Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side-sim: The Reckoning

(snip)

It was nearly two hours later the trouble started, as he’d suspected it might. He began to twitch lightly in his sleep, and then his mouth moved as if he were going to say something, but he was still asleep and no sound came out. His face looked pinched like on Kelmao when he’d had one. His heart rate had dropped to a near normal number when he first fell asleep, now it was going back up.

~ Roman

Rand squeezed his hand firmly and rubbed his arm. Rand had had nightmares of her own before, but not like the kind Roman had. She didn’t really know what to do to help him, but she promised to stay awake incase he had one. Now he was. She spoke quietly to him reminding him he was on the Sentinel, with her. She didn’t mention the Ardent or his leg or sickbay. She looked at the time, she needed to wake him up so he could be aware when the doctor came in to start the next session. She didn’t want him to wake up to that and panic more. “Roman…” she rubbed a hand up and down his arm, “You’re on the Sentinel, with me. You fell asleep while we were watching a movie. But it’s time to wake up now.” She kept talking to him, nothing of much importance, just using her voice. She kissed his cheek at one point, “I love you.”

Rand

It seemed to be Rand’s tone, her voice, more than what exactly she was saying that helped. As she talked quietly, Roman seemed calmer. Her touch seemed to help as well as she rubbed his arm and squeezed his hand. A little while after she kissed his cheek, his eyes popped open and he tried to sit up, giving the room a long look. “Rand?” He asked, though he was not as panicked as when he’d woken up that morning. Still looking tired, he closed his eyes again and squeezed her hand. “What time is it?”

~ Roman

As he seemed to calm some Rand kept talking. Just like on Kelmao he seemed to respond to her touch so she kept that up too. Make sure to be firm enough to be felt but not so insistent it startled him. She rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand, “I’m here.” He didn’t sound as panicked but she could still hear the slight edge to his voice. She was glad she’d chosen to stay awake. “Almost 0200.” She decided not to mention the nightmare right out. She was sure he knew he was having one, and there was no reason to state the obvious. “They’ll be in, in about half an hour for your next session. I thought you’d want to be awake.” She kissed his cheek again. “I’m glad you got some sleep though. I can start to movie over where you feel asleep.” Her voice was soft, slow. Giving him time to focus on what she was saying, but mostly she was talking to help him focus on her and not where he was.

Rand