8:04 AM – Lone Star Pavilion Loading Dock – Dallas
The sun was up.
The wolves were not.
Inside the bus, the day began with a shriek.
“WHY IS THERE A FOAM WOLF HEAD IN THE COFFEE MACHINE?!”
Cassie’s voice, already at full volume, rang out from the kitchenette like a murder alarm. Thane jolted upright in his bunk, hitting his head on the frame above him. Mark groaned from behind a closed door. Jonah yelled “IT’S A KEEPSAKE!” from the bathroom.
Emily, who was already up and typing in the front lounge, sighed without looking up. “It’s gonna be that kind of day.”
9:02 AM – Onsite Prep Begins
Mark arrived at the venue first, clipboard and lighting cue tablet in hand, already barking orders like a man possessed.
“NO. That truss doesn’t go there. No, that fixture goes stage right. No, I don’t care what the other band did last week. This is our show, not a prom for people who don’t believe in haze.”
Crew members scattered like pigeons. One of them accidentally wheeled a case over Jonah’s foot.
“OW! These are my drumming feet!”
“You drum barefoot, what’s the difference?”
“They’re emotional support toes!”
10:18 AM – Soundcheck Delay
Back on the bus, Thane sat cross-legged in front of the mobile rig laptop, growling softly.
Gabriel handed him a third cup of Diet Mountain Dew and leaned over his shoulder. “What broke?”
“The EQ rack isn’t seeing the board. Like, at all. It’s acting like I plugged it into a potato.”
Jonah popped in. “I did store potatoes in the cable crate. For band stew night.”
Thane stared at him for a long, long moment.
Gabriel gently steered Jonah back out of the room.
11:30 AM – Unexpected Guests
Emily returned from the venue lobby carrying a clipboard and a look of absolute disbelief.
“Okay. So. Um. There are three journalists, one lifestyle influencer, a news drone crew, the venue’s PR rep, and… the governor’s daughter. She brought cupcakes. With edible paw prints.”
Cassie blinked. “Do we… have a protocol for this?”
Rico: “Smile and look hot?”
Maya: “No one smiles around here before noon. Or at journalists.”
Thane grunted from the hallway. “Are the cupcakes vegan.”
Emily: “…I didn’t ask.”
12:17 PM – Lunch and Existential Crises
Jonah spilled guacamole down the front of his “formal” show tank top.
Cassie forgot how to spell “phenomenal” while writing a setlist and spiral-texted Gabriel for ten minutes about maybe being illiterate.
Gabriel solved this by putting his sunglasses on upside-down and laying face-first on the dressing room couch.
Mark: “We are so professional it hurts.”
1:45 PM – Final Tech Check
The sun was blazing now. The crew moved like a well-oiled machine—albeit one powered entirely by caffeine and sarcasm.
Mark tested lighting sequences like a mad scientist summoning storms. Thane finally got the EQ to recognize the board and immediately fist-bumped a speaker. Cassie ran vocal warmups while Maya adjusted her pedalboard with the precision of a surgeon.
Jonah drummed on everything.
Gabriel stood mid-stage, bass in hand, and looked out at the vast empty seats. The heat shimmered in the distance, the stage gleaming, the buzz of something massive building all around them.
He smiled.
Back on the bus, Emily finished uploading a teaser clip—footage from the last show, set over slow-motion crowd shots. The title:
“Tonight in Dallas: This Is More Than Music”
Within ten minutes, it started trending.
The show was hours away.
The nerves were real.
The chaos was loud.
But so was the heart of it all.
They were ready.
Even if the fog machine definitely wasn’t.