Board Thread:Role Plays/@comment-26130256-20150408000748/@comment-26130256-20150411061033

''Of course he knew, Azzie. You've seen the man work. Why are you still doubting?''

Azzie drained about half his glass, steeling himself to tell the story.

"Well, you shared your story, so I may as well share mine.  I don't know how much of this is common knowledge, so I'll start at the beginning of my story, and hopefully get all the big stuff at once.  Also, I'm certain you understand that I'd prefer a little discretion with the juicy details here." Having framed his tale, he began.

"My name -- my real name, not what I tell everyone to call me -- is Azulius Mignoli Cardamom.  Not just a member of the family, the heir to the empire, if we follow the standard inheritance rules.  Right now, the Don of the family is Ochre Cardamom, my grandfather."

Azzie paused, gathering his thoughts. Thinking of the past like this was never this hard; he blamed the alcohol, personally.

"Way back, back enough that I don't have too many memories of her, my Grandma Rosa was killed in a hit by the Glass Heart Gang.  They were aiming for Ochre,  but she was the one hit in the crossfire.  We got revenge, of course -- Grandpa killed the man who did it himself -- but the whole thing shook him up good.  Broke him, in a way.  Within the year, he announced to the family that we were now moving our assets into more legitimate operations.  Not legal, exactly, just borderline.  Now the family's image back in Vacuo is more 'shady benefactor' than 'kingpin'."

Azulius smirked, thinking of an example and gesturing at the recently un-doored doorway. "A Cardamom team offers your place protection?  Money-back guarantee that no one will come messing with it.  And if you can't pay one month, they'll let it slide in exchange for some good booze.  My gun here, Roaring Moxie?  One of the better weaponsmiths in the kingdom was falling behind on payments, and they let me use their shop to make her in exchange for a month or two.  Any questions yet?" he paused, letting his facial features re-settle into somberness.