The Nightmare of Midnight Valley [Joker]

[Carnage]

Midnight Valley, possible one of the most dreadful places on this world but also at the same time possibly the most peaceful. There is little to no wildlife here to speak of, no one dares venture out here and those dumb enough don't last long. It's the perfect place for someone to go if they went to disappear for a few years….or a few hundred years. There wasn't much to this place except for one thing. This valley was home to one particular Nightmare, one who casted himself away from the world and has successfully secluded himself from every aspect of the outside world.

He is unaware of the affairs going on between the world inhabitants and doesn't care enough to go out and find out how much the world has changed. A few times he encountered foolish humans or other beings coming into his territory and they all shared the same fate. The Nightmare beats of the valley would either kill them or scare them away from his home, leaving them with only terrible memories to haunt them later. Some have came to hunt the beast and the beast always prevailed over his hunters, whether due to scaring them off or defeating them in a game of survival.

For the last few decades he's been alone and content, sleeping in his cave home he made in the side of a mountain. From time to time the Nightmare would ponder about the world outside of his valley but never cared enough to go out there and explore. His memories might be few and hazy but he knew that the world out there wasn't worth the trouble. It was filled with useless creatures who would cast him out like some kind of monster…well he was one wasn't he? He didn't care about things like that anyway, nowadays he didn't care about anything.

Occasionally he'd fly out into the skies above the valley and explore, see if anyone dared come into his territory. Other than that he rarely did anything besides sit and sleep in his cave. Most would see this as a sad and depressing life style but the Nightmare who didn't remember his name was quite fine with this. He spent some of his time trying to remember things of his past, mainly his name. The moniker he had now seemed so primitive but it had some truth to it. Carnage, was the only thing he remember anyone ever calling him.

It came from all the destruction he had caused during his younger days, before he started to forget things. If he could remember his name that would relieve a lot of stress from the Nightmare but for now all he did was rest in his cave. Though he felt like watching the valley from the mouth of the cave instead of sleeping this time around. His bluish green eyes watched over the valley from his cave, eyes that would be easy to spot in all of this darkness. It would look as if he was trying to find something but what exactly? What was the Nightmare looking for?

[Joker]

Joker yawned heavily and stretched her arms and legs upwards into the air, then from there splaying them out wide to the sides. That was a good nap. Though now that she was awake again she didn’t really have anything in mind she needed to do. She had a chair in her office she hadn’t sat in yet. She could try that. Maybe it would be fun. Although it wasn’t like she couldn’t just sit anywhere. Air currents were actually quite comfy.

Though now that she thought about it, Joker was pretty sure this wasn’t her office anymore. It was much darker. A wider. And come to think of it, outdoors as well. How curious. It was almost enough to surprise even Joker. Not quite though. She glanced around at the unfamiliar terrain and simply sighed. How far was she from home now? She just couldn’t catch a break.

“How’d I get way out here, then?” Joker mumbled to herself, her eyes half closed as always. She tucked her legs into each other, sitting cross-legged in midair, and placing her elbows on her knees while using her hands to support her chin. This was certainly bizarre. She wasn’t sure she could get out of this one without giving it some thought, for once. Such a shame.

Still sitting cross-legged Joker began to drift randomly across the landscape, heading in no particular direction. Over the course of the next few hours she slowly drifted up and down hills and across flat plains. Wherever the wind blew, that was where she went. Perhaps if she simply waited long enough the wind would take her home and solve the problem for her. It would certainly be much easier that way.

But as time passed it because quite clear that she’d have to take matters into her own hands. Joker began looking around the immediate area for some sign of where she should go. Not far from her current position she could spot some glowing lights inside a nearby cave. That seemed as good a place to go as anyway. Uncurling from her sitting position, which had grown incredibly uncomfortable in the last few hours, Joker slowly began floating towards the entrance to the strange opening in the earth.
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(380)

[Carnage]

This was impossible! How could something get so close to his cave without him having sensing it entering the valley?! It was like this thing just appeared out of thin air! That would make sense, from what Carnage could see there was a human….no there was some kind of power coming from it. It wasn't a dream so it had to be a Nightmare. What kind of Nightmare would dare enter his territory?! Maybe he would just let this one pass through and not bother it, the thing was probably scared out of its mind already from just being in a place like this.

