The first hints of dusk painted Edmond in a warm glow, like the town itself knew something extraordinary was about to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The streetlights clicked on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The floodlights went live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The crowd? It had already tripled.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Diesel whistled low as he came back from a perimeter walk. \u201cOkay, we\u2019ve got a full-blown situation. That\u2019s not just Oklahoma out there anymore. That\u2019s… flags.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane looked up from the power distro checklist. \u201cFlags?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diesel nodded. \u201cGermany. Japan. Argentina. Ireland. And someone in a full-blown Scottish<\/em> kilt with \u2018Feral Eclipse 4 Life\u2019 painted on his chest. In December.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maya peeked around the curtain and swore softly. \u201cWhen did this become the Olympics?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Emily ran into the production tent, eyes wild. \u201cThere\u2019s a guy with a parrot on his shoulder leading a chant in Russian.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark didn\u2019t even flinch. \u201cThat\u2019s Ivan. I saw him in the livestream comments this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou knew he was real?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark shrugged. \u201cOf course. He tagged us in fan art last week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane rubbed his temples. \u201cOkay. We need to get ahead of this before the city freaks out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cToo late,\u201d Rico said, gesturing toward the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because that\u2019s<\/em> when the first black SUV rolled up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then three more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Out stepped a parade of sharply dressed men in tailored coats, fur trim, leather gloves, and enough jewelry to bankroll a movie. At the front, a barrel-chested man with a platinum beard and a glowing cigarette holder surveyed the chaos with visible delight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI AM IVAN,\u201d he declared to no one and everyone at once. \u201cI BRING WOLF PACK VODKA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He lifted a wooden crate over his head, filled with bottles of high-end Russian vodka\u2014each etched with a tiny, snarling werewolf head and the Feral Eclipse logo in Cyrillic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The crowd screamed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFIREWATER FOR SOUND WARRIORS!\u201d Ivan bellowed, gesturing to the crate like it was holy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel sprinted out from backstage and hugged him with the force of a crash test dummy. \u201cI knew you were real!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOF COURSE I\u2019M REAL!\u201d Ivan shouted, handing him a bottle. \u201cI AM YOUR BIGGEST FAN. MY COUSIN IN MOSCOW HAS BASS POSTER IN CHURCH.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rico looked like he was having a mild aneurysm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThane,\u201d he whispered. \u201cWe\u2019re about to serve Russian mob vodka at a city-sponsored event.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane took a long breath. \u201cYeah. But… it\u2019s very<\/em> high-quality vodka.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Emily jogged over, breathless. \u201cIvan says he brought more fans in three buses. There are people from Ukraine, Siberia, and at least one guy who claims to be from… Transylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diesel chuckled. \u201cThat tracks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And still, the fans kept coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The roads were gridlocked from downtown to the interstate. Locals abandoned their cars and walked the last few blocks. Kids sat on shoulders. Parents waved signs. Elderly couples danced to warm-up tracks in mittens and boots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the sun dropped fully behind the horizon, the venue didn\u2019t glow\u2014it radiated.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Drone cameras buzzed overhead, capturing the spectacle. Every major social media platform trended with #FeralEclipseNYE. People were streaming live from the backs of pickup trucks, from rooftops, from someone\u2019s canoe on a frozen pond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A group of cosplay wolves howled at the sky as the soundcheck pulses vibrated the pavement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And backstage?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel was in rare form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He\u2019d already tried to crowd-surf through the parking lot, played a one-person kazoo solo that nearly made Jonah cry, and suggested that Thane rig \u201csurprise pyro\u201d to the folding chairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark had to confiscate his clicker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI just wanted to blow up one thing,<\/em>\u201d Gabriel muttered, flopping into a folding chair and sipping from Ivan\u2019s vodka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got five thousand fans, free booze, and a man in a wolf onesie trying to start a chant with a tambourine,\u201d Thane replied, dry. \u201cPick a different explosion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just before go-time, the Mayor appeared\u2014beaming, awestruck, and absolutely overwhelmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t even know how we\u2019re gonna explain this to the Governor,\u201d he murmured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou don\u2019t,\u201d Mark said, calmly zipping a flight case. \u201cJust tell him the wolves took over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Mayor laughed. \u201cI might do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He looked out toward the mass of waving lights, glowsticks, flags, and snow-dusted chaos and sighed, full of wonder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou know… this is the biggest thing our town has ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cassie clapped him on the back. \u201cIt\u2019s about to get bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Behind the curtain, the pack assembled. Last check. Last stretch. One last drink of water\u2014or vodka, in Gabriel\u2019s case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The energy was electric. The crowd noise was thunderous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the last sound before the lights dropped?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ivan, backstage in his silver coat, whispering with teary-eyed sincerity to Emily:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis… this is what love looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The first hints of dusk painted Edmond in a warm glow, like the town itself knew something extraordinary was about to happen. The streetlights clicked on. The floodlights went live. The crowd? It had already tripled. Diesel whistled low as he came back from a perimeter walk. \u201cOkay, we\u2019ve got a full-blown situation. That\u2019s not […]<\/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-2020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tour-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020","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=2020"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2948,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020\/revisions\/2948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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