"Said the raven to the gunner..." (Raven & Jayda)

Even though she was still slightly embarrassed, the fact that it added to Raven's humor made it all worth it. Then Jayda was slightly dumbstruck when his mirth sobered suddenly, only for him to take her hand and force the whiskey bottle into her own. He appeared and sounded so serious just then, and Jayda did her best to look and sound just as serious as he did by saluting him with her other hand and giving Raven a blank look. "Yesh shir, Meester Rav'n sir!" But she just couldn't hold back the persistent giggle when he broke out the oh so rare, big cheesy smile.


When he announced they needed to get moving again, Jayda did just that, but found stumbling in the dark was just frustrating as hell, especially when your legs and feet didn't coordinate with each other and the cursed ground kept moving all around. Her hand reached out blindly through the darkness, grabbing the back of Raven's vest, and followed carefully by what moonlight there was to guide the way. "Whay Ah don' think Ah've been this drunkish since bee-four we all plunged intah that wretched portal, Rav'n..." She giggled as her sluggish mind grasped the memory. "Ya shulda seen Shadey.... she wus sooooo giggly... don' yew tell'er Ah sed dat, Rav'n... an' bah golly she was so giggly, Vex ev'n gawt away with kissin' her cheek! No wait!! That wus when we was 2nd years in SeeD!! Ohhhhhh don' be tellin' her Ah told ya that either, Rav'n!"


Having to solely rely on Raven to lead the way, Jayda was simply hanging on to his vest without paying much attention to their direction, but when he came to an abrupt halt, Jayda failed to do so and slammed right against his back, only to stumble backwards, naturally loosing her balance and falling on her rump with a whooop! After staggering back up and failing miserably at brushing herself off, that's when Jayda noticed the chocobos. She gasped with delight, but kept completely silent when seeing Raven's form try to approach it. Ohhhhhh not a good idea, but Jayda couldn't warn him in fear of startling the enormous bird and Raven getting hurt. But then, the whole comical scenario began to play out, leaving Jayda to hold her rib cage while busting out in laughter as Raven was yelling and cursing at the pecking chocobo who seemed to be dishing the argument right back at him!


"Leave it tew ah chocobo.... bein' the only being in the whoooooole wyde universe..... tew have the guts.... tah stand up tew Rav'n!"


Although Raven was ready to give up, Jayda knew chocobos weren't all that hard to tame, once one learned what one wanted. Being a chocobo rancher when she was a child, the first though that came to mind was that this one wanted Gyshil Greens! Or maybe... maybe it was moulting and that's why it was so grumpy. She gave Raven a pat on the arm and motioned for him to wait a minute as she giggled when approaching the irritated bird, who seemed fixed on bobbing it's head in every direction, keeping a keen eye on Raven's every move. Just a few pets were enough for Jayda to realize the chocobo was not moulting its feathers at all, and unfortunately, due to the darkness, she couldn't see if there was any Gyshil Greens nearby, but what she did discover was the last thing either of them expected.


Now at their feet were countless baby chocobos, trotting and hopping, as well as making quite a ruckus! But they seemed intent on surrounding Raven and following him no matter where he stepped to try to avoid them! The mother didn't seem at all pleased over this, yet when she WAAARRK'ed!! to call her chics back to her, they flat out ignored her call while chirping and hopping madly all around Raven's legs. This was definitely a puzzle to Jayda, having never seen wild chics take to a human like this before, and for them to be attracted to Raven of all people was humorous indeed! "Whay Rav'n! It looks layk yew gawt yer sister's way with animals! Whay this is jus' layk the tyme Shadey was practically buried under a mountain o' Moombas righy aft'r we graduated SeeD!"

