psychologic_cal (psychologic_cal) wrote in rrinitiative, @ 2012-11-20 20:48:00 |
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Entry tags: | cal, cal and jun-he, day eight, jun-he |
Guides
Characters: Cal and Jun-he
Setting: Library, morning
Though naturally Jun-he would have been delighted to find the box of food items he had requested, something about the dreary morning just unsettled his thought process. A calming effect took him over as he unloaded the heads of Chinese lettuce, finding them to be in great, fresh shape. There was always a sense of ease when working with menial tasks, especially when it came to preparing a process that took patience and time.
He gathered three large bowls, filling them with water and then mixed in an abundance of sea salt into them. Washing the leaves of lettuce he placed each head in a corresponding bowl, making sure to loosen them to properly get soaked.
Being on top of things, Jun-he had came prepared with a pink sticky note with please leave to soak - Jun-he on it. Seemingly his day was going to go by in silence, only speaking through notes. He scoffed at his own thought. At least it was somewhat peaceful.
Remaining within his fluttering thoughts, he washed his hands off of the salt water then leaned his back against the counter. All he wanted to do was take a moment before heading off to find something to keep him entertained a while. There was still a whole day to kill before he could do anything else with the lettuce. Eventually though, he would have to let Mazie and Carmel know that everything had came. But that could wait for when he felt more in the mood to hole himself up in his room for a while. He just needed to get out of there for some time now.
Moving off the counter, he decided to head off to the library, look up some simple material to work with Mazie. Perhaps he could teach her to translate English into Korean. That would of course take some time but... at least it was something.
With a casual step, the Korean crossed the courtyard and made his way to his destination, stopping short of the doorway. Reminding himself of the awful incident in the activity room, he lit up a cigarette and leaned on the wall just next to the door. He was sure someone would complain about getting smoke in the book pages or something if he mindlessly lit up in there.
Sooner or later, Cal was going to find Jun-he’s work in the kitchen if he ever bothered to go for some breakfast. But as always, there didn’t seem to be any time in the morning for those basics. He needed to get downstairs, to go over pending meetings for the day like Kasper’s, to send out Susanna’s test results and finish the sketches for Leandro’s apparatus.
But before that? He needed to stop at the library and dig for a book. It had been a long, long time since Cal had done anything like engineering, and even with the simple project he had in mind? He wanted a refresher first. So he’d been heading that way at a steady pace, caught up in his own thoughts when he spotted Jun-he lingering outside the library door. “Now I’m gonna guess you must be Jun-he,” he called in greeting, putting on his customarily bright smile as he closed in on the other man. There only seemed to be a few Asians in the mix here, and Cal knew who Wu and Jae both were. “Must be my lucky day, catchin’ you on my way over here. Cal Royce, doctor to the lot of us,” he introduced with an offered hand.
Jun-he rose his brow at the sound of another voice. He peered into the room as he approached, putting on a little smile to return his friendly exterior. “Ah, I think it is good luck then,” he replied, growing a little less weary than he had been of the handshake thing everyone was so fond of. He took the hand in his and gave a respectful nod. “I was unsure of how to approach our required meeting, so I am glad it worked out this way instead.”
“Wouldn’t mind a touch of good luck ‘round here,” Cal said with that faint drawl of his, shaking and releasing Jun-he’s hand. “And yeah, no complaints on my end at bumpin’ into you like this. Seems like it’s a full plate for me today.” Between Kasper and Kyle on their own, Cal knew his mind would’ve already been occupied. But topping it off with working on Leandro’s project and, really, who knew what else today? It had him wishing he could’ve at least shed his thoughts on Caroline’s death. At least.
Still, none of it showed up in his lazy smile as Cal slipped into the library with just the faintest lean under the doorway; more a habit than a necessity. “Though I gotta say I’m a touch surprised we haven’t met yet; did a round of checkups for folks a while back and I managed a lot of face time that way. Oughta do another,” he mused more to himself than Jun-he. “And I’m guessin’ you aren’t from the states, saw those posts on the journals not too long ago. Korean?” Cal asked curiously, genuinely unsure.
