Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[MzHyde]

The Apartment

Kay hadn't given it a thought that any of the others in the room could have been wondering the same things as her, so when John commented to her about the kids, she looked at him. "Was thinking he same thing just now. They've been a while and we've not heard anything so fingers crossed things are getting sorted okay" she replied.


The fire escape

Rinaa reacted the exact same way as the Leah Fia knew when she told her she got talent. Fia was the only one either brave enough or stupid enough to mention it to Leah. It depended on who you asked to what way they'd describe the move of giving Leah a compliment.

Fia didn't take offence to Rinaa's reaction to her little admittance. She half expected something along those lines of she was honest with herself. She had known how Rinaa came to be, as it was the same in her timeline. "That's fair. We can't compare those parts of our lives because they're nothing alike and neither one of us could comprehend what it is like. I don't believe neither is worse or better than the other. I guess I get that kind of mindset from mum, but I do believe it with my heart. I'm forced to know every single minute detail about my kind, told if the phoenix kind isn't resurected it's on my hands. It's why I butt heads with mum sometimes and stay close to dad. It's why I wanted to stay a while...to see if I could change my opinion of mum" she told her.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The Apartment
"They're both able to work through it, you know, I think it's probably easier for Rinaa to deal with a Fia from a different timeline as opposed to the one from hers. Sounds totally crazy, I know. But given what Rinaa said about that timeline, once the shock factor wears off, I think they got this sorted." John replied as Cal, Cliff and Jay began comparing various injury scars.

The Fire Escape
Rinaa disagreed with that statement. One situation was clearly far worse- imminent, painful death and metamorphosis into an uncontrollable monster. "Well I could rant for hours about the joys of multi-helixed chimera DNA, accelerated growth in a matter of minutes and how recessive traits, along with just how blood painful having DNA rewriten is. If you ever need a torture method, it's a damn good one. But that's besides the point. I don't know how much the others told you about my timeline, but I came here for a few reasons. One was to have the brief chance to know Elliott before he dies, getting to know the others is a side path. But I also came here to die, all the people in my timeline worth staying for know where I am and what I'm doing, not that they entirely approve, but there's nothing they can do to stop me."

 

[MzHyde]

The Apartment

"I know, still gonna worry though, you know what I'm like, I worry about everyone." she replied to him, despite knowing he did have a valid point. It's just who she is, hell she was worried about Chas when she first witnessed his death and she barely knew the guy back then. She put others first, when she should put herself first. It also didn't help that her hormones would be all the over the place from her current stage in life.

The Fire Escape

Fia listened to what Rinaa had to say, she didn't doubt for a second that Rinaa's situation sucked and was horrific. She didn't envy her at all. They just had a difference of opinion because neither could understand what each other felt. "I'm sorry to hear that..I truly am" she just replied with, and sighed looking out. "I don't mean to offend" she added, she really didn't want to offend but again, she felt like she opened her mouth and all the wrong things came out. Growing up not in public or private school, but being home schooled, made her lack of interaction with kids her own age give her difficulty to say the right things. She had to grow up too fast and things got complicated.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The apartment
"I know you do. I'm worried about all of them too, Elliott included. All this stuff is crazy beyond belief, but it's happening and there's nothing any of can do to stop it, so we just have to try and adapt and get on it." That was very much John's mindset for life in general, he'd been dragged into so many weird situations he'd just stopped trying to understand them. It was like synchronity, he just let the wave take it where he was supposed to go, to do what he did best- smoke, perform magic and royally screw up somebody's life.

The Fire Escape
One of the side effects of dying, besides large bouts of depression was the inability to relate to other people's life problems. They just seemed so insignificant compared to staring death in the face, and it was probably worth mentioning to Fia. "Yeah, well, don't be, it's not gonna achieve anything in the long run, it's not gonna change the fact its still happening. And I'm not offended. It's just that dying kinda puts things into perspective. I really can't empathise with other problems, they just seem kinda insignificant in comparison, even when they aren't. It's hard to see things the way I used to."

