Finding Calvin Part III - 2 - The Rise (* Updated: 2/1/24)

Silver fingers he'd seemingly sprout
To hear her porcelain screech
Then he poured forth from fleshy spout
Filling her with sweet viscosity (viscos-a-tea...get it? she's a tea cup!)

Calvin wakes up quite aroused

And his Fang he would now need
With her honeysuckled mouth
And that oval that she sheaths 

But she's nowhere to be found
So he exits reluctantly 
Into the hallway's gaping mouth
Where many more holes can be seen

He wonders where there's sound
But it's happening underneath
And no descent could be found
Just a largesse viewed opening 

As he trickles through its mouth
Of the corridor and where it leads
He's coming to what he found
When looking for what he needs

No furnishings were around 
Unlike Lamington's mansion estate
No gadgets or animal mounts
Just an empty room with Oriental feng shui 

He takes a gander at the prow 
And he's seeing a Greek tragedy
The Trojan horse where it was found
And those eager for its adopting 

To the far left the excited crowd 
To the far right a torch wielding lady
Separated by guards about
Protecting the offering and nobility

He thought it quite profound 
As the only thing and centerpiece
And he would exit with what he found
An In-depth painting for remembering

He finally made some ground
That leads to where he came
And found the trio but no Xao
And they were watching a soccer game 

[...]

Donnie Yen: Son Heung-min! Son Heung-min! 

Yang Yang: [Foreign language]

Donnie Yen:  Have a seat.  We are watching Chelsea vs Tottenham.  Do you play?

Calvin:  No

Huang Bo:  Americans like more direct conflict.  They like to swat everything.

Calvin: I suppose 

Huang Bo:  Your football seems like death by a thousand cuts.  Like your bureaucracy.  That why you come here--to escape the bloodletting?

[Before he could respond Xao interrupts]

Xao:  Walk with me Calvin.

[Xao leads Calvin to a nearby dragon fruit plant in his palatial garden]

Xao: Do you see this yellow drip and black sooty mold?...

This plant has an infestation.

Calvin: of what?

Xao: scale insects. They are soft-bodied, slow moving, sucking pests that exude a sugary, sticky substance called honeydew.  Honeydew is what led to this mold.  It will also attract insects and diseases too that will kill this plant (Google)

Calvin: Why are you telling me this?

Xao: You Americans are like scale insects.  You s*** on the very resource that feeds you, and then you expect it to keep giving.  Forget your honeydew.   Forget your American ways.   Don't try to leech off our sap...

You did not survive the SWAT because of your attempted niceties. You survived because of your intuition...your ingenuity...

You are not like other Americans I have met. There is truth in you. Do not ruin it...

Calvin: Did I do something wrong?

Xao:  Fang said you talked a lot last night.  You ask too many questions.  

Calvin:  I'm sorry.  I didn't realize. 

Xao:  She is not an American.  You don't need to ease her with your honeydewed words.  She's content with herself and her place here.  Do you understand?

Calvin:  Yes.  I apologize. 

Xao: Meaning can be found in chaos.  And some things are not as random as they seem...  

See here...You must look close to the source.  They hide just underneath the surface--like you Americans.  You must look for small dark bumps—like your American hearts...

Do you remember anything perhaps just underneath the surface with Lamington or the others.  Something that could be of use to us?

[...]

Feeling Xao's disapproval
He would give him what he's seen
For he knows that his existence
Depends upon unknown contingencies 

[...]

Calvin:..Well, He kept a man in a dress trapped in his basement, and he peed on him in front of me.  I think he might do that a lot. 

[...]

Without giving additional context

He would leave it as it is

For he doesn't want to legitimize 

Through rational ambivalence 

[...]

Xao: I should not be surprised. Even with your elites' omnipotence, it's not enough.  They forget who they are with all their honeydewed speech.  So they need to continually remind themselves of their power with their secret perversities...

Unlike these bumps, the Hundun's operators remain invisible.  They show when they are called and then disappear....

Power that is seen creates rifts, unnecessary conflicts and rivalries. It becomes unmanageable.  Hierarchy is what the Hundun has effectively avoided.

Calvin: Who is the boss? 

