(West of sunberth)Blood and Sweat (CE Only)

[Andalusia]

It felt great being in the company of friends and familiar faces, especially Kalila, whom she considered the best of her friends. She smiled warmly to nobody in particular, her eyes gravitating towards a face that that immediately caused heat to rise up her cheeks. The young man approached both she and the Dhani, his closeness causing her to stiffen quite a bit and warm up quite a lot. "Hello, it is nice to see you two here. I do not feel as lonely now havaing friends around," he said, his voice so low and formal, just like when they first met. She hoped that no one would notice her sudden change of attitude, her eyes shifting anywhere but on the Kelvic, hoping to get her blush to recede. The rested for a moment on Roka, and her blush returned; confliction emotions, now that quite frustrating. "Hello, s-same t-to you," she replied enthusiastically, a shy smile forming upon her face, happy to have him next to her. Before she could contemplate on the feelings that mixed and rushed around inside of her, Cade had everyone's attention with his booming, ear-splitting shout.

She blocked out all other thoughts and focused on herself and Cade. Heat emanated from the side of her body where Stigandr was standing close, but she managed not to let herself be distracted. Cade began to talk about the Crimson Edge, and it seemed to calm the audience, causing them to anticipate a speech and a lengthy instruction. She tightened her grip on both of the swords she had chosen. Using his introduction as a good distraction to begin choosing. She couldn't dual-wield, not with her current skills in sword-fighting. Just as he began to scream about the distance between their meeting place and Sunberth, she had decided. She flinched at the sudden rise of his voice, and quickly she dropped the Flametongue. The Sword Breaker seemed like her best bet in both offense and defense. She thanked herself for the amount of exercise she had from hunting and archery as Cade began to order them to run. She holstered the short sword inside her blade holster. Fortunately, it fit inside along with her assassin's dagger, which was too little to fit in it in the first place. She prepared to break into a sprint, but simply steeled herself; she didn't want to be the first to run. She was afraid what the others would think or say, but she killed off any amount of fear or insecurity that threatened to grow out of the recesses of her mind.

"FUCKING RUN, YOU MAGGOTS! Cade bellowed, and she let her legs go. She was a little too light for her own size, and so as she raced down the hilly fields, she flew and rose from the ground quite a bit. Once again, she gave silent thanks to the fact that she'd removed her cape, and her comfortable boots. Nothing could stop her now, as she grinned with excitement, hoping to get to the city first before anyone else could. She wondered if Stigandr could do it, knowing that he was a horse Kelvic. And then the Zith came into mind - he had wings, was he allowed to fly? "Four kilometers in total, Andal," she was beginning to pant, suddenly regretting it a bit that she'd exhausted and bursted out a lot of energy at the start. But it put her ahead of the others, and that was what she was going for. "Don't distract yourself with the others, focus on the goal," she encouraged herself. She can run, she can do this, and if she'd work hard enough, she might even be able to impress.

She began to slow down in intervals, resting her leg muscles as they threatened to buckle and tighten. And as soon as they would relax, she would break into incredibly hard sprints, exhausting the energy that she'd gain whenever she slowed down. She kept quite a lot of strength left just in case, or else she'd end up collapsing by the time she got to the city. Her arms swung rapidly in tune with her legs, doing wide, left and right motions, aiding in speed. Her eyes were focused on the city, her grin widening as she finally got to one of the houses. She immediately tapped the wall and pivoted around in one fluid motion, and without faltering, she resumed her sprinting, eyes locked on the large wagon and the stocky muscle man near it. Some of the others who were still running towards the city were a blur; she couldn't make out who they were, but she felt great knowing that she was ahead of a few. Using her rest and exhaust tactic, she'd gotten back to the large wagon bathed in sweat and panting heavily. She bent down and rested her hands on her knees, her muscles tight and her lungs flaring. Her kept her head down and her mouth open as she breathed in and out heavily, her throat feeling raw and cold from the sudden infliction of physical stress. For a moment, she regretted working so hard on trying to be the one of the first, and she silently hoped it had paid off. Slowly, as her muscles eased and her lungs began to relax, she ignored the the damp tendrils of hair that stuck to her sweaty face, and the sticky sweat that made her clothes cling to her body. Andalusia grabbed the hilt of the Sword Breaker and unsheathed it, bringing it out as she gently stood up straight and raised her head, wondering who was behind, who had arrived at the same time as she had, and who had arrived way ahead of her. She hoped and wished that the latter was only a few.

