Moonlight

Ella reaches out a tentative hand pressing lightly on the glass separating her from falling into the star spangled nightscape before her. If the view had been impressive when they were tethered to a tall tower in London; it was nothing compared being one thin pane of glass away from the eternity of the heavens.

Ella tried to spot the ocean far below, but it was lost to the inky darkness unhindered by lights; it reminded her of another voyage in a glass vehicle, venturing forward into the unknown, brave and fearful by turns, unsure of what the future held, only that she speed towards it eyes open and hope in her heart.

Of course that night had lead indirectly to this one as all roads in your past lead to your future. Ella shook her head, hand curling at the cold surface, she was getting muddlen in her age…

@mike

Jack was sure that she’d seen him coming... or at least sensed it. He wasn’t making any effort to hide his footsteps, for one thing, and he knew that the sweet smell of cigar smoke and liquor probably followed him from the gambling tables. All the same, he still had the impulse to creep past quietly while the lady was lost in her thoughts. The idea entered his mind but was just as quickly dismissed. The lady might be a touch intimidating, but he was Garnet Jack, and she was hardly the most imposing figure he’d ever met.

“Peaceful night,” he observed as he walked up to the window from behind her, leaning one hand on the rail to peer out into the void. He kept expecting to see a ship below them, but they could have been leagues away from the shipping lanes for all he knew. He tried to pick out that telltale point where black sky became black ocean, but it eluded him, leaving him with the odd feeling of the world fleeing out from beneath him, and leaving him feeling oddly… small. Not exactly a feeling that he was accustomed to… He glanced to the side, then turned the gas lamp down a bit, making it a little easier to pick out the stars around them. “Hope I’m not intruding,” he said, more or less truthfully, “This sounded like one of those silences that was meant to be broken.”

@kel

What ever her thoughts, Ella startled slightly at being addressed; while she had noted (If absently) the presence of another she’d assumed they were a guest on their way through the small dinning room to another, or where about to be seated. In either respect she managed to recover smoothly shifting a somewhat rueful but welcoming smile towards him.

“I suppose it might have been.” She allowed, curious when he reached over their heads to adjust the lamp, making the space more intimate, in the adjacent dinning room the piano began to play reminding her even more potently of another night long long ago.

“Between tables?” She asked leaning slightly on the rail as well, turning her attention back to the infinity before them.

Ella smiled absently amused as the moonlight caught on the shinny silver buttons on her jacket, touching one to hide its shine, a small gesture of self amusement.

@mike

"You have to pace your winnings," Jack mused, chuckling a little. "Win too much too fast, people won't play with you anymore. It's a long trip, I can't spend it all at the poker tables. Or, at least, I shouldn't." Oh, and he'd also hit that point of drinking where he was just a little too intoxicated to trust himself to bluff correctly, and since bluffing was nearly all he did...

If he focused, he imagined he could just make out the moonlight shining ripples on the sea beneath them, but it might have just been his imagination. Which, he reflected, might not make it any less real, but now he was sliding into much more metaphorical thoughts, and damn, just how much had he been drinking? Probably just enough if he was trying to be deep like that. "Almost feels like we're sitting still up here," he mused. Part of him almost wished they were. "Traveling over land it always feels like you have to watch because everything rushes by you so fast, but here, it's just... nothing. Sort of nice." He turned his head, examining his viewing companion, catching the little smile she gave herself. The way the moonlight battled with gas light in the room, it was almost like he couldn't tell if her hair was silver or golden. "Penny for your thoughts, Leftennant?"

@kel

“-or no one will play with you?” she interrupted, smiling as he said the same thing more or less at the same time.

No matter how Ella focused she saw nothing but endless starlight, the moon shining off clouds off to right, it was even hard for her - “You can’t even tell if we are moving forwards or backwards.” she mused, indeed there was no sense of motion if one just used landmarks for the guide..there being none; they could be watching the world comeing towards them...or watching it vanish behind.

