Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[MzHyde]

Kay nodded at John's words, she didn't really know why she even apologised for it, it wasn't something to be apologising for, yet she found herself doing it anyway. She knew John's sleeping patterns could be all over the place whereas it always felt lately Kay could just sleep constantly. When he warned her about if he doesn't come back, he's just ended up sleeping somewhere weird she nodded yet again. "Sure" she replied, stepping up to him not caring that she was just in her underwear and kissing him. "Guess I'll say goodnight now then just in case" she smiled as she pulled away.

Fia walked back upstairs and to her room, where she left the door open without really thinking and put the bottles of drink in her own little mini fridge. It was a habit she picked up to doing for a while in her time that just made things easier when she was busy studying. Mostly when she was still in the school age and getting home schooled by Sam, she invested in the mini fridge as she'd be up most of the night studying what Sam gave her to do, which then turned into all nighters studying magic. She got fed up trekking up and down the stairs so she got the mini fridge. Locking her sneakers off, she pulled out her vr set up from under her bed, which unlike the sets in this time wasn't nearly as bulky. There was two types, the contact lense type or the shades type. Fia never trusted the lenses and hated putting anything in her eyes, so when Sam got her the variant that was like sunglasses visor, she was glad.

She turned them on by a button on the underside of the arms, putting them on, she grabbed her gloves that were fingerless but had wired pads that stuck her fingertips. They sort of resembled archery gloves but not completely. "Right...what to go for...." Fia muttered, as she was used her right gloved hand to scroll through her neat folders she created for training simulations and gaming. The folders came up in front of her as she scrolled like a hologram, so anyone would be able to see what she was doing. She then went for a horror game in the end, clicking 'activate'.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John hadn't been exoecting Kay to simply waltz up to him dressed in nothing but sleepwear and kiss him. Had Kay not been pregnant that action would have had a completly different outcome. But he controlled that urge and shoved those thoughts firmly out of his mind before by physical reactions could occur. He rolled his eyes at the cheesiness of what Kay had just said, resisting the urge to groan. His life was fast devolving into one filled with romantic clichés and he honestly wasn't quite sure how to feel about that, it really wasn't his style, he already embodied enough tropes, he really didn't need to add any more to the list. "Well that's one way to say good night." He smirked.

When he finally left the room, untangling himself from Kay John found himself wandering The House. It looked like it always did yet there was a definite change to it, that he could put his finger on. It didn't feel right to him, like he was in an imitation of The House. The hairs on his neck were standing up on end and he knew in his gut things werent right. There were subtle differences here and there, the colour of a wall, the scratches on the flooring, paintings in different places, and it took John wandering up to the fourth floor to figure out what it was. It felt like a proper home, like it was lived in. The House disregarded the way time flow was meant to go at the best of times, but right now it had given up all notions of following a linear timeline. This was closer to The House that Fia knew than it was to The House John had aquired. He found himself walking into rooms he'd never seen before, rooms he probably shouldn't be seeing. There was no doubt in his mind that Fia's presence was doing this, Rinaa couldn't set foot in The House after all and the layout The House had chosen was the one Fia knew. John had never seen anything like that happen before and knew it could only be bad.

"House will ya bloody pull yourself together? Yes having time travellers around is weird, but that's no excuse for trying to creep the bejeezus out of me." John called out to The House his tone laced with annoyance. He made his way back downstairs, half expecting The House to try and stop him, but it didn't. John wanted to get as far away from the gmfuture layouts as possible. That really wasn't something he felt like dealing with right now. He ended up outside Fia's room, out of view from Fia, just watching her go through the game.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay smirked at his reaction. She didn't intend it to sound cheesy or come across as anything other than she wanted to do her usual show of affection to him whilst they were alone. With John leaving the room, she went back into bed and pulled the duvet right up, just like she always did. It was how she felt the most comfortable and safe when John wasn't around. It also became a habit for security because until she met John, she didn't have the luxury of duvets and comfortable mattresses to sleep in. It still felt like a luxury to her even after all this time, one that she was pretty damn sure she would never take for granted, and no one would probably ever truly understand. With her head hitting the pillow and her eyes closing, it took her no time to fall into a deep slumber.

