Clarence Gupta's Magic Assembly

The stage magician raised an eyebrow. The smirk had left his face and was now replaced by a stern frown, along with an increased pronouncement of the pinched, furrowed spot between his brow, which seemed permanently creased from many years of glowering at something or someone. "Hmph. One day, you may very well respect the value of money. Whether we have a little or have a lot, it catches up to each of us one day. I wish that my son understood that as well," he grumbled. "He makes ends meet with that puny fortune telling shop. It's childish... and foolish. It cheapens the Gupta name, one of the most practical names in the magic business. It's a waste talking to you about it, but one day, when you want to become a wife, raise a family, then you will understand what everyone else entering medical school does: that there is money to be made in legitimate pharmacy and that you have been wasting your youth in the pursuit of... I can't exactly say what."

Dusana saw that Alda wasn't going along with her plan and stared at her for a moment, before turning her attention back to her PET. "You guys are like two rams butting horns. It's not gonna be over until one of you gets thrown off the mountain, is it?" she asked, looking back to Vinzez again, who seemed to bristle a bit at the comment.

He didn't seem to be sweating Alda's description in terms of fearing for his navi's life, but he did seem to be growing increasingly past annoyed, into furious. "Young lady, I am a gentleman, but you have left me no choice!" he growled, before bringing out his PET, a high-end model in black with purple trim, like polished glass rather than plastic. That bit was probably more for the showmanship that was part of his profession, rather than personal preference. "Mr. Fawkes! Head to the center of the backstage area, now! We have an intruder who needs to be escorted back outside. Afterward, I'd very much like to know how she slipped through your guard to begin with-!"

The audible response from the PET was not encouraging for him. "Boss, I am damn tied up right now, but I'm gettin' Buzz to come-!" the mustache man's voice replied. Apparently, whatever Mundwoon was doing, it was working in terms of tying Bill up.

"What am I paying you for?!" he snapped into the PET, grimacing distastefully before placing the item back into his pocket. "Miss Apothecary, you will stay right there until one security guard or the other comes to remove you. And you will leave without any of my showgirls. This nonsense... it's costing me all of my prep time," he growled, thumbing through his clipboard a few times before dropping it back to his side with a snap of his elbow, barely resisting the urge to toss it across the hall. "Dusana, I sincerely hope that you girls are dressed and ready, if you want your full payment for service rendered."

"Uh, I'm not sure we do want it. Like... Claire wants to go with Alda, even if it means not getting paid to do the show..." Dusana murmured, keeping her eyes on the PET to avoid looking back at the bathroom. Or perhaps just because she was always watching her PET.

"At this point, if you cause me to modify my entire show just for your whims, you can all expect to see fiscal damages as well. Is professionalism dead and gone? Where are the others?!" he insisted, his steely eyes shooting back and forth as if certain the girls were trying to sneak past him this very moment.

From across the hall opposite the one Alda and the others had entered from, a figure came into view. He was dressed all in black with dark sunglasses, like Fawkes had been, but unlike the old man, he was bald and not wiry, rather, huge. His hands seemed large enough to eclipse someone's whole face if he clamped down on them and his shoulder breadth might fit two Alda's standing side by side. He seemed intensely overqualified for the task of forcefully escorting the intruders off of the premises... The time had come for Alda to find some way to leave with the girls, or else, fail to bring back either the three of them or Mundwoon, who she'd entered with. Maybe Clarence could have the magic assembly with just her and the honorable Hadya El-Amin?

Alda's eyes narrowed, and she frowned as Vinzez went on about money. He was starting to remind her of a certain woman she despised. "Actually...I'm a graduate of DenTech University, class 20XX. Master's degree in biological chemistry. I've seen the world of pharmaceuticals...let's just say that it doesn't value things like 'talent' and 'ethics' as much as you would hope. And so, I left it behind, and put my abilities to use with something that would actually appreciate it. True, I make less than I did as a regular scientist, but it's still enough to live comfortably. And I'm a hell of a lot happier, to boot."

"Psst, Alda? That girl's right. Less arguing, more convincing!"

"Huh? ...Oh, yes, I nearly forgot. Any last words for your Navi?"

The pair watched as the magician whipped out his PET, and started calling for security, which made Anathema sigh and set her voodoo doll down. "Yeah, he's not buying it, and he's right, the threat was toothless."

"Really? Just gonna blab it all out now?"

"Do you really think at this point it was going to work?"

"...Probably not."

"Then why bother playing along? Too bad I don't know where in Netopia to put the effigy, or else I could make him really freak out about now."

"Is there really nothing you can do? No other curses you can try?"

"Uh...WAIT A SEC!"

"Next time, please don't shout in my face..."

"I just got a great idea! Hey there, Not-Magic Guy!" Anathema waved over at Vinzez, right as his security detail arrived. "Your assistants mostly just stand around looking pretty while you fool the masses, right? Well, let me ask something...does your stage have working hologram projectors? Because if they do, I know just who to use as your assistants!"

"...Oh, I think I see. So, Mr. Magic Man, what do you say? I'm sure Navi assistants could add a flair that regular humans couldn't. I'd be happy to loan you Anathema for the duration of your show. I mean, look at her. Tell me she wouldn't be great in a skimpy showgirl outfit!"

"It's true!" The witch Navi took a moment to grab her breasts, and bounced them around, as though it would somehow help convince him. "See? I've a great rack, and I'm not afraid to show it off! And I'm cute, and have a great ass, and have nice long legs, and-"

"I think he gets it, Annie."

"Well, c'mon, guy! Gimme a chance!"

"Well, it doesn't matter if it's not technologically feasible." Or if Vinzez was feeling particularly vindicative, but she wasn't going to give him that idea. Instead, she just sorta...stared at him, awaiting an answer. Her Navi was also staring at him, but in a more 'please please please do this great idea' kind of way.

Vinzez stroked his chin thoughtfully with one thumb, seeming to lose some of his temper. "Miss Apothecary, I must withdraw my earlier criticism. It is clear that you do not lack for education and you've considered your own finances much more carefully than my boy has, at the very least. I still question your choice of naming your profession, but besides that and your unfortunate choice to antagonize me, you are no fool." He seemed like he might be regretting his half-compliment as he knit his brow, listening to Alda and her navi talk about what more effective curse they could threaten him with. "Yes, well, Mr. Buzz will be here shortly," he reminded the two, crossing his arms at his chest and tucking the clipboard beneath his arm.

He raised an eyebrow as Alda's navi spoke up, addressing him rather accurately by the name of Not-Magic Guy. "Ha... That observation is accurate, I suppose. Although I try to find candidates who are known within the 'magic community' to add an air of credibility to my act, they are truly there for the aesthetic. Any other assistant would work just as well, so long as they have the looks," he answered brazenly, perhaps deliberately avoiding eye contact with Dusana. Not that she would be one to criticize others for lack of eye contact anyways. "Working hologram projectors are an important part of any modern magic show. A stage magician without those would be like a navi without a chip folder."

He looked the navi up and down for a moment, then nodded approvingly. "Yes, I believe that using navis in my stageshow could be innovative. However, I can't perform the same tricks that I could with human participants, clearly. I will need to revise my show and tricks... I can't do them all with a hologram the same way I would a physical body. I could probably still do two or three of them where the assistant is not directly involved..." he grumbled, closing his eyes with a pensive frown, his jaw working back and forth. "I will agree to allow you to take my showgirls and won't force them to pay for the breach of contract, under one condition: that you provide me a navi to replace them for one of three acts. And further... that if you wish to take the other showgirls, you provide me with two more navis who can take their place."

The henchman who'd made his way over crossed his arms and frowned, though he was probably making an expression of confusion behind the shades. Dusana sighed, then looked to Alda briefly. "Sorry if you were looking for me to back you up on this one, but I don't actually have a girl navi that'd be good for this. Claire's got one, we can ask her. But if you want Mallory too, you're gonna have to think up something clever... Hers isn't a cute girl either. Of course, we could always... y'know... make this work without her," she suggested again, speaking the last words more quietly, while seemingly concentrating on her PET.

Claire and Mallory took this time to make their entrance, emerging from the women's bathroom. Their locale didn't affect Claire's confident swagger, as she kept one hand on her hip and the other extended, palm out, towards Vinzez. "It sounds like things are moving forward. Good work, Anathema," she nodded, noting the hologram navi. "I do indeed have a navi capable of helping. The details of our journey may have changed, but the destination remains the same: Alda, Dusana, Mallory, and myself leaving together. This means that somewhere, there is a third navi willing to help us with the show. Alda... can you see who it might be?" she asked, tilting her head slightly. Could Alda think of anyone else around who was on their side, with a stake in helping them? She was also going to need to find a way to get Mundwoon back, if she cared about having her.

"Mr. Fawkes...? Mr. Fawkes!" Vinzez barked into the PET again. "We're on soon. I need you back on security detail." Whatever answer the magician was getting did not please him, as evidenced by the fact that his calming countenance appeared to be growing stormy once again. "Blast... Maybe he's the one I ought to be docking pay for this fiasco..."

"So it CAN work!" As soon as Vinzez gave the proverbial green light, Anathema placed her hands on her hips and thrust out her already prominent chest, extremely proud of herself for coming up with a great plan. "Of course, I gladly volunteer to be one of your showgirls!"

"...Now that I think about it, you just want an even skimpier outfit, don't you?"

"Hey, I'm really trying to help, here! Though, I'd be lying if I didn't say it was a perk!"

"Hopeless...but, we still have a problem. For three girls, we need three Navis. You only get us one." Fortunately, apparently Clair had a suitable Navi, but the others didn't. So, they were one short. "Hmm. Maybe Mundwoon has one? Or maybe someone back in that locker room..."

"Well, we can ask, but I think we're on a time crunch, here. Think there's any way we could bring them to us, instead of having to walk all over?"

"Hmm...actually, there might be." Alda walked over, and quickly snatched the not-magician's PET. "Help! Clair keeps falling out of her top, and no one has the arm strength to keep her and her outfit together while we tape it up! Please, help us!" She then casually handed it back. "That oughta get him over."

The scientist witch waited a bit for Guy to show up, and more importantly, the woman that led him off to begin with. Once she showed up..."There you are. Listen, is your Navi well-suited to be a showgirl in a magic show? If you don't, do you know if anyone back in the locker room has a Navi that is? It's kinda important."

"A different outfit? You should know that I don't have any GMO ready for you. If you want a more revealing outfit, then hopefully you brought one of your own," Vinzez responded; if he was enticed to see what Anathema had offered, he wasn't really showing it.

Buzz was obviously watching, though, and was surprised when Alda seized his PET. He grunted, beginning to reach for it, before getting caught up in the ruse, turning his eyes towards the smiling but still clothed Claire. The PET was back in his hand before he realized much of what happened. "Ugh," he murmured, though he didn't move to cancel that message, at least.

Bill Fawkes was well ahead of Mundwoon, flying down the hallway while notably trying to get his long arms into the black coat he'd taken off for whatever reason while he was away. "Just yew wait, Miss Claire! I'mma comin!" he informed the whole backstage area, nearly tripping over himself in his hurry. He slowed to a stop near the group as he realized they were all gathered. "Ahem, I see the sich'ee-ation's fixed itself up." He coughed into his fist, breathing loudly, then looked around at the others with a confused frown.

Vinzez sighed, then gestured to Alda. "There's been a change of plans," he answered simply. "Say goodbye to Miss Claire. She'll be having her wardrobe malfunctions elsewhere."

"Well, if'n yew don't mind my sayin', Sir, that... uh... sucks," Bill grumbled. Sighing again, Vinzez gestured towards the busty witch who was to serve as Claire's replacement. "Oh! A replacement. Well, pleased t'make yer acquaintance, ma'rm. The name's-"

"-Bill Fawkes, yes. She knows," Vinzez griped impatiently. "Where is the other woman? Blast, we're running out of time..."

