lostcarnival | ⇨ WYLD HUNT

Entry tags:

⇨ WYLD HUNT

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 100
Where: Shabondamashii
What: The Wyld Hunt unexpectedly crashes the Shabon's dimension, leaving chaos in its wake. Those that have been with the carnival for a while might recognize it as the personal army of a fae called the Huntsman - also known as one of the Ringmaster's age old rivals, whom she dethroned thousands of years ago. The last we heard of him, he was pursuing the carnival, and it turns out he found them faster than anyone thought.
Warnings: Violence, theoretical cannibalism.

THE AUTUMN MOON↴

There isn't any warning. You might not even notice what's happening at first, with the approach of the threat happening as spontaneously as a zombie uprising. You're minding your own business, enjoying Shabon, when a random alien charges you on foot with sudden and aggressive intent. Whether or not you can throw them off or defeat them, you'll soon find they weren't alone. An entire army is descending upon the city now, and the carnival is the target.

► THEY ARE LEGION: The Wyld Hunt comes in all shapes and sizes, with beasts and men from all kinds of different universes having been caught up in its sway. Those that have been in the Hunt for a long while have more or less completely lost themselves - they now function only as part of a pack, hunting whatever the Huntsman wishes and consuming what their prey leaves behind upon death. Some members of the Hunt are newer and more unsure, but they are all a part of a psychic hive mind that compels them to move as a unit. Everyone in the Wyld Hunt instinctively know what the Huntsman wants them to do, even if they never speak to him.

Their skills, powers, and physicalities are all over the board, but there are a notably large quantity of Wyld Fae among them, often being used as mounts by more powerful humanoids within the Hunt. When NPCing members of the Hunt for threading purposes there is a lot of flexibility to what you face, including entities and beasts from your own worlds - provided they are creatures capable of functioning independently.

► HUNT OR BE HUNTED: When set upon by the Hunt, it is easy to become overwhelmed. Unfortunately, in that situation, the only way to beat them is to join them. Beginning to hunt alongside the others will immediately pacify them against you. As soon as you start to follow, the thrum of the Huntsman's will will start to take over - the more you hunt, the harder it is to turn away from it. If you do stop, or successfully oppose the compulsion, they will be quick to set upon you again. Like the others, you will feel the craving to consume any individuals the Hunt has felled - you must resist this, because once you have eaten the prey of the Hunt, you'll be trapped within it indefinitely.

► WORN OUT WELCOME: The people of Shabon are used to crisis, but this is a bit beyond what even they are prepared to tolerate. The Hunt will be causing collateral, both of the human and the material sort. While the workers in Shabon have very well practiced escape procedures in the event of something like this, the other guests are not as fortunate. Plenty of them are capable of fighting back on their own, but they will not always be capable of avoiding the hordes. The longer this goes on, the worse it will get. Eventually, the Shabon workers will realize who the Hunt is after and start actively trying to turn carnival members over to them in order to make it stop.

► IN TWO PARTS: Tragically, this turn of events and the realization that she's managed to put everyone in danger once again will be what finally causes the Ringmaster to split in two. One side will immediately become disinterested in using violence to counter this problem, while the other will be desperate and reckless. This will also completely screw her ability to get anyone back to the carnival in time. There will be at least one Megathread dealing with her actions during this.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a conflict the carnival is meant to survive, not win. The main point of this is to get the plot rolling in a new direction, so don't worry about figuring out how to defeat the Huntsman, because in this moment it basically won't be possible. Have fun threading out the crisis, and see where it leads. I wanted to be up front about that, as opposed to letting everyone grasp at straws to prevent a result that will be inevitable, even if the details will shift.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Rita, like Strange, wants to see this through in its entirety. As such, she's also pushed through the vines (using water magic to press them away from herself) and sits atop another outcropping.

As soon as she positions herself, however, something gets hurled at her, and she quickly conjures a shield of ice to deflect it. It's a moment later that she realizes what it was - a magic bone - and her attention turns to the friends among their foes. Papyrus, Lambert... Sans? But as she looks over the crowd, she sees no sign of the one missing person she wants to find most.

