Late Night Sexy Show: Quinn's Burning Desire

"Thank you, Della and Toni for that insight into the making of personalised sex toys; I never even knew such things existed," acknowledged Martin Staithe, one of the presenters of The Late Night Sexy Show.

There was a brief saxophone riff followed by a sensuous sigh, which is the usual manner of dividing the show into sections.

Angelica Thrust, Martin's well-endowed co-host, kicks off the next section by saying, "You may remember a few weeks back. The magical hunk, Gabriel, and his sexy new assistant Annika, said that they would like to perform some extra-special sexy illusions using volunteer viewers."

Martin smoothly took up the presentation. "It did not take long for a young lady called Quinn to contact us, to be a magician's assistant. Once he had read her email, Gabriel said that they have just the magic for her."

"About two hours ago," continued Angelica, "Quinn arrived at the studios, since then, other than doing her make-up and her hair, she has been confined to the staff canteen with a member of The Late Night Sexy Show staff, because Gabriel said he didn't want to give her a clue what he and Annika had planned."

"At this very moment, Quinn is being guided to a cordoned off section of the car park, where the magic will be performed, for reasons I'm told will become apparent, where Quinn will meet 'Unreal' for the first time."

The scene cut to a fairly well lit area of concrete, with painted markings. Stood in the centre is Gabriel, dressed in a macho magician kind of outfit; studded leather boots and tight leather trousers and an open waistcoat showing his well-toned physique. To the edge of the lit area were a cubic shape on legs, covered in a dark cloth, a metal mesh patio chair and a low, about knee high, table. In the background beyond a few trees was a road, where the light of the occasional vehicle could be seen.

Almost before all this could be taken in, a young woman, wearing a dark cloth coat to her knees and high heels strode purposefully towards Gabriel; her long wavy chestnut hair moved in the light breeze and gave off red highlights as it caught the light that illuminated the area. The clicking of her heels on the concrete betrayed both her excitement and nerves.

"Hello, you must be Quinn. I'm glad you could make it," opened Gabriel.

"I'm glad to be here. I've always wanted to be a magician's assistant," purred Quinn, in an attractive alto voice.

"You put it a bit differently in your original email," he smiled. "Would you mind reading it out? So the viewers have an idea where I'm coming from with the magic this evening."

He handed her a piece of paper and she read, "Dear Late Night Sexy Show, I would love to be a sexy assistant to Gabriel the magician, especially for one of his one-off big sexy illusions. I have always had a burning desire to be a magician's sexy assistant. Yours Quinn."

She was handing the paper back to Gabriel, when it suddenly burst into flames and floated skyward for about two seconds before burning out. Gabriel took hold of her hand to stop her stumbling and smiled. Quinn did not see the smile at first, being temporarily blinded by the flash of the paper.

"We have never met before, correct?" asked the magician.

"No, we have never met, but I know someone who went to one of your shows, before Annika joined the act. She was very impressed. By the way, where's Annika?"

"It's not about Annika tonight; it's about you getting your chance to fulfil your burning desire to be a magician's assistant, if only for the night." Quinn smiled; she wanted to be the main attraction, but sharing the limelight with Gabriel would be just as good.

Continuing the interrogation, Gabriel asked, "Have we been in touch at all?"

"Umm, Most of the stuff was organising to get me here and releases to sign; all done by the Sexy Show staff. I only got one message from you, via them, and that was to turn up in a sexy, but not too revealing, outfit that an assistant might wear."

"Good! Shall we see what you have come in to be a sexy magician's assistant?"

"Of course." Quinn undid the belt of the coat and opened the coat up allowing it to slip down her bare left arm, then giving it a bit of swing so that it fell from her shoulders and slid down her right arm, where she caught it. For a moment she looked puzzled about what to do with the coat; thankfully a man in a blue Sexy Show T-shirt and headphones darted into shot and collected it from her. Taking in Quinn's outfit, Gabriel's smile broadened and various approving comments could be heard as the Sexy Show's crew, momentarily, forgot themselves.

