"To feel aroused is to feel alive. Having great sex is like taking in huge lungfuls of fresh air, essential to your body, essential to your health, and essential to your life."
--Fiona Thrust
CHAPTER 05
As Aaron led me through the foyer, we went the opposite way from the small sitting room. He opened the door and led me through into a formal elevator, though it was unlike the typical metal box you see in hotels and office buildings. This one was a more of a small plush, decorated room. There was a cushioned, seated bench along two walls, but Aaron didn't make the effort to sit, and I followed his lead. He turned to me and started telling me more about the place.
"The first-floor ballroom is the formal meeting place for everyone. Though it isn't required, we all tend to stop there first and greet everyone. There is also a formal dining room in another section of the first floor. We have chefs that come from all over the country, and even other countries too when there is a special occasion. That alone is an experience all to itself as the food there you won't find anywhere else. Dinner is set for 6:30, but I wasn't able to arrive until late, so we missed that. Often, many of us will just come for the dinner and dining experience, if they aren't up for anything else. We don't require anyone to do anything more than that if they don't wish to.
"The first floor is also the only place you will see any staff, like Marcus who you met. All of the waiters, drivers, and everyone else are restricted to the first floor alone. For that reason, all of our 'activities' are on the higher floors, and nothing of those activities are allowed or discussed on the first floor, so the staff are all oblivious as to what transpires. In between events, we have a select cleaning crew, one owned by a member here, who takes care of the manor when we aren't here.
"Everyone you see above the first floor is either a formal member of the Society, or is escorted by one. It is safe to do whatever you like or discuss whatever you like with anyone above the first floor. You can be assured of absolute privacy about what you say and do, but again, only above the first floor.
"There are a lot of different types of activities in this lifestyle, and everyone has their own specialized interests. Therefore, we have set up different areas and rooms depending on what strikes your fancy at any given time. If you are here with an escort, your escort will usually decide with you beforehand what activities you will indulge in for that evening, or you come up here to the first room on the second floor and discuss it then. If you are a member and happen to come without an escort, then there is a way to let others know what you are interested in doing that evening. I'll show you how that works in a minute when we get there."
As Aaron spoke, we went up to the second floor, as near as I could tell, and the doors opened, leading to a wide hall that turned away. Just then I realized there were no buttons or panel in the elevator. It made me wonder how Aaron activated it. Before I could figure it out, Aaron led me out and around the corner. As we walked, he said to me, "We call this room we are about to enter the 'Gathering Room.' For obvious reasons, as you'll see."
As we approached, I heard the sound of talking and people up ahead. We turned another corner and the hall opened up into a room almost as large as the ballroom downstairs, but it was very dimly lit. There were doors leading out of this room, but there was no door entering it as the room just opened up as we turned the corner. The light carpet of the hallway ended, and the room was almost entirely made of wood, a medium cherry wood, or something very similar. There was a raised wooden stage at the far end and what appeared to be a dais of sorts on the stage. There was even a lectern against the wall on the stage, and I spied what appeared to be a gavel on the lectern.
The walls were all paneled in the same wood, and there were some areas near where we walked in that had recessed shelves. I couldn't make out what they contained exactly, but it looked like folded fabric of different colors. There were long cushioned benches, similar to ornate church pews, arranged on the left and right, with a wide aisle up the middle. The benches stopped quite a distance before the stage. There were several doors leading out of the Gathering Room, to both the left and right, and one even at the back of the stage.
There were many people already gathered here, perhaps twenty or so. Some of these I had met downstairs, though their names or 'letters' I had already forgotten. The men were all dressed in the same style tuxedo that everyone downstairs wore, but a few had taken off the bowtie and unbuttoned the collars to their shirts. They left the undone bowtie draped around their necks.
The women, however, were strikingly different. Instead of the formal gowns and dresses, most had all changed and now wore only long, satin robes with mid length sleeves. The robes were of that same dark red color and were gathered at the waist by a single red belt. When they moved, I could tell they still wore their shoes and stockings, but I couldn't tell if they wore anything else under those robes. Most of the women stood by their escorts, but there were four women who sat in the front bench facing back toward the rest. They wore robes just like the others, but they had what looked like silk scarves tied around their left wrists. Two of them had black scarves, one had a yellow scarf, while the third one had a black scarf and red scarf.