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So the door that Kate thought seemed to be in a strange place, given the layout of the bar, for a front door wasn't actually in a strange place because it wasn't the front door.

It led to the lake outside instead, and no matter what she does, she can't find a way back out.

She's seen people enter and leave, and she's tried almost everything short of looking for dynamite to blow away the section of wall where the door should be. And as much as she's wanted to get off the island, the lack of a door -- and knowledge that she can leave if she wants to -- is driving her a little crazy.

Tonight she sits outside on the ground near the lake, her arms propped on her knees, and looks out over it in much the same way she's gotten used to sitting on the beach and watching the tide come in. A half-empty bottle of beer sits on the grass beside her, and after a few minutes, her fingers make their way into the pocket of her jeans to pull out a tiny airplane.

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X, moving past the lake on her way somewhere else (even she is not sure where), pauses for a moment.

Eventually--

"Hello."

Beat.

"You have been here before."

It's almost not a question. Not quite.

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A little bit startled, she looks up.

(And automatically, the hand holding the toy plane lowers toward her pocket.)

After a moment, she smiles slightly. "Here by the lake?" She nods. "More than once."

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"Yes," X answers. "And at Milliways."

Beat.

"I am X-23."

Feeling awkward just makes X's poor social skills worse. She will get over it.

It just takes time.

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"That's right." Quickly and easily, the plane slips inside the pocket, and smiling crookedly, she nods. "Haven't been able to leave since I dropped in."

She lifts an eyebrow. "That a nickname or something? I'm Kate."

Pausing first, she nods toward the stretch of grass.

"Don't let me stop you from sitting, if that's what you're out here for."

She sure doesn't own any lakeside property.


(ooc: oh crap, ha, I'm sorry. Do you mind reposting under this one? Pretend you never saw that other journal!)

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"Okay."

X only hesitates another second--a half second, if that--before settling down in the grass, legs tucked neatly underneath her.

She's very efficient when she moves.

"It is my designation. Kate."

Beat.

"You can call me Laura."

It makes some people more comfortable. X still does not understand why, not quite.

[ooc: Sure, no problem! There was no other journal here. *solemn*]

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"All right, Laura."

She likes that. It's a little more personable than X-23.

"X-23 is your designation?" It brings to mind James Bond, 007, secret agents. "You're... not in the military or something, are you?"

Laura seems pretty young for that.

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"No," X says. "I was an X-man."

Beat.

"My team was disbanded. We are mutants."

That, at least, is still true.

"I am very good at fighting."

She's an experiment, really. X has learned not to tell everyone that--at least not when it isn't relevant.

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Her first thought is that X-23 is a reasonable name for someone who was an X-man.

Her second thought is...

"What, like that movie?" Skeptical, she gives Laura a sidelong look. That can't be right, can it? "Where I'm from, a couple years back, there was a movie with that name."

It was one of those popular summer movies back in... 2000, maybe? She saw it herself before she left Iowa.

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"Oh."

X sounds--not startled. Maybe a little blank.

"I do not watch movies. Much."

Beat.

"Except for Disney. We watched them here. In SARAH."

There is another pause, slightly longer.

"She is my friend. And an AI."

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She'd almost be worried she'd said something wrong if not for the fact that Laura was speaking about the same way before she even brought the movie up.

"I haven't seen a Disney movie in a long time."

She picks up her bottle just long enough to take a swallow of beer, and then she sets it right back down.

"You've got a friend who's an AI?" Between the mutants -- and at the moment she's too polite to ask how exactly Laura, who looks pretty normal, is one -- and AIs, she's really not sure what to make of tonight. She guesses her exposure level's been low so far. "I met guy here from a different planet, so I guess I've met an alien here. But other than the rats waiting tables, that's about as strange as it's gotten so far for me."

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"The alien was not blue?"

X looks very interested in this answer.

"That is Stitch. He is my friend, too."

Beat.

Oh, she asked about SARAH, too.

"SARAH is a house."

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Running a hand absently through her hair, she turns to face Laura fully.

"So you really did mean you watched the movie inside her." Her forehead wrinkles. "How does a house get here?"

But to answer the question she was asked she shakes her head slowly. "No, this guy looked pretty normal. Just like you or me. His name was Reno."

She'd definitely remember it if she'd met a blue alien named Stitch.

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"Oh."

Beat.

"He has red hair? I have met him, too."

She tilts her head, studying Kate.

"There is a door. Sometimes. It belongs to SARAH. There are sensors outside."

In case Kate ever sees it, of course.

"He is your friend? Reno."

