Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa raked her hands through her windswept hair, herding her hair back into more normal spikes, laughing and grinning the whole time as they exited the station. She wasn't quite able to comprehend that she'd just done that, just hung off the side of a moving train attached only by a leather belt and her feet, so close to death, yet she felt more alive than she ever had since her diagnosis. It was as if being so close to death but not succumbing to it reminded her that no matter how shit her mental health and how much her body was degrading, she was still very much alive. "You have NO idea how AWESOME that was!" She declared loudly in response to Fia's statement. "I feel ALIVE!" She laugh again just letting the euphoria overtake her. The joy on her face and in her voice was evident and her eyes had long ago turned back to their natural grey colour, as opposed to the green with gold and silver flecks inspired by elements of Cliff's, Cal's Elliott's and Jay's eyes that she usually hid behind.

"Doing shit like that, it's how I got my stage name y'know?" She looked at Fia, the flush of exertion now fading from her face. She knew Fia wouldn't know this nugget of information, if she hadn't even known the name of Leah/her band, then there was no way she could possibly know the stage name. "Livewire is what they called me, cos I do crazy shit and needing only four hours sleep I have way more energy on long haul stuff. And it's also a mechanics joke too." She chuckled at the description, not caring that the alcohol was loosening her tongue so much that she'd reveal this kind of personal information. "I wouldn't say no to doing it again, pretty sure Blue wants to recruit me. Which reminds me..." she paused to collect her thoughts "you don't happen to have a cousin called Simeon do you? Or anybody in the extended family and friends of family group with that name?"

 

[MzHyde]

Fia continued to laugh when Rinaa laughed with her, declaring pretty loudly just how alive she felt from doing such a dangerous stunt on a whim. She had noticed how the girl's eyes had changed to their normal grey and she felt so glad that she could witness this side of Rinaa. When she mentioned about the stage name, Fia had to raise an eyebrow at Rinaa, never having heard that she had a stage name until now. The look alone let Rinaa know to continue and explain, which she did openly, making Fia listen completely to the story. Hearing the story from Rinaa and the stage name she had to chuckle and smirk finding it really did fit her 'cousin' perfectly. She was going to comment on it when Rinaa continued talking, to which she gladly let her deciding that this was the most she was going to get out of Rinaa for a while no doubt.

Though the next few things was something she wasn't expecting to hear or be asked. "uhh...dont think so? I'm not a hundred percent sure though in all honesty, it's possible the family know someone of that name, even if I dont. Why?" she replied. She knew there were people from the extended family or friends of the family who she didn't fully know, so to her it would be entirely plausible that there was someone of that name and she just hadn't met them yet. There was also the possibility that she was just too drunk to truly think straight, but she was damn sure there was no one of that name on Kay's side of the family at the very least. She also wouldn't be surprised if Blue did want to recruit her in the band after the spectacular first impression Rinaa gave them all to cover for their usual drummer.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Fia was right in thinking that this was the time she would get the most talk out of Rinaa. The other girl had enough wits left (not to mention training) to prevent her from spewing out anything really classified or anything really deeply personal, but she was far more willing to talk about everything else left on the table. The stage name had been an accident, she'd always been Leah when performing at open nights, or occasionally Leah Quinn (Tziyen was far too distinctive a surname) and the whole point of her going to open mics was so she could relax without having to worry about being recognised. The name 'Livewire' had been a sort of joke at first, but as Fia observed it was incredibly fitting for the Rinaa they knew.

At slight crease appeared in Rinaa's forehead as she listened to Fia's answer. Even in her drunken state she was still trying to think of the bigger picture. The question had slipped out by accident, but now that it had been asked and answered she might as well ponder it properly and besides, Fia mightn't even remember it. "You probably would know of him if he was part of your timeline's family, he'd be fairly close to our age....." She paused thoughtfully then added in a less certain tone. "I think.... he's not around in my timeline either." She gave a shrug. "I'm trying to figure out where he fits in, I only got a glimpse of Blue's timestream and that was freaky enough in itself given how little of THAT particular ability of Jay's I inherited." Rinaa wasn't frustrated, just confused, and definitely rambling due to the alcohol in her system.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia wished she could have given a better answer than she did to Rinaa's question but she really couldn't. She listened to what Rinaa said as to why she asked such a thing, nodding in understanding and now finding that little moment she noticed whilst Rinaa was on stage, completely make sense. "ah I see, that makes sense. I wonder who this person is and why you found out about them through Blue" she commented. "I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually, we both could be too drunk to really think baout this sort of thing properly, I know I no doubt am" she said, chuckling slightly at her admittance as they walked still toward the apartment. "you did seem to fit with Blue's band really well by the way. It was quite the show you guys put on together! And that solo you did? Amazing, even if it did trigger a vision overlay for me" she told her truthfully.

As they walked she did the odd little hop or skip as she still had a real prep in her walk from the whole night, every now and then turning round and walking backwards for a few steps before walking forwards again. "that song really is a fuck you to the alternate Constantine-Hale family huh?" she remarked in a casual manner, a manner that was down to tha alcohol in her system as she wouldn't have asked so casually if she was sober. The comment also showing that she understood the lyrics and what was actually sung. "not that I can blame you, I thought it was pretty poetic in a way actually, but seeing when you played it in your timeline, through other Fia's eyes? Damn trippy to say the least" she added as she shoved her hands in her jacket pockets.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"I have my theories as to who Sim is" Rinaa replied truthfully, too drunk to realise that she'd called this guy by a nickname as opposed to a full name. She didn't dare say her theories aloud as one theory in particular would open such a massive can of worms that even with Fia drunk she couldn't risk spilling it. Knowing her atrocious luck it would a) be the one thing she'd remember from this drunken conversation or b) be something she'd blurt out in drunken stupor at whatever family member was nearest when they got back to Cal and Cliff's flat. "But yeah" she nodded in agreement with Fia saying they were too drunk for logical thinking. "Most of them are just the unfortunate byproducts of my drunken neurons firing in crazy ways and therefore will be utterly discarded" she made a gesture as if throwing away something to convey her point "when I think on this when I'm both sober and logical."

