Not Just Junk {Hiko}

[amaya]

Toshiko wasn't at her apartment today. The small, but cozy apartment was empty except for her possessions. No, today she was out, even further outside of the town because she was trying to get into the salvage heaps. She had decided that the quickest way she could get her own persocom was if she built her own. She had been researching it and learning about it in college with her classes and now she was confident she could do it. She had some money saved up, but not enough to buy a completely new one. She believed she had enough to buy the basic hardware and a few other things that she needed but the rest of it she'd have to get on her own.

To find all of this that she needed, she decided to try the salvage lots. Lots of things ended up getting thrown away because people were really wasteful anymore. She could maybe get lucky and find something really worth while to take and use. It was going to take some major searching, but she was optimistic.

Toshiko had now gotten into the salvage lots and was looking at all the piles around. There were so many piles and so much stuff. She sighed to herself. This was going to take a while. She started wandering, looking closely at all the piles, occasionally stopping and looking at different items. She usually threw the items back into the pile, but she had put a few things in her bag that was slung across her shoulder. They were mostly smaller parts that weren't very vital and were lightweight.

She stopped and sighed as she looked about at all the piles that she could see. She wasn't even sure if she knew which way she had come from. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea... She thought to herself. She hadn't found anything significant so far and she was now lost. This wasn't good. She could probably find her way back eventually, but she didn't want to be getting back late either.

[Hiko]

Momoko had been enjoying the day. That morning, bluebirds had taken a bath in the broken fountain across the lot. The persocom had taken great delight in watching them flutter about, trilling their little songs. When they'd left for better lands, Momoko had returned to the broken, spring-torn seat from a car that she'd managed to pull out of an old vehicle a few days back. The car, she reasoned, could be used as shelter from the rain.
The seat itself?
It was cleaner than the ground.

Momoko sat crosslegged in her little cushion for most of the day, listening to the cars that drove past the junkyard, or to the birds that flew overheads, or at one point, to the sound of a cat mrrrrring at a small dog that had found its way into the yard.
Neither animal had stayed.
Momoko sighed as she felt the grinding of the fans within, working to keep her internals cool. She had been out in the yard too long today, she thought, for the sun was far too warm for her not to need some sort of shaded shelter. Hiding away in the car would do little good, for the windows would only aid in the overheating – and Momoko hated the idea of breaking them out.
Well, sitting wouldn't fix the heat. Momoko rose.

“I think, Chair, that we should part ways,” the peach-haired machine gave a nodding bow to the torn cushion before walking off. Within the past months, she'd gotten into the habit of naming the things she used on a regular basis, speaking to them as if they were old friends.
It was less lonely that way.
“I wonder,” she put a finger to her bottom lip, “I wonder if there's a a working air conditioner in one of the cars? No...” Momoko pouted, realizing her fault. “Junkyards are for junk, not working machines.” The whirr of her internal fans was beginning to distract her reasoning, she realized.
“I wonder if Can and Bucket have any water left in them?” Worst case scenario, she thought. She'd have to try and cool herself down with the lukewarm rainfall she'd been collecting in local cans, buckets, and pails over the last few weeks. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it was all she had.
–

Doused, and not feeling entirely temperate for the actions, Momoko wondered if this was the end for her. The fans had stopped, and the sun was still beating down. If the fans didn't turn back on – and soon – Momoko wouldn't be able to continue processing at normal speeds. At least, she thought grimly, it wasn't as if there'd be much to overheat within; most of her better parts had been taken out by Master Ae Sook, and Masters Hideyoshi and Yuuka hadn't needed a terribly good piece of machinery.
A pang of sadness swept over the persocom, causing her to momentarily forget her rather dire situation. She slumped onto the trash-ridden ground, crossed her legs, and hunched her shoulders.
She missed having a master.

