Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[MzHyde]

Fia listened to the long list that Benji started to rattle off, and suddenly felt incredibly glad that they didn't visit during storm season. She could only imagine just from the shortened list Benji gave, how bad it would be on this island during storm season, especially with having to look after so many animals at the same time. "yeesh... Yeah we got the light end of the deal clearly and okay, duely noted, I'll keep an eye out" she replied, seeing that her parents and Chas were still chatting amongst themselves.

Kay smirked and nodded in a manner that said 'yup, I'm aware' knowing that it was very risky giving John full permission to wake her up in the morning, or to do anything for that matter. But she trusted him enough to know he wouldn't take the complete piss due to her carrying his daughter. If she wasn't pregnant, she would not have put it passed him to go all out when it came to getting her up. "that is very true." she smiled. She looked at Chas and nodded, thinking it was a great idea and that it would be good for Fia to experience whilst she could. "Good idea but you're waking her up though. I'm not going into that dangerous ground" Kay said to Chas with a smirk. If John had the task of getting her up, then Chas could have the task of getting Fia up.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Chas nodded "fair enough" while he didn't sleep on the same floor as Fia, he had no qualms with giving her a wake up call. It made sense to split the job of waking up the two women who had a dislike for waking up early between he and John, the two people who could get themselves up at any time of the night or day. "Though she does have a functioning phone alarm she can use to wake herself up. I'll only do the crowbar brigade if that fails." Seeing that Fia was still talking with Benji, he decided to wait to tell her that she had no choice in watching the sunrise tomorrow morning.

Benji wasn't exaggerating with the various jobs and stories of just how crazy things could get in winter. He and his siblings had repeatedly stressed how the island may be beautiful now, but it was a different beast altogether in the winter. As a kid he didn't really mind doing all the jobs, it was strangely exciting to be trusted with something so important. As a teenager he had grumbled and moaned about having to do the jobs, but after seeing the devastation on one of the nearby islands (thankfully uninhabited) after a particularly savage storm, he changed his tune and began using his technical mind to find better and stronger ways of storm prevention. "Yep, my sister picked her wedding week wisely" he told her before turning around and addressing everybody"and if anybody needs me I'm on barnacle scraping and cleaning engines down at the boatyard."

Rinaa's ears literally perked up at the mention of Benji doing boat work. Her ears had always been pointy in the time she'd been with John and co, but after her most recent shift they had become even pointier and looked almost identical to Fae ears. "By the looks of it, this ones volunteered to help." Jay called over. "What can I say? I really love scraping barnacles off and in the process rubbing my fingers raw." She drawled sarcastically.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay knew all too well that Fia had a working alarm on her phone to get herself up, but she also had suspicions if it was left down to her she would press snooze as many times as she could possibly get away with it and still not get up. Getting up for the sake of the dogs was one thing but for a sunrise, she wasn't so sure if Fia would willingly get up for. She nodded at what Chas said, and noticed Fia was still talking to Benji. She let Fia finish her conversation with Benji before letting Fia know.

"so it seems" Fia said simply with a smile before he turned to everyone else declaring what job duty he was on if anyone needed him. She saw how Rinaa's ear picked up on the task and found it curious how she reacted, but smirked when Jay basically volunteered Rinaa for her. Barnacle scraping seemed like such a tedious job to her although important and was glad she got dog duty so she didn't have to do such a job. She walked to John, Kay and Chas, signalling for the dogs to follow her, having picked up on the few signals from Matteo and Benji over the last few days to get the dogs attention. "what you three doing today? And what you been talking about? I heard my name being mentioned" she asked them.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Fia was right in thinking that barnacle scraping was a tedious job. It was repetitive and required a deceptive amount of physical strength to do properly. Limpets and barnacles had evolved to cling perfectly to surfaces like boat hulls. By the end of it the person ended up with sore shoulders and aching arms as well as cuts and scrapes all over their hands and arms. Rinaa found she could lose herself in the task, when working on her own she could simply shut off most of her brain and focus purely on the task at hand and not whatever was going on in her head. She didn't mind Jay volunteering her, in fact it brought a smile to her face. "You've done it before then?" Benji asked, it may have been a stupid question, but he wanted to be sure that she had and wasn't just being sarcastic for the hell of it. "I have actually, quite a few times. I have extended family on a waterworld and my parents actually bought a large houseboat at one point. We did it up as a sort of family DIY project and to save money, I de-barnacle when we're in dry dock. So yeah, I know what I'm doing." She replied with a smile, subtly twisting the truth as she spoke.