Fia started the game which was projected out around her, which in turn made her look like she was in something like cyberpunk 2044. It had been a while since she last played a cliche horror house game and yes they were cliché but she got a stupid fun kick out of playing them, which wouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone who knew her love for horror films. For her perspective she was glancing around a dimly lit room, trying to find clues for escaping, she had no idea that John was even watching by this point. As she breathed out the projected scenery showed icy breath appear as she exhaled, so with a flick of her hand she picked out a projected weapon of choice in one hand and turned on a torch with the other. She looked around, even looking at the floor for the game's broken floorboards, when the game made a spirit come out of nowhere and straight into her face, which made her yelp and jump back, somehow missing her chest of drawers. "shitting hells!" She cursed.

 

[_gallifrog_]

It was strange watching somebody play a VR game, John had no idea what Fia was doing in game, so it looked utterly ridiculous from his perspective. The goggles and gloves weren't helping matters either, only adding to the absurdity of the whole thing. He could tell when she was scrolling through options and settings, but that was really it. Everything else was a complete guessing game. Whatever game she was doing wasn't primarily combat based, he could deduce that much from her movements which were too precise and measured. The fact that Fia was looking in all directions while playing made John guess that it was some kind of strategy based game.



When Fia jumped backwards with a loud curse it took all of John's self restraint not to burst out laughing and give away his presence. The fact she was wearing sunglasses made him perfectly able to see the expression on her face and the fact that she'd very nearly crashed into the chest of drawers only made matters funnier. He kept a hand over his mouth to ensure she wouldn't be made aware of his presence. Her language wasn't as imaginative as the last time, he was exoecting something more along the lines of "shit on it! Shit on the bloody thing!" He idly wondered if Fia had ever watched Friday Night Dinner (a show he'd only found about through Chas and Renee as it wasn't his usual type at all). It was far funnier than he'd expected it to be.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia still didn't know that John was watching her or that he was struggling to not laugh hysterically at her jumping at the jump scare. "Bloody jump scares!!" She cursed, as dodged the next attack, span round and made a swing that could only be put down as sword or staff wielding in John's perspective. Fia was also one of these teenagers when her cursing would either be highly imaginative or utterly boring, and it turned out this time it was the latter. As she got rid of the spirit in the game, she span her head round to hear the locked door unlock at the other side of the room. She 'headed' toward the door, stretched her hand out and opened the door, seeing the long dark corridor lit up red. "Oh sure....long red corridor...that doesn't scream bad omen at all!" She said sarcastically.

She took a deep breath and continued forward in the game, still unaware that John was even watching. If she had, she would have linked the vr to her TV so he could see what she was seeing. She went down the corridor and as she went through the lights behind her went out, another typical trope that wasn't realistic at all, but in vr it still got her blood pumping. She almost saw this as a type of training in a weird way, and clenched her fist and stretched it back open as she reached the end of the corridor. She reached a staircase that went down to a basement, "a basement?! Seriously?!" She complained. Going 'downstairs' to the basement, and as she stepped on a loose floorboard in the game it creaked and she paused her movements looking around. "Nothing jump out...please please please" she muttered before continuing on and the room went black.

It was then she heard creaking, mumbling and other distracting sounds. She put her real life brain on and focused on the main noises, glancing around slowly, using the torch option to try and see through the dark, but the light was flickering and went out. Then came the boss fight, which she managed to be prepared for and kept dodging and fighting, until a haunted mannequin came out from the side of her, screaming in her face and making her jump, stumble and fall flat on her arse. "FOR FUCKS SAKE YOU BLOODY SHITTING MANNEQUIN BOLLOCKED SHITHEAD!!" She complained seeing the game over words pop up in front of her. She took her shades off with a huff.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John hadn't meant to stay watching for as long as he had. He'd ended up at Fia's room by pure chance and only looked in out of curiosity as the door was left open. Had it been closed he would have simply walked on, maybe gone out on the porch for a bit and smoked a cigarette. But what he was seeing was proving far too entertaining to simply walk away from. After the initial jump scare Fia began her narration of the game (albeit a snarky running commentary that reminded John of what he himself might say during a horror movie). With Fia now narrating, the game started to make a lot more sense to John and he could sort of match what she was doing in the real world to what she could potentially be doing in the game.

