Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[MzHyde]

As Rinaa had summarised, it was very difficult to render Fia speechless in the sense of stopping her being able to come out with some kind smart ass comment back. Seeing how smug Rinaa felt about being able to get one over on Rinaa, Fia just smiled and let her have the win. "take the win, it might not happen again" she laughed, glancing over at Rinaa and seeing her go for her backpack half expecting her to pull out some kind of snack for herself, thinking of her hyper metabolism so when she pulled dout three red well used tennis balls, she rose an eyebrow but smirked. It seemed Rinaa could still surprise her just like shhe could still surprise Rinaa.

She watched on as Rinaa whistled to the dogs to make them play fetch, chuckling as the game quickly turned into a game of chase and fetch, the lines blurring between who should be doing the chasing and who should be chased, making her laugh fondly at the scene. She soon sat up before standing up to go to her shirt, jacket and boots so she could get to her phone that was in her jacket pocket. She began filming Rinaa playing with the dogs chuckling every now and then before stopping the video and shoving it in the group chat so everyone, Elliott and Jay particularly, could see that her plan of bringing Rinaa along was proving to be a success. Putting the phone back into her jacket pocket, she put her jacket back on the ground and ran up to Rinaa, "give us a ball then" she suggested, deciding that they could make this more fun by both of them playing the game with the dogs.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa was utterly unaware that she was being filmed chasing and playing with the dogs, if she had noticed, she wouldn't have stopped, just grabbed her t-shirt and pulled it on before keeping on going. When packing what she needed to go time travelling she had rid her backpack of the dog treats (knowing they wouldn't last long enough) along with the poop bags, spare collar and lead she kept in there. The balls stayed however, a way of keeping a part of her dogs near her without actually bringing them along. Rinaa would dearly have loved to bring her dogs time travelling with her, but she couldn't, it was too dangerous, she risked killing the dogs, or worse, injuring them permanently. So the dogs stayed with Jay and Jay's girlfriend, who both knew where she was going and what she was doing. They were in safe hands, and for that Rinaa was immensely grateful.

Being able to play and mess around with Cliff's family's dogs was doing wonders for her state of mind, the chances of a breakdown occurring were getting smaller and smaller with each passing minute and she had smiled and laughed more spending time with them then she had in a quite a while. It was freeing in a way, Fia had been right earlier, it did indeed allow her the opportunity to forget about everything going on. Rinaa looked up when Fia came over, giving the other teenager a once over, her eyes flicking down them up Fia's body before stopping (and staying at her face. if it had been any female but her cousin standing there half-naked she would have given some kind of compliment on how she looked. "Okay, here...." Rinaa lobbed the ball over with her right hand "you've got something in mind I take it?"

The response was slow to come in, they all had to watch the video snippet twice to confirm that, yes, this was indeed Rinaa, running around and laughing, looking completely carefree. Jay had spotted something in the video that made her eyes narrow and darken, but she made no comment as to what it was that had caused such a reaction. As Rinaa was in the group chat, they knew they couldn't say anything along the lines of 'good on ya, knew you could bring her out of her shell and into a better place for a while' (John), 'I don't think we've ever seen her this happy before' (Chas), 'finally proof that Rinaa can indeed be so happy and actually smile wide and laugh. As well as proving that you two can get along' (Elliott) or 'there's still a breakdown coming, no matter how happy she is now' (Jay), so instead they replied about how fun it looked, how the dogs were being so well looked after and now they even had proof for Matteo that Fia was doing a good job and how neither they nor the dogs were to come back covered in mud, grass, hair and dead fish as that would just undo all the hard work when it came to grooming them.

 

[MzHyde]

When Fia sent the video, she knew they wouldn't necessarily be able to say anything in response to her about it due to Rinaa being in the group chat, but hada feeling she MAY get some kind of comment by one of them at least when they got back and Rinaa was out of earshot. She assumed it'd probably be John or Chas as it'd be back at The House that would make the the perfect moment to make a delayed comment. She didn't even think anything of herself being practically topless in front of Rinaa as she was basically the same the other day all day, right into the evening when she ran back to The House feeling the cold because she was in a bikini and sarong wrap skirt. So she wasn't fully expecting Rinaa's to flicker up and down her before remaining on her face.

