The Joker and the Thief

Chapter 3

Enjoy!

Any time that I can share a meal in public with my brother without cause for concerned stares and stain removers, I consider it pretty successful. Considering we ate lunch at a place that serves anything with tentaclesand anything with dipping sauce, lunch today fell into the (narrowly) successful category.

Blitz starts in little over an hour though so Brother and I decide to leave the Nautilus. The stadium is pretty close, of course we have to walk all the way out past the harbor, but we can only get there by foot anyway, so it doesn't really matter. It towers over everything else in sight. I'm surprised by its size every time I see it. Naturally I have that appreciation for the nuts and bolts of the thing that only we Al Bhed have, and I know Pops would just absolutely love a tour of all the inner workings of it.

By the time we've walked to the stadium, there isn't much of a line outside because there's about a bazillion turnstiles. Luca knows what's up in the name of efficiency, clearly. We walk in to discover that finding seats in the place is going to be a whole nother story. We spot two seats up in the nosebleeds. I begin speeding up the steps to get to them in time.

"WAITS! Wait for meeee!" Brother quickly stumbles up the steps trying to keep up, but I ignore him because I know he'll catch up. We successfully claim the seats shortly before kickoff.

I knew this game was going to be disasteriffic. Brother whines next to me. He's slumped in his seat with his head in his hand.

"Why! Whywhywhywhy!" I make a face at him. My thoughts exactly.

After our gut-wrenching loss, we get hot dogs at the concession stand to help us eat our emotions.

"There will be other games, yes?" says Brother with his mouth full. I nod my head because I too, am stuffing my face. As we're leaving the stadium, I notice the tiny souvenir stand by the exit. I smile to myself as I buy Pops a tiny working replica of the stadium on our way out. We walk back to Rin's in silence. We're totally pooped. I need sleep. Brother needs sleep, since he's flying back in the morning. We get back to Rin's and immediately collapse in our respective beds.

Have you ever been woken up because someone was staring at you? Brother scares me to death sometimes. Especially when he tries to wake someone up. He tells me he's leaving and the last thing I remember was telling him to be safe, before I slipped back off to sleep.

Well, day one of soul searching has not been productive since I slept until 3 in the afternoon. That has put a bit of a damper on my mood. I never used to sleep in at home, and I'm really surprised I did here, of all places. Whatever, I have exploring to do. Before I get out of bed, I take the time to appreciate the suite I'm in. Rin's outdone himself. Everything in here is black and white and modern, but somehow still very homey…like the chocobo down pillows and comforter. Obviously, I know that he doesn't have any design sense, but I know this place probably cost him a quite a bit to get going. Surely he's raking in profits though, his travel agencies are pretty well known all over, and this is a huge metropolis. Anyway, it really is a beautiful room. Nothing like his other places that were all function and no form. I stretch as hard as I can before I push off the covers and dig my toes into the soft ivory carpet. First thing's first, I need to find a hover that I can rent or buy. I've made two trips all around Spira on foot, and I don't plan to do it again. I just don't know where to look for a hover for sale.

Let's pause. I know what you're thinking: "Plot hole! Where did money for a vehicle come from all of a sudden? It's not like she's living there forever!" And I'll have you know, that it is most certainly not a plot hole. What do you think this is? Fan fiction or something? Jeeze. We're talking about my life, here. And believe me, it's worth the price no matter what, after having done without for so long. Anyway, about the money, first things first. I have two main sources of income. One was with the Gullwings. Any loot we found was split 3 ways, and I'm a pretty good saver. Secondly, I made money in one of the digging crews, just like everyone else. Those are the two main ways. Pops has also been known to spoil his only daughter from time to time, and my 18th birthday was no exception especially because he knew I was leaving, he wanted me to make sure I was well taken care of on my trip. Now, let's resume, shall we?

