ziggyplayedguitar | Ziggy Stardust Nexus Album Release Party

Current Mood: excited
Current Location: The Scarlet Hooyim
Current Music: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItbDmyrzx5ynQWD_2VGmFIMrzl3cFe6l

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Ziggy Stardust Nexus Album Release Party

Why not in the Nexus had started all of this and now skekSa's bar had glitter and space themed drinks for the night, karaoke and a band playing for the release of a new album. Ziggy had decided this was the best course since so much of his family and friends couldn't go into his world to be there for his own party in his own world.

Of course, as with any good party this one was open to any who had stumbled into it and there were those directly invited as well. And flashy posters too. He was going through the ends of a sound check with the band when the bar opened.

There was a merch table, with the usual swag and new album to buy on CD and Vinyl, where they would be signing autographs and doing the whole meet and greet thing. Why not have fans in more than one universe? It had been a trip explaining this all to Mick. Weird and Gilly before dragging them through the portal. Ziggy still imagined there was going to be some crazy moments later in the night. They didn't even know he was an alien, or half alien anywway. All of this was going to blow their minds for sure.

After the show they had plans to spend the night just hanging out with drinking, karaoke, a DJ, and the usual bar fare. Ziggy had left Sa to the food and drink though he had put in a few requests for food his own species could eat.

Ziggy fussed with everything before heading backstage to drink and get dressed. About an hour after the bar opened they came out on stage and played through the whole album front to back plus a few from the previous.

[OOC: Feel free to mingle, karaoke, DJ, dancing, drinking, etc. Will post the band meet and greet below at the swag table as a top level. Any questions feel free to DM me here or on Discord.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

“How much affection? Well, on the one hand, I am confident he is aware - at least to some degree - of Ziggy’s desires.” Indeed, Isamu had initially been surprised that Minoru even realized he was being flirted with, and later that he’d allowed it to continue. It was then that he deduced the impossible had occurred. Minoru actually liked Ziggy back, even if he wasn’t interested in a sexual relationship. “But on the other, our kind are not empaths. No matter how open-minded we perceive ourselves to be, we can only see things through our own limited perspectives.”

If he could pick up on Minoru’s thoughts, Ziggy might have caught a few fleeting memories of himself frantically shoving Minoru away for not being Hiroki, wedged in between being bathed and carried. There was kindness there. Acceptance there. Love there too.

But Minoru was quickly distracted by trying to find a more suitable corner of the venue. When he couldn’t, he had to admit that as awkward as the backseat of a car would be, it would have to do.

“Better than nothing.” He finally decided. Minoru turned back to his brother. “Hey, Isamu! We’re going out to his Dad’s car! You good to hang for a while?”

Isamu stammered for a moment before nodding. “I have no early morning obligations that need to be attended to. And have found pleasant company...”

“Great!!” Minoru happily reached for Ziggy’s hand. “Can’t wait to show you what I’ve learned!”

Isamu turned back to Newton, amending his previous answer, “and then again, he may be completely clueless.”

"I'm not sure you need telepathy to understand what Ziggy is thinking." Tommy tells the human. "He isn't known for filtering what he says or does."

Tommy watches them and the way this brother dragged Ziggy happily along.

"I think he has no idea what he is getting himself into." Tommy agrees. "He's going to have his hands full." Whether that was to be a sexual connotation or just one of sheer chaos, Tommy had no idea, but the human was in for something.

“No, he very well may not.” Isamu shook his head, taking another drink. He might need a second beer before the pair returned.

“Though, to Minoru’s credit, he has picked up quite a few pointers on therapeutic massage from various coworkers. He tried a few on me, and the experience was quite relaxing. Ziggy may enjoy that. Though, I hope he isn’t expecting a happy ending, so to speak.”

Tommy just stares at him like he's stupid. Were they really this clueless? How could they hang out with Ziggy and the rest of these people and be oblivious?

"Your brother may be being cruel and not know it." Tommy eventually says. "I'm not sure of humans, but only putting your hands on someone how you want but denying them what they might want or need.... it's the mindset I've begun to expect from your species. You take what you want without taking into account the impact beyond your own imaginings of what others should feel."

Tommy shrugs. "There is a culture clash happening between our species for them, I suspect."

Isamu hung out with his books far more often than he did with any of Minoru's friends. But that was beside the point.

"A rather direct observation from a species that, please correct me if I misspeak, can read those thoughts and feelings innately. All humans have are our own imaginings. Call it selfish if you prefer, however we are working within a more limited dataset."

