Scars: 2/?
Kinda short? idk. Read on.
---CHAPTER TWO---
Junsu stepped out of the elevator first, leaving some of the attendants shocked and questioning why the two of them were back unattended. He raised his empty hands apologetically.
"No booklet. We need to go back up. I'm useless without it."
He was smiling at them assuredly, and Yunho couldn't believe it when they fell for it. Maybe he had something going here, he thought.
He followed Junsu back up to the board room and the two of them sat; Yunho with his head in his hands, and Junsu with his clasped and his eyes staring at Yunho.
"Okay...we need to train...and you only have one day."
Yunho raised his head out of his hands and looked at Junsu questioningly.
"I need to teach you," he pulled his booklet out of his shirt again, "how to relax."
Yunho huffed and looked at him with concern, like it was stupid trying to teach him how to relax.
"Ah...there it is."
"There what is?" Yunho asked.
"...we'll go off of that."
Junsu set his hands in his lap and leaned back in his chair.
"Off of what?" Yunho questioned, still confused.
"Well Yunho...it is Yunho right? You never seemed to return the name when I introduced myself earlier-"
"I'm sorry-"
"Don't bother," he waved his hand, "we need to get you ready to head down again. And since you can't stop worrying, we'll focus that worry on something else. Why can't you go down there?"
Yunho suddenly looked bothered.
"I told you, my dad, the memory of what happened-"
"Okay...but you don't remember anything else down there? Did you meet anyone else Yunho?"
Yunho sat back, letting the memory settle again. His brows furrowed as images flashed of an explosion, a man rushing to cover him, his father's damaged body. He rubbed at his temples and looked for anything else.
"There was a girl we met. ...she had a funny name...and she was holding the ugliest doll I had ever seen."
"Mhm...so...how is she doing now?"
"What?"
"I asked a question Yunho, how is she doing?"
Yunho never let her come back into his head, his father's demise wracking his brain instead. Wasn't she a member of the colony? Wasn't she someone who needed a better sense of safety, what he'd been worrying about for nearly two decades?
"I...I don't know."
Junsu could see that this worried Yunho. He knew that if pushed to think about it, he could wrap his mind around the thought of heading back down and into the colony. Junsu nodded his head and picked up his booklet.
"Think about her instead. ...when you go down there, don't think about him," he rose from his seat and walked over to Yunho, placing a hand on his shoulder, "he's gone. ...and...wherever she is down there, maybe you can help her. Like I said, we have tomorrow. Rest on that thought."
He headed out the door and yelled one last thing to Yunho.
"Told you you're obvious!" he waved a peace sign beside his head as he passed the door frame, "...see you tomorrow."
The door shut and Yunho sat in the quiet of the room, and for the first time in a while, when he thought of the colony, his father's face didn't flash before his eyes.
---
"...I, myself, was a product of the school you see now. Improvements have been made since it first began and it is continuously growing and expanding..."
"Just like my dick," Yoochun whispered.
Changmin cast his eyes down and snickered at the crude comment, but Jaejoong just tightened his eyes at him.
"Excuse me," the guide walked up to Yoochun, "do you mind telling me what's so funny?"
She was smiling, but it was the most fake smile the three of them had ever seen. She stood far below his height, but tried to show that she didn't feel threatened.
"I'm sorry Miss um..."
Yoochun leaned down, and far too close for comfort as he looked at her name tag. She shivered slightly.
"...Miss Boa...yes...I'm sorry. I said," he leaned in close to her ear to whisper the words, "just. Like. My. Dick."
He backed off and back up to his full height and smiled down at her.
"Was that clear enough for you?"
She tightened her face, the smile now gone, but swiveled to continue the tour. Changmin raised his eyebrows and shrugged at Jaejoong, but the latter knew that he wouldn't like working with this Yoochun...not at all.
Boa finished the final round of the tour at the mouth of the newest development of the colony. The opening was framed in steel and the size of a large house. It curved at the middle, with a large recessed light in the center. The same type of framing and lighting was echoed down a hallway that seemed to go for miles. Two escalators ensconced the edges of it and opened at three different levels. At each of those levels and at small breaks in between, there were moving sidewalks on either edge of the frames.
"...it is still a work in progress. If you look further down, there are still recesses that have yet to be ventured into, but we are still hoping to attain more business in that end of the colony..."
The three of them noticed her pausing after she said this.
"And?" Jaejoong asked.
"Oh...excuse me. ...I think that will be all for today. You all have a detailed map of what I've shown you so far, but I will lead you back to the mouth of the entrance and lead you back to the ground floor level of the elevator."
She turned to lead them back to the elevator quietly. Her hands were kept out of their line of sight in front of her body. Boa had a nervous look on her face and bit her lip as her hands were being wrung frantically.
---
Hours later, some of the lights dimmed in the colony. Boa placed her uniform in an employee locker near the elevator entrance. It was set neatly by a small rag doll with a tattered blue dress. She pulled out a heavy dufflebug, containing her other uniform. It was a jumpsuit, dirtied with stains from oil and dirt. Gloves and heavier boots followed, and then a miner's helmet. Once it was shut, she walked back to the main entry and tapped a side wall. It opened to reveal a small ATV. After she hopped on, she rode through winding streets into the depth of the colony, approaching the mammoth entry to the newest development. She passed the escalators, rolling down the middle until it faded to black and the edges got rocky. She let a hand click the light on her helmet on and switched the lights on her vehicle on.
