The Bender v.1

AN: Hopefully will get around to publishing all 3 or 4 parts of The Bender by tonight! Let me know how you are enjoying my story! my twitter is habitdyke if you want to interact w me!

They all made their way inside and immediately Ava was hit with a dense cloud of smoke and heavy sweet-smelling air. It didn't look like any bar Ava had frequented on her travels. Instead of tables and chairs, there were long couches and sitting pillows strewn across the floor. There were vases with pipes coming out of them and people smoking from them. Others had small cigarettes filled with a mystery herb. Some even had long wooden pipes like the one Theo had the time they had Dragon's Breath. It wasn't a regular bar, Ava had figured that much. It seemed to be a place not for spirits but drugs.

Once everyone was inside Theo walked in and pulled out a handful of coins from her side and placed it in front of one of the workers, "We'll take the room in the back. We'll start with a sample tray."

"I'm sorry," the man said, "that area is off-limits."

Theo simply laughed and made her way forward, heading towards the off-limits back room.

The worker stepped forward to stop her but Xyra stepped in the way, "Mate, you don't want to do that. That's Captain Theo. Best take the money and go let Grogon know she's here."

The man paled and grabbed the money without another moment of hesitation and muttered his apologies. Ava watched as the man comically rushed away, presumably to find Grogon. The way that at the drop of a name, the whole context changed was almost comical. It looked like Theo had a strong influence here, and other places too, Ava concluded. It gave her a rush to know she was around such powerful people. Ava wanted to know about Theo, what had she done to command the respect she did? She was not well versed in pirate lore or the current politics of the illegal underworld as it was not a subject readily taught by her tutors. She would have to ask Cooker if there was anything on that topic.

The group made their way into the private room in the back and Ava looked around to scope out the best spot. The room was dimly lit, just enough to see. There were two couches, tables scattered about, and many pillows large enough to sit on spread out across the floor. Ava managed to find a place on a couch wedged between Theo and Xyra. The couch was crowded enough that she and Xyra were touching, it was the closest she had been to the intimidating first mate. Xyra looked over at Ava staring and flashed her a confused smile, which Ava reciprocated.

The same boy from earlier that had taken Theo's money opened the door with a large tray in hand and set it on the low table in front of them. Ava listened as he pointed to each different thing on the tray and explained briefly what it was. Theo looked uninterested, sparking up a conversation with Oceane who was on a pillow next to her. Ava was a little bit worried at the sight, wouldn't Theo need to know what was on the table if she wanted to take it? Xyra, on her right, nudged her.

"You okay?" she asked.

Ava was a bit surprised at the gesture, Xyra hadn't shown too much of an interest in her at all, "Aye, I'm okay. Why do you ask?"

"You've got a face," Xyra pointed out with a small laugh, "Is it the place? If it's too much for you one of us will be happy to step out with you."

Whatever face Ava was making had certainly gone away and it was replaced with a grin. Xyra was being... nice? Not mean, not standoffish, not neutral or civil, she was being nice.

"I'm okay," Ava reassured Xyra, "Just concerned that no one seems to be paying attention to his explanation of how everything works. How are we going to know what to do?"

This time, Xyra let out a louder laugh, "We've been doing this since we were ten. We know a thing or two about Grogon's."

"You did drugs when you were ten?" Ava asked, bewildered.

"That is beside the point. Listen up, I'll give you a quick rundown," Xyra leaned forward and pulled the tray away from the man and over to their side of the table. The man hesitated in his explanation then continued, but Xyra ignored him and began an explanation of her own, "This is a sampler, it is eight gold."

"Eight gold?" Ava's eyes went wide.

"Aye, it's high-quality stuff. The sampler comes with four rows of five substances each. Each one has their name on a card under them so if you like it you can ask for more," Xyra pointed to each row as she explained, "Starting from the bottom are things you smoke, then things you snort or swallow, then things you eat, then things you apply."

Ava examined each row and sure enough, each of the drugs lined up matched somewhat with their row. The first row had mainly herbs and grass, the second looked like tablets and powders, the third was an array of edible materials, and the last one was ointment in small jars. Sure enough, they were organized by method of consumption.

