Her Adventures on the Red Lion

The Attack

 Silence filled the haul as hours passed. When they had cauterized the wound, Anthony had passed out, and hadn't woken up yet. So they bandaged his wounds and laid him in his hammock, letting him sleep.

 Most of the pirates had eventually filed out back to the deck or to a different part of the haul, a couple retiring to their own cots. But Signe had pulled up a chair next to Anthony as he slept, wanting to keep an eye on his condition. She sat in the thick silence, holding one of Anthony's hands with hers, lost in her own thoughts. Thinking of the Captain, his actions, and how Anthony's injury was her fault.

 Signe thought back to the first night she had spent on this ship. How she had pushed Jack to the limits, forcing him to push back. She remembered she was terrified, not just of the Captain, but the entire crew.

 "Just an average group of pirates." she thought to herself. "They were mean and vulgar. No help to society and deserving of a purge." She chuckled to herself, "At least, that's what they had seemed like." It was true that everything had changed in such a short period of time. The pirate side to all the men around her were turned off, revealing decent people that shared the same love of the sea as she did. If she was being honest, the days she had spent aboard the Red Lion were the most...interesting if not exciting days she felt she ever had. But the Captain's outburst twisted it all sideways, leaving her confused how to feel.

 She heard a shuffle behind her that pulled her out of her thoughts. She turned around to the hammock the hung in-between the bars behind Anthony's. There Seananners had been sleeping but was now beginning to wake up.

 He rubbed his hands over his face, doing his best to push away the sleep. "Hey." he smiled at her. He swung his legs over the side, pushing himself onto his feet. "Has he woken up at all?" he asked, walking over to where his friend slept.

 "No. Hasn't even stirred." she sighed.

 Nanners sighed, leaning over and checking the bandages, "Well he stopped bleeding, so there is a plus."

 Signe sat for a moment, mulling over her thoughts as Nanners was busy. "So..." she paused for a moment, making sure her wording was right. "what did the Captain mean...with the two exceptions?" 

 "Oh." Nanners didn't look at her when he replied, "We use nick names to keep us a little harder to track. It makes it easier for us to keep the people we love safe." He pulled up a chair next to her, but still didn't make eye contact. "For me, it's easier to keep Cathy safe as long as she isn't associated with Seananners."

 "So why is it bad for me to know it then?" Signe questioned.

 "Because the exceptions are strict. Either they're a trusted crew mate, or someone you love." he answered.

 It all clicked in Signe's head at once. She remembered what Anthony had said to her when he first told her his name. "Playing for keeps." she mumbled to herself.

 Seananners chuckled lightly at her words, "Yeah. That's probably what Jack thought."

 "That's why he told me not to tell anyone I knew his name." she replied. "But it...just slipped...." Guilt overtook Signe again as she looked down at Anthony again, wishing she would have watched what she was saying. "Oh God, I'm so sorry." she whispered.

 Nanners placed a hand on her shoulder, "Hey hey. Don't be upset. It's fine."

 "No. I should've just kept my mouth shut!" she shook her head. Signe looked down at the floor, her thoughts spiraled with regret.

 Seananners didn't respond for a moment before he chuckled, "Well I think you're already a good crew mate, so hi, my name is Adam."

 Signe paused and looked directly at him, knowing what he had just done. It was obviously intentional but it was shocking none the less. It wasn't just him telling her his name, but he did the same thing Anthony did, making it a direct defiance of the Captain's orders apparently.