John turned to Fia as she made their way over to them. "The plan is a combination of walking, swimming and jumping off a bunch of cliffs for fun. There's a good set further along the coastline that I've been told are ideal for jumping off." "And even if it wasn't mentioned earlier, making the most of the amazing food these guys have to offer is mandatory." Chas added with a smile, he was really going to miss Cliff's family's cooking when they were back on Attil. Maybe there was some way they could persuade Elliott too cook up some traditional Attili dishes to broaden their cultural horizons further. Or just have Elliott cook up something in general. "Obviously that's gonna happen. If there's anything we've learned this past while its never turn down free food from these guys" John smirked before answering Fia's second question. "As for the other thing? You have no choice in it, we're all getting up at the butt crack of of dawn because according to Ell and the photography skills he's finally accepting exist, the sunrises this time of year are something we all have to see before leaving."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia wasn't in the least bit surprised that John was planning on finding the spots to go cliff diving off for their last day. "of course you wanna go cliff diving and eat copious amounts of Cliff's parents cooking later." she sniggered, feeling like if she wasn't going to spend the day on her own with the dogs, she would actually do that herself, and finding this answer just bri going home once more where she gets her adrenaline junkie personality from. Then came the next bit that she wasn't expecting to hear and groaned, "haven't I been up early enough times this trip? Urgh.. Fine. But don't be surprised if I make it seriously difficult for you all to get me up" she warned them before smirking.

"well you're all doing that today, I'm gonna go grab the dog shot bags from the kitchen and some balls, so I can take these three down the beach that way" she then explained, whilst gesturing where she'll be of anyone ends up needing her and to just to let them know in general. "so I won't be far, and I'm sure if I get into trouble which I doubt, but if I did one of these guys" she ruffled Meyer's fur, "will no doubt be trained to seek help, considering everything else they've been trained to be able to do" she said, as she guessed that out of everything they were trained for, she could imagine rescue seeking would be one of the things, though she could be wrong.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John smirked at Fia's 'of course you would' comment, it was typical behaviour of him, he knew, but he was damn well going to take this opportunity to kick back and have some childish genuine fun. Given the impending trial for Elliott, the birth of Fia that was looming over them and fast approaching, along with Rinaa dying to look forwards to in the future, it would be years before before he could properly relax again at a place like this. The food was just an added bonus as was the fact that The League (or any of the other superhero groups for that matter) had no way of knowing where he was and no way to butt in and drag him away from his holiday. "I was promised a fun holiday on an island with top notch food, so I am going to have exactly that." He declared before the conversation moved on.

Fia predictably wasn't happy about having to get up at an even earlier hour of the morning, which made John smirk. The first part of his response was delivered with a sigh. "Honestly you people, it's like you don't understand you can just go back to sleep afterwards. And besides, I know exactly how to get you up, just get one of Cliff's siblings to set the dogs on you and have you rounded up like some stray goat." He finished with a smirk, knowing that the dogs had been trained for sheepdog style herding and together would be more than capable of forcing Fia out of The House. Alternatively he could just get the dogs to steal her duvet and blankets, which would force her to get up to find replacements.

"You're right on that, they have been trained to seek help" Chas told her with a smile, bending down to rub Rhys' ears. The dog he was stroking was dubbed 'the brains of the operation' by all of Cliff's family, he was the smartest of the three and came second in the dog pecking order. "Have fun with them kiddo, just follow the sound of us either shrieking or laughing hysterically in order to find us." John told Fia as the group began walking away from the harbour.

 

[MzHyde]

When John said how he would get Fia out of bed Kay had to cover her mouth as she stifled the laughter desperate to escape from her, as she easily imagined the scenario and was highly amused by it. Fia did find the mental image amusing but she just pouted at him and glared as if to say 'don't you dare' even thiugh she knew just as well as everyone in their group did, he would go that far if it meant getting her out of bed. "you are one cruel cruel dad, and damn straight I'd be going back to sleep for a couple of hours afterwards" she replied back at him. She nodded at Chas confirming that yes, they did indeed know how to seek help if someone was in trouble, smiling as he gave Rhys a head scratch in the process.