 

[MzHyde]

The Apartment

Kay knew he was right. It just took moments like this for him to remind her of the point and get her head back in the right frame. There was definitely no way she could have gone through half of she was without him. "Mmhmm" she replied simply. She laid her head back onto his shoulder as she always did.

The Fire Escape

Fia just half smiled. "i can get that" she remarked. What Rinaa said, she could understand and she knew without dying, she couldn't possibly understand what Rinaa was going through mentally. Yet she could easily understand how it would make you less empathic towards other people's problems. She didn't even know why she opened up to Rinaa. Maybe it was because she was dying or maybe it was she wouldn't divulge the information to anyone else as she didn't seem that kind of person. She just didn't know.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The apartment
The first lightning came and all heads turned towards the balcony window. The jagged forks seared brightly across the sky. It was larger and brighter than any natural lightning seen on Earth. Jay's eyes widened at the sight of it, she'd never seen it before, already moving towards the window to get a better look at it all. "Now that is one hell of a storm." "bloody bollocks" was the gasp that escaped John's mouth upon seeing it. Cal pulled out a tenner and passed it over to Cliff with a smile.

The Fire Escape
It was still pissing raining, the water bouncing off the walls and the metal supports with a series of staccato clanking noises. It wasn't exactly soothing, but combined with the shadows of the fire escape, and the lights of the city in the distance it was a strange scene. As she watched the weather, Rinaa was wondering why she was more willing to open up fully to this version of Fia. Maybe it was that they were both time travellers and by an unwritten law had to stick together and keep secrets from the others. Or maybe it was that she knew there was nothing Fia could do to stop her.

"Yeah well.....what can you do? Life's a journey not a destination, its 'bout what happens along the way, the thing you do and the people you see, and at the end, you either make peace with what you've achieved, or you don't." After she spoke, the first of the lightning appeared, forking bright across the sky. It seemed to cut open the sky, a violent force beyond either of their control. "Well that's me ten quid poorer." Rinaa remarked, glancing at her watch for the time.

 

[MzHyde]

The Apartment

When the lightning broke a Ross the dark sky, Kay instantly looked out the window to see the sight. It was incredible and she too like Jay, went wide eyed. Both Jay and John echoed her thoughts perfectly, "that is something alright!" She said, as she was one of those rare people who actually loved storms. When she was a child she used to be terrified of them, especially Seattle ones, living near the docks made them all that more scary to a ten year her. Yet now she was an adult and having to sleep outside through many of them, she learned to love them. Some nights they even helped her sleep strangely.

The Fire Escape

"Can't disagree with that" Fia replied to Rinaa's rather wise words. As the lightning started Fia froze. "I'm gonna head in" she said, her tone shaky, she quickly headed inside and back the way she came back up the stairs. The sounds echoing filling her head. She walked back into the flat and saw a flash of lightning through the window and just rushed through the apartment and found the room Kay and John were in and dived under the bedframe, covering her ears.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The Fire Escape
Rinaa loved the storm conditions on Attil, as violent as they were. She would have headed in anyway, the fire escape being too good of a target for a lightning strike, which she was damn sure would kill both of them as it had no way to properly earth itself. But she recognised the change in tone in Fia's voice- fear, just like the kind she felt around fire. That wasn't a thing in her timeline, or if it was, she didn't know about it. By the time she had resealed the door, Fia was already nearly upstairs.

The apartment
"It's the magnetic field of the planet combined with the interaction of the rings that causes it. It causes a huge build up of charge, which amplifies the lightning to these massive spikes." Cliff told them by means of explanation. "It's short lived though, only a couple of minutes on average. And these massive storms only happen once or twice a year." The buildings had all been lightning proofed and equipped with the necessary infrastructure to divert the charge away from buildings and into the ground. It was too much of a surge to use for power.

