"What kept you? Was he fussing?" Lulu asked once Rikku appeared on the beach. They had a bonfire going and there were chairs scattered about. Lulu and Paine were sitting by the fire in beach chairs, each with a glass of wine. Yuna and Tidus were sharing a blanket across the fire from them, absorbed in one another. Most of the Aurochs with Wakka and Gippal were playing a game of ball a few yards off, the Celsius men joining in on occasion, but mostly watching and cheering, beer in hand.
"Paine!" Wakka came running over. "Paine! We need one more to even up the teams, yah? Come play!" Wakka urged, grabbing Paine by the hand.
"I can't wait," Paine rolled her eyes, then gave a smile and headed over towards the game. Rikku gave a hoot of encouragement and Lulu tipped her glass to them.
"Can I get you anything Rikku? Did you get a drink? Did you have enough to eat?Lulu asked once the two were left alone.
"Oh, I'm fine," Rikku gestured to the beer beside her in the sand.
"So tell me more," Lulu sat up a bit. "I feel as though we were not in the environment before where you could be completely honest," Lulu flicked her eyes across the fire to where Yuna lay on her blanket with Tidus watching the sky.
"It's not that I can't be, it's just," Rikku trailed off looking for the right words. "She and I are in such different places right now, Lu, you know? It's hard," Rikku shrugged, her voice getting a little smaller. "She's so sure of everything. She's all set. Nothing left to worry about. They're going to get married, have a couple of kids and live happily ever after in Besaid. That's all she's wanted since she met him." Rikku tugged off her boots and dug her bare feet into the soft sand.
"And you? What place are you in?" Lulu asked calmly.
"I don't even know!" Rikku sighed, dropping her hands by her sides in a huff. "Now that there's no Spira-wide crisis for me to solve everyone wants to know what my plans are. I never made any long term ones! I was never sure I was going to be alive to see tomorrow, and even if I was, half the time Spira wasn't expected to BE HERE! How's a girl supposed to make plans with world destruction threats all the time?" Rikku yelped and Lulu laughed.
"Oh Rikku, you can't be serious."
"Only a little," Rikku admitted, wrinkling her nose and digging her feet further into the sand.
"And the rest of the truth?" Lulu asked.
"I guess I'm just not ready," Rikku shrugged. "Once I'm married and I take over? I can't be hopping on the Celsius to see what's doing in the Omega Ruins, I can't pop over to Luca for the day to catch up with friends and check out a new club, or just hit Kilika for a day to lay on the beach? I don't know that I'm ready to give up all the fun!" Rikku half smiled against her will.
"Now, I don't think you'd have to give up everything?" Lulu tried.
"Lulu," Rikku said flatly. "A respectable leader cannot do a keg stand in a miniskirt."
"Well, now, who CAN?" Lulu smirked.
"You know what I mean. I have to stop dressing how I want and stop being myself in order to take on this role that maybe I never really wanted to take in the first place, y'know?" Rikku shrugged.
"Who says that?" Lulu asked in disbelief.
"Everyone. Pops. Yuna," Rikku nodded her head towards her cousin.
"Hm," Lulu let the thoughts roll around in her head before she spoke.
"She thinks I'm being selfish." Rikku said quietly after a long pause.
"That doesn't sound like Yuna," Lulu said.
"She's said it before. It's just hard. She's got this perfect plan and a perfect life. But that perfect plan isn't perfect for everyone, it's perfect for her," Rikku said, tracing lines in the sand around her beer bottle.
"That's absolutely right," Lulu nodded.
"Her and Pops, I swear they're in this together. Always on my case about finding a man, getting my act together, waking up on time, being a responsible adult. I'm barely an adult as it is. Everyone seems to know what's right for me, these days, you know?" Rikku looked up at Lulu.
"They just care about you, Rikku?" Lulu offered.
"I know, I know. I don't have the slightest clue and Yuna seems to think she knows everything. But how do THEY know what's right for me when I have no idea what's right for myself?" Rikku rolled her eyes and took a sip from her drink.
"Perhaps that's exactly the answer you are looking for?" Lulu shrugged.
"Huh?"
"You have never been one to do things by the book, dear," Lulu smiled. "An Al Bhed girl, and you really were just a girl at the time, denouncing her faith and heritage to become a guardian on a pilgrimage of Yevon?" Lulu raised an eyebrow.
