Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[MzHyde]

Hearing that question come from John's mouth, both Kay and Fia knew the weight behind such a question. It was a similar question that Kay herself had thought about before in her own life, wondering if she never left Seattle and went to art University with Sam, what would have happened with her life? Would she have gone more downhill and ended up as an inpatient or would demons still have found her and the universe dumping her at John's feet still? She just didn't know but what she did know is that pondering on the what if's was a pointless effort and a waste of brain power. So when John brought up the question to Elliott, she knew both of them would have been exactly what she had spent enough years doing herself.

She was about to speak up but Rinaa beat her to it, saying exactly what she was thinking with such conviction that it told her Rinaa had done the same thing and knew exactly what she was talking about. She would have been more surprised if Rinaa didn't know what that train of thoughts could lead to. "she's right. That route of thinking doesn't nothing good to your mental psych, it's not worth touching that rabbit hole, let alone going down it." Kay agreed, noting how much older Rinaa seemed to look and sound as she did her little speech of opinion. Fia just thought that what was being said was right, and her unspoken opinion on the matter was that the universe made everything happen for a reason. It was in some ways considered a controversial opinion but she always thought it and always would. Even if they didn't always like what the universe was throwing at them, and it sometime took a while to figure out the reasonings, it was for a reason, good or bad.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Even though he knew he shouldn't, John asked the 'what if' question. He already knew the answer, but he couldn't let it just pass by, he needed some kind of confirmation that things could have been completely different for the man standing beside him in the lift. John was all too aware of his bad habits of thinking of what if's and what could have been, obsessing over how things could have been different. That obsession led him further and further into the darkness of his mind and right to the nearest bottle of alcohol or pub. To say he tortured himself with the past was an understatement of the highest degree, and in a way, he couldn't help it, it was just the way he was, the way he thought. So used to having other people blame things on him that he figured he might as well cut out the middle man and be the dealer of guilt and despair.

The conviction and steel in Rinaa's tone made him turn slightly so as to look the teenager in the eyes as she spoke. Her eyes seemed to blaze and her face was set, and even though her body wasn't fully grown, the chunky soles of her boots meant she was on eye level with almost everybody in the lift. Looking into her eyes it was clear that everything she was saying came from her own experience, the sheer ferocity and the depth of emotion in her eyes told Jay that the teenager had spent years thinking on what could (and should) have been. Jay barely had to read between the lines to understand what Rinaa was really saying, that she'd spent so long obsessing over what should have been that she completely missed what she had right in front of her eyes. It was beginning to look to Jay like there might be something to what the wolf was saying about homesickness after all.

Nobody dared to criticise what Rinaa was saying, they all agreed with her. Questioning why things happened and how they could have gone never ended well and didn't solve anything. As a timeline sensitive it was Jay's opinion that life was a series of choices, some you know your making, some you don't have the faintest clue. There was an element of fate to life, if something was meant to happen, it happened. That was why she'd taken her brother's death so badly, she couldn't understand why her twin, her other half had to die. But now, standing among a new hodge-podge family she hadn't even known she was part of up until recently, Jay was wondering if he had to die so that she could find Elliott. Maybe she'd never know.

The others nodded and voiced their agreement, before dropping the topic and heading to the gate, all that needed to be said had been said, and more importantly, understood.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay and Fia both knew that questioning the past and what ifs in said past was a bad habit and trait fully ingrained into John so it wasn't really a surprise that he of all of them had asked it.

Heading to the gate both girls were actually glad that the topic had been dropped and no one was wanting to speak of the matter anymore. That kind of topic in both their eyes could only lead to depressing the lot of them and triggering some of their group more than the others. They both pretty much walked in silence until they reached the gate, finding that there wasn't really much else to talk about at this moment in time, finding it refreshing sometimes that their little group didn't need to be talking 24/7 to enjoy each other's company. Fia was also hitting that point where she was equally wide awake and still buzzing from what she did on the lower ground viewing platform, and hitting that point of tiredness from the early rising aka the rude awakening. If she could have, she would have made a point to buy a take out coffee as milky as possible to disguise the smell and drank it. Sadly there wasn't the time, nor did she want to risk it round Kay.

 

[_gallifrog_]

They arrived at the gate mid-boarding and it wasn't long before they were taking their seats on the shuttle. Just like the last time the shuttle was laid out with rows three seats wide. The seating arrangement had already been decided that morning over breakfast. Once again John, Kay and Fia were one group. Cal, Cliff and Dan sat together in the row behind, Jay, Elliott and Chas in the row in front, with Rinaa, Moya and a random stranger in the row in front of Elliott. Rinaa offered Moya the window seat, but the other girl declined, saying that the middle seat was better and more comfortable for her wings.

