Sunday Evening

     The rooftop stage was completely packed once again. The audience of magicians and assistants had reluctantly returned to their rooms (well, the ones who respected the wishes of the producers did. In truth, a large majority of them simply either went to Las Vegas, or took over the dining room in order to celebrate) after Saturday’s performance and every single resident in the hotel had been actively watching the poll results with bated breath all day.

     On stage, Drake and Howard stood with Sable and Annette, each nervously watching the polls switch rapidly between Sable and Annette on the large monitors above the stage. Sable was wearing a black dining gown, while Annette was wearing an uncharacteristic red cocktail dress, Rocky emulating a black boa to complete her look. The monitors screens turned black, indicating that the poll results were now five minutes out.

     Howard walked with the girls to take their place near center stage, Annette on his left and Sable on his right, as Drake was handed a microphone. “Ladies! And! Gentlemen!” Drake announced, the audience cheering with excitement. “Five weeks ago, a hopeful group of six assistants came into this hotel with a singular goal: To become the assistant to the famous Howard Weiss and help him emerge out of retirement like a phoenix. These girls were eventually whittled down into two finalists, and yesterday these two wonderful contestants poured out their hearts on stage to give you all a performance of a lifetime.

     Tonight, we will find out which of these girls will be returning home, and which of them will be titled America’s Next Great Assistant!” The words flashed on the screens above the stage, the audience cheering.

     From off-stage, a stagehand briskly walked over, handing Drake a little note card with the final results. He looked at the card briefly, nodding as he pocketed it. Both girls on stage held their breath, looking at the audience nervously. “Well folks, the votes have been counted. It is my pleasure to announce. That the winner. Of the 2020 season of America’s Next Great Assistant is…” both girls closed their eyes, trying their best to mentally prepare themselves for the result.

     “Annette!”

     The stage lights turned red, as the girls opened their eyes, Annette in shock, Sable doing her best to hold in her sadness. Howard took Annette’s hand, walking her forwards and giving the audience a bow. Rocky took this chance to hop off of Annette’s neck and transform into his wolf-like form, and as Annette came up, jumped up on her, licking her face excitedly. “Ha ha! We did it boy! We won!” Annette cheered.

     From his pocket, Howard rolled out a large, old looking piece of paper, the bottom of which had a large X followed by a blank line. “This contract!” He began explaining, doing his best to be heard over the loud cheering that was still going on from the audience of magicians and wizards, “Is symbolic of the contracts and paperwork that shall be completed tomorrow to officially make you my assistant!” From behind his ear, Howard produced a large, red feather, it’s tip already drinking with ink.

     “Annette Bertha Calhoun, will you sign this contract, and become my assistant?” Annette stood there, frozen on stage as she was handed the pen, looking in awe at the ancient piece of parchment set before her. “Don’t worry, my Dear,” Howard whispered, “the contract’s just for show. Same as last year. Doesn’t really bind you to anything.”

     Annette just stood there a few moments longer, lost in contemplation, before finally, she shook her head up and down, tears streaming down her face as she said, “I will!” Using the pen, Annette signed the large poster. Rocky, seeing his master do this, walked over, placing one of his canine paws on the contract, leaving a black paw print on the page, despite the fact that there had been no ink on his paws.

     “Then with this!” Howard said, holding up the contract towards the audience, making a show of rolling it up and disappearing it between his hands, “I officially declare you, Annette Bertha Calhoun, and your faithful beast, Rocky, my new Assistants!” The audience cheers echoed throughout the entire city of Henderson, Nevada.

