WARNING: The following story is made for enjoyers of natural body magic/detachment/disassembling people non-lethally. If you are not a member of that community, I strongly advise that you turn back now.

This story is my half of an art trade with User Quad2. If you like it, please consider looking at more of their works, as it's much more akin to their usual MO than mine. Either way, here's the story:

"I guess that this must be the place." Sang Renee, her voice tinged with disbelief. Not that she doubted this was the correct address, the blindingly bright flashing neon sign beating down on her left little chance of error. It was just that, "For a witch's hovel I was expecting something less... public."

Madame December's Decapitation Center was about as un-hovel-esque as it was possible to be, tucked between a phone repair shop and a restaurant specializing in corn dogs in the middle of a crowded mall. The place could easily be mistaken for a lame novelty shop or a goth supply store, its window display having enough black, white, and blood red to make a vampire cringe, and the things displayed, well, "Leather chokers, medieval swords, whatever the hell 'stump balm' is... this must be a joke, right?"

Renee was about to spin on her heels and leave this farce behind her, maybe grab a corn dog for the road, but something on display gave her pause. It was a mannequin head with sharp cheek bones, red lips faintly smiling, a trendy modern haircut half hidden beneath the antique top hat it was advertising, and androgynous enough that Renee would've asked its pronouns were it a person. Renee leaned in, wondering what it was about this mannequin head that bothered her, then recoiled in horror. The head had blinked! Staring at it longer, Renee caught its gaze twitching, like it was fighting the natural reflex to meet Renee's gaze. "What the hell?" Renee whispered, standing back up to her full height of nearly 6 feet and glancing at the sign with slightly more confidence in its sincerity.

Taking a deep breath, straightening her spine and throwing her shoulders back in the pose she normally reserved for the runway, Renee strut into the store.

"Hello and welcome, to Madame December's Decapitation Center, your one stop shop for all your head and body needs!" Came a young, eager, feminine voice a few feet to Renee's right. Renee found herself in a long, narrow, rectangular space, filled with an eclectic mix of products which to most people would've looked like gag gifts. Bladed weapons with edges that gently sparkled in various shades of the rainbow, small metal containers and glass bottles with labels like 'waterproof neck glue' and 'stumpscreen SPF30', handbags with see-through mesh fronts, ornate pillars topped with plush pillows, trendy shirts and fluffy sweaters without any neck holes, chokers with one of the ends capped with soft looking fabric... so much bizarre stuff, but Renee knew inherently what it all meant. It meant this Madame December lady really could help her!

"Uh, Miss? Can I help you?" The voice from before asked, snapping Renee out of her stupor. Turning, she saw a few shelves of shampoo, head or shoulders rather than the usual '&' stuff, but no source for the voice. That is, until she looked down. The girl behind the counter was extremely short, her pale pigtailed head barely poking over the edge of edge of a counter that couldn't have been more than three feet tall. Despite looking somewhere between 16 and 17, with soft features and youthful eyes, her hair was uniformly silvery white, meaning she either dyed it religiously, or else she had very premature graying along with dwarfism.

The girl beamed with excitement as she recognized the new customer, looking her up and down with admiration and perhaps a hint of jealousy. She announced "Renee Beaufort!"

"So I've been told." Renee said, brushing a few loose strands of purple hair behind her ear. The deep, naturally purple hair was a dead give away, Renee being one of only four living people with that bizarre birth defect, but even if her hair was the most nondescript brown in the world she still would've been easily picked out of most crowds. With long, elegant, shapely limbs, an hourglass midsection with just enough flesh to keep her from looking bony, naturally tanned skin with flawless complexion, she really couldn't be missed, even when she tried. "I don't suppose you're Madame December? Not to sound rude, but you strike me as a bit young to be a Madame. Maybe a Lady, perhaps?"

The girl behind the counter smiled, and while her head hadn't actually moved at all her expression implied a nod. "Well, you're correct that I'm not Madame December, though be warned, she looks little more Madame than me." The cashier flicked her eyes to the right, aiming them deeper into the store without turning. "Mistress! A customer requests the Madame herself!"

