Fergus tried to smile, but it must have looked more like a grimace. The table was neatly set for a common family. There was a small girl with flaming locks of auburn hair and eyes of emerald green. Her eyes were glassy, staring at the opposite wall. Across from him a teen boy sat, seemingly glaring daggers at Fergus, and those sky blue eyes seemed to know exactly what Fergus was responsible for. In the end of the table, a man sat, offering Fergus a welcoming smile as he waved him over. “Come, sit Fergus.”

Leah had seated herself next to the small girl and the woman who had dissappeared into the kitchen seemed to be seated across the table from the man. Only open spot was next to the blue eyed man who was angry at his family, or angry at Fergus.

Taking the last of his courage, he sat next to the teen.

After the food had been delivered to the table, Fergus was really starting to doubt in the country he was currently in. There were German dishes on the table, perhaps their roots were from Germany?

As he started eating in the awkward silence, hoping it hadn't been poisoned by the odd family. “I heard you like tricks, what kind of tricks do you like the most?” the man asked, seemingly analyzing Fergus' every move. For a split second the orphans eyes met with Leahs, but the girl looked down, giving the boy cold shoulder.

“card tricks, sir.” he answered briefly, wondering if he should listen Leahs advice earlier. “and how long have you been doing card tricks?” he asked, resting his elbows on the table as he offered Fergus seemingly friendly smile. The food on the plates was almost gone, which Fergus was glad for, it gave him an excuse to get going soon.

The boy gulped, wishing he would have stayed at the stupid caffee shop and drowned in his self pity there. “for some time.” the man hummed at him, studying Fergus closely.

Suddenly it dawned to Fergus, none of those people, minus Leah, seemed to be grieving. No one had asked him about Ref, no one had asked him how he was involved. “would you demonstrate? In the living room perhaps?” he asked in a tone that made Fergus' skin crawl. The boy stumbled over his words, getting rather horrible vibe as he once again caught the glare from the boy sitting next to him. “I don't-- I don't have my cards, sir.” the man waved him off, Leah, the little girl whose name Fergus still didn't know and Refs Foster mother all stood up and like robots, started cleaning the table. “nonsense! Braxton, go fetch us a deck of cards.” the boy who hadn't uttered a word, stood up from the table and silently exited the room.

“come, Fergus, let's have a chat in the living room.” Fergus stood and widened his eyes in surprise, the man whose voice was rough and commanding was in a wheelchair. Not wanting to look rude, he hurried after the man, feeling coldness creeping in, there was something off, something he didn't really like. Or perhaps he was just paranoid. A week of not sleeping had finally gotten to him.

The living room was posh, elegant red couches were in the middle of the room, facing a huge fireplace. A large window was facing the yard that was filled with flowers. Fergus hadn't really realized there was a huge, high built walls behind the house.

“like it? Gardening has always been a hobby of mine.” Fergus nodded tearing his eyes from the colourful plants as he heard someone's quiet footsteps coming down the large stairs. The same man with blue eyes, only this time he didn't look angry, but just bored as he threw Fergus the pack of cards. “thank you Ashton.”

With that he disappeared, leaving the two alone, only Fergus feeling slightly awkward with the man who wheeled himself near the fireplace, glancing up at Fergus expectedly. “Well? Is there a something more you need? I'm quite excited to see what you can do.” the man asked gently, making Fergus frown. “Isn't anyone else coming? And uh, no, I don't need anything else.” “how about a volunteer?” Fergus nodded, feeling his anxiety calm sown slightly as he shuffled the deck if cards with ease.

“Leah! Come here for a minute!” the man yelled out to his daughter, she peeked in from the doorway, the small girl holding her hand. “yes?” “help Fergus, he needs a volunteer and I want to see what he's capable of.”

So, she stood before him, looking up at Fergus with boredom. The teen cleared his throat, glancing at the man looking at them thoughtfully. “May I ruin one card?” he asked hesitantly. “Of course, for all I care, you can lit them all on fire.” he nodded, feeling odd emptiness without Ref being there the support and help him out if needed.

