“-And so, we here at Channel 17 would like to thank the hardworking doctors, nurses, witches, and wizards in helping to put a stop to the Guinness Plague in only a matter of weeks,” The red-headed anchorwoman said to the camera, before turning her head back towards the front of her desk, the camera switching to the new view to make her look natural. “Now onto tonight’s special presentation! Here’s Drake Bordignon with a special reunion episode of ‘America’s Next Great Assistnant’.”
“Thanks Scarlet!” Drake said, standing once again outside of a familiar castle, “I’m once again outside of the Château de L’ange where tonight the cast from ‘America’s Next Great Assistant’ will reunite for the firs time since the end of last year’s competition, along with some special performances and a special announcement to conclude the night. Additionally, as the guests of honor come rolling in, I’ll be sharing exclusive, never-before-seen interviews with the cast! Speaking of which, I think I can see the limo with our first guest of the evening pulling up now.”
The camera cut away to a black stretch limousine driving towards the castle. When it got into view, it cut to a shot of Drake helping Holli Kim out of the passenger side door. She was wearing a stunning blue dress that trailed behind her, leaving a blue waterfall in her wake as she walked down the red carpet, elbow-in-elbow with Drake. “How are you doing tonight Holli?”
“Oh, I’m doing wonderful Drake! It’s so nice to finally get out of the house. The little ones have been driving Jae-won and I absolutely crazy.”
“I can only imagine,” Drake said, the two now at the impressive, red double doors, “Unfortunately I have to stay out here and wait for the next guest, but I’ll talk to you later at the after party?”
“Of course Darling!” Holli said, opening up the big doors and leaving Drake alone once again.
Drake turned back towards the cameras, “While we’re waiting for our next guest, why don’t we see the exclusive interview I had with Holli and Kyle during their European Tour.
~~~
Holli, January 2020
Drake, Holli, and Kyle the Magnificent were sitting in a soundproof studio, with the magician and assistant sitting opposite of the former Reality TV Show host. Behind them stood the poster for their European tour, listing the all the stops they had already visited and the ones they had still yet to get to.
“So let me just start by saying I loved the show,” Drake said, directing the comment towards Kyle, “I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone use their assistant’s own arm to perform a penetration act.”
“Well thanks Drake,” Kyle said, the slightest hint of a Minnesotan accent in his voice, “As you know, thanks to her old contract with Arnold, we can’t really perform the standard version of tricks. Which in some ways is a blessing, as it forces us to really think about doing these standard sort of tricks in new and unique ways.”
“And to much great effect. So, I got to ask, what made you want to team up with Kyle in the first place?”
“Well,” Holli said looking at Kyle, “David was right that there were a ton of magicians in the business looking for the chance to work with a veteran assistant such as myself, and those first couple of weeks back home was literally practically exclusively looking through offers for the best one. But what really sealed the deal for me with Kyle here over everyone else was the fact that he was one of the founding members of MFBT.”
“Oh really?” Drake said, some surprise in his voice, “For those of you who don’t know MFBT stands for Magicians For a Better Tomorrow, which- well, why don’t you tell us Kyle?”
“No problem. At MFBT we’re fighting against some of the scummier practices in the magic industry. One of the big ones that we’re working on right now is trying to help out assistants who have been held in their contracts for more than twenty years without any chance of a reevaluation.”
“Any luck with that one so far?”
“Well, we’ve managed to get over a hundred cases with wronged assistants through the court system last year, with all but two of them resulting in a more fair deal for the assistant. Additionally, we’re currently working on the Big Wilson case. Apparently the bastard never put in a death clause for his assistants. So when he died, all the assistants he had kept in his props to save on transportation became trapped!”
“Oh no!” Drake said, “Hopefully you’ll be able to get them out okay.”
“We hope so. Our spell breakers think they’re about a month or two out, so we’ve disappeared them so that when we do break the bindings it’ll be like no time has passed.”
“Well, I salute the work you all do,” Drake said, “One more quick question, and I think we’ll all be good for tonight. I gotta ask Holli, do you and David keep in touch?”
“Of course we do!” Holli smiled, “He’s babysat the grand kids a couple of times when Jae-won and I needed to get out a nice night out to ourselves. They absolutely love him, because he’ll let them get away with anything they want.”
“That’s great to hear,” Drake said, “Thank you both for your time. Best of luck with the rest of your tour!”
