Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[MzHyde]

Kay listened to Chas and if she ever had a choice, she would go to fiction novels first, as she did find she had to be really in the mood for poetry but she had read her fair share of it because it was something short and quick to read for the most part. So she did understand where he was coming from with what he said. She, like Fia then listened to Elliott and what he had to say, neither finding it in the least bit surprising, just as they didn't find what John's stance on it surprising in the slightest either. "that's not a surprise in the slightest either either of you. For me it was a case I had to be really in the mood for it, but novels will always be my main love when it comes to literature. I only really remember one piece of poetry properly but that's because my birth mother told it to me as more of a lullaby than a piece of poetry" Kay said.

"I think I know the one you're referring to, if it is the one I'm thinking of you told it to me when I was younger, to tell me about Fira" Fia replied, having her suspicions of what one it was. She didn't know much about her biological grandmother, but she did know how she was killed and what she would always call Kay when she was a child. She so knew how important of a figure her grandmother was in the phoenix world, which only made her more sad that she never got to meet her. Kay found it surprising that Fia would possibly know the poem she was talking about as she never spoke of her childhood much before her adopted life. "is it the one that starts 'the bird comes flying from the West, it flies for the east'?" "yeah.. It is" Kay confirmed.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John's attitude towards the British education system was something Chas had heard him complaining about for years. They'd both complained about it at the time, but for different reasons. John hated the fact that for him exams were just a qualification he couldn't use, his sister had the brains and his father could just about afford to send her to university (at John's expense naturally). For Chas it was a case of questioning why they had to learn so many things that they really wouldn't use in life unless they went to study that subject at third level. He was of the opinion that school system should have more useful things like driving lessons along with a basic grounding in how to deal with bureaucratic letters, banks statements, bills and other, more relevant life skills.

They listened with interest as Kay remembered a specific poem from her past, all knowing that she knew very little from her birth mother, and that what she did, she treasured. Kay's surprise that Fia knew the poem wasn't shared by John, he suspected that if it had been told to Kay in the context of a lullaby that she would try the same on Fia to get her to sleep. John knew from both his niece and goddaughter that new parents would try pretty much anything to get their power to get the child to sleep so the parents themselves could get some proper rest and quiet too. The first lines rang no bells with john, Elliott or jay (not that any of them expected it to), but Chas visibly raised his eyebrows in surprise as something clicked in his brain. "How does it go after that?" he asked, a slight note of urgency in his voice.

 

[MzHyde]

When it came to school, Kay for obvious reasons had a very different schooling for moat of her life. In America she had driving lessons as a lesson, or more to the point an extra curricular lesson which she chose to do because in her mind if she could learn to drive quickly, the quicker she could get the hell out of Seattle with Sam and not be the 'psycho freak' in school. Though she did have to practically beg the board to let her take the lessons as her attendance in general wasn't great and they weren't convinced for the longest time that it would be worth giving her one of the spots. As for normal lessons, she was very picky with what ones she listened to or paid attention to in general.

With the poem briefly spoken about BY Fia and Kay, neither of them expected any of their group to know it but when Chas asked what the rest of it was with a sense of urgency in his voice, Kay wondered if it was unlocking something in his mind so she thought carefully and started to say the entire thing, surprised she did in fact remember it.

"A bird flies from the West,
it flies for the East,
Toward the Eastern garden home,
Where the spices breathe their perfume and grow,
And palms rustle and springs gives coolness
And the miracle bird sings, flying

She loves him! She loves him!
She carries his likeness in her small heart
And carries it sweetly and hidden, and doesn't know it herself.
But in the dream he stands before her,
She entreat and weeps and kisses his hands
And calls his name,
Calling, she wakes, wakes, and lies startled
And rubs, astonished, her beautiful eyes-
She loves him, she loves him"
​

Fia found herself listening to it, indeed remembering that it was the same poem/lullaby she was told when she was a child.

 

[_gallifrog_]

At the note of urgency in Chas' voice all heads turned towards the cabbie, it was out of character for him to ask something so bluntly and without putting a 'please' or some other form of mannerly word into it. The theory in all their minds was that the poem (or some element of it) was triggering some part of the phoenix book he kept locked away in him. It was clear to those listening that the poem was more than just a poem, if Jay's earlier sentiment was anything to go by this was the story of a set of lovers. To John it really didn't sound like him and Kay (but that was more to do with the fact that anybody writing love poetry about him years ago just creeped him out). Surely every piece of mythology and art in the phoenix world couldn't relate to him and Kay, there had to be far more mythology than just the two of them. It being related to Fia was a possibility, but given the sheer volume of phoenix kind that had before her and Kay, the odds were surely in the favour of it referring to another couple.

