Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[MzHyde]

Kay nodded at Cliff having the same thoughts as she did. At least they were on the same wave lengths as each other which was something for Kay. It didn't make her feel so alone in her frustration of not knowing what was truth and what wasn't. "I'll go get it for when you want to read it" Fia replied, heading back into the room and grabbing the book. She walked back out and handed it to Cliff. "here, it's full of the history, what phoenix's are capable of, all kinds. I've been using it to read up more on the history as extra curricular education I guess you could say" Fia explained.

Kay continued to eat her pancakes, just like before, finding they were going down extremely well and she could still stand by her declaration from the other day. "Nice to hear you choosing to learn about our kind kiddo" Kay commented. "Yeah well...not many other ways to learn and I learn better via books" Fia replied. Kay nodded, finding that was completely a fair statement to make. "Fair enough" Kay simply said.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cliff took the book from Fia, registering its weight and size, as well as the fact that it was an artefact and clearly dated back years and would have monetary value to the right people, not just the sentimental and informational value it had. She briefly flipped through the pages, her eyes flicking and back and forth as she got an idea of text size, images and layout. If the text had been really tiny she would have gotten out the magnifying glass and stolen the head-torch that Rinaa wore to work and often forgot she still had on. Cliff placed the book down on the side table where other books and papers were put, to ensure that it wouldn't get drinks accidentally spilled onto it. "Thanks, I'll start reading later when I get a chance."

Rinaa recognised the pheonix book from her timeline, she'd never had any cause to read it nor the interest. Instead she would go for the tomes on other Downworlders, or the old Isogrii legend texts that had somehow ended up in The House. Jay had no idea how such texts would have made their way to Earth, but there they were in The House. She didn't look up from her laptop, her concentration was on getting the colour scheme right. Every so often Jay would lean over and give her opinion on the colour scheme, sometimes favourable, sometimes not, but always honest. Neither timelines version of Jay ever lied to their daughter they skillfully avoided questions and on some points refused to answer, but they never lied.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia watched as Cliff took in the book, and knew Cliff could tell it was important and worth a lot to the right or wrong people, depending on who was interested. Yet she trusted Cliff to look after it, just like the Cliff in her timeline. If she could trust the doctor with her mother's health, then she could trust her with the book. She took it from The House, but it was the one book she was trusted to take out of The House so she made the most of it when she could. "No worries, hopefully it'll have the answers you want" she replied to her. Glancing at Rinaa, she could tell she recognised if from in her timeline.

Kay watched on as the book was handed over to Cliff, seeing how Rinaa clearly recognised it as well, it showed Kay that the book clearly existed in both timelines. Yet she remained quiet as she ate, enjoying the taste of food whilst seeing Fia walk into the kitchen to get some breakfast herself. "Sleep alright kiddo?" She asked, earning a nod from Fia. "Yeah.. you?" She replied, answering her question with another question. "Yeah, not too bad, got a decent enough pillow in this one" Kay said, not getting into her weird dreams with her kid, but making a joke about how she's always waking up laying on John.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Yeah, I hope it will too" Cliff answered, hoping the book would be able to shine some light in the subject. If it didn't give anything she was going to run some of her own tests and make her own estimates based on experience and other research instead. As long as the baby didn't decided to arrive when they were on Attil she would be okay. Arriving on her home planet would be more preferable (but still not really wanted) as the only people on the particular island were ones she trusted to keep their mouths shut. Earth would be the best place for all this to happen, for everyone involved. Cliff knew she could get to Earth in a matter of minutes using a long distance teleport, but it was a matter of letting her know in the first place. Earth-Attil signal time was extremely long, so somebody would more than likely have to teleport to Attil to tell her.

