Posted Sept. 27, 2021, 9:08 a.m. by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) (Jennifer Ward)
Posted by Lieutenant Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: Try Not to Sleep on Duty
Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Side sim: Try Not to Sleep on Duty
Posted by Lieutenant Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: Try Not to Sleep on Duty
(snip)
After he left, Rand went and picked up the reports, and seemed to input the information into the computer and then returned them (to the completed basket) for the next shift to review before she collected the evening reports. In the Galley, Alden would find that his dinner was indeed ready, but the cook had packed it for him to take with him if he didn’t want to eat right away. Rand had thought of everything. But the quiet message was clear, ‘Your shift if over, stop working.’Yeoman Rand
After he picked up the dinner, he had to smile. She’d thought of everything. The message was clear, but apparently, he wasn’t very good at listening, because as soon as he returned to his quarters he was using the computer system to do research, the meal opened so he could eat it slowly as he worked.
~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO
It wasn’t until a few hours later that Rand returned to her own quarters after bringing Rogers the end of day reports. Rand practically climbed into bed, early for once, ready to sleep. But after a few short hours of sleep she was wide awake. What to do about Alden? One day of exhausted behavior wasn’t concerning, was it? It happened to everyone. But she could tell it must have been several days already for him to make such basic errors. Who did she tell? Should she tell? Should she confront him?
Finally, giving up at staring at the darkness and Randy’s rhythmic breathing she got up and decided to make herself tea....but then she heard it, it was soft but in the utter quiet and stillness she could hear his pacing on the other side of the wall. She made two cups, Soothing Caramel Bedtime Tea (Yogi Teas: Chamomile Flower, Skullcap, and L-Theanine, Naturally sweet Rooibos with Vanilla and Caramel). Carrying both cups with her she stepped into the corridor, wrapped in her robe and softly knocked on his door.
Yeoman Rand
Sometime later, dinner eaten and uniform put away nicely for the next day, Roman climbed into bed. Rand’s methods seemed to work well, he was in a dead sleep in record time. But a mere hour later, he shot up in a hurry, a cold sweat along his forehead. With a glance around and then a sigh, he rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but each time he closed his eyes, the same scene that woke him up reappeared, and he found himself tossing and turning. Unable to get back to sleep, he began to pace his quarters, as was basically habit now. It was something to do besides lie there in the dark.
And then he heard it, a soft knock at the door. A look at the clock said it was midnight, far too late for anything duty related, unless there was a lab emergency. But then, the knocking would not be so soft he could’ve missed it if it weren’t dead silent. “Come in,” he said, loud enough to be heard through the door. He threw on an undershirt and a pair of exercise shorts, not wanting to answer the door in nothing but his underpants.
~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO
The door opened and in walked Rand. Red hair disheveled, like she couldn’t sleep either, having been finger combed back out of her face and hanging down her back, and wrapped in long soft cotton robe. She smiled sheepishly and handed him one of the steaming mugs of tea without a word. Then, feeling nervous, and trying to fill the silence. “My grandmother used to make this for me when I couldn’t sleep.”
Yeoman Rand
He accepted the mug of tea and sat down on the edge of his bunk, a single bunk but still most definitely more bunk than bed, and offered her the chair by his computer area. “You knew I wasn’t sleeping?” He asked, sipping the tea. Black with flavouring… vanilla, caramel, and something he couldn’t place. “It’s good, thank you.”
~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO
Rand sat down in the chair, noticing the jotted down notes on the padd next to the console. She was careful to cross her legs at the ankles so that her robe stayed modestly closed. She sipped her own tea before answering. “I…umm…I heard you pacing when I went to make myself some. So…I…” in the dim room he couldn’t see her blushing, thank goodness…she hoped anyway. “Since I was making it anyway I thought you might could use some.”
