Educational Standoff Who: Adam and Brett Where: Near the arena When: Morning
For all his talk, Adam was nervous about this competition now. He'd seen more than one bleeding person carted off the pitch and he was starting realize that while he was deceptively strong, he was still smaller than the other knights. It made him jittery, which dressed in his armor was obvious as it clattered some with every bounce he made. His original goal had been to do good, but now he was pretty sure it was shifting to not dying and not throwing up before he went out there.
Brett had positioned himself off to one side, away from people yet in a position to be obvious and visible. Intimidation was part of who he was now. He generally didn't talk to anyone, not unless it was to his advantage. And as he saw the green around the gills newbie passing by, he saw something to his advantage. Not rising from his seated position, in full, dark armour, he dropped his broadsword into Adam's path. Close enough to shock, but not enough to hurt.
Adam all but jumped as the sword landed at his feet, stopping just short of it landing on his feet and jerking his head around to see the source. The knight in his dark armor and scowl was fitting of what he was going for. For a moment Adam just stared then made a face. Jeffrey had family that acted like that. "Yours?" He asked trying to sound less nervous than he was. Experience with these type of people didn't make them any less terrifying.
Brett looked at Adam, long and hard, waiting and letting the tension build, until he finally said, "Stunning piece of deduction there. I hope you do better with brawn, or they're going to eat you alive out there."
Adam felt it, and fought the urge to fidget again which he mostly succeeded at. "I'll be fine." Probably not. He might die out there. "You might want to make sure you can keep ahold of that or you might have trouble yourself." He waved at the sword, giving the guy a pointed look. Confident. He didn't feel it but he was trying his best to fake it.
Brett stood, slowly. Unbending himself from his seated position and drawing himself up to his full height. In reality, he wasn't that much taller than the man before him, but he knew how to loom. "You're not from round here, are you?" he stated. This man didn't have the right attitude for someone who knew who Brett was.
Adam hated that. That the guy looked taller than him without being all that taller than he was. "Neither are you," he said thinking the guy didn't sound like the local people either accent wise. Of course Adam could be completely wrong, but despite the way the guy seemed at ease in his armor he just didn't sound right.
Once again, Brett allowed the silence to linger until it was almost unbearable before he answered, "Originally, no, but I've lived here for many years now. I am known. Those that know me know not to speak to me that way. Those that know me fear what the repercussions may be." It was laying it on rather thick, in Brett's opinion, but round here, blatant intimidation seemed to work in ensuring he didn't have to deal with people. Plus he got the prize monies he needed to live, since nobody would employ him in an actual trade.
Adam watched him, hating the tension between his shoulders, but whatever fear he had whisked away the moment Brett said he wasn't from here. "You aren't. Were you in a hotel? Have you really been here years?" Was that how long Adam was going to be sick? The thought made his stomach turn.
A flicker of interest and something more - something that couldn't quite be described as hope, but yet that was in thee same vein - crossed Brett's blue eyed gaze. "A hotel," he said, neither confirming nor denying that right now. "What would make you suggest such a thing?"
Adam saw it. That flicker of something and he all but jumped on it. "Because that's where I came from." He didn't think twice about pulling At the guy's arm, dragging him more into a corner.
Adam might have been pulling, but Brett didn't move. "Let go," he ground out, his tone deadly serious. He knew what the other man was doing and the fact that, apparently, this guy had also come from the hotel meant that he definitely wanted to talk to him. For all that, though, there was no way in hell he was going to let some scrawny nobody drag him into a corner. Just because someone from the hotel got here, didn't mean they were ever getting away again. Brett's reputation was the one thing standing between him and the lynch mob for what he'd done.
Adam looked at the guy and that tone, clearly not getting why the guy was being a raging jerk, but he did pull his hand away. "Fine. But if you're from there too I need to know how long you've been here. And how we get back." He wasn't letting it go. This a was clue wasn't it? A potential answer to one of the millions of questions and that was worth getting glared at and growled at like he was going to get killed.
Brett took a breath, gave out some more intimidating vibes to cover himself, and then bent to pick up his sword. Thrusting it into it the scabbard he stared some more at the other man. "Ten years," he said, not letting up on the glare. "I've been here ten years and, as far as I know, there's no getting back. Unless you know something I don't."
