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FORT RAMSEY, ONTARIO SYSTEM, INDEPENDENT WORLDS
The office on the top floor of the Alliance Building was still lit. Virginia Belle sat behind her office desk, spinning slowly in her chair as she cut short her wait for Damien Morreti, whom she had challenged to a chess duel. She wore her usual casual attire consisting of a red plaid shirt, a black t-shirt underneath and blue jeans. In her left hand she fumbled with Morreti's keys, which she had taken out of his pockets earlier that morning. A chess board was laid out on the top of the office desk with the pieces already laid out. The entire chess set was made of stainless steel and had a cheap, purposeful look to it; it was probably an official army set with an inventory number stamped at the edge of the chess board.
Virginia's mind raced with a whole host of thoughts, mostly concerning her own crew, before Damien Morreti's footsteps brought her out of her own thoughts. A mischievous look appeared on her face as Damien opened the door to his own office, which Virginia had just suddenly appropriated for herself and her game. "Hey," she greeted him in her usual style, gesturing with her hand for him to take the chair across from her. To prove her point, she showed him his own keys in her left hand and placed them on the table top on her side. "You can still change your mind about the game, save yourself from a defeat, Kingsnake.", Virginia said as she pointed to the simple metal figures in colors of polished and blued steel. The game was set and ready to start.
Waiting until he was seated as well before responding, it almost seemed as if he were playfully insulted by the suggestion of just throwing in the towel. "Same goes for you, Captain. It's always the proud that fall the hardest." For a moment, his eyes were drawn to his keys which were constantly jingling about in her hands before he glanced down at the board and then up at her. And though he'd said nothing, the way he'd conveyed all of that through merely looking suggested that he wanted to get started with this game so he could get his keys back from her. That and perhaps the consideration that he should be more on guard with his personal belongings in the rare event of his companion being affectionate.
"I assume you did all of this as an excuse to bring me to the table and spend time with you. Didn't want to seem needy by asking, or annoying by demanding. But you really could have just asked and I'd have obliged." A few months ago he'd have gotten himself ready to study how she was going to react to all of that, but they were past that now. Many things she told him were simply taken at face value considering that the trust that time and tests had cultivated. Still, he was fully expecting a sarcastic response.
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Virginia chuckled and picked up Morreti's keys from the table top, "A proper chick should know how to get a man's attention.", she tossed the keys in her hand and was jingling with them over the table, "... and now I have your attention, haven't I? You clearly aren't used to losing your keys very often.". With those words, she put the keys back in place and rested both elbows on the table top.
"Don't threaten with a defeat, I've lost this game so many times to my former first officer... can't count it all.", she huffed and tossed her head to get the unruly curl of her bleached blonde hair out of her face, "Actually, we're kind of captain and first officer now too, huh? I'm your voice of... well, let's just say reason and you get to decide what and how.".
He shook his head slowly and smirked while taking his gloves off, gracefully dropping them down on the table as a stacked pairing before taking another glance between the board and her. "You do have my attention, yes." He was in uniform around her for once, but then again that had also been the case the first time they met in person as well. Although that occurrence in particular was a deliberate case of posturing and with specific intent, this was merely a coincidence owed solely to timing.
"Have you done something with your hair?" It sounded like a genuine question, but the tone and general look on his face suggested there was more to it than that. The realization even seemed to cause him to lean forward a little for proper scrutiny.
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Virginia chuckled in amusement and waved her left hand, "Of course I did - I went to bed with my hair still wet and this is the result.", gesturing with her left hand towards her still somewhat disheveled blonde head. "I'd offer you something to drink during our match, but everything's been drunk for weeks and certain someone hasn't refilled the bar. No clue who it is." She grinned at him in a friendly way, watching his face again for long seconds as she tried to see into his inner state with her eyes.
She then sat up so she could swing her leg over his and nodded towards the chessboard, "Would you like light or dark chesspieces?". She immediately squinted her eyes at that, "I might as well ask whether you want a strategic initiative or just react. Do you bring battle to your foes or you just allow them to make mistakes, mhhm?" Virginia added in the context of military tactics and strategy, still watching Damien with laughing eyes. Reading her inner state of mind wasn't complicated for him, she was an open book at the moment and this was all just a game spiced up with a dash of gloating for her as well as a reminder that she could still be unpredictable.
Without any hesitation he turned the board using his index finger and thumb to have the white pieces be on his side, taking the initiative for himself but saying nothing about as to whether or not his strategy was actually going to involve a focus on offensives. "You look good." The words were delivered quietly, hushed almost entirely to the point of tenderness. And while it did give the impression that he was at least partially distracted, that might have been the impression he wanted her to have.
Unbeknownst to her, all of this was likely a fairly intimate glimpse into how his mind worked, the twists and turns it spun like a web woven by creatures with more legs than welfare policies in Liberty. Plainly, he gestured with his right hand at the board as if to silently ask her if he could just get to it.
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Virginia watched his expression with softly squinted eyes in an unusually relaxed expression despite her earlier grand proclamations of a very important battle between them. She was calm and relaxed, as if they were watching a movie together or discussing music. For a brief moment she turned her gaze to the chessboard itself - that was when Damien Morreti chose his side and nodded in agreement.
At his comment about her appearance she tried to remain impassive, to ignore the remark, but a wandering smile spread lightly and invitingly from the corner of her lips to a full-bodied grin, "Unlike you, I didn't go anywhere today. Just after I got your keys I went back to sleep for a few hours.". She tapped her left index finger with a short broken nail against the table top and nodded her head, "The battle can begin.".
Without looking at the board, and instead momentarily fixated on his partner, Damien advanced the king's side pawn forward by two squares. While he certainly wanted his keys back, it didn't seem like he was taking this "contest" with much of a competitive spirit. If anything, it was an excuse to have some downtime with his alleged voice of reason. "So it seems." He idly commented in response to the fact that the game was now afoot.
"You seem at home nowadays, it's nice to see." While he had initially chalked that occurrence up as just that - an occurrence, it had taken on an undeniable consistency. She wasn't just in a good mood, nor was he simply catching her after a dose. But that made him quietly wonder how long it would last, an ideal situation always found a way to destroy itself.
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Virginia gazed at the chessboard with a thoughtful look and brought both of her hands together to rest on her chin. Visibly releasing the tension and stress in her shoulders, she squinted her eyes in relaxation. The attention Damien was giving her surprised her - they were often just like a tired old couple around each other - and this was a welcome change. Their living together probably wasn't helped by the difference in their work commitments and the personal workload that came with it.
"Well, you know - I'm fine. My vessel is undergoing more maintenance, so I've had relatively quiet days now.", she replied in a surprisingly calm voice, moving her pawn from C7 to C5. She then looked up from the chessboard and gave him one of her better smiles, "Your turn, blondie.". The smile never left her face, rendering her usually 'pissed off' face into a more pleasant, gentle expression.
Almost as if reactively, he moved the left hand side pawn just in front of the black-tile bishop forward by two squares. This meant he was directly blocking the path of the pawn his opponent had just moved. It almost seemed like a warning that she'd be met move for move and denied the opportunity to rapidly capture pieces. "If I stripped the color away then my hair would just be black." It was a humorously inclined correction.
Having made his move it seemed he bided his time by giving her a onceover to ascertain just how much her appearance seemed to have changed. Evidently he wasn't buying into the notion that she'd just been getting lots of sleep. It seemed more like lots of minor details tallying up to something more substantial. But he couldn't put a finger on anything definitive, it just felt like the case.