Touchy-Feely

Posted on 08 Jan 2016 @ 6:12pm by Ensign James Langley & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Petty Officer 3rd Class Veri RN

3,069 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 10 - Symposium
Location: USS Galileo;Deck 3; Sickbay
Timeline: MD 11; 0000 Hours

[ON]

The standard physical examination. It was a pretty straight forward process but just why the hell did it have to happen so often. It felt like it was just a few months ago that James had had his checkup aboard the Starbase and now after having barely set foot on the USS Galileo he was now going to be thoroughly examined by yet another doctor. It was just so weird. For someone with body art that even included the necessity of touch he was not one to just let any person lay their hands on him. But alas it was a necessity and so he relented.

The door to sickbay opened. He was ready to get it over with. He was to see Veri, the Deltan nurse aboard. He hadn't heard much about Deltans, but what he did know was that they were very touchy-feely. Fortunately he was in good health, though, and so the examination would most likely be a quick one.

“Hello,” he questioned to the open air as he reluctantly entered the room.

"Hello!" Veri spoke joyously as she came out of the supply closet. "I'm Veri! A nurse. I'll be doing the preliminary vitals and history check. Not many people think nurses do much, but you'd be surprised."

James was surprised, though it was not so much by the workload of Starfleet nurses as it was by the sudden and unexpected reply from the storage closet. It was startling, but it didn't take him long to recover. He was just glad to put a face to the sudden outburst and it brought a small smile to his face that the person seemed so jovial. "I'm sure you're going to tell me all about it," he said in not-so-eager anticipation knowing that people in the medical field tended to get chatty while they went about their work.

"Well nurses can close superficial wounds - surgical nurses can, that is. And I'm one," Veri told him as she palmed around blindly on the medical tray for her tricorder. "We inventory supplies. Sometimes we work triage if the doctors are too busy. But most doctors tend to think low about a nurses capabilities because they hold doctorates and we hold bachelors. But we know lots of things."

"Well I suppose if someone is to touch me it should be with experienced hands," the newly assigned ensign said without even thinking. His clever quip to ease any tension suddenly made him more tense as he realized the different ways in which his comment could have been taken. "So can we get on with the physical," he questioned as me made an effort to hide the blush that was forming through his now nervous demeanor.

"Oh yes!" Veri explained, though it was unsure if it was in agreement to him, or because she finally found the tricorder. "Any pain, weakness, or general feelings of unwell since coming aboard?"

"Everything is quite alright," James replied in confidence. "Not one single ache or physical ailment to complain of."

"Do have allergies? Or have you ever been tested?" Veri asked as she began to take notes from her tricorder. He smelled nice too... "You would be amazed with how few people don't. I mean, we're exploring new worlds now. Pollen concentrations on different worlds - not to mention their insect populations can be highly deadly due to a simply matter of physiological differences."

"It hadn't crossed my mind. I like to keep my meals relegated to those already approved for human consumption and my encounters with bloodsucking and otherwise communicable creatures to a bare minimum. It'd probably be a completely unnecessary test unless you felt the need to do so." James sounded hesitant. He wasn't one to just let tests be run on him for no reason at all and just the thought of a mere physical alone put him in a state of unease. He felt in perfect health. Why the need for a checkup?

Veri's eyes began to take long moments of admiration. Mostly with the man's hair. Why did Deltan's not have hair? There was so much one could do with hair. And hair was extremely diverse from person to person. It could tell stories without words.

The curiosity got the better of her, as she shyly went to run her fingers through his hair.

Was this a part of the test? Doctors did like to change their procedures on almost a monthly basis it seemed, but head lice? Or it could have been something worse maybe? A new type of neural parasite? Probably not as he had not gotten or intercepted any memos. It was probably harmless. Instead of objecting James just let her go about her business, though it did feel more like she was searching out the intimate details of his hair rather than just merely inspecting it. “So what's life like on a Starship? I've never stayed for a long period. Just my transit from Earth to Starbase 84. Do you find it more enjoyable than staying in one place?”

"Each ship is different," Veri pointed out with a huge grin. One of partial envy, for she wanted nothing more than to imagine herself with real hair. So feel the roots locked in. To know what it was like to have her hair pulled. Pet... washed...

Her eyes glassed over in wishful thought as she completely forgot about the conversation. She allowed the Deltan part of her to enjoy all the possibilities of what it was like to have hair as soft as his.

It wasn't long before James became uncomfortable from her touch. If this was how she was going to check his hair then just how was the rest of him going to be examined? It was a bit unsettling. Like he was being... read. That familiar feeling started to sink in and his sole intention became to get through the physical as quickly as possible. "Could we move this along please?"

