Assassin's Creed: Phoenix

VI. conundrum

Natalie Ivanova-Parker didn't seem to be impressed to hear about William becoming a Master Assassin at all, the only reaction she had for the news was pulling a pack of clove flavored cigarettes and offering one to him. 

  "You huh."

  William took the offer and placed the cigarette between his lips while watching her, the woman whom he embraced as an older sister - whom he had always envied for being such a badass. There she was, again, watching his every move over her vintage sunglasses with the usual facetiousness in her brown eyes.

"So much for a welcome." There was a grin on his face as he bent his head to get himself closer to her. 

Natalie took her frog shaped lighter that she had for years and lighted William's cigarette. "Well."  She spoke with her deep, stiff voice just like her mother, only with slight sarcasm and less accent. "My mother is the one for that sort of grotesque ceremony, meanwhile..." She stoped for a second to light her own cigarette as William thought about her mother, Irina, with a bitter smile on his face. "Your girl here is the only person in the damn Brotherhood that gives less than a shit about the weird cult titles they love to throw around."

  William followed her as she took her keys and unlocked the door of her apartment where she had lived for a while, intentionally keeping her distance from the Brotherhood, and mostly, her mother Irina. William never judged her for it, not one bit. "That makes two of us." He replied and suddenly found himself coughing when the pungent taste of clove burned his throat. "I can't believe the type of shit you smoke."

  He could hear her chuckling as they both got inside her place. "Only the best for my brother from another mother. You're most welcome, Master Assassin."

  "Unpleasant." William walked in as he cleared his throat. "How do you even find this weird stuff?"

"Hey, what's an Assassin if not resourceful?" She took off her long jacket and glasses, then threw them away like they were a piece of trash, somehow they landed on one of the armchairs she seemed to use more like a wardrobe. William watched her every move, even after so many years, he couldn't tell why it blew his mind every single time to see how she was completely the opposite of him in every way. Messy, shameless, anti-authoritarian. The traits that most people in the Assassin Brotherhood despised were the very reasons he trusted her.

She stood up on a chair and climbed up on the table as William walked over the sofa and sat down, placing his walking stick right next to him. He felt the cold fresh air filling his lungs when Natalie opened the window. "You hungry?"

"Not at all, thanks." William replied. "Though an ashtray would be nice."

"You know what," She climbed down from the window to the chair, standing on top of it, and she jumped to the ground like a ballerina as the crashing sound of her high heel boots echoed. "Fuck it. We're drinking bourbon for your return."

William's eyebrows rose up. "Natalie, I'm supposed to be in a Brotherhood meeting in a couple of hours."

"Man, you're no fun for a circus magician." She whined with a cracking voice and took the ashtray over the kitchen counter, placing it in front of William after ashing her own cigarette on the ground. She grinned ironically when she saw the disgust gaze in William's eyes. "Coffee, then."

  "Sure." He sighed.

  "So," She quickly walked to the kitchen counter to take some coffee from the cupboard, filling the pot with it. "How go things in the hellhole?"

"Ah, the usual. Though, there's something different which I can't quite tell." He smoked again, hating the clove flavor each and every breath. "This is the first time I'm witnessing ambiguity, after what happened with the Templars. No one seems to be quite sure how to handle the sage situation. Besides, people can't tell if I'm guilty or not."