~LAFF-CUE-ARCHIVE: sf-trip-4.Z
~Subject: Alex and Laylah's trip to SF - part 4
                        (March 13, lunch & after)

    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, lunch and afterwards

   We get down to the hotel lobby and meet Magician and Rabbit in
the flesh for the first time.  What wonderful people, and what a
strange coincidence that we never happened to get together in
Europe, but meet here first!

   We walk over to Chevy's, a Mexican restaurant (which, I'm told
by real Mexi food enthusiasts, is not of the best - but it sure
beats any Mexi food I've ever had in Europe...:-).  On the way, I
get the impression that Onyx is a bit embarassed, and on enquiring
I learn that she's just slightly surprised at my and Laylah's habit
of friendly touching the people we walk with... hmm, cultural
differences at work, no doubt - us Latins feel much more
comfortable with touching each other than you Northerners do
(funny, I'd have bet enough Hispanics were around these places to
bend the cultural norm this way).  Further negotiation does
establish that neither her nor Gus actually _mind_ holding hands
with us, walking with arms on shoulders, and other such reasonable
intimacies - just feels a bit "different" to them, but OK.  I will
have to take care about this in interactions with other friends on
this trip, though.

   The lunch and the chatting during it are quite pleasant [when
the others can stop me and Magician from delving into the depths of
telecoms and networking in Europe, that is :-)], then we walk back
to our hotel and leave M&R with a big "arrivederci" - no doubt
sometime we'll be in Britain and manage to arrange a proper
Fish&Chipsmunch.

   I, Laylah, Onyx and Gus get back up to our hotel room, where we
take a siesta to help recover from jetlag.  Onyx is also a bit
tired and joins us on the huge bed, sleeping between us, apparently
enjoying the feeling of friendly and affectionate, as opposed to
sexual, intimacy.

   Meanwhile, Gus is on the armchair, reading the latest issue of
"The Economist", which I have just picked up in London the day
before [that "Economist" was also all the news  got during this
trip, as I deliberately refused to look at newspapers or TV - it
did make for a nice change of pace, although when back in Italy it
took me a long time to get back to speed about which of our
politicians have recently been incriminated (faster to study the
list of those who yet haven't, actually:-)].

   Our little nap helps wonderfully, and we're again brimming with
energy in mid afternoon, still with some time to spend before
Cassandra gets here and we go toy-shopping ("Stormy Leather" is
quite near here, and Onyx is still a member of the SF "Janus"
society, so we'll also get discounts) - what better pastime than to
go back to mini-scenes like the ones this morning, to give each
other a taste about the different ways we play.

   I observe with interest the strong and sweet way Gus tops Onyx
in a D/S context, taking excellent advantage of her long, strong,
straight hair, administering light but threatening slaps to her
cheeks, and subtly alternating "barked" commands and endearments
(or possibly other stuff, I can't really hear) whispered in her
ears.  She submits beautifully, almost radiating energy...

   We knew from e-mail, but it still feels strange the first few
times, to hear her answering him in Italian ("Si`, padrone" - I
remember being a bit surprised when they had mailed asking us about
Italian phrases to use in scene!)...  stands to reason, I guess,
since I and Laylah generally address each other as "Master",
"Lady", and "slave" in _English_!

   We reciprocate by showing what we mean by "anger/abuse scenes",
as I lash out at Laylah in one such, brief but very intense.  I was
a bit wary of the effect it would have on Onyx to witness such a
scene, but I need not have been - it's with interest and excitement
that she's reacting.  I know she has problems articulating her
sex-related desires explicitly (the only area about which she has
problems speaking or writing - that apart, she's about as wordy as
I am, and THAT is saying something!-), but her comments appear to
me to be showing more than purely academic interest - so I offer to
top her that way, and indeed have no problem getting her to agree.

