Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[MzHyde]

Kay didn't notice the basketball hoops either in AJ's lair, but then her excuse was because the first time, she wasn't down there for too long before she had that mysterious text which got her kidnapped by he repossessed friend and another demon, and the second time was down to the sparring session her and John went to see before she had a panic attack because of the crowds of people she didn't know were around. As impressive as the lair was, she didn't have many good memories so far of it, which tainted her memory of what she noticed in there and what she didn't notice. She too smirked when Fia put on the tone of voice she did, whilst noticing how wide John's was getting at the sound of their kid being an utter smartass.

Fia smirked also when Cal said she was most definitely going to take the bait of the challenge and proceeded to remind Elliott who out of the two of them played semi-professionally in one sport and what can be transferable in skills. She found herself sniggering at the siblings trash talking each other over who was better or would do better, glad that her stupid remark totally started it. "and as the opening trash talks go on, there can only be one way to settle this between the siblings...a duel of skill and wit. Who will win? The one who hasn't stopped playing for years or the one whose been on Earth a d thinks basketball skills will win out? Stay tuned to find out!" Fia continued in her stupid commentator voice, whilst pretending to hold a microphone. Kay just started sniggering at Fia's quick witted tongue, knowing she was doing it fully to tease both Cal and Elliott and to see just how far she could take it before they both turned onto her. It was a dangerous game to play, but clearly it was one Fia was willing to play. "you're playing a dangerous game Fia" Kay laughed.

 

[_gallifrog_]

All watched on with amusement as Cal and Elliott began trash talking each other. Quite a lot of it John hadn't heard before and was surprised by a lot of it. He'd guessed earlier that Elliott had fond memories of the sport, but he'd had no idea that Elliott had played for a team, let alone for the A-team. The age thing was also interesting, despite how Cal may have dismissed it with a wave of her hand, there was a valid point in there, Elliott would have had to have serious skills to warrant being moved up. Both siblings knew they were being baited by Fia, she was treading a dangerous line and the more she teased, the more it was likely that the two of them would team up on her during the game and use their combined sporting skills to completely trash her ass.

"Well we all know who it won't be" Cal replied with a grin that said she didn't mind the teasing, but if Fia went too far, she'd regret it. "The smart mouth who has never played the game before." "I mean we could just team up and make it our personal life goal to block any move she attempts to make." Elliott proposed with a shrug and a smirk. "It wouldn't be the first time I've done such a thing." She turned to her wife "remember the time we team-tagged Rapp?" Cliff laughed at the memory, her eyes gleaming. "Oh that was brilliant! He got SO annoyed at us and did all kinds of crazy moves to try and get away from us, but they kept failing." Cal joined in laughing, leaning against her wife in the process. When Cliff's phone vibrated with a new message it was Cal who picked it up. her eyebrows raised in surprise. "Guess I must be kinda psychic, apparently there's a game of roof-ball planned for tonight, it's just started."

 

[MzHyde]

Alongside all her baiting of the two of them, she was enjoying finding out all these new things about them both, which she considered a double win on her behalf. She knew it was like treading in a mine field by baiting them both, she learned the hard way a few times in her timeline but would it stop her from doing it in this time? Like hell it would. She loved baiting her brother and sort of sister and if there was an opening to do it, she was going to take it. As Cal took the teasing and replied with that it won't be her who would win, she rolled her eyes sniggering at it and Elliott's reply. She waited until Cal and Cliff had finished going down memory lane before retorting with anything herself.

"as the two plot openly to get their own back on the youngest of the siblings, they forget for a moment that 1) she's not from this time and knows full well this is their go to and 2) no amount if tag teaming will ever stop the youngest from ever baiting them because she enjoys being that pain in their ass too much!" she said back, unable to now drop the tone of voice now she was on a roll with it, even though it was slightly turning into movie commentator tone rather an sports commentator. "oh for the love of.....Cal, Ell, please whoop her ass into next year for all the our amusement and I guess we're all going to where the game is?" Kay replied.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cal and Elliot chose to ignore Fia this time in favour of the message confirming that there was indeed a game taking place at the barracks. Cal even went as far as to pass the phone over to Elliott so he could read it for himself. "Huh, now that is funny. Still don't think you're psychic though Cal, it's a hereditary Devra trait after all." Elliott smirked while Cal stuck out her tongue in response, a childish response far more likely to come from Fia than the oldest sibling. Cal's initial idea for a response was to make some quip about 'well considering how little it turns out that we actually know about our father's side, or our mother's side for that matter, maybe we do have psychic genes'. But she knew that the hurt she would dispense on herself would outweigh any humour in the remark, so settled for sticking out her tongue.

John was tempted to make some quip about how 'the love of Cal' was Cliff's job and Kay shouldn't be interfering in it, but didn't get the opportunity as Cliff spoke up. "Yes, it's best to get going as soon as we can. It's a bit of a trek to the barracks, they're quite a bit away from where we are now and I'm guessing those of us who are playing will want to take part in as much of the game as possible. The earlier we join, the better we can get used to the teams. And for those who aren't playing, as a doctor I recommend either wrapping up really war, or staying here, it's gonna be FREEZING on that roof and we can't actually let you into any of the buildings- security reasons y'see. And for those who are playing, rid your pockets of anything that could fall out or get damaged. The amount of people we know who've broken phones while playing is quite frankly ridiculous."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia smirked when both Elliott and Cal decided to ignore he rlast remark to pay attention instead to the phone message. She did also have to agree that it was some good timing that Cal was suggesting it and a game was just starting over at the barracks. Cal poking her tongue out instead of retorting with words made Fia also think that was her thing and not Cal's but it was funny none the less to see Cal act in such a manner. She rolled her eyes at Kay starting to moan, but not finishing her sentence before telling Cal and Elliott to both just whoop her ass as payback before giving her the evil eye in retaliation.