Raising a curious eyebrow, Renee glanced deeper into the store. The far wall had two doors, the left a unisex bathroom and the right labeled 'staff only'. While it was difficult to tell from this distance, Renee was pretty sure that the deep, lazy, female voice she heard had come from the right door. "Ugh, I told you to stop calling me mistress, Jan! It sounds kinky!"

"It is the female equivalent of 'Master', no? Are you not my Master, Mistress?" Asked Jan, either a master of deadpan or utterly sincere.

"No, I'm your teacher! Your supervisor too, I guess! But like, I don't own you like I own the oth-" She cut herself off like someone had hit the mute button on her mouth. There were a few seconds of silence, then she asked "Just a sec."

Renee gave Jan a look. "She'll just be a moment." Jan said, this time more obviously deadpan.

There were sounds of fumbling, some mumbling, the sound of a screeching cat that Renee swore was a stock sound effect, then the door on the right was thrown open, confirming Madame December had not in fact been on the toilet. But that would've been far less shocking than what Renee witnessed. Standing in the doorway was the headless body of a woman, dressed in a slightly more modern take on the traditional black witch robes, with short sleeves, splashes of purple around the hems, and some brown leather pieces providing contrast. The headless body purposefully and casually strode to the front of the door, dispelling any suspicion that this was some sort of trick. Once in arm's reach of Renee, the body extended a hand which the purple haired woman gingerly shook. Even if the body had a head, Renee would've been significantly taller, and with that height advantage she saw that the top of this body's stump was not a gory cross section like she was expecting, but a smooth and featureless expanse of skin, slightly pinker than the rest of Madame December's flesh but otherwise natural looking. Renee could also spot a tiny name tag pinned to her chest, reading "Ember?"

"Yeah, 's what I call the bod while we're apart." Came the deep, lazy, female voice, louder both because of the lack of a door in the way and because it was getting closer. "Likewise, I'm Dec." Renee turned to the staff only door and somehow was surprised to see a floating severed head, of the same skin tone as the body and wearing a small and slightly askew re-imagining of the conical witch hat on its head. A head that, like both Jan and Renee, sported rather unique hair, a mint green and tightly braided ponytail trailing behind her. Beneath that head was a glowing disk of misty green energy, pulsating gently as the head floated through the store and lined itself up over the body's neck stump. "And together, we are..." the body grabbed its head, pulling it down onto its neck and dispelling the magic disk. "Madame December!" The witch said, throwing out enthusiastic jazz hands and smiling bright despite the monotone delivery.

Renee could do nothing but stare, about a million things she wanted to say battling each other to be the first thing out of her mouth and leaving her speechless in the process.

"Don't mind her, Mistress, she's just pausing for photo ops. It's a model thing." Jan piped in, hoping to prod Renee out of her silence.

"Stop. Saying. Mistress!" Madame December commanded, reaching over the counter and grabbing one of Jan's pigtails. Renee flinched as Madame December lifted Jan's detached head up to eye level by a pigtail, the younger girl wincing but otherwise comfortable with the rough treatment even as her sideways head gently rocked side to side. Renee leaned over the cashier's counter and look down, finding only a 3 foot tall stool with a lightly cushioned top. "You were just a head this whole time?" Renee asked, barely resisting the urge to slap her forehead. How the hell did she miss that?

Madame December frowned, scratching her neck like she was about to break bad news. "Uh, if it's your vision you're looking to fix, I'm afraid my magic... can't. Like, I know the slogan says we cater to all your head and body needs, but like, we don't mean literally. You should see an orthodontist for that."

Renee snapped her attention to the witch. "No, actually I-"

"Actually, I think you meant optometrist. Orthodontist is teeth." Jan interrupted, receiving a playful if a bit painful flick to the nose from her Mistress/Master/Madame/teacher/supervisor, which upgraded her head's rocking to swaying.

Renee rolled her eyes "Well yes, but-"

"But I don't do either." Madame December interrupted. "Like, I know some teeth whitening spells, but it won't fix anything below surface level. So-"

Now Renee interrupted, losing patience with this bit. "I just want you to take off my head!"

"Oh." Madame December said. Reaching up and grabbing the point of her witch hat, Madame December pulled gently and lifted her head effortlessly from her neck, the disk of magic returning and allowing her head to float just above her empty neck when her body released it. "That, I can help with!"

