Her Adventures on the Red Lion

The Struggle of the Sail

 If she was being honest, Signe was skeptical last night when Chilled, or Anthony, had told her the weather was going to be bad. Could a sunrise and sunset really be able to predict that? All of her doubts cleared earlier in the morning when the ship was rocking so fiercely that she nearly rolled right out of the bed.

 When she managed to wake up a little more, she walked over to the large window to see what it really looked like. Sure enough, the sea was showing it's true colors. A nature of violence, relentless attacks on ships, all trying to sink any vessel that dare cross it. A fickle friend the sea is.

 The previous subtle rocking of the gentle waves below them, now became a heavy swing from side to side, up and down. The waves were choppy, the sky was grey, and the rain was coming down in sheets. Anyone in the middle of this storm would be even slightly worried. Back on the Tetris, Signe had faith in the Captain to navigate such threatening storms. Now she had to trust that Captain Jack, or whomever was at the helm of the ship, knew what they were doing.

 Just then, the doors flung open. Signe turned to see who it was as they quickly closed the doors behind them. She saw a very wet, and most likely freezing, Seananners standing at the door. He was soaked from head to toe and doing his best to cover up his shivering form.

 "Oh my God! Are you okay?" Signe asked in a panic. She quickly rushed over to her bed and grabbed a blanket off of it, placing it around Seananners shoulders. "What's going on out there?"

 "Oh. Not much." Seananners sniffled. "Just a massive storm is all. Not anything to write home about." he answered with sarcasm dripping from his voice. Anyone could tell he was a sarcastic person by nature, but the lack of any sort of joy on his face as he spoke showed that he must be pissed. Signe figured he had been out in the storm for a long while now.

 "Who's manning the ship?" Signe asked.

 "Who do you think?" Nanners scoffed. "There is only one person who knows how to sail this tub in a storm like this, and it sure as hell ain't me." Nanners pulled the blanket tighter around his shoulders, going back and sitting on the box again. "I was told to come make sure you were okay."

 Even though he was being a little short with her, Signe couldn't help but pity the man. He was certainly freezing and had been out in it probably since it started. She gave him a small smile, "Yes. I'm okay. But is there anything I can do to help out there?"

 Nanners laughed, "Jack would have my head if I even thought of letting you out there right now. Decks slippery, waves violent, and rain cold as all hell." He gave a sigh of defeat, looking up at her, "So no. There is nothing you can do."

 Silence fell across the pair as they sat together. Seananners had just stopped shivering and was beginning to warm himself up again, and Signe was just trying to imagine what it must be like outside the two doors.

 Suddenly, a loud groaning could be heard through the ship, and many voices yelling and heavy feet could be heard outside the door. Seananners turned to Signe, giving her a very empty stare. Whatever just happened, Nanners knew what it was, and from the look he was giving her it wasn't anything good.

 In a flash, Nanners was on his feet, pushing the blanket off his shoulders, and out the doors. Although he didn't close them behind him. The sound of commotion for what was happening was too much for Signe, and she quickly left the room as well.

 The booming sound of the thunder was already so much louder as it echoed through the sky. The raindrops were large and soaking as they fell with quiet thuds against the ship. The waves were angry and easily pushing around even such a large vessel. The winds were strong and wild, having forced them to roll their sails tightly, as not to have them rip. But that's when Signe noticed it. The sail.

 Towards the back of the ship, the smallest sail, the Mizzen sail, broke loose from the ropes that held it in place, letting it fly loose all around. There was a couple of major problems with all of this though, the fact that this sail was closest to the wheel deck was one of them.

 Signe stepped out further onto the balcony, looking up at the wheel deck. There she saw Jack, completely soaked, and from the looks of it, pissed off. He was fighting with the waves with an iron knuckle grip on the wheel. Now that the Mizzen sail was broken loose, it was flying around and blocking his line of sight to the sea in front of them. As well as the sail was flying directly over top of him, forcing him to duck down to avoid getting tangled in it.

 Signe watched as many of the crew members began to do their best to grab hold of the sail, but then she noticed a second problem. The sail was flying wildly through the air, and a couple of the snapped ropes remained attached to it, causing them to be a hazard as well. The heavy ropes would no doubt hurt like crazy if they were to hit you. This caused the crew mates to have to strategically run to their destination on the slippery deck as they struggled to capture the loose sail.

 She watched as a couple of the pirates made it to the shrouds on the side, beginning to climb them. They climbed as high as they could, reaching over and did their best to grab onto either side of the sail, although that was proving a feat. Then they did they best to roll it, tying it up like the other sails. This took them a considerable amount of time and fighting as two mates, Seananners on the right and Chilled on the left, tied the sail to the best of their abilities.

 They seemed to be nearly done when someone called out, "Captain!" Signe looked up to the Captain, who was now looking right back at her.

 Jack's face said it all with how pissed he was that she was out here on the deck. "What the hell are you doing?!" he yelled out to her.

 But before she could answer, or he could say anything more, there was another loud snap from up above. Many voices called out in shouts, making it difficult to hear what had happened. But Signe didn't get the chance to find out as a rope with a metal pully swung down at her face. She did he best to duck, but really only fell onto her knees on such a slippery deck. She struggled to get up, doing her best to fight against the waves that kept tossing her down.

 She eventually struggled to her feet again, but only got to stand for a second. In her fight against the deck itself, she had forgotten her original danger she had been avoiding. The metal pully hit her right on the crown of her forehead, pushing her backwards. But the only thing that was backwards, was the railing, that didn't do much for her when she toppled over it.