unfringed | File#002 :action

Entry tags:

whoops crazy time

File#002 :action | video:

[Not long after this post from the Malnosso's new therapist, there is a huge racket going on at the Welcome Center. His rage at the thought of being taken to therapy and his instability in Luceti has gone over the edge and Walter is screaming and throwing chairs and bed mattresses, lamps and anything else he can get his hands on. The tirade is caught on video as he throws his journal across the room, smashing it into the wall and jolting it on. It shows him upside down.]

I will not go! They can't make me!

Peter! Peter!! [He picks up a glass and smashes it against the far wall.]

Disgusting, dirty, everything is contaminated with their evil! They're watching our every move! Everything we do! Our entire lives - our privacy, our names!

Damn vipers among our ranks and we can't even ferret them out?!

I won't go! I will NOT be taken again!! Peter! You can't let them take me again!

[He grabs a lamp and smashes it against the floor repeatedly.]

I'll find how you watch us and I'll destroy it! I'll find it and destroy it!!!

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[He's stopped smashing the lamp and had turned to trying to pull apart the bedding, throwing the pillows and mattresses. Walter looks up and his lip curls back in a sneer.]

Something bad has already happened or are you unaware of the viper they've placed among our midsts?

[He continues throwing things across the room, ripping open pillows and throwing the feathers everywhere.]

They're going to "make us better." HAH! More like stick probes into our brains and scramble what's in there to suit their needs!

[Shepard dodges one pillow and then crouches in front of Walter.]

When I said something bad might happen, I was referring to the fact that I might have to knock you out.

Lunatics raving in public tend to have an unsettling effect on people.

So calm down before I introduce you to the back of my hand.

[Said quietly and calmly despite the actual words involved.]

I am not a lunatic! ...I'm not. [He sits on the floor, staring at the mess he's made, the pillow still in his hands, half deflated.]

....They're listening to us - how else would she know my name, about our pasts? The things they know are private and they're prying. Why does it not bother anyone else?

She? Who the hell are you even talking about?

[He jumps up and shuffles over to the book, turning to the Malnosso's entry and shoving it in the stranger's hands.]

Do you not read? Look! It's all right here. They send a child to analyze us.

[He takes it with a bit of skepticism on his face but glosses over it a bit before handing it back.]

You're afraid of a kid?

Wolf in sheep's clothing is what she is.

[He points to a certain section.]

Several lifetimes - this world brings you back from the dead over and over and over until you're not you anymore. She only appears to be a child, but in truth she is one of them.

One of the people who trap us here, experiment on us like lab rats. Even as a scientist, I can't approve. Human subjects yield the best results, but it's too dangerous the things they are playing with.

[And he points at the journal again.]

And she wants to make us better.

[Shepard raises an eyebrow because he remembers reading something about experiments and scientists in the guide people linked to him. Still, he's not one to take the word of a lunatic at face value without some proof.

Even if that "human subjects yield the best results" sounds exactly like a remark Mordin once made.]

So shoot her. If she's as bad as you say, nobody will miss her.

[That catches Walter's attention and he straightens, staring at the stranger with great disdain.]

I'm a scientist, not a murderer. There must be another way.

[Shepard finally stands back up, rolling his eyes a bit at the remark.]

I've seen the type of experimentation and enhancement you're talking about where I'm from. The people who perform those procedures don't deserve your moral highground. Hell, I'll shoot them for you.

[Dangerous men. Men who only knew violence. Walter's frown deepened.]

No, they don't - I have no high ground to stand on either.

[He was destroying a universe. He was the most hated man in the world in another place that looked just like home, only different.]

But that doesn't earn them death. It makes us no better than them.

Whatever you say.

[Obviously Shepard doesn't agree, but he's not about to get into some philosophical debate with a guy who was just going apeshit in the Welcome Center.]

You really think publicly advertising yourself as a prime candidate for a straitjacket is going to make anybody take your warnings seriously?

[He looks around at what he's done and the anger drains from him, sadness creeping in.]

...I was doing better. It's just hard without... Without Peter here. Or Agent Farnsworth. Or Olivia. They ground me - I heard them say it. Reign me in. Keep me--

[He looks at his bleeding hands.]

--from doing this. I was doing better.

[Walter looks up at the stranger.]

...Do I know you?

[He listens to the ravings once more. Of course he doesn't know any of the people mentioned, but the way the poor bastard is acting is almost eerily similar to advanced indoctrination, which Shepard has seen firsthand.]

[He ignores the question and chalks it up to more crazy talk before looking around.]

Where's the clinic?

I don't know.

[He waves absently at the book in the other man's hands.]

It has a map there. ...I have to--

[He stops and rubs his left hand with his right, exacerbating the cuts.]

This wasn't my best showing, I suppose.

Understatement of the day. Don't--

[He pauses again to crouch, grabbing one of Walter's wrists.]

--do that. You're just making it worse. Can you walk or did you snap your legs in protest?

I wasn't protesting. [He pulls his hands away, motioning to the room again.]

I was looking for their listening devices. I realise one is installed within the book, but there must be others and I couldn't very well cut the tattoo from my neck. I'm lacking the proper equipment.

[Wait, what? Tattoo?]

What tattoo?

The-! The tattoo!!

[He turns and shows the one on the back of his neck.]

Barcode reading system, tracking information, everything.

[Oh, hell no. Seeing that and hearing what it's for gives him all sorts of chills. He immediately reaches up behind to rub at his neck. After all, it's not like he's been able to check a mirror since arriving.]

I can't see... is that standard for everyone?

I've taken samples of hair from several individuals and according to the inmate-created guide, yes. It is standard. A way of them tracking us - like shopping items.

Like cattle.

[A minor correction because that's what it reminds Shepard of. He knows Earth history and he knows what this feels like. He doesn't like it one bit.]

Oh- oh no. I would never have done this to Gene. That's just inhumane.

[Poor Gene. He wonders where she is.]

...But I do understand your comparison, yes. Now do you see? Why I did this?

[... He doesn't even want to ask about Gene.]

Why you decided to shake hands with broken glass? No, I don't understand that.

[So he's looking through his journal for that map that was mentioned before.]

Because--! [He motions at the room.]

Listening devices, monitoring machinery - if any of it were here, it would be in these things. Lamps, outlets, bedding, desks, chairs - but I can't find any of it. Sometimes they are silicon based or clear - bottoms of glass cups, the reverberations would make for a perfect sound conductor. I can't peel the barcode off, but I can hinder their efforts!