𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 did not falter even as he gathered the cards & began to pile them back into a stack. sure, he understood that a simple card trick probably wasn’t something for someone to boast about ⸻ at least children would receive a little more good reception considering their innocence or a talented magician who could do advanced techniques ⸻ but little did anyone know that this meant a lot to him. one of his biggest insecurities was being incredibly boring & plain, so much that no one would bother with him. his sister might joke around with him when it came to his interests, saying things like “yaaaaaaawn. can we do something that’s actually fun?”, & sometimes, that would sting ⸻ a lot. but at the end of the day, belle understood him more than anyone he knew & vice versa, & he was mature enough to know that his sister loved him dearly & truly.
as much as he did to her.
& 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤𝐬 of expanding their circle of friends outside of the ones they already know, wise still wanted to have some sort of face while interacting with customers. sometimes, he felt he tried too hard to be social & interesting, & it would always end up being awkward as hell ⸻ he never understood how his sister did it ⸻ which is why he would much rather remain in the background, working on random play’s next ad or diving himself into piles of finances. in fact, today had felt like one of those days where he didn’t want to associate with the outside world, but it wasn’t until belle encouraged him to help with customers by urging him to showcase his new card trick he had showed her earlier to everyone he checked out : “hell, we might even get some whopping five-star reviews on inter-knot ~ ”
gold star reviews were always welcomed. it meant more customers, which in turn meant more money in the bank.
❝ it’s honestly just math. ❞
𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬, the silver head shuffled the deck & set it neatly aside, clearing the counter to be able to properly assist with whatever amala needed.
❝ if you pay attention & do a bit of calculation in your head, the trick is fairly easy. ❞
𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 for a brief moment as she crossed the counter with a box full of new tapes to add to the inventory, sticking out her tongue teasingly before setting her full attention to her task. wise nervously chuckled & rubbed the back of his neck.
❝ point given, ahah. granted, i could only figure out how to do this trick because of math . . . & i saw it off a post on inter-knot, so you can’t really rule me as a magician in any sense of the word. ❞
