Where does it go?

[matsunaga]

He'd never given it much thought before spending terms at Somnium, but Devon had come to realize that headlessness and facelessness were not the same thing. The Horseman had very little of Devon's fears, and found a sense of self in his unique anonymity. He simply was, and owed nothing to anyone; he had no face, and so had no little tics of body language, no shifts in his mouth or his eyes to give away his feelings. He exposed nothing, and so he did not feel exposed. In this, he was faceless.

However, as he sat at the bar, a mug of whatever mysterious oneiromantic grog this place served sitting in front of him, he was headless. The Horseman picked up the mug, felt it; he could smell the brew, feel it swirl in its vessel, see its warm golden color and hear it slosh against itself.

In this, he was headless. He wondered how the hell he was supposed to actually drink it.

[Joker]

Joker burst into the Inn, a wide smile on his face and his hair flying about in the wind his forceful entry created.

"Cha~ra~ra~! Joker appears~!" he announced happily, earning quite a few shocked stares from those within. A few edged away from the loud teen as he strode to the bar, arms swinging with each jaunty step. The air about him was one who expected attention and who thrived on it.

Then he noticed one who wasn't eying him strangely - a fellow sitting at the bar swathed in chains and cloak. Sure he was lacking a head which would normally hold eyes that people used to see, but that was just beside the whole point, now wasn't it?

That was how Joker decided that this fellow would be his new friend.

Walking up behind him, Joker slapped him cheerily on the back and took the seat beside him.

"Greetings, Tattered One! Joker sees you have fine taste in chains, where per chance did you purloin them?"

A distinct pause.

"Ara, can you speak? Joker likes it when people speak but then Joker is quite fond of talking by himself - especially to people who can't escape. Ah! Joker has been rude! He failed to introduce himself to Tatters!"

Quickly getting to his feet, he gave an extravagant bow, "Joker be Joker~! Pleased to meet you Tatters~!"

[matsunaga]

The Horseman didn't make any particular movements, even when clapped on the back. He was solid to the touch, his body under his cloak and jacket being as solid and real as his waking self was, but he remained still. He his drink down on the bartop where he wasn't in danger of spilling it; he could shift his focus as easily as if he had a head to turn, but that meant losing focus on his hands.

He almost started to say, "Don't call me 'Tatters'", but it occurred to him that no one had ever actually called him by name before. The Horseman wasn't entirely sure he even had one.

As it was, he could speak, though not in the conventional sense. A voice, deep and hollow-sounding, and echoing with the rattling of chains, reverberated up from his chest, though it didn't seem as though anyone else in the bar could hear it. "... Do you have a waking self, or are you only Dream-kin?"

[Joker]

"Ara? A waking self? Dream-kin? Must Joker be one or the other and not both? Joker is awake now, and he is kin of Dreams of sorts. Couple of Joker's cousins be nasty nightmares and a few are... well... teenage boys seem to get those dreams a lot... but sadly Joker didn't. They said Joker was too young in the heart to deal with such issues like girls - but Joker has already had a fiance~!" Shaking his head in apparent confusion at what his dream cousins could be thinking, he looked back at the Horseman.

"Ah! You spoke yet had no mouth! Unless..." here he trailed off, his purple eyes narrowing deviously. With a quick side step he was once more beside the headless drinker, another hop had him kneeling on the nearby bar stool.

Finally, he placed his hands on Tatters' shoulders, attempting to peer into the cavity ogf his body.

"Hellooooo down there! Were you hungry one day and decided to eat your own head so now it resides in your belly? Joker thinks you would have done better to start with one arm, at least then you could still see people , like Joker for instance! Everyone is happy they can see Joker! Surely you must be upset that you cannot look upon Joker's fine visage with your own eyes - or anyone elses for that matter!"

[matsunaga]

The Horseman said nothing; he had no face to express his displeasure, but he also had very little to hide in this form. But was nice to know that this obnoxious lump of dream-fluff was an actual resident of the dream world, and not a student at Somnium that Devon would have to remember, attempt to identify, and then consciously avoid or risk being manhandled like this; as it was, even being touched like this, he could feel his grip on his own existence starting to slip.

