fandomtownies | Around the Stone, Friday Night

Around the Stone, Friday Night

As the sun went down, the stone, hidden within the woods, lit up bright.

Small lights drifted into the sky, calling-- to lost souls and lost dreams. Calling, calling, calling, until one became the other, and the other became the one. Then they returned to the stone, coalescing in a bright cacaphony of color.

... and then seeped into the stone.

A pathway opened up, between the island and what laid beyond. On that pathway, shapes became clear. Human shapes.

They were walking.

[[ thus begins field of dreams weekend. the dead may arrive now, any time between sundown on Friday and sunup on Saturday, and remain until sundown on Sunday. post can be open for establishy pings. ]]

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Well, one of those shapes was wearing a cowboy hat and looked distinctly unimpressed by the castle and the stairs everywhere.

Leave it to Goody to end up in a place like this without him.

He shook his head and started for town to find hide or hair of the man in question. He hoped it wouldn't be difficult, but experience said he'd probably get more cold shoulders than not.

"It's not as bad as it looks," Kathy said, giving those same stairways a fond smile. "And there are plenty of places you can go once you get to town to take a rest." She gave him a nod in greeting and a small smile.

Billy eyed the girl for a moment at that.

"That so." Didn't even let it turn into a question. Just a flat statement of disbelief.

"Well...yes," Kathy said, a bit confused. "Why wouldn't there..."

Her eyes dropped to his clothing, really taking it all in. They reminded her of her day in Deadwood, the crude comments, and the insults people had thrown out easily as breathing.

Squaring her shoulders a bit, she said, "I highly recommend the coffee shop, though you might have trouble getting just a plain coffee. They like to make things fancy there. And Luke's Diner, if it's still open. Whether you want burgers or bibimbap, they've got it."

Okay, the bibimbap threw him. Obviously threw him. He'd almost gotten used to being mistaken for Chinese by idiotic white people in his time in this country.

"I'm just here to see a friend," he finally said. Yes, his 'travelling companion' friend. Best pal. Good buddy.

Well, yeah, but...white people. They could tell you their genealogy down to the 1/16th Saxon on their grandmother's side, but the ethnicity of anybody else was a complete mystery.

"Yeah," Kathy said, her smile turning sad. "Me too."

More than one, really, but still. She was eighteen and dead and that sucked.

Weren't they just precious like that? Precious little idiots. Granted Korea was still pretty isolated where he was coming from.

Billy nodded in understanding, looking back at the mess of city. He was much happier to deal with one street frontier towns, thanks. "Billy," he offered, going with that name out of habit.

Yeah, but it wasn't in her time and they were STILL like that.

"Kathy," she said, since her parents had gone with American first names and Korean middle ones to help them 'blend in.' "May I ask who you're visiting? I might know them. Or at least where they can be found."

Well, in that case, they all sucked. Simple as that.

And that whole name also kept from the constant eyetwitch of butchering the pronunciation. Or that could have just been because Goody's attempts always leaned Cajun French and no. Just no.

"Goodnight Robicheaux." He eyed her for a moment for recognition. She was probably too young to have followed that damned war of this country's, but you never knew.

That poor man. If she'd known that he had to do with Cajun pronunciations, she'd be speaking in Korean just to remind him that other people could.

"Sorry," she said, with no sign of recognition. "They must have shown up after I..." She trailed off. "Left."

"Hard to miss if you do see him," Billy said dryly. He was covered in those stupid fleur de lis. We get it, Goody. You're super Cajun. "He's... showy."

There was a hint of fondness buried in his tone, though.

Kind of reminded her of the way Eliot spoke of Hardison sometimes, surface grouch and understated care.

"There aren't many people on the island," Kathy said. "If you can't find him right away, someone will be able to point you in the right direction."

Even in Fandom, 'the old-fashioned cowboy with fleur de lis' would likely stand out.

Just a tiny bit. But then again, there might be another Civil War veteran running around, waiting for an Asian gentleman caller.

That'd just be weird though, right?

"Will they."

Hey, as far as he knew, she was in the same boat of all that 19th century bullshit.

Honestly, on this island, you never knew.

"We don't get many new faces around here," Kathy said wryly. "The school up on the hill gets new folks about three times a year," she gestured towards the castle, "the town fewer still. There's a hotel in town he might be staying at, might be a good place to start."

