A mere two hours after Chiya and Ketvia had made their final farewell, it had finally gotten to be too much. Kenjista had pestered him off and on all day that she'd missed him, she wanted to see him, she was alone with a pack of uncouth, horrible, oppressive daemons-- somehow, he highly doubted that description was accurate-- and it had gotten progressively worse ever since she'd sensed that their company had left. He finally had to give in and promise they'd come get her-- first thing after breakfast the following morning. That had given them plenty of time to prepare for Kenjista's first stay at Cacopheny's little room at the bonding complex. Now, he wasn't really sure if having so much time was such a good thing. It hadn't taken them very long to make up two of the beds into one big bed, or, it hadn't taken Sentio long to do the job, since Cacopheny refused to touch the furniture. It hadn't taken much longer than that to hang the two tapestries and roll out the two rugs. After that, though, all the half-demon could do was brood and wait, and Sentio didn't think brooding was very good for him.

Morning had finally come, though, and all through breakfast, Kenjista had sent him happy, imperious, impatient demands for him to hurry up. Just like her. Sentio didn't think Cacopheny heard them; either she didn't echo across the magical link between them, Cacopheny was a better actor than Sentio thought he was, or, least likely of all, Cacopheny had miraculously gotten over his discomfort with her. The last was too much to even speculate, so he was just glad that, though Cacopheny's weren't, Sentio's little "shadow" was private. He only hoped that she wouldn't ruin the delicate-seeming truce he and his chosen-bond had finally come to.

So, breakfast finished and Cacopheny as ready as he would ever be, they set out together out of the bonding complex and courtyard, towards the buildings that had grown past the dome of the city itself to sprawl across the valley beyond it. Neither of them had ever been to Akija's home before, but with Kenjista fairly radiating excited impatience, it wasn't hard to find. Sentio led the way up the front walk to knock politely at the door, Cacopheny hanging back just a little, wearing one of the new sets of clothing Chiya and Ketvia had provided him with, hair carefully pulled back.

There was a surprisingly short interval of waiting before the door came open and Kenjista shot out the moment there was room for her. Sentio found, to his mild embarrassment, that she had ducked around his forepaws and was winding herself around his wrists like a cat. Unless he was much mistaken, that little rumbling chirrup was even a purr. "Um, hi, Kenjista," he said softly to her.

The door came the rest of the way open, revealing Akija, who grinned at him and Cacopheny. "Aha!" she exclaimed lightly. "Maybe now she'll finally shut up!" This earned a delicate little snort from Kenjista before she went back to enthusiastically proving to Sentio that she'd missed him. He thought he might be beet red under his fur.

Akija stepped back, holding the door open. "You guys wanna come in for a bit an' rest yer feet?" she invited.

Though Sentio was a little anxious to get back to familiar territory-- he wasn't the most social of dragons, after all, and he didn't know any daemons very well, for all he didn't think they were the evil of evils, as many others thought-- Cacopheny was even more anxious to get out from under the open air for a while, and a rest probably would do him well. Though the half-demon could go mighty fast over short distances, he really wasn't up to a lot of walking, Sentio had discovered, to his chagrin. So, Sentio agreed, "Sure, thank you."

The pair, led by Kenjista who pranced contentedly ahead of Sentio, followed their host inside, into a combination living room and kitchen. To one side, a very tall-- very tall; Sentio had never seen anyone that tall before-- powerful-looking daemoness was up to all four elbows in soapy water, presumably washing dishes. At the table sat a much smaller, more slender daemon with one horn on his forehead, Chario on a stool at the end, waving a wing in welcome, and a younger, scaled daemon-boy with a rather large book. Akija introduced everyone who needed introducing, "Mum, Pop, these're the guys I toldja 'bout, Cacoph'ny an' Sentio. Guys, that's my mum, Chaith," the four-armed behemoth at the sink, "my pop, Deiv," the one-horned older daemon at the table, smiling benignly at them, "and my bro' Aeta," the boy with the book, who was staring over the edge of his book at Cacopheny. "You remember Aeta, right, Coffee?" Akija added.

At the mangled sound of his name, Cacopheny came out of whatever mild stupor he'd been in-- the sight of Chaith, half a foot taller than him and probably twice as heavy, was apparently something of a shock to him-- and blinked at Akija once before pulling up a smile. He nodded before looking over at Aeta, catching the boy's stare and looking away again fairly quickly, flushing just a little. "Yes," he agreed. "I rrrrrememper."

