Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[_gallifrog_]

In John's mind it was really looking like everybody in the room had overcome some kind of hurdle(s) to still be standing there today. He had his many, many past traumas. Kay had loosing her birth parents and the whole being pursued by demons but. Cal had losing her brother, leaving her father and being homeless. Cliff had lost her hearing, and no doubt other things along with it. And Fia had lost Kay (then got her back through time travelling bullshit) and there were probably other obstacles she'd had to overcome too. And when he included those not in the room, the pattern just became more obvious. Overcoming massive obstacles that should by rights have knocked you down, not only makes you stronger, but more determined.

"Yeah, but without the context it would sound like some kind of dumb motivational advice." "We really are a right bunch." Was John's wry comment on the matter

 

[MzHyde]

John wasn't the only one who noticed how there was a pattern between them all that connected them all. Kay had noticed it as well, and she was pretty sure that Fia may have also noticed it. When Cliff said what she did, Kay just smirked, thinking she had a point. "We really are" she replied to John's remark about the kind of group they were. "guess that's why we get on. We get where each of us have come from" she added.

"Urgh, you lot are being so sentimental!" Fia joked, making a fake grossed out facial expression. "Nothing wrong with it Fia" Kay pointed out, which just got an eye roll from Fia. Fia got up and walked round the couch pulling out her blades, "Cal, I'm curious, recognise the work on these?" She asked wanting to change the subject and she was curious after John brought it up earlier. Kay just let Fia do what she wanted, she knew she wasn't going to be any trouble, and she was feeling the need to just relax back a bit. She felt a twinge in her stomach but she thought nothing of it, just putting it down to normal pregnancy things, but it did make her place her hand on her stomach.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John stayed out of that particular interaction between Kay and Fia. But it brought a half smile to his face. Yes, they were being sentimental, but they all seemed to need an assurance that they'd done the right thing. It was far better than being at each others throats out of hatred, or just not being able to stay in the same room as each other. It showed they could get along and they had enough in sommon to all act like rational, mature and sensible adults. (Even if they didn't see themselves in that way).

Cal took the blades, one in each hand, first feeling the weight and getting a sense of the balence by flipping the blades across the back of her hands. In her mind she was also gauging the metal itself, trying to estimate the composition of the alloy from weight alone. Cliff and John watched with interest as Cal scrutinised the blades, before turning her attention to the hilts themselves, holding them up to get a better angle. She was looking for something in particular--the makers mark. "Considering my seal is on them, I can only guess that I made them in the future, or somebody stole both my mark and my style."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia watched Cal scrutinize the blades. She knew it wouldn't take Cal long to notice her mark on them, but she just wanted her to see her work from the future. She was aware of Cliff and John watching with interest, and when Cal did finally speak up she smiled and nodded. "Bingo, I had your help in my time to make them. Dad ain't too keen on them, this time or mine. I swear he has no taste" She confirmed, ending with a cheeky comment. Kay overheard it and couldn't help but smirk, it seemed Fia had picked up her level of snark growing up.

"Seems my snark rubbed off on our kid" Kay remarked to John, as she rubbed her stomach. The twinges being frequent, but she could feel it was nothing bad, she guessed it was the fact that things would be so quicker for her. She guessed some of it was also down to hunger, having realised she hadn't eaten since the morning when she took advantage of what was left of Elliott's pancakes. "don't suppose there's anything to eat is there?" She asked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cal would have recognised them as her work without the makers mark. She couldn't explain it, but she just knew from a piece whether she had made it or not. It was some subconscious knowledge. She wasn't as apt at recognising Dan's work, unless there was engravings on it. His style was both distinctive and had a simple elegance to it, he was not one for over the top detailing, but he was versatile enough to do detailed engravings for commission pieces. "Good to see I've still got the skills in the future. I couldn't imagine why I'd stop forging." She handed the blades back.

John rolled his eyes at the remark from Fia "That's me all right, if you believe what people say, no taste in fashion, no taste in weapons and cetainly no taste in music." All things that he had actually been told at some point or another. The last one was a jab back at the time in the diner in Seattle and the bullshit he and Kay pulled off. "There's always something, point of principle, though as usual there's always something that needs getting. So if anyone wants anything in particular, the list is over there." She made a gesture at the list in the wall, which included some things Rinaa had noticed were going low.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia took the blades back, sliding them back into their designated pouch on her thigh. "You definitely don't forging, you just have me bugging you a lot of the time" Fia confirmed to her with a smile, showing it was because it was Cal she trusted when it came to weapons. Which reminded her, she took out her phone and brought up the photo again of her violin, "Cliff you'll like this I think, could also do with picking your brains over something" she said.

