Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side - sim: The Essence of a Yeoman

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side - sim: The Essence of a Yeoman

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side - sim: The Essence of a Yeoman
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Rand was in their quarters. Rarely did she work from her office anymore, unless Roman was asleep or she needed access to the materials/equipment in there. She worked in their quarters. She liked being there, she liked that she belonged there. She was in the process of compiling her evening reports before she had to meet with Rogers. When the door opened, she looked up from where she was working at the desk, Pipkin on her lap, and smiled. “Hi.”

Rand

Roman smiled, not nearly as stressed by the letter as he had been. On the other hand, the idea of marriage was now stuck in his head and that made him nervous as he sat on the bed and then lay back. “Hey. How’s your day been? Busy?” It was a casual question he often asked when he first saw her after their shift.

~ Roman

She let Pipkin down who ran directly for the bed and hopped up. “Not too horribly busy. I think I’m getting a headache from staring at the computer all day.” She stifled a yawn and stretched her neck from side to side. “I’ll be glad when today is over.” Rand didn’t mind the odd and long hours. She liked her work for the most part, but today she was tired, probably the headache. She got up making her way over to sit down next to him for just a minute before she had to leave.

Rand

When Rand sat down by him, Roman rubbed her shoulders. “You’re almost done, then we can relax the rest of the night, hm?” He said softly from behind her. “I can have dinner ready for you when you get back.” His hours were more regular than hers, 0700 to 1700 every day, unless he chose to go early or stay late. Oftentimes he stayed until Rand was done and let her come get him.

~ Roman

Rand’s chin tipped forward towards her chest, stretching her neck and shoulders as Roman’s hands worked at the tension. Rand smiled softly, “You keep that up I’ll be relaxed before I finish my shift for the day.” Rand usually grabbed dinner because she was near the galley when doing her rounds, or grabbing something for Rogers. She hadn’t needed to that day and the thought of not having to run all the way down to deck 9 and back sounded marvelous. “Thank you.” Then after a few minutes the computer trilled at her that it had finished whatever she had asked it to do. With a sigh that was more a groan she turned and kissed him, then grabbed her stuff and left.

Rand

Roman smiled, doing his best to work some of the tension away before she had to go again. “Good,” he said, his voice still soft and quiet. “Then you’ll be nice and relaxed tonight.” He rubbed her shoulders until the computer dinged, and then he kissed her back with a little sigh of his own. Once she was gone, he went down and got dinner for both of them and brought it up, setting the table so it was ready when she got back. Then he sat and waited for her like he always did.

~ Roman

It was too bad she still had this last little bit to do. Roman’s hands had just about worked the tension completely out. It was also good she left when she did, or she would have fallen asleep. It really didn’t take long to finish, but the time seemed to drag for Rand. She stopped at her office to finalize the reports because she knew if she went back to their quarters she was liable to fall asleep before she finished.

The door hissed open as she walked in. She plopped onto the bed, hugged him, and squeezed her eyes shut and then blinked them rapidly trying to relieve the burning and tired feeling.

Rand

Roman hugged her tight and smiled. “That was faster than I expected.” He noticed the way she blinked and thought a moment… What was her usual remedy for that? The ‘doll pillow’? “Do you want me to get that little eye pillow thing? You look like your eyes are bothering you.” He nodded towards the table. “Or we could eat first, the food is ready.”

~ Roman

“They are. It wasn’t a busy day, but…” she’d just stared at the computer for too long, head and shoulders hunched as she’d worked. Now everything was stiff and ached, from her eyes all the way down her back. It made her tired, and she yawned. As wonderful as that little pillow sounded, “Food first, otherwise I won’t eat, I’ll fall asleep.” With that in mind she slipped her uniform boots off and slipped into the bathroom. The water could be heard running from the sink. Rand splashed cold water over her face, the coolness helped. Next to go was the tightly wound bun, she pulled the pins out, putting them into a small bag on the shelf. A black soft cotton sleeveless, scoop neck tank top and full-length loose flowing pajama pants. It was comfortable and that was all Rand cared about. It didn’t take her long, just a couple of minutes, if that, before she was sitting at the table staring at the food trying to decide if she’d stay awake long enough to eat it. But it smelled amazing whatever it was. She didn’t recognize it.

