Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[MzHyde]

When John agreed that he wouldn't let Fia live it down, she groaned placing her hands on her face and running them down it. "great...juuuuust great" Fia complained, before crossing her arms across her chest. If she was about twelve years old it'd have looked like she was having a strop, but at seventeen, it was just out of annoyance that she knew she was done for. She hoped she wouldn't meet anyone that would make the opportunity arise for Kay or John or more to the point, both being up these embarrassing stories. It was bad enough they'd no doubt be brought up just around family as a way of getting under her skin, she didn't want to imagine what it'd be like if she brought someone home with her. "In other words, suck it up buttercup" Kay added.

"Anyway, back to Matteo's state!" Fia said, more of a plea to get the attention off of her, which was granted when Rinaa tried to make Matteo explain what he did whilst completely wasted. She listened as did Kay to the commentary they were getting, whilst completely avoiding the whole topic at the same time. As Rinaa gave Matteo the hangover cure, Fia toyed with having it herself but she had to admit it looked utterly disgusting. "So...these antics. We gonna be left hanging or is someone actually gonna tell us?" Kay asked, seeing how Fia was debating on the hangover cure, gesturing to Kay who was making it to give one to Fia with a simple hand wave and point toward her. Every now and then she'd look over to see how Elliott was getting on with the breakfast, finding she was getting really hungry.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John had to refrain from snorting at the nickname 'buttercup' and upon hearing it, Rinaa got a wicked look of unfiltered delight on her face that suggested if she was closer to Fia (and not terminally ill), she would be taking the piss out the nickname for all of eternity. Jay understood the gesture from Kay, and doled out another glass, sliding it across to her. "It does actually work, despite what it looks like" was all she said, before watching Matteo take a large gulp. The effect was instantaneous, his head snapping back and his eyes bugging out of his head as his sinuses and head cleared. "What the hell is in this stuff? Besides lethal weapon levels of chilli I mean?" He asked, coughing slightly unable to pick apart the ingredients, only being able to pick up on the 'healthy' (bordering on painfully strong) dose of chilli Jay had put in to mask the after-taste of the cure, which was genuinely disgusting. The smell wasn't particularly pleasant either.

"Trade secret" was all Jay said i response. "And the chilli masks the real taste, so be grateful." "I've had it plain, definitely made me question my life choices." "That's kinda the point to be honest, we adapted the recipe from it's original purpose, but you can't deny it works." "No, I can't" Matteo conceeded, downing the rest of the glass knowing it was the lesser of two evils. He wiped his hand across his mouth and sighed, knowing he had no choice but to explain. "Basically I got waaay too drunk, ended up groping one of my friends, shooting my mouth off and waking up in bed with them, didn't actually have sex, but I do have one hell of a hickey and no idea where it came from."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay didn't even know where she dragged up that nickname or saying from her mind. She hadn't used it or heard it since she was a child and her adoptive mother would use it on both her and Sam if they got into a silky mood. So it had been good twenty years since she last heard it, yet in that very moment it was very fitting to Fia in her mind. She could see how John was trying to not laugh at the nickname, and she definitely noticed the wicked sense of delight creep over Rinaa's face at hearing it. Seeing that made her smirk smugly once more, giving John the look of 'you can have that one for future use'. Fia on the other hand did not appreciate it one bit, having heard aunt Sam say that to her when she herself was only around 10 years old. Fia looked up at Jay when the hangover cure for passed over to her, before she gingerly picked it up.

Fia let Matteo drink his first, the smell of the chili instantly hitting her nostrils. She watched his reaction first seeing how quickly the cure worked on Matteo. With the proof it does work, she gulped it down, scrunching her face up at a lot of the taste but the burn of the chili didn't affect her in the slightest due to her phoenix bloodline. It was the one thing Fia never complained about being a half phoenix. It opened her palette to all kinds of hot ingredients and spices, and finding them all utterly tolerable. As she gulped it down, she listened to Rinaa saying she had it before the chili was added before the conversation went back to its original topic.... Matteo's ill judgements whilst drunk. She listened as did Kay to what happened and they had to stifle their laughter at what he did. "Someone had to I guess" Kay commented, clearly amused. "We've all been there though" she added, instantly remembering one particular morning with Ethan, where pretty much the same thing happened, except she was certain even to this day that they did sleep together.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The hangover cure was a complete shock to the system, clearing the brain and sharpening some senses while dulling others. It's original intent was not as a hangover cure, but as a sort of drug to allow military personnel to keep working for days without sleep, while remaining at peak performance. Jay and her brother had modified it, replacing various medical steroids with less harmful equivalents, which after trial, error and experimentation on people they'd worked with, had become a working hangover cure and could be manufactured relatively easily. The only problem was that it tasted and smelled awful, so something potent had to be added to mask those things. In this case chilli was readily available.

