sunbaked_baker | (no subject)

Rae had to stop to tuck a stray lock of her hair, having gotten loose from the sunflower-dotted kerchief that was supposed to be keeping her hair out of her eyes, before she could put the last tray of muffins into the oven, reaching that top rack with barely a wobble.

Whew.

The ovens were going full-blast, the timers all set, and even the usually heat-tolerant Sunshine was beginning to feel the heat. It might as well have been August in there (though if it were August, Sunshine would have spent the noontime hours outside); the ovens of Milliways could probably give the big industrial-size oven of her bakery back home pointers on how to bake a room.

Others might wonder at her sanity, wearing a mere tanktop and jeans in the dead of winter, but she knew what kind of temperatures she would be dealing with, baking most of the afternoon and well into the evening. Though perhaps the electric-blue tanktop and the purple jeans hadn't really been the best of choices (nor the red sneakers), she thought idly, as she dumped the mixing bowls, whisks, spoons and measuring cups all into the sink and turned on the water. The faint dustings of flour that had gotten past her apron showed up annoyingly well on the vivid colors.

Especially the handprints on the fronts of her thighs, from where she had forgotten. The silver ward with its sun, its tree, its deer and its running water (...don't we outnumber...) in her front left pocket was there and reassuring in its weight, but the lack of corresponding weight in her right pocket still left her feeling vaguely off-balance. She absently patted at the flour on her jeans to mixed success before starting in on the dirty dishes.

Current Mood: productive

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From:

vojvode

He leans against the table behind her, arms crossed over his chest. His hair is pulled back and he seems more than comfortable in just trousers and shirt sleeves.

"Hello again, Miss Raven. So good to see your arm is healing."

From:

sunbaked_baker

Well, finally Rae has found an answer to a question she didn't even know she had:

Yes, silence can be deafening, even with the sound of water running.

She doesn't have to turn around to know who it is. (She hadn't heard him coming.)

She doesn't even want to turn around. (Of course, you never hear them coming, when they're vampires. Unless they want you to hear them coming.)

But she doesn't want him behind her more than she doesn't want to turn around.

So she turns around. Her gaze, unwilling to rise further, rests on his shoulder. (Suspenders? Really?)

"That's not my name." She gives herself points for keeping her voice mostly level. "But thanks for the well-wishes, anyway." Despite not sounding very thankful.

From:

vojvode

He tilts his head to one side, one hand rising to take off his glasses. He slips them into his pocket and gives her his best puppy dog eyes.

"Sunshine."

When his hand emerges from his pocket, her knife rests on his palm.

"Looking for this?"

From:

sunbaked_baker

Sunshine steadfastly refuses to meet his gaze, puppy-dog eyes or no. The knife, its light not noticeable in the well-lit kitchen, actually seems like a safer target. Or at least, that's where her eyes go.

She pauses for a long moment, before saying carefully, "I would like it back, yes."

From:

vojvode

One elegant eyebrow rises as his fingers close around the knife, smothering its light.

"And I suppose you think -- I'm just going to relinquish it to you. After you tried to wound me, grievously, I might add."

From:

sunbaked_baker

"No one sets out to wound a vampire." Rae mutters, as if what he'd said had been absurd. If the killing blow fails, you've just been torn in two by a wounded sucker and thus don't get a second chance. Usually.

"You have a history of wounding patrons of my demographic, and were acting threatening; it was self-defense," she points out.

"You wouldn't even have to act threatening to make self-defense a logical step, where I come from. Being a vampire's enough."

From:

vojvode

He makes a sound low in his throat that might be a laugh, might be a growl.

"Such unfounded accusations, Sunshine. I told you, did I not? I intended you no harm. And yet, you still -- tried to end me."

His smile broadens.

"You were valiant in the attempt, I will give you that much."

From:

sunbaked_baker

She just got a compliment from a vampire.

A mild compliment, and a slightly patronizing one in her view, but a compliment all the same.

An A for Effort.

"I'll put it on my resume, should I ever decide to join SOF.". The attempt, not the compliment. The calming, reassuring scents of baking bread, maple sugar and cinnamon aren't doing enough to calm the nerves of one who's in the same room as a vampire.

"You could easily've been lying."

From:

vojvode

"I could. It's true."

He pushes off from the table and draws himself up to his full height. Even here, the shadows follow him.

"I could be lying now."

From:

sunbaked_baker

"What purpose would it serve?" she says.

Without turning around, she reaches behind her for the sink and turns the water off.

She's not going to be doing dishes for a while.

"Why lie when I'm not going to trust what you say anyway?" He's a damn vampire.

He's the damn vampire.

