I know I put in a request for this but I decided to do it myself.
This is my first story so it might be a bit on the crappy side, but I tried.
Well, enjoy if you can!
It was a dark night. The gloomy, rainfilled clouds loomed threateningly over the lamplit, butsling streets of Bevelle. The entire crew of the Celeus were out in those very streets, drinking and dancing and generally being the nutters that they are. Well, almost the entire crew. One peson decided to stay aboard the airship, with only the excuse of a bad headache to hide behind. She was lying face down and barefoot on one of the beds in the cabin, sighing into the pillow, trying not to drench it with her tears.
The clock tower struck midnight, echoing to the furthest corners of the landing bay. Paine rolled over onto her back, wiping her eyes furiously. 'What's was wrong with me' she asked herself for the umpteenth time. 'Why am I suddenly so sentimental? This isn't like me....this isn't like me at all!' Paine grumbled and groaned impatiently. A lump was rising in her throat, her scarlet eyes were welling up rapidly, and she had no idea why. A feeling that Paine had never experienced was gnawing away at her senses; a sensation that she didn't know how to dismiss, or how to control. But Paine was a stubborn woman. She wasn't going to cry it out; sure as hell she wouldn't do that. And she wasn't going to talk to anyone either. Being troubled by such a thing was cringy enough, but telling someone else would just be plain humiliating. Paine pummelled the pillow with her head, scowling with disgust at her own insecurity.
Suddenly, Paine heard a faint 'ping' as the lift arrived at the cabin floor. She lay completely still, looking at the clock tower through the window. It was only five past midnight; the others said they wouldn't be back for another hour at least. Paine reached under the bed and grasped the handle of her sword as a terrible thought entered her head; the LeBlanc Syndicate. They must've known that everyone aboard the ship were planning to go into Bevelle that night. Paine got up silently and crept over to the banister. Peering down into the darkness, Paine could make out a sillouette in the doorway. A tall man with spiky hair and guns hanging at his hips reached for the lightswitch and flicked it on. The entire cabin was engulfed with light, and Paine raised a hand to shield her eyes from the light. Blinking rapidly behind her hand, Paine's eyes began to get used to the light, and she peered over the banister again. Now she could see him clearly; blonde hair, grey eyes, black eyepatch, the lot.
"Gippal!"
"How're you feeling tough stuff?" He grinned up at her and made his way up the stairs. Paine hastily wiped her eyes and adopted a nonchalant expression.
"I'm alright. I guess I just needed a rest. How come you're back so soon? I wasn't expecting you for another hour at least."
"I came back early cos I wanted to talk to you." Gippal leaned on the banister beside her, looking deep into her eyes. Paine looked away. She knew Gippal too well to think that she could hide away from him. He could read her like a book, and he knew it.
"Don't think you can fool me with that headache crap. Something's wrong, Paine, and I want to know what." He put a hand under her chin and gently pulled her head around to face him. Paine closed her eyes and shook her head. A few seconds later, she was surprised to find Gippal laughing. She opened her eyes and looked at him curiously.
"I see," he said in a playful voice. "You're playing the old don't-tell-anyone-anything-because-it's-embarrassing game, eh?" He fastened a hand either side of her on the banister, trapping her there. He leaned forward until his face was mere inches from hers.
"That was your favourite role back in the Crimson Squad, you remember? Unfortunately for you, it was ours aswell, because it meant we could force it out of you in any way we chose. I'm sure you can recall the most popular method..." Paine cringed. She pushed him away and tried to make a break for it, but Gippal had always been faster than she was. He locked his hands around her slim waist and hauled her off her feet, laughing at her futile attempts to escape. He spun around on the spot quickly, making her dizzy; it wasn't long before Paine's co-ordination went straight out the window. Gippal took his chance. He dropped her onto her bed, face down, and sat on her back so that she couldn't get up. Pinning her arms down with his hands, he leaned over and inspected her pillow.
