~LAFF-CUE-ARCHIVE: sf-trip-3.Z
~Subject: Alex and Laylah's trip to SF - part 3 (March 13 morning)

    General disclaimer: there may be a largish amount of material
not directly related to a.s.b, and what IS so related may be not to
your taste, as we do a large range of play, from the sweetest D/S
and spanking to cuts, burns, &tc - and I'm just describing what
actually happened.  Flames welcome, but I may well flame you
back...:-)

   I tried to remember to get permission from everybody we met to
mention them on a.s.b ... but forgot in a few cases... and didn't
keep written notes, so if you find yourself unexpectedly
unmentioned here, I apologize, but it must be one of the cases
about which I was uncertain - sorry! Incidentally, if anybody
wonders whether it's all right to mention me and/or Laylah in posts
here, go ahead - blanket permission granted.

   These posts will be cut up at some compromise between reasonable
length and chronological boundaries.  As there's so much to relate,
I have not been editing as carefully as usual, so I apologize for
any errors!

    Sat, Mar 13, morning - meeting Onyx and Gus

   Jetlag wakes me up early, but that's all to the good, as I take
the occasion to phone Onyx at the number she's left for me in
voicemail yesterday night.

   Who's Onyx, you may justifiably be wondering.  Well, it's a long
story, but I'll try to summarize ["Onyx" is a pseudonym we later
negotiated: she doesn't post to the net, and would rather not be
identified - similarly, "Augustus" and its abbreviation "Gus" are
pseudos].

   Onyx and Gus had started e-mailing me and Laylah last fall, in
response to our posts, and after an intense escalation in e-mail
activity (including, in particular, a serious misunderstanding
betwen me and Onyx which had unchained rather strong emotions on
both sides), I had unexpectedly found myself in love with her.  She
didn't exactly reciprocate that (partly because of a very
reasonable reluctance in falling in love with somebody she'd never
even met...), but was at least somewhat interested, and Gus and
Laylah also had some interest in both members of the other couple.

   Last Christmas/Solstice, we had exchanged photographs, audio
tapes, and gifts - earrings from us to her, a tiger's eye stone and
a little ceramics heart from her to us, which we had gold-encased
and wear on the little gold chains on our necks since then (I got
the heart, which Onyx made with her hands, and always wear it on my
skin, right next to my heart... YES, I can be rather silly and
romantic when I am in love, thank you!).

   Onyx was originally from SF but moved north a few years ago with
Gus and another companion.  Onyx is bi and a switch (claims to be
90% bottom); Gus is a top, and straight, though from recent e-mail
it seems I might be the first man he'd like to try topping.

   [Incidentally, something in me seems to bring out "the repressed
side" in some: besides Sandro and Gus, we have recent examples in
Roy, who claims to be a bottom but sure enjoyed topping *me*, and
that lez top who after a chat opined I could be the first male
she'd like submitting to...  I guess I'll take "Beginner's Toy" as
my nickname, just as Laylah now proudly bears the nickname of
"YesYesYes" which Cassandra graced her with after playing with her
at the party on Fri 12!-)].

   When I first learned I might be in SF for Uniforum, I told Onyx,
expressing regret that we'd miss meeting by six hundred miles - and
she arranged to drive all the way to SF so that my regret would
prove unfounded.  Happily Gus had found occasions to ply his
consulting trade somewhere in the BA during the same week, so they
were able to come meet us in SF together.  Nothing very specific
has been arranged, Onyx being VERY cautious about commitments and
expectations..., but at least for this weekend I am scheduled to
spend most of the time with them (while Laylah will be, most of the
time, with Cassandra), and then we'll see.

    So I phone Onyx and ask if we can meet somewhere for breakfast. 
She offers to just bring breakfast up to our hotel room, if we'll
just wait for them there; I check with Laylah and she says it's OK,
but asks me to go get something for her to eat that is not
sweetened, as she abstains from sweets.

   It will take almost an hour for Onyx and Gus to get here, so I
have ample time.  I shower, shave and get dressed (the way I
*like*, at last! - with a nice suit, and a silk tie in Bologna's
colours of red and blue - for the trip, I had had to avoid wearing
a suit so it wouldn't get all wrinkled up in the long flights...),
and go looking for someplace to get sandwiches and tea (Laylah
doesn't like coffee).

