Stranger Than Truth

Chapter Three: Meeting the Actors

Valerie picked the phone back up and called Sally at her work place. "Sally, This is Val."

"Hi Val, what's up?"

"Are you free for dinner tonight?"

"Yeah. Have you got something planned?"

"Milton wants us to meet some of the actors tonight and then take them to Mephisto's on Friday."

"Friday? He wants us to take novices and non-players to Mephisto's on a Friday?"

"Yes. He says that, if they're going to baulk at portraying D/s, he wants it to happen soon, not halfway through the filming."

"Well, if they can survive a Friday, they will survive anything. Yes, I can meet with the actors tonight. Where?"

"Gatsby's at 6:00."

"I'll meet you there. Bye love."

"I love you, Sally."

At two in the afternoon, June stuck her head in the door. "Ms. Burbon? Mr. Wilson from Whips'n'More is here for his appointment."

Val looked up, her eyes rolling. "Finally!" she thought to herself. Out loud, Valerie simply asked, "Please show him in."

Valerie stood and met Fred Wilson as he came in. "Good afternoon Mr. Wilson. I'm glad you could finally make it. Won't you have a seat."

"Thank you Ms. Burbon. I was a little distressed at your latest communication. Would you really suspend our advertising?"

"Yes, I'm afraid to say. You know that Delgrasi had always prided itself on the high quality of its magazines. The one constant complaint we have had has been the advertisements. Last year, we decided to take on that complaint. That's why my position was created. Most advertising agencies will not take on blatantly sexual clientele. By providing an in house advertising consultant, our advertisers get the best of both worlds. They have access to professional advice in designing their ads and they don't have to pay for it."

"I can understand that. Our company likes the ads we have now. Why do they have to change?"

"Delgrasi has its own reasons for wanting the change, but I can understand how that is not a major concern of yours. I took the liberty of accessing your public sales records for the past 15 years." Valerie opened a notebook screen so that he could see what she had on her screen. "As you can see, and are no doubt aware of already, your sales have been steady for quite some time. It's actually quite impressive for any company to maintain consistent sales numbers for such a long time. Notice, however, the sales figures for the last three months. They've dropped 15%, the biggest short term drop in your sales in 15 years.

"This second chart shows the public sales figures for Pleasure's Pain, your chief competitor, I believe. They have trailed you in sales for the entire 15 years. Five months ago, they took advantage of our services for their ads. Look at their sales figures from three months ago. Their sales are up 13%. This is why you want to change you ads, Mr. Wilson. Pleasure's Pain is taking your business away and it can be tied directly to their new advertising campaign. If you don't adapt to the changing times, your stockholders will be, shall we say, unhappy?"

"I knew about the recent sales changes, but can you be sure that their new ads are the reason?"

"Obviously, we can't be totally sure, but, unless you're aware of another factor that has changed in the last six months, it is the most likely. Have you seen Pleasure's Pain's new ads?"

"Yes I have. Is it really no more expensive to have different ads in different magazines?"

"Oh, absolutely. If you were going through a traditional agency, it might cost more to have the additional ones developed, but, Delgrasi has just as much interest in helping you improve your ads' appearance to our readers as you do, so all the costs of using my services are covered by my salary. My bonuses come only from increases in our readership due to the better response to the ads. My incentive is to give our readers what they want to see in the advertisements they encounter when they read our publications."

"You're very convincing Ms. Burbon. I can't make any promises, but I can look at what you've got to offer and take it to my board."

"Excellent! I can't ask for anything more than that. Now, the first step is to target the ads at the specific readers of the magazines you advertise in. For example, in Bindings, we will want to emphasize your excellent restraint systems. Currently you're carrying three ads, a full page spread, a single block and an article embedded spot. They are, however, the same image simply repeated three times. What I'd like to propose is that we use the smaller spots to spotlight a specific product. I'll be honest, Mr. Wilson, I fell in love with your hogtie harness from the first I laid eyes on it. As a submissive, I can tell you that a harness that lets me be hogtied without the threat of rope burns is a godsend. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Let's showcase that harness in a single block ad."

"Actually, Ms. Burbon, if I were going to spotlight the harness, I'd use the full page ad. I take it you haven't been restrained in it yet?"

