Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[MzHyde]

Kay was thinking all the same things as the three men in the room, even if she didn't say anythibg, she found herself glancing across at Fia every few seconds just to keep an eye on her, but to her she seemed to be doing okay all things considered, even if Fia did partially blame herself for Rinaa deciding to come to this decision. When Chas broke the silence, she couldn't help but look toward him as he told Elliott to go after Rinaa so she didn't do this plan alone. She did find the corner of her mouth curl up the tiniest amount when Chas brought up the whole stubborn trait the teenager had clearly inherited. She too thought it was a good idea that Elliott went after her just to be there as Rinaa went through this plan of hers.

It was only when he got up and then said Fia's name did the other teenager actually look up from her screen and at her half brother. She gave him an understanding nod and a small smile, "I know.. And I won't" she replied, not even sure if her tone was believable in the slightest but it was the truth. She did know that Rinaa made this decision herself and with her wolf side alone. She knew Rinaa would have probably decided on this even if she wasn't here, knowing it would only of ended up being another catalyst trigger to make her decide on it. She just assumed she was being the way she was because of earlier even though John did successfully cheer her up, and because of the shocking bits of facts they now knew of Dean.

"she'll be fine Ell, go after Rinaa. We got this handled here" Kay reassured him, already now seeing that essence of a big brother attitude come out toward Fia.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Go Ell, listen to the guru of parenting advice, he knows what he's talking about." John told him, knowing that out of all of them, Chas was the most qualified, if he said something was a good idea parenting wise, then they would damn well listen to him. He too could see Elliott slipping into the role of having a younger sister as well as an older one. Elliott wasn't sure if he believed Fia, her tone didn't sound very certain to him, but he supposed that, like most things, it would take a bit of time to come around to. Elliott knew that while Fia may not have been the main reason Rinaa decided to do what she was doing, it was certainly a factor in her decision. She was right, somebody had to do something before it came to actual blows. Elliott honestly couldn't say who would win a physical fight, Fia was an impressive fighter no doubt, but Rinaa had clearly followed in Jay's assassin footsteps, not to mention the earlier revelation that she spent a good chunk working as a vigilante. It would come down to two things in the end, whether Fia used fire and whether Rinaa shifted and let her other half take over. "Good to hear, on both counts. I'll see you guys later then." He called over his shoulder before leaving the house.

It took him only a couple of seconds to spot Rinaa's retreating figure, she was heading down towards the beach (one that wasn't being used as a docking zone for boats). Rinaa turned at the sound of approaching footsteps and smiled slightly, having smelt that it was Elliott before he said anything. "Hey kiddo, I hope you don't mind me tagging along, but I have this feeling having another person around would help, moral support and that kind of thing." "And you're right, I would've asked but...." She trailed off in a slightly embarrassed manner then shrugged."I dunno, it's just weird for me." Elliott put an arm around her shoulder as they walked. "I get it kiddo, you're incredibly capable, so asking for help isn't something you do often." "Yeah" Rinaa agreed, letting her head lean against Elliott's shoulder."That and there being a lack of people to ask when it comes to certain things. My friend are amazing, don't get me wrong on that, but when it comes to family matters, there's nothing they can really do to help." "Tell me a bit about these friends anyway, I'm curious."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia nodded when Elliott agreed to go with the help of John and Kay reassuring him that there would be no need to worry about her. She wasn't the type of sister who would get defensive and jealous because another teenager, his kid needs him and would take his attention away from her. She was protective of him in her timeline but she was never the jealous type when it came to sharing his attention between his sister and his kid. That behaviour was never something anyone had to deal with in her timeline which was a relief to her whole family. If the fight had broken out Fia would have come out worse and looked like shit but she would have given it her all to land a few hits onto Rinaa to show she wasn't completely incapable of getting the upper hand on a stronger opponent at least temporarily. Even if she did come out of the fight with a serious wound that would be life threatening or bad cuts and bruises, she wouldn't have regretted standing her ground. Luckily, it didn't come to such a thing so both teenagers were harm free.