With one of the tennis balls thrown at her, she grabbed it effortlessly with one hand smiling and nodding. "yeah you could say that. I'm thinking go criss cross into different directions to really challenge these three. Really make them decide who and which balls to go after" she smirked. She knew it'd be hit or miss if it would work, but she also figured if it does work, it'll be interesting to which of the three dogs decide to go after Rinaa and which of them decide to go after herself. "whaddya think?" she asked Rinaa.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Despite all the time they'd spent together the day before, Rinaa hadn't actually paid much attention to Fia and her attire, for the simple reason that Moya was in the room. Rinaa was so utterly smitten with the winged girl that whenever Moya was in the room she paid very little attention to anybody else. But here with nobody else around to judge her, Rinaa figured it was fair game to take a quick look at the other girl (Fia wasn't anywhere near her type anyway and they were cousins anyway). And it wasn't as if Rinaa herself wasn't standing there half naked, with her various scars on display, as well as the kanji tattoos below her ribcage. Most of the scars were thin white lines from a bladed weapon of some sort, but there were a few more exciting ones too- an arrow wound, a bullet graze, a barbed wire one on her upper arm and a burn scar on her shoulder.

At Fia's suggestion her eyes gleaming, knowing exactly what the other girl was suggesting and very much liked the sound of it. Not only did it sound fun, but it would give the dogs an extra challenge and wear them out. "I like the way you think, it's not only different, but a challenge, so if I know anything about these three, I can safely say they'll love it." She replied with a grin. "If anything it will tire them out so that all they'll want to do is flop down and snooze, thus meaning they won't get their coats dirty." She whistled for the dogs' attention. "Throw on the count of three?"

 

[MzHyde]

Fia didn't think anything of Rinaa looking at her the way she did, she knew it meant nothing as they were cousins and she was utterly smitten with Moya. Just as she wasn't Rinaa's type, Fia didnt Rinaa to be her type in the slightest either, even if they weren't related in any manner. She had noticed from the get go though all the scars on Rinaa, just like she no doubt would have noticed or will notice at some point one faint one on her own back under her wings birth mark tattoo just to the left, that never quite healed properly when she first started learning how to heal herself. She did a botched up job on it and thus was left with the faint mark that looked like a permanent graze. Unlike Kay, when she was younger she could be left with marks and scars. Rinaa would have also noticed the odd rune that even down her torso just above her hip bones.

Hearing Rinaa agree with her idea and grin at it, Fia grinned back pleased that she thought of a good idea to really wear the dogs out. "that's exactly what I was thinking. Really put them their paces to wear them out and keep mine and Nat's hard work on their fur in tact" she replied. At the request of throwing on the count of three, Fia nodded lifting her arm up ready to throw the ball. "agreed... One, two.... Three!" she counted and threw the ball to her left when they both had the dogs attention.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa counted in unison with Fia, counting in Cliff's native tongue. Rinaa was the only one of the group who wasn't using a language rune as she already spoke the language fluently with an accent that was almost identical to that of a native. The accent was something she had picked up when staying on the island as a kid. There was often years between visits to Cliff's family, so she kept her language skills in check with regular practice, which often consisted of speaking aloud and recording herself. She threw her first ball right on three, in a different direction to Fia's, before swivelling and throwing her second ball in roughly the same direction as Fia's.

Koso was the first dog to make a decision, running right after the first ball Fia had thrown. Rhys and Meyer raced each other to get to the other tennis balls, which gave the two girls the ideal opportunity to start sprinting away. Rinaa took a running dive into the river, drawing her hands above her head and entering the water with a smooth swan dive. She swam up the river for a couple of metres, before hauling herself out of the water, she knew going through the river wouldn't mask her scent (that was an urban myth), she was just swimming for a bit of fun. Her strategy was to keep on the move, sticking close to the river and looping back on herself. She was going to make it that dogs had to run at a proper pelt in order to catch up with her her.