"Can. We don't go around reading everyone constantly. It would be exhausting and damaging to us." Tommy finishes his gin. "The drugs and your alcohol tone the world down to something manageable for us."

Tommy looks over curiously. "You have mouths to ask and ears for listening and eyes to see."

"I believe you already observed that we, as a species, are not particularly good at interpreting the data provided by those senses, especially in this context." he dryly replied. He felt as though he'd been essentially told off by the alien - not that it wasn't accurate.

Isamu sighed.

"Would you like another?" His mug of beer was empty, and this was probably going to be a long night. So he was offering to buy the next round. Humans may be ignorant, but not all of them were intentionally malicious.

He knew about the condition he was in while panicked and overdosing. It didn't have much to do with how he felt and everything to do with his state of mind and depression at that point. Ziggy is more than happy to be dragged off to his father's car and holds tight to Minoru's hand.

"No, I can't." Ziggy is quickly catching up and may be doing as much pulling toward the door and the car beyond as Minoru is.

Minoru was pulled along about as much as he pulled Ziggy. Which was good, considering Minoru didn’t know where Tom parked. The farther away from people they got, the fewer emotions would be reflecting back, but at the same time, what he would feel would be all Ziggy.

“What muscle group do you want me to start on?” He asked cheerfully. “Anything stiff after you get off stage?”

And no, he didn’t mean it like that.

Ziggy is too high to not start laughing riotously at the turn of phrase. Since so few people in the nexus have cars the baby blue car isn't hard to find.

"Do you want an honest answer or should I make something up?" Ziggy asks while barely containing the laughter behind a huge grin.

Minoru laughed, leaning into Ziggy slightly as they walked between the cars. “Of course I want an honest answer!”

Granted, he was going to try to work on just about everything he’d learned so far. So, it probably wouldn’t matter if Ziggy made something up.

Ziggy turns abruptly in front of Minoru so he has to stop or bump into him.

"The part of me that starts getting stiff around you, you won't touch so it doesn't matter." For a moment, as Ziggy stares into his face the lust and want is there, wide open in his emotions, and it instantly fades as he puts his back to Minoru to open the car door.

"I guess just practice whatever on me." Ziggy sighs and climbs in while pulling off the upper part of his jump suit so it hangs around his waist.

Fortunately, Minoru was agile. He narrowly missed bumping into the Anthean. He could feel something intense, a flood of warmth in every corner of his body. And then it stopped.

"BESIDES that..." Minoru insisted as the door opened and Ziggy climbed in.

He followed, half-crawling along the floorboards that were more spacious than he remembered last time. (Granted, Ziggy had wedged himself down there once, but Ziggy was also extremely thin.)

"Let me know when you're comfortable." he encouraged softly, pulling down the jumpsuit a little bit more, getting some of the excess fabric out of the way. "I don't have any oil or anything, but I hope it still feels good..."

Gently, he ran his hands lightly over Ziggy's exposed back. No tickling this time, just soft, exploratory touch of that colder Anthean skin. He'd start with the upper back and shoulders, before moving to the arms - something relaxing after all that guitar playing. That made sense.

There was a warmth in Minoru's touch - feelings of affection that started in his core and moved all the way out his fingers. He closed his eyes, sinking into the long strokes without putting excess pressure.

"You know... if there's any of my friends I'd want to make feel good... it's you."

When Ziggy lays down he tries to get comfortable but he's not. As he starts to massage Minoru will certainly feel the unusual and not so straight parts of his ribs where they've been broken. He's already seen the scars from the bullets and knife.

Ziggy bit down on his lip to try not to moan. This wasn't relaxing and Minoru might feel the tension growing in his muscles. Ziggy couldn't take it when Minoru said he wanted to make him feel good. Without warning he sat up to stare at Minoru.

"Just fucking stop it." His voice is high and stressed. "You don't want to make me feel good. You want to put yourself all over me and tell me no and shove me away every time I try to reach out."

Ziggy is panting and scowling but his emotions are all over the place. It might feel like there is a tornado is in the car. "You tell me it's only sex you don't like but... you reject everything from me while grabbing all over me whenever you want. I HATE IT!"

Ziggy curled up in the corner away from Minoru. The high of the night making it hard to control his emotions or mouth for that matter.

Minoru felt a strange pain associated with those places, something foggy in the back of his mind that he couldn't place. He heard Ziggy moan and that strange warmth was back.