Jun-he chuckled gently, a little caught off guard by the identification. “Mmh,” he sounded first, nodding his head slightly, “You are right.” He withdrew his hand after the shake, making an awkward gesture as though he had been caught for something. “I don’t really go see doctors,” he admitted, following with another little chuckle. “I guess that is why we haven’t met yet.” Perhaps that was the point of their assigned pairing.
“But Korea is my home,” he added with a glimmer of pride as he continued into the library, snuffing out his cigarette in the lid of his pack. It had gained many slight holes since butting heads with Susanna the other day.
“Saw the characters on your journal, thought I might give ‘em a guess,” Cal reassured him easily, giving a little shrug. “And that’s not real uncommon, y’know. Skippin’ the doctor and all. Doesn’t even take a record to do it, though it can make it harder to get what you might call ‘quality healthcare’.” He’d seen way too much of it; poorly-healed fractures, eyes that had milked over from neglect, breathing impairments and limps and on and on. “If you ever feel like it, c’mon down and we’ll check for any problems,” he offered, moving into the library and pulling a chair out from one of the desks.
Following by pulling a chair of his own from across Cal, Jun-he settled onto it, leaning the bulk of his weight on his elbows. “It takes some time to write those,” he explained, “As I do not have a korean keyboard, I have to guess what key to press when changing the language. But I am becoming used to it now.” He shifted back a bit, removing one of his arms from the top of the desk and running the hand through his hair. “I don’t really like thinking about hospitals,” he admitted, reminding himself of the first time he had stepped foot in one and being at his father’s bedside. It gave him the creeps, even making him skip out of sticking around his own hospital room after coming out of critical condition upon receiving the unsightly gash on his neck. “Too weird sometimes.” Not that he had anything against the resident doctor.
“That’s pretty common too,” Cal agreed with a nod, “A lot of folks don’t. Hospitals kinda represent finality to ‘em, it’s the place where people go to die. The lights, the antiseptic smell, the glimpses you get walkin’ past doors... it takes some getting used to.” It had for him, even; graduating from medical classes and a cadaver to real people with countless ailments had been a huge shift, and that was before factoring in the emotions those people tended to carry. “Mind me askin’ about that scar?” he went on, tapping his own neck, “Looks like it healed alright, but it had to hurt like hell gettin’ it.”
Having glanced off to a bookshelf, Jun-he suddenly cocked an eyebrow at the question, turning his full attention back on Cal. “It’s too public of a place for all that,” he said as a matter of fact. Which was exactly part of what bothered him about it. All that end of life stuff while being watched by countless of strangers. “But as for this,” he his left fingertips over the line of his scar, “The only time anyone really got me in a fight.” There had been scrapes and bruises, never broken bones, but that wound was the real deal. It had nearly killed him. He chuckled, taking his eyes off his present company again, looking onward to nothing as though drawn in to a fond memory. “A lot of jobs I was asked to do in my home, and I did them well, but everyone comes close to losing it all in the kind of life I lead.” Speaking in the present wasn’t exactly a language fumble, but neither was it a purposeful point. It just was what it was. “I am sure you have seen worse, so I think of myself as lucky.”
Cal nodded at that, silently agreeing. He’d seen much worse in his time as a doctor, but that didn’t keep him from guessing at how severe the old wound must’ve been. An injury there could easily prove to be lethal, and often times it was just that. “I’d call it lucky, yeah,” he agreed after a moment, “And here’s hopin’ it’s the last time you need that kind of luck. Probability’s always workin’ against us, you know? Survival rate drops to zero for everyone at some point.” And it was odd to even be here and discussing that, both for reasons they had all discussed with the facility, and for the cultural hurdles between himself and Jun-he.
There was none of the normal brashness Cal would’ve expected from an inmate, instead Jun-he had a sort of calm collectedness about him. He was very even, and that was odd just for how little Cal could analyze from him. “You settling in here okay, though?” he asked then, “I figure the culture gap’s pretty wide from South Korea to here, even before you factor in the penal system and then coming to the facility.”
