the fact that the girl he had his eye on was clinging to him in a very distracting manner.
:There she goes with that unconscious sensuality again; the girl seemed to have no idea what kind of effect she had on people, especially men, with the way she moved and spoke.
Ordinarily, when a person was riding on an airsled there was no danger at all of being attacked by a feind or ambushed by road bandits. But times they were a-changin' and the bandits were getting smarter. Gippal discovered this when a cable, weighted on either end by two enormous rocks, abruptly tightened popping up from the middle of the path and clothesline-ing the two of them. The rope grabbed the front end causing the back end to swerve to the right.
"Hang on!" he yelled, jerking hard on the handlebars and slamming on the brakes to let the sled spin out and lose some of its forward momentum. Rikku screamed and tightened her grip on his stomach. If he ever found the bastards responsible for ruining his date, he was going to have a little conversation with them with his Mortar.
"We're gonna roll!" Rikku said. He could feel that she was right; the spin out had too much momentum on the top. If they rolled while still on the sledge, they'd be crushed.
"Jump!" he ordered.
She abruptly let go of his waist and he felt her warmth and weight leave his back. In a panic he jerked his head around to check and see that she was okay but Rikku was rolling along, curled into a tight little ball. She definately knew how to take a fall. Reassured, Gippal abandoned ship.
The impact with the ground wasn't comfortable but the blow was distrubuted out through the rest of his body when he rolled to a stop. Nothing broken though, he knew as he gave himself a once over to test.
"Owwie," he heared Rikku groan from a nearby bush. When he looked over she was rubbing her offended rear end.
"Y'alright Cid's Girl?" he called over. He didn't hear her reply for she was interuppted by
"Gimme yer gil!" A trio of rough-voiced bandits in mis-matched armor wielding enormous swords. Gippal rolled his eyes and reached for his weapon. Not there.
:Of all the stupid--!: he cursed himself. He hadn't brought Mortar with him!
"Piss off!" Rikku replied plolitely. She was already in fighting stance, ready and waiting for him to join her--
:Or not,: he thought as she attacked suddenly. To his amusement, Rikku pulled a Mug on her target, robbing him blind and sending him into a coma in the process.
"Hey!" one of the badits hollered in offense as his comrade went down and Rikku announced proudly that there wasn't nothin' she couldn't steal.
:I guess bandits see nothing wrong with robbery, except when it happens to them,: Gippal thought grinning as he pulled out his only back-up weapon; his ornately decorated longcolt from his days in the Crimson Squad. Never leave home without it.
"Mind if I join the party?" he inquired, all ease and charm as he took up his stance beside his girl. He took aim at the second bandit and fired off a round. Direct hit. The bandit didn't go down though, he still had some fight left in him.
Rikku, fast as a sniperviper striking, darted in and stole from the bandit he'd targeted. Gippal finished him off after she was done with him.
"I... gotta go!" the third bandit called turning tail and running, leaving his two fllen comrades to litter the road while he ran to safetly. Gippal mntally debated the emotional satisfaction he might get from taking a few potshots at the guy who
had ruined his peaceful afternoon, not to mention causing him to total his machina, but nah... shooting people in the back wasn't his style.
"Coward!" Rikku called after him. Gippal looked down at the two bandits lying at thier feet, debating what to do next. He was pretty steamed about not only his airsled being busted, but their little ambush had ruined his afternoon with Rikku.
"What'cha think we should do with them?" Rikku wondered, joining him in his perusal of the two ambushers. "I mean, they did try to rob us, but look at them; they look kinda down on thier luck."
"Down on thier luck?" Gippal said, his voice laced with disbelief. "Rikku, these men prey on innocent travelers. Don't feel sorry for them when the only thing motivating them is pure greed."
"But what if it isn't?" she asked. "I mean, what if they just can't find work and so they're robbing people because they have no other choice?"
That was so sweet, and so like her, to want to believe the best of people. For someone who'd seen and done as much as she had to still retain that innosence, well, that's rare. It made him want to protect her, but that was one thing that Al Bhed made it a habit to avoid; they didn't protect each other, they watched each others backs. There was a difference.
