Lady of Fortune
Chapter Two
Rikku toweled off her long blonde hair and sat on the edge of her bed. "So much for old times," she grumbled. They'd dropped Yuna off at Besaid to make Tidus a belated dinner and Paine had wanted to go to Bevelle to check on Baralai. Since, apparently, neither Baralai nor Nooj could talk without Paine's presence. Rikku wasn't sure what they'd done the two years Paine had been sphere hunting with her and Yuna. But now, Nooj and Baralai were dependent on Paine, at least in Paine's opinion.
Rikku shut her eyes and sighed. Paine had deliberately pushed her off the top of the tower. Rikku was sure of it. And true to form, Paine hadn't apologized. She was more than ready to pass it off as an accident. Yuna had babbled incessantly about it being an accident and being glad that Rikku was okay.
Dachi rapped on the door. After Yuna and Paine had left for good when Vegnagun was destroyed, they'd built a wall in on the top of the cabin. So Rikku had a room of her own with a wall for privacy and the best view out the windows. Not that it kept Dachi and Anikki from barging in whenever they felt like it. So, she didn't bother shutting the door most of the time. Dachi stuck his head in the open door. "You okay?"
"Paine knocked me off a 100 story tower, I fell 25 stories and landed on a stone roof, fought three huge monsters after a long day of minor monster killing in a group and then had to do a feat in gymnastics to get out while iron spikes shot at me from the walls. Paine never apologized." Rikku fell backwards. "I'm pinky."
"Peachy."
"Pinky and wrinkly." Rikku groaned. "Don't try the shower for an hour or two. I used all the hot water."
Dachi came over and sat on the edge of the bed. "Sorry. I know you had higher hopes."
Rikku waved a hand. "Yuna's happy being a Yevonite housewife and Paine is far too busy being the Youth League's and New Yevon's emissary and courier. I'm the one stuck in the past and still 'just' a sphere hunter. Tidus is back. There are no huge machines or corrupted Aeons to destroy. The world is safe and happy despite the fact Macalania Woods is still dying, the Farplane viewer is still broke, the temples are spewing pyreflies faster than the summoners who, oh right, aren't sending them, so aren't bothering to cope with them. And I'm the only one outside of Tromell Guado that cares!"
"It might seem a bit petty compared to Vegnagun and Sin." Dachi said lightly.
"I can't rest on my laurels," Rikku rolled her eyes.
"You did try and bring it up."
"I did. 'Oh, the Guado can handle it, Rikku.' 'Things are changing, Rikku.' 'There are more pressing concerns, Rikku.' 'You need to grow up, Rikku.'"
Dachi winced. "Surely they didn't say the last one."
"They didn't have to. It's been hanging in air since Tidus came back and Vidina was born." Rikku grimaced and half sat up, rotating her shoulders.
"I've had a call from Rin on Shinra's sphere network."
"You'd think the little guy would go around and pick those up instead of letting us spy on everything everywhere." She patted her hair and pulled the towel off.
"Nah, makes it easier on them when they want a favor." Dachi stretched.
Rikku sighed. "What is it this time?"
Dachi shrugged a shoulder. "The usual. Rin's got a caravan headed towards the Calm Lands and he wants you to talk to Dario about letting them pass through the Moonflow unmolested."
Rikku grimaced. "And Rin can't do this?"
"You have a way with Dario, Rin says." Dachi smirked.
"Can it wait until tomorrow?" She whined. It was late. She was exhausted.
"Yep."
"Good. Because I'm going to sleep, like a log or a rock." She laid back down. "And you can't stop me."
Dachi got up. "You sure you didn't find anything."
"It was amazing. It was the find of the century. It will change the way we think about our entire history." Rikku said.
"That boring."
"It was just some statues, Dachi." Rikku yawned.
He shook his head. "Get some sleep."
"I plan on it. If someone would stop yapping at me." Rikku wiggled around and put her head on her pillow, wrapping her blankets around her instead of working her body underneath them.
