Sentiments
Got a plot tribble that just would not leave me alone, so I'm writing it just to get it out of my head because it won't leave me alone.
Someone save me from my own plot ideas.
A couple notes about this one: It takes place about three years before the events of Duelist Kingdom/ season one and therefore waaayyy before the events of "Atlantis Rising". Because of this, the characters are a lot younger. Also, since it features Mai prominently, you could say it's a belated birthday one-shot for her, so happy belated birthday Mai?
Let's just get on with it.
The ship was busy tonight as always but to Mai, it seemed busier than before. She had been on the ship for about six months now, the fear of being caught for lying about her age, for she claimed that she was twenty-one when in actuality she was a little older than seventeen (skillfully applied makeup and a false ID can always make such things easier), was beginning to lift. She balanced the drink on her hip, surveying the crowd. It appeared to be the usual, overweight middle aged men tossing their money about like it was nothing, women desperate to be with such men, rich young men hoping to make a name for themselves through networking.
Mai had always wondered why all the money and power went to such idiotic people.
"Honey, you're zoning out," Babette, called "Babs" for short, said, waving a gloved hand in front of Mai's face.
"Sorry, guess walking around on these high heeled boots kill you after a while."
Babs giggled, tossing that platinum blonde hair around. "You get used to them after a while. You might even like them. Those kind of boots enpower women, lets man know that our pretty outsides hide our dangerous insides."
"Babs,I thought it hurt your brain to use big words," Katherine, another worker clad in the iconic black leotard and stiletto boots, snorted. Kathering and Babs always had that friendly, bickering relationship, both clearly veterans from working on the ship for so many years. Mai could see the makeup caked on the lines about their mouths and lines, that desperate attempt to cling to their youth. Didn't they know that it always made it worse? At least, that was what one of Mai's many nannies told her.
Babs stuck her tongue out at Katherine. "Very funny."
Katherine laughed and turned to watch the crowds. The many scantily clad women were running about catering to whatever needs their guests required, usually drinks, but Mai had heard that it went beyond that. Mai faced Katherine's direction too, until she caught the gaze of an man dressed smartly, alone at one of the smaller tables, fiddling with a nearly empty glass as he gazed about, studying the crowd. He looked to be of Middle Eastern descent, with jet black, turning gray at his left temple.
"Ooh, he cute," Babs cooed, seeing what Mai and Katherine were watching. "Dibs."
"You can't just call "dibs" on a man," Katherine told Babs. "We should let Mai serve him." Katherine and Babs were the only ones on the ship who knew of Mai's real age and thus, made an effort to keep Mai from the more lecherous men, perhaps in a attempt to hold on to their own innocence through Mai.
"Why me?" Mai asked, growing nervous. She was used to serving people in a group at one of the many card tables. It was safer there. Serving a man by herself? Well, that was completely different.
"Because," Katherine nudged Mai forward, "it's a rite of passage."
"Rite of passage my-" Mai stopped herself. Her mother always said that a lady should never curse.
Of course, her mother would frequently drink like a fish and never really paid attention to her, so what did she know? Nothing really.
"Fine," Mai grumbled and walked over, ignoring the catcalls and leering gazes of the patrons. She suspected that she was one of the more desired workers on board because of her youth and figure, but Mai had learned to ignore them.
She walked to the table, flashing her most winsome smile. "Well hello there handsome, can I get you something to drink?"
He glanced up and Mai caught a better glimpse of the man's face, it was craggy and rugged, like that of a soldier. "Just water."
"Water? On a ship like this?" Mai asked incredulously. "What for?"
"So I can prepare myself for the greatest alcohol binge in the history of mankind," the man joked and Mai couldn't help but smile. He wasn't leering nor starring at places one really shouldn't.
"I'll humor you this one time," Mai replied. "but next time you're buying a gin and tonic."
"I prefer vodka."
A few minutes later, she came back with the water. He was still studying the crowd, but this time around, he had a deck of Duel Monster cards on the table, shuffling them idly.
"Duel Monsters?" she asked, setting down the water.
"Yeah," he answered, still crowd watching. "You play?"
Mai shrugged. "Sort of. Sometimes they'll have me play at the dueling tables but it's not hard to beat a bunch of drunken idiots who waste their money."
