Still Waiting

Hi Everyone,
 
Sorry for the delay, but this week went nothing like I had planned (unless you count the fact I sort of expected my plans to take a long walk off the short cliff). Monday will still have the next part of The Jade Runner and with a little luck I'll have the waiting story finished for Friday. Yep, that means no Wednesday post next week. Bare with me, and I promise to have things all set for the new format soon.


Hugs,
Ash 

Waiting

It is not always possible or desirable for the Disciplinarian to initiate a spanking in the immediacy of an incident. In such times, the Disciplinarian will postpone the spanking until a more appropriate or convenient time and/or location. While there is definitely a satisfactory outcome to be obtained from taking “on the spot” action, there can also be a benefit gained from waiting. If done properly, the experience of waiting can be an effective accompaniment to the spanking.

The waiting period can be enhanced in a variety of manners. Most Disciplinarians, when faced with delaying a spanking, will at the very least inform the Recipient of what they can expect in the near future; Their spanking. On its own, the warning creates anticipation and can subdue the inclination for further misbehavior on behalf of the Recipient. Given a little more thought, the Disciplinarian can further enhance the Recipient’s calmer attitude by describing in more detail the precise punishment awaiting them. If desired, the Disciplinarian can also require the Recipient to recite the details of their future punishment aloud or even have them write it out.

While enhancing the waiting period with a verbal detail of the impending spanking event is almost always possible, other possible enhancements to this period may require a controlled, safe environment. The possibilities are limited solely by the Disciplinarian’s imagination and the suitability of the circumstances involved. Popular enhancements include;

Corner time - The Recipient is sent to stand, sit, or kneel in a particular location, often an open corner in a room, but the location can in fact be any specific location chosen by the Disciplinarian. A duration may or may not be set, although typically the spanking will occur immediately following the end of corner time.

Implement Fetching - The Recipient is sent to retrieve and hold the implement while they await the beginning of their spanking. Often time the Recipient will wait in a specific location, holding the chosen implement in their hands. Although this enhancement may be combined with corner time, typically the waiting location is an assigned room, such as the Recipient’s bedroom or a pre-determined punishment location such as a punishment room, a garage, a basement, or other room in the house.

Clothing alteration - The Recipient is required to alter their state of dress in preparation for the impending spanking. Often this will mean the baring of the buttocks, either by lowering the pants or shorts, and the undergarments or by removing them completely. Skirts and dresses may be lifted and tucked above the waist or removed depending upon the Disciplinarian’s preferences. In some cases, the Disciplinarian may desire full nudity, requiring the Recipient to remove all articles of clothing. When articles of clothing are removed, it may also be required that the articles be folded or stored in a specific manner and or location.

Punishment outfit - The Recipient is required to don a specific outfit which in some way emphasizes they are in trouble and about to be spanked. Outfits are often designed to make the Recipient appear childish, immature, or foolish. They can be anything from pajamas to undergarments, to a school uniform and often are modified to expose or enhance the buttocks.

The waiting period can be an effective disciplinary tool all by itself. When properly utilized, the Recipient will remain focused and apprehensive of their impending spanking all the while having ample time to consider their behavioral mistakes. The advantage gained by instituting a waiting period is very dependent upon the mindset of the Recipient and it is important for the Disciplinarian to know which techniques, words, and phrases will have the greatest impact on their Recipient’s state of mind.

For best results it is advised that Disciplinarians avoid giving the Recipient complicated or mind dulling tasks during the waiting period. The Recipient should be given very little to occupy their thoughts other than knowledge of what they will receive and why their conduct has required they receive it. Under these circumstances the anticipation factor will significantly improve the effect of the further disciplinary actions soon to be taken.

Intermission & Behind The Scenes

I know most of you were expecting to see another part from The Jade Runner today, but I decided we could use a short break. In fact, I’m looking at shaking up the format here on Imagine the Stories. I can’t make any promises at the moment because all the work to make that change happen is still in process and knowing how my Summer has gone so far, plans (like rules) are apparently made for the breaking. (I’ve had some health issues on and off this year, but most seriously since early June and every time I start getting better it seems I have a sudden relapse.) My intention, however, is to provide all of you with a little variety in my thrice weekly postings. If most things go as planned, I’ll be rolling out the new format in a week or two. I’ll make a post on the Sunday prior to the change to let you know what to expect.

In the meantime, I thought I’d take today and talk about some of the behind the scenes work I do when creating stories. On Wednesday, I’ll be sharing a new article and on Friday, a related story will be posted. The Jade Runner will return next Monday for those waiting on the edge of their seats to find out what happens next to Kit Wilde and friends.