When John retorted to Fia's remark Kay couldn't hold in the chuckle. She knew the last bit was a reference to their breakfast in Seattle. "At least I didn't mean the music dig that time, at least music is one thing you do have taste in" Kay smirked before Cliff replied to her about the food situation. "Just like home" she chuckled, sitting up. It had been days since she last cooked and she actually missed it. Getting up she walked to the kitchen to have a look at what they had in. A lot of the stuff she recognised, and some of it she didn't but it didn't put her off. "Anyone got any objections to letting me cook?" She called out, having a feeling she'd know the answer, but as it wasn't her kitchen she still asked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"And how's that different from this one throwing ice at me all the time?" Cal smirked, earning herself a dig in the ribs and a kiss on the cheek from Cliff. It was a long running thing at this stage, as John and Kay had seen the other day when Cliff made the bet with Rinaa. At Kay's question both shook their heads. "Not a problem in the slightest, go ahead." The two of them took turns cooking both having various speciality dishes. Cliff prefer fish dishes due to her waterworld heritage, while Cal was more of a pasta and rice kind of person. They'd diversified over the years and could follow most recipes and make something edible at the end. Weird hours on Cliff's part meant that one would cook something for both and reheat it at a later date.

"Actually I'll text the other two and find out what their plans are, just so you know how many." By the other two she meant Jay and Rinaa, knowing that Chas was in safe hands. Cliff was putting back in the hearing aids when Fia came over. "This does look up my allley all right." She commented taking in the crossbow violin. "As for brain picking go ahead."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia laughed at the two of them. Before she went into the conversation with Cliff. She was glad she took the plunge to show Cliff like John told her to do. "I'm thinking of making it fully functional, and considering you're the archer out of the people I know, I figured I'd get your opinion on it and see if you had any ideas " Fia replied to Cliff, she would have asked in her time, but it had been a while since she saw them both and as she was here in this time with the two of them, she figured it was better to ask now. "I know it can be done, but I'm just a bit stuck on it" Fia added.

Whilst Fia decided to pick Cliff's brains over her violin, she listened to Cal saying she'd find out what the other two were planning on doing, guessing it was Rinaa and Jay she was on about. She remained in the kitchen as she waited, "cool, I tend to make too much food anyway, I once made so much Chas had enough to take back to his entire family for dinner and there was still enough for when Elliott came home one night" she chuckled. Looking through the ingredients in, she knew exactly what to make that would make everyone happy.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Making it fully functioning would be beyond cool. Cliff wasn't a musician, being deaf ruled that option out for her, but she could respect people's interests. And the idea of combining a violin with a crossbow was definitly worth pursuing. "It can definitly be done, the thing is doing it without the arrows damaging the neck as they fly out, or the draw back causing the body to warp and snap. And ensuring it stays accurate." She took another look at the photo. "But it can be done."

The replies came in a few minutes later, Jay's first, followed a few minutes later by Rinaa's. Cal read them out. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm planning to eat out at that rib place once I've finished in the gym. New ID is working great, haven't been stopped once- Jay." Her eyebrows raised in surprise at Rinaa's message. ""Count me out." That last word has been underlined and put in bold font for emphasis. "I'm going to grab something to eat in one of the student dives on campus, probably won't be back til around seven(ish), don't wait up." " Cal read out.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia nodded, "that's the issue I'm having currently." She replied, she brought up more photos that she took of every angle of the violin. It was something she did so she could draft out ideas, as she did at home have print outs of the images. "I got more photos here of every part of the violin" she explained. She definitely was now in her element talking about this.

