Jiěmèi (Sisters)

Posted on Mon Jun 8th, 2020 @ 2:16am by Security Johannah "Mack" Shepard & Civilian Xiulan Song

Mission: Bright and Shiny things
Location: Los Panchos
Timeline: Current

Xiulan had been insisting on details of the cat incident, and demanding to see for herself that her jiejie, her elder sister, was alive and well. Mack had been putting her off because things had been so hectic. With things finally settling into some kind of routine, there was time for family. The Sihnon barbecue place would have been perfect, considering Xiulan's penchant for drowning food in sauces and spices so hot that if you got any on your boots they would eat right through, but the maintenance staff was still working on putting that restaurant back to rights after the shootout. All was not lost, however. Mack had asked around and found out that Los Panchos offered some obscenely hot items. It would be a different kind of spice, but Mack knew that Xiulan would like it.

Mack arrived a few minutes early, got a table, and waited for the foul-mouthed little troublemaker to appear. Mack grinned. She'd really missed her meimei.

Mack didn't have to wait for long, for soon the rhythmic tapping of Xiulan's cane could be heard. Xiulan paused at the entrance, waiting to hear from Mack so she would know where to go to sit down. Hearing her name called out by that old familiar voice, Xiulan grinned and made her way right to the table where Mack was already seated.

"Jiejie," Xiulan greeted with a smile as she sat down, then produced a heavy paper-wrapped object from her jacket pocket and set it on the table. The object was about the size of a fist and messily wrapped in plain brown paper which was held closed with a bit of twine. "Gotcha a house-warming gift. Thought you could use it as a paper weight in your office," Xiulan said as she got comfortable in her chair, then tucked her cane away.

Mack eyed the wrapped objected cautiously. Knowing Xiulan, this could be anything. "Thanks," she said, then carefully picked up the object. It didn't explode, so Mack thought that was a good start. She carefully unwrapped it... and laughed. It was a pet rock with googly eyes. The expression on its face was that of someone who'd just been jabbed in the ass by a hot poker. "This is great," she said. "But it's definitely going in my office and not on my night stand. I'd never be able sleep with this thing right next to my bed, staring at me." Mack reached out and gave Xiulan's hand a squeeze, then released it before Xiulan could get fidgety. "Thanks, Xu."

"Anytime," Xiulan replied with a grin. "Okay, now spill! What happened after you left me with the idiot in the bakery?" she then said, getting right to the point; also, she wanted to live vicariously through Mack's story.

"Oh," Mack said. "We're going to swing back around to the idiot in the bakery before this meal is over," Mack said. "As for after the idiot in the bakery... wow, that's fun to say... idiot in the bakery... has a quite a ring to it, doesn't it? Rolls off the tongue. Idiot in the bakery. Okay, okay, so after I left you with the idiot in the bakery, who we are going to come back to, I went down to Deck 7 looking into the call for help we got from down there. I found one dead person, then more. They'd been mauled by a predator. My predecessor, it sounds like he was an idiot by the way, had something to do with it being here. Some kind of security measure gone awry. Anyway, found gore trails, like the bodies were being dragged away somewhere. I followed the trails to what this thing was using as its lair. The smell of butchered humanity almost made me gag right there. I hid and waited for the thing to show up. It did and I was about to shoot it dead, when the kid who called it in... actually, he's not much younger than you... anyway, the kid was in the lair and he made a noise, the creature made a move and instead of shooting it in the heart, I clipped some hair off of its ass. So I start yelling to get its attention, and it jumps away. I go to try and help the kid... and kitty comes back and pounces on me before I can bring my Shanxi around to bear on it. I got the stock in its mouth to keep it from biting me, but it wrenched the gun out of my hands and tossed it away. I had to put my left forearm in its mouth while I reached down to my boot and pulled out my knife. Would have lost my arm prolly if I didn't wear armor on my forearms and have a really tough coat. Anyway, I stabbed it, flipped it on its back, straddled it, and stabbed it over and over again until it stopped moving, all while this poor kid's watching, helpless, because his leg's been mauled and he can't get away. Anyway, the Marshal and I have patrols sweeping all of the warehouse decks to make sure there are no more of these things down there. We be moving faster, but between the Plexies and the Bratva, most of the surveillance equipment on the warehouse decks, decks 7 through 15, are disabled, so we have to do a visual search."

If Xiulan could have rolled her eyes at Mack's babbling about 'the idiot in the bakery' she would have, but thankfully her sister friend finally got to her tale. Xiulan listened in rapt fascination, her excitement growing moment by moment as though she was listening to an exciting radio drama. By the time the story reached its end, Xiulan was perched at the edge of her seat eagerly awaiting the conclusion, which was just as awesome as she had expected. "Damn, why do you get to have all the fun?" Xiulan said in a good-hearted grumble as she relaxed back into her seat. "You know, next time you should temporarily deputize me so that I can come along. As for the issue with the surveillance, just have a chat with the Bratva; using them as an extra set of eyes in those areas to look out for these creatures would be mutually beneficial to you both, and the Plexies can be bought with a good meal and a good enough reason to talk."

