An Illusion Sketch

"And now it's time to demonstrate my powers of hypnosis. There is a young woman in the audience I asked to help out, would she make herself known."

Quinn suddenly realised this was her cue. The magician had approached her in the theatre's foyer. She stood up and waved. Moments later a spotlight found her.

"If the people on her row could let her out, please. Please come up on the stage, young lady."

Quinn edged along the row and then strode down the aisle and along the front of the stage to the central set of steps. The magician welcomed her to the stage and gave her a tiara. When she put it on the magician produced a mirror. She remarked that she thought it suited brunette locks, only to be surprised to hear her voice coming from the speakers that had aided the magician in communicating with his audience. "The tiara's got a build in mike?" she asked.

"Indeed, mainly so that our audience can hear you as well as me and we can convince them you are really hypnotised. But first we had better introduce ourselves. I am Arthur the Archmage and you are...?"

"I'm Quinn," said Quinn.

"And do you have a last name?" enquired Arthur.

"Do you need it?" countered Quinn.

"Not really," admitted the magician.

"Then I'm just Quinn. I don't want people looking me up in the phone-book and ringing me up to ask how you did whatever you're planning to do. Or worse still, accusing me of being some kind of accomplice."

"Speaking of that, please tell the good folks how and when we met."

"There's not much to tell, really. I was in the foyer before the show, dithering about whether to fork out for a souvenir programme, when you came up to me and said, 'You look like just the kind of young woman who would fit perfectly in a bit I do with an audience member. Are you willing to help out?'"

"And you said ...?"

"I said, 'Of course. I'd love to.'"

"Was anything more said?" the magician cajoled.

"Well, you said, 'Thank you. See you later!' And then rushed off before I could ask what you were planning to do."

"And have we spoken before or since?"

"No, um, well, not until I came on stage."

"That is all good." He turned to the audience and added, "You can believe that or not, as you wish, but I doubt it will spoil your enjoyment of this section."

"Quinn, have you any idea what I plan to do with you, this evening?"

"Well, you said you were going to demonstrate your hypnotic powers, so that limits your options. You could be planning on getting me to do daft and perhaps sexy things. Or, maybe, making me go stiff as a board and laying me between two chairs, while you stand on my belly."

"I generally don't go for the dafter end of the antics spectrum, it makes me look, frankly, like a bit of a jerk, fooling with people like that. I also don't like the 'Human Bridge', because if something goes wrong the volunteer can be seriously injured; thankfully this is rare, but why take the chance? So I propose to have you do some sexy things, but mainly I intend to make you feel as if I am performing an illusion with you, and the audience will see what I'm actually doing with you; I'm sure they will be amazed too."

"So, if I've got this straight, you want me to be sexy and feel like I'm in an illusion, all while hypnotised? I can do that."

"Great! Shall we begin?"

"Yes. I am looking forward to feeling like I'm in an illusion. Start as soon as you like," enthused Quinn.

"I'm glad you said that, because I've already started."

"When?" demanded Quinn.

"When you put on the tiara. It's amazing how much useful circuitry you can hide in a simple bit of headgear; not only is there a microphone, but I also managed to fit in something that makes you more susceptible to my instructions."

Quinn had barely started to reach up to remove the tiara, when Arthur said, "Freeze!"

Quinn stopped moving, with her hands half way to her head to remove the 'mind-control' tiara; close observers will have noticed that she did not even blink for the next few minutes.

"We are going to play a game. These are the rules:-"
"1. You will not remove the tiara unless told to do so."

"2. If I say 'OK, Quinn,' you will incorporate the description I give of the situation into the way you are seeing things."

"3. If I say 'Now, Quinn,' you will perform to the instruction I give in your own way taking into account how you are seeing things at the time."

"4. If I start a sentence with 'Well, Quinn,' you will answer the question I will ask out; otherwise you will remain silent."

"5. Anything else you hear you will ignore."

"Now, Quinn, you will stand up straight with your hands by your sides and address me as 'Mister Arthur'."

She stood ramrod straight.

"Well, Quinn, Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand, Mister Arthur," she replied sleepily.

Addressing the audience Arthur asked, "Shall we start doing sexy and magical things with Quinn?"

The response was a roar of approval.

