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Post by DONOVAN SHEPHERD on Nov 9, 2013 8:21:46 GMT -8
Donovan hadn't actually planned to invite Kyu-Sik out, hadn't even planned to call him at all after their disastrous adventure home a couple days before. He didn't think the other boy would have any interest in speaking to him again, although Donovan had considered everything to have gone okay despite the circumstances. Between Donovan's inexperienced driving and constant missed turns once they got into the city, and Kyu-Sik's demands to pull over every twenty minutes so he could puke, by some miracle they had managed to make it back to Koreatown without any real incident.
But after inquiring upon his health to Mi-Ho, all he got was her brother's phone number and a sense that Mi-Ho really didn't like talking about Kyu-Sik much at all. So he called because he actually had an excuse to do so and probably never would again, just to briefly check up on him and confirm that Louisa's stew hadn't really been the death of him. Which had somehow turned into him offering to take Kyu-Sik out to lunch, blurted when he'd run out of things to say. Partially as an apology for awfully the picnic had gone, and as a thank you for the ride there.
He let Kyu-Sik pick the restaurant, not knowing many himself and uncertain what would even be appetizing after a full day of food poisoning. And he even offered to pay, when Kyu-Sik had seemed hesitant to accept. Not that Donovan had too much money to spare, but he assumed it couldn't cost that much for small pieces of fish. Sushi wouldn't have been any of his own top choices, but he liked it fine the one time his roommate had taken him out to dinner during that brief period they had tried and failed at dating and now pretended never happened. That time Altan had just ordered from a menu and Donovan really didn't have much choice in the matter, but this restaurant was a la carte. Which meant far too many options.
Watching the sushi go by on the conveyor belt, almost hypnotized, Donovan had no idea what to even select. He wasn't overly familiar with different kinds of fish, and was even more unused to eating anything raw. Not that he was opposed to the idea, and he finally grabbed a plate of fatty tuna before he came off like he had no idea what he was doing. A quick glance across the table, and Kyu-Sik was already on his second plate, a piece of sashimi grasped expertly between chopsticks.
There were no forks, and he wasn't about to ask for one. Donovan hesitantly picked up his own pair of chopsticks, sliding them slowly out of the red packet to examine them with a frown. Trying to pull the two sticks apart, he broke them unevenly at the top. Not a great start, but they probably still worked fine. Struggling to grasp them properly, he stared at Kyu-Sik's hands and tried to mimic the same position with no success. This had been part of the reason why Altan had never invited him out again, and Donovan was determined not to embarrass Kyu-Sik too terribly. Except as soon as he tried to pick up the piece of fish from his plate, one of the chopsticks clattered into the little dish of soy sauce.
Tag: Kyu-Sik Time: 24 May
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Post by KYU-SIK MOON on Nov 9, 2013 9:22:47 GMT -8
Today won’t come again. At some point, the time has already...
May 24th
tag | Donovan
words | 531 | As much as he had hoped to be well the morning after his misadventure with food poisoning and an unlicensed driver, Kyu-Sik woke up on the twenty-third feeling much like 똥. He had thought about going to work even still but one attempt to eat a bowl of cereal just turned into more upchucking. Which turned into the painful phone call that he wouldn't be coming into work that day. His boss was more than understanding and wished him well, giving him the twenty-fourth off as well. Any person would have found the gesture very kind, but Kyu-Sik knew all too well that it would mean twice the work when he finally returned. He would try to relax until then.
His day off consisted of sleeping, waking up abruptly, not eating anything, but at least not being sick quite as much as he had been on the first day. By the twenty-fourth, he was feeling okay. His stomach had stopped rebelling any attempts to put some substance into his body. He was starting out slowly with just a piece of toast, but to say he was hungry again was putting it lightly. It had been a whole day, and he was feeling brave enough to eat a decent meal. It was just difficult to figure out what actually sounded appetizing.