     “Now! Let the After Party, Begin!” Howard announced, the audience of magicians and assistants cheering even louder, as the line for the golden elevator almost immediately began forming.

~~~

After Party

     The After Party extended over the entire hotel, leading to almost every single room being cramped beyond belief.

     The dining room was a madhouse, especially when Howard popped in to announce that drinks would be half off for the rest of the night to celebrate his new assistant. Magicians and Assistants were getting drunk left and right, and as one would expect, magic and alcohol tended to only lead to trouble.

     Many magicians started tipping tables over, clearing a small field around them to act as their stage and starting to ask anyone who dared get close to let them perform with them. The less scrupulous magicians didn’t even bother asking, transforming assistants (and sometimes even magicians) who dared to walk by and promising them that they would transform them back at the end of the trick.

     The lobby didn’t end up fairing much better. Many of the hemi- and nonhuman guests that Howard had invited had naturally drifted to this much less cramped space, in particular the larger species, such as the nearly ten-foot tall Mono-I the Cyclops, who could comfortably stand up there, and not really anywhere else. The furniture of the lobby had been all but destroyed, its various debris used to construct an archaic racetrack around the lobby

     “Alright… On you marks,” The white-haired, aged liontaur, Siegfried, said, holding up a piece of cloth, “Get set…” The various hemi-human athletes preparing themselves for their race. There were three centaurs, an African liontaur, a cheetahtaur, and an elusive drider decided to join in the race. “Go!” The hemihumans taking off in a sprint.

     Even the Gym wasn’t safe from the madness. Being directly connected to the pool, magicians and assistants alike had taken to using the gym proper as a large changing room, having no shame as they gave themselves gills or fish tails to enjoy the pool even more.

     One crazy assistant had decided to diffuse her entire body throughout the water, giving the water an unearthly pale tone, which didn’t really stop anyone from continuing to jump or swim in her anyways, although it did cause some problems when a magician tried to transform the water into jello to trap everyone in…

~~~

Sable’s Room

     Sable heard a knock on the door that had previously joined her and Sinopia’s room. She opened up, to find, unsurprisingly, the smiling face of Sinopia on the other side. “How did I know that you were going to come up here and sulk rather than celebrate with Annette at the afterparty?” Sinopia asked.

     Sable wiped her face, “I didn’t come up here to sulk. I came up here to cry.”

     “But why?” Sinopia asked, a smile spread across her face.

     “Why? Because I didn’t win!” Sable cried out, “Now that’s all our family is going to be remembered for. The family that lost ANGA two seasons in a row.”

     “Sable,” Sinopia said, putting her hand on Sable’s arm, “you don’t mean that. You did an amazing job out there, and nothing’s going to ever change that.”

     “Really? And who thinks that?” Sable shot back.

     “Well… They do,” Sinopia grinned.

     The door between the two bedrooms burst open once again, and from the doorway, six more girls entered, each various shapes and sizes, but all working as a single unit so that they could all tackle Sable with hugs without hurting her or anyone else. “G-guys!” Sable said in shock.

     It was Saffron, and all of her younger sisters. Each one of them was wearing a rather similar dress in their favorite colors, although each had tried their best to add their own touch. “Sable! You were amazing!” Saratoga said, a green hair pin with a four leaf clover design stuck in her hair.

     “Yeah!” Shiroi said, her white dress already showing signs of wear at around knee height, “You made yourself look just like me!”

     “Not to mention, you finally spoke up in front of everyone!” Sepia said, two brown shoulder puffs attached to her dress.

     “…It was okay,” Sangria said, trying her best not to look impressed, and failing. She had a purple ninja’s headband wrapped around her arm.

     “Much better than my final trick,” Saffron grinned, her yellow dress having a flower pattern stitched into it.

     The last one to speak was a girl of about average height. She was wearing a sparkling, silver dress, tiny bits of glitter giving it a bit of a textured look to it. She had grey hair, and a million dollar smile, “Yeah Sable. You don’t have to worry about saving our family honor, because I don’t think it was ever really missing in the first place.”

     “Oh my God! Silvia,” Sable said, looking at her sister, “When did you get your braces out?”

     “While you two were on the show!” She laughed, her face growing slightly sad, as she explained, “… I don’t know if Dad knew what was going to happen when you two left… but out of the blue he started doing a bunch of weird stuff around the house for everyone. He had us pack bug-out bags, saying that we needed to be prepared in case of emergencies. He tried to teach Sepia, Sangria, and me how to cook. One of the last things he did was tell me that if I was going to make it anywhere in the real world, I would need a proper smile, so he paid for the magic dental surgery so I wouldn’t need the braces anymore.”

     The girls remained quiet at the mention of their father, before Sinopia took it upon herself to try to return the mood in the room by saying, “C’mon Sable! Are you really going to deny all of your sisters the chance to go to one of the wildest after-parties in the history of after-parties?”

