Some 'Steam' for Her 'Airship'

He nodded and smiled, adding some more liquor to the shaker. "Alright, sounds lovely." He said as he grabbed two glasses and set them down on the little bar he had set up for himself. He poured the greenish liquid over some ice and tossed the shaker into a sink, then handed her one glass, and sat down, taking a sip of the licorice/mint/wine combination that, while strange, was pleasing in an odd sort of way. "Perhaps when the game is over we both lose something for every piece lost, so that one person doesn't loose all of their clothes?" He asked as he picked his cigar back up just in time to keep it from going out.
 
"What I was thinking is whoever looses still just removes one item. I'd hate for this to only last one more game." She took the glass and took a sip. She made a weird face, then an interested face, then a pleased face. She took another sip. "What is this?" She asked, looking over at him. The most Antonio ever had was red wine and she never really enjoyed it. She just drank it for his sake and for the sake of getting drunk.
 
He smiled. "You like it?" He asked, setting his glass down and taking a puff of his cigar. "It's a little concoction I came up with a few years ago... don't quite have a name for it." He said, his foot sliding under the table to gently rub hers. "And I suppose we could have a few more games... I take it you've decided to spend a bit of time here this weekend?"
 
She laughed softly and pressed her foot back against his. "I do like it. And I have, yes." She looked up at him. "Any man that can beat me in chess is worth spending a bit of time with." She said before looking back to the board.

She let the conversation come to a stop as they played the game. It did go much more quickly without the taking and stripping, and at the end she sat back with a smirk. "Checkmate."
 
He stroked his chin slowly and nodded, studying the board. "Good game, Miss." He said, holding out his hand and smiling at her. "What would you have me remove?" He asked, standing and doing a small twirl for her, displaying the goods as it were.
 
She looked him over a bit before smiling. "Your hat." She said, looking up at him. She shook his hand, then held her hand out for his hat. If/when he handed it over, she put it on her own head with a flourish, careful not to disturb her hair too much. She sat back and smirked a thim. "You play a very good game, Mr. Carlisle." She said, setting her cigar down to let it go out. She finished the last of her drink and looked up at him. "I could stand to play another game if you could."
 
He smiled. "I could indeed." He said, eying her chest, then glancing up at her face. "I must admit... I'm longing to finally gaze upon what I'm sure are perfect milky white breasts..." He said, sipping his drink slowly. "I do believe it is your turn to start again..." He said, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms over his chest.
 
She gave him a coy smile before buttoning up the top buttons of her dress again. "The perfect pentacle of perfection." She said before making her first move. "I'm eager to see your chest as well, as long as we're being honest..."

She let the conversation lapse again and was INCREDIBLY surprised when she lost this time. She crossed her arms and looked at him. "You're better than I thought you'd be. I'd hate to see what your skill was before Antonio brought it down just sitting at the board with him." She teased lightly, waiting for the orders to disrobe.
 
He stood and smiled. "My hat please, Miss Cassandra?" he asked, holding out his hand. Apparently he was just going to ask for his hat back... "I do find it oh so hard to force a woman to her knees with pleasure when I don't have it." He teased, giving her a playful wink. Granted, he wanted nothing more than to force her to her knees for entirely different reasons...
 
"Your hat?" She laughed and handed it back. "You're a curious one, Mr. Carlisle." She said, smoothing down her dress. Now seeing they could go back and forth with the hat forever, she stood. "You don't mind if we took a break, do you? I'd like to walk around a bit." She smoothed her dress at her sides. "You should tell me more about yourself."

She started to walk around his room, looking at his assorted things but touching nothing. She was trying to get a better feel for the man by seeing what he kept around. She looked to his bedside table to see what he kept most important to himself, then to his dresser, then generally around the room. He had high tastes, that was for sure.
 
He kept a neat room, almost obsessively so. By his bed was a clock, and a clean cup and saucer that could be used for tea. Next to the saucer was a small note-book that had a tiny little latch. His dresser was made of a dark oak, the same oak that the rest of the furniture was made from, and was clean on the top, save for some lace that was obviously gifted to him by some noble women. There were a few pieces of art around the room, but what would stand out were the liquor cabinet with attached bar, the chess board, his bed, and a small eating table in an alcove by one of the windows that it could be assumed he took his breakfast at.

He grinned and placed his hat upon his head. "Well..." he said as he took her arm and walked with her. "I'm not really sure what there is to tell... I have no amazing experiences aside from what I've dreamed of and read in books. Not like you... sailing the skies and fighting for the highest bidder." He said, his eyes twinkling. "It all sounds so exciting..."
 
