"Oh, just great!" Rikku jumped down onto the bridge of the Celsius and started stomping on the floor.
"Don't break it anymore Rikku!" brother yelled from the driver's seat. Their airship refused to start after stopping for supplies on the Mi'ihen highroad. The engine had died mysteriously and nobody seemed to want to fix it. Brother had refused to set foot into the engine room for some unknown reason. Buddy proclaimed that he was a Blitzer, not a mechanic and Shinra no longer hung around with the Gullwings.
"I can't possibly break it anymore, it's totally broke." Rikku pouted. "I better go get my tools." Her shoulders sagged as she walked dejectedly toward the engine room.
Fishing out her sockets and wrenches she crouched down onto the floor and removed the floor panel. Humming an ancient Al Bhed work song she slid onto her stomach and started to tango with the mess of wires and circuits. "Oh poopie!" the yell cried out right in the middle of her whistling. She slowly got up on her knees, pulling out a clump of wires. "Gah Tysh!" She screamed while wiggling around in anger. "And I don't have a replacement," she pouted some more and threw the floor grate down in front of her.
Rikku quickly made her way up to the bridge. Brother and Buddy were playing a game of Spherebreak. Buddy looked up at her but Brother had a look of immense concentration on his face. "So how'd it go?" He asked her while adjusting his goggles.
"No good," she whined leaning over the railing. "I'm gunna have to trek down to the travel agency to see if Rin's a replacement. Maybe I can charm him into giving me a discount." Her hair whipped around her as she turned to leave. She checked her equipment before setting foot outside. The airship was parked fairly close to the Agency but you never know when fiends will attack.
Thankfully the trip was rather uneventful, leaving Rikku very bored. Rikku never liked traveling alone. When she reached Rin's travel agency the sun was starting to set out across the ocean. Rikku watched it unconsciously bouncing on her toes, not worrying about the tyshat airship. Her silent reverie was broken when cold steel rammed into her calf.
"Ow!" She jumped and spun forward, glaring at her attacker. It turned out to be a small, bright blue machina. It attempted to copy her actions and did a small circle. Rikku laughed, realizing what it was trying to do. She jumped up and the machina jumped. She waved her arms in the arm and the little machine followed suit. Rikku fell over laughing, clasping her hands to her sides in a fit of giggles.
"Monkey see, Monkey do." A harsh deep voice said above Rikku's head as the machina fell over.
"Gippal!" She shrieked, standing up immediately. "W-what are you doing here?" She stammered slightly.
"Doing business with Rin," he pointed over his shoulder casually towards the agency. "I see you like my latest." He grinned toward the baby, blue machina. "It's as clumsy as you." It was now trying to stand upright again, like an overturned turtle. Gippal went to pick up his creation and Rin came out of the Agency.
"If you don't like my offer-" but he was suddenly cut off when he found Rikku in front of him. "Ah, Hello Rikku, Fryd lyh E tu vun oui?" He stated casually, as if nothing had happened beforehand.
"Rin! Just the person I came to see." She bounced excitedly. "I need another one of these." She got right down to business and pulled out the broken airship piece. Rin didn't eve get to look at it before Gippal snatched it out of her hand. Rikku examined him just as closely as he was the piece of metal. The sunset splashed his hair with red and cast shadows on his face. After staring at him for a while she wondered when he started to look so good.
As if she was drenched in cold water Rikku shook herself out of her musings and turned away blushing. She tried to collect her thoughts quickly and yelled at Gippal for grabbing things that didn't belong to him.
Rin spoke up first though, "I'm sorry, but I don't have spare machina parts lying around." His hair swayed as he shook his head. "But I can offer you a room for the night, seeing as the sun is almost set," business as usual with Rin.
"I have a spare though." Gippal frowned as he handed the broken part back.
"Really?" Rikku brightened up and ignored Rin's offer.