"A pleasure to meet you, boys," Chaith said from the sink, smiling at them both as if one wasn't a dragon and the other not a half-demon. Sentio had to swallow a smile at the thought of towering Cacopheny being called one of "the boys"; but then, she was even more towering than he was, and maybe she just called anyone shorter than she "boy" or "girl". Which would, he assumed, be anyone not in full, adult dragon form. 

"Indeed!" Deiv added, absently brushing hair back from his face. "Do come, sit, take a load off! There's plenty of room, and we won't bite if you don't." Aeta, opposite him, finally tore his eyes off Cacopheny to roll them at his father.

"Well, we're not planning on biting," Sentio replied with a polite smile, "so I expect we're all safe." He trotted over and climbed carefully up onto the bench beside Deiv. He was tall, but he was lanky and thin, so it didn't do so much as creak under his weight. That Chaith woman probably weighed more than he did, anyway. Kenjista scrambled up beside him, brushing his haunches with her feathers, then continued up onto the table and settled there contentedly. It was a different sort of sensation, feeling her being content.

Cacopheny drifted a few steps after him, then looked around a moment as if, standing in the middle of the room, without the comforting presence of a wall behind him, he felt too exposed. To his credit, though, he just took a careful breath, sighed it out, and continued a few more steps, to the very edge of the table on Aeta's side, and very gently lowered himself to sit, as if he didn't quite trust the bench. Or simply wasn't used to sitting on something, which, it suddenly came to Sentio, he might not be. Every time he'd seen the demon sit, it had been on the floor.

::Doing okay?:: he asked.

::Yes... their shadows are silent, except for that one.:: There came a fuzzy mental picture of Deiv, with a shadow that hummed and murmured, though the sound was unlike any shadow-sound Cacopheny usually heard. How Sentio knew that, he wasn't sure, but he guessed it had just come along with the thought and image.

Akija dropped into the space between Cacopheny and her brother, giving the latter a light whack on the back of the head, startling him out of his staring. Sentio tried hard not to giggle, though he was grateful for Akija for that: Cacopheny was not at all comfortable being stared at. Now that he was free of that unwanted attention, though, he frowned faintly at the items on the table, apparently listening to whatever magic Deiv was working with them, or to Deiv's shadow, the only daemon-shadow in the room "making noise", or whatever it was doing.

"Would you boys like anything to drink after your walk?" Chaith asked, setting aside some of the dishes to try and getting a towel to dry off her quartet of hands on. "We've got sweet-tea and fruit juice in the 'fridge, if you'd like."

Since Cacopheny was quite distracted now, Sentio answered for him, smiling his thanks to the massive woman. "Sweet-tea, if that's all right," he said. He rather liked the stuff, himself, though he didn't know if Cacopheny did. "Um, fruit juice for him, I suppose. Cacopheny-- hey, Cacopheny?" The half-demon pulled his attention back and blinked at him. "Fruit juice okay?"

"Yess, yess, isss fine," he answered distractedly.

"All righty," Chaith nodded, drying her hands and going to a wall-mounted cabinet for some glasses.

"Akija, quick," Deiv said, tossing something across the table. Cacopheny reared back a little in surprise, blinking as Akija caught the item, a pendant. "What'd I miss?" the older daemon asked.

"Didn't finish the link 'tween the trigger an' the source again," Akija sighed after a moment of squinting at the pendant a moment, tossing it back to him. "Geez, Pop, I recognize that by now, all right?"

"Just keeping you on your toes," Deiv defended himself, chuckling, and he leaned slyly towards Sentio, who wasn't sure whether to lean back in response or not. He settled for not. "See that little metal disk burned into the table there?" the daemon said conspiratorially, "Used to be a rather nice copper ring, before Akija stopped paying attention to what she was doing." Sentio blinked a bit, looking from the table to Deiv and back again before he realized that Deiv must be teaching his daughter in the making of pent'd artifacts. Akija, who obviously had yet to hear the end of that particular mistake, groaned, while Chario chuckled.

