Trouble Makers (Roni)

Started by Villain, May 24, 2014, 02:48:15 PM

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Villain

Trouble Makers

The streets of London were always chaotic. Whether the sun was high or low, the great cities streets were constantly bustling with activity, especially during the lunch time rush when every worker in London came out on their breaks to eat and savour their brief thirty minutes of freedom.

During this hour the streets were almost dangerous as people stormed through them, not stopping for anything, not beggars, preachers or charity workers. Stopping for anything short of a hurricane would be considered a horrid waste of their precious free time.

Which was why Tobias Grimm knew to stay clear of stressed office workers and bankers and instead focus on entertaining those that had time to spare, such as the groups of university students that loitered around Trafalgar square.

'Watch.' Tobias spoke to the group of girls he had managed to stop on their way to grab a coffee. He stood before them with his hand outstretched and a small gold ring balanced on the palm of his hand.

The gold ring was a gift that he had borrowed from one of them, a lovely girl called Abigail who had been given the ring by her grandma. She had not looked thrilled by his request to hold onto her ring, but she had accepted once her friend had encouraged her. Which was a relief for Tobias, he still had yet to perfect the skill of charming his audience. His gimmick was to be quiet and mysterious as he worked, talk in his opinion, was for the Las Vegas magicians.

"Watch closely," Tobias spoke as he held the ring before the girls. It sat on a palm, covered by a fingerless woollen glove and shined brightly in the midday light. "If you blink you will miss it," Tobias warned and prayed that the girls wouldn't kill him over what came next.

As the girls leaned in, their faces filled with wonder, the ring burst into flames and turn a molten red colour.

Abigail shrieked in terror and clamped her hands over her mouth in despair. Her skin paling as she watched the ring melt away to nothing. "What have you done!" she wailed.

"Relax," Tobias muttered as he brushed what remained of the ring off his hands. "I've given it back." He said before giving a curt nod to the hands that covered her mouth.

Slowly, Abigail glanced down at her fingers and let out a new shriek, this time of amazement. Her ring was back on her finger, gleaming as brightly as always, untouched and undamaged.

"Ta-Da," Tobias said and smiled modestly as his audience burst into applause. His job had been completed and judging by the smiles on their faces it had been a huge success.

It would have been a perfect triumph if they had tipped a little better.

As they walked away with smiles on their faces Tobias counted the one pound fifty they had given him with a frown. He should have learned by now that students had time in abundance, but not money.

He sighed and adjusted the sleeves on his tattered duffel coat before running a hand through his black messy hair. He would need a moment to prepare for his next trick and select an appropriate target.

He wondered how had it come to this. How had years of hard work landed him with a life of scouring streets for people willing to give him pocket change.

A few years ago he had been on the stage, performing in front of hundreds. People heard of the Grimm family magicians and immediately demanded a ticket for the show. Now things were different. Now, no stage or agency would dare take a gamble on a Grimm. Not since the dark rumours had surfaced about their ever so brilliant father.

Tobias ignored the bitter anger that surged through him. It would do him no good to be angry. An angry look would scare off his audience and any chance he had at making a couple of pounds would go right down the drain.

So, after taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he scanned the crowd of faces for a willing volunteer.

He had no idea that the next face his emerald eyes landed on, would be the one that would changed everything.

And would cause him so much trouble.

Roni

A leggy ginger sat beneath an umbrella at a table just outside the coffee shop the university students filled into. They were still raving about the magician's trick. How in the world could he have managed to melt the family heirloom back onto Abigail's finger? The masses would never know.

Siobhan Roche, on the other hand, was determined to find out.

She had watched the display with only mild interest at first. The magician certainly wasn't a showman; she could tell that straight off. But the trick itself, well, she hadn't seen anything like it before. It was easy enough to determine that he had talent.

What was even more important was that he might be some use to her.

