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 (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Roman would have to get back to the lab soon. He wasn’t actually off duty yet. But at least Rand felt better, and he’d been able to rest his leg some. He smiled and shook his head. “I suppose that’s one way to put it. Is Mr Wyvern my nemesis, then?” He said, playing along. He knew his large snake was not Rand’s favourite of his animals.

~ Roman

“If he is, does that make me the damsel in distress since he is always trying to attack me?” She didn’t laugh, too relaxed at the moment, but she smiled. Rand didn’t mind snakes. She was respectful of them, and she thought Mr Wyvern was beautiful, but he liked to scare her. Or he thought she’d taste good, and that scared her too. So yes, he would make a great nemesis. She was worried about his leg though, but it seemed better. He wasn’t moving it around as much and he wasn’t holding it stiffly to keep it from moving, nor was he rubbing it. That was good? Maybe? It usually took hours or days for his leg to stop hurting. “Do you need ice or the heating pad?” She’d have to get up, but she’d do that for him.

Rand

Roman nodded. “You have to be!” Mr Wyvern was a very beautiful snake. And Roman had learned a lot from him. But he was difficult and dangerous to handle, and sometimes Roman worried about what would happen if there was ever an incident involving the big snake. Resting his leg had helped, and laying here with her, it wasn’t hurting too much. But it still did feel stiff and he worried about when he needed to get up to get back to the lab. It had gone down in pain quicker than normal, so maybe that meant it was getting better? He thought about her question for a second. The heating pad would probably help keep it from hurting later. “I do, but I’m going to need to go back to work soon,” he said. Was there a point if he was going to need to get up soon anyway?

~ Roman

“Well I don’t want to be one of those that keeps getting caught by the same person, the same way, over and over again. I’m smart enough to not make the same mistake twice. So Mr Wyvern will have to be disappointed because I’m staying away from him.” She sounded better, but didn’t make any effort to get up or move yet. When he said it would help but he had to go back to work, Rand stopped herself from sighing. She knew he had to go back to the lab, she just didn’t want him to, not yet. Which was ironic since she hadn’t wanted him to see her in the middle of a panic attack to begin with.

Roman was comfortable. He’d rather stay here with her than work. And for him, that was saying a lot. He always wanted to work. But he had a few hours left, and he had to go back. Rand sounded better and that made him happy. But she hadn’t moved yet, not that he wanted her to.

“Open the middle drawer.” She pointed at the nightstand next to him. Inside was a very thin pad. It looked like the heating pad she’d given him, but thinner and more narrow. “It’s a heating pad and ice pack. There’s a small 3 button control on it. It can heat or ice. It’s thin enough to fit under your clothes. You can use it. It’s not as good as the other one. It doesn’t get quite as hot or as cold as the ice packs. I used it when I used to run cross-country and pulled a muscle.”

Rand

Roman reached over and opened the drawer on the nightstand, pulling out a thin heat pad. Thin enough to fit under his clothes, so he could wear it while working and it would help especially while he was sitting. “Thank you.” He seemed like he didn’t want to get up. He hadn’t moved yet. But finally, with a sigh, he started to move. “I really do have to get back.”

~ Roman

“You’re welcome.” She shrugged, it was a small thing and it would help. She’d offer it to anyone who needed it, but of course to Roman. She moved so he could get up. She wasn’t going to ask him to stay longer. Duty came first, and he’d wasted enough time looking for and helping her. Which made her wonder what had made him come looking for her in the first place. But she didn’t ask. That would just start a discussion about her anxiety again, and that was the last thing she wanted. She started to say she was sorry. Sorry that he had to come find her, sorry he had to sit with her, just sorry for the whole situation. But he wouldn’t understand what she was apologizing for, and she didn’t know how to explain it. Instead, “Thank you.” It was heavy with emotion and sincerity. He’d helped more than he probably realized. If she had known how he felt about her helping him with his nightmares maybe she could have explained how much he helped.

Rand

Roman smiled. “It wasn’t any trouble at all.” He said, and then he made his way for the door. He meant it. He was happy no one had really been angry at anyone else and everything had been sorted out. And, it had ended in them sitting together, which was always nice. He went into his own quarters to set up the heating pad she’d lent him and then returned to the lab to finish out the rest of his shift.