Dachi grinned and left the room, shutting the door behind him.
Rikku stared into the darkness. "Just some statues," she murmured.
Maybe the best thing in Rikku's opinion about having an entire room to herself was she got a vanity and she didn't have to share it with anyone. And no one would complain about how long it took her to get ready in the morning.
She'd always had too much hair and she liked the look of it when it was long. It was just a pain to do every morning. That and changing between weapon systems made it even more difficult. Because when Rikku had stopped using the dress sphere garment grids, she'd changed her hair and dress style.
That and Gippal had called her a chocobo in public one too many times for her comfort. It'd been time to retire that ponytail.
Not that the new one was any less complicated.
She braided a thick but loose pony tail on the top of her head. It was high like Anikki's Mohawk. Then on the sides, she created different braids that came "out" of it and curved towards the base of the ponytail, the hair underneath pulled tight to the back of her head in keeping with the Mohawk effect. Then in the pony tail itself, she had more braids decorated with copper and grey gunmetal and carved bone beads, leather thongs and pieces of gil and ended with feathers. Two long braids in front of her ears fell down over her breasts.
To keep her bangs from flying all over the place, she wore a studded metal circlet.
Her earrings matched the braid decorations, gil, beads, feathers off of leather thongs.
Her main class was still the same from the dress sphere system though, thief. And even though the system used different outfits that had different weapons and skills, she didn't call it the dress sphere system. Her system was the weapon spheres. It was similar enough to the dress spheres she supposed. But she also thought it was better. She shuddered as she dressed.
Nothing like what had happened with how Lenne's memories took over Yuna and caused her to dance would happen with Rikku's system. There weren't memories of other people involved in her system. The whole idea made Rikku's skin crawl anymore. Shinra had compared the memories in the dress spheres to an aeon once in her hearing and after that, she'd worked feverishly to create her own system.
Gone was the bright yellow bikini and tan miniskirt.
She'd upgraded to a dress. It was more 'adult' in the eyes of the Al Bhed, even though it was still as short as her old miniskirt. The dress had a deep square neckline and was in her favorite color of orange and had a rich dark bronze brown leather for contrast. She'd accented it all with a dusky pink. It was an odd color for her probably but she'd always liked it in small doses. She'd used lacing instead of zippers or belts for better maneuverability.
And because she couldn't give it up entirely, a pair of armor like shoulder pads had on the back two long scarves to her ankles of cream fabric. The shoulder pads had a standing collar and was held together in the front and draped across the top of her back under a thin yoke with a 'necklace' to match her other jewelry. Sewn from the scarves and draping to the base of her bare back was another swag of cream fabric. And as a nod to practicality, she had three pouches belted around her hips and the biggest was also tied down on her thigh.
She'd had to train in it from the ground up, but it'd been worth it.
Her spheres were created by alchemy. They were infused with basic item abilities and the core, well, the core was the imprint of the user's memories that couldn't be unlocked or used by anyone else. So, all of her weapon spheres when activated, would give her Al Bhed flavored armor and weapons. If someone like Yuna used it, then she'd have armor and weapons that reflected Yuna's fashion likes and dislikes and probably more Yevonite oriented.
Rikku had found though, that some weapons spheres were just too difficult to start with. She'd had to arrange them on a grid of her own devising, creating weapon and ability trees in order to use them all. Thief was the basis for jobs like assassin and ninja. Warrior was the basis for knight, lancer and samurai. Mages had their own tree that crossed over with every other branch. For instance, she hadn't been able to learn the spell blade of the mystic knight until she'd learned the basics of black magic. She hadn't been able to figure out the death magic of the Assassin until she'd learned white magic. There were others too. The fighter class held Monk, and Bard. The Ranger class was blitzer, gunner and gambler. Alchemist was the most difficult being a cross class of three other types. There were 15 weapon spheres all together. The only weapons sphere she didn't have was Summoner.