The others stayed silent as Kay recited the poem, waiting with bated breath for any change in Chas. As he listened his eyes seemed to unfocus as if he was staring at something in the far distance, while what looked like amber flecks appeared in his usually dark brown irises. When Kay started the second verse Chas leaned forwards, propping elbows on his knees, putting one hand flat on top of the other and started speaking, reciting the poem word for word with Kay. When the poem finished he slumped backwards, shaking his head slightly, before reaching up to rub is temple. "Mate? You alright?" John asked, a slight edge of hesitance and uncertainty in his tone, He'd seen similar things before, but this was his mate, it was different. "I will be, me head is bloody splitting, and before you ask, I've never heard that story-poem before today. And I'm not entirely certain but I think......" he trailed off uncertainly."You think what?" "I think i saw fragments of that story playing out, couldn't make out and faces though, it was like I was switching between watching through some sort of lightly fogged glass and some sort of aerial view."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay didn't think it spoke of herself and John either, she certainly didn't think it spoke of Fia either, but then stranger things have happened and with them it could be. However she until now she never really thought it was about anyone in particular whom she knew. Reciting it again, she began to actually wonder if it was about her birth mother considering her birth mother was the very first phoenix to ever come into existence. Though she didn't think it was about her father, which just made it all the more strange to think of Fira in love with anyone other than her dad.

The moment Chas started reciting it word for word with her, after having never heard it before this very minute, she found it incredibly strange that he could such a thing. She noted the change in his eyes, seeing how it was like his eyes were turning the shade of a phoenix, like her own eyes did when she let her power come through. When she finished she looked over at Chas slightly concerned for him like John was. She listened to what he said and gave it some thought before speaking up, "I know you said you couldn't make out faces but did the woman have either short hair, about bob length or longer dead straight hair? Same colour scheme as me but at the same time different? More orange and only the tips very bright yellow?" she asked, knowing that none of them, with the possible exception of Fia, would know who she was describing. Her theory may be completely wrong but it was a theory she had nonetheless.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Chas was completely oblivious to the fact that his eyes had changed colour as he recited the poem. John on the other hand found it extremely worrying, he only knew of two main magic-related reasons that somebody's eyes would change colour - being possessed by some kind of demon or other mage, having a second half (like the were-animals and lycanthropes)- neither of which he found particularly attractive. The second one made no sense unless somehow the book had implanted another phoenix consciousness into him, which sounded too bizarre and improbable to be true. But if that was the case, unless there was a damn good reason for them being there, that being was getting exorcised right out. Chas was his mate, and it would only cause utter chaos for his family if that was the case. The more likely theory was that, like Elliott Chas' eyes were changing because he was using a different ability.

At Kay's question Chas closed his eyes and considered thinking back at what he saw. There was no doubt that the woman he saw was indeed a phoenix. Kay's questioning was very specific, so she evidently was thinking of somebody in particular when she said that, presumably her mother as she had been the one to sing the lullaby. "Ummm. I think the hair was about this length." He made a gesture just above his shoulder. "And as for colour, it's yeah" he nodded, the mental image matching up with Kay's description even more, getting clearer with each word. "Like you said, definitely more oranges and saffron tones down through with these vividly yellow tips And... I'm not certain on this, but I think I got a glimpse of eyes that were almost turquoise in colour, though that could be unrelated."

"Anything else you think might be important?" John asked, remembering vaguely Kay mentioning at some point or another that her mother had turquoise eyes. "It took place in a garden, not the one I saw back at the plas-ball arena or the one in Kay's weird dream, this was completely different. It was strange, it looked like a wild place at first glance, but everything had been specifically placed and selected. And unlike the other times, I could actually smell something, all these different spices, no idea what they were, just that the air was saturated with them."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay watched Chas close his eyes trying to think back on what he saw. She could see he thought it was oddly specific what she was asking, but she had to know if her theory was true. As he described the woman's hair she nodded, but it was when he mentioned about the eyes that made her go slightly wide eyed. She let John ask his question first, remembering she had told John about what her mother looked like that one time they had their 'date day' as Fia called it. She listened intently to Chas' next lot of words and descriptions, the breath feeling like it was getting knocked out of her in a swift movement.

"Chas... You saw my mother Fira. No doubt with her first love and not my dad. As for the spices? That'd make sense considering I read somewhere that our kind are heavily tied to them. Mostly saffron and cinnamon, so it was no doubt those you were smelling." she explained. "I read that the phoenix would be known to make its deathbed out of cinnamon along with other things to die in. Its why I think we-" Fia gestured between herself and Kay "love spiced food so much and why things like cinnamon and ginger help us so much if we're feeling sick and such. I think that's also why Kay always craves spices on everything whilst she's pregnant" she added. Kay nodded finding it a made sense what Fia was saying, not surprised that Fia would know this.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The reaction by Kay to the turquoise eyes didn't go amiss by anybody in the group, including Chas himself. He nodded as she explained that the woman in question was indeed her mother. The term first love didn't phase anybody either, they were all aware that Kay's mother was the original phoenix and had lived for thousands of years, so it wasn't surprising that there would be more than one lover in all those years. While Jay may not have been around for any of the other times when Kay's past and phoenix heritage came to light, it was clear she knew exactly what was going on. She was more invested in the whole thing than she showed outwardly and as a result Elliott had been keeping her informed of everything else going on, just as Chas had taken to passing everything they had found out on to Cliff in the mornings (she had declared herself Kay's official doctor and nobody had ever challenged her on her right to know everything).