"The thing is, it's not really a spare," he looked down at the little blue machina trying to ignore Rikku's grin. The grin that would make him do anything for her. "What's it for anyway?" He asked Rikku while staring at baby blue. He wanted to stop himself from grinning back sheepishly at her.
So she told him the truth and he looked at her, unable to stop the grin from spreading. "Tell ya what, Cid's Girl," she pushed him playfully. "I'll think about it on the walk back to the Celsius." Before Rikku could pull away he already had an arm slung around her shoulders. He started pulling her away from the agency and towards the airship which he saw in the distance.
"Are you sure you don't want to spend the night? I'll give you a discount!" Rin yelled at their retreating backs.
Rikku didn't hear Rin's offer though. Her mind was lost in Gippal's grasp somewhere. The little blue machina made her trip though, causing her mind to tumble back into reality. Gippal glared at the machina as if it had ruined his life when Rikku removed herself from his arm.
I have no qualms taking you apart right now, Gippal raged in his mind at baby blue.
"So," Rikku tried to skip ahead of him, unable to stop thinking about how much she actually wanted to be back in Gippal's arms. "You're going to fix my airship," she turned round to smile at him, that deviously beautiful smile.
Oh lord how he wanted to say yes. "No, no, no, no, no…" he laughed instead. "I said I had an extra part. I never said I was going to fix that piece of junk you call an airship." He could be as ruthless a businessman as Rin. "That'll cost you extra."
"Aw, and her I thought I found my knight in shining armor come to save me," she sighed dramatically, the last bits of sun dancing in her eyes. Gippal quickened his pace to keep up with her; maybe he should play her game?
"But Princess," he said in his most seductive voice, "you ask so much of me and you expect me to ask nothing in return?" Catching up to her he leaned into her slowly, but Rikku danced ahead of him again, giggling. Gippal huffed disappointedly. She had no idea what her flirting was doing to him. To her this was the same game they always played.
"Wow," Rikku stopped abruptly, Gippal crashing into her. The twilight gave way as night graced us with her presence. The Mi'ihen highroad was completely drenched in darkness. "It's dangerous on the Mi'ihen at night," Rikku wailed. Gippal placed a hand on her back, mainly to steady himself as he adjusted to the darkness. "Why didn't we stay at the Agency?" She turned to him, accusing him with her glare.
"Cause he was just trying to profit off us. He called me all the way out here for a business meeting and he still wanted me to pay for my room. No courtesy. I would have let him stay at the faction for free too," he complained. "Besides when you showed up I was hoping to get a ride back to Djose on the Celsius." He smirked down at her and realized that she didn't pull away from his touch but did quite the opposite.
"So we're a hover service now?" She feigned being hurt and Gippal thought she couldn't have looked any cuter.
"No, I just thought it'd be a nice payment for fixing your airship." He slid his hand from her back to her waist.
"Oh, so now you're actually going to fix it?" It was her turn to smirk and Gippal just blinked at her.
"Maybe," he stated, non-committed. Rikku nodded, leaning into Gippal's embrace.
"Ah!" She jumped when cold metal brushed against the back of her knees. Gippal just laughed as he eyed the mess of tiny lights that made up baby blue.
He leaned over and whispered into Rikku's ear. "We'd better get out of here before we're eaten alive." His warm breath sent shivers down Rikku's spine, but she was shaken up enough to realize what position she was in.
She roughly shoved him away from her. "Oh come on." She began walking silently back to the airship frowning to herself.
Gippal's face contorted with disgust. So close yet so far. He skulked after Rikku, Baby Blue followed close behind him.
They each boarded the airship silently, save for the clanging steps of the little machina. Buddy was there waiting for Rikku. "Hey, you're back sooner than I though." He looked up from his magazine when he heard then enter. "Gippal!" He said when he spotted the Machine Faction leader, standing up to greet him.
"Buddy!" The two men grasped hands while slapping each other on the back. "Long time no see."
"Yeah," he replied, chuckling to himself. "Good thing Brother went to sleep a while back. You here to fix the ship?"
