Red Snow (Merfonde)

[cadillac]

Ah, Mother Russia, a majestic empire to say the least. Untouched by anyone since it was formed as a country. Napolean failed, the Nazi's failed, the country was a fortress unto itself. That was something to be admired, and was admired by John, especially considering he remembered when the Nazi's attacked Russia... And when Napolean's troops were nearly obliterated. Hell, he had been fighting with the French when it happened. No one knew though, obviously. It was shortly after that, that he headed west into the great United States... But that was ancient history, almost literally.

It was snowing on the capital city, Moscow. It was actually a beautiful site to see the streets and ancient buildings lined with snow, and glistening in the fading sun, small sheets of snow still drifting downward from the sky. The street lights were already coming on, though there was still a little light left from the sun. The capital building, with it's gold pointy roof, was covered in snow and absolutely majestic in appearance. Couples walked by, holding hands and kissing in the fading light and cold weather. It was funny, freezing temperatures had a strange way of bringing people together.

A lone figure stood in front of the building, staring up at it in what appeared to be awe. Dressed in a grey, pin-striped black, suit and covered with a heavy coat, he actually blended into the snow quite well, yet also stood out in his elegant suit. Though, no one would have questioned him about his suit, as the Russian mafia was prevalent here and it wasn't too uncommon to see someone wearing such an outfit.

Slowly the figure turned and headed toward a small coffee shop across from the old Russian building. Stepping inside he pulled the hood off of his coat, revealing him to be the one and only Johnny Cadillac. Though most didn't recognize him inside, only a few girls glanced at him once or twice, he had on thin dark sunglasses despite the sun almost being gone, and a grey fedora pulled low over his face hiding it, yet he still nodded at the girls who glanced at him. Sliding off his coat he made his way to the back of the coffee shop, ordered his drink, and opened up a Russian newspaper that was hiding his face.

In all appearances he looked like a elegantly dressed businessman who was here to read the paper before heading home for the night. His true purpose for visiting this place was much more sinister though, a hit... Someone had hired Johnny to kill a person, a woman to be precise. John didn't care why, only that there was almost a million dollar bounty on her head if he brought her back dead, and she was only human. Face hidden, he would glance at the door every now and then, he was told that she frequented this place, so he figured it was the best place to start.

[mero]

Merfonde liked Russia. Sure, she wasn’t fond of the Government, or other then that it was one of her favorite countries to visit. Especially at this time of year, with a light snow. It really was beautiful, even to someone like her. If she’d known she’d have someone waiting to jump her at her favorite coffee shop…. Well she might not have come. Or it would have persuaded her to come even more! Okay, that was a little messed up. Who in their right mind went looking for people after their head?

She was dressed casually and warmly, with a warm coat over her black long sleeve shirt and plain jeans, but hadn’t bothered to put something over her facial tattoo. In many ways she just looked like a regular tourist visiting the Winter wonderland city. It’d been a few months since she’d been here and the only thing on her mind was getting something hot to drink, and there was only one Coffee Shop she really trusted in the area. Approaching the shop, she smiled a little, realizing just how much she’d missed the place.

She shrugged out of her coat as she entered the shop, finding it warmer then necessary. Before doing anything else though…. Her gaze wandered, locating every person in the room so she knew exactly where they were. She stopped when she spotted a face she’d never seen before. A man, sitting in the corner with a pair of dark sunglasses on and dressed more like he was there on business then anything else. Well, it wasn’t like she knew all the regulars, still… He was different then the other people here.

Merfonde watched him for only half a second, before rolling her eyes and turning away. Why should she care of someone she didn’t know was there?

[cadillac]

Though it may have surprised some, Johny was actually reading the newspaper he had open, despite the fact that it was in Russian. As it turns out, being several hundred years old and having traveled around the world several times, gives you a few perks. Learning languages was one, and definitely helped him blend in when needed to and help blending in was always accepted when you were a suit a dark glasses everywhere.

Many people came and went out of the coffee shop for quite a while, Johny would barely fold the edge of the paper down to glance at the door when they came in. Person after person left and arrived, but none of them fit the description of who he was supposed to be looking for. So John continued sitting there, actually becoming engulfed in one of the stories on the newspapers. It was about a recent attack in America, apparently an army of some sort had attacked a major fort. No one knew who it was but they had killed everyone, there was a picture in the article, taken by a cellphone. John leaned in closer to the picture to try and make out what it was.

In the picture, it looked as though something had just exploded in the background, and it was very blurry but you could just make a man wearing a black.... John immediately sat back in his chair and a chill ran down his spine. No, that was impossible, they only did hit and run missions... They weren't planning on a full scale war for at least another twenty years. This news actually disturbed him.

Suddenly, the sound of the door opening snapped him back to reality. A girl walked in with the entire left side of her face covered in an elegant tattoo. She paused for a moment, scanning the room, but Johnny's face was already hidden behind the newspaper again. This was the girl, it had to be, how many people had a tattoo like that on their face?

