Entertain the Patients (Legacy)

Job Info:

A peaceful village, somewhere on the outskirts of Magnolia. Following his success in Era, Marick had immediately gotten word from Lord Matheson of a job here in the village that he felt would suit Marick's skills; entertaining a small group of children in a hospital and trying to cheer some of them up. Admittedly it wasn't something a mercenary would normally be seen doing, but given how he'd escorted a noble already and how the payment and length of time for this job was just as good as his previous one, it was certainly a job worth doing.

Marick entered the hospital and was immediately approached by an older woman. She must have been in her 50s at the very least. She smiled as she approached him, almost as if she knew why he was there before they'd even spoken. As it turned out, she did. "Ah, Lord Matheson said you'd be on your way. He told me to wait for a blond man in dark clothing. That is you right?" she asked. Marick couldn't help but note how she was certain he was the man, but double-checked nonetheless. He nodded and smiled back. "How may I be of assistance?"

Nurse Gladys walked with Marick down a corridor waving in at a couple of the patients who were awake. Most of the people down this corridor were elderly and yet some were recovering from illnesses that would threaten even the fittest of youths, something Marick found impressive. As they turned a corner the two could hear the sounds of children's chatter. "The children have been awfully bored of late. We used to have a man who would come in once a week and dress up as a clown, or take the kids into the garden outside and keep them busy for an hour or so. But he decided he'd had enough of entertaining kids and went into the show business. So we now hire in wizards to entertain them on a weekly basis." the nurse informed him. She must have seen his saddened expression as she chuckled and put her hand on his arm. "Don't worry, it works out cheaper than paying that other bloke, and we get a variety of entertainment in, so it's actually been beneficial to have him leave"

The two neared a set of double doors then stopped just in front of them. "If you need any assistance at all, pull the cord by the door." Gladys informed him, before pushing the doors open. She walked over to the children and informed them of what Marick was doing here, before setting up a few chairs for them all.

The children all began rushing about to find somewhere to sit for the so-called 'magic show' that Gladys was telling them about. Marick closed his eyes and felt a sweatdrop trickle down the side of his head. She's made such a big deal of it...now the pressures on... he thought to himself. Once the kids had sat down Gladys motioned for Marick to walk over. "Please introduce yourself to the children." she said softly, before leaving the room. Clearly she still had a lot of work to do. Marick stood before his audience, nerves kicking in quite heavily despite them being just kids. Why do I get myself into these situations?

He grabbed a stool from nearby and removed his coat, placing it on the stool before sitting before the children. "Hi everyone, I'm Marick Lowell, although you can call me Marick." He tried his best to look as friendly as possible and it seemed to be working, as a child put his hand up. "Can we call you Maz? Because I can't say Ma-...Mawi-...Ma-wick..." Marick chuckled and nodded. "You can call me whatever you wish."

Marick pulled a his deck out of his holster, causing some of the children to groan. "We've all seen the whole card trick 'magician'..." one of the older kids moaned. Marick grinned. "I can assure you...you've seen nothing like this." he replied, causing the boy to frown in confusion. "First of all I'm going to need a volunteer. As you feel that this is false, how about you first?" He pointed at the same young boy, who walked over confidently.

Marick pulled a card out randomly from his deck and placed it onto the ground beside him and motioned towards it. "Right, sit on the card and stay very still." The boy frowned once again, but did as he was told. "Are you gonna try to guess the card or something?" he taunted. Marick chuckled again. "I don't need to. It's the Ace of Hearts." The boy checked and his jaw dropped; it was indeed the Ace of Hearts. The mage had known the card without having looked at it. Perhaps this show would be better than most after all "Now, if you'd place the card back on the floor and sit on it, then we can continue with the show."

The boy did as he was told, placing the card back onto the floor and sitting himself on top of it. He was almost nervous about what was going to happen. Marick placed his deck back into it's holder for a moment, then stood up and walked around the boy, ensuring that the trick he was about to do would be safe. He then put his hand down with the palm facing the card. Suddenly the card began to change in size. The boy could feel it and looked down, stunned at what he was seeing. The other children were all open-mouthed and watching too. Then, once the card was large enough to hold the boy safely, Marick began to raise his hand. The card began to raise too, levitating a few inches off of the ground. The children were watching in awe while the boy on the card was laughing in complete astonishment.

"Welcome...to Maz Lowell's Magic Show." Marick announced triumphantly, bowing as the children clapped. "And there is a lot more where that came from!" he continued as he walked over to the stool and grabbed his deck again while lowering the card to the ground. The boy got off and rejoined his friends laughing and talking to them excitedly. "That was merely a taste of what Card Magic can really do. Prepare to be dazzled by the one and only; Solitaire!"

...I'm getting way too into this...