"On each row, it goes left to right by potency. The ones on the left are less potent, beginner drugs and as you progress to the right they get stronger. You, though, are strictly limited to the first two in each row because anything else and you'll need a babysitter all night. You can mix a drug with the row above or below it but not any other row, got it?" Xyra asked after dumping the load of information on Ava.

Ava nodded her head slowly to show she had comprehended, the smoke in the air must have already affected her because Xyra's words were taking a while to sink in. Limited to the first two, only mix with the row above or below.

At that moment, a short, robust man walked through the door. He had a long and full beard and when he walked in, Theo stood up to greet him.

"Grogon, it has been too long since I have seen your wonderful face," Theo walked over and hugged the man, bending down to reach him.

Grogon laughed and patted Theo on the back, "I had to come by and see my favorite customer. Am I your first stop on the bender?"

"First and last," Theo grinned, "had to show a new pirate how it's done."

Xyra leaned into Ava and whispered, "It is tradition to finish our second night where we started. First and last."

Ava nodded, understanding the exchange between the Captain and Grogon after Xyra helped. Theo, Morgana, and Cooker were usually the ones to answer her questions. With one of them absent and the other two too engaged with other things, Xyra took up the role of the guide. It was sweet of her and a nice change. While Theo finished up her conversation with the short man, Xyra reached forward and picked the first thing from the first row, smokable and for beginners. She then tapped Iona who was next and asked to be handed something.

Iona passed Xyra a box and when opened it revealed a large array of different paraphernalia. She reached in and picked out a pipe and put some of the stringy grass inside the pipe.

"Here," Xyra handed Ava the pipe, "this should be good to start with. Relax and ride it and when you are ready for something else let me know."

Along with the pipe, Ava was handed a piece of twine. Xyra instructed Ava to light it using the candle on the table and then shake it to put it out, then she turned away. Ava tried her best to get all the steps correct. Light the twine, put the pipe to her mouth, light the grass, maneuver the pipe, inhale, then exhale. She managed to mess up somewhere along the process and the amount of smoke she let out was laughable.

This time it was Oceane who stepped in to help. She crawled over to Ava from her pillow on the floor and helped her position the pipe correctly. Oceane lit the pipe and Ava inhaled, this time taking a large amount of smoke in. She exhaled everything in her lungs, falling into a coughing fit at the end of her exhale. Her lungs felt like they had pins inside them and she wondered if she would ever be able to breathe again. Slowly, her lungs opened up and she was able to recover.

When she finally wiped her eyes and looked around the room, her coughing had attracted the attention of Iona, Navi, and Xyra. If her face wasn't red from the coughing it would have been from embarrassment. They all looked at her concerned, awaiting some sort of response. She gave them a thumbs up and at a sign of life, they went back to their own things.

Theo had come back from her conversation with the owner and sat next to Ava. She pulled the sampler tray over and looked around. She turned to Oceane who had returned to her pillow, "Should I go big now and ease it up later or ramp it up later and take it easy?"

Oceane grinned, "Go big now and keep ramping it up."

Theo laughed and grabbed a small compact pill that was sitting in the third row, ingestibles. It was the fourth one, Ava had noted when she watched Theo grab it. According to Xyra, that was intense. Ava watched as Theo took the pill and reached Oceane for a high five. Theo then reached for the first ointment and sat back, shoulder to shoulder with Ava.

"You want some?" Theo asked as she began to spread the ointment on her wrists.

Ava held up her pipe, "Can't mix."

"Aye, you're a fast learner. How is that havcera treating you?" Theo asked.

"Could use a little more if I'm honest," Ava said as she leaned forward and relit the pipe. This time, she was able to get a sizable inhale and managed to even keep the coughing to a minimum, "How are you feeling?"

"The best, mate. This works pretty fast," Theo lifted the ointment.

