A black-haired woman was escorted into the rehearsal studio by a man. She seemed overdressed in her black sheer mock neck dress, black pantyhose, and ankle strap heels. Meanwhile, the man casually wore a button down shirt, slacks, and black shoes.

Awaiting them in the studio was two things. The first was a platinum blonde sitting in a chair. She sported a pair of ankle boots, a skirt, and what seemed to be a blouse topped with a shrug. The second was a guillotine.

“Suzy, this is Leia,” the man said. “She’ll be helping me showcase this particular trick.”

Suzy stood up and held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Suzy.”

“Hello, Suzy,” said Leia, turning her body to reach the outstretched hand. She had trouble giving a proper handshake.

“Sorry, I’m a bit tied up right now,” Leia remarked. She turned around briefly to show off her back, revealing that her arms have been restrained behind her. Above her elbows were leather cuffs connected by a short chain.

“Oh,” Suzy awkwardly said, sitting back down.

“It’s part of the effect,” the man chimed in.

“Don’t listen to him, Suzy,” Leia said with a chuckle. “Michael just likes to tie us up.”

“It’s so you can’t change your mind and back out.” Michael yoinked the chain behind Leia and dragged her behind the guillotine. She knelt in front of the bench.

This guillotine was made slimmer and lighter in comparison to its original counterpart. This particular variant has had its bench shortened to better accommodate a kneeling occupant.

Michael forced Leia down and put her head through the open stocks. He moved in front and fixed her shoulder-length hair, so that none of it got trapped in the stocks. Afterwards, he slid the upper part of the stock down, and with the flip of two latches, he secured Leia’s head.

“Comfortable?” Michael asked. He returned to the bench and grabbed the ends of its one strap. He fastened them tightly over Leia’s body.

“Not really,” Leia replied, “but aren’t you forgetting something?”

Michael went back over to Leia’s head and looked down. Leia looked up at him the best she could and gave him a look.

“Ah, right, be right back.” Michael hurriedly sprinted away. He returned shortly with a wicker basket in hand. He placed it in front of the guillotine, right under Leia’s head.

“You’re forgetting something else,” Leia stated. She opened her mouth wide.

“Eh, you won’t be needing it,” Michael said, putting his hand on the release catch. “Now, keep your head straight.”

“Fine,” Leia said. She straightened her head and clenched her hands. “But I want—“

Her thought was interrupted by the weighted blade ramming into her neck. Leia’s head seemed to fall into the basket. The impact caused her body behind the stocks to jerk then go limp, her hands reopening.

“Oh my god!” Suzy exclaimed. Before her, the blade now rested in front of the stocks, covering the neck hole. A circular imprint of blood stained it.

Silence filled the studio. Through the gap between the stocks and the bench, blood dripped quietly onto the studio floor. On the bench, Leia lay inanimate and unmoving.

After observing for several moments, Michael reached into the basket. He pulled out what looked like Leia’s head. Its neck ended abruptly, barely passing the chin.

With his one free hand, Michael undid the strap over Leia’s body. He then took hold of the arm chain and lifted the body up. The body came to life, pulling its neck out of the stocks and straightening itself before being forced to stand up.

Suzy brought her hands to her mouth. She stared wide-eyed at Leia’s alleged body. Where a head should be was replaced by a neck stump covered in blood.

Carrying the head in hand, Michael walked the body forward, stopping a few feet in front of Suzy. She got a good look at the head’s face. It resembled Leia, but with its eyes half-closed and its mouth slightly open. Its neck stump also had some blood on it.

Glancing at both objects in his hands, Michael took a bow. The headless body also took a bow.

“Wow!” Suzy clapped.

After recovering from their bow, Michael casually tossed the head back into the basket.

“Well, what did you think?” he asked.

“That was amazing! How did you do that?” said Suzy.

“Are you still interested in joining us then?” Michael said, dusting off his hands. He put his arm around the shoulders of the headless body. The body, in response, put its arm around his waist.

“What will I have to do?” she asked.

“I suppose I have to see you assist in one of our tricks first,” Michael said, “so I can see if you have the chops to be one of my assistants. It just so happens that we have a guillotine here.”

Taking his arm off the headless body, Michael produced a pair of handcuffs from one of his pockets. He proceeded to cuff the body’s hands together at the front. The body shook its arms, looking distressed that it was now bound front and back.

“Leia here wasn’t lying,” he said, patting the body’s back. “We do a lot of light bondage, plus some gagging. Are you gonna be all right with that?”

“I can handle it, I think,” Suzy said.

“Great, let’s begin immediately.”

Michael instructed Suzy to let Leia sit on her chair, while he took the basket and left to grab some props. Once Leia was seated, she seemed to relax, crossing her legs. Michael came back with the basket containing some new items.

“Okay, I got everything we’ll need,” he said. “If you wanna back out, do it now.”

“Why? Is the guillotine not safe?” Suzy asked.

“It’s not that the guillotine isn’t safe,” Michael said. “You just... may not get the job, even if you put neck on the line—literally, in this case.”

Suzy took a deep breath. “I want the job, Michael,” she declared boldly.

Michael responded by turning her around. He took a bundle of rope from the basket and started tying Suzy’s wrists together behind her back.

“Is Leia okay?” Suzy asked.

“What do you mean?” Michael replied.

“Her head’s tucked away in that outfit, right? It must be very stuffy in that thing,” she remarked.

“I can assure you that it’s not,” he said, tying off the last knot. He grabbed the next item and moved in front of Suzy.

“Open wide,” Michael said, presenting a harness ball gag.

“I thought you kept it light?” Suzy interjected. “That has straps and everything!”

