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! ]]

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[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.

[sake_shinigami]

Shunsui would have been absolutely delighted by that choice of word, yes. And it took some patience, but, eventually, the star aligned just right that the entourage had dispersed long enough for him to float his way over to that couch that Octavia had perched on the end of.

"You know," he drawled, after having collapsed and spread like a flowery pink wave into some of the unoccupied sofa space, "this might sound crazy, but you remind me an awful lot of a very good friend of mine ♥."

[okteiviakom]

"Oh yeah?" Octavia rasped, one corner of her mouth drawing up a little as she looked over at him. "She a fan of dramatic, swishy sleeves, too?"

Because apparently hers counted towards both of those things, right now.

[sake_shinigami]

"Oh," said Shunsui, passing over a speculative look toward Octavia's arms that had obviously never heard of the word subtle before, "I'm sure, in certain...contexts, she could be ♥. If she were, that would certainly be another thing that she and I shared in common ♥."

[okteiviakom]

"And what are the other things?" Octavia wondered.

Because the question was right there. And maybe because she had a drink in hand that wasn't all fruit juice, for a change.

[sake_shinigami]

"Well," said Shunsui, thoughtfully, after a drink from the cup in his hand that wasn't sake, for a change, "excellent taste in company, for starts ♥. More recently, a shared appreciation for cats. We're both the baby sibling, and there's a particular association with the number eight ♥."

And his smile may have gone a bit softer with how particular far back those last two had reached for him.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's smirk had mostly faded by the time he got to the last two, too.

"Well," she said, smaller somehow, "hard to argue with that kind of a connection."

[sake_shinigami]

Well. She had asked...

Though he supposed that's what he got for...sentimentality.

"Mmmm." Shunsui hummed agreeably into his cup. "Good evening?" he asked. "So far?"

[okteiviakom]

There was nothing wrong with his sentimentality. It'd been a very good answer. Octavia was just... Octavia.

Always a little surprised to be running into her own feelings.

(And that she allowed herself to sound that small in front of him was no insignificant thing, either.)

Octavia cleared her throat a little. Composed herself. "Lucifer's enjoying himself," she said. "That makes it a good night."

[sake_shinigami]

Shunsui's gaze lingered on Octavia with that answer, the increasingly familiar beat of it for a moment, before tilting his head, quirking his brow, grin lopsided. He then took an almost idle glance around, with an approving nod.

"Certainly has brought in an impressive crowd," he noted. "Looks like a rather good pay-off, neh ♥?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia looked across the club again. It was packed.

"This is one of the things he does best," she said. "It's what he used to do back in Los Angeles, too."

[sake_shinigami]

With a long pull from his absurdly fruity drink, arm now comfortably slung over the back of the couch, Shunsui followed Octavia's glance around with one of his own, which end up in his just picking out where a few of the flock he's swarmed in with had scattered, and picking out a few that could perhaps be added, too.

He then grinned over at her.

"He must be absolutely thrilled, then, to be able to bring some of that a bit...closer to home ♥."

[okteiviakom]

Funnily enough, Octavia also spotted a few of his entourage, just from having seen him with them before. Something about them prodded at a memory that was too old and probably too hazy to begin with to be fully recalled.

"I think so," she said, still watching strangers. And, softer: "He hasn't stopped grinning all night."

[sake_shinigami]

"His poor cheeks," Shunsui drawled out with mild amusement and a soft chuckle, "will be positively aching by tomorrow ♥! But there are far worse aches to be had..."

[okteiviakom]

"I don't intend to cause any others, tonight," Octavia said, definitely not thinking about anything in particular right there, perish the thought. "He deserves a good night, every now and then."

[sake_shinigami]

"Well," said Shunsui, because of course he would, "I'm sure there are a....few others that could actually serve to improve the night even more, but ♥..."

He let the rest of the thought hang there on its own, with a little wave of his free hand.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia threw him a glance that was half dry, half -- well.

"Those don't count."

They may have been in the cards, though.