So… maybe Rikku liked flowers.
What of it? That's normal. Right?
She grew up in the desert. The only plants you saw there were cacti.
Even if they did flower, they just weren't the same as 'flower' flowers.
They were also spiky.
Not so good for picking.
Or the flowers you saw were actually fiends in disguise, and you didn't make that mistake more five times.
Eight times tops.
So – quite naturally actually – the first time she got out of HOME and onto greener land Rikku couldn't believe her swirly Al-Bhed eyes.
All of the colours! Blue! Pink! Orange! Purple with yellow spots! Heart-shaped petals the size of your hand on huge fleshy teardrop leaves.
Great rolling fields of grass floated with tiny white flowers, all swaying and dancing back and forth in the breeze.
And they smelt so good, like everything opposite to metal and oil and rusty-crusty boats.
Especially the moonflow. When she had first laid eyes on that it'd dazzled her beyond words… millions of those beautiful flowers lying on the surface of the water, all swirling around like an ocean of sweet-smelling petals.
It was almost a pity to get in big mean machina, and not just swim around for hours on those flower encrusted shores.
Still, a job was a job.
Although it didn't last long on that particular occasion… dumb old Tidus and Wakka, beating her up like that. It had to be abuse, she was still a minor!
Nevertheless, at least she got to live up to the phrase 'if you can't beat'em, join'em'.
Besides, it was spring in Spira!
At HOME all you got was the hot season and the hotter one.
Spring!!
"…Rikku."
"Mnnhm?" It was unusual for Auront to speak to her without reason. Unless she was on fire and hadn't realised.
She checked her hair. Well, she didn't seem to be on fire. She wrote it off as a freak occurrence and went back to her flower-girling.
"What are you doing?" he questioned.
She span around and shot Auron a mean look, carefully clutching several thin stems in her hand.
"I'm picking flowers."
Auron paused, like he was going words again in his head.
"What?" Guess it still didn't make sense to him.
Apparently he didn't think it reasonable for a fifteen year-old girl to want to pick flowers in her time out of bloodthirsty life-or-death battle to save the world.
Yevon knows why. He was probably brain-damaged.
Years of heavy-close-combat battle can do that to a person.
So could blitzball, actually.
Example: the Besaid Aurochs. All of them. Even Wakka…
Wait, especially Wakka. Hell knows Lulu didn't have that accent. Or Yuna.
"I'm picking flowers, Auron," she explained with a sigh, holding up a handful of her spoils. "You see? They're pretty."
He wore his 'I do not approve of much of what you just said' face, and went on to stare in disbelief at the bouquet in the thief's hand. Maybe he was expecting her to turn them into a weapon.
Sure she could customize things, but she wasn't a magician. Although turning a rabbit into a weapon would be quite cool. Unless it was a doll for Lulu, which would just be profoundly disturbing.
"Why?" he asked after a phrase of careful consideration.
Tsk, what a question.
"What do you mean 'why'?" She said obstinately.
More of the 'we are not amused' look.
Yevon only knows what it'd be like if he had both eyes to do it with.
"I mean why," he repeated.
But somehow that didn't surprise her. He wasn't exactly a man of words.
However two could play in that stadium.
"Because," she declared singularly, picking a long-stemmed pink-thing and sliding it behind her ear.
She grinned in what she thought of as a charming way.
"…Because?" If he didn't have a scar screwing up one side of his face, she bet Auron would've raised both his eyebrows at her.
Because he is mean like that.
Always. Always mean. Sending Yunie to go and die of death like that.
"Yes, because!"
It was a pity that most of their conversation seemed to revolve around repeating the same words to each other again and again. It might have been quite interesting otherwise.
"Because is not an explanation," he said coolly.
Tch, now he was being picky.
Although, so was she – what with the flowers and all.
"Yes it is," she retorted. She had a brother, she could play this arguing game just fine.
"Not a good one," he said after a reflective pause.
You know, if you smushed together everything he'd said in the past minutes, it almost made a full sentence.
Which was pretty good for him.
"Fine…" She buried her nose in the flowers and inhaled deeply, smiling at the fragrances that she'd never found to be two of the same yet.
She really loved flowers – so pretty and bright; they smelled so nice and everythingaboutthemwasjust lovely. She was a girl of simple pleasures.
"...'Fine'?" Now Auron appeared to be borrowing Tidus's 'I do not understand most of what you just said' face.
Who was going to need that back. He couldn't last more than a day without it.
"Well I wasn't finished!"
Anyone would've thought it outrageous a girl couldn't take a second out to smell the flowers in this day and age.
And it was rude to interrupt.
Although, Auron didn't look like the sort of person who minded if people thought he was rude.
"I am picking flowers because I want to. Because they are nice."
There was the clincher – no way he could beat that.
"I see."
Exactly! Score one for Rikku and none for the man-in-the-big-red-coat.
"Aaand… we don't really have many flowers where I come from."
"Mm."
"Because it's so hot, yunno."
"Ah."
