The trumpet wakeup call startled me to the point of falling off the bed. Not a very graceful landing, as now my arms, legs and tail hurt. As did my head. The ground was also rather cold. Guess now I know how Eddie felt yesterday. I really should find a proper way to apologize to him.

"How was your night, vulpine?" Bucky asked, his voice rather cheery.

"Why…are you rhyming…how can you even think this early in the morning? Oh, right, you woke up like half an hour ago."

"Bingo. How's the hangover?"

"Everything hurts and I just want to go back to sleep…"

I tried to crawl back into bed, but even lifting my head was already causing me a lot of pain, so I stuck with the ground.

"Yeah, that's how it usually goes…"

"What even happened last night?"

"What do you remember?"

"A drinking contest with Marty and Auld Lang Syne, but that's about it. How did I even get back here?"

"We carried you. Same goes for Marty as well. You also howled. More than once, actually. I don't know why, you didn't explain it last night, but you did make it clear that it was very important that you howl right then and there."

I finally managed to crawl back onto the bed and sit, keeping my head low to ease the pain. Bucky seemed like he wanted to say something, but we were interrupted by a rabbit in uniform, who quickly stood at attention.

"Lieutenants Barkley and O'Hare?"

Bucky and I saluted back, struggling to even keep my head up as I did.

"Mikey, I told you to just call me 'Bucky', we're all friends here. Just relax."

"Yes, sir-I mean Bucky." The guy talked so fast it would've been a miracle if he didn't trip over his words.

"There we go. Mikey, this is Jimmy." Bucky continued, gesturing towards me. "Jimmy, this is Mikey."

The young officer just stood there for a while, a nervous look on his face. At least he was trying to act like he wasn't scared, but he still reeked of fear. That and he couldn't stop his nose from twitching either.

"It's alright, he won't bite. That look just means he's got a massive headache."

Mikey took a deep breath and offered his paw, which I shook. I tried my best to put on a friendly smile. Not too sure I succeeded though. With how much my head hurt, I didn't really care either.

"Ol' Mikey here's the fastest guy on the field, so they send him around to deliver all the important memos. Cigarette?" Bucky said, holding out a pack.

"Thanks!" The young rabbit said, eagerly taking one and lighting it. "So, I take it you guys were up at the Hare last night?"

"You know it! And this guy right here beat Marty at a drinking contest."

"No way, the king's been dethroned?"

"Not that hard when you weigh four times as much…" I explained.

"Hey, still counts." Bucky said, before turning towards Mikey. "So, what's the message this time?"

"Come again?" Mikey's eyes suddenly widened. "Oh, right, the message! We've got a mission today. My plane's in for repairs, so I'll be flying with you guys as co-pilot. The old man wants all crews at the briefing room by 0600 hours."

"Isn't our plane busted too?" I asked.

"That's the thing about paddlefeet, they work twice as hard!" Bucky replied, with his usual smirk.

"Paddlefeet?"

"Ground crews, Jimmy." Bucky explained, before turning to Mikey, who was just standing in the corner. "Mikey?"

"Yeah?" He asked, being suddenly brought back to reality.

"Shouldn't you warn the other crews as well?"

"Oh, right!" The young rabbit immediately snapped back into work mode. "I'll see ya later, sir-Bucky! Oh, and nice meeting you, Jimmy!"

Bucky and I watched as Mikey dashed out of the tent, moving onto the next one.

"Good kit. Good pilot, too. Should maybe cut down on the caffeine. Speaking of which, we better get breakfast. Some coffee will do wonders for that little condition of yours."