As the Huntsman makes his appearance, she watches him warily, but says nothing. If the play here is to use Ignatius's status, the last thing he needs is a changeling speaking out of turn.

As Strange spots Lambert, his expression fades, going into a grimace. That bastard. Did he even try to keep himself safe? There's no use trying to act now, not when they're in the middle of negotiations, but Strange's mood has visibly tanked.

It doesn't take seeing magic to see just how powerful the Huntsman is and just how much of a gamble Ignatius is taking. For convenience's sake, Strange is close enough to Rita that she can hear him mutter, "We should be by his side."

And that's exactly what Strange is going to do. He turns to smoke and starts to move down towards Ignatius, positioning himself that he's mostly behind the fae yet still visible as he descends.

It's clear that Ignatius is at least a bit unsure of how to handle this. He'd hoped that his connection to the Queen might speak for itself, but evidently, that is not the case.

"The Summer Queens have long since been an ally of the Hunt - we would not see that changed today," he calls out, trying to sound bold. Maybe they would see it changed later, though. "By whose will are you here? Your own? Or is there an arrangement with the Courts?"

The Huntsman slowly continues to advance towards Ignatius, at first not saying anything at all, which is nervewracking. He has no idea if he's said the right thing or not.

"It is not by yours, Spark," the Huntsman finally says, lifting his arms as if to gesture to the rest of his army. "If you call us allies... then why has the Summer Queen not spoken for me in the years of my absence? In the days of my weakness, brought about by this arrogant wyrm?"

Ignatius doesn't know. He has guesses. He could imagine that the Queens would have little interest in the Huntsman after he was weakened, as his control of the Wyld Fae was the reason he was useful. With the Ringmaster having sent everything into disarray... but there is no benefit to saying that. He has to be careful with his words. He is not used to negotiating with this level of stakes, and saying what's on his heart will not suffice.

"Well... I see that much of your power has been returned, has it not? The Wyld Fae..." Ignatius casts a glance to the number of them clustered around. This many Wyld Fae under your control could easily overwhelm even the most elite of Court squadrons. "They're following you again. Commendations seem in order..."

Ignatius tries not to show just how intimidated he is.

"Commendations..." the Huntsman rasps, after another uncomfortable pause. "Such fairweather friends we are, Summer Court..." He's come forward enough that he is directly looming over him, while the younger fae does his best to look unaffected. "And the Wyld Fae... it would seem you are no friend to them, either..."

It's at those words that the Wyld Fae present begin to rumble and growl again, hisses of profane things being thrown in Ignatius's direction.

"The Fiery One is a slayer of our kind... a bringer of destruction..." they say. "Dozens fell by the release of his wretched power... Unfeeling weapon of the Summer Court!"

Others whisper and growl things similar, making claims to having lost brood members or suffered injury as a result of him and his kin.

Ignatius stands firm, but he is clearly at a loss. This all feels over his head, and with a circle of clear enemies growing ever close, his muscles are tensed and ready to defend himself at any moment.

The griffin pushes himself to his feet, a lethargic, easy motion that belies the volume of his voice. With a push of magic, he uses the wind to amplify his voice so that it carries, clearly pitched to provoke the rest of the Hunt.

"How many of us were lost to his flames? For no fault greater than the audacity to ask to for their freedom?" His feet stamp on the ground and his wings flare, beating the air. "The Wyld Lands have not forgotten the death and pain you brought to that valley! I say no parlay!"

On his back, Horn grasps the griffin's blackened feathers and peeks over his flaring wings, her pale hair floating like mist around her head. She doesn't seem particularly moved by the obvious tension in the negotiations, just curious.

At Strange's words, Rita turns her head sharply and begins to mouth some words of protest, but he's already gone ahead. That idiot... can't he sit still, just this once?

Already, it starts to feel like negotiations are going sour. Rita takes a moment to weigh her options... then stretches out her wings and floats down to join Strange near Ignatius's side. The jeering fae, griffin included, are met with a fierce glare, even though internally, she's more terrified than anything.

