The slight hum of a sea’s tune, while muffled, has continued on from her last turn from underneath her mask, and picks up in pitch as Misty placed another cut-out onto the board. A great move, one that trapped you between two blockades, and no matter which path you took, her next move was another win to add to the tally on the hand-made cardboard Misty and you were playing Tic-Tac-Toe on. Observed were the games Toons played from afar, and while the Os were not cut out in the middle, leaving them simple discs, it was pretty interesting to see that rare case of a Suit’s want to play a simple, silly game, and even rarer to see it realized like this.
Your glove reaches out to place your piece in this trap, catching the cold drops of rain on it and a small portion of your arm that reached out from the umbrella placed above your head. You quickly pull back into the protection of the umbrella, and Misty had watched that movement with a keen sensor, though it doesn’t seem to alarm her. There was something fascinating for the both of you to be close to each other – most interactions like this, so close physically, a Toon and a Suit, were quarrels, quick and forgettable. It had taken so much effort to get to this point, something you could do within the first five minutes of meeting a Toon, and yet, this meant so much more to you. Misty’s face, while not positive, was certainly in a better mood than the usual nervous glares they gave to mostly everyone else, and it showed in the surrounding airs as well, rain reduced to a spritz, clouds only a slight steel gray.
The landing of her achievement, a hand, that, if you weren’t taking a moment to give the screws connecting palm to finger a loving observation (fascinating structure…), you wouldn’t have also noticed that they shook with the anticipation of this. To play a Toon game was one thing, but to best them at their own – perhaps it meant something much more than any Suit would want her to consider it to be. Her eyes were full of an artificial, new found joy as those same shivering hands folded together after, a head slightly atilt, mirroring your own behavior – an old habit of your’s that never died, and now, with how many times you’ve visited her here, was something she had picked up just the same.
You opened your mouth to congratulate her, and her response was a jolting nod. Usually, they talked at least a little more than this. The two of you reached towards your pieces, taking them back for yourself, and for a moment, your arm brushed up against the sleeve of her suit. It was colder than expected, but it wasn’t like you had never touched Misty before. And maybe you could borrow her mask – even that slightest touch left your face a burning red. And then, again, the game begins anew, with you placing a piece on the farther left corner – the same left the arm that you brushed was on. There was no chance Misty would get that hint, but one could hope.
No matter the stormy days that had passed or were to await, for now, things were only that slight cloudedness in the air for the two of you, and things were going to be ok.