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.
