Day 1- Emily/Aaron [At the food stands]

[Emily Moore]

“Em...Em, wake up.”

Emily, whose head felt as though it weighed a ton, stubbornly ignored the pesky little voice clamoring for her attention. Her entire body protested against the very idea of moving: her stomach heaved with the slightest of motions and some kind of entity had apparently taken residency inside her head and was using her brain for a drum; no, she definitely needed some more sleep. Unfortunately, a certain someone did not get the hint, and after his initial attempts at waking her up failed, he proceeded to first jab a finger into her ribs, then shake her. It was the latter that finally got a reaction from Emily, who practically snarled a peeved:

“What?!”

“Your legs are, um, in the way”, came the reply.

Abandoning her efforts to catch some more shuteye, Emily opened her eyes and blearily gazed around the confines of the tent, thus realizing the fact that her right leg was curled around Elliot's waist while the left was underneath, effectively pinning him down.

“Oh shit, they didn't, did they..?” was her first thought and it must've shown in her expression because Elliot shook his head with a smirk surfacing on his lips.

''Don't worry about it, you were so wasted all I could do is get you to crash.”

Slowly drawing herself into a sitting position as she massaged her throbbing temples, Emily tried to put together the various bits and pieces of memory she had left from the other night and were currently scattered about inside her head like a vast jigsaw puzzle. It started out clear enough: arriving on the festival grounds with Elliot, setting up camp, doing a bit of "recon" and some shopping and eventually heading for where the real launch party was at: the VIP area backstage! It was mostly the reason why Emily had teamed up with Elliot in the first place – he had been part of the staff organizing the festival and had a backstage pass to spare, which he'd agreed to share after several days of being dogged by Emily. Well, that wasn't entirely true; he was also a friend, though like the majority of Emily's friends, not a particularly close one. He was proving himself to be a lot more decent a guy than she'd been expecting though, making her feel a touch guilty to have essentially used him to get backstage.

Right...back at trying to piece together the previous night's events. Once in the lounge and officially in party-mode, Emily had spent the coming hours drinking, dancing and keeping an eye out for hot ass (especially if it belonged to Arnold Friedman the lead singer in Damage), not necessarily in that order. She had actually spotted Arnold at one point but he was at a table with several other people some of whom looked vaguely familiar, so she'd sulked but kept her distance. To compensate, there had been even more drinks and even more dancing, which was when things started to get fuzzy...Emily thought she remembered flirting with some guy then dancing on top of a table but the rest was all a blur and the trip back to the camping grounds was missing altogether. Elliot, whom she'd thought gone, must've kept an eye on her because she was certain she wouldn't have been able to find the right tent again on her own. Wow...points for Elliot, then. He had been quite the gentleman all around, only minimal ogling and no trying to take advantage of her drunken state, when Emily knew she probably would've fucked him. It made her feel vaguely uncomfortable, being around a genuinely nice guy; she wasn't used to that.

“Thanks for that, dude”, she told him and reached for her shoes, a pair of purple converses with little drawn-on stars. “I need a shower, and something to eat. Then, I need a drink.”

An hour later while Elliot was off shopping, having showered and dressed, Emily was finally making her way towards the foodstands, in search for food and a nice cold beer: best way to start a day, especially a festival day. Her headache had almost subsided too, which was a good thing, so it was with a shadow of a satisfied smile that the young woman joined one of the shortest queues she could find, idly tapping her foot as she waited her turn.

[Aaron Hoyer]

Morning.

Aaron was a night bird, but lately this particular time of the day had become one of the things he came to enjoy the most. When the day was still young and everyone was still asleep. Alone. Not that he was a complete social misfit. He enjoyed partying like anyone, but there were times were he needed to retreat from everything and everyone, especially now that he was on a tour with what seemed to him a whole crowd, with not only the guys from his own band but also the guys from Black Water and everyone else who seemed to be barging in from time to time. Even if the guys tried to respect his need for privacy it wasn’t always possible and he relished that very moment. The moment before. Comfortably slumped on the couch, curled up under his old blanket, a coffee on one hand he would have as only company his thoughts, a book, or more frequently his old spiral-bound notebook, filled with this and that, with random words and thoughts, feelings tossed between drawings and musical notes scrawled messily all over the pages.

