Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[MzHyde]

Kay and Fia watched Cliff as she studied the page, letting the woman take her time to see it, even though they weren't expecting her to know it in the slightest as she was the newest to the whole Phoenix race and existance discovery, in comparison to the rest of them. Yet when she gave the look of recognition and spoke to them in a tone that said 'how have you not realised it', Fia thought back as it was her that lent Cliff the book. "bloody hell you're right, it is embossed on the back! I'd completely forgotten about it" Fia replied as the metaphorical penny dropped in her mind. "if it's on the back, then there should be something of it meaning in there as well if more knowledge on it is wanted" she added to everyone in the room who was listening to this side of the conversation.

Kay wasn't surprised that it'd be in a phoenix book, if there was one thing she was certain of, it had to be related to her kind, especially when Elliott was so sure it was on the walls of the mindscape. What she was still curious about was why it was coming to her in her dreams now and not before. She felt like her mind or something in the universe was refusing her to forget the supposed importance of her existance or that it was refusing to let her pretend she wasn't what she was. She didn't fully know or understand and that irritated her immensely. "and as for your other question Fia, it was just weird...it kept mashing together what felt like your timeline and Rinaa's together. Or more to the point those differing sides of us together. I wasn't seeing anything in particular, just flashes of both timeline's personalities clashing together in random scenes. It was like watching a TV that was struggling to keep signal and the picture was glitching and flickering constantly. With that sigil flashing like strobe lighting over the top of every scene" she explained as best she could, whilst still trying to make it make sense.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John couldn't help but gape at Cliff's words, nobody had expected her to know the symbol. Rinaa couldn't help the small chuckle of amusement at, not just the fact that Cliff recognised the symbol (she was the last person Rinaa had pegged to know the symbol, one couldn't have Kay and Fia with your family without absorbing something about phoenix lore, abilities and physiology) but the tone she said it in, like it was the most obvious thing ever. "Bloody Hells, I think she might be right" John muttered to himself, his words drowned out by Fia's realisation that what her adopted sibling in law was saying was absolutely correct. "Well done doc" he told Cliff, who had already wandered into the kitchen, a look of slight smugness on her face. "I'm not just useful for my medical skills." Cliff smirked. "And general badassery." Rinaa chimed in. "That too." Cliff agreed.

John wasn't surprised by the contents of Kay's dream and neither by the looks of it was Rinaa. John had had similar dreams (though they were more along the lines of nightmares) after meeting his alternate self on Earth-2 and meeting 'The Golden Boy' (his twin brother who had died in his timeline had survived in others and this one was a sort of psychopath who wanted to kill him and absorb his essence), mashing his lives and their lives together into one jittery, messy image soup. "I'd blame the divergence point for that." Rinaa told Kay with a 'I know what I'm talking about' tone in her voice. "The way I understand it- if you're timeline displaced into the past like I am, or have too much knowledge about what happens after the divergence, like I do, and like most of ye do, you get REALLY fucked up dreams and flashes of other timelines and the future close to major divergence points. Yours sounds different to mine, so I'm guessing there's probably an aspect of the phoenix hive mind ancestral memory thing..." she waved a hand around, making it clear she didn't have any real clue about the phoenix memories and was just guessing on the last part "kicking in and making things even screwier."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia smirked at Cliff declaring she's not just useful as a doctor sometimes and Rinaa adding the badassery comment just made it all the more amusing to hear. She like John, wasn't completely surprised about what Kay dreamed, finding it would have been more surprising if she didn't after what was discussed before she went to bed. Especially with her pregnant hormones going haywire at the moment and making her incredibly emotional at tough truths that were learned. Kay looked at Rinaa as she gave her opinion on the dream and listened intently to her theory of what was causing it.

She nodded at everything being said, finding it was making sense that that's what it could be. "makes sense. There was definitely alot of phoenix symbolism in my dream, other than the sigil there" she replied. "I'd just appreciate it if my brain for once could not do it again" she added, her tone slightly lighter than her first reply. "last time I ever had something even remotely like that and even then it's not entirely the same was when Fee would create fucked up imagery whilst screaming at me to wake up and run because demons were on my tail, and if there's one thing that'll piss me off the most is being lectured by her. It's very similar to when Sykes gives you migraines Rinaa" she then explained. Having Fee screaming at her inside her head was similar to the airhorn going off during Fia's prank, it was one of the causes for the migraines that Kay would get prior to being more linked to her other self.