Then suddenly, everything was tense. Everything went cold. His eyes shot open and he nearly got a face full of Ziggy's limbs as the Anthean pushed himself back in more ways than one.

He squealed as he fell back.

But Ziggy wasn't the only one high on the effects of the night. Emotions were running wild, and the more riled up Ziggy got, the more riled up he felt inside as well. It hurt. It made his stomach clench. It made him want to tear his hair out, and he couldn't help but scream back.

"I DO want to make you feel good! This IS what feels good! I don't know HOW make you feel the way you make me feel, but I thought... I thought this might, okay?!" his voice was matching Ziggy's tone - but with added fear and desperation. "It's really fucking hard because I don't even UNDERSTAND it, okay? These feelings? This... THIS... ALL OF THIS! It's never HAPPENED to me before! I can't remember ever even LOOKING at someone and thinking, 'gee, they're cute.' Not the way everybody else says it, and YOU?? Just BEING around you makes me want to melt inside, and I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!!"

Ziggy unfolded and pointed angrily at the fact he was getting an erection from the intimacy.

"Do you think it feels good for me to constantly deal with this? You won't even let me kiss you without shoving me away but you just.. fucking touch me everywhere like it doesn't do anything to me."

Ziggy is frustrated and aroused both sexually and his emotions. "You treat me like I have all these switches and you can just flip the ones you don't want to deal with and I won't feel those things any more."

Ziggy feels vulnerable and it is loud in his emotions. "My species thrives on contact. It's horrible the way you grope me but slap all of my touch away like I'm constantly violating you."

That, of course, was one problem that Minoru certainly didn’t have at the moment. And the blank stare he gave glancing down and back up again proved he had absolutely no idea what he was even supposed to do about it even if he wanted to.

This anger physically hurt.

“And you don’t?!” Minoru replied, equally exacerbated. "You think can just flip the ones you WANT to deal with? And I’ll actually turn on? I’m not a computer! It doesn’t compute!”

In truth, Ziggy’s frustration was probably the main source of Minoru’s frustration. They were feeding off each other’s emotions.

“Don’t you have anything, anything at all that feels gross to you? Natto? You hate that too, right? Imagine someone smearing that on your face. THAT’S what being kissed feels like, okay? Except at least you don’t smell like rotten soybeans!”

"Bullshit!" Ziggy snarls. "You don't even let me do the things you say are ok. You just keep moving the lines. I don't want sex.. ok then I will just kiss you and hold you but now you push that away too."

Ziggy feels on the verge of crying and screaming. It's been a long time since he was this riled up. Not since Hiroki was always shoving him away like a yo-yo. This felt the same. "And all you do is tell me you want to be close to me and are attracted and want me to feel good.. but all you do is slap me in the fucking hands like I'm a bad child."

"About you? No, nothing about your presence feels gross to me except that..." Ziggy was starting to pull his knees up again.

His voice goes quiet. "You're treating me like everyone else. You want me for whatever you want from me but I'm not supposed to want anything for myself. Anything I need is wrong and dirty. It feels like you're using me and that feels gross."

He’d curled up on the opposite end of the backseat, wedged on the floorboard, much the way Ziggy had been that day. “I thought it might, but everything feels... it feels MORE. Just... just MORE! It’s HARD and I don’t know how you even DEAL WITH THIS EVERY SINGLE DAY...”

Ziggy’s voice softened. Minoru’s did too.

“...this is what you feel like every day, isn’t it...” he looked up tentatively, toward the Anthean currently burying his head in his knees.

Even the sadness seemed to be more intense - like being choked, if not outright suffocated. He didn’t even realize he was crying until he felt his eyes sting.

“I’m sorry... I’m not trying to... I just...”

"No, this is what you feel of me." Ziggy takes a ragged breath as he tries not to get eaten up by the other emotions. "I feel more. I feel everyone in the room. I hear more, see more.. being here is like I'm drowning but I have to hold my breathe and all the water in too."

Ziggy laid his cheek on his arms wrapped around his knees. "what I am.. everyone wants in on it but most people don't want me. They just want the high from my presence. People are everywhere, clawing at me, but I'm mostly alone."

Ziggy just frowns when he feels Minoru starting to cry. He's not even sure he should try to reach out any more. "I don't sleep. I don't get tired. There's no rest for me but no one else can keep up. The drugs and drinking help keep me down so I can try and function."