"Tears?" he said incredulously. Grinning again, he leaned down and whispered into Paine's ear. "You've been crying? This will take a while to get out of you, won't it? Ah well, all the more fun for me!" His hot breath fluttered down Paine's neck and he proceeded to gently blow air along her collerbone. Se wriggled and twitched, determined not to give in to him. She couldn't stand up to her friends attacks two years ago. But she was older and stronger now, and there was only one. Surely now she had the upperhand! In a desperate attempt to at least get him to free an arm, Paine swung back a leg and delivered as strong a kick in the back as she could muster. But her bare heels and awkward angle meant that her strongest kick felt like a punch from a four-year-old, but Gippal still felt it. He simply laughed at her.
"Awwwww, didums doesn't like it?" he teased in a baby voice. "Then let me give you something you do like." Before Paine knew what was happening, her arms were bound to the bedposts. She tugged furiously against the bonds, shocked. This had never happened two years ago....
"I know, this idea never occured to us two years ago," Gippal said from on top of her, as though he were reading her mind. "But now there aren't three of us, and you're a hell of a lot stronger than the last time we did this. Bsides, It should add to the fun." Gippal shifted his weight slightly, releasing the pressure from her legs a little. Paine saw her chance. Now she had more power, and she swung both of her legs full force into the small of his back. He fell forward with a grunt of pain, and planted a hand either side of Paine on the bed while he caught his breath. For a moment Paine felt guilty, worried that she had hurt him, and was about to apologise when he started to laugh again. He turned his back to her and sat on her knees, so that her legs couldn't move. She could just imagine the evil grin stretching across his face.
"Oh, it's on now!"
Gippal suddenly raked all ten fingers up Paine's feet, from her toes to her heels. Paine jumped in shock as her nerves went on high alert. She grasped the headboard and bit the inside of her cheeks hard, trying not to laugh. Gippal knew what she was doing; he had seen it all too often. His eyes flashed in amusement as he tried a different approach, one that nearly always set her off. With the index finger of each hand. He began to trace the lines on her soft, size six feet, barely touching the skin. By this point Paine was grinding her head into the pillow, trying to muffle the giggles escaping her lips. Gippal started to laugh aswell, not merely because of the fun he was having, but because after all this time Paine hadn't changed at all.
Eventually Gippal decided to set her off. He tied her feet quickly to the bed and lightly tickled her arches until she started to wriggle around. Gippal knew that she was burrying her head into the pillow again, and he reached around and threw it over the other side of the room. Paine twisted around as far as she could and gazed at him with pleading eyes.
"Aw, don't look so sad," he teased again. "I promise you'll be laughing in no time!" He turned around and poised his hands over her feet again.
"I hope you're ready to laugh beautiful," he said. He started to tickle, extremely lightly, the outside of both of Paine's feet, starting at the little toe. Paine had known what was coming. She couldn't help herself; she giggled softly, growing louder and harder as Gippal's tickling fingers drifted down her foot. He eventually stopped, just millimeteres from the most ticklish part on her whole foot. Even though the tickling had stopped, Paine kept on giggling. Gippal and the guys had loved that about her; that the reaction continued even though the sensation had stopped. Gippal paused a moment to admire her sweet, innocent giggles, a sound that no-one would expect to come from her. Paine twisted around again, her cheeks pink.
"Gi-Gippal...don't, plehehease..." she giggled, her eyes twinkling. Anyone else would've given in to that, but not Gippal. Because he knew that deep down she loved every minute of it. He flicked the spot with one finger, and Paine erupted into helpless giggles. Gippal had planned to tease her for a while, but his longing to hear that laugh again took over, and his fingers danced ferociously over that one particular place, and Paine burst into racious peals of laughter. She wriggled and writhed underneath him, almost crying with laughter. She pulled at her bonds as hard as she could, but to no avail. In the end, Paine gave up and lay limply on the bed, ready to laugh until she could laugh no more.
After about five minutes or so, Gippal ended his attack. Her feet were pink, but not as pink as her face. Paine's usually pale cheeks were flushed with a bright shocking pink, as she lay gasping for breath with her eyes screwed shut. She barely realised that Gippal was untying her from the bed and rolling her over onto her back. Paine opened her waterlogged eyes to find Gippal sitting on her knees again, facing her. She sat up limply, looking straight at him.
