Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[_gallifrog_]

Cal smirked as the others waved at the strange sight in front of them. Elliott could tell just like John and Kay that he and Fia left together for too long would result in something disastrous (for the rest of them). Cal and Rinaa knew that it was typical Matteo to try something like that, and not look too fussed about being put in a headlock afterwards. On a pontoon about a hundred metres away another figure appeared, took a run up and and gracefully dived into the water, barely making a ripple. Behind her back Cal made some gestures in sign conveying 'don't mention the other one, I want to see how this plays out'. Rinaa mouthed this to the others, while keep her face shielded from view with her hair. Matteo reached out and grabbed the floating hearings aids, tossing them to Cal who caught them with a smirk. He tried once again to get out of the headlock, but Cliff was adamently refusing to let him go anywhere.

"Can't get me that easy" she smirked a dressing him in their native tongue, she never addressed her siblings in any other language, even if they could speak various others. "Even catching me off guard, you know it won't work." The teen knew he couldn't speak to his sister now that she was rendered deaf, so he began signing. "But that's just the point Cliff." As he signed that, a second head popped up, an older male this time, a few years older than Cliff. "Today I'm just the distraction." At which point it was too late for Cliff to do anything as Cliff was grabbed from behind and put into a headlock by the elder brother. Matteo slipped out as Cliff grappled (unsuccessfully) with the new opponent before sighing in irritation at not seeing this coming."Hi Benji."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia smirked watching Matteo squirm in an attempt to break free from Cliff's tough grip, whilst throwing up the hearing aids and continue to sign to Cliff when she spoke to him in their native tongue. This reminded her that she would activate her communication rune the moment she had a spare moment and her hands free, so she wouldn't have to rely on making people speak English, and could just understand and speak their language with no issues. She didn't even think about the fact that not only Kay was instantly it would be dangerous to leave her with Matteo, but John and Elliott were also thinking the same thing. Even when Kay gave both men that knowing glance.

With the warning issues quietly, Fia and Kay gave Rinaa the acknowledgement without being obvious. Just gave her the look with their eyes to say 'understood'. They watched as the second head popped out of the water behind Cliff and grabbed her, successfully freeing Matteo in the process so he could get away, whilst Cliff greeted her eldest brother. Both the girls could tell the second brother was indeed her older brother Benji.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cal was watching this all with great amusement. She liked all of Cliff's siblings, and had been pushed into the sea by Benji the first time they met. It was, of course, a test to see how she reacted. Cal leaned a against one of the support pillars for the pontoon, casually greeting Benji as if she'd just met him on the street. 'Hey Benji, how's life been going for you?" He gave a broad smile, keeping a firm grip on Cliff who was trying to get out of his grip. He had the height, age and weight advantage on her, so for now she was going nowhere. Matteo was treading water in front of them, watching the scene with amusement. "The usual stuff really. There's talk of some kind of big deal shindig going on in two days. Don't suppose you've heard anything about it?"

He was, of course referring to the wedding. Matteo was keeping himself a safe distance away from Cliff and relaying to her exactly what Benji was saying. 'No, I hadn't heard anything actually." Cal replied, as Cliff rolled her eyes at her brother's complete dismissal of her wedding. "I just picked up a whole load of random people along the way and decided to bring them along for the ride." Cal continued straight faced as Rinaa and Jay started laughing, unable to contain their amusement. "Well the foods gonna be excellent from what I heard." Benji considered in a completly casual tone. "What about the booze and drunken antics?" "Plenty of that." He replied, as Cliff took matters into her own hands and began to freeze the water around them, a sheet of ice forming across her arms.

The ice forced apart Benji's arms, losseneing their grip around Cliff's neck enabling her to make a quick escape. It was a technique she'd developed specifically for her siblings. As Cliff escaped she got an arm around her older brother and shoved him underwater (he was in no danger of drowning as he had gills too). "My idiot siblings" Cliff declared as all three climbed out of the water. The water simply ran off their skin, their hair being the only thing that was actually wet. And just like Cliff they had gills on their forearms and neck which all three were shaking out.

