The bus was parked behind the venue\u2014tonight\u2019s sold-out arena gig was still a few hours away, and most of the crew was inside doing soundchecks, lighting queues, and last-minute rigging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inside the bus, however, it was unusually quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Too quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mark sat alone on the sofa, flipping through a well-worn paperback copy of Dune<\/em>. He wasn\u2019t one for drama, but his left ear had twitched three times in the last five minutes. Something\u2026 wasn\u2019t right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He looked up, nose twitching subtly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nacho cheese.<\/strong> Mark slowly set his book down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, behind the lower bunks, a young teenage fan named Toby was trying his absolute hardest to keep still. He had somehow\u2014somehow<\/em>\u2014followed the bus from the hotel to the venue, dashed across the service lot with nothing but a hoodie, a VIP lanyard he definitely did not<\/em> earn, and a snack-filled backpack… and slipped aboard during a gear load-in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI just want to meet them,\u201d he whispered to himself. \u201cOne selfie. One autograph. I\u2019ll be quiet, I swear\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n His whispering was interrupted by a soft, echoing voice. Dead calm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got exactly five seconds to come out before I pull you out by the ankles.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Toby froze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A shadow moved in the dim hallway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The gray-furred werewolf stood there in jeans and a faded black band t-shirt, looking completely unamused, a brow arched so far it practically touched his ears. He didn\u2019t even look mad. Just\u2026 disappointed<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThree,\u201d Mark added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Toby scrambled out with hands up, hoodie half-tangled over his head and backpack swinging behind him. \u201cI\u2019m sorry! I didn\u2019t mean any harm! I just \u2014 I love your band so much and I had to try and I brought snacks and \u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark held up a claw. \u201cYou brought Doritos<\/em> onto my bus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Yes?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark stepped closer, slowly, looming like a parental thundercloud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJonah\u2019s gonna smell those from three blocks away. Gabriel\u2019s probably already tail-twitching in the green room. And Thane will make you clean out the cable bins by hand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Toby gulped. \u201cAm I\u2026 banned?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark exhaled, rubbed his temples. \u201cNo. But you\u2019re about to get the most awkward lecture of your life.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Twenty minutes later, the entire crew was gathered in the front lounge of the bus as Mark recounted the events with dramatic pauses and slow, judgmental glares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane crossed his arms, barefoot claws tapping the floor. \u201cYou snuck<\/em> onto a werewolf\u2019s<\/em> tour bus?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel, perched beside him with a coffee in hand, was trying really hard not to laugh. \u201cI gotta admit, the guts on this kid. I kinda admire it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cassie squinted. \u201cWait. Did he really bring a bag of Cool Ranch<\/em> and try to bribe his way to a selfie<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes,\u201d Mark said flatly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jonah burst in from the stage door with a shout. \u201cSOMEONE SAY DORITOS?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rico clapped a hand to his forehead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eventually, after a very firm but surprisingly kind conversation, the pack did what they do best\u2014turn chaos into connection. Thane made Toby promise to never pull a stunt like that again and<\/em> attend a fan safety workshop run by the crew\u2019s tour assistant. Emily took a photo with him. Gabriel signed his backpack. Jonah stole his Doritos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And before the show, Toby was escorted (legally this time) into the VIP area\u2014where he promptly burst into tears when the whole band gave him a group shout-out during the set.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The bus was parked behind the venue\u2014tonight\u2019s sold-out arena gig was still a few hours away, and most of the crew was inside doing soundchecks, lighting queues, and last-minute rigging. Inside the bus, however, it was unusually quiet. Too quiet. Mark sat alone on the sofa, flipping through a well-worn paperback copy of Dune. He […]<\/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-653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tour-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653","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=653"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3121,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653\/revisions\/3121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
And not just any nacho cheese\u2014the specific kind found only in crinkly plastic bags from gas stations.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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