Staying Late

The lights in the church’s basement shouldn’t be on this late at night. Everyone should be at home by now– even Mercy had just been tying up a few loose ends before they intended to retire. Jackal’s late-night appearance had happened at such a convenient time, they’d thought– at the very least, the records-keeper types should not still be there.

Lo and behold, the lights shone, indicating that someone remained hard at work. Mercy exhaled a short sigh of irritation, standing outside of the archive room– exactly where they needed to be. The information they were after was too subjective for the library; the only information would be… there.

Just before turning to leave, it occurred to them that perhaps whoever left last had just forgotten to turn off the lights. In which case, it would be irresponsible to leave without correcting that.

Mercy pushed open the door, and was greeted by the sound of tapping keys. There was Harmony, typing away, open files littering their desk. They looked towards Mercy, and gave a small smile of acknowledgement.

“I’m almost done here, sorry,” they said.

“What are you still doing here?” Mercy asked. They stepped closer, having been spotted; no point in turning back, now.

“I got here late, and felt bad– so I’m staying to make up the time,” they answered. “I’ll be out of here in fifteen minutes- well, assuming wrapping up only takes fifteen minutes. I’m currently researching an absolutely fascinating subject! Let’s assume for a minute that we both subscribe to the theory that there are other worlds. Ones with something called a sky– that’s an endless expanse that just keeps going up. I’m sure you know that; the moon lives in the sky- er, sorry. I don’t mean to just start talking your ear off. Is there anything I can help you with while you’re here?”

Mercy took a moment to think, before slowly answering, “No, do go on. This is a very interesting subject.”

“I’m so glad you agree!” Harmony beamed. “Well, supposedly, there are other creatures in these other worlds! Not like an imp, see– more like us! Living, breathing creatures. Some of them are small, quite like an imp, but others can be massive! Five times the height of the tallest bun’s doll, even! Maybe. A lot of this information is subjective, you know? And these files are so, so old. It’s hard to tell what is real and what… isn’t. I’m not really trying to parse that, myself, though; right now, all I’m doing is recording different accounts of these supposed creatures.”

“I see,” Mercy nodded.

“Oh, by the way, the scanner is making that weird sound, again,” Harmony continued. “It makes me nervous to use; some of these files have illustrations I’d like to document.”

“The repairman said not to worry about that,” Mercy replied.

“...Alright.” Harmony was very intent on worrying about it, anyways. If the scanner ruined any of this information, they were not going to be very happy at all. They flicked their gaze away from Mercy's face briefly, and it settled on her hand. “Hey, what do you have there?”

“Hm?” Mercy looked down, suddenly remembering they were holding the feather. “Oh, this is something Jackal dropped off.”

“Neat,” Harmony said. They fixed their gaze on it-- their staring was obvious, even through the blindfold. “What is it, though?”

“I’m sure you could tell me.” Mercy set it down on the desk. 

Harmony gasped excitedly, reaching out with a hand as if to pick it up, but then changed their mind.

“This is a feather!” they exclaimed. “A real, genuine feather! Where did Jackal find this? Why did she give it to you– is it for the archives? It would be so amazing to be able to keep this! I’d love to take a closer look– hold on a moment, let me find some gloves.”

They stand and rush toward a tall cupboard, and pull a pair of disposable plastic gloves from a small box. They also take out a disposable mask, before sitting back down– they don’t even want to breathe on it.

“Is all of that necessary?” Mercy asked.

“Maybe! Better to be safe than sorry!” Harmony gingerly lifted the feather, as if it may dissolve to ashes in their hand. They examined it closely. “I don’t really know what I’m looking at. I’d love to confer with a doctor, or some expert in biology about this. Let me know the next time she comes in– she has to show me where she found it! Maybe there are more!”

“Maybe,” Mercy nodded.

“It’s– and I am so excited to use this word– fortuitous that you’d come here tonight of all nights with a feather! Ask me anything you’d like to know about birds– I just finished documenting an archaic tome on the subject!”

“Is this feather from a bird?” they asked.

“Where else would it be from?” Harmony replied. “So, probably. But what a fascinating train of thought! Maybe there are other creatures that have feathers! I haven’t gotten that far. Hm, it’s pure white– and look at the soft edge. This is a contour feather, meaning that it’s likely the whole creature was, broadly-speaking, white. My first thought is a dove feather– they are, according to the book, known to make people fall in love! In late protobun literature, dovelike symbolism was used to demonstrate a permanently-bonded pair or group of succubuns. Of course, I’d need to measure the feather to make sure the dimensions are correct; but it also isn’t as though this is the only answer. It’s only my first thought.”

Mercy nodded slowly. “I see.”

“Look, I really ought to be getting home, but if you leave the feather here, I’ll do a full examination,” Harmony promised. “I’ll let you know all about it as soon as I get the chance!”

“Unfortunately, I think I’ll need to hold on to it,” Mercy said. “While we aren’t sure what it is, I think it would be best to keep its existence lowkey.”

“I strongly disagree,” Harmony replied. “The more expert eyes we have examining it, the more likely it is we’ll be able to figure out what it is, where it came from, and, most importantly, why it’s here.”

“No.” Mercy made very direct eye contact.

Harmony took a very long moment before conceding. “...I suppose I can’t argue. You are my boss, after all.”

“I’m glad you’ve come around-”

“And, well, since you’re my boss, and you’ve entrusted me with a huge, potentially world-changing secret, I think we should also discuss appropriate compensation for keeping this secret."