Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[MzHyde]

Fia just kept her mouth shut during the whole chatter of breaking the law, she knew Leah was different to Rinaa ever so slightly, but now hearing how different she definitely put that down to Leah having Elliott in her life. As for the film topic, Fia wasn't surprised either for what Rinaa said about it.

Kay saw Rinaa's refrained reaction to her comment about never seeing the film. It was just one of those she never got round seeing and just couldn't sneak into the cinema in time to see it as staff at various places were starting to cotton on go what she was doing. She listened to what Rinaa was saying about the book and nodded, "maybe one day I'll pick up the book and give it a read first. I do need a new book anyway" She replied, knowing she'll have the time and doers need a new book to read now she's finished her one she brought with her.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"It's a worth while read" Rinaa re-iterated as she played her next move. The book was slightly better she thought as it had a couple of scenes that didn't make it into the movie, along with extra details that just made the whole thing richer. And the main character was a massive goofball yet actually kinda smart and really innovative in his own way. "I've read it, but what about Artemis? Would you recommend that?" Chas asked, genuinely curious, he like Kay also needed some new books to read and didn't feel like slogging through pages and pages of Attili text. Although it was beneficial for his language skills, he'd prefer to read for relaxation.

"Definitely" she nodded "it's a very different dynamic, it's set on the moon this time. It's grittier than The Martian, but that's because it's more crime orientated, the main character being a criminal who gets way over her head in some extremely dodgy stuff, as opposed to one person trying to stay alive on Mars." "I'll give it a go, once I find somewhere with books in English as opposed to all these alien languages." "Good luck with that, English may be the dominant language in some quadrants, but it's universal. There is no universal spoken language."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay nodded, making a mental note to get herself a copy when they get home. If there was an option for Kay to read the original text before watching the film adaptation, she always would. It's how she preferred to do things most of the time. She looked across when Chas said he had read the first one, but not the sequel before half listening to what Rinaa said about the sequel.

Hearing about how Chas would need luck on his side to find a book in English here, she knew this was why she was going to wait until she was home before buying anything new to read. She didn't even want to attempt to try and find something in English. "Precisely why I'm gonna wait until I'm home to find a new book" she smirked. "I'm far too lazy to try and find the odd book in English here" she chuckled.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"I'm with you on that, it's a lot of effort to find an English book and even then it's not always a good English book at that." Chas agreed, even though he knew he would crack and start reading books in Attili. "I would offer my books but they are either in Attili or full of complex maths." Fia could testify that Rinaa had an extremely large collection of books in her shipping container, ranging from factual books, to books that movies were based off, to sci-fi to detective mysteries and a decent section devoted to biographies. She was an avid reader when she had the time for it. "I'll pass on the maths thanks, not my cup of tea." "Yeah, its not everybody's and that's probably the point."

They hadn't come close to finishing the game when Jay decided that everybody had a suitably good enough grasp of the technique that they could play a proper round. She shuffled the deck and dealt out the cards in a practiced fashion. She hadn't the flair of a professional dealer, but John recognised that she had spent countless hours playing cards and didn't really need to think as she dealt them out. "Anyone going to make a bet on this?" Jay asked, placing down the draw pile on the table.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay was glad that she wasn't the only one who lazy enough to not bother trying to find a good book in English whilst Attil, but Chas was also. When Rinaa said about offering one of her books if they weren't all in Attili or maths books, she noticed Fia nod, "I can vouch for that. I helped her sort them all and none are in English" Fia confirmed. When Chas maths wasn't his cup of tea, Kay nodded, "likewise, never liked maths even as a kid" she agreed. She was never that good at it either which was the defining reason she never enjoyed it. She knew enough to get by in everyday life, but most mathematics she just couldn't ever wrap her head around, would get frustrated which would turn into full blown meltdowns out if said frustration. Luckily for her, she managed to hide that in her adult life.