Not that there was anything to Summon in Spira and that she'd be of the right temperament to Summon even if there were!
She didn't know if it was really a better system than the dress spheres. She knew she liked it better. They were all on one grid. If she needed one of their abilities, it was right there for the using.
Rikku used her teeth to tighten the laces of the special bracers on her arms. She'd had to make those as well using alchemy. Ever since going out on her own, she couldn't afford to be susceptible to status effects and vulnerable to elemental damage. So between the bracers (upper and lower), her circlet (that changed with every weapons sphere) and her earrings. She had every status effect and elemental damage she knew of countered. She strapped the metalwork glove that had a spring loaded claw built into it on her dominant hand and slipped a set of lock picks into her hair. They looked like hair pins. No one usually noticed them.
Lastly, she strapped into thigh high boots.
"Rikku!" Anikki shouted from downstairs.
Rikku checked her face in the mirror and applied pink lip gloss. "I'm ready. I'm ready!" She shouted and headed out the door and down the stairs.
"Why do girls take so long to get ready?" Anikki whined.
"Why do boys never put in any effort?" Rikku countered.
Dachi snorted into his coffee.
Barkeep slid a mug of coffee across the bar to her. She'd already ate. She sipped at it and stopped when she saw Dachi eyeing her up and down.
She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Feeling more yourself?" Dachi asked.
She took a sip of the coffee and decided not to comment. Yesterday hadn't been her idea. It'd been Paine's.
"We're on course for the Moonflow." Anikki said crossing his arms and tapping his foot.
Rikku nodded.
Anikki looked at the floor.
Rikku sipped on her coffee and watched. Her brother was thinking. It was somewhat scary to see.
Anikki's head snapped up. "You be careful around Dario."
Rikku rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine. I've done this plenty of times since Rin started that Al Bhed town out in the Calm Lands."
"I don't like him." Anikki frowned. "I don't trust him."
"Dario is good about staying bought." Rikku finished her coffee and set it down on the table. "Thanks, Barkeep."
"You're welcome." The blue hypello bobbed up and down and smiled at her.
Anikki grumbled.
"No one seems to be willing to do anything." Rikku crossed her own arms. "I'm one person Anikki. If Gippal or vydran or Rin want to do their part or even Lucil and her new Chocobo Knights, then great, I'll help drag Dario and his merry band of misfits in to face their just punishment for stealing. Until then, I bargain with them, reclaim lost and sentimental goods from them and bribe when necessary." She raised an eyebrow. "Unless you want to recruit a force and handle the problem."
"No." Anikki spat out. "That's too much like making a play for leadership. I won't have it. It's vydran's problem. Let vydran deal with it."
Rikku rolled her eyes. "All right, then I'll go down and bribe Dario, again."
A bell chimed.
"And look, we're here." Rikku murmured.
Anikki sighed. "I'll bring her down." He grumbled and jogged off towards the lift.
"You will be careful." Dachi said.
"We have this conversation every time." Rikku cocked her hips. "Most of them are old enough to be my uncle. The rest are former yevonites who wouldn't touch an Al Bhed girl and Dario likes me. I'll be fine."
"And careful," Dachi said.
Rikku stepped forward and before Dachi could blink she had the flat of the back of her fist, the blades popped out of the glove and pressing against his throat. There was no way to hurt him, they were for slashing and puncturing damage. "I'm always careful."
Dachi set his coffee down and raised his hands. "Yesterday scared us."
"I wasn't expecting an old friend to pretend accidentally shove me off a tower." Rikku snapped and clenched her fist, sheathing the little blades. "And Yuna was too busy acting like it was an accident for me to pin Paine to a wall."
Dachi snorted.
Rikku tossed her hair. "Look, I'm going to talk to Tromell after Dario. You two stay up in the air and hone in on any sphere signals. I'll contact you when I need you."
"Right." Dachi nodded.
