birds!

“Viktor!” Jackal shouted as they kicked open the door and walked inside the lab. The scientist almost shit himself with the sudden outburst from the rough and tumble succubun now stropping over toward him. 

“Jackal, always a pleasure; for the last time, I will not manufacture you some class-A drug, I have better things to be doing with my time,” he replied, fixing his goggles and turning back to his papers. 

“No, I’m not here about that. What do you know about…birds?” Jackal asked him and the scientist stopped shuffling his papers and looked over at the other. 

“Birds…” he repeated. 

The word was not unfamiliar, but if he was honest, he’d never really delved into the meaning behind it. Or what it was. He presumed it something uninteresting and had disregarded it as lore unrelated to his current research. 

“Hmmm, why do you ask?” Viktor asked, putting the papers down and folding his arms. 

“Does that matter,” Jackal barked angrily back. 

“No, it doesn’t, I was just curious, I don’t know much about them. They’re some kind of animal I think,” Viktor told her and watched Jackal’s brow furrow. 

“That’s not exactly very helpful,” she replied. Viktor sighed before giving in. 

“Head over to the church, Mercy has some records on them, I believe, but I’ve never taken the time to look into it,” he told her, and Jackal smiled. 

“Great, I’ll go do that,” she replied but stayed standing next to Viktor’s space heater and staring at him. 

“What?” Viktor asked her. 

“Sure you can’t make some…” she started. 

“Out!”

After shooing Jackal out of his workshop and lab, the succubun shivered on the snow-dusted streets and quickly made her way over to the church to see what kind of books Mercy had on the subject.

When she got there, she spotted Elio, talking with Mercy about something. She saw carats being exchanged but honestly, she couldn’t care less and simply skipped over to the pair. 

“Hey,” she said softly, and the pair turned. 

“Oh, Jackal, hello, how are you?” Mercy asked with a gentle smile. Elio simply gave her a little nod. 

“I’m good, thanks, actually, Viktor said you might have some books on birds?” Jackal asked, and Mercy tilted her head, thinking for a moment before remembering. 

“Oh yes, yes, I do have some books on those little critters…hmmm…Elio, come help me get them for Jackal,” she instructed, and Elio sighed. 

“Sure thing,” he replied and followed her, coming with stacks of books of all sizes. 

“Here we are,” Mercy said as the pair put them down on one of the church pews. 

Some books were dense, full of information, and void of pictures and colours. Others were thin and had plastic-like covers. These ones were full of pictures and contained only a few sentences on each page - some even rhymed! 

“Thanks, Mercy, these are going to help a lot,” Jackal said as she began to flip through a few books. Taking in the information as the other two watched her. 

“What are you actually looking for?” Elio asked her. 

“I just…want to learn more about birds, is all,” Jackal replied, not looking up from the book, feeling Elio’s eyes on her as she researched this ‘mythical’ creature. 

There were so many types of birds. 

Small ones that lived in bushes and consumed berries and bugs and huge, fearsome creatures that surveyed the skies and preyed on smaller beings, even smaller birds. 

“These are pretty cool,” Jackal said, and Elio looked over her shoulder at a picture of a hawk. They were pretty cool. 

“Hmmm, corvats are kind of like birds, aren’t they?” Elio suggested and Jackal looked up at him. 

He made a good point. 

“You’ve…got a point, they do don’t they, got these wings and beaks…huh,” Jackal said and nodded. “Thanks Elio, that’s important info…I think.”

“No problem,” Elio replied, happy to have helped somehow. 

“Mercy do you mind if I borrow these?” Jackal asked. 

“Oh of course, just bring them back when you’re finished,” Mercy replied and Jackal nodded.

“Elio, grab some for me will you,” Jackal added and Elio obliged, carrying the books for Jackal…all the way back to her apartment. 

“Demons it’s cold in here,” Elio said as they got inside. 

“Yea, gas is too expensive, so I just haven’t paid it,” Jackal admitted. 

“That’s fair, well you’re welcome at the bar any time Jackal, heating is always on,” Elio told her. She smiled at him and nodded her thanks. 

“Well, good luck with your research Jackal, I’ll see you later,” Elio continued and waved goodbye. Leaving Jackal to her bird books and mission of research on these feathered creatures. 

Jackal waved goodbye to the other and decided to make a cup of tea before sitting down and opening another book.