He could see that Fia was totally immersed in the game and kept his laughter in and his snraky comments unsaid. Even knowing what she was doing Fia still looked ridiculous and John found himself unable to remove his arm from his mouth for fear of him giving his position away. A basement could never bode well in a game, so the concentration and what could be a slight hint of fear on Fia's face was justified in John's mind. He could tell when started fighting something, her whole attitude changed. Even though this was a game, her moves were slick and well practiced, a testiment to the various people who had trained her. She was doing well, and although John couldn't see the for, he was optimistic that she was winning the fight. That was until something startled her from the side and she fell arse-ways on the floor in such an undignified manner that John had to bite down on his hand to stop the laughter from escaping. The cursing only made things funnier and John retreated down the corridor before slumping against the wall, his shoulders shaking with silent laughter. He couldn't be seen from Fia's room, nor with a casual glance out the door.

 

[MzHyde]

"always the bloody mannequins!" She complained to herself, as she grabbed a drink and took a swig from the bottle. "Right...this means war asshole" Fia then said determined, she had plotted a strategy in her head as she had her drink, and stood up, ignoring the pain she felt as she fell to the floor. For someone who was unbelievably playful and a jokester, she got ridiculously serious and competitive over gaming. She started up the game again after putting the shades back on, loading it up at the checkpoint which happened to be at the top of the stairs to basement. She armed herself up with the game's katana before stepping into the basement once more.

"I am not going to bed defeated" she told herself as she focused, her breathing slowing down to a steady beat. "To beat the enemy..be the enemy" she quietly told herself, as the boss made its presence known and came for her, she spent her time dodging the attacks, keeping a distance, she wasn't going to fight the main boss just yet. She was waiting for the haunted mannequin to appear and come to life and as she turned to the right, she managed to dodge the attack, making her character swing to the side and round to behind the enemy to which she swung her katana round and down, dismembering it of its arms in one swift movement.

A smirk crept on her face which showed she wasn't treating this solely as a game anymore. The mannequin came for her again making her dodge the attack and she removed the legs before slamming the katana through its neck and beheading it, killing it expertly. Now came for the boss which took a lot more effort to fight. Due to the nature of the game, she had other equipment to use, swiftly changing it out for something else. The boss fight took her all of 1minute 30seconds to defeat and she won the level. Panting, she ended the game and took the shades off.

 

[_gallifrog_]

It took a few minutes for John's laughter to subside to a point where he trusted himself to go back and watch again without giving himself away. It was something he did in the future too- watch Fia gaming, usually without her knowing what he was doing. It gave a different insight into Fia and showed another side of her. Here he could see that she was incredibly determined and refusing to give up. It seemed like the failure was spurring her on to better and beat it the next time around, two traits that would certainly be useful in the future given that she was intent on following the mage side of her into the dark and dank world John inhabited.

John leaned against the wall as he watched this time, one foot against the faded wallpaper, the other on the wooden floorboards. He could tell from her motions that Fia was sneaking 'down' to the basement, hell bent on not getting caught out this time. The fact that the mannequin (or at least what he assumed to be the mannequin based on Fia's fighting moves) came from the exact same place as last time told him that the game didn't randomly generate enemies to fight. Her fighting moves were fast, precise and damn impressive even to a watcher. It would be clear, even to any casual observer with next to no combat training that Fia's moves weren't simply reacting, she'd been trained and was brutal. That brought a strange feeling of pride to John, knowing that at the very least they'd made Fia into a very capable badass.

Once Fia had killed the final boss, in a swift and decisive victory, practically over before it had even begun, John gave a thumbs up and a wave for no reason other than Fia couldn't see him and sloped off down the corridor, heading towards the stairs to the ground floor

 

[MzHyde]

As Fia took off her shades and the gloves, turning it all off, she heard footsteps from the hallway and turned round but saw no one particularly there. She shrugged it off as if it was nothing, knowing it would be nothing whilst being inside The House and grabbed her drink again. She debated whether or not to continue with the vr or just do something else entirely next, still completely oblivious that John had been watching her the entire time. She was still awake enough to not be able to go to sleep, that much she knew for certain.

In the end she chose to put on some music via her headphones and laid out on her bed, her left foot firmly pressed into the mattress, whilst her right leg went over her left knee, her right foot bouncing in the air to the beat of the music. She stared up at the ceiling, putting her hands behind her head and she found herself quietly singing to herself along to the music. Despite being very much awake, she needed the break from the vr combat, and this was the best way for her to unwind from it. Eventually she'd find herself getting off her bed and going to her desk, opening up one of the many books about magic she had on it and began reading, whilst listening to her music.