After venturing in darkness for a few minutes, she came upon a few other twinkles of light. It opened again and there were workers on the walls chipping away. Others were on the ground in makeshift huts.
She came up to one near the back that looked like a set of two trailers mashed together.
"Dad! You here?"
She hopped off and went to the door, opening it swiftly and looking around. In the middle of the first trailer, it was dimly lit and there was a bed in the center.
"Turn on the lights. I don't know why you like the dark so much."
She clicked a few more lights on and a figure shifted under the covers. Next to the bed, there was an old, folded wheelchair and a set of crutches.
"Make sure you eat something okay? ...I'm going to work for a few hours, but I'll be back to check on you."
"...you're such a good daughter."
"Yeah yeah. I love you, too."
She leaned in and pulled back a top cover, rubbing and kissing at the large scar writ across his forehead.
---
The next day came, and the five of them were heading back down with a new guide.
"Where's the other girl?" Yoochun asked.
"She's in every other day, sir. ...is there something you would like me to relay to her?"
"...nah. It's fine."
They were in more casual clothing today, more comfortable.
"...the five of you will be split to look over two different halves of the colony. The three of you in Business Relations are to look over the newer development, near the back, and the two of you," she stared at Yunho and Junsu, "are to look over the foreground. Report what you find in your booklets and any assessments you'd make for their improveme- ...yes?"
The others hadn't noticed Jaejoong raising his hand slightly.
"Will we have to work with our selected members the whole time? ...what if we want to switch?"
"Psh, who would want to switch with me?" Changmin crooked his neck from side and side and clasped an arm around Jaejoong's shoulder, "I'm fucking lovable."
The new guide blinked at the language but found herself smiling anyway. Changmin shot her a wink.
"Um...oh sorry, no...who you've been assigned to is who you're to work with. Any new partnering will take some time and-"
"It's fine, it's fine," he looked over at Yoochun, "I was just wondering."
Yoochun looked Jaejoong up and down and smiled, but let them continue to roll down quietly.
The doors opened just as they had before, just as wide and just as slow. The sidewalk was the same and the lighting. Four people walked forward, and then Junsu followed.
Yunho looked down at the sidewalk and then up into the light that flowed from the open corridor. He took a deep breath, and stepped forward.
---
---CHAPTER TWO---
Junsu stepped out of the elevator first, leaving some of the attendants shocked and questioning why the two of them were back unattended. He raised his empty hands apologetically.
"No booklet. We need to go back up. I'm useless without it."
He was smiling at them assuredly, and Yunho couldn't believe it when they fell for it. Maybe he had something going here, he thought.
He followed Junsu back up to the board room and the two of them sat; Yunho with his head in his hands, and Junsu with his clasped and his eyes staring at Yunho.
"Okay...we need to train...and you only have one day."
Yunho raised his head out of his hands and looked at Junsu questioningly.
"I need to teach you," he pulled his booklet out of his shirt again, "how to relax."
Yunho huffed and looked at him with concern, like it was stupid trying to teach him how to relax.
"Ah...there it is."
"There what is?" Yunho asked.
"...we'll go off of that."
Junsu set his hands in his lap and leaned back in his chair.
"Off of what?" Yunho questioned, still confused.
"Well Yunho...it is Yunho right? You never seemed to return the name when I introduced myself earlier-"
"I'm sorry-"
"Don't bother," he waved his hand, "we need to get you ready to head down again. And since you can't stop worrying, we'll focus that worry on something else. Why can't you go down there?"
Yunho suddenly looked bothered.
"I told you, my dad, the memory of what happened-"
"Okay...but you don't remember anything else down there? Did you meet anyone else Yunho?"
Yunho sat back, letting the memory settle again. His brows furrowed as images flashed of an explosion, a man rushing to cover him, his father's damaged body. He rubbed at his temples and looked for anything else.
"There was a girl we met. ...she had a funny name...and she was holding the ugliest doll I had ever seen."
"Mhm...so...how is she doing now?"
"What?"
"I asked a question Yunho, how is she doing?"
Yunho never let her come back into his head, his father's demise wracking his brain instead. Wasn't she a member of the colony? Wasn't she someone who needed a better sense of safety, what he'd been worrying about for nearly two decades?
"I...I don't know."
Junsu could see that this worried Yunho. He knew that if pushed to think about it, he could wrap his mind around the thought of heading back down and into the colony. Junsu nodded his head and picked up his booklet.
"Think about her instead. ...when you go down there, don't think about him," he rose from his seat and walked over to Yunho, placing a hand on his shoulder, "he's gone. ...and...wherever she is down there, maybe you can help her. Like I said, we have tomorrow. Rest on that thought."
He headed out the door and yelled one last thing to Yunho.