     Sable looked at her sisters, each of them giving her puppy dog eyes (including her older sisters). Finally, Sable acquiesced, “Alright! Fine!”

~~~

The Majestic Buck

     Sable and her sisters made her way to the exclusive, VIP bar in the Hotel Weiss, The Majestic Buck. While it was normally open to the public, Howard had enchanted the bar so that only contestants, their families, and the hardworking celebrity guests (and any of their plus ones) could actually enter. Thus, despite the fact it was the bar that was working hard to deliver all of the drinks to the entirety of the hotel, the atmosphere was rather calm… Well, less crazy than the rest of the hotel at the very least.

     David had decided to have a go at performing an impromptu show on the bar’s stage, having chopped Natasha, Kairi, and Jill into three pieces, mixing and matching so each girl had one part from the other two.

     Penny had Goombafied herself, amusing Jean by walking barefoot along the little booth table they had been sharing, her feet rounded off and with no toes.

     Frankie was eagerly awaiting her turn to perform next when David finally stepped down, watching in wrapped attention as David monologued about the transformation. At the table around her sat Jess, JJ, Zoe, Trina, and the human Maya. They had decided to order food, knowing that it would probably be a while longer before David would give up his spot on stage.

     Elise was sitting at a table with Lisa and Ann, her partner Cody was sitting next to her and the two of them were gushing over the two celebrities. An iPhone on a tripod recorded the impromptu interview about their history and what it was like to perform in front of so many famous magicians and assistants.

     Over on the far side of the bar, Rei was chasing after Ophelia, trying her best to show off her store to her and talking about how the heads all missed her.

     Patricia and Maya were talking with Leela and Holli respectively about their experiences on the first season of the show

     Genie and her family had clearly just arrived right before Sable and her family, as they were in the process of splitting up into two groups. Genie, her brothers, and her mom had gone over to congratulate Annette and her family, who had clearly been flown out just like Sable’s family for the big finale. They told Annette that she and Howard absolutely had to come to the premiere of Genie’s big movie when it was finally released. Meanwhile, Jake had separated walking over to the bar to stand against it and observe the scene around him.

     Howard was manning the bar in the sense that he was handling the drinks that were for the people in the bar. The drinks for the rest of the hotel were being handled by Dudley, who wasn’t even breaking a sweat despite the large amount of drinks he was delivering via magical request. Howard approached Jake at the bar, who was looking away from him, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention, “Can I get you a drink, my good fellow?”

     Jake turned around, smiling at Howard, “Ah! The Legendary Howard Weiss I presume?”

     “You would presume correctly!” Howard grinned, “And you must be the Jacob Schutter I’ve had the pleasure of speaking to over the last couple of days?”

     “That’s me,” Jake grinned, “and there’s no need for the formalities, Howard. Jake is just as fine as it’s always been.”

     “Well then, Jake,” Howard said, pulling out a cocktail shaker, “How about I mix you a drink. On the house, of course.”

     “Now Howard-“

     “Oh no, I must insist,” Howard said, already pouring various spirits and liquors into the shaker with surprising ease, “After that tip you gave to Dudley, I won’t be happy until you and your family have had the best time of your life, free-of-charge.”

     Jake eyed Howard suspiciously, before shrugging his shoulders, “Whatever you say, Howard. After all, My family and I are celebrating tonight.”

     Howard poured out the mix into two cocktail cups, handing one to Jake, the two holding up their drinks in a toast, “To Annette! For becoming my assistant!”

      Jake nodded, adding, “To Genie! For… her incredible work!” Jake caught himself before revealing anything too large on camera. The two clinked glasses before taking a decent sip.

     “Sable!” Annette shouted, spotting Sable from across the room, dragging along her elderly parents. “I’m so glad you could make it!” Annette hugged Sable, Rocky barking excitedly at her feet.

     “So, this is my Ma and Pa!” Annette said. Her mom looked a lot like Annette, although a bit shorter, a bit stockier, and her hair was graying up a bit. Her dad, on the other hand, looked like he would have been an excellent choice for a cowboy movie star if he was twenty years younger. Even in his old age, he had a strong chiseled chin, and a decent enough hairline that you could tell where it had originally been. “They absolutely loved your performance!”

     “Oh yah!” Annette’s Mom smiled, “Absolutely terrific stuff! I don’t think I’ve ever seen people use light in magic trick besides the odd laser beam.”

    “Thanks,” Sable blushed, “but really, you should be congratulating Ber- Ann… She won after all.”

     “Oh deary, there’ll be plenty of time for that later,” Annette’s Mom smiled, “I’ve been telling her she’s amazing for the past twenty odd years of her life, what’s one day where we can celebrate the achievements of others?”

     “Ma!” Annette laughed, “You can be a little happy now that I won!”

     “Hush!” Annette’s mom said to her, before turning back to Sable, “Now, you and your sisters absolutely have to come on down to our Ranch one day. I’ll let y’all ride on the giant centipedes… although the little one’s might have to sit out. They have a nasty habit of trying to eat anything shorter than a cow.”

     The merriment continued in the bar for several hours, Howard taking care to make sure that no-one got too drunk (and that the younger members were not drinking anything other than milk with some fancy enchantments). After all, there was still one more trick to perform…

