Re: (Before Ninja: The Cat)
What did Svetlana know of scientists? Hah, nothing. She knew a man that was bored could be inventive. Inventive was bad. Better men who saw in woman somebody who could be persuaded to think them big men. Big men, they did not bore. It was cruel men who were inventive. Scientists she knew nothing but she would suspect them of invention. But this was small town, eh? It was gossip that Svetlana knew would come for her. Gossip for woman with accent thick as stewed tea and impossible to hide. She cared nothing for gossip. Gossip could be controlled, it was dangerous if you did not let it in. If you did not bring it home, give it somewhere to live.
She had not lived life until squeezed dry either. But she lived, eh? She lived cut-throat because there was nothing else. Was adrenaline, in veins. Adrenaline kept you alive. It kept you sharp. It was whetstone and it felt good, to be sharp. But Svetlana, she kept this to herself. Katya lived in place that did not require honed blade. She was not thin. She looked as if no man thought he could beat her. So? Svetlana emptied second glass and left it empty for bartender to collect, to refill. She was not done drinking.
It was hard, eh? She did not find comfort in dead girl from past. She did not think it happy accident. It was accident but it was thread, tied red around bones that were just buried, earth still fresh. It was tie to woman with different last name that went back and back until she was girl who did not know how to hide or that she should. They were two dead women who did not wish for mourner to mark their graves. She had no comfort for Cat who was serene, she had links to mull over, the past run through her head like chainlink, thick necklace over palm of her hand.
"Is small town," Svetlana watched the glass's contents disappear. Was Russian constitution, she suspected. Russian, in small American town in small American bar with plaid. Fucking America. "Is place full of surprises?" She turned her chin in her palm and looked at Cat, soot-ringed eyes laughing. Was question. She knew nothing of small towns. It would be surprise. But was surprise without gun to head.