Username: kanadensis
Name: Rose
Gender: female
"What is that?"
"How unsightly."
"How can she bare to live that way? What a pity."
The words cut deep whenever Rose heard them - and she'd been hearing them all her life. The wounds had healed and been opened so many times that she barely even felt it anymore. She had been this way since she was born, different. Born into a royal family renowned for their beauty, she stood out like a sore thumb; her siblings all had beautiful white hair and wings, and fur the colour of pink blush - and there she was, the black sheep. She sometimes wondered if her parents had named her Rose as a joke. Who would give such a beautiful name to such a horrid creature?
The growths had begun shortly after she was born. It started as grasping roots that wrapped their way around her crib. They quickly crept around her room, winding their way out the window and up the spires of their castle. By the time the servants had arrived, the child could hardly be seen. "Child of the Rose", her mother had called her endearingly, growing ever more fond of her due to her unique mutation. Her father, on the other hand, saw only what the growths would do to their reputation.
"No one will want to marry a girl like her." He had said many times, and their parents had got into drawn out arguments over it. He became content only when Rose's sisters were born.
It took Rose years to understand why those around her treated her so differently. As she grew up in the castle, visiting children would often gawk at her, earning quick reprimand from their parents. The adults thankfully were more subtle, although it didn't take much sneaking around for her to overhear exchanges about her.
WIPWIP