Feathered Fact or Flying Fiction?

“URGHHHHHH WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE EVEN LOOKING FOR?!”
“Shhhhhh… steel thy resolve, Leader Jackal! Fear not, for I am here!”
“That doesn’t make it any better!”

What a whirlwind these past several days have been for these two intrepid buns. On one of the “hang outs” that these two have together on occasion, they just so happened upon a mysterious bun—Misty—who seemed to have no horns to speak of, an organic-looking feather that seemed as if it were plucked from a live being, the appearance of a new imp, Mercy being Mercy… oh great circles of Hell, what ELSE COULD HAPPEN AT THIS POINT? As much as Jackal didn’t want to say it, she couldn’t help but feel at least somewhat frazzled by this turn of events… and this really wasn’t made any better by Calcifer’s insistence that this was INDEED the work of BEINGS BEYOND THE VEIL OF OUR UNDERSTANDING or what-the-fuck-ever else he says. Seriously, can this guy NOT talk in circles for ONE FUCKING DAY OF HIS LIFE?

In any case… after a certain series of events—Hops having to prevent Calcifer from drilling answers out of Misty, two knowledge-nerds freaking out over an ‘avia’, and… again, Mercy being Mercy—Jasper and Calcifer had been let into the church’s library (on the basis that Cal absolutely positively WOULD NOT STEAL ANY BOOKS… though if he wanted to sit and write info out for hours on end that was fine by Mercy’s books) to research these ‘birds’ that appear in age-old stories passed down to bunkind by demons. However Jackal would soon come to realize after picking up a random book and attempting to flip through it… that the task was easier said than fucking done. Half the texts were unreadable—or “preserved in their natural state, coming from the demon’s tongues” as Calcifer would put it—and needed to be cross-referenced with a demonology dictionary, and the other half were so inanely convoluted with so many silly details that Jackal wasn’t sure what they were even talking about after a page or two. Were all the books in here supposed to be like this?! With a huff, Jackal closed the book she held and looked to Calcifer. At least the certified book nerd was having fun… too much fun, if she had anything to say about it all. Towers of books stacked high teetered around the archivist… and a stack of notebooks stacked similarly high sat beside him as he continued to fill them with whatever information he could get his hands on.

“Dude… are you even looking for information on birds or are you trying to copy down as many books as you can before Mercy boots us out?” With an exasperated sigh, Jackal came and stood over Calcifer’s shoulder… though her eyes widened as she saw the speed at which Cal wrote. You could fucking hire this guy to handwrite five novels and he’d be done within a week! That’s… seriously impressive.
“Do not take me for a man that does not uphold his word, Leader Jackal! I am taking a minor break from the bulk of my research; please direct your attention to the pile to my front and left to peruse the materials I have gathered thus far.” Cal motioned with an open palm towards the pile, and Jackal scoffed… but wordlessly went over to the pile of books and notes. She picked up the heavily sticky-noted notebook labeled “BIRDS?” on the front, opened it, and started reading.

“ ‘Birds, as referenced by The Universal Birdwatching Guide, are characterized as such: warm blood, light bones, toothless beaks, and feathers. They range greatly in size—from the size of imps and smaller to the size of a succubun’s doll form—and encompass a wide range of characteristics. Most commonly, birds have wings—a modified set of limbs covered in special feathers—which allows for most species to take flight.’ Shit, dude…” Jackal let out a low whistle as she continued to flip through the notes, noticing that all the books that Calcifer referenced—like ‘The Universal Birdwatching Guide’, ‘Apex Predators of the Sky’, and other ones like ‘Myth and Mythos: Birds of Legend’—were neatly stacked around the bird-centric notes. These notes were so detailed and so dense… There were copied diagrams of things called ‘robins’ and ‘cardinals’ and ‘pigeons’ and even some birds that couldn’t fly… Jackal liked the ‘swan’, it reminded her of Misty in a way.

“Indeed… as you know, demons can be fickle with their knowledge. I’ve taken the liberty of choosing a selection of books that seems to lean closer to a known realm of realism based on the reputation certain demons hold, the brief study of that feather, and the inspections I’ve taken prior with Beast Tamer Hutch on the movements of winged imps like chirops and corvats… as well as that new ‘avia’ imp, that one helped a lot. I’ve also included a couple interesting legends for fun… and I’ve made sure to add translations and notes where they are necessary… really, some of these texts are quite archaic even to myself.” Calcifer talked as he continued to write, not even noticing his haughty voice slip off halfway through as he explained his research in earnest. And… to his apparent surprise, Jackal listened with the same amount of earnesty.
“… oh what’s with that look?”
“Oh. Uhh. Apologies. I had not the knowledge that you would be this keen on the topic, Leader Jackal…” Cal trailed off as he set down his pen; his blush extended down his neck… he OBVIOUSLY wasn’t used to being actually listened to for once… at that, Jackal couldn’t help but smile.

“Nah man, don’t be sorry! You just made this a billion fuckin’ times easier. All this shit’s really interesting when you can actually read it… and I gotta say, you’re pretty good at condensing a shit ton of info down to what’s necessary.” She walked over and gave Cal a pat on the back, laughing quietly as he started to sputter in embarrassment.
“W-w-well I’m still not done — there’s plenty more shelves to check, after all!” With shaky hands he snapped the unrelated notebook he worked on shut and stood up, turning to face Jackal. “I think that’s enough extracurricular information! Come now, dear Leader — the next section I aim to tackle is mythos and religion. There are many accounts of birds being either religious figures or omens sent by higher powers, and we must be looking…”

So with a chuckle from Jackal and a huff from Calcifer, the two continued their investigation into the legend of the ‘bird’. Certainly this would help their mysterious new arrival… right?