Chapter 5: The Invisible Hand

[Linnea Korpela]

Linnea hears Keito come in the kitchen and listens while he talks.
"I would rather live by myself," was the only thing she could get in before Calithin came hopping into the kitchen.
The two of then enjoyed the cookies and watched the two of them as she sat on her stool across the counter from them.

[Calithin Crest]

When the cookies are brought out I grab a hand full and pop them into my mouth happily.

"Linnea... I think you're too quiet and... Like... Sad. It leads me to believe that there is perhaps not enough dancing or trampolines in your life. Now, I know he isn't the most pleasant person to deal with..."

I put my hand on my father's shoulder and shake him a little bit.

"But there are worse conditions to be faced with... You could be very sick, or ugly, or useless, or really a number of alternatives. So, I think you should cheer up. That is basically the heart of my proposal... Cheer up, ducky."

[Peter "Levitas" Barak]

"All the time," replied Peter, matter of factly. He didn't really think of compliments to his body as anything unusual, he put alot of work into it. He'd been forged by his youth, though he'd been much weaker and thinner than, and between his own work and Genetech he knew with certainty that he was quite well crafted.

"That's part of the reason I'm having the gym right by the house. I need alot of different environments. It's not all weight and such, there's..." he stopped and glanced at Bambi. He'd been talking freely about his job. That could be trouble. "There's special practice. Part of the secuirty and bodyguarding game. I'm going to have a little jungle room. Some desert, anything I might run into. Very advanced facility."

He pursed his lips, wondering if he was supposed to compliment her body now. That might be a poor choice, sometimes women responded oddly to such things. Maybe something general. "Once I get the place built, I'll keep to open to any of my friends who might want to use it. You want to be on the list? At the very least it'll have a nice jogging track."

[Linnea Korpela]

"No its not really that," she was somewhat embarrassed to be put in the spotlight like that, and clearly he didn't know what he did to her as she was growing up.
"It's just been a little hard lately. And right now...I'm just sore and tired. I'm sure you've heard what happened to me."
The few cuts that she had gotten on her head and face she had done a pretty good job at covering up.

[Jumala Keitoleinen]

"Well, if you get captured again, I can't afford to keep paying for your release." Keitoleinen states. "You really ought to do something for your own safety. The Manalists know you now and there is nothing to stop them from capturing you again if they think you are a rebel, or simply on account of your heritage." Keitoleinen informs her. He tries a cookie, which he thinks is pretty good.

[Bambi Engel]

"It certainly sounds like a top of the line gym." Bambi replied, trying to picture such a place. It sounded like a kid's dream playground. Of course, a kid wouldn't be training for security and body guarding. She couldn't help but to burst out laughing once he asked her if she wanted to be on the list. She quickly caught herself, though, not wanting him to take it as an insult.

"That's a very kind offer, but if anything I'd be the reason your insurance on the place would come in handy." She'd been the reason for a lot of people being thankful for insurance. "But I'd sure like to see the place at least, it sounds interesting." They were almost to her apartment complex now.

[Linnea Korpela]

Linnea didn't exactly think about the point that Keito brought up. She sunk a little bit on her stool.
"It wasn't my fault really. I was sorta set up," she says in a way that she hopes he doesn't pick up on and continue the conversation.
"I enjoy living myself even if it is boring. I like having a nice neat clean house with only myself to worry about."

[Peter "Levitas" Barak]

Peter smiled and chuckled a little. "I suppose there is that. Likely to be alot of things more fragil than office chairs laying around... still, you're free to have a look around the place when I get it finished. They were getting into apartments of slightly better quality, clearer on their surface anyway.

"Nice neighbhood," Peter commented ryly, "Reminds me of home. Only this is nicer. And clearer. Which might give you some idea of what I got used to when I was a kid."

[Jumala Keitoleinen]

"Hmm...well perhaps you could get a pet which protects you. Genetech has a wide array of watch animals. Maybe a dinosaur or one of their strange dog bull creatures. At least it would protect you in the future." Keitoleinen suggests. "Or, there is always an android or something of that sort that we could send to live with you." He says as a second thought.

[Linnea Korpela]

Linnea sighs, at least he didn't keep going on the other subject. He was really going to push this whole thing wasn't he.
"I'm not sure I'll hav eto think about it," she says as she rests her head on a hand propped up on the counter.

[Jack Kruschev]

Anthony scribbled down notes, in code, onto his paper. "Fastinating," he muttered, quietly, so Virgil would hear him.

He wrote: The subject is drawing sad pictures of trees, blood, bees, and so forth. Is war coming, has it already happened, is he simply insance? Further investigating will conclude this.

[Jumala Keitoleinen]

"Fine whatever. Your life is yours to risk...I suppose." Keitoleinen says with a shrug. He takes another cookie and is quiet for a while.

"Well, despite all of the work you have to do, I will give you tomorrow off. I suppose it doesn't hurt anything to give you a day."

[Linnea Korpela]

Linnea sits in the awkward silence for a while before he keeps going.
"Thanks," she said. "I really need that."
It was the only thing she could come up to say to him.

[Bambi Engel]

Bambi glanced around as she felt her sympathetic side rising again. "Ahh... I don't really remember when I lived back in America, which I suppose I should be thankful for. I never really had to live in any other slumps after that." She felt an urge to tell him she was sorry, or something, but there really wasn't any point. Life had turned out good for him in the end, had it not?

Still, she couldn't help but imagine how he must have been forced to fair when he was younger. The arrival to the front of the particular complex her apartment rested in saved her from her thoughts. "Well, this is the one I live in. Thank you very much for the escort, I really do appreciate it." She stated, stopping in front of the glass doors that led inside the building.

[Jumala Keitoleinen]

And that is all he can think of talking about, so instead he continues eating cookies and thinking quietly. He has been terribly nice and he feels upset that Linnea is not really very responsive to all that he has done for her. He crosses his arms and wonders if it was even worth helping out at all.

"I know who Father Manala is, but, I am not going to tell anyone."