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The day could not have come any sooner for Unstabul Itches. No words could describe the energy and excitement he was feeling, keeping him up the night before the trials. Though his team had no won the pre-game puzzler, he was in no way ashamed of that. After all, how could a bunch of jarheads like them even hope to solve a numerical riddle? Jack willing, there would be very very few of those to happen.

So with a clear mind he awoke, tail springy and twitchy, bag packed light (this time with plenty of extra clothing given the last naked venture) and with a special bit of uniform they had somehow magically put together in the time between forming a group and starting the initiatives of the trial. He was ready man. There wasn't any readier than that. After all prior fieldtrips Bul had a good idea of the feel and pacing. Since the trials seemed very well coordinated and apparently fame-inducing, he wasn't quite as worried as he usually would be. HE SHOULD BE, but he wasn't.

As the team was gathered and ushered into the portal, Bul could not help but remember the last adventure with Demi, Willow, Cady, and Bea. His heart swelled briefly, he felt a breath of bliss coming on before it was time now to walk through. On the other side, the sun beat down heavily upon them, a moment of hissing and eyes adjusting until... he realized he was in HEAVEN.

To others it might've been the worst thing to ever happen. To Bul, it was only temporarily horrible and agonizing and then it was the best thing that ever did ever. It was like a heat lamp was just... ENCOMPASSING them. His spines rippled loudly, though the sound could be drowned out by the roar of the spectators. For once any of his insecurities seemed to melt away. All he wanted to do was throw himself on the ground and crawl around on all fours through the sand. Already not wearing shoes, he squeezed his toes together and shivered. It felt. So. Good.

Whipping his tail he started running with bag in hand to their assigned station and finally just kicked it and fell face forwards, all four limbs now propelling him through the warm sand. SOMEONE WAS HAPPY.

One could say he really felt the heat.

Rest didn't come easy for Damien, tossing and turning at his own personal failure at the hint. It was supposed to be easy a piece of cake. It wasn't. While riddles were fun and he could spend oddles of time on one, it didn't mean that the pup would get anywhere with them. he could only hope that they weren't going to test them further on their logic skills.

Dawn rose like any other, quiet and with dignity and with it, the first day of the trials. Demi might not have jumped out of bed, but he was still excited with what the day would bring and hopefully better than the events with Team venture. He was sure to pack a separate bag just for spare clothing in case of any wardrobe malfunctions. And neatly tucked away his team outfit with the others in the duffel bag. Only for special occasions did he plan to don that set of gear, it still brought a smirk to his face like when he saw the gift waiting for him in his favorite clothing store.

It didn't take very long for him to meet p with the others, a casual wave of greeting before the portal took them and himself to the next destination. every portal ride was different, new and exciting and filled with worry that it might be the last time he could ever endure it. It took a violent headshake to chase the thoughts away, there was no time for negativity, only the moment and that alone.

With that moment brought the incredible brightness of a sun that was unknown to him. green eyes turned to pinpricks as the hellhound let out a grunt of discomfort, the unpleasant stickyness that came with a dry heat and the soothing feel of a sea breeze came not long after, like a delicate dance between two lovers. a mixture of the unbearable and the pleasant. It still made him pant with need of cooler air as his furry tail began to droop in volume in the arid heat.

with a scalding glare, he watched as Bul rolled around like he would in the snow and almost felt a twinge of jealousy at the boil that found his own comfort zone, the polar opposite of his own.


"Figures."

Bul had managed to submerge himself in a pile of sand until he'd found a neutral point of zen that registered something like:



His eyes shifted up to his three teammates apologetically. "This is so nice... =w=" he cooed until finally pushing himself back up, the sand filling the wrinkles in the fabric of his clothes. Right now that was fine but later if there was any uniform wearing, here would be a bad place to do so. "A bird? What do we do with a bird?" Bul asked then glanced around. Oh wait that's right. He'd hardly heard the announcement about the sandcastles during his ecstasy with the sand and sun. "Sandcastles... something about... sandcastles. I can't say I've ever built a sandcastle. Never been near enough water." Heck he hadn't learned how to swim until just this past year. "So I think we just.. FIND things. Like this stuff(seaweed)!" Bul yanked up a wad of the green growth.

