A Puzzling Encounter

Alexis really wasn't looking forward to this challenge. Puzzles? Getting things put together perfectly and thinking about how they fit together? Really not his wheelhouse in any way. But his regalia had been pleased with the challenge.

Achlys was usually crying but she had perked up at the topic of puzzles. She had told Alexis she was sure he could do well even if he didn't like puzzles. Spike had just raised an eyebrow. Self control and concentration was definitely something Alexis could use some work on. A nice little bit working on a puzzle might do him some good.

Alexis had been better about being nicer to people after all he'd been through lately and the influence of multiple very good-natured regalia. Not perfect, for he certainly still had his moments, but he was trying. Of course he had always had a sort of hidden side to him that very, very few people had seen. A protective side. And that was part of the reason he was sitting there on a couch right next to the sad looking teenage girl Achlys in the student lounge. Her head was buried in his side, maybe a little less miserable than she would have been alone. "Y-you know I don't have to be here, you could just do this with Spike and not deal with all my dust and tears and stuff. I don't mind," came the muffled voice from the poor dust covered girl. She seemed to always be leaving it around.

There was a sigh from Alexis. This was a fairly common part of his day when she was around. Which had been a fair amount lately. "Look, the dust is annoying but you're not all that bad. Just sit here and hang out with me for this and we can go watch a movie after or something," said Alexis as he breathed out a little mist to knock some of the dust down for a bit.

Spike sat across from them, cleaning a spot on his brilliantly white tennis shoes. He eyed Alexis and Achlys. "Just keep that dust away from me. I expect you to get this done real quick so we can go for a jog before any lazy movie watching."

Alexis just nodded and then looked around, hoping his opponent would be arriving soon.

@ArcanaFate

Alexis had been looking around and saw... a stuffed cat being carried in. Was that really who he was going to be facing in this challenge? It sure looked like it. Well, at least it wasn't going to be any more boring than puzzles already were.

The blonde teen leaned over to whisper for Achlys to sit up and then looked at the talking stuffed Cat. "Uh, hey. Yeah, i'm Alexis and this is Achlys and Spike. My regalia, or the ones here now anyway." Did he call it... him... them? Salem or Ezra? Things were already getting confusing and they hadn't even done anything yet.

Spike looked over the Salem and Nyx and nodded. "Your challenge is between Alexis and yourself. I'll just watch if you want it to be fair. Two versus two." To that Achlys looked a little surprised. "But... I might.." She was interrupted by Alexis subtly putting his hand on her arm. "Works for me. I'm not here to cheat or whatever but each of us with two sets of... hands," he trailed off for a moment as he glanced at Salem, "will make it more bearable."

Alexis had been wondering if the strange ....kid? was going to be able to do puzzles with the hands of a stuffed cat thing but if they said it was fine he wasn't going to argue. Stranger things were both possible and pretty damn common there on the island.

The purple magic stuff though caught his eye and he sort of half smirked at what he assumed was some sort of joke the regalis was playing on Ezra. Right, back to the challenge though, he had to remind himself to focus. "Sure, fine. I don't do a lot of puzzles but that sounds ok to me." He glanced over at Achlys for confirmation and she nodded. She wasn't smiling exactly but she seemed to be just a little less miserable at the topic of puzzles. Spike, for his part just nodded and said it was probably fine. He was just there to see if Alexis could keep himself under control and not be a dick. A pretty low bar to be sure, but he knew the teen would probably struggle with it all the same. Actually getting through the challenge, especially if he could complete a puzzle, would be a little bit impressive to him.

Alexis gestured to the stack of puzzles and games available for people to borrow and use in the lounge. "I guess we pick out puzzles now? I think Achlys can pick one for my team," he said with a shrug but there was the hint of a smile on his face. He knew Achlys would enjoy picking the puzzle and despite his surly demeanor he wanted his friend to be happy as much as she could.

Alexis watched the floating stuffed cat thing with amusement. Apparently their regalis was messing with them a bit. Of course if one of his made him float he'd be tempted to bite them or something. Changing into his wyvern form would sure mess with that prank.

Achlys walked over with Nyx to pick their puzzle too and of course a small trail of dust kicked up as she moved around. Annoying people and getting everywhere. Spike quickly moved away to keep from getting any of it on him.

"Works for me I guess," Alexis replied as he stared at Salem. "Did you.... uh, pick a cat thing for a reason? You said it was some sort of puppet?" Alexis barely understood what was up with Ezra/Salem. Making a little small talk while the puzzles were retrieved was about all he could think to do.

Thankfully Achlys wasn't long in selecting theirs. It appeared to be a puzzle based on a photo of some ancient temple or something. Some real National Geographic shit. Alexis couldn't care less but if Achlys liked it then that was fine. Spike leaned over to look at the image and chuckled a little bit. Boy was Alexis going to get frustrated with all those similar colors across the whole picture.

Alexis got a lot more information than he bargained for. He had pretty much just been trying to make small talk while they. Being stuck using a puppet to get around and do shit sounded like it sucked though. Alexis felt a little bad for the ... them. "Oh. well, guess that answers my question," Alexis hesitantly replied. He was a little at a loss how to keep the conversation going.

Then the regalia had come back over to save them from the awkwardness and show off the puzzles they had selected. Looked like they had both ended up with difficult puzzles, but he guessed in some way that was good. More fair, for what that was worth.

"Let's get this over-," Alexis cut himself off as he looked over at Achlys' face. She was looking at the puzzle with anticipation. He knew her well enough to see that despite the vague frown she was excited. And he didn't want to ruin it for her by being too much of a dick. "Uh, yeah. I can count us down. Have... uh, fun," he said, clearly struggling to tone things down a little bit.

Counting them down, he then opened the box for Achlys and they began sorting through it. For the edge pieces first, as Achlys advised.