Barrier Gate Station. An interesting location to say the least. As Eva drew ever closer to the station the only thing on her mind about it was how remote it was. Its name felt fitting for more than one reason, but the thing that was most funny about it was how it acted as some little waypoint between three major regions. That all being said, the appearance of it gave even more away, and it was as seedy as it looked haphazardly put together.
There were ships from numerous factions all gathered outside the station, some just passing by while others seemingly using it as a meeting point for friends or business contacts; it was impossible to tell at a glance. It's no wonder Remy chose this location. If you wanted to be left to your own devices and blend in with the other criminal elements, there doesn't seem to be that many better options available.
Remy hadn't actually given any specific directions, so with that in mind Eva went for a little walk before contacting him for a meet up. A quick scan to know her surroundings. Considering the nature of the station, it did have a number of, seemingly, innocuous store fronts, bars, and restaurants. Perhaps these were just that, fronts, or perhaps they were genuinely innocent businesses seeking to offer a certain amount of class to the local delinquents. In any case, Eva tried to find one that looked as reputable as possible.
"Hard Rock". "Crimson". "Eclipse". What even were some of these names? There was one bar that caught Eva's eye though. "La Morelle Noire". A Gallic themed bar? Here? While surprising, it would be criminal of her not to at least give it a go. She stood just outside, back against the wall, and got out her datapad. A quick message to Remy, location, and time. Now. Eva wasn't about to go in and sit by herself while she waited, that just invited unwanted attention.
"He better be quick." She simply muttered to herself.
By the time Eva arrived to the station, Remy was killing time aboard his freighter. He still hadn't gotten used to flying a Sirian ship. Besides the difference in the ship's layout, he simply missed being able to be on his L'ane or really have anything that would make him feel closer to home. However, he had no choice but to make due with the Kestrel he bought in second hand, after the Jaguar Eva had brought to Freeport 2 was destroyed.
He was sitting on the ship's cockpit, mindlessly humming one of his favourite songs as he wondered if Eva would actually show up. He was positively surprised when his datapad beeped to announce he had received a new message.
After going through it, he left his ship and went to search for the bar she mentioned in her message. He wasn't familiar enough with the station that he could recognise the name of any bars there, so he wandered around aimlessly for ten minutes before he mustered the courage to leave his pride aside and asked a few people for directions. When that happened, it wasn't long until he finally found it and spotted Eva just outside the bar.
"I thought you'd be inside by the time I got here." He said, greeting her in his own strange way, as he got close to her.
At first Eva didn't pay much attention back to this little man slowly approaching her. She was caught up in her own little world, enough not to notice. Her attention was quickly snapped back to reality however, as her eyes locked on this all too familiar face before her. In the tradition of their rocky and circumstantial relationship, Eva opened up with a friendly jab.
"How could I head inside without making sure you'd actually show with that slimy little hide of yours." If it wasn't for the welcoming smirk on her face, one might have assumed she was simple being hostile... again. "In all seriousness, I didn't want to head inside until you were here. For all I knew, you could have already had a place in mind, and going in would mean I'd have to buy something."
"Yes, I'm sure you wouldn't be able to afford to buy a drink while you waited. I forgot you lost all your money and business contacts when you were left afloat in a place you didn't know. Please accept my apologies." Remy replied in his usual sarcastic tone.
He glanced around curiously, as he had never been to that part of the Barrier Gate, before looking back to Eva.
"Shall we go inside now? No point staying here any longer now that we're both here".
"Right you are. I could do with drink." Eva idly commented.
The interior of this bar was rather reminiscent of the more cliché bars back home. 'I guess there's now a Gallic market to appeal to,' Eva thought while taking in her surroundings. While the interior was flashy and gave off an air of class, it had nothing on Montbard; the Brigands knew what they were doing on that station, that's for sure.
Returning her focus back to what was directly in front of her, she tried to navigate around the cluster of chairs and tables. She'd set her eyes on the far corner table. Eva liked sitting in the corner. Quiet, peaceful, more back support.
Remy followed the woman, albeit a bit distracted. He kept examining the bar with a slightly gleeful expression. Despite the differences between this place and the establishments he used to frequent, he felt flooded with a sense of nostalgia by being there.
When they arrived at the table, he sat down on one of the chairs and waited for Eva to do the same and start talking.
