Cacopheny spent the whole next day holed up in his room, making doubly and triply sure that his shadows wouldn't bother him. His arms, chest, and shoulders were criss-crossed with stinging claw trails, his legs marked almost as badly. Ketvia and Chiya didn't know about them, because he'd been showered and dressed-- hot water did wonders for bleeding; though they still hurt just enough for him to be aware of them, none of the wounds bled-- by the time they'd come for him. They had been surprised, especially since that meant they had plenty of time to spare before the second night's meeting with the kits, but they had managed to spend the time talking. Mostly Chiya, actually, but Cacopheny was content to listen to her babble. He'd have to do the talking, later on, so listening now was fine-- not to mention a pleasant distraction from the faint murmur of shadows only temporarily warned into quiet.

He had decided since last night that any kit who tried to talk to him would be duly warned of not only what he was, but what he was like. He didn't want to be interrupted or run out of time again, so that some dragon would try to pick him without knowing what they were in for. If that deterred them... well, so be it. He would rather be honest and alone than draw some unsuspecting child into madness, with him.

But it would be so much fun....

All he had to do was shift his shoulders, and the sudden pain of the pulled wound silenced the now-sullen shadow, for a while anyway. He had to suppress a hiss, but Chiya didn't seem to notice, and Ketvia's shadow didn't comment.

Finally it was time. Ketvia opened the door for him, and he crept carefully outside, towards the bright, waiting room. They both fell in behind him, and again stood against the wall to watch while he continued, feeling self-conscious and as if he were trying to sneak rather than just be unnoticed. The combination of carefully controlled steps, to keep from jarring something, and his discomfort made him try to shrink in on himself, resisting the urge to slip into a shadow and hide completely. One might have thought that this would be easier than last time-- but it was just as hard.

Akija was already there; Cacopheny was, in fact, the last one to arrive. Again. She grinned at him, but didn't stand too close. He didn't blame her, not after last time. He tried to smile back, but it felt all wrong. He tried to smile at the reassuring face of Aloia, too, but that felt flat and false, too.

False, indeed.

A twitch, a smothered hiss, and that voice fell silent, as well.

The dragon kits were wandering among the other candidates, now. Cacopheny was on the edge of the group again. He heard Chario call a greeting, but it was to Akija. Good, they could talk. Another familiar face approached Cacopheny himself: the Light dragon from the night before. "Good afternoon," the gold-tinted young one said politely.

"Goot. Aff-ter-noon," he repeated. "Aff-ternoon?" He thought it was evening... but then he'd never been good with times other than "day" or "night". Those were easy enough. The dragon's shadow was all a-titter with curiosity, but Cacopheny didn't know what to say. Should he wait for questions? Should he blurt out the warning he'd determined he'd give immediately, or hope the conversation would make a good opening for it later? As if he could tell what a good opening was, anyway....

Ah, wait. He didn't remember the kit's name.... "Vat vass. Your name? Akain?"

"My name is Sentio," the dragon told him, smiling patiently. Cacopheny wasn't sure whether to be encouraged or irritated by his expression. "I'm not sure I told you that yesterday. You are Cacopheny, right?"

"Yess," Cacopheny answered simply. At least he wouldn't have to say it again, himself, though he had been practicing in the hopes that he might not mangle it too badly when he tried. Then, because he had nothing better to say and he had to say it sometime-- and if he didn't get it out now, he had the feeling he never would-- he said firmly, "I am not a norrrmal berssss'n. You zzzhoult noh ssat."

"I can smell it on you, I know," Sentio said, possibly by way of reassurance. His shadow was still tittering, distracting. "It's all right."

Cacopheny paused, wondering whether he meant he could smell his shadows-- but then remembered that Chario and the other red one could smell the demon in him. "Not ssat kint off not norrrmal," he hurried to explain. "I am-- not rrrrrait. Here." He pointed to his temple. "Hear sssinks, I do. Zzzzhadowss. Ssey talk, all sss'time. Yourss, mine, sseirss," this time waving his hand lightly to include the whole room.

Oh yes, that's definitely not normal.

Why don't you tell him the truth?

Hmm?

He shifted his shoulders, hissed softly in pain as one of the marks he'd left pulled, and then sighed. "Esssssssbezzly mine."

Siento blinked slowly, looking a little confused. Cacopheny couldn't blame him. "Well, some people have different abilities," he said, perhaps placating. "What in the world would a shadow say?"