Kay turned her attention to Cal when she read out the texts from Jay and Rinaa, not surprised by Rinaa's tone in her reply whatsoever. Having Fia around did really get under Rinaa's skin and she didn't think she'd want to be back when Fia was here and awake. "Not surprising really" she just said, turning back to the kitchen. She pulled out some ingredients that she wanted and familiarised herself with the kitchen as she found everything she needed before starting all the prep work for a paella. It was a dish that would make everyone happy and easy to do. She also felt like cooking for everyone, particularly Cal and Cliff, it was a way of showing her thanks to the two of them letting them all into their home and all that Cliff has done for her.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The tone of the text was blatantly obvious to everybody in the room, they'd all seen just how angry Rinaa had been earlier. But it wasn't that that had caught Cal's attention. It was the fact that she was on the University campus. The campus itself was located a good bit away from where they were, and there was really no reason to be there unless you were a student, a guest lecturer or a teacher. "What's she doing on campus? That's what...." she did the maths in her head, "a forty five minute walk from here?" "I'd blame Deke's influence for that. I guess we'll just have to find out later."

Cliff swiped through the images, noting that they were photographed with a scale to allow for an accurate mental picture to be formed. And there was a whole folder of them. "Well, I'm no engineer, but if I had to make an educated guess I'd suggest something along the lines of..." Her idea involved replacing the crossbar with something less decorative and more sturdy, as well as strengthening the internal frame of the violin. "Of course this would be easier if the violin itself was here or using some kind of 3D model to work with."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay decided to tune out the conversation between Cal and Cliff that spoke about Rinaa's decision to go to the University campus. She was too involved in what she was doing, as she started to put everything together in a pan, and took the risk of putting what spices she could find into the dish. She kept it mild to begin with, but Kay knew that she'd add to the flavour as she went, not wanting to over spice it too soon. She let the rice and chicken get a headstart as she knew those would take the longer to cook as she preferred to let them simmer in stock and water. When she was happy with the progress, she added all the other things of various vegetables and seafood, before the addition of some spices went in, the aroma beginning to quickly fill the air.

Fia let Cliff take a gander at the photos and listened to her suggestions of how to go about it. When she said it would have been easier if the violin was here or a 3D model she nodded."I would go get it, but as you know I've been sworn to no magic use" she replied with a smirk. She did like the ideas that had been given though.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John and Cal had taken up residence on the couch, and were switching between Attili and English telling stories about the Elliott they knew, and having a long overdue catch up. John could see the similarities between Elliott and Cal, though Elliott had lost ecrtian traits as he grew up, one of the first thing she maksed had been the golden eyes distinctive of the Devra, changing them to a blue colour. But bcak on Attil he'd taken the golden eyes agon, the planet itself prveneted him from changing their colour. And the opposite wa strue too, Cal could see what exactly her brother had picked up from John's habits.

Cliff knew and nodded, randomly jumping around time to get things could cause all sorts of problems. "Yep, I know, and it's not a good idea to go back on your word after only a few hours." So getting the violin was put of the question, leaving 3D modelling as the viable option. "There is enough photos here to make a mostly complete 3D model, but it would take a good while to process them all." Cliff was thinking to whne they had came back and Rinaa and Deke had been using Jay's computer set up to do 3D modelling.

 

[MzHyde]

It seemed they all had found something to do or someone to talk to, and it just seemed to all fall into place nicely. Kay fell into her old habits and quietly hummed to herself as she cooked which showed how comfortable she was in her surroundings. The last time she did it was in John's apartment, despite having cooked a couple of times on the ship. She kept the paella simmering and every now and then stirred it through so it all cooked evenly. Giving it a taste test, as she always did with her food, she added a bit more spice to it.

Fia nodded in agreement at Cliff's words. She really didn't want to piss off John as she prided herself on keeping her word. When Cliff said they had the equipment here to make a 3D model, she grinned. "Well, we got time and it's not like there's much else to do." Fia replied. "So I'm game if you are" she added.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Oh I'm game alright." Cliff smiled, she had no idea how it would turn out, or if it would even work. But she was full well willing to give it a go and see what she could learn along the way. And if it went shite, so what? They wouldn't be wrecking a real violin, and they'd learn something useful in the process. Jay, Rinaa and Deke had all modified the computer set up to make it faster, sleeker and in general better. Booting up showed that as she suspected the 3D modelling software had already been downloaded, and was the kind that could extrapolate from photos, provided there was a scale to work with. "Looks like we're in business." She remarked, hooking up Fia's phone and starting the photo upload.

