Adventuring!

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Once again, class would be held in the Danger Shop. Because there was a Danger Shop and no self-respecting hacker nerd like Hardison would be able to forgive themself for holding a class anywhere but the Danger Shop if that was a possibility. Today, however, when the class opened the door into the Danger Shop, they'd find themselves in a tavern called The Thief and Hitter, a name that made him smile every time he looked at it. Anyone familiar with epic fantasy movies or video games would feel right at home, with the scarred wooden tables, the roaring fire with a pig roasting on a spit, and a thickly-muscled barkeep standing behind a long wooden counter while several pretty ladies (and a few pretty lads, too, Hardison was equal-opportunity) waited tables, bringing over battered metal tankards filled with brown ale and heaping plates of mutton and bowls of stew. If the barkeep looked like the manager of a local diner on one of his surlier days and if one of the blonde serving girls was helping herself to money pouches, well, surely those were coincidental.

There was one empty table remaining that had just the right number of seats for the number of students in class. How fortuitous!

Hardison waited until everyone had taken a seat before speaking up. "Ahh, the tavern," he said, drawing their attention to one of the tall, wingback chairs in front of the fire. He peeked around the side and gave the class a smile. "Traditional starting place of many an adventure. Whether you're a seasoned adventurin' party or ain't even a group yet, the tavern's a great place to get somethin' to eat, swap stories, an' keep an ear out for opportunities for gainful employment. Funny, most of said 'gainful employment' usually involves goin' out into the wilderness somewhere an' riskin' life an' limb to steal stuff from the local green-skinned population, but hey. Them enchanted weapons won't pay for themselves."

Standing up, he moved to join the class at the table, snagging a stool on the way. "So, welcome to Adventurin'! Yes, the exclamation point is part of the class title. If you were hopin' for a class that involved runnin' around in the woods an' jumpin' offa high stuff, that's Outdoor Adventures, run by my crew, Eliot an' Parker. Sorry for the confusion, but they probably got room for you if you wanna sign up late or whatever. This class ain't about hikin' an' explorin' the great outdoors. It's about discoverin' the five great adventure game archetypes an' figurin' out which one suits you best, occasionally while usin' your various skills to get past obstacles." And they wouldn't all be various fights, though Hardison wasn't going to share that just yet.

"But today is for introductions. Now, about half'a you know me--an' welcome back--but for those of you who don't, my name is Hardison. Don't worry about callin' me Mr. or Professor or none of that, just Hardison'll do. This is Raven," he added, gesturing to her seat at the table. "She's my TA for the semester. Now, from alla you, what I'd like is your name an' grade, why you signed up for this class, an' how much experience you have with epic fantasy media, of any variety. Books, movies, video games, RPGs, whatever, you name it. If you can, feel free to tell me your favorite character class an' why. If you ain't sure what I mean about classes, just tell me your favorite character from any media an' what it is you like about 'em--specifically, what they do that's so cool. That make sense?"

Just as the last of the introductions and explanations were over, a stout, well-armored dwarf woman reached down to her belt for her money pouch, only to discover it missing. "Thief!" she shouted, pointed to the man next to her, and took a swing. Within seconds the entire tavern was engulfed in a brawl. The only spot of relative calm was around the table of students. "Uh-oh," Hardison said, though he was grinning. "Looks like there's a big fight between y'all and the exit. Looks like you need to find a way to get outta here, whether you wanna fight your way out, sneak out, or find another way. Good luck!"

Comments

Bar Fight

[geniuswithasmartphone]

How are you going to get out? The front door's blocked by a sea of brawling people, with fists and even the occasional magic spell flying. You can mod the tavern to any reasonable extent--there isn't suddenly a huge hole in the wall leading to the outside, or a modern sprinkler system to trip, but wooden support beams, trap doors to root cellars, and chandeliers made from wagon wheels and covered in candle stubs are certainly available for use, as well as plenty of other opportunities for escape as well. If you need a reference this image is close enough to the general tavern theme.

Best of luck!

Re: Bar Fight

[that_oldsaying]

Oh. Oh, well.

Alluka did the only thing she could do, given her own abilities and understanding of the situation:

She burst into tears.

Re: Bar Fight

[tigerundercover]

Um. Okay. This was probably exactly the sort of thing a TA was supposed to deal with, right?

