Did you remember to use your speed stat? Yep~ Did you use your luck stat for this challenge? (Remember, you can only use it in one of the four challenges!)
[1]What was that? You were doing pretty well until someone clipped you while they were skiing past. Rude. 6 points [2]You can't quite figure out where you're meant to go in the maze of hurdles. Plus, the floor is really slippery. You remain near the back of the pack the whole way. 2 points [3]If you've discovered one thing about yourself during all of this, it's that you have the arm strength to pull yourself back up onto a balance beam after almost plummeting to your shameful defeat. 4 points [4]There's a lot of tripping and flailing in your general vicinity. You're pretty sure the wreaths are somehow eventually lowered to counter your clumsiness. 0 points +4 speed points [5]You're doing okay! It's a little tough after everything you've been through today, but not any worse than you expected. 6 points
Did you remember to use your speed stat? Y Did you use your luck stat for this challenge? N
YES! MORE SNOW!
Aureole knew she was going to love this House cup! She had heard of it, mostly from whispers of the older students but to actual be participating was amazing! Puffy white snow, the cheers of the spectators, the overwhelming sense of the competitive spirit! What was not to love about this?
The first course was a little... Daunting. But Aureole stuck with it and was wondering for a while how they managed to find skis that fit her hooves. She'd have to ask about that later. The peryton, have the legs she had, made it easier for her to gain speed but she lost her maneuverability. She managed skiing good, for the most part but messed up here and there. Nearly landed herself in a tree but she saved herself from that.
After shucking her skis off, she stared up ahead of her. Hurdles? This was going to be very interesting. Her hooves weren't the best with ice but with enough force after the hurdle, she could stick the landing and not slip up. And it worked! Keeping a confident smirk across her face, she focused on steadily leaping over each hurdle. She was fast, after all. Even with her wings tucked behind her, the wind was whipping past her as if she were flying. It was such an exhilarating feeling! The peryton wasn't even fully out of breathe!
Now for the balance beam. Now... Aureole didn't, and never did, have a good sense of balance. She was used to moving more often than standing in a single spot. So this was going to be far trickier than she would have liked it to be, what with the ice from the last even stuck up underneath her hooves. She didn't have time to clean them so there was only one thing to do. Inch across! While it wasn't the most flattering way to go, she still made it across, making sure her skirt didn't fly up and expose her doe-y tail and butt. With her arms wrapped around the beam and her legs hooked, she inch-wormed her way to the other side. Hopefully no one would remember such a thing she did... If they did, they might end up with a few fist fulls of snow down their pants.
After giving herself a quick dust off, Aureole headed towards the Wreath run. Now leaping from wreath to wreath like an exercise at a gym? OK! Leaping was almost like flying, just without the 'staying in the air' part. Even with her leaping abilities, she had to take it a smidge slow. But no matter! She was going to complete this run! As much as she didn't want to expose herself, she was going to have to suck it up and deal with it. The peryton would have to look into another sort of outfit to wear that didn't give off too much to the imagination. No one wanted to see deer booty. And she seemed to finish with that in high spirits.
Now it was time to crawl. Now THIS was going to be difficult. Aureole folded her wings in as best as she could before proceeding to crawl down through the maze on her belly. She tucked her hair antler underneath her hair to keep from losing it as various other branches, leaves and dirt tumbled up into her hair. Aureole received a scratch or two from the passing by branches that didn't decide to join her on her mission but she was not about to give up! No way! And... She was hoping that no one was behind her.
It was definitely an ordeal but she made it! She shook her head of the twigs and such before fixing the antler upon crossing the finish line and being greeted by various citizen spectators. They gave her a medal and Aureole's face lit up! A shiny NEW medal to hang amongst her many other things!? THIS WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT! Oh! And a candy cane!
Student Name: Maritess Points Total: 12 Section One: 0 +2 (spd) Section Two: 0 +2 (spd) Section Three: 2 Section Four: 0 +2 (spd) Section Five: 4
Did you remember to use your speed stat? Yes Did you use your luck stat for this challenge? No
Tess has completely forgotten why she signed herself up. It had something to do with visibility and establishing a name and reputation, but all that literally flew out of her mind as she...
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Got pelted and turned around and utterly humiliated on the first course.
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Got into a huge argument with her lower half when Legs suggested they split up so Tess could carry her. Tess refused on grounds that it might seem like cheating. After several failed attempts, they split up in the end with Tess just carrying her lower half over the rest of the hurdles.
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Got the worst case of second-hand embarrassment as Legs inched her way across the beam while Tess waited for the pair to catch up to her on the other side.
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Got bored while Tess continued to wait for her other half to make it through the wreathes.