With that, Jan's head was tucked into the crook of Ember's arm as the body spun around and made for the back, leaving Dec floating in front of Renee. "If you could just follow my body into the back, we can go ahead and process you."

"Why can't you just pull my head off out here?" Renee asked, pausing as she realized "Wow, there's a sentence I never thought I'd say."

"I did a ritual to do let me do this to myself at will. We have to do a ritual on you to remove your head, and before we even get to that there's actually a lot of paperwork to do, since this can be a pretty life changing decision, you know? We gotta make sure you're of sound mind, know the risks and consequences, there's this questionnaire thingie you gotta do so we can figure out the best type of decapitation to fit your lifestyle needs, so on and so forth." Dec explained, slowly hovering backwards while still facing Renee, nodding for her to follow along.

Renee approached, joking "I'm not going to be signing my immortal soul away, am I? Because I think I already traded that to my agent."

"Nnnnnnoooo, buuuuuuut... there are costs." Dec said, avoiding eye contact.

Renee stopped in her tracks, looking unimpressed at the floating head. "What costs?"

"Look, the contract is like, 2 pages, double spaced 12pt font. You can like, read the whole thing in 5 minutes and see if it's something you want to do." She answered without answering.

Renee looked back at the store's front door, then back at the witch, then back at the exit. Then, she sighed, and followed the floating head deeper into the store.

-

"I still think you should have your head be freely detachable, regaining control while you're on it." Jan advised, watching Ember wander around the room preparing the ritual. "Trust me, being stuck as just a head gets really old."

"Well, from what I could gather, being a head wasn't your choice." Renee said, lying perfectly still on the cheap wooden table topped with an exercise mat that Madame December charitably called her operating table. She closed her eyes, focusing on her head, imagining her body wasn't there at all. "I've spent my entire adult life as nothing but a figure to people, a thing. They don't care about what I say, or think, or feel, just how good I look. Hell, even when I was a child, all my parents cared about were my appearances. How cute I looked, how well I danced, I was like a show dog to them! I want to be a person, and the only way I can do that is to get rid of this... thing. Permanently."

Renee could tell Ember was almost done with her ritual, having spent the last hour drawing dozens of tiny arcane symbols on what looked like an ordinary woodworking knife, while Dec and Jan took turns quizzing Renee. They wanted to know why she wanted to be decapitated, what she was hoping to get out of decapitation, her expectations and plans post-process, and more. To Renee's surprise, there were actually dozens of options, covering a wide variety of both lifestyle choices and aesthetic preferences. But, only one really spoke to her.

She wanted her head removed at the jawline, her body given a separate sentience, and neither part having feeling nor control over its partner. The body would be granted sight, hearing, and smell, and its sentience would retain Renee's existing memories and general demeanor. But, it would have its own wants, desires, and beliefs. While modifying a consciousness was by Dec's own admission more art than science, Renee couldn't give her body an exact copy of her mind, what with her wanting to be rid of her body. Making a body that wanted to be rid of itself would be inhumane! She'd have preferred to simply sidestep the issue and vanish her body, but her modeling contract prohibited her from quitting or deliberately damaging her figure, with financial penalties for violation severe enough to ruin her. The contract, of course, never mentioned removing her head with witchcraft.

"Sho, if you coul'd jusht shign here, dat't be super." Dec slurred, floating over with a clipboard and pen between her teeth. Attached to the clipboard were the two promised pages of contract, which Renee read extremely closely before she even touched the pen.

"Before I sign, are you absolutely certain that I can't get floating powers like you? I assure you, cost is no object." Renee said, glancing at the floating Dec. She'd originally wanted to part ways with her body, taking 66% of her current cash and other assets while the body kept 33% and its extremely lucrative job, but the witch said she could offer no magic means of locomotion. Renee would need a full time caretaker, forcing her to rework her request entirely and having her body continue to care for her head post severance.

"Yeah. Sorry. It's not your money that's no good, it's that pegasus powder is really hard to come by these days." She said. "I don't even have enough for my own assistant!"

"Yes, and according to my Mistress, it's essential for the spell. No matter what the book says." Jan said, a hint of annoyance slipping into her tone as she stared accusingly at Dec.