John in his life had ended up hooking up with people he knew in exactly the same way as Matteo, which was why some people truly despised him, especially when hooking up with somebody meant that the other person had to deal with a sexual identity crisis, having not known that men (or skinny blonde Brits in trenchcoats) were their thing up until then. Chas had also ended up with people that way, but far less than John, as he usually didn't get hammered as he was designated driver. "Actually, I haven't been there." Elliott said in response to Kay's remark. "I make my mistakes sober." "Which is worse, as you can't blame the drink." Jay added, wiggling an eyebrow to indicate she was referring to a particular event. "Not my finest moment." Elliott sighed, transferring his experimental meal from the pan and into a large sharing dish which he put in the centre of the table.

"Okay, so not the greatest or smartest thing to do." Cliff told her little brother with a sympathetic sigh, this was his first time going majorly overboard on alcohol after all. "But there's more to it, isn't there?" Matteo nodded. "Y'know Charlie's friend Alex?" Cliff nodded. "The person in question is his younger sibling." "Ah yes, that is decidedly more awkward."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay looked at Elliott when he said he had never been there and rose an eyebrow, yet when she thought about it he never gave her those vibes to be that kind of person. "Okay.. everyone BUT Ell has been there" she corrected herself after Jay replied to him and he transferred the food into a sharing plate and onto the table. She sat down at the table where it was clear for her to do so, not wanting to get in the way of Rinaa and her tinkering, grabbing for some of the food and trying it. She didn't know why to expect from it all but she enjoyed it none the less. "You done good once more Ell" she commented, just before Cliff spoke to Matteo.

Fia, now suitably not hungover reached over and grabbed some food for herself having always enjoyed Elliott's cooking in her timeline. Even remembering nights when she was left alone under his supervision and he had to feed her, mostly when she was very young. She looked over at Matteo and Cliff as they spoke about his awkward coolness moment last night, listening in. She may not have known Alex's younger sibling other than they were one of the group members from last night. Either way she could tell that it happening with a sibling of Charlie's friend would be extremely awkward. She was even more glad that she didn't get any more wasted and do anything of the sort. She was pretty sure the closest she got was playing the charming red head to Benji, which didn't count in her mind.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Good to hear it" Elliott chuckled "a bunch of people with food poisoning is hardly an ideal wedding present for my sister and Cliff." "Very true." Cliff agreed, getting two bowls of food, one for herself and one for Cal who had just walked in. "I just overheard a very interesting conversation Charlie was having, any truth to it?" She asked, taking the bowl with a grateful smile and plopping down on the couch. "You mean Matteo proving that he is the slickest of us all at getting somebody into bed with him? Yes there is." Cliff replied, knowing that if Charlie knew, it wouldn't be too long before she came down and butted her oar into the situation.

"I think I'm gonna need to go into witness protection or something." Matteo groaned, knowing that if Charlie was pissed, he needed an escape plan. "Is there witness protection that doesn't involve the police?" "Yes, but it's called either identity fraud or identity theft and carries a heavy prison sentence." Jay replied, leaning against the countertop with her bowl of Elliott'c leftovers concoction, which was really nice (not that she'd expect anything less from him, given his cooking skills). "I know some people if you're interested?" "Or he could just save everybody the bother and suck it up." "Literally" Rinaa added to the sentence, causing Matteo to go bright red and nearly choke on his cereal.

Which was naturally the moment Charlie chose to walk in, wearing a police issue (and branded) t-shirt. "Yes that sounds like excellent advice." She sauntered over, plonking herself on the coffee table in front of her brother, so he had no choice but to look at her. She could she that he was both ashamed and embarrassed and really didn't need somebody giving out to him, but she did that anyway."I know I said to pull your finger out and bloody do something, but I didn't mean drunkenly pull the guy into bed!" Matteo opened his mouth to speak, but Charlie just dismissed it with a wave of her hand, her tone turning business like and firm. "Now either you get up there and say something, or I drag in Benji and we play cupid by locking you two in a room until it's sorted. Got it?" She asked, to which he nodded, knowing he had no choice in the matter. "Also, bring the hangover concoction as a peace offering." Once Matteo was gone from the room, Charlie flopped on the couch and sighed. "Teenagers! I don't understand them!"

