Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[_gallifrog_]

The apartment
With the two teenagers gone, the atmosphere in the apartament relaxed slightly. Nobody would deny the fact they had been expecting a fight to break out, instigated by Rinaa, even Jay. "Well that could have gone a lot worse." John remarked, slumping back into the couch. Cal did the same thing in her spot on the couch, Cliff propped her arms up on the back of her chair and nodded her agreement. Jay sat herself on the table, one leg up, the other down. "It really did, but it seems like every time my kid opens her mouth, it just reveals how shitty the future is, as if it wasn't bad enough to know Elliott is going to die." Jay quite frankly wanted to bang her head through a wall as it would be less of a headache than dealing with life.

The fire escape
Rinaa had pointed Erath out as it was the first thing anybody did on anew planet, look for their home world. Home for Rinaa wasn't Earth or Attil. As much as she enjoyed living on Attil, it was marred by one thing, the fact that this was the planet Elliott had died on. None of them could know that. "Our timelines diverge at Elliott's death. But along with mine, there are seven others I know of, and I want to try and figure out which one, if any you are from, without alerting the others to any massive future events."

 

[MzHyde]

The apartment

Kay just listened to them all, she did agree with John that it could have been a lot worse but she was still damn proud of Fia for taking the right route to apologise. That would never go away, no matter what transpired afterwards. "as much as I hate to say this, but they're both seventeen years old, and yeah the future seems shit no matter what to Rinaa right now, but I have to believe they're old enough to figure this out without throwing punches. Now that the initial information was disclosed between them" she explained. There was a time and a place for fisty cuffs and this wasn't it. They were both smart kids and had to trust that they both knew it.

The Fire Escape

Fia listened to what she said about needing to discuss things that would be too detrimental for the others to hear. "Okay, so what you want to know to try and figure this one out. I've already told you and Elliott are both alive in my timeline" she told Rinaa. She wondered if Elliott would die at some point in her timeline or Rinaa, but for her lifetime she knew nothing but growing up in a good family surroundings and having a rocky relation to Rinaa but it wasnt always bad. She saw it as like growing up with a sister that annoyed you for the sake of it.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The apartment
"I know Ri's capable of doing this all logically, but one of the Omega side effects for her is dramatic mood swings, and with all this being so personal. And emotion clouds everybody's judgement, but add the whole terminally dying bit and the fact this whole situation is very clearly still an open wound......" She wasn't sure how to finish that sentence properly so she lapsed into silence before adding "you get my point."

The fire escape
As much as that piece of information was reassuring to Rinaa. It didn't exactly help her figure out which timeline Fia was from. She'd never been to any of the alternate timelines, she just knew one detail from each, what that time line's Leah looked like. "I only know what I look like in each of these timelines, nothing about the actual events that take place or what everybody else is like. So I guess I'll start with the two most outlandish ones. There's a timeline where I'm half wolf from birth, the recessive soul gene from Jay's side must have activated for that to happen. And there's the timeline where I get the full Isogrii tattoos like Jay has, including the half face spirals. Any of those match the Leah in your timeline?" When referring to other timelines version she always used Leah, yet she didn't see herself by that name. It was like she had said on the roof. She didn't see herself as Leah anymore.

 

[MzHyde]

The Apartment

Kay listened to what Jay said, and she did see where she was coming from. "I get that Jay..believe me I do." She replied. She didn't know what else to say on the matter. She tried to not think about the idea of Rinaa's mood switching and her hurting Fia. Getting emotional and stressed out won't help her out or anyone. But more importantly her. "I just want to believe they'll be fine" she added, slightly more quietly than her first reply. The thought and realisation that if anything happened to this grown up Fia, would effect the unborn Fia didn't ever go away from her mind. So she certainly didn't want to think about Rinaa being able to kill her daughter.