   She still seems a bit surprised as my fury erupts, as I grab her
and shout at her and slap her face repeatedly, so I keep it very
short and am soon sweetly kissing and caressing her swollen cheeks,
stroking her wonderful hair that I was almost tearing away during
the mini-scene, and quite sincerely praising her to counteract the
in-scene insults and abuse... she DOES comment she had never been
slapped nearly that hard in her life before, but makes it quite
clear that the scene worked quite powerfully for her.  Both I and
Laylah hold her and help her get back to normal, and we generally
wind-down and wait a bit.

   Finally Cassandra calls, and we join her in the lobby and drive
to Stormy Leather.  A very interesting shop!  Gus buys a corset for
Onyx, Cassandra a new cane, black, very thick, and threatening, and
I and Laylah a small flogger each - she a very traditional one with
stiff straight, square-section leather strands, and I a curious one
made of thick and very soft black velvet.

   Laylah expresses some doubts at the efficacy of the latter, but
I just take advantage of that for some shameless flirting with Gus,
expressing the half-opinion, half-challenge that with HIS strength
and technique he'll be able to make even THAT smart _quite_ a bit,
won't you Gus...? I like the way his pale rosy skin rapidly flushes
red under his short blonde beard when I address such observations
to him!  [In the following days I learned that simpler, non-BDSM
related flirts have a similar effect even more reliably - boy how
I just LOVE straight men, at least when they consent to my little
innocent fun and games!].

   After the shopping we proceed to a Brazilian cafe (the ONLY time
throughout my stay that I have eaten badly!), then back to the
hotel room where Laylah picks up her tootbrush and leaves to spend
the night, and tomorrow, with Cassandra - we'll meet again at
Josh's house tomorrow for dinner.  Feels funny, in a way - I don't
remember when it was that I had last played without her, before
this trip...!  [Despite our poly bent, we don't generally behave in
the way you'd expect an "open couple" to, i.e. we don't normally
"sleep around", but, rather, we _share_ - but on this trip we have
so little time, and different enough priorities, that we have
agreed to split on a few occasions].

   That new corset of Onyx is very interesting - not that it really
enhances her figure, which is hourglass-shaped enough even without
it, but I perceive it's making her feel VERY sexy in a novel and
(somewhat literally:-) breathtaking way - and THAT makes her
wonderful eyes shine even more fascinatingly than usual... so much,
indeed, that I don't even remind Gus about my two new little
floggers and the challenge they imply, but rather I willingly
accede to their suggestion that I help him top her - they have
gotten the toybags from their car this time, so we have an ample
supply of restraints and beating implements.

   Very kindly, they give me first turn at the topping, and my
choice of tools and position - I select simple fur-lined black
leather cuffs for her ankles, snapping their D-rings together with
a carabiner, ditto for her wrists, and have her lie on the bed, on
her back at first.  Old spanking enthusiast that I am, I plan to
devote most of my attention to her buttocks, jutting out so
invitingly below her corset, so that I think it's best to start the
warm-up from the equally inviting portion _above_ the corset... my
plan of action is basically breasts then shoulders then bottom, in
other words.

   I do get excellent mileage from my new velvet toy - whatever
else may be said of it, it IS a superb teasing and warming-up
implement for breasts; and though I don't have Gus's technique, a
little SNAP does make it quite, hmmm, interesting, on such tender
areas as breasts, at least.

   Then I turn her around and start on her shoulders, soon
substituting the small new leather flogger in place of the velvet
one.  I have the impression that I'm going a bit slow for her - she
doesn't seem to be used to such long warm-ups, and indeed Gus's
style, from what I've seen, seems to be to get to the point far
more rapidly - but I'm not willing to risk ruining the scene with
a brusque acceleration in intensity, in case I'm misunderstanding
her signals.  Should I remind her that she has a "green" safeword,
too, to ask me to speed things up...?  No, I don't think so - I see
she's in a deeply submissive headspace, and indeed this seems to be
her bottoming style, so that reminder would not work well.

