It all started with a shack in the middle of the woods

You wouldn't know it by looking at the place, but living in a shack in the middle of the woods had a lot of advantages and the main one was being that very rarely would you ever have any sort of trouble with obnoxious neighbors or the authorities peskily coming to check on what all of those meat grinder noises are for due to the many complaints. That's why Orko had set out for him a twenty-foot wide and fifty-foot long wooden domicile that had kept him safe from everything but bears for the past nine years that he had lived there, it was right outside of Chicago which was his place of operations and quite the ways away from Detroit.

So why was he here now? Well, that's a story that you'll need to sit down for. Pulling out a seat, the man dramatically twists and wiggles his fingers in dramatic fashion as if nodding off into a deep sleep, but really this was just the portion where I cut the scene and begin talking about the good stuff.

A Shack in the middle of the woods

"OOOOOOOORKO!", the door slammed and knocked and creaked with every last pounding of the fist from the other side, it had been made to withstand whatever creatures lurked deep within the woods and that included the strange man who stood on the other side of it; Orko had known this day would come, buying land wasn't cheap and taking out loans to get the government to agree to allow a shack was expensive and troublesome. So when he went to some powerful people in Chicago and asked for the money it was bound to eventually catch up to him if his addiction to gambling wouldn't go away.

He was penniless at the moment, having spent every last cent on a baseball game that had gone terribly wrong. Who would have expected the wind to carry that ball for a grand slam? How would anyone have seen that team winning by more than two runs? As he dipped into his funds to chase the losses, he found that there were no more funds at all.

"I'll be out in a minute!"

Hiding in his bathroom wasn't the most courageous way to go out, but it was the only thing that at this moment seemed like it would be the smart thing to do. After four more minutes had passed, he could hear the door finally slam open and many sets of footsteps could be heard from every angle, almost as if a thousand men were all diverging onto the bathtub that Orko now laid inside of.

"Where's the money? We said two months. It's been three."

"We should make an example."

While the three men discussed his fate, Orko decided to go for the last-ditch effort and quickly removed his hat from his head and pulled out the first thing that seemed like it would help. It was a gun, and a powerful one at that; far too powerful for the event in question, as the front of the rifle slapped one of the men in the face.

"What the fuck is that?"

Orko thought for a moment before speaking, "It's a... it's a trick." and while his finger grasped the trigger, the silence was stifling, and then suddenly all at once, everyone began to talk. For the next hour, Orko put on a barrage of tricks and goofs for them all to enjoy and at one point accidentally spawned not one, but two separate species of tiger into his shack.

"This is fucking amazing."

"Let me be straight with you for a moment, little Orko. I got a niece in Detroit, she's great, but she tried to run a business and it didn't go too well. This place been closed for four months now and taking up a lot of my time and effort to get it to sell. We wipe this debt, and you go make me some profits with these tricks of yours."

This was a weird offer and not one that most people would be too keen on taking on, but it beat the alternative which was being beaten to death and stuffed up a deer's ass, as one of the men so elegantly put what they wanted to do to him. That's why he said yes, and quickly made his way off to Detroit to this establishment in question.

So as you can see, going from a Shack in the middle of the woods in Chicago to running a business in Detroit was the first of what would be many success stories for Orko. He was just an associate in these days, but before you would know it the Shop of Tricks would not only be in his name, but he would be running for a family out of Chicago and owning a very well-to-do cutlery shop on the West Coast. But for now, let's just focus on the magic, yeah?

Orko's Shop of Tricks

After one quick month of cleaning up, Orko had turned the failed dog grooming business into what would be the largest and most popular trick shop in the midwest. Upon first entering your eyes would be barraged with the sights and sounds of a whole other side of the world, the side of belief and magic; playing cards would change from black to red right in front of your very eyes, a ball would disappear from someone's hands and appear behind your ear. 

While there was deeper and more real magic that Orko could employ, he decided to stick mostly to parlor tricks and things that the humans could handle without their brains breaking. 

