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Sungmin Jang ([info]haksaeng) wrote in [info]silverage,
@ 2011-06-14 23:12:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:!log, locke cole, sungmin jang

Who: Sungmin Jang and Locke Cole
When: Wednesday evening
Where: Gramercy Park Hotel, Manhattan
What: Drinks, drinks, drinks - boys' version? XD
Rating/status: TBD



Sungmin was, he felt, a pretty smart guy. Overall, at least. He did well in school, he was doing well overseas - had been doing well - and it hadn't taken him long to figure out that the New York he'd landed in wasn't the one he'd been aiming for. After an initial period of panicking and frantically trying to call his parents, who were probably infants at the oldest (and how weird was that to think about?), he'd decided to try and ride this out. Stranger things had happened to people, right?

Right?

Well, maybe not, Sungmin told his beer. He'd thought all of the shit that had gone down with his family had been pretty strange - he'd never have thought his grandfather capable of murder, even indirectly, or that his mother would ever pull a gun on anyone - but he almost missed it now. Just in case this was punishment for his lack of filial piety, he swore to God every night that he'd forgive his father and go home to make amends right away.

Since God didn't seem to be listening, Sungmin also swore the same thing to alcohol, which seemed to respond much more quickly.

He'd learned fairly quickly to stick to hotel bars. He was even more out of place here than he had been in the 21st century, but at least at a hotel, the other patrons assumed that he was just a traveler: a wealthy tourist perhaps, or maybe the son of a diplomat - which was nearly true. At places like these, with their muted lighting and discrete bartenders, he could wallow in peace. He was going to have to start cutting back, though. His money was running low, and while he could occasionally win himself some free drinks (probably through the novelty of a drunk foreigner with horrible English), this wasn't a sustainable lifestyle if he didn't want to live on the streets.

And that was just unfathomable.

He'd been trying to save money, sort of. He spent his days looking for jobs, but the time period seemed to be against him. Or maybe it was his English ability again. Or maybe it was the way he still balked at doing certain menial tasks, even for money. He'd have to get over that soon.

Tomorrow sounded good.

Tonight... tonight, he'd just nurse this beer for as long as he could so he'd have enough money to have a place to sleep for the next night, even if he really just wanted to down a few shots of soju to put his head into a nice fuzzy place where he wasn't trapped in a strange city in a strange time period.

Sigh.

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[info]lockecole
2011-06-20 09:32 am UTC (link)
Politics! Locke was impressed. It was such a dirty thing to get into but given his job and how closely he worked with the leaders of his faction, there was very little chance of him escaping it. Nevertheless, he knew better than to really get into it.

He was sort of tickled by Sungmin's question, too. How did he end up in treasure hunting? That sounded like he had a choice! Or maybe he did have a choice, technically, but--

"How did I end up in treasure hunting? I just did! Y'know, it's not such a bad idea, I mean, I guess you can say I lived in the middle of nowhere but for someone like me, I knew every nook and cranny of that area." After a couple of grazes, gashes, bruises and a black eye, that is. "So y'know, as far as being an adventurer is concerned, there's not a lot of," fingers wiggling on the air, "'competition' waiting for you out there, just your normal creeps and bullies. And really, getting lost isn't half as fun as getting lost and ending up a couple of treasures richer." He winked at the younger man.

"But really, you should tell me about your studies!" Locke inched closer. "So you used to be into politics like your father? Politics had always interested me," a half lie, "but I was never brave enough to get into it."

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[info]haksaeng
2011-06-25 06:32 am UTC (link)
Locke's life sounded positively fantastical from Sungmin's point of view. He'd grown up in the middle of a large city, surrounded by people whose version of treasure-hunting would probably have been buying the land in question and hiring miners to excavate it. Bullies would've been dealt with by local police or private security.

So to be considered brave for studying politics seemed strange, but well, if Locke saw his own life as normal, politics probably did seem exotic.

Or something. Sungmin still didn't quite get it.

"My studies were kind of boring," he admitted. "But it's different in textbooks. My dad ran for president at home, and it seemed fine at first, but..." Sungmin grimaced, not having drunk enough to keep unpleasant memories from surfacing. He paused to finish off his beer. "He won, but it kind of destroyed my family. Because of my grandfather, some innocent people died, and everything I knew about my father changed."

