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She really didn't understand the point of this. Nor why she'd allowed herself to sign up. Perhaps it was simply in the hope that she was doing something right? It was a social trend to participate, no? Nessy just frowned at the start of the obstacle course. With a small sigh, the ghost started forward, not understanding the point of rushing right away when there were sharp turns and was that fire?

Well, at least she didn't do too badly during this first stretch! Only got singed a bit by the wall of fire. And crashed into a corner. Definitely not too bad.

The hurdles were merely passed because a lady in a dress did not jump hurdles. Or, okay, she didn't 'pass' them. Nessy simply ducked under each one until she got to the strange giant balls. What was one to do here? She watched a few other students attempt it. Then tried it herself.

She totally had this, guys!

The ghost drifted swiftly across Steve as he was chewing on another student, form flickering as she approached the bombs. It wasn't difficult at all to avoid them, as she was awkard and not one for affection. The pillars were mastered much the same way as the giant red balls were.

It was the water that confused her. She felt strange around it and could ghosts even swim?! Pursing her lips, Nessy moved a little slower through this obstacle, finding herself suddenly pushed under water by another student. Sputtering, the ghost scowled and kicked at a few minipets that tried to nibble her dress.

When she climbed out, dripping water with every step, Nessy slipped fantastically on the ice. The quiet ghoul struggled to keep her balance, but slid right off the course.

And it was a long Jacking way back up.

Nessy didn't think this was fun anymore.

When she finally made it through, the ghoul swore to never attend a social gathering like this again!

Lee flexed and unflexed his knuckles. He didn't get out much, and he hadn't done anything like this before.

Their House banner flapped in the open air.

He hadn't even known what he was, until someone had told him and handed him a set of keys to a room he could lock and unlock, when he chose. And now he was with them, people like him.

There was a loud noise, and people ran.

So he ran too.

The first part was easy. Stay off the edge, stay on his feet. He didn't expect the sudden start at the end, or the embroiling explosion of heat, but he avoided both.

He climbed with strained strength and determination, wiping slime off on somebody else as he passed them. He vaulted the hurdles, and after watching a few of the other racers, bounced across the stretch of water.

Lee would have gotten swallowed, exploded, and on the wrong end of gravity, but he took one look at the long, difficult path of distant shrieks and faded. Not entirely. Maps of veins flashed in and out, and his eyeballs hovered weirdly when he was distracted. It made for a strange target, and made him difficult to pinpoint. He blinked in and out of view. And the other advantage he had was that he was tireless. His muscles kept up the same, steady strength.

They took him through the water.

And when he hit the last stretch, it was without losing any agility from the very first hill.

He emerged feeling...satisfied.

He blinked back on, solid now, everything except his skin, his muscles putting on an anatomical show for the camera.

The course didn't look that difficult, Taima decided. Of course, it would have been much easier if she had just been allowed to fly over it, but the gnomes in the helicopters overhead were...discouraging. More annoying than anything else, really, but not being able to fly made the course seem a little more challenging, and there was little Taima loved more than a good challenge.

It started out simply enough: the twists were more of an annoyance than a hindrance, but the sharp downhill angle meant she could speed through them faster. By the time she reached the wall of flame, though, she was unable to stop. She almost toppled off of the sharp drop immediately after it; fortunately, she had built up enough momentum to leap across to the next section, though it had been a near thing. So far, so good--and a little singed, but that was okay.

The wall of slime was both difficult and disgusting, and Taima nearly slid right off of it a few times before reaching the top. The spiked hurdles were suspiciously easy, and the bobbing red balls weren't that hard either. She didn't pause over any of it, just kept moving forward. She had built up enough speed that she managed to clear the spiky pit with a little bit of room to spare. She navigated around the floating bombs fairly easily, and the crumbling pillars weren't too much of a problem, either.

The long stretch of water that came after it, though, gave her pause. She just wasn't built for swimming. She could bob along easily enough, but water--in this form--just wasn't her element. She couldn't go back, though, not after she had come so far. With a deep breath, she jumped as far into the water as she could. Her wings managed to keep her afloat and even helped propel her along a little, though that only lasted as long as it took for the feathers to get sodden and heavy. She didn't have much further to go, though her way was hindered further by the waves created by the other students as they passed her.

