Hello friends! I'm sure there are a million and a half stories like this one, but I just thought it would be fun to type and fun to read, so here it is :)

Another Drinking Game

A few days had gone by since Yuffie had sent a mass invitation to anyone that may or may not know anyone that knew any one of her friends. Needless to say, on the night of the get together, finding a specific person was like finding a needle in a haystack. A blond needle in a blond haystack. So many blonds.

"Yo, Teef," Barret said as he approached me, "You seen Spike?"

"No, I've been looking for him, but there are too many blonds with crazy hair here."

"HA! Ain't that the truth!" Barret bellowed, "You been people watchin'?"

"More or less. At least I can't be bored."

"So…you sure you wanna be datin' someone as…Spike…as Spike is?"

"Barret."

"I'm only thinkin' of what's best for you, Teef. You don't know if he's gonna go AWOL again."

"We've been through this."

"I'm serious!"

"So am I! Yes. I, Tifa Lockhart, am sure that I want to be dating Cloud Strife."

Barret sighed, "Alright, Teef. But as soon as he starts goin' all weird and paranoid again, you dump his ass cold."

I sighed.

Cid called me down the counter, "Hey, Tifa. How 'bout you hit me up with a couple beers?" he asked, tossing some money down on the counter.

"Sure, Cid. Hang on." I took the Gil and grabbed him a couple of his favorite beers. I would have said he didn't have to pay because he's my friend…but he'd bankrupt me.

I looked around my bar and was able to point out several familiar, if not often seen faces. I was still looking for my blond needle, but ended up finding what seemed like every other person in the room first. Easily the most recognizable person there, however, was an athletic young man with blond hair and lopsided shorts, who I swore HAD to be related to the bronze, shirtless, shoeless, tattooed titan strutting around. Amidst the rest of the faces, I saw many other extravagant people. There was a young man walking around with a chocobo, for instance, who I had only grudgingly let in. Have you any idea the kind of smells that come from avian animals the size of a chocobo? The boy was wearing a bright red shirt with a tie at the bottom, a green sash, and black…tights or leggings. There was more armor in the room than I cared to keep track of. There was a small, blond young man who I had to do a double take on: was that a tail? There was also a petite girl with curly green hair who was almost as well hidden as a youth with a scar across his nose wearing a black bomber jacket. Neither was as well hidden as Cloud, however. Continuing my scan, I saw a young boy there with white hair and a tan, or was that just his skin? Lastly, there was a woman with pink hair that reminded me uncannily of Cloud in terms of posture and temperament. How is it that you can find anyone in a crowd except the one you're looking for? Where was my blond needle? This haystack is too busy.

"Hey," a gruff voice called out to me while a heavily calloused hand swung me around by the shoulder.

"Yes?" I replied, folding my arms crossly. It was the titan. Don't bother me while I'm looking for my needle.

"Where d'you keep the booze here?"

Somehow I wasn't surprised at this request, "Follow me." I waved for the chiseled man to accompany me up to the bar.

Titan scratched at the black stubble on his chin, "You haven't seen a little punk with blond hair around, have you?"

"I know lots of blonds; you'll have to be a bit more specific."

"Yellow shirt. Uneven shorts. Armor on one arm."

"Yes, I've seen him. He certainly likes to put on a show. Almost as much as monkey boy."

The man laughed gruffly, "Monkey boy?"

"There's a boy here with a monkey tail. It's the strangest, well, one of the stranger things I've seen," I laughed.

"Ha, well then. Now how about that booze?"

I didn't trust this man to have free reign over my alcohol for some reason, so I stayed behind the counter and made sure he didn't drink me dry. Besides, Cloud would be more likely to find me if I stayed in one obvious place.

As if on cue, Cloud appeared a few minutes later. A small smile warmed his features when he saw me. I turned away a bit. Stupid blush. He came behind the counter and kissed me lightly on the cheek before leaning against the wall. I smiled bashfully and made myself busy helping visitors.

"HEY, SQUIRT." The room went silent when the now buzzed man I had come to know as Jecht bellowed. I presumed it was to the boy he had called…Tidus was it?

"WHAT?" an annoyed voice shot back from the room.

"HOW 'BOUT YOU AND I HAVE A LITTLE MATCH? GETCHUR ASS UP HERE."

