Anonymous writes...

Hi, Mr. Weisman,

Years ago, at the CONvergence 2014, you mentioned that gargoyles' mating rituals involve "lots of flying" and feats of strength. I wanted to ask if it's possible to go more into details about how it works. FOR SCIENCE.

1.) Would you say that their mating ritual has some resemblance to that of birds' courtship/mating rituals? I've read some studies how different types of species of birds often use types of dance, flying displays, and etc. in courtship and mating dances. For gargoyles, are the feats of strength something the male primarily does in the ritual, similar to how male birds would do a dance to attract females? Or is something both males and females do? Do gargoyles do an elaborate air dance as part of the "lots of flying" bit, and do variations of said dance exist due to different cultures?

2.) For gargoyles that have less humanoid anatomy, such as Zafiro with him resembling more a serpent, would their mating be resemblance of how snakes mate?

3.) You mentioned a long time ago in another ask that gargoyles also "imprint" on each other, such as how Iago imprinted on Desdemona, and Desdemona and Othello imprinted on each other. If two gargoyles (whether it's male or female) ever try to court the same potential mate, and said potential mate is undecided about who to choose, has there ever been cases where they ever try to settle the matter in a duel, or is fighting over a mate is strictly forbidden by the clan (to prevent hostile infighting and death due to the high death rate in gargoyles society if it ever gets too out of hand) and enforced a strict policy that the matter must be settled peacefully (e.g. it must be the female's choice)?

4.) An old ask also mentioned what would happen if an affair is discovered among the clan, what would the consequences be, but was never fully addressed. In that ask, you mentioned that due to customs that cheating/divorce is highly discouraged, but emphasized that affairs DO happen, if even if they are rare. But the consequences wasn't addressed in the ask. So, in the cases that affairs do happen, are the gargoyles participating the affair are banished from the clan or are types of punishment are dealt upon them?