EOS, with as much smugness as an unmoving camera can convey, takes his knight with her queen. “I do think something needs your attention, John.”
She goes back and forth on the spot, as if trying to replicate some action of joy. She watches his expression, carefully, as if suddenly frightened she’s angered her tired creator.
@i-am-the-dawn-aka-eos:
She nods. “I’m just monitoring the frequency of a few boats, they seem to be testing some new hull tech. If it goes wrong, well, let’s say I get lots of time to plot my next move.” She snickers, before making a move. The Earth, shining big, bright and blue below, decides to shine a little more sharply, lighting up the section they sat in with a glow akin to the light of an aquarium, blue and brilliant, with the stars acting as the fast, silvery fish, and the faint presence of the moon a large ray. And then, as swiftly as it started, the Earth shone a little less brightly, the stars slinking away back to being little flicks of paint against the deep dark, the moon as rough as sandpaper. But still, it felt pleasant, not so harsh, and familiar. EOS seemed to watch the changes with him, the change's nothing new, but always welcome.
"Let me know if it needs my attention." That dreaded crumple is back between his eyebrows, and John, now on the edge of his seat, looks plenty ready to drag himself up into the commsphere and throw his tired corpse into work at a moment's notice. Absently, he moves his next chess piece; foolishly landing a knight right where Eos' queen can easily take it. He doesn't seem to have noticed - neither that nor the shifting light reflecting off the planet below. His eyes are more half-lidded than open, and he muffles another yawn in his palm.
They're not currently geostationary, and Five has been slowly passing from the daylight side of the globe into the shadow of night. Maybe the darkness will finally persuade the anxiety John's been rife with that he really would be better off asleep. The bright artificial lighting inside the gravity ring isn't going to help with that though.