Everyone come on down to the Shop of Tricks! Your first trick is free, and I'll even show you how to do it! The next will cost ya, a lot. $250 per trick learned. So come on and discover the magic!

Wanting to check out a new business that just opened and just generally hoping to find something different Apportion wandered on over towards his friend Orko's new place. She had heard nothing about it so she knew she was in for some sort of surprise.

Upon entering she saw that this place was full of magic and mystery. Object she couldn't even fathom a use for. She looked around hoping to find someone to help point her in the right direction of something that she might find useful in her life. 

"Hello, hello is anyone here?" 

His first customer! It was an exciting affair to behold, and Orko decided to do an entrance that would leave them completely gobsmacked and utterly confounded. That's why when he heard Apparition first speak, he waved his hands at the ground and began a quick chant which accidentally spawned a black hole in the middle of the ground, sucking up him and a lot of the stock in the back room-- fighting with it for a few minutes, finally it was tamed and most things were thrust back out of the giant gaping maw while some were lost forever, luckily Orko was one of those things that were spat from its powerful clutches-- throwing him out of the back room and all the way into the front shopping section and right up against a few trick knives that all clashed to the floor.

Luckily being trick knives, they retracted into themselves as they fell onto Orko instead of doing any serious damage outside of a bit to his ego now that Apparition saw the trick at work. Quickly floating back up, he brushed himself off and gave a light awkward chuckle before continuing with his attempted sale.

"Hi, it is me... Orko! Would you, uh, care for some playing cards?", picking them up from the ground he flashed the queen of spades at Apparition for a moment before waiting for a response.

Senorita stood outside the building, studying it. She wasn't quite sure what to expect from a Shop of Tricks. To be honest, she wasn't even sure how she had found the shop in the first place. But she had finished up her business in Detroit earlier than expected and her flight wasn't for another few hours. She had been in search of food, but Simeon about this place caught her eye. 

Stepping into the shop was like stepping into another world. "Fantastica," Senorita whispered to herself as she looked around at all the magic taking place before her very eyes. "Ay Dios mío!" She had never seen such a sight before in her life. She stared in wide eyed wonder, amazed at the things happening right in front of her. She just had to meet Orko.

A second customer! Everything was clicking and his shop of tricks was pulling in double the number of guests as his fork shop in Los Angeles, so to really continue the flourish of excitement he set down the playing cards for a moment and walked over towards the woman who was now standing there looking at his wonders.

"Welcome, welcome.", kicking a toy train it sprung to life and began to run directly towards the wall, but instead of impact and destruction, it simply went through it as if it were made of pure air. Usually, that one ended a lot louder and messier, but this time it actually seemed to work and he was pleasantly surprised with himself.

"Does anything take your fancy?" 

With both Apparition and Senorita in the shop, he was destined to make his first sale!

Senorita could hardly tear her eyes away from the magic to greet the host. She watched with awestruck wonder as the train just disappeared through the wall. Finally, she turned to Orko, smiling brightly. 

"Hola, pleased to meet you. Your shop...," her eyes danced around before meeting his again. "Es muy muy bueno. I'm so fascinated. Can you show me another trick?? Por favor?"

In another world and in another time Orko would have been able to use his powers for untold things, moving entire mountains with the wiggling of his fingers would be child's play and yet in this country, he was nothing more than a purveyor of simple tricks and yet the enthusiasm people showed for them always brought up his spirits; even though he could not shoot flames from his eyes or force animals to dance there was something great about the simple magic that could make anyone mystified for even a moment.

So with a riddle in mind, he began to speak it aloud.

"Fire, rubble, burn and smash, turn these cards into ash!", with a quick conjuring of his hands the cards sprang to life and turned into a wad of one thousand dollars in currency. 

"I'm afraid something was lost in translation... but money is always nice!"