Waiting until she ordered her coffee, he slowly folded up his newspaper and took a sip from his. The entire coffee shop was full, except for John's table. He glance at the chair, then at the girl, then called out loudly, "Здравствуйте, моя госпожа. Существует сиденья открыть здесь, если вы хотите." He paused for a moment, "No? Parlez-vous français?...Hmm, American perhaps? There is seat here if you'd like, I don't bite." John asked her, motionin toward the chair.

[mero]

Merfonde actually didn't need to 'order' her coffee. When the shop keeper saw her he knew exactly what she wanted, if that said how many times she'd come here in the past few years. As she waited, her gaze wandered once more. She'd notice that the only 'somewhat' empty table was the one in the corner, where that business dressed man was reading the newspaper. Leaning against the corner she looked for any other free chairs. Great, none. Why did she have to come at the busiest time of day? Looked like she just might have to sit by the guy, or take her coffee to go.

The decision was taken from her though, as she heard, and saw the man speak up. First it was in Russian. She just raised her eyebrows. She'd really have to learn Russian one of these days... Next, he'd tried French, and finally come to 'American' as he called it. Merfonde actually scowled, not at all trying to hide it, before looking back at the counter just in time to grab her barely finished coffee. With only a small hesitation she crossed the shop to where the man was. "I think you mean 'English'. Not American." Merfonde smirked a little, pulling the chair out he'd motioned to and sitting. All the while though she had him fixed with a somewhat wary gaze, as if trying to figure out just what this man was up to.

After a few moments though, her look softened, but that didn't mean she still wasn't making sure she knew exactly what he was up to at all times. "And you are? Isn't it polite to at least introduce yourself?" She paused for only a moment. Should she bother introducing herself? There was no harm in using her usual alias, that was the name the people here knew her by anyways. Eh, she'd wait and see if he introduced himself first.

[cadillac]

"English, yes, well you may not beleive it, but 'english' is not my first language. So forgive me for any mistakes." John said with an absolutely charming smile. It was really hard to not like Johnny in some way, he was charming, attractive, and incredibly personable. What few realized though was that he was simply a snake dressed in the trappings of a peacock. He seemed nice and looked nice, but getting close almost certainly meant death.

None of that was possible to tell though as he sat at the table, eyes hidden behind his dark glasses. It probably seemed a little odd to wear such dark shades when the sun was setting, however it wasn't totally uncommon that it seemed suspicious, just strange.

As she sat his eyes followed her closely, examing everything about her. In all appearances, she was just a human, with a very strange tattoo. There was no doubt that she was his target, but to simply kill her here would be reckless. Johnny operated smoothly and efficiently, like a surgeon, and to kill her here would be like trying to dissect with a meat cleaver. Effective, maybe, but a bit to conspicious. No, for now he would find out everything he needed to know about her, then take her when the opportunity presented itself. Unfortunately for her, she was worth more dead than alive.

"Ah yes, how rude of me. My name is Julius, and you are? Or do angels not have names?" He asked politely, obviously flirting but not so blatant that it was obnoxious, folding the newspaper and tossing it onto the table. Waiting a moment for her to answer before continuing, "If I may be so bold; you don't speak Russian, yet you are in Russia, it doesn't take a fool to see you aren't from here. So are you just visiting?"

It was obvious that she wasn't simply from how the waiter seemed to recognize her, however, John wasn't going to say that; it seemed to stalkerish to be able to tell so much about people from tiny details. He lightly sipped from his coffee, keeping his hidden pale eyes locked on hers from behind his glasses.

[mero]

He said he didn’t speak English as his first language… But wasn’t that a British accent she heard? She tossed the thoughts to the side, simply assuming that he’d studied English in England. Sure, there was still the wary part of her, that was convinced otherwise, but until he gave her real reason to doubt his intentions, she’d ignore the feelings.

Taking a short sip of her still steaming coffee, she watched him near the same way he seemed to be watching her. Why? Well he’d started it first! It was a little immature, but she wasn’t about to let him start eyeing her up and down without knowing a thing or two about him!

Finally though she sighed, he’d actually given his name. Or, a name. Whether it was real or not didn’t exactly matter. The sigh though, that wasn’t from his introduction. It was from the flirting. She had issues when it came to men flirting with her. But she wouldn’t hit him for it. Not here at least… “I’m no angel. Just Mary.” Her annoyance was obvious, she didn’t even bother trying to hide it. Why should she? She didn’t put up stupid little acts if she didn’t have to. And right now? She didn’t have to.

His question though was only responded with a shrug. She’d heard it all before. The shop owner had asked her on a few occasions even. “I’m hopeless when it comes to learning languages.” She really was. Learning another language had never come easy to her, and after a while she’d just given up trying. “I’m… sort of visiting.” She paused for a moment, raising her coffee to her lips once more to take a sip. She didn’t bother explain what ‘sort of’ was supposed to mean, even if he did ask, she’d probably just shrug and completely ignore the question.