This morning was not different and after a little while he finally headed to the bathroom to enjoy a long hot shower. Which he did until the door opened, letting someone else in the bathroom. Having someone else barging in without announcing it could not be called common but it wasn’t not really that surprising either and Aaron just kept showering, patiently waiting for him to do whatever he had to do there and go away. But instead of going away, the following noise effectively draw his attention and as he heard the noise of things getting tossed away as Will, clearly barely out of bed punctuated it by a loud :

"F*ck!"

All right. This really wasn’t like Will. Something was definitely up. And wrapping a towel around his waist Aaron regretfully tore himself away from the shower and questioned while grabbing his wristbands to put them around his wrists :

"Are you okay?"

Will looked back at him like if it was the most incongruous question before returning his attention back to his search, his brown eyes attentively scanning the room:

"Of course. Just need to clean this dump. If only I could find…" and stopping there he suddenly extended his arm dragging from behind the toilets a bottle of cleaning product. "Nevermind. Got it". Then, lifting the toilet seat, he scowled : "Shit. Look at that! That’s gross, man. There’s even some dried puke from last week under the seat" before putting it down and carrying on: "Anyway, since Sam is coming today with Shina, I just realized that they might come here to see the place. And I thought. I mean… I know, they’re just coming for the concert and then they’ll leave, but I thought maybe I could convince her to stay a little bit more. Y’know. So it needs to be real clean and all".

Shina. Aaron had seen firsthand how much Will had missed his little girl and how much he had struggled to convince her mother to bring the kid with her at the festival. That certainly explained better why he suddenly freaked out. As far as that place being really clean now, this would probably not ever happen or not for long but having it cleaner than usual wouldn't be a luxury. He curled the corners of his lips into a small smile and answered : "Sure. When are they arriving exactly ?"

His smile met a more generous one from Will, who said:

"Right now. Well, not really now now, but soon enough. I don’t know what time it is, but I’d say less than 2 hours now. Maybe an hour and a half? I gotta meet them at the Demo tent. All right, I really need to get back to the cleaning".

And joining the gesture to the word he left the room, allowing Aaron to put his clothes on, and once this was finished, he threw another look at his reflection on the mirror who looked back at him defiantly. How many time did he spent younger absorbed with his own image, studying his features, contemplating how different they were from his mother’s. And the closer he looked the more obvious it got. Her mother had finely carved, delicate features whereas his own seemed more ragged, rough, and his nose was …
His chain of thought were interrupted once again by the arrival of Porter, one of the guys from Black Water who noded to him before heading to the sink.
All right. Everyone was waking up and alone time was definitely over. He got out of the bathroom only to find Will still in his cleaning frenzy and without a word lend a hand which draw an appreciative smile form the other guy. They silently picked up various junks and dropped it in the garbage until Will, after a sidelong glance, decided to break the silence, asking anxiously:

"Do you think I’m good for her?"

The only answer he got from Aaron was a questioning look and he instantly explained :

"I mean… you know… Shina. Sam says I’m a bad example, that I need to get my priorities straight if I want to be a good father…"

Wow… Was he really asking him? About that kind of fatherly stuff? He was the worst person to ask about these things, especially considering how little he knew about what paternity entailed. Why him and not Stephen ? He was his best friend, last he knew? When did he become this kind of guy? The kind people feels like they can share their problems, as their privacy, asking questions and expecting him them to know the answers. Sure, he was what we call trust-worthy but as for helping anyone, he had clearly already a hard time helping himself, how was he supposed to solve anyone’s else issues? He scratched his head, trying to think of the best thing to say, slightly disconcerted by the surprising vote of confidence before uneasily starting:

"I don’t know if I’m the one you should ask that kind of questions…" And seeing Will’s face becoming sullen he decided to keep going - he probably just expected some reassurance, right? -and added "…but you? A bad father? That’s the probably stupidest thing I ever heard".

This must have been the "right" answer as Will’s features lightened and after a while he added:
"Why don’t you could come with me? To meet them".

