Chapter 2
"I'll go tell them we're here," Buddy said, looking around the temple. "The rest of you just hang out." He looked over at me. "That okay?"
"Fine," I replied happily, practically bouncing on the balls of my feet as I looked at all the work going on around me. I knew I was going to enjoy it here. "Go ahead." I was pleased that Buddy had checked with me, since I was the squadron leader. However, I didn't mind him giving orders at times. Having spent so much time with him when we were the Gullwings, I knew he knew what he was doing.
While Buddy went off to find whoever it was that checked us in, I looked around. The place was crawling with Al Bhed. I waved and smiled as those I recognized, and those I didn't. Most waved and smiled back, before turning back to their machina. I walked over to one such thing, a great big one that was propped up against the wall and emitting the occasional burst of sparks.
"Ooh," I couldn't help but say, my voice eager. "What does this do?"
"We're not sure," one of the technicians working on it replied. He glanced up at me, then returned to the wires he was examining. "We found it off the Mi'ihen Highroad a few weeks ago."
"And now you're trying to fix it?" Already I had crouched down next to the technician, my long fingers itching to reach forward and start fiddling with things. "Sounds like fun!"
Another shower of sparks sprayed from an opening in the machina's side. The technician smiled. "You could say that."
I laughed, then heard someone behind me go "Well, well, well, if it isn't Cid's little girl."
I sighed, preparing myself to turn around, having absolutely no doubts on who stood behind me.
"Gippal," I said, putting on my best and brightest smile, not bothering to tell him I have a name. "Hi!"
His eyes swept up and down me, taking in my faded and worn jeans, equally worn brown boots, pink tank top and hastily clipped up hair. I was similarly checking him out, noticing how good he looked his blue t-shirt and jeans even more beat up than mine, riddled with holes and stained with oil and paint, but I was being a bit less obvious about it. Gippal smiled.
"Hi," he replied. "Can't tell you how surprised I was when I found out the First Machina Squadron leader was you. But then, I guess kids like to play with toys."
Yep, same old Gippal. Some things never change.
"I was surprised when I found out the leader of the Machine Faction was you," I countered blithely. "I would have thought your ego would get in the way when you tried to build anything."
Gippal chuckled at that and opened his mouth to say something else when the machina behind me let out another stream of sparks.
"Hey!" Gippal shouted at the technician in Al Bhed, hauling me aside. "Watch what you're doing!"
"Sorry sir," the technician replied automatically, shooting me a furitive glance.
"It's okay," I assured Gippal, wrenching my arm from his grasp. "It's not his fault, the machina's been doing that for a while." My eyes lit up as an idea struck me. "Is this what I'm going to be working on?"
Gippal chuckled again. "No, the stuff you guys want is being built in one of the temple's back rooms."
"Underground?" My face fell. I hated being underground.
"Sort of," Gippal replied. "I'll get someone to show you around."
"Why not do it yourself?" I asked. "Or is showing people around below you?"
"I actually have work to do," Gippal said, ignoring my second question. "Can't stand around chatting with children all day."
Behind him, Brother let out a stream of rather unflattering words in Al Bhed. I giggled.
"Let's see. . ." Gippal scanned the room, pretending not to have heard Brother. He spotted an Al Bhed emerging from one of the temples inner rooms and beckoned him over. "This is Ryhcis," he explained.
The first thought that popped into my head was wow.
Ryhcis was a tall and slim Al Bhed with nut brown skin-- tanned from the sun most likely-- and shoulder length blond hair. It was lighter than mine, less golden, probably lightened from the sun that he seemed to have spent so much time under. It looked soft though, as if it would feel good to run my fingers through.
As he got closer I saw his eyes, swirly irises like all Al Bhed, but with a strange intensity that seemed to freeze me on the spot. Coming up to us, he smiled, and I resisted to urge to pass out cold at his feet.
"Ryhcis, this is the First Machina Squadron, from Bikanel," Gippal introduced us.
"Ah yes, I remember you said they'd be arriving today." Ryhcis made a low bow. "It is Lady Rikku, is it not?" He reached forward, took my hand and pressed it to his lips.
"Yeah," I said faintly. "It's nice to meet--" I broke off, eyes widening. "Wait! I know you!"
