#thread: fym the cards have hearts (authority +1)

[blaiddllodi]

The motions of the knight were unlike any that Dimitri had ever seen. Guided and stiff, as with a marionette, but instead of rattling, unsteady movement it was rigid, mechanical and…almost graceful. Dimitri attempted to shuffle his cards to mimic the precision of the other, but his clumsy hands were not made for this sort of work.

The cards were shuffled, in the end, and the deck was placed neatly in its allotted slot on the playing field. At the other's cue, he too drew the five beginning cards, and then silence settled upon them.

For half a moment it was the same sort of tension as before a true battle, where the time stilled around them and Dimitri knew nothing but the wind that carded gently through his hair. The calm before the storm, it had always been called, and in spite of the mundane circumstances, Dimitri found his pulse jump.

He coughed, smiling a touch awkwardly. That was silly, this was no real battle. They were merely two comrades, playing a game…

"Er…shall I go first then?" Waiting for a response, Dimitri's hand moved to the top of his deck and he drew another card. A beast card, though alike to the warrior from earlier, it required specific conditions to be called forth.

"I…will set this card down defensively, and then I will set this arcana tool." Not a bold opening statement, but a safe one - if the knight elected to attack his defensive wall, then there may be some blowback from its high defensive power. Or so he hoped.

fym the cards have hearts? // dimitri + denning

[blaiddllodi]

Dimitri didn't 'get it', necessarily. Fads in general, to tell the truth of it, but passing fads of leisure weren't something he tended to focus on – board games, fashion, knick knacks, and the like. He supposed he could see the enjoyment of them, the portraits of legends in miniature, or at least harkening back to legends in some homage or other, some tongue in cheek reference to historical or mythical events – but fairytales weren't his forte. Ingrid might have enjoyed them, perhaps, or Sylvain, and perhaps they might have enjoyed a game or two with him. 

If he could figure out the blasted rules. 

"And if I summon this swordsman – no. No, I can't can I?" Could he? Dimitri rifled through the pamphlet with the rules for a moment – he had seen the colored border around the card before, but he couldn't recall exactly what it meant. Was it prohibited? Hang on... 

"Oh, here it is...?" His brow scrunched as he read along with the small text, his lips moving silently in time with the words. 

Evocation: a legendary summon of a hero from days long past, to be paired with the appropriate arcana card. May require other conditionals to fulfill. 

Oh no. He sighed, pulling the card back and shuffling through his deck to see if he had the appropriate card detailing the conditionals. 

The snap caused him to jump a bit, dropping the cards in a fan before him. "Ah! Blast!" Simultaneously moving from seated to a kneel to sweep up his cards, and turning to face the person approaching him, Dimitri smiled in greeting and made to collect his cards. 

"Please, excuse me, I was just – oh! Were you looking for someone to play with? I'm not very good, I'm afraid, but if it's all right with you, I'd be happy to try. Maybe real play will help me figure out where I've been stuck." 

fym the cards have hearts? // dimitri + denning