More on The Dinner

Back to Amabile and Piacere's formal dinner.

Overall - those of us who were playing the slave role did really well. Eilen and I fell right into the hospitality aspect of it, serving the food and such. She's hosted lots of parties but I've never done it before. She told me a few days later that I did a superb job in that aspect since I'd never hosted before :)

It was really quite an experience. I knew exactly what was expected of me for the most part and I had a focus. Because of that I was able to really take it on and do reasonably well. Once a course was out, set out the plates for the next and begin plating. Start cleaning up as we go. Watching for when it was an appropriate time to take away plates. (Selfishly, I made sure I was the one to serve both Piacere and Amabile at the beginning of each course.)

Several times the places had to be changed due to people not being able to come, or others deciding to come at the last moment. Since I had arranged all the table settings and placed people to their seats, there was a serious challenge to changing things around. But it worked out really well in the end.

I spoke directly to Dominants several times though, and never quite remembered to always speak in the third person. And it was very difficult to stand in the background while conversation was happening and not contribute. That seemed a bit odd as normally I'm quite timid about speaking up in large groups. Maybe it was simply the fact that I couldn't speak up was what made me want to...lol.

There was one interaction that stands out for me from that night. I was waiting downstairs at the front door for some late comers while everyone was still socialising and having pre-dinner drinks upstairs, and it was being considered to start dinner before the late folks showed up. Piacere came down to check on me and give me an update. I was standing in the relaxed, open position he had told us to use with my hands at the small of my back, palms facing out and open. (It really does leave one feeling slightly vulnerable.) There was a little bit of conversation, then something about the guest seating came up regarding one of the people running late.

"This slave would go and fix the place setting but she needs to stay at the door to greet the folks who haven't shown up yet," was what I said, or something near to it. And he replied, "Yes, she does," in a tone of voice that was at once caring and intimate yet authoritative and firm.

I'm not sure what it was that caused that particular interaction to have such an impact on me. Successfully speaking in the third person to someone who's introduced me to things I've wondered about for a while? Him speaking directly to me using the third person? The quiet, removed atmosphere where it took place? It must be a combination of things. But it made me feel so humble, quiet, reserved. Yet at the same time, when he went back up the stairs I smiled to myself. Feeling a sense of pride and value and a different kind of belonging that I hadn't experienced before. It simply felt good.

I think I need to be doing some more research about the Leather world.