“A question about what?”
“You keep looking at my backpack,” he says. “I do admit it’s hard to tell for sure when there isn’t much light, but that’s what it looks like to me. I thought maybe you had a question about rope.”
“Um…I don’t know.”
“You can ask me anything you like,” he says. “Really. It’s fine.”
“Well, where do you find people who want to be tied up?”
“Can’t tell you that,” he says, clicking his tongue on the roof of his mouth. “If I did, I’d have to kill ya.”
I shake my head, and he laughs.
“There are places you can go to meet people who are into it,” he says. “Lots of online groups, of course. That’s the easiest way. At this point, people in the area know who I am and usually come to me.”
“Why?”
“I guess good riggers aren’t as common as people who want to be tied.”
“So, people just…what? Walk up to you on the street and ask you to tie them up?”
“No, not that. But there is a place in the area where people meet up pretty regularly. I usually get approached through a negotiator.”
“Negotiator?”
“Maybe I should back up a little.”
“Maybe you should.”
“There are venues where people go to practice their kinks. It could be rope or whips or whatever. Usually people are looking for specific equipment that isn’t easily installed in a house or an apartment, especially if you have kids or something.”
“These people have kids?”
Cree snickers softly.
“Yes, they do. They have kids and jobs and mortgages. Kinky people aren’t really any different from you high society types.”
I narrow my eyes, but he doesn’t look away. Clearly he is aware of the economic divide between us, but I don’t feel comfortable having it brought up.
“Point made,” I say curtly. “I’ll stop making assumptions.”
“Anyway,” Cree says with a wink, “everyone meets up for the munch—”
“Munch?”
“That’s kinkster talk for an informal party. It’s typically open to people new to the scene and a little less intimidating than a full-fledged dungeon party.”
“It sounds like a good name for a convention of cannibals.”
Cree laughs and shakes his head.
“So, everyone meets up, and they do whatever they’re there to do. If you’re at a munch, and you see someone you don’t know personally but you’d like to play with, there are usually people around who act as negotiators. They’re kind of like matchmakers. They figure out what you’re looking for, talk to the other person about what they have to offer, and determine if it’s a good match.”
“That sounds…complicated.”
“It’s really not.” He shrugs. “In fact, I think it’s one of the best aspects of the lifestyle. If you do proper negotiation, you rarely end up with someone’s expectations being out of whack. You make what you want very clear through the negotiator. I think if everyone did things like that, there would be fewer people falling victim to situations involving unwanted touching or even date rape.”
“I guess that’s true.”