Down the Rabbit Hole

Chapter 7. Progress

Julia was gathering up her notes for a meeting with Sylvia. She stepped out of her office. Passing by in the corridor was Oliver, the man that Suzanne Trench had been talking to in the presentation. He stood back to let her pass by but then said, "Excuse me, Ms Fain. Do you have a moment?"

"Is it quick?" Julia didn't like to diverted when she had a meeting with the Minister.

"It's just that Ms Trench asked me to let you have this file. It's the report on the first three months of the Entrepreneur programme."

As she took the brown folder, she was struck by the politeness of the man. Of course, it was implied in the Respect Agenda but it was only a few months before that she had found herself continually trying to be taken seriously by the men in the department. At the time Henry had been sympathetic, saying that they would eventually come to see her strengths. He might have been right, Julia thought, but the New Order Government had certainly made it happen quicker. The man was still waiting. "That's fine," Julia said. "Tell Suzanne I'll have a look at it and let her know my thoughts."

"Thank you, Ma'am," he responded. As he turned to go Julia noticed a tell-tale bulge in his trousers. Suzanne had obviously gone through with her threat of caging him. Maybe that was helping him with his compliance to the Respect Agenda, she thought with a smile. She was a little surprised. She had always thought of Suzanne as one of the more timid members of the department. Obviously, Raven's session had brought her out of her shell.

A few minutes later she was in Sylvia Atterbury's office.

"I was pleased with the feedback from Ms Courten's session last week," Sylvia said to Julia. She put to one side the report that she had been reading on Raven's demonstration "Everyone in the department seems to think sessions like that would be very helpful. Well, everyone except the men."

Julia was surprised. Sylvia wasn't renowned for her sense of humour.

"I think we can move on the next stage with this. I'd like you to get Ms Courten to come up with a plan for a set of sessions that we could run for the other department, something that looked as though it could be turned into a commercial proposition if we turned it into a national programme -- you know how the PM likes ideas that can be self-funding."

"You know that Ms Courten will feel this ought to attract some level of payment."

"Well, I think the results of the first session are such that we might put some money behind this. I'm not suggesting we should pay her anything like her usual professional rate, you understand, but a normal consultancy rate plus reasonable expenses. You know the sort of thing."

Julia was pleased to be given such freedom. Sylvia must have been impressed by the feedback, she thought, if the department's purse strings were being loosened in this way.

"Thank you, Minister, I'll get on it. Oh, and I've been thinking about what you said about sponsorship. I mean, I know that the civil service has to be independent but I can see how important it is to set an example regarding the way that government sees society developing."

"Well, I think you're right, Julia." She was wondering where the conversation was going. Julia normally came straight to the point. It was one of the things Sylvia liked about her.

"So, I can understand how difficult it must be if a senior departmental official isn't embracing a core government initiative, like sponsorship, for example."

Ah, thought Sylvia, that's what this is about.

"And equally it must be a problem if departmental staff aren't enrolled on that sort of programme. So, I thought I would solve two problems in one. I've decided that I am going to register for the sponsorship programme as you suggested. I mean, I know it will be inconvenient in lots of ways and my current flat doesn't really have the accommodation I will need but I suppose it's only right that I should do my bit and with the tax rebate and an additional male income I can afford something bigger"

Accommodation hadn't been a problem for Sylvia. Her "sponsored male" was her ex-husband and he had been moved into a subservient role in their house long before New Order came to power. Sylvia had always been quite bossy and ready to assume a dominant position when it came to sex and she had been an enthusiastic supporter of New Order from the very start when she encountered them at University. The relationship with her husband had changed from a supposed marriage of equals to a distinctly female-led affair on their wedding night when she had made it clear that she was the one who was going to be on top both figuratively and physically as far as both their sex life and their domestic life was concerned. Now, her husband was reconciled to the fact that his wife occupied most of their house, while he was confined to a single room in the attic when he wasn't working around the house to keep it clean and presentable for his wife and the string of partners of both sexes that she took pleasure in entertaining. "So, did Ms Courten's session help to make up your mind?"

