No Rest for the Wicked (Post- Joker)

When Nadia entered the playhouse, it's interior was dark, empty like the hole that had opened in her chest. She'd been careful to avoid anything that remotely looked like a cop or a cadet all the way here. Even though she had been prepared for this, the ache in her heart wouldn't go away. She had been presented with an impossible choice, and she'd made the choice in a split second. Just like when she'd made the choice to abandon Shotaro to his fate, now she'd done the same for Yuri. And her own livelihood was gone as well. Somehow, that made her feel even worse. Every possible future that had been stretching out before her was severed. Now, there was only this. For all intents and purposes, Nadia Marquee had died tonight. Now there was only Nightingale.

Unless the playhouse succeeded that was.

But could she survive that long? Could any of them? Did she even care if she did?

Behind her she pulled a small suit case, which held some changes of clothes, some essentials, and some other things she'd purchased from the boutique when she was there. She'd stashed the suitcase away earlier in the day for just this eventuality. She'd hoped she wouldn't need it but...well, here she was. She moved toward the meeting room, where there was a seating arrangement with a dark-colored sofa, and set her suitcase up beside it, sitting on the couch, and just pulling her legs up against her. She wasn't even in her terrorist attire. What did any of it matter anyway at this point? Pretty soon, there would probably be people coming back to scold her. To tell her she'd been harsh or she'd made the wrong decision. She'd take their scorn, because it was true. How had she ever thought she could reason with lunacy such as that?

The ride back to the Playhouse was quiet; no amount of music could soothe the emotions running through Shouhei Kagawa at the moment.  Only the thrum of his motorcycle echoing across the city streets, drowning out the heart that wanted to shut down in defeat.  Only his thoughts to accompany him on this somber trip.  Again he followed his protocol of parking his motorcycle in a dark alleyway a block away before arriving at the Playhouse.

Once Shouhei set foot inside it was deathly quiet, even more so than his ride home.  Maybe he got there first?  Either way he lifted up his surgical mask and sparked a cigarette, its clove scent calming his frayed nerves.  He made a beeline for the bar and helped himself to a beer.  The moment it met his lips he slowly tilted the bottle up and kept drinking, drinking, drinking, until there was nothing left.  He grabbed another and decided to see if anybody were in the other rooms of the Playhouse, in particular the meeting one.

“...Ya plan on skippin’ town?” Shouhei genuinely asked behind a veil of clove smoke, after noticing Nadia curled up and sitting beside her suitcase.  It took him a moment to realize she didn’t even know who he was as he hastily added on, “I’m Dirge by the way.  I was one of the guys watchin’ your back out there in that meetin’ with that fucker Joker.”

He seethed. He raged and boiled the whole way to the Playhouse, and despite the armour that coated him as he came in hiding any expression, Cecil's gaze bore through everything with a molten fury. One that reached new peaks as he saw the way Nadia had shrunken into herself.
Had Harlequin, or any of the Jest's number walked through the door at that moment, he felt fairly certain he'd have been the first to join in on making them a bloody mess.
It was an entirely worthless thing to do, and yet it felt so appealing.

Instead of any of that, he sat by Nadia's side and put a hand on her shoulder. Right now, it was all that he could think to do.

Seeing others walking in, Unison had simply stayed quite for the time being, letting them not notice her as she sat at one of the booths, but as they came in, two not even in garb, and the obvious aura of defeat they gave, especially Nadia, it was rather obvious to her what had happened, without asking...at least she could assume, however she would need to ask to be sure, Getting up Unison walked over to the room that Cecil, Nadia, and the new person, had walked into and she simply stood by the door a moment before taking a sip of her little drink she had.

She looked at them for a moment and then she asked "How did your meeting go?" she asked simply and to the point, her echoing multi-voice easily carrying as she looked at the three in the room.

Nadia had pressed her knees against the backs of her eyelids, curled up into a little ball on the sofa when Dirge came in, introduced himself, and asked her if she was planning on skipping town. It was a reasonable response, but not one that Nadia had even considered. She looked up, saw Cecil coming along behind Dirge, to sit beside her on the sofa. She looked at the armored mass that was her boyfriend. As he put his arm around her, she took a deep breathy sigh. It shuttered with her ragged emotions. But when the air had fully passed and she'd sucked in another breath, her voice had become firm. "Outside is a wasteland. The only way to get anywhere with any amount of potential for safety is the train, and to do that I'd need an ID that isn't mine. No, I plan to stay here in Endymion. I told Joker that I wasn't out of options, and I'll prove to him that he can't get away with needlessly destroying Nadia Marquee's life." She deflated a little, resting back against the armor of Revenant. "That, or I'll die trying."