It's not like Rita doesn't understand their hatred. She isn't sure there's anything her support can accomplish, either. If this comes to blows... she'll probably die. But if Ignatius stands alone and falls, she may be as good as dead anyway. Besides, her pride won't allow her to sit idly by while someone, even him, puts his life on the line for her sake.

Turquoise is outside as well, though she's been quiet for the proceedings so far. With Steven managing the hedge fort from the inside, it was the least Peridot and Amethyst could do, to head out and try to keep some of the heat off.

Things are getting tense. She's in the shape of some sort of bizarre fusion of Peridot's dragon form and Amethyst's regular quadruped body, clinging to some of the brambles and watching the proceedings with four widened eyes.

"Wuh-oh," she rumbles awkwardly as the Wyld fae proceed to get rowdy, uttered without anywhere close to the sort of gravity that the situation calls for.

As it turns out, a lot of the other Wyld Fae are inclined to agree with the griffin. The beasts creep closer, eager to inflict pain, but they won't without the Huntsman's go ahead. He's paused the fight for a reason.

Yet, it seems that reason is swiftly passing.

"Nothing to say," says the Huntsman, looking at Ignatius with a tilted head. Ignatius shifts uncomfortably.

"I cannot speak for my Queen, or for my Court's actions," he says, a flinch of a sentence as if he already knows that's a losing answer. "I... I could only speak for myself."

He could express condolences, or that he was sorry for the destruction he had unwittingly caused so long ago. Yet, he knows it doesn't matter. He's just the hand of the Summer Court, not the body.

"Then you speak for nothing," the Huntsman says. He turns, heading back into the thick of the crowd with a dismissive wave of his arm. "Do with him as you will."

There is little question to what that is.

The moment they have the word, the Wyld Fae begin to advance. Ignatius jolts a step back, surprised at how quickly the conversation ended - now all he has is enemies closing in, and at least two soft targets standing right behind him.

"Get back in the temple!" Ignatius hisses toward them, and then lunges forward to fight. At least three Wyld Fae are there to meet him head on, including the Hydra that had been speaking before. Ignatius drives his glaive into their bodies, cutting vicious lines of fire through the air in his wake. A clash of titans begins, and the struggle will shake the earth the temple stands on.

It isn't long before Ignatius starts taking vicious blow in return - watching him fight is a dazzling swirl of fire and movement, but there is only so much one can do while they are hideously outnumbered. Chunks of red flesh get torn from his body by fangs and claws, only to try to regrow out of flares of fire. Ignatius grunts with pain every time it happens, but reforms his body just as quickly - yet, the ease of these reformations slows for every blow he takes.

He pierces his glaive through the body of the Hydra and leaves it there, instead summoning a pair of long blades to use - but one of the Hydra's jaws closes around his leg before he can strike a finishing blow. Another Wyld Fae, a naga-like serpent creature with humanoid arms, grabs him from behind, sinking their fangs into his shoulder and wrenching him backward violently enough that his leg tears off in the Hydra's teeth.

Ignatius has never been one quick to make his pain of discomfort obvious, but this is enough to make him scream.

Carly watches this in agony and silence. She watches, and with a grunt, dispells her fire wall. She doesn't have that much energy left. And she certainly doesn't know what's happening but...

"...Ringmaster," she hisses, pulling out the summon-egg she was granted. "If there was a time to do something, it's now..!"

The egg is crushed in her grip. From there she forces herself upright to form an arrow at her petrification bow, taking aim through the window.

Whatever is happening, Ignatius was just working in their favor as best she can tell.

And no matter what the reason, no one deserves death like this. So she lets loose the arrow with hope to strike one of the fae attacking him, and draws another, joining the fray from a distance.

She only has so much energy.

But she'll fight to her last if it makes even a slight difference.