Fergus pulled his sleeves up, having gotten that habit from the streets when er they had berformed to show the audience there wasn't anything in his sleeves.
He shuffled the deck once more, letting them fly around his hands with ease. “Okay, here, look at the cards and choose one you like the best.” he held them out to Leah, letting the girl pick one.

“Four of diamonds, excellent! Do you have a pen somewhere? I'd need your-- thank you sir!” Fergus said with ease, taking the pen he offered, giving it to Leah. “now, write your name on it, yep, just like that, wonderful. Now there's no chance that I could duplicate your handwriting, is there?” the girl shook his head, looking intrigued as the tall teen broke the deck in half. “Now, you can snap your fingers, can't you? Now, put the card here, yes, you can see its somewhere here, in the middle of the deck right? Now, whenever you snap your fingers, the card will appear right on top of the deck. Trust me, go on, snap your fingers Leah.”

And she did, as he shook the deck, making the first card flip over, it showed the symbols of her picked card. Four of diamonds with her anem written on it. “Here, let's do it again, watch closely okay?” Leah herself took the card and placed it in a random order, pushing her chosen card in the middle of the deck.

As she snapped her fingers, Fergus turned the top card around again, showing four of diamonds there. “now, let's make it more real, I'll take your card with your name on it, see? And I'll bend it slightly, to show you that it is still your card, okay?” he offered her a smile, she had a look of wonder as she watched how Fergus slightly ruined the straight card, making it bend a little. “go on, place it somewhere in the middle again.” and she did, Fergus showed her that her chosen card, slightly bend was visibly seen in the deck of not damaged cards.

And as she snapped her fingers, the bent card appeared on the top without anyone even touching it, making the little girl hiding behind Leah squeal in excitement, making Fergus chuckle.

“Now, let's update it a bit, shall we? Open your arms like the mouth of a crocodile! What, no that's like a lizards' mouth, yep just like that. Now see, in between your hands there is nothing but thin air. Now I want you to clasp your hands and lock your fingers okay? Tightly, okay. Now, I'll take your card.” he said, placing the deck on the glass table, while ripping the tip of the card off. He could see the man in wheelchair come closer slightly, keeping a keen eye on the piece of broke card.

“now, keep your eyes on that piece of card. As you can see, there's nothing on my palms or in my sleeves. I'm gonna make the piece of fourth of diamonds disappear.” Fergus said, completely in his own element as he closed his fingers around the piece of paper. As he opened his palms, they were empty. “Go on Leah, open your hands.”

“No way.” she breathed out as she figured out the piece of paper was indeed in between her clamped hands. “Now, I wonder where's the rest of the card?” Fergus asked smugly, stepping away as he scratched his chin thoughtfully, enjoying their quizzical expressions.

“Go on, sir, look in your chest pocket.” the man in wheelchair frowned, roaming the inside of his pocket when suddenly his eyes widened as he pulled out the rest of the card.

“Now go on and see do the pieces match.” and they did, of course they did. They always matched. The man clapped, a new kind of flame in his eyes as he smiled up at Fergus. “Spectacular, well done!” the teen thanked him, for a second having forgotten everything in this awful world.

And that made him drop his smile in quilt, along with his smile, he dropped the cards he had been shuffling with ease on the table, as if they had burned him. Suddenly he felt the rage again, angry that he had so easily forgotten about a boy with blond hair and wide eyes.

“Do you perhaps can make any other tricks as well, Fergus?” the boy, still angry at himself locked his jaw and shook his head, giving the man a tight clipped smile. “none? No tricks at all?” he kept prying, wheeling himself closer as he kept the eye contact. “No sir, its getting late, I must get back. Thank you for the food.” the anger was just getting unbearable, he knew he needed to get out. Perhaps he was too rude, but he shot out of the living room, out the door after saying a fast good bye to the man who had just waved at him calmly.

Fergus didn't turn any attention to the raven who was surrounded by a flock. The large bird took off in the air, following the boy down the dark street, keeping a close eye to the lad.

Fergus however, was getting angrier and angrier, he started jogging feeling, the rush of adrenaline. Yet, he wasn't sure what was driving him to run.