Two hours after their little sexcapade, Reegan found herself wide awake. Aiden's heavy arm was wrapped tightly around her waist and his legs were pretzeled with hers. With a sigh, she pushed her bed hair back and squirmed out of Aiden's grasp. He was a bear. All grabby and trying to pull her back. It was a good thing he was such a heavy sleeper. With her fighting her way free, he would have definitely woken up. The couch made a light shifting sound as Aiden resituated himself.

After she was freed from the couch, Reegan didn't know what to do with herself. She went to step away and her foot met with the laptop. Thank the gods she didn't step on it. She would never hear the end of it if she stepped on another one and broke it. At least this time it would have been Aiden's and not hers. A giggle escaped her lips at the thought. Since it was there feeling lonely and unused, Reegan reached down and grabbed it.

A cup of coffee and some pervin' mervin time on cuffme.com, might lull her into taking another catnap. Her footsteps made no sound as she headed towards the kitchen. She looked at the clock on the coffeemaker and sighed. 1:30. Too much time to kill before her Beast woke up. Boxes full of their stuff littered the floor space. She didn't want to start unpacking the kitchen decor and accdentally wake him up. Goofing off on the internet really was her quietest and safest idea.

She carried the laptop to the table and opened it up. While it was busy loading up, she made a small pot of coffee. Out of all the items still sitting in boxes, the coffee pot had been unpacked as soon as they moved in. It was her lifeline. Dreams of caffinated bliss carried her to the freezer for the coffee grounds. She grabbed her skull containers and measured out the right amounts of sugar and creamer. Then she set to work getting water, filter, and grounds into the machine. The instant hot water met roasted grounds she came alive. She did a happy dance and headed back to the table.

The laptop was ready for another adventure. She clicked on the firefox icon and the homescreen brought up her and Aiden's C.M. account. The site was lifeless. Not much happening in any of the message boards and the latest activity in her feed was from earlier the previous evening. Looked like she really would be checking people out. The coffee pot gurgled and stuttered. Her ears perked and she headed back to the counter. Time for a little sugary, creamy goodness and perving through profiles.

She sat her Jack Skellington coffee mug down and stretched. There were profiles full of stories and photos waiting for her to browse through. She just hoped she didn't run across one that freaked her out. Being open minded was one thing, but some things were just way beyond her ability to understand. Maybe she could avoid the bloody types of pictures. Aiden wouldn't be to happy if she spewed coffee all over his computer's screen. Again.

She slowly sipped her coffee as she went through the random profiles. Each sip calmed and soothed her. She felt herself getting closer to being relaxed. Maybe, just maybe, she would be able to go and cuddle more with Aiden before he headed off to work. The cup sat by her hand with a few sips left. It would be cool and slighty sweeter when she took her last swig. Her hand stilled as she was reaching for the cup. After getting lost in a spiderweb of link after link, she had stumbled onto a newly created account. What caught her attention was the avatar the person was using. Just a simple background image with one of her favorite song quotes in a scrolly, cursive font.

"Agony and ecstasy  

Your cries of pain my pleasure  

to know my machine internally  

Your torment I treasure"

The person was in the same town. From what she read, he was new to everything and was looking for guidance, advice, and friendship. His profile seemed pretty straightforward, but also had an aire of insecurity and shyness to it. Poor thing would be swallowed up soon. Nothing a lot of predatory, wannabes didn't like more than a newbie just starting out. Her heart broke a little. She remembered what is like to just start exploring. Images of her first Dom flashed through her mind causing her to shudder. She had to message the kid. Warn him at least of the creepers that like to flock to the unsure. She clicked on the message icon next to his avatar.

To: Synthetic_Darkness  

From:TheBeast&TheHarlot 

Subject: Type O Negative - Pain

Love the avie, one of my all time favorite bands and song. I can listen to them for hours and still not get enough. Peter Steele was genius! I miss him. :(

Oh, yeah, hello from some random stranger on the internet! Careful, I may stalk you! Now which do you prefer: dead rodents as gifts or random body parts? Me, I like the sporadic dead mouse here and there. With enough of 'em collected, I can make some wicked jewlery. Okay, not really, I'm not that creepy. Just a little weird. But don't ask me how weird, because then I would have to make you some jewlery. Eww, really I wouldn't. I was trying out my creeper skills since I am up way too late creeping around on the internet. How am I doing so far? I'm sure there are others that are far more creepy than me. Maybe I should message them for pointers?

