Vicky was busy preparing all her equipment on the backstage. The saw, the boxes, and the trick inside require precise skill and thoughtful process. But as she was holding her wrench tight, a man with a fine suit and a black hat emerged from the dark, surprising Vicky in her preparation for the stage. But he was no stranger to him.
"Well, look who do we have here. If one rabbit didn't slip out of my hat, I would've thought of you as an illusionary." The man greets her.
"Mr. Waldo. I...pleasant to see you here, sir." Vicky brushes up her manner with a bow.
"No need with the honorary. I just want to see the process of your new magic..." The man dismisses.
"Y-yeah, right! It's already here, sir. You would be surprised to see what I could do."
"Oh, dear. You better be—the sawing box trick is already old and predictable. It's sad that many students had to go with some simple small trick like glass and cards instead of a fire ring..."
The man has a manner set, and disappointment is definitely not one of it. Yet the man would not peek for his surprise, as he respected boundaries and a man's secret. It was a respect that he gained fairly from his students and Vicky as a mentor.
"Remind me why did I give you an extension for this class' performance that should've been yesterday?" The man raises his monocle for a polish.
"All your accomplices are curious because of the involvement here..."
"I had some businesses with my family, especially one of my sisters whom I've never seen for years. Had a meeting with her in an urgent. You remember my sister Christine?"
"Ms. Starstuhm, I pity for what you have lost. But how many times do I have to give you a leeway for you to put a rose on her grave again?"
"N-no, sir. You misunderstand...I was picking her up from the Institute when we were informed of her well-being there."
"Pardon me? Are we talking about the same sister here?" The man stops polishing his monocle.
"Ehem, Pearl! Can you bring me my hat?" She yelled.
Her call echoes throughout the backstage, and long pause for a silence between. They could hear a footstep heading from the distance, seemingly a fast and nervous one in a rush. And as Vicky expects, the one with the name comes in.
"Sister, did you call?" Pearl emerges with her hat.
"Pearl, please meet my mentor Mr. Waldo here..." Vicky introduces.
"Mr. Waldo, this is my sister Christine."
"Mentor? What are you—Eek! I mean, h-hi...?" She waves calmly.
"Yo!" Starglaze slides in.
Unlike Vicky's expectation, the mentor's face didn't change with Pearl's presence. But surely he knows her existence well if he had his eyes perched the same. In fact, he seems to have studied her instead.
"What do you say, sir? Fancy to meet her for the first time, right? I never introduce you to my sister before..."
"So, here we are. At the reveal of Sebastian's biggest trick." He replies.
"I'd say his scheme is quite clever to fool even a man like me, but that isn't a trick to me at all. It's just an abuse of creativity."
"I hope this means you wouldn't abuse yours when you are a magician like me in a big stage, Ms. Vicky Starstuhm." The man faces Vicky before glancing at Pearl.
"And I am happy to finally meet with the one lady herself, Ms. Christine Starstuhm."
The man reaches for a handshake with Pearl, but she is too nervous to do so. In her eyes, the captor's grip was reflected in Waldo's glove like a trap. It was not long until Vicky's winking signal compelled her to finally have a handshake.
"N-nice to meet you too, sir."
"Ehm...eh...hrgh...ehm...yeah." She reaches his hands at last.
Her handshake was weak, but the man didn't seem to bother.
"Now, if you excuse me..."
"I will be waiting for you on the front seat, Ms. Starstuhm. I'll make sure you could get that grade IF you can impress me on that old trick..."
The man left the scene.
———————————————————————————————————————————
[Stage]
The spotlight is on, the curtains are set, and the stage is all for the show. But it was missing something—the performer. The performer lies behind the curtain, yet it is not Pearl. It was for the backstage people to shine.
Many ranges of teenagers and adults are waiting for their time to show up. Some have a mere silliness, unspeakable brilliance, or even pure madness in the form of an action trick. Those who sit backstage, with confused and busy faces, remind her of her friends in the studio trying to impress Sebastian.
There is a man whose head is as hard as he is stubborn, daring to break a wall with his head. His cannon is huge, and his helmet is thick. His assistant sure knows how to flick a spark for his rage.
Boom!! The cannon blasted, but the man stayed.
"Aaah!!" He yelled. Something is broken.
"Ouch, that must be hurt..." Pearl covers her eyes.
"Why did I even think of this?" Mr. Waldo commented.
Then there's a woman who toils with fire. Her assistant is but a dog in a lion's mask, waiting to shimmer on the stage and earn his courage so that he no longer needs his facade.
"Come on, Rocky! Jump, boy!"
"Jump, boy! Come on, boy! Come on!"
The dog couldn't even be bothered to look at his owner.
"Such a rebellious dog," Pearl pities.
"Aww, they're looking bad at them..."
"Not bad," Starglaze smirks.
Then there's a man seeking the depth of the abyss with a bind of a chain. The cage is but a watery grave, and he has no hand to dig his way out. He dares himself to be free against the odds.