John picked up on the fact that Kay wasn't telling Fia about her weird dreams. Either Fia knew that Kay would have them from what she'd been told in her timeline or they were a direct side effect of this Fia being around her unborn self, and some kind of wires were getting crossed somewhere resulting in these dreams. However advanced the pheonix may have been as a civilisation, he doubted they could ever have imagined a small fraction of what was happening to them. He was jolted out of his thoughts by the text alert sound being emitted by Rinaa's phone. She picked it up, glanced at the screen, then started gathering her stuff. "Deke" she said by means of explanation, then saw that nobody knew what she meant, rolled her eyes and added more context. "He's managed to get me a slot for painting and if I can get to the lab in thirteen minutes it's mine." "That's tight" Cliff remarked. "Yup, but if I run and take a couple of not so legal short cuts, I should be good"

 

[MzHyde]

When the time came to having Fia, Kay was sort of glad that both her and John had the brief chat when they had their day out together. She knew deep down that The House was the best place to be no matter what, along with the fact that wherever they were, he could summon it and keep her safe put her at ease in a lot of ways. She didn't want to be giving birth on Attil or Cliff's home planet, but as the days went on, she certainly knew she wanted Cliff to be there when the time came. She didn't want to do it without someone professional and who could know what they're doing. Yet it did always make her wonder how they'd get any kind of message to Cliff.

Fia knew a lot of things about the pregnancy days but she didn't know about the weird dreams. In fact she was certain that nothing of such a topic ever came up. Just the usual talks of what Kay craved whilst pregnant with her, how in the last trimester she would kick the crap out of Kay and always wriggling around, the only thing making her stop was when Kay sang. So when Kay said it was the usual kind of sleep, Fia thought nothing of it. Especially when she called John her pillow. Rinaa's phone going off made her snap out of her own thoughts as it did with Kay. Both of them just smirked at Rinaa's plan to get there on time.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Jay, John, Cliff and Cal all smirked at the part about illegal short cuts, knowing full well they'd do the same in her position. "Don't get caught, and if you do...lie" Jay smirked, having no idea that this was the same advice she always gave Rinaa/Leah in the future. "I've been doing this for years, taught by the best, I think I'll be okay." She slung the bag up onto her shoulders , grabbed the key and made for the door. "Tell Deke I say hi, and that he'd better have at least eight pairs of hearing aids ready for me for this wedding." Cliff called over to her. "Why so many?" "Because as much as that man is a genius with damn crazy tech skills, he still hasn't figured out how to make waterproof hearing aids and knowing my siblings I'm guaranteed to ruin a few pairs, so they might as well be the disposable ones and not the good ones."

"Classic Deke" Rinaa smirked, he was one of the reasons she'd enjoyed life on Attil as he'd realised her engineering and mechanics potential when she was very young and had the neccesary equipment to allow said talent to prosper. "I'll tell him that alright. And call if anything happens that requires my urgent presence, if not I'll be back whenever." She called out as she ran out the door, making a beeline for the staircase. "Chances of her finishing this bike today?" "Ninety-five percent if I had to put a figure on, it's just the detailing left, it runs perfectly, but it's just about adding that bit of flair that marks it as hers."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay continued her food, finding it was much more interesting than the conversation. Not that the topic wasn't engaging, but in that moment all she cared about feeding herself, something she had quickly cottoned on that when she was hungry that's all that mattered. The world could be blowing up around her but if she was eating, she didnt care. Although, she knew deep down that was completely exaggerated, but her mind did come up with some crazy ways of validating her point, even if it was t aired to anyone. She then went back to thinking of preparing for when unborn Fia would come into the world.

Fia was similar in this moment of time. Since Rinaa came back, she didn't spent an awfully lot of time around her. Of course that's not to say no time was spent. She did naturally see her due to the size of the apartment and had checked if she was okay and did everything she needed to when she went back to her timeline, showing she did still care. Other than that, she didn't spend that much time around her. When the topic of whether Rinaa would complete the bike, Fia paid a bit more attention. She definitely knew Rinaa had it in her to do such a thing, after she had witnessed how fast but meticulously the girl worked herself.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"You think we'll actually get to see this creation or not?" Cliff asked, again aiming the question at Jay, as out of all on them, she was the expert on this version of Rinaa. "I'd say we will, it seems like out of all her talents the engineering/mechanics is the one she's most comfortable showing off. And besides, she'll want a place to park it, and since you own a flat her, I presume there's a parking space or two that comes with it on the underground car park level?" Jay asked, she'd noticed when leaving the building that there was a ramp sloping down to the lower level with road markings on it, so she concluded that the most logical explanation was that there was an underground parking area.

