(no subject)

[sun-hwa.livejournal.com]

Today has not been a very good day, but eight has never been one of Sun's lucky numbers. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

She does not know if she likes these caves. They are dark and she misses the stars overhead and the sound of the waves lapping against the shore. But Jin is her husband and for now, she does as he asks. For now, she owes him that much. Nightgown in hand, she steps through the rock opening and does a double-take, and then another: where is this place?

With the nightgown clutched protectively to her chest she steps forward, brows furrowed, eyes darting back and forth. There is no comfort in the location or in the sudden profusion of company.

"Jin-Soo? [Help me.]"

But Jin is not here, and he cannot help her. Her hand goes to the top button of her sweater; she makes sure it's fastened.

"[Excuse me... where are we? What is this place?]"





[작은 꼬리표: Hercules]

Comments

[i-brained-clor.livejournal.com]

"Dost thou speak English?" comes the question from the man-mountain (or is it demigod-mountain?) named Hercules.

[sun-hwa.livejournal.com]

"Hwa..."

Her eyes widen and she stifles the sound that wants to come out of her mouth with a nightgown-laden left hand. She has never seen anyone like this before.

Where is Jin?

What is this place?

Finally, she speaks very softly and very hesitantly.

"No." It's a facile lie.

[i-brained-clor.livejournal.com]

"...but thou didst understand my question?" Herc says. He is baffled.

[sun-hwa.livejournal.com]

"[I do not want to be here. I do not want to speak to strangers. I do not know where I am, and who are you and where is my husband? He is all I have now.]"

Cautiously, she balls the nightgown into a tight knot in her hand and peers around.

Where are all the... people from the cave? Where is Jack?

Is anybody from the airplane here?

Insistently, she shakes her head. No, no, no.

[i-brained-clor.livejournal.com]

"[Do you speak Greek?]" he asks, in his ancient tongue.

[sun-hwa.livejournal.com]

Now she is truly lost.

"Jack?" Her eyes dart from person to person in this strange room with its overwhelming sounds after the silence of the cave. "Hurley? Charlie?" She shakes her head.

"Jin?"

No, none of them are here. There is no Locke, no Claire, no Sawyer. No husband to care for her, no husband to tell her what she must do. And no husband to tell her what she cannot do.

She points to herself. "Sun." As if she's just remembered her nightgown she moves it behind her back, shy.

[i-brained-clor.livejournal.com]

Hercules points at himself. "Hercules," he says.

[sun-hwa.livejournal.com]

Ah!

"Her... Hercules?" That makes her giggle, although it should not and she tries to compose herself. But there is nothing normal about this situation.

And nobody from the flight is here.

And if nobody from the flight is here, does she need to keep up the pretense for Jin's sake? No, but she can pick it up again easily enough if need dictates.

Haltingly: "Please... where are we?"

[i-brained-clor.livejournal.com]

"Thou do speak English!" Hercules says.

"Thou art in Milliways, beloved bar of magic and mystery!"

[necessary_child]

"You're in Milliways." A slim, black-haired young man slides down from his barstool and offers her a smile.

"It's a bar at the end of the Universe. Wherever you were, you're not there now. When you want to leave, you can return through the door you came in by.

His Korean is rapid and perfect.

[sun-hwa.livejournal.com]

Ah! She turns quickly, both startled and relieved at the familiar words.

"[I have never heard of a place called Milliways.]"

Eight short days ago she never would have believed this. Even now, she cannot accept what she cannot understand. "[But it is most obvious I am no longer where I was.]"

Even after eight days on an island, it's easy to slide back into the language and mode of privilege with which she grew up. "[I want to return to my husband.]" The last sentence is automatic though not entirely honest.

Still in shock, she takes a deep breath and looks from the pleasant man before her to the surrounding room.

"[What is this place?]"

[necessary_child]

"Nobody ever has, until they come here. Can you see a door behind you? If you can, then you can return to him when you choose."

Sam's smile is engaging. "Most people choose to stick around for a while first, though."

He waves a hand towards the Viewing Window and the chaotic beauty outside. "You're at the universe's end, but you're safe enough. There is magic here, and a great deal of other things you likely won't believe or understand. But newcomers get bought a drink."

[sun-hwa.livejournal.com]

"[I came in through a cave. I was on an island. The airplane I was on crashed.]"

How can someone be so casual about the universe's end? Slowly, she turns around to look at the wall behind her.

"[Where is this door?]" That she wishes to go back isn't so much a statement of desire as a yearning for something -- anything -- familiar. Right now she has no wish to look back at the window: she doesn't understand it and doesn't want to understand it.

