anidiotchild | 七

[As Constable Crabtree has so succinctly put it, Crazypants is still crazy, and has been roaming the Barge doing fairly not Simon-ish things, like napping in weird places and climbing on things and babbling quietly to himself. Feel free to have seen him around being a little off.

Right now, though, he's camped out on the floor of a common room, with a couple medical textbooks lying around him. Some of them have had pages shredded out of them, some of which have also seen the business end of a pen and a highlighter. Some of the notes are neat, but others look like little more than scribbles. Entire paragraphs have been crossed out or circled almost at random, and Simon currently has another book in his lap, his pen running across the pages as he mutters to himself under his breath, one knee bouncing nervously up and down, his free hand propped up on his other knee and held near his forehead, fingers twitching.

The muttering gets a little more coherent, because he knows the camera's on and he's trying to figure out a way to explain this to everyone - and himself - but he doesn't look up at the communicator, instead continuing to apparently edit the book.]

There's no reason for it. It's a puzzle without a solution, it's lost, they misplaced it. It was the wrong one, anyway. They ripped it out, tried to make her dance, but it didn't work, something- something went wrong, everything went wrong. Nothing makes sense- [And as if to prove that point, he suddenly rips the page out of the book and tears it in half again before throwing it aside. He stares at it for a long moment before turning around and shoving the stack of books off the coffee table with a frustrated not quite scream. The books make a satisfying thud, and once again he just regards them for a few seconds, like he's forgotten the camera's even there.

He looks up, eyes wide and almost haunted or afraid, staring at the camera, voice shaky.]

River?

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[ This is an interesting aftereffect. He's surprised it's lasting this long, but the longer it lasts the more people are revealing about themselves. ]

[ He recognizes the common room and makes his way there, curling his fingers around the door frame. It seems like Simon's still muttering to himself a little bit. He puts on a concerned face. ]

Who's River?

[Simon turns to look at whoever's speaking and just stares at him for a long moment.]

She's far away, now. Who are you?

[You do not seem very healthy, sir. And he has no idea what you may be talking about.]

What about a river?

Toto. Where is she?

Not here. [Even while kind of unstable and crazy, Simon's not going to tell people where she is. If he could even articulate it in a way where you could actually understand what he meant.]

She's not here. Very far away, now. [And he sounds kind of sad about it. :c]

[The mood on the ship is... uncomfortable, at best. Ben has been watching and listening, and mostly keeping to himself, waiting either for the reason for his own paranoia to show itself, or for it to ease on its own. He's fairly confident it's not him, though, as the others are clearly feeling the after-effects.

Here's another one.

Ben doesn't bother replying to the feed - he marks which common room it is through the video and just goes there, approaching quietly but, for once, fairly obviously until he's standing in the doorway, head tilted at the human.]

Doctor Tam?

Oh.

Then I hope she's in a better place than here.

[He wouldn't wish this boat on anyone.]

[Simon's mostly just been staring at the small mess he's made in the common room, picking up a piece of paper here, nudging a book a little there, and generally looking a little forlorn and not really sure of why he was sitting on the floor with a bunch of mutilated textbooks.

He doesn't seem particularly bothered by Ben's presence and just looks up, actually almost seeming sane instead of rambling incoherently.]

Yes?

She is. Can't see the forest through the trees.

[Madness knows madness, although Ben is also fully aware that this, all of this, is probably temporary. If it proves otherwise, he'll have to alter his strategy, but until such time it's just... interesting.

And a little unsettling. I feel anxious. He blinks at the thought, reminds himself to record it later, and ventures further forward with his attention still on Simon and the scattering of books; he can read the text from here, but he's more curious about the man.]

Do you require assistance, sir?

[Simon watches Ben approach without comment, expression pretty blank all things considered, and turns back to look at the books again, considering the question. He's not completely out of his mind - he understood the question - but he can't help but think about the question Ben hadn't really asked, and ends up answering that instead.

He shrugs.]

Can't be helped. We're missing pieces.

"Through the trees?" [that's an unusual way of putting it. He glances off to the side.]

I don't think things are going to make sense, Dr. Tam. Not for a short while. Perhaps you should be [under observation] with company.

I'm fine. I'm very responsible. [This expression can be considered somewhere between petulant and judging. It's a crazy Tam thing.]

I'm not certain you can say the same for the rest of the ship. [Diplomatic and truthful answer?]

Are you afraid?

Not at the moment, no.

I am cautious.

That's very wise. We're in a state of nature.

Hm. [ He lets it lie, stepping closer. ] What's your puzzle?

[This is far too familiar a sight, one that he was looking forward to not dealing with while he was here. These little breakdowns were always Simon's responsibility to deal with, and now that the doc's gone off on one himself... well, being captain ain't easy.]

She ain't here right now, doc. But don't you worry. Kaylee'll be lookin' out for her.

[Simon shrugs and looks back at the mess in front of him. Most of the ripped out pages have to do with neurology, and anything with diagrams of the brain have been pretty thoroughly circled, notated and scribbled all over.]

Too many missing pieces.

[Simon just stares at him for a long moment. He recognizes Mal, obviously, and he's not about to do things like throw up in his bed (probably), so there's really not too much to worry about. He does, however, look even sadder for a moment.]

They're very far away.

[Ben considers the notes as well, the shrug and the not-quite-vacant look. He doesn't, exactly, frown but he does go into a cautious crouch to peer at one of the papers.]

Can you find them again?

[ He looks through them over Simon's shoulder, then kneels down next to him, pulling one sheet toward himself and examining it from several angles. ]

In your head?

七 | video

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