A Nice Day for A Nude Wedding, Part 1

Posted on Wed 28th Mar, 2018 @ 1:14pm by Commander Mikaela Locke & Commander Jasmine Collins-Keller & Commander Paul Graves PsyD & Lieutenant Jacen Miller & Lieutenant Commander Alora Baro & Lieutenant Anjohl Gaden MD & Lieutenant Adam Keller & Maia Dalton & Wyatt Keller
Edited on on Fri 27th Jul, 2018 @ 1:34pm

1,155 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Brushfires
Location: Deck 1554; The River Walk Buddhist Temple
Timeline: Current

On Deck 1554, on the flagstone plaza between the Buddhist temple and the Shinto shrine, guests -- some clothed and some not -- had begun to gather for the long-awaited wedding of Lts. Jasmine Collins and Adam Keller. A light scattering of delicate, pink blossoms from the cherry trees lay upon the grass, filling the air with their scent. As they waited for the ceremony to begin, the guests conversed quietly among themselves in varying degrees of comfort.

"Isn't it interesting," Chlamydia Addams commented to her companion, "how skin equalizes us? The Japanese used to take community baths, you know -- referred to the bonding experience as 'naked skinship.'" The doctor herself was nude. Devoid of any hair below her earlobes, she had an extra toe on each foot and an extra nipple below her almost-nonexistent right breast. It was possible to count her ribs without touching. Her Zeta Reticulan spider Thing, of course, wore nothing either -- but that was hardly unusual.

"I wouldn't know," Mikaela Locke replied from her other side, with a half-smile that was intended to hide her discomfort, although she suspected it wasn't working. She stared straight ahead, trying not to stare at the various disrobed guests around her. Locke had opted to attend the ceremony in her full-dress uniform - grey dress shirt with a sharp-white jacket, her hair was loose, swept across the right-hand side of her face, "I don't really do the whole 'naked' thing."

Addams laughed quietly. "Come now, Commander -- it's just skin. There is no shame in having a body, nor in showing it." She lowered her voice slightly and confided, "personally, I'm looking forward to seeing if anyone has any fascinating body art."

Mikaela smiled. 'Well, you're not going to be seeing mine!' she thought but chose not to make any further comment out loud. She wasn't ashamed of any of her tattoos - she just wasn't big on showing off her flesh gratuitously.

Paul arrived for the ceremony dressed in an ankle-length blue robe of Betazoid style with darker blue embroidery about the neckline and sleeve cuffs. Once he reached the area where the wedding guests were gathered, he slipped the robe off and hung it over the back of his chair. He wore nothing underneath. "Hello," he said to the others. He glanced briefly at Mikaela before shifting his attention to the CMO. "This is a gorgeous setting, isn't it? Chlamydia, do you think your sister might be persuaded to paint it for a commission?"

"It is quite lovely. As for painting it... you'd have to ask her. I'm never certain what will tickle her fancy." She looked around the temple grounds, at the stone-paved square where they stood, and at the Shinto shrine on the other side. "The temple wasn't here in the original landscaping, you know. But a surprising number of people with Japanese ancestry chose to move into the area, and when it was redeveloped a few years ago..." she waved, indicating the woods, the stone steps, the Torii. "It would require a great deal of time and quite a lot of paint. For that matter, the current paint job seems reasonably fresh."

Paul glanced at the torii gate, too. "I like the idea of a community working together to create something like this. The artistry is exquisite, and it's clear that they take care of the place."

Chlamydia sighed at the sound of her attempt at humor passing over Paul's head, but let it go. "Isn't that the new Captain?" she asked instead, pointing with her chin as a tall, beautiful woman of Asian heritage arrived with a chubby blonde woman carrying an adorable urchin on her hip.

"Captain Suzuki, yes," Paul said. "And that must be her family with her."

Baro Alora walked into the area and placed her gifts with the others. She opted for clothing; she didn't mind nudity and tended to focus on who she was talking to anyway but she herself was wearing black wrap around pants with tall, brown boots and a silk top. She had attended a betazoid wedding a few years back of an Academy classmate so had some experience with where to put her eyes as she hovered uncertainly along a perimeter.

"I must confess," Chlamydia said to Paul, "that I have not actually attended a Betazed wedding before, though of course, I read up on them before coming." She paused and waved to Lieutenant Baro. "Come join us, dear. You'll want a good view when the groom arrives with his lute, and the bride dances in a manner that would cause a riot if performed on Vulcan."

"That's setting a low bar," Paul told Chlamydia with a chuckle, "though it would be a very quiet riot." He glanced over at Mikaela. "I like those dress uniforms so much better than the awful frock coats. But every time I see them, I think that they ought to have tails."

"Vulcans aren't particularly prone to rioting," Chlamydia countered, sighing again as Baro ignored her and focused in on... Dr. Anjohl. Ah, well... at least the medical department was well represented, she supposed.

"If they raise both eyebrows, they're rioting," Paul said with a chuckle.

Mikaela had been debating in her own mind whether she was secretly glad or whether she was frustrated that Paul had decided to disrobe - although, as someone who was part-Betazoid, she had absolutely no reason to be surprised. She had tried to deny that she was attracted to him, but, so far, had not been very successful. And given the fact that circumstances had somewhat dictated that they would need to be working together in fairly close quarters for the foreseeable future, the last thing she needed was to be picturing him naked during every damn meeting. And so, she stared straight ahead, keeping her eyes fixed on the dais area where the wedding would shortly take place.

"Umm... I suppose," she eventually managed to get out, before internally cursing both her own awkwardness and Graves' decision not to wear his own damn dress uniform - with or without tails.

Paul snorted at Mikaela. "I probably sound as if I'm babbling. I'm trying to put others at ease by projecting that I'm comfortable being unclothed, so they can feel comfortable with it, too. I'm not convinced it's working, but..." He shrugged. "I considered attending in uniform, but it just felt too odd and rude, as if I would be snubbing my own people if I came here clothed."

"I guess you're right," Locke replied, her gaze still firmly fixed ahead. 'But it would have made things a damn sight easier for the rest of us!'

"Oh, there's Lt. Miller," Paul said as he caught sight of the new Intelligence Officer approaching and gestured that he was welcome to come join them.

(Continued in Part 2)

 

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