dumbshow | don't stand so close to me

A husk of a person is quite accurate, yes, but Hisoka's seen glimpses of someone there. Usually when Illumi's angry, but- occasionally other times. Illumi's not completely void of self, though he images he's the way he is due to his up bringing. Interesting of course. He- always had an interest in getting to know more about his family from a more direct stand point.

Well thanks for the long winded answer, he was prepared to down the rest of his smoothie listening to everything you had to say, really.

No, honestly he expected as much. The only time Illumi really speaks is when it has something to do with Killua or similar.

"What sort of event is it?" Said as he wanders over, sipping at his straw again and looking over the different style suits. He himself doesn't wear suits much, but he's known to fashion one here or them should he get the mind for it. It's all about presence though. If a suit would go better for the image he was looking for, he'd choose it more often.

Either way- he'd definitely say 'formal' is the way to go, so he walks past the hooks of pinstripes, and buttonless coats.

The family is his other favorite topic of conversation, but only when they start to pull apart from the inside. Luckily for Hisoka, the lucrative position of 'Illumi's only outsider ally' is one that gets him to divulge more family information than usual. It helps to give context when he needs something from someone, he's found - plus, they're on the Hunter Internet, so. Might as well.

This event, however... "Not a ball." He lifts the sleeve of a coat, studies it and drops it again, moving on to the next one in the row. "But formal. This client isn't high profile, not like the Mafia— but he and the target runs in wealthy circles." He shrugs one shoulder, peering behind a coat lapel as he adds, "These people are wealthy enough to hire my family, but not important enough for anyone to care. It's vanity. They'll have events to match that attitude."

Whatever he's looking for behind that lapel he doesn't find, but he tugs the coat forward on its hook a little to look at the back of it. His profiling of this client might be strange, but being in the assassination business does introduce you to a lot of paranoid and pathetic men with a lot of wealth and even more insecurity over their social standing. Even the rumor of having a Zoldyck's number is like gold to some of these people. Illumi thinks remarkably little of them, ironically enough, but it's more money in his pocket to buy smoothies with. It's a living.

So now the question for Hisoka to sift through is, what kind of suit would one wear to a party hosted by a rich and disturbed idiot?

This is true, were he to back stab you, he'd certainly have a lot to go off of, you're lucky the two of you some how have some degree of 'trust', if it can really be called that. Though Illumi's gotten rather good at knowing what sort of person Hisoka is and can be, and how much is good to tell him. Or perhaps Illumi's still a bright eyed and bushy tailed child looking up to his elders~

"Hmm, so first date than, nice, but- slightly casual?" A smirk, lifting up a coat, black, and running his fingers over a sleeve.

"Or tails you-" Blinks, glancing over slowly and looking him up and down. "Could probably pull off tails on a jacket... Though it's a bit too fancy- and memorable." Chuckling to himself as he lifts up a dark purple velvet suit jacket. More chuckling then-, he pulls it up again.

"...Actually." He would- look good in this- black shirt under it, purple tie...Mm.. A wide smile, tilting his head. Yessir. Though- not for this occasion. He already has in mind who these sort of people are that he's dressing for.

"I really wish you'd should me your hair short- ah-" A glance up, a knowing smile. "I could get a better idea of what to pick for you."

Illumi has never been bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in his life, but he's always looking to improve his, ah, craft- so maybe something like it. It's too bad playing cards are too thin and slippery for the way he throws; he'd actually give it a better try.

He doesn't blink at the 'first date' quip, still poking at this one coat until the purple one catches his eye and he gives it a look like, it's nice, but it would be even nicer without sleeves. He reaches over and pinches one of its sleeve cuffs between two fingers, checking out the material. It feels heavy- he could never wear it to work in- but there's no denying it's a nice coat.

"I'm not wasting nen so you can play around," he says, but then- hm. The ties hanging on his forearm he scoots down to rest in the crook of his arm, so they don't drop when he reaches for the curtain of his hair and sort of shifts it; there's still, like, two feet of it hanging over his shoulder, but the way he's holding it at least gives a rudimentary shape of how it would sit around his face if it were short.

Be thankful he didn't just fold it in half a bunch of times- that would have been even less helpful. He's satisfied with this compromise, or rather, this is good enough and he's still not going to manipulate his hair properly just to shop. With his free hand he gestures at his head. "Ignore the rest."

