(Untitled)

[sunbaked_baker]

(OOM: In the Milliways kitchens, a weapon that had been stolen weeks ago is returned, but something else is stolen in its place.

Or given in its place.Sunshine isn't sure if she wants to know which it was

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[ostro_goth]

Teja approaches quietly.

He wishes to know how she is.

[sunbaked_baker]

She's not shaking, but only through force of will.

Her hands aren't moving from the bowl-sized mug of tea, but she does look up as he approaches.

[ostro_goth]

"What befell you?" he asks.

Teja immediately sees that something is wrong.

[sunbaked_baker]

"Nothing befell me. Just-"

She laughs, but it's bitter in her mouth.

"Just the usual." She tries to make it sound flippant and normal.

It isn't.

[coreenfennel]

"I'l take an Orange-Ginger Teabread," Coreen says, finally healed. There's only the faintest of scars on her neck to remind her that Milliways isn't quite as safe as she'd otherwise assumed.

[sunbaked_baker]

"Mm? Oh. Sure," she blinks hard, taking a breath and trying to rally the effort to think of something other than resolutely not thinking about something. "Two blinks."

[coreenfennel]

She looks at the other woman, finally, and blinks a little.

"Oh, it's no rush, dear."

[sunbaked_baker]

"That's good," she says with a faint, no-humor laugh, clearing her throat that had gone scratchy.

She needs to move. To do something. Focusing on herself, focusing on not focusing on it just made it harder to do anything.

She gets a napkin and a piece of the teabread, handing it to the other woman. "Two blinks."

Focus, Sunshine.

[numbered_doctor]

As per her usually routine, Thirteen plunks herself very suddenly into the seat beside her, and it's not until she's reaching across the other woman to nick a cinnamon roll, that she notices somethings up.

"...Sunshine?"

[sunbaked_baker]

Sunshine blinks, stirring slightly. "Mm? Oh, hey," she says, dully.

[numbered_doctor]

Very gently, she lays a hand on her friend's shoulder, rubbing it gently.

"Everything okay?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Peachy," she says, throat scratchy from earlier crying.

Really not peachy.

[longtonguedog]

"Mmm mmm mm, something smells delicious 'round here, little miss."

Earl leans over the tray, tapping a finger across his lips, humming with delighted indecision. He's wearing faded jeans, a red and blue plaid flannel shirt over a red tshirt with a dog in a trench coat. The caption reads TAKE A BITE OUT OF CRIME.

He stuffs his hands in his pockets and rocks back and forth on his feet, caught up in the age-old baked goods conundrum.

[sunbaked_baker]

Sunshine pulls herself from her thoughts with effort, her hands pressed into the heated ceramic of the bowl-sized mug of tea to keep from shaking as she looks up.

Her throat is scratchy, but she tries to smile as she says, "They taste even better than they smell." Her smile isn't really convincing.

[longtonguedog]

Earl's brow furrows for a moment.

"As big as my noggin? I think that'd need -- two extra icings, don't you think?"

He tilts his head to look at her, giving her a hopeful smile.

[sunbaked_baker]

She exhales a small, dry laugh, a genuine-if-brief upturning to the corner of her mouth. "You sound like my regulars who go for the gingerbread I make. I made double-servings of the icing, then triple-servings when people said they wanted more. I had to start serving the icing in individual gravy boats, after a while."

Even the best gingerbread is really only an excuse to eat Sunshine's homemade icing, after all. (And lick your fingers afterward.)

She gets him a cinnamon roll, paper plate and napkin, though carefully. Sunshine is still not sure how firm her hold upon herself is right now. And she moves the yes, actual gravy-boat of icing to where he can reach. "Help yourself to the icing."

[wheatencrown]

Demeter notices Sunshine when she enters and comes over with a frown,

"Sunshine, child, what's happened?"

[sunbaked_baker]

Sunshine pauses, the rim of the bowl-sized mug of tea hot against her bottom lip, and closes her eyes, breathing in the steam.

After a moment, she feels steady enough to look up at the goddess. "Hey, Demeter." Her voice is rough, her eyes still slightly red from earlier weeping.

Demeter's question, she's not sure she's ready to answer.

[wheatencrown]

"Can I join you?"

Sunshine looks even more fragile than before, which worries Demeter so quietly sits down in a chair that's close enough to hug Sunshine.

[sunbaked_baker]

"Please do," she says, and it's not just her being polite. Sunshine doesn't pull away from the hug. Much the opposite, she's trying to restrain the urge to cling.