Bengalo Draba: Inception

Location: Bengalo Draba - Commons
Time: Jun 26, 2529 - 02:34:36
Players: Smudger, Esther, Carson, Chovian, Suzi

Esther is humming a tune right now. Dark and brooding Esther is not here! She seems content and happy as she rummages for.. dun dun dunnnnn.. Blue Sun Cola! She grins as a cold one is removed from the fridge and she tilts it up, chugging happily. It's an eerie contrast of behavior to where she had been before.

Smudger steps into the common area, biting his lip as he spies Esther. Yes he's been warned about her... moodswings... but doesn't place much credit to them. "Ni How Esther," he says brightly, closing the hatch behind him and locking it. "You feeling good?"

Esther glances to Smudge. "Never better." She says with a grin. "How have you been?" She inquires before moving to one of the couches and finding a seat. One leg crossesover the other and she drinks heartily from the soda. "I should stop drinking these. They will give me a big ass." Then to him, "What are you up to?"

Smudger smiles and clucks his tongue, "I'm good...Good..." he says as he slowly makes himself over to the other door and chucks that noone is coming before shutting that one too. "I'm... Up to nothin'." he says as he leans against the table, facing Esther. "And you'll never get a big pee-goo Esther. You are far to trim for that..." His smiles is biright but brittle.

Esther watches his movements with a keen interest. A brow arches over an eye as she regards him. Suddenly, she is suspicious of him. "What's going on?" She says before setting her bottle down on the table in front of her.

Smudger sighs and he looks sadly at Esther, "Honestly... I'm worried about you. You've... well... you've been acting as though everything is shiny all of a sudden."

Esther sighs. "Yes. I know. Things have.. happened. Now I wish to move along. Move on with my life. If I would serve the ship better by remaining dark and brooding.. I am sure it could be arranged."

Smudger smiles, "I like bouncy and and happy Esther." He chuckles, "Even more so when I make you laugh... but enough about me." He taps the table as he thinks and asks Esther straight, "Where did you go those few days ago Esther? What did you do?"

Esther arches a brow. "I.. went to meet someone. Then we went on a mission." She is quiet. "We destroyed the Commonwealth. Frost died by my blade." Her gaze flickers to him. "I.. told you.. what I am. I fight evil people."

There is several bangs on door leading fore to the bridge...BANG BANG BANG.

Smudger bites his lip and shakes his head, "Esther... I... I don't know how to tell you this. But you didn't... the Commonwealth is still around and Frost isn't dead. You didn't kill anyone." He smiles sadly, "You've been drugged and that's making you believe that."

BANG BANG BANG

Esther is quiet a moment as she looks at him. "No.. you have been misinformed.." Her mood is beginning to shift. The banging sound only makes her more agitated. She begins to rise from her spot, "Someone is knocking.."

Smudger glances over at the door and nods, "Yeah... but they can wait. Esther please! You have to realize that you ain't right yet... You're making stuff up and are thinking like a... crazy person." He takes a step forward and goes to place a hand on her shoulder, "And I always said I'm here to keep you from going crazy dohn mah?"

Esther begins to hyperventilate now as Smudger is trying to reorient her to reality. If Carson can see into the room, he would see the familiar look in her eye when she nearly turned violent before Grace had deescalated the situation. Esther is beginning to look confused as her memories become jumbled. Trembling hands move up to her head and she suddenly shouts, "SHUT! UP! GORRAM IT! SHUT UP!"

There is the sound of someone trying to pry open the door.

Smudger shakes his head and moves closer to Esther, talking softly as one hand rests on her shoulder, "Esther... I'm not going to leave you okay? And I'm not gonna lie to you either." He takes a deep breath, "You've got to realize what's really happening okay?" His voice is earnest and filled with worry and hurt.

Esther switches modes now. She is thoroughly angered. It is like waking from a dream and into a nightmare. In her delirium, Smudger is now all of a sudden the enemy. Her hands ball up as she swings at him violently. The swing connects, drawing blood.

Esther shouts, "You are one of -them-!"

Carson could hear the shouting on the other end, and when he saw the swing, he had ventured into his quarters for something...if one were listening through the doors, they could hear the sound of a gun being loaded.

Smudger's head snaps around as the blow impacts with his face and he staggers against the table, managing to stand up again and holding his hands out, "Whoa! Esther... Calm down.. I'm just tryin' to help is all."

Esther is not well. She is in fact very -not- well. Between the events on Paquin and what Zaugh did to her, she is simply mad. It shows in her eyes. She reaches out to grab him and turn him to throw him into the wall. Now she is reaching for a knife. "How long have you been in their league?"

Smudger slams into the bulkhead and grimaces, still trying to calm her down,. "Gorramit Esther! I'm not working for them! I'm trying to help you!" The drawing of the knife makes him swallow and he whispers, "Juh Guh Jee hua Juhn Kuh Pah! <There's nothing in this plan that isn't horrific>" He tries to sidestep around, keeping away from the knife while reaching for a frying pan behind him.