There was the mandatory safety briefing that Cliff and Rinaa translated, followed by final checks and then the shuttle undocked, drifting smoothly away from the station. A suitable distance away the thrusters fired and the ship accelerated forwards, the passengers inside feeling only the tiniest amount of pressure. Rinaa watched out the window as the station grew smaller and smaller before eventually vanishing, saying a reluctant goodbye to another place in her life she'd never realised she was so attached to. She'd travelled through the jump gate many times when visiting Cal and Cliff or Cliff's family. As she looked out a couple of tears ran down her cheek, but by the time she turned away from the window, they'd been wiped away.

John took out the laptop with the films on it, and in front of him, Elliott took out the laptop he was borrowing. He'd intended to watch films to pass the time, but the earlier conversations about his father and mother's university days had stirred up a curiosity in him, and he headed for the archive section of the university website, looking for old sporting photos. Cal could probably direct him there, but he was hesitant to ask her.

 

[MzHyde]

Once boarded and sat down in their allocated seats, Kay in the middle and Fia with the window seat like before, both girls relaxed into the seats as they left the station and began the rest of their journey back to Attil. When it was safe to and John took out the laptop to watch the recommended film, Kay took out her book she was borrowing from Fia, wanting to finish it before the time came and Fia would have to go home back to her timeline. Fia stared out the window for a while, with her headphones on and music playjng until she suddenly fell asleep for a bit, much like Kay did on the previous flight. Kay glanced over and saw Fia's head pressed against the window, her arm folded across her chest, headphone still playing her music, fast asleep and couldn't help but smile to herself.

It didn't take long for Kay to get into the book, yet every once in a while she did glance at the film that was on John's laptop when she needed to take a break with her eyes due to the smallish print in the book, otherwise she was completely engrossed to the point that if she was on a couch, her legs would have been tucked up as much as she'd be able to and curled up whilst reading it. As per the previous books in the series, the installment she was on was proving just as gripping as the last, pulling her fully into the story and making her forget for those moments that she was in fact on a space shuttle.

 

[_gallifrog_]

For the mot part the others spent the duration of the flight doing their own thing, John watching the two movies (which he had to agree were extremely good), putting on the English subtitles which were a little dodgy and stilted in places, but worked. He was vaguely aware of Kay looking over his shoulder every so often, but only noticed Fia was asleep when he stretched and re-arranged himself into a more comfortable position after finishing the first film. Chas and Dan, like Kay were thoroughly engrossed in their own books. Chas made a point of buying interesting books for the specific purpose of leaving them in The House to read at a later date, a tactic which was paying off now. He hadn't taken nearly enough reading material with him when he left Earth all those weeks ago, and found it more relaxing to read books that were written in English.

Moya was reading the book she'd bought at the space port terminal on Cliff's planet, nudging Rinaa every so often to show her a particularly funny paragraph or phrase. Rinaa had tried reading a novel, but found herself drifting all too easily, the full enormity of the fact that she'd never see Cliff's siblings or parents again was beginning to kick in. Instead she switched to a Sudoku book and began working on those instead. Elliott had started off looking at photos of his parents in their uni days, tilting the screen slightly when he realised that Jay had been looking too. Now that Elliott knew what she was doing, Jay leaned comfortably against him. What had started as idle curiosity quickly turned into the pair of them going down all kinds of rabbit holes. Elliott had grown up near the university and had walked around it a bit as a kid, but he'd never taken a real interest in it, it was just another set of buildings to him. But now as a grown adult, his perspective was different on things. It was also the university that Jay had applied to (and gotten into), so the two quickly found themselves mulling over all aspects of the university and for the sake of comparison they compared it with the ones in London.

As they neared Attil the other passengers began to pack their things away, belt themselves properly in and pull their chairs fully upright. "Looks like we're comin' to land, best wake Fia up." "Good idea, we'll pull a couple of g's landing, not enough for any of us to black out, but it's always safest to be awake for this bit." Cliff remarked in her 'trust me, I'm a doctor' tone.

 

[MzHyde]

Out the corner of her eye she could see other passengers getting ready for the landing procedure, so she put the bookmark into the place she had reached, which luckily was the start of the next chapter and closed the book to put it away in her backpack. She nodded in agreement at what John and Cliff said, leaning over slightly toward Fia and gently shaking her awake. "Fia, time to wake up kiddo" she said lifting the teenagers headphones off her head and loud enough to stir her but not enough to disturb anyone else or scare the living daylights out of Fia.