The Fire Escape

Fia listened closely to what she had to say, if she was going to help her figure out which timeline Fia was from, then Fia needed to listen intently to any descriptions given to her. As Rinaa said about only knowing what the other Leah's looked like, she thought back to her time. "Hmm.. no to either. You're definitely not half wolf and don't have tattoos. You look pretty normal actually. Last I saw you your hair was still purple though..with red highlights" she explained to her, hoping that rung a bell with Rinaa. Fia knew that Leah did it that way because of the colours were colours that Elliott had when he was younger. Even she had to admit it did look really cool, and it made them look more opposite than they already were. Fia with her orange and blonde hair, and Leah with her purple and red.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The Apartment
To say it was a relief to Jay that somebody got where she was coming from was an understatement. Although it looked like she was adapting easily to being a parent, she was far from it. Mainly she was just being the kind of person she'd needed when she was younger, and hoping that Rinaa was enough like her that it would work. "You're not the only one on that, I want things to be right, for both of them." And by both of them she wasn't referring to Rinaa and Fia, she was referring to Elliott and Rinaa. Not that she didn't think Fia was pretty cool, but Rinaa needed her more. Noticing Kay's reaction, she added. "Rí won't do anything stupid, there's too much at stake. And besides she's got more smart and a better moral compass than she wants us to think."

The Fire Escape
Rinaa had doubted it would be either if those two, but she had to check, before moving onto the less dramatic ones. Fia's information wasn't much use, though it was nice to know she went for the same colour scheme of black, red and purple with occasional silver and dark blue thrown in. "Not the gay pride mowhawk then......or the fibre optic one. I really hope that's still a thing in your timeline, it made for some dope photos for a friend's project." There was a half smile on her face as she considered the memories, and the reactions to the hair. Rinaa's second mowhawk had been a dramatic rainbow spectrum one that had been dubbed 'gay pride mowhawk' which was a name she had loved. But it was the fibre optic one that had been her favourite, she'd threaded multi coloured fibre optics through her hair, and added some fluorescent dye. It made being stealthy much harder, but was the kind of totally ridiculous thing she'd do.

 

[MzHyde]

The Apartment

Kay got the feeling she didn't mean Fia when she said she wanted things to be alright for both of them. She had no reason to care about Fia. When Jay added her next bit, she just nodded without a word being spoken out loud. She wasn't doubting Jay's words, far from it, but she was trying to allow herself feel maternal.

The Fire Escape

Fia kept looking out forward as they chatted. She rose an eyebrow and smirked when Rinaa mentioned the other mohawk styles she's had. "I know other you has been planning something for your hair, but I don't pay much attention to be honest, well...not until you've done it and appear. So it's quite possible" Fia replied, she could easily picture her with those kinds of hairstyles and both seemed so fitting for her personality. She tried to think of what could help Rinaa out, but without questions it was difficult.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The apartment
"As awesome as your kids have turned out, it's only reinforcing the idea that I'm never becoming a parent." Cal spoke up, the first part was genuinely meant. Despite their vast (and many) differences, she thought that both Fia and Rinaa had turned out as bad asses well capable of standing on their own two feet and taking care of themselves. The second part was directed at Cliff, part of a long running joke on how they had designated the role of being the crazy badass aunts who were chill with pretty much anything and would totally sneak you into that horror movie despite being vastly underage and would get you a fake ID. "Crazy gay aunts here we come."

The Fire Escape
"Sounds like me all right." Both Leahs had been dying and dramatically cutting their hair as soon as they knew how to. They were mostly self taught, with some help from Jay and Elliott, who were both chill with with crazy hair. If she went through all the descriptions it could take ages, and she wanted answers. There was a faster method. "Playing twenty questions is too slow and could take ages. I think I've got a better way, I can show you what I've seen...... but it mightn't work considering the different timelines."

 

[MzHyde]

The Apartment

Cal's remark actually made Kay smile slightly and lighten her mood. If it was under any other circumstance, Kay would probably have replied with something along the lines of 'i thought the same thing, no kids would make my life easier' but just thinking that made her feel guilty and so she kept quiet. "Crazy badass gay aunts are always welcome" she then replies with, meaning it perfectly affectionately. She genuinely liked Cal and Cliff, and got on with the both of them very easily.