Quinn was a vision to behold. She wore a red sequin dress that hit just above her knees, with small cap sleeves and a neckline that scooped low enough to promise more than modest cleavage revealed. As she displayed herself, by turning on her red heels, the back neckline was even lower, showing a large proportion of her back down to the base of her ribs; revealing that she worked out, but mostly to keep fit, rather than be a bodybuilder. Her arms and calves were also well muscled, but not to the point of being unattractive. As she faced front, she flicked her hair over her shoulder, her ice blue eyes stood out in a field of red highlights and shimmering sequins.

"Wow!" exhale Gabriel. "Spectacular! But just because you are dressed like a sexy magician's assistant, doesn't mean you get to be a magician's assistant straight away; you must serve you apprenticeship, by fetching things. The first thing to fetch is that cage over there." He pointed dramatically at the cloth covered cube.

Quinn felt a little disappointed, but went to fetch the cage, assuming that bigger things would come. As she trundled the cage across the uneven concrete the cloth slipped off and revealed the cage to be empty. She positioned the cage to Gabriel's right and went to retrieve the cloth.

"Good, so far. The cloth wasn't supposed to fall off, but no harm done. And you fetched the cloth without being prompted. A promising start! Shall we put the cloth back on the cage?"

Quinn nodded, because she was not certain that her embarrassment at not keeping the cloth on the cage would not show in her voice, and smiled having been praised. She had been fiddling with the cloth while Gabriel had been talking and found two corners; these she handed to Gabriel and allowed the remainder of the velvety fabric to brush through her arms and caught the other corners. Between them they wafted the heavy cloth over the cage and raised the front edge and folded it back so that the front of the cage was uncovered.

"Now for some more fetching. Bring me a flame."

For a moment Quinn looked bewildered. Then she looked round and saw a man in a fluorescent orange jacket holding a burning torch. She stepped towards him with purpose and received the torch with the unnecessary words, "Hold it by the handle, because the top stays hot even after the flame goes out." She hoped to hear some music that would give her a clue about what style she should put into carrying the flaming brand back to Gabriel. It occurred to her that this was some kind of test of her assistant-iness; she decided to just carry it with casual confidence, while not appearing too blasé about the fire.

Once she had handed the flame to Gabriel, he opened the front of the cage and dabbed the burning end to the floor of the cage, which immediately caught fire. Quinn could see that he had a lit a shallow tray of inflammable gel that lay in the bottom of the cage. She could also feel the heat generated by it. The cameras saw that the cage was empty, other than the flames, as Gabriel threw the torch back the man in the dayglow jacket, who caught it and turned to douse it; revealing the lettering on his back saying 'Fire Marshall'.

"On the count of three we pull the cloth down the front of the cage and off. 1... 2... 3..."

Following the magician's movements, the new assistant took hold of the turned back edge of the cloth and drew it across the top, to the front edge, and, in a sweeping motion, down and forward from there. At this point both Quinn and Gabriel released their hold of the sheet and its momentum pulled the last few feet of fabric from the cage and it landed in a crumpled heap a couple of yards away.

It was not instantly obvious what had happened in the cage, but Quinn could no longer feel the heat. Gabriel went to open the front of the cage and the top was pushed up so that it swung down the back wall of the cage. It took a few moments for Quinn to realise that standing in the cage was Annika, wearing a black cat suit covered in flame-shaped patches of reflective stuff, so that it looked like she was wearing flames.

The crew applauded.

"How do you think she did, Annika?"

"She did great!" Annika said as she jumped down from the cage and hugged Quinn. "I think this flame-haired beauty is ready to be tried out with a minor illusion, before we do the big one."

"I thought so, too!" agreed Gabriel

"Ok, Quinn, you're going to be promoted to assist as victim in a small illusion. While Annika takes away the fire cage and brings back the other stuff, would you bring the chair forward and sit on it?"

