[Open]

[not_the_philistine]

In a day of many surprises, Goliath has found another. The ship that has stolen him from his home - or rescued him from its destruction - did not take him alone.

It took his castle, too.

There is no breeze in the city to fly on, so Goliath stands in the middle of the street he has walked, staring at what is either a very convincing replica of Wyvern Castle, or the real thing. It comes complete with clawmarks and laser burns from the battles he and his clan have fought there over the ages.

The reminder of his clan draws his heart into sorrow again, but morning is coming, and he will not have time before the sun rises to think more on their fate. He puts his emotions behind him and climbs the castle wall in the light before dawn, coming to rest atop the highest turret.

Almost unbidden, the memory rises again, as he retakes the place where he had it. His last clear memory of Earth - his last clear memory of anything before waking in the Statuary. The sun on the verge of rising. Elisa at his side.

You know how I feel about you, right?

How we both feel. Yes.

Good.

Without his heart in it, he takes his position for sleep - wings spread, talons on display, snarling furiously to discourage invaders.

The sun rises . . . and nothing happens.

Goliath lifts a wing to shield himself from the brightness of the artificial sun. When it becomes clear that he is NOT going to fall into a stone sleep, he jumps from the main turret, spiralling downward to the street again, where there is more shade.

He growls as he stands, looking himself over - still flesh and blood, and nothing close to happy about it.

Comments

[bonnypiperlad]

"It's..." Jamie scratches his head as he tries to explain. "There's a lot of different people here, but it's not just humans, aye? There's robots and beasties and talking raptors and..." He glances around, quickly, then lowers his voice. "I've seen those who look like the fair folk, too."

He looks back up at Goliath, sadly. He hasn't seen any other gargoyles, though. "And...ah. I've seen a lot of strange things in my time. Even before I was rescued by Stacy."

[not_the_philistine]

"I have mistaken many for Oberon's Children," Goliath agrees. "But I have not met any who claimed to be yet."

There is still one shot in the dark, he thinks, knowing that if any other gargoyles were on board, surely they would be known by now.

"How many of the human crew have you met? Would you know, if I named one, if she was on board or not?"

[bonnypiperlad]

Jamie has to think about this - it's not something he's really kept track of. "Not too many - there's lots of people I've seen in passing that I'm not sure of. But if ye told me the lass ye are thinking of, if I know her, I'd certainly...oh!"

He snaps his fingers and suddenly looks pleased. "I have a better idea. Ye need to get one of those wee bitty computer things...er, an Omnicom. Ye could try and find her or your friends through that, if ye want."

Reaching into his sporran, he pulls out a small, hand held computer and shows it to Goliath. "Usually they hand these out when new crew members first arrive, but what with the zombies..." He shrugs helplessly. "I'm sure someone can find ye one, though, if ye don't have your own yet."

[not_the_philistine]

Goliath looks confused. "The zombies?"

He has not heard about these.

[bonnypiperlad]

Jamie nods rather vigorously. "Aye, the undead that were on the ship recently. There were a bunch of us taking shelter over there..." He gestures over towards the area of the city where the Vatican is. "And then the sun went out, which was strange. Ye could smell them before ye could see them, and there were so /many/."

He shudders, just remembering. "For awhile, I didna think we were going to survive."

[not_the_philistine]

"I do not understand."

[bonnypiperlad]

"Uh..." He's momentarily at a loss for words. How do you explain the concept of zombies when you barely understand it yourself?

"You're familiar with the Sluagh." It's more a statement, then a question. If he's familiar with Oberon's children, he likely knows who they are.

"Like them, but still with their bodies intact. Well, rotting, but mostly intact. And..." He takes a breath, then says, "They could infect ye, and turn ye into one of them. There...there were a lot of our crew here, on Stacy, who were lost because of this."

[not_the_philistine]

Spirits of restless dead. He remembers, now - Brooklyn, Broadway, and Lexington, returning from some movie one evening, chattering about "zombies," dead bodies come to life to consume the flesh of the living. He thought it no more than a storyteller's nightmarish imagining.

