Cammie & Alex

    “Well Alex and Cammie, it’s been a whole day, so unfortunately it’s time to say goodbye,” Drake said. The three of them were standing outside the front door of the castle, a limousine waiting in the driveway.
    Alex and Cammie hugged each other, and as Alex stepping into the limousine, she turned back to Cammie and said, “Hey. Make sure you win! I’ll be rooting for you!”
    “Thanks so much Alex!” Cammie said, her girlfriend fully getting in the limousine. She could see her still waving goodbye out the back window, even when the limo left the gate and turned towards the airport.

~~~
Ophelia’s Practice

    “I hate this,” Ophelia said. She was wearing the costume David had helped designed for tomorrow’s show.
    “Well, now you might understand a bit how I feel whenever you have me wear that ridiculous getup for our act,” David chuckled.
    “But those are ancient garments, the creation of which has been passed down through generations thanks to the immortal knowledge of the Spirits of Gaia. These are-“ Ophelia turned her body more in the mirror, looking at her body at a different angle, “Do people really wear these?”
    “Oh come on. It’s not that bad, I think it makes you look rather sweet.”
    “I know. That’s why I think it’s disgusting,” Ophelia turned the other way, getting a different angle of her costume.

~~~
Cammie’s Practice

    “So Cammie. How did you and Alex spend your day yesterday?” David asked.
    “Oh you know, we spent most of it catching up a bit.”
    “Very nice. So… I know it may not be in my boundaries to ask. However, Amanda has asked me to ask you when you were planning on popping her the question.”
    “David!” Cammie blushed, “I can’t exactly answer that now! Alex watches the show, remember.”
    “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” David said, holding up his hands defensively, “My wife is a terrible gossip, and she said if I didn’t ask she was going to ask herself.”
    “It’s alright David, let’s just start practice so we’re ready for tomorrow,” Cammie said, walking past and towards the props. As she passed by him, her whispers could barely be picked up, “I’ll tell you later when the cameras are off.”
    David, in response, smiled.

~~~
Jill & Saffron

    Jill was grabbing something quick to eat before her practice with David. She had spent most of last night sitting outside on the roof with Saffron, but after they eventually went back to their own rooms. Since then, Jill had been doing her best to avoid Saffron. Of course, now that plan had completely went out the window.
    “Hey,” Saffron said, sounding slightly downtrodden.
    “Hey,” Jill responded, equally as downtrodden. After a rather large silence, Jill tried to say, “So about last night-“
    “Jill, I’m really sorry about last night,” Saffron interrupted, “I was kind of in a rough spot seeing Alex being so supportive of Cameron and everything. I wanted to thank you for just sitting with me.”
    “Oh, no problem Saffron,” Jill said, giving her a light smile, “I wanted to apologize too. I didn’t mean to start going off on my own issues. I came to help you with my problems, not the other way around.”
    “You don’t have to apologize for that,” Saffron said, lightening up as well, “I kind of threw a lot at you all at once. I just wanted to make sure that we could still be friends after last night.”
    “What? Of course Saffron,” Jill said, walking forwards and hugging her, “And if you ever need to talk it out, or talk about anything really, my door’s always open.”
    “Thanks Jill,” Saffron said. The two just stood there for a while, finding comfort in the arms of the other.