Nausea came first. Adam couldn't grasp that properly. Ten years. A decade. Adam was sure he was going to throw up and almost doubled over at the sensation. "But... There are so many of us," he said. Himself, Kyle, Mazie. Kennedy. And he'd seen others, at the party. Justin, Monica, they were all here. He looked around, running his hand over his face for a moment before looking at the guy. "There has to be a way back."
Brett arched a brow. He scanned the compound they were in warily, to see if they were being observed. Content that they were not, he gestured that they should walk toward the corner that the other man had wanted to take them earlier. "So many... There was only me," he admitted, his tone tense. "Are there more... now? I never knew what happened. I was travelling, then there was this hotel. I was there a couple of days and then I was here. I thought... I thought it was because of who I was," he admitted, finally showing something of the real personality, which lay beneath the façade.
Adam followed Brett, looking around them. "Six at least. Probably more," he explained. "I woke up in the hotel and I was like ninety percent sure that I went to sleep at my apartment. I was there a couple of days and now I'm here." He hesitated and made a face. "Who you are?"
Once he was certain they were out of earshot of anyone else, Brett turned to him. "My name is Brett Trent. I'm from Montana, originally, but that seems a lifetime ago. Never use that name. Here, I'm the Black Knight. Your name?" he asked.
Adam gave the guy a look for all his Black Knight nonsense but he wound up just nodding. Whatever worked he guessed. "Adam Samuels. I'm from New York." He waited a breath then studied Brett more. "What did you mean about who you are? Did you do something to wind up here?"
Brett ignored the look. Adam was clearly too naive to understand. He got that - he didn't understand this place when he first arrived here, either. "I was studying medieval life and culture, when I found myself here," he explained. "I always figured that had something to do with it."
Adam raised an eyebrow at that, not sure what to make of the man in front of him. He didn't seem like the scholarly type, but what did Adam know right? Maybe it made sense that he looked like belonged here really. "Okay...well I wasn't. I was just drunk at a party. So I don't think that mattered." He looked around, chewing on his lip before looking at Brett. "You have to stick with us. So that when we go back you come too." Not that Adam knew how that worked, but he guessed it worked something like that.
Brett glared at him for the questioning look. He knew that look. It was the one that said that Adam had assumed Brett was dumb, because he was big. Because he glowered and was taciturn. It wasn't the first time he had been confronted by that look. "What the he'll makes you think your little group is going back anyhow? I told you. I've been here for ten years. For all I know, it takes people up and spits them out here. Leaves them to rot. I'd get used to this place, Adam. It's your new home."
Adam held his hands up in mock surrender at the look which really he wasn't able to pinpoint why he was getting it, just that he was getting it. Of course it was followed on by the guy being a dick, again, which didn't help Adam's attitude. "Because it doesn't make sense to just leave us here. Maybe you missed your way out. Why drop us here?" he asked, panic rising because if Brett was right he was doomed. He'd spend his whole life in a place he didn't belong having to pretend about how he felt about Kyle and all of that made his stomach turn over again.
"Why does it have to make sense?" Brett challenged. "What part of any of this makes sense? Randomly entering hotels that you can't leave. Ending up in the middle fucking ages. Show me one part of any of this that actually makes sense." he could feel the anger rising up inside, audible in his tone, though Brett still had it leashed. This naïve little boy who thought that it was that easy. That Brett was only still here because he was dumb. Because he'd fucked up somehow. That life couldn't possibly be that unfair. Well, in Brett's opinion, it was. The sooner that Adam learned that, the more likely he would be to survive.
Brett was starting to get loud and Adam saw that for what it meant. He was used to people who gave little to no warning before they went from normal to incredibly angry, so he stopped, taking a breath before he went on. "None of it makes sense, but why send us to the hotel? I think...I mean a hotel with a sign at the bottom of the elevator shaft that asks people not to try and kill themselves and cushions and shit so you don't die when you jump. Doesn't that mean people are there for a while?" Who went suicidal after two days. Except Kennedy. "I mean...if you were studying this and you wound up here, why the hell did I wind up her? Me and everyone else? Maybe there's just something we have to finish. Maybe you need help."
