Episode 6 (Aurora Season 1)

Aurora: "Uh oh."

Shrinking clse to aurora, I look about and realize the car is surrounded.

Strange Man: "A.J.! I knew you were cheating!"

Strange Man: "You can fool the others, but you can't pull the wool over my eyes!"

The man bangs his fist, nearly denting the hood.

Strange Man: "You think you can pull your tricks here?"

Strange Man: "You think you can steal MY money?"

Aurora laughs suddenly, the sound vicious.

Aurora: "...Yes!!"

She starts up the car with a roar and peels out of the lot,

driving so fast I'm thrown back against the seat.

Another car rumbles after us, hot on our tail.

MC: "Crap!"

Aurora: "Don't worry, I got this!"

She drives through the city at breakneck speed,

blasting past red lights and taking every tight corner at 90 miles an hour.

Once we're on the highway, I think we've lost them.

But the car full of howling, angry men catches up to us.

Aurora: "Persistent."

We both jolt when the car tries to ram us, bumping into our rear.

MC: "Is he crazy?"

Glancing behind her, Aurora's eyes are dark with anger,

but a twisted grin is still on her face.

Aurora: "Okay, lucky lady. It's your turn to drive."

Without warning, Aurora takes my hand and yanks it to the wheel, forcing me to steer as she lets go.

MC: "What are you doing?!"

Aurora arches up, pulling a gun from a hidden compartment on the back of her seat.

Aurora: "Deciding if I should kill them or not."

Standing up and turning around,

Aurora takes aim at the car behind us and fires off four shots.

I wince at each one, and then again when Aurora slumps back in her seat and takes the wheel.

The car behind us reels, losing control as the tires fly off in peels of black rubber.

It crashes, rolling over and over towards us.

Aurora: "Bye, boys!"

Aurora escapes the crash by a narrow margin,

speeding off into the night and leaving the other car behind.

My head is throbbing from a sudden stress headache,

my whole body feeling like Aurora had doused me in rum and set me on fire.

When the car purrs to a stop in front of the mansion, I still have trouble believing I'm still alive.

Aurora: "Sooo..."

Aurora turns to me, resting her arm over the back of my seat.

Aurora: "Did you have fun?"

(Fun? FUN? We were almost killed!)

I stare at her a moment, realizing my chest is stuttering with each panting breath.

MC: "...Yes."

That cold laugh sends a fresh batch of trembles through me.

Aurora: "I'm so glad."

The next thing I know she's on top of me,

straddling my lap, each fist anchored with a tight grip on the front of my dress.

Aurora: "Thank you so much for driving.

She speaks against my ear, drawing her teeth along it to punctuate every word.

Then she shivers, letting out a sigh.

Aurora: "Come on, sweetie..."

Aurora: "Let's... go, before I do something I regret."

Aurora: "I need a drink. Or ten."

In her room, she peels off her clothes like they'll kill her if she leaves them on too long.

(I've gotten used to the sight.)

Still, my eyes keep trailing down, distracted by that ring on her smooth, flat belly.

Aurora: "Now where oh where did I stash that bottle of gin...?"

I lean against the doorway, feeling exhaustion seep down to my bones.

MC: "Can I have one, too?"

Aurora bounces on the balls of her feet at the suggestion, clapping her hands together in sudden energy.

Aurora: "Look at you, taking a drink from a stranger."

Aurora: "You've come so far."

Aurora: "And to think, all I had to do was get us in a car chase."

My laugh is tremulous as she fixes me a very sweet drink.

MC: "Does that happen often?"

She pouts.

Aurora: "I WISH it did."

Aurora: "The whole reason I joined Franco's gang was because he promsied me an exciting life."

(Whoa, hold on a minute.)

I set my drink down.

MC: "You were in Franco's gang?!"

Aurora: "Was that not obvious?"

I shake my head.

Plucking the cherry out of an open jar on the counter, Aurora sucks it off the stem.

Aurora: "Chance..."

She looks sad for a moment.

Aurora: "He may be the boss, but this gang wouldn't exist if it weren't for me."

She shakes her windswept hair out of her face,

clicking her nails against the counter as she measures out her own memories.

Aurora: "I convinced Yoshimitsu and Chance to leave Franco. Be their own masters."

MC: "...Why?"

She licks her lips, taking another swig of her drink before putting the glasses away.

Aurora: "He deserved it."

Aurora: "Franco did."

Aurora walks past me, plucking the cup from my hands and setting it aside.

Aurora: "Ah, but that's for another night. I'm tried now."

When her lips press against my cheek, she lingers longer than before.

Aurora: "Let's go to bed."

Aurora shoves me back onto the mattress before flopping there next to me.

There's enough room for us both to stretch out,

but I feel her presence next to me like a low-roaring fire, long after we've fallen asleep.

The order to keep her hands off me is obeyed, but only by the strictest of technicalities.

At night we continue to sleep in the same bed, inching closer and closer together.

Today she's bright eyed by the time I exit the shower.

Aurora: "Hey, cutie. I have a surprise waiting for you later today."

She hip-bumps me as she passes, and I stumble out of the bathroom.

