When we got inside, we were able to confirm the rules of the bull riding competition. You had to put up a single G ranked chit per attempt, if you managed to stay on the bull for a full three minutes you got to keep all the chits anyone had paid over the course of the month. It started over again on the first of each month, and the previous month's stockpile was divided up amongst the management of the cavalcade.People HAD passed the trial a time or two, but it was uncommon. Mostly anyone attempting the task ended up thrown across the bull pen.

Mostly this had to do with the absolute fucking monster of a bull they used. A Might focused beast of an animal called a Stone Footed Titanic Ox. The thing was high G rank, and was considerably stronger than most Ascendants at that rank, not to mention much bigger and more able to exert that strength than most (read any) human beings. Forgetting not being able to stay on, if your stats weren't high enough you could easily die in the test, and no one rational failed to take that seriously when making the attempt.

Which, of course, was why neither of us were remotely surprised to see a green haired Jerk desperately clinging to the saddle of the titanic ox, whooping with joy while a full dozen multicolored tough guys with no shirts and leather pants hollered their mohawk covered heads off. To my surprise the short but incredibly wide man was managing to stay on, though he seemed pretty terrified of what was happening as he did. Still, terror or no, the guy had a death grip on the saddle and wouldn't let go.

Callie snorted, a small smile on her face as she rolled her eyes. "Way Crazy Wyatt. If Ronnie epitomizes the bullies in the Jack-tastic Jerks, Wyatt is the distillation of the other side of the organization. He's completely insane, but he actually does care about the others. He's ok for a lunatic. He and Ronnie each have a few much weaker G rankers under them, and Wyatt's lackeys are generally considered much easier to deal with. I'm not surprised he's the one trying this, he's the kind of person who won't send a subordinate to do something he won't do himself."

I chuckled a bit at the exasperated fondness, it reminded me a bit of how I talked about Zeke, though less affectionate obviously. "So I take it you two are friends? I didn't know you were close with anyone at the Jerks." I didn't mind too much, it was hard to take the Jerks too seriously, but some of them seemed like good people. If she thought he was a decent guy I was happy she had a friend to meet with, and if we could potentially get some info from her buddy that was all the better for our purposes. It always paid to have sources of information.

That got me an embarrassed cough. "We're...friendly. We've fought plenty of times, but Wyatt is a decent enough guy to match blows against. He's bulky as hell, so he's slow, but he has a defensive ability to make up for it. That's probably how he's managing to stay on that bull honestly. That thing looks damn strong, I doubt I could keep my grip if I were up there. Wonder how long he's been on it's back? If he makes it through the whole ride then he gets the prize, and I imagine the Jerks plans get one step closer to fruition."

Using the term Jerks and plans in the same sentence was a strange concept, but I got what she meant. "Not sure, but if it was recent I'm doubting it. His hand is already starting to slip, he won't make it another minute, let alone two. If he's been on there a while he might pull it off. If he doesn't do...do we try?" I actually had an idea of how I might be able to pull it off, and to be honest I was kind of excited to give it a try. We could use the money too, though if we won I wasn't sure if we could take it or if that would run counter to our mission. Maybe we would have to give it back.

Callie obviously knew I wanted to try and rolled her eyes. "Ugh. I knew you were going to want to ride the bull. We can see what happens. Who knows if Wyatt will-" She was cut off by a wail as the blurred form of Wyatt came flying across the pen to smash into the wall next to us. We both stepped out of the way without looking, more than able to hear his screams as he hurtled through the air toward us. He smashed through the pen and hit the rock wall surrounding it around the outside.

Before impact I saw his body shift, and his skin rippled into a tapestry of multicolored and multitextured gems and stones. I wasn't sure exactly what the stones were, but the wall broke and not Wyatt, so whatever they were they were pretty damn sturdy. He popped to his feet, scowling past us at the bull. "You'll get yours meat!" He shook his fist at the bull, which I swear literally sneered back at him somehow, and then turned and noticed us with a blink. His eyes focused on Callie and he grinned happily. "Nightlight!"

He swept forward to scoop her up in a hug, and Callie scrunched her nose in disgust. "Ew, ew, ew sweat! Personal space Wyatt!" He put her down, embarrassed, and then turn and swept me up in the same crushing grip. I'd been a bit bothered by him grabbing Callie, but the second hug made it clear that it hadn't been romantic. Way Crazy Wyatt was just a huggy person. I had to suppress a chuckle as the big friendly puppy of a man put me down, clapping both Callie and I on a shoulder each.