It was then that a familiar face entered into the room. It was Unison, the one who was so attached to shotaro. The one who no more than a day ago had been in her home accosting Cecil, trying to force him to recognize the flaws she was seeing in him. The memory of the disrespect sent sparks through her chest now. She didn't typically get angry. But with as worn and frayed as her nerves were right now, she could only feel like this girl had intentionally refused to help her survive her potentially deadly experience out of spite from the other night. She sighed, and the sparks died down to nothing. She didn't have the energy to be angry with the girl. She didn't understand the way the girl's mind worked enough to even rebuff her. Instead, she simply sat up, leaned forward with her head in her hands, and began to tell the story.

"We went to see Joker, as I wrote in my letter. He had seen my use my powers in defense of Yuri, and was threatening to reveal my identity to the Cadets. He forced my hand so I had to meet with him. I went there, and the others arrived to back me up as well, in case Joker was there and we needed a show of force. I was hoping perhaps with numbers or with negotiation I could turn this situation to our advantage. But Joker wasn't even there. Only more of his disposable underlings. He gave me an ultimatum. I was either to act as a liaison between himself and the Playhouse, or he would release my identity to the Cadets. I was willing to accept the deal under certain stipulations. I thought perhaps with knowledge of the deal on our side, we could turn the tables on him, learn more information about him. Instead, he demanded that I lead him to the playhouse." She took in another breath. Let it out. "I refused. I couldn't let this manipulative person we've never even seen to know the location of the playhouse, and so now both mine and Yuri's identities are forfeit. If I show my face in public, I'll be captured by the Cadets for certain."

Quietly Shouhei took in Nadia’s words from her own mouth.  He appreciated her firm stance on the matter and her refusal to back down from Joker.  Fight back with everything you have was a personal belief Shouhei had for himself and he admired that in Nadia’s answer.  As she explained to the newcomer with multiple voices in one body, Shouhei tried not to let his anger bubble up in response any further.  It’d be pointless to give into that emotion.  For years Mariko had taught him the futility of relying on and letting rage dictate your being.

His answer was to puff on his clove cigarette, polish off the rest of his beer, and get ready to go for another round at the bar.

“...Might as well help ourselves to the Playhouse’s stash and try to lighten up a little.  Anybody got any requests for a drink?  I have a bit’a experience in that, haha.”  In an attempt at levity and his own quick fix to this problem, Shouhei hoped the mood in the room wouldn’t stay sour for the rest of the night.  To top it off he belched loudly, expelling the gas from his two downed beers.

"...'Scuse me."

Cecil only seemed to notice Trinity as she spoke, focused as he was on comforting Nadia. The anger still burned hotly as he looked over at the belt-covered girl, mind conjuring up venom to spit at her too. It would be so easy to vent out all this frustration, after she'd been so much the source of it in their past interactions.
He tore himself away before he could. This wasn't her fault, and even if they hadn't got on before, it'd be vile of him to so quickly turn on her like this.
It wouldn't be hard to notice he had considered it, though. There was a noticeable sense of tension and bad blood there.

Instead, Dirge became his focus. Normally he wasn't much for drinking, but this time, he may just make an exception.
Larsinney would be pleased people were drinking his stock again.
"...I shall be fine with whatever you can provide. I shall need a combination straws, however, if you can locate them. This helmet is not exactly conducive to consumption of any kind."

Lupin had walked to the playhouse with an angry expression on his face. He didn't bounce at all on the way to the playhouse, he just had an angry stride the whole way through, he felt a lot of anger throughout the night. First super important event and he fucked it up. "Can my night get any worse." Triboulet had said something to Lupin. "So far no cadets to haul your ass away and you have friends who are willing to support I wouldn't complain if I were you." Lupin stayed silent as he made his way to the playhouse. Yep, nothing like being an edge load. When he got there he changed back into his terrorist outfit.

