[A/N - Wicked Grace rules/cards taken from lotusflwr on tumblr.]
Maker, two Angels, two Knights, and a Song, again? It was Anders' third such hand tonight and they'd hardly started. Aveline wasn't even here yet, or Bethany, and they needed Aveline there. At least, Anders did. Isabela didn't cheat as much when Aveline was present. And sure, Aveline scowl a lot, but while she was playing cards she wasn't handing any runaway mages over to Templars.
Then again, no one needed to cheat when he got hands like this.
Merrill finished picking up her hand and laughed in delight, practically bouncing in her chair. Anders didn't need Varric's smirk or Garrett's headshake to tell him what that meant. Even Fenris looked amused, rare for that one. Or perhaps he had gas. Anders liked to pretend he couldn't tell.
"I fold," Anders said.
"You can't fold in Wicked Grace," Isabela said, "unless it's Strip Wicked Grace, and even then I wouldn't let you."
Fenris smirked. "I would."
Before Anders could reply with something properly sarcastic, he heard the chatter of Aveline and Bethany on the stairs.
"Good, they're here." Garrett seemed to relax some, though it was sometimes hard to tell with his posture. Knowing he always worried when Bethany wasn't around, though, helped one to see it.
"We're not re-dealing, right? We've got to play out this hand? Since it's dealt and all. It would be a shame to waste it." Merrill had a poor poker face, to put it mildly, but she was even worse when she tried to talk.
"We're playing, Daisy. Even Blondie over there is playing. Draw your card." Varric's smile was indulgent as it often was with Merrill.
"Oh good." With eyes sparkling like pure lyrium, Merrill drew and discarded. Aveline and Bethany came in and took seats, Beth between Garrett and Varric, and Aveline between Anders and Isabela. Anders held his hand out to show Aveline, smirking at how bad it was. She shook her head in a way that seemed sympathetic despite her normal stoic expression.
Merrill was literally bouncing by the time she drew her second card. Anders' draw was the Angel of Death and he hesitated. He had no chance of winning, but it wasn't often that Merrill got a good hand. Deliberately breaking the rules, even with Aveline peering into his hand, Anders discarded a different Angel and was surprised by the small and... kind? smile that Aveline gave him. Maybe she didn't completely hate him after all. Feeling a bit better about his all-too-common losing streak, Anders crossed his ankle over his knee and let the game continue. When, on the fourth round, Merrill discarded the Serpent of Jealousy Anders took it as a sign that no one could possibly beat her. With just a little skill he made it look like he just drew the game-ending card on his turn. The effort was worth it as Merrill made the most happy and triumphant noise, putting down three Sperpents of Pride and two of Lust.
"Damn, Daisy, good job." Varric laid his own hand down, as did everyone else. Most seemed to take particular interest in how awful Anders' was, but he was used to that.
"One of these days we'll have to switch the value of the cards around," he suggested.
Bethany shook her head as she gathered up the cards to shuffle them. "Don't you think that's the first time you'll get a Serpent?"
"That's not true. I had one once. Two months ago! It was the night Aveline brought us all oranges that had been meant as a bribe for the city guard." Anders looked down at the cards being dealt to him. They would be bad, he knew it.
When he looked up, Garrett was staring at him. "You remember that? You remember what we snacked on the night you had a Serpent, but you can't remember to lock the clinic doors every night?"
Anders shrugged, his eyes sparkling. "And you wonder how the Templars caught me seven times." He wasn't about to say that he felt sorry for people needing a healer in the middle of the night, or that maybe he left them unlocked in hopes of having a visitor. A rugged, beardy, Champion-y visitor. It was far easier to tease.
Varric half-choked on his beer, setting it down and shaking his head. "Pick up your cards, Blondie. Let's play."
As he did so, Anders decided to say just a little more on the topic. "But it's not like the Coterie have swung by recently. In fact, it's almost like they, and most of the gangs in Darktown, forgot that I was there. Except when someone needs their arm reattached." Everyone's faces were the picture of innocence. Except Merrill's. Her expression was expectant, as if waiting for Anders to explain why he said that. Well, he'd known that Merrill hadn't been the reason for the growing peacefulness of his clinic. He just couldn't figure out if it was Varric, Garrett, or Isabela. ...Or maybe Aveline.
"Speaking of," Aveline began as she looked at her own cards.
"Did someone's arm fall of? Was it one of the guard?" Merrill asked.
"What? Arm fall- No. Though I wouldn't mind if-" Aveline cut herself off. "What I meant was, my guards on patrol in that area have been attacked less as well. I saw it in their reports earlier and was wondering if you knew if that meant anything."
