Frank OOC considerations in RP M/s relationships

 During the two years that I have been without an M/s relationship I have considered and even experimented with a few potential Masters as we tried each other out for likely “fits”.

Is thinking about these things a buzz-kill…hmmm.  Nothing is more of a buzz-kill when you are within a M/s relationship than “topping from the bottom” so it is best to be sure you are on the right wave-length from the beginning to avoid a puzzled and lost Master taking direction from his slave. 

Levels of Experience:

When I was first collared my Master was worried about my lack of experience.  I didn’t get it.  I was willing and eager to learn and I wanted him to be my teacher.  Now I understand that he really didn’t want to be that much of a teacher and although he took me on, things might have gone better for me and for him if I was as experienced as I am now.  Things upset me that wouldn’t now.  I felt things with an intensity that was sometimes over-the-top because it was all so new.  An equality of experience is a really good starting point for a pair, although I don’t think it is insurmountable with good will and eyes open.  I think it is particularly hard for an inexperienced Master to successfully Master a girl who is a well-trained slave.  Here the OOC and IC have to be carefully separated, with the girl never guiding or questioning her Master during IC sessions and there has to be a core felt respect that can transcend occasional blunders. The moment the girl feels her Master is a doofus, there’s going to be no sparks there for either.

Where are we going with this?

There is totally no point in entering into a M/s relationship when one person is hoping to take it to RL asap and the other has no interest in ever having an RL M/s relationship.  How RL we are going to get is another question to ask yourselves.  Anyone who believes that SL and RL can be totally separate is a heartless fool of course BUT there are differences in expectations. It is a heartbreaker to get into a M/s relationship and have it suddenly run aground on some insurmountable differences in expectations.   Here’s the kinds of things you need to ask: Will you confine communications to SL and text.  Will you use sex toys that can be remotely controlled?  What are your feelings about webcams?  Will a collar be worn in RL?  If so, will it be symbolic (a ribbon or neck chain) or a locked collar with a key in the Master’s possession?  Do we consent to RL discipline as directed by the Master and what kind?

Communications:

Will we have an emergency back-channel contact process (Skype, email, cellphone in case we can’t get into SL or there’s some other need to communicate)

SL expectations?

Are we connecting one pair of alt or all of our SL existence.  Will we use a visible collar at all times, one that can be show/hide or not use any collar at all?  Are we going to be part of a roleplay community or are we purely exploring on our own?  What’s our flavour?  Gorean, BDSM or “making it up as we go along”?  What are our other responsibilities, interests and restrictions in SL?  Some of us have professional avatars or business avatars that we can’t associate with relationships.  Can we accept that those avatars will continue to operate outside the relationship, or do we need to find some compromise or token connection to feel the commitment deeply?  Can we connect all our avatars in such a way as to make things work?  Do we want our connected avatars to use RLV or do we prefer to operate on trust?  Where will we act out our scenes? 

Others?

Is our experimentation private or are we involving others?  A Master who publicly beats a girl and then asks her to parade her red ass around the town square expects obedience but he might like to know if he is ever going to see her again after that command.  Probably good to know.   Likewise a Master who decides that a fit punishment is to give the girl over to public use.  You want to be sure that this is not going to be so demeaning and damaging that the girl will never speak to you again in any reality. This kind of scene can be very exciting but takes thought and preparation.  You need to know your girl and what she can handle.  More importantly, is your desire as a Master to have more than one on your chain.  Some girls just will make trouble for you if you bring them into a household or relationship like that.  You need to decide how much trouble you want to handle and if it isn’t much let the girls slide who won’t share you if that’s the shape of your desire as a Master.

Time:

How much time do we have for this and do we know our schedule?  I know that a very meaningful M/s relationship can happen between people who only find the occasional hour or so online in a week—when that is enough for both partners.  This is especially true if you can keep things lively through email and exchanged notecards.  A slave can do a Master’s bidding in his absence and work to please him.  She can develop dances, write poetry or weave stories to titillate him.  Likewise discipline can be accomplished asynchronously through cage time assigned and served.  Those tricky cages that ask you questions and IM Master if you leave early serve well for this. I know I feel Mastered more fully when the SL consequences of my behaviour get translated into RL consequences that can truly be punishing and not just fun and sexy.  One example that comes to mind was a time that I was gagged in SL and my RL punishment was that for that day I was not to speak unless spoken to and then with as much brevity as possible.  I walked about visualizing the gag in my mouth, knowing that the Master had found my speech displeasing and thought hard about how speaking was a privilege I had to earn by framing my words always with care to pleasing my Master.  I did a lot of shy smiling that day and actually learned a great deal about differential behaviour.  So short time is not insurmountable.  What IS a huge problem is differences in expectations.  Whether is a difference in amount of time, usual time periods on line, or degree of predictability, if there isn’t room for compromise, it is not going to work.

Turn-on’s and Turn-offs:

I suggest you make independent lists of your top turn-ons and turn-offs.  Just let it all flow out.   