That's when he received Donovan's phone call. He had picked up not knowing who the caller was, only to find himself cringing at his phone. He was hesitant to speak to the man again after so much had gone wrong between them so far. He was that much more hesitant to agree to the offer of a late lunch. Their track record wasn't looking good. It was hard enough for most people to get him out lunch and all he could keep thinking about was what could possibly go wrong. The only thing that finally persuaded him was the idea that it would be a free lunch. Donovan would pay. That was good enough.
The Korean male chose sushi for their meet up. Raw fish may have been off putting after food poisoning for some, but he was craving something light and grease-free. Fresh fish was the best option and he had more control over how much he would be eating at one of the rotating sushi bar.
Donovan agreed and they met at the restaurant, but Kyu-Sik was doubting the choice as he watched him fumbled awkwardly with a pair of wooden chopsticks. Breaking them unevenly wasn't so weird. Attempting to hold them poorly only for one to fall into the soy sauce dish was a mark of clear inexperience. Kyu-Sik sighed, momentarily putting his own chopsticks down to search through his bag for a rubber band.
"So, you can't drive a car, and you can't use chopsticks," he commented, then taking a new pair of chopsticks from the cup sitting on the table. He broke them evenly and then rolled the paper wrapper to place between the top tips with the rubber band. Hopefully Donovan could do better with a makeshift training set. "Do they just keep you in a closet at the radio station in between broadcasts?" |
electric has gangnam style and back to neverland |
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Post by DONOVAN SHEPHERD on Nov 9, 2013 9:59:56 GMT -8
Donovan used a napkin to wipe up the splatter of soy sauce, trying to avoid making this a repeat disaster and leave the perpetually unimpressed Kyu-Sik with a positive impression for once. The harder he tried, it seemed the worse things went, and Donovan was a bit baffled why he was even trying at all. Generally he just let people come to whatever conclusion they wanted about him, and moved on without much concern. But Kyu-Sik had agreed, had shown up on time at the restaurant, so maybe... Maybe he just liked free food, Donovan concluded unhopefully.
"Well aren't you fancy?" he huffed as the other man split the second pair of chopsticks perfectly, not sure whether to feel affronted or appreciative by the gesture. He generally didn't like people doing things for him unsolicited, didn't like the implication that his incompetence was something that needed correction instead of letting him figure it out on his own. Donovan squinted, a bit confused at what sort of makeshift creation the Korean was putting together with the new pair of chopsticks, still stubbornly fiddling with his own and failing to pick anything up even with attempted jabs at the fish to skewer it instead. The slab of tuna slid sadly off the lump of rice, onto the table.
A quick glance around the restaurant had confirmed that no other diners had rubber bands on their chopsticks, but there really was no getting around the fact that Donovan either had to swallow his pride or eat nothing at all. In defeat, he used the sauce-stained napkin to pick up the fallen tuna, plopping it back onto the plate and pushing it off to the side.
Well, he didn't really care if other people judged. "I can do other things," Donovan insisted while accepting the training chopsticks, refusing to be deterred by the truth of his lack of skill. He was constantly faced with not knowing or not being able to do things most people considered rather basic, had never even registered that using chopsticks was something he'd ever have to prove himself capable of. "And somebody has to keep the mop and dustpans company."
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Post by KYU-SIK MOON on Nov 9, 2013 10:32:13 GMT -8
Today won’t come again. At some point, the time has already...
May 24th
tag | Donovan
words | 251 | "Oh, the fanciest." His tone was as flat and humorless as ever. It was true that none of the other patrons had rubber bands on their chopsticks, but all of the other patrons also probably walked into the sushi restaurant at least somewhat familiar with how to hold them. Kyu-Sik's parents were Korean, so he understood that he had the privilege of being forced to use them at an early age. It was hard to imagine not being able to figure them out. Not everyone had the same background, but it went without saying that a great deal of Los Angeles knew how to use them.