Rikku fiddled with the glove, decided Dachi was being serious enough and felt the Celsius settling on the ground. She nodded and headed towards the lift. It took her down to the engine room and Anikki opened the ramp for her.
The hot heavy and humid air of the Moonflow rolled up the ramp and against her skin. She grimaced and stalked off towards the bandit's camp, dodging through brush and around trees.
She heard the engines of the Celsius spin back up and wind blew as it took back into the air.
Anikki had placed his landing well. Far enough away that they might be able to see the Celsius landing but close enough that they wouldn't have anything to do about it before she arrived.
Rikku strode into the bandit camp.
It was a camp in the crudest sense of the word. Ropes strung between trees had sheets over them to serve as tents. Boxes were piled up as a mixture of storage and seating. They kept a few chickens for eggs. But most of them slept on the ground on bed rolls and ate out of cans.
"Morning Kai," Rikku nodded at one of the Al Bhed men hunched over a mug of what might be sludge tasting coffee.
He started and stood. "Lady Rikku," he said and nodded. "Morning."
"Grier, still abed I see." Rikku said and nudged another Al Bhed with her boot.
"Too early," He said and then sat straight up. "Lady Rikku," he rubbed his eyes.
Rikku rolled her eyes.
"Tiernan, working hard or hardly working?" Rikku asked as she flicked his ear.
"Neither, Lady Rikku," he said and bowed his head.
"Peatah," Rikku said and held out a hand. "Easy now, cousin." She steadied the teetering Al Bhed.
He smiled at her and abruptly sat down.
She frowned and shoved his goggles up, checking his eyes. The swirls were mismatched. She reached into her pouch. "Concussion or hang over?" She asked.
"That leather clad wench hit him over the head with her sword. He ain't been properly right since." A young man drawled.
"Concussion then," Rikku murmured. She popped the cork off a potion. "Drink it down, Peatah." She handed it to him.
Peatah tossed it back.
Rikku checked Peatah over and otherwise he seemed all right. "Morning, Dario."
The young man, another Al Bhed, bowed low. "Morning my lovely Lady Rikku."
Rikku nodded as Peatah cradled his head and breathed Al Bhed curses.
"After she knocked him over the head, he decided alcohol was the best remedy for a bruised ego." Dario added.
"So a concussion and a hangover." Rikku made sympathy noises. "That will teach you to mess with Paine."
Peatah whimpered. "I already knew I didn't like pain."
"Leather clad woman, that's Paine, P-A-I-N-E." Rikku said and ruffled the hair on top of his head. "You'll live." She turned to Dario and smiled. "For another day I suppose."
Dario leaned against a stack of boxes. "So, what brings you here on this fine morning?"
Rikku found another stack of boxes nearby, she sat down and crossed her legs. "I have a request from one Lord Rin."
Dario curled his lip. "What does that old trafficker want? A cut of my business."
"You don't have a business. You're a bandit." Rikku reminded him. "You steal things from others and keep it for yourself. That's not a business. That's straight up thievery."
"Beats working."
"Yes, I can see how hard you work to avoid work." Rikku looked around and curled her lip. She met his eyes. "Rin has a caravan coming through. He'd like you to leave it alone. What is it going to take, Dario?"
Dario rubbed his chin. "As you can see, my lady, we're pretty stocked up here. We don't really need to be pouncing on Lord Rin's little caravan. Unless we wanted to for sport." He kicked at the ground. "But I suppose since you're asking." His green eyes gleamed. "A kiss."
Rikku blinked. "A kiss?" That wasn't what she'd expected. Usually he wanted money or food.
"Yes, one kiss and I'll leave Rin's caravan alone."
Rikku hopped off the boxes. "All right, deal."
It was Dario's turn to blink.
Rikku smirked at him, strutted over and placed her hands on his chest.
The camp went silent.
Rikku went up on her tiptoes and Dario leaned down. Her lips met his and she applied pressure. Dario grabbed her hips, pulling her closer. His lips parted. She slid her tongue inside his mouth and teased his.