Aaron surprised, frowned: "I suppose I could. I mean... sure. But I thought you’d go with Stephen?"

Will shrugged: "No, and that’s for the best. Trust me. Sam and him don’t really get along"

And as the room began to fill itself with the other guys who woke up at their turn the conversation took a less personal turn as Will shared in lengthy details every bits he missed last night when he decided to leave early the VIP lounge, until he mentioned seeing the guys of System of Inertia, which scraped Aaron from his usual terseness as he blurted:

"What? They were there and you didn’t tell me about it? I can’t believe I missed that. Did you talk to them or were they just like chilling or something? Did they say something about us?"

"What! I can’t believe I missed that!" resonated suddenly behind them a voice, impersonating him in a high-pitched voice and as they turned to recognise the familiar figure standing by the exterior door, Stephen, who was wearing the exact same clothes he had last night, his eyes imbued with the signs of last night’s excesses safely shielded by his sunglasses, went on: "You sound like a friggin’ groupie, man" drawing smiles from his audience and icing Aaron’s rare burst of enthusiasm, resuming it into an amused shrug.

"I guess I am a friggin’ groupie. What’s wrong with that? You seem to like them just fine"

Stephen's thin lips parted into a small smile as he answered: "I do" before lazily making his way toward the mirror, checking his hair and finally heading to the sofa and crashing there, unfazed by the agitation around him.

Later, as the place was approximately clean, he and Will were heading toward the festival area to catch up with Samantha, Shina’s mother as planned. But as they were almost there, a familiar face caught Aaron's attention. Wait, it was… and as his eyes lingered, trying to place the familiar figure the other guy caught sight of him too and and as their gaze met he saw his eyes first squeezing in confusion before widening in surprise and acknowledgement and recognising the guy’s intent to go toward him, he abruptly stopped as the idea of what would come next was taking shape in his mind. A "nice" get-together where they could talk about the good old past. And Will. No way. And as Will had stopped also, wondering what was wrong, he quickly blurted:

"You know what? I’m starving. Badly" And pointing to one of the food stand he added: "I’m gonna grab something but go ahead, I’ll join you later"

The expression of surprise on Will’s face quickly faded and he answered "Oh, all right. Get me a hot-dog then"

"’k"

And he started to make his way toward the food stand, but as he looked back, he couldn’t get a hold of the guy who seemed to have melted into the crowd. Why wasn’t he following? He must have seen him heading there. Did he change his mind? He instinctively joined the shortest queue for the food stand, unintentionally cutting the line over a girl, too busy trying to see where his old acquaintance could have disappeared and pondering about the whole thing.

[Emily Moore]

There were many things about the rock festival experience which Emily loved; after all, she wouldn't be spending half her income on tickets and accommodations otherwise. There was the music, first and foremost, and the electrifying feeling of being part of a massive throng of people moving together with the beat, singing along to lyrics and generally enjoying the vibe of a good show; then there was the overall atmosphere. For those couple of days a festival lasted, Emily could let go of her troubles and lose herself in it, party like there was no tomorrow and in certain ways there wasn't; once she passed through the gates of Syrinx life would once more resume its dull, monotonous flow, and she would go back to simply...existing. For the moment though, she felt truly alive and Emily was determined to make the most of it.

That wasn't to say there weren't sides of the whole festival setting she found less than appealing; after all, put several thousand people together and you're bound to encounter various snags and inconveniences, despite the organizers' best efforts to keep them to a minimum. Privacy, the number one concern of many a visitor, didn't particularly bother Emily; she had few inhibitions and could sleep practically anywhere; no, what tended to bother her were the lines. Lines, lines everywhere: a line to piss, a line to get a shower, a line to grab something to eat or drink. Indeed, waiting sometimes for dozens of minutes at a time wasn't Emily's idea of a good time but she had come to accept it as simply necessary, and was now able to more or less tune out, dull herself to the whole process.

However, if there was something Emily hated even more than standing in lines, it was having some entitled asshole decide he or she was too special to wait like everyone else and try to cut to the front. Most of them at least tried to be subtle about it, but that was certainly not the case with the blonde man who simply pushed his way past her without as much as pretending he wasn't.

