~ Amegakure, Steam Country ~ It had been twelve days since Aoi had arrived in the capital of this seemingly broken land. sixteen days since the rain started, and it only seemed to stop for fifteen or twenty minutes at a time. Of course his Sobo would have reminded him to see the beauty hidden around him, she always said that. Aoi figured it was because, as a Kinoko, he would one day be considered ugly or even monstrous by most people. Still, his grandmother was right, and despite his growing frustration with his feet constantly being wet or the way the raindrop laden wind seemed to bite into his face now and again, there was definingly small things hidden in plain sight to be enjoyed. The way people seemed to stand a little closer to their loved ones, almost as if to protect them from the rain. Or the rhythmic way it pitter pattered against the window at night, allowing Aoi to sleep deeply after a long day's work. The air smelled cleaner, and despite the dampness, Aoi felt more refreshed after a walk than he was use to in the Heart Empire, which normally resulted in an afternoon nap after a long walk in the sun. Still, like most Kinoko, Aoi felt an unrelenting urge to explore the world, and while this land made have been different from what he'd been use to, meeting all the different types of people and seeing all the different examples of various cultures from many nations was something he truly lived for, besides, the rain was starting to grow on him.
Aoi hadn't exactly come to Steam Country looking for a vacation however, as that would likely get him in deep trouble with his superiors back at the Academy. No, he'd volunteered to join a group of medical relief workers that were heading to Amegakure to provide medical care to the many refugees in the country after the war. As a refugee himself, and having lived through a lot of the same struggles in the last few years, as well as being a trained medic, Aoi had practicality jumped out of his sandals at the opportunity to join up on this mission. As it turned out, traveling wasn't as much fun as he'd remembered, of course he'd been much younger when he and his grandmother fled Gold Country, but still, much of the land was desolate and the remnants of war still tore at the landscape like shrapnel embedded in muscle, the scars of battles long lost or won still lingered. Aoi enjoyed the prospect of healing some of those scars, even if only in a more abstract sense. A handful of the people he was helping to treat had been injured in the war, most though had suffered the effects of disease, malnutrition, or non-combat injuries caused by the sheer distance they had fled from. The days were long, the work hard, but the feeling of helping people who had seen so much ugliness, see a little kindness was having a profound effect on him. He was also learning so much about medicine and the artform of caring for your patients as people, not just injuries to be fixed.
It was after one of these long shifts at the clinic he'd been assigned to that Aoi found himself walking in the rain, umbrella in hand, down an alley that was suppose to lead to a ramen shop he'd overheard a few of the nurses talking about earlier in the afternoon. Veritably starving, Aoi was having a bit of trouble remembering the directions to the restaurant and, chastising himself for eavesdropping on another person's conversation, he turned back around the corner to head back to the clinic and realized he had no idea where he was. As if an act of providence, the rain picked up harder than normal, causing the wind to bite into his face and his Sobo's voice in his head, telling him how much she would miss him on his trip and to hurry back home safely. Lost in the rain, in unfamiliar land, the realization dawned on him just as his anxiety was starting to rise. "Baka." Aoi muttered to himself, as he reached up to adjust the zipper of his jacket, a self soothing habit when he was nervous.
