Chapter 15: The Sacred and Profane

[Horacio Hatfield]

To Kyra
Horacio is at the door when the pale skinned woman and another ...equally pale skinned woman, step up to the door. Horacio is still waiting for someone to answer the door so he decides to talk to this woman.

"Good day, Madam, are you a resident here or friend of those who live here?" Horacio asks politely with a slight bow of his head.

[Annette Rosenthal]

"No Rutheven, they do look more like psychopaths than any sort of organized resistance. Nevertheless, organized resistance is a greater threat to everything..so, blaming labor activists, communists, the left in general, is something that should be done at any excuse, or even none at all." Annette replies coldy to Rutheven. She listens to Calithin talk and agrees with most that he has said. "Lately, people have not been buying as much. Despite pervasive advertisement, people have been cutting back. One problem is perhaps credit, I have not lowered lending standards to extend credit to poor people since I don't have enough Creditor androids to punish defaulters on their debts. Something needs to be done so that people buy more, or, businesses should cut back on labor and production until it meets the current demand, though stimiluting spending would be a better solution."

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

To any socialist character
"Rose Hoito, Kasper Schultz, Mischa, and Armin are in the area. I am not sure if I will get in touch with any of them since they all work a lot, but I could try to give them a call or something and invite them over. That should be enough...especially Armin since he is the local leader..." I reply to Tuesday. We enter her apartment and I make some phone calls from her cell phone. I call up anyone I can think of...to come to her apartment for discussion about the incident at the mansion.

[Heikki Toivonen]

Heikki finally goes to the door and notices a stange looking man and two women that he didn't see when he originally peeked out the window a moment ago. He is a little shocked to see two others, but, he remains pretty emotionless.

"Oh, hello, what can I do for all of you?" He asks the crowd at the door.

[Calithin Crest]

"I think people are spending less because of... Magic? No. I don't know. Probably just because they don't feel that their financial position is safe, and that causes them to be more wary of infrugal expenditures. It's very understandable. It's no mystery.

And, also... Low interest loans... Have their pros and cons. The banks would sort of be going out on a limb there. It's a sticky situation. Maybe laxer credit qualifications is a good way to go. I in no way advocate giving credit to those who have proven undeserving of it in the past, but, just... Giving people a break. I am in favor of breaks of all sorts, generally speaking."

I take a seat again and rummage through my things until I find some smarties, which I then begin to eat. I love the economy and smarties are pretty good too.

[Li Violette]

"I agree with Calithin. I think the Global Bank could extend some credit to the less credit worthy, even if it is in the form of Manala-mas loans. The threat of the Creditors should be enough to keep most people current on their debt repayments." I say to the audience, but mostly to Annette.

"But this won't solve the the fundemental problem. People aren't spending as much because there are ...just too many poor people in the world without money to spend. Wages are not liveable. Unemployment is rampant, often because of labor policies where a lot of laborers are forced laborers who are working for free because of some sort of crime or debt to society. This is displacing wage workers. If you want people to spend money, they need money to spend." I say to everyone.

"As for the terrorism incident, like Calithin said, it is an isolated event. We should not go public with it because it is an isolated, disorganized, criminal act. However, I would like to take a moment to ask the Moderator or perhaps a representative from M TV, how it is that you were able to block the rest of the world from seeing the broadcast?"

[Ariel Tal Shachar]

"I support Calithin and the Speaker in not discussing this openly at this time. If there are other terrorist attacks or incidents, we can become more open or use it to create an enemy. It seems that since it was isolated to Helsinki, there is no reason to make it known to the rest of the world." The Moderator decides.

"So it is my recomendation that our policy at this time be to not speak publicly about it. As for the spending problem, the Speaker may be right about poverty as a reason for decreased spending. I don't agree with Calithin that at this time credit should be extended to the less credit worthy. That would be a quick solution, but, in the long term, if they are poor now, they probably will not use the credit wisely, and only find themselves poor and in debt." The Moderator reasons.

"I am also cautious about reducing the number of forced laborers. This has allowed for cheaper goods and services, since the employers do not need to worry about wages...only prividing minimal prison standard food and shelter. We could embark on a study though to see if a years wages is less than the the amount each employer spends on housing and food for their forced laborers. In that case, we could try to reduce the cost of housing and food, or perhaps consider turning some of the unpaid work to paid labor." The Moderator decides. "I think there are still plenty of areas where the economy can grow. The United States and much of the Americas and Africa are devestated as well as the Middle East. Perhaps there could be something gained by developing these areas, such as Dinari Dollar has attempted to do in America. If this is not viable, there is also the long term goal of space colonies. I think there are plenty of ways the economy can grow and jobs can be created."

The Moderator finally pays attention to Li's comment.
"The reason why we were able to block the television program is because of a special machine that the Manalists control. I am not at liberty to discuss the machine, but, I will say that if we required it, we could use the machine to fool people into spending what little money they have. It is essentially a mind controlling machine. We could use it to influence people's thoughts about the current economy, which could generate some more spending, at least with those who have money to spend. However, I would not recommend doing this unless there is a consensus in the Council that this is a useful idea."