 

[MzHyde]

Kay chuckled, knowing he had a very valid point. No one needed to get food poisoning, especially her. She eaveaddopped on the conversation between everyone as they were all talking about Matteo and his screw up, finding it was relatively amusing morning entertainment. She smirked as did Fia when Matteo started thinking about witness protection that didn't involve the police to try and hide his shame, knowing it was a pointless move. When Charlie came in, both girls thought this was going to interesting and they weren't totally wrong as Charlie made Matteo suck it up and face his problems.

Fia then realised this was obviously the person Matteo had the crush on but forever in denial over, making her smirk watching it all unfold as Matteo admitted defeat and headed upstairs to face his issue. "I don't think anyone understands teenagers... Not really anyway" Kay replied to Charlie's outburst. "hey! I could take offence to that ya know!" Fia retorted back. "and I'd tell you to deal with it" Kay said back effortlessly in between mouthfuls of breakfast before giving her closed mouthed smile back, making Fia huff as she continued to eat her breakfast. She hated that Kay could one up her on nearly everything, much preferring it when she could get the upper hand.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Think he'll actually do it?" Cliff asked her sister, tucking one foot under her leg, and sitting sideways on the couch, so she was leaning her back against Cal's side. "He better, I ain't playing cupid again. Give me a hardened criminal in an interrogation room any day." She declared."At least that way wrapping and tripping them up in a web of their own lies and half-truths will get me paid." "You're a hard woman Charlie." Cal smirked, meaning the words as a compliment. "So are you gonna tell Alex all this or let him find out on his own?" Nat asked. "He already knows, we found out from a mutual friend, apparently our little brother is so smitten that he fell down a flight of stairs as he was too busy staring."

The siblings laughed at that "Only Matteo would do that." "There's video evidence of that particular event, but nobody in the school twigged why it had happened, and I didn't know til Alex saw it and put the pieces together. And I also texted him a photo of the two passed out on the bed for blackmail purposes, since he couldn't be here in person. Here. take a look" she pulled out her phone, found the photo and passed it to her siblings and sister in law.

With the food cooked Chas made his way into the kitchen, taking a free chair and a bowl. Rinaa had temporarily abandoned the blender to eat, listening to the banter flow back and forth across the table, zoning out of the words and just taking it all in. Even if it wasn't their home, there was a homely atmosphere to the whole thing, the casual sniping, the communal food pile in the middle and no underlying tensions, or a feeling that somebody would simply leap across the table and pin somebody else against the wall for something they'd said. This was what she'd been missing out on for her whole life, and would only get to experience for a few weeks at best (provided that something didn't happen that put her at odds with somebody). She wondered if anybody here truly understood how special this whole crazy family was and how much it was worth fighting for, and how far she was going to go to make sure that whatever version of her did win out would get to know this kind of casual family morning.

 

[MzHyde]

Both girls just started zoning out themselves as the chatter and banter went on between Cliff, Cal and Charlie about Matteo. Fia only really paid attention when the whole falling down the stairs comment's came up as she remembered the conversation from up in the attic yesterday morning. Other than that she was just too preoccupied with eating breakfast. Kay was similar in that instance, she was too busy focusing on her food that she only heard half of what was being said but the bits she did hear, she smirked at. She then realised that she'd have all of this to expect in the future with Fia properly if she ever found someone she liked.

