i know, right?

“ what i see here is an opportunity! - for revenge. ...c’mon, we didn’t even get to the diabolical laughter! ”

he’s all smiles! :3

kind of literally. he doesn’t have eyes

he’s also a dad and he loves his son very much.

opposite of the nightmare knight, basically.

it’s a sore spot for both of them though

but very cheerful, goofy, and loves to have fun!

definitely a former theater kid. he LOVES costumes!

Powered by Fear™

you may fear me or my son anytime you wish. pwease

was sealed in a??? coffin??? underwater??? for a really, really long time???

might also??? be an actual bad guy??? 

relatively harmless right now, though ... relatively.

“Boy, I’d love to comprehend something!”

There’s a silence that scares him, but it’s a weight he’s planned on carrying for a long time now. The lack of a smile probably would’ve bothered most, but with their history, he could see things about Steve that most couldn’t. But, then, he brings out a remark about the situation. He couldn’t even hide a soft chuckle rumbling through his chest. “I suppose so.” His hand covers where a mouth would be, as he lets out another chuckle.

“Everything here is temporary. Everything here can change. Still… That doesn’t make any of it less real.” He looks up from Steve for the first time in a long time, and gestures to the island around them. “Everyone, prisoner and civilian alike, lives their own life. A thousand, thousand lives, from a thousand, thousand worlds. Lives small, lives grand, lives cut from whatever grand destiny or cruel fate awaits them. I’ve added to their pain, I’ve taken from it. I want to know what a life is like.”

His hand is outstretched. “Wouldn’t you like that, too?”

      oh, that laugh again. he gave a quiet one in return - his grin a bit sheepish as he did so. steve definitely hadn’t pictured this when he’d confronted the knight - patience, honesty, laughter. that combination made him stay silent as the other spoke of the ephemeral, unpredictable nature of this place. fleeting, but significant - to the nightmare knight, at least. he couldn’t say that he really felt any sort of sympathy for the lives of the citizens of this realm - how many had they both destroyed millennia ago? what made this place so different that the knight himself had changed his outlook so drastically?

       steve stared at the hand offered to him; once so capable of destruction - along with himself. he could still recall what it was like to be driven on instinct in those ancient days, chasing the fear that fueled him. creating besty had awoken something else in him, and perhaps that ‘something else’ had extended to the knight, too. but that desire for chaos and fear still remained. the same clearly couldn’t be said for the nightmare knight. whatever his counterpart felt that he was driven by now ( affection? compassion? mercy? ) steve wasn’t accustomed to thriving on it. but there was that spark of it - whatever it was - whenever he embraced thebestmaster. and ... maybe when he was able to get the knight to laugh like earlier. it fought against his real nature, leaving him a powder-keg - even as weak as he was. yet, nightmare knight knew that - more or less - and still offered his hand.

He laughed. It was, sadly, maybe even unfortunately, a fond laugh. “Always impatient. I have more to speak with you about. The questions here are part of it. And, as I am asking honesty of you, you deserve it from me.” He looked at Steve straight in his none of eyes. “I do not care what your plans are for Dreamside. We cannot affect that world from in here.”

His posture changes, leaning forward a bit more. “That leads me to the important part of this discussion. I suppose I should cut to the chase then.” The Nightmare Knight sighs, and rubs the back of his neck. “I’ve been in this world, and worlds like this, for years. I‘ve been able to see my life from the outside, explore the crevasses of my memory and find caverns still unexplored. I’ve seen heroes, villains… monsters. I’ve had friends. I’ve had family, even. I’ve… I’ve been given chances I don’t deserve. I’ve caused hurt I can’t take back.”

“But, it has given me a new perspective. There are many like me. Those who are forced into roles they can never leave. Those who never get chances. I want to give those who are trapped a chance for freedom from these roles. Chances those in their world could never allow them. I want to see in them what I can’t see in myself. That things can change. I’ve feared the day we would meet again, even more as I wonder what i would do. I want to do this for you. I want to give you a chance to change. To right wrongs we’ve simply let fester.”

The corners of his eyes droop, a pleading look on the face of one otherwise not prone to requests. “I want to do better. I want us both to do better. To have better. We have done terrible things, and have been judged to be terrible.” He stops, the feeling of his throat tightening causing him to hesitate. 

“Prove me wrong.”

        that laugh - not dismissive or spiteful - did something to him. it made him uncomfortable and paradoxical want to hear more of it, which just served to frustrate him even more. he’d approached the knight with a chest full of cinders and thorns - ready to set fire - and now he was deluding himself to think that he’d heard fondness in the other’s voice.

       steve, eye-less as he was, still managed to gawk at the nightmare knight; completely and utterly caught off guard by the speech the knight had just laid at his feet. his defenses wavered, beginning to wonder if he wasn’t doing this as some sort of manipulation tactic. it sounded ridiculous when he really thought about it, but ... he’d be darned if the nightmare knight didn’t sound ... genuine. and that look on his face ... maybe he’d just been alone for so long that he was becoming gullible. his smile had long since disappeared entirely, his expression blank as he looked up at the other, clearly trying to process everything.

