Still Kickin (Kaede, Ehefra)

Finding junk to repurpose was both easy and infuriating. It was freezing out, but she had gotten used to the shifts in weather. Despite how bad it was for her health, she didn't really have many options. So, as Ehefra came closer to her energy signature, she'd find a pair of legs flailing as the other half of Kaede dug through the dumpster, frantically pulling a computer out.

It was a gamble, but some people often just threw their systems out whenever their experienced any kind of technical difficulty. If she could get it to boot up, or even just get it working again, she could use it for her own purposes, or scrap it for any future projects. Eventually, she managed to pull the desktop out, cords and all, setting it down on the ground next to her, a jacket set down to prevent any snow from ruining the electronics.

Kaede's face shifted to a wide, excited grin and shine to her eyes as she looked at the system. Carefully moving everything around, stacking the keyboard, mouse, and monitor on top of one another, she wrapped it all up in some of the spare items she had to do so with. But, in turning her head, she spotted Ehefra, freezing instantly.

The grin and excitement was swiftly snuffed out, replaced by discomfort and nervousness. Kaede smiled sheepishly as a hand quickly locked around her arm, gripping tightly, nails digging deep.

"Um...h-hey there."

Kaede flinched again as Ehefra's eyes went wide, taken aback by her reaction. Instinctively, she scooted back only about an inch or so, a hand defensively going for the computer. She internally prayed and begged for Ehefra not to yell at her again, but, as she watched the other woman's face flush, the tenseness began to fade.

Slowly wrapping her arms around her legs, bringing them close to her chest, essentially cradling herself, Kaede peeked out from behind her knees as Ehefra apologized, saying she had caught her at a bad time. She didn't make any overt comment, just silently nodding from where she sat. It would explain the yelling -- at least, a little bit of it.

At the offer of a meal, as if on cue, Kaede's stomach audibly growled, causing her to shrink even more, mortified. Eventually though, she peeked out from behind herself again, looking from Ehefra to her scavenging results. She didn't know what to do. She didn't have a place to stay, and her backpack wasn't big enough to tote that around without it looking like she stole it.

"Um...I don't have anywhere to put this, a-and I don't have any money."

It seemed the both of them were trying to turn their impressions to the other around.

Immediately, Kaede's eyes widened as Ehefra mentioned paying for the food, as well as taking the findings to her place. With a soft, but still enthusiastic nod, Kaede quickly shuffled around to get back to her feet, struggling to hold the desktop with one arm and putting the jacket on with the other. As she finished, she slung the backpack over her shoulder, holding onto the setup with both arms as she shivered from the cold.

As Ehefra mentioned some of the other things around the city, like a support system to help people out -- something she'd have to look into. Maybe she'd finally be able to have more than one night inside from the cold. But, in that, Kaede's look of hope was swiftly crushed. The city had been attacked? Was...was she safe here? Would it get attacked again?

She shivered again, not from the cold this time as she stumbled forward with her findings. Her fear was quickly moved aside as Ehefra asked about her skill with technology. She gave an awkward, half-hearted shrug in response.

"I mean...I guess. I mostly just like taking things apart and seeing what makes them work. Most people throw these things out when they come across any problem, so I just take 'em and try to fix 'em, or just scrap 'em for parts. Haven't been able to get stuff together to actually...use the parts, though."

She already knew that Ehefra was similar to her in the technology sphere, just by their first conversation, as well as the mere existence of her adorable little robot companion, Beeps. Even if the prior encounter had dissuaded her from wanting to take it apart, she still wanted to make something similar herself, if only just so she could hug a cute lil' robot that helped her out.

As she followed behind Ehefra, her eyes lit up at the thought of finally being able to utilize the parts she'd amassed from scrapping various thrown out electronics. But, her attention soon shifted to Ehefra's house. It was even bigger than the friggin' penthouse suite they stayed in before! How loaded was this girl!? A question that was only partially answered as her robot companion INTERACTED WITH THE DOOR AS THEY WALKED IN!

Seriously!?

"Uh...food. I'm...not super picky."

She found herself looking around, barely conscious of what was being told or asked of her. How could someone need all of this for a house?! This could house like, two whole families!

Kaede's surprise didn't seem to be allowed to end as she walked in. While she didn't notice it at first, when she took a few steps to the side to set the system down, she stretched, before turning to look around at the inside of the house.

It almost looked like an automated friggin' warehouse. Her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped open a little as she watched the drones flying around. As she looked around, she spotted the pile of parts and had to fight the instinct to start playing with it. Rather, she went over to her scavenged system and started looking at it, quickly unscrewing the side panel, unsure of what to do with it right now.

But, that'd have to come later. She heard Ehefra's footsteps coming back into the room, and Kaede was quick to turn around and face her.

"Oh, t-thanks. I don't really know what to do with it right now, really. Honestly...I don't even know what to do with the stuff I already have."

She slid her backpack off, opening it and holding it out for her to see. A collection of various tech parts, big and small, as well as a few things that could only be described as "experiments," like a smartphone with some computer parts attached through several hairbands.