Luc sits for Asami (Part 1)

Luc left the Promenade and climbed into a quiet neighborhood set back from the river. The heat of the morning sun on cobblestones gave way to coolness in the shade of the narrow, tree-lined street. It was a Friday, mid morning, and his schedule was clear of classes until the afternoon. The hotel was busy with guests, but he had Fridays off, when Margot happily took over room-cleaning duties as a respite from the usual bustle of the lobby and bar. He didn’t have to work, didn’t have classes, but had an appointment to keep nonetheless. He walked under the shade of laurels, feeling a mix of nerves and curiosity.

Asami had arrived in her studio early to tidy up and prepare for a day of work. She didn’t teach at the college on Fridays, and reserved it as a precious studio day of her own. The large doors along the east wall were open to let in the morning sun, and she swept clay dust into a tidy pile to be reprocessed. Her first appointment should be arriving any minute.

“Our professor is looking for life models for some secret sculpture project,” Janie had told Luc in a confidential tone over the counter at the museum café. “They can’t be her students, and I guess it’s totally anonymous. You should do it and tell us what she’s working on!”

She had slipped him a cream envelope the next day on campus between classes, addressed to Luc by hand. “I didn’t open it, but you have to tell me everything.”

Back in his room, he had opened the envelope and unfolded the thin packet of typeset pages labeled “Pre-session questionnaire”. It began with the basics: Age, height, weight, days available. Then astrological sign, favorite color, sexual orientation. On the second page, a question he couldn’t have expected: “Body part you find most attractive”. He filled out the questionnaire despite the mounting questions of his own. On the third page, three spare lines of detail: “Anonymity and discretion assured. Nudity and close contact involved. Please abstain from orgasm for three days prior”. What is this project? he wondered.

Still, he had mailed the questionnaire back to the return address and waited for the reply, which came promptly a day later in an identical cream envelope, setting a time and location. Luc imagined the upcoming “session” with curiosity and excitement, but honored the artist’s unusual request.

As Luc rounded the corner into the alley on the day of their meeting, he recognized Asami standing in the open doorway of her studio from down the block. She had a short and subtly curvy figure, showing an obvious perkiness even from a distance. He tingled with anticipation.

“Why hello there, you must be Luc.” Asami leaned the broom against a wall and offered her hands in greeting, clasping them around his and looking him in the eye with a smile. “I’m so glad you were brave enough to come. You must have lots of questions.”

Asami’s studio was small and square, with wooden workbenches lining two walls. At the center of the room stood a foot-powered potter’s wheel with a large low table beside it. Quiet drum and bass played from a stereo on a high shelf, and a slightly dusty monstera stirred in the incoming breeze. Behind a parted curtain in the corner was a large sink. The space was spare but cozy, possessing what Luc interpreted as a distinctly Japanese warmth in utility.

“Have a seat, I’ll show you what I’m working on — what we’ll be working on.”

Luc sat on a low stool as Asami first rolled shut the large doors of the studio, then retrieved a box from beneath the workbench and placed it on the table. From the box she handed him an object wrapped in cream-colored cotton. It was heavy and oblong, completely filling his hand. He slipped it from the sleeve and was greeted by what appeared to be a large ceramic dildo glazed in brilliant Egyptian blue. He looked up at Asami. “It’s beautiful. What is it?”

“It’s one of my wands. You’ll be providing the form for a new model.” She watched the young man process this information with a smile. “They’re quite popular.”

“She has a freaky side, you know,” Janie had confided over the counter at the café. “She once did a performance art piece where she painted three models’ entire naked bodies gold.” She raised her eyebrows and lowered her voice, “using only her tits.”

Asami gathered materials from around the studio and arranged them on the low table: a bin of plaster, a jug of water, a pile of beige cotton strips. Luc watched her, admiring her fluid movements, her hips and butt with the bow of an apron overtop, what he could see of her breasts beneath a silkscreened t-shirt smudged with paint beneath the apron. Her playful energy appealed to him immensely. What have I gotten myself into?

