Hell Hath No Fury - Book One

The Constituency Ball

AN: join the discord for the ball gown art I had commissioned for some of the dresses they are wearing! discord.gg/DxrR6HxQDX or link in bio

Theo was on the way back to the room with the sun dangerously low in the sky. It was not yet sunset, there were less than two hours until they were due to leave for the ball if they were to start the mission on time. Everyone had been dismissed, pair by pair, to go shopping for a dress, or just accompany those needing one. The pairs were created according to who was going to be together on the mission and sent out in a staggered fashion, as to avoid being too obvious about things.

Theo's dress was carefully wrapped and even more carefully handled as she walked back to the inn. The dress wasn't new, she hadn't bought it in the city. In fact, she had brought her own. If she was going to have to be wearing a dress, it would be one that she wanted. This dress had been custom-made for her, as most of her clothes were, along with a suit that was a similar version of the dress. Unfortunately, she would not be wearing the suit that night. She had to go get some adjustments at a tailor Xyra had found that seemed to be off the beaten path enough to be able to slip in without too much fuss. Before leaving the inn, she had let her hair up in a bun and had even swung by Oceane's to have black lines put over her eyelids to make herself look different than she normally did.

It had worked and she was in and out of the tailors with little issue, her way back was the problem. She almost slipped a few times, the slight drizzle coming down made both the stone and mud pathways slippery. After feeling more like a newborn deer than she ever had, she finally made it to the inn and up the stairs without getting caught or seen by anyone outside of her crew. The door to her room wasn't locked so Theo had assumed that it was alright to go in.

However, upon entering, she realized that Ava was not decent. She was in a tub that had been placed in the center of their room. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and her arms were wrapped around them. Theo quickly turned her face and then the rest of her body, embarrassed at the intrusion.

"Sorry. I just had to drop off my dress, I didn't know you were bathing," Theo said, quickly, before walking to her bed and setting the dress down, keeping her back to Ava the whole time.

"That's alright," Ava replied; her voice was strained yet soft, like she had been crying.

"Red, you okay?" Theo straightened her posture and turned her head a bit so her ear could catch any noises that were made.

Theo didn't get an answer, instead, she heard Ava begin to cry. Theo was confused, Ava had seemed fine during their whole journey. Even that morning, she had been very excited to go out with Oceane. If it were anyone else, she would ask before making the assumption that her help was needed. But Ava wasn't the typical pirate, she liked to share her feelings and talk with people about her issues. Theo decided, then, that she was going to stay to figure out what was wrong. Without looking, she took as many steps backward as it took for the back of her legs to hit the tub. Once she arrived, she sat down on the floor, back still to Ava.

"I don't know what's wrong but I'm sorry you are feeling upset," Theo didn't know what to say or do. Usually, when she was out of words and trying to comfort someone, she would hug them but that wasn't an option here. Maybe it was because Ava had ended things between them but Theo felt wholly inadequate to deal with Ava's emotions at that moment. It made her feel like shit when she could do nothing but sit and listen to Ava cry.

After a few minutes of Ava trying to reign in the tears just for them to keep coming, she managed to get out a broken, "I feel like such an idiot."

"Woah, hey, let's not be too harsh on ourselves," Theo frowned to herself, never liking derogatory language when people talked about themselves.