Spoiler: Siblings

Matteo is something like this:

And for Benji I really just needed an excuse to use the Lucas Till version of Macgyver as faceclaim:

 

[MzHyde]

Kay and Fia both watched everything with great amusement as Cal just casually leaned against a pillar whilst talking with Benji as if it was no big deal. Seeing Cliff roll her eyes Kay took a guess that they were either talking about Cliff in general or the wedding to make Cliff give off such a reaction. Witnessing Jay and Rinaa burst into laughter about the talking, Kay took her guess that it was about the wedding and the lot of them.

Fia chuckled at Cliff using her ice powers to get some kind of freedom from Benji. It was clear to her that Cliff had mastered this trick and had to use it a lot to get away, which was a clever tactic in her eyes. She chuckled when she dunked Benji under water before introducing the two of them. "Good to meet you both, nice prank" Fia smiled, being polite, as she tucked her only free hand into her jeans pocket. She took note of their features but discreetly and couldn't definitely the see the sibling resemblance between the three of them. Kay noted Fia's politeness and she knew it was just the start of her pranking attitude to being brought out. 'save me now' she thought to herself.

(Good enough excuse! I get like that too with certain wanted face claims haha!)

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cliff and her siblings didn't look very alike and all were aware of that fact. They were blond and tall and athletically built but that was where the similarities ended. They had different eye colours, different face shapes and different giar styles. Some said there were similarities around the eyes and with the shape of the nose, but they didn't agree with that. Jay didn't speak Cliff's native language, she knew bits and pieces, and had been following the sign translation Benji had helpfully provided. Rinaa on the other hand was pretty much fluent in the language. Neither brother spoke any English and immediately turned to their sister for a translation of what Fia said. Their eyes widened in unison when Rinaa spoke, with perfect pronunciation and an accent that could pretty much pass for local. "She said 'Good to meet you both, nice prank'. We have a bit of a language barrier at the moment, most of them can't speak this language, but can do sign. The language thing is getting sorted later....long story."

The brothers nodded at the remark, before saying something which Rinaa dutifully translated. "They say hi, and that it was the best they could do because somebody" she gestured at Cliff "gave them so little time to work with." "You never mentioned you could speak my native language." Cliff was just as surprised, though she felt she shouldn't be. Rinaa was raised off world on a variety planets, including the one they were currently on. "It's a long story, my parents did work in this system at one point or another and I picked up some of the language, then continued learning it." Rinaa answered, keeping in character for her reply. "So when do we get an explanation about all these gaping people?' Matteo asked, gesturing at John, Chas, Fia, Kay, Rinaa, Jay and Elliott. "Once má finishes giving me an interrogation about absaloutly everything that has happened since she last saw me." "Well, we'd best get going then." Benji replied, starting to walk down the boardwalk, gesturing for the others to follow them.

(Glad to hear I'm not the only one!)

 

[MzHyde]

It didn't come too much of a surprise to Fia that Rinaa could speak Cliff's native language as she seemed to remember that the Leah in her time had spoken it to Cliff on the odd visit to earth they had. Fia always made a mental note to learn it, but then she remembered she had her cheat way of knowing it, and just never got round to learning the normal way. She was thankful for Rinaa translating for both her and the brothers, nodding with a smirk.

Both Fia and Kay listened to the conversation between Rinaa and Cliff even if they couldn't understand what was being said at the time, the language was still fascinating to listen to, they just didn't show it on their faces. When the youngest brother gestured toward them all except for Cal and Dan, Kay just knew even without translation that he was asking about who they were, it didn't take much to figure that out in any language. With Cliff explaining in some way or another, she went with the others to follow Benji and company when he gestured for them to follow him.

(Definitely not alone in that lol!)

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cliff, her two brothers Cal, Dan and Rinaa lead the way forwards all talking together. They'd switched to using sign as it was more practical. Matteo ended up walked backwards at one point and very nearly fell off the boardwalk. His reflexes caught him at the last second and he nimbly side-stepped around the turn. Cliff went to push him in, but he weaseled out of the way. The two brothers cast glances between Elliott and Cal, picking up on the strong likeness between them. There was no doubt in their minds that he was related to Cal, but as far as they were aware her brother was dead and Cliff was refusing to give any form of explanation on the matter.

