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

[prince_of_beasts]

That's an expression Dimitri knows too well -- one he associates more with old soldiers than the lively boy he knew at the Academy. But this isn't the Claude that Dimitri remembers -- he's older, his features settled into an adult finish Dimitri has yet to reach. Dimitri knows about the war in his future, if only in abstract. This Claude is a soldier. Dimitri doesn't need to be told what that expression means.

The façade snaps back into place. Dimitri has to clamp down on a surge of fight-or-flight -- Goddess, has he changed that much? The old nickname hits with a full-body flinch. "Claude," he hisses, scandalized, before he masters himself and smooths his expression. "A surprise indeed. Step outside with me?"

[inaurate]

Huh... he's heard the annoyance from that nickname before, but the bodily flinch is new. It came out reflexively, but it might be time to drop it, if it's really a pain point for him. "Of course, I'll always make time for an old school friend." He rises from the table, his smile and body language composed and casual as he waves to the room. "Excuse us for a bit, I'd be happy to introduce you all once we've had a chance to catch up one on one."

He slips out of the clinic door with Dimitri into the cool night air, leading him away from direct line of sight of the windows and hearing from the door. He's pretty sure the others wouldn't eavesdrop on their conversation but paranoid instincts don't just go away. "It's a good group in there, I think you'll like them." As strange as this is, he definitely doesn't want Dimitri to be discouraged from joining. He could probably use the camaraderie even more than Claude.

[prince_of_beasts]

It's been two years for Dimitri, and who knows how many for Claude? What has this Claude seen of him in their future? How much has Dimitri changed since he was taken from Garreg Mach? How is Dimitri meant to approach this stranger with a half-familiar face?

Under the sky, back in the cooler air, Dimitri breathes easier. He has the same instincts for privacy Claude does; stepping away, he's able to relax, if only a little. "It's hard to say I'm glad to see you, under the circumstances, but it is good to see someone else from Fódlan."

He looks away, jaw tensing to hold off any more obvious sign of insecurity.

"I'm sure the others are fine people. I'd ask that you don't -- I don't want to be known as a prince, here. That title means nothing here. I don't want to give anyone the impression that I think it should."

[inaurate]

It is surreal, standing across from Dimitri almost exactly as he remembered him from their time at the Officer's Academy. It must be strange for Dimitri as well-- he doesn't look nearly as bad as the boy Claude remembers from right before Edelgard's attack on the monastery. So, he must not have experienced that yet.

Well, Claude has no intentions on letting him know about it. Nothing good would come of it, certainly not for Dimitri, and there was no need to get into it here anyway. Sharp green eyes catch on the clenching of his jaw as Dimitri makes his request.

The younger version of himself would have been more inclined to keep teasing, probably. Claude only smiles and acquiesces with a nod. "From what I've seen of these guys, I doubt they'd put much stock into it. But I understand." He sighs, overexaggerated. "Now I don't have anything fun to call you by."

[prince_of_beasts]

Last time Dimitri was in Fódlan, it was ten days or so before the White Heron Ball. Then he would have learned about the Flame Emperor's connection to Duscur; then he would have watched his professor lose their father. That was the start of his spiral, and it only grew worse from there ... but this Dimitri hasn't seen any of that. His memories from Garreg Mach feel like they belong to someone else, some other lifetime. If the 'duplicates' theory is true, he supposes they technically do.

"Thank you. I believe you, but ... I'd prefer not to have that hanging over me." All his life, Dimitri's status has poisoned every relationship he's tried to have. It may not matter here, but those lessons have been ground in too deeply for him to believe no one will care -- if only through disdain, or alienation.

Claude lightens the mood before Dimitri can get too morose about it. The corner of his mouth twists up. "I trust you'll think of something equally frustrating."

[inaurate]

"Frustrating?" Claude places a faux offended hand over his chest. "It was playful! Tongue-in-cheek! Poking fun at the status quo! I thought you'd like that." He tuts, but there's a telling grin on his lips to make sure Dimitri doesn't take it seriously. Of course, there was an extra layer of the joke that Dimitri was never privvy to-- maybe Claude will let him know some day.

Now that the mood's been shifted to something much lighter, Claude leans back, looking Dimitri over. Now, it's been more than five years since he's seen him anything like this, but-- there is something different about him that's hard to place. "Are you still at the Oak & Iron?" It's a way to ask multiple questions at once-- has he been in town long enough to find alternate lodging? Work? From Dimitri's-- general way of being, he doubts he'll keep idle for any time at all if he can help it.

[prince_of_beasts]

"You expect me to believe my reactions had nothing to do with your persistence?" Dimitri's not one to roll his eyes, but his tone makes it clear that he would. It's halfhearted, without animosity. "I took myself entirely too seriously in those days. You'll probably say I still do."

On the other hand, this Claude seems to take himself a bit more seriously than the boy Dimitri remembers. His demeanor is just as lighthearted, but there's a caution in his speech and around his eyes. War does that to a person, Dimitri supposes. If Garreg Mach fell, then it's no surprise Leicester was dragged into --

He shakes his head sharply, once, twice. He should explain -- what he knows of their future, what he can guess of his own -- but he cannot think about it any longer. Claude changes the subject again, and Dimitri follows readily. "I'm still at the Oak and Iron, yes. I've been working in the fields, and hunting when I'm able -- I intend to earn my keep," spoken a touch defensively, "but I don't imagine I'd do well living alone."

He can always take to the woods for a few days when he gets claustrophobic. He doesn't need to mention that to Claude, though.