Private Nature Meets Metal

[Lestra Thairk]

Tags: Noodles
The headquarters in Odessa had so many little hidden spots for Lestra to look for places to store equipment. Sure, he could have stored all of his gear where he was sleeping but you never knew when you might need to grab some supplies, so putting some caches around would be smart. He had already set up a few places outside in the jungle for where he had hid some of his stuff, under the watchful eye of the wildlife. But now, it was for what he was dreading. Finding stuff inside of the headquarters to figure out where to put his stuff. The hanger would be pointless. Too much foot traffic. His stuff would be found and he'd probably get in trouble for leaving "junk" hanging about. But where was he going to go? Hm...

And that brought him towards one of the storage rooms, dragging his rucksack behind himself before closing the door. Alright. It was time for him to find a super secret place to put his rucksack that no-one would find! After all, there were at least a few other storage rooms! This one would probably be pretty empty...Wait. Why was there a bunch of light coming from the side? And it sounded like a bunch of buzzing as well? Lestra peaked his head around one of the shelves to spot someone sat in the corner, tapping away at some kind of screen. Well. Now his curiousity was peaked...so Lestra snuck his way over, crouching down in a monkey-like posture, pressing his fist against the ground as he watched the strange bits text being replaced or deleted.

"...What'cha doing? Why are you here?...Are you good? You aren't a spy are you?"

Then, like a repeating blaster set off, a variety of questions were shot out of Lestra's mouth. Sure, there was no way you'd ask a spy if they were a spy and they'd say...but hey. It didn't hurt to check...right?

 

[Noodles]

Outfit: bomber jacket, layered skirt + leggings, boots
Equipment: portable slicer rig, satchel of wires & snacks, HUD goggles, headphones
Companion: 404
Tag: Lestra Thairk

Her screen was a blur of shifting code, blocks of firewalls bending and breaking under her fingers. Every now and then she muttered at it — half curses, half sound effects — from the crate upon which she was perched cross-legged.

"Bzzt—tsk, nope. C'mon, you fragged out thing, don't freak on me now..."

404 stirred at the sound of someone new, a single low beep stuttering out as his photoreceptor flickered on. He didn't roll far, just shifted against her boots like a warning. Noodles didn't look up.

"Hm? What? Shh." One hand flicked quick over a string of keys, the other reaching absent-mindedly to nudge 404 back down. Her eyes didn't leave the glow in front of her. Lestra's questions came out like a scattershot then, but she barely reacted, lips moving as she kept pace with the code. Another firewall crumpled. She grinned, muttering under her breath.

"Gotcha."

A moment later, still hunched close to the screen, she called out flat, like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Got any snacks?"

 

[Lestra Thairk]

Tags: Noodles

"...Fragged out thing? I don't see any grenades around here...Well, there's probably some in the box off to the side..."

Lestra tilted his head in thought, not understanding the tech speak whatsoever as he looked over the various little shelves and containers, throwing out random bits and bobs as if he was looking for a grenade, before he hear the stranger say that she had "gotten" something. And so he turned his head around to see that she had exactly...nothing? What was she going on about.

"I mean...I have a few snacks. But what did you get? You said got'cha, but all you've got is that tech."

He made his way over, throwing his rucksack off his shoulder, and pulled out some dried meat. They lasted for a long time, so they were the perfect type of food to hide in a cache. At least in his opinion. For now however, he chucked a pack of the jerky over towards the stranger before dropping down into the crouched position.

 

[Noodles]

Outfit: bomber jacket, layered skirt + leggings, boots
Equipment: portable slicer rig, satchel of wires & snacks, HUD goggles, headphones
Companion: 404
Tag: Lestra Thairk

Noodles didn't answer him. She just stared at him, brow tight, the kind of look that said really? before she rolled her eyes and reached up to snag the mid-air packet. She turned it over once, squinting at it like it was some kind of alien tech. Then she gave it a cautious sniff. Her nose wrinkled, and she pulled it back fast.

"Heck is this," she muttered, unimpressed.

Still, she tore it open and bit off a piece. The second it hit her tongue she spat it out, gagging, flinging the rest away like it was poisonous. Her shoulders slumped, arms flopping out to the sides as she let out the loudest, most pitiful groan any living thing had ever made, dragging it out long and theatrical, as if the universe itself had personally betrayed her.

 

[Lestra Thairk]

Tags: Noodles

"Meat. It's good for you. Protein. Muscles. All that good stuff. Plus it's dehydrated so it'll last longer!"

Lestra grinned to himself, almost as if he took pride in the jerky. And so he looked totally affronted to see Noodles spit the food out as if it was dirt! That was good meat that had went to waste! Urgh. This sucked. Why didn't people like his gifts? Well. That reached him to give anyone his food. For now, Lestra took the rucksack and dumped it into a corner of the room, making sure to cover it up.

"You know you aren't meant to spit out food, right? Otherwise it can't do all of its...nutritional stuff. Y'know. Proteins. Vitamin Greens and Vitamin Reds."

Of course, in Lestra's eyes, he was talking complete sense. Vitamins came in colours. Vitamin Orange in Oranges, Vitamin Green in plant based foods or green beans, Vitamin Reds in meat. Either way, he turned his attention over towarsd Noodles, and then frowned at the sight of 404.

"Oh. You have a junk-bot."

It didn't matter that it looked like it was made out of junk. For Lestra, any form of droid was a junkbot. Not that he had anything against them. At the end of the day, it wasn't metal that Lestra had a problem with. It was tech. He just didn't understand it.

 

[Noodles]

Outfit: bomber jacket, layered skirt + leggings, boots
Equipment: portable slicer rig, satchel of wires & snacks, HUD goggles, headphones
Companion: 404
Tag: Lestra Thairk

Noodles had already grabbed a dented, sticker-laden flask from her kit, swishing water hard around her mouth and spitting onto the floor with a wet splat. She went again, scrubbing at her tongue with the side of her hand like she could scrape the taste away.

The second Lestra said something about Vitamin Greens and Reds, her head jerked up. Her eyes lit, wide and greedy.

"Reds? You got Sour Reds? Why didn’t you say? Gimme!" She leaned forward, hand snapping open expectantly. She loved sour candy.

When he turned his gaze on 404 then, she followed it. The bot had perked up at the commotion, giving a tired warble. She grinned, smacking her palm lightly on his battered top plate.

"Yup. Four. Made 'im myself. Muh best friend."

404 gave a garbled beep, like he agreed.

"...and I'm Noodles. Sup."

 

[Lestra Thairk]

Tags: Noodles

"No! You just spat out my vitamin Red!"

Lestra pointed off towards the piece of jerky Noodles had spat out, not even understanding that they had basically gotten lost in translation, even though the both of them were speaking basic. He sighed to himself afterwards, throwing himself backwards onto the ground, before listening to Noodles talking about how the droid was her best friend. Lestra's first thought was that was a sad but he didn't voice it. Not yet at least.

"Lestra."

A simple introduction. A small frown on his face as he stared up at the ceiling, trying to wrap his head around all of the gibberish that Noodles had been saying. Lestra had thought the way he spoke was bad, as a farmboy...but honestly? It could have ben a lot worse, as Noodles were making it seem plain to me.