At Fia's almost gushing compliment Rinaa grinned (instead of blushing and brushing it off like she usually was). "Yeah, that went a lot better than I thought it would. They're amazing people and musicians, bar that ASSHOLE of a drummer who I ended up subbing for. The bass player has some confidence issues and problems with understanding just HOW good they are, but it wouldn't be a band without SOMEONE freaking out beforehand and doubting themselves. I guess it helped that I was playing the same roles I would had it been my own band. As for that duet we performed? It's one of my absolute FAVOURITE Attili songs to play! Still can't believe that we did all the choreography spur of the moment. Now THAT was a RUSH!"

Her joyous rant was cut short and her expression dropped when Fia dropped the bomb that she'd seen alternate Fia's memories of the song she'd sung solo. She knew this was drunken Fia talking, there was no way regular Fia could be so casual about something like this. "That wasn't supposed to happen. Bloody divergence point making people see alternate memories." The curse she added afterwards was one Jay frequently used. Even if Fia wouldn't remember this, the other girl deserved both explanation and clarification on what had actually happened. "I didn't write that song y'know? Just translated it to Attili. It's actually by one of my favourite singers and about how being a songwriter is so narcissistic, a song I GENUINELY like and can relate to on more than one level. But yeah, the lyrics have a scarily accurate double meaning when applied to my own life. It wasn't intended to be such a 'fuck you' song when originally written and I didn't mean to sing it so much like a damnation and condemnation of everybody.... but it just sort of happened like that. And I can't say I'd change that. I had NO idea everybody else was there watching that song, still don't know WHY they were there- I certainly didn't tell 'em and neither did Jay or Beta and none of the alternates are BLC fans either. If I had known they'd have been there, I'd have done a whole other set of songs, far more pointed and vengeful and made it so they COULDN'T leave until the point was driven home. Suppose I should take some comfort in the fact that John actually stayed for me over you, though that's only the fourth time in my entire life I know of that he ever did that."

 

[MzHyde]

Rinaa's use of the nickname didn't go amiss on Fia but she was also too drunk to really think anything of it, so she didn't bring it up or really react to it. She just listened to the girl say how she had a few theories of who he could be but smirked when she mentioned most of them were probably stupid drunken theories that would be disgarded when she was sober and capable of logical thinking. "probably best to wait until your sober, definitely" she agreed, before she went on the complimentary route with her and seeing how the compliments were clearly being accepted by Rinaa. Despite her current state of mind, she did note how Rinaa wasn't brushing off her compliments like she normally would, deciding that drunk Rinaa was very easy to be able to make open up and accept what was told to her.

She listened to her explain about Blue's band and how it felt to be up there playing live again. It truly showed how much she belonged up there on the stage, the duet was the biggest example and proof of it that Fia was glad she filmed. She also let Rinaa explain about the solo before replying to anything that was said. "I got some of the duet on video if you want a copy? It truly was something I credible to watch" she replied to her, forgetting that said video also included at the end Lobelia taking her phone and filming them kissing. Something she would want to edit out of the video before sending Rinaa it when it came to it.

"As for the solo? Don't worry about it happening, we couldn't have known it was going to happen. It was trippy and yeah, it totally threw me off guard for a bit but I got over it. I saw how John stayed, letting my alternate self and Kay run off. I felt her anguish and frustration as well as seeing everything through her eyes. I also felt the pain she felt when John stayed. But unlike her, I understood why he did and he did the right thing. Even if it did hurt like Hell" she admitted, whilst letting Rinaa know that she did in fact hurt the other Fia and Kay and greatly so. "it made me feel so much thankful that my timeline doesn't have us divided, and we're working at not being divided though" she added, showing that even wasted she could find a positive out something. "aaaaaand it may have got Lobelia buying me a drink, so that was a plus! Damn that girl is hot" she chuckled.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa, even in her drunken state was surprised that Fia had decided to film her. She was damn well aware of how incredible that duet had been, both in terms of the visual spectacle and the way their voices complimented each other, but somehow her brain hand't even considered Fia filming it a viable possibility. "I got the girl at the bar to film some stuff for me, didn't get a chance to look at any of it yet, but that duet is bound to be there. Anybody who works there has good taste in that kinda music." The initial part may have seemed like a refusal, but that was not the case. "But I NEVER object to having more footage, especially audience shots, there's something great about analysing them afterwards. That's the only reason I knew the alternates were there, a mate was watching the footage back and saw everybody there."

"It was always a possibility, what with your birth being a fixed point and this version of you being a time-traveller and displaced so close to the divergence point that decides your whole reality......." Whatever Rinaa actually meant to say next was lost as her brain refused to concentrate and, as she had alluded to her earlier, let her think logically. A expression of grim triumph came over her face when Fia confirmed that she for once she had actually managed to hurt alternate Fia and Kay. "Can't say I'm particularly upset that she actually felt an emotion in that twisted soul of hers. Considering that her first words when she saw me on stage was 'that can't possibly be her, there's no WAY that mutt could look THAT hot' it's. And as for John, well just shows there's hope for him to do the right thing, though every other time it took me either dying or being admitted to ICU for him to see somewhat straight."

