Welcome to Gaia! ::

Canon was delighted to see that the first section was about the history of Halloween, a subject she'd studied up on before she'd arrived at Amityville. The treacherous machine was completely silent as she blazed through the questions, and the finished paper seemed to glow for a bit. Puzzled, Canon picked it up and shook it a bit, trying to figure out what would make it do that.

The next section was math, a subject Canon was fairly proficient with. Poring over the questions, however, revealed that many were written in what looked like complete gibberish at first. Canon's antennae ran over the strange symbols as she attempted to decipher them. The finished page didn't glow like the last one, but the machine didn't set her on fire, so she was satisfied.

As Canon attempted to makes sense of the weird diagrams on the next quiz, there was a quiet scraping noise behind her, and then... eeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! Wet! Cold! Canon stiffened in her seat, every limb standing straight out as chills ran down her spine. After several seconds, she was able to finally move again, and tried to continue on the quiz.

The sheer amount of words on the next quiz was staggering. And there again, she'd been given sections that were entirely in code. The little ghoul managed to finish the section, but only just.

The final section was an amalgam of questions, something the little Skark enjoyed immensely. She found herself whizzing through the questions once more, and at the end the paper began to glow again! Fascinating!

Sulmanon had studied up the night before knowing that today's challenge would be a quiz. Not knowing what to expect, when the announcement went out that the next contest was up Sulmanon flew over to the stadium, only to find it entirely covered with small cubicles littered with quizzes, writing tools, paper and desks. Raising an eyebrow, Sulmanon walked in and took a seat. She had been expecting something more bizarre. Once she and everyone else took his or her seat, the bizarreness started, as every cubicle was suddenly fully armed and aiming at the inhabitant of said cubicle. This is more like what I expected.

Picking up the first section, which happened to be Halloween History, Sulmanon breezed through most of it, since several of the questions were obvious, but the ones in code near the end baffled her. Then, suddenly, she was no longer worried about the code, as a nearby weapon set her on fire. She managed to put the fire out, using her flame control, but not before she was lightly singed and not before the majority of her quiz was turned into char. Well, at least she didn't have to worry about the codes anymore.

Moving onto the next section, Sulmanon noted that the next bit would be math. She knew that a lot of students hated math, as was proved by the screams and blood sprays from nearby cubicles. She also knew that, sometimes, trying to read math books had knocked outer ghouls and boils in the library. Chuckling to herself, she started writing, only to find it harder and harder to concentrate, until she finally blacked out. When she woke up, she found out that her time for the math section was over and that she had been gassed. Grimacing at the irony, she realized that this was the first time math had ever knocked her out.

Waking up in time for the third section, Sulmanon was not quite sure what to make of it. As a first year student, she had not really had the chance to study or interact with any humans before. There was her one experience with the humanbot, but that was all. Just as she picked up her pen to start writing though, a small wooden pole sprang out from the cubicle wall, impaling her and pinning her to the opposite wall. Horrified at first, she hoped that it would heal without scarring. If her parents knew that this had happened, they would pull her away quickly, and she could not allow that to happen. After standing there for a while, recovering from shock, Sulmanon started beating away at the pole trying to break it. Finally freeing herself, she got back to her seat, only to find most of her paper was obscured with blood spray. Upset that she could do nothing for those questions and only had a few minutes left, she hurriedly answered what questions she could before that section ended. When it did, she spent all of the time before the next section quickly trying all she could to stop the bleeding in her side. She did not want to faint due to blood loss or to mar the next part of her test with blood.

Picking up the next section, Sulmanon heaved a sigh of relief. It was literature, her forte. Keeping an eye out for anymore "distractions", Sulmanon started quickly reading and answering each question, but it was not long before she noticed some movement from the cubicle next too hers. Were they...? Yes they were trying to cheat off of her. Not wanting to let anyone from another dorm get an advantage, Sulmanon spent the rest of the time with her attention divided: half answering questions and the other half keeping an eye out for distractions or cheaters.

Getting the final section, and not sure what to expect, Sulmanon started answering what questions she could, but some she did not know, since it was either esoteric or inane. For example: What color are
Professor Hellma Shox's Underwear? Who would even know that? Or want to know that? Having gotten only around a third of the way through and starting to despair, suddenly, Sulmanon no longer had to worry about the rest of the quiz. For some reason, this was the moment that the monster she had seen during the obstacle course chose to spring into action. What she had thought was her desk was suddenly a toothy mouth that tried to swallow her hand, and most of the last two thirds of her quiz as well.

Finishing answering what she could of what was left, Sulmanon then decided to trudge back to the monster booth to nurse her wounds. The obstacle course had been easier than that quiz.

The obstacle course was tons of fun, but now they had to write a quiz? Mayaa pouted, shifting nervously. Ah, maybe she should have paid attention in classes. Maybe she actually should have WENT to her classes. What if she did bad? Ahhhhhhhh she didn't want to let her fellow monsters down!

