"I'm working, Ves."
"I know. That's why I came. "Ves smiled and sauntered forward. "Can't I visit my own wife?"
She gritted her teeth. "This wife of yours is very upset at a certain insensitive husband."
"Hey, don't misunderstand my intentions. I'm only looking out for our interests and the interests of our clan. It was inevitable that we would expand the Design Department this way. Juliet truly isn't as bad as you think she is. At the very least, she doesn't pose a threat to our marriage."
They both talked about this several times already. Gloriana was not in the mood of retreading the same arguments.
She sighed. "Do you love me, Ves?"
"I do. Do you know how much it pains me to be so apart from you? We are only married for less than a month, but already we're sleeping in separate beds. Do you want the rest of our marriage to proceed in this pattern?"
A bit of regret showed on her face. "No. This isn't what I've hoped from our perfect marriage. It's just.."
Ves moved closer. He walked around her desk and put his hand on her head. "Gloriana. I know you're upset with me, but can we get back to how we used to be before? Where is the trust we had for each other? Where is the joy that we used to feel?"
"I want to return to those days too, Ves."
"Then why are you hesitating? Just throw aside all of your concerns. They aren't helpful at all. Can you do that?"
"I'll try."
The two spent some private time together. Both of them left for the lounge in order to cuddle up against each other.
While their cats were chasing each around the compartment, Ves and Gloriana hardly spoke as they reveled in each other's scent and body warmth.
Though they hadn't fully hashed out their differences, they grew more comfortable in each other's presence.
Ves no longer felt as if Gloriana was one step away from exploding. She visibly calmed down as she continued to enjoy his presence.
"Are you better now?" He gently asked as he rubbed her shoulder.
"I.. don't know. I think so. I enjoy these times."
"That's because we aren't talking much." He explained. "We have a lot of differences, but as long as we don't voice them, we won't enter into a conflict."
She sighed. "We've been getting into more and more arguments. That's not good. We both need to adjust if we want to keep our marriage intact."
Ves pressed his lips. He did not mention that their recent problems were largely her fault. If she wasn't so paranoid and irrationally afraid of Juliet, she wouldn't have stirred up so much tension!
Still, he was confident this issue would blow over. Time seemed to work quite well in calming Gloriana down. He didn't dare to approach her like this a week ago. He only tried to reconcile with her now because he judged she was in a more receptive mood at this time.
"Let's talk about something we are more aligned with." He suggested. "How is your mystery Hexer mech project going? Have you determined some more criteria for our sixth mech design project?"
She nodded. "I've studied the Komodo War and identified several opportunities for us to influence its course by introducing a new mech. To be honest, the Hex Army's mech roster is quite rounded and already covers every essential role. Even with your glows, it's hard to come up with a vision that can add unique value to the Hex Army's lineup."
"There is more to my design philosophy than glows, you know."
"I know. You've explained that to me already. It's just that in a war situation, glows have the most immediate effect. All of those other benefits such as growing a living mech or increasing the compatibility between mech and mech pilot just isn't fast enough. By the time those other benefits come online, the Fridaymen may have taken over half of the Hegemony by then! We need to focus on delivering immediate benefits to the Hex Army."
"So what is your best idea? What Hexer mech do you think can revitalize the Hexers?"
A devious grin appeared on her face. "I want to design a stealth mech."
Ves blinked. "A stealth mech? Uhmm.."
"Are you about to say that stealth tech is classified? You aren't wrong, but it's not a problem for us. With how much the Hegemony adores us, we can easily gain the right permissions as long as it is for a good cause. Let me tell you that my cause is definitely worthy."
He scratched his head. "I don't know, Gloriana. How can a stealth mech designed by us be more useful than the Hegemony's existing models? We don't specialize in stealth tech and glows are kind of the opposite of what you want. Any invisible mech that emits a noticeable glow will doubtlessly be detected before it can get close!"
"That's the thing, Ves. Your glows have a variety of effects. As you say, most of them draw attention. What if you can achieve the opposite? What if you can develop a glow that causes people around it to avoid attention instead of drawing it? As long as we implement such a glow into a serviceable Hexer stealth mech, it can probably sneak into more sensitive areas!"
"The idea sounds impressive. It's just… most if not all forms of stealth detection purely relies on tech. It's the sensors that trip the alarms, not people. A glow doesn't act on equipment."
"Are you sure about that?"