hey again! thanks to everyone who keeps reviewing!!! not to ruin anything for anyone, but, Auren? (thanks for the input! ^_~) Yeah, well, Rikku doesn't ACTUALLY meet Auron, but kinda. sorta. *covers mouth with hand* just keep reading! toodles! ~~~sa~~~
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Ch.4: Mission Party Til Dawn
It wasn't really that hard for Rikku to sneak out of the airship while the others "prepared" in the cabin. They were seriously excited to have something not all too dangerous to do. Tidus just wanted to go do something; ANYTHING. Plus, he wanted to blitz mega bad and the Aurochs were in town too. Yuna was in World Saver mode, seriously preparing Paine and Tidus for this mission. Which included flirting heavily with the latter and practically ignoring the former. Paine just rolled her eyes the third time Yuna was interrupted by Tidus running up behind her and tickling the living daylights out of her. The stoic girl was the first one to realize that Rikku wasn't around. Thinking it was odd that Rikku wasn't with them in the cabin, she hurried to the bridge to voice her conerns.
Rikku took a deep breath of the Luca smells. Street vendors were all over selling food and wares while little kids ran around, playing and laughing. The streets were so clean and neat, almost not real. Like the whole town was a toy that someone put there to play with. Rikku knew for a fact that all the streets of Luca weren't like that, pristine and populated. The allies of the largest city in Spira were not something to write home to mom about. Some of the places the spunky Al Bhed had wandered into near the ports were crawling with rats and starving children. For some reason, the happy, well dressed citizens of Luca were making her want to spew. Wrinkling her nose in disgust at the oblivion in which these people lived when there was so much suffering around them, Rikku hurried from the main square. She slid into the narrow alley between two large buildings.
Stepping into that alley was like stepping into a whole other world. The laughter, music, and street vendors' calls were lost to the suffocating silence of closely imposed buildings. The pleasant, clean smells of main Luca were drowned out by the stench of too much garbage and too little space. Rikku took a deep breath, sighing from the relief of being away from those people that were oblivious to the world around them. They were all too busy celebrating the defeat of Vegnagun to care about the people threatened by a greater foe than any of Yuna's plans could save. Starvation. Desease. Lack of room for houses due to the overpopulation of city areas in modern Spira.
During the day, the allies Rikku was scurrying through were almost completely deserted. Only a few drunken bums graced the garbage bins this early in the day. For some reason, being among the squalor and pain of these people made her feel somehow at home. Home, the actual place, had been like this once. They had all been living smashed together, exiled by Yevon. The few that did dare to venture out were the lucky ones that escaped the desease of living at Home. Blinking away the random, not-so-great memories of her childhood, Rikku decided to visit an old friend of hers.
"Gankee!" Rikku squealed when she caught sight of her hobo friend.He turned to face her, smiling widely when he caught sight of her. Gankee was a handsome bum, despite his ragged appearence. He was only 18 and was already living the life of a beggar. By choice. Oddly enough, he had been raised in a household of privelage in the up-scale part of Luca. Much to their dismay, he hated the way the rich treated the poor and so, took to the streets. Not only was he a political activist, he was also the only student of the legendary Maechen. Gankee pushed his grungy hood off his head and stood up from the doorway that had been his bed the previous night. "Rikku, its been too long." He bowed, allowing his long black hair to flop over his head unattractively. When he stood all the way up, he was at least as tall as Gippal, if not taller. He had broad shoulders, but a slim build and a pair of alluring, mismatched eyes.
One eye green and the other dark amber. Shockingly enough, he was half Al Bhed, something not many knew.Rikku smiled lopsidedly at the tall halfling. "How've ya been, Gankee?" She asked, placing a hand on his rag-garbed shoulder. Shrugging, the bum pushed a hand full of dirty hair out of his eyes. "Same as ever, I suppose." He turned and indicated the shadowy alley that was his home. "Life here is only getting worse, Rikku. I fear that someday all of us will be demolished completely by the people that rule this land." Rikku nodded, thoughtfully aware of the eyes of a perverted old man on her. She was about to say something about the problems of overpopulation everywhere on Spira when she heard the cry of Brother high above the hum of the city.
"RIKKU!" It rang, echoing over the suddenly still city. Flinching, Rikku cast a half-pissed, half-scared look up at the sky. As her luck would have it, the Celsius roared overhead slowly, as if they were searching for her. Gankee picked up on her fearful vibe and immediately grabbed her arm. Gently, of course. He was a gentleman, all the same as a bum. He led her deep into the dilapidated depths of his apartment, a dank, dark place. Rikku peered through the cracks between wooden boards nailed over the window as the Celsius slowly shrank in the distance; along with Brother's cries for her. She wondered who had been the first to notice she was gone. Most likely Paine. They had always seemed close. Unless, of course, Gippal told everyone the minute she was gone that she was leaving them. Growling, she punched the wall beside her angrily.