"Okaaay, yeah, I'm gonna state the obvious then that evidently that lullaby is the story of her first love. And going with two words, the aerial shots I saw at the start would be explained if she flew in bird form to the garden then transformed to a humanoid form when she reached her lover." Chas couldn't really think of anything else to say, he was still trying to wrap his head around the whole thing. He knew Kay's mother was dead and didn't want to accidentally open old wounds by saying something insensitive. John nodded at the spice thing, finding it strangely funny that even before Kay came into his life on those days when there was no proper food in his apartment there would always be some kind of spice packet or spicy sauce lying around as the only edible thing. Another way the universe had been teasing him all these years. "You two would really like this thing called a tarabree then if spice is your game, the best way to describe them is 'spicy desert pancake' which sounds awful, I know, or like a crime against food, but they are amazing." Jay told them, placing particular emphasis on the first syllable of 'amazing'.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay didn't even care at the moment that the others, even Jay didn't miss her reaction to the eyes comment. It would have been hard not to notice it, and certainly would have been something she'd notice if anyone else was in her shoes. She hadn't thought about her mother (adshamedly) for a while, the only other time was when she was telling John about her due to the hair and wig conversation they had on their walk back from the city on Attil. She did notice that it was clear Jay knew everything that was going on, to which she just guessed liott would have told her everything so nothing came as a shock to her when things like this randomly happened.

With Chas' theory on the aerial viewpoints, she nodded knowing it was more than likely to have been the case. "more than likely the case." she simply replied, trying to wrap her own head around the fact that the lullaby and poem her mother told her as a kid was actually about her the entire time. It was just yet another thing she found now was all her mother's way of telling her what she was without saying the words 'you're an phoenix'. She could also tell that Chas was carefully picking his words, something she always appreciated about him and what made him such a good friend in her eyes. She then looked at Jay when she spoke up about this delicacy involving spices, seemingly changing the subject ever so slightly. "that does actually sound amazing in a totally weird way" Fia spoke up, knowing that Kay probably wouldn't be able to talk much now hearing all this recent information.

Kay was getting lost in her mind as she let herself compute everything that Chas saw, whilst shocked that this entire time she was told a story of a love her mother had without knowing it. It just made her start thinking back on everything else, like how her mother would call her her little flame it'd and wondered how it could have gone right over her head, knowing now how bloody obvious the nickname was. If she was anywhere else, she would have excused herself to walk off to compute it alone, but she honestly felt like she couldn't do that, so she stayed put.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Jay hadn't intended to change the subject to something less serious, but it just sort of came out. She nodded at Fia's words, the particular dish she was referring to was surprisingly common on planets that weren't Earth considering that they were an acquired taste. A glance at the deserts spread on the table revealed that there were none there, but she suspected that the kitchen in the main house would have the necessary ingredients should the mood strike her to make them. "Yeah they are just that. Tarabree are one of those foods that taste completely different to what you'd expect from just looking at them."

John could see that Kay was shaken by the revelations, no doubt re-evaluating just how many of the things her mother did were ways of telling Kay what she was without actually coming straight out with it. John could only guess that the plan was to acclimatise Kay with all these references, gradually getting less and less subtle until Fira decided that Kay was mature enough to understand the truth. In a way, he and Kay could learn something from that method instead of just hiding Fia's true identity from her. He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently to remind her that he was there and she didn't have to go through this alone.

None of the others said anything, just taking what had just happened in. Elliott and Jay's attention was diverted a few minutes later by simultaneous text alerts from their phones. There was only one person it could be- Rinaa. Jay opened the message, turning the screen so that Elliott could read it by leaning over her shoulder, an arrangement that happened all the time in Fia's timeline as Leah would almost always text both her parents the same message simultaneously.

"If I was anybody else, this text would be categorised as 'asking for parental permission to do something', but that's not really the case here (or my style, lets face it). The other teenagers have commandeered cake, biscuits and some alcohol and we're going to head up for the attic for a bit (it's mainly to interrogate and make jokes about the new couple as opposed to drunken debauchery). The other one is welcome to join, if that's her thing?"​

Elliott shook his head slightly at the tone of the text which could only be described as 'I'm a teenager and I don't have to justify anything i do to you, yet this text is really just me ding exactly that'. Looking up and to the side they saw Rinaa watching them. "Go, have fun!" Jay called over. "Enjoy yourself, don't do anything I wouldn't." "That's not saying much really!" The teenager shot back with a grin.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia listened to Jay talk about the food, nodding and smiling. "I'd love to try it one day that's for sure" she replied to her, having always been the type of person who would willingly try anything once.... Anything except for squid and octopus that is! She glanced over and could see how Kay was being whilst trying to not bring attention to herself, however she did see that John noticed it as well as silently gave Kay that reassurance she needed.

