Sunset's human world origin

Cousin Grain and Cloud’s house
Date: July 6th, time: 9:50 am

*Intel’s perspective*

Once they arrived at the house, Intel dragged Spark out of the car and into the house.

“Cousin Grain, Cousin Cloud, are you here?”

“Intel, what ya doing here?”, Cloud called back. Cousin Grain and Cloud soon came into the living room, where Spark and Intel were.

“Spark, this is my cousin, Grain, and his husband, Cloud. Now, go punch them.”, Intel said to Spark with a push.

“What! I’m not going to punch them!”, Spark protested.

“So, what’s wrong with this one?”, Cloud asked.

“Nothing’s wrong with me.”

“He has confidence issues. He doesn’t say ‘please’, ‘thank you’, or ‘sorry’ because he says “It’s a sign of weakness.”

“I see. Please, come sit down.”, Grain said while gesturing to the couch. Spark, reluctantly, went over and sat on the couch. “Spark, did your parents ever say ‘thank you’, ‘sorry’, or ‘please’ to you?”

“Of course not.”, Spark said like that was the most normal thing in the world.

“And I’m guessing they said it was so they would not appear as weak.”

“Yeah”

“Cloud, please go get Dad.”

“Roger” Cloud saluted and exited the house.

“Spark, not being rude is not a sign of weakness. Your parents were using a practice where parents don’t say anything along the lines of ‘please’, ‘thank you’, or ‘sorry’. The thinking of that is that it shows them as dominant and unquestionable. This has long since been proven as harmful to the child and teaches them it’s okay to be disrespectful to others.” As Grain got done explaining, Cloud came back in with Uncle Victor.

Once Spark saw Uncle Victor, his eyes widened, and he jumped off the couch. “Holy crap, you’re Victory Man, the punching king!”, he said excitedly.

“And you must be Spark Plug. Intel has said a lot about you.”, Uncle Victor said while shaking Spark’s hand.

“You-you know me? Wait.”

“Spark, this is my uncle and Grain’s dad, and he’s one of the politest men I know.”, Intel said.

“His parents refused to be respectful to him and inadvertently taught him that was okay.”, Grain clarified.

“I see. Det. Plug, I’m sorry that you had to go through that. Why don’t we sit and talk about it?”

Intel, Grain, and Cloud went into the kitchen so the two could talk alone. Knowing this would take a while, they each got themselves a drink and began catching up on what they were doing and what was going on in their lives.

“So, this one kid I’m working with told me that their new dad liked sticking things in them, and here I am, thinking that the kid was - you know. Later, the mom came to pick them up, and I asked her about her husband. Eventually, I told her what the kid told me. Her eyes went wide, and she frantically told me that the dad was a doctor and was catching the kid up on their shots. I asked the kid what their dad was sticking in them, and they said “needles”. Needless to say, I was relieved that I didn’t call CPS.”, Grain said.

“That’s life as a child therapist, isn’t it?”, Cloud said, and Grain nodded his acknowledgement. “What case are you working, Intel?”

“Well, this guy’s house was burned down, and he blames a family because he thinks the older daughter is an alien.”

“Oohh, details, details.”

“On July fourth, someone broke into this guy’s house, stole his computer, and set the place on fire. When she was brought to the hospital, he was, reportally, screaming and shouting about all his evidence being destroyed. We interviewed the family today, and I’m honestly not sure if they did do it or not, but the parents aren’t telling the truth of where they were that night. Actually, Grain, could you talk to the older daughter? When we interviewed her, she acted more like a soldier than a kid, and I should be able to get to talk to her either today or tomorrow.”

“I don’t see why not.”

“That’s great.”

Right around then, Uncle Victor entered the kitchen and started to make himself some coffee.

“How’d it go?”, Intel asked.

“It went well.”

“Anything else?”

“Nope” was all Uncle Victor said before he started drinking his coffee.

With no more answers to be had, Intel decided that her job there was done. “I’ll text you with the time to meet.”, Intel told Grain before she left. Intel re-entered the living room where she found Spark in that deep thinking anime pose, the one where you support your head with the inside of your hands. “Ya good there?”

Spark turned to Intel with a blank look, but Intel could feel that he was conflicted. “I’ve got a lot of apologizing to do.” was all Spark said before getting up and going out to the car.

