Realistic or Modern Trouble with a capital T (1x1 Out Of Words/H8becomesyou)

[Out Of Words]

Rook

Spoiler

Photo Model: Jonathan Brandis
Photo Edit by: Out of Words

Rook

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Appearance: Rook is approximately 5'11", and while his weight looks proportionate, he has a heavier density than most. His hair is a mix of dark blonde and light brown hues, and his eyes are a steel blue. Rook's clothing is basic if he is dressing himself. Black shirt, black or blue jeans/pants, nothing too tight or restrictive.

Abilities: Rook is a gargoyle shifter. Purposefully created in the time of castles and dragons, to be a guardian and bodyguard for his creator. A creator who has long ago disappeared, leaving the gargoyle to figure out his existence on his own, and attempt to adapt to a world ever changing. Rook's human form is exactly like a human, just... dense. His gargoyle form is made of stone, and acts as his armor. He can glide, but he cannot fly, and can also see in the dark. In either form, Rook is able to communicate with anything made of rock and stone, and can use it to heal himself in his gargoyle form. If the rock is willing, Rook can also reshape it to his needs, though this is something rarely done.

It was gone.

They took his building, his perch, his home. In a matter of moments, the place he had lived for more decades than he could count, was reduced to broken rock and rubble. Rook hurt, physically and mentally. The stone had cried out, a cacophony of agony, louder to him than the blast itself. Talons pressed hard against his chest as Rook observed from several blocks away. Tears made paths down his cheeks and he wept for what was lost. Lost to him, lost to this ever changing world. The history, the stories, the life the stone had held, gone.

Life was a loose way to describe it, and maybe it wasn't truly gone. It depended upon what these humans made from the rubble, for stone wasn't ever truly alive, not in the way humans perceived. It was more of a collection of energy, fed to it from those living within its confines. The stronger the emotions, the clearer the stories were, the louder the vibrations became. It was magic in more than one sense of the word. Rook knew. Rook was the embodiment of such magic, made in a time pretty much long forgotten by the majority of humans. Did they even care? Did they know the effect they had on the world around them?

Sometimes the humans made 'zombies' of what had been great castles, or guardian rocks standing silent on the cliff. As humans spread, the damage in their wake was astounding. However, for as much destruction they created, humans were capable of remarkable feats. Some of the buildings built by their hands were magnificent beauties, and Rook found himself drawn, time and time again, to the cites, the urban sprawl. The tallest buildings were the best for gliding, or just watching the throng of ant sized people down below. They were always in such a rush, hurrying and scurrying this way and that. Rook didn't have the same concept of time, but he didn't understand a great deal when it came to humans and their lives.

Rook didn't care to continue ponder such things when the sunrise was so beautiful. On the tall buildings, the view was not obscured by the smog of the city. It was crisp, the air was clean, and the view without comparison. With a chittering growl, Rook perched on the corner of the skyscraper's roof, hands curled around the edge. The rock hummed softly in response to the sounds the gargoyle made, and they watched the sunrise together, while mourning the loss of the old building blocks away.

It was gone.

 

[H8becomesyou]

Spoiler: Harlow

Name: Harlow

Age: 26

Race: Human/wolf

Gender: Female

Family:
Father: Jerak. Alpha
Mother: Mary
Brother: Bex (younger)

Human form: Jagged scars run down her face, milky storm grey eyes. She is blind. She Stands at 5'8" in height. Long black hair. Olive skin tone.


Wolf Form: Large black wolf.


Personality: She is loyal and passionate. Not scared to speak her mind. She is strong willed and won't back down from a fight. She does have tamper on her. Harlow is very protective of her family and her pack. She is not trusting of outsiders. She fears for her family, that one day they would found out. Taken away from her and tested on. She has a softer side, though not many see it. She sees being soft a weakness.

“Shit!”

Her hand bumped against the side of the glass. Water spilling across the counter. Dripping into a puddle on the floor. Hanging her head, breathing deeply trying to calm herself. Tears spilled from her milky eyes, hitting her balled up fists. “Worthless...eyes...worthless….wolf.” She whispered in hate of herself. Never was able to do anything right since she lost her sight. Her world nothing but blackness. Fumbling her way through a world that she once knew in colors of all kinds. All the colors bleed from her world the night she lost her sight. Now she was nothing but a freak. Her own family looked upon her with pity. She thanked the heavens above that she couldn’t see the pity. But she could smell it rolling off their bodies each time that she saw them. Each time it would dig the knife deeper into her heart. The whispers of her pack always reached her ears. Each time she had to control herself. If it wasn’t for her scars on her face to make others look on in horror, her once strom grey eyes, now with a milky film to coat them. That would make them look away each and every time.

Patting across the counter her fingers brushed the bottom of the glass. Slipping her fingers along the slick surface she gripped it in her hand. Placing it in the sink off to the right. Reaching around she felt for the towel. Once she found it, she wiped up her mess, again. Cleaning off the counter, then on her knees she cleaned the water off the floor. While she was cleaning a knock came on her door. A little boy came running from down the hall. “I’ll get it Lo!!” Whipping her head up she sniffed the air. She knew who it was before Bex opened the door. Throwing the towel she jumped up. Running after her little brother Bex. “Bex!” Growling low at him. Running into the coffee table, she busted her shin against the hardwood table. “Shit!” She cursed. “Lo!” Her little brother warned her. “Mama wouldn’t like your words!” She rolled her eyes with a grumble. Harlow loved her brother but he could be a pain in the ass sometimes. Limping around the table she reached for Bex, gripping his shoulder, pulling him behind her. Hissing at him. “Stay behind me, Bex.”