Fia did indeed wake up with a yawn and stretch. "okay, thanks for waking me nicely" she replied sleepily before pulling off her headphones completely and putting them into her bag with her mp3 player. She then rebuckled up seeing that everyone else was doing the same thing, quickly figuring out that it was time to land back on Attil soil which was why she was being woken up. Kay smirked at the remark, seeing that she still wasn't prepared to let John live down his prank just yet. Kay then also buckled up and sat upright properly ready for the landing. To her it felt like the time had gone by so quickly but she did put that down to the fact she was so engrossed in the book.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John rolled his eyes slightly at the comment from Fia, he didn't expect any less from her, before buckling back in like the others, at some point during the three hour journey, he'd propped his legs on the bar of the seat in front of him in such a way that he would comfortable rest the laptop on his outstretched. One thing he had to give the shuttles credit for was the sheer amount of legroom they offered the passengers, it was easily better than Earth plane he'd flown on (though John only flew in first class or business when somebody else was paying for the flights, with his own money he was perfectly in cattle class). The time had flown by for him, he could scarcely believe that well over three hours had passed. He'd made it half way through the second movie, and fully intended to finish it.

Looking out the windows on the left hand side of the shuttle Attil could be seen below them, while the windows on the right faced out onto the vast expanse of the universe. As it approached the planet, the shuttle dipped in and out of the planet's rings, banking from side to side, giving a spectacular view of the fragments of ice and rock that they were made of in the process. Rinaa's face was pressed to the window, Moya, resting her head on Rinaa's shoulder to take a look. Chas was avidly snapping photographs, and he wasn't the only one. Cliff and Cal knew that the pilot of the shuttle was doing it deliberately, the rings were iconic to Attil and a ring system this defined and complex around a planet the size of Attil was a rarity.

"Bloody Hells, that's quite somethin'." John whistled, leaning as far as he could to get a view that wasn't blocked by either Kay or Fia. "Agreed mate, agreed." Chas called back. "Ell, why the hell did you cut those from the Attil roof sketch?" John asked rhetorically, already knowing the answer. Elliott had originally drawn rings on the sketch, but had carefully concealed them with paint the exact colour of the canvas. If anybody ever did somehow break into John's apartment, then a hand drawn framed piece of art would surely tip them off that something alien related was going on. Once it was discovered that the rings could be seen with ultraviolet light, appearing out of nowhere, the drawing became a sort of inside joke among them and the phrase 'without rings' was frequently used to mean 'camouflaged in plain sight'. "It's more fun that way with them as an accidental UV Easter egg." Elliott called back, the smirk in his voice audible to all.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia was similar to Rinaa as she had her row's window seat, her hands pressed against the window frame as she looked out the window, but did it in a manner that allowed for both Kay and John to be able to look out of it also. She was fascinated seeing Attil from so high up, getting closer as the ship weaved between the rings surrounding the planet and for once the teenager didn't even get her phone out to take photos. She just took in the sight with her own two eyes. Kay looked over Fia's shoulders, making sure to be leaned out of the way for John to look out the window. Both nodded at John's remark, "it suure is" Fia breathed in an impressed whisper.

Both of the girls couldn't help but to listen to the question and answer from John and Elliott. Kay had guessed that the reasons for the rings being left out of the drawing at the apartment was down to safety and staying a secret Elliott wasn't actually human, and Fia already knew the answer as she was told who Elliott was from a young age so she wouldn't be scared by her half brother. That was also the time he showed her the secret painted rings with the uv effect and she was amazed by it. They each could hear the smirk in Elliott's voice, smiling in reaction even if they couldn't be seen from behind his chair.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa hadn't been told about the UV effect on the rings, she'd discovered it purely by accident. At some point after Elliott's death and before Fia was born the two large framed drawings (the Attili rooftop scene and the portrait of a trenchcoated figure based off John, but not quite John) had been taken down and put in Elliott's room. Seeing the drawings was too painful for John, all it did was further twist in the knife and remind him that Elliott was gone. And when he was preparing a room for his new child, the last thing he wanted to be reminded of was the son he watched die. Rinaa was the kind of person who had a UV torch on her person a regular basis. One night when she had snuck into Elliott's room the torch fell from her bag, accidentally turning on. She'd picked it up and idly cast it at the walls, and was stunned to see the UV rings appearing out of nowhere. She'd taken some photos and showed them to Jay, who hadn't known about it. She found out the full story from Chas a few days later.

As they exited the rings, the main lights in the shuttle were shut off and the others dimmed, plunging the cabin into half darkness. This didn't phase John in the slightest, the same thing happened on Earth when planes landed at night and according to Cliff's calculations they were going to land as arse o clock at night. The shuttle hit the atmosphere, plunging right through it at a steep angle. John could feel the increased pull as the g-force increased and he couldn't help but feel grateful for the harness-like seatbelts the shuttle was equipped with, he felt that without them he'd be flopped against the seat in front of him. The window glowed white, yellow, then a brilliant orange-red colour as the heat shield heated up, the friction creating incredibly hot temperatures that would have melted most normal/unprotected metals. The window were almost completely obscured by the heat burn, which was just as well, the sight of the planet screaming towards them was pretty damn terrifying.