Cacopheny, though, frowned further, giving Deiv a dark look-- a mildly dark look, if one knew that the half-demon habitually glowered, but Sentio hoped Deiv wouldn't get too unnerved by it-- and went to pick up the nearest item for his own inspection. No one stopped him, and Deiv seemed unperturbed by his expression, but he only held it a brief moment before dropping it-- literally dropping it-- back onto the table, shaking his fingers lightly and scowling at the offending object, a gaudy silver ring. 

Before Sentio would ask what was wrong, Chaith set down two glasses, one in front of him and the other in front of Cacopheny. "There you go," she said with a very motherly sort of smile, for such an imposing creature.

"Thank you," Sentio said quickly. Cacopheny didn't even seem to notice.

"Don't think he likes yer taste in jewlery, Pop," Akija smirked, flicking the ring back where it belonged, with the other items.

"Not ssssssssat," Cacopheny hissed as softly as his raspy voice ever got. "It feelsss all... sstrantch." He rubbed at his fingers where the ring had touched, then examined them. "Not... rrrrright. Not. Not. Rrrrr. No vorts, no vorts for it."

"Weeeell," Akija drawled, tilting her head in thought, "S'not a normal ring, if'n that's whatcha mean. Pop's puttin' magic in it, though th'magic ain't done yet."

"Mebbe," Cacopheny muttered. "It felt-- it felt--" He lapsed into demon-speech for a rapid explanation, making Sentio-- and Chario, at the other end of the table-- wince lightly, and Sentio dutifully translated.

"It felt unfinished." He frowned, not understanding but trying to put what he could into terms he could translate. "Discordant." That was a nice word, discordant. "Like-- what?" He frowned at his bond; translating was hard work, he decided. "Like a very angry shadow, only without a voice, like the bonding sound, kind of," Cacopheny repeated, as Sentio translated again. "It even made his fingers feel strange to touch it."

"Is that so?" Deiv remarked, looking very interested. "Well, it certainly was unfinished, though I don't know anything about shadows. Must be a demon thing...." The last was murmured idly, but Cacopheny cringed a little, anyway. Sentio would have tried to pat his arm, but Kenjista, dozing boredly on the tabletop, was in the way-- actually, Sentio was just grateful that the little daemon-dragon was being quiet and easily ignorable. Her presence, so far, seemed to not be bothering Cacopheny at all.

Deiv picked up a copper bracelet from among the collection on the table and offered it to Cacopheny, who eyed it with no little suspicion. "This one's actually finished," the daemon artificer said with a somewhat troubled expression, "Would you tell me, does it feel the same? I'd hate to think my magic feels angry when it's all done."

"Not-- angkry," Cacopheny said haltingly, brows knitted. "Like zzhadowss when sssey arrrre angkry. Iss diff'rent. Isss. Buzzzzzingk, mebbe?" He glanced to Sentio, who shrugged.

"Vibration?"

Cacopheny nodded a few times. "Mebbe. Rots-- lotsss noisse, lots sssssss," he waved one hand jerkily, imitating what he "heard" with a snake-like hiss, then continued, "No sssssssssensse. Sssiss von. Zzzho. Soun'sss not ssso mutch...." And, finally, he got up the nerve to touch the bracelet, just resting his fingers on it, and nodded again. "Yess... more-- more--" He glanced to Sentio, saying one word, which he translated as, "Humming."

"Like a pure tone," Sentio explained, "instead of hissing. I guess." This was fascinating-- not only could his bond hear thoughts through "shadows", he could also "hear" magic and gauge its state by the way it sounded to him. It was a rather enviable talent.

"Fascinating!" Deiv exclaimed lightly, putting the bracelet back down and looking much relieved. "Never known anyone with an ear like that," he mused, holding up another item and examining it thoughtfully.

"Hey, Cacopheny?" The half-demon looked around a moment as if confused, then he caught Aeta looking at him again, leaning forward to see past Akija, and blinked.

"Yesssss?"

"Kin I ask ya somethin', too?" the younger daemon-child asked shyly, toying with a silver chain around his neck.

Cacopheny blinked again, looking a little flustered and even a little embarrassed by all this attention, but nodded. The boy slipped the chain off and passed it, via Akija, over to Cacopheny, who stared at it without making a move to touch it. "Is that really a demon tooth, can you tell?"

"I thought you were sure it was, already," Akija smirked, but Aeta didn't deign to reply.

