Posted May 18, 2022, 12:33 p.m. by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) (Jennifer Ward)
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
(snip)
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?”
Rand didn’t say anything but she shook her head. Now she understood, when she’d explained about…about her birthday, he had seemed to understand so clearly. He’d lived with their meddling too. Rand didn’t know or know anything about her soon to be in-laws, but she knew they had to be fairly unworthy people if Roman never spoke to or of them. But no one, no matter how bad, deserved to have their death and their loved ones dragged through the media by the paparazzi.
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
Rand turned off the PaDD and set it aside and then reached over and wrapped her hand around his, squeezing gently. “You don’t have to tell me or feel bad or guilty or uncomfortable, or anything for not telling me. I’m here though if you want or need to.” She sighed then looking a little uncomfortable herself. “I…I thought you probably knew…but…I uh…didn’t want to hide it from you that I knew. But also, I didn’t want you to be caught off guard if someone else saw the article and asked about it.” She didn’t think anyone would, Roman was very private and most of the crew knew that, but it was possible they might try to express their condolences to him.
Rand
If they did, they’d get the glare of a lifetime. He knew anyone who tried that would only mean well, but he really wasn’t sure how he felt about it and he was not discussing it with the crew. Roman knew when he saw the article that it was possible the crew would figure it out. It didn’t exactly take a super genius. Before this happened, if ever anyone asked him, he’d say he wasn’t related, but David looked a lot like him. That wouldn’t really work this time.
Roman must have needed to talk to someone about it, because, well, he was. He squeezed her hand, sighed a long sigh, and started, “He… We were never like you and Randy. He was always going to be the heir to the estate, as the oldest male, you know, and our parents made that quite clear in the difference in our treatment. He always acted like he was better than I was, because he was taught that he was. But… He was still my brother and we had good times together too.”
Now that he was started talking, Roman didn’t seem like he was going to stop, and as he went on, his grip on her hand changed with his words, tightening and loosening at different points, as he told a couple stories, good and bad, about his brother. That time they’d skipped school together, the time David had dared him to jump off the roof of the school (there was a way to climb up there near the dumpsters), but also how he’d always disliked Jay (Roman teared up a bit then), how he’d relentlessly teased Roman for liking Starfleet so much as a kid. “Like the rest of them, we hadn’t spoken in fourteen years, not after I was excommunicated by the family.” And he hadn’t mentioned it yet, but only now that David was gone had Roman received a letter, currently hidden on a data disk in his back pocket, still unread.
~ Roman
Rand didn’t know what to say. Even close siblings weren’t like her and Randy. They had always been told it was because they were twins. She didn’t now, she’d never actually met another pair of twins to ask. But what Roman was describing was awful. She knew there were families, parents, that made their children compete for attention (Rand thought that was sick in the worst way and those people shouldn’t have children). Giving all the best of things to the eldest child was a practice that was common knowledge in Earth’s history. Especially those societies that practiced Primogeniture. It wasn’t always a bad thing if done carefully and with thought, but…well it didn’t sound like Roman’s family was concerned with the rest of their children.
Rand listened, holding onto his hand and returning his squeeze. She didn’t really know what to say about it. She liked them even less for not liking Jay. But she understood why they didn’t, even if they would deny it. They knew Jay and his family were better and happier than they were. And in their minds they couldn’t fathom how that happened - how anyone who was not them with their ideals and perceptions and name be happy?
The last part shocked Rand. They had excommunicated him? That was still done? They were living in the 22nd century not the medieval ages. All her years of acting and training kept her face neutral though. After a quiet moment, she made a very poor attempt at humor because she knew she was supposed to say something but had no idea what that something should be. She worked herself up (in just that brief moment) over it because this was Roman and she really needed to say the right thing for him. That it came out bad humor instead. “And now you’re stuck with Randy…” she had no idea how to finish that statement.
Rand
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