Chapter 23: Heaven Is A Gated Community

[Heikki Toivonen]

Heikki doesn't reply to the scorpion comment, he just nods. Then he coughs a little. He sits up and watches the fight, a little more interested. He isn't sure what kind of scorpion is featured in the coverage. He just knows it is a large one. He is glad not to be in Rome right now.

"So.....tell me about yourself. Where are you from?" Heikki asks. He decides that as long as Archer is hanging out, they may as well converse.

"Um...name a couple animals or things you wouldn't want to fight. For me, I think...hmm... a large swarm of wasps would be unpleasant...or one giant wasp..."

[Armin Lehrer]

Armin lays in bed, staring at a poster on the back of his bedroom door of Bruce Springsteen. In the corner of the room is an antique, red plastic cassette player from the 1980s. His room is decorated with a strange medley of books, 1980s antiques, and farming related calendars and posters. He feels very sick, but he doesn't know of any secret hospitals, so, he will just have to sleep it off.

His sleep is difficult and the strange decor of the room feeds his odd dreams. He dreams about farming and playing 1980s music to improve milk production. Happy cows give more milk. He dreams that he is wearing leg warmers and a spandex leotard and doing aerobics on television. He is being watched by coffee drinking working women getting ready for the day but lacking the motivation to work out.

He wakes up and looks around the room again. He wonders how Hilja is doing.

[Kaschei Bessmertny]

The feminist rebel, who was using a spear, is actually stronger than she looked. Some members of Black Skirt do train themselves so that they can be more effective terrorists. The woman, who had short hair, looked somewhat androgynous, and looked to be in her mid 30s, was able to evade the stinging tail of the scorpion, and slowly spear at it...even though it had a tough armor like skin. That means that three rebels survived the fights and will be pit against each other.

As the day wears on, people seem to be growing tired of the fights. Even Kaschei is eager to end the long day. However, they are near the end now.

"The final fight is between Salome Weil, an anarchist rebel from France. Salome works at a bottling company in Paris for Countess Cola. She will be pit against...a Lamb Tree..."

Kaschei has no idea what a lamb tree is. Everyone looks around in confusion. What is a lamb tree.

Kaschei turns to some of the priests near him for an answer, but no one seems to know.

An ordinary, sheep like creature steps into the arena.

It is at this point in time that Kaschei begins to suspect that someone or something has been rigging the matches....but who?

He turns to Scrag and some of the others nearby him. "This isn't right. Someone must have changed the line up of creatures." Kaschei whispers to The Master.

[Annette Rosenthal]

"Agreed, Fascists are fashionable. Not that it matters so much. But I like that they seem so orderly and on top of things. If I were not a capitalist, I would be choose to be a fascist." Annette admits to Calithin. She watches the fight from the corner of her eye and thinks that Genetech must have used up all of their good creatures.

She considers what Calithin said. "I suppose people should have a right to an opinion. Rebels who cross the line and turn it into terrorism or social disruption should be punished as harshly as they are today." She asserts.

[Master Scrag]

((We need someone to play the Inquisitor, a premade character. Anyone interested?))

"I believe it was Anthony West from Genetech who developed the line up of monsters. He should be questioned." The Master replies to Kaschei. Kaschei is correct. Some of the rebels were put against fierce creatures, but some of them, such as the mantis and now...this useless lamb, are an insult against Father Manala. All of this makes him deeply suspicious that Genetech can not be trusted.

Genetech has much influence with the Manalists, and were the ones who created Scrag. To some degree, this makes Scrag wary of them. He would like to believe that the Manalists are autonomous. Sometimes the actions of Genetech and other companies undermine their power.

In any event, it certainly warrants an investigation.

"Anthony West should be brought before the Grand Inquistor to answer some questions.." The Master suggests.

It has been a long time since there has been an Inquisition, perhaps it is time to start one. The Master holds on to this idea for a while....thinking that perhaps the true threat is amongst the Manalists' allies.

[Kaschei Bessmertny]

Kaschei is washed over by a feeling of sinister happiness. Although Anthony probably didn't have anything to do with the line up and even if he did set it up to make the fights easier for some rebels...may not have done so on purpose, it is still interesting that he might be brought before the Inquisitor.

This is something Kaschei, as a newcomer to the Manalists, had not heard of before. He had never met the Inquisitor and he wondered what it meant for Anthony. Because of his importance within Genetech, it probably wouldn't amount to much, but it was still interesting none the less.

"That seems like a wise idea. You really don't know who can be trusted in this world." Kaschei replies quietly. The fight begins and Kaschei makes no further announcements. He doesn't want to draw attention to the fact that there might be a mistake in the line up or...even worse...that someone from Genetech, or involved with the lineup, set things up to give an advantage to the rebels.

[Dinari Dollar]

"The United States is teeming with rebels...it's a great place for them to hide out and stuff. But, since most of it is a wasteland, I guess it doesn't matter. Sometimes they try to raid Allwhere. It's a real pain." Dinari replies to Calithin and Annette. He looks over and sees that the next fight is between Salome Weil, and what looks to be an ordinary sheep.

"Huh, I wonder....if that sheep has some like...hidden powers or deathly poison or something.."

[Salome Weil]

I step into the arena, and waiting there is a sheep. I have a spear, but I am afraid to approach the sheep since there is absolutely no way it could be an ordinary sheep.

