Claire was just about to do something—break up the fight, run for help, throw something at the dog—when a pair of footsteps came thundering up the road. "I think it's Mitzi!" squealed a female voice—the chicken and dog were kicking up a lot of dust, and Claire was still in a daze, so she couldn't see who it eas exactly. "Yeah, that's her," came a voice of indeterminate gender. "Stand back."

A few seconds later, Claire, still coughing from all the dust, was staring up into the face of a... a guy? A girl? She wasn't entirely sure. They had medium-length orange hair that was pulled back with a headband, and they had glasses and an apron on. In one hand was the squirming, yelping puppy, in the other was a bedraggled and confused-looking chicken. The person squinted at Claire, and opened their mouth as if to speak, when a girl leaned over her suddenly.

"Ohmigosh, are you OK? I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she said, and Claire recognized her as the voice from earlier. The girl looked on the verge of tears. "I looked away for one second and Hannah came into the coop and Mitzi ran off and I didn't know what was happening! Ah, I probably should have helped you up first thing! I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she repeated, and hauled Claire up and onto her feet. "You're not hurt, right?" she asked. "My name's Popuri! I help with the chickens on our farm sometimes. What do you do?"

"I... yeah, I'm fine, thanks," managed Claire. She noticed the girl's long, abundant hair was pink, and briefly wondered how anyone could manage to dye that much of it. "I'm Claire, I just moved into the old farm here and—" she was cut off by a gasp.

"Not Bluebell Ranch! Oh no, that's just awful, I don't know how you're going to survive!"

"Yeah, I get that a lot," said Claire wearily, then remembered the other person, who was still holding the animals and watching with interest. "Er, hi, what's your name?" she asked. They seemed happy to be able to speak.

"I'm Rick," they said. Claire was relieved—she'd been worrying that it would be some androgynous name like "Sam" or "Jamie". "I'm Popuri's brother, and I mind the chickens most of the time." His smile seemed genuine, if a little blank.

"Well, it's nice to meet you two," said Claire. Popuri giggled.

"You have feathers in your hair, silly," she said, and plucked them out. She hopped gracefully over to Rick and collected the chicken in her arms, then ran back to the coop and deposited Mitzi. "Rick, would you take Hannah back to Barley for me? I'm sorry about this, it won't happen again, I promise." Rick nodded cheerfully and headed off down the path, rightwards.

"Say, Claire, have you seen the rest of the town yet?" Claire shook her head.

"Yay! I can take you on a tour then, comeonlet'sgo!" She grabbed Claire's arm and, before she could protest, started speedwalking down the road with farmer in tow.

A/N:

I'm sorry, Rick fans, I truly am. Feel free to thwack me with an umbrella :P

I restrained myself on including a "lol are you a girl" scene though. Give me credit for that.

Where does Popuri get all that energy? How will Claire manage to keep up? What is the meaning of life? Next chapter may hold the answers to this and more! (Not guaranteed to hold the answers to anything. No money back.)