Maka wasn't sure why she had agreed to the girl's trip, but she did know she was tired. Tsu had explained that they'd be camping, and Maka had appropriately mentally prepared for the toll that would take. However, she had not prepared for the travel to the campgrounds from their home state, and the set up of tents, food stations, water and cleaning areas, and the loudness of everyone around them at the campgrounds.

Maka also wasn't prepared for how fucking hot it was. Tsubaki had told her not to bring pants, but Maka had disregarded this because Tsu had always ran hotter than Maka. However, the sweat rivulets down her back that continually dripped into her ass crack… made her rethink the strong position she had taken.

Maka didn't even really 'get' music. Her friends could vibe with a song like it was their fucking job. They were always trying to have Maka listen to a new song or explain lyrics or drama associated with different artists and how it impacted their music.

Maka tried to match the sway of Patty in front of her, but couldn't quite find the rhythm. She wanted to feel it, especially because the way the guitar player was running her fingers over the strings really made her want to understand it.

She loved seeing the way everyone felt as they danced or scream-shouted lyrics along with the bands on the different stages, but Maka felt an inherent disconnect. She finished the rest of her warm seltzer, so she could have an excuse to go buy another. Patty, Liz, and Tsu wouldn't miss her for a minute.

Catching Liz's eye, she waved her empty can and motioned back through the crowd toward the alcohol stand. Pushing her way back through the crowd took Maka longer than she expected due to a group of drunk boys leaning heavily on everyone, and generally making everyone around them uncomfortable. Maka distinctly disliked this type of disorderly conduct, and as she passed by the last of the group members, she placed her foot so the last guy fell, pulling the entire group down with him.

Maka finally made it out of the crowd and walked toward the middle of the grounds. Everything was set up in a hexagon, with the stages at the points of the shape and several food, merch, and drink tents clustered in the center.

A slight breeze lifted Maka's hair, and when she turned her face to meet it, she felt her shoulders finally unknot from the tension of all the people around her. She'd somehow meandered to an open area and for once wasn't surrounded by a crush of bodies and emotions. She allowed herself a few more seconds, but once the breeze died, her awareness of the surroundings returned. Luckily, this small moment of stolen time had somehow reduced the amount of people in front of the beer tent, and she directed her feet toward the line.

"Happy, Roo! How's it treating you?"

Maka looked up from her phone to find a guy from anywhere in his early 20's to early 30's who seemed to be talking to her.

Maka looked around, before responding. "Uh, happy Roo?" Her voice betrayed her with a lilt upward making her statement more of a question. "Um fine, I guess." She turned her body away, trying to close off the conversation.

"Yah, I know! I'm loving it myself. Lots of interesting things to see. And I've seen some really great sets so far! Are you here alone?"

Maka inched forward, and looked around the person in front of her. Three more people. "Uh no. With friends."

"Aw nice! Yeah I'm here solo. Nothing tying me down. I decided to solo camp this year. Are you camping?" The line crawled forward.

Maka closed her eyes and pressed her lips together, praying the line would move just a little faster. "Yes." Her curt reply was as blunt as she could make it, and she hadn't even looked at him in order to convey how much she wasn't interested in continuing the conversation.

"Nice! Which campground?"

"Next!"

Thank god. Maka moved the final few inches forward into the refuge of the mundane conversation of ordering. "Can I get a seltzer?"

"We have black cherry or watermelon."

"Black cherry's fine."

"15 dollars." The worker placed the seltzer in front of Maka and motioned toward the small box for her wristband. She quickly scanned the small chip in the festival's bracelet and moved out of the way. Because she wasn't thinking, when she turned around she gave a small polite smile to the talkative guy.

"Have a great, Roo." She lifted her can in a goodbye then began to walk back toward Data Stage. Or wait was the next set they were seeing at Code Stage?

Maka tucked her drink into the crook of her elbow and pulled her phone out. Pulling up the list that Tsu had sent Maka was moving slowly in the direction of the stage she'd left, but not too quickly in case it was the one that was on the opposite side of the hexagon. She placed her phone under her chin, then used her dominant hand to grab her drink and switch it to her other, so she could continue to drink and use her phone.

Just as she was about to take a sip, she heard a voice calling after her. She ignored it and disregarding the list that Tsu had made, she moved to the closest stage with a small crowd.

