Chapter 6
Rob's week with Michelle began on a Saturday afternoon in early April. Rob rang the bell at her front door, she opened the door almost immediately. She greeted him with an embrace. "I didn't want you to be so timid. I expect you to come in and go straight to the white door."
"Helena will be back in half an hour, she says, an errand here in town. There are two more cases in the boot of her car."
"No dogs?"
"Helena's gardener will see to them. It will be easier to not have so many dogs underfoot."
He was carrying one suitcase and quickly popped upstairs to drop it in Michelle's guest room. When he came back down, she led him into her living room. She sat him on the couch beside her and put a hand on his arm. "Are you in the mood to do a session this afternoon?"
"Will I ever be?"
"Kiss me."
Rob put his lips on hers and she kissed him back, extending her tongue. He paused, pulled back and looked at her.
She wasn't sure what to make of his hesitation. "I trust I convinced you about my feelings for you."
"Your feelings have been clear for some time. I was trying to decide if kissing is sexual contact."
"What we do in my dungeon isn't just a sexual game, it is out of love. Must you deny not only sex but also love?"
"You're so, ah, severe." Rob spoke with hesitation, searching for the right words. "I know you, but as a mistress I don't know you at all. It's hard to explain. With Helena and Marion I always believed, deep down, whatever they do, they think I can handle it. Even so, often they've been wrong."
"And you think it will be different when you're with me?"
"Yes. No. I don't know. We say we're friends, but we don't know each other very well. If I do a session here, I leave, we don't see each other until the next session. When I leave the playroom at home, I see Helena and Marion immediately, no longer the Mistresses, but as lovely ladies, friends."
"I do aftercare, you know. You commented on its absence to Helena and especially Marion, I understand?" He understood she'd been told at least some of his experiences. "As soon as we finish a session, we'll talk, a lot. It's not over when it's over, don't ever think that. Talking afterward is mandatory."
Rob kept silent and waited.
"I want to set some rules, Rob. What I'll teach you is not what you have learned before.
"First, when you hear the word 'trust' with your name, you'll know the session has begun, my voice saying our word means it is already underway. It might be here in this room, anywhere here. I understand you wish to confine games to a defined place. This week, the place is my entire house. If I am visiting you at Helena's, I might say it there. If I phone you, saying 'Trust, Mr. Graham,' you most come immediately to my place or to the place I name. Our word, trust, is for you. It reminds you we must build up to what are going to accomplish over the coming weeks. Do you understand?"
"Some clarifying questions, if I may. When you start a session, I'm required to go somewhere. Normally, I imagine, I'm to come here. What if I'm in Newcastle? Do you intend to interrupt my normal life? When I still must walk my dogs or when having dinner, I see no reason to jump to your attention. If you call when I'm in a business meeting, you understand my mobile doesn't even ring until I'm done."
"You can safeword, Rob."
"Don't be offended if I do, this is not as important as other parts of my life. If you want your surprise to get an acceptable reception, be aware of time and place, keep the surprise from being so unpleasant."
"Believe me, I shall. I'll not expect you to jump right away, we all have our normal things to do. But I will telephone, I might text or email, the message from Michelle asking for your trust, Rob, at seven tonight, then you'll know what to do. You are to come here, go to the white door, leave your clothes and await my arrival in the black door room.
"Now, second rule. This is the protocol you didn't want to hear before. Waiting in the room with the black door, you won't have a chair to use. In truth, there isn't normally a chair in the subs' room; I've taken it back out. We had to coddle you, your first visit. There is a position for waiting: on your knees on the floor, sitting back with bum on your heels, knees spread wider than your shoulders and hands on your thighs. It's called first position, the position you take first in every session. I could ask to put your elbows on your thighs or your hands behind you head so count yourself lucky. Your eyes will be on the floor before you. Are you okay with this rule?"
"Hmm, maybe." Rob hesitated. "What about when you say these words when you're visiting us at Helena's? There are usually other people present there."
"I'll expect you to go to the dungeon in your house. Drop all your clothes outside the door, then wait for me, just inside the door to the dungeon, on the floor in the first position. I might not be alone, in fact at Helena's, you should expect another to join us.
"But, Rob, I'll never ask you to strip in front of others. I'll never require you to kneel except in the dungeon."
"I see. So when you're visiting us, I must always be prepared to visit the playroom?"
"Normally I'll give you a warning. I might tell you the Mistress will visit you tomorrow, you'll know what I mean. If I am visiting, no reference to a Mistress, it will be a normal social visit.
"I can change my mind quite quickly if I see you misbehaving."