Kay's sleep for once wasn't too disrupted, but it wasn't without dreaming. Yet again she dreamed of her kind and where they came from, yet those dreams flickered in-between images of her normal human life, so it made the dream terribly confusing. In her sleep she gripped the duvet, tightly holding it close to her face. Every now and then she mumbled in the dead pheonix language.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John ended up wandering around The House for a good portion of the night. He never did make it back to his and Kay's room, never feeling tired enough to sleep. The House often had that affect on him, making it much easier to pull an all-nighter of research. He could go for days without sleeping while in The House and still be operating at full capacity, but that only seemed to be something that occurred to him as owner of The House. He did end up outside, leaning against the rough wooden wall, smoking and taking in the island at night. It was a curious sight. There were lights kept on on Cliff's family home, as well as two bright orbs cast by the lighthouses at the tips of the harbour headlands. In the distance he could make up specks of light coming from the nearby islands, but apart from that there were no other sources of artifical light. The skies were clear of both light pollution and clouds, revealing a starscape completly different to that of earth. He remembered the mythology stories from the night before, it was the kind of thing that fascinated him. In the end he never did head back in and was still out there when Chas came out.

Chas had managed to sleep the whole night, but it wasn't easy sleep. He'd been plagued by jumbled thoughts and images, some of them were his own memories, he knew that much, good, bad and the very ugly. But as the night progressed the tone of the 'dreams' changed. He was certain they weren't his home. Some of the places he recognised from the description Kay had given him of the pheonix homeworld. Others were completly unknown- midnight meetings on darkened roofs, chases through a far dingier dirtier version of London than the one he knew, their gang fighting demons in an alleyway and pushing them through a void portal, what looked like a medical facility (albeit an abandoned one), running on trails in London, an illegal concert at an underground train station, a whole pile of coffee cups, two planets colliding together and shattering into a million pieces, Jay's face draining of blood as she looked through the glass at something he couldn't see, a wasteland of ruined buildings and scavengers and so many more. The one that woke him was the image of a sword being driven towards his heart, and not just any old sword, the sword Dan had made, the one that scarred Elliott. Chas woke with a jolt, one hand pressed to his chest, checking for signs of an injury. "Flipping Hells, what was that?" He groaned, flopping back onto the pillow.

IIt took him fifteen minutes to suitably gather himself together before heading out of his room and out the door for fresh air. He was so wrapped in his thoughts that he didn't notice John there. "You look like shit mate." "Geez, don't do that creeping up thing, you scared the shit out of me." He shot back, not feeling the tiniest bit embarrassed about being so easily startled. "Somebody's jumpy. Bad night?" "Yeah."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay kept mumbling in her kind's dead language, but instead of it being a simple phrase that was seeming to be repeated over and over again, it was like she was replying to someone. A full blown conversation that only her side of it could be heard...if anyone was even in the room, which there wasn't. She was so deep in her dream, she couldn't stir awake even if her body and mind wanted to so desperately. The imaging however was blurred, fuzzy...it was similar to if she was looking through a foggy rain storm and all that could be made out was the silouette of her kind standing in front of her. Strange dreams seemed to be becoming a regular thing for her and if she was awake she would be wondering if it was foreshadowing anything.

Late into the night Fia fell asleep at her desk, her head flat on the book that was open, one arm hanging down by her side and one hand just above her head on the desk. A sleeping position that she would easily and quickly regret by the morning. Which is exactly what happened when morning came round and she stirred awake, her face peeling off the page of the open book, her spine cracking as she sat upright with a groan. "Fuck...." She complained. She got up off the chair and went to her bag to pull out some fresh clothing and got changed. She had no idea if her parents or Chas were awake, and she didn't even know what time it was, yet when she was dressed, she headed downstairs.

Kay was the last one to stir awake, and get up. She looked around and saw John never made it to bed, remembering his warning from the night before so didn't get worried. With a sigh, she pulled herself up onto her feet and pulled out some clothes and got dressed, shoving on some maternity shorts and a baggy vest of hers. "Guess it's the start of a new day" she sighed to herself, her dream still on her mind, thinking about the conversation in it. She pulled on some sneakers and left the bedroom to head downstairs. She saw Fia first and smiles, "hey kiddo" she greeted, "morning" Fia said back grumpily. "What's up with you?" "Fell asleep at my desk...now got back pain" Fia replied as they headed out onto the porch to find John and Chas both there.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Chas startling easily had been the first sigh that all was not right with his mate. Add to that the rumpled appearance and the slight shadows around his eyes and it was clear that all was not well with Chas Chandler. If there was one thing John could count on Chas to be it was brutally honest, he spoke his mind particularly when something bothered him. When Chas kept secrets it was because etheyd been told to him in the strictest confidence. For Chas to say it was a bad night John knew it was significant. "What was it that kept you up? Nightmares of some sort?" John asked, stepping forwards to beside where Chas was standing on the front porch.

