Red Project

Part 4

The next night, Irene asked Brooklyn if she could come into his cage to see him personally. She just wanted to talk to him some more. He said she could. She was accompanied by two guards with dart guns. Brooklyn eyed the dart guns. He saw the men had their eyes glued to him, watching what he would do. The guns looked more like pistols rather than big rifles.

Irene wanted to talk to the red male more to get to know him better. "Can you just tell me what you know of your kind? The history, anything you could tell me. What about uh, reproduction?" She asked of him. "I hope the last one didn't offend you."

"No, it didn't. I know about it, but never experienced it yet. I didn't have a mate yet, as much as I desired one." Brooklyn replied.

"Can you tell me of gargoyle history? Roles and such." Irene asked.

"Well, from what I know is just what I grew up with. Our clans have structure that keep us together as a functioning unit. We would have a leader, a second in command, mentors, warriors, and egg caretakers. And there might have been the rare smart ones that wanted to learn magic or work on like what you guys work on. And there was also a certain spell that we were all taught when we were young that would make our clothes turn to stone that is regarded as ours. Our clothes would tear up otherwise when we wake up." Brooklyn explained. "But that was in the time I was young. I don't know what all gargoyles do nowadays outside my own clan other than being protectors. That's a gargoyle's true purpose. Protecting those around us and our home."

"Intriguing about everything, including the clothes turning spell. What about the roles of parents?" Irene asked.

"Well, unlike humans where a kid is assigned to one set of parents, the way my rookery brothers and sisters were brought up, we were all raised communally. None of us had one set of parents. All the adults were considered our moms and dads. All of us young ones were called rookery brothers and sisters, not related to one another."

"Wow. Sure is a good way of raising children. And none are considered orphans?"

"No. Not unless the clan would all be dead. And I have lost all my parents. They were all killed in the tenth century, along with all my siblings save two brothers." Brooklyn looked down sadly.

"I'm sorry. It's obvious you grieve just as much as we humans do for the loss of loved ones." Irene noted.

"Yes, we do. And when the adults form bonds with another as their mate, if that mate dies, they don't usually find another mate. They usually have to live alone for life until their time comes. Though there might be exceptions. A mated pair usually stays together for life." Brook explained.

"Some other creatures do that too. Like wolves and some birds. Seahorses too."

"Cool. How do you know about those animals?"

"I've studied the behavior of such animals. I find it all very fascinating to know of them. And learning of your kind, well, this was a new calling. You're definitely not like any other creature I've studied before, considering you talk like humans do." Irene declared.

"Yeah." Brook agreed.

"What about baby gargoyles? You mentioned eggs. So, gargoyles lay eggs?"

"Yes. Females do, of course. I just know that we have a strict breeding season. Unlike other creatures, we can't breed when we want to, or have babies when we want. The cycle that lets the bonded pairs produce an egg only happens in the seventh year of every other decade, as in like the odd years. Like back in 1987, that would have been the last breeding year. Then the females lay an egg six months later. Mating takes place around the fall equinox, then on or around the spring equinox six months later, the mom lays the egg in the rookery. The egg then incubates for ten years. Then it hatches on the spring equinox after ten years. It's always the eighth year." Brooklyn explained.