New! Final Fantasy X-2, Nooj/Gippal/Baralai
Hello everyone! I'm new here, and I've brought you my first offering for my pairing, which is Nooj/Gippal/Baralai from Final Fantasy X-2.
So far my plan is to write in chronological order, so this is mostly backstory, since the amount of backstory you get on these guys in the game is shamefully small, even if you play it ultra-thoroughly. (Which, um, I may have done.) It should be readable even if you don't know anything about the game in question; it will definitely be readable if you know anything about FFX-2... or even just FFX, really.
I've also decided that I will post in batches of three themes at a time. #3 is my favorite from this batch. Note the two distinct uses of the theme!
Overall info for this batch
Author: kylni
Series: FFX-2
Pairing: Nooj/Gippal/Baralai, though pre-relationship at this point.
Rating: PG
Total wordcount: 2,328
Theme: #1 (Bloodlines)
Word Count: 468
When Gippal reached his room, both of his roommates were already there. Baralai, the pretty kid from Bevelle, was sitting on a bunk against the left wall with a book of Yevon’s teachings open on his lap. He apparently hadn’t noticed Gippal’s entry, but not because he was absorbed in the book - his eyes were focused solidly on the man on the bunk opposite the door, who was applying oil from a small container to the joints in his metal leg. Nooj. That was the man’s name. It was also pretty much the only word he’d spoken in Gippal’s presence during the ‘drill’ earlier.
"Drill, hah," said Gippal, by way of announcing himself. Baralai jumped and looked briefly guilty at having been caught so obviously staring, but his face quickly blanked as he turned to watch Gippal throw his bag down on the remaining bed and sit down. "That was more serious than any combat I’ve ever seen. It’s amazing no one got killed. And that was our initial exercise?" He glanced briefly to the side as Nooj snorted, but the older man didn’t look up from his work.
"The Crimson Squad’s supposed to be the most elite of the Crusaders," Baralai said reasonably, "It’s perhaps understandable that their selection methods are a bit... unorthodox. Still," he smiled, "I agree, that did seem a bit excessive."
"In any case," Gippal said, "looks like the teams they put us in were for life, huh?"
"Probably we’ll be together at least the length of our training," Baralai agreed.
Gippal glanced sideways again. Nooj had switched to oiling his arm now, but he was still ignoring them entirely.
"Is that going to be a problem for the great Nooj? I know you can’t have encountered any Al Bhed in the Crusaders," Gippal said pointedly as he yanked off a boot, "Since if they won’t take me, they won’t take anybody."
Gippal grimaced at the contents of his boot. He managed to walk to the door and dump out a few handfuls of sand before Nooj replied.
"I don’t have a problem with you because you’re Al Bhed. I make a point of judging people on more than their bloodline."
Gippal heard Baralai breathe an audible sigh of relief behind him.
"I might, however," Nooj continued, with a small smirk that was not entirely lost on Gippal as he turned around, "have a problem with you because you’re loud, cocky and obnoxious."
There was silence for a moment.
Then Gippal broke out laughing. Nooj wisely bent to stow his oil back in his bag, hiding whatever expression was on his face. Gippal turned to Baralai, whose mouth was twitching in the beginnings of a smile. Gippal clapped a hand on his shoulder and grinned.
"I think we’ll all get along just fine."
***
Theme: #14 (Forbidden)
Word Count: 621
"It bothers you, doesn’t it?"
Baralai looked up from his inspection of his weapon and quirked and eyebrow as Gippal’s voice broke the silence. Even Nooj glanced up from his statue-like pose that he’d assumed as soon as they’d begun to wait their turn at the firing range.
"What are you talking about?" Baralai tried and failed to sound nonchalant. He laid his gun in his lap carefully and looked calmly at the Al Bhed man staring intently at him from the bench opposite.
Gippal gestured with his own gun, but at Baralai’s flinch he set it down beside him and waved a hand at Baralai instead. "Our weapons. Using ‘forbidden’ machina." He glanced briefly across the narrow hall at the silent man in the corner. "Stone-cold Nooj here doesn’t seem to have a problem, but you practically wince every time you look at one of these things."
Surely he wasn't that obvious about his discomfort?
