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 Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side - sim: Honoring the Ardent
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Roman picked himself a small piece of fruit and nibbled on it, finally letting the topic move on. “What do you want to do with the rest of the night? Pack more of your things? Or relax here?” He’d already sipped away nearly half of his bedtime tea and he looked tired.

~ Roman

Rand would rather relax, she didn’t want to be up for a few more hours moving when they might be up later unable to sleep. It wasn’t that Rand had an over abundance of things, but a lot of it was related to her job, like the pantry and the extra uniforms and equipment for Rogers and all the files and data disks. She kept a lot in her quarters because her office was so tiny. She would have to figure out what to do with it all. “I’d rather stay here with you.” She started to say unless he really wanted to watch her kill Randy tonight. But since he had changed the subject she wasn’t bringing it back up. “We can watch a movie or read?” Roman enjoyed reading, so did she, so that was fine with her, “or we can just go to bed.”

Rand

“Let’s read,” Roman decided. He finished off the tea, grabbed one more piece of fruit, and then grabbed his PaDD and sat down on the bed. “Any suggestions?” He’d worked through his own reading list. He often read late at night when he couldn’t sleep. He had forgotten about watching Rand kill Randy, Rand wearing one of those nightgowns had been a far more interesting matter.

~ Roman

Rand picked up her own PaDD before sitting down next to him. She switched the data disk out. There was no space on the internal memory of her PaDD for personal files. She scrolled through, but the only reading material was a couple of play scripts her parents had forwarded and two or three of her books. “I don’t have much of a selection. Mostly scripts.” She grinned as Pipkin got on the bed and sat up trying to see what the PaDDs we’re all about. “What do you think, Pipkin?” Rand asked in that voice reserved only for animals and scratched her ears.

Rand

“I’ll pick something out of the ship’s memory bank,” Roman replied, tapping at the PaDD’s screen. Pipkin hopped up and Roman made space for her to settle in. He started reading the book he’d picked, but it wasn’t quite to his interests and after a while he found himself having trouble focusing on it. So he leaned over to Rand and asked, “What are you reading?”

~ Roman

As Rand was reading, she was tipping her head from side to side, her mouth moving as she read, but no sound coming out, her hands making small expressive movements. She stopped suddenly and looked at him like she had forgotten where she was. “Oh, it’s She’s a Thing of Beauty.” She smiled at his look because she knew he didn’t know it.

“It’s a new play, not even in production yet. It’s about Cpt. Erika Hernandez, commanding officer of Starship Columbia, NX-02. Dlovsnej Theater Company is producing it. So far the script is very good.”

Rand

“Sounds like it will be popular, everyone loves a good early space exploration story.” Roman commented. “Were you doing the lines?” He knew the answer was yes, he’d seen the way she had been moving her hands about, making expressive movements to go with the words she had been mouthing.

~ Roman

Rand nodded with a grin, “I was. Habit, I can’t read one without taking on one of the roles.” She waved an open hand at her PaDD. “Everyone knows about Admiral Archer, and he did do amazing things, but Hernandez was out there too. She accomplished so much.” She set it in her lap and looked at him. “The director sent it to my parents…he…” She sighed, “Wants me to take the part. But what are you reading?”

Rand

Roman smiled. He was going to ask which part she was reading for, but then she said they wanted her to take the part and he decided it wasn’t a good idea. He showed her his screen, “The Klingon Defense. It’s a story about a fictional war between the Federation and the Klingons, back in the early days of human space travel. But it’s…not very good. It reads like an action novel where the plot doesn’t make any sense.”

~ Roman

Rand wouldn’t have minded if he asked. She still missed it sometimes, and it made her sad knowing what she gave up. However, recently she wasn’t missing it so much, and she never minded talking with Roman about it. It felt good to be able to talk about, and know she could share it without being expected to go back.

Rand scrunched up her nose. “Action as a part of the plot isn’t bad but as the only thing action doesn’t stand on its own. If it’s no good, don’t read it. I still need to read DaVinci Code.”

Rand

“That’s an action novel with a good plot.” Roman said, meaning the DaVinci Code. He gestured to the screen. “What Klingon have you ever heard of giving up? The whole plot depends on Klingons retreating, it makes no sense at all.” He shrugged and set the PaDD down. “I suppose I just don’t know what else to read.” Roman remembered then that Randy would read lines with her. It would be something to do and he was sure she’d like it. “Why don’t I read that with you? Like you and Randy do?”

~ Roman

“If the book is as good as the movie, I am sure it will be a favorite.” She considered his question, trying to remember her history of combat class and shook her head, “None.” Her eyes kind of lit up at his suggestion, “Really? Are you sure? I’ll try to behave and not go back too much.” She was excited.
Randy was used to it, that as she read she would become more and more familiar with a part and want to go back and try previous lines again.

The first few scenes were fun, or Rand thought so, pretending to be a young child. The scenes focused on establishing Hernandez’s relationship with her father and her love of the stars. Rand tried, really tried to not go back, but she obviously was enjoying not just the story but studying the part as they read, and pointing out notations in the script that indicated details about emotion, tone, actions, special effects, and other minutia. Her voice and posture adjusted as she read, bringing in more of the personality of the characters as they read.

Roman would read whatever she asked him to. It was awkward for him at first, but as they went on, he got more and more into the lines he read for her. He didn’t seem to get annoyed or mind at all whenever she made them go back so she could redo a line or a part. It wasn’t the story Roman was enjoying, the story was good, but it was watching and listening to Rand that was the best. She was having so much fun reading them and it was interesting listening to her.

Rand suddenly yawned and looked at the time. It was late. “Oh…” she grinned sheepishly and blushed, “Sorry, I can do this for hours and not realize.”

Rand

Roman looked at the time and shrugged. “That’s okay. It was fun.” He yawned too, he was already tired earlier. “We should go to sleep though or we’ll both be tired all day tomorrow.”

~ Roman