Anders looked over at Aveline, putting his cards back on the table. Four Angels this time, which could have been a decent hand... if it was just two of them playing with one deck. "If you're asking did I glow at the thugs threatening my clinic and smite them with judicious wrath, the answer's no. I had nothing to do with it."
"Oooh, judicious for Justice," Merrill said quietly.
"Perhaps he threatened another little girl," Fenris offered.
"Perhaps they heard someone who ripped throats out after giving their word they wouldn't was coming by," Anders retorted.
"That's not what I meant," Aveline replied as she shot a look at each of them in turn. "I was just asking if you'd heard anything."
"Groans, moans, and the occasional drip from up above," Anders replied. "And sometimes someone being sick in the corner. Don't anyone let me forget I need to get more sawdust on the way back to Darktown."
Aveline shook her head with a sigh. "Never mind."
That narrowed down his list of suspects by one. The other three looked like butter wouldn't melt in their mouths. Which it would. He'd checked the temperature of all three at one time or another, healthy and ill. Honestly, he didn't think it was Isabela, but he'd caught sight of her down there a few more times than he'd expected. Who was to say?
The rounds went on with Anders steadily losing coin. It wasn't like he'd expected to win anything. In fact, it was no surprise at all that Varric and Isabela were doing the best. Bethany, though, was a close third and that was different. She seemed very happy about this situation, grinning at Garrett every time she took another one of his coins.
"I'll get you back for that," Garrett said as Bethany dangled her latest acquisition in front of his face.
"You mean you're cooking dinner tomorrow?" Bethany asked. "I just remembered a thing that I have to do. That's not in the house. And won't be. All night."
"I'm not that bad at cooking," Garrett protested as he glared at his new cards.
"You burned water, my friend," said Varric. He seemed rather content with what he'd drawn. Merrill, who had run out of money first, circled behind him and clapped her hands over her mouth while grinning.
Isabela shook her head. "I'm not betting on this round."
"Why n..." Varric stopped himself, turning around. "...Daisy..."
"Right, yes. Stop making faces when I see your cards. ...Anders, can I stand behind you?"
With a wry smile, Anders waved her over. "I'm only in for two more rounds anyway. What can it hurt?"
"Oh, ouch," Merrill said as she looked. "You always have bad luck with cards. Have you tried dice? There's a Dalish dice game that we haven't played together, we could have a dice night."
"But then Isabela couldn't cheat and we all know how she loves to cheat," Garrett said, grinning.
"You have a card poking out," Fenris added, pointing at Isabela's shirt.
"I refuse to look," she replied. "I haven't cheated once. Tonight. So there's nothing showing."
"I wouldn't say nothing's showing," Anders said with a pointed look.
"So you're looking?" Isabela was as smug as always.
"Time and a place," Aveline muttered.
"And it's not here and now," Fenris declared, laying down the Angel of Death before showing off his hand.
Anders shook his head as he set his own cards down. One more round and then his playing was done. Maybe for once luck would be with him and he could put off returning to the clinic for a bit longer. For all that the gatherings had Fenris, he liked these outings. Justice didn't. There was much to be done. Anders wasn't nearly done with his manifesto and he hadn't smuggled a mage out in weeks. But losing at cards with the group, even losing horribly, was something dear to Anders' heart and he wasn't sure of much that was anymore. The lines were blurring too much.
Distracting himself from the way his thoughts had gone, from the way his thoughts often went lately, Anders levitated the cards and had them shuffle themselves. Bethany and Merrill watched as if to learn how, Fenris scowled, Aveline blinked, and the rest took it in stride. At least there was that. He could be himself here and not worry about more than one Elf's edged comments.
"You know, he could be cheating," Isabela pointed out.
"We'd know," Varric replied.
"He'd win for the first time," Fenris said.
"And have at least one Serpent," Bethany added.
"And no Angels because he has to be tired of them by now," Merrill said.
"He'd also be smirking." Garrett was smirking instead.
"Or leaning back in his chair with his legs stretched out the way he does when he's smug with himself," Aveline added. Everyone looked at her. "You haven't seen him do that after healing a particularly nasty wound?"
"Now that you mention it," Varric said, thoughtful.
"If we can stop talking about how obvious it would be if I cheated," Anders cut in, dealing the cards with flicks of his fingers.
"Nope, not cheating. His hand is bad," Merrill reported from over his shoulder. Anders sighed but shrugged as he played out his last hand for the night. And he deliberately leaned back in his chair and stretched out his legs, smirking the entire time.