Reflectorium
This circular chamber is near the center of the castle, with no apparent openings to the outside. The curved wall is ringed with standing mirrors, each one separated from the other by a foot-wide gap. The gaps themselves are filled with alcoves holding lit candles. A heavy chandelier hangs from the high, smoke-obscured ceiling as well, adding another hundred candles worth of illumination to the room. The light is uniform enough to wash out any shadows, and the back of the single door is also a mirror, so that the ring remains unbroken when it's closed.

"Thank you for again taking time out of your day to spend it with me," Alptraum tells the crimson-eyed woman who walks beside him. There is no shyness about his feelings for her, given he has interlaced his chitinous fingers of his right hand with her left. "I wanted to spend today learning about each other and possibly teaching you some new things to do with your shadow. In teaching you, I might learn more about myself as well." He then leans over and very lightly nips her neck, adding, "And I even promise to behave, even if you are the most beautiful woman alive. Kaira promises to behave too, don't you?"

"Do I have to?" comes the draconic voice from Alptraum's wrist. Rosalind seems charmed as usual. "I was beginning to wonder, when you asked me to come only shadow-clad," she notes with a grin.

"Don't worry, I intend to be only shadow clad as well. I need the practice. I just get the enjoyment of undressing before you," Alptraum adds playfully as he leads her into the room then closes the door.

Rosalind laughs at that. "I need to have chairs put in here, so I can relax and enjoy the show then," she comments.

Alptraum releases her hand and steps away from her. Tilting his head to look at her with a sly smile, he starts to slowly undress, starting with his shirt. Each tie is pulled loose as he asks, "I've been meaning to ask you about a few things and what abilities you have. Do you mind sharing it with me?"

"What?" the Countess asks, a bit distracted. "Oh, yes… of course."

Alptraum draws his shirt off, black fur rippling in its wake and the stark contrast of the star burst on his chest striking. "I remember telling you I dealt with some Gallisian soldiers you had cursed. What I was wondering was where that ability came from? Did Melusine grant you that?" he asks as  he playfully flicks his shirt to the side.

"Oh, you mean the curse?" Rosalind asks. "That was me. I also inherited the link to the land, making me its witch. That power, at least, I have better control of. We don't have other witches in Draco County, it's just me. All of the land's spirit is mine to command, if I try hard enough."

"Ah. So what does Melusine grant you? Is it primarily long life?" Alptraum asks as he slides his hands down and now undoes his belt. With a playful shimmy of his hips to the side, his pants fall to his feet.

Rose actually claps at this performance, and then explains, "She… strengthens me, yes. Physically. And I can channel some of her power, which gives me the cloak. It's saved me a few times now. I can call on Melusine's ability to warp flesh too, although only to turn people into hogs or Rughrats."

Alptraum wiggles the fingers of his right hand, nothing, "Can't remove this. I hope you don't mind?" Still grinning, he kicks his pants to the side. "So, is the land okay with a monster courting you? I'm pretty certain I classify more monster now than anything," he asks teasingly.

"And the link grants me a sort of… aura, or presence," Rose adds, and then grins. "I'm pretty monstrous myself, by all counts, you know. Casting darkness, levying curses, turning men into livestock… a little skin-condition hardly makes you a monster now."

"No, but this does," Alptraum comments with a knowing grin. As Rosalind watches, Alptraum's entire body begins to shift. Waist and flesh draws in, becoming more gaunt … while fur seems to run and reshape into chitinous plating with barbs at every joint. "A little trick I learned to do with my shadow," the now chitin-wraith rasps as he somehow manages a disturbing grin.

Rosalind lets out a squeak of alarm, but covers for it quickly. "That… is impressive. I did some research after hearing of Tulani's spirit-transformation in your battle with the dark dragon." She steps forward to tentatively feel one of the barbs. "Only the best spirit mages or sorcerers can manage such things."

To Rosalind's fingers, it feels solid and real. "It is a mix of my shadow cloak and my natural and Barsunala spirit," Alptraum explains as he holds still to let her explode. "Would you like to see if you can do similar? Our unions are different. Mine is deep and very much a part of me, but the shadow is not near the power of Melusine. Yours may not be as deep, but is much more powerful. I want to see if we can learn abilities from each other."

"I hadn't thought of trying it before," Rose admits. "There have been times when my cloak acted on it its own; collapsing into a solid chunk to deflect assassins' arrows. I never thought of combining it with a conjured spirit though."

