Becky is at
Permavore_Risk!
We live in an age of rationality and skepticism. It isn't just the adults that have lost their sense of wonder... it's the children as well. Explanations abound and the answers to all the questions can be found no further away then a wikipedia page. There isn't any wonder left... not in adults, and barely in children, even.
The lifestyle of the magician is functionally dead. Everyone knows that magic is fake. Everyone. Those last few holdouts are innovators like Penn and Teller, that find new ways to bring the art to a modern audience. And Rebecca Lao... is not one of those innovators. Sadly, Becky is only a mediocre practitioner of a craft that demands a master's touch to survive. The old cups and balls trick just doesn't impress anyone anymore. It's getting harder and harder to make a living for all but the greatest of magicians and Becky just... isn't one of the greats. In fact, she's pretty sure that the only reason anyone at all comes to her shows anymore is the rather... 'stylish'... alterations that she's made to her uniform. She has decent showmanship (though it is helped in no small part due to the showiness of her costume), which is what keeps her afloat, but she doesn't bring anything new to the table in a field that not only demands, but rather
requires innovation. There are three rules to artistic expression. 1) Imitate. 2) Assimilate. 3) Innovate. Becky's skilled at the first two, but struggles with the third. She knows all the great tricks and can perform most of them... but everyone knows all the great tricks. No one believes that they are what they are.
Sadly, Becky is a stubborn girl. She's always had to be. Neither of her parents' families approved of their marriage and so they never received the loving support they needed to stick out the tough times when troubles arose. They divorced when Becky was ten and the young girl got caught in a tug of war between an insular Chinese matriarchal family and a staunchly conservative Irish Catholic family. Both had very different ideas on little Rebecca's place in the world. Or even, for that matter, what her first name ought to have been... her father's family refused to call her anything but 'Bei', which is distinctly
not her name. Such things are hard on a young girl. Watching magicians perform on TV was her escape into a world of wonderment. Naturally, no one related to her has approved of her career choice but she's past the point of caring. Or so she tells herself.
Rebecca's failures weigh heavily upon her puff-sleeved shoulders. The bills are piling up, she doesn't have a degree so the best she could do to supplement her income is a McJob which would ruin her magic career. And quitting that would be tantamount to admitting to both her families that she was wrong on top of throwing her dream away. She doesn't know what to do and she doesn't see a way out. Audiences are shrinking, money is drying up, and contracts are running out. Perhaps the greatest illusion that Becky has yet performed is the one she does nightly, going out on stage and convincing the diminishing crowds that she's happy and excited to be performing for them instead of dreading each new rise of the curtain.
