Guess we're partners today *Pt 3*
Posted on Wed Jul 7th, 2021 @ 4:34am by Lieutenant JG Damien Blackford & Lieutenant Vira Vemre [Whavi]
Mission:
Season 5: Episode 2: Operation Save Humanity
Location: Brig
Timeline: MD 4 1600
2232 words - 4.5 OF Standard Post Measure
Damien and Vira have begun their friendly game of 'Risian Poker'. Damien came in strong with the first hand, winning easily, but that's where beginner's luck seems to run out. With the second hand veering strongly in her favor, she picks up on Damien's tells, and nudges the attack, finding his weak spot for pretty girls calling him nicknames, and manages to steal the second hand. With a win each, and three hands left to play, it's still anybody's game.
"Three parents?" Damien asked, leaning back in his chair, finally reaching his hand up to run it nervously through his hair. "How did that work?" He asked, "If you don't mind me asking." He reached over, grabbing a couple of the chips, rubbing them together absentmindedly. "Sounds like it was a lovely place." He said, smiling at her. "My father served in the War but doesn't like to talk about it. When I enlisted, he had to convince my mother that nothing bad was going to happen to me."
Vira smiled and nodded, “Yup, I have two mothers and one father. It’s a common family dynamic on Risa. I wish they had more children though, it would have saved me some of their fussing.” After shuffling the deck Vira placed it in the center of the table for Damien to cut. “Is your father still in Starfleet?” Seeing the chips in Damiens hand caused her to pick one up and slowly balance it between her pointer and middle finger, then slowly as to not drop the chip she moved it from knuckle to knuckle.
Damien nodded. "I know the feeling. I'm an only child as well, and whenever my father was on deployment, we spent a lot of time together. It was nice, but it would have been nice to have someone close to my own age as well. I think she was just worried about losing both of us." He reached over, cutting the deck, before passing it back, nodding. "Yeah. He's currently serving as the Chief Medical Officer on the USS Euclid." He said, watching her move the chip. "Nice trick."
"Your fathers a doctor? I would have assumed you would be in a different career path... but who am I to talk." Vira chuckled as she tossed the chip back into the pile, "You'd be surprised at how many tricks I know."
He chuckled, shrugging. "You're not the first person to say that." He said. "Pretty much everyone thought I would go into Medical or Counselling. But I just love to subvert expectations, so, here I am." He said, grinning widely. He chuckled, tossing his own chip back into the pile. "Oh really? What other tricks might you know?" He asked, sitting forward in his chair, placing his arms on the table.
"Oh! I'm sensing someone has a bit of a rebellious side deep down." Vira raised her brows once in a teasing manner. She picked up the cards and began dealing, once both players had their two cards she laid the three out in the middle, revealing a king, a seven and an eight of clubs. She picked up her two revealing a ten of spades and a four of hearts. "And I guess you'll just have to hang around with me to see what other tricks I'm capable of." She gave a nonchalant shrug but failed at hiding her smile.
Damien simply laughed at that. "Well, I'm afraid if you're looking for more rebellious acts, I'm afraid that you're going to be sorely disappointed. That was probably the single most rebellious act I've ever performed." He picked his cards up, looking over them. The Queen of Hearts and the Queen of Diamonds. Not a bad start. "Well, maybe we could grab a drink later and you can show me." He said, shrugging, catching her eyes and returning the smile.
"Oh! He wants to meet for a drink huh?" Vira chuckled waiting for Damien to blush.
Damien let out a nervous chuckle, feeling the heat rush to his cheeks. "Well, you know..." He stammered out. "You know if you wanted to. You know, you're new. I'm new..ish. Thought it might be nice...." He stammered, trailing off, looking away, biting his lip nervously.
Vira was quiet, she enjoyed watching Damien squirm so she just sat and patiently waited for him to stop rambling. Then like the evil woman she was, she waited a few more seconds before finally responding with, “It does sound nice. I would enjoy it very much actually.” She gave him her most timid smile of the evening, shy, but genuine.
Damien watched her, the silence in the Brig almost deafening, the few seconds she was taking to answer him seemed to stretching out and feeling like hours. When she finally did respond, he let out a breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding. “That’s great.” He said, before narrowing his eyes at her, grinning slightly. “Hold on. This isn’t some scheme to make me let my guard down so you can kick my ass at poker is it?” He asked, teasingly.
Vira tossed her long honey blonde ponytail over her shoulder. “I don’t need schemes to kick your ass at poker. That’s pure skill. Unless now your having second thoughts on meeting for a drink?” She gave Damien an innocent questioning look, even going as far as to tilt her head to the side.
Damien laughed, shrugging. "I know I should be insulted, but you probably aren't wrong." He shook his head, leaning forward slightly. "No second thoughts here." He said, before tossing a few chips into the centre of the table. "I raise by 5." He said, smirking confidently.
"Good. I would hate for you dread hanging out with little ol me." Vira immediately tossed in a few chips to match his bet. "I'll see your bet." She knew she had a shit hand but her cocky nature kept her fearless. She turned over the next card in the middle, a nine of hearts.
Damien glanced down at the card revealed and looked back at his own cards. So far he was still only sitting on a pair, but he was feeling spurred on all of sudden. "I'm not dreading anything. More.... looking forward to it." He said, shrugging. "Be nice to hang out with someone outside of work." He threw some more chips into the pile. "I call." He said, with what he hoped was an air of non-committal, 'I got this attitude.'
