Tests of Courage and Skill

Dantae snagged the flier off the dormitory billboard as he sauntered down to the archery range. Gorgeous late Sunday morning rays illuminated its bright red cartoon ghost and a large caption:


He whistled lowly under his breath. He'd heard of these, and read about them in Manga, but never participated himself. Curiosity would be an understatement, he was itching to try it out!! Perhaps he could convince some club mates to try it~

"Ciao, any one here?" He asked, ducking his head inside.

Leia was actually cleaning. Cleaning. Leia was cleaning. And it wasn't an order, either. She was actually cleaning something because it being messy bothered her. Imagine that. Just as she was sweeping a large pile of dust into a little dust pan, the door of the archery range shed opened.

Standing upright, the blonde leaned on the broom and placed a hand on her hip, fingers tapping against it lightly as she smirked at Dantae. "Yeah someone's here," she replied lightly, hoping he wasn't expecting to find someone else inside of here. "What's up, hotshot?"

Shiro entered the grounds and paused when she saw the two ahead of her. "Oh, Leia are you cleaning? Great, since I would never do it myself." She dropped her yellow kitty bag in the corner, but didn't seem to be carrying anything else today.

Dantae beamed at the girls. Lucky find~! Glacing quizzically at Leia's broom, he passed her the neon flyer. Would never have pegged her for a neat-freak, but the idiot was slowly learning not to assume so much.

"I know that practice is important, but group bonding is too, right?" He addressed Shiro, smiling winningly. This would be so fun if he could just convince his teammates!

Arching an eyebrow, Leia plucked the flier up and gave it a quick read, face unreadable as she scanned it over. Test of courage? "Horror club, huh?" She offered the flier to Shiro next, cocking her head and letting an impish smile play on her lips. "I dunno, I'm thinkin' hotshot just wants t'go to this thing so he can have us hangin' onto him for dear life."

"While I admit I may have ulterior motives, that doesn't invalidate the point. I know you two've known each other a while, but Nao and I just joined. We're very lonely you know~" Dantae's blue eyes sparkled with mirth. He'd long decided that trying to act innocent with these girls probably wouldn't work and wasn't worth his trouble.

"Besides, getting some other clubs on our side will help us grow, y'know?"

Shiro looked at the poster, excited as she read the title, but that excitement trickled into dread as she read on.

"Test of Courage?" she was stuck. She certainly wouldn't back down from a challenge, but her previous experience with these had knocked out nearly 3 of their men for the count. One even had to go to the hospital. Needless to say, she was never allowed back.

She said nothing else.

Leia cocked her head to one side, letting her arms lace over her slender chest, legs crossing one over the other as she stood in place, mulling over the idea of going to this thing. "You're really somethin' else, y'know that, hotshot?" She murmured, running her fingers through her hair. "But, y'know ya can always count me in if it looks fun and exciting!"

"Don't I know it, but is that supposed to mean something special, Amica," Dantae arched a brow at the comment, curious if he was just exasperating her or something else? "Well, there's one vote. What do you say, Presidente?" He turned on Shiro, "You'll come, right?" He wondered if either were easily spooked? He himself found the whole thing ridiculously hilarious.

If Leia was going, Shiro could hardly refuse the offer.... well that wasn't right, she definitely could, but it was important that one faced their fears to overcome them, so instead she cocked a grin, "I could never reject my Kouhai's invitation, I will be there."
She made a mental note to herself,Stuff bow bag with fluffy things so you don't hurt anyone.

The blonde cocked her head to one side, staring at Dantae. Her brow furrowed a bit before she quickly looked away. She couldn't really answer that question of his, honestly. Finally, she shrugged and let a grin dance to her lips again, speaking lowly, "Maybe, ya never know..."

When Shiro agreed, she quickly (and hopefully) distracted attention from her response with a cheer, tossing her hands up. "Awwww-right! Glad t' hear it, Shiro! C'mon, we gotta test their spookin' skills! No match for the archery club, I'm sure!"

Whoa, that was not the reaction Dantae had expected. He'd expected some flippant reply to the tune of where he could shove it. Not this...coy response? Never one to allow such an interesting thing pass by unattended, the idiot opened his mouth to respond, before Leia spoke again.

Huh? Maybe it didn't mean anything after all. The Italian didn't want to drag down the group's mood, however, and matched her cheer. "Grande! Then, mie bellezze, I've some preparations to do. Meet you guys at 8!" With a wave and dumb little flourish he about faced and headed for the dorms.

Oh yes, preparations indeed~

(We time skipping to 8 then?)

(If you all like~! Or if there's anything you'd like to rp before then, go ahead!)

((Nope, skipping works for me!))

(Alrighty~!!)

Dantae swaggered into the Center Quad at about 7:50PM, wearing what could only be described as amateur ninja-gear. Skinny black jeans, black converse and a tight black skull shirt. A black baseball hat covered his blonde hair, tilted at a weird angle "like an American" according to his Italian friends.