"In that case, I have only the one request; can you please keep the noise down a bit, because Quinn needs to be able to hear me, in order to be able to respond appropriately."

"Ok, Quinn, it is later tonight and you have just arrived home." She visibly relaxed her stance, while still remaining standing up straight.

"Now, Quinn, you will get comfortable by removing your shoes." The volunteer briefly looked around and placed a hand on Arthur's shoulder, before lifting a foot and taking off the shoe with the other hand. "I guess she thinks I'm a bit of wall or piece of furniture," he told the audience while Quinn turned round and repeated the same move, but opposite-handed. She placed her shoes neatly together, by the magician's feet.

"I need to prepare some stuff, but we can't leave Quinn just standing here," he said as he briefly stepped into the wings, returning with a folding chair. "Now, Quinn, have a seat and ring a friend to tell them about the show you've just been to; you may want to fill in the other half of the conversation so that the audience can hear." He handed her one of her mid-height heels.

As Arthur the Archmage disappeared into the depths of the backstage area, Quinn held her shoe up to her face. The toe was by her ear and the heel near her mouth. For a moment she looked puzzled, then she turned the shoe round so that the heel was at her ear. In a clear voice that usually indicates that you are speaking to a device she said, "Call Lisa!" then she imitated the dialling noises.

There was a pause, while Quinn imitated the ringing tone, then Quinn spoke in a voice that was different from the one the audience had heard her use when she had first arrived on stage, "Hi Quinn, Lisa here. What's up? I was just about to go to bed."

"I just got back from a magic show, I thought you'd like to hear about it," said Quinn in her own voice.

"This had better be good, 'coz I'm going to have to be up earlier than usual 'coz of some roadworks on the way to work, the detour is going to add nearly twenty minutes to the journey." The Lisa voice seemed tired, but then it perked up. "So who was the magician?"

"He calls himself 'Arthur the Archmage' ..."

Quinn interrupted herself in the Lisa voice, "What Freddy's friend?"

"That's him. Freddy got me a complementary ticket; you could probably get one too if you asked."

"The show any good?" asked the Lisa voice.

"What little I remember," said Quinn.

Arthur came up behind her and said, "Now, Quinn, pause!"

Addressing the audience he said, "It's hardly surprising that she doesn't remember much; we are only half an hour in. Let's see how she gets out of that. Now, Quinn, continue!"

"What do you mean, 'What little I remember'?" enquired the Lisa voice.

"Well, I took part in a hypnotism bit and the rest is a bit, umm, hazy."

"Good save," commented Arthur from backstage.

The Lisa voice sounded shocked, "You mean actually volunteered to be in a hypnotism act, after what Freddy did to you after Kyle's party?"

"I didn't know it was going to be hypnotism," protested Quinn in her own voice.

"Calm down!" Lisa said, "So how come you volunteered?"

"He approached me in the foyer before the show and asked if I would mind taking part. Of course I said yes. I don't know why he chose me."

"He must have recognised you from the videos Freddy made."

"Of course, why didn't I think of that?" A scattering of laughter came from the audience. Quinn blushed deeply. "You mean he's seen me naked?" The audience murmured; this was a development that they had not expected.

Arthur had finished moving stuff onto the stage and came up behind Quinn. "Now, Quinn, time to end your phone call, because you need to get to bed."

"But you said you're going to bed, I don't want to interrupt you any further. I tell you all about it when I see you; maybe I'll remember more of it by then."

"Good night, I'll see you then," replied the Lisa voice.

"Good night." Quinn took her shoe from her face and pressed a phone button that was not there, having imitated the click and hiss of Lisa hanging up. She placed her phone-substitute on a non-existent table, causing Arthur to scramble to catch the shoe, before returning it to its proper place beside its partner.

He, then, instructed Quinn to stand and removed the chair to the edge of the stage. While he did this the audience got the chance to take in what he had brought out. There was a stand from which hung a large white towel on one side and on the other side there was a screen towards the back of the stage area, from which hung a yellow bikini and in front of it a small laundry basket. The item that took most attention was a low square platform from which rose, at each corner, four poles a little over six feet tall.

"Ok, Quinn, you are in your bathroom; you have decided to take a shower before you go to bed. Now, Quinn, you will get ready for your shower; you may change behind the screen and you may wear the bikini hanging there if you feel you want to."