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Got her own taste of humiliation when her wings caught on branches while Legs just shimmied her way across. All in all, Maritess remembered why she had no school spirit to speak of.
Student Name: Ruth B Points Total: 30 Section One: 2 +2 (spd) Section Two: 10 Section Three: 2 +2 (spd) Section Four: 2 +2 (spd) Section Five: 8
Did you remember to use your speed stat? Yes Did you use your luck stat for this challenge? No
The reaper didn't remember the last house cup she participated in being this cold. Or wet. It was certainly painful and treacherous but then again this was suffering Amityville and it was just par for the course.
Ruth wasn't sure what she was supposed to be doing on skis, she'd never skid before and it showed. Somehow, she managed to remain upright now and again instead getting a face-full of snow.
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She got the base of the hill and waited to watch the other students attempt the hurdles. Deciding she observed long enough, the paranoia agent sped through like a boss.
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The balance beam proved more dangerous than she thought. And also proved that swinging around an oversized metal pipe did wonders for your arm strength
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The wreathes proved just as tricky, especially when the ghoul thought they would make for nice accessories. Or an obnoxious gift for her superiors back home and ended up collecting some. (Not by choice however)
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At the final stretch, Ruth dropped and crawled with ease, her thin frame and lack of wings or tails or horns made it easier. Nothing snagged (thank Jack) but she knew she could do better. So why didn't she?
Did you remember to use your speed stat? Y Did you use your luck stat for this challenge? Nope!
Canon had literally never seen a pair of skis before the start of the obstacle course. Each flat piece of wood was as long as she was tall, so walking in them was a challenge, to say the least. She had a few ideas on how to approach using them. However, as she trudged up to the starting line, she noticed no one else had gotten into a handstand position, so apparently the skis weren't meant to be used like helicopter blades. This was a little dissapointing, but Canon gamely took the same crouched position she saw several students taking. When the bells rang out, and something big and cold pushed her over the edge of the slope, her lower center of gravity kept her balanced as the snow began sliding past.
Ohhhhh, so this was how you were supposed to use skis! This wasn't so bad, after all! Using her tail as a counter-balance, Canon experimented for a bit, and was soon zooming down the course, handily avoiding bolas and snowmen projectiles due to her short stature, and the natural counter-balance her tail provided. She passed through every single gate in record time, and was grinning when she hit the icicle at the bottom of the hill. Literally hit. She hadn't figured out how to brake.
The second portion was less mysterious, but looked to be equally as much fun. Without the skis, Canon felt much more assured of her footing, even if it was on ice. She zipped through the maze of branches, though her short stature hurt her here. Some of the hurdles were chest level on her. Still, she was having a good time, and soon made it to the end of the maze.
The balance beam was a far more challenging foe. Her balance wasn't a problem, but the giant stockings trying to knock her off definitely were! At about the halfway point, one smacked into Canon, and would have sent her tumbling if Canon hadn't grabbed onto it. She clung to it for a bit as it swung back and forth, trying to regain her equilibrium. After a moment, she rallied her nerves, and leaped back onto the beam as the stocking passed back over it. The impromptu ride had added to her time, but she was still in the running!
The wreaths were another tricky part for Canon. At her height, it was easier for her to leap with both feet from stack to stack rather than try to run through them as some of the taller students were. She had fun pretending she was a frog, though, and 'ribbit'ed at some of the passing students playfully. The next and final obstacle played to her strengths, though.
Canon was used to being low to the ground, though she usually didn't have to co-ordinate an extra set of limbs when crawling. She wasn't as fast as some of the other students, but the obstacle didn't prove to be much of one for her, either. She emerged victorious as the finish line, and eagerly accepted the medal and candy cane.
Did you remember to use your speed stat? Yes! 10 speed spent! Did you use your luck stat for this challenge? No
Under normal circumstances, Merope should have been very suspicious of the clothes in his dorm's colors that were left in his room. After all, that meant that someone had been in his room and left him something. At least it wasn't left on his bed. His bed was a pool that used to freeze over until he finally found a spare spine to go and talk to someone about it.
Regardless of how they got there, Merope felt relatively fashionable in the Undead dorm black'n'green. Or was it abyss black, rotted flesh green? Hollow-black and putrid green? He could never remember the fancy names of colors.
Merope grimaced as the helper elves fastened skis to his feet. He looked down at them uncertainly. What were these things? Didn't someone call them skis? They didn't look easy to walk in. They weren't particularly comfortable either. Merope made a rueful face as he clicked his talons against them, arms folded until a penguin thrust a pair of sticks into his hands. This drew forth even more uncertainty as he held them awkwardly. What was he supposed to do with these?
