And All Join Hands, As You Are The Damned

[Andrew]

"Unless you plan on sitting in my lap... its just going to have to wait." He looks over at the co-pilot (never can remember his name.. but that works now) and says in a quieter tone. "I don't trust that bastard. He has shifty eyes and looks like a rat. I'm thinking that I should slit his throat and throw him over board. Two out of three voices say its a good idea but the voice that doesn't is the loudest. So for now... I have to keep my eyes on him. The wound is only skin deep, leave it until we land." Cael stated, took a drag on his cigarette and shot the co-pilot another look of distrust.

[DSIGFUSS]

Ronald rocks back and forth in his chair mumbling something about cigarette trees and thinking about the last thing that Sarah said. I'm gonna keep running and sreaming until I get me and the kid out of this nightmare...

He then walks up to Cael in the cockpit.

What are you gonna do Cael?

[Andrew]

"Do? Do what Ron? Right now I'm gonna fly this bird to the house. I don't remember if I'm supposed to blow it up though." Cael answered the best he could.

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,The co-pilot's name is [b]Stephen[/b].

"You're not supposed to blow it up," says Sarah. "And nobody's killing anyone. Cael, you scare me when you talk like that - and I don't scare easily any more." She has no idea what is going on inside his head, but she knew exactly what to say to him. "You don't have to let your demons control you. You're in control of yourself. All of that conditioning that made you a perfect killing machine, you can override it. Your past does not determine your future. You don't have to kill. I know you can be kind, and caring, and loving. I believe in you, Cael. I love you, and Dahlia loves you. You're a good person." She places a hand on his shoulder - the one without the wound. "As soon as we land, I'm treating that wound."

[Andrew]

Cael glanced at Sarah over his shoulder, looked at that damn beady eyed co-pilot again and looked forward out the windshield. "Yeah well that may all be true but loving, tree humping Cael isn't the one that's going to safe anyone's ass from all this. Face it Sarah, you and everyone here right now needs the killing machine. You need the man that can blow the balls off a fly at a thousand yards with a 30-06 rifle. All I got to say is you need to keep my sane long enough to keep flying. As long as I keep flying in the sky, its a good day. Reminds me of a show I used to watch." Cael cleared his throat and began to lightly sing to himself.

"Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand. I don't care I'm still free you can't take the sky from me. Take me out to the Black, tell'em I ain't comin' back. Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me. Have no place I can be since I found Serenity, you can't take the sky from me." Cael finished his song and gave a slight chuckle, turned and looked at Stephen, "WHAT THE FUCK YOU LOOKING AT DOUCHEBAG!"

[DSIGFUSS]

Ronald swings his head to Cael's humming like a gaylord. If he would have gone an ony longer he may just have pulled out his guitar.

That's beautiful Cael. Very rustic.. Is that the Fall Guy? Lee Majors is tops in my book.

[Laraqua]

Stephen just hunches up his shoulders and keeps doing what he's doing as though hoping that by avoiding Cael's gaze he can avoid any further trouble.

[Mr. Handy]

"It's from Firefly," says Sarah, fighting back the tears that came from seeing Cael's mental state. "Cael, I'll keep you sane if anyone can, but you need to understand some things and you need to listen to me. We do not need a killing machine. We need a soldier, and I sincerely hope you can tell the difference. A soldier's first duty is to protect. A soldier only kills according to the rules of engagement. A soldier obeys the orders of his commanding officer. That's me in this case - Lieutenant Sarah Carpenter. A soldier needs to know the difference between friend and foe and how to tell them apart. Everyone here is a friendly, and soldiers do not harm friendlies. This includes Stephen. He's your partner, your co-pilot, and your buddy. You mustn't act the way you're acting towards him." She glances back at Ronald before returning her attention to Cael. "Yes, this also includes Louie. Our enemies are not human. You are not to harm anyone human without permission from me. These are your rules of engagement. And if you aren't sure if something is human or not, you're to ask me and I'll tell you. Is that undestood, Sergeant Major O'Reilly?"

[Andrew]

Cael felt his jaw tighten up but remained quiet for a moment. "I was a Sergeant Major in the service, I wasn't a pilot then. As a pilot you are an officer so that makes me at least a lieutenant. Hell if I figure if we're giving ourselves rank, might as well go for officer. However no one likes a damn lieutenant so you have to be a captain at least. I never listened to my lieutenants anyway, plus I was never really good at following orders... Don't say I didn't warn you." He grabbed another cigarette, lit it and blew out a plume of smoke, a big satisfied smile on his face. "I've always been quite rebellious, even before I started going insane."

