What Rules? (Aurelia, Open)

[Danica Krizova]

Still nodding, Dani gave him the "OK" sign. "Because that's probably really hard to get. Got it," she said, a little encouraged by her own understanding. Even if it was wrong, and she was misinterpreting the why of things, it made sense to her, and Kieran had agreed.

"Where does four of a kind come in?" Did they skip it, or was it worth more than a straight? She bit her lip. "I'm still going to have to ask you so many question, even after you show me everything. I'm sorry. I'll catch on fast, though, Kieran."

[Kieran Michael Dawn]

"Four of a kind is a good one, but it doesn't come up yet," he replied. "There are two more possible hands that come before it."

He took out five more cards, this time they were all random numbers, but they were all hearts. "OK, see how these cards are all hearts? The heart is called a suit, and when you get five cards of the same suit like this, that's called a flush. It beats a straight."

[Danica Krizova]

"What if you get a straight in all the same color? I mean suit. 'Cuz there's two suits in each color." It was the next logical question for her, though she was trying really hard to catch on so that Kieran wouldn't look at her like she was just a silly little girl. She wanted him to think that she was smart and a quick learner. Merlin knew she paid more attention to him than she did to most of her teachers.

Even still, she couldn't just sit back and listen- she had to ask. Even as a baby, she'd been infinitely curious about everything.

[Kieran Michael Dawn]

Kieran smiled at this. She was a very smart girl, and her ability to ask questions was one of the most endearing things about her. She always wanted to know how things worked and what things meant.

"Very good question," he said. "That can happen, although it's very rare. So when it does, it's a very good thing. But I'm getting to it."

He took out some more cards, pulling out three queens and two kings. "This is called a full house... when you have two of a kind and thre of a kind together. It will beat a straight or a flush." Next he pulled out all four kings. "If you have a four of a kind, it will beat almost everything else... but not a straight flush."

He stopped to arrange five clubs in numerical order: 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. "If you get a straight that's all the same suit like this, it's a straight flush, and it will beat almost anything. The highest straight flush you can get--" he stopped and arranged a 10 of hearts, jack of hearts, queen of hearts, king of hearts, and ace of hearts all in a row. "--is called a royal flush. This is the highest thing you can get, mainly because it's really hard to get. Out of all the times I've played, I've never seen one come up in a game."

[Danica Krizova]

(Did we skip a Full House?)

"Okay, I'll stop asking and wait until you're all done." It was the second time now that he told her he simply hadn't gotten to her question yet. She listened aptly while he continued to explain, and briefly wondered why there were no 'princess' cards. She kept this particular question silent, however, and nodded along with him.

"So... it's all luck, isn't it? You can't control what cards you'll get. I am so teaching everyone at school how to play this. Can you deal again? I'll try to remember all of the things you can get."

[Kieran Michael Dawn]

(Ooops, I did. I'll edit after this post.)

He began to gather up all the cards he had spread all over the table. "Yeah, it's mostly luck. But it also involves a little bit of skill, because you have to know what chances to take and what to try for. It's really about taking a guess, like if you have a three, a four and a five, you have to decide whether you want to take a chance that you might get a six and a seven. Also, if you're betting.... which we're not going to... there's another factor. The betting can be part of the game, like if you put in a really large bet, the other person might think that you have a really good hand. And if they don't have a really good hand, they might back out, and you would win, no matter what you're actually holding in your hand. You could be holding two threes, but you're betting like you hold four aces. That's called bluffing."

He began shuffling the cards again, then gave her a look. "But I did not tell you about that part, OK? I don't want to encourage you to gamble. I don't think your mother would be too happy with me if I did."

[Danica Krizova]

Danica made a motion with her fingers over her lips as though she was locking her lips and throwing away the key. She'd keep any secret of Kieran's with a fierce loyalty. "I won't tell anyone. I don't think Mum's going to be happy that I'm even playing poker. Maybe I won't tell her that, either."

She took the five cards that he dealt her and arranged them in her hand. "Hey, Kieran? Can you teach me how to bluff?" Afterall, if it was part of the game, she should know how to do it, right? Plus, she had a suspicion that it might be a useful trick on other areas outside of poker as well.