The man in the water cage didn't move.
"Uhm...is this part of the show? It's been like...five minutes since he started." Pearl checks the clock.
"Blb..." The man bubbles once.
"Yeah, I think he's just taking a breath. Look at him going for it! So natural..." Starglaze commented.
"Call the emergency line." Mr. Waldo stares with a grunt.
All the performers were not doing well. Mr Waldo didn't even enjoy his time on the chair, and Pearl had never seen such disappointment from a man in years.
"Oh, did you see the man's face? He's full of dismay for these people!"
"So? They deserve it. You've seen the last guy who had that blade on his mouth?"
"How could say that, Mr. Starglaze? These people tried their best! Surely Mr Waldo could've be more merciful with them!"
"You can even tell he has that face of a utter hatred for living being." Pearl squints with such resentment.
"And Vicky's not going to impress him..."
The last performer is saved for the last. Vicky is the one standing in the spotlight to close the performance, bearing the box and saw, while Pearl and Starglaze deliver her tools. Mr Waldo appears indifferent as usual, perhaps even disappointed with the other audiences.
"Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me...not a performer, just an assistant! Just an assistant!" She passes through with her box from left to right.
A spotlight shines above Vicky's head and her box.
"You may start," Waldo said.
Vicky begins her performance with a little introduction. Her gesture indicates a strong confidence in her box, followed by a statement to help clarify her tricks. Yet Mr. Waldo is still doubtful.
"Today, I will show you my brilliant performance. Watch as I saw this box in half without cutting off the mannequin."
"And for your information, this mannequin is still intact with the box. No cut mark, no detachable, and..." She opens the box from the front.
"Saw is as sharp as a needle. Ouch...umph..."
"So, let us start. Shall we?"
*Machine grunting*
Just when it seemed Vicky was about to make a slow cut, she slammed a chainsaw onto the table. The grinding roar of metal echoed across the stage as the chainsaw came to life—Vicky's only goal: set the box in half.
Slash!! She cuts unevenly and aimlessly.
That was a double box for the audiences and Vicky, but not in a fair way. It cuts diagonally, leaving more sides on the waist than the top. Yet, it is also far from a coordinated one. Even Pearl couldn't bring herself to see such a process with the grinding gear.
"Woah, that's crazy! Is she not afraid of hurting herself!" Pearl's arms are trembling on the curtain.
"All that woodchips could hurt her! She could've broken her nails and fingers!"
"I'll have that for any show..." Starglaze commented.
But it was not over yet. Vicky had the box opened to show the devastating result. Sawdust was dropped on the ground, and the mannequin was split in half as promised. Surely, nothing should have ever recovered that thing again.
"See this? It's half...half and uneven...there's no saving for this little guy."
"But is it...?"
Click!
She closes the box again, setting her hands in the air for a few minutes of silence and idling. Tension and mystery rise on the stage as Vicky seemingly enjoys herself with a closed eye. Even Mr. Waldo seems to be intrigued by her performance.
"And... tada!" She opens the box from the side again with force.
The mannequin bears no scratch, yet the cut on the box still remains. Vicky drags the mannequin out like a friend to drag, showing not even a sight of cut. Audiences cheered from their seats, for even they couldn't argue with her performance.
*Clap* *Clap* *Clap* *Clap* Pearl claps for Vicky by the curtains.
"Good job, sister! Good job!"
"Woah..." Pearl awes.
"She really did it so easy...without a magic..."
"Yeah, I do think we could've done it, too."
"No, we would've been caught by Mr. Waldo beforehand."
From behind the curtains, she seems to have forgotten her fear of the stage. All that she doubts seemingly vanishes from her head where Vicky is having the best time of her life. For a seemingly perfect cut, everything remained as perfect as Vicky had planned.
"Thank you, thank you..." She bows twice.
"I know you must have a lot of questions in your head, but keep that in mind because it is my magic trick..." Vicky sneers.
Pearl sat with a smile from the backstage, along with the other performers whose faces were not as happy as hers. Concealed, she applaud her sister in the hat of a human and the voice of a loving one. But the performers didn't seem to be as happy as her, too.
"Out of all performances I saw here, nothing bested over that one. Don't you think?" Starglaze squints with an admiration for Vicky.
"Definitely! Reminds me of Abraco's extremity when it comes to his trick," Pearl mumbled.
"You think Vicky learns from him?"
"Who wouldn't? We are the most influental people in this town, Pearl!" Starglaze raises a chalice prop.
The audience shakes, and the ground teeters with the vibration of their applauses before a silence follows for a closing. Vicky stands off with a sweat as her mentor's face is still unchanged by the tide of her performance.
"Uhm...Mr. Waldo? How's my performance?"
"Did I make you stunned or dazzled?" She smirks confidently.
———————————————————————————————————————————
"Failed??" Vicky yelled in disbelief.
