For as lazy as she appeared, Senescence was apparently quite punctual. She appeared quietly, as though she'd always been there, lounging across the stones, head resting on her front paws. If not for the slight twitch of her ears, she'd have easily been assumed asleep, her breathing even and relaxed, body loose as could be. "Wonder if anyone will bother to show." She breathed, voice soft and barely there as she didn't even bother to raise her head to acknowledge him. Truly, given the Proxies promotion to equivalent of Warden, cutting out the extra rank, she expected quite a few. The League were a power hungry sort, and any chance at raising their status, let alone raising it to what Warden had been, albeit a bit more crowded now, would almost certainly cause cats to fall over themselves to get it.

Sometimes life was never straight forward and Reprise had a feeling today would be one such days. She had her doubts folded neatly away, like the clothes her kittypet owner used to lay side by side, in a basket. She frowned, her past was behind her now. She had found her home, her group, her family. She wanted to prove to them she was strong, just like all the other cats in Primal Instinct. Perhaps she wasn't quite as beaten up or cold-hearted as some cats here, because in truth, she was passionate. Reprise could only hope the other Proxies would see value in this. She could only hope her brother would see this...

She hadn't told Funk she would be trying out. She didn't see the point. Reprise knew the answer would be straight forward if she had told him beforehand... "Run along dear, what are you thinking?" It frustrated her but Reprise was determined to come here and try her best. Perhaps she could show Primal Instinct a more gentle but firm side?

Her thoughts racing, she rolled her shoulders. She stood behind the dark shadow of the church, from where she stood she could see a few cats gathering. Spotting her brother, she gave herself a nod. Now or never. She stepped forward, not noticing the other cat jump from the darkness as well.

"Hi Funk."

"Who knows. Last time only Corax showed up for Shaman." Funk E'tan looked over his shoulder at the proxies, verdant eyes unreadable as he straightened his gaze and licked a paw, dragging it over his face. With the promotion and Senescence being Senescence, he stopped expecting any respect or the like from her. Long as she did her job, that was all that mattered. Same went for Innocentia, though she was at least more amicable than her mate. The change felt obvious, the Proxies were practically Wardens already. If you got a Proxy leading each district, there's not much for a Warden to do. Sure, they had this Enforcer rank but Funk could always pick them himself. And he was able to do his own dirty work or get someone else to do it for them.

The question made him put his paw down to think. Supposedly proxies were cats of great accomplishments, but no one in particular stood out to Funk at the moment. He only slapped Exsperavit into Lux's position after the latter disappeared cause no one else was really interested. Now, he had to actually make a good decision. As much as he felt the need to pop his back, he didn't move. "Nothing too complicated. We need cats who will fit in well to either district. Least they're fairly similar in goals. So you know, those that can play nice, those that can manage multiple groups of cats at once and those you can stand to work with for an unknown amount of time. If we get cats, we'll probably get some Absum cats trying to establish themselves to either kiss up to us or try to get the coalition back in power. We'll see though. Spare no expenses for my siblings if they show up too." The Nemesis wouldn't have been surprised if any or all of them showed up. But he could really only take one, nepotism wasn't his way.

Ruin was the first, making a large amount of noise for one so ordinary. Funk merely flicked his ear as he settled in front of him without so much as a greeting. "The only one that'll think less of you for saying hi is Sen, though that might be up in the air." Chiding lightly, he almost told him to follow the second cat's example, but it was a Reprise. Opening his mouth to say something, he stopped himself when he saw the determination in her eyes. "Morning. It'll be Funk E'tan for both of you, by the way." He smiled lightly.

"Sorry I'm late loves." purred the nearly black tom as he approached the other contestants. Was that the word? he assumed this was more or less a contest of sorts. Lux walked with his head held high while still remaining casual all the while. His blue eyes were bright and gleaming with secret amusement as he found his place among the other potential proxies. He'd only recently returned to the league after what he considered an extended vacation.

"I must say leadership really becomes you Funk" Lux chuckled beefore turning to regard Reprise. "Come now darling don't look so frightened, you look like a mouse caught in a trap." He was being sincere but, the amusement still danced in his eyes as he grinned at the she-cat. "Innocentia is a delight when you get to know her, really."

The sleek silver striped she-cat flicked her ears in annoyance at the new cat's comment. This is what she had to deal with every day, but she decided to not let it get to her. Sure, she was perhaps more vulnerable seeming than the other two cats, because she was less alpha and dominating than them but Reprise knew they were underestimating her. She had been working hard, practicing her fighting skills, she could only hope it would pay off.

