(Untitled)

[sunbaked_baker]

Today's dismal weather (both in New Arcadia and at Milliways) has made Sunshine wonder how one goes about putting a permanent ban on winter. The day was so dark with rain that the streetlights around the coffeehouse hadn't gone off until nearly noon. Everyone had been cranky and tired - Sunshine included

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[cloakandclaw]

It is, he feels, every bit his right to patrol as much of this place as he can. That's not limited to the forest outside or to the areas around the bar, but to the hallways leading to the rooms, to the kitchens, to anywhere else in this... jumble and collection of spaces. That aside, while he may be older than he looks, capable of immense destruction, and harboring a severe secret, there's a side of him that's still very human and that side... is not immune to the pleasure of scent, of odors, especially those things that linger and remind him of other, happier times.

(He will not think of Lucrecia in the moment. He won't do it.)

He follows the scent of brownies to the kitchen, expecting to see the usual rats but...

"Oh. Hello."

He stops, determined to retain his dignity. He may deny himself a great many things in the name of repentance and atonement, and he knows that pride is a sin but... well, like it or not, he is proud of himself in some ways. At least he keeps occupied, and when he's occupied, thinks less intensely of a past he cannot change and a woman he can no longer have.

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae is in the process of taking a pan of piping hot brownies down from the top oven, hands protected by oven mitts. Carefully changing her grip on the pan, she swings the tray across in a controlled arc to rest on the wire racks to cool.

She's not dressed for winter - with good reason. It's on the hotter side of toasty with the ovens going. A coat hangs and a pair of boots sit over by the corner, though, showing signs of a recent attempt at finding some December sunlight outside.

"Oh, hi Vincent," says Sunshine, smiling as she takes off the oven mitts. "Didn't hear you come in."

She doesn't seem worried.

Still not a vampire, Vincent.

[cloakandclaw]

No one hears him enter, no one hears him leave: he sees to it. After thirty years of inactivity, he's honed stealth into its own art. He had all those years to think of ways not to be seen, not to be found.

It worked for three decades... more or less. He can't chalk that up to his own personal brilliance. Rather, it was that the basement at Shinra Mansion was ill-inhabited, its entry patrolled by a monster.

At least some of the time. Here, he shakes off the reminiscence and nods.

"Rae." Folding his arms across his chest, he leans against the wall. "You're baking."

That... is a prime example of overstating the obvious.

[sunbaked_baker]

She's not been sleeping well - and it shows a bit, around her eyes.

"Ta-da," she declares, smiling wryly as she sets the ovens to a lower temperature so she can put in a pan of cinnamon rolls the approximate size of human skulls.

"Told you you'd be likely to find me here if you came around when there's baking going on," Rae says, setting a timer.

[cloakandclaw]

"Yes." That's undeniable. "But..."

But what, Vincent, he asks himself. Has it been that long since he was in a... home? The last place would have been Tifa's.

He misses home.

"Well. I didn't know it would... smell so good." There. That wasn't as hard as it might have been. It has been days since he's eaten; he forgets. He forgets because... well, if he could spend thirty years in a coffin without food or water, then... he can spend three or ten or thirty days here without food or water. Restless in his self-imposed stability, he lets his eyes do the moving for him. They focus here; they focus there, but ultimately, they move back to the woman doing the baking. He... knows her, although he doesn't consider her to be a friend.

Not yet.

[sunbaked_baker]

"It's a pleasant surprise at least?" Sunshine smiles, moving over to a second tray of brownies, already cooled to merely warm, and iced from the big mixing bowl full of homemade chocolate icing. Cutting off two still-slightly-gooey-with-warmth brownies from a corner of the tray, she sets them on a plate and grabs a fork and some napkins.

"Here," she says, setting the plate, fork and napkins on the counter near one of the few chairs in the kitchen. "To go with the good smells."

[cloakandclaw]

Oh.

"All right. Thanks." The way he draws out the chair is almost formal and stiff, but... he is unused to being served or... taken care of and his experience with it is limited. Maybe one day, he'll be better at the whole business of being with people.

That day is not today, but at least he can practice the art of conversation.

"You have been well?" She doesn't look it, but far be it for him to judge. In much the same way, far be it for him to help himself to the food she's offered. As a child, he was taught never to so much as pick up a utensil until he was told the time was right and, as such, he waits for her say-so. She's the one who crafted this bounty and from the looks of it, will be joining him in food.

He... is an exceptionally private man. Typically, when he does eat, it's alone.

[sunbaked_baker]

She does grab a brownie, a plate, fork, and napkin for herself, too, after taking off her apron. Another chair is pulled up, the apron draped on the back, and she sits.

"I'm doing all right," she says, though it smacks slightly of how many people answer 'fine' when they're not. Rae has never been a really good liar. "Things have quietened down back home -"

No new dry guys being found in the area, at least.

"- but it's still hectic." The good kind, that keeps one from having the energy to dwell overmuch.

"What about you?" she asks, taking a bite of her brownie.

[cloakandclaw]

Slowly, his eyes shift toward her. Rarely is he asked to disclose his own business by anyone but... well, Tifa; she knows him best. But he nods thoughtfully and takes his time before answering. If he's going to divulge anything, it will be done after careful consideration.