"No, not really. I mean it helped me to think about some of the practical issues, I suppose. Well, anyway, the result is that I'm going to have a conversation with Henry, he really ought to have a sponsor and I think I can fill the bill."

"Well, I certainly don't want to spoil your plans but that may be a problem." Sylvia said, provoking a concerned reaction from Julia. "Ms Courten asked if she could continue to make use of him after the demonstration. I must admit I thought you would be glad to see the back of him. I assume that he is down in Southwark now."

Julia was nonplussed. She had spent time working out how to make all this work but she hadn't foreseen this problem. Henry was obviously smitten with Raven and Julia could understand that he might have been happy to go along with this but that wasn't the point. It wasn't what she had planned at all and she was beginning to get used to the fact that getting your own way was quite enjoyable. "Well, I'll discuss it with Ms Courten," Julia said, "I'm sure we can sort something out between us."

"Yes," Sylvia responded, pleased that she wasn't being faced with the problem, "I'm sure you can."

Chapter 8: Southwark

Julia found Raven Courten's Southwark premises relatively easily and took the old-fashioned lift to the basement. She confronted Jane in Raven's reception area.

"I'd like to speak to Ms Courten," she said. "It's about Sir Henry and the workshops."

Julia's rather formal manner convinced Jane that she was not going to be fobbed off. She buzzed through on the intercom to Raven's parlour. "It's Ms Fain, Mistress. From the Ministry. She was hoping to see you."

"Of course," the voice crackled from the other end. "Please send her in."

Julia had been very uncertain of what to expect but, apart from the racks of punishment and restraint equipment, Raven's parlour turned out to be more homely than she had imagined a dominatrix's den to be. Raven greeted her at the door and showed her to a comfortable couch. She looked surprisingly normal, more so than on her visits to the office, wearing a loosely-fitting, v-necked, black, cashmere sweater and pale cream slacks. In contrast with Raven's normality, on the far side of the room, in a small cage, Julia could see a man, naked except for a rabbit-eared hood, crouching. It was, she assumed, Sir Henry.

"Would you like some tea?" Julia nodded. "I'll get Jane to make it." Raven looked across the cage. "I'm afraid

HE's

not coming out of there until he has learned to be a little more accepting of some ideas." Seeing Julia's startled look, she went on, "You can talk freely, his ears are plugged. He's been gagged too. I'm afraid I got quite cross with him."

Julia wondered what he could have done to upset Raven so.

Hernry, from his uncomfortable position within the cage, could see that Julia and Raven were talking but he had no idea of what was being said. It was a disturbing experience.

"Is that Henry?" Julia asked.

"Yes."

"Good. It's him I want to talk about." Julia had decided that the best approach was to come straight to the point. "I understand that Sylvia agreed to allocate him to the workshop programme. Can I ask how important it is that Henry should take on that role?" Julia leant forward anxious for Raven's response.

Something in Julia's manner made Raven think that she didn't want her to insist on Henry continuing to take part. "Not at all if you think something else might be better," she said. "If I'm honest it might not have been the best choice. We've had a long 'relationship' if that's the word and I'm not sure the dynamics of the new situation can be made to work. He's not finding the new circumstances easy to go along with at all." Raven struck out with a leather spanking paddle against the side of the cage, it made a sharp sound sending Henry cowering back as far from the bars as he could get.

Julia was relieved. The discussions was going better than she had hoped. "Well, if you don't need an experienced submissive, I'm sure I can make someone else available from my team."

Raven smiled, "All submissives are experienced once they've spent some time with me. But maybe a newcomer would be a better idea if that's possible."

"I'd like to help the programme any way that I can. I'm planning to start sponsoring, so it's a great opportunity for me."

Raven and Julia's conversation was interrupted by Jane and the arrival of tea things.

"I'll be frank," Julia went on. "You're sure he can't hear me?"

Raven nodded. "I'm sure."