Ziggy sighs and pulled tighter in. "I just wish .... I don't know .. that i didn't constantly feel you wanting my presence because I know if I try to be there you're going to shove me on my ass like I'm trying to molest you or something."

Minoru had never used drugs before, but that was probably the closest comparison to what he was feeling. Literally high. No one, while under the influence and on top of the world, would want it to stop. And when it was gone, everyone would always want more.

“...when you said you were addictive. That’s... this is what you meant...”

In that respect, Ziggy was a commodity. He wasn’t even a person. And simply by being high in the first place, Minoru was guilty of using. Even if he wasn’t trying to. It made him feel completely disgusted inside. Which in turn, only made the situation worse.

“I’m sorry...” he didn’t know what he could even say.

Cautiously, anxiously, he uncurled himself and crawled closer. He felt like he was drowning too. He gulped down the metaphorical sea water, swallowed his disgust over how it might feel, and tried to keep himself from literally shaking as he leaned in and awkwardly kissed Ziggy on the exposed cheek.

It probably didn’t take telepathy to figure out that was his first kiss. But if it made Ziggy feel like he wasn’t alone for just one moment, maybe... maybe something good could come out of this.

"Yes." Ziggy says quietly. "Not everyone is kind about taking what they want."

He didn't often talk about that part of it. The people grabbing him and kissing him when he didn't want it or the worse things.

Ziggy pulls in closer. "Don't. Stop doing things to me you won't let me do."

A moment of self hate fluttered through where he just wanted to fade away. Ziggy shook his head. "Just stop wanting me if you only want what I feel and not anything about me."

Ziggy sighs. "We can be friends but I don't want this. I don't want to feel like this around the people close to me. Not when it is what I feel in public when I step off the safety of the stage."

He unconsciously wiped his own mouth with his knuckles.

With his bad attempt at a kiss, Minoru wanted to show Ziggy that he did care, but even that was muddled in the mess of emotions bouncing back and forth between them. When he felt the inky wave of self-hate, that feeling of wanting to fade away, he outright panicked.

“I’m sorry... I’m sorry...” he stumbled back, reaching for the door handle behind him. He couldn’t do that right now. He had enough presence of mind to realize that he wasn’t in his right mind. Any promise he made could be a lie.

Minoru tumbled backwards out of the seat (Thank goodness for the empty spot next to the car.) and bolted back inside the club.

Streaks of color mixed with the tears on his cheeks. He looked about as bad as he felt as he frantically ran right for Isamu.

“Have you seen Hiroki? I messed up!! I messed up EVERYTHING. But he can fix it. He fixed it before...” he stammered quickly, all in about a breath and a half. “And can you invent a device that scrambles Anthean empathy so I don’t hurt my friend because I’m high whenever I’m around him?! Please??”

The usual ‘...What did you do?’ was replaced with just, ‘...what?”

"I'm sorry too." Ziggy whispers. When Minoru tumbles out the door Ziggy starts to get up from where he's curled to help, but there wasn't any time.

Tommy had just agreed to another drink from Isamu when the mess comes in. Tommy watches what comes in and listens, for once to more than just the words.

He interjects. "If you've caused a problem shouldn't you be the one to fix it? You can adjust to it. Mary Lou and Tom both survived with an Anthean around."

As soon as he said her name Tommy suspected that it was a bad choice. She had been crazy near the end and he had no idea why. He adds quietly. "Culture is a hurdle too."

Isamu climbed down off the barstool, nervously approaching his brother. As logical as Newton’s response was, Minoru had been behaving increasingly more illogical throughout the night. Things... escalated quickly.

“Minoru... Minoru, calm down. Deep breaths. What transpired between you and Ziggy, and is he all right?” And the all too familiar, “...What did you do?”

He was crying as he attempted to relay the short story of getting in the car, barely making a few strokes over Ziggy’s back before they were both overwhelmed by feelings - anger so strong that it hurt and sadness so strong it suffocated. Any feeling of happiness either of them had walking out there was gone. And some of it was replaced by the very real fear that he’d left the Anthean in a state in which he’d spiral down again.

“Adjust to it?!” He growled at Newton. “If I just want to be around him because it feels good, I’m just as bad as all the other fans who want a piece of him. Just because an alcoholic is functioning doesn’t mean they’re not destroying themselves and everyone else around them!”

It was not meant to be a personal attack. They were standing next to a bar and the metaphor just happened to fit.

Edited 2020-11-22 01:42 (UTC)

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