Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[MzHyde]

Kay had to agree with John about the dyed green student. If he couldn't learn his lesson after the first time then he really must have been an utter idiot. If it had turned out that the kid did become a comedian, it wouldn't have been entirely surprising and did seem like it would have been the perfect career for the guy. When the topic changed to the teacher, Kay couldn't help but raise an eyebrow whilst laughing with everyone else at Elliott's excellent ability to contort his face in such a manner that shouldn't be at all possible. Hearing Fia laugh the way she was and seeing her declare it was the ugliest face she'd ever seen Elliott do, brought all kinds of thoughts to her mind whilst smiling, glad to see her daughter so happy.

She also couldn't imagine how anyone would find that look attractive but she also believed there was someone for everyone out there so who was she to judge? She chuckled as John pointed out the facial contortions whilst Chas asked a normal question of how they kept a straight face every class. She and Fia both listened to Cliff and Cal explain how they managed it, and Cal's addition of saying about being desensitised to it after a while did make a whole lot of sense to both women. They then continued to listen to the story with great interest, laughing when it was appropriate to do so, and reacting otherwise at other moments. "can't say I've got any stories of that caliber from my school days, and don't think even if I did, it'd beat that" Kay chuckled. There were probably stories she had in her mind somewhere, but her school life was so plagued with the negatives that she would have just pushed them so far to the back of her mind, they'd be almost forgotten.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Hearing that this teacher had been successful on a blind date utterly floored Elliott, just as Cliff thought it would. The teacher was far from attractive and had been labelled as 'most likely to die alone' by the student population for at least six years running. "That's incredible!" he declared, before adding in a slightly envious tone "can't believe I missed that!" "It was our final year, so you didn't miss it by much." Cliff told him, not sure whether it was reassuring or not to hear he'd only missed this miraculous occurrence by about two years. "It was the talk of the school, even amongst the other teachers, who it turns out are just as awful gossips as the students." "Those hypocrites!" Elliott exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief "all those times they spent telling us not to spread rumours and gossip it was all" "utter shit? Them talking out of the other side of their faces? a case of 'do as I say, not as I do'?" Cal listed a selection of options. "All of the above."

"We've got a fair few tales" John gestured lazily between himself and Chas, to which the cabbie nodded. "That we do, thought most of them are either to do with the fact that our school was in a really shit area, under resourced and overcrowded was an understatement." "Or it was to do with the fact that the teachers were mostly arseholes." John added. "They liked me well enough, it was you they had a problem with- what with your constant truancy, smoking, bad-mouthing, falling asleep in class and refusal to listen to authority." "None of that's changed since" John added, far more smuggle than he should've given the subject matter, to which Chas made a long suffering 'why do I put up with this idiot' face before remembering something. "Remember that time they thought you were dealing drugs?" he asked, to which John smirked, then chuckled "oh yeaaaah, I remember that, bloody hilarious."

 

[MzHyde]

The moment John said that he and Chas had a fair few tales to tell about their school days, Kay wasn't surprised at all. From what she already knew from previous tales of their childhoods, it was only a given that they'd have more to tell between them. His comment on teachers mostly being arseholes sounded all too familiar to her, they weren't great with her either but that was pretty standard in her eyes because she didn't know any better than misery during the school years. She did have to smirk at Chas' list of many reasons why the teachers didn't like John, thinking that sounded just like adult John and easily believable that he'd be like that as a child and teenager. She also noted how he was way more smug about it than he probably should have been.

At the drug dealing remark, Kay's smirk didn't fade, "I mean..with the list of everything else I can see why they'd think you'd be capable of it" she countered as a half tease whilst giving him a light nudge in the arm. Fia watched on and smiled to herself seeing her parents being the way they were, always finding it a breath of fresh air when her mother was being her old teasing self toward John, instead of the more serious 'rules are rules' type. She took these moments of seeing her mother's younger self as hope in that her mother would change a bit and be less strict.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Had John not called himself out on being exactly the same kind of troublemaker now as he was when he was a teenager, Elliott or Chas would most certainly have done it for him. Though both rolled their eyes at the immense smugness in John's voice declaring that he hadn't changed. Neither of them commented, it was better to have John happy in his own skin and utterly accepting of his own flaws, than going down a spiral of depression hating every single one of those flaws. Elliott hadn't heard this story before and neither had Rinaa, both of whom leaned forwards to listen. "Gotta ask, were you dealing? Or were they just trying to pin it on the usual troublemaker?"

John shook his head vigorously. "Like Hell I was dealing" he replied, the thought clearly appalling him. "Sure I took 'em as an adult, but at that age it was just smoking and a bit of weed. I never dealed. I do actually have standards y'know?" "Yeah we know, they just don't match a normal person's standards." Chas told him, to which Rinaa responded with a firm "there's no such thing as a 'normal' person, we're all either weird or fucked up in some way or another." "It was the latter, them putting it on me cos of my reputation, luckily they got proved wrong cos I knew who was actually dealing." John added for clarification. "Who was dealing then?" Elliott asked curiously. "Some rich asshole kid who didn't even go to our school." "But not rich enough that he got off the possession and distribution charges when it got followed up." The cabbie added. "He got sent to young offenders and then adult prison for the rest of his sentence."