"sure thing, and don't let mum go over exert herself" she then added as they walked away from the harbour. She started to head back to the main house herself so she could get what she needed for the dogs, not wanting to leave for the coastline without anything in preparation. It didn't take her long to get back to the house and walk inside after telling the dogs to wait outside as she'd be right back. She headed into the kitchen and found the bags exactly where Benji said they would be, along with finding the balls that were set aside for the dogs. She grabbed the bags with everything in and headed back outside to the dogs, a gesturing for them to follow. "come on then, let's go have some fun!" she told them smiling.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa left with Benji, the two of them heading towards the boatyard, already deep in discussion about something or another mechanics related. Jay and Elliott watched them as they left, before turning to each other. "D'you think she'll be okay?" Elliott asked quietly once they were well out of earshot (he had no idea how enhanced Rinaa's hearing had become and didn't want her to overhear the discussion. There was strong notes of concern in his voice. Jay squeezed his hand before sighing. "I'd like to say she would be, but that'd be a lie. She can fake it extremely well, there's no doubt after earlier's performance. Kid's being eaten up emotionally from the inside out right now, and the fact she can't remember anything Sykes has done or said this morning isn't helping. If she's anything like me, she'll keep up the facade for as long as needed, keep herself busy with some task, in this case the gruelling manual labour of scraping hulls, yes I've also done that, then later find a spot where nobody can find her and have a private breakdown there." "And will that help.... or?" Elliott left the second part of his question unsaid, Jay knew what he meant. "To an extent" Jay sighed. "It's cathartic and leaves you feeling a hell of a lot better afterwards, but it won't fix the problem entirely."

Everything was exactly where Benji and Matteo had said they would be. The dog balls were stored in a bag that hung on one of the many hooks on the back of the house's back door. Most of the balls were worn and tatty from years of use, but a couple were almost brand new (replacements for balls which had been lost, destroyed and/or drifted out to sea). The dogs waited patiently outside, Koso jumping up into a hammock which gave him the perfect view of what was going on in the kitchen. When Fia came outside they willing followed her, sticking reasonably close to her heels, waiting to see which way she'd turn. Once Fia chose a direction they happily took their usual position ahead of her.

John had no need to stop by The House, he'd made sure to dress in his newly fashioned shorts earlier, but Chas decided it was best if he left his drawings from the night before back in his room, lest they get completely soaked. Stopping by also gave Kay an opportunity to change or pick up anything she deemed necessary. Back outside the house they were joined by Elliott and Jay (the latter still had Charlie's surfboard). who'd all but invited themselves along. "Room for two more?" "Would you even listen if I said no?" "I wouldn't, the tides are in my favour that way anyway." Jay's tone quite clearly said 'you're stuck with me whether you want it or not'. "Fair enough."

 

[MzHyde]

As they were back at The House due to Chas deciding to leave the earlier drawings back in his room, Kay took the opportunity to grab her sketchbook and a couple of black ink pens, one with a thick nib and one with a thin nib. If they were going to be stupid and go cliff diving, she figured that would be a great time to sketch some moving figures. She also changed to her shorts that she wore the day before but kept her hoodie on as she was comfortable in it due to its added bonus of having sleeves that were too long for her by a tad. Luckily, it wasn't incredibly thick so she wouldn't get too hot in it and it was slightly cropped but not so much that it looked ridiculous over a baby bump. She tossed her book in her bag that she slung over both shoulders and with everyone else, left The House. She smiled as they were greeted by Elliott and Jay asking to join them which she certainly didn't have any problems with if no one else did. "I guess that's everyone then except for miss pup walker" she smirked, but her tone was of fondness.

