For Quinn, the eternal Magician's Assistant, the risk taking that came with working with a new magician was always a thrill. She never quite new what to expect when starting a new job. Some times, the work was rough, and the rewards barely worth it. While other times, it was obvious from the start that things were going to be, pardon the pun, magical.

And when she started to work with Mike, she wasn't sure which it would be.

"Hey there," he said to her in greeting as she strolled into the practice area in his workshop. He was one of the ones who didn't like to surprise his helpers on the stage, and insisted that Quinn come in for a couple demonstrations and practice runs.

"Afternoon," Quinn replied as casually as she was dressed. Mike had made it clear that he had costumes available, and that Quinn didn't need to provide. "What are we doing?"

"This!" Mike addressed the brown-haired woman as he motioned to a very unusual prop in the middle of an open space. There was a small bench to one side, and rolling mirrors available to another side.

Quinn examined the simple thing, thinking for a moment that it wasn't finished yet. It was unusual. A square wooden platform, big enough for her to stand on, rested on the floor. From each corner was a relatively thin metal pole that reached up past her height. It was topped off with a metal plate that looked to be a half-inch thick. "Not a lot to see," she commented.

Mike grinned. "Trust me," he said, "it's not to see, but be seen."

Quinn stuck an arm through the prop. "Well, I can see a lot." She touched one of the poles, and felt that it was ridged on the inside edges. "What are these for?"

"When you've changed and stepped in, you'll find out." Mike's promise was honest. He looked her in the eye. "You know that we'll be performing at the Bloody Witch." He didn't need to remind her, she was professional enough to know the venue ahead of time - and the tastes of the crowd. "Why don't you go change into something you think would be a good fit?"

"You're leaving that decision to me?" Quinn wondered about that. She had a lot of experience with people who micromanaged everything.

Mike shrugged dismissively. "Yeah. You wear something that works for you, and I can work around it. I trust you."

"And while I do that, you'll get the rest of that ready?" She indicated the four-poster platform with a nod."

"What?" Mike expressed confusion. "No! It's ready!" He pointed at the changing room. "You change. I'll wait."

Quinn took one more look at the empty prop. "Alright." Spinning on one heel, she headed for the room with all the costumes. "But don't blame me if I choose something you're not prepared for!"

"Try me!" Mike responded to her challenge with one of his own.

This, Quinn decided then and there, called for something a bit more fun.

She stepped into the changing room, and soft-locked the door behind her. Mike, she had found, spent a lot of time organizing everything, more than he spent preparing his performance. Clothes, costumes, and the usual bric-and-brac were arranged in neat rows, and spaced out so that things were visible, rather than crushed together. At the back was a curtain in a corner for privacy.

She didn't bother with that, knowing Mike was outside still. She quickly stripped out of her clothes, and put them in a basket set aside for exactly that purpose. Once that was done, she browsed the costumes for something to work with.

When she found it, it was like a Eureka moment, one she felt a thrill at. It was the perfect blend of practicality, enticement, and theme for the performance they had scheduled.  It only took her a couple minutes to put it on and make certain everything was in place.

She stepped out of the change room, and spotted Mike with his back to her, hands behind his back as he stared at the far wall, thinking whatever thoughts he thought while waiting.

"Hey," she announced her presence as she closed with Mike. "What do you think?"

He turned around, and gave her a very bemused look. "Alright, I'll give you this much for your choice - the crowds will love you."

Quinn, with the expectations that came of a performance on Halloween, at a place called the Bloody Witch, decided there was no time like the present to triple-down on the theme. She wore small purple slippers, with long stockings that were striped white and orange going up to just under her knee.  Over her hips was a dangerously short skit, the bottom threatening with every motion, the purple waistband letting the white cloth drape down. She wore no shirt, and no bra. Instead, her upper torso was covered - if one could use that word - with a purple caplet, the short piece of fabric draped over her shoulders and tied off at her neck with an orange bow. The cloth split in front of her, from the bow down, exposing the inside curves of her breasts, as well as the bottoms. Like the skirt, it was a purple collar with white going down.  And she naturally completed the ensemble with the traditional hat, purple with an orange strip around the cap.

