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Kilandaia was a most unusual place. Then again, most anywhere would seem unusual to someone who'd been born and grown up at Star City. Euphuisatic was just such a someone. He'd spent his entire childhood and adolescent life on the space station and only just recently left. There were times when he wondered why he'd left, but one sight of those helpless youngsters being herded by stern dragonesses and he remembered once more.
Euphi was a young dragon, despite being old enough to be deemed an adult, and while he knew a lot, he didn't necessarily understand everything yet. So it was that he found himself playing circumspect guardian angel to a group of youngsters he'd stumbled across at Star City. Well, at least he /thought/ he was being circumspect. He had the best intentions, really he did, and while on Star City he actually did manage to blend in amongst all the other odd creatures wandering about. Kilandaia was a whole different ball game however. Much to his chagrin he found himself having to try to follow the group silently through trees and bushes and through mountains. Things he'd read about as a child, to be sure, but never, ever thought he'd actually /see/, much less have to negotiate.
Unfortunately his attempts at silent stalking through the forest had largely failed and in his clumsy attempts he'd actually made enough noise to thoroughly frighten the group he was trying to protect. Knowing nothing of Kilandaian politics, he couldn't know that the group he followed were considered traitors by some. Nor could he know that what he'd heard about "dragons mounting a covert offensive" had put his group on edge to the point that they quite reasonably feared for their lives. All he knew was that he felt the need to look out for the little ones in the group and when two of the seven little ones vanished mysteriously in the middle of the night he was as dismayed as the dragonesses. He gave off following them, trying to mimick the skills he'd read about of tracking through the forest to find out where the little ones might have been taken, but he was no woodsman and eventually he gave up and resumed following the rest of the group.
It wasn't long before they reached their destination, which, by the way the dragonesses seemed to relax, was obviously their home. It was an immense structure but nestled into the mountains in such a way that it didn't look out of place at all, though that could have been in part because of the incessant fall of snow that blanketed the entire area in white. At first Euphi wasn't quite sure what to make of the snow. His fire immunity didn't aid him at all in keeping warm and by the time the dragonesses had ushered the little ones into the main entrance he wasn't quite sure where his feet were anymore. He stood in the snow in indecision for mere moments before throwing off his unobtrusive air and floundering forward into the beckoning warmth before him.
He looked around in dismay once inside, still secretly hoping that sooner or later in this strange world he might meet with something familiar, but the inside of this place was as foreign to him as the snow falling lightly outside. The group he'd followed was disappearing around a corner, and despite his desire not to lose track of them he knew he could never keep himself hidden in a place like this, and still smarting from the loss of the two little ones two days before, he found himself completely unwilling to make himself known to those he'd been trying to guard.
It was only then that he saw the rather wary looks being thrown his direction. Well aware that his appearance could be rather startling, for he looked much like a monster from a tale, Euphi's ears sunk dejectedly into the curve of his horns, the feathers protruding from the back of his head bristling up as his chin sunk into the fluff at his chest, giving him the appearance of some sort of sad, mildly scary-looking horned bird. It was at this point that a young woman walked by. She was less than a third of his height, small human-sized, with purple hair highlighted in creamy blonde. She was obviously in a hurry, but unlike the others who had glanced at him warily and continued on their way, she gave a sharp, unexpected bark of laughter and paused to give him a searching look.
"Someone looks a little lost," she said kindly, smiling up at him as if it were perfectly ordinary for a large monster-like creature to show up in the entry-way and hunker down there like a baby bird who'd lost his mother.
Startled, his ears lifted slightly and he nodded. "I'm afraid I am. I was...well, I got here, and rushed in to get out of the cold and now I've absolutely no idea where I am or what I'm doing here." His ears fell again as he spoke and as he stopped himself from saying that he'd been stalking a group of dragonesses through the woods and up the mountain.
"Don't worry, it happens all the time. This is my home, and it's most often referred to as The Lodge for that's what it was originally intended to be. But you don't want a history of the place, let's get you out of the entry-way and somewhere warmer. Come with me."
Her manner was so cheerful and brisk that Euphi found himself quite willingly following her down a nearby hallway and into a cozy (well, cozy for a 17' tall dragon!) room heated by a large fireplace. "Alright, so you wait in here, and I'll get someone to show you around and find a place for you if you decide you want to stay. What did you say your name was?"
"Euphuisatic Mei'Keromazon," he answered instinctively then ducked his head at her wide-eyed look. "Most usually end up calling me Euphi for short."
