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

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Side sim: The Report Dilemma

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: The Report Dilemma
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
The class M reports made perfect sense to her. He probably knew enough to be able to use the information to make a hypothesis about the types of animals in the planets. She had the embarrassing thought that she could watch him practice all day. “Do you prefer classical or more modern pieces?” Rand had a feeling that Roman’s parents were only interested in classical and so that is what he learned, but that didn’t mean he liked it. “Oh! I took a couple fencing classes once. For a p…umm…just once. In…in high school.” Her voice dropped off why had she said that? She looked everywhere but at him. What could she say to change the subject? Everything that came to mind was questions about things that upset him and she didn’t want to do that. She picked up her drink and sipped it, concentrating on the glass and the drunk inside to stop her hands from shaking. Someone like Roman would never understand giving up your dream for fear…

Yeoman Rand

“I quite like them both, they had different styles but both have their merits,” Roman replied. She was correct about his family, they much preferred true classics as they called them, nothing modern. Roman had a wider interest range. “Ah! Perhaps you’d like to learn more sometime, I did fencing for many years.” She stuttered to a stop and then looked noticeably uncomfortable, suddenly avoiding looking at him. “Are you okay?” He wanted to ask her what she meant, what the word that started with ‘p’ was, but he got the feeling it would make things worse. He figured, having seen her acting in the lab once, that the word might’ve been ‘play’. It would certainly explain the extravagant voicing she used when she told stories.

~ Roman

‘Okay?’ Yes she supposed she was okay. She didn’t answer that question though. She was okay but she wasn’t. But she wasn’t going to fall apart. Not here, not after all those years. Not when she was so thrilled, so excited to be having dinner, a dinner date, with him. She sipped the drink again, clearing her dry throat, and set the glass down. “I would love to learn more. Learning about it brought depth to the stories I’d read.” She smiled slightly, “Such a civilized way to barbarically harm someone - at sword point.” She was attempting to add some ease to a situation she’d made so awkward. But she may have fell flat in the effort.

Yeoman Rand

“That it is, my old instructor said it is an artful battle style, the art of killing someone,” Roman said. Of course, in sport fencing, one wore a boatload of protective gear so no one was dying. Preferably no one was getting injured either. “I didn’t bring my gear, but perhaps there’s something aboard to use.” It was still slightly awkward, she hasn’t answered his question. But he got the feeling there was something she didn’t want to talk about, so he simply moved on in the conversation.

~ Roman

Rand felt horrible not answering his question. But trying to figure out how to explain why she was but was not okay was a disaster in self-induced anxiety. “I think the gym is set up for it, or can be. There are a lot of storage lockers with equipment in them. Most of them haven’t even been opened yet.” She picked at the last few bites on the plate, which may have been taken as a nervous action (and it could have been), because she was full and contemplating if she’d eat more or leave it. “How often did you get to ride horses?” Rand adored horses, the were animals after all, but huge and gentle and magnificent. She’d only ridden enough to know what she needed for performances. She’d been very lucky in a way to be exposed to so many different things. Horseback riding was something she always wanted to do more of, but had never had the chance.

Yeoman Rand

“Once a month or so until I was fifteen.” Roman replied. His family hadn’t owned the horses, a friend of his father’s had. He’d liked horseback riding, it was an activity where in his opinion, one had to really get along with and understand the animal. But he hadn’t been since back then. “We would take them outside of town and ride along the countryside.” Roman’s plate was also nearly empty, and he began cleaning up. “Are you finished with that, or not yet?”

~ Roman

Rand nodded, “I am.” She felt strange not being the one to be cleaning/straightening up. Not that she thought Roman expected her to, it just was politeness. He took her plate and she began to gather the flat ware and extra dishes and help return them to the tray. “That sounds lovely. I rode one of those pony rides at the fair once. Where they are hooked up to the turn style and they just walk and walk in circles. I really got in trouble that day,” she smiled as the memory crossed her mind. “See I thought the pony’s looked really sad and decided they would rather be running free. So I unhooked them from the turn style and tried to run away with them.”

Yeoman Rand

Roman didn’t expect her to help at all, but he didn’t stop her when she started picking up the flatware. He knew her well enough he figured she’d insist anyway. Soon everything was stacked up and he set the tray aside to return to the galley later. At her story, he smiled. “Good, those fair rides are usually awful for the ponies anyway. Poor things probably were sad.” Once he’d set the tray down he sat back down, not wanting the conversation to end. “If ever we’re back on earth, I’ll have to take you on real horses.”

~ Roman

It was nice to be allowed to be herself, to help/participate in daily things and not worry if she should or should not or how it would be taken. Though she was still excited and nervous about their dinner she wasn’t anxious. She sat back down at the table at the chair beside him where she’d been the whole evening. “Well it was a problem, they just wanted to walk in circles until I figured out that they would just follow behind the pony in front of them. I was half way home before my dad found me.” What she didn’t say was her father had thought she’d gotten separated from them in the crowd and got lost. This was before they knew how bad her anxiety was. That she’d gotten scared and was hiding. It was Randy who decided to see if the missing ponies had anything to do with Rand’s mysterious disappearance. “I was only 5 at the time, and here I was walking down the road, leading this plump old pony, because I didn’t actually know how to ride, with a string of 5 more behind it. I found a field and was desperately trying to get the saddles off and not knowing how. By the time my dad found me I was apparently running and leaping about the field trying to convince those poor horses it was wonderful if they just did like I was doing.” It was an embarrassing story, in a ‘I can’t believe I was that young’ kind of way. But she’d told Roman worse stories so it didn’t bother her too much.

Roman smiled at her story, it was certainly one full of childish antics. Any child might assume that the horses would just start running around. He wasn’t nervous much anymore, he felt the evening had gone pretty well so far, and he was mostly just enjoying her company.

The next time they were on earth? That would be awhile. Ships usually stayed out for thier 5 year missions, usually going to space dock or star base if they needed to. That implied they would still be dating, or at least still friends, when they returned to Earth, right? Rand liked the idea but that was far into the future and she didn’t want to think about that too much and make herself over think it. “I’d like that. I’ve always wanted to really learn, not the snippets of instruction I got with…” This was getting complicated not brining up her acting…”with trail rides here and there.”

Yeoman Rand

The implication was accidental, however Roman did hope they at least still knew each other by then. She was his first friend in a long time and the first person he’d been on a date with in even longer. He couldn’t really imagine not knowing her anymore. “It’s more or less a game of balance and knowing how to keep the horse in control.” He was by no means the best horse rider ever, especially considering how long it had been, but he was confident he still knew the gist of it. Like the d earth saying about riding bikes, it wasn’t really something you forgot one you learned.

~ Roman

“Oh well I’m pretty good with animals but I can be clumsy. So if balance is important then I should maybe wear a padded suit.” She laughed at the idea. Her clumsiness wasn’t nearly that bad. Her foot had had nothing to do with being clumsy, she just used it as an excuse. She’d been distracted, watching Roman. “Have you actually ever been on another planet?” Rand hadn’t, not yet, but she hadn’t been serving long. She really enjoyed looking at the planets they orbited. The first time she saw Earth from space had been both humbling and scary.

Yeoman Rand