ph_logs | Then they'll take you to Cloughprior and shove you in the ground (Mingle)

Then they'll take you to Cloughprior and shove you in the ground (Mingle)

CHARACTERS: Hawkeye and the Veteran’s Poker Club
DATE: March
LOCATION: Hawkeye’s clinic
SITUATION: Poker game (for veterans)
WARNINGS: Presumably discussion of conflict and ptsd

You need one more drop of poison and you'll dream of foreign lands

A notice goes up on the board, and Hawkeye sets up the clinic for the occasion. Obviously he’s not moving all his medical supplies out- at the back of his mind is always the possibility that something could happen that demands he put his doctor hat on again. Not choppers, but something.

But he sets up a table and chairs in the middle of the main room, with a stack of cards and some ‘chips’ (acorns, he went out and gathered some acorns, which he’s painted different colours). There’s a flask of his homemade gin, some finger food from the Oak and Iron, and he got a box of cigars for the occasion. Feels just like the conferences from home, only without sandwiches that move and Frank. So, y’know, infinitely better.

Prior to starting, while Hawkeye’s setting up, he’ll engage in some small talk with anyone who shows up early- which, they’ll all be military, it will probably be all of them.
“Ever played poker?”

Or

“Can I get you a drink?”

Or

“Can you grab that tray of implements for me?”

At the sick bed of Cuchulainn we'll kneel and say a prayer

When everyone who’s arriving arrives, Hawk sets himself at the table, one of his surgical lights over top of the table to set the mood.

“Alright- this is poker, it’s a little game we like to play back on earth, because we like losing money. I’m gonna teach you five card draw, just to get us started. I’m going to deal each of you five cards. What you’re looking for is to have the highest hand at the end of the round, then you take the pot. Easy. Hands are ranked by how hard they are to do- if you get numbered cards in order and they’re all the same suit, that’s a straight flush. Then we go four of a kind, which is just that- four of the same number. Full house is if you have three of the same number and a pair of a different numbers in the same hand. Flush is if you have all your cards in the same suit. Then straight, which is by number order but not the same suit, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, and then if you have absolutely nothing we score it by your highest card.”

Hawkeye clears his throat, takes a sip of gin.

“I'll deal to start with, we all bet based on our hands and how confident we are that we’ll have the highest ranking hand, then we discard any cards we want and redraw back up to five. Then we place our final bets, and reveal our hands. You get lost at any point, just ask. Questions?”

And the ghosts are rattling at the door and the devil's in the chair

Shittalking, chewing the fat, commiseration, and general socializing with Hawkeye during games goes under this header. Tls for your characters welcome in the comments.

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"The most dangerous ones of all wouldn't stick out to you in a crowd. But there's nothing to fear from me. I've resigned. I'll be growing apples with my lovely wife from now on." His expression seems to glow a little brighter as he says this. Behold, a man who, after so long, finally got out for good.

Speaking of getting out. "Wise move," Number 6 says, laying out his hand to show the table his Royal Flush.

"It's true, I guess you don't make for a very good spy if you're all flashy about it like in the movies." Closest thing he ever got to a real James Bond type was Ada, and she wasn't flashy so much as very in command of the situation. Also she was corporate espionage and once again: That's Different.

In any case, he huffs as Number 6 reveals his hand, shaking his head.

"Sounds like a plan to me. She, uh, waiting for you back home?" He seems a little uneasy asking, given his assumption that 'back home' means 'in the land of the living, where they all came from respectively, and obviously are all trying to get back to'. But this guy seems so confident that he'll see her again that he can't help but wonder if there's some sort of disconnect happening here.

"Exactly," there's a sudden excitement in his tone and... his feathers might be fluffing up a bit on his wings too, literally ruffled.

"If any spy worth his salt had acted like that Hollywood fool, James Bond, they would have gotten themselves killed in action and the whole mission blown in under a day." He huffs and folds his arms. Someone has some strong opinions about that.

Luckily, the cure to his huffiness is talking about his wife. She may yet come over and smooth the feathers down for him.

"Oh, no. She's here in this town with me. I don't know if you've been informed, but there is a large group of us who have been brought ashore here from a singular doomed cruise ship. That is where she and I met. We had the good fortune to both arrive here to reunite."

It's sort of funny, seeing Number 6 get so riled up over James Bond of all things, and despite himself Leon can't help but crack a bemused, lopsided smile as he listens.

"Oh yeah? Huh, so that's where all of you came from. Or, well. Not all of you, probably, but." Leon waves a hand vaguely. He gets the point. "Glad you both made it, though - that must be a pretty huge relief."

Under any other circumstances he'd feel weird congratulating anyone on having a reunion here of all places, but if the whole ship was doomed then, well. Seems like Mortanne's offer is probably as good a chance at survival as any.

The ruffle of feathers promptly gains Ava's attention, a curious tilt of her head if she needs to go interrupt whatever conversation that might have him on edge. Though he's always been better at managing conflicts than her, she does know his temper can run quite hot.

Turns out she's part of whatever topic is being discussed, from what she picks up when she slips over. She silently just smooths down a few of those feathers, delicately.

"A great deal of us, yes. But not all." Not all. Not enough for his liking.

"Ah, here she is now." He doesn't even need to turn to look. The feeling of Ava's fingers smoothing his wings is as familiar to him now as her voice.

