Chapter 21: A Roman Holiday

[Eun/Aoi Kiriyama]

"Not really. I might go to my work and hope my boss let me crash there..." she answer.

Eun felt slightly akward mainly because she rarely interact with anyone, including her co workers from work and students from school. She doesn't mind though.

"My name is Eun. What is your name?"

[Amelia 20]

"There are other machines to do other things. Some machines work, some machines are soldiers. Some machines go to the Invisible Hand. There are many machines." Amelia explains to Archer. "Every machine is made with a purpose." She adds. When Bonifaz changes the television back to news from cartoons, Amelia becomes angry. She picks up the TV and throws it against the wall...HARD. She was watching the Manalist remake of Carebears...Manala bears...which are selfish, cruel little bears that attack children who don't do well in school, work hard, or who are weak and diseased.

[Jumala Keitoleinen]

"You need to relax a little, doc, you are way too stressed." Keitoleinen replies to Lonrott, who is acting pretty bossy and short tempered in Keitoleinen's opinion. Keitoleinen takes a seat in comfortable chair and yawns.

"Now, I sent the tsunami to teach Momo a lesson. I think she'll think twice before she attacks my company or anyone else's company. It is also a warning to other companies not to attack me or bad things will happen. Anyway, she started the whole thing. I don't see why everyone has to make a big deal out of one little tsunami. Natural disasters happen all the time. Boo hoo."

[Heikki Toivonen]

Heikki walks from Bonifaz's house to the lab in Munich, which is a few miles of walking. He could have taken a teleportation booth but he decides that maybe he can reflect on some things as he is walking.

As he walks, he thinks about the future. He wonders if events will turn out the same way...that life will simply end on Earth and that is the grand THE End for humanity and all that everyone has fought for. He wonders if he should even stop the events from happening. It is not a bad ending, but it is an ending that no one lives to see...that humans never live to learn a lesson from everything. They never see that there is no truth, but become a part of that truthlessness...

Anyway, he thinks about these things for a while until he arrives at the lab. He enters and as it turns out, Bonifaz indeed called ahead for him. Heikki is taken to a waiting area to meet with a head researcher...

[Lucio De Saldanha]

Lucio waits at Linnea's house, but then remembers something. He remembers that Yasmin left to go play and that she is probably alone on the streets of Helsinki. When she returns, there will be no rebels there and she will be alone and afraid. Lucio knows it is dangerous, but he can't abandon Yasmin (who he doesn't know is part of the Invisible Hand)
He leaves Linnea's gallery and starts walking back to Charon's home.

[Antonio Martinez]

"Why my store had to be destroyed?" Antonio mutter to himself.

Antonio was minding his own business. He was running his store as he made some plans to find the socialists if he wasn't busy. Then out of nowhere, the mechas came to Helsinki and destroy almost half the city. His store was one of the buildings were destroyed. He managed to get some of his clothes, Prosthesis, and rifle before escaping. Antonio's only problems at the moment were food, a place to stay, and blood covered places.

"I better get going then. Maybe I should go to to Norway or Sweden or Denmark or perhaps Afghanistan for a while but I lost most of my money in the fight...." he thought to himself. Antonio soon began walking down the street and hope that he won't see any blood.

[Archer Aylmer]

"But I don't believe in... Purpose."

I can't help but flinch when the TV is thrown against the wall. I look down at all the broken pieces on the floor and feel that it's an awfully big waste, but, it's not as though Bonifaz can't afford to get another TV. So.

"Perhaps my purpose can be to be purposeless. The ultimate purpose."

[Genki Kurokawa]

It only took them a couple of hours to be finally at Genetech. As soon as Kalma land the helicopter, Genki unbuckle his seatbelt and jump off the helicopter.

"Do you want to come with me Kalma or just want to stay here and wait for me?" Genki ask as he took out one of the flowers baskets.

[Bonifaz Artz-Lehrer]

Bonifaz watches the TV smash against the wall. He frowns at Amelia. "Bad Creditor. You aren't supposed to break property if you can avoid it. Go to your room." Bonifaz orders the machine.

He turns to the door. It seems that Frieda isn't going to answer it. "Fine, I'll get it myself."

Bonifaz gets up off the couch and walks over to the door. He opens it to see that it is his half brother Armin and some socialists.
"What do you people want?"

[~Ophelia Vespera~]

"I am sorry to hear that.. Teleportbooths haven't been doing me many favors either today.." Ophelia said.

