(no subject)

[sunbaked_baker]

The door is only open for a moment, but it's enough to let in the clamoring wail of emergency vehicle sirens from the streets beyond the darkened bedroom. The door shuts again quickly, cutting out all of the noise beyond the fussing of a scared small child who had been wakened by the alarming noise.

The ten year-old girl shushes and seeks to comfort and quieten the upset fifteen-month old boy in her arms, bringing him over to the couch nearest the fireplace where it's warm, and wrapping them both in a blanket. It's not dark in the bar room, or terribly quiet, but its light and warmth are far more comforting than the darkness and alarm beyond the door.

Comments

[hat_and_dimples]

Jin Guangyao sitting near the fireplace, working on his tablet computer. The mammoth undertaking is almost done.

He looks up at the children after a while. They seem upset.

Even though he looks small and sweet, Jin Guangyao has co-raised a somewhat difficult child for more than ten years now, and he can tell there is still tension simmering in these two.

"Are you okay?" he asks, gently.

[sunbaked_baker]

The red-haired girl looks up from their bundle of blankets, looking tired. It is a school night, and ten-year olds need their sleep, too. Tomorrow (technically later today, she thinks) is going to be difficult.

"We're okay. The sirens woke him up and scared him, that's all," she says, over the sounds of a fussing child. The sirens scared her, too, because she knows what they mean, but she doesn't cry about it any more. It doesn't really do any good.

[hat_and_dimples]

"Sirens are the noise you came in from?" Jin Guangyao asks. "What do they mean?"

And.

"Would you like some sweet tea to calm you down?"

[sunbaked_baker]

The girl nods, swallowing hard. "They're from emergency vehicles, to let people know there's trouble, to let them through and stay out of their way."

Someone's in danger. Someone is hurting. We're on our way, but pay attention and stay inside.

"Um... yes, please. Tea would be... nice."

[hat_and_dimples]

Jin Guangyao orders sweet tea for both the children and watches the rat hurry away.

"What is the emergency?" he asks. "And would you like me to call a cat for you to cuddle?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"... probably been an attack, that's usually what it is, if it's in the middle of the night," she murmurs, quiet, shushing the fussing boy and brushing back his fine fluff of brown hair. "I heard SOF sirens, and an ambulance."

The girl looks at Jin Guangyao a gives a slight smile she doesn't quite feel, holding onto the hiccuping child and rocking back and forth a little to get him to quieten down. "You can get cats to come when they're called?"

[hat_and_dimples]

"You just need to know what they come for," Jin Guangyao says.

Even though the rat is getting his order, he gets up and fetches something from the bar: a small bowl containing tuna and two chopped olives. He offers it to the girl.

"Wave that around like incense at a ceremony," he says, "and a cat will come. I already spotted some in the rafters."

[zenigatcha]

Alarms immediately get Zenigata's attention, so he comes out of the kitchen that had been, for a change, curiously empty. He has a frilly yellow apron on because that's what was hanging up at the time.

He scans the area, and then finds the pair of little ones all curled up.

"Hello, you two. Are you alright?"

[sunbaked_baker]

The older of the two kids peeks out of the blanket-burrito she had made for them. She looks... tired, for a ten-year-old.

"It's okay," she says, still rocking side to side a little to help comfort the much smaller kid. "The sirens scared him, is all."

[zenigatcha]

"Ah! Would yo like some hot cocoa? And maybe some warm milk for the little one?" he says, leaning over in his flour-dusted apron. "I'm Zenigata Koichi, and I'll be happy to fetch you something!"

[sunbaked_baker]

There's a definite pause, because the girl did pay attention to all of those school talks by law enforcement folks about not taking food from strangers.

But all the strangers she's met (sorry, Officer Fernandes) in Milliways have been universally kind, so far.

"Um... Thank you," she says, sincere. "I'm Rae; I'm... I'm okay, but maybe milk in a sippy-cup, for Kenny?" He's still fussing, and both kids are tired.

[zenigatcha]

The day that a Milliways patron abuses or harms a child is the day Zenigata actually draws his gun. (It's currently hanging with his coat in the kitchen, safety on.)

"Alright," he says, straightening up as he goes back toward the kitchen. A phone alert beeps from his pocket as he goes.

A few minutes later, he returns with a tray. Sippy cup for the boy, a glass of milk for the girl and a plate of still oven-warm cookies, fresh from the cooling racks. He sets it on the nearest table.

"I know you said you didn't need anything, but I've been learning a new skill, and thought you might like to be the first taster," he says as he straightens up, leaving the tray for them to enjoy. "I have to pay back a friend for fussing over me."

[sunbaked_baker]

She ducks her head, smiling with quiet surprise, at the sight of the cookies. "Cookies! That's very kind of you."

And, she would think, a very good repayment for fussing.

Rae halves one of the still-warm cookies, offering a half to Kenny, who is eventually convinced - begrudgingly - to stop fussing long enough to take a bite. If there's cookies, there's no danger, right? Cookies mean safety. Once he seems all right, she takes a bite of her half, smiling with delight.

"Oh! Those are good! Still warm!"

[zenigatcha]

"I'm glad you like them!" Zenigata says with his sweetest, most earnest smile. He really does mean it -- they were a basic baking experiment. They might be a little bit too brown on the bottom, but hey. It was his first attempt.