She did smirk however at Fia's declaration that the good thing that came out of the whole thing was the girl (Who she now knew was called Lobelia) buying her a drink. It was a sentiment she could very much get behind and agree with. "Any day a hot girl, or guy, buys you a drink is a good one, surely. And yeah, she is a looker alright." She bit back her next remark, instead choosing to rake her hand through her hair once more.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia kept her eyes forward as she listened to Rinaa say that she got the girl behind the bar to do a load of filming and such for her, thinking for that split second it was a refusal of her offer, but Rinaa surprised her by clarifying that as not the case in the slightest, letting her know that crowd footage was always good to see and useful. She nodded as Rinaa continued to explain that it was the audience footage that made her realise they were even there before noticing Rinaa get the grim smug smirk on her face at the news of hurting alternate Fia and Kay. She knew deep down that the news of such a cade happening would delight Rinaa which was one reason why she told her. She had a right to know that for something at some point, she got one up on the alternates. "you deserve to know you hurt them and got one over on them, it's why I told you. As for John I can only think it's the tainted bond that made him not think logically. If your John so to speak, is anything my John and this John, then there's always hope for him to do the right thing, even if he's a stubborn fool at times and thinks otherwise" she smirked.

Fia loved her dad dearly but even she could see that her father was stubborn and far from perfect. Same for her mother, in her timeline they did make each other better people, but she was also aware only people on the outside ever seemed to truly see it. She noticed the smirk that Rinaa gave when she declared how Lobelia was unbelievably hot and nodded firmly whilst grinning wide. "couldn't agree more! Though her brother was a damn looker too as you'd put it. You shoulda seen my face when Lobelia told me they were siblings! I wasn't sure whether to run, think it was a prank being held at my expense or if I won the bloody lottery!" she laughed, seeing that they were slowly but surely getting close to the apartment, and wondering if anyone was still up or not. "I wonder if anyone is still up or if everyone is doing the sensible thing and sleeping" she mused, her drunken mind flitting from one thought to another at a rapid pace.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"A normally normal person shouldn't take such a sadistic delight in this kind of shit, but I am FAR from normal." Rinaa had long ago accepted that while certain aspects of her moral compass were swung towards the good end of the spectrum, other parts were currently swung so far into the dark that a new scale was needed. And this was before Sykes had come into her life. There'd always been a darker side in her (being Jay's daughter there had to be one), but Sykes had latched on and amplified that dark side. "The tainted bond is the main thing for sure, but it's not the only thing that's eating him alive." Rinaa tipped her head backwards letting out a long breath, keeping her eyes fixed on the stars. "He didn't just lose one adopted kid that fortnight, there was another kid that died shortly after that, a kid he probably coulda saved had he answered the call. Though who knows, all that shit is in flux." She waved a hand dismissively.

Rinaa didn't even bother to look surprised when Fia declared that Lobelia had a sibling. "I basically did see your face." She smirked, a sort of indirect hint that she had something on Fia. "And his, Blue told me about the sibling once he copped we were related. Or MORE precisely I told him I'm an adopted cousin, which is really just an extension of the truth. They're regulars apparently." She shrugged again. "As for his looks, reminds me too much of Elliott to be brutally honest and besides he's not my type when it comes to guys." She considered Fia's next thought. "Cal and Cliff'll be asleep as will Chas, probably Elliott too not wanting to risk disrupting Chas' sleep. As for John? Who knows? He could be in one of his insomniac phases in which case he's probably gone out to wander and lurk and stave off cabin fever."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia had to give Rinaa her due in the comment. A normal person shouldn't get delight out of it, but with how Rinaa's life had turned and what the alternates had done to her, she did have a right to feel such a way. Fia knew there was a lot of good in Rinaa deep down, but she also knew there was enough dark in her that could and would be far too dangerous if she let it overtake her. She listened as Rinaa agreed it was the tainted bond but her curiosity got the better of her when she mentioned about another kid. "another kid? Whose kid?" she asked, despite Rinaa brushing off the comment dismissively as she spoke of it. She also knew the news would probably eat her up a bit if she was told but not knowing whlould also eat her up if she thought about it.

Seeing that Rinaa didn't look the tiniest bit surprised at the siblings comment told her she somehow knew, and her next statement of saying she did see her face made Fia pull a face that said '.... Oh'. She listened to the explanation of how she knew, thinking 'of course it was Blue' when it came to her finding out. Yet the moment she said Chaol looked too much like Elliott, Fia made a dramatic groan and shook her head. "oh god... Don't say that!!! Eww eww eww! That's corrupted my mind!" she declared, suddenly feeling like she made out with her half brother which was all kinds of wrong. She gave some thought to what Rinaa was saying, agreeing that if anyone was awake it would possibly be John as she knew Kay would be fast asleep. "well, if it would be anyone, John does seem the most likely suspect but hoping they're all asleep and I can sneak in without a grilling and actually get sober before it all happens" she smirked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa couldn't help but let out a loud laugh at Fia's reaction to her comparing the guy she made out with in the club to her adopted half brother. The face was particularly funny. Unlike Fia she'd only known what Elliott looked like when he was younger (Jay had somehow managed to get hold of copies of almost all the photos John had of younger Elliott and Cal never threw any of the photos out during the years of Elliott's exile, and after his death hung on to them as a reminder). She'd spent a hell of a lot of time looking at those photos, pondering how her life could have been different. As such the associations between young Devra guys with longish hair and her father had been strong enough to put Rinaa off them. "Well that's how I see it. And besides, it's FAR weirder for me to say than for you, there's only like a four year age gap between me and somebody who's basically a stranger to me. That's not exactly massive." The unspoken part of her sentence was clear- 'if I wasn't his daughter, who knows what could have happened'.