"I doubt that's the case," Gippal said flatly. "For one thing, if they were looking for work all they have to do is interveiw at the machine faction; a couple of guys like these I'd post as caravan guards if I didn't send 'em digging. Or if they don't wanna work for the Al Bhed, they could find work as soldiers in Nooj's little army. I know Baralai's short on temple guards right now too. So it's not because they can't find work, it's because they're lazy and don't want to work."
"Oh," Rikku said, the wind taken out of her sails by his obvious anger with their attackers.
Gippal paced over to the airsled and called up his heaquarters on the sled's miniature comsystem.
"Hey," he said, when they'd patched through. "This is Gippal. I've got a couple of bandits unconscious that need to be hauled back and put to work. Find something really unpleasant for them. The sled got totaled too, so we'll need a cleanup crew. Rikku and I are proceeding to the moonflow."
"Rodger," the tech manning the com said. "We'll take care of it."
Gippal joined Rikku down the path at the part where it widened out and ran along the banks of the moonflow. She was standing at the edge of the shore, taking in the veiw. Gippal had admit that it was a nice view; the water clear and smooth as glass, the moonlilies releasing their tiny dancing motes of light and a sweet flowery scent into the air combining with the smell of the water and forest. It was a veiw that was just made for romancing.
"It's pretty huh?" she said, turing to look at him as he walked up behind her.
"Almost as pretty as you," he said automatically, taking her in his arms and giving her his best melting smile. He was sure it would work this time, all she needed was to get out from under everything. Any second now she's look up at him with that open and vulnerable look in her eyes, her breath would catch and her heart would pound and he'd be right there, ready to seal the deal with a kiss.
"Oh please, how corny," she laughed. "Does that seriously work on girls?"
Not the reaction he'd been hoping for.
"Most a' the time, yeah," he said, unable to disguise the disgruntlement in his tone. What was it with this girl anyway? Was she even the least bit suceptible to anything? Compliments didn't work, atmosphere didn't work, trapping her alone with him hadn't worked... what did it take to get through to her?
"Well, I'm different," she assured him. "I'm Rikku."
"Yeah, I know," he said. He studied her for a very long moment in the soft light of the moonflow. She was more complicated and enigma than what fist showed on the surface. Quite the mystery in fact. To Gippal, most girls were like machina, you tried all of the obvious tells first, trip the engine, check the spark-plugs see if the fuel gage was low and so forth. Not Rikku, she was like one of those machina where nothing obvious worked, she was like one of those machina where you really had to get in there and take them completely apart before you figured out what made them tick.
"Well how 'bout we see a little more of the cute Rikku. 'Oh Gippal! You were so brave and manly! You saved my life, I don't know what I would have done without you!" he said, clasping his hands to his chest in a deliberately bad impersonation of her. "How 'bout a little more a' that? Hm?"
"No way, i have my pride," she said primly. "And besides, I did most of my own rescuing anyway."
"Well at the very least we should see a little more flinging yourself into my arms and exclaiming how great I am."
"Yeah. That'll never happen. I'm Rikku, remember?"
He studied her for a breif second more then abruptly released her with a satisfied noise. Got it.
"C'mon, it's this way if you're interested in that part," he said, turning on his heel and walking off to the left where his Faction had set up a floating dock on the moonflow for deliveries via Faction motorboats on the northbank or up from the mouth of the river.
"Hey!" she protested. "Wait for me!"
"Hurry it up Cid's Girl, I ain't got all day to waste while you dance around on the banks," he said roughly, ruffling her hair once she caught up with him.
"You big meanie! You we're the one goofing off, wasting time first!" she protested.
"Whatever you say little one," he said in honeyed tones.
"Don't call me that!" she growled, ambling along beside him like a frisky little puppy.
He understood now, Rikku was a tough machina to crack but Gippal hadn't met a machina (or a girl for that matter) that he hadn't been able to make run the way he wanted it to. All it took was some patience and a little persistence.
Title: Battle Royale
Author: Nightheart
Chapter Two: In which Gippal connives some more quality time with Rikku (that's goes rather awry), but he does get an epiphany out of it.
