The Scout's Guide: A Team Fortress 2 Story

01

It is said that fate grants every living being a single event that defines the course of their entire life. Sometimes, these events are suffocatingly obvious and grand, and other times they quietly slip by unnoticed and forgotten until later in life. More often than not, however, these defining moments are somewhere in between -- and that was certainly the case for Kaethe Daube.

The trickle-down that led to this moment began on a quiet Monday morning in the downtown district of Boston, just like most other Mondays. That particular early morning it happened to be raining, and as such there was little traffic on the narrow street, and no one on the sidewalk to speak of.

No one except for Kaethe, that is. That morning, she was walking to work as she always did, her well-worn but clean gray wool coat wrapped around her petite figure, purse over her shoulder, and a black umbrella in hand. Her gait was brisk as she went along, being careful to step around puddles in order to avoid splashing dirty water onto her clean shoes. She stopped only briefly at the crosswalk to wait for a taxi to make its turn before she proceeded to cross the street, and walked into the laundromat where she worked.

The entry bell rang as she walked in, and no sooner than it had, a woman's voice called in a cheerful Italian accent from the back of the store: "Good morning, Kaethe! Early as always, I see -- or hear, rather."

Kaethe smiled a little as she collapsed her umbrella, and replied in her soft, German-accented voice, "Guten morgen, Mrs. Armani."

Mrs. Armani chuckled, and stepped out of the back. She was a well-built, middle-aged woman of about five and a half feet (average height, but she was much taller than Kaethe's five three and a quarter), with dark hair streaked with gray that was pulled into a no-nonsense bun. Her eyes sparkled jovially, the smile lines around her eyes and mouth visible. "Beautiful morning out, sì?" she asked with another chuckle.

Kaethe glanced only briefly out of the wide laundromat window, and her smile widened a small amount. "Oh, ja, ja," she agreed with a laugh as she walked to the back of the laundromat with Mrs. Armani. "Lovely morning. Lots of cold and wet. No springtime, so no flowers, but still very nice, yes."

Mrs. Armani laughed. "Ah, what would I do without your wit?" She shook her head a bit, still chuckling. "Anyway, Anise and Stella ought to be here soon, and Lisa is supposed to be on dry clean pick-up duty today. Regular Monday, as always -- except..." She knit her brow. "... hm, I'm forgetting something... oh!" She glanced over at Kaethe. "Maria is out for today, since her little boy is sick, so can you fill in counter duty for her?"

Kaethe nodded as she put her purse into one of the small lockers, and began unbuttoning her coat. "Yes, of course!"

"Thank you." Mrs. Armani looked immensely relieved. "You won't be doing it by yourself, of course -- I'll ask one of the other girls to take charge at around eleven or so."

Kaethe nodded again as she finished unbuttoning her coat and removed it, hanging it up on the hooks in the back room. "All right, I'll remember that, thank you." She smoothed out her white blouse, re-tucking it into her crisp black skirt before pushing a few flyaway strands of her blond hair behind her ear. "Poor Maria, I hope she doesn't get sick too."

Mrs. Armani tsked agreeably. "Oh, yes. Poor thing was very upset when she called in this morning, but I told her not to worry about it -- from one mother to another."

That statement struck Kaethe a tad strangely, but she didn't let it visibly show -- she only showed her understanding by way of nodding and saying, "That was very kind of you, ma'am."

"Ah, perhaps. It was just the thing to do -- Maria is a very hard worker, and heaven knows she hardly takes a day off for herself. She deserved to be able to care for her son."