“Good, because we got a warrant to get, and I want to talk with the older Katon girl.”

Katon family home
Date: same day, time: 1:00 pm

*Intel’s perspective*

Intel, Spark, Grain, an armed escort, and CSI rolled up to Katon and Reads houses. Intel and Spark approached the Katon house with Grain and several armed and CSI officers while the rest approached the Reads house. It was not exactly easy to get Judge Gavel to grant them the warrants. She likes Anzhong but did have to admit that he was capable of doing such a thing if it meant protecting his daughters. She even recounted the time where Anzhong told her that he could not come to the courthouse during Platinum Wood’s trial because he did not trust himself to not kill him. Intel completely understood, but she still had a job to do. Spark knocked on the door, and a rather displeased looking Brigid soon answered.

“We have a warrant to search your home and property.”, Spark said.

“So be it, but in accordance with da freedom a’ information act, Ah have da right ta review da warrant. N’ please take off y’r shoes.”

Spark handed her the warrant, and she stepped aside to let them in.

“Hey everyone, take your shoes off before coming in!”, Spark relayed to the rest.

“I see that talk with Uncle Victor did the trick.”, Intel said while taking off her shoes. Spark merely grumbled a response. Brigid and Anzhong were reading over the warrant as everyone filed in.

“Ma’am, are there any weapons on the premises?”, one of the escorts asked.

“Locked weapons cabinet in the basement, two handguns in locked cases in the master bedroom, the swords on the wall, and one handgun in a locked case n’ two short swords in my eldest’s room.”, Brigid said without looking up from the paper and pointing to the basement door, the upstairs, the living room, and then a door on the far side of the house.

“Your daughter doesn’t live upstairs with you?”, Intel asked.

“It was supposed to be an attached mother-in-law suite but a kitchen was never installed. Given what she went through, we figured she needed some extra space.”, Anzhong answered.

“Is she in there now?”

“She should.”

“Alright, thank you.” Intel and Grain went over to the door and entered the room. It was the size of a small apartment.

“He wasn’t kidding when he said they wanted to give her some space.”, Grain said.

“Sunset? Sunset, we just want to talk.”, Intel called out but got no reply. She and Grain began searching the room. Eventually, Intel began searching around the loft but still couldn’t find her. Wait, is she-? Intel bent down, ending up on all fours, and looked under the bed. There was Sunset, staring at Intel with pure hatred. “It’s okay sweetie. We’re not going to hurt anyone.”, Intel said in her gentalist voice. She could only imagine how scary this was for someone so young. “Can you please come out?” Inlet reached out her hand towards Sunset’s. As soon as she got close, Sunset bit her and hissed. “Did you just bite me?!”, Intel said, surprised and alarmed. Intel took a second to calm herself before speaking again. “Sweetie, I know you’re scared, but we really do need to talk to you.”, Intel said in what she hoped was a calming voice.

Intel heard the door to Sunset’s room close and heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. She turned around to see that Grain had gotten Brigid, and she looked pissed. Intel got out of her way, and she knelt down. She began speaking in a language that Intel couldn’t recognize. That got Sunset to come out, but she was still looking at Intel with that same look of hatred and was holding a gun. Intel immediately tensed up and refexibly put her hand on her gun. Sunset grabbed the gun case off the bed and placed the firearm inside. Intel tried to get herself to relax and took her hand off her gun. Brigid guided Sunset down to the couch, and Intel and Grain followed.

“Sunset, I’m Dr. Harvest. I’m a child psychiatrist, and I would like to ask you some questions.”

Intel did not have words to describe the way Sunset was looking at Grain other than she was trying to summon the pits of Hell to come and swallow him. “No”

“Sunset, Ah know ya have reservations ‘bout therapy, but dis isn’t therapy. Dis will be jus’ like da interview at da police station, n’ Ah’ll stop it if da questions get too invasive.”, Brigid reassured.

“Fine”, Sunset said through gritted teeth.

“I know that this is scary, but I hope that we can work together, and you don’t have to answer any questions you don’t want to”, Grain said, but Sunset’s glare didn’t change. “Alrighty then, so Sunset, where were you born?”

“Canterlot”

“I understand you were adopted. Do you remember what happened to your biological parents?”

“I’m not answering that.”

“Okay, were you ever in the foster system?”

“No, I lived on the streets.”

“That must have been scary. What did you do during that time?”

