Tabletop

"So, like, is this is in poor taste?"

"I dunno. You tell me."

"I asked first."

"Yeah, but you're a former Gear, so you should know."

"I-"

"Oh for fuck's sake, just play already."

James Dominic Fenix, who had asked whether the game was in poor taste, looked at Delmont Walker. Kait Diaz, who had asked him to tell her, looked at Delmont Walker. Delmont Walker, who was sitting adjacent to the two of them, snorted.

"What?" he asked.

"You," J.D. said.

"Me?"

"You."

"I-"

"And thus we conclude another meeting of the Pronoun Club," Kait said. She pushed a button and the holo-board that the three Gears were huddle around lit up. "Now come on. Del gets to face the winner."

J.D. supposed he was fine with that. Not as fine as being assigned the Locust side, but hey, beggars couldn't be choosers.

Still, he felt uncomfortable with the prospect of Gears Pop. Why it was called that he had no idea, because of all the holographic figures that sprung up on the board, none of them went pop. The Locust didn't go pop, the Gears didn't go pop, and the auto-turrets that both sides got to deploy sure as hell didn't go pop. Maybe there was an explanation somewhere, but as someone who'd been with the Outsiders for the last few years, he was kinda out of the loop when it came to COG pop culture.

"God these guys move slowly," Kait said.

J.D. couldn't dispute that as both teams moved very…very…very slowly across the board. It was simple enough he reflected – like chess, each team started on one side of the board, and got benefits from getting to the other side. Unlike chess, the pieces were not only holograms, but were firing at each other. Perhaps there were tactics somewhere, but it was winter, it was cold, and if Master Sergeant Acho found the trio playing games (a trio that had destroyed no small amount of Jinn's automatons a few months ago), well, while some things may have changed in the COG, the ability of NCO's to dole out cruel and unusual punishment wasn't among them.

"Heh, suck it."

Cruel and unusual punishment that was even worse than the licking Kait's troops were giving his. They were already halfway across the board, while his Locust were stuck on their end of it.

"You understand this?" J.D. asked as he spawned another group of wretches.

"Pretty much." She deployed a turret which mowed J.D.'s wretches down. "Little hint – you want to win, you don't just spam units."

"Yeah, well, that was the Locust tactic wasn't it?" J.D. asked, even as he deployed a drone squad. "Just keep coming until one side was dead."

The drones got mowed down by the same turret.

"Fuck."

"Yeah, and look how that worked out for them," Kait said. She moved a Gear squad up the board. Frowning, J.D. deployed more Wretches. Which got mowed down. Again.

"Nice," Del snorted, looking at J.D. "That worked out so well last time."

J.D. glared at him. "You wanna play?"

"Um, yes? Soon as your arse is finished being kicked, I get dibs."

Scowling, he returned to the board and what little was left of his forces. "Game's rigged," he said.

"Rigged?" Kait exclaimed.

"Yeah. I mean, it's not like the Gears could ever lose."

His last group of drones were mowed down and Kait's Gears made it to the other side of the board. A COG WINS sign appeared above the board, along with the Crimson Omen.

"And that's game," Kait said. She leant back, smirking. "Wow. You really suck at this don't you?"

"I-"

"Yeah, he does," Del said, literally pushing J.D. off his chair and taking his space. "Now come on. Let's have a real game."

J.D. brushed the snow off his armour in silence as he watched his friends (potentially former friends if this assholery kept up) set up another battle. Gears and drones popped into existence. Holographic bullets were fired from holographic guns. It-

Oh. Maybe that's why it's called Gears Pop, he reflected, as he saw yet more Gears and drones appear on the board. Figures.

He had to hand it to Del (well, he didn't have to, but whatever), the man knew how to play the game much better than he did. Both sides were taking cover where necessary. Both were getting kills and suffering kills. He couldn't tell who was winning, and given the look on his friends' faces as the battle continued, they likely couldn't tell either.

"Y'know," J.D. said, breaking the silence (videogame gunfire notwithstanding), "I figure it ain't too offensive."

"Really," Kait said through gritted teeth.

"Yeah. I mean, here we have guys fighting the Locust right. But the Locust are dead."

"So?"

"So we're fighting the Swarm these days. That's, like, totally different."

"Fascinating," Del murmured. He leant forward. So did Kait. The battle continued. And continued. And continued. And kept continuing.

"So, like, is there a time limit for this?" J.D. asked.

They said nothing.

"Is there?"

They said nothing.

"Guys, I'm gonna keep asking-"

"For fuck's sake, yes!" Kait yelled.

"Gotcha," Del whispered.

It had happened in a second. A second of Kait being distracted, a second of Del moving his drones to her Gears, while deploying a turret to cover them.

"No," Kait whispered. "No no no no!"

J.D. could see that the tide had turned. And not long after that, he saw the final words of the end – LOCUST WIN.

"Fuck," Kait grunted. She glared at J.D. "This is your fault y'know?"

"Um…no?"

"You do, and it is," she said.

"Fine," J.D. said. "If you feel like that, want another round?"

"No," she said, before looking at Del. "Want another game? One without any interruptions?"

"Hey, you can't just-"

"Sure," Del said, reactivating the board. "GLHF."

J.D. had no idea what that even meant.

Though as the game started again, and given how intently his friends were staring at it, he doubted they'd tell him if he asked.

A/N

So the idea for this came after watching a gameplay trailer for Gears Pop. Not a fan of mobile games myself, but it looks kinda fun. Simple, but fun. Anyway, got me to drabble this up.