[Kieran Michael Dawn]

Kieran frowned slightly, feeling a little guilty that he was teaching her to keep things from her mother. He knew how close the two of them were, and he didn't really want her to be like him. He kept things from his mother all the time. But this was the most "normal" he had felt in months. He wasn't even desperate for a drink right now. How could he help it if he wanted to indulge her?

"OK," he said. "But I'll need to get something to bet with."

He looked around and spotted the wizard vending machine in the back. It was similar to a muggle vending machine, in that you put in money, and it would give you what you wanted. But unlike a muggle vending machine, there were unlimited choices. After putting in the appropriate amount of coins, you had only to tap the machine with your wand and say what you wanted, and it would come out. Perfect.

He got up and dig around in his robe pockets until he pulled out a handful of coins. He put a few of them in and told the machine he wanted a bag of chocolate galleons. A large bag dropped into the chute and he pulled it out.

"OK, we'll use these to bet with," he said, sitting back down and handing the bag to her. "You dole these out so that we each have an equal amount. I'll finish shuffling, and then deal the cards."

[Danica Krizova]

Danica's smile was wide. She wasn't sure she'd be able to convince Kieran to teach her anything about the betting part of the game, but it had actually been fairly easy.

Excitedly taking the bag of chocolates from him, she started to count them out into two piles, making them even. When the bag was empty, she got to her knees in the chair and pushed the pile on the right towards Kieran, and then pulled the other towards her, brushing her hair behind her ears.

Settling into the chair again, she was quiet, but looked at the older boy, patiently waiting for what to do next.

[Kieran Michael Dawn]

He stifled a yawn as he dealt out the cards to each of them. "Now, normally, when you play, it'll be with more than two people," he explained. "You should try for at least four people, and probably no more than six."

He picked up one of his chocolate galleons and placed it in the middle of the table. "Before you even look at your cards, you put in a standard bet. Usually that will be predetermined... I usually start with one, and after a while it may go up."

He waited for her to put her bet in, taking a quick glance at the door to make sure his mother wasn't watching him teach the little girl how to gamble.

[Danica Krizova]

Luckily for the two of them, Rita was far from being able to come in to check on them anyway.

"What if I have a bad hand and I don't know it yet?" Dani asked, although she went ahead and set one of her own coins on top of his. Then again, she supposed there had to be something they were playing for to start with.

"I can get the other girls in the dorm to play," she decided, if she needed more than two people to play with. "But I have to wait a while. I've been getting in trouble a lot lately." After she disclosed this bit of information, she gave Kieran a look that told him quite clearly what she thought of the fact she kept getting in trouble.

"Okay, can I look at the cards yet?"

[Kieran Michael Dawn]

"You have to bet up front, even if your hand is bad. That's part of the risk," Kieran explained. Looking at her, he nodded. "Yes, you can look at your cards now. Turn them over so I can see.... we're just practicing right now. We'll play a real hand later."

She was reminding him of Chelsea again, the way she kept asking questions. When she was younger, Chelsea used to ask a lot of questions, too. Of course, he had been younger, too, and didn't really want to be hounded with questions from his baby sister. He remembered one time when he yelled at her...

His hands were shaking again, so badly that he had to put the cards down. "Sorry... I'm fine..." he said quickly, clenching his hands tightly for a moment.

[Danica Krizova]

Dani nodded and obeyed, flipping her cards over one at a time. She had an Ace of Hearts, and Jack of clubs, a pair of fives, and a two of Diamonds.

Without waiting for Kieran to comment, she set her Jack with the Ace and put the two fives together, leaving the two by itself in the middle. After all of this was completed with her absolute concentration, she looked back at him.

He was putting his cards down and looking rather tormented, and her mouth instantly opened to ask if he was okay, but he cut her off with his apology and assurance that he was fine.

When she started to shake like that, her mum just held her and talked her through it. Instinctively, she knew that this was different, and she didn't know how to fix it.

"Kieran?" She asked quietly, wanting to ask if he was okay even though he already said yes.

[Kieran Michael Dawn]

He heard the note of fear in her voice, and it snapped him out of it. He really needed a drink, but he was trying so hard to be strong right now. He didn’t want Dani to see him drinking, but he also didn’t want her to see him shaking. He could also feel a twinge of a headache coming on, and the eye twitch usually followed.

