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Bix had posted a notice about the upcoming Hunter Tournament. He'd spoken to Allan and gotten his blessing (and a tip off about a supply closet he could dig into) but that ever present doubt in himself was always there telling him that it wouldn't work or no one would sign up or that he wasn't capable of pulling it off. So he'd done like he usually did...

He stalked the sign up sheet.

It was really creepy stalking at first, loitering around the area, 'picking up litter' from the bushes, tying his shoes for a really long time by the bulletin board... eventually it had just turned into him passing by the list several times a day to see if there were new names. Every filled in line boosted his confidence just a little bit and he'd decided finally that there were enough for him to really begin to take it seriously.

So he took a final lap by the sign up sheet this particular morning, on his way to work on mapping out fighting areas out on the training fields.

Was he about to scratch his name out? s**t s**t NO.

Bix's casual stroll had turned into a lunge as he grabbed Taym from behind by both shoulders. "HEY!" It was an enthusiastic greeting.. not in anyway suspicious.. totally not stopping him from taking his name off. Nope. He didn't notice. NOPE.

Though after grabbing him by the shoulders he thought about how grubby the man looked and sort of extracted himself.. slooowly.. from him and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Signing up? AWESOME. Glad to see you joining in with all the uh... umm.. fun." Was this all fun? Not exactly.

After a moment of awkward silence while Bix absorbed just how shitty Taym looked, he brightened up again. "Wanna help me with some stuff? Tournament prep stuff."

Bix actually hadn't thought he'd make Taym jump. The idea hadn't occured to him at all so when the thinner man leapt out of his skin like a startled animal, Bix also jolted in surprise. He was just one of those people why ALWAYS leapt when something caught him off guard. It usually got him laughed at but he headed it all off at the pass by laughing himself.

"Ahah.. hah.." He clapped a hand on his chest. "Oh man.. the two of us.. hahah.." The pale young man rubbed his face, took a moment to gather himself and then waved his hand. "Ok come on. Also I have some shirts you can probably fit in. I uh.. bulked up a bit since I got here and have gotten new stuff since."

He'd started walking and only talked and glanced behind him with assumption Obadiah was following. "If you don't willingly take them I'll just stuff them under your door or something."

He just grinned at the other man. "By the way we're going out.. to set out rings for the tournament. Easy, yeah?"

"Well first we're gonna hit up this supply closet that Allan tipped me off to. I also got a key to a supply shed off of the training fields." Bix turned a hallway. If there was anything he was good at it, it was bypassing awkward matters quickly and taking it straight towards better distractions. Well.. only sometimes better. Sometimes he just got weird on people ....

"So shhh super secret closet.. though probably not since Allan is the source. You excited for the tournament? Thanks for signing up!" He may have been rambling a bit but that was usual for him. "I was so paranoid that no one would."

The hallways were dark and pretty spooky but Bix seemed unaffected by it. He'd been through insanity phoenix infestation and insanity dragon attacks. No fog? AWESOME.

"HA! Ennui.." Bix shook his head. "You say ennui and I say we're just waiting for the hammer to fall. Something bad is gonna come.. just wait. It always does." He was smiling again but it was dark, almost challenging. With so little to do, the fear of what was coming was overwhelmed by the desire to face it.

"Remember all trainees are at the same level, regardless of weapon. This should be a good chance for you to work on strategies actually." The tactical specialist in him was coming out. "How to handle ranged attackers, what to do against swords or polearms, all kinds of fun stuff!" Fun. Stuff.

They finally reached a closet at the end of one of the dorm halls. It was not the usual one they all lived in, so must be the living space for some of the unnamed faces that milled around the island. The door had some old scorch marks across the door and had a recently installed doorknob. There was a white outline in the soot, from where the old one had been. Bix just slapped it fondly. "Ahh one of our many dorm destructions."

The key jingled from his hand and the new knob accepted it and popped open like a charm. "Sweet. Paint.. rags.. twine. Oh hey theres a Deus hoodie in a medium.. you want it?" He didn't look, just threw it behind him to hit Taym in the chest.

He pulled out a box with a pile of goods in it, turned to hand it to Taym, and turned back to lock the knob again. He retrieved the box again from the man. "So basically we're gonna rope off a few spots around the island for sparring arenas. A couple, so we can run matches at the same time. How do you feel about... varying terrains?" Eyebrow wiggle!!

Bix seemed to always be listening with a bit of mild distraction but after Taym's comment he snapped his fingers and pointed, "PIG HEADS ON STICKS. GREAT IDEA!!" It was definitely a joke but it was hard to tell.

"I was thinking.. beach level.. err arena. Maybe one in the towns since the fogs lifted it'll be less sketchy. Usually it's pretty dangerous around there. Some around the trees.. and a standard training arena with dummies and stuff." His walk was brisk as they headed back down the hall and he hop-jumped quickly down the stairwells, pausing for the other man when he needed to as they found their way outside.

"We'll paint some rags, get some pegs from the shed, and mark of reasonable sized plots for the fights. Easy enough, yeah?" The tropical sun was beaming, the breeze warm, and even some seabirds had appeared on island who squawked and wandered around the lawns for discarded MRE's and wrappers.

"Ugh sun.. HISS HISS.." He pulled some sunglasses out of his pocket and shoved them onto his face while juggling the box of supplies. "I've had to wear like SPF 5000 sunscreen everyday. It sucks." And still he was pink and sore in places it had worn off on other days. "I never thought I'd wish for the fog back."

"We could make one.." Bix grinned and peered over the top of his sunglasses. "Don't tell my girlfriend and if anyone asks, say Mark did it." He waggled his fingers like he was hypnotizing the other, "MAAARRRK DIIIID ITTT..."

They were at the training fields first and the were crowded. It was no surprise with most hunters bored to tears. It was like they were in prison with the enthusiasm for exercise. "Jeez.. they'll be moving weight benches out here any day. Deus Muscle Beach."

He moved to the very end of the field, the last three dummies, and put his box down. "ALRIGHT GET OUTTA HERE OFFICIAL MISSION s**t.. SHOO SHOO!" He began chasing off trainees like pigeons.

Bix always got a little power trip when he got to order trainees around. It was nice to give orders and not take them every once in a while. He'd picked a spot right near the supply shed so the sun hunter was walking over to it with a jangling key as he spoke.

"Mark is the Death Assistant. Grizzly stubble, mop of hair, looks like he's locked up with computer monitors all the time.. He's the guy who would make mud wrestling a MISSION for the girls." Bix laughed. "And he's the guy with all the porn." He faux whispered, holding his hand up next to his mouth.

Bix yanked the shed door open and came out with a bunch of shims, wooden wedges used in construction. They were mostly just scrap wood. He tossed them into the grass and went back inside looking for anything else that could be helpful.