The Circle Shrank

[Antero Black]

Antero cracks open his eyes and mutters something at Raz Nili Ze'ev. But before he can go back to sleep he is teleported to a new location. This annoys him. Lately, he has not liked being the center of attention or making people fearful. He mostly wants to be left alone.
He would say something, but instead remains quiet.

[Mary Warren]

Mary Warren appears in Noe's office. She is not in the mood for appearing in a more creative way, like the smoke she usually forms from when she teleports.

"Noe Carlson, what in God's name do you think you are doing?"

Her voice is even, but accusatory.

[Soren]

Soren watches the fight and has a little hope when this nymph makes suggestions on how to defeat Satsujin. Soren catches himself, and grumbles.
"Why have any faith in this one and what he has to say. It's so frustrating."
He crosses his arms and slouches. He decided once again that he wants to see Satsujin defeated since it would help him forget that he placed any faith in him at all in the first place. With an imbittered expression, he watches the fight and thinks to himself about how foolish he was and how much he would like to see Satsujin wiped frome existance because of it.

[Raz Nili Ze'ev]

Raz blinks, and realizes that she is now in her own apartment, with six anarchists and Antero Black. She feels a little like she was pushed away, but she respects the rebels' right to privacy, to deal with their own matters.

Thank you Bassarov, she sends.

Raz's apartment is immaculately neat and Spartan in its decorations. They are in the living room, which has a beaten up, green carpet, and white walls. The room, while neat, is obviously very old. The eastern wall is decorated with an elaborate pattern of hebrew words, letters, and symbols. Also, there is a plain, enclosed plywood cabinet about the size of a school desk attached to the wall. It has a magen david, or star of david, painted on the front in blue paint.

Raz goes next door and knocks. A man and a woman who appear to be in their sixties, and a little boy enter the room. As each files in, the kiss their fingers and touch the mezuzah on the doorframe of the house. The man and woman are dressed in modest, mild looking clothes. The woman has her hair covered, and the man is wearing a kippah, and tzit tzit. He has a beard, and earlocks. His hair is silver. The boy is dressed in a white dress shirt and a pair of black pands. He has a shock of red hair, freckles, and the same religious wear as the old man. Raz counts and realizes that she needs two more people. She goes and knocks on another door. Two men in Hagana uniform enter the room, and mirror the actions of the first people to enter.

Raz nods her head respectfully. to the elderly couple.

"Everyone, this is my ima and my abba, or mother and father. This is my little brother, Shimon, and these are two of my fellow soldiers."

The people who have entered the room glance at Antero, and seem to know why they are there. The little boy has a very serious expression. He does not resemble Raz, or Raz's parents at all.

Raz drags a trunk out from behind her battered couch, and removed several objects, including a prayer book, a piece of chalk, and a horn made from the horn of a ram.

"We've had to deal with a lot of demonic attacks and posessions at the hands of Red Infinity... employees. Don't worry, I've done this before," she explains to Antero.

She picks up Antero, who is very thin and easy to carry, and places him on the living room floor. Then, she draws a circle around him with the chalk.

[Korbinian Kautsky]

"I am afraid that I can do nothing to help you escape from this place, Mr. Dollar. But I am sorry to hear of your losses. Don't worry, friend, things will get better for you. Keep your chin up." Kautsky encourages the capitalist. For a man who lived in a labor camp, he is cheerful and unbroken. It is almost as if he has come to accept and perhaps enjoy the routines of the camp. Even in the bitter cold and with the below standard food, Kautsky is always in a pleasant mood.

[Antero Black]

Antero doesn't like all of the strange symbols and oddly dressed people around him. Having little religious experience, it makes him nervous. He sits on the floor quietly but is visibly anxious.
He says nothing and doesn't put up a fight. For all that he has endured in recent weeks, he doesn't have much fight left in him. Life has quieted him.

[Valodya Bassarov]

Bassarov, himself feeling out of place in the midst of religious folk, teleports back to the apartment. He feels that someone needs to do something for Sayuka who appears in bad shape. If he is needed, he is certain that Raz can contact him.

Once back, he enters his room and sits beside his bed.