Chas shrugged, then sighed, resisting the urge to rake a hand through his already messy hair. "Not exactly, it was these weird memory flashes. Started off as my memories. There didn't seem to be a pattern to them, just stiff that happened, good stuff, everyday memories like making coffee and chatting with mates, bad stuff like those countless pub brawls and a the downright terrifying and ugly, Gary's death by demon." "But that's not what's freaking you out." John deduced narrowing his eyes slightly, trying to figure out what exactly could put Chas in such a state. "Thos examples are your memories. Was it stuff from the book knowledge?" "Maybe." Chas let out a long sigh as John waited for him to elaborate. "Some matched what Kay told me about the pheonix homeworld and the images of it that I saw, but these were different, different places and people. But it's the other bits that don't make sense."

"This would sound crazy" Chas shook his head with a hollow laugh that neither paid any attention to. "If it was anybody's lives but ours of course." He waved a hand dismissively in the air before contuing. "I think I saw future memories, and not just mine either, I couldn't put an owner to most of them, but we.....our whole group featured in them." "What did they show." "One was you, an older you, fighting demons, nothing new there, some kind of illegal underground concert, a grave marker at the edge of a cliff, I think on Attil, a creepy abandoned facility, like something out of a horror movie, two planets smashing into each other and being obliterated.... and there was one of Jay seeing something that made her entire face drain of blood." He gestured, running a hand in a downwards direction over his face. "And being stabbed by the same sword that scarred Ell." "Hells." John replied, unable to think of anything to say to that, none of those images... memories seemed to be pleasant. "My thoughts exactly." It was as he said this that Kay and Fia came out.

 

[MzHyde]

Neither Fia or Kay heard any of what Chas said to John as they both came out at the end of the conversation. "Chas you look how I feel" Fia commented, as she once again stretched her back out. "Except your 'feeling shit' is your own fault" Kay countered to Fia, making the teenager just flip Kay off and Kay smirking. "I didn't CHOOSE to fall asleep at my desk...it just happened. Don't even know when I exactly fell asleep" Fia said back soon after in protest.

If the girls heard Chas say about the weird dreams that had him on edge, Kay would have found it too strange that it happened the same night she was dreaming about conversing with her kind. "At least you didn't have any weird dreams that only consisted on pure conversation with what felt like a foggy lense" Kay then said, thinking nothing of it. Fia looked at Kay with a raised eyebrow, "so that's why you looked like your kind was elsewhere when you came down the stairs just now" Fia remarked, making Kay nod.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Chas rolled his eyes at Fia's remark, knowing here was no malice in her words, just as there was no malice in his action. "I would say I look worse than I feel but I haven't actually seen myself....." John solved that problem by taking a photo of Chas and passing the phone over to him. "Scratch that, I feel exactly like I look." He sighed slightly, shaking his head as he passed the phone back. He probably should have stopped and made himself more presentable, but he hadn't been thinking straight, the flurry of memories becoming overwhelming. He was among friends, who no doubt had seen and would see him far worse for wear.

Chas and John relaxed slightly at the Bayer between Kay and Fia. Seemed like Rinaa wasn't alone in falling asleep in strange places. "Desks are like baths, you really can't get a comfortable night sleep in them." At the mention of dreams John raised an eyebrow and Chas turned to properly face the two. It couldn't be a coincidence, though what Chas had dreamed about in relation to pheonix kind didn't sound anything like what Kay had experienced. "Well at least you had dreams that sort if made sense and weren't just an incoherant imalagamation of other people's future memories, including bits that looked like the came straight out of a horror movie and an apocalypse disaster movie."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay smirked when John took a photo and showed Chas just how bad he looked, only for him to confirm that how he looked matched how he felt. Fia nodded in agreement at John's comment about falling asleep at desks, knowing there was no way on any planet in any universe or timeline that she could disagree with that statement.

