"You're at it again," Paine commented as she stalked into the main room of the ship. She stopped, looming just over the pair of girls seated on the floor, both clutching long sharp objects and lovingly brushing at them with pieces of cloth. One of them complained about Paine standing in her light, and the gray-haired girl raised an eyebrow but didn't budge.
"Paine!" Rikku whined, scuttling backwards until she was no longer in Paine's shadow before returning to her polishing activity. Paine sighed, wondering how she had ever wound up with a group like this. Ignoring Yuna for the moment, she stepped over toward Rikku, who turned around with a pout to face the other direction.
"You're fussing. Over a sword."
"You fuss over yours, too!" Rikku exclaimed with a squeak as she looked up at her teammate.
"I have a reason to," Paine answered, although she had left her sword back in her room.
"Well, well- I have a reason to, too!"
Paine rolled her eyes, glancing back at the leader of their little group. "Yuna, can you talk some sense into her?"
"HEY!"
Yuna stared at the sword she was polishing for another moment before placing the cloth she held on the floor. She held the sword up reverently with both hands, watching her reflection on its shimmering blue surface before looking over at Paine. "About... what?"
"She's obsessing over that sword again." Paine shifted her stance, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "You're both obsessing over those swords."
"Is that... a problem?"
"It's weird." She glanced back at Rikku, who was making happy squeaking noises while cradling her sword. "Really weird."
"I don't... think... so," Yuna answered, returning her attention to the sword she had replaced in her lap. She picked up her piece of cloth and began polishing it again. Paine sighed, turning to watch Rikku with a raised eyebrow.
"Hey." She crouched down next to the blonde.
"What?"
"Gimme the sword."
"NO WAY!" Rikku clutched the sword protectively to her scantily-covered chest, somehow managing not to cut herself in the process.
Paine rested her elbows against her knees, crooking two fingers at Rikku. "Give it."
"But but but! It was his sword!"
"Whose?"
"HIS!"
"Whatever. You going to give me the sword now?"
"IT'S MINE!"
She gave the blonde a look. "You just said it was his."
"But it's mine now." Rikku dropped the sword into her lap, her braids flying every which way as she gestured to emphasize her point. "See? It was his, but then he died, only he was already dead, so it was like he went poof, only it wasn't really poof, it was more like whooooosh with the pyreflies and he was really dead this time, not like last time, when he was sorta-dead, but not really, and then when he went poof, only it wasn't really poof, I got his sword!"
Paine stared at her like she was crazy. "Uh huh. Still don't get why you're obsessing over it."
The blonde pouted. "Because it was Auron's and now it's mine."
"And...?"
"And- and- and- it's like Yunie with Tidus' sword, because it was his, and then he went POOF, only it wasn't really poof because he did the fadey thing, and then he jumped off the ship and went poof, or I think he went poof, because you couldn't really see all that well, but then Yunie found his sword, so now she has his sword, and then I found Auron's sword, and now I have that and it's mine and it's like I'm close to Auron! Only not, 'cause he's all poofed and stuff."
Paine stood up, not really having understood any of that. "Right..."
Rikku gave a happy squeak in reply before going back to polishing the sword in her lap. Paine decided to give up on her teammates completely and stalked out of the room to go practice hurting things outside the ship.