Tacky Birds

Surrounded by the fragrant smell of aged paper, two buns held a heavy book between their laps. It was covered in whimsical pictures of birds or rather the imaginations of an author that had never seen a true bird. The birds had long legs and raptor like bodies, their wings ending in claw-like fingers. Strange teeth like protrusions spouted from their beaks, leading up to burning red eyes.

Michel frowned, his lip curling, “Ugh they’re so ugly. Like mixing patterns ugly.”

Cero grimaced, lazily poking at one of the pictures. “They’re like living versions of those tacky feather boas.”

“Oh you mean like that bitch at the modeling agency yesterday! Talk about desperate for attention, rainbow feathers? Really?”” Michel mockingly shuddered. He still couldn’t believe a model like that was going to be in the same shoot as him, it was just insulting.

“I know! And she even thought she looked better than you, disgusting.” Cero snorted, looking amused by the thought. “As if she could, not in that hideous outfit.”

Michel adjusted himself, laughing quietly as he reached just beyond the book to pet his imp, Diamond, and using his other hand, pet Cero’s imp, Bijou. “Poor babies, they have to lay here while we help Jackal with this stupid mission.”

Cero nodded, groaning under his breath. “We could be at the bar right now!” He crossed his arms, openly pouting, “My current sugar daddy is pissing me off, so I need to find a new one.”

Michel raised an eyebrow, “Finally you noticed, he was like so annoying.”

“You should have told me!”

“I did! But you didn’t want to hear it because he makes a lot of money.”

Cero paused, “Oh yeah… I did say that.”

Michel shook his head and reached over to pick up Diamond and Bijou, holding the sleepy impups to his chest. “Least you’re getting rid of him.”

Michel glanced at the book again, cuddling the pups close. “I don’t get how this is supposed to help Jackal with that feather thing. I’m not going near anything that looks like these freaky things.”

Cero couldn’t agree more as he tapped his finger against one of the pictures. “I know! What exactly does she expect from us? Because this is so much work.” And true to his vice, Cero hated having to do things and just wanted to relax.

Michel sighed, “This is why I told you we should just run away when people tell us to do things. This is so annoying.” He plopped back on the library’s floor. “I don’t even like reading.”

Cero nodded, crawling forward to lay down next to his best friend. “I don’t even know what Jackal wants with these bird things. So what if they’re in the burrows or whatever.”

“I know right? As long as they stay away from me, I don’t care where their stupid feathers go. They’re weird anyways.”

“And like they look dangerous, she’s crazy if she thinks I’m going to do anything about those birds.”

Michel rolled on his side, adjusting the pups in his arms. “Maybe if we just tell Jackal all about the birds, we can go home? It’s not like any of this information is helpful.”

Cero huffed, also rolling on his side. “Okay, but can we take a break? I’m tired.”

“Of course we can, if I read anymore I’m going to go crazy.”

Unfortunately for Jackal, she did not realize just how little help Michel and Cero were. The two buns would spend the rest of their time at the library taking breaks and gossiping about other buns. Quickly forgetting about the birds.