The rest of his shift was just as busy as the first half had been. It seemed someone constantly needed or wanted something right then. He was working through his Kelmao samples, working at a microscope workstation, and it felt like each time he sat down, he was getting back up for something. In the last half hour of his shift, Roman finally got some time to sit down and just work.

~ Roman

When Roman left, Rand set an alarm. Not because she planned on sleeping, but to make sure she didn’t just zone out and end up being late or missing something completely. Rand spent the time before she had to return to work, cleaning up. Not that she was a mess, but a quick shower, clean uniform, and her hair in a neat bun helped. There were afternoon updates, drinks to bring to the bridge, and Rogers had a subspace call with command in the conference room. The call could have taken place in Rogers quarters but the captain liked to work in a more professional setting. Plus if she needed to call in another officer for the discussion there was more room there. Rand was in and out the whole time, but mostly stood against the wall waiting for Rogers to send her off to grab something that might have been forgotten, or more ice cold citrus water.

Rand didn’t make down anywhere near the labs the rest of the day. The closes she came was the Galley when she was grabbing drinks for the bridge or food for Rogers. After Rogers’ meeting she had just enough time to eat a snack. She wasn’t hungry, but she was slightly light headed and figured she should eat something. She’d skipped lunch and breakfast had been sometime around 0430, and dinner would be a few more hours. Then it was off to collect the end of the day reports, compile them, go over them with Rogers, which ended up being a very late night. At 2300 Rand was still in her office, finalizing reports and sending them to the appropriate people and back to command. She probably would have been done earlier, but she just wasn’t moving as fast as normal.

Rand

At 1800, Roman was finished working and stopped in the galley for food before heading up to his quarters. When he got up there, Rand wasn’t there. Or in her quarters. Or her office. She must still have been working. Roman headed back to his own quarters, took a seat on his bed, and changed the settings on the heating pad to ice, and settled in to make himself comfortable. His leg was still really sore, but the heating pad Rand lent him earlier was helping a lot. Then he started reading a book: Frankenstein. He’d read it before, but not since secondary school.

By 2100, he was wondering what could possibly be holding Rand over so long. The Captain must have piled the work on today. He went back to his book for a while. At 2200, he took the heating pad off and tried to go to sleep. By the time Rand was finally done, he was sleeping very lightly, lightly enough that if Rand knocked, she’d wake him.

~ Roman

It was another half hour before Rand was finally done. She was tired and gratefully signed out of her console, pocketed her control rods. She stepped into the corridor, which was still brightly lit, it was always brightly lit, and stood leaning against the wall, head down, stretching out a stiff neck. Food or sleep? She could get both in her quarters. She just didn’t feel like walking all the way to the mess hall. When she entered her quarters Randy was asleep and she stopped abruptly and looked up at the chronometer, it was almost midnight. How did it get so late? She sat on her bed and munch quietly on some random thing she found in the small pantry. Roman hadn’t come and knocked on her office door, so he was probably asleep. Or was he waiting for her? But if he was already asleep she didn’t want to wake him up, but what if he stayed up waiting for her? In the end it didn’t matter, Rand fell asleep before she decided.

The next morning came far too soon, but she felt better for the sleep. Her morning was going along as normal until she passed by sickbay. “Ensign! Rand!” echoed down the corridor after her, on her way to check the requisition sheet for the recreation hall and then the last of the science lab reports. She turned, wondering why Dr Elbbirt was calling her. “Good morning, Doctor. Is everything alright?”

“Do you know when Cmdr Alden goes to the labs? You seem to always know where everyone is and I need to speak to him.” Worry and apprehension, but she did her best to not show it. “0700 is when he usually goes to the labs.” She resisted the urge to ask, she wasn’t sure he would tell her.

Elbbirt grinned, “Do you think you could get him to meet me in his office. I know he hates dealing with doctors, but I have good news for him and need to talk to him.” Rand nodded, “I’ll do my best. 0630?” Elbbirt nodded and left. Rand finished what she was doing, usually she did her early observations at 0600, but she needed to go try and find a way to get Roman to talk to Elbbirt. So she stopped by the biology lab to tell Franks she wouldn’t be by until later. Then a lift ride later, Rand was standing outside his door and knocked.

Rand