So, you know, just saunter through the front doors and say you were looking for someone. No problems there, right Billy?

"If he's not registered there, one of the bars might be another place to check."

Billy shot her a look like maybe she was simple. "People are just that nice here."

"In a word?" Kathy shot him a wry look. "Yes."

Oh god, how to explain the past one hundred years of racial progress? Without getting too Tumblr about it?

"I'm guessing things have changed a bit since what you're used to," she said, eyeing his clothes. "Let's just leave it at you can walk in the front door of any public building and no one will think twice about it. And anyone who does try to give you trouble for being Korean--" or whatever flavor of East Asian they assumed he was "--will be the one in the wrong."

With a shrug, she added, "There are still racists. Still lots of racists. Probably always will be. But racism's a lot...quieter now. Different. It hides in the shadows instead of standing out in the daylight."

Well, he could certainly believe that there were still folk out there who would try to start something because he looked different.

Because yes, pick a fight with the heavily armed man who could throw a knife before you could pull your gun. Great plan, buddy.

"That doesn't surprise me."

"The only people it does surprise are naive white people who think racism was defeated because we have a black president," Kathy muttered.

...Oh lord, please be kind and don't let her find out who the president-elect was.

Orange he was the first orange president. And orange, in this case, was not the new black.

"Because they've never been called boy or Chinaman," Billy replied dryly.

"Or tell you you're so pretty, like a doll," Kathy grimaced. "Or chase you around the playground yelling, 'Ching chong ding dong'. Or ask if Asian girls really have sideways--Never mind."

Ahh, racism.

"...can't say any of those happened to me," Billy replied with subdued humor lacing his voice. It had gotten easier with Goody. And then that partnership had become a new thing to be careful about.

~Friends~

"You grew up here?" He sort of felt bad for her about that.

"No, I grew up in California," Kathy said. "Los Angeles. Came here for high school. But people are people everywhere, you know?"

"Same thing," he replied with a shrug. "Don't think I've run into any other Koreans before now."

"I'm first generation, my parents came over maybe a decade before they had me." Her expression saddened, thinking of what could have happened to her family after she died. "Noy white enough to be properly American, not Korean enough to truly please my parents. We grew up in Korea town, but it's pretty mixed by now. Lots of tourist spots, lots of Hispanic families. I grew up speaking Spanish, Korean, and English at the same time."

Which her parents had been just thrilled about, really.

"You? Where'd you grow up?"

So, basically the weird little group Chisolm pulled together was normal now?

"Busan," he replied, uncomfortable with how foreign it sounded to his ears after so long in this country.

Sorry, Kathy. Goody was the one who pulled more conversation out of him for the most part.

Kathy had grown up in one of the most multicultural neighborhoods in LA. Coming to the island, seeing mostly white faces and hearing only English had taken a lot to get used to.

"My dad's side of the family is in Daegu," Kathy said, nodding. "Though usually when we visit, we visited my mom's family in Seoul."

Idly, she wondered if Busan, Daegu, or Seoul still existed anymore in her world, or if they'd been overrun by exes as well. Likely the latter.

Edited 2017-01-14 20:25 (UTC)

"Can't say I went that far north," he replied dryly. "Busan, Guangzhou, San Francisco..."

Because multiculturalism had been more an necessity of survival rather than expected on his part.

One minute there was blank nothingness and the next, the island was all around her. She closed her eyes and inhaled, pulling in deep lungfuls of the familiar scents. "Thank you," she whispered, kneeling down to pat the rock. "For this chance to say a proper goodbye."

Well, this was...different. Not exactly the sort of place she'd expected to find Hannibal Lecter, social butterfly. But then again, it wasn't like he'd never surprised her before, either.

Well, she wasn't getting any younger (or older) standing here, so. She straightened her scarf, tugged down her sweater, and headed toward what looked like civilization.

So this was where Hanna had ended up. Eric looked around, carefully cataloging the weather, the terrain, the time of year, and the smallness of the town. She could have done worse; he would have preferred it if she were in an urban area, easier to blend in and slip out of. The shop signs were in English, so: England, America, or Australia.

Time to reconnoiter.

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Around the Stone, Friday Night

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