Some 'Steam' for Her 'Airship'

His smile broadened as he sat down across from her and adjusted his tie while glancing down at the board. "I do remember trying to play with him once." He laughed softly. "And only the once... for all of the man's benifits... he was not the most cultured individual in the building." He gently re-arranged some of the pieces on his side of the board so they were facing the 'correct' way. He was rather particular about how his chess board looked.

He looked up at her and a slight twinkle went through his eyes. "Oh... I play with some... additional rules." He said, sitting up strait. He glanced her up and down and nodded. "Tell me, Miss Cassandra, have you ever played Strip Poker?"
 
Cassandra laughed softly, facing her pieces as well. "That's why I enjoyed him though. For his brutish qualities." She looked up at him as he spoke and laughed. "Strip poker? No, I can't say I have. I've broken up a few games of it on my ship though. I am familiar with the rules."

She sat straight in her chair, her corset being the only part of her ensemble still tightened to it's proper setting. "You win a hand, someone looses an article of clothing."

Her thoughts moved back to Antonio, but only briefly and only to compare the two men. It didn't surprise her at all that they had been an item in any form of the word. They seemed polar opposites, and that just seemed to be the type of person Antonio attracted to him. Rigid, structured....perhaps he liked to pull them from their pedestal and watch them crawl around in the mud...

Maybe this handsome gentleman would be a change she would still find enjoyable. Surely some of Antonio's tricks had passed on to him...
 
He smiled and nodded. "Yes, that is the gist of the game." He said, pulling out a coin and setting it on the table. "Strip Chess works very similarly... lose a piece, lose an article of clothing of your choice." He said, sitting back in his chair some. "Pairs such as gloves, cufflinks, earrings, shoes, etc, count as a single thing of course... and if someone achieves a checkmate, they get to choose the article of clothing to be removed." He said simply, figuring he wouldn't have to repeat himself as he did with some of his less intelligent clients. The of course, always lost, and were down to what the gods and some surgery had given them within a few games.

He stood and cracked his shoulders before walking over to a dresser. "Do you smoke, Miss Cassandra? If so, I'd love to offer you a cigar while we enjoy our game together..."
 
She laughed softly. "I do smoke, actually." She said, going ahead and making her first move while he was up. She put her gloved hands back in her lap and looked over at him. "I haven't had a cigar in a couple years...I would love one." She gave him a soft smile, wondering just how good he could be at chess. She imagined he was used to winning since most of his clients appeared to be wealthy, if not royal, ladies. They didn't exactly have to know strategy beyond how to get which husband they desired and how to keep him.

Cassandra, on the other hand, was a strategist at heart. She turned back to the chess board, looking it over, trying to figure out what his play style might be without him even touching a piece. Meticulous, sure, but could be be calculating? He had such a gentle touch, there was no way he could be forceful....
 
His ears perked as he heard her make a move and he smiled. "I do hope you didn't start without me." He teased as he pulled out two very fine cigars and walked back over, sitting down and handing one to her. "Would you like me to cut it for you?" He asked, producing a cutter seemingly from nowhere and holding it out for her. While he was holding out the cutter he set his own cigar down and made a rather classic response to her open. A safe move, but one that left him a few options open.
 
He played just like he expected her to. How boring. She moved in response and looked up, smiling. "Yes, please." She said, holding it out for him to cut. Once he cut it, she sat straight and produced a box of matches from one of the folds of her dress. She struck one and lit her cigar, sliding the wood matches over to him, eyes on the board.
 
He nodded his thanks for the matches, then cut his own cigar and lit it while he stared at her lips around her cigar. Was he actually... lusting after a client? Did he actually want to do more than get paid for once? He smirked slightly as he eyed her red lips and moved, beginning to play in earnest, setting up for a full attack as he gently smoked his cigar.
 
She got a feel for his style within the first several moves and started countering him, toying with him, keeping her pieces just barely out of his reach, until finally moving in and taking one of his pawns. She let out a cloud of smoke and smirked at him. "I do believe that's an article of clothing from you, Mr. Carlisle."
 
He grinned and nodded, removing his tie slowly and tossing it at her playfully. While she was busy dealing with his tie, he took his next move. Apparently the piece she'd just taken of his had been bait, because he was now taking one of hers, and putting himself in a rather advantageous position. "And I think that's one from you as well, Miss Claudia." He said, sitting back in his chair and tapping the ash from his cigar out in an ashtray built into the side of his chess table.
 
Damn. He was a clever sod, wasn't he? She looked up and smiled. "So it is. I believe you said earrings count?" She asked, setting his tie aside to take out the pearls that adorned her earlobes. She set them aside and focused on the board. There was no way she was going to let that happen again. While she still had a few more buffer items, shoes, stockings, gloves, she wanted to win. She was a master tactician, after all!