If she was more or less alone in John's apartment she probably would have curled up on the couch and feeling sorry for herself or eating her bodyweight in ice cream for the sheer hell of it before falling back asleep for an hour, but she wasn't and didn't want to give off the stereotypical pregnant lady vibes to everyone. "maybe Fee is trying to protect your mind from everything and that's why it was becoming fucked up" Fia shrugged. "possible I guess, its not unusual for her to do such tactics as a form of protection"

 

[_gallifrog_]

John had to admit that the theory was credible, Rinaa had mentioned the divergence point fucking with her, and it had been her theory as to why Chas having such weird dreams too (having the book in his head meant he knew the future and could sense various timelines changing and warping). When Kay spoke about how Fee used to do some kind of similar thing as 'wake the fuck up, demons are coming' defence, John nodded in understanding. Fee seemed to him to be the antiposis of Sykes, the phoenix cared about the other person- both mentally and physically- and had offered her help and information on multiple occasions. Sykes on the other hand, well to say she had a grudge against the universe was an understatement, the wolf got a kick out of making other people miserable and really didn't seem to care about Rinaa's mental state either, physical state, yes, they shared a body, but the teenager's mental state was something she was actively damaging while at the same time being a complete hypocrite about other people damaging it.

Rinaa gave a nod and a look of 'I know completely what you mean' at Kay's headache comment before draping herself into the armchair, her legs swinging over one arm and propping her back against the other. "So, correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like we're all gonna get fucked up glitchy dreams at some point?" John asked, the way Rinaa referred to them all not going amiss on him. "The way I understand it, yeah, that's how it's gonna be." The teenager replied with a shrug."Though I'm not totally sure, I've never been at a divergence point of the past of my personal timeline before. Everything I'm saying is all theory based on Isogrii teaching and some leaps of logic. Best guess? Some'll get it worse than others- Chas's already had some and since he has the book, it's almost guaranteed he'll get more. Jay's a timeline sensitive, but not one whose out of time, so she'll experience SOMETHING, though I expect it to be far less than most, as she's in the right place in her personal timeline. Fia's out of time, so if she didn't get something I'd be surprised. Kay, I can't say, too many variables what the phoenix hive mind shit. You, Elliott, Cal and Cliff, I'm really not sure. And the only thing I know FOR A FACT is that I'm gonna wake up screaming one of these nights."

 

[MzHyde]

Seeing that not only did Rinaa get what she was saying, but John did too was relief to her, as sometimes she did feel like she was talking out of her arse and and only she thought she was making any sense. John's theory about Fee was also correct, Fee was all about protecting Kay and did infact care about her human form a great deal. To her, she was Kay and Kay was her but ever since Kay was young and began hearing her, she had adopted the separate entity form and gained her own name. As Kay grew up, Fee grew used to feeling like a completely separate being as it was how Kay coped with her voice being inside her mind. Through that care for Kay, she got irritated if Kay began to not to listen to her or rebel against her protection which triggered the migraines and headaches for Kay because through the rebelling, they couldn't link together properly. It was the one thing that Fee was thankful to John for, when he and Kay finally found each other as he made it so much easier for her and Kay to live harmoniously together for the most part.

At John's question, both Kay and Fia listened to Rinaa's reply on her theory that at some point it was all too possible they would all experience what she and Chas have experienced. Fia didn't dare say that her sleep wasn't entirely peaceful because hers didn't last all night and she did feel refreshed by the time she woke up. For her, it was a short uncomfortable dream before her dreams just stopped and she slept with nothing going through her mind. "so basically, don't be surprised if something happens, and if nothing happens be thankful for it?" Fia theorised questionably. "that's what I'm taking from it" Kay said in response to what Fia said.

 

[_gallifrog_]

While Rinaa's words weren't exactly heartening, none of them wanted to have disruptive and confusing sleep, at least they knew what was potentially causing it and that there was really nothing they could do to do stop it from happening. "Noted, something to look forwards to." John drawled sarcastically, for once following the lead of the others and choosing not to make a comment on how candidly Rinaa spoke of her own nightmares. "Could be worse, I suppose." Elliott remarked, sitting down beside John. "That's the long and short of it yeah." Rinaa shrugged at Fia's summary, reaching for her bag and pulling out a paperback novel, slightly tatty with the edges softened by frequent thumbing, the top of a thin metal bookmark visible about a third of the way in. Judging by how she'd draped herself over the chair it was clear she planned to make herself comfortable and stay there for a few hours.

"No classes this morning?" Elliott asked. "Yep, I've got one in the afternoon though, and Deke said if I wanted to sit in on one of his PhD equivalent lectures I could, so I'm probably gonna take him up on that." Cliff after a few minutes of deliberation at the fridge decided she didn't need a mug of coffee to start her day and went about getting some breakfast together before plopping herself down on one of the kitchen table chairs, tucking one leg under the other and swivelling so she could face the others. "Deke's really taken a liking to you, huh?" Cliff commented. "Yeah, he's always been like that with me, crazy uncle doesn't even BEGIN to cover it, he used to joke that if anything happened he'd adopt me on the spot" the teenager gave a fond smile.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia smirked at John's sarcastic drawl of a reply, not expecting anything else from him on such a subject. She also nodded in agreement at Elliott said, knowing that something as massive as a divergent point could easily give them a lot worse side effects than just bad dreams and headaches. "too true, with our track record of well...everything, it could be a lot worse than bad dreams and headaches we all got" she agreed before nodding at Rinaa confirming her summary of what Rinaa said to be true. She had a while ago sat on the other couch after she gave Kay the toast that was long ago consumed by her mother, finding she was for once sitting next to Chas, noticing how Rinaa had no plans of moving for a little while, whilst also smirking ever so slightly and for the briefest of moments as it mirrored how she liked to sit in armchairs.

