The Fellowship of the Muffin Squad *･゜ﾟ･*

Tavern Night - Part 1

A bright full moon illuminated the narrow streets of that small village near the great kingdom of Ghanor. In a popular tavern at the region, where the music, the singing and the laughing was loud, this group of distingue people rested from their own individual previous journeys.

Inside the tavern, the delicious smell of food spread through the room. Between the tables, dwarves served lamb and mead to everyone. On a kind of stage at the corner of the tavern, a human bard and a half-elf were playing and singing happily, celebrating the end of their last quest. Their friends, two other humans, sat at one of the tables, close to the stage, eating and talking about their next quest.

In the other corner of the tavern, two elves were debating the use of an invisibility potion that they had obtained after the end of their last quest.

- "I understand that the potion would be very useful to rob a weapon shop, but we shouldn't use it like that." One of them said.
- "Bad, your arguments make no sense."
- "Dream, I will not rob a weapon shop." Bad said, almost losing his patience.
After a handful of minutes, the elves  stopped the discussion only when, at the end of the song, everyone rose from their seats to applaud the happy and quirky duo on stage.

- "Thank you, thank you very much!" The bard said, now with a slightly shy smile because of all the eyes on him.
- "We'll be here, at the same place, every thursday!" Joked the brown-haired half-elf.
They then stepped off the stage and headed for the table, along with the other two friends who were now joking about their singing, but deep down were as happy as them.

- "I'm glad you are a ranger, not a singer. Otherwise we would be already dead." Zak said when they sat down.

- "And I'm glad you are a fighter, not a comedian." The half-elf said as he teased his human friend.

- "You would't sing better anyway. I don't even know why you bother in trying to make fun of them." Zelk said, laughing of his friend.
Zak only rolled his eyes, for he had to admit that he wasn't really that confident about his singing skills. The four of them laughed like good friends must be while toasting their achievements.

Back at the other corner of the tavern, the elves finally had agreed on what to do with the potion. They would keep it in their tree, where they live, until they found a good use for it.

- "What did you think of their song?" Bad distractedly asked, referring to the duo.
- "I think they don't sing that bad, for humans." Dream replied, a little bored.
Then, as if a light bulb lit his mind, Bad literally jumped up and said:

- "The stage is empty! Oh my goodness, I could go sing! What do you think?" He asked as if it was the best thing that had happened that day.
- "You sound like a gremlin being squished when you sing."
- "Actually, I think you're right. It sounds like a bad idea." Bad replied, thoughtfully.
- "It is a 'Bad' idea, get it? I was just kidding, go there!" Dream said, encouraging his friend. It could be funny, right?
- "Seriously? Okay, I'll go." His eyes practically glowed with excitement. He rushed to the stage and at the same time, all eyes from inside the tavern turned toward him, including those of the four friends, who had no idea what to expect.

A brief silence settled inside, and for a moment, Bad felt nervous. But as soon as he closed his eyes and began to sing, the nervousness disappeared.
Elves were known for their angelic voice and, well, his voice wasn't all angelic as they expected, but it would be almost blasphemous to say it wasn't a good voice. The song? Well, it was about a fish, but as he sang in Elvish, almost no one there could understand what he was saying.

Some stared strangely, others laughed, but some were really enjoying the music. It was a lively song, and Bad sang even more cheerfully, so slowly the whole tavern was contagious with the rhythm, they were dancing and trying to sing along the way they could.

Among the four friends, opinions about the singing differed. Finn and George liked the song, Zelk, the other human, made funny comments but was actually moving his head as the instruments joined the elf's voice. Zak, on the other hand, didn't see it the same way. He kept insisting that this was the worst elven voice he had ever heard and that he had heard orcs singing better than that.

- "It's not that bad, you know? After the first two minutes listening."  Zelk said with a shrug.

- "Bruh moment." Zak said, but the others just ignored it.

The song then ended up with a highnote that, surprisingly, caused one of the glass cups above the counter to break apart. Everyone applauded, even those that didn't appreciate so much. Bad came down happily from the stage and was walking back to his friend but when he was passing trought certain table he heard one of them say:

- "You sound like a gremilin, you know that?" Zak said as he tried to look serious.

The elf stopped and stared at him for solid ten seconds.

- "Oh, thanks!" He said with a simple smile, confusing the human.

- "Wait! What do you mean 'thanks'? It wasn't a compliment! "He said, trying to understand the reason for the response. How would someone feel fine with something like that?

- "Why not?" Bad asked, as if that didn't make any sense.
- "Becaus- You- They are not cool. Gremilins has a horrible voice, got it? It was an insult. Do you know what an insult is? "Zak asked, almost on the verge of a mental breakdown.

- "But... why would you insult me?" Bad asked, still unsure of that situation.

Zak just let out a frustrated loud grunt for a few seconds and then the whole situation seemed to clear up inside the elf's rather complex mind.

- "HEY! So you mean I sing badly?"
- "YOU FINALLY UNDERSTAND!" Zak shouted and then burst out laughing.

The other friends tried to minimize the discussion, which by this point had already become the center of attentions within the tavern. Dream, who remained seated until now, had risen to try to prevent Bad from attacking the human guy. If there was something that could make Bad upset, this thing was when random people tell him he is a bad singer. No puns allowed.

But, well, it was too late.

Amidst the laughing, Zak could hardly foresee that the elf could push him from his chair, sending him crashing to the floor. The room made a morbid silence for half a second, and then all the voices around them instinctively shouted "Fight! Fight! Fight! " in unison. Zak got up furiously. No one could embarrass him like that, especially an elf.
There was no time for dialogue or thoughtful actions. The human just pushed as hard as he could, just as the other had done to him.
Meanwhile everyone in the tavern was screaming and some were even starting to make bets. All but one in specific.

In a far corner, a pair of eyes rolled, seeing all that stupid fight. He just wanted a quiet place to rest.
He then got up casually and petted his cat, his loyal friend, who remained lying on one of the chairs.

- "Come on, Ian. Let's end this mess. "