Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: The Problem Family

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Side sim: The Problem Family

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: The Problem Family
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Roman didn’t notice her until nearly an hour later. She was playing with Nibbles and he smiled. “How long have you been there?” He asked as he started closing up his notes and cleaning up his area.

~ Roman

Rand glanced over at him briefly and back to the mouse. Lately it had become an issue to take her eyes off of Nibbles. The mouse was determined to either get out or just stay with Rand. She wasn’t sure which, and would try to climb. “Almost an hour.” She reached in and tried to pick Nibbles up, who was having none of that, so Rand, to Nibbles irritation, just slipped the sleeve off. At that point Nibbles was willing to let go of it and Rand was able to remove it while she distracted Nibbles with her favorite berries. She began cleaning up, jotting down her notes, and then washed her hands and arms, anywhere Nibbles touched. Rand didn’t want Pipkin or Nibbles getting each other sick because she was careless. “Making any progress?” she asked Roman as he cleaned up. He must have for as furiously as he’d been taking notes, or at least on the edge of progress.

Rand

“Sorry,” he apologized as he finished cleaning up and then went to her. “I’m studying one of the components that makes the goo lizard… gooey. One of the components of the acidic goo she coats herself in. But no, I haven’t made much progress on it yet.” He said. “Are you ready for dinner?” There was another good way to keep his mind off it, spending time with Rand.

~ Roman

“Don’t apologize, it’s okay.” Ever since Mr Wyvern had left, Rand knew that Roman was eager to move on to the next project with the animals. Being CSO and XO meant that he hadn’t gotten to get started right away on his own next project. So now that he had cleared his work load she wasn’t surprised to find him working late to get started on the next project. “I am, and Chef made cheesy potato soup today. I haven’t had it yet, but I’ve heard it’s amazing.”

Rand

Roman nodded, heading towards the galley with her. “The ship is lucky to have such a talented chef. Some of my previous assignments, the whole crew lost a few pounds avoiding the food.” He said. The galley was not completely empty but emptier than it would be at a more normal dinner time. “Let’s get our soup and then go back upstairs.” He didn’t feel like sitting with everyone else today.

~ Roman

“Okay.” Rand preferred dinners in her quarters, even before Roman. She had been on Sentinel long enough now that she didn’t quite so nervous if people came up and talked to her, it was when they sat down and wanted to have a prolonged conversation that she struggled with. She supposed she always would. Having Roman and Randy to eat with made it a lot easier. She grabbed the soup and then some carbonated flavor water thing that Chef had put with it. She’d end up just making tea, but she was going to at least try it.

Rand

When they got to their quarters, Roman sat on the bed, setting his food on the side table. He’d spent the day ignoring the letter, pretending it didn’t exist. But now, sitting quietly in his quarters, he felt the data disk in his back pocket where he’d stuffed it that morning. He started eating slowly and quietly, intent on ignoring it.

~ Roman

The next few days were about the same. Roman seemed restless trying to fall asleep, but once he was he seemed okay. Rand wondered if there was some memory bothering Roman. It wasn’t Jay’s birthday, the anniversary of the attack on the Ardent, or Roman’s birthday (which never seemed to bother him). There was no impending review of old projects or attacks on the Sentinel. So it wasn’t that. Whatever it was, Roman would tell her or not. She wouldn’t pry unless it affected his work. If it was, though, it was only making him more focused and productive.

A few days later, Rand was stretched out on the bed, middle of the afternoon, one of her random down times when she was between duty assignments. Pipkin was on the bed, digging through a rug that Rand was randomly hiding food pellets and hay in. She was reading the entertainment sections of the news. It took several days for the news feeds to reach Sentinel and Rand didn’t always have time to read them. She didn’t like the tabloids, horrible paparazzi, but it was a way for her to keep up with the people she used to work with, see how they were doing. Rand knew to take the information there as no more than badly written fiction.

Rand