"Can you?" Kyu-Sik questioned, going back to his own fish with much more success than his companion was having. As he wasn't the one paying, he wasn't really hesitating to pick up more of the pricier plates than he normally would've. While Donovan wasted precious fatty tuna, Kyu-Sik was enjoying a soft piece of eel. It was the first time in the past two days that anything had set on his stomach so well. "Sure, you could use your soothing radio voice to keep the cleaning supplies happy, but what else then?"
Honestly, he hadn't seen much from the other man at all. He knew that he could… ride a bicycle. Okay, that was one thing. He could also apparently make a good pasta salad? The man worked for a radio station, so perhaps there were musical talents. "Do you sing or play any instruments?" |
electric has gangnam style and back to neverland |
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Post by DONOVAN SHEPHERD on Nov 9, 2013 18:41:04 GMT -8
It felt a bit like a job interview, with all the doubtful questions about his qualifications and skills, and Donovan was suddenly aware that he hadn't dressed quite as nicely as he planned. He didn't want to look like he was trying too hard, and he had used his one nice button-up the day before when he planned to go to the symphony and got accosted by a hoard of fangirls mistaking him for somebody else. "Apparently I look like a celebrity?" he offered in his defence, unenthusiastically at the memory.
But it was a bit charming that Kyu-Sik describe his voice as soothing, even in the context. "I play the piano and the dulcimer," Donovan admitted, had a lot of time practicing in his childhood without any of the regular youth activities like friends and school events to distract him. His roommate had a keyboard in their apartment that he filled his free time playing, mostly when Altan wasn't home to criticize him with his impossibly high standards. "And taught my sibli-" and Donovan cut himself off, because his cover story had always been an only child, and that his parents were dead. "My singing isn't all that impressive, though," he tried to distract from his mistake, hoping Kyu-Sik wouldn't inquire about it. He hadn't seemed overly nosy about any details of Donovan's life other than his intentions with his sister.
"I would provide an example, but I think I've already embarrassed you enough," he sighed, another piece of sushi plopping out of his rubberbanded chopsticks onto the table. Good thing tiny pieces of fish couldn't cost that much, he reminded himself, stacking the plates off to the side and grabbing another dish to try again.
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Post by KYU-SIK MOON on Nov 9, 2013 19:42:28 GMT -8
Today won’t come again. At some point, the time has already...
May 24th
tag | Donovan
words | 298 | When Donovan brought up looking like a celebrity, Kyu-Sik found himself pausing in his eating and giving the man a closer look. The dishevelment was appropriate for an overrated celebrity, for sure, but he couldn't place a specific name to him. "Not any celebrity I've ever seen," he assured. Not that he had ever really seen a full blown celebrity, but it didn't really matter to him either way. He wasn't a big movie goer and usually didn't care about who was who. If anything he was more familiar with the faces of older jazz musicians, as he had been so immersed in that as a child. The closest match to Donovan he could think of was Johnny Depp, but that was just because of the messy hair. He spent a moment trying to picture him with a beard and decided it wouldn't really suit him.
The piano and dulcimer suited him well enough, though. He nodded, picking up a sushi roll topped with roe to eat next. He had caught the mention of what sounded to be siblings, but he was letting it slide for now. Not knowing Donovan's cover story, it didn't strike him as terribly odd for the time being. "This isn't really the place for singing, so I think I'll pass for now." Not that he wasn't a little bit curious about what that might have sounded like. Someone with a soothing voice might have been a decent crooner.
"What sort of music do you like playing, then? Just bluegrass?" Holding in another sigh at Donovan's continued failed attempts to eat sushi, he reached over to adjust the chopsticks in the man's hand. It was a shame to see such pricy fish go to waste, even if he wasn't the one paying for it. |
electric has gangnam style and back to neverland |
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Post by DONOVAN SHEPHERD on Nov 9, 2013 20:42:59 GMT -8
"Bluegrass is fine. Classical, mostly," Donovan admitted with a bit of a frown as the other man corrected his chopstick use. He wasn't even able to resent it at that point, finally able to get a piece of spongy egg into his mouth successfully. It tasted sweeter than he expected, and the texture was a bit different from how he usually had eggs, but he liked it enough to watch for another piece to come by on the conveyor.
