Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Sleepless Indulgence

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Sleepless Indulgence

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Sleepless Indulgence
Posted by… suppressed (8) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
She was wearing her clothes she wore to run in, hair in a high ponytail. Rand paused and turned around and walked over to him. She had the urge to hug him, but didn’t, not in the middle of the corridor. She wasn’t quite sure what to call their feelings for each other, but Rand was not sure how she felt about other people knowing. She was a very private person and wasn’t ready to share whatever this was with anyone else. She stopped just a couple feet away and nodded up at him. “I did…thank you…thank you for last night,” she smiled turning a little red. “Umm…I umm I’m going to the gym. I thought I’d stretch a little because of the chair. Maybe use some resistance bands for my foot. Do…do you want to come?” She hadn’t waited for him. She had been hoping he was able to sleep longer. “I thought you might still be asleep.”

Rand

Rand looked like she was going to run. She hadn’t waited, but then, Roman didn’t really expect her to. But as soon as he spoke she paused and went back, stopping just a little distance away from him. His own private nature meant he wasn’t quite fond of the idea of other people knowing about… whatever this was either, though he knew if it was going to continue it was going to end up coming out sooner or later. “It was no problem at all,” he replied. “I’m just happy you got some sleep.” She turned slightly red and to him she seemed a little nervous. She was going to the gym to stretch. And well, he wasn’t going to be sleeping. He didn’t really need an excuse to spend more time with her. “Alright, why not?” Maybe it would wake him up somewhat. “No, but I wasn’t awake much longer than you, I’m sure that’s plenty of sleep.” He felt tired, but he didn’t want her to worry, and it was more sleep than he got some nights.

~ Roman

She smiled brightly when he said he would go with her. She didn’t need a reason to spend time with him other than she liked to, but she was happy he was coming with her. “I’m glad you slept some.” There was a vague sleepy memory of him, his voice slightly strained talking about Jay, but she didn’t remember what exactly was said. She didn’t say anything about it though because she would never talk about his private life in the open. But she did giggle softly over something she did remember. She spoke into the space just between them, “Well come on then Robin Hood.” She started to reach for his hand but caught herself before heading for the lift.

Rand

She was happy he wanted to go with her, and that idea made him smile, too. Roman had talked about a lot the night before, mostly trying to help her, not thinking so hard about what he was saying. There were a few things he remembered and hoped she wouldn’t bring up. “Robin Hood?” He said, his tone questioning, but he was smiling, apparently catching that she was teasing. And perhaps liking it a little bit? She started to reach for his hand, and he started to put his hand out for her before he’d thought about it, but she caught herself, and their hands moved away from each other again as they went into the lift.

~ Roman

Rand didn’t miss him reaching for her hand or his smile when she teased him. Maybe she should have taken his hand? In the lift she did squeeze his hand shyly. Once in the gym she went to the equipment storage and took out a couple of resistance bands and then slipped off her shoes. She took a seat on the mats and began to stretch, focusing on her lower back and calves, then her shoulders. Those we’re the most stiff. “I can’t run yet, but hopefully I can rebuild the strength in my ankle.” She glanced at him and then around the empty gym. “You going to beat up the practice dummy?”

Rand

Rand seemed shy all of a sudden, squeezing his hand gently in the lift. He wasn’t wearing his jiu jitsu uniform, but regular athletic clothes did fine, too. “Hopefully before too long,” he said. He still missed the running. “The dummy could afford to learn a little more defence, don’t you think?” With that statement he smiled. The exercise of ‘beating up the dummy’ would wake him up just as well as running. And he always liked practicing. But the best part of running was that he could do it with her.

~ Roman

Rand nodded, mock seriousness. “I think he should. If he’s going to be beat up on all the time he should learn.” Using the bands for resistance she finished stretching her shoulders out, and then rolled her head side-to-side to ease the crick out of it. Then, very carefully, she took the band and placed it around her foot and did some simple flexing movements, but the resistance on the band was too easy. She exchanged the band out for a different colored one, with a higher resistance. That proved to be a little much. She didn’t want to over do it, so she opted for the first band but at a shorter length.

