the engineer.

It’s not like she hasn’t noticed, the way people’s eyes will gravitate towards him without question. Some people are just like that, Mana knows- Daniel was, no is, one of those individuals. In the back of her head, she can’t help but wonder if Gippal ever feels that pressure pressing down on his shoulders- to always be the life of the party, the beating heart of a group of people. It’s burdensome, really. “More like a rumor if you ask me. You can’t help it if people expect more from you than you want to give.” She snorts, nevertheless, looking away as she lets Gippal lean against her for balance.

Her eyes widen- is he, he’s not, is he? As far as Mana knows, this relationship is strictly platonic. Not that she’s ever spoken to him about it, but that’s at least what she’s made a rule of thumb around Gippal, especially since he seems to come to her more often than anyone else. She snorts. “What, you trying to take a page out of my book?” She half-drags him and half-leads him over to the kitchen where after depositing him against the counter, she fills a cup of tap water for him. “There are better ways of finding out, you realize-but if you really need to know, I wouldn’t be subtle about it. Not like, hounding them down or anything, mind you, but you know, not beating around the bush. It saves time for both parties, really.”

He leans against the counter, arms crossed over his chest as he watches her prepare a glass of water for him. “Maybe. There’s always room for improving one’s technique, and I might learn something from you,” he slurs his answer to her, shoulders shrugging slightly. As he stands there, he starts feeling thirsty again, this time stronger than the last. Sure, the room stopped spinning, but his head has started throbbing. There was no winning, at least not tonight. Drinking to his heart’s desire always seems like a good and fun time when it’s happening, but afterward... not so much. 

❝I’m a former follower of Yevon. Do you really think it’s smart to ask me what I think is ethical? I’ve been, like, blinded by unethical bullshit since I was a kid.❞ Just a joke! Not like he was still blinded by the shiny veneer of a religion that took him astray, but it was still a funny question to receive. Then, he exchanged a glance with the other. ❝If you’re itching to know my answer… No, I don’t think it’s unethical. Like, I think we have consider the future of these creatures. Like, there’s nothing wrong with making sure they keep a presence here in Spira. Cloning is not a bad thing. To me, anyway. Anyone who says it’s bad is definitely full of shit.❞

There would always be naysayers. The lack of trust in Al Bhed would be sure to haunt Spira for decades to come, even after the defeat of Sin. Prejudice was never dismantled overnight. ❝You should revisit those journal entries and sketches, see what speaks to you. If you wanna clone or do something a bit more, uh… Mechanical, I support you! You’ve already taken so many great strides in helping us all, you know? And, like, Nooj has also taken great strides. We can only go up from here, uh huh?❞ No mention of Baralai. Fuck that guy.

“They are definitely full of shit. Well, hey, maybe we’ll try both. There’s been an influx of new members these past few months, so we’re starting to get the brain and manpower behind some new projects we had to put on hold when that whole mess happened with Vegnagun. Mechanical shoopufs or clones might come sooner than you think.” Sooner, hopefully. You never know what might happen to that one, he thinks to himself, glancing over at the creature in the distance. Gippal had only been on a shoopuf a few times in his life, but he knows how important they are to Spira. Plus, they were kinda cute. He can’t let them go extinct!

“Only up from here? Someone’s feeling optimistic today,” he teases Virote lightly, giving him a smirk. “But maybe. Hopefully. Spira’s a mess. Yevon did a number on this place. I still can’t believe changing “machina” to “machine” for our name worked! At least, for the most part.” Gippal laughs. It was just one letter, but to some devout Yevoners, it made all the difference.

Why, yes he does! When his own team members start forcing him to take breaks from researching or work with the Faction, Gippal distracts himself with the going-ons of Spira. While he doesn't play blitzball on a team, he likes to attend the games and cheer on the Al Bhed Psyches from the sidelines. Since he's a pretty popular guy, he gets to hang out in the locker room, before the game, chatting it up with the players. If he becomes too much of a distraction, the captain will usually kick him out, especially if some of the players are more easily seduced. You could try and recruit him to join your team, but it's very unlikely for him to join. You gotta catch him at a reaaaaally slow time for the Faction!

When it comes to Sphere Break, Gippal definitely holds his own. The game comes extremely natural to him, with it being just basic math and strategy. He found himself digging for the coins too, when Rin first introduced it, so he's got a pretty good collection. He usually plays in one-off games, usually too busy to participate in any of the tournaments. You would have to be able to put up a pretty good fight if you wanted to win against him though. Or at the very least, play him when his mind isn't focused!

