Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[_gallifrog_]

John was so deep in his own thoughts that when Kay touched his arm it took him a moment to remember where he was and who it was that was touching him. He nodded at her words, knowing she understood more than he did the kind of state Cal and Elliott would be in. The more logical part of his brain agreed with the idea that the siblings needed to clear the air with their father, get real answers and move on, but as was often the case with John, the logical part was being completely overwhelmed by his emotional side. John had seen Elliott at his worst, only Chas knew just how bad and how traumatised Elliott had been as a teenager and just how far Elliott had come since then. Part of him feared that talking with Zan would reopen all these old wounds and bring any trauma Elliott hadn't quite dealt with to the surface causing him to regress. John never wanted to see Elliott in that traumatised state again. This line of thought and the events of the trial today had also brought something else to mind, another secret from his own past, once he hadn't told anyone (because he'd been blatantly ignoring it in the hopes that he wouldn't have to face it properly). He nodded at Kay's words. "Yeah, I know" was all he said before going right back into his thoughts.

As soon as they got back to the apartment Jay grabbed the book she'd been slowly working her way through, headed out onto the balcony and swung herself up onto the roof. The unspoken was message was clear, she didn't want anybody to follow her. Cliff took a bowl of leftover from the fridge, ever since they'd started hosting the whole extended family on Elliott's side and showing them the best cuisine Attil had to offer, there had been no shortage of leftover food in the flat. The rest sat themselves down in the living room in what was fast becoming their usual spots, Chas in the armchair deciding to follow Jay's lead and attempt to read to keep his mind off things. John propped his feet against the edge on the coffee table (not on the table like he usually did), crossing his arms across his chest.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay wasn't surprised that nearly everyone in the apartment was finding things to do to try and distract their minds from what they had learned at today's trial. It was a lot to take in, something that couldn't be just brushed to one side with the attitude of 'it is what it is, no big deal'. She sat down next to John as she usually did, and she just knew that there was more on his mind than met the eye but she also knew not to pry. Just like with everything else, she wasn't going to pry unless he gave her the OK to do so. She accepted a long while ago and very rapidly that he would always have more things from his past thay he'd keep locked up mentally compared to her. That she would always be more open with him if the situation arised than he was with her. She didn't particularly like it, but she accepted it because it was who he was, and she knew there was more to John than just those secrets.

Fia grabbed a drink from the fridge, needing that more than she felt she needed food right now, as she went through in her mind that day she learned about herself, figuring that if she could bring anything from that to help Elliott and Cal, she would. She also knew that Kay would be thinking along the same sort of thoughts herself, as she knew how much she did care for Elliott. The silence was frustrating to Fia, but she didn't say anything to break it, instead she went to the other couch, sat down and decided she would watch some videos on her phone with her headphones on until Cal and Elliott returned. She did however every now and then glance over at her parents to see how they were doing, only to see them both silent side by side which made her sigh as she went back to the video she was watching.

 

[_gallifrog_]

At that moment in time John really couldn't care less that he was cutting himself off from the people who might actually be able to support him emotionally during this period of crisis and general craziness. He probably should have been ashamed of himself for not only pushing away his kid (and thus showing a sort of blatant favouritism towards Elliott) but also pushing away Kay, who the universe had deemed to be his partner in this kind of shit, but John really wasn't that kind of person. As Chas had alluded to with Kay, and Fia would have seen in her timeline when her John began to self destruct after losing that timeline's Kay, this was how John dealt with things. Pushing people away and retreating into his own torrent of thoughts was his coping mechanism, as well as his way of processing shit. Chas suspected it stemmed from only being able to rely on himself as a kid, and as much as Cheryl had tried, there was only so much she could do.

Fia sighing didn't go amiss on Chas, he too felt like sighing about John's behaviour at this moment in time, and if it was anybody else he would have. But John was a special case, Chas had tried to drag John out of himself before during times like this, and it had only made things worse (usually with John storming off to smoke a whole pack of cigarettes). The fact he hadn't just headed straight out to the balcony for a smoke was a sign that, as bad as things looked, it hadn't completely gone to shit. So for the sake of all of them Chas kept his thoughts to himself and let John brood (there really was no other word for it).

It was a good hour after they got back to the apartment that Cal and Elliott finally arrived back. Their arrival was announced by Jay, who was the first person to break the heavy, awkward silence. She swung herself down from the roof and onto the balcony, shut the door behind her and with no preamble whatsoever declared "they're back" before sitting down on one of the kitchen chairs. No more words were needed, there couldn't possibly be anybody else she was referring to. Cliff was the first to move when Elliott and Cal entered, making her way over to her wife and giving her a hug and a brief kiss, not saying any words. Elliott sat on the armrest of the couch, as it was the only place on the couch that would allow him to sit next to John.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia was one of those teenagers that even though she sighed. She didn't hold anything against John for processing everything the way he did. Yes, there was a tiny part of her in this instance that did try to convince her that John favourited Elliott over her, his actual blood, but she always pushed it away as she knew deep down it was bullshit because the John in her time proved it was such. That did mean however the thought didn't cross her mind, she was still only seventeen after all and still had those typical teenage thoughts and worries like anyone else her age. It would have been strange if she didn't get such thoughts which helped her rationalise everything in her head. It did though, still upset her seeing her father in such a brooding state and shutting her mother out, when the universe was proving that she was the one person for him and to help him.

