Posted by Lieutenant Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side sim - Sickbay Shenanigans

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side sim - Sickbay Shenanigans

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side sim - Sickbay Shenanigans
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Rand nodded, “Please.” She would rather the coffee to help her sleep instead of more pain meds. She blushed softly at the compliment, “Oh…thank you. I’m sure you’ll get it. Just takes practice.” She really wanted him to say he didn’t want practice. That way she could keep making it for him. She sipped at the mug, it was good. The mix of ingredients was a little different than what she did, but it was good.

Rand telling him that he’d get it and he just needed practice implied to him that she was intending him the opportunity to make it again, which meant she did want him there. That was an implication he liked.

Roman was happier than he cared to admit to see her again, too, despite his feelings toward what he knew. When he was with her, he wanted to just say to hell with it, and tell her. When he’d spent time away from her, he worried one of them would be transferred, although he was unable to find any rule against it. Or that her feelings had changed since he overheard her in the lab.

If asked, Rand could recite the regulations concerning such things, anything really. She wasn’t thinking about it though because the possibility of Roman liking her was non existent.

“Nibbles has been missing you. The science crew is doing their best to keep her entertained, but she knows none of them are you,” he started. “Mushu is showing signs of illness, but I think he’ll pull through. The chinzilla has begun offering her babies solid food, however she still supplements with her own milk. I suspect they will be weaned in the next few weeks.” He loved talking with her about the animals and he loved that she always asked about them. They were one of his favourite things to talk about and it made him happy she seemed to care almost as much as he did.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

“I miss working with her,” she did. She found animals so much easier than people. She’d told him that once. They didn’t provide those deep meaningful connections humanoids tended to need (unless exceptional), but Rand was more comfortable with them. But as much as she missed Nibbles, her little confidant, that wasn’t what she missed the most. She missed just being around him, she missed talking to him. “Do you think the Chinzilla will make a family group or will the mother attack them and they will need new cages?” The information about Mushu mad her frown. And then “OH! I read that sometimes reptiles get really lethargic before they molt, is that the right word? So you think that’s what’s happening to Mushu? Maybe he’s growing?” She was obviously very hopeful that was the case. She wasn’t supposed to get attached, but Rand struggled with that. If he was paying attention he would have noticed a copy of Catherine H. Howell’s National Geographic Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians.

Roman missed her in the lab, too, and he couldn’t wait for her to return to full duty. “From what I can tell chinzilla are solitary animals and once they’re old enough she will kill them,” he replied. It may not be the answer she liked but it was the truth. He was worried about having enough space for all of them. “He could be molting, however on Earth, when reptiles milt, their skin and eyes become dull first, his seems unchanged. If that’s what he’s doing, he going about it differently than Earth reptiles,” Roman said. Of course he hoped it was something like that, after all there was a reason he had a rule about becoming attached.

Rand nodded, his conclusion not bothering her. Many animals were that way. “There isn’t a lot of room left in the lab is there? What about reinforced wall shelves for extra space? What will you do if there isn’t room to be found? Let them fight it out naturally or something else.” She assumed euthanasia was an option. She hoped Mushu’s condition was natural and would resolve itself. “That’s why you are studying them though, right? Because they aren’t exactly like on Earth. To study how they evolved differently and similarly to ecosystems we know about.”

“I’ll be exploring options with engineering. If there isn’t space to be found…” Euthanasia was an option, and not the preferable one. He’d never let them fight it out, that would be cruel to all of them. In the end, if there was no space, he would have to put at least two of them down. “I’m sure there’s something we can do.”

Fighting it out was cruel, but it was also, or might be, their natural inclinations. Rand had no doubt that…Cmdr Alden would do the most humane thing that he could. “I suppose even if they would like together as a group, it is still the same problem. The babies won’t stay small forever and will need more room either way.” Rand wondered how humane it was to study animals onboard a space ship for extended periods when space was so limited.