Someone was pushing him somewhere. Merope kept his fins clamped tightly to his sides as he looked around, mimicking the actions of those nearby. He was pretty sure a helper elf was snickering somewhere in the background; his markings flushed with an embarrassed glow.
He could hear something tinkling. Jingling? The undead tilted his head to one side, eyes darting around. It sounded fami-- something was pushing him again.
Merope flailed and nearly wiped out as he looked behind him, hissing in displeasure at the giant icicle. He didn't like it, he didn't like it one bit!
He didn't like it even more as all matter of snowballs were thrown at him from snowmen and elves. Merope did his best, crouched low and fumbling between gates and hissing curses for every snowball that hit him. Eventually towards the end he managed to get the hang of it and made it to the bottom of the hill in relatively one piece.
At the bottom of the hill, a helper elf removed the offending skis from the wreckage of Merope as he peeled himself off the icicle. "Fffffffssssssssssst!" He hissed, grumbling as he dragged himself up onto his feet. At least, he realized with pride later, he didn't manage to lick the icicle. In his first year, when Amityville took a trip to Christmastown he made the mistake of licking a delicious-looking pole and had his tongue stuck to it. He didn't quite remember the details of how he got free (did someone offer him spider cider? Rip him off?)...
Now wasn't the time to think of that. His glow shriveled and faded as he stared at the obstacles ahead. Branches. Branches! Horrid, pokey, frozen branches that could rip unwanted new holes in his fins. Merope clamped his fins as tight as possible to his sides as he stared at the obstacle course.
Unfortunately for him, staring and making undead whale noises didn't get the obstacle done. Begrudgingly Merope followed the pack through the obstacle course, opting to let the other students figure the way out for him. If he was more courageous he would have tried belly-siding his way through the course in his natural form. As it was, he grumbled, slipped, and slid behind the rest of them.
Finally at last the maze was over. Merope stomped his feet to try and get rid of the ice still clinging to his feet. He wasn't very successful.
The swinging stockings gave him pause. He didn't want to be hit with one (but then again, nobody did). Fins still clenched close to his sides, Merope ascended the beam and tried to hurry his way across. He was hit several times, however he was pleased that his instinct of don't fall gave him enough reflexes to clutch at the beam and haul himself up.
At last he made it. Was he done yet? No? Wait! Over there was the end, wasn't it?!
With renewed determination (and a bright yellow heart pin), Merope easily bounded through the wreaths. He was a WREATH MASTER! Wreaths didn't have ANYTHING on him!
And then disaster. Merope balked as soon as he caught sight of the end, grimacing at the pine trees. "No." He whined, "I really, really, really don't want to." Merope openly wore a frown as he crept through the pine trees, unwilling to let a branch snag on his delicate fins and rip a hole in them.
At long last he emerged victorious and sulking. Merope chomped down on the candy cane and shoved the participation medal (why did it have to have a pine tree on it) into his jacket pocket. He left the obstacle course behind to go sulk and stretch his fins for awhile.
Dirge had only signed up for this because it looked fun, a good break from all the Mafia things that were going on underneath the school. Hopefully, the boil thought as he stretched in the waiting area, those weirdos wouldn't get their fingers in this pie.
It was already weird enough, to be honest, with the Christmas creeple here. The elves just looked so...cheeful. It was kinda gross.
The rest of the time leading up to the course was a bit of a blur, just more stretching and pulling his mane up into a ponytail, getting a little bit of banter in with whoever passed by. The Kasha wasn't nervous, until the icicle fell behind them, scaring the living Jack out of teen.
Skiing was certainly not his forte. The boil could hardly even walk without tripping over something - let alone balance on two thin strips of wood down a hill with a ton of malicious elves and obstacles. Wasn't this supposed to be fun?
Maybe it was, for Christmasland at least.
The skiis were taken off as soon as Dirge could manage it, hastily thrown off to the side as the boil leapt over hurdles on the ice. Hurdling he could do - it was sort of like hunting in his unpinned state. Get momentum, leap, rine and repeat. Easy as pie. The balance beam should have been rough for him, but the adrenaline of the race seemed to snap all of Dirge's senses into working order. He would have loved to move more quickly over it, but was stuck behind a rather slow student. "Ughhh, c'mon man. Goooo."
The muttered groan must have been heard, because not long after that the students found themselves in front of stacks on stacks of wreaths. But still, Dirge was stuck behind a slow student, and suffered for it. If only he could just bound over the top of this guy's head...
