"I'm glad to see you back after your vacation," the Club Head poured out a coffee for herself after serving her guest. Well, guest as too casual a word. Employee was too strong, as payment wasn't exactly taxable. "How was it?"

Vella took the drink and let its scent waft through her nose. "I took a vacation," she said smoothly, "and met some of the people you talked about. Quite an interesting group, I must say."

The Head smiled at that. She had heard. "Anything interesting?"

"That laying out in the sun all day as an object of desire, then spending my nights filling those desires isn't something I want to do all the time," Vella told her. "Nothing wrong with either, but it's not a life for me."

The Head nodded along at that. "Makes perfect sense to me. Even I take breaks."

"So, I would like to return to the Club this year," the dark woman said.

"Done," the Head agreed without hesitation. "It's nice to have some continuity. Turnover is quite heavy year to year. I often have to completely refill my loyal assistants every September."

"Thanks," Vella replied. "So, that means it's me and a bunch of new recruits?"

"Well, I have yet to begin recruiting," the Head told her. "Hrm, would you like to run the questioning this year?"

Vella waved a hand in the air, "No," she dismissed the thought. "You're the Head. I will help, obviously, but you should do the interviews."

The Head nodded in agreement. "I can accept that," she replied. "But this does mean that you will be my second this year, and if I am otherwise occupied, you will be in charge."

"Deal," Vella agreed. "How was your summer anyways?"

"Relaxing for the most part," the Head shrugged mysteriously. "I can't say it was as... repetitive as yours, but I did work."

Vella huffed. "You probably would believe how unimaginative people can be when confronted by a beautiful woman."

The Head laughed aloud at that. "I can! I can!"

They talked a bit more about their respective summers before they moved on to business. "So, how would you like to help this year?" the Head asked.

"I was part of the Casting Couch last year," Vella observed, "and while that was fun, perhaps a different take on that?"

"What are you thinking?" the Head asked.

* * *

"Next!" The Head called out and the next applicant entered into her office. "Ah, Jodie," she greeted the woman with a handshake. "What brings you to my little corner of the world?"

"Applying to join your club," the woman replied, brushing hair over the back of one of her ears, keeping her glasses-wearing face in full view.

"You're a teacher here," the Head pointed out. "Faculty. My rules and my contract are clear here."

"Yes, and I want to wear one of your masks," the teacher said. "It will help avoid that sort of problem."

"Why do you want to join?" Vella asked.

Jodie looked down at Vella. She was laid out in five adjacent boxes, her form mismade. Legs, Chest, Feet, Head, Hips all side by side. Atop the series of boxes, the Head lay down on a reclining couch. "I need a change of pace, a hobby, really. And this looks fun," she said without blinking at the divided woman's state.

"You know we're a fetish club," the Head told her.

"I'm a teacher," Jodie replied with emphasis. "Tell me that a lot of our audience wouldn't take the opportunity to enjoy being a top or a bottom where a Hot Teacher is concerned."

"She has a point," Vella argued from under the Head's knees. "Plenty of students who would want to ... have fun with a person in nominal power over them. Which would be why you want one of the Masks."

"Because they can express themselves without knowing who it is, so there's no impropriety either way," Jodie agreed.

"An interesting argument, but I can imply such things without you," the Head contrasted. "What makes you unique?"

"I'm older than your usual fare," Jodie said. "Young adults are all well and good, but I have more life experience, and that can play well off of you," she gestured at the head.

"An interesting dynamic I haven't done in a while," the Head mused. "It's one of the reasons why I've avoided more mature adult men in the Club."

"How much experience do you have performing?" Vella asked.

"Less than you, obviously." Jodie confirmed. "But I'm willing to try new things."

"Sex?"

"If I hadn't thought about that, I wouldn't be apply now, would I?" came the reply.

"There is a difference between thinking about it, and actually doing it," the Head warned. "I've had to reject those who talk the talk, but can't walk the walk."

Jodie had a stern expression come over her face. "I commit, I commit," she said. "Would you like a practical demonstration?"

"Yes," the Head replied. "I need to know how all of my assistants react to a performance, private or public." She swung herself off her improvised couch and stood up in front of Jodie.

Jodie responded by unbuttoning her shirt, her eyes never leaving the Head's. Once her top was exposed, she raised one eyebrow. "Well?" she challenged.

"Step right this way," the Head gestured to the side, "and we will do a little Magic."

"Leaving her here?" Jodie gestured at Vella.