Had John made some kind of comment Kay would have said that she didn't mean it that way in the slightest. But she would have seen why someone would have, so wouldn't have held it against him or anyone else if they misunderstood her remark. She listened as Cliff said about getting going as soon as possible so they could enjoy as much of the game as possible, but warned them of how cold it would be. At this news Kay was thinking twice about going along to watch as she wasn't sure how well she'd cope in the cold despite how well she could wrap up. Not only that she was concerned about how well Fia would cope knowing she suffered from the cold just as badly as she did, but knew the cold wouldn't stop Fia from wanting to play. "I'll stay behind if it's going to be that cold up there, might make the most of your bath if that's alright?" she replied to Cliff, not minding if no one else stayed, but wouldn't say no to any company after she's been in the bath either.

"well I'm going, I'll just quickly grab my warmer coat for walking over and change my vest to my thermal top. I'll be less than two minutes!" Fia said, quickly hurrying off to the room she was occupying and doing exactly that. She swapped out her white vest for her long sleeved top and grabbed her thick winter coat, returning one minute later where she pulled out her phone and put it beside Kay to look after. She figured whoever was coming along to watch could look after her coat.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Although Cliff was too professional to show it outwardly, she was relieved when Kay opted to stay behind. Having known Cal for a long as she did, she knew how badly the cold could affect a pyrokinetic (while pyrokinetics and phoenixes were far from the same, many thing related to their powers were- an adverse reaction to the cold being one of the most noticeable). Had Kay not been pregnant it would have been a different matter, while pregnancies weren't her area, any doctor with half a brain knew that what happened to the mother would affect the child. For the born Fia it was different because she'd be running around and exercising, which would warm her up in a matter of minutes. "Don't mind at all" she replied with a smile. When it was just her and Cal living in he apartment the bath was rarely used, both preferring to shower after a long shift, but every once in a while one of them would decide to treat themselves to a bath.

Elliott, John and Chas meanwhile were emptying their pockets onto the table, Chas' contained only his phone and his wallet, while Elliott's pockets contained some stubby pencils and a small sketchbook (similar in size to the one he'd given Rinaa, but a with a different coloured cover) in addition to the wallet and phone. John's trouser pockets were mostly empty bar the odd receipt and bit of loose change. He tended to use his trenchcoat for storing most things and had amassed quite a collection of miscellaneous and unusual items in there over the years. He had no intentions of playing in the trenchcoat, planning to leave it wherever everybody else was leaving their coats. But he did take out the most important things- phone, wallet, lighter, packet of cigarettes, packet of playing cards, keys - and leave them on the table for safe keeping. Cal chose not to get changed, having already dressed warmly for the court room but instead grabbed a biker jacket from the hook on the wall by the front door, it's inside was lined with some kind of fleece, making it incredibly warm.

The group said their goodbyes then began the walk to the barracks. On the way Cal and Cliff explained the rules of the game. It was, like Elliott had said earlier, quite similar to basketball in that there was two teams, a ball of roughly the same size and a hoop either end of the court. Unlike basketball it was a full contact sport (the only things not allowed were biting, gouging eyes and going for the testicles) and the ball could be hit with all parts of the body, though you couldn't score a hoop by kicking the ball. No powers were allowed, unless the ball (or a player) had fallen off the roof. It was bad form to deliberately push somebody off the roof, but accidents did happen.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay just had a feeling that Cliff wouldn't have been too happy about her being outside in the freezing cold for so long as she herself wouldn't have been happy about it. In fact she was certain it would only bring back memories of life on the streets in freezing temperatures (having spent at least one winter so rough she was being covered in snow as she tried to get some rest one evening) and of that happened, it would only make her unbelievably miserable and difficult to be around. So to save everyone from experiencing her real down in the dumps state, she figured it was safer to stay back. She also liked the idea of just relaxing in a hot bath as she hadn't been able to do such a thing for so long. If she had more of her book to read she probably would have the cliché thing of reading whilst in there. She watched as everyone else didn't even hesitate to leave their belongings on the coffee table as Fia went and changed, before returning. She said her goodbyes to everyone and let them all go to the barracks, whilst she pushed herself off the couch and went to the bathroom, wasting no time in running the bath for herself and grabbing herself a towel as she waited.

Fia left with everyone else, and during the walk she listened carefully to the rules of the game, noting how it was similar to basketball just like Elliott previously said. She smirked at the strong no no's part of the rules, wondering if those rules came in before or after someone did them. She made note of the rule about no powers unless falling off said roof, which she saw no issue with and actually feeling glad of it as if she was to use any of her abilities it would be her wings just to save herself. With the rules understood, she continued the walk whilst her brain briefly hoped that Kay would be okay back at the apartment as it wasn't usual for her to have to stay behind.

 

[_gallifrog_]

When Cliff mentioned about shoving people off the roof John smirked with interest, that particular tactic had popped into his head as soon as the word 'roof' had been mentioned. It seemed a completely logical move in what was clearly such a fiercely competitive game. But he wasn't too disheartened when he was told it wasn't allowed to do such a thing, understanding that falling from a roof could seriously injure or even kill somebody, depending on it's height. He suspected there was a ban on shoving people off the roof before either Cal or Cliff mentioned it. John also had a sneaking suspicion that the rule had only been added after one person too many had been shoved off the roof in question (he suspected that somebody had been badly hurt by falling off the roof and in order for the game to be allowed to continue being played, that new rule was introduced).