The image centered above is, obviously, a map. If you didn’t know this, either my art skills or your eyes (It’s probably my art skills, but to make me feel better we’ll pretend it’s your eyes) are in desperate need of replacement. The map (the horribly bad drawing at the top page) is supposed to represent a town in the American Old West. It’s fictional, so I got to make up all the details all by myself (okay, I did have some help from a very good friend) and I named this fictional town, Jasperia. (No, it wasn’t a play on Desperate Housewives.)

Now why would I go to all this work to draw (finger paint? scribble? chicken-scratch?) a map of a fictional place just to write a story?

Because it helps. Yeah I know, stupid answer, stupid question, blah, blah, blah. Okay, so let’s get a little more in depth. When I write I tend to visualize the scenes in my head (this is significantly different from seeing things that aren’t there). And it’s really hard to see the way an entire town is laid out in my head. Even a real town can confuse the mind, that’s why people get lost. So, to help myself visualize the places in my story correctly and the same way from scene to scene throughout a story, I draw (or at least something close to drawing) the important places.

The map seen here is just a first step. With it, I know where all the key place in downtown Jasperia are located and how my characters might traverse from one place to another. I also know, or have a good idea, the amount of time those different trips will take in comparison to each other. That matters a lot in writing stories because without having this consistent image and knowledge about the location, I could inadvertently have my characters time traveling or worse, violating the laws of physics and being in two places at the same time.

For shorter stories, like Shop & Spank these issues don’t usually come up because the story is rarely more than four to five scenes pieced together in the first place. With longer stories though, things can get more complicated with many different locations coming into play and literally dozens of scenes. When moving from scene to scene, I try not to bore my readers with unimportant details, like how many cracks they stepped over on the sidewalk and how many pot-holes (or heads) were in the road. Instead it’s more fun to focus on the action (paddles swooshing, canes swishing, straps singing, belts whizzing, hairbrushes clapping, and so on and so on). I’m sure you agree it’s more fun to read too.

The problem with leaving out the mundane is that the mundane is often what gets us from point A in our lives to point B. And believe it or not, the same is true for characters in stories. Most writers leave out these mundane parts because they are incredibly boring and sleep inducing which means we jump from point A to point B (kind of like the way a girl goes from bending over to standing straight up when a spanking gets a little too intense). When jumping from point to point (talking about writing here, not spanking) or scene to scene or location to location, it’s easy to make mistakes in directions and time.

For example; Lucy McCoy visits the sheriff in Jasperia at his office and they engage in a scene (It doesn’t have to involve spanking, but it could). After that scene (corner time not included) Lucy might decide to visit the train station (who doesn’t want to take a long trip, sitting on a hard wooden bench, after a good spanking?). Now let’s say she was at the sheriff’s office and heard the town clock chime high noon (cause low noon is only at the saloon) and when she gets to the train station she needs to buy a ticket for a trip on the 12:15 to Denver. That wouldn’t work too well unless she was leaving the sheriff’s office when the bell was chiming, now would it? The train station is two blocks away from the sheriff’s office and even though with a blur of my fingers, I can transport her from one location to the other, in reality (or my detailed fantasy, if you prefer) it would take her several minutes to walk across town. By the time she got to the train station, the 12:15 to Denver would already be boarding, if not pulling out of the station and heading on toward Denver.

Some people would say these kinds of details don’t matter and that it’s a waste of time to even think about them, but for me I have to figure these things out or I can find myself stalled in the process of writing. When scenes don’t mesh up with logical progressions I get hung up on the flaws. I’m sure some of you would get hung up on those flaws too and others, think those of us that do are simply crazy. Still, I think most of us can agree that a story with a clear and reasonably accurate progression of time is more enjoyable than one which seemingly violates the laws of the universe.

So, there you have it. This is why I draw maps. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that in drawing maps I also find scene ideas I might never have thought about otherwise. I mean look at Jasperia, imagine the stories that can be explored with Lucy visiting all these locations. What happens at the Bath House? Is she allowed to buy candy at the Candy Shop? What would she do for that pretty hat in the window? Will the school kids tease her on the way to dentist? How much money does she have and what will she do with it? What surprise might she get in the mail? To whom would she send a telegraph? What’s the big story in the paper? Who’s going to hang? Will Lucy get into the Town Hall for a meeting with the elders? And it goes on and on and on and, yes I know, you got the picture (not the one above, although I guess you got it too).