Rand

Roman sat at the table while she was in the bathroom, but waited for her to come out before eating. Once she’d sat down, he started eating. She looked tired, he was sure she’d fall asleep once they were finished. He didn’t mention the letter - he wasn’t meant to have seen it anyway. His thoughts wandered to what Randy had said. He hadn’t seemed completely serious at first, but as they had conversed, the joking tone had vanished. Roman’s eyes drifted to her hand, as if imaging what it might look like with a ring on it.

~ Roman

If Rand had known Roman had seen the letter she would have told him about it. The truth was she didn’t think much of the offers. She knew Jenson meant them but they weren’t appealing to her even before she and Roman started dating. It was at this point, they came so frequently they meant nothing, but on the flip side she’d notice when they stopped and worry that something had happened to Jenson. That was as far as it went. She wouldn’t have cared if Roman did read it. It wasn’t a secret, and she’d left it out. However, she didn’t know she’d left it out or that he had seen it. It had already been put out of her mind, though it had made her think about a few things. That was what had kept her at the computer all day. She had a solid plan now, but maybe tomorrow after the headache was gone.

Roman was looking at her funny, and kept doing it. She had no idea why. She glanced down at her shirt, did she spill food? Nope. Did she have food on her face? She picked up her napkin and used it. Why was he looking at her like that? It wasn’t his Robinhood look, that made her blush and she knew what he was thinking. She didn’t know what this was. He kept glancing at her hands too. She hid them in her lap and looked at them, had she gotten scratched from Nibbles and not noticed and reported. That would make him upset. Why was he looking at her like that?! Eventually there was only one thing to do, and that was ask. She was going to have to ask even if she didn’t want to. But it was okay, it was Roman, she could ask him anything. “Do I have food in my teeth or something? You’re looking at me really weird.”

Rand

A gold ring, or a silver one? Which did Rand prefer? He realized he didn’t even know. Maybe he could find a way to covertly ask. Or simply ask Randy. Would she change her name to match his - Miranda Alden, or would he change his? It wasn’t traditional to do it that way, but he wouldn’t mind, he had no intention of returning to his family and so their thoughts on the matter didn’t have any weight to him. Would things change, between them? Or would they stay largely the same? Randy had pointed out that they were already living together. Roman’s gaze drifted away from her hand and up to her face, taking in her features. There was no doubt he wanted to marry her. He just had never decided when. Or how to ask.

He’d never thought much about marriage, he’d always considered himself too married to his work for a real relationship. Rand had quickly proven that wrong, entirely unexpectedly. He wasn’t sure what he’d want his own wedding to look like. Traditional? His parents would want that, but did he? And how should he propose? He’d simply never thought about it. Nothing public, of course, Rand would hate that, and he didn’t want her to hate it.

Finally Rand spoke, he hadn’t noticed her questioning look, and it shocked him out of his thoughts. “Wh-what? No, no food. Nothing at all. You look lovely, truly. I was… I suppose I was just lost in thought.” He replied, hoping she didn’t pry further. He didn’t want to bring it up with her before he was ready.

~ Roman

Rand nodded. They weren’t talking about anything medical so Rand had absolutely no reason to think that Roman was avoiding or hiding something. She flushed a pale shade of pink when he said she looked lovely. It was pajamas, she wasn’t sure about that, but she wasn’t going to argue with him over it. “Did Mr Wyvern get transferred?” She’d missed the whole thing. Less out of sentimentality and more because her presence seemed to provoke the snake and she didn’t want to do that while they were moving him. It didn’t take long before Rand was putting very little effort into eating. It wasn’t that it wasn’t good or she wasn’t hungry. She was just too tired to put the effort into it, and a rather noticeably loud yawn escaped her and she put her fork down and shook her head. She rubbed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I think I better go to bed.”

Rand