Raven had started to walk away when he felt Jayda pat his arm. He raised one eyebrow at her as she slowly approached the chocobo and reached out to touch it. Maybe he was just bad with animals, but the over-sized chicken seemed to calm at her touch. He found standing was becoming extremely difficult so he rocked back onto his rump in the soft, tall grass while Jayda worked with the demon in chocobo form. He watched her as he sat in the grass, picking random strands and twirling them in his fingers. She seemed so happy with the birds and the happiness seemed to rub off on the other chocobos because they all were staring happily at her by then. He could see now why Shade trusted her so much, because no matter what the creature was, so long as it didn't try to harm her or anything else, Jayda would care for it whole-heartily. It was in that pale moonlight that Raven actually understood this and he-

Suddenly, the big bird screeched at him again. He blinked back to reality to realize that he was covered in small yellow puff-balls. No, not puff balls, chocobos! He was covered in baby chocobos that were scampering all over him. He began to crawl away from them, but they were persistent. They really wanted to follow him around. He looked up at Jayda for help, but realized that she was doubled over with laughter. Raven couldn't help but smile at the sight, but the smile quickly faded and the color drained from his face when he saw the stare the mother was giving him.

"Jayda..." he said as he collected the babies in his arms, "I don't think this is getting their mother any happier with me." He slowly took a step back from the chocobo, which made her stand up and give another loud WARK! at him, causing him to stumble and fall back on his butt. The baby chocobos were free again and they proceeded to run all over his body again.

It was then he realized that the mother probably thought he was trying to take her babies. Again he collected them up in his arms, each of them snuggling up to his vest. He tentatively walked towards the mother with one hand outstretched towards her. Finally, he was so close he could reach out and touch her. He grabbed one of the babies in his free hand and held it up to the chocobo. The mother tilted her head and nuzzled the tiny chocobo before giving what sounded like a happy WARK! She then lowered her head to the ground in a gesture that seemed like a bow.

It took Raven a moment to realize that she was offering to give them a ride. He looked back to Jayda and said, [color=red"Ladies first,"[/color=red] before helping her up with his free hand. Then he slipped up onto the bird's back, after stumbling and falling a few times, with his arms filled with the baby chocobos. He pointed one of his arms forward and said, "To the Garden!" The mother just turned her head around and stared at him with a blank expression. Raven scratched his head looking for a way to communicate before he said, "Uhhh..... Giddy'up?" and the chocobo took off at an alarming speed, even for a chocobo.

((OOC: Sorry it'sah kina long ^_^ Wuz havin' too much fun XD ))


Even without the effects of the drinking, Jayda would have fallen into bouts of hysterical laughter anyway. The scene would be naturally comical to anyone, no matter who fell victim to the baby chocobo stampede. But the fact that it was Raven, who was already renown to everyone for being the stern, strict, stone cold soldier for who he was, made it even more delightful and funny to see because he was obviously out of his element. Whether he realized it or not, Jayda always knew this was exactly what Raven needed from time to time. Even though he was far more light hearted with his daughters, he was always weighed down by the stress of missions, as well as being the father those two girls always needed in him.


But even "grown ups" needed to just drop everything and have some carefree time now and then in order to survive through the demands of life and continue on. To Jayda, Raven seemed the type that if he even dared to do so, he'd find himself in the wrong for it, as if ashamed he took some time for himself, rather than drilling every spare moment of his life into responsibilities and duty. He needed this far more than he knew.


So now, as Raven was covered with chocobo chicks happily hopping and climbing all over him as he cautiously called out for Jayda to help, the Balamb gunner could only resume giggling while shaking her head. Jayda knew the mother bird wasn't acting aggressive, even though poor Raven didn't. Had the adult chocobo been irritated or truly angry, she would have been stomping one of her tall, thick legs for her taloned foot to slam into the ground repeatedly as a challenge, or right before charging at a target. Just as Jayda was about to assure Raven he was in no danger at all, the mother chocobo let out another ear piercing WAARK! that led him to stumble and fall back on his arse again. Poor Jayda never felt so darn guilty for laughing so hard and so much at someone's plight.... and luckily she had no idea where her cell phone was at to dare to sneak a picture. Even she did.... she wasn't that drunk to take such a risk.