I walk to the front desk and ask the clerk where the nearest hover dealership was, and she directed me to it pretty easily. I'm really glad Rin's is on the main drag because everything so far has been within walking distance. I don't really need anything fancy, just something to get me from place to place. I get there in about 10 minutes, enjoying the sights and the weather. Once I get there, I see that there's a pretty big selection to choose from, but I walk into the dealership itself.

"Hi, may I help you?" Says the woman at the front desk. She looks sort of like Yuna and she's definitely half Al Bhed. I hope she knows what she's doing.

"Hi, yeah, I'm looking into buying a hover!" I say, excited.

"Great! Do you have any idea of what you're looking for?"

"I just need something durable. It doesn't need to be pretty." Her eyes sparkle.

"We've got just the thing."

She leads me to a very sturdy looking, yet very compact hover with a black exterior and a yellow motor.

"That's badass." I say. The woman nods her head. "How much?"

"6500."

"6000."

"6450"

"6300"

"Deal." I say. Haggling's just a formality. She takes me back into the dealership where I pay, sign the papers, and she gives me the keys. I drive the hover that is yet to be named back to Rin's. I'm not leaving Luca just yet, and I don't need it everywhere I go.

I wanna do stuff, but I don't really know what there is to do around here. I mean, I could just walk around aimlessly, but what's the point in that? I've been here a couple of times, sure, but that doesn't account for much. Luca's a really big place with a lot of quirks, and I just don't know where to start. Ha! I could just stay here in my room and explore the room service. When in doubt, always go for a burger that costs twice what it's worth. Ugh. I really might do it. It's almost too late in the day to do too much else. I'm so pissed I slept all day! Who does that? I could call Yuna. I haven't talked to her since I left. I get the CommSphere out of my bag and put it on my bed. I situate myself in front of it and mess with the dials and buttons.

"Hey-eyyy." I say, smiling.

"Rikku! How are you?" she asks me.

"I'm okay, I made it to Luca, as you can probably see." I motion around me to my room. "How's the simple life?" She laughs.

"Perfect as ever. Wakka and Tidus have been training pretty hard all week. Actually that's what they're doing now." I nod my head. "So what have you gotten into since you've been in Luca?"

"Not much yet. Believe it or not -actually I'll have to get up and show you," I say getting up and grabbing the CommSphere, "This is Rin's new place. Can you believe this?" I turn the commsphere where she can see the rest of the room, from the cozy sitting area to the panoramic window and balcony.

"Whoa!"

"I know! Don't even get me started on the bathroom!" I walk to the bathroom and open the door. Theres a large tub with claw feet and the walls are made of stone. There's a huge basin sink and plenty of counterspace. The bathroom alone is pretty much the size of an entire room alone at any of Rin's other places.

"This place is huge!" Yuna says, shocked.

"It really is, and I don't know if this is like a penthouse suite or if this is all standard. The best part is, I'm staying here f-r-e-e."

"Seriously!"

"Seriously. Yeah, I told Rin I was going to be doing some traveling, and that was the end of it. He told me when I got here I could stay for free, but he didn't make it sound like it'd be anything like this."

"Wow."

"Yeah, but what else? Oh! Yeah, Brother and I went to watch the Psyches play, that was a disaster, as I'm sure you know."

"Yeah, Wakka wouldn't shut up about it."

"Ha! I always thought that was so ironic, he hated us for so long, but now, he loves our team, he's so weird." I laugh. I know he means well.

"I know. Funny how that works. Done any other sight seeing?"

"Nah, not really. I actually bought a hover today though. I can't be bothered constantly renting. Other than that, I don't really know what else to do here. I know there's plenty of shopping, but I feel like that undermines my soul searching theme, ya know?" Yuna giggles.

"No rules against style searching," she says with a clever smile.

"That's very true." I nod my head.

"You could go to the beach. Not like you need a better tan." I stick my tongue out at her. She laughs. "Or you could go to the sphere theater."