Fia yet again was thankful that she didn't have to go through all of this teasing and talking behind her back due to crushes as she didn't have any. Though evver since she drunkenly spoke of the guy whose bike she stole, she did find he came into her dream last night and remembered just good looking he actually was. She wondered if she would bump into him again back in her time or not, deciding that if she did she would no doubt apologise for stealing his bike but stress it was for a good reason and she would attempt to make it up to him. She didn't even know his name, just that he was a dark haired guy in a biker jacket and jeans and scruffy combat boots. "what you thinking about kiddo?" Kay asked Fia, noticing she was seeming to go into her own little world. "nothing much, just remembering what I talked about last night. Nothing major" Fia replied. "the guy's bike you stole you mean?" Kay questioned, making Fia nod. "yeah. Ended up in my dream last night" Fia explained.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa, unlike Fia was far more chill with the idea of family talking and teasing her about somebody she might take an interest in romantically. Though it could be because she knew that in her timeline only Jay had actually met any of them. There was one person in particular, the ex she had spoken of the night before, that she had made a particular effort to keep quiet from the others, as John would most definitely take issue with her given who she was related to. John had never found out thankfully

Rinaa had of course missed the whole discussion of Fia stealing some random guy's bike the night before, as had Jay, but given what both knew about Fia, it didn't surprise them that she'd do such a thing, especially if it was in need of making a quick getaway. Though the fact that it was popping up in her dreams attracted not just Rinaa's attention, but John's, Jay's and Elliott's as well. Such a dream couldn't be a coincidence, through their collective experiences as timeline sensitives, MindWalkers and riding the synchronicity wave, they knew that dreams, particularly memories always held some kind of significance. In John, Rinaa and Jay's case they could see the future of their timelines while Elliott could accidentally have other people's dreams and memories work their way into his mind.

"Well that's not a coincidence." "Or without meaning" Jay added, before feeling the need to add a reason why her opinion would be more than just idle speculation."Take it from those of us who can't have a dream without it having seventeen different levels of meaning." "Those are a pain in the arse, especially the recurring ones." Elliott nodded i agreement as Rinaa continued. "I mean, I've got the bloody message once, I don't need the universe to KEEP telling me that there's...... I dunno a serial bomber loose in London or whatever."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia was only worried because she had managed to grow up with Elliott and John in her life and she knew both would take great pride in teasing her relentlessly as pay back for the many pranks she had put onto them. She had given them more than reasons to get their own back on her in her timeline, so in her eyes she had plenty of reasons to be worried. She didn't really think much of what she said, as she just put it down to her mind was replaying it because it got brought up at the time so it was fresh in her memory. So when John and Jay said it wasn't a coincidence or without meaning Fia looked up quizzically. "it's probably just because the memory was fresh in my mind" Fia dismissed, even though she always trusted their judgement on these things. "yet I do trust your opinions as well" she added.

"it's been months since the encounter, I don't know what it could mean if it even does mean anything and not just being a case of it came into my mind because I was talking about it last night. But thanks to that I can't get him out of my mind" she admitted. Kay glanced round each of them who all spoke to her about it or nodded in agreement, which happened to be Jay, John, Elliott and Rinaa before looking back at Fia. "well that's intriguing if you ask me. Was it the whole memory or just the guy?" Kay remarked, finishing what she could eat. "the whole memory but the guy was the most clear. Have no idea who he is, he's just biker guy to me" Fia replied casually. "what do you lot think? Worth delving into?" Kay asked the rest of the group.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Elliott shrugged and leaned back in his chair "Well, I'm game anyway, it's not like I had anything planned for the rest of the day anyway, and even if it proves to be a bust, it'll be interesting, at least for me." Elliott was wondering if Fia's mind would remember him from her timeline, thus making it easier to get inside his head or if it would be just like every other first time where there was always a certain amount of resistance, some moreso than others. He'd only caught the tail end of the bike stealing story, so this way he could see more of it for himself.

"I'm with Ell on all that." John replied, leaning back in his chair, pushing the empty plate forwards slightly, signifying that he was finished eating."It's not like we have anything else worth doing, and all the guests are leaving today, so it's best if we stay out of the way anyway." Chas shrugged. It was going to be pretty crowded if things kept going the way they did. "My only plans are to fix this blender that Jay broke" she narrowed her eyes at Jay before continuing"and maybe mooch around the island or the attic for a bit." "I didn't break it" Jay reported, to which Rinaa rolled his eyes"YOU were the one using it when it broke, that is the literal definition of you breaking it."

 

[MzHyde]

Hearing Elliott say he was game for getting into Fia's mind to see this dream/memory of hers, Fia knew that there was no getting out of this. Especially if John And Chas both agreed with him and were basically saying 'just so it' in their own way. "of course it will be for you, you'll get to see exa rly what went down that night that resorted in me nicking the guy's bike to get away" she smirked at Elliott. Despite her tone, she actually didn't mind Elliott going into her mind as she was close with him in her timeline. "okay fine I'll let you in on the dream of the memory, any of you lot wanna see it for yourselves whilst we at it?" she properly caved, aiming it at John, Chas and Kay.