From:

vojvode

He tucks his hands in his pockets and makes his way, slowly across the space between them, not stopping until he's mere inches from her.

He bends down, his nose close to her neck, and draws in a deep breath, clearly savouring the scent of her skin.

"You could trust me," he purrs. "If you wanted to."

From:

sunbaked_baker

This will be her fighting down panic as she quickly steps to the side and away, hands held before her automatically as though to fend him off. The golden chain about her neck hums quietly as she moves, its own shadows moving with it.

"Th-there's a lie if I ever heard one. Humans and vampires don't trust one another."

The human world and vampire world only touch and overlap in situations of bloody murder. Except if they've been forced by shared threat of annihilation to become allies. And possibly friends. And that's not getting into the possibility that the human in question isn't fully human. Sunshine doesn't want to think about that, so she doesn't.

"Who... invited you in, anyway?" What utter idiot? "Why are you here?"

From:

vojvode

"Now now," he croons, his voice low and velvet rich. "Don't be afraid. You might injure yourself again."

He pauses to give her enough space, leaning casually where she was standing before. His chin dips and in her anger, he tries to catch her gaze again.

"Where else could I possibly want to be but in the warmth of your gaze, my lady?"

From:

sunbaked_baker

She carefully keeps the table he was previously leaning against between them, because it gives her a feeling like she has a modicum of safety. A false modicum is still a modicum, she reasons.

Like a rational creature.

"You could be at home," she suggests, quickly, with an attempt at cheer. "I hear it's lovely."

Apart from that fatal flaw of having a vampire in it, of course. Rae remembers as a kid thinking how lucky that far-flung country was, to only have one vampire. It was after that when she took June Yanovsky's class...

And learned exactly why they had so many refugees moving in, fleeing Eastern Europa after the Voodoo Wars, even more than they had from Albion. And why June Yanovsky was so adamant about teaching the differences between the old, traditional superstitions and reality. Why she knew it was important to know what was true and could help you and what was false and could mislead. Old legends, she had said once, were harder to kill than any one vampire.

What does one do when face-to-face with someone who is both?

From:

vojvode

"You try my patience, little girl."

He crosses his arms over his chest, tiring of this game.

"If you want this knife, come here and take it from me."

From:

sunbaked_baker

"You asked a patronizing question; you get a patronizing answer," she murmurs, no ire in her tone.

It's only fair.

Sunshine long ago (the turmoil of the last few months only makes it feel like long ago) decided that if a vampire were going to kill her, she'd go out still her. She may shake or weep, but she would not beg or plead.

"I do want my knife back, but have no reason to believe you would let me take it if I tried," she says quietly, paused.

"Is that why you came here? To offer me back my knife and... bask in the warmth of my gaze?" At least his shoulder is getting to bask, though when he told her to come and take it from him her gaze did flicker upwards for a split second in surprise. She doesn't know what he wants, which bothers her very much; his very existence bothers her, because it forces the parts of her life centered around vampire literature, safe escapism in her world, back into the realm of reality. It's no longer in comforting black-and-white on the page.

From:

vojvode

He regards her with dark, cold eyes.

"If you'd prefer, I could take it to Security -- and swear out a formal complaint against you, my dear. The decision is yours to make."

From:

sunbaked_baker

It's never really either-or.

"All I did was not pretend that I'm completely comfortable approaching you," she says, wondering if he'd really sign his name to a formal complaint.

I. M. D. DeVil.

She doubts it.

"And ask a harmless question."

Sunshine has always been curious about vampires. Sometimes at inopportune times.

From:

vojvode

Oh, she's a chess player, is she?

"But you've already stated, clearly, any answer I give you is suspect. Lies upon lies upon lies."

He rests a finger across his lips, his lips curled in a smirk.

From:

sunbaked_baker

"I figure it'll work out like one of those brain-teasers where you're in a place where all the locals can only tell lies and all the tourists can only tell the truth, and you have to figure out which of two people is the tourist and which is the local."

Why yes, her mind is a strange place when she's nervous. She's just ignoring the fact that she was never very good at brain-teasers.

Nor at chess.

"You could tell the truth," she admits, shrugging. "I'll admit that is a possibility. So you have the benefit of the doubt, but only if you decide to answer my question."

From:

vojvode

He blinks, letting her wind down again. Once it's apparent that she is through speaking, he nods.

He shifts his weight, daring to turn his back to her.

"I am here, my lady, because I find you interesting."

From:

sunbaked_baker

To her credit, her proximity to the knife rack only flickers through her awareness.

"See that," she says, keeping her eyes on him. "That, I'll believe."

Though she swears if she hears another vampire ask what she is, she'll scream.