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 Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 7:46 am
Between the mud, the blood, and the general wear-and-tear, Ripley was quickly running out of clean clothes, and it was driving him crazy. His whole life revolved around having properly pressed suits and dress clothes in pristine condition, and he wasn't quite ready to get over that need to be well kept. His life had changed enough, and he wanted to at least keep something the same, thank you.
It had taken him a while - and a good six hunters for directions - to even find the laundry room, and when he realized the washer was broken he only hit it once (though he did accidentally kick it as he turned around) before leaving. Now...where could he go to try and wash some clothes? The faucets weren't working, the showers were busy, and ...Well, there really was only one place left, and he didn't like it one bit.
The Beach.
With a heavy sigh, the Death Trainee lugged his meager bag of clothes and a pocket full of soap pieces down to the beach. Once there he began to scout out a spot that seemed less likely to try and kill him, and before long he spotted someone familiar in the distance - that white haired, pale Hunter who had organized the competition. Bix, was it? Palebro, apparently.
He considered pretending like he hadn't noticed the other man, especially since for Palebros, he was something of a traitor, but in the end the phrase safety in numbers won out and he headed on over. Being with someone else made him less likely to die, right? After all, when that centipede ripped his throat out he hadn't been alone, and he had survived.
Which was great.
"Hey, Palebro." Ripley made his voice light, though he couldn't quite help the sarcasm at the name. "Mind if I join you?" He held up some of his bloody and muddy garments, figuring they could speak for themselves.
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Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 8:27 am
Unfortunately even being a fully ranked hunter didn't give you your own washing machine. Finding out the laundry system was back up and running, and then shortly after discovering it wasn't, was hardly the worst part of his day so far. After his morning cup of coffee... welll... he was having a difficult time talking to people. Not that he couldn't, but everything was coming out just wrong. What was it about today. He'd decided to get himself away from others until this tongue tying spell wore off and Bix was definitely not expecting anyone to join him for laundry. He looked startled, even jumped, when Ripley greeted him. Bix grinned. "Hey..." Short phrases. Simple words. He could make it work right? Except his intended 'nice to see you' turned into, "You just ruined my day!" The words came out like he was battling with them, though he smiled and then turned red. He was gonna have to think this through. Every single word. Instead he pointed at his mouth, wrinkled his brows, and made a weird shrugging motion. "Opposite Day." He said apologetically. "Relax.." He then said though he meant to say 'be careful'. His bow was summoned and laying next to him in the sand and Bix pointed to suspicious splashing not far from shore. "Mermaids."
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Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 4:52 pm
You just ruined my day!
Well, that was nice to hear. Ripley went from pleasant to a narrow eyed stare in record time, until the more logical part of his brain told him that something was off. The last time he had seen Bix, the other man had been incredibly exciteable and loud, but this time he was struggling with his words and, currently, as red as an apple. His expression softened to hesitance and mild suspicion, eyeing Bix as he looked apologetic enough and tried to explain what was going on.
Opposite day? If it was opposite day, wouldn't admitting to it mean it wasn't opposite day? Then again, why would he lie? Hrm. It was confusing, and so he settled with being nice, just in case there was something wrong.
"...I see." He said anyway, his voice flat. Nobody liked to hear their presence had ruined someone else's day, and all he could do was hope that it wasn't intentional. While he was reflecting on this, Bix had summoned his weapon and set it aside, and gestured out into the water. Mermaids, huh? That was just about as weird as centipede titans and flying dragons fresh out of the movies. Sadly, weird was his life now, and though he didn't seem to warm up any more to Bix, he summoned his weapon as well just in case, and set the sword aside for now.
"Do they have a habit of stealing clothes?" He asked, sitting down in the sand near Bix and opening up his laundry bag, wondering if it was worth the risk.
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Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 6:37 am
Bix wrinkled his nose and drew in the sand. Quote: SOMETHING WRONG. SOMETHING IN THE FOOD. CAN'T SPEAK CORRECTLY. He should've figured. If it wasn't this, it was something else. "Could've been..." he made boob motion with his hands. "Happened before." Thankfully he was learning over the course of the day to put 'not' in front of his thoughts which helped when he said the opposite to say what he actually meant. Suddenly there was a distracting splash and a mermaid head peeked up, beckoning Ripley with a webbed finger. "HA!" Bix actually seemed happy to leap up and fire a swift arrow at the thing. It didn't hit but it made the mermaid duck back below with a hiss. He then looked at Ripley's laundry and gave him a weird eyebrow wiggle. "Undiiiiiies..." And waved his own superman boxers before soaking them. Bix literally had a MOUNTAIN of soap. It seemed like he hadn't actually ever pulled anything of value off of the beach.