Xao: It has been rumored it is the general secretary himself, a covert extension of his power to protect the state and manage illegalities...

But whether the Hundun dance for him or around him makes no difference.  Such power will always exist.  For it resides deep in the roots.  

Calvin: Is it possible that anyone can be Hundun?

Xao: Gangsters, lawyers, public officials, have all been suspected to carry out tasks for the Hundun.  But the Hundun primarily uses members of the Black Dragon organization as messengers and enforcers. Everyone else can be considered independent contractors, of sorts.

Black Dragon, Black Tortoise. Why black? 

In the yin, black is associated with femininity and passivity.  It is secretive, but also powerful and introspective.  And it is the color of the North, which is where the Hundun was established by the Jin in response to the Mongol invasion. It is rumored that the Jin collaborated to have secret messages placed in mooncakes, which told the people to rebel on a specific night and overthrow their foreign oppressor

Calvin:  How do you know so much about the Hundun?

Xao: My father was a part of the outer sanctum.  He had many stories after many baijus.  He was not known to talk until he was.  And as the oldest I was the one to listen.

Calvin:  Is that how you have access to them.

Xao:  Yes...

You too have a sort of Hundun, though they call it the deep state.  It's hard to know what the difference is.  Categories can obfuscate as much as they can illuminate.  I suppose we are all like the scale insects on the surface or deep within the roots.  Though, here most of us do not exude honeydew, but perhaps spicy noodles [Foreign laughter].  

Calvin:  What will it be like, when we go?

Xao: We will enter an elevator.  That will take us underneath.  Exiting the elevator, we will enter a corridor leading to a large oval room.  There will be a dais with a crescent-shaped table.  If no one is sitting, some or someone will be behind the mirror pane glass that surrounds the room.  Give a slight bow when being acknowledged, as is our custom.  Just answer the questions and you will be fine. 

Calvin: How will the Hundun proceed with Lamington?

Xao: Lamington will be hard to kill.  He is like the black frogfish.  He will be slow.  He will be deliberate.  And he will hide in the depths of his power. 

Calvin:  How will we get to him?

Xao: We must corrupt his power...

The ancient Greeks had this practice where they would gather once a year and write a name on potshards, or ostrakon, and the name that would appear on the most potshards would be ostracized from society.  We will find out where Lamington belongs, and we will change that if we can. 

Calvin:  How will you do that?

Xao: We will seek to detach Lamington from his inner circle by creating doubts concerning his character and loyalties.  And from what you told me, it would not be too suspicious if we made him homosexual...

Northern Europeans are less sensual than their Southern counterparts.  It is said to be the weather (*).They will be less than unsympathetic to hear of any sexual indiscretion.  Perhaps we can devise correspondence and a picture of him in bed with a Greek man or boy

Calvin: you seem to have a fascination with the Greeks.

Xao: I suppose it's the ying to my yang.  Their culture both intrigues and repulses me.  Perhaps it's a way for me to retreat from the order my culture imposes. 

Your culture is not too different from ours, except you have known victory for far too long.  Perhaps that's why your people move slow. They forget what it means to lose--or maybe they don't think there's anything to gain.  Maybe your loving competitive society has confused you.  Perhaps like your athletes, you will all wear helmets one day...

I'm just kidding.  It's good to laugh at yourself, do you not agree?

Calvin: What about the balance?

Xao: Moving faster doesn't interfere with your balance, it redefines it.  Too many of you get stuck in your emotions because your mind is bored.  You become gossips and goatherds.  Most of your social problems stem from a preoccupation with the wrong things. And like this rot, tending to your needs takes constant vigilance.  But what can you do when there is so much TV to watch—and TikTok...

See you Americans have prioritized your liberality over your discipline. As a result, you have to rely on your honeydewed speech to avoid consequence in your competitive landscape. It's most disdainful to see--especially with the least competent among you.  A little oil on the wheels is good, but you have honeydewed them.  Eventually honeydew dries and your wheels become stuck...

Unfortunately, we have learned your honeydewed mannerisms, and we will soon learn your incompetence, as more and more of us are getting fatter and lazier.  But we are still rising and we have not lost our pace, as we move as one and we aren't lied to about reality, so perhaps we will avoid the dissension your environment creates.

