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Post by kitastrophe on May 14, 2008 15:47:13 GMT -5
"Ahh.." There had to be more to the story than what she was giving, but Katie knew how to respect another woman's privacy. How O-Suzu conducted her affairs, why she chose to take the Doctor's surname, all her own business. She smiled. "Working in a doctor's office, must be interesting." She didn't like doctors, herself. The only time she'd been allowed to see one was when it was against her will and those were painful memories best not brought up.
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Post by The Doctor plus one on May 14, 2008 16:02:21 GMT -5
“Oh, it certainly is. Considering the other alternatives I had it's far better. And with someone like doctor Franklin you get to see different countries as well.” Not just different countries, but also the people there, among other things. And yes, she had learned a lot from the doctor. She could pass easily as a student of medicine in his last semester. As for the alternatives... O-Suzu was 24, not married and still not... deflowered. Getting married was somewhat out of question for her by now. There weren't many women in Japan who were still not married at her age. People would assume that something was wrong with her, and from a certain point of view, they would have been right. She was too interested in things not really suitable for a woman.
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Post by kitastrophe on May 14, 2008 16:58:10 GMT -5
"That does sound interesting." She remarked quietly. Aside from town whores, she had felt like she was the only woman her age in town who was not respectably married with children. It was kind of nice to meet this woman, even though clearly they had little else in common. "Tell me, Ms. Franklin. What do you do for...ahm, fun?"
The question had been put to her recently by a customer and she had been at a loss as to how to answer it. Sure, sex when you were doing it for fun had it's advantages, but she had at least had her girls back home to play cards with, walks in an exciting city, she'd been on the arms of the wealthiest men in New York and had seen many plays, concerts, eaten amazing food and worn amazing clothing. She missed recreation. It hadn't been worth staying for, but if she could find things to do here in Lost Haven, so much the better.
never hurts to ask, anyways...
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Post by The Doctor plus one on May 16, 2008 14:19:32 GMT -5
Fun. Fun? O-Suzu gave her a -somewhat- blank look. Back in Edo she had visited the local kabuki theater every now and then, usually with O-Hina. Many of the plays had been rather campy, following standard plots like: samurai daughter falls in love with son of wealthy merchant (which usually made O-Suzu cringe, after all, her uncle had been a rice merchant). Though, there had been one play which she had particularly liked. The Chushingura, the tale of the 47 Ronin. But not because they were samurai, or because of their loyalty, but simply because they had decided to step up against a shogun who had treated them and their lord unjustly. They had defied the given order in the country. Of course, in the end they had paid with their lives, but they had told the Tokugawa shogun “No way!” Too bad that kabuki didn't exist in the west. “Uhm, yes, fun... errr...” She didn't want to boast about the things she had seen in London, Paris, Berlin and Vienna, no, that wasn't her style, so... she decided to go for the truth once again. “Well, I just finished Semmelweis' 'The Etiology of Childbed Fever'. Though... I know a lot of people wouldn't consider that as... well... fun.”
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Post by kitastrophe on May 16, 2008 15:19:57 GMT -5
Now it was Kate's turn to give O-Suzu a blank look, raised eyebrows, and a slow nod. "No, I suppose it would be interesting if you knew all those fancy big words though." She shrugged slightly, insecure once more - she had had a little book learning.
Her mum had given her some instruction, she could read with a little difficulty, and knew her numbers well enough to keep her own finances fairly well. Education had not been first priority with her drunken father or her brothers after her mother had passed, and she certainly had had different training once she'd arrived in America.
She envied this girl her education, position, and dignity, and wondered what she would think if she knew everything there was to know about Katie Parrish.
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Post by The Doctor plus one on May 16, 2008 15:51:16 GMT -5
O-Suzu didn't shake her head, instead she waved her right hand. “Oh no, it's not like that. Big fancy words, they mean nothing. They're just words.” She stopped there for a second. Things could have been a lot different. If her parents and siblings wouldn't have died in the fire, then she wouldn't have met her uncle, wouldn't have run away and certainly wouldn't have met the doctor. Or maybe she would have... long after she would have gotten married. “Without doctor Franklin things would be a lot different. Without him,” now she was shaking her head, “I might be dead already.” It was unlikely that she would have survived on the streets on Edo for even just a month. “When I said that he's like a father for me... I mean it that way. You could say I have an obligation towards him.”
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Post by kitastrophe on May 17, 2008 15:10:38 GMT -5
Obligation, she sort of understood. She wondered at this strange girl, who could trust a man with so much. What sort of obligation did she owe? When she'd entrusted her life to a man and left her country for a new life, it had turned out much, much differently. Unless O-Suzu wasn't telling her something, but she didn't get that impression.
"I had a relationship like that once. It sounds like you got lucky." She said, before stopping herself. She flustered, did not mean to say soo much, curses to her flighty tongue! She looked down at her hands and examined her nails. Sure, she had probably been much younger than O-Suzu when she decided to leave her family for a new world, but she'd been stupid, very stupid.
Still, she trusted too much. She thought briefly of Masters and her shoulders squared. Her taste in men was getting better, but was still incredibly unreliable. Looking back up to O-Suzu she smiled. "I find you very interesting, Ms. Franklin. I'm new to town and don't have many friends.."