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Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2013 1:25 pm
Pale eyes drifted down to the note in the sand, his expression impassive. He looked up in time to see the motion, but it took him a moment to put two and two together...though when he did he had to admit it didn't make a lick of sense.
"...You grew breasts once because of the food here?" He guessed, his impassive expression turning incredulous. The splash had done it's job and suddenly growing breasts wasn't entirely important in favour of seeing what was coming. So there were mermaids. Nice looking ones, apparently; and worse, it was beckoning him. For a moment he felt strange, almost wanting to follow that curling finger to his doom but knowing it would be a particularly bad idea. Thankfully for him Bix was clear headed enough to fire an arrow at the monster, which solved his problem entirely.
"Thank you." Ripley murmured, looking seriously down at his laundry. Why did he want to fall into that trap? That was stupid of him. Very stupid. He distracted himself by rolling up his sleeves as far as they would go.
"...Err, well, yeah." That was nothing to be ashamed of, right? Everyone wore them. Usually. At least Bix wore them! The superman pair drew a grin from the Trainee, followed by an amused chuckle that was more a breath than anything. "Superman, huh? DC fan or just super heroes in general?" He had taken out some clothing - yes and underwear too - and submerged them, making sure they were properly soaked before bringing them back up to scrub the blood stains with some beach soap.
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Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2013 8:29 am
"N-mm All of them." Bix waved his arms. "All comics." He said plainly. Bix then pointed at Ripley. Did the other like comics too? Oh please please palebro.. be a comic friend! "Gotta few in dorm." He drew a bookshelf in the sand. By few he meant a lot but thankfully the opposite wasn't working too badly against him in this instance. he scrubbed his clothes, unaware a mermaid again was peeking up and drifting in amongst the waves. "You?" Bix looked at Ripley, curious what the other was into.
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Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 4:34 pm
All comics? Oh, so this guy was one of those massive nerds? That was neat. Each to their own, of course. For a moment he looked surprised at the finger pointing at him, and it took him a moment to realize why. Right, the speech thing. "Uhh...I used to read batman a lot as a kid but...got too busy as an adult." His tone was slightly apologetic, especially when faced with the almost pleading excitement that radiated from the other man.
"Err-- I just like books. Fiction or non-fiction, I'll read it." Though the more he thought about it, the more his bookshelves had been filled with medical texts and journals in the later years of his life as a plain old human. Actually, he didn't often read by the end of his normal life; he skimmed for what he needed, and moved on. Huh. Maybe he'd have to pick it back up again. It was a good hobby to have, and maybe this Palebro could lend him some comics, because, well...why not?
"But I did like rock climbing, or paintballing." He added, his gaze shifting out to the shape in the water. It was too far out for Wilhelm to reach, but it didn't stop him from grabbing a nearby rock to chuck it at the mermaid; hopefully, that would scare it off a little bit.
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Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 6:39 am
When Ripley said 'massive nerd' Bix laughed and made big arms, huge extended arms like he was holding some sort of giant package. Yes Ripley.. he was a massive nerd, as big as these big arms here. "Reading!" Bix gave a thumbs up before remembering he was supposed to be doing laundry. Unfortunately as he glanced back to his clothes there was a watery giggle and a splash. Apparently a mermaid had slithered up the beach just enough to snag one of his socks. Just one. "DAMMIT!!" Now he had 1 sock out of a pair! "MERMAIDS!!!" He shook his fist. Bix sighed and plopped back on his butt, listening to Ripley's detail of his hobbies. "Lord of the rings? I'm Legolas." He said it matter-of-factly. The other didn't look very athletic though, at least not outwardly. He found it amusing that in his own case, after more than two years on the island, he looked to be quite the jock when in reality before Deus he was simply an internet addicted nerd. And now this other pale guy who didn't look athletic at all, had been before he got here. "What do- did you do?" As a job. College? Before now. As Ripley scared off another mermaid with a rock. Bix needed to pay more attention or they'd be snatching his undies next.
