⇨ THE HUNT

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 173, the Afternoon
Where: Heartstone Manor Courtyard
What: Everyone goes into the forest with arrows, swords, and horses and is told to hunt and the kill the biggest beast they can find. Best kills win a prize! Or, if you'd rather not, you can wander around the forest and pretend to hunt instead.
Warnings: Violence and ethical quandaries.

BEASTS OF BURDEN↴ Come the day of the Hunt, everyone will be brought to the courtyard forest and provided with arrows, bows, and blades as requested. Magic and other weaponry can be used to hunt, but it is suggested by the Prince that the best kill is the one done in a gentlemanly manner, which probably means he will be most impressed by those using the tools provided. The "Best Kill" will be determined from a mixture or whatever beast the Prince decides is best, and the method in which it was killed. The less damage done to the body the better - tearing the body apart will receive poor grades. The corpses are not yours to eat or keep, and all must be returned to the Prince at the end of the day for judgment. The servants are especially nervous, tense, and solemn today, and unless they have no choice, most of them will be trying to give the courtyard a wide berth. Those that have to serve will have stony expressions, or at best will be trying to put on a cheerful face. If casually asked why they are upset, most of them will say something vague about the Hunt making them nervous, and how dangerous it is to participate. OOC: Those who make top levels will have a chance to be randomly selected for a couple particular plot events, so be prepared for that.

Comments

[whattaprick]

That makes two of you, horse. Lambert gives Strange one last look of intense misgiving -- is this really, seriously going to work? -- and scrunches his nose up before he leans forward to plant a kiss on the bicorn's snout, to the left of where Strange kissed it. He doesn't even kiss Pig, Strange, this feels like it's cheating somehow. Committing horse infidelity is not what he expected to be doing today.

Task done, he steps back and frowns. Nothing seems to have changed: still a lot of magic in the air, still a dazed horse in front of them. With a frown, he turns to Strange.

"Well, that didn't w--"

The spell shatters.

[kingsroads]

As Lambert leans in to kiss the horse, Strange repeats the incantation he said earlier, focusing all his attention and all his concentration on the bicorn, keeping his hand firmly placed on the bicorn's neck. Lambert's frown is met with silence from Strange, who's still focusing all his attention and power on the horse.

And then, the spell breaks. Though both Strange and Lambert feel the enchantment snap (so can anyone magically sensitive who's watching this from the bushes), the transformation doesn't happen all at once. The back half of the bicorn starts to fade away as the front half reshapes itself. Snout fades into a human face, the horse's chest fades, revealing a human's chest underneath. Parts of the bicorn stay no matter what. Her horns remain and the horse's front legs remain as well, despite everything fading around them. It only takes around ten or so seconds for the spell to fully vanish, as the bicorn exterior has completely vanished and a willowy woman stands in it's place.

The magic vanishes as well, as Lambert's medallion stops humming. Strange looks like he's going to bust out into joyous laughter then and there, he's just that excited. The woman looks like she's about to pass out. Thankfully, Strange is right there. The part that was the horse's neck roughly corresponds to the woman's shoulder, and he's able to quickly grab and help support her as her horse legs practically buckle underneath her.

She's also buckass naked, a fact that Strange only realizes when he gets an eyeful of boob and straight up blushes.

[whattaprick]

Lambert does not blush. Lambert swears, loudly, and reaches out to support the bicorn on the other side, nodding at Strange.

"Help me get her on the ground." And since the woman still seems to be quickly fading out of consciousness, he addresses her sharply as they do that, leaning over her.

"Who are you? What's your name?" he demands. There's no real time to be gentle about asking, but the woman's eyes flutter weakly as she tries to shake her head.

"I don't know..." She manages to get out that much before she passes right out.

[anti_nonsense]

"What the hell did you just do!?"

The outburst comes from some nearby bushes, where Rita bursts out from her cover, stomping ahead to meet Strange and Lambert. Her bow is slung over her shoulder along with a quiver; originally, she and 9S had planned to wait in hiding in case the bicorn escaped their rivals' grasp, giving them the opportunity to claim it for themselves. What they didn't expect was to witness two grown men kissing a horse, or for that horse to turn into a woman.

No... it was always a woman. "A transformation spell... you... but how--" Agitated, she looks between the men and the unconscious woman. Rita has a lot of questions on her mind, but before that... "Would you quit gawking!? Give her something to cover up with! I'll examine her." If Rita were in this woman's position, the last thing she'd want is a bunch of men crowding around her.

