Episode 4 (Aurora Season 1)

Again, I wake up before Aurora.

I didn't think to pack my own beauty products, but Aurora has a huge selection.

(Obviously meant for more than one woman.)

My gaze sharpens on a petite bottle of lotion that I know for a fact costs two hundred bucks an ounce.

Realizing I'd forgotten my favirute wide-toothed comb in my suitcase,

I decide to rush out real quick and grab it before changing.

Opening the door...

Aurora: "Oof!"

I run straight into Aurora, at full speed.

Again I'm surprised by how much lighter she is than she looks,

and we go tumbling down onto the floor.

Aurora is caught off guard, and I see her face harden with anger,

as she responds on instinct and pulls me into a lock, glaring down at me.

Aurora: "You want to try that again?"

MC: "Oww."

She has me pinned, and I realize she must have thought I'd tackled her on purpose.

MC: "Hey, it was an accident."

MC: "No need for karate."

Aurora doesn't ease up at first...

until her eyes travel down, as if just noticing my state of undress.

Aurora: "It's judo."

She keeps me pressed up close against her, bare legs tangled up in mine.

Aurora: "Hmm."

Aurora: "Can't say I'm not enjoying the view, but..."

When she releases me I sit up, propping myself on my elbows, blushing furiously.

Aurora: "For a second there I thought I'd gotten bum-rushed by a fluffy little sheep."

To demonstrate, she takes my head in both hands, mussing up my hair.

Aurora: "If you want to wake me up, try coffee next time, okay?"

She pats my cheek and gets up, offering me a helping hand.

Aurora: "Now shoo, unless you plan to join me in the shower."

Aurora turns around, reaching behind her back t undo the clasp on her bra.

Taking the hint, I scoot out of there and get dressed as fast as I can.

Seymour greets me when I go downstairs, waggling his whole body with excitement.

He licks my palms before running down the hallway.

Following him, I hear laughter and plastic rattling and come across the rest of the gang in the casino.

Chance: "Pay up, all of you."

Yoshimitsu: "But I'm your brother!"

Chance: "Yeah, and you owe me six thousand dollars."

When I enter the room, Yoshimitsu is growling and shoving chips at his brother.

Seymour lopes over and plants himself at Ash's feet.

I sit down next to Irving, staring confused at the cards that Chance deals me.

MC: "Oh. It's blackjack?"

Even I know how to play that.

Chance: "You in or you out?"

MC: "If it's okay with you guys..."

Yoshimitsu: "The next round is going to be paid in sweat and blood!"

Yoshimitsu: "Losers have to do a hundred pushups!"

Chance: "No."

Ash: "I don't think  wants to, either."

Yoshimitsu pauses, obviously not having considered me in the equation.

A. I'll do it!

B. No way.

C. Can we bet something else?

---

B. No way.

MC: "Well, you might have to count me out."

Yoshimitsu: "'Cause you got weak little noodle arms?"

---

Aurora: "Oh, did you all start without me?"

Aurora's warm voice so close to me sends a fresh batch of shivers down my spine.

Chance: "Hey, Rory."

Chance: "Grab a seat."

Aurora: "With pleasure."

Aurora: "You're dealing?"

Chance: "Unless you want to."

Aurora shakes her head so Chance deals her two cards, one face up and one face down.

Chance: "What are you betting or the next round?"

Aurora: "Oh, I don't know."

Aurora: "How much has Yoyo lost today?"

Ash: "Too much."

Ash: "He has to back out."

Yoshimitsu: "Hey!"

We play a few more rounds, exchanging chips and raising the stakes.

I get the hang of the game very quickly, and even manage to hit a winning streak.

Aurora: "Hey, kepe that up and you'll pay us back in no time."

Irving: "Speaking of payback, I have a court matter to resolve today."

Aurora: "Aw, but I just got here?"

Irving shrugs.

Irving: "Someone has to cover the rent."

Straightening his tie, Irving stands up, giving us a short wave.

Aurora seems troubled by his words, glancing over to Chance with questioning eyes.

Chance's eyebrows quirk up, a sigh escaping his lips.

Chance: "After the 's ran off with half our money,"

Chance: "we were banking on you winning the Ruby Heart."

(And now that she can't play in the tournament...)

I'm quiet as Chance deals out another hand.

So is Aurora, and there's a noticeable dip in the overall atmosphere of the room.