For a moment, Sentio held his breath, watching Cacopheny as he watched the tooth swinging lazily from its chain in Akija's grasp. He didn't know exactly what his bond was feeling, Cacopheny had blocked off his side of their link again, but the utterly blank expression on Cacopheny's face didn't bode well. However, after a moment of silence, the half-demon just nodded and looked away without saying anything, panicking, or blowing up. Sentio was impressed. He was even more impressed when Cacopheny actually answered after another moment, perfectly calmly, "Yesss. Sssssame size asss Hisssssss vere. Sssame. Ssame. Zzhadow to it. Olt, ssso. Not not not from anyssssingk. New."

"Hah!" Aeta exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear and punching his sister's shoulder playfully. "Toldja!"

"Okay, okay, you win that one!" Akija cackled, tossing the loop of chain over Aeta's single horn. The boy squawked in protest as the pendant dropped into his face and gave her arm another punch. Akija's only response then was to tousle his hair and then turn back to Cacopheny, giggling, "You jus' made his day." She gave him a light, playful nudge with her wing, making him twitch lightly, though not as violently as he had in the past, and jerk his eyes from their unfocused gaze across the room to Akija beside him. He even smiled a little. Sentio really was proud of him; maybe he was getting used to all this.

"Where'd you get a demon tooth, anyway?" Sentio asked Aeta, curious. Cacopheny gave him a look that said he, for one, would rather not know, but it was too late, now.

"Found it in our stream!" Aeta exclaimed, after a brief blink of surprise, presumably at being asked a question. "Washed up somewhere or other, an' I stepped on it a looooong time ago. Got the scar t'prove it an' everythin'." He looked immensely proud of himself, and Sentio tried hard not to giggle. Being proud of stepping on a demon tooth didn't really make sense, but hey, to each their own.

Then a thought occurred to him. "What stream? I mean, I hope it's not too close-- I wouldn't want to think about demons being so close to Sanctuary."

"Vass. Olt," Cacopheny said with a shrug. "No teemonsss. Here, now." The way he glanced at the tooth briefly, and then the door, added an unspoken "I hope" to that.

"Pfft!" Aeta said, waving a hand dismissively. "'Course there's no demons. Me an' 'keej been goin' out there fer years an never meet anythin' aside from trees. S'about... whacha think, 'keej, mile out?"

"Not too far," Akija clarified with a shrug. "S'out in the woods. We go out there all the time t'hang out. S'our little spot." She shared a grin with Aeta, and Sentio sighed a little with relief.

For a moment, there was a bit of silence, then Sentio, not wanting the conversation to die already, piped up, "Um, so you guys go out a lot, then."

Akija nodded. "Sure do. We go out to play, to relax, to get away from the city--"

"--to get away from their chores...."

"Pop!" Akija exclaimed.

"Only kidding," Deiv said with a chuckle, not looking up from his work.

Sentio chuckled, but Cacopheny was looking between Deiv and Akija with an completely unreadable expression, almost as if he were puzzled, but not quite. Sentio couldn't think of a way to describe it, but he didn't think it boded particularly well. Odd expressions for Cacopheny weren't usually to be ignored. ::Hey,:: he asked quickly, ::What is it?::

::Ah. Nothing... I just... is this what-- parents are like?::

Sentio stared a moment at Cacopheny before blinking. ::Uh, some, I guess....:: He kept forgetting that "parents", for Cacopheny, were people who raped and tortured, not teased....

"Oh, don't mind him," Akija said with a snicker, noticing Cacopheny's expression. "He's always like this."

"Not always," Deiv protested with a smile. "Only usually." Akija shook her head, still smirking, and gave Sentio and Cacopheny a helpless, amused shrug.

Kenjista, however, was not as amused. She lifted her head and looked around the table a moment before fixing Sentio with a hard, impatient stare, rustling her wings into the pause in conversation and saying, ::Can we go yet? Uh, please?::

Sentio wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or relieved. Small talk wasn't one of Sentio's strong points; he simply wasn't particularly social, and besides, he hadn't been able to just banter with his father in months, and he wasn't really interested in being jealous, but it would probably happen if he stuck around much longer. He was gratified, though, that she'd at least said please. "If you like," he told her diffidently. He just hoped that she wouldn't think Cacopheny's single room a poor substitute for the daemons' home.