~~~
The Present
“And we’re back! Just in time, because I think I spot another limo coming up the drive!”
As if on cue, the limo pulled up, and Asian woman wearing a black pants-suit stepped out. Her hair was cut extremely short, to the point that if it wasn’t for her general stature and slight female accents, one could have easily mistaken her for a boy. “Hello there Cammie! Love the new look!”
“Thanks Drake,” Cammie said, blushing, “With the whole virus thing going on, the Mrs. and I thought it would be best to try and cut our own hair. Turns out I’m much better with a pair of scissors than she is. It was so bad I decided to just cut it all off.”
“Well, it looks good on you!” Drake complimented, eliciting more blushes, “Holli’s already inside so you can go catch up with her. Unfortunately I have to stay outside here and wait for the other guests to arrive.”
“We’ll catch up after the show then,” Cammie said, walking over to the double doors and letting herself into David’s home.
Drake turned back towards the camera, “And we’ll catch up when the next guest arrives. Enjoy this interview I had with Cammie and her lovely wife Alex the night before their first show in Las Vegas.”
~~~
Cammie October 2019
The room looked similar to when Drake interviewed Cammie and Kyle, but there were slightly differences in the lighting, and the guests sitting across from him were now Cammie and Alex. Behind stood a sign advertising their performance at the Mirage Resort and Casino.
“So, your very first Vegas show! How nervous are you two?"
“Extremely,” Cammie said, her left hand squeezing Alex’s right tightly, “I mean it’s only ever been my dream to perform in Vegas since I started practicing magic!”
“Don’t stress out Cammie,” Alex tried to calm her down, “We’ve played at bigger shows before.”
“True. But we were just opening acts. We’re headlining this show! And what if they don’t like us! Oh my God, we shouldn’t have agreed to this-“
“I think that Alex is right Cammie,” Drake said, trying to spin the interview back on topic, “I mean, completely selling out the Mirage for your very first show is a rather impressive feat. I’m certain you’ll do just fine,” his words seemed to calm down Cammie slightly, so Drake decided to move in with the next question before she spiraled out of control again, “So, I got to ask. How is married life treating you two?”
“Oh it’s wonderful!” Alex said, “As you remember, David was kind enough to pay for the wedding, so we were able to have our big, fantasy wedding and save up to buy a studio apartment for us both.”
“Yeah,” Cammie said, calmed down enough to not worry about the show, “The apartment is really great, but we’re hoping that the profits from this show and some others that we have planned will be enough to buy a house so that we can start trying for a family.”
“Really? Are you thinking of Adoption?”
“Um… Well…” Alex looked absolutely embarrassed.
“I'm sure we’ll think of something,” Cammie said, grinning from ear to ear as she pulled out a golden pocket watch and checked the time.
“That’s great to hear,” Drake said, not catching on to what Cammie meant, “Thanks so much for this opportunity to interview you two. Best of luck on your big show!”
~~~
The Present
“Nice to see you again! It looks like you’re just in time for our next special guest!” The limousine stopped, and black smoke escaped from the car as Ophelia seemed to almost levitate out of the door. She wore what looked to be the exact same dress she had worn for practically all of the competition last year, although there were still some noticeable purple highlights mixed in.
“Ophelia! How great it is to see you!”
Ophelia politely waved as she walked straight past Drake, not saying a word as she opened the doors and went into David’s house.
“Yep. That’s about what I expected…” Drake sighed, an annoyed look on his face, “Here’s an interview I managed to get with her last year while she was traveling for some international Magicks thing.”
~~~
Ophelia December 2019
While still rather standard for a television interview, the general quality of the room seemed to be much less than the two interviews shown previously. This was probably due to the fact that interview was clearly taking place in a hotel room, with minimal coverings done to make the interview seem slightly more professional. Ophelia sat alone opposite of Drake, both clearly sitting in the hotel room chairs. Unlike her appearances on the show, Ophelia seemed to be in a disheveled state, her hair sticking up at weird angels and wearing a simple black t-shirt and black leggings.
“So Ophelia, what brings you to Romania at this time of year?” Drake asked, doing his best to give off the composure of a man who was doing an interview in a proper soundstage and not a glorified bedroom.
Ophelia seemed very reluctant to answer but did anyways, “It’s the winter solstice, and the Coven that I am a part of make a pilgrimage to Romania every year to celebrate the passing of the cycles for Mother Gaia.”