"Spot on, there is. Not that we use it much, walking can get us pretty much anywhere in the training base area and going elsewhere we just take a lift from somebody with extra space." Cliff shrugged. "That's a good system for when there is two of you." "Yeaaah" Cal drew out the second syllable, registering what Jay was saying that if something did go sideways, there was now a lot more extra people to compensate for. "It doesn't work for a larger group, and that's partially the reason we got the portable teleporter." "What's the other reason?" "It's just awesome in general to have a personal teleport dvevice. Teleportation is a Devra ability, but neither of us have it."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay eventually finished her allocated amount of pancakes and put the plate in the sink, to which out of sheer habit, she instantly just washed up and put on the side to dry. She listened to Jay say how they'd bound to actually see the bike when done, which she noticed Fia nodding. It was then she remembered that Fia had seen Rinaa start the process of making it at the lab. "If she didn't mind having me around when she started the build then I can't imagine her having issues with everyone seeing the finished product" Fia chimed in, between mouthfuls.

Kay leaned against the counter where she had been the whole time. She pulled her jumper sleeves over her hands, stretching them out a bit more as she liked it that way, and it was a unconscious habit she had been doing since she was a child. She always did it if she was either in deep thought, anxious or just plain restless which made it a tough thing to read how she was. Then she rested one hand down in its seemingly becoming its usual spot on her baby bump.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"You have a fair point there, she's been far from shy about it." Jay agreed with Fia's point. If Rinaa had let Fia of all people see it as a work in progress, then she really couldn't have a problem with the others seeing it. And she hadn't been secretive about the bike or how much she'd been working on. The teenager had been perfectly willing to show the schematics and concept designs to anybody who asked, so clearly she was comfortable with people knowing. Unlike when she'd vanish with one of the two guitars. Those times she'd give no details whatsoever on what she was doing, just staying silent and completly avoiding answering the question and leaving before anybody could try and make her answer it.

Cal removed her arm from around Cliff and started lacing up her boots. "Right, I'm going to head over to the forge, there's a few final orders to finish and ship out and then Dan will have all the orders he needs completed before the wedding done." The wedding preparations had been kicked up a good few notches now that Elliott had made it clear that his reappearance wasn't to disrupt the wedding in any way. The famed shopping trip had taken place, and Elliott had indeed acquired the dress as promised, but only Jay and Rinaa knew what it looked like, and were keeping their lips firmly shut. "Anybody want to come with and watch?" Cal asked, straightening up. "As much as I enjoy that, I'm gonna stay here, send off these numbers and maybe get a start on the book while I'm at it."

 

[MzHyde]

During that shopping trip Kay and Fia both had managed to pick up a dress each to wear, Fia also went with heels whereas Kay went with sandals to wear with it, even though ever part of her hated wearing such flat shoes that werent converse. As previously mentioned to Rinaa, Fia did manage to go with a dark wine red dress, and Kay went with a navy to peach ombre maxi chiffon dress that allowed for baby bump growth whilst still being comfortable and flattering to her. Something she actually couldn't wait to actually wear.

When Cal said about heading to the forge and if anyone wanted to go along, she decided to stay behind incase Cliff needed anything from the book to be possibly explained or translated. She didn't know exactly what was in it, but figured there possibly would be something in there Cliff may need her help on. Fia on the other hand, surprisingly jumped at the chance. Considering she tried to avoid people the last few days, it was a surprise to see her be sociable, other than the time she finally played 'hes a pirate' for Elliott and John mainly but whoever else was in the room at the time. "I'll come, mind if I bring my violin to play on the roof?" Fia asked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John had been given a pass to just wear his regular gear, but he'd bought a couple of new shirts and new ties as the old ones were getting particular ratty. Jay was splitting between two outfits for the day, armour for the ceremony itself (she'd made a detour to teleport to her own storage place) and a dress for the after party. While shopping she had succeeded in finding the only pair of shoes in the shop that already contained concealed blades in the heels. She hadn't been planning to go down the dress route, but when one particular dress caught her eye she knew she had to. Chas had acquired a regular suit for the occasion, nothing outlandish.