Kay couldn't help but take an interest in what Rinaa was saying to Elliott's question about classes at the university, thinking how it was so good that Rinaa was still determined to complete her courses before the inevitable happened. It also was showing her that her future self shouldn't coop Fia up so much as if Rinaa who wasn't entirely human could do normal schooling, then maybe she should trust that Fia could as well. She knew it was a long way away at this stage, but she had been told numerous times just how much it was making Fia feel so estranged from normal life being completely home schooled. Both her and Fia smirked and chuckled at the adoption and crazy uncle comments about Deke when Cliff brought up his attachment to Rinaa.

Fia couldn't help but think 'must be nice to have someone like that on your side, considering everything' but didn't want to risk saying it out loud incase it was taken badly. She was truly happy for Rinaa that compared to how their family was toward her in her timeline, she still had that one person who was that attached to her. Kay, who was on John's other side as she was the first to be on the couch was doing her damnest to stay awake, being too stubborn to get more sleep incase the weird dreams came back. Her elbow propped on the armrest and her hand against her cheek.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cliff couldn't help but chuckle softly at Rinaa's words, easily able to imagine Deke acting in such a way. Deke wasn't exactly the parenting type, but every year without fail since he'd began teaching (which he did at such a ridiculously young age that he was younger than some of his oldest pupils) Deke had managed to become either a friend or a surrogate parent to most of his students. Quite a few of them went to him to talk about their life problems as opposed to an actual therapist because they knew that despite his chaotic mad scientist aura, he genuinely cared about them. When it came to engineering, mechanics and piloting, Deke had such a magnetic passion that he drew people into him without even trying. He was one of those rare people who was born to teach, innovate and inspire at all at the same time. He was a beloved figure among students (though not necessarily among staff, some of whom saw him as a cocky upstart who did no actual work).

"He's still a complete and utter parent to everybody he teaches then?" Cliff asked with a knowing smile. "Oh yes, he still does that thing of all but adopting the shy students and bringing them so completely out of their shells and making them shine." Cliff's smile grew fonder and she leaned forwards to listen. "All the students STILL love him, they threw this party for him to celebrate that he'd been teaching for twenty five years and it was utter MADNESS as a whole load of past pupils showed up and lasted well into the morning." "He really hasn't changed by the sounds of it." "The only thing that has changed is that he's beginning to make grumpy old man jokes and hamming up his 'old age'" Rinaa's air quotes around old age made Cliff smirk, knowing where she was going with her rambling "despite not even being old by the standards of his species."

Elliott was content to just watch and listen as Rinaa spoke. He felt that spending the night of the roof with him and John had changed something in her. Aside from the beginnings of dark circles around the teenager's eyes, she looked alive and dare he even say happy? Both Rinaa and Leah were incredibly passionate, but Rinaa was still learning that it was okay to show this passion and metaphorical fire in front of their group. "How long does his kind live? I have to admit I thought he was Devra, just changing his eyes like I did." "He's Clyroskka, one of those proper waterworlds with entire MEGACITIES underwater." "As for age between 200 and 270 Earth years is the norm, but some can live way longer and some die really young."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay and Fia both were just content in listening to the conversation that was going on between Cliff and Rinaa, both noticing how much more open to showing her fondness and passion with everyone in the room, she was. Like Elliott, even the teenager's happiness was proving to be very visible to both of them. Neither girl had anything else to chat about with each other or to anyone else in the room, so listening to Cliff and Rinaa seemed like the only thing to do. They both smiled at the story of Deke' s students throwing him a party in Rinaa's timeline, thinking how nice it sounded that everyone respected him so much that they would take so much time to do such a gesture for him.

When the question of Deke's age came up from Elliott, neither girl had even given it a second thought of how old Deke could be or would be in her timeline, yet when Rinaa gave the age after saying what his race was. For people who could live up to 500years before dying and coming back to life, the news of Deke's race age range was rather astounding to hear. "interesting" Kay just commented from her position.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Elliott raised an eyebrow in surprise at Deke's potential lifespan, he knew that aliens could have all kinds of lifespans, there were rumours of ancient races that could live for thousands of years, but he'd never met anybody from one those races. His own lifespan would be slightly longer than that of a normal human- one hundred and fifty years or so, and how long an Isogrii lived was directly proportional to how good they were at their job. "So there's no getting rid of him then?" John smirked, not feeling the slightest bit inadequate as he had a very human lifespan (he worked with an Amazonian who was pretty much immortal after all, so he was used to having the lowest life expectancy of everybody on the team, except maybe Bruce and Flash)

"He's gonna outlive us all most likely." Cliff grinned in response. "They're not gonna be able to get rid of him from campus. He's never gonna retire, he's just too happy where he is, too good at his job and WAY to stubborn. If they did try to get rid of him he'd probably just fortify his lab with all kinds of high-end tech and make it into a fortress." Rinaa smirked at that. "I could totally see that happening and besides even if he dies, he won't leave, he'll just haunt the place and yell at unsuspecting students when they use the machinery wrong. He'd probably like life even more as a ghost cos he can work full time without having to pause for eating and drinking."

