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Artificial night fell on the City, and Goliath and Bronx both awoke with their usual roars. The gargoyles bursting out of their stone skin were a familiar sound at sunset, and their roars carried over the darkening City.

Goliath dropped from his turret and glided towards the wall that surrounded the castle, landing before the gate that would open it to the rest of the crew. Elisa must have still been asleep or otherwise occupying herself in the castle, because the gate was closed. Goliath considered the gates, and the high, newly repaired wall that kept most visitors out of the castle. His instincts to keep the castle fortified against entry during his sleep were still strong, but he considered them as objectively as possible while examining the gate.

In times of conflict, this castle COULD still be used as a fortress. But if he was to open it to the crew formally, perhaps it was time to leave them open, and trust to the crew that he sought to protect.

Or perhaps that was still a step that could wait until he had met more of the crew, and trusted them a little better.

[ooc: a few players have expressed an interest in having their characters sneak into the castle to explore while Goliath is asleep during the day. If you have a character who would snoop around an old castle uninvited, feel free to tag in!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Atom didn't fully appreciate the antiques (let's face it, he had an incredibly advanced AI, but a patron of the arts he was not), but figured whoever lived here had to be a pretty cultured fella.

At the sound of the stone, however, he began looking for a place to lie low. He wasn't sure if it was an intruder or the rightful owner of this place (was that possible? Or did the ship just pick up buildings at random?), but it didn't hurt to be cautious.

There were footsteps, from more than one set of feet, in the hallway now.

Bronx was sniffing the air as if he smelled something out of the ordinary. Goliath followed the clan beast as he sought the scent, curious and wary.

Whoa, what was that? It certainly didn't look like a dog.

Atom hid behind a nearby statue. Drat; there was really nowhere to run here.

Behind it was someone who didn't look like a human, in the same ways Bronx didn't look like a dog.

Bronx growled, catching the unfamiliar scent and turning towards the statue. Goliath put his hand on Bronx's back.

"Easy." Addressing the statue, he called, "Who's there?"

Oh, well. No sense hiding now. Atom came out from behind the statue, eyeing Goliath cautiously. "Just me. Who are you?"

Bronx sniffed the air, bothered by some smell that didn't seem quite right for this situation.

Goliath looked at the seemingly young boy sternly, but spoke without anger.

"I am this castle's protector. Why are you trespassing here?"

"This is your house?" Wow, Atom didn't know anyone who lived in a castle. "Well, I was just kind of in the area, and I saw this place a couple times before, so I thought it would be cool to see what was inside. I didn't think anyone lived here, though."

Atom glanced over at Bronx. "Is that your dog?"

"He is a gargoyle, as I am. This is our clan's ancestral home."

It was difficult to be angry with a curious child out exploring, but Goliath was certain he had followed the boy's trail from the top of the castle downward, which suggested that appearances were not the best to go on when evaluating this child.

"How did you get in?" His questions were stern, but had ceased to be angry. Whether appearances were deceiving or not, the child was not showing the slightest sign of aggression.

A gargoyle? Like the kind on top of buildings? Atom peered at Goliath and Bronx. Well, they did look an awful lot like the kind of statues he'd seen in Thracia.

"Oh, I flew in." Atom raised one of his feet to reveal the rocket thrusters built into his boots. "See? It makes getting around the City a lot easier."

If Lexington were there, he would have been immediately absorbed in the technology. Goliath gave it a thorough glance, crouching to get a better view of the child's technology.

"I see."

He stood again, hooking his wings capelike around his shoulders. "It is not my custom to overlook trespassing," he said, sternly, but still without anger. "However, since we find ourselves on the same side in this war, I am prepared to allow the crew to make use of the castle's resources. In the future, you may visit when I am awake and have given you permission. Is this clear?"

"Okay," Atom said, readily enough. "Sorry about coming in, I thought this was like Grand Central."

He wasn't sure what sort of resources this castle had that anyplace else didn't (well, aside from the art), but it was only polite to apologize.

"Your apology is accepted."

The child was polite and had acted out of understandable curiosity. This trespass would not bother Goliath, and it cast a strong positive light on opening the castle to the crew.

Still, there were trespassers with ill intent to consider - perhaps not just then.

"There is a library you may use if you wish. A few of the items belong to two humans who live here - the rest I have no use for. If you use the library, have a care with the books. Some of them are old."

He knelt down and patted Bronx on the shoulder. "This is Bronx. He won't hurt you, now that he knows you're a friend."

He gestured the boy over to where Bronx was sitting calmly, the beast's expression vaguely curious now that the new person was being treated as a guest.

"A library?" Something occurred to Atom. "You mean with real books? Paper ones, I mean?" Where he'd come from, most files were stored in electronic format, where they were much more convenient... but then again, there was also no touching them.

He reached out a hand to let Bronx smell it, unsure what the correct set of steps was for patting an animal that was sort of like a dog, but sort of not. "Hi, Bronx."

Bronx sniffed Atom's hand for an extended period of time, trying to make sense of the smell.

Eventually the beast gave up and butted his head under Atom's hand, indicating a general desire for pettings. Still not all that different from a dog.

"Of course." Electronic reading was for the media lab.

Atom patted Bronx obligingly, scratching a little behind his ears.

"Neat. Most everything is electronic where I come from. Of course, really old paper books are still around, but everyone just uses the data version anyway."

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