"There! That should do it!"

Only when Rikku Cidsdotter said this did she finally pause to admire her handiwork. On the Al Bhed girl's desk lay one of her spare green shorts. Attached to it was a semi-hard yet flexible length of soft fur, but as Rikku would say, only the ignorant and brainless layman would be caught dead referring to it as such. No, it would be downright criminal, Rikku decided, to christen this wondrous new device anything but…anything but…

Okay, the name would have to wait. The time was ripe for a little test run. She excitedly pulled shut her window blinds, much to the disappointment of the Rikku fanboys hidden outside, and began to change. Yuna had to see this.

("This" being Rikku's invention, not Rikku changing into said invention. Presumably. Er, whatever.)

Without lowering her weapon hand, Yuna Braskasdotter turned the barrel of her USP .45 ever so slightly clockwise and squeezed the clip release. Even as the empty magazine clattered to the firing range floor, the young Summoner had already withdrawn the next magazine from her belt and slid it home. She raised the weapon to eye level and took aim at…Rikku's head?!

"HIIIIIIIIII!"

"For gods' sake!" Exasperated, Yuna slammed the gun back into its holster and glared at the younger girl. "Do you want a hole in your head that bad? What have I told you about shouting to me at the firing range?"

"Gee, just wanted to make nice, is all," Rikku pouted, pretending to take offense. "At the very least you could reciprocate."

Yuna wasn't convinced. "I'd very much like to with something other than a 9mm round."

Rikku stuck out her tongue for a half-second, then was all smiles again as she twirled around like a dancer. "So, how do I look?"

Yuna looked down. She blinked hard, but her eyes spoke truth. For whatever reason, a pale blond cat tail now graced Rikku's behind, its two and a half feet of length waving charmingly as she spun.

"I'm…I'm doing my best to bite my tongue," was all Yuna could think of to say. That, and "What ridiculousness are you thinking of trying to pull now?"

Rikku stopped spinning. "You stupidhead! You know how a cat can jump, like, three or four times its own length?"

Yuna looked blank. She didn't want to know what drove Rikku to such inane conclusions as this, but decided it would be in everyone's best interests to put a stop to her friend's idiocy.

"You imply that a tail will augment your jump height and length?" When Rikku nodded vigorously, Yuna's eyes narrowed. "Then why haven't we heard about it before?"

Rikku, in true teenager fashion, rolled her eyes. "It takes an uncommon mind to think of this stuff, okay? C'mon, I know a great place to test this out!"

Yuna gaped. "You're going to leap across this?"

Before the two girls a ravine yawned. It looked to be twenty feet deep and the other side appeared four yards away, but four yards was still quite a ways to jump and a twenty-foot drop would undoubtedly break something. "I think it'd be better if I heaved you across or something," Yuna suggested. "I can't see you crossing this without at least a bit of momentum."

Rikku bleeeh'd. "My tail should take care of that!"

"All right, but you understand I assume zero responsibility for this?"

"Of course. I get the patent." She situated herself at the very edge. She crouched on all fours like a tiger, wiggled her bottom a bit, then leaped.

Yuna squeezed her eyes shut at Rikku's impact with the ravine floor.

When the dust settled, Yuna peered over the edge. With a sly smirk on her face, she called down, "Don't sell the bike shop, Orville!"

"Shut up and get me an X-Potion," came the broken reply. This was not Rikku's day – it never was – but the reason why remained a complete mystery. At least to her.