As if summoned, Mundwoon appeared, bouncing in spite of her attempts to reserve her walk speed. "What did I miss?" she asked the others, beaming in that shifty way she tended to. The so-called magician explained it all very briefly. "Ah! Great. Yes, my navi can help. Sellsoul, appear!" she commanded, holding up her red PET and transmitting out a hologram similar to Alda's own. A navi appeared; she seemed to have all of the body shape that her master did, though obviously, fake or real wasn't much of an issue for navis. She was clad in a red skinsuit that seemed to covered her entire body, including her face, with a black sub-pattern along the thighs, the area about her ribs, her collar, her cheeks and around the eyes, the insides of the wrists, and the outsides of the ankles. She wore a black silk cape as well, clasped with a black chain, also holding her emblem, which looked to be fingers pinching onto a coin. Two long, black horns extended up from the hood over her face; her eyes were yellow and curved in two happy slits perpetually, much like her operator's expression. It was hard to make out details of her mouth, given it was completely covered. She also had a swishing, narrow tail, pointed at the end with a triangular shape, and a pitchfork that might look pretty nasty if it didn't evoke a Halloween costume more than anything. Long, black hair came out from behind her hood in a lengthy ponytail. Her hair was even pretty similar to her operator's although styled differently.

"Sellsoul, at your service! I'm always happy to oblige, tee-hee-hee," she giggled. Even her voice sounded eerily reminiscent of her operator's.

"Hmph. This one is dressed a little oddly for a show-girl," Vinzez complained, frowning beneath his mustache.

"That can be fixed! You need me to wear a showgirl's costume?" Sellsoul asked, rubbing her hands together excitedly. Vinzez corrected that they were going to need three. "Also doable! Say, what kind of show are we doing anyway? Did you have some kind of costume in mind? I mean, the original showgirl outfits were fine, but if you wanted to really sexy, I could-!"

"You only need to look scintillating in your costumes. And bloody hell, don't wear a cape. I'm wearing the cape," Vinzez snapped, adjusting his cuffs irritably.

One might wonder why Claire hadn't introduced her navi yet; the reason was that she was currently involved with the particulars of getting their navis transferred into the stage's hologram projection system. "Here we are," she told Alda, looking over her shoulder for a moment. "Luckily, I'm familiar with this machine; I've seen it in my visions," she chuckled, flipping her red hair over her shoulder. "If our navis jack in here, the system can account for the stage and specific, stationary props as though they're actually there. Notably, they won't be able to actually interact with Vinzez that way. Hopefully, this can help us put together a worthy stage show, at least. Though, as I understand it... a lot is riding on the mind of your navi here. I hope the navis are all up to the task." She'd already jacked in her own navi, who proceeded to beam out the console in front of the others.

The navi that appeared was likely not what the others had been expecting. Rather than some sort of magician, mystic, or psychic, the navi that appeared was dressed in a gray-blue navisuit, thick and cotton, underneath a brown shell like a sleeveless safari outfit, with pants legs so wide they were nearly a skirt. The suit stopped at the neck, revealing tan skin and a relatively cute face... what was visible of it. Most was covered with very thick, brassy brown goggles, with attachments that optionally flipped over the deep maroon lenses to serve as telescopes. She had gauntlets and boots made from the same material, as well as a helmet with a wide brim like a hat's. Her hair was curly and blond-brown, stopping around the base of the neck. She didn't appear to have any weapons, but did have a rolled up map attached through a loop in her belt. She looked pretty dorky, but at least her body shape was pretty nice, what little showed given her outfit. "My name's Scout! I've heard about the task. It sounds pretty weird, but I'm always happy to help!" she announced with a snappy salute. It seemed like, at the very least, both of Anathema's crew were going to be enthusiastic. "How do we want to play it, Boss?"

Claire chuckled, then extended a hand to Anathema. "That's up to Anathema here. Well, Alda," she finished, turning back to the apothecary, "the time has come. Are you comfortable jacking your navi in here for the show? We should get to our own appointment, if you're ready." To the relief of all, Vinzez nodded, allowing it. Alda must be happy that the mission was finally going to move along, but might feel some trepidation in leaving so much in Anathema's hands... or perhaps, some amusement at thinking of what her navi was going to do to Vinzez's show, if she wasn't so confident.

"Aww..." Anathema made no pretense to be anything other than sad at the revelation she wouldn't get to wear a showgirl GMO. "Then I guess you're getting this, because I don't have anything else! Unless you like your showgirls made out of clouds, anyway...huh? Do I hear a stampede or something?" Nope, it was just one man. "Point, Alda!"

The self-claimed apothecary smirked, having played the man like a fiddle. "Indeed we have." A change of plans...ha, that was one way to put "Yep, she's coming with me. But don't worry, my Navi will be filling in as a lovely assistant."

"And clearly, I'm more than qualified!" The witch Navi puffed out her chest, as though there was any doubt about what she meant by qualified. "So, uh, where was the woman you were with?"

Sure enough, Mundwoon popped up soon after, followed by an explanation, and more importantly, an agreement. "Well, that's three for three. Guess we're all going."

"Never mind that! I get to wear a showgirl costume after all! Yay!"

Alda tilted her head in confusion; depending on the design, a showgirl costume could actually cover more of Anathema than her regular attire. "Uh...oh, never mind. You never listen when it comes to things like this, anyway." As Claire put on the finishing touches, the scientist came over and took a quick look. "That's the hologram projector? It's not my field at all, but I gotta admit, that tech looks pretty good." She took a step back when the Navi popped out of it, but at least managed to otherwise hide her surprise. "Huh...I can't say I expected you to have a Navi like that, Claire."

"Yeah, me neither. I was kinda expecting something...uh...well, a little more like me."

"Well, as long as she can serve as an assistant, it doesn't really matter, does it?" And now, the moment of truth. "You entirely sure about this, Annie? You're going to have to take the lead on this one."

"Don't worry! All we really have to do is make the audience happy, and I know a few ways to ensure that!"

"Flashing the audience isn't an option here. Keep it PG."

"...Okay, so it might be a little harder than I thought. I'll just give it my all, and see how things go from there!"

"All right, then. In you go." A beam of light shot out from Alda's PET at the projector, which soon began displaying her Navi. She floated at first, but upon realizing that humans didn't do that, she landed. "I know she acts like a spaz sometimes, but she's got a good head on her shoulders. I think you can rely on her."

"...I'm going to take that as a compliment!"

"What? It was supposed to be one!" Point of no return crossed. ...Well, technically, she could jack her out at any time, but if both sides were to be a success, that was off the table. ...Wait, why did she want it to be a success, anyway? She wasn't under any contractual obligations. Then again, the meeting would be much more smooth if everyone wasn't afraid of being sued. "Shall we be off, ladies?"

Claire tilted her head slightly, still hiding some secret behind her smile. "Don't worry. My Scout can turn on the charm when she needs to," she attempted to reassure Alda and her navi. "More importantly, she's very competent and loyal. She'll make the perfect assistant." The navi gave another snap of her arm in salute, to punctuate that point.

Both Bill and Buzz seemed crestfallen when Alda warned her navi not to flash the audience, but Vinzez just tensed his brown and nodded. "You will not embarrass me on the stage, young lady. I want you three to look good as assistants, but my audience is here for a magic show, not a peep show," he agreed, wagging one finger at Anathema with a stern expression. He waved one arm, flourishing his cape. "You may as well fly if you feel so inclined, Anathema, though not outside of the projection area of course. I have no intention of pretending that you three are anything other than navis," he grunted.

Mundwoon jacked in her navi alongside Claire and Alda. The red-suited navi appeared on screen, currently still wearing a cape despite the magician's request that she let him be the sole cape-wearer in the act. "If Anathema is going to handle the planning, then at least let me handle the costumes! Here you go... three lovely showgirl costumes! This is what I had on-hand, of course, so sorry if the color isn't quite how you like it!" Anathema would receive her .GMO within the netspace of the hologram projector.

*Anathema gets ShowGirl.GMO!*

Quote (ShowGirl.GMO)

Replaces Anathema's wardrobe with a deep purple bunny-suit, one piece in the shape of a high-legged, one-piece swimsuit. The outfit zips all the way from the chest to near the groin down the front. The outfit includes suit cuffs on the wrists with long, purple gloves, extending to the elbows, and matching boots with rounded toes. A neck cuff with a purple bow-tie is included, as well as a set of purple rabbit's ears on a headband. With the top low enough to show plenty of cleavage, anyone as well stacked as Anathema is sure to give a good show, and with the cut of the bottom, anyone with a bottom as nice as Anathema's is sure to make that show a double feature.

Whether Anathema activated hers or not, the other two girls did. This left both of them in bunny suits, SellSoul's black and Scout's gold. "Sorry, it doesn't come in khaki or brown!" SellSoul laughed, given that the gold was a new look for Scout. Without her full body skinsuit on, Mundwoon's navi had skin almost as red as her outfit had been, but a bit more clearly flesh, still with a flicking, pointy tail and small horns coming from her black hair, which was done into a long ponytail. Given her body shape, she looked like she was in a bit of danger of popping out of the top. The other navi looked quite a bit different now, deprived of all her gear... she lacked a lot of the bustiness of the other two navis, but her newly revealed blue eyes were pretty, and she still had a pretty nice, round bottom that the suit accented well, along with toned legs that looked suited for frequent running. Her rabbit ears flopped as she gave another quick salute. "There you have it! We're all ready. The only question now is what the heck we're gonna do for our act!"

"Yeah? Well, good luck with that, but we've got other fish to fry," Mallory shrugged, already headed towards the left, back the way they came. "Right, Claire? You said we gotta go with Alda and Alda's going this way. Right, Alda?"

Claire nodded, then bid adieu to the others. "You're in good hands," she assured Vinzez, before leading Dusana after Mallory, presumably with Alda as well.

Buzz and Bill were busily ogling the navis in their new showgirls costumes. "Gad'dangit, you sure you can't touch these girls? They look real enough to squeeze!" Bill murmured, experimentally reaching out a hand towards Anathema's breasts and swiping it through her holographic form inconsequentially. "Well ain't that a bitch! It's like one'a them desert mirages!" he cursed, suddenly seeming as though he was losing interest. He might be the kind of guy that liked his girls hands-on.

"Enough! That's quite enough wasting time. The show is about to start... now. In light of the tremendous changes to this show so far, I am going to send you ladies out first while I plan how to salvage the major acts of my show. Just... stall the crowd," he growled, clearly no more happy about his uncreative solution than the girls likely were. "And do it now."

If Anathema led the girls out as Vinzez had instructed, she'd discover that, however much one wanted to make fun of Vinzez for the size of the venue, it was, at the very least, full to capacity. People filled seats across all the floor rows as well as the balconies to either side. There appeared to be two curtains: one parted, near the front, and a second that was currently concealing various props for the show, which could likely be wheeled out later, but were still part of the projection area. Most folks in the audience were dressed very nicely, with formal-wear suited for the sort of fancy show Vinzez prided himself upon. Being this was in the crowded part of the Electown otaku district, some people were dressed less posh, likely tourists who'd been shopping and made the show a second part of the trip. There might even be some who'd come because Claire or one of the other girls had been advertised, but if so, they weren't wearing those intentions on their sleeves.

Being inside the projection machine, Anathema had access to lights, special effects within the hologram area, and also music and sound effects if she needed them. For now, she just needed to stall the crowd...

-------------------------------------------

Claire, Dusana, Mallory, Mundwoon, and Alda would make their way back to the locker area where they'd first interacted with Clarence. The way back was uneventful except for the chatter of the ever-obsequious Mundwoon, who was getting acquainted with the former showgirls. The hallways were mostly empty, though there was a bustle where the last of the guests were making their way through the main entrance and balcony entrances into the theater. If those people had been more observant, they might spot one woman dressed as a magician, three others in provocative magician's assistant's suits, and another odd looking lady besides, moving through the hallways to one side, but being that they weren't, Alda and crew moved uninhibited.

They'd reach Clarence, who was sitting very awkwardly and quietly with Hadya. His face brightened when he spotted Alda, then even more as he noticed the other girls... whether that was because they were all the ones he'd requested or because they were all very attractive was anyone's guess. "You've returned! I had a good feeling about you, Alda! It seems my faith was not misplaced. With so many of us in one place... this place is becoming a sorcerous conduit!" he celebrated, looking to Hadya for a moment as if expecting her to add something. When she only nodded quietly, he lost a bit of enthusiasm, but stood back up to his full, somewhat impressive height. "You can feel something ancient stirring... yes... it's magic, undoubtedly!"