[sun-hwa.livejournal.com]

It has been a week or so, and there is nothing to this place that she prefers now to the difficult life on the island. Everything reminds her of Jin: the ring on her finger, the clothes she is wearing -- he picked them out -- the length of her hair, the conservative heel of her shoes.

Tonight, she steps outside. There is a lady sitting by the lake with her back turned and for a minute, she looks familiar. No, it must be time and circumstance playing tricks on her. Still, as she gets closer she takes in a deep breath of surprise.

"Oh!" Immediately, her hand goes to her mouth; she leans forward.

"K-Kate?"

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She whirls around at the familiar voice, and even though she's pocketed the airplane in record time, she smiles genuinely -- and in total disbelief -- at the sight of Sun.

"Sun?" In seconds, she's on her feet, careful not to knock over her beer. "I--"

She shakes her head.

"How did you get here? When did you get here?"

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Kate must be very surprised.

She also knows that she cannot understand her words. ["I cannot answer you and you know it. We do not speak the same language, only we do. If I had expected to see you at this place, I never would have uttered a word of English to anybody."]

Slowly, she shakes her head: the things she does for her husband!

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She hesitates, confused, and then looks around, almost expecting to see Jin coming up behind Sun from the direction of the bar.

But there's no sign of him at all, and she chances a small lopsided smile.

"Sun, you don't need to do that." She shakes her head. "I haven't been here very long, but until just now I haven't seen anybody else I know here."

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That stops her: now she's confused.

"How... do you know?" The words are halting, heavily accented.

This cannot be. The only one who knows is Michael and he promised he would not say. But this is the only option, the only thing that makes any sense. "Was it Michael?"

She does not believe for a minute that Jin was right about him, but...

"I do not understand."

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"Michael?" Right away she shakes her head again. "You told me yourself."

She couldn't have forgotten that.

"I'm pretty sure everybody knows by now."

Why would Sun insist on suddenly speaking Korean again? If there's anybody on the island who still doesn't know, there's no reason she can think of for Sun to care.

And really, news can travel pretty fast back on the beach. She knows.

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"I did not tell you."

Or did she? Now she is very confused: how can this be? "I have been here for only a short time. Just before that, Jack took us to the cave. It was my first night there. The only person I have spoken to in English is Michael. I had to, to explain. About the watch, and why Jin attacked him."

Frowning, she shakes her head.

"I did not tell you." That must be repeated. "If Jin finds out he will be very angry with me. Please, do not tell him when you go back, Kate."

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Sun and Jin went to the caves weeks ago. And Michael and Jin... they're not the best of friends, but they worked hard together to get the raft built.

Almost looking worried, she hesitates before she answers. If Sun doesn't remember admitting that she speaks English -- if she and Jin just went to the cave -- that's... impossible.

That was after only about a week of being on the island.

That was before Michael started building the raft, before Claire was kidnapped, before Sayid left the beach.

"I think" -- she's not even sure how to say it -- "I've been on the island longer than you have." She puts a hand up. "But no, I won't tell Jin. I never told Jin."

Sun always used to be so concerned about Jin finding out.

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There is a time where she says nothing, because she has no words in any language to express what she is thinking. The concepts don't even exist.

"Kate." She appreciates that Kate will never tell Jin, or has never told Jin, but... "How can that be? How can you have been there longer? Unless..."

Oh, wait, this makes sense. "You just got here. So yes, you have been on the island longer than I have." Still, she cannot imagine a scenario where everyone knows that she speaks English. And that also does not explain how she could be there and here at the same time. Everyone here has told her that time does not pass when she is not there, so...

"How can this be?"

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Wide-eyed, Kate spreads her hands and shakes her head.

"I don't know."

She doesn't know how any of it's possible, much less this. Sun should be speaking English without fear. She should be worried about Jin leaving on the raft.

Does this mean she can't talk to Sun about what's happened in the three weeks she hasn't experienced yet? She can keep a secret, but this is pushing it.

"It sounds like I've been on the island almost three weeks longer."

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Three weeks?

That is impossible; she has not been at this place for three weeks herself. "Then when I can leave again I will go back and live three weeks on the island so I know what you are talking about."

That is the only way she can make things make sense.

"And no one else is here from the island? Or from the crash?" If Kate only arrived, how would she know? "How long have you been here?"

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If Sun can manage to do that, she won't tell her not to. Anything she could say would -- change things? like in some time-travel movie? -- pale in comparison to the actual experience. But how long can she go without talking about what's gone on?

"I haven't seen anyone else from the island, but I haven't been here very long." She runs a hand through her hair, letting it bunch there at the back of her head for a second. "At first I thought I was dreaming. Or I'd hit my head too hard."

She did fall from the ceiling, but she doesn't need Jack's medical background to tell her that her head's been fine.