11.08.98; 21:35; Castle Wyvern, some floors:
Asrial walked slowly through the floors of her home, sensing that it was indeed not the best atmosphere this night. To be honest, the atmosphere during the invasion of the Vikings had been better.
And it was an invasion, even when just carried out by one gargoyle.
She passed the great hall, seeing some clan members sitting around, talking, playing games... waiting. Even the gargbeasts lay around unhappy.
Asrial moved on, concentrating on her current problem. It wasn't just the fact that she had promised Goliath to go with someone to her meeting, but as leader he had given order to the whole clan that they should all leave the castle in pairs at least.
A pair means two, she thought, but who would come with me?
The gargess looked ahead, seeing two hatchlings chasing each other and passing her, without truly noticing neither her nor the other adult clan members on the floor.
"Sorry," she heard a female voice saying, "maybe another night."
"Okay," a depressed male voice replied, "another night."
When Asrial looked up, she discovered Thersities ending his talk with Desdemona who turned around and left in another direction, leaving her brother behind.
"What was that about?" Asrial asked her brother who had leaned at the wall.
Thersities sighed.
"Oh nothing, just the end of my love-life." he explained frustrated.
On the unbelieving look he got from his sister, he continued.
"I wanted to visit Darlene and say hello." Thersities revealed. "But finding someone to accompany me is harder than escaping one of our teacher's trainings lessons ever was."
Asrial nodded, as she knew that he had problems not because that most of the clan was occupied, but that the home of their renegade sister was a place most of the clan didn't want to go for a visit by free will.
To be honest, it wasn't her favorite place either, but...
"I could come with you." Asrial offered to her brother.
"That would be great." Thersities said, moving closer to her.
"If you would come with me first," she added.
"Where to?" Thersities wanted to know.
11.08.98; 22:12; Somewhere about Brooklyn:
"And you promise that it won't be long?" Thersities asked his sister... again.
"I told you yes!" Asrial replied, slightly stressed. "Now please be quiet, I have to concentrate on finding the house."
The gargess concentrated back on the streets and blocks below her. This would be much easier if she had kept a better eye on the streets when she came from here last week.
At least she could glide to here, something she hadn't thought to be possible when she had first told Goliath about whom she had chosen as a companion... but in the end he gave in.
He really cares for Darlene, Asrial thought, taking a short look at her following brother, else he wouldn't take a step into the courtyard by the danger that Lucifia represents.
She sighed, studying the houses and finally discovered what she had searched for.
"There!" she exclaimed, aiming with one claw on the house below while beginning to descend.
"Finally." Thersities noted, landing beside her. "I thought we were ready to leave New York."
Asrial didn't comment on this, but looked around in the direction of the windows, partly broken and covered by old pages from newspapers.
"Looks abandoned here." Thersities continued. "More like one of these creepy caves back in Wyvern."
Before Asrial could comment this, one of the doors opened.
"It should." Thomas told them, coming out of the building. "Not everyone can tell that someone lives here."
Asrial smiled gently, extending a claw that Thomas took, this time without hesitation.
"It's great that you had time." she told him and added, showing to her brother. "This is my rookery brother, Thersities."
Thomas shook the gargoyle's claw as easily like he had his sisters, and smiled.
"What brings me this honor?" he asked.
"We're making another visit tonight." Asrial explained and then stopped, looking into the human's eyes, knowing she had no reason to lie to him. "And our leader has ordered it."
"Oh." Thomas replied, sounding slightly disappointed.
"It isn't because of you." Asrial said. "The leader is simply worried about us and there is another... danger, so we are only allowed to leave the castle in couples."
Thomas nodded and judging from his former statements, Asrial guessed he thought that a human group was threatening them. She was going to tell him that this wasn't true when Thomas gave them a smile.
"Why don't we go in?" he offered with a hand extended into the direction of the entrance.
Asrial nodded and went with him, while Thersities hesitated a second and then followed them, hoping that this wouldn't take too long.
When Asrial walked through the door, she noticed that this was indeed not the entrance to the house, but just hid the true entrance, a massive open steel door.
For one moment she asked herself if this was a trap, but then she caught a view in the room and overcame herself.
Stepping in, she had to admit that what she saw was magnificent. She hadn't directly entered the room, but the beginning of an open iron spiral staircase, allowing the view about one large room, illuminated by a modern looking chandelier.
The room looked to be all in one.
Asrial could see a couch, serving as a bed, and in one corner she noticed a sink unit beside a cooker inclusive a microwave. Some book shelves stood a bit away of what was seemingly the workroom, consisting out of two PC monitors and three PC boxes of which one was half deconstructed while the other two seemed linked.
"Wow." Asrial exclaimed, still standing at the banister and staring down.
"You like it?" Thomas asked, his voice sounding more than a bit shy.
