Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[MzHyde]

Kay and Fia both looked at each other when John came back with his retort, a look that said 'there he goes again, blah blah blah'. Fia may have had more experience with the kinds of retorts John came out with than Kay (in a weird yet understandable way), but it still somehow felt like a normal thing for Kay to react with. As they both realised they were thinking the same thing, they both started chuckling before focusing back on the menu and deciding eventually on what it was they both wanted, making sure not to order anything that would sound anything remotely close to the octopus or eel dishes just to play safe anyway. When Fia had decided what she wanted and told John, she gave him a hug from behind and stood up straight to go get her boots and coat.

With it all ordered in, both Fia and Kay pulled on their coats as Chas they may as well get going to the forge, whilst they have a good ten minutes ahead of the food arriving. "makes sense, sooner we get to the forge, the sooner we can talking ourselves out of walking in the rain" Kay replied as she zipped up the coat completely. Fia nodded as she pulled on her boots and her coat, doing the same as Kay and zipping it right up not wanting to risk getting cold even during such a short walk as to the forge. "well let's go then" Fia agreed pulling up her faux fur trimmed hood over her head. It utterly swamped her and she always found she had to fully turn her whole body to be able to see anyone to her side when it was up, but it kept her warm and kept her hair dry, so she didn't care.

 

[_gallifrog_]

While John ordered Chas went to grab his coat, it was nothing particularly special looking, but it was waterproof and more importantly warm. While it didn't have a faux fur inner lining like Fia's did it had some kind of synthetic fabric that was surprisingly good at keeping in body heat. John was the only one without a hood but he didn't really care, when it came to his trench coat he'd rather get soaked than wear something else. It would be like cheating to wear something else (unless it was a leather jacket, that and that alone was the only exception). His relationship with rain was love-hate, sometimes he couldn't give two tosses about being drenched to the bone in a rainstorm, other times even the slightest bit of drizzle would send him into a pissy mood and rant about just how shit the weather was.

Both Chas and John grabbed keys on the way out, with the former locking up. Outside the rain was just as bad as it looked from inside. They were considerably less people outside than usual and all the military types (except the cadets) had official jackets with hoods. There was one person who caught John's eye as she was making some kind of personalised force field around their body to keep the water off them. She wasn't the only one, anybody that had a power that could be used to keep the rain off themselves was using it. They would be the only ones batting an eyelid at such blatant use of powers, on Attili powers were completely accepted by society, unlike on Earth where meta-humans were ostracised (some could keep it secret, but the unfortunate ones who changed physically as a result of either the meta-gene triggering or the particle accelerator explosion faced serious discrimination in all areas of life). The forge was in full swing when they got there both Dan and the apprentice (who wasn't Cal) had been working for hours now and were well into the swing of it.

 

[MzHyde]

As they exited the apartment, Kay pulled her own hood up to save her hair getting wet and anymore soaked than they would during the walk. Seeing how empty the area was, was of no surprise to her as she thought those staying indoors were probably doing the sensible thing. She saw the one person able to use their powers to keep the rain off of themselves, and it reminded her that meta powers were allowed on this planet. Seeing it always brought home how backwards it felt that they allowed meta abilities but not magic but she always kept that to herself. "now that's one way to keep dry" Fia commented, having noticed it as well but unaware if she could even be heard. The rain soaked the women's coats, but not enough to get them wet through, though Fia did find herself still shivering inside her coat.

When they reached the forge, Kay sighed with relief that they reached a dry area and more to the point, an warm place thanks to the fire and embers making the forge incredibly hot. Both her and Fia saw that Dan and his other apprentice was busy working, so decided they'd stay out of the way as they were working, and removed their wet coats, hanging them up where they knew they could from their past visits. Fia found herself hugging herself as she took in the heat of the forge, wanting to stay out of the way the two workers but also desperate to warm up. Kay found herself blowing onto her hands and rubbing them together to warm up before seeing that Fia was still trying to warm up more than even her. The sight reminded her of herself when she lived on the streets and was desperate to get warm whilst being rained on or snowed on, making her walk over to Fia and hug her, rubbing her hands up and down Fia's arms. "you'll soon warm up" she remarked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The main room of the forge was considerably warmer than outside, the furnaces had been going since the early hours of the morning and had well and truly warmed the place up. If they were to go onto the roof of the building and sit there, they'd be able to feel some of the heat radiating outwards through the tiles. As the region was mountainous, snow was fairly common in the winter months, and the heat of the forge meant the roof was always snow free. The forge was right on the edge between pleasantly and unpleasantly warm- John could practically see the water evaporating off his hair. It was easy to see why Dan would want to hire a pyrokinetic to work in such conditions and why Cliff as a teenager had always chosen to stay at the door of the forge itself when watching.