His smiled widened. "I did not think you would remember. It was years ago."
"What was?" Gippal demanded, his voice oddly sharp. He was glancing between me and Ryhcis with an odd look on his face, but I hardly noticed.
"Of course I would! I do! You guarded the Summoners Sanctum, and you were there the day. . ." Again I broke off. The memory of the day that Home was destroyed still caused me pain.
"I remember you too!" Brother suddenly spoke up in Al Bhed. "The one at the back! You were responsible for helping so many people out and on the airship, but I don't recall you being on it yourself. . ."
"No, I stayed behind in Bikanel," Ryhcis said, also speaking Al Bhed. I resisted the urge to faint once again. His voice was so smooth and soft, caressing the words in an almost musical way. "With what refugees escaped yet did not make it to the airship. We hid underground during the blast."
"You saved me," I breathed, remembering when I'd led everyone to the airship, then waited behind while they got on and a section of the wall collapsed. I would have been crushed if not for the Al Bhed with piercing eyes that tackled me out of the way.
Gippal cleared his throat. I had to feeling that he was trying to end the conversation. "Well, Ryhcis, I was going to ask you to lead this group to their rooms, but if you're busy then I'll just--"
"I'm on break," Ryhcis said, still smiling at me. "And I'd be happy to."
"Yes, well." Gippal seemed slightly put out. Ryhcis turned and began leading us deeper into the temple. I looked over my shoulder and waved at Gippal, flashing him a cheery smile.
"See you later, Gippal!"
He waved back. "See you later, Cid's Girl!"
I stuck my tongue out at him, then followed Ryhcis and the rest of my squadron down into the depths of the temple.
"This is where you'll be working," Ryhcis said, showing us to a wide, circular room that was currently full of jumbled bits of machina. "The door in the back leads to the basement storage rooms, where we keep all the extra parts and machines we're not currently working on."
"Are the things we need down there?" Buddy asked, thinking practically as ever. I was thinking about how hard it must have been for people to carve such a high, round room from stone. I may be squad leader, but I'd be pretty helpless on my own.
"Yeah," Ryhcis answered. "We'll get a team to help you pull them up in the morning. Let me show you to your rooms for now, however."
He led us away from the circular work room to a hall full of dorms. "You guys are at the end," he said. "It's mostly two to a room, but a few of you are on your own."
"Like me?" Brother asked hopefully in Al Bhed.
"No," Buddy said with a smile. He had moved down the hall and was reading the names posted on the doors. "You're in here with me." He opened the door and went in.
I followed him, looking in curiously from the doorway as Brother pushed past me, muttering under his breath. It looked like a nice enough room, small, but practical. It had two beds on one wall, two dressers on the other, and a door that most likely led to a bathroom.
"Lady Rikku?"
I jumped at the sound of the voice and turned to find Ryhcis smiling at me.
"Your room is down the hall," he said, laughter in his voice. "I don't think there is room for you to stay in here."
"No, of course not," I said, blushing. "I was just looking. . ."
"Right, well, dinner starts at six thirty, in the mess hall," Ryhcis addressed the whole group. "If you get lost, just ask somebody. They'll be happy to help you." He turned back to me, taking my hand once more and raising it to his lips. "Until then."
I smiled at him and stood there for quite a bit longer than necessary, watching him walk away down the hall. Then I turned and found the door to my own room. It was much the same as Brother and Buddy's, only smaller and with just one bed which I dumped my stuff unceremoniously on to.
Dinner at six thirty. . . that gave me about an hour. I thought about going to look for Gippal, than decided against it. I didn't want to seem desperate.
Instead, I decided to take a nap. I lay down on my bed, pulling the clip from my hair and tossing it carelessly to the floor. My thoughts began to wander, focussing on Gippal, remembering the smile he gave me that lit up his face, wondering if he'd ever call me by my name, hoping he'd be at dinner that night. . .
When I awoke a bit later, I found the light streaming through my one small window was much lower, and lit the room with a bright orange glow. I checked the clock to see what time it was. Six forty four.
I scrambled off the bed, my stomach growling. I spared a moment to run a brush through my long gold hair, then searched around for the clip I had thrown aside eariler.