Classical was usually too cliched of an answer for most, but it had been all he had access to while learning and he wasn't about to try lying to sound more cultured than he was. His parents had been very selective with his musical choices and what he'd been exposed to, though he'd managed to seek out a lot more on his own in the recent years. Still, there was an overwhelming amount of music genres out there, and he couldn't really claim to like most of them. "Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Vilvadi... Gershwin," he listed a few of his favourite composers, knowing none of it was all that impressive to the culture of people that prided themselves on knowing about things nobody else did while he barely knew anything of the most mainstream of media. At least his musical knowledge surpassed what little he knew of movies and television shows.
And it was a bit reassuring to know that Kyu-Sik wasn't familiar with whoever this supposedly famous actor was either, the name already escaping his memory. "My roommate is a percussionist in the LA Philharmonic," he added, not trying to drop names but Kyu-Sik seemed interested in the subject of music. "I was supposed to go see him play yesterday, in Hollywood, when suddenly an alarming number of girls wanted my picture." It seemed a bit embarrassing to admit, because he definitely wasn't bragging and looked far more discomforted by it than anything, but the situation had been so far out of the ordinary that he needed to share it with somebody. "I barely escaped with my life," he exagerrated.
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Post by KYU-SIK MOON on Nov 9, 2013 21:55:40 GMT -8
Today won’t come again. At some point, the time has already...
May 24th
tag | Donovan
words | 328 | While most people might have found Donovan's mention of classical music pretentious, that was what finally brought a small, but sincere smile to his face. He couldn't help but a little excited whenever he met someone who could name more than three classical composers. While he had nothing against Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart, they tended to be a bit too popular for him. Was he a hipster to the extent of being a classical music hipster? That would be something he'd never say. His own favorite composers were famous in their own right and plenty of people liked them as well.
The tale went on to tell about the roommate in the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Kyu-Sik was honestly fascinated by who that could have been, but there was the ever so slight feeling of jealousy that he was keeping at the pit of his stomach. The Los Angeles Philharmonic was the last place he would've wanted to end up if he had continued to pursue his music. However, knowing about someone else's success still made him think about what could've been in a few years. "That sounds unfortunate. You probably should have started charging the fans for pictures."
He was still blanking on what celebrity Donovan could have passed as, but he didn't particularly care. Perhaps he'd see someone in a poster one day. Until then, he was happy to stay on the subject of music to find out what else Donovan knew. "Gershwin is one of my favorites," he said, watching the sushi that went by in search for something else that looked good. Flatfish was probably a decent palette cleanser after eating so much roe and eel. "Along with Debussy and Bolling. I've played a lot of classical music myself, but I like it best with jazz."
Kyu-sik finally caught one of the plates with flatfish going by, carefully dipping it in soy sauce after picking it up with his chopsticks. "What was the philharmonic playing?" |
electric has gangnam style and back to neverland |
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Post by DONOVAN SHEPHERD on Nov 10, 2013 5:49:53 GMT -8
Donovan liked what he heard of jazz well enough, but he assumed he needed to know a lot more before he could call himself a fan. "I don't know too much jazz," Donovan admitted, once again wanting to err on the side of honesty instead of getting called out on his lack of actual knowledge. He grabbed another piece of the spongy egg, found it a lot easier to pick up than the slippery fish. Hopefully it wasn't some big faux pas, but unless Kyu-Sik called him out on it he wasn't going to bother worrying about it.
