There were times when the saying "it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission" was particularly apt, and on the subject of moving Cacopheny into the manor inside the city dome, Sentio thought it not only apt, but necessary. Given how rarely his parents were home together and with enough time for them to spare him for his explanations and pleadings-- they'd only been home at the same time twice in the past two months, in fact, and only seen him one of those times; it had been another somewhat stilted affair, for they had invited Cacopheny expressly again, as if afraid of being deemed impolite-- waiting for another of those times would have taken too long. Cacopheny's restlessness and discomfort were getting worse, and his temper was fraying as a result; that Sentio's nervousness around him had worsened again wasn't helping matters. Giving them both some space was the only thing they could think of to possibly ease the situation, and the manor was the only place they would get that space.

So as soon as Cacopheny told him that Aloia thought it was a good idea-- and that he'd had the courage to even tell her, which Sentio knew he'd been privately warring with himself over-- they set about bundling their things up for the move. Cacopheny had more things than Sentio, given that most of Sentio's belongings were still at the manor. Sentio only had a few personal items-- fur brush, tail comb, a couple books and his favorite, tattered old blanket, which he'd kept quite hidden from Kenjista lest she make fun of him for it-- but Cacopheny had the bulk of the room, thanks to Ketvia and Chiya's parting gifts. Even all rolled up, folded carefully, and put into bags, it was more than the pair of them could carry themselves.

There was, however, the faithful trio with whom Sentio and Cacopheny spent most of their social time with, and Akija, Chario, and Kenjista came along to help. Well, Akija and Chario came along to help; they were lucky when Kenjista didn't manage to get in the way and get tripped on, usually with a loud protest of her own. Even so, it took them two trips, because none of them were as large and strong as Ketvia had been, to carry so much of it herself, to begin with. Walking down the streets of Sanctuary burdened with rugs, quilts, clothes, and other random personal items was actually a rather odd feeling, but Akija and Chario chattered so cheerfully that Sentio managed to enjoy himself, anyway. Even Kenjista seemed friendly, as if this were some kind of exciting adventure. It might even have been, for her, given she'd never seen Sentio's real home before. From now on she'd be coming there on her visits, instead of the cozy but cramped room at the bonding complex-- which Aloia assured them still belonged to them, in case they needed it. Sentio privately thought they might, in case Cacopheny's mental state deteriorated over the course of a school day rather than showing itself before they had to leave.

Of them all, only Cacopheny was silent during the two trips across the city. He was saying even less than usual lately, withdrawing into himself and with only the distant echoes of shadow-speech coming to Sentio through their mostly-blocked bond. That worried Sentio, when he was honest with himself-- which, if he was honest with himself, he wasn't very often, because when it came to Cacopheny, honesty was hard. He'd only known the half-demon two months and a few days now, but it seemed to him that for a while, he was actually starting to open up, talk, learn how to be friendly once in a while. Now it seemed like he was backsliding again, for no reason anyone could understand.

If, of course, he'd ever actually changed at all. Every now and then, Sentio had the uncomfortable thought that his bond had just been pretending, trying to make himself seem more normal, pushing himself to seem better, while his actual self hadn't changed, improved, or even considered improving at all. And now the farce was becoming too difficult to maintain and was fraying at the edges, splintering to reveal the truth. Even if it had been for Sentio's sake-- which he suspected it had been, if it were true at all-- it still felt like he was being lied to, and it hurt. It was one more point of mistrust between them, one more to add to the list, and that felt so wrong that Sentio didn't want to think about it. So he didn't, and whenever the thought returned, he distracted himself.

Like that day as they moved, when he had plenty to distract himself with. First, he had to reassure the anxious Air dragon butler, Cibran, that Cacopheny wasn't going to murder the staff in their beds or run naked and wild through the house. Cibran seemed just as concerned about the latter as the former; sometimes he could be as much of a prude as any Light dragon. Then he had to be convinced that Akija and Kenjista weren't going to steal away all his magic; Cacopheny stopped that argument almost before it began with a low growl for even the thought that Akija might be unwelcome. Cibran scuttled off almost immediately after that to "spread the news" of the new inhabitant, or more likely to warn the rest of the skeleton staff to avoid Cacopheny's new room.

Then, Akija and Chario, and thus Kenjista, refused to leave until everything was set up to everyone's liking in Cacopheny's new room, just down the hall from Sentio's in the last guest room in the hall. It didn't take very long, with four of them pitching in, though there were a few moments of bickering when they couldn't agree on where to put something. No one paid any attention to Kenjista's suggestions and criticisms from the doorway-- Cacopheny had expressly forbidden her to step within his own, personal space, and Sentio really couldn't blame him-- and Cacopheny himself didn't really add much in the way of opinion, despite it being his own room. All he seemed to care about was that the bed be removed, which it was, and that he set up his own little nest in the farthest corner from the door. Since as soon as he could chase them all out, after they were finished, he holed himself up inside for several hours, Sentio had to assume he found it at least satisfactory. He certainly had been pleased to discover that the room had its own bathroom with entirely modern magical plumbing, anyway.

So now they lived alone in a giant house, which they explored together for perhaps an hour a day, about as long as Cacopheny was comfortable with, for though Sentio knew it well, Cacopheny didn't, and he was more interested in just spending time with his bond than sitting in his room doing nothing, alone. It was something they could do together. They tried not to frighten the human staff who whispered about demons and vampires, whatever those were, whenever Cacopheny was about, but sometimes they couldn't help it. Cacopheny all but melted out of the shadows once in front of one, quite on accident, and both of them found the poor girl's expression as funny as they did disturbing, and laugher won out. It was one of the few times Cacopheny had laughed over the past two months, and though it wasn't exactly a pretty sound, at least it meant he could still laugh.

Things went on fairly unchanged for about a week, which was when Sentio's mother Humain came home and found herself "bombarded", Sentio heard her exclaim, with the scent of demon. Sentio had, fortunately, been home at the time, so he could at least try to explain. He was confronted with the simple, if illusion-shattering, fact that Humain was not a particularly brave dragoness, for all she could be suave and charming with the best of them, and the thought that a demon, half or otherwise, was living with them gave her a perpetual, anxious shudder. She ignored or brushed off or didn't even hear Sentio's assurances that she was perfectly safe until she managed to summon her mate home, bombarding him with repeated sendings of panic and emergency. When Alder finally made it home, expecting to have to do battle in his own house, Sentio was waiting for him. It was, to say the least, not the way Sentio would have liked to have broached the subject.

But it was what he had, so he had to make do.