Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[_gallifrog_]

Elliott was utterly fascinated watching Cal and Cliff sign back and forth, the fluidity with which their hands moved was impressive, to Elliott it looked like they didn't even have to think about what they signed, it was just second nature to them by now. Elliott himself didn't understand anything of what they were signing (the only words of sign her knew were insults), but it was clear from the smirks, gentle eyerolls, sighs of fond annoyance and scoffs the women gave each other that what was being said was just harmless bickering. Somehow their hands managed to conveyed more than just words, Elliott could see clearly the deep-seated, genuine love and the powerful bond between them in the movements of their hands and their bodies. He couldn't explain it, but seeing them like this, it was right, like this was how they were always meant to be, how the universe always meant for Cal and Cliff to be. They were meant to be together- Cal and Cliff, Fire and Ice, the doctor and the blacksmith- whatever way he put it, they just worked. Watching the two a smile spread over his face, a fond and a loving smile, he was truly, truly happy that his sister had found Cliff.

At Chas' comment Elliott nodded. "You're totally correct there Chas. But for those two, just watching them bicker in four different languages like that....I can't explain it" he waved his hands around in the air, looking for an explanation that wasn't soppy before giving up and settling on"it's just right somehow, like that's how it's supposed to be." John had been following Cliff and Cal's bickering with a smirk on his face, understanding about 80% of what was being signed and filling on the rest with whatever seemed logical. Few people knew that John Constantine was pretty much fluent in BSL, a fact he deliberately kept hidden, not because he was ashamed of the skill but because he didn't feel it was something people actually needed to know, in almost every situation the fact that he was a mage was enough. He gave a short laugh at Chas' comment. "Hole in one Chas, that's exactly what they are. They're both dredging up incidents from years and years ago as ammunition now." At the soppy nature of Elliott's comment he couldn't help but smirk again. It was clear Elliott really loved his sister with all his heart, and that that same love now extended to Cliff. He put one arm around Elliott's shoulders hugging him briefly before letting him go again. "Don't go gettin' too soppy on us right now, it might be contagious and then where'd we be? Probably not on our flight outta here..... But yeah, we're all thinkin' the same thing right now and anyone who denies it is a liar" he finished on a firm note as the drew up outside the terminal.

As promised the terminal was far warmer than outside. To John it looked pretty much like any airport terminal he'd been in- a selection of various shops (he didn't need to be able to read the language to tell that some of them were essentially glorified gift shops and almost all of them sold travel items you didn't actually need), some restaurants selling overpriced food and drink , large windows allowing for people to watch the rockets launching, loads of chairs, baggage carts, all spread out over a variety of floors. In the entranceway there was a mosaic on the floor that when viewed from the floor above revealed itself to be a map of the planet.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay and Fia both agreed with Elliott that seeing the two women together was just right. That if there was ever a more suitable and capatible couple then they didn't want to know them quite frankly because Cal and Cliff in their eyes were that perfect couple. With John explaining what was actually being spoken about, Kay remembered John could do BSL and was fluid in it, somehow feeling like she recalled him saying as such at some point. Fia knew he was fluent due to the timeline she was in and in turn had seen him using his skills when Cal and Cliff had come to visit. They both smirked when John told Elliott not to get soppy on them or it'll become contagious. They both nodded that yes, they were all indeed thinking it. "don't think any of us would even try to deny it" Kay replied.

Once in the terminal Kay looked around getting that familiar vibe once again to earth terminals, finding that some things were just the same no matter where in the universe you were. She noticed the mosiac on the ground and could tell instantly that it would have be viewed from above to truly see the art at its best and accurately. She noticed Fia still looking around, taking it all in and let her do so, knowing it was still probably a big deal to her, whereas to the rest of them it really wasn't. "so what's the plan guys?" Fia asked looking between them.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Elliott couldn't help chuckle at John's notion that soppiness could somehow be contagious, knowing that in John's mind that was exactly how it worked. John was just about as far as possible as one could get from a 'soppy person', so to hear him confirm (in his own John-esque way) that Cal and Cliff were indeed perfectly suited for each other meant a hell of a lot of him. Entering the terminal his eyes were drawn straight to the tiny tiles (he estimated two centimetres in width and length) that covered the floor, most were varying shades of blue, but some were brown, green, white and black. At first the arrangement made no sense to him, it was a mass of blue with the others colours clustered together in irregular blobs but then he saw the tile with a red cross on it and it all fell into place, realising that what he was looking at was a map of some sort

