It was, in many ways, a relief to think that they'd be going home soon. Star City had been fascinating, yes, and visiting with Aedelian and his family had been fun. Being able to spend most of his time in a dragon's body rather than a human's was nice, and seeing Chiya and Ketvia's kits hatching-- their many, many, many kits hatching-- had been amazing. But really, there was nowhere Cacopheny liked as much as being home, and he was very ready, by the day after the hatching-- their fifth day away-- to go back.

However, it was also amazing how far across the apartment their things had gotten....

In the midst of the whole group of guests packing up again, Cacopheny approached Vyly hesitantly-- Aedelian was busy re-rolling sleeping bags-- and looked up at her a little nervously. She took a minute to notice him down there, but when she did, lowered her head to his level politely. ::Yes?::

"Um. I vas vonteringk.... Ssssat drink. Sssat Aedelian makes effry morningk. Vat is it?"

::That drink-- what? Coffee?::

Cacopheny blinked at her. "Vat?"

::Coffee,:: Vyly repeated, blinking back.

"Yes? Vat?"

::The drink. You wanted to know what the drink was.::

"Yes-- vat is it?"

::Coffee.::

"Yes, it's me, vat issssss sse drink?"

::Coffee!:: Vyly exclaimed, sounding very frustrated. Well, he was getting to that point, himself!

"You don't need to yell at him!"

Both of them turned in surprise to Akija. Cacopheny hadn't even realized she was there, but there she was, clothes in hand and half-empty bags in front of her.

::But he's mocking me!:: Vyly glared.

"Vat? Off course I'm not."

::You're not-- then what are you doing?:: the dragoness asked, eying him narrowly.

"You keep ssssaying-- vat Akija alvays calls me."

::Eh?::

"Coffee! That's my name for him!" Akija huffed.

Vyly gave them both a blank stare, then erupted into giggles. Thankfully, it didn't interfere with her explanation. ::Oh. Oh, heehee, no. "Coffee" is the name of the drink he likes so much. I didn't even know you called him that.::

Akija deflated a little, her scowl making the slight shift into a frown. "The stuff that smells so good and tastes so bad? That's called coffee?"

"It does not taste bat," Cacopheny protested, but weakly.

::Yes. Yes, it is. You didn't know?::

"No...."

Akija shook her head, turning back to her clothes with a rather unhappy sort of expression on her face. Cacopheny watched her for a moment, wondering if there was something he should be doing about that expression, before he remembered why he'd wanted to ask that particular question. "Um. I ton't ssssink you can get it. Vere ve're from. Do you sssink...."

::Del guessed you'd ask that. We've got a bag for you, if you want it. Do you?::

Taken by surprise, he gaped at her before coming up with, "Yes?"

::Thought so. I'll have him put it with your things.::

Vyly trotted off, presumably to get the coffee. Coffee. That was just so strange. He drifted over to Akija, hands stuffed into his pockets, to apologize for making her unhappy, however he'd managed it. And she was unhappy, he could tell by the way she shoved a folded shirt into the waiting back with undue force. He hung back a little, awkwardly, before saying softly, "Ssssorry."

She looked up, saw him, then reached for another shirt. This time, at least, her claws were in. "You? You didn't do anythin'."

"Sssen vy are you angkry?" If it wasn't him-- "Vyly? Dit zhe--?"

"She was yelling…"

"Vat?"

She feels stupid because she yelled, stupid.

"Oh. Oh! --Vell, if you hadn't, I vas koingk to," he shrugged, grinning a little sheepishly at her.

Her response was a weak smile and a decidedly unenthusiastic: "So do I need t'stop calling you 'Coffee' now?"

Not at all sure why yelling at Vyly over a drink-- good drink or not-- had anything to do with what she called him, he answered honestly, "No. I rike it. Rrr, like it."

She inhaled and sighed out a deep breath, still for a moment, then reached for her last shirt. "Good. I do, too."