A pause, then footsteps coming towards the bar, "What now, old man?" Tidus made his way up to the bar and sighed heavily when he saw what Jecht was up to, "…You're kidding me."

"Siddown and drink with your 'old man'," Jecht snorted.

Oh, boy this will not end well. I could feel the idea forming in Barret's mind. Thank God Marlene and Denzel were out playing with friends.

There was shortly another bellow from somewhere in the room, "HEY SPIKEY-!"

"NO." Cloud remained still, his arms crossed and chin pointed down.

Jecht laughed from deep in his belly, "You afraid or somethin', 'Spikey'?"

My needle sighed, "First of all, my name is not 'Spike' or 'Spikey'," he paused, then glared at Yuffie, who had emerged from the crowd when Jecht had initiated his challenge, "or 'Chocobo.' Secondly, I don't want to take part in your idiotic drinking match."

There was a "Boooo!" from a corner of the room. A few others joined in, and soon the whole bar was ringing with boos and challenges.

"Boko! I challenge you to a drinking game!" the boy with the chocobo exclaimed. This was ridiculous!

A purple-haired man (?) next to Chocobo Boy barked out a laugh. "Ye don't stand a chance! Me pinky can hold more liquor than both ye and yer bird combined!"

"Oh, yeah?! Farris, then me and Boko challenge you to a drinking game!"

"HEY!" Jecht bellowed once more, silencing the room, albeit slowly, "We might as well make this proper," he jeered mockingly, "This young lady here," he gestured to me of course, "Will keep things from getting too out of hand while we start weeding out the intolerates. Whadaya say?"

I sighed, "Fine, but you're still going pay me for all the alcohol you drink, so keep that in mind."

"RIGHT! So, any man that has a pair," he glanced tauntingly at Cloud, "Come and siddown. You're next to me, kid."

"Hmph," Tidus willingly sat next to Jecht, but scooted his stool away.

Cloud glanced sidelong at me. Oh my, he actually wanted to do this after that jab at his anatomy. I laughed inwardly at myself and couldn't keep a small smile off my lips.

"Tifa?" ha asked.

"You're fine," I snickered, "Just don't kill yourself or anyone else, oh, in fact. EXCUSE ME!"

All the men sidling up to the bar (chocobo included) looked at me, "IF I COULD HAVE EVERYBODY HAND ME THEIR WEAPONS. I'M GOING TO PUT THEM IN A SEPARATE ROOM SO NO ONE KILLS EACH OTHER."

There was a mixed response of agreement and irritation, but I eventually got everyone's weapons into a side room. There was one man in armor named Firion that took about 10 minutes to get all of the weapons off his body. Honestly, the people I meet!

"Hey, lady," Jecht rubbed the stubble on his chin again, "How're you planning to stop a fight if one gets started?"

"My name's Tifa," I walked over to a table I had been planning to get rid of (it wobbled horribly) and smashed it in two, "And I think I'll be okay."

"Fair enough," he said with a laugh, "Nice way of putting it."

I picked up the pieces of the table and tossed them outside, "That gives no one permission to ruin all of my furniture, or you'll pay for that, too."

While I was making my way back up to the bar, I saw that some of the kids I noticed earlier were planning to play the game with the older men. Yeah right, like that was going to fly. I walked up to the youngest boy, a kid in elaborate red armor with white feathers fanned out on his helmet, "And just what do you think you're doing?" I placed my hands on my hips and looked down at the boy.

The kid looked at me defiantly, but I could see some intimidation in those green eyes, like I was his mother who had just caught him stealing candy, "I'm going to partake in this game with the rest of the men."

"No you're not."

He puffed out his tiny chest, "Why not?"

"Because you're still a boy. I wouldn't sleep well if I let a kid get himself drunk under my watch."

"But-!"

"No," I grabbed the boy by an arm and led him away from the others, "I'll be keeping an eye on you, so don't even think about joining in this absurd 'game' the others have started."

The boy slumped a bit and sat down. I felt bad for him. He probably just wanted to prove that he was as adult as everybody else. But there are much better ways to do that than getting yourself stupidly drunk. I knelt down in front of his chair.

"Hey, at least you won't be bored. You look like you can defend yourself, so I'm letting you stay in the room if you want to watch how people get when they're hammered."

The boy laughed and perked up, "Alright. What's your name? I'm the Onion Knight."