*
A month ago they'd all gathered together to attend Khimari's lifemating ceremony to Kaekla, the Ronso woman who had liked to give him backrubs. Khimari admitted (when pressed by Yuna) that they intended to have pups right away. Of course they'd all been happy for him, Khimari deserved it. She'd felt downright nostalgic at having all of the old gang together... all except one; Khimari's oath-brother Auron. Still, Rikku couldn't quite bring herself to feel too sad that Auron had died... or rather, been Sent. (really could you call it dying if they were already dead?) She imagined that he would have had a hard time adjusting to peace after a lifetime of fighting anyway, and he was reunited somewhere on the misty Farplane with his old friends Braska and Jecht, so Rikku imagined that he was probably happy (or as happy as Auron got anyway). Still, even on such a festive occasion, having all of them together did remind them of the one who wasn't with them. They'd once been seven, and now they were six.
she thought.
There were times when she felt nostalgic for the old times she'd had, traveling with her friends on the Pilgrimage. At the time it had been a journey frought with peril and a lot of sadness and worry for Yuna, her cousin who was going to sacrifice her life. That had kinda put a damper on things. Rikku thought it would be kinda fun to get all of her former Guardian friends together and do it all over, this time with no threat of death hanging over their heads... unfortunately right now Lulu and Wakka had an infant son to worry about and couldn't be taken away from thier baby boy for so long a period of time and Yuna was expecting. Tidus hoped it was a boy, but claimed that he'd be just as happy with a little girl to spoil, just as long as she looked like her mother.
she thought a little whistfully. Still, at least she still had her freedom. That, and lots and lots of gil. Her savings from her sphere hunting days in the Gullwings had been drained by having to buy parts from the Faction and pay for the shipping of others as well as pay for labor during those times when she just couldn't do it all on her own, and then outfitting her baby after she'd got it all together had been another expense. But in the last few months after she'd gotten her ship up and runing Rikku had made back most of the gil she'd had to spend getting the ship ready.
And now she was dropping by to visit Yuna and Tidus on her way to Bikanel Island to haggle with her good for nothing father over parts to upgrade her baby. The Ghiki ran just fine and it was plenty manuverable, but Rikku had thought of a new way she could route the power that might give it a little more speed and she wanted to try it out.
"Uncle Cid just called," Yuna said, after Rikku knocked on the wood framing of the little hut in besaid that she shared with Tidus.
"Oh? Hows the old curmugeon doing?" Rikku asked. "Has he blown up the city yet?"
Yuna smiled a little at her younger cousin's levity.
"No, but he's heard that you're here and he wants you to come home for a visit. He says he expects to see you by the end of the sennight. He's invited Tidus and I as well. he says that he has something of my mothers that he wants to give me."
"Well, I was going to go there anyway," she said cheerfully. "You guys are welcome to ride with me. In fact, I'd welcome the company."
"Then I hope you don't mind us coming along as well?" Lulu's dry voice said from the doorway. "Selda the weaver says that the fees at Kilika port just went up so she wants to see if she can make some extra gil by selling her wares to that new port on Bikanel Island. She's requested that Wakka and I act as her agent in the new city, just to scope things out for her."
"Oh, sure. The more the merrier!" Rikku said enthusiastically. "I've got room for everyone and I'd be happy to have you guys along. Independance is great but I do get lonely sometimes."
"Gippal from the Machine Faction just called as well," Yuna said, watching her younger cousin avidly without seeming to. "He said to tell you that Shinra finished with that programming chip for the ships main computer that you asked for and he also said that the part you ordered was in and he's willing to sell for a good price."
"Huh. Well that's generous of him," Rikku said, sounding mystified. "I wonder what he's up to."
Yuna shrugged.
"Well I guess I'll have to zip over there first before I take off. I won't be more than a day, we can leave when I get back."
"Lulu and I have packing to do anyway," Yuna assured her. "And Tidus and Wakka have to find an alternate coach for the Aurochs before they leave."
"Not Beclem," Rikku said, making a face. She remembered well that ass's unsavoy attitude from the last time they'd crossed paths; she'd nearly summoned Godhand and given him an personal demonstration of the kind of strength it took to fight Sin. She'd only backed off because Yunie had stepped up to the plate herself and made him eat his words. Personally Rikku wished she'd made him eat a bullet, but Yunie had always been too nice; even after she'd beaten his stupid gauntlet the High Summoner only got a grudging acknowledgement out of that jerk.
