A post in which Miss Kat arrives

I woke up this morning at the crack of dawn, of course. I milled around for a while and was actually able to go back to sleep for a half hour or so, which is very rare for me.

When I really woke for the day, I just lay in bed for a while, thinking fuzzy morning after thoughts. Shameless creature that I am, I took out Wilenda's praise from last night and enjoyed it for a while. I thought about the scene with Lady Beth, and how good she was to me. I had one last little waft of her scent on me, and decided not to shower until later in the day. While I was thinking about the scene last night again, a thought slid across the back of my head. Hmm. I had underestimated Bart.

Probably because he was trying to articulate something new, he hadn't had the words to say that he had felt the subtext energy going on between Lady Beth and myself last night, and in truth he would really have had no reason to feel it. Lady Beth knows my history, and she knows about the Great Truths I've dealt with in the last year (hell, in the last month or so, some of them). When I play with her, of course there is the surface level of play. The scene was fun, and we laughed together; but at the same time, there were big fish moving in deep waters. I thought that was very perceptive of him, and resolved to share it with him when I saw him today. I know what it's like to be new to the scene, and I wanted him to get credit for that. It was pretty cool that he picked up on it.

Rhonda and I went down for breakfast, eventually. We had to be up and around today. Lady Beth's first class was at 9:30am (!!) this morning. A lot of people show up on Friday, and of course usually later in the day, so it was a crappy time, but all of us that were here were of course going to be there. We ate at a little two-top, just us, and then went outside to smoke before class.

I was headed in on a fairly urgent potty-run that I had limited time for when of course I ran into Bart. I did stop him and told him what I had worked out in my mind this morning. Of course he wanted to discuss it, and made a startling confession to me. I was at once honored to be trusted, and kind of stunned. But there was just no time. I felt bad for cutting him off, but really, I had urgent matters to attend to, and class was in about ten minutes. Talk about choosing the wrong time - geez what was I thinking! It just had to be put off until later.

Poor Lady Beth. The first class. The room they put her in was across the hotel from the other events, and I wasn't the only one that got lost and ended up coming in late. There weren't enough chairs in the room, so the staff was dragging in chairs while she was presenting. There were two guys back sitting near me from the Jurassic Leather Contingent who just showed up to 'correct' the things she was saying (I mean, the class was on 'Are You A Leather Spirit'. These guys had put Moses in a leather jockstrap apparently - why were they there??), or add numerous irrelevancies that kept taking the discussion off track. I hope that I shall always be properly respectful of my elders/superiors, but really I thought they were pretty disrespectful for Old Guard leathermen. Despite the numerous distractions and one stunningly inappropriate comment which I will not disclose here (sorry), Lady Beth, steel magnolia that she is, was grace under pressure personified, and pulled it together into a pretty decent class. I think the ones that were there for the right reasons took something away from it.

***

When we came out, I saw Big Red. She looked AMAZING! I mean, she's beautiful anyway, but she was steppin OUT for SELF this year. I had been on protocol to have her bandanna with me the next time she saw me, but I didn't have it in my pocket - I had left it up in the room! I greeted her and explained, but she still told me I was a good boy. It was really good to see her. When she started talking to someone else, I ran up to the room and put it on, but by the time I got back down to the lobby she was gone.

***

Rhonda and I milled around for a bit before our next class, which was 'Naughty Boys and Girls: School Scenes'. Of course since the presenter was a powerful woman, I was into her. But I was on protocol to Miss Kat this weekend. dana couldn't be here this weekend, and she was trusting me to be sure her Lady was cared for properly. I went on in to class, put my phone in 'vibrate' and just decided I would have to leave class when she got in.

Sure enough, just as the class got going, I vibrated. I switched bandannas (to purple for Miss Kat), and left the room as quietly as possible. Fortunately, she saw me through a window and called me out to where she was with her phone. I got her bags out of the car, up to the room, and she went down to register, sending me back to class.