While Annika wheeled away the cage into the darkness, Quinn, still slightly stunned from the sudden appearance of Annika, went to fetch the chair, which was sturdy, but not too heavy. The chair consisted of four tubular metal legs; the front two bent at seat level to make the sides of the seat and bent back up to form the sides of the back, the rear two also bent to make the sides of the seat, but bent inward to meet, forming the front, into this structure a mesh of metal made the seat and back of the chair. When the chair was where Gabriel wanted it, he said, "There's perfect!" Quinn placed the chair facing the cameras and sat down, being careful to smooth her dress down her thighs, because she did not want to lose any sequins from her dress by getting them caught in the mesh of the chair. As she settled back, she noticed that the back of the chair only reached just above her shoulders.

Quinn did not have time to notice more, because Annika returned with a trolley of items and in a change of costume; she now wore a tight knee-length dress of dark leather with flames painted on it.

"A good magician's assistants doesn't slouch," said Gabriel. Quinn took the hint and sat up straight and placed her hands, lightly clasped, in her lap. She did not get the chance to relax into a lower posture after that, because the magician fitted a board with a four inch wide slot round her neck from the front and attached the back corners to the back of the chair. Quinn looked a little alarmed at this development; she had been expecting to be guided through the illusion and be told what to expect at each stage.

The next thing was a metal cylinder which Gabriel lowered over Quinn's head, having shown it was hollow. Quinn's face was not lost from view, but her hair was, because of a heart shaped cut-out in the front of the cylinder. Her hair was not visible, except for the tresses that draped over her shoulders through the neck stock. Gabriel put his hand into the top of the cylinder and gently pulled on Quinn's hair, drawing it up through the cylinder; now there was no hair below the stock and a bit hanging over the top of the cylinder.

Annika handed Gabriel another cylinder, only slightly smaller than the first. While Gabriel was demonstrating the emptiness of this cylinder, he said to Quinn, "You know a lot of hair products are flammable, right? This the perfect time to demonstrate." He glided the cylinder into to the other one, cutting off the view of Quinn's worried expression.

As Annika was handing over a can of hairspray and a cheap cigarette lighter, Gabriel was, with the other hand, reaching into the twin metal cylinders round Quinn's trapped head. He commented, "We don't want to catch Quinn's lovely hair between the cylinders," as drew a section out to dangle over the side.

"What I am about to do is very dangerous and should not be attempted by anyone. If the flame blows back the can could explode and become a ball of flame and shrapnel." He held up the can and flicked the lighter into flame. In the silent moment before the magician press the aerosol, you might have detected some shuffling as some of crew took a couple of steps backwards. Even Quinn's posture took on a nervous aspect and he hands twitched in her lap, as if she was considering reaching up to remove the cylinders to see what was happening; in short, she looked like she felt, vulnerable.

The next moment, the nozzle was pressed and a tongue of flame two feet long erupted from the can. "Of course, Quinn's head is protected by the cylinders. So, if I do this," he said as he played the ragged yellow flame of the dark gleaming cylinders, "the metal surrounding her head will conduct away the heat; she won't feel a thing."

Gabriel began to walk round the seated new assistant, maintaining the flame from his improvised flame-thrower on the metal enclosing Quinn's head. Quinn could feel a little warmth coming through the metal, but not too much to stand. Again her hands betrayed her thoughts; that maybe she did not want to be in this situation and some struggle between her burning desire to be a magician's assistant and her desire not to be burnt.

The next thing that happened seemed to take everyone by surprise. The hairspray flamethrower's flame, touched the small portion of Quinn's hair draped over the cylinder's upper rim, which instantly caught fire, giving off an orangey-red tinted flame. Gabriel instantly stopped the aerosol and tossed it into the darkness and Annika was there with a lid to smother the flame, but her efforts did not seem to be having the desired effect; if anything, more flames and sparks issued from the top of the cylinder.