The apprentice looked up at the new arrivals, Chas was the only one he recognised, as the cabbie had been there many times before. He didn't look particularly surprised at the sight of them, not even the sight of both Kay and Fia's vibrant hair phased him (almost every Devra they came across had some form of surprise at the women's hair- the colour really didn't exist naturally on the Attil). But this guy just gave them a cursory glance before returning to his work, raising up his hammer to strike the metal again, which told John two things about him- one, that he was most likely an off-worlder and two, he knew who they were, or at least twigged that they were the new extended family of Dan. While Fia and Kay had their moment Chas yelled over at the blacksmith (one really did have to yell to be heard over the general din of the forge) explaining why they were here. One remark made both John and Chas' eyebrows raise in surprise. "He says that Rinaa stopped off here for a couple of short minutes before going to visit Moya" John translated.

 

[MzHyde]

When the apprentice glanced over at them and gave no surprised reaction to them, Kay guessed he had some sort of knowledge of who they were by being told by either Cal or Dan. Satisfied that Fia was warming up rapidly put Kay at ease that she didn't get so cold it'd take a lot more to get her warm again. Despite being a phoenix, Kay had gone down with hypothermia once on the streets and she found it to be one of the most excruciating ways to actually die or come close to it, so the last thing she wanted was for Fia to experience that. With the heat, she could also practically see John and Chas drying off by the second. They let Chas tell Dan why they were there, before wondering what made both men raise their eyebrows which they got the answer for soon after. "huh..interesting but I guess in some ways not entirely surprising that she'd give Dan a short visit" Kay replied.

Now suitably warmed up, Fia was curious to what the apprentice was actually making, finding her trying to see what it was whilst remaining firmly where she was and out of the way. "I just hope it goes okay with Moya, like we've said before and that our food gets here soon because I'm huuuuuuuungry!" Fia chimed in, whilst watching the apprentice, showing that despite she wasn't looking at her family, she was in actuality listening. Her extension of the word 'hungry' also making her come across as the typical seventeen year old she was. Kay rolled her eyes at her daughter, "I'm sure it will on both accounts kiddo, and stop staring" Kay told Fia back, making Fia run her hand through her hair sheepishly and looking away.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Well she did say she liked to hang around this place as a kid, plus he's also family." Chas replied with a shrug. It made perfect sense to him that Rinaa would stop by the forge before leaving. Dan has just as much right as any of them to a personal goodbye as opposed to finding out second hand. Maybe even more. Rinaa hadn't said a lot about her time living on Attil, but she had let it slip that she used to sleep in Cal's old room and there was talk of teaching her some forging skills (but once her fear of fire manifested that was off the cards).

Both Chas and John nodded at Fia's statement about Moya before rolling their eyes at where her priorities were hopping too. John let out a slight chuckle when Kay told Fia to stop staring at the apprentice. The kid's embarrassment at being caught staring was pretty damn funny, evidently she wasn't used to being called out in such a way. The apprentice was over at the other side of the forge, right near the furnaces and didn't hear the conversation going on, but Dan, who'd walked over to the shelf near them to pull out some various weapon blanks understood enough from their body language to know what was going on. Chas translated "he says feel free to watch from closer, since you're pyro and fire-proof enough it's okay, just be safe about doing it....... Also the apprentice doesn't speak English, but he is taken, so don't get any ideas down that line."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay agreed that it did make sense for Rinaa to say goodbye to Dan, as she said, it wasn't all that surprising and did make sense for her to do so. Seeing Fia get sheepish at being called out for staring made Kay feel quite proud of herself, especially when it made John chuckle and be amused. It made her feel all the more proud of herself when Dan overheard and spoke up on it, letting Fia get closer if she so wished. When Chas translated it, including the last bit, Fia then rolled her eyes with a huff. "jeez... I'm not THAT much like this one okay?" she retorted, gesturing at John. Kay had to smirk as she really tried to refrain from bringing up her night out at the club and the numerous photographic pieces of evidence that said otherwise.

