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The work day in Xen HQ had wrapped up. Though some grunts would be on night shift, tasked with patrolling the halls for anything suspicious, the building quieted down. Lights were dimmed or turned off, less people bustled through the halls, and even Team Xen’s ever-busy admins found a hint of respite from planning Aevium’s demise. As had become routine at that point for them, Zetta, Madelis, and Nastasia found themselves around a makeshift poker table. Zetta, who was usually responsible for being the first dealer for their games, was shuffling the cards, while Nastasia tapped away at her laptop, finishing up a final few items before they started playing. Madelis, however, seemed antsy. “Ugh, where in the world is Neved? Doesn’t he know he’s keeping us waiting?!”
“Oh, you didn’t hear?” Zetta looked up from his shuffling.
“Hear what?” Madelis replied.
“He’s not going to be here tonight. He said he had business to attend to in GDC.”
“What? But what could possibly be more important than spending a night with me?"
“Who knows?” Zetta replied, “Maybe he just decided he’d prefer sailing tonight.”
“I bet she knows,” Madelis said, gesturing at Nastasia, who was finishing up her work. “I’m sure those two talk all the time when we’re not around!”
“We don’t,” Nastasia said, closing her laptop. “And if we did, what we talk about would be, strictly speaking, none of your business.” Madelis just rolled her eyes.
“Whatever his reasons are, it does mean we’re down a player,” Zetta said.
“Not quite,” Nastasia replied
“We're not inviting Geara again,” Madelis said. “He was thoroughly unpleasant to have at the table.”
“And he wouldn’t shut up about losing his money afterwards…” Zetta complained.
“I had a substitute in mind. Not the one you two seem to be worried about.” Nastasia replied
“Oh! Is Cassie coming back from GDC?” Madelis asked, trying to temper the anxiety in her voice. Masking it with feigned excitement
“No. Madame X will be joining us this evening.” Nastasia stated, her monotone manner of speaking at odds with the reactions of her co-workers.
“Wait, what?!” The other two executives shouted in unison.
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The four sat around the table, the air far more tense with Madame X sitting with them. Tense enough she could probably cut it with her sword, which she’d indeed brought with her. It was a bit of a vibe killer. Though, if it bothered Nastasia any, she didn’t let it show, unlike the other two, who were trying their best to keep it together.
Madelis looked between Zetta, who had a readable enough expression, showing he had a decent enough hand. Nastasia, on the other hand, was mostly unreadable. However, when she got a particularly bad hand, her brow would furrow, ever so slightly. Madelis kept her expression as unreadable as possible, but was giddy internally. However, that excitement would be tempered as she realized whose expression she’d have to read next. Her eyes turned, seeing Madame X’s mask still covering her face. Though she seemed to be looking down at the cards. The red-headed executive would nervously clear her throat.
“M-Madame I hope you’re not planning on continuing to wear your mask the whole game, are you?” Madame X’s head turned from her cards to Madelis. Though her expression was unreadable, the executive could tell she was being judged. She raised her hands in defense. “It’s- it’s just that you have to be able to read someone’s expression during poker, is all! Nothing more! I promise!” After a moment of silence, Zetta spoke up.
“It… does seem like a little bit of an unfair advantage,” Zetta said, looking around the table. “If nothing else, I think everyone around this table has proved their loyalty to Team Xen so… it shouldn’t be a problem, right?” His voice was laced with nervousness. Madame X continued to stare down Madelis, not paying any mind to Zetta. The table would hang in silence, until Nastasia spoke.
“The Madame will play with her helmet on. You two should know better than anyone that her mask will come off at her discretion. If you two feel this is unfair, you are welcome to leave the table.” The other two squirmed, but ultimately stayed seated. Madame X returned her gaze to her cards.
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Zetta looked down at his hand, trying his best to keep his expression neutral. It wasn’t the worst hand in the world. It was middling, really. He started looking around the table. Nastasia was, as usual, unreadable, Madelis had a shockingly good poker face, and Madame X was, due to her mask, completely unreadable. All he could go on were the actions of his fellow players. Madelis was betting big, and the other two were playing conservatively. Though, Madame X had been playing conservatively all night, so that gave him almost nothing to go on. Were he any normal player, he would be in trouble. It was moments like these he was thankful for… his unique circumstances. He looked across the table at Madelis. She had a very bad hand, but was bluffing her way out of it. To his left was Nastasia, as he was trying to get a read on her hand she’d look up at him, with a small amount of suspicion, as she most always did during these moments. Though, as always, she’d say nothing. She had a similar hand to his, a three of a kind, though, she just had three threes, he had three kings. He’d hide the smirk that crossed his face. Then he turned to his right, trying to read Madame X. He wouldn’t be able to peer at her hand at all. She spoke up.