"Looks a lot like the stuff that collects algae in the bog sorta." The half beast lifted it to his upper lip and made it into a pseudo mustache. 8D

The demon shrugged. "Sure we'll find a use fer a bird somewh..." West stopped speaking as Bul made his sea'stache debut, shaking his head at the boil as a smirk spread across his lips. "Nice. Very fash'nable." Sandcastles, eh? He could do that. He had done that. As a kid. With Carry. Where was the pride demon hanging around these days anyway? The sand back home wasn't as vibrant and near-blinding as all this stuff, but surely the premise was the same.

"We gotta bucket?" he asked, glancing around the area with a critical eye before catching sight of a stalkery little gnome as it skittered by. "Hey! We needa—" The gnome stopped in its tracks, looked Levi up and down without moving anything but its eyes, then produced a bucket from somewhere on its person before running off.

West really did laugh then, the disparaging snort fusing with his next few words. "Khhhbe right back." He jogged down to the water, bringing back a bucket full of the stuff and dropping it at the center of their designated building area.

"There." Chop chop, team.

"shut up West." came the flippant reply from Demi's lips before he groaned and kicked at the pale, grainy nuisance all around. "Sand, ugh" the pup Demi lamented as his ears flopped down to the base of his head and the pout that refused to budge on his face. He was not happy about it. "sand gets in my fur and it becomes such a jacking chore to get out." he half panted out/ half spoke in the heat, already rifling through his bag for a bottle of water to lap at.

He watched with mild fascination as Bul tried his best to grow a kelpstache and Levi found A DOLLAH- a strange circular thing in the sand. Maybe it was a twinge of jealousy but he wanted to find something in the sand too.

AND dived headfist in and began to Dig down. Throwing all the sand on poor lazy lounging Bul and possibly making his day even better.


"I'll start digging the Moat guys." He declared happily from his pit in the sand and pawed at the piece of sand that flicked its way onto his ear. "If I don't dig back to Halloween first." All whining about the sand in his Fur was now null and void. Digging was all that mattered.

He was going to make the best moat that a hellpup could ever dig!

Levi shook her head but then chuckled at Demi's antics. The hound could dig; this she knew. Taking the bucket from West, Levi filled the small nook she made only to note that it seeped right back into the sand. Yep... gonna need loads more. With a small sigh, the tatzel straightened up and looked to the wrath demon. I'll start bringing' over more. Need ta' git building' tho if Rex's gonna be digging' 'round it, eh? Be back! She'd be right back... Levi had an urge to prod, nudge or slap West suddenly ... but the feeling passed, a blank expression to her face as soon as she turned from him and went for the water.

Upon return with her first bucket, she just nearly stepped on something. Looks like it would've hurt...



... Guess this could be useful fer...guardin' tha door 'er somethin'. The urchin was pleased with this. As much as an urchin could visibly be pleased with something.

Nodding at the work so far, she returned to the mass of water, continuously filling the well in the sand until she could fill no more. Yep. That was possible. She raced like she had silver bet on it. After all, this was a challenge, wasn't it? Levi would give it her all if she had the power to do so. And after the puzzle yesterday... well, she wanted to be extra productive. And playful; the task had her feeling a bit tricky... as she downed one bucket of water into the still-being-dug moat. Just coolin' ya off'a lil', Rex! kekekeke~

West nodded at Levi's suggestion, some part of him relieved to have something concrete to do. He began pushing the sand that Demi had tossed wildly in the air into a pile, until he had amassed quite the start of a castle.


He looked at their strange pile of accessories. "'Kay, so we can... shape it now, I guess? N'then throw these things'on." The demon tried to look around and see what some of the other teams were doing. "What're we bein' graded on?" What in the hell did Horsemen of Famine look for in sandcastles anyway? He might have had more to say or ask, but suddenly Demi was pouting and yelling and soaked, and West could hardly concentrate on the business at hand.

"Ha! Least yer cooled off now, kid," he teased.