2021-06-12 Coffee Shop Concert
From LiberationMUSH Wiki
Coffee Shop Concert
Participants: Neve Molly Lawrence
Location: Seating Area - Rock 'n Java
Date and Time: June 12 2021
Summary: Impromptu Coffee Shop Concert
Mood Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ3slUz7Jo8
================ Seating Area - Rock 'n Java - The Westside =================
--Dreaming Desc--
==Ambient Banality: 6==
( Not set - Default Normal Desc shown )
A long, narrow room sandwiched between two other businesses, this
place just screams 'campus coffee shop' - poorly lit, cramped, barely able to
make rent. Or maybe that's just the look it's going for. The smells of
slightly-burnt coffee, chocolate, and a hint of mildew are circulated by the
ceiling ducts, all painted a uniform black. The sounds, depending on how
lucky you are, are either alt-rock piped through the shop's sound system or
some college kid with an acoustic guitar and more guts than talent. If you're
really unlucky, it might be poetry.
Two windows flank the entrance, with pub tables set up in front of
them. Further in, matching ratty leather couches and loveseats surround a
coffee table marred with hundreds of water rings. To the right, a bookshelf
stacked with donated board games, most only missing a few pieces. To the
left, a small space with a stool, microphone, and mostly-functional amp.
Squeezing past the front seating area, there's a long bar on the
left with the baristas and all their paraphernalia, a row of pub tables
lining the wall on the right, and a narrow path between the two.
Finally, in the very back, two doors: one marked 'office', the other
'restroom'. Between them, an archway and two steps down lead to another room.
---------------------------------- Players ----------------------------------
Neve 0s A stunning blonde in her early 20s. App 5/Fame 2
Molly 3m Early-20s, tall, blonde, blue eyes, attractive.
--------------------------------- Locations ---------------------------------
Back Room <BR>
----------------------------------- Exits -----------------------------------
Leave <O>
=================================================================[ +view ]===
--<Molly>-------------------------
It's just another weekday evening at the coffee shop. Mostly campus kids blowing off steam. Molly is perched on the stool behind the microphone, acoustic guitar in her lap. She strums one of the few chords she knows as she sings, switching it up as necessary. "Ohhhh, undergrads... freshmen babies... can't buy beer, might have rabies... " She doesn't have much of a range, but she's at least on-key. The apparent owner of the guitar, who very much looks like the typical scrawny freshman, lingers nearby, trying to conceal his mixed emotions between having a silly song sung about him, and getting attention from an attractive grad student. He's obviously quite conflicted.
###
--<Neve>-------------------------
There's attractive. There's LA attractive. And then there's.. something else. Some people just had something intangibly just... more. Neve is one of those people. From the moment she walks through the door, the little gust of wind from shifting outside pressure playing at her long blonde hair and the hem of her skirt, it's obvious she has a habit of drawing attention a bit like a vortex. She simply /glowed/ , and her mere presence had the capacity to make a dreary room feel a little brighter.
Unnaturally blue eyes sweep the room as Neve tugs the slouchy brown purse up higher onto her shoulder, her heels clicking faintly against the floor with each step she takes. Sure, there are other college kids hanging out, the bar is manned with baristas that seem anxious to take and fill orders. But it's Molly on acoustic guitar that gets the brunt of Neve's attention. Her smile warms, listening with amusement touching the corners of her eyes. Maybe she was recognizable. Maybe she wasn't. She had a few social media channels where she did some similar things-- singing, playing guitar, collabing with other musicians. She even did a few local gigs. In the end, it wasn't like she was world famous, though.
###
--<Lawrence>-------------------------
It's on the way home, and it's sometimes nice to see what the college types are doing these days. Lawrence stops by wearing a graphic tee depicting Hedonism Bot, and blue jeans; notes in hand and a plan to get coffee to go along with it. Mission: acquire coffee, find a small table near but not too close to the music playing, look over notes while listening. It goes well enough, even when the pair of stunning musicians end up meeting up. (Although enjoying the music AND working with written word is a difficult multi-task.)
###
+ROLL/+DICE> Molly: Manipulation + Performance vs. 6 -> 0 successes. (7 6 1 1)
--<Molly>-------------------------
Molly strums some more. "Undergrads, undergrads, why do you smell so bad?" She glances over as someone else enters, and her chord change goes horribly awry. There's no shortage of stupidly attractive people in LA, but most have obviously paid a lot of money for it. Not so in this case.