Throwing the cash into the air and watching it fall back down to the earth, he watched as it slowly turned back into cards, unable to keep its new shape for very long. While the trick didn't quite go as intended, Orko still had hoped that Senorita would find some sort of amusement in his attempt while Apparition still stood there staring at various oddities and not saying much of anything. 

Senorita watched with excitement as Orko prepared to do his magic for her. Listening intently to his incantation, her eyes widened with amazement as the cards turned into one of the biggest wads of cash she had ever seen. Her eyes followed his every movement as he threw the money into the air. She watched as the money turned back into cards as it fell. Her eyes sparkled with delight as she clapped excitedly. 

"Ay Dios mio! Such a wonderful show!! You are amazing Señor Orko!! I am muy muy happy that I stopped in here today. Gracias for the show. Thank you very much."

Senorita smiled brightly at the owner of the shop, sticking around for a little longer to see if he might do something else amazing. Besides, there were so many other things magical going on in the shop, she thought she could spend forever there and never see the same thing twice. 

Now that the hook was set Orko would attempt to make the sale on Senorita who while seemed to appreciate the tricks very much, did not seem so certain to want to spend thousands of dollars on what would amount to something you may not use every single day like in his world where it was a much more substantial thing than this earth where magic seems relegated to party tricks and side business hustles-- while this was a disappointing revelation when he first had arrived, he was sure that at least one person would want to learn his ways of living and hopefully this woman would foot that bill.

"So you like the tricks? I have plenty... for sale?"

He started spinning around in a circle while pointing wildly at everything in the area until finally nausea set in and he dropped to the floor, but not letting that be a deterrent the man popped back up into the air and swirled around the woman for a moment while waiting to see exactly what her response would be.

"Buy one...", clicking his fingers and tongue at the same time for the added effect he continued, "...get one free!"

Unsure if it was working or not, all that was able to be done now was wait.

Yumeko did her best to hurry across the street toward the shop of tricks before any more cars came, after finishing what business she had while in Detroit she decided to take a stroll to to see more of the city. It wasn't long before she spotted a place that immediately grabbed her attention. Her waist length black hair flowing behind her she came to a walk as she approached the store front and looked inside. "Oh my..." She fixed her hair and adjusted her skirt in the reflection of the window before stepping inside.

This was like a dream come true for Yumeko, she spent her early life doing gambling scams with trick cards and eventually went to a very rich college with an underground gambling presence. Though she is typically very friendly, she abstains from acting this way when she uses her perceptiveness to expose her classmates' cheating. She is capable of doing this even after only a couple of rounds of gambling, as she is easily able to decipher what strategies and tricks they are using to skew the game in their favor and turn the tables.

Yumeko smirked to herself as she looked around at the various magical items, as the...person, she assumed was Orko was attempting a sale's pitch. She decided to watch as the woman seemed captivated by the trick, Yumeko would wait patiently for her turn, she didn't want to be anywhere else at the moment anyway. 

Orko had been asking Joyner to visit his place of business in Detroit, however, Joyner was always busy. Today was the day that he would wander over to Detroit to take a gander. He walked in and looked around at this mysterious place. He wasn't sure what kind of voodoo had been happening here but he was a bit worried.

"Hello, is Orko around?"

While Orko waited for Senorita to decide on her trick purchasing and Apparition to stop staring directly into the void, both Yumeko and JoynerLucas had walked into the building and were prime candidates for a sale! While he had never met the woman before there was a bit of a working relationship with Joyner that had been created over the past few weeks when a little Grogu had offered him his hand in a few illegal activities over in North Side where he now called home.

Flying over to the door in a frenzied fashion, Orko quickly looked at Joyner and the woman and smiled brightly while pointing all over the place in what seemed to be coke-fueled excitement but was really just run-of-the-mill happiness that perhaps finally someone would buy something and make this all worth it. He was getting a bit desperate, truth be told, but refusing to let that show on his face he circled around Joyner Lucas a few times before stopping to catch his breath and say a few words.

"Wel-Weclome to Orko's Shop of Tricks! I'm Orrrrkoooo! If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask!"

