Last night, I was walking down the stairs, contemplating writer's block. Or the fact that as of yet, I have had none, but was feeling pretty clogged at that moment. I had spent my time at work brainstorming, and nothing came to me. And then...inspiration hit. Why does that happen every chapter? (Sigh) I laughed so hard I cried writing this one. How 'bout all you guys knock on wood for me now that I've jinxed myself.
I have a friend who thinks Swedish people are from another planet. Planet Sweden. They're just so...perfect; it's almost unnatural. I think that if there is a Planet Sweden, the Al Bheds come from there too. They're all so blonde-haired and blue/green-eyed. And Rin *sounds* like a Swede. I've thought that for a while now, just wanted to share.
My spell checker doesn't put red squiggles under any of the character's names any more. Except Kimahri, which it keeps trying to tell me is spelled Kimari.
This chapter was written while listening to My Generation, The Who's Greatest Hits. Neither Pete Townshend nor Roger Daltrey was harmed during the writing of this fic.
Today in English class, our teacher sent us to wander the halls, find someone we didn't know, and write a narrative from their perspective. I picked a secretary in a red shirt and wrote about her torrid love affair with the thirty-five year old stock boy who worked the seafood shelves at the local Shop Rite (cause, you know, the secretary has a passion for cocktail shrimp). He gave her K-Mart jewelry. My teacher thought it was hysterical.
(grin) You guys said you wanted longer... On a side note, this fic has *a looong while* to go. Seriously, a *long* time. Cause I know who's gonna win... ^_^
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Clasko (Thanks Wargene! That would have bothered me for days!) would not leave Tidus alone. He had overheard Tidus's conversation with O'aka and now wanted in to the betting pool. Frankly, Tidus thought he was annoying to begin with, and when Clasko was following you around, it was that much worse. The fact that Tidus, who annoyed the observing Kimahri, was finding someone else annoying amused the littlest Ronso immensely.
"Hey! Tidus! That sounds like fun! Can I place a bet? Come on...Please?" pleaded Clasko.
"Uh...sure!" replied Tidus, of the mind that if he let Clasko in, the pot would be that much bigger. Lulu and Kimahri were both watching, and neither of them seemed to have any objections. "But every place seems to be pretty much taken."
Clasko thought about this for a few moments. "That's ok," he said happily. "Has anyone taken on chocobo-back yet?" Lulu had her hand over her mouth and the look on her face was suspiciously similar to one fighting back hysterical laughter. She was turning red and there were purple blotches appearing on her cheeks. Tidus doubted it was from the cold.
"Um, no. So you've got it now!" Tidus was eager to close the deal and be left alone. He and Clasko quickly shook hands and he scooted inside. Clasko was wandering in Lulu's direction. Lulu was trying to make a getaway without *looking* like she was trying to make a getaway. It wasn't working.
"That Tidus is such a nice guy! He gave me a great career tip and..." Poor Lulu, thought Kimahri, who was hiding behind the chocobo corral. (AN: You Better You Bet's playing on my CD right now! Love that song!)
***
When Tidus entered the travel agency, he went over to Yuna, who was looking pale and a little upset. Determined not to bring up Seymour, he filled her in on the Clasko situation.
"On chocobo-back?!" Yuna exclaimed, very loudly. Unfortunately, Rikku, who was just walking into the lobby, heard her. She bounced over.
"What about on chocobo-back? What's going on, Yunie?" Her large, spiraled eyes were bright with curiosity. Think fast, think fast...
"Seymour! He...uh...wants the wedding to be on chocobo-back!" Tidus was certainly thinking on his feet today. Yuna rolled her eyes.
"That's...um...nice," said Rikku. "Very...original...yeah."
"It's the next big thing," Yuna added. "If we do it, then everyone in Spira will too. I uh...think it's...uh...romantic. Seymour...likes chocobos. He said he'd be breeding them in he wasn't a Maester." If Tidus and Yuna dug themselves any deeper, they would need forbidden machina, namely a backhoe, to get them out of the hole they were in.
Rikku was busy trying to imagine Seymour riding a chocobo. She privately thought the chocobo would be very likely to run in terror when it set eyes on him.
