bangingthe_hellouttayou | Shout At The Devil! [Halloween Party] Band members and friends invited

Shout At The Devil! [Halloween Party] Band members and friends invited

Zack had decided that he wanted to do something for Halloween now that he'd gotten his new costume and being a Spider-Man fan he'd gone for a Spider-Punk costume straight from his comics. He'd gotten it at a local comic store down on the Strip and couldn't wait to show Damien because he knew the Dog didn't have comics or anything fun back in Hunger City. Zack now pleased that he'd arranged a Halloween Party for the band members, their friends and family to attend inside the communal area of the apartments. It was the biggest space and there was a bar all stocked up with spooky drinks, alcoholic and non-alcoholic alike.

It would be a blast!

There were even spooky snacks with crisps and chips shaped like bats, ghosts and pumpkins. There were even actual pumpkins on a table for those who wished to carve a pumpkin alone or with friends. Zack had tried to make it accessible for all, those who wished to party and get drunk and those who wanted to do non-boozy activities too.

As for costumes---they were optional but preferred.

"Ok, I think that's it. Everyone should be arriving soon."

Zack looking around the room and hoping everyone would like what he had set-up with help from some of the others of course.

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Minoru laughed. "Touche!"

And he'd seen Tom go off on Ziggy and Jack for stealing a car before, with absolutely no hesitation or remorse.

Damien figured that growing up together made the dynamic between Rekker and Tom very different than the one between Tom and Ziggy. Still the Dog grinned.

"Robert told me that Rekker and Tom used to fight constantly when they were younger." Damien had still seen the embers of that when Rekker did something that others wouldn't get away with. There was a eye contact stand off between the two older men that Damien wouldn't even get involved in. There was too much heat there.

Knowing both Tom and Rekker's temperaments, Minoru wasn't exactly surprised. He knew those two went way back.

"I swear, there's been a few time that I wondered if one of them figured out how to shoot lasers out of their eyes or something."

Like Damien, Minoru stayed out of those. And up on the rafters, hanging lights.

Damien would consider his own temper bad when it was warranted but those two were on a whole other level.

"I'd bet my money on Rekker." Damien snorted a laugh. "I've heard Robert has a death stare too." The Dog felt like there was an age that people reached where they could channel the lack of fucks into a truly horrifying gaze.

Minoru shook his head. “Nah, I’d bet on Tom. Because he's got Ziggy for backup. And you do not want to be in the business end of his stare.”

He wasn’t sure if Jack still had that ability, or if it was a matter of knowing he had that ability. He didn’t know whether Damien did either. But he knew Ziggy did, and he knew exactly how it felt.

“Now, if Mister Newton were in the stare down… all my money on him. No question!”

Damien considered that but shook his head. "Ziggy is unnerved by Rekker. Empathy and his mind aren't compatible. I know Ziggy couldn't be in the same room as Rekker for a long time."

Damien didn't even know what abilities he had. There was a discomfort in finding out what the Ministry had really made him for.

"I don't like his ability to appear out of nowhere." Damien got along with Newton but that way he came up on him out of nowhere. Damien's nerves didn't do well with being startled.

“Anthean empathy isn’t compatible with…” Minoru paused. His eyes widened.

Isamu had been trying to study Anthean empathy for years now, because everyone was apparently compatible - except him. It really bothered him. It kept him up at night. If there was any way to get his brother to break the stupid silent treatment, that was it!

“What do you mean, his mind isn’t compatible? Like, how?”

"His mental health." Damien knew more about this from Rekker's perspective than Ziggy's. He and Rekker tangled with each other quite often but he did talk to the redhead often.

"Rekker is angry and suicidal and they're pacifists?" That was Damien's best guess. "I think Rekker's mental health makes him project his emotion and they aren't good ones. I've seen Newton leave the room when he's angry, too."

Minoru's excitement dropped immediately when he realized exactly what Damien meant. "Oh. Exactly the opposite of Isamu's problem. Well... maybe?"

Maybe it wasn't so different from the Anthean's point of view.

"Can Rekker feel them? Their abilities?"

