Atiche clapped his hands before extending his gloved palm towards Bie, who quickly took it. The world seemed to blur past in linear streaks as their surroundings rapidly changed, arriving at a russet open pavilion that seemed to be dyed in the colors of a tree in Fall.
Atiche then straightened his back as he made way for one of the multitudes of stands a bit aways from the center, standing against the wall instead of traversing any of the stairs to find a seat. His form shimmered before disappearing, and no sounds could be heard from him at all. To the Guides who had not seen him arrive in the first place, it was if he was never there. But the feline wide blue eyes accompanied by slanted vertical pupils were surveying the whole place intently, unbeknownst to them.
And unbeknownst to Bie as well, as the man had appeared to have flitted directly out of existence. He was standing in the back of a line of twenty-four other Guide children, and as he peaked past the row of heads, he noticed a girl at the front receive a tag with the number one engraved on it.
The girl received it with a smile on her pitch-black lips that contrasted with her milky skin. Her hair consisted of an open a line haircut the color of a very light shade of purple, with two sharp, pointed, and vaguely leathery tips pointing out from either side of her head, most likely being her ears. Her nose was straight though the tip was a bit stubby, giving it a cute appearance along with the freckles that spread across her cheeks, and her mauve purple eyes were deep. She looked curiously at Bie before making her way over as the line progressed a step.
"Hey, when'd you arrive? I don't remember seeing you queue up at all, how'd you even get here?" Bie wrinkled his nose as she abruptly shot her face right into his, their faces barely separated by a length of six centimeters. The fact that he could feel her breath was slightly irritating, though he still thought the girl was quite pretty.
He had remained silent, however, as he was wary of her intentions. It was a little odd that out of all the people there was to talk to, she had specifically picked him out of the line and started interrogating him. Sure, her voice was sweet like ripened grapes, but it smelled kinda fishy to him...
"Hey, that's rude you know! You think I'm fishy, don't you? Well SORRY, but I AM War-Mer, so you're right! Can you please introduce yourself now?" She spoke quickly as she huffed, crossing her arms and turning her head. Bie found her antics amusing and saw fit to introduce himself but decided he would not elaborate on how he got there.
"Introduce yourself first, and then I'll play along~" His lips parted to reveal a teasing smile when the girl turned her head back to him, tugging her hands away from her chest and back to her sides as she began speaking.
"My name is Wanxi, nice to meet you!"
"Mine's Bie, it's nice to meet you too." Wanxi nodded enthusiastically as she tapped her cheeks in thought, before another smile bloomed across her face. She had thought of herself as quite the smart one, since there were acquainted, the boy wouldn't reject answering her question for the second time, would he?
"Bie...friend...can you tell me how you just appeared in the line out of nowhere?! I've never seen someone as freakishly attractive as you before, because I would have noticed you for sure!" Bie's smile widened into a perfect arc as he spoke back, his voice just as mellifluent as hers in the moment.
"Flattery will get you nowhere, Wanxi. I'll see you in the tournament, number one!" Bie then waved at her with a smile as he stepped along with the line, completely blocking off her advances and distancing himself at the same time. Wanxi gazed at the side of his simple bob, dumbstruck and gob smacked. How in the world did he evade her carefully lain out machinations?!
...Is what her face seemed to say, but before she could make her thoughts known the tall green woman handing out the tags shooed her away, an irritated expression surfacing between her flaxen brows.
Wanxi scurried off, taking note of what Bie said while being slightly confused. She was number one, so that meant that he, number twenty-four, would only be able to face her if he won every single match he fought in.
How did he even plan to do that?!?
Bie softly chuckled to himself as the line progressed once again. His eyes were keenly surveying the Guides that made their way to the area where Wanxi was situated and was surprised by how different each and every one of them looked. They each had their own build and body that seemed to be distinct from one another, and he was no different.
Had he known that the reason why there was only one of every single race among the children, he would've lamented Atiche for not telling him that they were twenty-four standouts that had arrived at the tournament because they were excelling among their peers.
A presence approached his back and stood directly behind him, counting each and every person both in and out of line. It then grumbled slightly before disappearing as quick as it had appeared, something about 'not worth it anyways,' and 'there's always next month,' and 'hehehe, time to head to the canteen!'
Bie shrugged his shoulders as he felt the situation occurring behind him had already passed, his feet tracing the footsteps of the encroaching line. He counted each and every head that was left before wondering where he could place his duffel bag, remembering that he could now access his Inner World with a bit of effort. He laid his hands on the straps as it took a minute or two to disappear, the line shortening by three heads when it had fully dissipated.
He figured it would be a waste to smash his weapons in a more friendly bout. Wanxi's mouth spat out a jet of crystal-clear water as she watched the bag fade away, her hands touching the four-winged white biretta nestled atop her very light purple bangs. She knew that it would take her twice as long to store things away inside her own Inner World, and she was the projected winner of the whole entire tournament in the first place!
What kind of black horse sh*t is this? She wasn't all that displeased, however, as her interest was now piqued to new heights. She wondered why he put away that bag with all the weapons inside it, she could tell that was what it held as there were shafts that stuck out of the leftmost opening.
But most importantly, she wondered exactly why the line seemed to be so slow, slowly watching Bie trudge along with the procession. Time seemed to slow to a crawl with each footstep, almost as if the world was made up of molasses.
She let out a squeal of joy when Bie finally reached the front of the line, to which he was promptly handed a tag with the number twenty-four on it.