The shuttle landed exactly like a plane did, nose diving towards the runway, only for the nose to be drawn upwards at the last second, so that it was the rear landing gear that hit the ground first. The jolt when the shuttle hit solid ground was unmistakable and was followed by slightly less hard jolt as the front wheels hit the ground. Looking out the window it was clear looking at the lights of the landing strip flashing by that the shuttle was still moving at an incredible pace. Suddenly it seemed as if the whole shuttle was yanked backwards and there was a small explosion as the explosive bolts fired, and the parachutes were released. The slow-down process wasn't particularly elegant or comfortable, but it was effective and wasn't long before the shuttle had come to a complete stop, smoking slightly on the runway. Outside the sky was pitch black. "Well we're back and in one piece by the looks of it." Cal remarked, unbuckling herself and stretching up her arms, an audible click could be heard.

 

[MzHyde]

Like John, Kay was used to the lights going out for a landing in the evening. She had done enough flying from London to Seattle and back again to remember how it all went. For Fia it was a totally new experience but seeing as no one was panicking, she knew it was perfectly normal for the lights to flicker off in this situation. She was too used to lights going off for other reasons, but she had learned to judge the situation as it stood and be aware of the surroundings to be able to judge of its something to be concerned about or not. As the g-force kicked in, both Kay and Fia was glad for the harness seattbelt also, as Kay really didn't feel like having repercussions and risking unborn Fia.

Despite the g-force though, Fia couldn't help but glance without turning her head at the bright light from the heat on the outside of the window, the colours always drawing her in no matter how they're created. She saw how the heat obscured the sight of the outside before looking in front of her again, just deciding to bbesr through the discomfort of the la ding process before they finally came to a stop. Finally at a stop, both Kay and Fia saw it was indeed dark outside, and just like Cliff calculated, saw they did arrive at a very late hour. "which is all we can ask for really!" Kay replied to Cal as she unbuckled herself. Fia also unbuckled and stretched her arms and legs out with a sigh.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Disembarking the shuttle took far too long in John's opinion. It seemed like an absolute age to him before the doors were opened and the passengers released. By which point everybody had already grabbed their hand baggage and were waiting impatiently in the aisles. The doors opened with a hiss as the stale air rushed out and was quickly replaced by the clean, almost sharp Attili air. There was a slight chill in the air that rushed in, but to John it was nowhere near as cold as the nights on Cliff's family's island where they could regularly see their breath.

Disembarking the shuttle John and the others could see just what effect their re-entry had had on their craft. The whole cockpit section of the shuttle was completely scorched, with some black streaks stretching to the wings of the ship. When they'd boarded on the jump gate the tiles that made up the heat shield had been a sort of off-white colour, now it was a charred browny-black. There was a smell of burning still lingering in the air and all eyes flicked towards Rinaa who was standing their, face impassive. Feeling their eyes on her, she turned and gestured at her nose, tilting her head so they could see the moulded yellow plugs firmly blocking both nostrils. She'd taken them out for landing not wanting to risk an injury, but now that they were back on the ground, the plugs were firmly back in. "I came prepared" she said by means of explanation before heading out the door and down the steps to the ground.

The parachutes were in the process of being rolled up and removed. The volume of fabric dwarfed the space-port workers. A whole team of them had to work in sync in order to gather up the vast swathes of fabric. The lights of the main terminal could be seen in the distance, and all the other passengers began flocking towards it, Chas stopping to take a couple of photos of the shuttle, extremely grateful that his camera (which had been a gift) had a decent night function. The high wall of craggy mountains obscured the view of the city and military base, blocking the light coming from them and giving a clear view of the starry sky and rings above..

 

[MzHyde]

Disembarking was always the worst part in Kay's mind. Like John, she always thought it took forever when all she'd want to do is stretch and move her legs properly and get some fresh air. It was the same on Earth air travel for her, she was fine with the boarding procedure and the actual flying, but she always got impatient with the disembarking process because her mind was telling her she was done travelling in a 'giant tin can with strangers'. She was also at times nervous at how Fee would get during long flights back in the day because they were very much always at war with each other and who should be in charge with her body.

With her hand luggage firmly on her bsck once more, she slowly left in single file with everyone else, making sure that Fia was behind her and she was behind John. Once the outside air hit her, she felt the chill in the air but did notice how it wasn't as bad as on Cliff's home island, yet that didn't stop her feeling glad she had her hoodie on underneath her jacket. The smell of the scorch marks was a surprisingly (or unsurprisingly depending on who you asked) welcome smell to both Kay and Fia. Like with most things that got scorched or burned, the smell wasn't off putting like it would be to anyone else but in fact welcoming to them both. Kay even more so than Fia as she had smelt it a lot longer and had been used to smelling like ash and fire when she got reincarnated. They both also noticed how Chas took the opportunity to take a couple of photos whilst he still could as they left, whilst nodding at Rinaa's comment about coming prepared for the smell in the air.

