One o’clock in the Morning

    The three girls had spent most of the previous night wondering what was going to happen, until a man in suit walked in, his face blurred from the camera. His voice was heavily edited as he said, “Girls, I have gotten word from David on what will be happening for this week’s competition. David will be spending the night with Amanda in the hospital, but he will be back in time for last minute practices with each of you tomorrow morning. Jill, as you missed out your scheduled rehearsal last week, he will be giving you a much longer rehearsal so your rehearsal will be swapped with Cammie's. After which, he will be unavailable until he returns for the shows tomorrow. I would recommend that all three of you girls get some rest and be ready for your scheduled rehearsals tomorrow.” The man walked off camera, and the girls gave each other a look before finally going off to bed.

~~~
Saffron’s Practice

    “Okay Saffron. Let’s hit the ground running. I need something to keep my mind off-“
    “David! What are you doing here?!” Saffron said, turning back to look at him. Fernando was busy setting up the stuff she was going to be using for her trick, “You should really be with Amanda!”
    “Oh, my dear Saffron. I am in fact with Amanda right now,” David grinned.
    “Um… No you’re not,” Saffron said, looking him over.
    “No, do you remember Leela’s first trick?”
    “Wha- No Way!” Saffron said, running up and grabbing him, “But your bodies are so far apart!”
    “Yep. It’s a bit of a strain, but I can handle it,” David said, “Now, what have I missed?”
    “Well, besides terrifying us all and keeping us up until one AM, not much. Jill apparently had a really good day at the spa, but that’s about it.”
    “Excellent. So do you know what you want to do?”
    “Oh yeah. Best part is Fernando’s going to be in the story again!” The large pink bear waved its arms in the air.
    “Wonderful,” David said, cheer in his step as they started the rehearsal.

