Let the Rain Wash Away

「Bus in a minute five,」 said Sìqì, flicking up her hood. 「You'll make it.」
「Thanks,」 said Chao.
「Supper was delicious,」 added Feng.
「I'm glad,」 smiled Sìqì.
「Seen any Rangers?」 he asked.
「Oh, definitely. Most of 'em still twitchy for Jaegers, obviously. Except Vera. But Vera's not really--」
.
Sparkle, Hydra, and Wash, smiling and laughing, lighthearted, at a family barbecue.
*Who?*
Sparkle with flowers in her hair and a veil, Yale in a suit. Hydra and Shatterdome and Chuckles and Heart. Wash and Mǐmǐ’s cousins, Wash and Chuckles, Wash and Hydra, Wash and Lightbulb, Wash and Yale, Yale in armor. Wash and Sparkle.
Wash.
Wash and Mǐmǐ’s cousins in Horizon Brave armour.
Wash hates Mǐmǐ’s cousins. Wash hates Mǐmǐ.
This is where I screw up and Mǐmǐ almost dies.
Wash holds a vigil for Mǐmǐ.
Wash and Shatterdome, “I did not work this hard just to be a Spare!”
Triplets and Typhoon.
Wash leaves Hong Kong for Sydney.
Chuckles thinks Wash is pretty cool. Hydra is warm to the idea of Wash as family (as a daugh--
.
Hydra clues in that Wash's a girl and goes a little grey. Hydra spends the rest of the day making cue cards and finally approaches her long after supper, so long after supper, in fact, that most people are getting ready for bed. Wash's hair is free of its braid, and Hydra realizes again that his little boy's Involved (however platonically) with a girl.
"Cadet Dar ...."
Wash barely contains a laugh. "Would you like to come in?" 
Hydra tries to continue, fails, tromps inside.
Wash plops down on her bed, offers the spare seat which is not a bed but was built from one because she's a single-alone-she a one-person assigned a two-person room.
"It- ah- m-," he sits down.
"Is everything okay?"
"Chuck-," He frowns.
"Yes...?"
"My Chuck."
"Aha."
"My..." He sighs, hands over the cue cards.
Wash scans through the stack. "What are my intentions...? /Intentions? Ducky's, like twelve."
"Fourteen."
"Whatever. They're entirely honourable. Well, maybe not really. I'm using him to get a Jaeger after all.") Wash and Chuckles meandering, Wash bleeding from her brain.
.
Wash and Lightbulb.
Mǐmǐ to Anchorage; holds a vigil for Wash. Wash is loath to see Mǐmǐ.
Wash hates Regina. Wash hates Puppy.
Finding out Lightbulb’s on the Night’s Watch breaks Wash’s heart.
Yale and Chuckles and Hydra. Yale and Chuckles meandering. Yale assigned to Striker Eureka.
Lightbulb finds something extraordinary. Wash and Lightbulb in Sydney. Wash greets Yale neutrally. Wash and Chuckles greet each other frostily. Wash and Hydra greet each other warmly.
Lucky Seven falls; Hydra assigned to Striker Eureka.
Yale comes to Anchorage for experiments before deployment with other Nights’ Watch.
Wash loves Yale. 
Wash escorts Yale to Hong Kong.
Wash doesn’t speak to Mǐmǐ’s cousins. Yale is polite to Mǐmǐ’s cousins. Yale is polite to Mǐmǐ. Wash is curt to Mǐmǐ. Wash loves Yale. Wash hates Mǐmǐ. Mǐmǐ has no reason to be friends with Yale (she has no reason /not to be friends but she’s so busy).
Wash and Yale leave Hong Kong.
Yale won’t come back.
Wash will.
Yale dies. Wash identifies the body January 24th, 2024. Wash escorts the body back to Koffeifontein and Sparkle. Wash quits the PPDC. Wash returns to Lightbulb.
Shatterdome asks Wash to join his Resistance. Wash declines. Heart asks Lightbulb to consult on co-pilot candidates for the Hunter Resurrection Programme. Lightbulb sends Wash.
Wash doesn’t speak to Mǐmǐ. Wash doesn’t speak to Mǐmǐ’s cousins. Wash and Chuckles are… Wash and Chuckles. Wash and Hydra nod warmly to each other.
Diesel gets her pilots. Wash, contract satisfied, flies back January 4th, 2025, 13:35 to Lightbulb.
Lightbulb’s on a lecture circuit. Wash comes too.
The Shatterdome’s closing; Lightbulb can’t make it so Mǐmǐ moves all the Drift ware to a storage facility and processes the paperwork February 2nd-14th such that it’s ready to go.
Mǐmǐ gets sick. Daisy Daisy give me your answer true / I’m half crazy over my love for you / Mǐmǐ gets very sick. It won’t be a stylish marriage / I can’t afford a carriage / But you’ll look sweet upon the seat / Of a bicycle built for two. Mǐmǐ makes a delivery to New Zealand. Mǐmǐ has business at the Jaeger Mainframe Section, Hacker Valley Facility. Mǐmǐ is “949th in line for the throne, well, if the Qings hadn’t lost Imperial China- wait, I guess you’d be 946th now.” Wash and Lightbulb meet up with them and come to Hong Kong.
