Posted by Lieutenant Helena Laursen (Helm/Nagivation Officer) in side - sim: It’s Tradition

Posted by Captain Marceau Renault (Commanding Officer) in side - sim: It’s Tradition

Posted by Lieutenant Helena Laursen (Helm/Nagivation Officer) in side - sim: It’s Tradition
Posted by… suppressed (21) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
A shower and fresh uniform did wonders. Now, with her hair braided and pinned up out of the way, and two cups of strong black coffee later, Helena stepped back on the bridge. NE Beckham looked ready to jump out of his skin, his nerves were wound so tight. The switch off was a comedy of fast paced talking and stuttering on his part, but efficient and thorough. Helena figured he’d calm down in a day or so.

Helena slid into the seat and like the night before confirmed their trajectory against scans and the navigational computer. Right on track and still holding at 3.8.

Helena

Marceau put on his own fresh uniform, showered, and turned up on the bridge. As he sat in his place on the bridge, he reached again for something he did not have and had to remind himself he’d returned it to Helena. All day he felt as though he were missing something. Something that wasn’t rightfully his in the first place, he reminded himself each time. The feeling of missing something would go away with time. He needed to focus on work.

~ Marceau

As Marceau sat down status reports were called out around the bridge. “Course and speed for Wolf 359 holding captain.”

Marceau nodded to reach of the reports, once again feeling… Inexperienced. He hoped it didn’t show.

The chain bothered her all day. She wasn’t used to wearing it anymore, she supposed. It was the only piece she ever wore consistantly. The chain seemed to be a constant irritation, and the stone seemed too heavy for the delicate chain. She messed with it all day. It was a long shift. The first couple of hours weren’t too bad, lunch came and went with a short break. The walk helped to wake Helena up. Middle of the second half of her shift she got up and moved to the back of the bridge, taking navigation readings. She grinned and nodded and then returned to the helm.

Helena engaged the yoke and the ship began to shift back and forth in gentle arcs. It didn’t alter their time or their course, but it did allow Helena to get a feel for how the ship responded and moved.

Helena

Marceau looked up from what he was doing when he felt the motion. “Lieutenant Laursen, the time for showing off is in a shuttlepod, not with the ship.” He hated to be so formal, but it was appropriate for the bridge. He was smiling though, Helena’s confidence was contagious.

~ Marceau

Luckily Helena’s back was to the entire bridge crew so she had time to smoother the smile on her face before she answered. “Aye Sir. Sorry Captain, couldn’t resist testing out the controls while we had some empty space.” There was a hint of joy and amusement in her voice, and a tinge of sheepishness. The ship came back to a smooth straight, uninteresting course. Most of the crew wouldn’t have even noticed, but Cpt Renault had flown with her often enough to know. She unlocked the yoke control and slid it back to stand by. If Marceau could have seen the look on her face it would clearly convery See not so inexperienced. You know how to reprimand a wayward junior Lt..

Marceau’s accent was thick, a sure sign his new position still made him nervous. He always knew what she was doing. She was his pilot after all. He still had that pesky fear of flying. Not so bad, not anymore, but he still preferred flying with Helena over anyone else.

The rest of the shift went quietly. PO Yoshino relieved her. She was an experienced pilot and the shininess of Sojo didn’t scare her. Helena spent a moment speaking with her and then made her way to the lift. She was ready to sleep. Up all the whole way to Titan, and you never sleep on Titan when in training. Then the flight back, the bar, then up all night prepping a shuttle, and all night on Sojo getting situated, then preflight prep, launch, the poker game, and then shift. But there was still one thing left to do.

Helena

The shift was slow for Marceau, mostly because he was tired and trying not to look it. Every time he felt unsure or not confident he went looking for the necklace, remembered it wasn’t there, and then looked at Helena, as if saying saying She’s right there. I don’t need it if she’s right here. When he was off duty, he headed straight back to his quarters, got out of his uniform, and plopped into bed. But he wasn’t asleep just yet, no matter how much he might want to be.

~ Marceau

Helena was getting too old for this....no no that was bad thinking, she was too tired for this tradition. But she was NOT going to be the reason things got jinxed. So a shower and changing into thin cotton sweat pants and a cut off sweater, Helena grabbed her bag from the night before she hit the chime on Marceau’s door. They’d been up long enough they could make it a short game and it counted.

Helena

Marceau pressed the button for his door to open, and seemed surprised when he saw Helena… With the bag and sparkling grape juice. He glanced at her with a raised brow. “Helena… je suis fatigué. (I’m tired) Didn’t we play last night?”

~ Marceau

Helena grinned and stepped in waiting for the door to shut. “We did. However, if you remember we didn’t have time before Titan. We toasted and stayed up all night but we didn’t have our game. So we swore first chance we would play. So this is first chance. I am not going to be the reason we jinx our mission.”

Marceau smiled and sat down on the bed as the door closed. “Then we will play. I don’t want to jinx my first mission as a captain either.”

Helena laughed shaking her head, “I thought you’d see it my way.”

She set the bag on the chair and pulled out the cards. “You want drinks?”

He nodded and stood to get the glasses, set them out, and then sat down again.

She picked up the glass and slipped it. What she needed was coffee, but she also didn’t want to be awake longer than necessary.

She sat down at the end of the bed and shuffled the cards. “So we can have a short game. What do you want to play for?”