With his deck now back in his hands, and the Ace of Hearts at the bottom of the deck, it was time to really start showing off. Marick shuffled the deck for a moment, then began to manipulate the cards so that they danced slowly but beautifully in a circle around him, spreading them out so that they surrounded his entire body. After a few moments he began to pluck a few cards out; four random cards, all four 6's and the Black Joker. He started by manipulating the four random cards to create card shields around him. He then manipulated the four 6's one at a time, moving them outside of the circle and sending 4 small fireballs to break the four shields, while casting the Black Joker to appear behind his audience. As all of the cards returned to the holder the kids all gasped, realising Marick had sensationally disappeared. "That was good!" "Where'd he go?!" "He's vanished!"

Marick gripped a few more cards and sent them around the room, causing the children to be focused on the cards while he searched for the black joker again. Upon finding it, he cast it again and appeared in front of his audience, putting his arms out and catching the flying cards between his fingers. The children grew ecstatic, laughing and cheering at what they'd just witnessed; true magic.

Any of the children who'd had their doubts about Marick's magic was now amongst the cheering group of children who had been eagerly anticipating the wizard from the very start. However he couldn't risk using many more spells, as a lot of his other spells were more offensively inclined and could potentially have injured everyone within the room. So instead he decided to return to his first trick. He gripped his deck and scattered enough cards on the ground for each of the children.

"Please take a seat, keep your hands and arms on the ride at all times and if you wish to get off, simply tap the card and it will drop you at the closest soft spot." he called out. The kids clamored onto the cards and some of them giggled as the cards expanded and began to levitate. Once they were all on their cards, Marick began to move them around the room once after the other, creating a train of cards that travelled around the outside of the room.

After a short time he began to slow the train down and place the children back onto the floor. Nurse Gladys entered the room just as the cards returned to Marick's deck and children all cheered again. "Alright everybody it's lunchtime, so say goodbye to Mr Lowell and then sit on your beds." she called out, smiling at the happy faces of the youths before her.

Marick picked up his coat and pulled it on before he turned to the children who were now gathered around him. "Will you be coming again?" one of them asked, to which he chuckled. "When I'm not busy and when I'm close enough I will come to visit." he replied, before shaking each of the children's hands. They all rushed to bed immediately afterwards as they were told to, and all of them called out to Marick as he prepared to leave the room. He was stopped however when the younger child from before spoke up. "Erm...Ma-....Ma-wick...can we see the fireball trick one last time please?"

How could he refuse? He looked at Gladys who seemed concerned, but nodded. She trusted him by the looks of things. He pulled his deck out once more and sent the cards circling around him as he walked to the center of the room so that every child could see him. Once again he pluck out the four 6's and four random cards. This time however he gripped the red joker. This was to be his finale, and so he was going to use a spell that wasn't powerful enough for combat just yet, but was safe enough to perform with. "Boys and girls, I thank you for being a great little audience."

The final trick went better than Marick could've imagined. He started off by casting the red joker, creating a red silhouette of himself who copied every movement, including the cards around his body. He then placed 4 small card shields around him, something his silhouette replicated creating a total of 8 card shields. He then launched the fireballs like he had before, with his silhouette doing the same and creating an amazing fire display. Before he was done however he grabbed the black joker and cast it, sending himself back to the entrance beside the nice while the two silhouettes grabbed the remaining cards and threw them at the doorway. As Marick reappeared he caught all of the cards, and the two jokers vanished. The children all cheered once more while Nurse Gladys stood awestruck for a couple of seconds. She snapped back when Marick spoke. "All of you take care, and I'll see you as soon as I can." he called out, giving a bow before leaving the room. The Nurse followed just behind him.

"When Lord Matheson told me about you, he never mentioned anything about your magic..." she finally said, clearly stunned by the ability of the wizard. "Well, he never saw my magic. I still have a long way to go to achieve my ambitions." he replied. Gladys put a hand on his arm again. "You'll achieve those ambitions. I believe in that, and so do those kids."

The Wizard and the Nurse made their way to the entrance of the hospital, both in high spirits; Marick because he was getting paid, and Gladys because she'd witnessed something that brought tears to her eyes. She went behind a counter and pulled out a small bag, before returning to Marick and placing it into his hands. [color:cfeb=ff9933]"You'll go far Wizard. Just be patient. I'm sure old Hugo would be proud." Marick stood dead still. Hugo was the name of his master. His master only told his name to those he trusted, so this meant that this woman must have known the 8th Solitaire well.

Gladys chuckled. "No need to look so surprised, your master was here often. In fact...it was here that he found you. This place has changed a lot since then, so it's no surprise you didn't recognise it...anyway, enough chit-chat, you should be heading home before it gets dark." she continued, before nudging Marick's arm. He nodded and smiled, before pocketing his reward and leaving the hospital. So perhaps his master wasn't as secretive as he'd been made to believe. This had been an eye-opening experience for all involved. But now all Marick wanted was a nice cold beer.