Eliza In The Flesh!: eye of the storm. III

Eliza got back with feathers in her hair and arms around a box. She slid into her guest room apartment, tossing the gift onto her bed. No sound of glass clinking, but she couldn’t hear it over the loud flapping. “Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!” She yelled, trying to swat him away. “What do you want?!” she exclaimed as she tried to pull the raven away from her hair. He didn’t answer because he’s a bird, but instead swept around the room before landing on her head again. 

 

A knock came from her door. “What?!” She snapped, and she heard the familiar voice of Vector on the other side. “Hey, uh, just— just wanna know what’s going on because, uh, you’re— you’re kind of… loud. Like, more than usual…” he answered nervously. “This— ACK! Stupid— OW! BIRDWON’TLEAVEMEALONE!” She opted to cover her hair with her hands as he pecked furiously down on her. “Bird?” Vector mused. “Don’t just stand there! HELP ME!” She shot back. Vector opened her door and burst into laughter. The bird, hearing his joy like a hunter of prey, snapped his head to face him with wild red eyes. “Ohhhh, no, no, no,” he ducked as the raven swooped over his head and left the room altogether.  “Hey, HEY!” Eliza yelled after him. “GET BACK HERE! I’M GONNA SHOVE YOU INTO A BUCKET AND MAKE A FOOD CHAIN OUT OF YOU!” She leapt over Vector and followed the four-winged raven to the deck.

 

She found the raven voraciously wolfing down a crate of berries. She clutched him in her hands, pining all wings to his side. In response, he bit her hand. She yelped in pain and let go of the bird. She was about to go for round two, but Vector restrained her before she could throw hands.

 

“Look!” He said. She glared at him but begrudgingly did what he requested. The bird was pecking at the berries, tossing them in the air and swallowing them whole. “So?” She asked irritatedly. Vector rolled his eyes before wincing. “Sorry. It’s just— he’s hungry, that’s all. He’s not, y’know, evil…” She scowled at him, and he ignored her. Instead, he let her go and approached the raven quietly. He extended out a finger, and Eliza dearly hoped he would bite it. To her great dismay, the bird allowed Vector to scratch around his neck while he continued eating.

 

“Well,” she huffed, taking a feather from her hair. “I’m going to clean up. Good hair takes effort to maintain. Something you wouldn’t know about.”

“You maintain it or your servants?” Vector teased. Eliza really didn’t have time to entertain their conversation, so she marched back to her room and slammed the door shut.

 

After a quick wash and an even quicker clean up, she looked good as new. No scabs, feathers, or creases on her forehead. She treated herself to a nice lie on her bed before realizing that her present for Darling had gone missing. She looked around her room, under her bed, in her closet, the bathroom, before finding it in one of her cabinet drawers. She frowned, confused, but simply assumed Vector had relocated it after the bird incident.

 

Somewhere in the pit of her drawer, something that was definitely not beer shuffled and squirmed. The unmistakable sound of tearing of wrapping could be heard by anyone listening close enough. Unfortunately for Eliza, she was not listening at all.