"Oohhhhh... smelly undergrads... " Twang. Not her best performance, though from the chuckles in the audience it was obviously a lark and not anything serious. She takes a little bow, gets some polite(ly sarcastic) applause, and slips down off the stool, handing the guitar back to its owner. He blushes, mutters something about Molly being really actually pretty good, but she just smirks and gathers up her bag and coffee, starts to head back to her usual spot on the couch.
###
--<Neve>-------------------------
Neve is one of those that offers polite applause, but when it's obvious that the girl is done and handing the guitar back, she's already moving up towards the stage.
"Hey-- hold on," the girl says warmly. She was already lowering her purse off of her shoulder and stretching a hand out to the guy with the guitar. "Do you mind if I go for a song?" and then a pause-- a beat just long enough for her to look over at Molly. "Sing one with me? Whatever you want. Pick your favorite pop song in the last.. ten years."
In truth, Neve didn't look old enough to even have graduated with her undergrad. Or, if so, then maybe /just/ having done it. So, she fit right in age-wise. It was just that nothing else about her gave off the impression of being a college student. She'd glanced over at Lawrence, grinning a little at his shirt, but then her attention was back on Molly.
###
--<Lawrence>-------------------------
Oh thank goodness. The bad crooning dies down and Lawrence can focus on the important task of those notes. Scraps of Irish mythology, or at least his crude interpretation of it. Doesn't look like it's sticking. And to make matters worse, he catches talk of another song to be played. Whatever, he can relax. Notes set aside, he turns his full attention to the impromptu mini-concert.
###
--<Molly>-------------------------
Oh shit. Molly's bright blue eyes are wide as she meets Neve's, her bluff having been called. Silly songs are one thing, but an actual pop tune -- oh shit. She's enough of a regular that she gets called out on her heckling pretty often, but this new girl is obviously serious. She can either step up and look ridiculous, or run away like a chicken. Oh shit.
The deer-in-the-headlights look lasts for a couple thumping heartbeats, then she settles on a plan. Redirection. "Heeeeey, aren't you... " She snaps her fingers. "You look famous, but, heh," she flashes a smile, "y'know, it's LA, and everybody looks famous, right? But you look, like, for-real famous. Have I seen you on America's Got Talent or something?"
###
--<Neve>-------------------------
Neve laughs warmly. The sound is warm and melodic-- the almost surreal, enchanting melody of a the sirens of myth luring sailors to their doom. "Nope," she answers with a little shrug of one shoulder. "Come on. Sing with me, and I'll tell you where you've seen me."
Those too-vivid blue eyes focus watch Molly with no hint of anything close to that same shyness. As she sets her purse down on the floor and takes the guitar, she sits on the stool and plucks a few of the strings to check the tuning. Then gestures for Molly again.
"I'll buy you cofffeeeeee," she sing-songs into the microphone, a mere hint of what her voice might sound like once she was actually singing. "Come on. You know you want to. It'll be fun. You pick the song."
###
--<Lawrence>-------------------------
Lawrence sees a deer in headlights and, well, come to think of it that deer is right. Neve /does/ look kinda familiar. Where's the face.... nope. Familiar is all he gets from just looking. So, nothing else to do but to step up! So step up he does... a lot like Odysseus, but without any rope tying him to the ship's mast. "If you don't mind me cheating a bit on the 'ten years' timeframe, I could totally do something by Justin Timberlake. I mean, if you don't mind someone else taking up the mic?" He looks over to Molly, offering a reassuring (?) smile.
###
--<Molly>-------------------------
Well, it's not shyness really, more like being called out on her bullshit. She's apparently not used to it. The gears are working overtime in her skull as she tries to come up with a new angle... and then is saved by Lawrence. She tries to play it cool but the relief in her voice is pretty clear.
"Oh-! Hey! Yeah, Justin. Great idea." She gently pushes him towards Neve as she steps behind him. "I've been hogging the mic all day, really it's time for someone new."
"Liar! You only sang one song, and it sucked!" someone calls out. Molly shoots him a murderous glare. There are smirks and chuckles.
###
+ROLL/+DICE> Neve: Charisma + Performance vs. 3 -> 7 successes. (9 9 9 6 5 4 3 2)
--<Neve>-------------------------
Neve was already mid-sigh, still trying to drag Molly back up to the mic, when the sound of Lawrence's voice brought her attention over to him. Her grin widens a little and she rolls a shoulder.
