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summer_jackelYip!
You will find, if you so desire, posted in the commentary to this post, a preview of what will be the next 'Clan Ties' story, the long promised 'These Things You Ask.'
Now, I've known for a long time what needs to happen in this story and the basic point I'm trying to get to with it. What hasn't been as clear is, how to get there. I'm pretty certain that this is no longer a problem. Caveat, though. Anyone who has read 'Changing Season' and/or 'Coming to Ground' knows that these *&^%$#@ things aren't short, and, while 'Things' isn't novel-length yet, it hasn't promised to remain a short story, either. Couple that with the three X-men fics I'm actively writing, two originals and another Gargoyles one, oh and my new job, and the remainder of this tale may be a few months coming. But here's a taste.
Oh, and though the bit here is Elisa POV, the rest of the story won't be; this one will focus largely on the London Clan and Demona.
These Things You Ask, 'Gargoyles', G (this bit):
You will find, if you so desire, posted in the commentary to this post, a preview of what will be the next 'Clan Ties' story, the long promised 'These Things You Ask.'
Now, I've known for a long time what needs to happen in this story and the basic point I'm trying to get to with it. What hasn't been as clear is, how to get there. I'm pretty certain that this is no longer a problem. Caveat, though. Anyone who has read 'Changing Season' and/or 'Coming to Ground' knows that these *&^%$#@ things aren't short, and, while 'Things' isn't novel-length yet, it hasn't promised to remain a short story, either. Couple that with the three X-men fics I'm actively writing, two originals and another Gargoyles one, oh and my new job, and the remainder of this tale may be a few months coming. But here's a taste.
Oh, and though the bit here is Elisa POV, the rest of the story won't be; this one will focus largely on the London Clan and Demona.
These Things You Ask, 'Gargoyles', G (this bit):
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Prologue: On the Road, 1995
Date: 2004-09-20 08:04 am (UTC)It still bothered her that last night their current hosts had held Angela and herself in chains, for no reason that she could determine at the time. Elisa Maza was not naturally a forgiving woman. But she had known for a long time that things were rarely as they appeared on the surface, especially when emotions were as intense as this, and Una and Leo had never actually done them any harm. Honest misunderstanding? Maybe so. She remembered Goliath’s sorrow and stunning fury when they’d all thought that Hudson had been killed. A gargoyle’s attachments ran deep, and they were loyal to their clans.
Elisa Maza loved them.
So maybe she would try and forgive this bunch and start with a clean slate. It was a huge relief to find other gargoyles still alive in the world, and just for the fact of their existence, she was willing to give them benefit of the doubt. Elisa leaned back in her antique chair, looked appreciatively at the truly prodigious array of food before her on the table, and realized that for one of the few times since she’d gotten in that damned boat, she was relaxed and happy.
The London gargoyles, she reflected, didn’t look a whole lot like her clan (when had she started thinking of them as hers, anyway?) but they had the dignity, power and unexpected gentleness she had come to associate with their kind. Or at least, they had once Goliath had brought Griff back. Elisa still didn’t completely understand what had happened---she supposed that she would grill him on it later, when they were back on the skiff---but for the time being, she was content just to enjoy herself.
She’d wanted to leave immediately, but it had been close to dawn by the time the excitement Griff’s return had caused had died down, and Elisa could tell how eager Goliath was to spend a little more time speaking with these, members of the only gargoyle clan, as far as they knew, which had survived into the modern era. Elisa had to admit that she was a little curious herself. After the initial fidgeting, she’d been willing to spend another night in London, comfortable in the knowledge that her companions were roosted safely in the house, able to sleep the day deeply and at peace because of it, in an actual bed.
Which she absolutely was not wishing she could share with Goliath. Nope, not her. The thought had never even crossed her mind.
Right, Maza, she sighed. In what universe?
no subject
Date: 2004-09-20 08:05 am (UTC)Elisa smiled at him, enjoying his beautiful feathered wings, his uncanny resemblance to the mythical griffin, and his easygoing charm. “I’ve gotta admit,” she told him, glancing over at Goliath and Angela, “I’ve never sat to a table where the main course was a roast boar.” She determined that she wouldn’t be nervous about this, even though the thing still had most of its fur and----as she had learned was the preference of her inhuman friends---was to her tastes woefully undercooked.
Leo inclined his head to her, so regal with his leonine visage and silver-streaked mane, grave and polite. His clear, yellow gaze was still somber, very formal, as if he sought somehow to make up for last night’s...discourtesy. Una had become effusive, as if Elisa was an old friend, though there was still a thread of distance to her. She had given an honest apology when things had settled out. Griff was...well, young. A little impetuous and a little loud.