   So, instead, I decide to work on her head as well.  I start
talking, VERY sweetly, VERY firmly, about how I _really_ hope she
doesn't mind a long and very gradual warmup, because that's what
she's going to get anyway, and hinting that in my experience it's
the way to go when one wants to do a really, REALLY heavy, scene,
fill her up with endorphins so much that she won't think of
safewording and beat her black and blue as she's never been beaten
before, but she'll go around with the bruises for days, and so on.

   I'm overbidding, actually - I do NOT plan to do anything even
remotely this heavy (although in fact this WOULD be the technique
I'd choose if I _were_ so planning) - it's our first scene
together, I don't know her well enough yet to know that she'd
appreciate that sort of play (although I strongly suspect she
_would_) - and there's Gus to consider, and I don't think he'd be
very happy if I left Onyx in such a state as to be unfit for play,
not just this evening, but for DAYS!

   However, it seems to be working nicely - as of course it should,
helped by her vague apprehension of me as a "heavy player" and the
very real strength of those few slaps I gave her cheeks earlier. 
I can see she's somewhat scared, but in an exciting way; but, even
more important, she's _submitting_ - inside her head, where it
COUNTS - delivering her trust to me, that I'll know where to take
her and how fast to go en route... very much the kind of scene I
want now, and the kind she also enjoys in general - good!

   Her shoulders are nicely muscled and could take lots of
punishment, but I leave them as soon as my whip is making the first
marks which I hope will last until tomorrow [they didn't, actually;
Onyx marks less and fades faster than most], to devote full
attention to her wonderful buttocks.  I start with the same whip,
but its strength is a bit too concentrated on the _surface_ for
what I'm looking for now - I want her full luscious glutei maximi
muscles to feel this beating.  Thus I decide to go with the cane as
my main tool, reserving the whip for a short burning finale - but
the best warmup, I think, given that she already has some
reasonable level of endorphins, will be from my hand.

   (Hand-spanking is always what I enjoy most, anyway: maybe it
comes from my switch nature - after a serious hand spanking the
spanker's hand is almost as sore as the spankee's buttocks - and
that's all to the good with me!-).

   So I start kneading and caressing and lightly slapping, while I
comment very favourably on her anatomical features and how she's
offering them to me... then I get more serious, very gradually, and
am hitting a very nice "serious" pace when Gus, in his role as the
careful spotter, quietly attracts my attention to remind me that
this is getting to be a bit noisy for a hotel room.

   He's right, sigh, although this room is in a sense very
favourably placed - one side windows, one against the corridor (and
nobody will most likely be walking there now), one against a small
service room full of sheets and such, and only the side farthest
from the bed abutting another bedroom - but the "SPLAT!"s ARE
getting loud (not the corresponding "OUCH"s from Onyx - she's very
good at keeping noise down).  I acknowledge this and tell him that
the noisy part will soon be over - and it is, in a short and very
intense crescendo.

   My palm and Onyx's buttocks are all red and tingling by now, so
I'll attend to my palm first, in classical "selfish top" fashion -
I trust my hand in front of her face, remark how sore and red I've
been making it for her sake, and command her to kiss it good.

   She seems a bit taken aback at this, and pecks at the offered
hand with some surprise.  "Not THIS way - a REAL kiss, bitch!"
(this is the first and last non-endearment term I use towards her
in the whole scene), and I punctuate this with one further strong
SLAP to her buttocks (with the other hand).  She bends down to the
task with more enthusiasm, and I give her rather detailed
instructions about how I want to feel her full lips and her tongue
all over my palm... she complies very well and enthusiastically. 
I also steal a look at Gus and he also seems very interested by
this part - good, I'm glad to see I'm giving him ideas for the
future! - it fits in very well with the D/S slant of the scene, and
besides, Onyx's lips and tongue ARE very pleasing and refreshing,
and soon make the tingling on my hand go away.

