It had taken a long time to get his new room comfortable. After exploring every inch of the bedroom, poking his nose into corners and peering under the beds-- careful not to touch them, of course-- he turned to inspecting the bathroom with frowns and experimenting with the fancy faucets on sink and bathtub, flushing the toilet a few times until the sound ceased to startle him. It was a strange place, and so horribly bright. That was when he discovered, quite by accident, that the little knob by the door that smelled so strongly of dragon moved, and by clicking it one way, the light disappeared, and clicking it the other way brought it back. He had, of course, left it off, after he had played with it for a minute or two, marveling at the way he could control his own personal night and day.

The only places to sleep were the beds, though, and the beds were the only furniture in the room. The floor was cold and hard-- Spoiled by all this luxury, a shadow had taunted-- and he didn't want to sleep on it, so he screwed up his courage and yanked the blankets off the beds, piling them in the farthest corner from either door. Chiya had told him about beds being for sleeping, not just loving and hating, but he could hardly bring himself to touch one, anyway. The act of stripping them alone had left him panting and distracted as the shadows threw memories at him, but when he tried to curl up on the bedding to rest, the beds had seemed too close. Knowing he'd never sleep if he knew he could roll over and roll against one, he'd then had to shove them together and across the room. They were surprisingly light-weight, themselves, but the fit of shuddering even touching them had brought on was enough to make them seem very heavy. Finally safe, he burrowed into the stolen bedding and tried to relax.

It was later, much later, he thought, when there came a sharp rapping sound, like stone on stone, or... or knuckles on a door. Cacopheny stared at the door, then frowned as the sound came again. Yes, definitely the door.... No one had ever knocked on a door for him before. 

Even though you don't deserve such courtesy,

...most people do knock on doors before entering. 

But no one could enter here, anyway, because he had locked the door. That's what a lock meant. He thought.

"What? Who is it?" he growled in his native demonic, forgetting for a moment that no one here could understand it.

"Pardon me?" A woman's voice, muffled by the door's thickness, responded-- in dragon-speech. Though distorted, it sounded as if it belonged to the lady with the golden eyes, Aloia, and it was light, as usual. "I have your dinner here, if you'd like it."

Cacopheny blinked in the darkness, then crept forward slowly. Now that she'd mentioned it, he could smell something tantalizing coming through the thin cracks between door and wall. But he didn't know.... He stretched out his hand as far as he could reach and flipped the lock open noisily, then skittered back again to his corner and blankets, letting her come in or not, as she saw fit. After a long few moments of silence, the door creaked open and Aloia stepped inside, pausing within as the darkness blinded her. Her hands were both occupied with holding the dinner tray laden with slivers of meat and vegetable over short noodles and covered in a creamy-looking sauce-- the whole concoction smelled positively heavenly. "My, it's dark in here," she commented mildly.

It didn't seem so, to Cacopheny, with all the light streaming in from the hallway, but even though he could see fine, not everyone else could see as well as he could in the dark; he knew that now. Taking another small step into the room, she peered around, trying to see past the murk to find him. Trying for the common speech again, Cacopheny said haltingly, voice rough at counter to her smooth one, "I am. Usssss't to t-t-dark. Yooo ken turrrn on. Ssssee r-light. If yooo vant. Aloia-r-lady." Besides, the thought of the lady tripping and spilling that wonderful-smelling thing all over the place didn't sound appealing.

Must be growing up.

Used to be you'd eat it off the floor.

Shut up.

"That's all right, if you prefer the dark." She sounded perfectly happy to feel her way in the shadows of his room, voice warm and a little amused. "Just tell me where I should set this down before I drop it." Momentarily at a loss-- she certainly couldn't put it on the bed!-- Cacopheny was silent.

Take it from her, stupid.

"Oh, right..." he muttered, then switched back to common. "I. Vill kohm. Jzussst... stay sssere." All this language would give him a headache before long, if he didn't get one from the shadow's constant badgering. He walked himself carefully up the wall then moved just as carefully towards the figure of the bonding mistress. The half-dragon. He even managed to get all the way to her without getting distracted or jerking uncomfortably-- not like she could see him, but still. "I am. Herrre now," he said suddenly and took the plate carefully from her hands, touching only the warm metal, not her own fingers. Somehow, neither of them dropped it. "Sssssank yoo."

