are you sitting uncomfortably? Then I'll begin...

I posted not too long ago about the spanking trope of "not being able to sit down afterwards", and how it's not something that affects me much.

Well, this is me eating my words.

I've just spent two days making a very intimate, intense three-part film with my Mr C. Returning to reality has been accompanied by the inevitable disorientation - I've been sat at my desk all day, feeling bewildered and wishing I was back in that isolated cottage in the windswept moors, being drilled in deportment and scene manners and etiquette, having my submission pushed to the limit. (Or, at least, to my character's limit - we were both ready to take it further until the director stopped us and told us to reign it in a bit! But then, trust can do wonders to my pain threshold. My character didn't trust her disciplinarian anywhere near as much as I trust Tom - at least, not at first - and her resentment and fear were much quicker to overwhelm her.)

Anyway, I'll tell you more about the shoot once I've filmed my videodiary and the finished movie is ready to go online. In the meantime, I was fascinated to find that sitting down yesterday was painful every time I did it. Sitting on kitchen chairs in the cottage; in the car; on the hard iron bench in the deserted rural train station; on an uncomfortable seat in a tiny rural train carriage; on a leather armchair in the pub where we had dinner; on the rather more comfortable padded seats of the Virgin Pendolino express to London; on the cosy sofas in Tom's living room. Each and every one elicited a surprised wince. I didn't get used to it; every time took me by surprise.

Of course, my indignant "ow!"s only made Tom grin at me - which was, I'll admit, part of the fun. When I was pouting and wriggling on the hard iron bench on the deserted train platform, he suggested I might be more comfortable lying across his lap. I decided he was right, stretched out full-length on the bench with his knee lifting my hips, and carried on reading my book. I was interrupted by a swift demonstration that he hadn't had my comfort in mind at all. My body was still flooded with endorphines from the various abuse I'd suffered at his hands that day, and I willingly abandoned my book and gasped and wriggled under the firm spanks, offering barely a protest when he lifted my skirt and spanked me over my lacy panties in the open air. We were both disappointed when he sensed someone approaching the train platform, and swiftly helped me adjust my clothing and sit down on the bench again before they came into view. Not least because sitting down again hurt almost as much as the spanking had, and the spanking was much more exciting.

Anyway, I take it all back: sitting down afterwards is a significant part of any serious punishment. I guess the reasons I was so blazé in my previous entry were as follows:

1. The afore-mentioned super-healing powers sported by most spanking professionals or regular players.
2. I don't often play as hard in private as I did on this shoot. The desire and intention are there, but (as I explained in a comment recently) real life often gets in the way. I wouldn't say it was rare for me to be bruised, but it's not regular, either. Most shoots are fairly moderate. Shooting with my Dom is unusual, and the CP is likely to go further than a normal shoot, or indeed than most scenes we play in private. We both like to play hard, but we rarely have time for the kind of extended scene that results in this sort of tenderness.
3. Most scenes I play with my Doms these days take place in the evening, before bed. Even if we play an intense, drawn-out scene that leaves me with some welts and bruising, by the time I wake up in the morning the worst has usually faded. This was the first time I've played hard, and then still been awake and active for the rest of the day. After a hard scene I usually get a whole night's sleep to rest and heal before my bruises are tested by sitting down.
4. On a shoot, much more than in private scenes, the rest of my body is working as hard as my bottom. I spent most of yesterday trying to stay poised and graceful in high heels, maintaining various difficult positions during my punishments. I loved it - but the muscles in my bum would be aching from the workout even if I hadn't also been beaten. My legs and tummy are feeling the results of the exercise as well as my gluteus. It definitely contributes to the overall soreness.

The flash of pain when I sit down is exciting - don't get me wrong. But it's also painful, and, perhaps surprisingly, I'm not at all used to it. Time to apply more arnica cream, I think.