A Bird For A Thought
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By ToumaYukimura
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“What’s a bird?”
“Why are you asking me that question? I don't even know that as well!”
Jackal and Kazahana stood in a library of the Church of Sulfur as they looked around the books with mild disinterest. The active ghosts around Kazahana seem to be the only ones who are more engaged in learning and looking around the library filled with unbridled entertainment and knowledge.
The envy succubun sat on a nearby chair and raised her legs in a crossed position on the table, since that they were in the more secluded part of the library no one would ever scold her to set her feet off the table. Kazahana clicks his tongue and shakes his head in mild discontentment.
“Are you not helping?” Kazahana asked as he raised a brow at her. Looking utterly unamused that he has to browse an entire catalog to find any form of the idea of what a bird is like. “Get your lazy ass off that chair or I will drag you myself.”
Jackal sighs as she scratches her head.
“Look, here is the problem. We don’t know where to start. Have you seen the aisles of books? The height of the shelves? It is endless!” Jackal said as she gestured her hands up to show her exaggeration. “Unless you have an idea for yourself, Mr. Smarty Pants.”
“Oi, I am not book smart. But my gut tells me that we have to spread out and gather books related to this so-called bird.” Kazahana stated as he lashed his tail around the weeping ghost beneath his legs when he saw it getting too close to his leg feeling the cold chill of its aura.
“Well…” Jackal muttered as she looked up at the ceiling and placed a finger on her chin in thought. “If we are going to spread out, we might as well gather some books that are related to birds. Titles that mention feathers, flying, beaks, you know that kind of thing.”
“What makes a bird a bird? Eh… good idea.” Kazahana said as he stretched his arms as if preparing for a physically and mentally grueling task. “I check the east side, you go west.”
Jackal looks at both sides respectively and gazes back to Kazahana worriedly.
“You sure? Your side has a long line of books to be checked.” Jackal said and Kazahana shrugged as if he got used to it.
“I handle too much time dealing with tomes and scrolls thanks to some old geezer so no worries about me,” Kazahana said as gives Jackal a reassuring pat. “Besides, between the both of us… I can tell you aren't the bookworm.”
The envy succubun pouted a bit and rolled her eyes. “Well you got me to some degree but let’s just cut to the chase. Maybe we can get a book or two.”
“Maybe a four or five…” Kazahana corrected, causing Jackal to raise a brow at him.
“That much? Seriously?”
“...just to make sure.” Kazahana sheepishly replied to Jackal’s question and Jackal could see the ghosts shivering a little as if they didn't want to be on Kazahana's side of the work.
Both succubuns gave off a short stare at each other to show their seriousness before they turned their backs to walk around their respective aisles in the library. Jackal climbs up one of the shelf ladders and sees each catalog, taking a mental note here and there about books that can mention birds. She shifts through from book to book, checking pages, titles, covers, and many more.
After an hour of gathering books, Jackal climbs down the ladder holding two books out of the entire west section of the library. She knows there are many more options, but she believes that this is more than enough since the first one is recorded sightings of birds and the other is a fantasy interpretation of birds.
Jackal gently sets the two books on the table and opens them. Quickly skimming through the pages until she finds the word “bird”, but before she reaches the middle section of the book Jackal hears the sound of tapping of feet as she looks up and widens her eyes to see Kazahana.
The ghosts shudder as Kazahana walks confidently down the aisle of bookshelves, holding onto a tower of books around his hands as he whistles an unknown tune from his lips. Jackal can see Kazahana's doll-like take swinging back and forth.
A sign of a success, in his perspective at least.
“The fuck, Kazahana?” Jackal asked in utter disbelief as she watched Kazahana set down the stack of books on the table with her.
“Surprised? This is just a walk in the park for me.” Kazahana stated and scoffed a little when Jackal shook her head.
“I swear, if you act with that kind of cockiness at least be a pride succubun. Never expect a greedy one like you to act like that.” Jackal said and Kazahana rolled his eyes.
He grabs one book from the top of the stack and sets it down to the table then opens it.
“Hey, I just like to read… as a way to get to know and be prepared for anything that might come to you,” Kazahana says and flips a page onto the book he is reading. “Hmm… what have you found so far?”
“Nothing.” She answered as she blew off a strand of her hair that was falling into her face. She supported her face onto her hand that is propped up with her elbow on the table. She looked bored in her expression. “You?”
“...”
Jackal perks her eyes up over the book she is checking to see Kazahana quickly skimming the pages of the book while his eyes dart back and forth among the words. She is flabbergasted when watching the male succubun reading quickly or he must be bluffing just for the sake of acting smart.