[alongfallfromgrace]

Wei Ying alerts like a sight hound when the door opens - he doesn't know what the sirens mean, but there's a tone to them that is universal in translation. He may have been technically raised by Jiang Fengmian, but in reality Wei Ying was raised by Jiang Yanli.

Thus there really is no reason for surprise when he shows up at the couch just a few minutes later with warm blankets tucked under one arm and a small basket of Dou Sha Bao as a sweet treat. He'd make soup, soup is traditional, but soup requires time that he doesn't have at the moment. Maybe soup later. He crouches, making himself smaller, and smiles in what he hopes is a reassuring fashion (this body is still working out the kinks, it's a problem).

"Hello, everyone alright? That sounded scary."

[sunbaked_baker]

The little girl is possibly ten - though a smallish ten, underfed and tired, in faded pink pajamas - rocking the small, fussing barely-a-toddler in their small coil of blankets. She looks up at the stranger approaching, and offers a slight, cautious smile.

"We're... we're okay. The sirens woke him up and scared him, that's all," she says, over the sounds of a fussing child seemingly trying to press his red, scrunched-up face into her pajamas. She is not admitting aloud that the sirens scared her, too, because she knows what they mean, but she doesn't cry about it any more. It doesn't really do any good, and it would only scare the boy more if he saw she was scared, too.

[alongfallfromgrace]

"Here, these are warm - it's always better to be warm, when things are difficult." Wei Ying offers the blankets. "And if you're hungry, these are very good - they are bao - my shijie used to make them for me when I was your size."

[sunbaked_baker]

"Oh, oh, thank you." That brings a little more strength to her smile, and she nods, accepting the blankets and wrapping herself and (mostly) Kenny in them. "Kenny, Kenny, you're safe. It's quiet here, the noise's gone," she comforts the small boy, whose fussing is starting to sound more like the misery brought from tiredness more than fear. "Would you want something to eat? Something new. They're bao."

Both the person and the bao being offered are unfamiliar to her, but the bao look like rolls, which is familiar enough. And even the many "don't accept food from strangers" lessons at school never factored in Milliways, where everyone is kind and gives you food (sorry, Officer Fernandes). Some of the girl's worry eases when the small boy gives over some of his insistent clinging to look up at her sniffly interest.

[alongfallfromgrace]

Wei Ying, who has been on the wrong end of a bad food exchange, sets down the basket to pick up one of the bao, breaking it open to show the sweet bean paste inside and taking a bite himself to show that it is safe.

"They are sweet, see? You should try them, they are best while they are warm." He offers the other half to the boy, the soft white dough and rich paste gently steaming.

[sunbaked_baker]

Kenny is a smart kid, already, and he comes from a family of people who know the power of a good meal and make it their business to provide them. He's reaching for the half of the bun without hesitation now, the girl watching him with a slight smile.

"What's the filling?" she asks, curious. "It's unfamiliar."

And the color is just close enough to meat to make her pause.

[yinyangwizard]

There are children! They are on their own! They seem upset! Clearly this is a situation that needs attending to.

Seimei comes over to the fireplace, dressed in a dark blue winter kimono with a pattern of bare trees in various monochrome shades around the hem. “Excuse me,” he says to the girl, and gets down on his knees so he is on her eye level, instead of looming over her. “Do you need help? Something to cheer up the little one?”

[sunbaked_baker]

The girl is about ten, if a smallish, underfed ten, looking tired and upset and trying not to be upset. The child wailing red-faced into the front of her pajamas is perhaps fifteen months old, at most.

"Oh, um, thank you, but we're... we're okay. The sirens woke him up and scared him, that's all," she says, over the sounds of the fussing child. She is not admitting aloud that the sirens scared her, too, because she knows what they mean, but she doesn't cry about it any more. At least not often, or where anyone can see. It doesn't really do any good, and it would only scare the boy more if he saw she was scared, too.

"We're safe, we're okay," she adds quiet, only partly to the stranger, and mostly to the scared little boy and herself.

[yinyangwizard]

Seimei has been around a while, and has seen all the variations of 'convincing myself I'm fine' that you can imagine, as well as some you haven't.

"It is safe here, but you must have had a bad scare! Sirens are frightening for everyone, no matter what they are for."

And he won't ask her what they're for. He doesn't need to know, and it certainly won't do her any good to explain.

[sunbaked_baker]

The girl nods, ducking her head a little to lean it against the top of the fluffy brown hair on the younger child's head. "They're alarms, kind of. Whether to let people know there's danger, or to let people know they're on their way to help, and to stay out of their way."

"Alarming alarms," she admits, with a brief smile that is definitely an I'm fine, no really kind of smile, even if it's not convincing. "But we're safe here, Kenny. We're safe. Maybe we can get some sleep here."

It's a school night, for her, and she already knows the morning will be a rough one.

[yinyangwizard]

“Kenny-chan is too little to understand.” Also not old enough to understand putting on a brave face. “It has been some time since I had a child that small. But I think that if he has warm milk to drink, he will be too preoccupied to fuss, and it might calm him down.”

His big sister needs some help too. But she probably won’t be receptive until Kenny is all right.