Seeing someone who, to his own estimation, was an adult, in such a state as was Cacopheny, was more than a little disturbing. He'd never seen an adult in tears before, not like this; his mother cried, once in a while, but his father was very stoic most of the time, and none of his teachers or surrogate guardians around the city had ever cried in front of him before. Even if they had, he simply couldn't imagine them sobbing, as if their whole life had ended, like Cacopheny was. Even worse was the despair and shame that was seeping into his own mind from Cacopheny's; even if he'd ever seen an adult cry, even sob, he would never have actually felt what they felt. So, it was, to say the least, very disturbing.

But it wasn't nearly as disturbing as being stalked by him across the room, feeling his fury, fear, and hate, either, so Sentio thought he could probably handle it. Maybe. He hoped. For now, all he could do was watch over his bond, wait, and hope he pulled himself together. He couldn't even think of anything to say that might help; words died in his throat, if they even made it that far, as he realized they sounded stupid, or useless, or trite. So he was doing all he could, sitting silently and trying to be accepting and forgiving despite being embarrassed, uncomfortable, and still not quite over the terror of just moments before, with his wings spread over Cacopheny, the only kind of hug he could offer the curled up, shuddering half-demon.

And it was then that he realized that someone was trying to talk to him. Or, rather, scream at him. In his head. It wasn't coming from Cacopheny; his bond's shadows never felt so... young.

::SentioI'mcomingifyou'rehurtI'llkillsomethingIswearIwill!:: he heard, in a mindvoice that sounded both breathless and furious at the same time.

Oh Goddess, he thought, suddenly remembering. Kenjista.

She had to have gotten an earful-- headfull?-- of all that, everything Sentio had been feeling. If his luck was really bad-- which it seemed to be today, since his own bond had tried to brain him... he hurriedly decided not to think about that-- she had even gotten a glimpse, through him, of what was going on. And when he hadn't answered her, hadn't even noticed her trying to get an explanation out of him, she'd only gotten more frantic. Some of the shakiness, some of the lingering terror-- that was an echo from her. Now that he noticed, there was a disconcerting amount of anger radiating from the little daemon-dragon, too.

As nice as it was to know that, despite the posturing and sass, Kenjista really did care about him... well, now was not the best time for her to be showing it! Especially not since she was coming. Cacopheny didn't like her-- and now he had a vague inkling why; that thought made him shudder with what memories the half-demon had shared with him-- and if she knew Cacopheny was the one who scared him, the little hatchling might well cause an even worse phobia-association.

I can't even think in little words, he thought absently, trying to gather up his thoughts to send back to Kenjista. ::I'm fine-- I'm fine! You don't need to come, really. Everything's--::

A scrabbling sound came at the door, and Sentio's head whipped around to see it swing open, admitting a fully-mantled, baby-teeth-bared, defensive little Kenjista.

::--fine,:: he finished weakly. "Um, hullo," he said in a small voice as Chario and Akija peered into the room through the half-open door.

Cacopheny went very still for a moment, then his head snapped up as quickly as Sentio's had, colliding with the dragon's tines and making them both wince, and Sentio refold the wings. Then the half-demon's eyes, reddened from his bout of tears, focused on the entry and its occupants, and he sat up hurriedly, spots of embarrassed color coming to the pale skin under his eyes, and scrambled back to the wall, as if that were somehow safer than the middle of the room. Well, it was farther away from a very aggressive-looking Kenjista, so maybe it was. Once there, back to the solid stone, he tried to scrub away the worst of the emotional damage to his face, without success. Sentio cringed a bit in sympathy.

::What happened?!:: Kenjista demanded, slinking towards her bond.

"Nothing," Sentio said quickly. "Everything's fine. Really."

Is it just me, or did that sound terribly, pathetically false? murmured one of the sly, dark voices in Cacopheny's mind. Sentio tried to ignore it, as did Cacopheny.

Apparently Kenjista thought the same thing. She continued her stalk towards Sentio and continued it around him, little eyes narrowed and feathers still bristled as she inspected him from all angles-- berating him as she did so. ::You're a damned awful liar,:: she spat, and Sentio stared at her in shock-- to hear an infant, swearing-- it just seemed wrong! But she continued, and he had to remind himself that she was just a baby, and an unwanted one at that, to keep himself from quailing before the onslaught of agitation. ::Y'scare me half to death flooding me with your fear, ignore me when I try to call back, and when I get here and the room reeks of fear, you try to tell me it's fine?::

As it was, his ears crept back and his head ducked submissively. He didn't want a fight, and he certainly didn't want his bond disturbed any more than he already was! "Well, it's fine, now," he tried to explain meekly, "And I was kind of distracted. I didn't mean to be sending anything to you, honestly." Please, please, just go away, I don't know if Cacopheny can take much more emotion today. Already the half-demon was feeling strained and drained, eyes giving up on the presence that embarrassed him even while he was glad of it-- Akija, maybe?-- to fix on the stalking daemon-kit nervously.

