Club Astrum, Baltimore, Friday Night (Opening Night)

[my_own_advocate]

It had taken something close to a year, and several fits of terrible trauma, but now the time was there: Club Astrum, Lux's little spin-off in Baltimore, was opening. And Lucifer had pulled out all the stops: sparkling champagne with sparkles, a massive ice luge in the shape of a heavily-embellished star god of some kind, balloons, and some extremely, painfully hip indie bands playing on stage.

The indie folk one due to come on in a few hours was all Duke's fault.

"Welcome," Lucifer declared from the round platform that oversaw the rest of the club, right at the front. He spun around as the sparklers sparkled behind him - and so did the rather massive sparkly sparkler statues at the back of the club.

Ooh, pyrotechnics.

"To Astrum," he crowed. "A project a long time in the making, the new star on Baltimore's firmament. Please, come in. First drinks are on us!"

And he stepped aside.

The space wasn't huge, but it was big enough; little star lights hung from the ceiling in natural patterns. They cast the club in soft blue hues, the bar tastefully framed with almost ethereal curtains.

Red patterns scattered over the floor, as if to signify magma flows. Various setups of modern white leather couches stood everywhere, most facing each other, some facing the round stage near the back of the room. There were more curtains along the walls, creating an intimate feel.

By the bar stood a jar for everyone's tokens, so they could come to collect their free drink.

It was going to be a good night.

[[ for anyone who's been specifically invited, anyone who can assume they're invited, and anyone who might wander into a random new club in Baltimore on a Friday night - open! if SP! ]]

Comments

[okteiviakom]

Octavia in a black jumpsuit? Groundbreaking. But this one had some nice and dramatic cape sleeves, at least!

As she looked around the club, a drink in hand, she wondered idly whether anyone else felt an insistent urge to pop balloons whenever they saw them.

[my_own_advocate]

"So what do you think, darling?" Lucifer asked, slipping in beside her.

That massive smile wasn't going anywhere tonight.

[okteiviakom]

That was what Octavia was looking at the most, now that he was this close.

"That this makes you happy," she replied, with a faint rasp. No sarcasm, no irony.

[somethingwithturquoise]

Oh, Summer was definitely there; she wouldn't miss this finally happening (and on a night that made sense, too!) for anything! Literally! She'd rescheduled a sangria night for it and everything!

She decided to go simple and cute and sparkly, accessorizing with a matching increasingly NPC boyfriend who would eventually, no doubt, find the most painfully boring and nerdy thing to focus his attention on while Summer schmoozed it up, or possibly trapping some poor unfortunate soul in a discussion about how unsanitary that ice luge probably was. She almost considered giving the psychadellic shrooms cupcakes she'd been thinking about since class earlier a whirl tonight, but decided she'd much rather be experiencing this with a clear head, scoping things out as she decided how sycophantic or critical to be when she and the club owner himself eventually (she assumed, anyway) crossed paths.

And wondering if she could get away with using Barry's drink token, too, since he obviously wouldn't be.

[my_own_advocate]

"Well, hello, miss Smith," Lucifer said, his smile exceedingly bright as he swept in. "May I say I am loving the attitude your dress is bringing to the club?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Oh, what?" asked Summer, oh-so-innocently, looking over her shoulder at Lucifer in one of a few poses struck to best show off that dress and her in it. "That young, hip early-twenty-somethings demographic that is vital to keeping any good club's lifeblood pumping with relevancy in today's society of instant gratification and constant clout chasing? Thank you. Happy to help, and you are welcome, you better believe everyone in my Baltimore spheres will be buzzing about it."

Not that her Baltimore spheres were that big, but still!

[alwaysonguard]

Dwight had finished up at the shop early and he spent the rest of the day getting ready. The handwaves card Lucifer had given him was in the pocket of the suit he had worn to the grand opening.

The dressing up thing was not in his comfort zone, but the occasion definitely called for the best threads he had, and so there he was in the one dress suit he had for these occasions. A suit that he had worn more times since coming to the island than he had in his entire life up to that point.

As he walked in, trying not to look as out of place as he felt, Dwight stopped and gave an appreciative look around the place.

[my_own_advocate]

"Ah, lumberjack, there you are!" Lucifer called enthusiastically, and before Dwight could respond, shoved a drink at him.