"Satisfied?" she asked, getting her voice back. Gippal smiled and gave Paine a comforting hug while she regained her strength. But then he grabbed her hands and pinned them back onto the bed again.
"Nope." he replied, grinning mischeviously. "I haven't found out what's wrong yet." With that, he walked his fingers along her flat, toned stomach, and watched with delight as the giggles started again, loud and desperate. She wriggled this way and that, trying to escape his fingers. He started chanting the 'insy winsy spider' song to her, and made his hands scuttle up her sides, making Paine laugh even louder than she had before. Her laughter became louder and shriller the closer he got to her underarms. Gippal wooped internally as a memory flew into his mind; he had finally found her weak spot. After a while he dropped his hands to her stomach and began to tickle lightly around her bellybutton, letting Paine catch her breath slightly.
"Had enough yet, tough stuff?" he teased, still tickling her stomach. Paine shook her head, giggling as the tears of laughter rolled down her face. He tickled her harder.
"Had enough yet?" he repeated. Again Paine shook her head, giggling madly.
"I can't hear you!" Gippal tickled closer and more ferociously, waiting for an answer, and eventually wriggled his index finger inside her bellybutton. Paine went beserk. A girlish squeak emitted from her lips and she laughed like she had never laughed before. Gippal was quite startled, but excited at the same time. Back in the Crimson Squad he was always the 'footman', for reasons that I'm sure you can guess. But he had no idea just how ticklish Paine's upperbody was, up until now.
"NOOOOOO!" Paine cried, laughing hysterically. She shook her head from side to side, almost screaming with ticklish agony. "No no no no no no no no no no.......NOOO!!!!!" She bucked and pulled and writhed in vain. It was all very entertaining from where Gippal was standing(or rather, sitting). However, he knew that Paine would pas out if he wasn't careful. He stopped tickling her and shuffled further up so that he was kneeling over her hips. He wiped a stray tear from Paine's bright red face and smiled. A huge grin was stretched across Paine's face, even now, as she tried to catch her breath. Every now and then, a breathy giggle would escape from her lips. Paine couldn't remember the last time she had laughed so much. Her stomach ached, her throat was sore, her face was drenched with tears, her body was drenched with sweat - and yet she was smiling like a mad woman. Gippal was right; deep down, Paine did like it. She loved it. There was once a time when Paine deliberately pretended that something was wrong just so that they would tickle her. It was her deepest, darkest secret, and she had never told anybody about it. It was silly, embarrassing, humiliating, and yet she loved it so much.
"You haven't answered me yet," Gippal grinned, poising his hand over her bellybutton again. "Are you ready to tell?" Paine looked at his hand with widened eyes, but deep down she knew that she could handle it. It had been so long since this had happened, and Paine longed to be pushed to her limits.
"Bring it on," she said. Her mouth curled into a chalenging smile. Gippal started to laugh again.
"See why I call you tough stuff now?" he chuckled, shaking his head. "Well, you asked for it." He grinned evilly again, baring his teeth. The Al Bhed menace reached up and began to trace circles in the palms of Paine's hands. Paine's eyes widened so much that she thought her eyelids would split. She hadn't expected this. A memory flourished in the back of her mind. It was the first time that Baralai had joined Gippal and Nooj in tickling her. The first time she had ever been truly pushed to her limits. And it was the first time since babyhood that Paine had ever screamed, all because of the one method that Gippal was about to perform on her now. It was also, Paine realised with a jolt, the only time in her life that Paine had ever experienced the feeling that she was victim to on this night. It suddenly hit her why she felt the way she did, why it stopped her going out that night. She had a-
"You ready for this?" Gippal cut through her thoughts like a knife, and began to tickle her very lightly at her wrists, slowly moving down her arm. Paine giggled immediately. She could barely get the words out.
"Gippahahal, listenehehehe..WAIT, nohoho stahahap, I'll, tehell yohohoho.." By this time Gippal's light tickling had become a speedy scrabble, and had accelerated beyond the insides of her elbows. Paine's helpless giggles turned to hysterical laughter as he made his was to her bare underarms. He began to count down the seconds until he reached them.
