About an hour later of different colors, textures, and clothes, Lina was finally able to breathe. She stepped out of a small room in their humble abode looking different in every way. Her hair was now in a half ponytail--a style she'd never felt like hassling with before--with two stray strands hanging loosely in front, except that the left strand had strings tied around it. Lina didn't know how she'd deal with that just quite yet, but she'd find something. Her hair, although, still seemed to have the same sleek, silky texture to it, but the bangs might get in her way at times.
That was just the hair though. It got worse. Much worse. She had a ring like contraption around her upper arm with bracelets and beads hanging off of it. Lina never understood the point of accessories, just that they were there and for some reason cherished. Around her left wrist was the ribbon she used to tie around the top of her right arm; she hadn't let Rikku get rid of it because it reminded her of her friends back at Garden. Around her stomach hung the special necklace Zell had given her; this present she still held deeply dear to her for her love for him had never faded and she wanted to remember him always.
A white garment, somewhat resembling that of Yuna's was cut and wrapped around her chest, tied together with thick strings. Lina felt uncomfortable with that, but Rikku had otherwise offered something worse. She wore shorts with a heavy black belt and a thin string tied over it. Her boots were brown and barely tied, but just enough to function properly. When Lina got a chance to look at herself in the mirror, her jaw dropped--what the hell!? Who was that in the mirror?
"Wow! Very good!" Rikku said, looking her over. Lina's new outfit was nothing like her personality. It had "sex appeal" and "Al Bhed" written all over it and suddenly Lina felt ever so conservative and out of place.
"Yeah...it's very unique," Lina smiled subtly and shifting around some of the garments as if trying to get used to them. They chuckled at her.
"You're funny," Rikku said, but Lina blinked, not understanding. "Don't worry so much! This is your Gunner outfit, so just chill out and go with it." Lina nodded, as if she knew exactly what was going on even though she obviously didn't. "Anyway...Lina, Lina, Lina...You need a new name around here..."
"Why? What's wrong with Lina?" she asked. She thought her name was fine...besides, she already had another one and it would become difficult fast if she had to deal with yet another one.
"Welll...it's not...right." Rikku said, looking around unsurely. "Pain, Yuna, Rikku...Lina...you see? It's just not right. Hm...maybe something a little more Al Bhed since now you've got the perfect outfit to match such a name! I'm sure our family wouldn't mind adopting you for a while! Hah!" Rikku giggled while Yuna balled her weight over to her other foot in contemplation of a new name for Lina. The lot of them would think, looking down in deep concentration, then look back up at her occasionally through the long silence, seeing if a certain name would fit her new look, and it wouldn't, so they would shake their heads silently, then stare back out into a vast nothingness and wait for the right name to hit them.
"Um... okay," Lina didn't find anything wrong with her name still. Rikku, Paine, Yuna, and Lina...Lina, Rikku, Paine, and Yuna...Rikku, Lina, Paine, and Yuna...okay yeah there might have been something a little out of place about that. Perhaps a change might make her disguise as an Al Bhed a little more convincing. Rikku suddenly jumped.
"I got it!" she startled the others with her sudden movement. "Zeku! That's the perfect name for you!" Lina thought about it for a minute then agreed to it. "Nice to meet you, Zeku!"
Lina, I mean Zeku, would have responded, but before she could, a gang of rowdy looking tough guys appeared behind her. "Hey...so you lovely ladies got a new addition to your girly group?" one of them asked--obviously the leader of the bloodthirsty pack. He was smirking over at Zeku with a perverted glare that made Zeku suddenly feel even more conservative than she had just a second ago.
"Go get a life, Nonca!" Yuna yelled at him. His dark brown eyes glowed and she walked up behind Zeku and tripped her, just for the hell of it. Zeku immediately turned around--tired of being cut off and pushed around. Enough was enough. Her outline suddenly started glowing white and he found himself hovering in the air and thrown against the wall of the house. Zeku's body stopped glowing.
"Whoa!!" Rikku yelled in awe, staring at Zeku like she was a strange supernatural person all of the sudden. Zeku looked at her like nothing had ever happened at all. She merely dusted herself off as if she were dusting Nonca off her conscience, then turned around and faced the others. "That was awesome!" Rikku screamed in delight. Zeku couldn't help but smiled slightly at what had just happened. However, because of her modest disposition, she bit her lip and while Rikku clapped her hands together, she only smiled.
"Oh...that...Yeah, I'm a sorceress," Zeku explained shortly. She didn't really feel like going into a long and winded explanation of her life's story and blah blah blah. "It's not much...but really, what's his problem?" That was the only thing bothering Zeku. She had known for a long while now that she was a sorceress, and she couldn't say she was proud of it since it always caused so much destruction everywhere. That was the main reason she'd left her home Garden in the first place, so she merely smiled and kept her thoughts to herself. Everything had really been blown out of proportion when she discovered the truth about herself anyway.
"He's just a jerk...a real pervert, but don't worry, we won't let anything bad happen to you," Paine said, then crossed her arms and looked away. Paine just did that sometimes--it reminded Zeku a lot of Squall.
"Right. So where are we headed?" Zeku asked.
"We're going to search for Tidus," Yuna sighed passionately. Zeku nodded as if she knew who that was and they pushed onward. "Sorry...Tidus is the love of my life. We lost him some time ago...and I'd just do anything to have him back." Zeku smiled and nodded, this time knowingly. They sat down together in a group and planned their route--out onto the Moonflow, they'd stay at that hotel there, then head out again in the morning for the Thunder Plains where Yuna knew Rin had a travel agency open. Afterwards, they set off.