By now they'd reached the block of flats Cal and Cliff in. Rinaa made for the outside stairwell beginning the trek to the top floor. "Good luck getting sober, I've got hyper metabolism on my side. And even if Jay WAS here, she wouldn't be makin' her hangover cure. She's of the same opinion as John, you've got to learn your limits by going through the excruciating hangovers. That was FUN." The sarcasm dripped off her words, it had been anything but fun, but it was also effective, not only did she clearly know where her limits were, she knew the consequences of overstepping them. "But I started properly drinking alcohol too early in life." Rinaa unlocked and pushed open the door of the flat surprisingly quietly for somebody who was drunk. The figure of Chas was asleep on one couch, Elliott on the other one. There was a note on the back of the door, written in John's scrawl, Rinaa looked at it and then flipped it around so that Fia could see it. "No surprise there." Going for a smoke was often John's way of clearing his head and getting away from the madness of his life for a few brief minutes. "If I didn't have a fear of fire, I'd probably also smoke." Alternate Jay had quit smoking once it became clear just how bad Rinaa's fear of fire was.

Gone for a smoke
- J

​

 

[MzHyde]

Fia wasn't surprised that Rinaa would find it hysterical that she planted the horrendous and scary thought in her head. She may not have known fully what Elliott looked like when he was younger, but it was still horrifying idea that Rinaa brought up. It well and truly out her off Chaol in any way that wouldn't a mate, not that she thought she'd get to really make a friend out of him with everything else going on. She heard Rinaa out with her reasonings and gave an eyebrow raise and shrug, "fair point!" she replied as they reached the apartment and followed Rinaa up the outside stairwell whilst listening to what she had to say next about hangovers.

She remembered hearing about Rinaa drinking from an early age before so it was of no shock to hear it be said again, she also knew of John's stance on finding your limit and going through the first proper hangover properly without any miracle cure. "yeah yeah.. I know" she replied, "I'm gonna be screwed in the morning, I'm prepared for being utterly wrecked when sobered up" she told Rinaa as they reached the top and walked inside. She looked over at the note that she recognised instantly was written by John. She presumed that Kay would be in the room she was sharing with John fast asleep as there no sight of her. "none at all, I guess I'll see you on the other side of this drunken state, I'm gonna crash on my temporary bed" she smirked but spoke quietly so not to wake either Chas or Elliott. She drunkenly half hugged Rinaa goodnight with a pat on her shoulder, before she quietly walked through the main room, into the hallway and to her room, where she quietly opened the door and went straight to bed.

She didn't even fully close the door, just kicking her boots off, shrugging her jacket off and letting herself flop face first onto the bed where she laid there for a mere couple of minutes before falling asleep, fully dressed and make up still very much on. She didn't even care that now her orange band was on show or that her sleeping state was even visible because she left the door open and it was opposite John and Kay's room. She had one leg off the edge of the bed, one arm under the pillow and one over her head.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa knew that however prepared Fia thought she was in this moment for the inevitable hangover, she wasn't at all prepared. Nobody ever was really, truly prepared for the first intense hangover, alcohol affected everybody slightly differently, so one person's hangover horror story mightn't match up with somebody else's. It was easy to imagine that somebody was exaggerating what it was like, trying to scare the other away from drinking for life (Cliff had an impressive collection of stories about drink and drug related mishaps from the emergency ward that she used in such situations), but when it came to John's stories in particular, they were the brutal truth- he relished in telling the gory details as accurately as possible.

Rinaa wasn't expecting to be pulled into a hug by drunk Fia. She let out an undignified sort of half-squeak half-yelp noise (one that sober Rinaa would have been mortified about) when she felt Fia's arm come around her. The hug was all too brief brief and left the other girl more confused than anything else afterwards. "Yeah... nnnight." she stuttered out. If she was to be brutally honest with herself, these past few years she'd spent time travelling she'd been pretty much starved of any genuinely affectionate touching. She wasn't the most touchy-feely person in general, in particular when it came to her hair and shoulders, but there were still times when what she really needed was a hug from a mate or family member she actually liked. Her now girlfriend Moya was the only person supplying such comfort on a regular basis these days (aside from the times she'd broken down and somebody had hugged her as she sobbed).

Rinaa was awake enough to make her way to the bathroom where she removed her eye make-up and most of the product from her hair. She kept the black painted nails though, they were a little chipped after the night (but nowhere near as bad as they would be had she played a guitar and not the drums). With a yawn and a sigh she made her way back to the utility room she was crashing it. She'd nicked a spare cushion from a cupboard along with a military sleeping bag thingy belonging to Cliff and made a sort of bed for herself, strategically placing herself over the warm water pipe. She was asleep surprisingly quickly, unlike Fia the splayed starfish, she slept curled on her side, one hand tucked against her neck the other round her waist.

 

[MzHyde]

By the time late morning (but not quite midday) came round, Fia was still out for the count. Kay had woken up around an hour ago around 9am and had seen Fia's door open where she couldn't resist taking a peek inside where she saw the spread out Fia, bed hair of epic proportions and an arm sprawled up and over her face. She had to take a photo and silently laugh to herself at what her future daughter honestly looked like, especially as she was still in her clothes from the night before. She took great delight in showing John the state of their kid as well as the others as she couldn't stop chuckling as she walked into the main room. She did notice the orange band on her kid's wrist and knew she'd be asking questions about it when Fia eventually woke up.