"Yevon, I hope not," Yunie muttered. Sure, she'd been nice and polite to him but she didn't like his attitude either. Rikku partially hoped that he'd cross paths with Tidus one day soon, the blonde never brooked anyone bad-mouthing his girl and he'd probably be only too happy to make mincemeat out of the rude Crusader, even over Yunie's protests.
"I'll be back in a bit," Rikku said, waving cheerfully from the docking bay of her ship. A few minutes later the hovering airship rose vertically up into the air, the engines pulsed for a minute as she oriented on her new heading and the Ghiki shot towards the horizon.
The Headquarters of the Machine Faction at what had once been Djose Temple was its usual hive of activity. Someone had gotten the brilliant idea to put some kind of recognizer-sensor machina on the door for when Rikku walked up to the enormous bas-relief, gilded, and ornately carved doors of the temple, an enormous mechanical camera-eye shoved itself into her face, sent a scanning laser over her and a mechanical voice from a speaker ordered her
"State your name."
"It's Rikku," she said, irritated at the reception.
"Voice print recognized. Owner: Cid's Girl," the chirpy voice of the computer informed her. She leveled a glaer at it as the doors opened mechanically on thier own and the camera eye shot back to its original position beside the door; she knew precisely who was responsible for that one.
"Very funny, Gippal," Rikku grumbled under her breath.
*
:Talk about a one-track mind,: Gippal thought a little ruefully as the computer informed him of her arrival. She doesn't respond to any of his attempts at seduction, but the moment he mentions cheap machina parts she comes running right over. Or make that strutting, he noted as he watched her walk into the room with the air of a reighning queen gracing her subjects with her presence. Only Rikku could walk into someone elses territory acting like she owned the place.
:Guess I'll just have to show her who's Leader here,: he thought smugly, straightening from where he crouched checking over the innards of a patroller machina. She walked right past Gippal without even sparing him a single glance. Well, that should make it easier to sneak up on her anyway.
"Hey Shinra!" she called over to her former Gullwing friend.
"You said you finished that new programmer chip?"
"Sure, got it right here," Shinra said. "Interesting idea, adding on a voice addressing system, took some doing to get the commands defferentiated out. This sphere contains a list and basic user guide. Let me know if there's any kinks, it hasn't been beta-tested yet so there could be some trouble."
"Thanks," she chirped. "I'll let you know if I have any problems. Hey, where's Gippal anyway? He said something about having a C-13 signal modulator that he was willing to sell me."
"Miss me, Cid's Girl?" he demanded, wrapping an arm about her waist from behind and yanking her off balance against his chest. Gippal figured that the reason she was so reluctant to take him as a lover was simple inexperience and the fact that she didn't know him that well. If he could make her more comfortable around him, she'd stop being so jumpy whenever he got near. The best way to make her comfortable, he figured, was to simply make her like being close to him. The only way to do that was regular physical contact.
"Gippal," she whined complainingly. "You nearly scared me to my Sending Party."
"Your reflexes must be getting dull," he teased her. "I snuck right up on you."
She hadn't shoved him away yet, which was a good sign.
"My reflexes are just fine," she replied, poking him in the chest with her pointer finger.
:Ow, she's got quite an arm there,: he was forced to admit after the poking had actually hurt a little.
"And you mentioned something about having a C-13 signal modulator in," she pressed, trying to shove him away. He moved out of the way by switching sides and steering her towards his office with his other arm.
"Here, let's discuss this privately; in my office," he said, fully intent of discussing other things privately in his office as well. Maybe he'd get to give her a "private interveiw" of his own; the position... potential lifemate. It came with a lot of perks, not the least of which was getting to be around him and all of his fabulousness all the time.
The rumors about Gippal being nothing more than a playboy who liked to have fun with women and went through lovers like popcorn were unfortunate; he really was attempting to find a good lifemate. He'd meet a girl and they'd spend a little time getting to know one another better, but then... it just never quite worked out. He'd lose interest, or (more rarely) she'd decide that he wasn't what she was looking for and they'd go thier separate ways. Oh, he liked women certainly, some said that he liked women a little too well, but this constant moving from one girl to the next to the next was frankly a trifle demoralizing.
Then there was Cids Girl, Rikku.
