#convo ;; niko & nancy

[nikopark]

When: Late afternoon Where: Northpass Coastal Craze Event Grounds Who: Nancy Malarkey @augustslippdaway​​

From his spot against the stage, Niko watched the ebb and flow of the crowd. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits, which--with his tense, crossed-arms stance, ball cap over his curls, and a semi-permanent frown etched on his face--made him stand out from the shadow he lurked in. Observation was... not his favorite task, but with everything going on, the order came down from the top that everyone had to put time in out in ‘the field’.

A joke, really, Niko thought, watching as the beachfront filled up with more people coming to see shitty small town bands butcher shitty covers of their shitty favorite songs. (And no, he definitely wasn’t thinking about his attendance years past in significantly brighter spirits with Beck, and Rosemary, and Nancy in tow...) He pushed away from the stage as the band members began trickling in to the back, and willed himself to disappear within the crowd.

A shock of red hair crossed his path and made something that could almost be mistaken for a heart twist painfully in Niko’s chest. He stopped just short of a collision and gave them his best attempt at an apologetic smile (more of an uncomfortable grimace). “Sorry, I thought--” He stopped, exhaling harshly. “You caught me off-guard. Reminded me of someone.”