Fia bolted through, folaed about thirty seconds later by Rinaa. "That's not my fault, before you ask, apparently she's terrified of either, storms, lightning or all of the above. Not a thing in my timeline though." she told them before they could make any (wrong) assumptions.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay listened to the explanation from Cliff and found it fascinating as well as extremely clever. She then looked up quickly when Fia bolted through and then proceeded to run into the next nearest room, which happened to be hers and John's temporary one. She wondered what the hell was going on, when Rinaa followed in and explained the situation. "I'll be right back" she said, "thanks for explaining Rinaa" she added truthfully before standing up from her comfortable place next to John. She didn't wait to see if John would follow or not, and just walked to the room Fia was hiding in.

Was only when she heard a whimper she figured it out, and it actually made her smile softly. Walking over, she sat on the floor next to the bed. "Hey kiddo" she greeted her. "Rinaa told us why you bolted in. Is it storms or lightning?" She asked. "Both" Kay heard Fia quietly reply. She wasn't going to force Fia out from under the bed, and just sit there until she was ready to come on out. "Cliff said it lasts only a couple of minutes so it'll be over soon enough." She explained, wondering where the feat of storms and lightning came from.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Jay too wanted to ask what happened, but Rinaa beat her to it. The teenager had to wonder if Fia had known just how electromagnetically volatile the planet became on its closest approach to its star or if she'd had no idea before coming. Either way, she was definitly not the person who should be helping her through this. She would have tried, had they been too far away from the others, but since the others were here, this was definitly a job for Fia's parents to deal with. Rinaa knew John had dealt with more than one terrified kid in his time, and Kay probably just knew what to do through osmosis or whatever.

Which was exactly what happened John was very different when it came to kids, he was up just as quickly as Kay was, heading for the room they'd taken over for the past few days. Rinaa joined the others to watch the storm come to its end. John sat at the other side of the bed, he didn't need to hear any sounds to know where Fia was, it was instinct that told him. Scared kids either went for corners or under something. He was thankful this wasn't his flat they were in due to the sheer volume of boxes and long-forgotten crap under the beds. He didn't say anything, just listened.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay stayed quiet for a bit, every now and then glancing at John before back down towards the floor. She wondered if Fia would speak up at all or if she was just going to remain quiet under the bed. She wondered where Fia got the idea to hide under the bed from in these situations. "Fia you wanna talk to us or just stay under the bed? It's already coming to its end" Kay softly spoke. "Nothing to say.." Fia replied, slowly revealing herself from under the bed.

"How about telling us where this fear came from? Talking through it helps." Kay told her. Fia had heard it all before in her time, so she didn't fully believe Kay. "Don't really know. Just one night this storm happened when I was younger and it made me jump so much I ran and hid in my wardrobe. Been scared of them ever since" Fia explained leaving out a chunk of the story so not to give everything away. Kay couldn't resist the smirk at the news she hid in her wardrobe. "You know...I used to do the same thing when I got scared" Kay told her, not even minding that John was in the room and would now find out that bit of information.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John was perfectly fine with letting Fia stay silent and under the bed. Sometimes all that was needed was just to know that the presence of somebody else was there if you needed them to be. John wasn't going to pry into the why and the how Fia had this fear unless it was absaloutly necessary and vital to do so. He wasn't her father (yet) and so she was fully entitled not to tell them everything, or even anything. And kids always hated talking about their fears and weaknesses, espescially when they were being seen for the first time by somebody else.

Kay took the opposite approach, maybe it was a better approach, but it wasn't his approach. He was fully intending to stay there silent until she spoke up. He'd found with Elliott that it often resulting in Ell saying exactly what was on his mind. John listened to Fia's story and just had a feeling that she was leaving some major details out......or that could just be his skeptical nature. It dint have much of an impact on him that Kay did the same thing. "Why a wardrobe?" Strange question, but a strange question could lead to a strange answer.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay normally wouldnt have pried for the information out of Fia, but something in her just told her she'd be able to with Fia. She couldn't explain it, she just knew. When the story came about, it did feel like there were gaps in it but this time she wasn't going to push it. Jist from this brief moment, she began to get an understanding of Fia and how to approach certain things. Then came the question from John that was always brought up.

