Alptraum carries Roogi to a small back room just down the hallway from the main party room. It's no larger than a reasonable pantry, (and judging ny the cleaning supplies hanging from the wall, is just a cleaning closet.) Alptraum's normal clothing lies piled up in the corner on the floor. While balancing Roogi on his shoulder, he uses one of his feet to grab a bucket, overturn it, and set her down down on as a makeshift chair. "So, you get a choice," he says as he crouches down beside her, "I dress now, or after you leave? In other words, will you permit me clothing?" He hooks the locke of his white hair that still hangs from her belt as he adds, "I haven't forgotten your claim, so I'm serious about that."

"Dress laterrrr!" the Yodhblakat slurrs, slightly. "Seen you nakies before, at th' tower. Your Countess gonna fight me for you? I kin take her, I think!"

"The Countess is … quite powerful," Alptraum says after some thought, "You could offer me in thanks for finding you a new fighting job." Now grinning a bit, he does ask, "Or do you like the idea that I belong to you?"

The Yodh swishes a hand through the air, nearly falling off her bucket. "Ahhh… not the same no more. Not… not Yodhblakat now," she says, sounding a little nostalgic. "Work now. Guard coast. Plunder poodle boats! Hah!" She ends up with her fist in the air at that last item.

"So, you're saying you don't really care, then. Pity. You're the only woman who was ever able to capture me. It was … in a strange way, fun," Alptraum admits as he reaches over and gently prods the Yodhblakat. "So, are you at least enjoying the job? Is it satisfying?"

"Scare sailors, get lots of drinks," Roogi nods, and then grabs onto Alptraum's right arm – either for balance, or to get a better look at it. "Fancy glove, Alptraaaaum. Why no take it off for dance? Was that death-god-magic?"

"It doesn't come off," Alptraum explains and even demonstrates for Roogi that when he pulls on it, his skin pulls up with it only so far. "It is my hand," he further adds, "Taken on this form because I used my abilities to absorb a great dark entity. In fact, I came close to losing my hand after that, as it tried to curse my hand with the magics of the undead. But Sunala's will is stronger than it was and it survived the attempted rot."

"Awww, you no take monster hand from monster and stick it on your arm?" Roogi asks, sounding disappointed.

"That is sort of what ultimately happened after the rot was defeated," Alptraum clarifies, "The residue of the monster re-shaped my hand into something it liked better as its dying action." He wiggles the encased fingers, adding, "I've grown to like it."

"Does it do tricks?" Roogi asks, clearly impressed by the thought of having a monstrous limb. "No other monster parts?" she asks next, and checks Alptraum down below to make sure.

"I can alter parts of myself with effort," Alptraum explains, looking currently quite normal lower down (must not have visited Melusine recently), "The hand's armor can be re-shaped slightly, and I can change colors. Want to see one of them? Shape change or color?"

"Turn into a spiky club! With… axe blades and… uh… more spikes!" Roogi requests.

"Spiker I can probably do," Alptraum offers and pulls his hand back. He closes his eyes for a moment and thinks back to before he had the edges ground down. Mentally, he tries to encourage the edges to reshape back to sharp points temporarily again.

It's like a rose sprouting thorns, as the serrated barbs extend out from the edges of the carapace. "Ahhhh," Roogi coos over them.

Alptraum's eyes open back up when he feels the points settle back to their normal length. He gets a rather unsettled feeling in his stomach when he realizes he instinctively knows just where that is. He curls and flexes his fingers, showing Roogi how jagged even the backs of the knuckles are. "It can change even further. I could shape the chitin to look like one of Sunala's defenders, or just more insect-like, or whatever. It's pretty … well, creepy, but in a strange and fun way."

"You teach me how to do that," Roogi demands. "I want monster armor!"

"I can't. But I might be able to temporarily give you some now and then. The energy cost would be high, though," Alptraum explains, "And oh, one more thing. You know what blood takes like, yes?"

"Tasted my own," Roogi says, and smiles wide to show were a few teeth are missing.

Alptraum turns over his hand and there bites slightly into his palm, positioning the fang roughly in the middle of the scar where he had to cut out the old infection. He lets a few drops well out and he licks them, testing to see if it still tastes horribly bitter.

By this time, the blood tastes fairly normal. After all, the shadow is more integrated throughout his body now.

"Wow, it no longer tastes nasty," Alptraum comments and looks down at his hand. The blood is a few shades darker than it used to be. Not completely obvious, except that he knew what he was looking for.

"Wow, It doesn't taste vile anymore," he comments, then just shows Roogi the scar, "I had to cut some evil flesh out of my own hand. Not an experience I can recommend."

"Did it squirrrrm?" Roogi asks, one claw reaching out to poke the spot.

"A lot," Alptraum says with a nod of his head, "And I bled black ooze for quite a bit." The scar itself moves a bit under Roogi's prodding, the slightly thicker skin not as flexible as the area around it.

"When this all happen?" the Eeee warrior demands.

"Not long after we killed the dragon," Alptraum explains. "Mainly while you and the others were drunk and passed out. Are you upset you didn't see it?"

"Yes! Do it again!" Roogi demands.

"What, infect myself?" Alptraum asks, looking perplexed.

"Eh? No, make squirmy thing again and rip it out!" Roogi explains.

"I'm not sure I can right now. But with practice, maybe," Alptraum offers, "Are you willing to wait until I can demonstrate it?"

"Awww," Roogi grumbles, crossing her arms over her chest. "Yeah, sure. No forget! Because… I probably will! I had a lot to drink tonight."

"Is that an order to your monster?" Alptraum asks jokingly.

"My monster?" Roogi asks, looking as if she likes the sound of that. "Mmmmm. Yes! I order you to not forget!"

"One more question and I'll let you get back to the party," Alptraum says with a grin. He leans back and looks up, noting, "I'm not even sure how to ask this. So … does it amuse you … do you find enjoyment in … well, visiting with me? Or do you not really care? I visit with you for several reasons, out of honor to the customary meaning of that locke of hair, because it is my duty to all of you that you find a new purpose … and to be honest, I've grown to like you. You're … fun."

"Ooo, visit, yah," Roogi says, nodding her head. She leans forwards and grabs onto Alptraum's hips, sliding off of the bucket to her knees. "Like… " she says, her head dipping down towards his waist…

Alptraum catches the falling Eeee before her head gets too close to anything she could bite and severely hurt. "Roogi," Alptraum says, teasing, "If I didn't know better I would think you're hinting you want 'a little death'."

"OOooo, I want to… BLARGHLELELEHORK!" The Yodhblakat wasn't kidding about having too much to drink. And it's also a blessing that Alptraum didn't have any pants on yet.

"Or you just want to vomit," Alptraum says, his face skewing up from the sound, feel, and smell. "Come on, back to the party for you, I think. And for me … a bath."