#Lilia Bennett Hope & Patrick Jane

[justmoreocs-writing]

‘Honestly?’ I ask, flicking my thumb nails against each other as I don’t have a deck of cards to flicker. ‘He’s like my role model ninety-percent of the time. I get that he’s a bit… reckless sometimes, but he’s the one that helped me get into magic and things. Stuff that I wouldn’t be the same without. Now, he’s also a kind of rock for me… After, everything.’

[justmoreocs-writing]

‘The first one was how to make a coin disappear out of thin air. It was one my dad always used to do for me, and it amazed me when I was like three,’ I admit, feeling the smile curl easily onto my lips. It’s one of my favourite memories, Dad trying to teach me how to palm a five pence piece, because all the others were just too big for me to handle quite right.

‘Of course, Pat thought it was hilarious,’ I say, shaking my head at the thought. ‘So pretty soon after he got one of those tiny card decks from a cracker and tried to teach me a card trick. But the coin one was my favourite, especially because it was the first.’

Without thinking I slip a fifty pence piece out of my pocket – a magician never goes anywhere without at least three things to make up a trick… at least, that’s what Pat taught me. I hold it up, turn it slowly, and then, using my thumb, I pull it down the back of my fingers. From the other side, it would look like an elaborate flick of my hand from the other side, and the coin is gone.

It’s simple, but it was the first trick, and even now it’s still one of my favourites.

[justmoreocs-writing]

‘You trying to start a fire, kid?’ Pat asked, his voice startling me out of my stupor. I blinked, attention focusing back on the flickering cards. The movements slowed, the rhythm shifting to something a little less incessant before I finally stilled the cards and looked at my godfather.

Patrick Jane was not always an easy man to read. Some thought he wore emotions on his sleeve, but it was all part of the deception, the misdirection as he worked; he barely showed what he was really feeling. Today, however, it wasn’t the case. The concern pinching his brow was genuine.

‘Lilia,’ he said softly, crouching to my level. Psychology one-o-one. Slowly, I stood, breaking the moment. I heard him sigh, heard the chair I’d vacated creak ever so slightly as he took it up. ‘Do you remember the first trick I ever taught you?’

I scoffed, turned to face him. I hadn’t expected the standard “How are you?” – one look and he knew - but I’d half expected something resembling it. Not a left field question.

‘Do you?’ he encouraged.

‘Sure,’ I admitted, not bothering to hide my confusion. ‘The disappearing coin.’

Pat shook his head, a smirk pulled at his lips.

‘It was,’ I insisted, hearing the mild flicker of doubt behind my voice, though.

‘Before that, I showed you this,’ he said, putting his hands out. He made a show of supposedly pulling his thumb apart at the knuckle.

I scoffed. ‘You taught me that after.’

Pat shook his head as I spoke. ‘You watched me do it slowly and figured it out.’

‘Does that really count as teaching me it then?’

He shrugged, somewhat dramatically. ‘What do you want to do?’

A scoff escaped me before I could stifle it. Deep down I knew what this was all about, knew he was only here to make sure I wasn’t alone. Mac and the others didn’t know the significance of today, and for some reason that wasn’t the same to Patrick.

The anniversary. My life had changed in the blink of an eye and somehow my unconscious always did something to mark it. Whatever it was this time had obviously got –

‘No one called,’ Pat said, cutting my stream of thought off. ‘You think I’d forget?’

‘No,’ I sighed.

Pat moved to take my hand and gently squeeze it; this time, I let him go through the typical comforting motions. ‘Do you want to go back? Save Ewan and Julianna doing it this year?’

I closed my eyes, felt the slight burn of tears. My childhood friends had left flowers every year, sent pictures of the bouquets to assure me they weren’t forgotten. But I’d run away.

Five years suddenly didn’t feel like a very long time at all.

‘We don’t have –’

‘Yes,’ I said, before I could stop myself. The small word sounded rough, held too many emotions behind it than seemed possible. ‘Just us.’

Pat gave my hand another squeeze. ‘Of course,’ he vowed, and I let out a breath.

‘One step at a time,’ I murmured, hoping it might just get easier from here on out. This was the big step, everything would seem much easier after this, right?

[justmoreocs-writing]

🌟 Lilia

Lilia’s first magic trick involved coins. She worked up to cards when her father realised there was no discouraging her from following in her godfather’s footsteps.

Despite the title ‘godfather’ Patrick isn’t really her godfather, it just felt more fitting than uncle to her family in a sense.

Was kicked out of the Magic Circle for sharing secrets - though, she never really got through the interview stages due to this.

Fell in love with poker because she gets to read people and play with cards.

Would admit to having a slight chocolate addiction; tries her best not to eat it constantly though.

Constantly moved back and forth between England and America as a child. Has more of an English influence on her though because it’s where she spent most of her formative years and because she spent a lot of time with her cousins.

Slept with a night light until the age of twelve - overactive imagination meant nightmares were frequent.

Can’t leave the house without some kind of music playing device; will even extend to an audiobook on occasion.

Is still the proud owner of a trophy she won at a friend’s birthday party for doing the limbo.

Had one vague boyfriend type relationship when she was in primary school; hasn’t really had a romantic relationship in general though.

[justmoreocs-writing]

One tiny mistake. That’s all it takes for a trick to go wrong, for it to lose its magic and the illusion to be completely upended. It’s one of the things Pat always tried to prepare me for: the inevitable mistake. He taught me that sometimes styling it out is the best way forwards, and that’s exactly what I still did.

I watch as Bozer holds the cards out to the rest of the team, trying to prove that they’re all different, that there’s no way he’s tampered with the deck. Jack takes them off him, flicks through them with a small smirk before handing them back. His attention skims back to me, back to see if I’m going to give anything away. This time, however, I refuse to.