[alwaysonguard]

"Lucifer," Dwight said with a smile as he accepted said drink. "Finally happening huh? Not a bad-looking place too" he said, trying to feign a mildly impressed tone but failing utterly and giving up on the charade just as quickly. "How's it feel to finally have the place open?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke made an effort today by keeping it simple: he wore a slim fitting black button-down over olive green trousers, not a lick of plaid in sight.

And, well, if the button-down was unbuttoned to the end of his sternum with no undershirt, that was just Duke being Duke. It meant his variety of necklaces was on fine display against his bare skin, and really, was anyone going to complain about getting to see his collarbones?

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was absolutely not going to complain about his collarbones being on show. Or his necklaces.

Or anything about the rest of him, really.

"Did I tell you yet you look fetching tonight?"

[betterthanaplan]

"Not in those precise words," Duke answered, amused. "Thank you. You do, too."

[my_own_advocate]

"You looked good enough to eat an hour ago," Lucifer told him, grinning, "but the lights are definitely improving the situation further."

[betterthanaplan]

"Why thank you," Duke said, preening a little. "I figured I should make sure I properly complemented you in your moment of glory."

[texted3times]

Was Eric leaning into all-black vampire aesthetic and then kind of resting on pretty for the rest of it?

Yep. It had worked for a thousand years.

Had he been invited? Possibly?

[okteiviakom]

Well, Octavia wasn't going to fault him for his chosen aesthetic, at least - given that they basically matched, now.

"No starting any shit here," she told him, but it was idle and a little dry and sort of steeped in the knowledge that most - if not all - of the shenanigans at the Nest stemmed just from Lucifer being Lucifer. "Okay?"

[texted3times]

"I am never--" mostly, "--the one to start it," Eric said with tiny smile. "I'm merely enjoying Lucifer having a club that isn't mine to play with."

[my_own_advocate]

"Playing to type, are we?" Lucifer asked, once he'd spotted Eric in the crowd.

[begmetwice]

There was a very good chance Irene would have been here even if she hadn't actually known the owner at all; club openings were exactly her sort of event. All the fun of a party, with a load of spectacle to allow for quiet observation.

Not to mention -- there simply weren't a lot of reasons to wear a sequined Michael Kors minidress on the island, were there? So Irene was here, with a fresh blowout and heels an inch or two taller than her usual stilts (which meant she'd find herself a seat on one of those couches sooner than later.)

[okteiviakom]

"Sparkly," Octavia noted, with a brief look up and down Irene's dress, having shown up from somewhere in the crowd.

And also yes, hello to you too, Tavi.

[my_own_advocate]

"Oh, I am certainly appreciating the level of glitz on display tonight," Lucifer greeted. "And a touch of high class."

[alwaysonguard]

Clubs and parties were not really Dwight's thing.... and off-island versions were even more outside his wheelhouse and comfort zone. But he had come to show support for Lucifer's new endeavor and found himself in a busy hopping bar with hardly anyone he knew. So, apologies in advance Irene, but you had been spotted.

"Hey Irene," Dwight said walking over, cup still in hand, trying not to look totally out of place in his on nice dress suit that he owned.

[sake_shinigami]

Shunsui had spent many a handwaved weekend night prowling around Baltimore and bar-hopping with a small set of lovely and rather indulgent young women who certainly wouldn't leave him on the lurch for a new club opening if they could help it! They'd hit up a few places beforehand, as well, before they strolled in, quite unaware of exactly whose club opening it was, because that hardly mattered, and his accompaniment knew that all their drinks would be generously covered tonight.

It wouldn't take long, however, for Shunsui to realize that this was going to be one of those rare, odd moments where one sphere of his life unexpectedly merged with another....

It was enough to almost make him wonder if any other Shinigami were going to show up and complete the circle.

[okteiviakom]

Now there was something Octavia hadn't expected to see tonight.

She'd found herself a good spot to people-watch from, a while, at the end of one of the couches. And now, with a drink in hand, she watched him, and his... entourage? That was probably the right word.

[my_own_advocate]

"Well now."

Lucifer had spotted a vaguely familiar set of robes, and he moved towards it with the easy experience of someone who knew how to work a crowd.

"Welcome!"