Lesson 9- If you make a mess you have to clean it up.

I arrive just in time to see a guy stab someone. The two of them continue grappling and knock over a table, breaking several glasses. Blood splatters everywhere and people are watching, clearly entertained. Oddly enough, no one seems all that concerned about the fight.
Okay, maybe it’s a little different. Sure I’ve seen kids get into fights before. But usually that just means stabbing each other with crayons not actual KNIVES?! The two of them scramble to their feet. The one with a dagger hanging out of his stomach actually grins as he pulls it free, even though that HAS to hurt. The guy flicks the dagger between his fingers in a way I could never manage and smirks.
“Hey did you want this dagger back or can I keep it?” he taunts. This results in the other guy launching himself at him, throwing a punch as he goes. Alright, enough of this. I rush back behind the bar and using a large bucket from under the bar (I have no idea what it’s actually for) I fill it with ice from the ice machine (one of the few actual pieces of technology in the room) and then top the container up with water.
At the bar, Steph is watching the fight with interest and winks at me as she sees me staggering with my bucket. I approach the idiots and using all my strength, I haul the bucket up and throw the contents of it over them. Both men squeal, literally SQUEAL from the cold ice and one of them bounces up and down, trying to shake an ice cube out of his shirt. The rest of the room falls silent as they watch the drama unfold.
“What the HELL do you think you are doing? You are grown men and this is NOT an appropriate way to behave. You are in a public place, not your own living room. You might not care if you trash the place but I do. Not to mention you are disturbing people who are just here to have a good time!” I gesture behind the two men to the table they knocked over.
The people who were sitting at it are standing awkwardly around it, their drinks shattered on the floor. The two men are standing in front of me, staring at their feet looking guilty. It’s the same look I get from little kids when I lecture them about being nice to their friends and using their words not their fists. Something tells me these guys need to hear a lecture like that. I take a deep breath and lower my voice so that I’m no longer yelling. Everyone is quiet now, there’s no need for me to be so loud.
“If you want to fight each other I don’t care. But do it elsewhere. Go trash your own place.” I order. The two men scramble for the door. They only make it halfway across the room when I stop them.
“Wait!” I call out. They freeze in place. I rush forward and place myself between them and the door.
“You need to clean up first. You made the mess, you clean it up. Also you need to pay for the stuff that you broke.” I demand, gesturing to the mess they made. The table is still sideways on the floor, there are several broken glasses and a few people’s drinks they need to replace. There is also blood dripping through the room and a pool of water from where I threw it at them. One guy, the one who doesn’t have a stab wound in his gut, dares to speak up.
“It… It wasn’t ALL us. The water was your fault.” He argues. I raise an eyebrow and prop my hands up on my hips.
“Excuse me? Uhm, no. If you hadn’t been fighting, I wouldn’t have had to throw water at you. That makes it your fault. Cause and effect. Now, you both seem to have perfectly functional hands. So get to work cleaning. And for goodness sakes bandage up that injury before you spread MORE blood everywhere.” I insist.
Normally I would be worried about someone being stabbed like that, but these guys aren’t human and based on how unconcerned they are about the injury, I’m guessing it isn’t more than an annoyance to him. Damn, it would be nice for an actual stab wound to only be a little inconvenient.

I supervise the men as they clean up. There’s an initial scramble as someone produces a mop and bucket of soapy water from somewhere and they work to put the table right and clean up the glass. I go ahead and make that entire table a fresh round of drinks and I charge the two men double for them, plus a little bit extra for the broken glasses. By the time the men finish cleaning, I am back behind the bar, taking orders and doing a bit of cleaning of my own.
I’m not exactly used to pouring drinks and I’ve not kept things as tidy back here as I would like. The two men come up to the bar to have me check their work so they can get permission to leave. They nervously wait as I check their work. They’ve replaced everything back to how it was as best as they can. I’m satisfied that I won’t have to clean up after them.
“Very good. Now, in the future if you have a problem with someone, take it outside. Or you know, grow up and learn to deal with it without resorting to violence.” I say sternly. Both men mumble out apologies.
“Fine. You can leave now if you want. And make sure you get that stab wound seen to PROPERLY. I don’t want you passing out from blood loss. Have some orange juice or something.” I nag them. The two men scurry out of the front door, the injured one risks a cheeky grin on the way out. I can’t help it, my stern expression breaks and I smile at him and wave. Maybe drunks aren’t all that different from toddlers after all.

After the fight, the evening starts winding down. People slowly start leaving until the only people left in the bar other than myself and Torin are the vampires and a couple of grey skinned creatures. They’re about two feet tall and honestly I haven’t the foggiest idea what they are, but I’m not all that worried about it right now. Torin stands up and clears his throat loudly.
“Last call.” He announces. The tipsy vampires order another round but the little creatures head out. I notice they sort of fade into the shadows as they leave. I guess that’s what Torin meant when he said some creatures can cloak themselves. I yawn as I tidy up and the vampires finally leave.
Torin wanders his way towards me, leaving his seat for the first time all evening. It’s nearly five am and I am EXHAUSTED. I worked all day and pretty much all night. I didn’t realise I’ve been here so long. I also didn’t expect this place would be open so late, but I guess if you serve nocturnal people, like vampires, then it makes sense to stay open as long as possible. It only really started clearing out around four anyway.
“Did you want a drink too?” I ask Torin with a tired smile. He shakes his head and appears to be examining me closely.
“You did well.” He remarks. It doesn’t feel like a compliment, more like he’s confused by it and is trying to work out how things turned out this way. I shrug.
“I had something that they all wanted. That makes me the one in charge. Well, really you’re the one in charge but everyone is too terrified of you to actually ask you for anything. Apparently they would rather pretend you’re not here and deal with me, even if I DO overcharge for drinks.” I comment. Is that a hint of a smile on his face? I think it might be. Good, I’m well on my way to getting Torin to like me, which is all part of my plan to get him to trust me so I can go home.
“You’re hired.” Torin suddenly announces. Well… That wasn’t exactly part of the plan…