Brett's expression changed so that instead of just looking angry, he looked confused and angry. "What the hell are you talking about? Elevator shafts... Cushions... What the hell? Maybe you're the one that needs help! I have no idea why you wound up here. Or why there's more of you and your 'friends' than there was of just me. You're just... desperate to find a way to make this make sense. To solve some kind of problem that'll open some kind of magical door out of here." He actually got that. He had gone through the same thing himself ten years ago. It wasn't like he had just settled down and given up straight away. "Newsflash: there isn't any way out of here. You are stuck in the past for the rest of your life. Get used to it."
"Yes," Adam said. "All of that." It sounded insane, hoping for magical doors and ways out, but yes, that was exactly it. He wanted to go back. To wake up somewhere where he belonged. "They're real people," Adam insisted, looking past Brett. "I can point them out to you. There has to be a way out. I'm not getting stuck here. I have a life to get back to. A best friend." A new boyfriend.
"You think I didn't have any of that?" Brett challenged. "Ten years. Just think about that. I don't doubt that the people you came with are real. Maybe you, or them, should go and see the witch that they say lives around here," he said, with dark humour.
"I didn't mean that," Adam said frowning, trying not to think about ten years because it made him sick. "What witch? Like a real witch? What?" That was weird, of course it might be lead too, but at the same time this guy was giving the advice and he seemed like the type that would have tried such a thing in a decade. The whole statement screamed witch. "Look, if we figure this out, I'll make sure you come with us."
"They say her name is Evandros and that she lives in the forests on the edge of Lavel." Brett grimaced. "That's what they say, anyway - I've never found her." Because he'd looked, when he got desperate. Rumours were very little to go off, though. "There's a whole long list of 'they say'. Then again - there's a whole long list of 'they say' about me as well. Wouldn't put too much faith in anything you hear on the rumour mill. The locals tend toward the dramatic."
Adam made a mental note to bring the idea up to Mazie and Kyle, just to see what they thought about going to find a witch in the forests. Honestly that sounded ridiculous, but maybe it was worth considering if this guy hadn't found her. "What do they say about you?"
"The name they gave me isn't just due to the colour of my armour," Brett said, bitterly. "They say I'm a murderer. They say that I'm evil. That my tastes are... unnatural. And that's them just getting started. It seems everything I hear about myself gets more and more warped and perverted."
Adam opened his mouth then closed it after a moment, considering the man in front of him. "Well...are you?" That seemed the easiest question to ask. "And unnatural? What the hell does that mean? Why would they say those things?"
"It no longer matters what I am. They say what they want behind my back. They don't dare say it to my face," Brett told him. "Which is just how I want it. They leave me alone."
"I think it still matters who and what you are," Adam pointed out slowly. There was still a person in there wasn't there? He thoughts so. "Why do you want to be left alone?"
"You ask too many damn questions," Brett growled. He'd had enough of answering them, that much was clear enough from his demeanor.
Adam fought the urge to roll his eyes, but couldn't help the shrug. Yes, he probably did, but he wanted to know what this guy was if he was going to toss out warnings and half hearted attempts at help. "You're not terribly great at a straight answer."
Adam's attitude went ignored by Brett. "I've found that a straight answer can be bad for your health. Watch what you say, and who you say it to."
Adam gave Brett a look that attempted to remind the guy that he was doing it again, the whole talking in vague terms and such again. "Alright fine, I know about that, how to do that. But I'm not one of those people. I'm like you. Trapped here until we find a way out. Don't you want out?"
"Yes. God, yes I want out!" Brett said emphatically. "There just isn't any damn way out!"
Adam shook his head. "There has to be," he said with his own emotion laced through his words. "I know there wasn't, but...it doesn't feel right for there not to be one now."
"Because it's you," Brett surmised, both resigned and depressed. "Because this is your life and you can't accept anything else." He had been like that, once. "Go, look for your escape. If you happen to find it, don't leave without me."
Adam shook his head. "I probably could you know. After a bit. If I don't get killed in this tournament, but because it's you and you've been stuck here too long. And because of the others. That's why we have to figure it out. Both of us." Because despite Brett's less than appealing personality he could be useful. Very useful. "So us. Together. Figuring it out. You've got real help now." And Brett wasn't alone, but Adam did say that even if it showed in his eyes.
Brett glared at him, more intently. "Save the whole 'we're all in this together' speech," he advised.
