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

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side-sim: The Reckoning

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

(snip)
Randy had gone from chastising them for ‘snogging in front of him’ to asking if Roman had seen her in the heeled boots with the women’s uniforms and Roman got the impression Randy was distracting him so he’d be more compliant for the treatment. But if that was what he was up to, it was effective, because Roman said, “No, but I suppose that’s something to look forward to.”

Rand knew what Randy was doing too, but she really wished he would stop. Randy knew it was making Rand nervous, anxious, it was a strange situation for her. Randy socializing with her dates was usually because he’d come to rescue her. This was a new experience, and it was good for her. Not only was he her brother he was also her therapist. She was safe with him and loathe has he was to admit it, she was safe with Roman too. She needed to realize that it might be awkward to have them both picking on her but it wasn’t something she should let her anxiety run away with.

Rand shook her head, “No no no. I’m not wearing those things. Do you know how often emergencies happen during formal events? Too often and you can’t run in those things.” Randy raised both brows and his eyes started dancing. Rand groaned, “You know what I’m not running anymore either.” And if possible she was even more red and then realizing what she was doing she stuck her hands behind her back to stop from wringing them.

“I’ve been to a number of formal events and unsurprisingly never had an emergency crop up during them,” Roman pointed out, shaking his head. And then he pretended to be upset. “But Rand, you’ve got to run! What else will I do when I’m awake in the morning besides go with you?”

Rand rolled her eyes, “No because you’re thinking tactical emergencies, I’m talking diplomatic. Like stupid insignificant things the command staff never notice. Like the protein cubes are the color of alien blood and they have to be taken back to the kitchen before some one is offended and a fire fight really starts. Or one of those never ending medals gets caught on something and the captain needs a uniform change, or maybe the UT goes down and someone has to load the entire language database to a PaDD so we don’t go around insulting each other.” She was rattling of different things, which probably didn’t seem like much to anyone else, but that’s exactly what she did the whole time. Put out seemingly insignificant fires before anyone else noticed.

Roman had no clever reply to that. Those were exactly the sorts of things yeoman handled.

Sessions with dermal regenerators weren’t usually loads of fun though generally less painful than bone fusers. But the fact that this time, the regenerator was trying to grow new muscle rather than repair existing muscle, and that his leg was already painful and irritated made it worse than it would normally be. But Roman was acting tough about it. It would have been easier if it were a faster process. He focused on watching Pipkin explore her cage. Rand had really gone above and beyond with the little rabbit’s home, she looked tiny in the large, multilayered enclosure.

~ Roman

Randy kept an eye on the machine making sure everything was going as it should. The tricorder was showing a lot of inflammation which was normal but it would be better if there wasn’t so much swelling. He picked up the hypo, “Just the anti-inflammatory. This was given earlier than the other and your leg is showing signs of swelling already. So I’m giving this now. Nothing else.” Randy’s tone was one of those that meant he wasn’t going to argue. Though he knew Roman would benefit from the pain meds he was willing to move at his pace with those, but the anti-inflammatory would speed the healing.

Rand, despite her embarrassment came back over and sat on Roman’s other side and held his hand.

Rand and Randy

Roman gave no arguments, taking Rand’s hand when she came back over to him. His grip was tight, but not bone-crushing like it had been before. He was still watching Pipkin. The rabbit was exploring all over the large enclosure.

~ Roman

The enclosure was five floors connected by sturdy metal with non slip stair shaped ramps to each of the platforms. Each one had something different on it. The very bottom contained her litter box, then there was an igloo shaped dome for a nest on another. Her food and water containers on another. Random things to chew on were scattered around. And underneath it all was a removable tray to catch anything that fell if Pipkin started to dig or burrow. Right then she was on the very top level, sitting up on her hand legs stretching towards the top of the cage, her nose twitching furiously at the scents in the room. “I know it’s kind of big, but I wanted her to have room to move around if she had to be in the cage for a long time.” Rand didn’t say it because she didn’t want to remind Roman of the Ardent, but she had anchored the cage to the wall. That way if the ship got hit by anything, or there was a malfunction with the grav-plating, it would stay put and the little rabbit would be safe.

Rand and Randy

Roman nodded. Sometimes he worked late, or if he was on a landing patty and wouldn’t be back for a while, Pipkin might end up locked in there for a while. With the setup Rand chose, the little bunny would still have more than enough space to play. Each layer had something different and interesting for Pipkin to keep her occupied. He hadn’t noticed she’d anchored it to the wall, but when he did he would approve considering the safety of Pipkin. All his lab enclosures were secured. His experience with ships getting hit by things made him more cautious of that sort of thing.

