Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[_gallifrog_]

John could feel Kay's grip relaxing as well the tension in their shared bond. He hadn't noticed the tension beforehand as his own head was swirling with various thoughts and theories. But as those thoughts settled down he was able to distinguish between what was from the bond and what was from the bond. It was good to be able have some way of knowing that Kay wasn't going to spend the whole evening stewing over what she had just learned (although he really couldn't blame her for that). He found himself getting more and more engaged with the conversation between Chas, Elliott and Jay (who was pre-occupied but for a different reason). The assassin was devoting half her energy to successfully following the conversation and the other half to contemplating what would happen if she threw a cake fork at Quincenti.

"How dare you accuse me of doing such a thing?" Matteo declared in an over the top faux-offended voice. "I feel hurt that you could even think of me doing something like that!" He crossed his arms and adopted a completely ridiculous fake pout, causing the others to burst out laughing. He (and his friends) were well used to Matteos' amateur dramatics, he did a bit of acting with the school theatre club, he wasn't serious about it it was a useful outlet and the others there were fun to hang out with it. Chris ruffled his friend's hair before smirking "though if you were playing dead, everybody knows that the best thing to is to call a responsible adult, maybe the P.E. teacher?" he teased. Matteo's face scrunched in disgust, giving an over the top shudder of disgust. "That bitch? Euggggh, no thanks." One of the others filled in Moya, Fia and Rinaa on why this was so funny, their P.E. teacher was not only a borderline slave driver, but highly unattractive and always stank of sweat.

"So what are we gonna do?" Saf asked looking at the others."What do you guys feel up for? Gaming? Shitty movie? Some stupid party game like Truth or Dare? Or do we just start messing around on the instruments and let this be derailed and turn into Artemis' open mic night?" "I did warn you guys." Rinaa replied, lounging back, one arm comfortably around Moya's waist. "Once you get me started, I really don't stop. And for the record I'm game for anything."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay always was never particularly swayed one way or the other when it came what the bond meant for them when it came to knowing how the other felt. Yet tonight was different for her, she was glad that they had they had the bond so if she ever said how she felt John would know for certain whether she meant it or not. Yet it also meant she didn't even need to say anything to be able to put his own mind at ease when it came to her. Like the others, she was getting more engaged in the conversation which could only be a good thing for her, as she had no idea if she would end up having her weird dreams or have her sleep walking triggered when it came to going to bed later.

Fia smirked at Matteo being so dramatic with his defensive outburst, rolling her eyes at him. "oh come on, you're as much of a prankster as I am, we both know you would" she told him back with a smile, quickly showing his friends that she could easily stand her own and be quick witted when it came to it. She noticed how Chris kept his hand on Matteo's back and she couldn't help but see how they clearly did really like each other. With the mention of the P.E
teacher she rose an eyebrow and listened to the explanation even if she couldn't relate to that sort of situation in the slightest.

As Saf changed the subject, she heard the options and genuinely didn't mind what they did. "I'm like Artemis, I'm game for whatever to be honest" she told them.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"You wound me with your low opinions of me as a person." Matteo shot back, putting both hands over his heart and falling backwards as if shot, landing accidentally on purpose so that his head and shoulders rested comfortably on Chris' lap. For a brief moment the other boy's face flashed with an expression of 'I'm gay panicking and don't know what to do' before remembering that he didn't have to hide how much he liked the other boy and visibly relaxed.

With both Rinaa and Fia declaring that all options sounded good to them it was down to the others to figure out what to do next. They debated back and forth between movies and gaming, with people getting pretty vocal on each side. In the end, after checking that they did indeed have enough controllers lying around, they decided on a bit of both, a couple of rounds of a racing game which was along similar lines to Mario Kart but used spaceships instead of karts, and after that, if they were still interested they'd watch an episode or two of an old, slightly cheesy spy show that Rinaa had loaded up on one of her drives.