...the fuck?!

“Oi!” Emily snapped and tapped the guy firmly on the shoulder. “Surprise surprise, there's actually a line here!”

[Aaron Hoyer]

Instincts. Impulse. It was everything Aaron had learned to mistrust about himself. Yet, it was what led him to ditch Will under a false pretend. Because, if he had tried to rationalize the situation instead of relying on his gut instinct alone, he might have acted differently and he started to regret acting that shady. After all, maybe it would have been just fine... Who was he kidding. It wouldn't. The man he saw was not just a mere acquaintance from his past, he was also bad news.

Christopher.

It was a name that brought back a flood of memories, memories that were to stay buried but were resurfacing. And his thoughts were tumbling on his head as he tried to sort his feelings out, unsure of what to make of this unexpected encounter. He hadn't seen or heard anything about him in almost 2 years and here he was. But was it really that fortuitous? Maybe it sounded a bit paranoid but then... it was Chris

Aaron was only 14 when he first met Christopher and the senior immediately took the impressionable and sensitive youngster under his wing, answering his need of belonging, nurturing the feeling of revolt that was born within him, teaching him to stand up for himself and follow his own rules in what became a chaotic friendship, more than often one-sided. You could expect fighting and trouble when he hung around. And trouble there were as Chris continuously pushed his every buttons, crossing every line until he pushed too far...

He shook his head and dismissed the thought of talking about any of this to the guys. Expecting anything and everything was pretty much a requisite… Especially since they didn't parted in good terms, to say the least and had some unfinished business, business that was just between him and Chris. The guys had no part on it and he hoped it would stay that way. It wasn't even a question of trust. It wasn't out of the fear of rejection. Ok, maybe it was. Partly. But it was also a question of identity. He was who he was now and he didn't want them to see him differently. As he were. As...

"Oi"

Aaron felt a tap on his shoulder and wheeled around, curious of the identity of the feminine voice, to see the delicate frame of a girl whose intense dark eyes were now staring at him with irritation as she added "Surprise surprise, there's actually a line here!".

Aaron squinted his eyes at the person interrupting his chain of thoughts. What was she talking about? Uh, right the line... Did he cut before her? Whatever...

"Right. My bad".

He stepped aside to let her pass and his gaze drift swiftly off to the crowd before returning to her as he went on: "I guess I didn't see you"

[Emily Moore]

Emily wasn't a morning person. Or rather, she wasn't one until she'd had some food in her stomach and a nice cool drink to soften her throat, the two things that generally marked the beginning of any day. Before that she tended to feel groggy, irritable and short of patience, not exactly a good state of mind to be in while having to stand in lines which at times seemed to crawl forward at a snail's pace.

Emily still felt tired from the other night, too; the fumes of alcohol still clung to her senses and that damnable headache had yet to fully depart. A situation she'd encountered a hundred times before and as such her main goal at the moment was getting through it as quickly and with as little fuss as possible: one thing she wasn't going to take kindly to, was someone else getting in the way.

After the initial flash of aggravation followed by a peeved remark, Emily groaned inwardly at the thought of a lengthy confrontation with the blond man who'd cut in front of her – arguing with random strangers that early in the morning was another thing she was in no mood for. It was therefore with a tired frown that she waited for an acknowledgement, but the first hot flare of anger was ebbing away, leaving her more impatient than anything. Impatient to move past the incident and just get her damned food already.

"Right. My bad", said the young man after squinting at Emily as though seeing her for the first time. He did however step back in line, allowing her to pass.

"I guess I didn't see you".

Emily spared him a sideways glance as an eyebrow ventured upwards; “then perhaps you should open your eyes more, hmm?” was the first thought to cross her mind, though it was one she didn't voice. He'd apologized, moved away, that was good enough for her. She also noticed the man's gaze wander through the crowd and the searching intensity of it, though only briefly.

“It's cool”, she told him dismissively, considering leaving it at that...but eventually added: “I saw you glance around - looking for someone?”

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((ooc: I hope this gives you enough to go on; if not, you know where to find me ))