Tuesday, March 17th, 2008 Who: Jang-Geum and Keagan Where: The Infirmary When: Tuesday evening around dinner, March 17th What: Keagan stops by to meet the old friend he never expected to see again
Status: Complete
Tuesday before dinner, Keagan made his way to the infirmary. He kind of peeked around to make sure there were no other students or staff around before he fully stepped into the room. "Hello?"
Jang-Geum had her hands in the midst of a large pot of water, muttering softly as she brought it slowly to a boil. This had been the most efficient way for her to boil water while here, as she'd realized the electric burner she had yesterday had made boiling medicine take far too long. At the sound of someone's voice, Jang-Geum pulled her hands free and quickly dropped a duck into the pot, steam fogging up around her. "I am in here," She called out, wiping her hands clean with the towel tucked at her waist.
Keagan smiled some when he saw her. He stepped over and smiled some, "Hello, Jang Geum. It's been a long time." When he saw her, he recognized her instantly. She was younger than when he knew her, but he could still tell. This wasn't a decendant. This was the same Jang Geum he knew in Washington State, back in the 60s and 70s.
Jang-Geum turned to face him, and she felt her body simple freeze, stunned. She had seen many people and many things in her lifetime, but this was... new. She suddenly found herself staring at a face she had never expected to see again. "Oh..." Her voice had nearly vanished, breathy, still amazed. A little smile finally made it across her lips, and she slowly dropped the towel in her hand back against her waist. "Peter... It <i>is</i> you..."
"Yes." He grinned at her, "I was so shocked to see your name in my journal. I never realized you were a mage." He bowed just a little in asian style greeting, "I was wondering if you would like to go get dinner somewhere and catch up?"
Jang-Geum seemed to remember her manners once more when she saw him bow to her. She nodded her head, smiling in response to his question. "Yeh, naeuri. I am a water mage. Have been for quite some time." At the mention of food, she blushed a little and glanced at the pot. "I am actually cooking now, if you would like to join me."
Keagan was quite surprised. His eyebrow went up some, "I'd love to, if you would have me. Let me know if you need any help." It was a little awkward, watching her cook and not helping.
"You can..." Jang-Geum turned towards everything, debating what he could assist with, then paused as she noticed a few things. "Slice this tofu for me. And these vegetables." Jang-Geum held out the ceramic knife to Keagan, then grinned. "You look wonderful, naeuri."
"I imagine I look the same," Keagan replied, smiling some as he took the knife. He was rather good with chopping vegetables, as he had lived alone or in a small commune long enough to know how to do it the right way. His peices were, for the most part, all the same size, and though he might not be as fast as Jang Geum or a modern, trained chef, he wasn't slow either.
"You do look... almost identical." She nodded, then looked over at the boiling pot. She grabbed a pair of tongs and moved the duck around, taking a few cloves of garlic she had already peeled, then threw them into the pot. "It is a new experience for me, to see someone I knew from my last lifetime."
"It's a surprise to me, too. Especially when the person I see is younger than I remember." When he knew Jang Geum, she was 40s, maybe her 50s. The woman infront of him was in her 30s if that. He imagined it was something similar to how she was feeling, or how anyone who met him in their youth then happened upon him in his old age felt.
"My ritual is quite unique." Adding another handful of other herbs, Jang-Geum took the lid for the pot and replaced it again. Glancing over at his work, she elegantly moved over to him, moving the tofu slices to a plate so she could begin to wrap them. She had had an urge for sulfur duck soup and a steam boat earlier today, but time had gotten away from her for the most part of it. "I age until I am roughly in my seventies, and then I will restore myself back to looking twenty or so."
Her process of cooking was facinating. He handed over the chopped vegetables as he finished with them. "Facinating. To grow old alongside people but renew again at the point of death.... Well, not death anymore, since many live into their eighties and ninties now." Very different then for most of Keagan's life, when most people didn't live past 60, and a man in his 30s was middle aged, a man in his 40s was aged. "I don't age at all."
"Yes, I can see that." Jang-Geum grinned as she began to layer vegetables before tying them into little packages with green onion. "You look just as I remembered seeing you last." She rose an eyebrow and glanced over at him while her hands kept working. "Tell me. How long did you remain in Seattle?"