[dressedtothe]

9S comes out of the same bushes, following after Rita now that she's blown their cover. Like, wow, that was... something. Human kisses sure are powerful, aren't they?

"Uh," he says very eloquently. 9S is absolutely very definitely staring at the naked horse woman.

It's not as though he hasn't seen a naked woman before -- there are many, many explicit videos that managed to survive the ravages of time -- but he hasn't seen an actual real life naked woman, even if she also has horse parts, too.

So if he's maybe watching her too intently, he's just collecting data on the human(?) female form to bring back home.

...Yeah.

[kingsroads]

Oh, Rita and 9S are here? That's...wait, why are Rita and 9S here? Strange can't help but give the two of them a confused look before he decides it doesn't matter, he can still brag about his success in front of them.

"It's the power of English magic," Strange gloats, as he starts to take off his coat to give to the horse woman. Of course, despite Strange saying that it's English magic, this is also part witcher magic, fae magic, and sheer dumb luck on Strange's part. But he's never admitted that he's gotten lucky before, he's certainly not going to admit he got lucky now! "I recognized the magic, Lambert and I captured the horse, and then I broke the spell—with his help, of course."

Strange can't deny the fact that Lambert kissed a horse as well. He's also going to be a bro and not call 9S out on the fact that he too was kind of staring at this poor woman's chest.

[whattaprick]

Lambert reaches out to press his fingers lightly to the woman's neck while Strange covers her up -- the pulse is weak, but steady, and he's satisfied enough to step back and let Rita fuss over her however she wants. Tuning Strange out, he's going to frown and address 9S directly.

"How long have you been there?" And then, looking around like he expects Scout or Syrlya to leap out of the bush any moment, "Do you know where the other nightrunners are?"

[anti_nonsense]

Rita kneels by the woman, waving a hand to shoo 9S's ogling stare away, and giving Lambert an impatient look while he takes the woman's pulse. But it's not long until he backs off, and Strange's coat is draped over the woman, and Rita sets about examining her physical and magical condition. After a short amount of time, she reports, "Shock and exhaustion... other than that, she's stable."

At one point, she pauses, the blood draining from her face as she looks over the woman's neck. Not long ago, she was close to putting an arrow through there...

Looking up at Strange, she urgently asks, "When did you realize she was under a spell?"

[dressedtothe]

But Rita, he wasn't done yet!

Fiiine.

As for Lambert's question... "No, but I can find them. They'll be easier to detect out here. Want me to fetch the others?"

However, even though they had started out with horses, there's a distinct lack of horses accompanying Rita and 9S. One's busy feeding the flies right now.

[kingsroads]

Lambert and 9S can discuss 'semantics' and 'what to do next' all they want, Strange has magic he needs to talk with Rita about.

"I suspected something when we first saw her. I only fully realized she was enchanted when Lambert and I cornered her and I got a better look," said as he nods towards the half-assed horse pen that had been constructed out of earth.

Oh yeah, speaking of that, he had better get rid of those pillars. Gesturing towards the remaining earthen pillars that constituted bootleg horse jail, Strange quickly mutters an incantation. Slowly, they start to lower themselves back into the ground.

[whattaprick]

Lambert will let Strange deal with Rita while he issues orders to 9S -- he's not as interested in discussing the semantics so much as dealing with the very visibly unconscious woman before the Prince calls an end to the Hunt.

"Yeah, bring whoever's closest first. We need to keep her out of sight." And themselves, as well. He frowns, seeming to realize 9S and Rita are horseless -- what happened to those? -- before he shakes his head, drawing a Pokeball out of a pocket.

"Can you ride without a saddle? Take Butcher, it'll be faster." A pop and flash of light, and an extremely goofy-looking orange donkey stands before 9S inquisitively, pawing the ground and pricking its ears at the commotion. Lambert takes the Mudbray by the chin, shaking his head.

"None of that. Here, like we practiced -- hold still and listen to Nines." Nobody give him shit for talking to the donkey like it can actually understand him, okay?!

[anti_nonsense]

Rita sighs. So they really couldn't have known until they had a proper look at her... If the hunt went as planned, that might not have happened until after they killed her from a distance. "I can't believe that freak's got us hunting people," she mutters through gritted teeth. And the Ringmaster wants an alliance with this guy? Hell no. It's not going to happen.