Gippal's visible eye bored into him. He'd known the man barely a day, and already his eye patch unnerved him. It was hard to read emotions in just one eye, but his voice had sounded like a challenge. Baralai took a breath.
"Yevon has forbidden the use of machina for a very long time." He congratulated himself on the evenness of his tone. "I hadn't even touched one until the maester gave to use these yesterday." He lifted his gun once more. "I just have to learn to use them." Baralai raised his eyes to Gippal's. "Most of the people here are Yevonites; they're in the same situation."
"Which is why we're here," reminded Nooj, and Baralai half-jumped at his voice. He kept forgetting that Nooj was more than a silent presence; somehow it still seemed unreal that the real Nooj, legend among the Crusaders, was just a few meters away. He was comforted, though, by the fact that Gippal had jumped as well.
"Probably the only reason that no one died in yesterday's evaluation was that almost no one here can shoot," Nooj added as he stood, favoring his right leg almost invisibly. He slung his gun over his shoulder with his flesh arm.
"Are you implying that you can, Nooj?" Gippal still put the slightest taunting emphasis on the name. Baralai wondered why he continued to mock the man, but felt grateful that the challenge was no longer directed at him.
"Of course. I could take on any of you children at any time."
"Ha!" Gippal said, grinning. "We'll see about that on the range. No one can out shoot an Al Bhed." As if on cue, another team that had gone in before them came back through the door at the end of the hall. They looked thoroughly disheartened. Gippal stood to let them pass, and just smirked at the looks he got for his blonde hair and green eyes. Then he shot a final challenging look at Nooj before heading out toward the range.
Baralai looped the strap of his own weapon around his shoulder and stood. Nooj walked toward the door Gippal had gone through, but stopped when his reached Baralai.
"Don't worry too much about it," Nooj said, without looking at him. "Yevon can be hypocritical in many ways. That thing you're holding is just a tool, and I'm sure you'll use it well." Nooj walked on without giving Baralai a chance to respond.
Well.
Baralai had always been good at quickly picking up physical skills; maybe, after a few rounds, he could give them both a run for their money.
He grinned at the thought. Yes: he'd show Nooj that he was right about him, and show Gippal that he was wrong. He wasn't just some trembling child.
***
Theme: #3 (Giving Up)
Word Count: 1,239
Nooj looked on in amusement as Gippal snatched another one of Baralai's things from his bad while his back was turned. A white undershirt, this time. Baralai whirled with his next armful of things to stuff in his pack in time to catch Gippal as he not-so-covertly attempted to replace the garment in its drawer under Baralai's bunk. Gippal was the recipient of a wordless glare as Baralai snatched the shirt back and stuffed it with the others.
"Look, what are you doing? This is ridiculous!" Gippal shouted, and pointedly inserted his body between Baralai and his bag. Nooj thought for a moment that Baralai would just shove him out of the way and storm out, but of course the boy hadn't yet slipped to something quite that undignified. He took a visible breath and pulled himself straight, looking up into Gippal's eyes.
"As you can see, I'm leaving. I'm done with this." He attempted to elbow past Gippal, but the Al Bhed was steadfast.
"You can't leave. We're a team." Gippal sounded almost pleading. Nooj snorted. Sure, they'd been assigned together, and sure, they'd worked together amazingly smoothly today, at least up until they'd run out of ammo, but a week of training exercises hardly made a team. He'd been with his last Crusader squad nearly a year, and he'd still felt no regrets at leaving them.
Surprisingly, though, the boy didn't challenge Gippal's assertion. Instead he said calmly, "Yes, but for how long? Team three got completely wiped out today. They still haven't found all of their bodies. Nooj almost died!"
"Yeah, and that's his own damn fault, isn't it?" Gippal returned, shifting uncomfortably as he glanced over at Nooj observing them calmly. "Good thing you're so bad at getting yourself killed."
"It's a talent," Nooj commented wryly.
"Well, even putting Nooj aside," Nooj tried to ignore the flicker of - pity? - that went through Baralai's face as he said this, "we all could have died today. Easily. We had insufficient ammo and no backup weapons to speak of, and the fiends we encountered were much stronger than we'd been briefed on."