At Fia's question Cal shrugged. "There isn't a plan really. Usually I'd be heading for food and coffee, but we've already eaten and even Rinaa isn't hungry." The teenager nodded "for once, mark it on the calendar, it's a momentous occassion." she smirked before adding"althoooooough" drawing out the last syllable to emphasise that she was thinking about food" there is a place here that does all kind of crazy chocolate bars yeah? Or am I thinking of the other space port?" The uncertainty was because Rinaa had realised that she didn't know if that store existed in the terminal yet. "I know the one you mean, it IS this spaceport." Cliff confirmed."In other words we'll just follow your lead, we've seen it all before after all." "Well I'd like to get a proper look at this map-mosaic thing from above." Elliott spoke up before anybody else could get a word in. "So that's why the floor tiles are there!" John exclaimed. "I thought it was some strange language I didn't understand that spelled a message from above. A map makes way more sense!"

 

[MzHyde]

Fia listened to what Cal said in response before smirking at what Rinaa said in reply, with the moment Rinaa started to say 'although' she knew something was coming along either food or drink related. When Rinaa mentioned the words 'chocolate bars' suddenly she was highly interested. Hearing it was indeed this space port that had the place Rinaa was referring to, she really wanted to see if these bars were worth the implied hype Rinaa was on about. "you had me at chocolate bars" she grinned. "of course she did" Kay teased before turning to Elliott and John, "I wouldn't mind seeing it from above either. It intrigued me from the moment we walked in" she added, smirking at John's weird theory of what it could have been and his reaction to it.

Fia wasn't shocked to hear that the two arty people in their group wanted to see the mosiac piece on the floor. She was too used to having Kay just stop what she was doing out in the street to take a gander at a new piece of art that appeared on a brick wall or similar. "so should we split up and meet back here or all go together to see this mosiac on the way to this shop Rinaa wants?" Fia then queried their only real two options.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Both Cal and Cliff thought that while wrong, John's theory about the floor did hold some merit. It wasn't unknown for places, particularly spaceports and terminals to have floor art that spelled out things like 'Welcome to Terminal 7' or 'Thank you for flying with us', so they could see where he was coming from. And there were alien languages with scripts that looked like blobs to the untrained eye, it was just that this particular planet didn't use a script like that. "It's not a totally crazy theory, I can see where you're coming from and how you got there. In this case it is just completely wrong." John did feel a bit stupid for missing such a glaringly obvious explanation, but Cal's words made him feel like slightly less of an idiot. And now that he knew it was a mural, he was curious to have a gawk at it.

"Well the shop is on one of the higher floors, so maybe we all look at the mural together, it's pretty impressive, worth a photo or two Chas. Then we go our separate ways to have a look around?" Rinaa suggested, to which Cliff nodded. "Sounds like a reasonable plan to me" she said, before realising that it wasn't really her call that it should be John and Kay who had the final say as to whether it was okay for Fia to go off somewhere she didn't know the language. "Yeah, I'm fine with these three goin' off to get away from us. We're all gonna be crammed together in a rocket for most of the day anyway." John included Moya in his count, knowing that where Rinaa went Moya would to and vise-versa. Rinaa spoke the language, so it made sense.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay, although having smirked at John's theory, didn't think he was stupid for thinking it. She wasn't able to think of what it could have been before Elliott mentioned it was a map mural, so the fact that John even had a theory for what it could have been was better than her. She also found that if she truly thought about it, she would have been able to see how John would have come to that theory.

Fia listened to what Rinaa replied with, thinking it sounded like a sound plan. She was perfectly okay with the idea of splitting up to go to the shop for these chocolate bars and going with Rinaa and Moya, knowing that she was with someone who could speak the local language and not end up into some kind awkward situation. Whether her parents would be okay with it, she wasn't 100% certain as all she knew was the overprotective older versions of her parents. Hearing that John felt fine with Fia going off with the other two after looking at the mural, Kay felt she was okay with it as well knowing she wouldn't be going alone. "I'm fine with it too as you won't be on your own Fia" Kay said honestly. She trusted that Rinaa and Moya would keep her safe and not let her get into trouble. Fia smiled glad that she was trusted to go off without them both around her all the time. "fair enough comment" Fia simply said.

 

[_gallifrog_]

With that all sorted they made their way to the second floor (there were four floor in total, excluding the ground floor), Cliff declaring that the view from the first wasn't really worth bothering. The floors had been built with viewing of the floor mural kept in mind. The area of each floor that was over the entranceway was removed, leaving a clear view right up to the top ceiling. Each floor had a cantilevered viewing area at at the edge, which jutted further and further out the further one went up, ensuring that the view of the mural wasn't blocked by the viewing area below. Moya was tempted to just fly straight up, but decided against doing so when she saw the signs kindly requesting that patrons of the spaceport stayed firmly on the ground. She might have broken that rule on Attil where she knew the language, but this was c completely different planet, she didn't speak the language and as a guest, she knew she had to be on her best behaviour and not cause trouble.

