1.6 Day 6

Nozomi wakes up abruptly. 

Today's the day. 

Not wanting to be too on edge before her gig, she decides to focus on a magic technique- conversion. Before she and Taras took off to travel, she had just begun learning how to "transform" objects into other objects. 

The actual explanation of what she's doing to this apple is far more complex, but Nozomi never had a good grasp of science. From her understanding, she's re-arranging and breaking atomic bonds to turn this apple...into something else. 

Maybe it's her lack of understanding that causes her to fail. She sighs heavily, clearly disappointed. 

Maybe if I put my mind to it... 

That did not go exactly as she planned.

She broke the apple down too much, causing it to turn into dust and smoke. The backlash from the failed spell causes her to look like...this. 

"Hey what's that smell?"

 "Nothing!" 

They sit down to eat breakfast together. 

"Are you ready for today?" Taras asks. He knows she's been pretty nervous about it. She tossed and turned for quite awhile before falling asleep the night before. 

"What? I'm fine," Nozomi lies, "Totally ready."

Taras smiles, but says nothing. 

As he suspected, she's very preoccupied by her performance. 

So great is her preoccupation she decides she needs a bit of supernatural help. 

She's never given herself a good-luck charm, but she's never had such high bills to pay, either. 

I don't feel any different, she frets, what if it didn't take? 

Lucky or not, the hour is upon her. She takes the stage, hoping she's projecting the confidence she wishes she felt. 

For her first trick, she decides to go something simple; the fountain of cards. 

Looks like the fountain is out of order. 

Her audience is not very impressed. 

Thankfully, her other tricks go better. 

She smiles when she spots a familiar face. Taras rushed here after work and is happy to see he hasn't missed everything. 

The small group of people gasp as a sparkling array of doves explode from her empty palms. Nozomi feels a surge of confidence, and readies herself for her next trick. 

Taras decides to film this memorable moment. 

Unfortunately, it didn't work. Nozomi hangs her head, already knowing she's not going to get good reviews. 

But still, the show must go on. She feels a bit better knowing that at least one person likes her performance, even if he is married to her. 

She ends her show on a high note, theatrically expelling rose petals onto the stage. Polite clapping fills the air. 

She all but runs off the stage afterwards. Taras pulls her into a warm hug. 

"Can we just go home?" she sniffs. Taras nods. 

"Well, I thought you were great." 

Too bad she doesn't know he really means it. 

AN: Poor Nozomi! Her tricks refused to work (again) and on top of that, she didn't even break even on the cost of the stage set-up! She got really bad reviews (except from Taras, who had a "saw a great show" moodlet- aaawww)