As the hour passed and Jay came down declaring that the siblings were back, Fia took her headphones off her head and turned off her videos on her phone, putting it away in the process whereas Kay just snapped out of her thoughts. As the two of them walked inside and Cal stayed with Cliff, Elliott perching on the armrest to be next to John, Kay felt that wasn't right in her mind. "Ell, sit here, I can sit with Fia" she told him, getting up and moving seats, sitting beside her daughter. She knew he needed to be beside his adoptive father and she didn't want to stand in the way of that, and thus showed her compassionate and understanding side by moving seats. Fia scooched closer to Kay, pulling her legs up onto the couch, noting how thoughtful of an action it was that Kay took, thinking it had to have said so much to both Elliott and John that Kay did what she did.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Had either John or Elliott been in a more normal frame of mind, one of them would have noticed the similarities between Kay moving so that Elliott sit beside John now and that time back on Earth in John's apartment, where she'd done a similar thing when Elliott had plopped himself down on the armchair instead of on the couch next to John where he actually wanted to be. Later, when thinking back on this particular moment, Elliott, and later John, would see the caring side of Kay shining through, but right now, both were too out of it to make that kind of connection. John gave a grateful nod at Kay when she moved away to sit beside Fia, the first proper acknowledgement he'd made of her presence since they'd got back to the apartment. He didn't want to ask her to move so to say he was relieved when Kay moved herself was an understatement.

"Thanks." Elliott replied with a nod, wasting no time in sitting beside John, leaning his head on his adoptive father's shoulder, something he'd always done since he first began living with John. The pose of Elliott and John was almost identical to the one of Cal and Cliff, cal leaning her head against Cliff's shoulder, while her wife wrapped a comforting arm around her. Nobody spoke, waiting for one or the other of the siblings to break the silence. The only movement was Jay who got up from her seat at the kitchen table to sit on the other side of Elliott. It was Cal who spoke first "how much do you know about darilliux?" she asked. While John and Chas gave shrugs of incomprehension, Cal and Cliff exchanged looks, silently agreeing on who was to go first. "Not a whole load, it's a planet in the next star system over, quite a lot smaller than Attili and if memory serves me right, home to a wide variety of races." "It's part of a binary star system, which means it has an orbit very different to that of both Earth and Attil. There's a whole host of other rocky bodies in that system too, only one gas planet and a selection of asteroids further out which are mined for mineral resources."

 

[MzHyde]

When Kay did move, she just gave John a reassuring small smile and pat on the knee as she moved before sitting down and letting Fia scooch in closer to her, something she wasn't expecting in the slightest. She knew Elliott needed to sit next to John a lot more than she did and this was a time for her to put herself second and just be in the background for the time being. She noticed how Cal and Elliott both took the same sitting position to John and Cliff, before Jay came over and sat beside Elliott so he was sandwiched between John and Jay. The silence felt even more excruciating than it did before, as both Kay and Fia wanted to know what was spoken about but neither wanted to rush Cal or Elliott to speak if they weren't ready.

As Cal finally spoke up they looked at her and shrugged. Neither having any idea of what she was talking about in the slightest, so when Cliff and then Jay spoke up of their only but of knowledge, it was appreciated by the two of them. "guessing this is where Zan is from? Or where the information learned begins?" Fia cautiously asked, her tone and volume soft as she really chose her words carefully and not wanting to upset her brother or his blood sister. She felt so bad for the two of them, and wished she could be in Jay's position right now or be of some comfort to either of them but she just didn't think either of them would want a seventeen year old anywhere near them at the moment.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John was probably the most impatient person in the room when it came to wanting to find out what had happened, had it just been him and Elliott (or just him, Elliott and Chas) he would have had no qualms about asking some question, even if it was 'did you get answers?'. But it wasn't just Elliott, so he kept his mouth shut. Chas and Jay were more outwardly patient, both were greatly curious as to what had been said to the siblings, but both knew from experience that silence was the best way to get somebody to talk, as it meant they could do so in their own time and on their own terms. Jay had had the same tactic used on her by Elliott, he'd figured out very early one, that asking questions just made her retreat into herself. But if he was to sit beside her in silence (a hand on her shoulder if she'd let him) and wait, he'd be far more likely to get some form of answer.

Fia spoke for all of them when she asked whether Darriliux was Zan's birth planet, so nobody felt the need to ask any further questions, just waited for one or the other of the siblings to elaborate. "Yes, that's the planet we're talking about" Elliott's confirmation was directed at Cliff and Jay, the only ones he and Cal had suspected would know anything about the planet. "It is also where the story begins. Darriliux was formerly an Attilian colony, but it gained independence hundreds of years ago. Which is why it still has a significant Devra population. That's where Zan was born, one parent Devra, one a Darriliux native, which makes us" he gestured between himself and Cal "three quarters Devra, as opposed to fully Devra." "Most of what we were told as kids was actually the truth" Cal took over telling the story "just with the names of places changed." Her tone told Cliff her wife wasn't quite sure what to make of that fact. "His family were pretty poor and the part of the planet they lived in was pretty shit, not in the gangland territories, but right on the edge of it. The kind of place where even if you aren't part of the gang, they're a constant presence in your life." John nodded at that, having previous experience with such gangs.