From the second floor it was indeed clear that the mosaic floor was indeed meant to be a map, a highly detailed map, with the different shades of blue representing different sea depths. The small red marker was just about visible, acting as a 'YOU ARE HERE' reference point. From above it was clear just how much of this planet was water. There were no real continents, just large islands, medium islands and tiny specks of islands. After staring down for a few minutes, attempting to figure out where they'd come from Elliott finally asked the question that was preying on his mind, and hes suspected the others' minds too. "I'm gonna ask the question we're all thinking, can you show us where you're from on this map?" Cliff smiled broadly "I can show you the rough area, yeah, but it's just a tiny speck on the map." It was clear from her explanation that this was far from the first time she'd explained using this map, and Elliott couldn't help but wondering if Cal had also been on the receiving end of this explanation.

After staring at the map and translating Cliff's explanation for the benefit of Moya, Rinaa turned to Fia. "So ready to see some crazy chocolate flavours?"

 

[MzHyde]

Moya wasn't the only one tempted to just fly up, so was Fia but like Moya, she saw signed that she could easily deceifer as 'please no flying' signs. Her and Kay both walked with everyone as they ascended upward to the preferred floor to see the mural in question. Once they reached the viewing part of the floor, they looked over and saw just how large the mosiac was and detailed in a simplistic manner. As Elliott predicted, they both wondered where Cliff's Island was in comparison to their marker on the mural. They listened as Elliott got Cliff to explained the rough whereabouts of her home to where they were now and nodded.

With that done Fia looked at Rinaa when she asked her about going to seek weird and wonderful chocolate. She grinned and nodded, "hells yes" she simply replied which truly said it all to everyone. Kay just shook her head but smiled at the way Fia was clearly excited to see new chocolate flavours. "don't go overboard with chocolate Fia, but if there's chilli chocolate think of me" Kay smirked, throwing down the massive hint that if there was anything of the sort she wanted it. "yeah yeah... I know all about your weird tastes in chocolate" "I'm a pregnant woman, I'm allowed weird chocolate flavours. It's called cravings" Fia just waved off her remark and turned to Rinaa, "let's go then" she smiled.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John didn't find chilli chocolate a particularly weird flavour combination, in fact he knew of a least three ancient South American civilisations that cacao and chilli mixtures had been found in (the combination was mainly used in drink form though). Kay's hint didn't really qualify as a hint in anybody's mind, it was a blatant statement of 'I want chilli chocolate, but am also trying to act like a mature and responsible adult, though will very willingly use the pregnancy card to get my way'. "In fairness chilli chocolate is pretty great." Jay shrugged. Chilli and dark chocolate wasn't her favourite chocolate flavour, but it was a combination she associated heavily with her childhood.

Rinaa wanted to make a remark about how telling Fia was essentially pointless as it would be Rinaa who was actually going to pay for everything, but kept her mouth shut as it might make her sound rude or bitter. "But Satrax star fruit chocolate is better." She replied in response to Jay, who nodded, not at all surprised that her daughter would know about the difficult-to-find chocolate that Jay kept a hidden stash of. Rinaa knew her all time favourite sandwich order, so the idea that she'd know Jay's favourite chocolate was perfectly logical. "Tell you what, I'll buy a massive selection box or three for you lot, along with whatever random crap takes our fancy, that way you can try a bit of everything."

With that she led the way up to the next floor, turning right at the top of the stairs, making her way right down to the end, towards a shop with a garishly coloured front, it looked like somebody had chucked various colours of bright paint at a wall and said 'ah fuck it, that'll do'. Inside the shop was filled wall to wall and ceiling to floor with all kinds of sweets, not just chocolate. Rinaa always jokingly referred to the shop as 'the store equivalent of a pick n' mix'.

 

[MzHyde]

When Kay told Fia not to go overboard, she knew very well that it'd be Rinaa who would be paying for it all, so she didn't want Fia to take the piss and go overboard in her pickings when she knew she wouldn't be paying for any of it. She did have trust in Fia that she wouldn't but she also knew what a sweet tooth her kid had, so she wouldn't put it passed Fia to be of the mindset 'I can't choose so I'm gonna have everything' out of excitement and forget it was Rinaa paying. Fia also thought chilli chocolate was weird because in her mind chilli and chocolate should never go together, it was one combination that she just could not stand. Kay nodded when Jay agreed that her craving choice of chocolate was good, even if it wasn't her preferred flavour of chocolate. "sounds like a decent enough plan" Kay remarked.