What kind of title was Onion Knight?

"I'm Tifa."

When I returned to the others, I saw Cloud softly chuckling to himself. What's so funny?

I got everyone's attention and projected to the whole bar, "Anyone under the age of 20 leave and sit in the same area as the Onion Knight."

A kid that looked like a happy, brunette version of Cloud (spikes galore and bright blue eyes) hopped out of his seat and dragged his nearly albino, green-eyed friend with him to sit with the Onion Knight. You might think I focus a bit much on hair and eye color, but this group had the most diverse shades of vibrant eyes and crazy hair! Cloud is a perfect example: super blond spikes and glow-in-the-dark blue/blue-green eyes.

When none of the other kids I'd wanted out stood up, I pulled the tan kid with white hair out of the game. There was a small group of older teenagers that I knew would give me grief, but I had to try.

"Hey," I walked up and placed a hand on my hip. None of my other patrons seemed to mind me pulling kids out. Either they were of high moral fiber, or they thought it was funny.

The youth with the black jacket glared at me, "What?"

He had wavy brown hair, piercing blue-gray eyes, a likely permanent scowl, and a scar cutting across the top of his nose. His jacket had fuzz…scary, kid. Real scary. You're not intimidating anyone, fluffy.

A second blond and blue (again) youth in a white coat (who also had a scar on his face) folded his arms and glared, "You gonna try and protect us kiddies? How sweet," he sneered.

This one looked like he might have been cute, but his attitude was so sour that it ruined his chances. You'll be the first one down, tough guy.

The third one (again blond and blue) with a tattoo on his face sat down in childlike defiance. Cute.

See what I mean by blond haystack? Blonds here, blonds there…

And oh boy, what darlings these are, "Just make this simple for me and leave." I gestured over to the other boys with my thumb.

Tattoo face waved his arms dramatically, "Come on, lady, we're as mature as anybody else here!"

"Uh huh? And my name is Tifa."

The blond in the white coat sneered. "Alright Tifa, but what if we don't want to leave?"

I could feel Cloud giving Mr. Man a glare.

I shot the brat a look, "You really want to pick a fight with me?"

He reached for his sword, then scowled when he found it gone.

The blond one with a tattoo smiled and jumped up into a fighting position, "I'll take ya!" he said with a happy smile, "I only fight with my fists!"

"Zell..." the fluffy brunette sighed.

"Whaaaat, Squall?"

"Sit down and shut up," the irritated, swordless blond growled.

"Bite me, Seifer."

Seifer gave Zell a quite rude hand signal.

I shot him an annoyed and icy glare, "Look. Seifer, was it? You either quit it with the attitude or I have more than every right to chuck you out the damn door by your ear, and don't think I won't do it. Understand?"

Seifer growled at me.

I grabbed his ear, "Understand?"

Zell clapped a hand over his mouth and started laughing, "OHHHHHH! SHE GOT YOU!"

Even Squall couldn't keep a straight face as the bar burst into laughter.

"Ow! Yes! God!" Seifer exclaimed, trying to twist out of my fingers.

"Yes, Ma'am," I clarified.

"…Yes, Ma'am," he growled. I released Seifer and he shot me the meanest look he could muster, which was pretty cold. If I was his age, I probably would have been nervous. Well…I thought about myself at Seifer's age. At that time I was just starting work with AVALANCHE. I probably would have challenged him to a fight if he gave me that look when I was 17 or 18. But I'm 24 and the look doesn't bother me much.

"I'll give you three one more warning," I said, continuing my previous battle, "You're going to make complete fools of yourselves."

They didn't move.

I hopped over the bar and passed the first round of drinks out to everyone, pausing at the man with the chocobo, but handing him one. He was old enough to pass the line.

"Alright, do your worst!" Jecht yelled before downing his beer.

The boy with the chocobo sniffed his cup, "Hey Boko, does this seem good to you?"

The chocobo sniffed the beer, "WARK! WARK!" then took off.

"Okay, bye guys! Sorry Farris!" the young man hollered to the rest of the group before taking off in pursuit of his shedding bird. Excuse me. Molting. Farris laughed heartily before downing his beer.

Some time and several rounds later, several 'intolerates', as Jecht called them, had dropped out. Among them was a feminine man donned in white armor, with long white hair that had pretty glass beads in it, and Zell. The other two teens were hanging on so far, but they obviously didn't have the older men's tolerance for intoxication.