Already famous in her own right, and not just because she was the current Leaders daughter. She was the Hero(ine) of the Al Bhed for facing down Sin and helping to defeat it. Gippal had seen for himself how effective she was in a fight (which made him give a little inward chuckle as to Cid's plans for her... the old man had no idea what he was getting into) when he'd watched her race right past him and put the whup on Vegnagun's big metal behind. She was skilled with machina, so skilled in fact that she might possibly give even him a run for his gil... maybe. SHe was independantly wealthy, which was really the only kind to be among thier people. She was already high-status so there was no inequality there.
She seemed like she could be perhaps the one he'd been waiting for; she already fit most of his criteria; she was cute. With that unconscious sensuality she displayed in her own ingenue manner he'd be willing to bet she'd be more than a match for him in the area of bedroom acrobatics. She was independant so he wouldn't have to worry about her becoming too clingy and driving him nuts with constant demands on his time.
:But come to think of it,: he thought. :I don't wonder if maybe she's a little TOO independent.: Among their people Al Bhed men prided themselves not on taming thier women but in getting their proud desert lionesses to hunt beside them.
:She's just shy,: he assured himself when she shoved him away.
He hadn't counted on Rikku's sharp instincts however and was unpleasantly surprised when she put her foot down (on his instep no less) and said
"Ooohhh-no, we'll discuss it here. There's no way I'm going anywhere alone with you."
"Ouch, Cid's Girl," he said. He tried once again to put an arm around her shoulder, but she moved too quikly. "Don'cha trust me?"
"Not a bit," she informed him cheerfully.
Gippal's workers guffawed around him, and no small number of them called out congratulations to Cid's Girl for being so smart. Most of those were followed by one of the Al Bhed sayings "even tender baby chocobo's know a chimera when they see one" meaning that even the most innoscent of creatures knew a threat to them when they were presented to it. Gippal was forced to ignore the slight.
"I'm hurt. Crushed," he insisted, miming a blow to his heart.
"It'd take a lot more than the truth to wound your ego," she repied. "Now let's talk machina. You are the Machine Faction Leader, right? or am I looking for someone else?"
"Alright, alright," he said. He'd play it her way, for the moment.
"Actually," he said slowly to stall her while he thought quickly. There was a way he could get a little time alone with her... and she probably wouldn't feel the least threatened by him.
"The part you're looking for isn't here, exactly."
It wasn't even a lie, exactly. He had one or two of the parts she was looking for here at th headquarters, but the ones that were already prepped for use were being moved from further down the moonflow.
She looked at him in puzzlement and said
"Then where is it?"
"Southbank of the moonflow," he replied. "I was just going to pick it up. You can come along if you want." He finally managed to snag his arm around her once again and pulled her outside with him. She tried to protest a little bit but he overrode his objections with a casual
"Relax, I'm an excellent pilot. You'll like riding behind me on my airsled."
"I have an airship," she pointed out but he ignored her and steered her towards a nearby airsledge, one of the ones that he had hired out for fast rides up and down the Mushroom Rock Road and down to the moonflow. He motioned with a quick move of his hand that current pilot should vacate his current seat and go find something else to do.
"We don't need that tub for a quick hop to the moonflow," he said sliding into position on the Faction airsled. "Climb on behind me."
"No way, I always drive the sledge," she told him.
"Except when I'm driving," he rebutted as he gave the controls a quick run-over and few short feild tests to make sure everything was in good working order. "My sledge, my part, my driving. Get on."
"How do I know you won't crash us into a tree?" she said looking dubiously at him while he looked over the controls.
"You're just gonna have to trust me," he said, giving her his best disarming smile. She looked even more nervous at that and muttered something that sounded like "said the sand-spider to the gorm."
She gingerly, very obviously trying not to actually touch him, slid into the seat behind him and sat there, holding onto the seat behind her.
"That's not gonna keep you on this baby when I get moving," Gippal informed her. "You'd better hang on to me."
"You're not gonna do anything weird are you?" she demanded suspiciously.
:Geeze, I'm starting to wonder just what kind of reputation I've got,: he thought.
"I've got both hands on the controls," he said, a little impatiently. "How am I supposed to do anything weird? Besides, you're a tough girl, I'm sure you can more than take care of yourself." He added that last in there to reassure her enough to get her to get on the damn bike already.