This entire situation was a bit unusual. Months prior this guy was Eva's prisoner, now they are sitting down for a quick dinner where they can catch up like old friends. This was likely nicer for Remy who must be feeling rather homesick by this point. Eva quickly flipped over the drinks menu that was resting against the table.
"Is there anything you fancy?" Unlike before, her tone was more welcoming and had removed the underlying sarcasm.
Remy didn't really take long to ponder what to drink. This was the closest he had been to Gallia in a while, so he thought he'd continue the experience. "Do they have any gallic wine? I can't remember when was the last time I touched a proper Orleans wine." He glanced over from the menu to Eva which made him wonder again what would she be expecting to get from all this. After everything she made him go through, he was still nowhere close to trusting her, but he also knew he didn't have anyone else to turn to.
Resuming with the satirical comments, Eva gave Remy a small jab. "Feeling the nostalgia? I'm rather sick of wine. It's the most common thing I raid up there you know? I've always been more of a Bretonian whisky gal myself." It was amusing. Remy's thoughts weren't exactly unexpected or unjustified. Eva, however, worked in mysterious ways. She always had ulterior motives when she did things, and Rousseau was a fool for never taking that into consideration.
"Have you tried Bretonian whisky? It sure beats that swill they have over in Liberty."
Remy shook his head in response. "No, I've never tried any Bretonian whisky. I think I'll stick to wine for today, anyway." After all the months he had been in Sirius, he was a bit anxious to get this started so he tried signaling one of the waiters to come over to the table. Shortly after, one of the waiters came and greeted the two of them.
"Hello. I'd like to have a glass of red wine and I think the lady would like some whisky, right?" Remy said, looking at Eva for confirmation.
'Lady?' Eva thought to herself. Given his tone of voice it could be either another satirical jab or just a just a genuine formality. It didn't matter, Eva just liked to overthink literally everything. She did give a confirming nod with a small comment. "Could you also get a small taster for him to try?" Eva then looked Remy straight in the eyes. "You're trying some." She had an almost signature smile on her face, Eva always got what she wanted.
Remy was really indifferent, as he didn't care much about trying whisky or anything else at the moment, but he went along with it to keep things easier.
"Sure, that's fine." The waiter nodded politely and asked if they wished for anything else. Remy shook his head in response, without really giving much time for Eva to say anything."No, I think that's all for now. If we need anything later, we'll ask."
The man left and came back a few minutes later and placed the woman's whisky, as well as Remy's taster and wine, on the table. After he left, Remy took a sip of his drink, waiting for Eva to say something. At first, however, Eva didn't say a word. She grabbed the glass of whisky and drank a good portion of it, before planting the half empty glass back on the table.
"Great stuff. You should actually make sure I pace myself with this stuff. I could drink it for days."Eva practically confessed her love the drink; nothing in Gallia could come close to matching it. Whiskey was made all over Sirius and beyond, but none could do it like those over in Bretonia. It didn't even matter what brand, just say Bretonian whiskey and Eva wouldn't be disappointed.
"Well. In any case, we should get down to business. Catch up like old friends, just like old times."Eva tipped her words with a bit of an amused undertone, keeping with her personality. "I already gave you the rundown on what's happening over with Boulogne, or at least what I know, but you know doubt have other questions. I'll be happy to answer anything you ask, within reason."
Eva had a pause, as if waiting for Remy to speak. However, the moment he went to speak Eva hastily cut him off. "I've come a long way for this, and don't you forget it. That being said it's nice to get out of Gallia every now and then." The latter part of the sentence was much quiet, and almost under her breath.
Remy was a slightly annoyed that she stopped him just as he was about to start talking. Not to mention that she did it just to make a strange and pointless remark like that. He already had a couple of questions in mind, but he paused a bit, while drinking some more of his wine, before deciding where to start.
"Did he let anyone there live?"In the end, he went with the question that had been by far troubling him the most since he was left at Freeport 2. Although he didn't mention him directly, Remy only really wanted to know if his brother had survived. At this point, the other people he knew in Boulogne didn't matter as he didn't care or expect to be seeing any old acquaintance from there any time soon.
Eva couldn't really say, and hesitated slightly in her response. Just enough to be noticeable.
"I don't really know. I only know what he proclaimed to the other Brigands as progress. I'd have known more had I accepted his job offer, but I mentioned prior, I was occupied with keeping you safe. You can take a little solace in that I suppose." Eva's answer was lacking any sort of emotion or even a hint as to how she felt about the situation. She did, however, answer honestly.
