Diving and digging (open)

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

In the gross and grim of collected bags and waste she was certainly not smelling pleasant as she scavenged for old trinkets and electronics that would further her exploration of this world’s technological strangeness. She had a few pieces and those were fun but she needed more to fill her ideas. Big and small projects require a multitude of different elements. She was finding a lot of batteries for the most part and that was okay occasionally she would find a shattered phone which could be useful if it could receive power she found old chargers of different types and I stripped wires to use. Just junk she was able to shove in her pockets mostly.

The crystals in her arm itched but she measured them recently to discover their growth was at a decreased rate than usual she wasn’t a Qi user but she had these catalyst hungry for Qi constantly imbued in her arms. She feared if they were continuing to be starved if they’d look to their host for their sustenance and she made a choice to come up with a plan to remedy that using this world and it’s Qi less tech. It could save her life.

[Gidget]

Gidget was in the worst part of the streets, where the homeless gathered. It was really the only place she went if she left her house, and the entire tent city seemed to know her. She would stop to talk to a couple of the people here and there, and even gave a small, poorly wrapped gift to a mother and her dirty little child. They seemed comfortable with her, unlike most outsiders. As she was passing an old man perched on the ground, cooking some kind of mystery meat over an open fire, she paid him for a stick of his food. He grinned a toothless grin at her, and sent her on her way.

She was walking by where Lucky was, nibbling on the meat (most likely rat, if one really wanted to think about it that much), when she paused. She furrowed her brows and shifted the little laptop bag she had over one shoulder slightly closer to her body.

"Oi!" she shouted. The small girl was anything but threatening: she looked like a prepubescent boy, and her arms were as thin as sticks. She was pale, with deep bags under her eyes, and nothing note-worthy except the distressed bag on her hip in her possession. "Whatcha doin', there?" Her accent was north-eastern, from Jersey, and she had the attitude to go with it.

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

Lucky was shoving a broken phone in her pocket when she heard the girl her eyes went wide like she had been caught red handed. “Ah... aaaaaaaah....” she really hadn’t thought of an answer in preparation for this moment.

[Gidget]

Gidget narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms over her flat chest. She was decked out in a pair of baggy shorts and her typical sleeveless hoodie, and looked... well, not very menacing at all. In fact, it was almost comical how much attitude such a small person had.

"Well? I asked you what you're doing in there. Seems like a pretty duh answer, doesn't it?"

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

“I’m... well the answer could be a few things... I’m certainly not looking for food, dump a body, or a private place to piss.” Of the things she has found in these places those were truly things she was not doing.

[Gidget]

Gidget stopped and just stared at the woman for a moment, a brow slowly creeping up nearly to her hairline.

"Well. That takes three things off the INFINITE number of possibilities. Good for you. Why don't we keep going through what you're NOT doing? I mean, hell, we'll only be here for ETERNITY. Or, we could just cut to the chase.... and you could just answer my original question? Yeah, that might be easier. After all, I've got shit to do, eventually."

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

“If you have things to do why did you even bother to stop and involve yourself with me?” It was a legit confusing question. She didn’t mean any harm by it or to tell the girl mind her own business but it seemed like a strange act thus far. “I mean if you want to know that badly I suppose I would say I’m... what do you people call it here?” She snapped her fingers trying to abracadabra the word into existence. “RECYCLING! Yeah like taking trash and repurposing it.” She sheepishly smiled back on her world it was scavenging some called it theft but garbage was kind of free for anyone. It never made sense to her why people get mad for taking what someone didn’t want.

[Gidget]

Gidget rubbed her forehead, fighting a headache as it stood. This woman was RECYCLING? Well, at least it was... eco-friendly? She sighed.

"You're... repurposing... what, exactly? What do you think you're going to find in THERE of all places?"

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

“Where I’m from we have no electricity... I’m powerless so the concept is a bit unexplored for me and you people have a surplus of ways to use it! Batteries and these gadgets which actually process commands and remember what is in them. I’m one of the few who might say this new world has given me an upper hand.” Lucky grinned fishing her pockets with the wires, batteries, and small gadgets she’s collected.

[Gidget]

New World? Oh gawd. This woman was another Meta, like Drake. She groaned out loud, continuing to rub her forehead. This was going to be exhausting. Why did she always attract all of the crazies?

"Let me guess. You don't know what a computer is, either?"

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

“Don’t be silly, I know what they are, We had similar ones on old world. We just didn’t have the power to use them freely unless we had a large supply of Qi crystals. Those were our main source of fuel, power, and energy. They were hard to come by unless you were insanely powerful or rich. I hadn’t gotten to use many for that reason, I mostly stuck to making things work on more primitive levers, pullies, gears, and such.” She shrugged thinking this might be a bit obvious to discern. And she hadn’t been certain why this girl was so confused about what lucky was saying.

[Gidget]

The entire concept of Qi was so confusing to Gidget. Electricity wasn't rare or uncommon, batteries were a dime a dozen, and and even the homeless had access to some of the devices. The idea of only the rich and powerful having access to something was baffling.

"That all sounds headache inducing as fuck."

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

“Some places it was just as hard if not harder to find food.” Lucky fished in her back pocket and pulled out an unopened oat bar and thought something needed to be mentioned. She pointed to her food. “I didn’t fish this from the bin... honest.”

[Gidget]

Gidget stared at the oat bar and sighed, long and low.

"Is that all you have to eat?"

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

Um... yeah found a few boxes of these in a destroyed gas station undamaged but I’ve finished through some other things that have certainly long expired.” She smiled. “This is one of the best things I’ve eaten since I’ve got here.”

Unknowing and unsaid Lucky had an iron stomach. She was from a specific vast of land that was some of the most barren and dry. Most ruined buildings from past wars were practically untouched and she had occasionally found cans of preserved food and had also long expired, tasted awful. But foregoing that she lost a lot of taste and a lot of sense of hunger. But her digestive system can process more than most could think off.