Both girls looked at Chas and John when they looked at them at the mention of the dreams, and listened to Chas' remark, pulling a face that perfectly expressed 'yeesh!' as their reaction. "Except for the fact that my conversation was entirely in the old dead Phoenix language and spoke of an impending darkness coming....that would plague me" Kay replied to Chas. She could still recall the whole chat in her head and perfectly translate it all still, even though she had no idea how she could translate the old language still. "I'm sorry..what?" Fia spoke up first raising an eyebrow. "Exactly as I say...that's all that was said and I tried to get more information out but was told 'simul katalaváete te' which basically means 'you'll understand soon'. Or as it feels to me...'when it's too late'" Kay explained. She did leave out some of the conversation though as she did not want Fia hearing it as it mentioned her.

So with Chas saying what he was dreaming, it really started to feel too much of a coincidence to be one in Kay's mind.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John and Chas listened as Kay explained her dreams further, they certainly sounded more coherant than Chas' fragments and no doubt more relevant. At the words 'impending darkness' the two turned to each other giving a look that said quite clearly "are you thinking what I'm thinking?" John nodded in reply before speaking to Chas aif Kay and Fia weren't even there. "It's too close a match to be a coincidence, even though I really thought that after our last time Stateside.... and what happened with with Liv, Zed and Jim that we were done with this whole rising darkness bollocks. Should be known that it was too good to be true." "You heard anything from them recently?" "Pffft, you kidding me? Absa-fuckin'-loutly nothing. Liv ran out of this world as if her life depended on it, yet told me to go and fix this bollocks as if that's me bloody job." "Well......" "Don't say it is my job mate, that was bloody rhetorical. Zed's still in a veg state last time I heard and Jim still hates me guts." "Fair enough." Chas sighed, trying to think of who John would be on good enough terms with that they'd tell him about a resurgence.

"Don't suppose you've heard anything from our Northern duo?" "Trio if you count Vestibulon. And no, nothin'. Neither of them are goin' along the mage path properly, they just have friends in low places, in the gangs and behind the bars that give a good pint." "Hardly surprising I suppose, I guess it's somethin' to look into when we get back." "So much for your holiday." "We both knew this was going to happen."

John rolled his eyes at the line 'you'll understand soon'. It was the typical bullshit that prophetic people spouted in the hopes of sounding all mysterious and wise, but really just ended up sounding stuck up, arrogant and holier than thou. "It's just another way of saying 'fuck off, do as you're told and don't ask stupid questions' really. I know a lot of wankers like that. And they always tell you the vital stuff way too late. It's like it's a rule they all have to follow."

 

[MzHyde]

Both Kay and Fia watched as John and Chas looked at each other and started talking as if they weren't even there. Under normal circumstances and if it was anyone else both girl's would find it highly rude and irritating, to the point they'd insert themselves into the conversation just to make a blunt point. Yet it was John and Chas...they did this a lot and it was just how they were, so neither girl took offence to it. Even if they were curious to what went down stateside that linked to anything that Kay just said.

She knew she'd have to tell John about what was said about Fia at some point, but she really didn't want to say anything just yet. For all she knew, this could just be her mind going crazy on her because she was pregnant and just bringing Fia into it when she possibly has nothing to do with it. She couldn't help but smirk slightly when John rolled his eyes at the next thing she told him and nodded, "oh I got that. Dream me called them out on it. Seems I'm just as stubborn and snarky in my dreams as real life" she smirked. "Is that all that was said?" Fia asked. Kay nodded, even though she was lying, "uh huh, went on repeat, it was weird" Kay just casually lied to Fia.

"You're lying to her Kay, it won't end well if you continue lying." Fee finally spoke up after all this time. "Oh so you are awake...look I'm doing it to protect her" she thought back before thinking back on the other words that were said to her. 'you must survive.....you must bring the light.....the power of two....plague you..." There were so many keys things that unnerved her but she refused to put that concern on Fia's shoulders. She was beginning to feel that maybe saving her in the future triggered something she did not want triggered.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Chas didn't mean to be rude by talking to John as if Kay and Fia weren't there (John was a different matter, it was second nature for him to be rude and abrasive without realising it). It was also a case that explaining what exactly had happened with regards to the ririsng darkness would take a couple of hours and even then wouldn't convey the sheer extent of what happened. But their expressions made it clear that what had happened was serious. John and Chas' years spent having each others backs meant that whne they started talking about the past it was totally normal for them to cut all other people out of the discussion, not wanting to bother with long winded explanations.