Anything to continue in the same exact path you've always been on your entire life wow that should really have bored you to death already, how do you do it? Honestly Hisoka's is of course a man of 'to each their own' but- considering how well he and Illumi get along- he really doesn't understand much about him. He knows things, his preferences, tastes, habits, but understand? Not really. How could he be so invested in one thing his entire life? And always the same over and over again- sounds like pure hell.

Eh-

They tend to keep things fresh when they're together though. Which is good. He really needs to think of more ways to manipulate Illumi into doing a wider variety of activities though. This certainly- clothes shopping- has been pretty fun so far. Though looking for things to dress up in always has been for Hisoka. Except when Illumi goes and tries to alter his clothing. A sleeveless purple velvet suit jacket... really.... Just get a fucking vest, Illumi.

"Hnnn~ Play around? That's not what I meant at all." A mock pout at him just holding his hair, wow, thanks. The cheap version. Hisoka shrugs a shoulder and steps away, dangling the purple jacket still.

"Right- you should get this either way." Ah- "And keep the sleeves on."

Doing the same thing day in and day out comes as a consequence of getting to keep the endless money and almost fanatical support from the rest of the family. It's give and take. And it does free up the rest of his time to go out and do this and the occasional odd things Hisoka contacts him about and assumes he'll show up for. That's give and take too.

But no. No he will never get a vest. This is the sort-of-friend you chose, Hisoka. Live with him.

"What for?" he counters the sleeve comment as he lets his hair fall back into place, reaching over to just take the purple coat and drape it with the ties. "They're heavy." He lifts one of the sleeves and wiggles it, to prove his point, like- like that actually proves he should really rip the sleeves off. What if he manipulated it to only have sleeves sometimes, like when he plays at being Gittarackur...? That works. But ah-

"If you want to see my hair short so badly, you might as well just show up." Like he said, these people aren't important enough for real disguises to matter, and Hisoka showing up might even be a helpful distraction from, well, himself. "Want me to text you the address?"

"If you want no sleeves, buy something without them." A sigh. "But you look better IN sleeves." Chuckling to himself.

"Unless you want to start working on those guns some more? You don't have much to show of right now." A laugh, rolling his eyes. "A sleeve is heavy?" Flits up a hand, eyes closed, cocky expression. "See what I mean?" Wow, sleeves are heavy? Poor child. And you carry around all that hair. Priorities?

A glance at that final comment. Show up? But then he'd need a suit. He could get a suit. Watch Illumi on the job, see how fast and boring it was- but- he has no plans. And free food, small talk, company- He could never pass down any of those.

"Time and place, I'll be your plus one." Grins. Just hope he doesn't show up in anything too flamboyant. If he shows up like he usually is dressed- everyone will be staring and they'll hit the top of the list for 'memorable'.

His hair is part of him, it's different. There's just something about sleeves he isn't a big fan of, what is the big deal? Just because his arms- he glances down at a bicep, mildly- aren't huge—he makes a point not to emulate his father, really, and muscle mass counts.

Or more likely, he's plain old not interested in bulking up or putting more thought into his appearance besides how serviceable it is. To wit- there are needles in his chest for safekeeping, because a belt or something would just look stupid. Another belt, with pockets.

Regardless. He gives Hisoka a look that might even qualify for 'done with this,' because come on. Only one of them cares this deeply about how good he does or doesn't look in sleeveless shirts and it's not him. "Hisoka." Hisoka. "We're not here to talk about sleeves."

Instead, let's talk about taking a plus one to an assassination. He moves past Hisoka to look at some other coats, like he isn't just going to buy whatever Hisoka holds out to him anyway. Ah, maybe he should wear the purple suit and Illumi will just fade into the background... "Well, I'll let you know. But don't go wild until I finish my job." Which he says not because he cares, but because he's extra finicky about doing his job properly and needs to ensure that he's the one who makes the hit he's actually hired to carry out. After that, well. As long as someone's left to pay him...

Still weighs a lot, and is pretty unnecessary, all those lovely locks, and how silky they are? They must weigh quite a bit. Some nice heavy sleeves could really do you some good too.

OOohh- don't- even get Hisoka started on your dad. Talk about dad-i-wanna-fuck. He's pretty sure he'd hop that as soon as he could- or wreck their entire how getting a fight out of the guy. Though despite any inclination towards daddy dearest, Hisoka's pretty aware of the only fights for money thing. How sad.

"We can have 'the talk' some other time then. It needs to really happen..." A pitying glance, lips peeling a little in a smile.

"But if I go wild no one will even notice you." GRIN. "Will they notice you anyway if I'm there?" Cause he's damn fine, get it?