Lupin overheard what was said for, he didn't say anything because he was a goofy guy he felt like he would ruin the mood, so he stayed silent and hidden from the others. He didn't want that poor Nadia girl to think he was mad at her. She did what she had to do. Lupin started to raid the stash Shouhei mentioned, trying out different types of booze for the first time. Lupin noticed Shouhei and said "Hey Dirge, just trying booze for the first time." Lupin found a beer bottle and started drinking. He thought it tasted it awful and just tossed it behind him with little regard to other people's safety. He then tried drinking scotch because he thought it would be like those biscuits scotch fingers. He thought the scotch tasted awful too. Lupin kept trying different types of drinks all of them tasted gross. He then tried some wine he thought it tasted like cooking oil and then in some form of a drunken shamble got up and yelled to the others revealing himself. "HEY DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY MEAT TO COOK, I FOUND THE COOKING OIL WE CAN MAKE BURGERS! DIRGE I KNOW YOU ARE HIDING SOME BURGERS IN THAT BIKER JACKET OF YOURS!"

Lupin might've tried a little too much and too bad for him booze tasted awful. Why did beer suck he thought to himself, he likes ginger beer maybe its the actual alcohol in the drink he doesn't like who knows?

Hearing the situation as Nadia described it Unison nodded. She honestly wondered why she thought she would be in any position to add stipulations to any offer made by Joker? She was being blackmailed, that alone should have indicated to her that she had no power in the meeting, if they had wanted to negotiate they wouldn't have resorted to blackmail at all. This time Though Unison didn't voice her thoughts on the issue, as she could already see the reactions her presence alone was having on Cecil and Nadia, Though this did beg other questions, ones she was prepared to ask.

However that would have to wait as the two new comers moved to the bar to get drinks and She turned to look at them, her belt covered form moving under the gossamer like cloak as she looked at the two new people "We are guests here, and the one that runs this place would most likely prefer that you pay for your drinks, I too would appreciate if you do so, as our host is kind enouh to let us use this place as our base." she then turned back to Cecil and Nadia.

"I do not know why you are upset...now they no longer have a hold over you, and you have stood up for yourself in a difficult situation....I suggest however that you inform anyone that is close to you, such as a boyfriend if you have one, as they may be targeted for questioning as well if your Identity is forfeit, as for living out in the ruins, that is doable as long as you have a means of gaining supplies, I believe I may have a manner in which that can be done" she said simply as she looked at Nadia, she was careful to not mention that Revenant was her Boyfriend as there was two new members right there and she wasn't sure of if they should reveal that much to them so soon.

"Did you gather any information that we could use? other then their want to have you act an a liaison? did they tip their hand as to Why they wanted you to do so?" she asked as she tried to gather information now, they might not like it, but any and all information was information they could use.

Nadia was still not sure what to make of Unison. It was so hard to tell what she was really thinking, and sometimes the things she said just weren't things she agreed with. But it wasn't time to figure it out. She had to address their concerns as succinctly as she could. Understanding would come with more time. Assuming she had that. She looked to Trinity. "You are correct that they no longer have hold over me, but this group is not the only one in the city. Cadets knowing my identity, and wanting to capture me, will make other operations difficult until I can find a way to dissolve the issue. For the time being...everyone who is important to me either already knows, or likely has already been questioned. But thank you for the advice. I'd already considered the possibility. As for hiding out in the ruins, outside the city is said to team with demons at all hours of the day. They are most dangerous around the outskirts of the city, swarming like vultures to catch any prey that would leave the haven of Endymion. As such, I doubt I would be able to survive out there on my strength alone. Aside from that, as I said, I plan to move forward from this. I won't stop fighting. I can disguise myself. I have allies yet, and this game is far from over." She leaned back against the back of the couch then. She wanted to lean more heavily on Revenant then she had before, but as of yet it wasn't something she could risk. Ribbon was right, it would reveal Cecil's identity to anyone who knew they were involved. Especially now. So instead, she just looked for comfort in the dark slits in the mask that hid his eyes. "As for what I do know, It's that Joker belongs to a group - perhaps leads the group- Called Infinite Jest. I'm not sure if any of you saw the video they posted some time ago on smile asking the people to rise up and liberate the city with them, but they are the ones responsible for the faceless men that can fight in daytime. From what I remember, they have some desire to replace Queen Isla with their own queen, I think. Joker said he wanted to form an alliance with us, but I knew that by revealing the playhouse's location to him, he would have leverage not to aide us, but to control us. I didn't want to bring that down on us. I think this Infinite Jest group requires more investigation. They seem to directly oppose the Cadets, where as we oppose the oppression of Endymion's people, Jest seeks to overthrow them entirely. He says our goals align, but I'm not certain they align in the way he thinks. In any case, they may be a problem for use or others in the future..." She cleared her throat. She had just started talking, without a real direction. She needed to get back on the subject. "But that is merely a postulation. I also know that He has the ability to hack through cell phones. I know that because once he learned my identity from the video, or from the information at the Inn when he hacked it, he was able to hack and text my personal smart phone without me even having visited the smile website. My suggestion is that we each acquire pre-paid flip phones without internet access. They will not be able to be monitored by Joker, and are harder to be traced by Cadets and law enforcement." Nadia concluded, looking around to the group. "Tempo...was it? Please step away from the alcohol and sit down. This is not the time to madden ourselves with liquor." She added finally, eyes pointing like daggers at the clown-masked boy.