"Oh come on, I just wanna be friends! I'm a good guy!" A hand grasped her elbow, before she had made it fully into the small crowd. Fuck. "Oh cool! You like electropop too? I was headed to this set next! That's awesome that we ended up at the beer tent and this stage together."

"Please, let go of me." Maka made sure she asked with what she hoped was the right amount of force. Too strong and he might get angry and too weak and he wouldn't listen.

"Oh, I didn't wanna lose you in the crowd. Easier if I just hold your elbow, you know?" He smiled at her, and a shiver ran down Maka's spine because the smile was also in his eyes.

"There you are, babe!" A different voice called out as Maka felt herself being tugged through the crowd.

"Sorry," it continued in a whisper in her ear, "you just looked so terrified," before continuing in a loader voice, "everybody else is soaking up the morning beers with food by Mainframe before MCR. You get lost again?"

Maka glanced over to see a crestfallen look cross the guy's face before he shrugged and turned away, moving through the crowd to the front of the stage.

"I think he's gone. You good?"

Maka turned around to see a different young man. He'd immediately stepped back when the other had disappeared in the crowd and was scratching the back of his head with one hand, while the other held some type of beer.

"Uh, yeah. Thanks."

"If you've got people, call them over. If not, next time don't head to a crowd. There's security posted at each corner of the stage entrances." His hand left the back of his head to point at a corner of the stage near them and then directed her to the opposite side of the stage. "I gotta get going. Stay safe, and happy Roo." The corner of his mouth lifted in a half smile, and Maka's stomach dropped.

"Oh, uh… Happy Roo!" She called after his swiftly retreating form.

Soul lived for festivals. The vibes were generally immaculate, and he thrived on the positivity and general goodwill of the people there.

However, he was also a realist, and he knew "nice guys" well enough to know that this guy in front of him really didn't see what he was doing wrong. He didn't intervene because once the girl was out of the beer line, it'd be over. But when he turned around after buying the five dollar mystery beer and saw the guy following her into the crowd, he sighed.

Does this make me a creep, too? He wondered as he grabbed her arm and tugged her away from further interactions with the guy. Once the guy had given up, Soul looked down at the girl and hoped it didn't.

He walked away to ensure it. The girl was mad cute, but it'd be uncool of him to pepper her with questions of his own. Even if I do wanna know which bands she's here to see. Then he berated his own inner monologue because what he really wanted to know was if it was his band she'd added to some festival list with her friends. He shook his head fiercely, trying to dislodge the whole interaction.

He finally made it to the Cache Stage and flashed his wristband at the guard.

"Hey, Soul. Excited to see y'all later."

"Thanks, Tommy. I think it might just be you though. We're competing against some heavy timetables this year." Soul's slight shoulder lift tried to convey indifference, but he wasn't sure Tommy bought it.

"Ehh, kid. You'll be fine. You guys have been blowing up the scene lately. Very virus, as my daughter says."

Soul's mouth quirked at the corner and he shrugged again, but it was lighter this time. "We'll see!" He nodded and moved up the steps toward the back of the stage.

"Heyyyy, Soul!" BlackStar called from behind the drums where he was twirling a set of sticks. "Yo, where's my beer, dude?"

"More like where's your shirt? You seriously aren't planning on playing half naked again?"

"Just be grateful, he's wearing shorts, Soul." Kid called from a stool in the corner without looking up from his phone.

"Soul, it's hot as hell. And we agreed any shows above 80 I could play shirtless."

Soul snorted, "we agreed to any shows above 95."

"Ehh 80-90. I'm dying either way." BlackStar played a groove and a quick kick beat before continuing, "besides it pulls the crowd in to see my body." He winked before playing a rimshot.

"If you two are finished flirting," Kid drawled before finally looking up from his phone, "we need to decide on the final set list. I think we should stick with the one from our last show, but rearrange or change the last two songs."

"Nah, man. We gotta end on "Ohio Is For Lovers." It's the perfect mix of screamo and singing." BlackStar sighed happily before playing a quick kickbeat once more.

Kid stood up abruptly, knocking over the stool he'd been sitting on and running his hands through his hair in agitation. "Look, I'm just trying to get us a little more attention. We've got something going here with this festival, and I want to take advantage of the opportunity. We have good shit, but I don't know why it's not bigger. It's frustrating."