[Dinari Dollar]

"Can we use that machine to make us think that the meeting is over, since it is really dragging on. I want a burger or something. I'm hungry. I haven't eaten since the party." Dinari informs everyone in attendance. "I'm happy with whatever everyone decides as long as we decide it now."

[Calithin Crest]

"We should probably... Just draft a plan and vote on it. I think that sounds good. Maybe compromise on certain points... No low interest loans or giving loans to those with bad credit, but refinancing of toxic assets and asset auctions. I also think a harsher enforcement of the credit laws would be good, if we're going that route. No ending forced labor, but doing research to see whether that could be a smart option in the future. Um... No telling the public about the terrorist attack, but using all resources available to catch the perpetrators and a general heightening of security... Which would serve also to provide new jobs. Promoted expansionism, for the same purpose, in underdeveloped areas... I think companies should work with one another on this point-- maybe undertake different projects together. But no mind control. I won't compromise with that. I mean, come on? Mind control? Yeesh. Scary."

The idea of mind control really doesn't sit well with me. I eat my smarties with a genuinely concerned look on my face, but try to push these disconcerting thoughts out of my mind for the time being. To little avail.

"That is what I propose. We can call it Plan A-wesome."

[Evana Majarae]

Evana's wrist popped as Kyra jerked her around all over the place. Her sister was just too enthusiastic about things. She lowered her eyebrows in confusion at what Kyra had said about finding her own base. '...What? Does it move? Did she 'lose' it?'[/i] She huffed a little. Her sister truly was a piece of work.

Before she knew it, she was at another place and standing before other people. Her sister stood in front of her but she could see past her shoulder. She could see one of them, but her head blocked the view of the other. And uneasy feeling overcame her again. She didn't like new people.

[Alter Grossman]

((Post to any of the inhabitants of Keitoleinen's mansion.))

Alter arrives at Jumala Keitoleinen's mansion and rings the bell. The grand door of the building makes her look shorter than usual. Alter is wearing four or five layers of clothing, including a down coat, earmuffs, a handknit sweater or two, a hat she croched, and mittens that she also knit herself. She has lived in Helsinki for almost five years now, and she still can't stand the cold. Her teeth chatter, and she thinks of lying on the cool tile floor of her grandmother's house, on days when it was too hot to go outside. She wishes life was still so simple.

Alter needs to examine the crime scene for evidence. She hopes that Mr. Keitoleinen's servants haven't cleaned anything up yet. Alter also needs the guest list. She assumes that the terrorists were uninvited, but perhaps the guest list will reveal clues to their motives.

To be honest, Alter isn't sure if there is a way to narrow down the people that might want to attack a Manala-mas party filled with so many prestigious people. If she isn't able to find the actual culprits, she may need to order operatives to round up random troublemakers. Alter has bent her morals nearly to the breaking point, but she still has trouble punishing the innocent. All the same, her bosses expect results.

[Kyra Majarae]

Kyra smiled at the two men, one she wasn't sure about. She stayed in front of her sister, being protective. She smiled at the gents and walked on further inside. She saw a creditor android that looked like it had lost a few circuits and screws, she then smiled at Eve. "We will leave shortly, unless I am given a job and then we will stay longer. I doubt I'm needed, but anyway. Shopping will come first reguardless." She smiled and hugged her sister She looked at Horacio. "I work for Boni....even though he's never seen me before. I do his "dirty work" so to speak. Or whatever dirty work I am hired for." She laughed and escorted her sister to where Emmet was. She put her hands on her hips and smiled.

[Eun/Aoi Kiriyama]

"Mom, I heading to work." Eun says to her mom as she puts on her shoes.

"What about homework for school?" Haneul ask. Haneul is sitting in the couch in her pjs and messy hair. She haven't took a shower for 3 days.

"Already finished them." Eun answer before exiting the house and walk to work.

As soon as she enter SOTA, couple of her co workers told her that Keito isn't here today.

"How long he has been gone?" Eun ask Rico

"Lost count." Rico reply.

Eun simply shrug before heading to her work station and began on her designs.

[Evana Majarae]

Evana didn't disobey as she followed her sister around like being a lost puppy. She eyed Horacio for a few seconds and then turned her attention to her sister's back. She remained silent and out of the conversation, feeling it wasn't her place to be here or speak at the moment. She looked around, observing the room they were in and then looking back over the men.

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

After some time of waiting, some socialists from Helsinki start to arrive at Tuesday's apartment. I happily greet them and let them inside of the apartment, but hope that nothing goes wrong or disrupts the meeting. It is very hard to meet.

The room fills with a handfull of people and we start the meeting.

"Hey everyone...well, thanks for coming...especially on such short notice. Anyway, Malak, Tuesday and I were all at the party for the Blessed and there was some kind of attack there. I am not sure what to make of it. I am not sure what to think about it. What do you guys think?"