Mǐmǐ is very, very sick. Mǐmǐ’s going to die. Mǐmǐ’s been killing herself this whole time. Mǐmǐ’s cousins’ cousin is too afraid to call the hospital.
I will call the hospital. I will call Ether. Mǐmǐ will go to the hospital.
Wash and Lightbulb find the Drift hardware. Former Marshall Xiong helps them get everything signed April 3th, 2025.
Mǐmǐ has no immune system. Mǐmǐ’s in a clean room. Ether won’t step foot in a hospital.
May I?
But ....
.
Sìqì doesn’t uncurl from her chair or look up from her book. “Hey, Wash.”
“Did not expect to find you here.”
“Just keeping an eye out.”
“I thought you were psychic.”
“I am. Her cousin’s not.”
“Nice of you to play Operator.”
Sìqì nods at the observation window. “Best friend.”
Wash studies the mess of machines. “Hard to believe Tang Min's in there. Eesh. What happened?”
“Acute bronchitis.”
“That’s a bit overboard, isn’t it?”
“Immuno-compromised.”
“She must take really good care of herself if this’s the first time she’s gotten sick.”
“She didn’t.” Sìqì sighs. “This is the disaster cake of stress, not sleeping for nine days, an AI downloading Rangers into her head, grief, more stress, the flu, the same AI freaking out and nearly melting her brain, more stress, running around New Zealand, cough suppressants, pneumonia, a family of hospital-ophobia- quit being such a baby, Yale, none of this happened to you and you’re incorporeal now.”
“Yale?”
Sìqì thought for a moment. “Skeleton Key?”
“Pietr? He’s here?”
“Who?”
“Yale. His name’s Pietr Vos.”
“Who’s Yale?”
“The guy you were just talking to.”
“Oh, Yale! Yea, he’s here. Just under that window, actually.”
“Oh my god.” Wash collapses into a chair. “Oh my god. Pietr. I…” She covers her mouth.
“He says he’s well,” Sìqì reports gently.
“Is he signing or…?”
Sìqì stares at Yale.
He shrugs.
“No idea,” says Sìqì.
Wash nods absently.
A nurse comes in, checks Mǐmǐ’s chart, nods to them, and leaves.
“What do people normally say to ghosts?”
“Whatever they want.”
Wash’s eyes flick to the window. “I miss you.”
Yale misses her too.
“I want…” She laughs. “I don’t wanna waste this but I don’t know what I need to say-,” She goes pale. “I am so sorry for dropping your wedding ring."
Yale laughs, tells her it’s okay.
“Thank /god. Thought you were gonna blow up for sure.”
Yale grins, says he’s not Chuckles.
“How is he, anyway?”
Sìqì and Yale exchange glances.
“Weeellll….” She relates some of his misadventures anyway.
Wash sobs/laughs into her tissue. "Yea, that sounds like him."
"He's getting better," Sìqì promises.
"Thrown him off the roof yet?"
"Does it look like I can?"
"Guess not." Wash sighs sadly/fondly, wiping her nose.
"Sasha-n-Sasha did."
Well that was a sound Sìqì wouldn't forget.
.
Wash escorts Driftware back to Lightbulb HQ. Lightbulb ...
Hydra opens the door to a bedraggled, vacant-eyed Wash and her rather pathetic duffel bag.
"I think the plane taxied here."
"Charlotte?"
"Caitlin said, Wash! Welcome back! Here's your bag, get on this plane, go to this address."
"Who's Wash?"
"Who's Wash?"
"You just mentioned him...?"
"I don't remem...ber that shovel talk you gave me?"
"Hard to forget."
"So, uh, should we do, like, daughter-in-law-y things?"
The laugh shoots out like a bullet.
Wash giggles hysterically.
"What exactly are daughter-in-law-y things?"
"I have no idea. I don't think anyone's gotten married in my family for... ages."
.
Tell Wash what she wants to hear. Tell Wash what Sparkle wants to hear. Tell Wash what Hydra wants to hear.
I meet Wash.
Wash comes for DriftWare.
The Shatterdome’s closing; Wash and Lightbulb can’t make it so Mǐmǐ moves all the Drift ware to a storage facility and processes the paperwork February 2nd-14th such that it’s ready to go.
Diesel gets her pilots. Wash, contract satisfied, flies back January 4th, 2025, 13:35 to Lightbulb.
ET and Wash greet each other warmly. Mǐmǐ and Wash nod cordially to each other. Wash and Chuckles … are Wash and Chuckles. Wash and Hydra nod warmly to each other.
Shatterdome asks Wash to join his Resistance. Wash declines. Heart asks Lightbulb to consult on co-pilot candidates for the Hunter Resurrection Programme. Lightbulb sends Wash.
Yale dies. Wash identifies the body January 24th, 2024. Wash escorts the body back to Koffeifontein and Sparkle. Wash quits the PPDC. Wash returns to Lightbulb.