If you do all of this and feel more sparks than you started with, you are probably on a great path and in for a rollicking ride.

back

I am not back in SL Gor but nearly a year has elapsed since I took the blog down and the hurts and reasons for not wanting it here are diminished.  I am going to try to share some of my path out of the darkness here, and maybe a new chapter might be written, who knows.

Abandoned

Although my tears have been enough to fill a river, I can no longer sail away from the inevitable conclusion that I have been abandoned.

No formal word of release has been given and yet the reality is that there has not been enough contact or meaningful interaction over the past few months for me to sustain the pretence that I have a Master in SL any longer.

I don't understand the reasons and events leave me in a cruel limbo. Only once in the last month has he been in SL. He wiped away my tears and told me that although he had been "lost" and walking on paths far from me, he had missed me, was here now and all was well. Then he disappeared again without a word as two weeks passed, ignoring my missives, not responding to any IM or emails sent to any address.

Finally I had to make an OOC deadline for myself to give up.... take off my collar.... and be born anew as an abandoned one. In our old city, 14 days was the time for a girl to be declared as abandoned and I have been left without a word for more than 14 days on several occasions this year. I can't go on like this. It is wrecking the rest of my SL and RL too. As long as the collar was in place and he was aknowledged as Master in my profile, I looked for him every day. Each "ping" of an IM I hoped was him. Each glimpse of some new "online status" announcements I hoped to see the loved name. . . and each time I logged off without seeing him I crashed into depression and wondered, worried, wrote another note from love, sadness, anger, worry. No one can do that forever. It erodes sanity, productivity and self-respect.

Where to from here?

I have no idea. For now my goals are simply to get through each day without crying or doing anything desperate and nutty. Mostly I am succeeding. Doing anything productive.... now that's a struggle. Very simply, I am a basket case right now.

I don't know the future of this blog right now.

If there are posts you enjoy or would like to keep, please feel free to make copies for your own use. My plan is to delete the blog in its entirety when the time feels right. I will allow at least a week for people to come and copy any favorite post, no matter when the moment comes when I feel it is time for me to release these words from my heart and experience.

I will always love you Master and thank you for your time with me. I hope one day I will come to understand why your paths led you so far away from me in ways that lead to healing rather than blame or hurt.

Does one ever graduate from slavery?

A provocative question.

Lately my Master has not had time for me. He's not been well, he's over-worked but.... this girl senses that she's not as high in his priorities as she once was. How I feel about that changes with the day and the hour. My feelings for him remain loving. I worry about him, then feel a bit of a pulling back of that worry as I wonder if the illness is but an excuse for him taking a break from SL while he thinks things over.

A hot kajira is a terrible thing to waste, and yet this girl has been in limbo for weeks, neither released nor called to the furs nor used in any way.

I review my shortcomings as a kajira and the missteps we took along the way in our mutual path. As a new kajira with an experienced Master, I was unready for some of the challenges he gave me and balked and rebelled and broke at times under them. I worry that by the time I was ready and fully opened to his Mastery his whip hand was so weary he started to give up. I don't know.

These musings do not lead to understanding. Only my Master's words can do that.

In the meantime I find myself thinking about the uncertain future. What if I am released? Where will I go? What will I do?

More and more as I confront these thoughts I find myself feeling that I may have learned what I needed to learn from this aspect of myself. While I would willingly stay in this beloved collar for a longtime, a lifetime, I do not love the collar for it's own sake but only the Master whose name is on the collar. If he chooses to release me, I will walk a solitary path of reflection and healing, not rush like a crushed thing to another shelter.

Berries out of season

There then was nature’s miracle,
Ah! Sweet berries out of season
Springtime’s blessing bestowed
upon the cusp of winter

And we two travellers,
by fate, fortune or stupidity,
upon a path few travelled.
Ill-favored as it was and
treacherous with rock slides,
nettles and the gnarled roots of pines.

Yet we two fools alone were there
to reap the bounty of such rare sweetness,
borne among the nettles of canes
bent by both early frost and weight of fruit

Laughing we gathered berries
without a care to bloodied fingers
and fed them to each other.
Lips stained by berries and our own blood,
stark stains of life upon two lined faces,
Summers’ tans long had faded
But there we were alive and happy in that moment
savouring each sweet drop afforded us

Me Feb 2010

A Musical Roleplay Adventure Jan 31 @ 11 am SLT

SONGS OF A WANDERING HARP A MUSICAL ROLEPLAY
City of Laura

The Story:

Long days ago ago the story began . . . a ragged wandering harpist approached Laura's Head Merchant Fuzsea in the teaming port of Schendi. HIs harp strapped on his back, the minstrel's gaunt visage told a tale of destitution and his wary glances betrayed an aura of desperation.

As Laura's merchant oversaw the loading of rare spices and goods that would fetch a good price when safely brought to port in the North, the bard grew near, keeping well to the shadows. A corner of his gilded harp peaked out from its leather wrappings on his back, a tell-tale clue that this wanderer had seen better days. The Merchant's eyes narrowed thinking, "Surely there is a tale behind this odd one".

