Chapter 15: The Sacred and Profane

[Kyra Majarae]

((OOC: OMG IT'S EMILIE AUTUMN!!!!!!! I LOVE HER MUSIC!!!!! sorry had to say something! =) ))

Kyra looked at Ivan and lowered her gun. "Family? You are related to us? How?! You're dead!" She was laughing so much at the absurd thought and then she thought about it and it was plausible...their family seemed to reproduce like rabbits. She laughed at that thought and then looked at Ivan. "I'll hear you out. But one wrong move and you will be dead....well deader..." She smiled a little insanely.

[Annette Rosenthal]

Annette Rosenthal puts out her cigarette before entering the Moderator's office. She knows that he doesn't like smoke, so, out of politeness, she puts it out. She's been smoking a lot more ever since the incident at the mansion. She dispatched many of her Creditors to go after the terrorists.

She enters the office and looks tired. Her eyes have bags under them and it seems that she has grown a few wrinkles on her already aged face. She doesn't bother taking a seat.

"Well..Mr. Moderator, what are we going to do about the situation?" Annette asks him irritably.

[Emmet Fawkes]

[[ OOC: Ivan makes me giggle. =D He's a lovable Russian zombie! ]]

Bishop stared hard as Amelia reentered the room, this time carrying the tea that she misinterpreted for the golf club. Bubblegum, bubblegum. He liked her hear, Creditor's hair was so fun, it was a shame that they were androids—androids of destruction, with such fun hair. Listening to her rambling, he stifled laughter, clutching his ribs and attempting to muffle his sounds.
“My... credit rating,” He spluttered dramatically, waving one of his hands as if it was the most detestable thing he's ever heard. He prodded himself in the chest, “Bubblegum, are you saying that my credit rating is so horrendous, that its like I have an STD?” The man was teasing. “Don't watch that claymation too close, you'll go blind.”

Glancing over at Bonifaz, he grinned. “She's loads of fun! I wish I had someone like that around.”

[Bonifaz Artz-Lehrer]

"Well, you do now...as long as you're here." Bonifaz replies. He almost laughs when Bishop teases the machine, but he stiffles it. For some reason he finds that verbally abusing her always improves his mood.

He takes a sip of his tea before answering Bishop's earlier question.

"No, we don't have ties with the mafia. They get their opium from Afghanistan and process it in their own labs in Moscow. Our opium...comes from another source...and soon Hungary. We have a much smaller amount, but use our own labs to turn it to codeine or morphine. Our market is restricted to mostly Germany right now, but we can sell it here without worry of the anti drug commission. If we go beyond the land that my father owns though, we would be subject to their drug regulations. .." He tries to explain. "I don't have connections with the mafia since I am not sure that I would trust them....and we are out for different things in this world."

[Ariel Tal Shachar]

"There will be a meeting of the Economic Council tomorrow. We can collectively.." Ariel cringes at the word. "We will decide as a council what to do." Ariel replies to Annette. She appears worried, but he is calm. "I have a few ideas and I am not as alarmed as some might expect me to be." He states. He has seen many horrible things in his own life. He has seen the extermination of Jews, Christians, Muslims, and others. It is something he both escaped from..and condoned. "I have sent the Invisible Hand to investigate. I already have some reports back from them. In time, we will have more answers." Ariel states calmly. "I already talked to Li Violette and told her not to make any speeches about it."

[Annette Rosenthal]

"Li Violette is a communist and she is probably behind all of this. She is probably ...paying these terrorists." Annette shrieks. "She should be executed publicly!"

Annette clenches her fist. "Someone should be blamed. I would blame it on...a religious group or some socialist terrorists. Blame it on some delluded collectivists." Annette suggests. "This world is becoming too...chaotic!"
She steps back from the desk and paces around the office, biting her thumbnail.

[Ariel Tal Shachar]

"We all have a history. Would you hold it against me that I was raised Jewish? The past is the past, and so I trust Li Violette. I know her, and although her intentions may be questionable, I know that she wants the same thing. She is one of us, even if she does not see that herself." Ariel says wisely. He watches Annette's pacing, but remains serene and thoughtful. "Last week, our greatest concern was the economy. Things were slumping, not enough consumption.."

"Well, this little incident may very well solve that problem. All of the Blessed will be ramping up their armies and security now. This will create more jobs and need for weapons, Manala crystals, and new technology. Perhaps, this little incident is a blessing in disguise." Ariel suggests with a broad smile. He removes his glasses and fixes his different colored eyes on Annette.

"We will meet with the Blessed soon enough."

[Annette Rosenthal]

Annette hadn't thought of that and she is washed over by a calm. "This problem would be solved if we did away with the Manalists and legalized everything. Crime couldn't exist if drugs were legalized. We could turn crime into a respectable livelihood and funding for the mafia and terrorist groups would be no more. They could either join the ranks of respectable business people, or have to compete against respectable business people who want to take over their niche in the market." Annette reasons.

"I think it is high time that we do away with that foolish religion and let the market liberate us from all of these worries."

She absent mindedly pulls a cigarette out and starts smoking, even though she had told herself she wasn't going to smoke in front of the Moderator.

