Setting the Board [Lavender Hawke]

[renegadefolkhero]

Title: Setting the Board
Prompt: New Game
Player Character: Lavender Hawke
Universe: Precipice
Characters: Cullen
Summary: As time passes and relationships change, so do the games we play. (1,400 words)

Cullen arrived at the pavilion early and set the chessboard, carefully centering each piece in its square. He gave his opponent the courtesy of White. He was well within his rights to claim the first-move advantage, but it was useful to allow a new opponent the first move. One could learn a great deal about a person by the way they approached the board.

He was straightening his knights for the second time when he saw Hawke enter the gardens, stirring a patch of crystal grace along the stone path. She moved quickly on crutches, much faster than he would have expected. She had to break stride to step up onto the platform and additional maneuvering was required to reach her chair. He rose to help, but she waved him away, pivoted her hips, and dropped into the seat with a solid thunk. She opened her hands and the crutches clattered to the ground.

"What is this?" she asked, wrinkling her nose.

"You said you wanted to play a game."

"Chess is for bores," Hawke said, sweeping the pieces off the board with her forearm. The metal knights and mages tumbled to the ground in a heap, some pinging loudly against the stone while others scattered quietly in the grass.

Cullen crossed his arms.

"Please," Hawke said, digging a worn pack of cards out of her pocket. "You know you're boring."

"I don't like cards," he said.

"You don't like Wicked Grace. This is different." She shuffled, maneuvering clumsily with two splinted fingers on her right hand. "It's called spank." She glanced up. "Sound like something you might be interested in?" she asked, a teasing quality to her smile.

Cullen had the distinct impression he was being left out of a joke. With Hawke, he got that feeling more often than he liked. He cleared his throat. "Rules?"

"The goal is to get the most cards. We alternate flipping from the stack, and whoever spanks the angel card first gets to keep everything under it and the angel gets shuffled back into the stack."

"Simple enough. Seems a bit juvenile," he said.

"My brother and I used to play." Her eyes were on the deck as she fumbled to shuffle. She had never evoked her siblings in conversation before. He'd met them both briefly in Kirkwall, but Hawke made a point of dominating his attention and he'd been so focused on how he might use her to his advantage he'd never given the twins a second thought. Upon reading Varric's book and learning there was more than one mage in the family, Cullen came to view those early encounters in a different light. In truth, between observations he'd made in Haven and things he'd learned from Varric he wondered if he'd ever really known Hawke at all.

"But not your sister?" he asked.

She smiled briefly, and he was struck by how this smile differed from the one she usually carried. "We banned her from the game. She was too good."

"I see. You don't like losing."

She glanced up at him. "Fortunately, with you I don't have to worry," she said, straightening the stack.

He chuckled. "Oh, so that's how it's going to be."

"I don't want you to get your hopes up." She turned so her uninjured, non-dominant hand was near the stack. "Ready?" He was not sure how aggressive he should be in light of her injuries, but as soon as the first angel appeared, Hawke's left hand slapped--or spanked, rather--down in a blur, startling him. She crowed with delight. "Don't tell me all that time behind a desk has softened your reflexes, Commander."

Her insufferable smugness urged his competitive nature to life. He set about trying to beat her in earnest. Her reflexes were good, so his full concentration was required. He hardly noticed they'd fallen into silence.

"Simple enough, right?" she murmured, after she'd won three consecutive rounds.

"Wait," he said.

Hawke laughed and they began again.

For the first time since Haven, he lost track of the hour. He was getting better--or Lavender was letting him catch up, but perish the thought--and soon they were nearly tied. They were also running out of cards. His opportunities to surpass her grew slim. It was pure happenstance that he brushed her foot with his and had an idea.

He schooled his expression and waited, having observed enough of Hawke's mannerisms to time his attack. As soon as an angel card was flipped, he firmly stepped on her toes. Not hard, just enough to surprise her. Her split-second hesitation was all he needed. He slapped his hand down on the card.

