RP with amateur_agent
Aila leaned back on her elbows and watched a few birds skim across the surface of the lake. As always, it was a sunny day, but for once she wasn't out just to get some sun - she was on a mission. She checked once more inside the picnic basket to make sure she brought enough sandwiches on the off chance that aside from Kidd, Juan might stop by [as he was wont to do - especially since she was [again] in his spot].
When dealing with clients, it was extremely important to appear businesslike. However, Kidd woke up to discover that not only did the cowlick of hair by the nape of his neck decided to be unbusinesslike, but his bow tie refused to remain straight as well. Using one hand to smother his rebellious hair from sticking up and the other to straighten his bow tie, he approached the lake, hoping by the time Aila noticed him he'd look more professional.
She turned at the sound of approaching footsteps and smiled - he looked a little...askew? In any event, she was just happy to have him show up. "Hey, Kidd! How's it going?" She motioned to an empty spot on the blanket for him to sit and make himself comfortable.
"F-fine!" Well, too late now to worry about what he looked like. Preserving the remaining shreds of his dignity, Kidd nodded and sat. "I hope I'm not too late."
Aila shook her head. "No, not at all! I was going to be out here all afternoon anyway, so I really wasn't expecting you at any certain time. Are you hungry? I've got sandwiches and lemonade and fruit if you want some."
"I guess I can take a sandwich, if you went through the trouble to make it," the detective took off his cap and vowed not to over-eat. He was sure Jowy would never forget the incident with the Christmas mince pies, so he wasn't about to make the same mistake twice.
"Great. So the reason I called you out here today is this: I need to know what you know about vampires - Hugo was bitten by one the other day and I'm a little confused about how there are vampires in this day and age." Aila found the grapes in the picnic basket and took out a bunch, picking them off one by one to eat.
"Ah." Apparently Aila wasn't one for beating around the bush when it came to business. "I haven't done a lot of research into the history of vampires, but the library documents say that Sierra was the first vampire."
Aila straighened up. "Sierra?" Nash's mention of that name rang in her ears and she chewed on that grape a little longer than she had intended. "Can you tell me more about her?"
"She's pretty old, so there's a lot of things that no one really knows about," Kidd continued between bites of his second sandwich...or was it the third? "She had this special rune that made her a vampire, so she wasn't always like that."
"Okay." She took out a ham sandwich and made sure that it didn't have that red fruit on it that people called tomatoes. "Has she been seen recently?"
"Here's the thing," he made a quick gesture and finished the rest of his sandwich, taking out the notebook concealed in his coat. "Vampires can turn into bats whenever they want, and I think they usually resort to that form when their energy is low. Sierra disappeared for a while, but then an injured white bat showed up at Budehuc. It doesn't take a detective to piece the two together, especially since white is an uncommon color for bats."
"What are the odds that Sierra and the bat / woman thing that fanged Hugo are the same person? Hugo mentioned that the bat that bit him turned into a woman with like...guitar riffs or something - Hugo didn't make too much sense when I found him in the infirmary..." Aila thought back to her conversation with Hugo, trying to remember anything else important that he said, no matter how weird it sounded.
Salome / Cecile: (omg guitar riffs)
NyneShaydee: [We can just chalk it up to Hugo being REEEEEEEEEEEEALLY out of it. *snerk*]
Salome / Cecile: ( >:33333 )
"Pretty good odds, I'd say. Everyone knows Sierra is a vampire, and who else could it be? But that's not what you're worried about is it? This is about Hugo, right?"
Aila made a half and half motion with her hand. "Those questions were. This last question...not so much. What's her connection to Nash?"
He had a feeling it was coming to that. "With Nash? Ah, that's right, you were away at Karaya at the time for that arranged marriage thing, weren't you?"
Aila nodded. "Arranged marriages, the 14th...the life of a mercenary is never an easy one." She chuckled and picked up a turkey sandwich - no tomatoes, thank the Spirits.
"Well, I had my suspicions during the war, especially based on some of the things I, uh, overheard." Now wasn't the time to explain that half the things he knew about Nash were gathered from accidentally listening in to Chris speaking with Lucia in the bath.
Aila tilted her head. "Okay, go on..."
"Several sources have said that Nash often referred to a 'missus' of his, and when Sierra showed up at Budehuc, he was pretty open about this," he flipped through his notes. "But they didn't see eye-to-eye on certain things, and during his absence she started seeing Juan."