Fia followed Rinaa and Moya up one more floor and down the path to the shop that stood out massively in her mind. It was a crazy looking shop front and insanely bright, almost unnecessarily bright that reminded her of those American sweet shops that she had seen pop up in London in the side streets or the giant M&M store in Leicester Square. Stepping inside, she looked around and was amazed by the amount of different chocolates in stock. "woah! This is insane, reminds me of London's M&M store, except that store is an acid trip to go inside" she smirked, always finding as much as she liked going in, it always gave her a massive headache because it was so bright and so loud.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa smirked at Fia's comparison, knowing the stores she was talking about. They still existed in her timeline, somehow managing to still keep going, even with the threat of war overhead, mainly because they had copied what most major retailers were doing and having the majority of their stock and store space in the basement levels of the property. "I know exactly what you mean, the candy stores in the States are even worse and there's even more of them." Rinaa was speaking from experience of her trip to San Diego (which also incorporated a trip to san Francisco) and a different trip where she ended up staying in New York for a day or two after her flight was cancelled. "You practically need sunglasses and ear protection to inside one of those and not go crazy."

The various sweets were labelled, both in Cliff's native tongue and with sort of pictograms to indicate what was inside. Moya looked equally impressed at their sheer volume of stuff available, this particular chain of stores had never made it anywhere near the Attili system. the winged girl leaned over and made a remark to Rinaa, who laughed, before translating it for Fia's benefit. "She said, good thing Cliff isn't here or we'd be getting the talk on how just being in this store is giving us diabetes." For the first while Rinaa and Moya simply browsed, splitting up and wandering through the shop taking it all in, calling the others over when somebody found something particularly unusual or bizarre. It seemed like every possible combination of sweet possible was there, along with things they wouldn't even have thought of in a hundred years. The shop even sold t-shirts (the design changing from year to year, as well as holiday themed ones). Rinaa couldn't resist going over and flicking through the rails. "Oh yes!" she declared, holding the shirt up to her body. "This is SO me."

 

[MzHyde]

When Rinaa said she knew what shops Fia was on about it made Fia strangely happy that something as ridiculous as that survived in Rinaa's timeline even though the shops did her head in each and every time she ever went passed them. Though she would admit she'd go into the overpriced American ones in the side streets for her fix of mountain dew that she had way too big a stock of in her room that could remotely be considered healthy for anyone. "it's America... Thats not surprising at all" she replied with a smirk. She continued looking around in her spot when Moya said something that reminded Fia, she needed a translation to know what she said. With Rinaa translating she laughed nodding in agreement, "oh she totally would!" she replied before walking in another direction to look around but remained close enough that when either girl ushered her over to look at something, she could hear them and come over.

She couldn't stop looking around, seeing so many flavours making her curious and near damn salavate at the idea of them, whilst others made her pull a face of disgust as she thought it could only taste awful on her palette. It was then she heard Rinaa's exclaimation and declaration about a t-shirt making her turn round and walk over. "lemme guess, you're getting it" she chuckled.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Moya couldn't help but smile broadly and fondly when she saw that Rinaa had somehow managed to find a t-shirt in a sweets store. She knew enough about Rinaa to know that her girlfriend was somebody who loved a novelty or nerdy t-shirt (and had quite an extensive collection of them). This particular t-shirt was dark blue in colour, a colour which really suited Rinaa's dark hair and lightly tanned complexion, but Moya knew that even if the t-shirt had been neon pink with green spots, provided that she liked the printed design Rinaa would have bought it anyway. "Of course you could find a t-shirt here of all places" she remarked with a fond eyeroll as she mde her way over, arriving before Fia did."I have a radar for this kind of stuff." Rinaa smiled back, before gesturing at the shirt again. "Thoughts? You're the one doing the fashion course after all." Moya eyed her girlfriend up for a couple of moments, taking it all in, maybe for longer than was strictly necessary, but this was her girlfriend after all, she was allowed to stare.

"In terms of the design and graphics, it's so you. In terms of style, that colour works great with your hair and skin. The cut of the shirt is also right for your body shape, it won't be too tight across those broad shoulders and as it's a long fit shirt it won't look like a baggy sack on you." She looked Rinaa up and down appreciatively again before adding."I bet it would look really good with that badass biker jacket you have." Rinaa didn't mind by analysed by Moya, knowing that it was a compliment of the highest order and smiled broadly (deciding not to translate what Moya had said, Fia didn't need to know). "Aw thanks, I was gonna buy it anyway" "of course you were" "but now thanks to you I already have an idea of what to wear with it."

