A cool breeze swept across the green plains of La Noscea, bringing with it the scent of the ocean and the sound of two figures bickering in the distance. Two Au Ra, a male and a female were steadily trekking along the fields, although their destination seemed unclear.

"You're certain this is the way to Limsa Lominsa?" The long, dark-haired girl asked in a low apathetic voice.

"I'm... Pretty sure, I mean you can smell the ocean right? We can't be that far away." The red-headed man answered cheerfully.

"Face it Asugi, we're lost again. I can't believe I trusted you with the map four times in a row. Urgh I knew we should have just spent more to sail directly to the city, what a waste of time." The girl grumbled to herself.

"Sheesh Sarya, brighten up a little bit. It costs enough to travel from Hingashi to Eorzea as it is, we simply didn't have enough Gil to make it all the way to Limsa." Asugi explained to her as she sighed.

"But you were born on this continent, right? I mean we're trying to find your brother after all, shouldn't you know a bit more about the lay of the land?" Sarya continued.

"Well yeah but my mother brought me back to our homeland when I was still a child, I didn't have much of an opportunity to see this land and I've never been to Vylbrand before so... I have no clue where we're going." Asugi replied as he scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Figures... Hey it looks like there's people over there, let's ask them for directions." Sarya suggested.

"Umm are you sure they're people? Some of them look a bit too big... and not like a person at all." Asugi questioned the woman.

"Don't judge them just get a move on I'm sick of all this sunlight." The woman demanded as the pair changed their course.

"Aleeeeeeex! Help! I'm too young to die!" A blonde Miqo'te man screamed as he ran as fast as he could to the coast line with a large herd of giant Megalocrabs chasing behind him. The pair heard the screams and their casual walk hastened into a run and they rushed towards them.

"Sounds like he's in danger, we have to help him!" Asugi yelled to his companion as he sprinted forward.

"Good grief." Sarya replied as she followed along. The Miqo'te came to a stop behind a tanned Hyur who was sitting at a small stool on the sand with a fishing line in hand who turned around to find that they were surrounded by the clawed beasts.

"Gods damn it Laris I sent you to get me more bait not become bait! Useless furball." Alex growled as he quickly reeled his line, got up from his chair and clutched the fishing pole in his hands tightly like a weapon.

"Oh boy, oh no, this isn't good we don't have our weapons what're we gonna do?! Quick, whack them! Whack them good!" Laris shouted to Alex in a panic as the Hyur readied himself for combat.

"Ahh here one comes!" Laris cried as he covered his face in defense only to soon find no contact had been made. He heard a sudden loud cracking sound and quickly looked up to find a woman atop of the attacking crab with two knives digging deep into it's body, piercing it's tough carapace and tearing into it's organs. The beast let out a painful gurgling sound before it's legs gave way and collapsed to the ground.

"Hrrryaaahh!" Asugi shouted as he pulled back his fist while sprinting towards the crab next to the fallen creature and hastily shot his bare fist forward into the beasts side, cracking it's outer shell and sending it toppling over, knocking into one of the others. Working in perfect harmony, the Auri sliced and punched their way through the opposing beasts until the last had fallen to their might.

"Phew, almost worked up a sweat." Asugi grinned and he dusted off his hands together.

"Those stupid crabs blunted my blades a little..." Sarya whined.

"You two really saved our asses." Alex thanked as he approached the two. "And now I don't need to spend the day fishing with all this crab meat you helped get off my stupid partner here."

"Hey! I was just trying to speed things up. Watching you fish was soooo boring and I'm so hungry I thought I was gonna die before you were done." The Miqo'te explained.

"Whatever. Anyway we should find some way to repay you two, how about joining us for a meal? There's a group of us having a night out together on the beach at Mist and now there's gonna be more than enough grub for everyone, whaddya say?" The Hyur offered.

"We accept." Sarya replied almost immediately.

"Wait but we have to-" The tall Au Ra was cut off mid sentence as his companion turned toward him and pointed a finger at him menacingly.