Adam cowered slightly at the glared sighing a little. "Whatever works for you." He made a note though to ask around about the guy, see what he could find out, what they said about him.
Brett looked away. "Don't be a fool today. Some like their hand to hand too much. Keep you cool, don't rise to their taunts. Don't give them any excuse to say they got 'carried away' and hurt you. Your friends might care."
Adam listened, surprised that the knight or guy or whatever was actually giving advice, but he still nodded. "Keep cool. Got it. Don't get hurt. Definitely a fan of not getting hurt." He was pretty sure Kyle might try and kill him if he did get hurt.
"If you do well - which is unlikely - you'll face me at the end." Brett was confident in his abilities. He would reach the finals. "So, there's no point going out there, thinking you could win."
Of course he would. Again Adam wanted to roll his eyes, but he didn't. This guy was so damn serious. He had an image of Jeffrey just outright laughing at him because he sounded all but ridiculous. "No point in not believing in myself is there?" Brett was probably right, he would be lucky to survive the first two rounds, but something about what the guy said, that just because he was the end of the line that Adam didn't stand a chance, that made Adam want to prove something.
"Had you even even picked up a sword, before you got here? Shot an arrow? Can you even ride a horse, let alone joust? To believe in yourself, you need to have something to believe in. Blind faith will get you nowhere," Brett pointed out.
"So I haven't done any of it, but hey, maybe I've got a talent I don't know about," Adam said with a shrug. "But I'm determined to not completely lose." Which was a strange side of him, but Adam liked the way it felt so he was going with it.
"It takes more than just talent. It takes skill, training. Learning to use muscles you didn't even realise you had." Brett paused fora moment, then rolled his eyes, drawing his,sword and gesturing Adam should to the, same. "There's little I can teach you in the time we've got, but I can show you the basics. Right door forward, spread your weight. Hold your sword like this," he instructed, showing Adam what he should do.
Adam bit back a comment about how Brett had to have learned somehow as the man offered him pointers. He drew his own sword, holding it how Brett showed him, relieved he hadn't been too far off in his own practicing.
"Good. Now, as I step forward to attack, shift your weight onto your back leg and bright your sword up to parry," Brett explained, slowly taking Adam through moves that he'd learnt half a lifetime ago, or so it felt.
Adam nodded, going through the motion to see how it felt. It was just as clumsy as before, the sword and shield still heavy but at least he had a better feel for it now and was able to move at a reasonable speed.
Brett shifted suddenly, bringing his left, shield-covered arm up in a sweeping motion, as he said, "Your shield is mainly for defence, but you can use it to catch your opponent off guard and press an attack at times. Use everything you have to your advantage, but never let your guard down. Remember, in a real fight, you can't didn't anything if you're dead. Never let your opponent through your defence."
Adam almost yelped not expecting the shield and he just barely kept it from knocking him in the head with his sword. The clanking sent a pain up his arm, but Adam held his ground. "Right. Never let my guard down." He waited a breath and attached himself leading with the shield, but swinging his sword as well.
"Remember, most of the guys round here have been training all their lives. I've got seventeen years of experience myself. Don't feel too bad if you lose," Brett said as he continued to lead Adam through the moves.
Adam stopped for a moment, giving Brett a look before picking up again with the movements he was being shown. "Seventeen years? You said you were here ten." That didn't line up right and it made Adam wonder again if he should trust the guy.
Brett parried the thrust. "I have been here ten. I didn't turn up here as green as you are. I started learning to fight with a broad sword when I was nineteen, with a group at college. By the time I got here, I already knew exactly what I was doing. All I had to learn was how to fight when someone was actually trying to kill you. With real swords that could take a man's head off."
"Okay, that's easily the most ridiculous hobby I've ever heard of," Adam said, shaking his head and trying another move. Brett was right about the swords though. And the dents in Adam's shield. It was dangerous and far more real than he wanted it to be.
Brett stopped and drew back into a holding position. "Screw you," he said, actually looking offended, rather than angry. He hadn't expected Adam to say that. It had been a while since anyone had made fun of what he did in his spare time. It was actually kind of hurtful. "It was fun. And, apparently, useful."
Adam dropped his stance, looking like he didn't mean to offend. "No, it's not that. Just, how do you get into that." He shook his head and looked at the ground. "Sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I have zero hobbies."