Pushing her just-this-side-of-auburn hair out of her freckled face, she swept it over her shoulder as she stood. She was lucky that her hair had had darkened a shade or two as she got older. People had always thought of her as pretty before back home in Ireland, but when she sprouted breasts and hips boys and men alike had come flocking. In jeggings that clung to her shapely legs and a chic oversized cotton tee that brought out the blue of her eyes, she looked… What was the word her ex used to use? Oh, right. She looked a stunner.

As Siobhan sauntered over to the magician, her hips swayed slightly. It was a movement just pronounced enough to draw the eye and vaguely reminiscent of a house cat. If she put a little more effort into it it would be practically predatory, but she didn't want to scare the man away.

She watched him count the money that they had pressed into his hand with a frown. Yes, he would be perfect. Talented and just desperate enough to try something new. She could promise him the world. As she moved toward him, she did her best to catch his eye, making sure she didn't lose eye contact once she had his gaze on hers.

It was a sure-fire way to make any man feel special, and right now he needed to feel special.

With a disarmingly sweet smile, Siobhan once more pushed her hair out of her face as she came to a stop in front of him. With a mellifluous murmur, she took the simple mood ring from the forefinger of her right hand and pressed it into his palm, the blue color of the stone leeching into blackness. "Do it again."


Villain

Tobias had experienced a few moments in his life when time had seemed to stand still for the briefest of moments. The top few included; the first time he had performed the levitation trick without an accident occurring, the time when he had discovered his older brother shooting up back stage and the moment in which he had found his father, who had been happily married to his mother for over twenty years, banging a girl, not even half his age, in the dressing room.

Tobias knew what it meant now, to feel the seconds pass by like hours. It signaled that a turning point had come. In each of those moments, for better or worse, his life was had changed. And it always began when the world stood still.

When his eyes landed on woman that gazed at him from across the square, he knew it wasn't love at first sight.

Yes, she was pretty, absurdly pretty. And absolutely no part of him existed that could deny that he did not find her attractive.

But, the moment he noticed her walking towards him, he knew that her flawless beauty was not just what stole his attention. The way she moved, the purpose she put into her stride and the look in her eye that commanded him to stare, were all part of the ensemble that stole his focus and demanded that he obey.

It was so powerful that it almost seemed supernatural. And Tobias did not like it at all.

The woman screamed trouble and yet he did not feel he could just walk away.

He did his best to remain calm when she approached, a difficult feat when his heart was pounding faster and faster the nearer those swaying hips came.

He did everything he could to remain quiet and smiled when she smiled, trying as hard as possible not to show just how much that devastating smile destroyed him.

He ignored the faint shiver that ran the length of his body as her soft fingers brushed against his as she placed the ring his hand. He glanced down at the object and ran his thumb around it tenderly, as if judging its weight and feel.

"Okay," he replied as offhandedly as possible. "Whatever you want. Just try not to be too amazed."

It would have been a difficult request for someone who was unprepared for the situation. The trick itself was nothing big, it was a simple mix of a little slight of hand, a small pyrotechnic effect and the confidence that the audience would never consider that Tobias had not chosen the person at random.

Whenever he picked a target, he always made sure to check their hands for a ring that matched one of several copies of exploding rings he kept hidden from sight in his pocket. The siren had challenged him by approaching him directly, but luckily for him the mood ring was simple and very similar to the exploding forgery he had made.

Some magicians would not have bothered to take the time to prepare themselves for such unexpected obstacles, but that was what set Tobias apart from other magicians. The trick didn't go ahead, unless it was perfect.

"Do I get a name?" Tobias quietly asked as he shuffled the ring from palm to palm. "Or is giving me your jewelry the only audience participation you want to do?"

Roni

Did Tobias really not like the powerful attraction Siobhan held over him? Or did he like it far too much for his own good? It was a delicate balance, and it would behoove her if he was compelled to remain enticed if not enthralled.

It was true. She held her own sort of magic. It was not merely her looks, nor was it simply her carriage. She oozed confidence and self-assurance. She exuded charm and charisma. It all culminated in a devastatingly alluring and manipulative woman. She could be anything you wanted; it only depended on your desires.