"She's like my sister! What was I supposed to do?" Rikku brushed Lulu's blatant compliment off.
"You've lived as a proud upstanding Al Bhed member of Spiran society among Yevonites before and after the tear down of the wall between them. You and your Gullwings have always been unorthodox sphere hunters," Lulu carried on.
"Yeah, saving the world isn't usually in the job description," Rikku grinned.
"I can't say you would treat leading your people unlike any other challenge you faced yet. You will do things your way. You'll do what your heart tells you, and you'll be the same Rikku that has gotten you this far, and it will be perfect for you," Lulu sipped her wine and settled into her chair a little more. Rikku blushed a bit.
"You're so smart, Lulu," Rikku stifled a giggle.
"So they say," Lulu's lips turned up in a smile as she glanced at the stars.
"So how come you haven't helped Yuna? She's turning into a grouch!" Rikku let out a little laugh.
"Ah yes, our Yuna," Lulu sighed.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Rikku took a glimpse up from her lines in the sand to shoot Lulu a grin.
"You and Yuna have always been different, Rikku." Lulu started.
"Yeah, but how come it never mattered before?" Rikku asked.
"When you were very young, it wasn't apparent enough. But I think you can both agree that when you joined us on Yuna's pilgrimage you were not seeing eye to eye," Lulu said, a knowing smirk. She was always right.
"Yeah," Rikku agreed, a half smile of defeat creeping across her lips.
"You girls have very different needs. Yuna needs structure, a plan, a purpose and answers. You need food, water, the people you love and a full tank of gas," Lulu said with a laugh.
"Don't forget the booze!" Rikku joked, tipping back another swig.
"Precisely," Lulu tacked on. "The older you girls got, the faster you started growing up. Yuna was forced into a very mature role at a very young age, much like yourself living as an heiress with the weight of ruling always around the corner. She's exhausted and is finally passed the stress and the burden. You however, are yet to begin."
"Don't remind me," Rikku grumbled.
"Yuna can't live in the now the way you can. You can return to the same places with the same people again and again and see something different every time. Yuna is too caught up in what happened there before. She is ready to settle down, to have her life and family, but there is so much in the way of that. Your life doesn't help," Lulu went on.
"MY LIFE?! All she says about my life is how I need to CHANGE it!" Rikku sat up straight and pointed to herself.
"No, No, not like that. You and Paine, you live a carefree life. You're both so happy and content with everything you have. She has everything just out of reach. She wants to be able to live like you her way," Lulu tried. "She has everything she wants before her. Her job with you Gullwings performing is one that she loves, and she loves that your fans are always so happy and she can make their day with a hand shake, but she's tired, Rikku. She can't leave you girls, but at the same time, everything she wants isn't working out just right either yet." Lulu was fumbling for words, her wisdom getting clouded by red wine.
"Are you trying to Lulu up the fact that Tidus can't please her and won't give her a ring?" Rikku smirked.
"That is EXACTLY what I'm doing." Lulu replied with a sigh, a hand over her eyes. Rikku burst into laughter.
"Whoa-ho Paine! You sure got a cannon on you! You oughta come out for the next blitz season! I'll put you on my team, yah?" Wakka gave Paine a playful nudge in the shoulder with a fist clamped around his bottle of beer.
"I'll get back to you if this Gullwings thing doesn't work out," Paine joked.
"Bah! No way! Lu'd kill me if I broke up the Gullwings for blitzball," Wakka said loudly enough for the people around him to hear. "But seriously, you call me if this is a farewell tour, yah?" he leaned in close to Paine and spoke quietly.
"Wakka!" She laughed.
"She'd never do it. She can't leave her bestest friend Rikku all by her lonesome," Gippal joked, speaking in a high pitched girly voice. The three friends were standing a good distance from the fire lazily tossing a ball around.
"Well, I suppose I could just leave her with YOU?" Paine taunted, a wise smirk on her face. Gippal's face fell.
"Why would you do a thing like that? You know she can't stand me?" Gippal growled through clenched teeth.
"Aw, no, Gip! Again?" Wakka's shoulders sagged. Gippal looked away and took a long hard drink from his beer.