 

[MzHyde]

Hearing Rinaa speak Cliff's native language with the perfect accent was always something that Fia was impressed to hear, even if her words were translated, the accent still remained. She saw the directions that Rinaa threw the other two balls and smirked when Koso decided to go for the one she threw whilst the other two went for the two that Rinaa threw. With the balls thrown a fair distance away, Fia made a run for it down the river on the ground, deciding that she would make use of river Bank as her path, do a u turn round a tree and back again, whilst weaving round a couple of trees. She was tempted to cheat and use her wings and fly up a tree, to park our from one to another but decided against it as it just wear her out more than the dogs would get running.

She noted how Rinaa took the path of going into the river and round again, which helped her quickly make her own decision for the path she took. She also decided if they did it again she'd go for another route via the river, similar to Rinaa's path this time round. She wondered who would get caught first and by which dog as she ran, being careful not to get herself hurt again, especially as she was barefooted this time round.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The thought to do some form of parkour had also entered Rinaa's head, but like Fia, she decided against it. Unless she could get right up into the tree canopy it would prove more exhausting than just running on the ground. Even in a game there was far too much that could go wrong when parkouring between trees, and after already injuring herself in front of people twice that day, Rinaa had no intention of making it a hat trick. So she stuck to straight running (with some occasional jumping over fallen branches or rocks). She didn't stick to any of the pathways, tearing through the grass-like plants.

Fia would end up being chased after by only one dog, but that dog was Koso, the most experienced of the trio. He found Fia by chance, catching sight of her running when he'd got the ball and was returning to the original spot. He'd copped on quickly as to what was going on and took up chase. Rinaa ended up with two dogs chasing her, first Meyer with Rhys joining a little while later. She knew the dogs wouldn't harm her, but there was still something sort of scary about being pursued by two large, muscular hunting dogs, though a certain part of that was from running the gauntlet as an attack dog trainee. In an effort to get ahead Rinaa headed towards the waterfall with the hope that she could somehow cross upriver and lose the dogs that way. But that plan didn't work, instead. the dogs made one of their own. With Rhys approaching from the side and Meyer from behind, they managed to almost 'herd' the teenager in the direction they wanted, before one of the dogs ran alongside her and essentially bulldozed Rinaa into the river. She hit the water with a loud splash, resurfacing a few seconds later to find both dogs in front of her, looking very pleased with themselves.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia saw Koso spot her and start the hunt, making her equally smirk and think 'oh shit!' all at the same time. She was so used to Meyer going after her at every given opportunity so when the alpha of the three decided he wanted to chase her she was in part, absolutely shitting herself. Though she found some kind of adrenaline rush and fun in it. Like Rinaa, she knew Koso would never harm her, if anything they'd come to her aid if she got harmed. She kept running trying to pick up her pace to make Koso really work for it, as she got close to the river bank once again.

Yet it seemed to be futile effort because when the gigantic splash occurred with Meyer and Rhys catching Rinaa, making Fia turn to the sound and see her being dunked under water. Which caused Koso to get the upper and pounce on Fia, "WOAH!" She instinctively reacted as she went flying to the ground, being able to go down much more safely than before and saving herself by keeping her hands out in front of her. She then burst into laughter whilst being pinned underneath Koso. "kosoo!" she laughed trying to wriggle out from under him but just couldn't move in the slightest.

 

[_gallifrog_]

It was clear that Koso was enjoying both the hunt and the challenge, the chance to properly stretch his legs and show what he was capable of alone. When she picked up pace he quickly matched her. He would have kept running, but then the perfect opportunity arrived n the form of Rinaa being pushed into the water by the other two. He wasted no time in springing into action and knocking her to the ground. He kept her pinned down easily, spreading his weight across Fia's back and legs. He dropped the tennis ball by her head, freeing his mouth up so he could pant properly. After a few minutes he rolled to the side, allowing Fia to sit up, before flopping his head onto her lap.