Quinn started to fiddle with the waistband of her skirt and soon it slithered down her stockinged legs. She stepped out of it and picked it up, before tossing it towards the laundry basket. It hit the side of the basket and slid to the floor. "Damn," commented Quinn, "I keep forgetting to take the lid off". She walked over to the basket, removed the lid and dropped the skirt into the basket.

She walked back to stand beside Arthur, while she unbuttoned her blouse. She slipped the blouse from her shoulders and threw it more accurately into the basket. She seemed pleased by this achievement, to the point that she did a fist-pump.

Next she turned her attention to her suspender belt, starting by unhooking it from the tops of her stockings, then undoing the catch that held it in place. She tossed this garment at the towel rack; it missed, but it did not seemed to bother Quinn this time. Soon the stockings had been rolled down her legs and once more she used the magician as a support as she removed them from her feet. She balled the stockings up and pitched them into the laundry basket; they did not go in cleanly, but they went in.

As she reached between her back to release her bra strap, Arthur said, "Now, Quinn, Pause."

Quinn frozen position.

"Well, Quinn, are you sure you want to undress further?"

"Of course, I want to undress further; you can't have a shower while wearing you underwear. Anyway it's not like there's anyone watching, this is my bathroom after all, Mister Arthur." Her face looked slightly puzzled as if she wondered, for an instant, why she was talking to someone who was not there.

"Well, Quinn, are you sure you don't want to wear the bikini in the shower?"

"Of course not, it'd be in the way and I don't know why I bought it in the first place; I don't like the colour."

The magician addressed the audience, "Well, I can work with that." Sounds of amusement came from the assembled spectators. "Now, Quinn, Continue."

Quinn completed undoing the hooks at the back of her bra and shrugged it down her arms, before balling the bra up and launching it into the basket; it was soon followed by her panties.

"Now, Quinn, get into the shower cubicle." She obliged, by stepping onto the platform between the four poles and stood there facing the back of the stage wearing nothing but the tiara.

"Well, Quinn, what are you doing now?" enquired Arthur.

"I'm getting the water going and adjusting the temperature. I don't want it too hot, because I'm not dirty and I don't want it too cold, because I'm trying to relax for bed, not wake up."

"Ok, Quinn the water is now the perfect temperature and as you turn so that the water runs down your back and over your shoulders down your front, you begin to day-dream about being on stage standing in an open sided cabinet. Well, Quinn, now that you are on stage in front of so many people, would you like to put on the bikini?"

"Well, Mister Arthur, I would if this was real, but it's only a day-dream while I'm enjoying a shower, so there's no-one here, just me and you as a figment of my imagination. Besides, it feels, kind of, sexy being naked in front of so many people and I still don't like the colour. (Whatever possessed me to buy it in the first place?)"

"Now, Quinn, we will act out this day-dream of yours, so you may speak in the context of the day-dream."

"So, Quinn do you have any idea what I have in mind for you?"

"Well, no, not yet. But with me standing in an upright cabinet, or at least the skeleton of one, there are only four possibilities that I can think of; something like a mismade, where I get divide into pieces; some variant on the sword box, although there seems to be nothing to guide or support any swords; I suppose one where I get squeezed down or perhaps vanished. But this is a day-dream so anything could happen."

"Well, Quinn, that gives me plenty to choose from, which would you like?"

"Well, Mister Arthur, I've always been partial to a division, but I'm not exactly sure how that works with these poles, 'coz they would be in the way of the blades. But, of course, this is a day-dream, so the physically impossible isn't really a constraint."

"Let me put your mind at rest," said the magician as he stepped in to the wings, returning moments later with a trolley loaded with a stack of blades each the size of the base on which Quinn stood. "Those poles are not solid, but made up of a stack on high-power neodymium magnets and these blades have two layers." He picked up a blade and displayed a metallic grey side to the audience and Quinn, "This side is an iron alloy which is particularly good at accepting magnetic flux, and this other side." He turned the blade over, showing a black face that did not reflect much light. "This side, is the nearest science has come to a magnetic insulator. The effect is to divert the magnetic lines of force so that the stacks can be divided. And, of course, they are razor sharp. Shall we demonstrate, Quinn?"