John shook his head, an amused expression on his face. "That's not how ghosts work, sorry to burst your bubble, but apart from the shouting at people he won't be able to any real work." Rinaa waved a hand, dismissing his words "yeah, I know, we're ninety percent certain my mate's loft flat is haunted. But it's a great idea, the idea that Deke never quite goes and people getting excellent marks on shit cos they were helped by a ghost is just plain funny."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay and Fia listened to what Cliff was saying in response to John's amused remark, Fia definitely getting that vibe from Deke after the meeting of him after the run she had the other day. When Rinaa chimed in about envisioning Deke as a ghost still doing his work or haunting students to make them work, Fia smirked whilst rolling her eyes. As amusing as the idea was, she was thinking the same as John. It just so happened that John beat her to it in saying that's not how it works in the ghost realm. "it is funny, if only that was how it worked, though its be even funnier if Deke became the first ghost to succeed in such a thing. I know I don't know him as well as you or Cliff, but from what I've seen, if Deke didn't cross over he'd no doubt get frustrated he couldn't continue his work and just go crazy even quicker than most ghosts" Fia replied, unable to not say something in agreement with her dad, whilst also agreeing with Rinaa.

"as for your apartment, you not tried to find out for sure?" she then couldn't help but ask, curiosity being piqued as all cases of that kind did. It felt like forever since she did a classic ghost hunt case and hearing about Rinaa's possible haunted apartment just intrigued her. She knew she couldn't do anything about it, but she was interested in hearing about it anyway. Kay couldn't help but note the happy curiosity in Fia's tone of voice, sensing that such cases did make her kid happy, which is something she didn't think she'd have to deal with before she met the likes of John Constantine and company. She tucked her free hand into her hoodie pocket and found a hair tie inside, pulling it out she roughly tied her hair up into her signature messy ponytail before relaxing back into the couch again.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa and Cliff couldn't help but chuckle at Fia's idea of Deke becoming the first ghost to be able to physical work as opposed to poltergeist pranks. "That's exactly Deke- passionate workaholic doesn't even begin to cover it. Honestly, I could actually see that happening, it's SO typically Deke. He's strong willed enough and smart enough that he would figure out SOME way to make it work." Cliff agreed entirely with Fia's opinion of Deke. "He'd be annoyed that he died in the first place, no matter how old he is, there'd be at least three projects on the go he'd want to finish. He's be stubborn enough that he would refuse to let himself pass over until the work is done. Then he'd keep finding more work as an excuse to hang around this side of the veil." Both Cliff and Rinaa were trying not to laugh at the antics they'd imagine ghost Deke would get up to. "He'd LOVE being able to walk through walls." "He totally would."

"Haunted flat? Now I gotta hear more about this." Elliott declared, his interest (like Fia's) very much piqued by this comment. The interest on both his kids' faces was matched by the interest on John's face. Fia wasn't the only one who liked a good ghost hunt, on average they were far more interesting than a tracking down demons. The motivations were far more complex and John enjoyed researching the stories of old London. "Same here, tell us all, love a good ghost story me" John added, the 'why the bloody Hells didn't you mention this before?' heavily implied in his voice.

Rinaa couldn't help but smirk at how everybody had perked up at the mention of ghosts. She was tempted to make some kind of wisecrack about 'if only I'd known that all I needed to do to get you guys interested in me was to mention ghosts, I would have done it years ago', but given everything that had come to light yesterday she decided against it. "First off, it's not actually MY flat Fia, I do live with mates, but not with Flick or even in the same area as her. If you ever met her, you'd understand, the world would probably implode if we spent lived together due to the sheer......" she waved a hand around to indicate 'you know what i mean' before realising the gesture was futile as nobody knew what she meant, they didn't even know the mate in question "well everything that happens when we get together. It's her loft flat and she's convinced it's haunted, it's shit cold all year round, mysterious bangings and clangings, there's a spider problem, stuff moving around in the night and flickers of something in the corner of your eyes late at night as well as feeling these twinges of unexpected emotion." "Certainly has all the hallmarks of a haunting" John remarked, clearly thinking aloud. "Yeah, we WERE actually gonna do a ghost stakeout, properly investigate the thing, get kit from Munroe or maybe even involve her. THEN somebody suggested we binge all the Ghostbusters movies instead. Which we did and it was a GREAT night. Then Flick decided she didn't want to get risk angering the ghost, she gets a really cheap rent rate because apparently normal people don't like living in haunted places." Rinaa had an expression and a tone of 'if that's normal then I want no part in it' as she spoke. "She figured if we got rid of the ghost the rent would soar and she'd be unable to pay, so we left it as it is."

