“Okay Jill. How are you feeling?” David asked.
“Nervous beyond belief,” Jill answered back.
“Ah. See, you’re already improving over Amanda,” David chuckled, “she said she was so scared she couldn’t move.” Jill lightly punched David in the arm. “Anyways, there’s no need to be nervous, you’ve made excellent progress over the past few weeks. I’m certain this is going to be your best show yet.”
“Well, seeing as how this is my first official performance, that’s a pretty low bar to beat,” jill quipped back.
“See. You’re already getting the hang of things,” David grinned, turning back around to watch the announcer on stage, waiting for their big entrance.
~~~
Holli
“Ben! Tracy! Nora! Sit down!” Holli whispered angrily.
“But grandma!” Ben said, pulling at the collar of his button down shirt “These clothes are too stuffy!”
“And I’m hungry!” Tracy said.
“And I’m bored!” Nora complained.
“Look! You are David’s guests, and this is a black tie event!” Holli whispered to Ben, “You’re just lucky I didn’t force you to wear a big stuff suit like your Dad and Grandpa.” She turned to Tracy, handing her a caramel chew from her purse, “I told you that we will be going out to dinner with David and Jill after the show, you can have this caramel chew until then, but you’re going to have to wait a little longer.” She finally turned back around to Nora, “And the show’s going to start in a few more minutes, just play on your phone until then.” The three grandchildren sat back down, grumbling but making less of a fuss.
Holli also slumped back down. To her right, a man who must have been her son said, “Gee Ma, no need to be so fussy with them, they’re just kids.”
“Miles, I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of David.”
“I’m sure David will understand, he has a kid of his own now,”
“*Sigh* Just try to control your kids slightly better Miles, and I won’t have to.”
“Now now dear,” An elderly Korean man sitting next to her said, giving her a kiss on her cheek “There’s no need for fighting.”
“I know dear.”
“Is your new magician friend going to make an appearance at the show tonight?” the elderly man asked again.
“No dear. I told you last week that Kyle wasn’t going to come. He has to meet with our prop manufacturer to check on the progress of our newest trick.”
“Oh yes! I remember you saying something like that,” her husband said sheepishly.
“I swear, you better not be losing your mind Jae-won, otherwise I might have to find myself another sugar daddy,” Holli grinned, repeating their favorite joke.
“Please dear, you wouldn’t do that to me? Who else would feed all the grandkids?” Jae-won responded right back.
“Well, at least you still remember what’s really important,” Holli rolled her eyes, before grinning and giving the elderly man a kiss on the cheek.
~~~
Leela
“Thank you for the session Doctor Singh.”
“Oh, there’s no need to thank me Leela,” Dr. Singh said. He was a rather portly Indian man, with large rimmed glasses that made his eyes appear much larger than they actually were. “I think just a few more meetings and you should be able to divide yourself with minimal mental preparation. Do you have any plans for what you want to do after you’ve managed to work past this issue?”
“Hmm… I’m not really sure. Maybe travel back to India for a while to train under my old master again, if he’ll have me anyways. I’m sure getting back this roadblock will open up other stuff he couldn’t teach me.”
“That sounds absolutely lovely. I’ve been trying to convince Asha to travel there with me for ages, but she’s terrified of flying.”
“Really?”
“Yes! And for some reason, she won’t let me help her out. But enough about my problems! I know you’ve got commitments to make,” Dr. Singh handed her a piece of paper with a full report of everything that was said, a practice he did as many times having the patients dive deep into their own mind result in them not remembering what exactly happened.
“Thank you Doctor Singh,” Leela said, accepting the report, “and you can tell Asha that’s she missing out.”
Leela left his office, got back in her car, a red Hyundai Venue, and began driving back to her place. It wasn’t that far from Dr. Singh’s office, only about a half hour away, so she made it home just in time to set up a bit before Leela’s show was supposed to start. She had wished she could have gone to the live thing, but with her appointment scheduled so late, school vastly approaching and needing to help in creating a curriculum, and the deadline for the first draft of her book fast approaching, she couldn’t figure out how to fit two plane flights and various partying into it.
She entered into her apartment, opening the red door into her rather simple looking apartment. Rather than the fancy marble accommodations she had in David’s castle, her normal housing was probably what one would expect for a Teaching Assistant such as herself. There was a small kitchenette, a living room with a single large red couch, coffee table, and modest flat screen TV, and a bedroom with a connecting bathroom. Leela never really had people over often, but if they did they would see the variety of Indian and magical artifacts she had accrued in her time there, and under the tutelage of her various masters. She began warmed up some chicken tikka in the microwave, and flipped on the TV to the correct channel, where Drake Bordignon was being interviewed by a female news reporter. She had bright red hair, and was wearing a professional looking blue pantsuit. “So, from your time with Jill, what do you think we can expect from her first performance with David tonight?” she asked.
