milliways_bar | (no subject)

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rae "sunshine" seddon

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"Helpless" is not a common situation for Sunshine. At least not in this context. But she is. Pinned down, on her back, immobilized, unable to really move or hope to get away.

At least until Terry wakes up from his nap.

It's probably Sunshine's own fault for the child falling asleep on her as they rested on the couch following an afternoon of playing outside. Some naps even the most interesting story can't hold back.

The fair-haired toddler snoozes with his head resting on her shoulder, half of one of the couch's throw-blankets draped over them.

At least Sunshine had thought to have a book with her. She reclines against the armrest, holding the book open with one hand so she might read, the other hand idly stroking the back of one of the bar cats who had taken advantage of the situation and had settled in.

Unsurprisingly, Sunshine finds her own focus difficult to maintain, even for a favorite novel. Some days are just good days for naps.

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Sunshine looks up from her book as someone comes up to the couch, and smiles with a faint chuckle.

"Play hard, nap hard," she murmurs quietly, fond of the fair-haired child completely zonked out with his head on her shoulder.

"I know," Ye Baiyi smiles. "My little disciple used to be like that, long ago. He loved the martial arts that I taught him, but sometimes he zonked out after practice. When he woke in the morning, he'd happily start all over again."

Edited 2021-09-14 21:28 (UTC)

"Terry helped me uproot and pull up and clear away the summer plants in the garden whose harvests were done, today. He's a very good helper and loves knowing he made a difference."

Sunshine's smile softens and fades a little, looking down at the fluff of fine hair and the sleeping boy. "His father was my apprentice, so I know where he gets his work ethic."

"What happened to his father?" Ye Baiyi asks, softly. He senses some story similar to his own.

"He died," she replies plainly, though there is some wistful note of guilt to the quiet admission. "Set upon by vampires on his way to the coffeehouse one morning before dawn."

Edited 2021-09-14 22:01 (UTC)

Ye Baiyi nods. "So you are taking care of his child," he says. It's obviously a very normal obligation where he is from.

"Whenever his mother needs me to," Rae nods, quiet.

Ignoring the feeling of personal responsibility her words carry, she adds, "...but the coffeehouse is like that, sometimes. When Emmy, one of our waitresses, got pregnant and her parents threw her out and the deadbeat boyfriend skipped town, we all took care of the baby in shifts until she could get into a more stable situation. Even after then. Now Emmy's married to Henry, one of our stalwart regulars, Emmy still waitresses for us, and Barry's going to be... Shiva wept, he's going to be ten next year."

"So your coffee house is as much a family as any martial sect or craftsman's guild," Ye Baiyi says. "And some ties are more personal in this web of love and obligation."

"I suppose it would be," she smiles, pensive and fond. "It's really a... community hub, in Old Town. It's where people come to see and catch up with one another. My landlady is the only person I've met who has come within the orbit of the coffeehouse and managed to hold out against becoming part of its community, but then, I do bring her a bag of baked goods from the bakery every week."

"The more you tell me about it, the more I like the place," Ye Baiyi says, with a smile. "However, I do understand that I can't come for security reasons; no worries."

Pause.

"Can I bring you something to ease your lot while you are trapped and stuck?"

"Something cold to drink would be brilliant," she admits, appreciating the offer. "I didn't think to bring something to drink with me when we settled down, and child-blankets are a little overly warm for late summer."

"I know just the thing," Ye Baiyi says, cheerfully walking off in a swirling cloud is billowing white robes.

He returns a little later with another bubble tea like his own, with ice and tapioca pearls as well as the larger, juice-filled bobas.

"This is an invention from my country and your time," he explains. "You can hold it sideways and drink from the tube without disturbing the sleeping child. I picked jasmine white tea for you; that is light and pleasant."

Edited 2021-09-15 18:48 (UTC)

"Oh wow," she breathes, in a sentiment that would definitely be louder if not for the sleeping child. "I love jasmine white tea, but I've never had it like that before. Thank you so much."

For the drink and the new experience, both!

She sets her worn paperback book (gracing the cover is an image of a red-haired young woman upon a white horse, wielding a blue sword and facing down a gigantic black dragon) on the coffee table, not bothering to mark her place, so she might accept the offered drink with her free hand.

Edited 2021-09-16 02:24 (UTC)

Ye Baiyi puts the drink into her hand. "Enjoy," he says. "It's good stuff. People are so very creative about food and drink, aren't they?"

Pause.

"Nice dragon on your book."

Edited 2021-09-16 12:43 (UTC)

"A very terrible dragon," she grins. "Intent on scorching the countryside and consuming the populace if no hero can manage to stop him."

It is very much a favorite story.

"Getting to be creative in the kitchen is one of the best things about being the head baker at the coffeehouse, experimenting with new recipes and flavor combinations," she agrees, taking a taste of the bubble tea and immediately getting a giant tapioca pearl. "Oh! That's lovely. Unexpected texture, but really enjoyable."

"They can hit you in the roof of your mouth on occasion," Ye Baiyi says, "but even that is kind of fun. It's a rather eventful kind of tea."

Sunshine chuckles faintly. "I'll have to be careful with it. It is delicious, though."

So rarely does one have the need to chew while drinking. She may already be thinking of what other flavors might be interesting.

"The little... bubbles, with juice in them? They're great. Lots of potential for complementary flavors with whatever one is drinking at the time..."

"They might be fun in drinks, too," Ye Baiyi muses. "You know, the kind with liquor "

Sunshine thinks on this and chuckles again. "They would!"

She is thinking of some of the highly flavored liqueurs she would combine when she was younger, and how the little bursts of flavor might play together. Or the entire ingredients list of a cocktail kept separate until one drinks it...

"What would you combine, what drink and what in the little bubbles?"

"Well," Ye Baiyi says, "how about different sweet fruity liqueurs suspended in a strong clear liquor with a sour note -- say, vodka with limeade instead of the tea, citrus liquor in the boba, and so on?"

"That would be fun," Sunshine muses. "Lots of potential for mixing and matching flavor combinations and the ratios of stronger liquors to fruity or lighter liqueurs..."

"Some wouldn't work just because the combination of flavors wouldn't work separately, or would unbalance the drink when the bubbles burst."

No one wants a hot sauce boba in their Bloody Mary, or a aromatic bitters boba in their Old Fashioned.

"Yes, like coffee in a citrus based drink," Ye Baiyi says. "That would be terrible."

Sunshine can't quite stifle the sudden momentary horror of imagining that, or the sound she makes because of it. This causes Terry to stir, making sleepy toddler protestations against being woken up.

"Ah, sorry kiddo. My fault," Sunshine murmurs, stroking the boy's soft, fine hair. "Go back to sleep."

"Ah, I should not make terrible jokes like that," Ye Baiyi says. "At least not around sleeping children."

"Yes, it was a told in terrible taste," she agrees, the dry pun accompanied by a grin.

Terry stirs more, shifting, fighting the wakefulness that is taking hold.

"You can still nap if you want, kiddo," Sunshine assures him, patting his back.