Everyone did expire sooner or later.
Jun-he gave a little shrug at the question. “It’s many different cultures from this one. Jail is something else here on its own,” he explained, working through it verbally for the first time, “I spent four years there and when I come to understand it, I now face a new culture with this place.” The culture shock was twice fold for the Korean. He had spent far less time in normal American society than he did in prison. It was like facing it again for the first time, albeit far less normal than society itself.
“But otherwise, yes,” he answered, making a little grin, “But how about you? It can’t be easy even for a doctor to settle from prison to here.”
“It’s not so bad, actually,” Cal corrected with a little shrug, “I did work with the same prison I ended up in, which isn’t lost on me as far as irony. Did a lot of rehabilitative and preventative work with the inmates.” Half-true, but enough so for Cal to handle it. He needed the vague details about his actual training to stay that way, no one behaved the same if they knew they were dealing with a psychiatrist. “And if there’s ever somethin’ you’re not clear about, as far as the culture in the States? Shoot a message my way, man,” he offered, grinning easily. “Lord knows most of my days are pretty quiet down in the clinic, an’ I know I count that as a blessing.”
Appreciating the offer, Jun-he widened a smile. There was only so much he could do learning English off of his teaching Korean to Mazie that it was nice to have someone just want to help out with the cultural difficulties. “Ah but then if there’s a time you want to not be a doctor for a day, you can shoot me a message too,” he offered in return. “Even doctors take some days off.” Which he imagined was a little difficult where they were, considering he was seemingly their only source of medical care.
Cal laughed at that, nodding in agreement. “Plus I don’t think most of the fellas ‘round here’d mind being taken care of by the nurses,” he cracked. “We’d be seein’ a spike in stomach aches just so they could go sit and smile pretty.” And he did need to figure out a way to get clear of the clinic more often, though Cal wouldn’t feel right about it without finishing some of the projects he’d offered. But if he could step clear and just exhale? Maybe go swim? It’d be a whole different world again, just like that first blissful day here. “Count on me takin’ that offer sometime soon,” he assured Jun-he, “I don’t even need to know what we’re doin’, a change is a change.”
It may have been a bit of a predictable turn of the conversation, but Jun-he could still appreciate the lighthearted jokes of man. “Nurse?” he echoed in curiosity, entirely oblivious to the whole medical part of the facility. Though he shouldn’t have been so surprised. It seemed they had thought of everything when picking their elusive members of the project. “Ah but maybe she should take some time off too then,” he suggested lightly. No need for a bunch of criminals to corner a lone nurse in the basement.
Then Cal had taken him up on the offer. He was a little conflicted about it, though not burdened by the idea. There was a whole new way of life to live and the Korean needed to learn to live it. He could only hide for so long before having to fully assimilate into the community. In some ways he was definitely glad it was finally happening. He closed his eyes briefly. “But I will look forward to hearing from you on the matter. Forget how to be a doctor for a day, maybe more in the future,” he followed, wagging his finger gently.
That got another rich laugh from Cal as he nodded, holding up both hands in resignation at the idea. “I think I can take a crack at it,” he promised, mentally chiding himself for not doing so sooner. Still, better late than never. “And yeah, I got two helpers downstairs, Becka and Violet. Stop by an’ meet ‘em sometime, they’re both sweethearts,” Cal added, thinking either lady might find Jun-he’s naivety about America endearing. And they could all use more friends in here. “Speakin’ of downstairs, though,” he went on with a sigh, “I got a few appointments today that I’d best not be late for. Time to raid these shelves, see if they got what I need.”
“Returning to what you know best,” Jun-he added to the information. Which was rather ironic, seeing as they were just talking about forgetting it for a while. Though he didn’t expect him to do so right then and there, the irony still was not lost on him. He nodded, shifting in his seat slightly. “Maybe I will stop by soon.” It might not be his favorite place to schedule in, but at least it was something to do.</lj>