In the dark of the night, a strangely lopsided figure stumbled into Balamb Garden. On close inspection, the strange creature turned out to be three SeeDs, all rather worse for wear. However, while the tall brunette and the short blond youth were just tipsy, the blonde in the middle was in a terrible stupor.
With a determined effort, the brunette and the blond each yanked the blonde who was none other than Instructor Quistis Trepe up by the armpits, and frogwalked her through the hallways towards her quarters.
Alia woke up from a light sleep to hear footsteps, and shortly after that, a male voice caterwauling, "It's rather dull in town, Oi think Oi'll take me to Paree, Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm."
Alia blinked. That voice was very familiar. Before she could wonder about that, a second voice, this one female, and obviously very drunk, charoled, "The missus wants to open up the castle in Capree, Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm."
Now Alia stared into the night in shock. It... couldn't be... but... The teen was torn between laughing and sitting still in utter shock.
A third voice, this one also rather tipsy, continued the song: "The doctor recommends a quoiet summer by the seaaaa," and all three voices chorused, "Mmmmmmmmmm-mmmm, mmmmmmmmmm-mmmm, wouldn't it be loverly?"
That did it. Alia jumped out of bed, still clad in a T-shirt and a pair of purple satin boxers, and yanked her door open to be greeted with an interesting sight coming down the hallway. There was Quistis Trepe, glasses askew and her normally neat hair coming out of its 'do, held up by her armpits by an immensely cheerful and self-satisfied looking Iris Bardok and Zell Dincht. Alia bit her lip to stop herself from laughing out loud. The out-of-tune trio continued to sing,
" All I want is a rewm sumwear,
Far awhy frum tha caowld noight air,
Wiv' one ee-normus chair,
Aow, woooldn't it be loverly?
Lots of chocklit for mei tew eit,
Lots of caowl mikin' lots of 'eat,
Warm fice, warm 'hands, warm--"
Just at that moment, Iris and Zell noticed their audience. Quistis, already too far gone, continued.
"Aow, saow loverly sittin' abso-bloomin'-lootely still,
Oi woold neva budge 'till spring
Crept aover me windasill.
Someone's 'ead restin' on moi knee...
"
Iris frantically tried to stop her singing friend, with little success.
Alia finally gave way to fits of giggles. When she was done, she helped the two slightly more sober truants to move their singing burden down the hallway. By the time they reached Quistis's quarters, she had already reached her next song ("The Lord above gave man an arm of iron, so he could to his job and never shirk/ The Lord above gave man an arm of iron, but, wiv' a li''le bit of luck, wiv' a li''le bit of luck...").
Iris fished Quistis's keycard out of her pocket and was about to unlock the door when an annoyed voice behind them sniffed, "What are you lot doing? Don't you know it is against the rules to wander the hallways after midnight?" The three who were capable of doing so turned to see a small snooty man in the uniform of a low-ranking Garden staff member. Iris looked at Zell and jerked her head towards the snooty guard. Zell grumbled and shoved a bundle of banknotes into the man's hand while Iris and Alia did their best to drag Quistis into her room and lift her onto her bed. By that time, the caterwauling instructor had exhausted herself and had fallen into a noisy sleep.
When they got out, the Garden guard had disappeared, and Zell just managed to get a peek at Quistis, who looked uncannily like a large crumpled spider in the awkward position the two girls had managed to get her onto the bed in. He grinned wickedly. Poor Quistis would have more than just a hangover when she woke up in the morning.
Zell and Iris saluted each other with mischievous grins, and the three nightly wanderers went their separate ways. On the way back, Iris started quietly humming "Wouldn't it be loverly" again, causing Alia to dissolve into fits of helpless giggles. When they reached their room, Iris only took off her shoes and flopped onto her bed fully dressed.
"See you in the afterlife," she mumbled and fell asleep instantly.
Alia climbed back into her own bed, but couldn't go to sleep for quite a while. Thankfully, Iris's slightly drunken state didn't cause her to snore.
It looked like the apparently untouchable and perfectly balanced Iris Bardok did get into some amusing messes. Alia grinned into the darkness once more and finally went to sleep.
