Erich tugs at the cuffs of his uniform as he ducks out of his tent and scans the camp. He promised Degurechaff that he would rest, but… there’s only so much lazing about and cuddling with Alexis he can do before he becomes restless, especially in their current situation.
So… he won’t do anything official, but surely there’s no harm in wandering the camp and checking in on his men. He’d been too out of it to really get a feel for the camp when they arrived back after that last raid, so now is as good a time as any.
Alexis takes her place at his side, fully armored and wearing her grey Quincy uniform, and shoots him a small smile as they set off, wandering through the camp without much of a destination.
He introduces her to their remaining officers as he goes, making sure everyone knows who she is and that she’s permitted within their camp; all it takes is one easily startled guard seeing an unrecognized person, and…
Erich considers Alexis’ outfit, wondering if he should get her some marking, some indication that she’s with him. Something that his men already know as part of the army uniform, maybe…
He’ll have to think on it.
“General!”
Erich pauses and turns, looking back at the man striding to catch up with him. “Major Schwarz,” he greets his subordinate. “Is everything alright?”
“Yes sir, everything’s fine,” Schwarz says as he comes to a stop and salutes. “I was just surprised to see you out and about after Colonel Degurechaff told us you were taking the day to rest.”
He arches an eyebrow and says dryly, “There’s only so much of the same four tent walls a man can take, Major. I’m just showing my wife around, nothing that Colonel Degurechaff can take offense at. Speaking of which… Alexis, this is Major Ivo Schwarz, the commander of our infantry battalion when I am otherwise occupied. Major, this is my wife and soulmate, Alexis von Rerugen.”
“Hello, Major,” Alexis says with a kind smile and a small nod.
“A pleasure to meet you, ma’am,” Schwarz returns with a nod of his own, then gives Erich a faint, amused smile. “The Colonel and Major Weiss are currently speaking with our supply-master if you want to avoid her for a while longer, sir.”
“Thank you, Major.” He’s not entirely certain if ‘avoiding Degurechaff’ is warranted or not, but if she’s busy he probably shouldn’t bother her. She’ll tell him what she discovers later after all, there’s no need for him to watch over her shoulder as she does her job.
Schwarz’s smile grows a bit larger at Erich’s non-answer, and he tilts his head slightly, a sly gleam in his eyes. “Not sure how you feel about gambling, ma’am, but I did hear that some of the off-duty officers are meeting at the back of the mess tent, sir.”
“Would one of these officers happen to be Lieutenant Serebryakov, by chance?” Erich asks, amused but also exasperated by the idea that people still try to gamble against Degurechaff’s adjutant despite her streak of luck.
“There’s more than one reason the stakes were set low,” Schwarz all but confirms.
Erich sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, already knowing exactly how the game is going to go. But on the other hand, Degurechaff did tell him to take it easy; joining an officer’s game of cards — even if most of the remaining officers are well below his rank and he normally wouldn’t — certainly counts as ‘taking it easy’.
Alexis nudges him with her shoulder and arches an eyebrow at him in question. “Problem, love?”
“No, it’s just… Lieutenant Serebryakov is quite adept at cards. That anyone is still willing to play against her surprises me.”
Schwarz snorts. “Lieutenant Serebryakov has the devil’s own luck. We’re just waiting for it to run out.”
Erich arches an eyebrow at his officer, amused by the turn of phrase considering Degurechaff’s most well known moniker. “You might be waiting a long time for that.”
“It’s a small price to pay for the chance at some of her stash,” Schwarz says with a grin. “Just a suggestion, sir. There aren’t enough officers left to make a really good game from just the people off-duty, so they’ll probably let you in.”
“Better I break the rules than them, hm?” Erich asks in amusement, then slants a questioning glance at Alexis. She plays cards, but whether she’ll want to play with officers under his command or not…
“Well, if that’s an invitation, I’m certainly interested,” she says with a nod to Schwarz.
“More the merrier, ma’am.”
Alexis hums and leans into Erich a bit. “If you don’t mind, husband-mine…?”
“We certainly have time. Thank you, Major. Will you be joining us?”
“Not quite yet,” Schwarz says with an apologetic smile. “Got a bit of work to get done first, and a report to write up for you to look over later, sir.”
“Let me know if you need anything from me,” Erich says, receiving a nod in return, and steps aside to allow Schwarz to continue on his way. He watches the man go, thinking on his words; if there aren’t enough officers with free time for a good game of poker…
Alexis nudges his shoulder to draw his attention back to her. “Set it aside and let your subconscious work out a solution,” she tells him. “Let’s go see how badly your men play, shall we?”
“They play terribly because Serebryakov is going to be there to make them all look terrible,” he tells her dryly, even as he turns to head towards the mess tent. He knows exactly where the game is set up, because he’s neither blind nor forgetful; it’s a common enough spot for people to gather and has been since the beginning of the war.
Not exactly how he expected to spend a few hours but…
There are worse ways to pass the time.
“Four’s a bit light for a game, isn’t it?” Erich asks lightly as he rounds the carefully arranged stack of crates and takes in the small table with Serebryakov and three others from Degurechaff’s magic battalion around it. As he expected, Serebryakov already has a small pile of tokens at her side while the others have less, but the stakes look harmless enough.
(It’s even carved wooden tokens instead of coin, so he can politely pretend that nothing against the rules is going on.)