She watched as Jay re-dealt all the cards when their practice round proved worth while and they all got the hang of the game well enough. "that can be between you lot, I'm not even gonna get into doing a bet because I know I'll lose it" Kay laughed. That was one thing everyone could always count on her for, to know when she had no chance and cither losses before it ended badly for her. She may be stubborn in a lot of things, but not bets, she was savvy minded with those.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa and Jay knew they were the only two in the room with an interest in complex maths. John knew what he needed to and that was that. He never had any real motivation or use for anything outside of the basics. Chas was better, he understood the more complicated second level maths, but as he had said, it just wasn't his cup of tea. He prefered other subjects. Both Jay and Rinaa just had a natural aptitude for the subject, and Rinaa's was combined with a love of engineering and structures- a practical use of maths, where as Jay used maths for piloting and making code algorithms.

"I'll bet, why not" There was an air of 'what could possibly go wrong' to John's reply which made Chas run a hand over his face. "I'm out, but this one will probabaly bet enough for all of us." That left Rinaa, Jay and John, all three highly competitive and willing to make a stupid bet every now and again. They tossed ideas for the bet back and forth, before agreeing, shaking on it and beginning the new game with narrowed eyes and poker faces, trying to see who would crack first. About forty minutes into the game Cliff came in. "Don't get excited, they are still in there, not sure whether that's a good thing or a bad thing."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia was more into dares than bets. So she was most definitely out of that game. She would still play the card game but not bet on it. She always left the betting to John, so when he agreed to do it she just rolled her eyes but hd a tiny smile on her face as she did so. It just said 'why am I not surprised?' without her having to say a single word.

Kay agreed with Chas on the topic, before starting to play the game and getting into it improperly, not even realising how much time had passed until Cliff came back into the room. "I think for the benefit of our sanity, take it as a good thing. Like the old saying goes- no news is good news kind of deal" she commented. She would have thought if anything bad was happening they would have heard something by now and no doubt John would have attempted to get involved before being told not to.

 

[_gallifrog_]

They all looked up at Cliff's arrival, shocked by just how much time had passed. Jay and Rinaa had been right about the person who invented this card game having far too much time on their hnads. Cliff's brain took a couple of second to realise that Kay was using an idiom that had no equivilant in her vocabulary. "We don't actually have a saying like that here, but that's culture for you. And yes, we'll take the silence as there's nothing bad going on between them." "They've got a lot of weird old sayings on Earth, probably more than there is on Attil." "And in my home world all the sayings are water related, or fishing related, or weather related." She told them, leaning against the door frame.

"So Gaijin?" "Yep, it seemed like a good enough distraction considering these four never played it before today." "And the rules do take forever to explain and get right." "I take it you play then?" Jay's words were phrased like a question, but it was a direct statement. "Yup, almost everybody on base does. It's one of the few games we all know, but with everybody knowing different rule variations it takes a while to sort out what legal and what is not." "Nad why doesn't it surprise me that nobody can agree on these rules, I swear they make them up as we go along."

 

[MzHyde]

When she saw Cliff taking that moment to compute what she was saying, she realised that they'd mustn't have the same or similar saying here on Attil. She nodded at Cliff's reply and Jay's. Earth did have some seriously weird sayings and quotes but for once, in her mind, the one she just used was a good one that relevant for so many instances. "a lot of wierd old ones but this one I actually like and agree with.....most of the time" she added.

Kay just continued what she was doing whilst Cliff and Jay spoke about the card game they were all playing. She listened to what Cliff said and Jay but didn't add anything of use to the conversation. She had to smirk though when John put in his two cents about the whole topic of rules. She had to admit he had a point and it did feel like the rules changed every few minutes or so, but it still made the game enjoyable. Not only that it kept them on their toes and meant that had to keep concentrating on it.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"The thing is, if they did change the rules, they'd get away with it too, we're still learning a lot of skills at once." Chas told Cliff, he didn't think Rinaa and Jay were actually changing the rules, he could see any glaring inconsistencies since they'd started playing. They had reminded people of rules, seeming knowing when somebody was about to make a blunder, and had Rinaa not stated that the cards were unmarked, he'd definitely be questioning their legitimacy. "There is that, but honestly, where's the fun, you'd just get even more confused the next time you play and we'd have to spend even longer explaining the rules."

