Still Morning \u2013 Fancy Hotel Dining Room<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most of the Feral Eclipse crew had migrated into a food coma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thane was slouched in his chair with his claws wrapped around a third cup of coffee, gaze fixed on a point somewhere past the glass windows and into the void. Gabriel was quietly humming to himself between bites of croissant-stuffed eggs, feet swinging under the table. Mark, still grumbling about \u201cbanana textures,\u201d was calculating how much longer it would take the espresso machine to break down if Gabriel hit it one more time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, she appeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A teenaged girl, maybe sixteen, in a soft hoodie and sneakers, was sitting with her mom a few tables over. She\u2019d been \u201csneaking glances\u201d for ten minutes straight\u2014trying to act casual while very much not<\/em> being casual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She had the look of someone internally screaming the entire time. Phone clutched tightly in both hands. Eyes wide. Hands twitching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel was the first to notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He tilted his head, ears perking, and whispered across the table, \u201cWe\u2019ve been spotted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane sighed, \u201cYou sure?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe\u2019s wearing a tour hoodie from Tulsa,\u201d Gabriel replied, nodding toward the girl. \u201cSecond row. That\u2019s definitely her. She was the one who tossed a glow stick at Jonah during his solo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jonah blinked. \u201cThat was her? That thing nailed me in the temple.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel grinned. \u201cDirect hit. Five stars.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rico leaned in. \u201cShe gonna ask for a pic?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNope,\u201d said Mark, still sipping his black coffee, \u201cShe\u2019s about to pretend she\u2019s not<\/em> freaking out. Then she\u2019ll try to casually pass by us with her phone recording, trip over a chair, and we\u2019ll all pretend it didn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ten seconds later\u2026 she tripped over a chair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCalled it,\u201d Mark muttered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her mom looked up in alarm, but the girl waved it off like she meant<\/em> to do that. She walked by their table, phone in hand, held at an angle so unnatural it could only be the \u201cI\u2019m definitely not filming you right now\u201d position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane, deadpan, without looking up: \u201cSmile, boys. We\u2019re going viral again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel leaned toward the girl, flashing his most charming fang-filled grin. \u201cMorning!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She stopped dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her phone hit the floor with a clatter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2014I\u2014Hi! Oh my god, hi!!\u201d she squeaked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark blinked slowly. \u201cNailed it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel stood up slowly and extended a clawed hand to help her pick up her phone. \u201cYou okay?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She nodded frantically. \u201cI\u2014I didn\u2019t mean to interrupt! I just\u2014I\u2019m such a huge fan\u2014my name\u2019s Riley\u2014I saw you in Tulsa and the light show was so\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane smiled softly and reached for his coffee. \u201cAppreciate the love, Riley.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maya gave a mock glare from across the room. \u201cMake it quick, guys. We\u2019re on the road again in twenty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Riley\u2019s mom had now walked up, equal parts embarrassed and trying to play it cool. \u201cSorry about that\u2014she\u2019s just really excited.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel posed for a quick selfie with Riley (who was shaking so hard the picture ended up hilariously blurry), then gave her one of the little hotel Nutella jars from his pocket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEmergency werewolf gift,\u201d he said with a wink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As they walked away, Jonah shook his head. \u201cYou keep giving out hotel condiments, and we\u2019re gonna get blacklisted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel beamed. \u201cWorth it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rico raised an eyebrow. \u201cShe\u2019s totally posting that video before we check out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark leaned back, already dreading the inevitable. \u201cCan\u2019t wait to read the headline: \u2018Feral Eclipse Guitarist Gives Me Hazelnut Trauma\u2019<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Still Morning \u2013 Fancy Hotel Dining Room Most of the Feral Eclipse crew had migrated into a food coma. Thane was slouched in his chair with his claws wrapped around a third cup of coffee, gaze fixed on a point somewhere past the glass windows and into the void. Gabriel was quietly humming to himself […]<\/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-187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tour-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187","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=187"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3297,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions\/3297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}