Posted by Lieutenant Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: The Report Dilemma

(snip)

She was extremely thankful when he finally asked her how her day was because she was unable to think of anything. “It did. Engineering said it could be 2 or 3 days before they can get to my computer and printer. But Crewman Murphy said he would make sure to find out how it was done and who did it. Did you get to finish your experiment today?”

Yeoman Rand

Roman was generally not picky either, in fact he could stomach nearly anything. Whether he liked it and would choose to eat it was another matter. But everything on the table were things he was perfectly happy with. “Does that mean two or three days of handwriting all your reports?” He asked. The whole prank situation irked him although he wasn’t even the target. He shook his head to her second question. “Not quite, I’ve been attempting to dilute the goo lizard’s.. well, goo. But I didn’t have the time to work on that today. Too many other things to do,” he replied. Normally he wouldn’t talk specifics of his work at the table, some word consider it gross (goo lizard goo wasn’t really appetizing), but Rand spent so much time in the lab anyway, Roman didn’t think she minded.

~ Roman

“At least that long. It depends on how badly my console and printer have been altered. But now that I know I shouldn’t be late again. I have plenty of time since I won’t be running in the mornings for now.” She ate quietly while he talked, taking small bites so she wouldn’t have to try and rush to eat and then answer him. “I noticed that the goo seems to sit in the water rather than dissolve, The water seems to be contaminated, but the goo is still intact.” If the topic bothered her it didn’t show; infact Rand was comfortable discussing what ever he was working on. That was one of their usual topics of conversation. “Is everything alright?” she asked in response to him saying he had too much to do. There was concern ringing her voice, for him and that something had gone wrong. Not that she could fix it.

Yeoman Rand

“Pity. I miss joining in on your runs,” Roman said. He was doing the same, taking small, easy to swallow bites to help conversation flow easier. “It does, that’s what makes it difficult to dilute. It repels the water like oil, except instead of floating, it’s the same weight as water and it makes little pockets of goo in the water.” He explained. “And if there is any point to this particular experiment, it’ll be in tiny, tiny amounts at a time.” It was a potent substance, and as they already knew, in its natural state it burned skin like an acid. “Oh, it’s alright, I’ve just yet to work through my entire backlog,” he replied simply, not wanting to tell her the reason for his backlog was her absence from duty.

~ Roman

“I won’t be running any time soon, not like I was. I don’t want to do too much, especially since I can really tell I’ve been going all day.” Her foot didn’t hurt but..the best description was ‘tired’. Rand wasn’t surprised by that, but any running she did would have to build back her stamina. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, “I miss it, too.” They didn’t really talk when he joined her on the runs, and she liked that for many reasons, but mostly because she liked that she was comfortable and not nervous with the silence, that there were no unknown expectations she had to worry about. It was just an activity they both enjoyed doing together, even before he told her he liked her. She was quiet momentarily - thinking. “Have you tried diluting it with oil?” She remembered during one of those historical reenactment field trips for school they were making candles and put scents in them. The woman diluted the scented oil with a cooking oil when the scent was too strong. At the mention of his back log she was first relieved that there hadn’t been an issue in the lab, and then had to try really hard not to smile. She knew his paperwork had piled up, without even looking at the boxes in his office. Roman hated paper work, unless it was to jot down his notes from his lab work. And even then he never transcribed them himself unless forced to do so. “If it’s paperwork, maybe I can help?” Was she trying to find a reason to spend more time with him?

Yeoman Rand

Roman smiled when she said she missed it to. “I hope it’s not bothering you too much,” he said. The runs were a nice way to start his day, especially when he was tired, it woke him up enough to make it till his morning tea. Spending the time with Rand was better than hanging around his quarters.

“No, not ta much. More an annoyance when I want ta be in a hurry but I have ta slow down.” The foot wasn’t really bothering her. She actually expected to be more uncomfortable from it after her first day. The bone fuser might be to thank for that…she wasn’t sure it was worth it.

“No, I haven’t,” he replied thoughtfully. “It might be too heavy for oil, but it might work.” That was one of the reasons he liked talking to her about work, even though Rand wasn’t a scientist. She often brought a new perspective, and she was smart, she picked up on ideas quickly. Roman smiled when she offered and said, “If you’d like to, that would be lovely.” He had tried to keep up with it… and yet there he was, four days behind on some of them, a full week behind on a few, and two days behind on another. The only thing that wasn’t backed up were the reports he sent on to Captain Rogers daily. “Ah, but we aren’t here to talk about work all night, are we?”

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Fork half way to her mouth, Rand paused. Work was comfortable and easy for her, but she really did enjoy listening to him talk about his work. “No…we’re not.” But she didn’t know what to talk about. The other nights it had seemed so easy. Roman loved animals, and he couldn’t sleep. So she just told any story that came to mind. She didn’t think he wanted to hear more stories about the wayward animals she was always dragging home, or maybe he did? There was plenty to share, there was plenty to ask about, but over the last few weeks Rand had come to realize there were somethings that would be hard to come out, to confess to more than their own selves. The thoughts just continued to circle and run. Then she sighed deeply. “I…I can’t think of what I should say,” she didn’t exactly whisper but she was comfortable enough to admit it.

Yeoman Rand