OSCAR WINNERS MEME [3/92] : ↳ The Shape Of Water (2017) dir. Guillermo del Toro
He does not know what I lack or how I am incomplete. He sees me for what I am, as I am.
I more or less got the hang of drawing Matt so here’s these two having a chat over coffee at lunch
Gargoyles-Badass Women per epi: Elisa Maza-The Edge 2/3
“Look Matt, you need to know something about me. I don’t care about UFOs, Loch Ness, or secret societies. Believe me, the worlds strange enough as it is.”
Super Rough Draft
Goliath-Centric
Basically, writing stuff about Goliath's parents and his wonderful home life. And generational trauma.
: - )
ANGST!
Gargoyles did not claim parentage to their children. Hatchlings were children of the clan, raised up and cared for by the village. It was considered selfish to do otherwise.
"We are a community, we need to operate like one. Just as a hive cannot be sustained by one bee. Just as the nest of an ant cannot be ruled only by a sole queen, everyone has their part to play, everyone has a role, a service to do. It is the way of our people."
An elder once said to him.
Then did that mean his mother was selfish?
Lia.
His mother. She had claimed him for her own against every warning she should not. But, she did not care and his clan did not much care for her. His mother was an outsider, but literally and metaphorically. Hudson had found her, half starving and bloodied by a river bank and took pity of her. She said she had hailed from a clan faraway where the land was barren and mountainous, but she did not speak of it more, she had no desire to return, she had ran away and never looked back.
And while his clan was gracious enough to allow her refuge they never truly accepted her. And his mother never really made an effort to build any bridges between them and her. She was a loner and kept to herself.
His clan was content to leave her and not pay her any mind. Until she claimed his egg for her own.
The elders were not happy about it and voiced their discontent.
"Those are not our ways"
"They may be yours, but they are not mine. I abide by no one's rules, but my own"
The elders of Clan Wyvern kicked up a fuss, but it is not as though they did much about it. Or could do anything about it, given that the clan leader of that time-Samson-did not care and was his father, not that he had much part in raising him.
His younger self never understood why. His mother and father never became a truly mated pair which also struck a nerve with the elders, but they were too afraid of Samson to voice it openly to his face. They had no ceremony and made no real fan fair about it. It often made him wonder if his parents ever liked each other. They never argued, disagreements sometimes, but it never escalated. His mother never had anything bad to say about his father nor did he ever hear his father bad mouth his mother.
They were an odd pair-silent and distant.
There were very few pleasant memories he had of his own father. Some of them vivid, others hazy, his father was a man of very little words and an even shorter temper. He was not very well liked among their clan. He was temperamental, violent almost to the point of being unhinged, and seemingly uncaring about anything else that wasn't killing. And not all that friendly.
There was no one in the clan that he considered friend, Goliath doubted he ever truly trusted anyone. The closest thing to that, probably was Hudson.
And his mother-
Like he said before-their relationship was always a mystery to him.
"I do not think I'm capable of love"
Goliath looked up, meekly, his father was so tall, even while sitting he had to crank his all the way back to catch a glimpse of his face "I do not understand others"
…..
"I hardly understand myself"
"I'm not kind. I only know war, blood-violence is my only expression. I'm not meant to be gentle. Or anything else of that matter" it's the most he's ever heard him speak.
"I cannot not be what you wish me to be"
Goliath ducked his head not knowing what to say "I was never meant to be a father"
Goliath didn't know what he meant to do by telling himself such. He had been so young then, and his father was more an entity of fear than a person to him. He never smiled, never laughed, he was never much of anything. When he wasn't brutalizing his enemies, he'd be alone, carving wood until his hands bled. And while his mother was distant, he can recall the small, quiet smiles she'd give him. Or sometimes she let out a bout of boisterous laughter though those were rare.
Most of the time she was sad. And when she wasn't abrasive towards others, she was stagnant, her face vacant except for the emotions he was far too young to understand.
Let's be real here, Hudson would hate the idea of flightless birds. He's like - what do you mean they can't fly, they've got wings don't they?
Elisa: Penguins aren't built for flight, their bodies aren't meant for it.
Hudson: But, they're birds, lass, they're supposed to fly.
Elisa: Not all birds.
Like it wouldn't compute to Hudson. Just like - how. Why?
Elisa: Evolution.
Hudson: The what now?
Super Rough Draft of Goliath and Xanatos being grandparents together.
From bitter enemies to doting grandparents. Never in Goliath's wildest nightmares did he think he and Xanatos would share a grandchild, but here they are now.
Fate often had a twisted sense of humor.