"Tchaikovsky, but mostly Mozart," Donovan frowned, had actually been looking forward to the performance before he'd been sidetracked. Altan had been rather annoyed that the free ticket had gone to waste, but Donovan doubted it really took him that much effort to get it in the first place. "They play a lot of Mozart," he shrugged, figured it was a popular crowd-draw.
"Do you play piano too? I've been needing to pick up some new sheet music." It seemed a bit of a burden to place on somebody else, to ask for recommendations, but this had been the most interested in conversation that he'd seen Kyu-Sik that he was willing to give it a chance. "I've about exhausted what I could find of Scott Joplin. He's a brilliant artist, I liked him when I was younger but my parents stopped letting me play once they realized he was bla-" and Donovan once again cut himself off, trying to save face by shoving another egg in his mouth and pretending he hadn't said anything at all. One of the first things he had learned in the real world was that talking about racist parents wasn't really the best way to keep the conversation pleasant, and it had been going so well so far.
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Post by KYU-SIK MOON on Nov 10, 2013 7:29:08 GMT -8
Today won’t come again. At some point, the time has already...
May 24th
tag | Donovan
words | 290 | "Knowing Gershwin is a good start to jazz." He was actually being supportive of that rather than judgmental. He was all for encouraging others to broaden their musical knowledge in one way or another. Whether it was properly taking care of their instruments, or just suggesting good music to others, he liked to see people learning more and this was an area he was happy to teach.
He shook his head, however, when asked if he played piano. "I took piano lessons with my sister when we were kids, but I'm better with the flute." A flute he still hadn't played again just yet, despite promises to do so. Though he was still uneasy about where he stood with his own musical talents, he liked hearing about others. The soft smile remained on his face until Donovan kept going on about parents. Apparently racist parents. Kyu-Sik's expression then fell into a flat line.
"Right," he said, not sure how he should approach that. It seemed best to not approach it directly, because he probably didn't want to know the extent of that. "Scott Joplin is good if you want something upbeat, but if you'd like something more I'd recommend Debussy. The shop below our home is for instrument repair mainly, but we have some sheet music there."
As he spoke, he was picking up a plate of eel sushi. Not for himself, this time he placed it in front of Donovan. The other man couldn't just eat egg the whole time they were there and eel would be a bit less slippery. He was helping himself to salmon and tuna while the other tried to figure that out. "I have to ask. You're not really from Los Angeles, are you?" |
electric has gangnam style and back to neverland |
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Post by DONOVAN SHEPHERD on Nov 11, 2013 3:23:31 GMT -8
It was easier to relax when Kyu-Sik let the questionable comment about his parents slide without further comment, even though he suspected the other boy had been observant enough to notice. Very little seemed to get past him. It wasn't that he agreed with his parents, or was sensitive to anyone shaming their remarkably offensive views, but discussing them at all was best avoided. Maybe Kyu-Sik had interest in keeping the conversation going smoothly, too, and Donovan was going to keep it that way for as long as possible.
"How long have you been playing the flute?" he asked after finishing his third plate of egg and already watching for a fourth to come by. Most everyone seemed to start with piano and abandoned it after moving on to a different instrument, but it was Donovan's first love and he couldn't imagine playing anything else with the same level of dedication. The dulcimer was more of a side-hobby than anything. "Maybe I could hear you play sometime," he suggested, then wondered if that was too forward. "Or not," he shrugged, fiddling with his chopsticks and testing them on his napkin a few times. He definitely wanted to take up the offer of picking up some sheet music, though.
"Nah, I only moved here a couple years ago," Donovan sighed, eyeing the piece of eel in front of him with hesitant curiosity. He'd been happy enough to only stick to the sweetened egg, but he didn't want to insult the other boy by rejecting the food placed in front of him. Even if he was getting a bit wary of the growing stack of plates the other boy was accumulating, but he was sure he'd be able to cover the bill as promised. He carefully picked up the eel and shoved it into his mouth before he had a chance to drop it, pleasantly surprised by the flavour as he chewed. Not as strange as he'd expected.
