John Mercer stands on a makeshift stage in the middle of a bustling shopping mall, performing for a sparse and distracted crowd. His outfit is worn but still stylish, a clear relic from better days. The mall’s overhead speakers blare an out-of-place pop song as he shuffles a deck of cards with practiced ease.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he calls, his voice full of forced enthusiasm, “prepare to be amazed! I will now make this very real, very ordinary twenty credit chip—” he holds up the holographic card for emphasis “—completely disappear!”
A toddler claps. A teenager mutters, "I've seen this one on YouTube."
John sighs inwardly but pushes forward, a wide smile plastered on his face. He executes the trick flawlessly, making the card vanish and then reappear inside a sealed bottle of soda he’d "borrowed" from a nearby vending machine. The trick is solid—years of perfecting sleight of hand—but the crowd barely reacts. A few passersby drop cred-chits into his tip jar, more out of pity than amazement.
As he transitions to his next act, a loud thud sounds nearby. He turns to see a security guard with a security baton pressed into the box he stood on. “Hey, buddy, you got a permit for this?”
John gives a disarming smile. “A permit? Officer, I’m just here bringing a little magic to the fine shoppers of—” He glances at a nearby store. “—Discount Shoe Warehouse.”
The guard crosses his arms. “You’re blocking foot traffic.”
John sighs, mutters something under his breath, and turns back to the audience. “And now, for my final trick—the disappearing magician!” With a dramatic twirl of his cape (it’s really just a long jacket, but he makes it work), he grabs his tip jar and vanishes into the crowd.
He makes his way to the food court, counting his earnings—barely enough for a nutri-bar. He slumps into a plastic chair and exhales, staring at the ceiling. “Well, I suppose I should go try in a different part of the mall. A few more performances like that and I might be able to afford a halfway decent meal instead of whatever it is they put in those bars.”
He levered himself out of the chair and began ambling around the mall in search of a new spot. The mall took up two whole floors of the megabuilding he was in so he had plenty of options. Eventually he decided on a spot in front of some store called Bill’s Sports Warehouse, which looked more like a large shed than a warehouse. There was a toy store just a few shops down which would hopefully draw in some kids dragging their parents over to see the magic.
John looked around to see if there were any security guards. Seeing none he flared his coat out behind him and spun his tattered top hat in his hands as he called out, “Hello shoppers one and all, come see the mystical mastery, the physically improbable, and the downright impossible. No holograms, no cyber arms, nothing but pure magic!” He put extra emphasis on the last word to try and snag some attention.
“Prepare to be fooled, baffled, and amazed!” He singled out a young man walking by, “You there, young man in the blue sweater, come and draw a card, any card!”
The young man stopped and pointed at himself, “Me?”
“Yes, you! Come, draw a card and witness the magic.”
He walked over cautiously, “This isn’t some weird attempt at mugging is it, because I have a gun.”
John shook his head good naturedly, “Of course not, and I would expect nothing less of a strapping young man such as yourself!” He fanned the cards out and made the deck seem to wave like water. “Now, pick a card, any card!”
The young man carefully drew a card from the worn deck in John’s hands before holding it up to take a look at it. “It’s a–”
“Ah!” John called, cutting him off, “Don’t tell me what it is, just remember it. Show it to the young lady here, just so we have more witnesses.” He gestured to a young lady who seemed to be out for some weekend shopping with her friends.
The young man showed her the card before they both looked in askance back at John. “Now, young lady, please take this deck of cards,” he handed the deck to her, “And have the young gentleman here place the card anywhere in the deck. I’ll turn around so I don’t see where it’s at.” Putting action to words, John spun around with a flourish, catching the eye of a young girl no older than nine or ten. He waggled his eyebrows at her which caused her to giggle and her mom to look at him sternly. He simply winked at the woman before the two behind him called out.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
He spun back around and took the deck of cards back from the young lady. “Now, We shall shuffle the deck!” John began a complicated set of maneuvers that made it look like he shuffled the deck repeatedly as he struck up a conversation, “Young man, what is your name? It’s not polite to just keep calling you young man after all.”
“The name's Sean sir.”
He turned to the young lady, “And you are?”
“Caitlyn.”
“Lovely names, both of you!” As he said that, John flicked a card from behind his back to in front of him, catching a look at the card he noticed it wasn’t in the right spot in the deck ‘Gotcha!’
The young lady, Caitlyn, let loose a small smile at that trick.