Kay smirked at what Rinaa said about how she was going to be spending her time only to have Jay to speak up defensively and then get called out straight away before turning back to her own kid, "I'm intrigued so count me in" Kay replied, feeling interested in knowing who this guy was that was clearly still on her daughter's mind, even if it was dormant up until last night. She had no idea if either of the others wanted in, but whatever they chose she figured Fia really wouldn't mind considering she threw it out as an open invitation pretty much. "you realise though Fia, that you may not hear the end of this letting these three in" Kay warned, making Fia nod knowing that would be probably the case but if it got them off her back in the sense of them not constantly suggesting she does the mind walk then it would be worth it.... She hoped.

 

[_gallifrog_]

It was like they'd said earlier, nobody had anything better to do, and poking around in somebody else's head was always interesting, even just as a passive observer. "There's little point in me going in" Jay replied, even if the question hand't been aimed at her. "Unless this guy has something that to a trained obviously marks him out as alien, even then Ell could cover that job." "I can't tell if that's a compliment or an insult." Elliott replied knowing that Jay often said one thing while meaning another, especially when it came to insulting somebody to their face without them actually knowing they were being insulted. "Well, unlike everybody else here, bar Rinaa, you grew up off Earth, so you'd know the subtle signs." She explained, to which Elliott nodded "True."

John was definitely interested, given that this incident (and by extension this guy) had made a lasting impression on Fia. He also wanted to see what Fia was like in action going solo, going off of her description yesterday it sounded both impressive and dramatic. Chas' reasons were pretty similar to John's and neither were going along to the do the whole 'scoping out the potential boyfriend' routine, but Jay's mention of there being a small possibility he could be alien meant John would definitely be checking to see if there was something that could mark him out as Downworlder. "Well I'm obviously in." "I might as well go in too, not sure what I'd actually bring to the whole thing though." He shrugged.

Rinaa had been deep in thought while the others discussed this, when she did eventually speak up again her voice was measured. "I doubt that this will come to anything, but if he exists in your timeline, maybe he exists in mine, and I do have memories from this extensive data base of people connected to the.... other things the lab does. It'd probably come to nothing though" she shrugged, pretty much dismissing her own idea right off the bat.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia listened to Jay reply with why she thought it'd be pointless in her going in and she was internally glad that she wasn't insisting on going along. She respected Jay, especially in her timeline, but she didn't want her poking around in her head either. Not even in her timeline did she consort any advice from Jay about things that weren't training related. Hearing that John wanted to scope out this guy didn't all together surprise her, and nor did it surprise her that Chas wanted in. "okay, so that's basically my whole family in my head... Good to know" Fia replied just before Rinaa finally spoke up.

She looked over at Rinaa as she spoke out her theory, and it strangely borderline matched her own in the sense she was sure it would be nothing and that this guy was just a random guy. "well... I can get Kay to draw up his face afterwards and you can see if you recognise him. Or you and Jay can do some background check if it comes to it. I dunno..." she replied back, actually meaning it even if her tone was very dismissive. She hoped she didn't come into contact with anyone in the downworld, yet she also knew if she got in contact with anyone outside of it it'd be even harder to keep what she does a secret. So in her mind she was stuck between a rock and a hard place in figuring out if this guy was worth seeking out again to at least make it up to him for stealing his bike temporarily. "and whenever you're okay to do it Ell, I'm good to go, if this lot are gonna snoop on my solo hunts then may as well get it out of the way. And yes I've done it before in my timeline with you" she told him. Deciding to get in that extra bit before he'd ask, figuring he would ask before he took her in.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa considered, then nodded. "A sketch will do fine, I don't mind whether it's face on or sideways, the ID photos on the data base are done both ways, just like the general ID cards we use for the labs." She pulled out her card for access to Deke's lab as an example, which did indeed have a face on and a side-on picture of Rinaa, the background remindeding John of the one used mugshots."Like I said, it's a long shot, more speculation than anything solid, if he is just some randomer, then he won't be flagged in the data base memories" had they been in her timeline, Rinaa could simply access the database files herself, run the sketch through it and see what (if anything) came up. But without access, the best she could hope from the memories was a name and a reason why he'd have been flagged on the Facility 53 data network.

jay on the other hand dismissed the idea that there was anything she could do. "There's very little I can actually do, if this guy is around your age, then he's only a baby right now, if he's been born at all. Not to mention that he wouldn't be recognisable in any records, plus I can't hack Earth from here. So unless he turns out to be long lost alien royalty, I'm gonna stay out of this." She declared, already thinking on what she was going to do while the others were MindWalking, more than likely finding a group of pilots and helping them to set up to leave, and listening to them gossip to see what she'd missed in her Earth-bound years.

