Raven sighed, putting his leg on the bed. "I'm tired."

"Kweh!" the chocobos wailed. With that, they began their hourly chorus of "I WANT FOOD AND NOW!"

"Okay, okay!" Gukko plopped the bag of grain in front of the two fuzzballs and watched their little heads moving inside the hempen sack. "Wanna go down for a drink?"

"Sure, I guess. Erm..."

"I'll help you." Raven steadied himself on Gukko, who nearly fell over. "Okay, come on. Stairs ahead!"

"Okay, now here's the last step- you got it?"

Raven stepped down cautiously on one foot.

Unfortunately, Gukko attempted to step down two, on a stairway not built for a Fighter and a Paladin next to each other...

Crash!

Instantly, the whole pub stopped. All eyes were riveted on the piles of uniform sitting at the base.

"Well...?"

"I don't believe it!" A Bishop shook his head. "You defeat a Languassss in a duel, yet here you are, unable to even climb down sstairsss in one piesse!"

Everyone laughed.

Both made their way to the nearest table.

"So, tell us about it," someone said.

"Well, there was this Sage..."

"Well, I never did expect..." a Sage commented.

"Well, that's the story." Gukko turned around, noticing a shadow, a flickering shadow. "Hey!"

She stepped out of the shadows.

For a moment there, Gukko couldn't speak. Mateus! The Totema stood there, fashioned out of moonlight, starlight, dreams, lust, glitter, and the every essence of beauty. She was the very embodiment of every good and beautiful- no, beyond that-

Gukko stared, his mouth open. It wasn't Mateus over there.

It was a viera.

More specifically, she was lovelier than he thought that anything could possibly be. I'm hallucinating, he thought. I'm dreaming. Mateus has given me the best dream of my life... He could have just stood there forever, staring, gaping.

But one of the men pounded him on the back.

"Oh-ho, our little friend here has fallen in love with her again!" Everyone laughed.

The Hunter that had spoken winked. "I know, ain't she be the purtiest lil' doll you've ever seen? But I'd be reckoning for you to search for a different girl, boy- that be Callypso for you. Her momma- the fiecest lil' killer you'd never set eyes upon."

"Is she real?" he blabbered. "Am I alive? Is that Mateus?"

Everyone laughed again. "My good friend!" The Sage sighed. "I'm much afeared to crush your hopes, but every single one of us-" There was a loud cracking noise as a viera White Mage whipped out her staff and cracked the Soldier in front of her with a White Staff.

"You cheated on me!" she snapped as the Soldier moaned and clutched his head.

"Okay, so everyone of us have gone to try to try hook up with her. Little demon, I tell you," a Blue Mage sighed.

Everyone began to recount their attempts to woo Callypso.

"So don't even try."