Fia couldn't resist looking up briefly at the sky and seeing the rings clearly, a strange sense of freedom washing over her and amazement that they literally flew in between those very rings.

 

[_gallifrog_]

When the door of the ship opened and the smell of burning wafted in, Cliff mentally kicked herself for forgetting about this part of the journey, as a pilot she was well used to the fact that the heat shield burnt up on re-entry giving off a pungent aroma. The fact that she, a fully qualified, competent doctor had forgotten that one of their party had a fear of fire was like a blow to the gut. If the smell triggered a panic attack (or worse) in Rinaa then she really wouldn't forgive herself. But the teenager had come prepared, and the wry grin she flashed the others was strangely reassuring, Cliff breathing a sigh of relief, she did not want to see what Rinaa was like in the midst of a full blown panic attack, it couldn't be pretty and would no doubt result in somebody getting injured.

Chas' thoughts were going along a similar line to Fia's, it was utterly incredible and he couldn't believe that they had actually flown through the rings of an alien planet. That he, a normal cabbie from London, had seen a sight that almost other human had. It was humbling, yet empowering. Once in the terminal Cliff and Cal lead the way to the baggage collection, unlike on Earth the first of bags were there before they were. The bags had an advantage, they were transported by specialised van, while the passengers walked, after spending so long cooped up on the shuttle, the chance to properly stretch their legs was appreciated by everybody.

With bags claimed and sung onto backs and across shoulders, it was time to head back to Cal and Cliff's flat. "This is where we part ways, I think." Rinaa said, with a glance towards Moya who nodded. "Moya lives in the complete opposite direction to you guys, so I'll bring her back to her place. I'll probably just crash on the couch there, if I'm actually able to sleep that is, I'm pretty wired right now." Rinaa left out the part about how she couldn't sleep easily most nights anyway.

 

[MzHyde]

The walk was greatly appreciated by both Fia and Kay to the baggage claim, where Kay waited for everyone to grab the bags they needed to before heading out and beginning the journey back to Cal and Cliff's place. Fia wasn't tired but that wasn't a surprise as she literally slept through the whole flight, meaning she would probably end up being awake most of the night until she crashed once again. Whereas Kay, though not exactly tired just yet, knew she would sleep well when sleep came round.

With Rinaa making the group pause in their walk back to say she was going to walk Moya back to her place, Kay thought it was highly thoughtful of the girl to do such a thing. She could also tell just how awake Rinaa was and knew she wouldn't be going to sleep anytime soon, despite the current time of day. "have a good evening then you two" Kay remarked with a smile. Fia wasn't surprised that Rinaa would head back to Moya's, especially after their little chat at the jump gate when it came to discussing the impending prank upon John. She knew that Rinaa would spend as much time with Moya as she possibly could and she didn't blame her at all. She would done the exact the same thing if the roles were reversed.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Nobody in their group was feeling particularly tired, despite staying awake for most of the flight. It would be a night of all-nighters all round Cliff suspected, knowing taht she was going to stay awake all night in order to reset her sleep schedule and thus stop any jetlag. John doubted he'd be able to even get to sleep if he tried. Elliott and Cal only needed four hours on a normal night and they weren't feeling or looking tired. Dan intended to burn the midnight oil and make a start on the orders that were no doubt piling up (there were two others besides him and Cal that worked at the forge, two young apprentices, but he'd given them the week off, a long overdue holiday for them all). Jay, given half a chance would be jumping right onto the deep web to see what she could find. Chas was the only one who was actually feeling anyway tired, but long distance travel always tired him out. So when Rinaa said she would be too wired to sleep, it didn't come as a surprise to anybody.

Nor did the fact that Rinaa wanted to do the stereotypical move of walking her date home. Rinaa was clearly smitten with Moya, the chemistry between them evident to all. Around her Rinaa was almost like a different person, more open, laughing and smiling more often, more relaxed and more inclined to go on a passionate rant about whatever entered her mind at a given moment. This was the teenager she should have been breaking free of the shell of what she'd been forced to become. "Technically not evening" Rinaa couldn't resist being picky on that point, a small, light smirk on her face as she said the words"it's half past midnight." She tapped her watch, having found an opportunity somewhere between the jump gate and landing on Attil to switch her watch to the right time. Rinaa wouldn't directly say 'thanks' or 'we will' to Kay, so a light hearted remark was the closest thing she'd give.