He groaned.
Rikku eased her tongue out of his mouth, his followed and plunged into hers. She sucked on it and when he returned it to his mouth, she nipped his bottom lip with her teeth, pulling away.
With a shimmy of her hips, she broke his grip. "Pleasure doing business with you, Dario." She purred.
She smirked at him and strutted out of the camp, headed for the road towards the Moonflow.
The camp wasn't too far away from the road. It couldn't be, not and have them haul back their goods in a reasonable amount of time, especially if they were heavy. Rikku jumped down from the cliff onto the road and pulled out a hand mirror and her lip gloss. She leaned against the cliff and applied the lip gloss quickly, pressing her lips together and rolling them.
She shut the compact with a snap.
Baralai, Paine and Gippal stared at her.
"Morning," she smiled and slipped the compact away.
"If it isn't Cid's girl," Gippal smirked at her.
She raised her chin. "If it isn't Illiam's boy." She retorted.
Gippal made a face.
She smiled at him and pushed away from the cliff wall. She looked up the path towards the Moonflow the way they'd come. "Headed to Djose?"
"Mushroom Rock Road," Paine said flatly. "There's a big meeting today."
"Oh, that is today." Rikku cracked her neck. "Sounds so incredibly interesting. Oh well. I've got other plans. Have fun." She started up the road.
"Rikku!" Dario shouted and jumped off the cliff near where she had.
Rikku spun around. "Yes, Dario?"
He shook his fist at her. "You stole from me! You picked my pockets!"
She grinned at him. "Oh, Dario, I'm a thief." She reminded him and then blew him a kiss. She spun about and strutted up the road away from them all.
Dario stared after her. As soon as she was out of sight, he collapsed against the cliff. "Oh, what a woman. I must have her." He moaned in Al Bhed.
Gippal's eye narrowed. "Have her?" He growled at Dario in Al Bhed. "Have her!"
Dario smirked. "Feeling jealous. You may have some competition."
Gippal leaned back and crossed his arms. "You? Competition for Cid's girl?"
"Yes. She comes to me quite often you know. And she's an amazing kisser." Dario put a hand over his heart.
Paine's brow furrowed and she looked between Gippal and Dario.
"Kiss?" Gippal growled. He and Rikku were going to have a discussion. "You aren't even in the same league as Cid's girl. You don't deserve to be around her." Gippal pointed at the other man. "You're nothing compared to a girl like her. You've nothing to offer."
"I'm a leader. True, I can't just jaunt off to Luca like you and buy her baubles." Dario examined his hands. "But then again, so many baubles just happen to come to me."
Gippal felt his temper flare. He flung his hand out. "Yeah. You could jaunt off to Luca and do something useful with yourself. Get a job. Work for your living instead of mooching off everyone else like a loser."
"Work for who, you? Cid? Rin?" Dario sneered. "I don't think so."
"How about for yourself? Open your own damn business. You could even go to Kilika or Besaid. We've got towns there now too." Gippal snarled. "Do something like that and maybe you'd have a chance with Rikku. Not that it will do you any good."
"I don't need to do anything like that to 'deserve' or 'have a chance' with her." Dario said. "That isn't my goal. My goal is to win her heart." Dario nailed Gippal with a hard gaze. "Or have you forgotten about that or are you to busy being political."
Gippal put a hand on his hip. "I never forget things like that."
"Neglect her heart and you'll lose it." Dario warned and then smiled. "May the best man win and I'm going to be sure that's me." He touched his forehead with a finger. "Lord Gippal." He said and jumped, grabbed the cliff edge, pulled himself up and over the edge and was gone.
Gippal glowered at the empty road where Dario had been.
Baralai rubbed his forehead. "Maybe I should learn Al Bhed. Did you get any of that Paine?"
"They were measuring dick lengths." Paine said. "Can we go now?"
Baralai flushed.
Gippal turned and stalked off, grumbling.
