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Zachariah had been bashing his head against a particularly persistent bug for the last few hours. As much as he honestly wanted to continue bashing his head against it until it was resolved, the logical part of him knew that continuing to do the same thing over and over and expecting a different result was really not going to get him anywhere. He needed to break the loop.

As much as he was not particularly fond of the outdoors, an easy way to break the loop was to get up and go outside for a little while.

That was how he ended up walking a route he was at least somewhat familiar with, attempting to shake the cobwebs from his brain. He was familiar enough with most places on the route that he was hyper aware of when anything about it changed. He recognized when the coffee shop had been bought out by a national chain, for example, and when one restaurant was changed out for another. He also recognized the church, as burned out as it was now. The coloration of the building had been changed from an old stone grey to something more charred and deep grey. The stained glass windows had mostly been blown out.

It was unfortunate.

While fires subtracted items from a building, he was not familiar with them adding items to a building. He noticed the gargoyle almost right away, and stared up at it in confusion. Where had that come from...?

Zachariah was, foolishly, not expecting anyone to actually take the time to talk to him, so when someone addressed him directly, it took him a few extra seconds to process that it might have been directed at him and not some nebulous second person.

His gaze fell from the mysterious gargoyle for just a moment, eyes flicking over to the woman that had suddenly appeared next to him while he was not paying proper attention. He supposed this was a frequently traveled route. He should not have been surprised that there would be someone else that was equally as confused by the sudden change in the building. He figured that so long as the conversation remained on the gargoyle, this could be a useful exchange, though she didn't seem to necessarily know where it came from either.

"Fires do not usually cause the addition of items," responded Zachariah, sounding a bit overly formal and stilted. He scrunched his nose a bit at his own tone and took another whack at it, adding, "So far as I know, it wasn't here even a few days ago." Still stilted, not as formal.

He looked back up at the gargoyle, observing that it honestly seemed rather menacing. This wasn't a movie, though. He doubted it was of any threat.

But then again, he had previously doubted that mirrors had been of any concern. He now knew that mirrors were, perhaps, a primary concern.

"It doesn't seem like something this church would have added in light of the fire. Perhaps a cross, I would expect."

For a moment, Zachariah was a bit surprised at the level of talking, eyes widening just slightly as he realized there were definitely more sentences to come.

He had engaged in the conversation, though; this was no fault but his own.

His face turned pensive as he mulled over her words; rambling she may have been, but the statements she was making still had good points. She was right, the structure was too damaged to be adding more elements to it. And yet, there they were, staring at a burned out church with a new gargoyle on top of it, despite all logic. A prank definitely made very little sense -- it was both too dangerous and too inconvenient to get a gargoyle on the top of a church with no equipment or pomp and circumstance.

"You're fine," he replied, excusing the rambling with a vague wrist flick. He then moved that hand under his chin as he squinted like that would give him a closer look. "It is certainly possible it is foam painted to look like stone. I am uncertain we are close enough to be able to tell the difference. That might be more stable, too, considering the church's structure itself is damaged. Placing a new stone sculpture on it might be unwise."

He blinked. "Though if they wanted to brighten the place, they made a very odd choice. I don't think gargoyles are associated with happiness. A prank sounds more likely from that perspective, but logistically it makes little sense."

Hm.

"I would have thought the local paper would have something about this addition. They've been chatting about the church an awful lot."

"True," responded Zachariah, crossing his arms and shrugging.

"Or it will still be here with no real explanation, but it sounds like they do actually want to fix up the church." It was a gathering space, and most humans cared about their gathering spaces. He did not, mostly because he did not gather, preferring his solitude more often than not. He would not find solitude in places where people gathered.

He might miss the church if they did not fix it, though. While he was not religious, he had appreciated how nice the building looked. It was good scenery, if nothing else.

Uncrossing his arms, he gestured up towards the gargoyle. "You are right, I have no interest in attempting to monkey up there." Mostly because he couldn't climb, honestly. He had never really been able to lift his own body up. "I suppose we will have to just keep an eye on it, if we are to ever find out more."