A Ropey Evening

Yesterday I had a date with Heathrow. We haven't met up since he came over to mine for a cooking evening which was over a month ago. We've been emailing in the interim, but there hasn't been any pressure to meet up. There is the ever so slight issue of distance- it's not insurmountable but it's enough to be an obstacle. And while I like that he is quirky and lives in a motor home parked outside his studio flat, there is also an issue surrounding toilets and showers if I go to his.

At any rate, in all of our email exchange we decided to meet up at a 'Just Rope' event that was being held at Sweet Torments in west London this weekend. There was actually an entire workshop weekend going on, but we weren't going to go to that- only to the after party which was yesterday, Sunday night.

In arranging all this, it was implied but not discussed that he and I would indulge in some tying. One of the reasons I initially approached Heathrow, aside from his love of Korean food that was listed on his profile (and gave me the nudge to actually memo him) was that I knew who he was as he has made a small name for himself as a very good rope top. So I was both excited and nervous about being tied by someone who is actually very good at it and has done thousands of ties on probably hundreds of people. What if I was no fun to tie? Not flexible enough? Too fat? And also, this isn't 'just anyone' tying me, this is someone I've had three very pleasant but chaste encounters with previously. And tying is obviously all hands on- how was that going to go and what did it mean about what's going on with us?

We met in the early afternoon in Soho to go to a Japanese restaurant that was on my taste london card. I'd sent through some suggestions earlier in the week and we settled on Japanese- no big surprise there! I hadn't been to this particularly restaurant before and it was interesting as it's not a standard Japanese place but rather a yakitori restaurant. The food was very good, and as it's all set up for sharing, it's also a very nice date type place. We also got a sake sampler which was super yummy. I think I like sake better than I like regular wine. But I digress.

As like all previous meetings with Heathrow, we somehow managed to talk without effort for hours and hours. It's funny how it just flows. I never get a sense of time passing or trying to struggle to make conversation. It seems to be very 'easy' around him for lack of a better way of putting it. Leaving out my internal thought confusion on exactly what we're doing of course, but if I just look at the actual time spent together, it's really nice and... comfortable.

So we sat there nibbling and chatting until it was time to head to the party. We got there just past 5 which was when the workshop was winding up. We stayed in the other room/bar area while it finished and hung out some more. Eventually we moved into the main space- there were a lot of people there initially, though many seemed to be from the workshop and were on their way out as opposed to sticking around for the party. Still, there were clumps of people here and there, and a little bit of rope work getting started. I was mostly chilling out and observing things when after a bit Heathrow asked if I was interested in being tied and I said I was. And a little while longer, when there were a couple of people doing rope we decided to give it a go, and also in the hopes that would encourage some of the more chatty people to stop chatting and start doing!

So Heathrow asked me what I would like out of a rope scene. Which is tricky. I'm trying to work on this- the 'what I want' from things aspects of interactions. I realize that it's lazy, but also unfair to be so quiet or complacent with my needs or desires in interactions as much as I prefer to let things slip that way. The thing about Heathrow though, is he isn't a dominant in the regular sense. He's a rope top- but he's not necessarily a full on dominant. He's actually quite shy as a person, and not 'in your face' so in terms of the non scene/play interaction between him and I, it's very equal. I would even go so far as to say that perhaps we are even somewhat similar, though obviously we both deal with it very differently.

So basically I told him that since we'd never interacted in this way before, I would just be curious to see how it was with him, try out a few different ties so he could show me some of the things he had described, and just see how it went. So we agreed and prepared- I had worn some lycra gym kit under a skirt and sweater so I would be covered, but body snug which I thought was appropriate for rope- not only in a public place, but also with someone I have only hugged previously.

So we started and it was like a dance in a way. I was mostly compliant and observational, but was not so pliable or easy to move that I didn't show him some of my strength or moves as well. It was all very intimate and he was very close to me while he tied. We giggled and commented along the way, and all the time the rope was flowing and binding.

And he is very very good at what he does. I'd almost call it dynamic tying as opposed to more static tying. Obviously there are different sorts of rope scenes that one can have- with different effects. Because there are so many photographs of ropework available, I think people often think of it as a time intensive practice that results in a 'wrapped' person which is then admired and appreciated. But if you compare that line of thinking to more active rope, or performance rope, like that of Osada Steve, it has a different sort of purpose and dynamic where there is flow and movement. It reminds me of something Heathrow said- about how the untying is as much a part of the scene as the tying. How it comes undone, how someone is released, what you do along the way, where the rope ends up- it's all just as much a part of it as the creating process in the beginning. And I could really tell that from our interaction.

It was very different to say, the tying of Mr.Aloof. Obviously some things are similar- but the feeling surrounding it and the interaction was completely different. With Mr.Aloof tying was a means of almost instantly becoming 'object like' and he certainly falls into the category of 'sitting back and observing the creation' once the creation was done. And don't get me wrong at all- I enjoyed that very much. It's just that this was so different. Rope was involved, bondage was involved, touching and tickling and laughing and tussling was involved, but it was much more interactive and 'present' then how my experiences with Mr.Aloof were with rope.

Which obviously has everything to do with the interplay of the people with me as much as their interest in the rope. Obviously.

So I guess what was really interesting in retrospect was exactly how intimate it felt. I mean, here is someone I've never kissed and his hands and body are basically all over me. And it was so nice!! Better than nice even- it was intense- or at least, there were moments of intensity that were quite intoxicating and exhilarating. And it's interesting to me because obviously in many ways we were both holding back throughout the entire exercise and sort of weighing each other up to see how it went. Yet at the same time, it was a level of intimacy that is quite far along in some ways but then not in others. Still, the feel of someone, the smell of someone, the warmth of someone- with of lot of fantastic rope thrown in- a very nice thing indeed!

Afterwards he said to me that he was impressed with my endurance for it (we went through at least four substantial and consecutive ties with different sorts of interactions/play along the way. It's the sort of comment I'm always intrigued by because of course I have no way of judging my abilities to any other bottom or submissive. But of course I was pleased... and he said he really enjoyed tying me, so that was also good, because I definitely enjoyed it!

So we have plans for next Monday- he's going to come over and we're going to cook and do a movie again, but I said maybe he should bring his rope as well.... so that's all good at the moment.

And in the meantime I have a lovely red welt across my neck from some vigorous manipulating... hehehe. Makes me smile. The whole things makes me smile actually. Yay!