"His family couldn't afford university, could barely afford second-level education, so the only way for him to get that higher level of education was to get a university scholarship and then once at university get both a part-time job and become a beta tester for technology- neural implants specifically. The money from both would be just enough to pay for living and accommodation costs. He only got into university through killing himself studying in order to get a scholarship, having a perfect recall of everything you've read isn't enough on it's own. But we already knew all that, knew he got the scholarship and the two jobs. It just happened on a different planet. Where things differ is the people he ended up flat-sharing with and the fact that Darrilliux has a completely different attitude towards magic than Atttil."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay and Fia just remained silent as they let both Cal and Elliott take their time to talk and tell them what they found out. Both of them knew apart from the one question of clarification asked by Fia, there was no need to speak. This was the siblings time to guide the room so to speak, and that was how they were going to keep it. As Elliott confirmed that it was the story starts, Kay and Fia both simply nodded and continued to listen as he started explaining that that was where their father was born and they're not completely Devra, but only a fraction Devra. That resonated with the two of them as neither were fully human or fully phoenix. Granted Kay was considered more phoenix than human, but she was still human in some respects due to her father being human. A fact that she always wanted to forget about due to how vile her father became. With Fia she understood it as well, being half human and half phoenix, even if her human/mage side was much stronger than her phoenix side, something that would only change slightly by her eighteenth birthday which will bring out her phoenix side stronger and fully fleshed out, making her capable of accessing so much more of her other phoenix abilities.

As Cal spoke they continued to listen and understand what they were explaining, even if there was a part of what Cal was saying that made Kay wonder if Cal truly believed everything she was told. "so how did the whole witness protection/move to Attil thing come about?" Kay asked softly. She felt slightly awkward asking but she knew they had to come to it at some point and it was the one thing they all deep down wanted to know. Fia was for certain wondering the same thing, wondering how it went from Zan being at university on a scholarship deal, running himself into the ground to stay afloat to being in witness protection on Attil and becoming a top government official.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cliff listened as the siblings spoke, gently rubbing her wife's shoulder. She also noticed that so far out of the two Cal was doing most of the talking. Nothing her wife had said was particularly ground breaking so far, as even Cal herself said, it was almost identical to what they'd already known of Zan. It seemed to Cliff (and the others in the room) that the siblings' father had adopted the strategy of the best liars- to weave enough of the truth into it that you could easily remember it, and changing just enough details that the story made sense in a different context. The fact that Zan was such a good liar about his past was disturbing, and the siblings weren't the only ones wondering what other secrets lurked in the man's head. He'd seemed genuine and honest to the siblings when explaining (and answering their many, many rapid fire questions), but looks could be deceiving, and he hadn't exactly been on Elliott's side as a kid.

There was one thing that cal said that John had to enquire further about, he wouldn't be able to let it go otherwise. "When you say completely different attitude towards magic?....." John asked, 'the what exactly do you mean by that?' implied completely in his tone of voice. "Closer to Earth's attitude than to Attil's- people know magic exists, certain types are legal, the dark and extremely dangerous kind obviously isn't. While it's not exactly the most mainstream way of spending your life, it's probably more widespread than on Earth." Elliott tried to keep the bitterness out of his tone, but failed. As soon as he'd heard about the different policy on Darriliux, he couldn't help but wonder what it had been like, if, for some reason he'd grown up there instead. John nodded "ah" was all he said before falling silent again, given Elliott's shoulder what he hoped was a comforting squeeze.

Once again, it was Cal who spoke first when answering Kay's question. That had been the first thing she and Elliott had asked once they'd made it quite clear they weren't going to let Zan leave until they got some answers. "The people he was flat-sharing with, one of whom was his best friend got involved in some seriously dodgy, highly-illegal shit." "You probably know the trope from movies on Earth- a group of hacktivists steal a whole load of sensitive data from somewhere powerful, they get found out, some end up dead and the rest end up on the run. Well it was sort of similar for this lot. Only" "they stole money from one of the gangs?" Jay asked. Elliott and Cal nodded gravely in response. "Exactly. At the same time as Zan was finding out just what the fuck his flatmates had done, the gang were planning payback. Which came in the form of tracking down the students and massacring them. Zan was the only one to survive, having first been shot then knocked unconscious. But he saw enough to be a viable witness in court. The trial ended with the members getting life, but with rest of the gang very much active and out for blood, witness protection was his best option."