"I've been thinking of taking Henry under sponsorship. I was hoping that you could provide me with some advice on setting up my flat for accommodating a sponsored male. I thought it might be helpful to the programme; to have somewhere as an example of how the typical woman might take on sponsoring. After all, this," she waved her arm around Raven's well equipped dungeon, "is hardly a typical environment for your average sponsor."

"You are right, of course," Raven responded, looking at the array of punishment instruments on one wall and the chains, cuffs, hanks of rope and other items of restraint alongside them. That alone would be sufficient to intimidate most submissives. "Actually, I suppose this place is better equipped even than most professionals' premises."

"So, what do you think? I can have a replacement for Henry by next week." She knew who she would send. The recalcitrant Andrew Garfield should be ideal.

Raven smiled. She felt Julia was adopting a sensible approach. And after all, Sir Henry deserved someone that could keep an eye on him, even if he'd been misbehaving today. "I'll be happy to help," she replied.

Chapter 9. Pepper Wharf

Julia's trip to Southwark had helped her solve another problem. As she had walked back towards the office she had spotted a converted riverside warehouse offering apartments. It seemed she thought, an ideal location for her new home and her new project.

"I've found a new flat," she told Sylvia Atterbury, once she had agreed the lease, "and I thought that Raven could advise on setting it up as a model of the way that accommodation could be adapted to provide for a sponsored male."

Sylvia looked thoughtful for a moment. "That sounds like a good idea. Of course the department cannot pay for any adaptations or improvements needed. You would have to fund that yourself."

Julia wasn't surprised by the minister's response. Sylvia was notoriously careful with departmental funds, quite apart from being sensitive to any suggestion that a member of staff might personally benefit from their work in any way apart from their salary.

It took a while to get the paperwork completed for the flat. Even though the property market was much easier these days with men finding they had to give up expensive, town-centre apartments as a result of their change in earnings, she still grateful to have found something so quickly. Eventually she was able to sign the agreement. Work at the office continued much as before. Henry had asked her a few times about the progress with Raven's project. He had seemed disappointed not to be going back to her premises in Borough but Julia avoided giving him the reason.

Finally, Julia managed to move in to her new home; a two bedroom, seventh floor, apartment in the Pepper Wharf development, a riverside block that had once been a warehouse.

At Pepper Wharf, the door-boy at reception was surreptitiously looking at a well-thumbed magazine below his desk. Someone peering over his shoulder might have been surprised at the selection of photographs of corseted, high-heeled women wielding whips, when there were plenty of opportunities to enjoy similar sights on the streets of the capital. For someone with his interests, the arrival of New Order had been a blessing but he still found pleasure in furtively seeking out images of dominant women, even though they were hard to find these days -- the male-dominated pornography industry hadn't actually been banned but with many women supervising the things their men read and their lack of disposable income, the dramatically reduced market had done the job for the government. The sound of the door to the apartment block opening attracted his attention and he swiftly folded the magazine away. He looked up at the imperious expression of a woman who was looming over him. "Julia Fain, please," she said.

"Yes, Ma'am," the door boy responded respectfully. His mouth was dry but he was keen not to antagonise the daunting woman. "Can I say who is calling?"

"Raven Courten."

"YES, MA'AM!" He recognised the name from a news broadcast the night before when the Government's latest plans for sponsorship were being discussed. It was quite something to have a key Government advisor turning up at the Wharf, and he could imagine telling his like-minded friends later about the leather-clad goddess that he had met that day.

Raven Courten recognised the response and bestowed a look of barely concealed contempt that she knew would add to the poor boy's delight.

A short phone call and a few moments later, Julia appeared in the lobby and asked Raven to follow her upstairs. The door-boy watched her go, fantasising about being ordered to walk in her footsteps.

"I hope you agree this is a useful project," Julia said as they reached the door of her apartment.

"I certainly do," Raven replied. "With anything like this, theory is one thing but to have an example of best practice that the Government can point to will help reinforce any messages that we include in the orientation sessions."

