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Veigh had been in a very deep sleep for quite a while. It seemed she needed time to recover, to repair the damage that had splintered from the walls falling down. She was vulnerable, yet defensive, curled tightly around her three unborn children to keep them warm during the night. The Japanese lay completely still, as her mind wandered through her dreams.

She was stopped by one that seemed much more vivid than most. Veigh looked around; she was still in the cave, but no eggs, no stone, and no Schnurrbart. The dragon whirled around, searching for them, and startled by the sight of a man where there should be none. A brief flash of images - a spider, a bat, a human, all with the same eyes - and her vision focused onto this stranger, this interloper, an intruder. It took some time to realize that there was no light in the cave, though she didn't need it to see.

Veigh growled, a deep and rumbling warning sound, though it only served to make the man grin in a very disconcerting way. She didn't like it. "Who is this irresistable creature who has an insatiable love for the dead?" Veigh asked of him, inserting many layers of meaning as interpreted into that one phrase, yet mostly trying to just find out who he was.

And he replied, "Ich bin ein auslander."

It felt like a slap in the face. First, it hit her that he spoke in German; if he knew her name, then maybe he was telling her he knew about Schnurrbart and... not her children, Veigh didn't want this strange man to have anything to do with her children.

Then shock creeped in as she recognized that phrase. It was the title of a song by Pop Will Eat Itself. Veigh shivered. How did this man, who introduced himself as a foreigner, know so much?

This was beyond creepy. Trying to shrug it off, she put up a strong face and retorted, "So what if you can see the darker side of me?"

He, with his dull red hair and black eyes, tilted his head and merely looked at her. He grinned again. "It won't be long. Draconis is going to get me a body. About three-kay left to go."


Veigh woke up, frightened and confused. The details of the dream began to melt away fast, before she could remember. Folding in tighter upon herself, and her clutch, she tried to forget.

In the unlight, Kragen's pale gargoyle hide would go unnoticed. He basked in the darkness like cool, soothing water; it washed away the harmful effects of the dreadful sun. And so it was in this environment that Kragen came back to Keeper's domain, stepping carefully among the hidden vegetation yet knowing exactly where he was going.

He was going to Keeper.

He didn't realize it before, but it was enchantment at first sight, and was not love just a kind of spell to ensnare the heart? Kragen figured that it was about time he stopped being the coward, and to show Keeper of Shadows that he was worthy to serve her.

The dragon tried to ignore the feeling of being watched as he approached and silently entered the cave.

(( gtg ))

(('Aight.))

And of course, he joined her, as there was no other choice. He raised his own wings as his body pressed against hers, settling the gargoyle-like limbs over her back.

Kragen closed his eyes and murmured in her ear. "I joined you when I first saw you underneath the tree at the Valentine's event. You looked so... beautiful, sleeping." He opened them again, and looked at her; her electric markings that send shivers down his spine, the emotion-red horns and artistically torn wings, and her soft tailfur, a fluorescent shade of green and pink. The Keeper of Shadows, and Keeper of his heart.

Kragen had his eyes closed; what would he see when there was no light? Instead, he turned to face her and let her stroke him. "I don't think I quite understand you," he said, knowing it was an understatement.

The Gargoyle felt her reluctance, and was confused by it, but he stayed by her all the same. "Well, why me, oh Keeper of the Shadow?" he asked, looking into her eyes briefly. "I don't understand why you'd choose me of all to be your rose."