The dawn approached with a dull greyness that seemed to blanket the village of Sol's Pass with a heavy gloom. A light rain has just begun to beat against the inn's windows. Aruun pulls on his robes and his eyes fall on the green hat Matsuki gave him the night before. A small smile plays across his lips as the night's events return to his mind in dribs and drabs, like sand in an hourglass. Picking up the hat, he leaves his room and goes downstairs by sliding down the banister. Taking a seat by the bar, he waits for the others to appear.

In his own room, Kuja is stood by the window, watching the rain and brushing his hair.
'Typical. Just typical. Bloody weather.'
He moves away from the window and goes and sits on the bed. He picks up a small hand mirror then reapplies the makeup around his eyes. He takes the brush again and brushes his hair once again, smoothing it with his fingers, before taking the ribbon and plaiting the hair that was yesterday just tied back. He takes the mirror again, and critically examines his appearance, as if to insure he looks good enough to be seen. At length, he stands, puts on his boots and straightens his robes. He looks around and checks he has everything of his with him before leaving the room and going downstairs, only in the regular way. He sits near Aruun in a way that's only just friendly enough to be classed as 'sociable'. Kuja sits in a very arrogant and obviously bored way- sat back with his arms behind his head.
'It's too early and too dull. I need a cup of tea.'

Aruun casts glances towards Kuja as often as he dares, trying to get a good look at him without him noticing. He takes note of his haughty manner, his constant scowl, and agrees with himself that making friends with Kuja will be no mean feat. Fixing his face into the cheeriest smile he can muster, what with the anxious knot tying in his stomach that Kuja might yell at him, he pushes a coin towards Kuja.
'Here, buy yourself a cuppa with this.'

The door opens and I strides in. He gives a formal nod to Aruun and Kuja. He is remarkably dry for someone who has come in from the rain. After an exchange of gold and a crystalline object he takes a small glass filled with something far to strong to be drunk first thing in the morning and joins the other two.

Kuja watches I come in, bewildered at him being so dry, and curious as to what the crystal thing is.
'How did you do that, you sneak? Has it stopped raining?'
He turns his attention back to Aruun; pushing the coin around with his finger.
'You're mighty cheerful for being up so early- what are you on?' He sniggers a little at this then picks the coin up. 'Heh, thanks kid.'
Taking the coin, he gets himself an obviously much needed cup of tea.
'Ah, tea. Drink of the gods.'

Aruun scowls at Kuja's remark, then takes out another of the coins Matsuki gave him and buys himself a cup of coffee. He watches I for a moment, idly wondering whether he's an alcoholic and if he's hiding an umbrella in his coat.

I smirks.
'No it hasn't stopped. Look out the window, that's what they're there for. And by the way the Gods don't drink anything, especially not tea.' He takes a swig of his drink and cricks his neck.

Kuja shrugs nonchalantly and drinks some of his tea.
'Well, whatever. I think we should just take this time to appreciate how wonderfully quiet and peaceful it is without Matsuki around.'

Matsuki wake up slowly and blinks at the light that is seeping through the window.
'Ugh... ni.'
He gets up and goes over to the mirror to see how he looks. After looking for a short period he shakes his blonde hair, that covers his eyes, and flicks it so it isn't in his eyes.
'Eh hehehe, looking great as always.'
He leaves the room and when he reaches the top of the stairs, he does a forward flip all the way down the entire flight of stairs, landing near the bar where Aruun, Kuja and I have already seated themselves.
'Top o' the morn to ye fellas, eh hehehehe. Bartender, glass of milk please!'
Matsuki sits on the opposite side of Aruun to Kuja and drinks his glass of milk.
'Everyone have a good night sleep? Any interesting dreams? Was I in any of them? Eh hehehehe, just kidding, anyways...'
He finishes his glass of milk and stands up at super speed.
'…DANCE!'
He starts dancing about the inn as he was the night before, but suddenly grabs Kuja and spins him around
'You should dance too, Kuja! Loosen up that frown, turn it upside down!'
He carries on dancing.
'Come dance with me, Aruun.' He smiles at Aruun.

The very slight smile that graced Kuja's expression vanishes back to being a scowl when Matsuki enters the room. He speaks In a hushed tone, to himself.
'Hmm. Spoke too soon. And I thought Aruun was cheery.'
He turns to Matsuki.
'I am NOT dancing. I do not dance. Period.'