"Somebody called for a mechanic. Let's see if I can get this baby in the air again." He glanced around the bridge taking in everything. The Celsius was a rare find, but Brother beat him to it by a mile. Ah well, what's fair is fair, he thought. "And my skills as a mechanic can beat your sorry ass any day," he said to Buddy.
"Yeah, just remember who kicked your ass in Blitzball." The two men laughed it up, completely ignoring Rikku. She looked down at baby blue skeptically; it stared back up at her blankly.
"Hey!" Gippal called up to Rikku, "why don't ya stop standing around and show me to the engine room." He smirked at her. Rikku just rolled her eyes and walked away. Keeping her mouth shut was awfully taxing on her system but she didn't want to give Gippal the satisfaction of knowing he got to her. He quickly followed her into the lift, agitated with the lack of response from Rikku. If this was how she was going to be he'd be better off with Rin the extortionist.
"It's down here," she bounded over to the end of the engine room, Gippal a few paces behind. Bending over she lifted the floor grate and set it aside. She looked up at the older Al Bhed anxiously.
Gippal just frowned before turning to baby blue. "Bye bye little fellow." He kneeled down in front of the machina.
"What are you doing?" Rikku shrieked when Gippal started dismantling the poor thing.
"That part you need makes this little guy run. I have a spare in Djose, we need this one to get there." He said nonchalantly, while baby blue fell to pieces. As Gippal stood up with the part in his hands Rikku ran to the fallen machine, falling on her knees. She started to put it back together, failing miserably.
"How could you do that to a poor defenseless baby?" she moaned.
"Hey, I put her together I can take her apart." He spat more heatedly than he wanted.
"Then you can put her back together?"
"Yes." Gippal stated as laid down over the whole and started working.
"Once we get to Djose Temple?" She questioned, absent mindedly starting at his prone figure.
"Yes, the minute I get back to the Faction."
"Positive?" She grinned deviously.
"Positive," he grunted as he turned a bolt loose.
"Promise?" she said, nudging him in the leg.
"Ah," something sparked beneath hi fingers. "Yes Rikku I promise. Now knock it off."
"I'm sorry if I'm getting on your nerves or anything," still grinning sneakily.
"Oh no, not at all," he said as sweetly as possible, "but you're awfully distracting."
"How much concentration does it take to fuse a few wires together?" She said sarcastically.
"Do you want to fix this?" He spat, finally giving her the knowledge that she was indeed grating his nerves.
"No that's okay. I'm having too much fun annoying you." And watching you, she added only for herself to hear.
"There," Gippal grunted pulling himself into a sitting position in front of Rikku. "We'll be back on the road in no time." He looked to Rikku expectantly; he was her guest after all.
She knew this was coming, Gippal would have to stay the night because they couldn't leave to Brother awoke. But now that the time was here she was starting to feel a bit of stage fright. She didn't know what to say to him. "Umm," she stared not at him, but through him, "you're going to have to stay the night."
"Well no duh Princess," he stood up, laughing. He offered a hand to Rikku. "I'm not walking back to the Agency."
Rikku took the proffered hand. "Right!" Rikku jumped up with Gippal's support. "Can't have you eaten by a flan." She giggled, leading the way to the cabin. Before heading out she turned round to see the pieces of baby blue.
Gippal noticed her frown, understanding that she was really broken up about the broken machina. He gently placed a hand on her back. "She'll be fine. As good as new once we get back to Djose," he reminded her softly.
"Promise?" This time there was no sarcasm in her voice.
"Promise." He said as he smiled just as sincerely. It was then that Rikku realized that her relationship with Gippal was not was broken as baby blue, but as steady as the airship. He came for her, and she was glad to see that he came. There was no escaping from the love she had seen, tonight's the night.
Gippal's thoughts were in synch with Rikku. We're here, the time is right. What can go wrong? He leaned in to kiss her and Rikku reciprocated, turning night to day. Even though they were in the bowels of the ship they could feel the dawning of a new day.
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