He shrugged expansively, and gave a humorless little chuckle. "On the other hand, I found a half-brother I didn't know about before. I guess that was the 'treasure' I got out of the whole thing."

And he did love Minki, really, but that wasn't how he would've wanted to find out about having a real brother.

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[info]lockecole
2011-06-26 03:42 am UTC (link)
Locke gasped. A son of a president!

...what was a president?

If he ran to be a president, then it means that he had to be elected then it means that it has to be something like a governor or a mayor! Interesting! Now, Locke wasn't very sure of his hypothesis but it worked for him so he wrinkled his brows and slightly pressed his lips together and nodded at Sungmin. Yes, he understood.

The effects of politics in family was not new to Locke, however. He knew of how bad it could destroy homes, lives and futures, and they could destroy them quite literally! Then again, he wasn't really thinking of mayors or governors, he was thinking more of the big ones...like kings and emperors.

Maybe Sungmin's grandfather was an emperor! Emperors were always evil! Locke would have gasped if that just didn't sound too prejudicial.

"W, well that's great, then!" he said to Sungmin about his brother with a gesture of his hand, that one that held his bottle. "I mean, I'd never know, I never had a brother, but I like what you said! About him being your treasure. That was really, really nice." And his smile said of this.

"People can be treasures, too," he said to agree, drinking down his bottle. After ordering for a second bottle, he added, "A lot of things can be treasures. So how is he? Is he back home?"

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[info]haksaeng
2011-06-30 09:04 am UTC (link)
"I guess so," Sungmin replied hesitantly, though he wasn't quite sure which part of what Locke said he was responding to. It was great to have a brother, but maybe he wasn't really a treasure? Hearing Locke gush about it made it sound a little strange, though Sungmin could never be sure if that was just because his English was still bad.

So, as he did with most things he didn't understand when it came to English, Sungmin gave Locke a vague smile and a small nod, and ignored that part of the dialogue.

At least he knew that he was agreeing (somewhat) with something good.

"I mean, I don't think he'd left." The smile had faded into something rather more perplexed. How to explain that he really had no idea what was going on because his brother hadn't even been born yet and his parents were probably toddlers right now. Weird. But Locke seemed kind of weird too - or perhaps Sungmin had just been hanging out in the wrong places.

"It's a little complicated," he added. "I haven't talked to him in a while. I can't get a hold of him for some reason." Like being in the wrong century, but that hadn't stopped Sungmin from trying in the beginning. "I tried to call him but the number didn't even work."

And then he tried to not look too hopeful that maybe Locke could identify with him and possibly explain what was going on.

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[info]lockecole
2011-06-30 09:50 am UTC (link)
Locke was a little confused. If Sungmin's brother hadn't left, then he hadn't left and he'd still be back home, right? So why was it a little complicated? Living in this city for a couple of days, at least, had introduced him to the existence of tellyphones or fellytones or however you say them so he understood the last part.

"Then..." Locke lifted his free hand up, then sort of made a weak robotic karate chop with it that ended soundlessly at the corner of the counter, "he's still back home, isn't he? So it's not complicated." He popped his brow as he thought about it and looked at Sungmin and the face he was making. Hm.

"...okay, okay," he cleared his throat and sniffed a little as he held his bottle with both hands and stared at it for a few seconds. "I don't know if this isn't already obvious to you but I don't understand how your world works. I mean," he finally turned to Sungmin and shrugged at him slightly by a gesture of his right hand, "I use that word loosely, that's all I'd been hearing this past few days. If you can't understand that, listen to this: I'm born from Kohlingen, I'd just come from Maranda and I'm supposed to be in Jidoor now if my Chocobo hadn't gotten us lost. I bet those names don't sound familiar to you."

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[info]haksaeng
2011-07-01 08:52 am UTC (link)
Well, given the speed with which Sungmin had left Korea to begin with, he wouldn't have been surprised if Minki had moved away in the few weeks he hadn't been able to talk to him. He wouldn't have been surprised if his father had managed to make his mother his vice-president. A lot could happen in the world of politics in a few weeks.