"Nope I don't mind, but I'll give you the standard warning that the forge will be in operation so stay away from the chimneys and the roof will start heating up in the spots above the furnace. I know that doesn't effect you, but protocol dictates." Cal explained. "I'll come too" Chas added, pulling on his shoes. Jay opted to stay behind, booting up the computer and relay system and began reading through reams of text, some from the crew back on Earth, some from friends from a different time. Once everybody was ready to leave, Cal kissed Cliff goodbye before heading out with the others in tow. Cliff opened up the book, propping it on one knee and putting a notepad on the arm rest.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia listened to the rules and nodded, finding they were completely fair game. She could always just stand outside in general to play if she felt like it. "Fair enough by me!" She said, jogging off to grab her bag and boots as she was already dressed in her usual jeans but with a long sleeved top so she wouldn't have to wear her biker jacket. She came back out all ready to go with Cal and Chas to the forge. She also thought she could watch Cal work a bit more when she wasn't playing.

When more space became available in the main room, Kay walked over to the couch and sat down "If I can help with anything, let me know" she told Cliff, before grabbing her sketchbook she previously bought and turned to the piece she was working on. "John? Can you do me a favour and fill this pot with a little bit of water please? I'll need it for my brushes" she said, holding up the pot above her and behind her. She could have easily got up and done it herself, but she couldn't be bothered in the slightest and she fully wanted to use 'but I'm pregnant!' excuse as much as she could whilst she could.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The Forge
The walk to the forge didn't take long, and before they reached the building, the could see and smell the smoke. Dan had started working early that morning to get a head start and was in full swing when Cal walked in. She took her leather apron from the wall and tied it on (she didn't need it for protection and just used it to store tools and off cuts. Cal easily fell back into the work rhythmn of the forge. It was clear by the unconscious pattern and movements of Cal and Dan that they had been working together for years and by now just instinctively knew how to move around the other without getting in the way. Chas didn't stay in the main Forge, instead taking a chair from the kitchen and sitting outside with a book (in English, not Attili).

Cal and Cliff's apartment
Cliff nodded appreciatively "I'll do that alright, thanks." She took off her hearing aids and placed them on the table, tucking her hair behind her left ear and began reading. John didn't protest at being 'ordered about', just took the pot, filled it up and passed it over. "If anybody needs me, I'm going up to the roof for a smoke." He'd been really needing a cigarette since he woke up and had voiced that thought to Kay. Smoking on the roof was his way of ensuring that secondary smoke wouldn't get anywhere Kay and unborn Fia. Jay pulled on the professional headset she'd nicked from the spaceship they'd came in on. The ship had been cleared of their things and was in the process of being overhauled.

 

[MzHyde]

The forge

Fia enjoyed the walk to the forge, and being around her uncle for a change, rather than Rinaa. Not that she minded being around the other teenager, she just needed a change of company and was bored of being on her own for the last few days, apart from the big shopping day. She watched Cal work for a bit, but then she got the itch to play her violin. So she went outside and pulled it out of her bag, she saw Chas outside with a book and hoped she wouldn't get too annoying. "Chas if I get too distracting tell me to stop okay? I won't mind" she told him.

the apartment

Kay knew she could 'order' John about because she learned quickly that he never minded helping her out when she asked and she rarely ever asked for a favour. She was never one to take the utter piss for the sake of it having been so independent for so long. Yet that also meant, when she did ask for a fa our, she appreciated it. "thanks doll" she smiled, taking it back from him, and placing it on the table in front of her. "Sure thing" she then replied to his comment about being in the roof for a cigarette. Which was another action of his she noticed him do and appreciated greatly. She got over his smoking habits rather quickly since knowing him, when she wasn't ever particularly a fan before, so she never minded him smoking around her, yet since being pregnant she really appreciated him not doing it around her.

She then squeezed out a tiny bit of red, yellow and orange paint into her pallette and dipped her brush into the red paint and continuing work on the piece she had been doing for the last few days on and off. She wanted it perfect so didn't rush it. It was a cliché piece in her mind, but it was of a phoenix in flight, wings fully out stretched, in silouette was a whole world underneath. Depending on how it was looked at the bird could be attacking the place or protecting it, she hadn't fully decided on the aim. She just let her pencils and brushes do the talking. Something in her heart told her it was a depiction of Fee or her past as well as something she had seen in one of her dreams.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The Forge
Cal and Dan set a steady pace working, as with all things in life, rushing would only lead to mistakes and problems down the line. So even though both wanted to be finished so they could properly shut up shop, they resisted the temptation to rush. Outside Chas had propped his feet against the wall as he was reading, a position that to some would seem uncomfortable, but to him was perfectly normal and relaxing. At the sound of Fia exiting he looked up. "If you do, I'll tell you, but I doubt it will happen. There's worse things I could be hearing than violin music, so go ahead." He told her, interested to hear what she would choose to play this time.

