Lap 8

This was when Rick and Tinsel got their wedding gifts!

With only a week left, they were invited to the Falcon House personally along with the Mobile Task Force as the duo were seated on their usual stools. They had to face the opposing side from the counter while their presents arrived through the door!

At first, they were pretty small and often wrapped up in envelopes. According to Rick, who stayed true to his Japanese heritage, he identified them as shugi-bukuro. Before anyone questioned what that meant, the Task Force members along with Gordon and Yugi, whom the latter gave out Solomon and the Duelists' cash, humbly gave the envelopes out to the happy soon-to-be couple.

Samurai Goroh wanted to give the couple his and the family's own checks personally as Rick noticed the red-white emblem, just like the symbol on his mentor's bandanna; they were encoded in Japanese, but there was a note saying that one of his colleagues cashed in the Desert Kingdom's gems as the pirates were stealing them from Princia Ramode just before Rick arrived and the meteor shower struck; Sasuke did most of the work since she was presumed to be the most immune to the succubus' charm. They were over 500,000 space credits total! Tinsel was impressed on how generous he was for going thru great risks for his own generosity to his disciple. Thankfully, no one was caught nor grew suspicious, but they were grateful Goroh did so much for them. She was starting to think of Goroh as a sort of antihero, no longer worried he and his gang could pull some cheap tricks. Well...only him and his ninja sidekick, Sasuke, anyway.

Rick had finally saw what was delivered by Burt's personal tailor, who was the same person that designed Burt's own tux; Andy himself was saving it for the night before the wedding so he could surprise the special couple, but he didn't want to wait that long. Through the thick plastic and hanging on a wide hanger from a tall pole, Rick examined the dark cerulean suit; it was exactly what he wanted! His suit was a phenomenal medium size and like Burt's tux, it too had a white underling to it. The tie was also in dark cerulean, only it had very thin stripes accompanying the shade. He also had a pair of black, shiny, 7 ft. shoes, and his pants was the same color as the top piece.

For Tinsel's wedding gown it was just as she wanted from the small bank she painted several months prior; in fact, it was borrowed as a guide for the professional tailor. She felt as giddy as a kid on Christmas when she saw the silvery, medium-sized dress with a delicate neckpiece, as well as turquoise comets descending on the flowing gown! She too had a pair of 6 1/2 shoes that sparkled as much as seltzer. Burt offered the pair to have their fancy, dandy outfits as long as they'd be protected by the plastic and left on the hangers until the night before their wedding, which was a good chance to try them out.

The main gift, of course, was money, about 5000 space credits each tucked in a shugi-bukuro, which had gold and silver strings that were impossible to unknot, even with the most coordinated fingers; EAD and Gazelle didn't wanted to untie them. The other gifts were given in ornate rice-paper envelopes. In total, both the fiancés received almost three quarters of 1 million space credits total, which they presumed it was enough to pay the mortgage for Falcon's Fortress twice! Just in time to pay their dues before they'd make it their official living quarters!

After that, they headed to Port Town to pay the fortress' hefty price electronically as the envelopes were being sent and the counter reached 0 space credits. It was all paid, and they still had several hundred thousand credits to spare! They also noticed that there was a group of large, elaborate drums with exotic engravings.

Tinsel stormed over to them, in awe, "Hey, aren't those the same drums we saw since our first night in Giant?"

"Yeah, that's right, Tinsel." Rick replied. "Hey, there's two packages here." He lifted them up, wrapped in ornate paper and thin rope, and there was a note in which the Elder received word of the merry occasion; it was a surprise since they hadn't remained in touch with him for over a year since his people detests technology.

He gave one to Tinsel and they began to unwrap them: hers revealed a silky black dress decorated with white specs in which she figured represented stars, there was also a blue constellation shaping like a tortoise, there was a very sleek piece hanging under the dress which shaped like a snake much to her amazement, and a pair of black leather shoes shaped like snapping turtle heads completed the set.

"Wow. This is great," she whispered as she admired the clothes. "I can't believe it's from Planet Giant, I guess cause it's so authentic and organic..." She really loved the sensation.

Rick was also impressed of his own attire, more tribal than hers: He had a massive headdress consisting on bright vermillion long feathers in conjunction with some white ones; some were sticking outwards while others drooped at its undersides. He also obtained a thick amber wardrobe covering his body, arms, and legs. Moccasins completed the set along with a few small pints containing facial paint.

"This is amazing." His smile then broke, "But how would the Elder know about us being married?" He picked up the letter again; according to this, he apologized it arrived so late as he was learning of the four Elementals in which their outfits represented half of them, the Genbu (aka the Black Tortoise/Dark Warrior) and the Ryu Suzaku (aka the Vermillion Dragon/Bird)!

Tinsel was astonished Rick's machine was based on the guardian of summer, and she seemed to be the personification of the guardian of winter as was him with his; no wonder since her birthday was at the end of January and Rick's was in the 28th of July, he's fiery while she gets coldhearted and his flames melt the ice while her meekness quells the flames, she's more introverted while Rick's an extrovert... The opposites were staggering, and the outfits symbolized this.

Even though Giant was known to house the four Materia Deities, they were impressed they also knew of the four seasonal guardians from Chinese mythology on Earth.

