let's spend the night together - david bowie

i'm exhausted. i met Ms Simone at the munch and as i'd predicted, was instructed to spend the night at Hers.

the munch was pretty good. don't believe anybody, Dom/me or sub, who tells you that they can take or leave munches.

it does you good to be with your own kind. not permanently, not like some sort of warsaw ghetto thing, but now and again. it really recharges my batteries to be in the company of people who i don't feel i have to define or defend myself to.

no sign of tam and Stella and elaine had mentioned earlier in the week that she wouldn't be going.

one person i didn't expect to end up in conversation with was the guy who runs it. same for his mate. now that Ms Simone and i are popularly regarded as "an item", i seem to be getting my feet under a lot more tables.

people who appeared to regard me as peripheral at best, now seem keen on including me in things.

i must continue to monitor this.

back at Hers, Ms Simone told me to make Her coffee in the one of the large mugs.

i did so and carried it through to Her. a bulky-looking grey cat sat at Her feet, where i usually kneel. staring at me with its inscrutable wee face.

"could you feed her, please?" Ms Simone asked. "there's a tin on the top shelf of the fridge." i nodded and retreated to the kitchen.

i found the tin where She'd said and looked around for a dish.

i heard Ms Simone shoo-ing the cat my way. i started to fork chunks into the bowl by the back door. the cat walked sedately up to the bowl, sniffed it and turned to me.

"that's nowhere near - " the cat whispered. i stared. "i want at least double that."

"what?" i pushed out. everything felt trippy and unreal, as if the whole room was wrong and couldn't be trusted.

"you're new Here, right?" the cat nodded towards the tin dangling from my left hand. "hurry up, then. are you mental?"

Ms Simone's voice from somewhere far away.

"oh, don''t mind her. she always thinks she can bully the new subs when they first arrive."

i went back through to where Ms Simone was sitting. She was laughing.

"your face - " She pointed, between giggles. She tried to tell me something else, but it dissolved into more laughter.

eventually, She prised it all out for me. the cat, called "tutu" because she talks like miles davis, had been a present from Her cousin, who worked at that place they made dolly the sheep.

there had been half a dozen of them, left over at the end of whatever experiment they were and, rather than just destroy them, Her cousin had found homes for them.

so. i'm lying Here. tutu's sleeping a few feet away - where Ms Simone usually sits. occasionally, she'll mutter in Her sleep. the only words i've made out for sure are "come Here" and "stupid".