His Soul

Morals and Promises

"How did you get so good at magic?"

The words inadvertently blurted out of your mouth while your eyes locked on the fire Curioso lit in your small fireplace. The rain that had been going on for a couple of days has gradually turned into a thunderstorm raging outside. Your town often dealt with this weather, so the harsh wind and hard drops on your roof wasn't anything alarming - but it meant that your apartment was frigid. You weren't comfortable running your heat all night, knowing your bill would skyrocket for the month.

So, when you asked your jester assistant for help with starting a fire, you hadn't expected one to magically catch on the wood you'd just placed behind the grate with a flick of Curioso's wrist.

He was lounging on your recliner with a book propped open in his lap. His attention was fully on you instead of the pages. "It's the only thing I have to thank the Enchantress for. I used to steal her books and learn all I could from them. I had no clue I even had magic until I kept practicing my tricks for the show, and I learned I just naturally had the powers."

You stood from your crouching position and sat over on the couch, leaning over to pop open your bag of chips and throwing a couple in your mouth. The fire was lit seconds ago and it already made the room warm and comfortable. You assumed that was something purposefully done and not just a side effect of the magical embers.

"You know, you have yet to tell me more about your 'show'..."

This was when he returned his attention back to literature. "What is there to tell?"

"I mean, what was it like? Did you have a lot of people there? What kind of tricks did you do?" You munched away on the junk food and pointed at him. "See? I have a lot of questions."

He shut the book with impatience and it disappeared into little blue and red particles. You were amazed each time he did something with his magic - it was fun having a magician around your home. Things constantly appeared and disappeared, and while sometimes you found it annoying, most of the time you were impressed and couldn't help wondering where they went and came from. Having anything conjured up at your request wasn't something you tried to make a habit of, but you couldn't reject the convenience of it all.

"It was a run-down carnival that barely cleaned the stage. The children there were always eating something that was sticky or buttery and some of them ALWAYS insisted on trying to touch me or the props." You imagined him grimacing at the memory with the way he paused. "-But it was colorful. It was fun. And I made it one of the best side performances anyone could watch."

"Oh?" You crossed your legs and leaned forward, trying to imagine the pretty colors and music of a carnival, and Curioso's voice in the midst of it all. It was a pretty captivating image. "How did your shows go?"

"Like I said, it was a puppet show. But because of me, it was so much more than that." He mirrored your stance and bent his long legs, leaning forward to close the distance between you two. He sounded excited retelling this to you. "Sometimes, I was the puppeteer narrating the show, moving and bending the puppets to my will. Other times, I was among them - making the marionettes as real and big as the audience itself, with no strings attached..! That one was the most popular, I've been told."

"And you made them tell your jokes?"

He spread his arms out theatrically. "I had a whole act full of jokes and tricks for them to see..! It was hard getting little children to sit through long performances, so I made many short ones that made them laugh and gasp in awe. My puppets would do the stunts all the professionals did - but I was able to do anything and everything. I conjured up my own fire, I broke the laws of physics, I did things my audience couldn't fathom! When I was on stage, I was the life of the party."