History

== Revised text ==
Date/Timing: 8 January 2019
Setting: Mess hall, The Shed; Vaucluse, NSW, Australia
.
Chuck drops her tray next to Pietr's and floats down after it. "Evenin'," she greets.
Across the table, Ducky glowers. "D'ye have to—/OW!"
Pietr pulls his foot back, nods a greeting.
Chuck grins back, tosses her braid around her neck. "For your information, Ducky—" Sets upon her potatoes—
"You're stalkin' a Drift partner?"
Pietr slides his mobile in front of Ducky, raises an eyebrow.
Chuck hiccups.
Ducky turns pink. "What're ye, crazy? Of course not!"
Pietr shrugs 'of course not'. Looks 'you were saying?' at Chuck.
"Boss wants me to—" She yawns. "—get some medical history from you."
"He's tired. Leave 'im alone."
Pietr frowns at Ducky, smiles apologetically to Chuck, gives a thumbs up, asks,
- Coffee? -
"Cocoa, if they have it. Or tea."
"I'll help."
Pietr stands and waves Ducky back to his seat.
"Ducky."
"Chuckold." He rubs the back of his neck. "You're not broken, yea?"
"Broken." She waves her right hand. "Ye know why brains are so tricky? They need blood and electricity. Take away one or the other 'n /whoosh, entire clusters of cells kick it, just like that. Think 'mass extinction', but in yer head." She starts cutting her beans. "But, like every great die-off, there's room to rebuild so long as something's got a heartbeat, so …." She shrugs. "Got me a new neural architecture in eighty percent the space of the old one. I'll still never jockey. Unlike you."
Ducky studies the fake woodgrain of the table.
"I hope you know how lucky you are, Ducky. Pietr's a bleedin' miracle. 'n he's all yours."
The table surface is apparently fascinating.
"Four? What's—"
"You didn't."
Pietr grins. He sets a cup of cocoa in front of Chuck.
Ducky accepts coffee with milk.
Another mug before Pietr's place.
The final one stays in hand.
The trio sip.
Chuck sighs into her cocoa.
"Oi! This is decaf!"
Pietr smirks over his drink, telegraphs 'go ahead' to Chuck.
"Hm? Oh, file. Right." She taps the tablet awake, slides it over. "Just fill in the blanks. Skip anything you don't get and we'll talk about it when you're done."
Thumbs up.
Ducky glowers.
Pietr taps away.
Chuck watches him, smiling faintly.
Ducky growls.
Chuck ignores him, sips cocoa.
Pietr frowns, starts his second cup.
Ducky bounces his knees.
Pietr gives him a Look.
Ducky stops.
Chuck snickers.
Ducky glares.
Pietr perks up, grins, passes the tablet back to Chuck.
"Thanks, Pietr."
He tips an imaginary hat.
Ducky rolls his eyes.
Chuck reads, raises an eyebrow at Pietr. "No family history of deafness? It's not genetic, then?"
Pietr shakes his head, types on his mobile. 
- Bad nerves - 
Traces a line from his throat through his ear to the base of his skull.
"How'd that happen?"
- Premature -
Chuck blinks. "You have t' be pretty tiny for that t' happen, ay?"
- 26 weeks -
Her '2' comes out a lot like a 'Z' and the tablet whines.
Ducky peers over. "That's really early, yeah?"
The tablet cooperates. 
"Says here ... only two-thirds of normal."
Ducky sniffs. "Can't expect me to know girl stuff."
"That's /human stuff, Ducky. No wonder you're lousy at it."
"Where the hell you get that—"
Pietr kicks him again.
"Oi!" Ducky disappears under the table.
Chuck snorts, then composes herself. "How soon did your family know?"
- Right away -
- Didn't cry right -
Ducky resurfaces, scowling.
"So ... no sound ever?"
Pietr shakes his head.
"What's it like?"
- Quiet -
"Smartarse."
- Stupid ??? - 
Pietr grins.
"Answer it a lot, ay?"
- All -
- Teh -
- Time -
Chuck snorts. "You skipped 'aphasia'?"
Pietr shrugs, 'no idea'.
"Language production or processing disorder."
- Uncle hit head only said tap after? -
"Exactly! Maternal or paternal?"
Pietr frowns, makes grabby hands for the tablet, opens a whiteboard app, then draws out a family tree and circles a branch twice removed from 'Mother'.
"May I ...?" Chuck snaps a screenshot when he leans out of the way.
"Holy shite, your family's huge!"
Pietr snorts and shakes his head, adds 
- Tiny part. 100+ -
"There's a hundred people in your family," Chuck repeats.
"The hell d'you do with them?" Ducky asks in equal disbelief. "I barely know what to do with seven!"
'I dunno,' he shrugs. 
- Family stuff? -
They kinda look at Chuck.
"Jammy 'n Wirriri. Seen her kids a couple times since they moved back." She swipes back into the file. "Uh, 'neurodevelopmental disorders' are conditions like autism."
Pietr shakes his head.
"In your family?"
- Nephew -
Chuck passes back the tablet, whiteboard open.
Pietr draws a box around around one of his sibling's kids.
Another screenshot. "Okay, what else ... synesthaesia?"
Pietr looks confused.
Chuck double-taps the term and holds up the tablet.
Head shake.
Chuck's eyebrow jumps. "You hallucinate?"
- Once -
- 84 hours w/o sleep -
"Why'd ye do that?"
- Important job - 
Pietr grimaces. 
- Never again -
"Yea, I've done that a coupla times. No fun." She taps the tablet. "Looks like you got everything else filled in." Turns off the tablet. "That's everything the boss wants for now. Knowing her, she'll have more later. Can I text you if she thinks of something else?"
Pietr, mobile in hand, waits expectantly.
Chuck dictates her number.
/beep boop beep beep
p_a_vos: hi
/bzzzzz
not_a_monkey: ditto
They pocket their mobiles in tandem.
Pietr grins.
Chuck makes a face. "Fairy floss again."
Tags: Ficlet, Go, Team DriftSci! arc, Skeleton Key, Pietr, Chuck H, Chuck D, Pietr (ficlet), Chuck H (ficlet), Chuck D (ficlet), Chuck D has Drift damage, Caitlin (mention), Sydney Shatterdome (setting), Sydney Shatterdome Canteen, Vos family (mention), Wil (mention), Nikolaas (mention), Jammmy (mention), Wirriri (mention), Darling family (mention)
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