The Dates

Throughout the dim room, the surprised sighs and gasps of the audience resonated in unison with the completion of the trick. How did Hugh pull that off? No psychic powers involved! How in the world did he manage to pull that trick off? There were murmurs between friends, whispers between pairs, and the confused mumblings of Pokemon who had gone to the show solo and as such had no one with which to share the experience. That was okay though. It was enough to be a part of the audience at large when such feats were performed. That Kadabra flashed another one of his charismatic smiles over his shoulder (wooing a few ladies in the process) before dramatically spinning around in such a way as to let his cape twirl in the air. He certainly had a flair for theatrics; the stage was his home, and in it he was most comfortable. His incredible intelligence lent itself to setting up elaborate tricks to deceive the audience into believing beautiful lies. It was his craft! Alongside Dee and Nie, Hugh could pull off anything. And besides, it’s not as if he had psychic powers... the Dusk stone ground into the cement and placed all along the walls of the King’s Rock Casino had no real bearings on what Hugh could do. The Psychic-type suppressor was in place so that the casino couldn’t be cheated out of its money. How unfair would that be for everyone if it weren’t so?

It made the mind tricks that Hugh did all the more impressive. Sometimes, he would call up a Psychic-type from the audience and get them to do their best in predicting cards or some random number. They would, of course, fail - and be momentarily embarrassed. That was the nature of it, and that was how Hugh had to set it up. If he didn’t let the audience understand that one of them wasn’t able to breach the barrier, then they would automatically have doubts about how genuine he was being. After all, it’s easy to say, “I am not using any psychic powers,” but how many would believe you without an unknowing audience member being flabbergasted when he cannot use his own powers? You become a lot more astonishing when you can still, apparently, read minds!

...but of course, that was all a trick, too. It was only the illusion of being able to read minds, but it seemed incredible when no one could figure out the secret, when everyone would get lost in the magic of the moment. That was what Hugh lived for.

It was kind of a silly topic, anyway. Genuineness? In stage performances? Everything was never what it seemed, there was more to be seen no matter what was being pulled! The unimportant was important; anything that was seemingly important was probably a diversion. Though, it wasn’t as if the audience knew this or cared. They came to be amazed and to be entertained, and this is just what Hugh was good at.

…

And with that trick over, and the audience nearly sated, Hugh wanted to pull off his finale for the afternoon. He needed a member from the audience though. Someone smaller than he, someone he could fit into his box and who wouldn’t need to do anything complex...

---

With the flick of his wand, Hugh signalled Nie, his Pidove assistant, to spotlight a guest. It landed on a dark Kecleon seated in between a prim Persian and a fidgety Jumpluff. He was kind of slouched against the red velvet, and Hugh wasn’t sure if the fellow was awake at all at first. A nudge from the Persian to the side and the Kecleon spasmed straight up, looking mildly alarmed. Or at least, that’s what it seemed from this distance. Hugh had pretty good eyes, but the Pokemon on which Nie had rested the spotlight was a few rows back. This wouldn’t do for his trick! No, not at all.

“Come on up, won’t you? I need your help for this next amazing, wonderful, fantastic feat, sir! If you would be so kind!” Hugh called out. Lots of ladies fell for his stage persona and stage voice, and even some of the gents. He figured that the Kecleon would be delighted, as all the other participants always were, once he got on stage. There was a pause though.

The Kecleon shifted around uncomfortably, and the Persian took this as a chance to whisper something to his squirming friend. Hugh imagined they were friends anyway. Maybe more? The Persian’s body language said as much, even if the other’s didn’t. The pause lasted too long.

“Sir?” Hugh asked, keeping his fantastic composure, “won’t you help me out with my feat?” As long as the silence didn’t last too long, Hugh knew how to turn it all around. He was good at that, as he was good at many things involving psychology and trickery. Conversation, directed conversation, was certainly a strong point of his.

The Kecleon fumbled with the arms of the seat a little, listening to the Persian. He then looked straight up at Hugh from his seat and spoke clearly, “I’m not a sir.”

Hugh was absolutely dumbstruck. He blinked his big, confused eyes a couple of times, smacking his lips once in an attempt to recapture lost words. How could he have made such a novice mistake? It had to be that Dee was out and had been ill for the past couple of weeks... oh, and Dee would find his mistake so terrible! To accidentally confuse a gender! It shook him up quite badly, and he was nearly unable to regain himself. Perhaps if he hadn’t been as experienced in working these situations out, he’d have frozen up and the show would’ve been a bust. Not now, not this time!

“Of course you aren’t, but you looked nearly asleep! I had to test if you were awake enough to perform somehow, didn’t I?” he asked, giving a theatric wink in her direction. “Now what’s your name, Miss? And won’t you please join me for this next trick?”