“Survived”

“How, though”

“I lived out in the woods during that time. I cleaned out a barrel to catch rainwater, hung up a hammock and rainfly, got food by dumpster diving behind super markets and fishing in a nearby lake, and cooked what I got over a fire pit.”

“That’s impressive. How did you know how to do all that?”

It took Sunset longer to answer that question. “My bio-parents taught me to do that. They were sovereign citizen tinfoil hat types. They didn’t even register my birth, so I did not legally exist until I was adopted. They wanted me to be able to survive when the US government inevitably crumbles. Plus, people throw out a lot of useful stuff.”

“Do you believe that the US is doomed to crumble?”

“Nothing lasts forever.”

“Okay, if you weren’t in the foster system, how were you adopted by your parents?”

“I was dumpster diving when Dad heard me. Not knowing if he intended to harm me, I ran back to my camp. I never saw people go into the woods, so I thought he wouldn’t follow me. I was incorrect.”

“Okay, what was life with your biological parents like?”

“It was good. We didn’t have a lot of money, but we got by.”

“Any specific stories?”

“No”

“Okay, how did you get that scar on your chin?”

“A kid named Sage attacked me while my mask was off in fencing class, but I got the last laugh as I saw red and ended up mauling his face. A girl I knew that went to the same school as him said that he ended up needing plastic surgery to get everything fixed.” The lack of emotion as Sunset told that story unnerved Intel. It was like she was retelling a normal story she got from a friend who got it from her co-worker who got it from a guy on a bus. No one, especially a child, should not be able to tell that story without emotion.

“How do you feel about that incident?”

“Oh, if I saw that kid again, I’d probably undo all that surgery, or at least, that’s what I’d wanna do. I’d likely be arrested if I did that.”

“So, you’re still made at Sage?”

“Oh, I hate him, but I have a long list of people I hate, and he’s closer to the bottom.”

“I see. Who else is on this list?”

At that, Sunset showed the first bit of emotion since her anger died down. She smiled but not a warm smile. It formed a ‘V’ shape, a threatening smile. “Don’t worry, you and y’r cousin aren’t on it… yet.” The whole time, Brigid didn’t react to her daughter’s behavior.

“Well, thank you. I think we’re about out of time. It was a pleasure speaking with you.”, Grain said quickly, then got up and began leaving the room with his stuff.

“I would say the same, but that’d be a lie.”

Sunset ran back up to her loft, and Brigid just about pushed Intel out of the room. Brigid closed the door behind the three of them, and Grain spun around to face her. “Your daughter needs serious help. I don’t know why you haven’t brought her to a therapist, but she needs to see one now.”

The glare Brigid gave him was one of contempt and disgust, and her superior height didn’t help her look less intimidating. “Y’re very judgemental f’r a therapist. Sunset’s reaction ta ya isn’t unique, n’ people like ya only reinforce Sunset’s disdain f’r shrinks.” Brigid pushed past Grain and went straight for the couch, where Emi and Anzhong were now sitting.

“She lied about or avoided questions about her birth parents. She also didn’t act like a kid. She honestly acted more like my dad. I - don’t know what to make of it. If I could, I would want to have several sessions with her. I think bringing in CPS might be good.”, Grain explained.

“I’m not so sure. I get the impression that they’re trying to help her and get her into therapy. If CPS comes knocking right after we show up, they’ll link it to us, and Sunset will have an even harder time trusting cops and therapists.”

“They let their twelve year old have a gun in her bedroom.”

“Which is legal so long as the parents are the ones who own it and Sunset doesn’t leave the house with it. I really don’t think CPS is the right call here.”

Grain gave Intel an incredulous look but said nothing more about it. Intel saw Spark come up from the basement along with several CSI officers. Normally when they come out of a basement, they come up with some evidence, but came up with nothing this time. The officers that were in the garage also came back empty handed. The officers that had come out of the bathrooms carried bottles of rubbing alcohol, but even those looked completely normal, and all they could prove was that it was the same brand that was used to set the fire. Officers walked past Intel and into Sunset’s room. Soon, one of the officers brought out a very pissed off looking Sunset. As soon as she was out of the room, Sunset bolted from the officers and into her mother’s arms, where Emi already was. Anzhong pulled a blanket from a chest that Intel recognized as a weighted blanket. He placed it on the girls, taking care to tuck it around them.