Fia went to where Benji suggested with the dogs, smiling as they went on ahead a little bit. She kept them in eye sight as she walked, enjoying the nice gentle breeze that she could feel on her cheeks. She kept the bags in her hands as she did so, finding that being alone for a positive reason was a nice change of pace for her. She took some photos of the dogs as they walked ahead on her phone, deciding that she was going to take as many as she could for a keepsake to remember them by. She really was going to miss them.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Looks like it, yeah." Chas replied as they set off, heading in the opposite direction of Fia. They ended up on a high path that ran along beside the cliff edge. Even at the very edge of the cliffs there was still some hardy plants clinging to the crumbling rock, little specks of white, green, blue and yellow against the black and grey igneous and metamorphic rocks that made up the cliff face. There were a rare few trees growing near the edges too, though the harsh conditions had stunted their growth. If this had been a stormy day the winds would have been merciless, buffeting them from side to side, but that particular day there was only a light breeze, accompanied by the strong smell of the salty sea below. At some, more dangerous parts a fence had been put up to stop people or dogs unwittingly wandering over the edge. Looking down from the edge revealed a craggy cliff face and a drop of anywhere between five and eight metres to a basin of swirling water and sharp rocks. John naturally had to walk right to the edge and lean over to get a proper look. He whistled, impressed by what he saw below him, but not afraid of it. He was sure footed and had never suffered any kind of fear of heights. "Wow, that's some drop." He remarked, to which the others made their way over, some more carefully than others. Jay practically sprinted over to take a look. "It's a killer alright."

As Benji had predicted, the dogs took charge of the walk, energetically sprinting across the sand, their paws kicking up miniature dust storms as they made their way towards the dunes. While Fia ambled along at her own speed, the dogs raced ahead, then back to her heels. The trio managed to be incredibly photogenic in the process. By the time they reached the dunes Benji had indicated earlier, the dogs had calmed down and were walking at a more sedate pace. The dogs had no problems climbing the dunes, their years on the island had taught them that the best method was to stick to the grassy areas where the same was solid. When it came to going down the other side however, they abandoned all pretence of dignity and simply slid down on their bellies, their outstretched paws creating a surge wave of sand in front of them.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay walked with them all up the cliff face, finding some of the plant life that as still clinging onto the rocks fascinating to see, they looked so bright against the rocks she couldn't help but look at them as they walked by, when they got to the point that John just had to lean over the edge and look down, she carefully walked over and looked over his shoulders. She wasn't going to risk falling off the edge when she had another being to look after, even if she was sure footed. Her mind was subconsciously aware of anything that would be dangerous to herself and Fia. "all the more reason to be careful where you step" she commented after Jay said it was definitely a drop that would kill someone. She then stepped back so they continue to their chosen location and waited for the others to finish ogling at the view.

Fia couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the dogs kicking up puffs of sand behind them as they on ahead before circling back round to her and forward again. They really did bring her lots of joy and company. When they got the dunes, she found a spot she could perch herself on and sat down, letting them run up the dunes and slide down on their bellies, which she found highly entertaining. She put the bag down beside her that had all their balls in, deciding that they'd surely let her know if they wanted to play with them, so for now she enjoyed watching them play. She took the odd photo still as she watched, managing to get a couple where the sand was kicked up into the air and it looked pretty artistic even if she did say so herself as the dogs were still in shot behind the wave of sand.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The way they stood looking over the edge said a lot about the group's personality. Chas was cautious, not going any closer to the edge than he needed to in order to get a good look, John standing right on the very edge of the cliff, Elliott a couple of centimetres behind him. Jay was the most reckless, while her heels remained flat on the ground, her toes were resting on nothing but thin air. "It the kind of danger that somehow manages to beautiful." Elliott replied, referring to the contrast between the bright flecks of the wild flowers and the dark rock, but the words, without context could just as easily be applied to Jay. "You're not wrong there, either of you." Chas added, taking a step back with the others."True, one slip and you'd be a goner." Jay replied, still craning over the edge as far as possible. "And looking at the rock, there's no way you could climb up without proper ropes and spikes." Elliott took a couple of photos on a whim as did Chas, before they moved along, following the clifftop path as it winded into the next bay which contained a small sandy beach, but the main attraction was the natural shelves of rock that had formed near the headland, accessible with a bit of climbing and ideal for jumping off.