 

[MzHyde]

Unlike the others Fia had heard the story before, but that didn't mean she didn't enjoy hearing it before. She knew her dad would never deal drugs, despite his many other flaws and she knew deep down that Kay knew that also. In her time Elliott's question did come up by Kay to John when the story was told, to which they got the exact same answer in the exact same appalled tone. As the others did, Kay also listened to the story and answer, noting how the idea of actually dealing drugs was utterly appalling to John and she was glad that his morals did include that that was an utter no go place to be.

Hearing that it was some rich kid who wasn't part of the school wasn't entirely shocking to her. It was usually the case evenin Seattle, that it'd be a student from a rival school that'd deal drugs to try and ruin the reputation of said rival school. "sounds about it. It's usually a case of rival students from said rival schools that do the dealing. I guess they think it'll ruin the school's reputation or some shit, but as an adult, I can see understand why they'd be quick to pin it on the trouble makers in their own schools as well. It's utter bollocks mind, but I can see the logic in their mindsets, even if it's untrue" she replied. "as famous for music as Seattle is, their schools also had issues with kids drug dealing. Think it's the whole sex drugs and rock n roll thing that'll forever plague Seattle. Saw it on both sides, kids within their own schools dealing and kids selling to other schools. It's the one upside to being the loner who only ever hangs out with your sister, no one sees you but you see everything" she added.

 

[_gallifrog_]

It made sense to John that dealing drugs to another school would be done deliberately as a way to drag down it's reputation. Underage drug dealing (and drug taking always) made the headlines and caused a scandal, no matter where it took place. But why somebody would want to do it was another thing. Even as a teenage delinquent he'd found other ways of entertaining himself that didn't involve dragging another school's name through the mud. Seemed to him like you'd either have to be very bored, or hell bent on destruction to do such a thing. "That's taking school rivalries too far innit?" He asked. "Or is it just a Yank thing? All the stereotypes say that school reputation stateside is practically on the same level as ancient clan pride." Sure there were most definitely rivalries between schools in the UK, but most of the time it was focused on the sports field as opposed to deliberate sabotage.

The little he'd seen of Seattle on that one trip there after spending the night in the House with Kay (and maybe conceiving Fia there, who knows?) had been very pleasant (compared to what he was used to in the grottier parts of London at least). Nothing in the part they'd visited had told him that there'd be such a dark side to the place and people, and especially not among people of such a young age. Just went to show, you couldn't judge a place by it's outwards appearance. Hearing it stemmed from the music scene explained quite a lot to John, he knew the punk and underground scene well as a teenager- it had been rife with drugs and sex, so if Seattle's musical scene had been anything similar he could see where the demand was coming from. Growing up surrounded by that lore and being told it was the best time of people's lives, it was easy to become a part of it. There was also a self depreciating edge to Kay's tone when she spoke about not being seen, nobody ever liked being the loner, but he supposed, compared to being relentlessly bullied, being invisible was the better option by miles.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay let John say his opinion whilst asking his question, and when he did, it did feel like he was ever so slightly curious to how different school life was in America compared to the UK. She rarely spoke of her school life but seeing as they were all talking about it and having questions asked, she was willing to share, despite it being another dark part of her life. "pretty sure it's a yank thing primarily. You're not far wrong about it being like an ancient clan pride thing. The popular kids really do take their rank I guess you could say insanely seriously. You think it's all made up crap in movies but it's really not. Sure, there's good schools out there, like there is everywhere but to say there's not a school out there that doesn't have some cult bullshit going on under the radar would be a lie." she started explaining, before continuing on.

John also wasn't far off his assumption about the undertones he heard in her voice as she spoke. There was a lot to it and if she was truly honest she tried her hardest to deliberately be the loner in the school. To be that typical kid that spent her time either on the grassy grounds out back or in the art rooms to just get away from everyone. But that didn't mean she didn't have her fair share of bullying, she tried to be the loner because she was bullied for quite a lot of time before they gave up and she just faded into the background to spare Sam the horrendous bullying for just hanging out with her. "don't get me wrong, Seattle is an incredible place to grow up in. It's beautiful and quaint but it's not spared of the dark undertones either. I mean, the city can't be famous for iconic bands like Nirvana and being the birth place of grunge music and not have those dark edges" she then continued, before glancing down at her hands, finding that her thumb was digging into the palm of her other hand.