"They're so confused right now." Elliott chuckled, walking beside John. "The two have been so blatantly giving me looks trying to fugire out if I am indeed the dead brother or not. Guess Cliff didn't tell them that much yet." "It does look that way Ell. I can't say I'm not dying to see their reactions when this is all explained." John agreed, the looks not going amiss on him either. "So far those two are exactly as she described them, clearly they're all close. I think we're going to be in for quite the time here. Espescially when they team up." Chas' comments could be interpreted as meaning when Cliff's siblings teamed up on her like they'd just seen, but what he was actually saying was that Fia and Matteo were going to keep them on their toes, and hopefully the oldest brother was a good at keeping things in line as Cliff claimed. The ambiguity was deliberate, so he couldn't be seen to be giving Fia ideas.

The walk wasn't far, it took them over the beach, which had some streak of black volcanic sand that had been washed up over the years. It wasn't necessarily the most beautiful beach, it wasn't the most beautiful beach on the island by a long shot being more functional than anything else. Near to the beach was the work yard where the various boats and ships were maintained and repaired and beyond that was a clusters of other buildings for storage mainly and a whole building dedicated to smoking fish and other meats. Beyond that was Cliff's family home, a large building, three stories high. There was a set of off road bikes outside the house and Cliff knew that the cars were around the back. A couple of hammocks were strung up on the porch and a ladder led to the roof. Standing waiting were four people, Cliff brother, her sister (who was still wearing her police uniform and looking decidedly uncomfortable in it), her mother and her father. "Má, Pá, I'm home, and I've brought the extras." Cliff yelled, knowing that they could hear her even if she couldn't. What followed was a hectic reunion of Cliff's siblings delighted to see her, Cal and Dan again. Cliff had instructed the others earlier to stay out of the initial reunion.

 

[MzHyde]

The looks didnt go amiss on Kay either. It's not like they were trying to be discreet when they kept eyeing Elliott and Cal, trying to figure them out. She let the three men talk about it, smirking and chuckling quietly at the conversation going on, especially when Chas spoke up with what he did, getting exactly what he was implying. "I agree Chas...this is gonna be one hell of a trip when that happens" she said smiling, keeping her reply just as ambiguous as he did. The last thing they needed was to be giving Fia ideas, which no doubt she was already planning through her mind, Kay thought as she walked on the other side but a smidge behind John.

Fia was indeed already thinking up many pranks to pull and discuss with Matteo from the moment she could cast her communication spell and be able to talk with him. She was so glad she had a page or two dedicated to the back of her notebook of pranks pulled and to be pulled. She like Kay, looked around them during the walk, seeing everything around them before Cliff called out to her parents and the other two siblings. As promised, they stayed back with the others so she Cliff could have her initial reunion to herself, yet it was obvious even from afar, that they were so happy to see Cliff once more.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Naturally Cliff's first comments to her other siblings were to recognise the fact her sister was still in uniform with slight bags under her eyes signifying long nights, low pay and being forced to run to catch her shuttle in time as her noses insisted on holding her back with paper work. She'd arrived barely an hour before Cliff had, and hadn't even had the opportunity to remove her holstered guns from around her waist. The middle brother Nat wore glasses, but like the rest of them he was strong and tanned with years of outdoor work. Cliff's first question for him was if he'd finished reading the entire library yet to which he shook his head and rolled his eyes simultaneously. She greeted her parents before being practically knocked to the ground by one of the family's dogs. Cliff hadn't mentioned the family dogs before so it came as a surprise to all except Rinaa when the other two bounded out and began investigating the new people.

Pleasantries exchanged, Cliff turned to face the her family. "I'll explain everything on one big lump then you can ask all the questions necessary, deal?" She told them, to which they nodded, understanding that this wasn't something to negotiate on. Cliff started by pointing at Elliott. "This is Cal's brother Qui'Za'Lott. Turns out he's not actually dead, just been living on a completly different planet- Earth. Goes by Elliott now." Eyes widened at that explained as Benji and Matteo gave each other looks evidently shocked to hear their theory confirmed. Cliff kept talking, gesturing at John, then Kay, then Fia as she gave the relevant explanation."That's John, he adopted Elliott and did a damn good job turning him into the man he is today. A mage among other things, and taught him how to use the natural magical affinity he was born with. Next to him is Kay, his partner if sorts, its complicated and new, so don't do a full on interrogation about that Má. And the teenegr is Kay's kid sister. Dead parents, so these two are the legal guardians until she comes of age."