"I think you're misunderstanding, Meimei," Mack said. "It's the plexies and the Bratva who have shut off the surveillance equipment down there. I don't need extra eyes, I need them all to stay the ta ma de out of the security systems, which they're not going to do, because the plexies like screwing with the establishment and the Bratva like to do things on this station that they don't want Security or the Feds to know about, especially down on the warehouse decks." It was clear that Mack wasn't happy about the situation. She'd been calm and reasoned about not wanting to provoke the Bratva when she'd spoken with Alice LeMat, but the idea that she'd ask the Bratva for access to her own department's equipment was... frustrating. "Sorry. Sore spot." A waiter came to take their order. "Have you eaten here before?" Mack asked her sister. "Want to order for us? I trust you."

"Just bring us a little bit of everything, and I'll need my usual sauces," Xiulan said to the waiter, sending him off to produce what was no doubt going to be a feast. "The mole here is to die for," Xiulan remarked before getting back on topic. "Now look, I know you want the Plexies and the Bratva out of the security systems, but you gotta work with them where you can, form a cooperative relationship with them. Maybe if they figure out that you're not the enemy, maybe they'll give control back to you, or at the very least tell you what you need to know to conduct an investigation," she offered with a shrug. "It ain't the best option, but things don't work out here the way they're meant to; you gotta work within the system you have, not the one you want, and with enough goodwill, maybe you can change things."

"Xiulan," Mack said. "I fought a war out here in a brown coat and got exiled here after the war. I've worked the outer colonies for the last eight years, living by the blade and by the gun. I've taken jobs that I didn't want for people I didn't want anything to do with just so I could pay my way... and sometimes yours. I know how things work, and I know when to work with criminals like the Bratva. I also know when to get by on my own. This situation I don't actually need help from the Bratva. Yeah, it's taking a little longer, but we're almost done, and this way I don't have to start my relationship with Udinov and Petrovich by asking for favors. And I haven't forgotten about the idiot in bakery. Just saying."

"Yeah, I know, you're the big bad soldier slash mercenary who gets shit done, I got it, and I'm grateful to the protection you provided me and my dad when we were just getting our colony legs," Xiulan with a sigh. "Try not to think about it as asking for favors, frame it like you're doing them a favor, you're taking a problem off their hands, which would go by faster with their cooperation so that you can get out of their territory as quickly as possible. I've had to make a few transactions like that since I've been here and you know what, the people here ain't complete a-holes! And even the ones who are can be reasonable from time to time. Except Edgar, can take a walk out of an airlock, naked..."

Sometimes I forget she's so young, Mack thought. I suppose at her age, I probably didn't think people my age could find their own pìgu with both hands, either.

"Alright, Meimei," Mack said. "Thank you for your advice. I'll take it into consideration. And I'm sorry. That stuff about me helping provide for you and your dad, that was bù gōngpíng (unfair). You and your dad, you've given me what I lost when I chose to put on this Browncoat. You gave me jiātíng (family) when my own abandoned me. Yuánliàng wǒ xiǎo Mèimei? (Forgive me, Little Sister?)"

"Always," Xiulan replied with an earnest smile. "Hey, I know I said that I don't like to operate where I live, but I've been saving up favors with various groups including the Bratva, but big Bratva, not this local bunch... Anyway, if you ever needed a favor, all you'd have to do it ask; I'd call in every last favor for you if you really needed it," she offered softly; after all the years that Mack had looked after Xiulan and her dad, now it was Xiulan's turn to have Mack's back.

The waiter's timing was impeccable, bringing out several trays with plates and began loading them onto the table. Enchiladas, tamales, mole, elote, beans and rice, and stuffed chiles, and then came the individual plates of meats and other fillings, along with a plate of tortillas. Several bottles of hot sauce were placed on the table, one of which was a noxious shade of green and the bottle bore the mandarin symbol for danger as well as a radioactive symbol. Xiulan looked like she was already drooling as she took the empty plate set in front of her and began piling stuff on, immediately going for the green bottle and sprinkling the contents liberally over her dinner.

"You want some? Best colon cleanser this side of the Core," Xiulan offered, holding out the bottle.

Mack rolled her eyes and grinned. "Great," she said. "Now I have to eat mole with the image of diarrhea in my mind," she said. "Thanks ever so." She took the offered bottle, opened it, cautiously sniffed it, and then winced. "Yeah, no thanks." She set the bottle down and set to eating. "Damn that's good!" She said, after swallowing a few bites. "So... the idiot in the bakery? Are you going to tell me what happened after I left you alone with that goof? Is he as ridiculous as he seems? Did you see him again after that? Who is he? Where does he come from? Did he believe me when I said I'd geld him if he hurt you? Or do I have to go and rough him up some? And what's he running from? Must be something. He stands out like a sore thumb here."