"All ssorss of ssinkss," Cacopheny said with a faint shrug, one that didn't move his shoulders nearly as much as the last movement-- and didn't hurt as much, either. "Yourss. It iss curious, babbling, kesstchunss, lots of ssem. Tcharyo, heess iss. About daemon ekks. I am not closs nuff to osserss to hear ssem. Mine...."

Go ahead, tell him.

He shook his head sharply, twisting against a half-healed mark on his neck and wincing. "You too not. Vant to noh vat mine ssssssay. It issss. Not nice, uss'lee."

The dragon managed a tentative smile, but Cacopheny couldn't dreg up one in response. "I suppose, if you'd rather not tell me."

"It issss not ssat." He tried to find the right words. "It isss... ssey arrrr cruel. Ssometimess kint, but not ssso mutch asss off late." He looked down at the floor at Sentio's feet. "But I ssssssuboss. If ssssomevun tchoosiss me. Ssey vill be hearink ssem, anyvay. Aloia-lady ssssays ssey prrrob'ly vill be. Sso if you rreelly vant. I vill ssay."

You've never told what we say to you before!

"Well, maybe I will this time," he muttered to the shadow in his own tongue, resuming the self-hugging pose of the night before, squeezing painfully across jagged lines of scabbing he'd left there. The shadows gibbered faintly at him but subsided-- thankfully quickly, because one of those lines had broken open at the touch, just a little. Cacopheny hoped it wouldn't bleed enough to be noticed; his sleeve was dark, anyway.

"I...." Sentio looked agonizingly curious for a moment, but he still stopped himself from asking. "It's alright, you don't seem like you want to." He tried a smile. "Maybe it'll help with the shadows if someone chooses you, huh?"

Cacopheny relaxed his grip on his arms with a little sigh as no more snide comments made themselves heard, though didn't move his hands. As helpful as pain was, blood was not, and he did not want Ketvia coming to interrupt if she saw a stain on his sleeve. "Ssat iss vat Khetvya ant Tchiya arr hopink," he admitted, a little reluctantly, since he didn't quite believe it. That, and they wanted rid of him. "I too not noh. I to not vant to make sssomevun elsss mat, crrrrassy, too. Ssat voult be...." He shook his head faintly. "Voult be unfair."

After a moment of thought, the dragonet nodded slowly. "Who's to say, though," he started ponderingly, "that you'd affect them that way? Maybe it would be the other way around, like they'd hope."

Not fucking likely.

"Shut up," he growled under his breath, then tried to think the warning at the shadow: You don't know that.

Neither do you.

Well, that was true.... Just-- shut up. I'm busy. He didn't want to risk making himself bleed anymore; he could already smell the small leak on his arm, and it was yet another distraction.

"Mebbe," he agreed, though not with much hope. There had to be something else to talk about; this was getting depressing. "Your zzzhadow iss still kyuryuss," he said, though it wasn't as curious as it had been. "Vat elss voult you assk me?"

"Oh, my... uh, shadow is always curious, I guess," Sentio said, voice torn between cheer and confusion, but his next words quickly turned intrigued. He reminded Cacopheny vaguely of Akija with her own curiosity about him. "I suppose I wonder where you came from. I've never seen a half-demon before. I haven't even heard of any live ones!"

His story. Of course. How much could he tell, without frightening the kit off....

All of it.

I wanna see what he says about Her!

Or without some shadow wanting to steal the stage. Hurriedly, he started talking. "I am from. Verry far--" He paused, trying to remember the direction. "Sssouss? Sout? Yes. Tchiya and Khetvya fount me ven Missstresss and Master vere arkuink... brrohght me up. Vass-- vass--" What was the word.... "Unter grrrount. Vass tark, unless Zzzhe vass ssere-- ant even ssen vass not ass brright ass even ssiss room. Took me verry lonk to ssssssee in light." He squinted briefly around the room, then admitted, "Ssstill iss verry bright."

"Ahhh," Sentio said-- or sighed-- or something. "You're probably from Oppiuk's mountain ranges somewhere, then. Do you like it here?" He leaned forward with an expression of eagerness that made Cacopheny edgy. He leaned back a little in response, and stammered out an answer, of course.

"Like? Here? I-- no. It iss sso strantch... but I too not noh if I like't... ssere... eisser."

Admit it, you miss it....

Cacopheny whined faintly at a shadow, in the back of his throat, and put aside the answer of whether he "liked" his life before, as the little insidious voice had commented. He was of so many minds about that, and he didn't want to think about it right now, so he tried talking again. "I never saw ssee over-krount. Never ssaw more ssen my rrroom, and Her rrroom. Untill Tchiya ant Khetvya, anyvay."