Now that Raven was back on his feet, with chicks in tow within his arms, and finally making a peaceful truce with the adult, Jayda approached with her cheeks blazing red by this point from all the laughter. It was out of old habit that her skilled hands knew where to glide over the chocobo to give the creature added calm. Seeing the massive bird finally give Raven a dipping bow of its head, Jayda's smile lit up all over again. "See thar, Rav'n? Yew gawt a knack fer this! Ya might wanna consider rachin' sumday! Whay Ah culd teach ya everythin' ya need tah know! Ain't that hard at all..."


Surely that little suggestion earned her a wide eyed stare of shock, but Jayda wouldn't have seen it since she was concentrating on climbing onto the chocobo's back with failing fineness due to her drunken state. She scooted back to give Raven room, giving him the "front seat" so the chicks wouldn't be squished between them, while fumbling clumsily trying to help him up as well without falling off herself. Falling into a round of tear filled giggles again wasn't helping at all either. But fortunately for the both of them, the mother chocobo was impressively patient and held perfectly still until Raven successfully got onto the feathered back as well. When his first command didn't work, Jayda was about to suggest her own, only to hear Raven try again with a new command. The starting jolt nearly toppled Jayda backwards off of the bird as she let out a shriek of alarm, but luckily caught hold of Raven's vest to hang on for dear life until she quickly got her balance back.


There were a few surprising things about chocobos. One being they were unexpectedly smooth runners. At first site, one would think a rider would bounce about painfully when riding one, but chocobo's had a natural smooth glide when they ran. The downside was.... if one didn't know how to direct a chocobo... they would find themselves going in a constant zig zag pattern for hours on end until a chocobo tired itself out! It was how the ride began for the first few moments, and in Jayda's loopy state, all she could do was hold tight to Raven's vest with whooping giggles from being jostled like they were thrown into a blender. Luckily, her rancher instincts kicked in, and by the use of her feet giving the chocobo guiding taps and nudges to its sides, the massive bird began running straight towards the glow of the Garden far off in the horizon.


The remainder of the ride was mostly them holding on for dear life, or Raven clinging to the chics so none of them would fall out of his arms at such a speed. Once they neared the entrance of the Garden, Jayda slowed the chocobo down, and in doing so, the bird came to a stop on its own when they reached the iron gates. How they managed to get Raven's feet on the ground without falling or dropping a single chic was a miracle, but once they did, the young found a whole new interest in their new surroundings. At the moment, Jayda was simply trying to brush her wind blown hair from her flushed face, not realizing the chics were hopping out of Raven's hold and slipping through the bars of the gate to venture into the Garden all on their own. When looking back at him with a lopsided grin of merriment, Jayda busied herself giving the adult chocobo a quick rub down of its ruffled feathers while the mother was trying to peck at the gate handle. "Don' know iffin' that wus yer first choco ride, Rav'n, but yew sure seem'd ah natural at it! Yer bum might beh a little sore in the mornin' tho!"


She chuckled a bit at her own humor, then suddenly sobered up with widened eyes. "Rav'n...... where's the chics..... what... where?" She was practically spinning about like a top toy, looking every which way, till she caught site of little, fluffy yellow tail feathers running and hopping into Balamb. "Ohhhh no..... nonononononononononononononnononononono!!!!" Without a second's thought, Jayda snatched her drunken companion by the vest and tugged an pulled on the poor stumbling Raven while running after the baby chocobos now splitting up across the floor to begin their own curious adventures in the wee hours of the morning.