Aurora loses again, but this time she doesn't take it quite in stride.

She loses her cool, growing more and more flustered with every losing hand.

Aurora: "Bad luck today."

Aurora: "I'm calling it quits."

Planting her palms flat on the table, she shoots Yoshimitsu a sly grin.

Aurora: "You might want to think about doing that, too!"

Despite parting with a joke, I can tell Aurora is angry again.

And since I'm losing too, I decide to take her advice and quit before I get in too deep.

Seymour follows at my heels as I track down Aurora outside,

perched on the linen cusions of a breezy cabana.

I see two decks of cards in her hands,

and she's rapidly shuffling through them both to a pattern I don't fully recognize.

MC: "Hey."

She glances up shortly at me before returning to her cards.

Aurora "What a good girl you are, following me without a reminder."

MC: "Well, I was getting slaughtered back there anyway."

That makes her crack a smile.

She shuffles the deck again, and when she pull sback on the hand to let them rattle out,

I catch a quickl glimpse of the cards within her hand.

Aurora: "Want to play with me?"

Aurora: "If you can guess the top card, I'll cut what you owe me in half."

Aurora: "Maybe--"

I don't even wait for her to finish.

Climbing up to sit in the cabana with her, I point at the top card.

MC: "Ten of diamonds."

Floored, Aurora stares at me a moment.

Then she glances behind her, maybe checking for a mirror.

Aurora: "All right."

Aurora: "Witchcraft or excellent luck?"

MC: "Neither."

MC: "I just saw the cards as you shuffled them."

Sitting with her legs crossed under her, Aurora gives me a more scrutinizing look.

Aurora: "Hmm."

Shuffling the deck again, she splayed out the top ten cards.

Aurora: "Name 'em."

Hesitantly, I look at the facedown cards.

I point at one after the other.

MC: "A... um... that's the Jack of clubs, the Ace of spades, the..."

I list them out; she flips them all over and shows me I was correct.

Aurora: "One more time."

MC: "Sure!"

The game quickly gets more intense as Aurora starts grilling me on card after card.

Seymour abandons me for Ash again at one point, running back inside with his tail whipping furiously.

Aurora shuffles her two decks before adding another one to challenge me.

Aurora: "What's this?"

She points to a facedown card.

MC: "Three of hearts!"

Aurora: "And this?"

MC: "Ten of spades!"

She plants her palms on the floor, leaning closer to me with a wide grin.

Aurora: "And the suit on my belly button ring?!"

I mimic her pose, happily playing along and swept up in the game.

MC: "A black spade!"

Aurora grins wider.

And then I realize how close we are, nearly face to face,

I clap my hands over my mouth, sitting back.

MC: "Oh! Oh my gosh."

MC: "You're terrible, Aurora."

She giggles, setting up her deck again and tossing her hair over her shoulder.

Aurora: "You know you can call me Rory, right?"

Scooting over so that we're sitting side by side,

she splays out another hand of cards and makes me recite them.

Aurora: "All my friends call me Rory."

A. If you want.

B. We're not friends.

C. Why not Aurora?

---

C. Why not Aurora?

MC: "Do you prefer that over Aurora?"

Aurora: "No. I just like letting peple know where they stand with me."

MC: "It's a cute nickname."

---

I take one of the cards, fidgeting with it and folding it this way and that.

MC: "I don't know if I'd call us friends, is all."

She sets her hand over mine and I go still.

Aurora: "Then maybe we should be more than that."

I know I should pull away, or say something to deflect her.

So far Aurora madea  point to stop bothering me whenever I did that.

(But it feels so good...)

Her fingers link with mine.

Aurora: "I need your help, ."

Aurora's grip shifts, turning my hand wrist up so that she can tug back my sleeve.

Aurora: "Won't you help me?"

MC: "Yeah. With the..."

Her ifngers slide up my wrist, the friction of her skin against mine unexpectedly intimate.

MC: "...Money."

The hand over my wrist skirts up my arm, resting on my chin to pull my gaze up to hers.

Aurora: "With more than that."

MC: "Rory?"

Just like before, in the car, her hands find all the tense spots on the back of my neck.

Her hands feel like magic, kneading away every knot of tension,

until I feel like I'm about to melt into the floor.

Aurora: "You poor thing. How long has it been since someone treated you gently?"

She effortlessly pulls small gasps of pleasure from me.

Even if I wanted to keep quiet, I'm not sure I could.

