I’d like to welcome the four new members of the book club! (You know who you are.) The comments system has been upgraded, so we can now “like” comments and reply in-line much easier. The system’s called LiveFyre, and requires registration as an anti-spam measure. I can’t wait to see it in action today!
Ahem. I now call this meeting of the Red and Bad Book Club to order! Please grab snacks and take a seat. Or a lie-down. Or an artistic drape over a chaise, if that’s more your style. (I’ll be sitting cross-legged on the floor.)
Let’s read The Bar.
Also, in honor of our first Red episode, a comic about the quotative “like” (and the hardcoreness of linguists). Hat tip to Vicky, who saw this the other day and dropped it by my inbox.
Just as a side note, for the folks visiting this page in the future, as I sit to reread The Bar I’m writing episode six of the second season of Red and Bad, where things are getting very, er, touchy…
Now, for our show! Oh, goodie, this week we dive into Red’s delightfully twisted mind. Would you drop your phone number in a packet of stamps and give it to a guy like Bad? (Also, what the hell is he gonna do with two books of stamps?)
Freaking awesome Book Club shirt photo by infowidget on Flickr under this Creative Commons license.
I love that Red had the guts (I want to say chutzpah but am not 100% sure that’s right – what do Lutherans know about Yiddish?) to take the initiative to contact Bad the way that he did. It definitely shows that he has agency here – he’s not just the kid that’s being taken advantage of by the creepy older guy.
But the scene in the bathroom does make me cringe. The humiliation (that they both are getting off on) just makes my skin crawl a bit. I’ve always had issues with this, I can’t stand watching/reading about someone being embarrassed. I know this isn’t quite that, but it’s close enough for me to flinch a bit.
As for what to do with the stamps? Got me – I can’t remember the last time I mailed something. Maybe Bad will have to send out holiday cards this year – the internet tells me that today was Male Chastity Day – do you think they make cards for that?
I bought about a hundred stamps a while ago (they go on offer every so often, and they’re so expensive now!) – I didn’t realise how slowly I’m going through them until I noticed that the design is for the London 2012 Olympics! (And now they’ve got bacon-jalapeño grease on them…)
*Anyway* – yeah, I agree with dinaw that humiliation’s a bit squicky, although the scene is still hot. YKINMKBYKIOK and all that 🙂 It does come across clearly that Red’s not doing anything he doesn’t want to – even the stuff he doesn’t *want* to do is still doing it for him. And I love the descriptions of Red being nervous – shaking hands, trembling legs, not-thinking… the embodiment of feel the fear and do it anyway!
And I think my favourite moment of this episode is the guy laughing and telling them to have a good one with no censure or snark.
The Bar scene made me squirm, I’m not great with humiliation and I don’t think Red was until Bad came along. What an ego boost for Bad to have Red come to him. It was good where Bad shows Red how much watching him wait for him turned him on. Showed they were both in to it and not just Bad on a power trip leading Red on. Red’s character has come across really well in this scene, he’s made his mind up to follow this through even though he’s scared & nervous.
I agree with vcheysham, the guy in the bathroom was a great touch. I felt sorry for the young Guy Red found to blow him, just came out and Red is using him to fulfil Bads order.
I buy stamps at Christmas to send cards and small gifts to my Nieces, they are only little and still like to get something in the post to open. Although I’ve probably only got another year before they think it’s boring and just want cash!
Dolphin91 Yeah, I think it’s a really interesting thing–what people go into a relationship with, versus what they learn from the relationship (and their partner). I assume that Red’s the kid who gets off on humiliation in the abstract, but sure as hell never actually experienced it before Bad, which is a fun tension to play with. (Bad tells him, later, in the little Hugh-and-Truman crossover, “Some things are best left as fantasy,” and Bad’s real damn invested in finding out exactly where that line is.)