He nodded gripping her shirt in his little hands. Fumbling for the doorknob, she opened the door. “What do you want?” She growled at the man before her and Bex. One arm wrapped around her little brother, holding him close to her. The man chuckled, “So anger you are Lo. Come now don’t be like that.” A deep growl rolled through her chest. “Cut the shit Ross, what the hell do you want?” He huffed and shoved his hands into his front pockets and smirked. She could sense it when he next spoke. “Oh little Lo don’t you know?” Gripping the door tight, the wood let out a whine in protest. “Your presence as well as your little brat brothers is wanted in front of the pack.” Her mind raced with what the hell it could possibly mean. “For what?” She barked at Ross. He laughed. “Now you will have to wait and see. “You have two hours, Harlow.”

With his last words she slammed the door on him. His laughter could be heard as he walked away from her front door. The little voice of Bex trembled, “Lo, what does this mean?” She didn’t know how to answer him. “I don’t know..Bex.” With a sigh she turned to her little brother. Feeling up to his cheek, cupping it in her hand. “Go and get dressed.” They didn’t have much time to get there. Her father was the Alpha of their pack and he had been since before she was born. He has ruled over the pack with a strong yet gentle hand. He always thought of the pack before all. However he loved his family deeply. Bex nodded his head and ran back to get ready to go. She stood and waited at the door keeping guard. She didn’t trust anyone but those in her family. A few moments later Bex came out running with his little backpack on his back. “I’m ready!!”

With a nod she grabbed his hand and rushed out of her place. Down the stairs and out the front door. The streets were filled with people. To many scents assaulted her nose. She hated the scents, preferring nature and the forest. They walked among the people, she could walk with the help of her senses. At least as best as she could. Large buildings towered over and around them. Working to the edge of the city she stopped. Slipping off her jacket, shirt and jeans. Toeing off her shoes and socks. Bex covered his eyes. With a close of her eyes, she let her beast out. The cracking of bones, a low growl of pain echoed around them. There stood at the edge of the forest, a large midnight black wolf, with stormy grey eyes.

With a gentle growl to Bex, he uncovered his eyes. Laying down for him, he started to climb up her body, with a little help of her nose and a push. She helped him onto her back. The one thing that most didn’t know about her. She could see in her wolf form. It was the only way that she could ever see her world. It still hurt each time, because she knew she would lose this once again. Her family was the only one that knew of this. And they wanted to keep it that way.

Once she made sure Bex was ok and safe atop her back, holding tight to her fur. With a nod Harlow looked around making sure none had seen her. With a hard push she ran along the buildings, some were just lots. The click of her claws against the sidewalk sounded around them. The closer she got to the forest there was a noise she never heard. Stopping dead in her tracks. Her ears twitched at the sound. What was that noise? She looked around, but couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from. Even looking up she couldn’t find. Her heart hammered in her chest. She needed to get Bex out of here and fast. “Lo?” Flickering her gaze to Bex. He looked scared. Harlow never acted like this unless there was trouble.

Without a second thought she bolted for the forest. The trees past her in a blurr. She needed to get to her father as fast as she could.

 

[Out Of Words]

There had to be a reason.

A reason he was still here, all magic aside. Rook could not feel any of the old guardians, besides himself. The stone in this city knew of no other. It made for a quiet, but perplexing, existence. Could it even be called existing? The gargoyle wasn't sure most days, but then he would sit and watch the sun rise on the horizon. Watch how the quiet rays of light penetrated the darkness and illuminated beautiful weaving patterns through the trees, through the buildings. Ever shifting, changing, even the hue moved through a spectrum of color. Everything continued moving, and time... Time was real, even if Rook could not fathom its passing.

Rook was quite accustomed to sitting still in one place for a very, very long time. Sometimes, he slumbered. A hibernation of sorts, letting the world pass him by. After all, a gargoyle 'statue' on top of a building had very little to worry about, destruction of his old home not withstanding. It left the shifter with significant gaps in his memory, and his knowledge. After such a hibernation, there was always an adjustment period, a connection of the dots, so to speak. Depending upon the circumstance, the dots could be spaced miles apart in his head.

Rook had been in one such slumber, so he wasn't yet aware of how much had changed, how much of this time had passed. It is very likely he would have continued his hibernation, if his home had not called for him to wake. The rock vibrated like an alarm clock, so the guardian of old would not be caught up in the detonation. Rook did recall murmuring his gratitude before it all crumbled apart. The gargoyle was still mourning its loss, he lost a friend, and more. Perhaps his grief was the reason his gaze shifted along the ground, rather than watch all the little nuances of the rising sun.

It was like a twinge to the corner of his eye, something caught in the very edges of his periphery. But it wasn't the wolf running along the cement sidewalk of the human city that tugged the gargoyle's attention. It was the figure riding the wolf. Something about the image pulled on a string deep inside Rook. He didn't try to understand why, there was no thought process going on inside his head. It very simply was. Rook shifted his weight forward, and allowed the momentum to carry him forward. Forward until he 'fell' off the edge of the roof. Rook knew deep inside he had to follow the wolf rider.

When there was a few feet clearance between himself and the building, stone wings unfurled with a FWOOSH. This was followed by a snap in the air as they caught the wind, and Rook flew. Glided. He was, for those moments, weightless and free. The gargoyle smiled and savored the sensation, before his focus came sweeping back in with a vengeance. Eyes darted through the trees below, tracking the wolf rider, as they left the human city behind. It almost felt like he was returning to the castles of old, nestled deep within ancient woods, and it felt glorious.

There had to be a reason.