Yuusei has no special powers. All he has is a beat-up metal pipe on its last few uses, which is far from good for fighting fae. Despite this, when the fighting begins, he does everything he can to keep his eyes on the half of Papyrus that's joined the Hunt. When he feels there's an opening in the fray, he charges into it to tackle Papyrus in a similar motion to what he did with Yuugo. If he can keep him from attacking as easily, then maybe he can be talked to and brought back to his light half.

On the one hand, he has to stay alive. He needs to do what Lambert asked of him and return home to Arabella. On the other hand, the Ringmaster is nowhere to be seen and if these other fae murder Ignatius, then whatever he does wouldn't even matter in the first place. In that moment, Strange's choice is crystal clear.

He's straight up ignoring Ignatius's order. But let's be real, when has he even listened to what people want him to do?

With a look of sheer fury on his face, Strange unleashes as much fire as he can, directed squarely on that naga. A downright inferno of flames shoots from his hands as he works the magic. But even though Strange is drawing on as much magical power as his overpowered protagonist self can muster, he's still trying to burn an actual Wyld Fae alive. This is a losing fight.

Up in the fortress of old temple and crystaline vines, one Papyrus has been skulking around, waiting for Sans to return with rescuees - like Papyrus' missing half. Things aren't looking promising, going from the alien feelings of aggressiveness surging at random. Sistina's summoned herself to the other Papyrus once or twice, only to nearly get swiped by hunting fae for her trouble, so they've got no idea where he is right now.

It just figures that the other half of him would get pulled into the Hunt, and twisted around to hurting people again - he's probably susceptible to it.

Still, although Papyrus is starting to get a bit worried, there's bigger and more immediate problems. While he's not declaring allegiance to Ignatius - for surely the Ringmaster will come and save the day sooner or later - that's no cause to let the big firey guy get attacked all alone. From the makeshift ramparts, Papyrus flings out bone walls and blaster fire at the other attacking fae, trying to help shield Ignatius from some of the blows. And if his attacks shatter and fade more quickly than ever... well. There's no help for it, with half of him, his power and soul, out there and corrupted by the Hunt.

Down below, around the side of the fort, the other Papyrus has gotten near the walls. The milling crowd of snarling hunters is too packed for him to get away in any means but blue magic, and he's already found it's too weak right now for bouncing onto buildings. It feels like there's no escaping the need to stalk and attack, and if he needed to breathe he'd be gasping in a panic attack at the familiarity of it all. It's bad enough he starts resisting the hivemind anyway, desperate to get out of it... When suddenly, he's being tackled.

"Huh?!" Papyrus exclaims, struggling against the hold, twisting around to see who it is. It takes a second to recognize Yuusei - and that there's no sense of hivemind to his fellow carnivalite. "Oh my god, get out of here, or I'll... have to..."

It's regretably little effort to summon blue bones to pass through them, or to stop struggling long enough that they'll likely hurt Yuusei but not himself.

"The hell I'm going back—" Rita cries in protest, but the fighting that ensues causes such a tremor that it nearly knocks her off her feet. She opts to take to the air, using her wings to propel herself upward and then levitating in place as she starts to cast a spell.

Her chanting is low and rapid, but when she sees Ignatius get his whole leg ripped off, she chokes out the rest of the spell forcefully, in a panic. Only the final words are clearly audible: "Thunder Blade!"

A mass of lightning manifests in the sky, then strikes down with a vengeance on that glaive Ignatius stuck into the Hydra.

She can't let Ignatius die here. She knows she can't defeat these enemies, but damn it, she has to do something!

Syrlya waited this out inside, in case the walls fell. He knows he's in a little worse shape, after all. And it's been a tense few minutes, pruning off pieces of withered foliage.

And then there's a cry, like battle, and it draws his attention up. He's close enough to the walls he can just make out--a scream of pain, the voices of those who went out there. A battle.

"Brambles--" He grabs up his sword and tightens his grip on the bloodstone in his shield hand, drawing its power. "Hold the wall!"

With that he teleports out to scout the chaos. They're overwhelmed. This fight is completely doomed.

They don't have a choice.

He rushes around along the other side, firing off magic at the Hydra with one of his clock-ticking wells aimed below it's feet to try and cause crippling damage. It's a long damn shot, but he doesn't need to kill it--just drive it off of them.