With a wide smile, Claire extended her hand for a handshake; he accepted eagerly. "I am Claire... this is Dusana, and Mallory," she finished, introducing her friends briefly. "And you... You possess the secret to magic," she stated matter-of-factly, her eyes shimmering.

Clarence matched her smile for a moment, his teeth showing beneath his pencil mustache, before he finally, dumbly, managed to respond. "Um... No, I think you've got that incorrect," he chuckled, placing his hands behind his back. "Er, you see, together, we are going to search for the secrets of magic. If I already knew the secret, I wouldn't have need for this assembly!"

Surprise flickered across Claire's face... but only for a brief moment. Amusement replaced it quickly. "Oh? Then... what, exactly, are you doing with this?" she asked, moving to one of the storage lockers and opening it brazenly. Inside were many canisters, each about the size of a thermos... but there were so many they nearly spilled out when the door opened. "You have many of these... a few lockers full, I believe. This substance... that's the real 'conduit.' A facilitator of magic... real magic," she whispered, holding one of the canisters in her hand and running her fingers along the surface.

Seeming more weary than caught-in-the-act, Clarence shook his head slowly. "You've misunderstood, ma'am... I'm intending to sell these. I tried to use this substance as a source of power before, and it-" he began, then jumped as Claire fired back a response.

"Don't try to fool me, Clarence," she laughed, her lips curling into a knowing smirk. "Don't underestimate my ability to gather intelligence, either. I know your grandfather left you this along with a secret message. Your grandfather... the renowned true magician of the Gupta family. Although I don't know all of your secrets, its quite clear that if you bring something like this to a 'magic assembly' like this, you have a grander purpose than selling it!"

"I do not," Clarence protested. "Look, that stuff is... aphrodisiac gel," he explained, mumbling the words and growing a bit red in the face. "My grandfather was preparing me for... nevermind what he was doing! Whatever the case, he wasn't passing me on the secret to his magic. You aren't going to unlock any magic powers using that!"

Claire closed her eyes, shrugged, and maintained her smile. "Then I suppose you won't mind if we try using it right now, will you?' she asked, looking to Alda again. "Come, Alda... I don't know why Clarence seeks to keep this truth from us, but I have seen it in my visions... This substance was granted to Clarence by his late grandfather and clearly holds some enormous secret! If you're interested, let's use it now. From what I know of the tape, it must be applied by two as thoroughly, or rather, over as much of the skin as possible to have its effect. As the one who gathered us together, I believe that you should share in the honor of testing it with me... Dusana, you prepare to record all of this for posterity, since Scout isn't around..." The red-haired lady began to unzip her suit down the back, heedless of the presence of others in the room.

Clarence frowned, but was either too much of a milquetoast to protest physically or unable to protest when it came to Claire taking her clothes off. "You're making a big mistake!" he warned her again. Hadya kept watching with an impenetrable glare. Mundwoon was excitedly pressing her hands onto Alda's shoulders, as if trying to lean over her for a better look to the action. Claire's girls were looking between Claire and Alda rapidly, as if wondering why she'd been chosen to assist rather than either of them.

"I wouldn't dream of it, Mr. Gupta, sir!" Okay, dream probably wasn't the right word, but Anathema was aware to keep her desires in check. "Though, uh, I can't actually fly. All I can do is use my magic to levitate a bit off the ground."

"Still a better flier than most of his assistants, I'm sure."

"Well, that's not really-OMG, .GMO!" If it was possible for the witch Navi to activate her showgirl outfit any sooner, it was only by an imperceptibly small amount. Her attire quickly turned to purple smog, and floated in a place for a moment, before suddenly starting to bind her body. "This is going to be soooo cute, I just know it!" And...the gas solidifed, revealing her new get up. "Eeee! I knew it! This is a-MAY-zing! Where's a mirror? I want a better look at myself!"

"Yeah, I think that's about what I was expecting. Well, good luck, Annie. I'm sure you'll do a good job." It wasn't clear if Alda was talking about the outfit or her Navi's reaction to it, but based on the fact she was already starting to walk back to the meeting, she probably wasn't about to clarify. "I think it's high time we head out, ladies. Shall we?" And headed out they did.

"Bye, Alda! Hope you have as much fun as I will!" Because she planned on having lots of it. And speaking of lots of it, her ample chest was nearly grabbed, but by the magic of not physically existing on that plane, the attempt failed. "Too bad for you, huh? You don't get any-of-this!" As she closed her sentence, Anathema grabbed her own breasts, and gave them a squeeze with each word. "Hee hee! Granted, I wouldn't mind if someone actually COULD do that..." Hmm? Oh, she was on. "I'm on it, boss!"

Without really thinking about it, the witch Navi floated onto the stage, landing in the center, and quickly took a look at the crowd. It was a full crowd, to be sure...and they mostly looked pretty fancy. Hmm. ...Ah, she knew how to get the crowd going. Scout looked pretty quick, so she formed a prop, a handheld mirror, and quickly gave it her. "Here, take this. I'll tell you what to do, so just follow my lead!"

"Welcome, one and all, to the magical world of Vinzez Gupta! Due to, er, technical difficulties, there's going to be a small delay in the action. But worry not, as we'll give you a taste of what magic can do, right here, right now! For instance...lately, I've learned the art of ball handling!" Any potential dirtiness that could be derived from that statement was fast quashed, as three orange juggling balls formed in her hands, which were then used to start their intended purpose. "See? I've got super dexterity, right? ...Ugh, great, got a hair in my face...mirror! I need a mirror!" And that was Scout's cue to come over. Before she completely came over, however, Anathema walked over and took a look at herself...as the balls continued to be juggled, by some unknown force. "Uh-huh...lookin' good! Uh, sorry about that, everyone! It was super distracting!" She returned to the balls, and grabbed them and continued juggling as though nothing had happened. "...You know, this really isn't too magical, is it? Oh well." One by one, she quickly tossed them high into the air, then created a portal of darkness in front of her...which the balls fell into. "You know, I'm not sure where that goes to..." Actually, she did. Above the curtains, where no one could see, a second tear in the virtual dimensions appeared, and one by one, the balls fell...right atop her own head. "Hey!"

...Now would be a good time to gauge the audience's reactions. And so she wouldn't pass up the opportunity.

----------------

Before Alda could announce her return, Clarence spotted her and the other girls, and spoke up first. "Well, that's certainly the goal, isn't it?" It was certainly HER goal, anyway. ...Uh, wait, he had the secret of magic? Then...what? What?! "Yeah, I think he knew it already, he wouldn't have called-holy hell!" That...was a lot of containers. "He has more than one locker full of these?!" She bent over and picked one up, that had rolled over by her feet. "So, what's in them that's so important?"

And after a moment, she found out. "...Uh...wow. Let me get this straight. In these containers is some sort of aphrodisiacal agent? Which somehow doubles as being a magical conduit?" She leered over at the container she'd grabbed, trying to figure out how that made ANY sense. "...You know, with the right equipment, I could just analyze the chemical components and tell you everything it could be realistically used for, secret stuff and all." If it had such an effect on a person, it was clearly biochemical in nature, and that was her wheelhouse. "...You'd rather just try it out? ...Sure, what the hell. Human testing isn't exactly unethical when they're the one asking you to do it, right?"

The apothecary opened up her canister, scooping out some of the pink goop with her free hand, and started to slather it over Claire's newly revealed back. "So, by as much as possible, you mean, what exactly? Because there are some areas I really don't want to be touching..." The last time she did something like this, she ended up groping her own sister. No thank you. And if it ended up being even worse here...nope, she did have SOME limits.

Vinzez was doing an admirable job of keeping himself professional as Anathema put on a new sexy outfit (not that her original wasn't sexy, but this was a different sexy). On the other hand, Bill looked like he was going to try to swing for another grab even after the last one had failed. "Shucks, Annie, I'm gonna have to go out there and get a front-row seat, don't care what I have to pay some stiff t'get it!" he swore, taking a handkerchief out from inside his suit jacket and wiping his forehead with it, a cartoonish gesture and also not a flattering one for him, given that lifting his hat up revealed his receding hairline. Speaking of hair loss, it was hard to tell what the fully bald Buzz thought, due to his sunglasses.

"Hm hm hm hm! You like it? That's good... very good!" SellSoul cackled, rubbing her hands together fiendishly. It was hard not to be a little suspicious of her intentions. Then again, she'd put on one of the suits herself, so hopefully it wasn't some kind of Monkey's Paw thing.

Ready and set, the navis took to the stage as Anathema's op exited for her own part of the mission. The crowd was visibly and audibly surprised to see the navis come out instead of the girls who'd been advertised, but not overly perturbed. Those who had come for boobs still got plenty to look at and whistled as soon as the girls came out. Those who'd come for magicians would be interested in the enigmatic nature of the newcomers and their exotic designs. Luckily, Scout was a model assistant's assistant and followed instructions to a tee, providing the mirror when requested. The audience seemed to be eating up Anathema's antics, which was likely half genuine appreciation and half that, as gentlemen and gentle-ladies, it would probably be inappropriate not to provide applause to the opening act. Her slapstick garnered a good amount of laughs, it seemed.

Looking around the crowd was one thing, but it wasn't the only way to gauge crowd reactions. While the audience was cheering, SellSoul applauded as well, moving to stand near Anathema as she did and whispering to her discretely. "I've got a feed for the BBS for Vinnie's shows! I'll link you in. We can check it out to see what people are saying!" she suggested. If SellSoul was obsequious, at least she may also be helpful. If she did check it out, she'd find that some messages seemed more important than others.



There was no sign of Vinzez yet, which meant Anathema had her work still cut out for her. By the sounds of things, Anathema might have more than just the opening of Vinzez's show riding on her already overburdened shoulders... she might have the future of all of Vinzez's shows riding upon them. Of course, her payment wasn't dependent upon going above and beyond, but if she was being kind, it might be nice to Vinzez to make an executive decision, even if he wouldn't agree with it.

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Anathema's situation wasn't the only one that was escalating in an unexpected fashion. Clarence struggled to jump in and answer Alda's questions before Claire had a chance, trying to keep her interpretation from catching on. "Yes, my grandfather apparently had a lot of it. No, I don't know why and I don't want to know," he sighed, closing the lid on one of the barrels as though to try to discourage anyone from using it. "And no, nothing about it is magic! It's just a very, very strong aphrodisiac. I'm trying to sell it off after our meeting which... well, I'm doing it as above the board as one can do such a thing. That's not the point! The point is it isn't magic, it doesn't assist in magic, and however you learned that I had it, you should know that my grandfather left it only to try to help me have better sex... and masturbation, apparently. Again. Don't ask."

Unconvinced, Claire took her seat and unzipped her back, urging Alda to begin. For her part, Alda was no stranger to the reckless pursuit of science and magic, so she was willing to give it a shot. As soon as Alda opened up a lid and touched the stuff, she could feel something... she probably didn't know how magic felt, but she probably didn't know how gooey, viscous aphrodisiac gel typically felt either. Regardless, her hands felt warm even as the goo felt cool... it was the kind of comfortable warmth that seemed to at once increase sensitivity and also relax. It seemed like it would be a pretty great aid to masturbation, really, so if she believed what Clairence said, that part of the story would certainly add up. At any rate, Claire wanted some on her back, so on it went.

Claire shivered and gave a slight gasp as it went on; her skin was soft to the touch and felt nice and smooth oiling up, especially given the buzz Alda already felt across her hands. "Well, Alda, I can always have someone else step in if you want. But I'm quite serious about this, so I want to make certain that we are extraordinarily thorough," she chuckled. The clairvoyant made good on her words, not stopping at unzipping the back and now lowering the bustier of her suit down off the front. The outfit had already revealed a lot of the bust, so, as one might imagine, there wasn't a lot on the top underneath... it just had a strapless, wrap-around red bra, mostly featureless but very low riding. She continued from there, standing for a moment to finish pulling the suit off. This revealed a high-leg red bikini on the bottom... given that the other had already been high-legged, there wasn't much room for straps or anything, so again, the piece was rather provocatively low coverage. "Will you continue? If you don't want to, perhaps Dusana or Mallory-"

Two voices spoke up at once, with Mallory pushing aside Dusana and another voice from somewhere behind Alda pitching in at once. "I'll do it!" Mallory gave a death glare, seemingly at Alda, but probably actually directed to the figure behind her. "Listen, if you don't want all your teeth all over the floor, you're going to let me handle this. Cause I'll curse you soon as I'll blink..."