"Next time?" John raised an eyebrow, thinking that Rinaa was getting very much ahead of herself. "It's a very addictive game, once you come close to winning, you really aren't satisfied until you win it." Cliff took it on herself to explain, as Rinaa and Jay had clearly left out that important fact. "True that. Which is why this is played at so many gatherings, and at the same time you dispense all the gossip about what happened in your life since the last time." "Its basically like any family or friend game night tradition." Rinaa could speak from experience of both. When offworld she always played gaijin, but on Earth it was usually some form of video game.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia and Kay both nodded in agreement at what Chas said. They were still learning as they went so if rules did get changed up as they went, they really would completely oblivious to it. They both listened to Rinaa reply and like John, noticed the whole 'next time' comment the most of out of what she was saying. If John hasn't brought up that little comment, Fia would have done.

They listened to Cliff clarify that it was an addictive game, and honestly, both girls could see why it would be addictive, but neither were sure if they would get addicted to it. Which considering Fia could have quite the addictive personality when it came to certain things, was quite something for her. "I can see how it's become addictive to some people" she commented.

 

[_gallifrog_]

If it wasn't Fia and Kay's kind of game, then so what? Rinaa enjoyed it, the strategy, the thinking, the rule memorising, trying to throw people off with her poker face. And in her timeline it had helped her to bond with Cliff, Cal, Deke and Dan, as well as with her version of Jay. "Yeah well, it's proved distraction enough for the past hours." She shrugged, placing down her next move, feeling Cliff's eyes observing her from behind. "True that. And like I said earlier, it's teaching you off-Earth culture. While we're here, we might as well." Jay didn't say it, but the thought of 'it's not like we've really got anything better to do" was floating around in her head.

Cliff nodded in agreement, rubbing the side of her temple in a gesture that Rinaa knew well. She wasn't rubbing her own headache, Cliff headaches always occurred at the base of her skull. This was one of Cal's she was feeling. "How is she?" no clarification was needed for who 'she' was. "At the start it was anger mainly, but she calmed down and now its a sort of low level consistent stress. She's not exactly enjoying being in there with him, but she doesn't want to murder him either. Which has to be a good thing."

 

[MzHyde]

It's not that Kay or Fia didn't enjoy the game. Quite the opposite in fact, they both were enjoying it, and as Fia said, they could see how addictive it could get if people were easily addicted to card games. Fia looked at Rinaa when she defended it in a round about way and it just felt like she somehow annoyed or offended Rinaa with what she said, even though she didn't find anything wrong in what she said. So she decided maybe she should just shut up.

Kay noticed how the comeback got to Fia, and wondered if she should say something to try and break up the ice that had metaphorically formed between the two teenagers again. After a few seconds of debating inside her mind, she decided to stand up for her kid in a diplomatic and mature manner, "I don't think Fia meant anything of the contrary with what she said. Just that she could see easily why people would get addicted, which I think we all can" she said, referring to herself, Fia, John and Chas. She could tell without even looking at Fia, that Fia was thankful for the support. When Cliff rubbed her head from a headache, she glanced up as it was explained it was Cal's headache she was feeling. "that's something indeed, not wanting to kill him is definitely a sign of great restraint" she commented.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa hadn't meant for it to come out as prickly and standoffish as it had, but out of force of habit it had. It was one ife her worse traits, becoming so defensive about certain things. If this was in her timeline she'd just have left and said nothing, but this was a different timeline where the rules she though she understood were completly thrown out the window. "Old habits" she muttered quietly, the closest she'd get to an apology on the matter. "Very true, and it's been constant stress yeah?" Cliff nodded. "Then my guess is, as you've probably already figured out long ago is that it's the tenseness of having the two in the same room, breathing the same air after all these years. It has to bring back memories."