“Well. You know the interesting thing about Jill’s performances were that she always kept the audience guessing. Apparently, she came into the show with almost no knowledge or experience with magic, yet somehow always managed to turn even the easiest of effects into something completely different,” Drake responded right back.
Leela turned the volume down, grabbing her food out of the microwave and flopping down on the couch to eat it. On the table, the first round of edits for the book she was writing were splayed out. It was about her time on the show, and of the various struggles and experiences she had in her life. She had originally started writing shortly after returning as a passion project, but shockingly a publishing company had reached out to her expressing interest to try and get it out as soon as possible. She finished the manuscript about a week ago, and was impressed with how quickly the editor had sent back his recommended changes.
She quickly finished her food and put the dishes into the dishwasher, before retuning to the couch. Grabbing her laptop, she continued working through the issues, as the countdown until Jill’s show was really going to start continued.
~~~
Ophelia
A black wolf walked into the room, a vial of a maroon liquid floating about inside. “Thank you Lucien,” Ophelia said, taking the vial from him.
Within moments, the black wolf’s body had fully morphed into a human. He was around six foot even, had long flowing black hair, similarly pure white skin to Ophelia’s, and was wearing an almost fully black outfit, although there were slight purple details on it. “I’m assuming you would like to take care of you in this form this evening Mistress?” He bowed slightly.
“Obviously Lucien,” Ophelia said, downing the potion. Within moments, her body had completely withered away, leaving her head lying down on the couch. “Now, I command you to sit down with me and watch my friend Jill’s performance tonight.”
“Of course mistress, I was just about to ask if you cared to watch that,” Lucien said, sitting down and lifting Ophelia’s head into his lap. He turned on the TV, changing it to the channel that was going to be showing Jill’s perfjoamcne in only a few minutes. “Is it appropriate for me to ask how your day went today?”
“It is Lucien. Today was excellent. David’s books have helped me in my training more than any of the members of the Coven ever have. They think i could potentially reach my ascension several years earlier than they had initially anticipated.”
“That sounds wonderful,” Lucien said, sensing that Ophelia’s nose was itchy and scratching it before she could request. “Would you like me to make some popcorn for the performance tonight?”
“No thank you Lucien,” Ophelia said, blushing slightly as she asked, “although, could you please kiss me?”
“Of course mistress,” Lucien said, turning her head around and passionately kissing her. Breaking apart for a moment he asked, “Any particular reason?”
“Is my love not reason enough?-” Ophelia asked, not able to further chide him as he brought her lips back to her, not even paying attention as the countdown continued drawing ever closer.
~~~
Cammie
“Okay, can we call it quits yet?” Cammie asked.
“Why? Are you tired already?” Alex asked teasingly.
“No! It’s just that Jill’s first show’s going to start in a few minutes.”
“Yeah, but our show with David’s only a few weeks away, and if we don’t have it just as perfect as those two are going to make tonight, we’re going to waste whatever momentum it could potentially bring,” Alex fired back.
“Oh come on Alex, we’ve been practicing so much since we got back we haven’t even had time to plan the wedding or anything!” Cammie whined.
“I told you! The show first, and then the wedding.”
“I’m sure the show’s not going to collapse from an hour and a half’s worth of break,” Cammie said back.
“Alright, alright. We can take a break,” Alex said. She began unwinding the device that Cammie was stuck in. Her limbs had been wrapped around four pulleys, each limb supporting a weight of some kind. As they came lose, the limbs didn’t actually shrink in length, simply untangling to the floor instead. “Oops… Maybe we left you in there a bit too long…” Alex laughed.
After carrying Cammie to the couch, which was a struggle since her limbs were easily twice the length of her body and dragging on the floor. “Ugh! And there you go!”
“Thanks babe,” Cammie said, her limbs quickly retracting into her body.
“*Huff* Did you really fake your limbs being overstretched just so that you’d have me carry you into the living room?”
“Well. Would you have done it if I hadn’t?’
Alex rolled her eyes, before sitting on the couch right next to Cammie. The two cuddled as Cammie flipped the TV to the channel that was going to be showing Jill’s show.
~~~
Saffron
“Alright Rei! I’m going home now!” Saffron shouted into the back room.
“Wait!” Rei said, rushing out from the back room to hand Saffron and handing Saffron a loose set of bills, “Don’t you dare leave again without taking your pay!”