The crawl finally got them separated, Dirge a huffy and panting mess down on all fours, something he was a little more used to. If he weren't so tired (Dirge blamed that other student's slowness for sapping his adrenaline), he probably would have done a lot better, but here they were, at the finish line.
Dirge looked skyward, sighing, then hunched his shoulders. "Can I go take a nap, now?"
Amy found that psyching herself up just before the main event helped her do better on whatever physical activity she decided to do since she wasnt much for competitions and such. The plant ghoul was not overly fond of chritmas town since it was a bit too cold her her tastes, and she was realizing that mayyyybe she couldnt do this as she looked out over the rest of the obsticle course. But perhaps the skis would help her out some? While Amy was contemplating her life's choices and whatnot, she did not hear or see the giant icicle that pushed her harshly down the slope.
She was not ready.
Much screaming could be heard as she flew down the slope, Vines flailing behind her like limp noodles.
Some how, some way, she was able to dodge the various snowballs and poles, thinking she was going to make a clean gettaway, until she was smacked in the face with a snowball from one of the RUDEST snowmen there. Amy was miffed and sore by the time she made it to the second part of the obsticle course, glaring at the icicle that had stopped them, glad she wasnt one of the unlucky ones that was stopped harsher than most of them. The next area which was located at the base of the hill, contained what looked like hurdels that were made for torture, but she could do this! She got through one part, this one wouldnt be so bad...
The block of ice was troubling though...
Much debation and regrets later, Amy made it through the hurdles!
She had some scrapes and bruises to show for it, considering she didnt trip over any hurdels, but she did scrape her leg and her hair was in dissarray. That was the real loss there because NOW she had to wait before she she could fix it. On to the next course, which seemed like it would be easier than the previous parts. After she signed at the state of her feet, Amy hopped onto the balance beam, surprised she was so steady. A couple of test jumps further proved that she could do this part of the course with ease, placing one foot infront of the other while moving at a quick pace. The giant red stockings looked intimidating at first, but when she started moving out the way fluidly, they were no longer a problem. Before she knew it, Amy was on the opposite side of the beam with no injuries or anything. Nice!
So with this next course, was she supposed to run thorugh, jump, or just try to fit her feet in the hole? Amy looked around and saw that everyone was doing some sort of hop run manuver, so she decided to go with that as far as getting through this part of the course in a quicker manner, which did help some what seening as she made it through the course. However, since she wasted so much time AND she was trying to make sure she stepped in the holes correctly, she missed out on getting a better time for finishing.
Something she could work on for next year?
This next course is what really just made her pause.
She was a nature-centric ghoul, but did she realllly have to crawl? She took one look around, catching a boil that tried to jump, stiffening when the poor thing was grabbed by his feet. When the tree started hitting him with pinecones next, she dropped to her knees and started crawling, she was not going to be subjected to pinecones...Nope!
when Amy pulled herself out from under the last tree, she was freezing and more than irritated. Her clothes were kind of wet and she may or may not have some twigs in her hair...She tried to get through the mass of christmas citizens, absentmindedly taking the candy cane and metal. Where was Sid? She could really use some warmth right about now.
Did you remember to use your speed stat? Y Did you use your luck stat for this challenge? N
Carmine wasn't exactly sure how this was all going to go down. He was much much smaller than most of the other students that were lined up at the starting point. He also wasn't too sure about this whole snow thing. It was weird cold stuff that made everything wet. Yuck.
Without much choice, he was escorted up the hill by some of the elves. Once at the top of the hill, two more elves were strapping long wooden sticks to his feet. How was anybody supposed to complete an obstacle course wearing these ridiculous things?! He looked around at some of the other students to try and figure out what he was supposed to do with these things. Some of the others were just standing on them sliding their feet back and forth. When Carmine gave that a try, he found that he started to shift forward, so he quickly stopped, lest he be disqualified for jumping the gun.
As unceremoniously as possible, suddenly Carmine was vaulted forward by an icicle. He gave his wings a few small flaps in the frigid air to keep himself from turning into a giant rolling snowball of failure. Ground based activities were definitely not most suited for Carmine. At first, it seemed simple enough to get through the gates, but as the elves started throwing snowballs, Carmine missed a number of gates and narrowly avoided a few trees and other obstacles.
Finally at the bottom of the ski hill, Carmine quickly removed the ludicrous skis from his feet, hoping that he never has to go through that torture again. Looking at the obstacle in front of him, he knows that this is much more suited to his particular talents. With a devilish grin, he starts on his way across the icy surface, using his claws to achieve a decent grip on the ice. He easily makes it to the thorny hurdles and vaults right over them. Nobody ever said a little flap of the wings was illegal! This obstacle was so easy for him, Carmine was sure he'd be thrown out for cheating or something.