"Until the early 80s. I left around the time of the Mt Saint Helens erruption." It wasn't a happy time. It was around the time that Keagan got fed up with humanity, and, well, himself after that erruption. "People started figuring that my youthfull look was not just from healthy, simple living the way I preached in the Commune. Had to get out of dodge, as the saying goes."
"Ah-ha. As you probably gathered, I had no plans to stay in Seattle for some time. I had been making my way out towards the east coast." Jang-Geum's expression slightly darkened, which was strange, even for her, as there were so few things that might stir anger in her. "This country is a vast place, and many of its people less understanding than you by far, Peter."
"Yes, I know. But a lot of the sins here are the same sins to plague humanity for as long as I've been alive, which is a very long time." Keagan handed over the last of the vegetables. "Here you are. I'll be honest, I haven't had Korean food in a long time."
"Thank you," Jang-Geum had nearly spoken in Korean, but she caught herself in time to focus on what she was making. She finished the little packages of tofu and vegetables, then took the sliced vegetables Keagan offered her and began to arrange everything in a small steaming plate that she had kept since her days in the palace. It was a circular dish with an indentation in the middle, clearly for broth. She picked up the plate then spooned some of the duck broth she had been making into the middle, then set it on top of the pot. She stepped back, cleaning her hands off on her towel again. "I hope I will not disappoint." Jang-Geum reached over to the worn clay jar at the counter, slowly opening it and ladling a few spoonfuls of vinegar into the actual soup, then into the centre of the pot itself. "It should not take long at all."
"I'll admit, I'm completely facinated watching you cook." Keagan watched closely. "So, what have you done since we last met? My story was boring. I hid in a cave after I left Seattle."
"You were in a cave?" Jang-Geum rose an eyebrow and for a moment, she considered asking him details. But, she chose to wait and to answer his questions first. "I have done little." Jang-Geum moved closer to Keagan, realizing that he was in between herself and the tea she wished to boil. "Sil le hahm nida," Jang-Geum quickly muttered, gently reaching up and touching his arm, moving him aside. A slight bit of colorr brushed her cheeks, as touching was still quite an intimate experience for her. Touching Malakai had been similarly nerve-wracking. "I traveled from Chinatown to Chinatown. I healed whom I could, taught medicine, I sold the medicines I made. To heal..." Jang-Geum began to brew some tea in a kettle she had had for some time."Is my calling."
Keagan moved aside at her touch. "A very valuble calling. I wish more people would think that way." Keagan stood to the side, out of the way. "And yes, I was in a cave. Earth is my element, I feel at home surrounded by it."
"An earth mage," Jang-Geum nodded in response to him, curious about how little she really knew about him. "And here I had thought you were a hippie who, at the most, enjoyed smoking marijuana and talking about peace and cooperation." As she kept focusing on the boiling tea, she glanced over at Keagan. "The unfortunate side effect of being a healer. I often care too much for my charges, and must sometimes... keep... quiet..." Jang-Geum found herself drifting off, recalling that she was to see Adora tomorrow. The concern was completely unhidden on her face.
"I would say that is a side effect of being any kind of person who does service to others, like doctors or teachers, who are passionate about it. However, I have a feeling you are talking about someone in specific." Keagan could tell she was thinking about something in particular.
"Have you met Adora? I am aware she is hardly a tasteful individual..." Jang-Geum had no reservations about sharing her opinion of Adora. The woman had spent three months with the succubus, and Adora had spent a great deal of time trying to push her away. This meant words spoken that were cruel and harsh, and Adora had also boasted of her 'unworthiness' to be a mother. Jang-Geum could tell that it was a pitiful defense instinct, but it concerned her.
"I have met Adora, she's the sponsor of art club and rather nice..." Keagan paused some, "If a bit nosey." Keagan couldn't fault her tenacity in finding out about his true age. But he could tell that Jang Geum had a very different view of Adora than Keagan did. "Perhaps she just doesn't like being told what to do? I take it you've met her, and since you're a healer, I'd assume it's in a medical way?"
She turned to face him with a sigh. "Yes. I am her personal physician from the time she spent with Tiberius Swann." Jang-Geum paused, debating how to approach the question of her relations to Adora. "Has she made you aware of her... condition?"