The Fire Escape

"Lets go for it. It's worth a shot, anything is. I would say you're welcome to mindwalk through my memories of my time with you when we did hang out, but I dont know if you're able to or not?" Fia replied to her. She knew it'd be one of the easiest ways, she could see herself through Fia's eyes and know what timeline she was from. She just wanted any curiosities or misunderstandings to be solved or diminished before anymore mistakes occured. She knew of a perfect memory to show her as well, one where the whole family was round one holiday and the two of them took charge of a board game and got stupidly competitive with each other, making everyone laugh at them.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The apartment
"Yes, definitly, life needs you two to be the irresponsible ones providing fake ID reaching dirty fighting tricks and letting said kids get away with murder." John agreed, seeing exactly what kind of aunts they would turn out to be. "Not to mention getting totally smashed when there's free alcohol around." "Lightweight" Cliff smirked, and Cal flipped her off, earning a smirk. "Says the one who got totally hammered and crashed a speedboat into a cliff. A fucking cliff! How could you not see a giant kilometre wide stretch of rock coming?"

The Fire Escape
At least Fia was willing to let her try, a willing mind was always easier to project into than an unwilling one. She let out a slight sigh, contemplating what could have been before she responded. "I'm not able to, no magic, no MindWalking, guess my DNA was too clogged up for that to become dominant. I can show a memory, but that's about it. A glorified power point presentation basically." She'd seen what Elliott could do, and to know she'd missed out on that ability was yet another thing that caused her grief.

"I'm going to try show you what I saw the first time I went into cardiac arrest, I was dead for two minutes, just bear with me on this." The first time the low grade inhibitors had worn off her heart had stopped and had remained dead for around two minutes before Cliff managed to bring her back to life. Had it not been for her, she mightn't have made it through. Like Elliott she needed physical contact to work, so she went for the forehead, just like Elliott did, figuring Fia would know what she was going to. As her fingertips touched Fia's forehead, she pushed in the memory, going in just as smoothly as it would for anybody else.

Fia found herself standing in the ruins of an arena, an amphitheatre based off the design of the Colluseum. The ground was covered in white ashy dust, and sprawled on the ground, dead at her feet, was the version of Rinaa she was with on the fire escape. At first there was nothing, then blurry figures began to appear. They seemed to be some kind of blue astral projection.

Slowly they became more defined, seven figures, all different versions of Leah. There was the half wolf, with custom armour and the Isogrii warrior with spiralling tattoos. Next to them was the mechanic, with steam punk goggles and a massive tool belt, arms smeared with grease and oil stains. Then came the bounty hunter, the oldest of them all, around twenty five or so, head shaved bar two single braids. After that, the mage, with a long coat like John and Elliott's, a sword strapped to her back and a set of powder bags strapped to her legs. The second last one wore a beanie slung over her hair, had a guitar strapped to her back. Lastly was the Leah that Fia knew, the one with scribbles on her face from falling asleep on the textbooks, but she was dressed in a vigilante suit that Fia would have never seen before.

 

[MzHyde]

The Apartment

Kay smirked at John's little addition to the aunt role conversation. She could easily picture Cal and Cliff doing all of those kinds of things, along with what Cal said just moments prior. She also could see herself going out of her mind and wanting to tear her hair out at the possible calls of Fia getting into trouble yet again and having been picked up by either of them, after she begged them not to tell Kay what happened. It honestly felt like her life as a mother was flashing before her eyes. When the topic of being drunk and crashing into a cliff came up, she laughed. "Seriously?!" She asked.

The Fire Escape

Fia nodded to show she was acknowledging what she was being told. She actually felt sorry for Rinaa not being able to do magic. She knew she'd be lost without her ability for it, so she could imagine how it must have hurt Rinaa not gaining Elliott's ability for it. As Rinaa explained what she was going to do, she turned to look at her properly to show she was willing. She wanted to help.

None of the Leah's looked familiar in that sense to her, despite all being her so far. Though some of them looked so damn badass, she wishes she could know them all. Eventually she showed her a version of her she did know. She actually smiled at the sight of her with the scribbles across her face, but she did note the vigilante suit was something she never noticed Leah having before.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The apartment
John started laughing at the idea of not seeing a fucking cliff and crashing into it. Which was made all the more funnier by the nickname of Cliff. "Yeah.....I did that, totalled the boat and flew a good hundred metres before crash landing into the sea. Though it was totally Benji's fault, he challenged me to a race after I'd been doing shots for at least half an hour straight." "Ah knock off it, that's just an excuse to blame your brother for what was clearly your drunken stupidity." Cliff's highly mature response was to stick out her tongue at that remark.