Inside the coat, however... he was nothing. There was nothing inside the coat but blackness, so far as Joker could tell in the short glimpse he got. He didn't have very long to look before the Horseman hooked an ankle in the fool's bar stool and deftly kicked it out from under him, getting to his own feet in the process.

"Lay no hands upon me, you ass, lest we see what bones dream-kin have to crack. I will tolerate much before my patience breaks, but I will not subject myself to your scrutiny as though I were a soulless thing."

[Joker]

He barely held back a sigh. A sigh with a bit of snicker to it, if such a noise could even be possible. Then again, since he held it back no one would ever know if such an action could be done.

Really, Joker did enjoy annoying people but at the same time he wished one of them would do something more interesting than threaten to hurt/maim/kill while calling him names. He was quite used to being knocked aside and as such was quick to bounce back with even more vigor since he knew he'd touched upon a weakness of sorts in his 'target'.

As such Joker rolled when he hit ground, coming up in a one-handed handstand with his other hand held out for balance.

"Ass? Joker has more than just an ass, though Joker has been told his ass be a fine one indeed~! Thank you for admiring it, you can join its fan club if you wish!" Grinning he easily flipped til he stood on his feet once more, arms spread in a grand gesture.

"Joker's bones can go crack but Joker would highly suggest such actions not take place for Joker is not a liker of pain. Pain be painful, yes? Nobody likes pain, unless they be sadistic little freaks and Joker can assure you that he be not one of that number of freaks. Joker is his own branding of freak!"

He paused as the last sentence Tatters' had spoken finally registered properly in his head. Not in Tatters' head since that was obviously lacking, but in Joker's own. Joker had felt the weird urge to clarify that in his own mind.

"Joker does not see you as a soulless thing - that be silly! How could a soulless being reside in a world of Dreams unless they have a soul with which to dream? Honestly, Tatters, you think the oddest things - must be the lack of head. Worry not Tatters, for Joker is The Merchant in these parts and can find you a new head or any item rare and non-existent~!" The last sentence was proclaimed loudly so that rest of the bar could hear his proclamation, a good business stunt to earn more customers for his stall.

He smiled proudly then said in a slightly more serious tone, "Really, assuming Joker thought you soulless! If you were, Joker would have passed you by - soulless people be quite boring and are usually preoccupied with stealing other people's souls - and Joker is quite fond of his staying with himself~!"

[matsunaga]

The Horseman sat back down, his posture and stance unchanged from its military rigidity, and returned to focus on his drink. Such as it was, anyway, he could hardly just pour the damn thing into his coat, and it wasn't as though he could simply hold it up to where his lips ought to be and hope. If he could sigh, he would have.

Without moving he turned his attention back to Joker, though he suspected it was a poor idea if he were ever to be rid of the pest. "A soulless thing-- an object, that which has no emotions, nor ways to express them-- may be handled at will by any who should touch it."

He lifted the cup of ale slightly, briefly demonstrating before he sat it back down on the bar. "I may lift this glass to do with it as I please and never shall it complain; it has no soul, it is a thing. I myself have a soul and thus a right to myself as I am and as I wish to be; if truly you believe that a person bears speaking to, then you would do well to remember that that alone commands enough respect that you should refrain from manhandling them!" His "voice" echoed like thunder, if it could be called that when it didn't actually make a sound to echo in the room. More than that, the weird monotone it held expressed nothing but its own volume.

"For the love of Christ and God in Heaven, what predisposes you to such ridiculous philosophy and why would you bother explaining it to me?-- Nevermind, do not answer that, I have no need nor desire for the truth. And for future reference; one that enjoys feeling pain is a masochist. Sadists enjoy inflicting it. "

[Joker]

Joker pouted, folding his arms. Really, this headless character was certainly touchy touchy about being touched.