"No, I'm afraid not." Valerie blushed at the continuing self reference. "I was planning to get it for my Master for his birthday."

"We called it the hogtie harness because that is the most obvious use for it, but it can be used for a variety of binding positions. I think we should show a variety. A tool that can be used for multiple bindings will sell better. That's why we developed it the way we did and why some of the construction is stronger than it seems to need to be."

"Excellent! That's the type of thing I'm talking about. Do you have any photos of models, male and female, bound in the various positions?"

"Not with me, but I can email them to you."

"That will be great. I'll prepare a couple of different presentations and you can choose the one that you think best presents the harness. Now, about the embedded article ad. We should have a variety of ads available to use, depending on what the content is. I propose that we…"

The conversation continued for over an hour as Valerie walked Mr. Wilson through the changes she was proposing in all the publications his company advertised in, Bindings, Dominating, and Second Skin. She also suggested that they consider ads in The Sensible Sub, as, like herself, many submissives bought equipment to be used on them. Armed with several folders and a thumb drive full of data, Mr. Wilson promised to get back to her sometime next week.

Valerie was very pleased with the reception her presentation received and had no doubts that any competent board of directors would be ecstatic about reader targeted ads that cost no more to design than the ones they were already using. The extra costs associated with using different ads was minimal. By the time she was preparing to leave for dinner, Val was walking on the clouds. A quick good bye to June and Erica, and Valerie was on the road to Gatsby's.

Valerie managed to hit all the holes in the traffic and found herself at Gatsby's 30 minutes early, 15 minutes earlier than she had planned. There was a mild attack of nervousness, this being the first time she had entered the gay establishment alone. While her discomfort with lesbian sex had faded quite a bit in the last several months, she was not totally at ease with it either. With Sally, it was as natural as can be, but with others, there was still, not so much discomfort, as embarrassment. She knew what she needed was to experience sex with a woman outside the confines of D/s.

Valerie entered the club, looking around to see if anyone she knew from the movie was already here. Not seeing anyone, she made her way around the dancers and ordered a whiskey sour from the bar. As it was delivered, a hand was placed on her shoulder.

"Valerie Burbon. It's so nice to see you here. Don't tell me you're trolling tonight?"

Valerie turned around and gave the taller woman a fierce hug. "Gwen! You're looking wonderful. No, I'm not trolling. I'm actually here for a business meeting and arrived early. How have you been?"

"I've been good." The woman she had grown fond of in the last six months was as direct as always. "So, are you still bothered by the thought of rolling in the hay with me?"

Valerie blushed, but maintained eye contact. "No, I don't think so. At least not beyond embarrassment. Is this your subtle way of asking me out?"

"Of course! I've wanted you by myself ever since we first danced. So, what do you say? Will you let me take you to dinner and then home for more?"

Valerie thought about it for a moment. Gwen was a sexy woman, large, confident and with a soft touch, if her dancing was any indication. "Okay. Yes, as long as it's okay with Sally."

"If what's okay with me?" Valerie's lover asked as she reached the bar.

Gwen looked at Sally and winked. "I want to take Valerie out and show her that you don't have to have been with a man in the past to be able to show a woman a good time."

Sally looked at Valerie. "And you said yes?"

Valerie nodded and looked down at her feet.

Sally embraced Val in big hug. "That's fabulous news! I'm happy and proud of you Val. Gwen will rock your socks off. So, when?"

"We haven't picked a day yet. I think weekends are pretty much Master's right now."

Gwen looked into the air for a moment. "How about next Monday? I know you get up early for work, but I do too on Tuesdays. If we make it an early dinner, we'll have plenty of time for whatever follows after that."

"That should work. I'll make sure I won't be on any restrictions that night and let you know. Oh, there he is." Val waved her hands at Milton Freeman, seeing him across the dance floor.

Gwen looked at whom she was waving and her jaw dropped open. "You're having a business meeting with Milton Freeman; the producer?"

Sally gave a sheepish smile. "Yes. He hired us as consultants."

"Val, Sally. It's so good of you to come. The crew will be here, or should be here, any minute now. Who is this lovely lady?" he asked, turning to Gwen.