"Five."
"Gippal, please, I'll-"
"Four."
"I'll tell, just don't-"
"Three."
"Gippal!"
"Two"
"Wait!!!"
"One!"
"NO!!!!!!"
Gippal dug his hands straight into her underarms, poking and prodding and tickling every skin cell he could reach. Paine couldn't take it. She let out an earsplitting shriek that, had the ship not been soundproof, would have silenced the entire city. Gippal almost claped his hands over his ears. He had heard her scream once before, but the sound had been lost in his memory. He was astounded at the fact that such a sound could come from such a small vessel. He stopped tickling her underarms almost as immediately as he had begun, and in that five second spell he was sure that Paine was going to lose her mind. She lay limply on the bed, gasping intensly, as Gippal untied her arms and legs from the bedposts. He grabbed the covers and pulled them up around her, tucking her in like a father would his child. Paine reached out a hand and slapped him softly across the face. He grinned.
"I deserved that didn't I?" he said. Paine simply giggled.
"You still wanna know what's wrong with me?" she asked a little hoarsely. Gippal nodded enthusiastically. Paine yawned, as her tiredness overcame her. Her eyelids began to droop and sleep began to overtake her mind.
"I think I like Baralai." She didn't see Gippal's eyesflash or his jaw drop comically, All she saw was the inside of her eyelids for a few measly seconds, and then she collapsed into her dreamland. Gippal sat on her bed for another minute or two, mulling over what he had just heard. Eventually he hade up his mind and, with a smile, got up and left the room.
"Gippal?!" Baralai opened the door to his quarters, an expression of surprise and happiness spread across his face. "I didn't know you were here!"
"I came with the Gullwings," he explained. "Rikku was insistant. Anyway, fancy a walk?"
"Can't." Baralai's face fell. "I have so much work to do, it's unreal."
"It can wait." Gippal dragged the praetor out into the night air. "Come have a drink; you look like you need it. Besides, I have a whopper of a story for you my friend."
Please tell me what you think. Good or bad? I'll accept anything. Feel free to say what you like!
This is my first story so it might be a bit on the crappy side, but I tried.
Well, enjoy if you can!
It was a dark night. The gloomy, rainfilled clouds loomed threateningly over the lamplit, butsling streets of Bevelle. The entire crew of the Celeus were out in those very streets, drinking and dancing and generally being the nutters that they are. Well, almost the entire crew. One peson decided to stay aboard the airship, with only the excuse of a bad headache to hide behind. She was lying face down and barefoot on one of the beds in the cabin, sighing into the pillow, trying not to drench it with her tears.
The clock tower struck midnight, echoing to the furthest corners of the landing bay. Paine rolled over onto her back, wiping her eyes furiously. 'What's was wrong with me' she asked herself for the umpteenth time. 'Why am I suddenly so sentimental? This isn't like me....this isn't like me at all!' Paine grumbled and groaned impatiently. A lump was rising in her throat, her scarlet eyes were welling up rapidly, and she had no idea why. A feeling that Paine had never experienced was gnawing away at her senses; a sensation that she didn't know how to dismiss, or how to control. But Paine was a stubborn woman. She wasn't going to cry it out; sure as hell she wouldn't do that. And she wasn't going to talk to anyone either. Being troubled by such a thing was cringy enough, but telling someone else would just be plain humiliating. Paine pummelled the pillow with her head, scowling with disgust at her own insecurity.
Suddenly, Paine heard a faint 'ping' as the lift arrived at the cabin floor. She lay completely still, looking at the clock tower through the window. It was only five past midnight; the others said they wouldn't be back for another hour at least. Paine reached under the bed and grasped the handle of her sword as a terrible thought entered her head; the LeBlanc Syndicate. They must've known that everyone aboard the ship were planning to go into Bevelle that night. Paine got up silently and crept over to the banister. Peering down into the darkness, Paine could make out a sillouette in the doorway. A tall man with spiky hair and guns hanging at his hips reached for the lightswitch and flicked it on. The entire cabin was engulfed with light, and Paine raised a hand to shield her eyes from the light. Blinking rapidly behind her hand, Paine's eyes began to get used to the light, and she peered over the banister again. Now she could see him clearly; blonde hair, grey eyes, black eyepatch, the lot.
