To see an opera

[sunbaked_baker]

(Up in her room, Rae gets ready.)


When Sunshine comes down the stairs, today, she may not look wholly like herself. The baker is usually seen in the bar wearing bright t-shirts or sweaters, with colorful jeans and sneakers, her hair up in a ponytail or held back by a likewise colorful kerchief. One colorfully casual customer.

Today her hair is down, tumbling about her scarred shoulders in loose waves of red, and what she wears is not her normal style at all.

She takes care with her steps, and not just because of the silver heels that grace her feet. As she moves down the stairs, Rae consciously straightens her spine against the fluttery nervous feeling in her stomach, and hopes it will soon pass.

This is going to be an enjoyable outing. Rae refuses to let her feelings of self-consciousness mar it.



(ooc: Sunshine will likely be out of the bar for a while after this, so any and all threads are welcome, but will be millitimed to before her thread with Hannibal Lecter.)

Comments

[runningred]

"Alligator. I like that. That alligator totally had it coming. Dick and I use to use 'skiing accident' a lot. It was fucking emembarrassing the first time I did hurt myself skiing."

[sunbaked_baker]

"You could'a played it off like you were going for verisimilitude," Rae chuckles, smiling. "It's all about how you frame it."

[runningred]

"Nope, I sulked for a week and got teased mercilessly by my other brother. Mostly because I got hurt tripping over a ski-bunny."

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae can't help but snicker at the mental image, pressing a hand to the intricately beaded scales over her stomach.

"I'd say I'm sorry, Jay, but I can't blame him - I would, too."

[runningred]

He shoulder bumps her again. "You'd make a bloody evil sister, you know that?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"My younger brothers would heartily agree with you," she bumps him back, smirking with one eyebrow arched. "But only if I were out of earshot."

[runningred]

"Smart boys. How many brothers do you have?" He asks, interested.

[sunbaked_baker]

"Two," she answers. "Half-brothers, technically. Kenny and Billy."

[runningred]

"I hope you keep the pair of them in line." He teases. "I only have one adopted older brother. We... lost touch a while back."

[sunbaked_baker]

"We were close when we were young - I'd tell them stories, sometimes," she says, a touch of wistfulness in her voice. "But we went through a not-speaking-to-each-other phase, which only really ended once I had graduated from high school and was out of the house. We've made up, but never really been close, since. Kenny's in his second semester at college, now, and only came back over winter break. Billy's just starting high school, so he's still around."

[runningred]

"Yeah, I know the feeling. Dick and me... never really saw eye to eye much. He and B had a falling out so he left to do his own thing. B found me and gave me Dick's old name and costume. They're his damn pixie boots. He tried not to hate me for taking his place but I was a cocky little prick who wanted to prove I was better than him. I miss him."

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae leans against his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"I know your situation in your world is complicated," what with the rising from the dead, and all, "but is there a chance to patch things up?"

[runningred]

"Not without everyone finding out I'm not dead. And certain things I've been up to coming to light. Better to stay dead for now."

He rests his head on her shoulder. "It's a pity you don't see more of your brothers. They're lucky to have a sister like you."

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae reaches up to gently ruffles his hair. Almost a stroke, really. Comfort offered, for complicated family ties.

She doesn't feel like her family is lucky to have her. She feels as though her very proximity puts them at risk.

"Kenny and Billy are both really bright. They'll do fine." They are not high-school-diploma-by-the-skin-of-her-teeth, making cinnamon rolls for a living, material. "Though it'd be nice if Kenny would realize he doesn't really want to be a lawyer, he seems to be going for pre-law as his focus in college."

[runningred]

He leans against her with a grateful little sound that might well have been a purr. Someone likes having their hair played with.

"A lawyer, huh? Sounds like he's pretty determined. I guess he'll just have to work out it's not what he wants for himself. Wait till he discovers girls and/or boys and the many wonderful distractions I hear collage involves."

[sunbaked_baker]

"Oh, he's discovered those plenty well already," Rae smiles at the sound he makes. "He'd not be my brother, if he didn't. Though I'm no help in telling him not to do stupid stuff - I did worse than him when I was in high school. Bright as he is, Kenny just has no gift for keeping a low profile."

"He's wanting to go into Other law, which is a dancing-on-the-edge-of-a-muttering-volcano branch of law at the best of times."

[runningred]

"Other law? That doesn't sound good."

[sunbaked_baker]

"Others and Part-Blood Others are... not well treated by society," Rae replies. Her world is so far from perfect that she doesn't even sound uneasy admitting that a good forty percent of the population are unofficially viewed as second-class citizens. Third or fourth class, even. "There's a lot of bias. Lots of fear and lingering association with the Wars. There's a lot of grey, lot of blurry areas of the law, when it comes to Others. Kenny says he wants to help give them a fair shake."

[runningred]

"Sounds like he's heart is in the right place. Even if he's strutting on quicksand."

[sunbaked_baker]

"Well, someone has to risk the quicksand in the hopes of building a bridge, if it's sucking down people who just want to be left to live their lives like everyone else."

And if he wants to risk his livelihood doing so, well... Rae doesn't have much of a leg to stand on when it comes to talking him out of that, either.

[runningred]

"You sound proud of him as well as worried for him?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Of course," Rae smiles slightly, leaning on Jay's shoulder.

"I want him to do what he feels called to do, and I'll support him in that. But I also want him to be safe."

"And just because I support him doesn't mean I won't give him hell for becoming a lawyer," she grins. What are big sisters for?

[runningred]

He reaches up to brush her hair back from her face in a half hug. "And that's what makes you an awesome sister."

[sunbaked_baker]

Her soft hair, falling is smooth, loose waves about her bare shoulders, smells of lily-of-the-valley. Sunshine laughs slightly, a bright but gentle sound. "I try. I do. When not using my brothers for free labor in the bakery, peeling apples for pies. But I pay them well. In cookies."

Rae moves to stand, taking Jay's hand lightly and giving it a faint squeeze. "I should probably find my friend soon - he may be looking for me, wondering if I'm ready to go yet."

[runningred]

"Sibling slavery is a perfectly acceptable and time honoured practice." He grins, turning to kiss her hair.

He stands with her and offers her a proper hug. "Have a wonderful night, beautiful. I hope the opera is everything you're hoping for and nothing like I remember."