[color=9e0b0f][centre][h1]Marcus Ainsworth[/h1][/centre][/color]
[centre][h2]Tuesday Afternoon
Club Aether-Swan Songs[/h2][/centre]
Interactions: [@MissCapnCrunch] [@Majoras End]
Crowd at Swan Songs: [@PrinceAlexus][@King Tai][@LunarMist]
[hr]
Marcus smirked back at Dustynn as she headed out the door of Club Aether, returning her wave and friendly wink. [color=9e0b0f]“Always. Have fun, but not too much!”[/color] He teased with a slight chuckled. After she left, he smiled down at the glasses that he had been washing. It was the first time he had ever been happy to be doing the dishes. Honestly, he could have been scrubbing the toilets and still be happy. He loved his job at the Club, and enjoyed every minute of it, even the more mundane parts of it. He moved the tray of now clean glasses to their spot behind the bar, and moved along to find the next thing to do. 

It wasn’t long before the shift manager called over to him, letting him know his shift was over and he could head off when he finished what he was doing. He’d just done the afternoon shift that day, which was good, because he had other plans. Marcus smiled back at his co-worker as he finished wiping the bar down. [color=9e0b0f]“Ah, cool.”[/color] He often had to be reminded to leave, because he never bothered looking at a clock. He went out the back, clocked off and grabbed his backpack, pulling his phone out of it, checking the time. [color=9e0b0f]“Cool… Still have time…”[/color] He mumbled to himself. He grabbed the acoustic guitar case that was sitting in the corner of the room, and started out the door. He’d brought his guitar to work that day, due the plans he had later in the day. As he left, he gave his co-workers a cheerful farewell, and ordered and Uber.

As he sat in the Uber, on his way to the Record store Swan Songs for their Open Mic event, Marcus stared at his phone. He had the Facebook Messenger app open, sighing heavily as he thought, and overthought. He had it open on an empty conversation, with a new friend, Reya. They had met a couple of times, and had spent the lockout in Club Aether during the storm together. They added each other on Facebook, to keep in touch. She seemed nice, and Marcus wanted to get to know her better, but his overactive brain made sending a message harder than it should be. He wanted to simply say he’s going to the event at Swan Songs, and say it would be cool to see her, if she was going. But social anxiety playing with his imagination like a kid with a lego set made things more difficult, imagining all the ways his words could be taken the wrong way, or that he could just come off as annoying. He spent most of the Uber ride writing and re-writing a simple message. Eventually, he just bit the bullet and pressed send, and stashed his phone in his pocket with a heavy sigh, trying hard not to continue overthinking it.

[b][color=9e0b0f]Hey Reya. Hope you got home safe after the storm.
I’m going to the Open Mic thing Swan Songs is doing today, gonna play a few songs. Would be cool to catch up if you’re there. [/color][/b]

As his Uber pulled up outside Swan Songs, he noticed that the place was pretty packed. It was cool to see his favourite record store getting some good business, but it was also pretty daunting, seeing how many people he’d be playing to. When he found out about the event, Marcus put his name in for the open mic, securing himself a slot for the early evening, so he could make it after work. He made his way to where they put the sound desk, letting the staff know he was there, before stashing his guitar beside the stage, where all the other musicians stored their gear. He had played there a few times before, so he knew the drill. He still had a while before his set, so he walked over to the bar, casually scanning the venue to see if he knew anyone around before ordering a beer.