Aruun looks shyly at his feet.
'I'm not a very good dancer... really.'
He shuffles on to a stool further away from Kuja, as if afraid Matsuki's appearance in the room will make him turn violent.

I remains seated, his expression turning from a scowl as Matsuki enters to a grin as Kuja and Aruun are subjected to Matsuki's hyperactivity.

Kuja scowls.
'You know, I liked Matsuki much better when Urema had him frozen. That is to say, my level of liking him went up from loathing him to merely hating him. Speaking of the psychic bozo, where is he? Not that I particularly care, just that he's supposed to be coming with us.'
Kuja looks over at I with contempt.
'Quit grinning, you. It's not funny.'

Matsuki ignores Kuja's remark.
'Well Aruun, if you can't dance you must be taught!'
He claps his hands and music starts.
Oooooh, it's fun being me! Eh hehehehe, NO NI DA!'
Matsuki lifts Aruun from the stool and pulls him towards himself.
'Now we learn to dance, and have you eaten yet? Get yourself something to eat!'
He twirls around.
'I'm a Faerie! Wheeee!'
Matsuki sits Aruun back on his stool.
'Barkeep, any food we can eat around here?'
The barkeep hands Matsuki a bowl of peanuts.
'Meh? Peanuts? WOOO! I LIKE PEANUTS!'
He scoffs down half of the bowl then offers it to Aruun.
'Wah shum?'

Aruun looks a bit dizzy after being pulled around by Matsuki, but soon regains his composure. He takes a handful of peanuts and eats them appreciatively.
'Mm mm, thank you, Matsuki.'
He takes note that the rain has begun to fall much more heavily, hammering against the window like bullets.
'Perhaps we should leave starting our journey until the rain eases off a bit.' He takes a few glances around the room. 'And anyway, Urema is still not here. Do you think he's still asleep?'
I looks up the stairs.
'Then perhaps we should wake him?'
He turns to Matsuki.
'Why don't you go upstairs and greet Urema, I'm sure he'd love to see you.'

Aruun looks nervous.
'Come on now, Matsuki is very... um... excitable, but he's not that bad, is he?' Aruun backs off from Kuja and I.

'I don't care if you like him' Kuja snaps. 'I certainly doesn't. He's extremely annoying.'

I nods his head, then clicking his fingers as though he remembered something he turns to Kuja.
'Kuja, you remember yesterday you mentioned tranquillisers might help, while I was... elsewhere last night, guess what I got?'
A malicious grin spreads across his face.

Kuja grins viciously.
'Excellent.'

Matsuki looks around Urema's room but doesn't see Urema anywhere within sight, so decides to go back downstairs to the others.
'He isn't in his room, so I don't really know where he could have gone... Oooooh, maybe he's playing hide and seek! YAY!'
Matsuki starts rushing around the inn, looking in all the places he can think of including up the chimney and in a glass of beer.
'Meh, I can't find him... WAHHHHHHH!'
He starts crying again.

Aruun looks over at Matsuki, his eyes filled with concern. He approaches him and gingerly puts a hand on his shoulder.
'Um, don't cry. Maybe Urema just went out for an early morning stroll.' He tries his best to put on a reassuring smile.
'I'm sure he's ok.'

Kuja sidles over to I
'Aye and if he has any sense, it'll be to get away from Matsuki.'

In a nearby forest, Urema is standing in a small clearing as a group of Demons encircle him. He looks a little beaten up and has an expression of pure rage on his face.
'You're making me angry!'
A powerful shockwave emits from him, sending his enemies flying. A second, and then a third erupt from him, which both pound into the demons. They fall to the ground, dead.
Urema continues his walk, and leaves the forest.

'Well, we should better go find him. I'm sure he can take care of himself but I want to get this letter fiasco sorted.'
I turns to Aruun.
'I assume that's ok with you, kid.'

'Oh no. I'm not going out if its still raining.' Kuja grumbles some. 'Not without an umbrella or something, at least. I'm not getting my hair wet. Damn him, going off in the rain like this.'

Aruun nods at I, raises his staff and in a small flash of light, it opens out like an umbrella. He offers it to Kuja with a nervous smile.
'We ought to go look for Urema, yes. I know it's dangerous at there... lots of wild Demons.' He represses a shudder. 'I don't want him getting hurt.'

Matsuki stops crying and stands up.
'WOOOOWWWWW! THAT WAS SOOO COOL! Can I have your autograph?'
He kneels down next to Aruun, holding out a pad of paper and a pen.
'Pweaaase!'
He looks up at Aruun with big, round shiny eyes.