The controllers were similar in shape and size to Earth ones, but when it came to the positions of some of the various joysticks and the functions of certain buttons they were different. Rinaa had grown up playing with on both types of consoles and knew the nuances of working with both, but she knew Fia wouldn't and nobody else in the room would know that the differences. It would be a cruel and unusual punishment to let Fia start playing without telling her. "Heads up, these are laid out differently to the Earth ones, not in a dramatically different way, but just enough to throw you." She spoke in English knowing that none of the others in the room (bar Fia) would understand her. She gave a quick demonstration of the differences once she was sure she had Fia's attention.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia just chuckled, smirked and rolled her eyes at how dramatic Matteo was being, though she did think it was pretty smooth of him to make it so he fell back onto Chris' lap. She saw how Chris went from slight panic mode to relaxing when he realised he didn't need to hide how he felt about Matteo. "smooth Matteo.. Smooth" she simply remarked with a smirk.

She let the others decide which to do between themselves, feeling quite amused at how they were all getting so competitive. With it finally being decided, Fia was cool with the decision having always liked video games. She looked at the controller and felt it in her hand, getting used to the feel of it, finding it was different but not massively so and she quickly got used to it. She looked at Rinaa when she spoke to her in English and let her explain the lay out of the controller to her. "got it, thanks" she replied back in English. She was actually very thankful that Rinaa did show her the ropes and differences of said equipment, glad that she didn't let her just try and work it out for herself and make a fool out of herself.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Matteo just smirked at the comment, while Chris rolled his eyes, he certainly wasn't regretting finally getting together with Matteo, but he had a feeling their relationship would be a steep learning curve at times. Matteo shifted himself around so he had a better angle to see the screen while one of the others booted it up. Like with most groups, they all had their favourite characters and chosen tactics as well as an unwritten tradition that everybody gave their avatar a bizarre name. The avatars were kitted out in various pilot gear, some were humanoid, but the majority represented other, more exciting looking alien races. Rinaa gave a half shrug at the thanks. "It's no fun being the only one who doesn't know the ropes, but you would've figured it out anyway no doubt." she replied quietly, no sign of malice or mocking in her tone, before shifting back to a seat that meant her view of the screen wouldn't be blocked by Fia's head.

The first round was designated a practice run by Matteo, partially because he knew that Fia wouldn't have played before and wanted to give her a fighting chance when it became seriously competitive. The practice round was surprisingly long and some did use it as an opportunity to show off, slipping into a routine of teasing and giving over the top reactions to everything. The track was designed to look like a track used by light single seater crafts (the kind used for travelling on planets as opposed to travelling between them). The racers always reminded Rinaa of the pod-racers from Star Wars, having their engines out in front and the bare minimum of safety equipment. The practice course was a mountain desertscape consisting of narrow valleys, steep ascents and sand flats that kicked up dust. The game was an old version, but the graphics were far more detailed and immersive than what was currently available on Earth and the background sounds were incredibly realistic.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia nodded at Rinaa's reply after she saw Matteo smirk at her earlier comment. With the game booted up she picked a female character and was appreciative that Matteo declared the first round as a practice round for her benefit. To keep to the tradition of everyone picking ridiculous avatar names, Fia did the same so not to be the odd one out, going with 'FilmoreGraves' going down the pun route, whether anyone would get it or not, she always thought it was clever.

She quickly got the hang of the controls after stumbling with them a couple of times an depressing the wrong button a and such, yet after a couple of mistakes she got the hang of it and quickly got into the game. It felt very star wars-y to her with the layout, particularly reminding her of the old speed racer game that was once released on earth around episode 1 film release. She was impressed with the graphics and how far superior they were to even her vr games which in her timeline were the latest in graphics standards. She wasn't even going all out to try and win but just make sure she didn't forget what button did what. She was amused by how competitive and loud Matteo's friends got even on the practice run.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa on the other hand was very much taking a 'in it to win it' policy. She picked one of her favourite characters who had dramatic purple skin, form fitting body armour and a spiky hair-do that seemed to defy gravity. For a good few years she'd considered trying to do that hairstyle with her own hair for cosplay purposes, but in the end decided that a wig would be better (not that she ever got a chance to go to a con in that particular outfit, it was still half finished on a mannequin back home). She'd been playing the game for years and (in her mind at least) had a reputation to uphold. There was a certain amount of skill that could be transferred from real piloting to playing video games, particularly in VR with two hand controllers and as a qualified pilot Rinaa knew that she would be teased if she failed dramatically at a piloting game.