She was beautiful. But, oh so fragile and so small. Goliath couldn't keep his eyes off her, his precious newborn granddaughter. Her wings fluttered in her sleep with her tail firmly grasped in her hands as she curled into herself. Surrounded by blankets and warmth. Kept safe in her basin, protected from the outside world.
He wanted to hold her in his arms, but refused as he did not wish to wake her.
"Still asleep?" Whatever blissful peace he relished in soon crumbled to shambles, Xanatos had returned with his treasured cup of coffee.
"Yes,"
"A beauty isn't she?" he smiled "She'll be a magnificent heir to my kingdom one day" Goliath frowned at the implication.
The thought of his little granddaughter growing up to be a charismatic, manipulative questionably ethical billionaire filled him with existential dread. Young Alexander may have turned out for the better in most cases. Most cases.
But, he was still Xanatos' son and operated in his own questionable, manipulative ways. And when he wasn't that, he was Goliath's own personal headache. Nonetheless, his daughter loved Young Alexander so, thus condemning him. Never in Goliath's wildest nightmares did he think he and Xanatos would share a grandchild, but here they are.
Tiwa.
She inherited Alex and Fox's bright red hair and Aodh and Elisa's dark skin. A strange combination of Human, Gargoyle and fae all wrapped into a singular bundle of joy.
To Goliath she was perfect from head to toe, only a few weeks old and he was already in love with her. Couldn't imagine now what life would be without her now that she's here.
And he and Xanatos were both her grandfathers by blood. It was a bizarre notion, bizarre as it was horrifying in retrospect. He thinks back to the time where he desired nothing more than to hurl his pathetic body from on top the castle's cornices.
Goliath did not believe he could forgive a man like him. Even now, he wouldn't call what he felt towards him forgiveness in a sense, but perhaps more than an ally, and something in between that.
While Xanatos had worked hard to make amends for his wrong doings, never did an apology leave his lips. Goliath did not know if he even felt an ounce of remorse over his actions. Never did he make any indication if that was the case.
Xanatos was an incredibly difficult person to understand. Let alone read.
"What's the matter, Goliath?" He quirks a brow "cat caught your tongue?"
"No." He says, tail swishing "I'm just not paying you any mind."
"Oh?"
"Your childish attempts to get under my skin will not work"
"Not trying to."
"Right."
"I just want what's best for her"
"And that is what exactly? Her to grow up to be an exact replica of yourself?"
"No." He takes another sip from his cup "I want her to be better than me" the answer takes him back for a moment. Goliath is not sure if that statement was intended to have a double edged meaning.
"You don't believe me?"
"You are many things Xanatos, being straightforward is not one of them" the man chuckles softly wary of waking Tiwa. She's only but stretched out her tiny arms and legs other than that she hadn't stirred from her slumber since being put to bed an hour ago.
Soft snores fill the silence "do you still hate me?"
"Hate isn't a word I would use"
"So you do?"
"Xanatos you broke the spell that me and my clan were cursed under intending to use us, even after I told you about what happened to the rest of my people. You lied, manipulated, even used my own mate against me, you tried to kill what remained of my family and after that took our home, the only thing we had left. Add the plethora of harm you did afterwards."
More quiet followed "I didn't just hate you, I detested your very existence"
"I have to ask why let your daughter be with my son? After all the bad blood between us, I know I gave you, your home back, but that did little warrant any warmth towards me"
Goliath sighed "I wasn't the least bit happy about my daughter and Young Alexander's friendship in the beginning. I understood that they were both children, I understood that the boy was far too young to pose much harm let alone consciously do so. But it still filled me with alarm, I feared for her, I feared that perhaps you would or was trying to use your son to gain some semblance of trust again. To use and manipulate use through the bond of our children. I didn't put it past you. You've done worse.
[]
"What did I tell you about acting like jackasses in front of the baby?" Aodh was uncloth as ever, the added unbalanced hormones didn't help her already severe demeanor.
"Mh, forgive me daughter"
"We were just having a polite disagreement"
"You mean jackassery" she corrected "do I have to tell Auntie Fox and mom that you two are misbehaving again?"
Xanatos self-serving smirk fell right off his face and went silent along with Goliath "yeah, didn't think so."
Okay, okay, one of my Golisa babies ocs ends up getting a furby from their McDonald's meal and Goliath ends up trying to throw it away, because he could've sworn the thing's eyes moved last night.
"Mommy! Daddy's throwing my furby away!"
"Goliath, what the hell!?"
"I'm sorry, Elisa, it must be done. It's evil"
“Yes, love is a matter of gifts thrown in the fire, for nothing”
— Marina Tsvetaeva, Poem of the End