She scootched forward and tucked her body along his back, sliding her hands around his waist. He ignored to pang of attraction that speared his gut at the feeling of her curled softly against him.
:Her arms are so small!: he thought, privately a little taken aback. It seemed like he could snap one of her wrists with one hand. She always had just a big attitude that he often forgot just how small she actually was. He quickly revved the engine a little and took off down the little wooded path to the moonflow.
:This is nice,: he thought, a little enchanted by the feel of the wind rushing past them. :I should find excuses to go for a ride more often.: Or maybe it was the fact that the girl he had his eye on was clinging to him in a very distracting manner.
:There she goes with that unconscious sensuality again; the girl seemed to have no idea what kind of effect she had on people, especially men, with the way she moved and spoke.
Ordinarily, when a person was riding on an airsled there was no danger at all of being attacked by a feind or ambushed by road bandits. But times they were a-changin' and the bandits were getting smarter. Gippal discovered this when a cable, weighted on either end by two enormous rocks, abruptly tightened popping up from the middle of the path and clothesline-ing the two of them. The rope grabbed the front end causing the back end to swerve to the right.
"Hang on!" he yelled, jerking hard on the handlebars and slamming on the brakes to let the sled spin out and lose some of its forward momentum. Rikku screamed and tightened her grip on his stomach. If he ever found the bastards responsible for ruining his date, he was going to have a little conversation with them with his Mortar.
"We're gonna roll!" Rikku said. He could feel that she was right; the spin out had too much momentum on the top. If they rolled while still on the sledge, they'd be crushed.
"Jump!" he ordered.
She abruptly let go of his waist and he felt her warmth and weight leave his back. In a panic he jerked his head around to check and see that she was okay but Rikku was rolling along, curled into a tight little ball. She definately knew how to take a fall. Reassured, Gippal abandoned ship.
The impact with the ground wasn't comfortable but the blow was distrubuted out through the rest of his body when he rolled to a stop. Nothing broken though, he knew as he gave himself a once over to test.
"Owwie," he heared Rikku groan from a nearby bush. When he looked over she was rubbing her offended rear end.
"Y'alright Cid's Girl?" he called over. He didn't hear her reply for she was interuppted by
"Gimme yer gil!" A trio of rough-voiced bandits in mis-matched armor wielding enormous swords. Gippal rolled his eyes and reached for his weapon. Not there.
:Of all the stupid--!: he cursed himself. He hadn't brought Mortar with him!
"Piss off!" Rikku replied plolitely. She was already in fighting stance, ready and waiting for him to join her--
:Or not,: he thought as she attacked suddenly. To his amusement, Rikku pulled a Mug on her target, robbing him blind and sending him into a coma in the process.
"Hey!" one of the badits hollered in offense as his comrade went down and Rikku announced proudly that there wasn't nothin' she couldn't steal.
:I guess bandits see nothing wrong with robbery, except when it happens to them,: Gippal thought grinning as he pulled out his only back-up weapon; his ornately decorated longcolt from his days in the Crimson Squad. Never leave home without it.
"Mind if I join the party?" he inquired, all ease and charm as he took up his stance beside his girl. He took aim at the second bandit and fired off a round. Direct hit. The bandit didn't go down though, he still had some fight left in him.
Rikku, fast as a sniperviper striking, darted in and stole from the bandit he'd targeted. Gippal finished him off after she was done with him.
"I... gotta go!" the third bandit called turning tail and running, leaving his two fllen comrades to litter the road while he ran to safetly. Gippal mntally debated the emotional satisfaction he might get from taking a few potshots at the guy who
had ruined his peaceful afternoon, not to mention causing him to total his machina, but nah... shooting people in the back wasn't his style.
"Coward!" Rikku called after him. Gippal looked down at the two bandits lying at thier feet, debating what to do next. He was pretty steamed about not only his airsled being busted, but their little ambush had ruined his afternoon with Rikku.
"What'cha think we should do with them?" Rikku wondered, joining him in his perusal of the two ambushers. "I mean, they did try to rob us, but look at them; they look kinda down on thier luck."
"Down on thier luck?" Gippal said, his voice laced with disbelief. "Rikku, these men prey on innocent travelers. Don't feel sorry for them when the only thing motivating them is pure greed."
"But what if it isn't?" she asked. "I mean, what if they just can't find work and so they're robbing people because they have no other choice?"
