<strong>Roughshod</strong><br/><br/>Nadia was satisfied with the outcome of her little plan. Not only did she recover most of the bones, but she likely managed to generate a lot of buzz for the band. She counted the skulls in the box, and all four were there. She used her foot to shove the box behind her on stage, and nodded to Aaron for regaining everyone's attention.<br/><br/>She drew a deep breath and belted out the final song of the evening.<br/><br/>"We are Manual Automatic! Paradiso goodnight!" The stage-lights went black. A few seconds later, the set crew lowered the scrim. The house lights came up and through the scrim Nadia could see the fans but they could no longer see her. She took little mind of them now. she slung her guitar across her back and picked up the box of bones. She used duct tape to seal it and applied quite a bit more than was necessary. With nary a word, she took the now rather nondescript box to her car and locked it inside. She didn't want to get it mixed up with the equipment in the van.<br/><br/>She walked over to the van and helped Renee and Aaron pack it up. Renee was obviously still pumped from the performance. "Let's go find an all night diner!"<br/><br/>Nadia grinned as her stomach grumbled. It was very late, and the prospect of food was extremely tempting, but she had other things on her mind. "You guys go on ahead."<br/><br/>Renee's face fell. "Wha? You're acting so weird! That's it. Explain!" The last of the equipment was in the van. Renee slammed the door on the back shut and leaned against it, waiting for the explanation.<br/><br/>Nadia knew this would happen at some point tonight, so she'd been thinking of what she'd say. "It's been a while since I've been back home...  I told mom I'd stop by to see her, so... you guys have fun." It seemed a valid enough excuse, but she had no intention of doing it tonight. Even as Renee tried to protest again, she was walking away. Soon enough she was driving away. A pair of band-mates, no, friends angry and confused at her behavior stared at her from the rear-view mirror.<br/><br/>She stopped at a stop light and examined the business card for a moment, wondering what she should do now.<br/>