For a moment, Sentio thought he might have mollified her: she peered at him suspiciously, her feathers slowly settling, and she was silent. Having Cacopheny's thoughts and voices in his head was bad enough; he didn't even want to think about peering through Kenjista's bond to him to see what was going on in her head, on top of that. Even so, he should have known better than to suspect that she might let it go at that, but he had hoped. At least she hadn't immediately thought it was Cacopheny's fault.

Then Kenjista snorted and went back to glaring, though this time not at Sentio. In fact, her eyes settled in the worst possible place: on Cacopheny himself. For a moment, Sentio nearly panicked, as if his thought had been wrong and she did know, but apparently it was just that his staring at her was somehow offensive, for she mantled again and snapped, ::What's your problem?::

Cacopheny looked stunned for a moment, a long moment, and his shadow-voices laughed and mocked before he clamped down on the link again, like he had the night before, silencing them for Sentio, at least, and dimming the wildly mixed and varied emotions the half-demon was feeling. Before he could decide on a reaction to Kenjista, though, red from the door distracted both him and Sentio, and both turned their attention to Akija, pacing determinedly across the room. Sentio had an inkling of what she was going to do, and was torn between vicious pleasure that Kenjista was in for it now-- he wasn't entirely sure if it was his own or Cacopheny's-- and guilty indignation for the humiliation she was about to inflict on Kenjista. Not that Kenjista didn't deserve it, of course-- hence the guilty part-- but... well, he wouldn't want anyone doing that to him.... Somehow, that hadn't mattered as much last night, when she was acting more like a baby than she was, now. Or maybe because it was her bond who had done it.

As expected, Akija scooped the unsuspecting and completely surprised daemon hatchling off her feet by the scruff of the neck, rather like Sentio had done the night before. Unlike the night before, though, Kenjista wasn't going to tolerate it. All indignation, guilty or otherwise, went completely out the window as Kenjista started to thrash, flailing all six limbs and yowling furiously. Sentio started forward, just as Chario did from the door, intending to try and separate the two before any damage occurred-- to either one of them!

They were both too late. Akija suddenly dropped her flailing burden with a curse much blacker than Kenjista's earlier, eyes wide and both shocked and outraged, to pop the hand that had held the hatchling into her mouth. Or part of it, anyway. Sentio was just as shocked as she was-- Kenjista bit her??

His shock dispersed immediately into action when he caught a sadly familiar and certainly ominous sound: a low, feral growl, coming from Cacopheny. He gladly let Chario handle Kensjita as he hurried over to his own chosen bond, who was rising and shooting Kenjista a darker look than even Akija had managed yet-- then again, Cacopheny looked a lot more sinister and dangerous than Akija did. ::It's okay, Cacopheny. It's okay. She didn't mean anything. Everything's okay.::

::She bit her!:: The half-demon seemed even more furious than Akija, if that were possible.

"Apologize!" Chario was demanding in the background. "I don't care what she shouldn't have! Don't you ever bite someone! Apologize!"

Too distracted to pay attention to Kenjista's replies, Sentio tried to offer calm sense: ::But she's apologizing, and she won't do it again, I promise!::

::She's too good to be bitten. If she's going to bite someone, let her bite me. I'm the one who's supposed to get bitten, not her. She never bit anyone else.::

Sentio thought Cacopheny might be mixing up his "hers" again... but all he could do now was skew his ears and look befuddled. ::Um, I don't want her to bite you, either, Cacopheny. And she's never bitten anyone before, that I know of....:: That seemed to deflate the half-demon's anger immediately as he blinked, realizing whatever mistake he'd made, and he settled for shooting a glare in Kenjista's direction-- but as she seemed to look contrite enough for him, he didn't do anything else to draw attention to himself. Thankfully. Sentio didn't want to think of what would happen if he actually got angry with the hatchling. 

The thought to actually warn Kenjista not to anger his bond crossed his mind, but then just as quickly was dismissed. Kenjista might be silly enough to actually goad Cacopheny, especially if she thought he could be dangerous, even if just in the misguided thought that she should be protecting Sentio. He knew, now, some of what unnerved Cacopheny about Kenjista, and he didn't trust his bond's mood not to turn nasty, into some twisted sort of revenge on her for what that demon had done to him. Or something. 

::I would try not to,:: Cacopheny's chagrined, though still irritated, thought came to him, as he obviously picked up on that line of thinking. ::I could never harm Her, would never harm Her, but... this one is more helpless. And I hate as much as I love.::

That made Sentio shiver. ::I'll just hope we never, ever see this demon of yours.::

::You should,:: came the simple answer, though the feelings attached were anything but simple. Sentio decided not to think about them.

