Nine Swords

Shoulders hunched, her Stetson firmly pushed down on her head, hands hidden in her coat's pockets, Anta plodded along the cold and rain drenched streets of London, cursing the miserable weather under her breath.

Blasted rain ! Doesn't it ever stop ? My eye-patch is frozen to my skin... Why in Gaia's Name did they build HQ here, when they could have chosen Fiji or Hawaii...

While muttering, she saw the sign of a coffeeshop ahead and hastened her pace, desperately wanting to get warm again before the meeting regarding whatever it was HQ wanted to see her about. She opened the door and heard soft chimes announcing the presence. She took two steps in and froze. The place was crowded. The right side of her lip curled in distate. She hated crowded places. In her line of business, it meant extra bodies to protect and in the worst case scenarios, extra casualties. Plus, it made it harder to spot incoming trouble. The Illuminati, the Phoenicians, the Dragon, they all had agents in London and with tension running high in the Council of Venice, it only took a little spark to manifest trouble. With a mild curse, Anta turned around to leave the bar when suddenly a shiver ran down her back and deep into her soul. Shocked, she stopped. Closing her remaining eye, she breathed deeply and attuned her senses to all around her and to the otherworld. The information she got back made her breath wheeze out of her lungs.

Bees ! Sweet Gaia ! This is a Bee's nest there are so many of them !

Against her better sense, Anta turned around once more and took a longer look at the crowd inside. This time she noted how the color red was dominant in the room without being oppresive, and how the Templar's Cross had been discreetly worked into certain tiles.

Definitely a Templar hangout then... So those Bees are... Templars. Like me... Imagine that. I wonder if they too have been recalled from whatever mission they were on. If so, then something BIG is brewing...

Curious, now she knew what this place was about and who crowded it, she took the final steps to enter the coffeebar and closed the door behind her. She approached the bar and studied the menu on the wall behind the waitress.

Tea, please. Mint. Fresh if you have it... Oh great, make it a pot then.

She noted how the woman's eye widened in fear when she saw Anta's hook on her left hand and her eye-patch. Her eyes darted to the inside of the dark red coat and the mouth fell open when she spotted the weapons hidden there. Anta opened her right hand to calm the woman and slightly turned her left wrist until a small dark tatoo became visible from under her sleeve: a Templar's Cross. She murmured:

We all do what we must, at whatever the cost...

The woman's eyes darted to the tatoo and she relaxed immediately before nodding. After a few minutes she brought the tea pot to the front of the bar and Anta settled her bill. Taking the tray she observed the room but didn't spot a free table anywhere. She finally spotted a man seated alone in a sofa, a second mug however indicating his companion had left either definitevely or momentarily. There was however another sofa, empty, on the other side of his table. She slowly made her made towards him, her senses confirming that he was indeed a Bee. Balancing her tray in one hand, she cleared her throat to get his attention, and carefully showing him the tatoo wrist she asked him:

Do you mind if I share your table, Sir ? The bar seems to be crowded and I can't find a free spot where to enjoy my tea and get warm again.

I nudge my husband with the slightest movement and then nod in the direction of the woman who sat down on the sofa across the room. He scowls for a brief moment, though not in annoyance.. I know that look, it was the "oh, more work" scowl. Uragon returned his attention to his notepad. I crossed one leg over the other, and continued to observe. I like people watching.

The man looked up, scowling at having been disturbed in his work. His eyes did however widen slightly in fear when he caught sight of the hook. His glance then travelled upwards and downwards, taking all of Anta in, his eyes lingering again on the eyepatch. Suddenly realizing that he was looking longer than was polite, and looking at someone who has obviously seen some rough combat, he gulped and quickly averted his gaze.

Heart rythm up. Tightening of the skin around the eye and the mouth. Hmm, angry at himself for being afraid ? Ah no, furious at ME for putting HIM in a position where he is afraid.

Anta took the opportunity of quicly examining him too. Soft hands, soft skin. Not a single little scar, not a single little blemish indicating this man had ever seen combat, or even that he had ever held anything heavier than a pen.

A paperpusher ? Or a beancounter maybe. It's true I guess that we can't rely on civilians to work for us and keep quiet about it. But still, what a strange reaction.