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Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 8:03 am
"Legolas." Ripley searched his memories for references to that name, and came up with a character from a movie he had seen only once, a long time ago. "Does that mean you're a..." He paused, again trying to find the word to use. "Cosplayer? I can see you're an archer." A nod was given towards the bow.
"I was in training to take over the family business." The trainee glanced at the stolen sock, not realizing that he had stopped washing his clothes. Instead he was staring out into the water, or looking at the very pale, muscled Legolas beside him. "Event Planning, sort of." A small chuckle escaped him and he slid a hand through his hair; he didn't lie, he was an event planner, just for the dead. That was something he didn't really want to talk about, and a little white lie never hurt. "You? I can picture you running a comic book store or something. Maybe an artist."
Ripley looked at the one remaining sock, and grinned for a moment. "Hold that thought." He informed the archer, getting up and walking away for some time. The only indication that he was coming back was the pile of clothes he had left, and when he returned it was with a very tall pole and a length of cable.
He took the orphaned sock with an apologetic murmur, and then tied it to the end of the cable, which was tied to the pole. When Ripley sat down next, he made it quite clear that he was either going fishing or playing with a cat, or more likely both. "There, you wash up, then we'll switch." He dangled the sock above the water, wiggling it about to try and get the mermaid's attention.
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Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 10:05 am
"No cosplay.." Bix grinned. "Well maybe. I.. never did before. No.." he once again mentally recorrected his words to come out properly. "No conventions at home." Bix had never heard of an event planning family business. Usually it was a store or a factory or something else. Of course his experiences pre-island were not exactly diverse. If he'd been able to talk properly he would have definitely asked more questions. As it was he could only really reply to things pertaining to himself. "Can't.. draw." He made a scribble motion. "Writing though." Thumbs up. "English degree." When Ripley walked away briefly and came back with a makeshift bait-hook Bix made an 'Oooh' impressed sound. "Genius." Bix made quick work of scrubbing his clothes, while at the same time watching the stupid mermaids stalking their sock bait. "So.." he thought a moment. "Like it.. here?"
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Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 7:27 pm
"No? I heard of a few in my area, never went though. Wasn't too big into...well, anything that wasn't work...or rock climbing or paintballing." He amended with a smile.
"Ah, I see!" Ripley nodded. Writing, of course! That was probably going to be his second guess, though he was never one to honestly assume. Usually. Sometimes it was unavoidable, after all. "Did you write novels? Or...did you even finish school, before all this?" He gestured vaguely around them. It was a valid question - some hadn't finished their education, and he knew it.
"Hah, I'm just glad it's working." He played keep-away with the mermaids, who really reminded him more of cats trying to get the feather at the end of a string. Bix asked him how he liked it here, and he took a little too long to reply.
"It's...something. I'm not sure if I like it. This whole system seems flawed to me. I mean...who gives someone a weapon - a magical weapon - and says 'okay go' without checking experience, or providing lessons? I can barely swing Wilhelm, never mind doing it properly." He felt bad for lamenting like this on a man he barely knew, but hey. Honesty was his best policy. "I'm all for self-learning, but this is ridiculous."
"...I take it you've been here a while though? Does it get any easier?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2013 12:57 pm
Bix just shook his head 'No' as he scrubbed his remaining socks. He'd never written a novel and the short stories he wrote were all usually for classes. He honestly hadn't a lot of ambition, despite wanting to do well, and had never planned his future very much. College was a way to get out of a small town and into the 'real world' and he'd just assumed he'd go on to working in some office somewhere. "Almost got degree." He said simply. He'd been recruited shortly before graduating but didn't really regret not having the diploma. What did it matter now? When Ripley spoke of the system being flawed, Bix merely nodded a 'yes'. He wanted to tell him that when he started they didn't get their weapons right away. They trained with handguns and lame swords. Not even runics. "I'll.. try to help." He thumbed his chest. "Sun." Which, despite their differing weapons, offered a bit of 'fighting' experience to his credentials. "Kind of?" Was it easier? Or was it more glaringly obvious how much easier life had been to be clueless 'normal'? How less threatening the things he'd seen back then were to the things he saw on a daily basis now. "No regrets." He affirmed to Ripley and then lifted an arm and flexed a honed muscle. "Got these!"
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