"Thank you, thank you."  On the stage, the Magical Hypnotist stood tall and proud. His brown hair was slicked back, a white shirt and black pants made for his ensemble.  "I am Maury, your host for this little performance."  He waved at his audience.  "Now, as you are all on this boat, I hope you are enjoying the trip?"

His question was met with a round of cheers.

"Well, that's great to hear!"  He clapped his hands.  "Quiet please.  Now, I have to tell you that this is my show.  Before the intermission will be the risque section.  If you find it's not to your taste, I recommend you leave at that time, as the second half will be a lot more ... interesting."  His grin took on a sinister tone, which vanished just as quickly.  "Now, to begin, there were several ladies that I spoke to before the show."

He snapped his fingers. "Please come up now."

At his command, four women stood and walked up to the stage, lining up beside him at his direction.  "I would like all of you to give my volunteers a round of applause.  They agreed to let me hypnotize them."  The audience applauded, and after a moment he silenced them with a wave of his hand.  From behind him, a roll of clothes appeared, on a trolley.

"Now, ladies, I am afraid that you can't help me as you are now."  He gestured at the sets of clothes behind them. "Please, step into this private changing area" - a place without walls - "strip down and pick something to wear.  Once you've changed, I will begin to perform based on the order that you are done. It's the only fair way."

He snapped his fingers again, and the four women began to remove their clothes. Dresses, shirts, shoes, underwear, it was all removed in the privacy of their own room, and they began to browse through the available costumes. Withing minutes, they had all changed, and were lined up outside their room.

"That was nice," the Magical Hypnotist said, having enjoyed the views as much as the audience did.  "So, in order, we have a Maid, a Fairy, a Witch, and a Prisoner.  We are going to ignore everyone on the stage not actively performing," he said to everyone, "so that there are no unnecessary distractions."

"First," he pointed, "is our maid."

The blonde woman stepped forward, and curtsied a little, in her mini-dress.  "Hello," she said as she straightened up, displaying just how much of her bosom threatened to leave her cleavage.

"Thanks for agreeing to this," the Magician said.  "So, why a maid?"

"I wanted to be first, so I just grabbed the first thing and put it on," she said.

He nodded. "That makes sense.  So, what do maids do anyway?"

"They cook," she ticked ideas off one finger at a time, "they clean, they provide service...."

"That's right!" The magician took a large silvered platter from the same place that the trolley vanished into.  "So, for the first half of this show, I am going to cut off your pretty little head, put it on this platter here, and you will walk around with it on display!"

"Really!?!"  She was very excited as she bounced up and down on the stage.  "Oh, that's going to be so neat!  So how are you going to do it?  Guillotine?  Saw blade?"

"Nothing so interesting yet," he assured her.  "You see, my dear maid, as you are under my hypnotic spell, I can simply order you and your body to behave in any manner I choose."  He most certainly did not leer at her.  "So I order you to pull your head off, lifting it like you would a ball, and to set it down in the middle of this platter."

The maid put her hands to the side of her head, and with no hesitation, lifted.  Her head separated from her body cleanly and neatly, allowing her to carefully set her smiling face down on the offered plate.  "Take it," he indicated the platter, and the headless maid did so.  "How do you feel?"

"Very good! This is interesting," she said despite being separated from her body.  "Now what?"

"Now, you will walk around.  Show off your head to anyone who wants."  He turned to address the audience. "Look, but do not touch," he firmly commanded.  "Now," he turned his attention back to the maid, "go."

The maid walked off the stage, carefully balancing her load in front of her.  The Hypnotist turned to the next woman. "And now we have a fairy," he called out.

The brunette wore a green open-backed leotard that looked like it was cut for her perfectly.  From the gap between her shoulder blades, gossamer wings emerged, glittering in the lights.  "Nice to be here!" she announced as she stepped up to the master of the stage.

"And I'm glad you're here too," he replied.  "And a Fairy?"

She huffed in annoyance. "Because I wanted to, duh!"

He shrugged. "Well, I can't argue with that.  So, you know, a Fairy reminds me a little bit of a butterfly."  He gestured behind her, where a large board had appeared and beside it a basket pull of thin metal poles topped with coloured plastic spheres.  "With the pretty wings and the long body and all that."

"I do?" the woman twisted and turned to better look at the costumed wings on her back.  "How so?"

He stepped up to the basket, and pulled out the oversized pin, "You stick both to a display for all to see!"

"Wow!" she exclaimed as he held the two-foot long skewer in his hands.  "Is that real?"

He gave her a flat look.  "Of course it is.  Now, stand with your back to the board there," he pointed with the slim rod in his hands. "And then put your right hand up on an angle as far as it will go."

She did so, the wings pressed flat against the board.  She raised her hand up above her head and to the side, right by the top of her wing. "Is this good?"

"Excellent!" he said as he lifted the pin above his head.  "Now hold still," he commanded as he reached up and touched the tip of the pin to her wrist. "Feel anything?"

"Just the point," she said.

"You will feel nothing," he informed her as he pressed the pin in.  It slid through her wrist and stopped with about a foot left to go.  "See, nothing at all!"  He retrieved the second pin, "now, repeat with your left arm."

Dutifully, she raised it, and he pinned it in place.

