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

(snip)

Roman was acting intentionally oblivious to her embarrassment as he held up the nightgown by the shoulders as if contemplating. “He’s right, you would look gorgeous in this. Though he wrong on the other part. Green definitely suits you better than purple.” He was still wearing that look as he stared at the nightgown thinking about it.

~ Roman

Rand didn’t think she could breathe. What was he doing? Turning it this way and that - inspecting it? She swallowed, not even aware of what she was saying, just talking. “You haven’t seen the purple.” And she waved toward the closet. “It’s in the bag.” If Roman was hoping for an invitation he got one. It was more lilac than purple and really would be a wonderful color against her eyes and contrasting to her hair.

Rand

After all the secrecy, Roman was a bit surprised. He headed to the closet, hung up the green with a spare hanger from his closet, and then pulled the purple out of the bag and held it up, comparing to the green. “Well, it is nicer than I thought it would be, but I still prefer the green.” Probably because it reminded him of Valentine’s day, though the nightgown was far… More revealing, than her dress had been.

~ Roman

Why was he looking at them? … That was a dumb question. Why wouldn’t he look…but…oh lords and ladies she told him to…Rand couldn’t breathe. She’d told him to look at it. What was she thinking? She didn’t flirt like that, she didn’t flirt at all! What was Roman thinking? Well the look on his face told her enough. She wasn’t blushing anymore and she wasn’t looking at him either. She was trying to breathe, was it working? Pipkin banged her back feet next to Rand’s chair. “I…I…di…don’t think…he’d give…to you.” She was stammering and really quiet. Why was this so difficult for her? She hated it.

Rand