"Because closing the doors and sitting in darkness whilst surrounded by soft clothes helps calm me down" came the reply from under the bed. Kay nodded, finding that was exactly why she had done it as well. "It's weird I know...but it is what it is." Fia added. There was just something about sitting in the bottom of the wardrobe, with the door shut that was helpful. Fia would find in the small space she could focus one her breathing if it was rapid and just focus on herself in general. Not to mention with all the clothes in it, and the structure it seemed to block out the sounds of the storm better than just hiding under a bed or under the duvet.

"If you're anything like me Fia, do you find the wardrobe blocks the sounds out more of what's scaring you?" Kay asked. "Yeah.." Fia replied.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John personally had never understood the logic behind hiding in an enclosed space when scared, surely that would only add claustrophobia to the mix, making everything mangnitudes worse. But apparently the opposite was true for both Kay and Fia. Maybe it was a female thing, as neither he nor Elliott reacted that way. Both of them took the approach of freezing where they were, and retreating into themselves to block out whatever was going on around them. Or maybe he was just weird when it came to things like that. Either way, he was definitly overthinking matters, as long as it helped Fia get through it, it was good in his books.

"Can't really argue with that." He conceeded. Idly he ran his hand over the wooden boards beside him, they looked like Earth wood, but the feel and grain was different somehow.

 

[MzHyde]

For Fia, the wardrobe was like a sound proof room. Even though it didn't block everything out completely, she still felt a strange sense of focus when in there. In her time, when it first happened, she was 8 years old. A storm broke out in the evening and John was still out at 'work', being that she was closest to him than Kay, a real definition of daddy's girl, the idea of him being out in the storm fighting demons scared her. They thought she didn't know what he went off to do, but she had read many of the books on the 'not for Fia's eyes' list. So when the storm broke out, to her it was so loud and terrifying she thought John would get hurt and not come home.

A completely irrational thought process, but to a 8 year old it seemed completely plausible. So she screamed and hid in the wardrobe. Her thought process was 'if demons get daddy, and they come for mummy, they won't find me if I hide in the closet'. Kay would come in wonder where she was until she heard the sobs of Fia from the wardrobe and saved her by reassuring her John would be fine. She was only happy when John did come home and she ran straight to him, refusing to go to bed until he could prove he was okay.

Fia could see John's hand run over the wood and she poked her head out from under the bed slightly. Kay smiled when Fia began to slowly emerge, feeling like this was her way of showing she was getting over the initial terror. "How do you two do it?" Fia asked. "Do what?" Kay asked back, confused. "Not let things get to you?" Fia clarified. "Things get to us Via" Kay replied.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John wasn't aware that he'd been feeling along the boards until the movement of Fia under the bed cast a shadow on his hand. His mind had been unconsciously looking for some kind of secret space in the floor. When Fia asked, the clarified her question, he sighed. He would have thought she'd known, based on how future him had acted at Kay's disappearance that everything affected him in some way or another.

