Once again, the girls found themselves on the tarmac at the Berlin Tegel Airport, luggage in hand as they anxiously awaited for the results of the voting to trickle in. Across the way from them, once again standing on a large carpet that bore the season’s logo was Drake, and the two amazing guests for the week: Andrea and Phian. Andrea looked on the verge of tears, refusing to look at the tablet that featured the ever-changing results of the live poll, while
Phian, in their short hair form, did their best to comfort her, occasionally sneaking glances at the numbers, their mood changing depending on the results at that moment. Unlike last week, Martin was taking a more active part of the process, looking sullenly as the results ticked in.
Eventually though, Drake had to put a stop to the polls, tapping on the tablet and closing off the votes. “Well girls,” Drake sighs, doing his best to give a reassuring smile at the girls, while still sticking to his general host routine, “It was a close one this week… You all performed wonderfully… The pendulum easily could have swung in any direction this time around… However, I’m afraid that one of you five will be going home today,” Drake emphasized his words to further indicate that there was not going to be any funny business with the results of this poll.
“And I’m sad to announce… The contestant going home tonight is…” Andrea covered her face, as the other contestants nervously looked at one another.
“Olive.”
The other girls faces immediately dropped, as they looked over to Olive, who was doing her best to keep a straight face (and failing miserably at it). They, and Andrea, immediately went over to comfort the older contestant, who was busy trying to swat them away, “Oh no dears! It’s fine… No need to get all worked up over little ol’ me. I’m a big girl, and I knew the risks when I joined the show.”
Of course, her struggling only made the other girls fight harder to comfort her, and soon enough the six girls found themselves in a massive group hug, sobbing uncontrollably, Phian soon joining in, their appearance becoming more feminine as they hug Kacie and Dahlia from behind.
After about a few minutes, Drake made a little cough noise, “I’d really hate to break this up, ladies. But we do have a flight to catch,” He pointed towards the AFT-1, several PAs already in the process of loading up the remaining contestants luggage. There were some rude glances at Drake, but otherwise the girls slowly peels away from Olive, Phian and Andrea staying nearby. Olive still looked sad, but clearly was touched by the girls display of affection for her.
Satisfied that the scene had died down a little bit, Martin walked over to Olive, handing some objects to Andrea and Phian and giving the older contestant a hug of his own. “Of course, we’re not going to let you go home empty-handed Olive.” He smiled, walking back slightly so that the special guests for the week could have the spotlight.
Andrea smiled, as she took the lead, unfolding a slip of paper which quickly turned into a similar contract of membership as had been produced last week. “Olive, it would be my pleasure to offer you a full time membership with the ISAG. You deserve it after all of your hard work,” Andrea looked practically on the verge of tears, as she handed the contract to Olive, giving her another prolonged hug, which Olive returned with equal gusto.
Phian went next, handing her a similar binder to the one that Rachel had received last week as well. “Olive, Martin knew you wanted to have the opportunity to perform again, so he thought what better way to get you back your sea-legs than a six month cruise on the sea?” Phian smiled at their little pun.
As Olive giddily began looking through the binder, sponsored photographs from the cruise began to pass across the screen, Drake giving a little monologue explaining her prize. “The ‘Magic Across the Seven Seas’ Cruise will take you and your plus one around the world, with strategic stops at some of the most romantic getaways imaginable. Of course, if you’d like, it won’t be all pleasure, as ANGA has lined you up with an exclusive assistant’s contract with the cruise’s nautical magician, ‘Davy Jones’.”
Olive looked practically in tears, as she closed slipped the ISAG contract into the binder, giving Phian a large, motherly hug as she said, “Oh… Thank you much dear… This is absolutely wonderful… Henry’s going to be soooo excited!” Phian returned the hug with gusto, Andrea quickly joining in once more on the touching scene.
Eventually, when the two of them finally broke their hug, they returned to the carpet with Drake, leaving Martin standing alone in front of Olive. “Olive,” Martin smiled, looking sadly at her, “I want to thank you so much… For giving me the honor of performing with you, and for helping pull me back from a dark place in my life… I- I really don’t know what I would have done without you.”
Olive was still practically in tears, chuckling, “Oh- Don’t mention it dear. *Sniff* Just doing what any mother in my position would have done.”
