Ceanna sat on her bed with her head resting on her lap. She held her phone in front of her face and frowned, “Hey, Kali, I’m looking at my bank account and I don’t think I’m gonna be able to afford our day out…”
Across the dorm room, Kali slipped into her four armed blouse by holding her upper arms up and letting her lower arms pull the garment down, and then used her upper hands to hold the lower sleeves out so her bottom pair of arms could get through them with less of a fight. She turned around with a frown and replied, “But I’ve been looking forward to this all month!”
Ceanna grinned and lifted up her head, “Well, we can still go, you’re just going to have to smuggle me in!” she outstretched her arms towards Kali, suggesting she should take her head.
Kali held her arms in her classic upper arms across the chest, lower hands on her hips pose, she quite firmly said, “But that’s illegal!”
Ceanna shrugged her empty shoulders and then lifted her head a little higher, as if to emphasize her point, “It’s either that or go alone, like some sort of friendless loser.”
Kali looked away in hesitation for a moment, but then finally grabbed Ceanna’s head out of her hands, “Fine, I’ll get my big purse…”
“I knew you’d see things my way!” Ceanna grinned as Kali carried her head out of their room. Her body fell back onto her bed and she crossed her arms under her neck stump. She got comfortable knowing she wouldn’t need her body for the rest of the day.
As Kali carried Ceanna’s head across campus to the shuttle stop, she explained the plot of the cinematic universe of the IMAX movie they were about to see. It was based on the comic book series DemiHeroes, about a team of demi humans who inherited the supernatural powers of their mythical ancestors and used them to fight crime. Ceanna was particularly excited about this newest installment because it introduced her favorite hero, Pale Rider, to the cinematic universe, and as an added bonus, the dullahan actor they got to play him was incredibly dreamy, according to Ceanna.
Kali had no interest in that genre of movie, but agreed to see it with Ceanna because it meant so much to her, and in exchange, Ceanna agreed to go with her to see all the newly added exhibits in the museum the IMAX theater was attached to.
After their shuttle ride into the city, they approached the massive building that housed the theater and museum, “...and that should be everything you need to know about to understand what’s going on in this movie.” Ceanna said after giving a not-so-brief brief summary of the 13 movies leading up to this one that took the entirety of the journey from dorm room to theater.
“All right, in you go,” Kali said, opening her oversized purse and shoving Ceanna’s head into it. “Can you breathe in there?”
“Yeah, I’m good,” came Ceanna’s muffled voice from inside the bag, “Could use an air freshener, though.”
“I can’t believe I’m doing this…” Kali’s face was turning red and she nervously gripped the purse straps with all four hands while approaching the ticket booth.
“Calm down, if you look nervous, they’ll be suspicious. Well, I can’t see if you look nervous, but you sound nervous.”
“I am calm! You need to be quiet so they don’t hear you!” Kali finally reached the ticket booth, and thankfully the bored teenager behind the counter either didn’t notice or didn’t care about Kali talking to her purse, “One ticket for DemiHeroes Awakening Reloaded Ultimate, please!”
“$22, please.”
“Is there a student discount?” she asked, showing her university ID.
“$21.”
“That’s it? Fine.” She handed over her credit card and received her ticket.
Kali once again looked incredibly nervous as she contemplated the consequences for her criminal actions while standing in line for the ticket checker. If they caught her trying to sneak a head into the movie, would they take away her scholarships? Would she go to jail?
When it was finally her turn to show her ticket, the attendant looked at her suspiciously and said, “Why do you look so nervous? Are you trying to sneak food into the theater?”
“N-n-no! There isn’t any food in here!” Kali cried, clutching the purse to her chest with the 3 arms that weren’t holding her ticket. It was the truth, at least.
The attendant gave her the stink eye, and Kali said, “You know what, I am actually getting hungry, I’m going to go get a bucket of popcorn, be right back!”
After purchasing the popcorn and a soda to wash it down, she got back in line, and with food and drink in hand, the attendant let her pass without further question.
Kali found seats as far away from other people as she could and sat down, placing the bucket of popcorn on the seat next to her, the drink in the cupholder, and her purse on the floor, and unzipped it, doing all four in one fluid motion thanks to her extra arms. Thankfully, it wasn’t crowded and no one sat near them.
“Ah, about time, it was really stuffy in there.” Ceanna said as she was lifted out of the purse.
“Shh! Be quiet and don’t draw any attention, I don't want to get caught!” She then placed Ceanna’s head on top of the popcorn bucket, “I’m too nervous to eat, so knock yourself out.”
“Don’t mind if I do!” Ceanna was able to reach down with her tongue and grab a piece of popcorn.
The lights went out and the action packed movie started. Ceanna, much to Kali’s relief, quietly ate her popcorn while entranced by the movie. Eventually, it looked like the heroes were surrounded and all was lost, but then the tension was broken by a loud, ghostly neigh, and Ceanna immediately perked up. The Pale Rider had appeared on his steed, holding his head under one arm and a spinal whip in the other. He unleashed a phantasmic wave of blue flames that brought the room full of henchmen to their knees and turned the battle around in the DemiHeroes’ favor.
“GOOOO PALE RIDER!” Ceanna shouted, before a nervous Kali grabbed a handful of popcorn and shoved it into Ceanna’s mouth to keep her quiet.
When the credits began to roll, Kali sighed with relief, having gotten through the movie without being caught and forever branded a criminal. As she picked Ceanna’s head up and moved to put it back into her purse, she protested, “Wait, no! They always tease the next movie after the credits!”