"Orko! I know you man. You are a good member and have proven yourself worthy to hold a place in my HQ. How are things going here in Detroit?"

Joyner looked around and saw a friend of his names Apparition. He waved when they made eye contact then Joyner laughed as Orko was going laps.

"Jesus man, getting your excercise in?"

"Just making sure everyone feels welcome, gets those spending juices flowing!" 

There was a pause while Orko took a mental note of everyone in the building, these people would either make or break this trick empire that he was deciding to build. Then when he snapped out of it, the man looked back over towards Joyner and handed him some dice that were made from pure dragon bone! or was it a lizard? Either way, it was extremely impressive to look at.

"Take those, on the house. Sometimes they explode a little bit, so make sure to throw them extra far when you're rolling."

Yumeko smiled politely as the man zipped around the room with such excitement, the other gentleman had a much more relaxed aura. She could see them being quite the entertaining pair, she continued looking until something small caught her eye. "A deck of cards?" She picked them up and took them out of the box, they seemed perfectly normal to her, except there were 104 cards instead of 52. 

Yumeko examined them closely. "Hmm." After a once over she realized half of the cards had a slight variation to the pattern on the back, these were for a very specific memory game and designed to cheat. If the cards were face down only the owner would notice the slight variation and remember which was their card. 

Yumeko put the cards back in their box and turned to Orko. "I'll take these!" She closed her eyes for a moment as she smiled softly and then handed them to Orko. 

Senorita was so enthralled with Orko and his magical shop, she wasn't sure at all that she would be able to replicate such maravillosa magia on her own. But she was certain that she wanted this to be disponible to everyone for a long time to come. She wondered if Señor Orko would be interesado in an investment of sorts. She would muy contenta to invest her dinero into his shop, regularly. 

Senorita cleared her throat, dragging her eyes away from the maravillosa sights before her. She smiled at Orko. "Maybe, amigo, we can speak en privado. I just may have a business proposal that might interest you."

Orko hadn't noticed Joyner yet it seemed so he waved high in the air in his direction. While he was looking like a mad man waving people were looking at him and he smiled.

"Orko, How you doing man? Over here!"

Joyner stepped on a chair to get noticed faster.

For a moment there were a lot of people who were speaking to Orko who was in a whirlwind of excitement about the vastness of his newest business venture, which is why he quickly rang up Yumeko's cards and placed in a few more baubles as she was the first-ever purchase from the store itself-- and then to Joyner he said hello, while Senorita proposed a business opportunity that he would need to think more about while he tended to his business.

First, he spoke to his very own boss as a sign of respect, "Hello, hello Mister Lucas. Are you here to wish me my good luck or perhaps a pair of dice is in your future? Or maybe this tiny stuffed toy which tells you your future?" once his sales pitch was over he turned to Senorita for a moment and nodded.

"What do you have in mind exactly? I do not have much to offer outside of my humble tricks."

Yumeko clapped her hands together and beamed as Orko rang up her purchase. She knew how much money she was going to make with these trick cards and had no problem over paying significantly. Nonchalantly, she handed over $25,000, and then took a bow to the man behind the counter.

"Doumo arigatou gozaimasu." She happily grabbed her purchase and left the store, hoping the other customers would find something as special as she had. 

Before the car had even fully come to a stop in the parking space, Oliva was out like a flash, screaming at the top of her lungs sprinting towards Orko's establishment. At first, it sounded like random noises coming from the small girl's mouth, but as she burst through the door, her eyes wild and frantic she took a deep breath and yelled, "Maaaaagic!" before turning around quickly to make sure Mr. Rodger had caught up, he was across the street glaring at her, so she knew he was fine. "Magic!" she said again, not as drawn out. "Orko, Magic!" she started running around looking for the strange person who was her friend but also just a little bit weirder than the squirrel god she called friend. "Magic. Magic. Magic. Magic. Magic." She chanted, stomping her foot in beat with her words.