Taking a penstrictor, she sat herself down, glossing over the first section.
Oh! Oh um, she knew this one!
"Scarelings come from pumpkins."
She even doodled a smiling little pumpkin, eyes widening slightly as the page began to GLOW. Well, she did draw a pretty pumpkin~

The next section made her pause, jumping slightly at the screams of pain and blood. Oh dear... But then she found a page that seemed to be... a professor's diary entry? She giggled a bit as she read over it, completely forgetting about the math questions.

And then, humans! Humans were so interesting, and look at the pretty pictures! She hadn't even noticed her penstrictor begin to grow to an abnormal size until it broke her desk and almost ate her in the process. Good thing an alumni was on standby to help, though he seemed to be even more distracting.

Mayaa was absolutely lost at the literature section, opting to read some of the fanfics out loud (some of them were pretty good ok), but then someone hopped into her cubicle, looking pretty pissed (oops, did she just read their fanfic out loud?) and gave a shriek as they started attacking her.

And then she found someone's answers and copied off them because Mayaa knew no shame.
All in all, she didn't do TOO bad. Hooray!

A test. Okay he could totally do those. Just ignore all the pointy objects staring at him. Totally. Right. Mort knocked at his head as if physical force could cut down the whispering inside, grabbed his pencil, and got to work.

History . . . Well he hadn't brushed up in a while, but he still remembered some core events. Though it was kind of hard with one of the alumni trying to stick a wet finger in his ear. What the hell?

Mort ducked his head between his shoulders and hoped it was a good enough defense; it seemed to work as he moved on to the next portion at any rate. The so-called dreaded math didn't bother him one bit, although the screaming occurring around him at odd intervals made him scoff. Really, all one had to do was let their eyes go unfocused and the numbers sort of came off the page in order . . . Or maybe he had been staring at the page too long. It was golden nevertheless by the time he finished.

Wet Willy, as if jealous, tortured him throughout Human World Studies. : |

Literature, though. Ahahahahaha. He couldn't remember the last time he'd read anything for pleasure and sort of guessed most of the time with what sounded most correct in Belladonna's voice (she read a hell of a lot more than he did at least). He could feel the eyes of a cheating student on his paper but let them be because, well, sucked to be that guy because he didn't know what he was doing either.

The rest of the test, though in code, wasn't all too hard to decipher. Mort was more than glad to be out, though, because he swore Wet Willy was giving him a hungry look, and he'd like to leave with his ears unmolested thank you goodbye. But he tossed the treebark one page of his test had comprised of for good measure.

SHE AIN'T AFRAID OF NO QUIZ. BRING IT. Piper was on fire after the obstacle course (almost literally; her hair seemed to bristle and twitch when she took her seat).

First part? TOTAL BREEZE. History was a total bore, but after her mother had introduced her into looking up the biographies of her favorite singers and songwriters, she managed to rouse enough interest to store important facts about How Things Came To Be. Or maybe she was just damn lucky!

Math could take a long walk off a short pier, though. :T Piper literally just scribbled whatever came to mind and hoped the chick looking off her didn't think she'd hit the jackpot--probably saw how well she'd done on the first part and thought her a genius. Well joke's on them because she's not haha.

She squinted at the coded questions in Human Studies but did her best; reapers were just much better looking humans after all! Though they did have their . . . somewhat talented monkeys . . . she guessed. Piper resented that the cheater came back in full force again when she hit literature (the best ever subject omj), and she tried to hide her answer both with her arms and with her magnificent, gorgeous, voluminous, amazing hair.

There was a piece of pbark on the last section.

There was a piece of bark in the last section and she did not understand was this part of the test?? Okay then??? At least overall she felt pretty good about her grade.

When it came to school, "learning" was something Merope struggled with. He was the type that learned better by doing as opposed to listening or reading something in a book. Merope couldn't help but to chew the eraser on the end of his pencil as he stared at the paper before him. A worried look was thrown towards the walls as they clicked and clanked into position. When this was over, he figured it would be a good time to start paying more attention during class and to try harder.



History could sometimes be fascinating. Merope quite liked the historical re-inactments, but the book questions? The undead boil stared, then glanced over to his neighbor's paper. Then his other neighbor's. In the course of taking the test, he had unwittingly managed to re-enact "Tragedy of the Three Kingdoms" through a series of glances, seat-shifting, shrugs, winks, and miscellaneous fired projectiles courtesty of the walls.



As per the silent treaty and alliance he had made in the previous section, Merope glid through this section effortlessly.



"Gah!" Merope was flung out of his seat as a large spear was launched at him, throwing him back. While he came to little harm, it did take him quite awhile to scoot the length of the spear in order to hop off of it. He looked mournfully at the new hole in him before he ripped the spear out of the wall, fully intending to run off with it as a momento.



Reading the very word literature made Merope's skin crawl. He picked the paper up and held it close, squinting at the words before holding it at arm's length. Then he twisted it, turning it until it was upside down then right side up before reading it slowly outloud to himself.

