Previous part: https://rentry.org/qdnur

3

Maiden of Hope IRyS

On the filthy ground of the city streets she breathes heavily looking up at her. The woman with pink hair. Irys clammed up…did she just see her revert her transformation? Iris's body was so sore, her instinct was telling her to run away. That is, until the woman got down on one knee and held out her hand.
“Come on! Let’s get you up off the ground, your clothes are getting dirty.” the woman offered. Irys looked at her in shock, but the woman just grabbed her arm and lifted her up anyway. She even tries holding her steady in case she’s feeling woesy. Mud stained Irys’ clothes but she didn’t seem too bothered by it. The pink haired woman, however sighs in disappointment at the young lady
“Shit, you got more dirty than I thought…just hurry home, you shouldn’t be laying around in alleys” Irys glances at the young woman almost hesitantly before forcing a smile
“R-right, I’ll run right home, thank you!” she speaks before turning around walking away from the pink haired woman. The woman raises her brow watching Irys walk away.
“Hey!” the woman calls to Irys who stops in her tracks and turns back…
“The residential area is this way dude…you’re just going further in the city…” the pink haired woman stares at Irys blankly. Pointing in the opposite direction Irys was just walking.
“You don’t have a home to go to do you? A Run away?” she questions Irys, approaching her. The redhead gets nervous! Before she even manages to think of a convincing lie, her stomach starts growling. The woman sighs.
“Alright, come on. I’ll treat you to something.” she beacons Irys, trying not to come off too forceful.
“N-no really! You don’t have to do anything like that!” Irys tries to talk her way out of it, feeling guilty for this strange woman taking pity on her.
“It’s fiiine! I’m surrounded by needy redheads anyways, what’s one more? Besides, I can’t just leave you out in the cold streets! There’s a lot of fucked up people here, ya’know?” she blurts crudely. Irys nods just following her as instructed, it’s not like she has anywhere else to go.
“By the way, the name’s Calliope, what’s yours?” Calli asks, shooting the red head a grin. Irys shoots a warm smile…she reminds her of Kronii in a strange way.
“It’s…Irys”
“Well Irys, let’s get some food in your system…right after you take a shower or something because you smell like shit… from whatever was in that alley”
“R-right…sorry about that…”

Calli takes Irys to a small apartment complex. Walking up a few sets of stairs and finally walking to a door before pulling out her keys but before she can bring the key to the lock the door swings open, shocking Irys, but Calli is completely unphased.
“WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN BIG SIS!? Also, who’s the dirty one?” an energetic young lady with red, black, and some white hair shouts. She looks to be Irys’ age…perhaps a year younger? She leans into Irys examining her. Irys instinctively slowly arches back, A hint of a blush forming on her face…
“Bruh, this girl kinda smells” the young lady rudely blurts.
“Don’t be so rude to our guest, Bae.” Calli chops the top of her sister’s head on the way in the apartment.
“Y-you said the same thing too you know…” Irys mumbles to herself.

Irys sits in the fairly wide tub, the warm water soothes her sore muscles.
“What am I doing…It’s the first day I came to this time and I got taken in by some strangers…I didn’t even get to say anything to her younger self…Kronii. What were you thinking, sending me here…” Irys shakes her head and slaps her cheeks. Kronii…and the Amelia of the future gave their lives to send her here. Now wasn't the time to lose her faith. She quickly scrubs her body and her hair before finally stepping out of the tub, drying herself off and wrapping herself in a towel.

