Just a Little Break

Posted on Thu Sep 26th, 2024 @ 11:11pm by Lieutenant JG Sheldon Parsons & Lieutenant Cassian Maritz

Mission: Mean Green Queen
Location: Gymnasium
Timeline: Mission Day 1 at 1930

Cassian was finished with his shift and had his list of tasks that needed to be done before he could happily go to bed: feed Blue, hit the gym, have a shower, get something replicated to eat because he doubted anything was being served at that hour in the mess hall or diner, then he'd go to bed. So maybe he'd be awake for like four hours more max.

Once he'd made his way back to the quarters he shared with Victoria, he called out for Blue to give her an affectionate scratch behind the ear and a cuddle before she hopped on his shoulders while he got her food ready. He'd found that Vic had been feeding her every so often and that Blue would end up in her quarters until Cassian got back, and he wasn't complaining because it meant that both of them had company when he wasn't there.

After spending a bit of time with Blue and then getting changed into his standard just above the knee black shorts, a blue singlet and black sneakers, Cassian made his way down to the gym, walking past two people as they exited, and he went in. It looked like they were the last two there, so he had it all to himself. He made his way over to one of the treadmills and popped out the earbuds and put them in, choosing the playlist he always jammed: high intensity, blood pumping rock music that could drown out everything else and get his blood pumping.

Cassian started off at a walking speed on the treadmill and gradually increased it until he was running at a steady pace, and he allowed his thoughts to turn to his sister's wedding and how he'd spent almost the entire night with her maid of honor, Lara, as they danced and drank and somehow ended up going home together. How her hips felt in his hands as he pulled her in close, the stray curled bit of hair that he moved behind her ear as he looked into those deep dark brown eyes and the bottom lip she was biting...

Then he tripped over his feet, faceplanting into the treadmill track, a sickening crunch coming from the sound of his nose breaking and then he slid off it backwards. He was nursing the broken nose and feeling sorry for himself when he heard the door to the gym slide open.

At first, there was no acknowledgment from the new arrival of Cassian or the state he was in. In fact, the tall and lanky lad who'd entered the gymnasium didn't even seem to see the Security officer at all. But as Sheldon Parsons looked around the room, eyes flicking from one piece of equipment to another, the young engineer seemed to find whatever he was looking for and moved in Cassian's direction, somehow still oblivious of the gym's other occupant. He came to a stop at a small bank of dumbbells, crouching to get a better look at the weights and select the ones he thought he needed.

Sheldon picked up two ten pounders -- testing their weight in each palm as if afraid they would hurt him from being too heavy -- and that was when he actually saw Cassian. It was also when he threw the dumbbells behind him in alarm, the sudden sight of the injured man sitting behind the weight rack having scared him shitless. The dumbbells crashed with great aplomb behind the engineer even as he rushed forward to ask, "Ar-are you O-OK?" Sheldon was a bit of a stammerer in awkward social situations with people he didn't know and this situation certainly qualified. "D-do you need Dr. Wang? Or?" Peering down at Cassian, the engineer was somehow both prissy and concerned.

The sound of the dumbbells crashing to the floor almost made Cassian jump himself and he looked up at the new arrival. He wiped some of the almost dried blood away from his nose with the back of his hand and onto his singlet and came to the quick conclusion that the person in front of him wouldn't appreciate a handshake at that moment. "I'll be alright, it's not the first time it's happened and I'm pretty sure it won't be the last it'll happen either." He gave the younger guy in front of him a smile and slowly stood up. "Sorry for scaring the shit out of you there, I'm not usually one to do that. I'm Cassian, by the way, the new Security Chief here, only been aboard for a few days now."

"Um...welcome to the Sojourner?" Sheldon replied questioningly. Having not seen what precipitated the nose breaking, the engineer was kind of in the dark as to how it'd happened. "That um...looks like it might be kind of broken. Do-do you want me to grab a medkit and try to help? I have a little experience helping Doctor Wang now and then," Sheldon said, not sounding exactly confident but willing, at least, to try. "And I'm Ensign Parsons. Engineering officer. I specialize in propulsion and-and dilithium re-crystallization," he explained, "though down in the engine room, we all kind of just do whatever the Chief needs us to at any given time. I've been onboard since the Sojourner arrived at Risa and we began her maiden voyage."

Once he got to his feet, Cassian shook his head slightly to clear the spots in front of his eyes just as the pain shot back through his head, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is broken, but it's not the first time it's happened and I'm pretty sure it's not going to be the last time either. I mean, I met Ensign Drol the other night and her version of a greeting was unintentionally backhanding me in the face, but today was specifically more to do with letting my thoughts wander and tripping over."

He sat back down on a bench and winced, "Actually, yeah, if you could grab the med kit, that'd be great." Cassian had forgotten how much pain a broken nose could cause him; it'd been a while. "Engineering, huh? That's pretty intense, forgive me if I'm not exactly 100% up to speed on what your specialty entails, engineering is definitely not my forte."

"I've not interacted with her much," Sheldon replied in the wake of the Drol name drop, "but she seems pretty uh...strong?" He looked over the security officer's face and nodded. "Broken noses are kind of outside my wh-wheelhouse but I can at least stop the bleeding. I th-think?" he stammered, the thought more of a question than a statement. He sighed internally and, for the millionth time in his life, wished he wasn't so awkward with new people. "I'll grab the medkit but for the rest, we should probably get you to Sickbay?" He let the question hang in the air as he walked over to where said medkit was stored in a wall locker. A moment later, he'd returned and was rifling through the kit to find what he needed.

"And n-no worries about my speciality," Sheldon said then. "Engineering is kind of complicated. Unless you need a d-deep understanding of what we do, it's enough to accept the Pakled point of view on our job. We make the ship go," he smirked, pulling a tool from the medkit and activating it. A blue light began to shine from the tip which, with an approving nod from Cassian, the engineer began to wave over the man's nose. After several long seconds, Sheldon nodded as well. "That should help with the pain and bleeding. But you're going to need Sickbay," he said with a note of reluctance. "So let's g-get going. The workout will still b-be here," he promised, the anxiety of taking this person whom he'd only just met on a jaunt to Sickbay for care an intimidating one for him. Mostly because Xex would likely be there and, after seeing he'd temporarily patched up Cassian, Sheldon expected the Doctor would threaten him with more medical field training.

The security officer laughed, the sound a bit muffled through his broken nose. "Sickbay...again. They're going to love me by the end of my tour here," Cassian, who still had his good humor, laughed with embarrassment. He walked beside Sheldon as the engineer led them out of the gymnasium and into the closest turbolift.

=/\= A joint-post by... =/\=

Lieutenant Cassian Maritz
Chief Security/Tactical Officer

Ensign Sheldon Parsons
Engineering Officer and de facto Field Medic?