When it came time for the first proper round, the track was decided by a vote and the jungly landscape one was declared the winner. The trees were towering masses with all kinds of vines and spiked plants hanging off them. As the racers could fly the tree limbs added an extra level of difficulty and were referred to in teenage slang and gaming circles 'hurdles'. They required a good level of skill and concentration to get through. The racers could crash and take damage and there was a critical damage level that, once reached meant the player was out of the round. And just like in Mario Kart there were various boosters and power ups to be found along the course.

 

[MzHyde]

When it came to the first proper round Fia noticed how much more challenging the chosen course was compared to the previous one but she put all her concentration into it whilst getting the hang of it enough to be a lot more competitive. She was finally enjoying herself properly and feeling like a normal teenager once again like she did on the dance floor at the wedding party. She could see and tell that Rinaa was putting her real piloting efforts and mindset into the game whilst making it clear she had played this game for years, unlike herself.

She thought she wasn't doing too badly on the game all things considering, even if she did get caught out at a couple of points (which did make expletives escape her mouth). It was times like this she was glad she was a quick learner, so if she noticed where she made a mistake once, she didn't make it twice. The game was great fun, to the point she would be sad if she never got to play it again so she wondered if her Leah ever played the game and if she did, if she would play it with her at any point.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Fia wasn't the only one swearing during the course of the game, everybody in the room let rip a string of curses, usually out of frustration at being beaten or screwing up, as well as the occasional joyful swearing to rub the victory in somebody else's face. Fia wasn't the worst player, it was evident by the postures that all but three were serious gamers and had strategies and plans as well as a few in game rivalries. The others were not as talented and well aware of the fact so they behaved as wild cards, going along for the ride and deliberately making a nuisance of themselves in order to try and throw the other players off. Despite the outbursts the atmosphere was relaxed.

Leah may not have spent as much time as Rinaa had off world, but there were good chunks of her life that were spent off world so she had indeed played the game, and just like Rinaa she had used it as a way to put her piloting skills to a more fun use. She played mainly with friends off world, as well as Cal, Cliff, Dan, jay and Elliott (Elliott's place had both types of console, but whenever the Earth group was around they only used the Earth controllers to make things fair).

They ended up playing four rounds in total, the landscape changing each time, there was a course set in space, an icy wastelands course (with a snowstorm at points) and finally a level underwater where the crafts were surrounded by a water repellent bubble that would burst if a critical damage level was reached. Rinaa managing to place in the top four in all of them. At one point two of the not so great gamers dropped out and decided to do a running commentary of the race.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia managed to keep concentration on both the game and still take note of the commentary that was being said after the less experienced players dropped out. The four rounds were entertaining and amusing all at the same time and she strangy found the underwater racecourse was probably her favourite track for the challenge of not allowing the ship's bubble to burst. It felt good to her to play a game with other people again as it had been a while for her to have even a family game night due to the whole future kay being kidnapped for a while before she got help getting her mother back.

With the four rounds done, she put the controller down and stretched her back out by stretching her arms out behind her on the ground, her shoulder blades making a quiet popping sound as they clicked and she sat back upright. "so what now? That TV series Artemis has?" she asked, grabbing some of the snacks to eat after asking her question. She was intrigued to what the show was like that had been discussed earlier, glad that her translation runes always translated TV shows and films as well as spoken word.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa found herself relaxing and really enjoying the commentary the others provided, at some points she had to refrain from just tossing the controller aside so she could let out all the suppressed laughter. She felt blissfully happy throughout most of the gaming session, but at some point near the end her mood dipped down as she thought of the games nights she'd had with her friends on Earth and what could only be described as a pang of intense home sickness. She missed her friends, the main lab with it's strange smell of chemicals, the engineering station that she shared with her best friend (and mentor) that always ended up covered in comics and coffee cups, the sublevel basement rooms that served as a social chill out zone, the coffee machine that she seemed to spend all her lunch breaks repairing, the place on the lab roof she'd go to just brood over the city or to play guitar. The feeling hit her like a high speed train, hard and without warning, making Rinaa realise just how much she missed the little, seemingly mundane things about her friends and workplace. That was followed by another realisation, she'd spent all the years not knowing what or where home was, and it took going to another time to realise that her work and friends had been her home all along. And now she was never going to see them again.

