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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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."