Chaper 14: The Blessed

[Chris "The Patriot" Frost]

Chris steps into the room with Dinari and nods to him politely.

"I just need to borrow this for a moment."

Chris reaches out with both arms at Calithin, to grab him and walk him down to the pool.

[Li Violette]

"We can talk more about this later, Isvara. I have an idea for you...how you might present your technology...or just a little bit of it. But for now, let's see what the hub bub is about."

With that, I follow after Rutheven and other guests, outside to the pool. The pool is empty, but everyone is gathered around it. I gather from the remarks ...that this is going to be a fight. That should be interesting.

I stand next to Rutheven, away from the rest of the crowd a little. It is cold outside, and I am hardly dressed for this. "It's cold out here. I hope that this fight is good." I say quietly.

"As for Isvara, I would hate for the technology to fall into the wrong hands. It could make someone rich...and upset the balance of power in the world."

[Dinari Dollar]

Dinari follows after Calithin and Cris. He doesn't know what is going on. When he arrives outside at the pool, he is confused. "What about the cookies?" He asks someone randomly. When he is told that there is going to be a fight, he wonders who is going to fight.

[Chris "The Patriot" Frost]

Chris pushes Calithin in and lets out his fighting roar. A few party-goers already have cameras out to see the fight, and Chris jumps into the pool and faces Calithin.

Chris knew exactly what he was going to do, and Calithin didn't know that he was about to play along.

"C'mon now, show 'em what you got!"

Chris wasn't going to wait for him to fight back, his plan was already decided. Chris runs straight at Calithin, but skillfully leaps from a few paces away and puts his knee up.

Chris was about to demonstrate his own version of the super-man punch known by his fans as. . .

"It's the patriot punch!"

Chris jumps high enough that his knee is in front of Calithins vision, and he rotates his entire frame.

"LIGHTS OUT!"

His entire body is spinning to the left in the air as he gives his shoulder a good twist and swings out with his right arm, enough power and speed behind the punch that most people aren't fast enough to even see it coming.

Chris watches his punch, aiming it precisely at the forehead, where it will inflict the least permanent damage.

[Bambi Engel]

Bambi felt like she was internally having a heart attack, but her face showed no trace of the blurring emotions. She was being invited to an Economic Council meeting and asked to plan the Manla-mas party. It was probably what most Cursed wished for!

So why wasn't she thrilled? Instead, she just felt sick.

Nonetheless, she found she could bring a pleasant smile to her face. She decides not to bow, instead simply nodding her head. "Oh, yes, I am honored and thrilled! Both to attend an Economic Council meeting and to plan the Manla-mas. I will be sure to have far better dress. Your faith will be well founded."

She finds it easy to bring true emotion into her voice to illustrate she wasn't lying, as she was curious as to what occurred at an Economic Council meeting. She was also rather interested in the economy, it was all basically a mess of numbers. The Manla-mas was probably the one thing causing the sick feeling, her paranoia was already rambling off on it.

What if she couldn't plan it right? What if something went wrong? What if Annette didn't like how she planned it? As usual, she pushed those thoughts back while idly trying to find a solution. Perhaps she would simply write up a rough draft and show Annette the plans. If anything is wrong, Annette can point it out before she starts the preparations.

That solution seemed reasonable. And no more surprise outfits from Aubrey! She was just relieved Annette was offering her this chance even with the apparent dislike of her dress even if she was unsure about it.

[Calithin Crest]

"... Seriously..."

Is basically all I can say. This is just sad. Sad and annoying. I am not happy about this. At all.

"Okay, okay..."

I don't struggle as I'm taken to the pool. I just sort of frown and sigh. So, so many sighs.

When Chris puts me down finally and a crowd begins to gather around us in the makeshift fighting ring I decide I pretty much could not care less right now.

"Uh huh, uh huh... Yeah. Rawwwrrrrr to you too, buddy."

I kind of expect Chris to hit me, he looks like a hitty guy, and I let him do so. When his fist impacts with my forehead, my frontal lobe, the fucking reasoning center of my brain, I am not a little perturbed.

A sort of stiff pain emulates through my head and I fall straight on my back. I am not knocked out, but, I'm not seriously going to fight this guy so I pretend like I am. Yep, I just lay there with my eyes closed. My head is throbbing a little and that's not fun, but, I'll live.

What an inconvenience. I wonder mildly if I remembered to unplug the toaster this morning... No. Wait, yes. Wait, no. Hmm...

[Annette Rosenthal]

"If you have any ideas about the party, you can run them by me while we are enjoying this Banquet." Annette orders Bambi. With that, Annette heads outside to the pool, where there is a fight between Calithin and Cris.

"Bah, what barbaric entertainment. I thought we were all more enlightened than this...this brutish entertainment..." Annette complains. She steps closer to the pool to get a better look at the fight.

As she nears the edge of the pool, someone bumps her and she falls into the fighting pit.

"Graaah! Get me out of here!" She says. She becomes so upset with the situation, that she starts hitting Calithin, who is already on the ground pretending to be knocked out.

She turns to Cris. "You, you call this entertainment! Bah!" She says and spits at the ground.

[Chris "The Patriot" Frost]

Cheers come on as Chris has apparently knocked the man out. Chris smiles to the crowd.

Chris sees a woman fall into the 'ring' and moves to help her. She doesn't seem too excited about the fight, and Chris wasn't going to try to talk to her or sway her opinion his way.

"Sorry ma'am, here."