 

[MzHyde]

Hearing Cliff confirm that her assumption of Deke was correct, Fia had to smile proudly that she got him spot on from the brief moments she had met him. She listened as Rinaa also agreed that Deke could easily be that kind of person who would be that kind of ghost if he were to perish close enough to work. It was nice for her to know she could read someone well enough even in this time and she hadn't lost her touch.

She was also glad that Elliott was also interested in this haunted flat that Rinaa shared with her friends, and that feeling only got bigger when John found himself also interested. She just rolled her eyes though when Rinaa corrected her on her wording about whose flat it was, brushing it off with a wave of her hand as a way to say 'it's a figure of speech'. She listened to the facts that Rinaa was giving her and everyone else who wanted to know, nodding in agreement when John said it sounded like a standard haunting. She couldn't help but smirk though when Rinaa continued to say the only the only reason why nothing has been done about it, chuckling a little. She had to admit, the reason was amusing and actually clever. "that's actually pretty savvy. Sounds like something I'd do if I lived somewhere that wasn't home. Hell, I'd joke about making the ghost pay toward the rent if it wanted to stay" Fia stated, a cheeky glint in her eyes.

"that doesn't surprise me in the slightest with you. But knowing your luck it'll make a rapid escape to get out of that" Kay joked, her smirk still having an essence of her tiredness in it.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Elliott couldn't help smirking at the idea that Rinaa's group of friends had managed to go from 'let's do a full on ghost hunt' to 'let's binge Ghostbusters', but from what they'd been told of them it seemed so typical of her group. Chas let out a sigh muttering something that sounded like "of course ye did" refraining from letting his head drop into his at the ridiculousness of it all. But they all unanimously laughed at the idea of this friend deciding to keep the ghost around as it resulted in a much cheaper rent. "Your friend is quite something, that's kinda genius." Chas remarked, Cliff nodding in agreement. "And the ghost sounds like a fairly decent flatmate to be honest, not one of those screechers or tantrum throwers." "I agree, not the typical way to deal with the problem, but I can't deny your friend's got a point, any rent reduction is a good one when you're a student." "That's a bloody brilliant thing to do, I completely approve of that idea" John declared.

"Hells, I'd probably make a place haunted for a reduced rent." A scheming look appeared on John's face and Chas grained, knowing where his mate's thoughts were going. "Don't even THINK about making Nat's place haunted so ye two pay less rent." "If she can handle Vestibulon in a phone, she can handle a ghost haunting her office." John protested in defence. "She'll just team up with the ghost and make you pay damages." "Fair point." John conceded "'spose I don't want to hurt the good gig we've got goin'." Rinaa smirked at all the various comments, clearly enjoying and understanding the banter going on between John and Chas. "It's a good idea in theory, and the idea of a ghost digging for coins down the back of the couch to pay rent is damn funny. But probably not gonna happen, like Elliott said the ghost isn't a particularly pesky one for the most part, so it's easy enough for her to live with."

"Makes sense, why change a good thing like that when it could so easily be fucked up." Elliott sort of summarised before adding. "And one question if you can answer it that is?" "Well you can certainly ask." Rinaa replied, her way of saying 'go ahead'. "Whose this Munroe person you mentioned? Anybody we'd know?" Rinaa shook her head "neither of you two would know her, whether Fia would or not I can't say. She's from an alternate Earth, one pretty much overrun by ghosts where fighting and exorcising ghosts is a commercial business, with operatives who are ghost sensitive and have mage like abilities. She came to our Earth by accident and got stranded there and has used her expertise to set up a sort of business dealing with ghosts in London, mainly underground tunnels. She's the kind of teenager John would call a cocky upstart, where as I wonder how she can manage to looks so bloody HOT wielding a rapier."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay's reaction to everyone finding the whole ghost situation amusing was one of equal amusement, whilst also partly thinking along the same lines as Chas. Especially when John got the idea of making a place purposely haunted for cheaper rent. She could also see the glint in Fia's eyes only grow at the idea of John making a place haunted and she just knew Fia was thinking along the lines of 'please do it if you ever let me live in my own place so I have cheap rent'. Before she could even say anything however, the conversation was flowing onto other things mentioned earlier so she remained silent so not to be rude to everyone else. She may be tired (though she was slowly getting more awake as the morning went on) but she wasn't rude.