"You like?"

"Who cares what I think?" Mike tried to deflect the question. "It's what the audience wants and expects!"

"So you have no problems with this?"  She spun around to give him a view from all angles. She had bundled her hair up under her hat, as leaving it loose would have ruined the effect. Once that was done, she turned her attention to the prop at hand. "So, how does this work?" she asked again. "Because I don't think I can fit with the hat on." She winked to check his reaction.

It wasn't what she expected. "That's alright, I can remove the top."  And Mike did just that, lifting the metal plate up, leaving the whole thing looking somehow more empty.  "You ready?"

"Sure," she said.

"Ahem," he cleared his throat. "Ladies and Gentlemen, now that my assistant Quinn has produced herself, I will now perform upon her person a magical process ne'er before seen by the public eyes!" He gestured at the prop, and Quinn took a moment to pose at the pretend audience. "Now Quinn, please stand inside, and keep your arms and legs within the boundaries of the poles."

Quin stepped onto the wooden platform, noting that if there were walls to it, she really wouldn't have mush room to move. Her hat barely fit within the uprights, but the point was well above. Maybe he would put the panelling on as part of the performance? She turned around to face 'forward' with a smile.

"I could speak at length about the inspiration for this," Mike walked behind Quinn, the top panel in his hand. "But I suspect you would all be more interested in seeing it in action first, then I can explain later."

Quinn didn't let the chatting bother her. It was the usual prattle. "Hey," she said, "think you could..!" Her attempt at a request was cut short as she felt like her legs were being pushed forward, but not. She looked down, and saw that her legs had been cut off just below her knee by a square metal divider. If she squinted, she could vaguely see her reflection in it.

Mike had just cut off her lower legs, she realized.

"I've been a fan of the mismade for years," Mike said, apparently oblivious to Quinn's startled reaction. He stepped to Quinn's right, and she turned her head to see that the top plate that she had thought was a single piece was actually a multiple of them, all thinly stacked on each other. "But I never bought the idea of the regular shapes of the boxes. I mean, what woman can be so easily cut into four?" She watched as he slid another thin divider away from the rest of them. "And the stack of five variant I see on occasion? Just the same problems."  He indicated the four poles that encased Quinn. "So what I did, was I made one that could be sliced at any height!"

This time, he lined the divider up with the bottom of Quinn's skirt, and she reflexively lifted her hands clear. "This way," he said as he pushed it in, painlessly cutting into her right leg, then into the gap between her thighs, then out through her left leg, "I can make each division at the precise height required for the woman inside."

Quinn shivered as she rested her hands against her new lower limit. While she could still feel her legs and feet, they were apart from her now.

"Now, you may be wondering how I did that," he said as he slid another plate free of the stack. This time, he stood to Quinn's left, and lined it up with the top of her waist, just above her skirt. 'lift your arms' he whispered, and she complied. "The secret is actually," he shoved the divider in sharply and Quinn had no time to experience the process of having her hips vanish from sight. By her count, that put her into six pieces so far. Four for her legs, one for her hips, and one for the rest of her.

"Magnets!" Mike announced proudly as he tapped the uprights. "Each of these poles are actually hundreds of magnets stacked on each other, and each of them has a small grove in it so I can slide in these," he indicated another divider in his hand. 'leave your arms down,' he said, and Quin crossed her arms over her stomach, gently resting them on the divider there.

This time, he stepped behind her and reached around the poles to slide the divider in. Quinn was worried for a moment that he was going to miss his target, and her fears grew as he gently slid it in until the edge rested against the bare lower portion of her breasts. "Oops," he said and then lifted up her breasts, gently grabbing them one at a time from above so he could wiggle the plate under them.  Once that was done, Quinn looked down at her ample bosom just in time for Mike to grab the plate from behind, and pull it through her.