[Kit]

Kit was more than happy to show off what he could do, especially since there were pretty girls watching. At the big stomper's command, he took off at his top speed. He soon far outpaced the other runners (if they could even call themselves that), and before long he was quite alone. He tried to recall the instructions. Was it, run to the city and back? Well, he hadn't made it to the city yet, so he should just keep going.

Half a bell later, Kit was starting to feel winded, and there was no sign of anything except more woods. With a sinking feeling, Kit realized that he had probably gotten lost. It would take him ages to find his way back to anything he recognized...

OOCI am having Kit exit the thread here. Please continue without me.

[Sahashkalila]

Kalila watched all the other people trickle in, some of them familiar and endearing, others she had seen in passing from her interactions around the city and at the base camp. She was standing close to the people that she knew, all of them dear to her in their own way as they wrapped themselves around her heart. She listened intently at the opening speech that the barbarian made, the wooden knife clenched in her hand as she stood there, her eyes widening in surprise at his request....she was not a runner. She looked at all the others around her who seemed more of the rough and tumble type and she felt out of place, but she was startled out of her thoughts as the barbarian yelled, looking around in panic as everyone around her began to move. She hastily removed the wrap from around her head and tied it around her waist, letting her curls hang free while she slide the wooden practice blade into the sash and then jumped into action.

Her movements were quick and lithe, her feet racing over the ground as she followed the group towards the city. She was moving at an easy pace, something that she felt she could keep up and not be completely exhausted when she reached the training field again. Even though she was not one to run, she felt a sort of exhilaration while doing it, the wind whipping through her dark hair and cooling her flushed face. She did not know how long she ran, reaching the city's edge and then heading back before reaching the training ground again. Her face was flushed and sweaty and she had a slight cramp in her side, but she was not one of the last one's there and that pleased her. She continued moving so her muscles would not lock up, going to stand beside Roka.

OOCI am not sure if Aerika is inactive so I took the liberty of posting so that the thread would not stay inactive. Also I'm terribly sorry that this is crap lol

[Aerika]

Aerik felt herself fall on the ground as several members began to run past her. She had finally let the words sink into her head when she realized that she was commanded to run. Aerika couldn't understand the purpose of running to and back from the city, it didn't fulfill anything and wasn't a hard task. Not wanting to create a problem, the small kelvic began to run, she started to wonder if she would be allowed to run in her fox form but found it best to just run as she was, it was a good stretch for her legs anyways. She noticed quickly how she was completely unable to keep up with the other members, each of them gaining distance from her, proving she needed to work on her human legs just as much as she needed weapon training. Trying to focus on the steps, she thought only of the task, one foot followed by another, her weight barely making a noise across the ground. While she was looking straight down to watch her feet, Aerika suddenly felt a strong pain take her right foot. The pain tossed her foot up toward her body and refused to return to the ground, with no foot to land on, the kelvic crashed on the ground and rolled to a stop. Quickly she pulled her foot to a viewing spot and looked for the source of pain. Not taking long at all, she found small fragment of dead, thorny ivy. It stretched itself across her foot and was even causing some bleeding, carefully, Aerika removed it and started rubbing her foot. She needed to finish her task, yet she would be even slower now than before. Finally making it to the city, Aerika felt the weight of her body beginning to increase, the pain in her foot throbbing, and a complete lacking of air in her lungs. If only she had not hurt her foot, she would have already been back, but as she turned around to run back, she saw she was the last to reach the city, and surely the last to return. Cheating or not, Aerika felt it best to take advantage of her true self at the moment to try and catch back up. The kelvic stripped her clothing laying it on the ground before staring forward and suddenly transforming into the white fox. She lowered her head to pick up her clothes and started a still slow trot back toward the group. Most of them had already stopped running and were bending over gasping for air. Aerika was ashamed to be so slow, but just wanted to get back to continue to training that she had come for.

[Chamaeleon]

Cade commanded the group to run. Therefore, Chamaeleon turned with the rest of them and pushed herself into a run for the first time in her life.

She didn't know how to run, that was for sure. The movement felt odd on her legs. It felt wrong, but she was pushing herself forward in imitation of the men and women jostling around her.

She didn't run the fastest, that was reserved for the people who actually knew what they were doing and had experience in it. She was one of the slowest, and as discouraging as that may have been for the brunt of the group, she took special pleasure in having made it at all. There was a pain in her side and her legs ached with an ungodly amount of pain, but she was bright and happy anyway that she had managed to not pass out. Her mouth may have been dry, her face sweaty and flushed, but nothing could diminish this joy.