"You're welcome," she cheerfully replied. "So you've settled in all right, have you?"

"Sssssettl't in," he repeated blankly, frowning faintly before meaning caught up with hearing. "Oh... yessss." He retreated a few paces before dropping to the floor, landing cross-legged with his dinner in his lap. Taking a cursory slice of meat out of the strange, sweet-smelling sauce, Cacopheny sniffed at it experimentally, then popped it into his mouth, expecting something vile-- and nearly spat it out in surprise because it tasted so good, melting against his tongue. "Isssss.... gooot," he managed around shock and mouthful.

"Good!" Aloia responded with almost childish delight, making Cacopheny blink at her and frown-- he'd never heard such a tone from an adult before-- but then she chuckled, a more normal sound that made him relax again and sample more of the food. "Good. The kitchen here is a bit of a training ground, but they manage fairly well, really. I was a bit concerned you wouldn't like it-- half-demons have different tastes, I know." In the dark she smiled sympathetically, but he barely noticed, more confused by her words. He frowned at her, chewing another bite, this one with a different taste, not meat but something else. It was still good, though.

Though the food threatened to steal all of his attention, he focused fiercely on what she'd said. Half-demon... different tastes... she would know? "How?" he asked, as if she was following his train of thought.

"My husband is... was... a half-demon," she told him plainly, though she had to correct herself.

He didn't understand. "Vass?"

"Oh, he isn't anymore, but he was for most of his life...." She shook her head, then after a pause, chuckled wryly. "It's a long story, and really, I've never gotten a completely straight answer from him about how it happened. It doesn't really matter, either way."

Cacopheny thought that perhaps it did matter; what if the same thing happened to him, after all? He was supposed to be half demon, too. But all he said was, "Oh," before he went back to his dinner with more of his attention. It was going very quickly: he'd never eaten anything so marvelous before. There was a moment of silence while he ate and Aloia watched; even the shadows were quiet, murmuring unintelligibly in the background. Even Aloia's shadow was doing nothing more than watching and humming absently.

Then, with a soft chuckle, he heard: "Enjoying your dinner, Cacopheny?"

The half-demon blinked up at her, having briefly forgotten she was there. Memory came back quickly, though, and he nodded. "Yess," he said. Then, as an afterthought, "Sssssank you."

You already thanked her.

Airhead.

I bet she thinks you're a moron.

That's cuz you are!

Haha!

He hissed menacingly at the shadows clinging to him. "Shut up," he added in his native tongue, for good measure. They laughed at him, but subsided, anyway. For the moment.

"You're welcome," Aloia had replied, he dimly realized. Then she paused, and inquired mildly, "Are you alright?"

"No," he grumbled. "I am. Wrrrrong. Crrrrazy. Tchiya and Ket-vya ssait it. You know. Ossssers to not hear zzzhadowss."

Wrong? What is this "wrong"?

Why, little one, do you think you are mad?

Surely not mad.

"I am," he repeated for both Aloia and the shadows.

"Well, now." Aloia's voice had softened, a particular note of sympathy weaving its way through her words; it made him bristle slightly, and made the shadows circle nearer. "Dear, I've met some crazy people in my lifetime, and you are certainly not a prime example of one of them. Ketvia and Chiya haven't told me your story yet, only your situation now, but I'm certain that we can find some way to help you." She paused there, taking a breath before adding, "Cacopheny, you may hear things, but you are not so far gone that anyone should call you crazy."

Cacopheny gave her a nettled, very skeptical look, though she probably couldn't tell in the darkness, and gulped down the last of his dinner, setting the plate aside-- well, tried to, and ended up dropping it against a bed leg with a clatter that startled even him. He jumped, bared his teeth at the offending piece of metal, then settled back into a crouch, regarding Aloia silently a moment. "Who isssssss. Vorsse? Ssen." Perversely, now he wanted to prove to her just how "crazy" he was. Provided he didn't hurt her in the process.

Spoil sport.

The lady paused, then suggested. "Why don't you sit somewhere more comfortable?"

"Sssssis isss fine." He paused, glancing furtively at the only actual furniture in the room, the beds. "I... to not leek b-betssssss." He shuddered involuntarily and crawled back towards his next of blankets in the back corner of the room before remembering Aloia actually wanted to talk to him, and hiding under a blanket wasn't exactly conducive to talking. So there he stopped, settling back down on the floor again a few feet further back, facing her again.