Ophelia is not bothered by the doom and gloom atmosphere of Rome unlike Horacio. She actually feels quite relieved to see the black ugly buildings and uptight religious workers again after her little adventure. The feeling of being watched was so familiar it had little effect on her comfort level, in fact, it was the most comfortable feeling in the world now. Not like how she felt in Helinski. She knew for a fact just about everyone she met in that city was a rebel in one way or another, and the fear of being caught with one had just about choked her to death with anxiety.
In Rome security was very high and people did not express themselves, even less than in other cities. Anyone who did have a varying belief from Manalism kept it absolutely to themselves like herself, not even telling their closest friends. There was just no room for risk-taking. Confiding in another person was putting your very life in their hands, as well as taking their life into yours.
There were no second chances in Rome, therefore no one took chances.

"Well, since you are too late to get to your meeting.. Why don't you come to my shop? " Ophelia suggested, "I am terribly exhausted, but, I have to start chores and open shop today soon anyways.."

She motioned him to follow and they walked quietly down the street..

Ophelia was no saint, and by no means did she not see Horacio's deformities. It had taken every bit of self-control not stare when she first met him.. Any eye contact or touch that she made with him, felt unnatural at first.. But the all too human emotion that she felt coming off of him now as they walked down the streets of Rome, the feeling of fear, banished the feeling in her that he was any different from herself.

She eventually reached her hand out with no hesitation and placed it gently on his shoulder sympathetically.

"Do not feel nervous.. Just remember, when in Rome do as the Romans do.." she told him quietly, giving his shoulder a soft pat before drawing her hand away, "I remember when I first moved here as a little girl, I was very frightened.. I didn't go outside for a full month in fact, and hid when anyone came into the shop.. But my dad told me that quote and I did just fine."

[Jack Kruschev]

Smirking to one side with the sudden change of subject, Anthony walked over to the other side of the lab and took a book off the shelf and brought it back.

I think you should read this, he thought to Li, it's my research on "godly" beings and supernatural forces. Also, after our discussion, there is something I really need to show you.

Now, I'm doing good. Just working around the clock and busting my butt to keep up with work. Dr. Hoito has had me working on various projects just for the sake of the Japanese tsunami incident. Not much has been happening outside of work, I've been writing a little though.

[Niilo Ukkonen]

Niilo was somewhat relieved that she had given him her name, and even asked for his. It was somewhat of a friendship gesture, in his opinion, and a sign of kindness. He often enjoyed meeting new people, especially when they had some sort of drug.

"Niilo," he responded. "Work? Why there? My house is fine, and it would be nice to have some company!"

[Kith Keitoleinen]

"An angel?" Kith questions, but it seems to make sense. He looks her over carefully. "I see. I should have guessed. I suppose, you look a bit like an angel." He replies after spending some time thinking about it. "As you can see, I am a half dark elf...demi god...so, it is no big deal to me. Maybe humans would react differently. I don't think they are quite used to the idea that there are other races." He explains.

"And Keitoleinen...he is aware of it? Hmm... well, then I can see that it is true. You can't easily escape him or hope for escape through old age. He ...was once involved with an angel. He liked her quite a lot, I think. Her name was Celeste. She is Calithin's mother."

The conversation makes him feel uncomfortable. He doesn't like to think of Keitoleinen or his perverse interest in this woman. "I can see why he would like you though. You are a nice person...too nice, probably. And other reasons as well."

Kith gets back to work, throwing himself into cleaning and moving debris even harder than before.

[Charon Dejardins/Asphodel]

Charon remains at Helsinki university, too afraid to return to his home...for fear that the enemies are still there, and for fear that his library has been damaged. In any event, he has to give a class soon anyway. He teaches classes on theology at the university. His curriculum is heavily monitored by the Manalists, but he is allowed to teach some classes on religious history so long as he does not take a position against the Manalists.

Thus, he enters his classroom and steps before the small class in his religious history class. He stands by the board and starts writing a timeline for the students.

"I hope you've done your readings this week, since there's going to be a quiz. However, I have put a timeline on the board, so that will assist you with some of the answers..."

He passes out the quiz, but is very distracted by the attack earlier.

[Surma Keitoleinen]

Surma frowns and watches Heikki leave the house to collect a sample of the Cat Flu. He isn't quite sure how this is going to end.. It looks like he came at a bad time.. perhaps now would be a good time to leave. He flashes a weak smile to Bonifaz and the others before turning around to head for the door.

"I have somewhere I need to be.. have a nice day everyone." He speaks, brushing silently past Bonifaz and the people outside.