“That’s great to hear! And where is Lucius right now?”
“…Sleeping.”
An awkward pause filled the room, when Drake said, “You know Ophelia. You’re an awfully difficult person to get in to contact with-”
“Thanks. I try and keep it that way,” Ophelia interrupted.
Drake, not missing a beat, continued, “I got to ask though. Have you kept in contact with any of the other contestants from your time on the show?”
“Jill and I still text occasionally, but other than that not really.”
“And what about David or Amanda?”
“Since I’m in his library practically every night, it would be a little hard not to come into contact with them.”
Another awkward pause, before Ophelia asked, “Can I go back to my room now?”
Drake looked annoyed, clutching the bridge of his nose as he said, “Yeah. Whatever. Thanks for the interview.”
~~~
The Present
“Ooh boy. Isn’t she one of a kind,” Drake paused, holding briefly for what he hoped would be some laughs from the people at home. “Anyways, I think the next limo’s about to arrive.”
The limo pulled up, and from the doorway, a single foot in a bright red pump attached to an elongating brown leg appeared. After the foot cleared the doorway by a couple of feet, the rest of Leela snaked its way out of the limo, returning to normal as Drake approached. Unlike the sari she generally wore on the show, Leela was wearing a full, red cocktail dress. “Hello Leela!” Drake said, going in for the hug.
“Hello Drake!” Leela said, returning the hug (albeit not as enthusiastically as Drake seemed to give).
“How have you been?”
“Oh. You know, slowly losing my mind like everyone else was during the pandemic. Although it’s good to finally look at something other than a manuscript.”
“That’s great to hear!” Leela told Drake that she would see him inside, as Drake turned back to the camera and said, “Now, let’s hear my interview with Leela on the day of her book release back in November!
~~~
Leela November 2019
Once again, the interviews returned to the classic sort of plain studio room. Behind Leela stood a standee copy of her book ‘Angel in the Dark: How I Overcame my Mental Blocks and Unleashed the Power Within’.
“So Leela, Congratulations on the book release!” Drake said.
“Thanks Drake!” Leela said. Unlike the previous interviews where the person they were interviewing were more or less normal, Leela sat in the chair with her head on her lap, her neck covered in a layer of brown skin where her head normally was.
“Also, I’m assuming by the way you are flaunting your detached head that you’ve finally managed to figure out how to be magically cut up?”
“Yep!” Leela absolutely beamed excitement, “Thanks to Dr. Singh, I finally have worked past everything and have even began training with my old master again in order to learn all there is to know about detachment magic.”
“That’s great to hear!” Drake smiled, “So, why don’t you tell me a little about your book. What can the public expect to read in it?”
“Well, when I started writing the book it was mostly about my time on the show. You know, how the people really were, the stress of practicing almost non-stop for several weeks, what’s it like to be recognized out in public. While I was writing it, I thought it would be interesting to also write about my personal life to, so what became a sort of tell-all book sort of morphed into a semi-autobiography in a way?”
“That sounds like an interesting read!”
“Well you would know Drake, seeing as how I sent everyone on set a free copy,” Leela smiled.
“Oh yeah,” Drake said with mock enthusiasm, knowing full well that he had only skimmed the parts of the book where he was most likely to have been mentioned. “It was very interesting. A real page-turner,” Drake turned towards the camera, signing off, “And make sure you check out a copy when Leela’s book hits store shelves some later this month.”
~~~
The Present
“Leela’s next book is supposedly slated to come out some time later this year. Supposedly it’s a fiction book about a magical bar in some alternate universe. Anyways, enough about that, let’s see who’s coming up next?”
The next limousine came out, and Saffron stepped out. Her blond hair was curly and went over her shoulders, and she was wearing a pink dress with a modified teddy bear’s head acting as a purse.
“Drake!” she shouted, practically running him over as she lunged on him, giving him a hug, “It’s so good to see you!”
“Great to see you too Saffron,” Drake said, his voice slightly strained from the hug. “How have you been?”
“Oh! It’s so great to be outside again!” Saffron had let go, and was bouncing on her feet. “Is everyone else inside already?”
“Yep. You go on ahead though, I’m still waiting on one more person,” Drake waved goodbye as Saffron rushed for the door. He gave a look to the camera as he said, “While we wait for Jill, enjoy this interview I had with Saffron over Skype last month.”