~~~
Cammie’s Practice

    “*Fwoo*” David exhaled, finishing Cammie’s rehearsal, “Oh. Maybe I’m a bit over my head with this one.”
    “No David, you can do this. You’ve only got one rehearsal left,” Cammie was wiping sweat off her own brow.
    “Yeah, but unlike these first two, it’s going to be a proper rehearsal. I never got the chance to do a proper one with Jill.”
    “Well, if you need me to, I can step up and practice with her. I do have experience as a magician, you know,” Cammie pointed out.
    “Oh no, we can’t do that,” David said, “I have to be the one who’s practicing with her.”
    “Okay, but I don’t know if your body’s going to be able to handle it,”
    “Ugh. You’re probably right,” David was feeling his soreness in both of his bodies, suddenly getting an idea, “Hey. Would you really be okay with helping me out with Jill’s rehearsal?”
    “Of course,”
    “Okay then. You’ll have to trust me for a bit then.” David then started explaining his plan to Cammie.

~~~
Jill’s Practice

    “Alright Jill, are you ready to start rehearsal?” David asked as the girl walked in. Jill looked shock as she spotted David. He looked… off in some ways. She couldn’t tell if it was the fact his height wasn’t correct, or that his chest was more pronounced than normal, or the way he was scratching at the back of his neck.
    “Hey David… Saffron told me what was going on. How’s Amanda doing?” Jill said, placing her bag on the floor
    “She’s doing just fine. She just had her first contraction about an hour ago. I’m so sorry about yesterday by the way.”
    “Oh, you don’t have to worry about it,” Jill said, giving him a reassuring smile, “I got back pretty late from my spa day anyways. Cammie helped me out by working through some of the logistics of stuff so that we could focus on refining or changing my idea to be more feasible for me to do. And to get us off of worrying about you.”
    “Yeah,” David said, giving a guilty look, “I’m sorry about that. I really should have planned for this.”
    “Don’t worry about it David. Now, let’s get this show on the road.”

    One impressively long rehearsal later, given how exhausted David seemed by the end of it, Jill left to grab a quick bite to eat before resting up for the show tomorrow.
    Once Jill had left, David reached up to his back, pulling down on a zipper that he had been doing his best to hide all rehearsal. David’s skin parted as Cammie reached up and peeled David off, his insides and her skin coated in a thick layer of her sweat. As she finished peeling him off, she made sure all of his limbs were in the proper orientation before pulling the zipper up, his body reinflating to his normal proportions. “Thank you so much Cammie for taking on the duty of being most of my mass. I hope I wasn’t too rough with your body.”
    “Oh, it’s no problem David,” Cammie said huffing a bit, “When you said you were going to be tapping into my magic reserves also to keep your skin here, I didn’t realize how exhausting it would be. I’m honestly impressed you’re even still standing.”
    “Trust me, when you’re my age you’ll probably be able to handle more than even I can,” David chuckled, “So, how was it being a passenger inside a skin suit? I’ve heard it can be rather weird for people who are used to the regular version where the person inside has all the power.”
    “It definitely was a trip. I’m also used to the skin suit changing the wearer, not the other way around,” Cammie giggled, “I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to get the vision of you with breasts out of my head.”
    “Yes, well since I’m expending so much energy already, I had to minimize the amount of magic for this enchanted zipper,” David said, picking up the zipper and disappearing it. David looked at his watch saying, “Alright then, I’m off. I’m just going to disappear this clone. I’m sure you all can handle yourselves, but if you need me tell the producers,” And with that, David disappeared, leaving Cammie and the rest of the girls to their own devices to prepare for the show tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
& Question Corner &
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    To Saffron: “I have an idea how you can stop being bored. Strategic planning for the competition with some spying. That way, you gain some knowledge and idea on how to get a personal advantage. Just make sure if don't cheat or do anything against the rules while observing the competition.” -quad2

    It’s a little late to do any spying or stuff to figure out what the others are doing, seeing as how the show is tomorrow, and it would be too late to plan something else out with David even if I wanted to.
    Besides, what would I do with that information anyways? My best bet at winning this competition is to keep being my lovely self and show off what I can do.

    To Saffron: “Trust me, you can make grass looks awesome. Do you recall cherry blossoms? Try something like that, but with grass and give a little nature vibe to it. I know you got this. Even if you don't do the grass idea, I know you would come up with something wacky.” -Rei

    Ooh! I love cherry blossoms! Washington DC has a massive festival to celebrate the blossoming of the cherry blossoms around the capital that’s absolutely wonderful!

    To Saffron: “To take our minds off this stressful period, how's Fernando looking? He wasn't doing so well, last we saw him.” -FlexibleAnatomy

    Oh, that silly bear is always getting into wacky shenanigans when I’m not watching him. After my very first rehearsal with David, when I got back to the room the other stuff animals had revolted and tied him down to the bed with the bedsheets. Apparently he got them all mad because he made some jokes about he was so much bigger than them, and they took it the wrong way.
    Then, there was the time he wanted to show me how much he loved me by making some cookies, and managed to ruin his stuffing by picking up the tray too early. I had to replace his stuffing, put some extra safety spells on him, and worst of all, the cookies were like black bricks and I had to pretend to enjoy them.
    Then there was the time he managed to get his head stuck in one of the giant flower in the garden, because he thought he could smell honey in the mouth of the carnivorous plant. He’s just lucky he’s not made of actual meat, or I would have never been able to temp it to spit him out.
    It’s like I add new spells to try and prevent him from making stupid decisions or hurting himself, and he just manages to find new and impressive ways to work around it. It just goes to show that just because he has a consciousness, doesn’t mean he has a brain.
    But I still love him. And even when he manages to accidentally disappear all his limbs, I will do everything in my power to get them back.

    To Jill: “Savings accounts don't work that way, because anybody who claims to be in the business of giving you money is lying. See also: casinos.” -HeraldOfOpera

    Except for a fiduciary. Which is probably where I’m actually going to go if I win.

    To Guillermo: “From appearances, your tentacles seem to work the same way as real squid. That is, you don't directly control them the way humans may be accustomed to from their limbs. Any funny stories about what they may have gotten up to when you weren't paying attention?” -HeraldOfOpera

    Oh boy. Do I have stories to tell. These babies have gotten old Guillermo here into trouble on more than one occasion. You see, I used to be the one who would actually give the massages. I’d climb up on their body and my tentacles would work their magic. Of course, they stray one too many times and suddenly my masseuse license is revoked and I have to pay some schlub forty thousand a year to come in for me and do the massages himself. Then there was the one time old righty three got into an argument with lefty two that kept me trapped in my seat while they figured things out. They still act up sometimes, but they’ve seemed to reach a stalemate.

    To All: “Yeah, I figured the odds that this wouldn't happen round UP to zero. Some people might call me crazy for expecting things the producers couldn't possibly have planned to follow narrative conventions anyway, but again, say that with a straight face when I turned out to be right.” -HeraldOfOpera

    The producers: We can’t see anything constructive coming from delivering this message to the entire cast. As such, we have not delivered it.

    To Amanda: “Thanks for the name I can use instead of "the producers" if I ever have address them again. Any other "the show must go on" stories you'd like to share?” -HeraldOfOpera

    The producers: Unfortunately, Amanda is still busy giving birth, so she could not be reached to answer this question. However, on her behalf we are going to have to inform you that when she was referencing Quincy, she was referring to the director of the hospital, Dr. Quincy Sembrowich, who had allowed for her early admittance into the hospital and for the ANGA team to film the process. It’s partially due to his familiarity with the Angel family that such permissions were granted, and as such she was wishing to send him a thank you present.

    To David: “Actually DO things with your little girl. Trust me, just showing up isn't enough to establish an emotional connection on its own, no matter how much societal pressure tries to make people pretend otherwise. Meiling still doesn't seem to get that, much to my chagrin, but enough about my family. Seriously, they're no longer relevant to my life except insofar as they've deluded themselves to the contrary, and I've told them that to their faces.” -HeraldOfOpera

    Oh trust me, I’ve practically planned out our life together at this point. At all available times when I’m not performing, rehearsing, or doing something, I’m going to be spending it with my new daughter. I will be there for her first words, her first steps, everything. Not to mention, I’m going to be the one to give her her first lesson in magic when she’s finally old enough.
    I thank you for your concern, but trust me, I will be the best dad that I can be.