Gwen stuck her hand out, stammering, "Gwen, Mr. Freeman, Gwen Pollock. I'm such a fan of your work, ever since Streetwise. It's an honor to meet you."

"Gwen, lovely name. It's a pleasure to meet you as well. Do you know Sally and Valerie?"

"Yes. I've known Sally for years. We were even steady for a while. I met Valerie shortly after the incident."

Mr. Freeman's attention was already wandering elsewhere. "Why don't we retire to the banquet room? Tasha will be here on time and won't be happy if we're not."

Sally and Valerie both gave Gwen a goodbye hug and followed Milton to the banquet room. No sooner had they taken seats around the large table, than a stunning woman in a deep red dress entered. The room was suddenly centered on her. She was not an imposing figure, but her aura drew everyone's attention to her and her alone.

"Valerie Burbon, Sally Fletcher, may I introduce Tasha Williams, the star of Valerie's Crisis."

Val and Sally both mumbled hellos as Tasha took her seat at the head of the table.

"So you're Valerie. I'm looking forward to hearing just how this horrible event happened to you. I can't imagine putting myself in the hands of anyone holding a whip."

"But Tasha," a voice called out from the door, "how do you explain working with Frankie in, not just one, but five, pictures? That man may not have a whip, but the damage he does to fragile actor egos is far worse than what happened to this lovely lady." Turning to the lovers, he bowed with a flourish and introduced himself. "I'm Stan Grevish. It's a pleasure to enter a room and see not just one, but three beautiful women, even if there is this male eyesore sitting next to them." The last comment was said with a wink towards Milton.

Milton shot him a dirty look then quickly smiled again. "I see Crystal and Melanie are being fashionably late as usual. Let's go ahead and order our food and they can catch up when they arrive. I don't want Valerie and Sally to have to repeat themselves, at least not more than absolutely necessary, so we'll delay the lesson until later."

From what she ordered, it was clear that Tasha was on a strict diet of some sort. Stan, on the other hand either wasn't on a diet or was breaking it. Val and Sally did what they usually did on the occasional dinner out and let themselves off the hook from their usual dietary limitations. As they were finishing their orders, a pair of ladies was escorted in. They were arm in arm and clearly a couple. Mr. Freeman gave the waitress a signal to wait until the two newcomers had ordered.

"Crystal, Melanie, it's nice of you to join us." Turning to Sally and Valerie, Milton made introductions. "Val, Sally, this is Crystal Hadron, she will be playing Francine. The lovely lady on her arm is Melanie White, who will be playing you, Sally. Have a seat you two and let our waitress know what you're eating tonight."

The two actresses took a few minutes to look over the menu and ordered the same thing. Once the waitress had left, Milton looked at Val and Sally and offered, "Valerie, Sally, why don't you go ahead and let our actors and actresses know what this whole BDSM thing is."

Sally looked at Val and nodded. "First, let's get an idea of what you do know. How many of you have heard of domination and submission?" When everyone indicated that they had, she continued. "How many have ever included D/s in their sexual activities?"

"I had a lover once that liked me to tie her up," Stan offered.

"Good. That's a form of BDSM play. Was it just bondage?"

"Yes. No whips or things like that."

"How about the rest of you? Any kinky sex games in your pasts?"

All three women looked at Sally like she had grown a second head. Inwardly, Sally winced. "This might be difficult," she thought to herself.

Valerie stepped into the silence. "I know that it's sometimes hard to talk about our sex lives, but this movie will have a lot of sexuality in it and we would like to see the parts that represent our lives portrayed accurately. Communication is paramount. So, open up, nothing's going past this room."

There were three visible sighs of relief. Crystal spoke up first. "We need to be careful with what we let others know. Our love lives are already front page fare for the Star and other rags. If our sex lives made it there, it could ruin careers, or at least type cast them."

Sally nodded reassuringly. "We know how important privacy is. Part of the crisis in our lives six months ago was Valerie and Francine being outed. There is no way that we will breathe a word of what you tell us to anyone." Looking around, she asked, "Who wants to go first?"

Crystal looked at Melanie. "Other than being bisexual, I'm not all that kinky. Crystal and I have been an item for quite a while, secretly for a few years and now publicly. Our sex is probably quite bland, compared to what you're used to."

