-Halloween
"You're seriousss? The Prince wont care for ssuch thingsss!" Tourniquet exclaimed. "Sssurely the Prince of Night doessn't care how many cobwebss are decorating the throne room?"
Halloween sighed, glancing around the wide, dark room. The throne room was draped in black and gray fabrics, which hung like moss from the ceiling and walls. There were no windows, but the eerie glow of candles accompanied the sinister feel of the decor. There were three thrones at the end of a long black rug, two of obsidian and a smaller one of lapis lazuli. Countless cobwebs covered every corner of the room. But in his opinion, there were not enough.
The canine let out a huff. His serpentine tail needed to stop objecting him. "We'll see if we can get a bit more before he arrives. Now shut up and behave like a good tail." He snapped, striding down the dark carpet, towards the doorway at the other end of the room. It lacked a door, being just a gap in the wall. However, the frame around it was gold, delicately carved into the shape of two snarling wolves. Their front paws met at the top of the door and their tails brushed the bottom. Sharp wings spread from the back of one, while the other had spikes running down its spine.
Halloween passed through under the two wolves, entering the long hallway. He marched down it, ignoring the scenes on the walls that displayed horror and fright. He'd check at the lab, he decided, to see how the gift for the Prince was coming along.
-Coma
Coma swept his tail around his paws, lifting his head to examine the great map on the wall. It showed the world, flat, with dark beasties surrounding it. As if space were made up of unknown monsters, the stars their eyes and meteors their fury. He lifted a gray paw and placed it on the bottom of the world. The Night Kingdom lay there, at the very lowest point of the planet. Hidden from sight under the ice, where it is eternally dark.
Coma turned and let his gaze wander around the planning room, taking in the other maps that covered the walls, the messy table, the candles dripping wax onto the floor. This was his favorite room. It was always quiet, as long as Halloween was not in it, and held endless things to look at and ponder.
He padded to the table and jumped into a chair, claws leaving marks on the wood. He reached a paw forward and pulled a detailed map of the castle towards him. His brother was stressing because the Prince of Night was coming for an unexplained visit. He wanted to make sure everything was decent, though Coma knew his brother did not like the idea of someone who outranked him coming to his castle. Halloween was the boss. If not, there were problems. But could one really object the heir of Night?
Coma stared at the map. What exactly was the reason for the Prince's visit? What did he want? Was he concerned that the army, which had grown rapidly in the last few years, might be something that was a threat to the Night kingdom? Or did he simply wish to see everything the brothers had accomplished?
Coma narrowed his eyes, which were hidden, as always, behind gray-yellow hair. Whatever the reason, he had to be prepared. The army had to be prepared.
-Crow
"Caah!" Smoke was everywhere. Visibility was next to zero. At least there were no flames. The explosion had been a burst of heat and then only left thick gray smoke in its wake. But it had been hot enough to singe Crow's feathers.
Wearing an irritated expression, Crow flapped her black wings in attempt to clear away the smoke. She scrambled to the window and pushed it open. Within moments, the air was clear. But the accident had left a film of gray ash on everything in the mixing room. "Wonderful." The bird muttered, sweeping a bit of the ash into a vial with her wing. She set the vial onto a holder on the counter and leaned close to it. "Hmm....strange." The ash was unusual. Thick and greasy. How was she supposed to clean all of it up? And the mixture hadn't worked. "Ah, but..." Crow bobbed her head, antennas bouncing. "This could be useful...as long as it doesn't explode during transport!" She shook herself, sending ash to the ground. "That would be rather...eh.."
Crow turned and flapped up onto a perch overlooking a charred table. A piece of half-burnt paper lay on the surface, listing different ingredients. "I'm sure I can remember what else was in it." She said, picking the paper up with her talons. She rolled it up and stuck it in a tube that held various other papers, some in worse condition that it. "Off to the forest, then." She slung a pouch around her neck and flew to the window. She looked back at the ash covering the room. "I'll get that later."
Crow let herself fall through the window. The mixing room was near the top of one of the castle's towers, so the drop was far. Of course, the bird spread her purple-tipped wings and soared before hitting the ground. She angled herself towards the trees not far off, intent on gathering ingredients.