[amaya]

Piles and piles reached out in different ways from where Toshiko stood. She wondered if she should start finding her way back, but she had no clue which way that was. She picked a direction and started walking. If she took a different way, she might find some parts in different areas, but mainly she just wanted to find her way back. She started walking along, again stopping to look at different things. It was pretty warm today so she was glad that she at least picked a good day to go to the salvage lots. After all, what if it started raining. She'd easily get soaked here unless she found some cover. If she did she'd have to take cover underneath some of the junk around here. For right now, the sun was shining and bright and there wasn't a cloud that she have to worry about possibly navigating her way out with being soaking wet from rain.

She continued her wandering, occasionally looking around to see if she saw any familiar site that could tell her which way to go from here. She hadn't been finding anything lately so she was starting to get frustrated. She hadn't really brought any food so she was kind of getting hungry, the only thing she'd thought to bring was water. It was never fun to have to go without food, in fact she hated it. She was hoping that this trip would be worth it soon. It was starting to look very pointless to her. She could be instead getting a few other things done. Maybe she just needed more patience though she didn't know which way that went, whether it went to being patient with trying to find parts, or being patient in saving her money. It would be fun to get to make her own persocom, but this was a lot of work and she had yet to find something really significant.

Then she saw her.

Toshiko stopped quickly in surprise and looked back toward where she was sure she just saw someone sitting on the ground by one of the piles. Another person was walking around? Toshiko approached to see if they were okay. This other person was slumped so maybe they weren't feeling too well. Maybe they had been wandering like she had. Each of these thoughts were a possibility, until she was closer. That's when she realized she was mistaken and she stopped again in surprise. She was a persocom! Having been around them more and more and studying the programs and everything, Toshi could not mistake it. This couldn't be real! Toshi rubbed her eyes and looked again; then she pinched herself as her eyes were closed and opened them again. The persocom as still sitting there.

Toshiko could not believe her luck. A whole persocom or at least the shell. She didn't even have to worry about really anything. Especially when there was one right here. She could just buy it some new parts and make it her own. She walked the rest of the way over more quickly than she had been walking before. "Well hello there treasure." She was more saying it out loud in general than to actually anyone as she approached to kneel down next to it. She had not noticed that it was still functioning and working. She had thought it was turned off or stripped of its internals completely.

[Hiko]

Resigned to the idea of burning out her processor, Momoko had expected smoke, not words.
Hello? Treasure?
What could anyone find in this heap that could be considered treasure?
And just who was saying hello?

Momoko raised her head toward the sound and reopened her eyes. There was a girl. What would a girl be doing here? And more importantly, Momoko thought with a frown, what would a girl be doing here, looking at her and calling her “treasure”? She supposed it didn't matter; a human was a human. Most likely, she was looking for free parts. Master Paul had often mentioned thinking about building a sister for Momoko through salvage lots.
The persocom, for one, was grateful that he hadn't. She couldn't imagine what it would have been like to lose a sister on top of her masters. She wondered if the girl before her was working on multiple units, but was too unconcerned to ask.

“Hello,” she replied, “I am Momoko. If you are looking for a hard drive, the one within me is serial number one-five-eight-Delta-Alpha-five-four. The fans are broken. The processor is about to burn out. If there is anything else you might require, I know of what is salvagable." There was a pause while the peach-haired machine processed her own worth.
“Nothing.”

[amaya]

Toshiko got surprised yet again when the persocom actually moved and looked up at her. It was still working and not shut-off. This was a treat. Yet, the persocom's words struck her as she knelt down next to the machine. Even if it was just a machine, Toshiko was starting to feel attachment as she could see potential in this machine, yet it had already given up for burning out. She could understand why the machine might be having troubles, especially the hard drive. She could recognize it as an older model. That didn't matter to Toshi as free was free, but she didn't plan on taking the parts out of this one, she wanted to take the whole persocom. "Ah, I'm Toshiko. I was looking for parts, but I'm not going to take them from you. I'm sure you'd rather want to leave this place." She was suggesting that she wanted to take Momoko out of the salvage lots, but to do that, she needed to stop the overheating that was happening.