Back to Naughty Schoolboy class, no less. I figured I was In For It. As it happened though, when I got back there was another naughty boy up there already getting punished. Whew, I thought as I sat down. About that time, Petal raised her hand. Rhonda and I had gone in to class with she and Marty, and they were sitting in front of us. "Teacher," said Petal "She pulled my hair!" Uh-oh. Over came the schoolmistress. "Did you pull her hair?" She demanded of Rhonda. Rhonda shook her head 'no'. "Are you telling me the truth?" she asked again, a bit more stridently. Rhonda again shook her head 'no'. "Telling lies?" replied the Schoolmistress, taken aback. "Go and stand in the corner."

Now I know Rhonda is a 'little', and I've seen her in little head-space before, but when she walked by me, she was about six. The unusual thing is - so was I. I was right in little head-space with her. That was unexpected. The Teacher, having properly punished the naughty boy (who had been waiting all this time), dispatched him to his chair, called Rhonda back out of the corner, and recommenced the class. "And you," she said, approaching my chair "were you late, coming to class?" "I was on protocol Ma'am." I said feebly. "Very well." she intoned, in an excitingly stern manner.

She addressed the class. "You can see how, with a minimum of props, you can create a school room scene - it's about your imagination." "I see it Ma'am," I said, speaking up. "I have to confess I was right there with you." "I know," she replied, tipping me a knowing little smile. "which is why I wish I knew you better." I love kinky classes. :)

***

When I got out of class I went and found Miss Kat, spending some time socializing with her. Lady Beth took Rhonda to check into her hotel. She had stayed with me last night, but Miss Kat was staying in my room the rest of the time.

Before I knew it, it was time for supper. After talking, Miss Kat and I decided to head out for sushi. I love Ru San's, and try to eat there every time I'm in Atlanta if at all possible. It was only a couple of miles from the hotel. Of course that was in Atlanta Friday evening traffic - YIKES! By the time we got there, I remembered why I live in Greenville. There is just no way I could do that every day. We had a great meal though.

When we left, I decided to suggest going out for ice cream. I know Miss Kat loves it, and my two-week craving for rum raisin apparently just isn't going away. According to the mio, there was an ice cream place just a couple of miles from where we were. "It'll be like an adventure!" I said. Famous last words.

I began to realize I was in over my head when we headed into downtown. When we first got to the street, we passed the place the first time. After about a half hour of maneuvering through one way streets, construction, and a road closed by a bus fire and a five-car pile-up, we got to the right spot - to find that the place was closed. I decided to just find Peachtree St and cruise back towards the hotel. "There's bound to be a place on the way." I said with flagging optimism. But we couldn't find Peachtree. The close quarters, small space between streets, and proximity of the huge buildings was making the mio nuts - it was calling out contradictory directions, seemingly at random.

At this point, we stumbled across The Varsity, which is an Atlanta landmark of course, and one Miss Kat had not yet visited. "How 'bout a milkshake?" I asked. I was a bit frayed at the edges at this point. Miss Kat was obliging. When we got inside, they actually had an ice cream counter, which I had not remembered. So sometimes serendipitous fate just provides. There was no rum raisin, but the mint chip was almost as good. Frankly at that point I would have settled for vanilla.

By the time we got back to the hotel, we were both pretty wiped, but I had an errand of mercy to run for Lynn. We went over to Lynn and Bart's room and hung out with them for a bit, then headed back to our room so they could go to bed.

It was a really relaxed evening. We were both kind of over the crowd/city thing, and just stayed in the room and talked and visited. If we hadn't taken that time I probably wouldn't have gotten up the courage to do what I did.

Ms Shay had put the thought in my head two weeks ago. "I think you need to ask Miss Kat to play." She had advised. "I think you're ready for it now, and I think it would be good for you. And when you do," she said, grinning "I want to watch that scene." I had been turning it over in my head for the last couple of weeks, wondering if I could do it or not; but when it came up it wasn't as hard as I had thought it would be. "I've been waiting for that," Miss Kat said in a calm matter-of-fact manner. "I think you're ready now. I've been watching you play with this person and that; and waiting for the time when you became a bit more discerning. We'll see if we can work this out for tomorrow." And that was that. It was on!

I was expecting to be terrified, but I wasn't. It seemed like such a natural thing. I love Miss Kat. She's my mentor, my protector, and my dear friend. I'm not afraid of her. I'm secure enough in my experiences that I think I have something to give back. Plus by this point I was just too tired to stay awake and worry about it. I turned out the light, said goodnight, and was asleep almost immediately.