Kay came out of her thoughts when she felt a hand on her shoulder, glancing down to see it was John's. She placed her hand on his hand back and gave him that glance to say 'I know you are' in response to his reminder just from the one action he made. She was slowly coming round to the fact that Fira was slowly giving her the hints she was different from the get go, but never actually saying it for a reason. She realised how it seemed to mirror what their future selves had done to Fia, seeing now that it might be not fully the smartest thing to do. If there was one thing now she wished she had, it would have been to see what Chas saw, just to see her mother one more time. Even though she accepted a long time ago she wouldn't see her mother again nor would she be around to help her being a mother.

When Jay and Elliott's phone simulatiously went off with a text it partly snapped Kay out of her thoughts. Her and Fia both glanced up to see Rinaa getting up with the other teenagers with a hoard of stuff, which got Fia curious. "if you wanna join them in whatever they're doing and they got no problem with it, then go. You don't have to hang around us the whole time" Kay told her kid. She knew Fia would be hesitant because of Rinaa, but she also knew Fia considered Matteo her friend as well. Fia thought about it for a few seconds, before deciding to go along with them. "only if you promise to get out of your deep depressive thoughts yourself, one of us having them today is enough" Fia replied back, even if she exaggerated what she said just a bit. "I promise, now go, have fun" Kay replied, practically shooing her away. Fia smirked and got up jogging over to the rest of them, "mind if I join?" she asked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Had Chas known what Kay was thinking he would have offered to let her see the flashes he had seen. In his mind they were (rightly) worth far more to Kay than they could ever be to him. He also noticed how John comforted her, it wasn't the most obvious gesture, but that was just John's way. He wasn't one for massive shows of PDA. Annoyance, yes. Anger, most definitely. Deep grief, intense sadness, suicidal thoughts and a downwards spiral of hatred, unfortunately yes, that particular set was probably the set of emotions that he could show the strongest and most dramatically. Affection wasn't his thing, so to see him acting instinctively like that said something about the relationship between him and Kay, even if John couldn't tell what it was yet.

John raised an eyebrow at the simultaneous pings from Jay and Elliott. He didn't even have to ask, it was obvious when he looked to the left and saw the cheeky wave Rinaa was giving them, phone in one hand, cake in the other and a bottle of what looked suspiciously like alcohol was most certainly alcohol under her arm. He was about to say that it was fine for her to go, but Kay beat him to it. He had no problem with Fia joining them, she needed to have fun with a bit people her age and be a regular teenager. John's teenage years were a mess of drugs, booze and stupid stunts, but he'd loved it. Fia needed to experience some kind of teenage wildness and forget about the shitshow that was their life. He smirked at the condition from Fia, it was a good one. "Go, have fun, if we're not here just head back to The House."

Rinaa looked up when Fia arrived, she honestly had no idea if Fia would even join, inviting her was a sort of olive branch, if it wouldn't come close to making up for her (and Sykes') earlier actions. "Not at all, grab some shit and follow us." She told Fia, gesturing at the table. "Take the good cake before any of the adults can get their hands on it" Matteo called over, saying adults like most people would say 'annoying people'. Once they had loaded up they headed towards the main house, stopping just outside the door. Moya gave Rinaa a cheeky look, passing half her food to Rinaa and the other half to one of Matteo's friends. "Ready?" she asked. "I've been ready all my life" Rinaa replied. Moya wrapped her arms around the other girl before launching upwards into their air, her wings easily able to support the weight of the other teenager.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay also knew it was these little gestures from John that said so much. She almost preferred these little things instead of big grand gestures, as it showed they were more well meant and genuine, which was why she always responded to them with just as much genuine action as he gave her. She had a feeling at least Chas would have noticed, but didn't take much notice of who did, not that she would have any kind of effort to point it out anyway. It was between her and John and that's how it was going to stay.

With John also telling Fia to go, she nodded again whilst giving him the look of 'make sure she cheers up. I know you'll look after her dad'. "gotcha" she replied before she left for the others asking if she could join them. She didn't know Rinaa had offered for her to join them in the text, but thanks to Kay's words of encouragement and John's, she decided to take the leap of chance anyway. With Rinaa saying yeah she could, she looked over at the desserts on the table when told to grab what she could, aka the good cake. She wasn't sure what the good cake was so took a gamble and grabbed what she saw, then followed the rest of them to the main house.

She rose an eyebrow when they stopped outside wondering what was going to happen, only to have her inner questions answered with Moya flying Rinaa upwards. She noticed how much happier Rinaa had been during the day for herself, as she watched them fly upward.

