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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!]

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Howard's totally sensible option - running like hell - is unfortunately blocked by the weird dino-bat-dog-thing growling at him like the world's ugliest Rottweiler.

And Howard's pretty sure he can't take this thing with a pocketknife.

So he takes his third option, and curls up into a corner, making himself as small and non-threatening as possible while screaming bloody murder for help.

It vaguely occurs to him that if it really wanted him dead, it would have gone in for the kill. But he figures he's blown his cover by shrieking anyway, and panic comes very, very naturally to him.

It takes a lot of noise to break through that screeching, but Goliath is pretty good at making himself heard.

"Bronx, down." Goliath's deep voice booms through the noise, and the gargoyle beast instantly sits, well-trained and silent. Now Howard has not just a dino-bat-dog-thing staring at him, but an eight-foot tall dino-bat-person-thing standing over him, looking down at him with a grim expression that might be disapproval, but also might just be a physical consequence of having very heavy brow ridges.

"He won't hurt you. What are you doing here?"

Sure, Goliath was just thinking about opening the castle up to the public, but it's a little odd that all this public should be sneaking in on the day he's considering that very allowance.

"Uh." Goliath, being, well, Goliath-sized, does very little to calm Howard's nerves any, but apparently it's enough to bring Howard from shrieking terror to just regular dumb panic. Which, unfortunately, does not give him any bright ideas.

So instead he just holds out his raggedy backpack like a peace offering, complete with a frightened, idiotic grin. "Delivering a housewarming gift?"

Edited 2011-10-25 01:16 (UTC)

Goliath considers the backpack

"I have lived in this castle all the years of my youth since it was built. You are somewhat late for . . . housewarming."

That's a new term. Unaware or uncaring exactly how deep the boy's panic runs, Goliath offers him a talon to hoist himself up with, ignoring the offering.

"You are trespassing. How did you get in?"

"I must've missed that memo," Howard says, getting up on his own. Now that it doesn't look like Goliath's going to hurt him, he's a bit more at ease, but he's never been comfortable with touching strangers and this is no exception. It isn't personal, Goliath.

"One of the doors down in back. I had to use shampoo but..." He shrugs and cringes a little. "I was curious?"

Goliath's assumption is that the refusal has to do with his not being human, but no matter. If the boy wants to get up himself, or cower on the ground, he may do as he wishes.

"I will ask you to show me where and how."

Howard's about to shoot back that a lockpick never reveals his secrets, but Goliath is about three feet taller than him and three times his weight, so he figures arguing with the guy whose house he broke into might fall under Really Dumb Idea. Instead he just starts leading the way.

"Sure. It's um...downstairs." He gets the feeling he'll have to skip-jog to keep up with Goliath's strides.

Goliath keeps his strides slow specifically so that he does not lose the human boy along the way.

"If you came to use the library, you need not mislead me regarding that purpose."

They pass antique upon antique that on Earth would have garnered a small fortune each on the black market.

"If you came to make use of these items for the good of the ship, I am prepared to permit that as well. I do not regard ill intentions towards myself or my territory with the same charity. What is your true purpose here?"

Bronx keeps step just behind them, following calmly along behind Goliath and the small human intruder.

Howard doesn't even seem to notice the antiques. They aren't what interest him. His endeavors into theft have been, since the FAYZ, for much more basic things: food stores, lightbulbs, batteries, fire extinguishers, soap, empty bottles and ink. Not that he'd even consider taking anything now.

His hands, curled up and stuffed into his jacket pockets, are shaking. The implied threat isn't lost on him. "I was just curious. Promise. I swear I didn't take anything. We didn't really have property rights where I'm from."

And the latter half of that statement is true, at least. The very limited government in Perdido paid people like Howard to break into buildings and search them for useful items, and he does sometimes forget how egregious a crime it is to people who aren't from the FAYZ.

"The things here do not matter to me."

Well, no, he has to rethink that now that Elisa and Peter are living here.

"There are two humans who live here who may not want to be parted from their personal items, but the rest I will gladly give if it can benefit the crew. I maintain this castle as a stronghold in case of emergency, not a place to store valuables.""

It's not his stuff, after all, and it's not doing anyone any good gathering dust in the castle. Goliath considers the boy thoughtfully. "Is thieving your profession?"

He doesn't sound judgmental as he asks the question. More . . . considerate.

Howard figures it will probably do no good to insist again that he didn't take anything, especially since Goliath no longer seems especially mad or forbidding. That doesn't mean he isn't dangerous, or that Howard's not about to get into some sort of trouble (he's not sure if Stacy will slap people with warnings for trespassing, but he'd rather not find out as his own example). But he does relax a fraction, just enough to be honest and straightforward.

"Not thieving. Salvage. I go through trash and abandoned buildings and pick up the useful stuff, fix it, rebuild it, remake it, give raw material to Engineering and the Forge and all so they can use it. I'm real good at the rebuilding part." He brings one trembling hand up to his mouth and chews his fingernails. "And I'm a medic."

"But you know how to gain entry into a place that should be secured against your entrance, correct? If you give me your insight as to better securing my territory, you may salvage whatever you need from the castle's supplies."

Why not? He doesn't need anything.

"Only respect Elisa and Peter's belongings, and leave the library intact."

Howard's shoulders cave a little with relief, but he doesn't thank Goliath for not punishing him, since that would be admitting he was up to no good. "Sounds like a good deal to me. I mean, I can only show you what someone with no superpowers, my size, can get into, so if someone's going to shoot fireballs at your gate I can't do anything about that, but I can show you where you need to seriously invest in better locks."

After a second, he adds, "and I have some of those better locks I salvaged from another house, if you want those too."

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