She didn't even realise she was doing it until she looked down. The one tick she always did when bringing up old wounds. She quickly stopped herself and tucked one hand under her legs to stop herself doing it anymore.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Kay was right in thinking John was curious about the American school system. John and only ever experienced one school system and found it utterly horrendous, and couldn't help but think there had to be a better system out there. He knew very little about the American system in general, and if he was being completely honest with himself had not figured out how the three levels of schooling before university fit together and what the hell 'sophomore' and 'freshman' even referred to (the few attempts he had made to find out had ended in frustration as it seemed every sight he looked had a different meaning for it). As a teenager one of the first places abroad he'd travelled to was New York, in a way fulfilling the 'travelling to America in search of a better life' stereotype. He'd actually travelled there for the magic scene which was one of the best in the world and certainly one of the best to travel to as an English speaker.

John's face could only be described as 'yeeesh' as Kay explained just how intensely seriously kids took school pride in the States. Needless to say he hadn't watched any shows or movies set in high school (why would he when there was an action movie on offer, or some people he could hang out and smoke with instead?). Chas' thoughts were going along a similar line to John's, but his disgust and horror at what Kay was describing wasn't as prominent on his face. The tic didn't go amiss on either of the men, they'd seen in before, even privately made theories as to what caused it and now they knew for sure that it was associated with talking about the darker parts of her life. "I believe all that, no offence, but Americans can really be quite culty about a lot of shit."

"Fair point, it's the same with London and it's circuits and circles. Seems ta me that the nicer a place is on the outside, the bigger the gap between top and bottom, the darker it's flipside. Every major city I've been to has a dark side, and the bigger and the more famous the city, the darker it's underworld and criminal lot. The best places are the ones that aren't special or well known, the ones without the cloud of fame hangin' over them." John replied, and it was clear that his words weren't the first thing that came into his head, he'd done some serious thinking on it. At some point during the conversations of the evening Jay, without even meaning to, had succumbed to the exhaustion and fallen asleep in the chair. Her posture hadn't changed at all, so to a casual observer it would seem as if she was still awake. She'd spent years grabbing naps where she could and was perfectly adept at sleeping upright in chairs without falling off.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay looked at both men as they each expressed their reactions to what she was saying to them all. It was a reaction that wasn't a surprise to her as it was her own when she very first witnessed the kind of shit she did at school. She also noticed that both of them noticed the tic and it was partly one reason she chose to sit on one hand to stop herself from digging her thumb and nail into her palm. As they would have noticed before, it was always a thing she did when speaking about her dark past or got highly anxious. She smirked when Chas expressed his need to prove he meant no offence in what he was about to say and even let John speak before she even thought about replying to them. "no offence taken. Trust me, when I started school over there at ten years old it was a culture shock to me too. Which only got worse as I hit my teens and sophomore years. And you're right John. It does seem to be the case but even though Seattle school years brought me a lot of dark memories, I still love the city a lot. If you don't know what goes on behind the scenes so to speak you'd never think anything bad of it, just like anywhere else" she said to them.

Jay wasn't the only one who had some point had fallen asleep during the conversations. Fia had also fallen asleep on the couch and somehow had slightly slipped and ended up leaning on whoever was sitting next to her. If she was still awake she probably would have gotten up and given her mother a hug, glad that for once she was opening up about her past, even if it was in a round about manner. Instead she was out like a light. Kay then glanced up and saw the two asleep and had to smile slightly, "seems those two finally had enough of being awake" she remarked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Just like me an' London then" John shrugged, before giving his (more simplified) interpretation of what Kay had said "despite all the shit that happened to me there, I really wouldn't be happy long term anywhere else." "That I can confirm, I've put up with years of his bitching" Chas pulled another one of his 'I'm so long-suffering' faces. Until Kay had mentioned it, Elliott had been completely oblivious to the fact that Jay had nodded off in the chair. He had however noticed Fia falling asleep as she was far more prominently in his line of sight. The difference between the sleeping positions of the two was quite startling, Fia was clearly happy to let her guard down and curl against whatever warm body was nearest, no qualms about making herself comfortable on the couch. Jay on the other hand, had one of the most uncomfortable sleeping positions they'd seen in quite a long time and hadn't let her guard down one bit at all, if the tension in her shoulder was anything to go by. "Who can blame them really?"

"That CAN'T be comfortable sleeping like that." Cliff remarked, gesture at Jay's rigid posture. "It isn't, but I'm not gonna even TRY and wake her." Elliott replied, eyeing Jay warily as if she was a bomb that could go off. "Why not?" "Because I don't want to get assaulted." Elliott replied as if it was the most obvious answer. "It's some assassin training thing, she's conditioned to attack anybody who tries to move her when she's asleep. We found out when she pulled a few all-nighters and fell asleep at the laptop, Kane went to shift her and ended up slammed against the wall, knife at his throat. She let him go after a few seconds, but we genuinely were fearing for his life. And that wasn't the last time she did that either, so therefore, I'm not gonna make any attempt to move her."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay nodded, having got that feeling from John that no matter what he wouldn't leave London for long and he'd always find his way back there to live. She smirked slightly at Chas' confirmation of John's words, "London definitely had that weird draw to people. I mean, I could have studied anywhere in the States or Seattle for art but I chose my birth home.." she said with a shrug. She always presumed it was because she missing that link to her British heritage, yet as the short few years went by, part of her deep down alway wondered if it was to see if she could find and reconcile with her father, despite knowing deep down it was futile, which it very much later proved to be, thanks to her father being less than human when they saw each other again and tried to kill her. Yet now she got wondering if it the universe telling her she had to go back because that was John lived and would be for her. In fact she was now convinced it was because of John.