Helena

The words came out of Marceau’s mouth before he could stop them: “Le collier bleu.” It was in French, because he was tired, but Helena probably knew what he meant: The blue necklace. He immediately turned a bit red and shrugged, “Euh… I mean, we can always play by our usual rules.”

~ Marceau

Helena knew ‘bleu’ and could guess the rest, but Marceau’s gaze had shifted to the necklace. That made it easy. She touched it briefly, giving him a curious look. Then....then she took it off and held it up. “Okay, so adapting the tradition again? From now on, we play for ownership of the necklace? I agree.” She placed the necklace on the bed between them. Then she began to shuffle and deal while she talked, “Rules? One game? Most wins out of five games? Last hand won by the time the alarm goes off?” Not that one, she silently thought. They didn’t have to stay up all night, and she didn’t want to. She was tired.

Helena

“Out of five,” Marceau said, picking a ruleset. “And we still play with our usual currency, winner takes the prize.” He smiled at her. “Deal?” It just wouldn’t be the same without that rule. He waited for her to finish dealing the cards, then looked at his hand.

~ Marceau

Helena chuckles, “Deal.” She picked up her cards and smirked. It was horrible she had nothing to work with. If she dropped more than 3 cards Marceau would know that, but she offered a bet anyway. They went back and forth a bit before they discarded for more cards. Still no help. She tried to bluff him.

Helena

Marceau was, as usual, trying to play nice and make sure they won and lost at an equal rate. But this time, he was not going to lose the prize. He wasn’t sure if she was bluffing or not. He thought she might be. His hand wasn’t awesome, wasn’t terrible. He raised the bet.

~ Marceau

Helena folded. She had to make it through 5 hands, and it would be unwise to meet that raise. She had nothing and if he didn’t buy her bluff....nope better to fold. Marceau won that hand without having to show it. So she had no idea if he was bluffing or not. Next deal was his. The cards were much better. She laughed suddenly. “Do you remember, year 2, when Gerard tried to learn how to stack the deck?”

Helena

Marceau grinned and nodded. “He did not end up doing it very well.” He commented as he shuffled and then dealt the cards. His hand was awful this time. His only hope was to bluff her out. He had his usual poker face though. He made a bet.

~ Marceau

Helena laughed and shook her head, her hair falling out of her braid. “No, no he did not.” Helena met his vet and raised. The hand was decent and she ended up only taking one card. It wasn’t the best hand, far from it but it could win her the hand. She smirked at him, “You know there was a bet going by senior year that you actually knew how to stack the deck.”

Helena

Marceau looked up calmly as if that didn’t surprise him at all. “And which side won that bet?” He asked. She raised him again. She must have something decent. He folded. He was still looking at her for the answer to his question, not giving away whether he did, or did not, know how to stack decks.

~ Marceau

Helena took the pot (minus the necklace) and the cards and started to shuffle. “We never decided. As far as I know it was never settled. The consensus was that you couldn’t possibly bluff that well and the cards fall in your favor as much as they did unless you could. Jones tried to keep a tally of how many times you won and lost with a bluff and who was dealing and what you won with. He had pages of it, but could never make sense of it. He threw it all in the trash in frustration some time in third year.” She felt the cards and grinned at him with a raised brow. “So do you know how?”

Helena

Marceau put on his best bluffing face and shrugged indifferently. “Some mysteries are better left unsolved.” He said, and then smiled at her. “You know I wouldn’t do that to you, though.” He waited for her to deal the cards and then looked at his hand. It was good. He would probably win this one.

~ Marceau

Helena shook her head. “I know you wouldn’t. Not with me anyway. They all thought I knew until that game you senior year where you cleared me out of 6 months with of winnings.” Of course it was just chips but she’d collected quite a stash, by sheer dumb luck. Her hand was decent and she risked not taking any cards, raising the bet twice.

Helena

Marceau smiled and shrugged. Clearing her out was lucky. He was good at the game, but there was also an element of luck if you weren’t cheating. He raised her bet. If he was going to be sure to win, he had to use his good hands to his advantage.

~ Marceau

Helena smirked her chest feeling warm. There was something about Marceau when he was quietly confident and cocky like he was now. Having seen him at his most shy, it was wonderful to see. A bit of luck, but he was a good player. He could out bluff anyone and they never knew 100% when he was bluffing and when he wasn’t because if the table folded he didn’t have to show his hand. But Marceau also knew exactly how much to raise or not and when to call on a hand. He had kept them guessing for years. Helena was holding a low baby straight. She chose not to raise again in case she lost.

Helena

The hand was a close one. Marceau had a straight with a slightly higher high than Helena’s, winning him the hand and their current pot. There was a time when he didn’t really like poker so much, but Helena and his academy squad had entirely turned his opinion of it around.

~ Marceau

As if she could read his thoughts, but of course could not. They just had known each other a long time, “There are times I wish for that basement lounge again. That they assigned squads together after graduation rather than scattering us.”

Marceau smiled sadly and nodded. “It would make sense, they spend four years keeping us together. I think it would be difficult to find somewhere to send thirteen newly graduated officers, though.”

She would have to win this one to keep the tie. If Marceau won this one he won the necklace no matter who won the last game. She picked up her next hand and rearranged the cards. A single pair of 3s. She started the bet.

Helena

Marceau picked up his next hand and checked the cards, then raised the bet, by quite a bit, making sure to give nothing away.

~ Marceau