wright_idea | MAGIC AND MYSTERY ((Thread with sarah

MAGIC AND MYSTERY ((Thread with sarah_branigan))

The Wonderbar, though it does serve alcohol, does not give off the appearance of a sleazy place. Rather, it seems to revel in its own eccentricity, showing off pictures of several unusual acts it's booked in the past as well as a generous assortment of musicians. Anything goes here, from ventriloquists to country singers to a trio of old French ladies who played common household appliances.

It's here that Phoenix leads Sarah. The decor, which at one time had given him pause, is something he hardly notices these days. He's gotten to be a real regular here.

"Well, this is the place. Show should be starting soon," he says, sitting down. "Care for a drink?"

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"I'll have a whiskey sour, then." Best to start off on a sweet note. "I'm not much of a drinker, either, but I live with a couple of teetotalers. As in, they totally drink tea."

She looks up at the stage as well. "Yeah? And she performs magic?"

Phoenix snorts. "That must be fun. It'd be like living with Edgeworth all the time," he says. He orders the drinks, though. "Still, you must like them if you live with them."

He nods. "Her father was a great magician himself. Though circumstances being what they are..." He trails off a bit, looking a bit distant.

The MC steps up to the mike. "And now, ladies and gentlemen, it's the moment you've been waiting for! She's one of the greatest magicians around, and she's still in grade school! (So mind your manners, ladies and gentlemen). Please warmly welcome one of our top acts, miss Trucy Gramarye!"

And so she appears on stage, a girl who can't be much older than eight years old. Literally, with a puff of smoke. "How is everybody? Are we all ready for magic?" she asks, waving. "I know Mr. Hat is, isn't that right?"

A huge man-sized puppet, seemingly defying the laws of physics, pops out from under her cape. "We certainly are, Miss Gramarye!" it "says" before returning back under.

For an eight-year-old, her stage presence and knack for slight of hand is amazing.

Sarah chuckles a little. She's met Edgeworth; she understands. "Well, one of them's my boyfriend, so yeah, I guess you could I say I like him." She winks. "He's got a heart condition, so he can't drink coffee. The other guy's a limey. Don't get me wrong, he makes great tea, but sometimes a gal could use something stronger."

She looks at Wright curiously. "What circumstances?" she asks. But then the show starts, and she falls silent in anticipation.

She blinks, surprised by the girl's age, then stares at the giant puppet. "Is she... is this real magic or is she just that good?" she whispers.

"I'd be worried if you didn't," he replies, chuckling. "But yeah, I know how it is. Tea's like some sort of panacea in the Sanctuary, though. You say a word against it, you'd probably be lynched or something." He grins.

He doesn't reply as the show starts. He watches attentively, clapping and laughing at the appropriate parts. And yet if one were to observe him closely, there's an odd wistfulness, even melancholy to his expressions as he watches the young girl on the stage.

"She... she's really good. I've seen this act a lot of times and still can't see how she pulls it off," he whispers, an odd tone in his voice that's hard to pin down precisely.

"Good to know. Although there was plenty of booze, the last time I was there." Which, from her tone, suggests that was quite a while ago.

Sarah watches Wright for a minute or two, curious about his expression. Does he know the girl? But soon her attention is transfixed again on the stage. She applauds and even adds a whistle during the conclusion of a particularly complicated trick. "Really good," she agrees.

"Well yes, there's always booze. Probably because it presents so many situations where you NEED it." He winces a bit at the thought and, as the drinks arrive, sips a bit at his.

He nods a bit, smiling. He watches her some more, then asks, quietly, "Do you... think it's possible to get something good in your life, and still regret what you didn't get?"

On stage, she does something involving firing a cat out of a cannon. But the cat's okay, folks!

"You go there often?" She plucks the cherry out of her drink and eats it before taking a sip.

She glances over at him at his question, then frowns a little at the table. She unconsciously puts a hand on her stomach and rubs it faintly. "Yeah. That's possible," she mutters, sounding bitter.

Then the cat gets fired out of the cannon and she goes all O_O. "Holy crap, did you see that?!"

He chuckles self-consciously. "I kinda live there, actually. Well, technically it's an apartment that sort of got eaten up by the Sanctuary's side rooms, but anyway,yeah." He rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "Couldn't really afford to move, and I didn't want to make someone else have to live in a place like that who didn't have to, so."

He nods, then watches the show, eyes distant. "There was a point in my life, a few months back. My entire career, everything I'd worked for... if one hand of cards hadn't gone right for someone, I could've lost it all. In many dimensions, that someone lost. In mine, he won, and I kept everything."

He pauses. "But... I lost something that could've been really special. And I haven't had the guts to change that."

And out goes the cat. He laughs a bit at her reaction. "Yeah, that's how I reacted when I first saw that trick too. I'm not sure what it has to do with magic exactly, but the crowd always seems to like it." Which is true, if the reaction of the crowd around them is anything to judge by.

"Why don't you live in your home world?" Sarah asks, confused. "Aren't you from L.A., like Mia?"

She looks at Phoenix, then at the stage again. Obviously what he lost has something to do with the little girl. "You can't have everything," she muses, peering into her drink. "It's unfortunate that we can meet alternates and find out what life would have been like had things gone differently."