Quinn's bodily demeanour continued to show some conflicted emotions; mainly the desire to project the calmness under extraordinary circumstances, as a magician's assistant should, and the beginnings of panic as she felt some heat directly on the top of her head, not just radiating from the metal enclosure surrounding her head. In the next few seconds, the imperative to stay calm won out, with a little help from the fear of burning her hands and the knowledge of the presence of the fire marshall.

The fire marshal was approaching with a CO2 extinguisher and Gabriel was hurriedly putting on a pair of thick leather gloves. Gloves on, the magician barged his assistant out of the way and lifted the cylinders from Quinn's head, to allow access for the extinguisher.

For a couple of seconds the only movement was the sputtering of the flame on top the charred skull that stood where Quinn's head was expected to be. Then Gabriel bent down and blew the last flame out. The skull just grinned. Quinn wondered what was going on; she could not see anything, but the heat was gone.

Annika and Gabriel conferred, then she handed him a roll of bandage, which he quickly wrapped round the skull, while she took away the cylinders. With the skull swathed he released the stock and handed that to his assistant.

He reached down and touched Quinn's left hand. He took it and used it to guide her body upright and then unwrapped her head; still perfectly made-up.

"What happened?" asked Quinn. "One moment my head is inside a metal tube; the next I've got bandages round my head."

"Don't worry, Quinn," replied Gabriel, in what was intended to be a reassuring voice, "it's all part of the illusion."

Quinn made a movement that would have brushed he fingers through her hair, to tidy it after being bandage wrapped, but it found no hair. Her mouth was the finish line of a race between the need to express shock and articulate a question; shock won, but the question, 'Where's my hair?' came a close second.

"Erm, I burnt it off." Gabriel admitted. "But it will grow back quicker than you think."

"You what?" screeched Quinn, trying to take it in, "But, I'm going to a friend's wedding in two weeks, I just can't go as a skinhead."

"I'm sorry!" he apologised. Then he seemed at a loss about what to say or do next.

Gabriel was rescued, by Annika who can up and said, "We're sorry about your hair, but I'm sure we can work out something after the show. And you did such a great job of assisting in the small illusion, such self-control. I think you are ready to take my place in the big illusion."

Annika's comments reminded Quinn why she was there; to have a go at being a magician's sexy assistant and do a big illusion. The loss of her hair was a bit distressing, but she felt sure that some arrangement could be reached; she wanted to be a magician's assistant with a burning passion.

Grabbing the bull by the horns, Gabriel moved on; He could see Martin and Angelica approaching across the car park and did not want the next illusion interrupted, like what happened last time.

"First you need a drink for the shock and then we'll fire-proof your clothes. We don't want any more accidents, do we?"

Quinn accepted the glass Annika offered her and downed it, when she realised how thirsty she had suddenly become and how dry her mouth was. It was not the water she expected.

"What was that?" she asked as Annika took the glass, having hand a trigger-spray bottle to Gabriel.

"Vodka," said Annika, "you'll need something to help you relax a bit, because the big illusion will be hellish if you're tense."

Meanwhile, the magician was spraying a mist of chemical onto Quinn's dress. "That'll protect you. Shall we get on with it?" Annika had brought the table to the centre of the lit area. "Alright, Quinn, please lie on the table."

Quinn lay on the table and was soon the focus of Gabriel and Annika's attention as they strapped her into the shallow metal tray that was the table top. Soon Quinn was strapped to the table and a camera was invited to take a good look; from her bald head with the what-have-I-got-myself-into expression, strapped across the forehead and the neck, the torso strapped at the waist and the arms strapped at the elbows and wrists and finally the legs strapped at the knees and ankles. In the rush to strap her down Quinn had not had the chance to arrange her clothes so that more cleavage was apparent in the scoop of her neckline and her hem line had ridden up affording the camera a glimpse of her scarlet panties.