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Post by KYU-SIK MOON on Nov 11, 2013 5:19:30 GMT -8
Today won’t come again. At some point, the time has already...
May 24th
tag | Donovan
words | 301 | "I've played the flute for about eight years now," he answered. He always forgot how long it had been until he actually thought about it. Eight years, an hour a day of practice at the least. He However, he intentionally neglected replying to Donovan's request to let him hear. Rather than respond, he took the moment to eat a piece of salmon, acting as if he hadn't even acknowledged the request. He had to actually pull the instrument out again because anyone was going to listen to him play. For the moment until the comment passed, he thought it best to ask Donovan more about his family. He knew very little about him, and a search for a Facebook had done very little a few days before. Now was as good of a time as ever to learn more.
"Ah, that explains everything then. Well, at least half of it. Where did you move here from?" Donovan had no particular accent to disguise where he might have been from. His parents were possible racists, but he also didn't seem very southern. Especially when he seemed to have a weird insistence on wearing sweaters in Los Angeles. Wearing sweaters in Los Angeles in late May. The man's dress sense, or lack of, didn't really make much sense to him. However, that could have been the opinion of someone who had been working for a tailor the past few months.
If nothing else, he was happy that Donovan seemed to enjoy the eel placed in front of him. Kyu-Sik grabbed a plate of shrimp sushi for him next. Then, he helped himself to another plate when he saw some raw squid go by and took a moment to play with its legs. "Did you come here just to get into the radio business?" |
electric has gangnam style and back to neverland |
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Post by DONOVAN SHEPHERD on Nov 11, 2013 6:23:46 GMT -8
One of the remnants of his upraising was a very ingrained dislike of exposing a lot of skin, and while he strayed from the button-downs and slacks that made up the entirety of his wardrobe growing up, he couldn't quite bring himself to wear a t-shirt. It made him uncomfortable and self-conscious, especially when the majority of the population had a nice tan and he was permanently half a shade darker than a sheet of paper or suddenly crispier than bacon. Even if a t-shirt made a lot more sense in the sunny weather. Sweaters were extremely cheap at thrift shops, probably because nobody else ever had cause for buying them. But they were usually worn out enough, a few washes away from getting holes, not to be too overwhelmingly hot.
Kyu-Sik was far better dressed, everything perfectly fit, and Donovan could appreciate it without feeling too bad about himself. The Korean was attractive, and he didn't feel too weird admitting that to himself now.
"Everything?" he asked, not sure what him not being from California actually explained. "From Iowa," he offered a bit quietly, because he knew too little about any other state to even keep up the pretense of being from there for too long. "I came here because," and Donovan paused, this was getting close to territory he usually avoided completely. The more questions he answered, the more he was inviting Kyu-Sik to dig deeper. But he didn't like to cause suspicion either, didn't want it obvious that he was hiding anything. "No, I didn't have any intention of working for the radio, I just stumbled into it. I worked as a florist before the shop got closed," he answered instead, trying to lead the conversation in a different direction.
Trusting Kyu-Sik's selections for him after the eel, at least it was something that looked familiar, even if he hadn't eaten a lot of shrimp before. The first bite was nice, but then it started getting a bit crunchy as he got to the tail. A puzzled expression and shrimp tail poking out of his mouth, Donovan tried to work up the willingness to finish it all as he slowed chewed, unaware that it was expected not to eat the tail.
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Post by KYU-SIK MOON on Nov 11, 2013 7:24:51 GMT -8
Today won’t come again. At some point, the time has already...
May 24th
tag | Donovan
words | 338 | Kyu-Sik was taking in the details of what Donovan was saying up until the point the man tried to eat the shrimp. It was a shrimp. He found it hard to believe that Donovan hadn't eaten a shrimp before, nor did he think it was that hard to figure out. Certainly they had some seafood available in that area of the country. Perhaps the whole sushi thing threw the man off of understanding what he should and shouldn't eat.