"Well Mr No-Touchy-Tatters, Joker is one to always do as his whims tell him and his whims made him curious. As Tatters had no sign on his personage saying that his cavernous body could be likened to a museum where the lookie- lookie-no-touchy- touchy rule applied, Joker MIGHT have acted according to your set of manners. Might have. Joker doesn't like listening to other people's orders."

Idly turning his wrist he suddenly held a deck of cards, shuffling them in an absent minded fashion, "You know Tatters, for a mere body that talks with no emotion your words themselves are quite emotional. Why be that?"

[matsunaga]

"I have no mouth nor vocal cords; how should I inflect without lips or tongue? It is no convenience to me, I assure you, as surely I should have liked to spit at least once by now. Even I do not know how I speak. If you are having difficulty understanding, I can say it plainly that you vex me." The Horseman contemplated his drink again; he didn't know how he was going to drink this thing, or if he even wanted to at this point. It wasn't as though he could truly feel thirst, anyway.

"For an insufferable fop who seems to find himself the height of amusement, you talk about nothing so much as your privilege to abuse peaceable strangers. Why do you suppose that is?"

[Joker]

Now, that was a bit of a conundrum. Joker spread the cards on the bar in a smooth arc then flipped them over, thinking that if one could speak without the needed equipment then surely there was a deeper meaning to Tatters' lack of emotion. Was he emotionally deficit? Internally broken? He had asked if Joker was a Dream Being so he assumed Tatters was a student. Perhaps his other self had shackled his dreaming mind in some way - mentally afraid to come to terms with a part of his personality.

What ever the case, Joker assumed that Tatters was too far gone to even attempt to change his ways and was most likely 'happy' in a way with his current condition. Why should Joker try to fix what a person thought was still fine?

Instead, he placed his cards in a pile and began picking random ones out and putting them aside, his tone thoughtful "Joker is an insufferable fop because he doesn't want to be his other self. Be that not why you students are all not as you are in your Realm? This world of Dream Beings be an escape for you all and this be Joker's escape from his own reality."

His voice turned back to its normal cheery one, "Joker only began talking of his interactional ways because Tatters went on about Joker treating him like a soulless object and from there the conversation went its course - that is how conversation go do they not? Starting at one point and ending on another? Does Tatters not talk to people often to know this? Ah, but wait! Tatters has no mouth nor vocal cords nor other speaking items! He cannot speak but yet he does!"

[Tawny Addison]

(I hope no one minds a third party. May I join in this.....interesting conversation?)

Quiet footsteps brought him into the bar, where the echoing, unmistakable sound of Joker's voice could be heard.

Tawny often thought of himself as loud and rambunctious, but compare to Joker-well, compared to Joker everyone was quiet and meek. And from the sounds of things, their resident nut case was overwhelming someone's senses. Not an unusual state of affairs, but always fun to watch. And sometimes, necessary to put a stop to, before tempers were lost.

He took a seat at the bar just across from the duo, ordering a drink, and listened with head cocked just so. Not that he needed to listen hard; Joker's voice carried like someone yelling in a cave. And that's just his conversational tone. His lips twitched with amusement, one hand lifting to brush back the vibrant red strands that have escaped from their plait. Heavily shadowed eyes slanted in their general direction, and one slender arm slid out to rest on the bar, his head leaning against it.

"Joker." He drawled at last. "Will you let the man be before he swats you across the room like some kind of insect?"

[Joker]

Joker turned to this new voice, raising a brow and grinning, "Ara? He tried that once before already and yet Joker be still here!" Joker emphasized the last bit by slapping the deck of cards and watching in bemusement as a little gerbil covered with snake scales replaced them. The little reptilian rodent looked at Joker then Tatters before settling on Tawny, flicking out a forked tongue towards him.

Picking the creature up, Joker settled it on the back of his hand, observing it idly before turning his hand and revealing a deck of cards fanned out in his grasp once more, while at the corner of his eye he observed this new flamboyant yet relaxed man.

"What can Joker do when presented with a case such as Tatters? A suit that has no voice but strong words?" a pause as he looked back at Tatters and a wicked smile bloomed, "Besides, Joker wishes to see what Tatters intends to do with the drink he has been nursing for quite some time now"