~~~
Saffron’s Practice

    “Okay, you’re doing great Fernando, but can you do that part again with a bit more ferocity?”
    If the giant teddy bear could, it would be rolling its eyes, but it acquiesced to his master’s command and climbed down from his perch and set up back at his first position. He executed the movements Saffron wanted him to do once again, landing where he had been instructed. “Alright. Alright. Now could you do it again, but give it a bit more finesse when you land?” The bear would have growled if it had functioning vocal chords.
    “Wow Saffron,” David commented, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen this side of you before.”
    “Well David. It’s Fernando’s big stage debut and I don’t want people to be making fun of him for improper technique.”
    “I see that. It’s just that you’ve never been this hard on the details in any of our other rehearsals.”
    “I’ve been serious about the details before,” Saffron pouted.
    “Look Saffron. I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but Fernando is actually doing fine. I think he’s going to be amazing tomorrow. I think you should give the poor bear a break so that we can practice on your part a bit more.”
    “But what about-“
    “Saffron.”
    “Fine,” She pouted again, “but if they laugh at him I know who I’m going to be coming after.”

~~~
Jill’s Practice

    “Okay Jill. One more time,” David said. As she had the last practice of the day, they were working a bit on her magic skills outside of her trick.
    “Alright. I’ve got it this time!” Jill took the rolling pin in her hands, pressing down on David’s stomach and rolling it over him. After a few more rolls, she managed to press David down to about two inches thick before he wouldn’t give any more. She covered him with a a cloth, and as she had done several times now, focused on the image of a normal David underneath.
    As she whisked away the cloth, David got up off the table and hugged her. “Excellent work Jill! You’re making so much progress! I can see you actually being able to flatten me by the end of next week at this rate!”
     “Wow. Thanks David,” Jill said, a little confused at the amount of enthusiasm he was showing. “You can let go now.”
    “Oops. Sorry,” David said, embarrassingly letting go of Jill. “I got a little carried away there.”
    “I’ll say,” Jill said, straightening her outfit, “What was that all about?”
    “Sorry. It’s been forever since I’ve had the opportunity to teach someone so inexperienced in magic. No offense, of course.”
    “None taken.”
    “Anyways, with the baby on the way and everything, I was fearful that I had lost my touch completely. Of course, now I know I’ve still got it!” David said, semi-jokingly, flexing his practically non-existent muscles.
    “Well, I’m certain you’re going to be a great trainer for her, and an even better dad,” Jill said, giving David her own, less intense hug.
    “Thanks Jill,” David returned the hug.

    To Ophelia: “You know, having a strong personality is considered a good thing for most people since it could help you have an interesting dynamic with David if you win the contest. Basically will help you in the long term.” -quad2

    Yes, I’ve already apologized to David for my misunderstanding. It’s just that many people do not respect my lifestyle or the Ancient Magicks. So when I hear people talking about me I typically assume the worst.

    To Saffron: “Wait, I thought your parents and family are into magic? I can understand why they may disapprove being a magician's assistant, but the way you phrased it seems like they hate magic. Sorry, I just need some clarification.” -quad2

    You know, they see magic the same way some people see playing video games. They think, yeah it’s something fun to do, but it’s childish to want to do as a career. Actually, I think it’s worse than that. I’m sure if I wanted to be a magician, I could convince some of them about making magic my career. But since I want to be an assistant, all of them see my dream as just wanting to be an exhibitionist or something. They don’t respect the amount of work it actually takes to be an assistant!

    To David: “David! Hi! Long time no see! Just got time to chat. About not being a stage magician, you are partially right! I am still a magician, just selling bodiless heads. As for why, it's mostly based on my last act that sent me to another dimension, ended up as a floating head, stuck there for a long time, came back as if nothing has happened, dealt with some more heads, and decided to make a profit out of it. Yeah, that stuff and its legal thanks to court rulings and all. I see that you got your own show and all... I'm kind of jealous. If you can be a sweet heart, also tell Amanda sorry again about that botched up act back in middle school. I swear I did not did it out of malice in our old love triangle!” -Rei

    Oh. Hello Rei! Definitely long time no see! What’s it been? Ten, Fifteen years? Great to hear that you are still doing a bit of magic on the side. When I heard about your disappearance act gone wrong, I was so worried you were going to give up on your dream when you eventually got back. I still remember back in elementary school where we promised each other we were both going to become world class magicians.
    It’s great to hear that you’ve managed to get a business running on the side! I’ve always considered opening up a magic shop of my own, but I’ve found that I’ve always been too busy with shows or appearances that I’m probably not going to be able to get it running until I’ve retired. In all honesty, I’m sort of jealous of you!
    Running a Head Shop must be a lot of work. Making sure that all the heads look their best, and that they find the right person to take care of them. I’ll make sure to send people your way if anyone ever comes to me asking for a new head.
    I’ve been telling Amanda that you didn’t mean to do it for more than twenty years, but I think we’re just going to have to accept the fact that she’ll never forgive you. To be fair, you did embarrass her in front of everyone. She still can’t go around people she knows from middle school without being called that cruel nickname that everyone came up with.