Aruun blinks, lookin a little surprised, but takes the pen and paper anyway.
'It was just a little Magick trick... nothing special. I'll sign this if it makes you happy.'
He writes 'To Matsuki, from Aruun Ar'ciel' on the paper and hands it back to him.

'Wild Demons...' I turns to Kuja and Aruun. 'We should send Matsuki off ahead to scout the area, he can 'occupy' any Demons. I'm sure we can find Urema by the time they've killed him.'
He turns to Matsuki.
'Do you want to play a game of hide and seek? You're it, so go into those Demon filled forests and hide.'

Kuja takes the umbrella from Aruun, with a slight smile.
'Hey, thanks Aruun. For that, I might let you share it with me'
He sniggers a little at what I said to Matsuki.
'You're so mean. It'll be your problem if the kid gets hurt. Urema better have a good reason for just wandering off. Damn psychics. And the Demons? I bet we're much more dangerous than they are, heheh.'
[That is to say, I'm much more dangerous than they are...]

Matsuki stands up and hugs his autograph of Aruun, then picks Aruun up hugging him again.
'YAAYYY! Hee hee, special!'
He starts running around in circles.
'Demons you say…? Hmmm... I can play a game of hit and run! YEAH!'
He runs out of the inn and heads down towards the woods. His wings grow out of his back and he takes flight to look at the woods from above.

Aruun watches Matsuki's figure vanish into the distance, his eyes wide with concern. He fiddles with the fastenings on his robes again.
'Are you sure it's a good idea sending him out alone? After all, there's safety in numbers...'

'Maybe,' Kuja replies, 'but I half think he can look after himself. I mean, you saw him beat the snot out of that Demon. The other half of me... well, that hopes he gets really hurt.'
Kuja smiles unnervingly pleasantly.
'If it'd make you happy, let's go after him anyway. Besides, I'm fed up of hanging around this dump. Let's just get going. Lead the way, then, Mr Guide.'

I sighs.
'But don't go too fast, with Matsuki around peace is rare and I'm not wasting a second of it.'
I goes to the bar and quickly has another shot of something strong before returning to the rest of the party who are staring questioningly at I.
'What are you looking at? I've got spend the rest of the day with you folk, there's no way I'd survive that if I was sober.'

'Well, no…' Kuja says, 'I appreciate the quiet as much as the next guy. We ought to ask Urema whether Matsuki really is like this, or if it's just an act… [like I suspect it might be].'
Kuja scowls slightly at I.
'Pfft, if I can survive this being sober, I'm sure you can. Besides, you wouldn't want to see me drunk.'

I mutters quietly.
'I don't exactly want to see you now.'
He then speaks normally.
'Why would anyone act like Matsuki? What good could come of it? My money is on the 'scarred by his past' mental situation.'

Kuja glares harshly at I.
'I heard that, but for now, I will treat you with ignore. Perhaps he did have a traumatic past. Who didn't? Maybe he's just the product of too much sugar.'

Aruun pretends not to hear their conversation, but smiles some nonetheless; again casually musing on whether I is an alcoholic and considers giving him the number of AA. Pulling up his hood, he turns to the door.
'Let's get after him, then shall we?'
He takes a few steps out into the rain.

'Enough of our musings if we keep up this idle chat we won't get anywhere. Hey kid.'
I slaps Aruun on the back in a friendly yet rather intimidating manner'
'Let's get this show on the road'
Gestures to the door.

Aruun's knees give way as I slaps him on the back. He quickly stands up again and grins nervously.
'Ok, I'm going, I'm going.'
He leads them out towards the forest.

Kuja follows them, silently extremely grateful for the umbrella.
'So, I. What kinds of Demons do you think'll be in the forest?'

I strides comfortably in the rain.
'Well I'd like to say, little ones that die instantly and turn into scotch, but knowing my luck that's not going to happen. I'm no Daemonographer, but I can tell that there's going to be something big and pointy out there.'

Aruun, being without an umbrella, is soaked and looks more pathetic and scraggly than usual. He also looks terrified at the idea of 'big and pointy' Demons.
'I hope they're not too big... I really don't like Demons. I told you that, didn't I? I'm sorry. I just get really scared when they're around because I think they'll eat me.' He laughs slightly hysterically. 'And I start babbling to try and cover my nerves. I'm doing that right now, aren't I? Sorry... I'll shut up.'