The apartment
Even if Kay hadn't been pregnant, John would have taken this cigarette alone, he needed to get away from it all and ironically he found a sort of peace on the same roof that Elliott and Cal used to sneak up onto during the night. He couldn't help but compare the view to the sketch that hung on the wall of the spare room in the apartment. It had taken Elliott weeks to do, relying on MindWalking into his own memories in order to get the details just right. The view had changed slightly since then, new buildings had replaced some old ones. Leaving the rings out had been a conscious decision, that way if anybody did get into John's flat, they'd have no idea about the alien collection.

Inside the apartment the three kept themselves, the lack of words being more comfortable than expected. Cliff was engrossed in note taking, quoting passages from the book and scribbling her interpretations of what they could mean. Jay alternated between furious typing, creating reams of code and long periods of reading whatever messages were coming in. She was playing her own angle, that much obvious.

 

[MzHyde]

The forge

Fia smiled when Chas confirmed to her that if she did get too annoying he would tell her. She didn't want to be getting in the way or annoying anyone, but just wanted to play and get her sense of escapism for a little while and for her, playing outside was her perfect choice. It's why she usually chose the apartment's rooftop back on earth to play, there was just something about it that made her feel free. She nodded at Chas' then stood a little bit away from him and decided to go for a slightly more slower song she wrote just to warn up and make sure everything was in tune. Her music may never have lyrics, but it always told a story, there was heart and soul in each every piece she played, even covers. Yet this one seemed to say so much more than any other piece she's ever done. It was haunting and sad, but an essence of hope in there.

the apartment

Kay noticed how Cliff found herself reciting pieces of the book as she wrote down notes that she thought would come in use or handy to know. Glancing across to her every now and then, she smiled glad that she seemed to find it fascinating. She glanced at Jay and saw her working just as hard as the rest of them, curious to what it was but wasn't going to interrupt her either way. So she continued to paint and hum to herself. Every stroke meticulous and precise. She wanted this perfect and she wasn't going to give up on it until it was.

(The song fia is playing )

 

[_gallifrog_]

The Forge
At first Chas wasn't really paying attention to the music, sensing it was just a preliminary warm up, scales, arpeggios and the like. But that didn't last long, clearly Fia felt comfortable that the tuning and the feel of the violin was right. Chas could tell that she was putting her all into it, and that part of the reason why it was so gripping was because of the affinity running in her bloodlines. But there was also something to it that was distinctly Fia. The emotions in the piece didn't go amiss on him either, he wasn't an expert on music, but his ear was decent and while John had been almostly solely devoted to punk, Chas had spread his business between various genres. He didn't doubt that in some way the music was a way for Fia to vent everything that was going on. "Did you write that yourself, or is it simply some piece I haven't heard in this timeline? I think it's the former, there's something very you about it."

The apartment
Cliff was utterly engrossed in the book, it hadn't been a joke earlier when they talked about how much she loved learning about other beings, their physiology, mentality, genetics, strengths, weaknesses and quirks. She'd always had an inetesrt in people, but after going deaf she'd been around doctors and one particular medical student and realised that her calling was to help and heal people. She herself was an alien on Attil, her bright green eyes and gills marking her out as non Devra. But she'd been accepted with open arms on the planet, sure there was an adjustment period with the deafness and learning a new language, but overall she was happy with her choice to move to Attil, even if it did mean leaving her family behind. As if to prove a point her laptop vibrated signifying a message, she glanced at it and chuckled fondly. It was a picture of a face taken so there was an excellent view of the person nose hair and it was just about visible that the eyes were crossed. The caption was 'guess which one of your darling siblings this is' and it was from her father.

 

[MzHyde]

The forge

Fia just lost herself in the piece. It was a favourite as she put everything into it, and it was highly personal. She didn't play it in front of many people, unlike nearly everything else she could play. Yet being around Chas, she felt she could let him hear it. When she finished it and he had to ask her about it, she nodded. "I wrote it yeah..and thank you. It was just something that seemed to come to me one day as I was just tinkering kind of thing on the roof, and I just kept working on it. Before I knew it I had what you heard and it's kinda become the one piece I always play when I need to just let go" she explained. "I don't really let anyone hear it normally as it's incredibly personal. I call it 'the song of a caged bird'" she added.