He was about to point this out to Locke when Locke started making less sense than he had before.

"They don't, but a lot of English words don't sound familiar to me." He didn't really even sound convincing to himself, though he could believe that Kohlingen was a city somewhere in... Norway or Sweden. Locke looked like he'd fit in there. It was the 'your world' part that stood out the most. This wasn't Sungmin's world either, really. "I'm not from here, either. Where are you from?"

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[info]lockecole
2011-07-01 09:06 am UTC (link)
Ohhh, brother, Locke wanted to say and throw his hands up to the air and let it come slamming down to the counter. All along, he thought he'd been talking to a native and apparently, Sungmin was also displaced? What gives! The entire time this was in his thought process, Locke pressed his lips together and took a healthy gulp of his beer. Oh brother.

"I'm from Kohlingen," he repeated -- and then he realized that that was probably not what Sungmin was asking him. "No, I don't remember what my 'world' was called. Its name is lost in ancient history, none of us remember it anymore. But umm...let's just say I come from a place where magic exists...except not anymore. Forget that," he scratched at his head as he turned the tables to Sungmin. "How did you get here exactly?"

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[info]haksaeng
2011-07-03 05:13 am UTC (link)
Oh. Well. That sounded like it was quite a far distance from Norway, or Sweden, or Earth, for that matter. Sungmin could only stare open-mouthed for a moment before he realized that Locke had asked him a question.

"Oh, uh," he stuttered, still trying to get accustomed to the idea of meeting an... alien, for lack of a better word. "I flew here from Califo-- another part of the country, on an airplane. I was trying to come to New York, but I'm from fifty years in the future."

It had probably been a lot easier for Locke to realize he'd ended up in the wrong place. At first, Sungmin had thought he'd just stumbled into the city during some weird massive reenactment thing.

"What about you? It doesn't seem like you could accidentally move to another world, right?"

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[info]lockecole
2011-07-04 05:15 am UTC (link)
Locke's mouth shaped a perfect O. Whoah, 50 years into the future. How bizarre is that!

Sungmin's question almost made him choke in his beer, though. In fact, accidentally moving into another world is a thing of the past, he'd seen it in the works...except not so accidentally. "That's complicated stuff I'll never learn to explain," he said instead as he rested his elbows heavily against the counter top. "But what's more pressing is that I can't seem to find my way back. I've tried the maps, I've tried the people or the way I came in but I can't find a gateway or a cave that will lead me back to my own realm.

Still, your problem seems more complicated," Locke said to the younger man. He understood how it was like to move between realms of a singular timeline but how about moving in time? "So you're displaced with-- hold on, you have an airship?!" he gaped. He'd only just now realized what Sungmin had told him.

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[info]haksaeng
2011-07-07 08:54 am UTC (link)
Well, his dad probably had a private plane by now, or at least a helicopter. Probably both, since Sungmin's mother's family would've provided something if he hadn't inherited them with the job.

"An airplane? Of course not," Sungmin said. "I bought a ticket with an airline." Oh, maybe this was one of those things that Locke didn't have in his world - just like Sungmin was pretty sure they didn't have caves that were portals to other universes. "Wait, what do you mean by airship? We have planes here - they're like..."

He looked around for a piece of scratch paper, realized he didn't have a pen handy anyway, and carefully spread his arms out in an imitation of a plane. "They've got wings like this and they run on jet fuel. Most people don't have their own because they make ones big enough for hundreds of people, so they work like buses."

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[info]lockecole
2011-07-07 10:27 am UTC (link)
What was a buses? Or bus if that was a plural form. Or bust?

Locke made sure he didn't look like a brainless imp this time around and anyway, now that the secret was out, he could openly admit that he had no idea what Sungmin was talking about. So instead, he shook his head. No, nothing was making sense to him.

"But that means that you're displaced here with the rest of the airsh-- plane. Right?" Because friends were always nice things to have in sticky situations like this. Locke, unluckily, had none of his.

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[info]haksaeng
2011-07-11 07:44 am UTC (link)
[omg how did it become four days since my last reply again x_x]

"I guess so." Sungmin frowned. The thought had crossed his mind, but by the time he'd realized he'd truly gone back in time, it was impossible for him to track down anyone else on the plane. Besides, he wouldn't know where to start - he hadn't really talked to anyone else.