"Hey, hey. It's alright Kid. We don't disagree. We wanna make it big too." Soul walked over to Kid and threw an arm around his shoulders. "We're gonna get there, dude. You've got the words. I've got the sick melodies. You and I can sing, and BlackStar can do the unclean vocals while he drums.." Soul threw a quick wink and finger gun at BlackStar over Ki's shoulder, who in return blew him a kiss with the hand holding his drumstick. "It's just time working against us. Trust the process."

"What if we ended on a cover?" Kid nervously slipped out from under Soul's arm and avoided looking at either of his other band members.

"Are you fucking joking?" BlackStar turned toward where Soul and Kid had walked behind him on the stage so quickly that he slid off his stool.

"I mean… it's a cool thing going around right now. And some other bands are getting bigger doing covers of famous songs. It might help us just get noticed for all the things you already said we were good at. It's just negating the time component. I mean we all like the Beatles, and I mean Linkin Park is huge right now. It couldn't hurt, right?"

Soul drained the rest of his shitty mystery beer before lobbing it toward their pile of cans in the back, "You can do it, dude. But you'll be doing it alone."

Tsubaki was thrilled to be at Roo with her girlfriends, but she was also very very tired. She'd been planning this trip for ages. She'd made outlines, itineraries, packing lists, identified which bands each of her friends would want to see (minus Maka), made a specific list of day by day sets they could see so that everyone saw their favorites, she'd made up snack packs, she'd planned each meal for the days they'd be there, saved the correct amount of money for gas and any other miscellaneous travel expenses; yet she was still surprised when her friends showed up the day before with none of the items for the camping trip, none of the beer or alcohol she'd requested (thinking they'd at minimum do this), and they all needed her help to pack, or find this item or look for that or buy this. And Maka had brought freaking pants after Tsubaki had specifically told her it would be hot as hell out here.

Tsu took a deep breath, and let herself sink into the vibes around her. This was Patty's favorite band at the festival. She knew because she'd made the schedules. Some electro-pop duo. It made Tsu sleepy, and it also reminded her of the US mail system. She'd made the joke to Patty and Liz about the postal service, but only Patty had giggled. Liz had only rolled her eyes. Tsu shook herself a little and blinked a few times. This band was good, but she wasn't going to make it to the next set, which was the only one she had specifically requested, if she didn't wake herself up.

"I'm going to find Maka and grab a seltzer. See 'ya at the Cache Stage next, right? It's the only thing I asked."

"I know, Tsu. I know." Liz waved her off as she and Patty moved closer up to the stage.

Tsu pulled her phone out and called Maka. It rang twice before Maka answered.

"Hey Maka, everything ok? You've been gone a minute."

"Oh, yeah sorry. The beer line was just long. Where are you guys?"

Tsu held back a sigh. She'd sent the freaking schedules. "Patty and Liz are at the Phishing Stage, and they should be heading to Cache in about 20 for the only band I requested we see."

"Oh, yeah. What was it again? Hawthorne Hills?"

"Heights. Hawthorne Heights." Tsu closed her eyes and quickly pressed her lips together before taking a deep breath. "Anyway, not sure where you are, but do you wanna meet me at the beer tent near the Data Stage where you left us earlier?"

"Yeah, sounds good! See you in a minute, I'm not far from there."

Tsu composed her face carefully before she made her way to the beer tent. She wanted to present the positive vibes she was known for, and she didn't know what her face was doing currently. She shook her head once last time, and took one final deep breath before breathing out the tension and stress in a heavy sigh. It's fine. I'm here and maybe… A small smile broke out on her face, and she allowed herself to hope for something impossible.

BlackStar wasn't sure what the fuck Kid was on about. He's gotta be fucking joking. He shot a look to Soul, who just shrugged and continued to tune his guitar. Kid had continually avoided direct eye contact with BlackStar since the suggestion of a cover song, and honestly for good reason. BlackStar wasn't even the writer of the majority of the songs. He'd helped with the drumming of course, but lyrically he was nothing compared to Soul and Kid. They were geniuses. BlackStar was more than fucking pissed at Kid for doubting himself and ultimately the band. Now I'm definitely not playing with a shirt. He smirked, "Yo, how much time we have left?"