"So you're giving up?" Gippal leaned in towards Baralai and cocked his head questioningly. Baralai didn't lean back, so he ended up with his eyes blazing at Gippal from a few inches away.
"I'm making a rational decision! The people running these tests are either simply incompetent or deliberately pushing us beyond the bounds of human capability!" Baralai's voice had almost completely lost its cool edge, Nooj noted.
Gippal must have noticed too, because he backed off a little. "Anyway, you can't leave. We're locked in. 'Once a candidate decides to undergo Crimson Squad training, he must remain until the final selection exercise,' remember?"
"Oh? And what are they going to do if I just walk out? Shoot me?"
"Well, no, but-"
"They might." Nooj put in. The other two fell silent and looked at him. When no further information seemed to be forthcoming, Gippal tossed his arms up in disgust and stalked back across the room to his bunk. Baralai looked down at the haphazardly stuffed bag by his feet, then sat down heavily on his own bunk.
"What do you mean?" he asked Nooj after a moment.
Nooj stared at the ceiling for a while. When he glanced back, both younger men were staring at him intently. It was a little unnerving.
"How did you two get recruited for the Crimson Squad?" he asked finally. Gippal relaxed immediately, but Baralai gave him a look that said, quite clearly, 'You're dodging the question, and don't think I don't notice.'
"I told you guys most of it already. I went in to join the Crusaders, but since Al Bhed, ah, 'aren't eligible,' they wouldn't even let me apply. I was all set to put up a fight about it - I could see the clerk getting scared already - when some bigwig walking by recommended I consider the Crimson Squad. I hadn't even heard of it, but that guy must have said 'elite' about twenty times when describing it, and of course, 'put in command of Crusader Squads,' so I put in an application. So, of course, here I am. Anyone who actually gets a look at my qualifications can't help but pick me." He nodded, and looked to Baralai.
A smile actually quirked at the corners of Baralai's mouth at Gippal's self-assurance.
"I was the captain of a staff-fighting group back in Bevelle. I won a few awards. One day a man came to our practice and asked if I was interested in applying my fighting and leadership skills in the context of serious combat."
"What, just like that? They came to you?" asked Gippal incredulously, but Nooj only nodded.
"Tell me - living in Bevelle, were you involved with the temple much?"
Baralai looked calculating briefly, but answered. "I was the head of a youth group, in fact. We were campaigning for more of the temple's decisions to be decided by group consensus, rather than the maesters' say-so." Nooj nodded again. Just as he'd thought.
"What about you, Nooj?"
The way Baralai said his name was completely different from the way Gippal said it, drawling half-mockingly. Baralai paused before he said it, like he still wasn't sure he had the right. Nooj almost preferred Gippal's way.
"Well, I'm a legend, as you've heard," Nooj said, voice light with amused sarcasm. "Of course I got an invitation to the elite Crimson Squad."
"Right. Of course," said Baralai, sounding cowed. Gippal stared at him, then stood up. Baralai looked questioningly at him as he walked back across the room.
He smacked Baralai upside the head.
"Quit it with the hero-worship, will you?" Gippal said, putting his hands on his hips. "We're all together now. A team, remember?"
Baralai just blinked in shock for a moment, then smiled briefly. "Right."
"Right. We'll be fine as we all stick together."
Baralai paused again, the nodded finally. "I'll need to go get my gun, then; I dropped it off in the storage room earlier. We have drills early tomorrow." With that, Baralai stood and walked out of the room.
Gippal turned to Nooj.
"More dangerous missions mean more chances for you to die - is that why you joined the Crimson Squad?"
Nooj was silent. The answer was obvious enough.
Gippal crossed the floor to Nooj's bunk in a few strides. Nooj glanced up at him. Gippal bent down until Nooj could feel his breath on his face. He met his gaze stoically.
"Let's get one thing straight," Gippal said, with more conviction than Nooj had yet heard from him, "You are going to stop your suicide tactics right now, or you're going to get us all killed. And I for one am not looking for death just yet." He pulled himself straight again. "And I know he isn't, either." With that, he returned to his own bunk and proceeded to feign sleep.
Ridiculous, that he thought he could just tell Nooj what to do. He had no idea of the situation he was in - that they were all in. He was just some cocky brat.
