For My Next Trick

[BetaKnight]

((Rebecca Kiesling continued from Idle Hands))

Rebecca wrinkled her nose as she examined her reflection in the floor-length mirror.  She could see her best friend behind her, poking around the racks of the vintage clothing store but steadfastly ignoring her.  It hadn't seemed too bad when Carol had brought her home from the salon.  Everyone had assured her it was a cute style.  Dramatically different from her normal look but cute.  So why didn't it seem so cute now?

Slowly turning to the left and then the right, she studied her profile.  Her expression changed into a grimace as she brushed at the newly created bangs.  She hadn't worn bangs since she was five.  She looked like she was five again.

With a disgusted sigh, she slowly reached up and tried to push the front layers of her new asymetrical bob back.   Extending her neck and angling her chin, she did her best to look at the small burn on the side of her neck, her other souvenir from their most recent show.   The burn looked raw and angry, and the urge to scratch it was overwhelming.

Rebecca gingerly prodded the injury, and was rewarded with a sharp sting.  Sucking air in between her clenched teeth, she let her hair fall back into place.  Tracking Leona in the mirror, she glared at her companion.  Planting her hands on her hips, she snapped at her  friend. "Well, I hope you're happy.   Have I shown you the thing on my neck?  Carol and my dad are sure it's going to scar."  

"And this was the only style they could do when they cut my hair to get rid of all the burned and singed parts." She pointed at her hair.   "My option was this or a pageboy. My hair hasn't been this short since I started dancing, and it's all your fault it's like this and you haven't even said what you think of it!"

[Outfoxd]

((Leona Van Kamp continued from Idle Hands))

Leona emerged from a rack she had disappeared behind and came up with a gray fedora with a black hatband perched atop her hair.  She seemed pleased with herself, at least until Rebecca brought up what she had thought (hoped) had been buried.

"It's cute."  Leona glanced over the hairstyle, her hands holding onto the lapels of her ever-present coat.  "Very 20s, I think."

She strayed closer, reached out and caught her friend gently by the chin.  She turned Rebecca's head and looked at the burn.

"Not even that big, really.  Makeup can take care of it."  Leona took a breath, pursed her lips together, and blew it out.

"Think of it as a reminder.  Of the first big, real trick we did, and pulled off."  Leona's eyes softened.  "I'm sorry.  Really, I am.  I didn't know it would burn so quickly.  I'll never make a mistake like that again."

[BetaKnight]

Rebecca was pacified by Leona's promise, but only slightly.  She really didn't want have to do that trick ever again.  The concept  had  been scary  but she hadn't worried initially since Leona's illusions had always worked out fine.  Her best friend was a perfectionist and would never perform an illusion that wouldn't be a complete success.

Scary transitioned to absolutely terrifying when the latch on the box jammed, preventing her from getting out in a timely fashion.  They had managed to keep things together enough that the audience never noticed how close the duo had come to causing a real emergency on the stage that night.  Her frantic struggles and exclamations had added a gripping amount of tension for their captivated audience.  When she shot out of the box flaming box, they roared with approval.  Her former stage hairstyle, with her hair pulled up in a ponytail with long, hanging curls, had hid the majority of the damage and everyone else was too far away to smell the acrid tang of burnt hair.

Rebecca was sure she could still smell it as she watched Leona warily.  "No more flaming box?  We'll find some other way to spice up the 'saw a lady in half' illusion?" she ventured.

[Outfoxd]

Leona smiled, nodding vigorously.

"Yes, another way."  She rubbed her chin, as if pondering her options.  "Maybe rig a crossbow to fire into the box right before you get out."  She tipped the hat on her head so it sat on her hair at a skewed angles.

"Or like...chainsaws instead of regular saws."

Leona looked up to Rebecca, smiling and revealing teeth.

"I'm open to suggestions.  You find anything good in here?"

[BetaKnight]

Rebecca mirrored the gesture, a little surprised.  It wasn't like Leona to concede an issue that quickly, but at least the issue was settled.  They would find something suitably dramatic-looking to replace it with.  Leona would make sure of it.  Choosing to focus on the positive, she held up her finds to get Leona's opinion.  

The cream blouse had a scoop neck with a demure ruffle that ran alongside the small, pearl-colored buttons and billowy, translucent sleeves.  Rebecca thought it looked especially soft and feminine.  The vest was almost corset-like in construction.  The boning in it made the garment almost rigid.  The somber brown material was lightened a bit by the exceedingly thin gold pinstripes and five shiny gold buttons that held it closed.  She held the blouse up against her chest as if to model it for her friend.

"I really like it.  It kind of has a 'sexy librarian' vibe to it, don't you think?"  Rebecca grinned in genuine delight but the gesture was short lived.  "I bet it doesn't go with my new hairstyle."  She sighed as she held the blouse out and looked at it longingly.  "I'm going to have to get a whole new clothing aesthetic, aren't I?  I don't even know how to dress myself now."  

[Outfoxd]

"Variety, my friend," Leona said as she pulled an old fashioned birdcage veil off a rack, "Is the spice of life.  You'll find something new, and you'll love it."

Leona put the birdcage on top of the hat, so it sat in an awkward tower on her head.  She turned to Rebecca, raised her hands and gave a cheesy grin.

