A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! I've realized that I've lost a number of readers and that's okay lol because I don't want to force youto read something you don't enjoy anymore. BUT I do appreciate those who do, as it gives me a purpose to continue this story. So, thank you very much for those of you who are consistent with this fic as I plan to see it through to the end this time:
Djose Days
Ch. 7: Proud Prick
Rikku
The lady in the blue is a lady all in blue. But not just in any old ordinary blue, oh no-no. She's got that blue. The blue that makes you go whoo now that's a blue! Five hundred different shades of blue glitter on her silky dress, whipping around her legs every time a breeze passes by. The fabric catches the sunlight like a mirror, reflecting it like rays of magic shooting from within her, and it's as if she's about to burst into pyreflies any second now!
I want to walk around looking like I'm about to burst into pyreflies too. It's pretty. But I'm assuming the dress is a bitty bit expensive – certainly not affordable on my budget of 620 gil. But Gippal did say he was going to get me more. How much more, I don't know, but I'm guessing at least 3000 gil considering all the machina he must've been able to repair and build and sell (during these past few days alone!). Despite so, I go to purchase only the most essential items first – the bare minimum – and decide to wait until he gives me enough to be a Lady in Blue too.
I purchase enough undergarments to match a third of what I have back home in Bikanel as well as a couple of cotton shorts before I'm down to just 6 gil left in my pocket. I think about donating it to a charity somewhere nearby until I come across a gumball machine and that seems more appealing. But I eventually feel guilty about it later, and give it to a kid crying over his fallen ice cream cone.
- - - - -
Gippal
I enter the room and slide my foot against the hardwood floor, leaving a clean trail behind that reveals the difference between it and the layer of dirt that had formed during these past months of vacancy. I grimace as I scan the rest of the room, a dull haze sits, coming from the sunlight that filters from the small window. The bed is bare without a blanket or cover, and I remember that I had given it to the crew a couple of weeks ago when the ones in the airship cabin ripped. I sigh, sitting on the rock hard bed.
The majority of the temple's residential rooms are trashed with old, broken machine and then there's that room with the caramel coloured wallpaper which isn't an option. The only room left that has an acceptable level of cleanliness and decency is this one. This one, which is at the very end of the hallway, a place where not even Nooj lurks. And if I let Rikku stay here she'll freak, and whine and cry and oh-fuck it.
I stand and swiftly leave the eerie room.
She's just going to have to deal with it; I agreed to let her live here, not babysit her.
- - - - -
Rikku
It's around 3 when I'm back at the temple, cute, little, colourful bags tightly held and swinging in my hand, and the other carrying a small box of nuts and bolts (that I'd managed to convince Tye to give to me for free!). I think about giving it to Gippal right away, just in case he has any doubts about letting me stay.
I'm excited when I get inside, because I can't wait until he shows me where I'm staying, and I hope it's the one with the cute little stuffed chocobo that I had liked so much. And maybe he's even decorated it for me, with new bed sheets and a sign on the door just for me! But my excitement eventually calms down after I've searched nearly the entire temple (including the office!) and can't find him. I think about asking a worker of his whereabouts but strangely, the entire place is empty.
I suddenly think everyone's hiding and are going to jump out and scream 'SURPRISE!' to me. But that thought dies when I realize it's not my birthday and Gippal probably wouldn't authorize such a scheme during work hours. The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs makes me rush to the main room, and to my relief, I see his frame jog down toward me.
Grinning, I run up to him and press the box into his chest. "Here, I got these for you." I draw back shyly as he examines it, feeling good about myself when he returns the smile.
"Thanks," he says. "You didn't have to though." He tears it open and looks inside, his eyebrow raising as he lets out a sigh of astonishment. "Hey, these are good quality." He eyes at my purchases and then at my face. "How did you manage to buy all that… and then this?"
I shrug innocently. "I'm a good bargain hunter."
- - - - -
Gippal
Or your bikini's two sizes too small. I nod weakly at her, tucking the box underneath my arm and pausing when she stares at me expectantly. "What?"
She blinks cutely, pushing one of her shoulders up to touch her cheek. "My room?"
"Oh, uh. Right."