"What happened to you at the Ministry of Terror, Sayuka?"

[Sayuka]

I wake up to the sound of Bassarov's voice. I look at my wounds and see that they are no longer bleeding. I shake my head and sit up in his bed.

[glow=violet,2,300]"I never liked you, Bassarov."[/glow]
I whisper to him.

[Valodya Bassarov]

Bassarov leans away from her. He feels shocked and offended by what she has just said. Outwardly, he appears cavelier.
"And why is that Sayuka?"
He glances at the designs on his lampshade, as if she has suddenly become unimportant or uninteresting to him. His eyes are dull and emotionless.

[Sayuka]

[glow=violet,2,300]"We've known each other for so long. Most of my life I have known you. I never knew why I hated you. I thought it was for political reasons."[/glow]

I pull myself up and note that he is no longer looking at me.

[glow=violet,2,300]"Because you are artificial."[/glow]

[Raz Nili Ze'ev]

"OK, there are some verses that every adult present needs to chant. I know that most of the people here right now do not speak Hebrew, so I will transliterate for you. Hold on a second."

Raz runs to the other room, and grabs a pad of paper out of the writing desk in her room. She brings it back into the room, opens the prayer book to a well worn page, and begins to write rapidly. Transliterating is not easy for her to do, but she does her best. After three or four minutes, she produces six copies of the chant, sounded out phonetically with English letters. Raz purposefully hands Zinn a copy in the original Hebrew. Zinn looks at it somewhat distastefully. She does not apreciate Raz's attempts to make her feel more Jewish. She could not possibly feel more alien to the idea.

"This is psalm 91. The English translation is: O thou that dwellest in the covert of the Most High, and abidest in the shadow of the Almighty; I will say of the LORD, who is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust, That He will deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He will cover thee with His pinions, and under His wings shalt thou take refuge; His truth is a shield and a buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flieth by day; Of the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor of the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand may fall at Thy side, and ten thousand at Thy right hand; it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold, and see the recompense of the wicked. For thou hast made the LORD who is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation. There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy tent. For He will give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee upon their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and asp; the young lion and the serpent shalt thou trample under feet. 'Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he hath known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him, and bring him to honour.
With long life will I satisfy him, and make Him to behold My salvation.', Raz recites perfectly, for the benefit of the non-Hebrew speakers in the room. Raz's father nods in approval.

"I also know that most of the people here are uncomfortable with the concept of prayer, and with god. It is important for you to chant this, since we need a minyan of ten people, and I do not have time to go out and fine another six. I would apreciate it if you suspended your distaste for however long this takes."

[Valodya Bassarov]

"Artificial? How so?" Bassarov returns his gaze to her. His appearance is no longer as apathetic. He has in fact grown a shade paler. He dims the lights so she doesn't notice it.
He rests his colourless face on his hand to listen to what she has to say.

[Antero Black]

Antero sits quietly, but is very nervous. He dares not ask any questions. Instead he turns his eyes to the floor, hoping this ceremony will come to an end soon.

[Sayuka]

I grab his arm, and look at him intensely. This is all something I have wanted to tell him over the years we have known each other. Why I am doing it now, I don't know.

[glow=violet,2,300]You act confident and social. People like you and are drawn to you. But over the years I have seen that you are actually a very weak and insecure man. You are beautiful at pretending. You are attractive and truly dedicated to your ideas. But you are a fake.[/glow]

I grasp his arm tighter.

[Raz Nili Ze'ev]

Raz takes her prayer shawl, or tallit, out of a small crocheted bag. She whispers a quick blessing, kisses each corner, and puls it over her head, concealing her face. The old man and the two Hagana soldiers, who also brought similarly shaped bags with them, do the same. However, they do not cover their faces.

"We all must recite the psalm three times. I do not expect you to know the trope, which is the melody, so we will chant without a melody for your benefit."

"Ashrei Haish. Asher lo halech ba-ahtzat reshaim..." Raz begins to chant. She encourages the others to join in.
Raz begins to rock back and forth. It is a common practice when praying, and is used in a medatative way, to help the person praying focus on God.


((I am not going to transliterate the whole psalm because it would take waaay too long. That was verse one.))