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Author's note: This section goes between chapters five and six of Totem. I wanted to explore what would happen if one of the boys actually got ahold of one of the dress spheres of the Gullwings... enjoy.

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Chapter 5.5 -- Macalania Travel Agency

"But how can two dress spheres be connected like that?" Gippal wondered out loud as he walked with Baralai back toward the entrance to the Travel Agency. "And, moreso, are we connected to them?"

"I don't really know," Baralai answered, pausing several yards away from the door, kicking at a clump of ice that had developed on the path. "It seems so, if you go crazy every time Rikku changes into that sphere."

Gippal shook his head. "It's so weird. I mean, just because I used this dress sphere we found in Zanarkand, did that somehow connect me to Rikku?"

"Or did it connect you to her specific dress sphere?" Baralai grinned mischievously.

"What are you grinning like that for?" That grin always made Gippal nervous.

"I guess there's a way to find out, right?" Baralai gestured to the door to the Travel Agency.

"Find out what?"

"Whether you've been connected to Rikku or to that sphere." Baralai produced the cloth-covered dress sphere from somewhere inside his robe and placed in unceremoniously in Gippal's hands, then turned and opened the door.

Gippal paused, watching as Baralai walked inside of the building. He blinked incredulously. What did the Praetor have in mind?

Needing to find out, he followed Baralai inside. Nooj and Paine were standing in the doorway of another room, talking in low voices about something Gippal couldn't hear. Baralai had already continued into the next room, the one where the girls had been previously.

The door was closed.

Gippal pressed his ear against the crack between the door and the wall, listening to figure out what Baralai was doing in there. He could hear muffled voices, but they were drowned out by the sound of Nooj and Paine retiring entirely into the room on the opposite side, and closing the door behind them.

What were they doing in there? Gippal paused to wonder about this for a moment, producing an amused snicker as he remembered the dynamic that Nooj and Paine had always had. Well, good for the guy, then. Gippal was far more interested in what Baralai was doing.

"How is she doing?"

"Yunie's okay, she's getting better. Just needs rest, I think!"

"And how are you feeling?"

"Oh... I dunno. Kinda wish we could figure out what's going on, why this all happened."

There was a long pause, and some footsteps, before Baralai's voice came again. "So, that monkey of yours, Ghiki... have you had him for a long time?"

"I've had him since we went to visit Kimahri on Mt. Gagazet before we found out about Vegnagun... but I never actually used him until a few days ago."

"...used him?"

"Oh! Yes, he's part of a dress sphere!"

"A... dress sphere?"

Baralai could play dumb very well, Gippal noticed.

"Yeah, it lets us change abilities in the middle of a battle. We always kinda thought this one was useless, but I like having Ghiki around -- he's so fuzzy!"

"How do they work?"

"Baralai, you are not," Gippal hissed almost silently, closing his eye.

"Oh, here, do you want to try?"

Gippal bit his lower lip. "You are, you bastard."

"I'd love to, Rikku, but I'm afraid I don't know how it works."

Rikku was giggling. Gippal could hear it... that high-pitched giggle she made when she really thought something was funny. "I don't know how it'll work for you, but here, just put this on over your wrist--"

Suddenly, Gippal felt the madness rise in his mind. It was something very much like the feeling he got when he had been standing next to a very loud machine for several hours on end and then walked away into dead silence. The need pounded in his ears, making his temples feel like they were going to explode, and Gippal found himself hunching over, clutching at the sides of his head.

It had gotten so much stronger. Before, it had just been the whispering of Rikku's voice... but earlier, out there near the lake, it had been the whispering and the pulling, and now it wasn't so much pulling as it was all-out yanking.

Unable to resist any longer, Gippal reached down and unwrapped the cloth from the mysterious dress sphere. It glowed at him irritatingly.

Peering around to make sure no one was watching, Gippal put his palm on the sphere.

"Hey, here he comes."

Gippal's vision cleared, causing his stomach to lurch out of place as his brain adjusted to proper depth perception. He found himself on Baralai's shoulders.

This was embarrassing.

"Aww, look at you two, you're so cute!" Rikku was clapping her hands together and hopping up and down.

Gippal rolled his eyes, continuing to cling to Baralai's head. He didn't have the best balance at this point as he was still readjusting to the vision and the sudden lack of yanking from inside his head.

"He is pretty cute, you're right," Baralai agreed, reaching up and stroking the top of Gippal's head.

...wait, had Baralai just called him cute?

Gippal smirked and nuzzled into Baralai's hair for that one. Hey, he was still wearing that goofy bandana, too... Gippal took the opportunity to take that piece of cloth right off of Baralai's head, causing the white hair to fall messily around the Praetor's ears. Gippal grinned and clicked his teeth, draping the bandana around his own neck. Take that.

"Does he always act like this?" Baralai looked at Rikku, only after clearing the hair out from in front of his eyes, and grinned as Gippal affectionately continued to nuzzle his cheek.

"He's really sweet, and likes to do that," Rikku agreed, walking over and stroking Gippal's tail. "He's always playing with my hair."

"I don't know how you put up with him," Baralai replied, laughing.

Gippal, growing tired of nuzzling, went back to perching on Baralai's shoulders, leaning his front paws on top of the man's head. He leaned forward and looked down over Baralai's face -- and promptly dissolved into a fit of monkey laughter.

Baralai was, in fact, in the same dress as Rikku had been. It wasn't really that much different from Baralai's usual robe, but it was closed in the front, which indicated to Gippal that there was probably nothing underneath... except maybe a thong like Rikku wore on a regular basis.

Seemingly useless cords tied all along the front of the dress, blue contrasting with orange and green. Long red and orange sleeves hung loosely over Baralai's wrists, and the straps which held the dress on him criss-crossed around his neck. The torso of the dress was green and laced with dark blue cord tightly around Baralai's chest, looking very constricting. Gippal laughed and crouched down on one of Baralai's shoulders, reaching a hand down to peek under the front of the dress. Really, he just wanted to see what kind of underwear Baralai was wearing. There was no ulterior motive for that. At least, Gippal would swear there wasn't at a later date.

Suddenly, the back of Baralai's hand connected with the side of Gippal's head. "Stop that," the Praetor chastised.

"Nervous about him looking down your dress?" Rikku teased, putting her hands on her hips and leaning forward to grin impishly at Gippal.

"This is not a dress," Baralai argued, looking down at himself.

"It sure is. The exact same thing I wear! I'm surprised you can fit into it, being a guy and all!" Rikku poked Baralai in the stomach. "Hey, you look pretty good in a dress. Ever thought about cross-dressing?"

"No, and I don't think--"

"Oh, it'd be perfect! Just grow your hair out a little more, brush it kinda this way," Rikku said, lifting her hands and combing them through Baralai's hair, brushing it all to one side so it hung in a delicate curve around his cheekbone. "Oh, you'd make such a cute girl!"

Gippal howled with laughter. "And imagine the surprise of all the guys who hit on you," he said ever-so-innocently in Baralai's ear, "when they get you into bed and see you in that nice green thong you must be wearing..."

Judging by the way Baralai's face blanched, Gippal figured Baralai could still understand him.