"You can't ken, can you?" Alptraum asks as he lets the chitinous form melt slowly away, replaced with a loosely fitting shadow cloak. Apparently, he is trying to practice with less skin-tight forms.

"I've heard of it, from Melusine, but I was never able to do it," Rose says, moving her hand to chuck Alptraum lightly under the chin. "It is very intimate isn't it?"

"Extremely," Alptraum answers and taps the scar on his chest. "It's a shadow dragon natural ability. And one I inherited from the one that fused with me. Explaining simply … it's a way to know someone physically completely. It feels like … being licked inside out."

"Actually, many of the fey have kenning abilities," Kaira suddenly pipes up, just to remind everyone she's there. "But those are mostly restricted to inanimate things. Only the Shadow Dragons and some others can ken living beings."

"I should ken you some day," Alptraum remarks to Kaira.

"I'll need a body first for that," the dragon points out.

"I thought you liked sharing mine," Alptraum teases.

"Sharing?" Rose asks, curious.

"Well, Kaira is linked to the knife, gauntlet, and me. It's sort of like sharing," Alptraum explains. "There are other things she can do with me and overlays, but … that's another topic." Smiling, Alptraum reaches out and brushes his shadow against hers, causing a small surge of light where they touch. "Want to see if you could overlay shape like I did?" he asks.

"Hmm, I can try," Rosalind says, sounding uncertain. "I can't just conjure up a spirit body like you do though. I don't think I'd have trouble using an existing one, however, and maybe wrapping the shadow around it for control… " she muses.

"Like Kaira?" Alptraum offers with an amused grin.

"What?" Kaira pipes up.

"Mind if Rosalind wears you?" Alptraum suggests.

"Hmm, she manifests as a full, solid spirit doesn't she?" Rose asks, looking at the orb on Alptraum's wrist.

"Just me, as I am?" the dragon asks.

"Well, we need an existing spirit for her to work with," Alptraum explains. "And I don't think I can loan her mine."

"So… sexy version of me, or does it matter?" Kaira asks. "You're gonna tweak me anyway, aren't you?"

"Doesn't matter. Rosalind is going to reshape you anyway if she can," Alptraum explains and grins. "I'll probably tweak both of you… "

It takes a moment, and then Kaira has climbed out of Alptraum's gauntlet. Uncharacteristically, she shyly covers her chest and nethers with her hands. "Okay… I guess I'm ready," she says.

"Okay, try to draw Kaira onto yourself first," Alptraum explains and walks behind Rose. "You need to feel her around you. Try to feel as if she is your shape."

Rosalind raises her eyebrows at the dragon, and circles around her once. Then she stands behind, opens her cloak up like a giant pair of wings, and steps forward into Kaira. The cloak wraps around, leaving the outline of a dragon.

"Excellent," Alptraum applauds as he approaches, then reaches out to feel over the cloaked dragon. "Take a moment and feel as if you are her… "

"This is a bit odd," comes Rosalind's voice from inside the cloak. Instead of just her usual echo, there's now a second one in Kaira's voice. The cloak seems to struggle.

"And quit squirming, Kaira. It can't be that bad! I wore you before and you didn't complain," Alptraum teases.

Running his hands over the shadow seems to help 'push' things together. The shape changes slightly: the feathers go away, replaced by Eeee membranes, the tail retracts and the ears grow while the face shortens. Eventually, it looks more Rose-shaped, but still textured in the black of the cloak.

Alptraum, never one to pass up a chance to 'feel up' Rosalind, takeshis time in checking and rechecking Rosalind, making sure that everything layers right. "Now how does it feel?" he asks.

"Tingly!" Kaira replies, while Rosalind says, "A bit like I'm wearing a layer of warm water."

Alptraum can't resist feeling Rosalind in a few, ah, more private areas. "Do you feel that?" he asks, grinning.

"Yes!" exclaim both women. As if the flashes of light didn't relay that already.

Alptraum feels there again, just to be hateful and sure. "Now, shaping. Start with something you can visualize in your mind well. Like your armor, for example. Try to replicate your gauntlets on your hands," Alptraum explains as he takes both of her hands into his.

To avoid further flashes, Rose manages to draw the shadow cloak underneath the outer 'skin' of the spirit. This leaves a Rosalind shaped figure with Kaira scales and colors. "Okay, I never used the cloak for more than clothing, so making it bunch up like armor will take me a moment to figure out."