Ava nodded and watched as Theo closed her eyes and began to touch the couch under her. Looking around the room to the others, everyone seemed pretty content and relaxed. Tuni was the only one in the room that had not used anything on the tray. She still looked entertained though, sparking up a conversation with Theo whose eyes were still closed. Ava finished off the grass in her pipe and placed it on the table letting herself ride the high.

This feeling was different from the other things she had smoked. It was mild but she had a sudden urge to laugh. She pushed down that need and opted to display a wide grin instead, unable to control it. Looking around the dim room she caught Iona's eye and burst out into laughter. Iona joined her and Ava found herself with tears of laughter in her eyes over nothing. Everyone in the room seemed to be on the same wavelength and soon enough everyone in the room was laughing.

There was an air of fun and lightheartedness in the room for the rest of their time there. Ava had smoked some more of the havcera but opted to not take or do anything else. It was a few hours before Theo got up and announced that it was their time to leave. She pocketed a few ointments and edible substances and walked out and led the way outside.

When they walked out, the sun beamed on them. It was a shock to Ava who brought up her hands to cover her eyes. Ava's eyes took a minute to adjust to the attack of the sun, the lack of windows and the dim lighting inside Gorgon's made her forget that it was light out. With the reminder that it was aftermorning came the realization that she was already sleepy and they were not even a few hours into a two-sun excursion. Would they stop and rest? Would they ever eat? Would they sleep?

She kept up with the group which was not a hard task given that they were all pretty messed up so they walked slowly and carefully. It wasn't long before they had arrived at the next place, the new bar being just down the street. Upon walking in Ava noticed it was more like the traditional taverns she had been in. There were no surprises with this bar, they just drank and drank and drank. Tuni and Ava seemed to be the only ones that had only a few drinks.

Most of the time they were at the second location Theo had been socializing with everyone. Xyra and Navi kept to themselves, as did Tuni and Ava but the others were roaming around and catching up with old acquaintances. They were at the tavern for only an hour before moving onto the next place. The next bar was much more open. There was a small place to dance and there was live music being played. Ava spoke with a few people outside of the group and she danced with a few strangers as well.

After a bit, they were on to the next place and, much to Ava's relief, this time they entered into a place serving food. They were led to yet another private room, this one had one long table and Ava found a place in between Navi and Tuni and across from Oceane. Them being high and drunk out of their minds proved to be entertainment for Tuni and Ava. Ava began to pry to get some previous Niveal stories out of the group and Oceane wasted no time in delving into the tales of their times here. Oceane, who was levelheaded and helpful most of the time, proved through her stories to be time and again the troublemaker of the group; the instigator. Ava had witnessed it at Grogon's, the way Oceane had egged Theo to go wild for the night.

Ava was so lost in the comedic tales of the crew that before she knew it they were eating. Theo had ordered what seemed like 50 gold worth of food. Ava had not seen that much food in close to a length, the last time being on her 16th commencement anniversary. She tried a bit of everything on the table: meats, loaves of bread, vegetables. She was determined to push her limits and eat three whole plates of food but by the time she was halfway done with the third one she had to stop. Her stomach felt as if there was a baby inside of it and she wanted to fall asleep right at the table. Admittedly, Ava did not pay attention to anything that happened after she finished her meal, mind wandering off into a blissful full haze.

It took her longer than it should have to realize everyone was getting up and leaving. It wasn't until Xyra called her name that she realized almost everyone had left the room. She rushed to her feet and left the room through the door Xyra was holding open. This time when they left the establishment the sun was beginning to set and the sun was no longer shining brightly in their faces. The group, now more sober than before, had walked into the restaurant, quickly made their way to their next destination.

The new place was crowded and when Theo walked in the place quieted a little before everyone shouted their greetings out at her. Theo laughed and shook hands with a few people as she made her way into the establishment. It didn't slip past Ava the number of times Theo had been recognized simply by walking into a room. She recalled the night before she asked for passage aboard the ship, how Marcy had looked shocked that she hadn't heard of Theo and the Scorned Woman. It made sense now, the shock. It seemed as if Theo was a legend and so was the ship. Ava saw that Cooker had managed to snag a small table and she took advantage and found herself a seat. She was going to sit back and observe, much like she had been doing that whole night.

