Prologue - Enjoying the Arts

February 24th, 1993

Liam prepared the food and drink on the coffee table as Griff was putting in a VHS of one of his favourite films, T2: Judgement Day, in the VHS player connected to the large television as part of a double bill with the film Excalibur, which was one of Liam's favourite films.

It's now been over four months since Liam first met Griff and his fellow Gargoyles and it was safe to say that Griff and his fellow Gargoyles considered Liam a friend and even made him an honorary member of their clan.

Liam would always look forward to spending time at Into the Mystic, especially with Griff. The two got along so well that they were able to finish each other's sentences. Then when it came to the subject of films, they passionately talked to no end about their favourite films.

This was what led to them deciding to have a movie night per month. Of course, whenever they did this, both Leo and Una would give them their privacy and patrol London together, which in turn allowed them to have their time with each other.

And of course, tonight was movie night for the human and Gargoyle pair, this time, doing a double bill.

Beforehand, Liam bought a large amount of takeout food and large bottles of Coca Cola for them to eat while watching the double bill.

"I got you the fish and chips you asked for." Liam told Griff, unwrapping Griff's food and placing them onto a plate. He then put his food onto a plate, which was chicken nuggets and chips.

"Thanks. Nothing beats a crispy deep fried fish." Griff said as he pressed play and Liam poured Coca Cola into two glasses for him and Griff.

"I don't know about that. Chicken nuggets are gold." Liam playfully disagreed. "I also got us some cookies, prawn crackers and garlic bread."

"Excellent." Griff grinned as he joined Liam at the sofa and sprinkled a bit of salt over his fish and chips.

The standard commercials were playing as the two started digging into their food, moaning in bliss from how tasty it was among the crunching from the battered fish and nuggets.

They both had ketchup on their plates when the movie properly started and took sips of their drinks.

Even though they've both seen this film individually several times before, there was an energy in the room that made the experience of watching the film all the more enjoyable.

When they reached the part where the film comes to a breather with the characters simply resting, Liam reached for the last cookie and Griff reached for the same one, resulting in them touching hands and they both looked at each other wide eyed and blushing.

"You take it." They both said at the same time.

"I'm technically the guest here, you take it." Liam tried to reason with Griff, who shook his head.

"But you like cookies more than me, plus you being the guest warrants you being the one to have it." Griff reasoned back.

Seeing that both of them are stubborn in this regard, Liam grabbed the cookie and split it in half, revealing the gooey inside and handed one half to Griff.

"There, this should settle it." He told the Gargoyle, who took his half and he grinned gratefully before they both ate their halves, enjoying the melting and gooey treat.

Eventually, they reached the ending where the T-800 Terminator kills himself and makes a thumbs up. It left both Liam and Griff shedding a couple of tears, very much affected by this moment.

"Such a good film." Griff said with a sigh of awe.

"Yeah, even though I personally prefer the first film, that was a truly brilliant sequel." Liam replied, patting Griff's leg before he got up and grabbed his bag, which he pulled his VHS of Excalibur.

"I just hope you're ready for this. It spans from King Arthur's birth to when he's being taken to Avalon." Liam said as he pulled out the VHS of T2: Judgement Day and inserted Excalibur.

"That's a lot to cover. I hope this film is able to tell it well." Griff replied as Liam sat back down next to him.

Over two hours and twenty minutes later, with all their food and drink wiped clean, Liam looked over at Griff, whose beak was open and his eyes were wide open, utterly speechless.

"What do you think?" Liam asked him with a knowing grin. Griff then suddenly grabbed Liam and stood, spinning him around before embracing him, his wings wrapped around the human, who himself was left speechless, loving the embrace much more than he thought he would.

"That was truly the best film I have ever seen!" Griff replied to Liam's question, letting him go and placing his feet on the floor. "I cannot believe I hadn't seen it until now! So perfectly crafted. And I was hooked from the very beginning."

"Yeah, it had that effect on me when I first saw it." Liam said, patting Griff's arm.

"And the visuals… wow, they truly are beautiful." Griff further complimented the film.

