night one; hunters

[gamehead]

Through the night, the wind howls and a blizzard rages, but everyone is safe and warm locked inside their cabins. Everyone, that is, except you. At 11 PM precisely, the door from your bedroom to the outside world creaks open. If you were sleeping, you will find yourself stir to the sound.

Outside, despite the sounds of a blizzard and the whiteout blocking the views from your window, the world is still and calm. The ground and trees are blanketed in thick snow, but no snow is falling and the wind is no longer blowing.

You find yourself drawn out into the snow, unable to feel tired or cold despite the freezing temperature and the late hour. It is impossible to resist the call you feel to journey out into the dark woods, past the old graveyard, to where the trees meet the cliffs and caves at the edge of the mountains.

Here, you and fourteen others gather. There is a feeling in the air as though you are being watched, but besides the other visitors, you're all alone. For now, you don't know what has brought you here, but you can't bring yourselves to leave.

((OOC: Just a note on how threads with Critter will work! There will be several 'stages' to Critter's explanations, which I'll be accomplishing by posting various subthreads. You can tag into any stage assuming your character has heard the rest, or you can tag earlier on and we can thread until you reach the next stage.

So, for example, in Critter's arrival, when you reach the point of needing to know the rules, your conversation progresses to the next subthread directly below the arrival. You can then reply to that subthread to continue the conversation if you want. I may stall on replying to you if your reply is getting to a subthread I don't want to post quite so quickly.

I know this is confusing, but this is so I can thread with all of you as much as you want without having to get into weird thread orders and so everyone hears all the relevant info.))

Comments

arrival

[gamehead]

[About ten minutes after you've arrived, you may spot movement from one of the deeper caves near the cliffside. A small figure emerges from the darkness.

It looks to be a child of indeterminate age and gender. It wears a simple white sheath, and covering its face is a horrifying mask. It looks like a wolf, but its expression is frozen in a vicious snarl.]

Heehee, hello, everyone. Aren't you all excited to become wolves?

Wait a second, that's right. I have to explain the rules of the game!

[purethingsonly]

[Ada's fingers fidget nervously, but she gazes at the masked child with an unwavering courage fueled mostly by curiosity.]

What kind of game?

[gamehead]

My favorite kind! You're going to love it, Ada.

You came here to find something, right? Well...just between you and me, this game has really amazing prizes, hee hee!

[purethingsonly]

Is everyone playing?

[She can't deny that she's interested in both the game and the prizes.]

[gamehead]

Mmhmm! Don't worry, everyone is going to play, I just know it!

[manofiron]

[ He saw this in a movie once, only instead of a kid wearing a wolf mask, it was a puppet on a bicycle. ]

Shouldn't you ask us if we want to play the game first?

[ Sassing said creepy child is probably a bad move. But Tony's just hiked through the woods in the middle of the night after being stranded in Creepytown. He thinks he's allowed a little snark. ]

[gamehead]

Don't worry, Tony. You don't have to play if you don't want to.

But when you hear about the game, I know you'll want to play!

[manofiron]

Somehow, I find that a little hard to believe coming from someone wearing a snarling wolf mask. That kind of adds an element of ominousness to the whole thing, FYI.

[yajackass]

[Ukyo folds her arms, defiant look on her face. None of this was funny, not a single bit.]

What do you mean "wolves"? Like you?

[gamehead]

Me? Ukyo, do you think I'm a wolf? I'm just Critter!

You guys are the wolves!

[yajackass]

You might want to check again. I'm not a wolf. I don't know what you're getting at here, but I'm not going to play your game.

[terryplz]

[Bruce can only stew silently in anger over coming here. Why he couldn't hold himself back. He stares down the child with the wolf mask coldly, the vicious appearance of the animal's face not fazing him in the slightest. He's seen uglier looks.]

Are you the one who sent out the letters?

[gamehead]

Is that really what's important? I'm inviting you to play my fun game! You could sound more excited!

[terryplz]

Forgive me for not being thrilled. I can't quite understand why you would want an old man to play in your game at all.

[rebut]

.........

[ Maaaaybe he should rethink his policy on animals after this. Come on, seriously, creepy animals and "games" just don't mix together. ]

What if I refuse to play your game?

[gamehead]

Oh, Naegi. Don't worry, I know you'll play.

You read the rules, right?

[rebut]

[ Bloody hell, what have they all gotten themselves into? ]

I've read them. And my answer is still no. You shouldn't be forcing any of us to do this.

Re: arrival

[agentx13]

[ Sharon listens, her arms crossed, her expression stern. She hates crap like this. ]

I'm fine not being a wolf, thanks. I also don't like games. Perhaps you'd have better luck amusing yourself with someone your own age.

[gamehead]

You already are a wolf, Sharon. Don't you want to learn why?

[agentx13]

[ Her eyes narrow. She hates freaky kids who are freaking creepy. ]

I want to know how you got all this intel on us. I wouldn't mind knowing where your parents are, either.

[ Chances are, the parents are worse than the kid, but she's curious if the kid has any help. Is she even sure it's a kid? Maybe it's some sort of disguise by some sort of transdimensional being. ]

[bloodofgrima]

[There was a reason Robin was suspicious, and this was very certainly not helping matters.]

Exactly what "game" are we playing that involves us becoming wolves? And who are you?

[gamehead]

Me? I'm just Critter!

Oh, right. Check your journal.

[plebs]

[ an attempt to channel a mood far less foul than it actually is. ]

You better have a good reason for disturbing my sleep.

[gamehead]

Sure do, Byakuya.

I picked you to play in my game!

[plebs]

And if I refuse?