"I'm curious to what he's making if you MUST know" she then added. "suuuuure you are" Kay teased, before letting Fia walk a bit closer whilst flipping her mother off. Kay knew from Fia's body language and tone that she was telling the truth, but she couldn't resist the slight jibing that Fia had opened up for herself. It was simply too good an opportunity to take up, so she wasn't going to just let it pass up. Fia got a bit closer, actually thankful for feeling more heat and watched to see what was being made only. "she is far too easy to wind up" Kay remarked, seeing that Fia really was just figuring out what was being made and wasn't giving the apprentice any kind of attention in the slightest.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John just smirked at Fia's words, he knew a 'normal' person shouldn't be as proud or open about just how promiscuous he'd been in the past, but John was far from normal in that regard. If anybody did make any insulting jabs about that aspect of his life he simply shrugged it off, saying something along the lines of 'well at least I'm not a sexually repressed narrow minded wanker like some people' or 'if the hole fits and they're up for it, whats the big deal?'. John had never been ashamed of being bi at any point of his life and strangely it had never been a thing his father had used as ammunition against his son. He didn't even know if his father had known, and quite frankly he didn't care.

The others could see that Fia didn't have any interest like that in the apprentice, but it was like Kay said, far too much fun to tease Fia like that. "Oh yep she is, I'm gonna make the most of it before she gets used to it." Chas meanwhile relaying what Fia had said to the blacksmith who shrugged. "He didn't think she was, but apparently Si's had it rough these past few years and Dan's sort of an uncle figure in his life, so he's a tad protective of him." Chas translated. The apprentice looked up briefly when Fia walked closer which would reveal to Fia that he had central heterochromia- one eye was brown while the other was a familiar dark grey. He was working on refining a sword blank into a long, slim katana like blade a process which involved stretching out the metal into a longer piece then hammering it into a series of gradually less wide moulds. It had only been started recently, judging by it's stocky rectangular shape. The way he wielded the hammer and watched the metal with a slightly furrowed brow spoke of both precision and attentiveness.

 

[MzHyde]

As had been made very clear before, neither Kay or Fia had any qualms or insecurity that John was bisexual, and it recently turned Fia was very much bi herself, so it wasn't an issue in the slightest. It was amusing that Fia would try and make some kind jibe about John's promiscuous history none the less, even if it fell flat tremendously. Kay just smirked and chuckled at John saying he was going to make the most of it whilst he can, "I don't doubt that for a second, because I'll be right there beside you joining in" she said. When Chas finally relayed back what Dan said to Fia's words, Kay nodded in understanding. "I can understand that. Dan is seriously a good guy, the kid is obviously in good hands with him" she replied.

Fia just gave the apprentice a friendly smile when he looked up at her, his eyes being the first thing she noticed instantly, yet she went right back to looking at the katanga he was making. From the sheer length of it she summarised it was a sword of some kind and Co tinued to watch on. Just like when Cal showed her how to make the ring all that time ago, she watched with fascination and admiration for people who could work with metal in this manner. She hoped she wasn't in the way, but she was certain he would tell her in some form if she was. It was times like this she wished she knew basic Attili so she could at least tell this guy it was looking good so far or even just to say hi and don't mind her watching. Kay watched on, seeing how Fia was being respectful the whole time, but she could also see the fascination in her eyes to the craft. "she really does a curious mind for all crafts" she remarked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

As it turned out Fia wasn't in the way at all, had she stood at the other side of the anvil she would have been as that was the path he took to return the metal to the furnace and to grab any other tools or moulds that might be necessary. The apprentice alternated which side of the blank he hit after each reheating. When the metal had faded back to a non-malleable light red he pulled the blade out of the mould and ran his hand over the sides and the edges feeling for any imperfections. Just before his hands touched the still blistering hot metal his hands changed. His skin became cracked and darkened until his entire hand was covered in protective overlapping scales (like those on a snake). Even his fingernails were replaced with scales. These were clearly impervious to the heat, yet sensitive that he could feel any flaws or kinks in the metal.