Yeah, Bad’s a dick. “Go get a guy to blow you.” Bam! MY WILL BE DONE, AND ALL MEN ARE MY PUPPETS.
vcheysham I love that guy. I’d totally forgotten about him, but his acceptance is a really neat note at that moment in the episode. (I was like, “Hey, well done, PastKris.” Then I was like, “Huh. I wonder if maybe the guys can pick up a random dude at the Spark sometime and it’ll be a reader Easter egg that it’s the same dude…” Plot bunny, be gone!)
dinaw MALE CHASTITY DAY??? Oh my god. I can’t believe I didn’t know that! Fuck me, I’d’ve written up the “Bernie buys a custom cock cage” story that’s been bouncing around in my head for months if I’d known that! Damn. Next year, I’m gonna write something up for Male Chastity Day. Oh yes.
KrisRipper dinaw You need to follow @ThumperMN and his boyfriend @dualdrew on twitter to find out these things 🙂
And Bernies buys Nick a cage sounds awesome! I love the imagery of them trying to measure him for it 🙂
Oh, hell no would I give Bad my phone number IRL. The fiction is way better than the reality with his type.
Red’s super power is exposed in The Bar: self acceptance. He knows who he is, and will go after what he wants even if it terrifies him. Maybe even enjoys it more because it terrifies him! The juxtaposition of Red being grossed out by his co-worker’s germiness and his willingness to kneel half naked on a club bathroom floor was a nice touch. Gross, but nice. He takes on the humiliation of the encounter and lets it sink into his skin (along with who knows what from the floor) then comfortably wears it for his and Bad’s enjoyment. His being so complicit is certainly what tips it from icky to just squicky.
I would love to have heard the inner monologue Bad had going while he made Red wait in the security office. For all his confidence, he needed that moment to get his inner sh*t together and come up with a plan. It had to be a hilarious few minutes of utter freak out.
Bad will eventually have a work related use for all those stamps. But then again, it would be much more fun if he had a Red related use for them. They would probably itch like all get out stuck to unreachable sensitive skin. (Here’s some carrot sticks to tide the plot bunny over until a Control the Smutwriter spot opens up. I’ll leave them next to the last bacon-jalapeño popper.)
See everyone next week!
I agree with the your kink is your kink and have found that humiliation doesn’t seem to bother me in this story. I think because Red seems to be getting off on it, it makes it ok. Thanks GWendy for pointing out the germiness of the co-worker and the bathroom floor…….ha! My favorite would be the exchange between Red and Bad when he delivers the stamps. Red took the initiative but then was put in his place by Bad.
Stamps……my mom used to buy them for me. Since she passed away, my dad has picked up the loose end. I don’t really use them, but I can’t say “hey you don’t need to do that” so I have stamps when anybody else needs them.
So happy this was the introduction to Red I hoped for!
Nice that Red
got the opportunity to reach out and make contact. I am impressed
with how much I feel like these two are on the same level – even if
Bad seems to be running the show.
Oh and how delicious to
share in Reds nerves. I am not sure why, but I love reading about
characters like this. And then the wonderful relief when it works out
after all. I have a suspicion it is the same reason I like horror or
suspense, the tension and then the relief.
And Red is absolutely
adorable, so sweet and reaching for something he knows he wants, even
if he is not sure exactly what it is.
And as a gamer I must say
the achievement remark got a chuckle from me.
I like reading stories
about humiliation – even if I would absolutely hate it in real
life. I am not sure what I like about it; perhaps allowing yourself
to be humiliated is the ultimate relinquishing of power to me. That
said I am not too fond of the “let us humiliate a man by feminizing
him”. It did put me of a little at first. But ultimately I tend to
find, that if I feel the characters in a story gets of on something I
find it hot, even if it is not my thing. So it was not a big deal,
and I enjoyed the scene a lot. And I liked the detail about how Red
did not like this kind of talk from his ex – tells me that this
relationship is something special.
I like how this story
makes me feel like they are fulfilling each other. I am convinced Bad
had not planed the humping until he saw how enthralled Red was with
his boots. So even if it could seem like Bad is just using Red for
his own pleasure, I get the feeling Bad is taking responsibility for
making their encounters as good as possible for both of them.
And – eh… maybe Bad
can find a charity that could use some extra stamps?
GWendy hehe,
I totally missed the gems juxtaposition, so obvious now you mention
it
Hmmmm….while I totally would want to give him my number, I know I just wouldn't have the guts! And seriously, who still uses stamps?