Okay, so not everything was going to be that easy. Carmine looked at the next obstacle and gulped deeply. Balance wasn't exactly his best skill, since he could just fly and all, but now they had to balance and avoid giant stockings of death? Great. With a sigh, Carmine began forward, narrowly avoiding the first stocking. The second stocking seemed to be swinging a lot faster though and managed to clip him. If it weren't for his ability to fly, he surely would not have been able to pull himself back up onto the balance beam and finish this obstacle.
Well this next obstacle seemed to be aimed at stopping all the shorter students. However, Carmine was lucky enough to be able to jump much better than most students his size. He made quick work of the wreathy ground, only stopping a few times to make sure he was even headed in the right direction.
Perfect! This last bit was easy! It was designed to take out the big and tall students! Being the tiny little thing he was, Carmine easily crawled through the last obstacle without a worry in the world. Not a single bit of the holly caught him and snagged his clothes or the tender skin on his wings. Did they even try to make this challenging?!
Once out of the crawling obstacle, Carmine stood up and was soon greeted with a candycane and a participation medal. He huffed a few heavy breaths before gaining control and put on a big grin. Looking around, he tried to see if he knew any of the other students who were there.
Did you remember to use your speed stat? Y Did you use your luck stat for this challenge? (Remember, you can only use it in one of the four challenges!) N
When she was still happily strolling through the white-covered town, a shrieking note was played on the speakers installed on the streets. Usually it plays out a haunting note on d minor on this season, but those was now used for announcement. The message said that the participating students are required to gather on the newly-constructed outdoor stadium for the first event of the 4 challenges, which is, obstacle course.
Hastily equipping her handed-out dorm uniform, Mahlan rushed to the large ramp where she can see students already swarming, waiting for further instructions. After a while of opening speech by the elf Inter-holiday liaison and some cheerings, the event, Amityville House Cup are now officially open.
After being dismissed from their position, each contestant are urged to line up for the first event; the Obstacle Course run. It was a 5-parter running event, mixed with some Halloweeners's handmade hijinks and traps.The first is skiing, the second was skating, third part is balance-beaming, wreath-running and the last...obstacle crawling.
No matter how she see this, the obstacles are...to be put in one way, mediocre...but in same time, possesses certain degree of lethal-ness on their own. Who in their right mind put bola traps on skiing course-if their legs are tangled then the only outcome will be the old-styled snowball rolling down the hills, weren't it?
Ah well, she'll do what she can. After all, in this championship the Dorm name's will be on stake, too. Equipping the ski boards handed out by the stagehands, she poised for a dash-start---before getting slapped from the behind by a giant icicle slash bat, sending almost every participant tumbling down the lines! Well that's underhanded. But she can see that seniors and some students has regained their balance fast and quickly left the still-tumbling down ones in a flash. Not wanting to lose, Mahlan quickly stabbed her tail-fan into the snow and propelled herself upright again. She needed to pass through those 'gates' made from pillars stabbed deep into the whiteness of crumbling snow. Doing a tailfin-steered slalom while dodging the hail of snowballs thrown by the mischevious snow elves and occasional, happily 'accidental' discharges of magic took her some time, of which Mahlan repaid by--- "Secret move-All-natural Resin Polish!" Yelled Mah, jumping up and kicked away the ski blades on her feet, replacing it with temperature-hardened resin which instantly formed under her soles-it's a specialized ones meant for speed, not like the standard ones they've been issued that is obtained for stability. Kicking away at the snow, Mah's speed was boosted-yet that means she's missing the gates. That couldn't be good for her score, though.
After clearing the first obstacle, she was quite relived that she wasn't part of the leading group, seeing...uh, some of the contestant was planted on a huge, horizontally-placed icicles that are probably meant as a checkpoint. Probably.
The second course was a maze with some hurdles planted over ice. These plants...emits a small amount of FEAR. Maybe it's a work of a dyrad or something like that? Either way, she can care less about that, since there's a race that needs to be cleared. Borrowing some plant leaf from the hedges to be grown around her shoes, providing more friction, Mahlan cleared the hurdles without big trouble...
Well, it's good that she made it through the second obstacle, but what about the third...oh. True to the name of 'obstacle course', the third course was a balance beam with some stockings--- *thwap!* ...uh, from the sound of it, Mahlan'd fare better if she just evade those hard-thing-filled stockings. It's not that easy, balancing herself while evading those stockings-she made several silly poses trying not to fall down. After those obstacles, the remaining two obstacles of wreath and crawling course doesn't pose any difficulty...
In any case, first one from four event cleared! Did she do good? Did she contributed to her dorm? Well she can't care less. It's tiring. "I wanna sleep already..."
