Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side-sim: New Normal

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

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side-sim: New Normal
Rand was sneaky when she needed to be, and right now she needed to be sneaky. It was Roman’s birthday, and they had almost missed it. The crew all tended to gather in the galley or rec hall when one of the crew had a birthday or other important day. Roman however was not the kind to do such things. Chef always made a cake and it was Rand’s job to tell him when someone was having a birthday.

So how to get chef to not announce it? Simple, don’t tell him. Instead Rand asked if she could make something. Normally Chef would never let anyone else in the kitchen, but Rand was sweet and did so much for everyone, if she wanted to make her grandma’s special secret meringue recipie, Chef was going to let her. She was only making a small one, just enough for one or two people, so he had enough to give her.

And it was just enough for two. Small enough to fit under a dish dome. It was done baking just in time for her to meet Roman for his PT appointment and then go back to do the layers of a Knickerbocker Glory. Having a covered plate on a tray wasn’t all that strange, it kept the food warm or cold and helped prevent people from bumping into it.

She had thought about going back to the observation deck, but she wasn’t sure he would want to celebrate with other people around. They could always go to the observation deck later. Apparently they were passing some kind of nebula that was supposed to be really amazing. The stellar cartographers were all excited about it in the mess hall earlier and hoping they slowed down enough to take pictures with the sensors and telescope.

She took the tray to her quarters, so she could change. Pipkin was supposed to be his birthday present, but she had arrived early. So it was just the desert and the two of them. Well three if you counted Pipkin. She was wearing a pale green, a-line dress, a sweetheart neckline, and cap sleeves. She liked the way the skirt moved when she walked in it. Then, making sure no one was in the corridor she carried the tray down to Roman’s quarters. She knocked but there was no answer, so she let herself in. She thought Roman would be back by now. His PT was after his shift and had ended an hour before. She set the tray down and went to let Pipkin out of her cage.

Rand

Roman had been off bed rest for about two days and he was still getting back into his normal routines. His leg pain was way down, had been since the morning after his last session with the dermal regenerator, but he still limped quite heavily and used at least one of his crutches most of the time. During his shift, he’d had more paperwork than usual. The nebula had his stellar cartographers excited and they’d put in all sorts of requests and reports. More to come when they got the pictures of it, he was sure.

Roman’s birthday wasn’t normally something he celebrated. His parents would get him a cake, at least, but he never had ‘friend’ parties, with people over. Those were for poor kids, who had little other joy in their lives, and needed the distraction. So Roman had never been a big celebrater of birthdays. Jay always made a point of doing something for it, a cake or a small gift. But he was gone now, so Roman hadn’t really done anything for it since Jay was gone. Roman used to do something in return for Jay’s birthday, and Jay’s birthday tended to be another hard time for Roman (and that was coming up in March). Between the injury and PT and catching up with his work, Roman had forgotten what day it was at all.

Normally, he showered in the morning. But he’d gotten unused to getting up at his normal time during his lengthy (far too lengthy, if you asked him) medical leave, and he hadn’t had time. Plus, PT was sort of, kinda like exercise and he always liked to shower after that. PT tended to make his leg sorer now and better later, so he had used a chair in the shower.

Roman did not hear the knock on the door, not from the bathroom. He stepped out of the shower, shook out his hair, and grabbed his towel off the rack and wrapped it around his waist.

As he stepped out the bathroom, the door to his quarters was opening and Rand stepped in, causing Roman to stop cold at the open door to the bathroom. His time on bed rest had not been long enough for him to lose the definition to his muscles. He looked just as fit as he had the last time Rand had seen him shirtless, a bit of (wet) hair on his chest. There was a scar on the right side of his chest just below the shoulder, an oddly shaped burn mark the size of an apple caused by flying debris. His arms, usually covered by the long sleeved uniform shirts they wore, were as defined as his chest and abs. He was by no means a body builder but he had certainly put work into the way he looked, athletic and defined, not huge and overly muscular.

The towel was long enough that wrapped around his waist about where pants would normally hang, it covered everything it needed to, but short enough Rand would be able to see part of the scar on his leg. 100% reconstructed, it didn’t look too different from how it used to, except that because the muscle was new, the leg looked quite a bit less muscular than the other one. That would change as he worked it. His legs were generally as muscular as the rest of his body. He worked out normally, and his martial arts made for a great full body work out. The incision for the surgery had been made a few inches to the right of the original scar, something about scar tissue not healing as well. Currently, it was still very visible, but it looked like it would fade into a less noticeable mark than the original injury.

The fact Pipkin’s cage was already open should have been the one and only clue Rand needed that she wasn’t alone. Where was Pipkin? It wasn’t like Roman to leave her out when he wasn’t here. She glanced from the open cage to around the floor, and then snapped back to the wet bare feet standing in the bathroom doorway. And then snapped up to Roman’s face.

He stood, dripping wet, wearing just the towel, looking at her, as if waiting to see what she was going to do. He didn’t really look embarrassed, in fact, after he got over the surprise that she was standing in his quarters unexpectedly, he was grinning a mischievous grin. That look Rand would recognize: his “Robin Hood look”.

~ Roman

Rand’s eyes widen and she forgot to breathe. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and he looked just as…as hot as he had in the gym the other time she saw him shirtless. He was chiseled like a Greek statue or, a slight appreciative smile appeared, a Roman gladiator. There wasn’t an inch of him that wasn’t defined. Rand stared, speechless for a lot longer than she should have, while she turned 10 shades of red. Then she realized he was only wearing a towel and her breath (when did she start breathing?) rushed out somewhere between a ‘ummm’ and ‘ohhhh’, and she turned another couple dozen shades redder. She glanced back at his face and he just had to have that Robin Hood look, of course he did. He knew she’d been staring and if it was possible she blushed more.

Rand was staring. Almost gaping, really. She looked around the room and then her eyes snapped up to his face… And then back down his body. That was when he started grinning. Her face turned bright red. She seemed to stare a bit longer, and then her eyes snapped up to his face again and she was beet red. He wouldn’t think a girl’s face could turn that red. But his look made it obvious he was enjoying it. It was an ego boost sure, but it was more than that, too. They were dating after all, it was kind of nice to know, well, exactly how much she appreciated his looks.

Then it sank in, he was wearing a towel because he just got out of the shower - he was only wearing a towel. She turned away, “Uh…um, sorry! You didn’t answer. I…I....I can come back.” She felt really hot and then really light headed, really cold and really hot again.

Rand

She turned away then, and his smile only got bigger. Putting one hand on the towel to make sure it stayed put, he stepped out of the bathroom and limped towards the closet. “I didn’t hear the knock. Don’t worry about it, I’ll get dressed in the bathroom. There’s already a chair in there anyway,” he said as he rummaged for non-uniformed clothes. He finally settled on a set of soft pajamas, shorts and a soft sleep material buttoned shirt. He realized she’d been holding a small tray with a cover. “What’s that, then? Dinner? Looks a bit small, doesn’t it?”

~ Roman