The other voice had been Mundwoon, of course, who now placed both hands on Alda's shoulders again as though preparing to use her as a human shield. "Don't get pissy! I just like to help," she cooed tauntingly. "Though, I do think it's funny! You sure seem eager to help Claire learn about magic, Mal!"

The other girl glowered even harder , then looked off to one side. "Y-Yes," she admitted. "For the sake of magic, that is."

On the bench Clarence had been sitting upon earlier, Hadya raised her hand to offer her service as well, as befitted a so-called wish granter.

Clarence had ceased to be the voice of reason, given that he was distracted by the half-nudity of Claire's body, but he shook his head and tried to get back in the game. "Well, see? Do you feel more magic now that you have that gel on you? Is your clairvoyance working any better?" he asked, lowering his eyebrows critically and struggling to fix his eyes on her face.

Claire closed her eyes, then wagged one finger. "We're not done yet. It has to be applied thoroughly. And I know it will work because I have foreseen success already! I'm confident that this will allow my skill to grow stronger than ever and Alda, if you'll join me in the quest, I'm sure your own alchemic endeavors will benefit as well," she insisted, flexing her fingers beneath the sides of her thong for a moment to remove the wedgie as well as she could manage. It was obvious the lower body garb had been designed to be out of the way with the suit at the cost of personal comfort. At this point, Alda would note that plenty of others seemed eager to get in on the action (everyone in the room except for Dusana and Clarence had stated that desire, and it was hard to think Clarence didn't want to himself), if she wanted to hand the reigns over to somebody else. On the other hand, as a magician and a scientist, Alda may be curious to find out if the goo had any power, and it would be much harder to learn if she was just watching someone else handle it than if she participated directly.

At first glance, it seemed that the audience was pleased with her opening act. Hopefully, they weren't just being polite...huh? There was a BBS for the show? Perfect! Let's see...people were looking at her boobs, cool. Looked like a few were upset that one of the regular showgirls were gone...not much she could do there, but do her best to make them forget about her. And, hello, looked like there was a super secret critic thread. It...kinda wasn't surprising to hear how Vinzez's shows usually went...it was sad, though. He seemed to care more about himself than his audience, or his craft. Well, she wasn't making that mistake. She might be a literal witch, but she was going to restore some faith in stage magic, or her name wasn't Anathema.

"You know what a classic magic trick is? The old 'pick a card' routine!" The witch Navi reached into her cleavage, pulling out a pack of cards. She opened the box, took them out, and showed the audience that it was just a regulation deck, with nothing visually special about them. "As you can see, it's just a regular deck of cards. Gin rummy, go fish, bridge, you name it, you can play it with this!" She fanned the cards out, and presented them to her lovely assistants. "Pick a card, any card! Show the audience, but not me!" She'd let them pick and reveal their selections, closing her eyes to make sure she didn't actually see. "All right, put 'em back in...thanks." She took a moment to shuffle the deck, then stopped and faced the audience. "Oh, you know what else you can play with this? ...52 Card Pickup!" She flung the deck over her head, allowing all the cards to fall down onto the floor. All of them were face up...except two, one each at the feet of the other Navis. "See those face down cards on the floor? Pick 'em up. Is...that your card?" She dramatically posed, arm extended and chest puffed out, but each girl would find that it wasn't their card. Yet, if they compared notes, they'd come to the realization that they, in fact, had each other's card, at which point Anathema would deflate a bit (in stature; her breasts remained as impressive as ever). "Seriously? I thought I had that one down pat..."

This would be another fine point to gauge the reaction, and check the board.

-------------

For as much as Clarence was insisting there were no magical qualities to the goop, Alda seemed rather unconvinced. "You know, you almost seem like you believe this has no magical qualities just because that's what you want to believe. Just because it can serve as an aphrodesiac, doesn't mean it can't also have any sort of supernatural capability. Things can serve more than one purpose. I mean, have you thoroughly tested it? Or have you just used it once or twice?" It oddly seemed to escape her grasp that she was basically asking how many sexual situations he'd used it in. "For all we know, it doesn't work on you, but it works on others. Further testing should confirm one way or the other."

The first test was, in fact, Alda's own hand as she scooped up some of the goop. Even though it was cool to the touch, she could feel her hand warm up a bit. She could feel it relaxing her, as though her hand was receiving a massage or something. ...Yeah, magic or no, she could see it being a great masturbatory aid, both male and female, if it had the same reaction on other parts of the body. But that wasn't the question being asked. They needed to know if it had magical properties. So, onto Claire it went. "Wow, I hadn't noticed before, but you've got really nice skin, Claire. What's your secret?" Maybe she could carry it at her shop, if it wasn't some sort of store bought lotion or anything. ...Extraordinarily thorough? And the removal of her showgirl clothing wasn't a good sign. At this point, she wasn't sure who was showing more skin, herself or Claire.

But before she could answer, they got a couple of volunteers in the audience to take over her duties. ...But no. She couldn't tag out now that she started. "Switching at this point isn't very wise, you know. If someone else started to do it instead of me, it might cause the entire experiment to fail. I'm not jeopardizing the whole thing like that, so we're going. To calm. Down. And relax." That said...it was strange. It was almost like her hands were...compelled to keep going, even if she didn't really want to. "And besides...I don't think my hands could stop if I wanted to. It's like-aw, geez...!" At this point, Alda noticed where she was applying goop. She'd gone past the end of the back, and was now squarely applying the goop to Claire's backside. Sigh. Rubbing another woman's ass wasn't her idea of a good time. And yet, her hands felt amazing as she worked on applying more of the mysterious goop there. Ugh, she was getting some seriously mixed feelings here...

Anathema's next trick involved a pack of cards; it would be a little difficult for the audience to see from a distance, so Scout provided a floating view screen that would allow the audience to see closer. This might be a double-edged sword: everyone could get more involved in the act but in return, they'd also see any kind of tells or even screw-ups more closely. The only screw up that occurred was seemingly a pretty big one, though impressive in its own right. The crowd gave another peel of laughter, but it wasn't exactly applause going on this time. Sensing that they might not have caught the joke, SellSoul pitched in, "Aiyah! This is your card, Scout!" she gasped, covering her mouth with her hand in an exaggerated gesture.

"Y-Yes, I appear to have yours!" Scout answered, not ready for the ad-lib. Another small, polite laughter accompanied the reveal. Scout grinned nervously, then turned her eyes to Anathema, obviously concerned that the crowd was going to pick up on this as a failure more than anything else.

Before the trio had any more time to continue their debut performance, Vinzez Gupta made his appearance on stage, emerging from the back and raising one hand, to a sudden burst of applause. If the crowd was dead in their enthusiasm for him, they weren't openly showing it... but how much of that was real, passionate fans and how many of those were audience members following the status quo? If the messages Anathema had read could be believed, many saw a seat at this show as some sort of prestige thing, in which case, clapping along was probably part of the package. "Hello, hello. Please, quiet down, quiet down," he insisted, lowering his hand slowly. "I hope the girls have been treating you all well. My name is Clarence Gupta, and I hope you all are ready for some-" the magician began, pausing for a moment as he looked down to the cards scattered all around the stage. A vein throbbed in his forehead for a moment, before he resumed. "Quality magic."

This might be Anathema's last chance to take the reigns on the show herself before the elder Gupta turned it into his standard show. She also had a little window to get insight from the latest postings, if she was interested.



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"Alda, trust me! Nobody wants this stuff to be magic more than I do! I found a secret tape from my grandfather and barrels full of this stuff, I thought I'd found the secret to magic! It wasn't the secret, though, it's not even related to magic!" Gupta complained, but fell quiet when Alda asked how thoroughly he'd tested it. "I, er...ahem... I haven't used much of it. Once I learned what it was, I thought it prudent to leave most of the barrels unopened."

Claire shuddered slightly as the goop went on, likely feeling the same buzz that Alda had, but over a larger area. "Hm hm, thank you for saying so," she chuckled, looking over her shoulder slightly. "It's commercial product, but fairly expensive. It's a bit of a superficial investment, but my public image is an important part of my work, so I do my part to look presentable. I'll write down the brand for you later, if you're interested," she offered. Next, she stripped off her outer clothes to a minimal bikini underneath, intending to allow Alda to apply the agent very thoroughly. The rest of the group gulped and watched closely, denied their opportunity to help and thus having little else to do at the moment.

Doggedly, Alda continued on, moving from the back straight to the more premium real estate of Claire's barely covered bottom, soliciting a slight gasp from the other lady. "Oh my... I hope I'm not overstepping any boundaries, but I must say, that feels very nice, Alda," she sighed, shifting her legs slightly and clasping one hand to the top of a locker to steady herself. "Of course, if it will unlock the secrets of magic, then that's all the nicer..."

The others had given up, but not Mallory, who seemed especially determined to provide her help. "Alda! Uh, if you're doing the back, maybe I should do the front? We can get her fully covered a lot faster if we work together, you know? If not, then I'll, uh..." she murmured, her eyes looking Claire up and down with unmasked excitement. "Oh, yeah, curse you. I'll put a curse on you if you don't let me help... Claire's my friend so I should be the one... doing this."

"Now Alda," Claire went on, heedless of her friend's request, "my sight has told me that it is indeed important that more than one individual uses this solution to achieve its intended effect. Would you like to be the other volunteer? I'd be happy to help you oil up," she suggested, which, depending on Alda's persuasions, could sound pretty appealing. "This may even go faster if we're both similarly bared and applying the gel simultaneously."

"No, I'll volunteer!" Mallory protested, standing in closer and already working to unzip the back of her suit. "Don't worry, I can take care of it!"

"Mmmm..." Claire hummed, though it was hard to tell whether that was in response to Alda's very thorough application on her bottom or if she was pondering her friend's offer. "What do you think, Alda? Either way, I need you to be very, very thorough," the clairvoyant giggled. The goo had been an odd, medicine-like shade of pink going on, but as it was going on and rubbed in, it became more of a transparent sheen. Every movement of Claire's body was more apparent with the translucent liquid coating her back half, making even the minor jiggles of her buttocks apparent as Alda worked with it with greater zeal than Alda herself probably intended to demonstrate. The sensation was a bit like taking a hot shower... as soon as one got used to the feeling, one was tempted to apply a little more to elevate the feeling again.

"Well this is... something," Dusana commented, though she barely appeared to be watching it. Clarence's protests didn't seem nearly so fiery as before, nor was he doing anything to avert his eyes at this point. Mundwoon was still pitching in with repeated, obsequious offers to do something, much as Mallory was, but without the muscle tone and imposing stature, there was no need to pay her much attention. Hadya was now keeping very quiet, watching with her arms crossed and the same stoic expression on her face. She was probably at the ready for whatever was needed of her, but wasn't being pushy about it, at least.

Hmm. Didn't seem like the audience took to her little card trick. Anathema let out a small sigh, yet it almost came across as more 'if only they knew what was about to happen' than 'well, I screwed that up'. Before she could show why she remained confident, however, Vinzez appeared and began his intro...though the cards didn't seem to be improving his mood. "Oh, dear...the trick didn't work, and now I've made a mess of the stage...if only I could rewind time!" She began seemingly crestfallen, but perked up as she went along. "Oh, silly me! I CAN!" A purple aura emenated from her hand, which then split into too many small pieces for the eye to count. But it had a definite number: 52, each of which made their way to a card on stage. And just as she claimed, the cards seemed to engage in an exact replica of how they'd fallen, but in reverse...though a keen eye would notice it wasn't entirely perfect. Still, they bunched up high on the stage (but still visible to the audience), then came together in Anathema's hand as a neat and tidy deck. "Phew!" She fanned herself with the cards, then took a look at them. "Eh? Where's the joker in this? Don't tell me...oh, I see where it is!" After looking over at the human magician, she walked over, and pulled out a card from behind his ear. A close look would reveal that it was indeed the joker. "Can't do magic a card short of a deck, after all!"

Now that that was all cleared, time to check the BBS!

'I want magic'? Lucky for them she was pretty sure that was before she revealed the REAL trick, or else she might try her hand at cursing anonymous people on the internet. Oh well, at least one of the people in the other threads realized she was more than a pair of big breasts...she did in fact have a very shapely ass. And the observation...ha. They'd better be amazed at her time rewind trick...wait, now she was sounding like Gupta apparently did. Hey, at least she kept them guessing that time.