Next she dealt with Jay. "Jay is Elliott's girlfriends of sorts. They only figured out recently that things were mutual. She's Isogrii with a complex past and could totally trash us all at anything." There were nods at that, but the gesture was both curious and apprehensive. She then gestured at Rinaa who had become a particular fascination of the dogs as they could sense her wolf side becoming gradually more dominant. "The other teenager, the one currently becoming the new dog couch is Artemis. A cousin of Jay's. Her parents are out of the picture and she's part wolf. She's bringing a girl as her plus one." She didn't mention that Rinaa was dying and used her assumed name, if Rinaa wanted to change anything she could tell them herself. The last person she introduced was Chas. "And lastly we have Chas. John's best mate since they were kids and Dan's new friend. Pretty much the same kind of guy as Dan- loyal, reliable, hardworking and gets dragged into all kinds of crazy shit and never seems to get a proper break. Married, with a daughter back on Earth."

Cliff then turned and quickly explained who was who in English. A sort of redundant thing to do as it was easy to figure out based on her earlier remarks. "Charlie's the one in the police uniform, another person who is notoriously overworked an dinderpaud in the nam eof helping the public. Nat is the one with glasses. Then my mother, my father and the three dogs which I don't think I mentioned until now. They'll follow you guys around for a while trying to assess if they you are a threat or not, but feel free to do a full Artemis on them. And if anybody wants to sign up for dog walking duties feel free."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay watched as three dogs came bounding out, surprised as Cliff hadn't mentioned about pets before, Hough when she glanced at Fia's face, it became clear to her that her 'sister' was indeed a let girl and a dog person, considering she still didn't know about Fia's secret pet dog in her timeline. She also noted the uniform and tired look of her sister, and the look of her other brother. She watched as Cliff pointed at Elliott and she figured out this was the long process of introductions on who everyone was, including the new fake back stories of Rinaa and Fia.

As Cliff pointed at John, herself and Fia, Kay gave a subtle little wave when Cliff pointed to her, as did Fia when she was pointed to. Both of them then watched how the dog circled them all, to figure out if they were a threat or not before making a lot of their attention be on Rinaa. When it came to talking to them lot saying whose who, both of them listened. As the dog walking duty comment came out Fia smiled and nodded, "I will gladly do that!" She said back, finding having dogs around making her miss her own little ball of fluff. "Why do I feel this would cause her asking us for a pet?" She leaned into John and remarked quietly.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa understood what was being said, but she was the only one. It was a fair assessment, giving the basics sticking to their cover stories and focusing on the more important details. It was a nice touch of Cliff sto specify not to ask about John and Kay's relationship status (whatever that was in this timeline). And saying that she was part wolf was an excellent cover, and not technically a lie. The dog's could sense it in her and she did have wolfish features about her, including the claws with looked like they were there to stay. The fogs had accepted her instantly before moving on to the others. Unlike Fia's dog who was small enough to easily pick up the dogs that Cliff' family had were large, around husky size with short fur dappled in various shades of blacks and browns with some grey and white stripes.

At Fia's enthusiasm to walk the dogs Cliff called over to her family, knwong that Fia had no idea what she was getting herself into. The dogs had a habit of being deliberately disobedient with new walkers. "Good news! We got a dog walking victim!" She pointed at Fia as she said this, prompting amused smiles. John nodded at Kay's words. "You could be right on that, but let's face it, my apartment isn't exactly pet friendly, espescially for an animal that needs a lot of exercise." The closest thing to a large mammal as a pet that John had seen in his block of flats (excluding the mandatory crazy cat lady on the ground floor) was the foxes that scavenged on the bins on occasion.

Cliff then turned to Cal. " Do you mind taking the others on a bit further to find somewhere to park The House, while I answer six million or so questions?" "Not at all" Cal smiled, kissing Cliff's cheek, before leading the others away from the main house. "Well that's her family." The dogs followed this time picking Fia as their object of interest.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia instantly fell in love with the dogs, she didn't care they were so much bigger than her one. She just loved animals in general, and always took offence when live animals were used in spells or killed in films. She was the type who'd laugh at a human kill in a film but get irrationally angry at the animal kill. Being husky sized just made them all that more beautiful in Fia's eyes, and when they came to sniff her out she smiled, and knelt down to their level, being completely smitten by them. Unlike the wolf like dogs that had it in for her in Rinaa's timeline which she grew a little afraid of. She noted the smiles from people when Cliff clearly told them she would walk the dogs, just by putting two and two together.