Mack did want to know these things, but she was also teasing Xiulan by playing nosey sister, blurting all of her questions out all at once, not giving Xiulan a chance to swallow, let alone answer, before asking another one.

Xiulan groaned, sinking so far into her chair that she practically disappeared underneath the table, leaving only a hand to pop up and take a stuffed chile, which she promptly stuffed into her mouth whole. "Do we really have to do this?" Xiulan grumbled around the delectable morsel in her mouth.

"Well... if you really don't want to share with your very favorite jiejie the juicy details of your adventures with young swarthy studs, I suppose you don't have to," Mack said, in mock sadness. "I mean, if I had my own personal handsome moron chasing me around, hanging on my every word, I'd tell you all about it. But don't worry about me. Maybe I'll go find myself my own personal handsome moron. Hey, maybe we could get together and take our personal handsome morons to the personal moron park together and play fetch with them and laugh while they play with all of other people's personal handsome morons!"

Again, Xiulan groaned then sat up straight in her chair. "Fine, just promise me you'll never say 'personal handsome moron' ever again!" Xiulan said firmly. She took a breath to gather her thoughts, took a few bites of food, then started with some details. "His name is Arturo and he's from Osiris. He's on the run because he's an idiot; he dueled and almost killed someone he really shouldn't have because he was being led around by his dongle. Now he's workin' at the casino. He's okay, I guess, just an idiot tryna figure out his life," Xiulan said, punctuating the end with a slight shrug. "We had drinks after he caught me at the roulette table last night, and then I kinda puked on him this morning. No big deal..."

Mack whistled. "I have so many questions," she said. "Okay, so he's guilty of attempted murder... okay, that's unfair. Dueling is legal on Osiris. He must have really pissed someone off if he got in trouble for not actually killing someone. He works at one of the casinos...those are all tied to organized crime families here." Mack sighed. "He wouldn't be the first idiot on the run who had to take on distasteful work to get by. Hell, I'm not even an idiot... don't even think about correcting me on that... I'm not even an idiot and I've had to do that. Okay, I'm going to trust you to make smart decisions about this guy. You usually can take care of yourself. Now we're going to move on to the important stuff. You had drinks with him and then puked on him this morning?!? What happened between drinks last night and barfing on him this morning??"

"It wasn't sex, so get your mind outta the gutter," Xiulan said bluntly. "Things kinda went sideways with a, uh, deal I was working on and I ended up drinking too much. I'd promised him to show him around the Plex today and he came around with coffee, but I puked it up on his shoes before I even knew it was him. He got me into bed and cleaned up while I slept, then he made me soup. Since I didn't feel like going out right then, we stayed in and talked. He's very insistent that I'm the love of his life, but so far he's been harmless; other than that, he really does seem to be an okay guy, still an idiot, but an okay idiot, and he really is just tryin' to figure out his place in the 'Verse."

Mack laughed. "That's remarkably... sweet, actually," she said. "He sounds fairly harmless. Maybe even nice to have around. Was the soup good? Did he clean up after himself? And the mess from you puking on him? If the answer to all of those is yes, then he sounds like he might be worth keeping around, even if it is only friendship."

"yeah, he cleaned up," Xiulan confirmed. "And the soup was good. Not how I woulda made it, but it was very easy on my stomach and very satisfying to eat. I told him we could be friends and I'll be showing him around the plex later."

Mack nodded. "So," she said. "You mentioned an Edgar. Who is Edgar and what does he do? Help me out here, I'm still getting to know all of the players."

"Eh, he's one of the piyan who run the fights in the warehouse district," Xiulan said casually, then she went stiff. "Uh, I mean... what fights in the where?"

Mack laughed. "Settle, Xiǎo jiāhuo (Little One)," she said, reaching out and gently touching Xiulan's hand. "I'm not going to try and shut down every criminal enterprise on the station. I couldn't even if I thought it was a good idea. And unless you become a serious danger to yourself and/or everyone around you, I'm not going to lock you up. So, tell me about Edgar. You hate him, you're a good judge of character, so he's probably huài xiāoxī (bad news). If he is, I need to know so I don't go wandering around blind and get myself killed."

Xiulan relaxed and chuckled at her own silliness; yeah, she should have figured that this was how Mack would react. "Yeah, so there's a number of fight groups that operate in the warehouse district. Some of 'em can get pretty bloody, but mostly they're harmless, but there's one group I stay clear of, and that's Edgar's group; high stakes and they like the violence and brutality! I can put in a good word for you with Jaye; he's a dock worker who runs the group I like to frequent and he's a decent guy, he can help you dig up information if you ever need to investigate the fights."

