World Health Institution of Earth Species, sponsored by Cover Corporation.
Scientific observation and study of Monstrous Humanoids sleeping patterns,
Presented by Dr. Amelia H. Watson.
- Introduction.
The human race is famous for its adaptability. The ability to overcome the most harsh environments, no matter if it’s the burning heat of deserts or freezing colds of the north has always been fascinating to the common folk. And one of the examples of such adaptation and evolution are Monstrous Humanoids, or how I will refer to them in this article, Monhums.
Monhum’s as a human species were discovered not so long ago in our history, the earliest officially documented back in the 18th century, but unofficial encounters date back to the birth of society as it is. Legends and myths of various creatures resembling humans, either being fully humanoid with parts of animals or resembling a person just barely, are a common occurrence in every culture. Some depicted them as protectors of humanity, but some painted them in sinister colors. Thankfully, in modern days prejudices against Monhums are facing pushback by the hard work of WHIES and CoverCorp by introducing Monhums to the public and educating humans. But even today some aspects of Monhums still are secret to the world. And today it’s my plan to enlighten society on one of them, which is sleeping behaviour.
I have chosen such a topic due to various characteristics of Monhums, which leads to their sleeping behaviour varying drastically. Such variety can lead to society reacting differently to it, causing misunderstanding between parties and sometimes leading to conflicts. And so with the goal of teaching the common folk, I have decided to ask four Monhums, whose anatomy harshly varies from one to another, to help me with this research. This serves not as a solid standard to each and every single one Monhum, but rather an example to help people to be more prepared and respectful to others.
- Merfolks.
Nearly 70 percent of Earth holds water, so it's not a surprise that the most common type of Monhums are merfolks. Thanks to their anatomy, they are able to live comfortably either on land or water, but even though they can sleep in water, the research I have done came to the conclusion that a lot of them like sleep on land. Which in turn caused some humans to act rashly from trying to save someone who didn't need it, by thinking Monhum got stranded on the beach, or in some radical cases, Monhums were sadly killed. So, to learn more about why merfolks love to rest on land, I went to my friend, a shark merfolk by the name Gawr Gura to ask for help. She is a short (very short, in fact) shark girl with shark-like blue skin covering most of her body beside the front of her body and face. She has a large shark tail, sharp teeth and dark eyes with slithered blue irises and shoulder length white hair. From the conversation we held I learned that for the most part it all comes down to sensation. For them, bathing in the sun on warm sand or rock feels like how a spa therapy feels for a human. Thankfully, Gura agreed (smugly grinning all the while, as I would call it, being a gremlin) to showcase it, so we went to a private beach.
Gura was very helpful throughout all the research. She practically showed me how and in which places she likes to lay and why (the sand rim where water just barely hits you, which doesn’t cause you to overheat), and even suggested that I join her. I, of course, as a scientist, accepted it so I ended up in the firm grasp of a shark merfolk. Her hold was strong but gentle, her small frame surprisingly holding me in full body hug, her tail wrapped around my legs. The experience was delightful, true to Gura’s words - laying under the sun on soft wet sand, being hit by waves from time to time. I must admit though, some few strong waves hit us pretty hard, but Gura’s strong hold managed to keep me in place so I didn’t end up washed away.
- Eldritch
Sadly I have to admit that even now there’s a large prejudice against Eldritch Monhums, some people even calling them abominations. It pains my heart, because in my experience with those Monhums they showed themselves to be nothing less than kind and curious creatures that wanted to learn the world, mostly due to how they live. Eldritch don’t live in our world as normally, like any other human or Monhum does. They are extra-dimensional, rarely being able to bridge the gap to our world, which causes them to watch us from afar almost like we watch TV at home. Their curiosity is kind and light-hearted, but because of their origins they are still hunted in rural areas. If you want to know more about this issue, I suggest reading the article of my friend Tsukumo Sana titled “Eldritch beings and misinformation about them”.
