First trick: Video

[squicksilver]

[ Alexander Mercure is staring at his phone as if it were an unwanted kitten in his living room, coughing up hairballs made of pure gold. ]

Ah… Haha….

[ An instant later, his lips are parted in a dazzling smile, revealing his whitened teeth, which show even brighter against his made-up face. He’s clad in a top hat, white tie and tails, every inch covered in sequins. From the silver dust on his cheekbones to the gold fringe on his sleeves, he glitters. ]

Goodness, what a surpriiiiise! Why, here I’ve been reading about all of you amazing people, only to find myself one of your number. The “numbers club,” how adorable. That means something a little different here in Las Vegas, haha! Anyway, anyway! I suppose I ought to introduce myself. I’m Alexander Mercure. But my friends call me…

[ DRAMATIC PAUSE ]

Alexander… the Great!

[ A beat, wherein he looks very very serious — and then collapses all over in giggles. ]

Ahahhaha, forgive me. That’s the name of my show. It’s at the Flamingo. Nightly at nine and twice on Sundays. I’ve heard that some of you are coming to visit our fair city, so I’d like to extend an invitation to each and every one of you. Be sure to stop backstage afterwards, I’d loooove to meet all of you wonderful heroes!

[ Everything about this screams setup, from the "superpowered" girl in his show (ordinary parlour tricks), to the numbers in his head (third-rate mentalism), to this bizarre network. It's elaborate, but it's obviously just a marketing ploy, if one wants to be generous; or a confidence scheme, if one doesn't.

Well! If anybody thinks they're going to fool Alexander the Great, they've got another thing coming. Already he's turning the tables on these people — whoever they are — and using their fancy network to pimp his show.

He starts to wave goodbye — but hesitates, putting his (sequined) white-gloved fingers to his lips. ]

Aaaaaah, but I’ve noted that some of you are rather young. No kiddies at the evening shows, sorry about that. Twenty-one and older, if you please. [ wink wink ] Little angels can come to the Sunday matinee.

[ Wiggling his sparkling fingers: ]

Bye byeeeeeeeee!

Comments

[squicksilver]

Why, was there a bad time?

[ One beat... two.... ]

Aaaah, goodness! I'm sorry, how insensitive of me. That awful snake, I read about that. I take it you live in Locke City?

[ As if anybody cares what's happening in New Jersey, seriously. ]

WHOOPS video

[earnedmystripes]

...You haven't backread on this thing at all, have you.

[Sigh.]

The snake was just the tip of the iceberg, really.

[squicksilver]

Nnnnnope! I just punched the numbers in and... here I am!

[ He's holding his phone in one hand, and opens the other wide in an expansive gesture. ]

"Tip of the iceberg," really? How fascinating, do go on!

[earnedmystripes]

[...Well, to be fair, he supposes neither did he. Then again, when he first discovered the network he thought he was calling a pizza place.]

Hang on.

[He digs a little bit and then produces a text link to this post.]

That's the basic rundown, though Sherman and his people've been arrested and the aliens that showed up a couple weeks ago seem to be actually legit, so we're hoping it's all over now.

[squicksilver]

[ There's a lot of tl;dr in that post, so it's not until later — much later that Alex responds. He is at home in his studio apartment, sitting at a table. There's a pen and a sheet of paper on it, but it hasn't been written on.

The makeup is gone, as are the sequins. He's in a T-shirt. But the most striking change is in his manner. ]

"The... the aliens that showed up two weeks ago seem to be actually legit," do you have any idea how that sounds?

[earnedmystripes]

[Yes, yes he does. And yet, he's the one to raise an eyebrow because dude, the three aliens arriving has been all over the news how did you miss that. Still, he's used to dealing with things like this. He points to the sheet of paper.]

Write your number down, you'll see.

[squicksilver]

[ He picks up the pen....




....and puts it down again, without writing anything. ]

Even if... even if I'm not able to figure out an illusion right away, it doesn't mean that it's anything supernatural. It just means it's a good trick.

[ There is the very slightest quaver in his voice, as if he is telling himself this. ]

[earnedmystripes]

[About a month ago, he'd have told you that that denial would get you killed. As it stands...maybe he'll be fine. After all, it was only the Locke City PD that was involved in all this, wasn't it? Vegas is very far away, the reincarnates are exposed, the aliens seem to really come in peace.]

You can choose not to believe it if you want. Hopefully you don't get any obvious physical changes or powers from your pulses and you can go on pretending nothing weird is going on.

1/2

[squicksilver]

[ He shoots a dirty look at the screen. The connection goes blank. You've been hung up on, Kotetsu. ]

[squicksilver]

[ A little while later, this succinct reply appears, in Alexander's neat handwriting: ]

Shit

video;

[earnedmystripes]

[Enjoy Kotetsu's faintly smirking face all up on your piece of paper, Alexander.]

I could tell myself I'm above being that asshole who says 'I told you so', but I'm really not. So.

I told you so.

drawn?

[squicksilver]

[ There's a mature response here.




Which is clearly drawing rabbit ears and whiskers on Kotetsu's paper face. ]

LMAO

[earnedmystripes]

Shouldn't there be a hat?

[lolol.]

[squicksilver]

[ YEAH drawing a big X over Kotetsu's face, balling the paper up and pitching it into the trash.

over and out! ]