She then switched languages and turned to Fia. "Damn right I am! I have a collection of these shirts from various years, they do a different one every year. Some of them I bought, some were thrift shop finds, but I don't have one for this year. And besides it's my money, I can spend it on whatever I want, so feel free to go nuts and buy half the store, I'm really not gonna bat an eyelid." Rinaa wasn't rich, but she was pretty well of- pay from mechanics jobs and the profits of her contract heists and killings left her in a great position financially at this point in the timeline, though when she died the money would be going towards science research and an Earth charity ot two.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia didn't need what was being said to be translated, she got a jist of it just because it was to do with the t-shirt, so for once it didn't phase her at all that something was being spoken and she didn't understand it. When Rinaa however turned to her and spoke English to reply to her assumption, she just smirked and nodded before chuckling finding she had a point, a point that Fia would never try to correct Rinaa on. She did find it good that although Rinaa's time was limited she still found things in life that she wanted to buy and enjoy, even if it was for a short amount of time. "that's cool that you've been getting the full lot when you can" she told her, finding that was a difference between her and Rinaa. She didn't really collect things at all.

Sure she had a collection of random crap in her rooms in both the apartment and The House, but she didn't have anything of particular thing that she avidly collected. She never saw a point in it or found anything that she was 'I must collect everything in sight of this thing'. She wished she did just to say she had a normal teenage hobby but she didn't. She guessed the only thing she could consider a true 'collection' was her stash of fictional books and films. She also couldn't imagine what it was like to have enough money to be so relaxed around people spending her money and not be worried about it. She couldn't help but have a little browse through the tshirts out of curiosity more than anything and wondered if there was anything that caught her eye that was a path away from her usual very dull or earthy coloured clothing.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa wasn't usually so flippant when it came to spending her money, a good chunk of it went to practical things like her education, groceries, petrol for her bike, parts for her bike and the rent on her flatshare, her lock-up and the container she'd had Fia help clear out. She made a point of trying to save at least half of what was left over, spending the other half on things she wanted like books, cinema tickets, comic books, novelty shirts and socks, a very occasional concern ticket etc. Every once in a while she'd go a little nuts and volunteer to pay for all of her friends' drinks and/or food at whatever cafe or takeaway they were at (it was a sort of unwritten rule in her friend group that somebody would do something like that every few months, usually to celebrate). But it was after she was diagnosed that money lost value to Rinaa. She couldn't take it with her to whatever afterlife (if any) awaited her when she finally popped her clogs, so what was the point in continuing to hoard it? To her it just made sense that she was generous with it around those who mattered to her, so in a way her offering Fia the chance to get literally anything with her money was a sign that she had accepted the other girl.

"They're good quality and for some reason, motor oil cleans really well out of this fabric, not completely, but far better than anything else." She remarked, to which Moya raised an eyebrow at the translation. "Might get myself one for working in the shop, I've destroyed far too many good shirts because of bike oil." One thing Moya was grateful for was the fact that the natural oils from her wings didn't stain clothing, and also acted as a barrier, stopping motor oil gumming them up. Rinaa smiled at the suggestion. "They have neon pink" she teased, pulling out a shirt in a particularly violent shade of pink, that made Moya shake her head vigorously and exclaim something that, even with the language barrier, could easily be understood as 'Hell NO!' Moya joined Fia searching through the shirts, comparing each colour against her wings before settling on a shirt in a sort of stormy grey colour.

Rinaa meanwhile had sloped off towards the various selection boxes, intending to fulfil her sort of promise from earlier to bring back some variety boxes for the rest of the family. She picked up two boxes which would be considered sensible choices- a box which was a standard array of generic chocolate flavours (most of which were combinations already available on Earth), one which was flavours either native, or had deep roots to Cliff's planet-, before heading over to the novelty boxes that contained all kinds of weird and wonderful themes, right up at the top she saw one imaginatively named 'Spice Roulette' and grinned broadly, knowing that Kay and Fia would have a field day eating it.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia kept looking and could easily translate for herself the 'hell no' from Moya without even knowing the language, laughing at the reaction which she thought was very much justified. Of there was one colour of any shade that she wouldn't be caught dead in (unless forced into) was pink. She hated the stereotype that girls had to like to pink that came with the colour and as far as she was concerned, pink and her hair colouring was a massive no no. She looked through the shirts and found a teal coloured one which was one of her guilty pleasure favourite colours, which she presumed came from watching Brave as a child and seeing Merida as a badass redhead in dark teal and thinking she looked amazing. She pulled it out and looked at it, before holding it up against herself then turning to Moya, "yes or no?" she asked, doing the thumbs up/down gesture at the same time so Moya wouldn't need anyone translating for her.

