Hide could not help but grin ear-to-ear, more than a little relieved that Eriko had accepted the invitation. “Of course, of course. Literal bells and whistles would have been quite an interesting fashion statement, and probably not in a good way.”

“As far as timing goes... We can probably shoot for sometime in the next couple of days. I kind of need to do some shopping first. Stipends come in and I’m down a shirt.”

"Wow, you're really buying a shirt just for me..." said with a slow nod, still trying to decide between impressed or concerned. "Also makes me wonder if you're always wearing your best shirt no matter where you go. Maybe I should have clarified last time we hung out that we weren't exactly going to a fancy place in the woods. Then again, I wasn't entirely clear about everything either."

“Hey, the shirt that got shredded was totally military issued. It definitely wasn’t the best I own, and I’m not going to be able to exactly replace it here, y’know? Just gonna get something similar enough. And then maybe get something a little nicer. For myself, I feel like being a little selfish after this week.” Hide leaned forward in her seat, hands clasped together as she shot Eriko a tired smile. “You didn’t really need to clarify. I kind of assumed that it wasn’t going to be a fancy party.”

"Here you go." Atsumori waved an opened but not yet empty bottle in Mumei's direction. "That might be the last one standin', though." He wasn't as successful at casually ignoring Hide's gambit and the subsequent interaction as the others; he tried, but couldn't quite avoid sneaking a look with a twinkle in his eye.

"There ought to be a law against songs having the same name. It's a trap for honest customers!" Glass in one hand, he flipped through the song catalogue with the other, squinting a bit at the small type in the dim room. "Who's up next?"

"There's nothing wrong with being a bit selfish, especially when you're gifted by Daikoku's bounty. However, I suddenly feel that going to just any Crab bar won't be enough, especially not a small and dingy place like the Drunk'n Crab. How about we upgrade and go to a nice place instead? Unless...you're spending it all on that outfit of yours."

She gave her a slight elbow to Hide's side, "I think that might be your cue, actually."

“Just say the word. I can do a nice place if you want, I can cover it.” Hide let out a slight oof as she got elbowed. She gave in, grabbing the holoslate catalogue and scrolled through the options again. Oh, that one would be different from a lot of the more pop-oriented songs on the list.

Hide takes to the front, mic in hand, it doesn’t take long for the song to start. While again, she struggles to hit the higher notes, she does have a lot of fun with much of the pre-chorus.

“I wanna make you feel aliiiiiiiiiive!”

Well, the only parts of the chorus she could hit was, again, the parts that didn’t hit very high note. But she really nailed the last bit of it! Because it was innately louder. As Matsu do.

“Tie me down! Tiiiie me doooown!

Seriously, Hide needs to be loud to be good.

The Fox swayed, bounced and laughed along to the rest of the music, singing and totally ignored what was going on between the Matsu and Kuni.

WingFox was not needed there, as apparently everyone in the room seemed to approve.

In karaoke, loud was certainly a good substitute for pitch and skill, at least in Eriko's books. She clapped along with Hide to give some beat and encouragement to her piece. "Hey, that's the spirit! You're killing it!"

Or killing the song, one of those.

As the song came to an end, Hide held the magic microphone aloft, in a most dramatic fashion before bringing it down to her lips. It was time to kill everyone’s ears. “Who’s next?”

Well that was an invitation!

Izumi jumped up, bounced off the next chair and seized the mike.

"Duettime!!! Mumei-san! Pickoneforus!"

Hide backed away quickly, as that flying Fox had seized the microphone in such a drunk-yet-quick fashion that she had assumed me might have barreled into her.

So, she plopped right down next to Eriko again and looked to Mumei expectantly. “You heard the man, duet time for you again.”

Lounging back, comfortably shoulder to shoulder with Atsumori and (I think) Eriko, Mumei perks up and has had enough to drink that she doesn't even wince at the idea of duets with foxes.

She grins, flicks the holoslate to send the catalog scrolling while she finishes off her drink, then stabs the holoslate with an index finger to pick a tune entirely at random.

This was either the most or least appropriate tune a random song generator could generate, but Mumei grins...It's got loud parts, it's got love and heartache and a really reasonable range. "Ok...here goes..." she leans in to share the booze-scented mike with Izumi, belting out the opening line. "We Are Youuung!"

_________
Actual result from actual internet random song picker.

Of course Izumi would pick the perfect moment to enter the song, offkey of course.

"WoohWoohOooohOooohWoooh!"

Still, too drunk to notice/care, off they went into the duet.

Mumei's timing is off plenty on the half remembered lyrics. She's sure she heard this at least once before.

The chorus is simple and repetitive, and soon she's moving the mike to the middle and waving the group to join in on the triumphant and troubled paean to teen love.

Eriko gave two blinks at the Osprey and smirked, "Now that's a classic, that's quite a dig to unearth that one but it's a good one!"

She smirked and raise her glass in cheers to their efforts before taking a sip, another occasion to drink from her cup.

"I'm a fan of classics like that, myself." Hide leaned back in her seat, raising her glass as well. "There's actually a good number of classics towards the back."

"I'm sure you like the classics, especially when you jumped toward the mellow songs. What? Are you a fan of hearing songs about people losing their love to circumstance or people going through personal hardships. Never pegged you for the time, Hide-san. Would have guessed that the Akodo would be the more mellow type."

“My taste in music is vast, Eriko-san. Classic rock? Check. Dance? Check. Metal? Check. I could go on, but I think there’s a bit of something for me in everything.” Hide leaned forward, placing her glass down. “Music has a mood to it. Most of the time I like to match music to my mood, but not always. Like, the greatest bit of comedy one could do, in my opinion, is like when films go the soundtrack dissonance route. That shit always makes me laugh.

"Well, aren't you something of a universal-musical and popular person, Hide-san," she grinned. "Is there actually anything you don't know, can't get along with or don't like? That's probably the better question when I think about it, little miss Lion recruiter."

“Ehhhhh, I’m not a fan of a lot of things. Like I don’t really get the appeal of high drama flicks. It feels like such a waste of time. And cheap romances that recycle the same damn plot over and over again.” Hide being called a Lion recruiter felt super weird to her. “The hosts don’t like me so much. Also prettttty sure this Utaku I met isn’t a fan of me.”