Rinaa laughed at the look of pride, smugness and happiness on the dogs faces, grabbing the balls from their mouths, before declaring "okay, you got me, I'm dead now." The dogs paddled alongside her as Rinaa went limp and flipped onto her back, clutching a tennis ball in each hand, letting the current float her along. She 'played dead' for a few minutes before coming back to life and making her way over to the bank where Fia was, the dogs following in her wake. She flopped down near Fia, the dogs throwing themselves at the ground beside her, tongues lolling. "Think you tired him out enough?"

 

[MzHyde]

With Fia completely pinned down, she panted a little to catch her breath, as she listened to Rinaa accept defeat to Meyer and Rhys. She felt Koso's weight on top of her but she didn't mind too much even though he was heavy, it was deal able due to him naturally spreading his weight out. She smiled when she saw the tennis ball be dropped by her head, chuckling shhe grabbed it, not being phased by it's now dampness. As he rolled off of her, she rolled onto her back, then sat up, letting Koso lay his head on her lap to which she then proceeded to give him a scratch behind the ears. "such a good boy" she smiled fondly.

She looked over to see Rinaa playing dead in the water, letting her body just float before turning over and swimming to the bank with the dogs in tow. With her cousin now next to her on the ground, she chuckled and smirked at the question. "I hope so, he was panting quite a bit when he pinned me" she said. "what about these two? Think they're tired out enough to head back so they can nap?" she then asked back, looking down at Meyer and Rhys seeing them pant.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa was ideally situated to be able to stroke Rhys and Meyer at the same time, so she did just that, the dogs making appreciative noises in response. Rinaa herself was regarding the dogs with a fond look, while still smiling broadly, the presence of a genuine smile seemed to change her entire appearance, it was something the others had noticed and commented on (tough obviously not when Rinaa was around). She cast an eye over at Koso and how he was lying across Fia's lap, looking very content with himself. She reached over a hand and scratched him just under the neck, listening while Fia answered the question. All three dogs were panting pretty heavily, it had been a longer walk than they'd planned and the exertion was taking it's toll on everybody.

"Hmmmm you two? Whadya say? Did you enjoy that?" Rinaa asked the two dogs beside her, to which Meyer rolled onto her side, limbs splayed tongue lolling out. "I'll take that a yes then." Rinaa smirked to herself, before properly replying to Fia's question. "Yeah, I think they've all been suitably exercised, and had a hell of a lot of fun in the process. I know I have and I'm not quite a dog, but it was still fun either way." She ruffled a hand across her wet hair, causing a spray of water droplets. "And besides, the others will be back soon, if they're not back already, and I would like to be there to meet them." And by 'them', Rinaa really meant Moya. Charlie and Matteo were also awesome people, and had always been people that Rinaa greatly admired, but right now it was Moya that mattered the most.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia noticed how Rinaa's happiness was genuine and she truly saw what the others meant by how different the other teenager looked when she was this happy. She was glad even more now that she offered to bring Rinaa along as the walk proved so much more fun than she already predicted it would have been. She could also see how everyone was looking suitably worn out, herself included. As Rinaa asked the other two dogs how they felt, she chuckled seeing how Meyer rolled over as her way of saying 'yes'.

"I agree. I'm certainly knackered and will gladly head back. I'm gonna sleep so well tonight I swear, this is two highly active walks I've done with these three now" she chuckled. She too would like to see the others, and to show Matteo just how well she had looked after the dogs. "same here, I'd like to see them as they came back and I'm sure Moya will be happy to see you when she arrives" she smiled, stopping the affection she was giving Koso so she could start thinking about getting up to grab her shirt and jacket and boots. "I guess we should grab our stuff and head back but Rinaa? I'm glad you came along" she commented after a hefty content sigh.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa had leaned back against one the trees as Fia spoke, finding it a much more comfortable position than just lying flat on her back like a beached starfish. If she had lain down properly she was all too aware that the dogs would have taken this as an opportunity to drape themselves across her, just like Koso and Fia earlier. She smiled slightly at Fia's words, while nodding in agreement. There was a sort of dull ache in her muscles from the exertion and she had to admit lying don on a soft bed sounded very attractive, not necessarily to sleep, but just to be still and think of nothing. "I'm kinda tired too, but also hungry, might have to resort to eating one of the speedster bars so I don't pass out in front of Moya."

