The Followup [Invite Only

Sending a message to those who he had previous contact with, or even had contact with in the past, Gabe would mull over the message that he received from Selenus in a mourned silence. With a bottle of scotch at the side of the table, it would seem as if Gabe haven't got a a lot of sleep, or was even intending to do anything else for the rest of the morning.

His friend was gone, and he didn't know what to say to Nola at all.

Beforehand, Gabe didn't have that much of a former investment in being a terrorist, thinking that he had a responsibility to participate because he could be of use to his friends that truly believed they could change something. Gabe reluctantly agreed with the notation, but he really wasn't sure if their actions could of had a dynamic effect in the first place.

If that was the case, why did Selenus stay and fight? Why did he die for those beliefs?

It was cowardly that Gabe felt beside himself, feeling guilty for having doubts about his place in the world of the night int he first place. It was long, stressful, and tiresome, but that was no excuse to allow those feelings to make him weak. Things needed to change, Gabe wanted to be more levelheaded and lower the barriers between members, even if it meant he had to expose himself in the process.

The message was sent out to a select few, but who knows if they will show up.

Nola, Alister, Myrna, Yuuko, they where all silent, Trinity sat in her own mind looking to them all Lilith was always quite but even now she was more so then usual, the loss of last night had hit her, not the loss of the battle, she was glad to see they had all survived, or so she had thought, then she seen the message, then her siblings went quiet, Yuuko was hit the hardest obviously, or at least she first thought, then Nola and Myrna broke down, eventually even Alister had stopped talking, stopped moving, they all just sat there devastated, the only one that seemed able to even do anything was Unison who was currently in control of the body, even Trinity couldn't bring herself to do anything at the moment...why bother? her first friend she had ever made, was dead now gone...

In the outside world Unison was keeping away from any work claiming to not be feeling well, she was taking it as hard as the others, but this one knew that they had to move, had to do things, despite the feelings to the contrary she had. Then she got the message from Gabe....

It didn't take her long to slip out of the house, she headed on down to the location mentioned and seen Gabe sitting there walking up she nodded to him, he would probably already notice the difference in looks, she was wearing her hair in a single efficient ponytail, none of the makeup Myrna would wear, or that air of cheerfulness Nola always gave off, nor would she seem slightly combative like Alister, and it wasn't Like Trinity to be so...expressive..just from knowing her so well he would be able to tell he was looking at Unison without the garb even if it was Unison trying to act like one of the other four. her clothing making her look more male, as it was simply more efficient then picking out some of the clothing meant for a girl.

Sitting down she looked to Gabe a moment "The others aren't available..." she said simply to let him know.

With the first person arriving, it was none other than Gabe's immediate companion, Trinity.  From the original pact of four that they made, Gabe could promptly assume that maybe Tatsui had lost his nerve and that Trinity was increasingly depressed with each passing moment.  Gabe understood, he was also affected by the loss of his friend, as well as struggling with himself towards the idea of not wanting revenge. In a way, Selenus was right, this had to be about justice and justice alone. However, Selenus didn't exclaim what kind of justice should be interpreted, due to the fact that everyone has their own different perception in regards to it. If this was about Gabe's justice, he would see to it that he could squeeze out as much usefulness from Invidia as he could.

That man was going to be a disposable stepping stone in order to save the city.

However, with Gabe and Nola being alone for a while, Gabe would disappear in his kitchen for a moment before bringing a glass of apple juice to her.  "I'll order pizza or make something later if you want, I know that it's early, but thank's for coming. " Ducking down to her as she sat, Gabe would look at her in the eye, holding eye contact for a brief moment as he spoke. "To the main three... Nola...Alister...Myrna.... pay very close attention to what I'm about to tell you. I know the identities of pretty B and the frog prince, and I feel if we are going to have any sort of chance at survival,  we can't be divided anymore. We have to be as unified as possible, so I decided that I'll expose myself.   I don't know if they will show up or not, since this traumatizing event must have affected all of them, but if they do, I'll proceed with this plan.  "

Gabe then sat back down.

"I originally called you over here to spend a few hours with you after, I didn't want you to be alone after Selenus sacrificed himself for us. You were the closest to him, and maybe you need time to mourn, but look at you, you are more of unison than anyone else. I need you to be strong, I need you to remember why you started singing in the first place. To share your talents, to give hope and smiles to those who believed in your music, to the music you produced that brought others out of their own darkness.  The precious gift of music that you adore, Invidia is using it for evil, and now, he took someone important to us. We must be more vigilant than ever before, to survive."