Officers came down the stairs and out of Sunset’s room with laptops and bottles of rubbing alcohol in hand. The only way they could prove that the Katon and Reads family set the fire was if they found the laptop. Intel followed Spark out of the house and into the command truck.

“So whatcha find?”, Intel asked Sark.

“Three laptops in the Katon house, one in the Reads house, and a grand total of five bottles of rubbing alcohol.”

“That’s a lot of rubbing alcohol.”

“Well, there are six bathrooms between the two houses, so not as much as you would think. It’s not like they can be used to prove anything other than they get hurt a lot anyways.”

“True, what about the computers?”

“Once we log them, I’m going to ask the families to come in to prove them theirs, but I don’t think that any of these are Dr. Thunderstrike’s. His computer was assigned to him by the university, and only this one matches it’s description.” Spark pointed to the one with a CCU sticker. “But it’s likely Dr. Katon’s as she also had the same one assigned to her.”

“That makes sense. It’s probably in the ocean by now. I certainly wouldn’t keep it around, and we’re dealing with people who have doctorates and master degrees.”

“At least nobody died, and we won’t have to go to court.”, Spark said with some enthusiasm.

“We’re not being recorded, right?”

Spark looked around the truck and actually did a thorough search before answering. “I don’t think so.”

“Good, because I really hope we don’t find evidence that they did it. They seem like a happy, mostly healthy family. I don’t want to be a Christmas movie villain.”

“Christmas movie villain?”

“Ya know, an outsider that comes to rip apart the family.”

“What kind of Christmas movies do you watch?”

“How am I supposed to answer that? We watch Christmas movies. Stop judging my family’s choices in movies.”, Intel said. Spark gave the most innocent smile he could. “Let’s just get everything to the station so we get these things back to their owners as soon as possible.”

Judge Lady Gavel’s chamber
Date: July 8th, time: 11:00 am

*Lady Gavel’s perspective*

Knock knock knock

“Come in.”, Lady called out. The doors opened, and in walked Anzhong. “I’m not sure if you’re aware of what your face looks like, but you look upset.”

“That’s one way to put it. You signed off on a warrant to search my house based on an officer’s “gut feeling” that my wife and I were lying and a possible motive. You’re lucky that they recognized that there was no way my computer belonged to Striker.” Despite seeming upset, Anzhong’s voice was its usual neutral. His control over his voice and constantly covered eyes made it difficult to know how he was feeling, but Lady has learned how to somewhat tell.

“Detective Intel Harvest is highly skilled in picking up on body movement and twitches and tone changes to tell if people are lying. That’s why she was hired.”

“That sounds a lot like a lie detector, and you and I both know those are little better than guessing.”

“I’ve seen her work. She’s never been wrong. Plus, this man was threatening your daughter. Even if they were ridiculous, I know you well enough to know that you don’t take threats to your family lightly.”

“If you really know me well, then you would know that if I had anything to do with this, this would be a missing persons case, and you’d be finding him in bear scat for months, not an arson investigation.”

“Duly noted, but we have to look at every option, and you’re our only option.”

Anzhong gave his equivalent of a blank look before bowing and leaving. Lady pulled out her next file and got back to work. Good thing he’s on our side. He’d be really scary if he was a criminal.

Canterville station #4
Date: July 9th, time: 3:00 pm

*Spark’s perspective*

Spark watched on as four out of the seven members of the Katon and Reads family marched down to the interview room. Minerva and Sunset both looked annoyed, but Brigid and Emi just looked bored. Intel guided them over to the desk, and Spark presented them with four computers.

“We simply need you to prove that these are your’s, then you can have them back.”, Spark instructed.

Brigid placed Emi on one of the chairs, and all of them quickly typed in their passwords then turned the computers around to prove they unlocked them.

“That’s - interesting.”, Intel noted.

Spark turned to track where Intel was looking. She was looking at Sunset’s computer, more specifically, the wall paper that was a red, black, and white picture that depicted the silhouette of a large monster being stabbed by a pegasus.

“Did you draw that yourself?”, Intel asked.

“Yes”, Sunset answered tersely. She closed up the computer and put it in her backpack, which turned out to actually be a computer bag. The others did the same thing with their own computers and the bags they brought.

“Okay then, thank you for your cooperation. You're free to go now.”, Spark said.