Ava and Cooker got into a small discussion about their sun so far and how Ava was enjoying herself. It was fun, she did have to admit, but it was also a bit odd. She knew no one and knew nothing. She didn't express that part to Cooker though, just gave her a positive review of her time and the promise that she would get back to drinking soon. Cooker got up from their table and she was replaced by Theo.

"Red," Theo said, "I feel like I haven't seen you at all this whole time!"

"You've been too busy staring at the bottom of a mug of ale," Ava commented.

Theo let out a loud laugh, "Your wit never fails to surprise me. Have you been drinking? Would you like me to get you something?"

Ava smiled at the sweet gesture and nodded, "I'll have a drink but I can go up and get it myself."

"That's no fun," Theo smiled and stood up, "come on, let me go show off."

Theo held out her hand for Ava and Ava took it. Theo led her over to the crowded bar and found a space for both of them. She waited until the barkeep turned around then she put her hand in her mouth and whistled loudly. Theo held up two fingers and the man nodded and turned around. Soon enough two glasses were being placed in front of them. They had managed to skip over the many people waiting without Theo even having to say a word. This action didn't go unnoticed and one of the patrons at the bar began to kick up a fuss.

"Why does this bitch over here get a free pass?" the man complained to the barkeep, anger etched on his features.

Theo laughed a little, unfazed by the comment. "Excuse me? Would you like to repeat yourself?"

"I would, yeah," the man stepped up close to Theo and Theo turned her attention to the man. They were face to face and Theo's hand was closed in a tight fist, "I asked why you, a bitch, gets a drink before me when I've been waiting all night?"

Before Theo could make a move or react, Xyra had stepped in between both of them. "Theo, go back to the table. It's not worth the fight."

Theo nodded and took a step back from the situation. She turned her attention towards the barkeep, "Kick him out or we'll take our gold elsewhere, now and every other time we come into Niveal."

The barkeep nodded and as Theo led them both away from the bar, Ava could hear the barkeep kicking the man out of the bar. The threat of taking their patronage elsewhere was enough to get the man kicked out. Theo had that kind of influence around these parts, it seemed like at the snap of her fingers she could get almost anyone to do anything. If she was crossed, there were immediate consequences. It was a new side to Theo that Ava was seeing and Ava could not help but feel butterflies in her stomach while thinking about it. What was wrong with her?

They sat back down at the table and Theo handed Ava her drink, "I'm sorry about all that. You'd think men would have learned some respect in the last 800 lengths but they have not. Shame."

Ava laughed at that and took a sip of her drink. She expected the bitter and putrid taste that came along with liquor this dark but instead it was sweeter than any juice she had ever had before. She raised her eyebrows in surprise and Theo laughed at her. Ava finished the small shot amount that was in her glass and looked up to see a wide-eyed Theo.

"I usually finish mine throughout a half-hour," Theo said.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"You finished it so fast I had no time to stop you."

Ava paled and looked in her empty glass, "What's going to happen to me?"

Theo laughed, "Nothing. You'll just get hammered very quickly. That little bit is as potent as six ales. It'll pass in a few hours but I recommend you don't drink anymore."

Ava nodded and swore she already felt the room spin a little. Maybe it was her mind playing tricks on her. Like in the other places, a live band began to play an upbeat tune. It was unfamiliar to Ava but the Tavern all began to stomp and clap in sync with the music.

"Do you know this song?" Theo asked over the noise.

"No!"

Theo's mouth dropped open, "That means you don't know the dance?"

"Correct!" Ava laughed and then let out an embarrassing squeak as Theo pulled her to her feet.

"I'm going to teach you right now!" Theo exclaimed as she dragged Ava to the makeshift dance floor the others in the tavern had made.

It was not too complicated of a dance but the full strength of whatever she had drunk earlier began to hit and it made it hard to follow any simple pattern. Her and Theo ended up laughing and fumbling the steps for the entire duration of the song. Ava knew that with everything Theo had taken and drunk there was no way she would have learned the dance anyway. Both of them were too far gone. It was fun though and by the time they sat back down Ava was sweaty and still found herself grinning like an idiot for a while after they had sat down.

