Sleep Study

For what it’s worth, Noe did try to read the books that Jackal pulled off of the shelves. They wanted to help their mysterious new friend just as much as she did, and they definitely wanted to figure out where this mysterious feather came from. It’s just… The library is so warm. And the books are so boring. Noe thought learning about “birds” would be interesting, like listening to Hutch talk about imps, but these books are only good for putting them to sleep.

Which is what he’s doing right now. Sleeping, head pillowed on the encyclopedia that Jackal gave him. And he’s having the best dream about snuggling into the downy feathers of a pretty white “bird” that he saw in the book. Noe wishes birds were real, because he just knows they’d make the best napping buddies. They just look so fluffy and cute, and if the feather they found was anything to go by, they’d be so soft. Like a pillow…

“Noe.”

They nuzzle into the downy feathers in their dream, trying to block out the voice calling to them. Someone shakes them, and they make a noise of protest.

“C’mon, you’re not supposed to be sleeping right now!”

He whines when he’s shaken again, harder than before. “Nooo… Five more minutes…”

Noe tries to move away from the insistent shaking, except there’s nowhere for him to move. He’d been sitting in a chair at a table in the library, so the only place for him to go is over the edge. The jolt of falling off of the chair wakes him up, and he scrambles to grab onto something to stop himself from falling. But the only thing he manages to grab is the book he was using as a pillow, and it comes crashing down with him onto his head. He lets out a soft, “Ow…” and rubs where the book landed on his head. He looks up and sees Jackal standing over him with an exasperated look on her face. Her tail flicks and she crosses her arms.

“Are you alright?” Despite being annoyed with them, Jackal is still kind. She holds out a hand to help them up from the floor.

They take her hand, letting her pull them up. “Mhm.” Noe rubs sleepily at their eyes with their other hand, not worried about the book that thuds against the floor as they stand. It’s fine. Probably. Instead, they pout at Jackal. “I was having a really nice nap, y’know.” She gives them the most exasperated look.

"We're not here so you can take a nap, Noe." She bends down to pick up the book that fell to the ground. "Did you even read anything from this book?" Noe huffs, watching her open the encyclopedia to a random page.

"I did! I even found a pretty white bird like the feather we found!" He's totally pouting, but he walks over to try to find the page he fell asleep reading. Luckily, the book has these birds listed alphabetically, so it isn't so hard to find the one he was looking at before. He points to the picture on the page. "See? It's a 'swan'."

The page goes into detail about a bird with a long neck and white feathers. There are images of the birds floating on lakes by themselves or in pairs. Some of them show the bird's beak nestled into its wings as if asleep. Other pictures show two of the birds touching their heads together, their necks bent to form a heart. All of the pictures in the book make the birds look elegant, like the pretty white feather. Which is why Noe is convinced this has to be their bird. They puff out their chest a little, proud of their discovery.

"See? It's gotta be this one!" They press up against Jackal a little more to get a better view, pointing at the sleeping picture. "Don't they look so comfy?"

Jackal lets out a low hum. "I guess but…" She studies the pictures a little more and reads a bit about the swans. Looking at her face, Noe can tell she's not gonna agree with him. "I don't think this is it." Even knowing, he can't help but be disappointed.

"Why not?" It comes out a bit whiny, even if they don't mean it to. They really wanted to be right.

"It's just… The book says that these types of birds like floating on water." Jackal turns to look at Noe. "We don't have any lakes around here, y'know? So it can't be these birds." Noe pouts, but they have to admit that she's right. Why would this kind of bird show up here?

Then again, why would any bird be in the Burrogatory?

Noe would entertain the question, except they've gotten bored of being in the stuffy library. They want to go back to Jackal's apartment and teach Misty how to play their favorite TCG. Or just go ask Hutch about their new imp findings. Anything but being stuck reading these boring books again.

"I guess you're right…" Noe kicks his feet a bit and yawns. "Can't we just go back now, though? We've done so much research already. I'm bored…" He tries to give Jackal his cutest pleading look possible. She's gotta be bored too, right?

Wrong, apparently.

She tilts her head and flips through the book a little more. "You can go back. I think I'm gonna keep doing a little more reading." She moves to sit down at the table with all their books.

Noe huffs a bit. They can't just leave Jackal to read all of these books by herself. She'd definitely get bored to tears. So they go to sit at the table too, pulling over another book.

"I'll stay too, I guess." He flips to a random page of the book, not bothering to even read the title. "Someone's gotta keep you company."

Jackal snorts. "Not much company if you're sleeping." Noe sticks their tongue out at her, but doesn't deny it. They read together in a comfortable silence. If they end up falling asleep again, well… Nobody can blame them, right? Jackal will wake them up when it's time to leave.