Eventually Fia managed to put her phone down for a few minutes from sorting through her photos, deleting ones that she didn't want or weren't quite up to her standard and keeping the better ones. She did a little bit of editing using an app on her phone of just making them just that bit sharper. Yet there was only so much photo staring she could do on her phone. She was wondering if there was something she could do to just lighten the mood, and she was happier when with her family and not alone. "there something we can do to lighten the mood?" she asked them all, playing with a strand of hair that had separated itself from the rest of her hair, twiddling it in her fingers.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John and Chas hadn't thought about what to do next, they had made no plans outside of scoping out this mystery guy that had made such an impact on Fia. John was tempted to go for a smoke in the hopes that it would clear his head, but ultimately decided against it. Rinaa had his lighter after all, he could just manifest fire with magic, but that would be a waste of magic. And besides, his nicotine cravings weren't that bad, though he was tapping the fingers of one hand against his other arm.

The atmosphere that had settled over the room wasn't exactly awkward, it was just heavy with unresolved thoughts, some towards the mysterious Dean, others about how Fia was taking it and some about Rinaa and her myriad of issues and the few things she had revealed to them. Chas was grateful when Fia finally broke it by suggesting that they do something. Chas would do pretty much anything, he could practically hear John's thoughts. "Probably yeah, if this was my apartment, I'd be suggesting either a movie, gaming or one of those games of poker that never quite ends. But this isn't my place, so I dunno."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia knew it was a much shorter list of things they could do when it wasn't John's place they were in, but she figured there had to be something they could do somewhere, whether it was in Cliff's place or outside. The fact that everyone had found something to do except for them was even more obvious now they had to choose to do something themselves. She could see that Chas was grateful for her breaking the silence also by saying something. "I don't particularly know either, but there has to be something we could do that doesnt require sitting here twiddling our thumbs" Fia replied.

Kay was just as much at a loss for what to do as everyone else was. "for once I'm just as much at a loss as the rest of you. Other than going for a walk I'm stumped" she said truthfully. She also didn't think just going for a walk would necessarily lighten the mood around them, guessing that Fia was suggesting something more entertaining. Fia shrugged at the idea, thinking it was a possibility if they really couldn't think of anything else. "it's an option I guess" she replied to Kay.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Going for a walk was an option, a pretty viable one at that. Though there was a high chance that going walking would just result in them bringing the bad mood and strange atmosphere with them. What they really needed was something that would occupy their brains so that they couldn't think about the events of earlier. "And we have nowhere near enough people for a football team either, three a side is hardly any fun, it'd just be like doing penalties, which are arguably the most boring part of any soccer match." John rarely watched sport, and when he did it was because there was nothing else on the TV and he couldn't find the remote, he had decent football skills left over from his childhood days when a game with the other local lads was a way out of the awfulness of his house.

Chas sighed slightly, tipping back his head and staring at the ceiling, noticing that there were small splodges of paint up there as well as scuffs and cracks. The hallmarks of a house that was lived in and with five kids growing up in it had no doubt seen years of abuse. Chas had only one idea, and voiced it anyway. "Well this is an island, and none of us have been in the sea properly yet, despite saying that this was something we had to do on this private island holiday. Fia going in the river only half counts. So a swim or just messing around in the water in general is on the cards."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay knew her suggestion wasnt ideal or that tempting, but it was literally the only thing that could come to her. Both her and Fia listened to John's remark about a football match, and not only would it be in the least bit exciting for them when there was just the four of them, and if they took Kay out of the equation because of how far along she was proving to being right now, that'd make only three of them. So that was instantly off the cards for them.

When Chas eventually spoke up with an idea which consisted of going into the sea to have a swim and general mess about, both girls nodded liking that idea. Fia even smirked at the remark "fair enough point. I'm good for going for a swim in the sea if everyone else is" she replied to him and everyone else. Kay nodded liking that idea, "I'm good for it, I'll have to change out of this hoodie and thick jeans though. I'm not being weighed down from heavy fabrics getting heavier because they're wet" Kay commented. "
" I wouldn't mind changing into one of my swim pieces as well." Fia added, knowing she had packed a bikini sneakily just for this very reason.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John's eyes lit up at Chas' suggestion, knowing that his best mate had hit the jackpot with that particular suggestion. AS the others voiced their enthusiasm John nodded his agreement. "Chas yer a bloody genius." "I'm sorry, I didn't quote catch that? Mind repeating it?" The cabbie smirked at the praise, knowing that when it came to John it was rare and more often than not meant in a sarcastic way. "You know damn well what I said, don't push it mate. "A man can try y'know." The cabbie replied with a grin as they all stood up and left the house. "That's a terrible chat up line." John retorted, to which Chas just rolled his eyes.