"Oh!" Veri blushed with embarrassment, though she could feel his pain from an equally painful memory. "Sorry. It's just... well... you have hair."

“I'm glad to see the medical professionals aboard this ship know their anatomy.” The sarcasm sounded forced as James said it, but it would prove a suitable distraction to his otherwise wandering thoughts. He didn't hold physicals in high regard but nonetheless he still knew how to speed one along. “Is this the part where I take my shirt off,” he questioned with one of his trademark deliberate winks.

"If you like," Veri nodded with a sheepish smile. "I only meant to say... Deltans don't have hair. So you're a bit of a... What I mean to say is that we don't understand the sensations hair gives to people."

It wasn't really what James would have liked, but it was a necessity. There was, however, the small bit of satisfaction he got when he confounded people by the few writings he had upon him. He clumsily and hastily removed his shirt so the nurse could continue with her duties.

There wasn't much of note. Mostly just some random writings here and there, some of verses of poetry, while others seemed to be indecipherable gibberish, with one peculiar one taking on patterns and colors as well. More curious to someone observant though was the small dimpled patterns just under the skin. They ran in lengths along his body, some short, some long.

"You'll see my physical condition is acceptable. No medical conditions to note, I'm happy to say."

"Perfect health, yes." Veri ran her fingers along what humans would know as braille writing along his skin.

James had expected the physical evaluation to be awkward. It was never really a favorite activity of his; getting undressed in front of strangers. But now it was more than awkward. It was unsettling. As the nurse's fingertips ran over the embedded braille it brought to the surface a mixture of joyous and dreadful memories. He fought as best he could to keep composed, but as she continued all he could think about was the one other person who read him like that.

For the Deltan, it was a mystery, yet she could also feel a pain inside him. Not from physical stimuli, but an emotional wound. She was always respectful though, of one's thoughts. Betazeds often chastised other species on prying, after all.

It took all the discipline within her, however, not to pry.

"...You are, however," Veri quickly added, "in pain. A pain that is not my place to note or pry. I would, however, like to help remove that pain - if only for a brief time."

James let out a trembling and sorrowful sigh. He didn't know whether he should have been relieved that his anguish was noticeable enough by someone to be lent aid or if he should have just pushed her away and ignored her offer completely, but he needed to do something. Anything to take his mind off of what had happened. “How can you,” he questioned Veri quietly as he avoided eye contact with her.

"Unification is a ritual we Deltans have many uses for, besides sexual gratification," Veri began to explain quietly as she brought the curtain around so as to block the conversation off. "Mostly, we use it to become one spiritual being of shared ideas and thoughts. But there are a few aspects of that ritual that we use when Deltans and non-Deltans suffer a pain so bad, they fear sharing it with the collective Deltans ready to union."

Veri sanitized her hands, as a sign that her intent was in no way sexual. "Numbing, is the human term. But that grossly underscores what it does. But what I do, with emotional pains, is look into your soul. I fill your soul with warm feelings of my own. The effect is a temporary numbing - Sometimes people feel a bit euphoric if the warm feelings are strong enough. So this is not a cure."

The idea did sound interesting to James. He wasn't one to hide from his feelings and at times he was actually able to harness them for good, but the prospect of some relief did interest him, even if it was only for a bit. "Warm feelings? That does sound welcoming. It seems that recently I have forgotten what those feel like," he said with sorrow. "But must you lay your hands on me? It's not you. It's just..." He couldn't finish his sentence. He just stared off at no particular point and waited for an answer.

"It is part of the process," Veri confirmed and pulled a PADD out to type. "I will let a doctor know about your preliminary check. But I don't see why you'd have to wait much longer."

She slipped him the PADD that read:

Meet me at my quarters, after my shift. I do not want to draw attention to you.

Then Veri went and knocked on Allyndra's office door, "New arrival's physical, Doctor. I did the preliminary vitals and medical history."

Allyndra was reading. The language was modern Akkadian not like the old book she had and it was much more detailed and filled with much more updated knowledge. Precise and conscise all at once and nothing like the MU Tuulas notes that seemed to drift all over the place. Still she could begin to see a bit of overlap, how the one had tried to translate the talent. It was hard though to think about how that one had extracted the information in the most terrible way from her counterpart resulting finally in death. How things were different, here it was Gerrin that died, there it had been here.

She set the PaDD down for a moment and put a hand on her stomach. While she would not show like most would eventually there would be a bit more heaviness to her. Only Tuula knew anything though as her thoughts drifted when Veri broke her reverie.

"Oh thank you!" Allyndra replied looking up suddenly. "Anything I should be aware of?"

"Nope. Ensign Langley is in perfect physical health, judging by his base scans," Veri informed with a huge grin. "And he's also got rather nice hair."