Casting another glance over at Fia and the apprentice the girl's fascination was clear, even from that distance. When the scales appeared on the apprentice's hand John raised an eyebrow slightly in surprise. "Pyrokinesis isn't the only ability useful for working in a forge." Chas told him, having had a similar reaction himself the first time he saw it. "Fair enough" John shrugged before replying to Kay's comment. "Yeah she does. Let's hope she doesn't ever lose it" he said aloud, but keeping the "or have it beaten out of her by the general shittiness of the world in which we live" part of the sentence to himself. He was all too aware how easily things like wonder could be beaten out of somebody when they got in deep with the world of magic. With Fia, both her bloodline and the magical heritage of the Constantine line that stretched back to the time of King Arthur meant it would be pretty damn impossible for her not to be involved in that world. A few short minutes the take-away arrived, the delivery person using some kind of force field to keep the various bags dry. "No need to call the kid for food, if she can't smell it from over there it's her loss." The place they'd decided on seemed to specialise in food that was particularly aromatic, John having practically smelled the food before he saw the delivery person.

 

[MzHyde]

As she continued watching, Fia got surprised when the apprentice went to touch the scolding hot metal with his bare hands, which then changed appearance into scales so he could touch such an item. She wasn't even aware that John was watching also and having the same reaction as her. Fia just found it all the more fascinating, whilst also being unaware that Kay and John were talking about her naturally curious mind. From where they were, Kay found it interesting that Dan had managed to take under his wing not one but two people with special abilities to aid in forging, and nodded at John's words about Fia, "yeah, it'd be a shame if she loses it" she agreed.

As the takeout arrived, Kay also smelled it as it reached the forge, smirking at John's comment about not telling Fia that the food had arrived. "oh she'll know its here" she told him, and just as she said that Fia turned her attention to her family and saw the familiar sight of take out bags and instantly walked over. "woohoo! I'm soooo ready for this!" she exclaimed happily, whilst Kay gave both men the look that said 'told ya!'. She may not have known Fia for long but she learned pretty quickly and early on that Fia didn't need to have the enchanted smell like Rinaa to know when food was around. She was certain Fia loved her food as much as she loved her family, if not at times, more.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The food was brought through into the living quarters section of the forge. They'd all been in the room before and there was just enough chairs to fit the four of them comfortably around the table (or more precisely, enough chairs to fit Dan, Cal, Cliff and the other apprentice all at the same time). There was another chair for whatever guest happened to be brought along, but that was usually used for storage of coats or a stack of order forms whenever Dan settled down to do the taxes and the bookkeeping. Chas knew where the plates and cutlery were kept from his previous visits and passed them out. John didn't bother with plates, choosing to eat directly from the box instead. He rarely ate from a plate when eating take-away- unless he was trying to impress somebody and act civilised he saw no point in making a whole load of wash up for himself. It was also a more practical way to eat as he usually had his legs propped against some surface or another or was draped across the sofa/armchair/chair in some decidedly not ordinary way.

John's dish came with chopsticks which he quite happily picked up and began eating with. It was another skill he'd picked up abroad, though not in Asia as one might expect, but in New York. It had been Zatanna who taught him (after spending a good few hours laughing at his atrocious attempts before taking pity on the British punk and showing him how to do it properly). Despite being right handed he always used chopsticks in his left (he'd never quite managed to get them to work in his right hand). As threatened John had indeed ordered a side dish of eel bits for himself, which looked utterly disgusting and slimy (despite being cooked).

 

[MzHyde]

Walking into the living quarters of the forge with everyone else Fia sat down at the table and waited for her food that she ordered to be handed to her, where she then thanked Chas for handing her cutlery and like John, didn't bother using a plate as she ordered a pasta dish with some spiced bread similar to garlic bread on the side as it was just easier to eat out of the takeout box. She noticed that John had ordered himself a disgusting looking eel side dish, unable to stop her face from making a disgruntled and grossed out expression. She also wasn't in the least bit surprised to see John using chopsticks with his left hand as she was used to seeing it in her timeline whenever they ordered Chinese takeout.