They all needed to go to The House in the end, Chas also deciding that wet denim was a horrible idea and wanting to change. He hadn't brought swimming gear when they left Earth, but had had the foresight to bring shorts, which would do the job perfectly. John meanwhile just wanted to dump his coat somewhere safe. "Chas, bathroom is second door that way if you want to raid it for a towel." He called, to which the cabbie who gave a thumbs up. John didn't bring any shorts, but decided he was willing to sacrifice a pair of his trousers for the cause (they were looking tatty around the ends anyway, something to do with too many magical explosions, corrosive demon's blood and fire coming into contact with them). While Kay changed John took out a flip knife from his bag and used it too hack the trousers to approximately knee length. "Rough 'n ready, like me." He smirked as he put them on.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay was so looking forward to just going. Into the sea, she just wished she could have done it in a swim suit or bikini of some kind and not pregnant but she would accept that wasn't to be and was sure she'd find something she wouldn't mind getting wet or salt water clogged. She smirked and laughed at the two men bantering about Chas' intelligence when it came to coming up with ideas. She never once questioned it knowing he was the most sane one out of the lot of them. With them a heading to The House, Fia was glad that Chas suggested something that really would take her mind off what she was feeling and thinking.

At The House, Fia headed to her room to grab her things from her room. She rummaged through her bag and found her bikini and skirt wrap to get changed into, letting her hair hair remain down for once instead of the usual ponytail that she nearly always sported just lately. She then grabbed a towel that she always kept in her room so no one else would use it, due to being very particular about such things. She slung the towel over her shoulder and headed toward the front door where she leaned against the wall bare footed waiting for everyone else.

Back in Kay and John's room, Kay noticed he decided to hack up a pair of his trousers, smiling to herself as she pulled out a baggy black vest and lightweight black shorts with a crochet lace hem. She figured out of the few clothes she brought with her, they'd be the best to be in the water with. Like Fia, Kay took her hair down and swept it up and over to one side. She smirked at John's remark about his homemade shorts chuckling, finding it so strange to see him in shorts, even if they were from his usual trousers. "you said it, could get used to seeing you in shorts" she smirked back.

 

[_gallifrog_]

It had been quite a few years since John had a proper excuse to wear shorts, but since he wasn't particularly tanned in general, his legs didn't look noticeably paler than the rest of his body. He just smirked at Kay's comment, doing a twirl for the hell of it, then slinging a towel over his shoulder. "Don't get yer hopes up, I live in bloody London and have no plans on movin'. So you might as well enjoy it while you can" John had lived abroad for a few years and detested those years, mainly because he hadn't moved of his own free will. "It's been yonks since I last wore shorts. I think the last time was when I took a holiday. Chas was pissed at that, for obvious reasons. Even more so when a bunch of builders accidentally set loose an ancient demon doing shittin' roadworks. Of all things! Roadworks! Not only are they a bloody nuisance in general, but you can't dig up a single road in London without disturbin' something, and in this case it was particularly vengeful."

He smirked at the memory of the phone calls with Chas, the cabbie had been insistent that something was up in London, but John was too stoned out of his mind on for that to make any impact. It wasn't until a whole load of murders made international news that John realised his mate was right. "He had to deal with the whole thing. Needless to say he wasn't happy. I had to e-mail him a loada a sigils from what had to be the dodgiest internet cafe in the whole of the Costa del Sol, maybe even in the whole of Spain because I couldn't get a flight back to deal with it meself. Though said internet cafe was actually a front for a drugs operation which explains a lot."

Chas caught the tail end of the conversation when John and Kay emerged and smirked. "Is this the story of when you were in Spain, got roofied, had to pay extortionate flight fees and had to take four planes in order to get from Malaga to London?" "You know it is." "The same one where I was left back in London with a demon problem, and not only managed to fix it, but do so without any more people dying?" "Yes, it's obviously that one Chas, I'm hardy talking about the bloody gap year i did in Australia workin' as a pool guard." John drawled sarcastically, noting how smug Chas was all these years later. He was exactly as smug as he had been when he picked up a jet-lagged, John (who still had the remains of the drugs in his system) from the airport

 

[MzHyde]

Kay laughed when he did a twirl just for the sheer hell of it at her words. "oh you bet'cha I'll enjoy it whilst I can" she smirked, being her typical flirtatious self with him, before he started explaining one particular story of when he did go on holiday. She listened to the story with great interest, as she did with all his stories always finding them interesting, as she grabbed a towel slinging it over her arm. She found it fascinating and crazy that builders doing a typical thing like roadworks would dredge up a demon. She had heard the many stories of things like the underground being haunted and the like, but she didn't think that kind of thing could have happened. But then she realised it should be plausible as she spent a good chunk of her running from said demons.

