randomplaces | Elisa-garg's reality. Castle Wyvern. Stepping into time.

Manhattan baked, attention spans and tempers both shortened by the summer heat and humidity. In the east a thunderstorm brewed, to the west the sun stood near the horizon. On the ramparts of the castle in the clouds all was silent, all was still.

Then something opened in the air above, and a figure darted out and settled on the edge of the battlement, golden curls blowing in the breeze as bright butterfly wings folded against the back of a tall young woman with weary blue eyes and a strong-boned but lovely face.

"Solid ground," she murmured to the huge furry cat in her arms as the feathery antennae on her forehead waved and took in the scents all around them. "Only a real world could smell this bad."

The cat looked up at her and rumbled a purr, then hopped out of her arms and went to sniff around the bases of the statues that stood nearby before affectionately rubbing his cheek against them as he usually only did to claim friends that he liked.

Sadie frowned and looked at them, wondering why each one smelled as though one non-human person had been leaning on them. Or something like that. Each one had a living scent clinging to them that was unique to itself.

Curious, she stood a little unsteadily and tugged down on the worn flannel shirt that with a pair of boxer shorts comprised her outfit and walked over to investigate just as the sun dipped below the horizon.

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There were fifteen statues all together, seemingly oddly grouped about the ramparts. A giant of a male stood next to a female that, upon closer examination, was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. Close to them a female stood posed next to a husky male. A bearded male stood posed with a sword drawn. A beaked male stood near a horned female, along with two child-sized statues. Another male stood near a female with butterflyish wings and curved horns. There was also a smallish male with web-like wings, a female who resembled a humanoid unicorn with feathered wings, and two dog-like creatures.

When the sun set, however, things began to change. There was a strange, crackling sound, and cracks began to appear in the stone. Then, one by one, with a mighty roar, each broke through the last vestiges of their stone skin, revealing the Gargoyle within. Goliath. Elisa. Angela. Broadway. Hudson. Brooklyn, Katana, and their children Nashville and Tachi. Hudson. Othello and Desdemona. Lexington. Nina. Bronx. Fu-Dog.

"Another night, another dollar," the orange-ish female, the only one dressed 'normally' said, then paused, suddenly.

They were not alone. With the instinct that only a parent possesses, Katana and Brooklyn stepped in front of their children, while the others readied themselves.

The largest of them, a purple male, Goliath, eyed the new arrival carefully. "You will explain yourself."

She'd sprung into space at the first movement and was now hovering a few feet away from the castle wall, her eyes wide with amazement as Pug sat and looked at her smugly.

"I... I'm really sorry. I didn't realize I was in somebody's territory." Her words held traces of New York and North Central Canada. "I...."

-Have no idea how to explain without sounding like a nut,- she realized grimly.

The others stood at the ready, waiting for Goliath's word on the matter.

"It is... all right," Goliath said, after a moment. "You merely took us by surprise. We are unaccustomed to strangers being present when we awaken."

Elisa nodded. "Looks like we might have jumped the gun a little. But how'd you get here? Where're you from?"

Her expression was a little torn. "Well... Upstate New York, by Westchester... kinda."

The breeze swirled from her toward the gargoyles, bringing the scent of honey and alien places with it.

"And...." She bowed her head and hid her antennae in her hair, but then perked and pointed them toward the dark-haired woman. "You... you ben on other worlds."

The scent was faint, but she'd caught the molecules.

"Perceptive," Elisa said, guardedly.

"I gotta good sense of smell." She landed cautiously on the parapet again and wobbled before hunkering down. "But at least now I know I gotta chance of answerin' yer questions without ya thinkin' I'm a fruitcake."

One hand scrubbed wearily at her face as she kept track of her unexpected hosts with her antennae. "I got here through some kinda portal. Dunno how it worked, or why it happened."

"Noooraawww?" The cat looked up and asked Hudson. "Maow?"

Elisa noted that this newcomer smelled slightly of honey. Given her wings, this was not necessarily a surprise.

"Doesn't surprise me much," she said. "Plenty of people stumbling into the Nexus, but I've never heard of someone just being tossed into another universe..."

"Perhaps we should continue this discussion inside," Goliath suggested. "Are you hungry? We usually take a meal in at this time."

Hudson titled his head at the cat, but bent down and petted it's head. "Well, hello there, lad."

Sadie's wings quivered, intensifying the honey smell as she folded them into an incredibly compact bundle against her back. "Wasn't the Nexus. I was in the Timestream. I think it's puked me out before, 'cause I know I didn' start out with Pug there." She lifted her head, then stood so as to be closer to eye to eye with the big guy. "You have honey?"

The big cat purred like distant thunder, rubbing against the hand with considerable strength. Then he stopped and looked at Goliath appealingly. "Meeeee?"

"He wants ta know if he can eat too," said Sadie.

A noticable look passes between Brooklyn and Katana. Bouncing around the timestream is familiar territory for the two of them.

"We used to have to do that," Tachi, the small, green, beaked child--about the size of a human five year old--said. "But we live here now."

"I am certain we have honey," Goliath said. "And there should be plenty of cat food as well."

"Yeah?" Sadie looked down at the little girl with a weary grin. "Yer dad got ta come home, eh?"

Then she lifted her eyes to Goliath again. "Don't think he's ever had cat food. Probably won't stop 'im from suckin' it down like the hog he is."

Pug looked up at her for a moment, then jerked his plumy tail in offended dignity and started trying to show Hudson that he was his new favorite person. Sadie just laughed at him.

"Uh-huh!" Tachi giggled.

Hudson chuckled at the cat's efforts and scooped him up to save his old bones from having to be so bent, continuing to pet him while he did so.

"Let's go in then," Elisa suggested. "We're burning nighttime."

Sadie nodded, feeling a little sick as she thought to herself that she'd never get to go home. "Oh. I'm Sadie Creed. That's Pug."

Introductions of the Clan were made as they headed inside where, true to form on these short summer nights, food was already waiting for them. As always, it was a large selection, including lots of breakfast foods and other types. Several jars of honey, among other condiments, were likewise on the table.

Elisa's own cat, Cagney, was waiting for them and gave her a look, along with a "Meoooow" that seemed to say 'what took you so long?'

"I'll get some food for the cats," Elisa said. "The rest of you go ahead and dig in."

Elisa-garg's reality. Castle Wyvern. Stepping into time.

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