The grin was back, "Alright then, Euphi, I'm Mykha, and if anyone causes you any trouble while you're here you let me know. Someone will be in to help you shortly, alright?"
Euphi nodded his head but she was already out the door and it was sliding gently closed behind her. Euphi turned to the fireplace and settled himself on the floor in front of it, dancing his rapidly warming fingers through the flames.
Euphi didn't have to wait long before the door Mykha had closed behind her (no doubt to guard against prying eyes more than to keep Euphi in) banged open. Euphi looked up in surprise and blinked at the dragoness standing in the doorway. She was a few feet smaller than he was and other than a rather misshapen-looking lump underneath her wings she was incredibly sleek and attractive. With his monstrous appearance poor Euphi was immediately uneasy.
Fortunately the young dragoness had personality to contradict her appearance and the roll of her eyes and her irritated manner helped Euphi relaxed a trifle. "Mykha said I have to show you around. Come on."
"I'm Euphi," he said, trying to surreptitiously remind her of her manners. Recalcitrant teenagers were something he knew how to deal with.
"Atracyti. Mykha already told me who you were though."
"I believe Mykha would have told you my name, but since she and I just met she could hardly have told you who I am." He flashed her a grin, his eyes twinkling with humor and was rewarded with a half-smile of stifled mirth.
"Touche," she replied, trying hard to suppress the smile on her draconic lips. "Anyways, I guess I'm supposed to show you around and find out why you're here and get you set up here if you intend to stay. So, follow me..."
The tour covered the entire Lodge and despite her somewhat surly demeanor at first Euphi quickly picked up a great deal of Atracyti's personality from the way she spoke about the different areas and the running commentary she had to keep up as they roamed over the sprawling complex helped her to relax a great deal. Interestingly, while he positively drooled over the computer labs (the equipment for which he was certain came from Star City and thus represented something familiar in this disturbingly unfamiliar place) she passed over them quite quickly and spent a good deal of time telling him everything she knew about the Kilandaian Bonding Society, which from what he could put together, as her thoughts jumped rather rapidly, was some sort of complex cult that he felt sure he should stay far away from.
The tour over it was time for him to decide if he wanted to stay and if he did want to stay what he would /do/ while he was there. As it turned out, Atracyti mentioned that their computer lab manager was currently away and no one had any idea when she would be back, and as the technology manager had recently quit to move to Star City, the lab itself was in a pretty decent state of disarray. Euphi decided that this was perfect. He'd been dealing with technology all his life and could easily help them get their computer lab in shape. The position was likely to be temporary so he wouldn't be forced to stay if he decided to leave. He still felt the need to protect those youngsters though so staying at least temporarily at The Lodge seemed like a good idea.
So, all set up in lodgings and with a job to work on (once he'd been approved through all the various departments that had to interview him), he settled into the Lodge quite comfortably and spent his spare time learning the ins and outs of the complex and trying to find those little youngsters he'd followed here in the first place. To his great dismay he found that a startling percentage of dragons at The Lodge were highly attractive creatures. Being what he was, he found beauty to be incredibly intimidating. Add to that his tendency to try (often unsuccessfully) to fade into the background and what you got was a big lonely dragon. He'd made acquaintances enough through his job and when he could find Atracyti he enjoyed the snarky teenager's company, but adult draconic companionship seemed impossible to find for the shy, beauty-phobic dragon.
And it was in this lonely state that Euphi first stumbled upon Anakelsa Talake. Anakelsa had arrived at The Lodge to sign up to fly. She was no one's idea of a beauty which instantly attracted Euphi. Shy as he was he contented himself with following her around whenever he could find her, making himself her unofficial guardian angel while he continued his search for the elusive youngsters. He knew some small amount about flights and after following her around for a week or so decided he might like to chase her. Settling down was out of the question for him, he had too much 'work' to do for that, and she seemed the type to be completely uninterested in that herself. Her lack of physical attraction was a major plus because he knew he could never chase after anyone beautiful, and the more he watched her and her interactions with other dragons, including other suitors the more certain he became that they just might suit, at least temporarily. He was hardly as anti-social as she was, but he certainly wasn't forward or anyone she would compare herself unfavorably to, great monstrous beast that he was! Yes, that might be just the distraction he needed while he continued to learn the ways of the Lodge and continued his self-proclaimed 'hidden protector' gig.
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