Cliff nodded again "my thoughts exactly. I'd say no matter how well it goes, all three will be pretty shaken up afterwards, with their minds elsewhere for a good portion of the day. So basically, anything you'd normally ask Cal, just divert it to me instead, yeah?" It was an indirect warning in a way, Cliff knew she didn't have that family right to advise them on how to treat Elliott or what to say. But she did have that right for her fiancé. She didn't know if Cal would talk or if she'd prefer to mull it over, but either way, she'd want Cliff's company and moral support. "I'm fine with that, it's got to be one of the wierdest times of her life right now."

 

[MzHyde]

"Rinaa it's okay, don't worry about it." Kay reassured her, deep down she knew Rinaa didn't mean anything harsh by it, but she could also see and almost feel how it made Fia feel, so she had to say something. It was her kid after all, and she'd feel like a shit parent if she didn't say something to break the unintentional tension that occured. She knew the two girls could get on okay, so it seemed stupid to her that a card game could break everything the two had sort of built when it came to civility.

As the others spoke she let them, and paid attention when the advice came up of if there's anything that's to be said to Cal, to say it to Cliff, which seemed completely fair enough. After the horrendous reunion with her own father a while ago, she could completely understand how Elliott and Cal would be feeling when this chat was over between the three of them. "As Chas says, I'm fine with it too. I can understand and sympathise on how weird and exhausting it'll be for the two of them after this. Been there done it and had an iron blade through my gut to remember it by" She replied.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa kept a lid on her tongue at the iron knife comment. Jay carrying iron weapons and having the iron jewellery and piercings may have seemed like an over reaction to most, but it was the only way to get her point across. Nobody knew about her vow to Elliott (except Chas, who seemed to know almost every secret of the Earth based group). Her intervening with that knife wound had been the first time John and Kay had seen her. Why she'd picked that point in time, she really didn't know, nor did she know how exactly she'd found out about that incident. She just seemed to have been drawn to that time and that moment. She still had the almost complete blade on her somewhere.

"Well if something like that was going to happen, it would have happened by now." John couldn't help but wonder what they were talking about, what they could even talk about. Was it their father's first time seeing the scar he inflicted? Or had he seen pictures, but was still shocked by just how prominent it was? Was there any guilt in him for giving it? Did he even remember doing it? Jay didn't say anything on the iron knife remark, she knew that it was the only thing that could truly kill Kay and Fia. "I'll do that, for both of them." She like John, was dying to know what was being talked about, many of her questions being identical to his. "I'm usually not in the apartment anyway, but for when I'm around I'll do that."

 

[MzHyde]

When Kay brought it up, in her head it was the equivalent to someone saying 'been there done that, got the tshirt'. It's just how she was, and saying it an manner to get her point that she understood what Elliott and Cal must be feeling, whilst shrugging off her own experience like it was all in the past. The fact that John kept the shard he managed to extract from her, it wouldn't have been any surprise at all if she found out that Rinaa still had the rest of the blade. Fia knew of the story but not who saved her, the story was told as a warning about how dangerous iron was to their kind.

Both Kay and Fia nodded in agreement to what John said, both if them were thinking along the same lines. If something drastic was to happen then it probably would have done by now. Fia was curious the entire time what was being spoken about but that was more out of the 'hes my big brother and if anyone hurts him I'll cut them!' kid sister mindset. Which made her remember one time in her timeline when Elliott came home late with some scrapes and the like, next morning she saw when getting up and instantly went into a mode where she wanted to beat up whoever did it. Turned out it was a just sparring session, but she was eight years old and it looked utterly adorable how angry she got thinking someone hurt her big brother to everyone else in the room. She glared at anyone who got close to him and dubbed herself his bodyguard before the family couldn't take it anymore and told her no one hurt him. "I'll do that too" she finally said.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cliff nodded at the full house of agreement. It was better to say it now and make everybody aware of it, even if they'd did already know that it was going to be a tough and emotionally draining day. "And obviously if anybody asks, I didn't explicitly say to leave them alone." Cliff added, grabbing a mug from one of the cupboards and pouring herself a drink. "You know full well that Cal will know instantly that it was you who told us all to be discreet and give then space." "Yeah, I know..... but here I am, saying it anyway." Cliff smiled, Rinaa did indeed have a point. "Some things really don't change, and really shouldn't either."

