Nightmare And The Babybone Sanses

Punishment

After a week of looking after the boys, Nightmare has learned a few things. For instance, the boys seem to have boundless energy some days and can't make themselves sit still. Even when all the noise and yelling from them drove him to tell them to sit still and stay quiet, they couldn't do it. A skill that he is starting to learn is how to tune them out while also keeping an 'ear' out for if they do something that they shouldn't.

Today is one of those days.

Despite the house being large enough to be called a mansion, it was still filled with the sounds of tiny boney feet clicking against the wood floor as they ran through the hallways, or little thumps as they ran though carpeted floor of bedrooms. Occasionally, they would run though the living room, where Nightmare was currently reading a book, but they wouldn't even glance at him as they ran straight out. They seemed to be playing a game where they chase each other all around the house and if a certain one touches one of them, then they would yell "tag" and then they would all run from that one.

Nightmare hummed as he remembered that game. It seems like it's been eons, since he last saw children play it. It's funny how a game that was invited centuries ago still seems to entertain children to no end to this day. He quickly stopped that train of thought. Thinking of days long ago would bring back memories that he would prefer to keep buried in the depths of his mind. After all, those are only just memories of a past that's long behind him. Everything is different now - HE is different now. There's no way to change the past, so why dwell on it.

During the week, Nightmare has decided to add a few new books to his library: "How to Care for Children" and "How to Discipline Children." He was currently reading one of those books now as he tried to ignore the sounds of the boys playing. It's already been made clear that the babybones are fragile, so disciplining them with pain would risk doing serious damage to them, especially if Nightmare is very angry and has a lot of intent to hurt. Hurting them could drive them farther away from trusting him than they already are.

Unfortunately, the book suggests a lot of things that the dark skeleton does not want to do. He promptly skipped over the pages about hugging and comforting the children. The goal isn't to make the boys love him – he wants them to see him as their authority figure. Showing them so much affection won't achieve the results that he wants. He wants them to obey him without question no matter the command. He doesn't understand how showing them love will make them obey him – showing them LOVE, however, seems like a much better way.

Nightmare was jolted from his thoughts from a loud smash in the house. There's no question as to what happened – the boys broke something while playing. He quickly closed the book, setting it to the side as he got up from his seat.

"BOYS!"

Before giving them any time to react to his call, the enraged skeleton teleported to the source of the sound. The boys were in the hallway, surrounding the decrepit remains of a shattered vase that once stood on a table in the hall as decoration. The boys immediately noticed the dark shadow looming over them.

"SCATTER!" Cross yelled.

Fortunately for Nightmare, he saw this coming. Before the boys could get far, his tentacles shot out to each one of them, effectively snaring them. He brought the boys up close to his angry snarl, allowing them to see has rage more clearly. "Do you boys have anything to say for yourselves before your inevitable punishment?"

"um.. sorry?" Dust gave a lazy shrug with a grin to match.

"It was just a dumb vase. You can just get a new one." Cross said as he glared at the floor.

"That 'dumb vase' was one of a kind. It's irreplaceable!" Nightmare gave Cross a little shake to make him look at him.

"That doesn't make it any less dumb. I don't know why you care so much about it – it was useless. It just sat there all the time, doing nothing." Cross was now glaring at Nightmare countering his own.