She finished the rest of the race on auto-pilot, her eyes narrowed in concentration as she bit down on part of her lower lip. She ran a hand up her face and through her hair while the others declared that they were game for watching an episode or two."Looks like it, unless anybody has anywhere else to be or anything important to do?" Matteo asked, knowing fully well that everybody bar Rinaa, Fia and Moya were staying in his house. "I'm up for it, I can postpone my existential crisis for another couple of hours." She replied with a grin and a light tone that was the exact opposite of what she actually felt. She pushed her feelings of homesickness, loneliness and regret deep down inside her as she'd done countless times before. Now wasn't the time for a breakdown.

She extracted herself from Moya's arm, pulling the leather cord out from around her neck and flipping through the six flashdrives that hung from it. In her timeline USB storage had increased so dramatically that it was well into the stratosphere compared to what was available to Matteo and his friends. Elliott hadn't been exaggerating when he said that Rinaa had a mini Netflix. The split was about 60-40 between non Earth and Earth stuff and Rinaa easily navigated to the show she'd mentioned earlier. "It's probably worth warning you that this is twelve years old, so the quality of filming isn't as good. It's kinda cheesy at places, but it genuinely has an excellent plot. As for background? There's not much you need to know other than the fact that DC9 is the name of the covert spy division and the two main characters have been partners for years, but their personalities still mean they clash on various things. And the boss is terrifyingly capable, don't let age fool you."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia had no idea how Rinaa was feeling, but if she did she would have discreetly given her the look to see if she would be okay. She looked at Matteo when he replied to her question, knowing she didn't have anything better to do personally, as after this she would only be going back to The House if her family weren't at the table still. She listened to Rinaa's reply and found it an interesting choice of words, figuring that Moya would be there for Rinaa if it was needed.

She continued to listen as Rinaa gave the snippets of worth noting information for the show. She let her take over for getting to the show whilst she got comfortable where she was sat. She saw just how much stuff was on the USB when it got plugged into the TV and realised Elliott really wasn't lying. She was just ready to chill out and watch something. Every now and then her thoughts did go to how Kay was doing after finding out the things about her mother, but on the whole her kind was distracted with what was going on around her. She didn't have moments like Rinaa, where she felt homesick to the same extent as she went from leaving her family behind to coming to family. The only real things that ever made her homesick were the dogs because it made her wonder if Max was okay. Especially as she couldn't even remember seeing her Leah that brief moment and asking her to keep an eye on Max for her, due to the mind block on her.

"cheesy or not, I'm ready to see it. Some of the older shows are usually the best" she told the room.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Can't argue with that" Rinaa replied, not turning to look back, focusing on one of her favourite episodes. One of her friends back on Earth had introduced her to old seventies movies and shows and Rinaa had at first been sceptical, but after a watching a few she discovered that they were surprisingly good and she had quite the appetite for them. "Especially when it comes to movies and shows from the 70s. I doubt you'd ever have seen 'The Professionals', none of your family have seen it to my knowledge, but it runs in a similar vein to this show only with a distinct lack of aliens, some extremely dodgy political references and some very questionable hair and fashion."

With the episode lined up she settled back into her previous position with Moya, firmly keeping all signs that things were wrong dampened down. Jay had taught her to have almost complete control over any emotion as a sort of coping mechanism for dealing with family gatherings, which really just postponed the inevitable breakdown on one (or both) of their parts to a couple of hours later when they were alone. In the darkened room there was no way for Moya to pick up on the extremely subtle markers that anything was amiss .