"You'd be surprised. Yes, Sally and I play BDSM games frequently, but we also enjoy rather vanilla sex as well. Sometimes you just want to be passionate, not kinky."

Stan put a finger up. "I know what it means, but just wear did 'vanilla' come from?"

"Vanilla ice cream," Sally answered. "It's the most boring flavor and the most popular. So sex that's not kinky is 'boring'," she made little quote marks with her fingers, "and the most common type of sex."

Melanie looked a little embarrassed at Crystal before she shared. "I had a lover once who liked to spank me before sex. It was actually very arousing."

"Melanie! It was? You liked it? Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Crystal, you don't even like porn. I couldn't imagine you'd like spankings."

"I don't know. Honestly, the whole pain thing scares me."

Valerie brought them back on subject. "That's good to know. Not everyone likes submission to that level. Fortunately, you don't have to. As Francine, you'll only be giving pain in the movie, not receiving it."

Sally looked at Tasha. "You've been pretty quiet. Anything you'd like to share Tasha?"

"No, not really. Just assume that I know very little about the subject and go from there."

Sally and Valerie exchanged a look. Both thought the response a little evasive and wondered what was bothering the actress who had controlled the room so easily such a short while ago. Not pressing it, the pair started their presentation, flowing easily back and forth as speakers.

They explained how D/s was all about a voluntary exchange of control and power between two consenting adults. The vastly different levels and styles of play were explained along with the idea of limits and how different people approached them. They presented their own ideas of what was appropriate while readily acknowledging that others disagreed, sharply at times, and that those people were equally happy in the place where they played. Sometime during the presentation, dinner was brought in. After 20 minutes of explaining the lifestyle in brief, they stopped and Sally asked, "So, are there any questions?" Her smile let them know that she would be shocked if there weren't.

Tasha looked at Valerie. "Valerie, do you like pain? You seem to experience it a lot, if I'm following things right."

"No. Pain pretty much sucks. I do have a very high tolerance for it when I'm submitting. I think that's because I am so strongly submissive. When I am submitting to Master or to Sally, I experience such joy when I can take whatever they give me. One of the strongest signs that I am fully submitted to them is when I accept pain: intense burning pain. I'll scream, sob, fight to get away, but I will accept it and be so happy afterwards. I know I pleased them and that is such a wonderful feeling."

Sally added, "Before you ask, yes, I enjoy inflicting pain on Valerie. It's a rush, an incredible rush to know that I have that power, not because I took it, but because she loves and trusts me so much that she gave it to me. In return, I want to give her every chance to take her submission even farther than she has before."

"But, it's not all about pain, not even for us. My submission is to anything that she wishes me to experience. For my hand fasting gift, she drove me to orgasm in public nine times, in one hour, until I was so worn out that I couldn't take any more and used my safe word."

All three actresses stared open mouthed. Melanie spoke the question on all their minds. "You had nine orgasms in one hour? Is that even possible?"

Sally grinned. "Oh yes. I plan on trying for twelve sometime soon. I want to give her so many orgasms that she passes out from pleasure."

Val grinned. "What a way to go."

"When will we have a chance to see this stuff in action?"

Sally answered. "We plan on taking you to The Mephisto Club on Friday. I should warn you, it'll be a little like throwing you into the deep end of the pool. It could almost be called pain night. I suspect that a lot of couples who only play occasionally pull out all the stops on Fridays."

Valerie cleared her throat. "I'd also like to take you there on a Tuesday soon. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are instructional nights at Mephisto's. All the public demos will be done so that others can learn something from them."

"Why do we need to go on an instructional day?" Tasha asked. "Won't the actual movie scenes with whipping be done by stunt doubles?"

Milton interjected. "Not all of them. Some, the ones with close ups will have to be you in the scene directly."

Valerie shook her head. "There's more to it than that, Milton. I work in advertising. We hire actors for TV spots all the time. I insist that the actors use the product they are pitching at least once. They can't show believable enthusiasm for the product if they have never encountered it."

Tasha blanched. "Oh no! You can't mean…"

"Yes, I do. I am positive that each of you needs to be in a scene at least once to be able to present the lifestyle in a positive light. I'm not able to demand that you do, but I am convinced that the success of this movie hinges upon each of you being on both sides of the whip at least once."