Back to the topic, I have the pleasure of knowing Eldritch, Ninomae Ina’nis. She is a nice, shy and kind person, who also doesn’t look exactly humanoid - most of her body being a swirl of tentacles replacing the bottom half of her body. I will not lie, I would never be able to count how many of them there are. As she calls it, she has eight main tentacles, longest and thickest of them all, ten meters each. A much smaller portion of her body compared to her bottom is her top part, which looks much more humanoid-like: a small frail frame with long thin arms, porcelain-like pale skin and dark eyes that resembles a night sky with stars, with long dark purple hair accompanying the mysterious look of hers. In addition, she has large, dove-like wings sprouting from the lower half of her back, little flaps crowning her head and large, golden glowing halo floating behind.
When I asked Ina about the theme of my research, I was surprised to find out that Eldritch do sleep. And thankfully she let me experience it. As Ina told me, it depends on Eldritch to Eldritch how exactly they sleep, but the core is the same - they create a pocket dimension out of their own body, protecting themselves while they rest. Ina swiftly but gently grabbed me with her tentacles and wrapped me almost entirely with those, curling towards me so we were face to face. Her large tentacles covered us both, blocking any sound or light from outside, leaving only her outwordly glow being our light resource. Same thing happened to Ina, her own tentacles wrapping around her body same way as she did with mine. I couldn’t move, each of my limb suppressed by her tentacles. But surprisingly, it wasn’t uncomfortable and it didn't feel invasive. I personally felt safe, no need to think or move, just rest. I will not lie, being in such a position I quickly fell asleep, only sometimes feeling light squeezes. One of the best experiences in my life, I must say.
- Phoenixes.
Harpies are interesting creatures. They vary so drastically in shapes, sizes and forms, much like the actual birds of our world. But nothing is compared to phoenix kin. Those are large fiery harpies, larger than any other harpy in the world. Their wingspan is the largest in the world and the heat of their fiery feathers can provide warmth for generations. Due to that, and legends of immortality, there’s only a few species left of their kin. Thankfully, their population is now heavily protected by Cover Corporation, with active processes of helping repopulate their kind. And to my immense luck I'm able to call one of the phoenix harpies my friend.
Takanashi Kiara, phoenix harpy, is a large specimen even for her kind. Standing three meters tall, she has one of the brightest orange feathers I have ever seen, with bits of teal at the tips of her wings and tail. Her feathers and hair look extremely fluffy, and just standing beside her makes you sweat immensely. Kiara is very energetic and flirtatious, so it wasn’t an issue to ask her to help with my study. Apparently, from what she told me, all harpies sleep upright (outside of cave dwelling species who sleep upside down), stretching their bodies to look like a tower, wrapping their wing arms around their bodies and constantly holding one eye open. As Kiara told me, they do it to be on the lookout - not just for safety, but also for any potential point of interest (She even compared herself to crows with their interest for sparkling things, which is remarkably adorable). After this talk, Kiara probably noticed how much I was sweating just by sitting beside her, so she suggested with a suspicious expression a different experience. As she told me, being beside her may be too hot, but being wrapped in her wings while she is asleep would be nothing more than a warm, soft, heaven. Of course, I decided to take her for her word and test it, making the overly eager phoenix smile.
And she wasn’t lying. When the night came, she helped me to get comfortable against her body, covering me up with her large wings. Due to the size, I was able to half sit, half lay, without a need of constantly sitting up. Kiara’s feathers were indeed very soft. The heat wasn’t unbearable as I was expecting, instead it was a nice balance. I would compare it to laying down on the softest bed, being wrapped in a heavy blanket during winters. Incredible experience.
- Undead.
There’s constant debate if you can consider an undead as a Monhum or not, but in my opinion they definitely are due to their anatomy being drastically different from humans. As one of the characteristics of this species, they don’t particularly need sleep. After all, being undead they don’t have most of the bodily functions living beings have. But, thanks to my friend Calliope Mori, a Dullahan, I found out an interesting fact about undead. They do need rest.
