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Today was in Marlo's mind, a perfect day. The forecast was mildly cloudy, with no chance of rain, plus, it was warm, but not muggy. Perfection of nature, in nature. At least as close to nature he could get in the city. The park was thankfully quite, given that kids tended to run amok in the day and scream like tiny banshees. And what made this day even better? He had his favorite lunch. Pizza from the little corner market, paired with an nice cold coke. Ah, life didn't get much better.

Well, actually, it did. He had the fortune to bring his Lyre with him, and, thankfully, the semi-empty park meant that he wouldn't be disturbed. Pizza in mouth, he began a slow melody, munching on the pepperoni.

This always happened when he played his music. Marlo got engrossed. Even with the pizza slowly falling, he had to finish the song. He just had to. Otherwise, it would come out sloppy and hardly soothing. Not to mention aggravating. Thankfully the song was short and Marlo managed to get the last notes in before catching the falling slice of pepperoni. Looking at his open case, he shook his head noticing the loose change people has dropped into the case. he didn't mind but..It did make Marlo wonder if he looked like a needy vagabond. The tips aside, he was down to the crust of the slice now, (which was no doubt one the the best parts), and the fact he didn't have to worry about falling sauce gave him a bit more of a good feeling.

Enough of a good feeling that he decided to play a much more jovial song, and one that would be slightly longer. Scooting around on the grass a bit, he shoved the last bit of pizza crust in his mouth and resumed his playing.

His eyes closed, Marlo was only aware of his lyre's melody on the feel of the strings being plucked. To him, this was what true euphoria must be like. Undisturbed, and free to do what you loved. Soon, well, about three fourths into the song, Marlo got that nagging feeling he was being watched. It was typical considering what he was doing. However, he slowly felt a bit more awkward playing, knowing without certainly if he had an audience or not. As the song came to an end, he was ready to yell at whoever had been staring at him, (or be ashamed by his own paranoia).
Looking up with a scowl he expected some kid or a middle aged person but instead, found himself looking at a girl around his own age. Quickly blushing, thinking that just moments ago he was ready to yell her off, he looked back down at the lyre. "...Doyouhavearequest?" His voice was soft and almost meek.

"..Sure." His voice was still a bit quite, however, it was less meek and mumbled. Scooting around, and getting himself comfortable, his face still held a light blush. Suddenly, he realized that he didn't know 'Sound of Silence'. More so...he made up his own music on average. Oh um..well, what could he do now? Letting the real silence linger, he thought of a solution, but, Marlo wasn't quite sure it would work.
"...Ta-da. The Sound of Silence." He made a motion with his hand and looked up, giving her a weak smile. Technically it was the 'sound' of silence he had (not) played.

"I make my own songs. I don't know many mainstream or classics." he shrugged and picked a few strings checking the tuning. "I go with what sounds good." Looking around he noticed he had finished his meal and there wasn't much to do besides play the lyre and relax. However, he wasn't much for relaxing when being stared at. Marlo was unused to an audience apart from his brother or the concerts, but in the concerts he wasn't the center of attention.

"...I hope my playing didn't annoy you...or my lack of playing." He just felt, awkward. It felt so unreal to play for another person that wasn't his brother, and on top of that she was kind of cute. Not that it mattered. Marlo pushed those thoughts aside. She was just like any other person. They just wanted to listen. That was all.

Her complements felt nice. Any artist liked to be complimented, whatever their medium. "My folks..eh..I never cared for much of what they liked." It was true, rather, he tended to like the opposite. "And mainstream stuff gets kinda boring. So..it's better to make stuff up in my opinion."

Holding up a hand, he smiled a bit weakly. "Marlo Xanis. Um...not to bother but...why are you in the park by yourself? Most of the time, I just see couples." He shrugged. heck, it wasn't really ant of his business.

Huh, he didn't really know what had spurred him to play in the park. It just seemed like a good idea at the time. So did the pizza. "Well...I normally don't play in public. Today seemed nice and the park is a bit empty so...I guess it was simply a spur of the moment." he shrugged and picked at a string.
"Also, it a lyre. Harp strings are plucked; a lyre it it strummed, much like a guitar. But, It's a common mistake..." he stopped picking the string, realizing it wasn't good for the instrument. "As for playing with others...not really, given I'm more to my own art then other's."

Looking at her, he was a bit surprised at her statement. It was oddly true. he did want to go back to playing but...that would be rude at best. "I...don't mind talking. Just...most of the time, people talk of mundane things, or things of no interest to me." He leaned back, looking skyward. "I like playing well enough. It's one of the few things I do well. And..I used to play in concerts, but, the lyre is a are instrument. Few conductors know what do do with me, so they stick me on a harp...which I don't play as well. Or the guitar. Same thing in my perspective I know...a bit, but I'm hardly good. At least on the guitar I can still pluck the stings and don't end up breaking the instrument. I think I've broken a total of 7 harp strings in my life." Falling back forward, he shrugged. "Basically, I play alone, or I play in limbo."
He lifted the lyre to her. "Do you want to try?" It was a spur of them moment idea. But, he was a bit pleased with her curiosity. It..was a pleasant kind of inquisitiveness.