When Fia first fell asleep, she was sitting slightly more upright into the back of the couch, but as she got deeper and deeper into REM, her body just slumped sideways into the closest warm body she was to. She knew she was perfectly safe in the apartment and so her guard did drop because of that knowledge. Kay agreed that no one could blame the two of them for falling asleep. She was actually glad to see that Jay had finally fallen asleep after being awake for so long, and as for Fia, it just wasn't a surprise. Every one of them knew how much Fia loved her sleep, and she was still young. She listened to the story of why Elliott wasn't going to wake Jay, a story that made Kay pull a face of 'yeesh', much similar to John's earlier expression. "yeah, leaving Jay is definitely best in that case. If she gets too uncomfortable she'll either move in her sleep if her guard drops enough or just wake up to move" she summarised. Sure, Jay was a trained assassin, but she was a person too, she wasn't completely void of normal reactions.

"as for Fia, I don't think anyone will wake her, we've all seen how deep she can sleep, so we can either leave her here or someone can carry her to her bed for me because I obviously can't" she summarised. She was starting to feel the draw of sleep herself but she was more focused on what to do with Fia, and she was too comfortable next to John.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Hearing Elliott explain that Jay had all but thrown Kane through a wall when he tried to wake her, John could easily understand why Elliott was eyeing the sleeping assassin as with the same wariness that others would eye an explosive device with. It was because she was a dangerous object with hair-trigger, and as Elliott was the one sitting closest to her, he was the one most at risk of being flung against a wall. The training that had instilled this violent reaction in her was stronger than her feelings for Elliott. It wasn't something that went away either, in both Rinaa and Fia's timeline they'd learned not to even touch Jay while she was sleeping as she would just as willingly attack a kid as she would attack an adult when snapping out of sleep. The only person who could so easily invade her personal space with evoking such a reaction had been Jack, being twins they'd shared a connection that strong enough to bypass this training.

"Don't disturb her while sleeping, noted" Cliff nodded, looking at the assassin again, idly wondering if it was standard Isogrii training and if Quin had the same response to being touched while sleeping. (She liked to think she got on fairly well with the other assassin in the few times they'd spent together on the island, she was certainly more open and easier to talk to compared to Jay). "Well I'm certainly not gonna disturb her either." Cal added decisively. "Well I'm stupid, but not that stupid. I'll leave any waking to you Ell." John smirked, very much wanting to see this in action (just not be on the receiving end of it. "Oh thanks, I feel so honoured." Elliott replied sarcastically.

Rinaa opened her mouth as if to say something in response to Kay's words about Fia, but then shut it again, deciding against voicing whatever thought was looping around in her head. Cliff noticed this and couldn't resist prying. "You got a better idea kiddo?" She asked. "Sorta, makes perfect sense to me, but this is one of those things where my opinion really doesn't matter and I definitely don't get a say in. But since you asked, I WAS gonna say you could just leave her to sleep there on the couch and I'll take her bed." There was a definite defensive edge in her tone, which was only amplified as she crossed her arms."She's technically stolen my bed" she indicated the couch with a jerk of her chin, which was the couch she'd slept on every time she'd stayed at Cal and Cliff's place in this timeline "only fair I steal hers."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay found it amusing that John would resort to the decision of leaving it to Elliott to do any waking if it came to it just because he'd want to see the assassin in action. "you are a cruel man John" she joked, siding with Elliott. She had to admit to herself that it would be an terrifying but impressive sight to see if she did witness Jay do what she was trained to do, but she also didn't feel like seeing it anytime soon. Cliff wasn't the only one who noticed Rinaa wanting to say something but stopped herself before any words came out of her mouth, but she didn't want to press on it. Luckily for her, Cliff did to get what was on Rinaa's mind out in the open.

