{"id":1765,"date":"2024-11-06T01:02:47","date_gmt":"2024-11-06T07:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/?p=1765"},"modified":"2024-02-10T10:22:33","modified_gmt":"2024-02-10T16:22:33","slug":"baked-before-the-breakdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/baked-before-the-breakdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Baked Before the Breakdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The moment the green room door swung open and Gabriel waltzed in wearing a bandana on his head, someone\u2019s sunglasses, and a bathrobe from the hotel with \u201cI am the wind\u201d<\/em> written on the back in Sharpie, Thane knew they were in deep, deep trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGabriel\u2026\u201d Thane stood from the couch, arms crossed, brows already furrowed with industrial strength. \u201cHow are you feeling?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel struck a pose like a pirate lost in an IKEA. \u201cI am ready. I am transcendent<\/em>. I have named every lighting fixture in the venue, and I just told the coffee machine my deepest fears.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cassie, who was half into her stage boots and watching from across the room, whispered, \u201cWe\u2019re all gonna die.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maya had already locked eyes with Thane and mouthed, Do we cancel?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Thane muttered back. \u201cNot unless he starts trying to communicate with the subsnakes again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark sighed from his perch on the side of a road case. \u201cI told him not to touch the cookies. Told all of you. This is what happens when you let a caffeinated Labrador into a kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI heard that!\u201d Gabriel beamed as he flopped into a spinning chair and did an entire loop, arms out like a conductor in a gale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emily peeked in through the door, face pale. \u201cUh, crowd\u2019s already chanting. They think it\u2019s part of the act. Someone made a cardboard cutout of Gabriel with a stroopwafel crown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thane looked up at the ceiling like he was asking the universe for strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cassie looked at Thane. \u201cCan he even play?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rico, leaning against the wall and sipping a tiny espresso like the calmest man in the world, shrugged. \u201cHonestly? Might be the best set he\u2019s ever played. He\u2019s looser than a sock in a hurricane.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A moment passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then Gabriel stood up, looked everyone dead in the eye, and said in the calmest, most serious tone imaginable:
\u201cI know every note. I have never been more in sync with the universe\u2019s musical core. Let me go. Unleash the chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then Jonah burst out laughing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlright,\u201d Thane groaned. \u201cBut Rico, I want you shadowing him the entire set. If he starts licking the monitor wedges again \u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCopy that,\u201d Rico said, cracking his knuckles. \u201cGabriel Wrangler Protocol engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maya smirked. \u201cLet the bass wolf bass.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And somehow \u2014 somehow<\/strong> \u2014 Feral Eclipse walked onstage that night to thunderous screams, with Gabriel still slightly dazed but fully functional. The second his clawed fingers hit those strings, something clicked. Maybe it was instinct. Maybe it was muscle memory. Maybe it was just Gabriel being Gabriel\u2026 enhanced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Either way, he nailed<\/em> the opening riff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the entire venue, already roaring, exploded<\/strong> when he spun mid-note, slid on his knees across the stage, and screamed, \u201cAMSTERDAM, I HAVE ASCENDED!!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thane sighed through his headset as he managed the mix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d he muttered. \u201cWe\u2019re never gonna live this one down.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The moment the green room door swung open and Gabriel waltzed in wearing a bandana on his head, someone\u2019s sunglasses, and a bathrobe from the hotel with \u201cI am the wind\u201d written on the back in Sharpie, Thane knew they were in deep, deep trouble. \u201cGabriel\u2026\u201d Thane stood from the couch, arms crossed, brows already […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tour-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1765"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2981,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1765\/revisions\/2981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}