She did keep a glance out at Rinaa to see where abouts she was in the store as she was curious to what she would have found in the variety boxes, before looking back at Moya to get an answer from her. Being a fashion student, she trusted Moya's opinion, even if it was a case she would wear the t-shirt just to lounge around in Cal and Cliff's or do training in when she went home. She was genuinely feeling happy doing this little shopping trip in the store with the two girls and strangely didn't feel like the third wheel around them like she thought she might have done.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Moya understood exactly what Fia meant with the thumbs up-thumbs down gesture, they were pretty universal signs, even among races with no finger-like digits (tentacles, or spines for example) the gesture had evolved- pointing upwards indicated 'good' or 'yes' while pointing downwards indicated 'bad or 'no'. It only took one look for Moya to give a thumbs up and a deliberate, noticeable nod of approval. The teal colour Fia had found worked perfectly with Fia's vibrant hair in Moya's opinion, not taking away from it like some colours would, but instead emphasising the various shades and tones visible. It was also bright enough that it didn't make Fia's skin appeared washed out or sallow.

With her fashion advice dispensed Moya started umming and awing over what chocolates to buy, deciding eventually on seven or so novelty flavoured bars of chocolate in flavours she couldn't believe existed (if they were disgusting, so what, she could try them out on her friends), as well as some regular flavoured bars made by a company that had a reputation for making the best tasting, richest and most luxurious chocolate in not just one, but many galaxies and finally picking up a bag of pick 'n' mix for the flight and some presents for her family and kid brother. She had been hesitant at first to but the really expensive luxury chocolate, but Rinaa had insisted she was more than fine with paying for it and that Moya would regret not buying it.

Apart from the selection boxes and t-shirt Rinaa also bought a selection of novelty bars (including three massive ones of bacon chocolate) and a massive bag of jelly snakes that weighed well over a kilo for herself. The rest was for everybody else- a couple of bars of Jay's favourite hard-to-find chocolate, a couple of bars of stuff she knew Elliott liked (based off of what future Jay and Cal had said), a selection of things she knew would get a interesting reaction due to their sheer absurdity from John and Chas (potentially Kay as well, and Fia if she hadn't tried it in her own timeline), a stock of biscuits for Dan (because he could never have enough biscuits tucked away in his forge), some local delicacies for Cliff and a tub of hard sweets that Cal loved.

 

[MzHyde]

With it decided she should have the t-shirt, she kept ahold of it and went to look over at all the chocolate flavours, making sure to find some chilli flavoured chocolate for Kay before even thinking about herself. She didn't want to be on the wrath of her pregnant mother because she forgot to get her damn chocolate choice. Though she knew Kay wouldn't actuly unleash her wrath on her, she still put that thought in her mind so she wouldn't forget it. She then looked for herself, focusing primarily on the chocolate as she wasn't a massive fan of jelly sweets and what ones she did like, she was incredibly picky with.

She picked a bag of variety chocolate that was similar to a bag of revels and she knew she liked them on Earth so she figured she'd take the risk. Other than that she left most of the pickings to Rinaa, especially as she saw how much she was piking with the variety selection boxes and saw the grin from moments ago on the other girl's face, wondering what she had found that would make her grin so much. "what got you grinning so much?" she asked with a smile, holding the shirt, bar and small single serving bag of chocolate in her hands. "found anything that could be ridiculously disgusting for John?" she then continued to ask, even though giving him something really bad just wasn't in her mind as revenge. "though, I'm not considering it revenge, so probably best not to find something bad for him. I want my revenge to be epic" she then continued musing out loud.

 

[_gallifrog_]

When Fia caught her grinning at the 'Spice Roulette' chocolate selection Rinaa's grin didn't vanish like it would have before. there was amusement clearly visible in her eyes as she quickly covered the lid of the box with her other purchases (even though she knew that Fia would be able to understand the text even if she could see it). "A box of chocolates" she smirked before rhetorically adding"A complete shocker, I know, it's not like we are COMPLETELY SURROUNDED by chocolate." She finished on a sarcastic note, then gave a serious answer in her normal tone. "I would say, but it'll spoil the surprise of what's in the box." She replied, subtly implying that Fia was somebody she intended to surprise with it. "I haven't actually tried it before myself, could be a massive flop, but hey." She shrugged tempted to say 'you only live once', but didn't as it was a pretty awful choice of words given that she was dying and Fia had some form of immortality.