 

[MzHyde]

If Kay had asked about how it linked to Zan ending up in witness protection, she possibly would have thought more on what Elliott said and asked about the whole magic comment, but she was still letting her brain catch up and properly log everything they were being told to have even thought about the question. So the fact John did think to ask it was a lucky moment. The bitterness in Elliott's tone was something that just couldn't go unnoticed to either Fia or Kay, both thinking that if magic was that accepted to understandable levels and Elliott and Cal were raised on that planet, then their lives had to have been vastly different. Yet they also couldn't help but think if they were brought up there and not Attil, then Elliott wouldn't have come to Earth and got adopted by John or be an older half sibling to Fia.

Both women looked over and let Ccal explain the answer to Kay's question, or at least start the answer off until Elliott could bring himself to continue it. As Elliott then continued by starting it with a comparison to Earth films, Fia and Kay both nodded in understanding, whilst Fia made a face of 'yeesh' as Jay chimed in with the assumption she did. Continuing on, they listened as Elliott gave the full explanation, making both Fia and Kay get looks of disgust and horror to varying levels on their faces. "oh shit..yeah...bring in witness protection makes sense on a great scale" Kay replied, her surprise still evident, now in her voice. "I'm so sorry you two had to find out this way...that sucks on a major level" Fia remarked in a somber tone, just wanting to hug them both.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John really had no idea what exactly Zan would have been through and/or witnessed to warrant being put in witness protection and having to move planet. He'd honestly expected it to be something to do with Zan's parents- Elliott's grandparents- as opposed to the man himself. Zan had mentioned that his whole family was put into witness protection. But nobody expected the story that Elliott told. When he mentioned the movie trope, Chas knew this story was going to be far worse than they were expecting. Cliff's face went through a whole range of expressions as Elliott spoke. The word 'massacre' was the word that affected her the most, as a doctor, any form of mindless killing was something she could not tolerate, nor wrap her head around. And while these students would have been over the age of eighteen, and therefore adults fully responsible for their actions, she couldn't help but feel pity for them, as they'd obviously had no intentions of fucking things up this badly. She pulled Cal closer to herself, planting a kiss on her wife's forehead, murmuring something too quietly for the others to hear. Once again her actions were mirrored in the way John was with Elliott, he'd also pulled his adoptive son closer and was speaking quietly to him.

Jay was the only one who wasn't showing any outwards signs of disgust, horror or shock. The story was affecting her, it was an awful experience for somebody to go through, but years of being an assassin had desensitised her. Elliott had barely finished telling the story and she was already reaching for her phone, a look on her face that Elliott couldn't name; it was some combination of realisation, determination and second guessing herself. "I could be wrong, but I THINK I've heard of that case." Her voice dropped as she muttered to herself. "Maybe it was something similar, but a group of uni students massacred by a gang? That's pretty dang specific."

The cabbie's face became more and more solemn as the story progressed. It took a good half minute for the sheer volume of what Elliott told them to sink in for Chas. "My god, that's so much worse than I thought it was. And to find out like that" he shook his head sadly, looking at both the siblings again. They looked mentally exhausted, both slumped against the person that mattered most to them in this moment. "You don't have to answer, but when were you supposed to find out about this, if ever?" There was a hesitancy in the cabbie's voice, he really didn't want t upset the two any more than they had already been. "For me, not until I was at least eighteen." Cal sighed. "For Qui, he said it probably would have been when he was younger than that as it would have depended on whether I could keep such a thing from my brother, given how really close we were."

 

[MzHyde]

Neither Fia or Kay were entirely surprised to see that out of all of them, it'd be Jay who was the least bit shocked by such news. They both knew that as an assassin it'd take something seriously major and different to shock the woman and show it outwardly on her face. What they were noticing and curious about was the fact Jay could have sworn she had heard of that case and was going through her phone to find anything on said case. The fact that it involved teenagers only a year older than Fia was now was what made Kay utterly sick to her stomach and horrified the most. The idea of someone doing such an act to Fia was beyond thinking about, and only brought back the brief image of seeing her kid dead ontop of the car in that Mindwalk on Cliff's homeworld. She could suddenly easily imagine what those parents must have been going through and thinking when they found out their children were quite literally massacred.

They also noticed how much closer John and Cliff were pulling Cal and Elliott into them and giving support in the only real way they possibly could, as Chas gave his reaction and followed up with a question neither of them would have thought of. "but with the way things turned out, he never got the chance to tell you both" Fia solemnly realised out loud. "I can see why he wouldn't want to tell you something so horrific at too young an age but I also can imagine how much that incident would have turned Zan and his family's lives utterly upside down. I can only imagine what those other parents must have been feeling back then" Kay spoke finally, knowing that if any of them could get what Kay was meaning, it'd probably be Chas. Yet her unspoken thoughts were 'I don't know how I'd deal with it if it was Fia wrapped up in that ordeal and a victim of it'.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Chas was, like Kay, thinking of his own kid when he heard the story. As the only one in the room (so far) who'd raised a biological child from birth he couldn't help but see the story through a parent's eyes. Trish was only two or three years younger than the university students, and if something that horrific were ever to happen to his daughter (regardless of whether it was because of something she'd done herself or because she was an innocent bystander) he really had no idea how he'd even begin to comprehend such a thing. Even the mere thought of such a thing happening to his daughter, the true pride and joy of his life, was bringing back the feelings of homesickness that had been plaguing him intermittently throughout this trip. It had actually been his wife Renee who'd been the first to see the news clip of Elliott being frogmarched from the Hall of Justice. As many problems as his wife had with John, she loved Elliott and knew that if Chas didn't go to help, Trish would never forgive him. But even though he'd left earth with his wife and daughter's blessing, it had been so ridiculously long since he'd last seen them, that the bouts of homesickness were becoming more and more frequent.