"Ugh, I told you, Janette! The book is an older edition! Their process is crude and outdated. Using the updated process, we need pegasus powder!" Dec said, using her assistant's full name for the first time in front of Renee.

Jan closed her eyes, and with a condescending expression recited "Except for necromancy and temporal manipulation spells, pegasus powder can be substituted with phoenix ashes, at a rate of 1.75 grams for every required gram of pegasus powder, after treating the ashes with the Arg-"

"The Argeti method, yeah, yeah." Dec huffed. "The Argeti process is still fringe witchcraft, the tabloid are overselling it. Once it's accepted by the council as safe, we'll talk about it." She turned, and saw Renee wearing the look of a dinner guest stuck at the table as the host family got into a screaming match. "Uh, sorry." Dec apologized, Ember taking a break from her preparations to stroke Jan's hair with placatory tenderness. "Jan's kind of been stuck like this a while, and while I've tried to help her, taking her under my wing as an apprentice and teaching her magic and stuff, scrounging the necessary components to teach her the floating head spell has taken a bit longer than anticipated."

"Like 75 years and 3 months too long..." Jan muttered, rolling her eyes.

Renee blinked, realizing that with the power of magic, there was no real reason why the young-adult looking witch and or teenage seeming apprentice couldn't be older than they appeared. While she wanted to ask their true ages, Renee was polite enough to know that you never asked a lady that. Or a Madame. Instead, she returned her attention to the contract. "So, you want $1,750? I must say, that's quite a lot cheaper than my soul."

"Well, souls don't pay the lease." Dec said casually. "Honestly, I kind of thought the price tag might put you off. Most people want to haggle for it, and that... sometimes causes problems, down the line."

"We wouldn't have so many 'problems' if you'd standardize a monthly payment plan with a fixed interest rate, instead of having everyone haggle over specifics every time." Jan piped in.

Dec rolled her eyes, though this time her scoff was more jovial than frustrated. "I told you, when it's your name over the door, you can make whatever changes to the business model you want!" She returned her gaze to Renee, and stage whispered. "I tell you, she's too smart for her own good! Makes me wonder who's the apprentice sometimes."

"Well, you know what they say about students becoming the Mistresses." Renee replied, smiling as Jan grinned and Dec groaned. Giving the contract one last look, Renee signed it and stuck the clipboard back in Dec's mouth, keeping the pen. Digging through her designer purse, Renee withdrew her checkbook and quickly scribbled out a $1,750 check. She handed it to the body, who gave it a quick... look?... with its magic senses, before tucking it into a barely visible pocket and raising the knife to Renee's throat. Without a second of pause, the body slid the blade through.

Renee gasped, her head rolling to the side and nearly toppling off the table. Everything below her jawline was... well, it wasn't even numb. It was beyond numb, like her brain didn't believe that anything was supposed to be down there. She hadn't even recognized the hand arresting her roll as her own until she took the time to study the gorgeous leather wrist watch wrapped around a familiarly slender wrist. "Oh my God." She whispered, feeling another hand reach behind her and slide its soft fingers through her long purple locks. Her perspective shifted like she was a passenger on a roller coaster, moving and jolting around weightlessly. She felt the hands adjust their grip, spin her around, and leave her face to stump with her former body. "Oh my God!" She repeated, her eyes sparkling with delight. "Take me to a mirror! Please! I have to see this!"

Her former body's neck twitched, and by some instinctual sense, Renee knew it was scanning the room. Spotting the mirror, the body hopped off the so-called operating table and bounded over to it, its usual graceful and refined movement utterly abandoned in its excitement. Spinning Renee around so fast her hair whipped around and obscured her face for a second, Renee saw herself anew.

Her hair cascaded down and accounted for half her remaining height, and for the first time in years those purple curls took center stage, without a body to distract from their unique her beauty. Framed between those lovely locks was a slightly tanned face sporting blue eyes, softly sloping cheeks, and a small pointy nose perched above pouty lips. She looked...

"Perfect."

-

"Ok Ms Beaufort, why don't you tell me... what inspired this career change." He asked, his voice making it clear he knew just how stupid that question was but that he legally had to ask.