Once I twsited my hair back into it's messy style, I hurried down through the temple until I came to the makeshift mess hall, a large, circular room (what was with these temples and their circles?) that had once been used for services. I grabbed a tray, loaded it up at the counter, then scanned the tables until I found some members from my squadron.
"Hey," I said, sliding in next to Buddy.
"Hey," he replied through a mouthful of thick Al Bhed stew. "What were you doing?"
"Napping," I replied, raising my own spoon. "You?"
"Checking out the temple. They got some nice stuff."
"Oh yeah?" Surreptitiously I glanced around the room for Gippal. I spotted him a few tables away, his arm around the back of some girl's chair. Hastily, I looked away. "Like what?"
"Some pretty impressive machina," Buddy continued, totally unaware that I was only half listening. "Shinra was looking at this one piece--"
"Ysywehk," Shinra cut in. "Almost as good as some of mine. It was a device that--" he launched into an incredibly detailed and complicated description that I don't think any of use followed.
"Is that Gippal's girlfriend?" I asked no one in particular, hoping I sounded casual.
Buddy looked surprised, and glanced over to where Gippal was sitting. "I don't think so," he said.
"It's not," Brother put in, adding a word in Al Bhed that would have earned him a hard smack had our father been there to hear it. "He always has a girl on his arm. You remember what he was like, Rikku, when we were growing up."
"Yeah," I said, and couldn't repress a giggle. Brother had never liked Gippal, and their verbal fights always outdid anything I could have hoped to pull off with either of them. Still, I couldn't help my gaze from straying over there, wondering. . .
After dinner everyone dispersed, some going to their rooms, some going to their machina, some hanging around in the mess hall and talking. I went back to the room where Ryhcis said we'd be working and found some other Al Bhed in there. They introduced themselves as members of the Machine Faction who would be helping us, particularly with bringing up parts from the basement, and then we spent awhile getting to know each other and talking about machina and the reconstruction of Home.
They started drifting away one by one as the night wore on, until I eventually sent the last two off, assuring them I'd put out the candles and that I could find my room on my own.
I was walking around the room, snuffing the torches on the wall, humming softly to myself, when a voice in the door way made me jump.
"Hey," I whirled around to see Gippal lounging casually against the door frame, an expression on his face that clearly said ëlook at how cool I am, you know you can't deny it'.
"Hey," I replied.
The silence stretched. Gippal seemed content to simply stand there and look at me. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore.
"Did you want something?" I asked, sounding annoying even to my own ears.
"I just wanted to make sure you were settling in all right."
"Consideration?" I feigned surprise. "From Gippal?"
"No," he moved into the room at last, putting his face close to mine. "I just didn't want to be bothered by your whining, and thought I'd take the initiative to prevent it."
I put both my hands on his shoulders and shoved him away from me.
"You're so annoying," I said, but I was smiling.
"And you're just as bad," Gippal countered easily. "What are you hanging around here for? Are you waiting for someone?" There was an odd tone to his voice on the last question.
"No, I was just leaving." I moved forward to snuff out the last two lamps, plunging us into semidarkness, the only light being the pale blue one that filtered in from the hallway. "Night, Gippal."
He caught my arm as I moved past him and looked down into my eyes. For a minute, he didn't say anything, then he smiled roguishly. "Night, Cid's Girl. My room's just down the hall from yours if get lonely in the night."
I kicked him in the shin for that, but I didn't kick very hard. I was waiting for some remark like that, and would have been surprised if it didn't come.
Giggling, I darted out of his reach as he made a move to retaliate, and skipped happily down to my room.
Within half an hour I had showered, thrown on my pajamas and dived into bed. I thought back on my conversation with Gippal with both a smile and a sigh. Things hasd't changed between us-- we still had our friendly banter, shot insults and comments back and forth, treated each other kind of like annoying siblings. I couldn't decide if this was a good or bad thing.
Oh well. I rolled over onto my stomach. Tomorrow we'd start hauling the machina pieces from the basement. Tomorrow would be all about business.
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Review, please. I'd like to think this story is like the Beatles song, and is getting a little better all the time, right? Next chapter is cool, I promise. But only if you review. It's in a secret code that's viewable to reviewers only. :)