"HEY, BIATCH, GET ME SOMTHIN' STRONGER."

Titan did not just go there.

Cloud went red in the face and jumped out of his seat, knocking Jecht to the floor. Jecht caught Cloud's wrist and brought him down with him and chairs went toppling as men started yelling. Gah! Too much testosterone!

"CLOUD! Knock it off!" I jumped over the counter and pried the two sacks of drunken man-pride apart.

"He called you a bitch," Cloud glowered all of his rage through Jecht's brain. Found my needle…s. I got a brief mental image of myself plucking Cloud's hair out of Jecht's skull.

I got the two back in their seats and silenced Yuffie's cackling ("Chocobo looked about ready to CRY!").

"Yo, Teef," Cid waved his empty whiskey glass. When had he gotten my whiskey out?

I switched past beer after that, too many were surviving. I thought about not letting the two remaining teens know about it, but then decided to at least warn them. They didn't care. Of course they didn't. Because they were manly men. Children.

Squall choked and coughed when the whiskey hit his throat, giving Seifer a chance to prepare himself before forcing it down. Damn, they were stubborn.

Zell snored open-mouthed from a nearby chair. Aww, that one's kinda cute.

Minutes dragged on with the bunch getting louder with each passing round and increasing in volume any time someone dropped out. Cloud was getting the giggles.

It was at about this time that Seifer pushed his glass weakly away from him, pale as a sheet and clammy. He tried to get off of his stool, but fell to the floor and groaned. I walked around and knelt down next to him. "Look at you, Mr. Man!" I cooed. But I did feel bad for the stupid kid, so I helped him to his feet (his knees were bent a lot to keep his arm around my shoulders) and started leading him to a place to sit and rest. Until he threw up, at least. I scowled and led him around the opaque puddle of vomit to the bathroom instead and sat him in front of the toilet. I put his head in the bowl so he didn't have to think about how to do it himself before I left to take care of the mess he made. It's so hard to keep a bar clean.

By the time the, er, 'semi-finals' were getting started, the only ones left were Cloud (struggling to control his laughter), Tidus, Jecht, Barret, Monkey boy (who I learned was named Zidane and wow he can hold his liquor for a little guy), Cid, an armor clad man who referred to himself as the Warrior of Light (he looked about ready to fall out of his chair and leave a mess), and…Squall. That kid…doesn't look too good.

Cloud snorted. The dropouts at this point were Zell, the pretty, white haired man (I was informed that his name was Cecil. It fits him to a T), Wakka, and Firion. Cecil had barely made it through 3 beers.

The "Warrior of Light" got up from the table and started to stumble out of the building until I stopped him. "Where are you going? I'd like you to stay here until you're able to take care of yourself again."

He waved a hand and caught his balance, "I am fine, fair maiden. I must continue my quest. I have stayed here for far too long in the bliss of your gentle care."

I paused. A hallucinating drunk? I tried to remember when I was gentle with this bunch. I went along with it for fun. "But good Sir Knight, you are much more vulnerable in your inebriated state. I would feel much less worried for your safety if you were to stay here for the night. I have space and I will not charge you for sleeping."

"Are you sure, fair maiden? Forgive me, but what was it that you called yourself?"

"I am entirely sure, valiant warrior. I am called Tifa of the Lockharts." I suppressed a smile at that last part. This is fun.

Zidane started giggling happily, "HEY, guezzat? My girlfriendzprettirnyours," he slurred before cracking up at his joke. He downed his glass, "Sssssshhhhezlike…so…prettyan…oh," he started giggling madly before crying out, "SMEXYTIMESRFUN!...Grnet…" he laid his head down on the counter, "Innnnnmssry. Msry."

I took that as my cue to find a spot for my valiant warrior and get back to getting guys drunk. Once I had placed the Warrior of Light in a spot against the wall, he took and kissed my hand. I have never seen such a polite drunk before! I thanked him and went back behind the counter and looked at Zidane. Is he sleeping? No? Okay. I refilled his glass. He sat up and downed it.

