Following his earlier misadventure at the beach, Aleksandr had decided to visit the beach again the next day. He had hoped that today will be the day he would be able to focus on exercise without any intrusions. However, he was still suspicious of the man he had met last night, Jay. He was a body-builder and consequently will be a regular gym-goer. While Aleksandr had a general disdain for the Gods, he hoped they would be grateful to him today, and that it would be Jay's break day. His attire for today was a well-fitted short sleeve shirt and training tights, with running shoes. He was going to jog to the gym, take a small break, and then start his work-out for the day. It seemed like a good enough plan. A jog would be nice to warm up his body, and obviously, he would do warm-up exercises as well.

And so he went, his mind focused on one thing, looking forward, running through the town, and towards the beach. He didn't give a second look to any amusing happenings one might see running through the run, including the circus caravan on the side of the road. Not giving a second look didn't mean that he didn't think about it though. He had never been fond of circuses anyways. While clowns did not scare him, they certainly did creep him out. He found their smiles unsettling and the makeup disturbing. However, clowns were not the only attractions of a caravan. There was the equally unnerving 'House of Mirrors' He was not aware if this Caravan had these too, but he suspected that it did, after all, Caravans felt empty without them. Perhaps he would later visit, and unearth the various mysteries contained inside. But for now, he had to focus on the task at hand.

He soon reached the beach, and his jog had not tired him. He waited a few moments, and then made his way to the gym, and sure as hell, Jay was seated right there. "Fuck." Perhaps this was the Gods' punishment for his disdain. Whatever. It was avoidable. He turned around and started walking away when he heard the familiar voice call him. "Ayy, Aleksandr, where are you going?" Alek stopped, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath to calm himself down. He turned around and walked towards the giant of a man. "Oh, I didn't see you there, Jay, how are you?" he said with a fake, faint smile. "I'm very good, however, I'm busy right now, and I need your help." Of course. "Oh, what do you need help with?" Aleksandr asked him.

"I heard about a competition to be held today, and I am going to participate. However, I can not abandon my training, so I need you to go sign up for me. The deadline is at sunset." That didn't seem too bad. "Sure. I'll do it. Where do I need to go to sign up?" How bad could it be? If it gets Jay off his back, he will do it. He just hoped Jay didn't ask to spot him again, cause that would be torture. Jay stuck out his hand, pointing towards the far end of the beach, all the way on the other side. Aleksandr almost failed to contain his surprise. He had half a mind to decline Jay's request now, but Aleksandr didn't back down from his words. He was going to go sign up for it. But until now, he had not noticed that it was almost sunset. 'Perhaps this was a mistake.' he thought. Jay wrote down his personal information on a piece of paper and handed it to Aleksandr.

"It is very far, and the deadline is near, so hurry up! And take that route!" Jay said pointing to his left. Not wanting to upset the giant, Aleksandr took off. Running on the sand would be very slow. He had to take the road, however, that meant having to run through a whole crowd of people. Ah well. Along the way, he almost took down an elderly man crossing the road but managed to avoid him just in time. He put the piece of paper inside his pocket, for fear it will fall from his hands or fly away. Unfortunately, there were also children playing on the streets, which meant he would have to be very careful, but with each child, he saw playing on the street his patience grew smaller. He had never liked being around children, but he would never go out of his way to endanger them from his actions. However, he had no qualms with showing teenagers their place, and he considered giving a thrashing to a teenager that almost spilled his beer on Aleksandr, but thought better of it. It wasn't worth it, and he didn't blame them for having fun.

He reached the sign-up tents all out of breath, only to be greeted by a crowd of musky and sweaty weightlifters. He got in line. He would consider skipping, but he didn't want to try his luck with these weightlifters even though he had magical powers, nor did he want to cause a commotion. After what felt like an eternity, and with sunset closing in, it was finally Aleksandr's turn. The lady on the counter handed him a form, and he began writing down Jay's information from the piece of paper in his pocket. He handed it in as quickly as he could and then walked out of the tents and sat on a bench, awaiting Jay's arrival, and hopefully, his reward.

---------------
Word Count: 936/500
SP: +1 Strength