There was a definite smile of affection audible in Rinaa's voice when she spoke of the winged girl. At first she'd flirted with Moya because Moya was hot, her type, roughly the same age, right there in front of her and Rinaa was feeling a bit reckless. But the more they'd talked and the more time they'd spent together, the more she realised she genuinely liked her, that there was more to it than physical attraction. Even when she was brutally honest about the fact that she was dying and had all kinds of mental health issues, Moya was still willing to give it ago, a fact that never failed to amaze Rinaa and only made her like the raven haired girl more. "That's just SO UNromantic, and the last time I passed out in front of my girlfriend she freaked out. Though I was bleeding out at the time, so I guess it was justified."

Rinaa's smile grew when Fia mentioned Moya, not that Fia's approval was the one she needed when it came to who she dated, but it was strangely nice to have it anyway. "Yeah, I think she will." Rinaa tensed imperceptibly when Fia said 'but', expecting some kind of negative, but it never came. She could hear that Fia meant what she said and had genuinely enjoyed spending time with her, just as Rinaa had enjoyed spending this time with Fia (a sentence she'd given up on ever thinking). Her reply was punctuated with pauses as Rinaa grappled with what to say."Yeah, me too..... I needed this........ a lot. I was pretty close to a spectacular mental breakdown back there. So.... thanks for this." The thanks was murmured quietly, but it was there.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia smiled slightly back and nodded, thinking also that Rinaa eating was probably the best idea as she didn't feel like carrying her passed out body back to everyone and to have them wonder what the hell happened, or as Rinaa said, having her pass out in front of Moya and scaring the crap out of the girl once again. "probably a good idea, at least to keep you going before we get back to the house" she agreed, getting up and walking over to their stuff, chucking Rinaa her bag and shirt for her whilst being careful not to hit Meyer or Rhys. With her reply about Fia being glad she came along, she smiled at Rinaa genuinely, glad that Rinaa was also glad for coming. "I kinda guessed..so..you're welcome. If there's one thing I'm good at it's creating a distracting moment when it's desperately needed. So if you ever need it again, just let me know... Okay?" she told her.

She pulled on her boots first as she sat on a fallen branch that was just big enough for her to perch her butt on. She then grabbed her vest and yanked it on over her head before putting her jacket back on and standing up again, pulling her phone out. "I'll let the others know we're on our way back. Can find out if their at The House or not that way too" she smirked, telling Rinaa as she started typing a text in the group chat.

'hey, we're on our way back so we can be back in time for the others returning. Where you lot at? X'​

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa caught the backpack in one hand and the shirt in the other. She then whistled for the dogs to bring her over the tennis balls so she could put them away. The trio obeyed her commands without question, Rinaa rubbing the balls on her shorts in order to dry them (she'd had some balls go mouldy and disgusting on her before and was in no hurry to repeat the experience). She wasn't sure what it said about her, or about Fia, that the other girl could tell she was on the edge of a breakdown earlier. But this messing around had really, really helped, Rinaa felt a lot better than she had all day, the fog of depression that had been hanging over her ever since she came around from letting Sykes lose had lifted. She was desperately not to think about how long it would be until that cloud came right back down, she hope it wouldn't come back, but she also knew that depression wasn't that simple.

The teenager crouched down by her bag, digging through it to find one of the foil wrapped bars from earlier, listening as Fia spoke. The way Rinaa was crouched at her bag meant that if Fia looked up even slightly, she could see her back in all it's glory. It was covered in burn scars, the skin knobbly, warped and uneven, resembling the texture of a melting candle. In some places there had been successful skin grafts to alleviate the damage, mainly along the back of her neck and the sides of her back, but the damage had been too extensive and in some places, the grafts had failed, leaving strange patches of puckered skin. There was no question that the cause of this scarring had been a fire.