Kay nodded smirking at John's reply, "I completely agree. If she wants a pet it can be a hamster...something that remains caged and tiny" she said back at him, not realising that it could only be a matter of time before either of them or Elliott or Chas finds Fia with the small dog, resulting in Fia attempting to talk them into letting her keep him. With Cal being asked about leading them all somewhere to park The House, she remembered how much she was looking forward to seeing that building again, along with its comfortable beds, couches and seeing that kitchen again. She walked with everyone as they followed Cal away from the main house. Fia had since stood back up after giving each dog a bit of fuss, and walked with them all by her, clearly loving it. She glanced at Kay, John, Elliott and Chas with that smile that conveyed so much hinting she didn't need to say anything. "Ask your dad, it's his apartment" Kay smirked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John still wasn't convinced that having any kind of pet in his apartment was a good idea. It wasn't 'pet friendly' in the slightest. The only advantage he could see was that if Fia really was as stuck in the flat and London as she told them she was, she couldn't get out of looking after whatever animal she did aquire. He saw the look in Fia's eyes and knew that his future self was going to be on the recieving end of some serious pleading when Fia did get back. "And I'd see its pretty damn unsuitable for any pet really. But I'm not the one to ask on this, it's the future me that should be asked." The one that is the actual parent he added in his head.

Cal led them a good distance away from the house to an area of flat land filled with scruffy plants. It was an unused space at the moment, with no buildings on it. It didn't really have a function sometimes they held an outside bonfire there, but as a general rule the family prefered to do that on the beach. "Big enough?" She asked, gesturing at the plot. John nodded. "It'll work, The House can change its size to a certain extent. You're sure there's no magical shielding here?" "Certain." Cal replied as John stepped forwards to do his thing. He'd never summoned The House from this far away before, but he knew it could be summoned from the other side of the universe. But he decided to boost the summoning spell with some of his own blood anyway. The House appeared with its usual theatrics, blowing up a windstorm and dust storm obscuring itself from view. The storm died down within a minute, revealing The House, it had taken a different shape to last time. It was shorter and wider, but unmistakably The House. John couldn't resist smirking at it as it appeared, refusing to admit how nice it felt to have some kind of familiarity in this alien planet for once.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia kind of knew how this conversation was going to go. It's not like she hadn't tried before asking for a animal companion to keep her company until she found a circle of friends for herself. It was one reason why she kept Max the dog a secret from them in her timeline. Yet she was still a teenager and she would still try, no matter what, and if that meant putting the idea into present them heads to try and convince them differently, then she would do that. "You really think I haven't tried that already?" She retorted back with a smirk. Kay rolled her eyes at the retort Fia made, having guessed she would have tried on them in her timeline. "So you thought you'd try with us now to try and change our future minds? That's sly kiddo" Kay said, but there was an ounce of being impressed in Kay's tone. Fia just smirked smugly.

Getting to the open space that Cal lead them to, Kay looked round figuring it looked like a good space, but knew only John would know for certain. She watched him do his magical work to being The House to them, noting how he used the boosting of using his blood to make sure it would appear in front of them. When it did, she shielded her eyes, as did Fia slightly from the kickback of dust and wind. With the reveal of The House, both girls smiled, seeing the change of appearance but also recognising it as well. Fia particularly recognised the style it took on as one she had seen once before in her timeline. "Home sweet home" she chuckled. "Couldn't have said it better myself baby girl" Kay replied, refraining from making a Motley Crue and their song of that very title. Kay felt John's feelings to seeing The House through their bond as it did match her own.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Indeed, indeed. Surprising how much you can miss this old place." John remarked. "Cal, you mind making sure the dogs don't get into The House?" Elliott asked to which his sister nodded. "On it, they're well trained, so it'll be no bother." Rinaa found the whole 'Fia wanting a pet but getting shot down because John's apartment wasn't pet friendly' highly amusing. Though that might be because of the fact that she was the proud owner of three dogs and nobody really batted an eyelid at her having them. (Apart from the first time John, Fia and Chas saw them, but that was more to do with the fact that she showed up and got involved in the alley fight John, Fia and Chas were in. She'd trained her dogs to fight alongside her and it was quite the sight). Rinaa found herself smiling broadly and chuckling silently which prompted John to ask "what's so funny about all this?" "Just thinking of my landlord and how he'd be totally chill with Fia having a dog if she was in one of his buildings. He's the most sound person to ever rent student accommodation I've ever met. He really doesn't get phased by anything,hed have no problems with a dog in the flats. Hells he let me have three. One of the guys in the basement flat brought in a llama once and my landlord didn't bat an eyelid."