As Matsuki look down from the sky, he spots the others leaving the inn and flies down to greet them.
'RUUUUNIIEEEE!'
Matsuki flies straight into Aruun, lifts him off the ground and hugs him in mid air. He then puts him back down again.
'Eh hehehe, surprise!'

'Kyahh! Where the HELL did you come from!? Flying around like a moron like that! Get on the ground, you, and stay there!'
Kuja looks at the others.
'What..? He surprised me a bit, just appearing like that…!'
He looks at poor, soaking wet Aruun and puts the umbrella over him too.
'Jeez, kid. I said you could share, on account of you let me use it. You're soaked. Can't have the only person who knows where the hell we're going getting pneumonia. Oh, damn. I'm being nice. There's a first. Make the most of it. I'm not likely to do it again.'

I backflips and draws his sword ready to strike.
'Ohh, it's only you.'
I relaxes and puts his sword away. Suddenly he grabs Matsuki and shakes him violently.
'Don't do that to me, I'm paranoid enough as it is.'
Letting go of Matsuki, he turns to the others.
'And I'm not an alcoholic, I just have a stressful life and it takes the edge off. It would help Aruun if he tried a bit.'
I looks at Aruun who is being showered with overactive attention by Matsuki.

'Awwww, you were worried about me? Heee.'
Matsuki gives Aruun another hug.
'I KNOW! GROUP HUG!'
He grabs both I and Kuja and hugs them all together.
'Isn't this special?'

Kuja scowls and tries to wriggle out of the hug.
'Ungh. Special in a 'I think I'm going to puke' kind of way. Let go of me!'

Matsuki lets go of everyone and sticks his tongue out at Kuja.
'I couldn't see anything in the woods, but I am pretty certain I heard something, so we should go to where the sound was.'
He looks at the group.

Kuja flips Matsuki the bird.
'Yeah, okay. Let's go then.'

I is scared stiff after the hug.
'Guh... Yurhg… Sigh… what did I do to warrant this treatment?'
I points a finger at Kuja.
'No jokes from you, wise guy.'

Aruun looks a little disoriented, but aside from Matsuki, he seemed to enjoy the hug the most out of all of them. He smoothes his robes and looks to Matsuki, the usual look of slight panic returning to his face.
'A noise...? What kind of noise?'

'Hmmm.......'
Matsuki looks like he is trying to remember something.
'Lemme see... I remember... the usual big bang and sound of things dying with twisted screams, ye know, that kind... And oh yeah... I also heard a waterfall, sounded relaxing.'
He looks dreamy and begins to float up again, then snaps out of it.
'Uhhh... did one of you say something about a penguin on toast? Or was that just me?'

I smiles.
'Things dying, safer than things living if you ask me'

'I'd have to agree with you, I.' Aruun reaches into his robes and pulls out roll of parchment. He turns to Matsuki, unrolling it. 'A waterfall? That must be the place I was meant to lead you to.' He reads from the letter.
'Lead them to the place where water cascades to rock. We should find Urema and head to the waterfall.'

'Um... I'm here.' Urema is behind them. He looks a little bruised, but is otherwise okay.
'I'm sorry for deserting you, I just... went for a walk and…. got lost.'

'Ooh, you look hurt'
Matsuki embraces Urema in a hug and there is a white glow that emanates from between them. When Matsuki steps away, Urema looks to be in perfect health.
'You'll have to be careful form now on!'
He hits Urema over the head with his sledgehammer, which kind of appeared out of pure nothingness.

'How moronic.' Kuja scoffs. 'You heal him then you hit him with that thing.'
Kuja turns to Urema.
'Have a nice wandering-off-without-telling-anyone-where-you're-going? Good, whatever.'
He turns to Aruun.
'Well, come on then. Waterfall. Let's go. Lead the way, map-man.'

'Ow...' mutters Urema as he rubs his head. 'Umm, that was some impressive healing Magick, I've never experienced something like that before...'

Aruun looks concerned.
'I hope that hammer didn't hurt Urema.'
He turns to Kuja and shows him the parchment.
'It's not a map, it's a letter. I received it from the same person you did. All that is different on mine is it has some cryptic clues of where to lead you to... so your guess is as good as mine as to which way to go.'
He scratches an antennae thoughtfully.
'Matsuki, you heard the waterfall earlier, didn't you? Which direction is it in?'