“I don't think that's a matter of medical record,” James shouted from afar, smirking a bit at his own humor as he did so.

Allyndra nodded to Veri. She smiled at the nurse. "I think we can note that though as an official observation." She knew Deltans were a very tactile race and loved new experiences. There was still that unresolved problem with Jyn and Tuula. Tuula seemed to have gotten over things, there had been no more mention but she wondered if Veri could see how such things developed.

Heading to the bed she picked up the PaDD. "Well James I am Allyndra the Chief here. I keep to a lot of informality here and despite what Veri told you I have great respect for nurses. However, what was that about avoiding blood sucking creatures?"

What a fascinating doctor this ship had. It was the first thing to cross James' mind when the Akkadian had stepped out of her office to reveal herself. Were he a biologist he would have probably been tempted to dissect the curious creature right then and there. “You must have excellent hearing, doctor. I was merely stating the propensity for parasites to carry communicable diseases. I hope I haven't offended anyone.”

"As far as I know I do not have any such disease but confine myself to just supplements," Allyndra deadpaned the answer but the smile belied the rather serious tone. "Nothing new since this last report?" She started to become more professional.

It didn't take long for the hints to register in James' mind. Another clever quip that had turned into an unintentional insult or rude remark. And with that came another one of his blushes of embarrassment. He was good at those. But instead of saying sorry he just addressed the matter at hand; the question asked. "Nothing at all, doctor. Just a few asthetic changes, but nothing of note."

"Veri would you mind getting an DNA kit please?" Allyndra asked the nurse still near by. She made a wrinkled nose look. "Routine, you should know by now in case we have to identify remains. I try very hard not to loose anyone on my watch though."

"How often do you wash your hair?" Veri asked in fascination while she handed Allyndra her kit.

Allyndra got the kit ready but slowly. She was enjoying the Deltan's rather obvious fascination with the man's hair. It seemed odd though that Veri had not said much about Tuula's or even her own blue streaked long black hair. Maybe some perception that only Deltans had.

"Once every three or four days," he offhandedly remarked to the nurse as he watched the doctor preparing the kit. It seemed the bloodsucker would be sucking his blood after all. Maybe that's what the strange creature had meant. "And are you saying, good doctor, that there is the likely possibility of me shuffling off the mortal coil? Is interacting with members of Galileo's crew that dangerous?"

"Not in general. Depends on who you get involved with," Allyndra replied. She had the kit ready and said, "Open your mouth please." She was holding a small swab on the end of a stick. One thing that popped into her head though this would provide enough sample was Veri's fascination with the hair. "Also if you don't mind, a small hair sample as well. Veri could you do that?"

"Oooh," Veri agreed eagerly and smiled as she looked at his oh so lovely hair. "This might hurt a tad, because the DNA is most effective when you get the roots too. Yup!"

Jame's eyes closed in anticipation. He doubted any objection would do any good and at the moment all he hoped was that the nurse would take just one single hair and not one handful. “Just make it quick.”

"Sure," Veri obliged, and yanked the hair excitedly with a pair of tweezers before she placed the strands in a test tube. "Here you are Doctor."

"Thank you Veri," Allyndra closed the samples. The hair one was not really needed but it had been a bit of diversion for her nurse. She turned her attention back to James and picked up a PaDD. "There you go, your officially cleared. Veri I will leave you to finish up recording the vitals while I put this in the records." She then moved off toward the lab area. It did not take much to see that the Deltan had a definite fixation and she would give her space.

James sighed in relief after the collecting was complete. "So I suppose there's nothing left to take," he questioned Veri. "I'm afraid I haven't much else to give now." He just wanted to be out of medical at the moment. It had begun to get awkward. For the moment he stuck Veri's invitation into the pocket of his mind like a proverbial phone number written on the back of a business card. He'd have to think about the strange offer, the secrecy of it, but there probably wouldn't be much harm in making new friends aboard the ship. "Is there anything else that needs to be done?"

"Umm.... no," Veri answered nervously. "Not r-r-really. Not. But you always stop by if you need a work-up."

“Excellent. I suppose I shall be on my way then.” James spared no time in recollecting his garments and donning them once more. It wasn't so much that he didn't want to be around her. It was just that he needed to be of clear mind, which was hard to do when someone was offering you a magic elixir of Broken-Heart-B-Gon. That and the touching. It was just all too familiar in the way it was conducted. As he made his way for the door he gave the nurse a casual nod. “See you later.” It was somewhat vague. Just when would later be? Even he didn't know.

[OFF]

---

LCmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

PO3 Veri
Surgical Nurse
USS Galileo
[PNPCed By Gyce]

Ensign James Langley
Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC played by Jynn]

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