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[not_the_philistine]

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!]

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[not_the_philistine]

Goliath looked back towards the gate, considering it again.

"I am still considering opening the castle to the rest of the crew."

It was clear the idea still bothered him. Leaving his territory open for just anyone to waltz in bothered him on a deep, instinctive level, one that perhaps was not well suited to this place.

"I cannot think of a reason someone would enter for nefarious purposes. I do not care if Xanatos' things are taken, and you and Peter are well capable of protecting yourselves. Beside this, there are some who visit to maintain the grounds, or use the library, and with my sleep being what it is, I do not think it right to ask them to stay away only as it is convenient to me."

Especially not since these visitors are usually here to help him in some way, either by maintaining the grounds, or by researching a solution for the problem of his sleep.

[newyorkbynight.livejournal.com]

"I think it's a good idea. There are a lot of crew members who'd appreciate the offer, especially if they're the only person from their world to have woken up."

She couldn't begin to imagine how lonely and daunting that would feel, but she knew that Goliath had an idea.

"If they did break in, where would they go?" she pointed out. "They couldn't get far on the ship. If it happens, security will track them down and deal with them."

They'd have committed a crime and, war or not, they'd be punished accordingly. Not that it was theft that concerned her. She'd spent more than one day watching over Goliath's stone form, protecting him when he couldn't protect himself.

"Is there anyone here that we shouldn't let in?"

[not_the_philistine]

"Xanatos, if he awakens."

He . . . might have been joking. His grim smile said he was - not because he wouldn't truly like to continue to live in Castle Wyvern without sharing it with Xanatos, but because he didn't see Xanatos giving up his property that easily.

"In truth, I do not know. There was a woman who openly caused trouble, but she was murdered by a person who then was returned to sleep. If others among the crew are untrustworthy, they are wise enough to hide it."

For all that Goliath was slow to give others his trust, he was much more inclined to assume that everyone around him would, given the chance, prove themselves trustworthy. In a very real sense, Elisa was a better judge of character than he was. Yet another reason to value her presence on the ship.

[newyorkbynight.livejournal.com]

"Apart from Xanatos."

Joke or not, that was a given. Xanatos had forced the clan out of their home once before and, although he'd attempted to make amends on more than one occasion since they'd helped to save Alex, Elisa didn't trust him. He'd done too much to earn her forgiveness so easily.

"She was ..?" Elisa shook her head, hoping that the security team had either dealt with the problem at the time or made the preparations necessary to deal with it if the person woke up again. It was no good worrying about it now. "We'll just have to be careful."

She was always careful. She didn't trust easily, even when it would have made her life easier. That wasn't about to change here.

[not_the_philistine]

Speaking of trust, however - there was one group that hadn't managed to gain Goliath's good faith.

"There is one thing more. The beings responsible for this ship, the Daligig - we've met them now. There are two at least still on the ship."

He hesitated before going on, considering the troubling conversation he'd had with their alien rescuers. "When I spoke to one, she repeated the claim that they might be able to restore our worlds if this war is won. I've told no one else, because much of the crew takes comfort from this possibility, but I think they might be lying."

[newyorkbynight.livejournal.com]

"There are two of them on the ship?" Elisa exclaimed, eyes widening, "Where are they? Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"

She was ready to head off and interrogate them herself. She certainly wanted to interrogate them. But that would have been one of the first stops on their tour if it had been an option. Goliath wouldn't have kept her in the dark.

With a somewhat tired sigh, Elisa softened.

"What makes you think they're lying?"

She hadn't given much thought to the resurrection of their worlds. The here and now was complicated enough. But it was a small scrap of hope in otherwise dark days and it wouldn't be easy to let go of the idea.

[not_the_philistine]

"I don't know where to find them now."

Stacy was a very large ship.

"I asked one to explain how our world might be restored, knowing that time is immutable. She compared our Earth - our time - to a shattered statue, which might be put back together."

An explanation that almost seemed tailored to upset him.

"I did not consider the explanation sound."

[newyorkbynight.livejournal.com]

Elisa nodded. New York was a big city and she'd never allowed that to stop her hunting someone down, but she knew Manhattan like the back of her hand. The ship was organic and unpredictable. They really could be anywhere.

She winced at the careless analogy that their apparent allies had used.