   Most places around the hotel are closed (0750 on a Saturday in
the financial district, it figures), but I guess I'll find
something on Market St, just a block away, so I walk that way while
looking around.

   Soon I'm struck by a sign in a shop's window which offers
"Cutting" and "Binding"... wow, I *knew* SF was a very special
place for BDSM enthusiasts, but I didn't expect such open
advertising, and on Market St yet... oh WAIT, it's a *photocopy*
place!  [I swear I really did a double take on this one... shades
of the "commute chuckle" thread!-)].

   I do find a coffee shop, get sandwiches, coffe and tea to go (no
espresso - pity, for I did like the one I had yesterday night), and
bring them up to the room.  Soon Onyx and Gus arrive, and we
finally get to meet each other in the flesh.

   We do have more than three hours before we're due to meet here
with Magician and Rabbit (to go lunch all together at Chevy's, a
nearby Mexican food place), and it's a very fine day, but none of
us can think of anything to do that is more interesting than just
staying in this room, to have breakfast and chat and get to know
each other a bit.

   This breakfast gives me the first excuse to open the two kinds
of special Bolognese chocolates (since I forgot to take to the
party yesterday, nach!), and I'm gratified by the reaction of Onyx
and Gus to them...  I know of no better way to break ice than
sharing chocolate. And indeed, the conversation swiftly veers
towards matters more appropriate to this group...

   ...and Laylah, talking about topping and bottoming versus
submitting and dominating, remarks offhand - "Tired as I'm now, for
example, I could hardly either top or dominate - except with a nice
shining knife in my hand, of course, for THAT supplies by itself
all the energy one needs, and...".  At this point she seems to
notice a certain coldness having descended on the room, and appears
to be a bit surprised as she remarks, "Well?  Surely you _are_
familiar with the way a blade enlivens any scene?".

   Turns out they aren't, in fact, and indeed Onyx appear rather
worried at the very prospect of it, mouthing something about it
being a bit too heavy.  "Nonsense!", breezes my
always-enthusiastical YesYesYes, "one doesn't _have_ to draw blood,
you know, just a few menacing scratches are enough - well I'd
rather not, it's a bit like coitus interruptus, but, I mean, it's
better than nothing anyway!".

   It seems a demonstration is in order, so, I soon find myself
sitting very erect on the single straight-backed chair in the room,
bare from the waist up, as Laylah keeps chatting while she cleans
with alcohol the blade of my pocket knife, the only somewhat sharp
edge we have at hand (she's explaining the ways in which bladeplay
is kept safe, mostly).

   Both Onyx and Gus are properly appreciative of my little Buddha
tattoo (and for once they don't ask about why the sword in His
hand, as the bubblingly happy look in Laylah's eyes as she handles
any kind of blade whatsoever seems answer enough:-), but appear a
bit worried at the somewhat swollen and inflamed little L cut in my
left arm - "Oh don't worry", my sweet loving Laylah keeps chatting,
"that's what a *razorblade* does, now I'm only going to scratch
him, and besides, I placed ashes into those cuts, just to make sure
of nicely visible scars throughout our stay here, my signature, you
see!".  And she's got SUCH a sweet winning smile that no further
objections arise...

   She proceeds to decorate my upper chest with a few white
scratches with the blade, very shallow but long and slowly drawn,
each making me gnash my teeth to avoid the natural impulse to
*whimper* and plead for mercy... you see, differently from her, I
do NOT enjoy the sensation that a sharp edge or point makes on my
skin - although my very dislike of this makes it a powerfully
submissive experience for me to accept it.  She has excellent
control, but I do have to be VERY still, fighting both the impulse
to get shy of the blade, and the one to throw myself at her feet
and start licking her toes!

   The overall impression must not be TOO bad, I guess, since by
watching this Onyx has gotten to the point that she asks Laylah to
top her the same way.  She takes my place in the chair (I being for
a while rather busy showing my Lady my gratitude by kissing her
feet), but does not look all that confident about being able to
keep still, so Gus asks me to hold her while Laylah plays with her
- a delectable task.

   So I get behind Onyx, now sitting on the chair, and take her
arms, delicately, a bit afraid of hurting her - she seems so frail,
with her thin bones... she notices and reassures me, showing me her
powerfully developed muscles - she does several hours of
weightlifting each week, after all.  Oh, good!  My grasp gets safer
and firmer, and she gasps.