The Fire Escape
Rinaa had seen the different versions of herself and freaked slightly, they all looked so incredibly awesome, but she could recognise the traits of almost all of them in her, the elements that they had in common. She had first seen all this from the perspective of being a dead body slumped on the ground. As the Leahs moved, their feet kicked up dust around them. This caused the Rinaa on the ground to cough, her shoulders shaking more than was really necessary as the pulled herself up into a sprinter start.

But then the scene changed, and it wasn't part of the memory Rinaa was wanting to show her. The images began to fade from view, and a voice could be heard. A male voice, one Fia wouldn't recognise. "Leah! It's about bloody time! Stop shutting me out!"

 

[MzHyde]

The Apartment

Of all the people to crash into a cliff and go flying into the sea, Kay would not have thought it'd be Cliff. It was too ironic and too funny to her. She laughed at the how Cal wasn't buying the blaming of the brother excuse and Cliff proceeding to poke her tongue out at her for it. It seemed like something she'd do if she couldn't win a playful argument. She certainly had a childish enough streak in her to react in such a way. "So long story short, you're a walking talking definition of the word irony" Kay said with a smirk.

The Fire Escape

Fia just quietly kept watching the scenes unfold in her mind. She saw how the dust made Rinaa cough, as it would anyone. What she wasn't expecting was the male voice calling out to Rinaa/Leah. She didn't recognise the voice at all, but she was curious. Yet she had a feeling Rinaa wouldn't want her to see this next thing. Fia wasn't sure if she could talk to her or not to tell her she can stop if she wanted.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The apartment
Out of everybody in the apartment John would never have suspected Cliff of being the one to do that kind of thing when drunk. Cal maybe, or Jay (he definitly would), but not the doctor among them. It just showed that everybody had surprises. Jay laughed along with the others relieved at the change of conversation to something more light hearted. "Pretty much.....yeah." Cliff conceeded with a shrug as she leaned over the chair back. "It's one of those stories that comes up at every family gathering, and I usually have to retaliate with somebody else's embarrassing drunken antics." "So basically like any family reunion ever, shit talking, bullshitting and a massive piss up?" Jay questioned, a smile on her face. "All of them at once."

The Fire Escape
It had all been going so well. The rest of the scene was the other Leahs pulling her up, as her clothes morphed to pilot gear with an accompanying set of knives sword and shotgun. The other versions of her started to speak, telling her to "get up, rise above it, and prove yourself, as this was not her time to die." Shortly after she'd heard those words, the defibrillator shock had brought her back to life. But it didn't get that far. Instead the scene began to fade away, and she heard the voice, knowing who it was instantly, one of the few people who was still able to call her Leah.

And even though it hurt, she did exactly the opposite of what he said, she began to shut him out once again. Of course, he knew what she was doing, and voiced his protests "stop doing this, seriously, we need to talk. It's not like blocking me on Insta or whatever, I'm gonna keep trying you know. Leah....come on." A slight edge of worry and desperation could be heard, before she suceeded in bringing up the walls again, severing the connection both with Fia and with her future friend. Rinaa jerked her hand away from Fia's forehead, wiping it across her eye, it came back streaked with tears that glistened in the ring light. There weren't many, but just enough to convey the sadness she was feeling.

 

[MzHyde]

The apartment

Kay chuckled, it really did sound like any other family reunion to her. She may not have done anything quote like that to make an interesting story, but like everyone in this room, she still had her stories that were told during family times. Not that she'd share any at this moment in time. Her mind briefly flashed back to the kids and wondered how they were getting on before refocusing her mind to the more light hearted surroundings around her. "We all go through it at some point" she simply said instead.

