Chapter 22: When In Rome

[Yasmin Seyyedi]

Carvinal already started when Yasmin is finally at Rome. She is really glad that its during the night. So, she decide to explore in the carvinal. Some of the games seem interested, but is unable too. The game owners will shoo her away because she's a "child". Yasmin hates being in the body of the child but she still need to get use to it.

"I really do hope the fights are in the evening." Yasmin mutter to herself as she walk through the crowd.

[Tristan Tuzanic]

"Maybe I'll find someone for you. I'm in the mood to make people...miserable." Tristan replies. He walks off, leaving the Red Jester to his carnival. Tristan feels depressed and wants to take it out on someone, but he isn't sure who. He starts walking down the street when he hears some horrible music. He plugs his ears and starts walking in the direction where it seems to be coming from. That in itself is a torture....

[Attis Svoboda]

"I say with use it...and if there is any left over, we sell it." Attis suggests. He pours the leaves out into his hand and divides them equally between the three of them. It can be smoked, or simply consumed. Since he doesn't really have any matches, a pipe, papers, or any other supply for smoking it, he simply puts a few leaves in his mouth and starts chewing. The taste is bitter and woody, but he is used to it.
"We ran past a carnival, I think it would be more fun with the spiritual direction of Red Leaf."
Attis suggests.

[Armin Lehrer]

"He must be worried about Kasper." Armin says after Malak leaves. "I am too. I've known him for years. I should probably try to find him. Well, the best we can do is just try to stop the Eyes of God. He would want that." Armin says to Hilja after Malak leaves. He leaves for a moment to go to the kitchen. He returns with a Countess Cola. "If Kasper was here right now, he would be on my case for drinking this stuff." Armin says before taking his seat again.

"We still have to think about where we will live and...well, what to do about an HQ for Socialist Revolution." Armin states to Hilja. Really, they are as safe in Helsinki as anywhere else. They could just return after a while. The Hand would probably expect them to move anyway.

[Salome Weil]

I screamed when he put the hook into the arm, but even more when I started hanging from the hook, suspended a few feet above the ground. It tore at my shoulder, but, I did my best not to move, so that it would not rip through as fast...though, I almost wanted it to since having the hook tear up through my skin would at least mean I could be down and have some relief from the hook.

It didn't take long for my weight to pull the hook through the flesh, and then I fell...sitting down on my knees on the floor with the bloody hook suspended above me. I rubbed my left shoulder and looked up at the Monger.

However, a guard walked in. He walked up to The Flesh Monger and told him that I would need to change and clean up, so I could train a little before the gladiator fight tomorrow.

[Annette Rosenthal]

Annette listens to the music, and actually, she likes it. She's never heard anything like it. It seems so loud and angry. She also likes that it uses some classical instruments, although they seem to be electric versions of those instruments. She starts dancing in a strange fashion.

"I like this music, it makes me feel so angry! Yes, humanity...what a miserable thing!" She yells as she dances in a way that looks like she is stomping out flames with her high heels while being attacked by killer bees.

[Bambi Engel]

Bambi doesn't seem to mind the music, more than likely because she's skilled at hiding her dislike of things. She attempts to understand what they're singing to no avail. She squeaks when she spots Annette, instantly moving behind Peter a bit more. Once her boss starts dancing, she blinks, raising her eyebrows a bit.

Well, it was a sight she'd never really expected to see. It made her feel better about the fact she couldn't dance. She doesn't really hear what Annette says from the distance with the loud music. "You could try her moves." She states plainly from behind Peter's shoulder. If she had to be near people due to the crowd, it was going to be people she knew over strangers.

Which reminded her... she felt like something was missing from Peter's direction. It was almost like it was too empty between them. Ridiculous, his change of attitude and sudden appearance had probably just thrown her off.

[Émilie LaFramboise]

Émilie is stunned by the giant spider, vaguely wishing Kasper would've told her his fear before. If it was a natural animal, she could've tried communicating with it- but it was a Genetech creation. She begins to run after Kasper though she knows they had no hope of getting out of the forest running the opposite way. She wasn't as quick as Kasper, but she knew the forests in a way he didn't...

"Kasper! Don't run that way, I'll distract it and you go for your bike and get out of the forest! Okay?!" She shouts, not waiting for an answer before she stopped running. Picking up some sticks before turning around, she throws one at the giant spider. "Hey! Eight-eyed!" She taunts, beginning to back to the left.

