The nice thing about having been in Preya as long as she had was that Natasha had been given more than enough time to work up various networks of contacts across all four regions. One of her favorite contacts just happened to be the manager of Brewed, and was kind enough to put in regular orders for her favorite type of coffee from outside of the island, which meant that he had earned not only her goodwill and protection, but some small semblance of friendship as well. As a result, she had a key to the coffee shop itself, and occasionally came in through the back – which was handy when she didn’t want to be seen making her arrival.
She’d been in the back of the coffee shop for roughly twenty minutes, having arrived only a few minutes before the man she pegged as Vanguard, and had been watching him on one of the security cameras. When the time she’d given him finally arrived, Natasha slipped back out, looped the block, and returned through the front door. One of the baristas was preparing her usual order, and she stopped at the counter to pick it up, then continued to the table where the man sat and slid into the chair across from him.
As far as spies went, Natasha didn’t look like one. She wore black slacks and a just-this-side-of-professional dark green v-neck shirt, which was revealed when she unbuttoned her dark gray trench but didn’t remove it. The redhead was armed, but not obviously so; after all, after this meeting of theirs she’d be going on to the academy to get things ready for the first day of classes. Her long red hair held some curls, and fell naturally down her back with the sides pinned in the middle. On anyone else it probably would have gotten in the way, but on Natasha it only accented her looks and added to the deadly innocent façade of her expression – polite and interested.
When the hand was offered, she met it with her own and shook, then withdrew to cup both of her hands around her coffee cup. “Good Morning,” she replied to the greeting, before giving him a smile. “Did you have any trouble finding this place?” It was just early enough that the morning commuters hadn’t yet arrived, and the employees were mostly busy preparing for the day, which gave them a sort of bubble that allowed them to speak freely – to an extent.