She thought back quickly to what she was taught about older models. Most of the new ones never really overheated, they had been working on that problem, so it wasn't very common. She had to really think about this but the first thing would be to get her to some shade. "Let's get you some shade." She was sure the situation was dire, but she couldn't think of what she could do. She didn't have any parts to try to change out her fans to help the persocom out or to even try to fix the fans that had broken. "The only thing I can think of is shutting down until I could try to fix her." She mumbled slightly aloud to herself. She grabbed some nearby things to create a make-shift shelter to shade the persocom from the sun that was still shining down on them. Once it was quickly made. "Is that a little better?" She asked. It wasn't perfect though and without fans, the processor was sure to still burn out soon. There wasn't really any option besides the persocom shutting down that Toshiko could think of. "I'm sorry." Toshiko mumbled to the persocom.

She was learning to fix the computers and making them as well and all their functions, yet she couldn't think of what do do to help this one. It was possible that it was because she wasn't as familiar with her parts as much as she was with the newer ones that were being made. The most she heard was comparisons between the new and the old. She felt bad that she couldn't do something. Even if it was a machine, Toshiko always ended up getting attached to her technology in a strange way.

[Hiko]

Momoko slowly blinked at the girl. Everything was hot. Hot. Hot.
What?
“Leave? Leave. Yes. I should like to leave. It's been a lonely year.” Momoko rose, then swayed at the motion. She sat back down, frowning.
“I don't think I could make it out of here on my own,” the persocom admitted, ignoring the small girl's apology outright, “Perhaps a cart might help? I don't think you could pull me out on your own. Even Master Paul had trouble with that when I ran low on battery life.”

To be fair, Master Paul hadn't minded when she was too still to move. It meant he didn't have to straighten the sheets.
“If you would like, I can shut my processes down, and when I am less overheated, you can turn me back on.” The machine paused, realizing it was unlikely that the girl would know where her power button was.
“To turn me on, twist the ring on my right hand and wait for the LED light to turn green. Green?” She looked at her hand to be certain. Finding the ring dim, Momoko realized there was a crack in the band. When had her power light broken?
“I apologize. My indicator is no longer functional.”
Another thought.
“After you turn me on, I will take some time? Time to boot up. Again, I apologize. Gize. Zzzz.”

The heat was atrocious, even under the shade the girl had constructed. If her fans were half as useful as the indicator ring her her hand – hand.
Sway.
Sky.
Clouds?
Thump.
Momoko looked up at the sky from her new-found position on her back. She would have to shut down before the situation grew worse.
“Shutting down. Good night.”

[amaya]

Toshiko listened to what Momoko said about leaving and turning her back on. So this was a custom-built persocom. A ring on a finger was not usually the place that people had the power switch, but that was okay. Toshi just couldn't wait to get her back and to fix her up. The poor thing was neglected. Toshiko said nothing in acknowledgement to what the persocom said, just a nod of the head. She watched as the persocom fell back and then told Toshi that she was shutting down. Well at least that meant that the processor wouldn't burn up. Toshiko almost felt bad for her. Didn't she say that it had been a year that she had been here. That was quite a long time. No upkeep so to Toshiko, it wasn't surprising to her that the persocom's processor was close to frying. Toshiko probably wouldn't turn her back on until she could fix the persocom.

To fix her, Toshiko needed to get her back home to her apartment. She had some smaller parts and what she didn't have, she could probably get. It would take up some money, but she had saved up some money to use towards building one; she'd just use the money to fix Momoko instead. However, getting the persocom back was a problem. What she had said earlier would be true. Toshiko would not be able to lift her for as small as she is compared to the persocom. It was one of the reasons why Toshi hated being so small and short. It would be practically impossible for Toshi to lift and support the tall persocom.

Toshi sighed as she stood up. She'd have to find something to be able to move the persocom around. She'd probably end up having to turn Momoko back on to get her back to the apartment. Hopefully the persocom would have enough energy and enough time to get her back. Or hopefully there was some way that she could get her back without turning her on. Thus Toshiko began her search for something to transport the persocom in. It took some searching through all the stuff until she found a small cart. Momoko would be a little cramped in it, but it would work to at least get her back to the apartment.