I lead her through the doors and around the corner, down the hallway of residential rooms. I can feel her excited energy slowly lessening as we pass the doors and I don't claim any of them as hers. By the time we've reached the end, lit solely by a small orb of light, her face is struggling to look optimistic, but I don't reconsider my decision. I point to the door. "This is it."
It takes a while for it to register in her mind, and she glances briefly at me as if just to make sure she heard me right. Then, she tentatively opens it, curiously walking inside and letting her eyes roam quickly. "It's… nice."
I lean against the frame as she walks around, setting her bags on the floor against the bed as she lazily looks out the clouded window, traces her fingers along the paint-chipped walls. I can tell she's disappointed, but that's a feeling she's just going to have to get used to around here.
"I'll be in my office if you need me," I say before leaving.
- - - - -
Rikku
He hates me. He hates me and he wants me to die. And maybe I'm just starting to realize that perhaps I annoy him just a little too much sometimes and this is his own subtle/not so subtle way of punishing me. That really, we're not as close as most half Al Bhed ex-summoners think, and I can't exactly blame him for expecting me to be pleased with this room. (Although, Frenny III would scowl at Dia if he saw one of his inn rooms in this state of dreadfulness.)
I collapse on the bed and immediately yelp when it doesn't sink in like it's supposed to. Instead, it is just as comfy as lying on a grassy slope in the Calm Lands. Which okay, is admittedly not that bad. But beds are supposed to feel better than a hill of dirt, y'know?
I sit up, rubbing my sore rear as I rummage through my newly bought things. It's an inexplicable sense of pride I guess, that these things I've bought are my first I-don't-live-off-of-Pop's-money clothes. And alright, maybe it's Gippal's money, but I earned it. I… earned it.
I twitch suddenly and my arms snake around my waist. My legs retract and I hug myself tightly, feeling that feeling all over again. That feeling I felt of stomach-flipping and intense contraction of my sides, making me suddenly feel cold and shaky and I want to puke. It's a feeling that tells me to remember. Remember, remember, that Gippal's not much different than Crimson.
- - - - -
Gippal
After the fifth time of pausing in less than a minute, I decide to give up on the drawing. It's as if I've lost all concentration, all drive, and all I can think about is Maybe I should have at least given the stew a try. But it's sitting in the garbage under piles of dirty packaging paper now, and I'm not about to ask her to make more.
Down the hall, Nooj is scaling the stone walls for a chance to jump out the window. It's not working of course, and I end up wondering what the temple will be like without his sputtering and occasional tantrums at other scraps of machine. What the temple will be like if he's gone, and it's just me and Rikku. Because then, I'll have very limited outlets to distract myself.
And the problem isn't that she's not good at being distractive. The problem is that she can be too distractive sometimes, and it makes me think that I should've named the death-seeking machine 'Rikku' instead of 'Nooj'. It doesn't help that she's got a model's figure, a stripper's wardrobe, and the brain of a ditz.
The thought suddenly makes me on edge, and I remember last night and the crying and the whining and the guilt. It makes me want to find her and apologize to her, but I won't because if anything, she should be the one apologizing to me for wasting my time. For Ixion's sake, she's the one who asked for it.
I realize that's a bit harsh despite its truthfulness, and rummage in my desk drawer for my little savings wallet, pulling out another 200 gil paper bill as if to compensate.
- - - - -
Rikku
I like the way my footsteps echo throughout the temple, the walls cold and rough with little light fixtures spitting out sparks of electricity. Like a mini Thunder Plains, except without the fiends and sobbing Pops. But strangely, there aren't any workers here either.
It's odd that I haven't seen a single other person all day aside from Gippal, and I decide to question him about it later when I run into him. But instead, I see a familiar machina shakety-shaking its way up the wall and toward a window. An open window, that is. And I quickly run to it, yanking it off and holding it out as far as possible from me when it starts going chaotic. And then, just as suddenly, it goes limp in my hands. As if I've killed it with my kindness.
I lay it on the ground, kneeling and examining it. The same machina that shot a dozen envelopes in the air and almost got me blamed for it, just over a week ago. I look it over carefully, trying to see if there's any obvious problem to it but I can't tell without the proper tools. A cough from behind me makes me jump and I turn around with a startled expression.