Rather than actually say anything about it, Kyu-Sik took the liberty of reaching over and pulling the shrimp tail from the man's lips. He was getting used to the oddities of their late lunch and the action was a casually done one. He dropped the shrimp tail on to the plate. Maybe no more shrimp for him. Just as he was thinking that maybe something shell-less was better for Donovan, he ate one of the small squid on his plate. There were two, he'd just offer the other man one of those to try next. To avoid the issue of it ended up on the table like the other slippery fish, Kyu-Sik held it out to Donovan with his own chopsticks. The expression he got in return was a slightly worried one, but it was accepted anyway.
"Well, it doesn't explain the never driving part, but it explains what little else I have to go on." Iowa was a state that he didn't really know much about. All he knew was that they had corn. Lots of corn. And republicans? While he was having a little difficulty imagining Donovan as a corn farmer, he could at least see him as a florist. Though something about an unworldly wavy-haired florist with a soothing voice made him seem more like a storybook character slightly out of place. It was odd, but fair enough. Kyu-Sik knew he was probably odd himself to others. "I doubt anyone moves to Los Angeles just to be a florist. So, how did you end up here?" |
electric has gangnam style and back to neverland |
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Post by DONOVAN SHEPHERD on Nov 11, 2013 8:26:04 GMT -8
"Is it that weird not to drive? I just can't afford it," Donovan asked after finishing the intimidating-looking but oddly delicious squid, his guard a bit lowered after allowing the other boy feed him to be too worried by his strange wording and concern for explanations. He didn't want to think too much of it, poking the shrimp tail across the plate with his chopsticks instead of glancing at Kyu-Sik too directly while moistening his lips with a quick swipe of his tongue. "I didn't come alone. I guess I didn't know where else to go," which was actually quite closer to the truth than an attempt to hide it. "After my parents died," which wasn't true at all.
Running away to California hadn't been his idea, Owen had idealized it as a place for people like them, and Donovan had followed without question because each city was unknown and as terrifying as the next to make any informed decision. He just wanted to be anywhere but Iowa, anywhere nobody could find him. "I liked the idea of a more... diverse place. Open-minded. Where nobody would bother me too much." Glad he was able to give some sort of answer that didn't hint at anything else, Donovan chanced a light bump of feet underneath the table.
"What about your family?" he asked, trying once again to refocus the conversation. "You're... Korean, right?" Donovan hoped that living in Koreatown hadn't been any sort of red herring.
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Post by KYU-SIK MOON on Nov 12, 2013 1:36:27 GMT -8
Today won’t come again. At some point, the time has already...
May 24th
tag | Donovan
words | 256 | "It's only weird because I don't imagine the public transportation in Iowa being all that great or expansive." Though to be fair, that would be assuming that Donovan might have had anywhere important to go in the first place. He didn't really strike him as the sort of person who did unless he had to travel to piano lessons or something like that.
Everything was adding up well enough. Kyu-Sik didn't question any of it up to a certain point and, though he was curious, his immediate question was not to ask who Donovan might have moved to the city with. What didn't add up was the comment about dead parents. He remembered something that he found really strange when he tried to look up Donovan's Facebook via Google. What he found was not a Facebook. He would need to get that straightened out. "My parents moved to Los Angeles from Korea about five years before my sister and I were born, I think. Everyone is pretty open-minded here, but the city has its fair amount of troubles." That was his immediate return for the light bump, assuming the action to be an accident. Now on to more important matters.
