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 (6) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Mushu moved forward a little on Roman’s shoulder and grabbed the leaf with his tongue, and this time the leaf came off. Mushu munched the leaf until it was gone, then looked expectantly at Rand. When Roman looked up, Rand was bright pink again. Roman had grown used to it and he grinned a playful half-smile. He wasn’t surprised when she thrust the makeshift toy at him and left to get herself lunch. While she was gone he settled Mushu back into his enclosure and sat down at his desk. Then she returned and he reached for one of the cups of tea.

~ Roman

Rand sat down behind his desk with him. When he was buy being aCO, XO, and CSO they had put a small table behind his desk, away from all the lab equipment, so he could eat while he worked. So it was there that Rand set her food. She opened the tin to some kind of overly stacked sandwich. It looked good, but Rand was just too tired to eat. She picked at the fruit that was with it. It wasn’t that she wasn’t hungry, it just seemed too much effort to chew the food. When she realized she was staring at the food but not seeing it, she realized it was a bad idea to have sat down. She really had to wake up because she didn’t want Roman to know she hadn’t actually been sleeping when he sent her off from the lab. He’d just feel bad and it wasn’t his fault. At this point it was because she was so tired her nerves were restless and she couldn’t settle to sleep.

Rand

Roman glanced over at her as she picked at the fruit next to a large sandwich. He elbowed her softly. “Aren’t you hungry?” He knew it was a tad hypocritical but he didn’t want her following his poor habits, that was why he sent her off from the lab when it got too late. Of course, he still thought she was actually sleeping. He’d have told Randy if he knew she wasn’t. After all, she told Randy about him.

~ Roman

“Huh?” Rand looked up when she rocked gently with his elbow. She smiled at him. “Sorry, I was just thinking.” She had…while she was dozing off against her better judgement. She made an effort to actually eat the fruit. She managed about half the sandwich. In her defense it was really big. Time to do something other than sit there. She got up taking the rest remnants of her meal back to the mess. Walking back, she rolled her shoulders and rubbed at a crick in her neck. She has to get sleep before it became a problem.

Returning to the lab she headed towards Nibbles with a food pack. She had to feed her before anything else. “How is the antivenom coming?”

Rand

Roman finished his tea in record time, trying to keep himself awake. He wasn’t quite as tired as he’d been the last week but six hours and a nightmare hardly made up for a week of no sleep. Then he was back to work. “We’re running theoretical trials. Essentially guessing the likelihood of how safe and effective it is. It’s the last step before it goes off for real, medical testing. It’ll take about another week.” He replied to her comment. “And then that is the last thing I need from Mr Wyvern.” Then he could keep the cobra, hand him off to another researcher or a sanctuary, or put him to sleep. Roman preferred any of the other options over the last one. But he needed the lab space and if he managed to give Mr Wyvern to someone else, it was a huge liability off his shoulders.

~ Roman

Rand started to open Nibbles cage without putting the spare sleeve on. Catching herself she quickly scattered the seeds she was holding and closed the lid. She rolled up her own sleeve and then rummaged in the drawer for the spare, then went back to interacting with her. “Is someone else going to work with him?” Nibbles was busy searching for the food Rand had scattered and wasn’t even interested in her hand for the moment. Roman had mentioned once the options for the animals and it made Rand sad. That’s why she couldn’t be a real part of the science team, she refused to not get attached. If they tried to put Nibbles down, she’d probably steal her.

Rand

For Roman, it was a sad but mandatory part of his job. He wouldn’t admit it, though, but he’d broken his own rules for Nibbles and Mushu. When their time came, even he would steal them. “I don’t know yet. I’ve got to find someone to take him,” he replied. Some researchers might be interested in the snake. Likely not on a starship, Roman was one of few insane enough to keep such a large and dangerous animal on a starship. Roman made a point to only give his animals to people known to treat them well. But there were research facilities on a few planets within reach of the Sentinel. Alien life sanctuaries too.