~ Roman

Rand pointed at a large crate still in his room, “There’s more stuff in there. It won’t all fit in the cage, but it can be swapped out. One of them is a maze.”

Rand and Randy

“So she won’t get bored,” Roman said, nodding again. “I can swap things out with the same regularity I use in the labs. Should keep her entertained.” The regular maintenance of the enclosure, both cleaning and swapping things out, would be difficult before his leg was healed but he assumed he’d have Rand’s help anyway.

~ Roman

She peeked in the box, “There are also a couple different things for her to dig and forage in. And…” she pulled out a small set of bright shiny new nail clippers, “I guess if she doesn’t dig enough.” Randy pipped up, “Oh give that cute little girl a pedicure and paint her nails.” Randy got hit in the head with a pillow. “NO! That stuff could hurt her. What’s wrong with you?”

Rand and Randy

Roman shot his own glare at Randy. “Nail paint is dangerous both if she chews it off and if she inhales too much of the fumes. It’s a great way to shorten an animal’s life span.”

~ Roman

Randy held up his hands in a surrender gesture. “Whoa whoa whoa, I am NOT suggesting we hurt the poor thing. Obviously nail polish was a bad suggestion. I learned the hard way, a long time ago not to mess with Rand’s animals. Doesn’t mean you can’t give the wee one a good proper grooming.” But just like that 45 minutes were up and Rand had to go. She wanted to, but she wasn’t quite brave enough to tell Randy to leave the room for a minute. She did however lean over and kiss Roman on the cheek. “Don’t be so stubborn you end up back in sickbay.”

She hugged Randy and then slipped out the door.

Rand and Randy

Roman smiled, he’d heard some of those stories. “Proper grooming involves a nice brush and those nail clippers. And maybe shampoo. Nothing else.” Rand started to get up to leave and Roman squeezed her hand before letting go. Then his look turned indignant. “What do you think I’m going to do? Get in a fight with Randy?”

~ Roman

Rand looked back at both of them and didn’t even bother to comment. Knowing her luck she’d come back to them mutually drunk and Randy telling the most embarrassing stories he could recall. And they’d both have black eyes from Randy trying to give Roman his medication. “You two just…behave,” and she left.

Randy laughed, “I don’t know what she’s talking about.” 15 minutes later the regenerator beeped and Randy took a scan of Alden’s leg and then started taking the machine down. “I can’t believe she managed to get a rabbit on board or how she convinced Rogers to let her to do it either.” Then he sat down in the chair and looked at Alden. “It’s only been a few hours, but are you feeling better being out of sickbay?” Randy felt it was important that Alden could at least acknowledge to himself that some of the problem was his fear of sickbay. That he could at least acknowledge it to himself. They were a long way off from confronting that directly and openly, between them. And they had time to kill. The meds hadn’t worn off yet, and Randy was willing to let it wear of completely if that was what Alden needed to do. Let the meds wear off completely and then decide the next dosage.

Randy

Roman shook his head. “I haven’t the faintest idea what she’s on about.” He said. Not too long later the regenerator was finally done and Randy was taking a scan of his leg. “She’s got connections. I’m convinced there isn’t much she couldn’t get on or off this ship.”

Then Randy seemed to turn serious, it really was dizzying how quickly he could go from goofy to life-and-death dead serious. Roman had felt better after leaving Sickbay. More relaxed, his vitals were staying lower which made him feel better, and that made dealing with his pain easier. The distraction known as Pipkin had helped with that, too. Roman didn’t like the implication of the question, he knew where Randy was going with it. Roman could tell the meds hadn’t worn off yet, and Randy hadn’t yet mentioned another dose so he figured Randy was going to stay until they did. He answered cautiously, “I’ve noticed a decrease in certain symptoms.”

~ Roman

“It never ceases to amaze me how efficiently my sister can manage things, go back and forth between people, trade items, make favors, make connections with people, in an official capacity, but ask her to go eat in the Galley and she freezes up. To get your rabbit, she helped Chief Helpful get an anniversary gift back to his wife. The jeweler made a mistake and sent it to him instead of to his wife on Deneva. She made calls and got it shipped back. Arrived the day of, but was there. I’m not sure how she managed to get that small box switched from ship to ship that fast but she did.” The thing was Rand would have helped the Chief no matter what.

“Good,” was all he said about the decrease in symptoms. “So I’m gonna hang around for a bit until we know how much pain medication you need. See I could leave it and you or Rand could administer it. Problem is, you’ll refuse, and then you start hurting like you were in sickbay, Rand might give you a double dosage. And we want to avoid that. So while we wait, want to make a bet on how much contraband work my sister is going to drag in here to you?”

Randy