Nine! She counted again, adding in her middle and lower arms to the count. The her that was still her had been reduced to her chest and head.

"One more, I think." Mike said, holding up the last remaining divider. This time, Quinn knew there was only one place for it to go. She didn't react as he stepped in front of her and with a single motion, slid the last divider through her neck above the collar.  "Tah-dah!" Mike announced to the audience.

"Mirror?" Quinn asked.

"Not yet," Mike replied. "And the nice thing about magnets," he once again went back to his spiel, "is that I can pull them apart!" He stepped behind Quinn, gripped the poles behind her head and pulled.  Quinn felt elated as she was yanked backward and up before Mike stabilized and circled around her body so she could see herself. "Oh, for those of you wondering, the dividers are non-magnetic."

True to her expectations, her body was cut up very precisely, her chosen costume allowing Mike to make his cuts in such a manner as to alternate her body as clothed and not.  He set her head down on the convenient bench, facing the rest of her.

"Now, I know some of you are jaded audience members," Mike announced aloud as he returned to Quinn's body. "So, I must prove that this really is Quinn, and not some elaborate mannequin." This time he gripped the section containing her chest, and slid it to the right until he was able to get his hands under it to let him lift it better. Once it was clear, he took a couple steps over, and set it down on the ground.

Instead of further dismantling her, as she thought he might have, instead he kneeled on top of the bod, and reached down with one hand. "Proof, they say, is in the pudding," his fingers found the bow around her neck. "And I'm assured that Quinn is very jiggly." He pulled on it, causing to to come undone. For a moment, it was unmoving, but another careful tug from behind caused the caplet to slip off her shoulders and to pool around the bottom of the container.

With her breasts on display, Mike did nothing else with them, instead returning to the stack where he removed Quinn's stomach and lower arms. This box he set down beside her head, where she could turn her eyes to see her abs.

This time he pulled her hips clear, leaving her bisected legs all alone. Carrying them over to her chest, he set his cargo down on top of it, angle askew. Without meaning too, Quinn licked her lips in excitement. "Now, more proof!" He leaned over, and with a glance at Quinn, who nodded, lifted up the bottom of her skirt.

Mike paused there, seeing that Quinn's radiant womanhood was just above the plate, barely a hair's breadth away from the metal. "That was close," he offered, glancing again at Quinn, whose blush deepened. "I could have shaved that off!" he complained as he dropped the skirt back down, covering her up again.

Lastly, he pulled aside her bare upper legs, leaving Quinn in many pieces around the area.

"Now," Mike gestured at the divided woman, "I will let the audience examine her to their content."  He waited, then moved on. "And with that out of the way, I think I should re-stack her."  Mike did the obvious thing and picked up Quinn's head. He removed her hat, and tossed it to one side before setting it down on her lower legs.  Her hair, no longer contained by the peaked cap, fell down behind her, falling down to her legs. She could feel the gentle sawy of them tease at the back of them, causing some confusion as she knew her hair wasn't that long.

He then moved her hips to access her upper body and Quinn watched as the caplet fell away to the floor.  This one went above her head, and she looked up to see the bottom of the divider.  Then her upper legs, stomach then her hips acted now as her crown.

"There are a couple things I could do at this point," Mike turned to the audience. "I could put Quinn back together properly and she could assist me more." He pointed one finger up. "Or, I could take up a volunteer from the audience to join Quinn in her current state - and risk mistakes in the reassembly." A second finger went up, no one taking the offer. "Or three," with his non-counting hand, he slid the top plate, above Quinn's hips apart, pulling another one free. "I could cut some more."

This time he leaned over and Quinn could see him place the divider into the section above her a moment before she felt the edge press against her nipples. "What do you think?"

"I don't think you'll get a helper out of this crowd," Quinn laughed. "So slice away!"

Mike pushed, and Quinn enjoyed telling him where he could go next.