"Told you you're obvious!" he waved a peace sign beside his head as he passed the door frame, "...see you tomorrow."
The door shut and Yunho sat in the quiet of the room, and for the first time in a while, when he thought of the colony, his father's face didn't flash before his eyes.
---
"...I, myself, was a product of the school you see now. Improvements have been made since it first began and it is continuously growing and expanding..."
"Just like my dick," Yoochun whispered.
Changmin cast his eyes down and snickered at the crude comment, but Jaejoong just tightened his eyes at him.
"Excuse me," the guide walked up to Yoochun, "do you mind telling me what's so funny?"
She was smiling, but it was the most fake smile the three of them had ever seen. She stood far below his height, but tried to show that she didn't feel threatened.
"I'm sorry Miss um..."
Yoochun leaned down, and far too close for comfort as he looked at her name tag. She shivered slightly.
"...Miss Boa...yes...I'm sorry. I said," he leaned in close to her ear to whisper the words, "just. Like. My. Dick."
He backed off and back up to his full height and smiled down at her.
"Was that clear enough for you?"
She tightened her face, the smile now gone, but swiveled to continue the tour. Changmin raised his eyebrows and shrugged at Jaejoong, but the latter knew that he wouldn't like working with this Yoochun...not at all.
Boa finished the final round of the tour at the mouth of the newest development of the colony. The opening was framed in steel and the size of a large house. It curved at the middle, with a large recessed light in the center. The same type of framing and lighting was echoed down a hallway that seemed to go for miles. Two escalators ensconced the edges of it and opened at three different levels. At each of those levels and at small breaks in between, there were moving sidewalks on either edge of the frames.
"...it is still a work in progress. If you look further down, there are still recesses that have yet to be ventured into, but we are still hoping to attain more business in that end of the colony..."
The three of them noticed her pausing after she said this.
"And?" Jaejoong asked.
"Oh...excuse me. ...I think that will be all for today. You all have a detailed map of what I've shown you so far, but I will lead you back to the mouth of the entrance and lead you back to the ground floor level of the elevator."
She turned to lead them back to the elevator quietly. Her hands were kept out of their line of sight in front of her body. Boa had a nervous look on her face and bit her lip as her hands were being wrung frantically.
---
Hours later, some of the lights dimmed in the colony. Boa placed her uniform in an employee locker near the elevator entrance. It was set neatly by a small rag doll with a tattered blue dress. She pulled out a heavy dufflebug, containing her other uniform. It was a jumpsuit, dirtied with stains from oil and dirt. Gloves and heavier boots followed, and then a miner's helmet. Once it was shut, she walked back to the main entry and tapped a side wall. It opened to reveal a small ATV. After she hopped on, she rode through winding streets into the depth of the colony, approaching the mammoth entry to the newest development. She passed the escalators, rolling down the middle until it faded to black and the edges got rocky. She let a hand click the light on her helmet on and switched the lights on her vehicle on.
After venturing in darkness for a few minutes, she came upon a few other twinkles of light. It opened again and there were workers on the walls chipping away. Others were on the ground in makeshift huts.
She came up to one near the back that looked like a set of two trailers mashed together.
"Dad! You here?"
She hopped off and went to the door, opening it swiftly and looking around. In the middle of the first trailer, it was dimly lit and there was a bed in the center.
"Turn on the lights. I don't know why you like the dark so much."
She clicked a few more lights on and a figure shifted under the covers. Next to the bed, there was an old, folded wheelchair and a set of crutches.
"Make sure you eat something okay? ...I'm going to work for a few hours, but I'll be back to check on you."
"...you're such a good daughter."
"Yeah yeah. I love you, too."
She leaned in and pulled back a top cover, rubbing and kissing at the large scar writ across his forehead.
---
The next day came, and the five of them were heading back down with a new guide.
"Where's the other girl?" Yoochun asked.
"She's in every other day, sir. ...is there something you would like me to relay to her?"
"...nah. It's fine."
They were in more casual clothing today, more comfortable.
"...the five of you will be split to look over two different halves of the colony. The three of you in Business Relations are to look over the newer development, near the back, and the two of you," she stared at Yunho and Junsu, "are to look over the foreground. Report what you find in your booklets and any assessments you'd make for their improveme- ...yes?"
The others hadn't noticed Jaejoong raising his hand slightly.
"Will we have to work with our selected members the whole time? ...what if we want to switch?"
"Psh, who would want to switch with me?" Changmin crooked his neck from side and side and clasped an arm around Jaejoong's shoulder, "I'm fucking lovable."
The new guide blinked at the language but found herself smiling anyway. Changmin shot her a wink.
"Um...oh sorry, no...who you've been assigned to is who you're to work with. Any new partnering will take some time and-"
"It's fine, it's fine," he looked over at Yoochun, "I was just wondering."
Yoochun looked Jaejoong up and down and smiled, but let them continue to roll down quietly.
The doors opened just as they had before, just as wide and just as slow. The sidewalk was the same and the lighting. Four people walked forward, and then Junsu followed.
Yunho looked down at the sidewalk and then up into the light that flowed from the open corridor. He took a deep breath, and stepped forward.
---