"Certainly." Renee said, smiling sympathetically. "I've always wanted to get my voice out there, whether discussing weighty topics like climate change or chatting about something as light and fluffy as my favorite marshmallow based treats. As such, hosting a talk show is an absolute dream of mine, one that my modeling career has set me up well for. I've got serious name recognition, after all."

"Indeed." He said, flipping through Renee's resume and dutifully pretending not to notice the fact that Renee's head was resting on his desk, completely devoid of the body that had made her name known in the first place. "Now, it says here that you'd been producing a bi-weekly podcast for two years, but the last of posted episode was dropped a year ago. Could you explain why you ended your show?"

"Of course." Renee said, her voice smooth and her face confident even as her non-existent stomach churned. She'd been dreading this question. "I produced hour long podcasts every other week, as well as dozens of bonus releases and specials, for two full years, attracting quite an audience. Unfortunately, a small but persistent minority made extremely hostile remarks regarding my body and my profession, sending me very uncomfortable or even threatening messages. I endured this for two whole years, but as a lone woman producing content as a hobby, I was not equipped to deal with the harassment, and was forced to take a break for my mental health. But, my body is no longer an issue, and with a professional team like yours behind my b-, er, to support me, I am confident I can thrive."

"I see." He said, typing out a few final notes. "Well, that concludes the final stage of the interview, thank you so much for your time Ms. Beaufort. You will be hearing back from us within the next two weeks regarding our decision"

"Likewise, Adam, I thank you for your time and consideration." Renee replied, blinking slowly to imply a nod. "I would see myself out, but I'm afraid I might get lost."

Adam laughed good naturedly, and replied "Of course! I can have my assistant escort you to the lobby, if that would be alright with you. Will your... caretaker, be picking you up?"

"Yes, she will." Renee answered.

Adam texted his assistant, who arrived only a minute later. After ensuring Renee was comfortable being touched, she gingerly picked her up and carried her to reception, where she set her head down on the front desk. "I hope you don't mind me leaving you with our receptionist! Can't have someone running off with our potential next star!"

"It's fine. Felicia and I were actually chatting before my interview." Renee said, the receptionist smiling and stroking her hair. The secretary nodded, and fled back to her office to return to normalcy. "So, you were asking about Madame December's shop?" Renee continued, glancing at the receptionist.

She told the receptionist everything she wanted to know about the shop, then everything she wanted to know about modeling, then about her new lifestyle, her routine, her body... but as the minutes piled up into over an hour, the receptionist started to worry. "You sure your body's on its way?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Renee said, rolling her eyes. The receptionist had been kind enough to text her body four times already, but had received no reply. "She probably got stuck at the studio again."

Renee tried to hide her frustration, not wanting to blow up in the building she was hoping to get a job in, but this was getting ridiculous. Tomorrow would mark the 2 month anniversary of her becoming a head, and in that time her body had managed to leave her stranded 30 times. While she'd never been left anywhere unsafe, her body's erratic schedule and constant acceptance of overtime were beginning to make Renee reconsider her caretaker.

Then again, who else would look after her head? Her parents were still livid with her for 'mutilating her beautiful body', her friends were all in the modeling business so their schedules would be little better, and it's not like she knew anyone with experience caring for heads.

Except...

-

"So... you gals hiring? Part-time, no Thursdays or Fridays? I'm needed in the studio those days." Renee explained, her body stroking her hair with one hand and checking its phone with the other.

"Sorry, afraid not." Jan explained, Ember mirroring Renee's body by stroking Jan's hair while reading a dusty magic tome. "Me and the Madame are the only two full time employees. We have a few debtors who work off their balance by letting us use their head as display pieces or their bodies to deliver online orders, but since you paid in full and up front, that's not really an option."

Renee frowned, her cute features somehow amplifying the impact of that sadness. Jan had to avert her gaze, cringing, and feeling like she needed to console Renee somehow, she added "Well, there might be space in the collection, but you wouldn't want to be part of it. Those heads are a nasty bunch."

"Collection? What collection?" Renee asked.

"Oh, Madame December isn't just a head removing witch, she's also a head collecting witch! She's got a whoaiumphh!" She glanced back at Ember, who'd tuned into the conversation late and clapped a hand over Jan's mouth. She rolled her eyes, and said something muffled into Ember's palm.