I keep my distance and watch it very carefully. It must be some kind of trick. Maybe the sheep is just food to lure out some terrible monster. I look around to see if perhaps the monster is behind me...

Nothing...

Hmmm....

The sheep starts moving a little...it shakes...and suddenly grows roots and a stem out of it's stomach. It is now suspended in the air...but stationary...a part of a plant.

So, not only am I supposed to fight a sheep...it is a sheep that can't even move?

I look up at the crowd and they seem as confused as I am about this. I slowly move closer, but the sheep is busy trying to eat a stubble of grass growing in the arena.

[Charon Dejardins/Asphodel]

Asphodel had been hiding in Akira's pink hair. This was a good hiding spot for her, since she blended in well with the hair. No one even seemed to notice her. Once Akira has Cephrien, she sticks her head out of his hair and looks around.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you Cephrien. I only wanted to help you." The fairy says sadly. She sighs and wished that she was more useful to people. She is starting to feel like a pest.

"What will you guys do now?"

[Li Violette]

I listen a little to what Annette and Calithin have to say, but my attention is mainly on the fights. I find this fight very interesting. It doesn't seem characteristic of the Manalists to show mercy or to play any tricks like this. I am not sure what to make of the situation, but, at least it seems favorable to the rebel.

I watch the fight for a while, then remember that I have a candy apple. I look to my left and see that it actually fell into the bleachers. That is upsetting. I should have paid closer attention.

A part of me considers leaving, since I do have work to do, but, at the same time, I want to find out how Holy Week ends. It's been a long week and leaving early just doesn't seem right. Anyway, I also am curious to see which rebel will win the fight today.

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

With Hilja still resting in Helsinki, worn out from the Cat Flu...her illusionary alter ego, Sasha, is better able to explore. He has been sitting in the bleacher like seating at the Colosseum in Rome, watching the fights. No one seems to notice him, but, he is hardly there anyway. He is just a walking dream of a sort. He gets up out of his seat and wanders around in the concession area and then down a restricted hallway to where some rebels wear waiting to fight. He looks around. Although he is plainly visible, guards don't bother to stop him. It is almost as though he is a ghost. He wonders if maybe they can't actually see him.
Or maybe they do, but no one questions his presence. Maybe it doesn't seem out of place or threatening.

He walks some more and finds an area where some of the creatures from earlier are in cages. He also sees the corpses of some creatures which were brought out of the arena but not yet disposed of. It is mildly disturbing, but also fascinating at the same time. He touches the curled tail of the dead scorpion. It feels smooth and he relishes the touch of something. He longs to be alive again...but when he was, he would take for granted the feel of touching something with his hand...and certainly wouldn't care much about the surface of a dead scorpion.

[The Flesh Monger]

"You really must like pushing my buttons..." Flesh says simply before put putting the hook through Lucio's right shoulder.

Flesh did not bother to tell Lucio to take off his shirt, but he likes to see people struggle on the hook. Flesh then touch the back part of Lucio's head and made some of his hair fall off. Flesh then took out doll from his cart. The doll almost looks almost excatly like Lucio.

"I did made doll that looks that like you, kid. I really can hurt you like this...."

Flesh grab doll Lucio's left leg and twist a bit.

[Calithin Crest]

"I don't think I would be a Fascist if I weren't a Capitalist. I would probably be an Anarchist. But, Fascists do dress ridiculously well. I feel like under the right context they could coax a donation from me for... Um... Whatever they do that needs donations. Shop?"

As it so happens, I hate lambs. They freak me out. I had a really bad experience one time when I was younger, and they just freak me out. When I can't sleep I don't count sheep, because if I did it would scare me a little bit and make me uncomfortable and I wouldn't be able to sleep. So instead I count lemon squares when I can't sleep.

This particular set of troubles makes me sympathetic to the rebel now fighting, and unlike everyone else I am not confused in the least. Lambs are horrible.

"Oh man..."

[Archer Aylmer]

"I grew up in America and then became a sailor so... That I could leave America. Which is not a very good place to be, nowadays. I wouldn't recommend vacationing there. Um... What about you?"

I feel like Heikki was manufactured rather than born, so the idea that he grew up anywhere is a little strange. Some people just don't seem like they had lives before you met them. It's difficult to picture them being anywhere or any way different.

"I wouldn't want to fight a giant centipede, because centipedes... Well, I don't like centipedes. Thousands of leeches also sounds very bad. And then I would hate to fight myself."

The new fight being shown on the tv seems a little silly. However, I have never seen a lamb tree before and it's a fairly interesting if not completely unintimidating creature.

[Heikki Toivonen]

"Really...I had no idea you were American. And you know how to sail? That's...just hard to believe." Heikki replies. He wouldn't put it past Archer to make something up about his history. Heikki gets a sociopath vibe from Archer. He doesn't want to say this though, but, he does...or at least gets some strange vibe from him.

"I was created by Genetech in a breeding program to create replacement workers to help with strikes or unemployment...so, I am a Genetech Drone...I think is what it would be called." Despite the fact that he was created to do unpleasant work, Heikki is generally friendly and somewhat cheerful...at least he has been ever since joining Null. Really, this is probably one of the happiest times in his life.

"Are you....a sociopath?" Heikki asks. He wonders what Archer will say to that. For the moment though, Heikki is distracted by the fight on TV between an anarchist and a lamb tree.