The Fire Escape

Fia watched as all the Leah's picked her up off the floor and told her to keep going. She saw as the voice of the guy who clearly meant a lot to Rinaa begged her to not shut him out anymore and she really wondered who he was to her. When the shared memory ended and they came back to reality, she saw Rinaa wipe her eyes and the rear stains down her face. Fia felt awkward not knowing whether to pry or not. "One, I'm not gonna pry about what or who that was and two, I recognised one of the Leah's. The one with the scribbles on her face for sleeping on her notebooks" she told Rinaa, hoping she'd be thankful for her reaction.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The apartment
"Her family is crazy" Cal added, having of course met them, and seen just what kind of people they were both sober and drunk. There was fondness in her tone she vastly preferred Cliff's family over her own. "I'm not denying it in the slightest. But hey...." Whatever she was about say was cut off by Jay. "We're all crazy people trying to get on with life at the end of the day." "That sounds dangerously close to real viable wisdom" was John's take on it, hoping he'd read the situation right and Jay would take it the right way. Which she did, and retaliated with doing what she called "bestowing the wisdom of the pilot on them", some of it was viable stuff, where as others were total shite paired with dodgy accents that had Cliff, Cal and John laughing hysterically.

The Fire Escape
Had she been interrogated by Fia, Rinaa might have said something about who he was, but in that vague way she did when she really didn't want to talk about it. But she'd heard enough to make her own theories. She didn't collapse into an emotional heap like that time with Kay but it was the appearance of the singular tears that told she was just as upset. She stared out over the ringed sky as Fia spoke, and was relieved when Fia said she wouldn't pry.

"That was something that shouldn't have happened, as for who....not important for you when it comes to this part of the story." She though back to the different versions of herself she'd seen, she knew the one Fia was talking about. "I have my theories about that one, hadn't noticed the face scribbles though." She added, as an afterthought, glancing at the side of her hands which were blackened by ink smudges.

 

[MzHyde]

The Apartment

Like the others, Kay found the whole conversation hilarious. She may not have laughed quite as much as the others but she still laughed a lot. Jay certainly had a way of making them laugh when she got going. It made Kay always wonder how she could go from looking like just another member of their group to being so secluded by choice. She was part of their group, and times like this proved it.

The Fire Escape

Fia knew that if Rinaa was the Leah she knew, she'd get away with giving her a hug and telling her if she wanted to talk about anything, she's there when Leah was ready. However, this Rinaa was completely different and she knew it wasn't worth the risk. She saw the relief on Rinaa's face when she told her she wouldn't pry, which gave Fia the confirmation she was going down the right route.
"I noticed them because it's what I'm used to seeing. That Leah falls asleep on her books a lot" Fia replied to her, fondness in her tone. "Always overworking herself, but it's no different to myself." She added with a smile.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The apartment
Jay's sense of homour was vast, and when she did relax, she let it out. Mostly it was light hearted things, but John knew (from Elliott) that she was the master of dramatic grave humour where it was hard to tell if she was serious or not. Cal and Cliff joined in with their own versions, and after a while, so did John. Her spiel over, Jay grabbed an orange from the fruit bowl, flicked out one of her knives and began to peel away the skin in an intricate spiral pattern, trying to create one long strand.

The Fire Escape
The fondness in Fia's tone was both a source of hope and a source of sadness for Rinaa. Clearly they got on vastly better in Fia's timeline. She also fell asleep on her books after an intensive day, but she always made sure the room she was studying in was securely locked, or better still, nowhere near Kay, Fia or John. She crashed in Chas's a good bit to study, and he let her, understanding why, but still wishing things could be different. "That doesn't surprise me, I'm guessing she's trying to juggle at least five different things at once, while keeping a whole pile of stuff secret. I don't suppose you know what she's studying or working as in her free time?"

 

[MzHyde]

The apartment

If Jay ever felt like she wasn't part of the group, it was times like this that even Kay felt a little out of the loop. She didn't add to the topics with any stories and just listened to everyone else's. She still found it funny and enjoyed the time, but she didn't feel like anything she said would have been interesting or amused them the same way. She was no doubt overthinking it, but it's how she got sometimes. She noticed how expertly Jay peeled the orange but said nothing.