Cloud tried to drink his glass through high-pitched giggles. Barret slapped hard him on the back, probably to make him shut up. But I think some whiskey got in Cloud's nose because he made this weird snorting noise and sneezed three times, which just made him lose it. He laughed into his cup, spitting whiskey everywhere, then laid his forehead down on the counter and laughed and laughed and laughed until he fell out of his chair, then he laughed some more. Yuffie, Barret, and Cid laughed with him. No. At him. I was almost moved to laughter myself. Cloud never acted this way!

"Ti-T-Tifa! Ihhurtss!" he held his stomach and kept cackling. Laughing hurt or throw-up hurt? Or both? Don't you dare mess up my floor, Strife. My attention was drawn from Cloud when Squall finally fell on his face and out of his chair. He was very green. I jumped over the counter and practically threw him outside before he had time to puke on my floor.

Okay, I know that there's an ever-so-important guy pride contest going on here, but I have to make sure that the kid wasn't dead from alcohol or injury. I put a woman shaped about like me, but a bit taller in charge of alcohol. She looked like she could set fire to heads with only a glare.

"I'm Tifa."

"Lulu."

I stepped outside to see Squall lying in a heap a few feet out my door, a nice pile of vomit on the ground next to his head. My floors are saved. For now. He'll throw up again later. He looked like a limp noodle and my heart went out for the stupid kid. I sometimes curse my motherly instincts. I took his jacket off of him, he was probably melting and it was too nice of a jacket to become defiled with the insides of a stomach. A worried girl wearing a blue sweater cape ran outside.

"Does he belong to you?" I asked, placing Squall's arm around my shoulder and lifting him up. He's actually pretty tall; his feet drag behind me.

"Well, I wouldn't say belong," the girl got his other arm and I handed her Squall's jacket. She's about my height, so Squall isn't lopsided, at least, "He's too stubborn right now to belong to anybody."

I snorted, "You're telling me."

She laughed, "I'm Rinoa. I'm sorry we couldn't meet under more normal circumstances, Tifa."

"It's fine," I see Rinoa struggling under half of Squall's weight. He's not that heavy is he? Or am I just a super strong Tifa?

We got back inside and placed Squall in the upstairs bathroom (I mostly carried him up the stairs. He was too heavy for Rinoa and there was only room for two people going up at a time). The next puker is staying outside.

"Um…" Rinoa furrowed her brow once I got out of the bathroom.

"Yes?"

"Will he be okay?"

"Yeah, he'll be fine, he's probably going to throw up more; his body needs to get rid of the alcohol. He'll be miserable in the morning, so try to give him some water when he stops acting sick. It'll help a bit."

"Okay."

I hear him retch in the bathroom and Rinoa cringes…yup, it got in the toilet. I went back downstairs. When I arrive, Cloud is nowhere in sight. Now what?

"Cloud?"

Yuffie snorted, "We had to take him outside, and it was not easy. What do you feed that boy?!"

"Oh," my brow furrowed.

"You go ahead and see him," Lulu filled Cid's, Zidane's, Tidus', Barret's and Jecht's glasses, "There are enough sober girls to keep these five in check," she scoffed.

Jecht guffawed.

Yuffie was appalled. "Hey! Only The Great Ninja Yuffie has the rights of guffaw! Guffaw-haw-haw! I copyrighted it! Look it up!"

Without much warning, Barret toppled out of his chair, shouted incoherently, and waved his gun arm around before starting to snore loudly.

I rolled my eyes and went outside to see Cloud in much the same position I found Squall in, except Cloud was a little bit conscious and leaning limply against the wall.

"You look miserable," I went over and rubbed Cloud's back and shoulders. He was sweating bullets, poor guy.

He swallowed, "Ineeduhsit," he fell backwards onto his rear and heaved from the sudden movement. He pressed his fist to his mouth and paused before swallowing and shuddering. He went very still, trying to keep his stomach away from the tipping point. I continued rubbing his back. I lifted his head a moment later and wiped and kissed his forehead. No way am I kissing his mouth right now.

I hear a tumble of barstools accompanied by a "God, shit this fucking fuck and fucking piss shit on it! Gemme back in that shit fuckin' barstool! Damn fuck!"

Cid's down.