Hearing Rinaa's idea, Kay had to agree it was a good one and a fair one at that. She was certain that Fia didn't intend to fall asleep on the couch as it was a case of one minute she was awake and laughing at Elliott and the next she was out like a light. "I don't see why that wouldn't be a reasonable idea. I'm sure Fia wouldn't mind that being the case for one night, so I'd say go for it." Kay replied. She could hear how defensive Rinaa was being over the fact Fia fell asleep on 'her' couch, which she thought was a slight over exaggeration to the whole situation but she wasn't going to go into that. She just hoped Fia didn't have anything in the room she was taking up that she wouldn't want Rinaa to see. "I think either way, having Fia off of Chas' side would be a good thing" she smirked, yet she did find it utterly heartwarming that Fia would sleep on her godfather the way she did. To her, it showed how much Fia loved Chas and trusted him.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa's argument was very much on the childish, of that there was no doubt and if it had been anyone else, they'd have been laughing at how territorial she was acting over the couch. Cliff couldn't help but wonder if it was the wolf side making her particularly territorial or whether it was something to do with the fact that she didn't know where 'home' was and this couch was somewhere she felt content and safe. But there was logic to it, why bother hauling a sleeping teenager around when somebody else could just make use of the free bed? There was nothing particularly wrong with sleeping on the couches, they were comfortable and long enough that none of them would wake up with back pain, but there was nothing quite like a proper bed.

"I'm all in favour of moving Fia off me in some way or another" Chas replied, casting a fond look at the teenager curled up against him, just like how Trish used to sleep when she much younger (she didn't do it any more, having grown out of that phase at a very early age). "As much as I like the kid, I also love being able to use my other arm, it's surprisingly useful, and right now I can't feel it." The cabbie gave a smirk of 'I'm not wrong and you know it', there had been many a time where he'd had to drive one handed and do something else with the free hand in other to get out of a sticky situation. "I'm with her on this" John declared with a shrug, though who he meant by 'her' was ambiguous "the phrase 'you snooze you lose exists for a reason."

 

[MzHyde]

The fond look that Chas gave Fia didn't go amiss on Kay. It was a look that showed her that if Fia ever had to spend days with him, she'd be perfectly safe and they'd never have to worry. It was clear to her that no matter the reason he was looking fondly upon Fia, he had taken a shine to his goddaughter, just as she with him. She smiled at Chas' words, finding the best option was to leave Fia laying on the couch for the night with a blanket and pillow, whilst some of the rest of them moved to give Chas one of the other couches and much deserved freedom. She nodded in agreement with both Chas and John. "we'll there you go then Rinaa, you take Fia's bed whilst you have the chance to, and we'll" she gestured round the rest of them, "decide who will move to give Chas the other couch and more importantly the freedom of Fia's dead weight" she suggested, feeling it was truly the best way.

She wouldn't mind moving and heading to bed for the night, even if she was utterly comfortable, but she also found Chas' comfort in this moment to be a bit more important than her own which in a way was utterly backwards. "as its late, I don't mind calling it a night personally. Given that myself and John actually have one of the spare rooms, it'd make sense for us to move, but that's just my opinion" she then offered, placing her feet onto the ground and off the table's edge.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John wasn't massively sleepy (the suspicion Rinaa had voiced to Fia while they were both buzzed and drunk, of John being in one of his insomniac phases was starting to look pretty dang true), but regardless of whether he'd actually sleep or not, he saw sense in it being him and Kay who moved. Instinct of some sort (or maybe it was bond knowledge, he couldn't honestly tell) told him that she would be nodding off soon. "Makes sense" he shrugged "If we're following the teenager's logic then this is kinda Chas' couch anyway." "Sorta yeah" the cabbie confirmed "we" he gestured between himself, Elliott, Jay and Rinaa "rotate around locations depending on what time any of us want to sleep at, hence why Rinaa sleeps in the utility room during the day." The teenager in question shrugged "Guilty as charged, sure the floor's far harder, but I know where the warm water pipes run, so that makes up for it I guess."

"We should head up anyway, I definitely need sleep and have no intention of doing a Jay, no matter how comfortable it looks." There was a round of soft chuckling at the sarcasm in Cliff's tone. While the others hauled themselves out of their respective chairs and couches (which John swore was trying to mould around him, with the intent that they merge together into one symbiotic John Constantine-Attili sofa organism) Rinaa practically jumped out of hers, seeing no point in wasting time. "I'll be back in a minute with the blankets and pillows" she said by means of explanation, heading to the bedroom to grab the duvet and the pillows from the bed. If things were normal she would have given Fia the spare ones, but with her enhanced sense she didn't know how her dreaming mind would react to being enveloped in the scent of Fia and did not want to wake up the apartment because she was screaming due to a nightmare. By the time she emerged back, Chas had extracted himself from under Fia and was rubbing his arm in the hopes of getting his circulation back, while Cliff had manoeuvred Fia into what she deemed a 'medically sound position for sleeping in'.

 

[MzHyde]

When John agreed with her that it should be them that moved, she felt tha kful that he didn't think she was just making his decision for him as that wasn't her intent. She was just seeing it from a logical and fair way. She was just making the initial moves to stand up as everyone spoke about how the rest of them rotated the sleeping arrangements in the living room and Cliff and Cal declaring they should head up themselves. As she stood up, she saw Rinaa spring up quickly and grab Fia's duvet and pillows as Chas managed to get out from under Fia's sleeping form, with Cliff helping to manouver her. She was half expecting to see Fia stir slightly but she didn't at all, which made Kay wonder how the hell Fia could sleep so deeply. If it was just her, John and Fia in John's apartment or The House, she probably would have walked over and kissed the top of Fia's head goodnight, but she wasn't and she didn't feel quite ready to be that motherly.

