milliways_bar | (no subject)

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rae "sunshine" seddon

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Autumn is already coming in; though it is still somewhat warm in the strong sunshine of midday, a faint chill is creeping in among the shadows that promises to grow as the days shorten. The leaves on the trees are beginning to turn, and none of the garden plants look as robust as they did during the blazing days of summer. Some have already been uprooted after their season passed.

Young Rae Seddon, currently ten years old and somewhat filthy in her second-hand clothes, is taking a break with a glass of cold lemonade and a tattered paperback book of scary short stories (Vampire Tales and Other Eerie Matters VII) at the picnic table outside the bar's back door. She has been helping prepare the perennial plants of the garden for winter, laying down a thick carpet of straw at their bases to protect their roots from the coming cold. Occasional bits of straw and leaves have stuck to her clothing, but she doesn't mind. Her attention is wholly on the scary story unfolding in the pages of her book, completely engrossed in the growing suspense.

(ooc: Reusing an EP. I'll be around for threading most of the day. <33)

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"Good afternoon, Rae," says Dr. Hannibal Lecter, walking up with a plate of sandwiches.

The book-absorbed girl startles when he speaks, gasping and looking up with wide eyes. Seeing who it is, her look of surprise relaxes into a wry grin. Gods, how embarrassing. It's probably time to put away the book for now.

"Hi there, Dr. Lecter," she chuckles, chagrin. "Those look lovely - did you make them?"

"Of course," Dr. Lecter says. "Cheese and vegetables, with mayonnaise I whipped up as well, and some sauces. Would you like to share?"

He has some coffee in a re-usable covered cup, too, for himself.

Her embarrassed grin brightens into a real smile. "That would be lovely. Thank you."

She sets aside the book of scary stories, marking her place with a New Arcadia Public Library bookmark. She'll have to find out if the heroine survives or not sometime later.

"I didn't know people could make their own mayonnaise," she admits, having only ever had the kind that comes in plastic bottles from the grocery store.

Dr. Lecter sits, putting his coffee and the plate of sandwiches on the table.

"Of course!" he says. "It's easy, and involves egg yolk."

"That's really neat," Rae replies, grinning. Maybe someday she'll try making her own mayonnaise, too.

"Sorry I jumped when you came up," she adds, looking over the plate of sandwiches and picking one. "This book series is full of short stories written by lots of different authors, and sometimes I find a story that turns out to be really good. I had gotten to the scariest part and just got caught up in everything."

Good stories make it easy to disengage from the world and lose track of time. Which is probably what Rae's grumbling stomach is saying, reminding her she hadn't had lunch. She takes a bite of her sandwich, which is delicious. Clearly, the key to happiness is scary stories and sharing good food.

"I can teach you to make mayonnaise if you'd like," Dr. Lecter offers. "But what was happening in that story?"

"I'd like that," she nods, grinning.

"The main character's snuck into the villain's earth-place, trying to prove they're involved in the weird happenings in the city - brand new wards being broken or spontaneously going rogue, people's cats going missing or being found killed, people acting strangely or getting hurt in weird circumstances. She suspected they were an Other - like a nastier sort of demon - passing as human, but it turns out it's worse than she thought and she's lingered too long and now they know she's there."

Rae takes another bite of her sandwich and swings her feet beneath the picnic table, grinning sheepishly at having gotten so caught up in the story. "I just kind of want to be able to yell into the book and warn her."

"Oh yes," Dr. Lecter says. "What is 'worse' in that context?"

"The clues suggest they're a fallen angel," the girl says, sagely. "They're really powerful evil, and can corrupt even really well-made wards. They can generally keep people from seeing the real them, but cats can see through the... glamor, the image they project."

She grins. "There was a boy in my class last year who wanted to make people believe he was one so the other kids'd be afraid of him and do what he said, but he just wanted the attention. He got such a telling-off by his parents when they found out what he'd been saying."

It was a joy to overhear, she'll admit it without qualms. Rae hasn't yet developed the vocabulary to talk clearly about injustice regarding Others, but still she knows it's stupid and mean to pretend to be something you're not for the attention when real people are suffering because of it.

"That was very silly of him," Dr. Lecter agreed. "What if anybody had taken him seriously, and tried to end him before he could do much damage?"

"I don't think he had thought of that, just wanted to intimidate the other kids - maybe he thought none of the kids'd tell one of the teachers," she replies, shaking her head. "I don't know if anybody'd hurt him even if he were telling the truth."

"Fallen angels are seriously rare. There's only been one or two to have been found for sure in the last... like, fifty years," which is an impossibly long time for a ten year old to consider. "They're super rare, so little's known for sure about them and what they're really like, apart from the legend stuff that makes it into stories and the few specifics of the rare times one's been identified in modern times. From what the stories say, even if a kid were secretly a fallen angel, they most likely wouldn't even know they were. Not until they're older. In the stories, it's usually finding out that makes 'em go bad."

But again, those are all assumptions based in superstition and legend than anything that might happen in real life.

"How do they become children in the first place?" Dr. Lecter asks, sounding fascinated.

He takes a sip of his coffee.

"From what I've heard, they're born into human families, and don't have any memories of their former selves," she replies, and takes another bite of her sandwich.

"It must be very traumatic for them to find out," Dr. Lecter says, pity in his voice.

Over in one corner, Coral is playing with Gil and some dolls. As far as Gil is concerned, they're having a tea party. As far as Coral is concerned, it's a board meeting for the Apprentice, with tea.

The story Rae is caught up in is ramping up towards its end, and is scary and well-written enough to be utterly engrossing. But it's enough that some noise in the surrounding area makes Rae jump, pulling her attention from the book.

She breathes hard for a few moments, letting the startlement pass. Maybe it's... time to put the book aside for a while.

Seeing Coral and Gil, she grins and waves.

Gil waves back. Coral looks around and grins.

"Hi Rae! Do you want to come join us?"

"Sure!" Rae calls back, getting up and coming over. "What are you playing?"

"I'm playing the Apprentice and Gil is having a tea party, so you can pick." Coral says, offering her a bunny wearing a pair of swimming trunks.

"What's the Apprentice?" Rae says, accepting the offered bunny - giving it a hello-pat on the head - and taking a seat with them.

"It's a TV show where silly people compete to be the best lady or man for the job, and a man called Lord Sugar goes 'You're fired' to one of them each week when they've been a wally." Coral says.

Gil pours Rae an imaginary cup of tea and puts the plastic biscuit in the teapot.

"Thank you, Gil," Rae says, beaming and miming taking a sip from the cup of imaginary tea.

"So they're all trying to become Lord Sugar's chosen apprentice, and the show is the selection process?" Rae finds it very odd, though she isn't familiar with how magic-handling apprenticeships are usually done, and it's not something one can really ask about. "He must be a much in-demand master. What will he teach them when they become his apprentice?"

"How do be the best businessperson in the world and make lots of money." Coral says.

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