Chapter Text
A loud yell came from some direction, a glass was thrown, and caught midair just before it hit the wall behind the counter.
Sharp yellow eyes darted around the room, landing on who seemed to be the perpetrator, a bulky, drunk off his mind, pirate.
No words were spoken, but a voice rang out in his mind, seemingly coming from nowhere and everywhere at once.
"Watch it."
The pirate whipped his head around in search of the voice. Nobody near him had said anything, and the bartender idly wiped the counters. Shaken, he sat back down in his seat, not wanting to mess with whatever he had just pissed off.
All in all, an average day in the Porthole.
People from all corners of the world arrived in All Port on a daily basis, from merchants looking to set up shop to travelers passing through, but the most interesting of those were probably the pirates; a rowdy bunch who didn't abide by the government's rules and instead chose their own way of life. Those pirates, of course, being the Porthole's targeted customer base. A bar for pirates, established by pirates, with the code hung proudly as a tapestry on the wall, though it was frequently torn down by one of the many daily scuffles.
In a way, Torren stood out among the rough and tough types that both tended and attended this place, but this was not something he paid any mind to. Maybe elves were typically found in schools in monasteries, maybe a pretty face like his had no business being in a place like this (as so many had told him as both a compliment and an insult), but when he bothered to speak he had the tongue of a sailor, and what he lacked physically he more than made up for in other ways.
"Hey, bartender! Two pints of ale!"
Two women took a seat at Torren's bar, one he couldn't help but recognize, Captain Lizzie, who had built quite a name for herself despite her age. The other, a redhead he had never seen before, that he didn't really care enough to wonder about. The ale was served to the women, and Torren got back to idly wiping the counters as he always did, serving drinks when needed. At some point, the two women headed off in the direction of the bathroom, leaving a coin for his services.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
After dropping Ollie off at the ship with Alphonze, Chip headed to the bar where Lizzie had instructed them to meet later. A place with a sign that read "The Porthole", a large bodyguard stationed outside asking for the pirate code that Chip definitely knew. The inside was about as rowdy as you'd expect a pirate bar to be, and Chip scanned the many tables for Jay's hard to miss bright orange hair. Maybe it was the dim lighting, maybe it was the amount of people, but Chip saw no sign of them. He groaned, then stepped towards the bar counter, signaling the tender, a tall, slender, seemingly elven person with the characteristic look of a customer service employee that didn't want to be there.
"Hey, uh, you seen two girls come in here? One with bright orange hair, one with braids?"
The bartender, seemingly irritated by Chip's lackluster description, furrowed their brow, thought for a moment, and pointed towards the restrooms. Out stumbled Jay and Lizzie, holding onto each other and giggling. Chip didn't think he wanted to know what about.
Lizzie spotted Chip, and they started bickering. She challenged him to a brawl, which he accepted, quickly knocking Lizzie into the mud below and diving in himself afterwards. It was now that Gillion and Caspian joined them, with someone else in tow: Gillion's sister, Edyn. Chip quickly used his bandana to look handsome and introduced himself, while Lizzie found them all a seat at a table.
Chip flipped the bartender a coin to buy a keg for the table. He attempted to lift it, with no avail. After a few moments of struggling, Jay joined him, still tipsy but able to help him.
"Hey Chip,"
"Yeah?"
"Stop flirting with Gill's sister. You know he wouldn't like that."
Chip rolled his eyes. "Well I don't like you flirting with my sister but you dont see me complaining."
"Your sis–" Jay looked at Lizzie and then back at Chip. "I wasn't even–"
"Oh yeah? You seemed real friendly coming out of the bathroom."
Jay's face turned bright red. "That– that wasn't me flirting! She's just....nice."
Chip sighed loudly and dramatically. "Well I think I should be allowed to flirt with people when you have whatever the fuck is going on with Lizzie and Gill has whatever the fuck he has going on with Caspian."
"There's nothing–" Jay groaned. "You know what, nevermind. I didn't say you couldn't flirt! Just leave Gill's sister alone."
"Who else do you want me to flirt with? Don't know if you noticed, but this bar is full of big pirate men."
Jay looked around the bar for a moment before pointing at the bartender. "There. Bartender looks bored."
Chip looked at the bartender. They were good looking, tall and slender with blue hair tied up into tight braids, with a pink bandana holding it up. Almost too good looking. Paired with the expression of someone who hates their job, it was kind of intimidating.
