S a l e t é I V

XXXV - Irrationalité - Treize

Sunshine looked to the bedroom doorway when she heard it opening, the teenager already partway through drying off the clothes belonging to Cassia and the boys that she had already washed, the preparations she had made with the cleaning rack already handled as she moved on to her next task. 

She offered one of her kinder glances as she saw that Monet and Cassia were the ones to join her, the three of them alone in the bedroom together now, save for the presence of Sweets. The youngster was still huddled in her corner with her blankets and her cushions, her little seal friend close at hand as she slept.

If only that den could have kept her warm and safe forever. She looked so small. So fragile. 

"Hello darlings. Everything's ready if you are." Sunshine told them, directing them to the steps she'd taken to help them, Monet appreciative of how she wasted no time on comforting words in that particular instance.

"Thank you. For the bath, and for our clothes, and, um..." Cassia mumbled, keeping her voice low in a bid to leave Sweets undisturbed, suddenly realising that she had yet to properly acknowledge the efforts that Sunshine had been making directly.

She was like a soldier, pushing through every trial unfolding around her, her strength only rising as Cassia's own dwindled. If she could have been half the lady that she was when she was older, then Cassie would have been profoundly grateful.

"No problem, darling. I'm doing what I'm told I do best, looking after folks who need some looking after, that's all."

Cassie was able to smile again as the girl directly acknowledged what she'd considered to be her greatest talent.

"It's kind of you. I won't forget this." Monet added as she knelt by the rack, which Sunshine had placed on the opposite side of the room from Sweets and her den, the factory girl's gaze especially knowing as she glanced over to the Jouet, softly shaking her head.

"Your clothes should be dry enough soon, Cassie. I had to give them a good wringing out, so I'm sorry if there's a lot of creases." Sunshine informed her as the younger miss wandered over to her.

"That's fine...!" She insisted, glad enough merely to see them again as they hung from her drying line. 

She realised that there would be some unfair irony at play in the end anyway - once they got back to the warehouse, they'd be spending time around what? Their fire. What would their fire smell of? Smoke. What would their clothes end up smelling of? Smoke.

She'd stopped noicing it very soon into her time with the girls at the warehouse. She only hoped that she wouldn't now be hyper aware of it again, because it was all but bound to remind her of what they'd been through. 

Maybe it would be best if they started collecting candles as well. It was surprising, how soothing three or four of them could be, once they'd been aligned together.

"Do you need any help...?" Cassia asked the teen now that she was close at hand.

"No thank you, sweetheart. I think I'm about done."

It looked as if everything was hung up and ready to be left for the time being, but Sunshine didn't move on just because she'd finished the task, the girl instead heading across the room to sit on the edge of the hammock that apparently belonged to Spears. Her choice of seating put her only a short distance from Monet as Cassie followed.

"Did you see Connie earlier?" The teen asked her, some relief of her own visible as she took a minute to rest, Cassia content to see it.

"Yeah, she came down and sat with us for a bit before I came up here again. She was okay, I think." Cassie replied, finding her words with greater ease once they were settled together, the company of both older girls all the more reassuring as Sunshine gave a nod of approval.