Dirge hovered at the exit of the meeting room’s door to hear what Nadia had to say, and once she finished to scold Tempo, he took his leave.  He nodded to Unison as he chimed in, “...Understood, I’ll buy us a round, can’t afford to have the establishment pissed at me.”

With an extremely firm grip on Tempo’s shoulder, Dirge pulled him aside and forcefully dragged him back to the bar.  “...C’mon Tempo, I’ll show ya how to make a proper drink.  You can help me fashion a straw for our buddy Revenant too.”

Once they were out of earshot Shouhei whispered to Lupin, “Damn, man, take it easy if it’s your first time drinkin’.  You wanna make a bad impression on these people and force us to babysit you all night or somethin’?  I’ll getcha some meat to soak up that alcohol when we’re done here.”

Cecil's anger turns to Tempo as he starts his outburst, and then back to Trinity as she starts saying the stupidest. Shit. He's heard.
The glare she receives is the most intense yet.

"If you truly believe that being revealed is of so little consequence, leave this place and rip your mask off before all who will watch. Watch as you are stuck as a criminal that may never show their face for fear of being locked up in a cell, and then your own head. Watch as all you have left in the world leaves you behind and scorns you as degenerate. Watch as you may never find a friend again, as all that behold you fear you, assault you, and attempt to get rid of you. Go out to the wilds where creatures which would rip you limb from limb in your sleep reside and roam freely, and where even there you would be treated as the scum of the earth by any who knew what you were."

"Tell me this is not worth being upset over, and prove it. I dare you." There's a seething venomous edge to every word, a deadly bite of venom. "You attacked someone because you feared the secrecy of your identity would be lost. What hypocrite are you to say such a thing isn't worth caring for now?"

He was angry. He was furious.
And he wanted Trinity to take that statement back. To acknowledge and care about somebody else's concerns for once.

Lupin is like really sad now. He is just sad. First night and he already screwed everything up and this was just his first night with the Playhouse. Lupin had responded to Shouhei in a calm tone "I think that would probably be for the best." Lupin then turned towards the others and said to them while bowing his torso forward. "I am sorry guys I will just step out with Dirge for a little bit." Lupin complied with Shouhei and was escorted to whatever area Shouhei wanted them to be in.

Lupin continued to go with Shouhei. As Lupin listen to Shouhei Lupin started to tremble quite a bit until he finally went down on the floor and started to sob. "Why I am so useless." Lupin started to cry with the tears coming from the left eys being divided into several smaller tears. it was an emotional rollercoaster for him. Triboulet stayed silent the whole time because he knew it was better to let Lupin be for the time being.

Lupin started to do some drunk rambling. "Its just like at home. I was too weak to stop the rich people from bullying the orphans. I am still just as weak I couldn't do anything in that exchange and the cadets why the fuck should they give a shit. They just want to serve some cheap ass hoe, they don't stop to think why are these terrorist doing what they're doing." Lupin started to get back on his feet shambling about. Lupin seemed to continue his little rant. "This is all bullshit. SO that JOKER wants the put his own Queen into power I say no. That bitch can die in a ditch." Lupin just looks really out of it. He is experiencing a strong mix of anger and sadness. Lupin started to calm down a little because what he was going to say next was quite serious.

"Dirge I know you said you don't want to overthrow the government. But I think you and I can both agree that this JOKER shouldn't have his queen in power right? If you hear anything about Infinite JEST will you tell me? I want to kill that queen and laugh as JOKER starts to mourn for her and if he asks why I will pop a one-liner I haven't got that far yet." Lupin starts to cry a little more before stopping. "I am sorry I will behave. I would really like some meat after this please that sounds amazing. I know a good restaurant we can go to after this."

Lupin starts looking for a place to sit down. "Why do people drink this stuff it tastes awful." Lupin points to the broken beer bottle as he said that. Trying to take his mind off things.

