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It would be fun. Loads of fun. Tavi had told Helki encouragingly to convince the wolf boil to sign up for the House Cup event together with him. Which he did in the end but right now, standing atop a snowy hill with a pair of skis strapped to his feet and donned in the orange and red colours that identified him as a representative of the Monster dorm, he was starting to get the jitters and regret this.

But it was already too late to back out by now.

When the Christmas bells rang to declare the start of the race, Helki found himself pushed off the slope along with everyone by a giant icicle. Arms flailing, it was a wonder that he managed to maintain his balance while avoiding the snowballs and the bola traps that the snowmen and elves pelted the participants with whenever any of them got in too close. Most of them that is, save for the one or two snowballs that managed to graze the side of his face. But at least he didn't trip and fall!

When Helki came to a stop at the base of the hill, he kicked off the pair of skis, glad to be rid of them and able to get around on his own two feet again. Eager to catch up with the rest of the competition, he trailed after them into the maze of hurdles without sparing a second thought, only to realise too late that the floor was slippery because it was made of ice. With his attention focused mainly on maintaining his balance and avoid falling onto either his butt or face, it was no surprise that he found himself horribly lost in the maze, possibly running around in circles unknowingly until he finally managed to figure for himself where the exit was.

Next up was the balancing beam which made him really nervous as he tried to ignore the distractingly huge red swinging stockings, instead watching where he was placing his feet so that he could eventually make it across albeit slowly without getting knocked off. More than half way through now. The wolf boil tried telling himself repeatedly as he embarked on the wreath run though it didn't seem to go all too well for him probably due in part to his short stature plus how much he wanted to head back to Tavi's room and hole himself up in it by now.

The end was nigh. He could see the finish line from where he was now. He perked up a little at that fact alone, picking up speed as he got onto the ground and crawled under the branches through the mud and the cold snow patches till he eventually emerged at the other end of the obstacle course with a small smile. Most of the other participants were already back by now and he could only hope with all his heart that he wasn't embarrassingly the last as he stood there looking a little lost and distraught with a candy cane in his hand and a medal around his neck.

At the top of the snowy hill Zaire frowned, glancing around for his boilfriend or really anyone he knew and thankfully not seeing anyone. The monster was embarrassed that he could barely stand in these ridiculously things that were now outfitted on his feet. Skis as they called them had to be the worst and stupidest invention the swamp monster had ever seen. A growl as the starting bells came and Zaire was off finding himself pushed down with the rest of the competitors by a large sweep of icicle.

Zaire once moving seemed to get a grip on the damn things, moving a steady pace down the course and flashing teeth to any snowman that threw something his way. Just as Zaire passed another competitor a slalom gates rose from the ground and had the monster stirring sharply around it. It was a miracle that the boil passed but in the celebration another student raced passed and clipped him causing Zaire to stumble and nearly fall over. "Watch it!" The blue eyed monster growled as he tried to pick speed back up, cursing under breath.

Now at the base of the hill Zaire was brought to a stop, this time falling flat on his bottom. A snow covered maze was before him when he finally got up enough effort to stand again. With a long lazy sigh he stared into it, lingering near the back of the pack. Watching the others as they moved through but still not quite sure how to get the heck out. After what felt like forever Zaire got through the maze, a little puffy from the effort and sliding around on the ice but ready to get this done.

Zaire made his way smoothly past a few of the other students only to find himself faced with a balance beam and slippery feet. The beam was given an critical eye before the monster started across it, finding it rather easy until getting close to the pair of swinging stockings,students before and behind him were knocked off but Zaire managed to hold strong against all odds. It was difficult on slippery footing but the monster got to the end of the beam and moved swiftly away from the damned thing.

Stacks of fragrant fir wreaths littered the ground Zaire came too, it was amusing to watch students shorter than himself struggle and he might have lost a little time watching them teasingly. But a heave up of one and Zaire was speed-walking through the run towards the end of the course because even if this was a competition the monster was NOT one to run. As he moved with the wreath the size of the thing was compared to that of his tall lover in mind, bringing a smirk to the tanned monsters lips as he moved. He would tell Jory later how carrying him around was training for this...and then would cheer up at the amazing blue color his boilfriend would turn for him.

Thick pines lined the last section and Zaire sighed heavily looking them over, wondering if he would get in trouble for trying to eat his way through them.When instructed to crawl Zaire rolled his eyes, anyone with self respect would not crawl. That was ridiculous plus Zaire felt that if he did he might just go to sleep and he had a promise to keep. Racing across the top was a regret the monster had as soon as he felt the first pelt of pinecone. Just as he was about to give up a branch pulled him under and Zaire fell below and gave up, staring to crawl to the finish line.

