05-05-2024, 08:27 PM
Her brother finished listening to her story as they stood there listening to the band. The music wasn’t so loud he couldn’t hear her over the tunes which play out against the cobbled road beneath them. The pennants and ribbons hanging from the trees flowed upon the breeze like they had lives of their own creating a beautiful cascading effect around them.
“You have to be careful. You know that there are some people who will not take kindly to your humor always especially in stressful situations,” he admonished her with a bit of a sigh.
“I realize that, I just, I was nervous too. It was my first away team mission, my first mission period, there had been a lot that went on I’m not even sure I’m aloud to say..” she matched his sigh.
For a few moments the pair fell silent, the calls of excited Korean children filling the air as they ran around at the festival and their exhausted parents calling after them trying to get them to come back or at least slow down. Eun Ju remembered running through festivals just like this when she was little trailing after her older brothers as they met up with their school friends planning which booths they would visit. She remembered wearing her hanbok and being frustrated with it’s long skirts which caused her small legs to run much slower than her brothers.
A familiar hand ruffled the top of her hair. “This is part of learning Sis. You just have to take the lesson and change what you do in the future. A good commanding officer will expect that you’ll make mistakes moving forward because you’re new. This is how you learn. I was much the same when I started my job. That’s why you start at the bottom and you don’t get to make important decisions yet, but you’ll get there with time and experience.”
Eun Ju couldn’t help but beam under the thoughts her brother shared with her. She had really needed this time to check in with some of her family and kind of re-ground herself. “Thanks, oppa.” She leaned in and gave him a hug.
“Now, lets go get some fishcakes.”
The two of them left the musical center and walked at a leisurely pace towards the food stalls. They pockmarked the whole festival but there was a concentrated area with tables, chairs, umbrellas and such waiting as well. Some of the stalls were run by students who were trying to fundraise for certain things, usually sports or trips. Most of them were run by local area businesses who were trying to bank on the revenue that would come in from a festival like this. The festival would run all day and end with fireworks late into the night. Many stayed even after and pick up wouldn’t be until mid-next day. But, she didn’t have to worry about any of that.
“I applied to transfer to another ship.” She said as they walked towards the stall, causing her brother to raise his brow.
“Why?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know, I just.. felt like I couldn’t come out of what I had done, I’d be marked a concern.” She admitted with a shrug.
“You can’t run away from every problem that you have, Eun Ju. You have to stand your ground and show you can’t be pushed away even if people are jerks. What ship are you going to?”
Eun Ju had recently gotten the acceptance letter so she knew which one she was going to as soon as they came back to port. “The Artemis.”
“I really don’t know anything about that ship, but I’ll have to learn about it. Just.. be yourself, and remember your respect. Halmoni taught you well.”
“You mean she beat us well.” She grinned as they got to the fish cake stall and began eating. The fish was fried and impaled on long wooden sticks. You just ate your fill and paid afterwards once the woman counted your sticks. It was still warm and as good as she remembered. Even though she knew this wasn’t real it sure felt as though it was.
“Well, Halmoni had to teach us, she raised all three of us and you know we were a lot.” He teased taking a bite of his fish as well.
“You have to be careful. You know that there are some people who will not take kindly to your humor always especially in stressful situations,” he admonished her with a bit of a sigh.
“I realize that, I just, I was nervous too. It was my first away team mission, my first mission period, there had been a lot that went on I’m not even sure I’m aloud to say..” she matched his sigh.
For a few moments the pair fell silent, the calls of excited Korean children filling the air as they ran around at the festival and their exhausted parents calling after them trying to get them to come back or at least slow down. Eun Ju remembered running through festivals just like this when she was little trailing after her older brothers as they met up with their school friends planning which booths they would visit. She remembered wearing her hanbok and being frustrated with it’s long skirts which caused her small legs to run much slower than her brothers.
A familiar hand ruffled the top of her hair. “This is part of learning Sis. You just have to take the lesson and change what you do in the future. A good commanding officer will expect that you’ll make mistakes moving forward because you’re new. This is how you learn. I was much the same when I started my job. That’s why you start at the bottom and you don’t get to make important decisions yet, but you’ll get there with time and experience.”
Eun Ju couldn’t help but beam under the thoughts her brother shared with her. She had really needed this time to check in with some of her family and kind of re-ground herself. “Thanks, oppa.” She leaned in and gave him a hug.
“Now, lets go get some fishcakes.”
The two of them left the musical center and walked at a leisurely pace towards the food stalls. They pockmarked the whole festival but there was a concentrated area with tables, chairs, umbrellas and such waiting as well. Some of the stalls were run by students who were trying to fundraise for certain things, usually sports or trips. Most of them were run by local area businesses who were trying to bank on the revenue that would come in from a festival like this. The festival would run all day and end with fireworks late into the night. Many stayed even after and pick up wouldn’t be until mid-next day. But, she didn’t have to worry about any of that.
“I applied to transfer to another ship.” She said as they walked towards the stall, causing her brother to raise his brow.
“Why?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know, I just.. felt like I couldn’t come out of what I had done, I’d be marked a concern.” She admitted with a shrug.
“You can’t run away from every problem that you have, Eun Ju. You have to stand your ground and show you can’t be pushed away even if people are jerks. What ship are you going to?”
Eun Ju had recently gotten the acceptance letter so she knew which one she was going to as soon as they came back to port. “The Artemis.”
“I really don’t know anything about that ship, but I’ll have to learn about it. Just.. be yourself, and remember your respect. Halmoni taught you well.”
“You mean she beat us well.” She grinned as they got to the fish cake stall and began eating. The fish was fried and impaled on long wooden sticks. You just ate your fill and paid afterwards once the woman counted your sticks. It was still warm and as good as she remembered. Even though she knew this wasn’t real it sure felt as though it was.
“Well, Halmoni had to teach us, she raised all three of us and you know we were a lot.” He teased taking a bite of his fish as well.