Prologue - An aurora like no other.
Cigarette smoke hung thick in the air; the bar was full, fuller than full, even. Liquor flowed freely as the throngs of people squished into ‘the aurora barealis tavern’ stared at one of several screens dotted about the bar. The owner of the tavern, Russell, a heavy-set man who obviously quite enjoyed the profits of his establishment, sat at the end of the bar and scanned the crowd in disgust. “It almost ruins my god damn appetite this does.” He growled at his bartender, Leon, a perfectly average-looking fellow who was polishing a glass.
“What does? You love when the place is full, I thought.” Leon responded, not sure what his boss was on about.
“The crowd’s nice, the reason they’re here ain’t,” Russell added, which was still short of what Leon would call an explanation.
Leon looked around in confusion, “Can you be a bit clearer? Wait, are you hating on ‘L rat?’” He asked, in relation to the sport that was about to begin on the screen.
Russell slapped the table and motioned at Leon, “Yes! I bloody am, the name even sounds stupid, doesn’t it? ‘Labyrinth Runners Association Tournament’, the bloody dolts didn’t bother to think of the acronym they were making, did they? L.R.A.T! ‘L rat’ almost sounds French, don’t it!” He harped on much to Leon’s eyerolling disinterest.
With a shrug, Leon inspected his polish job then replied kind of in defence of the sport. “It’s not that bad, I mean, it’s teams of people running around a weaponised maze, beating the crap out of each other and trying to be first out of the maze. They’re a bit like rats and mice when you think about it.” Russell whistled, clearly impressed, “That’s some mighty deep thinking there, son, is that smoke I see coming from your ears?” he mocked.
“Yeah, screw you. It’s a bit better than the actual name of the sport don’t you think? ‘Labyranthia’ sounds like a horror movie if you ask me.” Leon said as he slid the sufficiently polished glass across the counter behind him to join the other glasses ready for use.
Russell shook his head vehemently in disagreement, “It’s a beautiful name, sounds exotic, like it belongs to a nice big-breasted, dark-skinned woman, dressed in nothing but a-“ Russell began, practically drooling at the mouth.
“Yeah! Alright! Chill out!” Leon exclaimed, waving a towel at his boss, “Now who’s smoking, eh? You’re gonna need a new pair of underwear in a minute if you keep thinking like that!” he added, not wanting to miss his chance to get a dig in.
Russell wagged a finger at Leon, part offended and part impressed. Before their banter could continue any longer, a somewhat inebriated patron practically fell against the bar. “Hey, Leon. Who you got?” they asked, to which Leon shrugged.
“Dunno, I don’t really follow it… Oh, I know. You ready for this? You’ll want to place a bet on this insider knowledge.” Leon said as he winked at Russell and smirked as he leaned in towards the patron.
“Oh yeah!” the customer exclaimed as he leaned in close.
“I reckon…” Leon said, pausing for effect, “The real winner is going to be…” Pausing again, the customer had practically forgotten to breathe as he waited for Leon’s pick. Leon placed a hand on the customer’s shoulder and looked into his eyes, “the friends they make along the way.” He finished in his best affection-laden voice.
The customer recoiled and shook their head, “Oh, screw you, dude!” he grumbled in disappointment and trudged off into the crowd.
“Hey, he was going to buy something!” Russell complained as he debated calling the customer back.
Leon shrugged, “I thought it was funny.” He muttered as he grabbed another glass to polish.
