Dustin had arrived the night before, the latest stop in his journey. He had no real direction of where he was headed - he just went where his feet took him. He had hitched a ride with a trucker for the first time a few days ago, and had traveled countless miles with the man whose call-signal was "Red Rooster". That had been an interesting story, and he had spent much of the morning translating his hand-written notes onto his laptop. Dustin wasn't even sure he knew what sort of story he was looking for, either. He had grown up a lot in the 6 months since had embarked on his journey, had well over 100 pages of random stories, and had been far colder this winter then any he could recall. The fresh smell of spring was very refreshing.<br/><br/>He looked up from where he was sitting at a picnic table. The town, he had been told, didn't have much to it and was more of a 'passing through' type of town then a 'take a visit' type town. But one thing he had learned was that no matter where you were, there was always some sort of story to dig up. Whether it was 'Who Killed the Farmers Chicken [Central PA]' or 'What is the Sun-Star Cult [Idaho]', there was always something interesting to find in a small town. Who knows, maybe they had some local legends or a haunted house?<br/><br/>The hotel he was staying at could hardly be called that. It resembled a persons home more then a hotel, but wasn't as bad as sleeping in a barn. At least it didn't smell like pigs. For a price, lodging could always be found. He had washed dishes, cleaned out stalls, helped build a barn, and even made dinner one night just to earn a place to sleep.<br/><br/>His body had changed too. He had been packing a few extra pounds from his college days, but 6 months of travel, hard labor, and missed meals had gotten rid of those extra pounds of fat, replacing them with a more toned layer of muscle. No one could accuse him of being soft anymore, or never having worked hard. He didn't look like a farm boy or a body builder, or an athlete. Just a healthy, young man. His dark hair had grown longer then it had ever been, ear length now, and his hazel eyes looked more aged then before. His hands had developed callouses from hoeing a field - his previous 'job' - and that was a far cry from the blisters that had bled the first time he had really put his back into work 6 months earlier.<br/><br/>His laptop was picking up a wireless signal from somewhere - perhaps this town wasn't as backwards as it appeared - and he googled the place. Nothing to note after a few minutes of browsing, but he did find a posting made this morning at an Alternative Lifestyle website. 'Alternative' - the word made him laugh - really mean S&M and bondage, the type of things associated with 'Goth' Kids and things that weren't the social norm. To be honest, he found it to be fascinating, though had had little time to explore it before. It was one thing handcuffing a girl friend to the bed before having your way with her, it was an entirely different thing to inflict pain and completely subjugate some one.<br/><br/>He paused for a few minutes after reading the post. Hell, it was the only thing exciting going around in this place. His fingers twitched, hovering over his keyboard. What the hell, no point passing up on such an oppurtunity to explore something like that. Not to mention two chicks? That was never a bad thing.<br/><br/><em><br/>RE: S&amp;M/Bondage<br/><br/>I noticed your posting and thought I would respond. You can call me Stine, pronounced Stein (despite no German Heritage). I am completely new to the S&amp;M lifestyle but find that I am greatly intrigued by it. By nature, I am a writer - an investigative journalist if you will - and have been traveling the country in search of unique stories and people. I would be a willing 'watcher' in the hopes of being allowed to document the lifestyle and allow for it to be an introduction for me into the lifestyle, with the goal of becoming active in it. Thank you for your time.<br/><br/>Stine.<br/></em><br/><br/>He hit [SEND] three seconds later and sat back, almost toppling over backwards as he momentarily forgot where he was sitting.