Anywho, just wanted to say hi seeing as we're neighbors and all that good stuff. Good luck finding whatever it is you're searching for. And hey, maybe we might see each other sometime at a munch or party. Or maybe not. Who knows.

Yeah, so, uhm, hi!

~The Harlot~

Okay, so she didn't warn him, but maybe her weirdness would show him that there were some odd people on the site. She backed out of his profile and continued her random link clickage.

~~~~

Kale couldn't sleep. After Raven left to go back to her parents, he ate a quick dinner and then logged back onto C.M. Hours later, he still sat at his desk glued to the computer. He joined different groups and read through all the newbie advice he could find. There really was a fetish for everything. The more he read, the more he wanted to learn. He had considered signing up with the local group, but was still unsure. All those people. It was overwhelming. Raven did him a huge favor forcing him to make an account. He just wasn't going to get his hopes up of anything coming from it. But it was still comforting to know that he wasn't alone in a lot of his feelings.

He wasn't alone. That excited him. Here, he found profile after profile of people intrested in the same things. Maybe not everything he was curious about, but he had a feeling he would stumble upon more. A groan echoed off the bare walls. 1:30 am. He had to be up in six more hours. Work. How could he go to work after staying up all night looking around on the internet? He could easily sit there through those six hours, searching and browsing on cuffme. Be responsible, he chided himself. With a huff, he started to log out. The little letter icon on the homepage blinked telling him he had a new message.

Kale's heart sped up. His first message! His finger trembled over the button on the mouse. What if it was hate mail? Did he really want to read it, if it was? Yeah, it was supposed to be an open-minded community, but there were douchebags no matter where you went. Would he be flamed here, like he was in school? His internal debate lasted a few minutes. He moved the cursor over the icon, closed his eyes, turned his head to the side, and clicked. His face was hidden by his bangs. Turning his head, he peeked one eye open. Huh, the subject line was the band and song title he was using as his avatar. Okay, not so bad. He blew out his breath and clicked on the actual message link.

Completely facing the screen he read through the message. Twice. So it was from the Harlot half of the couple. The side of his mouth quirked up into a lopsided grin as he read through the message a third time. Minus the animal skeleton reference, it was a harmless message. Not that the rodent part wasn't creepy, but it was funny. He contemplated writing back. But what would he say?

In the quiet room, he stared at the keyboard. Different responses floated through his mind. But which one should he go with? He clapped his hands together when a thought came to him. The sound of keys flooded his ears.

To:TheBeast&TheHarlot 

From: Synthetic_Darkness 

Subject: Re: Type O Negative - Pain

Weren't they just amazing!?! Just sad I missed their glory days and that there will never be a chance to see them. I would love to be able to go back in time and go to a concert. Even if it was raining and the sound system was on the fritz. Just to be in the same space as Peter Steele, would be worth it. Lyrical genius, pure and simple.

Rodent jewlery huh? That's better than my hair and nail collection. ;)

Maybe. I don't know if I will be getting out in the local scene any time soon. It's taken my friend a year to even get me to join this site. Who knows how long it will be before I am actually "public" with this.

Any advice for the noob?

Oh and Hi! back.

Synthetic_Darkness

Kale's finger shook as he clicked the send button. There, that wasn't so bad. He hoped he didn't sound like a total loser, but eventually it would surface. Might as well get it out of the way now. Well, that is if the girl messaged him back. Oh gods, what if the Beast half reads the message? Kale facepalmed and made a silent prayer that the guy didn't read it. He thought to himself that he might want to check out their profile. And he did just that.

After a quick browsing of their 'about me' section and looking through the few faceless pictures they had, he was a little more at ease. The journal section of their account told him more about them than their info section did. The man seemed like a logical and patient man. The girl...she seemed like trouble. Fun trouble. They both had interesting poems and stories posted. Kale relaxed and hoped that he did hear back from her. It would be kind of nice to get to know some knowledgeable people in his area. With a sigh, he glanced at his bed. He really did need to go to sleep. It just felt impossible. He was teeming with a nervous energy and an excitement he hadn't had in years.