As though he had completely forgotten Kenjista's presence, Cacopheny's head turned sharply to fix her with a stare of his own. Thinking to head off some kind of confrontation, any kind of confrontation really, Sentio scooped her up easily-- she was so small!-- and settled her on his shoulders, hopping down from the bench in the process. Kenjista seemed quite content with her new perch; certainly content enough to ignore Cacopheny.

"I'm impressed," Akija said dryly, smirking. "I think she act'lly went fifteen minutes without a peep, there." She got a brief scowl from the daemon-dragon for her troubles, which was ignored as she stood up and stepped backwards over the bench.

For a moment Cacopheny remained seated, looking first at Akija, then Kenjista, then Deiv, then Akija again, as if his attention span simply wasn't long enough to focus on any of them for long. Then, with a jerky kind of motion, he stood up, and, in the attempt to mimic Akija's smooth escape from the confines of table and bench, tripped, tangled up his own long legs, and ended up on his rear on the floor behind the bench, some of his hair slipping free to hide his face. Sentio cringed a bit in sympathy and embarrassment. At least he hadn't overturned the thing and sent Aeta flying, as well....

Everyone was staring at Cacopheny now, from the table, from beside the table, even Chaith from the kitchen had turned away from her dishes. Akija grimaced, hands out in a belated attempt to try and catch the half-demon. "Geez, you okay?" she exclaimed.

"Goodness, you poor thing!" Chaith rumbled before Cacopheny could gather enough wit to reply. "Here, let me help you," the massive daemoness said, taking his arm and hoisting him bodily to his feet again. Cacopheny scrambled a bit to get firm footing and then away from Chaith, yanking free as soon as her grip loosened and then backing hurriedly to the door, panting a bit.

"It's okay," Sentio tried to soothe, but the instant he took a step closer to his bond, Cacopheny shook his head rapidly, casting a furtive look at Kenjista on his back, and made an obvious, concerted effort at looking halfway normal. All he managed was looking cornered and embarrassed. Kenjista started to snigger, and Sentio was quite prepared to buck her off his back like an angry horse-- he'd seen that happen once, it was actually kind of funny to see-- but apparently Chario had gotten to her first, for she fell silent immediately, casting a look over her shoulder at the little Fire.

"Sssssssorry," Cacopheny hissed softly, leaning on the wood of the door and staring fixedly at the floor in front of Akija.

"Wha' for?" Akija asked, hands on her hips, head cocked, wearing a grin, like usual. Did nothing phase that daemon? Well, if not, then at least she'd get along with Cacopheny, who gave her a flicker of a glance at her words. "You didn't do anythin'." Then, following his gaze to her feet, she grinned more and ducked her head, as if trying to get back in his line of sight, and said playfully, "An' my shadow still doesn't talk, sorry."

At that, Cacopheny looked back up at her for more than a glance, and, embarrassed and reluctant though it was, smiled back. "Ant ssssat. Iss koot," he said haltingly. "No ap-ap-apolozjiess. For ssssat."

"Well, good!" Akija exclaimed cheerily, beaming as she straightened again. "See, then? Nobody needs to be sayin' sorry fer anythin'. S'all good all 'round."

All good all around or not, Sentio thought that maybe it was time to go. The rest of the family was still staring at Cacopheny, and Cacopheny's gaze was resolutely on Akija, as if that way he could ignore everyone else. And Sentio was feeling decidedly uncomfortable, himself. "I guess we'll be going, then," he said shyly.

Akija nodded, and the rest of the family finally gave up staring, going back to their own little tasks again. "Well, it was nice meeting you, fellas," Deiv said from the table, smiling.

Chaith seconded with a nod. "Don't be strangers now, hear?"

For a moment, Sentio got a hint of bitter, disappointed amusement from Cacopheny's side of the bond, and emotion that seemed rather counter to the daemoness' invitation. Then the half-demon smiled faintly, not agreeing or disagreeing, and slipped out the door somehow without another word. Sentio grinned over at the daemon family. "Thank you for the drinks," he said, even though Sentio had only had a few sips and Cacopheny didn't even seem to have noticed his. "See you later." And with that, he hurried to catch up to his bond, Kenjista clinging to his fur.