"If you think things don't get to me, then you think wrong. Ask Chas, he cam tell you just how screwed up I am from what happened to me and what I've done. When I was younger, I'd pretend it didn't matter who died, how many of my mates I put in danger, how many lives including my own I wrecked. But that didn't last. And as future me has shown, I'm very shite at coping, always have been, probably always will be. So I'd distract myself with anything else, the main four vices- drinking til I passed out, smoke meself pretty much to death, screwing every willing man and woman and trying every drug on the market to make me forget. And when that didn't work, well, you've heard that story I assume." He gestured to his forearms for means of explanation, unsure of whether or not he'd have told Fia about Newcastle and Ravenscar. She would have seen the scars, but he mightn't have given her the full story.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia listened to him and then remembered how John never was a coping well guy. She didn't even know why she asked it, maybe it was because it always seemed like Kay had it under control to her, and it ended up coming out as a question to the both of them. Maybe it was something else, she didn't know. She glanced down when he did and looked at his arms at the scars she grew up always knowing he had. She remembered him telling her briefly and vaguely about Newcastle and Ravenscar but not enough for her to know about it properly. It was usually the one topic he'd shut her down on. "Future you shuts me down on that story but I know you went away for a while in Newcastle, that's as descriptive as you put it" Fia replied to John.

"I don't cope either Fia. I turn to being snarky and shut people out. I don't know if I'm different in your time, but I don't cope. John's got through to me a couple of times but otherwise I go into a panic attack. We're all scared of something, and crumble at times. It's nothing to be ashamed of" Kay explained. Fia listened to what Kay said and she'd never have to put her as the type to get panic attacks. "You..panic attacks?" Fia asked. Kay nodded, "John had to inject me with adrenaline one time" she replied, remembering that evening all well.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The fact that he hadn't told her story said a lot about his future self. He was still haunted by it. John had no intention of telling either of them any more of the story than they already knew, it was one the subject he couldn't be moved on, no matter what it was up against. "Makes sense that he wouldn't tell you that story, it's not exactly something worth talking about. It's got more crap associated with it than any other story, which says a lot. All you need to know is what you already do- that things went so wrong that I slit my wrists and was dead for a few minutes."

Kay thinking of the panic attacks made John think first to the adrenaline shit and secondly of where he actually got it. He could hear the surprise in Fia's tone, evidently Kay hadn't divulged this information in the future. "Yeah, it happened, the adrenaline was something I stole when the League hat a meet up at Batsys and I was dragged there against my will. So I nicked a load of crap to get my own back and its not like he'd miss it. The adrenaline among it."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia accepted it a long time that he'd never divulge the information. Some things belonged forever locked up and she respected that. When Kay explained further into her panic attacks she was surprised by it. Kay had never told her that in her time, she could only put it down to wanting to come across as the stronger mother and not worry her kid. When John explained how he got the adrenaline she smirked at the idea of him stealing from the what would be to her, the old original League.

"So basically Fia, none of us are perfect and have it all together all the time. We're all flawed" Kay concluded. "But the important thing is that we're all still here and fighting on. And we let people help when we can swallow out pride to do so." Kay added. Fia just nodded and began to see Kay in a whole new light. "makes sense I guess" Fia replied. "I do admire you both in my time...I hope you guys learn to know that. Despite me being an utter daddy's girl, I love how strong you both are together." Fia told them, and it actually meant a lot to Kay to know her and John were still a strong duo. Fia then edged out from under the bed finally and sat up, leaning against the bedframe, sitting between the two of them.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John knew at some point he should sneak into the Batcave again for the hell of it, and to piss Bruce off. Bruce was one of the few who John could actually work with, but they would bitch the entire time about everything possible that was wrong with the other. Neither of them trusted each other of course, but when it came down to it, they'd rather have the other on their side than against them.

It was a relief in a way when Fia said she was very much a daddy's girl, it showed he wasn't a complete fuck up of a parent in the future, even if he knew deep down in some rarely accessed recess of the brain that he was already a good parent. He'd figures already that Fia preferred him over Kay based on her dominant fighting traits and the fact that she'd been trained with magic far long than with Pheonix powers. "I'll only figure it out miles after everybody else has, but I'll get there in the end."

 

[MzHyde]

The idea of Fia being a daddy's girl didn't come as much of a surprise to Kay. A lot of girls do drift towards their fathers and considering all the runes on Fia, she kind of guessed that would have been the case. At least she had a warning in a way that would happen so it wouldn't hurt or come as a shock to her. Both Kay and John smiled at his response to Fia's comment. "We'll both figure that out at some point." Kay commented.