Standing up, she said her goodnight to everyone and started to head to the bedroom. She did think it wouldn't be long before she felt tired enough to fall asleep once her head hit the pillow, but for now she did feel still awake enough to be up for a little bit. Back in the bedroom finally, she managed to change out of her clothing and climb into bed, sitting slightly up. "well today has been.... informative to say the least" she remarked as swung her hair over one shoulder and loosely braiding it up so she wouldn't get too hot in the night, or any pressure headaches from laying on said braid. She paused mid sentence to find the right word before settling on informative, feeling like no other word would describe their day any better.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John didn't bother with properly undressing once he got into what was now known as 'their' room, just pulled off his shoes, sock and tie, hung the trench coat up with care, before sitting down on the bed, swinging his legs around and leaning his back up against his side of the headboard. He knew the word 'informative' didn't come close to conveying the day they'd just had, but like Kay he struggled to find a better one. This was one of those times where the English language failed to capture the nuances of what he wanted to say. "Understatement, but at least we finally got somebody who'll talk to us and tell us what truth they can, which makes a change from vague hints and downright refusals." He then smirked "plus I learned far more about lizards than I ever thought I would."

Unlike Fia who seemed to be perfectly content sprawling over the bed in any old position with the door open to the entire world when she slept in Cal and Cliff's spare room, Rinaa actually bothered to first close the door and then actually get underneath the covers. She drew the blanket completely over herself, bundling herself up in the thick fabric, pulling it so far up her body that she very nearly covered her mouth and ears. Like Jay, she always slept facing the main entrance to the room, not leaving her back exposed should somebody come in.

 

[MzHyde]

With her braid loosely and quickly done, she let her it just fall and lay down on her shoulder as John replied to her little comment on the day's events. She knew saying informative would be considered an understatement to John, but until there came a better word, it was the only one she was going to use. She had to smirk slightly at the last remark, "there is that yeah. I still can't quite believe he put Sykes in her place, on top of everything else" she replied, dragging one leg up slightly, to place her foot flat down on the mattress. "and hearing about Cal, Cliff and Ell's school days was something too" she added. Despite going down memory lane for herself at one point albeit willingly, she did enjoy learning more about Elliott's time before he found refuge on Earth with John. It also brought up feelings of how they'd go about Fia's education in the future, as they had seen home schooling was damaging in some ways to their kid, but could they risk it? She still didn't know.

Fia didn't budge when she got moved to have the pillow out under her head and the duvet over her. The only slight movement that came from her was a few moments later when she managed to grab onto the edge of the duvet and partially hug it in her sleep, whilst being unaware that she fell asleep in the living room and was sleeping in a room that still had Elliott, Chas and a sleeping Jay. She was capable of sleeping under the duvet at times, and not be sprawled out everywhere, but it was rare. With Rinaa in the room Fia should have been in, she would have spotted Fia's thigh bag on the floor and her normal bag, partially open with corners of books, both reference and notebooks sticking out. Fia's boots would be next to her bags, one laying on its side, whilst one was standing up properly, yet still somehow everything was together in one small space and not absolutely everywhere, which was a slight contrast to how the girl could sleep.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John nodded in agreement, that had been, without a doubt the biggest surprise of the day. Even the fact that the Attili government was brainwashing people paled in comparison to the fact that there was somebody who could make Sykes back down without even breaking a sweat. "That was seriously impressive to watch, I really didn't think anybody could make that psycho back down while making it look so effortless." He had both a healthy respect for anybody who could do that and a healthy fear as well. If they could fuck up a genetically modified wolf, they could definitely fuck up a human. "Though it was also terrifying. I definitely wasn't the only one who had the old flight or fight response triggered by that snarl." John couldn't help but wonder how the whack jobs who believed there were lizard people masquerading as human politicians would react upon seeing Dakkon (or any other lizardkin). Probably by losing their shit.

"Yeah, they seem on the outlandish side sometimes, and if they came from somebody on earth I wouldn't believe 'em." John smirked well aware that had he been a normal person, he wouldn't believe the majority of the stories that came out of his mouth on a regular basis. "But this is a highly technologically advanced alien civilisation and there's no doubt on how different thing are here. So I enjoy hearin' 'em" He then sighed, his tone becoming slightly more melancholy. "Ell's always had good stories and good memories from going to school here, actually most of his memories of living here are good, that becomes pretty damn clear once he actually starts talking about the place. It's just this one shitty event that casts blackness over every part of his life here. As much as I don't like to admit it.... he was right to come back, he's already gettin' some kind of closure, first with findin' out what happened to cal and secondly with acceptin' that it's okay to have good memories o' this place."