Martin smiled sadly, giving her another hug, practically enveloping the small, older woman entirely, “Well… Would you give me the honor of performing with you one last time?”
Olive nodded sadly. giving Martin one more hug before a prop was rolled out onto the Tarmac.
~~~
Farewell Olive
The prop was rather simplistic all things considered, by all accounts it was a completely normal wringer prop, situated vertically with a table for Olive to lie down on to let her be fed into the machine. The only major thing of note was that it appeared to be a rather robust mechanical model, as opposed to the more common electric model most magicians seemed to use nowadays. Martin smiled forlornly as he helped Olive up, causing her to slowly rise like she was walking up a set of stairs as he led her hand upwards.
Once she was on the table, Olive laid down on the table, smiling one last time at her fellow, younger contestants, “Girls… It’s been a pleasure… If you’re ever up in Minnesota, make sure to give me a call… Or really if you need any advice at all… I’m always available.” As Olive did her best to give the girls a strong smile, Martin worked tirelessly at the handle, spinning it with a consistent rhythm as more and more of Olive got fed into the machine.
Olive’s smile was forgotten, as her legs slowly started peaking out from the other side of the ringer, flopping uselessly towards the ground. Olive continued blubbering “…And don’t forget to wear sunscreen, even when it’s overcast… Even just a single sunburn can completely screw up your skin for life… And be mindful of other people’s personal space… After all you don’t know what they might be going through right now…”
Most of Olive’s body was now flattened on the other side of the wringer, and really all that was left was her chest and her head. As her chest slowly fed through she said her final words to the girls, “Remember… I love you all very much… I’ll treasure these few weeks for the rest of my lif-“ Her words were cut off, as her head was fed into the machine. After a few more rotations of the wringer, Olive’s flattened head lightly floated towards the floor, along with the rest of her flattened body.
Martin walked over, lifting up Olive for the small audience of assistants, a smiling face of tranquility pressed into her flat visage. “And I’m sure the girls won’t forget you either Olive,” Martin smiled, a much more genuine and understated one than his normal pearly white one.
Martin quickly got to work to finish off her farewell trick. First folding in her arms, legs and heads towards her body before giving them a strong crease, the various parts becoming impossibly flat against one another, as though there weren’t a seam between them. Soon enough, Martin was left holding just Olive’s flattened torso, which with a few more quick creases was folded into a perfectly rectangular shape.
Next, Martin began the process of folding Olive very precisely, creating straight and even creases that showed he knew exactly what he was doing. He turned his back to the camera, increasing the suspense as he moved his arms around slightly more wildly, heavily exaggerating the motions he was truly doing. Soon enough though, he was finished, turning back around and revealing his work to the audience.
He had folded Olive into an Orange and Olive’s skin tone colored paper airplane. Despite any lack of scissors or means of propulsion, he had even managed to form a little propellor on the front. Martin smiled, as he wound his arm back, giving Olive a hearty toss, as she easily flew around in the air above them all, doing impressive loop-de-loops and barrel rolls. At one point, smoke even began to come out of the back of her paper aircraft, and Olive flew around to write the letters ‘ANGA’ out in the sky over the aiport.
As Olive continued to fly around overheadk, Drake smiled, clapping his hands together to get the girls attention once more. “Well, I’m afraid this is the end of Olive’s Journey, but you four still have plenty of locales to visit. Would you all please climb aboard the AFT-1, and we’ll be off to our next location…” Drake dramatically opened up yet another pocket on his vest, a red, white, and blue flag with a familiar cross pattern flowing through the wind, “… The UK!”
The other girls looked nervously between Martin and Olive, who was still flying around in the sky. “Oh… Don’t worry about her, girls,” Martin smiled, “Andrea’s already promised that when Olive gets bored of flying around and comes back down to Earth, that she’ll return her to normal and help her out in getting home.” Andrea gave a small wave to them all to alleviate their fears, and soon enough the rest of the contestants were all loaded up on the plane, and on to the next location for the show.
As Phian and Andrea looked up, watching the AFT-1 fly westward, Phian grinned, looking at Andrea, “So… Want to go do a performance?” Andrea giggled, shaking her head.
