performance buzz and snatched moments

Well, we're back. Over the last six years, I have now participated in performances of the Complete Works of Shakespeare (plus some exciting, variously obscure Elizabethan/Restoration extras), which is a pretty cool thing to have done. Even if I did fall asleep in a couple of the plays. I blame the beer.

As ever, performing together has been a real buzz for Tom and I, and despite the usual sleep-deprivation we spent the weekend feeling all connected and loved-up. Privacy is difficult to find at these events, but we managed to snatch some time together on the last afternoon ... I was slightly tipsy, I'd been running around a lot and the building we were staying in was pretty cold, so when the first smack landed on my bare flesh I suddenly became aware of how cold and sweat-damp my skin was. The sting cut through the beer-haze and sparked against the core of love and lust that had been heating every time I watched Tom perform.

Our acting friends are all very handsome, in a delightful variety of ways, and there's a group current of flirtation and sexual energy which is rarely acted on but delightful to bask in all the same. It provides a sort of pool we all draw from. But most of the weekend, I only had eyes for Tom. At one point, after one of the plays, I got him alone in our room and ran my hands over his shoulders, his muscular neck, the dark body hair just peeking out of his open-necked poet shirt. "Every time you've worn one something like this I have wanted to run my hands over you," I purred.

"I know," he smiled, "that's why I wear them."

"But I'm looking at you and lusting and you're all I'm in character and busy acting, I'm ignoring you!"

His grin broadened. "I know." He was right: it did make it hotter.

So yeah, that was nice: not a long spanking, but enough to get my attention. I asked for it fairly blatantly, undressing in front of him and bending non-too-subtly over the bed to look for something. And the sex that followed was urgent and sweaty with one of his hands holding my hip and the other wrapped around my throat.

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Since I got back I've been working and sleeping and spending some quality time with D., which was just as sexy, but (mostly thanks to my sleep deprivation) we skipped the spanking part, so I won't go into detail. I've been catching up on the blogposts I've missed, and I have a few things I want to repost, but since this has been about my men, so far, I just want to highlight a comment Indy made on a post of Graham's:

I think I can describe just about every male top I know in the scene as a Daddy, Schoolmaster, or Cowboy, though a couple can pull off more than one category.

If any of you haven't read Indy's mind-opening post The Cowboy and the Schoolmaster, go and do so now. The post was fascinating, but that comment just made me blink because I really can't think of any exceptions. I am, of course, inclined to ascribe this to cultural trends/conditioning rather than saying anything about the fundamental nature of male tops. I suspect the tropes are different in different times and cultures, but in the West, in recent history, those three seem to basically sum it up. I would say that Tom is half Schoolmaster and half Cowboy. D. is pure Cowboy ;)

As I commented on Graham's post, it leaves me wondering what the categories would be for dominant women (male and female switches are a different ballpark, I think). I suggested the Mummy, the Schoolmistress and the Dark Queen (or however you would describe the elegant, cruel goddess type). Governess, Nurse and Nanny should be in there as well, but I think you can kind of divide those between Mummy and Schoolmistress. I'm not sure, though - my experience with female tops is only just beginning, so I'm not the best person to comment. If you agree, disagree or have better suggestions, please do add your thoughts to the discussions on Graham and Indy's blogs.