Yeoman Rand
“I.. couldn’t sleep, again,” Roman said with a small shrug. “I didn’t know you could hear that.” He’d take note of that for the future. Maybe there was something quieter he could do when he couldn’t sleep. He sipped the tea. Thankfully for her, even if he could see the color in her face in the dimly lit room, he was too tired to notice. He looked tired like he had early that morning.
~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO
Rand wasn’t going to tell him she’d been sleepless because she was concerned about him. Cmdr Alden was a very private person and she didn’t want to pry, but she did consider him her friend. “I’ve never noticed it before. Randy…he snores…usually it isn’t so bad but it woke me up this time. I wouldn’t have heard you at all if I hadn’t been standing right next to the wall and it being so quiet. And I have really good hearing. Because, ya know,” and suddenly her voice took on a very rich lilting Scottish accent, “brothers can wake ya up and then go utterly quiet just ta irritate ya.” Rand shrugged. “But I couldna fall back asleep so, I made tea.” He looked exhausted, she considered that she should leave, but she didn’t want to leave him alone to pace either.
Yeoman Rand
He didn’t want her to leave. Roman couldn’t put his finger on why, he assumed it was just that it beat being alone. Beat fighting between trying to sleep and the nightmares that kept him awake. At least he hadn’t woken her up. He didn’t want to keep her awake. This was his problem, he hated to disturb anyone else with it. “Reminds me of my junior officer days, sharing bunks,” he said. “Good thing though, I’d hate to have been waking you up at night.”
~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO
Rand grinned and sighed dramatically, for effect. “I’ve never had a room ta myself.” She sipped at her tea, watching him carefully. He seemed, at least relaxed if not able to fall asleep yet. “I have always shared, even as a kid. I had to share with.....Randy. And sharin’ a room with yer twin brother makes it near impossible ta keep a secret.” She let her voice slip back into that soft Scottish lilt, and her words picked up a gentle rhythmic cadence. “Now ya might find this hard to believe, but I love animals,” she grinned, she was picking at herself and teasing. “And well they are just so innocent an’ cute. Well this one day, I was probably four or five, I found the most adorable, fluffy, and tiny Pine Martin. No litter, no mama, just one single baby. I took it home. I was gonna be it’s mama.” The story continued, softly recounting the antics of a red headed, preconscious five year old, trying to play mama to a wild and ‘helpless’ weasel. The pleading and bribery to stop her brother from telling her parents. Leading all the way to the dramatic end - being outside later that evening when she was ‘attacked’ by the real mama having came to rescue her baby. Through the whole thing her voice continued that soft rhythmic cadence, and never raised in volume, but remaining as soothing as possible.
Yeoman Rand
“I shared rooms in boarding school. And Academy,” At home he’d always had his own room, of course, but not at school. You shared with at least one other boy. Roman and his childhood friend had always bribed boys into switching with them so they could room together. And then when he moved in with his friend, at fifteen, they’d shared a room. They were as close as any brothers.
Was that a personal tidbit that Alden just shared? Rand didn’t say anything or smile but she tucked that piece of information away.
Roman listened to her story, her voice soothing like a lullaby. The rhythmic tone made him feel tired. Her presence was comforting. He trusted her, and felt safe with her there, anchored to the present rather than the past. By the middle of the story, when she was caring for the little weasel, he had leaned back into his bunk, his body feeling heavy, sleepy. By the end, when the mother weasel returned, he was peacefully sound asleep, the story of a little naive, redheaded child’s antics in the hills of Scotland in his mind.
~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO
She had noticed him nodding off, but had continued her story rather than ending it abruptly. She reached out and gently took the tea mug from him before it spilled and placed it on the table. She stood and gently and quietly tossed a blanket over him and slipped out the door into an empty corridor, finishing her own tea as she slipped back into her own quarters. Randy was still asleep, or at least was asleep now. She quietly cleaned the cup and slipped back into bed, silently hoping that whatever had been bothering the Cmdr would leave him to rest.
Yeoman Rand
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