***
Rikku had wandered off. Yuna turned to Tidus with fire in her eyes.
"Married on chocobo-back?! I'll show you married on chocobo-back! That was the worst excuse I've ever heard!" Then she blushed and put her hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry," she said quickly (AN: with her voice actress effectively mangling the words), bowing. She then ran off, leaving Tidus standing there, shocked by her outburst. Meanwhile, Clasko had just walked in.
"Married on chocobo-back? That's the best idea I've ever heard!"
***
They left the travel agency shortly after Yuna's outburst. Rikku was watching Yuna walk away when she smelled something on the wind. It was unmistakable, a smell she remembered with her childhood and would always associate with Home. It was the smell of the oil the Al Bhed used on machina.
She felt detached as she watched the speeders close in from all directions. She saw the drivers, recognized several of them. She didn't want to admit her relationship to them, but she saw no choice. She was a guardian now, first and foremost. She jumped up and started screaming at them in Al Bhed.
Auron watched this, and listened to what Rikku was saying. He had known Al Bhed for quite some time, but rarely used it. He was quite annoyed with Rikku for knowing these people, though he knew that wasn't really fair to her. He decided he would have a talk with her about it once Yuna was rescued. But for now, they had to fight.
***
Insert one of the battle play-by-plays that *so* irritate Mignonne, who refuses to write one, here. We've all played the game. This was an annoying boss, anyway.
***
They had won easily. Though the encounter had lead to some uncomfortable moments between Rikku and Wakka, crisis had been averted and neither had killed the other. Auron was glad, especially because he hadn't needed to step in to resolve the conflict. The irritation that was currently directed at Rikku was irrational and he knew it. She evoked some kind of strange emotion in him, and he felt he had to be careful not to let his actions toward her reflect that.
After Wakka balked at using the Al Bhed speeders, they all mounted up. Auron was careful to get on the same one as Rikku (which was noticed by all the others). She looked very excited to be using the speeders.
"You driving?" he asked mildly.
Rikku made no reply, merely grinning at him and putting the goggles around her neck over her eyes. Auron got the feeling he was in for it. Rikku brought the speeder to life, cackling merrily. She was clearly now at ease with him.
The speeder suddenly jumped into motion, the unexpected movement causing Auron to grab onto Rikku. Of course, if he hadn't grabbed on, he would have fallen off, so he really had no control over where his hands landed. The speeder stopped just as suddenly as it had started. Rikku turned slowly around in her seat, removing her goggles. The look she gave him was *very* hurt, and made Auron's heart clench (a feeling which he quickly squashed).
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that. You started the speeder so quickly, I nearly fell off. I was just trying to stay on."
Rikku said nothing, but her eyes were brimming with tears. Auron wondered what her reaction would have been if it had been Wakka or Tidus. He decided she probably would have slapped either of them. He wasn't sure if this reaction was better or worse. Rikku's hands were covering her violated chest protectively and she was trembling. Auron felt *really* bad now.
"Please Rikku. I'm so sorry." Rikku, for her part, was surprised at the sheer number of times he had apologized, and the earnest tone his voice had taken. "Please," he repeated again, a pleading look in his eye. She decided she believed him when he said it was an accident.
"Ok!" she said, smiling brightly at him.
They repositioned themselves on the speeder again, with Auron being *very* careful to keep his hands on the equator rather than in the northern hemisphere again. Rikku gunned the motor happily, tossing back an ecstatic smile.
"Is that really necessary?" asked Auron. Her pep was beginning to wear on him. Apparently, it was wearing on the speeder as well, and the engine gave a cough and finally died. Rikku peeked over the top of the handlebars, studying the engine and attempting to diagnose the problem. Suddenly, the engine let loose a huge burst of dirty steam. Rikku picked her head up and removed her goggles, and Auron had to laugh at the look on her face, which was completely covered in soot aside from where the goggles had been positioned. She glared at him and set to work on the engine.
Auron got off the speeder and looked for a place to sit, a non-existent commodity in the snow covered waste. Unless, of course, you were wearing waterproof pants or wanted to get your ass wet. Auron was in neither boat. So he stood.
