Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side - sim: Honoring the Ardent

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side - sim: Honoring the Ardent

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side - sim: Honoring the Ardent
Posted by… suppressed (10) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Some of her own tension left as he joked with her. If she could remember in the morning, she would make two cups of tea for him, one with extra sugar, just because. She laid her head on his shoulder when he tripped her hand. Rand felt like she had won a massive victory when he began to eat without argument. She came around and sat, taking a second plate and eating as well.

Roman ate the snack she’d brought him, all of it. Rand seemed almost surprised he’d just gone with it. Really, it was a combination of her being right and him being too tired to spend a bunch of energy arguing about it.

Returning to the lab she looked at the disks and reports. “Why don’t you text Mushu’s reflexes while I sort this?” She sat down and started going through the disks. She put one away, Roman’s personal logs. Then she moved all the projects around on the disks. Only leaving him with those files for the projects he still had to go over. She took the other disks and reports to file away later. She left, doing as she promised.

When they returned to the lab, Rand suggested he play with Mushu… And Roman knew that was what she meant. He’d have to change his excuse for playing with the lizard. He went over to Mushu’s enclosure and opened the top, playing with the lizard while she sorted them. He put his hand down by Mushu and the little lizard climbed onto his hand. Eventually he set Mushu back in the enclosure and sat down to work.

Two hours later, Rand was sick of tossing and turning and if she didn’t settle she would end up with an angry brother. She slipped on her robe and down the corridor to her office and tried to work. She was tired, but careful that she didn’t make mistakes. She wanted to go down to the labs, but she had told Roman she would sleep. She couldn’t, but didn’t want to worry him.

Rand

Roman was glad Rand was sleeping. He spent the night working on the second project. He was using the PaDD and the computer console to compare the notes from the project, as well as look up anything he needed more information on. He was nearly halfway done when he fell asleep at his desk around 0500, his head resting next to the PaDD.

~ Roman

Rand worked on the final recommendations Roman had finished for a couple of hours. Then, still not tired enough to sleep, she slipped into Roman’s quarters. She let Pipkin out and spent some time letting her play. Rand tried to sleep, a couple of hours, but instead she ended up wearing the rabbit out, and at 0430 Rand gave up, placed Pipkin in her cage, and went to get ready for the day.

Franks appeared early in the lab. He had some tests that finished running at an odd hour. He saw Alden working, still, but didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t odd to see him working long hours. It was odd to see him fall asleep. He stopped Rand on her way in. “Rand, what’s going on?” He nodded toward the sleeping CSO. Rand shook her head, “I’m not at liberty to say, but the work may take awhile. You may need to step in for science.” Franks had kept the other officers from noticing, even sending Scott elsewhere so she had no gossip fodder.

Rand walked over and sat down next to him. It didn’t look like he was done, and she hated to wake him, but he couldn’t sleep in the lab. She set a cup of tea near him, the normal one, not the extra sweet one. “Cmdr?” She touched his hand lightly and then leaned in, lowering her voice, “Roman, wake up.”

Rand

Roman’s sleep was light, but the movement in the labs didn’t wake him. Somewhere, he heard Rand’s “Commander?” But it wasn’t enough to wake him. What did wake him was her touch. It made him jolt slightly as he woke up and heard her, in a quiet voice, still trying to wake him. He looked up slowly. “What time is it?” He kept his voice low, hoping no one besides her had noticed he’d been sleeping.

~ Roman

She reached over to the computer, saved the work and shut it off, putting the data disk into the PaDD he was working on. Still equally quiet, “0515. I think a refill of tea is needed. Perhaps breakfast?” He needed a change into a fresh uniform as well. The one he had on was wrinkled and decidedly not crisp. She tipped her head toward the door and got up putting the cup of tea in his hand before leaving the lab. Fully expecting him to go with her as she moved down the corridor to the mess and the smell of food being cooked.

Rand

Work was more important than tea. But not the uniform. His uniform was wrinkled and his hair looked nearly as bad as if he’d gone to bed. So when she tippedbher head toward the door he stood, taking the tea with him as he followed her out of the lab. She headed directly toward the mess - Roman would rather his quarters but he followed her anyway.

~ Roman

She grabbed a single tray and two plates to go and walked out with them, heading back to deck 3 and his quarters. She preferred his quarters to the mess, but she had to get food first. She set the tray down when they entered and let a very happy Pipkin out of her cage, who immediately ran over to Roman demanding attention, and if she didn’t get it she started banging her back feet. Rand grinned and shook her head. Pipkin would keep him busy for awhile. She sat down by the table to eat. She was hungry, he probably didn’t know he was, but she could hear the grumbling of his stomach anyway. He needed to eat. Pipkin was readily making herself known and Rand laughed. “I think she missed you.”