"Take your time. If you need an example to feel and work off of, use this," Alptraum says and offers his right hand to her. "Just start simple and if you can't do it, don't get frustrated. Just take a breath and try again."

The scales of the forearm ripple, rise and flap about for a few minutes, then begin to take on the shape of a gauntlet a bit at a time; a finger here and there, then the back of the hand, wrist, and so on. The color doesn't change yet however.

"Good, good," Alptraum encourages as he watches the woman's hand.

The shape is there, and Rose flexes the hand. It still looks like it's covered in blue dragon scales though. "How do you change the texture?" she asks.

Alptraum has to think on that. "Think of when you put your armor on; how it feels in your hand," he offers. Then take your left hand and run it lightly over your right. Keep doing that while thinking on how it should feel and I think it should gradually take the texture. Here is where kenning is useful, come to think of it. I've learned textures of shelled creatures and the like."

Rose does as told, running her hand over the gauntlet. The shadow oozes back up through the scales, smoothing them out. The effect spreads to the rest of the Eeee, giving her the smooth black skin of a dark elf while she focuses on the gauntlet.

Alptraum licks his lips and thinks to himself how damn sexy she looks right now. He doesn't sayit, though, to avoid distracting her. "There, I think you're getting it," he says as he takes a moment to do a 'touch test'.

The gauntlet feels chitinous enough, if giving a little. Perhaps picking up on Alptraum's vibe, Kaira starts changing other things. Rose's hair turns white, her ears take on a more elfin shape and her chest and hips grow to human proportions – all while the Countess is apparently oblivious, focused entirely on getting the forearm right.

Alptraum tries really, really, hard not to laugh. "You're not behaving Kaira," he teases, "Well, unless you want me to ravage her and you at the same time… "

"Aren't you going to do that anyway?" Kaira asks, causing Rose to laugh and nearly lose concentration.

"Depends on if you want me to? Far be it for me to try and seduce anyone," Alptraum counters, "Now hush, we're distracting her!" He fidgets a bit, though … really wanting to run his hands over those … curves.

Rose gets distracted now too, noticing the changes. To make things worse for Alptraum, she wants to feel the differences too, and does so right in front of him. "Wow, this is… " she says, then glances up at Alptraum while having her face tilted down. "See if the shadow-touch still works," she asks.

Alptraum wraps his hand in shadow and reaches out, letting his fingertips lightly slide over those curves.

The light flares, and little blue flames add an extra tingle as well. If it's Kaira's doing, she's not crowing about it though.

"The texture is different!" Rose gasps. "It's like I don't have fur at all, it's… all exposed!"

Alptraum gets bolder and continues running his hands over her curves and along her broader hips. "It sure offers some possibilities for when we're intimate, doesn't it?" he asks, though sounding actually a little embarrassed about it.

"Can you conjure your cloak into a mattress?" Rose asks playfully, starting to touch Alptraum back now.

Laughing, Alptraum says, "I have no idea." He draws the woman in closer and now lightly drags his claws lightly along the smooth 'skin' as he thinks. Instead of a mattress, though, his mind goes to the nebulous form of a shadow dragon … and that is what he directs his cloak to try to produce behind him. His though is, well, it might be like a large pillow.

The cloak bunches up, pools, and actually inflates into a sort of lumpy looking, broad pillow-like mass.

"Will that work?" Alptraum murmurs as he reaches up and tries to tilt Rosalind's head back up. "You do know if we keep this up you'll have a very hard time getting rid of me… "

"And you'll have a very hard… " Rose starts to say, then pushes Alptraum back onto the blob and falls on top of him.

The black pool bobs and sways as he goes down into its strange warmth as it curls up a bit, cradling them. There are momentary flashes in his mind … perhaps memories … of being formless, flowing across the land and shaping things. But that quickly is lost as he's now looking up at Rosalind. He licks his lips and smiles, then licks along that semi-elfin ear. "I love you, Rose," he whispers to her as he now starts feeling along more … sensitive places. "If we have to be monsters, at least we're monsters together. No more being alone for either of us … and so much to explore."

"Mmmm, here's to monsters then," Rose says, and kisses Alptraum. The disembodied voice of Kaira says, "Yeah! Monsters Rule! Bring on the luvvins!"