Sing us a song, You're the piano man

Piano Man

Everyone had their own reasons for coming to the bar.

Yoongi has seen many people of all types float in and out of this place, all with their own lives and stories to share.

Some spill their tales all without so much as a shot in them, others needing to numb their minds with bliss. For some it's the joyous celebration of success, others it's to wallow in their worst failure.

Working as a pianist almost everyday of the week for the past five years, Yoongi has had the luxury of witnessing people from the highest of highs and lowest of the low corners of society connect and mingle. It doesn't matter if you can buy the entire establishment or can't afford a single drink on the menu; things like that hold no weight in this place where everyone is here for one reason.

Escape.

Throughout the years, that word has begun to hold alot more weight in Yoongi's mind than before. For everyone here, with all their hopes, dreams, successes and failures, they all come here to escape something. Some people have come to tell theirs; finding peace in knowing their secret is safe with a stranger, others simply want to forget; turning to the toxic anesthesia they nurse like the sweetest ambrosia.

For some, its easy to guess what they're escaping from; college students drowning in the pressures of expectations and assignments, businessmen finally closing a deal, men mourning their failing relationship and some simply from the standards of society. Yoongi has found that he likes listening to people, no matter how obvious their reason for coming may seem.

Maybe that's why he keeps coming back even though the pay isn't much. He likes listening to others' stories and he loves playing the piano for them. He likes to play with the intent of making their escape a pleasurable one, so even though they have to go back to reality, down from their induced high, they leave knowing that, even for just one moment, they weren't completely alone.

That was another theme that frequently appeared alongside escape; loss and loneliness. Some people wanted to fill the hole left by someone else or maybe it was the lack thereof in the first place. They came here with the hope that, surrounded by so many people, their empty hearts would be overshadowed by another presence, if only for a little while.

Yoongi likes taking inspiration from the people he's seen and the stories he's heard for his pieces. Alot of his works were improvised as he fed off the vibe of the bar that day or the story he was basing it off on. Sometimes its a request that he changed up a bit in hopes to capture what the person wanted rather then what they asked for.

He likes making people happy with his music, hoping to have a lasting effect that they can hold onto when going back out to reality. Something that would make them turn to this place, or his music, for comfort rather than simply escape. He loved seeing regulars, especially when they come talk to him.

But sometimes people leave and never come back, regardless of if he gave them a lasting memory or not.

A prime example being a man he'd met about a year ago, just nearing the end of his second year of working there. It was 9pm on a Saturday, the regular crown coming in. A man on the older side, late forties to early fifties, had been sitting in the seating area closest to him, simply watching him play while nursing his drink. Yoongi had seen him since earlier that night, wondering if there was something the man was waiting for.

That day he was playing to the tune of the bar rather than that of an old story and when he'd finished his final piece before asking for requests in the final half an hour before his shift ended that day, as he always does. The man still simply watched as Yoongi took whatever requests came his way and adjusting them to the vibe of the bar.