Sentio settled back again, expression reverting into that polite little smile he liked to wear, and Cacopheny relaxed-- though at the same time berated himself. How was he supposed to convince anyone he was worth bonding to, worth a pinscratch's worth of attention, if he kept pushing them away? And yet, and yet... he couldn't help himself.

You're doing fine.

Of course you'd think so-- I'm making an ass of myself!

Trying to pull himself back together a little bit, he tilted his head enough that his hair fell mostly out of his eyes and he could see the shimmery-white dragon more clearly. "I see," the dragon was saying, "I guess it'd be kind of strange, but I'm sure you'll get used to it. Really now! Only getting to see two rooms? I would say having a whole world to roam would be a little better, at least."

"I... to not noh," Cacopheny admitted tentatively.

Go on.

Tell him how much it scares you.

Being out here, all alone.

"Two rroomss... vass easyer," he ventured, a compromise so that he didn't have to admit he was afraid of this big, bright, noisy world he was a part of now. "Mebbe I vill ket uss't to it-- I hope I vill ket uss't to et-- But now I am not. Yet. Not yet."

"Well, it appears you have plenty of time to try," the kit answered, "If you do end up bonding-- and no one who has come to hasn't bonded-- you'll have plenty of time to get used to Sanctuary, anyways. Pairs do have to stay and receive training, you know."

Actually, no, he hadn't known... but it made sense. Ketvia would have made sure he would be out of her hair entirely, and this did seem the perfect way to do it. He wasn't sure whether to be reassured or terrified, however, to the kit's casual statement that none had gone away yet without a bond. What if he were to be the first?

Shivering a bit, still holding his hand over the small stain in his sleeve-- the scratch had stopped bleeding, now, but what had already bled wasn't about to go away-- he shook his head a bit. "No... hat not nohn... but vill gif time, I ssssssss'posse. I to not noh vere I vill stay-- do ssey let vons like me ssstay here? In sssee-- ssee-- verever ssis iss."

"Well, yes, they want bonded pairs to stay at Sanctuary," Sentio repeated, "'till they're ready to go off into the world. I think they even provide quarters for them, though I'm not altogether sure."

Who neglected to explain the process to the poor fellow? the dragon's shadow snorted indignantly, and Cacopheny twitched a bit, blinking.

"I-- kuht jusst haff misst it," he answered the unspoken thought, embarrassed. "I miss ssinks sometimess... zzhadowss listen, instet, ant too not tell me vat I misst...."

The expression on the little kit's face made Cacopheny suddenly realize he'd done something very, very stupid. The shadows were laughing, softly. Sentio hadn't even said that-- He completely missed whatever else Sentio said, for the kit did say something, so great was his embarrassment.

"You-- I-- I am sssssorrry," he stammered, his accent coming on even more strongly and sentences fragmenting in his distress. "Vass-- vass your zzhadow, I dit not. I ssought you ssait ssat-- I am sssssorrry. I too not. Mean to be. Ssssso konfusink. I told you, I. Am not rright. All rrrronk. Iknorrrrre me. I am ssssorrry." Color actually came to his pale cheeks, the closest he'd ever come to an embarrassed blush, and he twitched his hands free of his arms, hiding his face in claws, sleeves, and hair.

"I-- er-- that's all right," the dragon stammered, right back-- though he, at least, was understandable. Cacopheny peeked at him through hair and claws, around the trailing fabric of one sleeve, as the kit suddenly looked back at him and gave him a very funny look. "Wait, my shadow said that? But-- well, I was thinking it."

"Zzhadows arre more trrrrussful ssan voisses, sssometimes," Cacopheny offered. "Ssey ssay vat voisses too not, ssometimess."

Before Sentio could even comment, though he looked like he wanted to, Aloia's voice attracted his attention-- and made Cacopheny jump. He blinked at her as she said, again loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear her, "Pardon me, but the meeting's about over, I'm afraid. Say your goodbyes, if you please."

"Oh," Sentio responded, though far to softly for Aloia to possibly hear him, back. He looked at Cacopheny with something that might have been reluctance, which made him blink and lower his hands. His shadow was actually pouting and complaining quietly. Cacopheny didn't know what to make of that-- reluctant? To stop having to deal with him? "Pardon me, I'd better be going," Sentio murmured, and Cacopheny's hands fell the rest of the way.

"Oh," Cacopheny said, blinking. "All... rrright. K-koot night."

Sentio waved a wing as he turned and padded away, and Cacopheny actually felt a little better than he had the night before. A little.