[Kallile]

The Slums were a place not many cared to visit. It wasn't a vacation destination, it wasn't a luxury retreat, heck, it wasn't even at the same level of a sleazy motel. Everyone who came to live here had done so for one of two reasons. They were either here to be forgotten--running from law, family, or threats-- or they were here because they had been forgotten. Orphans of war, homeless, veterans down on their luck. No matter their background they all coexisted somewhat calmly in the trash-heap of a city the rest of society had forgotten about.

Julian supposed that's why she was here...though it was hard to be forgotten when no one ever really knew you existed in the first place.



The small black Kuhna picked her way carefully through the alley of smashed alcoholic bottles and refuse--her eyes and ears ever darting for danger. It wasn't easy being a person here, but as a Kuhna she could slide by a little more easily. Stealing food was simple when no one seemed to notice you in the first place, so was finding a safe and dry place to spend the night. She pulled her foot back suddenly as her train of thought was shattered by the sharp prick of glass on one of her pawpads. Not careful enough, but she hadn't been walking fast. The wound was too shallow to even be considered a scratch this time.

It was this pause that allowed something to catch her eye. A glint of something metallic in one of the garbage heaps across the alley, and a bit of soaking wet stuffing that had fallen to the ground. Julian crossed quickly, using her paws to dig through the trash until she unearthed the pair. A small plush ripped to shreds by some bored Lucain pet, no doubt...and a strange little thing that looked like it should be a windup toy. But there was no key or keyhole. She leaned in, taking each one by one in her teeth to pull them free. The plushie she had great doubts of saving...but the little metal trinket...now that she could save.

"Don't worry, you've found a friend," she confided in the two as if they might respond to her. They were words she'd longed to hear herself...but saying them to something else, even inanimate, made her feel a little better.

[Jaykobell]

What a trip to wind up here. Well, not that it had been a destination of choice, but when you ended up looking like a broken, lifeless toy, there was little place for you but junkyards or desolate, poor neighborhoods. Admittedly, it hadn't expected such a place to become its new home, but in its state, there was little it could do.

People passed by; animals and humans alike, along with some creatures that were neither, or both. Of course, none paid attention to it; even if it stuck out from the garbage, nobody took a second look at it. Sometimes, it could feel the world shifting; someone had probably knocked the garbage can over. It could still think, and feel, and hear... but it couldn't see, nor talk. How restrictive! And really, quite unhelpful. How was it supposed to get help? No one was going to fix the body if it couldn't ask...

But, sometimes, life worked in mysterious ways. As if something had read its mind, the world moved again. A delicate touch; the movements weren't abrupt or quick. And then, it felt a little bit of warmth. And then, it heard just a few words. "Don't worry, you've found a friend."

If only it could do something to respond back! Flash the eyes, flash lights, chatter the teeth; something! Were they going to fix it? Were they going to fix its body? It was broken, but it wasn't too bad; just too many parts had been damaged at once, even if it had been relatively superficial. But if they fixed it... oh! Oh, if they fixed it, it would be in their debt, for sure, whoever it was that had picked it up!

[Kallile]

The blind journey on Kuhna-back was sure to feel like a long one to the two newest members of Julian's little family as she walked with some purpose back down the alley and towards her little corner of the junkyard. Not many stopped to question the little cat-creature on her mission or even give her a second look despite the fact that two out of sorts toys rode shotgun on her back tucked between her wings. The little stuffed toy left a breadcrumb trail of soggy stuffing, but she didn't mind that. She'd have to get new anyway to save the poor thing from molding.

She ducked into a small hole alongside a building--drug lords and thieves used this place to hide but they hardly left the ground and basement floors. No one wanted to be stuck overhead if the building would finally give or if they should be attacked. The Forgotten slipped up the stairs to her little spot with the hole in the ceiling. It acted almost like a spotlight even on days like today, which was good for her particular line of work.

"You will have to wait...you need much more work," she quietly confided in the torn plush before taking up the little robot in her paws. "I think I can fix you pretty quickly though."

her tiny claws went to work digging out debris and grime from joints and hinges, her tails polished away the muck that covered the little body in her grasp. She was careful and fast--a practiced paw even if the machine was a bit more of a deluxe type of toy. She'd seen this all before--it needed a little oil here, a good cleaning there, a hinge bent back into place here. The toy was beginning to look like new as she replaced a few screws she'd removed to realign hinges. There was just a little ding here and there, but otherwise the toy was finally looking new. Screws replaced on the jaw, she dabbed a bit of oil on the reunited plates.

