Appleford, a small town in northern Washington. It doesn't have a lot going for it, but it's not a terrible place either. Generally just a fairly quiet place where not a lot happens. There's one high school, one McDonald's, and only the one music store. If you've lived here your whole life, the chances are that you know at least half of the relatively small population. Most kids leave after graduating high school, to find bigger better things out in the world. But some stay, preferring to keep to the quiet comfort that Appleford provides. Or maybe they just haven't figured out what they want to do yet. It's not a bad place to try to figure that out.

Marcus leaned against one of the tall bar tables that were scattered around the crowded club. He held a bottle of beer with both hands, idly peeling the label off with the bails of his thumbs. He was alone, looking out at the sea of people from behind the hair that covered most of his face. He recognised a lot of them, of course. It was a small town after all. But he didn't really know any of them. He wasn't close with many people, preferring to keep a small, tight-nit group of friends. Because of that, whenever they were out of town, which they currently were, he was left on his own. He normally wouldn't go out without his friends to act as a buffer between him and the unfamiliar, but his favourite band coming to town was worth fighting the social anxiety. It's a good thing he had two dear friends to help him with that. Alcohol and MDMA. He scanned the crowd of people, to make sure he had no one's attention, before deftly popping a pill in his mouth and washing it down with a mouthful of beer. That'll calm his nerves, for sure.

The reason why the small pub seemed like it had half the town crammed into it, was Arctic Monkeys. In support of their new album, they just started a national tour, and much to everyone's surprise, Appleford was on the list. Gig goers from the small town were used to have to trek down to Seattle to see a band, but it seemed like Arctic Monkeys liked to play small towns. So of course, it got a good turn out, with a good mix of fans, and people who just wanted to see some live music. 

Marcus stayed at his table for now, watching the stage as the opening act got ready to play. Some new, up-and-coming band that the Arctic Monkeys took along for the tour. That's the dream. Well, it was Marcus' dream anyway. He was a musician, been playing guitar since he was a kid, and his biggest goal in life was to tour the world with a band, playing his music. But, he needed a band to that. In such a small town, finding like-minded musicians was difficult. Most other musicians he knew were retired friends of his dad's, or had left for college. Still, he hoped. He had put fliers up around town recently, "Guitarist/Vocalist looking for a band." No calls yet, but it'd only been a couple of days. Can't give up yet. Who knows, maybe he'd meet someone at the show.