WHO: Sue Kim & Shin Kim WHAT: Sue thinks about the raids, and quizzes her dad about Political Stuff. WHEN: Sometime during the week, I'm not picky. WHERE: The Kims' apartment in District 3. RATING: R -- for REVOLUTION! and/or G for feel Good times. whoo, father/daughter chats!
SUE: Normally, when given a bounty of salad greens from their green-minded neighbor, fresh from the rooftop, Sue would be bustling around the kitchen, singing the praises of urban farming and getting her father to look forward to the fresh meal. And while she'd been appropriately enthusiastic when she'd met the neighbor at the door, once they'd been sent on their way (with, of course, the promise to come up the next day and help out with tomato seedlings and weeding and putting up nets to keep out pigeons), Sue'd returned to the kitchen table and simply set the greens aside.
All of her attention was instead focused on her iHolo. She sat, scrolling through entries and bringing up new windows in her holographic screen with the faintest flicks of her fingertips, scrolling through reading material and watching videos. Anyone looking over her shoulder would see that the material had mostly to do with the recent raids, and the Housing & Redistricting Act in general. Sue looked pensive, and a rarely-seen frown just barely turned down the corners of her mouth as she read.
SHIN: "Some light reading, eh?" Despite his arguably 'plodding' style of movement, Shin-hwa Kim had the frustrating habit of sneaking up behind people in complete silence. He gave his daughter's iHolo screen a cursory glance with a vague expression, trodding past her and into the kitchen where the basket of rooftop greens sat neglected in the sink.
"Hm, fresh." He commented - with no small amount of disappointment - as he picked up a cabbage from the basket. There was a light clattering and the sound of running water as he set about rinsing and prepping some vegetables, and no doubt pondering on if he could successfully ferment the leaves for some nice kimchi. Still, he kept a very discreet eye on his daughter, waiting for a reaction.
SUE: "Oh, sorry, I was going to get that," Sue apologized absent-mindedly, glancing over at the sink. She frowned at the holographic screens for a moment longer, and then with a heavy sigh, hit the button that made them all disappear in the blink of an eye.
"The raids were a total mess," she said, leaning forward onto her elbows, chin cupped in her hands. "I mean, from all sides. Like, they totally sucked for people like us, but I'm sure the police didn't have an easy time either - they're just doing their jobs, as everyone that isn't all 'down with man!' keeps saying." She chewed on her lip for a moment, before leaning back again and spreading her arms as she continued. "So, okay, you can't blame the people, and you can't blame the police, so you have to go higher up, right? But how high? Should criticism be leveled at the officials who ordered the raids in the first place? Or should it go all the way to the top, like, the Housing and Redistricting Act itself?"
With this last question, Sue pauses, looking up at her father. They didn't often talk politics - Sue's preoccupations tended to be more in the moment - but she knew he had pretty strong convictions, if only from overhearing debates with Larry.
SHIN: Throughout his daughter's out-loud thought process Shin busily scrubbed and set aside vegetables, with the general air of someone who was only half listening. To more than the casual observer, however, he was watching Sue keenly out of the corner of his eye as she reasoned her way through the complexities of leveling bureaucratic blame. It's true that he didn't often talk politics with his daughter, having long ago made a promise to his wife to avoid indoctrinating his offspring with any sort of radical theory.
"Tough question." He answered in a calculatedly offhand tone. "Maybe better question is, instead of finding out who to blame, you find out who can make the changes, for the better? Two questions, probably same result."
SUE: There was a pause as Sue considered the new question. As the seconds ticked away, her brow became still more furrowed. "Right, okay, like... elected officials? Or letter-writing campaigns and stuff? But I feel like, even if this were something that we could take to the people, and we could vote on it, I don't know that it would necessarily be better? There's a lot of fear-mongering, and a ton of people who really believe that the Housing and Redistricting Act, and everything that's coming along with it, are keeping us safe." Again, she stopped, chewing on her lip for a second before she directed yet another question at her father.
"Do you think it's keeping us safe? Do you think it serves any kind of good purpose?"
SHIN: Shin's lips settled into a thin, pursed line as he lay a chopping pad down on the table and drew out an appropriate knife. With Larry he could happily give air to some untamed vitriol, a nice argumentative catharsis, but talking politics with his daughter forced a much more rational and calculated approach.
"I think it makes people feel safe." He said begrudgingly, amidst the chopping of vegetables. "Some people, anyway. It keeps order, but at high cost. A program made for the good of the city, but that turned out to be good for keeping people under control. Sometimes the government, it needs to make unpopular decisions, eh? But sometimes it also doesn't know when to stop, when it should. The time for the districts, the witchhunts, they're over. We need to find new ways to move forward, not keep things the same."
SUE: "It does kind of feel like ghettos, sometimes," Sue admitted, getting up and moving towards the cabinets. "But at the same time, refugees do need a place to live, and having designated places is helpful. It just feels weird to have it so regimented, and such big areas... and yeah, the witchhunts, that's scary." Her voice echoed dully in the cabinets, as she moved around jars and boxes. Finally, she reached up with a satisfied little noise; when the cabinet banged shut a moment later, she was holding a bag of dried chilis.
"I've seen a lot of stuff about letting the foreign nationals go home, which I think I agree with. I mean, it's ridiculous, keeping everyone here. There cannot be reasonable doubt for every last tourist or exchange student that got stuck here, y'know? Poor Sora hasn't seen her family in years. Do you want me to grind these up and we can try to make kimchi?" she asked, holding up the bag with a grin.
SHIN: Shin's head bobbed in assent to the chilis; he was already dicing up the cabbage to the same effect. "This is a good point. Keeping foreign nationals trapped, it will not help root out terrorists. Just create unrest. These things, the government needs to rethink. They need people to--" He catches himself before finishing his sentence, feeling the old revolutionary verve beginning to raise his pitch. He's not going to start planting seeds of seditious activity in his daughter's mind.
"Fah." He grunted instead, making a dismissive gesture with the hand that wasn't holding a kitchen knife. "At least Sora, she is okay. She's a good girl, she stays with us as long as she needs."
SUE: "And it'd create more room for others to live, too," Sue added, tossing the bag of chilis lightly on top of the kitchen table as she turned towards fridge. There was a scrape of wood against linoleum as she kicked a chair over to hop on top of, the better to retrieve a battered old food processor from the top. "They need people to do what?" she asked curiously, glancing over her shoulder. There was really no point in affirming Sora's goodness, or thanking her father for letting her stay. That was never in doubt!
SHIN: Shin covered his momentary discomfort about being put in the political spotlight by hunching further over his cutting board, emitting the usual vague grumbly sounds that followed him everywhere like a personal soundtrack. "They need people," he finally answered, his tone taking on a wry hint as he scraped the pile of diced cabbage into a bowl. "To ask those questions."
He reached out to ruffle her hair with his free hand, his primary gesture of affection since she was a toddler. "You finish with chilis, eh? I'll find your mother's kimchi pot." He gave her cranium one last squeeze before slouching out of the kitchen, to go rummaging through one of the overpacked closets in their home.
SUE: "Yeah, but...!" the protest trailed off as Shin left the room, leaving Sue to frown after him in confusion. "That is so not an answer," she grumbled, unwittingly mirroring her father's demeanor as she hopped down with the food processor and grabbed the chilis again. Still, the issues weighed on her mind as she set about preparing ingredients for kimchi. She resolved to seek out one of her more politically-minded friends and discuss the matter with them.