Private Malfunction

[K1[_ _]]

The droids stopped their conversation, staring down at the small female. It was a solid ten seconds before one of them responded in a series of boops, whirs and beeps. They both stared at her still, waiting for a response from her. One of them raised an arm after a moment or two and pointed off in a direction.

"Th-the-they.. said its... tha-tha-tha-that way." K1 spoke up, slower than before however.

Aliris Tremiru

 

[Aliris Tremiru]

Aliris nodded quickly before again guiding the lift to just hurry. He was powering down, wasn't he? With no time to waste she continued to guide them towards the droidsmith, and even when they were there she started to pull it through the door.

"Hey, hey! I got a droid about to shut down that I'd like for it not to!"

K1[_ _]

 

[K1[_ _]]

"Hmm?!" A pair of sooty goggles peeked over the counter. A bald head, wild and busy white brows and a long white beard tied at the end with a band of metal.

"You've got a droid about to clown around and you'd like for it to wear a tutu?" An elderly man, seemingly shorter than her glanced up. Sparks were flying, metal grinding as he sat at a workbench with a disassembled droid.

Aliris Tremiru

 

[Aliris Tremiru]

Aliris blinked slowly before squinting her eyes at the man. Suddenly she was very aware of how close K1 was to dying. Droids could die, right? Even if they couldn't, she didn't want him to die. He'd saved her, right? Protected her?

"Guy he's dying! Help my friend!" She didn't have time for the guessing game. She reached dow, trying (and failing) to tug K1 up to show the broken part of his chest.

"Fix him!"

K1[_ _]

 

[K1[_ _]]

The old man just sat there, the beard moving as if he was chewing on the inside of his cheek. It felt like a whole minute passed when it was barely five seconds.

"Hi you're buying?" The old man stood, getting up to join them despite his 'inability' to properly hear her. He looked K1 over, poking and prodding the droid. "Harrumph. Really beat this one up, didn't ya?" He rapped gently on K1's ocular sensor with his knuckle, the light dimly flickering in response.

"I'll take care of it for you." He nodded, eyes still hidden behind the sooty goggles. He waved his hands at her dismissively. "Now shoo, we have work to do!" With a slight lean in his posture he turned to take control of the lift, moving it behind the counter.

Aliris Tremiru

 

[Aliris Tremiru]

"Wha- I- H-" Anger welled in her chest as she glared at this old coot, especially when he haphazardly started knocking on K1's visor. What the hell did he think he was doing!? She reached back for her dagger, fully intent on threatening the man if he didn't help. Except she couldn't, because her dagger was already broken. She clicked her tongue, but he seemed to suddenly change his demeanor.

With a frustrated sigh he looked from him to K1, and nodded before stepping back.

"Just don't let him die."

K1[_ _]

 

[K1[_ _]]

The old man just hummed to himself as he got to work. Sparks flew as the droid-smith brought out a welder. Then a hammer. Then a crowbar. Wirecutters came next. All the while metal went flying around the room as the old man just tossed it to the side, humming all the while.

K1 wasn't in a good spot, honestly. His power core couldn't be salvaged, and a majority of the wires and inner mechanics that were required for a droid to properly function were beyond repair. The old mechanic could save K1 to be sure, but it would be in a way that Aliris wouldn't expect.

"Ahaa! There you are you little beauty!" The old man cackled, pulling free K1's processing unit, looking over it for a moment before he set it off to the side. A minute passed and he exclaimed again. "Lets get you out of there--Ooooh you've seen better days, haven't ya?!" The goggles peeked over the counter again as the old man threw his hand in the air, physically holding K1's databanks in his hand for Aliris to see.

"You sure you want to keep using this part, hmm?" It certainly looked worse for wear, but it wasn't completely destroyed.

Aliris Tremiru

 

[Aliris Tremiru]

Aliris stared in silence. Honestly she wanted to say something to stop him from straight up dismantling the poor droid. It was light dissecting a corpse. Something she had actually done prior, now that she thought about it. But it still had her grimace. By the time he was finished and held up what she thought was for sure his heart, she just squinted. She wasn't going to pretend she knew what was going on, or anything about droids.

But she didn't like his question.

"I don't know what that part is, but if it's important to him or helps him be himself or whatever else, I'd like it saved. He deserves to stay himself."

K1[_ _]

 

[K1[_ _]]

The old man frowned, or at least, his beard and brows made an unhappy movement. "Bah." He gently set the piece to the side and went back to work.

At one point he stopped, getting up and leaving the room, to the chamber in the back. Metal clanged, words flew, and time passed. He didn't come back for a few minutes. Eventually Aliris would hear a loud cackle, and the old man would step through the door.

"Alright, missy, its all fixed up for ya." He waved her over before stepping back into the room again.

Aliris Tremiru

 

[Aliris Tremiru]

She waited. She wasn't sure why she was waiting, but she waited. It surprised her more than anything that she waited. But soon enough the man came out and told her the droid was fixed, and she smiled. Aliris practically ran past the man to the room, looking around frantically for K1. How was he fixed? Did he change at all? Did he loose something because of him changing? There were still a lot of questions she wanted answered, but right now she just wanted him to not be in pieces anymore.

