Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[MzHyde]

Kay wasn't surprised to hear that their french was awful. In all fairness hers wasn't great either, and only knew the odd words that most people did. However she always liked the saying 'c'est la vie' in French as it sounded so much better than just saying 'that's life' in English. "Oh I agree it's overrated but saying that's life in French always sounds better in my opinion for some reason. And yeah, a lot of French people are ridiculously rude too. Needless to say at uni in the art degree I met a lot of them and they were all pompous arrogant assholes and highly elitist in the subject" she replied, after Rinaa said her bit, smirking at the whole story. She then laughed at John jabbing Elliott in the ribs for his snarky remark, even she could kind of agree with Elliott on that one. She couldn't help but laugh a bit more at hearing what Benji said about the lot of them to Cliff. "oh this is nothing, trust me" she smirked, I between mouthfuls.of omelette.

Fia never thought to tell Matteo that she could heal herself, as it didn't seem to tie up into a conversation but if it ever did she would reassure Matteo that he wouldn't get into trouble if she got hurt as she would heal herself before anyone found out. The last thing she would want to do is to get him and Cliff into trouble with Kay and John, even pretending to be siblings of legal guardianship, she knew they'd give alone hell if she got seriously hurt or temporarily died before coming back. Like Matteo she did a few more jumps, doing what she felt like each time before deciding to swim out and sit on the edge. She could see how much this activity brought him joy and she found it sweet. "I'm going to say yes I believe you because I've learned to not underestimate any of your family" she chuckled back in reply as she used her phoenix flame to dry off by making a few flames hover around her.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"I know exactly what you mean, and that set of 'desirable traits' isn't just limited to arts people either, though they do seem to excel at it. Had the misfortune of bumping into them too many times looking for practice space." Rinaa agreed, relaxing back into the couch and the slightly squashed (but comfortable) position she was in between her two parents. Elliott ende up with his right arm around Rinaa's shoulders as a result. Being left handed he was perfectly fine with that position. Jay and Rinaa both found Elliott's yelp of pain highly amusing. "Well at least there isn't a full moment with you guys around. It's actually an achievement when one of us brings home a 'normal' person." "Though Cliff doesn't believe in normal, and neither do I." Nat added. "But I can agree that some people are crazier than others."

Matteo smirked at Fia's words "You're learning then. And you'd be right in believing me. I can do it, I spent months learning and practicing." He looked around at the river. "Though we've probably scared off any fish with all the thunderous crashing and frolicking dogs." He exited the river in one fluid motion, the water running off his body, leaving his skin perfectly dry. He gave a whistle for the dogs who reluctantly left the water, before proceeding to shake themselves dry, the droplets flying everywhere. Including into Fia and Matteo. "And this is why big dogs can be a pain sometimes." Matteo smirked before he pulled up his shirt partially and used it to scrub most of the water out of his hair before leaving the test of the damp strands to dry in the sun. He carefully tied the thick hempen rope back out of the way. "How does heading upriver for a bit, then coming back when the water has cleared sound?

 

[MzHyde]

"agree with you there. They're naturally talented in art but their attitudes are not" Kay smirked. She noticed how squished the teenager was between her parents, but it was clear that she didn't mind in the slightest, it made her glad she didn't even attempt to sit on the couch with the rest of them, liking her space, even if it was weird for her not to be sat close to John. "Normal is one of those thing that doesn't exist because no matter what group of people you ask the answer will be different to the previous one. It's all opinion and not fact" Kay remarked back at Cliff and her siblings, truly believing what she said as what one person thought was normal, another would find strange. She was also aware of how philosophical she sounded so early in the morning, which was a rare occurrence. Usually never happened until she was alot more awake and had her morning cup of tea.