"What?" Chas was certain he hadn't heard right. "Why?" "Yup that happened. I even have photographic evidence. As for why he had a llama, he's a med-vetinary student. Llamas make exciting antibodies. But as for why he felt the need to put in the flat I have no idea." She pulled out her phone, found the photos and hlef it out for the others to see. "The tall guy on the left is the landlord, the rest is just a mix of students that live in the building." The photo showed a living room, with windows high up on the wall that indicated it was indeed the basement flat. In the middle of the image was a llama looking singularly unimpressed. Surrounding it were a a selection of students, posing and pulling faces. Rinaa was over to the right hand side, arms stained with grease, grinning broadly, arms slung around two others. The landlord was over to the left, laughing as if this was the funniest thing he'd seen in a long time. It was also obvious to somebody who knew the signs that he was a lyncanthrope.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay smiled at the remark, and was beginning to wonder how she was going to get Fia away from the dogs, when Elliott spoke up about getting Cal to keep them out, when they go in. She figured that was going to be the only way they'd ever separate Fia from said dogs. When John asked Rinaa what was so funny, Kay and Fia both looked across to see Rinaa highly amused about something, which intrigued them both. So they listened to the reply they got, Fia rolling her eyes at first due it to being about her not allowing pets, that tickled Rinaa.

The eye roll went, which turned into a slight pout knowing that somewhere she'd be able to have a pet to then her eyebrow getting raised instantly when the whole Llama comment was made at the end of the sentence. Chas seemed to get there first with the questions of what and why, so she listened to the reasons given. When the photo came out for them all to see the proof that yes, there was indeed a llama once in the block of flats of Rinaa's student accommodation, Fia looked at it and saw how happy Rinaa was first and foremost. She also noted the signs of her landlord being a lycanthrope, having done her studies of other downworld beings that weren't just demons. "That's utterly cool" Fia remarked, deciding to keep it at that for now. She didn't need to get into the whole lycanthrope conversation now personally, as she was curious to see if The House would know her as much as she knows it, and if her favourite bedroom would be in there in this time.

Kay amused by the photo and the reasons for why Rinaa found their conversation so amusing, which now made sense. "Don't know about you lot, but I'd like to drop the luggage in The House" Kay remarked finally.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Chas looked at the photo, then back at Rinaa then back at the photo again, looking for a verification that this wasn't a fake. "It's real alright. That was such a good day." The memories made her genuinely happy, swiping through a couple more photos, different people and different arrangements but the same llama each time. "That's just crazy." "Like I said, my friends are all weird and crazy, but you gotta love them anyway." "And your landlord is lycanthrope." John added, taking in the scene. The genuine smile on Rinaa's face took him by surprise as he'd really never seen her look so happy. Elliott took note of the expression, glad to see that there had been moments of happiness in her life. "Yeah, he is. Were-jaguar to be precise. But he's a good guy despite that." Rinaa shrugged a sif it was the most normal thing in the world, putting the phone back in her pocket.

The others nodded their agreement, walking towards The House, Cal keeping the dogs with her. Cal had given her luggage to Cliff, who'd brought it into her home. The dogs were tempted to follow, but Cal's commands were clear and they obeyed. The House brought them into one of its entrance hallways, thankfully not that kitchen as John had been half expecting it to do. It had decided that an imposing grand staircase leading to the upper floors was necessary, putting a sunken library around the feet of the staircase. It smelt as it usually did, musty books, gunpowder, smoky ash and graveyard with some hints of demon's blood. " 'S good to be somewhere familiar again."

 

[MzHyde]

Though Fia didn't bring up the lycanthrope landlord, John did which in a way didn't surprise her as he could never help himself with that sort of discovery or information. The genuine smile didn't take Fia as much by surprise as it did the others only because she had seen her Leah that happy at times. Though she did find the information of her landlord being a were jaguar quite interesting.