Kay had ordered a vegetable ramen broth dish as she just felt in the mood for a soup style food on this awful day. She never knew why but there was always something about a rainy or stormy day that made her crave some kind of broth or soup. She wondered if it was because whenever she managed to get a spot in a homeless shelter back in London on those rainy days, it was usually a type of soup that was on offer that didn't look utterly disgusting and was edible whilst actually warming her up. She did have chopsticks with hers for the noodles, but she decided to just a fork for ease with her spoon as she couldn't be bothered with chopsticks, even though she could use them with great ease. Unlike Fia, she was slightly surprised to see John use chopsticks with his left hand, knowing he was right handed but she was too hungry to really mention it.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Neither John nor Chas spoke much during the meal (Chas had also chosen soup- though it was a different one to Kay's- as he was also a believer in the 'soup is good food for rainy shitty days' ideology). Both chose to concentrate on their own food and their own thoughts rather than engage in any kind of proper conversation with the other two women. And there was plenty to think about, not just Rinaa's abrupt departure, but Elliott's upcoming trial (John had stopped using airquotes around the word trial in his internal monologue as, this time round, things were being done properly). Both John ans Chas had taken a read through the translated files, some of which were case notes for incidents off-world involving magic users, from planets where magic was accepted and from planets where it wasn't. When one left out all the legal jargon, it was pretty fascinating reading. Elliott's situation was hardly unique there were thousands, maybe millions of others out there who'd had an affinity for magic as a kid, but their culture forbid it. What made Elliott's case so different was just how much of a balls-up it had been. Really John thought they couldn't have made a worse mess of it, if Elliott had died, it would have been easier to hide a body and fake the cause of death. But the fact he lived, and lived with a dramatic scar, it was like Zan wasn't even trying to hide the whole situation.

Chas' thoughts were also on Elliott's trial, bit he was wondering about the meeting Cal, Cliff and Elliott were attending. He wondered how things were going from them, from the brief conversation Elliott and John had, he had managed to infer that Elliott was cautiously optimistic about the whole situation and genuinely thought they had a chance of achieving something monumental. The cabbie also knew that the forge was a dead zone for phones, the thick stone of the walls blocking all signals from getting in and part of him couldn't help but worry that the three were trying to contact their group with urgent news, but couldn't get through because of the forge's thick walls. While they were eating the apprentice passed through the kitchen vanishing into one of the store rooms before emerging with a couple of rolls of wide, thin leather (evidently for wrapping around sword hilts). At the sight of John's chosen dish he smirked slightly and said something to John in Attili. The mage smirked back, replying in Attili before offering him one. A few more words were exchanged before the apprentice vanished back into the forge, leather in hand and a few pieces of cooked eel beginning their journey through his digestive tract.

 

[MzHyde]

Neither Fia or Kay minded that no words were spoken between them all as they ate, for once a silent meal was just fine with the both of them as they were all too hungry to talk to anyone. Fia was just busy thinking about how good her food was whilst Kay was thinking about anything and everything. Her mind jumped around from hoping Rinaa and Moya were okay and that there were no complications with Rinaa getting back to her timeline to hoping that this second meeting the others had was going well. Fia only very briefly skimmed through some of the translated files before they all got well and truly got distracted with the days events.

When the apprentice walked through Fia glanced up out of sheer habit, something she almost always did if someone walked passed her as she was busy either eating or doing something else at a table. She just simply gave a nod of greeting before seeing him return with the leather wrapping and made a comment to John about his food choice. Seeing the eels yet again made her shudder and pull the face of utter disgust wondering how anyone in their right mind could eat such a thing. "gross.. Utterly gross" she muttered. Kay smirked at the remark, she agreed but she wasn't going to express it like Fia did.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John smirked at Fia's reaction to seeing the side of eels he'd bought. He was all too aware of how disgusting they looked, which was part of the reason he got such a kick from eating them. When surrounded by people he didn't like/wanted to really piss off he'd always order the most disgusting thing on the menu and eat it with great relish. But as this was family and friends he didn't make a show out o eating the eating bits. "That's what he said..." he inclined his head in the direction of the main workspace of the forge where the apprentice had headed back to. "Sort of"

Chas raised an eyebrow "care to enlighten us further?" John shrugged in a 'why the Hells not' sort of way. "What he actually said was 'those look so fucking disgusting, but taste amazing'. Which he's not wrong about, they taste far better than they look." John eyed up the contents of the container, the eel bits were nearly gone, as was his main dish. He took up another bit of eel before continuing. "Apparently he didn't use to eat them at all, the look of them was too off putting, but then he got massive cravings for them a few years back and now he actually really likes 'em." John was calling the apprentice a kid in his internal monologue as the guy was about halfway between Fia and Elliott's age (twenty one or twenty two(ish)) which made him a kid in John's books.