She blushes and laughs as well. "It's pretty freaking cute, is what it is. The kid, too."

"Ah, well, technically I do. It's just that the apartment, which WAS in LA, also exists in the Nexus. I mean, like, if the landlord goes up to the door, all he sees is the apartment. But if it's me or Maya, we end up going right into the main Sanctuary, and the actual apartment is in one of the siderooms." He pauses at that and, deciding that's too confusing, simply adds, "Nexus, LOL."

He nods. "Or assholes from our future who decide to spring events they think are inevitable on you just to see you squirm," he adds, somewhat bitterly. "Though I have met a future me from that alternate situation. It's... awkward."

He chuckles. "Yeah, it is. Though I really have to wonder why she pulls everything out of a big pair of underwear..."

He's not kidding. It's not a style of underwear that any fashionable woman these days would wear, but it's definitely a pair of panties. With hearts. That she seems to be able to pull everything but the kitchen sink out of.

"Ohhh..." That makes a little more sense. Of course, it's disturbing that someone's apartment leaching into the Sanctuary would actually make sense, but that's the Nexus for you. "There's a man in my world that can make portals, but these days we just use PINpoints."

She wrinkles her nose and takes a long sip of her drink. "That's never happened to me, thank God. I just keep meeting alternates of my boyfriend." From the look on her face, that's not a good thing. Smiling a little, she adds, "I met your alternate once. He was a sweetheart."

She peers at the pair of bloomers. "I think I have a pair like that," she muses. "Not quite as large, though."

"PINs are definitely useful, though they have a bad habit of crapping out on you when you really need them, for some reason." He frowns a bit at the thought. "I mean, sometimes you just can't reach for it fast enough."

"Hmm?" He thinks. "Really silly gay college student alternate, or weird guy with the glasses that talks to ghost alternate?" he asks. (One would argue that he's insulting himself with the "gay" comment but, uh, that alternate really was gay. Which was bizarre to say the least.)

"Probably less random items in it too," he says as she somehow pulls out a stepladder.

"Funny, that's how I feel about the AV field," Sarah notes with a slight smirk. She swirls the rest of her whiskey sour a little before downing it. "But I've seen some wonderful places with PINpoints. My city isn't really connected to anything, you see."

She laughs at the descriptions. "Uh, the guy with glasses who talks to ghosts alternate. I didn't think he was weird."

She giggles again, watching the show. "Yeah, you could say that. That's not where I keep my -- hey, isn't that the cat she shot out of the cannon?" The same furry feline is being pulled out of the bloomers, looking no worse for wear.

"Hmm, I haven't really done a lot of off-world exploration with PINs myself," he says, mulling over this. "Maybe I should give it a shot." Actually, right now he's technically financially well off enough to go for it. He just can't get in the financially well-off MINDSET. Anyway, there are people to defend.

"Oh, that guy. Yeah, he's all right, I suppose." Be fair, though it is HIS alternate. He's entitled to think the guy's weird. "I've met a few alternates of myself already, and only one from the future. He was..." He thinks. "Laid back, but in a jaded sort of way. I can't imagine what it was like for him to have disbarment sprung on him like that. It was hell enough having it waved in my face like some sort of inevitability."

He sighs. "Of course, I eventually resigned myself to doing it. At least with that one event, I knew that things were going to eventually work out. After all, when it comes down to it, a job's a job. These days, half of what I do is keeping an eye on the elements involved in the alternate event now that the future ISN'T so certain, you know?" He watches Trucy again, that same wistful look. "Even if, in this case, I have no real connection to them."

He blinks, and squints. "I think you're right. Man, that cat goes through a lot for the sake of art."

"Hell yeah," she agrees, waving down a waitress for another drink. "There's a whole big multiverse out there."

She listens, only mildly distracted by the magic show. "I haven't met any alternates... I mean, I'm sorta my own alternate, but that doesn't really count." She shakes her head and pats Wright's arm. "But listen, if you get too wrapped up in your alternate's future, you're gonna miss out on your own. The future's never certain. They're called alternates for a reason."

She laughs a little. "I've got a pet cat like that. So long as you're giving her attention, she's happy."

Phoenix nods. "I suppose you're right," he says, quietly. Though as he watches the girl on stage, he notes to himself, [Though it's not really my future I'm worried about.]

He chuckles. "I have my hands full as is taking care of a Pokemon. And preventing MAYA'S from burning down the office."

Sarah shrugs a little and goes back to watching the show. She knows it's easier to give advice than take it.

Her smile returns at the mention of pokemon. "Oh, I've got one of those, too. A bellsprout. She's a real sweetie. What kind do you have?"

"Er, Xatu. He kinda helped me save Mia's life, and then for whatever reason took a shining to me, and has sort of stuck with me ever since," he replies. "He's nice, but you don't ever want to look in his eyes."

The show is wrapping up now, and there's the usual applause. Phoenix applauses too, but still can't seem to work up the nerve to go up to her directly. As usual.

"Xatu... that one's like a bird, right? What happens if you look in his eyes?" Sarah loves pokemon, but there are simply too many to remember.

She applauds as well. "That was a really fantastic show. Thanks for taking me."

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MAGIC AND MYSTERY ((Thread with sarah_branigan))

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Old reply is old. ;___;