"As it's the desert..."
"Mm."
"And I haven't even been out here in the spring before."
"…"
"Well… I haven't been here specifically ever." She looked around at the scenery, as if to demonstrate her point.
He said nothing.
"What with not being able to travel around Spira and all."
Auron had stopped making noises and cut back to half-hearted nodding, hoping someone (anyone) would come to save him.
"Until I met you guys..."
But they didn't save him.
"And here I am now!
This had to be a joke.
"…So… yeah… I like picking flowers…" She trailed off.
Wow, awkward.
He should be called the legendary conversation-killer at this rate.
"…I… haven't seen… these…kinda flowers… before…"
The sound of the conversation drowning went out across the party.
No one tossed them a life ring. Not one.
Rikku felt the desire to bash her head against a wall for sounding so damn stupid. She had a habit of talking nonsense whenever she felt nervous.
So awkward conversation with someone most people referred to as 'Sir Auron, the Legendary Guardian' was definitely enough to set her off.
But silences were one of the things Auron did best.
Well, on this occasion only until he stepped up to her with a hand held out and one finger extended.
"Bellis perennis," he pointed to a clump of white flowers in her posy. "Dianthus, Browallia speciosa, Calendula, and Ipomoea alba." He stopped as soon as he started, and it was Rikku's turn to stare with the 'humwhat' face.
It took a few seconds for this to sink in, and then.
Ah Hahahahahahahahahaha!
"You're laughing at me?"
"Hahahahaha!"
"Why…"
"Hahahahaha!"
"Just"
"Hahaha!"
"Can you"
"Hahaha!"
"Stop"
"Haha!"
"That"
"Hahahahahahahahahha!"
"Rikku!"
"Ah hahahahuu…uh… yes Auron?"
"…"
Well it was dammed silly to shout at someone to get their attention and then not say anything.
"What, Auron?"
Was he glaring at her?
He actually was.
Meanie. What did she do?
"I…" he said, then stopped and after a few seconds closed his mouth lest he look like a Guardian goldfish.
Wow! Was he stuck for words? Had she actually made him just as awkward as he'd made her?!
That shouldn't really make her proud.
But it kinda did.
"You were laughing," he muttered, looking so very, very close to embarrassed without actually being embarrassed.
When Auron looked almost embarrassed you kind of got the feeling he might be close to almost cutting off your foot as well.
And all she had to defend herself were a handful of flowers. Maybe he had hayfever.
"Umm... I suppose," she said awkwardly.
You would've thought that in the middle of grasslands there would be more ways to end a situation like this. Yet there weren't.
"…" He really looked like he wanted to talk, but had that hesitant/awkward thing going and appeared somewhat unable to do so.
She decided to help him out. Because honestly, how many times would you get the chance to help out someone like Auron?
She was an opportunist by nature. Not a thief. Although they were sort of the same thing.
"Do you want to know why?"
"Huh?" How he could miss a question when there was about nothing else to be concentrating on was completely beyond her.
"Why I was laughing, Auron?"
"Oh. Yes."
The conversation had long lost purpose, but it was a self-perpetuating disaster… sort of like sin.
Except probably not as bad.
PROBABLY.
"It was because of the flowers," she explained, confidant like those few words were the answer to all their problems.
So gave her a rather intense 'crazy girl' look, as if she's just admitted to in-depth conversation with her friends the flowers over hereand they'd been saying the most hilarious things over toast-and-tea.
You might've suspected he was physically nailed to the ground for his inability to just leave and end this torture.
"The flowers?"
Why did seeing Auron so stuck almost make her want to hug him? In a sort of 'it's okay, you'll get through this' kind of way.
"It was because you knew all the names, Auron," she said very slowly, as if she were explaining something to Tidus, while she absent-mindedly started to work all her picked flowers into her clothes and armour.
So she'd literally be 'flower power'.
Which would be awesome.
"All the…?"
"Yes, the names. Of all the flowers." She waved her handful around to demonstrate the point, several petals working their way loose and fluttering to the ground. "It was funny."
"…" He really didn't look very impressed by this whole situahappening right here. "Oh."
"Because you're kind of a tough guy, ynno? And tough guys don't normally know all the fancy names for the pretty flowers. Which is why it was funny."
She was pretty sure he was scowling at her from behind that big collar.
"Which is why I laughed," she added just in case he didn't get that bit. After all it wasn't like he laughed much at all. Maybe he broke his funny bone when he bust up his eye.
The conversation's funeral was well underway now, and it looked like it might want to kill Rikku for doing this to it.
"Helianthus annuus, Sunflowers," Auron announced like it should have meaning all of a sudden. When Rikku looked to where he was pointing, she realized it did have meaning. Sunflowers sounded like a good idea.
"Ooo!" she said happily, and dashed off to retrieve as many as she could carry without having to start dropping items.
As expected, when she returned to the path he was gone, simply a shrinking figure striding up ahead like he couldn't be more glad to get shot of her. Which was about right.
Oh well. There would always be next time.