Kazahana hears Jackal clicking her tongue, he decides to ignore her since he is focused on skimming through the pages with his eyes darting through the words to check each paragraph.
Then he stopped.
Birds of Paradise
Kazahana squinted along with his ghosts beside him who were also reading.
“...Birds of Paradise.”
Jackal raises a brow at the male succubun who turns the book to show the image he found to Jackal.
There is a flower that resembles an image of the bird… according to the book at least.
“That’s just a flower.” Jackal said and Kazahana shrugged.
“I mean… according to this, it is called that because the flowers look like the form of a bird.” Kazahana then sets the book he is reading and grabs another one from the stack. “So we can deduce that birds are like that.”
Jackal blows off the strand of hair away from her nose. “But it is with petals… not feathers.”
“I know that, it’s not that I am THAT dumb.” Kazahana retorted as he checked another book.
For a long while, the two succubuns were busy reading their respective stacks of books until Jackale perks up and immediately shows it to Kazahana.
“Hey. How about this?”
There, Jackal shows to Kazahana a page in the book a large picture of a colorful bird made with fire. It is all made of embers rather than feathers.
“This one says that there is a bird made of flames that gives tears to heal wounds! How cool is that?”
Kazahana furrowed his brows at her. “Yeah it is neat… but… I mean… it is made with fire rather than… feathers?”
“Well… I guess you are right in one thing. The birds we show in the books have the same body structure.” Jackal said as she said. “These are such odd-looking birds though.”
“I never knew there was a plant bird, to begin with… or is it called a bird plant?” Kazahana murmured to himself as he sighed. “But none of it has the feather we found. Nothing sparkly, shiny, or that kind of… pure-looking.”
“Well, it is a start,” Jackal reassured as she roughly placed the book on the side and grabbed another one from her stack of books. “Oh, would you look at this? A recorded story about a bird with… uh… three legs? What the fuck?”
“Absurdity at its finest, yes?” Kazahana asked and snickered for a moment. “This one I found shows that a bird is swimming underwater!”
“I read that they fly! How the hell do they swim?”
“I do not know, but I guess birds are indeed such mythical creatures,” Kazahana said as he placed a finger under his chin. “Don't you think that… a bird can change to different forms?”
“What makes you think that?”
Kazahana shrugs as he looks down at the book he is reading. “I mean… stories show the bird having the same anatomical structure… but they have different forms. Being on fire, attached to plant stems, having colorful or bland feathers, and so on.”
“Deducting the overall appearance of a bird, we can say that it has wings and it can fly. But we can't find any form of record of a bird with shining feathers like the one that we just found.” Jackal said and both succubuns remained in silence in deep thought.
…
After some passing moments of spending time in the library, Jackal immediately got bored and decided to daydream. Her eyes wandered up to the ceiling as she huffed a bit in boredom.
Wings…
Flight…
Falling feathers…
Are birds even fluffy like the imps? Jackal thought to herself but she sighed as she could seem to create a more accurate form of what a bird is. All she can say is that it has wings, can fly, and can have those true organic feathers that no one can see throughout Burrowgatory. She lost her thoughts up in the library just like the birds she dreamed of.
Birds of different forms gather feathers made of fire, plant, paper, and light…. Anything she can gather from the talks that she and Kazahana have gathered. After some time, she heard the sound of someone clicking their tongue at her.
“Burrowgatory to Jackal… what the fuck are you doing?” Kazahana asked as he finished reading the last book from the tall stack of books that he gathered. Sometimes, Jackal cannot fathom how absurd Kazahana is whenever he reads a book. Did he even gather enough knowledge from reading them?
“Thinking.” Jackal answered simply as she scoffed a little. “You got anything more interesting?”
“Unfortunately, I found the same information although in a more… illogical setting,” Kazahana replied following the cute-like cooing sounds from the ghosts that surrounded him as if agreeing to his side of work.
“That means… the thing we are dealing with… a bird… is too vague or too confusing for us to get ourselves into an understanding.” He said as he crossed his arms. “Although, from our research here I do think that it gives us an insight into birds as a whole. They are such fascinating creatures.”
“Do you think they are better pets as imps?” Jackal asked and Kazahana shrugged.
“Not like I know about those creatures in an in-depth manner. But…” Kazahana let out a sigh. “The things we gathered so far do prove one thing.”
“And that the creature of what a bird is… is something far beyond a demon’s comprehension.”
"Somehow... I get a dislike of thinking of something that is quite unexplained in our part of the world."
Submitted By ToumaYukimura
for Ornithology Expert
Submitted: 9 months and 5 days ago ・
Last Updated: 9 months and 5 days ago
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