The walk to the barracks took well over twenty minutes, taking them to a part of the base Fia had only been in once before (John on the other hand had quite often ended up near the military base when out walking at night). The military base was a massive sprawling complex consisting of spaceship hangers, landing strips, launch sites, various control rooms and monitoring stations, squaddie accommodation, officer accommodation, various training facilities and a myriad of other buildings. Even at this late hour there were signs of life- lights on, vehicle noises, metallic clangs and mechanical beepings- though they were clustered around the western side of the complex. As they walked around the perimeter of the base everything became quieter and the traffic died down. During the last five minutes of their walk they were only passed by one person- a man on a motorbike. The eastern side where the cadet barracks were located seemed from a distance to be in complete darkness. But as they drew closer a set of erratically arranged lights on the roof of one of the buildings became visible, and as they drew closer still, the sight and sound of various figures on that roof could be made out. Even from this distance the fast pace of the game could be seen clearly, the figures darting, jumping, weaving and ducking, the ball flying back and forth between the teams.

Cal and Cliff dealt with the security at the gate, the guards were people they'd trained with and were all too willing to let Cal, Cliff and the their assorted guests in so they could join the game. Everybody was issued with a guest pass (bar Jay, who'd brought her own military ID, not in her actual name, but in a well established alias that Deke had assured hadn't been compromised), it wouldn't actually let them access anywhere, but would make it clear that they had permission to be in the base. Approaching the flat roofed building that housed the squaddies dorms Cal yelled up "Room for a couple more? Three military and four others, one of which is my brother." There was a pause, as the squaddies looked at each other, electing a spokesperson. "So long as they can climb up without ladders and know the rules then yeah, sure." "Leave the jackets on top of that power box over there." Cliff gestured at the power box in question before taking a run up and using parkour to make her way to the roof. It wasn't long before the others followed suit. Once up there they were added to the existing teams and the game started up again.

 

[MzHyde]

The moment John had started smirking at the roof rule, Fia just knew what he had been thinking and was glad that the rule was in place or they'd all have to be hyper vigilant about being anywhere the edge of the roof and John. The walk was brisk as she felt the cold hit her cheeks, but was glad that she had her winter coat on as she could pull pull her hood round her neck to try and keep some of the cold out, with the fluffy trim on the hood touching her cheeks. As those twenty minutes went by and the barracks came I to view she recognised them from he rone trip here, before continuing the walk with everyone, to see the game on said roof well and truly in play. Seeing the speed at which it was being played, she just knew it would be exhilarating to play, letting Cal and Cliff do the shouting up to see if they could join. With it agreed that they could join the game, she took her coat off and left it over the power box that Cliff gestured to, instantly feeling the temperature difference. It didn't surprise her that they'd need to climb up onto the roof, and as everyone climbed up she followed suit, deciding to not cheat her way out of climbing up which would just make her come across as showing off. She gladly joined the team she was put on, finding herself on the opposite team to Elliott and Cal, knowing this was going to result in that tag teaming against her.

With everyone at the barracks, and Kay very much on her own, she knew she could properly enjoy her bath without any worries of someone wanting to burst into the bathroom and interrupting her. Though she wouldn't ever imagine the likes of Chas, Cal, Cliff or Elliott doing such a thing, she wouldn't have put it passed Fia or even to a certain extent John to do it. Getting in the bath when undressed, sighing with great relief and content as the heat hit her skin, the steam filling her nostrils and the bubbles covering her in a dignified manner. "oh that feels nice...huh kiddo?" she said to herself and her bump without even realising she was doing it. "it's strange being alone with no one else in the apartment Kay" "I know Fee, but we're safe here, it's not Earth, nothing will get us on Attil as nothing bad knows we're even here" "it's not that I'm concerned about. What if something happens to our unborn one?" "nothing will happen, we're fine, there's been no hint of some thing will happen and If it does, then I have no doubts my bond with John and Fia will alert them of something happening" Kay couldn't believe that for the first time in a long while that Fee was actually speaking to her, and now she is, she was planting worries into her mind. She just wanted to relax in the bath and not think of anything.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John had no qualms with climbing up onto the roof, the building wasn't particularly tall and therefore not too much of a challenge for somebody who knew what they were doing and no much of a challenge for him, somebody who'd perfected clambering up onto roofs very early in his misspent youth. He guessed being asked to climb up was a way for the caddied to ensure that they would have the necessary agility for the game. He smirked when Fia was put on the opposite team to Cal and Elliott (the latter already bumping fists with his team and getting to know them), knowing that the siblings had every intention of living up to their earlier banter about trashing Fia's ass. Jay had ended up on the same team as Fia, which she was happy about as she wanted an excuse to trash Elliott. Back at AJ's they'd been competitive about everything, at first it had been competitive in an aggressive way, when they'd first met Elliott had done something that had massively dented Jay's reputation (and her pride) and was determined to get him back for it in whatever way she could. As they'd grown closer the aggression had lessened and it was now friendlier competition.

The roof was lit by a selection of torches that had been laid on the ground, so the lighting across the field was inconsistent. The roof was flat and made of some kind of concrete like material. The gender spilt of the cadets was roughly fifty-fifty, something that Chas still wasn't used to seeing, he'd only had one encounter with the military (which had been from a distance) and the soldiers had been almost exclusively male. In the semi-darkness of the rooftop the Devra were easily identifiable, their golden eyes standing out against the darkness. Devra night vision was only marginally better than that of humans, which was a relief of sorts to John and Chas, knowing that when it came to vision there weren't at a disadvantage. jay on the other hand having night vision, was in her element, her eyes seeming to glow with an unearthly light.