Rob nodded. Confident she'd actually read his limits, he felt little need to speak of not taking something in real life in the dungeon to be punished.
"Now, as to what you wear when here. You shall always wear stockings, suspender belt and high heels. This will be your standard dress for all occasions. First of all, to have you accustomed to wearing such under all circumstances and perhaps..." she stopped.
Rob grew impatient with her pause. "Perhaps what?"
"I might show you off to other people."
"Not perhaps! No, full stop. Not in a hundred years. I'll safeword immediately. Black. I am safewording right now." He didn't say what he was thinking, saying it might make him angry.
"What if you're in disguise, say wearing a mask, only your eyes visible?"
"Not even then."
"We shall talk about it another time. Your response may change over the course of our training. Any more questions? I've nothing more to say, other than I am to be your Mistress. Sometimes there will be Mistress Helena and Mistress Marion too. I am hoping even Mistress Cathy can participate."
"We'll take it as it comes."
"What did you bring along?"
"I assumed you'd want me in lingerie. I have what you named, adding a dress, in the bag I already brought in. Two more bags in Helena's car have dresses, maid uniforms, more lingerie."
"Good. Shall we make some coffee?"
"Please, I'd like some."
Just then Helena rang the bell. She was carrying a neatly wrapped package, apparently it had been her errand in town. The two ladies commanded Rob to carry the remaining two cases up to his room, then threw him out so they could unpack for him, move him in for the week. Rob loitered in the upstairs hall until Helena sent him to make the coffee. He went to the kitchen, leaving them giggling with each other. He didn't know what was so funny, but he had his suspicions.
Rob had the coffee ready and everything in the living room on a tray before Helena and Michelle reappeared down the stair.
"You may pour for us, Rob, but not for yourself." Rob served the two ladies, then was sent upstairs to change. Laid out on the bed was a pretty, floral tea dress, sleeveless and completely inappropriate for a chilly day in late spring. There were two petticoats to go under the wide skirt, the pink corset he'd worn under his bridal gown for the engagement party and knickers.
He took off his male clothes and put them away. He discovered the lace-edged knickers were open-crotch, they intended him to hang out. He fiddled a bit and found he could cross over the two halves, giving him reasonable coverage as long at he didn't run about. Ladylike, he thought to himself, it will remind him to be ladylike. Remembering he couldn't reach his shoes once he was wearing the corset, he slipped the stockings up his legs and put on the four inch heels. The open knickers had a matching suspender belt, he put it on and clipped to his stockings.
The corset was still tied to his sizing for the gown at the engagement party. He released the knots and started over. He closed the busk in front, then pulled on the cords to snug up the corset, much less than Carmen had done for the party. He slipped into the petticoats, making the decision to wear white over pink, and tied each one in place. Finally, he slipped the dress over his head and settled it in place. It took some work to close the zip in the back, but he managed.
To account for the sleeveless dress, he checked in his wardrobe and found a white cardigan. He put it over his shoulders and buttoned it just at the neck. He quickly checked his appearance in the mirror, then went out the door. On the stair, his knickers continually reminded him to remain dainty and ladylike. It was easier to walk on the level floor across the hallway, then he was standing in the doorway to the living room.
Helena and Michelle were talking. Helena stopped in mid-sentence when Rob appeared. A smile grew across her face. "You see, Michelle, he rises to challenges."
"How so?" Rob asked.
"We left you with several opportunities to ask for help - the corset, the zip on the dress - and yet you managed to dress completely without calling on us. You see, Michelle, he even decided, sensibly, to add a cardigan instead of wearing only what we set out."
"Rob, it's a good thing for both of us you know your way around feminine clothing," Michelle added. "You'll wear nothing else for the week. A maid's uniform most of the time, for you shall be my maidservant this week. This afternoon, we thought we'd like a bit more of a party atmosphere to get started."
They invited Rob to sit and Helena poured him coffee. He'd only had a sip before Michelle declared she wanted a biscuit. "Be a dear, Rob, and bring out a plate of biscuits, you'll find them in the cupboard."
Rob obliged. It took a moment to locate the package of biscuits, then a bit longer to find the plates and take one down. It wasn't more than two minutes before he came back to the living room. As he entered the hall, he had just a glimpse of Michelle returning into the living room. His high heels made plenty of noise on the wood floor, they knew he was coming.
Helena and Rob chatted for another quarter hour. Rob was little more than a witness, they didn't include him in the conversation. Apparently Bridget had just said something funny to Helena. Ah, Bridget, of the theater supply shop. Her errand was picking up a new costume for his week with Michelle.