She wants to wake up. This must be a dream. People don't carry nightgowns into strange places like this from caves on islands.

That should not be how magic -- or anything -- works.

[necessary_child]

"Oh, bollocks," Sam says in English, and runs a hand through his thick black hair until it sticks up wildly.

Korean, this time. "You can't see it?"

[sun-hwa.livejournal.com]

Such words.

Her hand clutches the top button of her sweater.

"No."

Language for language, she can match the intent with a single word or with more than one.

"[What does it mean that there is no door?]" Social niceties will occur to her eventually, but not yet. She wants to go back to what she knows, even with the promise of a drink -- something she hasn't had in days -- dangled in front of her.

[necessary_child]

Oooh, English.

"It means that you can't leave, for the moment. I can't see my door, either. I'm sorry."

He sighs. Explaining being Bound to a newbie is always fun. "It isn't so bad here, though. Would you like that drink?"

[sun-hwa.livejournal.com]

"I cannot leave?"

But... what about Jin? What will he do? He will have nobody. But that... it was what she was going to do to him by leaving, wasn't it?

Her lower lip starts to tremble and she can't stop the tears that spring to her eyes.

"[A drink. Please. I think I need one.]"

[realmrsreynolds]

It's not Chinese, but so close in inflection.

And the nervousness is something that anyone can see.

"Can I help you?" Sallie offers, approaching. She repeats in Mandarin, in case that's better.

[sun-hwa.livejournal.com]

In the airport in Sydney, there was an older lady. She passed her several times: once on the way to the terminal and again in line for coffee. The older lady was not on their flight, or if she was, she was not in the plane's midsection.

The lady speaking to her now reminds her a great deal of that other lady, the one in Sydney. Because of that, she has an immediate liking for the kind quality of her voice.

But still she shakes her head, clutching her nightgown tightly to her chest. All these faces are starting to look alike, and she's already confused. Surely on an island like theirs, there will be other people? But how has she stumbled across them, and how can she return to the caves to let people know?

[realmrsreynolds]

"Okay, uhm. Gorramit here okay -- "

One of the waitrats is wandering around various tables, delivering drinks and people's orders. Sallie gestures it over to them, before looking straight at the newcomer and holds her fingertips up to her mouth.

"Have you eaten?"

[sun-hwa.livejournal.com]

"Eaten?" The word comes out slowly, hesitantly. She holds one hand at chin level and makes a scooping motion toward her mouth with the other hand, the nightgown tucked precariously under her arm. Then she raises her eyebrows in question: "[Did I get that right?]"

Shaking her head no, she pats her stomach.

"[How did I come to be at a place like this?]"

[realmrsreynolds]

Communication has commenced, ladies and gentlemen.

A low command to the waitrat, who leaves towards the bar, and the woman with the silver-white hair leads the other towards a table.

Next question: "Do you see the door?"

Sallie points to the door, or where the door is for her at least. She holds her hand out in front of her, grabbing an imaginary doorknob, twisting and pulling open.

[sun-hwa.livejournal.com]

Turning around, she looks at the blank wall... and then back at the lady.

"Anyo. No. No... door." She doesn't know why anyone would think there should be a door where there is none, but she will find out. Very hesitantly, as if every sound costs a small fortune, she forces three short words out in quiet English before continuing on in a language that is much easier for her.

"Where... is this? [I am sorry, I do speak English but I cannot speak it to you. My husband has a bad temper and he must not find out. What if he follows me to this place and overhears? It will be a great shame, a tear in the fabric of our marriage and I'm not sure our marriage can stand one more of those. Please understand.]"

[realmrsreynolds]

"Milliways."

And boy, is explaining Milliways going to be near rutting impossible without some kind of a transla--

Ooh.

Sallie stands again, motioning for the woman to follow. Once they both reach the bar, Sallie asks for a pad of paper and a pen. Both appear in front of Sun.

What follows is another motion from Sallie's mouth, to picking up the pen and writing. Spell it out, nice foreign lady.

[sun-hwa.livejournal.com]

She watches, curious: she was not always shy and was never so subservient. She saw it in her own mother growing up and vowed to never make those same mistakes once she was married.

And look what has happened! But Jin is not here, no matter how many times she turns around and scans the room and that means that while she is still Mrs. Kwon, she is also Sun. First and foremost, she is Sun.

She takes that pad from the lady. "Mil-li-ways." Stumbling a little over the double-l construct, she looks up in question. "Milliways? What is Milliways?" And why is it on the island? How could they have gone eight days without finding it before now?