“Well maybe next time you should bring your body and a ticket, then you can stay as long as you want!” Kali whisper-shouted as she shoved Ceanna’s head into her purse and zipped it up.
Ceanna, small and helpless as she was, accepted defeat. She already saw the main movie for free, may as well pirate the post-credits scene, she thought. She already had her body trying to type the relevant keywords into a search engine on her laptop back at the dorm.
After they left the theater and entered the museum proper, Kali was finally able to relax, they had gotten away with the crime of the century! She took Ceanna’s head out of the purse and said, “I’m just buying you a damn ticket to the museum, with our student discount, it’s practically free,” and she grumbled under her breath, “unlike the cheapskates at the IMAX…” and then finished her original thought, “and I am NOT going to be a nervous wreck for the part I actually came here for.”
After buying their tickets, Kali carried Ceanna’s head in her lower hands while using her upper hands to hold her phone and take pictures. Ceanna looked utterly unamused to be spending her free time on something educational, but eventually something caught her eye.
“Hey, wait, is there another dullahan’s head sitting on that table over there, to the right?”
Kali looked over to see what appeared to be a young girl’s head sitting on a platter, with her mother snapping a picture. “Ah, no, that’s just a trick with some mirrors.”
Sure enough, the girl’s head sank through the platter and she emerged from under the table in one piece, giggling at the picture her mother took.
“Hey, I’m a culture, not a costume!” Ceanna cried sarcastically. “Come on, let’s go over there, I wanna see what YOU look like as just a head!”
Kali giggled, delighted to see Ceanna actually having fun at the museum, and carried her over. She placed Ceanna’s head on the table, facing her towards the hole that her own head would soon occupy, and then crawled under the table and poked her head up to see Ceanna’s smiling face.
“Hey there, how does it feel to join the ranks of the dullahan?” Ceanna grinned at Kali, looking her ‘disembodied’ head over.
“I feel like a great weight has been lifted off my shoulders.” she replied, causing both of them, and even a few onlookers, to laugh.
“We gotta get someone to take pictures of us, this is awesome!” Ceanna suggested.
Kali agreed, and they found someone to take some pictures of them making a variety of goofy faces. After they were done, Kali emerged from the mirrored table and scooped Ceanna’s head up. They made their way to the history wing of the museum, where a grim and ancient guillotine sat on display.
“Whoa, hey, I got another picture idea,” Ceanna said as she looked the antiquated execution device over. “Hold me up in front of it so it looks like it got used on me!”
“That’s a little grisly, but okay, if you want.” Kali said. She grabbed a handful of Ceanna’s hair and held her in front of the guillotine. Ceanna proceeded to play dead by rolling her eyes into the back of her head and lolling her tongue out of her mouth. Holding her phone at arm’s length, Kali took a picture making it look like she had just lifted a freshly severed(though bloodless) head out of the basket.
“Ooh, now take one with me in the basket!” Ceanna suggested.
“I don’t know, we REALLY aren’t supposed to touch the exhibits.” Kali said.
“Aw, c’mon, just plop me in there, snap a quick pic, and pull me out. No one will notice.”
“Ugh, you are a terrible influence on me.” Kali said. She looked around to make sure no one was watching, stepped over the velvet rope, and gently placed Ceanna’s head in the old basket. Ceanna used the same pretend dead face she did in the last picture.
“Well that basket was clearly not designed for comfort.” Ceanna said as Kali lifted her head out of it.
“Yeah, well, usually the heads that fell in it were only alive for a few seconds.”
“True.”
They were now in the art wing. Kali stopped and snapped pictures of several paintings and sculptures while Ceanna looked bored in Kali’s lower hands. Eventually they spotted a statue of a headless, armless, and winged woman. Ceanna immediately knew what she wanted to do next.
“Put me on top of it!” she said.
“No way!”
“Aw, pleeeease, I really want this picture. And you’ve already broken the rules twice today. What’s one more?”
“Ohhh, fine, but you have to clean my side of the dorm for a month.”
“Deal, I’ll start right now, even.”
“Maybe wait until you can see what your body is doing.”
Kali once again cautiously stepped over a velvet rope and carefully placed Ceanna’s head on the headless statue. Once she was sure her friend’s head wouldn’t topple off, she took a few steps back and took in the sight.
“I always knew I was a work of art.” Ceanna laughed
Kali had to admit, she did look rather goddess-like. Kali took out her phone and started snapping pictures of Ceanna on the statue, who made her best holier-than-thou expression to try and complement the statue, and then some goofy ones to counteract the work of art she rested on.
“HEY, GET AWAY FROM THAT!”
Kali froze when she heard yell from behind her, and turned around to see an overweight security guard waddle towards her.
“Run!” Ceanna said. Kali bolted, leaving Ceanna’s head on the statue. “WITH ME, DAMN IT!”
Luckily the guard was too out of shape to keep up with Kali, even with having to turn back to retrieve Ceanna’s head. Having had her fill of delinquency for one day, Kali decided it was time to head back to the dorm.
On the shuttle ride home, Kali rested Ceanna’s head on her lap, and her lower hands on top of her head to keep it in place on the bumpy ride, while using her upper hands to hold her phone in front of them and scroll through the pictures she had taken.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I had fun at the museum.” Ceanna said, particularly liking the pictures of her and Kali at the mirrored table.
“It’s nice to finally see you take an interest in the arts… in your own way.” Kali replied.
“Oh, is DemiHeroes NOT high art?”
“It was okay, I guess.”