Dad's a professional, which is really unfortunate. There's no love lost between them- family is family, but Silva and Illumi have long since lost the father-son relationship and behave more like business associates- still; it's professionalism he doesn't care to understand. He'll parrot the Zoldyck "rules" like he holds them up as law, but the kill only for the money one has never struck him as logical. Dad is so weird.

So, Hisoka can keep his daddy attraction to himself. Maybe try bringing it up around Killua instead (but don't, wow)- Kil actually values the man's opinion.

But anyway. He nods once, officially Over sleeves and whether he should invest in some. "Later." An agreement or a dismissal, then- "The target is mine. I don't care what happens to the rest of them, but you get carried away too quickly. You'd get started before I even tell you which one to leave alone, wouldn't you?"

Or: you're excitable and reject self control for shits and giggles. He knows.

Kill for the family too, right? Wow Illumi, so insightful, so smart, so wise. But looking at how far killing only for the job got his father- Hisoka's not questioning it. Killing whomever for whatever purpose leads to running around a lot, and enemies. Which Hisoka can easily attest to. So he understands Illumi's dad's reasoning at least. Illumi might too if all that money and power wasn't just given to him by being a Zoldyck.

Brat.

"Ah hoo~ Later." Flits up a hand. He's got it, sheesh.

Kill because someone is there, okay. Or leave them to die pathetically on their own, which is kind of the same thing- so. Wisdom. It's not as if he doesn't realize he invites retaliation by going for the kill before just incapacitating people after him, and that it only prolongs the cycle—but sooner or later, no one will be left to send after him. If anything, he's certain he's more resilient than the sorts of people who get caught up in seeking revenge.

But thanks for finally listening to him, he appreciates that. Now, back to the task at hand... Well, he's still drawing a blank. "Plain" is easy, but what actually counts as plain and boring when all of these suits are the same thing with a slightly different shape? Hisoka keeps saying one thing and then handing him purple velvet, too—

"Ah," right, then- "You need a suit, too. Unless you already have one." He doubts that. Somehow. Do they make crop top suits?

Right, kill more people after you kill people to fix the problem. Hisoka could tell you lying works just about the same and yet leads to more and more of itself while not fixing anything. But then- he'd be a hypocrite.

"Wait- are you going to be wearing the purple one?" He meant to get it for later, not for the job, people will notice a purple velvet suit.

Does this look like the face of a convincing liar? He'd need a shred of humanity for that. Which he might have deep down, but not in a way that's nicely applicable to regular people.

He has enough to look almost pleasant about the purple coat, though, right at this moment. It is nice. "Nope. I mean that we're already here, so look around. It would be too obvious to show up wearing the same thing." You know, for once- how's that for self-awareness.

Also- he'll pay for it? Bottomless wallet, and so on.

He has it to a degree. That protector instinct for one's family! That's a humanity thing. Hisoka doesn't even have that, you're good. You're people enough to echo out into the void like maw that is your soul.

"Hm." Honestly he did have a suit once. But he's the sort of person to not actually- live anywhere? So each new ensemble replaces the last which he just gets rid of or scraps somewhere if he ever wants to wear it again. So the suit he had? He- has no idea where it is now. Who actually OWNS things, pft.

After some contemplation he pulls up a dark grey suit and tosses it to Illumi. The picks out a black dress shirt for it, and tosses that to him too, pointing to him after.

"Wear the purple tie with it for a splash of colour." He could've chosen you a suit as soon as they walked in here and made this all not last NEARLY as long. But now he wants to look for a suit for himself. :)

Well, see- other people, still at a loss for anything but distant echoes of something more genuine. Murder mountain's fanatical family upbringing comes in handy yet again. For him, anyway.

Illumi catches the suit by its hook and the shirt over his arm, scrutinizing them as he shuffles everything he's holding now into a more manageable pile. Ah, so it was all a huge waste of time, that's not a surprise...

"Alright." Still, he's accomplished what they came here for. He's free to just wander away from Hisoka now whenever he wants, maybe drift away to look at hats until Hisoka's through - he isn't, he's still here, but the possibility is there. Although- since he prefers the purple tie anyway, he pauses for a moment to shuffle his would-be purchases around again and tug out the other tie to abandon on an incorrect shelf. It was a good effort.

Speaking of, "Are you going to wear that tie with the spades on it?"

"Should I?" A glance back as he lifts up a red suit.