Dario's voice floated on the breeze towards them. "And buy a new shirt!"
Gippal grabbed his gun, spun and pointed it towards the cliff.
Paine darted forward and put a hand on his, pushing the gun down. "Easy, he's just trying to get a rise out of you."
"Yeah, and we used to be such good friends." Gippal gritted out.
Paine stepped back and shook her head. "Are you serious? Over Rikku?"
Gippal holstered the weapon. "Let's just go." He walked away.
Paine started after him. "Do we need to talk about this?"
"Since when do you talk?" Gippal kicked at the grass. "Oh right, you're fine with everyone else talking as long as you don't have to. It's the journalist in you." He picked up his pace. "Hurry up or we're going to be late."
Paine scowled. "We wouldn't be late if you hadn't stopped to have an argument with a known criminal." She muttered.
Baralai still looked confused.
A/N:
About Weapon Spheres:
The Weapon Sphere system is a slightly different take on the dress sphere system from X-2. (Rikku thinks it is a major improvement.) The weapon spheres are created with alchemy using different items (potions, antidotes, eye drops, fire gems, chocobo feathers etc) and pieces of equipment such as lore, tomes, circlets, gloves, belts or whatever Rikku felt was necessary. The different combination of items determines the job and class of the weapon sphere. These weapon spheres are initially free of memories. They don't become active until the user 'imprints' their memories (records them basically) to the core of the weapon sphere. These memories are private and locked and cannot be viewed by anyone else. Each weapon sphere set is unique to the user.
The imprinted memories of the user, their life experiences, their preferences and likes and dislikes up to that point in their life will determine the actual aesthetic/look of the different job outfits and weapons. Let me use our favorite three girls as an example. Rikku is an Al Bhed. Her weapon spheres are all based on her outfits from X and X-2 and all of the Al Bhed NPCs. She prefers fire colors and her 'theme' if you want to call it that is a boho feather, fire and phoenix theme mixed with 'construction' worker. In contrast, Paine is a goth punk. Her weapon sphere outfits are based on that subculture and if she has any theme it is the theme of her warrior outfit from X-2 and her necklace, so belts, hardware, skulls and sun rays. Yuna, once again in contrast, is the 'pretty girl next door' of our three. In X, she was more Japanese traditional. (In X-2, I have no idea. Don't look at me. Western Boho?) Yuna's outfits are based more upon human NPCs in the game such as the crusaders and the priestesses with a few references to her guardians and anything that could be pretty such as flowers, bows, tassles, ribbons and ruffles. I used Japanese Mon (Crest) symbols for her decorations.
As a point of interest, as a designer I made a few choices about the different weapon spheres. For instance, the warrior, lancer, knight and to a certain extent alchemist weapon spheres are all full bodied outfits that do not show off the tummy! These outfits are meant for protection, not to be sexy. (Yuna didn't stop pouting about her crusader based armor until I put flowers all over it.) White mage outfits are only slightly based upon the FF3 white mage and are white on white on white. White fabrics, white embroidery, white accessories and feathers, beads etc and so on. Samurai outfits are vaguely traditional Japanese (think Auron and Yojimbo flavored.) Gunners are vaguely American Cowboy/Wild West.
There are 15 total weapon spheres. There are no ultimate weapon spheres because there are no garment grids to go through the 'gates' to use. (And honestly, I barely used those ultimate weapon spheres. Plus, they seemed to be a replacement for Aeons and the point of this story is to restore Summoning.) They come in a decorated metal box that holds in a 3x5 pattern. (The box probably has its own circuitry and alchemical properties but really, Rikku doesn't want to go into the technicalities too much.) There are five basic weapon sphere classes, Warrior, Thief, Ranger, Fighter and Mage. What an individual considers a starting or 'easy' weapon sphere will depend on their natural aptitudes, abilities and any prior learning. Rikku's 'easier' weapon spheres are anything thief class, gambler in ranger and alchemist (a triple class sphere and the most difficult for most people to get unless they are also trained alchemists.) Paine finds the warrior and fighter classes easier. Yuna finds white mage and the ranger class the easiest.