"I know it doesn't make much sense to a gargoyle," she replied, carefully, "But that explanation will have been enough for a lot of other people."

Even if it was a lot to take on trust.

"Sometimes, if you want something enough, you don't stop to ask questions."

[not_the_philistine]

"I'm certain I was not the only one to ask questions."

Nobody in the crew was exactly singing the Daligig's unquestioned praises.

"I do not know what they would gain by lying to us, aside from our complicity - which they would have, even if they gave us a hopeless truth."

He remembered the battles with the ruthless Ohm, the merciless destruction of Zokez II, the invasion attempt that had come so close to threatening his sleeping clan.

"The Ohm are my foes, whether the Daligig are our allies or else, but I no longer confuse friends with ones who awaken me for their own gain."

[newyorkbynight.livejournal.com]

"Let me guess," said Elisa, who had conducted enough interviews during her time with the NYPD (and spent enough time on the ship) to work out what went next. "They all got the same sort of answers?"

"Maybe they're just telling us what we want to hear," she suggested. "Maybe they want us to have hope."

Although they'd have fought without it, it undoubtedly made them stronger.

[not_the_philistine]

"Perhaps."

Which raised other questions, if it was true - such as why the Daligig considered them better off lied to, even if the lie was for their own good.

"If I could believe it, it would give me comfort."

He set his hand on Elisa's arm, regretting that in sharing his suspicions with her, he was also telling her he believed she would never see her city again.

"I truly hope I am wrong."

For both their sakes - but for her more than his. He could adopt a new home. He had done it already, several times, and it had been a trial he had never wished on her.

[newyorkbynight.livejournal.com]

Elisa had said that they would fight this war together and she meant it. The good and the bad. She was glad that he'd shared his concerns with her, even if she didn't like what she'd heard.

"So do I," she admitted, placing a hand over his. "But I'd rather find out the truth."

If they knew the truth, they could find a way to deal with it.

"It might be my city, but it's the people that make it my home." She just wished she knew how many of her loved ones were actually sleeping in the pods. "We'll cope, whatever happens."

[not_the_philistine]

"The Daligig would have been fools not to have taken your family. They are capable, heroic people."

He'd only met the Mazas under circumstances of duress, but in those times, they had each proven their worth.

"They may not be trustworthy, but they are not fools. I know you will see them again."

He might have been reluctant to make that proclamation before, but he had comforted himself so many times thinking much the same of his own family, and Elisa's presence was all the proof he needed, for the time, to believe it completely.

'We'll cope.' How that 'we' comforted him.

As he had done many times since she'd awoken, he resisted the urge to pull her into his arms and hold her close. It was not in his usual conduct to resist displays of affection, but he had missed her so long that to act on his every urge to do so would have had her in his arms too often to count.

[newyorkbynight.livejournal.com]

"Thanks," replied Elisa, smiling softly in reply to his words of comfort, "That's what I was hoping to hear."

She believed - hoped - that it was true, but it was still good to hear it from someone else.

"I look forward to getting to see the Daligig, too," she added darkly. It was a detective's job to put together the pieces and get to the bottom of even the most complex of cases. Maybe this case needed a new pair of eyes. There was a chance - and, even if it was a slim chance, it was better than nothing - that she'd be able to find something that the others had missed.

[not_the_philistine]

"I'll help you find them."

And he'd stay with her while she questioned them. It wasn't that he was afraid for her safety around the Daligig - if they'd wanted to harm the crew, they would have done so already. He just didn't particularly want to be away from her.

Besides, if the Daligig DID change their minds and decide to hurt some of the crew members, he didn't want to be elsewhere if they decided to start with her.

[newyorkbynight.livejournal.com]

This time, it was Elisa who wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tight. She'd never been very good at resisting displays of affection either, even when the lines of their relationship had become blurred by emotions that she hadn't initially acknowledged or dared to name.

"Thank you," she said again, sincerely. For comforting her and for being there for here and for everything.

Which was something else that they still needed to talk about.

[not_the_philistine]

It was. And Goliath still wasn't sure how to bring it up. An excess of solitude had only made him more certain of his feelings, but that was a certainty he had already been confident in before waking up on the ship. And here his love came, only just from that morning he had remembered so many times -

He held her close and took comfort in the familiar warmth of her body, the softness of her hair, in her being there for him to speak to and protect in person at all.