She took the cart back to where Momoko lay. She looked at the persocom, then the basket, and then back at the persocom. This was still going to be tough. Toshi still had to get Momoko off the ground and try to lift her up into the basket and that was going to be a big challenge. She walked over to the area and took apart the makeshift shading. Since she was shut down now, the processor would be cooling off, even without the shade since it wasn't running anymore. After taking that down, she grabbed the arms of the persocom and pulled her up to a sitting position. She kept her propped up like that as she looked at the basket, trying to figure out what she was going to do.

She got an idea as she laid Momoko back down. She pulled the cart over as close as possible to the persocom and then put stuff around the wheels so that the cart wouldn't move as she tried to get the persocom up there. She then pulled Momoko back into a sitting position and continued pulling trying to partially get her up to try to get her into the cart. It failed. Toshiko couldn't barely pull her half of her body off of the ground, none the less get her partially in the cart. She laid Momoko back down and reassembled the makeshift shade. Toshi would just have to wait until the persocom cooled down a bit. At least she'd be able to help Toshi get her into the cart. After that, she could shut down again, but she needed help to at least get her into the cart.

Toshiko sat next to Momoko for a little while before deciding to look for a few spare parts that may be around. She hoped she could maybe find a few parts that she could use to help fix Momoko once back to the apartment. After finding a few parts, she returned to where the persocom was lying and sat next to her. The sun had sunk lower by this time and Toshi knew that she needed to get going if she wanted to get back at least when it was getting dark. She grabbed Momoko's hand and twisted the ring. Now it was just to wait patiently for her to boot up so then Toshi could get her into the cart.

[Hiko]

On.
Turn on.
Green.
Light is go.
Light?
Sound?
Fans. Fans are go.
Whrr.

Momoko opened her eyes, blinking rapidly from her new-found position. “Are we. Moving. Your home? Home.” Something clicked within the persocom as her memory banks recalled her last location.
“We're still in the junkyard. I am still junk.” It wasn't a question. A machine was only as good as where it was stationed. In the heaps of trash, she was rubbish.

Had it grown cooler? “I am less heated than when I shut down. I may be able to walk with you, if your home is not far away. Would this be preferable to wheeling me away?” She sat upright, then crossed her legs in front of her. Looking up to the small girl, she tilted her head. Had she found new parts, or merely ones less terrible than what were already within the persocom?
“Are those for me?”

[amaya]

It took a little bit but finally the persocom turned on. Toshiko could hear the whirring of fans. That was at least somewhat comforting as that meant that Momoko couldn't overheat as quickly. However, her fans could quickly go out again since they had already failed once before. Toshi knew she had to get the persocom home. However, they first had to get out of the salvage yard. Toshiko frowned slightly at the persocoms words.

"None sense! We're going to be headed to my place and you won't have to be here anymore. You certainly aren't junk," Toshiko said. She meant it too. She was already treasuring the persocom, perhaps mostly because then she didn't have to spend a lot of money making one, but yet it was more. Even if Momoko was an older model, she still worked and that was good enough for Toshiko to consider the persocom as more of a treasure.

"I would say yes that it would be good if you could walk but we have a ways to walk to get to my home. I can't lift you either to put you into the cart, so perhaps it'd just be easier to have you get into the cart in case you have to shut down again." It would be bad if Momoko suddenly shut down again or something else and Toshi had to wait until the persocom cooled down. While Toshi didn't mind if it took a while to get the persocom back home, she also didn't want to be getting back to the apartment pretty late. Getting home would be a lot easier and quicker if Momoko got into the cart now.

Toshiko looked down at the parts she was still holding from looking around. "Yes, these are a few parts that I found that seem to be pretty new from their numbers." She set them down next to her as she took off the shoulder bag she had and put them into the bag. "I was going to replace your fans at least so that you won't overheat. I'll also see about any other parts that we might need to replace when we get back to my apartment." Toshiko was going to fix Momoko up so she worked a little bit better than she did now and she was excited to do it. Knowing how she was, she'd stay up late tonight fixing the persocom up. Toshiko looked at the cart, then the sky to see where the sun was for getting an approximate time. "Shall we get going?" She smiled at the persocom as she offered her a hand to get up.