This whole situation is going to hell in a hand-basket, and Turquoise can't justify sitting up here neutral any longer.

The fusion leaps off the temple walls and right into the fray. It goes against everything her instincts tell her about engaging in direct combat with a fae (ie don't do it, ever,) but like everyone else who's throwing down, it doesn't seem like they have much of a choice here.

She also goes for the hydra, slamming down on it's back with all of her considerable weight and letting off a vicious electric pulse to go along with Rita's spell. The blast has a radius to hit nearby surrounding fae as well, the intensity of the shock boosted by Peridot and Amethyst's combined energies. She whips her tails, too, whirling and snapping and clawing at anything else nearby.

They aren't doing this for Ignatius. They're doing this for Steven, and everyone else still inside the temple.

The Hydra is busy swallowing Ignatius's leg when Rita strikes, the lightning jolting down Ignatius's glaive and giving a shock to its insides. Then, with Syrlya shooting at its feet, and Turquoise literally and thunderously leaping onto its back, it finds itself far too distracted to tear off any more of him. Meanwhile, the naga takes an arrow to the sides of its coils, stiffening the skin with stone, while Strange completely unloads with his flames.

It's not the kind of thing that would have any chance of melting a True Fae, but it stings and is annoying enough that it cause the naga to turn its attention from Ignatius for a moment, tearing a chunk out of his shoulder and swallowing it while hurling the rest of him to the ground. It turns on Strange himself, his jaw stretching open in impossible snake ways, tearing an arrow from its scales while it slithers somewhat stiffly in his direction.

However, the problem endures. While they make some progress diverting the aggression of the two most immediately menacing Ignatius, there are more and more of them. The moment the naga and hydra are preoccupied, another set of Wyld Fae are there to engage.

A hulking owlbear lunges at Turquoise, wrapping its massive talons around her in a violent embrace and attempting to haul her off of the pained hydra, while some kind of hideous looking harpy creatures launches into the air to engage Rita, its wings spread wide and bearing a set of eyes that paralyze upon locking gaze.

Ignatius hits the ground and rolls, his leg missing and an arm badly mutilated. He coughs up a mouth full of blackened muck, but before he can really regain his composure, he's already being set upon by a serpentine questing beast, which catches his other leg in its tail and tramples him with its hooves.

"Why no fire?" it taunts, flicking its tongue in his face. "Could it be... that you would only destroy those under your 'banner' in the same fell swoop?" It makes a sickly snickering sound. "How tragic... your victory, but at what cost?"

The fact that it's the truth torments Ignatius. He so desperately wants to unleash his domain, now that it's back in his power. Yet, he can't control it well enough. He's never been able to. It's the domain of uncontrollable destruction by fire... it's part of what he is. Though the flames could likely save him from this, it would only prove to destroy everything and everyone he just swore to protect.

Is this really how he's going to let himself die? In the name of the rebels that captured him, stole his Heart from him? Escape could be in his grasp... but...

He catches sight of Rita in the air, and the harpy moving towards her, and flinches. With a flick of his good arm, he throws a fiery blade at the harpy to try to throw it off, and then summons another one and drives it into the side of the questing beast on top of him. It staggers, and then lashes out with its fangs, biting into his wrist.

As the beasts move to make killing blows against the carnival members that would fight them, the Ringmaster finally appears. Both of her.

The dark form of her dragon shape appears in the sky, with her humanoid other half riding her. They land in front of the temple, trying to block the way between the other Wyld Fae and her people with her body, while the humanoid part does, well... nothing.

"STOP!" the dragon half of the Ringmaster roars. "HUNTSMAN! I CHALLENGE YOU!"

The Huntsman, not all that far off even after leaving the Wyld Fae to it, pauses in the crowd.

"Leave Ignatius out of this," the dragon Ringmaster adds, quickly, seeing that he is not all that far from being outright murdered. The questing beast on him pauses, looking to the Huntsman while still holding Ignatius's wrist in its mouth.