"K1? You in here?"

K1[_ _]

 

[K1[_ _]]

K1 was no where to be seen. Instead, standing at the back of the room in a charging station of sorts was a commando droid. Nothing moved other than her and the droidsmith, who moved to stand before the commando droid, his teeth sparkling as they showed through his humongous grin.

"Here it is, missy. Your droid." He patted the commando droids chestplate, moving to the side to disconnect it from the charging station. Shortly after it began to whir to life, eyes flickering on.

"Not dead, as you requested." He turned to grin at her, clearly proud of himself as he thought he'd done a good job completing her request.

The droid looked around, before focusing on Aliris, staring at her silently for almost a minute, before the mechanics whirred a bit louder.

"...A..liris..?"

Aliris Tremiru

 

[Aliris Tremiru]

Aliris stared for a moment. That wasn't K1, was it? It certainly wasn't the same body he originally had. For a brief second she thought she was being scammed and debated how best to deal with the shopkeeper. A brief moment that seemed to pass once the droid focused in on her and spoke. She practically started to cry. She did, but she was quick to stuff that emotion away and not devolve into tears.

".. Yeah. Hey. How, uh, are you uh, you okay..?"

K1[_ _]

 

[K1[_ _]]

"I..i..incompl...plete.." He stuttered, his head the only thing moving for now. The old man nodded slowly, patting K1's chest plate again.

"Very little of his original body was salvageable. So I did the next best thing; moved his internal processor and databank to a new body." The old man just nodded, as if it was common knowledge, or obvious. Well, more because he was trying to make it seem to Aliris as if it wasn't that big a deal; K1 was okay now. "It will take a little bit for him to fully acclimate to the new body, that and it might need a little longer to charge. But he's the same droid on the inside, as you requested."

Aliris Tremiru

 

[Aliris Tremiru]

A new body. Well, if he was still the same droid that was fine.. Right? How attached was K1 to his original body? She watched him for a little while before glancing to the charging station. He'd need to recharge for a bit, then. .. Ah, right. Her gaze fell back on the man, squinting.

".. So why incomplete? And how much? You holding a part hostage until I pay, yeah?"

K1[_ _]

 

[K1[_ _]]

The old man harrumphed. "Just as I said, it will take him a bit to acclimate to his new body. Until that's done, he'll feel 'incomplete', as he says."

K1 slowly turned his head one way then the other, taking in the whole room, before focusing on Aliris, and then looking down at his new body. He knew something was different, now he knew just what it was.

"And who do you take me for, missy?" The old man scowled, well, it looked like he scowled from the way his dusted brows and beard scrunched up. "He's got all his parts! As for payment, well.." He squinted at her through the goggles. "Lets call it square for now. I was about to scrap this droid before you popped in. You saved me the trouble and money of having to do so."

The droid was perfectly fine, but not everything used commando droid parts in town, so it had been sitting there collecting dust.

Aliris Tremiru

 

[Aliris Tremiru]

Aliris squinted. She wasn't the trusting kind, to say the least, but there was little chance for her to argue. If he said they didn't have to pay, arguing was just gonna make her pay eventually. So.. She sighed before stepping over to K1, giving him a brief smile.

"Well. You're in one piece at least. .. Sorry you have to have a new body, though."

K1[_ _]

 

[K1[_ _]]

"...W..why sorry...?" K1 was confused, staring down at Aliris with his, now two, ocular sensors. "...You... are safe.. My o..old body was too d..da..damaged... I fee..fee..feel much better than before..." He seemed to be acclimating more and more to the new body, his speech not as stuttered as it was when the old man had first powered him back up.

He turned his head, slowly, to look at the old man and bowed his metal cranium. "T..T..Thank you..."

The old man looked quite pleased, teeth gleaming through his beard. "Hehehe.. You're welcome!"

Aliris Tremiru

 

[Aliris Tremiru]

Aliris was still squinting at the old man, but as she stepped beside K1 and watched him settle into his body more, she couldn't help but smile a little. It was good that he wasn't just.. Gone. "Ahhhh. You had me so worried you know! .. I'm glad you're not gone. .. So just, don't do that again, okay? Take care of yourself before you end up unrepairable."

K1[_ _]

 

[K1[_ _]]

K1 thought it over for a moment. A good. Long. Moment. A minute almost. She wanted him to take care of himself? Not put himself in harms way to protect her? That wasn't going to happen. The droid turned his head, a bit smoother than moments prior and his words didn't stutter as much.

"Was I out... f..for long?" Best plot of action? Ignore her request! Change the topic without being rude! Make it seem like the topic was dropped so she wouldn't keep pestering him about it.

Aliris Tremiru

 

[Aliris Tremiru]

"Not long, no. A couple hours I think. I wasn't really counting the time though."

Had she noticed he was avoiding her question? No, not really. Right now she was just glad he was working. And getting visibly better by the second. The last thing she wanted was to be alone again.

"We'll leave soon, yeah? Soon as your charged anyway."

K1[_ _]