Luc hears the intercom message play, and almost instinctively replies yes, master as Shihai prompts the seekers to confirm. He shakes off the urge, though, and instead puts a fork into the stack of pancakes in front of him. He turns to his left, looking at another wolf boy somewhat resembling Austin, but slightly more gruffy and not as much of a jock. Opposite the fennec is a blue shark girl with long flowing hair, in an even darker blue. She’s munching away her own breakfast as well, an excited grin on her face. She notices the fennec’s stare, gives him a toothy grin and a thumbs up, then returns to her breakfast.
As he finishes his breakfast, Luc takes one last look around the room. Every single hunter seems to be minding their own business, but there’s a certain competitive aura hanging in the breakfast hall. Luc reaches for his neck, almost expecting there to be a collar. Instead, he just finds the fluff of his neck. Instinctively, a hunger fills his mind. A warmth starts to spread across his body, and his eyes shoot from hunter to hunter to hunter. All of them are rivals, every single one. A toothy smirk forms on Luc’s face as he tries to think of what Austin must be going through right now. There are two options: Either Luc is going to immediately find him in the most obvious dumb-fuck hiding spot, or Austin is going to try and win it all. There is no inbetween. But Luc knows Austin more than anyone else in this room, and if he has any say in the matter, it will be Luc who ends up winning. Even if it’s at the cost of his wolf boy roommate.
Luc picks up his now emptied plate, getting up from his seat and almost bumping into the lemur-fox hybrid that winked at him yesterday. He looks at the fennec, the same smirk plastered on his face.
‘It’s all quite something, this entire exchange, isn’t it?’ he asks
Luc blinks, trying to gauge what the lemur-fox boy is thinking.
‘Indeed it is. Do you know any of the subs?’ Luc asks.
He gets a simple shrug as an answer, the smirk almost doubling in mischievousness.
‘I’m Jullien. Hope to see you on the grounds, Luc!’ The lemur boy says, walking out of the breakfast hall chuckling to himself.
‘How do you know m-,’ Luc tries to ask, but Jullien is already gone and well out of ear shot.
The fennec shakes off the confusion, walking back to the buffet line where a servant is handling used plates. As he hands off his own plate, he sees a white-and-red-feathered peafowl moving gracefully through the halls. The peafowl notices the fennec staring and smirks, walking over to him. He’s quite a bit taller than Luc, mostly due to his orange-tipped head-feathers towering over Luc’s fluffy beige ears, not to be disregarded in size.
‘So, Luc, hmm?’ the peafowl says, eying the fox up and down. ‘Did you sign up as a dominant or as switch?’ he asks, placing a playful talon underneath the fennec’s chin, gently lifting it upwards to meet his gaze head-on.
‘Uh, I, uh, s-switch,’ Luc mutters trying to fight the blush forming on his snout from the teasy peafowl.
‘Figures,’ the peafowl responds with a sultry undertone. ‘Us switches do have a certain… magnetism, huh?’ His tailfeathers bristle gently, the red ocelli on his tailfeathers shimmering in the bright lights of the breakfast hall.
‘I did the same, if that wasn’t obvious.’
‘y-yeah, sure, uh…?’ Luc stammers, his eyes shooting from the peafowl’s own eyes to the talon under his chin and back.
The peafowl chuckles.
‘You know, Luc… Master Shihai never mentioned it was against the rules for the hunters to… cannibalize amongst themselves. I bet you have wonderful trophies to give, don’t you, little fox?’
A shiver rolls down Luc’s spine as his mind hones in on the peafowl’s words. There’s a certain inviting softness in his cadence, a warmth that makes Luc want to stay and listen for a while longer. He’s safe here, he’s safe with the peafowl.
‘I think that if we happen to meet again on the grounds, you should reach out to me… We’ll get more closely acquainted, hmm…?’ the peafowl suggests with a wink, his tailfeathers bristling once more.
‘Y-yeah, you’re right…,’ Luc stammers, unable to avert his gaze. A gray haze has crept into his peripheral vision, making the breakfast hall a blurry distant unimportance as the peafowl speaks. ‘We should…’
‘Good boy,’ the peafowl smiles as he releases his talon from underneath Luc’s chin.
Right as he lets go, the intercom buzzes again, and the gray haze fades from Luc’s peripherals. Luc shakes his head and scrapes his throat before turning to the intercom. Again, after a second or two of radio silence, Master Shihai addresses the room over the speakers.
‘Attention hunters. You are expected by the main entrance within five minutes. Once everyone is there, the games can begin.’
Happy Hypnovember everybody! For 2026, I am writing a sequel to my story Exhibition Match, featuring the athletic Austin, theater kid Luc, and many many many cameos with my fans, friends and followers! --- The hunters start their day with a good breakfast while the hiders get some time to spread out. While preparing for the game, Luc gets his mind scrambled by a red-and-white feathered peafowl --- Featuring (short) cameos from Ayres, Sapphire and Xerex!
![Akko's Hypnovember 2026 Day 11 - Ground Rules [L]](https://sf.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/6228/6228004_Akkobold_chapter_11_-_ground_rules_l_.jpg "Akko's Hypnovember 2026 Day 11 - Ground Rules [L]")
