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

[bangingthe_hellouttayou]

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.

Comments

[willoftheblackbird]

At least someone was able to catch the bowl. Because salad was the last thing on Dee's mind at that exact moment.

"You're serious!" he could hardly believe it. World Enterprises was probably the biggest company in the entire world. And that was the CEO? He turned, jaw still hanging, to Martyn, and then back to Tom. "She does?"

[hellomajortom]

Tom nodded. The surprise wasn't unwarranted.

Tom reminded himself to kick Martyn later for saying anything about his wife. Tom didn't think her career would throw any flags though. Two scientists getting married was not uncommon.

"My wife is a botanist and biomedical engineer." Of course, Antheans called these fields something else but the human terms were good parameters for her work too.

[willoftheblackbird]

"Biomedical... engineer..." Dee could not seem to pick his jaw up off the floor. "Like in... pharmaceuticals? And biologics?"

Because if by some insane coincidence, Tom's wife just happened to be on the team that brought Hyragroximab to market, then this is definitely all some very, very crazy dream he's having while still laying on the floor in that other room.

The original studies done on the drug were for preventing muscle deterioration in astronauts. Most of the people who ever took it planetside were part of one clinical trial or another. It had only been on the market a couple of months before Dee agreed to try it.

[hellomajortom]

Tom was starting to calm down now that things were on a normal, innocuous topic. "She started in plant and animal conservation but now works on the medical application of plants."

He was not going to mention that her goal was to turn alien medicine into something that could give humans an indefinite lifespan. That was probably a World Corp secret anyway.

"Honestly, aerospace is my specialty and I don't know all the compounds she works with in her research." Sure, Tom knew the plants but they weren't from Earth so this felt like an easy way out.

"Is your lovely redhead going to join us?" Martyn asked with the same sort of brotherly, teasing tone that had been in the banter between Robert and Martyn.

[willoftheblackbird]

Alien medicines for increasing human lifespans… who would even believe something like that? Certainly not Dee - who, unbeknownst to him, has been getting an infusion of alien medicine once a month for the last six months.

“They medicine I take now… was originally made for astronauts, they said.” he shrugged.

Dee was definitely not a scientist himself. He didn’t understand how it stopped his muscles from continuing to break down, just that it did. And that meant more time to pursue his music career and make a life with his future husband.

He eventually served himself some salad.

[iamjustvisiting]

Tommy was listening and had a good idea of what medicine Dee was referring to. Though Tommy wasn't a scientist, he did have a very precise memory for words and what was being developed.

"I believe that is the medication whose prototype was developed to treat Tom." Tommy looked to the astronaut sitting beside Dee. Sure, the humans thought he had been lost for a week in space but Tommy knew it had been much longer. He had needed significant treatment upon return from that Anthean ship.

[willoftheblackbird]

Dee glanced back at Tommy, and then at Tom again. He stammered,“That’s you? You’re also the Tom Jones who was lost in space?!”

Tom Jones wasn’t exactly the most unique name in the world, so you could probably forgive Dee for not connecting all the dots immediately. He was also pretty tired, but the shock of a lot of these revelations had definitely helped with that part.

“If it wasn’t for… you mean I might not have…” he mind was thoroughly blown.

[hellomajortom]

"Yes." Tom wanted to get some of the attention off of himself and pointed to Robert. "And that is the man who was in charge of my communications and directives."

Major Tom and Ground Control for sure. Though Robert was even less well known to the public even if he had been mentioned, especially when Tom's communications finally came back after a week.

Tom took a deep breath and shook his head. "I'm glad that disaster was beneficial to someone."

Tommy gave Tom an odd look. He knew Tom had to cover things but in the grand scheme of being lost in space, Tom had benefited a lot. Unfortunate, that he couldn't be open about it. None of them could.

[willoftheblackbird]

“Wow…” Dee was thoroughly impressed.

But Tom’s statement gave him pause.

“I’m incredibly grateful for a tolerable treatment… Very… but I don’t mean to say that I’m glad you had to go through something terrible to… um…” He had no idea what being lost in space for a week was like. He wasn’t sure it compared to the pharmaceutical torture he endured, but if it was anywhere close, he didn’t wish that on even his worst enemy. “I’m sorry that happened.”

