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Post by demikara on Sept 5, 2019 13:35:33 GMT -6
Aerilyn was still worried about the director. She hadn't been given any updates on the situation either. But there was nothing she could do about it. More out of nerves than need, she was taking apart and cleaning her plasma rifle, checking the cartridge to make sure it had no damage as well. A damaged cartridge was a dangerous thing, so she regularly checked them over. She took a closer look at this one and ran a rag over it. Alright, just lint, not a crack.
Maintenance was important to do. It was also why one of the three bedrooms was dedicated to her weaponry. She took religious care of them, used it for meditation more than anything else. But she also knew it unnerved her husband somewhat. As if he didn't have an entire room full of games that didn't fit into his gaming nook. Negotiating the living room to be free of guns and games had been interesting. The doorbell rung and Aerilyn put the cartridge down and went to answer it.
They rarely had someone ring. Mostly, they'd get a text first.
Aerilyn opened the door and frowned, seeing no one. She spotted the package and shrugged. "Must have been the delivery man. Weird." She took it inside and put it on the kitchen counter, breaking the tape with a knife and not paying attention to the fact that there was no return address, or even an address for her place on it. It was the work of seconds to open it up.
The aeromancer stumbled backwards and fumbled for her cell phone, dialing her husband's number with the tap of a thumb. "Ahmad? Ahmad, you need to send someone over." She sounded shaken. She knew she sounded shaken and afraid, and so unlike herself.
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Post by Ylanne on Sept 5, 2019 13:51:36 GMT -6
It wasn't every day that Ahmad swore in front of the prime minister. He wouldn't do it in front of his mother or the director either, not if he could help it. But it also wasn't every day that he was sitting nervously on the edge of an ornate armchair in Salma Khayyam's grand office, providing her with the very unwelcome news that a major bombing in Ebouma appeared connected to an offworld aggressor, a new outbreak of a terrifying virus threatened several cities in southern Aslund, and oh yeah, Arianne Drulović and two TIB agents were all missing.
It also wasn't every day that such a briefing (his least favorite kind, he'd decided firmly) was suddenly interrupted by a call from his wife.
"Um, fuck."
Khayyam raised an eyebrow.
"Aerilyn, what happened? I'm um, I'm with Prime Minister Khayyam right now..."
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Post by demikara on Sept 5, 2019 14:03:07 GMT -6
"Ahmad. You need to send someone here right now." She swallowed audibly and forced herself to stand. "Someone just delivered an ear to our doorstep. The package doesn't look marked but I really don't want to go closer to check." It was bad enough the first time. "I...should I call Leimgrueber?" That was an option. She could do that too. Should he even have his phone with him in a meeting with the prime minister? Would that even stop him though? Probably not.
It occurred to Aerilyn that she was likely at least a little bit in shock.
She took a deep breath and gave the counter a wide berth, heading to her gun room where she would at least feel safe. Very promptly, she began to arm herself. "Ahmad. I can't. I need help. I can't handle that." It was one thing to deal with violence when she expected it. It was another entirely to have an ear delivered to her doorstep.
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Post by Ylanne on Sept 5, 2019 14:12:55 GMT -6
"A... What?!" Ahmad practically leaped from his seat, ignoring Khayyam now, whose look was severe. Was it Drulović's, or... Dumbfounded, he shook his head, managing only to say, "What about the rest of the head? Where's the rest?" He sounded almost hysterical.
"If you need to take that, you can use the conference room, Mr. Fazari." Khayyam motioned to a door with intricately inlaid carvings at the back of the room.
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Post by demikara on Sept 5, 2019 14:27:52 GMT -6
"It. It was just the ear." She remembered that much. Aerilyn checked to make certain she had a spare cartridge for her plasma rifle. "Love. You need to send some agents here. I'm...I'm staying in the gun room until they arrive. Tell the prime minister it's an emergency and send some agents." Send someone. This was terrifying. Aerilyn made certain the door was firmly closed and locked it just to be sure.
She swallowed again. "And come? I'm...I could use a hug." She was shaking, Aerilyn distantly registered. She was shaking and she put herself in a corner and kept a gun ready, leaning against it for some form of strength. It would be fine. She had enough to protect herself here, and the box was in the other room.
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Post by Ylanne on Sept 5, 2019 14:39:04 GMT -6
Ahmad glanced at Khayyam, then at the door leading entirely out of her office. He swallowed the bile he felt rushing upward back down. Aerilyn did not sound the way he was used to hearing her, no light mockery or easy confidence to be heard. "I'll be there as soon as I can. Call Johannes." He paused. "I love you."
After disconnecting, he grabbed the nearest trash receptacle and vomited his breakfast.
"I'm so sorry," he babbled to Khayyam. "I'm just... "
"Is it the Director?"
Well, she certainly cut to the heart of the matter. Ahmad was already shaking his head, more for himself than her. "I don't know. I... I have to go. That was my wife."
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Post by demikara on Sept 5, 2019 15:50:11 GMT -6
"Love you" she managed before they disconnected and she dialed Johannes up, ignoring the shaking in her limbs. She could do this. She would do this. It was in the bag. She just had to actually do so. She waited for him to pick up, dialing again and again if he didn't at first. The second he actually did she shuddered. "Leimburger. It's Aerilyn. I need some agents at the house. Someone sent me an ear." Or Ahmad. It hadn't been labeled. She hadn't thought twice. What had she been thinking?
