A Shibari Bottom Is Important
I am nobody. I mean, of course I am somebody, my name is Jane and I’m 20. And I have a driver’s license and all that stuff. But when it comes to what I do, I am nobody. Had I known that a Shibari bottom is important, I would have never felt that way.
I’m a magician’s assistant. My name is Adeline every Tuesday and Thursday night, from nine to eleven. I pretend to be French and speak with a ridiculous accent. My “master” is a good-for-nothing-has-been, who can barely remember the sequence of the show. But, as my mom used to say: “If you have the bad habit of eating three times a day, you must have a job”. And, even though I would like to be acting in a play or a movie, Adeline the assistant is the only role I could get. Alas, poor me!
That is, until I got this “other job”. You see, one night, at the end of the show, a red-haired man came to me. He said he was Hartmut, from the Netherlands, and he said that he was a Shibari artist. That didn’t mean much to me back then, since I had absolutely no idea what Shibari was —I thought it was some kind of food—. Anyway, he offered a good pay, with the possibility of getting more if things turned out well. So, I accepted the offer.
The truth is, when I got to Hartmut’s studio the next day, I got a little bit scared. It was dark, and there was a pulley system right in the middle. However, when I saw Hartmut, and he started talking in his peculiar way, with the voice of a boring high school teacher, I relaxed.
He explained to me that he had chosen me because of my flexibility, and he told me the basics of Shibari. He showed me the ropes, and some pictures of his work with other models. Then, I thought: “Oh no! Another assistant job!”.
I told him I didn’t want to be nobody, like I was with the magician. Therefore, I wouldn’t take the job. I was about to leave, but he convinced me to try it, at least only once. And I agreed.
I couldn’t be more wrong about it! A Shibari bottom is important. They are not just a piece of meat, scantily dressed, who keep quiet and do nothing essential. On the contrary, they are the rigger’s partners, and they are as important. A bottom is someone the top can trust, someone with whom they share their emotions through the scene.
Next day, I quitted the other job.
This is my Shibari story.