He wasn't exactly satisfied with her answer and it was easily understood by his expression, but it wasn't like her answer would change if he kept pushing the question. He didn't really see any reason for her to be lying at this point.
"Let's go another direction, then. Why did you spare me when you and Nathen's lackeys attacked me? After all this time, you still haven't made clear what you want from me." As he finished asking his question, he emptied his glass of wine and hoped this time Eva would have a more meaningful and useful response.
"That's a difficult thing to answer." Eva took a moment to ponder, thinking how best to answer the question. "There were a few reasons. If I were to give you a simple answer, I'd just go with I saw more of a chance for profit by keeping you around. Yet let's be honest here, neither of us would believe that for a second. That being said, there was a minor hint of that in the long run, as I know you're a resourceful individual."
The flattery was all well and good, but it didn't really answer Remy's question. It was rather evident, from her use of language, that was intentional decision.
"There was a little element of revenge in it as well. I wont forgive Rousseau for anything he did concerning Epernay. In case you weren't aware, he did something very similar to what he did to your little home."
Remy sighed as he was getting frustrated, seeing that they weren't really getting anywhere with this. His disenchantment with the situation as well as Eva's mention of Rousseau got him to start rambling. "I still can't believe that bastard sold me out to appease some Sirian mongrels. I hope when his time ends he won't die. I'd rather believe he'll see his power crumble just before someone sells him off to some slaver."
He grabbed the whisky taster she asked for him and took a sip to calm himself. He didn't like it as much as the wine, but he was still positively surprised. "This is better than I thought!" He muttered in a barely audible way.
"So, let me see if I get this. You won't be specific about what you want from me and you don't know anything about Boulogne, right? I'm starting to wonder why you even bothered to come talk to me. I doubt you came just because you missed. I know I'm very charming, but it seems like a stretch that you would come just because of that."
The young gallic woman was amused, if ever soo slightly, by the man's uneasiness and frustration about the whole ordeal.
"Very charming indeed. Well, there are a few reasons. I did want to make sure you hadn't died and shrivelled up in some hovel. That would be bad for any kind of business." Eva's tone was a bit hard to judge. Was there a genuine concern, or was she just saying things at random?
"I did want to hear what you plans were as well. As I mentioned in my message, I am unsure what I'd have done in your position at this point; and you know I am always full of ideas - but not this time. I said before I know you are skilled when it comes to making credits and getting away with whatever crimes you commit." She muttered something else under her breath, but just loud enough for Remy to hear. "Well... at least most of the time." She coupled the comment with a cheeky smile.
"In addition to that, you know I am good at what I do, whatever contact I take I make sure it's done right. Now, I get I am just stating random facts at this point, but surely you can pick up at what I might be hinting at. I want to hear your plans, and I want to know if I can involve myself with them." Concluding one of her ideas she sat awaiting Remy's comment, taking a another hefty sip of her whiskey, with just a small pause in between.
"Well..."Obviously, Remy had been thinking what to do as he didn't intend to spend the rest of his years like this. However, he still wasn't completely sure what he was going to do. "I've been making whatever money I can by selling what I can get my hands on. It's mostly been drugs and some weapons."
He paused to finish whatever whisky he had left before resuming.
"Recently, I've considered contacting the Unione Corse to see if I could buy nox from them and start distributing it here. Not many people seem to be selling nox around these parts, so it might be a decent way to get some of my money back. Eventually, I plan to return to Picardy and kick some people out on my way in."He knew he would probably need to first find some sirians dumb enough to help him do that, with little in return, which wouldn't be easy. There was simply no way he could go back alone.
"Become a petty drug dealer? It seems a bit low for you. I was always more of a combat person myself. Sunbeam is a beautiful ship, you know?" Eva spoke with her normal level of cheek.
"Combat people tend to die much younger than drug dealers, so it's fine by me." He replied with a smirk. "Not like I can fly a sunbeam anyway. It would bring too much attention around here."
"Did you even look inside the hangar when you got here? I think you might be exaggerating the amount of attention it draws. If I got caught out here, there is no ship I'd rather be caught with."
"The Barrier isn't exactly the same as flying in Texas or New York. No one will care what you fly here. It isn't as common to find Sunbeams in Liberty."
"Touché." Eva admitted, before downing the rest of her drink. "If you don't mind, I'll go grab myself another one of these from the bar. Would you like anything, or are you happy with your wine? Some food maybe?"
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