Hati was taking a nap, sprawled in the sun with as much of his dark body sprawled on the ground to soak up as much sun as possible to warm bones that still ached from his recent travails. But even in his napping he was not left in peace, not even his servitude to Valentine serving to chace away the horrific nightmares plaguing his mind even in the darkness of sleep. He twitched and jerked in place, throat giving rise to little murmurs and growls all the while in his head he ran. Haunted at every second by death and blood and terror, some of it things found only in nightmares but most of it actual memories jumbled together into a hell of his own making. Teeth clamped down in his spine and he spiraled into the blood tinged darkness... Twitch, twitch, twitching his paws and a soft snarl of protest hissing between bared ivory fangs. ""

Laying crouched down beside the sleeping giant, Rhys watched intently as he jerked around in his sleep. She was a little bit concerned, really, about just how restless he was. Rhyme moved around a lot too, but he didn't make the kind of noise this brute was making and he certainly didn't look as grumpy. When Rhyme slept he looked nice and relaxed. This guy just looked mad. Really mad. And Rhys thought she knew why. Tiptoeing closer, Rhys reached out and tried to gently rest a paw on Hati's twitching lip. She wanted to hold it still in the hopes that doing so would somehow help him sleep better. It made sense in her head. When Rhyme was restless and flopping around he seemed to calm down and sleep better whenever he nestled up against their Mommy, so, she reasoned, if she could hold this big guy still maybe he would sleep better and stop looking so mad. ""

Twitching, restless beast slumbering alone, what demon could resist the temptation to take a nibble of the soulless creature? In the darkest torments of the farthest corners of his memory Hati despaired, cried out but there was no rescue coming for him, nothing that could save him from his very own self. Kin-killer and monster, deep within his heated hate filled dreams. But even in the deepest reaches of himself his body was still ready, muscle-memory and reflex, and before he was even aware of being awake or what had awoken him he reared his head back and lunged for his attacker. Jaws gaping his whimpers had turned to a roar... but then his mind caught up to his body and he froze - little girl, Imperialis, Valen-child, keep them safe for their father - gold eyes fixed on the child in a half-awake squint past his open muzzle, the teeth that had nearly fastened themselves in the small body of the squirming child dripping with saliva and hot breath puffed out in short pants... and his tongue lolling out without his awareness, the slave looked utterly ridiculous in this moment of confusion-fury frozen in time as he could not process what to do next. ""

Her plan backfired spectacularly and ended with the same mad jaws she'd been trying to calm right in her face. Hati succeeded in the nearly impossible: he scared her. It wasn't a long-lived fear though. After a few quick blinks she recovered enough to peek over his jaws at him. His breath was stinky. But she wasn't going to tell him that. Her gaze was drawn to his tongue, which brought to mind a recent memory. "My daddy says to be careful when I stick my tongue out 'cause a birdy might poop on it." Clearly everything wasn't alright in the big guy's dream world so she didn't feel that bad about waking him, but she still felt a little bad. "I'm sorry I scared you." She stared up at him with big, innocent puppy-dog eyes. "Were you having a bad dream? I have bad dreams sometimes. They're no fun." ""

What?

Hati was slow to process, his brain still wrapped in cobwebs and thought coming sluggishly. Her father told her what about her tongue? Did that even make sense? Slowly his tongue curled back up into his mouth and his jaws clanked together with a muffled click. "What? That doesn't happen," he croaked. He was at a complete loss as to how to respond to this seemingly-fearless child, who stared up at him with such innocence. Had he or any of his siblings ever been so innocent? Baldur, maybe. His own childhood was such a fog, a blessed fog that kept him from remembering the bad things. "Bad dreams," he agreed, latching onto that. "Yes, that. Bad memories." Memories he couldn't share with anyone, let alone a child. His heart still raced and shudders still shook him in little micro-tremors from the depths of terror and madness that had gripped him in sleep. He wanted to drown it in blood and fury but there was this child that he could not harm, and the conflict was terribly confusing, so much so that he was floundering to much to cling to his usual snappish behavior. "Little girls should not go around poking strangers when they sleep," he rumbled at her instead, shifting to snake a paw out to snag his mask, dragging it towards him to settle with sweet relief over his own scarred visage. "It's dangerous." Such sweet relief, to lock away his demons beneath the skull. The weight grounded him and he sighed a groaning sigh, dropping his now-masked head atop his forepaws.

Birdies did too poop on tongues! It had never happened to her and she'd never seen it happen, but her dad said it did so it must be true! He knew everything and he wouldn't lie to her. Ever! "It does too," she said smartly. "My daddy said it does!" And there was nothing this guy could say to convince her otherwise. He confirmed her suspicion that it had been a nightmare. Rhys was no stranger to bad dreams. There were no real life events to give them a visceral kick, they were just simply bad dreams. Falling, being chased, getting eaten by bugs, her nightmares were generic in every sense. "Little girls should not go around poking strangers when they sleep." Her mouth opened in a small 'o' shape to protest. ...Although he did have a point, didn't he? She closed her mouth and pursed her lips. "Maybe not," she finally relented. Her eyes went huge as he put his mask on. She drew in a deep breath, the sharp inhalation a weird cross between a gasp and a squeal. "Oh!" Her eyes followed the skull downward as he moved to rest his head on his paws. "That's SO cool! Where did you get it?" More importantly, where could she get one? ""