Gankee jumped, staring at her wonderingly. He had been in the middly of boiling water for tea on a small fire in the middly of the smallish room until her snarling rage had interrupted him. "Rikku?" The deep, sorta gruff voice asked. Rikku closed her eyes, trying hard not to let her anger at Gippal, Yunie, and her stupidly oblivious brother smolder too hotly. Shaking her head, she winked at him with a grin. "I'm cool, just a little worked up about that airship is all." Gankee, a shrewd young man, left the question in his eyes. He went about his tea making silently as Rikku took her place next to him. "That was Brother wasn't it? On your airship, the Celsisus?" Being not-all-that-shocked, Rikku nodded sadly. "Yeah, that was them." She didn't bother asking how he had known that. He was just the sort of person that knew just about everything all the time because of his connections.
Gankee nodded, setting a beaten looking cup of tea in front of her before serving himself and sitting across the lopsided table. Rikku studied his placid face and couldn't help but feel an odd sense of deja vu sweep over her. There was something oddly familiar about the way he was regarding her calmly, but as if he knew more than he let one. An aloof sort of air about him, yet at the same time, a caring light in his soulful eyes. "What are you running from?" He asked, his voice sending chills down her spine. Where had she heard that gruff voice before? Gazed into those deep eyes before? Been trapped in her own lies so flawlessly before? Her eyes filled with tears from confusion, from pain, and anger. Gankee calmly regarded her as she broke into uncontrollable sobs across the table from him. He waited silently until she gushed all of her current woes, listening and never judging.
Rikku eventually cried herself to sleep, curled up next to Gankee near his meager fire. He sat, brooding familiarly until she woke sometime around midnight. Blinking, she sat up with a gasp. "Poopie!" She cried, jumping up and rushing to the door. "What's the matter, Rikku?" He called, hurrying after her. "I was planning on going clubbing tonight and completely forgot when I was at your place." Rikku called over her shoulder. Gankee sighed and stopped jogging after her. Noticing his halt, she immediately stopped and whirled. A thoughtful look was plastered on his cute little face. "Why don't you come with me? I'm going to Club Kweh, a snazzy place in Luca's Party District. I could use a good dance partner." There was something oh-so-cute and convincing about the way she tilted her head and smiled. Gankee felt his resolve to stay out of the limelight of the Dance Strip crumble when he looked in her eyes.
Smiling, he explained to her that he could use his family's name to get into the club. Plus, he'd need to grab some clothes from "a friend". The "friend" turned out to be a wealthy man that Gankee usually stole clothing and the like from. Rikku waited outside, calm as a cucumber while he broke into the rich-to-do apartment and stole a nice outfit. It was a pair of dark green shorts that came to his knees and were adorned with belts with no purpose. His shirt was a sleeveless, two-tone black and dark blue number with an intricate design in shimmery greens and blues on the front. He pulled his hair into a loose ponytail and had washed his face by the time he came out. Rikku giggled and clapped quietly as he turned and struck poses for his little friend. Grinning at each other mischieviously, they linked arms and skipped to the infamous Club Kweh.
Little did care-free Rikku know that she was being followed by an extremely jealous Gippal. He hadn't seen Gankee before his transformation into snazzy clubber and therefore thought he was some sort of perv out to get Rikku into bed. Rikku silenlty looked on while Gankee slipped the bouncer in front of the thumping club a few gil and his name with a smile. The bouncer fluidly pocketed the gil and smiled at the two of them. "Welcome to Club Kweh." He said in an oily voice, pushing the brightly painted yellow door behind him open so the music flooded out into the streets. Rikku grinned as the sounds washed over her, the lights and pulsing beats pounding her cares away. As soon as the door shut behind them, she was moving. Her body lost the brain somewhere at the door, dragging Gankee out to the middle of the floor. He was almost as good a dancer as she, moving like a creature of the music itself.
They moved together like one, their dancing become more and more intense and sensual as the evening wore on. Finally, the DJ announced that the next song was the last one for the night. Pouring sweat and panting, Rikku and Gankee moved dangerously close together for the slow song. It was a pulsing remix of 1,000 Words. Rikku gazed up at Gankee who was busily trying not to kiss her. Their faces were VERY close together. Her arms were linked around his neck and his around her waist; their bodies molded to seem as one. Smiling in the swiftly changing lights, Rikku laid her head on his shoulder wordlessly. Gankee breathed in the smell of her hair mingled with her sweat and something that smelled like sea salt. The smells of an Al Bhed girl. Closing his eyes and listening to the sped up words of the song, he wondered vaguely why he felt like he was being watched.