Raven stopped mid step as Jayda told him that he would be good t ranching. He blinked a few times as his head tried to process what she was saying through the alcohol clouded functioning. Even if he wasn't drunk, though, he would have still been taken aback by the comment. He just wasn't used to that kind of talk. He stood there in shocked silence for a time before he even noticed Jayda was still giggling and having a hard time getting her rear end to go up onto the chocobo. Raven helped her the rest of the way up and then continued himself. He struggled even more than she did with climbing on.

Then they were on their way. Raven struggled to hold on as they dodged back and forth in harsh zig-zags. In fact, if it wasn't for him grabbing the bird around the neck with his free hand, both he and Jayda would have tumbled off multiple times. Jayda didn't seem to hold that same fear, though, because she was giggling and whooping along while they rode in the pale moonlight. After a moment, though, Jayda did something to the chocobo because she straightened out and began to sprint for the soft glow of the Garden's lights.

As they rode along, Raven found the whole situation peaceful. The quick trot of the chocobo galloping along was like a cradle rocking back and forth. The wind rushing past them was soothing compared to how rough the night had been. The moo was bright enough that it cast everything in a pale light, giving everything the illusion that it was black and white. Sitting atop that chocobo with Jayda and the chicks without the ability to think about anything for more than ten seconds was the calmest he had been in months, maybe even years.

But as the Garden came within sight, that illusion snapped. He was being completely irresponsible. Heck, he had class to be at in probably a matter of hours by now. He didn't have time to be wasting it on getting drunk and throwing caution to the wind. There was so much to do. He had to get the inventory done at the shop, he had to get the girls to the daycare (though he was sure the usual daycare provider wasn't going to be at work today), and get in his daily calisthenics all before he had to get to class, which would take most of the day. On top of that, he was still working with Simon on getting the portal finished. He didn't have time to be gallivanting around the World of... of... Christ he couldn't even remember what world he was in!

The chocobo came to a slow halt while he and Jayda slipped off the bird. Raven placed the chocobo babies on the ground, thinking they would stay near their mother while he stretched his arms and legs. "Sore in the morning? I'm sore right now. That's the last time I let you talk me into riding halfway across the world bareback! he said as he twisted his upper body to crack his back. He didn't notice as the chicks slipped past him and through the iron gates of the Garden to start their new adventure. "But I'm glad we finally made it back. For a second I thought you were trying to whisk me away from everyone to take advantage of me." He smirked at her through her tangled mess of windswept hair.

It wasn't until Jayda's eyes went wide and she started to spin in circles that Raven realized what happened. He rushed over to the gate and started to whisper to the chicklets, "Pssssst... come'ere baby chocobos.... don't worry I'm here." He realized that they were ignoring his requests and quickly changed his tactics. "Come'ere you little shits or I'm gonna turn you into Firagaed Chocobo!" but just as he said that in a whispered shout, Jayda grabbed him by the arm and led him through the gate. What they didn't realize was that they had left the gate open behind them and the mother Chocobo followed them inside and began its own search for its children.

Raven stumbled along behind Jayda. She was moving pretty good for someone who had too much to drink. In fact she could probably outrun him at that point in time, which she was. He was running right behind her when all of the sudden, he tripped over something. He went crashing to the ground and slid on his face in the linoleum for a few feet. He wheeled around on the ground to find Shade standing before him, shaking her fist at him angrily and yelling at him. Only her voice sounded... strange. It took him a second to realize that it was actually Skittles in Shade's form! "Skittles! Maybe you can help. We seemed to have lost my babies. I mean we lost our babies. I mean... there's a bunch of freaking chocochicks running around, just try to find them."

He stood up and dusted himself off before turning to follow Jayda again when he stopped himself. He wheeled around so fast the roo took a second to catch up with the movement. He clasped his hand over the fake Shade's mouth and held a finger up to his lips. "Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...... Don't tell Shade, though. It's our little secret..."

Raven turned back around and started to follow Jayda again. "Come'on we gotta find them before the whole Garden wakes up!"

How in the hell were there over 50 chicks!?!?

