The crowd reacted to seeing Aaron take a kick to the head pretty much as one would expect, with cheers and applause. Considering that most present had nothing planned for the afternoon anyway, they were certainly entertained. Sensing that things might be getting out of hand, the large older man rushed into the sparring ring and separated the two combatants. "There you have it! Two of our newer pupils giving it their all! as you can tell, they still have a lot of work to do, but they'll be doing here at the Brishall gym, the best place for them, or any of you to train if you want to learn how to defend yourself, or just get in some good exercise!" He would grin wave to the crowd, then raise both combatants hands into the air, obviously showboating a little bit more before the crowd lost interest and dispersed. Only time would ever tell if their effort would have any meaningful impact, but they had done their job. The man turned to the two, putting his back to the crowd and continued; "go ahead and get yourselves cleaned up, and I'll have your payment waiting when you're ready. thanks for the help today; I can only hope my little plan worked, but the guys I'd originally had slated for this wound up getting arrested over one little bar fight... but that's not your problem. Go ahead and find me later."
His adrenaline building up to the peak of anticipation, Jack would grind to a halt as he found their contractor standing between the two men. The mage’s fists quivered slightly before letting out a heavy sigh and finally calming down. The clarity now returning back to his eyes, he’d nod once understandingly while raising a hand up into the air. “Alright sounds good.” He’d continue panting while pausing a moment to debate whether or not to heal his companion on the other side. After inspecting the lad’s health bar, he’d shrug once and laugh. Considering the fact that it hadn’t budged an inch since they started, the display of blood and sweat was primarily a scam, one mainly to augment the realism of their scuffle. Before turning to walk away, Jack reached out with a fist towards Aaron. Seemingly waiting for the man to accept it, he’d wait patiently. After enough time had passed, he’d eventually turn back to his changing area while calling out briefly to the paladin. “Let’s agree to never talk about this mission again… What happens in Brishaal stays in Brishaal, right?" It wasn't as if he was particularly proud of what they had accomplished, nor had they achieved anything worth noting. In fact, it was almost the opposite since the entire thing was primarily a fraudulent scam... Oh well, his coin pouch was slightly more full thanks to it all.
Aaron whispered a prayer of thanks to the gods that it was all over when he saw their employer standing between them. He dropped his fighting stance and stood straight, wiping the blood off of him with the back of his hand. Aaron turned and waved toward the crowd with his other hand. Didn't hurt to get some recognition, even if it was as the defeated member. Aaron reached his own fist out and knocked it gently but firmly against Jack's. "Dude, what are you talking about? We never had a sparing match for some kind of popularity scam for a gym," he grinned. It wasn't completely a lie, the sparing match wasn't necessarily a popularity scam, but it was a bit dishonest to pretend that he had been a regular of the gym when he hadn't been. He shrugged. Oh well. Behind the curtain, Aaron spent some time wiping his face and hands to clean them. He changed into his regular clothes, and threw his armor over on top of all that. The familiar weight of it all was comforting. He sighed heavily. "Oh man," he said aloud. "I totally forgot to stretch before everything," he muttered. "I'm going to be sore as hell tomorrow.... I think?" He shook his head. No matter. Time to go get his payment.