Cloud's head dropped against my shoulder. I lifted his head to see that he'd fallen asleep, er, passed out. Fallen asleep sounds so much nicer. He passed out on me. He fell asleep on my shoulder. Oh well, he can't weigh any more than Squall and I dragged that heavy scrawny butt up a flight of stairs. I got awkwardly to my feet and brought him inside with his arm draped over my shoulder. Cloud's feet drag behind me, too, although he's conscious enough to move his feet in a semblance of shambling. Am I really that short? I'm at least 5'5". I place Cloud on the sofa and lean him over the armrest so he doesn't flop onto the floor. I'd rather lose a couch than a bed, and the sofa is really old anyways and needs to be replaced, so it really doesn't matter. Shut up, I'm not about to let my boyfriend lie unconscious outside, possible vomit or not. Cloud groaned. I brushed his bangs off of his forehead and smiled and rolled my eyes. Love you too, sweetie.

I go up to Lulu, relieving her of her (my) duties so she can take care of a sleeping bird. His name was Wakka, I think? No, he's just passed out. And she just kicked him onto his back.

Final Round. Moment of truth for a bad father and his surprisingly alcohol-tolerant son. Zidane hasn't returned after casually sauntering to the sofa and flopping across the other armrest. A small beauty walked over to him, arms crossed, and clicked her tongue disapprovingly. That must be Grnet. Garnet? That's a pretty name if I'm guessing right.

"Heyah, you're doing pretty well for a lightweight, kid," Jecht rumbled.

Tidus remained silent. He shuddered. I'm pretty sure who's won this match. Although, once again, my heart goes out to the miserable kid in front of me. Screw you, motherliness, he got himself into this mess and he can deal with the consequences. Poor baby.

The match drags on a few minutes longer before Jecht, I kid you not, Jecht tells Tidus that that's enough and Tidus's going to kill himself.

I immediately rush Tidus to a bathroom and shove a finger down his throat once I've moved Seifer. He needs to get some of this out of his system immediately or he could really be in danger. I was just about to call the match off when Jecht did.

Once I'd gotten Tidus out of the danger zone and washed the spit off my hand, I walked back into the bar to find Jecht…gone. A healthy amount of money is on the counter, but the man is gone. This might not be good. A giant, muscular man who is probably even stronger than he looks, wandering around Edge drunk off his ass? I run outside to see that he's not there, and he's not in any of the bathrooms or other rooms in the house. He's just gone. When I pass by the cellar, I hear someone inside. Is he in there?! Oh, I hope not.

I burst through the door to find…chocobo boy?

He's sitting there laughing, hiccupping, and telling his bird a story. How did I not smell that bird earlier?!

"And then that's when all four of the dan-hiccup-cers jumped on me! It was awe-hic-s-some, Boko, you shoulda been there," he finished, a dreamy look in his eye. Whod'a thunk? He looked so innocent. But that's not the matter at hand!

"How long have you been in here?!" An entire bottle of whiskey and wine are sitting empty on the floor next to him and the bird.

The chocobo warbled, swaying its head unsteadily from side to side.

"Oh, Boko found this place after he ran off. I didn't realize it be-hiccup-belongeddo anybody."

"Of course it belongs to somebody! ME! Get out of there!"

Chocobo boy got to his feet and fell on the bird, "WARK! WARK!" the boy cried, flopping his arms out to the sides and flipping his hands like wings.

The bird stuck its head between its rider's legs and stood up, boy on back. Boko passed me and stumbled out to the main bar room before nestling down and fluffing its feathers around its sleeping passenger. It placed its wings over the boy's legs like a blanket.

The boy wrapped his arms around the chocobo's neck and buried his face in yellow feathers. Aww, it's like a mama bird and her baby. But they're gonna pay royally for drinking that much of my nice drinks.

I went over to Cloud, he was sleeping peacefully, but I had to get him some water.

I shook his shoulder, "Cloud? Wake up."

He didn't.

I shook him a bit harder, "Wake up, Cloud."

Nothing. He kept breathing slowly in…out…in…out.

He looks so peaceful. I watched him for a few moments, brushing his bangs out of his face, before leaving to get him a blanket. When I got back, I sat and leaned against him and put the blanket around the two of us. I fiddled with his hair for a bit until that put me to sleep.

As I drifted asleep I thought to myself what a funny unofficial sleepover this turned out to be. Half of the men that had arrived that day were scattered around the bar, and many of the sleeping guys' companions had stayed with their friends, so there were very few empty chairs, very few spots on the wall, and glistening armor and metal accessories anywhere the moon shone in through a window. It was actually rather peaceful. I burrowed into Cloud's back and fell asleep.