When it came to going inside, Fia and Kay both stepped forward to head inside, Fia noting that the dogs wanted to follow which made her smile softly. Stepping inside, the smell was familiar and it made her keep the smile on her face. It was a set up that she was knew so well. "Agreed, I know this set up well" Fia replied. Kay smiled seeing the interior, and if it had put them into that kitchen, she would have laughed to herself. "You do?" She asked Fia, "yeah, it's pretty much how it looks in my timeline" Fia clarified. Kay nodded in acknowledgement, "so I'm guessing you know where every room is and have your own?" Kay assumed. Fia nodded a one firm nod with a smirk. "Bingo" Fia said back.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"This is one of its favourite set ups. It has a thing for grand staircases and sunken libraries. It rarely has the pagoda, prison cells or gardens be the first thing you see when you enter the building." John commented, looking around. The House was consistent in some matters. It kept a similar entrance way and kept the start of the library near the door, but after that it was anybody's guess what would be beyond the next door. He'd never seen The House shuffle the rooms around. It didn't surprise John that Fia had her favourite room in The House and knew the layout as well as one could. It was a big part of his life after all, and filled with all kinds of exciting things for somebody who was as deep into the magical world as she was.

"Yeah, well something's changed since I've last been here. And I suspect its me rather than The House." Rinaa had been the last to enter the building so nobody had seen what had happened. Upon entering The House two of its defenses had been triggered. The first forced was one that forced all shifters to shift to their dominant form. The second had forced her astral form out of her body, leaving the shell lying unconscious on the floor. It wasn't the body of a teenager any more, it was the body of a wolf, slightly bigger than the dogs that Cal was waiting with outside. The clothes had somehow shifted with her body, leaving just the powerful animal lying there on its side. Rinaa's astral form was different too, unable to decide, it had split into two. One that was fully human and another that was a wolf-person. "Ah bollocks." was all John could say on the matter, realising that if Rinaa was should splitting then the wolf part was far more dominant than they thought.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia and Kay nodded at John's words. Fia had a feeling that John wouldn't be surprised to hear what she said. She was about to run off to her room that The House in her timeline always had for her, when Rinaa spoke up from behind which made her turn around and saw the state of her. Her existence inside had triggered The House defences which made her sigh as John cursed outwardly. "Well that just happened...." She remarked. "Well good luck fixing her, I'm out" Fia added, knowing it wouldn't take her help to sort this out, and if it did? Well.. she'd come back.

She jogged upstairs to head down the hallway to her usual room, not even really thinking about the route she was taking as she knew it like the back of her hand. Kay watched her kid exit from the situation at hand, rolling her eyes. "Teenagers..." She huffed, turning her attention back to Rinaa. "So how do this get fixed exactly?" She asked. She felt slightly sorry for Rinaa getting triggered by the defences of The House and was surprised she wasn't affected the same way, but put it down to having been inside before without any defences being activated.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa looked down at her body with a deep sigh or irritation. "This is basically my life in a nutshell sometimes." If she had been alone she would have thrown something at a wall to vent her frustration. Fia just leaving the situation didn't even surprise her or make an impact on her radar at this stage. "I'm going to make an educated guess and assume that the wolf side is now more dominant than the non-wolf side. The House then picked me up as a hostile, forcing the shift. The second registered my spike in anger, stress and the urge to murder that always boils up when I shift, decided I was a threat and here we are in this mess." "Sounds like exactly what happened." John nodded, Rinaa's chain of logic matched his perfectly. "Sorry kiddo but I don't think it's going to let you stay here, let alone sleep here."

Rinaa sighed again, resisting the urge to just fall to the floor in a heap. "In my time you predicted that this would happen. First The House would register me as hostile, then once things deteriorate past... a certain point the apartment won't let me in either. And after that I'm basically screwed. As if that wasn't obvious already." She resisted the urge to add 'I hate my life' to the whole thing. "I'm sorry kiddo. So what can be done?" "Best guess? We take get the body outside of the limits of The House, in theory that should cause it to revert back to normal, pulling the astral form with it." "But?" Rinaa could sense that there was one coming. "If it doesn't work you'll have to get your astral form back in by some other means."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay listened to what Rinaa assumed had happened, she could sense the irritation in her tone just from the sigh that preceded her theory. She was a little annoyed that her daughter would just scarper, when she never seemed the type until.now to walk away from a situation. With John agreeing with the girl's theory, she found herself partly nodding in understanding. She listened to Rinaa explain how in her time even his apartment wouldn't let her in after a while, which made her feel bad for the kid.