Gippal smirks a little at me, his fingers crinkling a piece of paper in his hands. "What're you doing?"
With a shy smile, I quickly cross my legs over each other and press them against the ground, pointing to the dead machina. "I was trying to see what's wrong with it."
He bends down with me, sitting on the stone floor and brutally drags the machina by its little legs toward him. He sharply flips it over and I hear a crack but Gippal doesn't look surprised. "It's like that. I've been trying to fix it for months. I've given up though."
I take it from him carefully, rocking it in my arms as if it were little Vidina. "Maybe it's 'cause you treat it so cruelly. You should be gentler with stuff, y'know?"
"Stuff?"
"Machina, I mean."
"Machine."
"Same difference."
He gives me a sceptical look before turning away and standing up. "Anyway, I'll give you your duties tomorrow. Can't have you lying around adopting orphan machine all day."
I nod, placing the machina on the ground and standing up with him. He holds out the piece of paper to me. Money for my wardrobe. I take it eagerly but then frown when I realize it's just another 200 gil. I want to ask him if he plans on giving me the money piece by piece like an allowance or something, but that sounds greedy and rude. And he's already pushed aside the sex agreement so maybe I should just be grateful for that alone.
He folds his arms across his chest and stares at me. "What, no kiss this time?"
My cheeks warm slightly at that comment and I shrug. I feel like saying 'what, you're still cheap this time?' but I don't because that doesn't sound appropriate to the guy that's just offered you residence at his temple. Instead, I tip-toe slightly and lean in to give him a small peck on the cheek. But all of a sudden, he steps back and my eyes grow wide as I try to catch myself before tripping.
"I was just kiddin', Kid," he says with an amused grin, before leaving down the hall.
- - - - -
Gippal
I know she's seen the envelopes, and was probably the one the mailman gave them to. But it strikes me as a bit surprising that even after seeing them, she hasn't asked a single question as to why I got so many letters from Tye. Nor anything about the blank letter with cursive purple writing. It's a comforting thought, I guess, knowing she's gotten less nosy over these past few years.
I close the fridge door, hearing the drone of the shower tap die off. She'll be out any minute complaining about what happened to the washing machine and I'll say the Faction doesn't do laundry and she'll give me that dirty look that says I'm a cheap, lying bastard.
I fold the blank letter and head back up to my room, opening the bottom drawer of my desk and slipping it in with the others. I close it quickly when I hear her footsteps approaching.
She passes by slowly, her body bent forward and head turning in every direction. When she finally notices me, she smiles weakly, a damp towel in one arm and a bag of her dirty clothes in the other. She spins around lightly, as if she were a little girl playing dress-up. "Like it? It only cost me 90 gil – together!"
It's not really that hard to believe: a simple pair of blue shorts and another one of her bikini tops. I nod, trying to ignore the fact that she could've done something more beneficial for the Faction with that money. "Yeah, it's nice."
Her arms drop to her sides, and I know she can tell I'm holding something back. "But…?"
"But nothing."
"But what?"
"But your butt looks big."
She's quiet after that and I hope I've shut her up for at least the next few minutes because apparently, she hasn't lost her nosiness like I thought. I make my way to my dresser and take out some clothes, readying for a shower. But when I look up, I catch her concentrated gaze on a shiny piece of metal beside her as she checks out her reflection in it. It makes me laugh a little, and I push her head as I walk toward the bathroom.
"Funny girl. If you want, take a look at the center machine downstairs instead, in the main room. See if you can turn it into anything useful, or else I'm melting it." I wave my hand aimlessly at her. "I'm gonn' shower. Be down soon."
- - - - -
Rikku
I think he's worse than a meanie. He's a bully. And it's not like he does it deliberately, he just naturally doesn't give a damn about anyone other than himself. I start to wonder if that's the reason why there's no worker in sight (suddenly remembering that I still have to ask him about that!), because he's driven them all away with his attitude.