He was about to turn around and go back further into his cave but the humanoid being was coming toward his cave. What was this thing doing? Did it want to die? Maybe it was unaware of what exactly lived here and wasn't afraid of Carnage. If that was the case then Carnage would make sure this other Nightmare knew just how afraid it should be. He watched it slowly get closer and closer to him, his eyes thinning as he glared at it. Before it would become easy to see Carnage fully, the nightmare retreated deeper into his cave.

What was he hiding for? He was a Carnage! Nightmare who's known to destroy everything and one that crossed paths with him! Then again, did he really just want to destroy this person? From staring at it, he could feel some immense power but power that wasn't all there yet. Whoever this Nightmare was, it has the capabilities to be powerful and that interested him. Maybe he'd let the Nightmare come closer and then get a better look at it. Perhaps he could learn something from it, learn the state of Nightmares in this world since he's been hiding.

This Nightmare could also just be here to try and kill him and that would certainly be interesting! It had been a while since Carnage last had a fight that was actually a challenge and this Nightmare might just bring that to him! Now he welcomed the Nightmare, yes come closer to the cave, come into the cave. Come right to Carnage so he can tell whether or not your worth fighting or not. Come, share with him some kind of insight on the world outside of the valley. This was making the Nightmare excited and it had been a while since he felt anything besides boredom.

Carnage made his way all the way to the deepest end of the cave, where he would normally sleep. Here he would wait to see if the Nightmare would come all the way inside of his lair. Until then, Carnage got into a sleeping position and closed his eyes. He figured might as well take a slight nap before the Nightmare reached him. This was going to be interesting, so interesting in fact that the Nightmare had a happy look on his face for the first time in a long time.

[Joker]

The lights in the cave disappeared suddenly as Joker approached. Had she made them up? She didn’t think she did. Then again, she was pretty tired. Maybe her eyes actually were playing tricks on her. Still, a cave seemed as good a place as any to go. It couldn’t hurt, right? What’s the worst that could happen. Well, she supposed the cave could be a monster’s mouth. Or maybe scary demons live in the cave. Though thinking about it, wasn’t she technically a monster? It should be no problem then.

Joker floated up to the cave entrance. It certainly was dark. Although the entire area seemed pretty dark so this wasn’t much of a change, in actuality. It was kinda cold in the cave too. Colder than it was outside, at least. Which was already pretty cold. Maybe there was snow in the cave. Snow is pretty fun. And snowcones were pretty tasty too. Joker couldn’t remember the last time she had a snowcone. She’d have to get one when she found her way home.

Snowcones aside, Joker headed into the dark, dank cave. She had nothing better to do and she’d come this far. Maybe there was a tunnel home. That seemed pretty unlikely, but stranger things had happened. It would certainly make the trip easier. Although considering she didn’t know which direction was home to begin with it would probably start in trip as well. Joker was pretty well lost by this point. It would be a shame if she was lost forever. Although she supposed it wasn’t that huge of a deal, really.

The air in the cave grew heavier as Joker moved further and further into it. Was this normal for caves? Maybe being underground did it. Or maybe there was something in here after all. She couldn’t really tell. Not that she had any real knowledge of geology anyway. It was kinda wet too. Maybe there really was snow down here. It was certainly cold enough. Wouldn’t that be exciting?

Almost as exciting as nearly bumping into a giant dragon or bird or whatever this sleeping thing was. Joker back up slightly in the air when she realized that a large napping something or other was sitting right in front of her. It seemed something did live here after all. Maybe this was its napping cave?

