Harriette woke up to the sound of rattling and rustling. At first her brain was too foggy to realize what she was hearing. She slid herself forward to sit on the edge of her little home, and opened the makeshift door to pear out. She'd slid on her glasses even in her sleep addled haze so she could make out something moving in the distance, she flinched.
Did they find me? Harriette thought, panicked, then something crashed and… A raccoon fell out from its hiding spot. It skittered to its feet and spotted her. They stared at each other. Harriette's heart hammering. What do I do? What do I do? At least it wasn't a person. She watched it. Harriette was a freak, maybe she could… talk to it?
She took a deep breath and the creature bushed up. If this didn't work she'd have to run away. Still, it was cute and if she was sharing a space with it she was going to try and be on friendly terms. So, she reached out with her mind toward it. Trying very hard to connect.
"Ha-hallow?" Harriette asked. The creature, chittered, confused and Harriette almost understood it. Something similar to what maybe… Harriette tried again. "I-I-I'm Ha-harriette." she stated.
"Whisker Friend," the racoon said.
"Whisker Friend?" Harriette asked, and the racoon nodded.
"What is small human doing here?"
"I-I-I was a-a-abandoned," Harriette said.
"Big human's left small one alone?" the racoon said. Harriette nodded. "That is not good, big animal takes care of small till they're big." the racoon informed. "Teach to live. Survive. Are you going to cause problems because no one teach you better?"
"I try not," Harriette said panic entering her voice. "I- I- I know how to live on own. Can hunt for-for self, somewhere else just sleep here."
"Is good then, we will allow this," Whisker Friend said. "You will not hurt Whisker friends kits. Stay away unless you want to be bitten." Harriette nodded.
"Yes," Harriette said.
"Be safe hunting little human," Whisker Friend said.
"You too, maybe I bring some back, to thanks for letting stay," Harriette said.
"Good manners indeed," Whisker Friend said. "If you are good there is no reason not to share space, plenty here, and food is plenty also."
"Thanks," Harriette said. The Racoon skittered off. Harriette smiled. Today was already shaping up to be a good day.
Harriette climbed the stairs out of the pizzaplex and spotted a wet floor bot on it's side. She helped it onto it's wheels. The little signs with their big eyes were so cute. Harriette couldn't help patting it.
"Better?" she asked. It beeped a lot, and circled Harriette curiously. "Oh, right you guys can't talk. Um… Oh! My names Harriette. Um… One beep for yes and two for no. Does that work." A single beep. "It's nice to meet you. Hmm. Ah! What's your- ah- right… Do you have a name?" An excited beep, more circling but this time more curious, then ran over to one of the boxes hitting it. "Is- is that supposed to be a point or are you hurt? One beep for pointing and two for hurt?" One beep. "Okay, let me see back to yes or no okay?" One beep. "Okay, so… were you pointing to the box itself?" two beeps. "What on the box?" Two beeps. "What in it?" One beep. "Sorry this is taking so long." the thing chirred, bumping her leg gently. It sounded happy, and Harriette knew they could sound sad too so she figured it was actually happy. "Are you saying it's okay?" One beep. "Alright. Let's see what's inside the box." Harriette climbed onto up a small ledge and looked inside. It was full of bags, those bags were full of rubber bands. "Are you called Rubber Band?" Harriette asked, one single delighted beep. "Thank you for telling me your name. Do you prefer Mr. Or Mrs. Or Ms. Or Miss. Um, those four things so beep up to four times to tell me your answer." Silence, then five beeps. "Something else? Back to one beep for yes and two for no." One beep. "Okay, so… Something else? Um… Madam?" Two beeps. "Oh, are you a boy?" Two beeps, these ones are annoyed. "Sorry, are you a gir?" Harriette asked nervously. Two exasperated beeps. "Neither?" One beep. "I didn't know that was allowed." Harriette said, thoughtfully. "So, do you use…. They/Them pronouns?" two beeps. "Oh, so… something else." two beeps. "Well, you gotta be called something…. Well. I guess it doesn't matter." Harriette shrugged. "Do you just want to be called Rubber Band?" Two beeps, then it tapped the box again. "Um, bag Rubber band?" Two beeps. "Um… Inside?" Two beeps. "Oh, so outside." One beep. Harriette looked at the box, there was a flower on the outside of it. "Flower Rubber Band." Two beeps, circling the floor with their head faced down. "Floor?" three beeps. "Am I closer?" One beep. "Okay, so, does it sound like something in between?" one beep. "Flower, Floor. Fluer?" A beep. "Flr. Rubber Band?" A beep. "Flr. Rubber Band. Hey, is one of those a first name and the other like a last name?" three beeps. "Okay, make sense." Harriette stomach growled, and she still had to pee real bad too. "I gotta go, but you have a good day. Flr. Rubber Band." The wet floor bot made a pair of beeps that sounded like bye-bye, and the two parted ways.
Harriette made her way up and headed the rest of the way up to the plex. She waved the staff bot Daisy.
