A Mockingbird In The Crows Nest

Sweet Tooth

When Tommy blinks his eyes open, he winces at the dull ache in his neck and head. He..When did he fall asleep? He doesn't even remember closing his eyes; let alone falling asleep. Last thing he remembers is..A book, right?

Yeah, he was reading about exercises some avians can do to get their flight strength up. Not really something he can use, given his situation; but he thought he'd might as well read it. Maybe he could pass a few on to Wilbur? He keeps his wings tucked away all the time. Surely they must get sore being like that. Maybe he'd benefit from some stretches.

Sitting up from where he'd apparently fallen asleep on the ground beside his bed; Tommy pops his back and rolls out his shoulders before setting the book and a half-drank bottle of mead aside. Somehow, he doesn't feel nearly as bad as when he drank with Roulette. He still has a bit of a headache, and he feels a little nauseous; but that's probably cause he hasn't eaten actual food in a minute.

He nearly jumps out of his skin when he hears something buzzing over his shoulder. He stumbles to his feet and looks over his bed with a frown. Where's it..

The buzzing starts up again, and this time he spots his phone vibrating on the nightstand. He relaxes minutely at the sight. It was probably just Wilbur checking on him. He seems like the kind of person to do that.

Already preparing to reassure him he's feeling fine; Tommy picks his phone up and clicks it on.

He doesn't even bother to check the caller id before answering.

"Hey!" He chirped happily, turning to pick the book off the floor.

"Vex." Raptor growled, and Tommy froze. "Where have you been ?? You haven't answered any of my texts or calls in the past 3 days! What in the hell have you been doing?!"

"I-I just-" He stammers; trying to think of something quickly. This was bad. Worse than bad, actually.

"Static has been on my ass ever since your fuck up at the docks!" He snarls, cutting Tommy off and making him wince. "And it doesn't look good for you to disappear immediately after a failure like that."

"I-I'm sorry!" He insists, sitting on the edge of his bed since his legs are starting to shake. "Really, I- I didn't mean to disappear. I just- I got sick and-"

There was a scoff. "That's not an excuse, and you know that. If anything, that means you had more time to respond to me." Tommy's heart sank. "If you cared at all about me or your mission, we could've made a plan together while you had all that time to yourself."

"I didn't have my phone!" He tries to defend; but Raptor barks out a laugh and he flinches again. "I- I didn't have it on me that night for patrol and I didn't make it back to my room after-"

"Like I'd believe that." Raptor scoffs, and Tommy clicks his mouth shut. "You know better than to go anywhere without your phones. What the hell were you doing, huh? This doesn't look good for you."