“Sir!” all four say as they hastily scramble to their feet, cards forgotten for the moment.
“As you were. I’m not exactly on duty, right now,” he tells them, pleased when at least some of the tension leaves their posture. He gestures to Alexis and says, “Major Schwarz mentioned that the game was a bit empty and suggested we might join.”
Serebryakov blinks and looks up at Alexis. “You play, ma’am?”
“I’ve been known to,” Alexis agrees.
The four exchange looks, and Erich can tell they’re debating whether to let them in; it’s awkward enough with their commanding officer ‘asking’ to join, but a civilian as well? He wouldn’t be surprised if they found a way to redirect him somewhere else; Serebryakov is cunning enough to pull it off without seeming like that’s what she’s doing, but…
“Alright!” Serebryakov says cheerfully, dropping back into her seat and picking up her hand of cards. “We’ll deal you in next round, then! Ah… but I guess you don’t have any tokens, do you sir?” She hums and eyes the pot in the center, then her stack of tokens, and nods decisively. “I’ll give you some, then.”
“Thank you,” Erich says as he pulls a chair out for Alexis and then settles into a second, leaning back to watch the last of the game play out. At his side, Alexis watches with sharp eyes, amusement-interest-focus growing as Serebryakov continues to trounce her opponents with a smile.
It’s over before very long, with Serebryakov showing off a hand made of four tens and a jack, winning her the pot. She rakes it in and quickly stacks it up, even as Koenig gathers the cards and begins to shuffle them.
Serebryakov slides two stacks of tokens to him, another two to Alexis, then sits back with a pleased smile. “Here you go! We’re playing five card draw, one token ante, five token maximum per bet or raise, no limit on how many raises happen.”
“I’m surprised at how low that is,” Erich says as he picks up the cards dealt to him and considers his hand; a pair of sevens and little else of value.
She shrugs and flashes him one of her brightest — and most dangerous — smiles. “It’s standard on any game I’m part of, though I’m not sure why…”
Neumann, sitting on Serebryakov’s other side, scoffs and sends Serebryakov’s stack of tokens — still large despite giving some to both Alexis and Erich — a pointed look. “I wouldn’t know why,” he says dryly as he arranges his cards in his hand.
“Me neither,” Grantz agrees as he eyes his cards and then everyone else, gaze skipping half-nervously over Erich. “Guess we’ll never know.”
Alexis laughs at their easy banter. “Pass,” she decides after a moment.
“Pass,” Erich agrees, not yet willing to bet on a single pair.
Grantz sets two more tokens in the pot and leans back with a smile. “Well, I’m going to bet.”
Neumann huffs a laugh and sets three tokens in, shooting Grantz a challenging look as he does. Serebryakov easily puts three in as well, Koenig shakes his head and folds, and then it’s back to Alexis, who shrugs and tosses three into the pot.
“Fold,” Erich decides as he tosses his cards into the discard pile and sits back, unwilling to face off against Serebryakov while relying on luck.
(He’s going to need enough of that tonight as it is, he doesn’t need to push it here for a friendly game.)
Amusement-warmth-exasperation filters through from Alexis, and he counters it with fondness-anticipation-just wait as he watches the game move on and Koenig deal out replacement cards for people.
This time, Alexis bets and Grantz folds, and then Serebryakov bets and Neumann folds and then—
Alexis grins. Raises the bet higher. Meets Serebryakov’s gaze and arches an eyebrow in challenge.
“I’m good,” Serebryakov announces as she matches Alexis’ bet and then lays her cards out, showing a full house.
Alexis hums and lays her cards down, her own, slightly higher ranked full house on display. “My match this time,” she announces as she sweeps the pot to her under the surprised stare of the four Lieutenants. “I believe it’s my turn to deal?”
“Oh—right, sorry,” Koenig says as he shakes his head and gathers up the cards to pass to her along with the dealer’s token.
She takes the deck and begins to shuffle, talented fingers making the motions look effortless, and Erich spots the other three men sharing a concerned look as they realize that Alexis’ statement of ‘I’ve been known to play’ is actually an understatement.
She deals the cards out and sets the deck aside to pick up her hand as everyone sets a token in the pot.
Erich makes his bet — he has a better hand this time, though he suspects it’s not a winning one — and waits.
It goes much the same as last round; quick and easy bets and matches, Neumann dropping out immediately, replacement cards that don’t work for him at all, and he’s out again.
The rounds continue. He loses more than he wins because between Alexis and Serebryakov most of the luck has already been stolen, but that’s alright. The longer they play together the more relaxed the four magic lieutenants become and the easier the banter comes. It’s good in a way he hadn’t known he needed, this casual connection where people aren’t looking to him to solve all their problems.
He still bows out when Schwarz shows up, passing his much-depleted stack of tokens to Alexis and moving his chair so he can sit closer to her and give Schwarz some space. He’s never been the best — or most interested — in card games, unlike Alexis, so having someone take his place is no trouble. It’s almost a relief, in fact, because now he can sit back and just enjoy the atmosphere without having to concentrate on anything.
Degurechaff was right; already he feels more like himself instead of a tangled mess of emotions.
(A day to do what he pleased was exactly what he needed.)
(He almost feels ready to face the Reaper once more.)
(Now if only he knew what to do about the war…)