The Jade Runner, Part 09

Kit led the way as they searched the ship. On the second level they took a catwalk from the stairs out of the cargo hold into the main body of the ship. The level contained four rooms designed as crew quarters, each with two bunks, a head, and a modest amount of storage space for clothing and personal possessions. On the port side of the ship, nearest the elevator at the back, was the ship’s medical bay. It was equipped with advanced diagnostic beds and what looked to be top of the line surgical equipment, but its cabinets were oddly lacking in any medical supplies.

Across the hall from the medical bay was the captain’s quarters. It was a larger version of the crew quarters with a double-sized bunk, ample storage and a floor safe beneath the bed. After a couple minutes of examination, Kit discovered the bed folded up against the wall to give easy access to the safe. Quinn showed her how to override the safe’s combination with her ownership thumbprint authorization on the remote. The safe opened to reveal sub-floor storage of nearly a third of the captain’s quarters. It was empty.

The group took the elevator to the third level where they explored the ship’s four guest cabins, the mess hall, recreation center, and supply storage. Finding no sign of the sarcophagus, they took stairs from the supply storage up to the fourth level. A quick search of the ship’s library, control center, communications room, security office, and the brig revealed nothing as well. Whatever Rex had done with the sarcophagus it was fairly clear it wasn’t on board the Griffinscape. Just to be thorough, the group took the elevator up to the small fifth level which contained nothing more than two rear docking ports, a set of empty lockers and two environment suits for spacewalks.

“Where is the sarcophagus?” the red head asked, placing the barrel of her pistol against Kit’s forehead when they re-boarded the elevator.

Kit met her gaze with unblinking eyes. “I already told you, we’re not involved with Rex or your sarcophagus. I won this ship from him in a poker game last night at Gorda’s casino. Check it out if you don’t believe me or shoot me in the head if you think it’s going to somehow make your missing treasure appear.”

The red head was unimpressed with Kit’s lack of fear and brazen attitude. “Do you know what happens to thieves in this part of the galaxy?”

Kit said, “I’m not a thief,” while Jade’s voice taunted her; Consequences aren’t just for other people.

“Well see about that,” the red head said. “My boss has ways of finding out the truth.”

Kit grabbed the barrel of the pistol and turned it sideways while leveraging her body against the red head to throw the woman up against the elevator wall. “I’ve tried to be nice cause I already know the kind of scum Rex is even though I only met him a few hours ago but you’ve seen for yourself I don’t have your treasure. Now you can either take your boys and get off my ship or I can throw you off. Either way, we’re done.”

“Kit!” Quinn said, alarmed at the possibility of an escalating conflict that could easily end up with people dead. The two men next to him kept their calm. One kept a weapon trained on Quinn and the other turned his weapon on Kit’s back.

The red head pushed back against Kit. Leverage worked against her though and her efforts were useless. “You don’t have a clue who you’re fucking with do you?”

Kit smiled with teeth. “Just a red headed bimbo and her two lap dogs.” She punched the control button for the first level and the elevator door slid closed.

Upon arrival at the first level the door slid open and the ramp to the hangar floor extended from the ship. The red head seethed in Kit’s face. Quinn kept as close eye as he could on the two men. Kit looked over her shoulder when the ramp thumped against the floor.

“You two,” Kit said, nodding her head at the men, “give my associate back our weapons and exit down the ramp.”

The men looked to their red headed boss and only complied when she nodded her approval. Quinn took the weapons but avoided pointing them at anyone. The situation was the sort that could turn bad at any second from just a single mistake made by any one of the five of them. Quinn knew it best.

Kit glared into the red head’s eyes. “I’ll be keeping this,” she said, indicating the pistol with an extra push into it, “and you can either let go and walk down the ramp peacefully or I can rip it out of your hand and roll you down the ramp after I put a hole in you. What’s it going to be?”

The red head stared back. “This isn’t over.” She let go of the pistol and sidestepped to the ramp, walking down it backward, with her eyes trained on Kit. Once on the hangar floor she signaled to her two men and they left the hangar without a further word.

The Jade Runner, Part 08

Quinn exited the dock office. Kit waited for him on the sidewalk basking in the morning sunlight glistening down into the depths of the city. To her right, sky-scraping buildings sparkled as far as the eye could see. On the left, a series of docking berths for privateers and luxury vessels lined the street. The working vessels had already left for the day and the rest were unlikely to be visited for several hours if at all. Other than Kit and Quinn the street was deserted.