"There, now you're looking much better. But your eyes are still dark...I wonder if you run off sunlight or batteries. Don't have many batteries...but maybe I can find some here somewhere...." she turned from the little toy robot, her eyes drifting over her loft to where a set might be found.

[Jaykobell]

Well, the ride was very uneventful, but that was okay. That meant they were going somewhere, right? It could only wonder what this new person would do with it! Hopefully the plan was to fix its body, and not anything else, like trading it in for some quick cash. But they'd said they were a friend; surely a friend would fix it! It just had to wait and be patient. Well, another little while to weeks and months of nothing wasn't much, right?

It listened carefully to the words of the new friend, and its spirit could only rejoice! They were planning on fixing it! And in fact, they'd gone right to work.

It could feel the tickles and the touches as the joints were cleaned and fixed up, as screws were tightened, as parts were oiled and cleaned. What a careful and caring person! They were working well, fast, and they were very nice about it too! They weren't rough with the parts, they weren't shaking it about; they were literally treating it like a living thing! It was so excited to get its eyes back so it could see who had fixed it so well!

As they finished, it could feel the limbs all connecting back together, the oil fuelling it, and the circuits starting to light up again. Well, it could take a little bit of effort on its part to really activate again, but...

It focused, and slowly but surely, its body started waking up. It had been a while, so it might be a little rusty and out of touch at first. It would have to really remember how to do all those basic things! But with its body fixed up so nicely, waking up was the simplest part!

Before long, with a mouth gaping open and large, black eyes; the expression changed. Soon, blue eyes rolled into the black, and a tiny whirring sound could be heard. "Not! Batteries! Need!" Oh, that hadn't come out well at all; but at least it had tried to communicate right away, carrying a voice that was both robotic, but also strangely organic.

The jaws chattered a little bit as it tried to adjust to moving again. "Whoops!" it voiced after, eyeing the Kuhna in front of it. "No! No batteries!" it managed to say, and clearly, this time around. "Thank you for fixing!" It knew how to talk... but time had been cruel on its vocals.

[Kallile]

With her back turned to her little robotic friend, Julian hadn't properly noticed the changes it was going through or the booting up it was doing. Her ginger paws were maneuvering some spare parts she'd collected for her repair needs, hoping that somewhere a battery or two might come rolling out. Unfortunately no one made it a point of throwing out perfectly good batteries, so her search was quickly proving futile. She almost missed the first words as she pulled her paw through the spare parts; she paused though, her eyebrows bunched together in confusion.

That was odd. It wasn't unusual for her to pretend her 'patients' were speaking to her, but she was very sure she wasn't meaning to speak for the little dino-bot. Maybe she'd really been at this all alone for too long...she was talking for her toys without even meaning to. She shook her head and raised her paw back to begin her search...but then it spoke again.

'Whoops!'

Julian froze in place with eyes wide and dilated. She was either truly going mad...or that toy was speaking without a power source. She could feel her heart racing as her raised paw began to tremble a little from anticipation. She slowly turned her head as it continued to speak. It was instructing her; thanking her. She'd played this scenario in her mind so many times--the gratitude her lost toys must feel when they were fixed up and made into things children would again love and play with. But those blue electronic eyes were staring at her powered by nothing...and it was clearly talking. There had to be reason, it had to be some 'Try Me' program built into the toy.

"w-what did you say?" She tried again, to see just how much the toy would answer.

[Jaykobell]

Oh. Whoops again; maybe she wasn't used to the toys talking back to her? Well, it was pretty unique; so maybe that was why she'd seemingly started trembling, and why she couldn't believe her eyes. The poor little Kuhna! It hadn't meant to scare her like that.

"I say thank you for fixing!" it replied, and the voice lost its rusty, robotic vibe just a little bit more every time it spoke. From that alone, there was no way it was just a "try me" feature or a toy that just repeated specific sentences from pushing a button or pulling a string.

"Broken for long time!" it went on afterwards; it thought, perhaps its story would make her feel better! Maybe it wouldn't make her so scared of it. "So talk is funny... sorry!" it warned; and then it laughed. The jaws clacked a little and the eyes shut, giving the toy a happy face as it laughed.