Yeah, Raven was a little bit stumped on how to help deal with this. She dropped down from the big dude she'd been beating on, landing on all fours next to Alluka, (At least her crying seemed to have cleared a bit of space around her?) and then held up her hands. "Woah, it's okay! It's just a game!"

. . . Hopefully the fact that she currently looked like a humanoid lizard wouldn't add to the distress, here.

Re: Bar Fight

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison had also been planning to intercede, but hung back when he saw Raven stepping in. He'd keep an eye on them, of course, but if Raven had everything well in hand, he wasn't going to push his way in.

Raven was becoming an excellent leader. Best TA.

Re: Bar Fight

[that_oldsaying]

The thing was that Alluka might not have ever talked to Raven before, but she'd seen her around and had enough listening comprehension to understand that blue probably meant Raven, the TA, and not a terrible monster.

But Alluka was already upset and so when Raven landed next to her and spoke while looking scary, Alluka stumbled backwards and even that wouldn't have ruined everything ever except that she lost control of Bubbles (the stuffed giraffe) and he went flying into the crowd.

"It's a stupid game!" Alluka cried, still in tears and now furious and scared on top of it. "I don't want to play this game! It's scary! I want Bubbles!"

Re: Bar Fight

[tigerundercover]

Well. Angry was a little better than scared, at least? Mostly. Sometimes it led to getting hit. She needed a new tactic.

"Okay," Raven said, looking around and then making a snap decision. She shifted again, sizing herself down to a little shorter than Alluka, and making herself nice and bright and fluffy. She held out what was now a disturbingly warm fuzzy paw. "Then let's go get Bubbles, okay? We don't want -- him? -- to get scared, too."

Re: Bar Fight

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka sniffled, but Raven turning into a giant stuffed animal was a pretty good distraction, especially when she got to hold her hand after too.

"Okay," she said grudgingly, clinging to Raven's fluffy hand. If she'd felt better, she'd have flailed with joy about the change. "Because, because he's not used to this."

Neither was she. Hence the crying and the tantrum.

"And if we don't find him, he'll cry."

Re: Bar Fight

[tigerundercover]

"That's why he needs his favorite person to help him out," Raven said. It was a trick Charles used sometimes on her when she was little, turning her into the hero that saved someone else from her fears, instead of the one cowering from them. "I bet if we're fast, we can dodge between these big guys and get to him before they even know we're there."

Re: Bar Fight

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka considered that thoughtfully.

"Even me?" she asked doubtfully. "I can't do anything."

She flinched at a particularly loud shout that ripped through the air.

Re: Bar Fight

[tigerundercover]

"Not even running? I don't believe that." Raven winked at her, keeping her tone light even as the fight continued to roar around her. "I think you just need to try it out and see."

Re: Bar Fight

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka looked at Raven and then in the direction that Bubbles had gone and took a deep breath. It was sort of shaky, but she was going to ignore that.

"Okay," Alluka said, her voice small. "I'll try."

Re: Bar Fight

[tigerundercover]

"And I'll be right here to help while you do. Now, let's go!" Raven hopped forward a few steps, tugging on Alluka's hand. "Bubbles is waiting!"

RE: Re: Bar Fight

[geniuswithasmartphone]

After Raven had gotten Alluka and Bubbles safely out and Hardison had had a chance to talk to Raven, he made his way over to Alluka, a chocolate milk in hand. "Hey," he said, offering her the milk. Normally, he'd've gone for a soda or something, but she just seemed so damn young. "How you doin', little mama?"

Re: Bar Fight

[that_oldsaying]

"And then?" Alluka was asking, seriously, of her giraffe. Bubbles seemed to be answering her, since his head bobbed (she was making him move, but Alluka was willing to ignore that) when Hardison came up to her.

She still looked red eyed and a little puffy from her crying fit in the bar, but she offered him a bit of a smile as she took the milk. "Thank you," she said politely. "I, I think I'm okay? Bubbles is too."

Which was the most important part. Very Important Toy, Bubbles was.

RE: Re: Bar Fight

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Glad to see you both made it through," Hardison said. "I saw Raven escortin' you over to get him an' then gettin' you both outta the fight. You seemed a little scared. You wanna talk about what happened? An' why it was so scary?"