"Ooh, that's a thought." I say. "I wouldn't mind going to the beach either, I mean, I'm around plenty of sand as it is, but it'd be nice to at least have the option of being near water." Yuna nods her head matter-of-factly. "Soooooo," I say. Yuna starts to purse her lips.

"'Sooooo' what?"

"How're things?"

"Fine," She says. Ugh. Gotta spell it out. I stare at her for a second. She tries not to smile.

"But how's your love life?" I whine, and Yuna's satisfaction is evident.

"It's great," She says enthusiastically.

"Glad to hear it! Where are you guys staying?"

"You know those weavers that lived next to Wakka and Lulu?" I nod my head.

"They actually moved to Luca to work and sell their stuff. You should see if you can find them. Anyway, we're living where they were."

"Oh! Neat. How is the happy family, anyway?"

"Oh my gosh. Vidina's a mess. Wakka's just as bad, Lulu's trying to hold it all together."

"Sounds about right. But that's good though. How's Tidus readjusting to existence?"

"Pretty well. I do think it helps that Wakka's around. I mean, he's got me, but Wakka was the first person, other than you, to take him in, so I think we made the right decision staying here."

"Seems to be. Heard from Paine recently?" Yuna makes a face.

"No. I think the last time was about a month and a half ago. She's still doing well. She was still in Bevelle last time I talked to her. You should try and get in touch with her while you're out there."

"Yeah I haven't talked to her any more recently than that either. But I still might visit her." I giggle. "I don't know if she'd hug me or kill me for showing up!"

"Aww, I'm sure she'd hug you…but probably insult you at the same time." Yuna laughs.

"It's so true!" Yuna chuckles.

"Well I gotta go, we're going over to Lulu's for dinner in a bit and I gotta take care of Vidina while she cooks."

"Aw. Give Vidina my kisses!" I say. That baby is too stinkin' cute. "I'll try and come see you guys before too long. But don't tell anyone, promise?"

"Promise!" We're little girls again. I love these moments.

"Bye!"

"Bye, Rikku."

The screen goes blank and I look out the window. The sun is starting to set. It's not really that late but the time of day is always magnified when its set against the ocean. I feel so weird, being by myself, without any real responsibilities. Its so different from what I'm used to. Maybe soon, I'll convince Paine to go clubbing here with me. As far as I can guess, that'd go over like a lead balloon, but then again, she always surprises me. She's probably a classically trained ballerina. With her, you never know. I mean she was in the Crimson Squad with Gippal. Who knew? We wouldn't have if she hadn't told us.

Gippal. There's a name. Haven't thought about him in months. Which is totally fine, believe me. I wonder though, at this very moment, from a scale of one to ten, how much of a dick he's being to someone right now. My guess is at least a solid 6. He's never lower than a 4, at least not to me. Meanie. I rub my hands over my face.

That claw-footed bathtub is calling my name. So are these pillows. I better rest up if I'm gonna spend all my energy falling asleep on the beach tomorrow. I stand up and walk back into the bathroom, and shut the door behind me. Honestly, I'm pretty excited about using these towels because they feel ah-mazing. I turn the water on and stop the drain once it's hot enough. I step out of my clothes and into the water once the tub is full enough. I lean back and close my eyes and just relax for a bit. This is so nice. Peace and quiet, no sand anywhere, no Brother, (I love him, but I gotta take him in doses), just warm water and quiet.

So much quiet that 15 minutes later, I realize I dozed off. Awesome. Water's cold now. I wash up anyway and drain the tub. I step out and am grateful for the towels and the robe. I brush my teeth and walk back into my room. I smile because it's dark out now. The stadium is like a beacon through my window. I dig around in my bag for some jammies and put them on. Since I've had a head start, it doesn't take me long until I'm asleep again.

Tomorrow will be better, because I'll have one, because I'll wake up on time. Really.

I know things seem sort of choppy right now, but things will start to even out soon enough. Promise! Rate and Review, pretty please