Ava was walking back to the ship through a slightly crowded Stumbler's Row, familiar with the route back by that time. About halfway back to the docks, she stumbled into three very familiar faces. Skins, Rita, and Chubs. Skins recognized Ava first and waved frantically to get her attention.
"Oi! Carpentry Wizard!" Skins poked fun and made a beeline to Ava.
Upon recognizing the voice, Ava walked towards Skins and met her halfway, "Hello. It's been a few suns! How have you guys been?"
"I haven't been able to feel my face for the past three nights," Chubs laughed and Ava laughed along, unsure if Chubs was joking or not.
"What are you doing all alone?" Skins asked.
"Just finished some shopping. You?"
"Going to The Pinnacle. You're coming," Skins said, it wasn't a question.
Ava nodded along and didn't object. She was going to head back to the boat and pathetically walk around until she found someone that would talk to her and wherever the carpentry girls were heading was probably more fun. The girls welcomed her into the group and set off toward their destination. Rita, who hadn't spoken, was staring in amazement at everything around her. Chubs had to take her by the arm and drag her along just so she could keep up. Ava watched Rita as Rita watched everything else.
The Pinnacle was the brothel at the top of Stumbler's Row, an establishment Ava was familiar with. Upon walking in, it was unchanged from the last time she had been in there. Women and men walking around in clothing items that were too small with patrons either speaking with them, at the bar or interacting with their friends. Chubs made a straight shot to the bar and Rita was handed over to Ava's care. Skins and Ava worked together and managed to spot a table. Chubs eventually managed to get back to them with a round of drinks.
Skins and Chubs bounced off of each other to recount what they had done in Niveal. They had gone shopping on the first day and had been partying ever since. Ava was telling them about her day when a hand came to rest on her shoulder.
"What a lovely face to be greeted with at the start of my night," a familiar voice said.
Ava looked up and saw Zeal, shirtless, and grinning. He bent down and planted a kiss on either of Ava's cheeks. Zeal looked at the other girls and waved then pointed to Rita.
"Hiya Rita," he laughed at her dazed expression, "guess we won't be having any fun tonight, huh?"
Chubs shook her head for Rita, "No touching or feeling for her tonight."
"Would you care to follow me? I have a few people that would like to meet you," Zeal said and offered a hand to Ava.
"Me?" Ava asked, incredulous at the fact that someone would want to meet her.
She took Zeal's hand and stood up. At first, she was hit with a wave of excitement and then a wave of dread. This could have been a trap. Maybe someone had recognized her and they hired Zeal to isolate her. She looked to the boy, not a trace of guilt or worry on his face. She still kept her free hand hovering near her waist, ready to pull her dagger.
"They're upstairs," Zeal said as they approached a door that opened to a set of stairs.
Ava stopped, a bit more suspicious, "Who is 'they'?"
Zeal sensed that the hesitation that came from the vagueness of his words and he chuckled at himself, "Right, sorry. My roommates. I've told them about you. They said if I ever saw you again, I had to bring you over to them to introduce you. But today is their day off, they aren't on the floor so I have to take you upstairs."
"Right," Ava said and relaxed, following Zeal up the stairs, "and why do they want to meet me?"
"Because they want to say thank you for the money."
"The money?"
"The gold coins you gave me. I split it with them. We are saving up to move out and start a business outside of the main city," Zeal smiled proudly at his goal of leaving the brothel, "The gold you gave us put us cycles ahead of where we were."
Ava's heart was warmed and she had no regrets about the money she gave. Zeal had every chance to take the money and better himself only but instead, he decided to share.
"What else did you say?" Ava was trying to see how much of the whole 'attempting to sleep together' thing was revealed.
"I might have gone a little overboard with the information," Zeal admitted as they got upstairs, "They know the circumstances in which we met and that you didn't go through with it and that you are unlaid."
"So my entire life story," Ava quipped, she was annoyed at the lack of privacy but she couldn't blame Zeal. She would have probably told her closest mates if someone gave her more than 80 gold randomly.
"I am sorry. I didn't realize I had spilled all of the information until it was all out there," Zeal had an apologetic look on his face. His kitten-like eyes and his sorry expression conveyed his genuine remorse.
"It's alright, Zeal," Ava assured him, annoyance slipping away, "Are those the friends you were willingly offering up to finally lay me? "
Zeal laughed, "Yes, and I talked to them about that as well."
"Oh? And what did they say when you told them that you had promised their bodies to a random stranger?" Ava chuckled.
"They were practically fighting over you," Zeal joked and then opened a door on the second floor.