Cocking her head Ella gave him a crooked smile, “Do you know any other card games Mr. Morgan? Or just your country’s obsession with poker?” if he called her by her rank she would tweak his nose by calling him by his formal name, the glint of mischief in her eye gave that away. “Don’t worry-” she said shifting to lean on her side to speak towards him directly, “If you beggar the rest of the passengers, I’ll play a hand or two with you.” she promised winking, “But be gentle, my salary isn’t that princely.”

His question was quite ignored but she hadn’t really been thinking about anything had she? And now it was rather fun to banter.

@mike

Were they moving forward or backward... “Now that is a question I try not to think too deeply on without a whiskey in my hand,” he said wryly. Why had he left his glass behind, anyway. Ah well, nothing for it now.

“I know many card games, Leftennant,” he said, his smile broadening at the very proper use of his name. “Poker’s just my specialty. I used to run the faro tables a bit, too, but I lost my taste for it.” Truthfully, he just tended to stick to poker because he’d trained his mind to think in terms of poker for his magic, but he was hardly going to say that right now, was he? “And don’t worry, I can be completely harmless, if that’s what you want.” Truthfully, he didn’t really need to be winning anything, he was solvent without his poker winnings, they just let him spend a bit more extravagantly. Mostly he kept up the practice because it was good way to size up the people around him. “What’s your personal game of chance, then?”

@kel

She quirked an eyebrow at his interesting response, “That is indeed a terribly deep ocean of thought to dive into while a lady has not had any wine.” The old habits, from a court long gone curved her posture and her words into something more heavily flirtatious than she would, than she should.

“Somehow Mr. Morgan I doubt you are ever been harmless in your life.” Ella pushed off the railing to take a seat at the table near by, tucking her legs demurely under her chair, resisting the urge to let down her hair..literally, the prim updo was worlds away from coiled and elaborate coffitures this night reminded her of, but than the faint smell of gas was night and day from the sweet beeswax scent she rememebered as well.

“Whist. Mr. Morgan, old fashioned but it was the first that I learned.”

@arjay

“Well, now, it sounds like our problem has a built in solution, doesn’t it?” Jack leaned back to be visible through the door, making a little gesture to the bartender until he saw him. One of the serving staff made an appearance at the door, and Jack gave them a little nod. “Whiskey, whatever’s best, and whatever the lady will be drinking. You can leave the bottles.” He reached into his pocket and drew out a gold coin and a polished garnet, flipping them each in turn before he turned his attention back to his apparent drinking companion.

“Now, ma’am, I’m not quite sure what you mean,” he said, smiling wolfishly as he took his eat at the table. “If you’re asking me whether there are people who regret having crossed my path, I’m afraid I’m going to have to admit my guilt, but I think I’m likely not the only person at this table who can make that claim.” He still hadn’t figured this woman out, but he decided that he was absolutely looking forward to the attempt.

“The problem with Whist,” he mused, picking up the glass of whiskey that was set in front of him and swirling the amber liquid inside it contemplatively, “Well, I suppose there are a few problems with it, foremost being that you need a partner who’s competent. Then you can’t talk, and you can only ever have four players. I tend to like my tables crowded and lively. You can learn a lot about a person over cards.”

@kel

Eyes that could be described as icy in color if not in emotion narrowed slightly at the accusation, “Now Mr. Morgan-” the bottle of wine she ordered was fit for the price he paid, sweet, old, and french. “What an interesting inference.” the popped cork let out the smell of currants and the dark rich burgundy filled her glass with the same shade as the gem that paid for it. “One could say that there is not a soul alive who has not made a poor impression on another.” Ella leaned forward tapping her glass on his, “To unregetted nights.” far far too flirtatious, Ella sipped the wine of her home and felt the freedom of the night seep into her veins.