 

[_gallifrog_]

At the sight of Fia grabbing the cake, the others realised that they'd been so caught up in their revelations that they'd completely forgotten that the desert course was a thing. Thanks to the teenagers and the rest of the guests, the most popular items were already gone. What was left wasn't exactly undesirable, but would be considered 'second preference cakes' by most. Chas, John, Elliott and Jay picked out some things for themselves anyway, as, so far, everything Cliff's family had put out had been delicious.

The other teenagers watched as Moya flew Rinaa upwards, it didn't come as a complete surprise to them as they had all been present when the idea was first proposed. Somebody had asked Moya what it was like to fly with wings and she'd given them a detailed explanation, at which point Rinaa felt comfortable enough to add that despite being able to fly both planes and spaceships, she'd really love to have wings so that when she flew she could feel the rush of air across her face and hair. "Those two really are quite something" one of the teenagers remarked, looking up with a smile before following the others into the house. The rest of the group decided to take the safer route of going up the stairs, had they not been carrying food, most would have simply climbed up the ladder of the house.

The set up in the attic had changed since Fia had been there for the wedding piece practice. The boxes had been shifted around and piled up near the edges to create a clear central space, the tarp had been removed from the couch, the drums and keyboard had been set up properly and there were a selection of extra boxes/crates to use as chairs. Matteo had struck gold and managed to find an old (but still working) television and games console. The food was left in the middle of the floor, as was the alcohol. "Teo, you should totally get this place converted into a proper hang-out room." One of the boys declared.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay grabbed just a small thing for dessert as she didn't need much but she did fancy something sweet to have, feeling like the pregnancy was definitely making her crave more sweet things which wouldn't be a surprise considering Fia's sweet tooth. She was also glad to see Fia interacting with people her own age, and willingly going to hang out so close to Rinaa as she may not have known what John told her, but it did show that Rinaa was willing to make amends for the morning. She also still found it slightly amusing that Fia was determined to give her a condition before going off. She tried what dessert she picked up and found it sweet but not overly sweet whilst being refreshing in the mouth. Her mind was still on the clues her mother gave her and what Chas had seen due to her reciting the poem, but she was determined to not let it ruin her evening.

Fia may not have known how Moya taking Rinaa for a fly up to the roof and attic came about but she had to agree with the friend of Matteo's when he said that they're relationship was quite something. She did think how perfect Moya was for Rinaa, which as thought amongst their group before and several times, made it all that more sad. "that they are" she agreed out loud before heading up the normal safe way with everyone else. Once in the attic, she put the food she had down on the ground with everything else whilst noticing the changes that had been made since she last came up there. It seemed they really went all out with what they could to make it a relatively decent hang out area.

She noticed the old games console and TV that had been found and set up and smiled to herself ever so slightly. "well this is slightly different than before, and I agree it'd make a good hang out area" she said, sitting down on one of the boxes, propping one foot up on the edge of it in the process.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Elliott passed over his phone so John could read the text itself, his eyebrows raising slightly in surprise at the last line. There was an uncertainty to asking Fia along that was easily visible to John, and not just because Rinaa didn't know if Fia would even like that kind of thing, but also not being sure that Fia would even want to be in her company. "She texts like she talks then." "Yup, she does, I guess we should take the last bit as some kind of peace gesture?" "It'd be for the best that we did and besides they both deserve a night doing who only knows what in that attic." "You should have seen it earlier, they were messing around on the instruments and doing stupid spoof lyrics to the tune of a television theme song. Looked and sounded like they were having a great time."

The others voiced their agreement enthusiastically. "I'd offer to help do just that, put my engineering and design qualifications to some kind of us, but since we're leaving the planet soon anyway, I wouldn't be able to do any of it personally, which sucks, I've never done a loft conversion before and it seems like my idea of fun. Not to mention that this space has so much potential." Rinaa grinned, already had ideas running through her head of what she would like to do and what might work with the shape of the attic room."So just stringing up some shitty lights and a disco ball wouldn't be acceptable then Ms Engineering Expert?" Matteo smirked, the last words dripping with sarcasm. "Bitch please" Rinaa waved a hand in the air with an expression of 'shut up and listen to the master' on her."I've done three years of a masters in engineering, I'm the most qualified person in the room when it comes to this, even if it is your house. A shitty disco ball is obviously mandatory."

The conversation meandered around decor for a while, the ideas getting more and more stupid until Moya blew it out of the park by suggesting a tacky tikki bar would be the perfect addition to the place. The atmosphere was relaxed and casual and once they'd all been settled down a strange little tradition emerged. Every time somebody said something funny or silly, somebody else would make an appropriate sound effect or riff on either the keyboard, the drums or the guitar (which was owned by one of the friends). After about half an hour somebody finally broached the question. "So is it true then Matteo? That you fell down the flight of stairs because you were too busy staring at his arse to look where you were going?"