Also open on the computer was Rinaa's file drive. Most of the things were pass code protected anyway, but there was quite a bit in there. It was under the name of "Leah: File drive 1-basic". implying that there was more than one cloud drive in existance. Cliff idly scrolled through the file names. Most were things like "Homework assignment 2-10-37" or "lecture notes and blueprints pt25". But as she went through there were other things that difinitly piqued her interest. "Fibre optics photo experiment w/ Ramon", "Lyrics- Flawed deep down", "hair cut ideas", "interesting movies coming out this year" and"open mic performance."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia grinned when Cliff was up for the little project. She went over to the computer with her and gladly handed her her phone so Cliff could link it all up and upload the photos she had taken for such an opportunity. She noticed the files Rinaa had uploaded and protected, and she was curious by some of them but she also knew how private Rinaa was, even if this version of her was different. The privacy habit was the same. "Awesome! Let's do this!" Fia excitedly replied, showing her teenage side suddenly.

Kay could hear the excitement in Fia's voice, despite minding her own business and she couldn't resist smiling at it as she finished up the dish. She even made some flatbread that could be just torn and used as a side. As it came close to finishing, she was glad she went with this option as it meant Cliff and Fia could eat and do what they were at the same time. "Food is up!" She called out to everyone, grabbing a small plate for herself and some of the bread, taking it to the couch.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cliff had no intention to open any of the files, she'd gauged enough from Rinaa to know she was a private person and kept her secrets to herself. And she wouldn't know how to get through the encryption without a password. But the files spoke of an organised person, everything was laid out in folders arranged by content and in some cases people involved. Two names in particular stuck out as they were repeated over and over again-Ramon and Artemis. The fact that this was only file drive 1 implied that there was more somewhere else, probably connected to different account(s). She was looking mainly to try and get a sense of the other teenager, Rinaa was better at masking what was going on than the others.

At the call, Cliff looked up, then turned back down to the computer and logged Rinaa out of her account. She didn't want to have the temptation to look any further there. The remaining download time was ten minutes, and actually extrapolating would take longer. The others took their portions and settled down to eat.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia like the others grabbed a plate and served herself what she wanted before going back to near the computer and sitting down to eat, being completely distracted by the food. For a kid that was very skinny, she was one that really loved her food- a trait she inherited from Elliott, or so it was theorised. She also just really loved her mother's cooking, like most kids.

Kay sat on the couch with her food and aye slowly, for someone who was earlier quite hungry, now she was eating after preparing it all, her appetite was lowering rapidly. Though she had to admit even for herself, she didn't do a half bad job. It was up to her usual standard of cooking, she was just proving to become quite picky, as some of the ingredients she had put in, though we're perfectly fine for everyone else, her taste buds weren't liking them. Which she found annoying as it was stuff she'd have happily eaten any other time. She put it down to pregnancy changing her likes and dislikes, like the coffee situation. It took her a good ten to fifteen minutes just to eat a mere quarter of the small portion she served herself, which annoyed her deep down, as she got full quickly.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Nobody in the room was particularly a picky eater, they all had their individual dislikes, but were all willing to eat pretty much anything put in front of them. And Kay's cooking was no exception. They all really enjoyed her cooking, and appreciated her skills. And this appreciation and enjoyment showed on all their faces. Despite there being a perfectly good table, Cal had her plate balenced in the triangular space where one leg crossed over the other. It was just something she did. John noticed Kay's lack of apatetite, but didn't comment, he had a feeling it was pregnancy related.

The conversation was about nothing in particular, nobody commenting on the fact that they had two travellers now, and nobody wanting to broach the subject of what would happen when the other returned. Though John was hoping thta either Jay, Chas or both would be back by then as they were the only ones who could stop a full out fight between the two. Even if Fia didn't want a fight, Rinaa was far more volatile, and the transformations were only amplifying her emotional states.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay also had been thinking about what was going to ensue when Rinaa arrived back to have Fia still around. She knew though, as much as she understood why Rinaa had gotten angry, she wasn't going to let her own kid get in harm's way. She'd try her hardest to remain neutral, but Fia did deserve be backed up when it came to explaining the whole alternate timeline situation. At the same time, she wasn't going to let Fia possibly say anything to upset Rinaa even more either.

