Feather Research

“There you are! What took you so long?” Jackal asks, arms crossed as she stared at Fatima with her arms crossed and eyebrow raised.

“Sorry but, I thought I would enlist some help.” She says, stepping aside as a brown and white splotched succubun stands behind her with two spirit motes hovering near her head.

“Jackal, this is Mimic. Mimic, Jackal. She’s a friend of mine.”

Mimic blinks a few times and looks between the two before nodding, the spirit motes doing the same.

“It’s nice to meet you Jackal.”

“Yeah? Nice to meet you too. Never seen you around Burrowgatory before though.”

Mimic laughed softly. “It’s probably because I live further out than most I think.” She says, reaching up and gently patting the spirit motes’ heads.

“So, what are we looking for anyway?”

Jackal rubbed the back of her head. “Something about a bird? Nobody’s ever heard of a bird before so I asked if we could search through the library of the church.”

“Thankfully Oleander and Mercy said yes. So, here we are. Come, let me show you where the mythical creature section is.” Fatima offered, beckoning the two forward.

The trio made their way through the library and stopped once they reached their destination.

“First, we shall gather the books and set them on the table and then we start our research. I’m not sure how many books on these bird things there are but hopefully there’s enough for us to find… something.” Fatima suggests, tail swaying gently.

“Well if there are a lot of books, is there anything we can use to narrow down the information?” Mimic asked, looking at the two of them.

“Well, that feather we found was white and there were rocks in a circle but there wasn’t anything etched in between to connect them.” Jackal answered, rubbing her chin in thought.

“I noticed some kind of weird shimmering substance when I walked into the middle of the circle to grab the feather.” Fatima replied.

“We can’t forget that weird ass streak of light we saw on our walk too.” Jackal added.

Mimic nodded, listening intently as she furrowed her brow in thought, tail swaying gently as she moved towards the bookshelf and looked over the bindings, grabbing a few books that caught her eye and handed them over.

Once the books were placed onto the table, Mimic organized them into categories.

Jackal looked the books over and nodded. 

“Alright, let’s get started. We have a lot of books to read.” She claps her hands, picking up one of the books.

“Make sure to take breaks if you need to. Who knows how long we’re going to be here.”

“Right. If we get hungry, we’re more than welcome to use the kitchen. There should be some snacks in there. However, make sure you do not bring them into the library.” Fatima says.

As the girls are reading through the books, they jot down as much information as possible in the notebooks that had been placed on the table when they got there. When they finished, they began comparing notes. 

“Man, there are way more birds than I thought there were.” Mimic says, leaning back against her chair and stretching.

“Yes, I didn’t expect there to be this much information either. Did you find anything, Jackal?”

“I found some stuff about birds with white feathers but I don’t think the pictures really help.” She says, sighing and placing her head on the table, picking up the feather and turning it over in her paw.

Mimic thought for a moment, tilting her head before reaching over and grabbing the book on mythical creatures.

“You guys said you saw a streak of light and the circle was shimmery right?”

“Yeah, why? You got an idea about what it could be?” Jackal asks, looking over at Mimic, tail swaying listlessly behind her.

“Well kind of but not really. You’re right about the pictures not really helping but, what if it’s one of these things?” Mimic suggests, showing them a few pages. 

One page had a picture and information about a bird called the phoenix, the other was about a bird called the quezacotl, and another page was about a bird called the bird of paradise, then the final page was about a harpy.

“Since the feather’s down here maybe it could be a harpy? They’re kind of like demons but they have feathers on their arms and legs.”

Fatima hums softly as she looks over the information, tail swaying gently behind her.

“Perhaps. It could be a possibility at least.”

“If it is one of these harpy things, then how’d it get down here?”

“Maybe one of the demons who visits frequently brought it with them somehow?” Mimic suggested, looking at the girls curiously.

“Maybe, but I don’t think so. If the demons could bring those things down here then we would have seen a lot of them. Plus, aren’t these mythical things from stories that demons tell baby succubun to scare them?” 

Mimic sighs, “I guess you’re right.”

The three girls sigh heavily then lay their heads on the table, before glancing at each other then out the window at the crystals.

“Either way, we found out some interesting stuff so far. Still surprised there was even info on these bird things to begin with. Thanks for the help you two.” Jackal says, standing up and stretching.

“Now, how about I take you two out to a bar as a way to repay you?”

“Is it going to be another hookah bar?”

“That depends, do you want to go to a hookah bar?”

“I don’t mind. What about you, Mimic? Care to go out drinking with us?”

Mimic stared at the two, “I have a better idea. Let’s go to a teahouse!” She exclaimed, grabbing their hands and pulling them along.

“Wait! I have to put these books away first!” Fatima exclaimed, making Mimic stop in her tracks.

“Alright then, we’ll help you! Then we’ll go to a teahouse. I know the perfect one.” She says, smiling widely as she and Jackal grabbed a few of the books.