"Well, I guess that's the end of my magic career! Give it up for the man of the hour...the one, the only, Vinzeeeeeeeez Guptaaaaaaaaaa!" She placed one hand on her hip, and the other upward to proudly display the magician that may or may not actually warrant it. Hey, might as well sell being the lovely assistant, if she was going to be that.

-------------------

"If you haven't extensively tested it, then you really don't know what it does. Just because it has aphrodesiac properties, that doesn't exclude it from having other benefits." Yeesh, someone didn't know much about the scientific method. Oh well, that's what this was for. "Commercial, eh? Who knows, maybe I can replicate the formula, maybe even improve it a bit! You definitely need to tell me before we leave."

In the meantime, Alda was groping another woman's posterior, in the name of applying unknown pink goop to it. ...Now that she had the courage to look, she was going at it hard. Like her hands were actually into it. And...really, considering how they felt, she had no desire at all to stop. "Overstepping YOUR boundaries?! I'm the one that's basically massaging your ass!" She was about to go on to shoot down the other women due to switching partners still violating scientific principles, but...the shock of the next suggestion completely threw that out the window. For one of the first times since her transformation, she blushed. "You mean...you...apply this to me? Er..." Well, this was normally where she went 'hell no', and yet, considering her hands still felt amazing...well, was there really any harm in it? Especially with what was potentially on the line? "...All right. Just give me a sec." One by one, Alda's accessories went off, until all she had on was what her bikini bottom and top...if one was feeling generous enough to call them that. "Okay, I'm ready. ...You can go ahead with putting the stuff on me whenever you want." In the meantime, she'd continue to apply the goop to Claire where it wasn't yet. ...And she still probably couldn't stop for more than a few seconds if she wanted to. The things she did for research.

The crowd still didn't appear to be quite sure what to make of Anathema's trick at first, but once she walked over to the stone-faced Vinzez and pulled a hidden card out from behind his ear, they seemed to decide it was a worthy comedy and bequeathed Anathema a bevvy of laughter for her efforts. Vinzez looked none too pleased, but Scout was smiling and SellSoul was grinning, both apparently believing the show was going in a good direction. Unfortunately, the crowd died down a good bit when they realized she was handing it back over to Vinzez, falling just short of booing the development.

"An interesting change of pace; I thank you. I apologize for the wait, everyone, but I'm sure all of my assistants have been doing a fine job in my absence," the master magician began, stroking his mustache thoughtfully. "I've prepared an exciting line-up of my finest feats of prestidigitation; I hope that you will pay close attention and please, hold your reactions until designated points of the performance. Now, let the show begin," he announced, as a soundtrack of mystical-sounding drums and flutes began and the lights dimmed, leaving most of the stage's illumination as a spotlight.

"More like 'let the show end,' am I right?" SellSoul joked, nudging Anathema in the side with a big grin. She was speaking a little too loudly and the audience gave another small chuckle, while Vinzez looked incredibly aggravated.

"I don't think that's the right kind of humor," Scout whispered nervously, also a little too loudly. She was probably trying to control the situation, but Vinzez glare turned on her regardless, causing her to wither.

Turning to the audience, he spread his arms to either side and smiled broadly beneath his mustache. "Well. My lovely assistants are welcome to their opinions. Now, onto the next trick... Anathema, please approach the spotlight and hold your arms above your head," he insisted, stepping aside slightly to allow her in. If the tone of the show continued as was expected, he'd probably use her for a magic trick that, while perhaps visually impressive, had become so rote and joyless as to dull the mood of the whole crowd...



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"You're really so interested? Then I guess it's working," Clair chuckled in response to Alda... one might read into the response and wonder if she was saying she was trying to make touching her butt a pleasant experience for girls or perhaps even Alda specifically. At any rate, there were more important things to ponder, like the nature of magic and the properties of the pink substance as a potential magic conduit. "Well then, I again hope I'm not making this awkward, but I must say, as far as massages goes, this is quite pleasant~"

The others watched as Alda gave in and submitted herself as another test subject... for advancing the cause of magic, of course. Mostly they were excited, but one of them was, predictably, very upset. The dark, muscular woman, now undressed similarly to Clair, wearing only a gold strapless bra and matching thong-back bikini bottom, looked like she was about to place another curse as Alda moved on to coating the remaining parts that hadn't been gotten already. "I was going to do that, dammit," Malory complained, crossing her arms and clearly feeling embarrassed for having stripped down for no reason.

Dusana chuckled, looking up from her PET for just a moment. "What's up, you want me to rub you down?" she asked teasingly.

"No, I didn't want you to do it! Just cause we're friends doesn't mean I won't curse you, Dusana," Malory warned the other girl, a bit flushed as she'd failed to get in on any action. Mundwoon offered as well but was similarly turned down. It was pretty clear that Malory had only wanted one specific partner.

With a smile that would make most men and certain women energetic, and cause the remainder to question some things, Clair shifted into position facing Alda, allowing the other girls hands and forearms to slide along the slick, oiled skin of her waist as she did. "Thank you for stepping up, Alda. We'll reach the next discovery of magic together," she spoke softly, dipping her fingers into the vat and drawing some up in a thick string, then bringing it center to rub it between both hands. She started by placing her hands around Alda's back, gently caressing the lower back for a moment before moving to Alda's indecently exposed bottom. Clair's fingers traced the curve, with the palm bearing down and the tips of the fingers stopping beneath the intersection of buttock and thigh. She squeezed lightly; the sensation seemed significantly magnified, due to the effects of the pink agent she was applying. Her other hand traced around the hip, then rested in a similar position on the other side. "It will take me a minute to catch up... but please, don't slow down on my account," the clairvoyant insisted. "This is all part of the vision I've foreseen..." She said that as if to urge Alda on, as Clair's intimidatingly large breasts came near shy of pressing against the other girl's more modest ones, due to their close proximity. The thorough application, especially over both girl's now increasingly sensitive hands and bottoms but now spreading to other areas, felt incredibly powerful and likely new to both girls... but was it magic? It would be hard to tell without some kind of test of magical ability...

The others were being quiet now, with the exception of Mundwoon and Dusana both heckling Malory to let them apply the goo now that she was properly dressed for it. "Nonsense... what's even happening...?" Clarence protested weakly, though he was far too enraptured by the show now to make any move to stop it. Hadya continued to watch silently.

Success! ...Not quite the oohs and ahhs she expected from making a deck of cards basically move backward through time, but they were amused, and that was the important thing. But, Anathema inwardly (and very nearly outwardly) cringed upon noticing that Vinzez seemed to singlehandedly kill the enthusiasm. She could almost see why, from hearing his introduction...that said, the mystical music made her cross her arms and smirk, unintentionally pushing up and emphasizing her breasts. "Hey now! Why couldn't I get neat intro music like that? I'm calling my agent!"

It didn't last, sadly for bosom pushing enthusiasts, as SellSoul's attempt at a joke made the witch Navi physically recoil. Yeah, that wasn't going to go well with the boss..."No way! We're out of a job if that happens! You ever tried explaining 'lovely assistant' on a resume? It really doesn't translate that well to other stuff!"

Luckily, being on the stage meant no Gupta-ruptions, so Anathema simply received her instructions. Onto the spotlight, where everyone could see her...raise her arms...hmm. "This isn't a stick up, is it, boss?" Or maybe he wanted to grope her. Oh, wait, she was a hologram, so he couldn't. She would be totally okay with getting squeezed in front of hundreds of people. Just thinking about it was exciting...

...Too bad this was a great time to check that BBS. Let's see...yay, she was funny! And messing up the trick sounded fun, but hmm...maybe she could mess it up in a way that made it look even more impressive? Then everyone would win. Something to think about. Also, whoever said the girls were wrecking the show? Totally getting cursed when she got home. And it looked like she could really make a name for herself with the people writing about this...that'd be good publicity for Alda's shop. That'd be a really nice bonus. Speaking of which, how was that discussion on magic going, she wondered...

---------------------------------

"Y-Yeah..." It took a lot to embarrass Alda, but the idea of another woman enjoying the butt massage she was giving her was adding some color to her cheeks...the ones on her face, that was. Clair's smile only intensified it. "Er, you ARE only going to put this on me, right...?" And yet, that look of total pleasure...she wouldn't mind being that happy...erk. No, go away, heterosexuality challenging thoughts. She wasn't enjoying this beyond the fact it was creating a chemical reaction that her skin found pleasing. Nope. Not at all.

"A-Ahh...!" The scientist-turned-witch jumped a bit as she felt the other woman's hands touch her lower back. She...was really expecting her to start higher. But, she suddenly had no desire to correct that. That feeling persisted as she went lower, and worked on her already mostly uncovered hindquarters. And, now that feeling was spreading beyond what she was touching...whatever world there was beyond Clair at the moment, she didn't care. She just focused on rubbing the other woman's hips and thighs with pink goop, as she soaked in every last sensation she was getting in her own body. "I will...just, please, don't stop...~"

And then, it happened. Alda didn't even realize it was happening until she'd already done it. Without even thinking, she leaned in, her chest pressing on Clair's, and kissed her for around a second. The instant she did, she pulled back, beet red in the face. "I...I'm sorry...I've never done that with another girl before...it just happened. B-But I hope you liked it.~" She let out a smile of contentment, that if anything, proved that she was absolutely not sorry about what she had done.

The crowd seemed excited for the whole package that was Anathema, whether it was her amusing jokes or her impressive bosom. SellSoul raised her eyebrows and shook her head. "Uuuuh, right, right," she laughed, showing her sharp teeth in an awkward grin. It was clear she was having a hard time thinking of this as a high stakes gig, or pretending to be someone who did either.

Vinzez nodded approvingly, though, perhaps pleased to see that Anathema was going to play the part of assistant like she was supposed to. "No, nothing like that," he continued; a dry chuckle would probably go a long way here, but he didn't appear to have any capacity for humor. His eyes may have flickered down to her chest for just a moment, in this eye-catching pose, but they went back up soon enough. The younger Gupta would probably have had a harder time staying all business. He stood to one side, then reached his gloved hand slightly behind himself; when he whipped it back around, he had a curved sword with a gold-colored blade; impractical, but hopefully, he didn't use it for practical sword purposes. The trick was rather surprising, given that he'd seemed to have nowhere to hide a sword on his back or inside his cape, nor even the handle of one with a flip-out blade. He pulled another out moments later. "You are probably all familiar with this one," he spoke to the audience, standing to one side. Indeed, judging by the message board, they probably were... more so than they'd like to be. "Remember; no matter what you see, no physical harm shall come to my lovely assistant. And indeed, assistant, I need you to remain brave during this next feat of prestidigitation."

Scout gulped nearby while SellSoul watched with a grin, but a look of boredom in her eyes; her opinion might have been colored by what they'd learned on the message board, so she wasn't expecting anything spectacular. With a startling shout and a furious look on his face, Vinzez swiped a sword at Anathema's neck and waist. From her time netbattling or virus busting, she might have a natural inclination to attempt to dodge the strikes. Whether she did or didn't, her projected head and neck, as well as lower body, would vanish. He'd swing his swords once again, with another loud "Haaaaa!" that showed surprising vigor, eliminating the rest of her physical form. Each piece disappeared in a trail of dust, as though she'd been made of sand. The crowd seemed impressed, judging by their raucous reaction.

Keeping his teeth clenched, he crossed both arms at his chest, keeping each sword held upward. "Now, watch and be amazed... as my assistant's body reappears before your very eyes!" he exclaimed, staring out into the audience with fiery eyes. Oddly, the curtain that had been mentioned in the BBS posts never showed up. Perhaps that was due to some modification he'd made to account for navis in his show? "Assistants! Step to either side and channel your energy into this location. Focus, into the spotlight..."

Both making awkward smiles, they took either side of the spotlight, neither with a very clear idea what to do next. Vinzez was probably hoping one would follow the lead of the others, but they clearly had different ideas. Scout got into a position holding her hands outward towards the light, closing her eyes and tensing her face as though concentrating hard, while SellSoul raised both hands into the air and chanted. "Ooooh, Anathema! Return your sexy body to us in one piece! We want to see your big boobs again!" she requested in a loud voice, managing to get another laugh from the audience. Before she reappeared (if she chose to reappear, and however she chose to reappear), she'd have time to check the BBS again.