"Of course" was Elliott reply, making it clear in jut two words that not only did he completely approve of what Rinaa was doing, thinking it was a lovely idea, he also liked Moya and was of the opinion that if anything Rinaa should be spending more time with her and making the most of it. "Will you be coming 'round in the morning to get your textbooks?" Elliott added a moment later, to which the teenager nodded. "Yep, no point in getting them now. It'll be early-ish, most likely. I'll leave a note on the usual spot on the pin board if you guys are out or asleep." Rinaa replied, she generally left some form of note when she went out of Cal and Cliff's apartment to go to classes or when she snuck out at odd hours of the night and didn't want anybody to totally freak out and think she'd gone and died if they couldn't find her in the apartment. "Fine by me, not that you need permission to spend the night with your girlfriend." Jay shrugged. Her tone was far harder to read than Elliott's, but Rinaa had spent most of her life with Jay and knew every inflection and quirk of her mother's voice and was easily able to read between the lines and hear that Jay was saying meaning exactly the same things as Elliott.

But when Jay's face gained a wicked smirk, Rinaa knew that whatever was coming out of Jay's mouth next was going to incredibly embarrassing. Jay switched to Attili and addressed Moya directly "She's all yours for the night, I trust you can tire her out enough to get her to sleep." John snorted with laughter at the comment, as did Elliott, Cal, Cliff and Dan, with Chas followed a half second behind them, still nowhere near fluent when it came to hearing and understanding the language. Rinaa's ears flamed up at the remark and she had to bite back the typical teenage cry of 'MUUUM! Seriously not cool!' Jay had never met any of her girlfriends, let alone teased her in front of them, so this was all a new experience for her. What made it worse was Moya's answering smirk "I can think of a few things that might do just that."

 

[MzHyde]

With Rinaa coming back with a smart ass comment, Kay rolled her eyes but was smiling to show that she didn't take offence to what Rinaa said, but got that was her way of saying 'thanks' to her. She knew there was still a way to go with Rinaa seeing her differently and she was fine with that. She watched on as Elliott and Jay replied to Rinaa's comments whilst finding out if she would be back by the morning, all of which the answers were very much predicted. Then she saw the smirk appear on Jay's face, knowing she was thinking something wicked, yet when Jay spoke in Atilli instead, it felt like only Kay and Fia were out of the joke.

Despite that however, from the sheer look of horror and embarrassment on Rinaa's face and the raucous laughter from everyone else, they summarised it was indeed a dirty remark to get the very reaction Jay got out of Rinaa. So they just smirked at the reactions of everybody around them, Rinaa's blush being highly amusing to Fia as she never had to deal with that level of embarrassment from parents when it came to a significant other. "Rinaa I'd make a run for it before they embarrass you even more" she joked, not needing to know what was said to get an idea.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Jay switching languages was not intended as a way to exclude Fia and Kay from the joke, she'd picked Attili because Attili was the only language she had in common with Moya and she wanted the girl to know exactly what she was saying exactly as she said it. if Rinaa had to translate it she knew the teenager would tone down the words, thus making them lose their intended affect. The teenager's reaction was utterly priceless, and Moya's quick remark and devious smirk only made things even funnier. "I knew there was a reason we liked you." Jay replied, which was her way saying 'you have my approval as the closest thing to a parent Rinaa has'.

The teenager meanwhile was trying not to die of embarrassment. There was nothing she could say in response to jay's words and the blushing mean there was no way she could do a 'glad to be getting a bit of action' style move. While any other teenager would have said something like 'I hate you so much Jay' in a situation like this, meaning it as a joke, Rinaa didn't. That was the line she would never cross, and never had. Future Jay would have taken such a statement as a personal insult and there was no way Rinaa would ever do such a thing to any version of her mother. Instead she just sighed, rolled her eyes and nodded in response to Fia's comment. "I know, I know." She then gathered up what remaining dignity she still had left and began to make her way towards the exit, Moya saying a brief goodbye then turning and following her girlfriend.

Nobody felt Kay or Fia needed a direct translation of what had been said, Rinaa's reaction said enough, but if asked, jay would be more than happy to repeat it. The smirk on Jay's face was filled with amusement, and there was still an edge of her earlier fiendish look to it. John couldn't resist congratulating jay on getting such a reaction out of Rinaa. The assassin smiled at the praise. "Too good an opportunity to miss really. Been on the receiving end of similar remarks far too many times, 'bout time I turned the tables and started giving them."

 

[MzHyde]

Neither Kay or Fia actually thought it was a purposely done thing to exclude them, they both knew Moya couldn't understand English so they got why it was said in Attili, when it only made Moya reply with something just as devious. Neither needed to know what was said, both could get a good enough idea. Just like they could both tell that whatever Moya said impressed Jay and made her like the girl all that much more. When Rinaa replied to Fia's remark, Fia just smirked and nodded. Both Fia and Kay have a wave goodbye to both Rinaa and Moya before the rest of them went their way.