At Fia's next question she shook her head. "No, nothing. Not that there's any point mind you, he's got a stomach like an industrial trash can and a palate that can tolerate anything. In fact if you did give him something disgusting he'd eat it without question to prove a point, not only that, but he'd do it with relish and a massive shit eating grin." Rinaa had enough experience of John to know that everything she was saying was hundred percent true. Using food as a way to get back at John simply didn't work. With everything up on the counter and being rung up she listened as Fia explained how she wanted her revenge on John to be epic. She couldn't blame Fia, that wake up call had been pretty brutal. "Yeah, I can see why you'd want that..... Thouuugh I'm probably not the best person to consult on this, pranking isn't my thing, and the less said about revenge the better."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia smirked rolling her eyes at Rinaa's reply to her first question, but let her continue speaking nodding at the answer and accepting that Rinaa was actually doing something as a surprise for her. It did actually deep down inside make Fia feel rather happy and surprised, seeing just how much their relationship was improving greatly. "well it's worth the try!" she smiled back at her.

At the next question, she knew it would be a long shot. She had after all grown up with John consuming all kinds of crap under the guise of 'its for work/spell' so she knew it would be ridiculously difficult to make John either puke or grimace over anything. "oh I know. I've grown up with him eating all kinds of shit. He relished in telling me that one time he ate a kid's hair from their brush along with other stuff for a spell. Just so he could see me retch so badly I threatened to vomit over his lap... I should add he enjoyed telling me this story when I had the worst cold ever as well." she explained, remembering the time now fondly but at the time she found it far from a fond moment.

She then nodded at theaat thing she replied to her with as she let Rinaa put everything up onto the counter to pay for it all. She then got the best idea ever in her head, "hey.. You think when back on Attil you can help me get a airhorn cannister and duct tape?" she asked, getting a grin on her face that said she had the most wicked idea in her head she's ever come up with. She had to really refrain from rubbing her hands together in that cliché evil villain manner and chuckling.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa chuckled quietly at the story Fia told, it didn't surprise her at all that he'd do such a thing. Hair, she knew was a pretty damn useful ingredient for a lot of spells, something to do with being able to make a link with the person the hair had come from and eating things was a time saving short cut (preparing the ingredients took time, often time John didn't have, so down the hatch they went). Rinaa's knowledge of magic was entirely theoretical and based of either books she'd read in The House when looking for information about the species of Downworlders she was friends with or from seeing John perform magic on the rare times she ended up on a hunt or job with him. She'd ask questions about what was going on and why every so often and John had no qualms with explaining it to her.

"Yeah, that sounds exactly like the John I know." Rinaa agreed, John really hadn't changed much in that regard in her timeline. "His bedside manner is...... questionable to say the least." She didn't give any details of the few times she'd been on the receiving end of John's bedside 'comforts' as the stories that came to mind were about the times she'd ended up in hospital (two of those times she'd been fighting for her life). There had been other times, with less serious injuries where John had been around, and in a way him acting like his usual self and like nothing was wrong was reassuring, it couldn't be that bad if John wasn't too affected by it.

With everything paid for and bagged up Rinaa turned around, only to see Fia with an 'I am an evil genius' grin on her face, an expression she knew all too well as nothing good had ever followed it in her experience. The question however made her raise an eyebrow in surprise. "Ummm, yeah, probably. I mean... duct tape is a staple of any lab, spaceship, mechanics workshop and well packed emergency bag, that stuff is bloody magical and works in the vacuum of space. I think there's a roll or two of the stuff in my other bag back at Cal 'n' Cliff's, though they'd have a roll lying around somewhere I bet. Airhorn can..... a bit trickier..... but not impossible."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia nodded in agreement at the state about John having weird bedside manners. She knew why he did the eating of the hair, but it was something she just couldn't bring herself to do just yet. She also didn't appreciate him telling the story when she was so ill as it did make her vomit into a bucket at the edge of the couch that she was curled up on under her blanket that she told Rinaa about. "questionable is an understatement, he looked so damn proud of himself when he made me vomit into a bucket" she explained.

With everything bagged up and purchased, she walked out with Rinaa and Moya and she just knew that Rinaa could tell she was thinking up simply evil when it came to her revenge prank. She also could see her requests of equipment surprised Rinaa before listening to the fact they could be acquired, even if the airhorn was slightly more difficult. "good good! Because I'm gonna give John the bloody biggest jump scare ever and it will be my greatest achievement! Though I will have to warn Cal and Cliff as it'll be in their home I'll need to enact it as it'll require duct taping one behind the door of their temporary bedroom" she replied. "if I get the biggest bollocking for it and have to run for my life it'll be worth it" she chuckled. It was clear as day that she was going to be enjoying this way too much.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Well it is best to vomit it all up and get it out of your system, so one COULD say there was some form of logic there if you were being generous and giving him the benefit of the doubt, but we both know that wasn't his intention." It was clear from her tone that she knew what she was saying hadn't been John's intentions at all, that he was just being his usual self and had taken it too far. She passed over the bags to their new respective owners, tucking her wallet back into her shoulder bag. Rinaa also finally managed to think of a story about john's bedside manner that wasn't too dark and wouldn't give much away."When I broke my leg and was going around on crutches it just so happened to be exam time at uni and John made a point of telling me some version of 'break a leg' before each exam. It was funny the first few times, but quickly got old.......though it's the thought that counts really."

