{"id":204,"date":"2023-04-30T01:00:49","date_gmt":"2023-04-30T06:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/?p=204"},"modified":"2024-02-10T10:23:15","modified_gmt":"2024-02-10T16:23:15","slug":"louder-than-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/louder-than-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Louder Than Words"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Backstage meeting room, fifteen minutes post-furniture destruction<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The makeshift band meeting had commandeered the dim, echoing room adjacent to the green room. A half-eaten veggie platter sat lonely on the table. Thane had managed to unfold a chair without breaking it this time. Mark stood beside him like an unyielding slab of granite. Gabriel was perched backward on a stool, coffee in hand like a referee ready to call a foul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maya leaned against the far wall, arms crossed, fiery eyes locked on Thane. Rico and Jonah slouched nearby, trying their best to look small and un-injurable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlright,\u201d Thane muttered. \u201cLet\u2019s hear it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jonah was the first to brave it. \u201cLook, man… we didn\u2019t know cosplay fan art would set you off that hard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the art,\u201d Thane growled. \u201cIt\u2019s being turned into… merch. I\u2019m not a plush toy. I\u2019m me.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rico raised a hand slowly, like a kid in class worried about asking the wrong question. \u201cWhat if… and just hear me out… you are<\/em> you. But now, people are seeing that. You made an impact. They\u2019re just… processing it through glitter and chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBadly,\u201d Maya added flatly. \u201cVery badly. But they are<\/em> trying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thane rubbed the bridge of his snout, sighing. \u201cIt\u2019s just… hard. We\u2019re not celebrities. We\u2019re a crew. A family.<\/em> This wasn\u2019t supposed to be about becoming somebody\u2019s furry fanfiction inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel sipped his coffee. \u201cYeah, but now we are.<\/em> The weird thing is… that\u2019s kind of beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark grunted. \u201cIt\u2019s still stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t say it wasn\u2019t,\u201d Gabriel shot back with a grin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that moment, the door creaked open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A tech assistant sheepishly peeked in. \u201cUh… sorry to interrupt. Fanmail dump just got delivered. Apparently it\u2019s been piling up since Dallas and no one told you guys.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He wheeled in two bins overflowing with envelopes, doodles, signed photos, even a stuffed wolf plush in a Feral Eclipse shirt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, great,\u201d Mark muttered. \u201cOur legacy in crayon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rico wandered over, lifting a letter with doodles of the band in wolf and human forms playing onstage. \u201cThis one\u2019s got, like, actual shading. Damn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel grabbed a postcard and burst out laughing. \u201cThis one says, \u2018Dear Gabriel, if you ever get tired of Thane, I\u2019m 5’10”, make a mean grilled cheese, and love wolves.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thane side-eyed him. \u201cYou gonna answer that one?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDepends. Do you<\/em> make a mean grilled cheese?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before Thane could answer, another knock echoed at the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It opened a crack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A hotel security guard stood there awkwardly. \u201cSorry. We tried to stop her. She, uh, slipped through a service hallway. She said she just needed a second.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From behind him, a teenage girl stepped forward. Nervous. Hands clasped around a carefully folded drawing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thane\u2019s ears twitched. His eyes softened just a hair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d she said quickly. \u201cI didn\u2019t mean to intrude. I just… I really needed to say thank you. I\u2019ve been… having a really hard time. Like, really hard. And your music? Your existence<\/em>? It made me feel like I wasn\u2019t weird. Like maybe… maybe being different doesn\u2019t mean being broken.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She held out the drawing. It was him\u2014Thane\u2014standing in a spotlight, cable in one clawed hand, face fierce but proud. The text under it read: \u201cReal. Raw. Relentless.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stared at it for a long moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then he knelt down slowly and took the drawing with a clawed hand that trembled just slightly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s your name?\u201d he asked softly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEmma.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He nodded. \u201cEmma, I\u2019m proud of you. For being different. And for being here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her eyes filled with tears. \u201cI\u2019m proud of you too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel grinned and whispered behind him, \u201cSay it. You\u2019re feeling feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thane didn\u2019t look back. \u201cShut up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark muttered under his breath, \u201cIf we adopt a fan, I swear to god…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maya leaned against the wall, smirking. \u201cToo late. Thane has an emotional support Emma now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thane rose, still holding the drawing. He looked around at the ridiculous, chaotic, loving mess that was his band.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlright,\u201d he said. \u201cLet\u2019s go play a show.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Backstage meeting room, fifteen minutes post-furniture destruction The makeshift band meeting had commandeered the dim, echoing room adjacent to the green room. A half-eaten veggie platter sat lonely on the table. Thane had managed to unfold a chair without breaking it this time. Mark stood beside him like an unyielding slab of granite. Gabriel was […]<\/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-204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tour-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204","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=204"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3291,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions\/3291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}