“Get out of my head,” she said, voice garbled by the mask’s voice modulator. Zetta could feel his blood run cold. It was the first time she’d spoken since arriving.
“Boss, with all due respect, it’s poker. Getting into your opponent's head is how you play the game.”.
“That is not what I meant, and you know it.” Madame X replied. Even though her mask made her face unreadable, Zetta could feel her gaze boring holes into him.
“So he has been doing that. Interesting.” Nastasia commented.
“Doing what?” Madelis asked.
“Let’s not worry about that.” Zetta said hastily, returning to looking at his cards.
“Wait a moment, doing what?!” Madelis said, more insistently, “I’m playing against him too! I deserve to know what trick he’s pulling!” For her persistence, she got a look from Madame X.
“It’s for the best if we drop this topic of conversation,” Nastasia said. Though a look from Madelis let Zetta know she had questions she was going to ask later.
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Madelis looked around the table disappointed. It wasn’t just her dismal performance that was getting her down, though that was part of it, nor was it the fact that she wasn’t being let in on what Zetta was doing. It was the fact that all the drinks on the table had sat practically untouched except for her own. For Nastasia that wasn’t uncommon, and it wasn’t like the Madame could even drink, but the tense atmosphere meant that the table’s resident lightweight, Zetta, hadn’t so much as touched his drink. This had made him a much more formidable opponent. She looked up from her cards, addressing Zetta.
“So, are you doing anything else tonight?”
“Sleeping.” He’d shrug. “It’s for the best that I go to bed early. I’m worse than Geara if I don’t.”
“Oh come on now, that’s no fun at all!” she said, glancing over at Nastasia “Stasi, you agree with me, right? Tell the man to live a little!”
“I’m not going to dissuade him from good habits.” Nastasia didn’t look up from her cards, but Madelis took a moment to take a sip from her drink. Hoping the slight change in atmosphere would get Zetta to do the same. Much to her delight, it would. Zetta picked up his drink and took a sip.
“Well Stasi, you know what they say! Early to rise and early to bed makes a man wise, but socially dead!”
“It’s not like there’s much of a social life to have around here.” Zetta’s voice already sounded much more relaxed. “If it weren’t for these nightly card games, I’d already be asleep. There’s nothing to do.” Madelis scoffed.
“Oh please! That’s just because you put no effort into socializing! How about we spend some time together after this game’s over?” She said, prompting a cough from Nastasia. Madelis suddenly become very aware of the two other peoples’ presence at the table. Specifically, that of the ever present silence of Madame X. “Well of course the offer is open to anyone else if they want to join!” she said, looking over at Madame X. The look she got from her let her know that the Madame was not intent on taking her up on that offer. Madelis didn’t make any attempts at small talk after that.
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The night had faded into uncomfortable silence, where the only thing more awkward than the silence itself would be any attempts to break it. There was an unspoken consensus that the previous round had indeed been the last one for the night, with the lion’s share of the chips ending up, unexpectedly, in front of Nastasia, her being the only regular not afraid to call Madame X on her bluffs. The Masked woman stood up, speaking one of her only few words of the night. “I appreciate that my subordinates think highly enough of me to invite me to their get-together,” she started, already having pushed her chair in. “However, if I receive another invitation, I will not be attending.” She said nothing more as she left, walking with purpose, Zetta and Madelis breathing a sigh of relief.
“Stasi, what on earth were you thinking when inviting her?” Madelis asked, turning to Nastasia. “Every time I opened my mouth, I thought she was going to slash me across the chest!”
“Yeah, same here.” Zetta nodded, leaning back in his seat.
“Oh come on now, she didn’t seem to be nearly as hard on you!” Madelis disagreed.
“I didn’t mean that, I meant that I thought she was going to decapitate you every time you talked.” Zetta corrected, prompting a scoff from Madelis.
“Hey! Just because I said it doesn’t mean you have to agree with me!” Madelis protested. Nastasia just sighed, she picked up the deck, and returned it to its place in its box, before returning it to its shelf.