Ziggy Stardust Nexus Album Release Party

[ziggyplayedguitar]

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.]

Comments

[ginger_firebird]

Ziggy Stardust. He should have known, especally with how Bowie made the rounds the world over. Mantis knew better than to show up to a Western concert underdressed and thus planned something a touch different even from what had happened to him in the cafe that popped up a while back. Much like a certain song, Mantis had a habit of being entirely monocromatic and devoid of proper colors. That didn't mean he couldn't dress it up just slightly, though, This was Ziggy, and it's nothing if not a sparkling event for a presence like that. He dressed himself up in a plain black tshirt under the most obnoxious sequinned vest he could find on such short notice. Below that was a carefully picked out pair of denim jeans tucked into equally sturdy leather boots. He was, as one might say, dressed to impress.

After the concert, he was more than eager to hit up the merch table and pick up perhaps two of the most iconic symbols of what he loved most about his growing up in the Soviet Union: a new tshirt and a vinyl record. Few things were so precious as little physical proofs there was a world outside of the iron curtain. He even made sure to get that precious signature for the record and stood a bit longer admiring the spread that had often been denied to him in his teens. There was so much to see! To experience! And he couldn't complain about the atmosphere.

Later on after that, he's at the bar and humming quietly to himself while having more than a few drinks to cap out the night. Little made a concert feel so good after as alcohol. He is decidedly chipper and enjoying being a crowd for once. Some things charm even the most bitter of souls.

[somekindofspaceuncle]

"Mantis. Hey, Mantis. Hey, I've gotta tell you, my future wife said yes!"

Hiroki seems like he's high, right now. Fully himself and completely high on something.

Then again, as a psychic, Mantis must've felt how 'high' the concert makes people.

Or whatever better word than 'high' would be.

"Mantis, Ziggy said yes!!"

"Be my best man, Mantis. Okay?"

[ginger_firebird]

He laughs seeing how utterly gone Hiroki is, but he's still going to use his powers, only slightly, to try and hold up the jubilant man. There's a lot of ways to be asked to be a best man, and that is possibly one of the better ones. Mantis leans forward and offers a hand to Hiroki. His pure joy is almost addictively pleasant to experience second-hand.

"I'll be whatever man you want me to be. It sounds like Ziggy is having an exceptionally good night, too."

[itmeanstruth]

Minoru, in an equal state of post-concert giddiness, overheard the comment.

“I told you he’d say YES! You just had to ask!” He beamed. “And now you’ve got a Best Man-tis too!”

Minoru waved hello to his new friend.

[ginger_firebird]

Oh god, that pun. It physically hurt something in Mantis's soul. He laughed, though, becuase it was still very funny, doubling over and enjoying how he was feeling.

"I've never been a best man, or mantis, but I'll try my best. Do I- How brightly colored am I going to have to be?"

[somekindofspaceuncle]

"Mantis, this is Minoru. A friend of my future wife's."

"Minoru, this is Mantis. He helped me when I was circa five weeks old."

[ginger_firebird]

"I met Minoru on my birthday. You- You agree with me that Hiroki needs to love himself more, right? He deserves this wedding, and it's going to be so...sparkling. Colorful? No, there's a word for this..."

He's going to keep sipping his last drink of the night and mull over this convention of English.

[itmeanstruth]

“Duh!” Minoru laughed, nudging Hiroki in the shoulder, but still talking directly to Mantis. “He deserves this wedding. BUT more importantly - THEY deserve each other!”

[somekindofspaceuncle]

"Nonsense, Minoru. Buddy. I don't deserve my Ziggy. Truly. He's like a comet. And also like that star, uhm, you know the kind, that-"

What was the word? The concert has hit Hiroki heavily.

[hellomajortom]

Tom didn't drink alcohol any longer but he did need something to drink later in the night. It was always amazing how hot a venue got when it filled up with people. He's come to the bar to order some juice and notices the person just down from him. He's familiar though they've never met despite being in the same place.