Which made it even more strange that Nooj was considering obeying him. Giving up his search for death, at least for now. Why was part of him arguing that for the sake of those two, it would be worth it?
So far my plan is to write in chronological order, so this is mostly backstory, since the amount of backstory you get on these guys in the game is shamefully small, even if you play it ultra-thoroughly. (Which, um, I may have done.) It should be readable even if you don't know anything about the game in question; it will definitely be readable if you know anything about FFX-2... or even just FFX, really.
I've also decided that I will post in batches of three themes at a time. #3 is my favorite from this batch. Note the two distinct uses of the theme!
Overall info for this batch
Author: kylni
Series: FFX-2
Pairing: Nooj/Gippal/Baralai, though pre-relationship at this point.
Rating: PG
Total wordcount: 2,328
Theme: #1 (Bloodlines)
Word Count: 468
When Gippal reached his room, both of his roommates were already there. Baralai, the pretty kid from Bevelle, was sitting on a bunk against the left wall with a book of Yevon’s teachings open on his lap. He apparently hadn’t noticed Gippal’s entry, but not because he was absorbed in the book - his eyes were focused solidly on the man on the bunk opposite the door, who was applying oil from a small container to the joints in his metal leg. Nooj. That was the man’s name. It was also pretty much the only word he’d spoken in Gippal’s presence during the ‘drill’ earlier.
"Drill, hah," said Gippal, by way of announcing himself. Baralai jumped and looked briefly guilty at having been caught so obviously staring, but his face quickly blanked as he turned to watch Gippal throw his bag down on the remaining bed and sit down. "That was more serious than any combat I’ve ever seen. It’s amazing no one got killed. And that was our initial exercise?" He glanced briefly to the side as Nooj snorted, but the older man didn’t look up from his work.
"The Crimson Squad’s supposed to be the most elite of the Crusaders," Baralai said reasonably, "It’s perhaps understandable that their selection methods are a bit... unorthodox. Still," he smiled, "I agree, that did seem a bit excessive."
"In any case," Gippal said, "looks like the teams they put us in were for life, huh?"
"Probably we’ll be together at least the length of our training," Baralai agreed.
Gippal glanced sideways again. Nooj had switched to oiling his arm now, but he was still ignoring them entirely.
"Is that going to be a problem for the great Nooj? I know you can’t have encountered any Al Bhed in the Crusaders," Gippal said pointedly as he yanked off a boot, "Since if they won’t take me, they won’t take anybody."
Gippal grimaced at the contents of his boot. He managed to walk to the door and dump out a few handfuls of sand before Nooj replied.
"I don’t have a problem with you because you’re Al Bhed. I make a point of judging people on more than their bloodline."
Gippal heard Baralai breathe an audible sigh of relief behind him.
"I might, however," Nooj continued, with a small smirk that was not entirely lost on Gippal as he turned around, "have a problem with you because you’re loud, cocky and obnoxious."
There was silence for a moment.
Then Gippal broke out laughing. Nooj wisely bent to stow his oil back in his bag, hiding whatever expression was on his face. Gippal turned to Baralai, whose mouth was twitching in the beginnings of a smile. Gippal clapped a hand on his shoulder and grinned.
"I think we’ll all get along just fine."
***
Theme: #14 (Forbidden)
Word Count: 621
"It bothers you, doesn’t it?"
Baralai looked up from his inspection of his weapon and quirked and eyebrow as Gippal’s voice broke the silence. Even Nooj glanced up from his statue-like pose that he’d assumed as soon as they’d begun to wait their turn at the firing range.
"What are you talking about?" Baralai tried and failed to sound nonchalant. He laid his gun in his lap carefully and looked calmly at the Al Bhed man staring intently at him from the bench opposite.
Gippal gestured with his own gun, but at Baralai’s flinch he set it down beside him and waved a hand at Baralai instead. "Our weapons. Using ‘forbidden’ machina." He glanced briefly across the narrow hall at the silent man in the corner. "Stone-cold Nooj here doesn’t seem to have a problem, but you practically wince every time you look at one of these things."
Surely he wasn't that obvious about his discomfort?
Gippal's visible eye bored into him. He'd known the man barely a day, and already his eye patch unnerved him. It was hard to read emotions in just one eye, but his voice had sounded like a challenge. Baralai took a breath.