"If you say so. I hope you don't mind if I sit." She smiled at him again before moving to take a careful seat on the softly carpeted ground across from the him, the discarded plate to one side of them, silent now. She was so close, he could smell the dragon-smell in her. She watched him silently, light from beyond the room making her golden eyes glow faintly, and when she spoke her voice was soft and reassuring, but slowly it grew pitying-- for Cacopheny or the person she spoke of, he didn't know. "Well... then. I know a demon who calls himself Prophet, and he... he is what I would call crazy. He is an unpredictable creature, sometimes acting like a child, sometimes a killer, sometimes both. Sometimes he doesn't seem to know there is anyone in the world except himself and his granddaughter, who he is obsessed with, and he never, never, to the extent of my knowledge, has been able to hold a normal conversation." Aloia trailed off, then sighed. "He... now, he is a lost cause, and you are nothing like him."

The shadows had other ideas.

Nothing like him, are you?

I don't see you holding a normal conversation.

You act like a child.

Like a killer.

You're obsessed.

"I am not," he muttered in his own tongue.

Forgotten so soon?

She would be so displeased.

So hurt.

So angry.

I haven't forgotten....

He shuddered again, hugging himself, watching the scant light play in the lady's golden eyes. "Sssssssen vat. Am I?"

Her eyes slid closed for a moment, and she opened her mouth to reply, but paused. "I don't know yet, Cacopheny. I don't know you or what's happened to you yet. But I think that whatever else you may be, you are a lonely young man who can be helped if you want to be."

One of the shadows made a rude sound, clinging to his temples and hovering over his shoulders, and Cacopheny snorted in pale echo. He shook his head sharply, once, trying to dislodge it, but it was already speaking. "Too you vaaaant to know?" he shot back, voice surly and thick and mocking despite himself. "Vat happen't to me? Hmm? You voot not leek et. Perrrrhapss tchangtch yourrrr maint, it voot."

She leaned forward, meeting the challenge in his tone gently, and it only made the shadow want to leer at her. The corners of his mouth tugged up. "I doubt that it would change my mind, dear," she told him, "And if it would help me help you, yes, I would like to hear your story."

The shadow did not often have an audience, and it was liking the feeling of having one, now. Cacopheny didn't like it. He tried growling, clawing at his shoulder to warn it away, but it wouldn't let him. Instead, he rocked gently in his crouched position, hugging his knees, grinning slightly and staring blankly at Aloia's saddened face.

It won't help you, little pet...

...but we will enjoy it.

"I liff't in night," he said, feeling his mouth stretch into a wider grin, much like the shadow would wear for him when She came. "Alveysss night, alveysss dark, alveysss zhadowss... esssept ven Zzhe came. Sssen it vass day, and Zzhe tchassss't sssem avey." His arms unwound from his knees, and he uncurled, creeping towards Aloia, one step, two, on all fours. "Zzhe loff't me, Zzhe hat't me. Zzhe vass my mo'ssser. My-- misssssstresssssss." The word was like a caress, and he hissed it out slowly and lovingly, taking another step. 

Not was.

Is.

"Zzhe hat a bet, you knoo. A big bet."

Another step; he was almost right in front of her, now, smiling darkly into her eyes, but she didn't move, or even flinch, though she met his gaze steadily. "I am glad that Ketvia and Chiya rescued you from that," was all she said.

When it failed to rattle the golden woman, not even her shadow who was busy murmuring about things like love and shelter, right and wrong, things Cacopheny didn't understand, his own shadow was much put out. Cacopheny sat back on his heels, dropping back into a crouch and glaring at her sullenly. "I am. Not," the shadow grumbled haltingly for him. He even thought he might mean it, a little bit, for though much of him hated Her and was glad to be free, part of him felt adrift even still, without Her to center himself on. The shadow, of course, was quite unhappy with the current situation-- there was no one to love and hate, after all!

Then he shook his head sharply again. "But... I... am. Not. Am. Rrrrrr." He growled and shook his head again, trying to free himself, but with little success. "I too not knoo," he mumbled, burying his face in his knees. Shadows roared in his ears, and the woman's next words came to him only dimly.