"Much has changed in the time we have been sleeping, but this has not. I will always protect you, and I will always help you to do what needs to be done to protect our home."

Even if their home was this city, or even this strange ship, for now. Whatever else was unspoken or unclear about and between them, this would never not be so.

[newyorkbynight.livejournal.com]

"Everything was changing in New York, too," she pointed out, resting her cheek against his chest for a moment before tilting her head to look at him properly. "We were brought here before we had a chance to find out what was going to happen next."

For the clan, the city or for them. Stacy couldn't have chosen a more awkward moment if she'd tried.

She paused for a moment before speaking again, almost - but not quite - nervous.

"You know I meant everything I said that morning, right?"

[not_the_philistine]

"Yes."

There'd been a brief point in time when he hadn't been sure of her words, but those doubts had dried up so quickly in the wake of her re-awakening that he presently couldn't think why he would have ever doubted her for a minute.

"I've had a long time to wish I'd been there to find out what would happen next. For the city and the clan - and for us."

He brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear, the backs of his talons resting against her cheek.

"I know this isn't how you wanted to have this conversation." Perhaps not so soon after she'd addressed her feelings to him. Certainly not on a spaceship following the destruction of their world. "It isn't how I wanted to have it, either."

[newyorkbynight.livejournal.com]

"Good." The smile that she was gave him was warm and genuine and filled with the love that she still couldn't quite put into words. "We'll find out here. This is what happens next. I know it isn't exactly normal, but our lives have never been normal."

Even before their world had been destroyed and they found themselves fighting an intergalactic war to restore it, there had been complications. There would always be complications. The question was whether or not they let them matter.

"Normalcy is overrated."

[not_the_philistine]

"I doubt any life on this ship could be considered 'normal' anyway."

Goliath brushed her hair back again, smiling with contentment he had thought he had given up on having. Love was complicated - theirs more so than others, but they were complications he wanted to meet and overcome with her.

"There is much I cannot give you that you could still have on this ship," he reminded her, growing serious again for the moment. "And if we can return to Manhattan, we won't have the same freedoms we can have here."

Like, for example, him having rights as a sentient being, which was something he'd come to enjoy.

[newyorkbynight.livejournal.com]

She couldn't deny that there was a part of her that was still frightened of the complications, but Elisa had left the time when she'd let those fears overrule her heart behind her.

"I know. But it's you - this - that I want."

It was strange to think that it had taken the encounter with the hunters (and with Jason in particular) to help her realise that.

"If we get back to Manhattan, we'll deal with it, together."

[not_the_philistine]

This would have been the right moment for a kiss, but kissing was still not a part of Goliath's romantic vocabulary.

He still remembered the kiss she'd given him that morning, so long ago, but pleasant as the memory was, it was a human gesture. Instead, he drew her into his arms again, and the way he held her close and stroked her hair conveyed the same feeling.

Not so long ago, this would have been the point where he would have spoken his heart to her clearly, informed her that he had given up on happiness, that her return had woken him from a sleep of a different kind.

If so much of what he felt for her required great sacrifice on her part in returning those feelings, perhaps those would still have been the right things to say. If he had still been the same person who had never known the loss of a world, of a family, and had not yet known by experience that he could, that he must survive it, perhaps he would have said it anyway.

What he settled on after stroking her hair in silence, his voice soft with gratitude, was - "Just to see you again would have given me joy enough."

[newyorkbynight.livejournal.com]

When it came to romance, Elisa was more than happy to do things the gargoyle way. She wouldn't object if Goliath decided to adopt certain human customs - particularly kissing - but, for now, this was what felt right.

She leaned into his touch, then, after a moment or two, raised her own hand to mirror the gesture.

"Then I guess you're just going to have to get used to having more than that," she teased, though the look in her eyes - a promise that made it clear that she really did mean what she said - was somewhat more serious.

[not_the_philistine]

"I could do that."

He returned her seriousness with the sincerity that she knew him well enough to expect.

"There's a lot about this ship that has kept my time here tolerable." Civil rights, for example. "I do not forsee myself tiring of more reasons to be happy."

He didn't mind the idea of putting that to the test, either.

"Elisa, I -"

It might have been the right time to speak his heart plainly, or that moment might still have been a little ways off. He paused to consider this, and to give her time to field his confession if the moment was not right.