"Ok," said Quinn in a doubtful tone. "How are we going to do that, Mister Arthur? Besides the obvious." She indicated with a hand movement the pushing of a blade through her waist.

"Nothing so drastic, just yet," replied Arthur as he went over to the screen, which a shier hypnotic subject would have used to change behind, and plucking the bikini top that hung there and tossing it to Quinn. "Now, Quinn, gently throw the bikini top so that it lands on the blade which I shall hold up."

Arthur the Archmage held the blade one-handed in a vertical position and Quinn tossed the yellow item so that it landed on the edge of the blade with minimal force. The inner edge of one of the cups landed on the edge so one cup part of the top went one way and the remainder went another. "The best use for a bikini of that colour," Quinn commented.

Replacing the blade on the trolley, he continued, "There is just one more bit of prep, before we get down to business."

"What aren't I naked enough?" asked Quinn.

"You couldn't get much more naked, so I need to take some precautions on your behalf, to prevent undue interference with you private parts when I display your separated parts at the front of the stage. It won't be much fun for you being prodded, poked and tickled. And, of course, I have to make a token effort to conceal the fact that real magic is happening."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to use this," he said, holding up a roll of clear film. "They'll still be able to see you, while maintaining the fiction that this is just a trick, but also it'll enforce the 'Don't Touch!" rule." There was a short screech as he pulled a length of film from the roll to begin the operation.

"But what if I want to be touched?"

"That would be between you and whoever you want to be touched by, but I feel you do not want the grubby mitts of all the random people in the audience all over you."

"You have a point there. Would you like me to hold the end to make it easier?"

"Thank you. Here, if you could just hold it at shin level while I get it started," requested the magician.

Soon, the cabinet was wrapped in a thin layer of cling-film, from Quinn's shins to her shoulders, without obscuring her nakedness.

"Now to do the dastardly deed. Any requests of where I start?"

Quinn pondered the matter for a moment, she thought out loud, "It would be tradition to start in the middle, or to start at the top down or the bottom up, which do I fancy? I think I'll go bottom up." She continued by speaking to the magician as if she assumed he had not heard. "Mister Arthur, I think I want to be done from the bottom up, starting just below my knees. And could you do it from the sides so that the audience, who aren't really there, can see the blade go through."

Arthur picked up two of the blades from the trolley and having made a display of proofing them to be solid, carefully put them together with the black sides touching. He leaned down and put the sharp edge of the dual blade against the film and rods to Quinn's left and, with a grunt, severed the film and pushed the blade through the rods, until the edge of the blade was millimetres from the top of Quinn's calf.

"Now, Quinn, You will feel no pain, but what feeling you have may be a bit intense." With no further warning he smoothly pushed the twinned blade through the top of Quinn's calves until it sliced through the corner columns on the other side and the film.

"Mmmm, Strawberry," moaned Quinn in a tone reminiscent of Homer Simpson dreaming of donuts.

"What was that?" the magician asked, but Quinn did not reply, so he tried again, "Well, Quinn, What did you just say and why?"

"I said, 'Mmmm, Strawberry,'" she repeated, "because the cut tasted of strawberry."

Some people in the audience expressed some amusement at the concept. "I've heard about this. It's like synaesthesia, where some senses can trigger responses that are interpreted as being from another sense. In this case, a sensation that the brain does not usually feel, like being cut through the legs, is being interpreted as a flavour. I've never encounter it myself, but I've heard of another magician's assistant who could tell what colour she felt when divided."

"Well, Quinn, shall we continue?"

"Yes, please," replied Quinn.

Arthur took hold of the blade handles and gave them a quick twist relative to each other, so that the corner rods of the cabinet and Quinn's legs were out of line. This drew applause from the audience and a small squeak from Quinn, who could not see what the magician had just done.

"Time for the second blade. About here ok?" He held blade level with the tops of Quinn's thighs.

Quinn nodded that it was ok and the blade was soon in place accompanied by a muttered, "Mmmm, Raspberry."

The third blade, chocolate flavoured, went in a little below her waist and soon her hips were back in line with her lower legs, while rest of her torso remained in line with her thighs.

"I think the audience have got the idea that the blades are really going through you, which is just as well, because the next few I will need to put in from the front."