Fia listened to the information said about this Munroe character and the name did ring a bell to her, but it was only when Rinaa said more about her that it all clicked in her memory. "name is familiar I've not met her myself in my timeline but Leah has spoken of her or got information from her for me on a rare occasion. For second or third opinion reasons kinda deal. Keep meaning to meet her but never get a chance" she explained, an unspoken addition of 'but then, I'd be happy to meet anyone outside of family' left hanging on the tip of her tongue.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John couldn't help but smirk at Rinaa's description, knowing that it was spot on, he had nothing against teenaers, but any teenager that wasn't directly related to him by blood or close bond with friends who showed any kind of high skill level was a 'cocky little shit' in his mind. The only good thing about that opinion was that he didn't discriminate on basis of gender, race or sexuality, merely by age and the fact that no matter how good they were, they would always lack the experience that came from investing your whole life into something. He gave a shrug at Rinaa's words "you'd be right with that thought" he remarked before his smirk grew broader at Rinaa so vocally declaring that she found this other girl highly attractive. Elliott's reaction was similar, recognising the edge of frustration in her tone as it had been in his all too frequently when they first met Jay when it seemed to him that not only was she scarily competent at things, she managed to look both elegant, dangerous and smokin' hot while doing them.

Rinaa nodded when Fia said that yes, Munroe was still around in her timeline. "That's a sort of relief I guess, not that I'd wish it on ANYBODY to be separated from the timeline and the people they care about, but Munroe's awesome. You'd probably get on once you get over her initial scepticism and the fact that she often has iron filings on her clothes, that's probably why you haven't met her, but I can't say for certain, I'm not Leah." The teenager told Fia, knowing enough about Fia to sense what was being left unspoken, but also knowing that it was a matter to talk about with Leah as opposed to her. "Why's a rapier her weapon of choice?" Cliff asked, curious to learn more about ghost and this ghost hunter. "On her world an iron-silver alloy is used to kill ghosts along with magnesium flares to repel them. The rapier is the weapon of choice for operatives, you don't want to touch the ghosts from her world, there's a thing called ghost touch, it's like frostbite but far more extreme. When she fell through the rift all the equipment she had on her for the job came with her. Even though the rules of ghosts are different on our earth, a lot of the same principles can be applied to finding and removing them, and rapiers can stab flesh and blood as well as they can stab ghosts. Plus she looks dang good with one, and I never complained about her choice of weapon when she beat me sparring."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia knew just as well as most of everyone in the room how John thought any teenager not of his own blood or family was a cocky little shit if they incredibly smart and knew it. Hell, she was certain there were probably a couple of times where she was sure he called her a cocky little shit if she managed to do something first time and couldn't help but grin smugly about it. But she was now thankful for the taunts as it meant it kept her relatively grounded as a person. The broad grins from both Elliott and John at Rinaa declaring her attraction to this Munroe didn't go amiss either on Fia or Kay, with Fia only hoping she would get similar but not embarrassing reactions to if she ever declared her attraction to someone.

Fia then looked at Rinaa as she gave her reply to her upon finding out Munroe did exist in her timeline as well and hearing that she usually had iron in her clothing as well as on her as weapons, it made great sense as to why Leah possibly was reluctant to let her meet her friend. If the roles were reversed, she would be reluctant also to let someone meet a person who was fully kitted out in something that could harm said family or friend. "mhm.. Makes sense" she simply replied with. Like Fia, Kay listened to the explanation of why a girl would have a rapier to deal with spirits, finding it interesting as unlike her future self, she was still learning about this whole world and what was real and what was fake. Though spirits was something she always believed in, even if she had never seen any for herself. "it's still quite a niche weapon of choice, but very cool" Kay spoke up finally after being quiet for so long.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John had to admit that this Munroe person sounded interesting, especially as they came from a version of Earth with a completely different type of Downworld and spirit world. Hearing about the ghost touch he couldn't help but pull a face, only the most powerful ghosts on Earth could do something like that, so a rapier was a surprisingly sensible choice of weapon, providing a long reach, while at the same time remaining light enough to run with (unlike a normal sword which was always hefty). The idea of iron and silver repelling ghosts was something he knew didn't work on earth, but magnesium flares could be useful in many situations. John knew from experience how iron filings clung to clothes and under fingernails, so it also made sense as to why Leah wouldn't have wanted Fia to meet Munroe, having somebody know your biggest vulnerability when you didn't know a thing about them required a level of trust and caution.

"That it is, I'm more of a regular sword kinda person, the heft of it works better for me, but I can't deny that a rapier is a great weapon for what she used to do, and really adds to her own aesthetic." Rinaa replied with a slight smile in response to Kay's words. "Let me guess how she beat you" Elliott gave Rinaa a wry smirk after Rinaa said that the other woman had bested her sparring "you were too distracted by how mind blowingly attractive she looked that you forgot that this was supposed to be a sparring exercise." Rinaa nodded, holding up her hands in mock surrender, knowing that he was speaking from his own experiences with Jay and understood what she had been through. "Guilty as charged in that regard, no point in denying it." Rinaa smirked, feeling completely at ease talking about a girl she liked as she knew none of them actually knew the girl and none of them could judge her for it. "Doesn't help that Munroe pretty much checks all the boxes for what I like in a girl- dark haired badass, with an exciting accent, a sense of danger and adventure, a slightly damaged soul and...."