Jayda groaned as she jogged down the grand foyer of the Garden when she realized it was her drunken vision that multiplied the baby chocobo chicks scrambling into the Garden facility and splitting up in all directions. Suddenly, she heard a loud crash behind her that caused her to stop so fast, she nearly tumbled to the floor herself. When she saw that Raven took an unexpected fall, Jayda went dashing back to help him to his feet when she shrieked and fell on her arse at the site of Shade appearing out of nowhere! Since when did Shade squeak???


When Raven realized it was Skittles and called the rodent's identity out, Jayda was laughing with relief as she got back to her feet again. "Skittles! Yer fast! Go geyt'em!!"

Meanwhile, while still in Shade's form, Skittle eyes went completely wide when Raven covered his mouth and told him it was a secret. Skittles knew better than to go against Raven, so he simply nodded repeatedly with a squeak in his throat before tearing off down the hall after the baby chicks.


Once Raven reached Jayda again, she nodded and pointed to the Cafeteria section first. "Ah honestly don' think we shuld split up in our condition, Rav'n..." She giggled as she held onto his vest for stability as they headed for one place baby chocobos would make the most trouble. "Cuz Ah'mmah hopin' yer eyes are far bett'r than mine!" Yet when they finally staggered into the Cafeteria section, the mother chocobo was already there as well and standing right on top of the food display counter warking her head off at what chicks she found there. Jayda rushed behind the counter with swaying staggering steps, only to slip on the floor by a bottle of spilled ketchup that sent her legs soaring through the air like a dramatic cartoon before she landed hard on her rump. "Whoooo-hooooooo OUCH!!!"


When she regained her bearings and sat up with ketchup now strung through her hair, her eyes widened in terror. The chics somehow managed to open cabinets and refrigerators, and there was various torn packages and food strung all over the preparation tables, counter tops, and floor! "Quick! We gotta get'em or we'll be stuck with clean up duty fer the next week!!" Then the mother chocobo hopped down from her counter perch and trotted right into the mess, only making it worse when her tall head knocked into the hanging pans from the ceiling, causing the poor bird to think she was being attacked and now pecking and clanging all the pots and pans against each other as they swung about by her jabbing beak.


Meanwhile.... Jayda wasn't much help. Every time she scrambled back to her knees or feet, she'd slip around all over again from the ketchup spreading across the floor only to fall over again and again. "OH WHIPPERSNAPPS! I'm crawlin'!! Don't yew dare laugh, Rav'n!!" And sure enough she did... quite clumsily too while her hands and knees slid carefully across the floor in attempts to catch a baby chic underneath one of the tables.

Raven stumbled as he was pulled through the doorway into the cafeteria by his vest. He caught himself from falling by reaching out and grabbing a table before looking around him. There were chicks all over the place! They were stumbling across the tables and floors with glee and tearing anything and everything they could. It didn't help that when Skittles and Rambo tore into the cabinets looking for a midnight snack and had left them all open. Raven kicked the unconscious Rambo and said, "You're getting fat, Fuzz-ball." Rambo grunted in his food-coma and rolled over.

Raven looked up from the rodent to see Jayda running around after the dozens of chicks that were tearing the place apart. The mother chick must have thought that the pots and pans were a threat because she was attacking them like they were his head. Raven bit back laughter as Jayda wrapped around the counter and slipped on something, sending her flying through the air. He leaned over the counter to see her sprawled across the ground and covered in ketchup. The baby chicks must have found it humorous because they started to climb all over her as she struggled repeatedly to stand back up. The clanging of the pots over his head were giving him a headache, though, so he swiftly cut them down using his knife, causing them to clang on the ground.

