Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: Valentine’s Day with Roman and Rand

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Side sim: Valentine’s Day with Roman and Rand

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: Valentine’s Day with Roman and Rand
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Finally she was breathing more deeply and slowly and she began to shiver, so carefully he pulled his blazer off and put it around her. “Do you want to go up to my quarters? Or your own?”

Roman shifted her slightly, not totally letting go and then he placed the blazer around her. The satin lining was warm from his body heat and along with his arm around her it chased most of the chill away. It was more a reaction to the fight or flight response than the temperature of the room. She didn’t answer him and the silence stretched. There were too many factors to the decision. Or that’s what the panic was telling her. In truth it was simply, everything else could be taken care of later. In the end she was exhausted, she wanted to sleep, and not be alone. “Yours?” It wasn’t really a question, it just came out that way.

Rand

Roman waited patiently for the answer and then nodded when her questioning answer did come. He’d figured she probably wouldn’t want to rejoin the party, and he was fine with leaving. He’d gotten his dance. He normally wouldn’t have even been here this long. “Alright. Do you want to go now or wait a little longer?” He asked. He didn’t want to make her get up if she wasn’t ready to yet.

~ Roman

“I…I want to leave.” She didn’t really want to get up and walk, but she didn’t want to stay there either. Her mind starting to work again she knew the longer they waited to leave the more people would worry where she had gone. She knew Randy had come in but she hadn’t been paying attention to what was said. She let Roman help her to stand and leaned against him. Her legs felt weak, actually she felt light headed and shaky all over. She took a few tentative steps and wished she wasn’t wearing heels. She was fairly certain she could manage as long as she didn’t have to move too fast.

Rand

Roman helped her stand. She still looked visibly shaky, so he let her take a few steps but didn’t fully let go of her. He did not want her to really hurt her ankle again, and those weren’t short heels. He’d never understood how girls walked in those things. He led her back up to Deck 3 - they had to take the lift and there were some others using it to go to and from the party - and headed for his quarters. Then paused and changed directions to Rand’s instead. He was not sleeping in a suit and he was sure Rand wouldn’t want to sleep in her dress.

~ Roman

Hadn’t Randy teased her about her heeled dress boots while Roman was sick? Rand didn’t know why women wore heels? Who invented them anyway? And why? Yes she looked nice in them, but they were annoying, and painful and a trick to balance in walking, much less dance. Stupid things, she was getting rid of all of them. Some of this Rand actually muttered to herself quietly while they walked. She was confused when Roman led her to her door. She wanted to go to his quarters. Maybe she said the wrong thing when she answered him, and he misunderstood? But she opened the door and went inside.

She looked as good in them as Randy had said when he was teasing her. Better, even. But no, Roman would never choose to wear such unbalanced shoes. With his arm still around her he was close enough he could hear her muttering about it as they walked. Once the door closed, Roman turned to her and saw her confused expression, and quietly he said, “I thought you’d not want to sleep in that lovely gown of yours.”

Once the door closed Roman quietly explained, and Rand nodded, she hadn’t considered that. She sat on her bed, for once not attempting to hide the stuffed kelpie (hadn’t Randy said some thing a out that?) and slipped the offensive shoes off. She sat there for what seemed several minutes staring at the floor. Exhaustion and hard to breathe again, like a weight was on her chest. Then she grabbed something out of a drawer and disappeared into the bathroom. She struggled with the zipper and shaking hands, and wished she had thought to bring a chair. She emerged, changed into something loose and comfortable, under a pile of fabric, her hair still up and put the dress on the bed. She sat after handing him his blazer, “Thank you.” Then she tried to get the bobby pins out. Her hand shook and making it difficult to get them out. Finally she dropped her hands to her lap, closed her eyes, and breathed before she tried again. Maybe she would just leave them in, it seemed too much effort.
Rand

Roman sat at the table in the room while he waited patiently for her. She handed him his blazer and he put the jacket over his arm. He watched her struggle to get the pins out of her hair and after the second attempt, he said, “Let me help you with those.” Roman had had sisters after all, he did know how some hair things and makeup worked. “Then we can go back to my quarters.” And then he could change out of the suit. He didn’t hate suits. They weren’t nearly as uncomfortable as he imagined an outfit like Rand’s being, and he was used to dressing formally, but he definitely never slept in one. It would be both bad for the suit and uncomfortable for him, so he looked forward to changing.

~ Roman

Rand dropped her hands and let him deal with the pins. It didn’t seem odd to her. Randy played with her hair often enough and Rand was used to stylists messing with her hair constantly. She’d always hated the make-up though. She understood it helped accent her features for an audience who wasn’t up close but in the theater seats, but she still disliked the cosmetics. The pins came out easily now that her shaking hands had stopped getting them tangled. “Th…thank you.” She would have made a horrible mess of it herself. She was left with two braids dangling on either shoulder. She would work them out later.

Roman worked quickly and precisely, pulling the pins out of her hair gently. Some of them had been tangled into the hair by her shaky hands but it didn’t take him long to get them out. He smiled, “It’s no problem.”

Then they left and went back to Roman’s quarters. She paused after the door closed, as if deciding where to sit was simply too difficult a decision. Then she made her way over to the bed and sat, curled up on her side, half propped up. She didn’t even let Pipkin out of her cage.

Rand

As soon as they went back to his quarters, Roman grabbed a change of clothes and went into the bathroom. A couple minutes later he came out, carefully hanging the suit. Rand had sort of curled up on his bed, and unlike usual for her, she hadn’t even let Pipkin out. Roman bent down and opened the door for the bunny, who quickly came out to make use of the space in the room. “Alright, Pipkin, your job today is to make Rand feel better. And go!” He said in a ‘reserved for animals’ cutesy voice. As if she understood, Pipkin went straight for the stool, climbed up onto the bed, and put her cold, wet nose on Rand. Meanwhile, Roman settled himself in next to Rand, putting an arm around her.

~ Roman

Rand heard him talking to Pipkin but was quietly drifting, not paying attention. Then a tiny wet nose poked her hand. Rand opened her eyes and smiled slightly. Pipkin was trying to nuzzle under her hand. Rand obediently lifted her hand up so Pipkin could get the pets she was demanding. The little rabbit climbed up onto her chest and settled down after attempting to tickle Rand’s face with her whiskers.

Roman sat down and put his arm around her. She leaned over, resting against him, one hand slowly petting Pipkin between the ears. It was quiet for awhile until she whispered into the silence, “I…I thought....I’d be okay.”

Rand