After the first hand finished, James scooped the pile of fried goodness onto his side of the coffee table. Aurora puffed her cheeks out, in an adorable show of defiance. Her eyes scanned the cards, a gentle white color circling her head. Just as James scooped them up to reshuffle them, her spots faded into a bright green. She smiled, and James smiled back.
The next hand went differently, with Aurora betting her remaining chips and winning most of his own. He smiled at first, and then the next hand she folded right when he had a four of a kind. After that, she won three in a row. He dismissed another buzz from his phone in the other room. "Okay, that's four in a row. I need to get my hands on whatever learning stuff you guys use."
Aurora began to point at the cards. "Four of this, means all. Numbers here and here," she pointed at her own cards and then his own, "change cards here. Big poraablum. Cards last game, Jay-mee add above. Still above."
He gave her a confused squint. Was she counting cards? In poker? That's not supposed to be possible. "Are you...calculating which cards are here?" She gave a sharp nod, white waving across her arms. She's counting cards! "How? I shuffle them again every time."
She had a slightly embarrassed expression, glancing up at him as her head tilted down. "Yes but Jay-mee is bääd shuf-full."
Indignantly, he handed her the cards. "Fine, let's see you do better. Smartass." She flickered yellow and stared at him. After some hesitation, she took them and cut the deck twice. Then she made a mess of them and put them back together. Like watching a toddler shuffle. He almost felt smug, and then the image sunk in. He had been about to gloat to her about being better with a task she'd never even been introduced to.
Instead, he sighed and moved behind her. He placed his hands over her own after the deck was one piece again. "Here, like this."
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