 

[MzHyde]

When John said that's pretty much what the apprentice said to the side dish, Chas wasn't the only one who rose an eyebrow. Fia and Kay did also, curious to what was actually said between John and the apprentice. They listened to what John explained, and felt it didn't matter how much someone could say they taste better than they look, neither of them would be trying them any time soon and felt glad that John had pretty much finished them all off. "fair enough, I guess trying new foods all start from somewhere" Kay replied after he said about how the apprentice got randomly a craving for them one day and now really likes the dish. Fia just shuddered before eating her last couple of mouthfuls of food, "don't think anything could entice me to eat that" she declared as she put her fork down.

Kay smirked at Fia's declaration, she practically hear just how sure of herself Fia was in her tone but also thought it was a dangerous declaration to make as she wouldn't put it passed anyone of their group to make her eat something like the eels by disguising it or similar. "don't declare that too loud, you might regret it down the line" "trust me after being tormented with shrimp heads as finger puppets when I was a kid, I wouldn't put anything passed this insane family" Fia retorted back to Kay's warning, which just made her mother raise her eyebrows and smirk in amusement. She could easily picture something like that happening and could easily picture a young Fia running away screaming from it or throwing something at the tormentor.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John's eyebrows also raised at the mention of shrimp head finger puppets. The thought was so bizarre he had to refrain from snorting with laughter. He didn't doubt that it had happened, it was such a specifically specific weird thing that it couldn't not to have happened. Now that the idea was in his head it wasn't going to leave him for a considerable amount of time. Life really was a vicious cycle, by mentioning this Fia had pretty much sealed her fate that such a thing was going to happen to her in the future. Chas just rolled his eyes, like Kay he was perfectly able to imagine something like that happened and decided to stay out of it, concentrating on his own food (which contained no eels).

"Ah, but yer forgetting something crucial kiddo" John smirked "for all of us, that hasn't happened yet, and as we keep being reminded- time is completely malleable and we could easily send the timeline on a crazy tangent that means it ends up totally different to the reality you know. For instance we could decided to raise you exclusively on weird slimy fish things that look disgusting, thus meaning you don't get disgusted at the sight of such food." He paused then smirked "Though that's prob'ly not gonna happen, somebody would make one to many Del-boy jokes and I'm not trading this" he patted his trench coat which he'd slung over the back of the chair"for a mangy sheepskin-lined coat. Ever." The sheer emphasis he put on the word 'ever' conveyed just how much he loved his coat.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay decided now she had finished her food she was just going to sit back in her chair and watch this all play out between John and Fia. It could only go on an amusing route and she was all for it. She found it was almost worrying at how easily she could imagine such a thing happening and the culprits for doing such a thing easily could be figured out in her mind as well. As John started talking to Fia, Kay knew it was going to be a classic and perfect comeback, which it was proving to be making Kay smirk greatly. Yet like Chas, she was staying out of the chat wanting it to be just between Fia and John. At the mention of his trench coat, Kay couldn't stop her eyes rolling but she did mean it in a fond way as she could understand why he loved the coat so much, even from the brief moment he loaned it to her so she could keep her dignity around the others who agreed to come and save her from the demons.