Vira was impressed by Damien's sudden shift in demeanor. She enjoyed seeing his confidence come out. Looking back down to her hand and knowing she had nothing to combat whatever was giving him the conviction he was about to win this round, she tossed her cards face up on the table. "Fold."
Before he could gloat over his second win, Vira stood up, turned her chair the correct way and sat back down with the pose of a panther, leaning back she crossed her long legs and glared across the table at Damien. "Nice win."
Damien grinned, dropping his cards down, revealing the simple pair that he had. "Thanks." He said, reaching across the table to take the small pile of chips, winking at her glare. "Awe. Someone's pouting." He said, smirking at her. Picking the cards up, he started shuffling them again. "You're cute when you're mad." He said, before freezing slightly, cards mid-shuffle. Did he actually say that out loud. He kept his eyes down, feeling the blush rush back to his face as he started shuffling again.
‘And your cute when you get all red in the face’ Vira thought to herself. “I’m not mad nor am I pouting, this is just… my face.” She gave a shrug as she watched him carefully, waiting for his eyes to look back up at her. It wasn't often Vira was phased by a compliment on her appearance, but something about the way Damian said it and how he acted made it different from the others.
"Well, it's a very cute face." He blurted out before he could stop himself. What was wrong with him. He glanced back up at her, catching her eye, smiling shyly at her, before quickly looking away again, dealing the cards out. His time at the Academy had been more focused on studies and hadn't left him time to focus on relationships. There had been a couple of girls, but most didn't last more than a couple of dates.
So, naturally, when it came to talking to girls, he tended to get flustered and not know what to say. Clearing his throat, he placed the three cards into the middle of the table. The Seven of Hearts, the Jack of Hearts, and the Five of Clubs. 'Not a bad start.' He thought as he dealt her two cards, then himself. The Six of Clubs and the Queen of Clubs. This could definitely be a good hand.
"I call." Was all he said, not trusting himself to say anything more.
Vira picked up her cards and as nonchalantly as she could she simply said, "I like your face to." Looking at her cards, a nine of diamonds and a three of spades she internally sighed. Lady luck was clearly not making an appearance in Vira's favor tonight. If she threw in the towel now Damien won, which surprisingly, Vira wasnt the least bit upset about. So she owed him a favor, big deal, knowing what she knew about him already Damien would be too shy to call in any favor or he would make it something small and simple. But now her curiosity was peaked, what would Damien's favor be?
With more poise then she should have, Vira said "All in." and pushed the remaining chips she had towards the center of the table.
Damien blushed again, looking up, catching her eye. "Well, thank you." He said. When she pushed all her chips in, he raised an eyebrow at her. Interesting. Did she have a decent hand? Or was she simply trying to unnerve him. Knowing what he knew about her, it could be either. Oh well. Fortune favours the bold, as the saying went. Grinning slightly, he pushed the remainder of his own chips into the middle. "All in it is." He said.
Reaching over to the deck, he quickly flipped over the first card. The King of Clubs. He felt a bubble of excitement raise up slightly. Could Lady Luck actually be on his side for once. Keeping his face neutral, he flipped over the fifth and final card. The Ace of Clubs. Keeping his face straight he looked up. "Moment of truth." Before laying his card his front of him. "Flush." He said, unable to stop himself grinning slightly.
Tossing her cards face up Vira smirked. “We’ll, looks like someone has more skill then he cared to admit at the jump.” She chuckled and added, “Guess you won yourself a favor Lovey.”
Damien just laughed and shook his head. "More like luck than skill." He said, shrugging his shoulder. "A few extra credits, a date with a pretty girl and a favour. This is turning out to be a good shift." He said, grinning, not even realising his use of the term 'date.' "I'll be sure to keep that in mind next time I'm assigned latrine duty or something."
A date. Did Damien just say date? When was the last time she had even been on a ‘date’? This meant more then just getting drinks, didn’t it? Keeping her anxiety at bay Vira gasped dramatically, “You would never!” She said referring to the unfortunate latrine duty he threatened her with.
He grinned and leant back in his chair, shrugging his shoulders. "Hey. We Ensigns get stuck with the shitty jobs.... quite literally in this case. If I can someone get out off it..." He just shrugged, smirking at her. He'd never be that cruel, but it was fun to tease all the same.
“I refuse to believe you would stick me with something so foul.” Vira smiled at Damien, holding eye contact for a bit longer then she intended. Slowly she stood, taking one of the chips in her hand. “This was fun. See you later?” She asked as she flicked the chip in the air towards Damien and began walking backwards towards the exit of the brig.
Damien merely shrugged again. "I guess you'll find out." He said, smirking at her, holding the eye contact as well, the smirk melting to a soft smile. When she started walking away, he reached out, grabbing the chip out of mid-air as he flew toward him. "What time you finishing?" He asked.
"1900. I'll meet you in ten forward, you can buy the first round." Vira winked and left out of the brig's main entrance before Damien could retort.
Damien smiled, watching her go, before grabbing the credits off the table, stuffing them in his pocket, grabbing the cards as well, before walking back over to the main console, and taking his original position, leaning against the wall. An interesting shift indeed.