"Gippal!"
"How're you feeling tough stuff?" He grinned up at her and made his way up the stairs. Paine hastily wiped her eyes and adopted a nonchalant expression.
"I'm alright. I guess I just needed a rest. How come you're back so soon? I wasn't expecting you for another hour at least."
"I came back early cos I wanted to talk to you." Gippal leaned on the banister beside her, looking deep into her eyes. Paine looked away. She knew Gippal too well to think that she could hide away from him. He could read her like a book, and he knew it.
"Don't think you can fool me with that headache crap. Something's wrong, Paine, and I want to know what." He put a hand under her chin and gently pulled her head around to face him. Paine closed her eyes and shook her head. A few seconds later, she was surprised to find Gippal laughing. She opened her eyes and looked at him curiously.
"I see," he said in a playful voice. "You're playing the old don't-tell-anyone-anything-because-it's-embarrassing game, eh?" He fastened a hand either side of her on the banister, trapping her there. He leaned forward until his face was mere inches from hers.
"That was your favourite role back in the Crimson Squad, you remember? Unfortunately for you, it was ours aswell, because it meant we could force it out of you in any way we chose. I'm sure you can recall the most popular method..." Paine cringed. She pushed him away and tried to make a break for it, but Gippal had always been faster than she was. He locked his hands around her slim waist and hauled her off her feet, laughing at her futile attempts to escape. He spun around on the spot quickly, making her dizzy; it wasn't long before Paine's co-ordination went straight out the window. Gippal took his chance. He dropped her onto her bed, face down, and sat on her back so that she couldn't get up. Pinning her arms down with his hands, he leaned over and inspected her pillow.
"Tears?" he said incredulously. Grinning again, he leaned down and whispered into Paine's ear. "You've been crying? This will take a while to get out of you, won't it? Ah well, all the more fun for me!" His hot breath fluttered down Paine's neck and he proceeded to gently blow air along her collerbone. Se wriggled and twitched, determined not to give in to him. She couldn't stand up to her friends attacks two years ago. But she was older and stronger now, and there was only one. Surely now she had the upperhand! In a desperate attempt to at least get him to free an arm, Paine swung back a leg and delivered as strong a kick in the back as she could muster. But her bare heels and awkward angle meant that her strongest kick felt like a punch from a four-year-old, but Gippal still felt it. He simply laughed at her.
"Awwwww, didums doesn't like it?" he teased in a baby voice. "Then let me give you something you do like." Before Paine knew what was happening, her arms were bound to the bedposts. She tugged furiously against the bonds, shocked. This had never happened two years ago....
"I know, this idea never occured to us two years ago," Gippal said from on top of her, as though he were reading her mind. "But now there aren't three of us, and you're a hell of a lot stronger than the last time we did this. Bsides, It should add to the fun." Gippal shifted his weight slightly, releasing the pressure from her legs a little. Paine saw her chance. Now she had more power, and she swung both of her legs full force into the small of his back. He fell forward with a grunt of pain, and planted a hand either side of Paine on the bed while he caught his breath. For a moment Paine felt guilty, worried that she had hurt him, and was about to apologise when he started to laugh again. He turned his back to her and sat on her knees, so that her legs couldn't move. She could just imagine the evil grin stretching across his face.
"Oh, it's on now!"
Gippal suddenly raked all ten fingers up Paine's feet, from her toes to her heels. Paine jumped in shock as her nerves went on high alert. She grasped the headboard and bit the inside of her cheeks hard, trying not to laugh. Gippal knew what she was doing; he had seen it all too often. His eyes flashed in amusement as he tried a different approach, one that nearly always set her off. With the index finger of each hand. He began to trace the lines on her soft, size six feet, barely touching the skin. By this point Paine was grinding her head into the pillow, trying to muffle the giggles escaping her lips. Gippal started to laugh aswell, not merely because of the fun he was having, but because after all this time Paine hadn't changed at all.