As Rinaa promised the show was definitely more on the hammy side than the serious one, especially as some of the prosthetic work and CGI animation were hilariously out of date, but the writers had made a great effort to keep things realistic. The main duo were likeable and relatable, each possessing a knack for getting on the others nerves at critical moments and sometimes seemed more like a rivalry than a partnership. The episode opened with a contract killer landing in the city in question only to be intercepted by DC9. One of the agents then posed as the killer in order to expose the people who ordered the killing. Rinaa had seen the episode many time,s but still found herself gripped by it, watching the other's reactions and theories.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia just remained in her comfortable position whilst Rinaa finished setting up the show. She agreed the old shows and films from the 70s especially were unbelievably hammed up but they had such charm they were still able to hold their entertainment value to this day. She remembered how she would catch the old shows during bad day time TV when she had nothing to do on a rare day or she had a terrible cold so felt sorry for herself and just slobbed out on the couch in John's apartment to watch them all. "sounds interesting" she replied, "I've watched all the bad but good ones like the original 21 jump street, not the awful movies, and dukes of hazard" she added as she settled to the watching the show Rinaa put on for them all.

As Fia watched it she could see that Rinaa didn't once exaggerate how hammed up this show was but she was getting engrossed nonetheless. She could easily see herself watching this as a marathon session one day if she ever had that kind of opportunity. She was even too engrossed to express many theories but she did enjoy the others coming up with them and smirked at several of them. She could also tell that Rinaa was the type to never tire of this show no matter how many times she watched it and was clearly enjoying hearing what the rest of them were saying and how they were reacting to it.

(sorry for late reply, my mate came over to make sure I wasn't alone whilst my mother is at work and only just gone)

 

[_gallifrog_]

Looking at his watch Matteo decided that there was enough time for watching a second episode, though another part of him was saying it for more selfish reasons, the more time he spent in the attic the less time there was for Benji, Alex and Charlie to seek him out and interrogate him on everything. If he played his cards right and waited long enough, it might be the next morning before he'd get pounced on. He'd moved from his position on Chris's lap to a more comfortable position at his side. Moya had at some point during the first episode stretched out her wings properly, rolling her shoulders to prevent the muscles from seizing up. The wings were surprisingly warm against Rinaa's back and the angular feathers were surprisingly comfortable and Rinaa found herself slipping into a contented bubble.

With the second episode over, and all the food and alcohol gone they called it quits for the night. Matteo's friends were all staying in the couch, either sleeping in the guest bedroom or on the couches in the downstairs living room. Outside it was dark, all the others had clearly headed to bed already and there was no sign of John, Chas, Jay, Elliott or Kay who had all retired back to the respective houses as the temperature plummeted. Rinaa let out a long slow breath (which quickly turned to a fog of droplets), tipping her head upwards slightly to take in the vast expanse of sky visible. She'd seen the starline many time before, but it never failed to amaze her just how much of it was visible due to the lack of light pollution. "Now that's quite something" Moya said in a hushed tone, also looking up. "Attil's rings obscure a surprising amount of the night sky." "Yeah.... this place really makes you appreciate it all."

(Don't worry, it's cool)

 

[MzHyde]

With the second episode done and all the food and alcohol consumed, Fia headed out with Rinaa and Moya quickly regretting not having someone bring her clothes from The House as she was still in the wrap skirt, bare footed and bikini top only from earlier on in the day. Seeing how dark it was, she knew John, Chas and Kay would have gone back to The House by now, knowing that there was no way Kay would be able to stay out in this colder temperature. She wrapped her arms round her chest as if it would make her warmer which it wouldn't in reality.

She looked up and saw the sky and found it incredible to look at but she was getting too cold to stay outside. "it's certainly something. I'm gonna run back to The House though I'm freezing. See you in the morning" she told the two girls. She may be half phoenix but like Kay, feeling the cold was a weakness to her. She then took off running back to The House mostly to get some kind of heat through her body and because she didn't want to be outside any longer than she really had to be.

