Chapter 16

Carol and Marie looked at one another, and nodded. "Art, Iris, Shelly, just leave room for second and additional courses when Cathy and Edie get here. Now, in our culture, it's perfectly fine to take either coffee or fuck breaks."

I added, "We also have a big hot tub -- and, believe it or not, like your Dorian, cats that jump into it. With the energies that I see flowing, maybe the three of you need to discharge the static, as it were, before anything else. Once you are more relaxed, I can join you for at least one more of Shelly's orifices. Although -- Shelly, how do you feel about a strap-on until we get a third man?"

"Oooh. Oooh."

"That, I gather, is agreement. Still, I'd like to get at least one more person, so we don't leave Marie out. Art, Marie is our mentor, but she's still improving from a very serious illness and doesn't have the stamina that we'd all like her to have."

With that, Art turned to Marie, knelt, and kissed her hand. "Wisdom, my lady, is the sexiest quality of all." She smiled.

"Agreed. That's perhaps why my intuition says that the three of you should discharge your immediate tension, but not rush instantly into Shelly's fantasy until you get some experience playing together. My own experience with multiple penetration is limited, but it looks rather acrobatic and likely to work best with people used to one another."

"Well, in the meantime, then..." Iris smiled and gestured at Art and Shelly. Art sat in the center of a loveseat, while Shelly, looking like a lovely wasp in a black lightweight corset and yellow skirt, knelt in front of him. In refined tones, she asked, "This is, of course, a social occasion, but I do, after all, have skills finely developed in booths. May I demonstrate?"

"But of course, my dear." Iris cut off his words, as she sat next to him, pulled up her skirt, put one of his hands on her thigh above her stocking top, and then wrapped an arm around his neck. Her lips pressed to his, her tongue light against her brilliant red lips. Shelly lightly stroked his penis, and then took its still growing length fully into her mouth. In my loveseat, I put an arm each around Marie and Carol. Marie observed, "Sometimes, the spirits prefer extended foreplay. Sometimes, they do not."

We knew that Cathy and Edie were still to arrive, so we cuddled rather than starting serious play. Carol looked across the room and sounded sympathetic. "Poor Art. When those two finish with him, you're setting him up for hot engineer sex with the warrior goddess, followed by standup comedy sex."

Marie wondered, "I think I've had enough IVs such that I can set one up for Art, should he need to be revived. At the very least, I should make coffee and be sure high-energy food is available." She giggled, not a common sound from our lovely ethicist, and sometime spiritual leader.

Art groaned as Shelly sucked him with great relish, her passion increasing when Iris started pushing on the back of her head, controlling but not choking. Iris turned back, kissing Art, and then, with a growl, sensuously spitting into his mouth. He groaned and obviously exploded into Shelly's mouth. Iris dropped to the floor and shared a snowball with Shelly.

Watching Art's cheerful collapse, Carol opined, "Curt, my love, we have challenges before us. It's not only that a hard man is good to find, but that it's hard to find a hard man that's good. Don't you have some suitable friends?"

"I know available men who are jerks. I know fine men who are monogamous. Those that fit between are more difficult to find, but believe me, I'm searching my mind."

The phone rang, and Cathy called to say she was on her way. Carol advised her, "Think social in and out of bed, but also think of taking electronics while you do it."

When she entered, the trio on the far couch was catching their breath. Carol had brought robes to them. Cathy gave them a friendly wave. Apparently, we were developing our own etiquette.

I certainly took a moment to admire Cathy, who apparently was spending more and more time with the custom leather store. She wore more and more leather, but not necessarily the stereotyped black. She looked amazing in chocolate and caramel tones, which picked up her dark red hair. She arrived with yet another flavor of color and texture, an oxblood vinyl trench coat.

Carol looked at Cathy and said, "every time I see you, you seem more inspired by heroic fantasy artists like Frank Frazzetta and Boris Vallejo. That's my reaction before you've even taken off your coat.

As the coat came off, it revealed a sleeveless dark red shiny dress, the material of which wasn't clear. It was a mini length that showed seemingly endless and well-muscled legs, complemented with high-heeled black boots. She could use this length if she wanted to give an edgy yet professional presentation, but also as a goddess at a social event. At a trade show, she could pass for eye candy in a technology booth, at least until she picked up a disrespectful male engineer and lectured him, in the air, on real-time process control technology. The dress had a neck-to-hem golden zipper, clearly adjustable for her choice in what she wanted to show. Today, she showed just a bit of cleavage. With the heels, she was several inches taller than Art, although that had never slowed him down socially.

Her arms rippled with feminine muscle. I wondered if she would speak, or merely comment with cheerful big cat sounds. Nevertheless, I introduced her to Art. "OK, I need to introduce you engineer-type people. You can talk about curves, presumably as descriptive of hysteresis. All engineers, of course, are asexual nerds on first approximation, until they get into substantive discussion. My understanding is that both of you are quite knowledgeable on choosing and operating male and female connectors."