Renee's body, in a very bold move for someone with no magic, reached over and swatted Ember's hand away, the faceless body somehow managing to give her an affronted look. "Thanks." Jan said. "She keeps the heads of everyone that's wronged her or her customers in a secret back room, behind the back room you saw. Super illegal, obviously. Doesn't like me talking about it, but frankly I don't like being stuck as a head for the better part of a century either, so I guess we're even."

Ember stamped her foot, clapping her hands together so loud even Renee's headless body reflexively tried to cover its nonexistent ears. A second of silence passed, then Dec floated out from the back room. "What's the problem?"

"She wants to see the collection." Jan said, casually.

"Janette! You told her about the collection?!" Dec asked, floating all the way over to her body and reattaching herself just so she could pinch Janette's naughty cheek herself.

"Ow! Forgive me, mistress, it just slipped out." Jan lied, making no attempt to disguise her lie.

Madame December lifted Janette off her stool behind the front desk by her pinched cheek, carrying her like a bag of dog poo to the back of the store. Renee's body gathered up her head and speed walked after them, the taller woman's longer legs quickly catching up. "Hey, what's the collection? Can I join?"

"No!" Madame December answered, her head spinning 180 degrees to face Renee, then completing a 360 degree rotation to face forward again.

"Why not? My body can't provide a stable living environment and you've got tons of experience keeping heads happy and healthy!" Renee said. Jan shot Renee an incredulous look as she hung from her cheek. "Uh, as happy and healthy as possible."

The witch stopped, looked at Jan, and sighed. She adjusted her grip, now cradling her head in one arm and apologetically stroked her hair. "Look, the collection isn't for you. I don't just take heads and keep them as pets." She explained, Jan's head all but purring as Madame December scratched behind her ear. "It's a collection of evil heads. Heads that wronged me, wronged my customers, wronged the world. I keep them as punishment, vanishing their bodies so they can't hurt anyone."

"But... why don't you just go to the police? Isn't this, like, super illegal?" Renee asked.

"Magic is super illegal. There's a reason this shop only appears to those looking for it. I put a magical ward around it, so if you're not explicitly looking for my shop, all you see is a condemned lot covered in warning signs and stuff. If I went to the police, I'd be turned over to some super secret branch of some intelligence agency, never to be seen again. So, when I need justice, I do it." She said, solemnly. Turning, she saw Renee silently stare at her, horror in her eyes. Madame December clarified "Trust me, I don't do this willy nilly. If someone stiffs me on the bill or something, I put them to work until it's paid off and let them go. Only, like, irredeemable bastards get added to the collection. People who tried take advantage of bodiless customers, people who attempted to steal magical artifacts for evil, even..." she looked down at Jan, who gave her a knowing look. "Even someone who tried to kill Jan."

"Kill?" Renee repeated, stunned.

"Total psycho, just barged in screaming about heresy or devilry or something. Tried to put a knife through her eye. If I hadn't been close by, stocking shelves, I..." She trembled, tearing up. "I don't want to think about it."

"I understand." Renee said. "But I really need your help! My body can't be there for me, and caring for me is holding her career back! Please, just... is there anything you can do?"

The witch frowned. Renee was her best customer. Her head and body spent every Sunday in the shop, browsing and chatting with December and Janette, buying as much merchandise as she could carry, even recommending the store to friends and colleagues. Not only that, the Witch knew Jan could use a friend. But, then again, the witch had her hands full taking care of Jan and running her shop, not to mention keeping the collection in order. Severed heads required a surprising amount of upkeep, even evil ones. Taking on another head, even one as sweet and cute as Renee's... "I'll think about it. I'll have an answer by this Sunday."

"Alright." Renee said, her body's shoulder's slumping in disappointment. The pair bought a novelty shirt with an amusing slogan and a pair of smart looking reading glasses, then departed.