--------------------------------------------

The seductive smile on Claire's face, which certainly helped explain how she and her motley companions had grabbed so many fans and Vinzez' attention, grew wider, her eyebrows raising slightly Alda's light moans and pleas. "Wow... I guess future-sight isn't the only gift I have," she spoke in a whisper, though the goo definitely deserved some credit in this scenario too. "Now we should-" she began, moving one hand up to stroke Alda's back, perhaps intending to apply the application somewhere other than just her ass for the sake of the mission. Instead, she was pulled into a kiss, her massive breasts smushed against Alda's more modest ones, their lips locking together briefly. Her face registered shock for a moment, then the eyes returned to their restive, pleased curvature. "Hm hm hm... Naughty Alda," she gasped as the other girl pulled away. "I thought we were here to study magic?"

Directly contradicting herself, she moved in for another kiss, attempting to grab the other girl's lips in her own. Her hand that had gotten back on task ended up back off of it, grabbing the softest part of Alda's thin body and giving it another squeeze. She was trying to go long, definitely more than a second, with this smooch, and Alda could feel their lips not just pressing, but this time, the other girl's curved over hers, the tongue searching in a practiced caress. If Alda was worried about ending up playing for the other team, this probably wouldn't help. Claire drew back slightly, now grinning between slight breaths. "This feeling... It's exciting, a rush like I've never felt before... This must be connected to-!" she started, before she was suddenly yanked away, stumbling but not falling.

The one who'd broken it up was Malory, who grabbed a hold of Alda's shoulders with a scowl. "You're way out of line! Nobody can just kiss Claire like that! You're lucky I haven't cursed the crap out of you already!" she insisted, although her physical strength now that she was close up, seemed like it could be significantly more worrisome than her curse papers. "Get it under control! You're not here to do... whatever the hell you think you're doing with Claire!" she insisted.

The feedback loop of the pink goo hadn't gone away just because Claire had stepped off; now coated more thoroughly in the stuff, Alda's body would be craving to touch and be touched even now. No longer under the spell of the impromptu voyeur session, Clarence clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. Everyone but Malory turned to look at him; the other girl's dark eyes remained focused on Alda's gaze as she kept her shoulders down enough to look her square in the eyes. Clarence tried anyway: "Back on task! You can see now that there's no magic, right? We're here for a discussion, not to learn about this stuff!" he interjected.

"Malory, let Alda go," Claire insisted. "I need to continue... I can feel something strange. A breakthrough, I'm sure of it!"

"What? What breakthrough?!" Clarence complained, now sounding a little like his father in terms of that skeptical quality.

"Restrain Clarence instead," the ringleader further instructed. "I'm not sure why, but it's clear to me now that he wants to impede our discovery. Yes... the meaning of certain visions I had earlier... All of it's becoming clearer to me now, thanks to the magical conduit, perhaps!"

"Wh-What? Wait just a minute..." the would-be magician puttered, obviously not liking his chances against the huge girl.

Grunting, Malory turned her head, releasing Alda and showing her back as she focused on Clarence. If she wanted to get back on task for the magic discovery, she'd probably need to stop Malory for doing whatever she was about to do to their host (and Alda's employer). However, if she just wanted to get back to where she was with Claire, it sounded like the other girl was still primed and ready. And if she was so antsy and goo-addled that she was willing to take whatever was closest at hand, well, Mallory's butt was about as impressive as Claire's.

"Oh, okay, good!" Not getting robbed in front of an audience was nice, but the fact it seemed like Vinzez wouldn't be actually touching the merchandise ever so slightly disappointed Anathema. This caused a twinge in her face, though only the others on stage would be able to catch it. Still, what was he going to d-hey, was that a sword? ...Actually, wait, that wasn't the headline. "Wait, where'd you pull that from? ...Actually, no, where'd you pull the other one from?! ...No, wait, even better question, what are you going to do with them?!" The no physical harm thing was nice, but...that didn't exclude non-physical harm. Granted, most forms of harm swords inflicted were of the physical variety...

And just like that, she was gone, the slashes coming so quick that she didn't really have time to react before she vanished. Doomed to walk between dimensions for the remainder of time...except not quite. A very attentive audience member would note that she had reappeared on the very farthest reaches of the right side of the stage, almost but not quite out of sight. Oddly, she seemed to have something in her hands. She took a step forward, seemingly rapt by the continuation of the trick, and brought the object to her mouth...

SLUUUUURP!

The unmistakable sound made it clear that Anathema was holding some sort of cup, the sort found in fast food restaurants and movie theaters. It would probably attract the attention of the front rows, though it probably wasn't loud enough for the whole audience, or even loud enough to drown out the others. SellSoul's chant worked, on the other hand, as a black tentacle slowly extended from off stage, then suddenly grabbed the lead assistant by the waist, and yanked her back before she could even yelp. A human would probably have gotten whiplash...granted, a human also wouldn't have been able to use their dark magical powers to conjure up a physical manifestation for the sole purpose of a gag.

As soon as she was out of everyone's sight, a purple fog began to descend from the ceiling. It wasn't very thick, as one could see through it, but as it hit the ground, it began to take the form of a certain recently disappeared witch Navi. Strangely, the form seemed to be lacking clothes of any kind, though it had the decency to also lack certain...attributes on her breasts and pelvic area. Soon, the entirety of her body existed in a fog form, and only then did the smoke become opaque...only to immediately be dispelled as Anathema stepped forward and did her 'I'm a lovely assistant' pose once more. "Ask, and you shall receive! My big boobs, and the rest of me, are all back!" Hopefully that was the last time she was getting sworded, though. Hologram or no, that was kinda scary...

Anyway, time for the usual quick BBS check. ...Ha, it would've been something if she came back naked. At least they sorta got their wish when she appeared in smog form, though, kinda? And, holo-magic...hmm. It was nice that she got to be in the show and all, but at the same time, she sorta understood wanting a more 'traditional' approach to it. But at the same time as that, sometimes you needed to shake your routine up with something flashy. And while her magic leaned towards a lack of light, she could certainly spice up a magic show.

-----------------

Claire's response simply made Alda smile harder, and wave a finger at her. "I don't remember anything saying we couldn't have a little fun while we-" Evidentally the other woman agreed, as she returned the favor. Yet, she could feel something as they kissed...something that she didn't normally feel during such activities. Something deep within her...once the other woman ended it, she took a moment to try and pinpoint it. "A rush? I have that feeling, too. I wonder-ahh!"

Before anyone could make any breakthroughs, the witch found herself staring at someone not named Claire, which brought her an extremely annoyed expression. "Seriously?! Something was happening! It wasn't just Claire, I could feel it, too! And it WAS under control! Now it's not, all because you were jealous!" She crossed her arms, not in the least bit happy over potentially ruining the discovery. And almost immediately, she could feel the sensations strengthening in her chest. But, they weren't strong enough for her taste. Frowning, she casually flung off her top, though she quickly refolded them before anyone could really get an eyeful. "Mmm, that feels nice...~"

That said, Alda's wits hadn't totally left her, as she managed to piece together that Clarence being physically restrained might not be the best thing for her. "Hold on a moment. Is that really necessary? We can discuss other avenues as we continue to pursue this one, can't we? Then, everyone wins." Except Mallory, who clearly wanted to take her place. But, too bad, so sad for her. Now she just needed to get closer to Claire, like so..."So, Clarence, where would you like to begin?"

That said, she dropped her arms and leaned into the other woman's ear. "You can begin wherever you want...~"

The mystique of the elder Gupta's sword-based magic trick was first cracked by SellSoul's insistence that Anathema bring back her sexy bod, then smashed to pieces by his lovely assistant reappearing stage-side with a cool beverage. The theater probably appreciated the free product placement for concessions, but Vinzez scowling face showed he probably didn't share that same level of appreciation. He was still standing nearby the spotlight, as though he expected her to disappear and try it again. Disappear she did, but not in the way anyone was expecting: a black tendril emerged from the presumed briny deep of slightly off-set, yanking her away, only so that she could re-emerge a moment later in a plume of purple smoke that really overshadowed whatever hhe was trying to do with the spotlight. Still, Scout and SellSoul were clapping on either side, and the crowd joined in, laughing along. "Woo! Did they get a little bigger while you were away?" the red girl snickered, nudging Anathema with her elbow.

As well as the crowd was liking it, Vinzez looked like he really did want to cut her apart with his swords now, his eyes stormy beneath dark eyebrows and his lip set tight beneath his well-groomed mustache. It wasn't clear what had set him off, but either he didn't appreciate the additions, the comedic tone, or perhaps just that she was stealing the spotlight off of him. "I hope you all enjoyed our first act. From here, a short recess, while I prepare for my next feat of prestidigitation," he informed the crowd, taking a quick half-bow before a crowd he barely felt he recognized, given how different their reactions had been compared to what he was used to. The lights very abruptly cut out, while the front-set curtain drew back over Vinzez and the girls.

"Anathema, I must... thank you for giving it a sporting shot, but this is not what I need out of you. Nor you, SellSoul. I'd like to ask that the two of you accept this partial payment of 2000z for your work so far and leave. Scout, you can stay and help me through the rest of the show," he spoke in a terse bark, keeping his voice quiet and his mic off so that the crowd wouldn't overhear him. If Anathema wished to respond, she'd probably want to turn off her mic first.

"What are you talkin' about? I know, for a fact, that you haven't gotten a response like that in a long time!" SellSoul hissed, after turning off her mic. "The crowd loves us! Well, Anathema mostly."

"This crowd is inconsequential. Listen, I didn't get to the top pandering to children and others for whom a clown would suit just as well. I got this far using high-grade magic that leaves the crowd in awe and admiration. It's a slippery slope; if I seem I am out to court laughter, then soon, I become a laughingstock. I don't want laughter, I want respect, and in the long run, that's what the audience at large wants too" he snarled. "So thank you very much for your time, ladies, but I am done with this experiment. Scout's cooperation will be more than sufficient to get me through the rest of the acts."

So far, about all Scout had had to offer was a bit of information gathering and good intentions, making it pretty clear what Vinzez wanted from his girls: following orders, keeping their mouths shut, and the common function of being generally nice to look at. Scout frowned and adjusted her glasses, turning back to the others. "It was a nice try, but I guess it's just not what he's looking for. I don't mind handling the rest if you guys want to rejoin your operators," she suggested.

"Wait, I can't owe you! That's not the way I work, okay? I make other people owe me!' SellSoul protested. "I can't just give up now!"

"And yet you have no option. Please, leave us so I can move on to the next act. And keep your voice down," Vinzez sighed. "This was a brief diversion, but I'm ready to right the course for the sake of my audience."

The curtain wasn't up yet, so there was more time for Anathema to give Vinzez her two cents, or it could be rejoining Alda and taking the 2000z he'd offered up was the best course after all. She still had access to read the BBS, for now, so she could read up on the audience's thoughts.



-----------------------------------------------

"Shut up! You don't get to just feel things with Claire! Stop overstepping your boundaries or I'm going to curse you so hard you'll walk funny for a week!" Mallory complained loudly, matching Alda for angst. "Dammit, quit stripping! I'm not letting you do whatever you please!"

"Mallory! Please! This is for the sake of magic," Claire reminded her ally. "Now please, stop Clarence from interfering." Alda had another idea, however, and Claire smiled silently for a bit while she listened. "Oh? Well, I suppose it is only fair that we include him. If I think about it, we wouldn't be this close to a discovery if it weren't for his gathering us together here. I suppose we can let him in on the fun- excuse me, research," she agreed, her small smile opening up into a grin. "You may leave him alone, Mallory."

The other girl beat her fist on the wall and then crossed her arms, seeming angry at having even less purpose here. The rest of the figures in the room watched curiously as Alda, sans top, and Claire, kept intimate distance, with Clarence standing stupidly and staring at the two of them, with nowhere to go but towards them. "Er... Huh? Thanks, Alda, for making sure I didn't get shoved into a locker for like the sixth time in my life, but that doesn't change the fact that what you guys are feeling isn't magic. Look, it's, ahem, not too strange to have a lesbian experience- o-or bisexual, or maybe not indicative of anything at all-! When you're faced with a girl like..." he stammered, trying to take control of the proceedings again.