"What, she and I not being in the same room without destroying one another? That's old news," he finally snapped.
"Y'know, I really thought you kids were gonna make it," Wakka shook his head.
"Oh really, now?" Paine gave Gippal a sarcastic hopeful look. He glared back at her.
"Of course! That's such a shame you two are on the rocks again," Wakka said sincerely.
"I think we're on them for good," Gippal sighed, glancing over where Rikku and Lulu were laughing by the fire. She had put on a jacket in the cool night air and was absentmindedly braiding her hair while she chatted with Lulu. He had played a crummy game earlier, losing his focus every time her laugh carried over to their ball game. He tried to blame it on the beer. Paine knew better than that.
"That's too bad, Bruddah," Wakka sipped his beer. "I thought you and Little Rik were going to be like Lu and I," he said, a huge grin spreading on his face.
"Aw, wouldn't that be the sweetest?" Paine teased.
"Shut up, Paine," Gippal grumbled.
"I can't even begin to tell you. You ever been in love, Paine?" Wakka turned to Paine, his eye lids heavy and his grin persistent.
"What, me? God no," Paine said quickly.
"Oh, Paine! You're missing out, yah? Tell her Gippal!" Wakka urged.
"I've never been in love?" Gippal looked away and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Gip," Wakka gave him a dirty look. "Do not stand here and lie to me, you'll ruin this beautiful night we're all having."
"Guys like me, Wakka? We don't fall in love," Gippal shook his head and looked out over the ocean.
"You can lie if you want, Bruddah, but I know!" Wakka wagged a finger in Gippal's face. He swatted the older man away. "I've seen the way you've always looked at her? I know! And not just those legs either! Now, don't tell my wife, but I had to look away on that pilgrimage, yah? Those shorts? HOO BOY! But now? I don't feel as guilty. She's a woman."
"Oh gross," Paine put a hand over her face.
"What? She's a beautiful lady, yah?" Wakka nudged Gippal. "Come on! Gip, are you going to stand here and tell Paine, what is it they call you?" He looked at Paine. She scowled and rolled her eyes.
"Dr. P." She sighed.
"You're gonna lie to Dr. P and tell her you were never in love, Bruddah?" Wakka kept on.
"Wakka, could you just drop it?" Gippal asked.
"Some day, Bruddah. When you meet that woman, and she just drives you CRAZY!" Wakka began. "When she's all you can think about, you can't sleep at night cause the only thing on your mind is her eyes, or the way her hands do this crazy little thing before she thundagas you for being a pig? Ooohhhhman! And how she smells? Her hair! You just want to touch it! You want to know how I knew Lu was the one?" Wakka threw an arm around Gippal.
"Not really?" Gippal sighed.
"I knew that Lu was the girl for me, because all I ever want to do for the rest of my life? Is wake up next to her," Wakka said, poking Gippal in the chest with his index finger to make his point.
"I'm sure those massive breasts have nothing to do with it," Paine joked.
"They are nice, yah?" Wakka winked. "But really, you two. That's the key. I can't get enough of her. I want her there when I wake up, when I fall asleep, every time I come home, she's there and every time it's like the first time, Bruddah! You've never had that?" Wakka looked at Gippal. Gippal tried to push the thoughts of Rikku's straight blond hair out of his head, her stupid tiny waist and her stupid perfect eyes and stupid perfect smile. How badly he DID want to stay with her.
"No," Gippal swallowed hard.
"Aw, you will, yah?" Wakka clapped Gippal on the back.
"Sure," Gippal forced a smile.
"Let's get some more of these and hang out with the gang, yah? Come on!" Wakka waved his arm and headed back to the camp fire where everyone was sitting. Paine grabbed Gippal by the arm to stop him briefly.
"What?" he jerked his arm back and gave her a dirty look.
"You lying sack of shit," She smirked.
"Dr P, don't."
"You're SO in love with her! Why can't you get over yourself?" Paine gave him a gentle shove.
"I'm not in love with her, just leave me alone," Gippal held his hands up.
"What's your problem? I thought you were irresistible?" Paine mimicked his voice.
"Paine, I am going to ask you this one more time," Gippal warned. "Fucking drop it."
"Okay, yikes," Paine crossed her arms over her chest and walked back towards the fire leaving Gippal behind to wallow.