Clearing this throat, Gabe would take a small sip of whiskey before continuing. "I know I'm not supposed to drink in the morning, but liquid courage for potentially stupid mistakes always helps. Trinity, you don't have to participate in this. If they get here, or ever decide to show up, you can hide upstairs and listen in before I get the bell. However, if you truly believe that this is not the most crucial time to open your heart and let others in, you can remain downstairs. "

For some small details, Gabe would go over a few more things. "I personally feel like I can trust them, for two completely different reasons. Frog is the wild card, you saw his power, the different persona's. Unfortunately, we need his trust and cooperation due to the versatility the presents, inside and outside the mask. He has a lot of growing up to do, but I believe people can change for the better. Some people, not all.  Pretty b, she has a kind heart, I believe I can trust her.  Brittany is someone I would like to share my identity with, we can cover our backs alot more this way. But more or less, that's why, and the choice is yours."

With that being said, in cue, the bell would ring, with Gabe getting up, but walking extremely slowly to give Trinity some time to go upstairs if she didn't want to reveal herself. Either way, with some ample time, Gabe would call out. "Just a minute!" After that, Gabe would open the door and let Brittany in.

"Thank you for coming Brittany.......have.... you been sleeping?" Gabe looked at her face, Brittany looked stressed out and tired. However, it was to be expected after last night. Though, after letting her in, Gabe would offer her a drink. "Would you like anything? Maybe a coffee? "

Unison took the glass that Gabe brought to her and took a sip of it "That may be best, I believe the others need someone to talk to..." she said to the Idea of getting something to eat after this meeting Though when he looked her in the eyes she looked back at him "They can hear you....we all can...they just...don't feel like doing anything at the moment...we all lost a friend, he meant different things to each of us but we all miss him...we just handle it differently..As for the Identity of Prince, I have already figured out who they were after the night trying to get to the playhouse" as she said so her grip tightened on the side of the table as she looked at him.

"It's that reason that I feel their attitudes require adjustment, at least on the part of prince...But Guardian requires it just as much, I do not know their relationship with each other, but they seemed to only care about the well being of the other, even attempts to aid them went unnoticed for the most part..." she said before letting Gabe continue the information that Guardian was Brittany made sense now that Gabe spelled it out how Unison hadn't noticed before she was unsure but she had to assume the forms they had used at night had something to do with it, she then looked at her glass "don't let my outer appearance fool you...I am as distraught as the others, however we couldn't simply let our body lay there while no one took control to at least live...I will mourn later...once the others are better..." "But I know Gabe..." "...I know what's happening with the music..." "...Just finding it kind of hard to care at the moment..." "...Tatsui....is gone too....haven't seen him..." "...and Now Selenus is gone too...." "Your the only one left..." the Voices and her eyes changed color rapidly as she spoke going from one to the other though all were sad and somber, some on the verge of tears, others seemingly broken emotionally, but they all stopped on Trinity her face expressionless but tears running down her cheeks gently as she looked at him.

After a moment though her eyes changed color once more back to the purple of Unison, not that Gabe ever seen her eye color before now "It wouldn't make sense to hide the truth of who we are, Selenus knew who prince was already, he seemed to know who guardian was as well, we figured it out, so we see no reason to hide ourselves" she then finished off the apple juice as she looked at Gabe as he explained things about the two, and as he mentioned Brittany an eyebrow raised, she had seen enough other people to put two and two together as she looked at him, her gaze now turning hard "So you like her enough to trust her with this huh? I hope you are doing this for the right reasons, and not hoping for some reciprocation of feelings from her out of it all..." she said to him clearly agitated that he seemed to be basing that on a personal feeling of attraction rather then anything else.

As he got up and headed for the door after the door bell in her mind Unison was already being beset by Yuuko

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!!! Selenus Dies and now this guy is taking the time to go try and win over some bimbo? our friend...HIS FRIEND!! Is DEAD and all he is caring about is getting himself a treat?...I didn't think Gabe was a piece of shit before but I sure as hell do now"

"Calm down....we do not know his reasoning...though even I have to admit he makes it sound like the reason is more personal then anything else, Though I wonder if Gabe even knows?"