"Are you the Master of this ship? Will you be returning to Laura?" the Minstrel called out from his place among the crates.

"Ai" Fuzsea nodded, his face an ureadable mask as he eyed his girl sternly about her task of recording the loaded goods. He had taken to personally seeing that the cargo was recorded correctly, with none of her suspicious "mistakes".

"What price passage on this ship?"

"Five gold tarns. Tis a perilous journey and looking at your scrawny bones and hands unaccustomed to a man's work, I don't expect you could lend much work to pay your passage."'

The bard pulled out a thin purse and showed the Merchant the small collection of copper and scant silver within. "This is all I have and I must get to Laura!" The Merchant laughed and gave him a shove, "Then lad you must earn more coin or sprout wings and fly. Those coins are not enough for passage on a garbage barge, but thank you for the goodly laugh. It does my digestion good" and a healthy belch followed as the Merchant turned back to his task.

The Minstrel's shoulders fell. He gathered his cloak about him and he started back to the City. Pausing he looked back and saw the Merchant with his hand on his girl's collar, pulling her to her knees and snatching up her wax tablet angrily as he fingered the whip at his belt. This could be his chance to slip on the ship undetected. With haste and stealth he doubled back and secreted himself among the casts to be loaded.

****

It was several days out of port when the Minstrel was detected. Hauled to the Captain for judgement, the Merchant scowled and told his men to throw the impudent stowaway overboard despite the man's anguished pleas for mercy. As they tied him, one of the men said, "It's long nights and hard ones on the sea. Let him play for us before we cast him into the sea"

"Why should I play for you, you filthy villains?" cried the Wanderer. "You'll be killing me anyway".

The crafty merchant pondered. A happy crew was a good investment. "I'll make you a bargain, then lad. If you please the crew tonight, you buy a day's journey and another day of life."

Begrudgingly the man drew forth the harp and began to tune its strings as word spread and the men and scant passengers came up to gather on the deck in the moonlight. Once the hands struck the strings a change came over the musician as a magical light seemed to come to his face and his eyes wandered to a land unknown. So were the listeners transported by the sounds of the gilded harp and the tales of wonder told in music. As heads began to nod in sleep, it was clear that the bard had more than won his day's reprieve.

And so the game continued nightly until the ship neared Laura. While taking on supplies and unloading goods onto the river boats for transport to Laura on the final leg of the journey, the Merchant sent word ahead. He was bringing a captive to the City of Laura for the entertainment of the Citizens. If he pleased them, his freedom and passage was paid and his crime was forgiven. If not the Merchant would keep him as a captive on the ship for the crew's pleasure.

***************

Join us for a Musical Roleplay!


BIO:
Mihangel (Angel) is proud to be one of the rare breed of harpist who happen to be male!

Living in Wales and working across the globe, he is an accomplished performer, who has played since he was five years old, plays both the Welsh lever and orchestral harp, he has worked hard to show the breadth of his instrument.

Playing a fairly wide repetoire - from traditional Welsh folk music, pure classical pieces by Debussy et al to the more complicated works to Karl Davies and Salzedo, Angel has performed in many of the worlds larger venues - Millenium Centre,Cardiff; Royal Albert Hall, London; Sydney Opera House, Sydney to name but a few.

He is one of the most accomplished classical musicians performing in Second Life and is obviously a lot of fun and a very good sport.

(This concert is brought to Laura through collaboration with the MUSIC ISLAND CONCERT SERIES. http://musicisland.ning.com.)

Crawling

Some while ago I was very bad and as a punishment my Master commanded me to crawl naked in his presence until further notice. I over-reacted to this punishment at the time and the Master decided it was being perceived by me as different than his intention and so he rescinded the order. Like a good kajira should, I felt sad to be deprived of my Master's punishment due to my weakness.

I never like to fail my Master and I wanted to understand what he intended me to learn from crawling so I have thought about it since then and experimented with crawling and thinking about my reactions.

Crawling is de-huma,nizing and while one clings to the privileges of humanity as essential at all times, crawling creates panic. But the kajira is called "beast" and no matter what your roleplay may allow at other times, it is important to feel comfortable and gloriously sexy as that beast.

Stripped and ordered to her knees the girl loses her voice and humanity. She snarls as the Master slips the leash on her collar and drags her to heel. She feels the lash upon her back ordering her to silence and the snarl turns to a whimper as she lifts her tail in submission to the one who owns her.

Her proud beautiful beast's body sinuously crawls as the Master commands, comfortable in her coiled sexuality. The vent of her heat is exposed and the redness signals her submission and readiness for her Master as she crawls to do his bidding, flashing him the occasional spirited look of defiance earning a cautionary slap to her flanks to centre her attention on her submissive conditioning.

This is the place without words. A place to go when words have failed. She crawls until she remembers that she only walks and talks with his permission. When she displeases she will be reduced to beast again, not to harm her, but to put her back in touch with the beautiful beast that pleases. From this comes all good and love.