“Wow, a ‘thank you’, I’m sure Buck will be pleased to hear that you’ve learned some manners.”, Minerva commented before leaving.

Spark said nothing to the remark. His emotions concerning that event were complicated and couldn’t even properly explain why they were complicated.

Outside the Katon house
Date: July 14th, time: 10:00 am

*Raven’s perspective*

Raven Inkwell rolled up to the Katon house. Once she was parked, she pulled out her clipboard and began noting down the state of the front yard and front of the house. It was reasonably well kept. There was no garbage in the yard, the fence didn’t have any holes in it, and nothing was falling off the house. Raven exited the car and walked up to the house. An odd thing she noticed was a ramp leading up to the front porch. The family’s file didn’t mention either of the girls needing a wheelchair, but it did state that they had adopted a girl and had a biological daughter. There was a security door in front of the actual door, neither a good or bad sign. Raven rang the doorbell and was soon greeted by a barking dog and then a woman with a lot of crimson red hair. She was accompanied by a small girl holding back the barking dog.

“Hello, I am Raven Inkwell. I’m a CPS worker and here to do an inspection.” Raven held up her ID to prove her identity.

“So he did end up callin’ ya. Fine, come in, n’ take y’r shoes off.” The woman opened the door and moved herself and the little girl out of the way. Raven took off her shoes and stepped inside.

The inside of the house was clean, as far as Raven could see. Raven moved into the main section of the house. The first things to catch Raven’s eye were the swords mounted on the wall. Although, they did look to be out of the reach of small hands.

“So this one here is Emi, correct?”, Raven asked.

“Yup, and this is Tomiju.”, the girl said while holding up the dog.

“I see. Where is your older daughter?”

“She’s out back, with ‘er fathe’. Emi c’n ya go get ‘er?”

“Okidoki” Emi ran to the back door and shouted for her dad and Sunset.

“Ah said go get ‘em, not shout f’r ‘em.”, the mother chastised. Emi merely responded with a Cheshire grin.

Soon, a man with a cane, a girl with red and gold hair, and two dogs came in. The younger of the dogs came over and investigated Raven and looked at her with suspicion, and the older dog looked at Raven with a resting bitch face. The older girl had scrapes and cuts on her hands.

“Hello, I am Raven Inkwell with CPS, and I would like to talk to the girls, alone.”

“Grumble grumble grumble, fine, but don’t get any funny ideas.”, Sunset said through clenched teeth and with a scowl on her face.

“Sunset, I do not think now’s the best time for your brand of humor.”, the father said. Only then did Raven understand what she was implying and went beet red.

“Party pooper”, Sunset said.

“Alright, we’ll be upstairs. Ya t’ree c’n stay down ‘ere.”

The parents went up stairs, followed by the two larger dogs. Raven began walking over to the couch, but the older girl only stared and snarled at her, and the younger girl mimicked her sister.

“Is everything okay?”, Raven asked.

“You’re here to find some reason to take us away. That’s what you’re paid to do.”, Sunset said, coldly.

“I can assure you that I am not paid to fabricate reasons to take kids away. We would actually really like it if all the kids in our care found happy, safe homes to go to. I’m just here to make sure that this is a happy, safe home. This won’t take long. I just need to ask some questions.”

Sunset’s expression was still cold and untrusting, but she motioned for her sister to follow her to the two bean bags. Emi was still holding on to the dog.

“Alright then, Sunset, how did you get those cuts on your hands?”

“We were in the middle of training when you showed up.”

“What kind of training?”

“This specific one was to develop my grip strength and ability to dig into the ground.”

“Why would you need to do that?”

“Wilderness survival, my father grew up in a small village where being able to survive in nature is still important.”

“Okay, what did you have for dinner last night?”

“Grilled shrimp with fried zucchini.”, Emi answered.

“Is that a normal meal for you?”

“We have some sort of meat with vegetables every dinner. Sometimes, we have a starch as well.”, Sunset answered.

“Okay, what does your day normally consist of?”

“During the summer, we generally hang out here with trips to the hospital here and there. Emi has leukemia.”

“I’m very sorry to hear that. How did you get that scar on your face, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“A kid attacked me with my mask off in fencing class. Despite the swords just being metal sticks, years of being smashed together tends to leave them jagged. No, you will not find a police report. I declined to press charges. I just wanted to get away from that brat.”