 

[MzHyde]

Kay looked over John to see the text itself and noticed how Rinaa addressed Fia. The very casual almost stand off-is manner she said it didn't go amiss on Kay in the slightest, especially as Rinaa made a note to not even use Fia's name. Kay just hoped that it would remain civil especially as she noticed the bottles of alcohol under their arms when they walked off. She agreed with the others that they had to take it as a sign of a peace treaty for the sale of all of their sanity. She just wished Rinaa could feel like she could say Fia's name and not just call her 'the other one', yet she felt that was probably just because she was Fia's mother. "as long as it stays civil, that's all I worry about it at the moment" she spoke up.

Fia, whilst in the attic, still found it a bit hard to be around Rinaa because of earlier but she was willing to try and keep her attempts at being her friend going. For the most part she kept quiet through all the banter about the conversion of the attic, only chipping in once in a while, but not contributing too much. She just felt like if she spoke too much she'd say something wrong and that was the last thing she wanted to do. When the topic changed however to Matteo falling down the stairs, she smirked also curious to if this story was indeed true. "you got no choice now, so you gotta spill the information" she smiled, taking a piece of cake and nibbling it in the process. She trying so hard to be casual around everyone but not making it obvious to those who didn't really know her.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The fact that Rinaa didn't use Fia's name hadn't gone amiss on any of the others, though they all had their own theories on why she'd done it, not all of which were correct. The truth was that Rinaa had stopped using Fia's actual name after she'd become a teenager, having figured if neither Fia nor Kay were going to treat her with any kind of decency then why should Rinaa bother treating them with any kind of civility. She instead resorted to a variety of nicknames (including the Celtic deer), most of which were a variation on 'fire bitch' or 'mother of fire bitch' in all the languages she spoke. Even in her phone they were down as that (not that she ever had cause to contact them).

"I belivie it will go fine." Chas said with complete conviction in his tone, knowing that if he acted confident and sure about something, the others would be likely to copy his mindset, especially if he gave a credible reason for his view. "I'm taking it like this,we've only ever seen Rinaa flip out when she's near us, the extended family, specifically the Earth based group. She's completely different around people her own age, more relaxed and happier, which fits, that's what she's used to in her time after all, not being in a group of only family for a long time. The other teenagers, particularly Moya, they act as like a kind of social buffer. They'll be fine." He finished on a particularly confident note, mentally praying that he'd be proven right on that count.

Rinaa did pick up on the fact that Fia was quieter than normal, but made no comment on it. It was to be expected after all. Instead she immersed herself in the banter and having fun aspect of it all, the guitar having taken up an almost permanent residence. At the question from one of Matteo's friends Moya turned to her, smirking slightly and whispered. "This is gonna be good." "Oh yessss, it is." Matteo just sighed, his face reddening already "if you're gonna ask questions, then at the very least you should watch the video for some kind of context, since everybody else here has seen it and no doubt my whole family will have by the end of the night."

A phone was passed to Fia. The clip, when played showed a school scene, various students milling around at lockers and chatting, a staircase to the upper floors visible in the background. The school was clearly non uniform, judging by the clothes of the students. At the top of the stairs a group of students (recognisable as Matteo's friends) could be seen making their way down when one of them lost his footing and crashed down the stairs, tumbling head over heels before landing face first on the floor. His friends and some other students went to hep, but the majority of the student body were simply taking photos and laughing.

Once Kay had watched it and made her comments Matteo sighed and confirmed, that yes, he had indeed been staring at Chris' ass and as a result was so distracted he fell down the stairs. His friends laughed, but not unkindly while Matteo attempted to save some kind of face. "Can you blame me through? Members of the same sex in ripped jeans that cling in just the right places are far too hot for their own good. Gay corner! Back me up on this!" He gestured at Moya, Chris and one of the others females in the group as he said that. "You too, independent republic of bisexuality! Back me up here!" He added, gesturing at Rinaa

 

[MzHyde]

Kay listened to Chas say that it would be fine and give his reasons why that would be the case. Deeondown she knew he was right and there had been plenty of past times since being here that proved his theory go be correct. She just couldn't help those maternal worried feelings creeping through her, probably purely down to the fact she was pregnant with Fia at the same time, which still felt incredibly weird to her. "you're right, I know you are. Guess I'm just being paranoid" she then replied. She knew it was pointless denying or pretending she wasn't because she was. She had been ever since she saw how badly Fia took the collision in the morning that needed John to go after Fia.

Fia took the phone and watched the video with full scrutiny to make sure she didn't miss any kind of split second catalyst or trigger for the impending fall down the stairs. She wasn't disappointed in what she saw and laughed hard at it, having to cover her mouth with her hand to try and stop herself from laughing. She had to admit, Matteo did have very good taste in blokes and she could totally understand why he got distracted. She didn't need to be gay or bisexual to know that. When Matteo defended his actions she just chuckled, "Matteo I don't need to be gay or bi to know why you got distracted and understand it. Also don't need to be either to ever appreciate when a girl looks good in skinny ripped jeans." she pointed out though she still was figuring out what way she really swung anyway. She was in that category of she had been so sheltered in her upbringing she didn't know or ever let herself have that moment where she didn't look at anyone in any way other than a professional manner. She had already told Rinaa as much that one time at Cal and Cliff's she was still figuring herself out.