Whatever Rinaa was about to say was cut off by the sound of a phone ringing. The teenager's mouth snapped shut and she almost vaulted of the chair to get to her bag, where she pulled out a second phone, a handset in a blue case none none of them had seen before. She took one look at the caller ID and her face turned to 'business mode' and when she answered the phone, it was a tone that was both professional and serious. "Yes the line is secure, but the location is not" she replied in Attili before making for the balcony. Once out of earshot Elliott, Cliff and John all exchanged glances, the confusion clear on their faces, before one of them translated what had been said for Kay, Chas and Fia's benefit.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay nodded as Rinaa spoke about how a normal sword was more her thing, and she couldn't help but smile when Elliott had to take the guess of how this Munroe bested Rinaa in a sparring match by describing a situation that was clearly spoken from experience. Fia found the whole conversation amusing, chuckling at the idea of Rinaa being bested because she was gawking at her opponent. Hearing the description of the girl, she did have to admit she did sound completely up Rinaa's street and beautiful, she just didn't say it out loud, and was ready to hear the rest when a phone call broke up their chat.

Both her and Kay rose an eyebrow wondering what was so important that it made Rinaa speak in Attilli. Watching the girl go out to the balcony and being bout of earshot, they both appreciated it being translated for their's and Chas' benefit. "curious indeed" Kay commented as she shifted and shoved a cushion right into her back for comfort as she now started to properly be awake. "understatement" Fia added. "I'm sure if she wants us to know what it is afterwards, she'll tell us. If she doesn't then we'll have to deal with it" Kay then said to them all, knowing that forcing Rinaa to say anything was always a turbulent move that never ended well. It was just a case of being prepared for another mystery that circled the teenager that they wouldn't know about.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Elliott didn't know why he was surprised that Rinaa had a second, secret phone, but he was. His first thought was that the teenager had a normal phone for friends and family and a second one for work. That theory was only confirmed by Rinaa's words and the professional, slightly clipped tone she spoke in. "That's one of the most stereotypical spy things somebody has ever said around me." John remarked once Rinaa disappeared up onto the roof. She could probably hear them talking, but he suspected she would be too busy with her call to monitor them. "Agreed, I don't think about of us would be that surprised if she did turn out to be a spy or at the very least knows a couple of spies we don't know about." Elliott added in agreement with John's words while Chas nodded in agreement with Kay's "if there's one thing we've learned it's don't force the issue with her, something you don't want or need to hear."

Rinaa descended from the roof after less than five minutes, swinging down into the kitchen, not remotely surprised that everybody's heads turned in her direction. Elliott spoke first, knowing that in the absence of Jay (who had a knack for asking the right questions) he was the one most likely to get some form of answer from Rinaa. "Good news or bad news?" He opened with, which wasn't the question Rinaa was expecting at all. "Good news" she confirmed tucking the second phone into a inside pocket of her backpack, then reaching for her shoes and jacket. "About what?" "Jay's not the only one with sources and I didn't spend all my time displaced here building a network of contacts for nothing. By the looks of it I've just found a spook in the Attili government willing to help us." There was a slight smugness in Rinaa's tone, but also an apprehension that things could go wrong.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia smirked at John's comment about what Rinaa said in front of them on the phone. She nodded at Elliott agreeing with John, before turning her focus on what Kay said and then Chas. "and I should know that more than any of you" she commented, as she was the one who had gotten the majority of Rinaa's and Sykes' wrath.

When Rinaa soon came back down from the roof, like the others, Kay and Fia's heads both turned as well, curious to what the mysterious call was all about but didn't want to ask about it, wanting to keep to what Kay said only moments ago. Both of them let Elliott be the one to ask, finding that the way he asked Rinaa what it was all about was the best way to go. Fia could see that Rinaa was surprised by the way Elliott asked her, clearly not expecting it to be worded in such a manner, but that didn't detract from her interest in knowing the answer. Her and Kay listened as Rinaa explained she reckons she found a spook within the Atilli government which made them both raise an eyebrow. "I would ask how but I know you probably won't be able to say" Kay remarked with a smile as she attempted to massage a part of her back herself.

"so I'm guessing you're going to go and seek it all out and see for yourself?" Fia then asked, noting how smug Rinaa felt for such a accomplishment.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Something about the way Rinaa said 'Jay's not the only one with sources' made Elliott smile, there was something so quintessentially Rinaa about that statement, she couldn't beat her mother, so she was damn well going to match her. Both Elliott and Cliff let out genuine gasps of surprise at the revelation of there being a spook in their regions' Attilian government. Cliff's was louder, she was far more up to date on the current political situation and politicians, but his lack of up-to-date knowledge didn't stop Elliott from wondering who it was. Given that the existence of spooks had only been confirmed to them very recently it was mind blowing. "Who is it?" Cliff asked instinctively, before holding up a hand and changing her tune. "Actually don't tell any of us. We shouldn't know and it should stay classified, the less any of us know the safer they are."