“It’s something of a tradition. A holiday feast, as it were.” Leo’s voice was not as low as Goliath’s, a soft tenor, quiet with his Londoner’s cadenced accent. “This is a great moment in our clan. We had thought Griff lost forever.”
“Yes,” breathed Una, the look in her eyes only for Griff and...almost hungry, almost desperate in its intensity. Elisa had the sudden uncomfortable urge to give the two of them privacy. Last night, the unicorn-faced gargoyle had been cold and bitter, vindictive, hopeless. There had been an uncanny resemblance to Demona, although her use of magic tended to exacerbate that comparison. Tonight, the middle-aged gargoyle was soft-eyed, effusive, almost misty.
So she loved Griff; that didn’t take a detective to figure out. Elisa was thrilled for them. Nice when the story had a happy ending.
“If you’re going to put out a spread like this, mates,” exclaimed Griff, his eyes all for the food, “I should skip town more often.” Grinning at Elisa, he slashed off a piece of the meat, tossed it in the air, snapped it up in his beak, and swallowed in one smooth gulp. “We aren’t much to stand on ceremony, even in holiday. Dig in!”
no subject
Date: 2004-09-20 08:06 am (UTC)Griff had not seen the flash of pain that his light banter had brought to Una’s eyes, nor Leo slipping one notch deeper into his elegant distance. But Elisa had seen it, and as Goliath’s sable gaze slid down to touch her own, she knew he had seen it as well.
She sat between her two traveling companions, Bronx curled contentedly at her back chewing on a meaty bone. Despite all of the time she’d been spending cooped on a tiny boat with them, she was not tired of their company at all. Especially not Goliath’s. As she reached for some steamed carrots, her elbow inadvertently brushed the spur at his, and her heart flipped a little in the confusing way it sometimes did.
She let herself examine the clan leader from lowered eyes. He was so beautiful, so unreal. Elisa loved the scent of him, rain and stone, spice and leather, and she resisted the sudden embarrassing urge to lean against him and rub her cheek against his skin like a cat. When she was tired enough, sometimes, she let her head fall against the impressive breadth of that chest, let the rustle of the heavy wing cover her like a blanket. Once, on the boat, she had woken to find herself cradled carefully in those arms and wings, the end of his tail wrapped around her ankle, her cheek pillowed on his slow and steady heartbeat.
She’d gotten up hastily, avoiding his eyes. She’d thanked him and apologized crisply, then gone over to where Angela perched at the prow of the skiff to ask about navigation. But that moment remained one of her most cherished memories.
Now she watched him set neatly into the roast, slice it cleanly with the point of his talon. He is not human, a little voice called from the back of her mind, but the voice had, at some point when she hadn’ t been paying attention, changed from the alarmed klaxon it had once been; it was matter-of-fact now, just a reminder.
Goliath removed a slice of the boar, a reasonably cooked part from the most well done edge, and placed it almost tenderly on the fine, antique china of her plate. She swallowed, and her eyes locked for a moment in his, and did not know how to interpret what she saw in them.
“Thanks,” she murmured, as he served her stewed potatoes, and tore her eyes away.
Meat from his talons, Elisa thought with a little sigh. She started on her plate and glanced over to Angela in time to catch the quick disappearance of a tiny, knowing grin.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-20 08:07 am (UTC)“So tell me, how’s the rest of the clan? Buck and Roe, Corvie, Raptor, Pard, those blokes? I have so much to catch up with!” He looked a little dazed, as if this had just occurred to him.
Leo and Una exchanged quick, dark looks. Leo’s muzzle was first to turn down, and Una raised her graceful head, her eyes glittering suspiciously. “Griff,” she said at last, “It’s been...it’s been hard. London was bombed several times in the war after you disappeared, you know. The Eagle Alley house...it was destroyed, not long after you...went off to fight. The clan who were living there...Griff, they all died.”
Griff’s beak dropped. “What?” he hissed. “You mean...”
“Smashed by day,” Leo rumbled bitterly. “They hadn’t a chance.”
Goliath lowered his eyes, his mouth twisting in sudden sorrow. Angela’s expression was a little shocked. But not as much as Griff.
His beak dropped open, and his wings snapped back, rustling with distress. “All...I mean...all ten of them?”
“Eleven,” sighed Leo. “Little Draco.”
Griff swallowed with pain. “Then who...who’s left?” he asked weakly.
