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 Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 12:02 am
 Rose broke from her stone form as the sun finished setting. She stretched and glanced over to where her rookery sister was, catching her just as she was waking. The smaller female had gone into the stone sleep next to another gargoyle, a dark male. They looked so... cute together as they smiled at one another and took off towards the castle and village. She sighed a bit and walked off along the cliffs, her wings folded around her like a cloak. She'd tease her sister about it and then do her best to see if she couldn't get them together. Maura had done a lot for her, it only seemed fair.
But not right then. Right then she just wanted to go off and be alone. She'd made a fool of herself and, well, she didn't think she could look at her own reflection, much less any of her other clan members, especially the ones that had seen her terrible behavior.
So the tall, blush-pink female fled from the moonlight and slipped into a cave away from the main cliffs.
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Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 6:11 pm
 It just so happened that Rose wasn't the only gargoyle hoping to have some time to herself. Anwir, being the early riser that he was, had already discovered the cave away from the cliffs. Recently he had been more comfortable roosting away from most of the clan. It was a habit he had grown used to in his time of banishment, and it wasn't so easy to readapt. Particularly when so many of his own kind already seemed to hold him in contempt. Much of the clan was unfamiliar to him, and unfortunately he seemed to have had left a negative impression on those who he had never before been aquainted with.
The weary gargoyle had put off worrying about what others thought of him since he had been exiled from the clan. However, now that he had been re-accepted into his family, he was having a hard time fitting back in. His time alone as well as his isolating name had changed him. He didn't feel a part of anything anymore, and that feeling for a gargoyle was very distressing he was at odds with himself and, though he usually prided himself on his calm, apathic nature, Anwir had, the other night, actually allowed himself to be stirred up by his fellow gargoyles. And not just any other gargoyles; three very strong-minded females; the main one being a pale, rose-colored lady with red hair and intense, gray-green eyes. No sooner had he thought of her did she appear before his eyes, her silloette visible as it stood at the mouth of the cave.
"Who goes there?" he called formidably, not feeling much like company at the moment. Particularly if it was the gargoyle he suspected. Now that he had re-joined the clan, he realized he would have to re-teach himself to get along with the others, for isolation from them for so long had caused him to be bitter towards them. After how he had turned her own words on her the other night, however, an emotion Anwir loathed had creeped into his conscience, though he wouldn't have admitted to it for all the magic in the world. Guilt.
The very thought of her made him regret how he had acted when they had first met, but dealing with the feeling of self-conciousness and the constant worry about what she thought of him was too much to bear. A prideful gargoyle, Anwir decided he would have to turn the female away somehow.
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Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 7:01 pm
Rose stopped dead where she was when the male called out, her hand resting on the rock wall. Oh no, not him. Not the one she had embarrassed herself so badly in front of. She had callously let her mouth run away with her, had voiced an opinion formed by old stories and a few words on the subject of humans. She should have known better than to do that, but she had done it anyways.
And now here he was, in the cave she had chosen to get away from everyone else, especially him. She sighed softly her head hanging a bit and her gaze cast at the stone floor.
"Rose, she who calls you names and such," she replied softly, her voice carrying in the cave. She had more than half a mind to just turn and walk out right there, but she couldn't. All said and done, she needed to apologize to him. No matter how much it hurt her pride to admit she had made such a horrible mistake.
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Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 1:53 pm
"Is that what they call you?" Anwir replied dryly. "How original. At least it seems to suit you." As he stirred in the dark, his dark from could just be made out against the cave shadows. He appeared to be lounging casually against a wall, regarding her as she stood at the cave's entrance.
"You know, we were never really properly introduced. I only heard your name when you gave it to another. Did the humans choose it for you, or did you choose it for youself?" Despite his vaguely bitter tone, his sarcasm was mixed with genuine curiosity. After all, before he had been banished from the clan, most gargoyles didn't have names. "That human tradition of going be names seems to be catching on."
Reaching out a clawed finger, Anwir boredly dipped it into a puddle of collected water and swirled it around, watching the ripples disrupt the surface. "So..." he murmured finally, hoping to break the awkward silence between them. "The other night when you ran off. Your sister said you got upset." He hesitated, staring only at the puddle and being very careful to avoid Rose's gaze. "She said it wasn't my fault, but...I guess it wasn't my place to turn your words on you. Didn't expect you'd take it so hard, or I wouldn't have brought them up. We all speak without thinking sometimes. So...sorry."
After finally forcing out an apology, the male gargoyle made himself meet Rose's eyes, wanting to be certain his feelings were genuine. He hoped she would accept it, because, being the prideful gargoyle he was, Anwir didn't think he could manage another 'sorry' for a long while. He felt it was bad enough he was expressing his regret at all, but he told himself he was only saying sorry for his own, selfish reasons. His hopes were that, in doing so, he could extinguish the guilt that burned him like fire.
