⇨ WYLD HUNT

[ringleaders]

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.

Comments

[alphudo]

"That's the way I understand it," Yuusei chimes in, hoping he can serve as an appropriate mediator. "Your souls are pretty vulnerable currently, so if something were to happen to them like this, it's difficult to tell what the long-standing effects would be."

His gaze moves to Yuugo's light half, but he doesn't tread away from the dark one just in case he should decide to bolt. "You did everything you could from here, right? You're both at half strength, so the most you could safely do was make sure someone reunited the two of you."

He's baaaaack

[bananaspeedrider]

And even from within the card, Yugo's dragon can still radiate a fraction amount of their sentiment about the matter: very mad about the two being split like this.

The note about the power in their abilities being in half as well also catches the dark Yugo's attention. It explains why the summon spell for Clear Wing that steadily become so easy for the whole soul looked to be more difficult coming from light Yugo just now.

"... I might as well help you get this over with." the dark half finally decides, though it briefly confuses the other until suddenly he quickly puts his hand forward- as if to offer a handshake or something similar in meaning.

Despite perhaps being a bit overly cautious, slowly Light Yugo moves to accept the clearly soon-to-be permanent truce. "So that people can worry a bit less about us eh?"

There's something close to an amused snort before there's a flash of light.... with just one Yugo standing there and looking disoriented from the entire ordeal.

MY SON

[alphudo]

Yuusei watches the whole thing quietly. In the Yuugos' moments of silence, he doesn't interject; these final moments belong to them and them alone. If the halves needed even a few more seconds to cope with the fact that they were, in a way, disappearing, he would give them that. He knows it's hard.

And then Yuugo is whole again. It's so fast it almost surprises him given how it compares to his own merge. Seeing the boy well and relatively alright makes his heart swell with joy, though, and he can't help but grin for once. "How're you feeling?" he asks.

[bananaspeedrider]

"Like I never want to that kind of head rush to happen again." answers Yugo, more bothered by the feeling of being in two places at once that anything physical.

"But... what about you?" he adds with a note of upset directed toward himself. Because while his light half likely failed to notice Yusei's injury, the dark half merely held no concern. The teen also comes closer for a better look at it if the taur doesn't move in a lame attempt to keep hiding it.

[alphudo]

"I can understand that." He chuckles, only to blink and glance back at his hind leg. He lifts it gingerly off of the ground and wiggles his toes. They're stiff.

"Ah, it'll... It'll heal," he responds with only a fraction of certainty. "I made it back here, so... It should be fine with time. I've gone through worse, alright? So don't worry about me."

[bananaspeedrider]

"But it's still my plasma, I still ended up getting used by someone else for a second there!"

Someone sounds very irritated and bitter. The verbal attempt at comfort probably isn't working here.

[alphudo]

"Yeah, and?" He rests a hand on Yuugo's shoulder, though it isn't a firm enough grip to where it can't be shaken off with ease if that's what Yuugo decides to do. "There's nothing to be done about it right now, and worrying certainly won't produce any meaningful results. It's an appreciated sentiment, but let's focus on getting out of this mess first, yeah?"

There's a pause between them for a moment, Yuusei staring down at Yuugo and just relishing the fact that this boy - both of these boys - are finally back together after a week of hell. Eventually, without a word, he pulls Yuugo into a soft hug.

[bananaspeedrider]

He doesn't reject any of the contact, merely surprised for a moment when Yusei hugs him. Though it takes him a bit longer for him to think to return the embrace, the boy proves himself to be the sort who would absolutely never shy away from such gestures.

"... Yeah, we still have a long way to go to get through this."