“Rei, I told you! Since I’ve signed with Greg, I really don’t need you to pay me for working here anymore,” she tried to hand the bills back to her
“Yes, yes, but you know it’s bad karma to not pay someone for their hard work,” Rei said, forcing her to take the money, “and besides, you only signed with him two weeks ago! Can you really say you’ve signed with him if you don’t even have a show booked?’
“Well, we have a show booked already. It’s next Sunday actually.”
“Really? That early?!”
“Yeah. That’s why I signed with Greg, because he and I had really good chemistry during our practice together. He’s just stubborn enough to actually try and improve me, but not enough to throw away my ideas.
“Alright, well. You know when it inevitably doesn’t work out, you’re always welcome to come back to work here full time.”
“Please Rei, you’re so over dramatic! Is coming around to help out every Saturday not good enough for you?”
“You say that, but I know when you start getting big and famous with Greg, you’re just going to not show up one day and never come back,” Rei gave her a puppy dog look. “I’m just worried I’m going to lose the girl I got to learn so well over those three weeks when you came here from David’s show.”
“Yeah yeah,” Saffron said, already making her way towards the front of the store and turning her back on Rei’s attempt to emotionally blackmail her, “And when that day comes I’ll be right there with you to shout at myself.”
Saffron reached the front of the store, turning around and shouting “Okay, bye girls! I’ll see you next week,”
“Bye Saffron!” The heads shouted back to her, as she went outside, magically finding herself in front of her small apartment building. One of the pros of working at a magical head shop was that the commute was always short.
“Hey Fernando! I’m home!” Saffron shouted as she entered. The lovable pink teddy bear was wearing an adorable chef’s hat and apron, and was busy making some spaghetti for the two of them to enjoy. Over the past few weeks, Fernando’s cooking skills had drastically improved, to the point where Saffron relied on him to do most of the cooking.
She flipped the channels to the one Jill was going to be on, but quickly turned it off when she caught site of Scarlet interviewing Drake. She checked her phone for a bit, hoping that her dad or one of her sisters had responded to the email she sent with tickets for her first show, but was disappointed to not find any.
She scrolled around the internet for a few more minutes, before flipping the TV back on, Fernando walking over with the now complete spaghetti as the countdown timer finally reached zero.
~~~
“And now! Ladies and Gentlemen! It is my pleasure to introduce, for their first official performance as magician and assistant: David Angel and his assistant Jill McMillan!” Drake shouted, the curtains drawing upwards.
David walked out on stage, addressing the audience, “Hello everyone! Tonight, you will experience the impossible, as me and my lovely assistant Jill will attempt to astound you with feats of magic. You may have seen some before, and others may very well be a first for live television. If you think that what we do isn’t real, that’s because it’s not. We are using magic to bend the very laws of the universe. Now, please put your hands together for my lovely assistant, Jill McMillan!”
Thunderous applause as Jill walked out. She was wearing a gorgeous green dress, that accentuated the natural curves of her body. Her red hair was curled so that it flew down her head like waves. Despite her nerves, she strutted with confidence out onto the stage.
“So Jill,” David asked, “How are you feeling tonight?”
“Oh you know. Nervous, but ready to do anything!” Whoops and hollers from the crowd.
“Nervous? Oh no. I can’t have that,” David said, “We have to do something about that nervousness before we can begin.” David pulled out a stethoscope of thin air, placing it against her stomach, checking several spots before announcing, “Yep. I’ve seen to figure out the problem.”
“Okay? And?”
“Well, it’s obvious, you’ve got butterflies in your stomach,” David pulled out what appeared to be a miniature plunger, placing it against Jill’s belly button, where it stuck fast. He twisted the plunger before pulling it away.
Jill’s body began to crumple to the floor, as though all the air were let out of her body, as butterflies of different sizes and colors escaped out the new whole in her body. On David’s plunger, what looked like a circular section of Jill’s dress was stuck to it. The butterflies flew out over the crowd, showering them with harmless sprinkles of glitter as they passed by.
Back on stage, David reached down, lifting the crumpled mess of Jill up so that her face could be seen by the audience, “So Jill. How are you feeling now?”
“Oh. Much better David!” Jill grinned, “although if you certainly didn’t wait very long to get me flat.”
“Well of course, I know it’s your favorite,” David grinned right back, the audience laughing along.
The rest of the night went about in much the same fashion to their opening trick, David performing tricks with Jill, and various applause as he found new and interesting ways to play with his assistant’s body.
Eventually though, the night came to an end. David’s performance managed to break all the records for live magic performances that had ever been set, and easily cemented the idea that the two of them would have a long and impressive career.
Of course, that’s a story for another time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
& END OF SEASON 1 &
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