"Good Morning, Daisy," the staff bot beeped cheerfully. "How are you?" he made a thumbs up sign and gestured to his work. A few boxes. "Want some help?" A nodd. And Harriette used her freak powers to lift the boxes to their spot. The Bots couldn't talk so they weren't going to tell on her to anyone. She put them in the right spot. Daisy patted her head, and sent her off. She waved heading out toward the rest of the plex. She really, really had to go now. She found the closest bathroom. She did her business and brushed her teeth. She made her way to the main part of the plex carefully avoiding the cameras and unfamiliar staff bots. She'd meet them later. She had to be careful. She was especially careful to avoid the security bots.
She headed up to the restaurants and got to work scrounging, carefully watching the early morning crowds. Waited for a family; a man, a woman, and two kids leave their trays and trash. Harriette cleaned it up. Grabbing one of the pizza crusts and nibbling on it as she left waited again. After a while she'd scrounge up enough food to fill her belly, and headed around.
She never ever entered any of the shops, she wasn't going to risk it, but made sure to enter arcades and other locations to avoid looking suspicious.
Someone left their bag the day before. It was still sitting in the same spot now. Harriette grabbed it and slipped down further into the plex, avoiding any staff; human and bot alike. She checked to see what was in it. Maybe it would have some useful stuff. It had some perfume, a light cardigan, a few snacks, and a pair of shoes. Small shoes. Maybe they'd be in Harriette's size. She doubted it, but she could dream. She checked, they weren't too big, closer in size then her old ones, and way more comfy. She put the cardigan on, under her coat, and noticed there was some money in it. Not a whole lot, probably some of the change from the shops. Still, it would be useful. Harriette remembered seeing people throw money into fountains before. Maybe she'd find more money in places like that. She'd have to be careful though. There were also some stickers, and some packaging in the bag. She tucked the bag away in a good hiding spot, after pocketing the stickers and money. The stickers were as good as the money in the pizzaplex. The TinyMusic-men liked decorating their homes and the staff bots liked decorating themselves. She'd seen them chittering gleefully at one who'd had a child stick a little plan star on them. These were way cooler than just a plain star.
Harriette wandered the pizzaplex, secreting away sometimes to mark exits and entrances. She'd found a good number. She bartered a few of the stickers for passage through vents or previously untraversable halls. She met a TinyMusic-Man that went by Tensile. She learned that because he'd had so much of it. He didn't live in the vents like the rest of his brethren, he lived in a small space in a tucked away hallway. In exchange for a half a box full that Harriette had found he showed her secret entry point that allowed her to leave and enter the plex without using the main door. She used that to go outside and hunt down a fountain that she wasn't as worried would be watched. She'd found several and a few even had coins in them. So, she cleared the whole thing out. She was pretty proud of herself. She counted up what she'd gotten from the fountain and found there was enough for a whole bus ticket. She was dressed like a girl, and had her hair done like a girl's, but she was still careful in crowded places. She went back to the plex, and slipped back inside. She filled her water bottles at one of the stations. Then headed up to the restaurants for lunch. She watched carefully, made sure to always keep an extra eye out for staff members. She scrounge up her meal, and wondered the plex some more.
She found more freebies in the utility tunnels, and met up with Daisy and some of his friends. They helped her find a few freebies and she helped them with their work. They parted so that Harriette could get dinner. While she was clearing tables of there refuse she was approached by one of the staff members. She waved, and smiled at Harriette, so Harriette stayed put, wringing her hands nervously. She smiled back though. She had to be polite.
"Hey," The woman, Harriette guessed they were a woman. They were dressed like one, and had their hair done like one, but maybe that was a rude thing to assume. Harriette hated when people assumed she was a boy. "I noticed you clearing tables earlier." They had a woman's voice too, though still young. Harriette wrung her hands even more nervously.
"Y-yeah," Harriette said, guiltily.
"No, don't worry, I wanted to say thanks," they said. Waving her concern off. "I'm not mad. Anyways. I noticed you were also taking some of the food. Are your parents not feeding you?"
"My parents are dead," Harriette said, automatically. She could kick herself. "I live with my a-u-aunt's family." Harriette had thought about all the ways she could spin the story, but decided to go with the least amount of lying. In case there really was a god or something.
"Oh, and are they…?"
"No, they don't feed me," Harriette answered. "I'm sorry." She looked down then, realizing she was probably staring too long. People didn't like how intense she could stare at them.
"Oh, well, yeah, I figured," the worker said. "Well, I'm Marnie. Do-by any chance are you allergic to anything?" Harriette shook her head.
"Oh, cool, cool, so there was this customer, they didn't show up for their order," They sounded annoyed. "But I'm allergic to fish. I- was wondering… You want it?" Harriette nodded eagerly. They offered the bag they'd been carrying.
"Thank you!" Harriette said.
"Your welcome," they said. "Oh, hey, my name's Marnie. BTW. See ya around."
"Harriette, See ya." They waved good-bye, and Harriette headed down to her dump home. Excited for the meal. It was even still warm. She munched on some of it and shared some with Whisker Friend and one of her kits. Then Harriette went to sleep.