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

[notinflictthem]

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.

Comments

[be_seeing_you]

He didn't necessarily expect her to understand, and he can tell she doesn't, but what he likes about her is that even in these moments, she doesn't attempt to convince him otherwise. She accepts him at his word, and he accepts hers. They don't have to see eye-to-eye to give each other that respect.

"I do. And here, away from that cursed ship, we have many new choices to make. The first is going to be... will you join the game or will you sit and watch first?"

[astrogator]

'That's clear enough,' she says, trying to follow his lead and shake off the seriousness. 'I have to join in! Better to get my mistakes out of the way when all there is to lose is acorns.'

Tayrey isn't taking it too seriously, and she's the sort of person who learns best by doing, so there's no reason not to. 'At least I know what the cards signify,' she said teasingly, because she'd had to learn that, back on the cursed ship.

good place to wrap?

[be_seeing_you]

"Something tells me you'll pick it up in no time," Number 6 says, and he means it. She'll be relieving them of their acorns soon enough he's sure. If not tonight then in future games.

"Come have a seat, Lieutenant. Let's see what you can do."

yes, wrap here!

[astrogator]

'I hope to prove you right,' she says brightly, before taking her seat at the table. However the games go, she's sure she's going to enjoy herself.