Aila blinked. "Oh, wow." That explained a lot of things. She'd have said more were it not for the fact that it seemed as if Kidd was in the middle of a story. "That couldn't have been pretty."
Indeed, he was slowly but surely slipping into the routine, and even the trademarked background music had started. "I mean, it's kind of his own fault for disappearing for so long, but I feel a bit bad for him." Kidd shrugged. "He kind of lost it for a while after that."
NyneShaydee: [*puts on a version of Kidd's Suiko III music*]
Salome / Cecile: (Hehe)
"So he's trying to make up for losing his marbles by running to her rescue now?" Aila took out a bottle of lemonade and sipped it slowly.
"Uhh...I don't think that's the case, exactly..." He wasn't about to mention that his idea of Nash "losing his marbles" was the persistent flirting with the younger Viki and Cecile.
"Then what might the case be?" Chugging the rest of the bottle of lemonade, she put the empty bottle back in the basket.
"Do you remember that rune I mentioned? The one Sierra has that makes her a vampire was stolen by Neclord once before. I don't...know all the details, but I think it helps to keep their power...and the need to feed off people, in check."
"Mmm. So she wouldn't ordinarily do this if she had that rune, and someone stole it. So this Neclord thing might have stolen it again. When was the last time anyone saw him?"
The background music reached a startling and poorly-timed crescendo, and Kidd made a face. "He's been around, and I've seen him talking to people, but it doesn't look like there's anything different about him. ...But he could be acting. If he has stolen it, I can see why Nash would be worried. If anyone understands Sierra's power, it would be him."
She looked at Kidd's reaction, and it made her just a bit uneasy. "So this Neclord creep--" [oh, it had been a while since she had used [that] word] "is just running around? Hasn't anyone asked him anything?"
"That's just the problem," he added and made a helpless gesture. "He hasn't exactly done anything wrong yet, so there's no reason to lock him up. Besides, he's pretty vocal about how 'friendly' he is, and you know how gullible half the castle here is."
Aila didn't want to answer that too quickly because that would be admitting that sometimes she was gullible in that way. "I guess all anyone can do is keep their eyes and ears open and see what happens." Aila sighed. "What a mess."
The flicker of hesitation didn't go unnoticed, along with her earlier avoidance of tomato-sandwiches, but Kidd said nothing. "If Nash's involvement is for the reason I think it is, to help Sierra in order to get to the bottom of Neclord's involvement, then that answers a lot of things. If he's being evasive about it, chances are it's because he's afraid people will get hurt if they're involved."
"I thought about that. I honestly did." Aila chuckled to herself.
There was a brief pause. "I think that because he's a spy, Nash thinks a lot differently than we do. Even still, he's not stupid enough to try pursuing Sierra after all that happened last time. If your worried about that, then maybe you should tell him."
"I'm worried that he didn't trust me enough to tell me the truth. He's a big boy. I'm a big girl. All he had to do was tell me what you've told me, and all I would have said was, 'Please be careful and do what needs doing.' And you're right, I should tell him. That is, if he ever decides to unhide himself. He's been rather scarce as of late." Aila looked around, on the off chance that Nash was using his spy-skills to watch her at the lake the way he sometimes did.
Kidd shook his head. "That's Nash for you. I agreed to work with him on this case though, which means I'll be seeing a lot more of him. If you want, I ...I can keep an eye on him for you."
Aila smiled. "Thanks. I appreciate it." She smiled brightly as she looked into the picnic basket. "There's one more sandwich left, you want it?"
".....If....if you don't want it, I guess. You can't let good food go to waste."
"It...ick. It's got those tomato things on it. You can have it." Wrinkling her nose, Aila reached for an apple and bit into it.
"Awes--thank you." Kidd humbly tucked the sandwich into the napkin and placed it into his pocket for later before standing up. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"Nope. You answered every last one of my questions thoroughly. I take it the hot trail of this latest case calls you away?" Aila again leaned back on her elbows and closed her eyes, the breeze blowing her dreads around.
He turned an awkward shade of red. "Actually, i was going to go check my mail, but...yeah. Yeah! That's mysterious!" He struck a pose.
Aila giggled. "It is, I guess - one never knows who's sending letters, right?"
"Exactly," he nodded, more to himself if anything. "Well, let me know if you need anything else, okay?"
"Okay. I'll see you later!" Aila waved.