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Post by The Doctor plus one on May 17, 2008 15:19:19 GMT -5
“I was lucky,” O-Suzu said, “thanks to the gods I was. Things could have gotten a lot different. But those were different times.” Things had changed, even in Japan. Back then any rabid samurai or even ronin could have just killed her without fearing punishment. But those days were over now. Not only because she was in America now, but also because Japan had changed. No more samurai. Wonderful!
Then O-Suzu's eyebrows rose. Interesting? Herself? Since when? Katie Parrish must have been mistaken. O-Suzu wasn't interesting at all. At least, she didn't consider herself to be interesting. She was just... well... O-Suzu, just O-Suzu. Nothing more. Though, it was quite surprising for her to hear that Katie Parrish had no friends. Then again, she had just arrived, so that wasn't really that surprising. On the other hand... how many friends did O-Suzu have after more than a year? The doctor... that was it. “Oh no, I'm not interesting, not at all. But... I admit, I don't really have any friends here.” Must have been because she wasn't interesting enough.
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Post by kitastrophe on May 17, 2008 15:27:53 GMT -5
Parrish tilted her head. "Now, now. You've been everywhere, clearly well-read, you work in an interesting place most girls don't get to experience, and you still took time to get to know me. That makes you pretty much one of thee most interesting people I've met in this town." She stepped down from the porch, offered her hand. "I'm surprised you don't have friends, but I consider you a friend of mine." She smiled a little nervously.
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Post by The Doctor plus one on May 17, 2008 15:39:28 GMT -5
“Most of the girls wouldn't get anywhere near such a work, though.” She knew it too well and had seen it not only in Japan, but also in Europe and America. Doctors dealt with death and diseases, and nurses were... well... their minions. Surely it was a respected field of work, but also a major turn-off for most people. Now Katie Parrish was offering her hand. O-Suzu hesitated a second. Handshaking, she still wasn't used to that. The western people had this odd behavior of touching each other. It was really strange. Though, she had also learned that people considered this to be important and... as part of manners. For her, on the other hand, it was not always the most comfortable experience. Like that one officer in London who had not only shaken her hand, but also kissed it. Yuck! O-Suzu eventually took the hand for a shake. “That makes you my first friend here, apart from doctor Franklin.”
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Post by kitastrophe on May 17, 2008 16:40:49 GMT -5
Katie shook O-Suzu's hand and nodded. "You're my first friend here as well." She said with a bemused look. O-Suzu's line of business did make her queasy, but probably for entirely different reasons than she would've imagined. Blood, death, illness... a prostitute sees most of these on a regular basis, even in the highest class establishments. Women would get pregnant, beaten, fall ill, and sometiimes die. Years ago, she had nursed her best friend for days before the end.
She had limited experience, however, with the medical profession. Most doctors she had met were only called in on extreme cases, and death seemed to follow them. This was an uncomfortable line of thought and she looked back at O-Suzu, closing the door on those memories. "There are worse things than caring for people less fortunate, which is what a doctor's assistant is supposed to do, unless I'm wrong?"
Certainly, this girl who hesitated to take her hand would've been appalled at the dirtiness ofh er former profession.
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Post by The Doctor plus one on May 17, 2008 17:25:03 GMT -5
“No, you are right,” O-Suzu finally said. There were worse things than that, certainly. But most people usually didn't realize those. And Katie Parrish would have been surprised. O-Suzu had dealt with prostitutes before. Of course, not with the women from the flower and willow world, the courtesans, the taiyuu and oiran. No. The flower and willow world had been strictly off limits for her, after all, she was a woman. And the only women allowed in the sealed off pleasure quarters had been the prostitutes, geisha and female staff. In fact, O-Suzu had never set foot into the pleasure quarters. The doctor had, once or twice, but only when a wealthy customer of those areas was worried about his favorite courtesan, which hadn't happened that often. Other than that they had mainly dealt with “nighthawks”, usually maids and workers at bathhouses and inns, who were making some extra cash by engaging in unlicensed -and thus illegal- prostitution. Those girls had been hardly protected at all. The women in the pleasure quarters, at least, had either their customers, or the local police guards, but the nighthawks, they were an unlucky bunch. They were beaten, raped, sometimes even slashed. O-Suzu had patched up some of them herself. And she knew one thing, without the doctor appearing in her life, chances that she would have ended up as a nighthawk were very high.
“There are worse things, yes.”
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Post by kitastrophe on May 21, 2008 1:25:35 GMT -5
Kate heard a small crash inside the club and winced. "Sounds like I've left Lewis to his own designs for too long. He enjoys his own recipes.." She smiled apologetically. "I have to get back in there, but...I've really enjoyed talking to you.."
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Post by The Doctor plus one on May 22, 2008 7:57:27 GMT -5
O-Suzu bowed her head. “It's been a pleasure, Miss Parrish.” Though, there was a thought that crossed her mind. Alcohol was in the play, someone was obviously drunk, playing around with his own, strange, recipes. That could, of course, mean problems. Alcohol wasn't alcohol. She had learned that there were different forms and not all were good. Some even made you blind right away. “Shall I have a look at him? It'll save you the trouble of running to doctor Franklin should he be injured.”
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Post by kitastrophe on Jun 22, 2008 14:09:48 GMT -5
Katie laughed. "Crashes with that old geezer rarely mean injury, but just the same, if you'd like to take a look it's better safe than sorry, aye?"
Besides, if he really was injured there would be no question of the trouble of running for a doctor - she'd be too busy tending to his customers. Just as well a medic happened to be outisde, really.
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