It was horseman s**t but Zaire finished and instantly wanted to find Jory and sleep on him, but unfortunately was approached by Christmas citizens who gave him a medal and a striped stick for some unknown reason. A growl at them and Zaire pocketed the useless things and moved away with a frown.

At the overly jangly starting line, Pelagion wondered why he was here in the first place. He hated sports, and couldn't care less about his faction, dorm, or the elusive 'faction pride'. Yet here he was, dressed in his dorm colors, and warming up for the upcoming obstacle course in silence. It wasn't for his parent's sake – his family may well be in the stands but he was not with them.

He was there because it was more effort to not be there... and because he had someone who was looking up to him, a newcomer he was responsible for. 01 was in the crowd, and Pelagion... well, he owed him a show. He couldn't promise more than that.

Ding!

Oh sh... Skis. Everything was downhill and he was moving far too fast for his comfort. He wished he had a tail to keep his balance with, but – alas – no tail. Just him, two flat boards, and two pokey sticks. He practically choked on his own panicked breath as he frantically tried to not fall on his face and break something. Or scream. He failed on all counts.

He was relieved when he came to a stop, relieved enough that even the slight stagger and near fall was a victory, instead of a crushing defeat. He felt victorious until... Oh no. Theres more. Well, of course there was more.

At least it was ice. Pelagion was okay with ice – he'd been walking around on it since he was a scareling. He started out, hopping around the hurdles as he'd once hopped along the strewn, frozen items his mum left around. It wasn't really that different... Except he had competition. He grunted something in annoyance as a stray tail nearly knocked him off course. “Scuse you.” he muttered, as he got himself back on track.

Or so he thought. It was certaintly not over yet, but at this point he was expecting to be thoroughly miserable. He hoped 01 was enjoying his misery. Good for him. Not so good was the balance beam. He could have sworn that every stocking was perfectly timed to hit him on every swing... it sucked. He nearly fell many, many times – but somehow kept his grip long enough to make it across. Small victories – that was what he cared about.

Next was piney-fresh fir wreaths... not bad smelling, but not particularly friendly. He found himself struggling to move through the thickets, and took it slow and steady... slow... and... steady. And he made it. At this point, that was what mattered.

He wasn't expecting much from himself on the final leg – honestly his only motivation was to reach the finish line and be done with this part of the challenge. And, apparently, that was enough motivation for the reaper – Somehow, he made it... and did well, too. He took a moment to reflect on that, before moving to the other side of the finish line and leaning against something as he recovered, watching the other students lazily as they all finished their hell of a run. Wryly, his gaze turned to the crowd – he hoped they'd enjoyed it.

This was quite the novelty! Needle tapped her feet on the ground, trying to get a feel for the strange devices they had placed on her. The bells chimed, and she managed a surprised inhale as something pushed against her back, and sent her flying down the slope. Somehow, perhaps by sheer luck, she managed to not only dodge the others, but to not fall on her way down. Up until the end of course, as a rather cold fellow hip checked her hard enough to knock her off balance for only a moment. Well, not only for a moment. In fact she went down hard, landing heavily on her butt, but thankfully the slope was just right to get her back on her feet with relative ease.

Then the ice came. It was slippery yes, and the hurdles were rather interesting. How she managed to get by them with little issue was beyond her. The first one had been her test, and she had failed that one, but after that she had gotten the hang of them quickly, and like before managed to get through it without much of a fuss.

Needle pretty much skated right across the balance beam. Each stocking missed her completely…but she couldn't say the same for the student in front of her, or behind her.

The wreaths, though. The wreaths. Needle's bane was knee-high things, and she did her best with them. The first half was a miserable failure, but she eventually got the hang of it - by simply choosing to move faster, to get it over with quicker. The end was in sight now, metaphorically speaking.

After hearing some students ahead get pelted with pine cones, Needle dropped to the ground and did her best army crawl. Thanks to the slight mud, her arms didn't get stuck in the ground as she made her way through. The whole thing was nearly effortless, and the fairly muddy Engraver accepted her pine tree medal with all the stoic grace she had been raised with.

Then, it was time to find something to pass the time…and to perhaps get this mud off of her front.

Merry hadn't been a student yet the last time the house cup was being held. She'd only been a guest, so while she'd been permitted to visit, to see all the booths and sit in the stands, she hadn't been allowed to participate. Now she could, and the chimera ghoul was ecstatic! A little more so than she should be, perhaps.