Learning the weapon spheres abilities depends on what you know of the other weapon spheres abilities. Many of the weapon spheres are multi-class spheres. That means they are ranger mages, or warrior fighters, the most common being a main class with a lesser mage class. To be able to apply magic abilities to the other classes they first have to study either black mage or white mage abilities. Black mage opens up things like spell sword and blue mage. White mage opens up things such as the dark arts (death magic such as death, doom, zombie and blaster.) Death magic opens up green magic (status effects, buffs and debuffs.) As the user learns harder and more difficult magic, more abilities open up on the lower ranking weapon spheres that are related to those magic types.
Warrior Class:
Warrior: Weapon, Sword. Special Abilities, Advance; Sentinel. Prereqs, None.
Knight (Warrior Mage): Weapon, Sword. Special Abilities, Cover; Spell Blade. Prereq, Warrior; Black Mage
Lancer "Dragoon" (Warrior/Blue Mage): Weapon, Lance. Special Abilities, Jump; Double Jump; Lancet; Absorb; Scan; "Dragoon" Breath (Elemental Breath, Stone Breath, Death Breath etc.) Prereqs, Warrior, Black Mage
Samurai/Trainer (Warrior Fighter): Weapon, Traditional Japanese Blades. IE Rikku, Katana in Umbrella/Parasol; Paine, katana & wakizashi; Yuna, naginata*. Special Abilities, Gil Toss; Bushido; Pet Training. Prereq, Warrior; Knight; Thief; Assassin; Ninja: Blitzer; Black Mage; White Mage; Monk & Bard**
*The Naginata is a pole arm with a curved hooked blade on the end of it. Seong Mi-na uses it in Soul Calibur. The Naginata is a traditional Samurai weapon that was used by both males and females, however females used it almost exclusively. Thus, it felt appropriate for Yuna.
**The Bard weapon sphere is a prereq for the Samurai weapon sphere due to the practice of iaido. Iaido is the ability to unsheathe and resheathe the katana or other weapon smoothly and gracefully. It is something like a dance. Setsuka in Soul Calibur carries an iaito (an unsharpened katana) in a parasol to practice her iaido. The whimsy of it made me think of Rikku, thus, Rikku has a shinken (sharpened katana used for combat) in her parasol/umbrella.
Ranger Class:
Blitzer: Weapon, Blitz Ball. Special Abilities, Aim; Barrage. Prereqs, None.
Gunner/Gun Mage (Ranger Mage): Weapon, Guns. Special Abilities, Trigger Happy; Gun Play; Fiend Bullets. Prereqs, Blitzer (Unless Natural Aptitude)
Gambler/Time Mage (Ranger/Mage): Weapon*, Cards; Dice; Fan (spell casting). Special Abilities, Slots; Dice Throw; Time Magic; Gravity; Meteor. Prereqs: Blitzer; Black Mage; White Mage; Thief; Assassin & Ninja.
*The Cards are for throwing at fiends and enemies like in FFX-2. The Dice are thrown and the number of pips that show up (depending on how many dice are thrown) are the number of non-elemental magical hits that the enemy takes. (Just like in FFX-2, again) The Fan is for casting time magic and if you're Paine, close quarters combat as her fan has a bladed edge (that is in 3 pieces around her person.) Rikku's fan is a three piece feather fan that she puts together (think burlesque). Yuna has two fans with long sheer scarves off of them that function as sleeves most of the time. (Yuna is all about the 'oh pretty!') The scarves float in the magical 'wind' while she is casting.
Thief Class:
Thief: Weapon, Claw (Rikku FFX weapon). Special Abilities, Steal, Mug, Flee, Alert, Pilfer Gil. Prereqs, None.
