Why is Trixie Angry? · 4:57pm Mar 19th, 2023
Hello, dear users on this site!
First of all, huge thanks for the many positive feedbacks my fic got! I’m glad you all enjoyed it 
As for this blog, I wanted to go into details on what happened in the fic and explain deeper what my/Trixie’s thought processes were, so in case you haven’t read this fic:
Don’t read further.
Seriously, don’t. I will talk about what had happened there, so last warning!
Let’s start with a brief summary to set the basis: Trixie gets into Flash’s car and orders him to drive to the amphitheatre, where they both walk to the stage. There, she performs two tricks and when asked which one he preferred, he chooses the latter.
This is where things take a turn: Trixie becomes angry and launches into an enraged monologue, revealing that she now possesses real magic and doesn’t need to learn any new tricks. She says that the ten years she spent learning tricks were pointless and a waste of time. She combines her speech with various tricks to demonstrate that her magic is real, such as when they are both teleported away with smoke bombs.
Afterwards, she begins to cry and admits that she doesn't want magic and feels like she has nothing left to achieve.
Flash remains silent throughout and after Trixie finishes crying, she thanks him for listening and leaves.
Alright, just what was going on? Why would Trixie, of all people, be the one who doesn't want any magic? After all, she's a magician! Also, gapty, didn't you write another fic where Trixie was jealous of the Rainbooms having magic? Why the change?
Let's talk about Flash's role in the fic. For the reader, he was the POV, but what was his role for Trixie?
Quite simply, he just had to listen to her. At that moment, Trixie didn't want to hear anything from him. She never asked him what he thought about her problem, and Flash had no idea what he could say to her anyway.
Some suggested that Flash should’ve said anything, but when some suggested what he should’ve said, I’m sure that Flash wouldn’t be leaving the stage without a broken nose… or something like that, you get the point.
The point is that some misunderstood what bothered Trixie (hence me writing this blog), and if Flash also misunderstood and suggested the same, it would only have made Trixie angrier—tbh, it probably wouldn't matter at all if what he responded even fitted 
She needed to vent her frustration and anger onto someone, and while it wasn't entirely right of her to force him into this role, Flash played it like she wanted him to, making her feel at least a bit better afterwards.
Now, why was Trixie angry in the first place? Trixie, the Great and Powerful, a stage magician... There's no way she wouldn't want any magic, right?
The short answer is that it depends on how much you have Trixie care about being a stage magician and why.
Let’s set some basis on why one would even want to be a magician, and for that, I will summarise what I have heard from some of the various magicians I personally follow or have briefly heard of:
They all know that everything is a trick (duh). When the sawing trick is done, everyone knows that there is no real “sawing people” in half. When cards are seemingly teleported or found in the deck, the magician has had control of the card's whereabouts the whole time (or some mathematical trick was going on). When a rabbit appears out of the hat, it had been hidden under the table etc.
So why do it? To "prove" to others that they know how a trick is done and the spectator doesn't? To make people think they have real magic?
No, of course not—more or less.
Seeing some reactions of magicians on other magicians and when they get fooled (have no idea how a trick is done), I have heard several times the phrase: “I feel like a child again, like believing in magic.”
They also love when their spectators are so fooled by a trick, when they ask repeatedly how it was even possible and lose their mind over how the card appeared in the purse etc.
“gapty, you sure contradict yourself.”
(Future edit: What I wanted to go at is how the magic tricks look like actual magic. Pointing it out now because past gapty moved on without saying it.)
What I described, of course, is not everything. Just enjoying the time, performing to have fun or tell a story, to teach a lesson... All of that is done with the help of magic tricks. If you only perform tricks like a robot, no one will care about them, no matter how good you are with the tricks.
You're performing, selling "yourself," your persona, your teaching lesson, etc. Magic tricks are secondary.
With Trixie, what is she selling of herself? Her persona, her character, her “Greatness and Powerfulness”. Kind of a stretch, trying to separate it from her magic tricks, but imagine her not saying anything, performing all the tricks silently. Not the same, right?
“Okay, gapty, we get it. Performing tricks is about showing yourself, through magic tricks. In which way does any of it make Trixie not want real magic?”
Sure, with her new magic, she can do much more than any magician before. Her “tricks” will be impossible to replicate, she can make them all appear even more magical, and very easily combine them with her own stage persona for a perfect performance.
So why is she angry?
Why not ask her:
“I shouldn’t have learned anything at all! These ten years of trying to be like my father? These ten years of learning from the books he left for me? These ten years of me standing before a mirror, repeating a trick over and over again until I could do all of them blindly? These ten years of recording myself to catch any flash of the tricks, perfecting them to hide every method?"
That’s why she’s angry.
She had devoted her whole life to learning magic tricks. She got inspired by her father, learned the way he did, and put several hours each day to become better and better at them. Learning magic tricks was a part of her identity, her defining characteristic.
”I’ve devoted my whole life to being a magician. I could see myself improving every month, every year. I grew, I evolved, I made progress.”
She witnessed her progress, her natural growth. It was great to see herself getting better, to see the fruits of her labor. She learned more and more every year. What was impossible last year, she had now mastered. What was a mystery last month, is now a part of her routine.
"But now?”
But now, there is nothing more for her to reach. She got her goal in an instant. And it didn’t have to do anything with what she did for it. That magic she got? It was not earned. Everything she did before?
“Absolutely pointless, because now I have real magic!”
All that natural growth is now obsolete, and there is no goal for her anymore.
It's a very specific point that made Trixie angry, but she knows that it might be confusing for others. That's why she chose to open up to Flash Sentry, who she heard was a good listener.
And that's all she needed.
I hope it helped to clear out Trixie's perspective, in case someone was confused about it
Edit: The Iguana Man made this comment, giving a similar but still different viewpoint and perspective on what would bother Trixie, be sure to check this out too!
great！
An important lesson here is sometimes, a person just needs someone to listen to them
I loved this story. Stage magicians are some of the hardest-working people around, and my joy in watching them comes from appreciating the countless hours of practice they put in, as well as their honed skills.
Real magic means Trixie can either take the easy way, like a writer using ChatGPT, and in the process make the rest of her fellow magicians appear inadequate...
Or she can refuse to use her magic for shows, but then Trixie is no longer striving with every option she has to improve her act. A difficult choice. Trixie has gone from a peerless stage magician to a mere wizard.
Incidentally, in the DC Universe this is why I figured all the other stage magicians must absolutely loathe Zatanna.