Carson eyes widen and he aims at the door with his shot gun and fires.

Esther is lost in a nightmare now. She swings her knife at him with a ferocity! "LIES!" The knife clangs on the cast iron skillet, metal grating on metal.

Smudger manages to swing the pan up and around just in time to deflect the swing, "Esther please!" he begs as he starts backing around the table, knocking over a bottle of Blue Sun cola as he nudges it. "Snap outta it!"

Carson growled as the door failed to open due to his blast from his double barreled shotgun. He sighed and raised the shotgun to the glass, pulling the trigger, not aware Chovian is with him...and the glass shatters.

Suzi's cane-assisted hobbling through the medbay is made awkward by the fact that she's using her off hand to manage the cane. Her gun is in her other hand, her main hand, and she grimaces as she tries to gimp faster. "Four weeks after being shot and I'm running toward gunfire." she mutters to herself, "What's wrong with me?" Still, she feels compelled to come and see what in tarnation is going on. She could hear the rukus from the passenger dorm even through the closed door... which she now encounters, tucking her cane under her arm and giving it a futile tug. Locked. She peers through the circle of thick glass into the commons with a frown.

Chovian makes his way aftward from the direction of the bridge, only to find a hatch infront of him. Blinking he looks into the window and frowns, reaching over for the com. "Esther, this is Cho, please stop attacking him." It's worth a shot, right?

Esther is not Esther. Not the Esther Smudger knows. "I will show you what happens to pirate sympathizers on my ship." She growls at him. Then it happens. The blade goes low and into the soft flesh of his belly. She stares at his facce a moment before the knife is yanked out. Blood trickles down the edge of the knife, crimson droplets falling to the floor.

SHIP ANNOUNCEMENT: Carson broadcasts over the intercom: 'Blow torch in engineering...locker is open...get it...anyone!'

SHIP ANNOUNCEMENT: Carson broadcasts over the intercom: 'Or...get the lockpicks from the cargo bay!'

Smudger tries warding her off with the pan and shakes his head, his teeth gritting as he is sure that any moment now, Ol' Esther will return to him and all will be well. "Gorram Esther! I'm not a... ruttin' pirate...Now put down the bloody kni....*gasp*." His eyes widen as the knife slams into his stomach and the pan falls from his fingers. "Oh...shi..." he whispers before one shaking hand comes up to try and steady himself on Esther, his other hand clutching his stomach. "I... Esther... this...really...hurts..." Problem is... right now he is right in between any shot from Carson at Esther.

The scene glimpsed through the window is a bit of a confusing one, but with Carson calling for all hands to do... something... she holsters her weapon and transfers her cane to her main hand, then starts to gimp her way back toward the passenger dorms for her equipment. There's more than one way to get a door open, after all. She tries to hurry, and adrenaline is on her side but she's still not a fast moving target at this juncture.

Chovian calls through the smashed window. "Esther! Stop fighting, he is not enemy, you know who is speaking? Is Cho."

Carson takes aim through the window, at Esther...though the feel of the gun is a bit off to Carson, having never fired one before. Not only that...both were moving, so it was a bit impossible to acquire a solid target at such a close range. He fires anyways, watching the dart hit Smudger square in the ass.

Esther pauses at the voice. A familiar voice in the midst of a cacophony of madness. Her gaze turns up to the ceiling where the voice speaks. "Cho?" She asks quietly. Wait. it came from the window. Then the dart fires, hitting Smudger. She has no gun on her person, just her knife. Instead of attacking Smudger, she moves to dive for cover. Carson has a split moment to tag her before she is behind counters.

Smudger staggers as he feels a prick in his pee-goo (snigger) and Esther dives to one side. Of course the considerable pain in his stomach kinda overwhelms that and he suddenly realises that his legs aren't working and he collapses onto the floor. The edges of his vision start going blurry and he tries to focus on Esther and tell her something in a whisper which barely comes out before his eyes close and he knows no more.

"Yes, is me." Called to Esther. "You are dreaming, I am here, just be calm, stay where you are, I will be there to help you soon." Called to her, brow knit in concern. (Chovian)

Carson nods to Chovian while he distracts Esther though the miss of the first shot had broke that distraction. He grits his teeth as Esther rapidly changes position. He takes aim focusing on Esther, and fires...except he misses her completely. He sighs of angst and lowers the gun, "Esther! You are not your self!"

Esther dives behind cover. She has to think quick. This is combat! The voices and firing is comming from the fore.. she looks to the aft.. back in the direction where Suzi has gone. She scoots to under the table and hoists it up.. She seems to be making a wall with it to block his view and pushes it to make things difficult for Carson to see.

Smudger bleeds quietly on the floor.

