"And this..." Rikku proclaimed, dragging Astrah by the wrist. They stopped suddenly, standing at the top of the stairs near the door to the Bridge. With a perfectly manicured hand, the younger woman presented the space to her newest friend, waving at it. She grinned proudly. "Is the Bridge. It's where we used to spend most of our time."
"'We'?" Astrah asked. "Oh, that's right, the Gullwings."
Rikku was beginning to like this woman. Not many recalled that. The older woman seemed a little out of place. She was happy, you could tell, but it was like showing a chocobo food while an eater hovered over them. She clung to the bag over her shoulder, containing supplies to do her client's hair with.
Since Rikku still needed her hair to be done and wanted to show Astrah the ship, so she thought of the idea of having her do it on the ship. After all, her shift was over and she could leave. Technically, it wouldn't be on the clock and Rikku didn't have to pay for it since Astrah was doing it out of her own free will. Still, she insisted on payment, and even threw in a reward for her 'house call.'
Seeing that Brother wasn't at his post, her brow wrinkled. That was odd. Where was he anyway? She sighed. "Alright," she said. "Next stop, cabin!" she exclaimed waving a finger into the air.
As the doors made a swoosh, they opened and Rikku could see her brother. He sat at the counter, a beer in hand. He was talking to Barkeep too, which wasn't odd for him. He seemed down, even if he was doing all the things a usual male did during a break. With a raised eyebrow, she came over.
"What are you doing down here?"
Her older sibling pushed off the bar, turning to her with an annoyed look. "I didn't know I wasn't allowed down here," he said sarcastically.
She crossed her arms. "What's wrong with you?" At this, Astrah came up beside her, looking around curiously. "Oh, yeah, this is Astrah," she said, gesturing her hand to her. "I met her in town. Be nice to her, 'cause she's nice too." She smiled at the older woman. "This is my brother, Brother."
Astrah finally looked at them, looking between the two. "I don't see a family resemblance," she said.
"Good," they both chorused.
Rikku growled at him. "Anyway," she said. "We're siblings alright, a whole six years apart."
The older woman smiled politely. "Hello," she said.
Brother, who seemed a little dumbstruck, blinked. "Hi."
But then, Rikku looked at her watch. "Is it that late? Oh, we won't have time to do my hair," she said, grabbing her newest friend's wrist again. She dragged a flustered Astrah up the stairs. "Don't come upstairs!" she shouted to her older sibling. "Unless you want to choke on hairspray."
But unbeknown to her, the two had locked gazes, even as she dragged Astrah in another direction.
Quickly, Rikku changed into the outfit she'd gotten that day. Thank goodness that it didn't take too many steps to put on. She was actually wearing a real bra to this event, strapless, but a bra none the less. With it, were stockings attached to an uncomfortable guarder and daringly, lacy underwear that were almost see-through, and looked a bit like shorts.
She had originally planned on wearing them so that she didn't show any kind of line through her slightly thin skirt. It worked, sure, but of course they were so tight, she felt like some kind of hooker. That wasn't exactly a pleasant trait. Her friends had better be impressed with her appearance, that's all she had to say.
Her hair had been done up nicely, thanks to Astrah and her quick and skilled hands. The hair on the top of her head, near her scalp, was all braided into rows, little clips everywhere. The rest was down, all curled and sprayed with glitter. The curls made it look shorter, though. She even did her face, that had a deep red lipstick, black mascara and bold eyeshadow. She didn't think she looked half bad, all things considering.
The outfit she picked out was simple, yet formal. The entire thing was black, since she thought it would be a nice color for an evening outing. The skirt was long, resting around her hips. On the one side was a slit from the middle thigh down to the end. The top was a shirt that stopped above her stomach, and had one strap on her left shoulder. The sleeves had no hands, coming off at her wrists in a point.
When she sat to put on a pair of lace-up heeled sandals, she couldn't help but hear a conversation below. She raised an eyebrow. Were Brother and Astrah talking?
"...this is your ship?" her friend asked.
"I'm captain...yes," Brother replied. He cleared his throat. "Rikku and I found it."
"Oh, really?"
"In the ocean."
"Neat. You were diving?"
"Yes."
Rikku listened with a wrinkled brow. Her sibling sounded...almost nervous. If she didn't know any better, she'd thinkâwait a minute. Her eyes widened and she hit her head. How stupid could she have been? Why didn't she see it before? She finished lacing her shoe, then stood to lean over the railing a little. There was Astrah and Brother, talking to each other, almost five meters away from each other. She sighed. Oh great, she set up her newest friend with her brother and had no clue. Well, at least they couldn't blame her, she didn't do it purposely.
She strayed, gathering her purse and shawl. It was getting late and she still had to walk to the restaurant. She came down the stairs, wrapping her shawl around her shoulders, and came over to the two with a smile. "There you are," she said to Astrah. "You can stay as long as you want, but I have to get going. Sorry to leave on you."
Astrah shook her head. "No, it's fine," she said, smiling just the same. "Go ahead, you have to anyway. I have to go home anyway."
She was headed to the door, but Brother interrupted. "I'll take you," he offered. Both of them looked at him. He looked away guiltily. "It is dark and this is Luca..."
The older woman smiled. "Thank you," she said. "I'd appreciate that."
