As soon as Baralai heard Gippal scream, he laughed, putting one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the stick. He up shifted as much as he could on the Mi'iHen dirt road while calmly and deftly swerving around panicked stragglers and any hovers that came anywhere near him. On the outside, Baralai looked centered and serene as a smile was still on his face even as Gippal calmed down. But, on the inside, he could feel the adrenaline pump so much through him, his heart could have been torn in two. The Praetor surprised himself, actually, as he never thought this skill would come back to him so quickly after two years of not even being a passenger on a hover. Not that he minded, of course, because if Gippal were even suggest taking over, Baralai would have thrown him out and run him over. Baralai looked into the review mirror and sighed.

"Goodness, I hope I didn't harm anyone," He said, glancing furtively at Gippal.

"I don't think you did," Gippal replied. "But, you scared the shit out of me."

"Have some faith, dear Gippal." Baralai smirked. "You taught me, remember?"

"Anyway, you better slow down, Baralai," Gippal said, leaning back against the seat.

"Oh, now that's funny, coming from you," Baralai scoffed, his eyebrows shooting up. But, when Gippal pointed ahead, Baralai noted a Chocobo closing in, and he down shifted, swerving, so the Chocobo could easily get past him. "Oh my..." Baralai gasped. "I forgot about the Chocobos."

"At least you didn't try to ram it," Gippal said, his usual lightheartedness returning.

"Ugh, now why would I do that?" Baralai asked, rolling his eyes.

"Of course, you do realize that people are going to find out about this, right?"

"Yes, I realize it," Baralai nodded, amused at how the fellow New Yevonites will respond to this. Not that this would ever stop him from driving again. He knew how those in Bevelle used machina when it suited them. Why should this be any different? "I'm not too concerned right now, but I guess when the papers say "Praetor of New Yevon steals a prominent merchant's Machina', I'll be concerned then. Right now, I just want to enjoy myself...with you."

"I'm glad you feel that way."

"I do," Baralai simply said and then fell silent as he noticed that it was dusk. He let out a quiet, gasping breath as he watched the sky paint itself deep purple with a few golden sparkles scattered throughout. /Oh, it will be a wonderful night.../. He turned slightly towards Gippal and smiled. When he saw that his friend had been staring off into space, Baralai reached over and grabbed his hand. Gippal started out of whatever trance he was in and smiled back, squeezing Baralai's tan hand in response. Sighing quietly, Baralai looked at the road ahead of him, dark eyes occasionally flickering at the few bright and shining stars. /I could do this forever/. He turned on the headlights, titterting in amusement as a fiend dashed out of way, and leaned back against the seat. Again looking towards Gippal, the Praetor began to wonder if he should just leave his life behind, just stay with Gippal at Djose or wherever his best friend wanted to be. Away from the strain of being the youngest Praetor ever and the only one to have never been a Priest or a Summoner, away from the future worry of dealing with Meyven Nooj and away from dealing with politics.

"What are you thinking, Baralai?" Gippal asked, cutting off Baralai's thoughts.

"Oh, nothing," Baralai shook his head.

"Liar!"

Baralai smiled, "Okay, I was just tempted to resign as Praetor."

"Are you out of gourd?" Gippal sat straight up. "No way! Who would take over? New Yevon fell apart without you!"

"I know, but I heard that someone put it back together again while I was away."

"Do you know who?"

"No," Baralai shook his head. "I'd like to find out though."

"How are you going to do that if you resign?"

"Well," Baralai rolled his eyes, "We could visit Bevelle, find out who, and then I get to resign, leaving me free to be with you." He smiled sweetly at Gippal before drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Sure, Baralai, but that would also mean you'd be without power and who would stop Nooj then?" Gippal replied, poking Baralai at his side.

What was obviously a light-hearted joke only made Baralai's face fall, but he kept his smile, "Oh, touche..." /I didn't consider Nooj. If I were to retire, it would be exactly what he wants/.

"Heh, yea really. Once you get back to Bevelle, you'll be fine. Speaking of Nooj, unless you want to stop at Rin's place, we're going to have to go by that way."

Baralai down shifted to second, grabbed the handbrake and turned to the left towards the Agency, passing it as quickly as he could, "I'd rather not deal with Rin right now." When he released the handbrake, he was ready to shift as high as he dared, but when he realized just where they would end up, he opted to just remain in second, at least for a little while. He gripped the steering wheel tightly, stifling a yawn.

Gippal leaned towards Baralai, "I know the three of us are supposed to work together, but I'm no fool. Things won't be easy."

"I know," Baralai nodded.

"I'm just saying that I don't think Youth Leaguers at Mushroom Rock would be too appreciative seeing you drive across their turn, yanno?"

"Please, Gippal, if any of them want to cause me any trouble, I'll just run them over," Baralai giggled, but stifling another yawn.

Grinning, Gippal shook his head, "You better let me drive."

"Okay," Baralai conceded, slowly pulling over to the side of the road. As they passed each other in front of the car, Baralai felt a sting on his rear when Gippal slapped him there. "Gippal!" The Al Bhed laughed as he jumped in the driver's seat, revving up the engine so much that any creature within earshot ran for dear life, except for Baralai, of course, who only rolled his eyes as he sat in the passenger's seat.

"This is a great machina, and I hope to have many more like them made," Gippal said, gripping the gearstick and flooring it, forcing Baralai to nearly cram into the seat.

/At least I didn't scream/. Baralai thought, not really considering his silence much of a consolation.

"Am I scaring you, Baralai?" Gippal asked, licking his lips, driving so fast that Baralai could not even conceive of going such speeds on a dirt road in the early evening.

"Uhm, no."

Gippal grinned, "Payback's a bitch, don't you think? You didn't scare me either though, you just surprised me."

"Yea, sure, dear Gippal," Baralai yawned, but then jumped up at seeing a blur of a man on a Chocobo.

"What's wrong?" Gippal demanded, his hand on Baralai's. "You want me to slow down?"

"Yes, please," Baralai replied, and felt relieved when Gippal did so.

"So what's the matter? Did you see something?"

"I saw someone, on a Chocobo," Baralai looked in the passenger's mirror, narrowing his eyes, but unable to see the Chocobo rider. "I think it was Prophet."

"Who?"

"You don't know who he is?"

Gippal shrugged, "I've heard the name, but I don't recall who that is. I know Rin mentioned him though."

"He's an advocate for Chocobos," Baralai explained. "He was the one who fought having Machina on Mi'ihen as he feared it would render Chocobo useless. New Yevon tried to help, but as you can see," Baralai waved his hand, "we could not help."

"I heard the Gullwings did. That's why there's Chocobos back on the roads."

"Yes," Baralai nodded, resting his chin against his hand. "What worries me is that as much I would love to see more cars made, I fear that the very existence of such Machina would make the Chocobos disappear."

"Don't worry about it," Gippal shook his head. seriously, don't. I'm sure there'll be people who will always prefer a Chocobo. Besides, there's always people wanting to feel nostalgic."

"Yes," Baralai smiled, moving over to lean against Gippal. "But, things like this are why New Yevon exists."

"Of course," Gippal replied, rubbing Baralai's thigh. "We're very close to Mushroom Rock Road, and after that, we'll be at Djose Temple. Why don't you rest? It won't take me long to get there."

Baralai moved away from Gippal, rubbing his eyes, "You'd best be careful."

Gippal grinned, "Don't worry, I will be. Have some faith."