why-is-it-always-autumn:

It’s a tradition in the Bureau of Balance to haze new members by getting them to challenge Davenport to strategy games and then watching him annihilate them.  Davenport seems to like it, and it’s hilarious to watch this goofy little gnome utterly destroy any sense of ego these newbies have.  Sometimes there are accusations of cheating or rigging the game going around, but no, he really is that good.

Obviously, someone tries to pull this on the new reclaimers.  Taako folds about two rounds in and just sits there buffing his nails, and Magnus loses pretty handily, but Merle and Davenport are… weirdly well matched?  Like, it’s not that Merle is better at the game than anyone else, but he doesn’t fall for any of Davenport’s usual tricks or bluffs.  It’s like someone handed him a cheat sheet of all Davenport’s tells, except that Davenport is reading him right back, so within ten minutes they’re both making these bizarre moves that no one could have predicted to counter these equally strange strategies the other one is throwing out, and Magnus keeps chiming in “helpfully”, and it’s really not helpful but it does seem slightly more in tune with how Merle and Dav are playing than anything anyone else who’s watching picks up on.

It ends up lasting five hours, with Davenport victorious.  “You win again, C-” Merle says, before his train of thought gets unexpectedly derailed and he forgets what he’s gonna say.

“Davenport,” says Davenport smugly.  They shake hands and meet up again a week later.  Everyone in the Bureau is shooketh.  The Director chugs another fishbowl of fermented grape juice.