The room they walked into was not small but the amount of furniture in there made it seem that way. There was one large bed in the middle of the room and smaller cot-like beds around it. There was one desk and two large trunks and two large wardrobes. Ava spotted three girls sitting on the large bed and Ava realized they all lived in the same room together. All four of them. There were two brunette girls and one with dirty blonde hair. Ava couldn't see how tall they were but the girl on the left looked to be towering over the other girls even sitting down. She was also thicker than the other girls she had seen working and Ava couldn't take her eyes off of her. She was gorgeous.
The girls, who had been chattering loudly, stopped their conversation to look at the new guest.
"This is Ava," Zeal said and Ava waved a bit, "The girl from the other night I was telling you about."
The girl in the middle, the one with dirty blonde curly hair, "The unlaid one. You are very pretty. I was not expecting that. When Zeal told us he had met an unlaid girl of 16 lengths I thought you were hideous."
"Please forgive her," the tall brunette girl said, "Angeli doesn't understand what is appropriate to say and what isn't. We have heard a lot about you."
"Clearly," Ava joked and nudged Zeal with her arm, "I am Ava. It is nice to meet you all."
"You've met Angeli," the tall girl said, "I am Kit and-"
"And I am Spec," the other brunette got up from her seat and walked over to Ava. Spec extended her hand and shook Ava's, "It is lovely to meet you."
"Let her breathe before you try and get her to pick you as her friend for the evening," Angeli snickered and Spec turned around to flip the other girl off.
"Oh no! I wasn't here for that," Ava stammered, "Zeal brought me up here."
"Bummer," Spec said and went to go back to sit on the bed, "thought we would get acquainted well tonight."
"We wanted to thank you for the gold you gave Zeal. It helps us a lot. This shithole is 10 gold and you can't find anything cheaper in the city. We're just itching to leave," Kit explained.
"10 gold? A length?" Ava asked.
"A cycle," they all said in perfect unison.
"Holy fuck," Ava's jaw dropped, "For this room?"
"Yes," Spec nodded, "which is why we need to get the fuck out of here."
"Zeal said you were planning on setting up a business," Ava remembered their conversation earlier, "What is it?"
"A fabric dyeing shop. We could come to sell our products in the central markets," Kit informed Ava.
"Nobles will be wearing our fabrics, mark my words," Angeli said firmly.
"Well, I am very happy I could help you in your endeavors," Ava said sincerely and then removed her coin purse from her side and set it down on one of the trunks.
This morning, she had packed only 30 gold coins but she estimated that she had about 20 left
She wouldn't be needing it and she still had about 100 gold left in her stuff. She had a place to stay and food to eat and she knew she wouldn't miss 20 gold. These girls and Zeal seemed excited to get out of there as quickly as possible and Ava wanted to help.
"Ava you can't do that," Kit said once she realized what the redhead was doing, "You've given us enough."
"I have no need for this," Ava said, "I promise this is the best way I could spend this money."
"At least stay a while then? We love the company and that way a stranger isn't giving us this money," Kit asked with a convincing bat of her eyelashes.
"Oh please! We do love company," Angeli started to get off the bed, "I can go fetch us some snacks from downstairs."
Ava shrugged, it didn't seem like a bad idea. Kit seemed very sweet and Ava wanted to spend more time with her. Ava was drawn to Kit and she was finally able to put her finger on the feeling, attraction. It was the first time that she was able to acknowledge her feelings and recognize them.
"I'll stay," Ava said.
"Right, I'll be going then. I'm going to let your group know you are preoccupied at the moment," Zeal said and wiggled his eyebrows.
"Quit it," Ava laughed, "Do not make your explanation to them suggestive."
"I will behave myself," Zeal said.
"Alright, Big Mouth. Very believable," Spec snorted.
Zeal ignored her and walked out. Angeli was right behind him, leaving the room to get the snacks she had mentioned. Ava was offered a spot on the bed and she climbed onto it. It was soft and her body sank into the mattress. Kit began by introducing herself again and letting Ava know a little about herself. She was 21, came from Safriti three lengths before, and had been working at the pinnacle for two of them. Spec offered up less about herself but did mention that her name was short for specialist, her dub. Ava assumed her specialty was something to do with pleasing women if her tone and gestures when explaining her name were any indications. Angeli did come back with the snacks as promised and also brought wine. The girls began to tell Ava all about where the different snacks and wine came from.