Walking corpses, infecting the living with death. And many of the crew have already been lost.

"Elisa," he says. "Her name is Elisa Maza - do you know her?"

Was she one of the ones lost?

[bonnypiperlad]

"No," he says with regret. "I do not."

Stacy had said, though, that those who perished were not loved ones. Does that hold true for someone, though, who only had just awoken, and not known of the fighting?

"I..." He stops and falls silent, not sure what to say.

[not_the_philistine]

From the look on his face, she was very loved.

"I must know," he says, not so much desperate as stating a fact. He must know, if not where she is and if she is safe, then at least if she was one of the ones recently perished. Otherwise it will drive him mad.

[bonnypiperlad]

If Victoria had been one of those who he didn't know if they were alive or dead? Jamie thinks he may have been in much of a similar state of mind.

"Stacy said there's a list of the names that was to be made available, so it can be found. She did say that those who died were not people we knew, if...if it brings ye any comfort." He knows it probably doesn't, not right now. But he'll offer the information up anyway.

"I...here." He offers out the Omnicom to Goliath. "If ye have problems with the keyboard, it'll recognize voices."

[not_the_philistine]

He takes the device. It is much too small for his hands, and although he looks at the monitor, he sees nothing to do with lists.

"I am more accustomed to using books to find information," he says, trying to keep his voice level. Trying not to think of yet another way that Elisa might be dead. "Others of my clan are familiar with technology. I do not know how to work this device."

[bonnypiperlad]

That...is obviously something Jamie hadn't considered. "Och. I'm sorry. I didna think. Um. I could try to find it, or I could try to show ye how to work it, or..." He frowns as he tries to consider the options. Where's the Doctor when you need him?

"I can tell ye how to get to Engineering - there's a lot of verra smart people there who could show ye a lot better than I could. But if ye want me to try and find the list, I can. I just didna want to..." Put his foot into it more than he already has? "I didna want to assume that ye would want me to find something that personal for ye."

[not_the_philistine]

"The list is important." He doesn't care who sees it, he just wants to know if he's lost another . . . if the woman he loves is dead for certain or not. "I would be grateful if you helped me find it."

He says "grateful," but his tone says, politely, "now." He holds the omnicom out to Jamie. "Please."

[bonnypiperlad]

Jamie is extremely quick to take the Omnicom back and starts thumbing through the menu. He's improved since B5 showed him how to actually turn the thing on, but he's still a little slow at navigating.

However, he's also extremely conscious of the very large gargoyle who is waiting, so he goes as quick as he can. Finally, he manages to find the list, and the last names starting with 'M'.

"I dinna see her," he says, a small eternity later. "She's not on the list."

[not_the_philistine]

The relief is overwhelming. He sighs, and loses several inches in height as he untenses and settles back to a more relaxed stance.

"Thank you."

He has to bow his head and cover his face for a moment. He cannot say for certain if she is not dead, but at least she is not dead in this way.

When he looks up again, his expression has returned to his usual grimness. "I'd like to check the rest of the list," he says, holding out his hand again.

[bonnypiperlad]

He's a little relieved as well at that reaction, but Jamie is still going to promptly hand the Omnicom back. "Ye press these buttons here to move the screen up and down or tell it 'page up' or 'page down'." Either way, it should allow Goliath to scroll through the list.

[not_the_philistine]

He studies the list intently for a few moments, conscious as he scrolls (carefully) through the list that the buttons on this device were not made for talons.

"You were right. I do not recognize any of these names."

Xanatos isn't even on the list. And yes, he checked.

He hands the omnicom back, calmed again, but not unaware of the scope of the tragedy that has just happened.

"These losses . . ." There had to be thousands on that list. "Are tragedies such as these common on this ship?"

[bonnypiperlad]

"Common? No, not at all. I havena been here as long as the others, but if there had been this many losses before...there would have been something to show to those who came after, I think."

He puts the Omnicom away, and adds, "Although there have been fights in the city before that I've seen - but that was a much smaller scale than the zombie attack."