~~~

Goodbye Sable

     The party had finally began to die down in the early hours of Monday morning, and as such Howard had announced to the entire hotel that anyone who was interested should make their ways to the rooftop stage for the final sendoff of the show.

     Surprisingly enough, the crowd was much larger than Sable had expected to show up based on the size of the afterparty. In addition to the former celebrity guests, the former contestants from both seasons, and her family; enough magicians and assistants had managed to either work through their hangovers, or simply woken up early, in order to fill up a large majority of the seats.

     “Well, Sable my dear,” Howard said his voice filled with melancholy, “It pains me to have to say good-bye. After how hard you’ve worked. After how much you’ve grown. After everything that you’ve done for my family. And on top of that all, you don’t even have the common decency to ask for a farewell gift for yourself.

     It saddens me to say that I cannot, in good consciousness, deliver you your original gift of donating to some lobbying organization. While your intentions of pushing legislation are admirable, the sad fact of the matter is that by the time our government could pass something as constructive as you’d desire, I’d fear that we’d both already be in the ground.

     So instead, It is my pleasure to announce that I shall be opening up the Sable Magical Scholarship Fund!” From behind him, a banner unfurled with a design like a certificate. Across the top, the words ‘Sable Magical Scholarship’ were inscribed in fancy black lettering. A golden stamp with Howard’s face on it was in the lower left corner, while both Howard’s signature and Sable’s own were inscribed in the lower right corner. In the middle of it, the number ‘500,000’ in large letters in the same fancy script took up the entire length of the banner.

     Howard explained, “The Sable Magical Scholarship Fund’s mission is to help underprivileged households afford the associated fees necessary to send their children to a school that teaches magic in their curriculums. I have pledged to donate five hundred thousand dollars every year until a magic curriculum becomes the standard in all public schools across America, and would implore that all of those in this audience who can to donate to this fund to so that we can make a real difference.” The audience cheers echoed loudly across the rooftop.

     Before Sable could properly absorb the gravity of Howard’s gift, he held up his hand solemnly, the crowd quieting down almost instantly. “Sable… I’m afraid though… That there’s one more thing I must give you,” Howard did his best to hide his face from Sable, clearly holding back some strong emotions, “And before I do… I need you to forgive me… For being so selfish with this last gift…

     I tried my hardest to convince myself I could behave like David did in his first season. That I could blindly accept the results of the polls and see either you or Annette off into the world of magic… However, as the challenges went along… And I saw how much you two were growing as magic users and as performers… The less I could see you two performing with anyone other than myself…

     So, Sable v̸̸̧̀͝x̶̕͏̶͠n͘͝i̷͜͢͟ų̵̡̀̀o̴̢p̵͘҉f̢̀͘… Would you please… become my assistant?” Howard looked her in the eyes, tears streaming down his face as he pulled out another brown contract, the crowd crying out in surprise.

     Sable was stunned, standing there her mouth agape for almost a minute, before she managed to stutter, “H-Howard… I’m honored, but what about the producers-“

     “Screw the producers!” Howard spat, “The worst points of this competition have been when I decided that it was a smart idea to listen to them.”

     “But the contracts-“

      “The contracts only state that I am forbidden from signing another one of the contestants and performing with them for a year,” Howard explained, “I’ve already had my lawyers check. There’s nothing explicitly forbidding me from signing you on now, and then having you join my show afterwards. So, I ask you again Sable, Will you please sign on with me and join my act?”

     Sable stood there, unsure of what to do, tears slowly starting to stream down her face, when from the audience, a white blur shot out from her seat, shouting out, “Sable!” As the shape climbed up on stage, the small girl in the white sundress ran up on stage, trapping Sable in a hug.

     “Shi?” Sable asked, looking down at her younger sister.