She made her next move and looked up at him. "Well, so far, you're much better than Antonio ever was..."
 
He smirked and nodded. "I only ever played him once because I felt my game getting worse just from sitting at the board with him." He said as he moved up, threatening two of her pieces. He was going to be able to take one, or both, but there was no way she wasn't losing another piece now. He had momentum, and was pushing the game in his favor without batting an eye.
 
His strategy was changing. She narrowed her eyes slightly and let him take one piece. She held her cigar in her mouth as she took off her long gloves. Her next move, she took one of his pieces and looked across the table at him. "I suggested it once and he just turned it down. I think we played cards instead...and that was the only time we played cards, too. Bless him, he tried, but...well...we didn't love him for his brilliant mind, did we?"
 
He laughed and nodded, standing up and slowly taking off his belt. "No... I believe we both loved him for this thick... muscles." He said with a smirk as he tossed the belt aside and sat back down. "Well... and his cock. I loved his cock." he said, laughing slightly. "He was good at dominoes though... granted, the only time we played I was more than a couple sheets to the wind." He said with a shrug. "So it could have just been me being drunk." He said as he took another cautious move, eying the board. His lips frowned, but it was a bluff... he saw a way to win very soon that he was sure she did not.
 
She had her move planned out in five moves, as long as he played into her hand. If he didn't, maybe 7 moves...

She laughed at what he said after watching him take off his belt. "Yes, both his thick muscles and his thick cock." Such a brash word coming from her perfectly poised lips felt good to her. She really did love The Gilded Rose. It was always a place she could relax her normally rigid structure, even if only for a day or two at a time.
 
He grinned and sat back from the board for a moment, tapping his finger on the table as he chewed on the end of his cigar, actually having to think for the first time in a while. He gauged her position, and the variety of options she had to take, then formulated a new plan of his own. He didn't pull from any classical plays, and just... charged, for lack of a better term, committing to either win, or end up with quite a few less pieces of clothing.
 
Soon enough, Cassandra found herself in an interesting position. She had lost. She stared at the board for five full minutes before sitting back in her chair, slouching as much as her corset would allow. She glared at him. "I haven't lost a game of chess since I was 13 years old..."

She composed herself and sat up straight, holding out her hand. "Congratulations."

She was down to her outer dress and underclothes, bustle and all. She had lost her boots, her earrings, her gloves, her stockings, and a few other items of jewelry, a necklace, a ring or two, a couple bracelets...and he had won....
 
He smiled and took her hand, kissing the back of it gently. "Thank you Miss... you gave me quite the challenge." He said, setting his cigar down as he started to re-set the pieces. "Shall we play another game, or would you like to move onto something a little more... active." He said, looking up at her and smirking. He didn't bring up that he got to choose what she took off next... he was trying to decide what to pick, it was quite the difficult choice.
 
"No, see, I need to beat you now." She said, setting up her own pieces, letting her cigar sit in the ash tray for a moment. She looked up at him, a determined fire in her eyes. "My own father never beats me at chess anymore, much less someone in your position. I won't let it stand for long." She looked at him when her pieces were set up. "I mean no offense by that, of course. But I learned my tactics from my father and I've just met you."

Now? Now, she was attracted to him. Though, she wouldn't admit it until she beat him, maybe not even to herself. A man with a mind like his, a man that could beat her at what she considered (on the ground at least) her game...well...that was more attractive than all of the big thick muscles Antonio had put together...
 
He laughed and nodded. "Well, let me grab something to drink before we begin then? My throat is rather parched." He said, as he opened a liquor cabinet. "Do you have a preference?" He asked over his shoulder as he grabbed a cocktail shaker and scooped up some ice into it. He already knew what he was making himself, it was what he always had... a minty concoction that both loosened up his nerves, and freshened his breath. "And... why don't you loose that lovely choker so I can see that pretty neck of yours?" THAT was what he asked for her to take off? Not her overdress... or her corset, or, something like that?
 
That was what he asked her to take off?? Not her overdress or her underdress or...or her hairpins?? She spun to look at him like he had lost his mind, then realized it really wasn't a bad thing. She reached up and took off her choker. "Well, it is your choice, isn't it?" She set it gently on top of her other things and rubbed her pale neck.

She watched as he mixed his drink and gave a slight shrug. "I'll just have what you're having if you don't mind." She said, turning back to the chess board to plan her attack. "How about this game we don't lose clothing with each piece and just if we lose?" She asked, looking at him again. "The game will move faster."
 
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