Lightbulb reassigns Wash to Yale. Wash comes to Hong Kong following Yale. ET greets Yale warmly. Wash greets ET frostily. Wash sparks at ET. ET figures out why Wash is so prickly and explains the situation. They’re good friends after that. Mǐmǐ and ET. ET and Yale. ET and Wash. Wash doesn’t hate Mǐmǐ so much. Wash and Yale. Wash and Yale leave Hong Kong.
ET and language. ET and Mǐmǐ. ET and Yale. ET likes Yale. ET loves Yale’s brain.
Yale wants coffee and gives his order via notebook February 19th, 2021.
"You are... deaf?" asks ET.
Yale nods.
"What's your name?"
-Pietr-
"In sign language."
Yale makes a face.
"Names are tricky?"
Resigned.
"Hm." ET mulls it over. Finally, "I am a girl?"
::I am a girl.::
ET grins. "Thought you were a guy."
Yale rolls his eyes.
::I am:: "Setsuko. Uh, lemme write it down." She does. "Means 'melody'."
::That's pretty::
"Pretty?"
Yale nods.
::I am pretty girl::
Yale grins. ::You are correct.::
::You are pretty::
He blushes and shows her his ring.
"How would you say that?"
::Married.::
"Only kind of, though--90 percent of sign language only roughly correlates to the spoken word?"
Yale shrugs, 'C'est la vie'.
::You are married. I am--::
::Not married?::
:You are married. I am not married.::
::You are very good.::
ET bows.
::Would you like to learn greetings?::
::I am learn greetings.::
::Hello. How are you? I am well.::
::Hello, pretty. You are well married. How are you?::
::I am happily married.::
::I am happy.::
::I like coffee with breakfast.::
::I not like coffee with breakfast.::
::Do you drink tea with breakfast?::
::I drink tea with breakfast. Do you drink with breakfast?::
::Eat for breakfast?::
"So close," ET replies wryly. ::What do you eat for breakfast?::
::Coffee.::
ET’s eyebrow says 'no, really'.
::And toast. I put jam on toast.::
::I like toast. I eat toast with tea with breakfast.::
::At breakfast.:: Yale glances at the clock.
"With whom are you working, and can I steal you away?"
Yale smiles but shook his head. ::Brain doctor. I'm needed back in the lab soon.::
"Or Doctor Lightcap'll come looking?"
::Yes.::
::You needed coffee.::
::Very, very black.::
"Swallowing the sun black?"
Yale gives his best endearing smile.
"Shall I walk you back?"
::I would like you to walk me back to the lab::
::I would happy to walk back to the lab.::
::You are amazing.::
"Thank you."
"Seti!" Mǐmǐ taps a travel mug.
Yale bows.
"Thanks Min, later!"
.
Lightbulb’s Quartermaster catches the flu. Wash replaces Lightbulb’s Quartermaster.
Yale comes to Hong Kong.
Soon.
.
「Hm.」 Sìqì stopped walking.
「Incoming.」 asked Chao.
「Yea, sorry." She shoved Feng off the sidewalk.
He tripped off the curb and his ankle went the wrong way.
The bus screeched to a halt.
The rain didn't.
Sìqì passed Chao a burner. 「Be nice to Yale.」
「Best regards.」
.
「Lots of incomplete fractures, spiral fracture in the right wrist, sprained ankle obviously, uh...」 Setsuko consulted her chart. 「Yanked his appendix a bit so it's out, ruptured his spleen, but no concussion. Doctor Tong's putting the last pins in now. Ranger Lin Feng'll be in fighting form, four to six weeks probably. If you want to deploy Shaolin Rogue any time soon you should request to second that, uh… Skeleton Key guy.」
「Pietr Vos?」
「If he’s that Universally Compatible guy, then him.」
「Thank you very much, Nurse Miyahira,」 said Marshall Xiong. "You're dismissed.」
Setsuko bowed and returned to Recovery.
「From the top, Ranger Lin, if you will.」
「One of our order invited us to supper, so we went to their apartment-,」
「Their?」
「Married couple and their daughter- it's complicated.」
「But you know these people.」
「We see them once or twice a year? All the Hong Kong branches know each other reasonably well, more or less.」
「Where do they live?」
「Sha Tin District.」
「A nice part of town.」
「Yes.」
「Very well, continue.」
「Nice evening but curfew's coming up so off we go to the bus and Big Brother... slipped.」
「He slipped.」
「Yes.」
「A Buddhist monk, renowned for his complete musculature control- the reason, in fact, he and his brother were approached in the first place, slipped.」
「It was raining- there was a mugger.」
「A mugger.」
「Yes. He attacked us and Big Brother slipped.」
「And you... ?」
「He knocked me out of the way.」
「And this happened before getting on the bus.」
「Yes.」
「And you came straight here?」 
Chao sorta held out his arms, presenting his blood spattered... robes.
「A mugger attacked you, knowing full well you would have... what, exactly?」 
「Bus passes?」 
「So I'm pretty much employing the two most useless monks to ever have lived.」
「Pretty much.」
.
Pietr “Skeleton Key” Vos comes to Hong Kong.
Category:Ficlet
Category:Siqi is (almost) psychic
Category:Siqi is a medium
Category:Pages in need of tags
Category:Siqi
Category:Siqi (ficlet)