Chapter 12 – What a Girl Does in Her Free Time
The girls slumped into the Celsius, each one breathing a sigh of relief as they entered. Yuna took Rikku to rest in the cabin. Noticing the large bandage on his sister's head, Brother nearly had a coronary when he saw her. No amount of soothing from Paine sedated his hysteria. Yuna shook her head and chuckled under her breath while she watched the scene between Paine and Brother unfold. She would rather deal with a frantic Brother over the Bevelle depths any day. After Brother finally calmed himself, Yuna gave Shinra the spheres they had collected. She hoped he could decipher something else from them, even if she doubted the burnt sphere held any function left.
The girls mosied on to the bar where Barkeep had a refreshing stew made up of beef, carrots, tomatoes, celery, and spices waiting for them. The warm aroma permeated the room, breathing some much-needed comfort into Yuna's lungs. Vegnagun could wait because hunger overcame her. She complimented the culinary prowess Barkeep possessed. Rikku noted eating Barkeep's food tasted a lot better than the grub Cid made when growing up. Yuna and Paine both laughed, believing her story entirely. With the way her father acted, he probably couldn't concentrate long enough to make instant pudding, let alone a home-cooked meal.
"So Rikku, what happened to you while we were still under Bevelle?" asked Yuna.
Rikku paused for a moment, finishing chewing the food in her mouth. "Well, it's like I told you. For a while, I was going in and out, and Baralai had taken me up to that room in the temple."
"Right," chimed in Paine, a bit curious herself. "Anything else?"
"Hmm, when I came to, Baralai had just left. A priest was there finishing with my bandages. Then he left in a huff. He told Gippal to go in and entertain me until Baralai returned."
Yuna's eyes popped open in surprise. "You mean Gippal was with him?"
"Yeah, I guess so," Rikku replied, a dribble of broth running down the corner of her mouth. "Oh, and he told me what happened before between him and Baralai."
"Go on, enlighten us," urged Paine, leaning in closer to Rikku.
Rikku cleared her throat. "Well okay, here's what he told me . . ."
When we got out of Bevelle before, Gippal slid down those big chains just like we did. The reason he was there, and this took a lot of nagging to get out of him, was because he thought Baralai was going to use Vegnagun. I was kinda surprised to hear that myself because Baralai of all people didn't seem like the person to use a big scary weapon like Vegnagun.
Anyway, before he could reach the chamber with Vegnagun in it, Baralai confronted him. He set him up for a trap, which was actually meant for us. Although, it was only two stupid machina guards Bevelle used. Gippal thought Baralai had pulled a fast one on him. What Gippal didn't find out until later was that Nooj was nearby. Apparently, at least this is what Gippal knew, was that Nooj and one of the old Maesters were plotting against Baralai.
Baralai played to Nooj's displeasure by acting submissive to him. See, the machina he set up against Gippal was defective, so they were easy to beat. They did hold out long enough to satisfy Nooj. Then Baralai convinced Gippal to leave until he contacted him later.
Yuna and Paine sat dumbfounded by such a wild story. When they began to think about it, some sense could be made from it all. Baralai must have noticed that Nooj acted outside of his normal manner. The Maester Rikku referred to must have been Maester Kinoc. Even though Seymour killed him two years ago, somehow he had returned.
"What else did he talk to you about?" prodded Yuna further.
Rikku looked away at Yuna, cracking a slight smile. "Uh, oh, nothing much after that really. So, yeah, what happened with you guys?"
"We trudged through miserable hallways that were dark, gloomy, and full of things I never want to see again," Paine grumbled abruptly.
Rikku rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know that too—see my head! I mean, what went on down there?"
"We ended up listening in on a meeting between Nooj, Gippal, and Baralai. For some reason, Nooj put a gun to Baralai's head. Some weird glow surrounded him and shot into Baralai. Then Baralai ended up pointing a gun at Gippal. It was a mess!" Yuna explained, only half-understanding what transpired herself.
"Is Gippal okay? Did anything bad happen to him?" Rikku asked suddenly, perking up at the mention of his name.
"We don't know," replied Paine glumly. "We got attacked by a fiend. By the time we defeated it, they all were gone."
Rikku looked worriedly down at her food. Paine cracked a mischievous smile across her face, picking up a hint of something off of Rikku's hesitant behavior.
"Why? You got a thing for Gippal or something?" she joked.
Rikku's cheeks turned flush. "Who me? No way!"
Yuna tried to squelch a laugh. Paine pointed at Rikku's reddened face and mumbled something in Yuna's ear. Her giggles could no longer be contained. Rikku became truly upset and yelled something mean at them in Al Bhed.
"I think someone has a crush," Paine teased.
Blowing out a snort, Rikku banged her fist on the table announcing her abrupt departure.
"Aww, I think we took that a little too far," said Yuna regretfully through her last giggle.
Paine shrugged her shoulders. "She's a big girl. Besides, we were just teasing."
Pouting and stammering up to the deck, Rikku grumbled furiously. Her mood changed in short order, once she began to think about what else Gippal said to her. A sneaky smile crept across her lips. Unlike her mostly goofy, idiotic smiles, this one conveyed pure pleasure. Taken aback by his words in that little room behind the green door, she thought back to the rest of their conversation, the parts she felt too embarrassed to share with her friends . . .