"I'd like to say I'd take you up on that, I really would, but I've basically inherited John's skills when it comes to dealing with my own mental health, so the chances of me asking are slim to none, unless it's spectacularly bad. Then I just tend to go for whoever's near me. I was better back home, I knew I wasn't alone, but this time-travelling shit is both the cause and the solution of so many of my problems." She pulled out the bar from the bag, setting it to one side and drawing out her own phone to find a text from Moya sent a few minutes ago

"Hey, how're you holding up? Charlie says we'll be back in about twenty minutes- Moya x"​

"The others'll be back in a bit over fifteen minutes" Rinaa told Fia as the reply came back from John's group.

"For some reason or another I've ended up as spokesperson for the whole group, no point in all of us sending you the same thing. We're all still at Cliff's house, though we'll potentially be heading down to the harbour soon- Chas"​

 

[MzHyde]

Fia did look up just a tiny bit and noticed the sheer level of the fire burns she endured in her timeline. It made her disgusted at her other self and mother for even contemplating such a thing, let alone actually going through with it and hurting Rinaa. It was also made her just that bit sad for Rinaa, not that she would say it out loud as she knew Rinaa didn't want any of that from anyone. She focused back on herself just as quickly as she saw the extent of Rinaa's back, deciding she shouldn't be looking and just let the girl get ready for heading back to the house.

She listened to what Rinaa said in reply to her offer and just simply nodded. "well, the offer is always there whilst we're still in this same boat. You can even just pull me away from the group if you're too stubborn to say anything. If it helps" she offered, knowing sometimes ittd easier to ask for a distraction without actually saying a single word. She knew, like Rinaa did, that depression wasn't a simple thing thatyou could find one solution that will fix everything. It was complicated and frustrating, but she was still wanting to help where and however she could, whilst she could. Just as her own phone pinged with a reply, she nodded at what Rinaa said about Matteo, Charlie and Moya's ETA. She checked her own phone and smirked at Chas' response to her own text, before replying.

'the others will be arriving in around 15minutes, so may as well all meet at the harbour. X'​

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa nodded at the offer "it might help, it might not, it's not as if they don't already know the tattered state of my mental health" was all she said, though she really genuinely appreciated the offer. She'd obviously never had that offer from the Fia in her timeline, and one part of her brain was saying that being around this Fia was the universe trying to make up for the Fia in her own timeline. The other part of her brain was saying that as absolute nonsense, the universe had already made it's plan for her life quite clear- Rinaa was destined to die and that was that.

Rinaa pulled on her shirt, covering up her scars again, she wasn't aware that Fia had seen them, but if she had been aware of that fact, she knew very little explanation would be necessary. There was a fire, she was trapped in it, managed to just about escape, her heart stopped and she was dead for two minutes before the paramedics brought her back, and ever since then she's had a fear of fire. She typed out her reply to Moya, read over it, added an extra bit and then hit send, before shoving the phone back into the bag. "Well then, let's go, no point in hanging around here."

Chas' reply was almost instantaneous. "We'll see you two (and the dogs) at the harbour then."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia knew it was no secret that everyone knew the current mental state of Rinaa, just like now it was no secret that Fia had her own moments of insecurity that she kept hidden, having only recently opened up to John about. Yet even though it was known, she thought that sometimes it was easier to ask for distraction without saying a single word to people, so with Rinaa's reply she just nodded at her. She waited for Rinaa to finish getting her things together and get her shirt on, not minding the wait in the slightest. With Chas replying straight away, she smiled before looking back up at Rinaa. "right.. Let's head to the harbour. Everyone will see us there" she replied, after she let Rinaa reply to the text from Moya.

She started to walk back with the dogs and Rinaa, deciding that once everyone had been reunited at the harbour she was going to go change her jeans because the clinging of the fabric to her legs was beginning to get a tad uncomfortable, making her question why she thought diving into the river with jeans on was a good idea in the first place. Yet she was also glad that she had jeans on as if she had her shorts on, her knee grazes from her stumble could have been so much worse. "I'm gonna be so glad to get out of these jeans in a bit" she chuckled, making light hearted conversation as they headed back.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Okay, sounds like a plan then" Rinaa answered gesturing for the dogs to follow along, which they did, happy to let the two teenagers take the lead this time. Rinaa knew that the shortest way to get from where they were by the river to the main harbour involved leaving the well worn paths and cutting across some wild land to join up with different path. She figured neither Fia nor the dogs would mind tramping through the forest and fields, it wasn't too thorny or brambly and as it was summer and the weather had been dry for the past few weeks what little mud there was would be baked solid.

