I have no excuses for making you wait so long. Forgive me?

In the over a year since I updated, I have gained nothing in ownership!

June 12, 2030

Dear Diary,

So, Irisa's dreams are more artifact-y than I thought.

~~Start of day~~

Irisa was asleep in the back seat of Claudia's roller. This was to be short lived, because Claudia had music playing and she was singing along rather loudly. The song she was belting out wasn't a song meant for sleeping through. Halfway through the chorus of the song, Irisa woke up. "Mommy. Just because the song says 'We're singing Radiohead at the top of our lungs' this does not mean you have to sing along at the top of your lungs!" The little girl moaned.

Claudia blushed, and glanced back at her daughter. "Sorry kiddo, but it is the middle of the day. You don't need to sleep all day." The human chided, the Irathient scowling and rubbing her eyes in response. The youth looked exhausted. Claudia frowned. "Ris, did you sleep at all last night? You're not usually the kind to nap."

Irisa bit her lip, nervously. "I had one of those dreams again, and I woke up in the nighttime and thought about it until morning." The child mumbled, uncomfortable with the situation. "There was a woman who looks kind of like you, but older. She was playing a guitar like you were in that memory. She was singing, too, and her voice was really pretty. Then the bell on the door of her shop jangled, and the door opened, but... I saw me there. Momma, I don't remember that ever happening, but I was there." Irisa was worried, it was a strange sensation.

Claudia's brain was turning, the woman Irisa had described... no, it couldn't be. "Risa, whatever your dream means, it's okay. You're not trying to do anything bad, and that's enough. This is strange, sure, but my world has been full of strange since I was a little girl. This isn't the bad kind of strange." On the scale of artifact danger levels, this wasn't even on the radar. Nothing had combust, caused tremors, or tried to eat them, after all. The woman looked back at the child again. "Why don't we stop in the next town, we can get you some headphones so I can sing and you can sleep?" Irisa nodded thankfully.

~~Town of Aurora~~

Claudia and Irisa walked through the town, and stopped at a small shop. "Excuse me, but do you know where I could buy some noise cancelling headphones for my daughter?" Claudia asked the clerk. The young man nodded.

"Yeah, there's a woman who sells music stuff down the road, calls herself CD. There's a sign by her place, says 'CD's Tunes' you can't miss it!" The man told her, and Irisa went to the door.

"Mooooom, come on!" She whined, and headed off to the music store in question. Claudia rolled her eyes, thanked the clerk and gave him some scrip, and followed, about a dozen meters behind the little girl, not moving to catch up just yet.

Irisa glanced back to see her mother following her, and continued on. After she had passed a few buildings, the child spotted the sign the clerk had described. She ran up the steps and knocked on the door.

~~CD~~

The woman glanced up when she heard the bell on the door chime, she was playing her guitar but set it down to address her customer. "Hello there, can I help you?" She asked, looking at the little Irathient girl at the door. "Hey sweetie, are you okay?"

Irisa was shrinking backwards from the woman in surprise. That's her! The dream lady! Irisa thought, shocked. Claudia came up behind her then. "Hey kiddo, you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." Claudia asked, picking the petite child up. Irisa just looked at the woman and then at her mother, looking back and forth. "I'm sorry, Irisa can be pretty timid, I'm..." Claudia looked up at the shopkeeper then, and her voice trailed off. "I... I'm..." she sputtered.

"...Claudia?" The other woman asked, awed. Claudia nodded. "Oh my god, Claudia!" The woman's eyes teared up, and she rushed from behind the counter to embrace her sister. "I never thought I'd see you again, little sister!" Irisa's eyes widened. She tugged on Claudia's sleeve, uncomfortable with this change.

Claudia looked back to her daughter, as her sister released them from the hug. "Irisa, this... this is my big sister. I'd like you to meet your aunt Claire." Claudia told the child. She looked back up at her sister. "Claire, this is my daughter, Irisa." Both Claudia and Claire had tears in their eyes.

Irisa was stunned. The dream woman, was mom's big sister? The little girl shook her head, trying to get her thoughts together. Shyly, she looked back up at Claire. "Hi." She waved a hand at the human woman. Claire waved back.

"Hi sweetie." Claire said to Irisa, smiling. She turned her focus to Claudia again. "Claud, we have to catch up! I have an apartment upstairs, would you like to come up?" Claudia nodded, and Irisa groaned. Claire looked at the sad Irathient. "What's wrong, Irisa?"

"I'm still really tired!" Irisa wailed.

Claudia laughed before she could stop herself. "Sorry sweetie. Claire, do you think we can find her a place to rest before we catch up?"

"Sure thing. Irisa can use my bed. Follow me, and we can all get settled." Claire said, and lead the two redheads up to her flat. Irisa curled up in the center of the bed and passed out almost at once. Claire and Claudia sat on the couch to catch up while Irisa was out. Claire gave Claudia another hug. "I've missed you. But you have to tell me how you ended up with that kidlet. She is too cute. What's the story with you two?"

Claudia took a deep breath. "I met Irisa almost two months ago. She was chained up and about to be killed by her biological parents, so I killed them and saved her. She was in bad shape, but she's healed up and a healthy weight now, when I met her she was emaciated. I took her in as my daughter and she sees me as a mother. We only have each other." Claire gasped.

"The poor dear! Oh my god, what kind of people would do that to a sweet little girl?" Claire sighed. "God, she's lucky to have you there for her." Claudia shook her head, and Claire frowned at her. "What happened, Claud?"

Claudia bit her lip and looked towards Irisa's sleeping forme. "I... let something happen to her. She got kidnapped. And abused, again." Claudia shook her head again, a tear streaking down her face. "I'm not doing her any favour, letting her stay with me. But I can't leave her behind, I love her too much." Claudia sighed.

Claire put a hand on Claudia's shoulder. "Claudia, this world is a disaster. You care about her, and she loves you. That's more than a lot of kids have." Claudia shrugged. "Claud, I'm not gonna pity you. You've got it pretty good. Come on." The older woman tugged her sister to her feet. "Let's jam together, I've got a guitar just like you used to have, you can play it and we can sing." Claire lead her sister to the music shop's back room, and they began their rendition of "When I Grow Up" together.

Irisa cracked an eye open. The music thing. This time with two people singing. She groaned, and yelled, "MOM I WAS SLEEPING!" from the room she was in. There was giggling from downstairs.

"Sorry kiddo!"

"If you were sorry you'd be quiet!" The Irathient buried her face in a pillow.

~~End day~~

So, my sister is still alive! God, Claire is still alive. I'm so happy to see her.

And when the original problem is singing too loud, singing more does not help. It just makes Ris more annoyed if you wake her up again.

~Claudia Donovan

I have no idea where half of this came from.

Part of it is that I didn't know Claire existed when I started this fic, so she's still alive. Cos I didn't kill her in chapter one.

I dunno. Work with me here.