WEEK FIVE - MINGLE

[hellscapes]

Rise and shine, little deadlings. Were you able to rest easy knowing you let one mystery go unsolved? Hmm...never fear. Satan's grace has shined upon you and you have more opportunities to show just why you deserve an invite to the house party.

For those of you who slept in the dorm last night, when you make your way downstairs to head off for the day you'll be greeted with a new message on the white board in the common room.

Two Weeks and Four Days Until Satan's House Party!!

The countdown continues...

But out the door you go for another busy week. At the dock, there's a ferry happily floating on the lava and waiting for you to climb aboard. While there are still several islands in your line of vision you can't quite see, it seems as though the ferry can now shuttle you between all of the previous islands and a new location called Animal Kingdom. A wild time awaits you. Though should you find yourselves returning to more familiar bars, you may find a new menu item awaits them!

With the new week comes new change, of course. You've probably grown accustom to this by now (or maybe you haven't even noticed the correlation of the weekly changes.) But at least you no longer have to struggle with your insecurities and flounder uselessly to prove you're #1. After all who cares, right? You obviously know you're #1. Nobody can argue with you on that one. Look at you. You're here! You're strong! You're powerful! Nothing can stand in your way this week, and you find yourself filled to the brim with all the confidence in the world. Some may even call it being over-assertive, seeing how you'll find yourself acting on inhibitions you may not before and being more assured in everything that you do. In the animal world? Some may even call you the alpha.

It almost seems as though it's simply meant to be an annoyance...to everyone else.

And speaking of annoyances? Don't forget to check out what's new on Bicker. You can always contact each other via public Beeks or by sliding into their DMs.

Likewise, you'll find that your personal demons' accounts are live and active and despite what some of them may say, their DMs are also open.

Enjoy yourselves!

Good morning everybody, and welcome to your week five mingle! A few notes for clarity.

-This week's effect is heightened confidence, or what we lovingly call "alpha week." While it does not have to be a consistent thing, this week your character will swing back from all of their insecurities by being filled with overconfidence (and sometimes arrogance.) Now's the time to see how bold you can be and push the envelope a little. Your hubris doesn't matter here.

-Audiences for the personal demons are now open! Please submit all requests under the correct weekly header.

-Please submit all PC submissions under the correct weekly header.

-The Bicker poll is public! All replies will be public, and players may also post their own Beeks in their toplevels that will be considered public. You are free to reply directly to the appropriate toplevels, or you may create Beeks in your own toplevels with other prompts. Be free.

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Comments

[tearduct]

No...? Should you? Just trying to figure out what Hikaru's type is for guys.

[Seeing as how it was not him because Hikaru spent more time trying to slappy-fight him when they were both being annoying.]

[twinsightful]

[ there's like. a very long minute that kaoru's just staring at akira again before he registers what he's trying to imply.

and there's a soft, disbelieving little laugh. ]

Maybe I should be worried if you're invested in my brother's taste. But you would have to ask him about his type.

[ because kaoru, of course, will not say shit. ]

[tearduct]

[Of course.

He brings one of the arms down off his shoulders briefly between them, forcing the sleeve up. Kaoru.]

I think I already know your brother's tastes. In girls, at least.

[He will put the arm back.]

[twinsightful]

[ hehe?

yeah there is a yellow starred bracelet there. whoops. the arm goes back up when akira moves it and there's a mischievous grin instead. ]

No, no, I think you should definitely ask him about his taste in guys sometime. It'll be funny. [ don't do that, but he's kind of just baffled and it's looped around to being funny. ]

[tearduct]

[He makes a very perturbed sort of expression, like maybe he should be scared by the way Kaoru presents this.]

Not sure if I like the idea of my balls being in my throat from the kick he'd give me if I tried.

[As if he knows Kaoru is trying to get him in trouble here.]

[twinsightful]

[ there's something in his expression that goes kind of unreadable again at that, but it smooths out to something easier shortly after. ]

I doubt you'd have to worry about that. We bite more than we kick. [ but anyway...there's a short turn to keep them moving across the dance floor. ] So you were guessing when you asked, huh.

[ not convinced akira knew which twin was which when he asked him to dance, basically. ]

[tearduct]

[Stop otome routing me.

He follows along, and even though he can’t dance, he doesn’t make any mistakes in following.]

I had to get you close enough to see if you were the one wearing a bracelet or not.

But you did smile when you first saw me, so I had a feeling it was you. Hikaru didn’t even twitch.

[twinsightful]

[ i am literally not doing shit, you tagged me and this is where we are now. it helps that akira's not resisting while kaoru's leading, at least. ]

That's not surprising. [ he does not elaborate on that. he also doesn't comment on the smiling thing because they don't need to acknowledge that. ] What would you've done if I wasn't wearing a bracelet? It doesn't exactly go with the outfit.

[tearduct]

[Don’t just not acknowledge that, hello. It was a very good assessment.]

I don’t know. I would have found another way. Or maybe just guessed from what I already saw.

Or just jabbed one of you all over to see if Hikaru would whine if he was still hurting.

[twinsightful]

[ no acknowledging! but he does let his hand drift to lightly pull at some of akira's hair as a punishment. ]

You'd torture an injured man just to get an answer? So cruel, Akira~ [ but he stops pulling and flattens the bits of hair again with a few pets before dropping his hand back to its original position. ] To go back to earlier, I actually didn't do this on purpose. Hikaru and I had already designed and mostly finished our outfits by the time you asked for help. But I also knew you'd look good in black and gold. [ a glance up at his face again. ] And, as usual, we were right.