But there's no use sitting around and feeling guilty. When she's done looking over the woman, Rita moves to sit at her feet, propping them onto her lap to elevate them. "It doesn't look like anything else is wrong with her. She should come to after some of the blood gets back to her head." Hopefully, if the shock isn't too severe.

[dressedtothe]

Keep out of sight, huh? Then Syr would probably be the better choice, though Scout has some cloaking, too. Though in the end, it'll just be whoever he finds first.

When something's called Butcher, 9S had expected something more menacing. Not... whatever that thing is. What the heck is that? It looks weird! And it totally clashes with the cool image he has of Lambert!

"Yeah, I can ride without a saddle, but..." 9S gives Butcher -- seriously? -- a dubious look. "Are you sure it can take me?" Look at the thing! It's tiny! "I'm heavier than I look."

[kingsroads]

Strange is going to give Lambert so much shit for talking to the donkey like it can actually understand him. That smug grin has faded to a delighted grin as he watches Lambert talk to that Mudbray like it's people.

"Those things can hold more than expected," Strange explains, giving Mudbray a little nod. "Of course, the main problem is just how badly Lambert and Childermass have spoiled the animal."

Though hey, if 9S is going out he might as well kill two birds with one stone. Turning towards Rita, Strange asks, "Is there anything that you need to help the woman? I doubt there's much out here," said with a gesture to the courtyard, "but there's no harm in 9S and myself looking around."

[whattaprick]

"He can hold up to fifty times its own weight," Lambert says, saying it like he's parroting a fact he was told rather than something he's tested himself. "I don't think you're that fat." Also, how would you even get something that heavy strapped into something that tiny to begin with? Hell if Lambert knows.

"Besides, I'm not the one who spoils him. That's all Childermass."

At any rate, Pig was able to carry him and Strange back when she was still a Mudbray herself, so Butcher should manage to handle one passenger just fine. 9S's trouble might be handling how excitable the Pokemon is more than anything else, and Lambert grimaces as the donkey prances a little in place, ears pricked in the air. Butcher knows something's up, and he's getting excited about it.

"Here, I'll hold him still. After you find them I need you to look for the Acquisitioner too." He doesn't know if his scanning lets him pick out individuals, but it would be faster than Lambert trying to track anyone.

[anti_nonsense]

"Sounds like you're both a couple of doting grandpas," Rita chimes in flatly. She doesn't have much room to talk, though, considering how much she dotes on her Litten, or her blastia.

To Strange, she answers, "Water might help. Or something cold." Those aren't necessities, but they'd probably be easy enough to provide, perhaps with his magic. Rita hates to admit it (so she won't), but her magic isn't as well-suited to situations like this. She's always focused on high-output, destructive formulae. Good for blasting monsters into the stratosphere. Not so good for small, delicate stuff.

[dressedtothe]

He never said he was fat?

And the Aquisitioner spoils this... thing? That dour looking guy??

Well, either way, 9S walks over to Butcher dubiously, taking care to slowly approach from the front. Too bad he doesn't have anything nice and tasty on him right now, but he'll make do. He holds out both his hands, palms up, to allow Butcher to sniff him first. Though he'll definitely smell strange, being inorganic and all.

"Yeah, okay." They did just make an accidental acquisition. With a glance up at Pod 153, 9S says, "Pod, stay here and record the conversation if she wakes up."

< Affirmative >

Good. He'd actually expected it to argue with him; the pods can be so clingy sometimes.

[kingsroads]

"They are a couple of doting grandpas," Strange chimes in, giving Lambert that delighted yet slightly shit-eating grin. The party consists of two teenagers and yet somehow it's the thirtysomething that remains the most trouble.

Still, something cold? He can do that. Strange starts to undo his ascot as he talks. "I can easily make something cold with my magic. I'll just need to cast the spell some distance away from everyone so she can stay warm," said with a little nod towards the horse woman.

Because Strange knows his limitations and knows that he too is rubbish at smaller scale magic. If he made a cold compress here, the likelihood that he'd end up freezing Rita, Lambert, and the horse woman as well is pretty high.

[whattaprick]

Lambert shrugs. "Baker's the one who knocked Pig up because he wasn't keeping an eye on him. It's the least he can do." They might not have time to wait for her to wake up through more conventional methods, but for the moment, Lambert's going to keep that thought to himself and fold his arms, raising his brows at Strange as he prepares. Yeah, he knows how this goes.

