{"id":83,"date":"2023-04-03T01:00:12","date_gmt":"2023-04-03T06:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/?p=83"},"modified":"2024-02-10T10:23:15","modified_gmt":"2024-02-10T16:23:15","slug":"marks-revenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/marks-revenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark\u2019s Revenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Next night, backstage at the new venue, two hours before showtime<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The venue was a serious step up from the last one\u2014high ceilings, clean dressing rooms, freshly waxed floors, and stage rigging that didn\u2019t look like it might fall apart with a strong gust of bass. Thane was perched up on a catwalk above stage left, fine-tuning a stubborn lighting anchor while the crew buzzed below like caffeinated ants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark had been uncharacteristically quiet during load-in. Not the good kind of quiet either\u2014the intentional<\/em> kind. Thane had noticed, of course, but with all the tech checks and patch corrections going on, he hadn\u2019t had time to dig into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then Gabriel\u2019s voice crackled over comms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThane? Uh\u2026 did you mess with the dressing room?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thane furrowed his brow. \u201cNo, I\u2019ve been up here the whole time. Why?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen\u2026 you should probably come see this.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thane climbed down and made his way to the dressing room, passing through the familiar backstage maze of cables, dim light, and low conversation. As he stepped into the doorway, he stopped cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entire room was plastered\u2014plastered<\/em>\u2014with Rocket Gator<\/strong> stickers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were everywhere<\/em>: on the walls, the mirrors, the ceiling tiles, the backs of chairs. Even Gabriel\u2019s prized guitar case had stickers inside it, including one right over the logo that read \u201cRIDE THE ROCKET, COWARD.\u201d<\/strong> Another one near the coffee station simply said \u201cGATOR SEES ALL.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel stood in the middle of the chaos, holding up one of the stickers between two claws like it was radioactive. His fur bristled as he scanned the carnage, wide-eyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is a hate crime,” he muttered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thane stared in awe, then slowly broke into a grin. It was beautiful. It was unhinged. It was exactly<\/em> the kind of calculated, spite-fueled vengeance Mark specialized in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then he saw it\u2014the crown jewel of the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A framed poster, lit perfectly by a soft white spotlight, hung dead center on the wall. It showed all three of them on the Rocket Chomp Coaster<\/strong>, snapped mid-scream by the on-ride camera. Gabriel\u2019s ears were pinned back. Thane looked mid-howl. And Mark?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark looked dead into the camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expressionless. Unbothered. Like the gator ride was a business meeting he didn\u2019t schedule but had shown up to anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That broke Thane. He doubled over, wheezing with laughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just then, Mark walked in, clipboard under one arm, casual as ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSound check\u2019s in twenty,\u201d he said, brushing past them. \u201cOh\u2014and Gabriel, I added Rocket Gator charms to your guitar strings. Gotta keep the theme consistent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel sputtered. \u201cYou touched<\/em> my guitar?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wore gloves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thane leaned on the wall, tears in his eyes. \u201cYou magnificent bastard\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark glanced over, tail flicking once. \u201cThat\u2019ll teach you both to drag me to a cursed neon gator hellscape.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel pointed at him, incredulous. \u201cThis means war.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark simply nodded, already turning to leave. \u201cI look forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Next night, backstage at the new venue, two hours before showtime The venue was a serious step up from the last one\u2014high ceilings, clean dressing rooms, freshly waxed floors, and stage rigging that didn\u2019t look like it might fall apart with a strong gust of bass. Thane was perched up on a catwalk above stage […]<\/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-83","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tour-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83","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=83"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3317,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions\/3317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}