-

"Good evening, one and all, and welcome to Heady Conversation. I'm your host, Renee Beaufort, here to bring you some heady conversation." Said the bespectacled head perched on an ornate pedestal capped with a remote operated rotating platform. Looking into the camera with a confident half smile, no one else could tell just how excited she was. Everything had fallen into place so perfectly. First, the studio green lights a show starring one of the witches prior customers, Mary Francois. Then Mary quits after only a single season, leaving the studio in the lurch. And of course, when they put out a job listing looking for someone with industry experience and a detached head, only Renee Beaufort fit the bill.

She was turned to face her first guests of the evening. "Joining us tonight, the acclaimed mother-daughter acting duo, Shannon and Sharon Silver!"

"A pleasure to be here." Said Shannon, the mother, trying her best not to gawk at the severed head she was engaging with pleasantries. She glanced at her daughter, the nineteen year old starlet staring in open slack jawed amazement. Shannon's lips tightened, and with as much subtlety as she could muster, she snapped her fingers.

She might as well have been a hypnotist. Sharon's jaw tightened, her eyes dulled, her whole face settled into an emotionless mask as she shifted into an upright and dignified posture. "Good evening, Ms. Beaufort." She said, her words as cold as if they were digitally generated.

"Damn, that's kind of creepy, isn't it?" Dec asked rhetorically, watching the interview on the wall mounted TV opposite the front counter, on which her head and Jan's rested while Ember slowly fed them popcorn.

"Sure." Jan said quietly, opening her mouth the minimum amount to admit another bite.

As the interview continued, Dec tried and strike up conversation, and Jan continued to give one word answers and no elaboration. About halfway through, as Shannon scratched her nose in a way that made Sharon awkwardly change one of her answers halfway through, Ember had had enough and turned Dec to face Jan. "What's up, Jan? You've been acting weird lately."

"Nothing." Jan muttered, eyes fixed on the screen.

Dec frowned."Really, you gotta tell me. You've been grumpy forever now. I'm worried. If there's something I can do-"

She was interrupted with "You can teach me fl-"

Jan was counter-interrupted with "Besides teaching you floating powers! We don't have the components to do it properly, and if we're not doing it properly we're not doing it! It wouldn't be safe!"

"And I'm soooo much safer as a defenseless head." Jan replied, rolling her eyes. "Left on the front counter for anyone to come in and steal. Or stab. Or..." she blinked, blinked again, blinked a third time, managing just barely to withhold welling tears. "Whatever. At this point, I don't even care about the spell. I don't care about any spells. I just want a body. Any body."

"Jaaaaaan." Dec said, as Ember placed a hand on her cheek. "I know you don't mean that! You read my spell crafting books more than I do! You've memorized half of them cover to cover! I see the way you read them, the spark in your eye, you're a born witch!"

"Then why won't you let me DO anything?!" Jan snapped, the helpless head's anger even making full bodied Ember flinch. "Why won't you teach me any spells to help me move around? Or psychokinetic spells to let me pick stuff up? Or possession spells to let me remote control bodies? Why are you so insistent on leaving me stuck as... a useless accessory!"

The TV, almost reluctantly, broke the silence. "And I'm just tired of feeling like your accessory, mom!"

The audience of two inside Madame December's store froze. Then, slowly, Ember turned Dec to face the screen. "You're not my accessory, you're my daughter, and I love you!" Shannon said, giving Sharon an icy cold glare of disapproval.

"Shannon, if you would please, I would like to hear Sharon speak." Renee said, calm and level as ever.

Sharon glanced at her, a weak smile of thanks crawling across her lips. "It's just... I never feel like I have a say in my life, you know? I'm always just getting shoved from one role to another. I didn't even want to be an actress, you know? I wanted to be a university professor! But mom wanted to brag to all her Hollywood friends about how her whole family was in the business, how we're all making movies or staring in them. And I just... I'm tired of pretending. I'm done. I want my own life. I'm retiring, effective immediately."

Shannon, and the audience, gasped together. This was quite a shocking development, for Renee's third ever episode. Renee, however, only gave Sharon an understanding look. "I know how you feel. I only became a model because my parents wanted a beautiful daughter. They got something beautiful, but they lost their daughter."

Ember turned off the TV, plunging the store into total silence.