The icicle bumped her in the tail, sending her down the hill with a rather startled shriek. The boots didn't quiet fit right, made it hard to steer, but spreading her wings let her slow down enough to compensate with her woeful coordination. Well, at least when she wasn't being bombarded with bolas and snowballs...

She made it, at least, a little damp, a little sore, bit in more or less one piece, and still buzzing with eager excitement. Kicking off the skis, the ghoul hurried towards the next task. A balancing beam, with giant stockings at one end the swung across it. With a small hum the ghoul jumped up, recklessly charging forward, and promptly losing her balance when something large and heavy collided with her side. She scrambled, claws digging into the beam to drag herself back up, and half crawled, half ran for the end of the thing. Keeping low to reduce the chance for a second blow.

One would think that ice and hooves wouldn't mix well, but apparently, running full out as she was, she'd managed to figure out a way to dig the tip of her hooves into the slick surface in a way that let her go faster, rather than slow her down. She sailed over the hurdles, making greet time, until very nearly running right into a cluster of slower students. "Oh, come on!" A flap of her wings, and she was over them, taking off once again, but she'd slot a bit of speed, and she thought maybe she'd missed a hurdle back there as well...oh well.

Next was wreaths and knee-highing through them. Merry found this obstacle particularly challenging. Maybe because she wasn't that tall. Maybe because she didn't have the patience for it, but either way, it was an awful performance on her end. She got to the end of it was an evergreen ring still clinging to one leg and had to kick it off as she jogged for the last leg of the race.

This one wasn't much better. A low crawl through a tunnel of overhanging and curved branches. Merry's wings made it impossible to go through quickly, and as she emerged from the other side bright colors were littered with needles, and shoulders were sporting a few scratches from the branches themselves.

At least she was finished though. Elves were swarming over, thrusting prizes into her hand, and as poorly as the last two legs of the race had gone for her, she was still smiling, still pleased that she'd even gotten the chance to compete at all.

Knowing Hel's out there in the stands filled Lattice with determination...

At least she could pretty much hear the Valkyrie's familiar voice and that was a bit encouraging. Lattice had come a little late to the obstacle course – mostly due to the fact that she'd gotten lost. Lattice had heard the other voices as well but … Hel had a habit of standing out sometimes.

There were more creeple that she wanted to make proud other than Hel of course. That was why she was here. Also to make herself proud.

Or something.

Lattice didn't really think that far ahead while making her goals and personal ideals.

Beside she... was now moving. A not so gentle nudge started her on down the slope and … Lattice couldn't really see anything that was in her way. By some miracle she dodged the bolas, by ducking or otherwise swerving off to the side a bit.

Stopped and then it was time for some hurdles. Once it was time to move again, Lattice managed something of a victory. Since some of the hurdles weren't specifically made for her to see them... She had quite a few stumbles, but nothing to be embarrassed about.

Lattice ended up inching over the next part because she wasn't exactly well equipped to speed across, but she managed something of a victory!

There was some question about how she was going to move past the wreaths, a lesser student might have been daunted by the obstacle but Lattice managed it after getting offtrack here and there. Oh wait was this timed? Shoot...

Lattice didn't really feel spunky enough to try and crawl over the next obstacle and so she did what felt the most natural at that point, which was to get onto her hands and knees and crawl on through. The whole thing felt rather undignified, but she was a little too tired to care at this point. She chugged along like the best crawler that ever crawled, but not in any particular hurry to get to the finish.

When she got to the end a little bit disheveled and a lot confused, Lattice accepted her 'prizes' for finishing the course with a small smile on her lips. She did good? She was good Engraver? Yes? Good.

Maybe.

...Could she go hide in her room now?

No?

..Shoot.

Hayden could do this, she was ready. Devoss was tucked into her jacket and she was ready. Although he added a little weight he also gave her warmth, and for that she was thankful. Plus his sometimes encouraging words could be helpful. She moved from side to side, not really sure how to use the skis on her feet. They weren't like anything she had back at home and honestly she was scared to death of them. But hey, if she could help the reapers win the house cup that would be just amazing! As soon as the bells went off she was ready to go, but surprised by the icicle that pushed her down the slope! "Where did that come from!" She complained as she was sent flying down the hill.

After a few seconds of flailing around Hayden got the hang of the skis and was going through the poles like she had been skiing her whole life. "We're doing it Dev! We're really doing it!"