~ Roman

Rand closed the lid and turned to look at him. “So he’s leaving the ship?” She looked over to the snake enclosure, which with the set up couldn’t actually be seen from where she was. She thought it would be kinder to send him home, but maybe not if he had become too domesticated. Which sent a shiver down her spine. If Wyvern was too tame what were wild ones like? She didn’t want to think about it. “What will you study next?” She knew he was studying all the animals, but he had been focused on Mr. Wyvern. And of course on Mushu.

Rand

Roman nodded. It was one of those situations where Rand would be able to tell Roman was going to miss the snake, but not anyone else. “He can’t be sent home. He’s been handled far too much by people. But we’ll find him somewhere suitable. Might even be happier, if he has more space there.” Mr Wyvern wasn’t like Nibbles, he would always have predatory instincts and never be fully tame. Like old Earth people who kept tigers or andacondas and ended up getting killed by them despite owning them for months or years beforehand. But it was being handled at all by people that made animals unfit to be returned to the wild as if nothing had happened. They were no longer used to finding their own food, to the changing of seasons, to the struggle to get away from predators (and yes, disturbingly, there were predators for Mr Wyvern on Aldaria).

That sounded wonderful, for Mr Wyvern, to have more space. He was a very large snake to begin with and his enclosure was as big as space would allow, but that wasn’t saying much. “He would probably enjoy the opportunity to scare more people than just me.” She turned back to the cage, Nibbles was sitting in her back legs sniffing towards the lid and waiting for attention. “If you need me to draft any inquiries or pull data on the different facilities, I always have a little free time every day.” She really didn’t expect him to ask, Roman was particular about his animals and would handle it himself. It was just an excuse to spend extra time with him.

Roman nodded and then smiled. “Your help is always welcome here.” He knew it was an excuse to spend time with him, the same way having her play with Nibbles had been an excuse to spend time with her.

He answered her question first with a nod of the head towards the goo lizard. “I’m still working with her goo. We know it burns like acid in contact with animal skin. We’re looking for other properties, if there are potential medical applications, and like Mr Wyvern, antivenom, ways to stop the spread once it’s been absorbed through the skin.” Then there would still be the chinzilla family, Nibbles, and Mushu. The chinzilla family, Roman would soon have to remove all but one of them. He could either keep the original mother or one of the babies. Nibbles and Mushu he still had work to do with but he was putting it off so he could keep them. If asked he’d say the venomous animals’ research was more pressing, to find antivenoms.

~ Roman

Rand nodded. She knew there was still a lot of work and she was just curious. Roman seemed some better if not cranky from Randy. Or maybe she was too tired to notice, but she didn’t think so. Soon enough her break was over and she left the lab. Finding extra work to do, in order to stay awake through evening reports, was problematic. There was nothing extra to do. And a nap during her afternoon break seemed risky. She may not wake up.

Rand

Roman spent the rest of his day doing anything but the last project. He hadn’t even looked at it yet. And that was why when 1700 rolled around he stayed in the lab, working. If he was ‘busy’ he didn’t have to do it yet. So he made himself busy. Rand wasn’t usually done until at least 1800 and Roman would rather be working than be alone.

~ Roman

For whatever reason the reports arrived all electronically that evening. Normally Rand would have been thankful, and she was. However that meant she was stuck in her tiny office. Then after delivering the reports, she was back in her officer. She dozed off in her chair staring at the screen, before her headed nodded forward and jerked her awake. She ended up wedging the chair into the only other small space (next to the door, thank goodness it was a sliding door) in the room. She was standing up, bouncing from foot to foot, slightly bent forward to type. She wanted Scottish coffee, sans whiskey, warm pajamas and a pillow. Unless Roman couldn’t sleep, then she would stay up with him.

When she was finally done she had to wrestle the chair back into place. She stopped at Roman’s quarters to see if he had eaten yet, but he wasn’t there. Holding off on changing she headed to the lab. If she had to eat he had to try.

Rand