"Like?" Claire asked, unhooking her own strained, wrap-around bra while crossing one arm over the amazingly large, pleasantly soft swells of her breasts. She allowed it to drop off, then pressed up against Alda with her chest for modesty, such as it were, wrapping her arms around the other girl's back.

"... Like Claire," he managed to finish, gulping hard.

"Hm hm," the red-headed girl chuckled in response, then kissed Alda's ear in another freakishly stimulating gesture. "I quite like the idea. Well, Clarence? Do you have any ideas for what we should do... next?" she asked, now reaching down to boldly slip her hands into the side straps of Alda's lower garment, curling the narrow fabric with her fingers and teasing it down just a little. "What would you do next, in our position?" One in their right mind couldn't fault Clarence too far for being skeptical; it didn't seem like Claire's mind was on magic at the moment. By this point, the two of them had rubbed in way too much of the liquid to avoid certain feelings, between what they'd applied themselves and the areas they were now rubbing together.

"Well, sheesh! I want to know the source of your powers, of course. My magic is, er, a work in progress. If I'm being honest, I don't feel like most of the girls here have real powers. But yours... we've seen yours in action! You're a real clairvoyant who already knows the secret to future-sight, or from everything I've seen, that's the case! Can't you share the secret with the rest of us so we can further our own learning?" he asked, sounding almost as frustrated about that information not being divulged yet as he did having to fight back the urge to just shut up and watch.

Claire smiled at him sideways, then withdrew her hands from Alda's bikini bottom and pressed each over her breasts, turning to face him. "Clarence... What if I were to tell you that navis are the source of magic? Would you believe me?" she cooed, sounding almost sleepy now. "My navi is the source of my magic..."

"Elaborate! What do you mean by that?" Clarence asked, unintentionally leaning forward a bit as she worked the magic conduit into her chest, which was a polite way of saying she was massaging her own breasts.

"Hm hm hm... We didn't come all this way just to retread what I already know about magic, did we?" Claire asked, looking over her shoulder to Alda. "You understand what I mean already, don't you, Alda? If you do, explain it to Clarence, and I'll give you a special reward... If you don't... then grab a hold of these and keep me covered for a moment, because I'm going to need my hands to explain to our dear host how the magic works," she giggled. If Alda gave up and accepted the consolation prize, she'd wait for Alda to get close enough, then allow Alda to put a hand on each breast, at which point she'd lift her own arms, one now holding her PET she'd swiped off the bench nearby. What Alda would then do with those boobs was her own business; since Claire's arms were up, Alda would really have free reign of wherever she wanted to touch, if somehow she thought of somewhere better than the chest. If Alda thought she knew the answer, however, there could be an even greater prize awaiting her for making a guess.

"I don't get it. Alda... what is...?" Clarence asked, leaning forward way too hard now and clearly staring at the bust before him.

"Give up! Nobody knows the secret of Claire's magic, not even me!" Mallory warned, holding out another tiny curse talisman, although she was too far off for Alda to read what it said at the moment.

For a Navi that studied arcane Net magic in her spare time, Anathema was really not much for mystique. Hence, her methods for the trick. She smiled at the applause, and looked over to SellSoul briefly. "Ha, I wish!" Unlike some Navis, she had the ultimate bra: magical power.

After the curtain fell, the witch Navi learned that she was being...let go? "Whaaaaaaaa-oops!" And...mic set to off, to prevent anyone from going deaf to her reaction. "What?!" She took a deep breath, listening to everyone else. If someone was paying close attention, they'd notice that her hands were giving off a fiery black aura, though she managed to make it fade after a few seconds. She folded her arms beneath her breasts (though in a rare move, she wasn't pushing them up at all), and scowled. "Are you even listening to yourself? Since when is a crowd 'inconsequential'? They were enjoying the show. One look at their faces would tell you that. As an entertainer, what more could you ask?" It took her a moment before continuing; she had to take a moment to regain some of her composure. "Actually, since my operator's a scientist, let's do an experiment. I want you to remember how the applause sounded just then. Then, you do a trick with me and SellSoul offstage. See if the applause sounds any different to you. This doesn't mean I'm taking your money and leaving, mind you. But if you agree to my experiment, I'll step aside for a few."

If he refused, she'd have to think of something else...but if he accepted, she'd appear in front of the curtain a puff of smoke. "Being an assistant is hard! I'm going to need a couple of minutes, but don't worry, Mr. Gupta will continue to amaze you with his magic!" Somehow, she managed to make it sound genuine. After what he had just tried to pull, that was the true magic. She took her leave by having a small smog cloud form beneath her, then lifting her up and out of sight. She'd reappear beyond the edge of the stage, to have a good spot to view the incoming trick.

Actually, it'd be a swell time to check the boards either way...hmm, going out with a human? Considering what she could and couldn't do with them, she wasn't sure if that sounded good or not. And, of course, there was still the matter of the reviewers. At this point, she wasn't entirely sure if Vinzez was going to escape their wrath...but considering he was bringing it on himself, she wasn't exactly sympathetic. And yet...eh, nah.

-----------------------------------------

"Oh, I disagree. I think there IS some magic going on here...aah!" Just like that, Alda found her breasts up against Claire's magnificent pair. And them being covered in the liquid just meant it was rubbing off onto her...and the kiss only compounded her pleasure. If Claire took her, right then and there, in front of everyone, she wouldn't do a thing to stop her. As it was, she could feel herself having certain physical reactions...which, given how skimpy her bottom was, would make it even more obvious what she was feeling, at least when that view wasn't being blocked.

She listened to the conversation as she enjoyed the moment, though the question managed to snap her very, very slightly back to reality, as it was something she was ill-prepared to answer. But not much, judging by the fact she got behind the other woman, rubbing her own chest against her back. If anything, the tiny reality check gave her the clarity to make up an excuse that wasn't just 'I don't know' "Oh, I know I could answer...but there's no one better to explain than the source. Besides, it's not like I don't benefit from not answering..." Making sure she had some liquid on her hands, she reached around, and grabbed the clairvoyant's breasts with them, and began to massage them. She did less to hide them as she did so, though at the very least, she was avoiding showing Clarence the nipples...though she was still doing her best to play with that part of her, too. "Well? He's waiting!~"

"My dear, I understand your misguided opinions about entertainment, but you are confusing the audience's applause for your goofballery... their tittering, lackwit laughter... for the sort of awe and respect that a person of my profession is supposed to inspire. I am not a clown. I do not wish to amuse the crowd. They are not children, they are adults who paid good money to see a professional magic show. I created the template for that and I will follow that template to the letter," Vinzez scolded Anathema at length, keeping his own arms crossed and his eyebrows arched in a severe expression. "Ha! Applause proves nothing. To prove me wrong, you would have to continue to sell out seats in arenas on a consistent basis, prove a business model and etc., etc. But if you're that determined, I suppose I'll show you what I mean. Ordinarily I hold this trick until near the end, but I suppose I'll show you the power of a tested formula."

While he was about to turn and walk out, she instead poofed out in front of him. She wasn't able to see his reaction to that, but she probably had a guess as to how he took it. Regardless, the crowd was receptive, clapping as she took the stage and giving another polite peel when she left. SellSoul snuck around the side of the curtain and slithered to the side of the stage, plopping down her obscenely curvy bottom next to Anathema's own. "This is what we call assisted career suicide," she snickered in a low whisper. "'For my next amazing trick: the human burial act!' Keeheehee! But really, how could anyone follow the two of us?" She seemed to feel some sort of camaraderie with Anathema for being asked to sit out the next act.

Scout looked particularly nervous, standing just off-center of the stage as the curtain opened slowly to reveal Vinzez standing with his arms spread. "Hm hm. Well, we can hardly blame her; being sliced up will take a lot out of a person," he chuckled, which solicited another polite series of chuckles from the audience. "My friends, let us resume. We're going to change up the order today. Instead of saving the best for last, we're going to jump straight to the main event. Miss Scout, this next performance requires the full range of my powers. In order to perform it, I will need you to sing," he informed his one remaining attendant.

She blinked a few times, with a frown that showed she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. Before she could speak, he added: "and dance."

The hapless, auburn-haired girl kept the stupefied look on her face a moment longer, than shook her hands in a hasty gesture of refusal. "No, no-no-no, nope!" she responded quickly, backing towards the curtain. "I can't sing or dance!"

"I think you'll find it in you," Vinzez smirked, reaching one hand behind her to guide her to the front. Unfortunately, she was a holographic projection, and simply slid through his arm. "I insist. Just lift your head and think of the stars above" he spoke mysteriously, but with less mirth in his voice this time. He gestured discretely with his eyes to where an electronic screen was hidden on the roof above the stage, behind the curtain where it would be out of sight of the audience. Only from the stage could it be seen. Words of a song were beginning to scroll across said screen and music, vaguely identifiable as something eastern and perhaps Yumlandian. Most of it was actually a chant, so Scout began it as well as she could, probably flubbing the pronunciation of what few words there were. She raised her hands up and did her closest approximation of a bellydance, which wasn't particularly close, though she had the body for it at least. She was mostly gyrating her torso and hips, but failing to do a lot of the arm motions one might expect. "Very good."

While the audience was thus enthralled, the elder Gupta brought out the same hidden swords he used earlier, then stepped out from behind girl's figure, raising the swords above his head in a near pantomime of her own position, raising both arms above his head and crossing the swords. He rubbed the swords together, creating showers of sparks... more sparks than it seemed like ought to be coming from metal scraping metal, truth be told. As he did, the sparks washed over him, catching his cape and garment on fire. "Do not be alarmed. Trust in my power!" he informed the crowd, creating a fascinating spectacle as he appeared to be genuinely immolating himself for the sake of a magic trick. The crowd gasped loudly, watching but not interfering.

"The man's nuts! That's no hologram..." SellSoul stammered, fire reflecting in the whites of her eyes.

On stage, Scout found herself trying to gain some distance as well, unable to tell where the act was going. For a moment, she stopped singing, until she realized that he wasn't ceasing clanging the swords and remembered to do her part. "Please be careful..." she warned him.

"Ha ha ha! There is no need. Witness my strength...!" he grunted, filling the air with the sounds of clanging metal. By this point, he'd basically become a shape of him former self, but completely covered in flames. The crowd had started cheering and applauding, but it was anyone's guess as to how this ended with anything other than Vinzez becoming a pile of ash. Still, the sparks kept coming, to the point one could be forgiven for looking away for a moment to where Scout was still making a novice dance attempt. As she danced, her form began to flicker. Nobody seemed to be the wiser, unless Anathema happened to be watching, but soon enough, the flickering seemed to focus itself onto the girl's one-piece, legless bunnysuit. A moment later, a few segments of it were still flickering, then suddenly, it was gone, leaving her in a flashy, white bikini, literally strapless on the top with some unseen force holding it up, presumably net magic, and with very high legs on the bottom without much coverage all around.

Oddly enough, the first person to call attention to the new outfit was Vinzez. "Good God, woman! I don't know why you've chosen to disrobe, but whatever you do, don't stop dancing! You must not break the dance, or the spell will be undone and we'll all burn alive!" he insisted, still clanging the swords, for whatever reason.

Crying out in a mix of terror, astonishment, and embarrassment, the red-faced girl continued her dance fiercely, unable to cover herself as she kept her arms raised into the air. If Anathema was looking very, very closely, she'd see some sort of liquid or oil, completely transparent, begin pouring from discrete serrations in the sides of each blade. As the liquid came down, she'd notice, less discretely, that Gupta had wrapped himself in his cape at some point during being immolated; the cape had some sort of transparent inner lining, possibly flame-retardant, hidden inside the inside folds, allowing only specific areas of the cape to light form as the liner blanketed the rest of his form. With the dim lighting, combined with the distraction Scout was providing, no one else would notice as he rid himself mostly of the flames, then patted down the few tiny parts that were still left.

"My friends! I've escaped in one piece. I suppose I owe some small degree of thanks to my assistant here who, despite her failings that nearly roasted me alive, she did pull it out at the end. A round of applause for her as well. Loud applause," she insisted, flashing a scummy smirk over in Anathema's direction. The applause was, indeed, raucous, as the crowd had nothing to do but applause, murmur, and watch Scout as she tried in vain to restore her GMO.