At this point Yuuko was giggling with a evil smile on her face "Oh yeah....Frog likes Brittany and that Liam guy....I bet you anything by the way they acted last night that Brit and Frog are a couple...if not then brit is at least the tirsty bimbo I bet she is...maybe she wants frog? hell maybe any guy will do but she happened to have already picked her target...who knows....I just hope this blows up in Gabe's Face that fucker thinking about that at a time like this? what the hell?" Yuuko's giggling had slowly died to a more dark chuckle till it just died out completely.

Unison looked to the girl "Not enough information is known about the issue, though with frog and Brittany more can be gleaned from the gathered info, Gabe on the other had seems interested however I believe his words may have been slips of the tongue"

"Yeah I bet he wants to slip his tongue somewhere....he likes to act mature but I bet he's more of a horn dog then he lets others see....maybe we should go hide see if we can "accidentally" discover something in his room?" Yuuko Grumbled.

It was about that time that Yuuko found herself suspended in the air by Unison holding her throat "I will not have you suggesting we betray the trust of one of our friends, we may suspect his motives all we want but we do not know what he is thinking, spying on him however is pointless, not to mention an insult to the friendship we at least are trying to foster....if not for our sake then for Selenus'" she then Dropped Yuuko and looked at her a moment.

"Sorry...y..your right...Selenus wouldn't want us doing something like that.....I miss him..."..

Then back out in the real world Unison simply sat at the table waiting for Gabe to get the door. Though on the moment he asked if Brittany had been sleeping her hand closed on the table once more and a small cracking of the wood could be heard at least by her, Gabe and Brit being to far to hear it "My assumptions my be right....he had not asked of our condition on our first entrance...in fact he simply got us a drink and informed us of his plan to tell these two who he was...maybe his show of concern towards Brittany is fueled by a personal reason like a wish for affection?....Ether way I suppose it doesn't matter..." she thought to herself as her grip relaxed and she sat there waiting still.

"It's always for the right reasons, i'm Gabriel Gatsby. "



That was the last thing that Gabe said to Trinity before opening the door to greet Brittany and follow back with playful banter.  

"Hmm, the casino is one thing. Though, there have been some runner-ups in the stress department of my life that I was hoping to solve this morning.  By keeping an eye out for me, well, you're a lot closer on the money."

Though, when she mentioned her concerns as to Gabe's intentions on it just being him and Brittany, he would shake his head.

"No, unfortunately, there is something I wanted to go over with the two of you. Sine frogerio isn't here,  we will just start without him.  Pick any seat that you would like, I have condiments and refreshments in the kitchen I can get for you."

Hopefully, after Brittany would have a seat, Gabe would take a deep breath and begin talking.

"Brittany, also known as pretty B.  I know your identity, and I've been keeping it to myself ever since. I know it because  Bernard told me,  you basically have a persona user guardian and protector in the form of a feathered companion that cares about you. After developing a friendship with this bird, it disclosed a few secrets to me, your identity as a terrorist is one of them. However, with a bond being formed out of trust, I wanted life to continue as it was, with the acts of night being continued as a separate event altogether.   I could do it, keep it all to myself and spare you all the drama from the world of night and what it brings.  The facade of being two different people at two different times, a secret identity."

Gabe rambled a bit as he took a sip of his scotch.

"I thought I can be both Shotaro, and Gabe, and treat them as two different people in everyday life. But I was wrong,  do you know what changed that thinking Brittany? "

Gabe was quiet for a moment before he continued.

"It changed when Selenus died for us, sacrificing his lives so invidia wouldn't follow. Ragnarok........ the wolf that fought with us before. Someone died, someone I knew inside and outside of the world of night, that I trusted,  that was my friend.  Everyone sitting in this room is important to me, in one way or another. With that reason being known,  to minimalize casualties, I'm making myself known to you know as a terrorist that you have been fighting side by side with for so long. That doesn't need to change, but I wanted to develop a circle of trust that transcends the hidden agenda that our masks cover. "

Gabe was then quiet for a while, letting things sink in and allowing the others to say something, but before he did this, Gabe wanted to make one thing clear.

"Before, due to the fat of the cannibalistic activities that invidia participated in with his fan crew, i didn't mind his apparent demise. After selenus died, surprisingly,  i'm less inclined to be on the path of revenge or vengeance. The main agenda is to free the city, the wakeup call here is that our lives are constantly on the line. So this is more than just a personal vendetta,  doing this together is the only way we can survive."