Walking over to me, Cathy observed, "It's an increasingly digital world, but there are still analog controls to turn." With that, she started to twist my nose until I threw my hands into the air, laughing.

"Art and Cathy, you two should enjoy each other both intellectually and physically. I don't know if you saw Cathy on stage, Art, but probably warrior goddess is getting more and more apt. On a separate subject, though, I can see the two of you helping in the light, sound, and special effects for the new performing venue."

Marie pointed out there might be priorities before electronics. She sat and served tea. We respected the need not to sap her strength. Cathy and Carol took a rolling tray and brought some reviving food to the trio. Iris snapped her fingers, went to the candy box, and pulled out some delicacies that she thought would be especially reviving.

"Mrrow meep meep." Brussja gave a relatively subdued Russian Blue greeting, punctuated by Bajra's Siamese "MRROW miaou miaou." I recognized these as very cheerful, social comments. I noted that Iris and Shelly did find tails on their legs to be quite sensual.

The house phone rang, announcing Edie. I found it interesting how she adjusted her image for a social situation with someone that she liked. While she still projected sexual availability, she had banished the ditzy look. I didn't have the clothing vocabulary to describe it properly, but the word that occurred to me was elegant, although somewhat preppie. She wore a khaki skirt, well unbuttoned in the front, with a medium blue shirt and a paisley scarf. Somehow, the colors of the scarf and shirt minimized the deliberate bimbo blonde she normally flaunted. Rather than her usual black hose, she was in a warm tan shade. I looked at Marie, who whispered, "her message is to give and to receive respect."

"Damn, Art, it's good to see you outside the club. I was attracted to you, not just because you rescued me from a bad situation in the club, but that you immediately came across as caring. You made me feel safe and appreciated."

"Aimee said she was going to get in touch with you for me, but that never worked out. She was genuinely grateful that you got me out of trouble, and immediately gave you a the green VIP card. Normally, with those, she gets credit card information to get your contact. It turned out that you had paid cash on your visits. I was hoping that you'd show up again.

"After you had me calmed down, you had me laughing. You're one of the inspirations for me taking up comedy. I saw that you could be tough when necessary, but your main weapon seems to be laughter."

"Edie, I'm serious about wanting things to be peaceful. Why, not long ago, I admitted I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize."

"Nut!" Edie cheerfully bopped him over the head.

Little did Art know that Cathy also enjoyed comedy. "Art, you've heard, I guess, that the foundation sponsoring the new venture also is doing folklore, art, and so forth. I was helping with some of their uncategorized material, when I opened this copper box. Out hopped a frog. He looked at me and said he was an enchanted prince, but if I kissed him, he'd return to his handsome form and be my lover.

"After a while, he asked why I hadn't kissed him yet.

"I told him that as a graduate student in electronic engineering, I really didn't have time for a boyfriend. A talking frog, however, was quite interesting."

Art, Cathy, and Edie looked at one another, and did an reasonable impression of Three Stooges slapstick. Edie and Art simultaneously started an eye poke at one another, stopped in midair, and merged into a passionate embrace. As they kissed, Cathy wrapped her arms around them both. Shifting positions, the two women put their legs across Art's lap, scissored them, and began to rub, as Art found a breast in each of his hands.

Carol watched with amusement. "Poor Art. It's like a weird version of the Wizard of Oz, with Cathy on one side wanting his brain, Edie on the other wanting his heart, and the previous team recovering.

Marie gently reminded Carol and I that we had responsibilities. "Those five know where the bed and hot tub are. We three need to start getting organized for the new effort. What's the proper role of Le Marquis during this? Farm club for dancers?

"Who will manage the process? Tana and Aimee know a lot of relevant practical information. What happens to their other responsibilities? For the interim, Aimee will have to be running the club itself. Tana has the support functions, as well as financial management.

"Luckily, Abie, when she's not being in showy mode, is a competent executive and can be the CEO. You met the personal assistant, but there's also at least one serious executive assistant, a lawyer named Herb. Herb seems to specialize in the intersection of art and nonprofit law, and in sexual liberties.

"If there's a separate Chairman of the Board, it's likely to be Jocelyn Hill. Now, Abie actively seeks publicity. She'll be most obvious on the lifestyle pages of newspapers, but she occasionally does make news pages. Jocelyn is someone you will see mostly on financial pages, although one typically learns of her financial and corporate dealings, and is surprised, when meeting her, to find her in a leather minidress, wild hair, five-inch heels, and absolutely focused persona. Abie is actually more of a mentor -- Jocelyn is someone who works best with high achievers, who meet the standards that she sets for herself. She's an investor rather than a financial speculator. When someone asked her whether she was the sort of vulture capitalist that rips assets from firms, she had a memorable response: It's only men I strip and flip. My companies I keep long term and close to my heart."