“It’s OK,” he lied. “I’m OK. I guess… I’m just hungrier than I thought. Tell you what… I’m going to see if I can get something to eat. I promise I’ll be right back. If you want, you can look at my cards, and decide what you think you’d do with them.”

He gave her a slight smile and left the table in search of one of the cocktail waitresses. He found Brenda and asked her to make him a plate of the macaroni and cheese that came so highly recommended by Danica. She smiled and agreed, promising to bring it to him when it was ready.

After that, he ducked quickly into the bathroom and took a long swig from the flask that he had in his pocket. It was just enough to stop his hands from shaking, that was it. At least, that was how he rationalized it.

[Danica Krizova]

Dani turned in her seat to watch him go, and she leaned back while he spoke with Brenda. Frowning, she just watched the short exchange. Then, he was gone down the little hallway, and Brenda caught her eyes, giving her a wink and a smile. Dani waved back and turned around in her seat again.

Then, sighing, she looked at Kieran's cards, which were already better than her own. She arranged the two kings together, and set his queen next to them. Off to the side, she put his nine and eight of different suits. Then she sat still and waited for him to come back.

[Kieran Michael Dawn]

Kieran felt better after the drink. His hands felt steady again, and the headache was starting to ease. He knew what all this meant, and he wondered to himself how he had let it get this bad. And yet, he didn’t feel like he could do anything about it. There was still that voice inside him that insisted he could handle it, he could stop at any time… all the standard excuses.

He didn’t want Danica to worry, so he left the bathroom and started back to the table. But he didn’t want her to smell the alcohol on his breath, so he kept his head turned partly away from her as he spoke. “Hey, sorry about that,” he said.

He took a chocolate galleon from his stack and unwrapped it, then slipped it in his mouth. The chocolate wouldn’t totally hide the alcohol smell, but it would mask it a little. “Now, where were we?”

[Danica Krizova]

"Don't be sorry," Dani replied. "Are you okay now? I think Brenda is making you something. She's really nice."

She had to stop herself from reminding Kieran that Brenda needed a boyfriend. In her eyes, he still had a girlfriend. Just because Ivy was with Chelsea, and they weren't coming home, it didn't mean that Kieran wasn't still in love.

Matching his movements, she unwrapped one of her own chocolates so they would still have an even amount.

"I put all the good cards together. I think."

[Kieran Michael Dawn]

He nodded quickly. "Yeah, I'm fine," he assured her. It was a lie, of course, but she didn't really need to know the truth. Eventually, he kept telling himself, he'd pull himself out of this, and he'd be back to his old self... or at least some reasonable facsimile.

It was a good thing no one was trying to push him to "move on" with someone else. He'd loved Ivy for so long that he couldn't even remember a time when he didn't. He'd been only a little older than Danica was now when he first met Ivy, and he really thought now that he'd loved her from the very beginning. It was really hard to move on after loving someone for more than ten years.

"OK, good," he said, trying to pull his head back into the game. "So, based on your hand, what do you think you should do?"

[Danica Krizova]

"I don't know. I feel like I should keep all my lettered cards, but I don't know how much good they'll do if I only have two cards I get to pick up."

She blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. "What are you going to do with your cards? Do you bet before or after you get new cards?"

She looked up at him like he held all the answers, not just in poker, but for everything. He just had the answers.

While she was waiting for further instruction, she blurted out, "Kieran, what was school like for you?"

[Kieran Michael Dawn]

Something about that look in her eyes made him feel so guilty. He didn’t have the answers; he was a mess. But he recognized a sort of hero worship in her eyes and it scared him a little. He was a liar and a fraud and not a good role model for her at all. He had to look away for a minute and pretended to be carefully studying his cards while deep in thought.

“I’ll probably keep the kings. There’s a better chance I’ll get something with them. It probably wouldn’t hurt to keep the queen as well. For your cards, you would probably be better if you kept the fives, and if you wanted to hang on to the ace, you could do that, too. It might help you. Normally, you would place another bet when you decide how many cards you want, but before you look at them. Sometimes, if a player has nothing good at all, they can step out of the hand at this point. That’s called folding.”

Her next question took him by surprise, and he looked up at her again. “I was quiet, really. I spent most of my time studying in the library. I didn’t have a lot of friends, but I met Ivy in my second year, and she was my best friend. Why?”