"It's great!" Asrial answered, giving him a smile, which made Thomas look slightly embarrassed.
"Looks like your own work room, sister." Thersities, who had come behind them, noticed.
Asrial thought that this might be correct, but just on the first look. For one thing, there lay some empty pizza bags, and some bags of Chinese food around on various tables. In the sink, were some empty dishes and the floor seemed as if it hadn't been cleaned for at least a year.
There were similarities, except the fact that she didn't live in her working room, showing in the part of the room, spreading around his computers. There seemed to be incomplete constructions too, but far less than she had lying around in her room.
The constructions themselves didn't seem abandoned like most of hers did, but indeed seemed near their conclusion, even when Asrial couldn't say on the first look what their purpose was.
"Let's go down." Thomas told his guests after he had left them time to study the room.
Asrial and Thersities nodded, following him down the stairs.
"I know it is a bit disorderly," he explained. "I'm not really used to having guests."
"It's okay," Asrial said, walking over an empty pizza bag. "My room in the castle is much worse."
Thomas nodded, but Asrial wasn't quite sure if he believed this or just thought it was an empty phrase.
Maybe if I show him my room? Asrial thought, but then rejected it. The clan wouldn't allow this... at least not yet.
Meanwhile, they had reached the part of the room serving as a workplace and Asrial noticed a poster about one of the monitors, showing the Pit-logo of a gargoyle claw and a human hand shaking each other.
"Here I earn my money." Thomas revealed, extending his arms. "At least the largest part of it."
"Nice," Asrial noticed while looking around. The machines weren't as good as what Xanatos offered her, but impressive nevertheless. "Do you earn your money by selling these?"
Thomas shook his head, even when it seemed a bit hesitating for Asrial.
"No, at least not yet." he explained. "They are mostly a hobby..."
He took up one of his inventions, which seemed like a glove on which he had planted a small laser. The laser was linked with some sort of chip, which in return had a cable hanging loose on its end.
Thomas fixed this cable, now on a PC monitor that he activated, and then pulled the glove on his right hand.
He activated the laser, which began to shine and ducked the cup in front of it in a blue light. Much to Asrial's surprise, an image of the part of the buck that the laser had shone over, appeared on the monitor and became more clearer when Thomas moved the glove, letting the laser touch more and more of the cup while going over and behind it.
When Thomas pushed a button on the glove, the laser disappeared. Asrial didn't notice this since she was staring on the monitor where a 3-dimensional model of the original cup had appeared, being without colors, but still clear.
Thomas pushed another button of his glove and held it, while moving his glove and so let the virtual cup move around in the same way.
"I finished the hard disc and the energy cell to make it mobile yesterday," he explained. "I even thought of installing a little camera to show some colors, but the extra need of energy would restrict its operation time too much."
Asrial nodded.
"How much data can this one save?" she wanted to know.
"It could save this room." Thomas explained proudly. "At least the largest part of it, but the energy supply is still critical and..."
Thersities looked at the human and his sister, not even understanding of the things they were talking about.
Gigabytes? Ram? Functional system?
Knowing very well that he was forgotten, he rose from the chair he had sat down on, and looked around.
I hope I will get to Darlene before the sun rises. The gargoyle hoped and slowly moved into the directions of the bookshelves.
"This is great." Asrial concluded.
"But it wasn't my idea." Thomas revealed. "I learned that Nightstone is testing a machine of this sort, so I decided to try it myself."
He turned around, activating the PC and then turned back to her while the PC turned up.
"But mainly I write programs." Thomas said, offering Asrial a chair beside his own. "Either programs I have made special for the buyer, or programs I offer on my website."
Asrial, who had listened interested, sat down on the chair; most of her clan would be surprised at how long she could be so focused on someone.
"So you are an independent programmer," she noticed.
Thomas nodded, while entering a password as the main-desktop appeared, having the picture of a gargoyle, flying in front of the moon, as a background picture.
But this was just random for Asrial, since a look in Thomas's eyes showed her that there seemed to something bothering him.
"What is it?" she asked.
Thomas sighed.
"See, when I told you that I wasn't a thief, then it wasn't correct," he explained and Asrial stared on him.
"What?" she asked unbelieving, standing up from her chair.
Have I truly been so wrong with him? Asrial asked herself, remembering Lex's story about the Pack.
"I wasn't going to steal anything." he defended himself, even if he sounded weak. "I just should manipulate the MINER robot you studied first."
Asrial stared on him, in her shock not registering the fact that he had been there the whole time without her noticing it.
"Why?" she asked, her voice being less loud, but much more disappointed than before.
"Such robots will cost many miners their work and will just make some CEO's richer," he explained "So when labor union came to me and offered me money for this, I agreed."
