Naked in front of the Crew

Cora awkwardly shuffled into the briefing room, forcing herself to keep her arms by her side. Technically no-one said she couldn't cover herself but everyone seemed so casual about it and she didn't want to be the only person cowering behind her arms.

"Hey, Harper." Liam said as she entered walking with her to the table. "How's it going?"

"When I said 'yes' to the Andromeda Initiative, no one said anything about flying a ship naked". Cora said bitterly, keeping her hands clenched at her side.

"True, but they did tell us to expect the unexpected." He said, cheerfully slapping her on the shoulder and walking off to talk to Gil.

Like Ryder said, almost everyone on the ship was here, standing around the holotable, Vetra and Drack were still away and Suvi and Kallo were presumably in the cockpit, something that made Cora very jealous all of a sudden. Everyone was still naked which was almost a relief to her. For a moment she was worried that this was all some elaborate scheme to get her naked and alone. After her relief set in, it quickly turned to annoyance as everyone else was much dealing with her nudity a lot more calmly than she was. To make matters worse, Ryder had yet to show up.

"Hey Cora!" Peebee called out. "Letting it all breathe huh?" It was hard to tell if Peebee knew how uncomfortable her comments made her or if she was just naturally that annoying.

"I thought I'd give it a try" Cora said as calmly as possible.

"Well, on behalf of everyone with eyes, thank you." So far the mockery wasn't as bad as she feared it would be. At least the others weren't piling on.

"The purpose of this event is not mockery, Peebee" Jaal said. Cora was surprised that she hadn't paid any attention to him before now, it was likely the first time that anyone from the initiative saw an Angaran naked. His body was as alien as anything she could imagine, full of creases and patterns she didn't even know how to explain. Though she couldn't help but notice that his... lower anatomy was similar to a human's.

"Yeah, I know, it's all about 'being comfortable with those around you', you said" Peebee replied, casually leaning against the table sticking her naked rear out and pressing her breasts together with her elbows as she looked at Jaal from across the table. 'Was she flirting with him?' Cora wondered. "I'm feeling very comfortable right now. How 'bout the rest of you?"

'Nope, she was flirting with everyone.' Cora thought.

"I'm fine" Liam shrugged.

"Truer words were never spoken", Peebee said, shamelessly looking him up and down.

"Today is not about sex, Pellassaria." Jaal admonished. "It is about seeing those around us exactly as they are and accepting them." Cora smiled for a moments at Jaal's poetic take on what was happening, even if she knew it wouldn't register with some of the other crew members.

"Absolutely Jaal," Gil said for the first time. Cora was surprised that he managed to remain silent for so long, and that he was surprisingly well built. "And I accept all of you, just the way you are."

"We accept you too, Gil." Peebee shot right back at him. It was almost impressive how quickly these two could make a mockery of a 10000 year old Alien tradition. Even if that tradition involved nudity.

"What's taking Ryder so long?" Cora tried to ask Lexi. Before she could answer, though, Peebee spoke up.

"Sounds like Cora wants to 'accept' Ryder a little." She got some chuckles from around the table and Cora turned a little red at the idea that everyone knew about her feelings for Scott. Despite everything, she couldn't ignore the irony of baring herself in more than one way to the crew.

Just as she was wondering if that was the point all along, the door opened again and Ryder slipped, still naked and not showing any signs of shame. He looked up as the crew suddenly went silent upon his arrival.

"What's going on?" He asked.