"Sure, I can do oldies.." But the mirth in her eyes is all playful teasing. She laughs again when Molly pushes him up towards the mic, and with all three of them now close enough to contribute, she wastes no time on a familiar acoustic guitar riff from /Like I Love You/ and starts off the song solo, then she's leaning back so the other two can take over at the mic while she plays...
"Just something about you
The way I'm lookin' at you, whatever
You keep lookin' at me
You gettin' scared now, right?
Don't fear me baby, it's just Justin
It feel good right? Listen...
I kind of noticed from one night
In the club, your front face
It's kind of weird to me since you're so fine
If it's up to me, you'll face no change.."
###
+ROLL/+DICE> Lawrence: Charisma + Performance vs. 3 -> 2 successes. (8 3 2)
--<Lawrence>-------------------------
Lawrence did do that to bail out the timid, after all. It doesn't take more than a gentle nudge for him to get up on stage and take to the mic:
If you smile then that should set the tone
(just be limber)
And if you let go the music should move your bones
(just remember)
Sing this soooong with me~~
Oh, no, he's not bailing Molly out, he's trying to drag her back in - as he aims that last line /right at her/ .
###
--<Molly>-------------------------
Oh shit. That's kind of Molly's default at the moment. Neve starts singing and Molly gets the hell out of there. Well, a few feet to the side anyway, where she can plausibly be part of the audience. Close one! But... damn, the crappy second-hand mic and amp have never sounded so good.
"Daaaaaamn," mutters the guy next to her, and she can only nod in agreement. And then.
"Oh fuck." Eyes wide. Not far enough out of range after all. She has no idea how the song goes. She leans generally towards the mic, and belts out,
"I DON'T KNOW THIS SOOOOOOONG... yeah yeah baby yeah."
###
--<Neve>-------------------------
Neve bobs her head approvingly along with her playing when Lawrence steps up to the mic, the little smile on her lips conveying something along the lines of, 'Damn. Get it, boy.'
Molly's reaction, however, gets a little laugh of amusement, but she has no problem keeping right along with her strumming. She spends the rest of the song trading vocals back and forth with Lawrence, and when it's finally over, she claps along with the audience, gesturing up and down at Lawrence to give him an opportunity to soak in the praise.
When she does finally lean forward to the mic, she grins, looking at him side-eyed. "Damn. Grandpa got a voice," she says into the mic, still teasing him, apparently. "Thanks everyone. I'm Neve Connelly. Find me on insta. I play gigs all around town. Peace and love, you guys."
She blows a kiss to the room at large and then stands up, handing the guy his guitar back and recollecting her purse. She pulls out her wallet, pops it open, and drops a $20 down to the guy as well. "Thanks for the loaner." A wink is offered.
"Thanks for jumping up there with me," she says to Lawrence. A lopsided smile she offers to Molly. "Next time, maybe?" The question sounds genuinely hopefully. "I've gotta get my coffee and get out of here, though. That was /totally/ spur of the moment." In fact, she as already headed towards the counter.
###
--<Molly>-------------------------
Molly, impressed despite the extreme self-consciousness she experienced, claps loudly along with everyone else when Neve & Lawrence finish up. "Jesus. Enough of this and this place might be able to start affording real coffee," she mutters to the guy next to her."
###
--<Lawrence>-------------------------
Lawrence bows while Neve gestures at him, then... wait, grandpa? "Hang on now! I barely have a decade on you at most!" ...dude, close enough. Anyway, he manages to introduce himself to Neve before she bolts off for the magical elixir known as coffee. "Lawrence. Nice to meet talent around here."
###
--<Neve>-------------------------
"Ditto," Neve offers to Lawrence on a soft laugh about the age gap, glancing back over her shoulder, but she says nothing about it specifically. "You sounded great. We should totally busk for coffee money." That playfulness is still there. It's always there, it seems like.
Once she's paid and has her coffee in hand, she's turning to make her way towards the exit. She offers Lawrence a final wave and then does the two-finger-to-eyes-to-Molly /I'm watching you/ thing, winking playfully. "Next time, girl, I'm going to get you up there with me."
But then she's pushing her butt against the door, opening it in reverse as she backs back out into the sidewalk.
###