The dogs played with each other happily, and at one point a play fight broke out between the two male dogs. It was easily distinguishable from a real right as neither dog had their claws out, or were snarling. For a while they forgot that Fia was there, too busy splashing around in the shallows. But eventually they made their way over to her, Meyer grabbing the ball bag with her teeth and plopping it onto Fia's lap, before nudging the teenager's legs with her hand, the intent clear in her eyes.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay smiled at Elliott's words, feeling like he wasn't just talking about the cliff side view point and drop, but also Jay. She noticed how precarious Jay's footing was, finding the woman was utterly insane leaning so far forward, especially as she didn't have the ability of flight to save herself. It made her nervous hearing about a fall from said ledge would kill someone, and if they did survive there'd be no way up, but she didn't let it show, instead just using her stepping back as a hint she was done watching the lot of them lean over the edge. As they continued on, she looked out seeing the opening to the sandy beach and the rock formations that John would no doubt use for cliff diving. "this is such a nice little area" she commented, looking around. "I can see why cliff jumping would be popular to do here" she added looking at the rocks before finding a spot half shaded that she could go sit under. "well I know where I'm sitting to watch you lot" she remarked, gesturing at the spot she found.

Watching the dogs play kept a smile on Fia's face the whole time, just letting them do what they wanted when she saw Meyer come over and grab for the ball bag. She watched Meyer put the bag on her lap whilst nudging her legs with her paw. "okay okay" she smiled, ruffling Meyer's fur on the top of her head, rummaging through the bag and grabbing one of the balls, pulling it out. She put the bag down and stood up, throwing the ball outward in front of her for Meyer. She then grabbed another couple of balls incase Rhys and Koso wanted their own ones to play with or if it was going to be a case of playing catch with Meyer.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Kay wasn't the only one finding themselves concerned about just how blatantly uncaring Jay was about the almost certain death below her, Elliott felt that same worry. He knew that her assassin training had desensitised her to physical and many mental fears, mainly in the form of exposure therapy and competition (both official and unofficial) with the other assassins for things like who could free climb the highest up a seemingly sheer cliff, but he was still worried that she would take it too far, with grievous consequences. He let out a small sigh of relief when the assassin stepped away from the edge and back onto the solid path.

"Yep, it's pretty cool here. It's like it was made for rock jumping." Chas replied with an easy smile as they surveyed the area. He knew the rock formations were just a natural quirk where soft and hard bands of rock met and were eroded at different speeds. Jay propped the surfboard near where Kay would be sitting, deciding that the rocks were most definitely calling her. The three men and Jay made their way to the cliff face and began throwing themselves off and into the water, which was deceptively cold (resulting in some particularly undignified shrieks). At first it was just cannonballs, but as they became more confident and more daring, the style switched, with Elliott changing to a racing dive that resulted in surprisingly little splashing, he may or may not have watched some Olympic diving clips to see out of curiosity to see if there was any link between the moves used for synchronised diving and those used in parkour. Jay was the only one who could launch herself backwards and do a triple backflip before entering the water. It was clear they were having a great time just messing around.

After the ball was thrown, all three dogs were after it like a shot. It was Koso who managed to grab it first (he was bigger than Meyer and faster than Rhys, which gave him the edge), but he lost the ball to Meyer, who was determined that it would be she who would bring the ball back for Fia. Matteo's advice proved true, one ball just wasn't enough and resulted in a fight between the dogs for who would 'do the honours' of bringing it back. A ball each meant they could each have their own target and quickly they were catching the balls in mid air, in order to bring them back to Fia, their tails wagging a mile a minute.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay sat in the spot she pointed out and let Jay prop up the surf board near her. She didn't mind keeping watch over it as she couldn't go cliff diving like the rest of them. She watched for a little while, laughing at them shrieking from the temperature of the water, enjoying seeing them suffer from the cold water before they all got used to it. As they got into the swing of what they were doing, she pulled out her sketch book and her pens and began doing some rough line work of what they were doing, finding it interesting how the body moved and contoured from the varying flips they were doing between them all. She focused on just getting the bare minimum and 'skeleton' of the drawings done, just to get everything where she wanted and get the whole prospective right. If one of them did a particularly impressive dive she'd pause her sketching and applaud them smiling. She may not be able to get truly involved but she was still enjoying herself.

