Chapter 8: Addictions

[Bambi Engel]

Bambi finishes her accounting sheet, and saves the file before shutting her computer down. With a soft sigh, she gathers her things and makes her way home. It'd been a long day... Stepping inside her apartment, she places her things neatly on the coffee table.

After glancing around as she usually did to make sure everything was in order, she flips on the TV. The only thing that really interested her on TV was the news reports, though sometimes she watched the Manalist programs. She wasn't too good of a Manalist, but she tried to be.

"Oh, how terrible..." She mummers softly to herself, watching the reporting about the attack on Allwhere and then Cuba. She pulls at a strand of her brown hair, finding herself worried about Peter. She knew he could handle himself all too well, though... But still... And then she worries about an attack on Global Bank. It would be just her luck to get stuck in the middle of something like that!

Standing up, she decides to try and make dinner to distract herself, and trips on the way to the kitchen. Feeling defeated, she groans into the carpet. Just her luck.

[Maeve Cullen]

"Sure, I try to get tattoos that mean something to me. But some of them I have just 'cos I thought they looked so badass. Plenty of scars to mark things that have happened to me, though!" Maeve says, laughing as she continued working on his tattoo. "The wings on my shoulder blades represent when I begun to make my life exactly that, mine." It had been her first real tattoo a good number of years ago.

[Alexei Nacharade]

Alexei nodded thoughtfully.

"I got my first rose in prison." He says.

"So how long have you done tattoos, and better yet, why do you do them?" he asks, looking down at her.

"You just seem like someone who could do so much better. You seem pretty smart, and even aggressive. You could be one of the Blessed."

[Maeve Cullen]

Maeve curls her lip in disgust, before she quickly adjusts her expression and tries to think of how to reply. She still didn't want to let Alexei know she was a rebel. If she made a misjudgment on someone, everyone she cared about would be in danger at her fault. He seemed pretty alright, though...

"It's my passion. Body modification is the ultimate form of expression in my eyes. Plus, I'm really not that smart. I've only managed to start doing it professionally about four years ago, when I managed to buy this place with some friends. I wouldn't care much to be one of the blessed. No one's gonna tell me what to do."

[kaleb]

"I'll keep that in mind..." Kaleb said in response to Anthony telling him not to kill him, so long as the bugger didn't try the same he had no problem with that. When they arrived in the designated hallway, Kaleb immediatly looked up and heard a muffled voice emanate from a nearby grating. "He is in the vents..." Kaleb repeated as he toyed with the idea of blasting the celing, but that would not do well for the facility. "Someone get me a canister of knockout gas..." Kaleb barked into his communicator as he pressed a button on the side of his helmet to bring up a second type of vision.

Essentially it allowed him to vaguely see through solid objects; not completely but to some extent. A moment later and a white uniformed soldier ran up and handed him a canister of knockout gas like he asked. "Take this..." Kaleb said handing the guard the pistol as he took his hammer and thrusted it through a grate in the celing, breaking through it with ease. "Hand the scientist a gas mask too." he added pulling the hammer out and pulling the pin from the canister. Lobbing it into the duct, the canister hissed loudly as it released the compressed knock out gas into the air ducts where Virgil was...

Now it was just a matter of time...

[Jack Kruschev]

Anthony pushed the gas mask onto his face and watched as Kaleb tossed the canister into the vent. “Thata boy!” He yelled to Kaleb. Anthony set his gun to it’s stun mode, a mode he specifically designed for only his gun, just in case the gas didn’t take it’s full toll. Anthony positioned himself to get anything that came out of the vent and began to wait.

[Alexei Nacharade]

Alexei seems to smile widely, his respect for her seeming to grow slightly more.

"Maybe that's what being Blessed really is. Living independently, on your own terms."

He shrugs and rubs his eyes briefly.

"I've never really cared about Manala, or anything like that. There is plenty wrong with this world, but there is a lot that can be done with it. You gotta roll with it, you know?"

He shrugs then says,

"I'd rather be rich in an evil world then poor in a good one."