"Now comes the fun part," he said as he took the third in his hands.  "Lift your right foot," he indicated what he wanted her to do by raising his own at a small angle, "and keep it off the floor."

She did so, keeping her foot raised up well off the floor.  He knelt down and put the pin through her bare ankle.  Stepping back, he admired his handiwork. "How you feeling?"

"Nothing much," she said.  "Like you told me."

"Good!" he got the fourth and last pin from the basket. "Now, lift your last leg up to the same height."

She did so, taking her feet off the floor and holding her weight by the pins in her extremities. Once again, the performer went to his knees and slid the pin into her.  "There!" he announced as he stepped back to admire his work.  "You may think there is some trick to this," he took one side of the board, and began to walk in a large circle.  This allowed him to show off the back of the board, and the four pins stuck through it from the back.

"Now, I am certain that there are some detractors in the audience who may think I am faking this," he said aloud as he finished rotating the fairy about, "but I assure you, this is real.  And will get far more real after the intermission."

With that he moved on to the third.

"Ah, a witch!" he opened his arms to greet her as the light played over her tight corset, her mini skirt and the pointed hat.  Her black hair fell around her face in curls as she smiled at her introduction.  "So, why that?"

"Well," she said, "it's because it felt right."  She tapped her hat knowingly.  "That, and my boyfriend suggested it to me before the show."

"Oh, he did, did he?" the Hypnotist looked out over the audience.  "Your boyfriend does know what entails from being up here in the last half of the show, right?"

"He does!" she hopped up and down, waving. "And he wanted to know if I could borrow this afterwards when we go back to our room."

The magician turned to look at her.  Then slowly back to the audience.  Then back to the witch.  "Done!"  he snapped his fingers, and from the back, a long broom was tossed.  "You know what's up with Witches, right?"

"They make magic potions, and they fly on brooms," she pointed at the prop in his hand.  He passed it to her.

"Exactly!" She examined the broom, tossing it from side to side and making sure there were no strings or other tricks attached.  "Don't worry about it," he informed her, "it's straight from the ship's stores."

"They let you do that?" she asked.

"Of course!  I entertain and provide. The ship can easily afford to loan me a broom when I need it, especially when I want to sweep up after a show."

"Makes sense."  She held the broom sideways and looked at it.  "So, what do I or you do?"

"You," he said as he pointed at her, "Are going to pass me the broom back."

She did so, and he held it out at waist height.  "First thing is that I make it float," he let go of the broom, and it stayed put, in defiance of gravity.  He waved his arms over the broom, walking around it to prove it was not being held up by anything.

"Now," he stepped back, "You hop on the broom. In a manner you find comfortable."

The witch walked over and tested her weight against the broom.  It did not give.  So she turned around and hopped onto it, riding it side saddle style, right hand near the front and left near the back to balance.  Her feet were off the ground, and the broom still did not move.  

Hovering there above the floor, she rocked back and forth, but the broom was as steady as a rock.

"Now for the fun part of this," the performer said.  He pointed out over the audience.  "I now command you to fly above them," he gestured again, "out of reach of them.  Don't hit anything, please, and if you want to stop for pictures, or to taunt your boyfriend, do so."

"Thanks!" the witch said as she leaned forward on the broom just a little bit and it began to move forward.  She quickly passed the edge of the stage and ascended to a safe height.  "Wheeeee!"

"I'm glad she's enjoying that," he said as he rubbed his hands, turning to the next volunteer.  "Your turn!"

The next woman was dressed from head to toe in the white and black striped shirt and pants of a stereotypical prisoner. Her short auburn hair didn't even come down to her collar.

The magician paused and rubbed his eyes.  "You went with that?"

She put on a sultry pout.  "Oh, but I've been [i]such[/i] a naughty woman," she said as she twisted back and forth. "Am I going to be punished?"

"For something like that, I think I can oblige."  The Magician turned back to the audience to give them a smirk.  "Now, for a nice little jailbird like yourself," he waved one hand, and nothing came from the back.  Whatever he had planned, he was going to do with no additional props, "I think I need to do something to prevent you from re-offending before the latter half of the show."

"Oooh!" She clasped her arms in front of her. "Are you going to put me in chains?" she asked.

"No," he held one hand above his head, fingers ready to snap.  "But I will do something similar," he snapped, and from below the woman, a jet of white gas emerged, covering her completely.

"I'm going to put you on ice!" he finished as the gas and cloud drifted away.

There, the woman was now covered in frost, her skin pale and icicles hanging from her nose, her hair and her arms. She didn't move.

He tapped her on the shoulder, and the microphone he was wearing picked up a slight 'thunk'.  "And because you know there's no way to do this and not hurt someone without the use of magic," he gently reached out and tapped her in the eyes.

She did not react at all, even as some members of the audience cringed.  "I know, I know," he turned to address them. "But it was the only way to prove that she wasn't just standing still.  But while she is frozen, it is not carbonate, and she will thaw out..." he glanced at her, "eventually."

He rubbed his hands together.  "Now, it is time for the intermission!" he announced. "You may enjoy yourselves for the next fifteen minutes.  Look at my lovely volunteers, but do not touch them, naturally.  When we come back, we shall go through these ladies again, only with a bit more ... magic to it."

The lights fell.