Finally, she was able to pull herself out. She nearly fell back in as she slipped a little bit on the ice. She looked down the track to see what obstacles were ahead of her and noticed that the finish line was in sight. Well, ice and oil she could handle--the rest she could deal with as it came.

She shuffled on the ice, not so much trying to run on it, but trying to build enough momentum to allow gravity to do the rest. Sure enough, she started sliding down faster and faster. It was easy enough to keep herself steady as she used her wings to keep her balance. Her plan seemed to work out even better as she hit the oil. It was a little harder to keep herself on course, but it made her go faster, fast enough that she was able to jump just before she hit the beginning of the mud pit and land right on the finish line.

It didn't stop her from landing messily in the mud, but it had shaved a little bit off of her time. Totally worth it.

Pickworth was determined to make a responsible contribution to his team. So he tried really, really hard.

And didn't lose his hat either.

By the end of the course (and after a lot of hop, skip, jumping) he made it to the end of the line with a tentative and mud-covered smile.

It was only at that point he realized this was on skellyvision, and that while his dad was not the biggest supporter of entertainment, if the event made the news. ...Oh tombstones.

So the there was oil; there was no easy way to pass through this part. It was going to get gooey no matter what. Slipping and sliding was one thing, but with the additional mud to come? Still drenched by the swim and oiled by the past course, Levi took a sprinting start on the mass near the finish line, performing a long jump to at least give her a decent lead over West. It didn't keep the ghoul from wading through the murky substances herself, but it at least meant they'd be depending on endurance now and she'd given herself a head start. Neither of them was to be taken lightly for endurance; if there was one skill Levi could agree they both exhibited equally, it was that sheer determination to complete a goal.

If she didn't stop, he wouldn't either.

Keeping her tail as high as her head, the ghoul realized that her critter companion likely wasn't lending itself to her weight in this circumstance, but like hecate she was going to let it go. Pressing on, Levi would crawl out of the mud eventually, tail wriggling to remove excess oil and/or mud from itself while thunking the floresce on the ground in its coils. Resting her hands on her knees and looking out over the mud, Levi spotted those horns again and grinned. He might've been on another "team" but West was still someone she wanted to succeed. C'mon, boil! I seen ya'move faster than that! Arms excitedly wavering like she was some sort of beacon, Levi continued to take in heaps of breath, occasionally hollering over the mud pool to the demon boil. She'd keep this up until he reached the end.

Malodore was not much for running. Nor for speed. Nor for climbing. It wondered, briefly, what the hell it had been thinking when it signed up for this. This was precisely why mad fits of school spirit were to be avoided at all costs...

But there was nothing for it. The plague doctor gave the course ahead one more withering look, took a deep breath expressly for the purpose of heaving out a long sigh, and set off.

... To its utter shock, it found itself veritably flying down the first section. Flying? Or was it more of a barely controlled fall? Its wings fanned desperately, feather-blades reaching for air that they weren't quite big enough to hold effectively. The fire at the end loomed, and Malodore made a terrified noise and...

Well, something happened. It wasn't sure what. But it was on the other side of the fire and it wasn't on fire, so...

It probably fell on the next section just to balance that wild ride out, really, and then it was a blur of green - "Hail Steve," it sighed, just to be safe - and then... well, it could cheat a bit on swimming, really, since it could just walk along the bottom, which ended up being quite a bit faster than most of the swimmers it could see.

And then it finished up with a good solid fall into neck-deep mud.

... It all balanced out, it supposed, straggling across the finish line.

She'd barely moved into her dorm, and yet... here Tamsin was, ready to race. But the Ghost dormitory, for all that she hadn't yet met a single person, was her pack now, and she would do anything for pack. Especially run. Most especially run.

Run run run run run yes good.

Too bad she wasn't anywhere near as used to running on two legs as she was on four, and the Cwn Annwn ended up tottering through the course, falling at odd moments, though there were a few times when the limb coordination just clicked and she was zooming along... until she thought about it too hard, and then it was thud city.

Still, she hadn't done too badly...