***
"How much longer?" he asked, eventually.
"Good question," was the reply. Auron silently prayed that Rikku would be able to fix the problem, as he didn't want to end up walking. He really wasn't in a walking mood today.
***
After watching Rikku work busily for a good period of time, Auron decided to broach the subject of their earlier assailants.
"So, those people, did you know them?" he asked casually, careful not to let the annoyance that this accident had only served to amplify. He had gotten the impression that she did know them, and perhaps very well. He knew he had heard the word brother used, but he wasn't sure if it had been a name or a title. Rikku's reply removed any doubts.
"Well, some of them were my friends, one I didn't know, and one...was my brother." She peered at him nervously, as if afraid of his reaction.
"Yet you fought anyway," was his only remark.
"Yeah. Yunie's my first priority, you know? I'm her guardian, so *her* safety's the most important thing." She smiled at him. "I learned that from you."
"You fought well," he said simply. Rikku just smiled wider. Somehow, that comment meant more coming from him than it would from anyone else.
***
Meanwhile, their companions wondered what was going on. They were quite afraid that O'aka would win, right there and then. Auron and Rikku had been gone for quite some time and for no apparent reason.
"What's going on?" asked Tidus.
"Don't you mean, who's getting it on?" deadpanned Lulu.
They considered going after the wayward duo, but decided against it, on the possibility that Yuna might need them before they returned. Which meant all they could do was wait.
***
Rikku had finally fixed the speeder. She had done it using only what she had on had, namely all her hairpins and Auron wielding the hilt of his massive sword as a hammer. It had been no easy task, especially after she had taken her hair down to use the pins. Auron had needed to hold it out of her face while she worked. While he was doing so, he did his best *not* to think about how soft it was and how good it smelled. The speeder itself wasn't in very good working order. The repairs that were really necessary were not possible without new parts. But it would service, at least until they got to the temple.
They both mounted up yet again. Rikku's hair was still loose around her shoulders. She carefully started the speeder again, and they moved off. It actually attained a fairly high speed, considering what it had been through. Rikku's hair was blown back behind her and right into Auron's face. She idly thought about how long it was going to take her to untangle, but let herself become absorbed by the thrill of driving.
Auron, for his part, was *covered* in blonde hair. It was in his collar, it was on his face, and it was in his mouth. It was pretty much *everywhere*. And it smelled wonderful. He could have screamed. Instead, he settled for sitting back and waiting for the ride to be over.
When they reached the temple doors, they were bombarded with questions.
"Where have you guys been?" asked Tidus.
"Our speeder broke and I was fixing it," chirped Rikku in reply. True to her statement, the speeder omitted a strangled cough and died, this time irreparably. Her response seemed to satisfy the others.
"You're ok, ya?" asked Wakka.
Auron's only reply was to open his mouth and remove a strand of long blonde hair from it. Rikku unconsciously put a hand up to smooth what of it remained on her head. They turned and headed in to face Seymour.
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Please, just try to picture the ceremony in Bevelle with chocobos involved. Seriously. If Seymour in the fag hat (no offense intended, if any of you are gay...I *love* gay guys! Behind every fashionable woman, there's a fashionable gay man!) wasn't funny enough, picture him in his dress, on a chocobo. He seems like the sidesaddle type to me. And if any of you are Clasko fans...sorry...about your bad taste, ha ha. I have a feeling that there are about as many Clasko fans as there are Shelinda fans, somehow... Maybe I'll bash *her* in a future chapter. No, I'll *definitely* bash her in a future chapter. Uh oh...I have an idea...
If anyone cares, those tests I took Friday...I failed two out of the three. Oops.
I wrote about 600 words of this on my Palm Pilot during dress rehearsal tonight. Of course, when I synchronized my data between my hard drive and my Palm, it all got erased. So I had to write it again. I nearly cried. Aaaahhhh!!!
The next few days may be pretty light on updates, for which I apologize. I have a performance every night through Sunday, so I'm going to be short on time. We'll see how much gets written *during* the show...like I said before, lots of downtime. I'll do my best, I promise!