"Listen we've been wandering around all day because you got lost. I'm starving so we're not missing out on this." She demanded.

"Fine." Asugi sighed with a shrug before turning to the gruff Hyur once more. "We'd be honoured to join you and your friends." The Au Ra moved towards one of the beasts corpses and lifted a leg over his shoulder and began dragging it along the ground behind him, following Alex and Laris' lead as they helped each other lift another one of their soon-to-be meals and headed towards their destination.

{●}

"Malik, hurry up over there and get yer bloody pole into place already!" A tall red-headed Roegadyn woman bellowed towards her Elezen companion as they attempted to lift a large canvas gazebo into place while their friends were off fishing for food.

"I'm doing it as fast as I can, why not get someone else to help as well it'd make all this much more efficient." The young blonde grumbled as he struck the large pole he was holding down into the sand and leveled it vertically.

"Bloody Hells. Oi, sweet cheeks!" The Roegadyn yelled, beckoning a small brown-haired Au Ra woman so was sitting on a towel on the sand by some other women.

"Yes Ms. Lockser?" She asked as she rose and made her way towards the woman.

"How many times to I have to tell ya Rose, quit callin' me by me last name."

"Sorry, miss- I mean Robin. What do you need of me?"

"Grab that post and help the poor lad lift our cover up so I can start drinkin' already." Robin ordered as the Au Ra quickly leaped into action next to the Elezen. Nearby, two women were seated building a sand castle together near the shore as a figure approached from the water and soon shadowed over them.

"Hello there ladies, mind the company of a sweet young man such as myself?" Asked the young Elezen holding his hands on his hips above the lone speedo he was wearing and looking off proudly into the distance.

"Get back in the water Zaren before I throw you in there myself." The brown haired Elezen replied.

"Oh Leona, how you make my heart ache. How about you Robyn, mind if I join you?" He asked with a wink.

"Hmm, sure why not? I just had a fun idea..." The tanned woman smirked as she began digging away a hole with her hands. Leona looked back as she felt someone approaching and noticed the short grey-skinned Roegadyn woman sit down beside her while nodding her head and smiling as a greeting.

"Oh Paris, you made it! Is Gaius not joining us tonight?" Leona inquired, although more than pleased with her friends arrival.

"No he's busy back at the company, I wish he could join us." Paris sighed.

"Well at least you're here, even without him all of us are going to have a great time so chin up!" The Elezen smiled. "You two really seem to be hitting it off though, huh?"

"Y-yes we seem to be d-don't we? It's quite amazing really." The Roegadyn replied with a blush.

"Woah, is that Milla over there sunbathing?!" Zaren suddenly blurted out. "Sit tight ladies I'll be right ba-"

"You're not going anywhere." Robyn cut him off as she quickly gripped his arm. "You wanted to spend time with us so that's what you're gonna do. Now, get in this hole and make yourself comfortable for a moment..."
Four figures approached the beach-side party as the sky began to fade into a beautiful hue of orange and red, bringing with them the spoils that would serve as the groups dinner.

"Malik, get the fireplace ready, we got some extra cooking to do!" Alex shouted as he and Laris dropped their crab down near the large gazebo before going off to grab a drink. "We brought some company. Name's are Asugi and Sarya, they helped us out of Laris' mess and provided the food for us." He introduced as the two newcomers bowed politely in a foreign manner.

"Greetings, Asugi. If you don't mind me saying, you look... Familiar. Have I seen you around here before?" Rose asked as she approached the man and peered up at him, almost too close for comfort.

"Uh, I don't think so. We only just arrived from Hingashi a few days ago." He answered, looking down at her awkwardly.

"My mistake then, apologies if I made you uncomfortable, I just couldn't shake the feeling. In any case I hope you two enjoy yourselves, I'm sure the others would love to meet you two as well.' Rose ended with a courteous smile.

"Aaaaaaaha hahaha hahaha haaaaa!" Laris burst out laughing as he approached the women by the sand to find the two girls next to Zaren's head that was sticking out of the sand in front of them, building a sand fort around it.