The question Chas asked would never in a million years have occurred to John, once again proving to John that in many ways Chas was far better than him- when it came to these kind of messy emotional situations, the cabbie always managed to ask an unexpected, yet perfectly legitimate question. Telling Cal at eighteen made sense, she'd be a complete legal adult, and also the same age as her father when his life was turned so completely upside down. Both siblings nodded in unison at Fia's realisation, having come to the same one themselves. "Exactly" Elliott replied, the one word conveying some of the emotions swirling around his head. "Yep, and there would have been no point telling me at eighteen after what happened, I sure as hell wouldn't have listened, or even believed a word of it." She then paused, Kay's words having set off another line of thought in her head. "Actually, do we even know what happened to his parents after they went into witness protection?" Elliott gave a shrug, his shoulders moving so far up one nearly hit John in the face. "I don't remember ever meeting them when I was younger, and he didn't say that much about them both when we were kids and when we were interrogating him earlier." "Another thing to ask about then." Cal remarked before falling silent.

Jay meanwhile had manged to find exactly the incident in question. All that she needed to do was type in Darilliux followed by student and it was the second most frequently searched option. The first page she clicked onto was a global newspaper, one she knew to be a reliable source. She wasn't interested in the articles, but the photos of the six victims attached to it, or more precisely one victim in particular- a boy with shaggy auburn hair and high cheekbones. She passed the phone over to Elliott "could this be him?".

 

[MzHyde]

Kay could easily see why after everything that happened to their family why Cal wouldn't have listened to a single thing that Zan would have said to her at eighteen. If she was in Cal's shoes she wouldn't have listened either, hell, she barely listened to why her adoptive parents made her get therapy as an out patient in a hospital at the time, as she just saw it as them being scared of her, which wasn't the case in the slightest, but it's how it came across to a young Kay. She nodded her understanding to Cal, as she suddenly thought of the other thing and asked Elliott if he knew what happened to their grandparents. It was then Kay realised they really hadn't spoken of them since beginning the relaying of information of how Zan became protected to such a high level.

Neither her or Fia then asked anymore questions as Jay found what she was looking for and showed Elliott what they guessed was a photo of a young Zan, judging by the way she asked the question. Instead Kay turned to Cal, "I really am sorry for you finding out this bombshell the way you two have. I know how hard it is to almost.." she tried to find the right word before continuing, "relearn who you are and where you come from. This whole story is truly and utterly insane and a lot to take in, even if it's brought yet another question to ask him." she finished.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cal nodded at Kay's words, she could tell from the tone and the look on the woman's face that they came from the her heart and that she genuinely knew what she was talking about, having gone through a similar re-evaluation of her life. It was reassuring to know that one could get through such an event, she felt as if her whole life had been tipped upside down as she was forced to think back to her childhood, to look at it properly without automatically casting her father as the villain of the story. Things weren't that black and white, and she'd actually had a great childhood, it was only the one-and-a-half/ two years before Elliott was exiled that things had gone badly. But in a strange way it also felt like nothing had changed at all, none of what they'd learned directly affected who they were (apart from the fact they were both a quarter Devra less than they thought they were). "Thanks" she said simply before sighing loudly. "Most of what we've learned doesn't even affect us personally, just completely changes our opinion of Zan." It was clear in her tone that she didn't know whether that was a good thing or not- in the grand story of things her father was both villain and victim. "I think there's going to be far more than just one question we're going to ask him by the time we've finished digesting." she added with another sigh.

Elliott pulled himself into a more upright position to look at the phone Jay was offering him, his eyes narrowing as he concentrated on the six photos- all head and shoulder shots- two boys and four girls, none of them were older than twenty one. It took him a few seconds to figure out which one Jay meant, but once he'd copped on, he knew she had to be right. "I think you're right. Those cheekbones are unmistakable." He squinted at the photo again, John looking over his shoulder, unable to not look at the photo. "Cal" he waved the phone in her direction "second opinion?" Cal extracted herself from her wife's embrace just long enough to take the phone from her brother. The two women considered the photo for a minute before Cal eventually spoke. "I'd say that is him. The eyes threw me initially, I'm guessing contacts or surgery or something? But the facial structure is the same, like you said. And the hair... I do remember wondering when I was much younger if the tips would turn more auburn if he let it grew out. Guess that's the proof." She said with a shrug that was slightly self depreciating before offering the phone to Kay and Fia, who were nearest. If they chose to accept it their attention would be drawn to a teenager with a shaggy, slightly surfer-esque mop of rich brown hair, which as Cal had said faded to auburn at the very tips. The cheekbones were unmistakably similar to Cal and Cliff's. The eyes however were not the classic gold of the Devra, but a sort of pale blue-green colour.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay gave Cal a reassuring smile and single nod at her initial thanks, before hearing what she had to say and understanding what she was saying. In comparison to her, it was true that Cal and Elliott finding this out didn't affect them too much, just opened up a whole new side to their family and opinions of Zan. "oh no doubt, something like this will create questions for a long time coming and you'll forever be leering new things about him. I'm still learning new things about who my birth mother was, even now." she replied, whilst giving an example from her own life. Jay and Elliott's vhatt about the photo of presumably Zan, made Kay then look toward Elliott as he said it did indeed look like his father, even if he wasn't one hundred percent certain of it, asking Cal for a second opinion.

