"You want me to play a song?"
Jonathan asked Carlie who nodded her head as she said-
"If you have any originals you can play… but all we have is a piano. If you want, you could check out catalog, although we don't have rights to all the songs out now, we do have those for the more popular songs if you want to do a cover"
Listening to Carlie, Jonathan knew that this was a test. After all he came here as half a customer and now he was trying to play a song and get paid.
Although he was introduced by Gwen, Jonathan was not some famous artist or someone who was well known in music circles.
Looking at the grand piano that was on a stage, Jonathan knew that this bar was not some simple pub where people come to drink their minds away.
Some do, but it had an atmosphere that was quite.. Classy or posh.
"Are you sure your patrons would listen to trending songs and not classical music?"
Jonathan asked jokingly, to which Claire smiled as she replied.
"We're in New York Jonathan, Not London"
After retorting, Claire returned to her serious expression as she asked.
"Do you need the list?"
Jonathan shook his head replying.
"Nah… I have a good song that I could use…"
Jonathan had researched the current trending artist and songs while he was making his own identity last night.
He was not the kind of guy to dive head first into anything without making plans.
Knowing his skills in highly technical fields was useless without a strong identity, Jonathan looked into using his other skills.
He had practiced a lot of random skills throughout his life, he could write and do a plethora of other task.
Initially he planned to go into journalism but…
'The reality of media companies is not as simple as the comics'
The year was 2008, the internet was quite advanced due to the machinations of a certain billionaire. In such a climate of information, even media companies needed highly skilled workers with extensive technical knowledge and experience.
What could a 21 year old high school dropout do in such a situation?
Taking Photos? Everyone had a camera and access to the internet, getting photos was as easy as doing a quick search on social media.
All companies had to do was purchase rights, Jonathan can't follow the Peter Parker route.
At first he thought of using his other skills but the only one he could conceivably use was his ability to sing and play a plethora of instruments.
Fame was not an easy path though, it took time and luck as such he kept it only as a last resort.
His false identity? Gwen assured him that only entities, groups and individuals such as Tony Stark, SHIELD and the like could see through the fake identity. As long as they avoid any huge or important title, which is the reason why they avoided giving themselves identities as college graduates.
That said, as long as he played his cards right he could potentially create a source of income through plagiarism.
Yes, although he did not like the thought of using other people's work to make money, Jonathan was desperate.
Moreover, people did it in his previous world by showing off their talent by making covers before they actually started to make music.
Jonathan can't make music as he did not have that much artistic talent, only a trained skill to sing and play instruments.
Of course he didn't want to just mess up someone's life or future, so he made sure that the artist who he would copy was not someone who already existed or was already starting their career.
If they were still kids then maybe his act would lead them to make songs that were even more beautiful.
After all, artists are not skilled just because they are good at singing or playing instruments, they also have the creativity to stand out and make something new.
This was the mindset Jonathan had as he created a list of songs that he could use if he ever wanted to go down the music path.
Now, his preparations the night before had finally bore fruit as he got the opportunity to show off his skills.
Among all the instruments he had learned to play, the Piano was the one he was most familiar with. It was the first instrument he learned to play and the one he had most experience in using.
Taking his seat, Jonathan found Gwen and Carlie sitting in a table near the stage, then, the lights dimmed, and spotlights lit up focusing on Jonathan.
The two women below had teasing smiles on their face but Jonathan simply shook his head in resignation.
'Well, you won't be smiling for long'
He thought before starting to play a song and he did not start with an instrumental intro instead he started with the verse-
"Early Morning~"
Accompanying his words was a single note and what followed was a string of emotional lyrics and notes.
|-| A/N: How do I say Goodbye by Dean Lewis, listen along while reading if you want |-|
The song started slow, the notes on the piano were the same and as the lyrics continued the emotion and weight each note carried slowly started to get heavy.
Jonathan started his first two lines playing the piano with only one hand, it was an intro, it told of a story, a story of someone waking up to a message, one that called them home.
This first line, with the somber way it was delivered and the somber tone of the piano made all the listeners understand that this tale was not gonna be happy. The message was urgent and delivered news, news that no one wanted to hear.
The following lines confirmed this almost immediately-
"I fear the worst…"
Without warning, Jonathan used both hands to play the next notes and the lyrics that followed, trailing after the first two lines made everyone understand.
This was a song of loss, specifically the loss of a father-
What followed were lines that sang about the struggle of loss. Asking "why?". The regret, confusion and inability to think clearly was framed beautifully.