[thisisgroundcontrol]

Robert picked up on the negativity in Dee's comments and smiled. "Don't allow Tom's pessimism get to you. It was difficult but he found his wife because of that mission."

Tom sighed because he couldn't argue with Robert's statement. Martyn took the moment to get some spaghetti while the others spoke.

Tom eventually sighed and relented to Robert. "I don't regret missing my wife."

[willoftheblackbird]

Dee didn’t know all the ins and outs. He didn’t even have the foggiest clue how many ins and outs he couldn’t possibly imagine. At this point, he’d gone from trying to make a good first impression to just trying to stop putting his foot in his mouth.

He was having dinner with one of the most influential tour managers in the music world right now, their head of security, the CEO of what might be the most successful international corporation in human history and a psychiatrist. (Who was probably psychoanalyzing him right now…). He really didn’t want to blow it!

He took a few bites before changing the subject, hopefully for the better.

“…You said that Ziggy is the one in charge of who tours?” He asked to confirm. “Are there… guidelines he follows? How would I go about… auditioning?”

He wasn’t ready for that right now. They were still setting up auditions for other band members. But this would be very good information to know, so he could pursue the opportunity - if such a thing were even possible.

[hellomajortom]

Everyone was starting to get food for themselves, including Tom who paused when questioned. Mostly, he didn't have an answer for the younger man... you pass an emotional check was neither helpful nor encouraging.

"Yes, Ziggy has the final say on who joins the tour." Tom could easily confirm that. "For the other bands, meeting him and talking mostly. Some of the others have mentioned knowing or being involved with someone already on the tour or trusted has helped."

He knew that having someone else vouch for someone was always part of the music industry, this tour or any other. Even venues opened their doors to musicians for that reason more often than not. "I don't think he's formally auditioned anyone aside from his own band."

Sure, Ziggy had gone and watched the bands play but he hadn't set them down in a studio or something. Maybe he was looking at more, the organic and how they worked the crowd. Tom couldn't be sure and so didn't mention that part. "I know you are familiar with Rekker. Do you know any of the others?"

[willoftheblackbird]

“A few of the people here tonight are auditioning for various spots. We have two interested bassists, one interested guitarist. And one potential drummer who has already made it to a second round.” He replied.

Despite the opportunity to name drop, he actually chose not to say who they was auditioning. He didn’t want his judgement in the upcoming auditions to be clouded. But if they were guests here, they must either be someone or know someone.

“I’m one of Jan Sutton’s voice students.” He offered instead. “Raev and his brother have heard me sing…”

[hellomajortom]

"Who? Or is that a secret?" Tom asked but he knew sometimes people kept line ups or line up changes secret at first. It wasn't pushy, merely curiosity.

"Raev has a bloody amazing voice." Tom commented. "When they get him to sing you can hear it all over the building. He doesn't even need a microphone."

Tom had been impressed by Raev's voice. He'd never heard a human voice like that though Antheans when they sang had a similar quality where the voice carried far more than felt possible.

[willoftheblackbird]

“I don’t think it’s… fair… “ he chose his words carefully, “…to them… to say that publicly - at least until we’ve made the decision.”

Though the others could probably hear the certainty in his voice when he spoke about the potential drummer. Someone was definitely getting a gig, and they would all probably hear about it from Ansgar himself.

“He does. His range, especially.” Dee nodded in full agreement. “It was incredible to hear him at karaoke night.”

Dee could project, but not like Raev could - and did. One of the main reasons he continued taking lessons from Jan Sutton was to preserve his vocal ability as much as possible. If anyone knew about keeping those muscles strong, it was a voice coach with MS.

[hellomajortom]

Tom nodded and understood. The wildness of this bunch could cause all sorts of wrenches in things if it got out about who. Tom would wait because he would surely hear both the accepted and the rejected.

"He's written a few songs. Have you heard those?" Tom asked curiously. "I think he wrote them with Torden because they only have voice and bass."

[willoftheblackbird]

Dee shook his head. “I haven’t… I’ve only heard him sing once. And that was karaoke.”

If Tom listens to the recording ball of Dee’s demo, he’ll find an abundance of vocals, piano and violin, so there’s that…

[hellomajortom]

Tom nodded. "It's like pulling teeth from what I hear but the other Danes can get him to sing them sometimes."

