Chapter 19: Faith in The Fantastic Delusion

[Jumala Keitoleinen]

Keitoleinen stops the door from closing and pushes it open. He enters Linnea's home and notices that Ophelia is there. He smiles at both of them.
"Ah good, you must have just received your flowers. Well, no need to thank me." He says with a smile.

"What have you been up to?" He asks, to make small talk. He wanders over to her refrigerator and pokes around in there. "Have anything to drink? I'm thirsty after that walk over here..."

[Momo Kurokawa]

Momo is confused and offended by Annette's reaction to the cat robot. It takes a few minutes for her to realize that the reaction was actually because of a mistake. "It isn't a dead cat. It's a cat robot. It needs to be activated. There's a switch on it's paw." Momo explains. She bends down and turns the cat on by pressing down on the paw. The cat immediately comes to life and starts meowing. "See..."

[Kith Keitoleinen]

To Cephrien:
After Cephrien hands the flowers to Li Violette, Kith appears from behind him. He was at the party all along, but trying not to draw attention to himself. He stands behind the other Red Infinity member, whom he is a few inches taller then. Both stand out a little among the party goers.

"I'll go along with you to London, if that's alright with you." Kith states to Cephrien. He doesn't want to miss out on the meeting. Anyway, Li doesn't have anything better for him to do right now.

[Master Scrag]

Scrag appears at the party, although he didn't intend on attending it. He isn't one for social events. He wanders up to the stage, but, this does not catch the attention of the party goers.

He steps up to the microphone and clears his voice.

"I will have a very important announcement at the end of this party. But I will wait for now. I wouldn't want to spoil your fun."

[Annette Rosenthal]

"A robot...of course...I knew that. I just...nevermind.." Annette states to Momo. She looks at the ring that Max gave her and is impressed. She puts it on and walks up to him. "Thank you for the gift."

As she thanks him, Scrag takes the stage. "I wonder what he wants?" She asks Max.

[Li Violette]

"Thank you for picking up the flowers Cephrien, Good luck with things in London. Bring Kith along so you both can scope out the meeting." I say to Cephrien in my mind. I give him a small smile and a wink before walking over to Annette with the flowers.

"Here are some flowers for your birthday. I hope you are enjoying this party." I say nicely to Annette. She and I are not on good terms, but we try to get along.

[Annette Rosenthal]

"This party would be much better if it wasn't swarming with communists." Annette says to Li bitterly. She frowns, but takes the flowers. "Thanks for the flowers, but I would be happier with nothing at all from you."

[Li Violette]

"Maybe...your old age is playing tricks on your mind...seeing things that aren't really there...worrying about threats that exist only in the distant past." I reply. I take a step back from her. What a bitch.

"Happy birthday..." I walk away from her, since I don't want any conflict here.

[Annette Rosenthal]

"Walk away...but I know you and what you are up to. Maybe the rest of the world will see it better when the new monitoring system is in place." Annette calls out to Li, making a bit of a scene. "That was the best gift ever, better than this stupid party. It is about time that we get our act together and take those rebel threats more seriously."

[Li Violette]

"Even the eyes of gods have blind spots."

I serve myself some more punch and try to find someone worth talking to. I wander over to The Moderator and decide that maybe he and I can converse.

"This is a nice party. Good turn out."

[Linnea Korpela]

"Flowers?...no I didn't," she said in a low but sharp voice. Even if she had gotten flowers from him, it wouldn't change the way that she felt about him because it wouldn't change the way that he was to her.
"I only have water," she said and then remembered her guests. Embarrassed, she glanced at them. Her mind raced as she tried to think of a way to get rid of him. Why was he there anyway, and why did he feel the need to send flowers.

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

"I have to leave now for that meeting...hmm.....well, if you are busy at the moment, you can always meet me there." I say to Freakboy. Then, there is a knock at the door. I hurry to the door to see who it is, but it is someone who I recognise. I rush back to Freakboy.

"There's a guy at the door, but I think I've seen him before...with the Invisible Hand!"

[Jumala Keitoleinen]

"I suppose I'll just have water then." Keitoleinen replies. He goes to the sink and pours himself some water before sitting down at the kitchen table. He kicks his legs up onto the table and looks over at Linnea.

"You didn't get the flowers? Well, why is that little flower lady here then?" Keitoleinen asks.

[Max Alexander]

Max is confused as to why Scag is up on the stage. "Maybe he ios the entertainment?" He says to Annette.

[Freak Boy]

"Invisible Hand? Oh... I see," he says. He closes the door just as soon as he had opened it. He then reaches into his coat pocket and produces a small pistol. "Do we... take him out," he asked Hilja in a concerned matter. "Or do we want to do this quietly?"