She didn't drink anymore because she didn't need to. Sure enough, the strong liquor she had taken before had led to her being intoxicated the whole time they were at that tavern. She had joined more dances, even doing a dance she knew from Elox on top of a table. Cooker had introduced her to a few of her friends and Ava spent a while talking to them. She could not remember their names or what they had talked about but Ava had enjoyed her time with them. They had partied in that particular tavern for quite sometime before the group had decided it was time to move on. There were still plenty of other places to go to before the night ended. Ava had heard them speaking about the rest of the night as if there was an end to it, a break. Ava could not wait. She was looking forward to a bed and sleep. It was hard to keep up with these pirates.

Ava was the last one out of the door and as she exited she saw Theo being tackled by someone. The man was not strong enough to knock Theo off her feet, she only stumbled backward but he threw a punch that managed to land. Her head was knocked back and she brought her hand up to her mouth to feel blood. Theo's face was filled with an anger Ava had never seen before. Theo regained balance on her feet and connected her own punch with the man's face. Ava was able to get a good look at him, it was the man that had been ejected from the bar. She was frozen in place, too drunk to be able to react. It wasn't like she could have been much help in her state. She was stuck watching as her soon to be captain defended herself.

The man spit on the ground next to Theo, "Dokkil."

Theo without another moment of hesitation, brought her leg out to kick him in the chest. The man stumbled back and Theo pushed her leg out again this time aiming for his knee. When her leg connected with it he fell to the ground. She hovered over him, grabbed his shirt, and began to punch him with her other hand. Punch after punch landed and Theo showed no sign of letting up. After standing back for what they deemed an appropriate amount of time, Cooker and Xyra made their way towards Theo. They pulled Theo off the bloodied man and Cooker began to say something to Theo that Ava could not understand. They were not speaking the common tongue. It calmed Theo down and she pulled her arms away from her crewmates, not needing to be restrained anymore.

Oceane and Iona picked the man up and held him in place. His face was bloodied and Theo's rings added to the damage her punches had made. Theo drew her dagger out and held it tightly in her hands. Ava stood still, wondering if she was going to kill this man in the middle of the street. Ava did not understand what the man said to Theo but it seemed bad. A punch and a slur? Ava was sure Theo had killed over less.

Theo got close to the man and pressed the dagger up against his crotch, "I was going to castrate you for this but I'm feeling forgiving tonight. What is your name, sir?"

"Lional," he said, nervously. The tough exterior from earlier having faded away.

"Full name," Theo demanded.

"Lional Butep."

"Ladies, let him go," Theo said and put her dagger away.

Oceane and Iona reluctantly let him go and the man stood in place, frozen.

"What are you going to do to me?" he asked.

"Nothing, you're free to go," Theo smiled at him and backed away, "Have a good evening, Lional Butep."

She nodded her head in the direction of their next stop and began to walk, everyone followed. Ava was sure that she was about to see the man gutted, what had Cooker told Theo to get her to stop?. The group walked quietly, no one even dared to breathe loudly. Theo spoke again, in the same language as before. From her tone, it seemed like she was giving instructions to Xyra, who was next to her. Xyra responded in the same tongue and after her response, the mood seemed to lighten. Ava couldn't understand the words but she had deduced what was going on based on the tone and the sentiment behind the words. Xyra had been given instructions on how to deal with the attacker, probably something to do with getting his full name.

They arrived at the next location soon enough. Theo once again held the door open for them all and they all filed into the building. This place, unlike the others, was a standalone two-story building. The other taverns had been on the first floor with residential rooms and spaces above. This one had noise and bustle coming from both stories. Before walking in, Tuni stopped in front of Theo to examine her face and her hand. When she deemed her check-up complete, Tuni walked in and Ava followed. Theo came up behind them and she placed a gentle hand on Ava's back, guiding them to their spot.