Did you remember to use your speed stat? Y Did you use your luck stat for this challenge? N
Sludge wasn't completely sure what he had signed himself up for, but when he was suddenly shepherded into a large open area by what he could only guess was gnomes, and strange gnome like things with red and green clothing. He allowed them to lead him up a ramp, and there he waited as another gnome like creature spoke of the 'Amityville House Cup' beginning.
The xenomorph cocked his head, wondering what this house cup was all about. He knew that cups were objects you used to drink from, having seen students do so in the cafeteria, but this cup seemed more important, judging from all the screaming he could hear from the stands. Then the gnomes were attaching strange planks of wood to his feet, and he stared at their retreating forms, then tried moving his legs. How was he supposed to walk now?!
For once he stood tall and straight, not crouching over, as the curtains opened to reveal a obstacle course. Now Sludge had a idea of what was going on, as he had seen similar courses on the school grounds, as well as the students who had run on them. But those students had been running and jumping over things, now he had these things on his feet. and even with the tail acting as a counterbalance, he was use to leaning forwards and having the weight of his large head. Without this weight he was wobbling all over the place, slowly descending down the mountain.
Speaking of natural forms...
Curiously he tried to pull off his pin. Usually it would refuse to come off, but this time it slipped off his arm with ease, allowing him to morph into the much more intimating xenomorph form. Unsure as to why he was allowed to (the actual reason being that his form was under the 10 feet limit), he ignored it and instead focused on what everyone else did, as this was how he ended up learning 90% of things. They didn't seem to be running, so much as sliding down the mountain with the planks, and sliding between the posts and dodging the various projectiles flung via the snowman and gnome things.
He lowered his body as the other 'more experienced' students were doing, amazed that he went down the mountain faster then before, leaning his body to and fro to whiz past the posts. At one point he copped some snow in his face, and hissed at the offending snowman who did it. Beside that he did surprisingly well, reaching the bottom and hopping out of the ties on the boards.
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It wasn't hard for Sludge to hope over the obstacles, even while on slippery ice. His clawed feet gave him extra purchase, his nimble form leaping over the branches with ease. Soon he reached the next part of the course.
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Jumping on the beam, he was able to balance on it alright. However a student in front of him slowed his pace, making him hiss angrily,
This seemed to hurry them up. As would most people if there was a angry xenomorph behind them, their second mouth showing threateningly
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The wreaths posed no hindrance to Sludge, and he ran through without any issue.
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Now he could see why nothing larger then 10 feet could get through, as the pine trees preventing anything other then a crawl.
It didn't worry him however, and crouching down he crawled through the maze with ease.
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Upon reaching the end of the maze, he felt his body shift back into his student form, the pin attaching itself to his arm once more.
It was probably a good thing, judging from the mass of Christmas beings giving him candy canes and a medal.
Did you remember to use your speed stat? y Did you use your luck stat for this challenge?n
Quote:
Section 1: You very nearly complete a perfect run! If would have been perfect if it hadn't been for that vindictive jerk, Buddy the Snowman. 8 points Section 2: You're several hurdles in when a classmate's tail or wing whaps you off course, hindering your progress! 4 points Section 3: STOCKING'D! 0 points Section 4: Slow and steady... is still slow. 2 points Section 5: You crawl like someone's chasing you! Go go go! 10 points
Gabby could have been less satisfied with what he'd signed himself up for. It was an obstacle course of ice and snow, and he thought himself fully prepared for anything that laid ahead. He was wrong, of course, but when was he not?
His first hurdle wasn't popping that bubble of superiority. He had a nearly perfect run, skiing through the course with style, grace, and probably a little icy cheating here and there. Right at the end of the course, a snowman managed to pelt him with some snow - which he didn't actually mind, except for the fact that it slowed him down.
He was still sure that he was the absolute best at this course so far.
The next step was to navigate on ice. To navigate. On ice. Gabby almost wanted to laugh, whether it was for how lucky he'd been, or how stupid the rest of the students looked.
He was sliding effortlessly past obstacles when a large, red wing whacked him right in the face and knocked him off of his feet. His failure was not his own, but that of a rude and clumsy creature. He wanted to cry foul and point out how he would have been at the end already if not for someone else's intervention, but he knew that such a cry would sound much like maintaining that his shoelaces were loose in order to try and get sympathy from the judges.
He kept his mouth shut and moved on.
Balance was not a problem for Gabby, but dodging was. He was not only knocked off, but scooped away by a stocking, ruining his chances of getting through without a rather messy fight that ate up all of his time and moreso.
Things were not looking as good as he'd previously hoped.
