Chapter 18: A Parable for the Terrible

[Tuesday DeCastro]

"Yup. That'd be me." Tuesday said, offering a smile. "I apologize, but I didn't catch your name."

She took in the appearence of the man sitting before her. Her eyes darting from the aviators, to the jacket, and the half-smoked cigar. Tuesday began to wonder if it was a poor choice, inviting a stranger into her apartment. She shook the thought away though, appearences could be decieving.

"Nice shades." She said, instead of voicing her half formed concerns. She drew in a breath. "I've got a few questions for you, as I'm sure you've got a few for me, but I feel it may be wiser to discuss them in private." She gestured around the small cafe, you never knew who was listening.

It was then that the blonde happened to glance out the window, she recognized Horacio, an anarchist, who she'd helped out once. He seemed to be in trouble? She was curious as to what was going on.

"Thats my friend..." She told Freak Boy. "If you'll excuse me, I think I should say hello." Tuesday stood, and thought for a moment. "Of course you're welcome to come along if you like."

She stepped outside the cafe and approached the three. "Hello Horacio." She said, nodding at him. "Is everything alright?"

[Yasmin Seyyedi]

Yasmin look over the paper for a few minutes before she heard footsteps. She put the papers and quickly head to the washing machine. Since Lucio told her earlier that the washing machine is not working, Yasmin went inside, but did not close it because she need to breathe.

"I wonder what time is it right now," She mutter to herself.

[~Ophelia Vespera~]

Ophelia let out a silent sigh of relief when he was about to walk out the door, letting down her whole facade of calm and collect and wiped invisible sweat beads from her forehead. She reached her hand down to the white pearly beads, ready to take them out, but paused her hand over them when he stopped at the door and spoke.

"Yes.." she replied hesitantly to his question, staring at him quizzically. She tried to achieve eye contact, yet she could not find his red eyes behind the curtain of black hair that shielded them.

[Calithin Crest]

((To Dinari and Max and suchhhhhhhhhh.))

I'm down in Allwhere handling some things. Allmart supplies our mines and their adjacent mining towns with different things so sometimes I have to come down to Florida and discuss business matters.

Stepping out of an office building after my last meeting of the day I recognize some people I know in what appears to be a tour bus driving by. I run after the bus without a second thought and when the driver finally stops and lets me on I step inside.

"EY!"

I take a seat near Dinari and co.

"So what are we up to? No good?"

[††Venice "Cephrien" Ashgrove††]

Ceph stood still and continued to gaze in her direction, his face completely expressionless as he did. He looked like an enigmatic statue, the only piece on him that moved was his lips as he opened his mouth to speak.

"-At what point, do you think, does Rebellion become righteous in the eyes of the masses?"

[Freak Boy]

"Folks call me Freak Boy, and I agree, we should find a more secluded location," he said before the scuffle across the street began. He immediately rose to his feet and made his way towards Horacio, following Tuesday.

[~Ophelia Vespera~]

His question caught Ophelia a little off guard.. She tilted her head to the left, then to the right, as she thought about her answer.. Or even IF she should answer.
She cleared her throat and scratched the back of her neck. She was compelled to answer. It'd been a while since she had the chance to talk about something aside from survival and business.
"The masses don't need to see the Rebellion is righteous." Ophelia hooked the rosary with her finger and began to pull it out, slowly, "The masses need to see themselves as wrong."

The rosary came all the way out revealing the crucifix at the end. The sun glistened off its shiny metal and she weaved it in and out of her slender fingers as she went on thoughtfully.

"At least, that's my experience. You can argue with someone until your face turns blue that you're right... But they won't listen until they at least see one fault in themselves.."

Two people walked by the store front causing her to automatically quiet her voice and wrap the rosary up. She unbuttoned part of her top and placed the precious necklace back in her bra close to her heart.
A genuine smile graced Ophelia's lips once she buttoned her shirt back up and placed her hand over where the rosary was kept safe below her shirt.