John smirked when Kay said that she refused to take shit from the dream message. That was the way to do things and he was pretty delighted to hear that Kay's general spunk and sass translated into her dream self as that wasn't often the case with people. He did get the sense that Kay was holding back on something, but not why she was choosing to do so. His gut said it was something to do with Fia as she actually had a role of some sort to play in the pheonix world. "You could get Ell to go through both your 'dreams', see if he can find something else there or at least get more details." "That would definitely help me, it's all a jumble of stuff, I don't even know if they are from the same people or even the same timeline...." He trailed off, lapsing into thought, a theory now forming in his mind.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay saw the smirk from John when she mentioned about being snarky in her dreams and she could tell from the bond that it actually delighted him to hear she didn't change just because she was dreaming. Which made her wonder if her general spunk was something he particularly liked about her. But that was a whole different topic and one she didn't want to or care to get into just now. She also noticed how he could tell she was keeping something back, so she gave him the look that said 'i'll give you the full conversation when we can get alone time'.

With the suggestion about going dream walking with Ell to figure things out, she nodded figuring it was definitely a good idea with Chas particularly. "it's definitely worth it for Chas. As for mine? I'm not sure it'll do much. The talking was clear but the images? It was like looking through a foggy rain storm" She replied, knowing that look on Chas' face. "You've got a theory" she pointed out.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John nodded back in response to Kay's nod, a small movement, barely noticeable unless you were looking hard for it. He could be subtle when he wanted to, but John usually didn't bother. John had suggested Elliott mind walking through the dreams as last time it had yielded useful results with Kay, and also worked on John's dreams and even on a very rare occasion, the visions of a psychic. Elliott had spent almost his whole life honing his MindWalking skills (it had been his strongest (and publically known) power on Attil), so if anybody could manipulate the fragments and find something useful it was him. "It can't do any harm, put it that way."

John instantly recognised Chas' 'thinking face' and was going to say something, but Kay beat him to it. The cabbie nodded. "Yeah, I do, currently it's little more than a shot in the dark though." He shrugged, prompting John to make a gesture for him to spit it out so they could all be the judge of whether it was viable or not. "What Kay's seeing is clearly about some future event, something that hasn't happened yet, and I think that's the same for me. Only I'm not seeing one future, I'm seeing at best guess... two versions of the future. One which I would speculate, just speculate, there's nothing to back this up with keep that it in mind, matches the timeline Fia knows. The other I think is Rinaa's but I have no way to prove this. And I think it's the book letting me access this unconsciously, it knows the future, so by definition, I know the future too."

 

[MzHyde]

Because Kay was looking directly at John, she saw his subtle nod, glad that he got what she was trying to convey across without a single word being spoken. She knew Elliott's mind walking did prove to get results with her before, so when John said it wouldn't hurt, even if it didn't bring anything to the forefront, she realised he had a valid point. "Point taken" she replied to him simply. She then looked back at Chas and listened to what Chas had to say, confirming her suspicions about him having a theory.

She listened intently to what he was theorising, nodding every now and then, agreeing with what he was saying. "Strangely makes sense to me. I mean, it's complex as all hell but makes some weird sense, even if whatever you saw could be questionable. But in the 'for fucks sake there's nothing good in either timeline if that's the case' way. Which would also mean there's no way it's a.l coincidence that you and I both had dark dreams last night" She replied. Fia was quiet the entire time but listening to everything so intently to make sure everything stayed in her mind. She was curious and confused at everything. "I'd say both of you seek help from Elliott when you can. Just to be safe." She finally spoke up. She didn't want any of her family possibly hurt in the future and if that meant finding it out so they could stop it from.happening, she'd do it. "And I can blatantly tell mum is hiding something..just FYI" Fia added.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John listened to Chas's theory, agreeing with Kay, there was no way that both of them having weird dreams was a coincidence or a good sign. He had no doubt that Kay's was a warning, she'd stated that that much was implied. Chas' was more complicated, but the book theory made a surprising amount of sense when he actually thought about. The unconscious mind was a powerful force, and knowing what Chas was like conscious his unconscious mind would be just as voracious in it's search for knowledge. Chas let out a hollow chuckle at Kay's words, but there was no joy in it. He didn't like his theory, as it only proved that neither Rinaa's nor Fia's timeline was a good one. It looked like they'd be trying to change the future to another timeline entirely.