“Corvie died a few years ago...he never did leave Ireland,” sighed Leo. “Equus and Leonessa are in Cornwall, as are the hatchlings who came after you, Cavallus and Doe. Loupa, Doe’s rookery sister, lives on the moors with the Black Pack. Leonid, our youngest, is with her. And that is the sum of us.”
“Our clan is down to...eight?” Griff’s voice was so disbelieving, so young.
“Nine, now,” added Una hopefully. “We have you again.”
“The clan’s not been down to eight since the middle ages!” Denial, shock, more than a little anger colored his words.
“And those were all adults.” Leo’s tone was almost sharp, and there was something in it that Elisa did not quite understand, almost an accusation. “We were only five after the bombing. But it’s good to know that you took care to remember some of the history of this clan, after all.”
The tiny feathers of Griff’s cheeks puffed slightly, and his jaw tightened. “I always cared about the history of this clan. I just never agreed with you that it meant we have to hide like mice while the Nazis attacked our city and protectorate!” He glanced back to his plate, and then apologetically to Una and Goliath. “Sorry, mate, didn’t mean to blow up. I suppose it’s all a moot point, though, as we won the thing. All a bit dated.” Again his expression was suddenly lost, dazed, so young. Una laid her talons carefully on his shoulder, left them there.
“I, too, am sorry,” nodded Leo, shaking his silver-threaded mane ruefully, formality again stilling his lion’s face. “You are brave, Griff,” he rumbled again, settling his feathered wings more heavily around his shoulders. “You are brave, and quite possibly right in the end. But it is over now.”
“Yes.” Griff sighed, and ate a little more. Elisa wondered what he was thinking. He looked troubled. Of course, she’d be confused as hell in his position, but she could not read his mood as well as she would have liked. She just didn’t know him well enough.
“Four hatchlings,” Griff said slowly, and then looked suddenly at Una with an expression of hurt surprise.
“Yes,” said Una simply, her eyes deep and sad.
Griff’s spine straightened and his wings snapped back. His sharp beak gaped slightly open and he turned to face Leo, white light kindling suddenly in his eyes.
The lion-faced gargoyle faced the challenge with an expression of sullen resignation, the skin tightening around his muzzle and crinkling just above his tender nose leather. Leo leaned back a little in his chair, an almost subsonic growl issuing quietly from his chest. His eyes flared white to answer his brothers’ in warning.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-20 08:08 am (UTC)Elisa looked questioningly between her companions. Goliath’s expression was watchful, a little grave, but his body was not tense, and there was none of the raw, coiled readiness that filled him when he was ready to face an enemy. Angela’s elegant face had gone alert, a mask of polite concern, but she too was calm.
“There were four of us left, besides Corvie, who was old, Griff.” Leo’s soft explanation cut the suddenly charged silence, a sad and quiet rumble. The luminous, angry white of his eyes faded again to tired gold. “And you were dead. Dead, for fifty years, my brother.”
Leo’s level stare met Griff’s, locked across the table. After a long moment, the young Londoner looked away. The older male’s eyes dropped to his plate, and Elisa heard the quiet clinking of talons on china as Leo began to eat again.
“It’s been hard,” Una said hoarsely.
Angela resettled her wing about her shoulder, and if Goliath did not move entirely away from Elisa, he too resumed his meal. The detective wondered what had just happened, and she was reminded again, forcefully, that no matter how comfortable she was with them, how dear they were, her friends were not human. Their ways were not her own, and they had been quick to protect the human in their midst from---whatever might have just been about to happen.
But how hard, really, was it to understand? Elisa glanced carefully from Una, elegant in middle age, her long velvet dress, her sad eyes, to Griff, who watched the one who loved her with an expression of pain and dawning understanding.
This kid...he seemed younger than the trio. Chewing thoughtfully on her potatoes, Elisa was suddenly hit, as she sometimes was, with the utter impossibility that had taken over her life. Gargoyles from the middle ages, magically frozen in stone until now? Gargoyles from 1945, time traveling?
But it was real. Griff was here, and, knowing them or not, Elisa knew that it would not be easy for his clan to take him back, no matter how much they loved him. It was real, and the consequences of Griff’s return were very real, no matter how fanciful that return itself seemed.
Una looked to Griff, heartsick, stunned, relieved, shocked. Griff’s hawk eyes met hers, equally disbelieving, confused, lost. Just beginning to realize the enormity of what had happened to him.
He had left his home to fight the Nazis in World War Two and come home...a world later. Elisa thought of Avalon, of her home, of the wild and uncontrollable magic that had stolen and claimed her, and was suddenly shot through with a deep, irrational fear.