Thirty other students of varying age and apparent nerves waited, chatting excitedly. Dantae approached and looked around for his club mates. Unable to find them, he scouted a couple of pretty students and creepily? smoothly chatted them up.

Unlike Dantae's garb, Shiro had real ninja gear. She'd sat in her room for a while, preparing for as many circumstances as she could possibly manage. Lower the posibility of being seen, increase your actual hiding ability. Make sure your weapon can hit, but without actually damaging a person, prepare a second weapon in case you need to damage the other person. She'd even bothered looking up exorsist stuff on the internet. She'd given up after the first page, ending up just bringing a whole bunch of random herbs from the supermarket in hopes that they did something. She'd also tried painting anti-ghost inscriptions onto her bow and dipping her arrows in self-made holy water.

Just incase.

She was as prepared as she could be, and wouldn't let something as silly as the possibility of ghosts stop her from enjoying this. They could throw all the fake blood and dieing shouts at her as they wanted, none of that would get to her.
But those ghosts.
She shivered a little, worrying more for the actors than herself.

Leia honestly wasn't even sure what to expect, but like both Shiro and Dantae, she made sure to wear clothes of a darker color scheme than usual. The tiny blonde sported a dark knit beanie, an oversized black hoodie, black skinny jeans that torn and tattered in random places from her constantly getting into mischief, and her trademark red converse.

When she arrived at the destination, she looked around curiously for Dantae or Shiro, hands reaching up to tug down her beanie. The only thing that made her nervous was the potential of loud noises. She cringed at the thought. But it was dark. She could easily pass anything off.

"Oi! Dantae! Quit flirtin' and get over here, will ya?!" She raised a hand over her head, waving it and jumping lightly to gather the halfer's attention.

Dantae looked up, a bit startled. The air of fear and anticipation already started to get to him. "Fli-flirting!?!" The girl's in front of him laughed, blushed and hurried away. Dantae sighed. Foiled again. One of them had been exceedingly cute too.

The idiot turned and beamed at Leia and her dark clothing. Looks like the two thought the same. "Dolce-chan, we need to talk about your 'come hither' methods," he winked, waltzing over.

By this point, nearly thirty people had gathered, standing around in small groups. So far no sign of the horror club, though Dantae hadn't the slightest what they might look like...

Leia placed her hands on her hips, smirking at him and cocking her head to the side, shooting him a beaming grin and a snicker. "And how would ya prefer me to get your attention, eh?"

Slowly, she moved her arms, tucking her hands behind her head, crossing one leg over the other as she let out a sigh. Trying to play it cool, calm, and collected was a bit difficult. But she would manage.

Shiro spotted the two close by and thought she'd test their reactions. She ducked in and out of cover, making sure she looked both normal to those around her, and non exsistent to her targets.

Soon, she was right by them, pouncing onto Dantae's broad shoulders, yelling a very loud "BOO!"

Completely oblivious to her possible discomfort, Dantae leered at Leia, using his superior height shamelessly, "I can think of a couple better suggestions, Amica, if you're interested~" He took a breath as if to say more when a sudden weight on his back and voice in his ear had him breathless.

Rather than a yell, his breath inhale became sharp and the young man spun around towards whatever had made the noise. Shiro's grinning face looked back at him, and his shoulders drooped. "Ehi, Gattina-chan, I don't think you understand how these things work," he narrowed his eyes and wriggled his fingers like claws, "You're the one that's supposed to be scared, oooo~." He teased...

Shiro laughed, falling off Dantae in the process, landing on her feet and only just staying upright. "Oh geez, that is certainly true. But I do not look forward to the discomfort caused to those around me in such circumstances. It will be fine though, I simply have to keep my head held high and move forward. No problem, no problem, I can take this."

I hope

The sudden loud yell startled Leia way more than it did Dantae. She flinched and stumbled back a bit, hands immediately bolting to her face to cover it. When it turned out to only be Shiro, she parted her fingers and pried her hands off, quickly trying to recover and remain calm while letting a shaky grin slide onto her face. Shifting into an upright position again, she let out a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, Shiro...sure you aren't with th' horror club or anythin'?"

A wicked grin curved Dantae's lips. Aaah~ so someone was feeling a bit jumpy, was she? He couldn't tell about Shiro, but she didn't sound overly confident either. Opening his mouth to tease them some more, a static laced loud speaker cut him off.

"Welcome, children of the night! To the Horror Club's Twentieth Annual Test of Courage! Please break into groups of three to four and grab a route from one of our members~!" It blared, and three steel masked students stepped forward, holding a sheaf of papers Dantae assumed explained the routes.

"The A- wave will begin in ten minutes! Good luck, my dears!" A particularly tall young woman with a black steel mask whispered into the loud speaker. She shut it off and chatted with the other "specters" excitedly.

Dantae turned on his friends. "Well, Amicas, will you be so kind as to join my group?"