The apartment

Kay dipped her brush into the water and used a piece of paper she had set aside to take out the excess water from the bristles, before she went in with the yellow and orange paints, partially mixing them together to get a nice flow and gradient to the colours. She tried her hardest to get as much detail as possible in a piece that was about large brush strokes and sweeping colours. As she painted she got completely swept up in what she was doing, that she hadn't even noticed she got paint streaked on her cheek and hands. It was what she would have called an "occupational hazard" if she had known. When Cliff chuckled at a message on her laptop, Kay briefly glanced up from her painting but didn't know whether to mention it or not, so glanced back down again.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The Forge
As Chas had said, he suspected Fia had wrote that piece, and credit where credit was due, she clearly had talent and knew how to put her heart, soul and everything else into playing the piece. He listened to the story of how the inspiration came to her, which reminded him of a philosophical theory he'd once read that all ideas lingered around in space before they were discovered and when the right person came along, they were absorbed into that person, who then expressed the idea as if it was their own, but in actuality it was a concept that had already been there. At the title he couldn't help but wonder if it was a subliminal way of saying how she felt about her own life or if he was reading too much into it. "As I thought then, not wanting to just assume y'know. And thank you for letting me hear. Do you compose music often? Or is the kind of thing that just comes and goes?" He asked.

The apartment
John had come down from the roof after finishing both his smoking and his contemplation and had been partially watching Kay paint and partially doing his own thing. Cliff noticed the paint on Kay as opposed to the canvas, but said nothing. In her opinion there was little point in alerting Kay of this fact until she was finished that was she could clean it all off at once. She turned the laptop around, revealing the photo. "This is apparently one of my siblings, fancy a guess at which one?" She asked, aiming the question at all of them. Jay pulled off the headphones and took a look, scrutinising the photo, as did John. "The odds are in favour of it being a brother" was all John said, but that really didn't narrow it down.

 

[MzHyde]

The forge

Fia listened and she got why he asked, not wanting to assume to much or too little. He was exactly the same in her timeline and it made her glad he was no different now. "I try to but it sort of just comes and goes when I feel inspired. I can't explain it really, I just seem to play what I feel and it all come out through the violin. I'm guessing it's just coz of what I am but who knows for sure..." She replied honestly, always feeling like she could be honest with him. If she had known he was wondering about the title she probably would have told him, even if it was better she didn't. She'd already told Rinaa what her life was like, so she wondered if telling telling Chas would be any different.

the apartment

Kay had been aware of John watching every now and then, but she didn't mind, just like she didn't mind when he watched her sketch in the forge that one time. When Cliff turned the laptop round to show such a photo, she now understood what made Cliff chuckle. She listened to the guess from John and smirked, knowing it didn't narrow it down at all. "I'm guessing...the youngest brother?" She guessed, taking the break from painting for that split moment.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The forge
In a way telling Chas was telling him things he already knew. He had no knowledge of how deep the book's detailing of Fia's life went but it was definitely more in-depth than just a keypoint summary of her life. "Part of it is almost certainly what you are, it can't be ruled out, even though it probably a great source of annoyance to hear that this runs in your veins. But as a general rule music is also an outlet for things you can't put into words, yet have to let out. It's a universal language in a way." Chas knew that music was a part of who Fia was, just as it was a part of John and a part of Elliott and a part of Rinaa (even if she struggled to let that part show).

The apartment
"I'd say the oldest brother from what you said he seems to be quite the messer"
John replied, there was four of them and four siblings, so I'd they all picked a different one, one was bound to be right. "I'll go against the odds and say the sister, actually....." she paused in thought. "What order do you and your siblings go age wise?" "Benji is the oldest, then you have me, then my sister, then my middle brother and then the youngest is Matteo." "So there was a time where your family had more males than females." "Yep, but that was a long time ago. And I'll hedge my bets and say its my middle brother." She typed the reply message, then sent it.