Raven leaned back over the counter to see Jayda struggling to catch the chicks and stand back up at the same time. Raven gave her a big, cheesy smile and asked [color=red]"Why, Missssssssss Kinneas, you seem to have found yourself in a very peculiar situation. One might as go so far as calling it a... 'sticky' situation,"[color=red] once more, Raven bit back laughter, "Would you like some assistance?" Raven burst into laughter that had him doubled over the counter as he watched Jayda scurry across the floor on her hands and knees. He carefully walked around the counter and reached his hand out to help Jayda up. When she grabbed his hand he started to help her up, but she slipped again, pulling him towards the ground as well. He reached out to the wall to stop his descent and accidentally pulled the Garden's fire alarm.

Raven crashed on top of Jayda as the alarm went off. He sat there in stunned silence for a minute as the alarm blared in his ears. His brain just couldn't understand what the noise was in his condition. He didn't realize what was going on until people started to file into the cafeteria to make their way to the exit. Just his luck, Shade was leading the people through to safety. He pushed himself off of Jayda and slid in the ketchup mess across the floor from her. He looked up to his sister and said, "Well... what are you just standing there for? We have got to get these chicks to safety!"

Jayda had gotten a hold of one of the chicks and let out a gleeful cheer when reaching out to take Raven's hand while giggling hysterically at his humor. Just the rare sight of it made it even more hilarious. But when feeling herself slip again by the gooey substance still smeared all over the soles of her boots against the tile floor, the gunner let out another WHOOP!! as her body flung back to the floor. Her instincts tightened her hold onto Raven's hand and accidentally yanked him to the floor as well. Little did she realize her actions would set off a chaotic chain of events to follow....

Raven pulling the fire alarm, then falling to floor with her...

The blaring sirens exploding from all the intercom speakers throughout the entire Garden....

The horrible screeching noise of the alarm startling and terrifying the adult chocobo and her younglings.... leading them to shriek and squawk like mad in sheer panic....

Every body in the Garden now shouting in alarm and confusion and running from their dorms in their pajamas only to halt at the chaos in the Cafeteria since it was located right next to the pathway leading out to the Garden entrance and exit....

And by the time Jayda managed to situate herself back on her butt by balancing herself with her hold on Raven's vest, she looked up in shock when she saw Shade standing directly in front of the entire crowd wearing nothing but her black pajama bottoms and tank shirt, with Serenity at one leg, and Alivia standing next to the other. Everything else had gone deadly silent, save for the ear piercing alarm still blasting through the Garden as Shade stood there with her arms crossed and looking quite.... unhappy....

Still.... Jayda began to erupt into another fit of giggles when hearing Raven's persistence over the baby chocobo's welfare and scrambled on her hands and knees again trying to help him.


While watching the pair slip and slide all over the messy kitchen floors, failing miserably at their wild baby chocobo chase, Serenity gave her aunt a slight tug at her leg and looking up at her. "Aunt Shade? Why's daddy chasing birds?"
Alivia was looking up at her as well with quite a comical look of confusion. "Is daddy sick? Why's he giggling? Daddy doesn't giggle...."
Serenity was tugging again... "Can we help daddy and Jayda catch the birdies?"
Then Alivia's eyes lit up with excitement. "Oh!Oh! Aunt Shade! Can I keep one!?"
Serenity was quick to announce her retort. "If you get one, then I get one!"

Through the entire scenario, Shade never moved, never spoke, nor did she blink. It wasn't until the massive crowd behind her tried to nudge closer to see what all was going on and the subtle murmur of voices began to hum. Finally, with a roll of her eyes and a heavy sigh, Shade uncrossed her arms and carefully walked to the alarm on the wall and punched in the security code to shut off the annoying siren. Then she activated the intercom so everyone would hear her voice announcement echo throughout the Garden speakers. "False alarm everyone.... back to your rooms...."

Seeing that no one was moving at all and still gawking at the scene in the kitchens, Shade spoke again with a more calm, yet threatening tone. "As in immediately... pronto... right now... or everyone gets slammed with triple the assignment load and extensive drills for the next two weeks... and that includes faculty and staff!"


Every single person ran for the safety of their dorms in dead silence.