"I'm here now, anyway," the humanoid half ways, doing a flip as he jumps to the ground, and performing a flourish of her hands. It's not said in the way one does while desperately trying to spare someone's life, so much as in the way one does when suggesting you are the only person of importance in a crowd.

Edited 2018-09-30 04:51 (UTC)

Thank.

Goodness.

Carly promptly collapses at the edge of the window, dropping her bow at her side as her arrow fades. Could she manage more than two? Who knows. She squints however when she actually notices how the Ringmaster has arrived, unable to stop herself from crying-

"...YOU'RE STILL IN PIECES, RINGMASTER..!?"

~~Who knows who even Heard her from wherever she is, but still~~

Rita's prepared for her aggression to be met with retaliation, and when the harpy approaches, she turns to face it, arms moving to prepare another spell, one to repel this incoming attack... But as she does, she locks eyes with the creature, and her arms freeze. She can't seem to move them, can't complete the spell, can't even look away...

The harpy closes the distance between them, sinking its long talons into her shoulders and yanking her forward. Luckily for Rita, one of those talons doesn't dig very deep, as her shoulder armor provides some resistance. Even luckier, the flaming blade thrown by Ignatius slams into the beast before it can maim her further, knocking it back and forcing it to let go. In the same moment, their eye contact is broken, and Rita finds herself able to move once again.

Blood begins to trickle from where she was pierced, but she ignores the pain and sweeps an arm, conjuring a quick blast of fire to shove at the harpy before she flaps her wings and tries to get some distance between them. As she moves, she shoots a wide-eyed glance at Ignatius. He just saved her, even as he's being torn apart... Why would he...?

The Ringmaster's voice brings Rita's movement to a slow drift, her arms firmly in a casting stance as she prepares to fend off the harpy again, should it be inclined to ignore the dragon's demand.

Strange has been getting better at using his smoke form. As the naga lunges at him, he continues the fire before poofing into smoke at the last second. He floats back to what he thinks is out of range before reforming...only to find that it's not as out of range as he thought. Strange quickly raises his arms for cover as the naga lunges at him and it's fangs barely skid across his forehead and arm.

Of course, barely skidding is still a lot of power for a fae. Strange's skin is torn where the naga's fangs sliced, revealing (but thankfully not piercing) the mirror coating underneath. It still hurts like the devil and Strange poofs back into smoke, intent on at least trying to blind the naga...before the Ringmaster shows back up.

He floats in place, smoke swirling in a spiral, also waiting to see what happens next.

Syrlya also stops halfway through lunging with intent to intervene with the oncoming Wyld Fae when the Ringmasters show up and a ceasefire manages to settle over things. For now.

He's watching them warily, hand and sword still raised to cast as he looks between her and the Huntsman, waiting. He's also not terribly thrilled to see her separated and thus probably not entirely in her right mind of thinking.

Papyrus' bones come unexpectedly - Yuusei's never seen his powers before - and though they don't hurt too much, they're still plentiful enough to fling the taur off of the skeleton, sending him toppled over off to the side.

He makes an attempt to quickly rise again, only for his back leg to give out under him and send him to the ground again. It felt like he was hit in the back of the knee; he should be able to recover shortly, but the combined injuries have him floored for the moment.

"Papyrus!" Yuusei calls, hoping he can break through similarly to how he did with himself and with Yuugo. "Hang in there...! Come with me...!"

He falls quiet when the Ringmaster finally shows up, though he still stares at Papyrus with pleading eyes.

"Disgraceful..."

The Huntsman returns to the front of the crowd slowly, and as he moves, all within the Hunt are inclined to hold, waiting on his word. His arms remain slackened at his sides, lethargic and unconcerned with the Ringmaster's arrival. The only thing he shows is disgust.

"To think... that is you that has caused me so much trouble in recent times..."

"On that note," the humanoid Ringmaster intercedes, "could we put an end to this? This... rivarly, we have going here? I'm honestly not interested anymore, and I haven't been for a long time. Couldn't you just... carry on? Without making a big scene about it?"

