Freija the Titan

The Ghost didn't answer.

"Ghost?"

The Guardian pulled the backpack to check for the little Light, to see her twisting against the bottom trying to rub off the smudge. She rotated to look up at Freija and blink the blue eye. "....Would you do that?"

"Yeah....?" The Guardian's brow creased. "Do other Guardians not help their Ghosts? Seems kinda mean."

Ghost didn't emerge, still hiding the mark on her core, but she did come up to the lip of the pack. "I always thought it would be mean to wake you up and then ask you to do stuff for me," she explained. "I would have to ask other Ghosts, but I guess it depends."

The brow relaxed and the Guardian closed the pack. "Makes sense. That's fine, but if you want me to help you with anything, I'm fine with that. I like helping."

"Do we need to get you a bowl or a vat or something?"

So far it was just a scrub brush from supply, a wash cloth, and a few pieces of gun cleaning kit, and Freija felt they were lacking but had no idea what.

"Maybe?" The Ghost bobbed around her Guardian, studying the items. "I don't know, I've never done it before, either."

"You wanna just go to the sink?"

Ghost considered it visibly, tick-tocking her shell, before she bobbed an affirmative.

Freija started the sink and held her hand at the stream demonstrably. "How hot or cold do you want it? I know you feel temperatures."

"Maybe a little cooler than your usual?" The Ghost asked, easing a flap in to splash the metal core. It warmed up, and Freija eased the temperature over until Ghost said, "that's good!"

"Sit where you're gonna sit, say when to turn it off." The Ghost drifted into the water and let her shell fall away, then rested on the bottom. The Guardian left her hand on the faucet until the Ghost said, "this is good," when the water reached the top of her eye.

"So you can go underwater?" Freija asked. "For some reason I thought you couldn't get wet."

"I am both waterproof and perfectly safe for waterlogging for short periods, much like humans," Ghost said brightly. The voice in her comm sounded normal, but the vibration made the sink ring amusingly.

"Humans can't get water logged the same way you can without some catastrophic shit," the Guardian mumbled, but she dismissed her argument in favor of picking up a flap.

In wiping it off, Freija found a firm layer of blasted on black dust. It took effort, even in her strong hand, to fully scrub clean.

She didn't realize she had stepped away from the sink to work until the Ghost called, "Guardian?"

"Ghost?" Freija held up the tiny petal flap. "It was dirtier than it looked. Kinda like when you pressure wash something. It's all the same level of dirt so it looks normal but there's a whole layer," she babbled, but the blackened cloth and two flaps, one clean and one dirty, spoke for themselves. "Want me to see if you buff out, too?" She smiled, but the Ghost understood.

Normally, the Guardian held Ghost by the shells, but this time she grasped the core itself, careful to leave herself space away from the eye, which she tried to leave exposed for vision.

The wash cloth scrub started gentle and worsened, but peaked at a high pressure rub. "I'm seeing that you do indeed have a coat of stuff, but I'm also seeing that I need another cleaning tool," the Guardian said. "Scrub brush okay?"

"Try it," Ghost agreed.

Freija dipped the brush and scrubbed gently, apparently succeeding because she didn't get nearly as rough as before.

"You're gonna be so confused when you see the mirror," Freija teased. "A full inch smaller in diameter. Do Shaders color on top of the crap or what?"

"Shaders bend light, so it's less that I now have a new color myself as things just look different. Just means the base doesn't matter."

Freija grunted noncommittally and continued her scrub of the little metal body, carefully avoiding palming her eye as she worked her way around.

"This is actually kinda nice," the Ghost admitted. "I mean the scrubbing part. The bath part is really nice. This was a good idea, thank you."

"You're welcome," cheered Freija. "You want to soak some more while I get the shell? And what do you think I can use for soap? Can we clearcoat stuff?"

"I don't know," admitted Ghost. "Maybe just dish soap for now, and we can see if something else sounds good later."

Freija gave the same grunt as before and gently placed the Ghost back in the water to let her soak, remembering the soap after a second. "Might need to wash the other shells," she said. "I can get it. Dunno why I thought this wouldn't be a thing. Figured some magic kept you clean. Light or something."

The Ghost giggled.

Freija finished the flaps after a few millennia. She then leaned over the sink and gently placed the brush to the rear of the Ghost and scrubbed when she didn't run away. "Rex has the turn-y slot on his back, yours is more like a slide button."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. His eye is round where yours is a rectangle, too." Her voice dropped when she said, "I can see where the relic touched."

The Ghost nudged the brush and rolled to look up at Freija through the water. "You did really good that day," she promised. The Guardian gulped and nodded, returning to her work. "I can't feel a difference. Is there a dent or anything?"

"Just a dark spot. I thought it was dirty until I remembered."

"It's okay."

"Do you need me to clean your eye? How would you like me to do that? Just glass cleaner and a chamois like my helmets and visuals cams? Wanted to avoid micro scratches."

"That should work?"

"If it leaves any streaks, we'll try stuff until something works or we have to ask."

Ghost rolled in the water so Freija could target missed spots, and finally emerged to spin dry. Freija held a hand up to block the flying water with a laugh, then went to retrieve the glass cleaner.

"I'm gonna do my best not to hurt you," the Guardian vowed. As if afraid she'd break, Freija gently grasped in her off hand and leaned close to watch what she was doing. The motions started at the top and looped along from top to bottom, left to right, and then swept along. Ghost didn't realize it was dirty, either. The sharp red of Freija's hair almost glared in her vision.

She did the spirals again, clearing everything but the very outermost edge. "I'm gonna have to get dedicated tools to get your little cracks and crevices clear. Special scrubbies. Think you need polish or anything?"

"Polish?" the Ghost echoed.

"Bath time not come up amongst the others?" she asked, gesturing vaguely at the ceiling. "Maybe ask? I'm sure someone does something like it. We can look into metal cleaners and the like. You don't feel like anything I've touched before."

"Maybe," the Ghost agreed. "Thank you, Freija," she said.

Freija placed a helmet on the table and grinned at her Ghost. "I'll get you a little mirror to hang and look in, soon."