.: Haven's Night :. Tavern/Inn -{Oddly Open Again >:3 )

[Bone Clock]

((It's nightmare time!))
Deep in the realm of dreaming, Rot found himself wandering darkened hallways that looked oddly familiar. The old, decaying wood corridors stretched on forever, every few steps he passed by a grimy window that looked out onto a burnt and ruined wasteland outdoors. His steps were so faint here. Looking down, Rot saw that he was no longer the stitched-together immortal but the skinny, shirtless lad of his pre-pubescent youth. He felt so weak in this form, his hands too small to properly grasp his hatchet.

"A toast..." a voice dripping with decay announced from far down the hallway. Rot knew this voice. He didn't want to know it but he did. Unable to stop his younger self, Rot could only watch as he raced down the increasingly aged building, realizing only too late that this was the Haven's Night, touched and destroyed by the Nails.

The hallways ended with stairs that he ran down two at a time, tripping near the end and falling on his face. All around him was chaos of tragedy. He saw his friends and those he knew from the bar. Standing like pale, still statues was Halo, Bobbie, Nick, Strata, Alma, even one-time patrons he'd only briefly met and people he'd met in the town below. All bore corruption of the Nails and stood surrounding a single wooden table. The arm Shine usually perched on was gone from Halo's body. Alma's arms were both gone, leaving only old, bloody stumps. Strata bled from his careful neck and wrist stitchings. Bobbie's lips had been eaten away, revealing the iron smile of a Nail.

The table was Michael's but the demon was not here. He had abandoned this place, leaving all others to suffer fates worse than death. Crowning a high, wing-back chair were a pair of stained white wings. Angel's wings. A tiny Om-skin rug served as a coaster for the being at the table. Alma's severed hands were his dinner plate, the claw fingers interlaced perfectly. A mess of gore covered the table and the being sitting laughed and held aloft a wineglass of thick, red blood; a single eyeball floated like an obscene ice cube.

"Apologies, but you've missed the meal," the creature cackled, tossing something into the child-Rot's hands. "But I saved you a little something. A little token to the founder of the feast."

In Rot's hands was a partially consumed ear, very light skin and pointed. An ear he recognized too well even without seeing the thin silver chain wrapped around it. The chain with a single small crystal at the end.

The necklace he gave Key.

[Alma Alter]

Alma's had never been so startled out of sleep since the time the bar caught fire and then flooded. This was just as startling, however, and rather scary. She awoke to Rot's panicked screaming, snapping herself upright and glimpsing her horned friend staggering around the bar and shouting incoherently. She managed to make out the words, "BASTARDS! DON'T! LEAVE HER ALONE!" before he sank to his knees, clutching his head.

Piore and Om were already awake as well and watching in fear from behind Alma. "M-Mister Rot?" she squeaked fearfully, "what's the matter? D-Did you have a bad dream or something?"

Rot turned, his face a contorted mask of rage and profound sadness. His eyes were a blazing green and he was clearly struggling to control something inside him. "Can't... stop them... those bastards... they..." He slammed his fists down, punching the sturdy floor long after his fingers had already broken and become useless. "BASTARDS ATE HER!" he roared, body racked with spasms. Now he began headbutting the floor as hard as he could, horns glowing with green rage until finally Alma reached out with her claw hands to grasp his head.

No! You'll hurt yourself!" she cried.

Unfortunately, both were stronger than either realized. When Alma grasped Rot's head she held him firmly but his body would not be denied and lurched forward undaunted, ripping his head clean off his body, the latter falling limply to the floor. Alma sat like that for a good moment in shock, eyes wide and mouth agape at what she had done. When a strangled sob escaped Rot's lips she breathed a sigh of relief, quite easily accepting the fact that the severed head was still alive.

"Those bastards..." Rot's head groaned, eyes shut tight against the green fire within. Alma turned the head around so she was facing him and felt tears welling up in her eyes too. She didn't like seeing him so upset.

[Bone Clock]

"No one's been eaten," Alma soothed softly, fighting back her own tears as Om and Piore casually hopped down to investigate the headless body on the floor. The little pup nudged the limp arms and legs like a big toy, rather amused by the way they rolled back when he butted his head against them. Om, meanwhile, was working on resetting the broken fingers. This was a job only a bear with skilled paws could do.

