Posted by Captain Remy Boudreaux (CO) in Side sim-Remy & Ayla go Rogue

Posted by Lieutenant Ayla Sharise (Counselor) in Side sim-Remy & Ayla go Rogue

Posted by Captain Remy Boudreaux (CO) in Side sim-Remy & Ayla go Rogue
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

“Now,” he began, “We wait for Armand. De owner. He acts as a go-between for my fence an’ I. De job will come from him. Come, let’s sit.”

Ayla simply nodded, happy to have him guide her through this world of his. It really was an interesting insight into the person she had come to love and she also hoped that he got to see a bit of a different side to her as well.

Remy took Ayla by the hand, and led her to a table in the corner of the room. They took a seat with their backs to the wall, which gave them a view of the whole room, including the front door. To their right was the staircase leading to the second floor which afforded rooms for overnight stays, or for the hour, whichever your preference was..

They would see Tika saunter to the bar and speak with the man tending the bar. He was large with a barrel of a chest and arms as thick as oak trees. The dark hair on his head was a stark contrast to the thick, white beard on his chin. Tika spoke to him and he looked in the direction of Remy and Ayla, a somber, half-hearted smile on his face.

Surveying the room and its occupants, Ayla made a note of body language and their interaction, as well as let herself remain aware of the others in the room, even though she couldn’t sense them as usual.

After filling three mugs full of ale, he walked, rather, limped to their table and set a mug down in front of the two and one on the table in front of himself. “You’ve got a lot of nerve showing up here, Boudreaux.”

Remy looked at the mug and took a slight whiff. “And you are still servine piss water to you’ best customers.” Remy stood up and stepped closer to Armand. After a moment of tense silence, Armand’s face broke into a wide grin and he embraced Remy in a giant bear hug. Remy shifted his arms and got as close as he could to embracing Armand in return. “It is good to see you too, mon ami.”

Despite the gruff initial interaction, Ayla smiled, knowing full well that underneath these two were friends.

The large man let loose and Remy plopped back down in his chair as Armand sat down in the empty one. “Armand, dis is Ayla, my partner.”

“Hello, Armand,” Sharise said with a smile and slight bow of her head.

Armand let his eyes roam over Ayla in the form-fitting leather outfit and he looked impressed. “I can see why Tika was so out of sorts. You’ll have to forgive the child if she called you any names. Any other woman that Remy shows an interest in is automatically a harlot to her.”

Ayla laughed and shrugged. “I’m not offended.”

“I’m back in town because I need to make some quick coin, Armand. Does Portier ‘ave anytine for me?”

Armand’s face became sober. “You didn’t hear? Of course not, you’ve been out of town.

Remy looked to Ayla and then back to Armand. “Ear what?”

“Portier is dead. The authorities say someone broke into his shop, he caught them, a fight took place, and he was killed. Personally, I don’t think it was that simple. He was looking for you just before this happened. Said if you showed up, he wanted, no, needed to see you immediately. He needed you for something, Remy, something big!.”

Boudreaux (the mystery begins)

“Who’s Portier?” Sharise asked, trying to piece together the moving parts of the growing puzzle.

Lt. Sharise, CNS

Remy tilted his head toward Ayla with his eyes still focused on armand. “Portier is, was de fence I was telline you ‘bout earlier. He ran de resale shop a few blocks from ‘ere. It was de cover for ‘is ‘side business.”

Sharise nodded. “Okay.”

Giving Armand his full attention once again, he asked, “What makes you tink he was murdered?”

“Remy, you know this as well as I do. Every night, he locked that shop up like a fortress, traps and wards all over the place. If he wanted to, he could even keep you out, but he trusted you, so that wasn’t an issue. Tika and I know the way in, because he trusted us, too. But there weren’t many others that I’m aware aware. Someone was able to break in and surprise him. About the only way I know someone could have done that was with. . . . ” Armand lowered his voice to a whisper and leaned in closer, “. . . magic!”

Boudreaux/Armand

Ayla frowned slightly. She didn’t know the program and its settling well enough to know if ‘magic’ was a real thing here, so she wasn’t going to comment on that part. But there was another area she had a question about. “You said there weren’t too many others… that you knew about. What about the ones you do know about, or what about the possibility that there was someone you didn’t know about?” They had to rule out certain things, but she suspected they would need to go over there and look about themselves.

Lt. Sharise, CNS