"Does my answer suffice your curiosity?"

[††Venice "Cephrien" Ashgrove††]

Her answer pleased him. He had a gut instinct that the flower-woman wasn't the type who chose sides.. simply neutral.. or perhaps someone who just did what she could to survive. Ceph never had a problem with those types of people.

"Yes." He spoke, turning his head enough for her to see his face. A strange expression had crossed his young features. One corner of his lips curled upwards, one of his eyes narrowed in as the other one slightly widened.

It was an asymmetrical expression. Either a strained smile or a mocking smirk. It was hard to tell. But whatever the case, her answer amused him.

"Surely, you are right." He spoke before turning around and quietly waving a hand to say goodbye.

The young man in black moved towards the door, pushing it open, chiming the bell once more.

"Perhaps we'll meet again. In the new world."

[Linnea Korpela]

Linnea didn't hear Tristian as she cowered behind Horacio, she felt paralyzed. Images from her ordeal flashed through her mind and she started to feel sick to her stomach.
"Horacio, can we get out of here?" she had to force out in a whisper, sounding like a small child.


(as a heads up, i won't be on tomorrow night. i have to take my puppy to obedience class!)

[~Ophelia Vespera~]

(( To Heikki, Bonifaz, Zindy. You people with the van! *_* ))

"Perhaps." Ophelia's voice whispered inaudibly.

She watched the young man walk away until he was out of sight of her shop. It was sad to know people like him for so short of time. Her life had become a very lonesome experience. She used to hate her brother Luke for bringing shady and rebellious characters in to the shop at night to deal. In hind sight though, she would prefer to have all her brother's Enlightened Brotherhood buddies, strange Mafia guests, and Revolutionary rebels around than the pure emptiness she had now.

She locked the shop up to go deliver the red carnations to the lady Linnea in Helinski. She found the nearest rusty teleportation booth and plucked in a few numbers closest to the address stated on the flower card. Most of the recieving ones were out of service. After a few different numbers though, one finally took, and the old teleportbooth rattled and zapped her to a street in Helinski. The recieving teleport booth was filled with trash, grafitti, and smoke from another recent traveler. Coughing and hacking, she wrenched at the teleport door to get out. It only cracked open a slit, seeping in some fresh rainy air from outside, and pushed back against her hand rebelliously.

"Doors these days!" Ophelia grimaced, trying to pull against the door with one hand holding the bouquet and the other trying to pry the door open.

Suddenly, there was a high pitched beeping and the emergency red light came on above her head.
"ERROR. INTERNAL MALFUNCTION. PLEASE STEP OUT AND STAND AWAY FROM THE CAPSULE." A robotic woman's voice spoke and repeated, in a language she could not understand of course. But Ophelia knew definitely that she had to get out quickly.

She fought harder against the door as the emergency light popped and shattered teensy pieces of red glass on her. She gave up the bouquet to fight the stubborn door with both hands and managed to open it just enough for her to squeeze through.The door shut right behind her as she got out and she fell onto the wet pavement, skinning her elbows. The machine's hum rose to a roar and made a crackling noise as a deadly flash of electricity went off inside. Then it completely broke down, as silent as the grave.

The bouquet had undoubtedly not survived the deadly malfunction. Now she had nothing to deliver, not even an address to go to, and it was pouring freezing rain! She'd never been to Helinski or a cold place in her life! Ophelia had not thought to put more than her poncho on for extra protection. Or prepare for a teleportbooth break down. Now she had no idea where another out dated one was! Or even if the ones in Helinski were worth risking to get back home.

She aimlessly walked a few blocks until she came upon two men by a warehouse, that appeared not to be too threatening(Lol. Bonifaz the mafia man and Heikki the terrorist.). Hopefully they spoke a language she knew. English was her best bet.

"Excuse me.. " she spoke through chattering teeth coming up behind them, "Excuse me?.. C-can you help me? I'm v-very lost. Do you know where a teleportbooth is that will NOT try to kill me?"

