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]

“Yes. Well… no… Not yet?”

Unfortunately, this time, Dee really was fresh out of recording balls. He didn’t have any more copies of his demo to share.

“We’re still in the process of auditioning other band members. And shopping our demo around to labels…” he didn’t dare say he hadn’t had much luck. He didn’t want Tom to think they weren’t good enough. So it was best to just leave it at that.

That, and an introduction.

“I’m Dee. I perform as The Prophet… I’m one of Jan’s voice students…”

[stormwings]

"You're not the only one." Martyn encouraged as he sat down at the table with Tom and Dee. "I don't think all the bands here are signed."

That was as much of a statement as a question directed at Tom who nodded. "I think some are unsigned or recently signed."

And there were a reasonable number of people on the tour who weren't in bands, either because they were musicians without one or people who did something other than music.

Robert placed the things on the table and took a seat between Martyn and Tom. None of them gave a second thought to Tommy sitting off in the recliners watching them. He did that all the time and none of them paid it much heed at this point.

"Jan is Davy's mother?" Martyn asked because he was far newer and hadn't had time to memorize all the interactions and relationships that existed. It took time to commit names to memory.

[willoftheblackbird]

Dee wasn't anywhere close to having figured out names, much less connections.

"Jan Sutton, yes." he nodded. She and Rekker had worked together in the past, and perhaps still did from time to time. "Her lessons have been... incredibly valuable. Over the last few years especially."

He knew Robert was the head of security. But Tom didn't specify what field or band Martyn was in.

"Are you looking to get signed too?" he asked Martyn.

[stormwings]

Martyn nodded. "She does lessons for Syn too."

Martyn could make a lot of connections but would still rather confirm before assuming.

The question got a chuckle from Robert and a annoyed brotherly glare from Martyn at his younger brother. Age had changed very little in how much the Sterling brothers harassed each other.

"I'm a psychiatrist and therapist, and used to train service dogs." Martyn answered. "The closest I've gotten to music is leading some music therapy sessions years ago."

[willoftheblackbird]

At first Dee wondered what was funny, but the chuckle soon made sense.

"Jay asked me once if I'd ever thought of getting a service dog..." Dee shook his head, laughing a little himself. "I told him I can still fetch enough things on my own, thanks."

Martyn, being a therapist, may hear a tiny bit of denial and defiance in that tone. It was obvious that Dee had some sort of health issues, given both the wheelchair and the difficulty he seemed to have walking the few steps from it to the table. But that wasn't a motorized chair. He wasn't exactly making it easy on himself.

[stormwings]

Oh, Martyn knew denial well. After all, his brother had been the absolute king of denying all sorts of help up until about ten years ago. It's hard to resist the usual eye roll he would give his baby brother.

"The dogs I train wouldn't be much help for your situation." Martyn would remember but not necessarily acknowledge the bullhead behavior. "I work mostly with training for PTSD triggers and mental health assistance."

Robert nodded because he knew why, Rekker. So much of Martyn's work had been driven by trying ro learn how to help his brother.

[willoftheblackbird]

"oh..." Dee nodded, albeit with shifty eyes that suggested there might be more to that, but this wasn't the time or the place for it. "Right... A different type of dog."

It was probably a good thing none of them ever saw him at a doctor's office. On a good day, he was just nervous. But it could, and had, gotten a lot worse than that. He probably wouldn't have even gotten his first infusion if Jay hadn't held him in his lap the whole time. He'd been through six of them now, and fully admitted that it was both tolerable and manageable... and he still asked to sit in his fiance's lap during treatment. (The nurses at the clinic were nice about it. They actually thought it was cute.)

[stormwings]

Robert shook his head because he'd seen quite a few of the musicians with Martyn when they were being unintentionally evaluated.

"If you ever need a guard dog..." Robert started and was silenced by Martyn's side eye.

"I did start with military dogs." Martyn mentioned but let out a deep breath. "Rekker's struggles changed my focus early in my career."

The fact was that he hadn't even finished undergrad before that shift started to happen. "I mainly work with patients who experience deep trauma, depression, and suicidal episodes."

Again, that was Rekker but also his work in the military. Veterans and his brother often had similar mental health struggles though the sources were very different.

[willoftheblackbird]

"No... that's okay." he replied about the guard dog. But then also added, "I'm not depressed... Wanting to die and choosing to die are two very different... um... things..."

He looked down, biting his lip. Did he really just say that? This turned into an awkward conversation far too fast.

"I'm fine! There's treatment... a... a good treatment now... made by World Enterprises..."

He closed his mouth again, feeling like he just made it even worse. He was trying to network, to show Tom that he was an act worth backing. No one wants to back a cripple, especially one they think might be dying.

"...a very good..." he gulped. "... can someone... pass the salad?"

[stormwings]

Martyn couldn't help but focus on the tone and word choice. He had the professionalism to not say anything about it though. The topic wasn't even an awkward one for the three older men, though they could tell it was a subject better dropped.

The treatment comment had all three of them looking toward Newton who had been sitting quietly and not in the conversation. The Anthean looking up curiously at the younger man. All of them had questions they wanted to ask but none of them voiced any of them. Tom was suddenly wondering if Tommy had something to do with Dee showing up.

Martyn eventually had to ask and turned his attention to Tommy. "You decided to turn R&D to medicine?"

Tommy nodded but didn't give any further information. He was still as secretive as ever about what his corporation did and did not do.

Robert passed the salad and felt for the younger man who looked so out of sorts now. "Can I get you something to drink?"

The tension was thick and Robert decided to ignore most of it for the moment.

[willoftheblackbird]

Dee glanced up to see everyone staring, but not at him. They were staring at Ziggy's uncle, for some reason, who was actually the only one staring at him.

Clearly, this was one thing Dee hadn't connected the dots on.

"Research and development at..." he blinked, the tension was thick, and a change of subject sounded fantastic. "Oh, do you work there?"

[stormwings]

Martyn couldn't help the quiet laugh at the 'oh you work there?" comment. The innocence of it and the lack of knowledge was amusing.

Tom decides to broach this subject while Newton appeared to be staring a hole into Dee. No doubt some alien sense had taken over, not that Tom could mention any of that.

"He owns World Enterprises." Tom mentioned it as gently as he could since it might be a shock to realize that you are sitting in a room with some very well-known and important people all the sudden.

[willoftheblackbird]

"...Owns?!"

Dee had just taken the salad bowl, but a mixture of weak muscles and complete shock caused him to almost immediately drop it.

[hellomajortom]

"Yes." Tom confirmed while trying to ensure that the bowl didn't spill.

Martyn thought this topic was a little calmer and smiled. "Tom's wife works with their R&D department."

And most people knew that Tom himself did R&D for the space program. It was one of the reasons that the two had clicked so quickly despite being from different species.

[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.