She moved a little closer to Goliath, then. The big gargoyle glanced down to her, his sable eyes deep, mirroring her concern. His talon briefly touched her slim, human fingers, and she felt the tip of his tail coil around her ankle.
Elisa swallowed, a rush of relief and comfort leaving her almost shaky. But she knew that her fear was not gone, that it would lay coiled and sick like a dragon in her belly until they were home, safe, all of them.
Griff finished his dinner and watched the gargoyle he loved. Elisa could see the struggle in his brave and guileless eyes as he counted the years in a face that had been an adolescent’s, that was now a clan leader’s, tried to find there the female he’d known. Tried to reconcile them. Tried to count all the sidestepped years that she had lived.
So young.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-20 08:08 am (UTC)“Of course,” Angela answered immediately. “There is some of it I don’t think I’ve even heard.”
“It’s a long one,” laughed Elisa, “but yeah, grand’s one word.” She looked almost shyly up at Goliath. “Where do we start?”
“Can you tell us,” asked Leo slowly, surprising Elisa, for he still looked so uncomfortable, staring down into his plate, “have you ever heard of a gargoyle called Demona?”
Elisa’s eyes went wide. “What do you know about Demona?”
“You’ve seen Demona?” exclaimed Griff at the same time.
Una shrugged, and pain flashed quickly through her eyes. “We met her once, briefly, a long time ago.”
Elisa exchanged another quick, worried look with Goliath, who cleared his throat slightly. “I suppose,” he began, “that Demona is one place to begin.”
He settled his wings comfortably about his shoulders and began to tell the story.
And of course your comments are deeply welcome.
Date: 2004-09-20 08:09 am (UTC)Re: And of course your comments are deeply welcome.
Date: 2004-09-20 08:53 am (UTC)Re: And of course your comments are deeply welcome.
Date: 2004-09-20 02:10 pm (UTC)The Una/Demona 'Interlude in the Parlor' is the only AU in the 'Clan Ties' universe thus far...so in terms of my "actual" continuity, they weren't intimate...in that way, anyhow.
And yes, Leo and Demona do get together, as we see in 'Congruence' and hear about in 'Yours for the Asking'. So that cat's out of the bag. (sigh. Non temporal plot bunnies. Sad. Wish I could write in order. Would make the current story a lot more suspenseful.)
But those two happen in 2006 and a whole lot later, respectively. As of this story, we're in the late 90's, and the last Leo & company saw of Demona was the disasterous meeting ca 1950-something discussed in 'And Ask Me Not.'
So we know Leo's got the thing for Demona, and we know that eventually they end up together. This story, among other things, addresses "how?"
Glad you like the story, and thanks for reading!
Re: And of course your comments are deeply welcome.
Date: 2004-09-23 10:23 am (UTC)Well, you know me, personally I prefer to publish my stories in segments, since like yours they're generally long.
However, I would be more than willing to wait for the whole thing in one swoop. It IS very good so far, and there's certainly something to be said for being able to spend an hour plowing through a complete fic.
Sincerely, Allaine
ah! ... happy *^_^*
Date: 2004-09-20 09:57 am (UTC)As for who fell for Demona... I always liked the idea it was both, or each in their respective Jackel fic universe... The Una/Demona fic still sends me into spasms of purrsome delight. So dark and sensual and delicious...
*purrrrsssssomme!!!*
meyah!
Mooncat
Re: ah! ... happy *^_^*
Date: 2004-09-20 02:32 pm (UTC)aw, thanks, always brightens my day to know that these things make ya happy.
As for more? Well, yes, eventually. Before or after we see more of Storm and/or Emma and Sage? Couldn't tell you, but right now my focus is on Clan London.
Una/Demona remains AU just because I can't see it making sense given where the plot went in 'And Ask me Not.' I mean, if they were lovers, would (SPOILERS) Una have attempted to magically snare Demona into her clan to provide a mate for Leo?
Hmm...well, possibly she would have. She'd have had even more of an incentive then. But I think that Demona would have stayed with the clan if, in the 50's, she'd decided to be with either Una or Leo. (or both. heh. Too many AU possibilities with these people.)
And if she'd stayed, where would be all of my trauma and angst? Although...she could have ditched them *both*. And if she *had* stayed...with either of them...well, there are interesting possibilities there, too.
Heck. As if 'Clan Ties' didn't have enough loose ends hanging *without* the AUs. Well, only one thing's for certain...in the "main" version of the Clan Ties universe, of which this story is part, there will be plenty of Demona angst.