What will eventually be much to Tobias' chagrin, Siobhan was excellent at reading people. It was how she survived. As their fingers brushed, she didn't so much see or feel him shiver, but she sensed it. She sensed anticipation, yearning, and a war between eagerness and hesitation.

Unfortunately for Tobias, Siobhan would use it all to her advantage. If not now, then over time.

"I'll try," she responded with a scintillating little smile, watching as he caressed her ring with his thumb, weighing it in his hand.

She knew that she had made his job more difficult by approaching him rather than the other way around, but she needed to see how good he was. Was he prepared to be accosted by someone who thought it might be a lark to take on the magician? Only time would tell.

As she shuffled the ring from palm to palm and asked her name, Siobhan smiled perhaps a bit mysteriously. "How 'bout this? You get my given name if you manage to pull your trick off again, and…you get my surname if you can sufficiently impress me with something else. Do we have a deal, Master Magician?"

She would have offered her hand to shake, but his own were rather busy. She watched closely, playing the patience card as she waited to see what his next move would be.

Villain

#4
Tobias looked up from the ring to meet her gaze when she issued the challenge, and looked into the lovely blue orbs with obvious curiosity.

She interesting indeed. Her proposal had made it clear to him that she wasn't just interested in seeing how his trick worked, she wanted to properly test his abilities and see what he could do.

Why? He had no idea. The girls stare was impossible to decipher. Whenever he looked into her crystal blue eyes all he could see was himself getting lost in them.

Not knowing bothered him, but he did not let himself be intimidated. Instead, he let his intrigue show and let a small coy smile play on the corners of his mouth.

It had been a long time since someone had shown that much interest in his craft. If she was going to challenge him, then he would accept without hesitation.

"We have a deal sweetheart," Tobias said good-humouredly before flicking the ring into the air and catching it smoothly as it fell.

The first part of the trick had gone off without a hitch. He had already swapped the mood ring for his exploding forgery the moment he had begun shuffling the ring between his hands.

Making it explode was a simple matter. The inside of the ring was filled with a combustible solution, that ignited when exposed to oxygen. All it required was a small scratch from his fingernail to break the outer casing and let in the air.

The hardest part of the trick was getting the ring back onto her finger. Which was where, years of practice at sleight of hand and the special effect came in handy.

The flames took the audiences attention away from his free hand, which would slide the ring onto the end of their finger as they watched the ring burn.

Tobias always made sure to take extra care during this moment. If he rushed it or pressed the ring too hard onto their finger, they would catch on to what he was doing. Luckily for him, he had performed the trick too many times to fail now.

He watched the woman intently as the mood ring became ablaze in the palm of his hand. He hoped that her surprise might lower her guard just enough to give him a glimpse of what she actually felt. It would be the only clue he would have to guess what she was up to.

Whoever the woman was, he knew that she was dishonest. She had the mannerisms of a performer. Every movement, every gesture that she made, was with intent. When she spoke, she did it with the sole intention of capturing your attention and placing it on the act rather than the person.

It was a quality that Tobias had seen before in the people he encountered in his career, but the way she used it was different. It seemed guarded and dangerous, determined to shut out any effort at seeing what lay beyond the veil.

Once the trick was finished, Tobias crushed what was left of the smouldering ring in his hand and nodded towards the unharmed mood ring that hung on her finger.

"I think I earned myself a name," he said proudly before brushing the palms of his hands on his jeans. The coy smile, framed by the light coating of stubble that marked his cheeks and chin, grew into a grin. "What do you want me to do to earn your surname? Pull a rabbit out of a hat? Make someone disappear? Read your mind? Because, if that's what you want me to do, then I'm afraid you're in for a bit of a disappointment sweetheart."

For a moment the jovial tone in Tobias's voice dropped and his expression became steely. Now it was his turn to test the mysterious woman and gauge her reaction. "Because I don't do amateur tricks, darling. That's not my style."

ooc: Link to the adult post here: here