Reaching The House, she opened the door and closed it behind her feeling the warmth of it hit her instantly and making her sigh with relief. She jogged upstairs in her usual skipping every other step and headed to her room, where she changed into a baggy tshirt and pj shorts before diving under her duvet shivering.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Both girls nodded as Fia made her excuses. Rinaa knew vaguely that cold was something Fia was particularly vulnerable to, but she'd never actually seen proof of it until now. "Goodnight then." Moya said with a smile and a wave, while Rinaa just nodded. "Yeah, 'night." Fia rushing back to The House wearing only a bikini top and skirt was strangely comical in her opinion, it made Rinaa think of a scene out of an American high school movie where a female protagonist would end up running home wearing only underwear and maybe a towel in order to avoid being caught by her disapproving parents/the disapproving parents of whatever person she'd ended up hooking up with.

The two girls had less of an issue with the cold even and made their way slowly back to the boat, walking hand in hand and talking in hushed tones. There was nobody to hear them, but something about the quiet beauty of the island, the star speckled sky and the moonlight sparkling like quicksilver on the harbour waves made them hesitant to speak too loud, lest they disturb the tranquillity of the island and in the process shatter the peace.

It would normally take about eight minutes to reach the houseboat, but they managed to stretch it out to fifteen. There was a faint glow behind one of the curtained windows of the boat Elliott and Jay were staying in, so at least one of them was still awake. Rina suspected it was Elliott, he didn't need the full eight hours of sleep after all. It was just as the two reached their own boat that Moya turned, drew Rinaa close and kissed her softly. They didn't have sex that night, but when they did fall asleep, it was in the same bed, with Rinaa cocooned in one of Moya's wings.

 

[MzHyde]

As Fia had run off she did wave goodbye to the girls, so not to be completely rude but she was so desperate for some warmth that she didn't wait around to long for the response before making the run for it.

Once in bed she tightly wrapped her duvet around her, she hadn't even stopped to find out if either her parents or Chas were even awake, she was too focused on warming up and being cosy in her bed. She sighed with content as she let her duvet engulf her, just her hair poking out from underneath as she had pulled her pillow down so she was barely seen. She could feel her body slowly stop shivering after around ten minutes. She noticed her old childhood elephant plush on the ground so she reached her arm out and down, grabbed it and pulled it up into her grasp. Compared to when she was a mere baby and toddler, it felt much smaller now she was a teenager even though it still was on the large size.

When Kay went back much earlier in the evening compared to Fia, it took her a little while to get to sleep but she did eventually. She ended up dreaming her memories of herself and her mother that night which was half expected. Tears fell down her face in her sleep as flashes of Fira teaching her how to play the piano came through her mind along with the times Fira would sing to her or play with her in the living room and read to her. In her sleep she found herself snuggling into John, clinging onto his arm as she dreamt.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John took a couple of minutes to properly fall asleep, he needed a bit of time to first of all digest everything that had happened and second of all put it out of the way so he could actually get to sleep as opposed to pulling an all-nighter in the library researching and thinking. The day had been a mixed bag over all, a strange kind of roller coaster of positives and negatives, first with Fia's mystery guy, then with Rinaa at Fia's throat, then the fun at the beach, the excellent food, the assassin face off and finally the things they learned about Kay's mother. didn't wake up when Kay began crying in her sleep, but on some level, even deep in the blackness of sleep he knew that something was wrong. Without waking up his arm snaked around Kay, pulling her into his chest. He then began slowly stroking her back without waking up the entire time.