“Ah! But than you have never played with two players.” she smiled, a tiny curl of the lips, “Poker is about chance, get the right cards, bluff your opponent. Whist...this is a game of logic, strategy, the only bluff is remembering what has been played.” the waiter brought a deck back with him at her request, and Ella if not with the experts hand he might have display, deftly and clearly with a practiced motion, opened and began to shuffle the cards.

“But the better question is what shall we play for? Pennies? Favors?” she glanced up from her hands to him the playful smile curling her lips.

@mike

Jack chuckled quietly, raising his glass to her. "Now I do love those. Unregretted nights." Who knew? Get a lady miles above the ground for a few days, maybe she might decide he was worth a few happy mistakes.

Jack was skeptical as she shuffled the deck. Whist was played with the entire deck dealt. All of the uncertainty came from not knowing who had what cards. Did your opponents have better hands? Did your partner? Who was holding that ace that could take the hand just at that moment? With only two of them, it cut out any uncertainty. Either you had them or your opponent did, and anyone who could be bothered to count up the suits would know what could be played against them. Still, no sense arguing with the lady on the viability of her game. "See, I'm going to have to disagree with you there. Bluffing, folding, betting, those are all strategy. It's just that in poker you're betting on the cards as much as you're betting on the people. And people are just so interesting, aren't they?" He gave her that smile again as he set his glass down and prepared to pick up his cards.

He knew that there were some simple fools who'd try to play for favors and make this night into something... crude. Jack, while not blind to that temptation, felt that he was above such a strategy. "Now now, I'm not a selfish man. We can play for whatever the lady likes, as long as we can keep things... hm, interesting?"

@kel

Ella delt each of them 13 cards, smiling at his confusion she flipped the top card up the 8 of “Diamonds are trump.” she declared, noting the suit displayed, shifting slightly in her seat to find a more comfortable resting spot.

“Now-” she sorted her cards as she desired, “how does that work? If we are both perfectly ordinary people, what fun are answers?” she asked turning his demurement of his own ordinaryness back on him. Unpainted lips quirked up as she played the jack of spades face up forcing him to follow suit.

Ella had secrets for longer than they had moonlight, each deeper and older than the last, but of course he would not be asking for anything she could not answer, and she was not bound by their little wager. “I already owe you for the wine-” daring him to claim that debt, “what would be interseting to wager?” Ella smiled at him, a gentle curl of the lips that could mean something or nothing.

"I wager that an american professional gambler is far more entertaining a life then I could hope to match."

@mike

“I suppose the question, then, is which of us is farther from ‘normal,’” he mused. Knowing nothing about this woman was definitely not going to help him here. What could he do to get a few little facts to work with onto the table? “I suppose that if you want, we can both start risking our family fortunes just to pass the time. It wouldn’t be close to the first time I have. I don’t think either of us need the money, though, do we?”

He considered the question of their lifestyles as he threw out the seven of spades. “Depends on what sort of things you’ve seen. Soldiers get to see a lot, get mixed up in a lot of strange situations. I wouldn’t dream of saying my life’s more dangerous…” Granted, it very well could be, depending on whether she saw as many… strange things as he suspected most of the occupants of this ship were mixed up in. “Of course, when you’re beholden to King and Country, I suppose you have to forego some of the things you might want to do. Maybe more if your family has a say in it, too.” A crooked grin crossed his face again. “And I suppose it also depends on what you find entertaining.”

@kel

“What an interesting assumption.” she saw the probe and wondered if it was intentional, “Money always has its uses. Better to have than have not.” there was a thread of experience, harsh perhaps in her tone.

“Queen and country.” she corrected absently throwing out a 5 on his 7 to let him lead the next trick. “Fortunately or not family is no longer a concern.” he had already told her about his family, brother and father, but - “Have you done with out? Or was your family always wealthy?”

What she found entertaining ...that was a question she’d not really thought about in quite some time, at least not beyond the shallow fitting in efforts she normally employed to ingratiate herself into a new company.

@mike