The man suddenly mumbled something about having finished anyway, hurridly picked up his coat and a briefcase, and dashed out of the bar before Anta even had the chance of replying anything.

Huh. Right. Nice meeting you too...

“Whoa! Easy there. No need to rush.”

The man dashing out of the coffeeshop almost knocked Floryn over. Oswald, who had had a lazy day so far, was suddenly alert and started growling.

“Easy Oswald. It’s okay.”

Floryn once again opened the door and entered the busy coffeeshop. A quick look around the place revealed one empty spot. But he would have to share the table. With a woman. Oswald noticed Floryn’s predicament and snorted. It almost sounded like a chuckle.

Straightening his cap, Floryn walked up to the table and looked nervously at the woman.

“Ehm, could I, ehm, possibly, you know, ehm.” Floryn cleared his throat.

Anta had only just settled herself comfortably in the sofa and was about to serve herself some warm tea she desperatly needed, when she heard someone mutter something nervously at her shoulder. She looked up and saw a man standing behind her, fumbling with a cap, a dog at his feet. She immediately identified the man as a Bee and the dog as a Familiar. Her sense also told her that the dog was laughing his head off at the nervous bumbling of his companion. She quickly appraised the situation.

Battle scars. Check. Hands. Rough. Used to hard work. Good physical condition. Well, at least he's not another paperpusher.

No, I don't "know", but I'll keep the open spot for you while you get something to drink, if that is what you are asking.

Anta then looked at the dog.

If you want the spot next to the radiator and out of the way of feet, I'll move the sofa a bit ?

She swore under her breath as the loose paving tile tilted and caused a geyser of rain-water to shoot up her left leg - all the way into the top of her boots. This was all she needed - her day had NOT been going well. As she steadied herself on a slimy wall and tried to get her boot off one-handed to empty it, her standing leg was bashed into by a briefcase - the owner of which just hurried past without an apology or a glance. She shouted “Well, excuse ME” at the back of his expensive raincoat and considered giving chase and teaching him some manners. She realised she would have to hop after him and with a self-deprecating grin gave up on that idea.

With a squelchy foot and a bad temper she approached the coffee shop she’d had the message about - ‘Hazbeans’. She pushed open the door into a fug of damp clothes and something else - ah yes - there - by the radiator - wet dog. He perked up when he saw her and excitedly shook his damp coat all over a man with a cap, who was sitting next to a woman with a hook and an eye-patch.

A hook and an eye-patch - I wonder what her story is.

She noticed a couple on another sofa share a grin as the cap man tried to dry himself with paper napkins. The dog seemed to be chuckling.

She gradually got an uncomfortable feeling of being naked under a spotlight - she was attracting some high level scrutiny. She was used to getting attention from both men and women (and animals for some reason) - but this felt different. Many of the clientele exuded a watchfulness and a readiness that reminded her of herself.

Stay calm and order a coffee - it’s public place - what could possibly happen?

Floryn opened his can of Bingo! vanilla and took a sip. He watched the woman sharing the table with him. First he looked at the black cowboy hat but then focused on the black eye patch. He wondered what the story behind it was. How awful would that eye look now? Or was it just a fashion accessory?

Floryn suddenly noticed the woman staring back at him with a grim look. Clearing his throat he tried to not look at the eye patch. He first looked back at the black cowboy hat, then at her red coat (don’t look there!), then at her hook and finally Floryn looked at the woman entering the bar. He sighed.

From the corner of his eye he noticed Oswald perking up and before he could say anything the dog was shaking himself dry.

“Bad dog, Oswald. Bad dog.”

In a hopeless attempt Floryn tried to dry himself a bit with a few available napkins. He noticed the couple on the other sofa grinning at him. Clearly agitated, he looked at the woman who had just come in.

“Well thanks for that!”

Anta was sipping her tea, enjoying how the warmth of the beverage was slowly sipping from her gut to her frozen extremities and slowly reviving them. The only thing disturbing her moment of peace was the gaze of the stranger sitting in front her, who had obviously forgotten it was impolite to stare.