Kay and Fia both listened as Cal took the phone for the picture to be seen and give her opinion on whether it was Zan or not. Hearing two of them say it sure does look like him after scrutinising the photo got Fia in particular curious, so when Cal handed the phone over, Fia instantly took it and took a look whilst letting Kay have a look also. She found herself zooming in on the details of the face and such before nodding. "I'd say its him. He looks very different but there's those little features that give it away its him, in my opinion. Very surfer-chique" she commented, "I mean.. I guess the best way to find out for certain is if we had a facial recognition software on a laptop and overlap this photo with a recent one of him to say for sure" she then added with a suggestion, before handing the phone back to Jay. "I mean..it's what I'd do anyway" Fia shrugged.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cliff scrutinised the photo at the same time as Cal looked at it. The resemblance was there, though she found herself having to search for it. The cheekbones were unmistakable, but with such a different hairstyle (the hair had also darkened somewhat over the years) and different coloured eyes the resemblance could be fobbed off as coincidental. After passing the photo on she gave her thoughts. "Well I know for a fact that you CAN get your eye colour permanently changed with surgery, though it's incredibly risky procedure from what I understand. If it goes wrong you end up with really fucked up eyesight. Contacts would be a safer option." "There's also iris dyes." Jay replied with a shrug. "I've used them before, they don't sting or irritate and last anywhere between a day and a week depending on the kind you use. But for any kind of long long term use it's best to mix them with contacts, give the eyes a break from all the chemicals."

Elliott snorted quietly, a slight smirk appearing on his face when Fia declared the hairstyle to be 'very surfer chic', never did he ever imagine those words being used in connection with his father. John also rolled his eyes at the word choice, but the slight smile appearing on his face wasn't because of Fia's choice of words, but because Elliott had cheered up for a brief moment, showing that he hadn't been completely floored by everything he'd learned that day. "That could work" Jay mused in response to Fia's theory on how they could check "only problem being this is a photo of a teenager, and generally at eighteen you aren't actually finished growing yet. Facial features can still shift a bit, potentially enough to screw with such software, and if he had any other kind of surgery to alter his appearance that would definitely screw with the software. But if we COULD get our hands on such software, we could give it a go." "Or we could just bluntly ask 'is this you?' Whilst holding up a picture." Elliott suggested.

 

[MzHyde]

As Cliff mentioned about getting eye colour changed through surgery, Kay all but shuddered at the very thought. The idea of anyone going anywhere near her eyeballs with any kind of instrument for any reason just made her skin crawl, and it didn't help when Jay expanded on the information about dyes for the eyes. It just reminded her of the people who tattoo their eyes to make them look less human and she just couldn't u drrstsnd why someone would willing to do that to themselves. Contact lenses is one thing, she didn't have a problem with that, and she clearly didn't have any issues with tattoos (if anything she was jealous of the people who could get tattoos), but the idea of mixing the two together pretty much on the eyes was just too much. "the dying technique just reminds me of people who get the whites of their eyes tattooed" Kay commented.

Fia felt a little smug when she saw Elliott snort slightly along with smirking a tiny bit, feeling like her 'job' of making her big brother smile even when he felt a bit miserable was officially done. She didn't even know why she used such a term, it was just the first thing that came to her head which as they by now had discovered was pretty damn normal for her. She also noticed John rolling his eyes at her choice of words, but she ho eatgly didn't care. She was used to John rolling his eyes at some of the things that came out of her mouth, so she wasn't in the slightest bit bothered, she only cared if it brought a glimmer of a smile on Elliott's face, which it did. She then listened to Jay give her reply to her little suggestion, slumping back in her seat and position into her mother as the reality was told, but she didnt feel entirely stupid for mentioning it as Jay did say they could try it if they had such software. She also rolled her eyes at Elliott's much simpler suggestion. She waved her hand in a dismissive manner before smirking slightly, "or we could do the easy simple way that is just no fun at all" she replied to Elliott in a slightly joky tone.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cliff made a face of disgust at the mention of people getting their eyeballs tattooed. "Not exactly reassuring to know that that kind of stupidity is right across the universe. All I can think of is the many ways that could go wrong. Eyes aren't my area, apart from checking for concussion I don't deal with them. But as a military doctor you can't help but see some horrible shit and be thankful you don't have to treat it." As she spoke, Cal lifted up her hand and threaded her fingers through Cliff's, cuddling further into her. Jay was also one who wasn't in approval of tattooing eyeballs. "I never really understood the eyeball dying craze, contact lenses work far better and are far safer. And if you're comfortable with having needles jabbed in your eye than surely you're comfortable with putting in lenses." Jay rationalised. "The only reason Jack and I used to doctor our eyes was because both of us have the same genetic mutation that means we have no whites and that kind of detail is the kind of thing that could get us caught."