Damien shrugged because he didn't know the ins and outs of either case. "Ziggy told me it felt like drowning in a nightmare."

These were things that the Dog could only speculate on. "Rekker strikes me as someone who would rebel against anything trying to calm him down." Rekker always appeared amped up and tense even when he was happy or that was how Damien interpreted it. "I do know, over the years it has improved. Rekker's control of himself helps. I imagine Bjorn being in the picture does too, sometimes."

“Oh man…” that did not sound pleasant at all. He felt a sharp pang of empathy for his koibito. And also for Rekker.

Unfortunately, anything Isamu might want to know would have to come from Rekker. And Minoru wasn’t sure he wanted to bring it up, even if Damien did say it had been improving. And even if it might get Isamu to stop ignoring him.

"It makes me respect Rekker." Damien mentioned on a better note, maybe it was better. The fact that the ginger was keeping himself together in the kind of mental condition that even made an ancient Anthean, like Thomas, run was a feat on its own.

"The hell someone like Rekker would cause the Ministry would be a sight to see." Damien thought about all that mind control they used in the prisons and someone like Rekker not only would tear that to pieces he would probably tear the people to pieces after. It was something to consider though he wasn't about to speak more about that darkness here.

Minoru sighed. It wasn’t that he didn’t also respect Rekker.

“Isamu kind of has the opposite problem. I’m not sure what he feels like to Antheans - he and Ziggy don’t really get along - but to him, Anthean empathy just doesn’t exist. It’s like he’s completely deaf to it.” He explained. “He’s been trying to figure out why for years now. But can’t find a way to study it.”

It went without saying that was one of the reasons Isamu and Ziggy didn’t get along.

“He’s been all worked up over something lately. He didn’t even want to come to the party! But I thought maybe if I found a lead, he might stop giving me the cold shoulder.”

Damien listened and was curious since he was often talking to Ziggy about how to test himself to see if any of the Anthean abilities passed on with his genetics.

"Is he the opposite of Rekker?" Damien asked then clarified. "Too focused, and clamped down on his emotions?" It made sense that someone who isn't effected would be the opposite of someone who overloaded the system. "Maybe he's too mentally organized or something?"

He was speculating and then frowned at the revelation. "I was wondering why I have not seen him in weeks. He'll be missed, I think."

“He’s something like that, I guess.” Minoru shrugged. Isamu was the biochemist and the one who actually understood how brains worked. “I don’t know if there are people like him in your world, that can’t be affected like that. I mean, If Rekker could make a real mess of the Ministry, maybe the other extreme could too.”

Aarne might be able to talk some sense into his brother if this didn’t pan out.

"I don't know. Jack doesn't have or can't remember the abilities." Damien pointed out.

"I don't think their tactics would work on Rekker. I was trained to implement thier tactics and I think he would brush them off. I don't know about Isamu. He'd be a boon to the resistance but if he was born like me and given unlimited power, I'm not sure."

“I don’t think he could be born like you.” Minoru scratched his head. “Have any Anthean traits, I mean. They don’t work on him, not sure how they’d work IN him.”

If the Ministry experimented with Anthean genetics, did they also experiment with the opposite? Maybe, maybe not.

"I meant born into the Ministry or close to thier holds." Damien knew that anyone might get sucked into their propaganda and it was hard to break free. It took torture for Damien's programming to break.

“Oh…” he nodded. “you think their tactics would work on him? Even though Anthean empathy doesn’t?”

"They worked on me." Damien pointed out. "The brainwashing they do first works on stroking people's egos and praise."

Damien sighed. "I know how it works because I used to choose who went to what kind of evaluation and reprogramming, before i was the target."

“Well, if that’s how it works, he’d be toast.” Minoru’s shoulders fell and his head drooped. Isamu had quite the ego, that much was more than obvious. “…I think I’m glad we don’t exist in this world. Or yours…”

This wasn’t a lead worth following. Not when it could get his brother into more trouble.

Damien gave Minoru a gentle hug. "I'm glad he is terrified of my world. It keeps him safe."

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Shout At The Devil! [Halloween Party] Band members and friends invited

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