The stockings had him on edge, so he took the next step with a slow and steady gait. He carefully maneuvered his way through the wreaths, tiptoeing like a pro.
A pro who was now sorely no longer winning.
Gabby despised the idea of crawling anywhere, and perhaps that was what drove him to get through this obstacle as quickly as possible. He slid through the cramped spaces until he was free, brushing off the mess of pine needles that clung to his beautiful coat and hurrying to the finish line.
While there was absolutely no way anyone was getting Lock in any of the ridiculous reaper dorm gear, he did in fact have a soft spot for petty competition. He wasn't particularly apt at physical challenges (read: he was horrible at physical challenges) but he did like the idea of representing the reapers to the best of his abilities.
The obstacle course was looked upon with a frown from the grumpy reaper (wasn't this a bit biased towards those big oafish monsters that could just pummel their way through the course?).
Either way, he found himself equipped with skis, and before he knew it he was being pushed down a mountain. Thankfully, Lock had actually gone skiing a few times back home. Except their "snow" was mud and their "skis" were more like slippery rocks. Same difference.
There were a number of obstacles (Lock really didn't like those snowmen) but he found a way past them and past the other students. It probably helped that he was a bit taller than most of the smaller students; he could easily swoop past them and cause all sorts of havoc.
At the bottom waited a maze of death; Lock was horrible with slippery surfaces and even worse with patience. He gritted his teeth and made his way through it as best he could, but he made a mental note to have a nice hot shower once this was all done.
Next came a silly little balance beam with swinging .... were they socks? across the way. They were bright red and Lock found that his eyes hurt just looking at them. A thought occurred to him that was a little scary; he hoped those stockings had been red to begin with too. Especially with the number of kids slamming into them from lack of prowess.
Beyond the stockings were a set of wreaths on the ground laid out like a tire course. Lock wasn't the type to rush through anything; quite the opposite really. He took it slowly as was acceptable and made his way to the end in due time. He was a strong advocate for making it to the end over rushing and failing.
The last challenge absolutely disgusted him. Despite having lived underground for most of his life, Lock was not one for dirtiness. He cleaned his dorm obsessively and couldn't stand spots on anything. Having to crawl through the mud was actually hell or whatever the Halloween equivalent of hell was. It was Christmas.
But he crawled, because damn if anyone was going to say he couldn't finish the job. He was about average, considering he had the skill but didn't want to do it.
At the finish line he didn't stay long enough to be admired; he didn't like crowds much and liked Christmas crowds even less. It wouldn't be long before some mayhem occurred.
Quote:
Student Name: Lock Points Total: 24 Section One: 10 Section Two: 2 Section Three: 6 Section Four: 2 Section Five: 0 + 4 = 4 6, 2, 4, 2, 1 Did you remember to use your speed stat? yes Did you use your luck stat for this challenge? no
Did you remember to use your speed stat? y Did you use your luck stat for this challenge? n
Quote:
Section 1: You manage to fumble your way through a couple of gates, but the snowballs and elf attacks really do a number on your progress. 2 points Section 2: One might think you are a natural hurdle hopper... if it wasn't for those tryhards up ahead. 8 points Section 3: If you've discovered one thing about yourself during all of this, it's that you have the arm strength to pull yourself back up onto a balance beam after almost plummeting to your shameful defeat. 4 points Section 4: You speed through the wreath run with only a few moments of hesitation! Great job! 8 points Section 5: You're pretty good at this whole crawling thing! Bravo! 8 points
The excitement that had been thrilling Magda's heart and making her blood run hot had the similar effect of creating her inability to stay still. She'd been bouncing the entire time they stood in a group, waiting for the competition to begin. She didn't want to win; no, that would be too much responsibility. But oh, to play along! To participate, and join in, and run with others around her all trying their very best; it excited her so! She was ready to fly through whatever the obstacle course had in store, because the only thing Magda wanted from this competition was to not be left behind.
She pinged Malik a text even as she bounced from foot to foot, waiting for the race to begin.
OpticPeach
Text to: Partpartner Malik Good luck!! I am rooting for you!
She was the worst competitor, but the best participant.
With a rush of air and movement it begin, and she was suddenly on skis, flying down a mountain. Magda had never skiid before, and it showed in the way she tumbled and stumbled her way down. Being pelted with snowballs didn't help, but every attack simply made her want to find a way to stop and throw snowballs back. Unfortunately, skiing did not allow for an impromptu snowball fight, and she eventually fell to the end of the slope in a tangled heap of limbs and wings and laughter.
