The cubicle calling itself applicant quarters was narrow and bare, save for two cots and a stack of four plastwood drawer units trying to pass themselves off as a dresser. Eun-sook started by shoving the cots against opposite walls and dividing the storage drawers into two separate stacks. She wouldn't really need more than one of the units for the few clothes she'd brought with her, but if she was going to be forced to share accommodations, she was going to establish firm boundaries at the start without conceding any ground. If she'd had a can of spray paint, she would have marked the center of the room with a red line.
There was only one water closet, and that would have to be shared. Worse, the actual bathing room was communal, and consisted only of shower stalls. No way to take a decent bath! The mere thought of fourteen days without a long hot soak made her skin itch. This did not improve her mood. Nor did it deter her resolution to leave this miserable, dying, killing planet at the earliest opportunity.
She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the plastic mirror mounted on the WC wall. As it was mounted, she could only see herself from the chin up unless she went to fetch a footstool. The thought came to her unbidden, as it always did when she saw her own face looking back at her:
When did I get so old?
She brushed the thought away impatiently and went to put away her things.
She was folding and storing her undergarments when she heard a voice outside, echoing in the corridor. Someone was singing, and the sound was getting closer.
New world's calling and it's calling my name
Time for all of us to make a change
Why do I feel this way?
It's the promise of a new day
The singer's voice was bright with cheer, optimistic. It made Eun-sook feel sick to her stomach. She tucked her slips and pantaloons away, waiting for the offending noise to pass by and fade.
Then the door burst open, revealing the very Green she'd taken note of during the tour. So not only was she abandoning what must have been a comfortable life for the uncertainty of an alien world, she was happy about it! She was singing about it!
There's another world that's waiting for me
In Equestria, where life is sweet
Love ha–
Abruptly the singer stopped dead, the door swinging shut behind her. She stared moon-eyed at Eun-sook, the cheery smile on her long face dropping off like an overripe peach from a branch. Good!
Eun-sook slammed the drawer shut and faced this too-tall, gangly, kinky-haired upstart. She was spoiling for a good healthy confrontation after losing so ignominiously to the Good Doctor.
She pointed imperiously at the drawer stack beside her cot. "You keep your stuff away from mine.I check my stuff all the time. Every day. If anything goes missing or even gets messed with, you'll be sorry."
The girl seemed about to retort, which would have given Eun-sook tacit permission to launch a tirade about disrespectful, ungrateful youth…but instead she held herself back, and kept respectfully silent. She merely nodded, once.
Infuriating!
Eun-sook launched a fresh volley of provocation. "You stay on your side. Some people try to claim everything for themselves. I hate people like that."
"Me too." Provokingly unprovoked, the girl headed to her bunk, the linens stacked neatly on top, and began making her bed. Or trying to. "I'm Delphine Thibodeaux, but I go by Tib. What's your name, ma'am?"
"What you need my name for?" Eun-sook was startled out of her clipped, carefully accent-neutral English. Next she'd actually be speaking Korean.
The roommate–Tib–looked over her shoulder with a gentle smile. "Well, it would be an improvement over 'Hey, you', wouldn't it?"
Eun-sook shot back her most forbidding glare. Tib simply turned back to her work. She tried to smooth the sheet, tugging and patting and smoothing and adjusting and making an absolute mess of the carefully-pressed synthcotton. Obviously the girl had never made up a bed in her short, pampered life, but she obviously was game to make the attempt. So she wasn't afraid of work.
Eun-sook found herself holding back a wry chuckle at the futile antics. She watched until she could no longer tolerate the child's enthusiastic yet incompetent efforts.
"Are you crazy, or just stupid?!" Eun-sook was so caught between amusement, impatience and frustration that she didn't realize she had actually spoken in her ethnic Korean, therefore her words did not have the desired effect. She took three brisk steps forward and shoved Tib firmly back. Whipping off the sheet, she shook out the wrinkles as best she could and spread it out properly, tucking in the corners with neat box folds. The top sheet and blanket followed suit, falling in place under the guidance of long-practiced hands. She scooped up the flat pillow and pummelled it into submission. She tossed it backhand and it landed exactly at the head of the bed.
She hadn't lost her aim.
Tib stared at the freshly-made bed, suitably awed. She offered a hesitant "...Thank you?"
In that soft, strangely childish voice Eun-sook heard a distinct respect for elders, a quality she had thought long gone in the sullen youth culture. She also detected a suppressed yearning for something (or someone) precious that had been lost. The veneer of cheer was gone, and underneath was a lonely, quietly frightened girl forced to grow up entirely too soon.
Intending to exploit her opponent's vulnerability, Eun-sook marched over to confront her, purposely invading her personal space, facing her square-on to establish dominance. Generally people preferred to keep at least a meter's distance, and even close friends would stand at a forty.-degree angle from each other. Eun-sook's face-on stance should make Tib shift unconsciously to one side or the other, backing a step away and angling her body to a more comfortable position. Eun-sook had often used this tactic to literally back her targets into a corner. They wouldn't realize they'd moved until they bumped into the wall, and Eun-sook would take advantage of their confusion to gain social supremacy.
Only this time it failed. Tib looked mildly disconcerted, but she didn't step back or move aside. Nor was she defiant or defensive. She looked down at Eun-sook with cautious respect in her huge hazel eyes. She refused to be intimidated, not out of obstinance, but…a desire to be accepted?
She was so young. So-young was the name of her eldest granddaughter. She would be about this girl's age. And probably much less respectful of the grandmother she'd never met.
Instead of the harsh directives she'd intended, what came from her lips was just one word: "Halmeonee." She pronounced it distinctly, so there would be no mistakes.
Tib offered a small, desperate smile. "I'm sorry, I don't underst–"
"That what you call me. Halmeonee."
It was the Korean word for "grandmother".
She felt the unfamiliar prickle of tears in her eyes and she turned hastily away, towards her side of the room. You come help and next time you do bed yourself."
Part of her expected, no, wanted the girl to balk, to complain, to dispel the spark of affection flaring to unwelcome life. Instead she heard footsteps approaching behind her, and an eager "Yes, ma'am!"
With those two words, a part of her heart Eun-sook thought dead woke up and fell in love.
***