Eventually within that hour, Fia did wake up with a yawn, wiping of her face as she felt drool round her mouth and stretched. She definitely had a hangover that was not of any small size at all, and groaned as she sat up slowly. Rubbing her eyes to wake up more, she then looked down and groaned more seeing she was still in last night's clothing, so she grabbed a sweater she in her bag and a pair of jeans, deciding she was going to go with comfortable clothing and not move from the couch all day once she got out of the room she slept in. She remembered the orange band and took it off, shoving it in her bag and changed into her chosen clothes before getting up and walking out into the main room where everyone was. Her head hurt like hell, she was rubbing one hand through her hair trying to tame it which proving fruitless and was in desperate need of food, tea and painkillers. "morning..." she grumbled to everyone whilst yawning.

"someone clearly had a good night, how's the head kiddo?" Kay smirked, "hurts like hell, and please say there's painkillers, food and tea available" Fia both complained and begged.

Spoiler: How I imagine Fia's bedhair and deamour

 

[_gallifrog_]

As Rinaa suspected John had indeed been in one of his insomniac periods, choosing to go for a long walk and a longer smoke instead of attempting to fall asleep. He didn't smoke in the flat as a) there was a pregnant woman around, b) Rinaa's fear of fire included smaller reactions to smoke and ash, hence why she couldn't go too near the forge without turning somewhat green) and c) he respected Cal and Cliff and didn't want to turn their flat into a haze of smoke. He also liked being out at night, and in here in the military base, the night scene was very different to that of Earth, he'd observed (from a distance) some of the military drills going on as well as checking out the 'justice for Elliott' mural Chas had mentioned earlier. He'd seen the orange band on Fia's wrist through the blatantly open door and smirked to himself, already starting to think of what questions to ask.

Rinaa was usually one of the earliest up in the apartment, but for once she'd managed to get a proper, uninterrupted night of sleep. She'd made her way into the kitchen about half an hour before Fia did, with a spectacular headache and disgusting stale taste (only made worse by her hyper senses) in her mouth. After dealing with the inevitable set of questions and hinting that she had dirt on Fia she realised she had three missed calls from Moya on her phone and had retreated to the balcony about a minute or so before Fia had arrived. There was a selection of pills and other medication on the table and Cliff was intently researching on her laptop, checking to see how much (if any) of her usual cocktail of drugs Rinaa could take with her current blood alcohol content. So far only three of them had made the grade.

She looked up at the arrival of Fia. "Yes to all three, but you'll have to make the tea yourself and these" she reached across the table, balancing the laptop on her knees as she located the bottle "are the ONLY painkillers we have you can take with large amounts of alcohol in your system. Everything else is either a no go or Rinaa's medication." John was already smirking at the state of Fia, knowing that as they all started talking it was going to get a lot worse for Fia. "More than just a good night I'd say, given the orange band and the level of hangover" he declared.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia walked over and grabbed the painkillers that Cliff reached over and and grabbed for her, "thanks Cliff" she grumbled, before giving John an evil glare, heading straight to the kitchen. She even found herself having to do a double check that yes, she did indeed take the orange band off her wrist, then realise he must have seen her asleep as her 'bedroom' door was open. She didn't even think about the fact that Kay would have taken a photo and showed them all the state she was in. "I'm standing by the statement of it was worth it to have danced all night and saw Rinaa perform on stage" she said, deciding to not even declare that she spent most of that time making out with siblings. She knew deep down it wouldn't wash over and John was no way going to let just that statement slide.

She could tell just from the way he was smirking at her that he was going to drill her until absolutely everything was spilled, so for now she sought refuge in the fact she was getting a glass of water to take the painkillers and putting the now not broken kettle on to make a cup of tea as well as grabbing some breakfast. "I'd say so too, and I'd also say there's way more than just dancing and watching Rinaa performing that went on" Kay replied, deciding that joining in with John to tease the utter crap out of Fia was just too tempting to pass up. Fia tried to keep her back to everyone and tried to stop herself from going bright red at the teasing, wishing a big black hole would swallow her up so she wouldn't have to deal with it. Gathering all her pride (or what was left of it) she turned round, "nope.. Nothing happened.. Nothing aaaaat all" she tried to say, trying a bit too hard to act casual that it wasn't believable in the slightest. "bollocks nothing happened, Cal and Cliff told us what the orange means" Kay smirked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

If Fia was hoping that by declaring she'd seen Rinaa perform on stage last night that this piece of news would act as a distraction for everybody and move the topic of conversation away from Fia herself had done that night, she was very much wrong. Rinaa herself had already come clean about the fact she'd ended up on stage last night. It had been Elliott who'd asked the question, he'd missed most of last night's conversation and wanted to know if it was true that she got better as a performer when there was booze in her system. Rinaa's answer had been a nod of confirmation, a wide grin and "in the case of last night, yeah, definitely true. For somebody who hasn't played with a band in nearly three years, it was fucking AMAZING what came out." Despite being pretty hungover, the alcohol in her system was still making her more open and willing to talk, which was how Elliott had managed to get her to promise to show them one of two of the clips.

John made a 'you're fooling nobody kiddo' face at Fia's delaying tactics of trying to shift the focus elsewhere. "Don't think you can distract us by talkin' about what Rinaa bein' onstage last night. We already know about that cos of Ell." "Yup." Elliott confirmed. "And not only is the booze still working it's way through her system in such a way that she's agreed to show us clips" he didn't need to say it directly, but the fact that he considered Rinaa agreeing to do this was some kind of minor miracle was easily heard in his tone. "She also has both the dirt and the evidence on what you did last night and would be more than happy to spill." The last part of his sentence was more guesswork than anything else, he couldn't claim to know Rinaa's thought process (he doubted any of them could), but since she'd heavily hinted earlier that she had evidence of the dirt on Fia he figured she'd want to use it.

