(no subject)

[sunbaked_baker]

(oom: No one liked seditionists. )

Rae's first stop upon entering Milliways is to drop off a parcel at the bar - a small, rectangular box decorated with sunflowers, containing a row of delicately fragile lace cookies, most are tangy-sweet pomegranate, but a few are golden-sun orange or summery peach, nestled in blue tissue paper - for Dr. Lecter.


While at the bar, Sunshine orders a pot of strong tea, and then retreats with what looks like a laptop computer to the darkest corner of the bar room. One would think that being able to see in the dark would mean not stubbing your toe on anything when trying to find the bathroom in the middle of the night, but it also means that your sight in regular light gets messed up in interesting ways. Looking at computer screens just happens to be what messes it up the worst.

So Rae sits with her back to the rest of the bar, the laptop shadowed by her body so the screen doesn't mess with her sight too badly, and sips her tea while looking through the information Aimil had gotten for her. The tea is mostly to help settle her stomach - the information is not good.

Comments

[cook_the_rude]

Hannibal Lecter turns up close to where she is sitting after a bit, saying, "Hello, Rae" when he is still several feet away.

When she turns, she will see that he has the opened box in one hand, and half a peach lace cookie in the other.

[sunbaked_baker]

The scene photographs on her computer are pretty horrific. Vampires... well, what happens when they're staked is why all SOF vehicles are stocked with towels. Lots and lots of towels. A splattered over-ripe melon might be an apt analogy, if the melon in question were human-sized and made of blood and viscera and had been dead a long time. The baker scrolls past them into the text of the document as, upon being greeted, she turns to look over her shoulder.

"Oh, Dr. Lecter, hello," she greet, offering a wan smile, though it gains strength when she sees what he's holding. "You found your gift, I see."

Well, semi-gift. He had provided the pomegranates, after all.

[cook_the_rude]

"One of the most pleasant gifts I had lately," Dr. Lecter says, waving at her playfully with the half-eaten cookie. "These are an unmitigated delight."

[sunbaked_baker]

"I'm glad you like them," Rae replies, pleased. "I enjoyed making them. And occasionally sneaking one or two of the imperfect ones."

>_> Baker's prerogative!

[cook_the_rude]

"I am glad my pomegranates were of use," Dr. Lecter says. "But I'd like to offer you something else for this gift. I could make you dessert when you're done with your work?"

He does not look at the screen, casually, like somebody completely used to visuals of that kind. As if it really was just work.

[sunbaked_baker]

"That sounds nice," she smiles. "I'd like that."

Something pleasant to look forward to, after all the blood and gore. Her smile flickers somewhat.

"Though, I'm not sure just how long I'll be working on... this."

What Aimil has given her are mostly reports of attacks. More than have been on the news, and there is supposition of them being tenuously linked. Not the sort of thing civilians hear about, to keep from stirring up fears. There's been a lot that SOF hasn't been telling the public.

[cook_the_rude]

"I'll take myself to the kitchen and get something ready, then come back to see how far you've got?" Hannibal suggests.

[sunbaked_baker]

There's so much to go through, and none of it is good. It's horrific, and not a part of her life she'd want anywhere near her life as a baker, the side of her life she uses to balance the other.

Dessert would be a good idea.

Rae nods, with a slight smile. "Thank you," she says, heartfelt.

[cook_the_rude]

Hannibal nods, and retreats to the kitchen, leaving her to her work.

About half an hour later, he reappears. "Hello again, Rae," he says. He's in shirtsleeves now, and still wearing an apron. "We just need to wait a little longer now, and then you can excuse yourself from all that gore."

[sunbaked_baker]

Sunshine is much further in the reports, into the similar attacks that had happened in nearby towns and cities. She is paler than she had been. Her eyes look like they're hurting her, the dim light of the corner booth not dark enough to keep her Dark Sight from luridly messing with the images and text on the screen, and most of her tea is gone. There's a bud vase of flowers on the table where there weren't any, before.

"Gladly," she says, taking a deep breath and letting it out as she turns from the upsetting visuals, as though getting a bad smell out of her lungs. "I can see why all this isn't released to the public."

[cook_the_rude]

"From what little I can see," Hannibal says, "I can understand that, too. But whoever works with confronting that kind of butchery can't help but know first what exactly it looks like."

He looks at the screen, and slowly shakes his head.

[sunbaked_baker]

"Well," she says, and the word is uncomfortable. "Most of the mess was from after SOF got to them. This was... three vampires. Young ones. They had fed upon a deer - it was found nearby - and they apparently were caught by some of their... uh, more traditionally-minded brethren, who took exception to their choice of food."

"Whatever vampires caught them drained them - complete exsanguination doesn't kill vampires, not right out, but it leaves them more or less helpless - and then they left them for SOF to find before the sun got them in the morning. There've been six or seven similar attacks, these last two weeks."

An easy way to get a message out.

[cook_the_rude]

Hannibal peers more closely at the screen.

"Vampires fighting each other would be good news," he muses, "unless the winners end up stronger and even more dangerous?"

[herr_bookman]

Autor comes bearing a medium-sized bud vase of flowers today: a sprig of white almond with rich, red centers, purple heather, and a yellow carnation, finished with a spate of white honeysuckle.

"Hello, Ra--oh," he says, blinking at her screen. He stares at his feet, murmuring, "Have to bring work home, huh?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Oh!" Rae says, quickly scrolling past the images of what has been preying on her mind. "I'm sorry, Autor. It's... this is stuff it's not exactly safe to access from home."

Or here, it seems, though for different reasons.

"How have you been?"

[herr_bookman]

"Oh, no, that makes total sense. I'm just sorry you have to study it at all," he says, setting the vase near her teacup. "And I'm all right. Is this part of that unknown variable?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"One of... many unknown variables," she murmurs, leaning to inhale the sweet scent of the flowers.

"These are lovely, Autor."

[herr_bookman]

"They reminded me of you," he says, shrugging. "So is this an oncoming storm you think, or something..."

The kid trails off, turning to lean on the table and adjust his glasses. "It'd be a bad idea to tell me anything, even if you knew, wouldn't it?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"We're still figuring out what we're facing," Rae says, brushing a finger along one of the delicate petals. "There's not much to tell, yet, except that someone's wanting to send us the message that they don't like what we're doing, and that we'll be on the receiving end of worse, if we don't stop."

So, of course, they're not going to stop.

[herr_bookman]

"Given the messages they're sending, do you think you can take them down?" Autor asks, watching her fingers. "Are they a group, or a single, powerful being running around--or both?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Most likely," she replies, taking a steadying sip of her tea, "it's a big, powerful Master Vampire and its gang. Which could be made up of hundreds or thousands of other vampires."

Whether or not they can take them down....

[herr_bookman]

"And against all this there's the two of you," Autor whispers, "and ostensibly the SOF."

He reaches out to thread her fingers with his, squeezing her hand. "Those are some pretty terrible odds."

[sunbaked_baker]

Sunshine laughs, a mere breath of a wry chuckle, squeezing his hand back.

"It's worked before?"

[herr_bookman]

And that raises his brows. "Well, at least you have experience? In any case, let me know how it goes," he says, assuming that she'll be alive afterwards.

Because thinking otherwise is foolishness.

[sunbaked_baker]

"Oh, I will," she says, squeezing his hand once more before letting go.

Last time, the backlash left her dying and ready to die on the rubble- and body-strewn floor of a collapsing derelict factory.

Hopefully, this one will go better.