Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side - sim: Lost in Thought

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side - sim: Lost in Thought

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

(snip)
“I think he was a little impressed by my hydration,” Roman grinned. “He said the blood sugar looked good, that’s why he offered the medication where he didn’t earlier.” He already remembered about dinner. He still felt stuffed from lunch. He felt like trying to eat dinner was going to overfill him. So he was putting it off by sitting with her.

~ Roman

Rand grinned, “I’m impressed with your hydration.” She really was, that was a lot of water in a very short amount of time. Rand really wasn’t hungry either, in fact her stomach was all twisted up and would probably protest anything she put in it. She was still upset, still guilty, from talking to Randy. She really was grateful to Roman but she also wished she didn’t have to talk about it. Randy had done exactly what she knew he would do. He wasn’t angry with her because she hadn’t done anything wrong, nor forgave her because she hadn’t done anything to incur the blame. It didn’t help. Randy didn’t push for more though, which wasn’t like him. Instead he’d just hugged her and told her he knew what was wrong and explained she wasn’t to blame and then let her cry. Then he brought her back.

Rand needed to do something. If she sat there in the quiet, warm and comfortable, with his arms around her, she’d doze off. She’d either escape for awhile or have dreams about it. She’d rather neither of those options, instead to stay in the present with Roman. She really didn’t feel the need to do something, she enjoyed the peace and silence, she just didn’t want to doze off. Roman hadn’t wanted to watch another movie because his head hurt, and the music had ended awhile ago. “Have you ever attended a Reader’s Theater?”

Rand

Roman wasn’t tired, he didn’t feel like dozing off, but he was warm and relaxed, more so than he had been in the last several weeks. He looked happy and content, like he was finally getting a break from the grief and the memories. He looked down at Rand when she spoke and then shook his head, “No, what is it?”

~ Roman

“It’s performed in a theatre. Sometimes there is a backdrop, sometimes a blank curtain. On the stage are chairs and music stands. The actors, usually wear black skirts or trousers and white shirts. Very rarely do they wear costumes. The script is placed on the stands and they read the script. Acting with their voices.” Rand leaned back as she described it to him. “A narrator describes the scene what they characters are physically doing, what they look like. And simple sound effects are used. It replies heavily on the skill of the writer and the voices of the actors to convey the depth of the story. I have some that are recorded. You mentioned you didn’t want to watch the movie because your head hurt. I thought maybe we could just listen if you felt up for it.”

Rand

Roman listened as Rand described it, nodding occasionally. When she finished, Roman smiled. “Alright, we can do that. I’ll tell you if I need a break.” Then his smile turned more playful, “I can’t wait to finish dinner, so you can do your end of our deal.”

~ Roman

Rand flushed and looked anywhere but at him, she didn’t know how other women flirted without getting embarrassed. She had to search for something to say because she couldn’t just leave it at that. Well she could but she wasn’t. In the end it wasn’t great. “Don’t get ahead of yourself you haven’t eaten yet. Didn’t you tell me Elbbirt said to keep your blood sugar up? So what overly sweetened tea or juice. I know! Dessert. We’ll add desert to dinner.”

“Elbbirt said juice or tea with extra sugar would do fine, dessert wasn’t part of the deal,” Roman said, smiling. “I’m already stuffed, dinner is going to be plenty.”

It was worth a shot. She grinned at him. “You didn’t specify. You just said Elbbirt wants you to keep your blood sugar up. I thought dessert would be nice choice. But if it’s juice…” She leaned up and gave him a lingering kiss. She was relieved he was okay and actually teasing her again…despite her embarrassment. Then she got up moving to the counter and came back with a glass of juice. “Here you go.”

Rand searched around for the last bag she had brought and found it pushed under the desk. It wasn’t like her to not put her things away and leave them out. The last few days, weeks, had been horrible. She opened it and searched for the data disk she wanted. She paused when she saw the picture of her grandfather. She quickly shoved it in the bottom of the bag. She did not want to be sad. Then she shoved the bag into the closet.

She took the disk, inserted it into the computer. It began to play Sherlock Holmes Last Case by Charlie Cook. Then she curled up on the bed with him, closed her eyes and just listened.

Rand

Roman lay back, resting his head on his pillow, and then let her curl up with him. He put his arm around her, hugging her to him, and listened with her, closing his eyes. It was a Sherlock mystery and he found himself trying to solve the mystery before the genius detective… Unsuccessfully.

~ Roman

The nice thing about it was the story was only an hour so it wasn’t too complicated. The story was more centered on Holmes and Watson hashing over the events and clues than action. And despite it being in her collection she hadn’t heard it yet. She hoped since it was only an hour it wouldn’t make Roman have to think too hard and give him a headache. She knew it had to be frustrating for him. She hoped the medicine worked quickly.

Rand

It didn’t give him much of a headache, not as much as the movie. And mostly because he was focusing too hard trying to beat Sherlock in solving it. It was frustrating. The meds had better help fast, or he wouldn’t be doing much even if he could return to work. What was he supposed to do, lie there and do nothing? At least it was with Rand. He could stay there with her forever. But when the story was over, he said, “I liked it. It was interesting. But I do want to get dinner over with.”

~ Roman

“I was hoping you would.” Rand opened her eyes but didn’t sit up right away. She was comfortable and had no desire to move or disrupt the moment. But her stomach fluttered as butterflies took wing. She agreed and it was worth it to have Roman taking care of himself. She hoped that forcing himself to eat and drink wouldn’t just help the concussion but make him return to his normal routines. Pull him away from the deadly depression he had been in. Just because it was worth it didn’t mean she wasn’t nervous about it, and wanting to put it off. That wasn’t fair though. Roman hadn’t hesitated to meet his end. She flushed remembering the way he grinned at her when he finished the second bottle after lunch.

She let her self smile, adding a bit of laughter to her voice. “Over with? Roman you sound like I’m torturing you.” She waved toward the table, “If you want to get up you know where the food is.” She needed to eat too, she did, but she didn’t want to.

Rand

Roman smiled at her, and his voice did that high pitched English thing as he said, “You are!” Then he hugged her, gave her a quick kiss, and stood out of bed, leaning on the table for support. The dizziness was already improving. “You need to eat too, come on.” If he was eating more, he wasn’t letting her get away without eating anything.

~ Roman

Rand giggled at his tone. “I must have failed jailor school. I’m forcing you to eat, food that you like!” After he kissed her and curled up against her pillow. She didn’t feel like getting up. She sighed making quite the production of having to get up. “Okay, okayokayokay. I’m getting up.” She walked over the table and grinned. A friend chicken filet, mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. She wasn’t sure who picked the meal (it wasn’t Randy), but she thought it was great. Roman would never eat all that. He was probably hungry enough, but didn’t realize it. “Do you want tea?” She was grinning just a little too much.

Rand

Roman looked down at the food with a playfully troubled look. How was he going to eat all this? He already felt full. He’d be too nauseous from overeating to enjoy the gown at this rate. With a stubborn grunt he picked up his plate and sat down at the table. “Tea, yes. To wash this down with.” It smelled good, at least. It was heavier food than he’d had in all those weeks.

~ Roman