(no subject)

[sunbaked_baker]

Bar summons a large bowl of warm water and a generous stack of towels before Rae even finishes limping through the front door. Her right hand is slicked with blood, her shadow-dark skinsuit spattered liberally with it; she has her blood-spotted hair pulled back into a tight braid, which she has tucked down into the back of the high collar of her skinsuit to keep it out of her way.

Grimacing, she makes her way to the counter. Her shoes leave a uneven trail of bloody prints upon the floor, coming up from each step with a sticky, ripping sound. Oddly enough, she's in a mental place that allows her to be aware that this isn't her worst night ever, and that she will live. Usually that kind of awareness takes some time to sink in.

"Bar," Rae murmurs, gratefully, taking up one of the hand-towels and beginning to wash her hands. Her hands must be first, then she can see about cleaning up enough not to leave a mess. "You are the absolute best. Thank you."

Comments

[cook_the_rude]

The man watching her do so, however, has occasionally been described as 'the absolute worst'.

[sunbaked_baker]

The skinsuit Rae wears is reinforced at its high collared neck, and across her abdomen, thighs and forearms, but doesn't restrict her movement. The grand majority of the blood wipes away cleanly from its surface, instead sullying the absorbent towels as Rae uses them.

Bar keeps the towels coming, until there is little else they could help with.

Feeling better and somewhat more human, Rae thanks the Bar again as the bloodied bowl of water and the fouled towels disappear.

[cook_the_rude]

"That is a neat thing to have," Dr. Lecter comments.

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae turns her head to look at him. There is still a little blood that had seeped and dried at the edge of the skin suit's collar and cuffs, however smoothly they lay against her skin. Like blood under the edge of fingernails.

"It is," Rae agrees. "It was a gift from a friend."

[cook_the_rude]

"That would have come in very handy for my former lifestyle," Hannibal says.

[herr_bookman]

"Rough night?" Autor asks from his seat at the bar. He tucks his book under his arm and approaches. "You look like you need a shower."

[sunbaked_baker]

Once her hands are mostly clean, Sunshine wets a hand towel and begins wiping at her face. "I've had worse," she answers, faintly wry. "But yeah, a shower is definitely in the cards."

"How are you, Autor?"

[herr_bookman]

"Doing well, thanks for asking," Autor says, wincing as she cleans off her face. "Better than being covered in blood by a long stretch. Is there anything I can do to help?"

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae chuckles, slightly. "I'm glad you're doing better than being covered in blood. I should be fine, though. This new suit Jay designed really helps."

[herr_bookman]

"Good for you," Autor says, nodding as he looks over the suit. "Jay designed it? He's been providing suits for you for a while now, hasn't he? That's good. And you can move in it well and everything? Neat."

[buh_bye]

Death sat on a nearby stool, a cup of tea next to his hands. A whisper later and a cup of tea appears near her with a note: Death thinks you might need this.

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae notices the cup of tea and note appearing as she finishes wiping deader-than-dead vampire blood from her face.

Glancing over the note, she smiles and looks around to find the figure sitting on the nearby stool.

"That was quite a thoughtful gesture. It's appreciated, thank you," she says, wiping at the edge of her skinsuit's high, reinforced collar.

[buh_bye]

Aside from Dean Winchester, she was the only other human he really cared about. He smiled at her.

"You looked like you needed it, Sunshine," he said, "You should go to the infirmary."

He could heal her, but that might be too much.

[sunbaked_baker]

"Tea cures many ills," Rae replies, taking a sip of the tea once her face is clean.

"Though I'll probably be fine without the infirmary. It's just a twisted ankle- not even a sprain. I can heal it in the morning."

[buh_bye]

"Fair enough," said Death with a shrug, "Would you like to join me for dinner?"

Of course, he'd let her get cleaned up if she wanted to, well more cleaned up.

[street_sparrow]

"Another bad night?" Gavroche asks, approaching quietly and determinedly ignoring the twinges of memory surfacing that are actually Sparrow's memories of Raven.

[sunbaked_baker]

"I've had better, but I have also had much worse," she remarks, wiping carefully at her face with the wet hand-towel. "What about you, Gavroche?"

[street_sparrow]

"Not bad, all things considered." Bar pops up a new pair of shoes, and he nudges them in her direction. "Glad to hear it wasn't as bad as it has been, then."

[sunbaked_baker]

"Once their master was dead, they actually stopped and listened, if you'll believe it," Rae says, still a bit shocked, herself.

"Oh, thank you for the shoes. I should... probably retire these." Her own shoes are pretty well ruined. The laces are lost in a clot of mostly-dry blood. The shoes themselves slip off with a faint, sticky ripping sound from where the blood hadn't fully dried.

[street_sparrow]

"He was controlling them?" he asks. "Or just had them under his thumb?" He nods. "Those are only fit for burning now, I think."

[runningred]

"You," Jay announces, bringing her over some more paper towel, "Need boots to go with that suit."

[sunbaked_baker]

"The new suit is fantastic, Jay," Rae says by way of greeting, smiling a little as she wipes at her face with one of the wet hand-towels. "But I wasn't going to risk the Dread Baker's boots. Bloodstains would utterly ruin the color."

Not a good night, but not a soul-crushing one either.

[runningred]

"I'll make you a matching pair." He offers, critically examining the suit and how it performed. "Any of it yours?" He doesn't think so from the way she's moving but it's better to ask.

[sunbaked_baker]

"None of it mine, no," she assures him. "Tonight's was a short... fight. Once the Master Vampire was, uh, dead, most of the others stopped trying to kill us."

"They had heard about us. And they actually listened to what we had to say. Asked questions, Jay."

She is still amazed by it, and afraid of the tiny hope that it sparked in her chest.

[runningred]

"Nice!" He'd offer her a high five but she knows what she's like about her hands after a fight. "Good work."