Instead of letting her anger show too much, she smiled kindly at Lex. "I'm sure." She replied, turning to nod at Innocentia. She wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do, but she held her confidence. She couldn't let any of the fellow competitors get to her. She wondered what tasks they would be undertaking, if they were doing puzzles, she was okay at them, perhaps her kittypet heritage would pay off in the area, since for some strange reason her old two-leg owner liked to set all sorts of puzzling things out for her to work out, like a rolly thing which you had to turn over to get to the food. Like... Why? And if they did fighting... well... she had been practicing.

"Ah, three actual cats and Lux. Guess this'll be more interesting than last time. Too bad we don't have a dead body laying around, 'less you conveniently have one. Then I'd change my challenge." Funk sighed, lightly wishing he did get to have those kits of his figure out how a cat died. But this wasn't for anything medical, so he'd have to forgo it until Corax was ready for an apprentice. Scanning the four over, he was a little surprised at the group. Ruin who appeared to look to stake a claim for the Absum Lux name, or to get out from under it. Reprise, his only sibling that showed up thus far, holding a softness that the League was sorely missing. Nora, a relatively new she-cat who was out to conquer whatever challenge was thrown at her. And Lux, the once Ambassador proxy who was back to take his throne again. A good mixed bag, all things considered, but only two of them would win.

"Well, if anyone else shows up, we'll just catch them up. I take it you two are ready." He waited briefly, but neither proxy spoke up. Not that they had much to prepare for their challenges, "Alright. Gather round and pay attention. Long as time allows, we got 4 challenges for you. One prepared by each of us, and one extra we came up with together. Each of them will test you on various aspects we're looking for, we'll be keeping a close eye on all of you, however you choose to solve the problems you face are up to you a- and yadda yadda yadda, you know the drill. Got any questions, I suggest asking them now." His announcement was far too laid back and unprofessional, but really he didn't care. His test would prove their loyalty anyhow.

"We'll be starting with mine. 'Pending on how this goes, Innocentia's and Senescence's will be next. We'll be ending with our combined challenge no matter what." At that, the bengal stood up and spun on his heel, disappearing past the doorway to the church. No one needed to follow him, though he was sure someone made to but was stopped. Grabbing his parcel, he appeared again. It was a pile of something wrapped in a few large leaves.

Even if this wasn't medical, if they didn't think his challenge would involve plants, they were fools.

Dropping the large package at his feet, it opened to reveal mushrooms of all varying colors and textures. Some of them looked more natural, while others had large bright colors that hurt the eyes. They were smooth, bumpy, stringy, thick, small, large. A variety, a smorgasbord truly, if they weren't all carnivores.

"Your first task is to pick a mushroom and eat it. Simple 'nough."

Tilting her head lightly, she took in the task before her. There was no way this was 'simple enough'. Nora looked over the mushrooms, recalling when as a kit her owner had panicked over her trying to eat mushrooms she found in the back yard. So since then, she had assumed they were bad. Now she had to eat one. Poking them aside with her claws she avoided the brightly colored and bumpy ones. She pulled out a smooth white flat one that was smaller than her paw and a round brownish tan one that was the size of two paws put together. These two looked the safest to her, yet she still was uncertain. The brown one looked more like what she could remember her owner sometimes eating. She hooked a claw in it and dragged it back to her spot. This one would be her choice.

She slowly leaned down to take a bite. With a deep breath, she quickly choked it down, praying she was not poisoning herself. Sitting back up she saw that Lux had already eaten his mushroom as well. The two mushrooms they had eaten looked similar enough to her that she felt better. Regardless she still was not reassured completely. There had to be some trick here, the Nemesis had to have some sort of trick up his sleeve.

Lux stayed were he sat while Ruin walked up to the pile and ate one. He eyed the tom with genuine curiosity as he ate the brown fungi. Though he remained quite he lazily licked a paw and swiped it over his ear quickly a few times. The dark tom had no intention of eating any of these mushrooms. "I wouldn't eat any of those if I were you." He said loudly enough for the others to hear. "You might want to find some yarrow immediately" he told Ruin and Nora.

Ruin glanced at Lux. “What do you not know how to tell the dangerous ones from ones that you’d find in the Shaman den?” He was sure the mushroom he’d eaten, his sister had called it a turkey tail mushroom, Because if you look at it from the top it looks just like a turkey tail. Irronicly shed used it when cats couldn’t stop throwing up, it didn’t matter if it caused a belly ache when you already had one. His lips parted in a grin, “Or are you just scared?”