~~~
Saffron, April 2020
The quality of the video feeds were rather poor, however that was to be expected given the global crisis that was ongoing at the time of the video being taken. While Drake was dressed up in a suit and in his office at home, Saffron had clearly done the bare minimum in order to make herself presentable. In the background, the giant fluffy bear Fernando was wearing an apron as he baked something in the oven.
“So Saffron,” Drake asked, “How has quarantine been treating you?”
“It’s been awful!” Saffron whined, “Greg and I haven’t been able to throw a show together in weeks, and even when I go over to Rei’s to satiate my boredom, nobody comes in! The heads don’t even have any lungs to house viruses!”
“That sounds miserable.”
“Yep. The only thing keeping me together through these thing times is Fernando’s cooking.”
“What is he making now?”
“He’s working on a quiche recipe he found online.”
“Sounds delicious. Now, this might be a touchy subject, and if it’s out of line you can just tell me now, but has there been any news on the family front? It seemed to be a significant factor of why you joined the show and the fans are dying to know.”
“…It’s a little out of line, but I’ll allow it. After the show ended, I tried to reach out to some family members, mostly ones that had left home already. I actually got some responses, and felt that I’ve made peace with most of them. Others…” Saffron seemed to drift away from the conversation for a moment.
“Say no more,” Drake said, holding his hands up, “Well. Stay strong Saffron. Hopefully when this all blows over we’ll be able to throw a reunion party.”
“I hope so!” Saffron says, cheering up.
~~~
The Present
Drake seemed to be nervously pacing around the red carpet, stopping to check his phone for the time. “Where is she? Did she mail herself here again?”
From behind him, the big red doors to David’s home opened, Jill’s head popping out and shouting, “Drake! Why are you standing out here? The show’s about to start!”
Drake turned around, looking in mock surprise as he turned back to the camera and said, “Well folks. Looks like I’m the late one this time around. I’ll see you inside for the festivities, but first here’s an exclusive interview I had with David and Jill this morning while setting things up for the show.” He winked towards the camera, as he rushed through the big doors
~~~
Jill & David, Earlier that Day
The room was immediately recognizable as David’s office, and the sound of stage hands frantically setting up lighting and equipment could be heard from the nearby open window as the three sat down for their interview. Out of politeness and for the sake of the shot, David offered Drake the seat behind his desk, while David and Jill sat next to each other in two less fancy chairs near the desk.
“Well, it’s great to see you two again!” Drake said.
“It’s a pleasure to see you too,” David said. Despite the fact he was a year older now, David seemed to be more energetic and younger than he had during the filming of the show. At some point during the past year, he had finally decided to accept his hair loss, and had completely shaven his head, leaving him with a nice bushy brown beard.
“And what a fantastic year it’s been for you two, huh?”
“Oh yeah! It’s been amazing!” Jill said. Unlike her counterpart, Jill had seemed to age in the year since they had last filmed. Of course, not in a negative way, more so in the sense that the starry-eyed newcomer had become the mature, master.
“Yep. Let’s see, your first live show broke practically every record for a live magic show in the last century, and then managing to top all of your records with your second show! Bringing more attention to the magic community than any other magician in history, and leading the charge on combining magic and science to help end a global pandemic, all in a single year? I think it would be pretty safe to say that you two are set to be magical pair of the century, assuming nothing equally amazing happens in the next eighty years of course.”
The magician and assistant looked a little stunned at the former TV show host’s comments but thankfully he pulled them back in to the conversation by asking, “Enough of that stuff though, what we’re all really interested in is the big party tonight!”
“Oh yeah!” Jill said, “It’s going to be great to see everyone again!”
“Not to mention, I bet you two are dying to hear what I’m going to be announcing at the end of it,” Drake winked at the camera.
“Well, seeing as how we already know what it is-“ Jill lightly hit David in the rib. Causing him to exhale quickly.
“What he means is that of course we’re excited to find out what you’re announcing.”
“That’s great to hear!” Drake said, turning towards the camera and saying, “Now, without further ado, It is my pleasure to introduce once again, David Angel and his lovely assistant Jill McMillan!”
~~~
The Present
The camera cut to Drake’s home theater, where the entire auditorium was filled to the brim with people. The camera panned past the front row, showing the previous contestants before cutting back to a view of the main stage…