Trinity.,...Or rather Unison watched as the two interacted at the door, not responding to Gabe's reassurance, it was hard to gauge if he was doing this for the right reasons or the wrong ones, Trinity and the others had lost someone they knew they could trust about a lot of things, and who knew they could trust her with a lot of things, none of them honestly knew if they could do the same with Gabe or Tatsui if he ever showed up again, she had know Selenus far better, she was closer to him then the others, Gabe having his issues with her and Tatsui finding it hard to talk to her. Only Selenus had taken her and tried to care for her like she was deeply important to him it was a feeling she had wanted to return to let him know he was important to her, but he was gone now, all she had was the message he sent left to her, and the request he made of her to tell the others of the man that he seen as his father.

As she thought this she took a deep breath to calm down, the others starting to cause some issues as they each started to talk about Selenus, remembering him, Unison had to block it out, as much as it pained her to do so, so she could keep a clear head and watch what was going on, once the others were stronger, more ready to face what was going on, then she would take her time to mourn, for now she looked to the two in the door way, one casually hitting on the other, it..angered her, then again she had to remember they didn't know the other was with them that night, at least, one didn't anyway the one talking and walking right in talking about the other needing a wife she had to remember that she didn't know, she didn't realize that Gabe had lost a friend.

Then she mentioned thinking it would just be the two of them and she turned to look at Gabe, he started talking though before Unison could ask her question and he explained to the other female what was going on, and Unison waited quietly the one question burning in her mind as she looked right at Brittany unblinking, unmoving, and simply waited for Gabe to finish, she knew what he had to say, not that he said it before, but because it was about the same feeling she had for the most part, though some things were different, she didn't tell anyone because Selenus told her not to, he had wanted to protect her as much as possible, it was a reason she thought he had stayed behind, but she knew she couldn't blame herself for his choice, she could only get stronger to make sure it didn't happen again.

As Gabe finished Unison was still looking at Brittany unblinking and a stern look on her face "That being said....where is frog...we know who he is as well....we thought he was going to be here as well as you......do you know why he hasn't come?" she asked as one eye started to rapidly change color, and one hand gripped the edge of the table tightly, several of the personalities were angry at the moment, some wanted to yell the question, others wanted to storm out and head to Frogs home, she knew where he lived, she had seen his house that day in the park when his sister came to her to ask for her autograph, another part of her wanted to Grab Brittany and DEMAND the information, Unison herself though was fighting to keep control.

"Trinity, please, calm your nerves. Maybe I wasn't clear about the purpose of this little rendezvous at my house, but this was an open invitation to those that would have liked to come to my house. I didn't have to be clear of disclosing any sort of information over the phone that would endanger myself or others, all I said was that I had something important to talk about. From Brittany's reaction, you can see that she didn't know beforehand, which is apart of the process of keeping our activities discreet.  In this case, Gerio didn't want to hear what I had to say, and it is well within his right to decline.  It doesn't matter where he is or what he is doing. What is important is that we know who he is, and with the past events as a reference, we can count on his cooperation, for as much as I know.  That's good enough to let him do what he wants if he doesn't want to be apart of this any more than that. Friendships should never be forced. "

Rubbing his temples,  Gabe looked to Brittany and nodded.  

"Yes, our precious comrade has passed away, and we have no way of providing a proper burial, or even contacting a family member. In this case, Selenus's creator, if that person still exists. For, as far as I know, a mental memoir by the people he built relationships with that knows such a person lived, is the best and the only thing we can do for him at the time being.  However, he did teach me one thing, he made the first step of bringing a group of people together outside of our masks, and the others that I learned to know and care for did not betray my trust or expectations.  I wanted to open that up to you Brittany, I wanted to offer you .... THAT kind of trust. "

Taking a deep breath, Gabe would start to mention other things.

"We have a loose end, it was me that went over to get the rumor spread, through the use of my own currency.  It was someone that was with the detective agency, and I picked that window of spreading information because they was as neutral as possible, with no sort of government affiliation or even with Larsinny. With the risk involved in spreading the rumors about Invidia, it cost me about three grand.  That's fair, since there is a risk that came with actively pushing factual propaganda towards a district leader, but we failed to take him down.  For starters, this comes with a terrorist attack that happened later in the day of the rumors being spread. Two,  I don't know how she did it, at all.   It's a gentlemen's agreement and I paid first, but I don't know if the method can be traced back to me from the government if they do pick up a trail and start to investigate."