The game lived up to it's reputation of being fast and brutal being elbowed or kneed was a common occurrence and John knew he was getting far too much enjoyment out of being able to lash out when scrambling for the possession of the ball. For Fia she would quickly realise that her long hair left her at a disadvantage, most of the cadets had short or shaved hair, and none were afraid to pull on the red-heads' ponytail to distract her. As a result of the lack of rules, play rarely stopped, the teams running from side to side and end to end. Despite all the cadets being dressed in the same uniform of cargo trousers, boots and a t-shirt, they had managed to differentiate between the teams using the colour of their t-shirts (one team had white t-shirts, the other team black).

 

[MzHyde]

Being against Cal and Elliott, Fia knew this game was going to get highly competitive, even if she had no past skills or knowledge of the game like they did. She was a fast learner, probably faster than Kay was which didn't just go on educational purposes like Elliott had previously witnessed. The fact Jay had gone onto her team as well, she knew she tag team with her and she'd be alright as it wouldn't take her long to tag team with her to try and trash Elliott. She liked that not much time was needed to be taken in getting the teams set up and quickly got into the game. The lack of consistent light didn't bother Fia too much as she was used to having to see through dark lights when sneaking off out and such, but she soon saw just how in her element Jay truly was with the way her eyes seemed to glow in the night.

With the game well and truly in motion once again, she quickly learned how her hair was a disadvantage to her, feeling her ponytail constantly get pulled to distract her or throw her off guard in any other way, making her wish she had some other tightly done style that would have stopped it. She absolutely hated having her hair pulled but for the nature of the game she put up with it. She was however despite all that, getting really into it, easily giving as good as she getting from the other team, pushing and shoving, tripping others up and generally playing as dirty she could within the rules showing everyone that she may be the youngest around, but she held her own just fine around those who were older. She was thankful for the many training days with future Jay as it gave her a good back bone for not getting emotional if someone went for her. She got the odd scrape through her jeans from a couple of floor slides to dodge Elliott but didn't care.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Unsurprisingly Cal and Cliff easily got into the flow of the game, both were good players with years of experience behind them and weren't at all afraid of getting stuck in at the centre of the action. John and Chas weren't as good, but quickly figured out that while they weren't runners and scorers like Cal, Fia and Cliff, both were excellent at blocking and generally getting in the way of whoever had the ball. They weren't trying to get the ball, just ensure that whoever had the ball couldn't pass it on to anybody. Both men took advantage of the fact that full contact was allowed, John grabbing arms and twisting them behind the players back, while Chas made use of his broader frame to tackle people rugby style. he'd played a little bit of rugby when he was younger, he wasn't mad about the sport, but Trish was, and he'd picked up a surprising amount of tips from chatting with her and watching her play. It seemed that now they were finally proving useful.

The two who really stood out were Jay and Elliott, but for entirely different reasons. Jay's was a scarily aggressive player, blurring the line between scrapping for the ball and full out fighting. She would quite happily plunge right into the middle of the scrap in order to grab the ball and once she had it she was fast on her feet. She was a brutal player- lashing out, tripping people up, grabbing at limbs, wrapping and shoulder-barging people- as well as utterly fearless. Her years of training with Isogrii meant she had no hesitancy when running straight at the mob, or when the whole gang came for her. As a result of her rough game tactics she'd acquired a split lip, various scrapes along her forearms and hands, and a set of finger nail scratches on her neck.

Elliott on the other hand was demonstrating that all his earlier words hadn't been just mere trash talk, he really did have the skills to back up his claims. He wasn't just good at the sport like Fia was, he excelled at it. As a kid he'd had a natural gift for the sport, and it hadn't gone away as he aged. His own sparring sessions with Jay had toughened him and made him unafraid to get right into the thick of it, and the basketball he played on Earth had also helped. He was agile and fast, sprinting and weaving from one end of the court to other, using a mixture of basketball moves and moves he'd learned playing hoop-ball as a kid, accompanied by a well timed elbow, trip or grapple, as well as various evasive tactics and twists he'd learned while sparring or practising martial arts. Even to those who were only seeing the sport for the first time it was clear Elliott had genuine talent and was better than Cal at the sport, potentially better than everybody else on that rooftop.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia wouldn't have considered herself at an expert at the game at all, but she didn't think she was doing too bad all things considered, making a point to be someone who mostly passed to others, but she did go for scoring a few times when the path was open to her. Whilst focusing on the game, she did admire Jay's skills and how brutal she truly was on the makeshift pitch, but it was Elliott's skills that really blew her away the most. His natural talent for the game was obvious, whilst seeing the skills from basketball that he was using, as well as the roof ball skills he hadn't forgotten. It was his skills that made her constantly switch up her tactics throughout the play as she came face to face with him, making her go low with her deflecting and not high.

Then there were times she would come face to face with Cal and Elliott and she knew she'd be utterly screwed as she tried to dodge them both but they blocked her path too much, making it very difficult for her not to cheat and just fly above them. She swore she wouldn't break the rules though, she resorted to passing the ball to Jay or one of the squaddies after attempting to distract one or both of them. Other times she came in contact with the squaddies, she used them as leap and launch pads (a bit like she did with John back at Cliff's home) making it clear to those who didn't know her that she was a competitive person and if they were going to play dirty by tugging her hair, she was going to play dirty back. All previous thoughts that she had during the walk to the barracks of worrying about Kay being on her own, simply fading away from her mind. She acquired a few scrapes and grazes on her hands, knees (her jeans now ripped at the knees when they weren't before) and even a little scrape on her face but she didn't care. It had been so long since she got to really let lose in quite this manner, so she was fully intending on making the most of it. She was also not worried as if any scrapes were bad enough, she knew she could just go to Cliff afterwards.