"Yevon has forbidden the use of machina for a very long time." He congratulated himself on the evenness of his tone. "I hadn't even touched one until the maester gave to use these yesterday." He lifted his gun once more. "I just have to learn to use them." Baralai raised his eyes to Gippal's. "Most of the people here are Yevonites; they're in the same situation."
"Which is why we're here," reminded Nooj, and Baralai half-jumped at his voice. He kept forgetting that Nooj was more than a silent presence; somehow it still seemed unreal that the real Nooj, legend among the Crusaders, was just a few meters away. He was comforted, though, by the fact that Gippal had jumped as well.
"Probably the only reason that no one died in yesterday's evaluation was that almost no one here can shoot," Nooj added as he stood, favoring his right leg almost invisibly. He slung his gun over his shoulder with his flesh arm.
"Are you implying that you can, Nooj?" Gippal still put the slightest taunting emphasis on the name. Baralai wondered why he continued to mock the man, but felt grateful that the challenge was no longer directed at him.
"Of course. I could take on any of you children at any time."
"Ha!" Gippal said, grinning. "We'll see about that on the range. No one can out shoot an Al Bhed." As if on cue, another team that had gone in before them came back through the door at the end of the hall. They looked thoroughly disheartened. Gippal stood to let them pass, and just smirked at the looks he got for his blonde hair and green eyes. Then he shot a final challenging look at Nooj before heading out toward the range.
Baralai looped the strap of his own weapon around his shoulder and stood. Nooj walked toward the door Gippal had gone through, but stopped when his reached Baralai.
"Don't worry too much about it," Nooj said, without looking at him. "Yevon can be hypocritical in many ways. That thing you're holding is just a tool, and I'm sure you'll use it well." Nooj walked on without giving Baralai a chance to respond.
Well.
Baralai had always been good at quickly picking up physical skills; maybe, after a few rounds, he could give them both a run for their money.
He grinned at the thought. Yes: he'd show Nooj that he was right about him, and show Gippal that he was wrong. He wasn't just some trembling child.
***
Theme: #3 (Giving Up)
Word Count: 1,239
Nooj looked on in amusement as Gippal snatched another one of Baralai's things from his bad while his back was turned. A white undershirt, this time. Baralai whirled with his next armful of things to stuff in his pack in time to catch Gippal as he not-so-covertly attempted to replace the garment in its drawer under Baralai's bunk. Gippal was the recipient of a wordless glare as Baralai snatched the shirt back and stuffed it with the others.
"Look, what are you doing? This is ridiculous!" Gippal shouted, and pointedly inserted his body between Baralai and his bag. Nooj thought for a moment that Baralai would just shove him out of the way and storm out, but of course the boy hadn't yet slipped to something quite that undignified. He took a visible breath and pulled himself straight, looking up into Gippal's eyes.
"As you can see, I'm leaving. I'm done with this." He attempted to elbow past Gippal, but the Al Bhed was steadfast.
"You can't leave. We're a team." Gippal sounded almost pleading. Nooj snorted. Sure, they'd been assigned together, and sure, they'd worked together amazingly smoothly today, at least up until they'd run out of ammo, but a week of training exercises hardly made a team. He'd been with his last Crusader squad nearly a year, and he'd still felt no regrets at leaving them.
Surprisingly, though, the boy didn't challenge Gippal's assertion. Instead he said calmly, "Yes, but for how long? Team three got completely wiped out today. They still haven't found all of their bodies. Nooj almost died!"
"Yeah, and that's his own damn fault, isn't it?" Gippal returned, shifting uncomfortably as he glanced over at Nooj observing them calmly. "Good thing you're so bad at getting yourself killed."
"It's a talent," Nooj commented wryly.
"Well, even putting Nooj aside," Nooj tried to ignore the flicker of - pity? - that went through Baralai's face as he said this, "we all could have died today. Easily. We had insufficient ammo and no backup weapons to speak of, and the fiends we encountered were much stronger than we'd been briefed on."
"So you're giving up?" Gippal leaned in towards Baralai and cocked his head questioningly. Baralai didn't lean back, so he ended up with his eyes blazing at Gippal from a few inches away.