Once the cameraman had done his pan down Quinn's beautiful body and retreated, Gabriel placed a frame over Quinn; this consisted of some metal tubing with a lot of little nozzles pointing inwards. Annika brought in a cover which to be made of a broad wire mesh. She placed this over the frame with the nett effect of containing Quinn without hiding her from view. By then Gabriel was back with a squat orange gas bottle and attaching it by a rubber hose to the pipes of the framework.

"I'm not sure I want to do this anymore."

"I'm sorry, but it's too late to swap Annika into your place. I think you'll enjoy it in retrospect and you have the best seat in the house," said Gabriel from his position by her feet

Before Quinn could say any more, Gabriel sparked up the lighter, turned on the gas, lit it and stood back. The gas stream from the first nozzle caught light; bathing Quinn's feet in flame. Slowly each nozzle lit the gas from next, so a wave of fire flowed up Quinn's restrained body. The last shot of her face was as the flames started to lick around her bosom; she had an expression that blended the terror of 'I'm being burned alive', the curiosity of 'It doesn't feel that bad, I wonder why', the petty worry of 'I hope my dress will be alright' and the ecstasy of 'I'm a fully-fledged Magician's assistant in a big spectacular illusion'. Then Quinn was entirely engulfed in the bright yellow flames.

The conflagration lasted about ten second before Gabriel cut off the gas and a further ten seconds before the flames subsided. Quickly the magician and his assistant tossed the blackened wire cover and tubular frame aside and lifted the tray from the table and propped it almost upright between them.

"See Annika, I told you that flame proofing would work," commented Gabriel as they regarded Quinn's smouldering skeleton, still dressed in her shiny sequin covered dress.

"Martin, Angelica, could you come and help." The presenters approached with trepidation. Gabriel handed Martin a white canvas bag, which he unrolled having been given the instruction to hold it open for the magician. Angelica was handed a hanger 'to hang Quinn's clothes until she comes back for them'.

Gabriel turned to the skeleton and snapped the skull off; this he tossed into the bag. Martin looked like he wanted to be sick, but professionalism won out. Soon the arms of the skeleton followed. Gabriel's next move was to pull the sparkly red dress up by the shoulders, revealing the rest of the skeleton's torso clad in a push up bra and panties; both of scarlet satin and lace. He passed the dress to Annika, who in turn passed it to Angelica. While Angelica fussed with putting the dress on the hanger, Gabriel broke off Quinn's ribcage and held it for Annika to unfasten the bra, then the ribs went into the sack and the bra was handed to Angelica. The magician pulled free the thigh bones, which flew into the bag Martin was holding and made a rattle as the landed on the bones already in there. The pelvis, still attached to the lower spine, was divested of the panties and joined the other bones. Quinn's lower legs followed, before Gabriel picked up the shoes and tipped the bones of the skeleton's feet into the bag and throwing them for Annika to catch.

The floor manager was giving the somewhat stunned and perturbed presenters the 'wind up' signal.

"That was amazing, but you'll never get me to do that," Angelica said, starting the finish of the show. Credits began to scroll across the bottom of the screen at a more than usually frantic pace.

"Next week, Mary Plenty, our 'Frequently Nude Reporter', will be reporting from another sexy business; this time it's a company making lingerie for wearing in public." There was a pause as if Martin had lost his place in the script.

Angelica spotted this and carried on with, "And we'll be talking to sexologist, Pru Holstein, about how we all can get more out of our orgasms."

It was now evident what had caused to stumble in his smoothness of Martin's presentation. He was no longer holding the bag into which the broken up skeleton had been dumped, because a naked, smut covered Quinn was crawling out of it. Quinn brushed her hand through her luxuriant chestnut hair and said, "Wow! That was great! Yay! I got my hair back too! Can we do it again?"

"Thank you, Gabriel and Annika and, of course, the very brave Quinn," said Martin.

And then in unison, the co-hosts said, "Have a sexy week and we'll see you next week."