She was about to comment her reaction on when Chas met up with them and queried which story it was he was telling her. She could see just how smug he was at the fact he managed to safe London all by himself and deal with John's sorry state when he eventually landed back on UK soil. "if I was Chas. I'd still be very much smug over that one as well" she commented with a smile, seeing Fia leaning against the wall by the front door of The House. "ready kiddo?" she asked Fia, noting their teenager's choice of swim wear but not saying anything as she was the same when she was a teenager. "I've been ready for about five minutes waiting for you old timers" Fia smirked. "you bloody cheeky mare" Kay chuckled.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Don't encourage him." John told Kay and Fia in mock annoyance. Chas had gloated about this story many times, using a modified version for those who had no idea about the magical world, which had resulted in an occasion when John walked into the cab depot looking for Chas, only for all the other cabbies to start sniggering. They all knew John by sight and provided a willing audience when Chas wanted to moan about his best friend. "It's waaay too late for that John and you know it." "As does almost every cabbie you know in London." "That story got me a load of free pints, plus you know how useful the cabbie network is, it's up there with the bus drivers and the homeless." One of Chas' favourite sayings, no matter what the timeline, was 'in my unbiased opinion all you need to do to find out something in London is to ask a cabbie'.

"I can't deny that, but I can still be annoyed about it." John retorted as the left The House, locking up behind him. There was no reason Elliott would want to enter it given that he was busy with Rinaa. They made their way down to the beach, the same one where they'd played soccer on a few days earlier when Moya arrived. There was nobody else there and the tide was half out, revealing the entire beach had a sort of zebra stripe pattern caused by the local tides and currents bringing in the black sand from the nearby volcanic islands. "Well I didn't tell them story of when you ended up as a counsellor at a kids camp, so be grateful for once in your life, yeah?"

 

[MzHyde]

Kay smirked when John told her not to encourage him, knowing damn well that she would very gladly encourage him. She would be that kind of woman to either shake her head in disbelief at someone or fully be the bad influence and encourage the other person. "we both know I'd encourage anyone over that sort of story" she pointed out, that cheeky glint in her eye appearing. She chuckled at Chas and John pii ting out how nearly every cabbie knew the story and it went into Chas' favour when it came to free drinks. She also agreed about the last bit of what he said, "agree with you there. Had some good information and allies within the homeless camps" she said. When John said he could still be about it she had to refrain from being really irritating and patting his cheek whilst saying something along the lines of 'just let him have this one thing'.

As they walked away from The House Fia found the whole story highly amusing and definitely decided that she wanted to hear more stories at some point. She had heard some of them but not all of them. Seeing the beach was the one that they were playing football on the other day, Fia found a spot far enough up on the sand to put her towel and wrap skirt on. She made a note of how far the tide was and such, and couldn't wait to get into the water glad that she was a good swimmer. Kay put her towel down on a rock so not to get it covered in sand before needing it. Fia then looked over quickly at Chas when he said about John being a summer camp counsellor. "oh you need to tell me that story at some point!" she smiled.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John and Chas put their respective towels on a rocky outcrop. Judging by the lack of driftwood and other debris their clothing wouldn't run any risk of being swept away by the tide. John had no idea whether the tide was going in or out, and if his shirt and towel did wash away, so what? Cliff had even warned them that her brothers walked around shirtless on a regular basis, so it wouldn't be anything that hadn't been seen before. Apart from the sheer volume of tattoos that covered Johns back, there was nobody on the island who could beat John in terms of the sheer amount of tattoos. In a way it was like his back was a work of art, one that honoured (in an utterly 'John Constantine way') the mage life which he'd become so deeply part of.