Rinaa really did have it bad, and she felt like Rinaa didn't even need to add the unspoken part of her sentence, for them to get that's what she was hinting at. "Well.. let's just hope your first theory works then" Kay added after it was discussed what could be done. She hoped for Rinaa's sake it would work, so she wouldn't have even more issues to deal with. "The theory can work easily enough!" Fia called down from the balcony at the top of the stairs. She was propping herself by her elbows as she leaned down. "At least...it has in my time before anyway for this sort of thing" she clarified. Her bags were already put away and she was already changed into a pair of shorts and converse.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Here's hoping" Rinaa agreed, the rest of her sentence cut off by Fia calling down from above. Up until Fia's interruption the split persona had been working fine, speaking in unison. They were the same person after all. But at Fia's comment it was clear that the wolf side lacked the emotional control that Rinaa had (just like how any shifters animal form was more volatile than the human form). The wolf side looked right up at Fia, eyes narrowing and darkening, then snarled, hackles rising. It was an anger response, that much was evident to them all. But only Rinaa could hear the other half speaking in her mind 'does she even understand that if this goes wrong we both die in excruciating agony?"

Rinaa turned to face the wolf-persona, diverting her attention from Fia, staring her right down as she talked telepathically back. "I honestly don't know, keep in mind she has no idea who we really are." "But still. And this is her home more than it ever was ours, but does that justify having to say it in such a cocky tone?" "She is unfortunately more of a mage than either of us could ever be, never mind out bloodline." "We really got the short end of the stick here didn't we?" "That's not exactly a new thing, we've never been even on anything, not with this version and certainly not with the other version." To all those watching it just looked as if the two sides were staring each other down, a battle of the wills. But in actuality the two were bitching about every aspect of their lives until John interrupted them.

"Let's cut out the sexual tension and get to the point, yeah?" "Well once we get back into our body, if it even can be called that at this stage, I think the most obvious solution is that I sleep in one of the houseboats down at the docks." They replied. "And I say we try hauling the body outside the limits like you said, then work from there."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia wasn't intentionally trying to come across as cocky or self righteous. She just overheard the theory was she was walking back and gave her two cents. Yet when Rinaa's wolf persona stared her down and growled at her, she rolled her eyes. She may not have known what was being discussed between the two versions of Rinaa, and she didn't really care to know, but she did care a little that she was being looked at initially with such hostility. She was only trying to help by saying the initial theory works as she's seen it work before.

Kay watched it all unfold and thought to herself 'great... we're gonna have another teen fight on our hands' thinking the worst instantly, so when John broke up the awkward silence of Rinaa's telepathic conversation with herself, she was thankful for it. She was glad that Rinaa had an idea for where she could stay if this plan worked, having wondered where she would go. Fia walked to the top of the staircase, then hopped onto the railing, sliding down on it- her chosen and favoured method was descending these stairs in her timeline. "It's worked before...I don't see how it wouldn't work now" Fia said in a much softer tone than before.

 

[_gallifrog_]

When the wolf side became triggered it looked to Chas exactly like how Rinaa had been when Fia had first appeared and made that accidental slip with the nickname of Wolfie. It was the wolf that had reacted, not Rinaa in that situation. The wolf clearly had more dominance than Rinaa was letting on and unlike Rinaa didn't have the same level of emotional control. "We aren't normal, that's why." The wolf side responded before Rinaa could get a word in edgeways. "This could full well kill us, and if the last five times my presence has caused out death has been anything to go by, then it will be agony. And no matter what brave face she puts on it will hurt more than she'll ever let you know."

"Besides the point, somebody please just chuck my body out the door before one of us says something we're going to regret." Rinaa sighed, looking she wanted to be smited out of existance by whatever divine being was putting her through all this. "On it." Jay answered, carefully bending down, reaching her arms under the heavy body of Rinaa's wolf form. The wolf was heavy, weighing about as much as Rinaa herself did, but Jay could bear the load. She walked out the doors, which opened before her, as if they couldn't wait to be rid of Rinaa's body. Stepping across the threshold caused the two figures to warp and fade as the body returned to it's normal form. Rinaa looked drawn and pale as Jay put her down. The teenager didn't come around immediately either, prompting for Jay to check that there was still indeed a pulse. "Is she.....?" "Alive, yes, but not in great shape."