Now redirecting her attention back to the stumbling pair on the floor, Shade could only shake her head. Sure, she may have appeared pissed off, but how could she be really? Now bending down to pick up one of the chicks that was curiously pecking at her toes, Shade stood up again and carefully stepped through the mess to approach her obviously drunken brother and her friend. "Seems you two encountered quite a challenging mission..."

She remained calm and casual as she spoke before bending down and scooping up yet another chick that was struggling to regain it's wobbly balance in a mound of spilled jello on the floor. "Although I'm sure with your trained and impressive skills, the two of you can manage just fine on your own..."

Surely, even in their drunken states, Jayda and Raven would hear the hint of warning in her tone that clearly expressed what she really meant. Now turning on her heel, Shade cautiously stepped around the mess to return back to her awaiting nieces with the two baby chocobos still her hands. "Come on girls..." She spoke in her usual authoritive manner while leading the two bewildered children back to her dorm apartment. "Daddy and Miss Jayda have a "mission" to finish.... Time for Aunt Shade to instruct you two on proper chocobo pet care..."

Hearing they were getting pet chocobos, the girls squealed with excitement and followed their Aunt Shade eagerly.

Raven stared at Shade the entire time she was there. His eyes never left her's as she moved about the room scolding people and turning off the alarms. He sat with his back to the cabinets and his hands vaguely reaching out to attempt to grab the chicks that thought it funny to clamber all over him. His lips pressed into a hard line as she returned to his two daughters whom where clinging to her legs. If there was such a thing as an epiphany for someone who couldn't string a coherent thought together then that's exactly what he had. She delivered her threat very slyly, but he understood. Just by looking at her eyes, he got the message that she was delivering. She turned to leave and Raven raised his hand to his face, placing the point of his thumb to his nose and his palm outstretched. He then waved his fingers back and forth like a child at her back.

Raven then sat there for a while, wondering how in the hell he was going to grab all these chicks. Then he looked to Jayda and realized he really didn't care if he got the chicks back or not. He was having a damned good time and he wasn't about to let Shade ruin his fun. He shook his head and as he was trying to stand up, he realized all the chicks had flocked to him again and were sitting on him, making it that much more difficult to stand up. After a few tries and a little help from Jayda, Raven was able to stand up with all the chicks in either his or Jayda's arms. They both started to walk down the halls of the Garden to the front gate. The mother chocobo followed in tow since they had all of her babies. Raven walked in silence, just accepting Jayda's company as they walked along.

They reached to front gate a few minutes later. Raven opened the gate and let the mother chocobo out of the Garden. He then placed his mob of babies on her back and gave her one last pat down. "Thanks again, Big Bird." After Jayda placed her babies on the bird, Raven turned and closed the gate behind them and watched as the chocobo returned to it's field.

Raven then turned to Jayda and said with a smirk, "I don't know about you, but I need to get out of here before cranky shows up again. Come on, I know where we can hide." He once again slipped through the halls with Jayda in tow. He made his way down to the training simulator and entered through the broken steel doors. He let out a dramatic whistle as he walked through the blown up simulator. The walls were still scorched from their earlier escapade through the room. "Remind me to never piss you off, Miss Kinneas."

He walked through the room and down the hidden hallway to the secret balcony again. As he walked out into the fresh air, he could see that the sun was just starting to come up over the horizon. They had been out all night and he was going to have to go back to his normal life in just an hour or two. He pulled out the now nearly empty bottle of whiskey and went to take a drink. He stopped himself short, though, and dropped it off the balcony. He walked back over to the wall and slid down it until he was sitting up against it.

"Well, I do believe you have succeeded in doing the impossible," he said as he watched the sun slowly rise up over the horizon. "You have found a way to make a Leonhart smile." He smirked again, realizing that the night had been the most fun he has had in a long, long while.