   Laylah has finished re-cleaning the knife, and stares into
Onyx's eyes.  She must be seeing considerable fear in them, I
think, as, while unable to see those eyes myself, I can feel Onyx
trembling slightly - indeed, Laylah tenderly reminds Onyx that,
besides "red" as a safeword, she has the "yellow" slowword to
diminish scene intensity without interrupting it.

   And Gus punctuates that by asking Laylah, since she's been so
kind about pointing out the applicability of "yellow", to please
help Onyx learn to use that very useful word, by taking her right
up to it in this scene...

   Onyx gulps, Laylah nods and gets to work - very gently, slowly,
stroking Onyx's beautiful long raven-black hair and her pale cheeks
with her left hand, and murmuring words of endearment, as she
caresses her upper chest with the blade's edge.  Soon I take over
the murmuring role (and the hair-stroking, as I find a comfortable
and secure grasp with a single hand), and Laylah slowly and
gradually increases intensity until Onyx's pale skin is being
scratched...  Onyx's fear, I think, has left her by now, and it's
strictly for reasons of pain, I believe (she must share my dislike
for feeling the blade), that she does utter "yellow" eventually. 
It's been a longish scene, so Laylah takes that as a clue to wind
it down and I let Onyx go, and we hug her.

   Onyx and Gus are now understandably eager to show _us_ some
technique that's new for us in return - and we, just as eager to
learn.  Holds as taught in martial arts - interesting, I must say. 
At one point Gus is holding my fingers in a strangely interwoven
pattern, staring straight into my eyes, and challenges me to get
free with the tone of one who is very sure of himself... I don't
really _want_ to get free, but, since he asks - my joints bend like
willows in the wind, my tendons send the appropriate message of
pain to my brain which acknowledges and cherishes it as usual, for
a split second it feels as if my bones themselves are flowing like
water - and I'm free.  I see some amount of surprise in Gus's
eyes... I'm getting older, fortunately, and progressively less
limber with the years (I don't _want_ to escape, darn it!, I _like_
to be immobilized...).

   At one point Gus expresses regret not to have a whip available
to show the usefulness of martial arts training for _that_, but
there we can help: we do have our little red plastic whip with us
(Will's story gave me the idea, and I decided I could pass that for
a "sauna whip" in case any embarrassing questions should arise).

   I'm intrigued by the extremely fast and flowing way he twirls
and twists it, and ask to feel the effect on my back... which is
soon granted.  I thought I knew how that innocuous-looking little
thing could STING, but I had underestimated its effect when
combined with Gus's technique - and used on the bruises I stil have
from yesterday night's play with Josh... it REALLY bites!  To the
point that our careful spotters Onyx and Laylah have to call a halt
when it breaks my skin and draws blood.

   Gus appears to be a bit flustered, not having expected such
dramatic effects when all the reaction he was seeing from me was
heavy breathing, and moans and wrigglings of pleasure, but I and
Laylah endeavour to reassure him: that silicone thingy IS trickier
than it appears, but there is no problem, as it's durable and solid
and will be like new after a cleansing with alcohol followed by a
good washing with hot water and soap... oh, problems with ME?! 
<oink, oink> nosirree - no indeed! - a great little whipping it
was...

   Other gifts are exchanged besides these nice little mini-scenes
- in particular, we have brought for them (in Italian edition,
alas) Pichard's comics for Apuleius' "Golden Ass", a VERY
interesting publication, and Onyx has brought for us a copy of a
magazine which has published a story of hers she'd particularly
like for us to read - I thank her, turn to the appropriate page,
start reading - and BLANCH.

   It _starts_ with the protagonist dismembering her lover...  "No,
no, it isn't REALLY horror", she reassures me, "you'll see as you
go on reading!" - well, maybe, but not right now just before lunch
please - it's very well written (like all of Onyx's work) and makes
my stomach lurch.  Laylah, always an enthusiast for Lovecraft and
vampire stories and such, is much more interested, but unexpectedly
she has problems with understanding the English in the story -
she's barely started when the phone rings - Magician and Rabbit are
waiting for us in the lobby to go to lunch.

    Alex