Ok, you guys are doing pretty well with the reviewing thing. So keep it up, ok?! It inspires me to see so many reviews. (Mignonne cracks big, scary review NOW whip.) Help combat writer's block and tell me what you think!!!
I have a friend who thinks Swedish people are from another planet. Planet Sweden. They're just so...perfect; it's almost unnatural. I think that if there is a Planet Sweden, the Al Bheds come from there too. They're all so blonde-haired and blue/green-eyed. And Rin *sounds* like a Swede. I've thought that for a while now, just wanted to share.
My spell checker doesn't put red squiggles under any of the character's names any more. Except Kimahri, which it keeps trying to tell me is spelled Kimari.
This chapter was written while listening to My Generation, The Who's Greatest Hits. Neither Pete Townshend nor Roger Daltrey was harmed during the writing of this fic.
Today in English class, our teacher sent us to wander the halls, find someone we didn't know, and write a narrative from their perspective. I picked a secretary in a red shirt and wrote about her torrid love affair with the thirty-five year old stock boy who worked the seafood shelves at the local Shop Rite (cause, you know, the secretary has a passion for cocktail shrimp). He gave her K-Mart jewelry. My teacher thought it was hysterical.
(grin) You guys said you wanted longer... On a side note, this fic has *a looong while* to go. Seriously, a *long* time. Cause I know who's gonna win... ^_^
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Clasko (Thanks Wargene! That would have bothered me for days!) would not leave Tidus alone. He had overheard Tidus's conversation with O'aka and now wanted in to the betting pool. Frankly, Tidus thought he was annoying to begin with, and when Clasko was following you around, it was that much worse. The fact that Tidus, who annoyed the observing Kimahri, was finding someone else annoying amused the littlest Ronso immensely.
"Hey! Tidus! That sounds like fun! Can I place a bet? Come on...Please?" pleaded Clasko.
"Uh...sure!" replied Tidus, of the mind that if he let Clasko in, the pot would be that much bigger. Lulu and Kimahri were both watching, and neither of them seemed to have any objections. "But every place seems to be pretty much taken."
Clasko thought about this for a few moments. "That's ok," he said happily. "Has anyone taken on chocobo-back yet?" Lulu had her hand over her mouth and the look on her face was suspiciously similar to one fighting back hysterical laughter. She was turning red and there were purple blotches appearing on her cheeks. Tidus doubted it was from the cold.
"Um, no. So you've got it now!" Tidus was eager to close the deal and be left alone. He and Clasko quickly shook hands and he scooted inside. Clasko was wandering in Lulu's direction. Lulu was trying to make a getaway without *looking* like she was trying to make a getaway. It wasn't working.
"That Tidus is such a nice guy! He gave me a great career tip and..." Poor Lulu, thought Kimahri, who was hiding behind the chocobo corral. (AN: You Better You Bet's playing on my CD right now! Love that song!)
***
When Tidus entered the travel agency, he went over to Yuna, who was looking pale and a little upset. Determined not to bring up Seymour, he filled her in on the Clasko situation.
"On chocobo-back?!" Yuna exclaimed, very loudly. Unfortunately, Rikku, who was just walking into the lobby, heard her. She bounced over.
"What about on chocobo-back? What's going on, Yunie?" Her large, spiraled eyes were bright with curiosity. Think fast, think fast...
"Seymour! He...uh...wants the wedding to be on chocobo-back!" Tidus was certainly thinking on his feet today. Yuna rolled her eyes.
"That's...um...nice," said Rikku. "Very...original...yeah."
"It's the next big thing," Yuna added. "If we do it, then everyone in Spira will too. I uh...think it's...uh...romantic. Seymour...likes chocobos. He said he'd be breeding them in he wasn't a Maester." If Tidus and Yuna dug themselves any deeper, they would need forbidden machina, namely a backhoe, to get them out of the hole they were in.
Rikku was busy trying to imagine Seymour riding a chocobo. She privately thought the chocobo would be very likely to run in terror when it set eyes on him.
***
Rikku had wandered off. Yuna turned to Tidus with fire in her eyes.