Rinaa had expected Fia's presence to just have completely overtaken the room, for her stuff to have expanded into every nook and cranny. But to see that her 'cousin' was also living out of a set of bags and taking up the minimal amount of space made her feel strangely better about how Rinaa herself was doing the exact same thing in this timeline. Back in her own timeline, wherever Rinaa stayed was split between being highly organised and utter chaos. Any storage and shelves were always meticulously arranged (as was her wardrobe), but her workbench was always covered in drawings, tools, spare parts, prototypes, with safety gear at hand while her study desk was covered in open textbooks, notepads, colour coded sticky notes and writing implements arranged in a way that only she understood.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay totally agreed with John's words. She too didn't think anyone could put Sykes in her place, that they'd forever have to deal with the wolf's temperamental behaviour. Unlike John however, she was reluctant to use the word 'psycho' when describing the wolf, even though she did those feelings towards her. She hated how she treated their kid and just about everyone in the group, even though it now made a lot of sense as to why Fia was the main verbal punching bag for Sykes. "I agree it was equally impressive and terrifying and no you weren't. It certainly triggered it in me and Fee that's for sure." she told him. She continued to listen then to what he had to say about Elliott, finding it was such a development for John to admit that Elliott did do the correct thing by coming back here, even if he didn't like admitting it. It was a massive change of heart in her opinion that he had made but one she was actually proud of. "I know how that feels for him and I agree that he did the right thing, even if we couldn't see it before, we definitely do now. There's a visable change in Ell, and it's a positive one" she told him. "we all deserve closure of one sort or another so Elliott is no different in that regard" she added.

Despite Fia's personality, she wasn't a complete slob when it came to her belongings. She did have some manners and etiquette after all. The one notable thing that Rinaa would have probably spotted was that amongst the books sticking out of her bag was a photograph with a corner just ever so slightly worn but in other ways it was rather well preserved as it was paperclipped with a blue metallic paperclip to her notebook. The photograph in question was one of her with both Kay and John, her next to John, John in the middle and Kay on the other side. Kay and John both looking ever so slightly older than they did now, and Fia looking around two years younger than she currently was. Kay had her hands on John's shoulder, whereas Fia had one arm round John and her other hand in her jeans pocket, but her head very much against her dad. It looked like a typical happy family photo, and that the three were all close as any other typical family. The photo had writing on the back in Fia's handwriting (small, italic but joined up) with the following:

'August 16th,
I wish mum loved me as much as she does dad or makes out in this photo'

Fia only ever kept it because it gave her the hope she would think differently of her mother one day. The truth of her feelings were far from the truth and future Kay did love her daughter unconditionally, yet due to her upbringing Fia's viewing of her mother's love was indeed greatly warped.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John found it interesting that the primeval snarl had also evoked a response from Fee. The lizardkin's 'don't fuck with me' call was ancient, he instinctively knew that much, coming from a time long before any of the modern sentient races, something from the early days of time, maybe even from the very beginning, somewhere like Eden. Mythology said the phoenix was a race that had been around at that time, and maybe there had been lizardkin around there too. The monocolour eyes of Dakkon had had a sort of timeless quality and a sense of having seen the passage of time that had stopped John in his tracks when he made contact with them. He remembered wondering just how old Dakkon was, Cliff had mentioned in a throwaway comment that lizardkin lifespans were incredibly long, far longer than Devra, and longer than Deke's species too.

He hadn't meant to voice the sort of... epiphany he guessed it could be called... that he'd had with regards to Elliott's decision to come back, yet for some reason he did, the words out of his mouth before he could take them back. It wasn't that Elliott had been particularly troubled or depressed on earth (he was pretty average in that regard, taking the ups with the downs), but there had been a definite lightening since he came to Attil as if some great burden had been lifted. Finding out what had happened to Cal had been a major part of that, she was the person he missed the most, particularly when he was younger there had been a number of times where it had been Cal he called out for after some nightmares or another. "Yeah, I know that closure's important an' all, an' it was gonna happen sooner or later that he'd come back here and face up to it, jus' didn't see it coming so soon. Probably something to with the significance of the fact that he'd spent half his life on Attil and half his life off it fully sinking in."

The thought to snoop through her 'cousin's' stuff wasn't one that occurred to Rinaa, after placing her phone on the bedside table, she pulled the blanket up over her legs and booted up her laptop with the intent of getting some planning done. It was a complete invasion of privacy and she knew if she did find anything particularly personal to her 'cousin' she wouldn't be able to unsee whatever it was. She was already living with enough guilt and secrets, there was no need to add yet another to the pile. Rinaa had limits and the last thing she wanted to be was a hyprocrite, telling the rest of the extended family not to go through her stuff and then when their backs were turned, she herself going through somebody else's. Rinaa was many things, but a hypocrite was one she tried very hard not to be. Another factor was that she simply didn't want to know how the world should have been like, it was painful enough for her just contemplating it, but actually seeing it for herself... it would break something within her.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay never brought it up before about Fee's reaction to the snarl because she didn't see a point in bringing it up, but seeing as John brought up the whole fight or flight response, she decided she would bring it up. Fee very rarely responded to anything that had been going on on Attil so she herself found it curious that she responded to the snarl from Dakkon. She figured it was because it was one ancient species reacting to another, that Fee recognised it in Dakkon which made her decide if it were to go bad she would take over and insist on everyone getting to safety and to respect Dakkon, yet Kay knew she could be completely wrong as well so tried not to think much on it. Even if John hadn't meant to let out his thoughts on Elliott, she was glad that he did. She was thankful that he felt he could have his guard down enough around her to let his thoughts be spoken. She nodded at the rest of his words, understanding it. "I can understand that. I also get that no matter when he would have come back, you'd probably think it was too soon in some ways because you care about him." she replied to him.

