STF

Side sim: The Problem Family

Posted May 17, 2022, 11 a.m. by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) (Lucas Foxley)

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 Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Side sim: The Problem Family
Posted by… suppressed (9) 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.

Focused and productive but snappy and difficult. He was never grouchy like that with her but he was a little withdrawn, as he typically was when something was bothering him. He’d put the data disk with the letter on it into one of the drawers in his desk, and then done is best to forget about it. It wasn’t working.

That fact had gotten her cornered by Scott a couple of times. She wanted to know if, and it was kind of endearing how concerned Scott was and how she tried to be discreet, she and Roman had had some sort of fight because he was being difficult again, even after Rand had been around. Rand rolled her eyes and walked away. No she and Roman were not fighting and whether they were or not was not Scott’s business.

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

There, just below an article about some actor and actress breaking up, was a picture of a man who looked a lot like Roman, but slightly older with a different facial shape and darker hair. The headline read Heir to Alden estates murdered in home! There was another picture of him inside, and the article started out giving any details the press had managed to get out of the family or police: that he’d been found in his home that evening by his wife, that it apparently was rather an awful scene, and that the police thought a group was responsible but had no leads. Then it went on to talk about how tragic it was, mostly because David Alden was considered really handsome and monied and oh, of course his family, his wife Abigail and two sons, were devastated. Finally the article talked a little about how upset model and reality TV star Marina and her sister Lucy were. It didn’t mention Roman but judging by the pictures of David, there was little question these were the very same Aldens. There were also pictures of the sisters (what tabloid would miss out on the chance to put them in an article?), and they were both very attractive young women who definitely looked related to Roman, the same dark brown hair and blue eyes.

It was still mid-afternoon, so Roman was in the labs, doing the afternoon paperwork. He was focusing hard, trying to get it done and out of the way, entirely not in the mood to deal with it. But it was a paperwork heavy day and it was taking most of the afternoon anyway.

~ Roman

Rand’s eye was caught by the photograph and then she sat up as she read ‘Alden Estates’. It rang a memory from when Randy had checked him for a concussion. She read the article through, then looked at the pictures. The family resemblance was undeniable. Then she read it again. “Well now we know what’s wrong, don’t we Pipkin?” She scratched between the rabbit’s floppy ears as she stared at the pictures. Well what to do now? Roman never talked about his family, acting like they didn’t exist most of the time. She wasn’t going to ask him about it while he was on duty. She would tell him though that she knew. She couldn’t keep a secret like that from him. If he didn’t want to talk about it, that was okay, but she wouldn’t keep it a secret that she knew.

Rand

Roman had received another letter that morning, one that he had yet to read at all because of who it was from. He had half a mind to bin it unread. But he hadn’t, the data disk was in his pocket as he headed up to their quarters at the end of his duty shift. He’d almost rather stay in the lab, but he wanted to see Rand more. So, carrying a tray from the galley, he was back in their quarters by 1730.

~ Roman

Rand had her evening rounds at that time so she wasn’t there when he arrived. When she finished she went to the lab to meet Roman but he wasn’t there. With a slightly perplexed look she went to grab dinner for them both and Chef told her Roman had already gotten his food. That was even stranger. So Rand grabbed a single tray and took it with her back to deck 3.

The door hissed open and she walked over to the table to set down the tray, putting her PaDD at the desk, communicator and rods into the locked drawer as she passed them. Hands now free, she turned to him and gave him a hug. “How was your day?”

Rand

Roman shrugged, “Lot of paperwork today.” He was sitting at the table, in front of his own tray, but it looked like he’d only eaten about a third of it. He hugged her back, tightly, and smiled a little. “Sorry to eat without you.” He’d been there nearly an hour and the food on his tray was getting cold anyway, so he set it aside to make more room for hers. “How about your day? Busy?”

~ Roman

Rand smiled and hugged him a bit longer before moving to her seat. She shrugged. “It was okay, the morning was busy. I did manage a break today though.” She had seen him over lunch. “You should have called me, I would have found time to come help.” If she had known he had so much paperwork she would have skipped that small break.

Roman smiled and shook his head. “I’m glad you got a break instead. You deserve that every once in a while.” He could’ve mentioned how much work there would be when she saw him at lunch, but he hadn’t.

He hadn’t eaten the whole meal, but at least he was eating. Rand started her own meal, but paused after a few bites. She didn’t want to make him upset but she didn’t want to hide the fact she knew. Finally, she grabbed her PaDD and put the disk with the news files on it in and pulled up the article. “Umm…I don’t know if it matters, but…uhh…this was in the news feeds we got today.” She set the PaDD in front of him with the article. She squeezed his hand briefly before dropping hers to her lap, where she concentrated on not ringing them nervously.

Rand

He was trying to eat, to keep up better habits, so he didn’t worry her. He noticed Rand seemed to be thinking about something, and then she pulled out her PaDD. Roman should’ve known it would end up in the news, but the thought hadn’t occured to him and his surprise was obvious when she placed the article in front of him. Then he groaned and cursed, a Gaelic word he’d picked up from Rand and Randy. “Media can’t keep their hands off anything, can they?”

Then his anger faded and he just looked really uncomfortable and upset. He quickly scrolled through the article, mildly relieved his name wasn’t mentioned. He was sure it was in others though. Then he handed her the PaDD back. “I found out three days ago. I… I was going to tell you, but…” He trailed off and shrugged uncomfortably.

~ Roman


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