"Did she getcha bad?" Chario asked Akija, turning away from Kenjista to the older daemon.

"No," Akija answered with a snort. "But next time, I bite back."

You almost didn't have to, this time, 'cuz Cacopheny would have, for you, Sentio thought, and sighed. "I'm sorry she dragged you both here... and then.. did that," he told them, feeling as if he should apologize for her-- this was all his fault, of course, for if not for him, they'd still be home doing whatever they were doing, and Akija's hand wouldn't have been bitten. Not that Kenjista hadn't had some fault in there, too, of course; he cast her one of his better stern-adult looks. "But I'm fine now, really."

Chario nodded agreement, or acknowledgement, or something, while Akija, who had taken her hand out of her mouth to speak, popped it back in. Cacopheny made a little whimpering noise, something that sounded almost like sympathy, and for a moment tensed as if to move-- but then the others were talking again, and Sentio was still quite firmly in his way, not wanting him and Kenjista anywhere near each other. So he stayed put, but Sentio could tell his attention was on Akija's bleeding hand.

"Glad to hear it," Chario was saying, a little vaguely-- probably since he still didn't know what had made Kenjista bolt over, to begin with. But then, neither did Kenjista, but as bad as the whole spectacle with Akija getting bitten was, at least it had distracted people from wanting to know what had really happened. Sentio didn't think Cacopheny would have wanted them to know, for some reason. He certainly wouldn't, if it were him. Actually, even now, he didn't want them to know, as if it would make him as uncomfortable as it might make Cacopheny. It seemed very... private, whatever issues he and his bond had to figure out between them.

"Guess... we'll be going back to breakfast then," Chario continued. Sentio glanced to Cacopheny at his vague disappointment, and thought a moment of inviting them to stay for a little while, only Chario had more to say, and it didn't sound good. "Except... it's... splattered all over the table...." The expression on his face would have been comical if Sentio was in any mood to be laughing. Even Akija looked unhappy. "Uh oh," Chario said, "oh geez, we left them all...."

"Mum's gonna have a fit," Akija muttered, removing her hand again. Sentio could only imagine, with some dismay, what must have happened when Cacopheny had terrified him.

"Oh, man, we gotta go," Chario grimaced, padding hurriedly over to the still-sulking Kenjista and lifting her by the scruff of the neck-- without getting even a token fuss, for once, though she didn't look particularly happy.

Akija paced quickly back to the door and pulled it open again, pausing long enough to give Cacopheny and Sentio a wave with her bitten hand, still leaking a little blood. "Sorry to bust in an' run," she said, trying to sound light, "but yeah, we gotta scram."

For a moment, Cacopheny's brows furrowed, not understanding the words or the tone attached to them. ::She's teasing. Sort of,:: Sentio explained. ::She means she's sorry to have to just barge in and then leave again, but she has to go home.:: He nodded faintly at the explanation, then slid slowly down the wall again to sit against it.

"Issssss all rright," he murmured hoarsely to Akija. "Vill ssee you rater. Later. Sssometime. Ko back to prreakfasst. Ant yourr family. Vill ssee you later."

"Thanks for-- for your concern," Sentio added, feeling warm under his fur with embarrassment, but unable to not at least acknowledge that they'd all come on account of worry for him.

Chario waved absently with a wing, already on his way out. "Right, right, see you later," Akija said, starting out after him, but then she paused, looking thoughtful, then unexpectedly cracked a grin at Cacopheny through the half-shut door. "Rrater," she amended. Cacopheny blinked at her-- Sentio blinked at her, too-- but she didn't have time to laugh at their expressions, giving a surprised little meep, blurting out a quick "Bye!", then quickly shutting the door.

For a moment, both members of the bonded pair left behind stared at the door blankly. This time, Cacopheny was the first to pull himself together-- and, rather unexpectedly, he started to giggle. Just how so rough and deep a voice as his could giggle, Sentio had no idea, but he was doing it somehow. "Later," he said between giggles. "Rater." Then, slipping into demon-speech, he explained laughingly, "A joke. Get it? A joke-- on me." Sentio managed a weak smile for him, not quite able to muster up the cheer-- or the energy!-- for any laughter, himself. He didn't know how Cacopheny was managing it. Maybe that's what Enyi had meant when she'd said he was crazy. On top of the voices, that is.

Finally the laughter died into a sigh, and Cacopheny said, "But at least it was a nice joke."

"At least it was," Sentio agreed tiredly, wondering just how he'd make it through being bonded to both someone like Cacopheny and someone like Kenjista for the rest of his life.... It was certainly going to be interesting.