Rand

Roman sat where they usually sat to eat together. As soon as he was sitting, Pipkin was at his feet demanding attention. He bent down to pet the bunny and play with her. Like Rand predicted, despite how little he had been eating he did not feel hungry. He was tired, and he looked it, but he’d be back on shift soon. He smiled at Rand’s comment. “I’d take her into the lab with me but Mr Wyvern would scare the daylights out of her.”

~ Roman

“He would and we don’t want that. But you worked all night. You can go in an hour late.” She knew he was going right back; he wanted this over with. She looked at him a long time, red dry eyes, the stiff way he held his shoulders and the way he held his head, like his neck hurt. She put her fork down and moved behind him again, and began to work the soreness and knots out. “Pipkin has to be taken care of too. I can get all the reports together and bring them here. Eat, shower, fresh uniform, and play with Pipkin. Your eyes need a break and your shoulders too.”

Rand

Roman shook his head. “I need to get back. These projects won’t review themselves.” He picked at his food, taking small bites here and there. His eyes were bothering him but he didn’t want to admit it so he resisted the urge to rub him. And his neck hurt. A lot of computer use always did that. But he just wanted these projects off his desk. He didn’t want to sleep till they were done. Rand began massaging his back and shoulders, trying to work away some of the tension. It hurt more while she was massaging but it didn’t take long before it felt better. She was right about Pipkin, and his uniform, so he nodded. He could do that and be back in the lab by 0630, maybe 0700.

~ Roman

Rand worked until his shoulders relaxed and he could turn his head without hissing. But she didn’t fail to notice how red his eyes were. Then she hugged him. “Eat, I’ll be right back.” Rand left and was back frequently with what looked like a small palm sized pillow. She sat back down and placed it on the table between them. It was pleasantly ice cold. “After you eat, put it on your eyes. 10 minutes. It’s eucalyptus and mint. It will help.” She grinned at him. “Another of my grandmother’s ‘cures’.” The breakfast wasn’t heavy, a choice of fruit, yogurt, or toast with a choice of spread. She would prefer to give him a full breakfast, but he’d never eat it. She finished and stood up. “I’m going to go collect the morning reports and then I’ll be back.” She paused, “It doesn’t matter if it’s here, your office, or the lab as long as they get done. If we do them here, Pipkin can stay out for a bit longer.” Oh yes Rand was shamelessly using Pipkin. Then she left, it took about 45 minutes.

Rand

Roman rolled his head and shoulders after Rand finished working them. His muscles were a lot looser. She hugged him and then left. It seemed like she left far too quickly. Then she was back in just a few minutes with… A doll-sized pillow. It made more sense when she explained it. It was ice-cold, for his eyes. After she left for the morning reports, he picked at his breakfast a little longer and managed to eat a few bites of fruit and a little yoghurt. Then he put the little pillow thing over his eyes like she said and waited and let them rest. He’d rather get down to the lab, but… Pipkin was giving him ‘cute’ eyes and he couldn’t say no to her. So he stayed and played with her until Rand returned.

~ Roman

Pipkin seemed to be in cahoots with Rand and kept Roman busy, or simply hunkered down on his chest. Rand returned and was glad to see Roman was still there. Pipkin was going to get a whole carrot to herself.

Roman wished Rand hadn’t taught her that. He needed to get to work. But when he tried to get up to leave, Pipkin settled in on his chest with seemingly no intention to move. It annoyed him but she was too cute to make her move.

“So I think Franks is looking to move up his career. He finished the science dept reports. I quote, ‘Cmdr Alden worked all day and night on a project he can’t discuss. So I figure someone needs it quickly and thought I could help.’ So that’s done.” She sat down at his desk and then passed him the science dept reports because she knew he would want to go over them. In short order she had the XO reports prepped as well for him to finish and moved away from the computer so he could use it.

Rand

Roman looked at her when she said Franks had already finished all of the science departmental reports. “All of them?” He looked through them when she passed them to him. There wasn’t anything he needed to do with them. Once the XO reports were ready he moved over to the computer to finish them. He worked through them quickly but thoroughly, not wanting to make mistakes.

~ Roman

Rand shrugged, “He was already working when we left at 0500. He probably started right then. They aren’t completely done, not the way you do them, but he’s getting better. The first time he filled in, he over did the reports and spent the whole day on them. Now he is over compensating back the other way.” Rand shrugged, he would figure it out. Rand sat on the bed, PaDD in her lap and worked on the Captain’s reports. It was faster at a computer but she had learned how to make do with working just from a PaDD. The other choice was to go to her office and she would rather stay until he left to go back to the labs.

Rand