Kay spent a good amount of time in the bath, finding it difficult not to just fall asleep in there, deciding that when she was on glorified house arrest in The House, she was going to make a point of giving herself this level of alone time when she could. She did eventually manage to get herself out of the bath with a little bit of careful manoeuvring, wrapping herself up in her towel to head to the room she was sleeping in to change into her lounge wear, finding half way to the room unborn Fia kicking roughly making her stop walking and slightly double over. "dammit kid..." she complained, before continuing her walk to the room so she could dry off and get into some comfortable clothes.

 

[_gallifrog_]

It took Cal and Elliott a little while to get into a rhythm with one another, due to their age gap (And at the time prominent height gap) they'd never played together as kids and so had to figure it out as they went along, But once they'd gotten over the initial hurdles they were a formidable pair, and quite a force to be reckoned with, able to keep the ball passing between each other for longer stretches than most of the other players. Cal was a skilled player, but Elliott was formidable. They more than delivering on their earlier promise of utterly trashing Fia. Both had the skills, speed, an extra few centimetres of height and the years of practice that allowed them to swipe the ball from her with practised ease. Despite barely knowing the cadets Elliott had easily gelled with the team, more than willing to pass on the ball. He hadn't stopped smiling since the game began, and was more than willing to join in with the Attili banter and shit-talking, almost all the insults would go over Fia, John and Chas' heads entirely as they were Attili idioms and quips with no real English equivalent.

John was stunned once Elliott's talent for the game began to reveal itself. He'd never seen Elliott play basketball before and this had never seen this side of his adoptive son before. His natural talent was blatantly obvious and watching him was something else entirely, his moves were slick and smooth and the way he dodged people was something to behold. He was phenomenal, John thought, part of his brain wishing that everybody who'd ever doubted Elliott could see him now when he was alive and completely in his element. Even though he was surrounded by military cadets he could easily hold his own against them, using all kinds of evasive tactics. None of the cadets were afraid to treat Fia rough, and by showing she was willing to give as good as she got, that made her quite a target for all kinds of moves, tackles and grapples. As soon as Fia used one person as a launch-pad, the tactic was quickly picked up by the cadets (the same with any unusual tactic any of the Earth based group tried). Along with all her other minor scrapes and damage to her clothing, there was now a muddy combat boot print on the shoulder of Fia's top.

Jay's most noticeable moment was when she was in possession of the ball and had to evade a defensive line of cadets. Her solution was to fling herself onto the ground, slide across the metal segment of the roof, and use her extended leg to knock all the cadets off balance. It was an extremely risky move as, if it went wrong, she would be guaranteed to get at least three combat boots to the face. But her gamble paid off and she was able to pass through the line and throw the ball to a waiting teammate. Out of their group Elliott was the only one to score a hoop, a task which was incredibly difficult as the lack of rules meant that both teams employed all kinds of tactics to block their hoop, draping arms over it to block the path off the ball. The closer one got to the hoop, the greater the number of players that would try to protect it. Elliott's scoring shot was an impressive one, involving jumping up in a sort of high-jump style motion, then throwing the ball while he was at the middle of his arc. The ball passed through the hoop perfectly and the team erupted into cheering. "What kinda move was that ya show off?" John called over, actually meaning 'how and where the bloody hell did you learn to do that'. "A bloody good one, that I've been trying to get right for ages. Saw it in one of those YouTube stunt videos that's completely fake and actually done with ropes and camera trickery and figured I might as well see if it's actually possible." Elliott grinned back, buzzing with adrenaline now that he finally managed to pull off that move. "There were some HILARIOUS failures believe me." Jay added, sauntering over to sling an arm around Elliott. The game resumed once the celebration had finished, both team returning to their respective halves of the roof so the ball could be tossed in. Before parting ways Jay leaned over and pulled Elliott into a brief kiss before, heading back to her side of the roof.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia knew that Cal and Elliott would utterly trash her, of that she had no doubt but she didn't care because to her this was like a bonding moment with her brother and sort of sister, so she revelled in the trashing and enjoyed every single moment of it. Even though she couldn't understand the trash talking between a lot of them, she could tell by the tone it was exactly that, which just made it all the more entertaining to witness and be a part of. When the cadets suddenly stole her move and used her as a launch pad, she looked down at her shoulder and saw the muddy footprint before looking back up and deciding that cadet was going to the focus of her attacks if it came to it as friendly pay back, which she gladly made come to fruition and gave them a firm shove to grab the ball at one point and pass it to her team mate who did most of the scoring or attempts to score.

As Elliott made the highly impressive scoring move, she had to forget that she was on the opposing team for that moment and give him a cheer and applause because it was more than impressive. She too wanted to know where he learned such a move, but John beat her to asking the question resulting in her listening to the answer and laughing at Jay pointing out the fact there was hilarious failures. "please say you have some of those failures filmed!" she laughed. She then smiled as she saw Jay take the moment to give Elliott a brief kiss before the game resumed and the competitive came very much back into play. The game really made her feel like she was part of something and closer to her family, even if one member wasn't there.