"There's no way it's a coincidence, that much agree with. Everything else is just complete conjecture, it may sound like it works on some level, but I'm barking up the wrong tree with all this. But if that is th case, then it looks like we want some other timeline other than yours or Rinaa's to win out, no offense." He glanced at Fia as he said that, knowing that it was all kinds of offensive to say that somebody's timeline, their reality, their whole life was unwanted. "But I'm definitely getting Ell in on this, even if it is so he can slow down the fragments and let me see them better." He replied, as they began to make their way over to the main house. Neither Chas nor John said anything to Fia's comment about Kay holding something back, unsure of how to react. The only thing they knew for sure was that neither of them knew what it was.

 

[MzHyde]

The last thing Kay wanted to accept was that even Fia's timeline proved to end up not good, just like Rinaa's. She thought all this time that Fia's albeit had a great deal of over protectiveness, was good in comparison. Now there was the chance it wasn't as good as they thought and that worried her a great deal. Kay recognised the hollow chuckle of Chas' as one not of joy. She had spent plenty of days in her growing up making that very chuckle to make people think she was amused, when she was in fact feeling quite dead inside.

Both girls listened to what Chas said, hearing him agree with Kay that was no way it was a coincidence. Fia held her hands up in that 'no offence taken' manner. "None taken, if some of what you saw is my timeline then things got screwed up somewhere because it was no where near that bad when I left" Fia explained. Sure, it was an incredibly offensive things to say if it was to anyone else, and once upon a time she probably would have been offended, but she knew Chas would never go out of his way to offend her. Though that wasn't to say that she wasn't concerned about what must have happened or could happen to make things change so much. "I guess all we can do is not worry u til we get Ell's help" Fia commented. She walked with them all to the other house and remained quiet the whole time.

Kay made a point to walk on John's other side. The whole chat put her on edge inside, she reached out and grabbed his hand, seeking that unspoken comfort. Hearing Fia say she knew Kay was keeping things from her, actually hurt her a little more than she thought it would. She never wanted her daughter to feel like she was being lied to and purposely kept in the dark. Yet she felt like it was the best course of action at this moment.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"That's part of the issue, I don't even know if what I saw is from your timeline, let alone what point it is in the timeline, if any. It could be a couple of thousands year in the future for all I know. Two bloody planets colliding and smashing each other into oblivion doesn't exactly give me an exact date. There's far too little detail to make sense of anything and not enough glimpses of people to confirm which timeline it is. It's pure conjecture at this stage, I'm probably getting this all wrong and talking shit." Chas continued, but his words were more to convince himself than any of the others, but they weren't even succeeding at doing that.

Entering the house revealed a slecetion people sitting around, Nat was in one corner continuing work on his carving, which was slowly but surely taking the shape of a person, one that looked suspiciously like Cal to be precise. His head snapped up as they entered, his hands shielding the figure from view until he recognised that neither Cal nor Cliff were entering the room and stopped hiding the figurine. Cliff's father was in the kitchen getting his breakfast together. Charlie was in an armchair reading. Moya was on the beanbag, her wings spread out, laptop balanced on her legs. She had headphones on and was listening to an audio track. Beside her was a list of songs in Rinaa's handwriting, some crossed out. Rinaa was sitting near her with Elliott.

"So after all this, I still don't get hear anything?" The teenager shook her head with a sigh that indicated that this point had been raised at least twelve times already. "I need an outsider opinion on the matter. And this reverse stage fright thing is no joke, even if you are relatively new as family member in my life." Both looked up at the arrival of the others. "Mornin'. Chas you look... rough." "Morning, and I gotta agree on that. You look only slightly better than if you slept in bath tub." "Gee, thanks for the glowing compliments."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia just nodded at Chas' words. Of course he was right, it could have just been a weird ass dream that was tangled up in some truth of future knowledge and a load of it meant nothing. They couldn't dwell on something they genuinely didn't know anything about at this stage, it would just work them all up when they should be all happy and looking forward to a wedding. Entering the house, both Fia and Kay noticed how Nat was quickly hiding the little wooden figure he was carving, and how Rinaa and Moya were with Elliott.

Neither Fia or Kay smiled or smirked at the comments on how Chas looked, it just brought their private conversation to the forefront once again, and Kay subconsciously squeezed John's hand. She didn't even speak up when the talking started up, having nothing to say on the topic like Fia did earlier. Fia just sat down in the closest available place she could find to her. Kay's mind was fully on the conversation at The House and particularly her dream, which was playing more on her mind than she truly wanted. She sat on the couch, and just remained quiet, still trying to figure out what any of her dream chatter meant.