A/n: This is sort of a continuation of my previous story Holyhead. It does, however, take place some time later, not too long into the future but after a few more visits to Holyhead and to Lottie. Just another one shot because I think the friendship between the Pirate Captain and Pirate with a Scarf is adorable. I know that a lot of people ship the two, but I honestly see them as surrogate brothers more than anything else. Hence, the following scene.

The Pirates! belong to Gideon Defoe and Aardman, respectively.

III

They left at dawn this time. They'd figured out after a few tries that going into the city at night was more efficient than trying to find shadows during the day (Pirate Captain had at first insisted on some of his more convoluted disguises, but in some instances, they found, it was more conspicuous to go galavanting around in an elaborate guise than it was to slink through the shadows as pirates).

So, as the sun began to creep through the morning fog, the Pirate Captain and his crew set off. This time Holyhead had gifted them with more limes, beer, some real silver dining utensils and more of that oil Albino Pirate used to keep himself from burning. All things considered, a good haul. The Pirate Captain always felt better about their looting when there was actually something of monetary worth in the loot, and he'd bet his better foot that that silverware was worth something.

The Pirate with a Scarf had been conspicuously absent from the raids, although no one stopped for a long enough moment to consider this. He'd been, instead, at The Grimy Jack with Miss Lottie.

It was clear to anyone that Lottie had wanted for some time to see the ship and meet the crew, but Scarf had yet to concede to let her do so. He still held reservations about a young lady such as Lottie mingling herself in with the likes of them. Make no mistake, he was always happy to see her, and he himself held no qualms about their way of life, but the though of what people would do should anyone see her out with them was more than a little unpleasant. But she was wearing him down, and he knew that eventually he'd give in, but for now he would hold fast, and the two would meet at her father's tavern.

Leaving like this, again, was something that was weighing on him. Standing on deck, watching the misted lights of the city fade away, he felt, like he always did, like the lowest of barnacles.

"Number Two!" came a shout from behind him, "another successful venture to Holyhead, wouldn't you say so?"

"Indeed, Captain. The silverware was a good find."

"And Albino's oil. Without it he looks more like an underdone lobster than a milk bottle."

"Yes, sir."

"And, eh…how was our Miss Lottie?"

"She was well, sir. Still insists on coming aboard."

The Captain contemplated for a moment, "Well, why don't we let her?"

Scarf looked toward his Captain then, and in all honesty struggled a bit with finding the right words. "She…well sir, she's a lady, and we're pirates. On a pirate ship."

"Indeed we are, lad. Well done, figuring that out."

"What I mean, Captain, is that I'm not so sure I should be doing this."

"Doing what, Number Two?"

Well, Scarf thought, might as well. The Captain was his superior, yes, but also his friend. "I…sir, you must know that I—well, I find Miss Lottie quite charming."

The Pirate Captain took a ponderous pose, stroking his luxuriant beard in thought, and nodded, "Yes, yes, I can tell. She is fond of you too, yes?"

Scarf almost choked on air, but managed to hold himself steady. "Well, that is…she might have been a little…she's said some things that one could interpret as…" he sighed, giving up. After a moment, he started over. "Captain, I'm afraid I'm not doing the right thing."

The Pirate Captain scoffed, "Now Number Two, if there's one thing you're good at doing it's doing things rightly."

"She has a life in Holyhead, Captain," Pirate with a Scarf said, as though he didn't hear his friend, "Should she be seen with me, it would ruin her reputation at best. She'd be wanted."

"All the more reason to get her acquainted with the workings of a boat."

"Captain!"

"Confound it, Number Two!" the Pirate Captain said, slapping a hand on the bulwark, "Have you given any thought as to what she might want?"

"I…what do you mean, sir?"

The Pirate Captain turned to better face his first mate, and said, "Hardly anybody aboard this ship became a pirate because they had nothing left. It had been my greatest aspiration since boyhood to be a terror of the seas. You gave up a promising career in the Royal Navy."

Scarf knew where this conversation was going. The worst bit of it was that he didn't have a good rebuttal.

"Pirating is in our blood, Number Two; our spirits!" the Captain said, "What if, maybe, Miss Lottie's spirit isn't so different from ours, hmm? Not to mention that pirating, in her case, might come with something extra?" With that, he wagged his eyebrows none-too-subtly.

"…I don't like it when you start making good points, sir."

The Pirate Captain grinned winningly, and clapped Scarf on the back. "The next time we visit, what do you say we show her around the ship?"

"I think she'd like that, Captain."

"Good lad," the Captain said, "We'll make a pirate out of her, yet!"

"You'd allow a woman on your crew, Captain?"

"Well, why not?" he asked. "Cutlass Liz does alright for herself, and I don't know any more lady pirates—" Scarf suppressed the urge to roll his eyes"—but I have every confidence that Lottie could keep up. Though, the name…"

Scarf screwed up his face a bit in confusion. "Is something the matter with her name, sir?"

"Well, not now," The Captain said, as though the question was a ridiculous one. Perhaps it was. "But 'Lottie' is such a, well, a…name."

"…Ah. I see." And he did; it wasn't as if he'd been gifted the moniker "Pirate with a Scarf" at birth, now was it?

The Pirate Captain went on, talking at Scarf while thinking of possible nicknames. "Now let's see. 'Pirate with purple ribbons'? 'The exceptionally short pirate'—er, 'pirate-ess'? Oh blast, I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the etiquette of addressing lady pirates. What say you, Number Two?"

"I say, Captain," he said after a moment's thought, "that if we wish to avoid sailing into a gale we should return before the summer's end."

The Pirate Captain gave a wide smile, and clapped Scarf's shoulder. "Good man!" he said. "And what's more, that's a marvelous time of year for a Ham Nite! We'll make her first night aboard one to remember."

And the Captain went on, planning the party that would prove to be Lottie's initiation. Even before they'd discussed it with her, Scarf was almost certain she'd join the crew, given the chance. It was an idea that was growing on him.