Tom walks over while he's waiting for the bartender, smiling and pleasant. He might look a bit overdressed but he always did so when supporting Ziggy in his own world, dressed to the nines. "I wanted to thank you for helping Hiroki and Ziggy. We've never had the chance to meet. I'm Tom Jones, Ziggy's father."

He offers a hand to the semi-stranger and waits. He's not sure what to expect since there are so many odd denizens here in the Nexus.

[ginger_firebird]

Mantis can only stare a couple of seconds processing what he’s heard from the man. He remembers the party and having Tom pointed out to him, and then the kind words hit him and his mood is as bright as the glitter and sequins. He turns in his seat to face Tom and takes the offered hand to shake.

“Psycho Mantis. I only met Hiroki by accident and it seems I’ve developed some kind of attachment to your family by proxy.”

He’s swaying a little, even while sitting, but everything is a happy buzz. “Ground control to Major Tom... I heard Space Oddity all the time on the radio after I made it to the States.”

[hellomajortom]

Tom gives him a firm shake and then nods with a fond smile. "Ziggy collects people, and here collects people that collect people."

Tom just starts laughing at having the song sung to him before shaking his head and giving Mantis an apologetic look. "And I hear it every time my son calls me drunk from a tour bus, or anywhere else."

Tom gets a soda water while at the bar. "Ziggy wrote it for me when his mother was far away from us, to remind me."

[ginger_firebird]

“I’m used to it. I’m part of a greater collective of people back home because I made friends with an exceptional blond boy years ago.” And what a family it’s become!

Mantis leans back and spins the chair as he follows Tom’s steps towards the bar. “I thought it was always a beautiful one, even with how it ends. It’s a song you could never cut off on a radio. That’s a lot of power.”

[hellomajortom]

"I guess I cursed myself always wishing for a big family." Tom responds with amusement. Now his family included everything from humans to angels and beyond. He didn't mind. With a love of culture it was a good thing.

"It's a good ending." Tom says with a smile. "The end of that song is the moment I met my wife."

Tom pauses and then glances at Mantis. "Do you want to hear it? Ziggy plays it acoustic a lot."

[ginger_firebird]

"At least you're doing well with your family. Mine fell apart quickly, but I learned to make one with friends and coworkers who could be trusted." And now he's stuck on the other side of life with some of the craziest people of, before, and now after his time.

He smiles thinking of Aletayria. A bit of an intense person, but justifiably so. "I hope delivery goes well for her. She has a kind heart."

Mantis leans towards Tom and nods. "I'd like that, if he'd be up for it. I wouldn't presume he'd be up to more live performances so soon after a big night like this one."

[hellomajortom]

"I only have mine because of this place." Tom admits. "They would all be tortured on my Earth."

Tom pauses and shakes his head. "The baby has already been delivered. They don't have internal fetal development." Scientific seemed the best way to address this.

Tom pulls out his phone and texts Ziggy, because it would be easier than finding him in this madness. "You don't know my kid. He'd live on a stage with all the attention if he could."

[ginger_firebird]

Mantis has nothing but sympathy hearing that kind of talk about family from someone who's clearly a kind man. Any words he had about the matter die, however, hearing that the little girl is already a part of the world.

"How did-" His hands come together making a rough, but tiny round shape. She hadn't looked particularly pregnant when they met! "That's a really... She would be so, so small? Is she supposed to be born so soon or did I miss something about how gestation works for her people? She has to be so tiny right now."

Mantis leans over more seeing him text. "Nyoka is the exact same way, but he is a military type. I don't think he'd ever survive as an ordinary civilian."

[chiaro_oscuro]

Ben is trying his best to keep a low profile at the party. He has control over what he lets in and lets out, but he wouldn't be surprised if Ziggy's influence is making him more excitable than he usually is - though not as heavily as some. He's not about to lose what's left of his dignity at this party, he has to cling on to what little scraps of it are left.

But he doesn't have to be under that influence to be startled and pleased when he sees Mantis at the party. He's had a few drinks and picked up an album - Ziggy's a mutual friend through Hiroki, so why not.

"Ah! There you are! Hello, Mantis. I was looking for you."