That was so sweet, and so like her, to want to believe the best of people. For someone who'd seen and done as much as she had to still retain that innosence, well, that's rare. It made him want to protect her, but that was one thing that Al Bhed made it a habit to avoid; they didn't protect each other, they watched each others backs. There was a difference.
"I doubt that's the case," Gippal said flatly. "For one thing, if they were looking for work all they have to do is interveiw at the machine faction; a couple of guys like these I'd post as caravan guards if I didn't send 'em digging. Or if they don't wanna work for the Al Bhed, they could find work as soldiers in Nooj's little army. I know Baralai's short on temple guards right now too. So it's not because they can't find work, it's because they're lazy and don't want to work."
"Oh," Rikku said, the wind taken out of her sails by his obvious anger with their attackers.
Gippal paced over to the airsled and called up his heaquarters on the sled's miniature comsystem.
"Hey," he said, when they'd patched through. "This is Gippal. I've got a couple of bandits unconscious that need to be hauled back and put to work. Find something really unpleasant for them. The sled got totaled too, so we'll need a cleanup crew. Rikku and I are proceeding to the moonflow."
"Rodger," the tech manning the com said. "We'll take care of it."
Gippal joined Rikku down the path at the part where it widened out and ran along the banks of the moonflow. She was standing at the edge of the shore, taking in the veiw. Gippal had admit that it was a nice view; the water clear and smooth as glass, the moonlilies releasing their tiny dancing motes of light and a sweet flowery scent into the air combining with the smell of the water and forest. It was a veiw that was just made for romancing.
"It's pretty huh?" she said, turing to look at him as he walked up behind her.
"Almost as pretty as you," he said automatically, taking her in his arms and giving her his best melting smile. He was sure it would work this time, all she needed was to get out from under everything. Any second now she's look up at him with that open and vulnerable look in her eyes, her breath would catch and her heart would pound and he'd be right there, ready to seal the deal with a kiss.
"Oh please, how corny," she laughed. "Does that seriously work on girls?"
Not the reaction he'd been hoping for.
"Most a' the time, yeah," he said, unable to disguise the disgruntlement in his tone. What was it with this girl anyway? Was she even the least bit suceptible to anything? Compliments didn't work, atmosphere didn't work, trapping her alone with him hadn't worked... what did it take to get through to her?
"Well, I'm different," she assured him. "I'm Rikku."
"Yeah, I know," he said. He studied her for a very long moment in the soft light of the moonflow. She was more complicated and enigma than what fist showed on the surface. Quite the mystery in fact. To Gippal, most girls were like machina, you tried all of the obvious tells first, trip the engine, check the spark-plugs see if the fuel gage was low and so forth. Not Rikku, she was like one of those machina where nothing obvious worked, she was like one of those machina where you really had to get in there and take them completely apart before you figured out what made them tick.
"Well how 'bout we see a little more of the cute Rikku. 'Oh Gippal! You were so brave and manly! You saved my life, I don't know what I would have done without you!" he said, clasping his hands to his chest in a deliberately bad impersonation of her. "How 'bout a little more a' that? Hm?"
"No way, i have my pride," she said primly. "And besides, I did most of my own rescuing anyway."
"Well at the very least we should see a little more flinging yourself into my arms and exclaiming how great I am."
"Yeah. That'll never happen. I'm Rikku, remember?"
He studied her for a breif second more then abruptly released her with a satisfied noise. Got it.
"C'mon, it's this way if you're interested in that part," he said, turning on his heel and walking off to the left where his Faction had set up a floating dock on the moonflow for deliveries via Faction motorboats on the northbank or up from the mouth of the river.
"Hey!" she protested. "Wait for me!"
"Hurry it up Cid's Girl, I ain't got all day to waste while you dance around on the banks," he said roughly, ruffling her hair once she caught up with him.
"You big meanie! You we're the one goofing off, wasting time first!" she protested.
"Whatever you say little one," he said in honeyed tones.
"Don't call me that!" she growled, ambling along beside him like a frisky little puppy.
He understood now, Rikku was a tough machina to crack but Gippal hadn't met a machina (or a girl for that matter) that he hadn't been able to make run the way he wanted it to. All it took was some patience and a little persistence.