Brett raised a brow, looking unimpressed. "I guess you never went to college then? You'd be surprised what shit you can get involved in. Something, at any rate. Never met anyone before who didn't have any interests at all."
"Yeah no, graduated from high school and sort of just moved in with Jeff. Work at a diner and party with him." Adam shrugged a little. "I liked the things he liked. Video games, action movies, whatever made Jeffrey happy."
Brett looked Adam up and down, expressionlessly. "Jeff? He your boyfriend?" he asked, since that's what it sounded like.
Adam didn't get the look and tilted his head in response before sputtering an answer that came with a blush he wasn't expecting. "No. Just my friend. My...nevermind."
"Easy. Doesn't matter to me either way, just the way you talk about the guy..." His lip curled up into a smile. "Usually you only find that level of puppy dog trailing after a significant other." It was low, he knew, but it made him feel better about the whole hobbies jab.
Adam smacked at Brett's shield with the hilt of his sword and gave the other man a dirty look. "I am not a puppy dog. He was my best friend and infinitely cooler and I do not trail after my significant other." Much. Actually Adam would need Kyle to confirm that but he was pretty sure he wasn't trailing after him.
"Touched a nerve there, hmm, Sparky?" Brett taunted.
Yes. Very much so. Adam had heard the bit about Jeffrey being his boyfriend long before he'd met Kyle and decided that liking guys was a thing he did. And every time it annoyed him because it wasn't true. Even if he'd wanted to see Jeffrey that way, which he didn't, Jeffrey didn't see him that way. "Shut it," Adam said instead pushing at Brett again.
Brett moved into an attack position once again. "You want to succeed? Don't wear your heart on you damn sleeve. Don't give your opponent an in to nettle you that way. They'll take every advantage they can get."
"I highly doubt any of them are going to be asking about who I'm dating," Adam said going back to his position as well. "It's supposed to be a game."
"A game that everyone wants to win. Any advantage they can get, they'll take. Hell, any advantage I can take, once we're out there, I'll take," Brett warned. "And if that means taunting you about taking it up the ass, because I know it throws you off balance, then so be it."
Why did that make him blush? He didn't, well not really. He guessed that was something like what happened the night before, but Adam was blushing all over again. "Why does it matter so much who wins," Adam said, lunging forward out of his own frustration and not thinking completely about what he was doing. "I could call you a geek who plays with swords, but I wouldn't."
"Fame, glory, honour... Winner's purse aside, round here there's a currency all to themselves," Brett said. "If you want to put it in crude terms, it's like being the quarterback and winning that reality TV show all in one go."
"You're lucky you missed the past ten years of reality TV." Adam waved Brett off and took a step back to catch his breath and let his stomach stop churning. He'd seen people get pretty violent and passionate about a whole lot less. He was doomed. Likely going to get injured and put up with Kyle being livid at him, but Adam didn't want to back down.
Brett rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, what a trade off," he dead-panned. He also took a step back, putting away his sword. "That's enough, for now, or you'll be worn out for your fight," he said.
Adam did the same with his sword and looked at the older man. "I'll get you back there. Or at least...out of here." Because right now he was fine with winding up at the hotel and that wasn't really where he guessed Brett wanted to be in the end.
"Don't make promises you can keep. I'm not looking for a hero." Brett wasn't looking for anything. He didn't even dare allow himself to hope any more.
"I'm pretty sure no one wants me to be their hero," Adam said shaking his head. "I'm not really cut out for it. But we'll figure this out. You know provided you don't kill me out there."
Brett didn't seem amused at the last comment. "I'm not going to be killing anyone today," he said.
Adam caught the change of expression but didn't say anything about it. "That's reassuring."
Brett nodded, once. "Good luck out there," he said, gravely. He hesitated, fighting with himself internally as to whether to say anything else, then added, "You find a way back, don't you fucking dare leave without me."
"You too, though I guess you don't need it right?" Adam watched the hesitation curiously, but when Brett spoke again he smiled and held a hand out. "Wouldn't dream of it."
Brett gave Adam the ghost of a smile that was gone almost as soon as it appeared. "Everyone always needs luck," he said as he headed off.
Adam knew the guy was leaving but it felt weird to be left there alone, wondering about the guy who'd almost smiled and what he'd been through. Maybe after they got out of here he could convince him to talk more.