He resists the urge to roll his eyes. What was with people claiming McDonalds being the best of the best fast food? Either way, it still didn’t have any flavor for the most part. No matter how delicious those chicken nuggets were. The fries, on the other hand, had too much salt for his liking. And then he nearly chokes on air itself- what kind of morid curiosity did this guy have?! “What, are you like- expecting to find a finger in your chili? That’s disgusting.” Although Lamon doesn’t think that’s gonna stop Gippal from ordering chili anyways. “I don’t know. Ask Tida, he’s the expert on fast food- I thought people always at least get the fries to go.”

Gippal makes a funny face at him, appalled at the accusation. "No, what— of course not! It just sounds like the most interesting thing on the menu!" And by that, he means it has the most interesting backstory. He wasn’t even sure if it was going to be good! Fast food restaurants were usually not his first choice for a meal, but in certain situations (i.e. whenever he was drunk), it always sounded like the greatest idea. Today, as he had explained, was just a one-off, totally inspired by the strange, disgusting story about the finger in the chili.

❝ maybe so, ❞ her arms wrap around his neck now, holding her chin up, she won’t let him get away with this so easily, huh! her cheeks half puffed, her head tilting,  ❝ i’m petrified — what are you gonna do to make me forgive you? ❞ two can play this game, yes? also, let’s not mention the basically puppy eyes energy she’s emanating now, we don’t want him to melt into her intense stare. 

He is not immune to the puppy dog eyes, but he does have a pretty high resistance. But when it comes to her? All effectiveness doubles. Maybe Gippal had a soft spot, but only she gets to experience that kind of thing first hand. He looks right into her eyes— he feigns sternness at first, unwavering to how cute she looks. But in seconds he gives in, sighing deeply. “Fine, fine. Guess I’ll just have to soften you up, if you’re so petrified...” He slows to a stop, letting her down to stand on her own feet, but he keeps his hands on her waist, holding her in front of him. 

“You said it had leprechauns in it, I highly doubt this is gonna be as scary as they advertised it.” There were many things Mana could have been doing on this fine Halloween night- productive things, fun things, things that she was procrastinating like the bills. Or catching up with work from the library. Or even grocery shopping. But she isn’t doing any of those things and it’s not because Gippal Onisero happened to invite her and she made room in her schedule to do this. No way.

The space was more crowded than she expected although that might have been because of the free popcorn. Reaching in for some popcorn in the bag they shared, Mana popped a kernel in her mouth and looked up at the old cartoons still playing on the projector screen. “Maybe they’ll have demented leprechauns in it. That’s the only way I see them making it scary. But that might just be disturbing more than terrifying though.

"True. But wouldn't you rather be scared than disturbed? Scary feels like something you can get over, disturbed... lasts," he says, faking a shiver. "Think about it... you're home alone, getting ready for bed. Sure, it takes a couple extra minutes to finally get sleepy but then... your mind starts wandering to those demented leprechauns!" He finishes his hypothetical with a laugh, more amused than actually cautious of his own tale. "But hey, who knows? Maybe it'll surprise us." He throws her one charming smile and a wink, and as if like magic, the cartoon ends and some lady is standing in front of the screen.

She gives a spiel about the event, some fundraisers, volunteer opportunities, then finally a quick synopsis of the film: A vengeful leprechaun believes a family has stolen his pot of gold. As he hunts them, they attempt to locate his gold to vanquish him. The rest gets drowned out in the noise of the crowd, many of whom are too busy talking to have even listened to most of her speech. Finally, the movie begins and the crowd begins to hush.

The sun was setting, turning the sky a beautiful gradient of pinks, oranges, yellows and purples. Gippal rarely took the time to take breaks like this, especially when he knew in the back of his mind that he could be working or getting something done. Usually, he'd get antsy when his hands were idle. But ever since the accident, he's been trying to stop and smell the roses a little more. Mostly because he couldn't do much else at first. Now, he's learned that taking it slow and easy once and a while didn't hurt.

They're on the rooftop of his apartment building, where a simple outdoor furniture set was set up as a common space. With a slight chill in the air, he had brought a blanket in case it got too cold for either of them. Right now, everything felt just right, the way they were cuddled against each other, drinking wine and eating fruits off a plate. If you had asked Gippal if he could imagine himself all nestled up like this against someone he was actually serious about, he would've laughed. Serious and committed was not his forte. But when it came to Virote, everything he thought he knew about himself got flipped over and around. Gippal had changed a lot in the past year, and he could thank Vi for playing his part in it.