Fia's casual act was so blatantly a front that several people snorted (loudly) at the declaration that nothing had happened. the fact that she was stretching out her words served only as a further indicator that something or some things had happened that night. "Don't think you could look more like you're hiding something if you tried." Chas remarked. "In the words of my favourite bouncer" Chas and Elliott both smirked knowing exactly where John was going and who he was quoting, the smirks only growing broader when John put on a thick, coarse Scottish accent "I didnae come up the river on a bicycle, I call horseshit of the highest degree."

 

[MzHyde]

When Elliott joined in on the gang up against her, she rolled her eyes whilst her back was still to them all along with a facial expression of 'why brother...why must you betray me so?!' before putting on an air to be able to turn around and face the lot of them as she finished making her tea and grabbing some food. She had had ideas of seeking refuge next to either Chas or Elliott but now that both were siding with her parents just made her decide against that decision and walk over to the kitchen table and sit down there instead. She hated that Rinaa had evidence she would be very willing to share to everybody about her antics last night and knew she couldn't try and get out of this for much longer. She groaned and rolled her eyes yet again, this time in full view of everyone as John quoted his favourite bouncer.

"you're seriously annoying dad" she commented, sipping her tea and putting full emphasis on John's paternal title. "also, I feel utterly betrayed by you and you" she added pointing at Chas and Elliott before purposely putting some food into her mouth before coming clean with what she got up to, "I pulled siblings, a brother and sister" she said, hoping that the food would distort her speech just enough to make them second guess what she actually said, so it would make them think before checking if what she said was actually what they thought she said. Kay could have sworn her kid said she pulled a brother and sister, and she had to compute what was said, "I'm sorry....did you just say you pulled siblings?!" Kay asked, her tone showing shock and that she was actually impressed. Fia just nodded deciding to keep on eating instead of saying any more when she was thinking 'so if it's proof, it'll be of me playing tongue tennis with the both of them'.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John's face showed an expression of 'and that's a new thing how exactly?' when Fia declared him to be seriously annoying. "Heard that one maaaany times before" he replied. Neither Chas nor Elliott bothered to look any form of offended when Fia announced she felt 'betrayed'. They knew she didn't mean and besides, both had their own motivations for wanting to know what went down last night. Elliott's was blatant curiosity, he'd wanted to know what he'd missed out when spending his teenage years on Earth, never having had a chance to experience Attil's nightlife (and probably never would get a chance on this trip what with him being kind of notorious). Chas was a mix of curiosity and a sense of duty to be the only sensible parental figure in the room.

The food didn't distort Fia's words anywhere near as much as Fia thought it did. The orange band in the photo had told them that while she lacked experience Fia had been more than happy to fool around with people. And it wasn't exactly surprising that people would be interested in Fia, they all had eyes, she was a looker and her hair was incredibly distinctive. Cal's question was "Devra or off-worlder?" which she felt was highly valid given the unusually large percentage of off-world students Attilian universities took in compared with other systems. Chas was kind of impressed, but there was also an edge of 'oh god, we've got another one' clearly thinking back to teenage John and how often he went on the pull. John was thinking of the exact same thing, both impressed that Fia had managed to do such a thing on her first night out (the wedding didn't count everybody drank at weddings) and proud (something he knew most Earth wouldn't be). "That's my girl!"

Elliott smirked slightly upon hearing that Fia had managed to attract a brother and a sister. If Jay had been there she would have known instantly that he was thinking back to the time when both AJ and Saoirse had a thing for him (to say they had been competitive was an understatement, but they had the decency to behave respectfully around him, it was when Elliott wasn't in the room that things had really heated up and Jay, who'd been a prisoner at the time found their antics a welcome distraction from boredom of being in a cell all day). The question on the tip of his tongue was "I gotta ask regular siblings or twins?" The one thing none of them made any form of comment on was the gender of the people in question. For Cal, Cliff, John and Elliott neither saw any point, three of the four had been brought up in a world where somebody's sexuality didn't matter one jot, while John really didn't give a fuck so long as the people in question had consented and were of age.

"Is that really that surprising though?" Elliott asked rhetorically, leaning back in his chair, the comment aimed at Kay as opposed to all the others. "Given a) Attil has a vastly different scene when it comes to sexuality, fluidity and far less taboos than Earth, b) how rare red hair is around these parts and c) the extensive stereotypes and reputation of people with red hair 'round these parts?" Cal's eyebrows raised in surprise, she'd clearly not been expecting her brother to know this. Elliott saw the look and smirked in the way that only a younger sibling could when they were delighted to one-up an older sibling. "I wasn't completely innocent and oblivious as a twelve year old y'know? And you remember some of the people I was in school with and the kind of shot they spouted on a daily basis." Cal made a face, fully knowing who her brother was talking about.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia just rolled her eyes at John declaring how he's heard it a lot. In her timeline she had told him many many times growing up as he would playfully annoy her for the sake of it because she'd fall for it every damn time. She also of course didn't mean it when she said the betrayal comment, it was meant as a playful comment, and one she had used before in her timeline when they sided with her parents and not her. She glanced at Cal when she asked if it was Devra or off-worlders, she swallowed her mouthful before replying, "devra" simply before not being able to stop the grin appear on her face at John stating what he did. She knew how difficult it was to get any kind of statement of pride toward someone else was from him, and she never would have would have thought making out with a brother and sister would have done it, but it seemed John was forever surprising her.