What a color for a girl Kecleon though... Hugh wasn’t quite sure if his slip up was due to the lack of Dee’s presence, or that he only expected girls of this species to come in yellow. Regardless...

He watched her stumble past the other audience members. Was she drunk, or... or just really tired? Either way, this was looking to be a pretty poor selection on Nie’s part. Hugh made a note to later speak to his fine feathered friend about this choice in temporary stage helper. She’d forgotten or didn’t care enough to give up her name before coming to the stage. Scanning the audience, Hugh caught briefly the discomfort everyone started to display with Nie’s choice. Fantastic. The pointed looks, the whispers in the Kecleon’s direction... It was going to require even more work to keep the audience in good cheer all the way through the end of the trick.

---

<nr>

PK awkwardly made her way past bulky Pokemon in their comically small or wrongly shaped seats, aiming to reach the lit stage where whatever stupid trick was going to happen. She was in the middle of a long daydream about woulda and coulda beens when some idiot shined the brightest light of her flipping life right into her eyes. It was all a confused mess, and then the idiot magician had called her a guy. Way to go. To tell the truth, she didn’t even care that much about the blunder, but sleeping and eating poorly for over two weeks had made her even more irritable than she could ever remember being in months. She wanted nothing less than to climb up onto that stage and be in the center of everyone’s attention. Again. She’d had enough of that crap for months now, and it was finally wearing her down. It had been fine enough to manage with a partner at her side, all the stupid side glances and comments easily being shrugged or laughed off. But, she’d lost that. She’d lost her partner with which she could joke, and in the process, seemed to have lost the ability to joke. She’d not laughed in weeks. Smiles had become a rare commodity, as well.

She felt the eyes, caught wind of the whisperings. Were they about her? Of course they were. She couldn’t catch a break; was it always going to be like this? She didn’t ask for this, didn’t ask to be a part of this... this stupid trick. She didn’t even want to be in the casino, she didn’t even want to watch this show... She was downright exhausted and sleep was absolutely hard to come by! It couldn’t be helped if she’d found the plush seat in the dark room just a tad bit too comfortable, damnit! It didn’t earn her all these weird looks, she was so, so tired: tired of this haughty Kadabra standing on his stage like a throne, tired of this sleepy, claustrophobic room, and tired of Twigs trying to slobber all over her during the show. Well, maybe that last one wasn’t entirely accurate. Whatever he’d been saying to her got mixed in with her daydreams and had turned into some strange scenario where he had her pinned down in the beautifully redone, rebuilt Merchant Hut, and was doing embarrassing things in front of imaginary perturbed customers. She wanted to try to store this in her mental banks to evaluate later, but already her dream was slipping out of her grasp like water out of a hole-ridden pail. Such was the nature of dreams, she supposed. Still, it seemed important...

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, PK reached the little steps onto the stage. Her tail drooped and her eyes looked and felt dull, but she trudged her way up next to the Kadabra and his tiny box. Was she supposed to go into that or something? Shortly she’d find out. Maybe it won’t be too involving, she hoped. Maybe I can get back to my sleep soon-- er, back to my chair soon, outta here soon. God, I’m so tired! What am I even thinking?!

If there was any indication of how down-to-the-bones exhausted she was, the flashy Kadabra either didn’t notice or care. And why should he? His concern was the stage. Always! Always so single-minded! And it’s not like he could read her mind, hah! No, he was handicapped for his species, and had somehow turned that into a profitable venture. PK had to respect that a little, in the deepest parts of her brain. The parts that weren’t pissed off over being on stage unexpectedly.

“Ladies and gentlemon, please do not take your eyes off of this lovely girl! She is going to disappear before your very eyes!” Hugh announced. Really? Was that some sort of Kecleon cue she was supposed to follow or something? Because she wasn’t going to do it and if this stupid cape he was waving in front of her was a clue then-

And just like that, a twirl of the cape later--(and of what use was the box? some other part of the trick? she never found out, and besides that, it quickly left her mind)-- PK found herself having fallen into a dark space, the brief light from the stage disappearing along with the slightly audible click of the trapdoor mechanic falling back into place, caught in some unknown’s arms. She was about to scream, surely would have, but was silenced by a fluffy paw tapping her head. “Shh! Don’t let them hear you!”

---

PK had it in her mind to let them hear her anyway, but decided against it. Let them have their dumb tricks. The audience was roaring with applause at however he’d concluded the trick anyway, so no one would have heard her regardless. She... she did fall through a trapdoor, right? It was too dark to tell. Why would Hugh pick someone to help him out if they would just find out his secrets? Couldn’t the chosen Pokemon just rat Hugh out? PK wondered these questions (rather half-heartedly, admittedly, for she didn’t really care for magic shows to begin with) before realizing that the unknown who had been carrying her was on the move. What the hell.

