I used to hate Popuri. Now, I completely blame liking her on thelaughinglibra. Course, I also blame Claire X Carter on her...lol and I've never even talked to the woman! Behold, the power of fanart and fanfiction!

Most dialogue taken straight from the game-I'm just fleshing out the inner workings of Claire.

Disclaimer: I doth dis/the claiming of this

I laid in bed for what must have been an hour the next morning, having woken before my alarm. I hadn't found Watson the night before, so I worried that he'd wandered off. Gray mentioned he did that every so often.

I just stayed in bed, staring at the ceiling, listening to the nothingness that my house sounded like. It was rather pathetic, but...this was my house. My house. Not my home, though. Not yet. I was hoping, really, that it would become my home in time, but after yesterday, I felt hurt. I'd felt a real home for the first time, and been kicked out of it with a vengeance. Maybe I wasn't meant to have a true home. Maybe that was why I was passed from home to home, jumbled around in the foster care system all my life. Maybe that was why I never had real parents or a family - I was cursed or something.

Heck, even my dog ran every chance it got.

Sighing, I made myself get out of bed. A pathetic breakfast of a loaf of bread - which seemed to be my usual these days, which wasn't much better than the breakfast beagle I used to eat on the way to work - and then I was out onto the land. I did what was also becoming part of my usual routine: watered my crops and harvested a jar of honey. But on the way off my farm, I ran into Gray - carrying my dog.

"Gray." I gave him an approving smile. I frowned at his companion, though. "Watson."

The puppy whimpered.

Gray cracked a grin. "I caught him chasing Rick's chickens this morning - at the poultry farm across the street." He jerked his head in that direction, and I nodded, knowing where he was talking about. I carried a town map around with me wherever I went. Even if I hadn't been there yet, I had all the places memorized.

"Not a very good quality in a farm dog." I noted, taking Watson from Gray's arms.

"He just needs some training, he doesn't know any better yet. He's never been around chickens before."

"Well, then maybe he should get used to it. Maybe I'll get some chickens and train him. Zack said chickens would be a good animal for me to start with."

Gray nodded after a second. "Yeah, I'd think so. I've seen Rick's sister Popuri out feeding the chickens. Apparently, they don't need too much extra care, and you get eggs everyday as long as they stay healthy."

"Sounds like a plan." I set Watson down on the other side of the farm gate that never seemed to stop him from leaving, anyway, and watched him scamper off towards my fields. "If he tears up my crops, I'll have a new backpack tomorrow."

I heard Gray snicker behind me, and decided to walk with him up to the poultry farm. There, I met Popuri. I've never seen anything so gross in my life.

"Hi, Claire!" She ran over to me as soon as I stepped on the farm, her long pink curls bobbing behind her. She looked like some sort of weird, old fashioned porcelain doll. "I know we haven't met, but I'm Popuri!"

"Er, hey."

"Would you like some CHICKENS!" The end of her sentence was more of an exclamation than part of her question. She'd went to motion to the poultry to find that she'd left the gate open and they were squaking about her farm.

Gray and I stared in dumbfounded wonder as the pink blob ran frantically around, snatching up chickens and tossing them back into the (still open) pen, after which they merely exited again when she turned her back.

"Should we help her?" I asked finally, confused as to why I wasn't laughing at this hilarious sight. Maybe I was in culture shock?

Gray slowly shook his head and started to back up. "No way. I'm outta here. Later, Claire."

"Later." I waved - well, more like stuck my hand into the air after him - and then muttered "some help you are." Sighing, I stepped forward into the chicken-catching fray. And the first thing I did was close the gate.

"Thanks for helping me, Claire." While my initial opinion of Popuri being an airhead still stood, her light hearted enthusiasm and constant happiness was growing on me. "Hey, do you like chickens?"

"Yeah, you bet." I replied immediately, before realizing she was probably referring to them as pets, not as KFC. I hadn't ever had a live chicken before, but I decided it was best not to tell her that.

"That's great! You know, people who like chickens are good people." She nodded when she finished, like she'd just said something philosophical. I didn't get it, but I just said "Sure. Hey, Popuri?"

"Yes?"

"Can I buy a chicken now?"