Chris offers a hand to the woman.

"Are you ok? Did you fall in?"

[Annette Rosenthal]

"No, I was pushed! I was PUSHED!" Annette yells. She is quite hysterical right now. She makes a fist and looks around at the crowd for the person who pushed her into the pool. "It was ...him!" She says, pointing at Rutheven. She is sure it wasn't actually Rutheven, but she doesn't like him. She thinks that he is too ambitious and that he might someday try to replace the Moderator. Annette is very loyal to the Moderator.

"You should teach him to respect his elders!" Annette decides, even though just a moment ago she thought this was all mindless non sense. She was actually confused that Cris was so polite to her. It seemed genuine too. Because of this, she switched her venom to someone else.

[Chris "The Patriot" Frost]

Frost was confused, did she want him to attack a council member? Chris is smart enough to back down from that one, but doesn't want his fans to think he's wimping out.

"There's a big crowd, I'm surprised you're the only one to get bumped in so far. I can't imagine that he pushed you on purpose. C'mon now, let's get you and--" Frost nods to Calithin "him out of here."

Frost walks to the laying body of Calithin, and grips him gently under the armpits. He lifts him and drags him, trying to shake him awake at the same time.

"He seemed to take that harder than I thought. They usually start wiggling after they hit the ground."

[Annette Rosenthal]

Annette scowls, but it was worth a try. She shakes her head and looks up at Rutheven.

She whistles and one of her Creditor androids appears at the side of the pool. "You're supposed to be watching me." She yells at the Creditor. "You should teach Rutheven a lesson if he pushes me again." She tells the machine, since the fighter won't do her bidding. The Creditor gives her a confused, but obedient look.

"Well, don't just stand there. Pull me up, but gently."

The Creditor does more than that by jumping down into the pool and scooping Annette into its arms. It jumps back out and gently places her on the ground. "I still think that all of this is a waste of time. Killing animals. Fighting. There should be Classical music or perhaps a ballet performance. But this.... this is all low culture...this is the Blessed...not some Wrestling Television program!" She scolds the crowd. Annette is not a very popular person since she always speaks her mind, and is very critical of everyone around her. Yet, at the same time the fighter was not what she expected. She thought he would be some ignorant brute. There was more to him than she thought. There was something hidden from everyone else there...who just worshipped him as a celebrity.

"And you...I guess you are more than just one of the mammoths or creatures on display here, aren't you?" She says quietly.

She brushes herself off and scans the crowd for Bambi. "Bambi, did you see who pushed me?" She shouts at Bambi.

[Chris "The Patriot" Frost]

Frost continues to carry Calithin off, assuming that he was passed out from pain. He speaks quickly to Anette before leaving the scene.

"I'm more than a brutal fighter. I'm a well disciplined, smart, brutal fighter." He wanted to add more, but held his tongue.

He lifts Calithin up the stairs and sets him in a chair in the room he found him. He quickly puts two fingers on his throat, feeling a satisfactory heartbeat. He palms Calithin's cheek and lifts his eyelid with his thumb. He sees the un-dilated pupils and chuckles. He takes his hand off and then playfuly smacks his cheeck.

"You're fine. Get some rest."

He leaves the room and walks back down to the lobby.

[Jack Kruschev]

It couldn't be more obvious Kashei was having a mental conversation.

It was like seeing the difference between caucasians; somehow there was a difference, you just couldn't explain it. Anthony had worked with plenty of telepathic peoples and knew that there were signs, signs he couldn't necessarily describe. Who Kaschei was talking to didn't matter, he and Anthony has business to do.

Anthony leaned in.

"To be frank," Anthony began, "I think I can safely say that the Manalists stand at least somewhat in the way of both of our intentions for the future. I want to use science and genetics to create a new world of super humans and creatures that can easily be controlled and expandable. If I understand the papers and rumors correctly, you simply want power. I need you to use that power for me. I can provide the tools and resources, but you need to provide everything else. My actions are watched, yours are watched as well. The only difference is that you're not as carefully monitored. If we work together, I don't see a reason why we can't figure out a way to rule our own empires and kingdoms. The Manalists are a dying race; people hate them far more than they hate you or me. If we can both raise our own resistances, we'll do fine."

I lean back and sigh. Taking a sip of my water, I lean back in to finish my little speech.

"Plus, the black wings are easily the most powerful force on the planet, besides the Manalists. Tyler Bargrin, their leader, was cast out of Heaven by Father Manala himself! He was our back all the way on this."

[Dr. Lonnrot Kukkanen]

I look up as someone enters the room.

"She's just looking for a familiar face...I'd like to get to know this one," I think as I stand up and read her thoughts.

I dodge and avoid bumping others as I cross the room to this newcomer.

I stop my reading of her thoughts and mind as I approach. "'Name's Lon, it's a pleasure to meet you, miss," I say as I hold out a hand for her to shake.

[Rutheven Dellacroix]

Was initially shocked at the accusation, but he realized it was Annette who just simply held a grudge against him. Annette was zealously loyal to the Moderator, she would be in his way one way or another. Her being a stupid bitch however just made the motivation to have her removed easier. He could have her disposed of and to him it wouldn't mean a thing.

Rutheven stared at the Creditor android and grinned. He could certainly fight off the android but there would be no point in doing so now. The best thing now was to still act cordial to Annette.

"Madame Rosenthal if somehow it was me who did it I apologize, however I don't think its possible I did from all the way over here."