     Shiroi looked up at her older sister, tears running down her face, “Sable! You should sign with Mr. Weiss!” Soon enough, more shapes began running up on stage, and Sable’s entire family was surrounding her and hugging her, all with tears in their eyes as they tried to all talk to her at the same time.

     “Think about how exciting it will be!”

     “We can’t hold you back, Sable!”

     “You know you’ll regret it if you say no!”

     “You’ll still be able to see us!”

     “You can’t cry now, Sable!”

     “We should be celebrating!”

     “Guys!” Sable shouted, laughing from all the support she was getting from her sisters. They all looked at her expectantly, “I can’t- I can’t just sign with Mr. Weiss. I’d lose my mind if I wasn’t allowed to perform magic for over a year.”

     “Actually,” Howard smiled, “My lawyer and I already thought of that. We would let you reserve your right to perform with other magicians, or really in any context, at minimum for your first year if you sign.”

     “See!” Sepia shouted, the other sisters quickly joining in and echoing the fact that Sable had no reason not to sign with Howard.

     “B-but what about-“

     “My dear,” Howard smiled, calmly explaining “I cannot make you sign. And as I’ve said before, the fact that I’m even asking you is extremely selfish of me. But I can see that you’ve got an amazing amount of potential hidden within you… and while I’m certain that there exists other magicians out there who would be able to make you shine, I’m asking that you take one last chance on me.”

     Sable just stood there staring at Howard, her sisters wrapped around her in a large embrace. His eyes were filled with sincerity and looked ready to accept whatever answer Sable was about to give him.

     “Alright,” Sable smiled, “I’ll sign with you, Howard.”

     The audience exploded with cheers, any signs of hangover or exhaustion lost. Sable’s sisters squeezed her even tighter, all of them cheering, their word incoherent over the cacophony of noise that surrounded them.

     Her sister’s let her out of their hugfest, allowing her to go over and hug Howard. Annette, who had been sitting in the front row with Rocky on her lap, ran up on stage, the other contestants of the Season not far behind her. As Sable finished signing her name on the ceremonial contract, the other contestants, sans Annette, hugged Sable tightly, congratulating her on all of her hard work.

     Annette had held back, waiting so that she could give Sable a massive bear hug all by herself, lifting the poor girl off the ground. “I guess we’ll be able to get that chance to perform again after all!” Rocky had transformed himself into his human-esque form as well, wrapping the two girls up in a hug with his arms that circled them both several times over. The two girls laughed in joy.

     When things had finally died down enough, Howard addressed the audience. “Well then… With that out of the way, I guess we can finally get to the goodbye ceremony.” The audience booed, to which Howard shook his hand at them, “Now don’t give me that! I know tonight’s result have been a bit of a break in tradition, but I want to make sure Sable has her chance to wow you all one last time.”

     “Um… Howard,” Sable said.

     “Yes?” Howard walked over, bending down slightly so that Sable could whisper something into his ear. He smiled as he listened, before standing up and addressing the crowd once more, “Well, I guess we’re still going to continue breaking the mold tonight, because Sable has asked if she could change what her farewell trick was going to be. So, would you all please put your hands together for Sable and her wonderful family?”

     Cheering rang out across the rooftop as Howard and the other contestants walked off the stage, leaving Sable and her family, who for the most part looked extremely confused. Sable bent down, drawing her family together in a group huddle so that she could quickly explain what she wanted to do with them. They all nodded, going to their hastily agreed upon spots as Sable walked up to the centerstage, addressing the audience, a mixture of emotions in her voice.

     “Hello everyone! While I might be coming back to work out contracts and stuff with Howard, I really need to get my family back. It’s way past some of their bedtimes,” The audience laughed, her joke landing especially well, as the morning sun was just starting to break past the nearby mountain range, giving a nice twilight atmosphere to the rooftop stage. “So, I hope you enjoy it! It’s a little simple… but we all worked really hard on it.”

     Sable walked over to her sisters, joining her hands with the other girls and completing the circle they had formed themselves into. To her right, she was holding hands with Sinopia, who gave her a reassuring squeeze, and to her left, she was holding hands with Shiroi, who had the biggest grin on her face.

     Sable and Sinopia closed their eyes, and their other sisters stared in amazement, as all eight of their bodies began taking on the same glow that Sable’s had gained when she had performed her light tricks just the day prior. Silvia in particular looked shocked, as Sable’s outfit and hair took on a red sheen, while hers took on a blue sheen, her hair distractingly giving off a blue aura as well.