Calvin: How will you find Lamington's inner circle?

Xao: Your powerful like to join not-so secret societies and clubs—for they have known superiority for far too long.  And with their omnipotent power they no longer fear exposure.  With the power of the Hundun, we will find the most cirlces involving Lamington, and those that share them.  It will not be hard to narrow down his most trusted allies...

[Calvin sees webcam girls chatting by the fountain] 

[...]

Calvin:  Women here are different.  There doesn't seem to be a gilded nature to them.  Even your whores have dignity.

Xao: Yes, for the most part, we do not make ourselves up with benevolence, as your society seems to mandate.  Our interactions are sincere.  Perhaps that is why there seems to be so much resentfulness in the West.  In the land of the free, you seem to be contrarily composed.  You cannot live honestly with others or even yourselves. 

[...]

[They walk to a hidden temple in the treeline, where there is just enough room for a dozen people and a General Guan Yu statue]

Calvin:  I noticed that you have many rooms in your palace, and that there is very little in each of them.

Xao:  Yes.  I believe in purposeful living spaces.   You seem to lack this understanding in the West.  

Calvin:  What do you mean?

Xao: You like to clutter your walls with random knick-knacks, just to ignore them.  Perhaps everything has meaning, and you are an alien race, but I think more than likely, you are retarded, or hire ones to decorate your walls.  I am not seeking a distraction from existence, but a way to reconnect with it—away from all that which seeks to steal away my focus.  Sometimes to have more one should have less.  Do you understand?

Calvin: I found a large room that had nothing in it, except for a painting that was quite impressive.  I think it was the Trojan horse.

Xap:  Yes, it depicts the cursed prophetess Cassandra at the gates of Troy.  She's warning them about the gift, but because Apollo cursed her,  they don't believe anything she says.

Calvin: It seemed perfectly placed.

Xao:  Yes, it's a statement piece. 

Calvin:  What's the statement?

Xao:  Beware of Greeks bearing gifts....

Yang Yang painted it for me.

Calvin:  I never would have guessed it.  He's like a rock.

Xao:  Every creator is hard, as Nietzsche has said.  

Calvin:  Why?

Xao:  It can often start with someone or something and then it evolves into someones and somethings.  Like your great apostle, God has gifted Yang Yang with a thorn in his side,  but what it is, I don't know. 

Calvin:  What's yours?

Xao: I don't have a thorn; I just like to frame an image.   it's one of my passions.

[Xao gets on his knees]

Xao:  Meditate with me, Calvin

Calvin:  No, but thank you.

Xao: A wise man has eyes in his head, but a fool walks around in darkness.  Meditating will help you see more clearly.

Calvin:  I don't feel comfortable praying to a foreign god.

Xao:  He can be anyone you want him to be.  Just be sincere.

[...]

Calvin felt obliged
For Xao had his ways
He'd prays to Jesus and God
And General Guan Yu--just in case

Calvin made it brief 
As he believes in efficiency 
Then he thought about a bush
And a very special blueberry 

[...]

Calvin: Sarah....we should kidnap her.  She should be in Spain very soon.  

Xao: That is not subtle.  That is provocation.  

Calvin:  What's smaller than a tree but a bush...kidnapping her will secure our safety.  Having her will buy us time.  And she should only have two guards.

Xao:  Traveling to Spain is no small endeavor.  Despite his taunts Lamington does not have power here.  We are safe for now.   We will set traps for Lamington. But we will let the Hundun know of this information. 

[...]

As they traipsed the way they came
They passed the scale-infested plant
And then Calvin asked in sincerity
How does one get rid of those pests

[...]

Calvin:  How does one get rid of those pests

Xao: Tools, chemicals, even ladybugs and wasps. 

[...]

The day was becoming night
As they departed for their visit
They would descend the hugging roads
As they approached the waiting visage

The city lighting was inflamed
Like a uterus after infection
Or during an in-vitro fertilization 
During the bloodiest of menstruations

[Driving through the city, Calvin would notice the difference compared to the United States.  Perhaps it was their faster metabolisms or stricter social controls,  but they seemed to move faster, as if they had something to accomplish or something to avoid.  It reminded Calvin of walking between classes when he was running late.  Calvin got the impression that the United States seemed to be too on time these days and too often, at least one would guess by the contrasting view.  Calvin concluded that perhaps Xao is right: the West has known victory for far too long.] 