A. Beg her not to stop.

B. Change the subject. Quick!

---

B. Change the subject. Quick!

MC: "Rory, I-I'm not sure what I should do."

MC: "To help you."

Aurora's body is pressed tight and close against mine.

It's to the point that I can feel her thundering heartbeat, right underneath the skin.

Aurora: "You're about to find out. Follow me."

<p style="text-align:center;">---

With her hand tight around my wrist, Aurora leads me back inside.

My head spins, all my senses drowned by the scenf of her perfume.

(Am I really doing this?)

(For God's sake, <MC>, she KIDNAPPED you!)

Dizzied by my own thoughts, I don't even realize we aren't headed to the elevators at first.

I cool down a bit when I see the rest of the gang in the living room,

standing in a circle around Yoshimitsu.

Yoshimitsu is shirtless, sweat dripping down the coumn of his spine as he pauses mid-pushup.

(Guess he lost.)

Yoshimitsu: "...Before you say anything..."

Aurora holds up a hand for silence.

Aurora: "Stow the machismo for a second, Yoyo."

Aurora: "I have something important to announce."

Ash walks over, hanidng Aurora a glass of dark bourbon with a smile.

She lifts it up in celebration.

Aurora: "I found out how we're going to get our money back!"

Ash: "Really? How?"

She slings an arm around my shoulder.

Aurora: "Our little lamb here is going to play in the Ruby Heart tournament!"

MC: "Wait, WHAT--!?"

Chance: "You can't be ser--"

Chance and I had spoken at the same time.

He gives me a withering look before focusing on Aurora.

Chance: "Explain."

Aurora: "It's simple."

Aurora: "I'm anned from Ruby Heart, and so is the rest of the gang."

Aurora: "But <MC> isn't!"

Speaking low, I swallow a nervous lump in my throat.

MC: "But Rory, I don't even know how to play poker!"

Chance is in agreement with me again.

Chance: "Do you really think this newbie can hold up against the pros?"

Chance: "Especially Franco's people?"

Aurora: "Oh, ye of little faith."

Aurora: "Listen to me, all of you."

Aurora: "<MC> has near-photographic memory."

Chance gives her a flat look.

Aurora: "Hey, if you don't believe me, feel free to test her yourself."

Aurora: "But I know if I coach her, we'll have a lean, mean, poker-playing machine in time for the tournament.

Ash: "Can we spare the money for her entrance fee?"

Aurora: "I'll pay for it out of my own pocket."

Aurora: "If she loses, we'll just be back at square one."

I'm sort of seeing her reasoning, even if I don't feel up to the challenge.

MC: "But if I win... Then our problems are solved."

(Am I seriously considering that?)

(There's no way I'll be able to win!)

Ash sips from his glass of bourbon, frowning in thought.

Then he nods once, decisively.

Ash: "I trust Rory."

Aurora: "Yes!"

Yoshimitsu and Chance exchange a single, wodless glance.

Then Yoshimitsu shrugs.

Yoshimitsu: "Worth a shot."

Chance: "I'll talk to Irving."

Chance: "If he gives the go-ahead, I'll okay it."

He points at Aurora suddenly, eyebrows tensing together in a scowl.

Chance: "Just as long as you don't break the rules.

Yoshimitsu rolls his eyes, giving Aurora a sympathetic pat on the back.

Yoshimitsu: "Did you get a stern lecture too?"

Ash: "He made us all promise..."

(Promise? Promise what? Chance hasn't told me anything about any rules...)

Chance: "Focus. Rory, I want to hear you say it."

Aurora: "I won't, I swear."

She crosses her heart,

and Yoshimitsu winks at me.

I feel put under a spotlight, suddenly.. Out ot the loop and not liking it.

Aurora: "Chance. My friend. Would I like to you?"

Yoshimits: "Yes."

Ash: "Yes."

Chance: "Yes."

Seymour: "Woof!"

My dog trots over to me, bumpig his head against my thigh.

Aurora: "Absolutely unbelievable."

The hustler mutters darkly under her breath,

but her good mood can't be dampened for long.

Aurora: "You'll all be singing a different tune when I have that winner's pot."

Aurora: "Just you wait."

(This is crazy...)

Aurora takes my hand again, leading me out of the room.

(When Aurora asked me to help her, I didn't think she meant naything like this.)

But if it gets me out of their debt, then I have to at least try.