Eventually Gippal decided to set her off. He tied her feet quickly to the bed and lightly tickled her arches until she started to wriggle around. Gippal knew that she was burrying her head into the pillow again, and he reached around and threw it over the other side of the room. Paine twisted around as far as she could and gazed at him with pleading eyes.
"Aw, don't look so sad," he teased again. "I promise you'll be laughing in no time!" He turned around and poised his hands over her feet again.
"I hope you're ready to laugh beautiful," he said. He started to tickle, extremely lightly, the outside of both of Paine's feet, starting at the little toe. Paine had known what was coming. She couldn't help herself; she giggled softly, growing louder and harder as Gippal's tickling fingers drifted down her foot. He eventually stopped, just millimeteres from the most ticklish part on her whole foot. Even though the tickling had stopped, Paine kept on giggling. Gippal and the guys had loved that about her; that the reaction continued even though the sensation had stopped. Gippal paused a moment to admire her sweet, innocent giggles, a sound that no-one would expect to come from her. Paine twisted around again, her cheeks pink.
"Gi-Gippal...don't, plehehease..." she giggled, her eyes twinkling. Anyone else would've given in to that, but not Gippal. Because he knew that deep down she loved every minute of it. He flicked the spot with one finger, and Paine erupted into helpless giggles. Gippal had planned to tease her for a while, but his longing to hear that laugh again took over, and his fingers danced ferociously over that one particular place, and Paine burst into racious peals of laughter. She wriggled and writhed underneath him, almost crying with laughter. She pulled at her bonds as hard as she could, but to no avail. In the end, Paine gave up and lay limply on the bed, ready to laugh until she could laugh no more.
After about five minutes or so, Gippal ended his attack. Her feet were pink, but not as pink as her face. Paine's usually pale cheeks were flushed with a bright shocking pink, as she lay gasping for breath with her eyes screwed shut. She barely realised that Gippal was untying her from the bed and rolling her over onto her back. Paine opened her waterlogged eyes to find Gippal sitting on her knees again, facing her. She sat up limply, looking straight at him.
"Satisfied?" she asked, getting her voice back. Gippal smiled and gave Paine a comforting hug while she regained her strength. But then he grabbed her hands and pinned them back onto the bed again.
"Nope." he replied, grinning mischeviously. "I haven't found out what's wrong yet." With that, he walked his fingers along her flat, toned stomach, and watched with delight as the giggles started again, loud and desperate. She wriggled this way and that, trying to escape his fingers. He started chanting the 'insy winsy spider' song to her, and made his hands scuttle up her sides, making Paine laugh even louder than she had before. Her laughter became louder and shriller the closer he got to her underarms. Gippal wooped internally as a memory flew into his mind; he had finally found her weak spot. After a while he dropped his hands to her stomach and began to tickle lightly around her bellybutton, letting Paine catch her breath slightly.
"Had enough yet, tough stuff?" he teased, still tickling her stomach. Paine shook her head, giggling as the tears of laughter rolled down her face. He tickled her harder.
"Had enough yet?" he repeated. Again Paine shook her head, giggling madly.
"I can't hear you!" Gippal tickled closer and more ferociously, waiting for an answer, and eventually wriggled his index finger inside her bellybutton. Paine went beserk. A girlish squeak emitted from her lips and she laughed like she had never laughed before. Gippal was quite startled, but excited at the same time. Back in the Crimson Squad he was always the 'footman', for reasons that I'm sure you can guess. But he had no idea just how ticklish Paine's upperbody was, up until now.
"NOOOOOO!" Paine cried, laughing hysterically. She shook her head from side to side, almost screaming with ticklish agony. "No no no no no no no no no no.......NOOO!!!!!" She bucked and pulled and writhed in vain. It was all very entertaining from where Gippal was standing(or rather, sitting). However, he knew that Paine would pas out if he wasn't careful. He stopped tickling her and shuffled further up so that he was kneeling over her hips. He wiped a stray tear from Paine's bright red face and smiled. A huge grin was stretched across Paine's face, even now, as she tried to catch her breath. Every now and then, a breathy giggle would escape from her lips. Paine couldn't remember the last time she had laughed so much. Her stomach ached, her throat was sore, her face was drenched with tears, her body was drenched with sweat - and yet she was smiling like a mad woman. Gippal was right; deep down, Paine did like it. She loved it. There was once a time when Paine deliberately pretended that something was wrong just so that they would tickle her. It was her deepest, darkest secret, and she had never told anybody about it. It was silly, embarrassing, humiliating, and yet she loved it so much.