"Get in trouble hitting on the girls again, Zaren? Maybe you should quit while you're... a head. Haha!" Laris giggled to himself before he felt something tug at his tail. He looked down to find Leona's hand firmly gripping it with an evil smirk on her face as she looked up at him.

"You'll come play with us too, won't you?" She asked as Laris' heart quickly sank. The two Auri guests made their way to the rest who were sitting by the shore and introduced themselves. After a short while they ended up getting along with everyone at the party before Alex and Malik alerted everyone that dinner was ready. Soon, everyone was seated at a large round table set up under the gazebo with lovingly prepares plates of seafood and salads in front of them.

"Wow this looks delicious!" Asugi explained as Alex sat there proudly reflecting on the meals he had prepared before grabbing his knife and fork.

"It's hard to remember what life together was like before Alex joined the company and everyone took turns in the kitchen, his food's always amazing!" Robyn explained to him cheerfully.

"You're certainly lucky Mrs. Mercer, you must have enjoyed these meals for years as a child when you were aboard his ship." Rose added.

"Oh man, you got to eat this for years and meanwhile I've been stuck with stuff like Paris' horrible cooking for so long until last year." Laris whined in a stirring manner.

"HEY YOU TAKE THAT BACK RUNT, THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH MY COOKING!" Paris screamed at him. "Besides, Gaius said he likes it just fine." She continued proudly.

"I could have sworn I heard him vomiting later in the night the last time she cooked for him..." Malik mumbled to himself.

"Uhh... Sarya?" Asugi discretely questioned as he looked to the girl at his side who seemed lost in concentration. She held a fork in one hand and a knife in the other as if she were wielding her daggers and attempted to lift a piece of crab meat with them by balancing it between the two utensils before dropping it helplessly. "Do you need any help?"

"I'm fine." She quickly replied in a grumbly voice.

"You know if you just-"

"I said I'm fine! I've almost got this..." She reassured with a look mixed of anger and determination on her face. Asugi placed a hand on her shoulder to get her attention and nodded his head towards the few sitting opposite them in an attempt to guide Sarya's vision towards them.

"See how they're holding them? Try holding the fork like this... And the knife like this.. And then stick this there and while you're holding it down, cut it off like this..." Asugi said as he held his friends hands and guided her along.

"I would have figured it out myself. But... Thanks, I guess." She muttered with both embarrassment and sincerity.

"Don't mention it. They're different from the cutlery back home but you'll get used to it quickly." He reassured with a smile. After a hearty dinner full of stories and laughs, the group seemed to split off as they all began to do their own thing again. Whilst some sit by the campfire on the sand a few feet away from the gazebo, Milla approached those left at the table with what seemed to be a deck of cards in her hand.

"Soooo, who's ready for Strip Triad?" She asked cheekily.

"What's that, a game? I love games! How do we play?" Laris asked excitedly.

"Well, first we split off into two teams of three, which since there's five of you here it works perfectly. Each member gets three cards and then the rest of the game is played like normal Triple Triad, with a different member placing a card each turn. Buuuut, whoever loses the round, one of the members starting from the left has to remove one piece of clothing each time." Milla explained before glancing at Alex and giving a wink.

"So what are the teams?" Alex asked.

"How about boys verse girls? So that's Robyn, the other Robin and myself against you, Malik and Laris." Milla suggested. Alex suddenly felt his body freeze up as he looked over to Robyn with wide eyes and a chill shot down his spine.

"You know what lass, I think I'm gonna sit the one out. You gents have fu-"

"Hold it right there, Alex!" Robin interrupted. "Sit yer scrawny ass back down or I'll leave ya high n' dry for the next month." She threatened with a taunting grin on her face. Alex paused for a moment before hesitantly sitting back down.

"I feel like we're at a disadvantage. Laris barely knows child's math and he's hardly wearing clothes as it is." Malik stated.