Chas on the other hand did have a strange night. About an hour after Fia arrived back at The House he was up and in the library, pen in one hand, pencil in the other, an array of pages spread in front of him. To a a casual observer who had just walked into the room it looked as if he was burning the midnight oil working on something. But looking further would reveal three things wrong with the scene. Firstly there was light source, Chas working completely in the dark. Secondly Chas wasn't ambidextrous, he could only write and draw properly with his left, but somehow now, with no light to work by he was able to use both writing implements perfectly. And thirdly Chas' eyes were fast shut, he was dead asleep, his conscious mind was utterly unaware of what he was doing, but some part of his subconscious was awake and causing him to sleepwalk. With the work done, he gathered up the papers, making his way back to his room before crashing face first onto the bed.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay in her sleep, clung onto John, burying her face into him as he pulled her into him, completely unaware of any of the movements due to being well and truly asleep. The stroking of her back was soothing to unconscious self, as she continued to see her childhood flow through her mind. If she was awake this would have been probably some of the most hormonal emotions she had shown since finding out she was pregnant. It had been a while since she had any dreams that created this outward reaction in her sleep, something she would have hoped wouldn't happen again for a long while. If she was on her own, Fee would have made it so Kay's wings wrapped round her to comfort her but Fee knew John could easily calm Kay's sleeping form without the aid of her. So for the first time in a long time, Kay remained wingless as her sleeping form reacted and clung to John.

Fia eventually fell asleep after about half hour after snuggling up into bed and eventually warming up. It was when she warmed up, she managed to fall into a deep sleep hugging both her elephant and her duvet, unaware that Chas was up but not consciously, instead sleep writing in the library. She didn't particularly dream about anything, just being completely dead to the world as per usual. If anyone had come in it would have been hard to even have spotted her under the duvet, but when they did it would have seemed like they were looking at a twelve year old from the way she was hugging the plush toy in her sleep.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Had John been awake when Kay had been crying in her sleep he probably would have taken a very different approach to the instinctive one he was taking at that exact moment in time. And had he knew exactly what he was doing in his sleep he would have first denied it, then been extremely embarrassed by the whole affair. In his mind John wasn't the kind of person to do such a thing instinctively. Even with Elliott there wold always be a slight moment of hesitation as John tried to figure out whether a physical touch would be the right approach. But with the sleeping Kay there was no hesitation, his conscious brain wasn't there to make him doubt what he was doing.

Rinaa was the first of the group to wake. For the second night in a row there had been no nightmares and no waking up in the middle of the night short of breath, sweating, hands feeling for wounds that weren't there. She didn't understand why that was the case until she moved her hand to rub her eyes and felt a warm, feathered wing wrap tighter around her. Looking to the side she saw Moya, fast asleep, hair spread messily across the pillow and the memories of the night before came back. She smiled to herself, laying her head back against the other woman's shoulder, the world could wait, she was going to savour this moment of happiness before something inevitably blew up in her face.

Chas awoke to the smell of his own stale breath being deflected back at him by the pillow. He wrinkled his nose in disgust, annoyed that he'd fallen asleep on his face. He never usually slept in that position, having an irrational fear of somehow suffocating himself in his sleep by lying like that. He groaned and rolled over, his body disturbing and crinkling the papers he'd dropped on his head the night before. The first thought was that he'd fallen asleep on his book, but once that cabbie went to investigate it became very clear that something else was going on. He'd never seen those pages before in his life. "What the bloody....?" he asked The House, as if it would somehow answer him. He squinted blearily at the papers half expecting it to be a practical joke by John. But when he recognised his own handwriting and saw the ink stains on his hands he felt a chill go up his back. This was no joke.

 

[MzHyde]

By the time morning came round, Kay was sleeping a lot more settled than during the night. She eventually woke up still wrapped up in John's arm and laying snuggled into him as best as her pregnant body could allow her to do so. Her head was on his collarbone, an arm resting on him letting her hand be just in front of her face. Her hair had sprawled out over his arm during the night from the way she was laying, and she rubbed her eyes as she stirred awake realising the position she had ended up in during the night. There was the remains of built up tears in the corners of her eyes, making her realise that she had in fact been crying in her sleep from the dreams. She nuzzled into John as she let herself wake up more, feeling comfortable in the position she was in.

