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

[not_a_traitor]

"Oh!"

He's already taking Peter's hand as his expression lightens. "Felix Gaeta, it's a pleasure -- I think Dr. Pierce might have mentioned you to me earlier, actually. Are you the same Peter who does woodworking?"

[be_seeing_you]

"Ah, yes, I am the very same. He caught me carving dolls for the children. Woodworking is something of a hobby, but I'm more than proficient at it. Was there something you'd like to commission?"

[not_a_traitor]

"If you're able, yes."

He pats his right thigh to indicate. Even with the shadows beneath the table obscuring things, it's easy to see that most of the limb is missing below the knee.

"I'm hoping to get a new prosthetic leg. It doesn't have to be fancy; it just needs to fit well. Dr. Pierce suggested you as an option." He pulls a mild face. "And there's no rush -- apparently it hadn't healed well enough for me to be wearing one in the first place, before I arrived here, so we're giving it another chance first."

[be_seeing_you]

Number 6 glances down and knows instantly what he's seeing. And he's already put the pieces together long before the request is verbalized.

"Yes, I think I can do that for you. I'll need to get your measurements to ensure it fits, of course, but that part can wait a while. If the doctor says you need time to heal you had better listen. You'll ruin my measurements if you don't." Wink.

[not_a_traitor]

Gaeta snorts a tiny laugh. "Yes, sir," he says, sketching a loose salute. (Well, loose by his standards; it's still more crisp than some members of the Fleet would toss off on their best behavior.) "Gods forbid I get scolded by both of you for frakking up my health."

It's about that moment that Gaeta realizes something.

In the course of his conversation with Peter, he's lost track of the cards and the potential probability values around the table.

Well, frak. He gives his hand a mildly alarmed glance, trying to re-run calculations that would've been more useful five minutes ago.

[be_seeing_you]

"I'm glad we understand each other," Number 6 says with humor scrunching the corners of his ice-blue eyes.

His eyes turn even brighter when he realizes what the problem is for his poor competitor.

"Your chances this round aren't favorable," he says, unprompted, having also counted the cards, even amidst the conversation. "But you are welcome to call my bluff."

[not_a_traitor]

Gaeta eyes him. Slowly, he raises his eyebrows as understanding dawns that he is not the only dirty frakking cheater (Racetrack's words, not his) at the table.

A master must recognize a fellow master, and recognize when he's beat. In spite of himself, Gaeta's smiling as he sweeps the fan of his hand closed. "Nah, frak it, I fold," he says. He slaps his cards facedown on the table. "Well played."

Dammit, there goes his winning streak.

good with wrapping this one here?

[be_seeing_you]

If the others don't have the skill to count cards, that's their own fault. The smugness coming off of Number 6 increases two-fold as Gaeta's expression changes, followed by his quick decision to fold.

"If I'd really wanted to be unsporting, I wouldn't have told you." He stands and offers his hand out for a sportsman's handshake. "The pleasure has been mine, but I think I'll take a rest for now. Oh and," he winks conspiratorially. "Secret's safe with me."

perfect! <3

[not_a_traitor]

He laughs. "And yours," he says, returning the handshake, firm and professional as ever. "Thanks for the game, sir."

Whenever he teaches this group how to play Triad, their match-up will be brutal. Gaeta can't wait.