"Dah-ling, I'm ready for the pah-ty," She said in as strong a Zsa Zsa accent as she could affect.

"Besides, you were a dancer.  You're supposed to look good in everything.  Usually something tight, that happens to fit very well around the ass."

Leona faked an ass slap at the air in front of her.  "I'll never be able to fill a leotard out like you, my friend."

Leona didn't seem to notice that saying Rebecca "was a dancer" wasn't exactly an endearing thing to say to Rebecca.  Whether her friend would call her on it wasn't exactly a sure thing, either.

[BetaKnight]

Rebecca managed not to wince at her best friend's antics and pasted on a smile.  As brusque as she could sometimes be, Rebecca knew that Leona was doing her best to be supportive in the situation.  

Putting down her previous clothing choices, she quickly stepped to Leona and reached for the veil.  "Oh, no no no," she chided in a playful tone. "With a bone structure like yours, you need to show it off, not cover it up!"  

She picked up a blue paisley scarf from a nearby table and artfully draped it around Leona's neck.  "You should wear beautiful scarfs, like Isadora Duncan."  Stepping back, she studied Leona for a moment before reaching out and adjusting the scarf a bit.  "If you don't want to wear it like a scarf, we can tie it like a cravat when you wear dress shirts.  Or it can be a belt or hairband."

Rebecca turned Leona towards the mirror so they could study her reflection.  She grinned at the image they presented.  "Maybe it's time for both of us to get new looks?  Shake it up, like you said?"

[Outfoxd]

Leona touched the scarf, running her hands up and down the length.  There was a floor-length mirror nearby, and she glanced at it.  She gave a twirl, letting the scarf fly out with the motion.

"It's an interesting proposition, but not really me."  She started to pull the scarf from her shoulders.  "I want people drawn to me and not the trick, but I don't want them staring me up and down, you know?"

That was only partially true.  If anything was to be said about Leona, she enjoyed drawing attention.  Just on terms she was more familiar with.

"I'll take your suggestion under advisement, however."

[BetaKnight]

Rebecca sighed dramatically. Leona wouldn't take anything under advisement.  It simply wasn't in her nature.  When she made up her mind or decided on something, that was it.  The path was set in stone and nothing short of the second coming Jesus himself would deter her from her chosen course.

"Well, if you don't want it, maybe I should adopt an Isadora Duncan style.  It would be sort of art deco influenced, wouldn't it?"  She took the scarf from Leona and flung it dramatically around her neck.  As she watched the ends of the delicate fabric flutter over her shoulder, she realized how impractical such a style would be.  Terribly cute but impractical.  Everything would need to be ironed and starched constantly.

"We need to be doing something else. I don't have the money to be reinvesting in a new wardrobe right now," Rebecca announced firmly as she put the beautiful scarf back on the shelf.  She fingered the supple fabric wistfully before stepping any from temptation. "My stepmom and dad said that if I want to have long hair for prom, I have to pay for the extensions myself.  So there goes the rest of my birthday and Christmas money.  That's assuming I can even find any that don't look like they were stripped off of janky old troll dolls."  

She looked at her new short hairstyle again before looking at Leona over her shoulder.  "Do you have any idea how hard it's going to be to find extensions in my hair color?"

[Outfoxd]

Leona was staring at another hat rack now, scanning the hooks for one that caught her fancy.  She tossed her hand in a flippant wave at her friend.

"I'll pay for it.  You really think you need extensions, we'll find you your color."

This was Leona's modus operandi half the time.  If there was a problem, oftentimes she would throw her parents money at it.

[BetaKnight]

Rebecca rolled her eyes.  The typical Leona solution: When in doubt, throw money at the problem.  As if prom was the only time she had to worry about her hair.  It's not like having a drastically different hairstyle wouldn't also affect her look for the act.  Except where Leona didn't really seem to care about prom, how Rebecca dressed for the show *would* be the one thing she really cared about.  She really didn't want to point that out.  

She sighed again, seeing that Leona had missed her point entirely.  Sometimes she wondered if Leona actually didn't understand what was bothering her, or if she just pretended not to so that she didn't have to deal with other people's feelings.  Either way, it wasn't worth bringing up in a public venue.  Rebecca filed it away for discussion at a later time.

Maybe what they needed was a change of venue.  "I could really go for a coffee or something.  Maybe a Chai latte or a vanilla bean frappuccino.  And a scone."  Actually, the more she thought about it, the better it sounded.   "A chocolate chip scone. Or maybe a raspberry one."  

There was a Starbucks down the block.  It was within easy walking distance.  Rebecca looked at Leona expectantly.  "Wanna go get something?"

[Outfoxd]

Leona put the scarf back and rubbed her chin.  She was staring wistfully at the rack of hats again.  The mention of Starbucks shook her out of her reverie, however.  If there was one thing she liked as much as illusion, it was cafe.

"That would be absolutely lovely, my friend."  She stuck out her arm for Rebecca to take, and once they were properly encircled like the classy ladies that they were, they exited the store in search of overpriced lattes.

((Leona Van Kamp and Rebecca Kiesling continued elsewhere))

((Leona Van Kamp continued in I Put on My Robe and Wizard Hat ))