Of course, that would assume there was anything to divulge. Once she eats, though, he picks up his fork and carves off a piece of brownie, careful not to get any food on the fingers of his gloves.

The first bite is like paradise, or what he assumes such a place might taste like.

"I... have been here, so... the same as ever." With an easy precision, he sets down the fork: this food needs to be savored. "And this" -- he nods down at the brownie -- "is... delicious."

[sunbaked_baker]

She is used to talking to people who consider their words quite a while before talking - Rae has learned patience, and sometimes can tell a pause that indicates thought from a pause that indicates that the person chooses not to answer.

Comes from hanging around vampires too long.

"No sign of being unBound yet, then," she says, frowning slighty. "Sorry about that; I know it sucks, but the bar will sheer, sooner or later."

But at the compliment to the brownie, Sunshine looks back with a smile - pleased and slightly proud. "Thank you. Glad you like it. With how grey and cold it's been outside, I felt the need for something warm and chocolate."

[cloakandclaw]

"I am a patient man." As far as self-assessments go, that is a brutally honest one and she needn't know why he considers himself to be that way, but... well, when one has all of time seemingly at his disposal, there is no need to hurry.

There is also no need to sit around and rust either, and if being here has taught him anything, it's to be appreciative of what he has while he has it. Since the day he was locked in Shinra Manor, too full of shock and self-loathing and pure guilt to even put up a fight, he has... made it a conscious practice to run on neutral. No huge emotional ups or downs, no particular risks. It was his intention to simply glide through what passes for life, unruffled, unemotional, seemingly uncaring. Cool, Cloud accused him of being. Too cool. What the others failed to consider, always, was that this was his choice and his goal, his plan. If he never wavered, he could never again be as hurt as he was.

It's something he projects well, but he didn't factor in the depth of his own emotions. As ever, he is... the person he once was -- enhanced, or coupled with Chaos, but still Vincent -- and his true nature still lies buried so deeply inside, where it wages a constant war with itself. Perhaps his greatest triumph and greatest sorrow combined is the fact he's been able to keep it hidden.

That's why every smile, every laugh, every bit of open gratitude, and every tear costs him so greatly. Every open emotion feels like a violation, as if it will crack a hole in his carefully-guarded veneer and free everything he's tried so hard to keep buried. Other people, though, deserve better from him and as if he's waking again and again from his very long sleep, he chooses to be cautious about those things he gives freely.

Rae can't possibly know this about him. Placid, calm again, he reaches for more food and as if he hasn't eaten in years, can't stop himself. "Perhaps if the Landlord" -- he's used to ruling forces being unseen and while he questions the existence, can't deny the rumors -- "had a taste of your baking, no one would be Bound. He would no longer have the heart for it."

[sunbaked_baker]

Sunshine laughs, lightly. "Well, if I could find him, I'd offer him some cinnamon rolls - and probably kick him in the shins for being a bastard."

Binding someone to the bar while they are slowly succumbing to a poisoned wound is not something that endears you to that person. "I've never heard of anyone meeting him, though."

The bruises and scrapes on Sunshine's arms and shoulders have gone a long way towards healing, but there are still signs of them. The scar encircling her neck is still clear, crossing the sickle-shaped scar low under her collarbone on the left side.

"I hope you get to go home sometime soon," she adds. "I was only stuck here a few months, but that was bad enough."

[cloakandclaw]

The image of her kicking some nebulous and ill-defined Landlord in the shins puts a sudden and unbidden smile on his face, one he hides by ducking quickly into the mantle of his cloak. Until he's sure the smile is gone he stays like that, but it fades readily enough.

He... would not call the Landlord a bastard without uncovering his (or her) motivations first. It's far too easy to judge on either reputation or appearance and he has no intention of doing so. But she goes on to talk about leaving and... well, he can't help but let his eyes study her. The evidence of battle is plain on her skin.

"It looks as though home didn't necessarily treat you well." There is, of course, no decree that says home needs to equate to kindliness of any sort. But it is what they know and, pleasant or not, there's comfort in the familiar... always.

[sunbaked_baker]

"Well," she starts, but doesn't really know how to explain it. "Home is what it is."

"This place is actually... less immediately threatening, if not less dangerous, than my home, right now," Rae says, tired. "Now that I'm not stuck here against my will, I'm actually kind of glad when the bar door shows up now and again."

[cloakandclaw]

"It's always different when an action is of one's free will rather than forced." He knows more than a small bit about both, and wouldn't mind admitting it if pressed. Some of the elements of his past are things not to be shared, but others... he can do without regret.

And there are not a great many things he does without regret.

"That stated, I do miss home. Mostly for my friends." He never went so far as to forge a great many bonds here, because... well, he assumed they would be for nothing, that he would not be at this place for long. Once again, fate has laughed at him, and not in any particularly kindly way.

It's something he ought to be used to by now.

[sunbaked_baker]

Sunshine smiles slightly, taking another bite of brownie. Her friendships back home... are complicated. There are a lot of crossed loyalties that weren't there when those friendships were made.

"What are your friends like?"