Kay rolled her eyes when John congratulated Jay on what she said to get such a reaction out of Rinaa, as Jay still had her look of amusement and accomplishment on her face. With no one who didn't know Fia's true identity now around, she felt even more relaxed, knowing she didn't have to watch her wording as carefully as before. "I'm so glad I'm not Rinna right now" she remarked. "if you think none of us will do exactly that when you find someone you're delusional" Kay pointed out. "then I'll enjoy single life for as long as I can!" Fia retorted back. It still amazed Kay that Fia was even single and not found anyone she was interested in.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Chas was inclined to agree with Fia's comment, being teased like that by the past version of your mother was bad, having your girlfriend take said mother's side was even worse. "Can't say I blame you on that, it was a pretty savage remark." At Kay's point he nodded again. John would be utterly unbearable if Fia ever found anybody, that went without saying. With Elliott it had been different, although he'd had a relationship or two, they never really seemed to last and he certainly never brought anybody back to the flat when John was around (when John wasn't around however he couldn't say, the two had a rule on that, which was mainly directed at John and his various one night stands and hook-ups as opposed to Elliott). Elliott had been perfectly content being single, not really feeling he needed another person to complete his life. "You do that, and don't listen to what any of us say, none of us really figured out relationships properly for years, if at all."

"Well my family contains just about every example on the relationship spectrum." Cliff added, butting in and giving a run down of her siblings to prove her point."Benji has no interest in anything outside of a one night thing, and he's fine like that, he's not the kind to settle down. Charlie is the literal definition of 'single and doesn't care' and she's happy like that, wouldn't go as far as married to her work, but it's pretty close. Matteo, well as you saw, he was a stereotypical teenager and needed copious amounts of alcohol and a drunken accident to get things to actually happen. Nat is not only asexual, but aromantic, so for him his friendships are more important than anything else. My parents were probably the most normal, met each other, hung around, got to know each other for a couple months, until one of them finally worked up the courage to ask the other out. A bit rocky at the start, but that pretty much vanished and their still together today. And then you come to me, the one manages to find THE MOST OBLIVIOUS person potentially ever to crush on. That's probably the only piece of advice I'll give in terms of relationships. If you find somebody as oblivious as Cal was, don't do what I did, which was nothing. Instead pull their head out of their arse, make a move and put all your long suffering friends out of their misery." She still found it funny that Benji and Deke had collaboratively written a speech complaining about how Clff and Cal should have got their act together years ago. "And besides, being single is not that bad, there's no point in looking for a relationship simply because you think it's something you need in life. Then it's guaranteed to end badly." She added, fully aware that she was contradicting her earlier statement and giving a second piece of advice.

While the others bantered back and forth about Fia's own romantic life (or lack of it), John and Elliott both exchanged looks, wondering who would have the gall to say something like that to Jay. The answer occurred to them in the same instant, the only person with enough balls to say such a thing to a trained assassin fully capable of kicking the ass of anybody who got in her way into next year, was another highly trained assassin. For anybody else it was verging on suicidal."Your brother?" John asked, to which Jay nodded once, flicking off the people on one hand. "Him, Quin, Quin's dad, two others I was close to, both of them now dead. Occupational hazard" she added as an explanation of sorts, she knew far too many people who had died young. Out of the five she had named, three were dead, one was alive and the other, Quincenti's father, she had no idea of the status of. "But mostly my brother. He could be an UTTER SHIT at times. And pretty damn tenacious too." She rolled her eyes in fondly at the memory, but an edge of annoyance crept it's way into the gesture, even after his death she was still miffed about it, before muttering something in the language of her birth planet that nobody around her could understand.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia knew that out of her entire family, it would be John who would be completely unbearable to deal with and be as savage as possible to make her want to hide herself for the next century at least. Yet she had also heard the story about Elliott doing the same thing to John and Kay that one night, so she knew she wouldn't find solace and help from him either. Not to mention, her version of Kay was so protective the majority of the time, that whoever she got with, would have equally a hard time to prove themselves to Kay that they were worthy of being with her 'darling daughter'. If she could seek aid from anyone, it would probably be Chas, his reply to her proving that. "you all did alright in the end though." she countered to him.

Fia then looked at Cliff as they walked back to the apartment and nodded, listening to her advice. Like everyone else, she always took on board what Cliff said, it was just the kind of person she was that made everyone listen to her. "I know, I have the mindset of if it hits me and happens, it happens. But I'm not going to actively seek it out just to experience it in life. If it happens, I want it to be real and not forced" she told her back. Kay was actually proud of Fia for taking that mindset and quite honestly, it shocked her inside just how much it was similar to her own mindset before she met John. "you sound like I did once, many a year ago" she told Fia with a smile. She did hear what was said between Jay and John but didn't get involved.

 

[_gallifrog_]

When heading to the space port Cal and Cliff had deliberately taken the scenic route through the mountains, where they knew the view of pads and the surrounding mountains would be most spectacular. They were making sure that for their time there John and co were going to see all of what Attil had to offer in terms of scenery. But now it was night and there really wasn't much to see, not to mention that the mountain paths would be dangerous to walk along laden with baggage without proper light, so instead they headed for the train line and took the bullet train back to the military base. A set of tunnels had been drilled through the mountains to allow quick transport of goods and military/official personnel between the space port and base. The network had been expanded to include the city, and later on the university.