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AN: soooo? whaddya think? any ideas on this new Gankee character? any questions? *looks around* keep reviewing! love and peace! ~~~sa~~~~
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Ch.4: Mission Party Til Dawn
It wasn't really that hard for Rikku to sneak out of the airship while the others "prepared" in the cabin. They were seriously excited to have something not all too dangerous to do. Tidus just wanted to go do something; ANYTHING. Plus, he wanted to blitz mega bad and the Aurochs were in town too. Yuna was in World Saver mode, seriously preparing Paine and Tidus for this mission. Which included flirting heavily with the latter and practically ignoring the former. Paine just rolled her eyes the third time Yuna was interrupted by Tidus running up behind her and tickling the living daylights out of her. The stoic girl was the first one to realize that Rikku wasn't around. Thinking it was odd that Rikku wasn't with them in the cabin, she hurried to the bridge to voice her conerns.
Rikku took a deep breath of the Luca smells. Street vendors were all over selling food and wares while little kids ran around, playing and laughing. The streets were so clean and neat, almost not real. Like the whole town was a toy that someone put there to play with. Rikku knew for a fact that all the streets of Luca weren't like that, pristine and populated. The allies of the largest city in Spira were not something to write home to mom about. Some of the places the spunky Al Bhed had wandered into near the ports were crawling with rats and starving children. For some reason, the happy, well dressed citizens of Luca were making her want to spew. Wrinkling her nose in disgust at the oblivion in which these people lived when there was so much suffering around them, Rikku hurried from the main square. She slid into the narrow alley between two large buildings.
Stepping into that alley was like stepping into a whole other world. The laughter, music, and street vendors' calls were lost to the suffocating silence of closely imposed buildings. The pleasant, clean smells of main Luca were drowned out by the stench of too much garbage and too little space. Rikku took a deep breath, sighing from the relief of being away from those people that were oblivious to the world around them. They were all too busy celebrating the defeat of Vegnagun to care about the people threatened by a greater foe than any of Yuna's plans could save. Starvation. Desease. Lack of room for houses due to the overpopulation of city areas in modern Spira.
During the day, the allies Rikku was scurrying through were almost completely deserted. Only a few drunken bums graced the garbage bins this early in the day. For some reason, being among the squalor and pain of these people made her feel somehow at home. Home, the actual place, had been like this once. They had all been living smashed together, exiled by Yevon. The few that did dare to venture out were the lucky ones that escaped the desease of living at Home. Blinking away the random, not-so-great memories of her childhood, Rikku decided to visit an old friend of hers.
"Gankee!" Rikku squealed when she caught sight of her hobo friend.He turned to face her, smiling widely when he caught sight of her. Gankee was a handsome bum, despite his ragged appearence. He was only 18 and was already living the life of a beggar. By choice. Oddly enough, he had been raised in a household of privelage in the up-scale part of Luca. Much to their dismay, he hated the way the rich treated the poor and so, took to the streets. Not only was he a political activist, he was also the only student of the legendary Maechen. Gankee pushed his grungy hood off his head and stood up from the doorway that had been his bed the previous night. "Rikku, its been too long." He bowed, allowing his long black hair to flop over his head unattractively. When he stood all the way up, he was at least as tall as Gippal, if not taller. He had broad shoulders, but a slim build and a pair of alluring, mismatched eyes.
One eye green and the other dark amber. Shockingly enough, he was half Al Bhed, something not many knew.Rikku smiled lopsidedly at the tall halfling. "How've ya been, Gankee?" She asked, placing a hand on his rag-garbed shoulder. Shrugging, the bum pushed a hand full of dirty hair out of his eyes. "Same as ever, I suppose." He turned and indicated the shadowy alley that was his home. "Life here is only getting worse, Rikku. I fear that someday all of us will be demolished completely by the people that rule this land." Rikku nodded, thoughtfully aware of the eyes of a perverted old man on her. She was about to say something about the problems of overpopulation everywhere on Spira when she heard the cry of Brother high above the hum of the city.
"RIKKU!" It rang, echoing over the suddenly still city. Flinching, Rikku cast a half-pissed, half-scared look up at the sky. As her luck would have it, the Celsius roared overhead slowly, as if they were searching for her. Gankee picked up on her fearful vibe and immediately grabbed her arm. Gently, of course. He was a gentleman, all the same as a bum. He led her deep into the dilapidated depths of his apartment, a dank, dark place. Rikku peered through the cracks between wooden boards nailed over the window as the Celsius slowly shrank in the distance; along with Brother's cries for her. She wondered who had been the first to notice she was gone. Most likely Paine. They had always seemed close. Unless, of course, Gippal told everyone the minute she was gone that she was leaving them. Growling, she punched the wall beside her angrily.
