[Another Night at Another Bar - OTA]

[dj_esebel]

She's got a decent set tonight for Diwata. Easy, midtempo songs with a couple bursts of speed, good fun stuff for the people who came in for a beer and some fries off the highway just a few miles outside of Siren Cove proper. At this point, they know themselves well enough to follow a list but to also mix it up and improvise.

"So glad you all made it tonight," she says into the microphone, voice soft and maybe a little seductive without quite Compelling. "This next song was written for a man--" she pauses, letting the people who are listening get their giggles in. "A man who...changed my life completely." When she's vague, it almost sounds romantic instead of actually being a song about catharsis, about trying to figure out why she'd slept with her professor and how it had sent her running.

"One track mind like a goldfish, stuck inside my petri dish..." It's almost upbeat and if they aren't listening, an audience doesn't realize the lost numbness of a disastrous first year of college and the sense of being so very lost.

But that's what music is for. She writes songs to let her own past go and let herself live with the few secrets she does keep.

And it pays. She gets free dinner and free beer, plus some pretty solid cash. The audience isn't half-bad either. By the time they wrap up, people are actually hollering for an encore, which makes them all grin and rack their brains for an easy, quick song. Audrey quickly strums her guitar, going to a song that's been on her mind since she sang it for Ed on the phone. "Gray, quiet and tired and mean, picking at a worried seam, I try to make you mad at me over the phone..."

[[Catch her during a lull in the show or afterward, while she eats.]]

Comments

[bachjones]

"I guess that was the thing, then."

"Loved them. His teacher or watcher or however you call it at kindie says he really wants to learn to read now so he can understand the story even better." It was hard not to be proud of that. "Which is a real good sign, because curiosity gets you places. Her words, not mine."

[dj_esebel]

Audrey tries not to think too deeply on that or why it bothers her. So she'd sung it for Ed and it had been on her mind. Doesn't mean it has to be all...emotional.

"That's great! It's good for them to start early. My parents started me on piano when I was four and look at me now."

Actually, she's a terrible example.

[bachjones]

He looks up at the stage. "There was piano?"

As long as she has a messy, scrunchy song, Bach doesn't want to view her as an example, especially because he sees too much of himself in her. But he can look, alright.

"Piano. What else?"

[dj_esebel]

"Pretty much any instrument, I'm proficient. Or I teach myself to be." She shrugs, "I was never super into academics, but I loved music. I got into music school, even."

[bachjones]

"Only like my snares, really. A shrink could probably say a lot about that, but I don't need another person in my life to tell me how fucked up I am."

"And now you're in front of drunks." He smirks. "Good thing you didn't went to school, they'd get a heart attack over it."

[dj_esebel]

There's not a lot that will offend Audrey, but here she is, going rigid in her seat and knuckles going white on the bartop. "Yeah, and now I'm in front of drunks," she agrees, cutting him a hard look. "How awful that I make a living doing the one thing I love. Dude, go fuck yourself."

[bachjones]

"I rather have company. Why, did I show you reality instead of a dream world? I thought you were doing fine here? But if dreams is what you rather have.." He takes a sip of his beer. "I do have my voice under control."

[dj_esebel]

"You don't know shit about my reality," Audrey says, deceptively calm as she signals the bartender that she's done with her food. She's not going to cause a scene here in a bar, because you don't shit where you eat and she wants to be invited back to this venue, but oh does she want to knee him in the balls.

"I live the life I want, how I want. I make the money I need and the music I love. And you think you can just fucking decide I'm out of touch with reality?"

Fighting the urge to get violent, she hops off the stool and signals to her bandmates that she needs to leave.

[bachjones]

"Right. So much for those extra comics, I guess."

Bach wants to intervene, he's fine with taking someone's seconds and her plate wasn't that empty, but the keep's too fast. He'll get a meal out of someone later.

"Okay, enjoy your night, angry bird." No fucking way he's going to go along at his one night off.