The stick and her voice catches the spider's attention, moving toward her with an intent that unsettled her. She dashes into the underbrush of the forest, using her agility and knowledge of the forest to keep a distance between herself and the spider. Occasionally, she pauses to throw more sticks at it to keep it interested in her as prey.

Well, even if she didn't get caught and ate by the spider- she was so dead when she got back to France.

[Peter "Levitas" Barak]

After a moment observing the woman Bambi indicated Peter smirked. "Very funny," he nearly shouts over his shoulder at Bambi. The music is only getting louder and conversation was difficult. "I'm gonna see if they play anything else. Be right back." With that Peter waded forward into the thick crowd, moving towards the stage. If he found a schedule, cool. If not than he's just have to get ahold of the manager... or the lead singer.

[Max Alexander]

Max finished up his snow cone and chucked the cone in the garbage. He then listened to the music and watched Annette dance. It was quite funny and made him chuckle.

"That is funny, Annette. its not often you see a woman of your caliber dancing like shes being attacked by insects." He laughed. "I am just kidding. Lets dance together." Max began dancing with the woman and gave her some tips.

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

"I think I am ready to get going. I will meet you...back at the socialist house in Helsinki to check in with you." I reply to Armin. I get up and glance over at Heikki. "It was nice of the nihilists to let us stay here a few days while we collected ourselves and planned a little. If ever there is something we can do for you, just let us know." I offer brightly. I then head upstairs and collect what few things I have here. After that, I leave the house and decide to head to London to meet with workers at M TV. Here goes nothing, right? I take the teleportation booth to London and set off to try to find the nearest fascility invovled with making sattelites for M TV.

[Calithin Crest]

Max, Peter, Dinari and Bambi don't seem to be enjoying this concert anymore than I am. I make individual eye contact with each of them to sort of communicate my distaste and sigh heavily.

"This music is really bad... But especially for those on Red Leaf. Hard music or music where people scream is not opportune for a drug experience. It just makes you want to kill yourself... Or kill other things. Same with industrial sounding music. Music with what sounds like grinding or breathing. That's bad too. You just wanna have sex or kill things. It's kind of a crazy choice. I just don't get it."

Nope, this music does not seem very right to me at all. There is nothing religious or spiritual about this. I frown and remain frowning, my shoulders slump and I generally appear displeased.

"What they should be playing is something that sounds like flying. I can't really elaborate or explain further. But flying is a good thing to go for, I really think so."

I feel like putting on a mask and causing trouble. I feel like that sometimes, but then it passes and I get tired or distracted.

[Dinari Dollar]

After a while, Manala Katu finnishes up and a new band comes on stage. It is a band from Romania called Gray Zone, which does techno sounding music. It is certainly a change of pace from the music from earlier. One song seems to feature a mixture of spaceship noises, alarms, and Creditor dialogue.
Dinari likes this a little better, but it makes him feel like he is in a Creditor factory or stuck inside a refridgerator.
"I didn't try any of the red leaf they passed out earlier. I guess I've never even had red leaf. I always just thought of it more as a Manalist sort of thing." Dinari remarks.

"If you had a band, what would you call it?" Dinari asks Calithin, Peter, Bambi...and Max...who was dancing with Annette Rosenthal.

[Armin Lehrer]

After Hilja leaves, Armin sits alone downstairs. He doesn't say anything to Heikki. He sits there in his own thoughts for a while. Finally, after coming up with a plan, he gets up. "Well Heikki, if you are ever in Helsinki, you can stop by and visit us. I'll give you a pop." Armin says, and shakes the nihilist's hand.
After that, he leaves the house and walks to the nearest teleportation booth. Once there, he sets the coordinates for Allwhere. He will meet with workers there and with hope, maybe he can stall production of the blimps that will be used for the Eyes of God.

[Bonifaz Artz-Lehrer]

When Bonifaz heads downstairs, he sees that the socialists have all gone. He looks around a little, and sees that Heikki is in the living room. He wonders if the socialists were around long enough to get exposed to the virus. Even though he took the vaccine the other day, Bonifaz keeps some distance away from Heikki.

"So...they've left. Do you think they were around you long enough to get sick?" Bonifaz asked Heikki.

Things didn't go quite as he would have liked, but, it may still work. He just hopes that Archer and him don't get sick.