"By the time you get there, I'll already be there," Vella said. "Perks of the job."

* * *

The Head looked at the two girls sitting across from her. "I am absolutely furious," she said. "Explain. Now."

The two young women were perfectly identical, save for the color of their hair. One was a quiet brunette while the other was raven-haired. "Well," the one on the left said, "We..."

"I," the other interjected. "Went to a certain show in Vegas. Off Strip, you know. I volunteered, and the Magician sawed us,"

"Me," the first picked up, "in two. And then did magic, and now there are two of us, not one."

"That sounds..."

"Illegal," the Head ground out. "Who?"

They named a name. The Head stood up and headed for her private office, not her more public one. "You handle this," she said. "I need to make some calls."

Vella raised one eyebrow as the Head slammed the door behind her. "Well, so now there are two of you instead of one. Names?"

"Can you call us Mary and Ashley?" the Brunette asked. "I'm Mary."

"That would make me Ashley," the other replied.

"I think I've heard those names before," Vella pondered from her divided position. "So, if this happened, why are you here?"

"Well, we heard about the Club, so we applied to come here and got in and we figured if anyone could help us out, well, she was on our list."

Vella thought about that. "Definitely a cultural thing. Now, don't get me wrong, but, you got taken advantage of. Didn't you confront the Magician afterward?"

"We tried, but he vanished, and it wasn't like we could just walk up to anyone else in Vegas and explain things," Ashley explained. "We were stuck like this."

"I suspect that the Head will have words to say to people," Vella noted. "You've brought this to her attention, and I think she'll deal with it, one way or the other."

"That's good," Mary agreed with a sigh. "So, we still want to join you know. Legit."

"Really?" Vella was surprised at that. "Girls, why?"

"To regain control," Ashley said. "We talked about this, and we figured that this was the best way to confront what happened to us and not let it control us."

"Sounds good in theory, and twins are always an easy draw. But we do more than..." Vella stopped because Mary and Ashley kissed each other. "OK, that's a thing."

"Jealous?" Ashley asked.

Vella snorted. "I'm the one in multiple pieces with a couch on top of me," she pointed out her position. "Jealousy isn't something I'm feeling right now."

The not-twins laughed at that. "So," they looked at each other and then got off their couch to kneel in front of Vella, "it's too bad you weren't a guy," Ashley said. "Otherwise we'd have so much fun with you like this!"

"Most of the time, the guys do things to us," Vella said. "But stranger things have happened."

The Head came out of her back office. "Welcome to the Club," she told the two of them. "You are under my protection, and a representative of a larger organization will be along by the end of the week to formally interview you. We will go over the details later." She sat down on her couch above Vella and in front of the two kneeling new-hires. "Now, I'm aware of what's going on, so I have to ask this first. Do you both want to be on the stage at the same time, or pretend to be one person?"

* * *

"Hey there! I'm Gwen!" The young woman with auburn hair cut very short waved at Vella and the Head as she entered for her interview. She hopped onto the empty seat with casual, but eager grace. "I'm her to join your club!"

"I'm the Club Head and this is Vella," the Head said with a wave of her hand. "Why don't you tell me about yourself?"

"Well, I've been doing magic since I was sixteen," Gewn said. "Read some books, did some gestures, and voila! Now that I'm here, I was thinking about getting a little more professional practice in, learning from a master, you know."

"I should hook you up with Eden from last year," the Head said. "She was learning the ropes of being in charge of a performance."

"Not what I want," Gwen replied. "It's the assisting part that I like!" she smiled.

"She could use an eager assistant," Vella pointed out. "You mentioned that you've done things before. Like what?"

"Can I demonstrate?" Gwen asked.

"Go ahead," The Head gestured for her do so. "Do you want a prop?"

"No need!" Gwen stood up and started to pull something out of one of her sleeves. The two senior members of the club watched her as she produced a large sheet. She flipped it and flicked it around to show there was nothing untoward about it. "Three!" She called out as she waved the curtain in front of her. "Two!" "One!" She threw the sheet above her and let it drop down in front of her!

Vella blinked, realizing she was now standing up in front of the Head. The Head chuckled as she tapped the boxes below her, and Vella looked down.

"Hey!" Gwen said from inside the Mismade boxes. Unlike Vella's arrangement, she was in order of head, chest, hips, legs and feet. "Am I in?"

Vella looked to the Head. "Does this count for the practice trick or not?"