Medical knowledge kicked in as she rejoined her group and she pranced around lightly, doing her best not to just topple over, advising people to stand up straight so they didn't restrict the oxygen supply to their lungs and pass out. She told some to keep walking so their legs didn't seize up.

While she had never run before in her life, she had figured out some key ways to deal with the stress to the bodies around her.

[Lyalya]

Now, running was not something Lyalya did mentally or emotionally. But physically, it was why her body was so toned. As Cade ordered them to run, Lyalya smiled. She had proven herself to him already, in more than ways than one, but she would never pass up a chance to show her comrades how valuable she really was. She had no special treatment because of what had occurred between herself and the barbarian, in fact quite a many of the people here were in the same boat as her. Truthfully, it was something they had in common. She saw no reason to limit yourself to one person, open relationships or just casual occurrences were something her past had focused on since she left the Suvan.

Breaking her trail of thought about the hulking barbarian and his-, Lyalya, having already stretched, took off with the rest of them. It was obvious who was the fastest. Some people were meant more for brunt force than they were for stealth and agility. Blonde hair whipping behind her, Lyalya held herself steadily with the front portion of the group. She forced her muscles to pound as hard as those around her. There was enough inside of her to push herself faster, but she knew when enough was enough. A little bit of surprise would always help you out in the long run.

Once she reached the city, she turned around, the other leaders around her. They turned back, passing everyone that was slower, which was, in fact, a good portion of the group. The wind against her face as she broke the resistance in front of her and propelled forward was exhilarating. The only thing that truly bested that sort of euphoria was cliff diving. Although that had more of a dangerous feel, whereas running was only dangerous when you were being chased.

Once she made it back, not first but almost, she caught her breathe. Those around her heaved and gasped, but not Lyalya. She had trained her endurance well although the distance was still trying and her breathing was deeper and more forced than it normally was after a good run. But the feeling was great, her muscles felt ready, only slightly sore. A 'warmup' that intense called for a brutal training session, and she was ready for it.

[Rail]

Rail greeted Cades challenge with a sigh of resignation. Of coarse it would start out with a skill he was inferior with. Tigers are made for the short leap not the long chase. His start was slow and deliberate attempting to save himself for a good burst of speed. With a knowing grin he watched as the others slowly began to pull ahead of him and could only be happy that there were a number of those who were in a similar boat as he.

And so he ran. The blood pumping in his ears made the tempo for his pounding feet as he ran and jumped over logs and large stones in the path. His unprotected feet bled from the unaccustomed power of his strides. His breath came in ragged ghasps and starts as he finnaly made his way to the town and back.

The sweat dripped from his brow as he leaned back gasping for air and breathing in the scents of those around him. Many already showed signs of exhaustion and with an angry start he realized he was one of them. With a shake he knocked away as much of the weariness he could and turned his attention on keeping his body ready for another challenge. He slowly paced around the group trying to keep his legs loose and ready.

This 'warmup' did not bode well for the rest of the session.

[Liar]

EXPERIENCE AWARD Lusa Delf Skill Points Running 2 Lore Fight Over Flight Shadowfang Skill Points Observation 1 Running 1 Lore Orders are Meant to be Followed Wrenmae Skill Points Running 1 Lore Weaver’s Apprehensions Roka Skill Points Observation 1 Running 1 Lore To Survive is to Have Family Krieg Messer Skill Points - Lore Strength in Pain Andalusia Skill Points Riding 1 Running 2 Lore Approaching a Beauty Aerika Skill Points Running 1 Lore The Feel of Zith Fur Running Through the Pain Sahashkalila Skill Points Observation 1 Running 1 Lore The Healer Amid Killers Ana Sol Starris Skill Points Running 1 Lore - Lyalya Skill Points Running 1 Lore Becoming Deadly Proving Worth Chamaeleon Skill Points Observation 1 Running 1 Medicine 1 Lore Cool Down Exercises Rail Skill Points Observation 1 Running 1 Lore - Xavior Silhouette Skill Points Investigation 1 Lore - Daniel Alecson Skill Points - Lore Who Needs To Rush? Shishi Skill Points Tracking 1 Lore - Leon Von Strova Skill Points - Lore Asking Forgiveness Zandelia Skill Points Leadership 2 Lore - Musca Skill Points - Lore Just To Spite Ledger -5 sm Jean Skill Points Riding 1 Lore - Stigandr Skill Points Observation 1 Lore - Apos Skill Points Observation 1 Running 1 Lore - NOTE Let me know if I missed anything! :)