~~~
AFT-1
The plane ride from the Berlin Tegel Airport to the UK was significantly shorter than any the girls had experienced thus far, so it came to a bit of a shock when Drake rounded up the remaining girls into the dining cabin of their aircraft. “Now girls… I just wanted to touch base with you all before we landed…
You see… The UK issss…” Drake stretched out the last syllable, clearly looking for some sort of word that would be most appropriate, “much more… traditional… about magic than in the States.”
“What do you mean?” Paxton asked, looking equal parts confused and concerned. The other girls looked at Drake with similar questioning looks, except for Natalie, who was nodding her head.
“Well… It’s a complicated issue,” Drake rubbed the back of his head nervously, doing his best to jump around the issue at hand, “…You see, there are a lot of expectations regarding magic that aren’t really present in America, and there are certain rules and regulations in place that, if one of the contestants from our esteemed TV show were to break, would potentially lead to massive scandals, and press conferences, and more meetings with the WMO, and… Basically it would be a whole big International Incident. And I was really hoping that we could have one week of this show without causing an international incident,” He looked nervously at the girls with puppy dog eyes, as they all seemed to nod along with what he was saying.
“Just tell us what we have to do Drake,” Tetra smiled.
“It can’t be much harder than what we’ve already had to go through,” Dawn smiled, squeezing Julia’s hand reassuringly, who still looked pale from when Drake had initially called the meeting.
“Well… Okay,” Drake smiled, slightly emboldened, “So… The first big rule of life in Britain is that, unless it’s in a designated magic location or part of the show, please don’t do any magic in public.”
The girls balked a little bit at this, only Natalie seemed unmoved by this revelation. “W-What?” Paxton was shocked, “W-why would that be a thing?”
“It’s… An old holdover from when the UK used to be a monarchy,” Drake sighed, “It made it much easier for the Queen to control the populace. Nowadays, it’s been so engrained into their culture that it’s just sort of an agreed upon rule that magic is only for private interactions or performances that most attempts to repeal the law haven’t been able to get the public support.”
Natalie grinned, “Well! There’s actually a lot more that goes into it than just that, like-“
Drake interrupted Natalie, “Natalie, I’m sure the girls would love to hear about the history of magic in the UK, but we’re going to touch down in twenty minutes and I’ve got a few more points to go through. Please keep the commentary to a minimum.” Natalie seemed a little hurt by Drake’s words, making a small squeaking noise but remaining quiet as he continued.
“Anyways…” Drake tried to get back onto his train of thought, “Another really big thing they have over there is that in addition to regular contracts, the UK exercises spoken contracts as well, and are pretty brutal about enforcing them.”
“Wait,” Tetra balked, the realization of what Drake just said slowly slipping over her display, “H-how would they even do that? How would they verify a contract between two people spoken privately? Wouldn’t that require them monitoring all conversations at all times?”
Natalie perked up, but Drake cut her off at the pass, “It’s a really complicated procedure, and involves some pretty important magical governing agencies in the UK… But the most important thing to remember about it is to not agree to do anything unless it’s with someone related to the show. Actually, even if it’s with someone associated to the show, make sure to think hard about exactly what they’re asking before you agree to it.” Drake corrected himself, looking seriously at the contestants, “We’ve got the backing of the WMO on our side, but the UK is still home to a lot of magic’s old blood. We-… I’ll do everything in my power to help protect you girls, but here, I’m afraid you all will have to be a little bit more proactive than normal about helping yourselves.”
The girls (save Natalie), looked slightly more shaken up than usual, Julia practically in tears as she clung onto Dawn, who coo’d into the scared girl’s ear, allowing her to slowly sink into her skin as the two transformed once again into Dahlia, who seemed rather oblivious to the whole scene that was unfolding around her. “Is there anything else we need to know?” Paxton asked nervously.
“Those are the two big warnings I’ve been given from production,” Drake sighed, looking at Natalie, “I’m sure Natalie can give you a lot better advice on the issues than I can- After! We land,” Drake once again prevented Natalie from breaking into a long speech on the history of magic in the region, the poor girl looking rather annoyed that she was being allowed to share her one major gift at this moment.
Dahlia held up her hand, Drake acknowledging the merged woman with a nod of his head, “Any hints on who the special guest is going to be this week?”