They wondered if maybe one of Goroh's associates knew of this, and possibly passed it on...

While Rick offered to try on his enticing outfit, as Tinsel followed suit, their eyes grew wide! They felt their last remark was justified since there was a large taiko just outside the garage! They looked out the window and it was smack dab next to the door; they probably didn't notice since its colossal size blended in with the dark corner! Luckily, it was on wheels so it was so much easier for transport since they were known to weigh a ton. Heck to add more convenience, there was a small golden gong folded into it at the right side within a medium black frame! Goroh certainly did drop it off here! This could be perfect to help themselves meditate, or-

Just then, as Tinsel was looking over it, Rick took the long decorative wand attached to the left side, and tested it out, she watched and it put her in a state of entice; she then offered to hit it a few times as he went to change into his tribal attire. She immediately did the same before he emerged. Their wonder just overwhelmed themselves as they gazed at each other silently. Then, after a pregnant pause, Tinsel went and hit on the set of the Giant drums using her hands and a steady rhythm, one she said she mimicked from an Indian ceremony she saw while she was a kid on Televid. Rick added to her slow beats, and soon something odd happened; as if they felt numb, just like that night at Giant during the Young Capt. Falcon's 51st mission. At times, she stopped and began to squirm low to the ground and rise slowly while Rick continued to encourage her to dance for him. His beats became harder as a sign for her to keep moving. They both still had this desire just as before...this feeling. Then, he tapped the gong attached to the taiko's side which let out a deep tone, and he motioned her to come forward.

She slowly walked toward him as he did, then they embraced each other in their warm bodies. Next, they kissed passionately and slowly, their mouths watering, their hearts and pulses racing. The drums seemed to have made them swoon and slowly, they trawled to the opaque bedroom, and with only a week to go, they caved into their urges, not without protection of course.

Before they knew, it was finally Rick and Tinsel's big day at last! It came just as fast as the Full Power Booster Fire the Dragon Bird EX once executed.

At the Falcon House, Rick was seated at one of the stools while Lucy was applying his final touches of his cerulean suit, including adjusting his white collar and pinning the golden falcon pin; he smiled as he looked into a small, circular mirror, though it wasn't enough resolution to see his entire makeover.

"How do I look?"

"You look amazing, Rick," she replied with a grin. Lucy was wearing a headband with flowers that matched her white, petite dress. "Finito!" she declared as she backed away, her eyes gleaming. Rick rose and admired himself; his shade of his suit made him wish Falcon would be watching over the ceremony, as would Dr. Clash, Atem, and especially Haruka. He asked where Tinsel was, and she already was on her way to Mute City's Knight League course.

Lucy took Rick in the Elegance Liberty and assured PJ would take him and Tinsel to their honeymoon in Port Town. During the drive, Rick looked over the front seat, barely seeing the seating order on the small monitor.

The seating order was rearranged from the front rows of seats to the rear; unlike traditional weddings, they weren't split into halves for the bride/groom sides. The intel read as follows:

Luna (silver dress), Jack (black swap), Phoenix (black suit)
Rodney (white suit), Robert (white swap), Jody (white swap), PJ (black swap)
Goroh (red swap), Lisa (teal dress), Dai Goroh (black suit), Gomar & Shioh (black suits)
Beastman (black suit), Leon (black suit), Lucy (white dress), Solomon (navy blue suit)
Digi-Boy (blue suit), Alias (yellow buttoned suit), Clank (black suit), Mokuba (navy blue suit)
Commissioner (white uniform), Alias' mom (white dress), Gazelle, Tanaka (blue suit)
Kate (green dress), EAD (black swap), Gordon (brown suit), Octoman (blue swap)
Yugi (navy blue suit), Joey (navy blue suit), Serenity (white dress), Tristan (navy blue suit)
Téa (white dress), Mai (black coat and pants), Mrs. Arrow (white swap)/Archer Arrow (black suit), Super Arrow (blue swap)/Zukk (red tie)

And finally, Burt Lemming had decided on a spiffy black tux along with a white undershirt and a red tie, jet-black pants, and black suede shoes, just waiting proudly on the track awaiting the groom.

A/N: The scene in which Rick and Tinsel received the envelopes almost reminded me of a similar scene in Goodfellas; in which Henry and Karen got the same during the start of their wedding. I found the traditional Japanese gifts to be interesting, even the shugi-bukuro, and there'd be more customs within the next chapter.

Heck, Rick and Tinsel need something to either help them meditate or turn them on; just like their first night in Giant. If you want to see what I mean, check out the 2nd Lap in The Power of the Falcon. When I was a little kid, I was always enticed by the exotic drums, those in the classic Sesame Street clips. Not sure why, but now you see how Rick and Tinsel got their own tribal outfits representing the Genbu and the Ryu Suzaku respectively.

I thought it'd be awesome to have the couple as personifications of two of the four seasonal guardians in Chinese mythology; not sure who would symbolize fall and spring yet...

Also, I had a lot of complications involving the seating order of all the guests; the idea was loosely based on Fanfictiondreamer's table she once made before she left DeviantArt, all because of the damned fallout we had! Hopefully, I'll be able to make mine soon.

Can't wait to release the two-part finale and celebrate Rick and Tinsel's wedding day!