Like any good Elder Sister, Mack worried about her younger sister's health and safety. The underground fighting had been a thing since the girl was a teenager, shortly after Mack met her. But Xiulan was tough as nails and, even in an unfair fight, could usually hold her own. To Mack, it sounded like Jaye ran a mostly clean fighting ring. Mack didn't really have a problem with clean fights, but she needed to have a word with whoever was running the gambling involved. Hopefully, Mack could convince them that it was in their best interests to avoid loaning money to people who clearly couldn't afford it. Mack could ignore the fights, but loan sharks sending legbreakers out to collect debts, that was horse of a different can of worms. But Edgar... Mack was going to have to do something about Edgar, maybe even shut him down. Perhaps she could foist that off on the Feds as well. An anonymous tip about a the ring. Alice would probably do that for her, when the time was right.

"Thank you," Mack said. Then she hesitated before changing the subject a bit. "Meimei," she said. "I'm not going to press you about what you do for a living, in part because I've already got a pretty good idea. I just want you to know that if you get in trouble, get in over your head, you can always come to me. Liǎojiě (understand)?"

Xiulan sighed. "I know it would make you and dad a lot happier if I took up some honest work... Hell, sometimes I wish I could do it too, but... I feel so alive during a fight! And I guess I don't really know how to do anything else. But for as long as I'm doing this, I promise I'll be careful, and I'll let you know if I ever need help gettin' out," Xiulan said.

Mack nodded. "Good," she said and then grinned. "Well, go on, tell me about the fights you've been in! And do I get to come and see you kick ass?"

"Of course you can come watch me kick ass!" Xiulan declared, then proceeded to regale her 'sister' with some of her greatest hits in the ring, her fighting buddies, and the places they liked to go drinking after beating each other black and blue in the ring. "...And Dale hits like his fists are made of cinder blocks! He's gotten a lot harder to beat since I've been coaching him on his form; if I take one hit from him I'm done! I swear, I should be charging him for all that I've helped him!" she said in conclusion, then shoved the last tamale into her mouth.

Mack smiled as she listened to Xiulan describe her adventures in the ring, when she wasn't eating. The food was fantastic. Mack was glad Xiulan was happy. She seemed to have found her place in the Verse. Still, Mack's ears perked up at the mention of Xiulan coaching this Dale person.

"It sounds like like you enjoy teaching," Mack said. "Is there any chance you enjoy teaching so much that you might set up shop teaching here on the Plex? Song Shīfù has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

Nice, Mack, the former Browncoat thought in annoyance. As subtle as an orbital strike. Hope she doesn't flip out.

Xiulan paused in her gluttonous attack. "Funny, you're the second person to call me Shifu," she mused aloud, then really thought about the idea. "Do you really think something like that would work on a Plex?" she asked. Teaching was one thing, but she had no clue about how to go about setting up a place or if it was possible that she would get enough students to keep the bills paid.

"I'm not sure," Mack said. "A lot of people pass through here, but fewer actually live here, and most are very busy. On the other hand there's more crime and more dangerous folks on this Plex. Maybe you could offer some classes to people who want to seriously study, and then some classes where you teach practical self defense?"

Xiulan took a long sip of her drink as she considered Mack's words, seriously weighing her options; she like playing things fast and loose, so between the underground fighting and her other work, could she manage her time and keep everything balanced? "Could do..." she finally said with a serious, if hesitant, nod. "And I could offer a discount for training security staff," she added with a lopsided grin.

Mack laughed. "They'd appreciate it," she said. "And so would I. I'll be providing some training to them, but I don't have the time to dedicate to full-time training, and I'm not inclined that way anyhow. Do you need an introduction to the administrator? I mean, if you haven't met her already, that is. She's a sharp kid, about your age. You'd probably like her. Maybe she knows of a space you could have. Or you can find one yourself. I don't want to interfere."

"Might be a good idea to meet the boss-lady, but I have a lot to think over before I can commit to this. I'll let you know if I need an introduction," Xiulan replied, somewhat uneasy; there was something incredibly compelling about being able to open up shop and start teaching, to carry on her family's traditions and legacy in this small way, but she needed to be absolutely certain that she was ready for this, otherwise her heart just wouldn't be in it. "Thanks," she then said somewhat sheepishly, "for thinking I could actually do this..."

Mack smiled and reached out and gave Xiulan's hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze. To Xiulan, it was all about sounds and smells and physical touches. "I'll always believe in you, Meimei," Mack said. "And if I ever truly believe that you're about to perform a dangerous over reach, I promise I'll tell you so. I'm your sister. It's my job to be there for you in whatever way you need me."

"And I'll always be there for you, Jiejie," Xiulan replied, giving Mack's hand a squeeze in return. "Always."