Drake grinned, “Well… I’ve personally never met her, but according to David, she’s a wonderful woman, and a huge fan of the show.”
~~~
An Unknown Location
“But really, Peter. A Reality TV Show?” A copper-haired woman in a sundress sighed staring directly ahead, taking occasional glances at the camera, as an unfortunate rocky-skinned PA tried to instruct her that they were testing out the camera and to hold still while they figured out her best angles. lightening, and sound options.
“What?” A man (presumably Peter), was just barely in the frame, being seen in a mirror situated behind the woman. He gave off an aura of someone who clearly knew what they were doing, and appeared rather comfortable doing it, the suit he wore being slightly ruffled, his hair only slightly unkempt. He grinned as he asked, “Not what you were expecting for your first assignment as the head of ISAG’s UK branch?”
“I just thought-“ She was interrupted, as the rocky-skinned PA instructed her to raise her arms up in a T-position, which she did, seeming slightly annoyed by the request. “I just thought that my first job was going to be something… You know… More important? Like maybe helping break an assistant out of an abusive contract, or maybe negotiating with SORM over some Assistants Right issue… Not-“ She was interrupted yet again, by the PA telling her she can put her hands down. “Not parading around on some fake reality show like everything’s just fine with the world, and ‘We’re so honored and privileged to host ANGA this week’,” she spoke in a mocking tone.
“Well,” Peter sighed, “I know it’s not your first choice for an assignment-“
“I’ll say,” The woman interjected, as the nervous PA instructed her to turn around.
“-But!” Peter interjected back just as forcibly, “ANGA is a rather well beloved show across the pond, and while it may not bust down any doors, it’ll be some good PR for ISAG UK and hopefully get more people on board with the idea of normalizing magic in everyday life.” The woman seemed only slightly moved, so Peter continued, “Plus, it could send a really positive message to people hoping to become assistants that they can demand a bit more in their magicians.”
The woman sighed, “I just don’t think I’m the right pick for the show Peter. You know I can’t deal with fake personalities.”
“And you won’t have to, Lise,” Peter smiled, walking into frame and giving her a hug from behind, “I’ve met Martin before. He’s a sweet guy, and I’m sure the contestants are also wonderful people.”
“Mhm… But what about-“
“Well… I’m sure Drake can cope with a little bit of animosity,” Peter laughed, giving her a kiss on her cheek, “Although, I’m sure he’s gotten enough of that to last a lifetime this season.”
The rocky-skinned PA shoo’d Peter away, as he instructed Lisa to turn again, facing the camera in profile. Receiving a rather intense look, as Lisa followed his instructions.
Lisa did her best to keep an angry face, before sighing her mood taking on a more melancholic tone, “I just wish we didn’t have to jump right into the deep end with an international debut.”
“It is unfortunate,” Peter smiled, “But you knew that performances were expected in the position.”
“I thought they were just going to be local shows!” Lisa yelled, “You know… Maybe a charity event to drum up local interest… Definitely not the broadcasting to the whole world variety!”
Peter was about to say something, when a different PA (a rather nervous looking goblin female) came up to him, telling him they were ready to start setting up his rig. He quickly shouted over his shoulder, “Don’t worry, Lise! I’m sure we’ll do just fine!”
Lisa rolled her eyes, as her own PA told her to stand still so they could get the last finishing touches, “Figures…” She closed her eyes, trying to mentally prepare herself for what was going to happen.
~~~
Heathrow Airport
Unlike every time previously where the show had made a stop, the AFT-1 was processed through Heathrow International Airport just the same as any other plane, the girls stepping out into the terminal. “Heathrow was too busy to get filming space, unfortunately,” Drake explained to the girls, as they walked through the large, curved roof main terminal towards the entrance, where a larger, red, double-decker bus awaited the girls. All four of them almost immediately went up to the second level of the bus, the gray skies doing little to dissuade them, as it slowly cast off, heading towards the center of London.
The bus weaved in and out of London bound traffic effortlessly, almost magically finding the perfect spot to fit in on the highly congested motorways, slipping down the occasional unnoticed side street, and all the while giving its audience an excellent view of the historic city. While the production team had not paid for a tour guide for this location, Natalie was doing an excellent job describing the landscape, explaining what buildings had even the remotest connection to any form of magical event.