Above them were an animate head sat in Alma's huge hands, Rot's temper cooled only slightly. He had begun to realize his foolish panic attack and what it had awakened. This was a tactic by that damned Scarecrow. It was getting closer and it wanted Rot to know just what it had planned. The green-tinted rage within was roiling, desiring an outlet and threatening to burst forth at the first thing Rot's eyes locked onto. He kept them closed tight even as Alma tried to make him open them.

"Don't..." he croaked hoarsely. "I can't control it... you need to run..."

Alma shook her head resolutely (even if Rot couldn't see it). "No! I won't leave you like this!" He frowned, eyes still closed and the fire threatening to burn free.

Then Alma began to sing.

It was a gentle song, a very soothing melody without words that flowed like a cool, calm river over Rot's ears. Slowly, mercifully, his scowl relaxed and he felt the fiery rage within diminish and drop back into nothing. As the song wound to its conclusion Rot finally opened his eyes, looking up with a more saddened expression on his face.

But the rage was gone for now.

[Alma Alter]

Alma smiled a sad smile of her own, carefully pulling Rot's head close and bumping her forehead against his like before. "We're safe here," she whispered. With careful rearranging, she now had his head securely balanced on her forearms and against her thin chest.

Om had finished fixing up the left hand's worth of fingers and was set on the right. Piore had hopped again onto Alma's shoulder and peered down at the head in her arms. Rot gave a tired smile and winked at the pup who yipped once and licked his face. "Gah! Down, boy! Haha, nice to see you too!"

Alma giggled, innocently oblivious to the strange sight they must make. "I didn't know you could lose your head," she said after a moment passed.

Rot looked slightly embarrassed. "It's, uh, not a habit. I usually lose my other limbs and sew them back on but... beheading is becoming a more frequent occurrence lately."

"Oh! I think that nice lady in town can make you a neck brace! Would that help?" The honesty in her eyes and question made Rot smile.

"That's okay, but thank you for thinking of me," he chuckled. The dream was still present in his mind but he found it easier to simply think of it as a dream and nothing more.

Alma yawned in her cute way again and giggled. "I'm still kinda sleepy. We can rest in my room until I find someone to put your head back on." With Rot's head tucked securely against her chest with one arm, her free hand grasped the body by the middle and picking it along with Om and Piore dashing up to their shoulder perches, she daintily skipped to her bedroom. Rot's embarrassed and stammering protests fell on deaf ears.

Still, he too managed to find a much more peaceful sleep with his severed head held against Alma like a strange plushie.

((Annnnnd that's all for this morning, folks!))

[Semienigma]

Some time later, a young lady with long white hair and small wings yawned as she looked up at the moonlight. She was once again on the roof of the tavern. "Hm...what to do..what to do..." she asked herself this while messing with her hair.

'Master is busy...The twins are sleeping...so is everyone else, now that I think about it.' She stood up and stretched her wings a bit. It was so boring when there was no on around. "The night is so pretty though. I wish I could reach and pick the stars." the girl giggled, reaching up to the clear sky and poking at one of the little twinkles in the sky.

She wondered what all those stars really were and if Master would make her a necklace out of them.

(( the nightmares are always so chilling XD ))

[Monster of the Week]

It was truly a beautiful night. Such lovely stars and not a cloud in the sky. Across the heavens one start in particular had been traveling. Suddenly, the star slowed down and seemed to descend...towards Haven's night.




"Now what are you doing down here little one?" said the star when it was close enough to the roof. The light that was speaking unfolded its wings to reveal a blond haired man with blue eyes. He was dress in all white with large white wings.

Upon closer inspection the man blinked and scratched his head. "Hmm...sorry about that. Mistook you for one of us. Looks like you're bound little one."

He saw her wings and her aura and thought she to be from the heavens. But with a better look he could see she was tainted. But he saw nothing wrong with that. She was still a gorgeous creation. "Mind if I join you?"

[Semienigma]

Angel stared at the man. He was...floating right in air. She wanted to do that too. And he was so pretty!! The girl's wings fluttered excitedly when the guy started talking to her.

"Sure! You can join me. I was bored anyway! heart " she giggled and placed her hands behind her back. Her eyes traveled from the man's face to his wings. "How come yours are so big???"

Looking back at her own wings, they flapped once, as if she was checking them for something. They really were tiny compared to this guy. Only a little shorter than arms length to her farthest feather.

"I"m Angel! Who are you?"