Fia smiled and chuckled at them all fighting over who would bring the ball back to her before Meyer won and came over triumphantly. She threw all three balls next time and let them run after each of them, before bringing them back for her to throw again. She couldn't help but chuckle at the three of them and out of enjoyment of playing with them. She then put the balls back after a while, bringing one of the bigger ones out and decided she wanted in on the fun more, so she dribbled the ball forward to play with them more. "come on then!" she chuckled!

 

[_gallifrog_]

The shock of the cold water was sharp and intense, the instant they hit the water, it seemed to wipe all other thoughts from their mind. If they hadn't been awake before then, they certainly were now. It would be a great way to wake yourself up John thought to himself. He'd never fully understood the appeal of a cold water swim first thing in the morning (why would anybody inflict such a cruel and unusual punishment on themselves in order to wake up when a decent cuppa tea or mug of coffee would wake them up just as well was something that hadn't made sense to John until that point). But after trying it first hand, he could see better why somebody would do it.

Having Kay applauding and cheering them on made the experience more enjoyable. At first they'd just been jumping for fun, but slowly a more competitive edge emerged between them and they began making bets on things like who could make the biggest splash wave, who could jump out the furthest from a running and a standing start, and so on and so forth. When one person jumped, the other three acted as adjudicators, squabbling good naturedly in order to decide the 'winner' (who didn't get anything apart from bragging rights).

Seeing Fia grab the big ball and bouncing it like she did, the dogs knew exactly what she was suggesting. And they liked it, all three eagerly bounding over. First to the bag to drop of the smaller balls (something they hand't been trained to do, but had started to do themselves anyway) and then over to Fia, letting her make the first move, their dark brown eyes following the path of the ball and Fia's legs eagerly. They were enjoying playing with Fia, just as much as she was playing with them.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay found she could sketch and watch at the same time easily enough, she wasn't going to get into too many details because she was thinking as she went on about painting it but was still not fully certain about it. So for now she kept it quite basic linework but with enough details in it that she'd know where she'd want cour and where she didn't. She was definitely tempted to do a watercolour background for the water to make the real subjects that were the three of them stand out more vibrantly. She took a break to give her hand a rest from holding her pens, deciding she'd watch them get more competitive as they went on. It didn't take her long before she started getting inspired again but this time by the surroundings, so she flipped the page over and started drafting out her guidelines for another piece not based on any of the three in the slightest. She soon wasn't even watching them as she delved into her drawing humming to herself.

Fia smiled and started to kick the ball slightly further away from her feet a little but at a time, coaxing the dogs to try and get the ball as she played this weird version of football with them. She saw how they watched the ball and her legs eagerly, and she could tell they were happy to be with her and playing, enjoying just having fun. She felt the same way that she did when she was playing in the sea with Benji, Nat, John and Chas and just completely let go, letting all her tensions and guard down as she made the dogs happy. She knew it was safe to be that relaxed, but that wasn't to say she wasn't making sure she was aware of her surroundings either.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Up on the rock shelves it was Jay who proposed the idea of two people doing racing jumps off the lower shelves and then racing to a nearby rocky outcrop. There was some scepticism at first as to whether it was actually possible to do a racing start from the shelf in question without hitting the rocks. But after some practice jumps they were all confident enough to say they could comfortably clear it. The race between John and Chas was neck and neck, with nobody out of the four being able to say who actually reached the rock first. Jay was the decisive winner against anybody she raced, she wasn't as natural in the water as Cliff and her siblings, but she was confident, with excellent form and technique as a sprint swimmer.

The dogs very quickly caught on to what Fia wanted to do and joined in eagerly. At first they played by the rules Fia made, simply trying to get the ball away from her, and once they had it, making sure they kept it for as long as possible, which quite often involved running into the water. Fia wouldn't be able to pinpoint the exact point when the rules changed and the dogs formed teams, the two males (Koso and Rhys) versus the two females (Fia and Meyer) From there it became more like tag football, with the aim being to get as far along the beach with the ball as possible. Rhys and Koso were trying to head northwards along the beach, while Fia and Meyer were attempting to go as far southwards

 

[MzHyde]

Although was lost in her drawing, Kay was aware of what the others were doing and smiling to herself as she sketched away. As she continued drawing she wished she brought her other pencils as all her inspiration was flooding to her mind, the place was proving highly inspirational she took what she was seeing in front of her of the cliff faces and wated under the group, and added upon it, she made the trees frame the piece more whilst having the focal point of a goddess of nature in the centre above the water, standing on a branch watching over her forest. She knew from the direction it was heading she would be going back to it to colour it, at least in part, if not fully. The place was so peaceful, even with the laughter and shrieking of the other four. She glanced up every now and then to see what they were doing before looking down again, concentrating on her piece.