What else could he say?

"In addition, with such a great deal of offering money for these rumors to spread for our hit, I don't know if that recent failure has burned that bridge.  The commodity for silence........it's something i'm well associated with.  I would want to associate my face and my face alone with the detective to avoid exposure to the others, but I just don't know if I ruined it for the rest of us to use such an impartial resource. Just in case, it's good to think about another way to spread the information if we need it. They have to be impartial, trustworthy, and most importantly, there has to be some kind of guarantee that it doesn't find it's way back to us. "

Unison looked at Gabe a moment her one eye still rapidly changing color as she looked back to Brittany then she leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes taking a deep breath and seemingly focusing on calming down.

In her mind Unison was looking at all the others "You all need to calm down.....we are a small group and we can't force someone to show up if they don't want to....besides we will see Frog at the concert later with his sister anyway, so we can talk to him a bit then, you all need to work this out for now, Yes Selenus is gone, but he wouldn't want you all to just stop living your lives" she said to the group of them...well all but Mirna and Alister who seemed to be taking this better then the others.

Alister looked at the others "Unison is right we need to calm down...Selenus wouldn't want us to just start lashing out at people, he didn't want that for us so just take a moment and think about that, he wanted us to live that's why he did that, and we are the only ones that know about his...well his father and what's going on with him, he left us something important to do and we need to do it, and we need to be careful while doing it" he said as he held Myrna's hand.

Myrna was next to speak to them "Trinity, Nola, Yuuko, Lilith, calm down please, we need you four, we need you thinking clearly and calmly, if you can't do it for us then do it for Selenus at least, you all know what he was like, he would not have wanted us all to be fighting like this...please" she asked them

The others calmed down All but Yuuko anyway, but she could tell she was out numbered now, and so she sat down but was clearly still agitated.

back out in the real world Unison opened her eyes and they were now both the purple color of the girl in question "Yes it's true, one of us is dead.....we failed, we all would have been killed if not for him sacrificing himself to by time...from what We understand anyway, it was his request that prompted this meeting..." she looked to Gabe then "..As for your loose end, I will leave handling that to you, as the fewer people involved the better...as for spreading rumor sadly we do not have access to anything that could be of help".

Finally she looked to the two of them one then the other "Selenus did entrust something to Us, before he died...he told Us of his father......a man he wanted to save....he wanted Us to continue that goal I will be working towards that....thankfully he gave Us a great deal of information on the subject.." she said as she looked down at the table "Though We may not live long enough to see it done...".

"Fine, if that's the way the cookie crumbles, I guess it's up to me to build up a rapport, or maybe salvage what was possible to be created with this woman. I'm sure that the fallout of failure is anything but good. " Gabe was not looking forward to that, but he had no choice in the matter, he had a responsibility to see things through. However, Gabe would groan and give Trinity a deadly stare when she said something along the lines of not living long to see the saving of Selenus's father. "If there is one of the things in this world I don't like, it's negativity when I'm trying to be positive about things. All of you, all of your siblings, somehow, some way, i'll see it through for the possibility of you guys at least living to see 80 or something. How unfair does it seem to simply await your death like a ticking time bomb? To me, this doesn't make you expendable, and I don't expect you to act in any sort of sacrificial way. Cherish the lives you have, and if you find the motivation to live for something for the time being, at least look forward to saving Selenus's father. "

"Gabe was not trying to hear it, he wanted Trinity to desire the will to live. That in itself should extend her life, her own willpower.

"What do we do now? Plan for the future. It' safe to say that things might get harder more difficult, but i wanted to believe that when we put our capabilities together, we can overcome any obstacle. No dynamic decision needs to be made today I just wanted you two to know that i'm well aware of who you are, and i fully intend to act as a terrorist in the interest of a brighter future, yours included. Your secret is safe with me...and if anything happened to you..... i'll come to your aid, no matter what. Thats it..... That's all i wanted to say today......an invitation to build a circle of trust."

Sitting back, Gabe would mumble to himself. "You are free to leave if you wish, we can reconvene at the Playhouse tonight. "He didn't want to admit it, but he just wanted to be drunk and alone after this.