Emotional Bribery

Disclaimer/Author's Note: They're not mine. But I was struck by inspiration while at work. Hope it reads ok.

Everywhere she looked, she was surrounded. The enemy was all around her, just waiting for her to finally snap and lose her control. She could feel her heart begin to race in anticipation. Already she could tell the situation was hopeless – even the pilgrimage three years ago had at least had an end in sight. She blamed Gippal for her current predicament. It was only fitting as he was the one who had called begging for her help only that morning. And, since it was becoming more and more apparent she would never leave, her devoted fans in Spira would want to know what had happened to their favorite ex-guardian, two-time-assister-in-world-saving Al Bhed. They should at least know to blame Gippal. Deciding there was no further need to prolong the inevitable; Rikku gritted her teeth and met the situation head on…

: o o : o o : o o :

…A few hours later, she was hot, thirsty, sweaty, and more than a little frazzled. Her hair, though normally a mess of beads and miscellaneous baubles, was now simply a mess, and she was certain she'd lost a sleeve somewhere… And the worst of it was she doubted she'd made any headway whatsoever. She heard a door open, though surrounded as she was, she couldn't see who entered. Although she had her suspicions.

"Nice of you to finally show up. What kept you?" She tried to step around some of the masses surrounding the room, but was simply met with more of the same. "Don't touch anything. Or I will kill you."

"Hey!" She could practically see his smug grin, despite the fact that she could not find him, and he was still hidden from her view. "Don't blame me," he continued, "I just finished with the other room! And I did warn you."

She rolled her eyes, "The other room is half the size of this one. And you did not tell me it would be this bad. Honestly Gippal – normal people do not let a problem get this out of hand."

"I recall telling you before you agreed to come that the situation had become dire." He stepped out from behind one of the masses filling the room and gave her his best lopsided grin.

She gave him her best withering stare in return. Remind me again why I agreed to bail you out…"

"Because I agreed to take you out to a really fancy dinner."

"…And?"

"…And I promised you flowers. Lots of them."

She threw up her hands in exasperation, "Emotional bribery!!"

He caught her hands and pulled her closer to him, "And you think I'm sexy."

She gave him her first real smile since she'd entered the room as she laced her fingers behind his neck, "Maybe so. But right now you're just sweaty."

"And you're disheveled… Your point being?"

"Next time just take me out to dinner." She raised up on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear, "Hire a secretary to do your filing."

-end

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