The Fire Escape

Fia smirked at Rinaa's reply of not being surprised at all and she was right. Leg did try to juggle too much on her shoulders and just end up falling asleep instead. "Not a clue. She keeps that private from me, and who knows who else. All I know is she comes in every now and then with armfuls of machine parts or tools and disappears into a room. We hear a lot of clanging going on or cursing from whatever. But that's it really." Fia said. "If I try to come in to help or be made to bring in food for her, I get a barrage of 'no firecrackers allowed! Put the food down and exit swiftly!' so I leave as told" she smirked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The apartment
Jay's peeling was an intricate process as she tried to remember the steps and cuts. "What're you making?" "It's a trick I learned years ago, haven't done it ages, it's kind of like origami, but with a cut orange peel. I think I remember the whole process, but I guess we'll see." The three watched her peeling, noting the expression of concentration as she worked. The peel came away in one piece, which she folded around itself to form a little model which she placed on the table. She'd cut it right, and a smile spread at that.

The Fire Escape
Rinaa had to half laugh at what Fia said, a smile flickering over face. She always looked like Elliott when she laughed, there was something in the body language and the motion that was the same. What Fia described sounded so similar to what she did when somebody did try to interfere with her work. She noted the nickname but didn't comment, that particular name didn't exist in her time. "Let me guess, this is also accompanied by vanishing at strange hours, unexplained cuts and bandages, attending a disproportionate amount of midnight movie releases and gigs all while wearing a selection of t-shirts with science jokes or equations on them and many pairs of platypus socks....... though the last one might be just specific to me, inside joke."

 

[MzHyde]

The Apartment

Kay watched as did the others to see what she was doing, having previously just thought she was peeling it normally and not wanting to do some kind of trick with the peel. When she was done, Kay was impressed with the skill. Seeing the smile on Jay's face, clearly she was happy about it too. "Cool" she just simply remarked.

The Fire Escape

The moment Rinaa smiled and laughed, Fia saw Elliott in her clear as day and she did actually for that moment miss her brother from her time. She also hadn't even met the Elliott from this time properly yet, only when they all went on defense mode at her initial arrival. She hoped she'd get to see if he was any different for her Elliott at some point. She snapped out of her thoughts when Rinaa spoke up in response to her information and smirked once more. "bingo. All but the socks thing anyway" she replied. She didn't recall Leah having a thing about platypus socks, but then with how private she kept some of her life, she could have been wearing them and Fia wouldn't have noticed.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The apartment
John raised an eyebrow at the little model on the table in front of them. "How many hours did it take to learn to do that?" He asked, taking in the intricate cutting pattern. "Far too many, it was one of the things I learned as a kid. It was a way to improve knife skills and also allowed the teacher to keep young kids interested in learning. Once people got older they tred to do it competitively and blindfolded. Not the smartest idea of all time." She added with an eye roll, thinking back on how horribly wrong it could have (and sometimes had) gone. She held out her left hand to Cliff, showing the scar that ran across the wing of skin between her first finger and thumb.

The Fire Escape
Rinaa had asked those questions for more than one reason. The first was that they were all things she herself did, in order to establish how similar the habits of her and her alternate self were. They were confortingly alike. The questions on her fashion choices had a more personal meaning, particularly the last one, which was, as she had explained, an inside joke. "I guess it's good to know she's still doing the same things I am both legal and illegal." She pulled off one of her boots, to reveal that she was indeed wearing bright blue socks with cartoon platypuses on them. Rinaa had a fairly good idea what exactly her alternate self was doing when she was sneaking out at night. "Does Leah play any instruments?"

Spoiler: The platypus socks

 

[MzHyde]

The Apartment

Kay wasn't surprised to hear that it took many many hours to hone that skill of intricate knife cutting. She also thought it was highly clever on her teacher's behalf to keep kids engaged in something whilst learning. Though she wasn't sure she'd want a young kid around knives personally, it was still clever. It just showed differently places bring up kids or teach kids. She wasn't surprised either that it would have gone horribly wrong at times doing it blindfolded, it reminding her of the old knife stabbing game drunken idiots would play to see how fast they could stab a knife point between their fingers, before hitting a finger.