Back at the apartment Kay decided to spread herself out on one of the couches in her slouchy oversized shirt and leggings whilst playing on her phone instead for a bit before she just closed her eyes, not to fall asleep but just to relax only to find herself slipping into the deep parts of her mind and conversing with Fee for company. As nice as it was being alone, she was also feeling quite alone so Fee was her only source of company.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Jay's shit-eating smirk when Fia asked if she'd filmed any of Elliott's failed attempts told them everything they needed to know. "Obviously" she replied. Elliott had tended to practice when he thought none of the others were in the sublevel, but Jay with her noiseless tread could easily just walk in on his attempts without him noticing. "Even went as far as to buy a tripod and mount a camera on it for that exact purpose." Elliott rolled his eyes with a sigh (though it was a smidge more fond at the memory than it was annoyed). "And before you ask" Jay continued, anticipating what Fia and John's next question would be "I don't think I have any of the clips on my phone and some of them were deleted- ie the ones where he injured himself in the process." Elliott winced at the memories. Trying to figure out how to properly perform the stunt had been more error than 'trial and error' for him. "Do I even want to know how banged up this one got?" John asked with a sigh, slightly disappointed that they wouldn't get to laugh at Elliott making an arse of himself. "Probably not, he dislocated his shoulder once and I had to snap it back into position." "Hurt like fucking hell, might I add." Cliff smirked as she overheard that part. "If it doesn't hurt then there's something seriously wrong with your technique. Now come on, game's starting back up again."

The game lasted for a bit over an hour and a half, with only three hoops being scored (one by Elliott, the other two by two of the cadets). The only times the game stopped was when a hoop was scored or the ball was flung off the roof. Surprisingly it only flew off the roof twice, the first time it was retrieved by the nearest cadet and the second it was kicked back up to them by one of the guards. The cadet Fia singled out for revenge took it in good faith and as a result decided that they would be the one to mark Fia for the rest of the game. The cadet did a good job, though often the two of them would be too busy trying to get back at each other that they forgot about the entirely. It was still dark when the game finished, but as one cadet declared 'we do actually have to get some kind of sleep as the TO's [training officers] are gonna work us extra hard once they find out about the game'. Cal, Cliff and jay all nodded in understanding, all having been in the cadet's boots at some point in their lives. The ball was passed to one of the cadets and they dismounted from the roof, the parting shout being 'hey, if your brother ever joins the military, we got dibs on him for our team'. Elliott laughed and called back something in Attili, teasing about how it probably wasn't such a good idea as it would just show up his sister. The guest passes were returned at the gate and they began the walk back, all looking much worse for wear than when they'd come in, clothes rumpled and dirtied. Most had some minors scrapes and cuts. Jay, being the most aggressive player, was also the most bashed up, her most noticeable injuries including a split lip, a cut on her eyebrow, fingernail scratches on her neck and various bruises across her shins. Before the match she'd tied her hair back and up, but now it was loose and messy and quite clearly bore the signs of having been pulled at and yanked. Elliott was also the bearer of what was going to develop into an impressive set of bruises both across his torso and on his legs.

 

[MzHyde]

Hearing that Jay did in fact film Elliott making such mistakes delighted Fia and just as she was going to ask the question if said videos were on her in any way, Jay told her that no, she didn't think they were, shattering all hopes to laugh at her brother. Looking at John's face it was clear that he too was hoping to see video evidence of his adoptive son making a fool out of himself. She smirked when Cliff couldnt resist chiming in with her own little quip, seeing how perfectly Cliff fitted in with their family yet again. By the time the game was over, Fia had more muddy footprints on her clothing, scrapes and sore red marks on her, her body well and truly aching from the game, her hair also showing signs of having been tugged and pulled. "so...what the guesses for mum's reactions to us lot looking this ragged?" Fia asked with a slight cheeky smirk, knowing exactly how she'd react if it was her time's version of Kay, but she was curious to how everyone would think this Kay would react.

Kay was done talking to Fee by the time the group were heading back, unable to tell her as such due to all their phones being on the coffee table in front of her. So instead she found herself having grabbed her sketchbook an doencils and decided to sketch whatever came to her mind which ended up being something a lot darker than her usual stuff. She had no idea where the inspiration came from but she wasn't complaining as in her mind, it was some of the best quick work stuff she had done for a long time. It felt good to be drawing someone she didn't know and was just making up in her mind, slightly more gothic rather than pure fantasy. By the time the group would have got back it'd be in the stages of being shaded up and highlighted, led marks on her hands from using her fingers to blend out some strokes and darken some area as she was tok lazy to go grab her coloured pencils, though as she went on, she wished she did have them as a tiny pop of colour in her mind would have looked incredibly striking.

Spoiler: The piece she's drawing

Artist credit goes to Victoria Frances. My favourite gothic art artist of all time

 

[_gallifrog_]

Jay extracted the hair tie out of her hair as they left the base. It was now completely useless as a device for tying back hair as during the rough and tussle of the game somebody had grabbed at it, causing her the elastic in it to snap. Like Elliott, Cal, Cliff and Fia she was on a complete high after the game (Chas and John were also on a high, but it was different to that of the others as they'd been playing a different role in the game), it had been something she really needed, the chance to do something she enjoyed without worrying about caught or anybody figuring out who or what she actually was. On Earth she had to hold back in everything she did in order to sell the illusion that she was human. But up on that roof, for the first time in a long time she could just be, she could forget about everything and throw herself into the game.

John shrugged at Fia's question, he knew they all looked a state, but he frankly couldn't care less.e had no idea how to even go about answering the question his daughter posed, as many problems as there were between Fia and her Kay, he knew that Fia knew her Kay better than he knew the one in this timeline. He'd given Kay practically no thought while playing, needing an escape from the oppressive atmosphere of anything trial-related, worrying about why the fuck the universe thought now was a good time for him to have a biological kid and raise it, and the stresses of finding out that Zan was nothing like what he thought the man was. "Probably gonna think we got mugged or something" he suggested with another shrug. "Anybody who thinks about mugging us would be out of their mind." Cliff replied with a chuckle. "Three of us have visible military IDs, and everybody with half a brain knows that attacking a whole group is just asking for trouble." "Either that or everything we know about muggers is wrong." Chas added with a smirk.

Jay stopped dead in her tracks, face paling at the same time as a look of realisation came over it. "Oh SHIT" she swore "you gotta be fucking KIDDING me".