It occurs to him how selfish that statement is, but he simply brushes it off.

[Maeve Cullen]

"Yeah, I know. And eh, I'd probably end up strangling some aggorant bastard sooner or later if I was one of the Blessed. Then again that wouldn't me much different." Maeve says with a grin. In truth she had only ever killed if it was her or them. She believed there were better ways of revenge than killing, since there's things way worse than death.

"Can't say I blame you, bet it'd be mighty fine to roll in some Manala cash. Say, though..." It occurred to her he probably already knew she was a rebel, but she didn't worry about it, since he was snorting cocaine and all. "If you can get your hands on some of that fine white stuff, you know any straight dealers that got their hands on some cigs?"

[Alexei Nacharade]

Alexei eyes her cautiously then shrugs.

"Tell you what, pick up the tab on this tattoo and I'll get you anything you want. What do you say to a drink after you're done here? You said I was your last."

[Maeve Cullen]

Maeve thinks the offer over as she adds the final touches to the rose. She'd already given Hilja a tattoo on the house... Oh well, Jeff probably wouldn't mind, he liked cigarettes as much as her. "Deal, but four eyes and Hilja were heading to Ireland, and they invited a couple of people including me. How about we get a drink there? They've sure got better pubs there than here."

[Jumala Keitoleinen]

Keitoleinen half listens to Linnea and half stares at her chest. When she has explained the situation, he isn't sure what to say. "Well, it is a dangerous world. But, at least you have someone powerful like me on your side. You should be very thankful for that. Otherwise you might be in prison or worse right now."

Keitoleinen taps his fingers on the table boardly. "Do you have any board games here. We should play a game."

[Alexei Nacharade]

Alexei shrugged and stood up once she finished. He pulled on his pants then picked up his blazer, reaching in and pulling out a pack of unopened cigarettes. He tossed them in her direction.

"Deal." He said, then laughed.

"I haven't paid for a tattoo with contraband cigarettes since prison!"

He thought about Ireland, but then thought maybe it would be a good idea. He'd get out of country and let things cool down, then get back to dealing with the rebels. The last hit probably slowed them down anyway, nothing to worry about for a while.

[Dinari Dollar]

Dinari catches up with Tuvi and Peter. He has with him a tape from security. He will be gone at a business meeting so he wanted to talk to them before he heads off. He has his bags with him since he will be leaving right after their little chat.

"Hey guys, I just wanted to say that I talked to some workers there. Here is how things went down...so, it started with an attack on a worker named Horatio. Then, when people came to help him they were killed too. The footage doesn't show anyone actually doing the shooting, just people dropping dead. In the footage, I noticed two people who don't work for that factory. They seem to have followed Horacio to the hospital. They might know more about the situation. You can watch the video yourself and maybe try to identify them." Dinari suggests to Peter and Tuvi.

"I'll be leaving for a meeting, so you guys are on your own on this one. I hope we figure something out."

[Maeve Cullen]

"Glad to bring back some dear memories." Maeve says with a slight smirk as she caught the pack. She ripped the plastic off and pulled the tab open almost instantly. "I'm going to save paper and assume you know how to care for that baby." She pulls two cigarettes out before stuffing the back into her pocket. Holding them between her lips, she cleans her station up.

Once her hands were free, she pulls one from her mouth and leads the way back out to the lounge. "Hey Jeff! Miss your love?" She flicks the cigarette in her hand to Jeff and heads over to the desk. Pulling a lighter from one of the drawers, she looks around. "So Hilja, we ready to head to Ireland? Were Tuesday and Malak gonna come?" She asks as she lights her cig up, closing her eyes in bliss.

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

"Yes, they are coming too. Let's go! I am more than ready!" I reply to her. It is my brother that has the teleportation code though. (so I am moving Lonn)

"Well Lonn, you're the one with the code, so lead the way to the nearest teleportation booth. We're following you now!" I say to my brother. Then I skip after him leading the way for the others.

"You really worked hard today Maeve. Hopefully the shop isn't normally that busy for you!"