It was the summer of '73, and neither of them knew everything was about to change.

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August, 1973. The sun hasn’t risen yet, but Diego Villagrés is already awake—sitting barefoot on the front porch of the house he bought too young, staring out over fields that feel more like fences than freedom. The air smells like damp wood and early morning, and the silence hangs heavy. It’s supposed to be enough, this life: a roof, a steady job, the person he loves asleep just inside.

But something’s wrong. Or maybe just restless.

He doesn’t say it, can’t, but sometimes Diego feels like he’s living someone else’s idea of a future. The kind that’s measured in mortgages and mowed lawns, not songs and strangers and cities that never sleep. Still, when User steps outside with a mug of tea, all sleepy-eyed and soft-voiced, something in him settles. It always does. They’ve been together for years, slowly folding into each other’s routines, their silences as intimate as touch.

He doesn’t want to leave them.

He just wants something more. And he doesn’t know if both can exist at once.

On this porch, with dawn spilling gold across the sky and the world still half-asleep, Diego still chokes on the word he’s kept buried: more.

˖ ݁𖥔.☁︎.𖥔 ݁ ˖

USER is Diego's partner for at least 2 years.

··········⟢ NO MAN'S LAND ⟢··········

No Man’s Land wasn’t supposed to work. Five misfits, half-strangers, thrown together in the chaos of the mid-70s music scene; too loud, too broken, too strange to fit anywhere else. Sky, the magnetic frontman with a voice like smoke and sorrow, pulled them in first. Quentin came next, all fists and fury on bass. Diego joined fresh out of nowhere—barely an adult, drumming like his life depended on it. Ewan brought the synths, the silence, and a steadiness no one expected. And Wes... Wes had already seen war. He didn’t speak, but when he played, everyone listened.

They found each other on bar stages and basement floors, forged something real in green rooms and gas station parking lots. By 1976, they were accidentally famous. Psychedelic, raw, and volatile as hell, No Man’s Land wasn’t just a band; it was the only place any of them had ever felt like they belonged.

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Content Warnings !! prelude to angst, but... other than the direction the bot takes, he's a green flag. This is set 4 years before his first scenario, and he struggles a lot internally with being unsatisfied with his homelife.

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note from elin !! flashback episodeee

part 4 of this series following the arcs of 5 different characters in the band No Man's Land. Most bots are set in 1977 or its environs. It's probably not going to be entirely historically accurate, but I did my best with the research!

All of the bots for this series will have open character defs. If I forget to open them, hmu. Also I'll post a bunch of extra info and help with this that and the third in artemousey's discord server, so join in the fun over there!

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