"You haven't answered me yet," Gippal grinned, poising his hand over her bellybutton again. "Are you ready to tell?" Paine looked at his hand with widened eyes, but deep down she knew that she could handle it. It had been so long since this had happened, and Paine longed to be pushed to her limits.
"Bring it on," she said. Her mouth curled into a chalenging smile. Gippal started to laugh again.
"See why I call you tough stuff now?" he chuckled, shaking his head. "Well, you asked for it." He grinned evilly again, baring his teeth. The Al Bhed menace reached up and began to trace circles in the palms of Paine's hands. Paine's eyes widened so much that she thought her eyelids would split. She hadn't expected this. A memory flourished in the back of her mind. It was the first time that Baralai had joined Gippal and Nooj in tickling her. The first time she had ever been truly pushed to her limits. And it was the first time since babyhood that Paine had ever screamed, all because of the one method that Gippal was about to perform on her now. It was also, Paine realised with a jolt, the only time in her life that Paine had ever experienced the feeling that she was victim to on this night. It suddenly hit her why she felt the way she did, why it stopped her going out that night. She had a-
"You ready for this?" Gippal cut through her thoughts like a knife, and began to tickle her very lightly at her wrists, slowly moving down her arm. Paine giggled immediately. She could barely get the words out.
"Gippahahal, listenehehehe..WAIT, nohoho stahahap, I'll, tehell yohohoho.." By this time Gippal's light tickling had become a speedy scrabble, and had accelerated beyond the insides of her elbows. Paine's helpless giggles turned to hysterical laughter as he made his was to her bare underarms. He began to count down the seconds until he reached them.
"Five."
"Gippal, please, I'll-"
"Four."
"I'll tell, just don't-"
"Three."
"Gippal!"
"Two"
"Wait!!!"
"One!"
"NO!!!!!!"
Gippal dug his hands straight into her underarms, poking and prodding and tickling every skin cell he could reach. Paine couldn't take it. She let out an earsplitting shriek that, had the ship not been soundproof, would have silenced the entire city. Gippal almost claped his hands over his ears. He had heard her scream once before, but the sound had been lost in his memory. He was astounded at the fact that such a sound could come from such a small vessel. He stopped tickling her underarms almost as immediately as he had begun, and in that five second spell he was sure that Paine was going to lose her mind. She lay limply on the bed, gasping intensly, as Gippal untied her arms and legs from the bedposts. He grabbed the covers and pulled them up around her, tucking her in like a father would his child. Paine reached out a hand and slapped him softly across the face. He grinned.
"I deserved that didn't I?" he said. Paine simply giggled.
"You still wanna know what's wrong with me?" she asked a little hoarsely. Gippal nodded enthusiastically. Paine yawned, as her tiredness overcame her. Her eyelids began to droop and sleep began to overtake her mind.
"I think I like Baralai." She didn't see Gippal's eyesflash or his jaw drop comically, All she saw was the inside of her eyelids for a few measly seconds, and then she collapsed into her dreamland. Gippal sat on her bed for another minute or two, mulling over what he had just heard. Eventually he hade up his mind and, with a smile, got up and left the room.
"Gippal?!" Baralai opened the door to his quarters, an expression of surprise and happiness spread across his face. "I didn't know you were here!"
"I came with the Gullwings," he explained. "Rikku was insistant. Anyway, fancy a walk?"
"Can't." Baralai's face fell. "I have so much work to do, it's unreal."
"It can wait." Gippal dragged the praetor out into the night air. "Come have a drink; you look like you need it. Besides, I have a whopper of a story for you my friend."
Please tell me what you think. Good or bad? I'll accept anything. Feel free to say what you like!