Butcher, meanwhile, is more curious than reticent -- the personality of a perky puppy in the body of a small equine. After a tentative sniff of 9S's hand, his tail starts wagging, a whisking sound against his flanks.

"Pet him between the ears and he'll do whatever you want," Lambert advises absently, having taken up a spot off to the side a little from the unconscious woman, keeping his eyes and ears on their surroundings while Strange and Rita are otherwise occupied.

9S doesn't get a chance to act on this advice, however, before Butcher nickers happily and butts his head directly into his crotch, with a force and velocity something so small just shouldn't have.

[anti_nonsense]

So Strange's magic faces a similar limitation to Rita's. Good to know. Maybe he'll be doing the same spell he did back in the carnival's eating area, that one time. "Do it," she tells him.

While Lambert's keeping thoughts to himself, Rita can't help but wish he'd also refrained from reminding them all that a dog knocked up a horse somehow, but okay. She's going to try to forget that.

But before she can bring her full attention back to the woman, there's a distinct sound of head meeting crotch with great force, and she looks up in alarm before remembering... right, 9S mentioned he was sexless. But it sounds like it hurt.

[dressedtothe]

9S can evade all manner of machine lifeform attacks, but apparently not a small, overexcited donkey. Butcher's head meets his crotch with a solid sounding 'clunk', and 9S is knocked flat onto his butt.

"Oof!"

Thanks, Butcher. It's a good thing he didn't get any of the 'fun' modifications some of the other androids obtained, otherwise he'd be feeling the headbutt a lot more. Luckily for him, it's just all metal and synthetic skin down there. 9S quickly scrambles to his feet, not wanting to give Butcher any ideas about jumping all over him while he's down.

"What the heck was that for!?" he huffs, as if the donkey can understand him. Butcher doesn't deserve a petting! But he needs a steed to find Syr and Scout with quickly, so 9S reaches out to pat the donkey between the ears, like Lambert advised. "Come on, we have a job to do. Quit being a pain."

[kingsroads]

Strange has already started to move away from the group when 9S gets a donkey head to the nads. Still, he can't help but wince in sympathy as he hears that clunk. Unlike Rita, he has no idea how robot junk works so he's just assuming that poor 9S might have a little bit of trouble walking for the next few minutes.

Now that he's a good few feet away, Strange folds up his untied ascot, places a hand on top of it, and starts muttering the spell to freeze the thing.

And because Strange can't do anything in a subtle fashion, everybody (Lambert, Rita, bicorn woman, and 9S and Butcher if they're still hanging around) starts to feel the cold as it radiates from where he's standing. Just ignore the fact that there's frost starting to spread from the bottom of his feet.

[whattaprick]

Somehow, Butcher looks a little crestfallen there wasn't more of a reaction -- that's usually an effective way to get people to play and run after him! -- but he settles quickly once 9S gives him a scratch, and he nudges the android's hand with a soft, slightly damp muzzle. The sudden spread of cold across the ground doesn't appear to bother him a bit.

It does, however, earn a grimace from Lambert. Can't do anything subtle, can he ... ? "Make it quick," he grumbles -- at 9S or Strange or both. "We don't need anything else coming to see what's freezing part of his forest."

He also doesn't seem surprised at -- or bother to apologize for -- his poorly trained pokemon, though he'll file away 9S's (lack of) reaction for future reference. Maybe if he can get someone closer to the right height to ride Butcher around, that extra energy could get burned off faster.

[anti_nonsense]

Wow, Lambert. Way to let your donkey grandson develop terrible habits. At least 9S seems fine...

And yep... Sure seems like Strange is using the same spell that froze a section of the cookhouse before. As the creeping cold approaches Rita and the woman, Rita calls over her shoulder at Strange, "Hey, that's enough cold! We're trying to help her, not freeze her."

[dressedtothe]

Ugh, gross. Why do biological creatures always leak fluids?

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it." Or he would be, if Butcher hadn't knocked him over earlier!!

But taking the hint, 9S gives Butcher one last pat before moving to get up on the donkey. Butcher's a little -- a lot -- shorter than what he's used to riding, but...

"Alright, let's go." 9S tilts his calves inwards and gives Butcher a small squeeze to urge him forwards. Riding a donkey can't be any worse than riding a wild moose, right?