"Please allow me to introduce Mrs. Ava Starr, my guiding light and, for tonight, my lady luck."

Leon glances up at the woman as she sidles over, nodding politely. He's not sure he saw her around before this moment actually, which is weird, given his general levels of vigilance at all times, but he guesses he was pretty distracted by his heinous losing streak.

"Nice to meet you," he says, raising a hand in greeting. "Leon S. Kennedy, at your service. Maybe literally, if I wind up any more in debt to your husband here."

He has three acorns left on the table in front of him.

A nod to return the greeting.

"Don't let him lie to you in addition to shameless acorn swindling, he doesn't need any luck," Ava continues to affectionately brush barely-there fingers through feathers.

"What's got him so puffed up?" She steals a peek at her husbands cards.

"Nothing a little manual labor couldn't pay off," Number 6 jokes looking down at that sadly shrinking pile in comparison to his rather robust one.

Though, for a moment, his eyelids flutter just the smallest bit when her fingers run through his feathers. Clearly that's a pleasant sensation for him.

"I am not puffed up," he pouts. (He is.) "Mr. Kennedy just happened to mention James Bond. You know my feelings on that man."

Leon would normally make some comment to keep the joke going, but he winds up a a little distracted as he squints at Ava, trying to figure out if his eyes are playing tricks on him, or...

"Uh, sorry, but," he says, once he's pretty sure it isn't just the lights in here doing something weird. "You doing alright? You're kinda, uh..."

He jitters his hand back and forth in an odd gesture, trying to get across what he's seeing. She's probably noticed and this may be a rude thing to point out, but it feels important to be on the same page about it. He has the good graces to look apologetic about bringing it up, at least.

"Blurry?"

The amusement quickly fades from her expression as his attention is drawn to her rather obvious condition. Of course it is, it's not as if she can do much to control it these days. Ava bites back the knee-jerk offense she might take, mostly looks uncomfortable as she goes from smoothing down Number 6's wings to adjusting her stance to hide more behind them. Not that it's necessary, she's capable of going completely unseen if she'd prefer.

"Yes..." she confirms, visibly debating how much information she's comfortable giving a stranger. She understands he isn't trying to be rude, but it's a rather heavy subject. "I was in an accident. And now I'm molecularly unstable." It's also hard knowing what level of explanation to give, depending on familiarity with quantum physics...

Number 6 reaches a hand back to grip her fingers where they lay on his wings, a reassuring gesture.

"My wife is an exceptional woman with one-of-a-kind abilities. But, as she said, it was caused by an accident and thus it does come with drawbacks. I trust everyone here to grant her a little grace on account of that."

Leon holds up a hand in an apologetic gesture, appropriately solemn.

"Hey, no judgment here. Thanks for explaining, and sorry to bring up a sore issue," he says it with sincere sympathy - he knows what it's like to have an emotional bruise jabbed in the process of someone trying to ask if he's alright. "Just wanted to make sure it wasn't something unexpected in a bad way. Anyway. We were talking about my indentured servitude at your apple orchard, right? You two got a land deal set up with the town yet?"

It's not the smoothest change of subject in the world, but it'll have to do. It helps that he is genuinely curious about whether they intend to pursue that particular dream here instead of waiting until they get back home.

A small nod of forgiveness, she knows no harm is meant by it, that he had no way of knowing the answer would be probably worse than anticipated. But for two years it had been simply an unfortunate hypothetical, what would happen to her outside of the realm they were supposedly forever trapped within. And now it's a looming inevitability, her death. It's not something she really wants to talk about, so she appreciates the offered topic change.

"Ah yes, all sorts of... tree trimming, and... apple washing," Ava grins with a bit of expense at herself for how clueless she is what it actually takes to maintain an orchard. "Got a little cottage and some land. A horse and... hah, a particularly stubborn mule. That doesn't do a thing Peter says."

Number 6 gives her hand one last tight squeeze. It's a difficult topic, but one they are going to have to face up to more and more as her condition progresses. So help him, he will find a way to mitigate it. Until then...

"Actually," he says enthusiastically picking up the change of topic and running with it. "I've done some consulting with a fellow farmer in town named Eddie. He was good enough to lend me a book on balancing the acidity of soil for growing. With his and the help of others, I'm sure we'll manage."

His grin turns a bit wry when Ava mentions the mule. He got off on the wrong foot with that stubborn beast. "I'm sure Smithy, that's the mule, will learn to mind his manners soon enough. I'll need him pulling a plow whether he likes the idea of it or not."

Leon laughs, short and huffing. They're a cute couple, if a little unusual between the wings and the instability. Color him thoroughly charmed.

"Yeah? Sounds like you've got a plan. Wish I had any advice to give, but I'm kind of a born and raised city-boy," he admits. "But jokes about my impending acorn debt aside - if you ever need a hand and don't mind it being attached to someone who doesn't know what he's doing when it comes to plants or animals, let me know. I'd be happy to help out."

"I appreciate the offer, and I may just come to collect on it. You'll be in good enough company." Number 6 answers with a sheepish smile. "I hardly know what I am doing, myself. But we will learn, won't we?"

They all will, because what else is there to do here? All of these old dogs are going to have to get some new tricks. Well, except for Hawkeye, he seems to be up to the same ones as always.

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Then they'll take you to Cloughprior and shove you in the ground (Mingle)

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good wrap?