When Chas brought up another anecdote, John just shook his head. Clearly Fia hadn't heard that story before. "Well the basic gist of it is that Lance and Sharpie needed something from me, like they always do. And this was back when I was dragged into being their bloody consulting mage on all too regular basis. Bloody Mallus!" He swore, remembering how the Legends had utterly cocked everything up by releasing a time demon. "I wouldn't have agreed normally, only I needed something that only their crew could source on one of their merry jaunts. So we did a swap, they got me what I needed, and in return I joined the merry band of morons to go undercover. And they go to the most ridiculous places and insist on period accurate costumes. Bloody nightmare, I got what I wanted, even if I damn near died in the process." He shrugged, then smirked. "Which is basically how everything goes with those guys, period costumes, there are multiple fuck ups, red herrings and somebody dies or gets seriously injured or sacrifices themselves for the greater good. Bunch'a fuckin' weirdos."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay never tired seeing all of John's tattoos in any context of having him topless, including the fact that she just admired the tattoos in general, knowing most if not all, had a purpose for being on him. Unlike the rest of them, Kay didn't remove any clothing to go into the sea for, only her shoes coming off. She remained clothed deciding that what she had on would suffice as a makeshift swim wear. Fia was also used to seeing John's decorated back in her timeline's so it didn't phase her in the slightest, just wanting to hear this story that Chas hinted at. Both girls listened to the story that John glossed over, Fia smirking as she took in the story.

Kay and Fia chuckled at the last part of his story, calling the Legends a bunch of weirdos. "well, weirdos attract weirdos!" Fia quipped at him before heading to the water. Kay just shook her head chuckling, starting to see the Fia they knew come back to the surface instead of the upset Fia. "That girl is going to get some serious payback one day for her quick witted tongue" Kay said amused watching her kid get into the water and wade out a bit. "you lot coming in or what?!" Fia called out looking back at them all. Kay then walked to the water's edge before stepping in to the sea finding the temperature just perfect, a smile appearing on her face as she let the water surround her up to her waist.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John just rolled his eyes, the jab sliding off his back. There was truth in it, by conventional means of measuring he and the Legends were off the charts when it came to weirdness. Even if their weirdness was in different departments, it was weirdness nonetheless. The Legends were either loved, hated or treated with immense suspicion within the hero/vigilante community, and John was treated in those ways by every community. He nodded at Kay's comment, thinking that when it did happen and she met her match, it would be pretty spectacular. "Yep, I know."

At Fia's call, John and Chas looked at each other, raised identical eyebrows and sprinted towards the sea, both vying to be first in. It was only a short distance, so they were evenly matched and it was impossible to say who actually entered first. Both adopted the approach of completely immersing themselves first in order to acclimatise, expecting the water to be freezing, but were pleasantly surprised to find it was an ambient temperature and had a completely different taste to Earth water. The salts were completely different, hence the hair dye stripper quality. "This place gets better and better, huh?" "Can't deny that mate." John replied, pushing his already soaked hair back making it stand up in spikes.

 

[MzHyde]

When the two men looked at each other with a look that said it all, Kay knew exactly what they were going to do. She smirked and chuckled whilst shaking her head at them, enjoying the water greatly. Kay always found it ironic that being what she was, she would love being in water so much, yet she always put it down to her time living in Seattle that was near water as she did live near the bay. Fia watched as Chas and John raced to get into the sea laughing at them, having rarely seen them act borderline like kids, and Kay found it refreshing to see them act as such. Kay swam over so she was closer to the lot of them and saw the state of John's hair but knew it was inevitable to look like that.

Fia swam over smiling, finding the ambient temperature of the water and the gentle movement of the tide was incredibly calming and refreshing for her. It didn't take her long before she decided to dive underwater and swim around, reemerging a few yards away from the group then decided to return. Kay watched her to make sure she wouldn't swim out too far, having faith in Fia knowing her capabilities of open watter swimming. With Fia returning, she just bopped her head slightly out, smirking to herself due to a couple of ideas running through her mind. "Marco!" she then opted to say, seeing if anyone would respond to it. Kay looked at her and knew what she was doing, raising an eyebrow. "you just had to go there didn't you?" Kay remark making Fia's head break the surface a bit more and grin mischievously.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Growing up where they did, John and Chas had no opportunities to learn to swim in the see and had it not been for the fact that swimming lessons were mandatory in their primary school they wouldn't have learned to swim as kids. Their memories from those days consisted of noisy bus rides, freezing cold water, a swim coach with a particularly irritating voice and a habit of spitting as he talked. The highlight of the lesson was the last ten minutes or so where the class was given the freedom to do what they wanted which involved mostly messing around, racing and in later years doing trying to do flips off the diving boards. However much time they spent complaining about the coach, he did his job and by the end John and Chas had come out as capable swimmers and would return to the pool every so often in their teenage years.