 

[MzHyde]

Unlike Jay, Fia just retied her hair as luckily her tie didn't snap apart during the game. She was convinced it would have done, but luckily it hadn't, instead just come loose. Like Jay though, Fia found herself able to just let loose and have fun with no worries of being taken or having to watch her every move to make sure no one followed her home and caused problems for her whole family. With her question asked, she glanced at John who was the first to answer his theory and smirked at the what she considered an half arsed theory which showed her he really was still learning more about Kay. She chuckled at Cliff's counter comment to John's theory and was about to say something when Jay just stopped dead and swore, seemingly realising something. "what's up?" she asked curiously, wondering what Jay could have realised or remembered from them just chatting about how Kay was going to react to seeing them all bruised and scuffled up.

Kay kept drawing her piece, wanting to really take her time on it and really get in there with the details, determined to create the feel of what fabrics were being worn by the woman, the texture of her hair and so forth. She just wanted it to be perfect and bring forward so much, even to someone who knew next to nothing about art. She worked meticulously on the face, even though the head was tilted down, eyes closed. As well a spitting equal amounts of attention on the ivy leaves, using an eraser and blending to create the veins of each and every leaf. As she drew she hummed a tune to herself to not feel so alone.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Elliott initially didn't notice that Jay had dropped back, the assassin had been on his left side, and the rest of the group was on his right. But as soon as she swore he turned right around wondering what possibly could have elicited such a reaction from her. The conversation had been a fairly normal one in his opinion, Fia asking some question, John giving some half-arsed bullshit answer as he didn't know the real one, Cliff being logical, Chas also being logical, but making a joke out of things. It was clear from her tone and pale face that she'd just had some kind of brainwave and from the furrow in her forehead that appeared shortly after she wasn't at all happy with whatever this realisation was. "Jay, what is it?" he asked, his tone soft, his words easily carrying in the otherwise quiet night.

"I think..." Jay paused, then raked a hand through her hair, pushing the tangled locks right up and over her head as she stalled, searching for words. "I think I know who the spook is." There was a stunned silence. John was the first to break it. "You think what?!" he asked, disbelief and shock in his voice. "That I know who the spook is." Jay repeated, squaring her shoulders, if her theory was right, then this was going to blow everything wide open. "As in the spook in the Attilian government?" Cal asked, stunned, unable to compute what it was that had lead Jay to this conclusion. "The one who got brainwashed? The one who may or may not be the thief you met earlier?" The assassin nodded. "How sure?" Elliott asked, once he regained control of his voice again."Ninety percent."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia didn't know what she was expecting Jay to say to explain her out of the blue reaction to her thoughts, but saying that she thinks she knows who the spook is was far from any of her guesses that she could have come up with. Her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped unable to vocalise what she was thinking, unlike John who was very much able to vocalise his shock. She had to force her mouth to shut as she listened to everyone react to the news as she heard Jay say she was ninety percent sure. "are you able to enlighten the rest of us on this revelation?" she asked. She didn't know what else to possibly say other than ask for them all to be told what Jay's theory was on the spook's identity. She also wanted to know how Jay would have come to that conclusion, especially seemingly as it seemed to dawn on her as they were talking about something completely unrelated.

At one moment, Kay found herself looking at he rphone for the time out of habit, instead of the wall clock and wondered hoe the others were getting on with their game as well as when they would all be coming back. She had no idea they were all on their way back, it now creeping onto her that she actually hated not knowing. With a sigh, she took a break from her sketch and decided to grab a drink before heading back to the couch and picking up her drawing once again. "something tells me they'll be back soon Kay, stop your worrying." Fee said in her head, "I'm not worrying, just curious" Kay replied out loud, "you're worrying, they're all grown ups they'll be fine" "says the one who previously being the worrier" "don't be a smartass Kay" Fee warned her.

 

[_gallifrog_]

When Jay said ninety percent, it was clear to everybody that she meant it. Cliff's eyes went so wide it looked as if they were only micrometers away from popping out of her skull when Jay gave her figure. John, Cal and Chas just stared at the assassin, trying to compute what they'd just heard, turning to each other with identical expressions of 'did anybody else hear her say ninety percent?'. Elliott on the other hand had to physically clench his teeth together at Jay's revelation to prevent his jaw from dropping open like Fia's had earlier. From experience he knew that when Jay said she was ninety percent certain of something she was almost always right. It was a rare occasion where she was spectacularly, spectacularly wrong and her theory wasn't even in the right ballpark.

Jay shook her head at Fia's question. "I'd rather not say who I think it is, not until I'm one hundred percent certain I've got the right man." "What!?...." Cliff asked, finally regaining control over her vocal chords. She was kind of annoyed that Jay wouldn't tell her, or any of them, but there was something in the assassin's voice that prevented her from vocalising her next sentence, instead going for "Why?" "If I'm right about the identity, then it's going to completely throw everything on it's head. It'll completely eclipse all the other revelations we've had this week and you'll never see things the same way again. But I'm wrong, which I really hope I am, then nothing changes."

Once again there was silence as the others tried (with varying levels of success) to digest what the assassin had just said. "How.... can you at least tell us what triggered this revelation?" Elliott asked. "It was what Chas said actually." "Me?!" the cabbie pointed at himself, an expression of utter confusion on his face. "To be more specific 'everything we know about muggers is wrong'. It reminded me of the runes I saw that time in Kay's landscape, they were in an ancient language, one that's all but extinct now as the planet it came from, my birth planet, was destroyed. My birth planet was like Attil in terms of language in that there was a modern tongue which everybody used and an ancient tongue only used for ceremonial stuff. I THOUGHT it said 'everything you know about the dying girl and the dead brother is wrong', but I mistranslated."