Hawke looked at him. "Cullen Rutherford," she said, a hint of wonder in it.

Cullen giggled and scooped up the cards. "I believe we are tied? I never keep track of these things."

"That is very poor sportsmanship," Hawke said.

"Don't tell me you wouldn't have done the same," he said contentedly.

The gloves were off now, he could see it in her eyes. After a few minutes, she said, "I've learned a few things about you today."

"Oh?" he asked, turning over the next card.

"I had no idea you had such an affinity for spanking. I rather like seeing this side of you." For some reason, the comment actually threw him. Maybe it was her tone. Regardless, she must have counted the cards, because at that very moment she turned over the angel card. She slapped it. "Looks like I win," she said.

He mentally tallied the cards. She was right. Even if he won the remaining cards she would have more. "You cheated."

"Whatever makes you feel better," she said, all but humming with triumph. Her levity struck him. Even with a foot in the grave, Hawke had kept her Jester's cap firmly in place, but he'd seen through the dry wit and so had Varric. After weeks observing her grueling recovery, a glimmer of genuine happiness was welcome, even if it was at his expense.

He tided his stack of cards and fussed with the top card, a worn noontide knight, smoothing out a creased corner with his thumb. "Well, I like seeing this side of you," he said.

"The crippled side?" she asked, scooping up the remaining cards.

"The living side," he said.

She stacked the cards against the table, tidying the deck.

"We thought you were gone." It was easier to voice the fear now, with her sitting across from him, well on her way to recovery, than when they were huddled in a tent in the snow with no certainty the Champion would weather the night. By all accounts, she should not have. The medic remarked wryly that a supernatural force of personality kept Hawke alive after conventional medicine failed.

Hawke handed the deck across the table. "Sometimes, it feels like I really did die, or should have..." Abruptly, she met his eyes. "Nevermind," she said.

"You think I wouldn't understand?"

"Templars aren't known for their empathy," she said, in the usual careless tone, but she avoided his eyes as she groped for her crutches. "And everyone knows mages are liars."

She wasn't getting away that easily. He rose to collect the crutches. "We aren't those people anymore," he said, holding the crutches steady as she stood. "We left that behind, we're different now."

"Playing a new game now, are we?" she asked, shifting to get her balance.

"Yes," he said. "New game, new rules. Everything is different now." The way she looked at him reminded him of their age difference, though five years did not seem so much older now. Perhaps he had said a bit too earnestly, maybe it was naive, but he meant it. He held out the deck of cards and she shook her head.

"Keep it," she said. "You need to practice for the next game. Badly."

"You'll play again?"

"Of course," she said, hobbling down from the platform. "I like to win."

He bent to gather the chess pieces, watching as Hawke made her way down the stone path, pausing only to surreptitiously pick an Andraste's Grace when the herbalist wasn't looking.

If this was what it felt like to lose, he did not mind so much.

 

Comments

[fereldanwench]

I love their dynamic. <3 The friendly teasing and taunting feels very natural, and Cullen being a competitive little cheater is wonderful. I feel like he wouldn't do that with just anyone--I think it really speaks to their relationship.

[renegadefolkhero]

Thank you! Warming up with a little comfort food writing. I thought of doing something meta video gamey, showing Hawke "playing" her part in the intro to DA2, dying and starting over, until she gets it right (twins live), but I don't know if that matches the comm vibe?

I guess technically I'm setting the vibe atm.

buwaahhahahaa

[jaininae]

I love the moment Hawke realizes Cullen cheated, and scolds him for it. Then goes ahead and cheats herself. Haha, no shame.

[renegadefolkhero]

Card games are no fun unless at least one person cheats.

[maramcreates]

I love how deliberate and meticulous Cullen is about the chess pieces, and Hawke just goes, "Screw that!"
Lovely piece, all of it ^_^

[renegadefolkhero]

Thank you for reading. Purple Hawkes are a lot of fun to write.