The inspiration for this story is Heinlein’s “The moon is a hardh mistress”, a book I have never read. The only detail I know about it is that nudity is not considered a taboo on a moon colony, I worked from there.
~~~
“Can I take your order sir?”
Johna almost left out a yelp.
He had lifted the menu to cover his face and had made a conscious effort to isolate himself from the restaurant around him. He dared to look at the owner of the voice, a short redhead a couple of years his junior. Her smile was polite but he could glimpse a shadow of amusement in it. His embarassment was obvious and the girl had probably seen this same scene a hundred times before. E muffled the name of the first plate he could see on the menu and looking down he handed it over to her. He almost chocked on his tongue. He had forgotten of the mirrored floor – his attempt not to look directly at her had backfired.
She was a natural redhead, apparently.
He turned his head, feeling the blood rush to his cheek. The girl left out a giggle, thanked him and left in direction of the kitchen. Only after he was certain she was far away he dared to start breathing again.
He had chosen the most hidden angle of the hall to sit in hope to be ignored rather than to spy on the other customers but as it turned out his position mixed to these people’s love for mirrors made it virtually impossible to raise his head without catching sight of something, well, inappropriate.
It was surreal – families happily having dinner together, people laughing merrily at the bar and a middleaged couple having a romantic dinner a few tables from his – all reassuring like a fastfood commercial. It only made the fact that no woman was wearing any clothing all the more noticeable.
Well, that wasn’t exact – the waitresses wore a little puch belt to keep tabs and payment machines and a few ladies were wearing something too skimpy to be even called lingerie but all the same it was impossible to take a look at the room without admiring many square meters of naked skin.
He dared to take a look around, hoping not to attract too much attention.
He was no doubt excited – hell, he would have had to be dead not to be – but what kept him interested was sheer curiosity rather than lust.
His gaze ended on a girl, probably in her early twenties who was wearing something that looked like the skeleton of a gûepiere – just a few thin lines of fabric and some rigid structure around her breasts. It failed to cover her nipples, her behind or her… well, it didn’t cover much. What was even the point of wearing something like that? Probably here it was the equivalent of being overdressed.
~~~
Should I keep going?
The girl was busy toying around with her “dress”, probably trying to get it to frame her breast the right way.
“Formal clothing is always such a hassle” thought Johna with a smile. The girl lifted her head, just in time to catch his gaze. He was afraid she would have looked at him with disgust but she instead let out a brief argentine laughter.
“Good” he thought “better to be laughed at than called a creep I guess.”
Once again he turned his head in a hurry and stared at the floor in a hurry – where he was greeted by a familiar sight – a beautifully trimmed red bush.
He froze.
“You must really like the view sir”
There was no anger or contempt in that comment, only obvious amusement.
The waitress bowed down – a bit more than necessary, he noticed, and put his plate on the table.
“Here you go sir, have a good meal” said the waitress before he could think of an answer. down –
“Yo-you too” he said, feeling like an idiot again but at least for a different reason.
Thank god, at least the plate offered something safe to look at.
The waitress though was still standing there.
“Sir?”
“Y-yes”
“I just wanted to make sure I didn’t offend you.”
She sounded a bit worried
“Wh-what? No, no, quite the contrary I was just…”
“It was clearly an accident sir, you don’t need to explain. But even if it had’t been you have nothing to worry about it, it is allright here. You can watch me all you want.”
She stopped, noticing her own phrasing – this time it was her turn to blush.
“I mean, women aren’t embarassed about our bodies. We wouldn’t wear the sky if we were.”
“Wear the sky, such a cute expression” thought Johna “they aren’t embarassed by nudity but they still need a euphemism for it”.
“Thank you, I’ll try to keep that in mind” he said, this time with a calmer expression and a bit more confidence in his voice.
The girl, still a bit flustered, let out a smile and left without a word. As she turned around Johna decided to take her advice and for the first time he looked at her deliberately, the mirrors in the room giving him a 360° view of her body.