The journey was almost completely in darkness, as they were travelling through the mountain. But what the train line lacked in view, it made up for in speed, the group were at the base in about eight minutes. From there it was a relatively short journey to Cal and Cliff's apartment, or in Dan's case, the forge. The final part of the journey was to climb up all the stairs to very top of the block where Cal and Cliff had their apartment. The long trek up wasn't a bother for either woman on a normal day, even when Cliff felt half dead after a hectic shift, she could manage the climb upstairs. But with two heavy trunks of armour and multiple bulky backpacks it was a different story, Cal walking backwards up the stairs gripping one end of the armour trunks while Cliff took the other. In the end Cal passed her keys to Elliott, checking that he did indeed know the various alarm codes and told the others to go on ahead and go in and to simply dump their bags anywhere that wouldn't block the door. Which they did willingly, Elliott shunting in the door with his elbow and shoulder, remembering that it always stuck (it was the first thing he learned about his sister's home, besides the number of the flat), reaching a hand around the door and flicking around on the lights, glad to be back. Not that he hadn't liked Cliff's home planet, he'd loved being there but he was growing fond of his sister's apartment, the place they broke into as kids so he could practice in secret.

 

[MzHyde]

The choice of taking the bullet train back to the military base seemed like the best option even in Kay's mind, knowing how dark it was out, not wanting anyone to get hurt because they didn't know where they were stepping with so much luggage amongst everyone. On the train, she noted how dark it was even on there for the most part but also how fast it was at getting them where they needed to be.

She had to admit, she didn't miss the long trek up the stairs to get to Cal's apartment, even if she was looking forward to seeing the apartment once more. With the suggestion to go on up ahead with Elliott leading the way to let them in, she went with everyone else and into the apartment. Fia and Kay both walked in, the former sighing happily as she saw the apartment once more. The teenager went straight to the couch, putting her bags down on the floor by her feet.

Kay walked in and did the same the thing, taking her backpack off her back, putting it by her feet before starting to take her jacket and putting it over the bsck of the couch for the time being. She fully intended on taking her things back into the room her and John were occupying, but for now it could wait in her mind.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The others didn't do like Fia did, as soon as they saw a place to dump their bags, they threw them down. The only thing that wasn't dumped on the floor in a higgeldy-piggeldy pile or thrown across the floor with all the strength they could muster was Elliott's guitar. That was placed carefully away from the other bags, leaning against the wall safely away from anything that could damage it. Jack's guitar was with Rinaa, the teenager hadn't intended to commandeer it, but Jay wasn't quite ready mentally to play it, she'd only just got this piece of her brother back and was still coming to terms with the fact that it had been sabotage that killed him, and not some error on Jay's part. The guitar had ended up being used by Rinaa, Jay trusted the teenager completely with the instrument and knew she'd do it and it's former owner justice when using it.

It would be another five minutes before Cal and Cliff finally made it upstairs. They could have taken the trunks one at a time and gotten up the stairs much faster, but both were too stubborn to use that common sense method. They'd started carrying two trunks at once, and were damn well going to finish that way. They had enough energy left to manoeuvre the armour chests into a suitable place (beside the gun, bow and sword rack) and straighten them out, before letting their backpacks fall to the ground and flopping down on the couch with audible sighs of relief. "I love this couch so much right now." Cal murmured, caressing it with her hand. Cliff couldn't resist a snappy remark "Maybe you should have married the couch then, it's quite a catch... or so I'm told." She was referencing the time they went furniture shopping to kit out the apartment and ended up bickering for a solid week over what sofa to chose.

 

[MzHyde]

When Cal and Cliff managed to finally get into the apartment, Kay found it baffling that the two women wouldn't have it done the common sense way, but go through the challenging way instead. Seeing Cal flip down onto the couch and declare her love to it, she couldn't resist chuckling at her and the following remark that came from Cliff. It honestly sounded like something she would say with a bit of changing as she wasn't married to anyone, nor did she plan on it despite how much she loved John. Her bond with him was more of a link to each other than any marriage certificate or rings in her eyes.

Fia just smirked at the comments, it sounding to her a lot like things she'd hear them say in her timeline or what any of the couples in her timeline for that matter. She would hear those kinds of jibes from them all, at some point whether it was when Cal and Cliff visited, or Elliott and Jay were around or just simply her parents jibing at each other. So it was nice to hear such familiarity around her, knowing it was a thing that they always had and will always have between each other. "people have married stranger things than a couch on Earth... Just saying" Fia smirked, whilst keeping her tone completely casual.