"I'm making a rational decision! The people running these tests are either simply incompetent or deliberately pushing us beyond the bounds of human capability!" Baralai's voice had almost completely lost its cool edge, Nooj noted.
Gippal must have noticed too, because he backed off a little. "Anyway, you can't leave. We're locked in. 'Once a candidate decides to undergo Crimson Squad training, he must remain until the final selection exercise,' remember?"
"Oh? And what are they going to do if I just walk out? Shoot me?"
"Well, no, but-"
"They might." Nooj put in. The other two fell silent and looked at him. When no further information seemed to be forthcoming, Gippal tossed his arms up in disgust and stalked back across the room to his bunk. Baralai looked down at the haphazardly stuffed bag by his feet, then sat down heavily on his own bunk.
"What do you mean?" he asked Nooj after a moment.
Nooj stared at the ceiling for a while. When he glanced back, both younger men were staring at him intently. It was a little unnerving.
"How did you two get recruited for the Crimson Squad?" he asked finally. Gippal relaxed immediately, but Baralai gave him a look that said, quite clearly, 'You're dodging the question, and don't think I don't notice.'
"I told you guys most of it already. I went in to join the Crusaders, but since Al Bhed, ah, 'aren't eligible,' they wouldn't even let me apply. I was all set to put up a fight about it - I could see the clerk getting scared already - when some bigwig walking by recommended I consider the Crimson Squad. I hadn't even heard of it, but that guy must have said 'elite' about twenty times when describing it, and of course, 'put in command of Crusader Squads,' so I put in an application. So, of course, here I am. Anyone who actually gets a look at my qualifications can't help but pick me." He nodded, and looked to Baralai.
A smile actually quirked at the corners of Baralai's mouth at Gippal's self-assurance.
"I was the captain of a staff-fighting group back in Bevelle. I won a few awards. One day a man came to our practice and asked if I was interested in applying my fighting and leadership skills in the context of serious combat."
"What, just like that? They came to you?" asked Gippal incredulously, but Nooj only nodded.
"Tell me - living in Bevelle, were you involved with the temple much?"
Baralai looked calculating briefly, but answered. "I was the head of a youth group, in fact. We were campaigning for more of the temple's decisions to be decided by group consensus, rather than the maesters' say-so." Nooj nodded again. Just as he'd thought.
"What about you, Nooj?"
The way Baralai said his name was completely different from the way Gippal said it, drawling half-mockingly. Baralai paused before he said it, like he still wasn't sure he had the right. Nooj almost preferred Gippal's way.
"Well, I'm a legend, as you've heard," Nooj said, voice light with amused sarcasm. "Of course I got an invitation to the elite Crimson Squad."
"Right. Of course," said Baralai, sounding cowed. Gippal stared at him, then stood up. Baralai looked questioningly at him as he walked back across the room.
He smacked Baralai upside the head.
"Quit it with the hero-worship, will you?" Gippal said, putting his hands on his hips. "We're all together now. A team, remember?"
Baralai just blinked in shock for a moment, then smiled briefly. "Right."
"Right. We'll be fine as we all stick together."
Baralai paused again, the nodded finally. "I'll need to go get my gun, then; I dropped it off in the storage room earlier. We have drills early tomorrow." With that, Baralai stood and walked out of the room.
Gippal turned to Nooj.
"More dangerous missions mean more chances for you to die - is that why you joined the Crimson Squad?"
Nooj was silent. The answer was obvious enough.
Gippal crossed the floor to Nooj's bunk in a few strides. Nooj glanced up at him. Gippal bent down until Nooj could feel his breath on his face. He met his gaze stoically.
"Let's get one thing straight," Gippal said, with more conviction than Nooj had yet heard from him, "You are going to stop your suicide tactics right now, or you're going to get us all killed. And I for one am not looking for death just yet." He pulled himself straight again. "And I know he isn't, either." With that, he returned to his own bunk and proceeded to feign sleep.
Ridiculous, that he thought he could just tell Nooj what to do. He had no idea of the situation he was in - that they were all in. He was just some cocky brat.
Which made it even more strange that Nooj was considering obeying him. Giving up his search for death, at least for now. Why was part of him arguing that for the sake of those two, it would be worth it?