       ‘ actually - stevie, you’re not gonna believe this! he wasn’t anything like before! i mean - mostly. but he was nice. ’

       had he not heard it from besty first, he wouldn’t still be entertaining the notion that the nightmare knight actually wanted to change, nor that he wanted better for them both. and it wasn’t just accusing one of them ( himself ) of the wrongdoing - he was confessing to it, as well. it gave him a tangled feeling in his chest - unable to sort out just how it made him feel, other than pulling him in all sorts of directions. 

      “ ... so...  there’s a vacancy now for the role of big bad enemy of dreamside? ” he joked, wearing his signature grin again - though it was strained and unsure. steve really hadn’t been expecting a heart-to-heart - and his sense of humor was being used as a defense mechanism, of sorts. ‘ i want to do better. i want us both to do better. to have better. ’ those words in particular stuck in his head more than he’d like to admit, and he swayed back and forth slightly in the air - rocking his heels on an imaginary surface in thought. 

“Hey!” Wirt yelled indignantly. “Traffic cone? Actually, I took a santa hat and- wait. Never mind, I don’t have to explain myself to you, you-!”

Wirt looked up at the pestering voice and immediately recoiled. A dark visage, a haunting, mocking smile - a devil? A personification of his worst nightmares?

“U-um, I’m sorry, sir,” Wirt managed, backing away. “Yeah, I guess it’s a… fashion… choice.”

Then, barely audibly. “I thought it looked kind of cool.”

          he’d been about to ask what the heck a ‘santa’ was and why did its’ hats look so very much like traffic cones, but then the kid grew frustrated with his comment. he hadn’t actually been trying to rile him up, but when the young man turned to face him, he was all too glad that he had - because he immediately recognized something he hadn’t experienced in millennia.

           fear.

           it was more like a startle, really - small, sudden, and not that strong ... but it lingered, and it didn’t fade - and that was what really caught his attention. when the human started to back away, steve reached out a long, spindly arm to place it in on his shoulder in a faux-friendly manner as his grin grew even more. “ ‘sir’? nah, that’s the other nightmare guy - you can call me ‘steve’! ” he moved to place his elbow on the other’s hat now - his levitation making it appear that he were using the “santa” headpiece as support in a casual way.

          this place definitely wasn’t as cramped as the last place he’d called prison home, but it was still pretty uncomfortable to navigate the building when one was as tall as he was. he’d actually had to walk in order to avoid bending over too much - though even that wasn’t foolproof, as one of his horns managed to snag on a light fixture. “ ...maybe i’ll just hang out outside. ” he mumbled - it wasn’t like he actually needed anything in the housing he’d been assigned for the time being. he’d had enough rest for multiple lifetimes, a change of clothes wasn’t really a concern, and eating food was more of a hobby than a necessity. ( it would be nice to meet roommates, though - he’d been alone for so long, even the most unpleasant strangers here were a figurative breath of fresh air. ) 

He was unhappy with the discussion about Besty. Fair, as he was certainly closer to the little one. Though, that didn’t excuse certain elements that made the poor boy think that he was nothing if he couldn’t do his job.

… Perhaps he was partly to blame. Now wasn’t the time for that though.

So, a more professional posture was taken. Sincere attention towards Steve, rather than acting dismissive. “… Thank you for giving me this chance, I suppose.” He faked clearing his throat. “Well.” His eyes, unreadable to most, looked around the skyline of the city from here. “I suppose the easiest place to start with what I wanted to say is to ask you a question.” He waves a hand, over the island around them.

“What do you think of this place, as your immediate perspective as a newcomer? What are your goals, generally speaking, now that you are here? Be honest, but if you wish to keep your secrets, you may use misdirection to keep me in the dark.”

        okay, well this was more ... genuine than he was expecting. or, at least it sounded like nightmare knight wanted an actual conversation. or maybe he was just a better actor than steve took him for. ( it had been thousands upon thousands of years, after all since they’d last spoken. his memory was likely to fail him. ) steve sat up, crossing his arms again - but in a slightly more defensive manner than before. “ i wasn’t expecting an actual conversation from you. ” he wasn’t sure what he was expecting. a fight, maybe. he would’ve felt more vindicated, then. steve crossed his legs, waiting not-so-patiently for the nightmare knight to ask his questions.

       that was it??? even more perplexingly, he expected him to be honest? he couldn’t even fathom what type of game the nightmare knight was playing at, now - and it was starting to grate on him even more. “ ... what? ” he blurted it out incredulously, staring at the nightmare knight in disbelief. he was in that prison for ages, and now that he was free - that was what the nightmare knight chose to ask? how he felt about his surroundings? what he was planning? honesty? his grin gained that unsettling, snarling quality again - his cheerful demeanor rapidly fading in favor of one he rarely displayed. 

        “ that’s what you wanted to say to me? ” he laughed, though it was forced and nearly-robotic. “ you really are a piece of work, you know that. ” steve muttered it under his breath, though he took a page from the nightmare knight’s book and waited a few moments to force himself to calm down ( or try to ) before responding. “ i think that this place is far better than the last prison, at least. but it does warm my heart to know that you’re stuck somewhere, now. even if it is with me again. ”