[tearduct]

He’d live.

[Caught doing the other thing he knew would happen which would help him figure it out. He lids his eyes for a second, then smirks knowingly.]

Uh-huh. I do look pretty good with your help. But you two look good too. It fits you.

[twinsightful]

[ he's making a face because that's still his twin, jackass, but he lets it go in lieu of spinning them a bit. he lets his fingers settle somewhere along akira's shoulder and the back of his neck, almost mirroring the expression. ]

Of course we do. We'd never look bad for our own party. [ that's like a reflex.] ...but thanks. We wanted something colorful and different. [ he settles for examining akira up close finally. ] Who decided on the sheer?

[tearduct]

[Kaoru spins them, and then Akira keeps spinning them like a goblin. Not fast, but the spinning is still going.]

Well, you succeeded in colorful and different.

[Teasing. He blinks and kind of glances down at the shirt under the jacket. Hehe. Why is he acting like a peacock, this week is hell.]

You did. Technically.

[twinsightful]

[ oh my god. the thing about it is that sometimes you do like to go fast and spin so they are spinning and kaoru takes it as a challenge to spin a tiny bit faster before slowing it down again. while preening a little because yes, yes, they both know they look good. and then akira answers and he settles for a slow blink like he's trying to think on that one. ]

Did I? It's different than the one I picked out before. [ the way he says it doesn't necessarily sound accusatory or like it's bad. he's using a hand to slip beneath the top of akira's jacket so his fingers can touch the fabric over his shoulder. ] If I recall it was supposed to be a white button-down.

[tearduct]

[They'll get drunk and throw up on each other, it's fine.

One of his shoulders shrugs a little, brushing the hand that's trying to feel the mesh of the glittery shirt (awful).] I couldn't wear the same one, or you'd get on me. [Look, they have shown him they would die about fashion. He can do the barest of minimum.]

The button-down was nice, but this is way better. I know because you won't stop looking at it on me.

[twinsightful]

[ stop no one is throwing up on anyone especially not in nice clothes, kaoru would rather die first.

anyway, speaking of dying, he's nodding along for a minute while scrunching his nose up at this fabric because i'm imagining it is the kind of glittery mesh that can be a little scratchy. he thinks about saying that akira really could've just asked if he was that desperate for sheer clothes (for whatever reason) but then akira keeps talking and, uh, hm.

hm. looking at his face again. raising an eyebrow higher. also a subtle glance at his neck to check something before doing that. ]

You don't dress like this unless you want people to look, you know?

[tearduct]

[Yeah, it's the stupid kind that feels a little itchy on the outside. Why? Does Kaoru want him out of it? It's fine. The inside is not quite as bad as the outside fortunately. High Quality itchy glittery sheer shirt.]

I know. [He is looking back. He has nowhere else to look, Kaoru is taller.] Isn't that supposed to be part of the point of these things?

So people look at you.

[twinsightful]

[ terrible, thank you. also yeah maybe, listen. it's cheap fabric? he's not into it even if his fingers are dipping under the collar to check the inside of the fabric. if he touches over the skin, that's not his fault because they're still moving. ]

Of course they are. [ there's a hum to that. ] So what you're saying is you wanted to make sure I was looking at you?

[tearduct]

[Don't make fun of his cheap fabric, damn. And see, the inside feels nicer than the outside! His skin is flushed and warm because they have been spinning like maniacs out here.]

Yeah?

[Look at his dumbass sheer shirt and tell him he did a great job trying to recreate the other sheer shirt.]

[twinsightful]

[ hm...he stops checking the fabric of the shirt though and instead lets his index finger wind a little around the necklace akira's wearing, the back of said-finger resting against his collarbone. ]

Well. I'm looking. So what now? [ they are both here but he's not going to say shit until akira asks, thank you very much. ]

[tearduct]

[Thought that said fanfic when I looked very quickly.

He lifts his chin a bit to give Kaoru's hand room. Fine, mess with his necklace. It's a nice necklace. And it matches fortunately. WHAT IS HE ASKING EXACTLY? He peers at Kaoru for a long moment.

Then he snorts a laugh and leans in to whisper in Kaoru's ear.]

[twinsightful]

[ i hate you. anyway yeah bitch, he can tell it's a nice necklace! it's a good pick for matching, and then akira's laughing and whispering something to him.

he can't really see what the expression on his face is, but he can imagine it's a little something like this. it's the slight widening of his eyes, equal parts curious and amused, a little touch of surprise and a tiny hint of embarrassment that kind of all folds into something more casual as he doesn't really pull back. ]

Yeah, maybe. [ the maybe is a throwaway answer given how he's grinning a little shyly. ] Does that matter to you?

[tearduct]

[Mmmmmm. He's quiet for a long moment or two, not pulling back, but looking out over everything over the shoulder without really seeing it. Thinking.

Finally, he says:]

Nah, it doesn't bother me. [He is too confident not to say otherwise.] I guess I should apologize later.

[twinsightful]

[ he's not sure how to interpret that, actually. akira doesn't say anything and he's looking past kaoru's face and it means kaoru finds himself taking a breath before there's a little laugh. ]

It's, like...fine. You know? If that's not what you were expecting me to say. I can always just appreciate the look for what it is.

[tearduct]

Nah, I'll have to apologize for not seeing it before. You were trying to make it kind of obvious, right?

[Hindsight.... 20/20. He pulls back finally so he can peer at Kaoru's face to try reading it.]

We can talk about it later if you want...?