I turned to look at her skeptically as he put me down. I could understand her discomfort, the shorter man had clearly been exhausted trying to ride that bull, even I was covered with sweat now. Still, that wasn't the salient point. "Nightlight?" I layered as much amusement and teasing into my voice as possible, making it clear that I was definitely going to continue messing with her about this. The name was ridiculous, and I couldn't wait to tell Benny and Jessie when we got home.

She scowled at me, but before she could answer, Wyatt slapped me on the shoulder with a grin. "Of course! Everyone back home knows Nightlight! She's the toughest, she even gave me some trouble in a fight." His body had shifted back from the gem studded form before he even initiated the first hug, but at his words he let the rocky change roll over his arms again up to the elbow, holding his hands up to show us how strong he was. "I heard about you too of course! That serial killer was a nasty guy, thanks for taking care of that Sally!"

My eyes widened in horror behind my mask at the nickname, but I saw Callie's face bloom into a catlike grin. Before I could speak, she cut me off. "Of course Wyatt. SALLY here is a true hero. Speaking of, I wasn't expecting to see you here. I knew the Jerks were in town, but you seem like you have plenty of free time to be here trying to ride a bull. Unless you're on business for the boss?" She added that last bit as an afterthought, casually tossing out the question so no one could tell it was important.

I wondered if she felt bad about it, but cultivators were weird sometimes. Just like she didn't seem to care about the fact that we'd just handed over the other G ranker in the Jerks before starting this conversation, the concept of trying to manipulate him for information wasn't a big deal. In the end, this was how the game was played, and she knew better than I did which lines to cross or not. The weird enemies but not relationship that the Unity had with villains was tough to navigate for me, and I was lucky to have Callie's help.

Despite that, Wyatt was a G ranker, and NOT an idiot, even if he was a bit direct. He just rolled his eyes. "Oh no! I'm not falling for that again. M-jack got super mad the last time I told you stuff about our secret plans. No matter what you ask I'm not going to say a word about why we're trying to take over the circus!" He waved his fist dramatically in the air, and much like I often did with the Jerks, I felt the urge to facepalm at his overt lunacy as he effectively confirmed the existence of a plan while loudly declaring he would never tell us a thing.

Callie's flat expression told me that she was used to this kind of behavior, and despite being pretty sure all the Jerk names were nonsense, I kind of understood why even the other Jerks called this guy 'Way Crazy Wyatt'. I recognized that blank, mildly traumatized expression from my own experiences with the Jerks. It wasn't some sort of fear or bad memory exactly, Callie was resigning herself to dealing with people who had absolutely no grasp on or use for common sense. Ascendants all lived in a strange world, but the Jerk's world was stranger than most.

Wyatt, it seemed, was on his guard now, and despite seeming to still be friendly he turned to the group of Jerks. He pointed to one of them, an average looking Jerk with a bright blue mohawk and a series of facial piercings. "Sticky Jim! You give it a try! No one sticks to stuff like you do, no dumb bull can throw you off!" His tone was proud and triumphant, but judging by Sticky Jim's face I was guessing the blue haired Jerk was much less certain any of that was true than Wyatt was.

Callie, taking pity on the poor G ranked Jerk, cleared her throat. "Wyatt. We came here to try the bull riding competition too. If you keep making your Jerks do the challenge over and over until one of them wins and don't give anyone a chance, don't you think people will start saying you were too scared to let anyone else try? You know how much Mr. Jack-tastic hates when people badmouth the Jerks. Maybe you should let..." Her lips twitched. "Sally, give it a try first. It's only fair."

That sounded like an obvious attempt to manipulate him to me, but Wyatt gave a serious nod. "Of course. M-Jack always tells me to keep my reputation in mind when doing things. He hates when I embarrass the Jerks." I resisted the urge for another face palm as I noted that Mr. Jack-tastic was probably talking about the fact that he was so easy to trick, but I couldn't complain since I was benefiting. I did feel a bit bad though. Wyatt was a nice guy, he was just SO DUMB.

Callie gave me an understanding chuckle and a nod, she knew what I was thinking. Since he'd lasted this long and was this powerful though there had to be more to him than I was seeing. In either case, since he gave the ok I knew it was my turn to try the bull riding. I was still sub one hundred on Might, but I had a few tricks up my sleeve, and I was excited to give this a try. I'd never ridden a bull before. Besides, maybe we could keep at least some of the prize money. It wasn't like they needed ALL of it.