If there was one thing that was absolutely frightening no matter her life circumstances, it was running into things in the dark. And here someone was, carrying her through a whole room full of somethings in the dark. Maybe she’d bump her head, maybe she’d get a concussion, what did it matter? Not much, apparently! Maybe this guy, girl, whatever, would trip and drop her and she’d fall into some pit. She couldn’t see anything to know otherwise! Wait. No, it was a guy, definitely a guy. Fluffy? Like on the poster? Oh.. wait, there’d been a Lopunny on the poster! But... it was a girl on the poster, it seemed. This voice had been a guy. Was she mistaken? It sounded familiar though. But how could it be? Ahh, it wasn’t that farfetched. She had lived out in the Bay for most of her life, it was possible...

Eh. But what did it matter, anyway? PK mostly cared about where they ended up. Flying through the darkness was terrifying--okay, well, it wasn’t flying so much as... taking giant strides. It wasn’t on purpose, but she found herself clinging to the--shirt?--of whatever this fluffy guy was wearing. If she was sleepy before, she was definitely alert now. She might have squeaked and gasped a bit in her utter panic, though she really couldn’t be sure with the way her heart thumping completely filled her ears. Blood rushing, that’s all she could hear. She only guessed that she had accidentally made her terror known when the unknown fellow asked if she was all right somewhere along the lines. Snorting her (untrue) assent, they continued up, down, across, wherever the hell they were going.

And then she felt his weight shift and a door opened (it seems the fellow had kicked it open, judging from the sudden jolt she experienced), blinding her momentarily with the onslaught of crazy lightworks that only the casino was known for. Immediately she had to squint. What a stupid amount of lights, she thought. Slowly, her eyes adjusted, and she was lowered down to the ground by her ride. She huddled over the floor, doing her best to shade her eyes with her tiny claws. Whatever feelings she’d gone through in the past few minutes were all replaced by a sense of vertigo and then that of nausea.

That same voice of the Pokemon who’d bounded over here, well, it seemed to recognize her. “PK? You’re...”

“What?” she asked. No time for games. She didn’t even turn around, the dizziness was filling her gut, threatening to pull her to the ground.

Perhaps her tone had set him off, or maybe she was just out of it and unable to really converse today and this stranger had sensed it, but he didn’t respond. She turned slightly to catch his gaze, but instead found an uneasy gape. It figured.

“You’re Dee?” she asked. “From the poster?”

“Erm... sort of. I mean, no, but yes, I’m filling in for her, and--” clearly this stranger felt awkward about this arrangement for whatever reason, fumbling on his words. He gave a sort of sheepish half grin in the middle of what he was saying. Something was shining in those green eyes that he didn’t dare mention. This was kind of infuriating. Or, well, it was until nausea won out again. PK had no energy to be annoyed. Though...

“Wait a sec, are you- you’re from the village then?” PK asked, not really needing to hear the answer. The answer was yes. A Lopunny... masculine build... green eyes... familiar voice, apparently recognized her... Ah! Aha!

“You’re... you’re a Rogue, aren’t you? I’ve seen you around.” PK looked up. The dainty vest looked out of place on his build, there was no question about it. He looked back. His silence was all the affirmation she needed. “You don’t make a very convincing girl up close,” she concluded.

He snorted a laugh, and then added, “No, but it gets the job done. And we get paid, y’know.” We? Definitely a team. Not one of her own, had to be a Rogue for sure.

Having completed his duty to deliver one (1) Kecleon to safety, the magician’s assistant swiveled about foot and scurried back into the darkness, off to perform more specific (and, in PK’s book, no doubt inane) deeds for Hugh.

Slowly the sense of falling and needing to vomit passed. Now, where was she, exactly? She wasn’t too familiar with the casino, a place that had been built shortly after she left. Her sister’s doings, of course. The big metal door from which she’d come closed resolutely and then it dawned on her that she’d accidentally lost track of her date by having participated in the little show. It wasn’t a big deal, and no one seemed to notice or care that she was there, but the casino felt way too cramped and crowded. It was hard to think, the buzzing of the lights, the occasional ding of the strange box machines (followed by the clatter of Poke that she’d recognize anywhere), the constant chatter all around her of excited and annoyed and happy Pokemon... it all combined into a very invasive sort of cacophony echoing around her head. The drowsiness set back in, and she was once again slumped over, lost in muddled thoughts, the location this time being in the middle of the brightly lit inner chamber of the casino instead of the atmospheric darkness of the theater’s gallery.

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