The sight of such a large sleeping beast made Joker yawn. She considered briefly that she should have a little more consideration for her well-being. This thing certainly looked dangerous. But it was napping so peacefully. It made Joker pretty tired just looking at it. Come to think of it, she was already tired. Maybe she should join this thing.

Joker flipped on to her side in the air, resting her head on an invisible pillow. She gently rocked back and forth on the slight currents of wind coming from the large beasts breathing. Mmm, yeah this was nice. A nap was just what she needed right now. Joker closed her eyes as her breathing slowed before rocking herself to sleep.
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(525)

[Carnage]

Too much to his surprise the Nightmare had actually nodded off to sleep, despite his initial plan of just catching a small nap. It was such a peaceful sleep as well, which was strange seeing how the Nightmare was used to trouble sleep. It was welcomed though and he wished for many sleeps like this afterward, though he doubted it. By the time he opened his eyes he hoped to see the Nightmare from earlier before him, staring in awe but she was sleeping. Sleeping?! How could someone sleep in front of beast like this?! What was wrong with this Nightmare? Was she mad or something?!

Carnage could only stare at the Nightmare, as it floated above the ground sleeping, wondering what in the world she was doing. The birdlike Nightmare slowly crept near the Nightmare before him and began to examine it. The Nightmare was human in shape and scent but it was obvious that it had immense power, power she didn't know how to use. Carnage would hate to have a human body though. Human bodies were weak and vulnerable and couldn't handle real power, power like Carnage's at least. It wasn't like Carnage had seen any humans that much…or remembered them for anyone to really take his opinion seriously. Though it was pretty much true.

He then tried to deduce the Nightmare's abilities from examining it. It obviously had some kind of perhaps gravity power? Seeing how she was floating over the ground so peacefully Carnage could only assume that her powers were gravity based. That was interesting, Carnage had never seen a Nightmare with gravity based powers before. No, there was something else….this Nightmare could do much more than just use gravity powers but Carnage couldn't tell. Either way it was an outrage that this Nightmare was sleeping before him!

He wanted to tear this Nightmare apart for this! Carnage rose his wing and was about to strike but he stopped. Killing this Nightmare would be a waste, she had so much potential, potential that Carnage wanted to see. "Wake up!" He roared as he slammed his claws in the ground next to the Nightmare, avoiding it. "How dare you come into my land and disturb my peace, Nightmare!" He slammed the cave floor a few more times before he stopped and became a bit more enraged. No matter how long it took, Carnage was going to let this Nightmare know how upset he was.

"Even more insulting is that you dare come into my home without permission and disturb my peace! I should rip you apart for this but first I want to know your name Nightmare so wake up and indentify yourself!" One more powerful slam to the ground before Carnage would stop for good and wait for a response. If the other Nightmare decide to be hostile then Carnage would make this a quick and short interaction. Ending with the other Nightmare dead and him sleeping peacefully again, oh how nice that would be.

[Joker]

Such a pleasant dream. Cookies and candy. Yum. Sweets were pretty tasty. She could eat them all day. Well, she wasn’t really eating them. Just dream candy. But it was kinda the same, right? Of course it was. Although it was fairly loud for candy. It kept making this large, pounding rumbling noise. It was awfully rude, especially for a delicious snack. Although come to think it of, was it the candy? Her whole dream seemed to be rumbling. And was that shouting she could hear?

Joker’s eyes fluttered slightly as she came back to reality. Still rumbling and yelling. Yep, definitely not angry dream cookies. Didn’t she fall asleep next to something big and scary? Oh! Right. That dragon bird. Maybe it had woken up. As Joker’s sight transferred from dream to reality, her thought proved correct. The giant bird dragon was indeed awake. He seemed pretty angry too.