"There's already some people out in the field. I think they'll have us go on early since we're pretty close in time to the Mainframe event." Kid didn't turn when he said this. Instead he pretended that he needed to continue tuning his bass and focused his attention on the neck of his guitar as if he had never tuned it before.

BlackStar rolled his eyes. "Alright, then I'll head out early and entertain them with some drum riffs."

"What?! No, stay here."

At the same moment Kid said this, a stagehand said, "We're ready if you are."

"Let's fucking go!"

Soul smiled, Kid grimaced, and they all made their way out.

"Uh, we're Hawthorne Heights. This is "Wake Up Call." Kid mumbled into the microphone before stepping back.

This wasn't the most challenging of songs for BlackStar drumming wise, but he loved that he got to do unclean vocals throughout. It made the song so much more intimate in his estimation.

Though he knew Soul and Kid's vocals made the song approachable for a larger audience, BlackStar felt that when they had added this element into the songs, it had brought the perfect missing element.

"Thank you, thank you. Now one you all know well, here's "Blue Burns Orange."

Soul took a quick breath after the song ended before throwing his arm toward the back of the stage, "Give it up for BlackStar on drums and those vocals!"

BlackStar grinned widely at him before jumping up on his stool and bowing to the crowd. He loved the attention. Before sitting back down, he quickly flexed through a couple of bodybuilding poses, trying to catch Kid's eye as he did it, because he knew it annoyed the shit out of him.
"Alright, alright." Kid finally made eye contact with him as he gestured for him to sit down. Grinning even more broadly, BlackStar bowed once more to the crowd, and as he did his eyes caught the glance of a girl smiling directly at him from the front of the crowd. His foot slipped from the stool, and he fell awkwardly, barely catching himself and sitting upright.

"Dude, you good?" Soul covered the mic with his hand and turned toward him.

BlackStar nodded, but he knew his expression didn't convince Soul, who signaled to Kid to do "Niki FM" one of their lightest drumming and his lightest vocal songs.

BlackStar pulled himself together during the song, but the girl's smile didn't leave the corner of his eye.

"Alright, we've only got time for two more songs." Kid had finally gotten into the vibes and was bantering with the crowd as Soul checked in with BlackStar.

"Dude, we can do our easier ones if you aren't feeling it. It's hot as hell, and fuck you drank a shit ton without any water…"

"Nah, man, we finish strong. I got it. Dissolve and Decay then Ohio. Promise, man. Just a one off."

"It's hot as hell here, make sure you're drinking water, or you might "Dissolve and Decay" like our next song." Kid laughed at his own joke, and luckily a few people in the crowd laughed along with him. BlackStar chuckled goodnaturedly at his friend's terrible jokes, and his eyes wandered through the crowd again catching the eyes of the girl in the front again.

He was pretty sure she couldn't be watching him. Everyone always watched Kid or Soul. They were the frontmen. It literally came with the title, but as they made their way through the next two songs, he watched her surreptitiously throughout his parts, and he was pleasantly surprised to see that she didn't sing with either of his band mates, but instead scream sang along with his parts…

BlackStar came up to the front with his band mates as Soul and Kid began the close out.

"Hopefully y'all enjoyed this small town band from Ohio." Soul waved at the crowd which had steadily grown throughout their show. He threw his picks into the crowd, before winking and saluting with two fingers over one eyebrow and hand out toward the crowd. "We're so happy we could be here with ya. And trust me, we are also just as excited as you to get to the Mainframe stage and see MCR, so we won't hold you up much longer."

"Don't forget to check us out on any platform you like to listen on. Remember, Hawthorne Heights." Kid had sunk back into himself as the show vibes began to shift away from the stage, he mimicked Soul by throwing his picks into the crowd, before waving and trying a shaky smile that wasn't far from a grimace.

"Ya! Enjoy the rest of your nights here at 'Roo! Stay safe, stay 'hydrated,'" BlackStar winked and air quoted this around his drumsticks, "And remember my heart is in Ohio!" He scream-sang into the mic, before tossing his drumsticks into the crowd.

"Don't" He heard the slight command and plea from Kid, but it was too late.

He jumped into the crowd. There was an interesting set of eyes he wanted to find.