Not being able to finish anymore food, she put her plate down on the table, sitting back. She just chimed into the conversation as and when something came up that she could contribute with something. She also noticed how Fia grabbed Kay's food and scraped it all onto her own plate to eat it for herself, which made Kay smirked. She didn't comment but she did find it amusing her kid had such an appetite and could put so much away.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John didn't find it particularly strange that Fia ate more than anybody else. It was just a normal teenager thing in his mind, teeneaers just seemed to have this ability to eat vast amounts of food and show no side effects. Everybody else cleaned their plates, and piled them by the sink to be taken care of at a later date. It was another thing about Cliff and Cal's life, there was no set rota, one of them would get around to it eventually. A system which sounded at first glance totally ineffective, but worked perfectly for them both.

The data finished rendering, creating a 3D violin model, but it was lacking any internal frame structure as the photos had not captured it. It was just a shell, but it was a start. Cliff brought up the model turning one of the monitors around to show Fia what her photos had created. The weather had eased up outside, but only slightly, relegating itself to the regular shite weather of Earth. So when Jay arrived back she was wet, but not as drowned rat looking as earlier. The gunmetal grey jacket had kept most of the water off. The others acknowledged her arrival before turning back to their chatting.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia looked up when the render had finished and Cliff turned the monitor to show her. She got up and sat back where she had originally before going for Kay's food, and checked it out. "that's damn accurate! I'm impressed" she commented, feeling like despite being just a shell it did look perfectly like her violin. It made her wish she had brought it with her, but there was only so much she could bring with her without it looking like she was moving in.

Kay looked up when Jay arrived back, before turning back to the group and like the others, went back to chatting. She relaxed back in the couch but leaned against John slightly, as she draped her arm over her stomach. The twinges had stopped for a little bit luckily, which she appreciated a lot. She would have been lying if she said it wasn't uncomfortable. She decided to then get her phone out and search about mythical pregnancies a bit more to find out if she had to do anything in paeticular as time went on.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"So am I, it's Deke's programme, one of many. I've never had an opportunity to use it before. He wrote the code, designed it and is consistently tweaking it. He knows his stuff alright." Cliff was genuinely impressed, not that she was doubting Deke's abilities or anything. He was formidable as a tech guy, mechanic and engineer. He could be considered a genius by some, but he gave off an aura of mad scientist. All the university students packed in for his lectures (even those not involved in the sciences). He knew how to give an inspiring speech and keep a crowd through humour, demonstrations and acting like a madman in general. He had a way of making people believe in themselves when he spoke.

Cal started at the dishes, making use of her pyrokinesis to heat the water. Jay settled herself down with a book and headphones, while John put an arm around Kay.

 

[MzHyde]

"dude has serious skills" Fia remarked, having not really heard much about this Deke in her time. She had heard about how they knew someone who could do these amazing things in the sciences, but that's as it. Now she got to check out his work for herself and she was loving every second of it. She wished she had this sort of technology in her time, but she also knew she wouldn't get enough time to even properly use it. Between learning normal teenage stuff from her Aunt Sam, and all things phoenix from Kay, ontop of training with Elliott and learning all things magic with John, there wasn't time for anything else.

Kay noticed how Jay just didn't really interact with any of them the moment she got in, yet she couldn't hold anything against someone who enjoyed sitting down with a book and music to chill out. It was one of her own favourite past times after all. She all but sank into John's arm, and glanced over, seeing the pure joy in Fia's face, smiling to herself she just looked away again and back to her phone, scrolling down as she read paragraph after paragraph.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Oh he does, he's kind of genius but will never admit it, preferring the label of mad scientist. He was put through an accelerated University programme and as soon as he graduated, they gave him a lab, funding and got him teaching the students at the university. And he hasn't left there since. He's also the kind of person that can make you believe you can do anything, which is why he's team captain." Cliff had nothing but admiration for her friend. She'd known Deke for years, they'd hung out around campus, and he'd been working on her hearing aids for as long as they'd known each other. "Though he still can't make a pair of waterproof hearing aids to save his life which is a problem, considering my siblings way of greeting me." She added with a smirk.

Jay still felt was suffering from imposter syndrome, feeling that she wasn't exactly a part of the group. So getting herself stuck in a good book was her way of both relaxing and not just sitting around awkwardly. As she read one foot tapped in time to the music.