Re: (Before Ninja: The Cat)
Cat's response was in English, deliberate. "I haven't had any complaints yet, but there's a first time for everything." She said it easily, unconcerned, as if the past this woman thought she knew? Had nothing to do with her. It was all a facade, of course, but Cat was built on facades. After all, she'd gone from heiress, to threat, to military pawn, to heiress once more. What she created for herself, that was the only real thing, and the world around her changed too often to be counted on.
But she had to respect Svetlana's blunt question about pretending. And, after a moment of consideration, she gave the woman a very direct look. "That girl died over twenty years ago." And, hopefully, that was clear enough.
And Cat wondered, briefly, about this woman's math skills. After all, Cat should be well into her 40s, but she barely looked 30.
As if the question had never been asked, Cat looked around the bar. She chuckled at Svetlana's compliment, and she made a small effort to soothe her refusal to talk. "It looked like this when I bought it. I was looking at the roadhouse originally, but the name of this place? Well, it was impossible to resist." She'd made her choice based on nothing but that. No look into the bar's financials, no cost-profit analysis. It had been an impulse buy, and most of Cat's acquisitions were precisely that. "Tea isn't going to make you any money here," she said plainly. This woman, she wasn't raised to care about politeness, so Cat gave her directness. "This is a small town, and not a big city. You better add something stronger to the menu, or get someone local to sell their homemade tea cozies out of your window, or find a way to get the teenagers in after school. Something. Just a tip, one business owner to another."