Apparently, their organism works almost like a battery. You can say that goes the same for a human, but I would still argue itäs way different. If any living human or subhuman is a device that needs a recharger, undead are self-rechargeable. When their “charge” runs out, they shut down entirely until they get sufficient rest, barely moving, but still being totally awake. Calli invited me to her home to show me an example of an undead’s resting place and, obviously, I agreed.
An undead’s resting place is pretty similar to any common bedrooms you would see with some key differences. Firstly, their rooms have no windows. As Calli explained, even though the sun isn’t an issue for them, it’s still very disruptive to their rest, so most undead prefer to shut any blinds or curtains, or even the total removal of windows altogether. Secondly, their beds resemble coffins. Due to how they rest, they don’t have a need for spacious beds, and they prefer flat surfaces that are individually customized for their backs to ensure the most comfort during their unmoving rest. And thirdly, they use a lot of stuff to pass time. Calli told me that in days of old it was common for a lot of undead to go insane due to the inability to do anything during their rest, which caused a lot of aggression in their kin to grow. The only species who could avoid that were those who could use magic, such as vampires, dullahans, liches, etc. But in the modern era, due to such technology like TV or phones, undead are now able to pass their rest hours without any trouble, putting TV screens or phones on the ceiling or on special mounts just right above their beds. I’m very thankful to Calli for helping with this research, her calm and cool demenour made me comfortable to ask questions that some otherwise would deem silly. She even showed me how she, a dullahan, sleeps, and it’s quite interesting. Apparently they put their body in a bed and their head in a special spacious box with soft interiors and a screen to entertain themselves. When I suggested she show me it, for some reason Calli suggested I could hold her head while she was resting instead. Of course I wouldn’t deny such an opportunity to try. Not everyone can boast about holding a dullahans head, after all.
- Conclusion and review
With this small article I hope I was able to show you, readers, the difference in sleeping behaviours of various Monhum species. There’s much more to learn and see, but as I said in the beginning, this article serves as an example. And to get more information, I decided to ask the participants about their experience during my research. Here’s their digital copies of reviews:
Gawr Gura: 10/10, the reviewer is kinda stinky, but very cute :)
Ninomae Ina’nis: researcher was very kind and seemingly loved to learn more information about me and my kind, I felt incredibly appreciated and to return such kindness I will rate the process 10/10
Takanashi Kiara: cute girls always get 10/10
Calliope Mori: sh*t was good, and her snores cute 10/10
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Amelia Watson sits before her computer, looking at the screen with a red face, a colour vaguely reminiscent of a beetroot. She couldn’t believe what she just had read. She thought her friends would take it a bit more seriously, but apparently they were flirting with her through reviews. Her heart beats heavily and fast inside her chest and her face feels incredibly warm. Thoughts race one another while her fingers float above the keyboard, unable to move.
Suddenly, she feels a gentle pull. As Ame looks down, she sees white scaled tail wrapped around her waist pulling her away from the table.
“Kronii, I need to finish the article.” Ame whines turning towards the bed where Kronii, lamia, and her girlfriend was.
“You don’t.” Snake hums, her tongue flickers, as she puts Amelia beside her, “You can finish tomorrow, it’s late.”
“B-but, the reviews-”
“They are fiiine.”, she giggles, “They are teasing you because they love you like I do.”
“I-I know, but… it’s a serious scientific document!”
“That describes how some Monhums cuddle you, totally just for you to know how they sssleep?”
Amelia didn’t know that she could feel even more embarrassed, yet here she is.
Kronii laughs gently, her tail wraps more around Ame like a blanket, “Don’t worry about it. I think their reviews fit. And it helpsss sssshow us in a cute light.” The snake girl nuzzles Ame closer, her tongue brushes against Ame’s cheek, “I do think you need some resssst, dear.”
Ame slowly relaxes in her girlfriend's embrace, sighing softly. “Okay… Thank you.”
“That’s nothing.” Kronii laughs, “My cute cuddle researcher.”
Ame groans loudly, feeling her blush creeping up on her again.