He wanted to touch her. Tell her not to be angry, there wasn't any point to being angry, he wanted her to be happy again. That he liked when she was happy. But he didn't know how, or if she'd think that was selfish of him-- and it was usually best to steer clear of people who were angry, anyway.

Coward.

Yes.

He did, at least, put a hand on her shoulder, just lightly in case she took offense and he had to pull it back, before actually backing off. Maybe he could see how Sentio was doing, with his packing.... He let his hand drop again, pointedly ignoring the taunts inside his own head, and started to turn away. Sentio was upstairs, maybe he wouldn't mind company-- he, himself, didn't have much to pack, and had already done so-- so he'd head that way, and let Akija be....

He'd already expected this to be the end of the brief conversation, but before he'd taken a single step away, he found his hand quite suddenly stationary, caught behind him. Obediently he stopped and looked over his shoulder. To his surprise, Akija had his hand. To his further surprise, she started talking, first in the dragon language, then his own. "She was--" She stopped, glanced around almost nervously-- Cacopheny took the chance, here, to turn around-- then switched. "She was yelling at you, and I thought she was using my nickname forrr you. And now I feel sss-silly. That's all." She was talking remarkably fast, considering how slowly she usually took the unfamiliar syllables, and after she stopped-- either out of words, out of breath, or both-- she dropped his hand and rubbed at her temples, instead. "Therrre, I said it."

For a moment, he stared at her, trying to get that to fit somewhere in his head where it made sense. "You-- really were-- upset by that?" he asked, trying not to sound as incredulous as he felt. He remembered that, sometimes, She got angry when He tried to call him "pet", but... that was a little different, and she'd usually take it out on him rather than Him.

"I said it was silly," she mumbled, sounding embarrassed. "The... two togetherrr...."

"Actually, I thought it was kind of sweet...."

Cacopheny really hadn't meant to say that, and immediately, from the look of incredulous embarrassment on Akija's face-- and the single, huffed laugh she let loose-- he could tell he probably shouldn't have. As she turned back to her packing, he hunched instinctively. "Snapping at the hostess. 'Sweet'. Rrrright. That's taking 'fighting forrr you' in totally the wrrrong dirrrection."

"I didn't mean-- I mean--" He didn't know what to say. Growling at someone for him might have been sweet, maybe, but he had meant that she'd want to. But how would one say something like that? Thoughts came out all jumbled-- which really wasn't any kind of surprise. It was frustrating how fragmented he got when he was uncomfortable. "Just... that you'd want to. Even for something little. No one's ever wanted to. Not for me, not unless it was. To get me in trouble. And even than, was only Tiger."

He finally shut off the flow of disjointed phrases, falling silent. Akija was still, looking across the room blankly-- probably thinking, or at least translating. She wasn't that good at the language, yet. After all the time she'd spent waiting for him to say something, he could wait for her. Though that didn't stop him from wanting to chew on a lip or cheek nervously.

Finally, she gave a little sigh, murmured, "Somebody's got to," and turned just enough to give him half of her smile. "Thanks, Coffee. I only feel half dumb, now."

And he could relax: she wasn't angry, and-- he'd helped? Maybe. A little. He tried smiling back, but it still felt a little timid. "Well, I was going for not dumb at all, but I'll take what I can get."

This time her laugh wasn't as tense, and actually sounded like a laugh. "And you call me the sweet one," she drawled, somehow managing to fit her usual attitude into her accented speech. "Well, come on 'sweetie'," she teased, the one word she didn't know switched into her language. Even though the endearment was obviously in jest, it still made him feel warm and happy to hear it, and he tried not to look too pleased as she turned from the table, heading for the stairs, and gave his arm a pat in passing. He couldn't help a smile, though.

"Let's go see how the boys arrre doing with theirrr packing," she added, and he followed after her.

"Kevaz," he translated for her. "It's kevaz."