Elliott nodded. "I suspected that would be the case, which makes it easier for me not having to deal with that initial refusal people have of letting me in." He gestured for the others to sit together on the couch glad that all knew the drill for what to do. "Well you all know what to do, so see you on the other side" he told them once they were seated and had indicated that they were ready. He took in Fia first, then everybody else in the order they were sitting, Chas, John and finally Kay. As was customary they would start in Elliott's mind and it was up to Fia whether they just move the memory into his mind or whether they went into hers to view it.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia looked at Rinaa still when she continued to talk with her about it all, nodding to show she did understand what she was being told. She looked at the id that she was shown and just continued to nod before turning to Jay when she spoke, finding Jay made a lot of sense. "makes sense" she simply said back. She then turned to Elliott again as he replied to her comment about having done it before in her timeline, before saying he was ready to get it done now. Getting up and moving to the couch, she sat down next to Elliott before letting everyone else sit around in touching distance. She got comfortable and let Elliott know when she was ready, taking his hands and letting him take her in first, going in and watching as John, Chad and Kay finally joined them in the MindWalk.

Seeing them start off in Elliott's mind was all familiar to Fia as it was to everyone else, her MindWalk appearance wasn't much different to her normal look, just a lot more casual. She was sporting ripped up jeans and a short t-shirt with the slogan of 'TGIF' in a comic font and classic black and white converse. With her hair it gave off major Mary Jane vibes but she didn't care. Her hair was just down but wavy and slightly shorter than it is in reality, showing it was a look when she about 15, and not 17 like she was now. In her timeline it was always the look that appeared in the MindWalk so it was of no surprise to her.

"I think it'll be easier if I just let you in my mind rather than me transferring the memory into your mind. If that's cool with you?" she said to Elliott. She was already putting up mental walls around the memories she didn't want them seeing as they were always pretty much up anyway to make sure she didn't ever accidentally disclose any of them to them all in the real world. "I'm ready when you lot are" she then said after a few moments. Kay the whole time just saw how used to everything Fia was and her appearance, smirking at the t-shirt design slightly before she started talking and saying she was good to go. "okay let's see this mystery biker boy and memory of yours" kay smirked. She was intrigued to know why he was making an impact on her kid's mind in general, no to mention wanting to see how her kid could ride dressed the way she was that night.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The first thing John picked up on Fia's appearance was that she had chosen to present as a younger version of herself, even if it was only by two or so years. It wasn't as extreme as Rinaa going from nineteen to twelve, bit it was a noticeable enough jump that made John question the significance. Was it that both girls acted as if they were older and more mature in everyday life, while deep inside they were just kids? Or was there something else to it? John knew that his representation was a mash up of his older style, but put on his current age. Elliott's avatar had been through all kinds of metamorphosises as he experimented with all kinds of forms, humanoid, an abstract cloud of smoke (which had been entertaining), experimentation involving him mimicking film characters, and there was even a period where he'd presented as a female. Chas was the most consistent, always looking like himself, though when he had been through a particularly stressful week, his 'avatar' had a habit of going fully grey haired.