Cliff rolled her eyes, but was secretly pleased to hear that she didn't change that much from this timeline to Rinaa's. But thta could be due to the fact that she was good at keeping a level head for work purposes. "True, true" Cliff agreed, once again rubbing at the knot of headache at the side of her forehead. She knew that rubbing it had no real effect in helping to lesson the effects physically, but it helped psychologically. A few minutes later the headache vanished and she was overcome with a surge of relief. "I think.....I'm not a hundred percent sure on this, but I think he's gone. Big surge of relief just came through."

 

[MzHyde]

Like in Rinaa's timeline, Cliff didn't really change in Fia's either. It seemed that no matter what the timeline, she was just meant to be the kind of person she was. Fia nodded in agreement at what Rinaa said, but didn't really say anything as she felt it didn't need words. When she saw Cliff get a drink, she realised that she was thirsty too, having not really had anything all day so far. "seeing Cliff get a drink has made me need one, pause the game for a second? And does anyone else need a drink?" She suggested.

"Yeah I'll have one" Kay replied, just as Cliff said about the wave of relief that she felt through Cal making it seem like their father had now left. "I'm guessing you're gonna go check?" She asked Cliff, thinking if anyone would, it'd be better if it was her out of all of them.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The others declined the offer of a drink when Fia offered, but immediately noticed the difference in Cliff when the headache vanished. Her shoulders slumped down in relief as she let go of the tension she'd been feeling. Cliff wasn't usually so utterly in time with Cal's emotions, usually it was just patches and a general feeling over a distance. But in other situations, more high pressure, emotional ones, the connection really kicked in and she felt exactly what Cal felt. The two practically synchronised in breathing and in a fight of sparring they seemed to just instinctively sync in motions and technique. And ever since the outburst this morning, Cliff and Cal had been hyper-linked. Now the connection was fading back to its usual background levels.

"I'll give them maybe... ten minutes or so, I doubt they'd really want to face us just yet." Cliff answered, leaning back against the small countertop. "They know where we are anyway...well Cal does." As Fia got her drinks, Cliff opened one of the presses and pulled out a packet of biscuits. There was no name on it, so therefore it was free for anybody to take. Seeing the biscuits Rinaa realised that once again she was starving, her increased metabolism burning through everything ridiculously fast. And when stressed she burned through food faster. She gestured for the pack and Cliff threw it over neatly. "I hate hyper metabolism, how on any planet do speedsters manage to not spend all their money on food." She grumbled half seriously, half annoyed.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia got up and walked over to grab a drink for herself and Kay. She listened to everyone continuing to talk about the other two, and how Cliff would give them a few minutes before going down and seeing how they both are. She wasn't particularly hungry so Cliff opening the biscuits didn't even come to mind of wanting any, but she wasn't surprised that Rinaa would need some food by this point. She walked back over to the table and handed Kay her drink before taking her seat again between John and Chas.

Kay took the drink from Fia, thanking her quietly as she did so out of habit, and listened to everyone chat. She felt so sorry for Rinaa having to constantly think about food because of her metabolism. She couldn't imagine just how frustrating it was to have a hyper metabolism. Her little remark did make Kay smirk though. "I definitely don't envy you kiddo, that's for sure" she commented.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The worst part of the hyper metabolism was that it was simply a side effect of her DNA rewriting itself. Before she'd been bitten Rinaa had a normal metabolism and a normal appetite, but now she had to always have some kind of awareness of how long it had been since she had last eaten. Hence why she started carrying high energy bars in her backpack (which was currently at the lab). She nodded in acknowledgement of Kay's comment. "How bad does it get, considering hyper metabolism is a side effect?" Cliff asked, switching into 'interested doctor' mode. "Pretty damn awful. My blood sugars would get so low that I'd just pass out, the longer I went without eating, the worse the fainting would get. And of course back then we had no idea what was going on."