"That's fine with me, I'm curious to find out how they taste," Quinn responded, seemingly unperturbed by the experience; whether it was because she was becoming accustomed to being divided, the hypnosis, or thinking she was day-dreaming, who can tell.

The Archmage went to the blade trolley to prepare for the next cut. He took a cabinet-sized blade and placed on it two half-sized blades so that where their edges met ran down the larger blade from the handle to the cutting edge.

"Now, Quinn, I want you to cross your arms and hold each arm with the other hand."

Quinn crossed her arms supporting her breasts a bit, making them seem even perkier; each hand gripped the opposite fore-arm.

The blades turned out to be mint flavoured as he pushed them through Quinn just below the base of her ribs, so that her elbows rested on the blade.

The next set of blades was soon paired up and contrary to everyone's expectation, these were inserted in a vertical orientation, so they stood on the previous blades with their upper edge aligned with hollow at the base of Quinn's neck. First they went through her wrists and into her chest between her breasts.

"Whoa, aniseed!" she commented.

"Well, Quinn, do you not like aniseed?" enquired the magician.

"It's not my favourite, but I don't hate it, but it's a bit intense. You could have warned me!"

"Well, I'm sorry to say, but I couldn't." Quinn looked at him with a 'What?' in her stare. "These sensations are completely individual to you," he continued. "And even if I knew what sensations you were going to feel, how would know which you would find pleasant or less so? Time for the last blades."

Another set of three blades (one full size, the other two half size) was pushed through with the half-sized blade underneath this time. This operation was accompanied by an excited squeal of 'Ooo, chili!"

Arthur did a tour round the 'shower cubicle' releasing brakes on the casters, and then rolled the whole contraption forward, including a full rotation of the disjointed cabinet, so that the audience could get the full effect. He left Quinn there briefly, while he fetched and set up two low long tables either side of the central stairs to the stage.

The next minute was a blur for Quinn as the parts were picked off the pile that was the cabinet and distributed between the tables. Her head was placed in the centre of one table and soon flanked by her belly, positioned sideways, and her thighs, in an inverted position. The other table contained her hips, sideways, and lower legs, inverted, bookended by the two parts of her chest.

Arthur brought forward the stand with the towel and took a moment to remove the base of the cabinet from Quinn's upturned feet. "I shall be going back stage in a few moments, to prepare my next miracle. In the meantime, I invite some of you to come up and see the reality of the delightful, hypnotised, nude and divided Quinn. I have arranged that the ushers will keep an eye on things and that anyone who is rude, abusive or threatening to Quinn's safety will be ejected." He stepped back three paces and the curtains closed, leaving Quinn's parts alone on the stage.

The audience seemed in many minds about what to do; several attempted to get a round of applause going, without much success. Soon an orderly queue formed, mounting the steps to inspect Quinn's dismembered body more closely, to talk to Quinn and a few felt compelled to tickle her feet.

There were only two incidents during this period. The first was a guy got out it mobile phone to take some pictures, only to have it promptly confiscated and be told he could collect it at the end of the show. The second, and more serious, was a mature lady who tried to use the 'Now, Quinn,' trigger phrase to induce Quinn to meet her in the foyer after the show and go back to her place for a 'fun' night; she was ejected.

Arthur pushed his way back through the curtains and ushered the audience members off the stage, before reassembling Quinn. He quick withdrew the blades and used the last one the cut away the clear film that formed the cabinet walls. He instructed Quinn that her daydream was over and she had had a nice shower. Quinn turned and made motions to turn off the water then stepped from the booth. She did not seem at all surprised to be handed the towel, which she wrapped round herself.

"Ok, Quinn, We are back in theatre, after a successful hypnosis act; you were brilliant. Now, Quinn, you will not notice that you are not wearing your clothes and ignore any attempts to tell you so. Now, Quinn, when the show is finished, you will come backstage to tell me what you thought of the show and collect your clothes. Ok, Quinn, you are no longer hypnotised, what do you remember?"

"That's see, not a lot actually. I remember a yellow bikini and thinking I owned it (as if?) and too much aniseed, but the main thing was feeling like I was divided into several sections and it feeling good."

"Now, Quinn, It'll come back to you over the next few days as a pleasant and sexy memory." He took Quinn's hand and lead her in a bow, the encouraged more applause for the volunteer Quinn as she returned to her seat.