Unison listened to what Nadia had to say, taking in the information and letting her siblings take it apart to look for anything they could use, but just as Nadia finished, and the two new people left the meeting room Cecil decided now was a good time to turn on her for her words, and of course he twisted them, she wasn't surprised though to hear him twist her words, she was very much aware that he didn't much care for her, though his comment about bearing her face almost made her laugh, or at least one of her siblings anyway, no one know who she was, who THEY really were, she played a role on stage, her parents were dead, her adoptive parents adopted her to make her a Idol, they looked after her but they never got to know her.

Then he talked about having no friends if she was exposed, what he didn't realize was she didn't have any friends to begin with since they all were ether missing, captured or dead. Well rather that she would never find a friend again, and she simply continued to stand there letting him finish his Rant at her, before she answered with a calm tone "I never said it was a good thing her Identity was made known, I said it was good that Joker no longer had something to hold over her head, something he could use to try to make her do things she wouldn't want to do, she stood up to someone that wanted to take all her choice out of her own life".

She then looked to Nadia "you took the threat he leveled at you and disarmed him, you chose your terms and thus have the time to prepare, rather then have a threat looming over you wondering when he would have no further use of you and simply give them your Identity without letting you know...you took power over your life back" she looked to Cecil then "I don't see that as a failure, the consequences are heavy, but clearly She is not the type to let another Control her life, none of use are....if we were we wouldn't be here...she is not alone, she has support, she has us...."

She then turned around and looked over her shoulder at Cecil "but I doubt my words will mean anything to you.....So then...I will do what you asked and Reveal myself...." she them opened the door and left it open as she walked into the main room where The New members were, making sure to walk right up to them.

Then the chains whirled as her Guise dropped, as she walked over to them, she was thankful that it was only them in the Playhouse at the time, but even if there was more of them she would do the same thing, walking over to the two her full facade Dropped and she stood before them as Trinity, in her plain clothes that she wore here to hide her face and the like, and she removed the mask she had on "Thank you for coming and welcome to the Platinum playhouse...Our name is Trinity Allaway....don't feel the need to tell Us who you really are....in fact We do not ask that you do and that you keep that secret for now...but We do ask that you keep Our Identity a secret....We place this trust in you in hopes that We are not misplacing it...there is much We need to talk about....and as the most veteran member of the playhouse who is present We believe it may be best if We tell you what is at stake...and what we are trying to do...." she said to both the newcomers before slipping her mask back on, the chains whirling around her once more as her body was covered in belts and the large Gossamer robe covered her body.

"When I am in my guise....please call me Unison...Before I begin...Any questions.." she said in her multi-voice once more as her body language changed as Unison took the lead again.

Nadia looked at Revenant with a disapproving look. She had already explained the situation to Trinity, did he need to get worked up about it like that? "We can't survive this divided, Revenant." She said, sounding a little sad.

Nadia stood up then, and crossed the room to the door to look out at Trinity, who had revealed herself to the new blood, Dirge and Tempo, who was on the floor crying. "The concern is logistic, Unison." Nadia replied. "I am free from the Jest, but I am not free in the rest of Endymion. I understand and accept this. I think you misunderstand. What Revenant meant when he told you to reveal yourself was to expose yourself to society, not to us. The playhouse will not scorn you for your identity. I have lost every friend who is not a member of the playhouse. I knew Cadets which will now be hunting me down. I knew friends and coworkers among the people who will see me as a traitor or a criminal. That said, please do not reveal yourself unnecessarily, even to prove a point. There is no need to further endanger ourselves. We don't know if their brainwashing tactics can reveal such information, and we don't want one of use being captured to cause the rest of us to be ousted. Thank you for understanding and respecting my choice, Unison." She finished calmly. She walked over to the bar and placed a few dollars from her back pocket on the counter before pouring herself a glass of scotch, and carrying it back into the room to sit beside Revenant.

In the moment of silence she thought of what she'd just said. Things she hadn't really wanted to face. Kaska. He trusted her so much and now he would hate her. Bridgett... probably her only real friend that wasn't a terrorist. Maria and Albrecht, who she had introduced herself to but barely knew, would feel betrayed by her no doubt. This was all horribly wrong. But she couldn't think about that, only of ways to move forward. She tilted the glass back and downed the whole thing, and it was like submerging herself in a lake of fire. Oh, that it were that simple. But no, there was reason to keep living, reason to press on. Action was all that mattered now, until there was no more life in her limbs.