Three heaping scoops of plaster of Paris into a plastic tub. “How big would you say you are?”

Luc paused, looking down at the smooth blue wand on the table. “Like… hard?”

Asami nodded. He held out his hands in an approximation. She raised an eyebrow and added an extra scoop. Pouring in some water from the jug, she mixed the plaster to a smooth consistency. “I’ll need you to stay erect for the duration of the casting,” she said matter-of-factly without looking up from her work. “I trust that you haven’t had an orgasm in a few days?”

“Uh, yeah,” Luc said, feeling a stir.

“My touch won’t go beyond what you’re comfortable with.” She tapped the wooden spoon on the edge of the tub and set it aside. “Just think of me as an artist working with her materials.”

She straightened the pile of strips with practiced fingers. “Now it’s time for you to undress. I’ll give you some privacy,” Asami said, spinning around the low stool to face the workbench.

Luc stood looking blankly at the woman’s back. Her black hair was tied up in a messy bun, her bare arms looked strong. He undid his belt and fumbled with the button of his trousers.

“You’ll need to get hard before we begin. Some models ask to be alone for a few minutes, others find it easier with me here, others like to ask a few questions.”

“What kind of questions?” Luc asked as he stepped out of his trousers.

“Oh, like how the end product is used, or whether I’m able to help out.” She laughed. “Of course not manually or anything like that, but some models find that it puts them more at ease if I’m naked or partially naked along with them. It makes things less awkward and stiff. Well, more stiff, ideally… but you know what I mean.”

Luc took this in as he stepped out of his underwear and pulled the shirt over his head. He looked down at his penis, which was already beginning to show the first signs of arousal. This is nuts.

“Would you be more comfortable if I went topless or bottomless while we work? Or completely nude? I do need to wear an apron of course.” Asami spun back around on the stool to face the young man, glancing over his naked body and giving a nod. “Judging from your questionnaire, I’d think you’d choose topless.” He had written “breasts” as the body part he found most attractive.

“Sure, that actually sounds nice. I feel very… exposed.” He stood completely naked in the diffuse, shadowless light of the studio, not sure what to do with his hands.

Asami looped the apron over her head and pulled off her t-shirt in a fluid motion, uncovering her small breasts with a lively jolt. After her open appraisal of his own nudity, he felt comfortable looking at them for a moment. They were perky and widely spaced, a combination Luc found rather exciting. Her nipples were perfectly round and buffy tan, standing out to point a wide V across the quiet studio. His penis rose a few degrees.

“So how is the end product used? The wands.”

She looped her apron back over her head, adjusting it so a nipple peeked out either side of the hemp canvas. “Well. People, mostly women, use them to masturbate.” She looked down at his visibly growing penis like a potter at a body of freshly-wedged clay. “The glaze is glassy and smooth, and it warms right up to body temperature. It feels delicious. A lot of people find the fact that it was modeled from an actual person, a stranger, pretty hot.”

Luc picked up the blue wand from the table and turned it over in his hands. “This one has me by at least a couple centimeters.”

“Let’s see.”

He lowered the wand beside his own and held them side by side, the cool ceramic touching his bare skin. He stiffened further at the sight, looking up to see Asami gazing on intently. He turned the wand around and pressed it against the underside of his shaft so the tip just touched his balls. The sensation was enough to get him fully erect. The length arched out from his body, pointing up at the stereo.

“Ready?” Asami slid a bottle of liquid soap across the table. “Lube it up so the plaster doesn’t stick.”

Luc set the wand down and squirted some soap into his palm and spread it over the head of his penis, working the slick liquid down the swelling thickness of his shaft to the base. He blushed when he realized it was precisely the same motion as if he were masturbating. Asami smirked and looked back to the bowl, where she submerged a few cotton strips in the plaster. His erection felt solid in his hand, and he felt the full effect of three days of abstinence. When is the last time I haven’t come for three whole days?

The still, fresh air of the studio held a charge of anticipation.

(Continued in Part 2)