“I keep it around for special occasions,” he said.

Suzy reluctantly accepted the gag. The harness was composed of a series of leather straps, intersecting at metal rings. Apart from the actual gag, the straps left Suzy’s face mostly unobstructed.

“Everything all right?” Michael asked, after fastening the gag.

“Mhmm.” Suzy nodded.

“Okay, on the bench,” he said.

While Michael reset the blade and opened the stocks, Suzy positioned herself at the foot of the bench and knelt. She bent over, carefully pushing her head through the stocks, before letting her body rest on the bench.

“Let me fix your hair,” Michael said. He pulled clear any strand of Suzy’s hair out of the stocks. “We don’t want them getting stuck in the stocks and getting cut by the blade.”

Now clear, he closed the stocks again and latched them shut. Michael went over to the bench and strapped down its new occupant.

“Mnn, fnf fnnf,” Suzy cried.

“The strap is tight to keep your body from moving too much,” Michael explained. He walked in front of the posts.

“That should be everything,” he told Suzy, who looked up at him. “Are you ready?”

“Nhh,” she moaned into her gag. She wiggled on the bench.

“When I release the blade, you should see yourself fall into the basket,” he said.

“Mmm?” Suzy looked at the floor, then back to Michael.

“Oh, right! The basket!” Michael placed the basket back to its previous spot, right under Suzy’s head.

“Nhh!” A startled Suzy saw inside the basket Leia’s head from earlier. From her view, it was upside down, and it’s face was angled slightly away from her.

“You were wondering earlier if Leia found her dress stuffy,” Michael began, stealing Suzy’s attention.

He pinched Leia’s dress and pulled. It came off effortlessly, leaving the beheaded Leia in her underwear and pantyhose. Leia tried to feel around for Michael, but she quickly gave up because of her restraints.

“If anything, she might be feeling a bit drafty now,” he said.

Stunned, Suzy seemed to be processing what she was seeing. The woman sitting cross-legged in front of her had no head. Her skin flowed from her chest and shoulders up to a neck that tapered to a bloody but clean-cut stump. She decided to look back down into the basket.

The head did not look any different from the last two times she saw it. She took a few moments to check its features. The mouth was still slightly open, so she focused on its eyes. Suddenly, they blinked fully open, then looked at her.

“NNNH—“ Suzy’s scream was cut off by the blade slicing her head off her body. While she was distracted, Michael had come up and released the catch of the blade.

“That went well,” he commented. Beside him, Leia stood up and jabbed him with her elbow. “All right, all right, here’s your dress back.” With a flick of his wrist, he whipped the dress back onto Leia’s body. Fully clothed again, she gave two thumbs up.

Leia now redressed, Michael fished out Suzy’s head from the basket. He held her by the ring at the top of her gag harness.

“Hold this,” Michael told Leia’s body. He handed her Suzy’s head, making sure it faced toward him.

Still gagged—now beheaded—and still conscious, Suzy looked frightened. She seemed to cry out, but she was unable to make any sound. She looked to Michael, who approached her body on the bench. He removed the strap holding her body down and gently pulled it off the bench and set it face down onto the floor.

Suzy’s eyes grew larger upon seeing her lifeless body flop onto the floor. She saw plain as day the exposed muscle and bone that made up her neck. The blood trickling out began to form a puddle.

After neatly straightening Suzy’s body on the floor, Michael turned his attention back to Suzy.

“You got the job, Suzy,” he said. “We’ll talk business later.”

Michael went over and tapped Leia’s shoulder twice. She reciprocated by reaching out for his arm and giving it a squeeze, before walking out with Suzy’s head. Suzy watched as her body gradually departed from her field of view.

“She’s cute as a head,” Michael noted, once Leia’s body left the studio. He bent down and lifted Leia’s head out of the basket, bringing it up to his face.

“Of course, you’re quite a pretty head yourself,” he said. Despite her current condition, Leia managed a smile. There was some blood on her face, likely from Suzy.

Michael set her head down on her neck on the bench, while he went away to fetch something. He came back with a roll of duct tape and a red ball gag.

“Here’s the gag you wanted,” he said, crouching down in front of the pretty disembodied head. Supporting the back of her head, he gently pushed the gag into her mouth. Leia readily welcomed the gag, opening her mouth the best she could.

“Now for the final touch,” Michael said. He took the roll of tape and ripped off a strip. He placed this strip over Leia’s eyes, smoothing out any folds.

“See you later,” he told the head. He planted a peck on her forehead, before standing up and turning his attention to the body on the floor.

Michael took a few minutes to puzzle over how best to move Suzy’s decapitated body. He was tying its ankles together with rope, when a blonde showed up in the studio.

“Okay, where’s the guest—oh...” the blonde said, upon seeing the carnage. She was wearing a loose top, denim shorts, and sneakers.

“Athena, meet Suzy,” Michael answered, “...minus her head.”

“That can’t be right,” Athena said. “I set, like, five alarms for today!” She quickly retrieved her phone and checked. Her heart sank.

“...I accidentally set them for tomorrow,” she admitted.

Finished with the rope, Michael tossed her Leia’s head. “That means you need you to make it up to her,” he said.

Athena promptly caught it and had it face her.

“Sorry, Leia,” she said, defeated. She started stroking Leia’s hair. Leia’s mouth seemed to twitch around its gag.

Unbeknownst to her, Michael had already come closer. With the roll of tape in his hand, he suddenly unwound it. The sound startled Athena a bit and grabbed her attention.

“I’m in trouble, aren’t I?” she managed to say, before letting Michael tape her mouth shut.