Fia laughed as the digs caught on to what she doing with the balls and them, and ended playing with them, letting Meyer do a lot of the tackling her brothers whilst she concentrated on trying to get to their side of beach. She was absolutely loving life and after a while she was getting slightly worn out, so let herself sit down on the sand panting smiling before she laid flat out on the ground. "I surrender. Koso, Rhys, you win" she giggled, looking over at them smiling, signaling for them all to come over to her.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The four eventually grew tired of jumping, swimming and diving and hauled themselves up onto the rocks to dry out and regain energy. Jay hadn't bothered to tie her hair back at any point (which had been quite annoying during the racing). Before the wedding, Elliott had dyed the tips of his hair the same shade of blue that Jay's hair naturally was, and Rinaa had put a blue streak in her own hair to highlight the fact they were a group. But that dye had been long since stripped away nby the water, leaving only Jay's hair remaining blue. "So your hair genuinely is blue then? You haven't just been re-dying it when we aren't looking." Chas asked with a teasing edge to his voice. "Yep, me and by brother were both born with blue hair, though it was much lighter and brighter back then. For both of us. It darkened over the years and will keep darkening til it reaches a sort of indigo black colour. In other words when you lot are all grey, my hair'll still have proper colour."

The dogs highly enjoyed the game, there seemed to be no end to their energy and enthusiasm. Part of it stemmed from the novelty of being able to play with somebody new who didn't know all the dogs' tricks and moves, just like they didn't know most of Fia's tricks and moves. Once Fia conceded defeat the dogs ran over and began licking and pawing at every bare surface of Fia, their tongues and paws expertly finding the ticklish points. Meyer eventually draped herself right across Fia's legs (covering her trousers in dog hair, sand and bits of seaweed) while Rhy and Koso lay either side of her, panting contently.

 

[MzHyde]

When Kay heard them all stop their antics for a while and come to the surface and land where she was, she paused her sketching, putting everything down page up. It was still rough and just line work with only certain parts shaded in with pen using a cross hatch technique. She noticed Jay's hair was truly blue naturally and listened to her comment back at Chas' question about it. She found it cool that she wasn't the only one born with unnatural colours for hair which made her feel strangely so not alone on the subject matter, especially as she was always given a hard time by kids and adults alike for her hair. She smirked at the comment that Jay made and it did make her wonder if she would even turn grey or she'd be like Jay and keep her vibrant hair colour. "done for the time being then?" she asked them all.

Fia started laughing hysterically as they kicked and pawed at every part of her they possibly could, tickling her greatly as they did so. She ended up writhing under them all as she laughed, before she felt Meyer lay down across her legs covering her in everything imaginable. "I love you three, I hope you know that" she sighed happily, giving them all equal strokes as she stared up at the sky.

 

[_gallifrog_]

If Kay had asked that question aloud, Jay would have had a feasible answer as to whether Kay's hair would go grey or not. In general with true redheads (those who'd be classified as ginger or strawberry blond as opposed auburn) their hair would darken naturally as they aged, passing through various shades of copper but in most cases it would never go grey, instead settling for a sort of rose-silver or rose-white colour. Elliott rolled his eyes at the fact that Jay had already managed to insult their old age selves. "Rude. I'd love to say I won't go grey just to be petty, but genetics seem to run against me on that one." He added with a slight sigh, which took to mean that Elliott's biological father was now sprouting some grey hairs in among the brown. "Yeah, we're finished jumping for now. I think the plan is to keep on walking down the cliff path and see what's down there. Maybe find some waves for Jay to show off on and just keep exploring til we're a combination of bored, tired, hungry, at which point we'll turn back." "Sounds like a plan to me."

