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Venue: Koko, Camden, London
Date: 17 Sept, 2010
Wings: Imagine07
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Background

Typical!

I finish my latest round of exam and after 2-3 months of having my head in books and studying, my usual wingman, Justin, has gone to Australia for a 3 month stint of work with his London based company. The net effect is that I’m in a city with some of the most beautiful girls on the planet, am suffering from recurring AA and have nobody to go out and correct this with.

But then the beauty of the net, is it’s ability to let you connect with groups of fellow inclined individuals and so, after posting on the wingman section for 2 weeks, I get a reply from Vicratos “Hey buddy, big sarge on this Friday at koko in mornington cresent at 8.30... amazingly hot HBs, lots of sets and dedicated wings to increase your success”. Consequently, I find myself outside the bar in a circle of 6 guys as we talk about our level of competence and what we’re planning for the night.

The guys seem normal. Nobody claims to be an mPUA and nobody tries to big up their own skills beyond their limit. There’s a mix with people whose sticking points range from A1 and AA to A3 and bouncing. It’s the right kind group for me and I’m pleased that I won’t feel like I’m holding anybody back or dragging someone else forward at the same time. “It’s like a free boot camp,” says Tom, a well dressed guy with a tuft of black hair and the ability to look cool when he’s nervous, “Just go at your own pace and learn”.

We enter the venue and Vic is by far the most competent and it isn’t long after we enter that he’s seated in a two set, even though the bar is near empty, and I continue to see him opening set after set all night as if it’s nothing more than flipping through the yellow pages for a number.

The Field Report

But I’m not there to watch the other guys and I head to the smoking balcony and start opening sets. French girls, Lithuanian girls, the occasional northern girl I’m just trying to chip away at my AA and every positive reaction is a reward that makes the next one easier to start.

Attract

I see Imagine07 is in a two set and Dugs is distracting the guy who is with them but one of the girls is still free. So I trundle up and Imagine and I greet each other like old friends and I sit down next to him. I turn to the HB7.5 standing in front of me.

“That’s a cool necklace, let me see that, what the hell is it? A squirrel?!”

“Yes, it is” she says, leaning forward as I take it in my hand to examine it.

“Ok, that’s different, there’s got to be a good story behind that, so what is it?”

She starts telling me about how she knew a guy while she was travelling and he had a tattoo of a squirrel on his chest and she called him squirrel. The necklace she bought because it reminds her of him. I keep leaning back with a straight back and maintain eye contact. She has baby blue eyes without a fleck of another colour.

We’re chatting about various things like tattoos with deep meanings and I use any opportunity to DHV and build kino. She says something good I high 5 her, I touch where I think she has her secret tattoo, and I touch her hands or elbow lightly whenever a brief plausible opportunity presents itself. I then turn to Imagine07 and the other girl. “So how do you 2 know each other?”

The girls explain that they go to university together in Austria and have come over to London for a week of partying, sightseeing and shopping. Imagine drops in “So are you best friends?” and the girls claim that they are but I see that he’s suddenly drawn a blank on what the next part of the routine is so I prompt him with “Dude, you should do the best friends test on them”. He mutters under his breath that he’s forgotten it so I step in. One girl looks at the other while she doesn’t move and Imagine and I laugh our heads off as we explain that one of them is better friends than the other.

I continue my conversation with the first girl and do a routine about finger length and how it can show you everything you need to know about somebody when you first meet them. It’s just an excuse to be authoritative and to touch her hands but I’m getting good eye contact and there isn’t any resistance or awkwardness over how we’re touching. I take these as good IOIs.

Qualify

“I love London because it’s full of such interesting and exciting people but almost everybody is beautiful. It’s less about that with me and more about the cool things people do and what kind of person you are”

She nods agreement

“So tell me, what cool things do you do. What makes you cool?”

She struggles to tell me things so I have to help her. What kind of music are you into? Oh Indie that’s awesome (Bait/Hook)... provided you like the right bands (Release). She lists them, for the ones I don’t know I frown and lean back (punishment/release), for the ones I know I high five her (Reward/Bait/hook). What else makes you cool? She still doesn’t know. Do you cook? Yes. I stand up and tell her to hug me, which she does. I then let go and sit down as she says she likes baking the most.