     Slowly, the girls began to levitate, their light brightening and making it more difficult to make out their distinct shapes as they got closer and closer.

     Just as the light they were emitting was about to become too much to comfortably look at, their bodies suddenly shot up into the air with an amazing amount of speed, leaving behind them a rainbow trail that seemed to extend out into the distance past the horizon.

     The rainbow that the girls had created managed to last a whole twelve hours before finally starting to fade, the citizens of Henderson confused why such a strange weather phenomenon happened in their magical city.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

& Question Corner &

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     To Ophelia: “They would have made an appointment but some of them insisted that if they did return, your current leaders would get too dependent on them. Something to do with already having them pass the torch and rather not baby them. They rather just meet you casually in the store.” -Rei

     Well then I’m afraid we’re at an impasse, as my Coven has kept me very busy over this past year with training, performing social and recruitment visits, and preparing me for when I enter my meditative state to finally accept the truly awesome power of Mother Gaia into my body and ascend to proper Witchhood. Should they have advice on this subject, I shall do my best to come and visit them once, however I find little reason to come and visit them otherwise.

     To Annette: “Wow! I am very impressed with you today! No offense to Sable but I really liked your act more as it really did surprised me. For a moment there, I thought it was all ball tricks until, BOOM, with all of that crazy stuff afterwards!” -Rei

     Thank you so much Rei! I know that Rocky and I might not have been the teaming you were necessarily rooting for the entire time (since Sable’s sister does work at your shop and all), but I’m glad that you could enjoy our final performance!

     To Sable: “Impressive technique. Especially with the light. To simply create light like that is no easy feat unless it is something else entirely different.” -Rei

     Oh no. It’s one hundred percent, bonafide light magic. As I said after last week’s performance, my Mom used to be an expert at light magic, and after my talk with Nora… I knew that I wanted to find a way to try and get closer to her… Howard started helping me develop my light magic skills, and it turns out that I have a bit of an affinity towards them? At least that’s what Howard thinks, since I managed to pick up the harder stuff easier than most people.

     To Sable: “Huh, you know some light magic already. Even to materialization and advanced manipulation. I was going to teach you some of that as I am an expert on light magic.” -Izzy

     Really!? That’s great! If you’re willing to give them a chance (I know you said that you have to deal them worthy first, but I give you my word that they’ll be excellent students) you could help teach my sisters light magic. It would mean a lot to me, especially since light magic was my Mom’s favorite branch of magic.

    To Ophelia: “I have heard things about you. Especially from certain heads. Please visit them as they are the master of your masters as a form of respect. At least from what they claimed. They seemed immature for a title like that which I still do not understand.” -Izzy

     As I told Rei, I shall only come and visit once I’m certain that me showing up will not be a waste of my already stretched-thin time.

     To Sable: “Damn your light magic is impressive and I'm quite happy to see you being so professional with it. I can tell you love being cut up that way. It certainly isn't painful, but I'm sure it's not pleasant either, right?” -Andrea

     Oh no! It’s a lot of fun to get cut up with light! Usually when getting cut up with metal, it’s so cold that when it slices through you you get goosebumps. With light, it feels like you have a nice, warm, ticklish feeling spread along the cut. If you’d like, I could demonstrate the trick on you later.

     Also, thank you so much for all the support you’ve given me so far Andrea! Even though I technically lost, I’m glad that I could impress you with my trick!

    To Annette: “Oh my holy fuzzy Cow! That was an amazing and impressive piece of art, I have to admit, you and Rocky are a great team. I wasn't expecting that you even turn into a brand new person, I like Roxy's look. How does it feel to be combined that way?” -Andrea

    Well… Much like with when I was merged with Sable earlier in the season… I don’t really remember anything when Rocky and I turn into Roxy. Frankly, I was rather shocked that we were even able to do that trick in the first place, since there haven’t been many cases of humans and beasts merging together.

     I guess to answer your question as best as I can, According to Lisa, she was rather obedient since Rocky’s a good boy and does what he’s told. Sable also told me a story of how Roxy asked her to pet her ‘the good way, like she does in the grassy field’, which I mean… was pretty weird. I’m not really sure how much of Roxy was Rocky, and how much of her was me.

     I’m sure that if I could remember my time as Roxy, a lot of the mysteries around Rocky would probably be gone already, so in some ways I’m a little glad I don’t remember anything from being combined with him, but it’s nice to know that now we have an avenue to at least go if I did want to know.