They'd pass a red Guan Yu mural *
Painted on the side of a large building
He was enwrapped within a black dragon
As if immortalized within its shielding  

They would find a large black dome

With detail beyond eye's leisure 

It was the ‌fierecest turtle known 

Harboring eggs beyond one's seizure

[...]

As they found a parking lot
Across a wide-laned street
Calvin felt intimidated 
By the all-together novelty

Xao:  Keep pace Calvin.

Donnie Yen: Your American moves too slow...too many rice cakes.  [Foreign laughter]

[Calvin's feeling like he traded in one master for another.  Xao's attitude seemed to change on home soil.  He was not a cool boss.  He was like Jefe, but with deeper roots.]

[Despite the vast surveillance and compliance Calvin suspected, there was still an undercurrent of danger, especially among those Calvin was around.  It was as if the jungle was under observation and they knew it but they were still animals given an occasion] 

[...]

 Calvin:  So this is where the Hundun takes root?

Xao:  No, this is just a vessel they use.  The Hundun does not take root, but occupies them.

Calvin: Why the bag?

Xao:  It's tribute.  It's custom here to give to those who have more. 

Calvin: Why the bat?
[Referring to the zipper charm on the bag]

Huang Bo:  You ask many question, American. 

Xao: [foreign language]

Huang Bo: [foreign language]

Xao: [foreign language]!!!

Xao:  I apologize, Calvin, but Huang Bo grabbed the wrong bag.  We will have to go back.

[...]

Calvin looks dumbfounded
As they were already deep inside
But they would take a side exit
They would happen upon nearby

[...]

Calvin:  Why are we all going?

Xao: All for one and one for all—I believe is the saying.  

Calvin:  Why the bat?

Xao:  Here, the bat symbolizes good luck.  Many things have been perverted by your culture.  White is another.  You wear it for weddings, but we wear it for funerals.  There's no end to the white devil's perversions, is there?

[...]

[As they waited impatiently 
Calvin was seeing unfamiliar faces 
And unfamiliar feelings ]

[Calvin notices Yang Yang point to the fly-like charm on the zipper while looking at Huang Bo while he yells in a foreign language.]

Calvin:  Why the fly?

Xao:  It's a cicada.  They represent health, wealth, and rebirth

Donnie Yen:  Happy wife happy life...

[foreign language]

[foreign laughter]

[...]

While Xao still smirks
A loud noise then a gust
Push Xao past Calvin
Into the side of the truck 

[...]

Donnie Yen: [Foreign language]!

Huang bo: (foreign language)!

Donnie Yen: (foreign language)!

(Huang Bo hops into the driver's seat while 

Yang Yang and Calvin help Xao to the back. Donnie Yen has weapon out while he races to the passenger seat. As they drive off Xao would answer his phone)

Xao (foreign language)!...(3 minutes)

(Xao gets off the phone)

Huang bo: (foreign language)!

Donnie Yen: (foreign language)!

Xao: (foreign language) (calming voice....peers out the window... everyone is silent for two minutes. Xao pulls out a small pipe and then takes a puff...then keeps looking out the window.)

Xao:  If it wasn't for your incessant questioning, we would all be dead.  Perhaps you should keep some of your American ways 

[Xao would pass Calvin the pipe
As they recomposed their being  
Calvin didn't know what he was smoking
But he knew he liked the feeling]

Xao:  Have you heard the story of the lion, the fox, the kitten, the monkey, and the peacock?

Honestly, I wouldn't have been able to do this so efficiently without Google or Gemini AI.  So thank you for the ideas and clarification!  Also, Robert Greene and God get a big ups!

For an entertaining read, the humor is vital, otherwise it's just a boring scrip (though how many scripts aren't #actors)* .  Hopefully the story stands on its own by the end, but irregardless (NEW word!) I will leave it as is for now--except for subtle word changes upon revising.