 

[MzHyde]

The forge

Fia listened to what Chas was saying to her. She always respected what he had to say and took his advice every single time. She stared at her violin as he spoke before looking at him as he neared the end of what he was saying. "I can get that. When I play I don't feel so alone or trapped. I know I've joked about the whole homeschooling thing and such before, but it does get to me I literally have no friends because of it. Like I've said before I think...Trish is closest I have to a friend and I consider her more family than friend." She explained. She leaned against the wall with a sigh, finding it easier to go on about that than add the whole 'then there's the whole being sworn to secrecy thing with what happened in Rinaa's timeline and lying about that...I feel so trapped'. She was genuinely terrified that day and just wanted her parents and she knew she couldn't have them. If it was just another downworlder she wouldn't have been affected by it, but it was another version of family and that made it hard to compute it.

the apartment

Kay did toy with picking the eldest son, but then decided at the last second to go with the youngest Matteo. In her eyes it was something either the eldest or youngest would do more so than the middle siblings. Of course she could be totally wrong in her theory but that was how her mind worked. She listened to the age grouping of her siblings, and nodded. She thought if anyone would get it right it's be Cliff as she knew her siblings better than any of them, yet there was a chance she'd be wrong. As Cliff typed her reply to her father, Kay used a spare paint brush she didn't need just yet to tie her hair up as strands kept getting in the way of her working. So she twisted her hair tightly up into a bun then slid the brush through the mass of hair, it miraculously staying put.

It was only the slightly shorter strands that naturally framed her face that remained free, which just made the paint marks all that more noticeable. She then grabbed her fine brush, dipped it into the paints and went in with fine details on each and every feather of the wings which was the last bit to do. The pigments of Attili paint just impressed the hell out of Kay with how it seemed to make the painting come to life, really giving a visual one of to her dreams.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The Forge
Chas listened to Fia talk with a sinking feeling as his earlier suspicions came true. He knew she hadn't been saying everything, and couldn't say everything for reasons he didn't yet understand, but had sensed that something was eating at her. Listening to her, he could see just how much this had affected her in her life. He knew then that if given a choice between Rinaa's timeline and Fia's, they should pick neither and go for a timeline that gets both of the teenagers a happier life. He also had a suspicion that something had happened in Rinaa's timeline, but prying there was a line he was not willing to step over. "Technically she is family, being John's god kid an' all. I'll be Frank, it sounds lkke that part of your life clearly sucks, and things probably should have been done differently, but I don't know what happens between this point, the divergence point and then, so I can't say if homeschooling for all those years was the right call or not. And for you, that's your reality, but for us, it's our future, so you being here is changing things, for better or worse I cannot say, but things are changing."

The apartment
John really had no idea which one it could be, he couldn't even get a gender from the face, but Benji (the eldest brother) was the one she talked about the most as being a messer doing stupid things like that. Jay went with the sister, just to see if she could beat the odds. She'd only seen the five siblings in a picture briefly, not enough for her to intimitely know every detail of their face like Cliff did. Jay cast a glance over at the painting as she made her way back to the deak, and couldn't help but be impressed. She had no artistic ability herself, her mind trained towards other things, but she could recognise skill whne she saw it. The realism of the picture was startling, even if she had never seen a true pheonix form before in her life she knew it was an accurate depiction of the creature. She rubbed her shoulder blades as she sat down, leaving the headset around her neck, but getting right back to what she was doing.

 

[MzHyde]

The forge

Fia listened more to what Chas had to say. She felt like for someone who was family he was the most unbiased one out of them all and if anyone could listen to her and give her someone to talk to without being judged for it, if was him. She nodded at what he said, knowing he was right, and compared to Rinaa's life she knew she didn't have it nearly as bad, but it still ate away at her none the less, and her feelings weren't any less valid in her opinion. "I just hope things change for the better...for everyone. I don't want myself and mum to..." She trailed off before saying anymore. She didn't want to become the person who burned Rinaa or possibly Kay. She was terrified that if Rinaa's timeline came to reality, she'd lose her family.

the apartment

With the last few details going in and accomplishing the lighting effect in the background the cloud behind the phoenix, she finally put her brush down into the pot of now very murky water. On the parts that had already dried, she decided to go in with a gold marker on tiny places, like round the cloud behind the phoenix to really make the brighter colour have depth and pop even more. She speckled bits of the marker on the pheonix feathers and used it to highlight the eyes. Happy with her to three day project, she put it down on the table. "Finally" she breathed out more to herself than to anyone in particular. "Fee has a face" she thought to herself.