OOM and EP: Rae "Sunshine" Seddon

[sunbaked_baker]

(OOM:In the house of world the
many darknesses are surrounded
by light.

To see the one, we need
the other / it cuts both ways

light on light is blind
dark on dark is blind

light through dark is not

dark through light is movement
dark through light becomes,
is becoming,
to move through light is becoming.

-"Altars of Light," Pierre Joris)


Sunshine steps somewhat numbly through the door to the bar, absently cradling her burned left hand to her chest. She is dressed for work, her hair kept back by a purple and yellow kerchief, a once-white apron faded to a faint grey over her bright orange t-shirt and purple jean shorts. But her mind is not on food, right now. Her mind is trying very hard not to be on anything, in fact.

She stirs enough from her numbness to thank the Bar when the counter manifests a small pot of herbal-smelling ointment and soft cotton bandages for the burns. Applying the kenet to her hands gives her something to focus on, at least. Something she can do without thinking too much about how her hands shake, or why.


(OOC Note: CW for vampire suicide in OOM.)

Comments

[herb_and_needle]

Freshly bathed from her morning cleansing and meditation, Wen Qing approaches Bar for her morning meal and finds an injured woman to make her day even better.

"You are injured," she says with a bow of greeting. "May I help you?"

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae's awareness sluggishly returns to her surroundings as the unfamiliar woman speaks, and she gingerly returns the bow, hands only touching lightly.

"Um, thank you," she replies, grateful. "I would appreciate the help."

It is hard to wrap up one's own burned hands. She will be able to heal them, later, but doesn't think she could manage the focus necessary just now. Rae isn't sure she could manage much of anything, just now.

[herb_and_needle]

Wen Qing offers a radiant smile and takes a seat at Rae's side. "I am Wen Qing and I am a healer. May I ask what type of burn this is?" As she speaks she takes the jar up and gives it a sniff before nodding approval.

[sunbaked_baker]

"It's..." she starts, and then the name catches up with her.

She smiles. Not a full, bright smile - that is still a ways away - but a true one, nonetheless.

"You're Wen Ning's sister," some of the tension in her relaxes a little. "I'm... Rae Seddon, called Sunshine. I heard about the rescue - I'm so glad they were able to get you here."

[herb_and_needle]

Her polite bedside manner smile turns more familiar and friendly, reaching her eyes and heart.

"I am glad as well, although I am more glad that my brother has such good friends. He did not have as many back home. May I see your hand?" She holds out hers to accept while reaching for the bandages with the other. "I assume you washed before applying the ointments?"

She is very curious to meet this friend of Wen Ning's but healing first.

[sunbaked_baker]

"With water, but I couldn't quite stomach the thought of scrubbing with soap just yet," she admits, offering her hand. It looks like she had reached into a roaring fire to grasp a piece of kindling. "The kenet, ah, that ointment, is amazing at both preventing and helping with the pain from burns in particular."

[herb_and_needle]

Wen Qing's eyes widen in concern.

"You should never scrub burns! You can damage the skin and cause more injury. Rinsing with pure water is good and I think this kenet shall be." She pauses to sound out the strange word. Her voice is confident that the ointment is good as her instincts tell her it will. "I would be curious to see the recipe if you can share it?"

Carefully and tenderly she begins wrapping the hand, her touch as light as the fabric draping onto the burn.

[sunbaked_baker]

"Wish I knew it," Sunshine admits, keeping still as her hand is wrapped with more skill than she could've managed. "Kenet is... from a legend or story, in my world. A long-lost recipe for protection against dragon fire, rediscovered by a young woman wanting to save her people. I do not know how to make it, but Milliways being what it is, the Bar can provide it."

She swallows, feeling the ointment starting to take effect and soothe the worst of the burn. "My friend Autor and I made sure the infirmary was stocked with it too, just in case it could be helpful."

[herb_and_needle]

"Oh," she says as she ties the bandages and then carefully tucks the ends so they don't catch, "I shall have to keep my eye out for it. I have been trying to catalog and understand the capsule medicines, pills I think they are called? There is much in the Infirmary that is new to me and so I am learning as best I can."

[zerocharliexray]

The door opens with the sound of firm footsteps and light humming.

"...a '54 convertible too, light blue – oh, you poor thing."

Zinda slips into a nearby seat, her blue eyes sympathetic as she holds out her own hands, palm up. She's careful not to touch, not without permission, but the invitation is clear. "Here, can I help?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Ah," Sunshine's attention is brought back to the here and now by the question, from wherever her thoughts had been. Her eyes find the familiar face of the person suddenly beside her - the pilot, Zinda - and she nods. "Yes, please. With the... burns, they're hard to wrap up properly."