“Okay, what happens when you get into trouble?”

“That depends on what we did. If we made a mess, we have to help clean it up or clean it up ourselves. If we slack on our chores, we get more added on. If I stay up too late, I go to school tired.”, Sunset answered.

“Is that it, no grounding or time out?”

“Well, yes, but those are rare. There are very few restrictions on what we can do, so we feel very little reason to act out.”, Sunset explained. That’s oddly insightful.

“House rules basically boil down to, “don’t blow the place up” and “keep the mess to your room”.”, Emi answered. Well, that’s rather lax.

“You say that when you slack on your chores, you get more added on. What do you mean by that? What kinds of chores do you have?”

“We’re responsible for cleaning our own rooms; I do my own laundry, and so will Emi, when she’s older; we help with cleaning up after dinner and doing the dishes; help Mom with the garden; and we have weekly shifts of managing the compost. That last one is the one that we’d normally get extra weeks of.”, Sunset explained.

“You don’t help clean the house?”

“Dad’s a perfectionist. He does teach us how to but prefers to do it himself. When he’s done, the floors are clean enough to eat off of.”

Interesting. “Okay, do you mind if I see your rooms?”

“Yes, I do mind.”, both girls said.

“Is there a particular reason you don’t want me in your rooms?”

“Because we don’t want strangers in our rooms. Now, get out. You are no longer welcome here. If you don’t leave, we’ll call the cops.”, Sunset said angrily, while pointing to the door. Emi hopped up from her bag and ran upstairs, presumably to get the parents.

They’re protective of their space. “I’m sorry if I crossed a line. Thank you for your time.” Raven got up from her seat, and Sunset all but pushed her out of the house, literally kicking Raven’s shoes out in the process. Sunset slammed and locked the door. Raven got the message, put her shoes back on, and went back to her car. She made some final notes before driving back to the office.

The office was your average bland, soulless government building. There were rooms with toys for kids in the back, but even those were soulless. Raven’s office was a small cubicle with the only adornments being a small potted plant, a picture of her with her parents and brother from when she was a young teen, and a picture of her with her husband and two boys, but that’s not where she was going. Raven approached Mr. Blue Moon’s office and knocked on the door.

“Come in.”, Mr. Moon instructed. Unlike her office, Mr. Moon’s was heavily decorated with pictures, plants, knickknacks, and whatnot. “Ah good, Ms. Inkwell, please sit down.”, Mr. Moon said and gestured to one of the chairs in front of his desk. Raven did as instructed and pulled out her clipboard from her bag. “Now, I hope you did your job properly. Mr. Katon is a highly respected man in the legal system, a personal favorite of Judge Gavel. People will not be happy if he’s brought up on child abuse charges and even more unhappy if he’s brought up on faulty charges.” His tone and the implications of his words were enough to make the threat clear.

“I understand, sir.” Raven began reading off her notes. “The house was in good condition. The girls were well fed and didn’t smell unreasonably bad. They had dogs that were friendly… enough. They did seem suspicious of me. I was able to privately talk with the girls, but they were none too happy about it. The older girl kicked me out when I asked to see their rooms. The older girl and the father do some sort of survival training. She also has a large scar that she says she got from getting attacked during fencing class but there is no official police report. When the parents were around, the girls seemed more relaxed, the older one even made a rather… um, risque joke, but they tensed up after the parents left. They seemed to be a relatively healthy family.”

“Good, that makes my life easier. Finish your report and get to your next assignment.” Mr. Moon waved Raven off and went back to his work.

Raven exited his office and went back to hers. She was long since used to his lack of respect and learned to just ignore it. She was just happy that she only needed to do this formal check in because the father was some sort of up and comer law man. Raven took her seat with a huff and booted up her computer.

“Moony?”, Fleur De Verre asked from atop the divider. “Moony” was Fleur’s nickname for Mr. Moon, which he absolutely hates. That wasn’t a problem for her though. The two of them hate each other’s guts.

“Yes”

“What were you doing in there anyways?”

“City politics reasons.”

“Really, who?”

“Some lawyer.”

“Sigh, why can’t it ever be some famous guy. Think of the drama.”

“If I ever get a high profile case, you’ll know and have it by the end of the day.”

“Hmhmhm, you’re the sweetest, Raven.”

“And you’re a dramaholic.”