Fia looked down and fidgeted with her necklace that future Kay had handed down to her, as she thought about why she wanted to hang around before going back to her time. Kay noticed she was in thought but didn't pry, instead noted how she was playing with the necklace that was also round her own neck. "Nice to see it gets handed down" Kay remarked. Fia nodded, "yeah, you gave it to me when I was 10 and I've never taken it off since" Fia replied. That came as a relief to Kay as it showed she did acknowledge the other half of her heritage still, even if she favoured the other more.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The three lapsed into silence, thinking on different things. But it wasn't an awkward silence thankfully. Kay broke it first, seeing that Fia was fiddling with the necklace that Kay also wore. How the timlien hadn't fallen apart from two versions of the same magical necklace existing in the place in time was beyond John. Though the same principle applied to the armour token Rinaa wore that had once belonged to the Elliott in her timeline. And both were magical, and magic tended to decide that the laws of physics and scientific logic were inconsequential.

The talk was interrupted by a knock on the open door. It was Cliff, a sports gear bag slung over one shoulder. "Sorry to interrupt." She meant her words, that much was obvious. "But the four of us are heading out, we'll be gone for about two hours, you're welcome to join, if not, try not to trash the apartment while we're gone, yeah?" Trashing the apartment was a running joke between Cal, Cliff and their gang.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay and Fia both looked up when there was a knock on the door. Kay had momentarily forgotten that they were in someone else's home and the others were in the living room. She took in what Cliff was carrying and wondered what they were going to do. "What you going to do?" She asked, feeling that will be the deciding factor of whether she tagged along or not. She had a feeling Fia may not want to but then, she didn't really know this version of their daughter very well at all.

"I'm personally not in the mood to go out, might stay and watch a film if that's okay?" Fia replied to Cliff. Kay glanced over and decided if her kid was going to stay behind then maybe she will too. "I'll stick with you kiddo" she told Fia, before glancing at John to see what he wants to do.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cliff had suspected that none of them would have any intent on leaving the apartment, but she put the offer out anyway. "Sports training, plas-ball to be precise, not something you have on Earth. You're missing out on a great sport. Though it's not very exiting to watch us train unless you gain joy out of watching us do drills over and over again." She was downplaying how insanely fun it was to actually play the sport. John knew the sport she was talking about, it was a sort of combination of rugby, basketball and rollerblading, with specialised jet shoes and a ball made of out osme kind of plasma. It was played in an oval arena with course track that shifted during the game. It was fast paced, fun and kind of brutal at times, hence the armour needed.

Had he been on his own, he would have joined them no doubt to watch, just out of curiosity. But he wasn't alone, and since both Fia and Kay were staying, he would too. "Yeah, I'll stay here too, but if you're ever playing a proper match count me in for watching." "Yep, it's cool, popcorn is on the second shelf from the top, there's stuff on DVD or you can try finding something live, or peruse the Attili equivilant of Netflix."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay listened to what Cliff was explaining and it did sound fun, even to watch but she wasn't going to abandon her future kid and leave her alone after going through the fear of a storm that had now passed. It just wasn't in her nature to do that. Though if John had wanted to go, she wouldn't have stopped him, but he decided to stay and that was fine with her.

"Noted, cheers Cliff" Kay replied to her information about where food and DVDs were. She stood up off the floor, before grabbing her bag and switching her jacket for a hoodie. She was glad she shoved it in last second. It was slightly oversized on the sleeves like her jacket was and did look a little worse for wear, with holes in the cuffs, but it did mean she could put her thumbs through the holes for that ultimate comfort level.

Fia also stood up and dusted herself down as she had picked up a couple of dust bunnies on her jeans. "I call shotgun of film choice" Fia stated.