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What was up with work anyway? It was like some kind of hydra: Every time he completed one assignment, two more sprang up in its wake. It wasn't as if he didn't enjoy his work - it was interesting to assemble, troubleshoot, and sometimes even design weaponry - but there were other things he wanted to do sometimes. Recently one of those things was card tricks. He'd picked up the skill out of a sheer curiosity for his ability to master it. Surprisingly, he was doing all right in that regard. He'd built up some dexterity in his hands as a result of his work, and once one knew the trick to it, all it came down to was the right movements at the right times. Lucas, enjoying a rare few hours to himself, reclined in one of the lounge's sofas, his back against the arm and his feet on the cushions. There was a movie playing on the nearby television at a low volume - something about criminals and airplanes. It was all right without being particularly impressive, and so he didn't pay much attention to it. His focus was, instead, on the deck of cards in his hands that he shuffled idly.

The weird thing about a Jirachi's voice was that it didn't come from any one direction, it just suddenly appeared in your head, as if it were in one of your own thoughts. However, Lucas's own thoughts didn't sound so girly, and so he immediately knew that something was off. He looked around momentarily - yup, that was a Jirachi. He offered the little legendary a smile in greeting and raised the cards as she indicated them.

"These're cards," he said. "Magic cards." Because what was more fun than messing with the head of an impressionable little pokemon? ...Lots of things, probably, but this was the most readily available so oh well.

He nodded as she repeated the word, still shuffling the deck. His smile broadened slightly at her mounting curiosity, and he gave a long, dramatic hum as if involved in the making of some great and weighty decision. "Well... I suppose I can show you," he eventually ceded, leaning forward slightly as he did so and fanning the shuffled deck across his hands. "Here, pick a card - and don't tell me what you get," he encouraged with a nod at the cards.

"Look at it real good," he said, "and make sure you've got it memorized." He watched with a grin as Azdeif fiddled with the card and fixed it with a thorough glare. He shuffled the deck back together casually while she stared. When she returned her attention to him, he cut the deck in half and offered her one of the halves, "Now you put your card on top here," he waited for her to do so, "and I mix up the cards," he cut the deck several times, "and now," he turned the deck face up and spread the cards in his hands, "as you should see, your card is still here somewhere; I haven't take it out or anything." He gave the Jirachi a second to affirm his words before moving into the last leg of his act, "Now I'll show you the real magic. I'm going to read your mind."

He leaned backwards from the card and studied Azdeif critically. "Let's see... It was a red card, wasn't it? Hearts. A face card-- no, wait, a number. A low number at that... Was your card," he paused - again, for dramatic effect - leaned forward, and plucked the three of hearts from the deck, "this?"

He almost laughed but did all he could to refrain - laughing would ruin the illusion. He couldn't keep help the grin on his face, however. This trick worked on most adults; he could blame the Jirachi for reacting that way. At the cry for an explanation, he raised a finger smartly, "Ah-ah-ah, a magician only has his powers so long as he keeps them secret." He traced a path through the air that concluded with his finger resting on his lips as if to emphasis the importance of said secret.

"A magician," he said as he ordered the cards back into a proper deck, "is someone who can do magic, like reading minds, making things appear or disappear, stuff like that. I'm a card magician, so I can do magic with cards." In an alternate universe, Lucas would have aced so many essays through pure and simple bullshit like that.

"Sure," he said with a chuckle. "Let's see, what will I do next, hmm..." He sifted through the deck and pulled four cards from it - the aces. "Okay, have a look at these cards. Aces, right?" He fanned them out so Azdeif could clearly see and study them, then placed the cards face down on the deck. "Now, I'm going to take the aces," he did so, keeping them face down, "and you take four cards too, but don't look at them yet." He waited for her to do so, then leaned forward slightly with a sly smirk. "Let me show you just how magical these cards are." He shuffled them a few times, waving his hand over them with a small flourish. He then lowered his hand and revealed the cards to his audience: a collection of number cards. "The aces disappeared! But - that's not all." He pointed to Azdeif's cards. "Have a look at your own hand and see what you have." The Jirachi would find that the aces had mysteriously appeared in her own hands.

Oh Arceus this was just too easy. With a laugh, he patted the Jirachi's head, "Okay, okay. Hmm..." If it was just amateur tricks, he knew a whole slew of them. Fortunately amateur tricks was all it took to impress Azdeif. Her naivety was adorable. He turned the deck over again and pulled out the kings. "You know, the cards themselves have a little magic to them," he said enigmatically. "These four kings are best friends, and if you separate them, they'll always find their way back together. Here, look." He placed the kings face down on top of the deck, then took the top three and inserted them randomly throughout the deck. "They're all split up now, right? Let's give them a hand so they can get back together." He cut the deck once, then turned it over and fanned out the cards for Azdeif to see. "There, see," he said, pointing to a place in the middle of the deck, "they find each other pretty quicklyl." Indeed, all four of the kings were in a row.