"Don't push yourself yet. I imagine you'll decide eventually, and be the better for it." He didn't even feel her fingers coming to meet his shoulder-- not yet.

For a moment, Cacopheny didn't acknowledge her, didn't even notice what she'd said and done, sitting rigidly with his face hidden by knees, arms, and hair. Then, the shadow abruptly let go, and he twitched violently, once spasmodically without any real intent, then again, away from her, realizing she'd touched him and jerking himself away in delayed reaction, scrambling back into the nest of blankets he'd made and panting with shock. A figure jerked back from him, as well, and he stared blindly at it. What had-- who-- what--

Feeling a little lost, are we?

You look ridiculous.

You look like you've gone mad.

Crazy.

Someone was watching him, someone had touched him. Spoken to him. Golden eyes. The lady Aloia. Remembering now when she'd come in, bringing dinner, and the shadow had spoken for him, Cacopheny shook his head a few times, rubbing at his eyes and sagging into the blankets. "S-ssssorry," he murmured. "Yess. Toon't buzsh. Puzsh. Yesss. Vill trrry. S-ssssorry."

"No, no, I'm sorry," she apologized, making her voice warm and smooth. "I shouldn't have startled you like that."

Her shadow had screamed, though, and was now chattering animatedly and worriedly, but he couldn't understand it. He watched her from beneath a curtain of hair, suspicious and penitent at the same time. "Ssssssss all. Rrrright. I ssstartle. Easssy. Hurrrt Enyi, onsssssse... ssstartl't. Zzzzzshadow took me, ssssen. Ant. Now." He stumbled even more than usual over his words, as if his tongue didn't want to obey him while he tried to explain himself. "Ssssey to ssssat sssometimesss. Take me, talk, hurrrrrt. Love, hate, protect and hurrrrrt."

Wait. Hurt. It didn't-- He paused, jerking his head up and looking closely at his claws. They weren't bloody, but you never knew. He looked back over at Aloia. "It.... dit not hurrrrt you?" he asked hopefully.

"No, no, I'm alright," she was quick to assure, and her shadow crooned at him, trying to be comforting. As if a shadow could ever really be comforting....

We can, so.

Aloia took a deep breath. "Is the shadow gone again?"

"I... ssssink so." A pause, then he nodded vigorously. "Yessss. Isss gone. For now. Iss koot...." He gave his own claws one last look over, assuring himself that they didn't do any damage while he wasn't in control, then he settled into the corner, wrapping his arms around himself again and shivering.

We're never gone.

You know that.

We're just... not as close.

I know. She does not. That is enough.

"S-sssorry I am. Ssstrangtch. Confussss't," he tried one last time. "Too not mean to...."

No one ever means to...

...but you do, anyway.

"Oh, just go away," he moaned softly, to himself and the shadows, ducking his head and trying to wish himself into silence. The shadows only laughed, and Aloia was still there.

"It's alright," Aloia reassured automatically. "It's not your fault." There was another pause, and she suggested mercifully, "Maybe I should go now. Some rest might do you good." He watched her, trying not to show relief. Everyone he'd met so far didn't like his methods for quieting the shadows, and he could only assume that she would be the same way, and even if he didn't use his usual methods, just having Aloia there was enough of an incentive for them to make more noise than usual. With his stomach more full than usual, the weight of the recent shadow-possession still on his mind, and the long day preceding it all, he really just wanted to be alone and maybe sleep.

But you won't say that, will you, pet.

You never say what you want.

Except when we make you.

"I too-- I too not--" With a quick, shuddering breath, he tried again. It still wasn't definitive, but she could read between the lines; she seemed good at that. "Sssss, mebbe... t-tirrrr't now. Full, noisssssy, my het...." He shook it and shut his eyes. "...Mebbe ken sssssleep."

"Alright." The golden woman rose to her feet, smiling. "Rest well, Cacopheny."

"Sssank you," he said after her, and then she was gone, ducked back out of the room, closing the door behind her so that it only made the softest of clicks while closing. He was once again plunged into darkness. He sighed and sank back against the cool wall and yeilding blanket-nest, eyes still shut. She was nice, but it was just so tiring....

Then sleep.

We'll give you nice dreams.

"I don't believe you," he murmured, but he was already snuggling down into his nest, letting sleep take him without a struggle while the shadows folded themselves around him like a comforting, frightening, familiar blanket of night.