"... How's he still alive?" SellSoul asked, baffled. Anathema, being closest to the stage, was probably the only one who could answer that, though whether she cared to was another matter.

"A short intermission, while I prepare for the remainder of the show and my lovely assistant gathers... her bearings," Vinzez chuckled, giving a short bow as trails of smoke rose from his cape and his the lapels of his jacket. He beckoned for Anathema to rejoin him back-stage, then raised his eyebrows and spread his arms. "What do you say? I don't think anything you could do out there could draw more applause than my bread-winning performance out there..."



------------------------------------------------------

Claire gave a few breathy gasps, unable to answer Alda's request for a moment as the other girl had her way with the tremendous gifts she'd been granted. "V-Very enthusiastic... I'll have to return the favor later," the clairvoyant chuckled. "And even if you don't know the answer, I appreciate your pursuit of knowledge." She kept her hands above her head for now, so as not to interfere with allowing Alda to do whatever she wanted. Clarence and Mallory seemed to have dropped their differences for a moment, as both watched from a fairly unprofessional distance with unmasked amazement and jealousy on their faces. Hadya watched with one leg crossed over the other, showing no emotion. Dusana was alternating between watching and thumbing over her PET, smiling more in amusement than anything. Mundwoon appeared to be using her PET's camera function to make a recording.

"While I'm baring it all, I might as well bare it all," she told the others with a deep breath, bringing her shoulders down to allow one hand to grasp Alda's shoulder, while the other stroked at her hair. "The truth is, I'm not clairvoyant, although I, like you, am interested in true magic. Perhaps for different reasons, mind you... My motivations are less a devotion to the craft and more interested in the possibilities of power and fame that go with it. But yes. I'm a sham," she admitted, which cased Mallory's face to fall as much as anything so far. Gupta still seemed focused on the boobs. "My navi, Scout, is an excellent assistant. I generally plan to spend my entire day in one area, and before I do, I have her access as much information as possible on the location, including, to what extent I can, who will be visiting, when, any information on them- especially something which would require clairvoyance to know beforehand- and so on. It's just an extended version of the common fortune-teller's trick... Like knowing a person's lost a loved one because they're alone wearing a wedding ring," she chuckled. "It's all a little trite. I'm ready to set it aside for real magic, which I know must exist... and I know must be tied to your grandfather's exploits, Clarence. He gave you a gift... this magic conduit."

Clarence didn't correct her this time, still enraptured by the view.

"By all accounts, your grandfather was a true magician. His secrets were never revealed and have never been unraveled, even since his passing. If he left you this mysterious substance, which even my research has been unable to uncover the origin of, it simply must be tied to his powers," she insisted.

"It's... sex..." he murmured dumbly, still staring bug-eyed. "Sorry... it's what I said earlier... it's aphrodisiac soap... that's all it is," he finally returned.

"Please... it does feel pleasant, but your grandfather leaving you this many barrels of lubricant for that purpose? That's even less believable!" Claire scoffed. "Perhaps there is a reason it feels pleasant... That must be it! His magic is somehow tied to the fullest effect of the liquid! And now that we're nearly fully coated, we're almost there! The sensation is a guide, of sorts... It makes us crave it so that we can unlock it's fullest powers!" thus convinced, the lady turned so that Alda's arms were again embracing her, then grabbed hold of the other girl's panties and slid them the rest of the way down, hiding the view from the others with her body. If Alda returned the favor, she'd be treated to Claire's naked front, while the audience would see the other side. "That's it, Alda... We must give in, fully!" she exclaimed.

"I draw the line there! That is not happening," Mallory would interject, finally running up to grab Claire. "I don't care if you're a fraud or not, you're still our leader. And this... this is the real sham! That guy's tricked us all into coming here so he can cover us in pink goo, get us naked and making out, and he'll watch and enjoy," she complained, curling her lip in disgust. "It's probably messed with your head, too! That's why you made up that stuff about your power being fake and why you're trying to have relations with this stranger instead of... w-with this stranger, I mean!"

"I don't have to just watch!" Clarence responded, sounding offended. He shook his head and corrected himself. "I mean, I never wanted to use the stuff anyway! Remember? I brought it here to sell it because I don't need it! It has nothing to do with magic!"

Either way, fun time with Claire was over, unless Alda was going to try to stop Mallory from physically dragging her partner away, which would be difficult given her toughness. Alda may also have the presence of mind to remember she needed to cover herself, now that said nudity wasn't useful for pleasuring herself along with Claire. "Come on, Claire. We already gave this guy a show... he's gonna pay us what he owes us or I'll curse him so bad-"

"Fine, fine! I'll pay you! It was a very good sho- I mean, uh... I mean, I used a lot of your time, that is," Clarence gulped in agreement. "You too, Alda. It's clear I made a mess of the whole affair by bringing along this distraction... And I have a feeling that... when your head is clear, you're probably going to be a little miffed about it all. So let me reassure you one more time, this stuff has nothing to do with magic. I'll pay you, we'll put this behind us, and uh... maybe we'll reassemble to discuss magic another time," he sighed. He was already reaching for his pants pockets, while standing awkwardly to avoid showing the tent that had been pitched by the proceedings. "Agreed?'

Mallory was now in the middle of wrapping one of the locker room towels around Claire, who was still protesting without much luck. If Alda could think clearly now, she'd probably realize she was the only person here who seemed to have any real magic talent (in her mind anyways), so there might not be much to learn from this magic assembly after all... Well, unless she was looking to re-evaluate her sexual preferences.

After poofing, Anathema found herself with a partner in rejection. She did giggle a bit at SellSoul's comments, but then shook her head and frowned. "If he doesn't see very, very soon, you're right. ...I wonder why I even care so much? I mean, he's just a stage magician, and not even the one that Alda's being paid by." But she sure was caring. Was she just trying to prove a point? Really, if she just told him what the BBS was saying, it might solve everything...but it'd also prove that their 'secret' wasn't really a secret...argh. Thinking wasn't helping, so she might as well watch the trick.

...

Well, it was flashy, and yet, despite the danger he put himself in, the witch Navi found it hard to be especially impressed. It was almost too flashy, leaving little of substance. SellSoul didn't seem to notice everything she did, though. "Well, it wasn't magic. Though I'll admit, pulling that off without triggering any smoke alarms is pretty impressive." Hmm...smoke. A plan quickly started to form in her mind, as Vinzez walked off-stage. Upon his boast, she smirked, and placed a hand on her hip. "Well, that seems to be an invitation to try. Enjoy your break, 'Boss'! SellSoul, with my promotion, I hereby grant you the official title of Lovely Assistant! And I'll be needing your help with my trick...just do what I say, and everything should go great, okay? We're going to put a spin on the old classic, sawing someone in half!" She closed her eyes for a moment, causing some sort of effect behind the curtain, though no one besides the Navis would really be able to tell. She used the chance to do a quick check of the BBS, though nothing of real note came up. Fine by her, at this point. "We're up. Let's break some legs!"

Anathema walked out and waved, most likely drawing the spotlight to her. "Don't worry folks, Boss just needs to cool off for a few. But don't despair, we've got something special lined up! Curtain people, bring it up!" She'd wait for the curtain to rise, and reveal her trump card. Any magic afficianado would instantly recognize the purple box now on stage, and even if they didn't, the large saw leaned against it would tip off what the basic trick was. It was held up with legs with wheels on the bottom. Oddly, the floor was also now bathed in purple light. "Since Vinzez can't be with us, we can't exactly saw a man in half, so I guess I'll take over that duty!" She opened the box, and showed the audience its contents. Notably, it was empty, and had zero space to hide anything like fake legs. "As you can see, it's totally empty right now. But that's about to change!" After returning it to the upright position, she opened it again, and hopped in, head and feet sticking out from each end. "All right, go ahead and close it!" She'd wait for SellSoul to close it before continuing. Tragically for the boob lovers, the box was plenty big enough, and not even Anathema's chest rose enough to be visible from the top before the box closed.

"Wow, this is super not-comfy...oh well. now, my lovely assistant will grab that big saw, and cut me in two! Lucky for me this is a magic show, right?" From here, the temporary stage magician had little to do until SellSoul started to cut her in two. To prepare was simple enough, though...tuck her arms in a little so that they were out of saw range, and...dematerialize the area where she was going to get cut, turning her waist area into smog. As the saw started to actually go through, she'd fake pain, reassuring her assistant if for some reason she got skittish. A little bit of smoke would come out towards the end, but that wouldn't affect anything. Once the box was completely cut, there were two boards to stick inside where she was split, and show that, indeed, Anathema was two halves of a whole currently. That said, the purple lighting's purpose would become clear to the other Navi, as while it was very subtle, some gas was escaping and exchanging between the boxes; while they were mostly closed by the boards, there was in fact juuust enough room for a little bit to leave at the top. That said, it (probably) wasn't really enough for anyone in the audience to notice, thanks to the overwhelming purple. "Behold! I'm here!...And here!" She moved her feet around, to show that she still had control of them.

"This is fun and all, but I think maybe I should get back in one piece. Kinda hard to walk off the stage when your legs can just leave you behind, you know? Now, lovely assistant, I need you to get those boards off, and shout out 'Abracadabra Alakazam!' as you do so! The magic words will return me to my original state!" She'd tuck her feet inside the box, wait for SellSoul to do as she asked, then...boom! The audience probably wouldn't be able to see it, but after quickly converting her lower body to smog, it rushed out, through the gap between the boxes, and reformed inside the other half. The force was still enough to noticably move the top box a few inches, though. "Oof...those magic words have some oomph! Anyway, guess I can come ou-wait a sec, I dropped something in here. Gimme a sec..." She ducked her head into the box, leaving nothing visible of her for a moment...the process of gas going from one side to the other was quickly repeated. She started to reform herself, then pushed open the end of the box with the foot openings, and crawled out, head first. Once she was all out, she let out a big smile and raised her arms, with a declaration of "Ta-da!" However, the trick wasn't completely done. The top part of her bunny outfit fell from her bosom, dropping down to where she'd been cut. The remainder then managed to somehow fall down, leaving her in a white bikini identical to Scout's, save for the proportions. Anathema looked down, shook her head, and placed her hands on her hips. Unlike with Scout, she wasn't exactly embarrassed. If anything, the idea of hundreds of people lustily staring at her barely clothed body was a big turn on. "Oh, dang. I got the saw that doesn't magically cut through clothing, didn't I?" How utterly unexpected on her part.

--------------------------

Augh. As she was enjoying Claire's breasts, Alda began to be reminded of how she easily could've wound up being able to do this all by herself...only to end up with what she did. And considering how skinny the rest of her was, she was lucky to have what she did. But nooooo, the tit fairy skipped a visit, and only endowed Rhonda with a nice rack. This train of thought made her a bit rougher with the other woman, though unless she absolutely hated any sort of force, it would hardly be unpleasant.

It took a moment after it was said, but it got through to the alchemist that this meeting probably wasn't going to reveal anything particularly magical. And yet, she didn't exactly mind, given the circumstances. Or maybe it was because of the circumstances..."Wait. He has barrels of this stuff?! I agree, why would he have so much of it if that was its only purpose?!" Aside from the fact it felt amazing. "Give in fully...that would make sense. Yes, I will fully give myself to this feeling, and to you!" She reached in for another kiss, using the extra closeness to grab the faux clairovoyant's own remaining clothing and yanking it down. She wouldn't know if Claire's body was reacting the same way as her's until after she did so and looked, but one look at Alda down there would show that she was very much not faking her desires, and 100% ready for anything further the other woman desired of her.

Unfortunately, those desires would not be fulfilled, as Mallory pulled Claire away. The witch tried to resist, but her total lack of physical strength betrayed her, and instead found herself naked in front of strangers. She dropped to her knees and sat down, which had the benefit of hiding her most intimate areas from the others.
Payment? You know, a nice payment would be to let Claire and me finish testing our theory...although..." As something caught her eye, it was fairly clear that there were other ways to get what she was wanting. "You know, I'm ready for action, you're ready for action, by the looks of it...if you've got a condom, you and I could complete testing that hypothesis...~" She spread her legs a little, to give Clarence a better view of what she had to offer. "We'll never know for sure unless someone tries...~"