Chapter 23: Heaven Is A Gated Community

[haakon]

As the parade started and Rome's citizens enjoyed the festivities, a figure awaited in the shadows. Hidden atop one of the rooftops overlooking the parade's route, Haakon watched with disdain as the Manalists finished their unholy week. Why a parade exactly he didn't know, but it could have been a riot for all he cared. Pulling out a small, crystalline object, Haakon quietly whispered, "Soon..." he whispered to the small crystalline object as if it could understand him. The parade had not gotten close enough to his perch and so he remained in hiding for the time being.

[Bonifaz Artz-Lehrer]

"I am not sure who will show up to this thing. But, I suppose we'll find out what the anarchists are like when we arrive at Horacio's." Bonifaz states. Allwhere is gearing up for a 4th opf July celebration, which makes it all the more annoying. "He lives outside of Allwhere..." Bonifaz explains as they walk a short distance to a bus stop. There are no reliable teleporters to outside of Allwhere, so they will have to take the city bus. They wait a short while for the bus, then board. The bus is mostly filled with young people or elderly people who can no longer drive. This too is somewhat unpleasant. Bonifaz doesn't care for public transportation. He moves to sit in the back, and at least people move up or scoot away from the nihilists.

"i hate public transportation. It's so...crowded...and slow." Bonifaz explains. He frowns as scenes of Allwhere pass by the window.

[Dinari Dollar]

Dinari ignores Calithin's remarks about parades. After the marching band passses by, a colorful float that is designed to look like the temple in Helsinki passes by. The float is throwing candy at the crowd. Dinari quickly runs into the street with the children and starts collecting candy. He even finds a whistle. He runs back to Calithin and toots on his new, red whistle.

"Tooooooot!" He toots.

"Tooot, tooot!"

The temple float passes by, and soon another rolls along the street. This one is from Global Bank. It looks like a giant safe with people dressed up like Creditors throwing candy. The float is decorated in gold and pink, some of the colors of global bank.

[Lucio De Saldanha]

Lucio spends some time with the Red Jester, but soon, they are visited by a Manalist guard. The guard is a slightly overweight, middle aged man. His red uniform doesn't fit properly. It makes Lucio snicker a little.

"You both need to report to the float for the Temple of Terror. It will soon be leaving for the parade." The guard orders.

The guard then escorts Lucio and The Red Jester to the float. The float is red and black and features mock torture devices. There is an iron maiden that opens and closes, but throws candy each time that it opens. Lucio thinks this is pretty neat, so he takes his position by the Iron Maiden.

"Feel free to torture him along the parade route. it will make the float more realistic." The guard tells the Red Jester before leaving to take care of security matters.

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

Sasha uses the teleportation booth to drop Salome off at the doctor in St. Petersburg, and, after doing this, he simply vanishes into thin air, leaving Salome alone with the doctor. He figured that Cephrien would probably be able to take care of the rest from there, and if not, it was in the doctor's hands.

Meanwhile, Hilja and her friends are still sick in Helsinki, suffering from the Cat Flu, which although isn't deadly to them, is at least relentless and tiresome. She has been sick for over a week now. While she is suffering, the flu has been spreading through Allmart workers and workers with M TV in London.

[Momo Kurokawa]

To Genki

Momo was standing by Calithin and Dinari, watching the parade and eating a stray piece of candy when she received a call. She took the call, figuring it wasn't anything too important. She was informed that some of her employees that had been working in London to collaborate with the Eyes of God and M TV had fallen ill and were now back in Tokyo. Five scientists in all were sick.

Momo wasn't sure what to make of the situation, but knew that she would probably have to get medical care for them. She knew all too well that most hospitals had been closed by the Manalists.

After a short conversation, she called her son Genki, since she would need his help in this matter...

[Heikki Toivonen]

To Surma

After Bonifaz, Archer and Amelia leave, Heikki feels even sicker. He has been sick for over a week and the flu just doesn't seem to be getting any better. The discomfort is too much for him. He drags himself out of bed, dresses, and heads out the door with the intent of visiting Artz Lehrer's lab in Munich with the hope of finding a medication that can relieve more of his symptoms.

He takes the teleportation booth to the lab, but remembers that he has to be careful not to interact too closely with staff there, for fear that he will infect them. Bonifaz would kill him or at least try to kill him if he spread the epidemic to the staff.

Heikki enters the lab and looks around for someone who he can talk to. As he wanders down a long, well lit hall, he sees a door that says Surma Keitoleinen-test subject. He decides to peek into the room since he remembers Surma from when he visited the house.

[Annette Rosenthal]

Annette is pleased when the Global Bank float passes by. She is standing next to Momo and overhears part of the call, but, isn't sure that it is her business, so, for now, she remains quiet. She waves at the Global Bank float which was put together by the staff of Global Bank's bank in Rome.
She looks around for any sign of Bambi, but, she isn't too concerned when she does not see her.

Seeing the bank reminds Annette that she should return to work, but since this is the last event of Holy Week, she figures she can stick around.

"I hate parades. Everything is too happy. The real world isn't a parade." Annette remarks.

