username ; .Infinity. | kalon name ; Jaques "Jaq" Tiamo | kalon gender ; trans male
occupation ;
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break a leg!
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You could cut the suspense in the room with a knife.
Was the kalon okay ? Would she be forever be cut in half ? Could Jaq the Great manage to glue her back together with a simple hocus pocus ? The kalon kits were on the edge of their seats, leaning in so far that they were taking the risk of falling face first onto the cold auditorium floor - but they had to know !
With the click of Jaq's claws on the wooden stage floor, he wheels the two sliced halves of his assistant together, tapping the dark-colored box with his magic wand as the two halves meet in the middle of the brightly lit stage. He motions for the crowd to say his iconic catchphrase, et la mite vole, and as the puff of smoke arises from the machines cleverly hidden below the wood panels, and Jaq breathes a silent sigh of relief as his assistant crawls out of the box, expertly obscuring the second kalon lookalike in the latter half of the contraption. With the final bow of the night, Jaq and his assistant patter back behind the curtain, leaving behind their many adoring fans til the next showing.
Sitting down behind the curtain, he smiled to himself, having seen the glimmer in the kit's eyes, the tell-tale ear to ear smile, that he had a job well done.
It was worth more than money, to him at least. Seeing the kit's absolute amazement worn on their button faces did so much more than his paycheck has ever done for him. Being able to see himself in them, a small kit, just like them, makes the performances worth it to him. Being swarmed by the kits as he walked out the from doors, being asked every question under the moon about the tricks, how he did them, and the usual teen kits who were trying to spoil the tricks were shouting at him as he walked down the street away from the now empty auditorium.
Never could he have imagined that he would once be the one on stage, eliciting the same excitement from kits that the once great magician Alibaba did for him.
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looking back
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Jaq's parents were never happy with him. His grades were never up to par with their standards, his room always a smidge too messy, and his split fur wasn't something they were proud of - something that ruined their once perfect aesthetic. He never made it out of the house much, at least to their knowledge. In the little hours of the night, Jaq would weasel his way out of the window, hopping down onto the perfectly groomed lawn, and traveling down the perfectly kept roads to the inner city, bobbing and weaving through the crowds until he reached his final destination - the Greenfield Auditorium, tonight's act, Alibaba the Awesome's one-night magic act.
He sneaked past the ticket guards with ease, pretending to be friends with a separate group of young kals, and he was in - front row seats to the most influential kalon he's ever seen.
The tricks Alibaba could perform took his mind off of the ever-shrinking tightrope his parents were making him run, letting him go back to the small kit he was, with just the simplicity of the tricks filling his mind.
And at the final act, Ali threw his signature obsidian black stovepipe hat into the enamored crowd, and Jaq leapt - and caught it, breaking the invisible barrier for Jaq, and like a light had shone upon him - technically one did, so show the lucky owner of the now retired Alibaba - telling him what he should do, with or without anyone's approval.
And he did, Jaq learned from intently watching other magician's sleight of paw tricks, making mental notes of what he could see through the 2 am, under the blanket of night, writing down any and everything he saw as soon as he slipped back through the window, never arising suspicion from his parents. The very moment the degree hit his paw, Jaq was gone, never to be seen by his parents again. Not that they were much bothered by that fact, almost as if the long-lasting weight upon their chest had been forever lifted.
He ran, never looking back, and started from the bottom.
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up the ladder
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From the money he had saved from the job his parents had imposed on him, he had enough for a simple deck of cards and a few other nonsense tricks he could pull to grab a passerby's attention for a few seconds, long enough to pull out a more intricate stunt to catch them under his net, just good enough for them to sprinkle a few unnecessary dollar bills into his one possession he kept - Alibaba's old stovepipe hat, the object that has taken Jaq by the paw and led him down this path, one that Jaq will follow without turning back, the once small flicker behind his kit eyes now fully blaze in his heart, a determination that is foreign, yet not unwelcome to him.
And he worked.
Oh man, did he work.
His internal clock soon learned of the new sleeping habits Jaq would face, working from the bottom. Working from the little hours of the night until the last kal padded down the town square took a toll on poor Jaq, but was determined. Oh, man, was he ever determined.
Soon, the fruits of his labor showed. Landing his first job as a backstage helper for a no-name magician was a miracle Jaq wasn't about to waste. He worked day and night to leave a lasting impression on the magician, and she still wore the same high, sleeked back, black ponytail as she went onstage with him as his "assistant" she preferred to be called the side magician, but no matter the name, she still worked by his side, even as he gained more fame than she did.
And together they climbed the ladder, up and up they went, starting out placing in small shows around the town, reigning in small crowds of youngsters and their less-than-happy parents, but Jaq still played the same tricks, luring both young and old into the slight of paw tricks that once fascinated him as a young kit. As Jaq's name became more and more familiar, the duo were given the chance to move around the continent, performing a mix of classics and new tricks to wow whatever crowd they were standing in front of that night, but he always came back to the Greenfield Auditorium, dragging along his assistant with him - she could leave if she liked, having gained enough fame herself to start her own show, but something about Jaq kept her with him, and she deemed that same spark kept his fans along for the ride too.
Years past, he bought the Greenfield Auditorium, giving it a more fitting name, Ali Auditorium, after the kal who ignited that spark within Jaq, and after partnering with his assistant, he found that she, too, went to the same retirement performance, and that she jumped for the same stovepipe hat he did.
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