Page 131 of Gratification in Gluttony

The crowd roared, and Toni growled. The little prick’s mouth twitched in amusement, but he covered his smile with a cough.

“Anyway, I guess I need a volunteer or whatever,” Rusty said when the audience quieted.

“Oh, me!” Gem shrieked from behind the counter, limbs flailing as he climbed over it, nearly face-planting on the floor in his haste. “Me, me, me! Ah, fuck, my ankle. Rus, me! Choose me. Put your fucking hand down, Brenda. I’m doing it.”

Since Rusty had no actual choice in the matter, he simply stepped to the side as Gem clambered onto the stage, vibrating with excitement as he took the mic from its stand.

“I’ll be your volunteer,” Gem said breathlessly into it, oil-spill eyes terrifyingly large.

“Uh, okay,” Rusty said, gulping audibly as Gem used his upper hand to hold the mic between them so it could pick up Rusty’s words. “So, these are the cards.” He held up the deck for the crowd to see, before he fanned them out. “You need to choose one.”

“You have to show them that it’s not a trick deck,” Gem said, gesturing toward the audience. “Come on, where’s the showmanship?”

Rusty blinked. “It’s not a trick deck.”

“You’re the magician; of course, you’re gonna say that,” Gem said, stealing the deck out of Rusty’s grasp with his middle hands and shuffling them so the crowd could see. “See? Not a trickdeck!” He handed them back to Rusty with a whispered, “Okay, you go. You’re doing great.”

“Doyouwanna do this trick?” Rusty bit out, and Gem rolled half his eyes.

“Oh my gods, I’m just giving your show some pizazz! Don’t get pissy.” Gem pouted as Rusty huffed and spread out the cards, facedown.

“Pick one.”

Gem did, dramatically pressing it to his chest so Rusty couldn’t see it.

“Show it to the audience,” Rusty instructed, and Gem did so with a flourish, ensuring, once again, that Rusty couldn’t peek at it. It was a purple three of keys. Once Gem had thoroughly shown off his card, he faced Rusty and waited.

Fanning the cards out again, Rusty said, “Put it back in.”

Gem slid the purple three into the pile, and Rusty immediately pushed the cards together. “Okay,” he said, stepping back to add some space between himself and Gem.

His tail swiped to the side, accidentally knocking over a bottle of water someone had must have forgotten on the edge of the stage. “Oh shit,” he said, and Gem lunged forward to catch it before it rolled off the stage.

“I got it,” Gem said, righting the bottle before he stood and patted Rusty’s shoulder. “No spills. Keep going!”

“Right.” Rusty cleared his throat again, and shuffled the deck, then held it out to Gem. “Cut the deck.”

Again, Gem obeyed with much fanfare and gusto, even adding several jazz hands when he was done. Rusty’s mouth twitched, like he was fighting a smile as he did another complicated shuffle before fitting the cards into a neat pile.

Before he could do anything, Gem blurted, “Can I say the magic word?”

“There isn’t a magic word,” Rusty said dryly, and Gem scrunched up his face.

“There’s always a magic word. You know, you’re not very good at this.”

Quiet laughter filtered through the audience, and Rusty’s left eye twitched. “Fine, you can say the magic word.”

With a wriggle of excitement, Gem tapped the top of the deck and shouted, “Alakazam!”

Rusty paused for half a second. “You done?”

“Yes,” Gem said with a bright smile.

Shaking his head with a huff, Rusty pulled the top card from the deck and showed it off to Gem and the crowd. “Is this your card?”

It was a green eight of shells.

Gem’s expression crumpled. “Uh, no, actually,” he said softly, wincing as Rusty’s tail stiffened.

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