"Then play against someone who isn't a drunk idiot." He stacked the now shuffled deck on one side of the table. "Care to?"
Mai eyed the deck before seating herself in the chair across from him. She reached down to her leg, where she kept her deck, just in case she would be needed at one of the tables, and placed the deck on the table. "Game on," she smirked.
The game progressed rather quickly and Mai found herself scrambling to get out of one trap after another. Her Harpy deck was unable to stand up to his deck, especially not after he played Hyozanryu and equipped it with "Horn of the Unicorn". Mai stared at the playing field, surprised that she lost.
"I lost," she said at last. "I never lose."
"Don't be ashamed of it kiddo, You've got great potential to be a fantastic duelist, probably even champion," the man said, shuffling his deck. " Besides, you learn more when you lose."
"Not from what I've told," Mai grumbled, thinking of her parents. Winning was everything to them; shame that it was all they desired, rather than being with their only child.
"Then they were wrong." The man placed the deck into his jacket pocket. "You see, you may lose in life, the key to it is to lose as little as possible. The reason you lose more from losing is to apply it when you win the very next time, like the next time you lose per say."
Mai frowned, before shuffling back her deck. As her fingers brushed up against one of her Harpy Lady cards, clearly well loved, old and worn. She smiled as she looked down at it.
"Let me guess, your first card?" The man asked. Mai nodded and he took it from her. He turned it over, noting the worn corners, the places where the ink had rubbed off from years of wear and tear. "Another thing to know about life," he began, "Is to not be sentimental over the little things. Sentimentality over the big things, yeah that's fine, but being sentimental over the little things, that'll be the things that trip you up. There's no point in looking forward and getting ahead if all you're doing is looking behind you." He handed the card back to her and she slipped it back into the deck before placing it back into the slot strapped to her leg.
He suddenly looked behind her, eyes narrowed in concentration. Mai felt unsettled at this, seeing the intensity of the man's gaze. He tensed up like a snake, ready to strike. He relaxed just as quickly, but he remained alert and wary.
"Are you alright?" she asked hesitantly.
"Hmm? Yeah, sorry about that. I thought I recognized someone." He laced his fingers, resting his head lightly on them. "I'm sorry for taking you away from your work."
"That's perfectly alright. I'm dealing with idiots, remember?" Mai said, jerking her thumb back to the throngs of gamblers.
"Quite. Well, I think you should get going before I get you in trouble for talking to someone like me."
Mai nodded. "Right. Before Babs and Katherine want to know all of the supposed juicy details." She excused herself from the table. "Thank you."
"No problem," the man smiled. "Got a name, by the way? That way I can know if you end up on the tourney circuit. Maybe we'll get to duel again on the big stage."
"It's Mai. Mai Valentine. And yours?"
"You can call me Benjamin Navin."
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- .-.-.
"Welcome to the White Star Tournament Finals sponsored by White Star Energy Drinks! Our finalists are Benjamin Navin and Mai Valentine! Please give them the biggest welcome as they step onto the stage!"
Mai shifted from one foot to another, anxious for the duel. She was a skilled duelist now, but every tournament, every duel made her nervous. An old habit, she surmised, or instinct, to brace herself against the worst.
"The key to it is to lose as little as possible," she told herself, a lesson she learned when she was much younger. She absently reached for her duel deck on her leg, fingers brushing against one familiar and well loved card. She eyed it for a moment, then placed the card in her violet jacket's inside pocket.
"Don't be sentimental over the little things," she told herself before locking away the card in her memories.
She strode confidently out of the hall and into the stadium.
"They'll only slow you down."
So that is one of the few times that Mai and Benjamin/Aaron have crossed paths before the events of "AR". It seems weird to all of you I'm guessing, that he would teach Mai those sort of things, but remember that at this period of time, Aaron was still a Mossad agent; you learn to detach yourself. He was also growing more and more bitter about his tenure there. Mai had essentially learned those lessons during her childhood and teenaged years (nor does it help that she ran away at seventeen and lied about her age to get a job on a floating casino; headcanon BTW); Aaron had only affirmed her beliefs.
And for those who were wondering, Aaron/Benjamin was on the ship to track down a supplier who would supply chemicals and armaments to terrorists. This would be the case that led him to be injured and no longer to be a Mossad agent.