Chapter 7:A Beauty That's Thin, White, and Rich

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

I watch the news in the lounge of the tattoo shop while Maeve works on Tuesday's tattoo. I talk to Malak a little and ask him questions about what it is like to work on the party's newspaper, but when a stranger enters the door, I stop this conversation and watch the news quietly.

The thin stranger enters then Alexei comes back. I keep my eyes on the news. It is M TV news, so it is always biased toward Manalism.

"There was some sort of shooting just a bit ago." I inform the stranger and Alexei. I don't even look at them, just keep my eyes on the news.

[Lucio De Saldanha]

To Eun
After a while, Lucio decides to just wander around Helsinki aimlessly. He isn't really paying attention where he is going. His mind is full of strange things..Irish history, Dada poems, sailing, and alternate versions of Alice in Wonderland. So, not looking where he is going, he bumps right into Eun, who is also walking.

"Ahoy matey, it looks like we're a ship wreck." He says to Eun.

[Lena Eva Aysel]

Lena was aware of his presence, but she continued to walk for a bit. She leads him into the poorer part of town before taking a sharp town down an alleyway. Gazing up, she begun to speak, and any passer byers would probably think she were talking to herself.

"Can you get me a copy?" She asks, though it would've been easier to just ask him over the phone. "Violette is interested in finding out about this paper. I've found a few suspects, but nothing concrete." She liked both of them, so she didn't reveal their names for him to investigate also.

[rosette]

Rosette jumped when the building she was sitting in front of seemed to lock itself up. "Mrr...?" She carefully crawled to the end of the soil around the bed of flowers on all fours. Gazing up, she stared at the sheet of metal in front of where the door was. Why was this so familiar?

Part of her suddenly felt the urge to flee, but the other part felt at home. She puffs her cheeks out in confusion, not liking the strange mixture of emotions. "This flower isn't scared!" She exclaimed to herself, suddenly standing up with her fists planted on her hips.

Her dress was now stained with soil at the knees, but she took no notice. She often got her clothes dirty one way or another so it was nothing new. Marching up to the front door, she tentatively touched the cool metal panel.

[Maeve Cullen]

Maeve laughed softly. "It really isn't that much of a genius, stores used to do that all the time in the past, from what I hear. One of our older regulars gave us the idea." She just almost done with the tattoo now. "I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I told them you were okay, but there's some non rebels out there right now. I heard the bell ring twice and the all the topics have shifted."

Her enhanced abilities really came in handy sometimes, but most people thought she was just a really gifted woman. They wouldn't guess at her genetic altered DNA since all Genetech soldiers had white hair. She had always wondered why that is. One of the scientists tried to explain it once, but she just got confused. "I'm about to finish up yours, you could come by another time or wait to see how long they stay."

[Eun/Aoi Kiriyama]

"We are?" Eun ask Lucio but only made slightly made her an idiot.

"Um.....do you live around here in Helsinki or you are just a tourist?"

[Markus Dunstan]

Markus perched above her clinging to the wall like a spider, but hidden in the shadows. He reached into a tonfa sword sheathe, tucked beside one of his twin blades in it's sheathe was a copy one issue of the rebel newspaper. He dropped the paper at her feet.

He watched and waited patiently for her to inspect it. Only a few drops of blood were on the front page.

[wyvernlord]

“Oh my,” I say with as much false sorrow as possible. “How many dead and where?”

On the inside, Tyler knew his work was being done, and done well. He’d have to get into contact with Li to tell her of the events and how well they went. She would have heard about it on the news anyway. Things were good, as was life.

“How terrible was it?” Tyler asks.

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

"Several people died. Someone killed a local business man and some people near him at the time also died." I say to the stranger. I continue to watch the news. The news believes that it was rebels who attacked the man because he was a well known businessman.

I am not so sure of that myself, since I thought most of the rebels were in hiding right now.

"That's really frightening."

[Alexei Nacharade]

Alexei doesn't look at the news, just checks his watch and yawns, waiting patiently. He sits in a chair and lays his head back and slowly dozes off. He actually sleeps somewhat soundly for a few minutes.

[Li Violette]

To Hector
After an early morning meeting, I give Hector a call to check on him. He is an important person to me right now because of his ties to the mafia. I call him and leave him a message.

"Hector, I heard about the attack in Cuba on the news. I want you to meet with someone from the mafia there and try to build a better relationship with them. You are useful to them because of the cocaine. Maybe offer to increase production as long as none of our Red Infinity people are attacked. Provide them with the names of Trotskyite and anarchist rebels if need be..so they can differentiate us from them. I will send a list to your email. After you have met with someone from the mafia, try to find Kith Keitoleinen and work with him to reorganize the rebels in Cuba

After that, I send a list of known rebels to his email. The rebels include Tuesday DeCastro, Malak Aldeberon, Kasper Schultz, Armin Lehrer, Rose Hoito, Lucio DeSaldahna, Grzegor Kuhlkin, Horacio Hatfield, the Qassim Twins, Taylor Jones and others.

[Lucio De Saldanha]

"I'm just a careless mariner, lost at sea! They call me Captain Happenin' " Lucio replies to the woman. He bends down and picks up a daisy that was growing in the grass near the side walk. He gives it to the young woman and laughs.

"And who might you be?"

[Eun/Aoi Kiriyama]

"I'm Eun Kiriyama." she reply and took the daisy from him. She never actually met who is hyper as him.

"Thank you for the daisy, but please tell me your real name Captain Happenin....."

[Lucio De Saldanha]

"Oh, my real name is Lucio." Lucio states. "Real names aren't quite a fun though. Why don't you tell me your pretend name, Eun?" He asks.

A bird flies by overhead and he watches until it disappears into the distant sky.

"Sorry, I was distracted. Anyway, you should make up a pretend name."

[Benjamin "Dionysius" Musaphia]

Ben checked his watch. It was a real watch, not something run on Manala and certainly not some strange balance of quartz and chemcils. It wasn't even run by gears and springs. Ben's watch was a sun dial he kept by the window of his office. He was a traditionalist from way back. He possessed those other time keeping devices, but he disliked them greatly.

In any case it was time to make reports and the Economic Council virtually always topped his schedule. He hefted his briefcase, stuffed to bursting with paperwork, some of it completed and some of it to be handed to others for their filling out or double checking or triple stamping. As it should be.

Nothing ruffled Benjamin worse than dishandled paperwork. Well, that wasn't true but that was what happened more often.

Of course, visiting the Economic Council ruffled him as well. Speaker Li Violette was not a traditionalist, even in the short sighted human sense. She also had a tendancy to dislike his instance on record keeping. And, worst of all, she was at the front of the Economic Council and she didn't actually have to do a damned thing asked her to.

Still, she was on the schedule.

He adjusted his tie and stepped out of his officie. Official policy prevented him from just dropping in. He was headed down to the Teleportation Booth so he could enter the Council's main officie via the front door and check in for his appointment properly.

Probably take him the better part of an hour. Which was why he was leaving two hours earily. Would never do to be late.