She noted the lack of personal effects save what appeared to be a journal and smiled at him when he took her arm. He didn't even have pictures of his return customers. Though, she didn't mind that one. Antonio kept pictures of his clients in his room and she had never liked it. She walked him over to the small breakfast nook and sat down in the chair she assumed he sat in from the light ware on the table. She looked out the window, smiling.

"My father owns the McKay Mercenary Company." She turned her eyes to him. "I'm his only child. As soon as he decides to retire, I get to take over. It started with one ship and grew to two when he gifted me mine for my 19th birthday. I won't dare you to guess how old The Sparrow is now. It isn't polite to guess a lady's age and The Sparrow is very much a lady." There was laughter in her eyes, but nothing crossed her lips, which were set in a soft smile. "But, I notice you keep no personal effects. Nothing out in the open. No picture of your parents or return clients...not even a hairbrush in sight..."
 
He shrugged and sat down across from her. "Well... I have no need for personal effects... I have my chess board, and I have company." He said, smiling. "I see my mother every day... and never knew my father, so why would I need photos of them? And as for photos of return clients?" He shrugged. "I don't find it very classy to display them where I entertain guests." He chuckled. "A few of them aren't quite proper you know."
 
"It was one habit that Antonio had that I didn't favor. Keeping pictures of his favorite clients. I never gave him a picture of myself." She put her elbow on the table and her chin in her palm, looking back out the window. "He never liked to speak of airships and adventure..." She turned to him. "But we loved him anyway, didn't we?"

She sat up and smiled, turning to him again. She held out her arm and pointed to a scar that ran down the length of it. "I was 16 and sailing on my father's ship, learning directly under him. I'd like to say I got this fighting some pirate twice my size, but honestly I fell down the ladder well on the ship and caught my arm on a nail..." She laughed softly and looked at the scar. "Still. It's my first one, aside from my knees I scraped up when I was a child..."
 
He smiled and looked down at the scar, reaching his hand out and gently running his finger along the length of it. "Still a story that I don't have." he said softly, looking up at her and giving her a grin. He sighed and looked out at her ship longingly. "What I would give to be able to sail with you, sadly... I do not have the skill to be useful on any voyage farther than to the nearest pub..."
 
"Sometimes, history is the best knowledge to have." She looked up at him. "Or a good head on your shoulders." She shrugged. "You obviously have a head for tactics, if you can beat me at chess." She shrugged, looking back out the window.

"What I need is someone with a history of airships and air combat from the beginning up to the present..." The knowledge was easily found in books, but she never had the time anymore to look it up herself. She knew a lot. She knew everything her father taught her, but she knew there were things he forgot. It was her one flaw that did sometimes come back to bite her in the ass. She had some scars to prove that one, too.
 
His eyes widened and he looked over at her, grinning ear to ear. "Miss Cassandra... I have been reading the history of naval combat since before ships left the water..." He said, reaching over and putting his hand on her leg. "If you'd let me... I would love to come with you." He said, looking her dead in the eyes.
 
The sincerity in his voice, the light in his eyes, and the childlike wonder in his voice brought a very un-ladylike grin to her lips. One that would almost flash in front of him pictures of a young girl of 10 or 13 in boys clothing running around with freckles on her tanned face and scrapes on her knees and hands.

She shook it away quickly and brought her lips down to a smile. "Well, if you are as good as you say you are...I'd love to hear some of your knowledge that I may not know." She reached up and unbuttoned the top couple buttons that ran in a line from her neck down to her breasts. She didn't unbutton all of them, just the first three or four.
 
He smirked and brought his hand back to his lap, crossing his hands over one another. "Well... I know of an instance where a seagoing vessel was able to win a gunfight against a airship." He said, sitting back some and leaning against the wall. His eyes drifted down to the small view afforded of her milky white breasts and his pants developed a slight bulge. "The tactics were... ingenious."
 
"Tell me about them, Mr. Carlisle..." She said, reaching up and slowly removing the hairpins from her hair, letting lock after lock fall down about her shoulders and either down her back or down her chest. Her eyes never left his face, or his eyes if he would allow her that. They held a soft quality to them though. They weren't as hard as they had been since she walked in. It was more of a...gentle begging mixed with an air of still being quite the proper lady and maybe a bit of I'm-better-than-you. But just a dash of that.