[Monster of the Week]

The man flapped his wings and landed next to the girl. His touch down made no sound, as if he didn't weigh a thing. "Angel huh? That is a rather descriptive name. But I like it. I am named Joviel. Or Jovi for short. Nice to meet you." he smiled and waved to her.

With the mention of her wings he looked at them again. "Well they are a little small but it isn't the size that counts. You know? And besides they are cute when they are that size." Jovi gave her a friendly smile before looking out over the landscape.

His own wings stretched as well, enjoying the breeze. "I looooooooooooove nights like this! Just makes we want to...Woo!" he jumped up, flapping his large wings again. He was an inch or so off the roof when he came now again. He just really liked clear weather. "You live here Angel?"

[Semienigma]

Jovi seemed rather upbeat. He must be in a really good mood. "Woo!" she cheered as well since his good mood seemed to be infectious. Just being around him made her almost giddy.

Angel was in a new outfit, not that Jovi would know that. But it was still nice looking on her. Mostly white with black accents. "Kinda. I live somewhere else but I play here. Hey, you wanna play with me?" this was asked as she moved closer to him, pretty much invading any personal bubble the guy would have. Her hands were back behind her back, her wings perked up. "I think you'd be fun."

[Monster of the Week]

Jovi blinked a bit surprised the little girl would ask him something so innocent with such lusty intent. "You really are a lusty little thing aren't you?" he laughed. He actually found it cute when people asked such things. "Well we just met and we can't do the playing you have in mind until we get to know each other better."

This was a fascinating place. Below them he could feel that the place was simply saturated with negative energy. And this little lady was not untouched by it. But still he wasn't going to interfere since that would be unfair.

"You don't know how to fly do you?"

[Semienigma]

Angel pouted when he declined her offer. 'That sucks...he's really cute...' she thought, he wings drooping a bit. New people were always really entertaining...

"Huh? Fly?" she looked to him and then back to her wings. "No one I know is in the sky so I don't see the points."

Angel turned from him and teleported over to the chimney. "Seems kinda boring." was her next reply to him, glancing back at her winged company.

[Monster of the Week]

'Huh, she just popped over there. That's interesting. What is this little one exactly?' he wondered. She seemed a chimera of some sort...maybe? Jovi he looked up to the sky. "I've never seen the earth from the heaven's I take it. Its simply breathtaking. But maybe when your wings grow a bit."

The night continued on rather peacefully. "So Angel. Are you the only one here? This place seems to have the presence of many individuals. Seems like an interesting place. Though I don't feel much of any influence of the higher realms."

[Semienigma]

(( have to go rescue my dad from work. night yall ))

Angel kinda stopped paying attention and looked out over the roof. "Uh? Well there are a lot of people but not tonight. Kinda dead..." she looked a bit irritted at that last part. Teleporting next to the guy again, she hugged his arm and smiled. "Take me somewhere fun! Where do you play?" she asked curiously.

She still wanted to hang out with the guy since everyone is either busy or asleep. "I wanna see"

[Monster of the Week]

Well that came out of nowhere. "Okay okay little Angel. I'll take you somewhere fascinating." Jovi laughed in response. She kind of had a short attention span it seems. Kinda wondered if she was part goldfish

"Though it will be easier to do it this way." and with that he picked her up into his arms. She really didn't weigh much. Another clue to her heritage. "Let's go to Heaven then. heart " he smiled and the both of them disappeared in a white light only leaving a single feather that floated down to the ground. It glowed softly in the darkness, showing it was nor ordinary feather.

[Lunderly]

The world seemed a rather elusive thing, for one who believed she was still dreaming. No one. Nothing. Not a single entity to present itself to her gentle scrutiny as Copperkey's green eyes poured over the halls and entries. Still she continued on, uninhibited by fear and certainly not the idea that she was intruding anywhere. After all, none of it was real to her...

And as she wandered so she found herself within darkness again. She wasn't sure how, she wasn't sure when the shift had occurred... But as the lady wove her fingers through the shadows light began to spill forth from the yawning entrance ahead.

And she was back.

Key was back in the tavern.

Her head tilted to the right and her gaze roamed across the room. An empty place just like the one she'd departed from. Devoid of any life that her green eyes could see. The young lady let her honeyed fingers play against the bar top as she placed one foot gently in front of the other. She moved around to the other side and peeked toward the kitchen.