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Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 4:00 pm
"No, that's just something I... Oh nevermind," Rose sighed in reply, not moving from where she was as he continued to speak. She had been about to tell him of how she had gotten her name, when he started to... Was that an apology? He must have been referring to Maura. It was just like her to apologize for her. It made Rose smile to know that she had a friend in the shorter female. She looked up to meet his gaze and shrugged a bit.
"My sister is usually right... Well, maybe more than usually. I said some bad things to you and... And I should have been the one to apologize, not Maura, and certainly not you, though if you wish it, I do accept your apology," she replied and let her hand slip from where it was resting against the wall.
"So, I'm sorry, Brother," she added and took another step into the cave and then carefully sat down.
"You asked me earlier, how I got my name. Maura gave it to me, actually, but only because I asked. We were little and a human friend of hers had given her a name. We were..." she paused there, smiling and laughing a bit at the memory. "I was somewhat competitive with my sisters when we were young and when Maura had gotten something special like that, I demanded that I get one too. So, she pointed at one of the flowers on her friend's home and asked what it was called. He called it a rose and Maura told me that that was the perfect name for me. It stuck."
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Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 8:24 pm
"Huh," Anwir grunted in acknowledgement of Rose's own apology. He hadn't expected the head-strong female to say sorry so easily, but perhaps his own expressed regret had eased the tension between them both and made it less difficult for her. As she took a step into the cave and seated herself inside, he made no motion to stop her, nor to shoo her away. The persistant, burning guilt in his chest was gone and he no longer minded her presence.
Staring at the cave wall sightlessly, he listened, not wanting to seem too interested in conversation with Rose as she described the origin of her name. He found it interesting that she had a name because she had wanted one, and even more so that Maura had been close enough with a human to have been given one. At the sound of Rose's laugh, unexpected as it was, Anwir couldn't resist a thin smile, though aimed at the wall as it was. It was gone in a moment, but he hoped the female gargoyle hadn't noticed.
"Wanting a name out of competitive spirit? Now that's one I've never heard," he mumured, his tone slightly amused. "But I can certainly picture someone such as you in that position." He hesitated, looking contemplative. "...I've never thought of a name as 'special'. But then, I didn't recieve one by choice." His distant gaze suddenly turned hard and steely at the memory of all the deaths he had caused with his selfishness. He looked at her. "You're lucky to be named after a flower. But then, as I said before, it suits you. Simple, pretty. But as everyone knows..."
He allowed himself a grin, his gold eyes flashing at her. "A rose by any other name still has thorns."
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Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2009 12:24 pm
Rose simply shrugged.
"It was only special because she had it and to my knowledge at the time none of our other rookery sisters had," she explained, her tone a bit offhanded. She never had much trouble talking about her childhood. It was a time of learning and innocence and... and general fun. Even on the subject of her name. She avoided his comment about his own. She knew what it meant and that it was probably something he was not proud of. From that point on, she'd just refer to him as Brother. Speaking of names, she laughed a bit when he commented on hers.
"That is true," she agreed, her gray-green eyes reflecting her amusement, not looking away as she continued. "But of course, roses have thorns simply for protection, a way to dissuade other creatures from preying upon it."
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Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 1:14 pm
"I'm not surprisedthat she was the only one who had a name," Anwir remarked calmly. "Before I was banished, what I remember of having a name was that it was like labeling yourself as a human's pet. My previous brothers and sisters - " He swallowed. The ones he had gotten killed. " - they saw it as a mark of shame. That is why I was given one when they exiled me from the clan."
Stepping away from the wall, he cloaked himself with his wings, careful to hide the amulet that so obnoxiously dangled from his neck. "Even now, do you enjoy your name, Sister?" he asked, turning to lean over her. "What sort of creatures do you imagine might take to preying on the likes of you?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 1:52 pm
Rose's temper flared a little bit at his words on names. But she smothered it like a human smothers a flame before turning in. He wasn't poking at her, simply stating facts. And whether or not they cut into her pride wasn't his fault.
"The human needed something to address us when we visited. He was creative at first, but after a while he asked if he could give us names. Well, give Maura her name, that is." She watched him as he stepped away from the wall, pacing towards her and then looming over her. Honestly, it was a little intimidating as she looked up at him. It was only a quick glance and she immediately looked back down again.
She slipped her hair over her shoulder and played with it a bit.
"I do enjoy my name," she answered and thought about his second question. It was a tough question to deal with.
"Oh, you never know. One can be hurt by the most surprising things."
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