“Think about how Daniel phrased the question to Leonard.” I paused and watched his eyes move back andforth.
“He asked if there were any places on his body that he should avoid,” Ryanrecited.
It wasn’t clicking yet, but I wanted him to continue totry.
“How else could Daniel have phrasedit?”
“Um.” His eyes continued to move back and forth on my chest as he thought. “He could have asked Leonard if there were any injured places that he shouldavoid.”
He was gettingthere.
“How are those two phrases so different from one another,Ryan?”
He raised his eyes to look in mine for a fragment of a second before lowering them to my chestagain.
“One asked about places to avoid, but the other was specific toinjuries.”
“Good, Ryan! Is one better than the other where a Service Top isconcerned?”
His eyes had slowed down; he was deep inthought.
“Yes. Daniel’s phrasing wasbetter.”
“Why?”
“He asked the all encompassing question about places to avoid. So, it wasn’t just limited to current injuries, because maybe the bottom has a hard limit about being blindfolded or to have their wrists held.” Ryan looked up at me. “So those would be places on the body to avoid. Like, avoid the eyes or thewrists.”
“Very good, Ryan. I have one more challenging question for you now. Why would a Service Top need to phrase the question as Daniel had, instead of aDom?”
“Because the Top is just having the one session with them, or maybe they’ve played before, but they might not have a lot of knowledge on the bottom’s past or current play partners. A Dom knows more about theirsub.”
I detected a hint of longing in his voice. Doms who are committed to a sub have a lot of back story on their sub, thus questioning about places to avoid, isn’t necessary. Doms form a special bond with their subs, and Ryan wanted something more. Something exactly like thatbond.
But it wasn’t completely accurate thatonlyDoms had that kind of knowledge. I knew a wealth of information about Ryan. I knew how to talk to him, how to touch him and all the shit that’s in his background that he carried around on hisback.
“Not in all cases. Most, yes, but not all,” I commented. “I’m proud of you for picking up on the safety aspects of their negotiations. Now, would you like to go to the play room andobserve?”
“Yeah! Watching would becool.”
“If there is something going on in the play room that makes you uneasy and you’d like to leave to room, you just need to say your safe word,” Iexplained.
“The safe word works for the observingtoo?”
“Of course, Ryan. I don’t want you to sit through something that is visuallybothersome.”
Prior to the party this week, I had had long chats with each of my guests about Ryan and his basic background. I left many details out, but asked them to refrain from humiliation play and play that would involve the leather strap or a belt. All of my guests agreed to help me make this a comfortable experience for Ryan. While I didn’t think something would come up, Ryan needed to know that he had the power to leave the room without me beingangry.
Ryan and I quietly stood in a corner of the room and looked around at various people engaged in play. I thought it was important for Ryan to pay attention to Daniel’s session with Leonard and see the session carriedout.
Leonard was restrained to the spanking bench, similarly to how Ryan had been restrained on it. Ryan heard Daniel ask Leonard if any of the restraints were too tight and he watched Daniel test each restraint. It was good for Ryan to see what I had taught him and used with our sessions, was also being practiced byothers.
Ryan leaned closer to me and whispered, “Do I look like that on the spankingbench?”
“No. You look better,” I told him in allhonesty.
Even in the dim lighting, I could see his cheeks redden. I winked at him and as Daniel walked toward Leonard with the paddle, I stopped paying complete attention to them and focused on Ryan. I wasn’t certain how he would react to seeing Daniel paddle Leonard. I knew Ryan and his brother had both been forced over a desk in their father’s den and had been beaten. While Ryan handled his floggings with me well, a wooden paddle might hit closer to home for him, though I knew he’d watched videos like the session that was about to unfold. I hadn’t uncovered anything that would lead me to believe his parents used a paddle on him; the belt had been their choice ofweapon.
Daniel had the wooden paddle in his hand and tapped Leonard’s ass with it. Ryan stood still and watched Daniel take the paddle to Leonard. Ryan flinched at the sound of the first loud slap of the paddle against Leonard’s flesh. I was pretty sure it was due to the sheer sound, but I wanted to make sure he was doing ok without drawing attention to it. I put my arm around his right shoulder and leaned in to speak quietly to him about how I could tell that Leonard enjoyed what washappening.