"Well, it is highly regarded as the best film version of the Arthurian legend. And it came about because of a failed attempt to adapt The Lord of the Rings." Liam replied.

"In that case, I'm glad, otherwise we wouldn't have this masterpiece." Griff said dramatically, even kneeling in front of the television, like it was some kind of holy object.

"Alright, you drama queen, no need to go that far." Liam chuckled, pulling Griff up to his feet. "Come on, let's clean up before Leo and Una come back. We both know how Una feels if we leave a mess."

"No need to remind me." Griff shuddered, remembering when the two made a mess right when Una showed up. Let's just say that they didn't want to face her wrath again.


April 5th, 1993

Liam walked up to Into the Mystic with a brown paper bag full of his mother's homemade cupcakes as a treat for the Gargoyle trio.

He sang his mother's praises about her homemade treats to the Gargoyles and they wanted to try some out, which was why he was bringing some tonight. And he was intrigued with tonight, simply because both he and Griff were about to have the whole night to themselves talking going over their favourite music.

Upon entering the shop, he was greeted with Leo behind the counter, wearing robes.

"Hi, Leo." He greeted the lion Gargoyle, who smiled upon seeing the near twenty year old.

"Hello, Liam. Are those your mother's homemade treats in that bag?" He asked, pointing at the paper bag.

"Yep. I hope you're ready because they are truly incredible." Liam said, pulling out a cupcake with some vanilla icing, handing it to Leo.

He sniffed it before he pulled it out of the cupcake liner and took his first bite, which caused his eyes to widen before he moaned.

"You weren't kidding. Your mother's a great cook." Leo complimented Liam's mother before he devoured the rest of the cupcake.

"Trust me, the cupcakes are only a tease for my mum's cooking." Liam replied as he walked around behind the counter and made his way upstairs, where he greeted both Una and Griff, who were talking about something going on in their clan.

"Coco's been struggling to keep all the younger clan members in place." Una told Griff. Liam knew who she was talking about. Coco was short for Constance, a female boar Gargoyle who acts as second in command at Knight's Spur, while Una, who acts as the leader of the clan, runs Into the Mystic with Leo and Griff.

"Well, they are at that stage in their life where they're rebelling and figuring out their place in life, even the humans go through this." Griff replied.

"You didn't." Una pointed out.

"Maybe, but I was special. I was born under special circumstances." Griff reminded her.

"What special circumstances?" Liam made his presence known, making the two Gargoyles gasp and jump.

"Oh, Liam, didn't notice you." Griff chuckled.

"That happens when you're deep in conversation." Liam retorted as he placed the paper bag on the coffee table and sat with him on the sofa. "So, what were these special circumstances?"

"As you know, us Gargoyles mate and carry eggs every twenty years near the Autumn Equinox in years that end with the number seven and lay the eggs a year later, which then hatch ten years later." Una said, reminding Liam of the education he got from the trio shortly after first meeting them.

"Yeah." Liam nodded, signalling the unicorn Gargoyle to carry on.

"Well, what makes Griff unique is that he was actually born in 1952. No one could explain it, but his mother fell into a heat and mated with her husband in 1941, laying his egg a year later. We've tried finding answers but we've found nothing." Una continued, sounding absolutely baffled as Leo joined them, his robes having been taken off.

"Do you think it has anything to do with Oberon or his children?" Liam asked, recollecting the big bombshell he learned that Oberon, Titania and Puck of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream were indeed real beings and that all the various beings of folklore, mythology and fairy tales were also real, being dubbed Oberon's Children.

"Possibly, but we may never know since we haven't been able to encounter any of them." Leo told him as he pulled Una up to her feet.

"Oh, do either of you want to have a cupcake? My mum made them herself." Liam said, holding out the bag to Una and Griff, who looked eager before they looked in the bag and each pulled out a cupcake. Una pulled out one with strawberry icing and Griff had one with chocolate icing.

The two tried their cupcakes and both closed their eyes and moaned, just like Leo did.