Once Gippal finished telling Rikku of his troubles at the bottom of Bevelle, he suddenly asked her how her father was doing. Caught off guard, she gave him a pondering look. Cid and Gippal never saw eye to eye. As far as Rikku could remember, neither one of them felt fond of the other. She politely replied that her father was doing alright, even if he was still upset by Yuna's reaction to turning Zanarkand into a tourist attraction.
Gippal nodded concisely, pacing around the room in a nervous fashion. More puzzling to her after asking about her father, he asked about herself. Rikku jokingly said her head hurt, getting a little smirk out of Gippal.
"No really, what have you and the Gullwings been up to?" he questioned with intent. "It has been two years since you went off on your own. I don't have anyone to pick on anymore."
Rikku gave him a menacing look. "Yeah, I see how it is. Well, we've been going around sphere hunting, getting caught in crazy dangerous situations. You know, stuff like that."
He stopped his pacing, smiled at Rikku, and rubbed his nose. A little closer he moved, plopping down on the end of the bed. By now, Rikku had become increasingly flustered by his actions. He never acted so passive normally. His usual demeanor involved cracking jokes at her like an idiot. Never did he act so serious as he did then. His eyes seemed to glimmer as he looked at her.
Attempting to hide her increasing vexation, she scampered backward on the bed, keeping some separation between Gippal and herself. Sensing her apprehension, Gippal decided to come on a little stronger. He moved farther up the bed, leaning his head towards Rikku. Her heart skipped a beat in her chest when their eyes locked gazes.
"Hey, do you ever get lonely?" he asked out of nowhere.
"Of course not," she said, her cheeks flush. "I have Yuna, Paine, Brother—"
"That's not what I mean," snapped Gippal before she could finish. "What about someone you really care about, someone you want close to your heart?"
Rikku's face burned ten shades of red from his question. She gasped for air, exasperated by Gippal's entrancing advances. What did he mean, she wondered frantically to herself. Although she had a good idea, she wouldn't admit it to herself. There's no way Gippal felt attraction to her, especially in that sort of manner.
Yet Gippal seemed bound and determined to change her mind. "C'mon, Rikku. How 'bout a little kiss?"
"What?" she yelled frantically, almost falling off the bed. "Stop joking around, Gippal!"
He backed away and rose from the bed, just as quickly as he came on to her. Laughing for a bit, he rubbed the back of his head. Then he glanced at the ground and shook his head. Once again, he gazed at her with his shimmering green eye.
"Alright, you win this time, Rikku. But I'm not gonna be so easy to dodge next time," he said, pointing his finger into the air.
With a wink and a smile, he opened up the green door and left. Rikku staggered off the bed, not going anywhere in particular. She bumbled around the room in a circle across from the bed. Her face glowed bright red, which at that point could be used to light up the darkest of passageways. Inside she sweltered hot as well.
Beyond her shock, she was genuinely stunned by Gippal's advancements. Beyond that, she wrestled with her feelings after the encounter. On one hand, she's always thought of him as a lumbering jerk who always picked on her back at Home. She couldn't deny his good looks either. His spiky blond hair caught the fancy of Rikku's eyes, not to mention his sleek, muscular build. Aside from his dim-witted personality, he passed the eye test from head to toe.
At this point in her brain, she verged on short-circuiting. Madly she shook her head, trying to clear Gippal from her mind. A long sigh came forth, accentuating her confused state of mind. She sat down and rested her chin against her knees. Perhaps she might be interested in him, or perhaps not. She couldn't convince herself one way or another. Regardless of how she felt inside, any girl could appreciate the attention of such a hunk. Feeling better, not to mention less distracted, she headed back down to the bridge. Hopefully, there would be something for her to do there that didn't involve Gippal.
Yuna stood next to Shinra, her hands clutched tightly to the back of his chair. Her foot tapped incessantly on the floor as she followed the swift strokes of Shinra's fingers clacking against his keyboard. She barely gave a glance to her cousin entering the bridge with Paine.
"Hey, what's up Shinra? You got a sphere for us to find or what?" Rikku expressed impatiently.
Shinra turned around in his chair. "Hold your horses and let me explain. See, earlier today I located a sphere wave from within Zanarkand."
"Zanarkand? Are you sure?" asked Paine.
Shinra nodded handily, "Oh yeah, I'm sure. From what I estimate, the signal seems to be coming from deep within the ruins."
"But I thought we had gotten that sphere from the Zanarkand ruins?" a confused Yuna asked, scratching her head.
"Yep," replied Shinra in a most abbreviated manner.
"Some more explanation," Paine said.
Shinra threw up his arms. "Hey, there's nothing to tell. All I know is there's another sphere in Zanarkand."
"Some help you are," grouched Rikku teasingly.
"Hey, I'm just a kid."
As the girls simultaneously rolled their eyes, Brother walked up to them, prancing about like a drunken sailor. He waved his arms in the air frantically, garnering the attention of everybody on the bridge.
"It doesn't matter where that sphere is, but only that we must go and get it! On to Zanarkand and the adventure that awaits!" he proclaimed heroically.
Paine rubbed her brow and sighed. "I've got a bad feeling about this."