Assassin/Necromancer (Thief Mage): Weapon, 2 Daggers. Special Abilities, Dual Wield; Soul Eater (Darkness); Dark Arts (Death Magic;) Oath. Prereqs: Thief, White Mage
Ninja/Green Magician (Thief Mage): Weapon, 2 Traditional Japanese Hand Weapons and Throwing Weapon. IE Rikku, Sai* & Throwing Daggers; Paine, Dual Kodachi & Kunai; Yuna, Sickles on Chains & Shuriken. Special Abilities, Throw; Status Ailments; Buffs; Debuffs. Prereqs, Thief; Assassin; White Mage; Monk & Blitzer
*In my Al Bhed head canon/fanon, the sai are the traditional weapons of the first daughters of the Al Bhed. (The first born daughters of the clan leaders.) They are wielded dual handed and thus why they are part of Rikku's ninja weapon sphere. Her throwing daggers are small flat flame shaped knives with minimal hilts.
Fighter Class:
Monk: Weapon*, Fisticuffs. IE Rikku, Capoeira Style; Paine, Panther Style Kung Fu; Yuna, Crane Style Kung Fu. Special Abilities, Kick, Chakra Boost, Counter. Prereqs, None.
*Rikku and Paine did their respective martial arts in the Berserker Dress Spheres. I am going with the head canon or fanon if you will that Capoeira is traditional Al Bhed Martial Arts. And that Bevelle teaches their nobility the different styles of Chinese Kung Fu. Yuna had only a few years of Crane Style before moving to Besaid (and thus needs a refresher.) Crane Style Kung Fu was invented by a woman and that pleased me because Yuna is all about being a traditional lady.
Bard/Dancer (Fighter Mage): Weapon, Dance Prop. IE Rikku, Weighted Scarf; Paine, Thai Finger "Blades;" Yuna; Hand Rings with Ribbons. Special Abilities, Sing; Hide; Dance. Prereqs, Monk; Thief; Assassin; Ninja & White Mage
Mage Class:
White Mage: Weapon, Rod. Special Abilities, White Magic; Pray; Vigor; Holy. Prereqs: None
Black Mage: Weapon, Rod. Special Abilities, Black Magic; Focus; Dual Cast. Prereqs: None
Triple Class:
Alchemist (Ranger/Thief/Mage): Weapon, Dagger (Athame), Gun, Tome/Book. Special Abilities: Mix, Stash. Prereqs: Thief; Assassin; Ninja; Blitzer; Gunner; Gambler; White Mage; Black Mage; Warrior & Lancer
So, why is the Alchemist a Triple Class weapon sphere and thus one of the hardest to get? (Basically, you need to learn almost every Ranger, Thief and Mage Class plus Two warrior Classes. All you aren't applying is Fighter Skills and by the time you reach Alchemist, you'll have unlocked the fighter stuff anyways!)
Well, simple, at least in Rikku's point of view. In order to use Alchemy, you need to know your items. Thus, you need to be a Thief. In order to mix them properly and know what they might do, you need to know your magic! (Black, White, Death, Green & Time) And if you want to be able to apply the right mix to the right fiend, you have to be able to know the fiend's weaknesses, thus Lancer. Oh, and you need to be able to hit what you're aiming at, so Ranger Class.
The dagger is an athame, it's used for casting circles in the air, not for sticking people with (though handy if they won't pay attention.) The Book holds a list of common mixes and the basic circles for summoning magic similar to the way other magics work, but if you want to cast all the status ailments at once, call on an Alchemist, not a green mage. Though the book is also good for hitting people upside the head if they don't want to listen! The gun is like from FFX-2, it's for mixing items and shooting the results at your enemy. That is unless it's some sort of grenade you're sticking together then feel free to just pull the pin and throw it!
My Al Bhed head canon/fanon from Desert Rose and the weapon sphere system I created for the Essentials Universe is open for anyone to use. My ideas for how the weapon spheres look for each girl are posted at my deviantart under the username prettygothgirl.