milliways_bar | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Suzi Darley has a pad of paper, several pens, and a booth where she can keep an eye on the bar in general. Her knitting and her usual signs offering jewelry for sale are nowhere in sight.

She's here for one reason: initial interviews with the people who requested them. Her notes will be passed along above her head, and those people will sit down and figure out who they want to talk to more from there.

She's got the list of questions that Alanna used in the last hire written down to use (and blank space under them in case anyone on Security has other questions that they want her to start adding), and plans to file each days interviews as soon as they're all finished so that they're to hand for the people doing the actual hires.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Simplest version?" says Belar. "My name is Belar. My most commonly used alias is Belar Ulsson. Official titles include Bear God of the Alorns, Prosperity God of the Dörbed or Dörvöd people of Mongolia, and three-time snowboarding champion of Kelowna, British Columbia."

"I think that should do." Suzi says after a minute, "I can come and find you if they want something else? What is your trade?" ...She does make a note saying see above and titles there.

"Primarily, it's being the god of the Dörbed and the Alorns," says Belar. "Past professions've also included Arctic crab fisherman, winter sports instructor, and patron of brewery and naval warfare."

She nods, and adds those, "Okay! And What weapons can you wield successfully?"

"Broadsword, saber, dagger, shortsword, pike, quarterstaff, harpoon, cestus, axe, cudgel, mace, warhammer, spear, steel-toed boots, sling, catapult- the kind you use to fling fire on your enemy, not the little y-shaped kind with the rubber part- underwater ram, and small child on a rope," Belar answers.

"..." Suzi says, and, "Small child on a rope?" This is obviously not a Security question. This is more of a WTF? question.

"Yeah. Long story. The short version is, if you and the kid are surrounded by about eight or nine guys who're only armed with melee weapons- this doesn't work if they've got guns- and the kid's trained in the martial arts, you get the rope around the kid's middle and give him a good strong boost at the guys coming in at you. If he's skillful enough, he can deliver some really wicked foot-blows and bounce from opponent to opponent. The rope keeps him moving in a circle so he's less likely to fall down prematurely."

Pause.

"I saw it in a movie. I got to try it twice. It's sweet when it works."

"Belar, I like you a lot...and you're my favorite god ever...but you just gave me a whole new reason not to ever have children." Suzi informs him with REALLY WIDE EYES. "Are you a magic user? If so, what type of magic?"

"Hey, it only works if the kid already knows how to kick butt," Belar protests. "And yeah, you could say that. What I use is the Will and the Word- on my world we call it 'sorcery'. Hold the concept of what you want to do in your thoughts until it becomes clear, pour all of your Will into the concept, and then release that Will with an appropriate Word or gesture. I could demonstrate, if you wanted to see."

"...You don't have to? I've seen you turn into a bear, and Garion has gone Gen for me as well as turning Whistler into a Gen permanently? But if you want to that's alright, too." Suzi says, writing down his explanation of how he does things, "What are the bar rules?"

"Okay, fair," says Belar. "I also made the mountains out back in the course of about an hour, after I had them all planned out, for what that's worth. The rules are: no violence in the Bar proper, although consensual duels and fistfights out back are okay. No old business in the Bar, where 'business' is defined to mean grudges, vendettas, feuds, and other antagonistic crap from outside. And no sex or nudity in public areas."

"Mmmkay..." Suzi says, writing down 'mountains in an hour', "What, if any, are your duties back home? That probably means Garion's world and Earth."

"Answering prayers for all my people, which I can cover in depth in the space of about twenty minutes a day," Belar says. "I'm also supposed to preside over a couple of sporting festivals- three or four a year."

"Okay...Why do you want to join security?" Suzi is betting because I'm a nice guy, but she's also interested in his actual answer.

"Because this place needs somebody who can take out the really big troublemakers when they make trouble," Belar says. "There was a fight here between two angels the other night and they nearly started in on each other with swords right in the middle of the bar. I had to call down lightning around them to get them to stop long enough to take it outside. What's somebody mortal gonna do if a couple of gods or demons or something go at it?"

Suzi is going to be horrified for a moment at the thought of angels fighting. That's just. It's. It. That.

Her world is teetering in uncomfortable ways right now. Push it aside, Hajene, "Okay...Have you had any dealings with Milliways Security?"

Bright side: she only knows one of the angels who got involved. Not so bright side: it was Raguel.

"No ma'am."

Raguel is the most fighty of the angels she knows, though, so that is a brighter dim side.

"Ma'am is a Junct term and I don't kill." Suzi says absently, "Mmmkay. How would you handle the following scenario: A new patron draws a gun and threatens an enemy from home -- an enemy that has been a bar patron for some time and hasn't caused trouble. The new patron also has magic, and lets everyone know it."

Belar winces. "Sorry, I should've been more careful," he apologizes. "As far as the gun and magic issue goes, I start by getting between them, because unless he made it by melting down the Sword of Riva that Garion carries, it's probably not gonna be able to affect me. If I can't talk the guy into calming down and listening to me, the next step is surrounding him with an impenetrable barrier of force for long enough to clear out anybody who might get hurt, and then talking to him. If he's really, really obnoxious about it, or twitchy enough that he starts shooting or setting off magic, the gun gets translocated out of his hand to somewhere safely out of reach. If he starts trying to let off any magic, though, I'm sort of going to have to distract him before he can actually use it. Materializing a bucket of water over his head usually breaks most sorcerors' concentration before they can hurt anybody. The really obnoxious ones who go straight for the big guns, well... they make really entertaining noises when they're turned into chickens for fifteen minutes."

"Mmmkay. Is there anything else that you think that my bosses should know?" She asks cheerfully.

"That's about it, I think," says Belar. "I deeply respect and will always listen to the wisdom of the people who control the beer, so it's not like I'm gonna get out of line or develop a swelled head or anything."

"Okies!" Suzi sets her pen down, then leans across the table for a hug, "Thank you, Belar. My bosses will get back to you when they've figured out who they're going to hire."

Belar's more than happy to comply. "Thanks. Looking forward to hearing about it."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only