Once they were a few glasses in, they began to ask Ava about herself. She told them that she ran away from home when she was promised to a man, she told them a little bit about her journey down Elox, her time on the ship and what she had been doing in Niveal. They spoke about Theo for a bit. Angeli mentioned how she had been friends with Theo when they were younger. Angeli, being born and raised in Niveal, would often spend time with Theo, Cooker, and Xyra when they came into town before having their own ship. She mentioned how Theo used to be head over heels in love with Xyra as kids. Ava would have to follow up with Theo about that fun fact Angeli dropped.
The conversation would always come back to her, the girls asking incessant questions about her past and her time at sea. The line of questioning started to dive into saucy territory when the girls started to bring up sex. They seemed to be interested in the circumstances behind her being unlaid.
"So, nothing? Like actually nothing?" Angeli's mouth gaped.
"No," Ava shook her head. She had learned to not be embarrassed by it by now. It was the situation she was born and raised in and people lately never really judged her for it. They were just shocked and Ava had learned the difference by then, "Just some kisses but that is it."
"You never had the urge?" Kit asked.
"I don't think I like men, so no," Ava replied.
"But men aren't the only ones you can lay with. You never had the urge with anyone else?" Angeli grilled.
"I never considered it a possibility so I guess I never had the urge," Ava responded. Sex didn't use to be on her mind a lot. Her family didn't speak of it. A woman was supposed to learn about the act of sex the night before their weddings, their mothers would advise and guide them. Before then, girls were expected to not so much as think about anything lewd or inappropriate. It didn't stop them though. They gossiped about it, talked about it, compared notes, and snuck off to fool around with boys. However, Ava was never included in those conversations and even if she was, she wouldn't have understood.
"So you're not interested in it at all?" Spec asked.
"I wouldn't say that," Ava laughed. She was very interested. She was beyond interested, she was longing to lay with someone. Specifically, a woman. Ava had spent so much of her life in the dark and she had loads of lost time to make up for. Plus, she wanted to lay with a woman to answer some of her own questions. She knew she didn't need sex to confirm that she was a nox, she felt the attraction. What she had felt with Theo and then again with Kit; it wasn't anything she had felt with men in the past. Still, Ava wanted sex. She wanted to see what all the fuss was about. She wanted to see if she could feel the things people described.
"So you are interested?" Spec perked up.
Ava laughed at the action and nodded, "Sure. You could say I am interested."
"We would be more than happy to help you with that," Spec suggested with a cock to her eyebrow.
"That is very kind of you. If I had any money left I would take you up on the offer but I seem to have given away the rest of it," Ava said with a laugh.
"Oh we wouldn't want money from you," Angeli said, "you've given us a lot of that already. This would just be for a bit of fun."
Now that money was out of the equation, nothing was stopping Ava from saying yes. The thing was, Ava did want to say yes. She couldn't think of any excuses because she didn't have excuses. She felt butterflies form in her stomach, a mix of anxiety over the unknown and excitement for what was potentially to come.
"No pressure but you really can't beat the selection you have in front of you," Spec said cockily.
Kit had been quiet for most of the exchange but she finally spoke up, "Obviously, you are free to say no but we would be able to walk you through it and answer anything you have questions about."
"We? As in all of you?" Ava asked. The language they had been using consistently using referred to them engaging in whatever it was they were going to do as a group.
"No," Kit laughed.
"Although, it isn't something I would be opposed to," Angeli said, "the more the merrier."
"She's right. The more people are naked with me, the more comfortable I feel," Spec chimed in.
"Right, if you want more than one then we can do that," Kit shook her head with a smile, "but you are more than welcome to just invite one of us. Or, you can just tell us to back off and we'll drop the subject."
Ava was faced with a decision she thought she would never have. Should she sleep with one, two, three, or no women? They were very pretty, each in their own way. They were different and while Ava was interested in Kit she was not opposed to getting to know the other two more intimately. She shocked herself with her thoughts and she was baffled at how far she had come. From thinking renouncers were horrible to realizing she was one herself.
She had no qualms about laying with a woman that was practically a stranger for her first time. Why would she stop at just one? With one person Ava felt that the pressure would be immense. It would be one on one contact with an intense focus on one another. With only one other body in the room to focus on she felt that it would be too intimate for her liking. With more people, she felt the attention would be divided, more open, and relaxed. She was not interested in romance. Ava wanted a good time, she wanted to learn and explore and have fun. There would be time for romance in the future. She was young and wild and in one of the most eccentric and insane places in all of Baethos.
"Aye, let's do it," Ava said.
"With?" Kit asked.
Ava laughed as she said it, shrugged, and threw her hands up slightly, "All of you."