Gankee jumped, staring at her wonderingly. He had been in the middly of boiling water for tea on a small fire in the middly of the smallish room until her snarling rage had interrupted him. "Rikku?" The deep, sorta gruff voice asked. Rikku closed her eyes, trying hard not to let her anger at Gippal, Yunie, and her stupidly oblivious brother smolder too hotly. Shaking her head, she winked at him with a grin. "I'm cool, just a little worked up about that airship is all." Gankee, a shrewd young man, left the question in his eyes. He went about his tea making silently as Rikku took her place next to him. "That was Brother wasn't it? On your airship, the Celsisus?" Being not-all-that-shocked, Rikku nodded sadly. "Yeah, that was them." She didn't bother asking how he had known that. He was just the sort of person that knew just about everything all the time because of his connections.
Gankee nodded, setting a beaten looking cup of tea in front of her before serving himself and sitting across the lopsided table. Rikku studied his placid face and couldn't help but feel an odd sense of deja vu sweep over her. There was something oddly familiar about the way he was regarding her calmly, but as if he knew more than he let one. An aloof sort of air about him, yet at the same time, a caring light in his soulful eyes. "What are you running from?" He asked, his voice sending chills down her spine. Where had she heard that gruff voice before? Gazed into those deep eyes before? Been trapped in her own lies so flawlessly before? Her eyes filled with tears from confusion, from pain, and anger. Gankee calmly regarded her as she broke into uncontrollable sobs across the table from him. He waited silently until she gushed all of her current woes, listening and never judging.
Rikku eventually cried herself to sleep, curled up next to Gankee near his meager fire. He sat, brooding familiarly until she woke sometime around midnight. Blinking, she sat up with a gasp. "Poopie!" She cried, jumping up and rushing to the door. "What's the matter, Rikku?" He called, hurrying after her. "I was planning on going clubbing tonight and completely forgot when I was at your place." Rikku called over her shoulder. Gankee sighed and stopped jogging after her. Noticing his halt, she immediately stopped and whirled. A thoughtful look was plastered on his cute little face. "Why don't you come with me? I'm going to Club Kweh, a snazzy place in Luca's Party District. I could use a good dance partner." There was something oh-so-cute and convincing about the way she tilted her head and smiled. Gankee felt his resolve to stay out of the limelight of the Dance Strip crumble when he looked in her eyes.
Smiling, he explained to her that he could use his family's name to get into the club. Plus, he'd need to grab some clothes from "a friend". The "friend" turned out to be a wealthy man that Gankee usually stole clothing and the like from. Rikku waited outside, calm as a cucumber while he broke into the rich-to-do apartment and stole a nice outfit. It was a pair of dark green shorts that came to his knees and were adorned with belts with no purpose. His shirt was a sleeveless, two-tone black and dark blue number with an intricate design in shimmery greens and blues on the front. He pulled his hair into a loose ponytail and had washed his face by the time he came out. Rikku giggled and clapped quietly as he turned and struck poses for his little friend. Grinning at each other mischieviously, they linked arms and skipped to the infamous Club Kweh.
Little did care-free Rikku know that she was being followed by an extremely jealous Gippal. He hadn't seen Gankee before his transformation into snazzy clubber and therefore thought he was some sort of perv out to get Rikku into bed. Rikku silenlty looked on while Gankee slipped the bouncer in front of the thumping club a few gil and his name with a smile. The bouncer fluidly pocketed the gil and smiled at the two of them. "Welcome to Club Kweh." He said in an oily voice, pushing the brightly painted yellow door behind him open so the music flooded out into the streets. Rikku grinned as the sounds washed over her, the lights and pulsing beats pounding her cares away. As soon as the door shut behind them, she was moving. Her body lost the brain somewhere at the door, dragging Gankee out to the middle of the floor. He was almost as good a dancer as she, moving like a creature of the music itself.
They moved together like one, their dancing become more and more intense and sensual as the evening wore on. Finally, the DJ announced that the next song was the last one for the night. Pouring sweat and panting, Rikku and Gankee moved dangerously close together for the slow song. It was a pulsing remix of 1,000 Words. Rikku gazed up at Gankee who was busily trying not to kiss her. Their faces were VERY close together. Her arms were linked around his neck and his around her waist; their bodies molded to seem as one. Smiling in the swiftly changing lights, Rikku laid her head on his shoulder wordlessly. Gankee breathed in the smell of her hair mingled with her sweat and something that smelled like sea salt. The smells of an Al Bhed girl. Closing his eyes and listening to the sped up words of the song, he wondered vaguely why he felt like he was being watched.
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AN: soooo? whaddya think? any ideas on this new Gankee character? any questions? *looks around* keep reviewing! love and peace! ~~~sa~~~~