 

[_gallifrog_]

What Chas didn't say was that Kay's paranoia was justified. Rinaa was still unpredictable and as her wolf side grew stronger, the mental discord between the two would only get worse. "Hormones probably aren't helping either." Chas added kindly while John nodded, hormones was a legitimate excuse that none of them could dismiss. "I trust what you say Chas, and those two can get along, it's just a three steps forwards two and a half bloody steps back kinda thing." "She'll behave, the consequences aren't worth it." Jay said, an ominous tone to her voice.

Rinaa and the others laughed at how Matteo decided to defend himself. The term 'gay corner' had been a running joke with Matteo's friends for years and had started shortly after he and Saf (the girl he gestured at earlier) came out. Whenever it came to giving opinions on people they'd ask 'the gay corner' for their opinion and the name had stuck. When the term was used earlier with Moya and Rinaa present, Moya promptly asked to join it, while Rinaa declared that as the only bisexual she would set up her own version. The rest of the group had called themselves 'the straight on nutters' so as not to feel left out.

There was general smirking at Fia's comment, Rinaa did indeed remember Fia's earlier comment about being uncertain as to what exactly was the right label. When it came to figuring out her own sexuality it had been an easy enough thing for Rinaa, she'd grown up arund both genders all her life and got on with them equally well, so it was no great shock to her. She also knew that Jay suspected some element of it was due to the fact that chimeras inherited non genetic traits from their parents, but there was no way of proving that sexuality was one of those characteristics. Rinaa had no idea what the right term for Fia would be, but she knew that the family would hve no problem accepting her for whatever she was. "If this was a more serious session I'd be that bitch who goes on a tangent about the difference between the various things on the spectrum of sexuality." Saf piped up, kicking up her feet to get more comfortable. "It's her favourite hobby, she's basically the sexuality dictionary." Matteo added for context knowing that his friend could sometimes be a bit full on in that regard. "But what I will say is, you can be heterosexual and still find both genders attractive, the technical term is bi-romantic."

At Fia's comment Chris went slightly red, ducking his head slightly in the hopes that his fringe would somehow cover the blush (it didn't). "It's probably worth pointing out that it was my ass he was staring at" he gave a slightly guilty smile. "which probably means it's with fessing up that when I was at the top of the stairs looking down, 'is he alright?' was only my second thought. My first was 'damn he looks hot even when in a heap with his arse in the air'." Up until now nobody else had known that and they burst into riotous laughter, practically falling off the crates they were sitting on. "Gods you're perfectly matched." one friend chuckled when he regained enough breath to properly talk.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay nodded at what everyone said, finding it did help to reassure her that she wouldn't have a upset teenager running to her in the evening. All this time she had never actually let go of John's hand without even realising it. "I trust you all, I know you're all right deep down, and no, hormones are being a bloody bitch with all of this" she said with a half smile. She did find Chas' tone a lot more reassuring than she did Jay's but she still took on board what she was saying.

Fia found the whole 'gay corner' comment rather amusing to say the least. She looked at Saf when she spoke up about what Fia said, not really thinking there was even a term for what she said. She nodded with a smirk at Matteo explaining why Saf piped up at all over what she said, before getting told there was a term for what she said. "I guess it's true that you learn something new every day it seems" she remarked back at Saf. She then looked over at Chris when he spoke up about it being him they were discussing, noticing how he had blushed at her comment. She was about to say something else when he continued on saying what else went on and what he was thinking, bursting into laughter with everyone else. "hey Chris, when you got it, flaunt it. That's what I say" she grinned whilst laughing.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Jay's words came out almost like a threat, though why Jay would aim a threat at her own daughter was beyond them, none of them decided to push it. "I trust you too on this mate." John added, Kay still had a firm grip on his hand, and some part of him knew she needed some kind of physical connection or physical reassurance in order to be certain that, in the end, everything was going to be okay. He hadn't made any attempt to remove his hand, and had figured out a way to eat the cake on his lap with only one hand and not make a mess everywhere. "Yeah, hormones definitely don't help, and you're the only one of us who can actually pull that excuse, so make the most of it." He smiled, his tone lightening slightly, hoping that some attempt at humour would bring up the modd a bit.