The smirks that were on all their faces also didn't go amiss on Fia, especially Elliott as she did know of the story of AJ and Saoirse, just as everyone in her timeline knew of it. When Elliott asked his question, she knew none of them cared about the gender. It was the one thing she knew she would never be judged upon and would have never been afraid of telling them. "regular siblings, think Lobelia-the sister seemed a tiny bit older from the way she was talking with her brother Chaol, but it was hard to tell to be honest but definitely not twins" she explained. She was even impressed at herself that she could remember the names of the siblings, thinking that if she could remember such a detail then she wasn't stupidly drunk.

Kay looked at Elliott when he spoke up after her question of need of clarification to what she hears Fia said. She also noticed how Cal raised an eyebrow clealry surprised that Elliott even knew of all of those facts. "I was just making sure I heard right, I'm impressed she accomplished pulling siblings on her first proper night out" she replied. "aaand I am still in the room. So now you nosey buggers know, there's no blackmail valid against me. Whatever Rinaa has on me" Fia said, thinking it couldn't have been much, forgetting just some of the ways she was with the siblings, not to mention the times she was snogging the white haired girl for a short amount of time whilst with Lobelia. She then pulled her phone out and decided to scroll through her gallery to see what photos she took herself, most of which were just of Rinaa on stage, but some included herself and Lobelia lip locked, and Lobelia clearly being the one holding her phone.

 

[_gallifrog_]

As soon as names were mentioned and it was confirmed that they were Devra Cliff and Cal began raking their brains to see if they knew of anybody who knew somebody with that name. Attili names followed a rigid structure, the first name was a normal name, the second was taken from a parent (for both of them it was their father's name) while the third (in Cal and Elliott's case- Lott) was the family name. The boy's name was fairly popular, though the girls was more unique. "You know Yaz?" Cliff nodded. "Pretty sure her husband's adopted cousin has kids with those names." Cal mused spewing out the connections between the people with the ease of somebody whose family had lived in the same place a good chunk of their life and as such knew a ridiculous amount of other people's family trees and family history. With Fia pulling out her phone both Elliott and John were about to make moves to snoop over her shoulder, but were interrupted in almost an ironic twist of fate by a loud a loud exclamation of shock from Rinaa followed what would be blatantly obvious to Fia, Kay and Chas was some kind of 'you've got to be kidding me!'-esque expression of disbelief.

She rushed back in to the apartment at speed, after having scrambled up from her position sitting on the balcony (though scrambled wasn't quite the right word, it was far from dignified, and she nearly fell flat on her face in the process, one hand clutching her phone tightly). She leaned over Cliff's shoulder, completely ignoring everybody except the owner of the laptop. "Can you look up something for me quickly? Not more medication" she added quickly, casting an eye slightly guiltily at the pile of medication on the table. Maybe she should have done the checking herself, but Cliff was the doctor in the family and an adverse reaction wasn't worth it "it's something else" she clarified.

Cliff, seeing the excitement in her eyes passed the laptop over. Rinaa's free hand flew across the keys, well used to using an Attili keyboard and it wasn't long before she'd opened up a selection of local social media pages and music pages, heading to the trending section. Right at the top of most of them was either a picture of Blue's band with Rinaa sandwiched in the middle or just Rinaa on her own singing into the mic accompanied by clips of the performance last night. Judging by the heap of comments and the multiple hashtags this was a hot story. Rinaa swore in disbelief continuing to scroll down. "You're right this is a major story I had NO idea all this was going on." "Well they are a damn popular band. A pretty big deal in the right circles, they've been gaining some serious momentum." Moya replied from the phone, which was on speaker on the table, an edge of smugness to her voice, but mostly pride and happiness. "You gotta introduce me" she added, trying to refrain from fangirling (And not exactly succeeding). "I've been a fan pretty much since the start." Rinaa smiled fondly, softly before smirking and telling her girlfriend in the most casual tone possible. "They're looking for a drummer actually, want me to put in a word?"

 

[MzHyde]

Fia was only half listening when Cal and Cliff mused together on whether or not they knew of the siblings or not. Knowing her luck, they would know the siblings family in some format or another and it seemed she was right to assume such a thing. She was completely oblivious to John and Elliott wanting to make moves to snoop over her shoulder when Rinaa made a rather loud exclamation of shock and came bundling into the room to look up something on the computer with Cliff's help. She couldn't resist getting up from the chair at the kitchen table and going over closer to see what was being spoken about, for it to then make sense. "you sure fall into the right contacts" she commented before risking sitting between John and Kay.

Due to her hangover, she didn't even close the photo gallery on her phone, just had it idly and loosely in her hand as her head flopped onto John's shoulder, wishing the painkillers would kick in quicker than they were. Kay saw how dangerously easy it was for either John or Elliott to steal Fia's phone and go snooping, she could tell that they wanted to more than anything, and decided for Fia to learn that hangovers were no excuse for lack of focus, she wasn't going to warn her daughter. Instead she gave both John and Elliott the discreet look of 'if you wanna see what's on her phone, now your chance', peeking over Fia's shoulder and seeing the one photo of this Lobelia girl clearly in control of the selfie as she was kissing Fia, a smirk on her lips and into the kiss. Kay had to smirk at the photo whilst sitting casually on the couch, with Fia in the middle.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa's question rendered Moya speechless for a good ten seconds. Moya, as a devoted fan, knew that the drummer had been less than satisfactory recently, but had never put two and two together and realised that that meant that there was an opening for a drummer. She was still trying to make sense of the fact that a chance encounter had been it all it took for somebody to play with them. Had she not had a family commitment, it could have been her up there on stage (though she having watched various clips she found herself blown away by her girlfriend's talent and outfit). Rinaa took the silence as an opportunity to properly commandeer Cliff's laptop and make her way over to the lounge area, choosing to sit on the coffee table, crossing her legs and tucking her feet under in an almost yoga-like or meditative pose.