He kept his voice pitched low and the cadence steady, trying to project soothing as much as he could.

Re: Bar Fight

[that_oldsaying]

She gave him a doubtful look and then looked down at Bubbles. (She made Bubbles look up at her, just as doubtfully, though the expression was mostly in her head.)

"Scary people," she said, after a moment, still not looking at him. "But big scary."

RE: Re: Bar Fight

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison grabbed a chair and pulled it over to sit on, putting himself at more of a height with Alluka. "I'm sorry you were scared," he said honestly. Scaring anyone into tears had never been on his agenda. "An' I'd really like to know more so I don't never do it again. Could you explain what you mean by big scary? An' how it's different than little scary? Or even regular scary? You think you woulda been okay if they were less scary?"

Re: Bar Fight

[that_oldsaying]

"Maybe," she said, after a moment. Alluka wrestled with the questions--honestly, she hadn't been thinking about her reactions, just reacting to the situation and it had felt big and scary.

"Um, little scary is when I get to do a new thing and I don't know how to do it, or--or when I offer a suggestion and have to wait to hear someone answer it." Because that was scary, when she still had so little practice at it. "And normal scary is like when I wake up and I don't remember where I am for a moment," which happened surprisingly often, thanks to Nanika, "or if I think about how much trouble I'm going to get in when my family finds the island." She glanced at him and explained, "I wasn't supposed to leave my room, but there was a swirling thing, so I poked it and there was here on the other side."

She took a moment to offer her chocolate milk to Bubbles, pretending that he drank some of it before she took a bit of her own. A bigger gulp than she'd usually take if it was just her, so that it looked like Bubbles had taken some. It was a stalling tactic, though Alluka didn't really think of it that way. It just made her feel better.

"Big scary was this. Lots of scary people and noise and everyone was being mean to each other and I, I didn't know what to do."

So she'd, uh, blue-screened into tears. As you do.

RE: Re: Bar Fight

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Not allowed to leave her room. That was something for Hardison to poke at later. From the way she said it, she might just have been grounded or something, so it wasn't hugely concerning, but there was still something about well, everything, that made him concerned.

"Would it still have been big scary if you hadn't been involved?" he asked. "If they'd been on the other side of a rope and not all around you? So it would still have been loud and people would have been mean, but you would have been safe on the other side." She had always been safe, of course, that was the Danger Shop's primary function, but she hadn't felt safe. "It's okay if you're not sure. I know this is pretty new for you, so it's okay not to know the answers right away."

She'd just mentioned that sometimes offering her opinion to people caused her anxiety and the last thing Hardison wanted this conversation to do was add to her discomfort.

Re: Bar Fight

[tigerundercover]

It took approximately thirty seconds after the fight began for Raven to be blue, scaley, and clinging to the back of some big beefy guy beating him over the head with a pewter tray.

You had to love a school that let you get into bar fights for class.

Re: Bar Fight

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Love. Question the academic qualifications of. Same diff.

The beefy guy roared and flung himself backwards onto a table, trying to squish Raven between his armored body and the wood.

Re: Bar Fight

[tigerundercover]

Oh please, Beefy Guy. That was the oldest trick in the book. Raven saw the table coming, shifted her scales into dense bone plate, and continued beating him on the head with the tray.

Re: Bar Fight

[notamascot]

Now, this Kaylin could do! She pretty much only went to taverns with Teela and Tain and odds were pretty much 100% that if you went to a bar with a Barrani, you were gonna be in a bar fight.

Within seconds, Kaylin was up and brawling with the best of them.

It... might have been a while before she remembered that the point was to get out of the bar. At which point she fought her way to the door and tumbled out, slightly bruised, but very cheerful.

Re: Bar Fight

[justwantedfriends]

Kira jumped over the bar and ducked down behind it. She worked her way towards the door by grabbing glasses and throwing them at people, some to distract them and some at the people everyone else in class was fighting. It was really way too much fun, as far as she was concerned.

Re: Bar Fight

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

Hanna paused, then started shimmying up one of the support beams, getting up to the chandeliers without any trouble. Hmm.

That was a really impressive fight below her, really. She could probably swing out, or...

It looked like fun!