"So how did you figure it out?" Cliff was leaning forwards now, fascinated by this. "Loads and loads of tests, what other way is there to find out?" Rinaa shrugged as if it had been no big deal, but Cliff could see it in her eyes that it had been a terrifying experience for her. "And since I work in a state of the art lab, they had all the necessary equipment and brains to get to the bottom of the whole thing. Probably wasn't fair to have my friends being the ones who had to deliver this news, but they insisted on doing it." "They sound like good people." Jay commented, meaning every word as she reached over and took a biscuit. "They are, along with being the good kind of crazy." "The best kind of crazy. I think everybody knows at least one person who fits that description."

 

[MzHyde]

As Cliff turned on her 'doctor mode' part of her brain, Kay with the others listened to the discussion about how Rinaa dealt with it and how she found out what it was. She could have easily imagines how bad the fainting spells must have been just by remembering the days she'd have the black outs and lose time before John managed to link herself and Fee together properly. She remembered saying to John and Chas at the time when trying to find out what she even was but she never went into detail about those moments. Which was probably a good thing in some ways and a stupid thing in other ways.

The only thing that Kay considered lucky in Rinaa's story was that she had access to a state of the art lab and friends that could indeed help her out. If she had to go through all that on her own, she could only my imagine how much more terrifying it would have been. As for the comment about everyone having a set of crazy friends, or at least one of them, Kay nodded in agreement to the statement. It was truer than most people would probably care to admit. "never has a truer word ever been spoken" she smirked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Although it had been Cliff who'd been given the awful job of announcing that Rinaa was terminally dying and saying that she more than likely wouldn't make it to nineteen, it had been her friends she'd turned to in order to find out everything else. It wasn't fair on them, and she'd protested at the time, but they were adament that this was what they wanted. "I second that" Chas replied to Kay's response, taking a biscuit from the packet. "Gotta agree, I don't have any friends that could remotely be considered normal." Jay was thinking about A.J's crew when she said this. The twins were chaotic, Scott was a vampire that by rights shouldn't exist, Kane was the son of a notorious businessman, Toby grew up in the circus and Elliott was.... Elliott. " Life would be boring if there wasn't the crazy person."

"That's true, I'd take the crazy friend over the 'normal' ones any day." Jay nodded, making air quotes gestures with her free hand, the other arm still being around Rinaa. "And just imagine what life would be like if said crazy friend was in somebody else's hands." "Not a pleasant thought at all." Chas mock shuddered, but he was deadly serious, John was his craziest friend and the thought of him with a different crowd was a haunting one. "Just saying, if my friends were ever kidnapped, they'd get sent back sharpish, for being so ridiculously annoying and deliberately pushing puttons to get a reaction. They'd drive whoever took them clinically insane."

 

[MzHyde]

It seemed that everyone in the room except for Fia all had crazy friends that they wouldn't trade for anything. She would have said something but decided against it so not to bring the mood down. She just looked down at her lap instead and her foot started to bounce on the spot as she listened to them all speak about having friends. She grabbed her drink and took a sip, trying to find a way to leave the room. "Cliff? Where's the bathroom?" She asked.

Kay couldn't imagine Sam being friends with anyone else as she was her crazy friend, but she knew Sam could make friends easily, which got her wondering just how she was doing without Kay. "I read to think how many people have been driven crazy by Sam since I last saw her. That girl doesn't have a stop button I swear." She chuckled, remembering many of her drunken nights fondly. When Fia asked about the bathroom, she didn't think anything of it, when she probably should have seen the signs of this conversation making her uncomfortable. If she had noticed, she would have felt awful.