Cliff perked right up at the mention of 'genetic mutation' making Cal chuckle softly. "Genetic mutation is one of her trigger words, ever need to get her attention just say 'genetic mutation' or 'genetic modification' and you'll have her complete focus. Typical doctor." She rolled her eyes fondly while Cliff made a noise of fake annoyance. "My wife does actually have a point, as part of my doctorate I did a paper on some absolutely fascinating genetic mutations" she gave a slightly bashful grin "or more precisely I found them fascinating, Cal was bored OUT OF HER MIND listening to me blabber on non-stop." Cal smirked. "It was pretty mind numbing at times." She admitted. "It's a pigment defect if you were wondering, I do actually have separate whites and irises, but they are indistinguishable in colour. We thought maybe it would give us better night vision but it didn't." "Night vision?" Cliff asked, well and truly interested. "More of low level light vision, I can see extremely well in low level light and gloom. Of course the reverse of it means that when it's really bright, unless we wear polarising lenses our vision is shit." When Jay spoke about her brother she used a mix of past and present tense, which Cliff saw as a sign of how she wasn't at all over her brother's death.

Elliott smirked again at Fia's response, her sister's words pulling him out of his funk somewhat.He took the phone back when Chas held it over, once again examining in the photo of his birth father before beginning to read the article. "While it may be boring, it'll be more accurate. Though there can't have been that many student massacres on Darilliux, or anywhere else for that matter. The dates fit too." He'd barely got two paragraphs into the article when his eyebrows rose dramatically and a shocked expression came onto his face. "What is it Ell?" John asked, the concern audible in his voice. "If the shaggy haired surfer as Fia put it is Zan, then his middle name was Zachary."

 

[MzHyde]

Seeing the disgust in both Cliff's and Jay's faces at the mention of tattooing eyeballs made Kay feel so much better that she wasn't the only one that was disgusted by the very idea. She had a feeling that Cliff's disgust came from a medical stand point which she fully agreed with. Too much could go wrong on such a thing which was why she could never understand why someone would willingly let another being near their eyes with a needle or several more to the point and ink. She also only half agreed with Jay, as for her, even if you could put contact lenses in your eyes comfortably, that should mean sticking needles in your eyes would be just as a normal thing to consider. She then listened as Jay continued about the genetic mutation in her eyes and how Cliff instantly perked up, reminding her of a meerkat, which made her stifle a snigger.

Fia saw Elliott smirk once again at her comment, seeing that she was being successful in getting him out of his funk. She maybe younger than him but she always had a knack for cheering her family up when they were down, just as they could always cheer her up. She did however, let him reply and speak his opinion to her latest comment, knowing he had a very valid point. She too saw his eyebrows shoot upward in surprise when John beat her to asking what was it that surprised him so much. "Zachary?? So his name is possibly Zan Zachary?" she asked surprised, never ever seeing Zan as a Zachary before. Middle name or not, she never would have considered that name suiting him in the slightest at first.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John snorted when Fia came up with the name 'Zan Zachary' which sounded completely ridiculous. An opinion which he had no qualms about voicing, "That's the kind of stupid alliteration a comic book writer would use for character- y'know like Peter Parker, Doctor Doom, Matt Murdock that kinda thing" he smirked, having very nearly added 'Clark Kent' and Wonder Woman' to that list. As much as he hated the Justice League, he had enough honour not to betray such information, it was bad enough dealing with those arseholes on a regular basis, and besides there were far more fun ways to get rises out of them without leaking their true names to the world. Also being able to hold their true identities over them was very useful when he wanted them off his back and he wasn't going to just give up such a valuable piece of blackmail information that easily.

Elliott rolled his eyes at Fia's words. "That wasn't actually my point, but yes, I agree it is a completely stupid name you get when you combine the new and the old one. But Zan wasn't his birth name, according to this" he gestured at the article on Jay's phone "his first name was something completely different back then didn't even begin with anything close to a 'z' sound. Zachary was his middle name, not spelt the same way as in English if you were wondering. My surprise is because when picking my new name on Earth, being not particularly imaginative and not having a massive knowledge of Earth names I used the syllables of my Attilian name to base the Earth name off and chose for some reason 'Zachariah' as my middle name." "It was cos you'd seen it in some old text or another and figured it was as good as any." John remembered. "It's not like anybody actually uses their middle name on earth anyway apart for documentation." "You don't even have a middle name John." Chas added. "Exactly, and not having one has never affected me."