   To her buttocks then; I feel their heat (it matches their
redness) - and start pinching them hard.  Heh heh - my beloved Onyx
appears to be surprised at this development - surely she knew us
Italians are known worldwide for bottom pinching...?-)  Since it
seems to be a new experience to her, I push it further than I
normally would, alternating strong and delicate pinches, and other
handling of her lovely bum; it seems to be working fine.

   Time for the cane, now.  Again I start very light and slow, but
this is no problem now, as she's so sore that she'll feel even
caresses as, hrmph, _interesting_... and I build up very gradually,
but only to a middling intensity and rhythm.  I WOULD like to leave
her with a few bruises [and I did manage to, this time], but
nothing serious... I do keep up my sweetly threatening talk, though
- "Here, you're doing really well, honey - you're almost warm
enough to start REAL play!".

   Back to my new little leather whip for the finale - and, again,
to a very slow, just caressing movement of it against her buttocks,
but she's shuddering even at the slightest touch, so I judge she's
warmed up enough and rapidly move to delivering real fire to her
flesh - brief, but rather intense; from her body-language, I'm a 
bit surprised that she doesn't at least "yellow" at this point, but
maybe she feels too submussive for that.  No matter, although it
_would_ be a real concern if the scene were to go any further (and
one the several techniques to deal with bottoms judged unlikely to
safeword promptly would come into play) - we're done.

   I start doing a bit of "wind-down", since it's not been that
light a scene overall as I planned at the start - in the best
scenes, IMHO (and this has been a VERY good one!), while the top IS
in overall control, BOTH players together determine many important
details, and her body has been asking for "more, more!" essentially
all the way, up until the very end... and it's gotten it, though
maybe more "spread out" in time than she's used to.

   "It's finished", I sweetly whisper to her - and her body goes
rigid, while I believe hear a touch of real fear in her voice as
she asks, "This - THIS was the warmup, and it's now finished?!". 
I caress and hug her and reassure her - it IS well and truly
finished, and I never really meant to make it longer or heavier
than this.

   Hmmm, I had not taken Gus into account - now HE wants to top
Onyx... seems reasonable, since he's been so patient until now, but
I get a bit worried for her as soon as I slip out of my clear top
headspace.  I shouldn't be, it turns out - she IS robust, and Gus
knows her VERY well of course, and has excellent control of things,
as well as that superb whipping technique he's shown already.  It
turns out to be a very interesting and instructive scene for me to
watch; I really like the way he merges whipstrokes, murmurs,
orders, tugs on her hair and her bonds, into one very harmonious
whole - and, again, SHE is really fascinating to watch in
submission.

   [I've often thought that a good scene may be even more beautiful
to watch, than to participate in, in a way: the bottom often gets
very little visual feedback, and the top has hir attention focused
on many specific things, and can hardly "lie back and enjoy" the
overall look of things... BTW, Sandro and Rita have a solution -
they often film their scenes.  Neat idea, but not without its
problems either: the needed lighting heats things up a LOT, and may
interfere with the scene itself!].

   What with my "warm-up" AND Gus's scene, poor Onyx is rather
battered, albeit deliciously so, when all is done; it saddens me to
think of her having to go for a long drive right now, and again
tomorrow morning to get back here...  and, to be honest, *I* don't
like sleeping alone either, particularly not in a bed as huge as
this one, ample for three people.  And I'm feeling very sweet in
regards to them both... so I invite them to sleep here - and I'm
glad to see them agree without much hesitation.  [Funny, this is
one of the places where memories differ... Onyx recalls having
_asked_ to stay to sleep, and my having agreed with no hesitation
at all!].

   And so we drift to sleep, very sweetly, Onyx in the middle.  A
rather unusual thing for me is that, all night, I dream vividly -
of all that we have done, and of the many fantasies of her that I
had carefully kept bottled until now to match her policy of "no
expectations, no commitments", which are bubbling out now that we
seem to have hit off so well, and that my hands meet her sweet body
during my sleep... a restful and beautiful night.

    Alex