Fia would be one of the last people to wake up as she was the last to even get back to The House and go to sleep. Her duvet was completely wrapped up around her, one foot hanging just off the edge of the bed which seemed to be a common thing for her. Her plush had ended up back on the floor during the night from her shuffling whilst sleeping and she only eventually woke up due to her foot getting cold making her quickly pull her foot up and under her duvet that was a tangled up mess over her. She mumbled as she stirred pulling her pillow down so she partially laying on it and partially hugging it. She did not want to be awake in the slightest.

 

[_gallifrog_]

When John did wake up, Kay's slightly shifted position meant that he woke up with a face full of hair and very nearly ended up accidentally swallowing strands. He resisted the urge to do the classic 'cat hacking up a hairball' noises in order to get it out of his mouth. Instead he went for a more careful approach, removing the strands from his face with care before running a hand up his face and across his hair, shifting it into messy peaks. The fact that Kay's face was all but buried in John meant he couldn't see the remnants of tears in the corner of hers eyes. "As comfortable as this position is, is it really necessary to have your hair all over me face?" He asked with a teasing smirk.

Chas meanwhile had gathered up the pages, shoved on some fresh clothes (not caring how dishevelled he looked) and had made his way to the library as quickly as possible, only stopping to make himself a coffee along the way. Chas knew that with Kay's condition he probably shouldn't, but the caffeine would wake him up better than anything else in The House. He had bigger things on his mind and needed to do some research. He decided not to disturb John, Kay or Fia with the matter, they were probably all asleep anyway and given the events of the day before the deserved it. He wasn't as well versed in magic as John, Elliott or Fia, but he knew his way around The House's library.

A glance at Fia's phone would reveal she had missed a couple of messages. The came from Matteo's number, but were written in a way that suggested Meyer had stolen Matteo's phone and figured out not only how to send a text message but a selfie too. She was requesting walkies whenever Fia was available.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay glanced up when she heard John stir awake and removed her hair from his facr, having not even realised her hair was even over his face. "sorry. Didn't realise it was" she told him back with a small smile, knowing he was just teasing her. She knew she usually tied it up into a ponytail when going to bed to stop that very situation from happening, but it seemed last night she completely forgot. "but at least you admit this is comfortable, because I have no plans to move just yet. You're highly comfy to rest on" she teased back, refusing to move but looking up at him, making her hair move more away from his face.

When Fia did wake and let herself wake up enough to properly open her eyes, she saw the missed calls on her phone along with the texts and pictures. At first she was utterly confused but then she saw the images of Meyer, chuckling to herself. She yawned and rubbed her eyes before sitting up and stretching her arms and legs out whilst untangling herself from her bed. "guess I'm on walking duty" she mumbled to herself with a fond smile. She decided to reply to the texts,

'Matteo tell Meyer I'll be right there.
Just woke up so won't be long, just need to wash and get dressed.
Fia'​

She then pressed send and got out of bed, sleepily walking to the bathroom to freshen up before heading back to her room and pulling out some clothes a lot more appropriate than last night's attire was. She was still feeling impressed that Meyer even managed to send such things, and part of her was theorising that it was possible Matteo just sent it all pretending to be Meyer.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John smirked slightly at what he was taking to be a compliment. Having that kind of ego boost come from a beautiful woman ensured he'd be in a good mood for the morning until life inevitably intervened and shoved it's problems in his face. He let out a very slight sigh of relief when the rest of the hair removed itself from blocking his vital airways. He'd had a bad experience with sentient hair once that resulted in him almost being strangled into unconsciousness. "Good to know that I'm basically nothing more than a glorified sofa." He sniped back, with an amused edge to his tone.

Fia was right in guessing that it was actually Matteo sending the texts pretending to be his own dogs. He had put a great deal of effort into creating a dog selfie without bits of him being in the frame. The dogs were smart, but their paws were far too big and cumbersome to be able to operate a phone, as were their noses. It said quite a lot about Matteo that he had at one point tried to train the dogs to text and failed. The reply to Fia's message was pretty instantaneous.

"Message received and passed on. We'll be waiting (that sounds far less creepy and ominous in my head)
- Matteo"​