‘He’s into you, Mel,’ Nava said, just to be clear. Nava was, in fact, the only one fully dressed. She had located something – another teddy – she liked, checked the sizing and the price, and decided to buy it in about a minute. She was in the changing rooms to keep the other three company.
‘He’s so into you,’ Courtney said. She emerged from a cubicle wearing a black, baby-doll nightdress, looked at herself in one of the larger mirrors, sneered, and went straight back into the cubicle.
‘You’re not that kind of girl, Courtney,’ Nava said. ‘I’m a little surprised that you don’t wear camouflage pattern underwear.’
‘I have some. Kyle bought it for me as a joke, but the panties are surprisingly comfortable, and the bra makes me look as though I have boobs.’
‘You’re really sure he likes me?’ Melissa asked, bringing the topic back to Rochester.
‘Ah!’ Mitsuko said. ‘Now I can believe Mel is that insecure.’
‘A valid point,’ Nava said. ‘Yes. His body language demonstrates a number of signs of attraction. He’s actually getting used to me and Suki, for example. He can look at us in low-cut tops without having to concentrate on our hairlines.’
‘And he’s never had that much trouble with me,’ Courtney said.
‘You’re only a cup-size smaller than Suki and me, Courtney. Insecurity doesn’t suit you. Mel, on the other hand, is quite the handful’ – cue squeak from Melissa’s cubicle – ‘and he couldn’t look her in the chest at all when we first met. Now, it’s furtive, lingering looks when he thinks he won’t be spotted. He’s more familiar with Mel than the rest of us, but he also treats her with more deference. He’s interested, even very interested, but he isn’t sure she is.’
‘They’re made for each other,’ Mitsuko said. ‘However, if you do want to take this further, Mel, you probably don’t want to wait for him to make the first move.’
‘I had to jump Kyle’s bones,’ Courtney put in. ‘That wasn’t insecurity. He just didn’t want to burden me with a lower-status partner. Idiot.’
‘That is a factor, you know,’ Melissa said. ‘The Hunts are a reasonably powerful family within the Leighton clan. The Connellys are basically your typical–’
‘It’s not even close to the same,’ Courtney said, her tone bitter. ‘The Avorns and the Leightons have roughly equal standing in the Clan Council and, unless you’re going to tell me different, I don’t think either of them would object to a marriage between them. The Garavains are one of the stronger clans, and they tend to favour internal marriages or alliances with stronger clans.’ She barked a short, mirthless laugh. ‘There are actually signs of inbreeding showing up in some of the stronger Garavain families and they still won’t change their ways.’
‘Besides,’ Mitsuko said, ‘we’re not talking about an official relationship here. At this stage, all we’re discussing is a roll in the hay.’
‘Good luck finding any hay to roll in,’ Nava commented.
‘It’s a turn of phrase.’
‘That’s just it though,’ Melissa said. ‘What if it’s terrible?’
‘Oh, that’s expected. You just keep doing it until it isn’t. Or you decide you’re going to be a meditative aesthetic and give up sex entirely.’
‘Or you give women a go,’ Courtney added. ‘It’s not an unpopular option.’
‘Certainly isn’t,’ Mitsuko agreed. ‘On that note, Nava and I will be available to console you, Mel, should he turn out to be an insensitive jerk.’ Melissa made a strangled sort of sound. You could imagine her cheeks reaching fusion temperatures. ‘But please try him out, Mel,’ Mitsuko continued. ‘Frankly, the sexual tension is getting too much for me.’
‘I g-guess I’d better go and find something other than b-boring bras out in the shop then,’ Mel said.
‘That’s my girl,’ Nava said.
~~~
The Clan Alliance Assembly building was a modern construction, if you viewed modern as anything under a century. And, actually, a century was pushing it. The original assembly building had been replaced with a newer one ninety-eight years ago. You could still visit it, but it was now a museum devoted to the history of the Clan Worlds.
The new building had a lot of asymmetric features and ‘radical’ design elements. Everyone had hated it, saying that it had ‘all the worst features of modern, decadent architecture.’ A century later, no one really cared. It did its job exceptionally well and it was not as ugly as the office complex nearby which housed the Alliance’s central administration.
Part of the redesign had been sociological. It was not enough, said the then members of the Clan Council, for government of the Alliance to be done: it had to be seen to be done. Hence, the new building was designed to allow the public in in a controlled manner. They could stand in viewing galleries where they could watch the council at work – through armoured glass – and see what their leaders actually got up to. Of course, most of the people who could conveniently get to the gallery – or even the planet – were members of the Sonkei clan who did not have a representative to watch. People on Shinden on business tended to have little time for sightseeing and generally preferred to view sights with more interest than a room full of politicians and patriarchs. Shinden did have a tourist trade and Alliance City did get tourists, but the sociological experiment had largely failed due to low interest. Why travel all that way to see something you could view from a better angle on video?
One side effect of this grand experiment had, however, gone down well with those who spent more time in the area: the clan leaders and the administrative personnel. The new building had cafés and restaurants to cater to the tourists who rarely turned up. Very few of