Fia smirked nodding, "it sounds impressive, so you'll have to show me sometime" she replied, just drying off her sneakers when the dogs came over and got water all over them again, she shielded herself with her arms out of natural instinct but laughed at it anyway. She was glad she was mostly dry anyway, and didn't mind too much the bit of water spray from the dogs. She dried off her sneakers and pulled them back on instead of undoing the laces, and stood up. "Sounds good to me!" She replied quickly remembering to grab her phone and putting it back in the jeans pocket.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"True, true" Nat nodded, appreciating the more philosophical outlook on things. His book hadn't left his hand the entire time but it was clear that he was multitasking, reading, eating and listening at once. "And whatever normal is, it sounds boring." Benji added. "I agree" Cal nodded, putting down the empty plate on the table and beginning to peel some kind of citrus fruit with one of the daggers that Cliff, Jay, Rinaa and Dan recognised as being one of her own pieces that she had on her person almost all the time. " I can safely say that nobody we know is normal." "But that doesn't mean they can't be extremely boring." Jay smirked. "Sis I hope you haven't invited anybody boring." "Nope I haven't, but that won't prevent people from making speeches that will bore the life out of us all." "Well I stocked up on rotten fish guts for that exact reason. Me and Matteo plan on throwing them at anybody who blabs in for too long." Benji replied prompting Cal to grin. "I knew there was a reason I liked having you as a future brother in law." "I totally want in on this."

"It looks impressive when done right." Matteo agreed, slinging his things back onto his shoulders and putting the leads back on the dogs before passing Fia two of the leads. He led the way further up river, towards the sound of the water fall. It wasn't particularly high, or wide, but it was impressive none the less. Up at the top was a deceptively strong set of white water rapids. A device known as a 'fish ladder' had been constructed up both sides of the waterfall. It consisted of a set of shallow, hollow concrete steps each containing enough water. Matteo gestured at them. "Fish ladder, it allows the fish to get upstream to their breeding and spawning grounds easier. They can jump up the waterfall, but better safe than sorry. Otherwise the stock numbers decrease and that a bad thing when you depend on them as much as we do." Matteo explained, walking and climbing along it, fishing out dead leaves and other debris as he went along.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay agreed that whatever could be normal, usually was incredibly boring get she also knew the moment she became a mother there were chances as she got older she could become boring. She already knew that her future self was deemed the boring one of sorts in Fia's mind as she was the overprotective one. Which made her a bit sad deep down but she never really let it show. As the topics of throwing rotten fish guts at people if they do a speech for too long or it was boring, she chuckled. She also wasn't surprised in the slightest that Rinaa would want part of it, if Fia was there she definitely would have wanted a part but would have said nothing after Rinaa showed interest.

Fia took the two leads again, and followed Matteo up river toward the waterfall. She was impressed with it having only ever seen waterfalls in books or her dreams of the Phoenix world. "So cool" she remarked staring at it, taking her phone out and snapping a pic again. She looked at the fish ladder and listened to what Matteo was explaining, nodding in understanding as he did so. She continued to follow him, seeing him grab out the dead leaves as he went.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John's head perked right up at the mention of throwing rotten fish guts. He'd smelt them before and they were extraordinarily manky. And it was such a stereotype on Earth to talk about throwing rotten vegetables (usually tomatoes) at people when they were boring or went on for too long that the opportunity of being able to do it real life was something he wasn't going to let pass by. "Oh I'm totally game for it as well." "Of course you are." Chas sighed, to which John fixed him with a sharp look. "Chas how many times am I ever going to get this opportunity again in my life?" He asked, to which the cabbie rolled his eyes and said nothing more knowing that John had him beaten on this one. "How much guts have you got?" "More than enough for us and about seven extras, so if you want in, we've still got plenty for the other teenager." "Pretty sure she'll want in, but I couldn't say, we're not really close. And Moya'll hopefully be game too."

"It really is, isn't it" Matteo replied rhetorically as he scooped out all the crud on one side. He crossed the river, nearly jumping from one slippy moss-covered stone to another. His movements were light and nimble and he was sure footed, his toes gripping firmly for purchase (another reason why he chose not to wear shoes). The dogs didn't cross with him, obeyed Matteo command to stay and wait. With the second ladder cleared of leaves he went to jump back across to the dogs when suddenly he stopped, his eyes locking onto something in the distance, his body going dead still. He gestured for Fia to stay quiet and move slowly, before pointing to a spot about twenty metres upstream. At first there was nothing, then a rustling sound and the deer stepped out into the river. There were four in total, one stag with a particularly impressive set of antlers, the others with smaller (but nonetheless beautiful) sets. Their coats were dappled in earthy browns and blacks. The antlers were a reddish flame colour, with darker ashy tones closer to the base.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay reacted to John's comment the same way that Chas did. She rolled her eyes so much her head practically rolled with them. The fact that John could even get a valid point in on Chas, made it all the more eye roll worthy. "The things my family wanna do...." She sighed but a smile on her face. "Oh Fia will want in, if it's a chance to prank someone and throw something rotten she'll be in. She's already got a tenner out of John this morning because of her antics, so nothing practical joke wise is out of the question for that girl" Kay confirmed.