I lean toward the machina and almost trip, recalling how he almost made me trip too earlier this afternoon, and the fact that I still haven't forgiven him for just kiddin' around. And for my butt. I sigh at the thought of them both and collapse on the ground, tossing the pliers aside.
I don't even know why I'm working on the machina, especially when I'd just taken a (icy) shower to cleanse myself. Now I'm back to greasy hands and sweaty face, frustrated groans and sighs because the only thing I've gotten the machine to do is blink its side lights. But I don't want to see Gippal just chuck it away, treating it cruelly like the other malfunctioning machina. Just because the machina's all roughed up, that doesn't mean it doesn't deserve a chance to improve itself. Doesn't mean it shouldn't be taken care of for a while longer until it feels comfortable enough to walk back to its Pops and say—
The sound of the braking of a hover catches my attention, and I turn toward the open temple doors to see a figure hop off and walk up the steps toward me. For a second my heart stops at the realization that it could be Crimson. And I don't want to see him again, talk to him again, work for him and his dad again, no sirrie bob.
But it turns out not to be Crimson, and that's enough to make me smile. "Can I help you?" I call out cheerfully.
The man approaches me, his face revealed by the dim temple lights as he enters. "Yeah, I'm looking for a few replacement parts for my hover. It's been acting up lately. Uhh, do you know where Gippal is?"
"He's taking a shit."
"Oh." The man rubs the back of his neck and glances downward. "Alright then, I guess, I guess I just might as well just go to Tye's," he laughs lightly before stepping away.
I get up on my feet, grabbing the machina I'd been toying with and chase after him. "Wait!" I hold it out with a bright grin. "Would you be interested in this state-of-the-art machina?"
He smirks at my attempt. "Actually, I'd be more interested in the holder of that machine than the machine itself."
I pull back, blushing faintly and changing my posture into a bit more of a seductive one, bending over slightly. "I made it myself y'know," I whisper.
He laughs, taking a step toward me and examining the machina a bit closer. "Oh, really. What does it do?"
I bite my lip, my mind racing for answers. "It… provides convenient lighting without the use of an electrical plug. And… if you don't like it, you can always take it apart and use its motor instead!" I lean in toward him, the machina pressing into us both. "It's brand new, y'know."
"Brand new?"
"Mmm hmm." I stroke the metal sides delicately, giving him a hopeful look as I lift one of my shoulders up to touch my cheek, smiling sweetly. "What do you say, 5000 gil?"
He shakes his head in amusement. "That's way too much."
"Oh c'mon, it's a flashlight and a brand new motor you're getting, plus a bunch of extra pieces of metal!" I nudge his arms open and place the machina in it as he sighs. I smile at him, running my hand down the side of his neck and whisper, "But I guess, since you're cute, I can give you 4500 gil for it."
He smirks, hesitating for a moment before finally giving in and handing me over the money. I thank him quickly with a peck to the cheek, letting him embrace me a little longer than customary before he leaves the temple with the machina on his hover. When I can no longer see him in the distance, I turn around and squeal, counting the gil in my hand – an amount I haven't held for months, and immediately, a hundred wardrobe ideas flood my mind. But the excitement rapidly dies when I hear Gippal's voice as he walks down the stairs.
"Where's the machine?" his voice slow and firm.
I glance downward immediately. "I-I… Yuh-ah-um… sold it?"
He narrows his eye, his arms immediately in the air as he practically shouts, "What?" He gives me an angry glare, marching down the steps. "I could've added a number of upgrades on that thing and–-"
"You said you were going to melt it!" I squeak out.
"—could've added more features to it, replace the metal, and maybe I would've been able to sell it for a good 3000—"
My eyes instantly light up, and I burst out, "4500."
He stops and looks at me confusedly. "What?" He then glances down at my hand, immediately in disbelief. His jaw dropping and I smile 'cause I've never made his jaw drop before.
I quickly give him the money. "I sold it. For 4500. Not much repairing, I just got the lights working, that's all." The words come out proudly, confidently and I feel good. I feel useful. I feel like I deserve a pat on the back and see Gippal? I'm a valuable asset to your Faction after all.
He takes the money from my hand and scoffs. "What, you offered to fuck him?"
I don't know how to reply as I watch him leave down the hall.
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