"Exactly." Rinaa's one word answer was in response to both Kay Cliff' and Fia's words. She had no intentions of telling the others a) who the spook was (that was a shitshow she didn't want to deal with) or b) how exactly she knew about them and trusted them, but she had every intention of meeting them. A time and neutral place had already been agreed on. She pulled on a lightweight hoodie, followed by her battered leather jacket as she spoke. "It's been in the working for a while already, that call was just a confirmation." "If you already knew of a spook, then why is there a need for Jay to track down Dakkon?" Elliott asked, hoping that Jay hadn't been sent away for nothing. "I didn't know if this contact would come through is the main reason. Also it'd be good for Jay to get back in touch with Dakkon again, they've always had a strong bond. And since Dakkon is in charge he'd know FAR more than a regular spook, and besides, who says there isn't more than one spook in the entire Attilian government system?" Rinaa gave a cheeky grin as she started lacing up her boots.

 

[MzHyde]

In Kay's eyes, the way Rinaa spoke about the spook, it was not only so typically Rinaa but she came across so much like Jay as well making her think 'like mother, like daughter'. The smile that crept onto Elliott's face also didn't go amiss either to her and she could only image how he must be thinking along similar lines. Seeing Cliff ask who it is before quickly changing her mind on wanting to know, she knew Rinaa wouldn't disclose the information even if Cliff didn't change her mind. She listened to what Rinaa said in reply about how it had been in the planning and investigating stages for a while and it was only now she got the confirmation. It made her realise just how thorough and in depth Rinaa was working to truly help Elliott's case.

The added cheeky sentence at the end of Rinaa's sentence made both Kay and Fia smirk in reaction, Kay thinking what a typical teenage action it was to do. It made her think how it didn't matter what Rinaa was doing, she still managed to get that element of typical teenage attitude in there somewhere. "I'm guessing you're going now then to meet this mystery person?" Fia asked curiously, as she watched the other teenager get ready to go out by layering up and shoving her battered boots on. Seeing Rinaa doing such a thing made her then begin to think about what the rest of them were to do for the day by the time Cliff presumably went to work, leaving them to fend for themselves.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Elliott's question was a good one and one that had also occurred to Chas. The answer made sense, following up on two likely paths meant they were twice as likely to get a hit. Just like Jay herself had, Rinaa hinted that there was more to the history between Jay and Dakkon and more to Jay's connection with spooks than the assassin was telling them. Ciff and Elliott's eyes did bug out slightly at the mention of more spooks, even if Rinaa was just teasing them with her remark, she made a valid point, spies usually had a partner or a contact of some sort to pass information onto and receive briefings from.

At Fia's comment Rinaa nodded "yup, that's EXACTLY what I'm gonna do, need to fill my mandatory monthly quota of clandestine meetings somehow." She finished with a shrug, standing up and shoving her other phone into a trousers pocket along with keys. "You want anybody along as back-up or something?" Cliff asked. Rinaa's response was a vigorous, almost violent shaking of her head. "No, no, I can handle it myself" the teenager said determinedly (even though she usually would bring some kind of back-up for such an operation, before adding in a more level tone"and besides I wouldn't want to risk drawing attention to you or Elliott. Chas doesn't know the language enough and John would probably just interrupt at the wrong moment, not to mention that both can be traced back to you guys. There's no documentation or digital trail connecting me to you guys, so if something does go wrong, I'm just another rogue agent from who know where wanting to spread trouble."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia listened to Rinaa confirm her next actions before off checked if the girl needed any kind of backup, though she was convinced that no one in their group would be of any use for one reason or another. That was only made as a valid assumption by Rinaa declining the offer and explaining why. She had to smirk at her reasons why John would be a bad move as he did have the knack of interrupting at the wrong times and would no doubt put his foot in it if he wasn't careful. "I would say good luck but something tells me you don't really need it as you're more than capable" Fia had to say, only after did she say the words out loud, did she realise it was something she would say to Leah in her time of she knew Leah was going on a mission of one type or another and she herself wasn't.

Kay couldn't help but notice the genuine kind tone in Fia's voice as she wished Rinaa good luck without wishing her good luck and it made her smile seeing Fia be the way she was with Rinaa. She had proven she was always polite but for some reason this felt like it stood out to Kay. "what Fia said, good luck kiddo, we'll probably still be here when you get back" she commented, stretching her legs out slightly as she felt her body just wanting to sieze up and feel tight as she mentally complained to herself about being completely done with being pregnant.