Tom couldn't believe that some of the people here lacked confidence in their talent. He always felt overwhelmed by the creativity though he imagined that the same was probably true about his scientific knowledge for most of the artists.

He would certainly listen to it but not now. That felt like unreasonable pressure. Robert had been listening and came into the conversation.

"What do you do besides music?" Robert asked out of his own curiosity but also, if he knew and Dee joined the tour, he could help him integrate with the other musicians. The number of hobbies around were all over the board.

[willoftheblackbird]

Dee glanced over to Robert, and down at his plate. For so long, he had let his music be the driving focus in his life - to the detriment of almost everything else - because there wasn’t TIME for hobbies. And as his condition progressed, he’d given up on trying to hold down another job. He just didn’t have the energy for it.

“…well, right now… it’s trying to plan a wedding…” he admitted. “Which is a lot harder than I thought…”

[thisisgroundcontrol]

Robert listened and chuckled at the revelation. "I hope you aren't having tantrums about it like my brother."

Rekker had several major breakdowns over things around marriage in the past six months or so. Robert though looked over at his long time friend.

"Tom can plan anything if you need help." Robert barely held in more laughter given the look Tom threw in his direction.

"Come on." Martyn broke in. "You can keep this mess planned and on task. A wedding is nothing."

Tom rolled his eyes. "There are.. four.. weddings already being planned in this group. I know."

[willoftheblackbird]

“Four?” He exclaimed. “It’s hard enough wrapping my head around one. We haven’t set a date yet. We’re still trying to pick a location… which is going to have to be out of the country at this rate…”

Jay had already insisted that they didn’t have to worry about money, that his parents would help support a destination wedding if that’s what it took to actually tie the knot.

“A few of the folks here had some good suggestions in Europe that we’ll have to look into.” Dee added helpfully. “It’s legal in some countries over there.”

Which definitely answered any and all questions about whether his fiancé was a man or a woman - for those who hadn’t seen Jay around before he got called into work.

“I at least got the fittings arranged…. for the tuxes we’ll both be wearing.”

That was progress. The tailor was going to have a field day with this job.

[thisisgroundcontrol]

"Yes." Tom nodded.

Martyn was laughing. "What did you think would happen bringing this many gay and bisexual pretty boys into one place?"

Tom looked up and was about to get sarcastic but Martyn had a legitimate point. It was a matter of numbers and constant close living, nevermind the widespread trust issues in this group.

"I know Rekker and Mick have similar plans because of legality." Robert interjected and he had seen the most extreme angry outbursts over that from his brother. "I think they were looking at Denmark or Sweden."

Tom nodded. "That's a good start. Anything that can get done before hand lessens the stress."

[willoftheblackbird]

Never mind how legal the marriage might be considered once they got home… why was this such a big problem in so many people’s eyes anyway?

“Denmark and Sweden were both suggested.” Dee nodded.

He knew he’d have to do a lot more research to narrow down some perspective places, and figure out how accessible they were. He didn’t know Danish or Swedish either, so knowing some people now that did was going to be a huge help.

Dee playfully shook his head at Tom’s comment. “Tell that to Jay. He’s still stressed about the fittings… and been on a diet for the past month.”

[hellomajortom]

"I think those are high on the list because of dual citizenship options and marriage recognition because of one of the partner's citizenship." Tom explained. He wondered if the next leg of the tour was going to have pit stops or down time for weddings. It wouldn't be outside the possibility.

Martyn shook his head. "Dieting isn't the best for fittings. I did that when I was planning mine and then stress ate my way to a refitting three weeks before the wedding."

Robert was not surprised that his higher strung older brother was a stress eater.

[willoftheblackbird]

"Neither of us have dual citizenship. I hope we'll still be able to make something work..."

Dee was originally from Ohio, and Jay was born and raised around Los Angeles. The latter had at least traveled out of the country before, if that counted for anything. Dee hadn't even done that.

He turned to Martyn, "Well, even if that does happen... at least everything will still fit for the engagement photos. And maybe then he'll relax a bit."

Obviously, Dee loved his fiance regardless of what size tux he wore. And he knew the feeling was mutual.