[ginger_firebird]

To hell with keeping a low profile. Mantis is dressed in sequins and a bit drenched in glitter. These clothes will never be fully cleansed of the sparkle. He raises his hands up in a silent greeting before beckoning Ben to come closer.

"Good! You have acceptable standards. This- This is what concerts are supposed to be like. And how did you know I'd be here? I don't think I gave off the energy of one who attends concerts."

[chiaro_oscuro]

"You're a friend of the family, as am I. If I wasn't a friend of Hiroki and by extension Ziggy, I wouldn't be here. I like Ziggy well enough, but the energy's a bit much for me, and he's a lot."

Ben's dressed in a drab outfit - he was not going to risk one of his nicer black outfits getting glitter all over it. It's an inevitable hazard when Ziggy's around.

"I'm going to go live near the Decepticon embassy, to move in with my friends Ravage and Soundwave and the other Decepticons. They've treated me like family since I met them, and while Rey comes and goes it would be nice to have other people to stay with. I was going to stop by the day I left to say good-bye."

[ginger_firebird]

"Oh, I am here because this is a Western style concert. Ziggy's presence here is possibly the closest I'll get to having the ultimate experience of music and culture of this particular variety."

He's all jazzed and ready to keep the night going, but that news! That simple declaration of facts. Ben. It's not that he's not made some good choices, but Mantis has gotten used to the level at which Ben eats and who's going to eat all that food now? His shoulders sink down a bit.

"Did they really offer you a place to stay with them? There's something highly amusing in robots being the kind of people who make you feel like family, but I can't quite name what it is." A slight pouting tone comes into his voice. "Is it in the Nexus? I can prepare preserved foods for you to take with you. Ravage and Soundwave are good people, but I don't think either can cook for a human."

[chiaro_oscuro]

"We have concerts where I came from, but let's say they aren't really my scene." Ben was never the kind of person who'd be interested in concerts, at any point in his life. "Whatever the 80s Cafe thought I am." The Cure. Really. Ben hung onto the shirt but he still doesn't quite get it.

He nods when Mantis asks whether the Decepticons offered him a place to live and stay. He's picked up on the effect, and is touched that Mantis will miss him.

"Yes, it's in the Nexus. They're open to me going to stay with their people - I am a member of their organization. I won't be moving out of the Nexus, obviously, it's my home now. Ravage and Soundwave get takeout for me from Lord of the Fries and other local Nexus places, but preserved foods would be welcome - especially since winter's coming up. They know humans can't eat energon. It's poisonous to us."

[ginger_firebird]

"Not mine, either, but the aesthetic was as good as gold when I was growing up. Vinyls and shirts and posters were the ultimate contraband." He points to his own band merch sitting carefully under the chair he occupies.

Mantis sighs this time, and crosses his arms.

"Decepticons is an interesting name for a group, but they're not bad, so...probably a remnant of a different time. You're going to need jam, maybe dried sausages and other meats... I could try and make you cheese, but it's easier to buy that than make it."

[chiaro_oscuro]

"I'll appreciate the jam and sausages, certainly. Perhaps if you could slip me one of those meat pies once in a while...but I'm getting ahead of myself. You'll be having a new neighbor named Matthew. He's been staying with me, and I'm turning the place over to him. The animals and personal items are coming with me, but everything else will become his."

Ben decides to try and explain a little.

"Yes, it is an interesting name, isn't it? There is an explanation. Ravage said that Decepticonism is about exposing society's untruths and the lies people are told and the lies we tell ourselves. He can explain it better than I can, but it isn't what it sounds like. They were founded in a very caste-driven culture, where your form determined your function."

[ginger_firebird]

"Mincemeat pies.... Yeah. I think I can handle making sure you're not eating out every single night. You really need a cookbook." He perks up a the mention of a roommate. "Matthew? Anything I should know about him before he starts getting your leftovers?"

Mantis smiles a little learning about the Decepticons. "I've heard that kind of thing before. It's not always easy finding the ones who really believe it, but when they do, they're genuine leaders and thinkers. I was more of a freedom fighter myself, but that kind of fell apart right at the end."