She couldn't help but let out a chuckle at Fia's comment. "Yeah, I was wondering about that fashion choice, jeans are probably THE MOST unsuitable trousers to wear at any beach EVER. Let alone to wear here on this island. Not only will the fabric drag you down in the water, it picks up and KEEPS crud so easily, not to mention that there's plenty of stuff here that'll stain them permanently. In fact long trousers in general are a bad idea in summer here. There's a reason why Cliff's family always wear shorts here and why most of us cut a pair of trousers into shorts when we got here."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia didn't mind the short cut route to the harbour as she didn't think the dogs would get too muddy, ruining the eslroer work. She had seen for herself (including very close up) just how dry the ground was so she wasn't too worried. The walk was actually nice to do, just like it was in the morning, in fact, it was actually nicer because it meant less dirt in comparison to the morning walk. She didn't even mind that Rinaa took the initiative to command the dogs for a bit, figuring that giving her that task was just extra steps to keeping her very much distracted from her deep down negative thoughts.

She smirked at what Rinaa said back to her, admitting that she thought Fia's choice of jeans for the day was a questionable move. Especially as she hadn't worn jeans all trip up until this day. "to be honest with you? I don't even know why I decided on jeans. I just threw whatever on this morning so I could get to Cliff's house and didn't even give it a second thought. Which considering I've been in shorts all trip, even surprised me. But I was too lazy to go back to The House to change, figuring that as these jeans are old, it doesn't matter as much if they get wrecked. And well... They already had anything and everything on them thanks to Meyer this morning, and now they're ripped thanks to my clumsiness. So they're passed the stage where I should care about the state of them" she chuckled.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa started chuckling softly when Fia mentioned how Meyer had managed to get 'anything and everything' on the jeans. She hadn't paid much attention Fia's jeans when they were in the house, but she didn't doubt that Meyer was capable of doing such a thing. Her eyes flicked over to the youngest dog who was walking along by Fia's side, glancing at her coat, it wasn't as smooth and sleek as it had been earlier, but it was clear to her that she had been properly and effectively groomed recently. And if it was clear to her, then it would also be clear to Matteo that all three had been groomed and well looked after. "And that's the difference between us, putting aside the fact I'm an early riser in general, if I DO have to rush out of bed on short notice, I just grab whatever I wore the day before cos it's convenient, spray half a can of deodorant on myself and get on with it." She smirked ever so slightly, knowing for a fact she wasn't the only student in her block to do such a thing when running late.

"I'd say there's still use for the jeans..... or more precisely if they were MY jeans, I'd still find a use for them." Both Rinaa and Leah were firm believers in upcycling and re-using, in Rinaa's timeline it was because the of the impending war that everybody was learning to make do and mend, where as with Leah it was because she was steadfastly determined to pay as much pf her own way through university as possible. And if that meant re-purposing old jeans then so be it."Maybe as training clothes, but more than likely as work clothes, motor oil is KILLER on good clothes and grease is hardly any better. Probably doesn't help that I wipe my dirty hands on them. Though if the jeans in question are really ripped and not wearable, it's still fabric at the end of the day- fabric that I can use to tie back hair in a pinch, or to patch up other jeans that ripped, or to reinforce the knees of my work trousers. I used to wear actual roller-blade style knee pads when I started out doing odd jobs in the mechanics, as I'd always be banging my legs off whatever vehicle I was fixing at the time." She smirked fondly at the memory. "Made me sweat like you wouldn't believe but they worked."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia was well aware that Meyer that was happily by her side, finding they really had formed a bond together since she arrived. She just hoped Meyer wouldn't feel her absence quite to the extent Fia knew she would feel Meyer's absence. Hearing what made them different she smirked before chuckling once more, "I sometimes do that but not always. Depends how late I'm running for something" she pointed out, practically making a dig about herself in the process.