The shock of learning about such a loss, abruptly, without warning and just being shoved to you out of the blue was framed so perfectly that the two women, suffering a nearly similar fate, lost the smile on their faces.
Tears welled up as the song resonated with them, then-
"So how do I say goodbye?"
The line was sung with repressed emotions, the way Jonathan sang it, he tried to copy Dean Lewis as much as he could. He even recalled Gwen's story, empathizing with it to further emulate the emotion of the song.
What he did not realize was that he had started using his ability.
Unfortunately, his ability was not a system, instead it was a simple blessing and it was up to him to learn how to use it and now-
His singing had carried with it the emotion he wanted to emulate and with it the hypnotizing tune that made people empathize.
The emotions that were repressed suddenly exploded, Gwen closed her eyes, she bit her lip and clenched her fist.
The emotions that Jonathan's song carried resonated with her so much that she couldn't really do anything but try her best to hide her current state.
Jonathan, now completely focused on playing the song did not notice that more and more people started to come closer.
A few regular customers who were ignoring the short test came closer, they may not have experienced the same kind of loss, some still have their fathers but that did not stop them from empathizing.
Someone would lose a father, others a brother, some grandfather, even the loss of a mother, daughter… the song may be leaning more towards the loss of a father but the emotions it carried could be for family, even friends.
The song, despite being focused, depending on the performer could instill a variety of emotions.
Jonathan who had not experienced the loss of a father was now using the feeling of loss to sing his song.
This feeling of loss is what his performance emulated and everyone who heard him sing, so long as they had experienced a loss would be able to empathize.
Although his performance was not amplified, his singing was still able to reach the ears of a few passersby.
Unbeknownst to Jonathan or the employee's and even the manager, the bar that was only barely filled during evenings was now crowded with people.
They came from different backgrounds and were in different states but they all came in to listen to Jonathan.
Some of the people who were not completely entranced walked up to the bar counter, called an employee and ordered some alcohol.
This caused a chain reaction, some of the older people found a seat and ordered various drinks but most of them were-
"Get me a glass of Jack, neat"
Hard Liquor, no one ordered beer or a cocktail, most of the people who sat at the bar ordered spirits, Neat, few ordered with ice and even fewer with water.
Pure hard liquor slowly savored as they listened to Jonathan sing.
Unfortunately, songs don't last forever and in less than 3 minutes, barely enough time for the servers who snapped out of their stupor to even get orders. In this short amount of time, Jonathan finished his song and as he did he turned to the two women expecting to see them lose their smiles but what he saw was beyond him.
"What?"
Jonathan could not believe what he saw as crowds of people were looking at him, their emotions were varied but he could see a certain similarity in their eyes.
"Uhm…"
Faced with such a situation, Jonathan, who had never been the center of attention, froze.
At that moment, a single person's words caused a wave-
"Encore!"
"Encore!"
"Encore!"
Everyone was asking for an encore but-
"This was a test though?"
Jonathan said but Carlie came up to him and said-
"Well, you've proved your ability… but, if you want to play another song… you play something else?"
Faced with this trouble, Jonathan did not know how to proceed, but at this moment, Gwen who had snapped back directed Jonathan to look at the bar counter.
There he saw a bunch of people ordering drinks and he could faintly hear and even see the kind of drinks coming out.
'Crap… these guys are all venting!'
Thinking to himself, Jonathan tried to recall the songs he could sing, of course he could repeat the first song he sang but…
Jonathan turned to Gwen and Carlie whose eyes were showing a bit of… danger.
'Once is enough'
With such a thought, Jonathan recalled another song, he doesn't know if anyone here could relate to it but the song was somewhat close to his first song.
Though this song was a bit more… personal for Jonathan.
'Hopefully there's not many people here who had to go through losing someone in such a way…'
Life was not all sunshines and rainbows, although Jonathan had yet to experience the loss of a family member. He was not immune to loss and he had lost friends before and one such loss impacted him greatly.
It made him feel weak and helpless, a memory that was awakened by one song and he had sang this song a LOT of times. Not for practice but just because he empathized with it so much.
Still unaware of how his ability works, Jonathan decided to sing a song he believes he could sing the best.
A song that he believed he could truly sing perfectly, he could not replicate the original singer but his experience allowed him to sing it in his own way.
Jonathan turned to the crowd patiently waiting for him to sing as he thought-
'This time I'm gonna show you all my true skills!'
With that Jonathan started to play his second piece.