Parris watched her leave with a stunned expression, never before been spoken to like that. A deep anger boiled inside him at the sight of Anto still staring down at his hands. That little shit coulda gotten me killed. And she took his side.
"You will get your shit," Parris growled in a low voice, "and get off my ship. Don't ever come back. If I even see you again, I will run you through like a dog on the street."
Anto, understanding his current condition, stood up from his seat with a wince and limped out after Fane with a grim look on his face.
She was furiously pacing back and forth, jaw clenched tightly, the muscles in her cheeks feathering from the tension. Ever since Anto was put into the picture, her actions were questioned, her loyalties doubted, and her motives undermined. She was sick of being treated like she could control everything, like she was this loyal servant that would take whatever shit was thrown at her without speaking her mind. She used to, but she had snapped tonight.
Was he fucking serious? He acted like she knew every move Anto would make. She hadn't anticipated him moving, thinking he was oblivious to the woman's advances. She had been mistaken, and then Parris expected her to reprimand him for that? Was he insane? She wasn't a psycho that would yell at someone for moving.
"He can suck a dick for all I care," she growled, jamming her heel into the ground.
"I've…..been evicted," Anto said when he caught sight of Fane, not catching what she said just seconds before
He held no anger towards his former captain. All Anto had done for the man since joining his crew was get hurt, cause issues, and be a liability. The man had trusted the prince enough to bring him out here and Anto had fucked that up, too.
"Look, I'm sorry," Anto continued, running a hand through his hair. "I have done nothing but be a hindrance ever since I met you."
She shook her head, stopping in her pacing to look up at him. "You have nothing to be sorry for. Parris and I clashing was inevitable. I'm nothing more than a favored mule to him now, it seems. You showing up gave him a reason to boss me around some more."
Fane looked up at the bar, jaw clenching once again. "I've never been good at staying in the same place for long, anyway. It seems I stayed just a little too long. Didn't realize things were nothing different than back at the manor. Just a different sort of preening and pruning."
"You're….leaving, too?" Anto looked baffled. "But….you have built a life here. You can't just throw that away over a simple dispute."
He realized that he had everything that he came on the ship with on his body, with exceptions of the knifes. He wasn't about to give those up, though.
(They're the same height, remember? I made him small)
(she was looking down)
She huffed a small laugh, shaking her head and crossing her arms over her chest. "There's a difference between building a life and discovering one. I love the life of a pirate, love the thrill and freedom. But my place isn't beneath the boot of a man that's afraid of what his friend thinks."
(Oh, shit, my bad)
"You're…what happens to Hugh and Johnny and the rest?" he asked, blinking a few times at her response. While he still felt guilty, the idea of a life with her excited him greatly. "And how can we even be pirates without a boat? Or a crew?"
She grabbed another hidden blade and started tossing it up into the air, catching it by the handle each time. "I don't know. Maybe raise some money off to the side, pull favors, the sorts. I might try to see if they'll join, but my hopes are slim."
The initial shock of getting kicked out had waned and he was in business mode now.
"If we can get Hugh or White to come with us, the other will follow," he said slowly, tapping his chin. "Same goes for Johnny and the sharpshooter. I feel like White would be the one most willing to go. Wanna try him first?"
She nodded, then glanced over at the bar again. "You try him. I'm going to go on the ship and stay for a bit, gather money and some insight on how to captain a ship. He hasn't tried to kick me off the crew just yet." She would try to sort through her next step in life while working out all of the loose ends of retiring from being the first mate of the ship.
(Wanna just timeskip to when they meet up again? It is pretty obvious White is gonna say yes)
((White is like an eager puppy. Yeah, a timeskip sounds good))
Anto stood in front of the bar about an hour later, White and Hugh standing next to him. As usual, they were enveloped in a conversation with the smaller man leaned up against the giant's side. The dude was already drunk and it was barely 3 o'clock.
"When she gonna return?" Hugh asked Anto, raising an eyebrow down at the prince.
"I am unsure," he confessed, rubbing his hands together anxiously. "She has to get a great deal of stuff."
Fane strode around her cabin, packing up what she needed and what she couldn't leave behind. There was the trunk, of course—the testimony of her past and who she once was. She paused as she saw a picture of herself and her family, when she was younger. "Maybe it's time for a new name," she murmured, then packed that up and sorted through her bags. She would be able to carry some of it, but she might need help to get the rest. She really didn't want to make more than one trip.
"Hugh, I got the drunk guy," Anto said after a bit, walking over and taking the weight of White from the giant. "GO down there and see if she needs help."
A few minutes later, the sound of loud footsteps came walking up to the door, followed by two firm knocks.
"Ms. Fane?" Hugh asked in his deep, powerful voice. "Need some help in there?"
"Ah, Hugh, yes," she said, giving up on trying to situate the different boxes and just dropping them to the floor. She strode over to the door and opened it, waving the giant into the room. "I'd rather not make multiple trips, Parris is already pissed enough at me and I don't want to have to show my face more than I have to. Would you mind helping me carry these? There's not many, but…" she twirled her hand in the air as she went over to the lighter boxes so she could carry them.
He began picking up every box in sight, seeming to have endless strength as he studied the woman.
"Wha' happened in the bar, if you don' mind me askin'?" he said slowly, pausing his efforts to lift up every available object in the room.
"The captain got after Anto for rejecting a woman and standing up for my dignity, then snipped at me for letting him stand up and not reprimanding him. That is, of course, after we kicked some ass, but that's besides the point," she added with a shrug, grabbing another box before she could carry no more.
"Anto ain' a real pirate, is he?" Hugh asked as he gathered up the remaining boxed and hefted them onto the mountain of containers in his arms. A surprising amount of intelligence flashed behind his black eyes. "He don' talk like us, act like us, or even sit like us."
"That's not something for me to confirm nor deny," she said, looking up at the giant as she walked past to open the door with her back. "You'll have to take it up with him if you really want to know. But…" she added with a bit of hesitation, "it might be better if things like that was divulged among our group. Clean slate."
"I'd like that," Hugh agreed, ducking his head to follow her out. "There's so much distrust on this boat it's hard to fathom. The people are beyond fake."
"Image and rep," she said, looking over her shoulder to look at Hugh. "That's all they care about. The true meaning of a pirate got lost somewhere, and I'm determined to revive it with my own crew."
"White was betting it would be Anto's crew. I told him he was out of his damn mind," Hugh said with a small smile as they walked down the bridge-plank thing. "Anto doesn't have enough backbone to stand up to you."
"Hm." She tipped her head to the side with a slight smile. "Anto can handle himself quite well without needing to be guided. But when it comes down to it, I think, he just might stand down to me. That theory hasn't been tested, but it's a theory."
"He let you drag him around like he's a child," he said, rolling his eyes. "Ain' no way in hell he'll try to take any power from ya."
They reached the front of the bar, where White was laying face-down on the ground and Anto was pacing back and forth despite his limp.
"You really took…everything," he said, raising his eyebrows at the amount of stuff in Hugh's arms.