When Moya did speak again it was in Attili so rapid paced and filled with shock that aside from Rinaa, only Cal, Cliff and Elliott could follow it. Rinaa's smile grew both broader and softer as she listened to the rant while scrolling through the story and attached comment section. The others were all leaning over to get a better look at the photos on screen. For something taken on phone camera in a crowded club they were surprisingly sharp and some had even managed to capture the sense of movement that was so intrinsic to her playing. Rinaa's stance was powerful, the poses of somebody who was owning the stage and knew it. In one picture, taken when she and the and had been bantering back and forth, there was a confident smirk on her face that looking startlingly like John's (a fact which did not escape his notice). When she did speak her tone was a mix between soft affection, amusement and residual shock.

It was a well known fact that she (and Leah) suffered from tunnel vision when they got extremely deep into something and this was one of those moments. So when Fia spoke up she did what she always did when totally engrossed in something and wanted people to let her work in peace- she waved her hand in a dismissive gesture and said the first thing that came to mind "don't mind me, please continue extracting every detail of Fia's time as the filling in a light and dark hot girl sandwich." While they were all curious to get a look at photos of what Rinaa had been doing last night, none of them had forgotten about Fia. The way her phone was dangling so carelessly (and UNLOCKED) was too good an opportunity to resist. So when Rinaa said what she did in such a blasé way, Elliott and John leapt into action. Elliott snorted, loudly, bumping against Fia while John easily swiped the phone. It took him all of two seconds to find photos that matched what Rinaa had said. "Kid's not lying if this is to believed" he smirked.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia didn't even care that Rinaa was waving off her comment as she placed herself on the coffer table and sat cross legged. She was too hungover to care about it as she still didn't think about the fact her phone was still unlocked and on the photo gallery. Yet the moment Rinaa spoke about Fia being in a hot girl sandwich, she went wide eyed and tried to stop Elliott and John taking her phone to no avail. "give it back!!" she childishly protested, pouting at the way Elliott bumped her and John scrolled through the photos to find the offending one that Rinaa spoke of. "yes it's true okay? I wasn't just beside the siblings. What can I say? There was something ethereal about the other girl" she groaned, knowing it was pointless in trying to retrieve her phone back as it was clearly bringing joy in John and Elliott seeing her in such a way in the photos.

Eventually, John would come up to photos with both siblings in the photo as well as the ones he was already witnessing with Elliott. She really was practically the filling in either a hot girl sandwich or a sibling sandwich, and there was even one she didn't know about being there of her snogging Lobelia and Chaol was taking the photo in selfie mode, sticking his thumb up at what was going on just millimetres behind him on the crowded dance floor. If she had known it was there, she would have deleted it before her half brother and father got wind of it. Kay even looked with John and Elliott and smirked, seeing the type that clearly Fia grew very attracted to. She noticed how if her sister Sam was younger she'd have been very attracted to the white haired girl in the photo, knowing Sam was always attracted to the unique girls who weren't afraid of themselves and openly wore their personality on the outside. "mum don't join in!" Fia complained, making Kay chuckle. "hey, as long as everything between you and these three were consentual I don't care what you do." Kay replied.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa's choice of words was quite something, like was the case with many people, it was when she wasn't really thinking about what exactly she was saying that she came out with her best quips. The completely level tone made it even funnier, there wasn't even a cheeky smirk or a sideways glance at Fia that said 'not sorry for throwing you under the bus like this'. The snorts of amusement were for Rinaa's choice of words, and not out of disapproval at what Fia had been doing. Quite a few of them had been in the middle of a 'hot girl sandwich' before while dancing in a club before (the exceptions being Chas and Elliott) and in John's case he'd been in bed with both hot girl and hot guy sandwiches. The snorts of laughter were so the loud that Moya heard them on the phone and Rinaa translated her remark to Attili for her girlfriend's benefit.

John and Elliott spent the most time looking through the photos on Fia's phone. Now that they had it, they weren't gonna let it go easily. "Not gonna happen" Elliott declared, scooching over over to beside John to get a better look. "You left the gallery unlocked." "That's fair game as well as a massive blinkin' sign sayin' nick me. You're not gettin' special treatment cos you're hung over." John continued. he and Elliott weren't the only ones with this mindset, although Cliff had told Fia what painkillers she could use, she had told her a dose that was slightly lower than what she would usually prescribe as a) she wasn't sure how a phoenix body would react to Attili painkillers and she'd rather under dose her than overdose her and b) it would be good for Fia to feel a bit of the side effects of last night. She wasn't going to mess with Rinaa's medication however, they'd all seen how aggressive she (or precisely Sykes) had been, particularly towards Fia when she didn't take strong enough doses of suppressants and ant-psychotics.

Chas, Cliff and Cal looked in occasionally, all curious to get a sense of what Fa had been like letting lose and what kind of people she'd been drawn to. She clearly had, after only one night managed to find a type. Nobody made any comparisons between Elliott and Chaol, which would prove to Fia, that that particular thing was Rinaa's personal bias and nobody else's. the only thing they had in common besides eye colour was hair length and colour, their facial structure were completely different. It looked like a great night, and John was glad that Fia did go, and even with the language barrier have a bit of fun. It didn't escape notice that in a number of the photos Rinaa was on stage and not even looking in Fia (and her partners') direction. "Stupid question" Elliott asked"but if you were onstage and looking the complete opposite direction, how d'you know all this was going on?" Rinaa smirked in response and swivelled around on the coffee table, having just finished talking with Moya. "I was on stage, yes, but I didn't say my PHONE was onstage with me."