Game Night?
There’s a familiar feeling as you walk through Tulpar, even if you’ve never been on this specific ship. Though you suppose all of Pony expresses ships have this worn down feeling to them. The patter of your feet echo through the halls as you make your way toward the lounge. Curly wants the crew to get along better, said that there were issues in the past. But overall just wants the newbies to fit in so he’s mandated a game night at least once a week for the first month. He didn’t go into too much detail about said “issues” but you’ve always been very friendly so you hope to hit it off with everyone.
Scanning the room you can see Anya, the ship's nurse already waiting on the couch. As you make your way over to her you see a book settled in her lap.
“Hey Anya, whatcha reading?” You saw her shoulders jump a bit at your sudden question. Timidly she turns her head to look at you.
“Oh! Y/N… I didn’t hear you walk in.” You sidestep the table and take a seat next to her.
“That’s my bad I tend to walk light.” Shrugging your shoulders you give her a lopsided grin. She looked down for a second before returning your gaze. A small smile adorned her face.
“No, it’s okay. You just surprised me. I’m reading a psychology textbook.” Your eyebrows shoot up dramatically. You really want to get close with Anya, in particular. She and the other shipmates seem distant and it’d be good to get along with everyone on board. Plus something about her style just draws you in. I mean a sock and sandal combo can be pretty hard to pull off but it’s something she does so naturally. She seems like a comfortable person.
“That’s so cool! Is that a part of some extra pony express nurse training or something?” She gives a slight shake of her head before looking to the side, avoiding the look on your face.
“No, I just find things like this interesting.” You wait a beat to see if she’ll say anything else. Maybe explain herself and keep the conversation going. She doesn’t. You let out a quiet
“Cool” as the atmosphere soon gets awkward. Damn it, you were just getting there. She returned to her book before you could say anything else. Quickly taking the hint you direct your attention to the day screen.
A pictured sunset dawns it at the moment. You find it funny that Pony Express would go through the trouble of putting this huge flat-screen window instead of any other type of entertainment. An old sitcom or a boring silent film would be better than this. You guess that just highlights how cheap the company can be. Your eyes then gravitate to a Polle poster in the corner that states “Workin hard or hardly workin”, or maybe they just don’t want to give you the opportunity to slack off.
The sound of heavy footsteps breaks your concentration as Daisuke and Swansea enter the room. The older man is bickering as usual while Daisuke walks with slumped shoulders. Upon seeing you though he’s quick to perk up.
“Hey, Y/N!! Are you ready for game night?” You flash him an easy smile.
“Idk ma,n are you ready to lose?” Your teasing tone seems to uplift his mood further as Swansea lets out a scoff. The two make their way to the table. Daisuke sends Anya a quick hello as he takes his seat. Swansea doesn’t, just sits down grumbling about how stupid this arrangement is.
Daisuke quickly cleared the awkward air by rambling about what game we should play and if we need to split into teams. You just smile and keep conversation. You like Daisuke, he’s a nice dude and it’s nice to have someone around who isn’t so moody all the time. You don’t know how this crew was surviving without you two. Shortly the captain and co-captain walk in. Both give short greetings and take seats on the other side of the table.
“So what game have you guys decided on?” Curly asks with a smile. Shoot you weren’t even thinking. You know Daisuke was talking about it but none of the games he mentioned sounded any fun.
“Mmmmmm how about Monopoly?” You suggest looking around the table for any disagreement. Everyone nods their head or lets out a noise of agreement.
“Yeah! Sweet I’ll go grab the board.” Daisuke all but yells before dashing across the room to the game cabinet. This should be fun.
It was not fun. You didn’t expect Daisuke to be so good but what surprised you the most was how competitive Anya got. At first, she seemed a little shy, not making any big moves and mostly just keeping to herself. But as the game went on she got more and more riled up. Constantly accusing anyone of cheating or trying to make bargains with your coworkers for certain lands. It was honestly really endearing to see this side of her. Until that anger was directed at you when she landed on one of your hotels.
“Y/N! There’s no way you have that. When’d you put that there!” You just slid a smirk her way as you held your hand out to collect your cash.
“Been there the whole time sweetheart, now pay up.” She angrily looks towards her money then back up to you. Your smile just grows wider as you think of a better deal.
“That or you give me your boardwalk.” Now in all fairness, you didn’t need boardwalk and it would be completely useless to you. But she’s been hoarding it all game and you know it’d tip her off. A loud gasp escapes her mouth as her glare returns to you. In the background, you hear Daisuke let out a little oooh as if he isn’t the one winning. Curly lost pretty early on and you’re pretty sure Jimmy was just there because it was mandatory and didn’t try too hard either. Swansea fell trap to the many hotels on the board about two rounds ago and has now retired for the night. The captain duo also left once they realized how long the three of you might keep the game going.
“You wouldn’t dare take it from me.” Anya’s eyes narrow as she practically growls that sentence at you. Gosh, this woman is something else.
“Oh contrary miss nurse I think it’s a rather fair deal.” You purr towards her. You voice sly and teasing as you take another glance at her money.
“Unless you want to cough up that much cash?”
She quickly begins counting the amount of money she has. You side-eye Daisuke with a knowing look. You both know she won’t have enough. She didn’t. But she also refuses to part with her beloved boardwalk. With a very fake tearful voice, Anya quoted,
“A captain always goes down with her ship.” With a small giggle at the end. That just leaves you and Daisuke with the nurse as a spectator. The game didn’t take too long though as he pretty much owned half the board with you struggling to pick up your coworker's lost land. With Anya cheering him on claiming that she couldn’t cheer for you since you’re the reason she got out, Daisuke won the game. With a drawn-out sigh, the game had ended.
“Man Daisuke you’re just too good at these games.” You say as you start picking up the game pieces and putting together the cards.
“What can I say, I’ve got a talent.” He replied while leaning back in his chair putting his hands behind his head. The night screen is now on and a looming blue envelopes the room. With the game all together and put away you all call it a night and start making the short walk to the sleeping quarters. Bidding a goodnight to your coworkers you head inside your room, quickly ridding yourself of your work clothes and slipping into some sleepwear before passing out on the twin cot provided for you.