[PUBLIC CHANNEL] DAY 51

[criticallyfucked]

Has anyone found anything substantial?

Because I've been reading for hours... every day, mind, and all I'm finding is peas.

Just... peas.

And I know there's more.

[Pause.]

We're dozens of eyes, at least some of which are... looking for relevance.

[Shima.]

So if you've found anything to share, it might be faster to combine what we do have, rather than combing over the same things multiple times?

[Listen. No one said he was good at team work.

But if everyone's combing out individual peas and grains in the dirt, then at least combining them might make some sort of passable salad.

Or maybe someone is holding out.]

Comments

[criticallyfucked]

[There's a beat of silence, because Foster wasn't expecting an abbreviated history lesson--

Then he barks a laugh.]

I'm surprised they only trapped you.

[This is a comment on humans, not on Monsters. But Papyrus can interpret it however he wants.]

And what does this have to do with Prince...?

[spaghettimonster]

Right? Show a little creativity!

[He interprets it as a slight on humanity, but mostly to do with the laziness of merely trapping when there's such a rich smorgasbord of inconveniences available.

...Trapping, or killing. They trapped the survivors. Human nature being what it is... There were probably a lot more monsters before the war.]

But... It has nothing to do with the Prince. That was another book! About the Hunt.

[Even more fun memories.]

[criticallyfucked]

The Hunt?

[Foster has no remorse about the Cockatrice--what remorse was there? It was already dead anyway. It had merely been unfortunate enough to be a pawn in a game bigger than it could afford to be part of.]

What about it?

[spaghettimonster]

It seems... it was the source of his power. Kidnapping and brainwashing people, to fight or die...

[At the least, it convinced friends and family not to attack him head-on, with all those hostages. And... Sans wasn't usually very bestial, but that changed shape of his probably counts. And even then, look what had happened to Julien, or the others; they didn't need to start out all animalish to be that way in the Hunt.]

Though, it called him the 'Huntsman', instead of the Prince? There can't be two Wild Hunts. That would be too many. Right?

[criticallyfucked]

Mmmm. If that was his only source of power, then he deserved his fall.

[That's not empathy speaking. Foster is often harshest when others' strengths or lack thereof are involved. The more power they ostensibly possess, the higher his standard.

This was the source of his disgust with the Ringmaster, in fact--until the Manor.]

At least if that was the best he could do.

[The Prince seemed more self-absorbed than ambitious, to him. There was some sort of psychological chess game involved at the manor, but... well, the Prince played his hand too hard and too soon. And now he's dead!

Kind of like Foster, except Foster's punishment is being alive.]

Are you sure that was the Wild Hunt?

[It was a hunt either way... but was it the Hunt?]

[spaghettimonster]

But...

[How many fae could there be who like changing peoples' bodies and hunting them down? On the surface it seems like fun, sure. Like fighting, demonstrating their artful skill! .

...But the Prince had focused on the kill, and made fun of people who didn't. He'd acted like everybody who was anybody could comfortably do the same.

Papyrus doesn't agree about the Prince deserving a fall over how good he'd been at collecting power... but, maybe a little for other reasons.]

No. I'm not sure, not at all. There could be dozens of hunters! All capitalized and everything.

[chronosynthesis]

[Hate to break it to you, Papyrus, but...] There are at least three 'Wyld Hunts', although the ones that my people partake in are wholly unrelated to the other two.

[Just to make that clear, they are not full of murder and kidnapping.

A pause.] Although I do not recall the Prince referring to his game as a Wild Hunt. What else did the story say about it?

[spaghettimonster]

Oh my god?! Why are there so many?

[Give him a minute, Syr, he's distressed about this repetitive nomenclature.]

Hmm. It said... People who ran into it, they had to join the hunt, or be hunted. And that let him have a kingdom. I don't remember all of it, but! I do remember where I saw that book. I'll go dig it up! And then you can have the whole speech.

[chronosynthesis]

Thank you. I'm curious what it said, myself. [Even if the Prince is dead or it isn't related to him, that doesn't mean there aren't possibly other clues.

Or he might just be curious about what the other screwed up 'Wild Hunts' are really like.]

[spaghettimonster]

Okay! I'll be back soon.

[It takes a good number of minutes for Papyrus to carom along hallways and shelf columns until he finds himself recognizing his surroundings, and a few more to locate the individual book.]

The Wild Hunt... Here it is! Ahem.

'It was through the Wyld Hunt that the Huntsman ruled the Wylds, rending the trees and salting the earth.'

Ruining his own things... Exactly the kind of terrible rulership we saw from the Prince. So, you see why I assumed things!

'For all their might, no Beast could stand in the way of his hunters, and all who were trapped in the Hunt’s throes would find themselves with a choice:' [He hesitates, but there's nothing to add.] 'to hunt, or to be hunted...'

'For many years the Huntsman held a kingdom beyond that of the Courts, seen as alike in power for his domination of Beasts.'