Ketvia led them to the third door in the short hallway outside, at which she had to shift down to human form-- though the door was taller than any human, it still wasn't tall enough for her impressive height. She triggered a strange device called an "intercom" and with it was somehow able to converse with someone inside and visible on a tiny screen on the device, after which the door split in half, whirring as its halves slid into the walls at either side, letting them proceed down a tiny stretch of the smaller-scale hallway.

There was something like a waiting room set up at the other end, complete with a row of padded chairs along one side, but the man behind a wall-like counter was a security guard rather than a receptionist. The guard recognized Ketvia and needed only a moment to register the guests she was bringing in, during which time Sentio looked over his shoulder, trying to puzzle out how the "intercom" device could have worked without magic. Then, by talking into another intercom of his own, the guard was able to ask around and locate the daemon they sought: Devika.

They stepped into another "lift" that was just past the little entrance-room and had to ride it up three decks to get where they wanted to be.

"This is the Recreations Deck, the highest you're allowed to go if you don't work here," Ketvia said as they stepped out into a hallway that was rather similar to the one they'd left. It had the same fifteen-foot ceiling and was close to the same in width, but wasn't nearly as sterile. The metal floor was now carpeted and there were framed posters and pictures along the walls, decorating the otherwise empty space between many doorways. The hall echoed with the sounds of the people tucked away in the unseen rooms, like a muffled buzzing of conversation that made Sentio feel like someone was looking over his shoulder.

"Cafeteria's also on this deck," Ketvia added, as she squinted thoughtfully at a small diagram on the wall beside the lift. It was a grid-work of long lines and fat squares, and could only have been a map of the deck. "This ship is really just a giant house for all the crew, and this deck has pretty much everything they could want to pass the time. And our friend Devika is… this way!"

Ketvia led them on, and Akija glanced into the rooms they passed. The doors were all open, and each passing gave a glimpse of scenes that were a bizarre mix of familiar and alien: a table laid with cards and surrounded by boisterous men and women, from humans to creatures so fantastic they made the wildest daemon look boring; people gathered around food-laden tables that appeared to be waitered by floating, tentacled orbs; a comradely group gathered around a holo just like the one at Aedelian's house, but bigger. Sentio felt more than a little overwhelmed by it all.

They walked what had to have been the equivalent of a city block or two before Ketvia found the room she sought, and stuck her head in. Akija craned her neck trying to see, but the angle was wrong. She could hear a pair of voices, however.

" … Mummy, I don't know why you avoid him so. He's such a sweetie, I know you'd love him if you didn't pretend to be blind each time he passes you," purred one, cajoling and somehow juvenile and adult at the same time.

"I'd be happier if you stayed away as well as he does," growled the other in return.

"But then you'd never have any fun! And-- oh, look! The little Avengaeans must be here. Hello, Ketvia. Your kitlings still alive and well?"

"I should hope so," Ketvia replied, a little more gruffly than usual. Sentio could see why: the first speaker, an anthropomorphic dragon with black and red fur and glowing eyes, made the hair on the back of his neck stand up with nervousness. There was something about her that just made him want to back away and hope she didn't notice him. Cacopheny, though, didn't seem to notice her at all: he was entirely focused on the second individual, staring in confusion, and once Sentio noticed her, he stared, as well. If someone had taken Kenjista and Akija, and smooshed their appearances together, that woman would probably be what you'd get. It was like someone had taken Akija's colors, pattern, and attitude, and plastered them on a bonder daemon's body, only bipedal. It was... it was... weird!

"Everybody, this is Fantredala and Devika," Ketvia continued, voice slipping back into amusement. She must have met this person before-- no wonder she'd thought it funny! "Devika, Akija here wanted to meet you. Curious about the daemon behind the doctor, it seems."

Akija finally managed to get around the taller two in front of her, then, and when she did was marked by her sudden stop as she laid eyes on her bonder-daemon-twin. Sentio hadn't torn his own gaze away from the pair yet to see her expression, but he heard her short, disbelieving gasp, and knew she was probably more shocked than he was. Even the Akija-twin looked startled, her feathers fluffing and mantling like Kenjista's did when she was surprised or angry.

The black one's eyes went wide with undisguised delight. "Mummy-Devika-dearest!" she exclaimed-- so she had to be Fantredala-- turning towards the Bonder daemon with a rustle of black and red feathers as she clasped her clawed hands. "You've got another one! Named Akija, did you hear? Oh, Mummy, you really must change your name, you're breaking the pattern!"

Devika managed to lay her feathers flat and glare at Fantredala, and Cacopheny was tense beside Sentio, who wasn't sure what to do or say. Akija was the first one to manage something, merely stuttering, "B-Bergez?"

Devika's own yellow eyes met hers again and the Bonder dropped her head in a curt nod. "My mother. If you know her, then clearly you were her inspiration. Devil-cat, indeed…."

"D-devil-cat?" Akija squawked; Sentio didn't have any idea what she meant. What was a devil? "More… copy-cat!"

The Bonder daemon momentarily fluffed again, leaning on a counter at the back of the room where she stood, but didn't respond. But the glee in Fantredala's eyes was downright predatory and she stepped for closer examination. "That almost makes you my grand-mummy-dearest!"

Fantredala's second step closer and expression was met instantly by a growl from Cacopheny, who deftly side-stepped Sentio's nervous attempt to step on his foot to make him stop without even taking his eyes from the... whatever she was. Apparently the wickedly amused tone and approach was enough to distract him from an Akija-look-a-like and focus on the second character again.