She listened as Fia explained why she wanted those things and what she intended to do with them. The idea was simple, and quite often the simple ideas were the best ones, less things to go wrong. It would definitely shock John, and probably everybody in the apartments either side and below Cal and Cliff's (depending on how loud an airhorn Rinaa could get her hands on. Though she did think that calling it 'the greatest achievement' was incredibly stupid, surely the greatest achievement should be the fact she'd figured out how to time travel, a feta that had been stumping Earth scientists for hundreds of years. Manipulating they very fabric of the universe to do your will was no easy feat, and time travel into the past was harder than going to the future. Or maybe Rinaa was thinking like that because she was scientifically biased.

Moya may not have understood what was being said by Fia or Rinaa, but Fia's excitement and energy was both palpable and highly contagious, making her smile slightly. (Rinaa remained more stoic however, still not entirely believing what was going on right now, if anybody had told her that one day she would go shopping on an alien planet with her girlfriend, and Fia and then end up helping Fia plan a prank she would have told them to fuck right off, because that kind of thing didn't happen to her). "Warning them is a good call, they'll probably be cool with it, but they're the reason we're not all locked up in military grade cells right now, so best not to get on their wrong side. I would say it'll probably work, it'll definitely shock everybody, though what kind of reaction you'd get from John is anyone's guess. Again, as much as I love a good plan, this is not my area"

 

[MzHyde]

Fia agreed that if that was John's intention then she could look back on it and give him the benefit of the doubt to why he chose that exact moment to tell her such a story. But it wasn't, she was convinced at the time that he told her the story because even sick, she needed to learn other methods of making a spell work if she got into a tight spot and his mind just got carried away with his mouth, making it turn to the reaction she gave. She was just glad that she vomited into the bucket and not on him, though that would have been a natural comeback in her eyes if she had. She then listened to what she said about what John did when she broke her leg and chuckled, smirking whilst giving a very slight eye roll. "sounds like him alright" she replied.

She let Rinaa hear her plan for why she wanted the two items, letting it sink in. Sure, compared to her ability to time travel, contact her parents through time and space was a great achievement but this plan was her greatest achievement on the prank subject. She was also glad that Rinaa was willing to help her make this plan come to life, whilst noticing how Moya was smiling despite not understanding what was being said. "better let Moya know what the plan is too but yeah, I'd rather warn Cal and Cliff because if they do say no then I'll get back to thinking of something else, but I'm hoping they'll be cool with it, it takes a lot to make John jump and I know this will because he's totally expecting me to do something really grand and big, he won't suspect something as sneaky as an airhorn behind his door, I've got him on edge even if he won't admit it. Being his kid, I know his ticks" she told Rinaa as she took her designated bag from Rinaa with a thanks.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Yeah, he's on edge alright." Rinaa agreed simply. It hadn't escaped her notice that John had been acting every so slightly off while on the ship. She'd originally ratcheted up her senses to try and hear the whale coming, to see if she could decipher the sounds of the water below them ship but she'd ended up fixated on something else entirely- the pheromones being given off by everybody on the boat. It was completely unintentional, but in a way to be expected, smell was Sykes' strongest scent, and therefor now was becoming Rinaa's strongest. Pheromones were used for all kinds of scent messaging among animals, mainly to display emotions of stake ownership of territories. It had been faint, but it was there, the scent of fear radiating off John when the boat submerged completely. It was that scent that made her suspect that it wasn't just because of Fia's impending prank that John was on edge. And she wasn't going to say anything, if John wanted his fear kept secret then that was his business, and who was she to judge? After all Rinaa was keeping all kinds of secrets from the family.

She then turned to Moya, switched languages and gave a condensed version of what she and Fia had been talking about, the other girl asking questions and making comments every so often. It was nice to be trusted with the information about the prank, even if she most likely wouldn't be around to see it play out. She knew the block Cal and Cliff lived in from dropping Rinaa off late at night, but had never made it up to the apartment. Rinaa then gave Fia the gist of what Moya had said, it was a good plan, with very little that could go wrong, but more importantly she knew a place that could sell an airhorn can.