Hopping over hurdles was so much easier, and just her kind of game! She wondered if being so tall was cheating, since she barely had to jump to get over hurdles that other students were attempting to leap their whole bodies over.
Oh well.
Magda twirled on the balance beam, which was not a good strategy considering it distracted her enough to miss the oncoming stocking. She was knocked clear off, but looped her arm around the balance beam before she fell to the floor and lurched herself all the way around again, landing on her feet atop the beam once more.
And then she began twirling again, because she did not learn her lesson.
Running through wreaths felt like playing hopscotch. Magda squealed with delight as she hopped through the wreaths, flying through the obstacle - was it really even an obstacle, she wondered? This was more fun than the word obstacle indicated! It was more like a funstacle!
She shimmied through the last section, underneath all of the pines that bowed to her. This would have been a perfect time for a bit of cake, she thought. But she managed, even without anything to change her size, and emerged victorious to the finish line. Immediately, she began to shake the hand of anyone nearby, congratulating them on their victory. Even those who weren't competing.. and those in the stands...
Obstacle courses! Of Christmas! Requiring speed! It was a race!
Ignatius jacking loved racing.
He was a natural speedster, really. He took a run at least once a day, usually more. He was always moving. With his recent advancements, he had fully locked into the natural speed awarded to anyone aligned to lightning, but on top of that he had always been incredibly active and just enjoyed the rush.
Needless to say, the initial event of the House Cup was probably going to be his best one. Ignatius believed he was fully capable of all the others, too, but he had no shame in admitting that he loved running, and he would be ashamed of himself if he did not at least do the best in this particular event.
(There was some leeway for a particularly distracting obstacle, of course. Plus, he wasn't a total show off. Just mostly.)
Dressed in a Ghosts' tank top, ghosts' pants, ghosts' sweatbands, and most notably, no shoes, Ignatius was bouncing up and down and completely ready to go when the curtain was up and revealed a course that might have looked boring to most at onset, but the look of it made him bounce from foot to foot excitedly, and he cracked his knuckles.
He was so jacking ready for this.
Ignatius snorted at the skis on his feet, considering how weird they felt and how much trouble the elves had getting his feet into the skis in the first place, but he let it go, ready to fly down the hill. Evidently, flying was exactly what he was going to do.
"WOOHOOOO!" The elemental went flying down the hill, ducking around snowballs like an agility expert and swirling around swings of bolas like they were not even being shot at him. Already used to processing his environment fairly quickly, he understood that the sticks in front of him were things he was supposed to, at the very least, go between, and so he slid through them, whizzing by like this was all he had done his entire life.
When the skis came off and an icicle stopped him very suddenly, he found himself in front of what looked to be a maze. The twisting paths resembled branches, but it didn't take him too long to realize that this was a whole different animal: ice.
But he apparently was very good at balancing on ice.
Dashing forward, Ignatius ended up doing so well that he caught attention of the crowd and decided that it was appropriately time to show the jack off. In one portion, he spread out his arms and slid down like he was surfing. When he came upon a hurdle, he grabbed it and did a front flip over it, rolling as a landing and then immediately getting up and continuing to run.
He had to admit, he really hoped this course stayed up after the House Cup.
Ignatius skidded to a stop in front of a balance beam, noting that his feet were a bit slippery, so this would take a bit more patience to accomplish. He took a moment, watching the giant stockings swing back and forth, figuring out how he should time his run to make sure he got through them all without getting smacked off the beam. As soon as it made sense in his head, he counted out the beats under his breath before dashing across it as fast as he could, rolling out on the other side just as the last stocking swung across the beam.
The next part of the course required a bit of observation, too, if only because these wreaths were so large. He would need to plant his steps carefully in order to end up not barreling over, even if he could then try to roll into a barrel roll, which would have been quite epic in a lot of ways -- Ignatius' thoughts suddenly smashed to a halt as he put the pedal back to the metal, jumping his way through the wreaths without much of a delay at all.
It was the last course that caught him.
There was no way he could run through it, he quickly discovered, not with the trees pelting pine cones. He had to ... crawl? Crawling was not his specialty. He honestly couldn't remember ever crawling.
For the first time in the entire course, Ignatius was actually slowed down, but he persevered, refusing to be defeated by trees of all things. It worked out, and as he lowered his head and focused, he gradually found his mud-knees and moved faster and faster until he flew out the other side.
When he cleared the course, he paused for a moment, closing his eyes and soaking in the teeming mass of citizens like they were all there to watch him. He took in a deep breath, let it out, and then immediately stuck the candy cane in his mouth. And a medal! This was awesome.
"Thank you, thank you~" Bowing with a flourish, Ignatius then swirled on his back foot and strutted through the finishing area.