"You say after your parents died. Did you know that your dead parents were looking for you?" Then again, the missing persons webpage he found hadn't given a date. Perhaps it was a sensitive subject, but perhaps it was also a mistake. Either way, Kyu-Sik had asked the question casually, reaching for another plate of salmon. |
electric has gangnam style and back to neverland |
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Post by DONOVAN SHEPHERD on Nov 12, 2013 2:09:24 GMT -8
Everything that Donovan had considered to be going well had hit a suddenly, screeching halt, all thoughts about how adorable Kyu-Sik must have been as a child immediately forgotten. His soft smile froze until it warped into something strained, grip on the chopsticks tightening as his mind churned over Kyu-Sik's last statement about his parents for any other possible meaning. Anything at all, any way to interpret it differently, because Kyu-Sik couldn't possibly mean what he thought he did by that. Except there was nothing else coming to mind, and Donovan's smile continued to tighten until the cheap chopsticks snapped in his grip.
"You're right," he continued on, picking up the broken pieces and placing them with exaggerated carefulness off to the side. "There's some troubles, but I do like how easy it is to get around. Even without my bike, the buses aren't so bad. Everything in Iowa was so spread out that it took too long to get much of anywhere." He stubbornly continued on, drawing out his reply to everything else in attempts to drown out his lack of acknowledgment toward being looked for. Where would Kyu-Sik even know that?
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Post by KYU-SIK MOON on Nov 12, 2013 2:46:41 GMT -8
Today won’t come again. At some point, the time has already...
May 24th
tag | Donovan
words | 139 | Kyu-Sik's chewing slowed to a stop. The man that he considered to be ridiculously relaxed in all other situations so far, even driving a car for the first time, was finally showing some tension. Kyu-Sik swallowed when the chopsticks snapped. The tight smile was almost unsettling. While the Korean male had expected that there might have been a possibly negative reaction to what he was saying, he hadn't expected Donovan to be so… well, the only word for it was tense.
He then proceeded to talk right past the question that was asked after so much as breaking chopsticks. Calmly, Kyu-Sik sat his own chopsticks down again, preparing another set for Donovan to replace the broken ones. "And about your parents?" He dared to push the subject, wanting an answer too much to just let it slide so soon.
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electric has gangnam style and back to neverland |
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Post by DONOVAN SHEPHERD on Nov 12, 2013 3:20:48 GMT -8
Then it was too much to hope that Kyu-Sik was going to let it go, and Donovan barely suppressed a twitch of irritation. "They're dead," Donovan insisted quite firmly through a forced smile and clenched teeth, never wishing more than in that moment for them to actually be so. They might as well been, given his determination to never see them or anyone else in his family again. He buried them a hundred times over in his mind, and if Kyu-Sik wasn't careful he'd soon be as dead to him as his parents.
"Why?" he demanded, low and icily, all pretense of his peaceful exterior dropped as he leaned across the table. Why was Kyu-Sik pushing for what clearly wasn't his business? Why did he feel entitled to that information? Why did he already know what he claimed to know?
He outright rejected the new set of chopsticks, knocking them out of Kyu-Sik's hands with a light swat, appetite having fizzled away with his good mood.
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Post by KYU-SIK MOON on Nov 12, 2013 3:53:09 GMT -8
Today won’t come again. At some point, the time has already...
May 24th
tag | Donovan
words | 178 | It seemed that their conversation had taken a turn for the worst. Donovan was more than just tense now, he was being outright aggressive in… a Donovan-ish way. Kyu-Sik, however, remained the calm individual that he always was. He returned the overly clinched smile with a completely unaffected glance. When the chopsticks were directly swatted from his hand, he simply picked them up again, almost silently daring Donovan to repeat the action.
"Why not? So it's fine for me to tell you about my parents, but I can't know about yours?" He questioned, nothing low or icy about his return. It was, however, strong with a quiet austerity. This was clearly an uneasy subject for the other man, but he at least wanted to get some idea of why he was so upset. Maybe being more direct on his end would help?
"I was updating my Etsy the other day and decided to try and find you on Facebook," he said, as if he even checked his own Facebook in months. "I found a missing persons report instead."
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electric has gangnam style and back to neverland |
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