Fia listened to what John said, deciding to try and hold out her reaction u til he had finished his spiel about how she's just given him ideas and sealed her fate for such torment to happen in the future. When he was done, she found herself opening and closing her mouth a couple of times before she could put her sentences together in a coherent manner. When she found her words again she finally managed to speak, "1) we all know you won't give up that damn coat for anything, that's not news in the slightest. And 2?" she held up two fingers as she mentioned the number, "I haven't forgotten such an important piece of information as that, it merely....slipped my mind for that brief moment. But know this daddy dearest" she put emphasis on 'daddy dearest' in a slightly sarcastic tone before continuing, "those stupid disgusting taunts are what started me pranking you lot to get my own back. So do you reaaaaaally wanna risk a life of my pranks because you and Ell thought it'd be hilarious to chase me around the apartment with shrimp heads on your fingers? You've seen the levels I'll go to to get my own back" she countered, when in reality in her mind her actual reply was 'well shit'.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Seeing how Fia's mouth flapped with nothing coming out of it made John's smirk only grow. In the time she'd been around, Fia had rarely been lost for words, always having something to say. Even when it had happened that she'd been rendered wordless it had been due hysterical fits of laughter or on thankfully less frequent occasions tears. He resisted the urge to make a quip about her flapping her mouth like a fish on land. Her comeback was decent enough he supposed but it had been severely spoiled by her earlier stumped face. The longer somebody took to reply to his remarks, the less impressive it made the comebacks. Though she did make a valid point- that the prank monster was a consequence of their own actions and that their teasing would have consequences.

"I think you're forgetting that I'm too bloody pig headed to change something like that about myself. And trying to dissuade me is only gonna make me more determined to do it. Those 'disgusting taunts' as you call 'em are just the inevitable consequence of me existing in your life. It's in the terms and conditions and legal small print of your life somewhere." John wasted no time in giving a smart remark back to Fia's words. He then gave a shrug "and besides, if pranking people is a thing so intrinsic to who you are, it would just come out in some other way. At least this way I get to have some fun out of it all." The unspoken part of his words being "and I could do with the fun and will take it where I bloody well can given the tendency of my life to take a nosedive into utter shit storms."

 

[MzHyde]

When Fia came out with her comeback eventually, Kay had to smirk thinking it took her way too long to come out with the valid comeback. She also thought what she said wouldn't stop John in the slightest, even she knew he was too damn stubborn to give up because a teenager of his said so. She glanced at John and saw how his smirk only grew as Fia spoke, knowing that he was most definitely was going out do their kid with the next lot of words that would inevitably come out of his mouth. She then turned to Chas, "I feel we could leave these two for an hour and they'd still be at it at this rate" she remarked to him, wondering when she became the mature one with Chas yet again.

Fia rolled her eyes at John's opening line about him being pig headed as she listened to the rest of what he had to say, knowing that nothing she would say would stop her dad from finding else to come back at her, but she too was too stubborn to back down. She then groaned at his last comment, knowing he had an even better comeback than her own. "then enjoy a lifetime of pranks and me being your annoying but oh so lovable and amazing daughter whose a chip of the ol' block!" she grinned, feeling glad that she's a daddy's girl and can get away with saying such egotistical things to him. "oh boy....yup, definitely like father like daughter with that remark" Kay commented before she could stop herself.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Chas nodded, leaning back in his chair so that his head touched against the rough stone wall of the forge, fully in agreement with Kay's statement. Once John got started on comebacks and quips, he really didn't stop, especially when there was a partner (or group) who could give almost as good as he did. Few people could keep up with him like Fia did, Chas was one and so was Cheryl and Elliott (Trish and Gemma weren't quite there yet, but that could come with time and practice Chas knew). Nat also fell into that category, though she tended to combine her words with her fists and a litany of swear words (a brutal combination). John relished the chance to use words as a weapon- both in a banter sense like he was now with Fia and a literal sense when using magic. There were times when words were more powerful than any other force or weapon created, magic was an instrument to channel the power of these words. "Oh yeah, he could do this all day and still find the energy to make some sarcastic remark at the end of it."