Aurora: "Get ready."

For the rest of the day she keeps sober,

quizzing me harder than before until she decides it's time to unleash the surprise.

When she opens the doors to the private casino,

the whole gang turns to face us.

(Eep.)

They're dressed to the nines, looking sleek, polished, and dangerous.

Chance: "Sit."

He points to the head of the table.

Looking to Aurora for confirmation, I head over and do as he says.

Ash leans in, his face stern and impassive.

Ash: "Do you know what this is?"

A. An intervention?

B. A ritual?

C. A game?

---

C. A game?

I take a look at the stacks of chips set on the table.

MC: "We're playing a game together?"

Yoshimitsu: "Not just any game."

---

Chance starts to shuffle the deck, and the test begins.

I have only an instant to see the cards in the deck as he shuffles, and I miss most of them.

(This is closer to a real match than anything I've done with Aurora.)

The men and Aurora switch modes,

none of the usual playful banter darting across the table.

(Super intimidating.)

The first few rounds go without incident, the money piling up and getting shuffled off between us.

Chance: "So? What do you think?"

MC: "Considering the hands we've seen so far,"

MC: "there's only so many combinations that you have that might be able to beat me..."

Yoshimitsu: "Hey, she actually knows how to play."

Aurora: "I told you."

I keep looking to Aurora for help.

Even though she's playing against me, she breaks character to wink.

Aurora: "You got this."

Underneath the table, she strokes my lower arm.

Inspired, and with my blood pumping, I go all in.

Irving: "Well, well."

Irving: "She may stand a chance after all."

Yoshimitsu: "Yeah, as long as Rory is there to hold her hand."

I ignore the quip, playing solely against Chance.

I know he's the one I have to impress.

Chance meets my gaze, open challenge in his eyes.

With a single flip, he slides his hand across the table.

Chance: "I fold."

I gape at him, and glance down at his hand.

MC: "Wait. I won?"

Aurora: "You won!"

Aurora hugs me, shaking me from side to side.

Aurora: "Now let's celebrate!"

Ash gets up, bringing back a bottle of something black and viscous as ink.

He pours us all shots and we drink together.

MC: "Huh! This tastes like licorice."

Ash: "It's black absinthe."

Chance: "It's pretty strong, so be careful with it."

To hear that from Chance of all people sets this second match into perspective.

We play more poker together, getting rowdier with every shot,

and placing bets with whiskey and absinthe instead of money.

(So maybe it wasn't an initiation or anything.)

(But I'm starting to feel comfortable here.)

I don't even notice the doorbell ringing until Seymour starts howling.

Seymour: "Awooo!!"

Ash: "...Huh."

MC: "He's never barked like that before."

I hear an angry snarl, and then a few more anxious barks.

Yoshimitsu: "Wait, what time is it?"

Yoshimitsu squints at his cell phone, trying to make sense of the numbers.

Yoshimitsu: "That might be my new girlfriend!"

Irving: "Don't let Rory see her."

Chance looks up, gauging my reaction.

A. Rory can do what she wants.

B. Rory doesn't want her.

C. Don't let Chance see her, either.

---

A. Rory can do what she wants.

I laugh, hiccuping like a stereotypical drunk.

MC: "Rory can do whatever, or whoever, she wants."

MC: "I'm sure I've been driving her up the wall."

---

Aurora gives me a thumbs up, quickly catching on.

Aurora: "Yeah, you snore."

MC: "I do not."

Aurora: "Do too!"

It's still pretty flirt, but Chance rolls his eyes and looks back at te deck in his hands.

Yoshimitsu stumbles to the doorway, waving at us for silence.

Yoshimitsu: "Be cool, okay?"

Yoshimitsu: "I really like this girl."

Yoshimitsu: "I want to impress her."

Chance: "Maybe she'll be impressed by all those pushups you still owe me."

Aurora: "Still?"

Aurora: "How hard did he lose?"

Yoshimitsu points a warning finger at Chance.

Yoshimitsu: "Do not answer that."

Then he vanishes into the main hall.

I can hear it when he swings open the door.

Yoshimitsu: "Tiffany!"

A pause.

Yoshimitsu: "Wait, you're not Tiffany."

A strange, female voice speaks up.

???: "Nope. Is Aurora around?"

When Yoshimitsu returns, he's followed by a newcomer.

She looks stylishly unkempt, her hair shorn off in an undercut and most of her skin exposed.

Aurora stands up behind me, gently angling me aside.

I remember, suddenly, how she had stood between Franco Valentine and I that day we met.

(Something about this new girl gives me the same creeps.)

Everyone else senses it too.

Ash draws his gun, stepping closer to also stand between me and the new girl.

Aurora: "Do I know you?"

Her eyes, electric blue, travel slowly and appreciatively down Aurora's body.

???: "No. But I know you."

???: "I thought you'd be cuter."

???: "But you're just a washed up old drunk, aren't you?"

Bristling with anger, I shove past Aurora to glare down at the newcomer.

MC: "And who the hell are you?!"

Skylar: "Skylar Locke."

Skylar: "Franco sent me to check out the competition."