Which was why the first thing they decided to do that day was a race, swimming front crawl, out to one rocky outcrop and back. Both men had surprisingly good form and chose to adopt the racing stroke where arm strokes were slower and stretches further, while the leg kicks were as fast as possible. They wee evenly matched until the reached the outcrop, both attempted to do a tumble turn push for extra momentum, but John botched his allowed Chas to push off the rock easily and get ahead, touching the starting point a good ten second before John did. "Bloody tumble turn!" John cursed, but didn't actually mean it, while Chas just smirked. "Even with a bit of metal in me shoulder I still beat you." "That's because you're now a cyborg mate."

At Fia's call, they looked at each other, baffled. In all their years they'd never come across the game Marco Polo and to them it made no sense why Fia would randomly shout some guys name. Looking around revealed that none of Matteo's friends were around either.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay had watched what Chas and John were doing when they had their little race and just chuckled enjoying seeing her family just having a laugh and some fun, even if John did come across as a sore loser ever so slightly. With Fia's call of Marco Polo, she came across it whilst gaming from the Uncharted games, the reference went over her head but that created the need to learn its significance so she did and ever since found it funny. Both girls saw how confused John and Chas were making them look at each other, roll their eyes and look at the two of them.

"you two are uncultured swines for not getting what she's doing." Kay commented with a smirk. "Marco Polo is what she's doing. It's usually played in water, the person shouting Marco usually has their eyes closed and has to wade around to find the other players who call out Polo in return." Kay explained. "he was an explorer too. Don't know fully how it became a water game but its referenced in so much pop culture wise" Fia then chimed in. In Kay's mind it was a stupid game but it always brought out the childish antics in people the moment they got into water. She was even guilty of it when she was younger with Sam, starting it when they came across a pool, only for Sam to initially scowl and say 'no I'm not playing, you are so childish sometimes' only to be roped in and ending up calling out polo afterwards.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Pretty sure we were already classified as uncultured swines in certain categories." John shrugged after the explanation. He'd never heard of the game before, and couldn't see how it had any links to the titular explorer. Maybe it was because the name was distinctive and easy to pick out amongst the general noise of a pool?"Speak for yourself mate." Chas snorted."I'm blaming the fact that outside of school lessons and jumping into the Thames after you, I've never had much excuse to be in a pool swimming." "And the time we lured that pyro demon into the pool in order to kill it." "That was just improvising and the pool nearly exploded cos of that stunt."

"As for the actual explorer, he's another one of those historic figures with a dodgy past in smuggling magical relics and accidentally discovering foreign magics." John explained. Most of the famous explorers, particularly during the European Age of Exploration, had some links to magic, mainly when they massacred practising natives in the newly discovered lands and ended up cursed. "Pretty sure there's a scroll or two of his own work in The House library."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay smirked when John retorted back about her uncultured swines comment, "and that's just your love of the cigarette brand" she smirked back, making Fia chuckle at the comment. The only times Fia had ever gone to a pool was when she went with Sam to learn how to swim, deciding for herself that it's a skill that at some point she would need to know to do. For all she knew she could end up on a hunt and end up in the Thames, needing to get herself out of it, and so made Sam take her on the grounds that Sam was essentially her teacher for all things non magical. Kay had swam in public pools as a teenager and the odd time they all went on a family holiday as a kid. Or there was that one she went with Sam to a party at someone's house and ended up drunkenly in the pool fully clothed.

Hearing that Chas had to jump into the Thames after John to haul his ass out wasn't in the least bit surprising to either Kay or Fia. It actually sounded pretty normal to the two of them considering it was John. "I've heard that story, pretty interesting to hear at the time" Fia commented before listening to the whole explanation about the explorer that was indeed Marco Polo. As she said earlier, she had no idea how his name became a game to play but over the decades it had done. She found it fascinating that he found magical artefacts over his time, and hearing that one or two of his scroll were probably in the library somewhere her curiosity got piqued. "and now I wanna find them and read them" she replied. "of course you do" Kay smirked.

Kay then made herself lay back in the water and just float for a bit, gently moving her arms and legs to remain afloat, her hair naturally moving in the water behind her, as she looked up at the sky.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Feel free to find 'em and give 'em a go." John told Fia, having no doubt that if she looked long enough in the part of the House library where scrolls and old historical papers were stored. John was almost certain that these particular papers had already been in The House when he acquired it. "Though obviously they'll be written in some ancient, potentially extinct dialect, but I'm sure you can figure out how to deal with that kiddo." If there wasn't already a rune on Fia that could translate written words, then John was in no doubt that she could find one that did just that.

