Talking to Lexi

Despite the obvious embarrassment, Cora found herself wanting to take part in this bizarre holiday. Still, she couldn't quite bring herself to strip naked in front of her peers so she excused herself and made her way towards the Medical Bay, hoping to talk to someone a bit more level headed. Cora knocked on the door and heard a voice inside telling her to come in.

The door opened and Cora found the Asari Doctor at her computer as naked as the day she was born. Just like Liam said.

"Still dressed, I see?" Lexi said, barely looking up.

"You don't sound surprised" Cora said plainly.

"That's because I didn't expect you to do it."

"Why not?" Cora asked surprised. Lexi pulled up another chair and invited Cora to sit down next to her. Cora hesitated for a second before accepting, still uncomfortable with the amount of nudity on the ship. "You seem ok with the whole being naked thing."

"Asari are more accepting of their sexuality than most other species." Lexi said professionally as if she were giving a diagnosis. "Didn't you live among Asari for most of your life?"

"I lived among soldiers. They didn't strip off every chance they got."

"So you never 'saw' anything?" She asked. _"Where was she going with this?' _Cora thought to herself.

"Well, there were changing rooms and showers, so sometimes I saw 'something'." Cora said getting flustered.

"And did they ever see you?" Lexi pressed.

"Naked?"

"Undressed at least." Cora took a deep breath before she answered. She felt she knew where this was going.

"Yeah, sometimes but it was different then." Cora said. "We'd known each other for years and fought alongside each other. We respected each other."

"So you think that if they saw you naked, they wouldn't respect you?"

"No, they wouldn't" Cora said. All of a sudden, Lexi stood up and slowly spun in a circle showing off her entire nude body to Cora.

"I'm naked right now, don't you respect me?"

Cora was stunned by the boldness of the Doctor and suddenly felt stupid for her earlier statement. She did respect Lexi, she was clever and helpful, being naked had nothing to do with that.

"I do respect you" Cora said slowly before sighing. "But maybe respect isn't the issue."

"Are you talking about Ryder?" Lexi asked sitting back down causing Cora to laugh nervously.

"What?" Why would I be talking about Ryder?" Lexi only gave her a knowing glance that told Cora everything she needed to know. "Is it that obvious?"

"Not to him, don't worry." Lexi wheeled her chair around so that she was next to Cora and put a hand on her shoulder. "It's natural to be concerned with what he thinks but if it makes you feel better, he's naked too."

"Yeah Peebee told me." Cora said. "You really have no problem being naked in front of everyone?"

"No, I don't. I think I get what the Angarra were trying to do with this holiday. They want people to be more comfortable around each other. I promise you that when you actually take part, it's completely worth it."