"Yer'll be fine. Now, let's get started!" Robin replied enthusiastically as each member began drawing from the deck. Out of all of them, Alex and Robin were the most skilled at the game and wanted desperately to win against the other, although Alex felt certain reservations about that at first. Almost an hour and many drinks later, about half the players were left in their small-clothes.

"Seems Milla had a rare Primal card hidden away in that deck of hers, must be hard to try and top that." Alex taunted Robin as he placed his card before awaiting her to play the last card for the round.

"Is that right?" She grinned.

"What, actually think you can pull it off?" He scoffed.

"Haha! Nope! All I got is this bloody Flan. Well we lose this round. Oi Robyn, it's your turn to strip again, love!" Robin laughed before glancing at Alex who once again froze solid. "Come on, off with yer bra!" She continued as she watched the drunken Miqo'te embarrassingly giggle and start fumbling with the clip of her bra.

"No. No! Nope. NOPE. That's it, I'm done, I'm flyin' the white flag, I'm out!" Alex yelled as he quickly jumped from his seat and hastily walked away to the campfire.

"Ya bloody coward!" Robin shouted back at him before laughing along with the group at the table. "Oi Zaren get over here, we need one more!" She beckoned.
Alex made his way to the others who were relaxing and chatting among themselves by the fire and sat down next to Asugi.

"Well, you seem to be getting along well with the others here." He commented.

"Yeah, everyone here's really nice and interesting too! I've never seen so many colourful people in one place before. Tonight's been really amazing, thank you again for having us." Asugi smiled.

"It's the least I could do." Alex replied. "So what made you wanna travel all the way from the Far East anyway?"

"I'm... trying to find someone very important to me." He answered in a slightly more serious tone.

"Ah... So the lass over there ain't your girl?" Alex questioned.

"What? No of course not. We may be close but it's nothing like that." Asugi laughed in embarrassment as he scratched his head. "Anyway it's not a girl I'm after, I'm looking for my brother. Problem is I've only met him once as a child and have no idea where to look. We were hoping to start questioning people in Limsa and work from there."

"Hmm... Well, why not join us for the time being? Our boss is pretty smart and has good connections, I'm sure he could find the guy you're after." Alex offered.

"Thanks but I'm not entirely sure..."

"Mr. Nassau is quite amazing. If anyone is capable of helping you find your sibling then I'm certain it's within his abilities." Rose added in.

"Mister... Nassau... Hmm, Well I guess it wouldn't hurt to try, we don't exactly have any other leads." Asugi concluded.

"Well that settles it. Until then kick back and relax lad, we'll deal with that stuff tomorrow when we return, but for now let's focus on enjoying ourselves!" Alex cheered as he began to down the rest of his drink. Asugi smiled and nodded before his attention was drawn to a naked Laris who was covering his bare crotch with his hands while chasing after Robin who was running away from him teasingly with his underwear in hand. The night continued to be filled with laughter and good vibes until eventually everyone rested on their sleeping mats by the camp fire. After awaking and eating the breakfast that a hungover Alex had forced himself to prepare for the group, they packed away the equipment they had set up and made their return to the company grounds.

"Woah, this place is amazing!" Asugi exclaimed in awe as the large entrance doors swung open revealing the grand hall.

"Mr. Gurei, Ms. Akutsu, please wait here while I summon the leader." Rose instructed before taking off and heading towards a staircase in the distance. The pair gazed around the large hallway as the sun shone through the giant stained glass windows behind them. The room was lined with columns reaching the roof several stories high and beautiful framed paintings along the wall depicting different scenery and conflicts in history. Their awestruck gazes were eventually interrupted as Rose returned with another Au Ra by her side.

"Greetings, Alex and Rose have told me quite a bit about you two. My name is Gaius Nassau, it's a pleasure." He introduced as the newcomers turned around to greet him. Asugi's eyes met with his which led to a momentary pause.

"It's nice to see you again... Brother." Asugi smiled awkwardly.

"Asugi? Impossible." Gaius responded with a disturbed look upon his face as tension began to build.