“The Griffinscape is docked in berth 14-92,” Quinn said, joining Kit on the sidewalk.

She looked at the numbers on the berths. “Should be about a block in front of us then.”

They walked in silence to the berth. The door from the street was already open. Quinn, cautious by nature and habit, kept Kit back while he walked in first to look around. No one in sight, he gestured for Kit to follow him inside and together they stood and gazed over the Griffinscape for the first time.

The ship was not particularly large, about the height of a six-story building. Its outer hull was painted green, a color choice Kit might have made herself had it been hers to make. The engine struts extended from the left and right sides of the ship and appeared newer than the rest of the vessel, just as Rex had boasted at the poker table.

“She’s old,” Quinn said, “but these things were built to last and it looks like someone has done a few upgrades.”

Kit nodded. “Converted garbage scows like this usually have huge cargo holds and plenty of room for a small crew.”

Quinn gestured toward the ship. “Shall we check it out?”

Kit reached inside her jacket for the remote. Her ears twitched at the sound of the pump action of a concussion rifle. She looked to Quinn expecting to see the rifle in his hands but he was spinning around toward the source of the sound himself. Her hand fell from the tip of the remote to the pistol she’d taken away from Rex, holstered on her belt.

She reacted only an instant slower than Quinn. They were both too late. The blast hurled them eight feet closer to the ship and landed them on their backs. A boot kicked the pistol from her hand while a pair of foreign hands took the rifle from Quinn.

The owner of the boot waved her own pistol in Kit’s face. She said, “You’re not Rex’s usual type.”

Kit glared up at the red head, ignoring the pistol in her hand. “I’m not with Rex and this isn’t his ship anymore.”

“Really?” The red head said. Her eyes glistened with amusement. “I don’t care what your relationship with Rex is, all I want is what he promised to deliver to my boss. Now why don’t you be a good little girl and tell me where it is?”

Kit pushed herself up off the floor and Quinn followed suit. The red head and her two companions kept their weapons pointed at them but did nothing else to deter them from moving around. Kit doubted whatever they were looking for was aboard the ship. Still, it seemed unlikely they’d just leave unless they knew it first hand.

“I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about but you can search the ship if you like and if you find whatever it is, you can take it with you,” Kit said.

The red head pressed her pistol against Kit’s chest. She flipped the jade stone hanging around Kit’s neck with the tip of her pistol. “Did you get that from Rex?”

Kit wrapped her hand around the stone. “No, it belonged to my sister.”

“Sure it did,” the red head said, without conviction. “Alright, let’s take a look around the ship.”

“The remote is in my jacket pocket,” Kit said, “try not to shoot me while I pull it out.” She reached into her jacket and slowly pulled the ship’s remote out.

The red head watched, seemingly expecting some sort of deception. She looked genuinely surprised when the passenger ramp extended down from the back of the ship and the door slid open at the top. Kit and Quinn were directed to lead the way by the gesturing of weapons. Upon entering the ship they realized they were inside an elevator that would lead to the upper levels while a passage straight ahead likely led to the engine rooms and cargo hold.

Kit looked over her shoulder at the red head. “Which way?”

“Why don’t we check the cargo hold first?” the red head said.

Kit led the way down the corridor. Doors to the left and right were marked for the engine rooms and at the end of the hall a double width door was marked Cargo Bay. Kit pressed her hand to a button on the right side of the door and the door spit in half and disappeared inside the walls. They walked into a large open room that clearly stretched another floor or floor and a half straight up. The room was empty except for a two person lift on the left side and a staircase leading up to the next level on the right.

The red head said, “You could save us all some time and just take us straight to it.”

Kit turned to fully face the woman. “I don’t even know what you’re looking for and this my first time aboard this ship.”

“Right,” the red head said, rolling her eyes. “You’d be a lot more convincing if you weren’t wearing part of it and didn’t have the ship’s remote.”

“This necklace belonged to my sister for twenty years before it came to be with me,” Kit said holding it out in the light. “It’s got nothing to do with Rex or anything you’ve got any right to be looking for.”

“If you take me to the sarcophagus now,” the red head said, staring straight into Kit’s eyes, “I won’t have my boys turn you in as a thief.”

“Sarcophagus?” Quinn said. “I don’t suppose you have the papers authorizing its removal and transport?”

The red head waved her pistol in Quinn’s direction. “This is all the authorization I need.”

“It’s obviously not here,” Quinn said.

“We’ll see,” the red head said.