"She's pregnant. She has told me." Keagan could see how Jang-Geum probably didn't have the best impression of Adora. Adora did not strike him as someone who would let anyone, not even a doctor who did have her health in mind, dictate the terms of her life.
"Did she tell you that the father of her child was on his death bed when she conceived him?" Jang-Geum's expression was completely serious, in fact, it was concerned. Deeply so. As a doctor, she hated knowing that there was a good chance Adora's child would never come to term.
Keagan's eyes went wide, then a few seconds later, his expression went serious. "She did not tell me that. Is it true?" Keagan had walked the earth long enough to know that there was a reason why people didn't generally have kids as young as their grand kids. Humans were not meant to have children past the age of 40 for women, 60 for men. It was likely that things worked differently for demons or non humans, but Keagan doubted it.
Sighing and nodding, Jang-Geum took the tea kettle off of the burner and began to pour them both hot tea, straining it over a tea strainer. "Yeh. Tiberius was a very old demon, who was preparing himself to die." Turning to face Keagan, she slowly handed him his cup. "He hired me just as Adora was brought to his home after conception. I warned him that it was hardly a healthy situation. I have serious concerns for her pregnancy."
Keagan took his tea cup and held it in his hands, not quite sipping yet. "Babies born from elderly demons... do you know if they have the same kind of birth defects that babies born from old human fathers do?" He knew the risks, it meant that Adora's baby was in a lot of danger.
"I have never met demons that old since Tiberius, but I was aware it was a serious risk. It is why I have so strongly encouraged her to come visit me for an appointment. I have the equipment and the knowledge to examine the pregnancy." Jang-Geum sighed, taking a sip of her own tea, then beginning to stare down into it. "I began my time as a doctor as a midwife. To the queen. I have seen many pregnancies, and most miscarriages due to birth defects..." She let out a deep breath, looking back up at him. "Occur in the middle of the second trimester. She is approximately four months along. She is... in the middle of her second trimester."
"So basically, this is the most dangerous time for her." Keagan let out a sigh, "Well, she and I are fairly friendly. I can try to coerce her into coming to see you?"
"If you can mention it, then that would be good. However," Jang-Geum put down her tea and walked back to the pot, pulling off the lid and taking up her chopsticks, looking it over. The food was done. "As this is such a critical time period," She pulled free two bowls and began to arrange the steam boat, then began to ladle duck soup. She pulled the duck free with tongs and put it on a cutting board, carving and cutting it up, adding that to the soup. "I do not wish to concern her. She absolutely cannot know that this baby is in danger. She is fragile enough about this pregnancy to think that it may not survive."
"I understand that," Keagan sighed and mentaly wished of the fates that Adora would be fine. "I'll see what I can do to talk Adora into coming." The food smelled absolutly delicious. "So, what are we having for dinner?"
Glad to have the change in conversation, but equally happy to have someone she could voice her concerns to - it took some of the pressure and stress away - Jang-Geum turned and gave him a bowl with a large spoon in it. "We are having a traditional steamboat that my mama-nihm taught me, with sulfur duck soup, which adashi taught me."
"Sulfur duck?" Those ingredients didn't seem go together, or in food at all in the case of Sulfur. Still, when he took his bowl and spoon, Keagan took a spoon full, and was happily surprised. "This is absolutly delicous!"
"Adashi and mama-nihm had both learned of the healing properties of sulfur duck." Jang-Geum took a gentle bite of a tofu package she had made and smiled. "When the ducks are fed sulfur water from a spring or other source, their flesh takes in all the medicinal properties and expels the poisons. So, you reap all of the medicinal benefits." She made her way over to the couch, motioning for Keagan to have a seat near her.
Keagan took his food over and sat beside her on the couch, using the coffee table as his table for eating. "This is, hands down, the best duck dish I have had in a very, very long time. Thank you very much for inviting me to share your meal."
A nervous giggle escape Jang-Geum's lips, and she reached up, covering her mouth with her hand as she turned her attention to her meal. She had heard praise for her cooking and her skills as a doctor for centuries. Five centuries, to be exact. But someone clearly old like her? She had never heard praise such as that. "Gahm sa hahm nida." Jang-Geum bowed her head formally at him, then took another bite of her food.