"Bartender looks like they'd rather kill someone than be here," Chip said pointedly.
"Well, maybe you'll brighten their day. You have a better chance with them than with Edyn anyway."
Chip and Jay dropped the keg near the table, and Chip looked between the table and the bartender. He sighed loudly, chugged some drinks quickly enough for his cheeks to flush red, and looked over again.
"5 gold if you manage to get them talking," Jay said with a smile, pulling out her small pouch of gold.
"Fine," Chip got up and stretched. "Easiest 5 gold of my life. Watch this."
He made sure he looked presentable aith the bandana, then sauntered up to the bored bartender, a smug grin on his face as he leaned over the counter.
"Hey there, come here often?"
The bartender looked up from the cup they were wiping off, expression unchanging. "I work here."
Chip was immediately caught off guard by the deep voice with an accent that didn't at all match the soft face. It had Chip question himself, whether this was a woman with a deep voice, or a very beautiful man, or maybe neither...? His eyes darted back to Jay, who was snickering back in her seat. There was no way he was losing this bet like this.
"Sorry, sorry. Pretty face like yours should be getting drinks, not working the counter."
"Make sure to let my boss know that."
"Sure. Where is he?"
The bartender rolled their eyes. "Are you going to order something or did you just come over here to bother me?"
"Sure, I'll order," Chip pulled up a stool and sat on it, leaning on the counter. "Make me your favorite drink."
The bartender looked at him quizzicaly. "My... favorite drink?"
"Mmm, whichever one you like best. To make or to drink. That's what I want."
After a moment of silence, the bartender sighed. "Very well."
Chip watched as he (he was pretty sure now that this was a guy, but for some reason the thought of continuing to flirt with him despite that didn't bother him much) grabbed a cocktail glass and began mixing. It was actually quite fascinating to see him work, Chip had never paid much attention to bartenders before this moment. With the placement of a straw he was done, sliding the fancy drink over to Chip.
The drink was bright blue, with a red sugar rim and two fish shapes floating within the liquid. Chip took a sip through the straw, surprised to find a citrus flavor despite his expectations. It was delicious, sweet, barely tasting of alcohol.
"What are those?" Chip asked, gesturing toward the fish shapes.
"Sharks," the bartender said bluntly.
"Aren't sharks bigger?" Chip responded, a hint of a smirk on his lips.
The bartender rolled his eyes. "Not real sharks, idiot. They're candy."
Chip chuckled, then took another sip of his drink. It really was tasty, the type of fancy drink he wouldn't be able to afford until now.
"The drink is called shark attack," the bartender explained. "I'm sure you can guess why."
"And why's it your favorite?"
The bartender averted his eyes, a slight blush growing on his cheeks. "I like sharks."
Maybe it was the alcohol (how much was in this drink anyway?), but Chip found himself thinking the man's shyness was kind of cute.
"People order this often?" Chip asked.
"Not really."
Chip nodded, and the bartender was called away to deal with another customer. He stabbed through one of the gummy sharks with his straw and ate it, then repeated the action with the second one. By the time the bartender had returned, he had finished his drink.
"How was it?" The tender asked. He seemed to try to seem as stoic as ever, but somehow Chip could tell he had thawed that icy mask a little bit. He grinned at the tender.
"Good."
The tender nodded, glancing away. "That's, uh, good." He hesitated, before asking a question. "Uh. Who are you?"
Chip pulled a coin out of his pocket and flipped it to the tender. He smiled. "Captain Chip of the Riptide Pirates." He gave a bow before spinning on his heel, returning to his table.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
Torren watched the man– Captain Chip of the Riptide Pirates – swagger back his table of friends, cheeks still flush from the interaction. People didn't typically try to engage with him any more than the stupid casual flirting he'd heard a million times. He watched Captain Chip seem to whisper with the orange-haired girl, point towards the bar, and make a scene of holding out his hand for her to place a few gold pieces in.
Oh. Of course.
Captain Chip didn't actually care about talking to him, he was just acting on a bet.
He'd dealt with that type of things hundreds of times, he wasn't sure why this one especially hurt. Maybe because the Captain was so charismatic it felt genuine, not the drunk creep he usually dealt with. He blinked to himself, trying to forget about the interaction, and returned to his work.