     To Ann and Lisa: “Nice first two performances, but the final one was amazing. Though I have to say, that happens when you play that game. It wasn't insubordination at all, you were just a tad too mean. Still I love your appearance and how lovely it worked out.

What would you recommend for someone who wants to become an Assistant as well?” -Andrea

     Ann: I think the best way to become an assistant is to start putting yourself out there.

     Lisa: Yep! You’ll never become an assistant just by waiting for a magician to approach you. It takes hard work and dedication and hours of practice before you’ll even be approached by your first magician.

     Ann: If you’re really desperate, I’d recommend joining up with the Shared Assistant’s Guild. I’ve heard that they’re always looking for more people. Especially with the amount of magicians hoping to become the next David Angel or Howard Weiss.

     To Howard: “Regardless of who is winning, I would love to see both girls perform with you, since both bring incredibly unique skills with them. I'm sure you are already proud of your future assistant.” -Andrea

     Well Andrea, I guess you got your wish then. Although I think you’ll have to wait a bit before you actually get to see them both working with me (of course, nothings stopping them from performing with each other without me though).

      “Annette, Sable, I can only lump you both together in this commentary and critique of your performances, because providing it individually would be doing both of you a disservice; your performances are so cohesive, an interwoven display of light, dark, and everything in between, that they could only work as one piece.

     I am blown away by achievements and milestones both of you have broken through: the results of weeks of hard work, teamwork, and general improvement in magical ability and performing talent. I'm flabbergasted with your fusion with Rocky, Annette. Merging your body, perhaps even your mind, with a magical beast is a whole other thing compared to being combined with a non-human or hemi-human. And Sable, the amount of co-ordination and focus to do such a beautiful display of reflection and detachment magic is staggering. And being the star of the show for a period, running the scene with such an air of confidence, is a monumental growth of character.

     Honestly, I don't think I can critique anything either of you did. Any flaws have been sanded away, anything else is just the imperfect charm of your performances that equates to a homemade meal. It's your magic, your personality, your charm and magical ability. Your act is uniquely you.

     I have said to the other contestants that the issue with elimination that there's no clear good choice, we have to choose between multiple great acts, because the bar is just so high. This, if anything, proves that fact: both of you could easily be Howard's assistant, and I wouldn't be surprised if many of our fellow magicians and assistants in the audience will go out of the way to pick up the "loser" for their own troupe.

      For the one who ends up losing, don't feel bad for yourself. You have so many paths ahead of you, and if you stick with performing, you are going to hit it big. And for the one who ends up winning, don't feel bad that the other lost. Feel good that you both performed astoundingly, that the only difference between you two is that the audience somehow landed on choosing you.” -@@WanderTones

     Annette: Penny, I’m simply at a loss for words at the sheer amount of positivity that you’ve given everyone throughout the entirety of the competition.

     Sable: Yeah. I never really know how to respond to an expert such as you, because you always get exactly what my performances are going for.

     Annette: And mine too. I always feel like a simple thanks is never enough.

     Sable: Yeah, especially because you always try your best to make the loser feel better (which by the way, even if Howard hadn’t pulled his little stunt, I would have been perfectly fine with just accepting the formation of the Scholarship Fund and going home to live with Sinopia and my sisters).

     Annette: I can’t offer you much, but I’m sure that if I asked, Howard would be absolutely delighted to have you and Jean perform with Sable and me, when she’s finally in the show obviously.

     Sable: Yeah! You and Jean always hold yourselves up with so much class! I’d love to perform with you both, even if you end up making Annetta and me look like amateurs!

     To Howard: “I actually knew it was too much, you are not the only one who plays little jokes. Dudley of course can keep the tip if he wants to or give it to a charity or friend he finds worthy, Do not worry about me, I've got many times more than what I need, even if I live to be a trillion year old.” -Jacob Schutter.

     Ha Ha Ha! It’s been a while since somebody’s properly gotten me good, Jake! I’m going to have to save that one for when I visit some of my friend’s hotels!

     Per your request, I’ve let Dudley keep the money. He’s planning on saving half of it to help him save for his daughter (since she’ll have to go through sixteen years of college instead of the standard four), but he’d like you to know that he’s donated the other twenty-five thousand to the Sable’s Magical Scholarship Fund in your name.