As soon as he spoke the last syllable he placed the paper down and picked up his writing implement.



His hands practically flew over the page. He felt confident, he felt amazing, he felt.. not himself. By the time the possessive spirit left him, Merope was left staring blankly at the general studies section which was now glowing with a faint goldish-orangish light. No harm came to him. It left him feeling a little mystified, yet oddly satisfied.

Smirking Diana looks at her neighbors to either side. She wanted to see if anyone else knew what to put down for this first section. She knew that she ought to be rather good at the history of Halloween, however she had spent most of the time she should have been learning that, shopping. Seeing a good candidate she started writing down all the answers as quickly as possible. Making sure not to get caught before going onto the next part of the quiz.

Sneering at the math in front of her she looks through the pamphlet quickly. She then stops and stares as she realizes that most of it seems to be from one of her professor's diaries. Smirking she quickly puts in the answers for the few questions there and reads for the rest of this section finding the diary entries to be enlightening.

Diana starts on her next section figuring once this one was done she would be over halfway through. However she barely managed three questions before her penstrictor grew huge, causing her to yelp and have to spent the rest of the time for the section subduing it with her claws.

Once she had finally pulled out a new penstrictor and gotten rid of the giant one she looks down at the new section. Sighing she starts on the next section. Hardly paying attention to it as she fills out the first couple of questions. Then all of a sudden the floor drops out from under her, dropping her into a deep pit. It took her most of her time to fly out of it in annoyance.

Sighing as she takes her seat again she looks at the final section of the quiz. She figured this part would be the easiest. However, as soon as she started to get into the grove she blinks at the odd question over a bear. Only to have one shoved into her cubicle and leaving her to get rid of it. Growling she spent the last of her time taking it out.

Amarus sat at the desk, arranging herself comfortably. Well, it looked like it was a good thing she'd actually attended classes the past year, and not slacked off like she had in her first year.

Still, just in case: she reached down for her lotus charm, pricked the tip of one of her fingers, and licked the essence. The first portion of the exam was supposed to be about history, but at least one of the pages proved to be nothing related at all: a page from a cookbook. Which, instead of worrying her, made Amarus' mouth tilt into a smile. Is there no talking during this exam, like the last one? she wondered, as she began to jot notes down about the recipe and mark in any information she felt was missing. She even doodled a crude picture of what it would probably look like, if she had prepared it herself in reality. If anything, the fact that there was a page about cooking seemed like a blessing to her. An accidental blessing.

Next came the math. Numbers were refreshingly obvious, and she didn't really foresee a particular problem with any of it-- however, her success was sabotaged by a student cheating as they were about to be caught: they threw a paper airplane into her cubicle, which contained all the answers to seemingly easy mathematical strategies. She frowned at it, crumpled it up, and was about to toss it away when the student's head popped up over the cubicle edge. Amarus, as threateningly as she could without getting up, pointed to the ball, and then the student, and slid a finger across her throat.

The student had been backed into a corner, metaphorically: they were unyielding. They needed that paper. Silent tears of anger streamed down their face. Amarus, completely emotionless at the plight of a mere stranger, took the paper: she then tore it into little ribbons, and tore those ribbons into confetti, and blew. They scattered around her cubicle. The student then dove over the edge and had to be retrieved, leaving Amarus not entirely certain how much of her math she'd finished.

What a waste of her time.

The next section, Amarus felt should have been easy, given Social Justice bot had done a decent amount of damage to her perception of humans. However, many of the diagrams didn't even resemble him and she couldn't really make heads or tails of it-- interrupted, again, when another series of diagrams flew into her cubicle. Seriously? This joker again? Amarus' eyes narrowed, and she held up one palm to the same student who apparently hadn't suffered enough previously. She really didn't have time for whoever this was. Wow, they had really prepared ahead. Too bad they were clumsy as jack.

And that was not her fault, nor was it her problem.

Next was literature of halloween, and Amarus was seconds from weeping internally when she was suddenly reduced in size to someone extremely small. She did not like this being tiny thing, not at all, and she could barely even raise the writing tool she'd been using. Amarus glared daggers at the paper, as if willing it to write itself, and started to lick more of her essence off her palm in the hopes that it would restore her to her natural size.

Only time would tell.

She wasn't really sure what to do when, moments from completing the stupid general knowledge section to the best of her abilities, the desk ate her hand. She slammed on it with one foot, beating it to a pulp as best she could. A kidder was still going to be a very bruised kidder by the time she was through with it. If she had to suffer, then so did everyone else. Making him suffer while she wrote made her strangely happy, and she managed to write with her good hand while still beating him to a pulp.

And that was how Amarus sat the test. She had avoided most problems: some silent, unyielding drama, a moment spent as a very small version of herself (been there, done that, and she'd also fallen in a creamer of acid so hah test she'd been through worse) and then an alumni who decided to eat her hand as a joke and took a beating in return (again, she'd had worse).