The dogs did indeed know that Fia loved them they could sense the love radiating from her. John was fond of saying that normal dogs had some form of empathic powers, hence how they always knew when a person was upset and would go to comfort them. Wolves and werewolves on the other hand really couldn't give a shit about anybody outside their pack and cats just didn't give a shit full stop (unless it helped them to achieve their own goals in life). John wasn't a cat person, but he didn't hate them either. In fact he found them extremely useful, as they existed half in the Earthly plane and half in the Hell plane, they could be used in a quick and dirty spell to transport one's consciousness to the Hell plane. Cats and dogs were wired differently, that was always going to be the way. The dogs with Fia had been trained as hunting dogs and were extremely good at that, but the trio had also grown up surrounded by loving people and that had rubbed off on them. In response to Fia's words they nodded and woofed.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay knew that natural gingers went a silvery grey when they got older but as she was technically differ t from even a natural auburn or ginger, it did make her wonder, especially as she never got to see her mother grow old. She just knew of her mother the way she was, and considering how old she strictly was, she wondered if being a phoenix meant she wouldn't get grey, or if she did it was to show her dying stage before being reborn again. She looked at Chas as it he who replied to her question, nodding. "makes sense" she replied, "whatever you all wanna do is fine by me, you lot pissing about strangely inspired a few sketches" she added with a smirk.

Fia always knew how intuitive dogs were when it came human emotions so she really did hope they did know how much she liked the three of them, which got confirmed by a simple bark and nod from them, making her smile. She didn't think she'd get such a perfect response from them to what she said, so when she did it amazed her. She quickly took her phone out and took a selfie with the dogs and she couldn't help but send it to the group chat they all had with the caption 'I am pinned and defeated and have fully been locked to death.' She then put her phone in her pocket before hugging all the dogs for a bit.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John smirked at what Kay said, to which Chas groaned. "Inspirational and John Constantine are two phrases that should never be said together in the same sentence, lest his ego get even more blown out of proportion than it already is." "It's worse than that, it's inspiration for pieces of amazing pieces of artwork that are being associated with him." Elliott added with a slight chuckle. "That's really hypocritical coming from you Ell" John retorted with a grin"given that you drew that massive sketch of me dynamically standing on a windy roof top that ended up framed in the spare room as well as producin' loads of other sketches centred around me." "Well you can't deny that you enjoyed being the unknowing subject of my work." Elliott teased back, only to be interrupted by the sound of a text notification on his phone.

Elliott was the only one out of the four who had brought his phone along, John and Chas' were both in The House while Jay's was charging in the living room of Cliff's house. "SOS message asking to be released from the slavery of scrapin' barnacles?" John quipped, to which Elliott shook his head. "Wrong teenager. Though yours seems to be about 92% dog by the looks of it." Elliott smirked, handing the phone over so the others could see the photo of Fia covered by some very photogenic dogs. It was as if the camera had been purpose made to capture the beauty of these dogs. "Yer not wrong there." John remarked with a smirk. Elliott replied with a silly comment of his own "are you sure that's what actually happened, or have you, Koso, Meyer and Rhys simply just merged to form one symbiotic entity so that we have to take them back with us when we leave Attil?"

 

[MzHyde]

Kay smirked at Chas groaning to her words about John being inspirational. She chuckled at Elliott chiming in and she felt rather chuffed with herself when he made a point to say 'amazing pieces of art' instead of just agreeing with Chas' choices of words. She could see how the topic made John grin though and it provide quite an amusing chat to say the least. She was about to chime in with 'I did say all of you, not just John, so he ain't that special' when hers and Elliott's phones went off with a notification. As like Elliott, she had her phone on her knowing she wouldn't be doing extreme sports. Though as Elliott spoke saying it was Fia texting, she did bother to check her phone and looked at the photo THAT Fia sent with the caption.
She chuckled at what she saw and what Elliott described just before he showed them the photo, seeing that he was indeed right and was mostly dog than person. "she says she was licked to death but she hardly looks like she's complaining" she smirked, letting Elliott reply back with his cheeky comment.

Fia heard the reply come through and checked her phone and laughed at Elliott's reply, which gave her the perfect retort back at him, so she quickly typed back her reply: 'if only! But alas I am not that smart to accomplish it in such a short time! They beat my arse in a weird football match' before clicking send. She smiled to herself and put her phone away again, enjoying the chill time before deciding what she should do next with them.