"Well, it's not a very big flat. I hope we can find enough space for what's needed."

"That's all the better. People need to see how they can keep a sponsored male in the sort of accommodation anyone has. There's no point in telling people how to manage their man in a twelve bedroom mansion with an underground dungeon unless they are lucky enough to live in one."

"This is comfortable but it's no mansion. Just two bedrooms, kitchen and utility rooms, a lounge and this hallway joining them all up. I was going to give Henry the smaller bedroom, I rather assumed he should have his own space. Luckily that's the one nearest the kitchen and utility, handy for domestic duties, I suppose."

"Yes, that's best. You want him to understand that it is you that controls where he is at any given time. You may want to share your space with him sometimes but that must be down to you making that choice. Ideally his room should be lockable for those times when you just want to be left in peace. You won't let him have a key, of course."

"I thought not!"

"Now, in addition to having a secure room, you'll want to be able to restrict him for the purposes of behaviour improvement."

"Something like the cage you had him in?"

"I find that's a convenient way of reminding him of his place. You might like to use something similar. I'd suggest a dog cage. They fold flat when you're not using them. You could use a pillory or shackles securing him to wall bolts but I find the cage the best idea. You can keep it in his room if you don't want to take up space elsewhere in the flat. Packed flat it can go under his bed."

Julia nodded. "That would work."

"The other thing you should consider is keeping track of his movements. You can't keep him caged up all the time but you do want him to feel that he's being monitored. I wouldn't bother about expensive CCTV or anything like that but it's probably a good thing to get some way he can register when he comes in and when he leaves. I know people that use electronic locks that work off a car or a tag, or you could just insist he uses his phone to file his GPS coordinates. There are fitness apps you can use to track where someone has been and when."

Julia made a note in a small notebook. "I'm going to start building a shopping list. I'm thinking there is quite a bit of stuff that I'll need. Security things for a start. And probably things to punish him with too. I imagine that will be part of the regime."

"Well my experience with Bunny was that he didn't need an awful lot of correction. He was quite willing to please and fairly attentive to what ever task he had been put too. I wouldn't spend a lot on that sort of thing. Spanking him with the sole of one of your trainers will be plenty enough, I expect. You'll probably find that it's enough to give him a stern look. Don't lay out on a lot of equipment until you work out what you really need -- and what you're likely to get some fun out of too."

"Fun?"

"Good heavens yes. I know you may think of this as doing your civic duty but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy it. I don't know whether or not you'll discover you have a naturally sadistic streak but if it just means you can get things done when you want and as you want, I think you'll find out quite quickly that it's fun. Of course, I may be biased. I wouldn't have gone on doing what I was doing if I hadn't enjoyed it."

"I guess not. I'll have to see how it turns out I suppose. I hadn't really thought that I might enjoy it." Julia looked down at her notebook. The list wasn't as long as she had thought it was going to be.

Raven smiled. "I can see you're finding it daunting. But don't worry, you'll cope. And besides, it's not just about the flat. You're going to find it a challenge having to worry about taking the lead all the time. It's not a situation you'll have been used to, I imagine."

"That's true. Really, I've only ever had to worry about managing myself."

"Well, even I have trouble with it at times."

"But you do it all the time, surely?"

"To some extent but it's very different being in control of someone for a few hours as part of a session and being in the position of having to think about it twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. And there's something else to think about. Henry is naturally submissive, you won't really need to convince him of the fact that he needs to be obedient but, and it's a big but, his experience of being dominated has been for sessions of a few hours at a time at the most. And there's quite a lot of 'play' about it, I suppose you could say. The pain is real, the submission is real but, apart from the duration of the session, the loss of control is, I'm afraid to say, an illusion. It's a big difference to be put in that position on a permanent basis. And you'll have to deal with the fact that quite simply there are going to be plenty of times when you can't be bothered to give him the attention he thinks he should be getting."

"But if I'm the dominant one, isn't it up to me to decide when and how?" Julia almost surprised herself with how assertive she sounded.