Re: (Before Ninja: The Cat)
Oh, Cat loved to dance. But there was hardly any real need to point out the differences between herself and the woman with the fiery hair, was there? As for security, Cat knew that there was none. Life wasn't secure, and any false sense of it? Was just dangerous, but Cat wasn't concerned about the danger most other people were in. She would say, loudly and brashly, that she didn't care about anyone. It would, of course, be the brashest of lies. But Cat believed it when she woke up in the morning, and she believed it throughout the day. Only at night did she slip sometimes, but she was very good at getting herself back in line.
Now, this woman? The one with the fiery hair and the familiar name? She was too coincidental, and Cat didn't believe in coincidence.
Did Svetlana look like that 11-year-old girl? Somewhat, and Cat's memory was rusty, remember? But coincidence, and Cat was fairly sure her past had just walked through the door and ordered a whiskey. Cat, she was no lover of the past. Memory could go and hang as far as she was concerned, and she could only be grateful that it was her, a child who had only arrived at the brothel when Cat finally found her suit and cowl. This woman? Had known a 16-year-old long since dead. She'd fallen off a building, and that was that.
"Not today, hmmm? Well, our whiskey's just as good." Cat's smile was all business. Casual, and her lips warm and inviting and tell me secrets. "We don't water down." She tapped the bar. "If you have any complaints-" She motioned to the pool table, where she'd been when the woman arrived, but she didn't move just yet.
As for what she was feeling? There wasn't a hint of it - not on her face, not in her posture, not in her demeanor. This woman? Was just another customer, and Cat was just buttering up the clientele.