Fia watched on as Matteo continues to pull out all the crap out of the water, seeing how nimbly he was on the wet slippery rocks. She stayed with the dogs gladly, when Matteo's next actions made her curious, understanding the signals she nodded slowly, looking over to where he was gesturing. Seeing the deer eventually show themselves she mentally gasped at their beauty, not believing she was seeing such animals so close up like she was. The one stag with large antlers was particularly incredible to see, she very slowly pulled her phone, put it on silent, including the camera and took a snapshot, sending it to Chas, knowing he'd appreciate the photo she managed to get, with the caption, "look what I'm seeing up close!".

 

[_gallifrog_]

Chas took note of Kay's completly exaggerated eye roll. Only this group could even consider throwing fish guts as a good idea, let alone doing it at a wedding. But at least it meant the thing wouldn't be boring (and the fact that they could now understand the languages that speeches were spoken in was going to be a big help). "It was technically a tenner of you and Cal's money." John explained, to which Cal shrugged, clearly not minding at all. "Honestly surprised she didn't come begging us for cash earlier." "Well that's partially because the times she was out with me, I paid." Rinaa shrugged as she began the second omelette. Anything that people were going to say was cut off by the arrival of Fia's message. Cha spassed his phone over to the couch Cliff, Cal, Benji and Nat were on.

"Ah yes, Matteo's pulling out all the stops on the tour I see." Benji remarked. When Rinaa saw the photo she chuckled in amusement. "What's so funny?" "Inside joke of sorts, my nickname for her from my timeline the one that never caught on. Its funny in an ironic way." "Tell her the stags name is Bacchus, and he's a regular visitor. Can't ID the others as there isn't enough of their patterning and spots, but they are all female, judging by the horns." Cliff told them passing the phone back. Chas sent a text back to Fia reading 'Very much jealous, the stag is called Bacchus and he's a regular, the others are female, but Cliff can't ID them yet.'

Matteo stayed crouching as still as a statue. He wasn't moving and he seemed to blend in with his surroundings with his dark coloured clothes and damp hair. The digs also stayed silent and unmoving, a testimony to their training. If the stags noticed them, they did nothing. The animals were beautiful, and unlike the horses had no ambhibious traits, it was only their colouring that differed from that of deer on Earth.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay just smirked as John clarified it was Attili money and not British money, and she would have chimed in with 'only because you found a loophole' but the conversation just flowed between the others, and then a text to Chas from Fia arrived. So she found she lost her opportunity to say her bit, not that she particularly minded. The thing with Fia, unless it was direct direct, she did feel kind of awkward about asking anyone else for money, it wasn't in her nature to do, especially as she never really had cause to before. So the idea of asking Cal or Cliff for money didn't even ever cross her mind. Kay then put her empty plate down on the table, as she managed to get a jist of what had been sent, going by the talking going on about it.

She also seemed to remember Rinaa saying to her about giving her the nickname, only to need John to clarify what it meant afterwards when Rinaa wasn't around. She was also surprised she even mentioned about timelines whilst in front of Cliff's family as she didn't think time travel was meant to be spoken about. Yet she kept quiet about it, so not to draw attention to the wording Rinaa used. "She's no doubt loving life right now either way. Just glad she's seeming to be enjoying herself" Kay remarked.

Fia saw the text come back in and carefully and discreet read it before slowly putting her phone away and just marvelled at the stag and the other females around him. She was so amazed by them and seeing so close to her, seeing that Matteo was staying as still and quiet as a statue she then did the same, not wanting to spook them too much and cause any kind of injuries to any of them or the dogs. She was just content in watching them.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The use of the word timeline had been a slip of the tongue on Rinaa's part, one which she cursed herself mentally for. She was relaxed there in the couch, squished between John and Elliott with Jay nearby and being relaxed meant she dropped some of her guards and filters. "Timeline?" Nat picked up on the word straight away, and the gleam in his eyes was one well known, he wasn't going to let this one go unexplained with a fight. "I asked Cliff not to tell you, but I'm a timeline sensitive, like Jay is and her brother was. I can see and sense different timelines where they overlap with my timeline. This timeline." She gestured at the room around her to illustrate what she menat by 'her timeline'. "When I was younger I had problems distinguishing between the two, so I started using 'my timeline'. Now as I'm older I've got a far better control on the ability, but every so often I'll say something like that." Rinaa's spiel was a half truth, half lie combination, delivered with just the right emotional intonation and body language. Her lying skills were disturbingly good John noted, espescially a sthey contained an element of truth.


The silence and stillness of the forest couldn't last for long, Matteo knew that much. It seemed like the whole place was holding its breath waiting. His eyes flicked around, not just focusing solely on the deer like Fia did. And then came the burst of movement, an explosion of long dark limbs and a slender tail from one of the shadows of the river. Matteo got just enough of a glimpse for his experience to tell him that it was a wildcat. As the cat exploded out of the shadows, there was a cacophony of noise as various birds flew upwards, away from the predator down below. How long the cat had been there Matteo couldn't say. The deers bolted, bounding forwards across the river to escape. The cat followed in their wake as the deer crashed through the undergrowth and out of sight. Matteo let out a long breath. "Wildcat, not exactly elusive round here, but they don't make their presence known either. You were lucky to see that." He told Fia as he nimbly hopped back to her side of the river.

 

[MzHyde]

The moment Nat picked up on the choice of word that Rinaa let slip, she wondered how the teenager who wasn't a teenager would handle getting out of the hole she started digging herself. So as Rinaa started explaining a story, she listened also thinking what a damn good liar she was, which meant there had to be an element of truth in what she said, as all good lies had that element to make them all that more believable. She could also tell that John noted how good the lie was as well.

Fia saw how Matteo was surveying the whole area, wondering when the stillness of the area would break and something would happen. As the wildcat pounced out of nowhere, she remained still but did jump slightly. She watched as the deer scarpered rapidly to try and get away from their predator, as they relaxed when it was safe to do. She watched him nimbly jump back to her and nodded, "it was certainly something" she commented, knowing she wouldn't get that sight out of her mind for a while. There really was nothing like seeing nature and the animal kingdom do what they do naturally in the wild, and not in some zoo or sanctuary.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Jay had mentally tensed up at Rinaa's slip, knowing that what her daughter chose to say next was vital. Rinaa stepped right up to the mark with her fluid explanation, she told the story with complete ease, winding in what they knew to be a mix of truth and fiction. "That makes sense, so how does this timeline sensitivity work exactly? Do you see things or is it just feeling, or is it meta knowledge?" Nat was clearly fascinated by the whole thing. "I see things and know things. It's kind of like when somebody experiences flashbacks on a movie. Reality gets overlapped with a whole different set of images and sensations. And I'm somehow linked to my other selves. To the bets of my understanding when two timelines become very similar, it's like wires get crossed and I can see what they are seeing and doing. I felt my own death once." She shook her head slightly as if to dislodge the images in her mind. "It wasn't a peaceful one either. There is a practical use for it, something Jay taught to me. I can verify somebody's identity by scanning their timeline." Jay gave a nod of confirmation. "You can fake a body and a disguise, but you cannot fake a time stream. In theory it could distinguish time travellers, but I've never had cause to use it." Which was true she had never used that ability on Jay and Fia, having enough trust that they were who they said they were.

Matteo had seen such a sight a few times before, and had seen kills as well. It was a natural part of life on the island, but it was still affacted him. "It really was." He whistled for the dogs and continued making his way down river. When he came to the point where the deer had run he crouched down, mentally taking in the pattern of broken branches and plants and commuting it to memory. "I'd say they got away, they had a decent head start and most cat hunts end in failure, its eight or nine out of ten that are failures, if I remember the stats correctly." He considered following the trail, but decided against it. The deer could be long gone by then, they were swift runners. "want to head further up river, or should we turn back and I'll show you a different way back home?"

 

[MzHyde]

Kay deep down was impressed with what Rinaa said, to give enough information to satisfy Nat's curious mind, whilst still keeping up the lie that she was the cousin of Jay. She wouldn't let it show though, just like very few in her group would ever show if they were impressed by anything she did. The last bit of the information was new to even her, but again, she kept that out of visibility to the others. Seeing Jay nod in agreement to it, she guessed she either could back up the science to what Rinaa was saying or she knew it already. She wouldn't have even put it past Jay to fall into both options of her theories. She bit her bottom lip as she felt her baby start to move but didn't make a big deal out of it, it was just one of those things she had to deal with.

Fia followed on and let the dogs follow as also whilst keeping ahold of two of the leads. When they came further down river and saw more tracks, she stopped as Matteo crouched down and checked them over. It was fascinating to watch in a way to her, having only seen it on TV shows or movies, which is nothing to seeing it done properly in real life. "that's good" she commented, glad that the stag and his females got away, knowing he has a name made her route for him to escape the wildcat in her mind. "May as well as head back by a different route" she replied, feeling she was getting ready to eat something as she realises she never actually grabbed anything before heading out The House or at Matteo's home. She was too determined to prove to John she could get up early and head out when she said she would. "I'm kinda getting hungry not gonna lie" she sheepishly chuckled.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"It's probably a bad thing that I'm kind of morbidy fascinated by the idea of seeing the death of an alternate self." That admission was followed by a cough from Benji that suspiciously sounded like 'of course you are' before Cliff elbowed him in the ribs to get him to stop. Nat chuckled sheepishly while scratching the back of his neck at his admission. "Well it does sound like something out of sci-fi film." "Or like what a breacher, psychic or time seer might see. But as far as I know, none of them feel the death as intensely as we can. If its a bad death well it feels like you're actually dying too." "So how often does that happen, feeling an alternate self dying I mean?" Nat clearly hadn't been exaggerating with his earlier comment on being morbidly fascinated. "Very rarely, usually once every five years?" "It's hard to say really, everybody's different. And there's no accurate way to test it either" "So I'll just have to take your word on this?" "Yup."

Matteo stood up again, dusting his knees off slightly as he did so. Being the youngest sibling he had quite a bit to go in order to match the tracking skills of his older siblings, so he was consciously trying to improve them. He whistled for the third dog, who had gone off inspecting the spot where the wildcat had been. Matteo also chuckled at Fia's admission. "First rule of life here, always eat before going out and always bring food with you. You'll get used to it, even if you're only here for a few days. I have chocolate if you're interested?" He offered, choosing to move away from the river and head through the forest area. There was no discernable path, but it was clear that he knew where he was going. Matteo walked with almost no sound, landing on the toes of his feet primarily.

 

[MzHyde]

With Nat's fascination of of seeing or feeling the alternative self's death, Kay just listened as the topic continued also thinking and wondering what he'd be like if she said about how she could literally come back from death. "With those two able to feel an alternate self die and myself and Fia able to literally come back to life after dying we're quite the interesting group basically." Kay commented, figuring it couldn't hurt to say if as the chattee was on the topic anyway. She remembered back to the one time she died and came back and she seemed to recall how hot her flames were around her as she came back, and the ash that appeared where the cause of death was. She was just glad that John willingly gave her his trenchcoat to give her some dignity in front of everyone that came to help him find her.

Fia nodded chuckling at Matteo's reply about her admitting she was getting hungry, definitely deciding to never forget that rule again and to remember next time to bring a bag of snacks. "Please, I'd love some. And I was going to get something in The House's kitchen but I was so determined to prove to John I could get up early I just forgot to eat." she admitted chuckling. She walked with him, making beside Matteo and behind him as they walked through the forest noting how he barely made a sound with his footsteps as they walked and talked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The part about coming back to life didn't phase Cliff's family, evidently the doctor had decided that this was important information for them to know, not that they tried to assist and got themselves horrifically burned in the process. "True, true, and don't forget Chas for your list of people with experiences of actually dying." Nat raised an eyebrow in inegerst at the cabbie, as Benji leaned forwards to hear this story, Charlie (now making her way down the stairs) stopped and leaned over the banisters to listen. "I've got limited immortality. Basically if I die from injuries I come back to life fully healed." "How'd you get this, were you born with it or?" Chas' headshake was enough to stop Nat talking. "This one" he gestured at John. "got totally pissed one night and decided to use me as a guinea pig for his magic. The result was a burnt down pub, lots of deaths and me gaining limited immortality." "In other words it wnet exactly as planned." John smirked even though Chas and Elliott knew full well it was a lucky accident.

Matteo rooted in his bag "Aha! Here we go, catch!" pulled out a bar of chocolate and tossed it over to Fia before pulling out a bottle of water and a cereal style bat for himself. "Well being here you kind of learn that no matter what is going on food and drink is important. There are a couple of cache boxes around the island with food supplies and some hunting and fishing things, but they're for emergencies only and a trade secret." He tapped the side of his nose, leading Fia on. The ground was slowly sloping upwards into a gentle ridge landscape. Matteo had a mental map of the island in his head and knew exactly where he was going. The route would take them out of the forest, over or around a large ridge depending on Fia's thought's on climbing (though she could just fly over it while he climbed it) and across some of the grass scrubland emerging behind the family home. Matteo was willing to talk during the whole thing and took particular delight in explain things about the island and his life there.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay nodded with that expression of saying 'true'. She saw the interest in Nat's eyes when Elliott brought up the whole Chas being able to come back to life after death as well, which she had to admit was a lot more interesting as he was human, whereas she wasn't entirely. "I'll never get out the night I found that out myself because neither warned me. So you could imagine my face when Chas just walks back into John's apartment absolutely fine. Back then I didn't even know what I was, so the whole coming back from the dead and not as a zombie was a massive shock to me. I knew those two for a grand total.of about 24 hours by that point too" she chimed in.

Fia looked up and caught the chocolate bar one handed perfectly. She was too used to having to grab something from thin air when Elliott or John in her timeline would throw her things instead of just handing whatever it was to her. She unwrapped it and took a bite as he spoke. "Stupid thing is when I'm home and Ifni go a hunt or training, I always pack a bottle of water and snacks, so it was a complete rookie mistake on my behalf this time round" she chuckled. She continued walking and taking enjoying the company, as they came to the ridge she gladly climbed it with Matteo, not put off by the idea of a good climb. All the parkour and climbing training proving useful to her, especially all the times she climbed buildings in London's alleyways. Going across the scrubland she saw Matteo's home in the distance and smiled to herself.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Chas shrugged slightly as Kay related her side of the story about learning that he couldn't die. "It's not exactly something you give in your introduction to a complete stranger. There's generally morr important things to say. And there isn't exactly time to get that vital detail out when you're being torn apart by vicious demonic birds." Noting the looks of disgusted fascination on the others faces, including Charlie's as she made her way to lean over the back of the couch behind her siblings John smirked. "Yup that's a thing, damn horrific way to watch somebody die." "And I didn't even know she was still around as this one" he gestured at Elliott, "was back. So I was siting there reading the paper, chatting with Ell as if nothing had happened. Looking back rhe look on her face was priceless." "Probably close to mine when I realised that my little brother wasn't actually dead." Cal added with a sigh. "Or that my sister had been caught up in what was essentially a terrorist bombing." Benji added, his eyes flicking towards Cliff.

"I would say this ain't a holiday so you can't just forget these things, but for you guys it basically is" he shrugged unapologetically. "Though for us it's carnival, loud, crazy, full of music, some booze and good food." Matteo's bare feet came in handy for the climbing. The rock face wasn't completly vertical and the rocks weren't particularly loose either. He climbed like a spider spreading his limbs wide over the surface in search of footholds. From below it could be seen that his feet were calloused and dark with hard skin. Once safely over the verge it wasn't too far to the house. But Matteo didn't head straight there, instead choosing to veer towards the stables around the back where the horses had been turned loose in the nearby set of pasture fields.

 

[MzHyde]

"That's true, there wasn't exactly time to say anything, but I guess it gave you all a laugh seeing my reaction. Then I had the added bonus moments later of being introduced to Ell which made you all laugh again. If there's one thing people can't say it's that I don't give a very animated reactions to surprising news" she recounted whilst chuckling, thinking back it really did seem her very animated reactions did make her a bit of a laughing stock, until Elliott found the answer to what she was. "But it wasn't just my face that was priceless, it was theirs too when we found out I am what I am" she added.

Fia just smirked nodding, knowing he had a very valid point. It was pretty much a holiday for her and her family. "Exactly, and it's the closest to a holiday I've EVER had or probably ever will" she replied. She continues to walk with him and the dogs, following toward the stables realising she gets to see the horses up close this time and not from a slight distance. Seeing the horses on the fields she watched them still finding them utterly incredible.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"I blame jet lag, I'd been up for at least thirty seven hours." Elliott replied, causing both John and Jay to snort. Loudly. "Bullshit" John declared. "Thirty seven hours without sleep is easy for you, only needing four hour a night." "Yay for being Attilian" Cal smirked, with a fist pump to emphasise her point. "And I call bullshit too, you don't get jetlag." Jay's last four words were delivered short and sharp, driving home the point, to which Elliott could only shrug guiltily. He didn't get jetlag, John and Chas knew that from the times they'd been on a plane together. He seemed to switch seamlessly from one timezone to another. "I'll just shut up now shall I?" "Good idea." "Your hole doesn't need to be made any bigger." Jay agreed while Rinaa sniggered.

Matteo didn't say how sad he found that statement, it wasn't any of his business (even if he was desperately curious and not just because of the fact that Fia was his age and new). The horses paid little attention to Fia. From this ditsnace their feet could be seen easily, and just like John and the others had been told earlier they had talon like feet. Where Erath horses had cloven feet these ones were split down the middle forming to sharp claws. "Those feet can crack a skull when slammed down, and give a nasty gash in a fight, but they also are useful for digging and don't seem to hinder swimming. This paddock extends down to the sea and we have to be careful that they don't make their way out of the sea gates."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay didn't believe the jetlag excise either, considering how he found out what she was was partially down to his mindwalk with her and John, and she distinctly remembered he didn't look all that tired in her mind. She just chuckled when Elliott said about shutting up whilst Jay said about not digging that hole any bigger for himself.

Fia could tell Matteo was curious to what she meant by her comment, "it's okay to ask me ya know, I don't mind. My life ain't exactly a secret here" she commented, giving him full permission to ask her mostly anything to know her. She wanted to be able to talk freely and apart from the one big no no, she didn't want to secrets. He had been pretty open, so it was only fair she was too. She enjoyed hanging out with someone her own age for a change, and did hope Matteo would become a friend, even if it would make things incredibly awkward in her time. She listened to what he said about their feet, noticing the talons for hooves, finding it fascinating. "So fascinating how different they are to earth horses" she replied. "I'm guessing if they get out you run the risk of them not coming back?" She questioned.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cliff's family just watched the proceedings with barely disguised amusement. "Looks like you're gonna fit right into all this craziness." Benji smirked, and it was clear he was proud of his sister for finding a way to add more crazy people to the family. "Speaking of craziness, how's our favourite royal and his kid brother?" Charlie asked, sticking her hands over Benji's shoulder so she could sign where Cliff could see. "Still having our back thankfully. He's keeping anybody from doing anything stupid, like showing up here within the next few days. Not that thyed stand a change given how ridiculously armed our guests will be. Last time I heard from him, he said he'd try and get over before the wedding, say hi, escape court life for a bit, jet-ski, y'know that sort of thing."

Matteo shrugged guiltily that his questions were so easily written all over his face. He liked to think he was god at masking his expressions (particularly from his family), but evidently he wasn't as good as he thought. "Once I start asking I never really stop, and a lot of the time its just 'why' over and over again. In other words I put my foot in it. A lot." Matteo nodded at Fia's assumption. "Yup, they're still pretty wild, its what makes them so fast and so powerful, in total captivity they sort of just pine away and lose interest in life, but if we left them free they'd more than likely never come back. So this is hopefully the best of both worlds." He looked around the inside of the stables and sighed, they were due to be cleaned out, so he might as well volunteer for the job to get out of something else.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay just remained silent as she smirked at Benji's little remark about fitting in. From everything that Cliff had pre warned them about when it came to her family, she didn't doubt that they would get on with them all for a moment. She listened to what was being said, and curious about what was being said, but she didn't let it show as she didn't want to pry too much. So she kept to herself, deciding if wasn't her business to ask anything. She also briefly wondered how Fia was getting on with hanging out with Matteo s they hadn't had any texts from her for a while since the deer encounter.

The only reason Fia could tell was because everyone had that same look when she brought up any hint of what her life was like back home. The curiosity got to them all. If it was anyone else it wouldn't have been obvious, but she knew everyone would have many questions in their minds at what she said. "I get how that feels...I seem to put my foot in it a lot too... especially with Artemis. I could only tell because everyone I meet gets that same curiosity." She explained. She listened to what he said about answered her question, "I see, makes sense though." She replied, as he looked inside the stables and seeing the state they were in.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Still find it hard to believe my sis knows royalty." Benji smirked, only for Charlie to butt in. "But what's more impressive is that Cal beat the shit out of him in public fight." Cal smiled, a thin quite smile of private satisfaction. "He had it coming, but it turns out as you guys know he's not a complete arsehole. There's severe pressure on him from the royals, plus the fact that he's adopted. The arsehole persona is more to stop people getting close than anything else." "It's effective, whatever his motivations." "Takes one to know one huh?" John smirked, the words coming out of his mouth before he could actually consider their meaning."Snap." "Either way he's mellowed out since then, he was never really in the public eye much in the first place." "Like those members of the British royal family who we only ever give a fuck about when they're in tabloids doing something idiotic." "Basically yeah. Attilian royalty is weird." "As an alien to the system I agree, I never quite understand if the royalty are just figureheads and the governments pulling the strings or is it the other way around? Or a mix of both somehow?"

Matteo listened as Fia spoke, leaning up against the fence, back facing the horses, paying no attention to them. It was a trick an old horse whisperer had taught his father. By actively ignoring the horse it increased their interest in you. "I can't make a judgement on her. She's a complex person....." He mused, reconsidered then added. "Or persons whatever the correct term is. I get the sense that she's struggling with everything in her life." He then shrugged "but what do I know, psycho-analysing people is Cliff, and occasionally Nat's thing." The foal was the most curious of the horses and had made its way over to the fence to investigate Fia, or more particularly her hair. The horse was a dark brown black colour with some white streaks across the ears. The mane and tail hair were a lighter aqua than all the other horses (like Fia and Kay's wings it darkened with age). The eyes were a deep turquoise and filled with a deep intelligence, but there was no mistaking that this was a wild animal at heart. "If you hold you plam flat out in front of him and let him sniff it for a bit, you should be able to touch him."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay listened to everything being said before remembering now who exactly they were on about. She thought back about the small chatter they had about the royal family member then just kept listening. She rose an eyebrow slightly at John's words, knowing that was a case of he was speaking before he thought. She was just glad it wasn't a case of said words biting him in the ass. "Royalty and politics is always a complex and weird thing to try and work out and I don't think anyone truly knows how it all works properly" she smirked.

Fia listened to his thoughts on Artemis and she just had to smirk at it. "You're not far off there that's for sure. Our family ties are....how should I put it...complicated I guess." She added. "But back to the topic, as ya kinda guessed by now I don't get out much. Back home like I said before, we're considered a myth because we're so rare. But there's a part of our world that does know we exist, and that myself and my sister are pretty much the only ones left. Because we come back from death and heal up if we get injured easily etc, our blood and souls are very much a wanted item on the..shall we say... 'black market'. So Kay and John keep us both safe and alive. If say a demon gets us? We could literally be used as a living weapon or killed so they could harness our power. It's pretty screwed up" Fia explained, in a way that wouldn't give away the fact she was the first phoenix to be born in decades and that makes her more rare than even Kay. Not to mention she was technically a damn hybrid.

She listened to what he said about holding out her palm to the foal who found her hair interesting and smiles, doing exactly that. "This is so how to train dragon" she chuckled, remembering the scene of Hiccup and Toothless first meeting. The foal was absolutely beautiful and she noticed how much lighter it's mane and tail were to the others. "I'm guessing like my wings, it's mane and tail get darker with age? I noticed it's brighter than the adults" she commented.