"You must thank your mother for me, I've never had a cupcake this good before in my life." Una grinned before she took a few more bites and walked with Leo to go out on patrol, since it was a regular thing for the mated pair to go out on patrol whenever Liam came around. He always wondered why they did that, but he didn't bring it up since he'd had the chance to spend time with Griff on their own.

"The chocolate icing is so good. Did your mother use proper chocolate?" Griff asked as he licked his fingers clean.

"Yep, she just melts it and spreads it on top of the cupcakes." Liam replied, taking out a cupcake for himself which had vanilla icing. "She also said that if you three liked them, she'll happily bake other treats for you, of course, making sure they're acceptable for Una since she's a unicorn Gargoyle."

"How considerate of her." Griff said, wiping his fingers with a handkerchief.

"So, now that it's just us two, I think we should just dive right into our favourite music." Liam then said, shifting the conversation to why Liam came over tonight.

"Why don't I start with my favourite band and go from there?" Griff replied, walking over to the vinyl player and opened up a box that was full of vinyls of various artists and bands. From where Liam sat, Griff covered the box and the vinyls he was looking through, so he couldn't see what he was looking for.

Shortly, after combing through the collection, Griff smirked as he pulled out a vinyl from its sleeve and put on the vinyl player.

At first, there was silence, but then when the first notes of the first song played, Liam's eyes widened in joy as it was the song "One Vision" by Queen.

"NO WAY!" Liam shouted in joy. "I LOVE QUEEN!"

"SO DO I!" Griff shouted back, so ecstatic to see that Liam was just as much of a Queen fan as he was. "They're my favourite band!"

"Same here!" Liam replied. "And this is my favourite album as well!"

The two then proceeded to sing along to the various songs, the only exception being "Who Wants to Live Forever", which Liam requested they not sing along, and they listened in silence, the human shedding tears.

"Are you alright?" Griff asked, sounding very concerned for Liam, even holding Liam's hand.

"I'm fine. No matter how many times I hear that song, I always cry." Liam assured him he was alright and wiped his tears away.

After a quick break for Liam to carry on, they went onto the next song, which was called "Gimme the Prize", which Liam told Griff was his favourite Queen song. When the song ended, Griff had some questions.

"So what was the deal with those speaking parts of the song?" He asked, confused, which led to Liam gasping in shock.

"You haven't seen Highlander?" He questioned, looking and sounding like Griff did something scandalous.

"What's Highlander?" Griff asked, truly baffled.

"It's a film about an immortal Scotsman who has to face another immortal called the Kurgan. Most of the songs on this album were made to be used in the film. It's one of my absolute favourite films."

"Okay, that sounds awesome." Griff admitted.

"And I'm gonna have you watch it tomorrow night. Trust me, you won't be disappointed." Liam told him with a grin.

The two then proceeded to take turns going over their favourite artists and bands, finding they both also liked Michael Jackson and Led Zeppelin.


The following night….

The two sat with a couple of pizzas as they started watching Highlander, Liam keeping his promise to Griff that he had to watch it.

Roughly two hours later, with finished pizzas, Liam looked at Griff, who released a huge sigh.

"That was such an awesome film. The lore and worldbuilding is great and I now understand why you cried to that one song." The Gargoyle said. When "Who Wants to Live Forever" played in the film where the main character shares his life with his wife, who aged while he didn't, both Liam and Griff ended up crying so much that they both ended up hugging each other.

"And there are sequels, but they are nothing but absolute trash, the second film especially is such an insult to this film." Liam pointed out.

"That's such a shame. And considering how it ended, this should have just been a standalone film." Griff replied with a disappointed sigh.

"Regardless, I'm glad to have introduced you to an awesome film." Liam said, nudging Griff's shoulder with his own before he rested his head on Griff's shoulder. "Whoever desires immortality are fools, if you ask me. This film alone proves the downsides."

"Exactly. Thankfully, even though there are ways, they come at a cost, which would make anyone not desire immortality." Griff agreed with him, leaning his head against Liam's, the two now sitting in silence comfortably.


I forgot to mention this, Liam's appearance is based on Kian Egan from the boy band Westlife.