He was slowly dozing off to sleep when he felt something pushing against his back. He reached back to grab whatever it was out from under his vest. He pulled out a single black feathered chocobo baby. He let out a chuckle and handed the baby to Jayda. "You're better with animals than I am."

He began to slowly fall asleep again and just before he did he remembered that Shade had given his girls baby chocobos. With a yawn he said, "Ya know... now that the girls have pets, you might HAVE to teach me how to be a rancher." And then he fell asleep...

Seeing Raven's antics behind his sister's back naturally caused Jayda to bust out into delirious giggles before slowly trying to sober her humor in order to help him collect all the remaining chics scrambling about either on him or around him. For a moment, he appeared lost in thought, which Jayda assumed it was all the liquor they consumed, the late hour, and the exhaustion from the chaotic night finally overwhelming him. It was the same for Jayda as well, with her sluggish movements and bouts of chuckles continuing on while staggering down the hall with him to set the chics and the mother chocobo on their way into the dawn. After watching them off for a few moments, Jayda nodded to Raven's suggestion, not wanting to run into Shade again anytime soon, especially in the next few hours when the Garden would be a buzz with its normal daily routine and the expected hangovers she knew she and Raven would most likely be hammered with.


As they stumbled their way into the Training Center, Jayda looked around in complete bewilderment and whistled in shock at all the mess and destruction. ”Mah, mah, mah!!! Who ev'r did all this iz sure inna lot o' trouble!”


Suddenly, Raven's reminder not to piss her off brought back her hazy memory of the previous day, and her face turned as bright as a red tomato as if someone switched on the blush like a light switch. ”Didja bring me all this way jus' tah rub in the guilt, Raven....?” To prove she was joking, Jayda gave him a light, playful jab to the arm with a giggle while trying to keep herself balanced as she walked through and around the rubble and debris scattered all over the floor.


When they reached the hidden balcony, she gave a sigh of relief as she reached up and slid her lop sided hat off from head. ”By golly, Ah sure am glad yew can still use yer noggin', Rav'n! This 'ere is brilliant! Ain't no one gonna think tah look fer us 'ere!”


Just as she turned about to see just a glimpse of rays of the upcoming dawn, Jayda watched Raven toss the bottle over the edge of the rail and hear his unexpected words as his back slid down to the floor. She chuckled again with a sway in her step. Jayda already knew she made him smile... a lot. Even laugh quite a few times. She knew he could, so it didn't come as such a surprise to her. But hearing Raven admit it was a feat in itself. For now, she just nodded and smiled as she too, slumped to the ground beside him, then took a moment to drink in the lovey view of the slow sunrise before sighing from fatigue. “Awww, It ain't sew hard, ya know... whay Ah ev'n gawt yer sist'r tah smile ah taym 'er tew...” She turned her head to give Raven a glance, realizing he finally looked relaxed for the first time ever since the day Jayda had met him. That too, was quite a triumph.


“Jus' be sure tah give yerself a break and a litt'l fun now an' then, Rav'n....” She added when carefully taking the chocobo chic from his hands and snuggling it into her arm, silently contemplating on keeping the rare black one all to herself.... already choosing it's name before little feather head fell fast asleep against her. "Ya gotta keep yerself frum gettin' as grumpy as yer sist'r ya know!" She added with a wink.


Now seeing Raven fall fast asleep, Jayda found herself just about to do the same. Yet there was still one accomplishment she had yet to achieve. Quietly reaching into her back pocket, she pulled out her cell phone and clicked on the camera to then lean against Raven while holding the devise up high to aim at lens down at them. She wore the most cheesiest smile across her face, where right beside her shoulder, Raven was dead asleep and completely unaware that her other hand now held up two fingers behind his head as bunny ears. Once the picture was taken, Jayda slipped the phone back into her pocket with a victorious giggle, then calmly watched the sun rise until she too, passed out from such a fun filled day not many could claim they ever had with a Leonhart.