"Married on chocobo-back?! I'll show you married on chocobo-back! That was the worst excuse I've ever heard!" Then she blushed and put her hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry," she said quickly (AN: with her voice actress effectively mangling the words), bowing. She then ran off, leaving Tidus standing there, shocked by her outburst. Meanwhile, Clasko had just walked in.
"Married on chocobo-back? That's the best idea I've ever heard!"
***
They left the travel agency shortly after Yuna's outburst. Rikku was watching Yuna walk away when she smelled something on the wind. It was unmistakable, a smell she remembered with her childhood and would always associate with Home. It was the smell of the oil the Al Bhed used on machina.
She felt detached as she watched the speeders close in from all directions. She saw the drivers, recognized several of them. She didn't want to admit her relationship to them, but she saw no choice. She was a guardian now, first and foremost. She jumped up and started screaming at them in Al Bhed.
Auron watched this, and listened to what Rikku was saying. He had known Al Bhed for quite some time, but rarely used it. He was quite annoyed with Rikku for knowing these people, though he knew that wasn't really fair to her. He decided he would have a talk with her about it once Yuna was rescued. But for now, they had to fight.
***
Insert one of the battle play-by-plays that *so* irritate Mignonne, who refuses to write one, here. We've all played the game. This was an annoying boss, anyway.
***
They had won easily. Though the encounter had lead to some uncomfortable moments between Rikku and Wakka, crisis had been averted and neither had killed the other. Auron was glad, especially because he hadn't needed to step in to resolve the conflict. The irritation that was currently directed at Rikku was irrational and he knew it. She evoked some kind of strange emotion in him, and he felt he had to be careful not to let his actions toward her reflect that.
After Wakka balked at using the Al Bhed speeders, they all mounted up. Auron was careful to get on the same one as Rikku (which was noticed by all the others). She looked very excited to be using the speeders.
"You driving?" he asked mildly.
Rikku made no reply, merely grinning at him and putting the goggles around her neck over her eyes. Auron got the feeling he was in for it. Rikku brought the speeder to life, cackling merrily. She was clearly now at ease with him.
The speeder suddenly jumped into motion, the unexpected movement causing Auron to grab onto Rikku. Of course, if he hadn't grabbed on, he would have fallen off, so he really had no control over where his hands landed. The speeder stopped just as suddenly as it had started. Rikku turned slowly around in her seat, removing her goggles. The look she gave him was *very* hurt, and made Auron's heart clench (a feeling which he quickly squashed).
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that. You started the speeder so quickly, I nearly fell off. I was just trying to stay on."
Rikku said nothing, but her eyes were brimming with tears. Auron wondered what her reaction would have been if it had been Wakka or Tidus. He decided she probably would have slapped either of them. He wasn't sure if this reaction was better or worse. Rikku's hands were covering her violated chest protectively and she was trembling. Auron felt *really* bad now.
"Please Rikku. I'm so sorry." Rikku, for her part, was surprised at the sheer number of times he had apologized, and the earnest tone his voice had taken. "Please," he repeated again, a pleading look in his eye. She decided she believed him when he said it was an accident.
"Ok!" she said, smiling brightly at him.
They repositioned themselves on the speeder again, with Auron being *very* careful to keep his hands on the equator rather than in the northern hemisphere again. Rikku gunned the motor happily, tossing back an ecstatic smile.
"Is that really necessary?" asked Auron. Her pep was beginning to wear on him. Apparently, it was wearing on the speeder as well, and the engine gave a cough and finally died. Rikku peeked over the top of the handlebars, studying the engine and attempting to diagnose the problem. Suddenly, the engine let loose a huge burst of dirty steam. Rikku picked her head up and removed her goggles, and Auron had to laugh at the look on her face, which was completely covered in soot aside from where the goggles had been positioned. She glared at him and set to work on the engine.
Auron got off the speeder and looked for a place to sit, a non-existent commodity in the snow covered waste. Unless, of course, you were wearing waterproof pants or wanted to get your ass wet. Auron was in neither boat. So he stood.
***
"How much longer?" he asked, eventually.
"Good question," was the reply. Auron silently prayed that Rikku would be able to fix the problem, as he didn't want to end up walking. He really wasn't in a walking mood today.