"And this is what you do?" Asrial asked, feeling somehow disgusted by the idea that this man might be a simple thief.
"No," he answered dejected. "Mostly I crack codes or write programs to let my client protect their systems before other hackers."
Asrial hesitated a second, taking a quick look to Thersities who looked down on a half eaten pizza lying on a desk, seemingly not hearing anything.
"You know my clan fights against such crimes," she told him.
Thomas nodded.
"I know, but I had to tell you." he looked up to her eyes. "I like you."
Asrial looked in his mild blue eyes and decided to give him a second chance. Sure, her clan wouldn't like this, but he had told the truth when he hadn't had to.
"If I shall visit you again," the gargess began. "I have to know that you don't stand on the other side of the law."
Thomas nodded.
"I will just sell defense-programs from now on," he promised eagerly, "as I promise to choose my clients by higher... standards."
Asrial slowly sat back on the chair.
"Thank you for telling me this." she told him, giving him a warm smile. "I knew this was hard."
Thomas replied, while he tried to smile even so, but it was weaker and much more insecure, as if he didn't know if this gargess had truly forgiven him.
Thersities meanwhile had turned to the bookshelves, studying them. The books were not his style, consisting mainly on books about PC's and topic related books. Just some were about endangered species and three about gargoyles, written by humans who had no idea about the gargoyle's true history and so were merely restricted by repeating old, and mostly wrong, legends about his race.
Maybe I can ask him to let me watch TV?
While Thersities thought, he noticed something hidden under a black cloth.
Looks like a box, he thought, what is he hiding there?
After a little fight with himself, the curiosity got the best of the gargoyle and he looked around, noticing less surprising that his sister and Thomas were still talking to each other, not even thinking on him.
Carefully he approached the covered box with his face until his beak nearly touched the cloth, then he lifted it a bit.... and a monster jumped onto his face.
"Ahhh." he screamed, jumping backwards, stumbling over a table, knocking some pizza-boxes and finally falling on the couch.
Feeling paralyzed, Thersities just stared on the monster. Luckily there had been glass between him and it, but still the monster looked at him through the box, its upper parts rose up threatening, showing it large teeth.
"Brother?" Asrial called to him worriedly. "What happened?!"
Thersities pointed on the monster living in the glass box between Thomas's books.
"..." He tried unsuccessfully to speak.
"Oh this." Thomas noticed with a smile, stepping closer to the terrarium and opening it, letting the spider slowly crawl onto his hand. "This is Terry, my bird-spider."
He approached the frightened gargoyle, his hand extended to give Thersities a better look on the spider on it, resulting in that the gargoyle sank more in the couch.
"She is tame." Thomas explained. "And even if not, her poison isn't strong enough to harm humans... or gargoyles."
Thersities didn't respond, but stared on the spider until Asrial sighed.
"He has a bit of a phobia in regards of spiders." she explained while Thomas placed the spider back in her terrarium.
"I don't have a phobia." Thersities defended himself while he slowly got some more color on his beak. "I just don't like spiders.... their long hairy arms, their eyes..."
The gargoyle shuddered and stopped his explanation. Asrial meanwhile laid a hand on his shoulder, smiling softly, understanding, even when she didn't share her brother's fears.
"Well," Thomas began, taking up some pizza boxes lying on the floor. "What about something to eat? I have some orange juice in the refrigerator and I could order some pizzas or stuff."
Asrial looked at her brother, who didn't look as if he would be very hungry now and she herself had eaten before.
"The juice will be enough." she explained. "We ate back at the castle."
Thomas nodded and went into the part of the room, which served as kitchen, while Asrial sat beside Thersities.
A good start the clever sister thought ironically.
12.08.98; 01:23; air about Thomas's house:
When Asrial jumped in the air, turning around one last time to wave her claws to say goodbye to Thomas, Thersities groaned.
It's okay to spent time with this human... but three hours???
Asrial approached him, a wide spread grin on her face.
"This was great!" she noticed, flying beside him.
"Yeah?" he asked in return, taking a look over his shoulder and noticing that Thomas was still looking after them.
Asrial stayed silent for some minutes, seemingly concentrating on the ground below her, maybe counting the cars.
"When I and Thomas sat at the PC," she began, not looking to him, "did you hear about what he talked?"
Thersities shrugged his shoulders.
"Oh, you mean the part where he talked about that he is a thief, a criminal hacker and a saboteur?" he asked. "Mhhh... no?"
Asrial winced.
"Could you please not mention this before the leader?" she asked him. "I mean, I will tell him... later, but now he has other worries and doesn't need to think about this too."
"Okay, okay..." Thersities replied. "But can we now glide to my date tonight?"
"Thank you." Asrial replied, gliding closer to him and giving her rookery brother a kiss on his beak, which let his cheeks become slightly red.