The inspiration for this story is Heinlein’s “The moon is a hardh mistress”, a book I have never read. The only detail I know about it is that nudity is not considered a taboo on a moon colony, I worked from there.
~~~
“Can I take your order sir?”
Johna almost left out a yelp.
He had lifted the menu to cover his face and had made a conscious effort to isolate himself from the restaurant around him. He dared to look at the owner of the voice, a short redhead a couple of years his junior. Her smile was polite but he could glimpse a shadow of amusement in it. His embarassment was obvious and the girl had probably seen this same scene a hundred times before. E muffled the name of the first plate he could see on the menu and looking down he handed it over to her. He almost chocked on his tongue. He had forgotten of the mirrored floor – his attempt not to look directly at her had backfired.
She was a natural redhead, apparently.
He turned his head, feeling the blood rush to his cheek. The girl left out a giggle, thanked him and left in direction of the kitchen. Only after he was certain she was far away he dared to start breathing again.
He had chosen the most hidden angle of the hall to sit in hope to be ignored rather than to spy on the other customers but as it turned out his position mixed to these people’s love for mirrors made it virtually impossible to raise his head without catching sight of something, well, inappropriate.
It was surreal – families happily having dinner together, people laughing merrily at the bar and a middleaged couple having a romantic dinner a few tables from his – all reassuring like a fastfood commercial. It only made the fact that no woman was wearing any clothing all the more noticeable.
Well, that wasn’t exact – the waitresses wore a little puch belt to keep tabs and payment machines and a few ladies were wearing something too skimpy to be even called lingerie but all the same it was impossible to take a look at the room without admiring many square meters of naked skin.
He dared to take a look around, hoping not to attract too much attention.
He was no doubt excited – hell, he would have had to be dead not to be – but what kept him interested was sheer curiosity rather than lust.
His gaze ended on a girl, probably in her early twenties who was wearing something that looked like the skeleton of a gûepiere – just a few thin lines of fabric and some rigid structure around her breasts. It failed to cover her nipples, her behind or her… well, it didn’t cover much. What was even the point of wearing something like that? Probably here it was the equivalent of being overdressed.
~~~
Should I keep going?
The girl was busy toying around with her “dress”, probably trying to get it to frame her breast the right way.
“Formal clothing is always such a hassle” thought Johna with a smile. The girl lifted her head, just in time to catch his gaze. He was afraid she would have looked at him with disgust but she instead let out a brief argentine laughter.
“Good” he thought “better to be laughed at than called a creep I guess.”
Once again he turned his head in a hurry and stared at the floor in a hurry – where he was greeted by a familiar sight – a beautifully trimmed red bush.
He froze.
“You must really like the view sir”
There was no anger or contempt in that comment, only obvious amusement.
The waitress bowed down – a bit more than necessary, he noticed, and put his plate on the table.
“Here you go sir, have a good meal” said the waitress before he could think of an answer. down –
“Yo-you too” he said, feeling like an idiot again but at least for a different reason.
Thank god, at least the plate offered something safe to look at.
The waitress though was still standing there.
“Sir?”
“Y-yes”
“I just wanted to make sure I didn’t offend you.”
She sounded a bit worried
“Wh-what? No, no, quite the contrary I was just…”
“It was clearly an accident sir, you don’t need to explain. But even if it had’t been you have nothing to worry about it, it is allright here. You can watch me all you want.”
She stopped, noticing her own phrasing – this time it was her turn to blush.
“I mean, women aren’t embarassed about our bodies. We wouldn’t wear the sky if we were.”
“Wear the sky, such a cute expression” thought Johna “they aren’t embarassed by nudity but they still need a euphemism for it”.
“Thank you, I’ll try to keep that in mind” he said, this time with a calmer expression and a bit more confidence in his voice.
The girl, still a bit flustered, let out a smile and left without a word. As she turned around Johna decided to take her advice and for the first time he looked at her deliberately, the mirrors in the room giving him a 360° view of her body.
Cont.