He nodded, shakily, then followed her out the door. Rikku stood there with a dropped jaw. Then, she looked over to Barkeep. He shrugged. "I didn't doo anything," he said.
Rikku shook her head. "Oh boy," she sighed.
With yet another sigh, Gippal checked his watch again. He put it to his ear, listening to see if it was still going. Yup, it was ticking, that meant it wasn't broken. Why did time move so slowly when you had nothing to do.
The machine leader stood in the fairly large lobby of the restaurant where Baralai had made reservations. It was actually a hotel, but the restaurant was usually why people came there. Around him, handsomely dressed couples left and arrived through the doors, being seated by the hostesses at the desk.
In his tuxedo, he pulled on the collar around his neck. The tightness around the neck wasn't something he was used to. He didn't even have to endure this for Yuna and Tidus' wedding, they had a casual wedding on the beach. But still, he stayed put, with his hands in his pockets, looking like he didn't belong since he was the only loner around. Leave it to him to be early for once.
All worries were pushed aside when a figure walked into the door. Wearing a black ensemble was Rikku, with her hair curled and face painted. She seemed almost delicate, which was a switch from her strong and lithe appearance. It almost made him chuckle. And he didn't exactly forget the incident earlier that day exactly.
Her eyes spotted his and she looked around. Swallowing, she came over to him and stood facing the way that he did. She didn't look at him. "Gippal," he said.
"Princess," he said. Calling her Rikku, even though she'd like it, would probably shock her a little too much. Keeping things the way they usually were was safe enough. After all, he didn't want to scare her at all.
"You're early," she said.
He looked her up and down. "And you aren't?"
"I came here after you," she pointed out. "I'm not as early as you are."
"But still early."
With a glare, she looked up at him, hands clasped tightly around her purse. "Do you like being a smart ycc?" she asked.
His eyebrow raised with a grin. "Such language in public," he commented. "A princess shouldn't say such things."
She didn't get to reply, because he looked up. Following his gaze, they both saw a fairly familiar couple come into the door. Yuna adjusted her husband's tie, that looked almost wrinkled as they came into the doors. Waving at her cousin, Yuna came over with Tidus and gave Rikku a hug.
"Good to see you again," she said, a bright smile on her face. She looked like she'd never been happier.
Like Gippal, Tidus was fooling with the collar on his tux, making a face at it. When Yuna looked at him, he stopped and smiled innocently. He nodded to Gippal in a hello, greeting his friend.
Yuna was wearing a pale blue, her empire-waist-lined dress coming down to her feet. She wore long gloves, as the dress had simple sleeves that rested off her shoulders. Rikku was almost a little taller than she, so she wasn't wearing heels. Her hair was up, braid wrapped in blue and twisted around the bun on the top of her head. Not easily noticeable, though, was the little bump on her stomach, shielded by the waistline she wore.
She let go of her cousin. "Paine and Baralai here yet? I haven't seen them," she said. She looked over to Gippal. "Oh, I didn't see you, hello. How have you been?"
He shrugged. "As good as you can be."
"Are we late?" Tidus asked, looking around. "Yuna overslept, so, sorry."
His wife gave him a look. "I did not. You didn't wake me up."
The blitzer sighed. "Yuna, I woke you three times. Each time, you said 'Let me sleep five more minutes'," he said, innocently grinning.
Gippal glanced at Rikku, who gave him a look of confusion as well. Yuna seemed to laugh innocently. "Oh, yeah, that's right."
"Well," Rikku said. "Now all we need is Paine and Baralai."
"Did need," said a voice behind them.
The couple came into the building unnoticed. Baralai had exchanged his regular clothing for a tuxedo as well, the only one that appeared to be comfortable in his. On his arm, Paine stood with him and didn't even look like Paine.
She had on a dress of blood red, the halter top framing her figure, with a long slitted skirt and matching arm length gloves on her arms. Her shoulders were covered with a mesh shawl, that all the women seemed to have brought, and she held a small handbag in her grasp. Her face was painted too, with lips that matched her dress. Her hair was the strangest though, combed back instead of spiked up, were it was held with a fake hair piece to make it appear as though she wore a bun.
Still, through it, she had on her usual expression. It didn't seem like she was annoyed though. "Wow, twice in a row," he said to her. "Trying to set a record?"
Her eyebrow went up. "I'm practicing for when I need it," she replied. It was tamer than her usual remarks. "What are you trying to pull? Trying to make people believe you're civilized?" Yup, same old Paine.
He grinned. "Love ya too," he said.
Baralai chuckled and shook his head. "Now, since we're all here, why don't we head inside?" he asked, gesturing his free hand to the reception desk. "I'm sure we're all ready for dinner."
Thank you for reading the next chapter in this series, I'm really passionate about this story, and the FFX-2 cast. Though, if any of you like my work, I'm asking each of you from the bottom of my heart to please read 'Worth the Wait', a oneshot I wrote about Tidus and Yuna. Just go to my profile where it's listed.If you do, you might be able to understand some material that'll be in the next chapter. I was going to wait to tell you until the beginning of the next chapter, but then you'd have to wait to read my installment, so this'll give you time until I update next. Thanks for listening, and I hope to get reviews on WTW.