Jan spoke, softly. "Mistress, I-"

"I'm sorry." Dec said. "It's not right. Keeping you from these spells, leaving you helpless, it isn't right. And I'm sorry. It's just that... I'm scared, you know? Us witches and warlocks, we're a dying breed. I'm scared that, if I don't make a successor, there soon won't be any more of us. Letting you move around, letting you leave when you like, I guess I was scared. That something out in the big beautiful world would captivate you, make you never want to come back to this stuffy old shop."

"Lynne." Jan said, uttering December's first name for the first time in decades. "You said it yourself. I'm a born witch. I want to be a witch more than anything. It's why I want to be able to move around, to move things around, to do more complex spells than the simple verbal incantations. I want to help you, to be your apprentice for real, not just your student."

Lynne smiled, and with cracking voice answered "That's good to hear." She sniffed. "You know, I wasn't kidding when I said you'll be running this place one day. I'm well beyond a mortal age, and my magic can only sustain me for so long. When the day comes that my magic fails me, and the years catch up, I intend to pass everything to you. Not just my knowledge, not just my store, but..."

Jan gasped as Ember picked her up and set the younger head on her stump. A flood of sensations filled her mind, the sensation of fingers and toes, of lungs and hearts, of stomach acid and itchy bums. She looked at Dec, stars in her eyes. Dec smiled. "Everything."

Jan grabbed her, stunned by the feeling of fingers from the other side, and hugged her tightly against her own former chest.

-

"Excuse me, could you take this disgusting PDA someplace else? It's torture enough I'm stuck with these filthy low-bred ruffians, must you really conduct these masturbatory acts in front of me as well?" Demanded the blond, posh looking head of a young woman, surrounded by other scowling visages.

"Kylie, if you open your mouth again, I'm removing it. WITHOUT magic." Dec warned, floating her head right up to hers and scowling with all her might.

Renee chuckled humorlessly as her body continued to squeeze her tightly to her chest in a platonic hug. "I hope you know I really do appreciate everything you've done for me. Even if things didn't work out between us, I wish you the best!"

The body stroked her hair in acknowledgment, and after several more seconds of sustained hugging she set Renee down on the otherwise empty shelf, the shelf labeled 'Not Bastards'. The body gave Renee a final pat on the cheek, then turned and walked out of the back room behind the back room, and out of Renee's life forever.

Renee let out a heavy sigh, breathing in the first breath of her new life. "So, what's the initiation ritual like? I warn you, if you need some of my virgin blood, you might be out of luck..."

Jan laughed, floating through Renee's field of view in a slow and shaky path. Her magic disk was more sputtery than her mistress', requiring a lot more concentration than she was expecting, but considering the complexity of the spell she was making remarkable progress. Much to Madame December's lack of surprise. "No initiation ritual. First, Ember's gonna take you to the head spa for a good wash, a touch up for your hair, and some exfoliation. Then, Dec's gonna set up the voice activated laptop on your shelf, give you something to do. Then... well, she's letting me spend the night with you, actually. I was thinking we could just watch a few movies until we pass out."

"Sounds great!" Renee chirped.

Satisfied that neither Kylie nor any of the other bastard heads wouldn't be saying a word, Dec floated over to Renee and asked "Comfy?"

"More than these bastards." She joked, prompting a round of jeers and swears from the surprisingly diverse motley of twenty or so other heads, which were instantly silenced when Dec cleared her throat. Without warning, Ember reached past Dec and pulled Renee off the shelf and into a hug.

"Whoa! Easy!" Renee laughed, as Dec floated down to her level.

"Thank you." Dec said, her head tilting forward and nuzzling Renee's forehead.

"Uh, I think you got our lines mixed up. I should be thanking you." Renee said.

"No, thank you for... well, being you, I guess. Jan and I saw the last episode of your show. It, helped us work through a lot of things." Dec explained.

"I see." Renee said, chuckling as Jan's head performed a loop-dee-loop while making propeller noises with her mouth. "So how'd you find that Pegasus Powder?"

"You trying to get yourself moved to a bastard shelf?" Dec asked, rolling her eyes as Ember tucked Renee into the crook of her arm. "Come on, Jan, I think all three of our heads deserve a trip to the spa."

"Yes!" Jan cheered, her and Dec's head trailing behind Ember like a pair of ducklings as the body carried Renee into the first back room.