 

[MzHyde]

With John snorting in amusement at her comment, Fia wasn't sure whether to be glad she made her dad laugh in some extent or be embarrassed by her comment. Though she did have to admit he had a point when he spoke of his own opinion that came to mind after her little remark. It did sound utterly stupid, which was one reason why it surprised her so much. Yet it was Elliott's eye roll that made her mentally retreat into herself at her comment and wished she could take it back. Hearing that Zan wasn't even his birth father's birth name was somewhat of a surprise until she started thinking that if he was to be in witness protection, then a name change did actually make sense. She continued listening to what Elliott had to say, so she could get all the information before opening her mouth yet again. It was then hearing that Elliott pointed out how he picked the closest earth name to his Attillian name that it dawned on her why he would have been so surprised.

Fia knew her brother's middle name but like John said. She never ever used it in any context, having grown up just calling him 'Ell' as even when she was super young, saying Elliott wasn't the easiest name to say, finding the double L's always came out sounding like a W. Granted she was only around 3 or 4, so in her defense she was still learning and it did make her all that more adorable. "I'm with John, I don't have a middle name either, never affected me in the slightest. No one ever acknowledges their middle name most of the time" Kay spoke up, having tuned into the conversation between Elliott, John and Fia. "middle names are overrated in my opinion, but I'm biased coz 1) I don't have one and 2) with my double barrelled surname, it'd be a nightmare if I had a middle name. But anyway.. Back to the topic on hand, that is weird that you both kinda have the same middle name Ell" Fia remarked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Well I do have a middle name and I can confirm that nobody ever uses it for anything." Chas added with a shrug after Kay had said her piece. "Not even my parents used it, and John only uses it when he's being an arse." John gave a 'guilty as charged' shrug before adding with a smirk "Mate, you don't even use your actual first name." His next remark was directed at the whole room. "In school Chas was the kid who always asked the teachers to call him by his nickname as opposed to his actual name. And they did it too cos they actually liked him." "The advantages of being a good student- teachers are actually willing to do shit like that." Chas smirked back. "And for those who don't know already my full name is Francis William Chandler, but I've been called Chas since I was about six and it's already felt right." Chas had no idea if Kay or Jay knew his full name, but he knew that Cliff and Cal most certainly wouldn't.

"Yep, it's pretty dang freaky alright." Elliott nodded in agreement with Fia's words, glad that his sister was now thinking along the same lines as he'd been earlier. "Given that I never knew Zan's real names before today, or any of this story of witness protection and massacred friends, how I managed to pick a name similar to his is mad, and completely beyond me. I didn't even know anybody called Zach, Zachary or Zachariah when I lived on Attil so how I stumbled on that particular name... yeah, it's beyond me." Before John could open his mouth and spout his usual line about coincidences Elliott beat him to the punch. "And we all know what John says about coincidences" he paused, at which everybody in the room chimed in with 'they don't exist', all having heard John say and explain his reasons for that particular viewpoint at least three times during their times on Attil.

 

[MzHyde]

At Chas' remark about John only using his middle name when he's being an arse, Fia had to refrain from making the cliche comment of 'when is he not being an arse?', instead deciding to keep quiet and listen as John pointed out that he doesn't even use his first real name. She knew Chas' real name having heard plenty of times her dad call him by it whenever he knew he could get away with it. Kay knew his real name as she seemed to recall hearing John call Chas by his full real name before they even came to Attil at some point so it definitely sounded familiar to her. So she just nodded at Chas' words, seeing no point in giving any other response to it.

Fia listened as Elliott confirmed he really didn't know Zan's real names before he came to earth and certainly not after he came to Earth. She wondered if it wasn't a coincidence, then what could it possibly be, yet as Elliott pointed before John could even mention about there were no such thing as coincidences, she smirked and joined in with everyone else in saying 'they don't exist'. "yup we know all too well!" she commented. "coincidence or not, it's definitely bizarre that's for sure" Kay then added in agreement.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Having only ever known him as Chas, neither Cal nor Cliff could see the cabbie as a Francis. It just didn't fit right, to both of them Francis suggested a very different kind of person, to Cliff in particular as she'd known a bully by the name Francis (he was in the year below Benji's and gave shit to pretty much everybody who dared breathe the same air as him). Both just nodded thoughtful before joining in with the chorus of 'they don't exist'. Having heard John's arguments, they could agree that there were definitely some certain situations where coincidences didn't exist and the similarities were due to some bigger picture they hadn't seen yet. But for other situations (such as the current discovery that both Elliott and Zan had some longer form of Zach as a middle name), they hadn't been completely swayed to John's opinion of coincidence not existing.

When everybody chorused with 'they don't exist', John couldn't help but smirk an expression of 'see! You're finally learning' on his face. "I agree, it's strange that of all the names you could possibly pick, you chose one so close to Zachary." "If you were a client Ell I'd claim some kind of bullshit about how blood relatives are connected in all kinds of ways magically, but that's complete shite and therefore can't be what's going on here." "We'll just add it to the list of mysteries we can't get answer to then I suppose." Elliott shrugged, still utterly baffled as to how and why he'd picked Zachariah as his middle name. When he'd picked his name he'd deliberately been looking for something that was both different enough from his birth name that he'd be able to distance himself from that part of his past, yet similar enough phonetically that he wouldn't run the risk of forgetting that he answered to that name, thus giving away that there was something not quite right about him.