Chas decided to make the most of the experience by practising various strokes, easily getting into a rhythm of breathing and bracing against the waves. John on the other hand chose to swim down, holding his breath for as long as possible and exploring what was below the surface. At the further out points, the seabed was covered in various frondy seaweeds, which John quickly discovered were home to a variety of small fish and other aquatic creatures. It wasn't quite a reef, but it was flourishing with life nonetheless. The water was clearer than that of Earth and had a noticeable lack of pollution.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia nodded, knowing she would have done it even without John's say so but it was always nice to have that permission granted none the less. She guessed that it was more than likely they'd be written in some ancient dialect, as was most of the things she came across in The House. "yeah, I can figure it out" she confirmed, knowing that an unreadable dialect wouldn't stop her from trying. When Chas and John decided to do their own thing, Fia did her own laps making it a mixture of surface and underwater swimming.

Kay just enjoyed being relaxed in the water, it even seemed to settle the unborn version of Fia which greatly welcomed by Kay. After a short while she maneuvered herself so she was back upright and pulled herself underwater to fully soak her hair, seeing the sea life around them and seeing how it was reacting around John and Fia before coming back up for air, brushing her hair back off her face and wiping the dripping water away from her eyes. This truly was a great idea on Chas' behalf, she was absolutely loving the calmness of it when she suddenly flinched due to Fia appearing out of nowhere and scaring the crap out of her, the pranks appearing once more.

"you are so dead missy!" Kay said splashing her in retaliation. "only if you can catch me" Fia smirked ducking under water and swimming away, making Kay swim after her.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John was thinking along similar lines, this definitely was one of Chas' great ideas. It was just what they all needed. The water was warm, inviting and not completely alien looking (the fact that it was cleaner was a bonus). Every so often when he did come up for air he'd shake his head, in a similar way to how a wet dog would shake themselves out then push his hair back as it was long enough to dangle annoyingly into his eyes if he didn't. He was overdue a cut, but was too stubborn to actually get one until they were back on Earth. Luckily his hair didn't grow extraordinarily fast or he'd be sporting a mullet by the time they got back. Chas had no such hair problems having been cut by Rinaa two days ago.

Both were treading water when Fia scared Kay by simply popping up like some kind of strange sea-meerkat. They watched as Kay swam after Fia, doubting that she would actually catch the teenager due to how unstreamlined a pregnant woman was. "Shouldn't you be getting involved?" "Only if they actually come near me, for now I'll just watch." They were too busy watching the antics of Fia that they'd turned their backs to beach. Chaslet out a scream, which was quickly muffled as something wet and hairy dunked him under the surface. John realised pretty quickly that it was one of the family dogs that had dunked Chas and began laughing. But he wasn't laughing for long, the second dog dunked him only a couple of seconds after Chas.

The culprit, they discovered when they managed to surface again were Nat and Beji who were splitting their sides laughing on the beach. They'd sent the dogs in quietly to sneak up behind the unsuspecting John and Chas. Realising they'd been spotted they gave cheerful waves before letting Meyer loose, the youngest dog crashing into the water making a beeline for Fia.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay couldn't catch Fia, and Fia knew she wouldn't be able to be caught making her incredibly smug as Kay soon had to give up due to not having the stamina to keep it up. Fia started to go for John next, deciding he would be her next victim when Chas got dunked by one of the dogs, making her crack up laughing before that laughter only got increased seeing John get dunked by the other. She looked over at the shoreline to see who were the culprits and waved back only to see Meyer coming toward her. Kay watched it all unfold and smirked as she laughed at them all get had by the three canines, suddenly glad she was pregnant so she wasn't fair game to them.

"Meyer!!" Fia yelped preparing herself to be well and truly pounced on by the dog. Kay kept her distance chuckling just letting it all happen, finding this was her payback for Fia scaring the crap out of her. "serves you right for getting cocky in the water!" she told Fia now being the one feeling smug. The one thing that she really noticed though was the fact Fia was seeming to be truly her usual preppy self once more and genuinely happy again. So in a way she was thankful for Nat and Benji pulling the prank as it really helped Fia out. "I'm gonna go back on shore, you lot enjoy the company of the dogs" Kay said to them all, needing to have a break from swimming as she did come close to over doing it when chasing Fia.