She steps out of the bathroom in a pair of bright blue shorts and a fairly large black T-shirt that had "BAD BITCH" written along the front if it…Calli was nice enough to let Irys borrow some of her clothes while her dirty dress got washed with Bae's laundry.
Both girls were watching tv, but broke their attention from the screen to look at her. Irys damp hair hangs low from her head as she awkwardly glances at the two, not really making eye contact with the tv at all. Calli hoists herself up from her seat.
"Well, it's my turn to get the bath" she walks past Irys and grabs a fresh pair of clothes and a towel before heading inside the bathing room.
Irys sits beside Bae in front of the TV. Ieys looked at the device in wonder. She originally thought it was just a picture frame but everything inside the frame was moving! She’s too caught up with the device that was new to her to notice Bae giving her a funny look, taking notice of Irys's hair which was still dripping wet…
"You know you'll get a cold if you sleep with your hair like that, right?" Bae informs her. Breaking the silence between the two. Irys wasn't quite sure how to respond, she just nervously stammered to herself, feeling how wet her long hair was. Bae chuckles
"Relax, relax. I got you!" She walks up to Irys, grabbing a new towel and wrapped the dry cloth around her head. She stuffs her hair into the roll of towel and tightly ties the entire bundle around her head. Irys' head felt more top heavy but was surprised with how well the entire thing held together. Bae kocks a brow.
"Oh come on, with how long your hair is you can’t tell me you've never wrapped your hair up like that before! What did you do when you just got out of the shower?" Bae interrogates. Before, if Irys needed to bathe, her and Kronii would just go in a lake or a river. If they were lucky they'd find a hot spring. Back then the monochrome sky prevented the world from getting too hot or cold. But in this Era, not only does the time affect temperature but homes had dispensable water that felt like the hot springs…Irys shakes her head, bringing her back into reality.
"I guess I just let it dry" she responds honestly. Bae looks at her blankly
"Bu-ruh…no wonder your hair is so crazy and tangled in every direction. We need to take you to a hair salon one of these days" Bae thinks out loud. Irys tilted her head. Not sure what bae was even saying.

Calli opens the door to the bathing room. Her hair already wrapped up. Wearing a similar pair of shorts as the ones she gave Irys and wearing a black T-shirt with a skull on it.
"Alright Bae, your turn." She more or less demands her sister. Without much complaint she gets up off the ground
"This girls kinda out there big sis" bae mumbles to Calli ear. She chuckles and waves bae off dismissively
"Maybe a little. But I couldn't just leave her alone. She looked so lost" Calli explains away her actions. Bae sighs and walks into the bathroom with her own towel.
Calli plops down on the couch right in front of the tv. the tv…She wanted to ask more about it… since the two were so interested in it. but seeing as both Bae and Calli were watching it like it was normal…she knew it would be seen as a stupid question, no matter what she asked…maybe its in kronii's note book…THE NOTE BOOK! As soon as Irys remembered she glanced around frantically. Almost freaking out calli
"Are you looking for your stuff?" Calli questions before getting up and grabbing the notebook and ID placing it in front of Irys. The young woman lets out a sigh of relief and brings both of them into her arms.
"Yeah, they were in the pockets of that dress of yours. I'm surprised that's all you had…don't you have a phone? Irys looked at Calli blankly. It was obvious that Irys didn't even know what a phone was…in fact, if she glanced around the house she’d confidently say she didn’t know what seventy percent of anything even was! Even if her life before was roaming a fantasy wasteland, she felt some semblance of homesickness.
"A girl your age not having a phone is pretty odd. Did you leave it at home or something…? I'm sure your parents are worried about you, Irys. You should talk to them in the morning." Irys averted her gaze. The sting of seeing Kronii's head roll off her shoulders made the girl shiver and tear up. Calli starts to panic. Getting up
"W-whats the matter?" She blurts out. Irys looks up to Calli. She looked like a sad puppy. Lost and confused.
"M-my mother is dead" she blurts out. Just before finally sulking. Something she hasn't given herself the time to do.
"I'm all alone! I don't know what to do!" Irys continues, spilling out her feelings. She gasps to the feeling of Calliope embracing her. Calli's moving Irys body suddenly knocked off the bundle of towel that was drying off her hair. Calli just strokes her hair. While the girl cries in Calli's chest. Bae, who was just on the other side of the bathroom. Already dressed, She covers her mouth in shock…she awkwardly steps out of the bathing room and also wraps her arms around the crying Irys. The two held the girl like this until she inevitably ran out of energy and fell asleep.

She lets out a gasp. Her eyes shooting open…it's dark, she can’t exactly make out where she was…she slowly gets up and sits upright…her head lifting off of a soft pillow and pushing off the cozy blanket that was on her. Calli must have let her sleep on the couch…the young woman’s stomach begins to growl…she forgot she hasn’t eaten. Not that she really had much of an appetite, but if she didn’t eat regularly she would be weaker when she transformed, and seeing as this time period has Chrysalis roaming about, she can’t afford to not be in top shape. Her eyes grow adjusted to the dark. She can see a plate on top of the table. She approaches it and takes notice of a small note just beside it.
"Help yourself to anything in the kitchen. Bae insisted on making you a plate. She said that she made it with a lot of care so you know it'll be extra good! Tomorrow we should talk about enrolling you in school. For as long as you need to, you're welcome in our house. sincerely: Calli" Irys lets out a weak smile… helping herself out to a plate of fried rice. Bae really is a good cook…

To be continued...