She knew better than to open unmarked packages. "I've armed myself, so let them know. I'll let them in when they arrive." But for now, she was staying in the room with all the guns. She shuddered. "I...I'm going into shock." She'd need medical attention in other words.
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Post by Ylanne on Sept 5, 2019 16:22:31 GMT -6
Leimgrüber listened carefully as Aerilyn spoke, his silence punctuated with scratching of pen against paper. That was something he and the old woman apparently had in common. When Aerilyn finished, he took a deep breath, then replied, professional as always, "Stay put. I'll alert the NPA too, just to head off any... unpleasantness." It was hard to run security operations when the Bureau itself was not supposed to conduct activities on Terran soil (though of course, everyone on the planet with two brain cells to rub together knew that the TIB was constantly running operations on the planet), and when the NPA would gleefully leap upon any possible chance to chastise suspected or known Bureau agents, and thus publicly castigate the Bureau's director for overreaching authority. "Be calm if you can. I'll make sure a medic comes by when I get there. I'm about twenty minutes out."
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Post by demikara on Sept 5, 2019 16:30:25 GMT -6
Aerilyn nodded. "I'll stay." She hung up and waited, holding her plasma rifle close the way a small child would hold a stuffed toy. Leimgrüber was on his way. Ahmad knew and was on his way as well. She was going to have nightmares for weeks about this and right now, she wasn't sure how to handle any of this. She was a bouncer. People didn't just deliver ears to her. She had seen one ripped off before, but that was in a fight, not an ear in the mail.
She wanted to know why it would be sent here. She knew it was because of her husband's position.
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Post by Ylanne on Sept 5, 2019 16:52:46 GMT -6
The ear was a strange little thing.
When Ahmad came in the door of the house, he stared at it for several long minutes, saying nothing, unable to look away from the shriveled mass of flesh, with dried, encrusted blood along the jagged edges where someone had chopped it off, clearly with the intent to inflict as much pain as possible in the process. It was not a clean cut. Ahmad had recognized it immediately. How many times had he seen this ear, partially concealed by a shock of brown hair so dark it was nearly (but not quite) black, while Drulović had advised him, consoled him, questioned him, challenged him. Most of the time in her own house.
He told both Aerilyn and Leimgrüber as much, his affect flat and low. "They meant to hurt her."
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Post by demikara on Sept 5, 2019 17:00:04 GMT -6
Aerilyn nodded and stuck close to her husband, her rifle on her back now. "They meant us to know. Us, not her blood relatives." They had sent it to her deputy director and his wife and their personal home. This was personal, whatever it was. She licked her lips and closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around her husbands's arm, needing the tactical sensation. "The question is...what's the message." They message was for them. Probably for Ahmad, given his job.
the deaf woman gave a full body shudder. "We're not staying here tonight. I refuse." Gambit's was a dive bar, and raucous as it got, but there was a hotel above it that was relatively safe. They could stay there, safe in anonymity.
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Post by Ylanne on Sept 5, 2019 17:33:24 GMT -6
Ahmad sank deeper into the chair he occupied in the kitchen, not looking at either of them. "I don't want to go. I would feel uncomfortable not being here. We live here... And they want us to feel that way. It's part of the point."
"The NPA will send out the evidence for forensic analysis," said Leimgrüber, who'd looked closely at the ear when he first arrived but subsequently avoided any other inspection. "I can't share anything else here though." He caught Ahmad's eye. "We'll talk."
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Post by demikara on Sept 5, 2019 17:41:41 GMT -6
"Then they've thoroughly succeeded." She said simply and sighed, tugging on her hair. Aggravated, she removed her hearing aid as well, not wanting to deal with the added electronic noise. she could use her magic here. That would be enough. "That stupid thing doesn't fit right." Hearing aids were expensive and hers was fit poorly and she as disgusted on principle by it, but she knew she needed the damned thing to communicate.
"Thanks for coming Leimgrüber." She said and eyed the front door. "What are your thoughts? Stay here tonight or find somewhere else?" They clearly knew where teh two lived. That was fun. Hopefully the security cameras had at least caught who dropped the package off.
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Post by Ylanne on Sept 5, 2019 18:13:01 GMT -6
Leimgrüber pursed his lips, looking out the window then back to Aerilyn. "I think it's fine. If they wanted either of you dead, they would have attempted already by now. It's up to you. Personally," he shrugged, "I would stay."
"We have our own bed here," Ahmad said, his tone flat still. "I just... I just want to power up a game and maybe just do that. Not think about anything else." And he couldn't. Not with that thing on the counter. He breathed a silent sigh of relief when an NPA technician finally carried it out.
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Post by demikara on Sept 5, 2019 18:28:41 GMT -6
Aerilyn hesitated. "I...I don't know if I can fall asleep. But I don't really want to be on my own either." She admitted and took a deep breath. "And I know I won't sleep if you aren't in easy reach tonight. We can stay." But she was going to keep a gun closer than usual. She usually disarmed in the house, but had a feeling that wasn't going to happen for a few days. Possibly a week or so. She just needed to gather herself.
Staying wasn't an ideal with. She watched the techs take the box away and swallowed. It was going to be okay. Leimgrüber was right. If they hadn't tried to kill them yet, they probably wouldn't tonight at least.
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