Chapter 18: A Parable for the Terrible

[Freak Boy]

"Sounds good to me," he said half destractedly. "Son of a... where did I put--oh, here they are." He produced a beat up box of matches from his coat pocket. One match remained. He lit his cigar like a pro, inhaled deeply, and let the smoke slowly roll out of his nose and mouth.

"So, who was the prick that was giving you two a hard time," he asked of Horacio and Linnea.

[Max Alexander]

Max just follows along with everyone else and soon they are teleporting. "we should really consider getting food though. Have not eaten a thing all day." Max was hungry, but he could stomach it.

[~Ophelia Vespera~]

((Sorry it took me so long to reply. XDD I'm watching American Idol! )

Ophelia snapped her head back to him. Deciding to tackle getting back her van.
"I'm not lying, sir! I run a flower business!" she protested, "And what kind of question is that? Just.. flowers!..."
She paused in a moody silence and looked him up and down.. Something wasn't right and she was starting to get the drift of his question.

".. What kind of flowers do you sell?" she questioned right back, unwrapping her shivering arms and placing her hands on her hips.

[Horacio Hatfield]

"Not sure, but Linnea seems to know him and seems shaken. It seems he was just a religious soldier for the Manalists. He started crying though. Maybe he has some emotional issues." Horacio suggests as they walk. He looks behind to see if perhaps the fellow from earlier was following, but no, he seems to be gone now.
"What brings you to Helsinki?"

[Heikki Toivonen]

Maybe the van was her's. Heikki glances back to Bonifaz for some sort of reply, but, there is none. "Hmm...well, it is ours. Maybe we could negotiate a trade." Heikki suggests, doing his best to be diplomatic, but feeling some pressure from Bonifaz not to be. He wouldn't want to let Bonifaz down or come across as too soft.

"The van is very useful to us. I do believe that it was purchased...I mean, you weren't even aware it was missing until you saw it here, right?"

[Dr. Lonnrot Kukkanen]

"I said remedy," Lon said as he took a seat near the child. "That means it'll cure you."

Lon took out a handkerchief and wiped away a couple tears from the child's face.

"Everything will be okay, I promise."

[Freak Boy]

"Oh, you know," he said benignly. "A little of this, a little of that... business mostly. An associate of mine has a rare strain that he wants me to move for him, so I'm gonna be picking up a suitcase of that while I'm here. And I hear the demand for arms has gone up in the area lately. Wanna see if I can get in on that. Funny, for such a radical... I have quite a good business eye."

[Horacio Hatfield]

"It beats street cleaning or working at Allmart..." Horacio replies. He picks up the pace of his walk and soon enough, they arrive at the socialist house. The house is old looking outside, but very large. The large house has a small yard with two trees in front and an old lilac bush. The trees look old and sickly themselves. Horacio steps up to the house and knocks at the door. "There's a couple of them that live here.." He says as they wait at the door.

[Yasmin Seyyedi]

"It won't work. It will never, Mister." Yasmin says says in the low voice.

"It won't erase the pain.....and besides...I am going to be okay...."

[~Ophelia Vespera~]

"It is useful, I assume that's why you stole it, sir..." she said bluntly," I'm not negotiating for something that is mine. I looked through every street in Rome for it when it was stolen! I was just transferring flowers, back and forth from the van.. And when I went inside and came back out. It was gone!.."
Ophelia nawed her lower lip, feeling her blood beginning to boil. She didn't often feel this upset. But her van had been an essential part of her business and it was difficult to do large orders without it, like the two ceremonies that were coming up.
She contemplated how to prove undoubtedly it was hers and dug into her pocket, realizing the solution to her success.
"Never mind, there's no need to explain myself!" she pulled out a key chain from her pocket with many crowded keys on it, "I'll just prove it."
She searched through the keys until she found the one she was looking for and dangled it in front of his face with a confident smirk, "I believe this is the key to the back.. I'll go unlock it myself."

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

I hear a knock at the door, so I rush to see who it is. I am happy to see that it is Horacio and Tuesday, with a stranger that I hadn't met before. I get the door and fling it wide open for the newcomers.

"Hey! How are you guys doing?" I ask Horacio and Tuesday. I look at the newcomer. "Oh, who are you?!"

"I'm Hilja." I say happily.

[Freak Boy]

"What about you? You a native, or just visiting," he asked, leaning up against the wall, taking another puff from his cigar. When he wasn't moving and smoking, a cloud would quickly form around the upper half of his body.

(Sorry if there's gaps between posts. I'm putting together a presentation when I'm not posting here.)

[Horacio Hatfield]

"Just trying to avoid the Invisible Hand." horacio replies to Freakboy. He enters the house and smiles at Hilja. "Good to see you again. We're alright. We had a run in with a Manalist soldier, but are okay now." He explains.

He takes a seat on the old couch in the living room and starts looking at some of the literature on the table.

[Bonifaz Artz-Lehrer]

"The van is mine." Bonifaz says more assertively. He pushes Heikki aside and pulls out a Manala gun. He points it at Ophelia. "Now, if you know what's good for you, run along. We don't have time to deal with you."

Bonifaz turns to Heikki. "Let's go Heikki. I don't think anyone from the Enlightened Brotherhood is going to show up. We'll just head back to Germany. I've had enough for tonight."

[Heikki Toivonen]

Heikki isn't sure what to do. "If the van is her's, we may as well just...let her have it." Heikki replies.

"We can always get another." He suggests.