After she’d stretched, Rand considered weights, but those always made her tired. The idea was to wake up, so she settled for Yoga. Most people thought that it was just fancy stretches, but Yoga was great for cardiovascular exercise, strength training and maintaining or loosing weight. She would prefer to be running. She missed running in the morning with Roman. She began moving through different poses, breathing rhythmically through them as she moved. Occasionally glanced in Roman’s direction. It had been a long time since Rand had needed to modify a pose or use a ‘yoga brick’ to help her. But she was slow and careful to test her foot before putting all her weight on it in each pose.

Rand

That’s what Roman though yoga was, fancy stretching. Of course, he did warm up stretches before working out. He didn’t want to pull something or make himself sore. But he didn’t really ‘get’ yoga. After he’d done said warm up, he moved over to the dummy on the exercise mat. He’d start with easier techniques, and then move on to harder ones, in ten to fifteen minute activity periods with five minute rests in between. On the rests, he’d look over to see what Rand was doing, and soon he’d done two cycles and was on the third rest.

~ Roman

The lovely thing about yoga, that Rand had just discovered was the purposeful pauses to breathe. In those paused she got to steal glances of Roman working out. No one else was in the gym so the only person she had to worry about catching her was Roman. That was until she didn’t place her foot correctly and she lost her balance. She didn’t fall but she did put her other foot down quickly to shift her weight. After that, for the next several minutes she focused on what she was doing. Moving smoothly from one pose to the next, standing, bending, twisting, and breathing.

Rand

Roman’s rest had ended before Rand lost her balance, and his focus was on the practice dummy he was beating up. Another two rounds of training and then resting, and he was done. The training dummies were made to last, and though this one looked well used, it would still likely be a while before it needed replacing. Once he was done, he headed back toward Rand, trying not to distract her so she could finish what she was doing.

~ Roman

Rand was in a resting position called the butterfly. Soles of her feet together, knees bent and relaxed against the floor. Her hands rested over her ankles and she was bent forward, forehead resting on her arms. She heard him stop and then the soft squeeze and whoosh of air of footsteps on foam mats. She breathed in deeply and sat up straight and couldn’t help the smile that crossed her face. She stood stood smoothly. “Finished, but although I am awake now I’m pretty sure I will be main lining coffee to stay awake today. Did the dummy learn his lesson today?”. She slipped back into her shoes and returned the resistance bands to storage.

Rand

Rand was in a pose, her knees relaxed against the floor and bent forward, and Roman was impressed by the flexibility of it. “I believe I recall something about citrus tea rather than coffee for staying awake?” Roman said, smiling. He was teasing her, telling her what she’d told him once. “I think he did, he won’t be bothering anyone.” The martial arts session seemed to have done what was intended, he looked much more awake than he had on their way up to the gym. He was pretty sure Rand looked less tired as well.

~ Roman

Rand glanced at him, eyes laughing though she only successfully stopped her laughter for a moment. “I might recall such a thing being said. Does that mean you want some too?” She sighed as they made their way to the lift, “I’d rather have been running. Though the gym has less things to run into.” She knew they both probably needed a change of clothes, and had the lift head back to deck 3. She also had what she needed to make citrus tea in her quarters. “You want your tea hot or iced?”

Rand

Roman hesitated a moment and then nodded a ‘yes’ to her question. “I would have liked to run, too,” he admitted. He could practice his martial arts in the evening any time. In the morning was when he could run with Rand. He definitely did need a change of clothes, the gym session had him all sweaty and he needed his uniform before he had to report in. He thought about the two options for a moment. “Iced.” He always preferred hot tea, asking for iced meant he expected to need it that way. “You should do iced, too, it works better than hot.”

~ Roman

“I shall defer to your expertise, of course,” her voice took on a note of playfulness to her obvious teasing. “I need about 20 minutes.” Making iced tea took longer than hot tea. And despite doing yoga, Rand had worked up a sweat, and she wanted a shower before putting on a clean uniform. She knew he would make use of being awake and go to the lab. Pausing by his door, “Should I bring it here or the lab?” Much to Rand’s surprise she hoped it wasn’t the lab. She knew she had to get started on her day, but today she didn’t want to work, she wanted to put it off just a little bit longer.

Rand