milliways_bar | (no subject)

She thinks of the sunlight, and how temperate it is on the island, how things are in bloom there all the time. She thinks of Seoul and wonders what day it is there and how when she left, the temperatures were starting to cool so slightly from the hot days of August, and how she had known she would not be seeing Seoul again for a very long time. She thinks again of the island: its heat, its relentless sun and intense but brief rains, and of how hopeful they were those first few days for rescue. She still holds hope. She does not want to be the one responsible for holding time still there, but how can she be? Kate is here too, and she has spent more time on the island.

Nothing in her higher education has prepared her for a thing like this. She has not studied quantum physics. Only art history and music. Like any woman of good standing in her society, she knows how to behave. Her father is a wealthy and powerful man, and he and his family are both respected. Knowing how to function in Seoul society is not only expected but it is a given: she grew up with it. It's innate.

Today, Sun shivers and pulls her sweater around herself tightly as she walks the snowy path back into the bar. Nothing in her life has prepared her for life at a bar at the end of the universe. Most days, she thinks she has simply gone mad. Today, she takes a cup of tea into her hands. It feels very real and for that, she is grateful.

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"Glad you think so -- irritates the gou shi out of me time and again."

Says the woman who has had her life saved by magic on numerous occasions.

"But it's better than searching for an answer where no other one besides 'magic' exists."

"Gou shi. Does that mean what I think it does?" Her teacup hides a mild smile now: Sallie is very straightforward, and Sun appreciates that.

Rarely is anyone straightforward with her.

Smirk. "Maybe. Old ladies are allowed to cuss you know.

"Or...maybe they aren't, where you're from?"

"Only when they are with other ladies."

She tries so hard not to smile, but it is no use. Her smile widens, and then it is a laugh, and this might be the first time she's laughed in a long time now. "Oh, Sallie. It is... not fun being stranded here, but I can only be distressed about it for so long."

Setting the teacup down -- it's in grave danger of spilling, she laughs so hard -- she mutters the words beneath her breath. "Gou shi. There. That is for all the sadness and heaviness."

"Oh, honey." Sallie reaches forward, a white hand laying against Sun's darker tone. "You'll be alright. And you're absolutely correct; you can't stay down about your situation forever."

Sallie doesn't add her normal gruffness to the pep talk that she might otherwise give an employee: You could be dead, after all.

"Come on now -- what have you found in Milliways that's been entertaining? There has to be at least something."

She casts a glance around: this is not a place she has looked at through rose-colored glasses but there are things that have caught her interest. "Well..."

Her eyes stray to the area above the bar. "I have always wondered why there are ladies' undergarments hanging up there." By ladies' undergarments she means a neon yellow bra.

"And some of the people are just... funny."

That's all she's willing to give at the moment, but it's a start.

Sallie starts to joke -- funny-haha or funny-lookin'? -- before thinking against it as possibly being beyond Sun's English comprehension.

As for the bra: "I have to admit I don't have the first clue about that thing. I never gave it much thought however. Suppose it has to do with having a daughter-in-law that's a Companion. Though I hope she's not leaving her silks about all over the place, but you get the idea."

Curious, she looks from Sallie to the bra. A companion?

Oh, that kind of companion. "So that belongs to your daughter-in-law?"

"Oh, no. I highly doubt Inara would wear anything quite that...vibrant," Sallie laughs. "She's retired, anyhow."

"Oh! I am so sorry. I misunderstood." It's safe to chance her tea again, she picks it up and takes a sip. It's cooled and that's a shame, but she will drink it anyway.

"I made a decision. A day or two after I met you. What I decided was this: anything I asked for here, I would eat or drink. On the island, where our airplane crashed, there is very little in the way of food beyond what we forage or catch. This is my way of... not taking advantage of things. For those still on the island."

Sallie considers this for a minute.

"Seems as fair as you could probably manage, though I would suggest something." Not revealing what that something is at the moment, she asks, "How long were you on the island before you came here? Long enough to get a lay o' the landscape at all?"

"A little. Eight days." She has a good idea of the coastline in front of their beach and the way between the beach and the caves. Because of Jin she has not been on any discovery parties, but she knows somebody who has.

"Why do you ask?"

"Start doin' research," Sallie answers as if it were the most evident thing in the world. "Find five billion ways to cook the exact same kind o' fish. Maybe some botany books to see if any of the plants on the island have medicinal value?"

She gives Sallie a little knowing nod. "Oh, they do." There's no apology in it. "I know a great deal about plants and their properties. Already, I have found... how do you say the word? Eucalyptus?" She makes a breathing-in sound, fans the air with her hand. "And aloe for burns."

And she knows how to cook the fish, and so does Jin: he is the son of a fisherman, not that Sallie has any way of knowing these things.

"I will research other things, though. There will be plants I do not know. Thank you."