[h3][u]The Traditionally Unwritten Rules of Bar Fights[/u][/h3]

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[*] All initial participants must have the clear opportunity to retreat before the fight begins in earnest
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[*]After blows are exchanged, anyone is welcome to leap into the fray, provided the matter is not one of personal honor.
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[*]It is considered polite to formally announce a duel if the fight is meant to be closed to further participants.
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[*]Clear communication is a must. If a person does not understand they are being threatened with a fight, they do not have the ability to consent to the fight.
[*]Arguments are an acceptable introduction to a fight, provided there is enough body language to make it clear an escalation to blows is imminent.
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[*]No one is to bring a weapon to a bar fight. Improvised weapons, such a stools, pool cues, etc. are allowed, provided they are not wielded with intent to kill, maim, or otherwise inflict grievous injury.
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[*]If an improvised weapon should break across an opponent, the broken bits may not be used as a shank.
[*]Bottles may be used, provided:
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[*]The bottle is mostly empty.
[*]The bottle is constructed of a material that may shatter into small pieces on impact.
[*]The shattered bottle is not then used as a knife.
[*]The current style of dress includes shoes, boots, or other such protection of feet.
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[*]Musicians, performers, and other such artists of ambience are automatically excluded from brawls, unless they themselves decide to join.
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[*]Participants may hide themselves in instruments, pieces of the set, particularly bulky costumes, etc., provided their presence does not interrupt the performance.
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[*]Victory is primarily determined when enough participants retreat, become too injured or intoxicated to fight, or are thrown out, such that an overwhelming majority of the remaining participants are too occupied with cheering, dancing, or drinking to their triumph to continue.
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[*]If the fight is still ongoing at closing time, then the fight must be moved elsewhere.
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[*]Any violators of these rules are to be immediately and bodily thrown out of the bar by all other patrons.
[*]The above rules may trend lower or higher in the standards of acceptable violence in a manner directly proportional of the respectability of the bar.
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[*]If you have to ask if something is appropriate for your current level of respectability, the answer is likely no.
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“As you can see,” Dolce taps his pen on a well-scribbled cocktail napkin. “The average bar fight is not the sort of place where one collects or inflicts grievous injuries.” This particular bar was adorned in many rare, ancient curios. Posters painted with an ink so light and faint, the pictures might just dissolve to nothing at a glance. Warnings to patrons to watch their glasses carefully, lest they be stolen by birds, lions, and all manner of creatures. A most intricate phonograph in the corner paused its playing only for a marvelous working of mechanical arms to switch one record for another. “And this is a very respectable establishment. Not so much that a fight is out of the question, but certainly enough to prohibit serious violence. It would be a grave disrespect to the hospitality of Hades to cause trouble.”

“So if you want to give her a scar, it must be one she accepts from you willingly. Cuts and scrapes are common in this sort of thing. You have to leave the right impression, so that when she gets herself patched up afterwards, she chooses to keep a memento of you. How you might do that will depend a great deal on what she’s like.”

He stirs his drink, the gentle clinking of ice soothing against the hum of conversation, the rum tum tum of the gramophone. “Could you tell me a little more about her? Be as thorough as you can; any little detail might be key. And. You should tell me about her face, too.” A serious, tactical nod. “In case I have to pick her out of the fog of battle, you see.