[Emmet Fawkes]

The invitation to stay suited his fancy, Bishop wasn't too keen on staying in one place for too long, it made him feel like there was some sort of routine. He loathed routines, they were so... so boring. What was that? It looked like he almost saw Bonifaz laugh at his silly teasing of the machine. Glancing around the room, he noted the Claymation still droning on, and the android staring intently at it.

Stretching his limbs, he threw out his arms behind his head, sucking in a short yawn. The day was frighteningly long, and he left his clothes back at the Banquet. He wondered if the Creditors would find it for evidence or something, pick apart the particles clinging to the fabric and chase him like a blind dog—the prospect sure was exciting.

Bishop already decided that he'd help Bonifaz, his new pal, with whatever plans he had. “What an operation, you should show me around the Opium labs in Moscow, call it a pet-hobby, but I've always been interested in chemicals. And without the anti-drug commission rubbing their noses in your work, your nearly untouchable. But its troublesome just to work inside the limits, shame that their regulations strangle like a kid choking on candy, my, it'd be convenient if you could work inconspicuously, expanding your market.” Sighing, the man waved his hand, “The Council's got their sticky fingers everywhere nowadays, though, eyes everywhere. Peeping toms spying on honest to God people like us.” Even though he was eccentric, he thought he had a point. There were camera's nearly everywhere he saw, spying on possible propaganda or riots—their attempts to suppress anyone who didn't agree.

[Ariel Tal Shachar]

"No, there is a purpose even in that, for now." The Moderator replies. "Genetech makes a lot of money off of the Manalists through Red Leaf sales. If drug laws were dropped, the price of Red Leaf would plummit as anyone could grow and produce it. Genetech has a great deal of power in the world so they would never vote for the end of the Manalists. Everyone profits from the Manalists. All those soldiers, temples, red leaf, priests, and so on have to come from somewhere. They may be our golden calf, but, what they do for the economy is tremendous...not to mention what they do for keeping order in the world."

Ariel coughs and waves his hand in front of his face to dispell the smoke.

"We can discuss all of this further with the Blessed."

[Aubrey 16]

Aubrey was one of the many Creditors Annette had dispatched to take care of the terrorists, and she wasn't particularly happy about it.

Stupid, crazy, terrorist people. Why mess with the Blessed? Its not like they're going to get away with it. No, they're just gonna cause a big mess and then Creditors and other unfortunate beings are going to be sent to clean it up and track them down.

So not fair.

And, she'd completely missed the party! Of course, she would've had to stay on Annette's tail the entire time, and it wouldn't have been much fun, but Aubrey would've looked fabulous, and flanted it for all the Blessed to see and envy.

Pouting, the pink haired android sighed and set off to find these terrorists. They had broken the law, and therefore needed to be punished, and it was Aubrey's job to make sure that was taken care of.

[Ivan Koporb]

"You ever look at grave of grandfather? He is dead, and yet you are related. Is that last stupid question or vill I be needing small mallet?" Ivan asked, still irritable that his efforts to be nice. "один. два. три." Even if they didn't know he was counting in Russian, it would probably be obvious when he brought his gun back to the coat. "Now, ve talk, da? I been dead for long time and had plenty of it to learn little more about myself. Which brings subject to you. Sisters Ivan has not met." He explained, gesturing to Eve and Kyra with his gnarled, grey hands.

[Annette Rosenthal]

To all Blessed
"Yes, well, I suppose we should report to the meeting." Annette decides. She leaves the Moderator and takes her seat in the large auditorium like space where the meetings for the Economic Council are often held. The large room is black and red, with the Economic Council banner behind a stage. The stage features a podium, where the Moderator stands and speaks.

There are rows of tables and black leather seats. On each section of the table, there are name places for companies on gold plaques.

Annette sits down in the area marked by the gold plaque that says "Global Bank"

However, there are plaques that say Genetech, Intelligent Design, Sota, Crest Mining, All Mart and so on.

The location is protected by a shield created by Manala crystals and guarded by the best of the Invisible Hand. Access is restricted through a check point and biometric scans.

The building is very secure.

Annette takes her seat and waits for others to arrive.

[Evana Majarae]

Eve wasn't too excited on the idea of lowering her gun near this suspicious character. She glanced out the corner of her eye to see Kyra lower her weapon and reluctantly did the same. A moments hesitation after he lowered his... and the weapon was dropped to her side. She frowned deeply at this. Evana had no memories of someone who looked like this in her family tree. And a dead member, at that. How it was possible, she didn't know. But the way it seemed her family was becoming more and more fucked up with every bit she learned. She didn't do well with introductions, as Kyra had experienced first hand, and would allow her sister to do most of the talking. Evana looked to Kyra, looking a bit... confused (if you could call it that, most of her expressions look very similar).

[Amelia 20]

"I can not go blind with my machine eyes." Amelia replies to Bishop and continues to watch the claymation. She giggles when she sees a clay snowman. "We should make a snow man. In the meadow we can build a snowman, we can call him ... we can call him..." She gets stuck on this lyric.

"We can call him Adam Smith." "We can call him Adam Smith!" She laughs hard and pounds her fist on the coffee table in joy. This breaks the coffee table.