"Uh, that's Cacopheny," Ketvia explained. "He's a little over-protective. Be nice, mutt, you're a guest."

Though he might have ducked submissively in the past, apparently Cacopheny was out of the habit of obeying the Fire dragon, for he ignored her, glaring warningly at Fantredala. In turn, she only clucked her tongue in her beaklike muzzle, half-turning to look back at Devika with her eyes half-lidded. "Now isn't that sweet, Mummy? She's got a Valentine all of her own."

The comment meant nothing to Sentio, but it clearly meant something to Devika, for the Bonder stood upright again and strode purposefully across the room. "Can't you find someone better to torment today?"

"Better than this little creature? Mummy, you jest. I should go get her great-grandson! Or that mutt from the Hatchings Ministry? Or even that charming, little whorling envoy that's always about the ship…."

Suddenly Devika had interposed herself between Akija and Fantredala-- a good thing, because Sentio had been starting to worry that Cacopheny might do something rach-- facing the black creature with her wings half-spread. "Torment me all you like, Fantredala," she growled through sharp teeth, "but harass the Destiny's guests and I will see to it that Schroeder kicks you out himself!"

For a flash of a moment, the black creature's expression seemed to be a delighted leer, but then there was only a smirk on her face as she took a step back, conceding the battle. "Very well, Mummy-dearest. There's more than one way to skin a devil-cat." And with that statement hanging in the air, Fantredala simply... vanished.

Fantredala's disappearance caused Cacopheny's steady-- and, by that point, growing-- growl to break off with a startled, wordless whine. Sentio thought he heard a laugh coming faintly down the corridor, and he wasn't the only one: Cacopheny spun around, and it was only Sentio quickly grabbing for his elbow and hanging on tight-- and then Ketvia's sturdy form blocking his way-- that kept him charging down the corridor after the... whatever she was. ::She's already gone,:: Sentio told him silently. ::Chasing after her isn't going to do anything.::

To his surprise, Cacopheny was shaking faintly. ::I do not like her,:: came the vehement but equally silent response.

::Yeah, kinda Kenjista-ish, isn't she?:: Sentio agreed, making a face. Cacopheny didn't respond to that, he just turned back to the room and the conversation in it, rubbing at his arms as if he were cold.

"I'm not going to be stupid enough to ask if you're all right," Devika was saying, and the look she was giving Akija, though not kind exactly, was at least sympathetic. "And I bet you're not at all interested in 'the daemon behind the doctor' anymore, hm?"

Chario looked a little pale despite the ruddy color of his skin. "Is that-- Fantredala-- is she dangerous? That-- what she... said last...."

"No," Devika answered, sighing, and a little tension left the room in the form of Cacopheny relaxing at least a little, though he still looked a little haunted, peering through a few loose strands of hair at the Bonder daemon. "But she lives only for her own entertainment, and cares nothing for the feelings of others in her games. But her words are only that: words. She's an overgrown and heartless child."

"She is Kenjista," Sentio muttered under his breath, and Cacopheny managed a little cough of forced amusement.

Akija found her voice then, lowly muttering a very creative description of just what she thought of Fantredala. Sentio blushed at some of the words she used. A smirk flickered at the edges of Devika's muzzle. "Yes, she's that, too."

"I just hope we don't see her again," Ketvia rumbled from just outside in the corridor, where she still stood in case Cacopheny made another run for it. "That's one good thing about leaving this place behind. Sorry, Akija, I hadn't thought she'd be here, or I would've waited a bit."

"Unfortunately, Fantredala is always the last place you want her to be," Devika answered dryly, eyes moving to Ketvia a moment, and then returning to Akija. Her gaze measured her "predecessor" for a moment, just before she held out a black paw-hand. "Well, look at it this way, kid," Sentio tried not to gape at someone obviously younger than Akija calling her "kid". Not even Kenjista dared that one. "If Bergez saw fit to-- to drawn inspiration from you, it's really a compliment of sorts. A mighty odd one, but nonetheless…."

"Given I met her all of maybe once… 'nice colors' is about it," Akija answered, still muttering, staring at Devika's outstretched hand. She finally took it and, though they did not shake, their mutual clasp wasn't hostile.

"May your life never again be as interesting as this day," she stated, her eyes moving to each of Akija's companions in turn-- Sentio shrank in on himself a little, but Cacopheny, surprisingly, didn't-- and ending on Ketvia for a moment that held briefly. Ketvia simply nodded once, then the Bonder daemon turned away and went back to the other side of the room, returning to whatever it was she had been doing before they'd arrived.

Sentio, for one, was glad the meeting wasn't prolonged any further. As Akija turned around again, he tried to grin at her, but it came out sheepish. Asuka only knew what Cacopheny's expression was like. Akija herself looked like she was trying, and failing, to shrug the encounter off. She finally settled for, "I'm... tired now. Everybody else ready to go back to Aedelian's?"

"Yesssss," Cacopheny hissed with obvious relief.

"Sounds good to me," Sentio agreed.

Chario gave Akija his arm to lean on-- she looked like she needed it, too-- while Ketvia turned and led the way back out of the ship. To Sentio's vague surprise, as he turned around to follow, Akija brushed the back of his neck with her fingers. He looked up and grinned a bit at her, and the grin turned into a real smile-- albeit small-- when the rest of Cacopheny's tension started fading out of him as soon as her hand tucked into the crook of his elbow again.

The group who left the Abstract Destiny moments later was much more subdued than the group who'd arrived, but Sentio just hoped that Devika's well-wishing for a "less interesting" afternoon would hold true.