POST-ROUND 2 MINGLE

[idolpro]

[ Once the decisions have been made, everyone is ushered—though those gentle tugs—out their respective mud rooms into the courtyard. An impossibly tall and incredibly dense garden hedge divides one half of the courtyard away—moreover, it increasingly gets taller when climbed, preventing its residents from escaping their slice of the courtyard. From beyond, idols can hear the distant sounds of something rumbling—perhaps it's the ground shaking. . .

The roster is visible on a large screen, though as time progresses, certain names are blacked out. . . ]

[ Mouths and Hands will be able to transform into monsters at-will, though Hands are much more diminutive and Mouths have supernatural abilities at their disposal. Moreover, unit abilities are on. ]

Comments

[at_heart]

[ Well. Revived in the middle of the game. So that's what that's like. ] [ Don't mind Lupine, he's fine. A giant wolf covered in blood that's still mostly not his own, but fine.

He feels — so calm right now. An icy clarity that he'll think later isn't so different from how it felt when Aether Buddy System'd Urge to Rampage into his head during the Hunger Games.

Everyone around him who isn't LiliS is just — a potential point right now. He can do it cleanly, quickly. The sooner everyone's dead, the sooner the Game'll be over, right? ]

[romanticlove]

[Looking at him, then looking around to see who is around to narrow down who this wolf is!! She looks absolutely smitten.]

Lupine...? I was looking for you before. Did someone else kill you?

[She won't inch closer but he might be able to get the sense that she thinks he is adorable and would like to pet, from the tone of her voice.]

[at_heart]

[ Headtilt, glowing golden eyes turning to regard her. Ren. Grayed out on the big screen. No points. No reason to kill her. She won't, he thinks distantly, even taste good.

Lupine makes a very canine yawn. Everything on the inside of his mouth is seamlessly pitch black except for his very white teeth, but his tongue lolled a little with it. Yes, it's him.

He'll trot over and accept pets. ]

[romanticlove]

[Yaaaay no killing!]

I was a bit disappointed when I wasn't paired with you earlier, but I don't mind anymore. You're very cute like this.

[Petting his fur gently with both hands.]

[at_heart]

[ Oh. That feels nice. Wasn't really expecting it to feel nice. Pets are definitely acceptable right now. Lupine leans into her touch, but her words kind of wash over him. A curious noise, sort of like a whine? ]

[romanticlove]

Don't worry. It's just that I thought your blood would taste nice, that's all.

[She scratches his ears a bit and then runs her fingers through his thick fur some more.]

[at_heart]

[ Huh. —Pretty sure he'd be fine with that, normally? He's volunteered to be fed on by more than one vampire. He's enjoyed being fed on by more than one vampire.

But it chafes a little, right now, to think of her feeding on him. Rude? If he'd gotten any other berserk, he might bite her for it. But the discontent doesn't feel all that important, even though it's there. Not when she's not actually going to attack him, not when he wouldn't get anything out of attacking her. ]

[irregular]

[Lupine: from Lupus or Lupum or - however you fuck with it to make it work in a sentence. Wolf, basically. Attendite a falsis prophetis, qui veniunt ad vos in vestimentis ovium, intrinsecus autem sunt lupi rapaces. Or, less ominously, Habitabit lupus cum agno--

[That went on about panthers, too, didn't it? Panthers lying with goats.]

Lupine?

[Isaiah mentioned nothing about what panthers and wolves got up to, but they probably didn't mix well, outside of that one particular holy mountain.

[Too late to worry about that now.]

[at_heart]

[ And that's K. K's name was grayed out on the list even before they got started. No points. No reason to fight him. He won't do anything for the hunger, not like when Tenn ate Felicity.

(That thought should definitely give him pause, he's distantly aware.) (It shouldn't just be a vaguely satisfying fact.)

Lupine regards him with glowing gold eyes, then sinks down into something like a play bow. Hello, K. ]

[unbr8kable]

[ok cannibal murder is cool and all but look at this fancy pupper??? She approaches with slow movements, hands open]

Hey there, handsome...

[at_heart]

[ —Not grayed out. Potentially worth points. But the outstretched hands catch his attention, and the icy clarity notes a very familiar bracelet. He put on a bracelet like that. She's a Mouth. That means no points.

Also, she wants to pet him, and petting feels good. :|aaaa

Lupine does not approach at a trot, but he is very calm, and he'll let her touch him. Watchful for aggressive movements, but not attacking first. ]

[unbr8kable]

[Why would she attack this good good boy with his extremely shiny teeth? It does not even seem to occur to her to attack, especially if he doesn't seem to be sniffing too hard at any of the (dried, sadly) blood on her clothing. Instead she reaches out gently with her real hand, gently petting through his fur(? somewhat bloody existential voidspace? well, one way to find out)]

What a stunner you are... Doing well so far, I hope.

[at_heart]

[ It is, in fact, fur! It feels strange, though. Kind of frictionless. And it also swallows all light, making it visually seem like her hand just disappears when it sinks into that fur. But frictionless also means soft, right? ] [ An errant half-wag for that, but he does need to do better. One win, one draw, one loss. Tenn got them their actual points, his fights were all against other Mouths. Pointless wastes of energy. ]

[unbr8kable]

[Ohh, rad. She tests that out, scritching down to the skin to see her hand melt away and back. How is dog the best???]

Aww... Don't worry. They've gotta let us outta here soon, right? Then there'll be time for a bite, right? One that people won't get mad over, at least...

[at_heart]

[ And that gets the funny whuffling noise that passes for a laugh when Lupine's a wolf. Yeah, he could definitely go for food. Actual food. Thanks to Tenn, he's much less hungry than he was when they started this round, but that doesn't mean he couldn't still eat.

Pressing into that, because pets feel pretty good despite the context. ]

[identitypolitics]

[ well

it's hard to tell that she's bloodied because really it turns out it's hard to tell when the seams just have a bunch of spindly, shadowy hands erupt from them. ]

Lupine...? It has to be Lupine, right?

[at_heart]

[ All the grayed-out names. Golden eyes lid, taking her in, and then he gives a little head-toss. Whuffles.

Yeah, it's him. Hey, Saffron. Pep's not doing great, huh? He had sympathy earlier, which just feels strange to remember at the moment.

Games are just like this, after all. ]

[identitypolitics]

Yeah. It's just like that, I guess.

Honestly, it's a shame.

[at_heart]

[ Curious headtilt. What's a shame? ]

[identitypolitics]

I don't think I'm very good at being a monster. If I was, I could... I don't know.

[temperedinpride]

[Oh cute a wolf. He's still covered in gore and his hair is feathers but he's not fully transformed at the moment.]

Now who are you I wonder?

[at_heart]

[ Glowing eyes track his movements for a moment, but Cosmo's is another grayed-out name on the list. No points. No flavor. So Lupine gives a wide, very canine, too-many-glowing-teeth void yawn, and tilts his head at the man.

Didn't he meet you for the first time when he was part-wolf? A very different wolf, admittedly. But some of the mannerisms might still be familiar. ]

[temperedinpride]

[He observes a moment than laughs, yes that does seem familiar, he'll just come over.]

My, Lupine? Fond of a certain form for you, are they?

[at_heart]

[ A short yip that's been how he says yes so far, followed by lolling his head in a way that certainly means to indicate: shrug. It's in all three ofboth his names, after all.

Amenable to Cosmo's approach, if also a little watchful. People keep petting him, so at this point he expects that about as much as he expects a fight. ]

[temperedinpride]

[He doesn't pet but he does rudely try to take Lupine's face in hands to examine him. Nice teeth. Very cute. ]

What a lovely form indeed. Are you hunting?