Constance had started a trend, it seemed, as the others formed a line behind her as if they were about to dance a samba. It only made sense to her that they would follow her lead; it was the natural way of things. She could hear the others shouting her name (the sweetest sound known to man), and surely the words were of awe and admiration (though she didn’t really catch them). Finally, the universe had righted itself after this hectic day, it seemed. They would stumble through the woods, come across that it was just some wild pig or something, and have a laugh about their worries while roasting their conquest. Then they would drink some more. [i]Damn. Should’ve brought a glass with me,[/i] she thought. Who knew how long they would be playing adventurers in the woods, after all? Too long for some, or at least for Ed, who was threatening to murder her ghost.

“Now Eddy, there’s no reason to be such a sour puss. What could possibly go wr—” She lifted her hand up to her mouth as Ed and the Earth became fast friends. As she heard him cursing, however, her hands dropped to her waist and her look of surprise and concern transformed into a frown. She followed him through the brush practically side-by-side with Luna, the nurse racing to make sure that he was all right while she began to deal out the venom. “Now look, you don’t have to go throwing yourself around to make your point. Nobody’s forcing you to come along, and nobody will call you a coward if you decide to go cower by the campfire clutching to ol’ Captain Conway for comfort.” Clearly, she had forgotten about earlier. She raised her finger up to deliver her final coup de grace, rather oblivious to the sight that Ed was taking in. “And—”

Someone [i]rudely[/i] interrupted her. She felt her jaw drop, her head snapping to and fro as she tried to zero in on the kind of jerk that would just begin talking and forget to shut up to take a breath of air. She found people like that to be absolutely, positively, and undoubtedly dreadful. Finally, she caught sight of the man in the top hat and her vision practically went red. What kind of schlub wore a top hat these days? It reminded of her of the various hustlers and scoundrels she used to deal with back in the Bottoms, and how they tried to appear rich and powerful by wearing last decade’s fashion. What posers. The very idea of someone like them having snuck his way (because certainly he wasn’t invited) onto the boat filled her with disgust.  

[i]And did he just say that he was a magician for their entertainment?[/i] She folded her arms over her chest, unimpressed. Magicians were just pickpockets and thieves who “legitimized” their business by targeting the dull minded everyman on the street or the easily fooled children at some crummy birthday party. Their tricks had been her tricks back in the day, only she had proven to be able to utilize them in ways that afforded her more than a basement apartment with nothing but a cot and a table. Constance readied herself to give the man a piece of her mind: she sucked in air, puffed up her chest, and clenched her fist. As she was about to open up on him, however, she saw a shadow emerge from behind the magician Maxwell and drag him away as he narrated the assault. For a second, she was utterly confused; then, she burst into applause.

“That was absolutely fantastic! What a grand trick. For a moment, I thought he was truly in peril,” she said with a squeal of delight, looking around at the others for approval. Maybe it was the dark or maybe it was the drink, but from the look on their faces it appeared as if they did not find his trick as amusing as she had. She stopped clapping, a flustered look briefly flashing upon her face. Krauss had simply just walked away; Luna, it seemed, was moving forward to investigate how the illusion had work. She stumbled after Luna; her curiosity had been piqued, too, and she refused to deal with any of that ‘a magician never realizes his trick’ nonsense. 

“Wait for me, sweetpea!” she barked as she caught up to Luna outside of the mouth of the dark cave, her hands patting at her jacket in search of a lighter. She pulled out one, small and silver with her initials engraved into one side and a flowery design carved into the other, and gave it a flick. Thankfully, it had not been waterlogged, and produced a small flame that barely cast an aura of light beyond her outstretched hand. She could see a faint shimmer of the moist cavern walls that were just beside her, but deeper into the cave was only darkness. Notably absent was any sort of devices or ropes that the man could have used to pull himself away for his trick. Constance found herself pressed up against Luna, her hand gripping her shoulder, as they slowly pressed forward.

“Come on out, darling, we all know that was just for show,” she said into the darkness. She was answered only by the sound of her breathing. A shiver went down her spine; she gripped onto Luna tighter still. “Seriously, it was fun at first but this bit has gone on a little too long. You can go ahead a drop the charade.” Nothing still. She muttered a curse underneath her breath, wishing suddenly that she had decided to follow Krauss back to the safety of the fire.