The moment of distraction is all it takes for the trick to go slightly wrong though. Bozer hadn’t quite taken the cards back. The bottom one falls to the floor, unbeknownst to everyone in the room. Except for me. Bozer’s too lost in trying to remember the ins-and-outs of the trick; Jack’s looking for the lie; Mac’s watching with an analytical eye that, in reality, will spoil the whole thing, rob it of the entertainment value. But none of them are looking for a stray card, so it slips to the floor without notice.

Without thinking I shift to perch on the edge of Riley’s seat, putting my foot carefully over the card that’s escaped. As Bozer offers the cards out to Mac, to double check that they’re all different, I bend to scratch my ankle. I ease the card towards the edge of the seat, and use the cover of my other leg to slip the card up my sleeve.

‘Lilia?’ Bozer’s voice snaps my attention back to him.

I shoot him a bright smile, nod ever so slightly. He fans out the cards slowly, allowing me time to take in each one of them.

‘Got one?’

‘Oh yeah,’ I assure him, grinning as I sit a little further back on the arm of the chair. I feel Riley leaning forwards, her attention off the screen and onto the trick at hand for the first time since Bozer started.

Bozer coughs, makes a show of shuffling the cards. ‘Keep the card in your mind,’ he says, his attention on the cards more so than is strictly necessary. ‘Your thoughts alone will bring it to the top.’

Jack scoffs, and I throw him a sneer despite the laughter bubbling up inside me.

‘Is this your card?’ Bozer asks, flicking the top card up at us all.

Attention shifts to me, everyone eager to see if it’s worked. In reality, it has. The card that was right above mine is now at the top.

But I’ve changed the trick because of one simple mistake. Mean, not to tell Bozer, but he should have been paying closer attention himself.

‘No,’ I say, shaking my head solemnly in the hopes of not deflating Bozer too much. The opportunity had been too good to miss. ‘This one.’ I put my hand close to Jack’s head and flick the card from my sleeve; the illusion of plucking from the air complete in an instant.

‘How?!’ whines Bozer, deflating just a little as Mac’s attention skims between the two of us. Even Jack’s brow furrows.

‘A magician never reveals her secrets,’ I say haughtily.

‘Says you,’ teases Riley, gently nudging my back.

‘All right,’ corrals Matty, snapping our attention towards her as she enters the room, a file in her hand and the air of authority about her that assures me there’s work to be done. But there’s the barest flicker of a smile on her lips, a knowing look behind her eyes that assures me she’d seen the whole thing. She knew the secret of the trick, but she’s going to let them dwell on it when they have a spare moment rather than sharing the truth; going to let them chase their tails for a while before I cave and tell them everything.

[justmoreocs-writing]

‘Jeans,’ I admit, without a single moment of hesitation. ‘I mean, obviously I wear more than that, but ripped jeans seem to be a staple of my wardrobe – much to Patrick’s distain sometimes. Not all of us can pull off a three-piece suit at all times!

‘Other than that, the only other thing that I really wear that I’d call “signature” is my coin. I got it pressed when I went to the zoo with Charlotte, and after… everything I got it put on a chain. It’s a part of me that I’d never want to lose.’

[justmoreocs-writing]

B A S I C S

Full name: Lilia Abigail Bennett-Hope.

Gender: Female.

Sexuality: Heterosexual.

Pronouns: She/Her.

O T H E R S

Family: Parents [deceased]; godfather Patrick Jane [alive].

Birthplace: Edinburgh.

Job: Mentalist (of sorts) for the Phoenix Foundation; part-time street magician.

Phobias: Confinement; geese; really doesn’t like sad clowns.

Guilty pleasures: Malteasers; really cheesy musicals; the game Hungry Hippos.

M O R A L S

Morality alignment?: Neutral good.

Sins - lust/greed/gluttony/sloth/pride/envy/wrath: Greed; Pride.

Virtues - chastity/charity/diligence/humility/kindness/patience/justice: Charity; Kindness.

T H I S - O R - T H A T

Introvert/extrovert: Extrovert - Lilia is incredibly outgoing and loves being around people a lot of the time.

Organised/disorganised: Organised - her organisation skills might not always seem obvious to others, but it makes complete sense to her.

Close minded/open-minded: Open-minded - Lilia spent some of her childhood working with a circus and learnt a lot about the different types of people and their ideas as they moved around.

Calm/anxious: Calm - most of the time Lilia is a reasonably calm person, verging on the laidback with things.

Disagreeable/agreeable: Agreeable - thought not a doormat as some might think.

Cautious/reckless: Reckless - she’s the kind of person to jump into things before thinking most of the time; that being said, she does give things a fleeting thought in the hopes of not being too reckless.

Patient/impatient: Patient - Lilia has always been a patient person, especially with people she cares about or small children.

Outspoken/reserved: Outspoken - though she has learnt to hold her tongue on occasion in the hopes of maintaining her poker face in different situations.

Leader/follower: Leader - it’s a tough call for Lilia, however she’s never been very good at being a blind follower.

Empathetic/unemphatic: Empathetic - sometimes a little too much, but she’s getting better at managing this.

Optimistic/pessimistic: Optimistic - despite all the horrors in her past, Lilia is determined to see the best in things whenever possible.

Traditional/modern: Modern - though really it depends on what she’s thinking about.

Hard-working/lazy: Hard-working - ridiculously so sometimes; when trying to perfect magic tricks people need to make sure that she does things for herself as well.

R E L A T I O N S H I P S

OTP: Lilia and Mac.

OT3: Lilia, Julianne ‘Jewel’ and Ewan (two of her friends from back in the UK).

BROTP: Lilia and Riley.

NOTP: Lilia and Red John; Lilia and Murdoc.