 

[MzHyde]

Like the others, Fia always trusted Jay's instincts on her percentages. If she said she was ninety percent sure of this, then Fia was damn well going to believe she was right with this theory. Though the moment Jay shook her head at her question and declared that she would rather not divulge her suspicions of who the spook is, Fia just slowly nodded at Jay's reasons for not wanting to say it just now, even though her inner reaction was very much what Cliff openly said. Inside, every fibre of her very core just wanted to beg Jay for the answer and to not kee them in the dark over this, she was done with being kept in the dark about important information, but she also rationally respected Jay too much to act out. So she kept her reply to the simple nod instead, knowing it was for the best. She didn't like what she heard but like the others she let herself digest what was said, before Elliott became the next to speak up.

She was glad that someone managed to ask how she got her realisation triggered, all the information having stopped her from personally asking that very question. Of all the things that were said, she wouldn't have thought it was what Chas said, but thinking back on the earlier conversation, his words made more sense than 'guesses for Kay's reaction to our appearances'. She continued to listen to what Jay said as the answer, finding the mention of one of Kay's Mind Walks highly intriguing. She wasn't around when the mind walk in question was done, so this was the first she had ever heard of it and it made her fold her arms across her chest casually as she listened. "so, what did it actually say?" she asked with an raised eyebrow. Yet her mind was actually asking a hell of a lot more questions than just that one. What her mind was actually asking was 'what did it actually say? When was this mind walk of mum's? Why was the mind walk needed? Why was the runes in your planet's ancient dead language and not the phoenix language if it was mum's mind walk? And just... what the hell?!'. Her mind racing and she felt like until she got some answers, it wouldn't slow down at all.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John had practically forgotten about the MindWalk through Kay's mind and ancestral memories that had taken place in The House. It had been very much eclipsed by the sex he and Kay had had afterwards. But forcing his mind to think back past the shagging, he did remember that Jay had been left rattled by one particular set of runes on the wall. he hadn't bothered attempting to read them as one, a quick glance was enough to tell him that he didn't have the foggiest clue what the language was and two, his attention had been pulled away by everything else there was to see in the Mindscape. Elliott on the other hand remembered it vividly, he always did when it came to MindWalking. He'd been the first to notice something was wrong with Jay, as the blood had drained from both her MindWalking form and her physical body and outside of blood loss there were very few things that could make Jay go that pale.

When Jay gave her wrong translation there was a joint inhale of breath of from Cal, Cliff and Chas, all thinking that the phrase 'dying girl' could only refer to one person- Rinaa. John and Elliott also raised eyebrows when the assassin said she'd mistranslated. "It didn't say dead brother, it said something else entirely." Jay replied, evading Fia's question, not wanting to give up what she now believed to be the real translation for fear that the others' would put the pieces together and come to the same conclusion she had about the identity of the spook. "And yes" she narrowed her eyes in a slight glare, which was mostly directed at Elliott, the only one known the translation before tonight. "I am aware of fundamental of a mistranslation that was, but I was seven when the planet blew up and never properly studied the language. It was just an on-again, off-again hobby when I was bored out of my mind."

"I'm not following" Cal shook her head slightly. "The runes were in your language, but in Kay's head? How does that make sense?" "I haven't the SLIGHTEST CLUE as to how it got there." Jay replied. "For all I know somebody with psychic or MindWalking powers could have planted the message in one of our minds, then made a mental trigger for that particular Mindscape, making it manifest there, knowing that's the only time I'd be in that part of her mind. Or maybe she's actually from my planets and the so called phoenix language is just a re-hashing of my planet's ancient one? Or maybe I'm not what I think I am and have some connection to the phoenix race?" Jay gave a large 'who the fuck knows' shrug before adding. "Though what I am in no doubt that is that it was a message for me. Right before it was my full name- first name, abbreviated first name, middle name and surnames of both my parents. That's why it caught my attention so fast. I can count on one hand the number of people that know all five."

 

[MzHyde]

Having Jay evade her question entirely deep down really irked her to no end. She hated that she was being shut out, and although it was a case of everyone being shut out of the vital information, the fact she had been shut out for nine long years of vital information, it always left a very bad taste in her mouth and mind when it still happened for whatever reason, whether it be very valid or not. It was the negative consequence of her parents (mostly Kay's but John wasn't completely innocent in the decision) decision to try and have Fia have a normal childhood in her early years and not dump the big 'you're a descendant of a mythical race and a mage and the future saviour of all phoenix kind' bombshell on her. If Jay was anyone else or if it was in her timeline over another subject she probably would have snapped at Jay to stop keeping things from them all as they're all in this together and stormed off. She listened and watched as Jay then aimed her next comment toward Elliott.

As Cal said she was not following the whole Jay's native planet language was inside Kay's head, made Fia feel better about also not following on that tidbit of information. She couldn't fathom out why that occurred at all, and if she tried to figure it out, her mind just felt like it would explode. She listened to Jay's list of possible reasons for it being where it was, thinking over each and every possibility, thinking that considering how varied they're group was already that any of those reasons could be the truth. Hearing that the message was indeed most definitely for her because it listed all five of her names, Fia couldn't help but raise an eyebrow even more. "As if it couldn't get anymore baffling. So humour me for a split second here so I can try and catch up and understand. What was the MindWalk for initially? What was in mum's landscape? Or can I not know that either?" she asked, unable to stop herself from asking the last question before it came out. "and finally, if you can't tell us anything, is it necessary for us to be standing still in the cold because I'd like to get back to the warm apartment and not leave mum alone any longer" she then added, aware that her tone was probably coming across a little bit more annoyed than she actually meant it.