"I was asleep for most of the flight. I don't know where any of them went. And maybe I was the only one who traveled through time, and they're all from this time period." That thought had occured to him too. It was a pretty scary thought, and more science-fiction-y than Sungmin liked to get, but somehow, it sounded less weird saying it out loud than he'd thought it would. He frowned, now at his empty beer bottle.

"I don't really know what to do, but I'm running out of money."

And that was about as crazy an idea as time-traveling, for Sungmin.

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[info]lockecole
2011-07-12 12:23 pm UTC (link)
Now treasure hunters were not known to be charitable but Locke understood the predicaments of someone who was displaced as he was. He was not a very insensitive man, after all, and as he'd like to say, chocobos of the same feather ought to stick together. Working with the Returners taught him that, as well.

"Well, do you have a place to stay? Do you want another beer?" The second question was almost completely irrelevant but whatever, these drinks tend to help a lot, anyway. As he asked these, he slipped his hand inside his pocket, flipped open his wallet and slipped out five notes which he folded over and handed to Sungmin under the table.

He would have preferred to slip it in his pocket but Locke decided against giving his new friend...too much information of himself.

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[info]haksaeng
2011-07-16 05:06 am UTC (link)
For a second, pride clamored for attention in Sungmin's head and locked his muscles in place. He wasn't used to needing help like this, and it'd already taken a lot of him to be able to ask for language help when he'd first arrived in the States. Accepting money from a near-stranger was too close to being a charity case.

But it wasn't like he had any other options at the moment, so his hesitation faded quickly.

"Thank you," he said, words stiff but sincere. "I've got a hotel room, but I don't think it will last long." He shook his head. "I definitely can't afford extra beer anymore."

He was tempted to press Locke on how he had gotten his money, but given that he was a treasure hunter by trade, he probably used methods that were beyond Sungmin's skill set.

"I guess you've been getting by okay," he said instead, somewhat lamely.

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[info]lockecole
2011-07-16 12:02 pm UTC (link)
Locke must have made a bit of a noise, something that sounded like, "Nyeughh..." before he shrugged. "Okay as okay can be. You can't call a displaced man aching for the familiarity of home and adventure okay but yeah, I get by." For as long as the people of New York remain to be reckless with their wallets, he'll be okay.

"I'm an older stay," he said as he lifted his hand to catch the bartender's attention. "So I finally managed to find out how the world works. Another beer for him, please." He turned to Sungmin, lifting his bottle, "So if you need to know something, I might be of some help. One lost guy to another and all..."

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[info]haksaeng
2011-07-19 06:55 am UTC (link)
Sungmin opened his mouth to protest automatically - getting free drinks was somehow different when it wasn't because strangers found him amusing - but shut it again. A drink was a drink, and Locke didn't seem like he was on the verge of homelessness like Sungmin was.

"Thanks," he said, when the drink was set down. "I guess I need help earning money somehow. I'm fine staying at a hotel or finding an apartment, but I can't pay for it right now."

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[info]lockecole
2011-07-19 01:27 pm UTC (link)
Oh. That was troublesome. If it had been up to Locke, he would just up and leave. But seeing as Sungmin was not Locke and he was nowhere near being someone like Locke, Locke realized how this could be a problem for him.

"You can look for work," he suggested unhelpfully. "I hear some employers are opening up for umm...people like us. You know politics, don't you? You could find work in the city hall."

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[info]haksaeng
2011-07-24 09:34 am UTC (link)
Locke was being more helpful than he realized. Sungmin had all but given up on finding a job in this day and age, but then again, he hadn't thought about other misplaced people like him. If Locke had come from another world entirely, perhaps there were even stranger people roaming around trying to find ways to survive without making waves.

"Hm," he replied, tilting his head. Locke had also brought up another curiosity. "Well, I don't think I know enough about politics here, but I didn't realize there were more people like us here. I guess we'll all have to look out for each other."

...even though he was starting to feel a little bad for being so utterly helpless around Locke.

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[info]lockecole
2011-07-24 09:51 am UTC (link)
OOC: continued here!

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