the fire escape

Fia guessed instantly that no question Rinaa asked was a pointless one. "Oh she definitely does, that's for sure. As competitive as we are with each other and get on each others nerves, I have bailed her out a few times to save letting Elliott know." She explained with a smile. "Mostly because she knows I wouldn't snitch on her and she doesn't snitch on me when I'm pulling a prank" Fia added, knowing that she wouldn't snitch only because she doesn't want anything to do with it. "As for instruments? Guitar me and Ell try to get her to join us but she refuses" she replied, her tone showing she did wish Leah would join her in a jamming session some days.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The apartment
Cliff examined the scar. "How many lost fingers to drunken knife antics?" It was the kind of question she found the answers to fascinating, even if most would consider it pretty gruesome. "At least a quarter, some with more than one, we used to have a joke that each finger lost represented their level of stupidity, the more lost, the stupider they were. The record was seven lost." Seeing Cliff's expression Jay added. "That guys started with twelve fingers, so he had unfair advantage." John and Cal were listening intently, even though had little to contribute.

The Fire Escape
Every time somebody mentioned Elliott's name in her presence, Rinaa always tensed up ever so slightly, her shoulders locking. "It's the opposite in my time, Jay has my back, so you guys don't know what I'm doing. You really wouldn't approve." It was an unusual relationship that Jay and Rinaa had in the future, but it worked for both of them. "Can you blame her for not wanting to join in? No offence, but ypu are literally descended from somebody who has entire mythology written about their musical abilities." Rinaa meant it when she said it, slowly beginning to accept just how different this Fia is to the one she knows. "And that's without taking into account the fact that she probably both sings and songwrites as a hobby, and doesn't believe she has talent in either." That observation was more of an admission about herself than anything else.

 

[MzHyde]

The apartment

Kay was the same as the others and didn't contribute to any of the current topic. She just listened to it, and let Jay and Cliff chat away. She pulled up the foot that was off the couch and tucked it up under her, like her other foot. Her mind went back to the kids, thinking it must be going alright if they've been gone this long.


The fire escape

Fia noticed how she tensed up at Elliott's name and mentally scolded herself for doing that to Rinaa. When she replied about Fia's phoenix heritage, she pulled the face of "touché". "Fair enough, but I don't focus on that part of me. I actually rebel against it to be honest. It's so much bloody pressure, and I don't want it. Everyone thinks I'm cool with the whole thing, and yeah, some of it is cool, but literally the whole revival of Phoenix kind is on my shoulders. I don't want that pressure on me. It's why I focus so much on magic, and I'd presume the Fia you know is the same but won't admit it either" she admitted to Rinaa, showing she wasn't all self confident and self aware. "But yeah.. she doesn't think much of her talent but we've all heard her and think she does" she added.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The apartment
Johns thought were along the same lines, they'd seen no sign of anybody being thrown off roofs or any other kind of fighting noises, and the two had been gone for quite a while now. And he really didn't want it to be a case of where the two couldn't be in the same room as each other. He and Elliott would have had to divide their time between the two, without making one think the other was favoured. Or having to tip toe around things for fear of setting either off. "Somehow I think they might have managed to talk this out like normal people."


The Fire Escape
Fia's words were a two punch shock to Rinaa. She knew that in her timeline it had been an accident that everybody else had found out. And then they'd only known about her guitar skills. The very idea of somebody (outside of Jay and Elliott) knowing that she sang was scary enough, but the ideas of any of her extended family knowing she wrote songs, was terrifying. It had taken a while for her friends to find out the last one, but they were chill with it. "Ya well....." was all she could say in response.

Now the other thing, she hadn't seen coming at all and it showed. The Fia she knew was totally in control of what and who she she was. If she wasn't, well the last person she'd admit that too was Rinaa. It was something that Rinaa had felt almost everyday of her life growing up. She hadn't told anybody in this time about the true story of her origins. She'd told them enough to satisfy their questions, but had left gaping holes. "Well if she is, she doesn't show it, least of all to me. But it could be a lot worse, not to pull the card of I've had it so much worse than you have, but at least you weren't created from the DNA of a guy who had died years before in front of all of their" she gestured towards the apartment. "Eyes. So yeah, I get it."