"But very grateful you fix!" It stretched its limbs outward, arms stretching upward like an excited child. "Words come back very soon, I promise," it assured her, and it tapped its nose with a claw. "For now, we are friends! What is name?" And once it learned her name, it could start working on repaying her for fixing it!!

[Kallile]

Julian listened to every word the little robot said with rapt attention--she couldn't have looked away if she had wanted to. This couldn't be real...there was no logical way this could be real. Those weren't programmed words, those were words with thought behind them. But the more it talked, the less she trembled. Oh, she was still scared beyond belief but it was a toy--happy once again--and that's what she did this for to begin with, right?

She took in broken toys to fix them and make them more appealing to love again. That was her mission in life; so that nothing had to feel the way she did. And here was one finally able to express its gratitude.

"I've...never been thanked by a toy before..." she admitted shyly, taking a cautious step closer as she watched the robo-dino. Fear slowly began to give way to fascination as she watched its expression change, how it moved in general. They were all fluid (well, as fluid as a freshly oiled robot could be)--not pre-programmed and jerky as she had been expecting.

"Julian," she answered without thinking, then blinked when she realized what she had answered. Maybe it was being told she had a friend that had caught her off guard, maybe she was still too caught up in the talking toy business. But whatever the reason she'd answered; something that made her blush furiously underneath her fur. "Uh...what's your name? Do you have one?"

[Jaykobell]

It could pick up on her fear; it could see she was a little confused at the whole situation. But, it meant no harm! So hopefully she would see that very quickly, right? It was just really grateful, and it wanted to repay her! Hopefully, she would be okay with them being friends still!

It could imagine why no toy had ever expressed thanks, though. Toys usually didn't speak or really react much at all... but this one; it was different! Very different! It wasn't just a regular toy at all! So that made it all the more special, right?

"Julian is nice name!" it voiced, opening its mouth in what could be interpreted as happiness. "I repay Julian for fix, okay? Okay!" it said, clapping its hands. "But no, no name! Is just me!" it replied to Julian's question about its name. "But we are friends! Do you have name? Do I find name?" It was sort of exciting, actually! "What do? What do?" it repeated excitedly, and its tail wiggled just a little bit. It had been such a long time since it'd interacted with anybody!

[Kallile]

Julian watched the toy, trying to calm herself down. It was...happy. And it did feel nice to be thanked in words, not just in seeing smiles from afar as children found the like-new-again toys she had fixed up for them. Slowly a smile found its way under her whiskers though she still trembled every now and then.

"Y-yes. I suppose we are friends now..." Oh, a name? Well she hadn't really been thinking about that; she never named the toys, it was always something she left to the children. How did you tell a toy to find a name? She just wasn't sure. But she didn't feel right naming something so....sentient. It wasn't an infant that just didn't really get a say, it was speaking to her in (mostly) full sentences. It had the right to pick out it's own name then, right?

"Well, if you don't have one then...I guess we'll have to find you one," she offered softly. Her smile faltered a little as she continued to stare at the robo-dino. "Where did you come from? Did you have a child who took care of you before this?" Surely if a child had owned it before, then they'd be missing such a special toy. She could always try to reunite the two, if it could remember where it had come from.

[Jaykobell]

Its jaws dropped a little more when it noticed Julian smiling just a bit. Yay! Were they making progress? Was it being a good friend? She still sounded and looked a little nervous, but a smile was a good start! And she agreed that they were friends?! Only good news on this day!!

"Find name?" it asked, and its eyes blinked. Just like a human's or animal's, the eyelids moved to make a blinking motion. "Any name is good name!" Really, so long as she didn't call it "Garbage" or anything degrading, it would be a good name! They were friends, so it trusted Julian to find it a good name. It could tell she wasn't a mean or evil Kuhna, so it judged that it could trust her until proven otherwise!

When questioned about its origins, the Velix paused. It almost looked like it had stopped working for a matter of seconds, but it was just thinking for a good answer. "I come from here!" it answered, and despite how grammatically correct the answer was, it actually wasn't answering much at all. "No owner! Only friends! Help many people and make many, many friends!" It was sort of dodging the question, but hopefully the answers were good enough.