[DSIGFUSS]

Ronald eyes bug out momentarily when Sarah orders Cael to mind who he considers friend and foe. Strong women scared the be-jesus out of the motivational children’s singer. So did shy women, and fat women, and red heads…

At the mention of Louie, however, Ronald takes a stand.

I would never hurt anyone Sarah… But I’ll never trust Louie again. That no good dirty janitor is a liar and a thief.

[Andrew]

Looking past Sarah straight at Ronald, "So we can kill him. Accidental casualties happen all the time dude!" Cael spun in his seat letting go of the flight stick which caused the chopper to dive suddenly. "You and me Ronny! I'll slap a pistol in your ha... No! Better yet a cutter! Nothing like slicing some fucker up slow and painful like, especially some bitch who deserves it." Cael took a drag on his cigarette, the madness gleaming in his eyes. "Yeah I teach you to kill and bath in the blood of the evil. You'll have some bad ass songs then dude, not this Candyland shit!"

Cael shook his head and coughed, "Say... anyone want to stop for coffee somewhere?"

[DSIGFUSS]

Ronald stares wide eyed at Cael and terrified to even respond...throws up a little in his mouth.

[Andrew]

Spoiler:

LOL! Awesome response dude!

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,What does older [b]Lionel[/b] know from his Cthulhu Mythos critical success? Also, shouldn't [b]Sarah[/b]'s critical success at Psychoanalysis help [b]Cael[/b] not be so crazy? And has anyone let Trixie know that this game is moving again? She hasn't posted here in a while.

"Cael, pull up!" says Sarah. When he rights the helicopter, she continues. "I said no killing! You don't have to trust him, but nobody's allowed to kill him. I'm glad you'd never hurt anyone, Ronald. Neither would I...not ever again." She turns back to Cael. "Well, I have no military experience whatsoever and I made a terrible mistake that bloody nearly got the lot of us killed, so I suppose I'm overqualified to be a lieutenant. Captain it is, then. I don't want to be in charge of all of us, though. My father will be our chief medical officer, Major Lionel Carpenter." She bends down and examines the spot where Daniel had once stood. She picks up his sack of powder and places it in her harness, then picks up the sigil that he had carried within him and looks for any remaining possessions of his that could be useful to the group.

Sarah goes over to where Annie and Phil sit and offers the sigil to Annie. "You've got the other two, so you might as well hold onto this one too," she says. "I'm really sorry about Daniel. We tried our best to save him. I just don't know what else I could have done. Remember, there's another Daniel alive out there, back in the war. He's with the other you. And there's another Morrison, and Jones, and all the others. Everyone you've lost because of me lives on. Annie. you've got the experience, the knowledge, and the skills. You've been dealing with this stuff for years, and this is still my first day. Would you like to be our leader?"

[Andrew]

Completely letting go of the flight stick this time and standing up to face Sarah, Cael's expression and eyes were clear of all craziness and actually had fear and wonder. "Wait! You're putting the craziest loon in charge of this all? Are you crazy? He's like the bastard offspring of... of some really old guy who drools on himself and some really strange messed up furry animal character that we're supposed to believe is real but is in actually only a muppet with some guy's hand up its ass controlling it! That's even crazier then letting that dead guy Blackworth stay in charge."

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,[b]Sarah[/b] is talking to [b]Annie[/b] and asking if she wants to be in charge, not [b]Ronald[/b].

[Andrew]

Spoiler:

What does Ronald have anything to do with Cael's response? Plus before she could even go talk to Annie, Cael would have jumped up to say what he did.

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,Oh, you're talking about [b]Lionel[/b]. The puppet reference made me think of [b]Ronald[/b]. [b]Sarah[/b] wasn't offering leadership to [b]Lionel[/b], just making him chief medical officer. She made the offer to [b]Annie[/b].

"Cael, the stick!" says Sarah, pointing. When he takes the controls again, she continues. "Please don't say that about my father. Only one of him went mad. The other is the same as he's always been. Once they merge together, they'll be okay. I wasn't offering him leadership anyway. I think Annie might make a good leader, though." She goes on to speak to Annie.

[Andrew]

Cael shrugged and looked at Stephen for not being on the ball when he let go of the stick. "Suppose so. She's as good as any other set of boobs in a uniform." He shook his head, "Nothing personal or sexist about, just bad personal experiences with women in charge during combat situations. It was a woman officer who got me in that whole Russian situation I had told you about."

[Mr. Handy]

"I'm sorry," says Sarah."Not all women are the same, though, and she had nothing to do with that. I know how you feel; I was wary of men after...after what one of them did to me."

The Lionels continue to sing and concentrate while holding Brianna's hands. They can feel themselves drifting closer and closer together.