She continued to listen to Rinaa as she said there was always use for battered clothing, which was something she could completely agree with. She had done similar several times over the eyeara since she began training to survive in the world she was brought up in. With Rinaa explaining about what she would use to protect her knees, Fia found she could easily see Rinaa in such situations just from the examples she had witnessed herself. It didn't take much to see Rinaa being completely grubby with oil and grease from mechanics. Mostly because she was used to seeing similar from her Leah. "I've used clothing for similar things myself. Usually training or like you, using the scraps of fabric to tie my hair up. Even used scraps of fabric as ways to deals with cuts and scrapes" she replied. "I've got this one pair of jeans I can't bare to throw out even though theyre completely pointless as jeans. The whole front middle on both legs is gone but they're such good quality denim I don't wanna throw them out." she chuckled.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa half-smiled as Fia explained how she also put old clothes to good use, finding another way that they were useful. It was strangely reliving to hear that she wasn't the only one who did such a thing. To her it just seemed like common sense, but she knew of others who thought differently, the kind of people who'd throw away a shirt just because it got a tint rip along a seam. It always pissed her off that these people couldn't be arsed to pick up a needle and thread and fix the problem with a few quick stitches. And in a way, hearing that this Fia reused old clothes made her like the other girl, just that little bit more. Her perception of this Fia was gradually changing one step at a time. "Seems I'm not the only one who does it then. It goes without saying that Moya does it with all her clothing and fabric scraps. And being a fashion student she can actual make it look beautiful, I'm more rough and ready when it comes to my stuff."

She laughed at Fia's description of the 'jeans'. "And with so much missing, it's not like they even take up a lot of space. I had a denim jacket like that, though it quickly found a new life as a dog toy, turns out that particular denim was QUITE a challenge for them to rip to shreds, but they enjoyed it. And once it was decimated, a mate suggested I tear it apart further and use it to stuff the saggy couch in my flat share. When my flat mates heard the idea they all sacrificed some old clothes for the cause." Rinaa pulled out her phone, knowing for a fact she had before and after photos of the couch, which she passed to Fia. The first showed an old, battered couch with almost no stuffing, the next showed the same couch looking significantly more plumper. At the very edge of the shot a coffee table with various textbooks and mugs on it could be seen.

 

[MzHyde]

Like Rinaa, it seemed like common sense to Fia also to use clothing until it literally wasn't wearable anymore then just upcycle the fabric for other uses. She grown up seeing both her parents fixing rips in their clothes and hers, by sitting on the couch sewing them up plenty of time, so to her it seemed utterly normal to do the same thing. It didn't even dawn on her to throw out clothing just because of one tiny issue. She even has still a couple of vests and tshirts that were stained with either condiments like ketchup aswell as paint that she purposely kept back for training purposes, or she used them as sleep tops just to get that extra bit of wear out of them. "you're definitely not the only one. I was brought up to always use something until it was literally no more and watched both my folks sewing up clothing on the couch so much I kinda picked the skill up for myself" she smiled.

Making Rinaa laugh at something of her doing was always a pleasant feeling to Fia. She knew if she was making her laugh, she wasn't despising her company and things could only be making some kind of progress between the two of them. She laughed at her own story about what her dogs did to a denim jacket of hers, as well as hearing what was done with her couch. She took the phone when it was handed to her and looked at the two pictures smiling, seeing a clear difference in the couch's state. She noted the general look of Rinaa's home smiling before handing the phone back. "it's a good idea, my aunt Sam helped me recycle a bunch of my old sweaters once into a blanket for the end of my bed in the apartment. It's the cosies thing ever for the winter months" she smiled, before pulling out her phone to show Rinaa not only the photo of the blanket that was borderline patchwork with varying old sweaters, yet it still seemed to not look like each sweater was clashing with the next one. She also showed her the photo of the jeans she was telling her about, it was clear that Fia was slightly younger in the photo, by about a couple of years, but it was also clear her body shape hadn't changed in the slightest.

Spoiler: Fia's photo