    To Ophelia: “Some of the heads in my head shop are fans of you. Especially the heads of previous Magick users. They also want me to warn you to avoid spells the involves big proportions or sacrifices or else you might end up like them permanently. Some of them also recommend losing your head literally since it gets you closer to Gaia. Recommended to do it in quiet places with plant life around.” -Rei

    Thank you for the advice Rei, however I would like to ask that you keep your heads advice to themselves. I am well aware of my bounds when it comes to magick, and would not do something as reckless as whatever they did that caused them to lose their heads.

    To Saffron: “Are you crushing on Jill?” -Cheesyterestr1al
   
    Oh no. Yesterday was just Jill trying to cheer me up. I’m sorry that you got the wrong impression, but I’m as straight as an arrow.

    To Jill: “Are you crushing on Saffron?” -Cheesyterestr1al

    Sorry to disappoint, but I was just trying to cheer Saffron up last night. She really seemed like she needed to be with someone she could trust.

    To David and Amanda: “Component atoms? That's one heck of a trick! I know you can't demonstrate, David, but can we get a quick insight as to the process of performing such a trick? How you managed to break Amanda down so completely, and transformed her into the various minerals and fluids (because I'm guessing most of that would be turned to water). And Amanda, what was it like, being separated like that, just being a loose glob of atoms?” -FlexibleAnatomy

    David: Sure thing. So, the first thing we did actually was put Amanda through a dehydrator so we could get rid of all the liquid in her body.
    Amanda: Oh, that was the worst part of the trick. All the bad parts of being burned up but without the fun of turning to ash.
    David: Then, we used my patented ‘Laser Blender’ to cut Amanda up at the atomic level. My lasers are so precise, they could cut oxygen atoms out of the air.
    Amanda: That was my favorite part of the trick. I’d never been cut up so finely before. It was extremely similar to being turned into a pile of goo, but rather than a homogenous mixture of myself, I was a variety of different stuff mixed together.
    David: Then, we used a sorting machine I had created to sort out the mess of atoms based on atomic weight and size.
    Amanda: The sorting machine felt like I was falling, since it used gravity and mechanisms similar to coin sorting machines to sort the atoms. And then, when I was sorted out, it was so weird because it was like I was different piles of goos. They each had different textures and consistencies based on which atoms they were. It was crazy!
    David: Then I poured the carbon atoms into a pressure cooker and super charged it to form the diamonds in a few minutes.
    Amanda: Mmm. I liked that part too. In many ways it reminded me of that time you used my flesh to make bread. The heat and pressure turning me into something else. Although, I must say it was more annoying to be a larger solid again.
    David: And then to close it all off, I mixed all the atoms and diamonds together, added some water, and after mixing it for a bit, Amanda was back to normal.
    Amanda: That was so dizzying! And I think you added way too much water, because I felt bloated for at least a week after we did that stunt.
    David: I already said I was sorry dear. *Kisses Amanda on cheek*
    Amanda: And I already forgave you for it, I just like holding it over you anyways *Kisses David back*

    To Saffron: “Screw your family. You're following your dreams, and being quite successful at it. If they can't support you, then you don't need their support.” -FlexibleAnatomy

    Thank you so much, Penny! I’ve done my best to explain it to my family so many times, but I just got sick of them continuously making fun of me. I moved out and haven’t looked back since. I still keep in touch with my older sisters on occasion, but that’s about it.

    Alex: “I want to add on to all the support and kind words to say that you are such a sweet, kind, and caring person, and Cammie is a lucky person to know and love you. Also, you hold the record? If I may ask, how many pieces?” -FlexibleAnatomy

    Alex: Thank you so much for the kind words, everyone! We hold the Wyoming record. We got Cammie into about, thirty eight pieces?
    Cammie: Yep! Let’s see. It was all my fingers and toes, palms, feet, lower limbs, upper limbs, privates, pelvis, stomach, chest, neck and head. Wyoming’s a pretty boring place when it comes to magic, so it’s not that high.
    Alex: Yeah, what’s the world record again?
    Cammie: Um… I think it’s something in the high hundreds, or maybe slightly higher than one thousand. The guy used a bacon slicer to get as thin distinct cuts as possible.
    Alex: Do you want to try and go for it when we get home? We should have enough magic between the two of us now to actually hold it.
    Cammie: If you think we can, then we totally should! *Kisses Alex on cheek*

    To Cammie: “I was actually referring to the fact that you essentially gave your real name to Alex for your male persona. Two people in an act with the same first name usually only happens when it's part of their gimmick, so that would have been a red flag for me. Maybe I'm being overly suspicious, but good luck claiming that with a straight face when I happened to be right.”

    Cammie: I guess, in hindsight, that was pretty stupid of me.
    Alex: It’s alright honey, I still fell for it.
    Cammie: Really?
    Alex: Yep. It never really sunk in for me because you used Cammie in your stage name instead of Cameron. I thought it was short for Camila. I just thought Camila and Cameron had a nice ring to it. Not to mention you always insisted that others call you Cameron.
    Cammie: I’m just so glad you never actually bothered to check out any of my shows.
    Alex: Oh yeah. If I had the gig would have been up almost immediately.

    To David: “Seconding Penny on the mentioned trick. Even working with the laws of physics instead of against them doesn't help nearly as much as it normally would; complete disintegration is still less insane than the amount of time and pressure that goes into making diamonds, which you'd have to simulate quickly enough to hold the audience's attention. Just... dang, I wouldn't want to be a mugger who jumped you in a dark alley.”

    Yeah. I can thankfully say I’ve never been mugged, but I’m pretty sure if I were, the police would be the last concern that would be passing through their mind.