Saf gave a self satisfied smile the others knew all too well when Fia clearly took on board what Saf said. Out of all of them she was the best at inferring somebody's sexuality just from being near them for a while, so good that it had become almost a running joke in the group. "Stick around us, we know a tonne of stuff and have no problems imparting our wisdoms on others" one of the others drawled, a slight teasing edge to their tone, giving a version of the classic 'elder wisdom' spiel."Not that the majority of it is particularly useful in every day life" was added with a smirk, prompting more snickering from the assembled group. The first alcohol bottle was being passed around, everybody taking a swig from it before passing it along.

Chris shook his head slight at Fia's advice, his usual style really didn't involve flaunting any part of his body. That particular air of jeans was the trousers he wore working and around the house and had been through years of abuse, he'd only worn them to school as he didn't have any other clean trousers. "So basically I should wear a spandex bodysuit to school? Yes, I can see the teachers loving that." He smirked sarcastically. Matteo just so happened to have the bottle at the exact moment Chris said the words 'spandex bodysuit' which caused him to inhale about half the bottle. He coughed and spluttered trying to clear it out, Chris reaching over to pat him hard on the back so it didn't go down the wrong way. "I think my brain would short circuit if you did that." "And what brain is this again?" Moya smirked, feeling that she was in the group enough to make such a joke. "A very gay and distracted one it seems."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay was thankful that John never once made an attempt to remove his hand from hers, glad that he could just tell she needed it in this moment. She had so much running through her head that if she was alone she'd feel it was spinning. She smirked at Elliott's attempt at a joke about her hormones and decided that she'd make him remember he said that. "I'm gonna hold you to that" she told him. With her free hand she ate her dessert as well, only leaving the tiniest bit before getting full.

Fia just chuckled at the reply that came soon after her comment about learning, knowing that if she didn't have leave with the rest of her family soon, she would enjoy hanging out with Matteo and his friends a lot. She took a swig of the alcohol when it was passed to her before passing it on, just enjoying being round people her own age, and finally starting to relax more even around Rinaa. "trust me, after living with John and Kay you get used to useless information being ingrained into you" she smirked.

As for Chris and his reaction to what she said she laughed raising an eyebrow before shaking her head. "not what I was implying but hey.. Whatever floats your boat I guess!" she said as Matteo almost choked on the alcohol. "but if you want Matteo to continue having a beating heart probably best you don't" she teased.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Good to know." Elliott replied, setting his crumb speckled plate to one side and slumping into a more contented position in his chair. He'd probably regret saying what he did at some point in the future, but for now it was needed as a reassurance. Jay of course had thought of the one loophole to the 'only Kay can use hormones as an excuse' statement, but decided against voicing it. Instead she just copied the others in pushing their plates to one side. The conversation slowly fell back to more normal things as the tension began to seep away.

The others nodded at the 'useless information' comment giving some examples of the people in their life who imparted useless knowledge on them and examples of said knowledge. Chris knew (and understood) complex bits of the legal code from his brother, one of the girls knew the right place to hit a water cooler to unblock it as well as where to hit a vending machine to cause the stuck item to fall, another knew the various systems of categorisation and organisation used in public libraries, Moya knew the perfect setting and timings for microwaving various items (the packets she stressed, were never right) while Rinaa used how to hot wire an industrial forklift as her example.

Chris nodded at her comment, still keeping his hand on Matteo's back, even after the coughing and spluttering had subsided. "You have a point on that, but his sister is a doctor, so she'd know how to bring him back. And on top of that our school made us do this mandatory first response/first aid course thingy, so those of us who didn't spend the whole time on their phones during it" he narrowed his eyes in mock annoyance at one of the others before continuing with his point "aren't completely useless in that kind of situation." "Or alternatively Matteo could just do that thing where you pretend to be out for the count so somebody is forced to do rescue breathing." Somebody else added. "Don't give him ideas." Chris called back cheerfully while somebody else hit back with "too late, he's already got 'em."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay was so glad that she had these people in her life and how they never once judged her for her paranoid moments, or any other moment she had. She nodded at Elliott's words, and as the chat started to divert into more casual and light hearted conversation, her hold on John's lightened, but didn't fully go away. She sat back in her chair to be as comfortable as she could, soon enough relaxing again her thoughts of Fia and her mother slowly going to the back of her mind.

Fia listened and chuckled at some of the useless information whilst knowing that some of it she would end up remembering and no doubt using the moment she got back to earth and her timeline. Most of the useless information she knew of would have gone over nearly everyone's heads so she kept them to herself, explaining that for everyone else it'd be more useless because they'd never find a reason to use of it.

With Chris replying to her other comment about giving making Matteo's heart stop, she smirked knowing he had a good point. Cliff would be able to save Matteo if that ever happened, whilst nodding and smirking at the rest of what he had to say. She laughed when one of the other friends said about Matteo playing possum just to get the attention, "he would so do that, let's face it. Pretty Sure Matteo wouldn't need someone to give him the idea for him to get it into his head" Fia replied with a cheeky smirk. She may not have known him long compared to his usual friends but she got a good enough idea of the type of person he was, to know it definitely wouldn't be out question to him.