[zerocharliexray]

"Sure thing, sugar."

She reaches for the bandages and unravels one, her fingers deft and light as she begins applying it to the poor burned hand. "I used to have to do a bit of field dressings back in the day. We'll have you right as rain in no time."

[sunbaked_baker]

"I appreciate it," she nods, quiet. The bruises on her neck are only beginning to show up, but they are nothing compared to the burns on her hands. They look like she reached into a roaring fire to grab a piece of kindling.

"I'll be able to heal them, later, but I don't think it'd be wise for me to try, at the moment."

Being present enough to speak coherently is difficult enough.

[zerocharliexray]

"Nah, sweetheart," Zinda says, practical. "Give it a bit."

She's brisk but careful, and she doesn't wince away either from the terrible burns or from the bruises she can see beginning to form against Rae's throat. Her expression sharpens as she glances at the latter, but her touch stays gentle. "If you wanna talk about it," she says, after a moment, "I'm happy to listen. And if you don't, that's okay, too."

[sunbaked_baker]

Sunshine's lips press together, and she shakes her head a little, unsure that she can quite approach the whole of it yet. The pain in her hands had given her something to focus on, but kenet works quickly.

"I would've prevented it, if I could have," she murmurs. If they had let me.

"Um... there was a vampire, outside the coffeehouse this morning."

[zerocharliexray]

"'Course you would have."

She doesn't know the red-headed woman all that well, but she's certain of that. "Vampire, huh?"

She finishes with one bandage and begins unrolling another. "That a usual thing there?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Vampires, they're... a known thing in my world," she replies, quiet, not recalling how much or how little about her world she had shared with Zinda.

"This one was... turned, back when I was a teen. Remembered the coffeehouse before my bakery was built."

Might have become a regular of hers, had things gone differently. Someone she knew on-sight. Someone whose favorites she knew by heart.

[wayward_sun]

Lucifer breezes by with a bright, "Hello gorgeous," and then he stops and turns.
And looks.

At her hands.
Then at her face. And throat.

"Did that - happen here?" he asks and he doesn't sound cheerful. He doesn't sound like anything. It's like his voice has gone completely flat.

[sunbaked_baker]

Sunshine pulls herself back from wherever her awareness had been - somewhere else, where the pain in her hands doesn't blot out all other thought - and looks at Lucifer. Her eyes are a bit red-rimmed, her usual smile gone, and her left hand in particular looks like she had reached into a roaring fire and grasped a piece of kindling. She is dressed for a day in the bakery - there is still flour on her apron - but there won't be any kneading until those burns are healed.

"Not here, no," she says, quiet, smoothing the herbal-smelling ointment as gently as she can manage, feeling its numbing spread through the worst of the burns on her still-shaking hands.

[wayward_sun]

That's good. And bad. Because now he doesn't really knows what to do.

"Do you - can I do -?"

He feels useless
He doesn't like that.

[sunbaked_baker]

She manages a faint smile, wan and brief, for his concern, though it doesn't last long.

"Don't... don't worry about it. There's no one to blame but myself." Finger-shaped bruises on her neck notwithstanding.

Sunshine feels the kenet working on the burns, numbing the worst of the pain.

"Could... could I borrow a hug, maybe? When I've got these wrapped?"

She promises to return the borrowed hug whenever he would like.

[wayward_sun]

He'd been thinking more along the lines of painkillers or booze but -

He nods. "Sure. Sure. Do you need help with that?"

It's totally okay to say no!

[sunbaked_baker]

She had been thinking of the offer he once made, finding her working through the aftermath of a different encounter with a vampire.

"Please? An extra set of hands would be... good," she admits. Her own are still shaking somewhat, though less as the Kenet does its work. "Thank you."

The burn ointment on her hands smells faintly herbal, and she has recently made cinnamon rolls, but neither does much to dissipate the scent of the fire that had caused the burns.

[wayward_sun]

Okay.
Right.

He can do that.

He carefully reaches over to help her with the bandages.

His touch is very, very gentle.

[sunbaked_baker]

Sunshine helps as she can, though burns are particularly difficult to work around. She can feel the urge to withdraw her focus, lapse into silence and not be present, but there are thoughts there she isn't ready to face, an ache in her heart she isn't prepared to investigate.

"How is Lux?" she asks, seeking distraction as the bandages are wrapped.