Yes, I have a cowboy hat. Yes, I have an eye-patch. Yes, I have a hook. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

She sighted and remembered why she had avoided meeting new people all her life, and why she had so enjoyed her outpost in the middle of the Saharah desert. The few Bedu that supplied her on a semi-regular basis were used to accidents that maimed or left scars (no hospital when you're in the middle of the desert), and had never commented on her appearance. Not that they said much anyway, or stayed long for that matter. Being back in civilisation made her really uncomfortable...

She suddenly felt the interest of the dog peak and heard him scramble up, at the same time that the chime above the door announced a new arrival in the bar. Looking up from her cup she caught the stranger quickly looking away, while the dog turned a playful gaze and grin towards her. Sensing what he was about to do, Anta quickly covered her cup with her hand and looked away. Peeking over her shoulder she saw that the newcomer was a women, as soaked and drenched as she had been before coming in, and also a Bee. Curses from the stranger followed the damp the dog had shaken out of his coat, and for one or another reason the stranger turned and ranted at the newcome woman. Oh, for... !

Now that is rude, sir ! That woman is not responsible for the actions of your familiar ! If you had taken the time to check him out and see to his confort as well as your own, he would not have felt the need to shake himself ! And considering how rude you also were to me by staring at me constantly, I can only applaud his, Oswald's ?, intervention. I know I have an eye-patch, I know I have a hook. So yeah, I'm Captain Hook incarnated and a crocodile ate my hand ! But that is no reason to... ! To... and I should leave. Now. Ah sweet Gaia, why did I ever leave my desert !?

Scanning the artfully weathered chalk board and trying to choose which one of the myriad coffees to order, she realised a couple of things:

When had ‘Going for a coffee’ turned into ‘Going for a skinny-latte-macchiato with extra-sprinkles and a picture of the Mona Lisa in the milk foam with a designer-hand-turned-mug but hold the-mayo-on-rye’?

‘Artisan’ and ‘committed’ and ‘passionate’ had no meaning anymore as every aspect of modern life now needed a mission statement and a corporate vision of values containing those three words, from coffee shops to public toilets. She despised them as much as she despised ‘mass-produced’, ‘moving production overseas’ and ‘maximising shareholder value’

She now realised a third thing:

She was in a really, really foul mood.

She was considering just asking for ‘A coffee’ and seeing how the Barista would react, when she heard a much too loud “Well, thanks for that” in Dutch-accented English. The coffee shop fell silent and she slowly turned around, away from the counter.

Half the customers were looking at wet cap man and half of them were staring at her. Eye patch woman was looking at cap man with ill concealed disapproval, and the sofa-couple were tensed like a pair of coiled springs. Dutch cap was making it clear that he had directed his outburst at her.

It was your dog that shook himself all over you and you’re trying to blame me for that?

She noticed Captain Hook had her good hand over her cup.

Wow - had she known the dog-shake was coming somehow?

This isn’t the place for a fight (even though I’m in the mood for one) so how about I try this strategy and see what happens.

She widened her eyes into a comedy manic stare, pointed at Mr Cap and said in her best Travis Bickle impersonation “You talkin’ to me?”

Again, Oswald could be heard snorting.

Floryn put down the wet napkins and massaged his temples for a moment. “Channel your energy, Floryn. Be one with your chi,” he thought to himself. Standing up, he politely nodded to the woman sharing the table with him. He then approached the woman who was clearly putting up some kind of act.

“Look, I’m sorry, okay? I have had a rough day, things didn’t go well for me, I almost got knocked over coming in here and on top of that I got a disobedient dog. Here, let me buy you that coffee.”

Floryn put down a 1 PAX note on the counter and told the barista this was for the woman’s coffee. The barista gave a slight chuckle and told Floryn that would pay for the cup and that she would like 7.5 PAX more for the coffee.

Floryn gave the poor Travis Bickle impersonator an incredulous look. “8.5 PAX for a cup of coffee?” he thought to himself. “Channel your energy, Floryn. Be one with your chi.” Floryn replaced the 1 PAX note with a 10 PAX note and told the barista that she could keep the rest.

Floryn extended his hand to the 8.5 PAX coffee-woman. “Perhaps we should redo our introductions. Hi, I’m Dutch but everybody calls me Floryn.”