hai ❀| dark red bloodstreams stretching out like vast cracked ice
[Vietnam has not been adjusting well. Some of her family is here- she's grateful for Taiwan and Japan, at least- and her only benefactor and friend is here, too, but of course she hasn't returned yet to America's house. She can't bring herself to entertain the idea without feeling sick to her stomach. Especially not today.
Thirteen years ago, Saigon fell.]
Thirteen years.
[ . . . ]
I am free. [But she doesn't feel free. Even before coming here, she has felt trapped and isolated from the rest of the world. Poor and war-ravaged. Is that the freedom she fought so hard for? A part of her- North Vietnam- is celebrating. The other- South Vietnam- is sorrowful.
Today is supposed to be a day of glory and of happiness, but she feels neither.]
There is a saying among my people only reserved for the most devastating times. 'I have come to share with you your grief and your sorrow.' This divides the pain. You carry it away with you, and it stays with you always.
[Quietly:] I remember.
|❀PHONE; FILTERED; hackable; Charles Fei-Ong.|
Do you know what today is? If you'd like to share a meal and remember, I'm making some bún bò huế with what I can find here.
...I am sorry that I can't have anything more, but my intent was to be with my people at this time. [She does not want to sound as though she is pleading or imploring, but he is her only citizen here. The thought of not being with at least one of her citizens on this day is extremely unsettling.]
|❀PHONE; FILTERED; hackable; Russia.|
[China had told her to ask Russia. And though she doesn't believe a word of it- is trying not to believe it- she's asking now.]
What year is it?
[ooc; Today marks the anniversary of the fall of Saigon in 1975, and thus it is Reunification Day for Vietnam. For Vietnam (who believes it is 1988), it has only been thirteen years since the war ended. It still feels as though it just happened.]
Thirteen years ago, Saigon fell.]
Thirteen years.
[ . . . ]
I am free. [But she doesn't feel free. Even before coming here, she has felt trapped and isolated from the rest of the world. Poor and war-ravaged. Is that the freedom she fought so hard for? A part of her- North Vietnam- is celebrating. The other- South Vietnam- is sorrowful.
Today is supposed to be a day of glory and of happiness, but she feels neither.]
There is a saying among my people only reserved for the most devastating times. 'I have come to share with you your grief and your sorrow.' This divides the pain. You carry it away with you, and it stays with you always.
[Quietly:] I remember.
|❀PHONE; FILTERED; hackable; Charles Fei-Ong.|
Do you know what today is? If you'd like to share a meal and remember, I'm making some bún bò huế with what I can find here.
...I am sorry that I can't have anything more, but my intent was to be with my people at this time. [She does not want to sound as though she is pleading or imploring, but he is her only citizen here. The thought of not being with at least one of her citizens on this day is extremely unsettling.]
|❀PHONE; FILTERED; hackable; Russia.|
[China had told her to ask Russia. And though she doesn't believe a word of it- is trying not to believe it- she's asking now.]
What year is it?
[ooc; Today marks the anniversary of the fall of Saigon in 1975, and thus it is Reunification Day for Vietnam. For Vietnam (who believes it is 1988), it has only been thirteen years since the war ended. It still feels as though it just happened.]