Yuna and Tidus sat around, bored of waiting. They had been here in the Calm Lands for what seemed like hours now, waiting on the others or for more stock to arrive at the store. Rikku was there as well, but she could not complain of boredom thanks to her state being the cause of this long wait. A traveller looked at the summoner and her two guardians in confusion, eyes lingering on Rikku.

"Um, is she all right like that?" The Traveller asked. Tidus tried not to laugh too loudly, knowing Rikku could hear from past experience.

"She'll just have to be. It's her own fault." He said. Yuna nodded.

"What happened?" The Traveller continued.

"Do you know there's a nest of Basilisks to the east?" Tidus said. The Traveller nodded.

"So did we. That didn't stop her. She hit one of them rather than letting us use magic, and guess who had all our Softs?"

The Traveller looked at Rikku. She had of course been turned into stone.

"Your petrified friend?"

"Right. And the store here is out so either we wait on more coming, or our other friends." Yuna sighed.

"The worst part is it's happened before. Look at her. Her exact words when she looked right at the thing? Not again. That's it. Not again. She's the idiot who looked right at it rather than trying to close her eyes or look away." Tidus said.

The Traveller looked at the petrified girl. indeed, now he thought about it she looked more confused than frightened. most other petrified people he had encountered looked terrified of their impending fate. she simply looked like it had happened before.

"She knows that doesn't work. She's got experience in this sort of thing." Yuna pointed out.

"Experience?" The Traveller asked. The pair explained.

***

When she had been only ten, Rikku had managed to find a strange lizard. Yuna did not tell The Traveller exactly where, but it had of course been inside the Al-Bhed home, which was now ruins. Rather than obey every instruction she had been given to report them for someone else to deal with, the young Rikku had looked at the small creature that was crawling on the wall and decided it wasn't a threat.

"Why do they think this thing is dangerous? I could squash it myself." She said, and tried to do so. As she swung, it jumped off the wall and bit her on the nose.

"Ow!" she yelped as the lizard ran away. She tried to chase it but her limbs were getting heavy.

"Hey... what did you do?" She asked the fleeing lizard as she stumbled to her knees. She looked down at her hand and gasped. her skin was turning grey.

"What the..."

She did not finish as she turned to stone. It would be nearly an hour later before anyone found her, her brother quickly admonished her for letting the lizard get away as well as trying to get it herself. He explained they were the source of the venom for petrifying grenades and they had to be dealt with by people who knew what to expect.

***

Yuna left the last part out, simply claiming her Brother had warned her other lizards were more dangerous with what they bit you with. Petrification could be cured, dying from poisoning couldn't.

"So she's had it happen before?"

"That was the first time. This isn't the second." Tidus said.

***

He then told of the next incident that he knew of four years later. He had heard it from Rikku, and she had at the time told him it was in a forest, not the desert. Wakka had been listening and she didn't want him to realise that she was one of the Al-Bhed he despised so much. Tidus of course had known she meant the desert. He omitted the location in his own report though, mindful of the fact some people responded badly to the mention of the Al-Bhed.

This time had been a lot simpler. She knew what it was she had saw. She knew what it could do. That hadn't stopped her throwing a rock at the Basilisk. The rock bounced off the scales of the creature and it looked at her with rage in it's two smaller eyes.

"Uh oh...." She had said, and looked at the larger third eye. It was glowing.

Luckily, the annoyed creature wandered off rather than smashing her into dust, and she had again been left for others to find. She felt much sympathy for the rock when she was turned back, her petrified body having heat up to be blisteringly warm in the sun...

***

"Well, surely she'll learn now?" The Traveller asked, thinking that made this the third time.

"I'm not convinced. I bet there's time she hasn't told us about." Yuna said.

"She managed to get petrified again after that?"

"Yup. Lots of times, like the time she annoyed an Iguion. She made it chase her around in circles. She was taunting it, thinking it was harmless or playing with it or something. Guess what the little lizard that petrified her is related to?" Yuna continued.

"Iguions?"

"Yep." Tidus confimed.

"It jumped at her and bit her on the nose. She punched it and was still complaining about the last time a lizard had bit her she wound up petrified before she turned to stone again. Lulu wanted to leave her there. Buying so many softs builds up."

"Well, maybe this will be her final lesson?"

"Like I say, I don't think so. I think she's just going to keep on doing it. They won't need to write anything on her headstone, she'll be her own headstone at the rate she's going." Yuna sighed.

"But it's not just her rocky butt on the line. She puts the rest of us at risk too..."

***

Tidus told a story of a time before the Iguion, that had probably led to Lulu's remark. They had first entered the Calm Lands, finding the first Coeurl they had ever seen. Lulu, more aware than the others, took a correct guess as to what the attack it was about to use was...

"Rikku! Get out of the way!" The black mage had instructed, pushing the younger female slightly out of the way, only to catch the Blaster herself. She cried out in surprise as it struck home, instantly petrifying her where she stood.

Rikku stood dumbfounded, staring at Lulu.

"...Wow, that's..." She said.  The Coeurl wasn't letting her finish the sentence though, blasting again. Rikku joined Lulu in stone, a stupefied look on her face as she stared at the other statue...

***

"So what happened after that?" The Traveller asked.

"Well, the rest of us took it out, and rescued them, but Rikku's reaction after it was kind of worrying. The first thing she mentioned was that Lulu's petrification had been the first time she'd seen another person get petrified." Tidus said.

"And what she was saying before she got hit was a little worrying too. It was like she was impressed..."  Yuna worried.

"We can only hope she stops getting herself into messes like this before it sees the rest of you in trouble." The Traveller sympathised.

"That or we take Lulu's suggestion and just leave her behind..." Yuna said, glaring at her stone cousin, knowing full well the granite Al-Bhed was laughing inside her rocky head...

***

Two years later...

"She did it again?!" Brother yelled out over the radio. Paine and Yuna were struggling with the petrified Rikku, trying to get her onto the ship. Unlike most victims of petrification, Rikku appeared to be standing more like someone was taking a photograph, smiling and with her eyes wide open.

"Yes, again. For the seventh or eighth time." Paine complained.

"And that's just while you've known her. You don't want to know about the other twenty times... Or more." Yuna said.

"You know, one of these days we should just leave her petrified, we'd save money on softs." Buddy muttered as he gave the girls a hand carrying the statue.

"Huh, that's what Lulu said... I'm tempted. I really am. I mean, look at her, she posed when the basilisk petrified her! Is she doing it on purpose now?" Yuna responded irritably.

"I think we're beyond wondering if it's deliberate, Yuna. I half expect her to petrify herself one of these days." Paine commented.

"Why do you think I threw away all those petrify grenades we found?" Yuna pointed out quietly to the other, non-petrified Gullwing.