Laguna Loire rested his head in one hand and rubbed his temple with the other. Though he didn't have a full-fledged hangover, his head had developed a slight but insistent ache. He smiled wryly. He kept forgetting that Ward, with his shocking body mass, could handle a lot more alcohol than he could.
The president turned his attention back to his morning meal, though his thoughts continued to wander. Apart from Kiros's selection of colourful jokes, some clean, some very dirty, he could also remember a group of three SeeDs sitting at the bar, diagonal to him. Two of them he knew: Instructor Quistis Trepe and Zell Dincht, unarmed combat specialist. He knew them to be friends of his son, Squall.
Laguna poked a hole into his toast with his knife, for no particular reason. The third person, also obviously a SeeD, he didn't know. Or at least, he thought he didn't. She did look uncannily familiar, but he suspected that the memory that familiarity came from had already existed before that SeeD had even been a gleam in her father's eye.
Listlessly, Laguna bit into his unbuttered toast. He really wasn't in the least bit hungry, it was simply his common sense which told him to at least eat something. He vaguely thought of trying to change his direction of thought, but it intrigued him to find out who or what that SeeD he didn't know reminded him of. He tried to recall the previous night, how that selfsame young woman and her apparent partner-in-crime, Zell Dincht, had made small work of Instructor Quistis Trepe. When he had left with his friends, poor Quistis had already looked like she'd have a head which she wouldn't wish on her worst enemy in the morning. However, before that had happened, he had noticed the SeeD of interest studying him and his friends intently. Though probably nobody else would have noticed it, Laguna had been very aware of her watching them out of the corner of her eye. Laguna took a sip from his orange juice, and wondered. It had been something about her body language which had seemed familiar to him, as well as her general appearance, her wiry, muscular build, her height, her facial features. Even the casual way she had flicked her eyes (were those familiar too?) away from his table after the split second of eye contact he had made with her, and the wicked grin she had worn while plotting to get Quistis wasted had reminded him of something. It was frustrating, because he couldn't put his finger on it.
He swirled the orange juice in his glass as if it were wine, and decided to stop worrying. Chances were he'd either find out automatically why the thought of that SeeD kept pestering him, or he never would. Whatever sleeping memory this SeeD's appearance had stirred, might be too old for him to ever truly remember. He stirred his rapidly cooling Nescafe, but couldn't quite bring himself to drink that horrible instant stuff which dared pretend to be coffee. Still, the smell was pleasant enough. While he stirred, listening to the sound of the metal spoon scraping against the porcelain cup, he planned the day ahead. Though he was here for presidential reasons, he had planned to visit Squall for a day. Though the boy (boy? He was nineteen years old, and well and truly an adult man by Garden standards) hadn't started to call him `dad' or anything, the fact remained that he was his son. Laguna made a face. Having an adult son reminded him of his own rapidly advancing age. He could afford to forget that three years ago, when Squall hadn't even known his relationship to Laguna, but now it was a completely different kettle of fish.
But his thoughts had strayed off-topic. Since the SeeD who was causing his headache to worsen with the mystery surrounding her was obviously close friends with Quistis Trepe and Zell Dincht, chances were that she was also friends with Squall. If she could get someone as straight-laced as Instructor Quistis Trepe so completely drunk, Laguna suspected that this girl was also capable of earning the friendship of his taciturn son. That did heighten the possibility of him running into her today, and hopefully the daylight he would see her in would also cast some light on the mystery which perstered him.
That train of thought completed, he tried to push himself up from his seat, but promptly collapsed back into it. He growled at his stupidity. His slight hangover was still having a slight effect on his coordination. More carefully this time, he pushed himself up by the table, and briefly stood still to banish the dizziness which briefly attacked his slightly befuddled brain. While the last plume of steam rose from his coffee cup, he paid for his meal and strolled outside, hoping the fresh air would partly cure him of his headache. Remembering Quistis, he decided he had no right to complain. This morning, he wouldn't swap positions with her for anything in the world.