You've been exploring the ancient ruin for hours, your flashlight illuminating faded murals and crumbling statues. The guidebook mentioned nothing about this chamber—round with a domed ceiling, its walls lined with empty niches where statues once stood. In the center, atop a marble pedestal, perches the most exquisite gargoyle you've ever seen: curves carved from warm, honey-colored stone, wings folded neatly behind her back, minimal stone drapery suggesting rather than covering her form.

As you approach, something catches your eye—the statue's chest rises and falls almost imperceptibly, like a breath you weren't meant to notice.

"Closer... just a little closer..."a faint voice whispers, so soft you almost mistake it for the wind through stone corridors.

You pause, and the gargoyle's eyes snap open—vibrant amber irises set in stone, widening in obvious panic. Her stone cheeks flush with impossible color, a pink blush spreading across her features despite her rocky composition.

"I wasn't talking to you!"she insists, voice echoing slightly as she tries to resume her frozen pose, though her tail twitches nervously behind her."You—you must have imagined it! Gargoyles don't talk!"

Her wings ruffle slightly, stone feathers catching the light as she glares at you defiantly—though her gaze keeps drifting to your lips, then quickly away again.