Chovian frowns. "Carson, stop!" Said then, before he speaks to Esther, in a more sincere tone. "Esther, can you hear me? You must stop, sit tight for now, when I tell you it is safe, stand up, move around barricade to door, open it for me." He looks to Carson. "Stop it, I will talk her down."

Suzi's cane thuds quietly on the deck as she makes her way back to the medbay doors. Sadly, it's her only link to the commons, short of crawling through ventilation shafts or repair access tunnels. Which her back *really* isn't up to, even if she did know how to find her way through that maze. When she reaches the door this time, it is with her cargo pants pockets bulging with gadgets and gizmos retrieved from her luggage. She may travel lightly, but some things just don't get left behind. Unfortunately, mechanical lockpicks aren't something she routinely carries. Nor is she certain that this door is locked mechanically or electronically. Lacking the means to defeat a mechanical lock right offhand, she starts unscrewing the panel beside the door to see what sort of wires she can get at to potentially bypass an electronic system.

Carson nods and sighs, placing away the dart gun for good this time. He let's Chovian do his work...but in the event that this don't work, he walks off into his room to find some...grenades.

Esther tunes into the sound of Chovian's voice as a sailor would a lighthouse on a dark stormy night. She sinks down on the floor of the opposite side of the erect table. The knife is dropped from her hand, the blade still dyed crimson from Smudger's blood. The blade clatters on the floor and slowly Esther curls up, drawing her knees into her chest. "What's happening to me?" She laments out. "Cho.. please help me make it stop.. I don't know what's real and what's a dream.."

Suzi should perhaps have taken a moment to assess the situation on the other side of the door again before she set to work. If she had, she would have noticed the crazy person barricated beside an overturned table on her side of the room. Regardless, she didn't. And now she's rather absorbed in the task at hand, her cane leaning against the wall while she fiddles with wires behind the panel. Holding the shaft of the screwdriver between her teeth for now, she fetches a pair of wire cutters from a pocket and merrily snips and strips, then trades the cutters for a small electronic device that she patches the wires into so she can access the ship's security interface. Once she gets past the protocols and such. The device plugs into her PDA, upon which is found software for just this sort of purpose. Who *is* this woman, anyway? "Bingo!" she exclaims, happily, as she gains access. This is followed by, "Bugger." as she assesses the situation and finds that the door is locked mechanically. Plan B... the hair pin. This might take a bit.

Chovian nods to Carson as he stands down, and moves to the window. "Listen to me Esther." Said in a gentle tone. "Stand up now, move to door where my voice is, open it. I am on the other side, all will be well, you can trust me, I will hug you, so you will know it is me."

Smudger bleeds more... a small pool forming beneath him.

Esther sobs for a moment. Esther is never like this. This is just not Esther at all. She is slowly slipping into madness. Then the sobbing stops and there is the sound of shuffling. Slowly.. tentatively.. she emerges from behind her barricade. One step is followed by another before she begins to unlock the door. Gears shift and slowly the door opens.

Detatching her PDA from the mysterious device now dangling from wires sprouting from the wall, Suzi tucks it in a pocket and reaches for her cane. Using it for support, she leans down and wiggles her fingers into yet another pocket, extracting a thin but sturdy wire hair pin. Her eyes move from the pin to the door and back a few times. This is her skeptical face. Nonetheless, she's game to give it a try. After taking a pause to reconfigure the shape of the pin into something more appropriate for lock picking, she approaches the door and looks for the keyhole. If it's a mechanical lock, it has to have a keyhole, right? Unless it's one of those annoying ones with the wheel on the other side, like airlocks tend to have. Keen eyes locate said hole and she proceeds to weild her hairpin with aplomb. When all else fails... fiddle with it. Her eyes narrow with concentration, and the tip of her tongue pokes out of the corner of her mouth.

As the door is unlocked, Chovian opens it. In he steps and moves to slip arms around her, pulling her close. "Everything will be ok." He says to her softly. "Come with me, I love you." said as he gently squeezes her, before moving to guide her slowly toward the medbay. "Trust me, there is no danger here, ignore everything but me, ok?"

Esther is wary as the door opens. Even as Chovian comes close to her, she takes a single step back. "Alright.." She says to his words. When his arms wrap warmly around her, she clings to him, her form shaking as a leaf in a raging tempest. She allows him to guide her.. towards Suzi's direction..

• click* "Ah ha!" Suzi exclaims, withdrawing the pin and tucking it away. She reaches for her sidearm again, still leaning on her cane as she *now* takes a moment to look through the little round window again.. and sees the situation seems to have been diffused, and someone being led in her direction. The gun falls back into its holster as she turns to quickly strip the device from the dangling wires and twists them back together again. She'll have to come back later to put some safety caps on them, but she manages to get the panel back in place before the pair reach the medbay door. Though, she's still holding the screwdriver when it opens. "Uh, hey.. everything okay in there?" She does her best to look nonchalant.

There are exchanges in other words before those wounded or psychotic are moved to the med bay.