***
After watching Rikku work busily for a good period of time, Auron decided to broach the subject of their earlier assailants.
"So, those people, did you know them?" he asked casually, careful not to let the annoyance that this accident had only served to amplify. He had gotten the impression that she did know them, and perhaps very well. He knew he had heard the word brother used, but he wasn't sure if it had been a name or a title. Rikku's reply removed any doubts.
"Well, some of them were my friends, one I didn't know, and one...was my brother." She peered at him nervously, as if afraid of his reaction.
"Yet you fought anyway," was his only remark.
"Yeah. Yunie's my first priority, you know? I'm her guardian, so *her* safety's the most important thing." She smiled at him. "I learned that from you."
"You fought well," he said simply. Rikku just smiled wider. Somehow, that comment meant more coming from him than it would from anyone else.
***
Meanwhile, their companions wondered what was going on. They were quite afraid that O'aka would win, right there and then. Auron and Rikku had been gone for quite some time and for no apparent reason.
"What's going on?" asked Tidus.
"Don't you mean, who's getting it on?" deadpanned Lulu.
They considered going after the wayward duo, but decided against it, on the possibility that Yuna might need them before they returned. Which meant all they could do was wait.
***
Rikku had finally fixed the speeder. She had done it using only what she had on had, namely all her hairpins and Auron wielding the hilt of his massive sword as a hammer. It had been no easy task, especially after she had taken her hair down to use the pins. Auron had needed to hold it out of her face while she worked. While he was doing so, he did his best *not* to think about how soft it was and how good it smelled. The speeder itself wasn't in very good working order. The repairs that were really necessary were not possible without new parts. But it would service, at least until they got to the temple.
They both mounted up yet again. Rikku's hair was still loose around her shoulders. She carefully started the speeder again, and they moved off. It actually attained a fairly high speed, considering what it had been through. Rikku's hair was blown back behind her and right into Auron's face. She idly thought about how long it was going to take her to untangle, but let herself become absorbed by the thrill of driving.
Auron, for his part, was *covered* in blonde hair. It was in his collar, it was on his face, and it was in his mouth. It was pretty much *everywhere*. And it smelled wonderful. He could have screamed. Instead, he settled for sitting back and waiting for the ride to be over.
When they reached the temple doors, they were bombarded with questions.
"Where have you guys been?" asked Tidus.
"Our speeder broke and I was fixing it," chirped Rikku in reply. True to her statement, the speeder omitted a strangled cough and died, this time irreparably. Her response seemed to satisfy the others.
"You're ok, ya?" asked Wakka.
Auron's only reply was to open his mouth and remove a strand of long blonde hair from it. Rikku unconsciously put a hand up to smooth what of it remained on her head. They turned and headed in to face Seymour.
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Please, just try to picture the ceremony in Bevelle with chocobos involved. Seriously. If Seymour in the fag hat (no offense intended, if any of you are gay...I *love* gay guys! Behind every fashionable woman, there's a fashionable gay man!) wasn't funny enough, picture him in his dress, on a chocobo. He seems like the sidesaddle type to me. And if any of you are Clasko fans...sorry...about your bad taste, ha ha. I have a feeling that there are about as many Clasko fans as there are Shelinda fans, somehow... Maybe I'll bash *her* in a future chapter. No, I'll *definitely* bash her in a future chapter. Uh oh...I have an idea...
If anyone cares, those tests I took Friday...I failed two out of the three. Oops.
I wrote about 600 words of this on my Palm Pilot during dress rehearsal tonight. Of course, when I synchronized my data between my hard drive and my Palm, it all got erased. So I had to write it again. I nearly cried. Aaaahhhh!!!
The next few days may be pretty light on updates, for which I apologize. I have a performance every night through Sunday, so I'm going to be short on time. We'll see how much gets written *during* the show...like I said before, lots of downtime. I'll do my best, I promise!
Ok, you guys are doing pretty well with the reviewing thing. So keep it up, ok?! It inspires me to see so many reviews. (Mignonne cracks big, scary review NOW whip.) Help combat writer's block and tell me what you think!!!