Fleur playfully stuck her tongue at Raven then disappeared back behind the divider, leaving Raven to her work.

Limbo
Date: ?, time: ?

*Riona’s perspective*

If you had asked Riona where she thought she would go after she died, a limitless void where time didn’t exist would not have been her answer. She wasn’t kidding about the ‘no time’ part. The time between her death and her first meeting Sunset simultaneously spanned an eternity and passed in a second. Either that or she just went mad. C’n ghosts even go mad? Ah should ask Sunset wha’ year it was next time Ah see ‘er. Riona didn’t know what this place was called but had long resigned to calling it Limbo. She was capable of manifesting her form in the corporeal world, but that took a lot of energy. It also took energy to contact Sunset but nowhere near as much. Where this energy came from, Riona also didn’t know, but she knew how to collect it. That is all she did. It was a tortuous existence.

Riona felt Sunset’s mind, and she reached out for it but couldn’t make contact before she was gone. Sunset’s mind reached out again, and Riona tried to reach it again but, again, couldn’t. This happened again and again and again and again before Riona could finally reach her. A flood of information bombarded Riona’s mind upon making contact, information about recent events, who Sunset is, who her family is, and what’s troubling her. Riona could certainly say that she wasn’t expecting to have to have a magical unicorn turned human and fox demon for grandbabies, but she didn’t care about that. She was just happy to know that Brigid was alive and she had grandbabies. Oh, crap. Dis is a mess.

The space began to transform itself, but, unlike last time, the space did not become the ocean of grass. It transformed itself into the old farmhouse living room. It was exactly as Riona remembered from her childhood. The place was in pristine condition and the fireplace and oil lamps were lit, providing ample light. There was no smell, but Riona didn’t have a problem with that. Oil lamps smell really bad. The endless expanse could still be seen outside the windows. Riona’s body had appeared as well, and soon, so did Sunset.

“Interesting”, Sunset said.

“Sunset, what year is it? How long has it been since we last spoke?”

Sunset looked around the space and noticed the black void outside. “I’m guessing time isn’t much a’ a thing here.”

“Let’s jus’ say dat it’s a miracle Ah haven’t gone mad, or maybe Ah did n’ jus’ don’t know it.”

“Or maybe you’ve gone mad so many times that you’ve gone sane. Oh, and it’s two thousand-eleven.”

“Sixteen years, Ah’ve been dead f’r sixteen years.”, Riona said in shock.

“Sixteen n’ a half, it’s July.”

Riona pushed the shock down. She would have time to deal with all that later. Right now, she had her bullheaded granddaughter to help. From what she’s seen of her memories, Sunset made Brigid seem as flexible as Clodagh. Come to think of it, Sunset looked very similar to Clodagh, particularly with her golden skin and wavy hair.

Riona brought Sunset into a hug, but there was no warmth. She couldn’t feel her at all. “Well, dis ain’t workin’.”

“Dreams are a purely visual and auditory medium. Is this how you exist?”, Sunset asked while removing herself from the not-hug.

“Dat’s not important right now. We don’t have long, and we need ta talk.”

A solemn look crossed Sunset’s face. “A social worker came today. I heard about their ineptness from some of the other kids at school. I’m worried that she’s going to have us taken away.”

An equally solemn look came across Riona’s face. “Ah wish Ah could give ya me two cents, but Ah have no experience with any part a’ dat US government. What Ah c’n tell ya is dat y’r mum is part mule n’ part bear. She won’t let anyone take ya away from ‘er.”

“I’m scared.”

“I wish dat Ah could do more.”

“Do you think I should tell Mom about you? I know she’d love to see you, but I don’t want her ta go through the pain of losing you again.”

“Tell ‘er, but wait f’r… how long has it been since we last talked?”

“Eleven months”

“Wait f’r next June, den tell ‘er.”

“Alright”

The sound of an alarm clock beeping reverberated through the expanse. “Sounds like our time is up.”

Sunset disappeared from the void with Riona’s body and the farmhouse soon following. Once again, Riona was left alone in an infinite void, time passing at an eternal instant. Riona began gathering energy again. She sang every song she knew, forgot which ones she already sang, sang them again, counted as high as she could, and waited.

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An indiscernible time later, Riona felt Sunset’s mind reach out, and with her was another mind. Brigid, it must be June.