“Natalie,” Tetra asked, a little animated drop of sweat appearing on her head, “How exactly do you know all this stuff?”
“Oh! I’m a huge Anglophile!” Natalie smiled, “I mean, it’s hard not to be, with how rich, and well preserved England’s magic history is! For instance, did you know that England has the largest collection of historical accounts written during the last Magic Dark Age?”
“Interesting,” Dahlia smiled, “Although, I think that would be a time best forgotten…”
“Oh no, I’d disagree!” Natalie huffed, “I think those accounts are immensely important. After all, those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. How are we supposed to learn any of the mistakes made back then if all of the records are gone?”
Their conversation was cut short, as the bus slowly pulled into an alleyway, ending up on a rather empty street in front of a large building. As the girls walked out, they gazed up at the building.
In many ways, it seemed to resemble a modified boarding house. Multiple stories with many windows pointing out onto the street and beyond, aged black brick peeling away, revealing red clay underneath. The big difference from it and normal boarding house was the large, red neon sign, prominently proclaiming to passersby that this building was ‘THE HOUSE OF MISTER E’, and the large stone archway that encompassed the set of black double doors with the words, ‘Enter freely and of your own free will’ etched into the stonework.
The other girls looked rather nervous at the suspicious looking building as they were lined up, Natalie predictably growing more excited instead. Drake smiled at the girls as Martin thanked the bus driver for his hard work.
“Girls… Let me be the first to introduce you to one of London’s best known wellsprings: Mister E’s!” He slowly led the girls forwards, the double doors opening automatically as they stepped inside.
~~~
Mister E’s
While the girls had a rather small frame of reference for what a wellspring looked like, they could tell almost immediately that Mister E’s was an entirely different beast.
The front entrance, for the most part, looked what one might expect from a nightclub. Black carpeting, cocktail tables, a small stage set into the right wall, a pristine marble countertop and bar against the left wall, soft mood lighting. It was really what laid beyond this facade of normalcy that caused the girls to double take.
The club seemed to act almost like an entrance way into a strip mall like structure beyond it, except that instead of being a strip mall, the large, airy hallway that extended outwards from the back seemed to be designed in the same pattern, the rest of the building being almost infected with this black wood, club aesthetic.
As the long hallway pushed back into the aether, it seemed to almost warp, taking on a more uncanny appearance as further hallways branched off of it, staircases seemingly going up, down, sideways to nowhere, the architecture becoming more abstract and nonsensical the further you looked into it.
“Yep,” Drake grinned pridefully at the girls, “Mister E’s happens to be one of few wellsprings entirely maintained in a man-made structure in the entire world-“
“You see, there’s rumors that the spot it was built on in ancient times used to be a pub that an ancient druid used to visit, but after it was burned down, the entrance for the wellspring disappeared, and the spot was converted into a boarding house, until it fell back under the jurisdiction of the London Magic Council, who thought that maybe they could reopen the magic of the wellspring if they-“
“Natalie!” Drake stopped the little historian, sighing, “Thank you for the history lesson, however the show’s just about to start,” Drake nodded over to some of the tables, a little ‘Reserved for ANGA’ sign in chrome lettering on each one. As they took their seats, the black curtain slowly raised.
~~~
Peter & Lisa’s Performance
Over the loudspeaker, the familiar horns and heavy percussion of a John Williams piece begins to play, as Peter and Lisa walk out from each side of the stage. Lisa is wearing pure white robes, her copper hair falling back in luxurious curls as she holds a strange metal object out in front of her protectively. Peter, on the other hand, is wearing a large, intimidating black cloak, hiding most of his body.
He grins, saying, “Hello there!” his voice in a slightly raspier take on his normal voice.
Lisa smiles right back, saying, “Hey! That’s my line!”
“Well, General Lisa,” Peter grins, “If you’re foolish enough to face off against me, then you’ll need to be ready for anything if you have any hopes of winning.”
“Well Peter, thankfully I’ve had an excellent teacher in the Jedi arts,” Lisa grinned, as suddenly, a bright blue beam shot upwards from the metal hilt she was holding in front of her.
Peter grinned, “Well… I won’t go easy on you then,” Peter slowly pulled away his cloak, revealing underneath a black robe similar to what Lisa was wearing, and the fact that he had two sets of identical arms, one pair situated over the other. He grinned, as he expertly pulled two metal hilts from his sides, tossing them up into the air and catching them in time with his upper set while his lower set grabbed yet another pair of lightsabers out from his sides. He activated them one at a time, each glowing bright green as he took a four armed stance against Lisa, who visibly gulped as she took her own ready stance.
Peter came at her like a spinning top, his light sabers spinning wildly, as Lisa amazingly managed to deflect every blow, sparks flying across the stage as Peter’s assault forced her to take several steps back. His attacks were relentless, his extra arms allowing her no conceivable space for an opening.
Thankfully, she eventually managed to find one, in between a large wind-up, she flung her lightsaber upwards, completely cutting off his lower left hand in a single slash, the offending limb clattering to the floor, the lightsaber it was holding shutting down and rolling off the stage.
Peter lifted up one of his eyebrows, “I see that your Master must have taught you well, General Lisa.”
Lisa grins, “He sometimes teaches me some useful things.”
“Well, I’m afraid that he has not taught you well enough!” Peter grinned, slicing his remaining three arms upwards, very quickly dis-arming Lisa, who’s arms disappear from the slice. Lisa looks nervous as Peter slowly approaches her, swinging his laser swords cockily, “Well, it appears this is the end for you General Lisa. Any final words?”
“Yeah,” Lisa said defiantly, “Look behind you.”
Peter turned around to look, barely catching his previous lightsaber that had rolled off the stage flying through the air and slicing off his other lower arm, the arm flopping to the floor, as the lightsaber it carried hovered over to Lisa’s side of the stage, to join forces with the lightsaber that had just freed it, and Lisa’s old lightsaber. Peter looked nervously at the changed power dynamics, now outnumbered on the lightsaber front. “He he… Looks like it’s time I make a hasty retreat?”
“Oh no you don’t,” Lisa grinned, as one of her lightsabers shifted around behind Peter, blocking his escape route, “After all, you still owe me two arms,” She gestured towards her vacant shoulders with her head.
Peter, clearly cornered, didn’t go down without a fight, taking a full on attack forwards towards Lisa, who expertly dodged his attacks thanks to the fact she was no longer bound by the length of her limbs. With him being outnumbered, it was only a matter of time until Peter’s remaining arms were cut off, the offending limbs hovering over and directly attaching themselves to Lisa’s shoulders, the blackness of his robes spreading out, painting her robes gray.
Peter slouched on his knees, as Lisa’s lightsabers held him at bay, he uttered out a quick, “Best two out of three?” before Lisa cut his head off, his head over-exaggerating and sticking it’s tongue out, before quickly winking and smiling back at the audience. His body standing up and taking a bow along with Lisa’s.
Drake smiled as he walked out on stage, “Girls, please put your hands together for that amazing performance from Peter and Lisa!”
From the small audience, there was much cheering, particularly from Natalie, who screeched out, “Oh my God! The Samhein Girl’s going to be our host for the week!?” Eliciting a bit of a cringe from Lisa, and more confused looks form the other contestants.
Drake sighed, as he continued with his speech, “Anyways… Peter, Lisa. It’s wonderful to have you on the show.”
“Thanks Drake, we’re happy to be here,” Peter smiled warmly, Lisa smiling and keeping her mouth shut.
“Here, why don’t you read off this week’s challenge to the girls?” Drake smiled, as he outstretched an envelope with a red ANGA wax seal on the front to Lisa. Lisa quickly reattached Peter’s head to his body, before popping open the seal and reading it aloud, only the slightest hint of sarcasm present in her voice.
“Contestants, it’s important to remember that during the course of a show, the assistant plays just as important a part as the Magician. This mutual partnership sometimes involves you two swapping roles for brief periods of time. This week, your task is to design a trick where you will be performing magic on Martin. Be gentle, and try not to break him,” she scowled slightly at the banter written into the letter, closing it and handing it to Peter, who had re-attached his wayward arms while she was reading it.
Drake was in full force as he said, “Ooh! A real role reversal! Sounds like an excellent learning experience for us all,” feigning surprise to the challenge he had handed to Lisa.
The trio stepped down from the stage, the curtains closing automatically behind them. “Well, it’s getting late girls…” Drake yawned.
“Here, I can show everyone to their rooms,” Peter smiled warmly, “Stu’s still busy with some keeper business unfortunately, but he showed me which rooms you all will be staying in.” Peter waved his hand, leading the girls to the far wall and its intimidating labyrinth.
“I know it looks rather confusing,” Peter grinned, “but E’s actually got a pretty convenient fast travel system, just imagine where you want to go…” Peter focused, and suddenly the girls felt themselves being pulled forwards, depositing them in front of various numbered doors. Turning around, the front club area looked as close as it had been, despite the girls presumably being much further away from it.
“I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it, but if you need anything, feel free to shoot Lisa or me a message,” Peter handed each of the girls a set of room keys and a business card featuring their two numbers on them.
And with that, the girls settled down for the first evening in London, excited for the week ahead of them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
& Question Corner &
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Paxton; “A great performance, you did really, really, well. Good Job. Sometime I'll have to show you the Fae village on one of our Islands, it is very lovely,..” -James Schutter (@@James-MacCloude)
Paxton: Paxton blushes deeply. “Y-yeah… I think I’d like to check them out…”
To Olive: “Thank you Olive I appreciate it. I have actually been a mother myself , Fae are extremely long lived compared to humans . My son was tragically killed in a battle many, many, years ago. Though I have met my great, great ,great, grandson, and he and his wife are dear to me.
Perhaps, if you get voted off you may come here for a visit and I can tell you my full story.” -Morgana Pendragon (@@James-MacCloude)
Olive: “Oh dear. My condolences,” Olive looks genuinely upset, “I-I couldn’t imagine what it must be like to lose a child. I’m really sorry, dear…” Olive takes a few minutes to mentally center herself before continuing.
“Well… It seems that I have been voted off… I’d love the opportunity to talk to you, although with the busy schedule I’ve been given, we might need to push it back a bit,” She chuckles, still clearly a little shaken up.
To Natalie & Kacie: “A fantastic performance, Natalie. I loved that you had multiple head at the end. I wish I could have had one, you are cute. As for my extra heads, Kacie, my copies are just blank slates really, and when not being used, are in suspended animation. I have split my consciousness between several of them before though, It not easy controlling multiple brains, or bodies for that matter.” Catherin Knight Welling (@@James-MacCloude)
Natalie: “Thanks! I debated for a long time whether we should have figured out a way to give me dog ears, because I didn’t think that many people knew what a Kefalus was, but they probably knew their more animal cousins: The Cerberus. I’m glad to see that people appreciated it though!”
Kacie: “Oh, I definitely know what you mean. I get a little dizzy when I try to have Tetra running at the same time as my head, so I’ll usually try to switch one or the other off when not in use.”
To David and Drake: “I have found out who sent the unexpected visitor, last week. He is a magical troublemaker who had been giving several people trouble, including me. I hadn't thought he'd go this far with his antics. There’s no need to worry though, as I’ve already with the issue. We shouldn’t be seeing anymore problems from him in the future. And David, that invitation is still open, although it seems that you’ve been rather busy recently.” -Jacob Schutter (@@James-MacCloude)
Drake: “That’s great to hear, Ja- Mr. Schutter… Definitely helps ease my mind knowing that Gen- Mageria is in safe hands once again.” Drake blushes at his slip.
David: “Wonderful! I’m afraid I’m going to be busy with ANGA stuff until the end of the season, but I’m sure Amanda will appreciate the opportunity to just get away for a while. Isabella has managed to enter her terrible twos a little early, and maybe a change of scenery will help her calm down a little bit.”
To the Girls: “You all did so well this week I loved all the performances. Who ever gets voted off this week is invited to come for a holiday here in Mageria as my guest.” -Jacob Schutter. (@@James-MacCloude)
The girls mostly echo the same sentiments of thanks for Jake’s approval of their performance. Olive additionally adding, “Oh, I’d love to come out for a holiday! But I’m afraid Henry and I really need to get started packing and planning things for this wonderful around the world cruise we’ve been given! The cruise starts only two weeks after ANGA ends, so it doesn’t really leave us a lot of time to get all of our geese in order.”