A light in the dark (and a car in the hangar) [Open]

[not_the_philistine]

He is restless, wanting one minute not to leave his castle unguarded, the next certain of some distant conflict that must require his help. The Nightmare King is strong, after all, and only getting stronger. Even Goliath is having nightmares now, flickering visions of warped horror that he half-remembers upon waking. They could get worse. They probably will.

He ends up wandering, fitfully patrolling the ship for signs of crewmates caught in waking dreams, all the while guarding himself against one. Unease gnaws at him, has been gnawing at him for days now. It's becoming as normal to him as breathing, this edgy, hateful boiling discomfort, worse for all that he cannot tell where his natural discomfort for his new setting ends and the Nightmare King's influence begins.

So he wanders, and in his wandering finds himself in the hangar, policing his thoughts for ones of defeat (worse yet: thoughts of submission), when a bright splash of red and the silhouette of a tailfin catches his eye from between spaceships and mechanized suits of armor.

It is a car. A familiar car.

He is inspecting it even as he approaches. The license plate number is correct. There - a scrape from Lexington's overcurious talon. A nick in the door handle from when he once pulled it open for her. Little details, adding up to a sudden, restful quiet settling over his mind.

The Daligig would not have gone through the trouble of saving him only to overlook the rest of his city entirely. She is strong. She is capable. She is the equal of any human here, and they would have been fools to look her over. They would have been fools to have brought him here to be alone.

This much he is certain of now - the Daligig are not fools.

Carefully, respectful of the pride Elisa takes in her car, he spreads his palm over the hood of the vehicle, ensuring its reality. For the first time since his awakening in the Statuary, Goliath does not have to force himself to smile.

Comments

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

"Eee."

A low, somber chirp. Shaking his head at Billy, the oddity flat out turns, crawls up the Human like a tree and wraps his arms carefully around his neck.

"Bee noh do tha-t."

Trust. Absolute and abject trust. It still shocks the beastie that he can still do that, let alone with a Human. But, it's there and there's not a way in Hell he could ignore it. Wouldn't want to anyway.
His ears then twitch as his head turns toward the Gargoyle's voice. Fleetingly, he thinks back to his stone specimens...

"Rrrr-enne lis-sen."

[morphitudinous]

Renne always has to be the one to comfort him by pointing out the obvious, doesn't he? Chuckling with an oddly somber note to it, he reaches up and rests his hands on Renne's back. "I never want to," he whispers.

Turning back to Goliath, he nods seriously. "I'm paying attention."

[not_the_philistine]

"There is a human, David Xanatos, who last owned this castle. Should he arrive here, legally, he will still consider it his, I have no doubt, and he is not to be trusted."

He considers for a moment, breathing in and out deeply to clear his head.

"The gargoyle who ambushed us. Her name is Demona. It was she who betrayed the humans of Castle Wyvern in the 10th century of Scotland to Viking invaders, and lead to the deaths of most of our people."

It is a sore subject. He sighs.

"She had human assistance. And the death of our clan was not her intention. But she has survived through sorcery for a thousand years, at least, and would wipe humanity from the face of the Earth as she wished to remove them from Wyvern Castle in the era of our shared youth." He lowers his head. "She was once a member of my clan." And that is all he has to say about that, for now. "If you should meet her in dreaming or otherwise, you must not fight her. Even I cannot best her in individual combat when I cannot simply realize her away."

The moral of this story? No race has a monopoly on evil. And if you see Demona, run.

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

One more nuzzle against Billy's neck. Then he finds himself crawling down and toward the Gargoyle with a resolute gait.
The oddity isn't squeamish about crawling up him too -- he just knows to do so with extreme care and go up the front via a leg. Once up about shoulder level?

Goliath receives two things.

First, a very Renneish embrace with a nuzzle. Second, a whispered oath that, while it's not out of earshot, the Human here might recognise it. And to that particular Human, Renne's skin flashes a thin streak of emerald green that fades into a distinct blue Renne has quietly come to call "Billy" blue.

"Eee. Rrr-enne wahn-t be loy-ahl. Rrrr-enne gi-ve loy-ahl, Guy-iff too. Li-ke gi-ve to Bee."

[morphitudinous]

"Understood. I'll be on the lookout for Mr. Xanatos and avoid Demona. I...wow. I'm sorry."

Billy's in that 'loss for words' stage of dealing with complicated interpersonal problems, so he looks up at Goliath and hopes the understanding is readable on his face. Then, he's further silenced when Renne advances on their friend and flashes those particular colors that he'd come to associate with their friendship. Is Renne going to...hmm.

Smiling knowingly at the pair, he waits.