By the door of her home that was slammed open with grief, she and Pearl returned to the house with an unfortunate news. Vicky is as disappointed as a failure would feel, having to bore her failure in a paper stamped with 'rejected' and criticism.
"Vicky, you're home! How's the performance, dear? Do you get the approval?" The mother awaits with a smirk by the living room.
"Noo!! Huhuhu! I failed!!" Vicky runs upstairs. Her words turn that smile into a shock.
"W-what? How? That sawing box trick is a brilliant idea! Did Mr Waldo sees it?"
"Yes, and he hated it so much! He even gave me a remark of failure!"
"This is the worst day of my life!"
A door is slammed shut from the upstairs.
And there was Pearl, hopeless and struggling in her duty carrying Vicky's failed legacy to the house herself. That half-sliced box was nothing more than trash to clean from the stage, and Pearl would surely take that job than being in Vicky's position. And Starglaze still lazes himself off with more leeway and frivolousness.
"She tried her best *pant* mom..." Pearl pauses with an exhausted pant.
"I *pant* see it. I see it with *pant* my eyes..."
"She *pant* deserves *pant* that praise..."
"But she was *pant* treated unfairly from the *pant* audience..."
"She definitely deserves it. But this Waldo guy didn't." Starglaze floats in.
The mother couldn't say she wasn't surprised, but that slam from a door clearly shows she was. Yet there's nothing worth changing in Vicky's mind now that her failure is clear. All she could do was to help Pearl with the rest of her duties so that she could rest.
"You worked hard today, Christine. Let me handle this for you..."
"You sure? Going up there would be difficult, Mom. I mean, I had a lot of time carrying it myself in the morning..." Pearl replies.
"Don't worry, sweetie. For stuff like this, we had a special storage to keep them. Besides, it's just a waste now that it was cut in half for nothing..."
"I worked hard, too! Had a lot of difficulty navigating myself here with all those whines from our magician over there." Starglaze babbles yet again.
"Oh, Vicky...if only the world could see the lights in you like we do..."
The mother left into the back of the house.
And so there was Pearl, sitting confused with Starglaze as Vicky's grunt echoed into her ears. Failure was not as different as she had once in the stage. But the trick is done, and the magician has lost her touch.
"Aww, I can't believe it. Not even in the studio I would've been rejected like that..." Pearl grasps her cheeks.
"Vicky didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve to be a failure..."
"She was just trying her best. Like many performers, too..."
"Why did they have to hate her..." Pearl wraps herself in grief.
She sips on a cup of tea, trying to calm herself from the thought. But the thought of Vicky's show is too fitting to her life on the stage once, and it haunts her back in a vivid sight. A sight of a man.
"Pearl," A man with a shadowy face stands beside her.
"Aah! Mr. Chrome!" She panicked. Her grip tightened on the carpet, her head was down on the ground, and her knees were folding.
"No, sir! Forgive me! I was just—huh?" Tears fell into her eyes as she begged.
But there was nothing—never a thing. The man is just a wisp in her ears, and Pearl is sleeping in her fear again. Yet when she stands up and relishes with the sunlight, she finds herself reassured once more.
"I had to do something about this," She mumbled.
"Starglaze. Starglaze!" She calls him.
"What is it? Can't you see I'm tuning for a show here?" He said on the couch, sitting so elegantly and free with a remote.
"I must have missed the Murder by The Rose again. Sheesh..." He mumbled.
"We don't have time for that. We have to help Vicky earn her rightful place from her mentor!" Pearl's eyes shimmer with optimism.
"What? And how are we going to do that? We are no magician nor we have a trick like her."
"Plus, why do you suddenly care for that theatre again? Thought you were done with your career."
"Because she's my sister! And when you have a sister, you help her. Vicky didn't deserve to be in my shoes for nothing."
Pearl walked off to see two birds from the tree outside through the window. A frown arched on her lips as she tasted the air stale.
"It's been a year since I've heard a rejection so big that it breaks my bone. There was a side in me that had to change just to feel better from hearing Chrome's repudiation..."
She loosened her bow, carrying it to her palms so she could see how bright and frail it was. Her hands were trembling while her breathing was slowing.
"I can't let that happen to my sister. I...can't let that slip through my eyes again..."
"Aww, that was such a nice observation from you, Pearl." Starglaze swings by her head.
"But what Vicky has right now is something in her own thought. Should we interfere with her wailing, don't you think it'll be a bad idea?"
"How? Helping does make things better. Who wouldn't want to be helped, anyway?"
"Well, how can we...her family...hone that magic trick better than what she has? Too bad Vicky's not good with the ordinary one from what I see." Starglaze wanders around.
In Starglaze's pause, he lets himself fly across the air with his dust scattering recklessly. But as one falls into Pearl's head, an idea struck with a glimpse of sparkling diamond pupils.
"Well, maybe she doesn't have to play with an ordinary trick."