The dragon Ringmaster growls at her other half, her wings spreading wider and flame in her throat. This is so infuriating, and she can already sense that the Huntsman will not react well to that.

"Even now," the Huntsman says, "You come to me in pieces. Such disrespect."

"Well, to be fair," the humanoid Ringmaster goes on, "You never really commanded any respect of me, did you?"

"Shut up!" the dragon Ringmaster snarls, swatting a paw at her other half, who dodges it neatly. "Are you crazy? This is serious! I brought you here so we could fix this!"

"What is there to fix? He wants to kill us! And, honestly, he should just get it over with at this point. If you want to strike me, then strike me! None of this other nonsense is necessary in the slightest..."

"And what do you think is the fate of souls destroyed while incomplete?" the Huntsman says, the black snake clinging to his body curling itself around his arm. "You have enjoyed an... enduring spirit, for the rest of your existance. The gift of your maker, the ability to be reborn with ease. Yet... an incomplete soul, even such as yours, is only fit to melt into the ether..."

"I knew it," the dragon Ringmaster hisses, glaring at her other half. "If we die like this, the part we lose won't come back - none of us will!" She sounds panicked and desperate, her inner needs clearly visible on the service. "Stop this... Join with me so we can take get rid of him!"

For the first time, the humanoid half of her looks a little bit shaken. Yet, there is an element of defiance - a determination to see the end of this, no matter the cost.

"...So what?" she says. "And if it isn't him, it will be someone else. We have too much debt, too many enemies. What left is there for us, but to run?"

"Everyone is counting on us!" the dragon snaps. "You stupid bitch!"

This is Syrlya's first time witnessing the Ringmaster's broken halves, and their back and forth debate is just about causing him an aneurysm. His eyes widen on disbelief and alarm. They are so fucking dead.

"Then what was it for, claiming those miracles?! Was it not to be able to stop running?" He hollers with a tightness in his voice. "Giving yourself up now is completely pointless! Not even the Huntsman wants you in your state!"

Syrlya takes a step forward, but he stops when his gaze drifts down briefly to Ignatius. The the Wyld Fae, then the Ringmaster again.

"We did not help you acquire that power for you to abandon us! Put yourself together and do something, or pass it on to those that will!"

"Does it matter?" his voice sounds out as he stands in the air now pointedly near the Ringmaster, his eyes on her and her alone.

"Isn't this why you asked us to seek what we have been looking for this time, these last few hazardous stops, the undeniable consequences mounting? To find and take not for weaponizing ourselves but for another chance so we can stop?!"

He sneers down at her Light half, always supporting regardless of his own ideals, "I've been with you from the start not because I'm forced to because I want to. If that is not enough then what is? What do you want to fight for. What will keep you from just giving up?"

He's glad someone else is also voicing their opinion. The Ringmaster doesn't need scolding but affirmation.

Nothing's trying to eat him at the moment? That's honestly a bit surprising, but Strange isn't going to complain. Strange lingers a bit in smoke form juuuust to make sure before turning back into his human form. Once he's solid, he wastes no time and runs over to the still bleeding Ignatius. He's got faith in everyone else's ability to pep-talk the Ringmaster back together, he's going to focus on the being who is rapidly bleeding out over here.

He kneels down next to Ignatius not at all caring that he's getting gross fae blood all over his legs. "What can I do?" Strange quietly asks, fully aware that the answer is probably 'nothing.'

Up til this point, Lambert and Sans haven't found themselves compelled to leap into the fray after their former coworkers. Perhaps it's because the chaos is too quick, too full of enraged Wyld Fae to risk not being torn apart themselves, even if they're supposed to be on the same side. Something about seeing the Ringmaster like this, though, bickering with herself, is sufficiently annoying enough to reach past the haze the Hunt's drawn over his mind, and he leans forward over Sans's neck, yelling.

"Quit being half-assed and stop pretending it's about other people! It's the same thing it's always been -- your choice!"

Edited 2018-09-30 21:50 (UTC)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject