Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[_gallifrog_]

"Well Nat does seem to be the most sensible and level headed out of the three, so it makes sense he'd say something like that. Probably used to ignoring whatever things his brothers are doing." John replied. Cliff had even stated that much, emphasising how her oldest and youngest brothers were the trouble making annoying ones. Nat was the quietest of the three, but clearly there was more to him than met the eye. John snorted when Fia told him the exact profanity Nat had used. John found it both quite funny and utterly in keeping with the fact that they were on an island. "That's pretty good actually. Very Captain Haddock. Might add that one to my vocabulary for the future." He smirked, his hand moving towards his phone ever so slightly before he remembered that nothing he sent would actually arrive until they were back on Earth.

As the rest of them sat and chatting Rinaa and Benji hauled themselves up and made their way over to the stage pieces and began discussing what wold be the best way to put them together. "Hey mechanical genius people!" Cliff called over. "There is such a thing as instructions for this you know." She waved a booklet to prove her point. Benji waved a hand dismissively "Pffft, unnecessary. I don't use instructions and this one is the sharpest tool in the box when it comes to assembling stuff. Right grease monkey this one. We'll figure it out." Cliff let out a slight sigh, even though she complete faith in both their abilities. "If you insist." Rinaa took hold of a piece of metal support pipe and twirled it between her fingers. "Cliff, we got this. I would say this ain't my first rodeo, but it was slightly different circumstances."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay nodded in agreement at John's assessment of Nat. She knew that Cliff had pre warned them beforehand who were the jokers and who were the more sensible ones of her siblings. "I definitely got that from him earlier. He's a pretty solid guy actually" she replied back at him. With his reaction to the profanity used by Matteo, she knew he'd react amusingly and she wasn't any less disappointed by his reaction. "Yeah, it was quite the thing to hear when shouted out" she chuckled. She noticed him reach for his phone before deciding otherwise, guessing he was thinking of sending something to someone on Earth, only to realise that wouldn't be all that possible currently.

Fia noticed Benji and Rinaa stand up and go to start working on the stage pieces, which made her just look the other way after seeing what they were doing. It wasn't particularly anything that would have held her attention anyway. She did overhear what was being said though between them and Cliff, and just smirked to herself. "They're really going all out huh.. with a stage and stuff" Fia remarked, thinking out loud.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John nodded in agreement with Fia's remark, they really were going all out for this wedding. It was clearly a very big deal for them all and Cliff was clearly the only one of the five with any significant other. "They are, but weddings are kind of an opportunity to show off and let it loose. In most Earth weddings where all obscure relatives and friends are invoted most people don't actually go cos they care about the two people getting married. It's mainly just used as an excuse to drink, avail of the free food on offer, get totally pissed, make a fool of yourself in front of strangers and shag some random person. Though in this case the immense effort is clearly tradition based."

"It is, you're right on that John. I asked earlier." Chas told them, having overheard what John was saying. "It's just part of the culture to have big massive gatherings for weddings and funerals. It due to all these people being on their own islands most of the time, it serves as an excuse for a proper get together and catch up and a way to break free of the isolation. And since most of Cliff and Cal's friends are off planet, it's an excuse to show off for guests. Best foot forwards and all that." "Plus having a stage means if somebody wants to make an arse of themselves everybody has a view to film it." Elliott added with a smirk.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia listened to what John was saying, she had to trust his judgement on this one as she for obvious reasons didn't have a clue. All she knew of weddings was from TV shows or films, which most.of the time she would take with a pinch of salt, but it seemed they had quite accurate. Kay was nodding with agreement at everything John was saying, in her lifetime she had only been to one wedding but she was incredibly young at the time.

Both girls looked toward Chas and Elliott as they chimed in on their conversation, something neither of them minded. Both girls were used to it being like that, and Fia had to smirk at Elliott's contribution. "So it seems!" She replied. "To no one's surprise this is my first wedding I've ever been to. So it's kinda awe inspiring to see so much work go into one. I mean, I always guessed a lot of work goes into something like that, but it's something else seeing it in person" Fia explained. Kay nodded hearing her out, and she wasn't all together surprised this was her kid's first wedding experience. Yet it also solidified to her that no one in their group clearly get hitched in Fia's timeline.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Unlike Kay and Fia, John had been to quite a few weddings, some he had been invited to (like Chas', Sheryl's and a couple of friends), others he'd ended up crashing usually due to the fact that some demon was wreaking havock and there had been one memorable time where he'd ended up at a wedding in a satanic cult. (Needless to say that had got out of control very fast). It didn't surprise him to hear that this would be the first wedding Fia attended, given that he couldn't think of anybody who would be getting married in the future (he certainly wouldn't, no matter what he felt for Kay the dangers outweighed the benefits). Jay hadn't married in Rinaa's timeline or in Fia's so that really didn't leave anybody apart from some old friend or another that decided to get hitched.

"Well for a lot of people it is the biggest day of their life and you've no doubt seen the stories of idiots in Earth who put so much money into their wedding that they end up in debt the next thirty years or some equally long amount of time. And trust me on this, I'd know, there is a staggering amount of work that goes into a wedding, even a relatively small one like mine was. So I have nothing but respect for these guys for being willing to do something this big, and so far pulling it off really well." "Seems to also be a case of 'go big or go home' applying to almost all weddings, and Cliff's done both." Elliott added, John and Chas nodding in agreement, having not thought of it like that before.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay knew deep down that the very option to marry John was never going to be on the table. She knew the dangers of doing such a thing wasn't worth it. Luckily, she wasn't type of woman who was all about finding the right guy and getting hitched, so she would never be upset by the fact it wouldn't ever happen between them. In her eyes the bond was the closest equivalent to marriage anyway. They were bonded together because they were written to be together and she didn't need a damn piece of paper to say the exact same thing.

Both girls listened to Chas speak and even Kay knew that most of the time weddings create debt that no one enjoys dealing with. Kay nodded in agreement with Chas' words and Elliott's, whilst Fia took it all into account and nodded to show she understood. "I can get that" Fia commented. "Either way it's clear that her family is going to be making it a good one for them" she then added, finishing her drink and laying fully down for a moment. Kay finished her own drink but stayed upright, the only difference was that she unfolded her legs to stretch them out a bit.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Chas nodded his agreement at Fia's statement. "They really are doing absaloutly everything to make it right for those two." "Yeah, they are and it's a real coincidence that I picked that same time to come crashing back into their lives." Elliott remarked. The timing really was one massive coincidence, he'd had no idea what Cal had been doing all the years, he didn't even know if she was alive or still on Attil let alone that she was getting married. It was one of the few times John had accepted that this coincidence was just that- a coincidence. It was this coincidence that had made Rinaa choose this as her time to appear as she knew that almost ll her extended family would be in the one place at the one time.

"You got lucky with that, if you'd arrived a few weeks later than you actually had, I they'd be off world actually getting married." "And that would either have resulted in the whole wedding being cancelled and two extremely pissed off women or an over-elaborate jail break by us, which would more than likley have failed and resulted in us being locked up." "Speak for yourself." Jay rolled her eyes, knowing that had it come to a jail break and the others getting caught she would have ditched them and gone solo. (And coke back later with Elliott and collected them). "I'd have used you guys getting imprisoned as a distraction to do a proper break out." "I can't tell if that's an insult or not." "It's not worth trying to figure out." Jay shrugged as Cliff siblings hauled themselves up off the ground and began to start helping Rinaa and Benji.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay agreed that it was a coincidence, and a really positive one at that, if it could be called such a thing. She was secretly surprised as well that John didn't even protest his usual spiel about coincidences not being a thing and agreeing with Elliott. "And a coincidence that completely worked positively as well. Not only do you get to reunite with Cal and know she's very much well, but you get to see her on her special day which will mean so much to her" Kay commented.

Both girls listened to John speak, as well as Chas, agreeing that if it did happen those few weeks later it would have gone terribly. Not even Fia could say if she would have made it back here to help them or not. If it had gone sideways, chances are she would have read about it in her timeline and come back to help, rather than coming back to seek help. They both looked over at Jay when she contributed to the discussion and smirked, not putting that past the woman in the slightest. They also noticed the other siblings haul themselves up and get back to work. "I wouldn't even bother working that out, matter of fact is, we all know Jay isn't passed doing that if it came to it" Fia smirked, knowing if anyone could pull off such a task it would be in fact her.

 

[_gallifrog_]

By now all in the group were wise enough to know that when Jay mentioned violence, prison breaks, burglary, murder, blackmail, grevious bodily harm or just crimes in general she wasn't joking, she was either talking from her personal experience or seeing somebody else do it. At this stage it was the way she was wired, something that really didn't change too much through out her life. The only difference was that instead of being a mercenary she was on the more chaotic hero-vigilante-antihero end of the spectrum. Jay smirked at Fia's words and there was no mistaking that she was proud of her skill set and the chequered nature of her past. Even if it wasn't meant as a compliment she was going to take it as one. The alternative was to take it as a personal slander on her past.

Jay was tempted to say something like "and don't you forget it" in response, but decided against it as that would come out particularly threatening. "I suppose the moral of this story is don't get in prison in the first place, and if you do, make sure you know somebody with skills to break you out." "Or have a time traveller conveniently appear that knows exactly who to contact on the inside thus giving you entry to the group determined to do whatever they can to help." Jay answered with a wry expression before shrugging. "But his plan is more likely to be what happens." "Pretty sure if we didn't get pointed to Cliff we'd have been kinda fucked. Given that I forgot the League had a bloody TELEPORT device whatever plan made would probabaly have gone tits up." "Well we're all here now which is the more important part."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia didn't mean it bas a slander or compliment. It was merely a factual statement that Fia would never openly admit to admiring Jay for. Jay did whatever needed to be done, no matter what the consequences were and if could be down to the fact that Jay did play a part in her training in Fia's time but she always admired that strong trait of Jay's. If they were alone she would have probably high fived Jay or fiat bumped her to show she meant no ill will toward her with the statement, yet she wasn't so she didn't.

Fia and Kay both chuckled and nodded at Elliott's opinion on the conversation, and what he took from it. It was a very valid point to take from it all after all. "Agree with Chas. We're here, it's going well so far and that's the important thing." Kay added. "And there's the typical retort from both Kay and Chas" Fia playfully said, knowing out of all of them, it was always those two that found the positive and important thing to take out of something. She had a feeling that if either said anything that didn't find the good out of a situation then they were truly fucked. As even in her time, if anyone felt hope was lost, it would always be one or the other to keep on hoping for the rest of them, or at least that's how she always saw it as the teenager of the family. "Well someone has to" Kay smirked. "And I always swear by the fact that if either of both don't, then we're all well and truly screwed" Fia added.

 

[_gallifrog_]

It hadn't escaped Chas' attention that it was he and Kay who had the most positive outlook on everything in their lives. It had always been the way with him and John, he went for the positives of a situation while John's immediately went for what had gone wrong and who to pin the blame on. He was publically known for putting the blame on others and excusing himself of all fault (mainly due to being coerced into doing whatever it was in the first place) and he genuinely believed what he said. When John did blame himself it was because things were personal and had gone spectacularly wrong ad he just point blank refused to talk about them. Chas was the balencing force in their relationship, often acting a sthe peacemaker or at the very least a buffer between John and whoever he had offended.

"Good to hear that my outlook doesn't change." Chas replied in response to Fia's comments. "It's a very good thing indeed mate." John clapped a hand on Chas' shoulder as he spoke. "We both know that when your mindset changes things are utterly fucked with no bloody chance of return." There was something in John's tone and Chas' small but grave nod that suggested they'd seen it happen, that things had gotten that bad at some point or another. "Yep, if Chas ever goes full on embracing the dark side, we're all screwed. And not just us as a group, us as a planet." "It wouldn't be that bad." Chas rolled his eyes only for John to retort with "mate it bollocking well would."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay always presumed that because of their very similar outlook on life, that was why her and Chas always got along. Even when John was still sussing her out, they seemed to just get along in his cab, talking about films and whatever else. "Nope, it don't change!" Fia confirmed with a smile as she watched John clap a hand on his shoulder. When John confirmed what Fia said, she knew there was a story there but judging by Chas' grave look, she didn't dare touch on got. She knew when and when not to touch on a story, and this was very much a 'when not' situation. Fia wasn't brought up to be a fool.

Kay chuckled with a raised eyebrow at Elliott's dramatic sentence, thinking it couldn't ever be THAT bad, only for John to agree with Elliott. "I'm gonna agree with John and Ell here...that little reason why I came back here? Yeah...let's just say even Chas was losing hope and look at how bad THAT turned out to be before we changed it." Fia commented, referring to the fact that future Kay ended up in The Void near enough dead, with future John near enough giving up on getting her back. "And that's a small example" she added. She never wanted to experience that kind of thing again because it broke her heart how badly John took losing Kay to demons, and how close she basically came to losing her parents, whether it was literally or figuratively.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Chas made an 'eeesh, that's really not good' face when Fia added that even he was straying to lose hope in her future. And it usually took a couple of months for him to get that bad. He hadn't time travelled with them, but if he was getting that bad then he could see why Fia had resorted to time travel. John on the other hand had been there and seen just a fraction of what was going on. His future self mightn't be happy with Fia's call, but with this new nugget of information he was beginning to agree with her decision. Jay had felt that Kay's emotional pain whne she linked over the bond and had felt some of the physical pain, not that she had let that much on to the others, in her mind it wasn't important that they knew it. But there was a shift in her eyes at the mention of that time travel trip. "Hardly counts as small."

Rinaa could hear them talking from where she was crouched down bolting various support pieces together. She hadn't intended to eavesdrop, but it just sort of happened. She'd seen Chas loose hope in her timeline, she'd seen them all lose hope (though she doubted in some cases that it had even been there in the first place). Unbidden the memory came to mind, the memory of everybody gathered in John's apartment after their final last ditch cure had failed. All had dark circles around their eyes revealing that nobody had slept properly. John pacing and raking his hands through his hair, Chas just sitting on the couch looking utterly defeated, Cal with an arm around Cliff, both of them trying not to cry. Dan was also there (the only time he'd ever visited the group on Earth). But the worst of them was Jay, her eyes almost completly black and devoid of any emotion, one foot against the wall chainsmoking. Kay and Fia were in the background but since this was Rinaa's memory they were little more than redheaded blurs. She had unconsciously been pushing the memory into the others heads. It only lasted for a couple of seconds before she snapped oiy of her reminiscing (if it could be called that) "Pull yourself together" sshe thought to herself.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay noticed the facial expression of Chas', and hers wasn't that much different. Like him, she never time travelled with the group out of being too dangerous for her to do so. None of them spoke of it when they came back, just that it went successfully and she was indeed now safe in the future. That was enough for her to know, so hearing that even future Chas was giving up hope on finding a way to save her, she realised it must have been worse than she previously imagined. She also noted the shift in Jay's eyes and knew she definitely didn't want to know any more. "Small compared to how it could have gone, but you're right. It wasn't small" Fia remarked.

None of them realised that Rinaa could overhear their conversation that was between each other. Fia and Kay both thought the others were just too involved in their work that no one would have heard them. It was only when the extremely brief memory flashed into their minds that they realised Rinaa must have heard them talking and it triggered a memory of her own. Both of them saw that they were just a blur in her mind, which wasn't of any surprise. It made them look toward Rinaa briefly before back at the group.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Fia and Kay weren't the only ones to look at Rinaa, all of John's group did. The memory push, although unconscious had been selective and Cal, Dan, Cliff and her family had not received the brief glimpse into Rinaa's past. The teenager adamantly kept her back to them, desperately hoping that nobody would choose to ask her what exactly they had scene as the only answer she could give was "That was the day where you all gave up and realised what I'd known from the start that I was doomed to die and your attempts were doomed to fail." John had picked up on one particular fact in the memory, him smoking was not unusual, neither was the presence of cigararette butts and ash in the apartment. But the sight of Jay smoking was, he'd never seen her do it and he'd never seen any signs on her hands that she smoked.

Elliott beat him to asking. "You smoke?" His tone was filled with surprise as opposed to accusation. "Smoked, past tense." Jay replied, with a slight sigh."A stupid habit from when I was younger, a sort of coping mechanism for intense stress numbs the brain y'know." John nodded at that, he knew exactly what she meant, he did the same thing after all."But I quit before I came to Earth and haven't smoked since. So what you saw.." "Was a relapse." John finished the sentence for her. "Exactly." Jay nodded, if things had gotten bad enough for her to smoke that many cigarettes, then it was clear things were very bad indeed. "I don't miss it either, though as he" she gestured at Elliott"can attest to, my current coping mechanism is a punch bag."

 

[MzHyde]

When Kay and Fia had seen that in the memory, they thought they saw it wrong, so when Elliott brought it up in surprise, they realised that they did in fact see it and it wasn't a mistake. They both listened to Jay's explanation of how she used to but didn't anymore and hadn't for a long time. As she spoke, they came to the same conclusion as John had, that it was a relapse and it would have had to have been a damn bad reason for it to have happened.

"And as it was Rinaa's memory, it had to be tied to her impending death... it's the only thing that would make sense" Fia spoke, making sure only their group could hear her. It was the only thing she could truly think of that would create such an action. "From the very little we do know about her, it certainly matches up" Kay agreed on Fia's theory. "But either way, the fact it was so quick, she obviously didn't want us to see it and it was accidental. So I think it's best if none of us bring it up to her. Not unless it's completely necessary, we don't want to upset her again over it." Kay suggested. She truly thought it was the best option.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John hadn't even had to think before he finished Jay's sentence. He couldn't claim to know the assassin anywhere near as well as Elliott did, but it was obvious that she had a serious stubborn streak and immense willpower, meaning that it would take something seriously bad to cause her to relapse. He agreed with Fia's theory, almost everything Rinaa let be known about herself was either about her impending death or the polarised state of her life. Chas glanced over in the direction of the other teenager, who was walking away from them, towards Cliff's family. Once she was out of earshot he spoke "given the topic of our conversation I'd put my money on it being a memory of the last cure we could think of failing. She did say that in her timeline future us tried every cure we could think of and get our hands on, but to no avail."

Elliott nodded in agreement with Kay's words. "It was definitely accidental. When you" he gestured at Fia"showed up here for the first time, one of the reasons she admitted to storming off is the uncontrollable projecting that comes with the animal rage. It's like when I was younger in the grips of nightmares and would project my shit on John and Chas." The two men nodded, rembering exactly what he was talking about and how the intense emotional surge had meant he didn't need to touch somebody to push a memory into them. "It's the same principle for her, except she's awake." "It also has a combat use, push all the memories of hurt and pain into your opponent and overwhelm them so badly that they cannot fight back." Elliott gave Jay a look that said "really not the point."

"But yeah, there's no point bringing it up. If we've learned anything by now it's that she either won't talk at all or will give us the barest bone details to shut us up without actually explaining anything." "If she doesn't want us to know, we won't." "Exactly. It's really the only thing we can do for her."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia saw how Chas waited until Rinaa was well and truly out of earshot before giving his opinion, to which she nodded in agreement. To have everyone in that room at the same time and looking like everyone had given up, it had to be what Chas said. It would certainly drive anyone to relapse into old bad habits. With Kay saying she thought no one should talk to her about it, Fia definitely had no complaints about that. She turned her attention to Elliott when he gestured at her and listened to what he was saying. She suddenly found it all making sense to why she stormed off, even if at the time she didn't fully think much of it.

Fia nodded at Elliott's words. "Makes sense" she replied. Kay was glad that everyone was in agreement not to bring it up to Rinaa. If it was anyone else she would have probably done the same thing. Told people to not bring it up so it doesn't upset the person in question, yet she also knew at a given a moment if it was for example Fia, she would have privately spoken to her. Yet she knew everyone else was vastly different to Rinaa, and Rinaa was not someone to pry information out of. "If she brings anything up to anyone, listen but otherwise pretend you didn't see anything and just carry on." Kay agreed.

 

[_gallifrog_]

They all nodded at Kay's words. Neither teenager could be classified as 'typical' or 'normal' but out of the two, Fia was the more open by a long shot. Rinaa never gave sufficient context with her remarks, nothing that could pin down a specific date for anything. And that was a deliberate action on her part, espescially when it came to the date of Elliott's death, she of course knew it, but would never reveal it. It was the kind of knowledge that nobody should have. "Agreed." "I won't be pressin' it." "Neither will I, but if she does decide to talk to me about, I'll sure as Hells listen." "I'll do the same." Elliott and Jay figured that they would be the most likely candidates for her to talk to, but that wasn't a guarantee of anything.

The group slowly dispersed after that, Jay heading to help with the stage assembly acting as an extra pair of hands to pass and hold things that the clamps and jacks couldn't. Rinaa and Benji lived up to their earlier claims if not needing subtractions to assemble the stage and once the structural frame was completed the rest of it flew up. Strength testing consisted of everybody jumping on it as if it was a trampoline before Benji deckeared it was structural sound. Matteo offered to ride a horse across it, which was quickly shot down as a proposal. Helping lay out the tables and the panels if the dance floor was optional, but John, Chas, Elliott, Jay and Rinaa all got themselves involved. It was well into the afternoon whne Rinaa downed tools and was given the speedboat keys. "remember what I said about grevious boatily harm?" Charlie asked. "Yes and I give you my word it'll come back unblemished." "And just remember when you two get back, I'm fully going to revell in my role as mandatory annoying family member."

 

[MzHyde]

With it all agreed that they won't say anything unless spoken to, Kay watched everyone disperse. She was the last to get up, which Fia helped her with. She helped where she could, as did Fia, but Kay mostly stayed safe and out of the way. Fia was a lot more help in that regard. Kay watched on mostly, and she wouldn't lie that she was in fact the view. When the time came to Rinaa picking up Moya, she realised just how fast the day had been going.

Fia smirked at Jay's comment about being that token annoying family member, knowing that to those in the know it was her way of saying 'i'll be that typical mother who will drill my kid's romantic partners'. It just brought home how their group really weren't the types to not be like that and if it meant embarrassing the two of them, then they would very gladly jump at the chance. "Once again I'm glad I'm single" Fia remarked, making Kay smirk. "Your time will come" Kay replied smugly.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa rolled her eyes giving the obligatory annoyed teenager sigh. "Geez, thanks. You really don't have to you know. I would totally understand if you weren't up to it." "That's never gonna happen, it's far too much fun." Jay smirked back. "And my family wondered why I'd never bring friends or significant partners around." Rinaa replied in an accusatory tone, but it was clear in her eyes that she wasn't actually annoyed about it. But it was something made very clear in her timeline and by Leah in Fia's- family and friends were to be kept separate, espescially considering how the extended family would go out of their way to be annoying and downright embarrassing. There was also a hint of suggestion that certain family members wouldn't approve of some of the people she was hanging around with.

"If I were you I'd warn the girl before this one gets started." Elliott called out, to which Rinaa nodded. "Believe me, that's exactly what I plan on doing." She called over her shoulder,durectibg her next comment at Fia. "Sometimes being single is overrated, other times it's the bloody best way to live your life. Think on that." Elliott and Jay accompanied by Charlie went to see her off (or in the later's case make sure she didn't crash the boat while leaving the harbour). Rinaa successfully and skillfully piloted the boat out of the harbour, demonstrating that she knew what she was doing. "She'll be gone AT LEAST two and a half hours, given the tides, boat speed and where she's headed."

 

[MzHyde]

Both Kay and Fia just watched as the banter kept going on as Rinaa as leaving, though Fia just brushed off what she said in reply to her comment. She didn't much care for her opinion on the subject, and that wasn't any disrespect to Rinaa, she just didn't care for anyone's opinion on it particularly. Especially when she wasn't asking for an opinion. If she wanted to talk about it, she'd go to someone and Rinaa would be the last person she'd go to, so needless to say she wouldn't think on what Rinaa said.

Kay and Fia both nodded at the information, wondering what they'd all be doing whilst Rinaa was gone. "So what's the plan whilst she's gone?" Kay asked. She wasn't entirely sure what else if anything was needed to be done, and so didn't know if there was any plans in place. Fia glanced over at Kay when she asked the question, thinking it was a valid one. She also noticed Kay looked like she was lagging a little to her, but wondered if it was just her that thought so, so she said nothing, as she saw Kay, place one hand on her back. "Back ache?" She asked. "A little" Kay confirmed.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John had also noticed that Kay hadn't been as energetic as the others and was looking more tired. He guessed it to be a combination of exertion from so much physical exercise, flying taking up a deceptively large amount of energy and being pregnant. Cliff's siblings looked each other, then at the set up around them. With so many hands it had all flown together. All the tables were set up (albeit not decorated). Benji was the one designated to speak by some unspoken consensus. "Work wise with what you guys can help with we're done. Thanks so much for the help, makes it so much faster." The others nodded in agreement with his words smiling gratefully. "The only thing left to is lights and sound, but we're waiting til tomorrow or dark for those."

"In other words, there is no real plan. You guys can really just relax and do whatever you want here, feel free to just flop on the couch or hammock with a book or music and do nothing for the next few hours." Chas' expression at Cliff's words amde it quite clear that that was exactly what was going to do with himself. "I personally was going to go for a swim, it's been far too long and being dragged in by a sibling doesn't count." Cliff gave a look at Matteo, who just shrugged in faux innocence. "That actually sounds appealing, mind if I tag along?" "Not at all, consider it an open invitation to all." Cliff smiled. "And does the houseboat TV work?" Cliff nodded. "Then I might continue working my way through a show or two. Wouldn't want to intrude in the main sitting room as chances are you guys wouldn't understand the language."

 

[MzHyde]

Both Kay and Fia listened to the answer to Kay's question. The idea of just relaxing sounded like heaven to Kay, she was definitely feeling the fatigue from all the flying and other general bits of helping when and where she could. She didn't think it had been noticeable but clearly by Fia's question, it was. Fia was tempted to go for a swim but she had done a bit of it earlier when using the rope swing, so she decided to pass on the offer. Instead she would probably do something similar to Chas and nab a book from The House, or more to the point, her room at The House or grab her violin.

"The idea of doing nothing is more appealing to me." Kay remarked, despite guessing that if she didn't focus on something she'd fall asleep. "Might just grab a book from my room and come back over." Fia thought out loud. "Got any decent books? I've finished Heir of Fire and got zilch to read" Kay asked. "Got that whole series, want the next installment?" Fia replied, "hells yes" Kay said back. "Then I'll grab it when I grab one of my others" Fia told her, before turning her attention to John, "sooooo....mind letting me in The House or is it going to be another test to find another imaginative way to gain entrance?" She smirked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"I might mess around on the guitar for a while, didn't have a proper chance to use it as Cal helpfully smuggled it out of the cells for safety." Elliott shot a grateful look at Cal, before turning to Jay."What shows? Any I'd know." "At the moment I'm debating between 'Inspector Lynley Mysteries' from Earth and maybe 'Psycho-Astis'?" "You watch Psycho-Astis?" Charlie asked, the surprise and delight on her face visible. "Yes, but I'm particularly behind on it, can't find a decent source for it on Earth." "Well we all watch it and have basically every season on box set, so if you're down for a whole bunch of noisy, crazy fans doing the running commentary through out the whole thing then feel free to join us in the sitting room." "Other people's commentary is the best bit." Jay replied, to which Cliff's siblings grinned. "I like this one."

John smirked at Fia's remark, listening to the exchange between her and Kay,the televiosn conversation fading into the background. The interaction between the two was flawless, like they had been doing it for years (which in Fia's case was true). He couldn't help but feel irrationally prid of them for that. For him it highlighted the similarities between them and to an outside observer showed a close familial bond. There was so many similarities between them beyond the physical appearance. It could be seen in the way they spoke, the way they held themselves and in certain phrases. "No problem with letting you in the regular way. Though if you feel the need to dramatically enter by some novel means, I'm not going to prevent it." He told her as he began to head towards The House, Chas joining their group so that he could get his book from the room he'd claimed.