The most humane way was indeed, to not do it on a space ship, and it was the reason for the “don’t get attached” rule, because sometimes, things like that had to be done. He didn’t like it, but it was how things were in his mind. “This is why I prefer to leave studying pregnancy to labs with more space,” he said.

“I was wondering if Mr Wyvern was different, with me totally gone from the lab? I seem to antagonize him without trying.”

Yeoman Rand

“Now, he is the only animal that seems not to mind your absence at all,” Roman replied, “He seems not to really like anyone.” He also knew it wasn’t that she antagonized the snake in any way, more likely it just thought she was amusing prey. And if there was something he could do about that, he would.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand grinned, “No I doubt if an emotion could be assigned to him, ‘like’ is not one that would apply.” Her head tipped to the side, “Could it be the food? For Mushu. The Altaran flies are right next to the Cornix grasshoppers. Mushu refuses to eat the flies, if that is all they are offering him, it might be making him sick.” Rand hadn’t seen the reports so she didn’t know, but she liked discussing the animals and what Roman was learning about them.

Yeoman Rand

“I believe he’s been offered both, but it’s worth checking.” Perhaps that was something he should know, but he’d been so busy with paperwork, XO duties, and other things that he’d had to leave a majority of the animal care to the science crew. Not preferable, but at least they were all alive, so far.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand went quiet, she really had no place saying anything. She wasn’t a biologist by any means. This whole thing had started because early one morning he’d needed an extra pair of hands, and he had encouraged her to ask questions. Questions, Rand, not suggestions or insight. You have no idea what you’re talking about. She certainly need to be questioning the work and ethics and work integrity of the lab staff. She didn’t mean that at all, oh he didn’t think she thought that did he? She picked up her coffee and sipped it, but her empty hand slipped behind her back. “I’m sorry, Cmdr, I guess I’m just really feeling useless. Your lab staff knows more about it than I do.”

Yeoman Rand

“Perhaps so, but they also spend less time with the animals. It is in no one else’s notes that he won’t eat the flies,” Roman replied. He didn’t think she was questioning his lab staff at all. In fact, once again, he wasn’t sure what exactly she was apologizing for. He was distracted, though, when she called him ‘commander’, a part of him wishing she’d call him Roman again. “At any rate, the lab looks forward to your visits, we are all waiting for your return to duty.” He said, sipping from his own mug.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

She opened her mouth to ask him if he was waiting for her to come back, but stopped herself. To cover the awkwardness that she had obviously been going to say something, she said the first thing that came to mind. “I didn’t put that on the card by his enclosure? I..I’m sure I wouldn’t forget to do that.” Of course that had been a recent discovery, with her injury, maybe the written note never got transferred. She stood up and headed for her computer to check, moving too fast, not careful of how she put weight on the injured foot, and it gave out, and she fell, with nothing to grab onto.

Yeoman Rand

“I don’t recall seein-” he cut himself off as Rand started to head for the computer, standing to help her. Before he could say ‘sit down’ she was beginning to fall, and only because he was already headed for her was he there in time to stop her fall, catching her as gently as he could. “If you’re not more careful, Miranda, they’ll have you back in Sickbay before you can say ‘duty’,” said Roman, using her full name for the second time, still holding on to her after catching her.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand had her hands out to catch herself when she started to fall, and then she was suddenly not falling, but was in fact caught firmly in Roman’s arms, her hands trapped between them. Rand thought she might die of embarrassment. Except he was really close, he was more than close, he had his arms around her! All poor Rand could do was stand really still and look up at him. It was wonderful and terrifying at the same time. “I’d rather stay right here, Roman.” What? What did she just say? Please, please let him think she meant she didn’t want to go to sickbay…but there was no way, (Rand would not be that lucky…or maybe unlucky?), Roman didn’t realize she meant she wanted to stay with him. Long habit made her want to hide her hands behind her back to hide her nervousness, but they were firmly trapped between them, so instead her fingers had curled into his shirt. And she was too breathless to do or say anything else.

Yeoman Rand