Fia would have appreciated the fact that Rinaa didn't even think twice about snooping through her belongings, had she been awake or aware Rinaa was having her bed for the night. Instead she slept soundly on the couch, with only the smallest of little motions happening every now and then as it was like she snuggled right under the duvet, her eyelids flickering once in a while at the signs of her dreaming.

 

[_gallifrog_]

There was a certain truth in Kay's words, he probably wouldn't have been happy with Elliott going back to Attil, no matter what age his adoptive son was. Knowing what had happened to him as a kid could so easily happen again set him right on edge. Had Elliott straight out told John his intentions, John would have used every argument in his arsenal to stop Elliott from going. John wouldn't consider himself overprotective, nor would he consider Elliott reckless and impulsive. But his first thoughts when he saw the news footage of Elliott being taken away by the Attili diplomatic group had been to curse whatever crazy notions had gotten into Elliott's head and wonder if the kid had completely and utterly lost his mind. He knew all too well that he was thinking this way because Elliott filled not one, but two categories on the list of 'major weaknesses of John Constantine'.

The first was that he was somebody John cared about. He didn't let people in easily (or at all, most he just tolerated and that was it), but every so often somebody would break through that shell and when he did let them in, it was because he genuinely cared about them. Once in there was nothing he wouldn't do for them. People used that weakness against him time and time again, the most noticeable abuser being Zatanna. The second category Elliott fell into was the fact that he was a kid. Whether it was because of his own fucked up childhood or some more naive belief that kids were still innocent to the true darkness of the world, the one sure fire way to get John's attention was to threaten, maim or kill a load of kids. He didn't look it, but John genuinely liked kids (though they had to be at least eight or able to hold a coherent conversation), babies and toddlers he really couldn't stand (a fact he had neglected to tell Kay). His genuine liking of kids and/or compulsion to keep kids from harms way was why he'd done what he did to try and save Astra, was why he jumped at the opportunity to be Trish's godfather, was why he was such a good uncle to Gemma, why he couldn't just abandon the alien boy who fell from the sky, was why he got Noah Ikumelo out of the gangs up north, was why he'd managed to bond with Fia despite not being the same person as her father and was why he, no matter how many times he complained and bitched, was not quite ready to give up on Rinaa. "Yeah, I know" was all he said in response to Kay's words. After a moments pause he added "and if you want to go to sleep and stop yappin', just say, I'm technically an insomniac, don't know if I mentioned that before, and go through phases of not being able to sleep, no matter what, and at the moment I'm in one of those phases."

 

[MzHyde]

Had Kay known that he really had a genuine dislike for babies and toddlers, she was certain she wouldn't know what to say or do to the news. She wasn't particularly keen on them herself but she wouldn't say she had a real dislike for them, but then she hadn't really given the idea of babies and toddlers being in her life even a second thought before now. She had absolutely no idea what she would need to do or how to do everything to raise a child and that still freaked her out immensely. She just never told John that, just as he never spoke of his dislike of very young children. Yet there was just something in her that told her they would be both alright. Even if she didn't know what that something was at this stage in her life.

She listened as he told her if she wanted to sleep, then she should and not feel like she had to stay up because he was. "truth be told, I kinda guessed you were in one of those phases that you've told me about before." she admitted to him. "don't worry, if I fall asleep I'll fall asleep." she shrugged. "as selfish as this sounds, I'm just enjoying alone time with you, even if it's talking over the day's events" she told him honestly, as she let herself shuffle down the bed just a bit for the sake of her back. She then reached over and grabbed her phone, where she opened a notepad function and tapped in some words and numbers. If John had been nosey and glanced over, he would have seen she was making notes about how quickly her pregnancy was going along for her own peace of mind. A lot of it was amount of times she felt unborn Fia kick or remained still, so she could try and guess how accelerated it was truly being. She felt like she had no control over it, but this note taking gave her that sense of control she so desperately needed.

She was also curious to how close or far away Fia's possible birthday was to her own. It was a minor little thought in her head, but it was none the less that she had relatively started getting in her head. In fact she was convinced it had to be getting close to her own which just brought the thoughts and fears of Fia's birth all that more to the front of her mind.