[Jack O. Trades]

To Anya. Bonifaz will likely see too

Boredom.

That was the word he would use to describe the last few months. His stunt went without a hitch and he felt a broad sense of pride in his moment to shine but what next? He had spent the time since the party solidifying his holdings once more. Recruiting new boys, a boring task. Organizing his operation, a endless tide of tedium. Training the new girl....was a lot of fun.

At the moment he was in one of his many hide outs pacing about his drawing room. Along the walls, on the floor, and even on the ceiling dozens upon dozens of blueprints and designs were written or drawn hastily. In the center of the room was a veritable surplus of weaponry. Handguns, rifles, explosives, all of which had been gained through random raids on the armories of rival gangs, gained through market deals, or simply taken from the dead.

He smiled slightly as his mind raced, attempting to puzzle out another brilliant performance to rattle the worlds proverbial cage when his thoughts were cut off as he heard the sound of a phone. Wheeling about on the heel of his shoe his rage blazing in his eyes he stomped over to the ringing phone, his fury gone in an instant as he picked it up almost absently as if he had never been mad.

As he saw a name flashing on the small screen of the phone he blinked "Anya..? Anya....Oh right the new girl!" With a negligent toss of the phone he ignored its clatter to the ground his hand reaching to an intercom built into a small desk. With a cough to clear his throat his voice a menacing sense of delight "This is Mr. J speaking. Going on a little trip.....I'm going to need fifteen boys ready to ride. Bring...hmm...two M24A2's"

As he finished his message he reached to the corner of the desk gripping the three jars of face paint. As he took globs of each and applied it to his face mumbling softly "Can't forget to put on my face..." Finishing he smirked satisfied he reached down to draw his purple jacket from the back of a chair slipping into it. Two large dual headed hyenas tailing after him with an animalistic cackle.

Walking slowly into a port booth he set the coordinates to another hideout, seeming to not care if it was the right one or not. Luck was on his side however as he saw his men stocking two cars and a van. Joining the nine who entered the van he snatched a radio from the dashboard giggling slightly as he spoke "This..will be simple. I want eyes in in the buildings, five of ya are going to leave a few party favors, rest of you with me!"

As the van pulled up a few yards from the new girl's home the cars having stopped some distance away to find a perch. As the van screeched to a halt he took a leaping step from the vehicle a sawed off shotgun propped against his shoulder, his hyena's a few steps behind. His men piling out of the vehicle four moving to surround their boss, the remaining five spreading further out. Each of the men surrounding him had various assault rifles in their hands their eyes darting around the surroundings. Blinking once he looked to the door with a lazy smile, beginning to skip towards the building humming softly "Knock knock..."

[Dr. Lonnrot Kukkanen]

"It's a time in life when you're not happy," Lon said as he walked down the stairs. "You're said, you're being unproductive, by all means, you're not doing anything for the world when you are sad. I've come to remedy that."

[Yasmin Seyyedi]

"What type of remedy?" Yasmin answer with a question.

"Does this remedy gonna make me sick or what?"

[Max Alexander]

Max notices the stranger behind them. "Oh, we are just touring the city. Dinari was just explaining to us his massive store. Now i think we are going to stop for food some place. I am sure Allmart has a section for that too."

Max chuckled. "So Dinari, when we are going to that party? I can have my 747 Jet pick us up. For the flight it has all the necessities. Movie theater, game room, ect. Also all the food Ms. Momo can eat."

[Anya Louteius]

((OMG! I'm sorry XBOX 360 has taken over my life along with college and hanging out with friends >.>))

Anya glared at him for what he did with her phone and then she saw the van outside and she smiled. "I would love to follow, but yeah....my guy is here. And he thinks I'm in trouble, because I sent that message. I should go explain....." She walked by Niilo and ran to the door. When she saw him with men outside she froze. He was going to kill her. He was mad that she ran off and was going to shot her and kill her. She panicked and stayed still.