[Amelia 20]

Amelia feels much safer now that she is far away from that other android. She wonders if she should now inform Bonifaz and Archer that the white haired visitor was really the upgraded version of Rust Whitesell. She opens her mouth as if to talk, but something holds her back. She does not what the other android to destroy her. She knows if she says anything, he will somehow know that she told them. So, she does not say anything. She sits on the bus and looks out the window. Allwhere is unlike anything she has seen before. Everything is orderly and perfect.

"What a strange place." Amelia remarks.

She does not notice any Manalist temples though. She also finds this odd. She supposes that the Manalists are not concerned about expansion into the Americas.

[Master Scrag]

Master Scrag watches the parade for a while, but really, it bores him. He stands in the balcony at the Highest Temple and looks down at the floats passing by. He finds that the event is more for children than for someone like himself, so, he retreats inside of the temple. No one seems to notice or care that he has gone inside. He tells other staff that they can make the conclusive remarks.

After leaving the balcony, he heads to his quarters for a nap. His room is drab and contains minimal furniture, books, or decorations. The room seems empty but for his shabby bed and a few dead plants in pots. The few things in the room appear to be dust covered, rusted, or broken,

Scrag lays down, figuring that Holy Week is for the most part over.

[Calithin Crest]

"You should stop tooting your own horn, sir."

I chuckle slightly at this and enjoy a piece of watermelon flavored hard-candy. I like candy. Candy makes any situation better. Sort of.

"Pretty sure I never liked parades..."

I actually do notice when Scrag goes away. I wonder what it's like to be Scrag. Probably stressful and lonely and... Smelly. Sometimes I like to think about what it would be like to be certain people. I watch Dinari for a second and decide that being him would kind of be like being a character in a children's book... About America.

"Being me is complicated but satisfying..."

I say this mostly to myself. The Globobank float is my favorite so far. I like safes.

[Archer Aylmer]

"I don't like public transportation either, but it is very helpful... Except... Once when I was at a bus stop waiting for the bus I was mistaken for a prostitute. This old man in a nice car wearing a red polo shirt drove by and gave me a look... And then drove by again... And then drove by a third time and pulled over to the side. He said 'Hey, there's a hotel around the corner. Just around the corner. Meet me there. I'll be waiting. It's just around the corner there.' And I was like 'Um no. I'm waiting for the bus! Just trying to catch the bus here. Please leave me alone!' It was really strange."

This actually happened only a few weeks ago. Thinking about it still leaves me feeling incredulous. That's the only time anything like that has ever happened to me.

"I don't think I looked like a prostitute that day either. I was just wearing jeans and a shirt. And it's not like I was randomly standing by the side of the road, I was clearly next to a bus stop. It was also day time and not even on that bad of a street... Really bizarre. I take a little responsibility in that I may have accidentally given the old man kind of a look the first time he drove by... But that's an instinct and it wasn't on purpose. I just give people that look sometimes without meaning to. I guess I must have been throwing a prostitute vibe out that day though because a few minutes later a cop car drove by and the officer inside looked at me like 'Oh, I know you're a prostitute... Don't even try to deny it.' Which I most certainly am not."

I stare out the window and shake my head. I will perhaps start wearing sunglasses all the time, so as not to confuse people with my looks. That look gets me into a lot of trouble. What an awful experience.

"We should blow up buses."

[Horacio Hatfield]

Horacio waits in his home outside of Allwhere. He has spent the day cleaning his little shack and preparing snacks for the visiting anarchists. He hopes that someone shows up to his meeting, but his expectations are low. He paces around the house, looking out the window from time to time. He is nervous and hopeful.

Finally, he decides to sit down and watch some television. He turns on M TV news to watch the coverage of the parade in Rome. As he watches the parade, he calms down a little. He even starts drifting off to sleep.

[Tristan Tuzanic]

Tristan is ordered to help hold one of the many strings to a giant floating pig. The pig is sacred to the Manalists, so there is an oversized, cartoon pig balloon in the parade. Tristan is one of over 20 people who is holding on to the pig by a series of strings. It is slightly windy, so every once in a while, Tristan is jostled by the pig. He is completely embarrassed by this mediocre task. He hangs his head and scowls as he walks. He refuses to look at the crowd and can hear children laughing. He feels they are laughing at him. He shakes his head because in his mind, everyone is looking at him and pointing out how uncool he is.
"I can't believe I have to do this.." Tristan mutters to himself unhappily.

[Cillian Machiavelli]

Mac had went to his little hole in the wall hostel and slept very uneasy after dinner. He was pleased his master had faith in him but was so sad he would be leaving him. He tossed and turned until it was time to get up.

He got dressed in a red and black tunic suit with his hair left long and free. He dabbed a line of black soot around the lids of his eyes for dramatic intensity and stroked his newly grown goatee. He smiled as he made his way to the parade where he knew kaschei would be...not waiting for him of course but he knew he would find him waiting for important people.

He arrived a bit late and saw Kaschei where he walked silently up to the man. He could not resist breathing in his masters smell. If anything ever happened to him, Mac could surely find Kaschei just like a blood hound.

Mac stood silently behind Kaschei.