“OMG, I would totally marry you. Too bad you aren’t two inches taller and blonde”

Isolate

I’m thirsty so I tell her we should go to the bar. Before she has a chance to answer I interrupt Imagine and his target by saying “I’m just taking your friend to the bar for a few minutes, we’ll be right back” She nods and turns back to chat.
I walk infront of HB and put my hand out behind me as I say “Come on”. She takes it and I lead her through the crowd to the bar where I get us a couple beers and water. While we’re waiting I take her by the hand and spin her and we fluff talk a little. I find it a little too loud, so we walk back to the smoking terrace to where we left our friends to hand them the drinks and then I move us off a little from the goup.

Comfort

I tell her the story of when I was a kid and was scared of lightnging and my mam sat with me in a rocking chair until I was comfortable with the noise.
We do the mind reading gambit. I always fuck this up but it’s more kino and I always blame my lack of mind reading on her anyway and we laugh as we tease each other.

This whole time I want to kiss close her and am thinking about the logistics. We’re still a little too close to the main group of friends and she may be selfp-conscious about it. We move another three meters to the railing of the terrace and I tell her how excited I am because I’m taking my best friends to a dinner that serves alcoholic milkshakes and amazing food. She asks me where it is but I can’t tell her because it’s a secret but why doesn’t HB and her friend come along? We trade numbers.

We look down onto the street I tell her we have to look out for 8ft tall black transsexuals in cyber goth clothes and blue hair, together we peruse the crowds moving below and note not a single sub culture individual or variant dress sense. It looks like we’re just a little too south of Camden town to get the right sort. Still, it’s served it’s purpose.

Rejection

I put our drinks down and take her hands so that her palms are down on mine and I tell the HB to make eye contact. I move my hands back and forth from side to side and up and down feeling her hands following mine. “The is is the trust test “ I say as she smiles, “It tells us how well we get along and if we’re comfortable with each other” (her hands tighten up a little = shit, but I’ll plough on). I take her hands and move her arms over my shoulders and ask her to take a ‘half step’ forward, which she does, and i place my hands on her waist. “This is the tension test” as we keep eye contact “we now stay quiet” and I let the seconds tick as we keep eye contact, a wry smile on her face. (the goal is to make it just a little uncomfortable, so that the best option for making it better for her is to kiss me).

“Would you like to kiss me?”

“No, I don’t think so” !!

Fuck, this totally throws me off.

“Why not?! What’s wrong with you?!”

“Aren’t you a little old for me?”

“I tell you what, let’s find out”

I lean in for the kiss, but she turn her cheek and I peck her there.

Recovery

I take a step back and dislodge her from me, lean back away from her against the railing.

“You know, I never said you COULD kiss me, you only looked like you had something on your mind”

“What could I have on my mind?”

“That you wanted to kiss me! Ok, so check this out...”

I DHV outloud but in my mind I’m thinking about what we can do to recover. I’m considering bailing and opening other sets but Imagine and his target have gone elsewhere and I’m way too polite to ditch her. But then again, what does her body language say. She hasn’t left. She’s still leaning in a little and we’ve still got strong (sexy) eye contact. We bounce inside and when there no way to find them
I lead HB by the hand back to some booths and we sit next to each other and fluff talk. When I let the conversation wane she start a new topic. There’s definitely something to salvage from this...

“Let’s play a getting-to-know-you game. We take turns asking each other questions and telling the truth. I’ll go first – how many serious boyfriends have you had?”

We trade back and forth. One of her first questions is my age and I tell her the truth (27), she starts telling me about how she has a friend whose 30 and she dated him briefly as well (IOI). Inevitably it goes sexual but her friend is wasted and comes up to interrupt. They chat in German and finally she leaves and HB stays with me. We’re close together on the couch and I know it’s time for another kiss attempt.

Kiss close

I lean in, take her hair in my hand and smell it.

“You smell so good,” I lean back a break contact “You know, I trying so hard not to kiss you right now.”

I wait and she doesn’t flinch or so anything negative. HB smiles and then take her hair and smells it.

I lean in and she remains where she is. I slip a hand round into her hair and draw her close to me and we make out tenderly and then passionately.

The rest of the night

It was a logistical nightmare. No F-close. Her friend was low energy and I still have no idea how to turn a good k-close to an amazing f-close. In the end they left but in the weirdest fashion. They said they were going outside to decide if they were going home or to another venue. We made out (Imagine07 kissed the other HB), they didn’t say goodbye or turn back. Just walked off and we never saw them again.

If there’s any advice you can give on how to move from the k-close to the bed room please let me know.