Intro
The applauds died down. The Great Sophie curtsied one last time and disappeared in a puff of smoke. The curtains closed and somewhere backstage, in a small room, The Great Sophie heard the applauds roar up once more. She smiled wearily and pulled up a chair in front of a large desk with a mirror.
The Great Sophie sat down in her chair after a successful show. She was tired, but happy. It had been a busy week, and she looked forward to spending some time alone in the coming weekend. One more day. Tomorrow, Friday, would be the last show of the tour and then she could chill and take it easy for a while. She closed her eyes and grinned. It’s not that she felt bad for all the other stage magicians or tricksters of the trade, on the contrary. She liked her coworkers and colleagues. It’s just that it was slightly easier to work as a magician, if you knew how to do real magic...
She opened her eyes and looked into the mirror on her desk. She grinned. Her stage costume was rather overdone, if she could say her opinion, but it was her stylist’s choice and she just went with it. If you needed to describe it in one sentence, she would go with “overly decorated one-piece swimsuit with pompoms everywhere.” It wasn’t exact, but good enough so you could make a mental image. It was all shades of pink and the huge pompoms were white. Her blonde hair was tied up in an extravagant display of hair art and her makeup would have made drag queens jealous. She chuckled as she removed the restrains in her hair and let it loose. If was slightly curly after being tied up for that many hours and the locks of it went everywhere. Her hair was long, about to her waist, which made her now look like someone had thrown Goldilocks on her head and called it a day. She looked longingly at the bathroom and showers that were attached to this small dressing room. She smiled, got up and dropped her stage dress on the floor. She walked to the bathroom entranced, like sleepwalking and hit the shower tap. Hot water burst out of the shower head and straight into her face and back. She shivered out of sheer pleasure and closer her eyes.
Half an hour later, a completely ordinary-looking - if beautiful - woman walked out of the showers and was drying her hair with a towel. The Great Sophie went in, but Mirella Cassidy came out. She has a towel wrapped around her and she ties the smaller towel up her head. It’s slightly too small for her and her hair peeks out from the end and drips on the floor. She sits on a little couch that’s tucked away in a corner in the room and leans back. She takes a deep breath, holds it for a few seconds then lets it out slowly. She leans her head back and closes her eyes. Her head twitches slightly, and she almost falls asleep when she’s woken up by a knock on the door.
