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The shadowlings, as weak as they were, in groups were more obnoxious with how they hid against each other. Iyari quickly took care of the first 3 of them, but stared at the last two who had interlocked hands and would throw each other when she got close. "Sit still!" She barked, glaring as another was flung clear across the pit and she muttered obscenities as it happened, skidding to a stop mid run and going back to it, slicing at it to take it down.

What she failed to realize was how sidetracked the crafty little things had made her so damn slow. Irritated, she flicked her blade to get the blood off of her. In the back of her head she could hear Athena chuckling - which was her way of chastising the hunter for her absent mindedness.

POP.

Her gum popped loudly as she corned the last of her prey and her eyes shimmered in hatred as she quickly sliced off its head as it was no longer protected and she stood for a moment before putting her blade away. From above she could hear the slurping of drinks and chatter. Did she smell popcorn. Either way, she was done with it all and shrugged, pushing her hands back into her coat pockets and walking back to where she could get out.

Maybe not a bore, but definitely not worth all the trouble.

[ Toughness: 6]
(Round 1: 1
Round 2: 3 +1 (word count) = 4
Round 3: 1 )

Andrew was getting the sense that the other Sun hunters were less than impressed by his whining. "I'm not a buttercup." he mumbled out at Sammy.

And then he suddenly received some "encouragement." Touching. gross. "Don't touch me." he swatted Paige's hand away and then turned to watch the other guys roll in the mud. He pulled out his phone and took a few pictures. Because some would like a photo of themselves and others, they would pay anything to not have certain pictures posted.

Ugh, might as well get this over with.

And of course, he got a ton of shadowlings. Annoying.

6 toughness points.

Andrew had 6 of them, and while circling was a great idea, it took time to separate them. Every time they tried to gain up on them, Andrew tossed another shadowling on top of the group.

What he was hoping would be a short fight dragged out into a very long one. Andrew was not happy, not happy at all.

Keeping the shadowlings at bay certainly would win him a few points in the toughness ratings, but everyone knew that he'd bail as soon as he didn't have to work any more and let someone else deal with clean up.

Andrew was thoroughly covered in sweat by the end. Gross.

He went off and collapsed on the upper edge of the pit when he was done. Sun battle training sucked.

Shiv seemed genuinely impressed by the effort the next hunter put in, Sammy had guts and ample self assurance but it was evident that many of the mistakes the hunter who followed after her made were simply through nerves and enthusiasm. She was brutal with her hunters but that didn't mean she didn't appreciate that behind every good fighter was an often troublesome history.

"Seven." she said. "Is not a bad number at all"

Shiv couldn't help but have a good laugh about the creature that Paige got stuck with but nonetheless watched with interest. The small group was intended as a test of how well someone could milk even a simple fight for maximum showmanship and practice. After all, there was only so much could be learned from dummies.

"Next time we'll give you something meaner and see how you go."

As the trials began, Hunter had found a ladder to sit on, impromptu lifeguard chair style, as this made him look taller. He had also found a megaphone, and was yelling through it in between his texts.

"REMEMBER YOU ARE AN ALPHA!"

"STRONG NOT WEAK!"

"DON'T BE A HATER!"

"DYING IS FOR CHUMPS!"

"IF YOU GIVE UP I'LL ******** EAT YOU FOR DINNER!"



The encouraging words persisted throughout the exercise.

Ren seemed none too concerned about their current whereabouts. Sure, the pit wasn't very glorious and it was definitely not the most pleasantly scented place between muck and algae growth but there was the prospect of a little rough housing and that was definitely something the over zealous Sun trainee could get behind. Even the fidgeting, tough looking Sun assistant didn't seem to bother him.

"This doesn't look too bad," he mumbled to himself, scanning the creatures that were locked up behind their cage bars. The charming half-smile that pulled at his lips was enough to mark his enthusiasm at the prospect but it was hard to tell whether he was running on bravery or foolishness. Probably foolishness considering a trainee should have been an ounce more concerned at the prospect of a behemoth.

Both hands raised above his head to stretch as he considered the options he could end up with, leaning left and then right in a slow arch of ribs as his arms extended above him. Okay, maybe he was a little bit worried about the behemoth - if only because Haddy would ream him herself for coming in with another wound so quickly after the barely faded gash he was still sporting above his eyebrow.

"Alright, now or never."

That smug smile was still firmly in place as he dropped his arms pointedly and settled a hand on the hilt of the slender sword at his waistline. He really wasn't much the type for wasting time.

"I'm taking your word on it Shiv!" She called out with a grin. "It's gotta be twice as big as Sammy's too."

It looked like said sun hunter was offering some good encouraged too. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. Gotta show off at some point don't I?" She gave Sammy a thumbs up. " You make a good point, don't have to pay for dry cleaning today. Always a pain in the a**. Hey, maybe I'll fight both Shiv and Hunter at the same time, That'll score me some brownie points." She laughed at her own joke. But seriously, she would take them on. Come at her bro.

Andrew didn't seem to have a good time with his match either, taking a long time with his group of shadowlings. "That wasn't to bad" She offered as he went to go collapse. "Throwing them about was pretty cool. Just gotta be quicker on your feet is all."