Wait a second. Dreaming? Joker had been dreaming. Suddenly she found herself distracted again. How does a nightmare dream? How does a dream dream? Wow, she’d never thought about it before. Maybe it wasn’t her dream at all. Maybe she was simply visiting some strange human’s dream who just happened to be sleeping at the same time. Or maybe she was seeing the inside of some other dream walking around somewhere. If that was the case, did people ever visit her mind when they slept? Spooky. Joker’s head started to hurt as she unwittingly explored intense metaphysical concepts that she probably should be thinking about in the first place.

The pound and yelling was getting louder anyway. Probably should deal with that or she’d never get back to sleep. Joker slowly snapped (As much as she could snap) her attention to her big dragon bird cave companion.

”-for this but first I want to know your name Nightmare so wake up and identify yourself!"

Joker only caught the last bit of his rant. She supposed her sleeping buddy wanted to know her name. Joker yawned wide and deep as she worked up the... wakefullness, she supposed, to respond. “Mmmm... I’m Joker.” she said, flatly. Once again she thought on the subject of her name. It was still a curiosity to her. Joker wondered just how she got the name ‘Joker’ in the first place. She certainly hadn’t received it from anyone. She just knew it.

Now wasn’t the time to think about that though. There was a big angry dragon bird right in front of her. She wasn’t too worried about it, but it seemed like a big deal when she thought about it. It certainly was big enough to gobble her up. Joker had just been gobbling up dream candy. Was she candy for big dragon birds? She didn’t think she was that sweet. Joker didn’t actually know what she tasted like, come to think about it.

Joker yawned once more. “Good morning, Mr. Dragon Bird. Are you going to swallow me whole? I don’t think I taste very good.” Joker’s tone didn’t suggest that she was joking, yet neither did she seem particularly worried at the thought of being eaten by a gigantic monster.
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(545)

[Carnage]

Joker?! What kind of name was Joker?! Now that he thought about it, just looking at this Nightmare who would take her seriously? She seems lazy, unenthusiastic and unreliable! No wonder she's called Joker! The large Nightmare before her wanted to slice her into bites now for answering his question so care freely. He wasn't sure why that bothered him so much but it did and boy did he want to hurt her. Instead, he watched her quietly and just observed. Most people would have been scared senseless by now but she was completely fine. Whether she be brave or just to absentminded to understand what was going was unknown to Carnage.

Before he would speak the Nightmare known as Joker said something else. Did this thing just call him a bird dragon? What in the world was that? Was there some new kind of hybrid creature out there that was half bird half dragon?! Now that Carnage thought about it, what kind of animal would he describe himself as? He definitely couldn't call himself something humanoid like Joke right here but something more beast like. Carnage always considered himself more a bird than anything else but he had claws, claws sharp enough to tear through flesh easily.

He figured that made him more dragon like but then again he had a beak like snout so that made him more bird like. On the other hand though he had horns on his head which made him more dragon like and his eyes were more reptile like than bird like. His eyes sight was quite accurate and he could see quite far and that made him more bird like. Then again he could spew flames from his snout and that made him more dragon like, this was quite confusing for the Nightmare.

Wait a minute….he had just spent a good few minutes thinking about what kind of animal he was. "My name is long forgotten but it is not Mr. Dragon Bird!" Carnage roared, causing the cave to shake and pieces of its walling start to fall off. "I am a Nightmare of pure destruction and death! I am a Nightmare who tears everything apart! I am Carnage!" Normally he wouldn't care about introducing himself like this to anyone or introducing himself at all but this Nightmare angered him. So much disrespect coming from something so little, it irritated Carnage to no end.

"I wouldn't waste my time eating you! You're not worth the mess it would make," Though he was thinking about it. Maybe if he spewed some flames and made her really crispy she'd taste pretty good. "Tell me something Joker, how did you end up here?" He asked as he leaned down closer to the Nightmare. If this Nightmare had some kind of ability to warp wherever she wanted that would be quite the useful ability. It would remind him of his own warping ability but on a much greater scale, how interesting that would be if it was true.