“Now, young Sean, do you remember what your card was?” At his nod, John continued, “Was it, perhaps, the deuce of hearts?!” John whipped the deck in front of him and, with a dramatic flourish, pulled the two of hearts off the top of the deck and held it in front of him facing the two young people before slowly spinning around to show the small gathered crowd.
“Whoa! How’d you do that?” cried Sean.
John waggled a ginger at him, “Now, now. Don’t you know, a magician never reveals his secrets. The real question is, why did you draw the two of hearts?” he asked with a wink and a subtle nod to Caitlyn. “One might think it was simply meant to be!”
Caitlyn’s friends started to giggle and both her and Sean had the barest hint of a blush when John wheeled around with a flourish, “Ah! What is more magical than young love!”
There was some scattered applause and whistles and a few people tossed cred-chips into his hat or sent transfers to his augs. With a flourish of his hand over his hat he suddenly tipped it over. Gasps turned to murmurs of wonder as none of the cred-chips fell out.
“Now, what shall my next trick be? Who wishes to be subjected to the mystical arts?” He caught the eye of the little girl from earlier, “Perhaps, a present for the loveliest lady here?”
He glanced up at the mothers face and sent off a point-to-point message simply asking permission. After a brief look of shock she smiled softly and nodded. The girl, meanwhile, was none the wiser and was squealing in excitement as the magic man stepped closer.
John knelt on one knee in front of her and pulled out a deck of cards. “Now young miss, I need you to draw a card much like Sean over there did ok? Once you do, go ahead and show it to your mother.”
He fanned the cards out and once again made them move like water. Once the young girl drew the card she excitedly showed it to her mother while John stood back up. He looked at the mother, “Now, Miss…”
“Call me Jade.”
“Miss Jade, what card did your lovely daughter here draw?”
Jade peered at the card in her hand, “It looks like an Ace of…Roses?”
John froze. “Roses? I don’t think that's one of the suits in a deck of cards is it?”
A chorus of ‘no’ and calls of there only being four suits in a deck of cards rang out. John put a hand to his chin, “Hmm, perhaps….”
He looked over at Jade and her daughter, who seemed rather concerned. “May I see that card?”
Jade handed it over and John seemed to inspect it closely. “Yup, this is definitely an Ace of Roses,” he showed it off to the crowd, “and that can only mean one thing!”
Suddenly, he knelt on the ground and flicked the card so it flew up in the air over the little girl's head before bursting into flames! From the flames dropped a single, perfect red rose right into the girl's hands. “That means she is the Princess of Roses of course!”
With a wide smile John stood up and bowed deeply with a flourish of his cape. The crowd, which had grown considerably, broke out in applause and he watched as the cred-chips came flying in. The little girl, on the other hand, was practically vibrating in excitement as she clutched the rose. Jade sent him another point-to-point message expressing her gratitude.
As the crowd dispersed back to their shopping, John strolled his way to the nearest food court to get himself a much deserved lunch. He ended up picking an asian style place and splurging on a medium sized meal. ‘Man, I’m lucky that the last crowd was so willing and engaging, especially that little girl.’ He smiled at the memory of her smile. She would remember this trip to the mall for some time, he was sure.
He finished his food and decided to wander the mall for a bit, not to look for a new spot but rather to possibly window shop since he had some extra money for once. As he wanders he spots a fabrication shop. ‘Perfect, I still need to replace that card and rose I used. Maybe I can pick up a few new props too.’
Stepping into the shop, the attendant perks up a bit, “Hello, and welcome to KaleidoWorks Fabrication! If you need it, we can make it. As long as it’s not a weapon.”
John leaned against the counter with an easy smile, “No weapons here. Just need a custom job done for my act. Are you able to print flash paper with color pictures on it?”
The clerk nodded. “Of course, do you have a design in mind or did you want to use our design kiosk? It’s only 10 creds per design.”
John shook his head. “I have a design file for both items I need currently,” he flicked the file over and watched as the clerks augs flashed, “How much for three of each?”
“Total cost is going to be about 60 creds and it will take an hour to finish it all, payment is due upfront.”
John grimaced at the price, but ultimately passed over a few of the cred-chips he earned earlier. “I’ll be hanging around for a bit I suppose, just let me know when they're done?”
The clerk turned to a monitor and started tapping instructions into it, “Of course sir, I’ll get those prints started.”
John settled into one of the couches in the store and pulled up a book he was reading on his augs.’Might as well get some reading in while I’m here.’