She could see the finish line and so far she hadn't been hit by any of the snowmen pieces or been trapped in any of the elves traps when all of a sudden a snowman threw his whole body at her! He had been trying to get her the whole time, and he finally did. However she quickly shrugged him off and was back on track. It hadn't gone perfectly, but for someone who had never been on skis she thought she did a pretty good job!

Suddenly she was stopped, by another giant icicle. Personally she could do without them, though she smiled with the part closest to her seemed to melt slightly. "Take that!"

"Are you really talking to an icicle, get your head in the game!" Devoss said with a roll of his eyes.

Hayden shook her head, he was right. The next part seemed to be a hurdles race. She nodded. This she could do. It was just jumping. Hayden headed straight towards the first one and jumped over safely. She breezed through the hurdles course, doing better then most. She hoped the other challenges would be like this one!

As soon as she saw the giant stockings she smiled. Red was her color, she wasn't afraid of this! Quickly she crossed the beams, until she caught up with the student in front of her. "Come on, you're going so slow!" What were they, a sloth demon? She thought about trying to pass them, but decided it wasn't the best idea. After what seemed like ages she got off the beam, with a nasty look towards the boil that had been in front of her.

She wasn't tall, but thankfully she wasn't short either! Hayden went through the wreath course even better then the ones before. She a master at this one! "Come on Dev, we're almost done!"

"And making pretty good time if you as me!" he commented as he pulled his head back into her sweater. It was too cold for him out there.


She got to the last stretch of the course and frowned. She hated to crawl, and with Devoss inside her jacket it would be even more of a challenge. She took a deep breath before falling to the floor and crawling. She could hear a muffled sound of anger from inside her sweater but she kept going. She was so close to the finish line, nothing would stop her now!

Finally she crossed the finish line and was handed the candy cane and medal. She smiled and waved at the Christmas citizens. "Devoss this was easier then I thought. Maybe we really can win this thing!"

"Don't get cocky, we have a lot more to do before this is over."

Lyle was exhausted when they came for him. He was in his armor as always, having failed to notice that any articles of clothing had been left in his room for this occasion. Not that he recalled what occasion this actually was, not until he got outside and some manic undead started shrieking about 'beating you ghost pricks into the human world'. Even then Lyle had no idea. No, the memory-challenged Snot only realized what was going on once he saw the stadium.

Oh, right. The House Cup. He was not prepared.

He remained at the back of the crowd all the way up the ramp, and as such, he had no idea what to expect when everything got started. The pack was pushed down a hill, and all that the boil could do was scream lustily as he glided down the slope, wind in his hair and terrified grin on his face. He was still upright when he reached the bottom, but only just. All of this standing on his own too legs was already tiresome.

The back was where Lyle stayed as he moved on, the ice and hurdles proving too much for the ghost's wobbly legs. He gave it his all, if only because he wanted to be done with all of this, but it was no use. Not only was it incredibly difficult for him to get the footing he needed to hop over knee-high tangles of wood, but he also had no idea where he was going once he had made it over each one. Eventually he managed to follow a couple of other ghosts who seemed to know where they were going, but he still doubted he would ever make up the time.

...Especially once he saw what was coming. "Dear Jack," Lyle whispered to himself when he caught sight of the balance beam. This was just getting ridiculous.

Inching forward while loads of braver students pushed past him, the ghost sighed dramatically, brushing at his armor. After an extraordinary lengthy amount of time during which he was sure the race would just end around him, Lyle moved closer, trying the balance beam on his own two feet. He got two steps in before he resorted to crawling. Scooting forward and still managing to get buffeted by the swinging stockings, the boil took another ten minutes to get across, holding up everyone who was unfortunate enough to still be behind him.

By the time he got to the wreaths the boil was exhausted, but at least he had gained some determination after the last obstacle. He had to be close to the end. There was no way this could go on indefinitely and if he gave up now he would never get to rest. Lyle inched through the wreaths, lifting his armor-clad legs slowly and carefully so that he wouldn't fall.

He strode confidently on once he was through the wreath run, right over the top of the kneeling trees. Sadly it was the wrong move, and Lyle was quite forcibly detained almost immediately, dragged flat and wrapped in branches before he even knew what was going on. He struggled, but the trees didn't let up, dragging him to the end of the course. As he was propped back up onto his feet, Lyle noticed he could float again.

"I never want to do that again, am I right?" he asked the student nearest to him in a sonorous shout, receiving only a confused look in return. Hm. Maybe it was only him who felt that way. With a shrug, he turned and hovered back toward the ghost dorms, promptly forgetting that there were more events to come.