Thankfully Illumi has already learned he looks trashy in red, so he can be mildly stunned by how red that suit is before he rethinks and reclassifies and decides, well, it's Hisoka. It's fine.

"Yes." He picks great ties, see. "With that?"

"This?" Huh, he never planned on it actually, it's- so red, but- looking at it now, maybe he will. Why not?

"Think I could pull it off? Won't I make too much of a spectacle in this?"

It is... really red. It's as if the concept of "red" took physical form as a suit- that's how red. Illumi looks at it again for a moment, then back up at Hisoka with one of his odd little almost-smiles. It's so fucking red-

"I'm the assassin, not you. Besides, making a spectacle is one of your bad habits." He waves a hand, like, it's going to happen anyway. If Hisoka could get someone to follow him around holding a spotlight, Illumi is pretty sure he would. One of the idiosyncrasies he'll never understand...

"It goes with your hair." No it- well- not really, but in Illumi's world, color theory just doesn't exist.

Hey- sure makes it easy to hide in the shadows when you're the one holding the light.

A laugh, moving to put the suit over and arm and use the now open hand to slide fingers through his hair.

"Oh, I'll dye it something else, believe me. Red suit it is~" Said as he strolls back over, smiling wide and then bowing forward a little. "To the register then?" And you'll- be paying- yes, of course.

Ah, someone who is not otherwise employed already as a shadowy lurker to hold a spotlight. Chrollo has nothing better to do these days, that's an option.

Illumi's gaze drifts up to Hisoka's hair. "Again?" he asks idly, as if his track record for actually noticing when Hisoka's various palette swaps happen isn't something like one in three. Ironically, he'd notice immediately if it were dyed something reasonable, like black. The concept seems alien.

But yes, the register, and yes, he is going to pay. This cashier isn't nearly as star-struck-slash-deeply-uncomfortable as the one at the smoothie stand, so it won't take long. Illumi is halfway out the door when he pauses and says, "Oh, what about a hat?"

Hisoka has other plans for Chrollo, believe him. You don't want to know anything about what they are either.

Reasonable? And who are you to judge that? Do you even know his actual hair colour? Do you actually know anything about Hisoka? -Does anyone?

"No hat." Dismisses it with a wave of his hand holding the smoothie, other hand holding his bag. "You have to remove it as soon as you go inside anyway, do you think it'll rain or something?

Honestly, no... but only because Chrollo isn't one of his Concerns. Have fun with him. And—no again. Knowing anything about Hisoka other than how to get in touch with him and what various useful skills he has is also a little beyond Illumi's capacity for concern. He's certain that knowing wouldn't change anything for him anyway, so - that's fine.

But why can't he have a hat. Hats make everything more subtle. He sighs without any force behind it and continues out. "I'll send you the information. Try not to be late."

The information, as it comes later, includes a place, time, and a helpful reminder rounding it out at the end:

Show up on time
Dont try to go in without me

-which is entirely Illumi being a finicky perfectionist and not actually anything relevant to this job, because the time is of his own choosing and the place is a different building entirely. It is not, at least, a rooftop- his suit might get wrinkled- but a lobby of a recently abandoned building populated by the rare drunk squatter. It's great, really.

He'll just be waiting here, doing his tie. His hair is still its usual length, but you know, time limit. It gets in the way.

Edited (woops icon) 2014-12-21 00:54 (UTC)

Hey, as long as Chrollo doesn't become a concern of yours, they're good. The last thing he wants is for you to go after the Phantom Troupe leader for a job. He'd- have to stop you and that wouldn't be pretty at all. Though he wonders if you would not take the job knowing it would end any 'friendship' you and he have. Hisoka is QUITE useful, isn't he?

He gets the text with his hair soaked in toner and chuckles as he lifts it, moving to the shower of the hotel he's in, already close by the place of Illumi's job. Easy peasy.

Hisoka kicks back, nude, towel over his shoulders, sitting in the living room with the buzzing something on the news. He clicks it off, lifting his cheap track phone to read and reply.

wow so rude, but im ur +1 i have 2 wait 4 u. ♥

Whatever man, he won't question it. With that he'll toss the phone to the side and move to go shower. Sorry if you send any messages since then. Hopefully it's not important situation, but he'll be sure to meet you. Red suit, spades tie, nice white shoes, matching his new white hair. Red contacts in, matching his red suit.

"Oh Illumi, you make my heart skip a beat."

Edited 2014-12-21 01:20 (UTC)

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time skip to the party/job or just cut the thread soon?

let's party

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