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

[itmeanstruth]

“Yeah, kind of like when they play strip poker, or strip monopoly, or strip anything.” He scratched his head. “I’ve got the worst luck when it comes to that.”

(Which is how Damien ended said night as reigning Tic Tac Toe Champion. Obviously.)

[hungercity_hellhound]

Damien started to laugh. "Jack, Ziggy and I are forbidden from poker. We have too man advantages."

Damien could read people like books, so could the Antheans. "I'm not interested in playing either."

[itmeanstruth]

“I can’t even get ahead on strip rock paper scissors.” Minoru lamented, albeit still somewhat playfully.

(Clearly, next time Minoru does the American Ninja Warrior finals course in Vegas, the Antheans need to hit the casino. But not the one Isamu got kicked out of for counting cards…)

[hungercity_hellhound]

"Have you ever seen Davon and Rekker get into rock paper scissors battles?" Damien had and it reminded him more of the children he taught than men 10 years or more his senior.

"I'm not interested in any of thier stripping games." He saw enough of that to survive that it lost some of the fun.

[itmeanstruth]

“No… and I think I might be happy about that.” He admitted, after all the ridiculous stripping games he sometimes found himself in. And the one where he didn’t and they still ended up stealing his clothes for some reason anyway. And all the towels in the gym. Seriously, Minoru really hated that prank.

“I’m just gonna stick to the little lobby parkour challenges. Or racing hotel room furniture down ramps. Gotta admit that was a lot of fun too.”

[Parkour hopscotch. Be on the lookout for it in a future visit.]

[hungercity_hellhound]

Damien shook hie head. "It's funny watching them act like the pups." Which was an apt description of how the older musicians sometimes picked at each other. Damien found it endearing since he didn't have friends that had been in his life that long, not now.

"I heard about the chair skateboards with Aarne at the parking garage." That wasn't the only thing Damien had heard about but certainly one he was sad to have missed out on.

[itmeanstruth]

“Last time I was with them it was shopping carts.” Minoru shook his head, sad to have missed the chair one too.

“Don’t judge me too much, but I completely botched my landing on the last shopping cart race. My shirt got caught and when everything went sideways, I couldn’t roll out of it.”

He completely got his bell rung, and was pretty out of it the rest of that night. Needless to say, he got a stern talking to when he dropped into work to be examined for a concussion at three in the morning.

[hungercity_hellhound]

"Last time I was with them Ollie, Rekker, Vars and I almost got arrested for street racing."

Damien was competitive and couldn't resist. Tom would have had their skin for it had they been caught but Damien had the time of his life racing across the desert.

"I've had some rough landings before." Damien confessed. Some were almost deadly.

[itmeanstruth]

His coach was always full of surprises.

“Street racing? i didn’t know you even knew how to drive.”

Granted, Minoru had only seen the Dogs riding horses, and sometimes other animals, whenever he was in Hunger City.

[hungercity_hellhound]

Damien shrugged. "I was raised by the Ministry. I can do everything the people who chase us can."

And more because Damien was in the program to lead the Ministry. The Dogs would drive but gas was rare and the debris all over the streets was helpful as a barricade. Horses were the best option for them.

"Their plan was for me to take over one of the high ranks." Damien knew that was why he had been treated so badly by the Dogs at first and some of the reason why he was so valuable to Jack.

[itmeanstruth]

By the time Minoru met Damien, he was Jack’s obvious second in command and a natural leader in his own right. It was easy to forget sometimes that he was on the opposing side for a while.

“I’ve gotten to do a couple ride-along stunts, but nothing too fancy.” He admitted. “Never any street racing.”

While Minoru almost always opted to walk everywhere (or technically freerun everywhere, let’s be real), he did have a license and did know how to drive. Their car was even in his name. But it was probably good that he didn’t try to take said car to 200mph.

[hungercity_hellhound]

Damien had spent more than half his life in service to the Ministry. Minoru wasn't the only one that forgot that though, the Dogs often did too, assuming he had always served them.

"With Ollie?" Damien assumed that this was the obvious choice though he could see Aarne, Joe, Rik, or even Rekker getting into some sort of stunt driving.

Damien sighed. "If I was still in the Ministry, I might be in charge of hunting the gangs now." Which was another reason why Damien was so good at his job. He knew all the ins and outs of how the Ministry hunted the gangs, hunted the Dogs.

[itmeanstruth]

“Yeah.” Minoru nodded. It was a blast of a day, even if he didn’t get to, say, jump out of a moving vehicle at full speed or anything like that. Apparently, Ziggy made them promise to return his cuddle boyfriend in one piece, unbroken. “Ollie’s amazing behind the wheel!”

Minoru would probably make a good stuntman. Several of the big competitors on American Ninja Warrior worked in that industry.

“Hey, you’re not, though.” He added about the Ministry. “That’s what matters.”

[hungercity_hellhound]

"I know." Damien smiled and sighed. "Ollie, Rekker, and I are still on Tom's shit list for getting busted racing."

The three of them were highly competitive, relatively overconfident, and didn't have the best respect for the law. A street race turned car chase was not something Tom was going to let them forget any time soon.

"What matters is I know how the organization works." Damien believed that. "The skills they taught me to hunt the gangs don't go unused." Not in his own world or here.

[itmeanstruth]

Minoru’s eyes widened as his lips curled in another smile. “You guys went racing?! Who won?”

Never mind the busted part. Or the danger. Or the legality of said racing. It sounded like a lot of fun, and that was the only thing that crossed his excitable mind.

“They definitely make you a good head of security!”

[hungercity_hellhound]

"Rekker and Ollie have a few times." Damien had heard some things about their competitiveness when it came to cars and street racing. Not that it was a surprise give both of the mens' self-assured nature and partners who liked adrenaline. "The cops." Damien sighed. They had all got busted, pinned down between California and Nevada state patrol. This was how Tom found out and almost skinned them for the cost of getting their cars out of impound.

"It's easier here to watch over everyone than it is at home." Which was honest. It was nice to be watchful without also having people hunting you down as well.

[itmeanstruth]

“Ohhh. Damn.” Minoru’s excitement dropped a little bit. That definitely put a stop to the fun, he was sure. “Tom was probably pretty pissed about that one.”

He’d been bailed out a couple of times. And probably got off easier than he should have. But he’d seen Tom get pretty angry at folks.

[hungercity_hellhound]

"The cost to get our cars back will be most of my pay for the next month, at least." Damien was serious. It had been so expensive by the time their cars were towed, Tom made it to get them out, and them getting there two days later with paper work. Tom never mentioned how expensive but he could see it in the Brit's displeasure.

[itmeanstruth]

"Oh man. That sounds like a lot." Minoru wasn't sure exactly what Damien got paid, coming from another dimension and all. The currency conversion in the Nexus was wonky enough. "But at least you did get them back, right?"

[hungercity_hellhound]

Damien chuckled. "Even Tom doesn't have the balls to tell Rekker he isn't getting his firebird back."

[itmeanstruth]

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.

[hungercity_hellhound]

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.

[itmeanstruth]

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.

[hungercity_hellhound]

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.

[itmeanstruth]

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!”