John smirked at Fia's words, easily recognising them as something he might say- it had a great balance of sass, snark and ego, with just enough cold hard facts to really drive home the point. "Well as long as you don't go the full mile like I did, then I'll look forwards to it." If Fia was to become what teenage John had been like, there would be no hope of controlling her, John hadn't just gone off the rails, he'd obliterated them- truancy, stealing, smoking, drinking, drugs (in his later years), sex with anybody and everybody up for it, pulling all kinds of dangerous stunts, getting involved with dark magic and having absolutely no regard for his own life or safety. There was also the matter of him killing his father in cold blood, setting their apartment on fire (an event he now saw in a disturbing new light given the parallels between it and when Rinaa's attempted murder). A bit of rebelliousness was okay, every teenager went through that, but if Fia ever did go and do even a quarter of what John did as a teenager he'd consider himself a failure as a parent. He ignored Kay's remark, the truth in it had already been discussed quite a few times.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay smirked at Chas' reply whilst nodding, easily believing that to be the case even from the relatively short time she had known John herself. She also got that impression from Fia as they had all seen how long she could go on for when really into the banter, like last night over the dinner table and the varying accents. So when John just simply said he looked forward to the days of banter and wind ups with his daughter, Kay was equally happy to hear it and surprised that the banter ended so easily and early. She was half expecting it to go on for so much longer but knew after those words from John, there couldn't be much more for Fia to say.

Whereas Fia took his final words as her victory for the banter. "I haven't so far and won't ever, I vowed to never cross the line and I intend to keep it" she told him honestly. She was one of those people who if she promised something to someone she cared about, she wouldn't break it for anything. If she ever did break a promise then it was for a very valid reason but she wouldn't ever go out of her way to break one. She knew words held great power and not just in magic sense, like John did. It was John who taught her as such, so she always held what she was taught with high regard. It was, she presumed why she was so scared in some ways to admit she was looking after the dog in the alleyway and not bring the animal into the apartment. It was a small thing and one that would probably get her laughed at for being so scared to come clean on it, but it's who she was. She cared about her parents opinions so much that she never wanted them to be disappointed in her.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Good" John replied his tone serious before he smirked, a more humorous quip coming to mind "Chas'd have a nervous breakdown if he had to go through another repetition of my teenage years. Isn't that right mate?" "Completely" the cabbie replied, his tone deadly serious. He'd seen everything John had done in his teenage years, and spent nearly every spare moment of him time fretting about how John was next going to get himself beaten up or who was going to be the next John pissed off. The amount of times he'd had to drag teenage John from bar fight or street brawls was quite frankly ridiculous. Chas had been a pretty decent fighter as a teenager (growing up on such a rough estate it was just a skill you learned) but preferred to avoid physical conflict wherever possible. John however had actively went looking for it. "Once was enough for multiple lifetimes, than you very much."

With all the food finished, the plates and cutlery put away and the empty take-out boxes cleaned out and put in the recycling, the question turned to what to do next. Chas was perfectly happy to just hang around in the forge for the next while, availing of the fact that no texts or calls could reach them in order to relax for a bit. Back at Cal and Cliff's the transation programme was trawling through the files and according to the list of do's and do'ts for the programme (which Rinaa also included on the drive) it was perfectly okay to leave the laptops unwatched for a few hours as the code did it's thing (but it wasn't okay to do the same with a phone, the smaller device ran the risk of overheating and causing a fire). John was perfectly happy happy to hang around the forge for a while and use the opportunity to nip out for a smoke. After the craziness of the morning he could really do with a smoke.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia smirked back at her father when he made the quip about Chas and possibly having a nervous breakdown if she turned out too much like John. She had to chuckle at the remark, especially Chas' reply to it as although she wasn't that bad in her time, she was pretty sure she caused enough worries for not just her parents but Chas as well with her little escapes from the apartment or The House to do her own things, day or night, only to return either absolutely fine or with the odd bruise and cut on her hands or face. She was even well aware she once turned up at Chas' to be seen to because she didn't want an absolute bollocking from her parents, but instead got one from Chas.

Like the two men, Fia and Kay were both okay and content with staying at the forge for a little while before heading back to the apartment, enjoying the change of scenery and very much enjoying the heat from the forge. They weren't surprised that John took this moment to have an 'after dinner smoke', Fia particularly used to seeing him do such a thing every now and then. "I wish I knew how to forge, I'd love to make my own blades or something" Fia then randomly thought out loud as she glanced out of the living area to the main forge area. "maybe Cal can teach you or if you ask nicely maybe Dan, but don't you have two blades?" Kay suggested, wondering how long it would be before Fia expressed such a want. "yeah I do, but I'd like to know how to actually make them ya know? I love my blades I do, but just being handed them and actually making them yourself is a totally different thing" Fia then explained.