All John said on the age matter was "huh, interesting" and Chas knew what he was referring to and nodded "my thoughts exactly". Elliott knew that Fia was putting up the necessary mental barriers, a wise precaution in general, but more important than ever as Fia's timeline contained spoilers that none of them wanted to see. They had enough worries about the future to deal with already. When Fia said she was ready Elliott nodded, reached out a hand and pulled them all a layer deeper and into Fia's mind. He could feel no resistance in the memories and mental tissue, so evidently they couldn't distinguish between him in this time and him in her timeline. He could feel Fia's metal boundaries stronger than anybody else, but he could also feel something else, the very faintest present that somebody else had been fiddling around in there, and it wasn't Fia. "Okaay then." He remarked, eyebrows scrunching together slightly as they re-emerged in Fia's mind.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia noticed that John noticed about her avatar's appearance but didn't say anything on it, so she didn't bring it up. Her appearance was just an old outfit that she loved when she didn't have anything supernatural or downworld related to deal with. She was happy and just her normal 15 year old self whilst convincing herself that she wasn't always this rare special being that was wanted by anything and everything in the world. She also noted her parents appearances as well as Chas, noting that Chad looked the least different out of all of them. She noted how Kay looked a lot less 'mother' and more 'I'm an alternative person who doesn't fit in with many people'. She also recognised the outfit from a photo that Sam once showed her of when they went out for a day in Seattle and just had some fun to cheer Kay up and bring her out of herself.

As they went through to reach the memory, Fia was aware of the other barriers but didn't remember anything happening to her to warrant its existence, so she was as baffled as Elliott was. When they reached the memory they would have been taken initially to inside the building that held the party she was infiltrating. All of them would now see Fia with her hair nicely done up, wearing a full length black velvet dress that had one sleeve and a side split that went up way higher than a parent should be comfortable with seeing their seventeen year old wearing. It was incredibly form fitting and as she sneaked through the crowd her stiletto heels showed, showing they were easily 5inches in height. "this is just before I got what I came here for" Fia explained as she watched herself. Dream Fia managed to get passed all kinds of security whilst pickpocketing one of them effortlessly with a feather light touch.

She headed to the door she was after and let herself in. Once inside the room there was artefacts in cases and on walls, ones that even now she was certain were fake but some were indeed very much real, she could feel the magic radiating off of them. Looking around she found the display case she was looking for, smiling proudly. "hello beautiful" her dream self commented as she looked around to see what security was on the case before thinking of the right spell to bypass all security measures and pull out a trinket box heavily warded with old phoenix runes. Shoving it in her clutch bag, she went to head out when the door burst open, four suited men came in all eyes turning pitch black the moment they saw her. A fight instantly broke out and as much as they got hits on her, scuffs appearing on her face and knuckles, she dealt a lot more damage before making a run for it whilst the remaining two chased after her.

The scene then moved on quickly before seeming to slow down as it reached the point they were after. Her being outside and bumping into the mystery guy with dark blonde hair, bordering on brunette, brown eyes, biker jacket, ripped jeans and scuffed up combat boots. "hi, I err.. I can't talk right now but I need your bike, like now, thanks" she said to him putting on her most charming smiling possible as the guy looked completely flustered she was even talking to him. "you can't ride in that, are you okay?" he asked stammering slightly at her appearance.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Neither john, Chas nor Elliott said anything during the course of the memory, just taking it all in. The party was s Fia had described it, incredibly black toe and full of people who were either corrupt, too wealthy for their own good, had murdered to be where they were in life or a combination of all elements. John's only reaction the dress was to raise an eyebrow that quite clearly said "Really? That?" not exactly approving, but not disapproving either. There was no denying that she could pull it off and looked far older than her actual age and completely different from her normal self. She looked like she belonged in this group, the woman who was both beautiful and dangerous and just as capable as any of the men in attendance. Chas took more of an issue with the outfit that John did, which was down to years of raising a teenage girl of his own.

Seeing the room of magical artefacts made everything slip into place for John, far too many slimeball business people acquired magical artefacts, many nor knowing their true value or power. But judging by the protective measures here, this lot knew exactly what they had. Some he could tell were knock-offs, good ones at that. How Fia had found out that there was a phoenix runed box was something he didn't know, but John suspected the methods weren't legal and that future him had no knowledge about it. He also had a sneaking suspicion that the ARGUS Black Archive facility would be somewhere Fia would be greatly interested in but John would never let her near it as that would involve revealing her and Kay's existence to League members, which was something he would never do in either Rinaa or Fia's timeline. It was bad enough that they knew about Elliott,he wasn't going to risk that with the rest of his family.

The black-eyed men appearing wasn't too surprising since Fia had already warned them that the 'heist' had gone sideways towards the end. The whole thing had been sleek and evidently well planned out. Neither Elliott nor Chas had seen Fia fighting before, and were suitably impressed, Elliott recognising a particular move as one he had learned from Jay. There was no doubting that Fia was highly trained, and far more deadly than her outer appearance suggested. But they weren't there for Fia fighting, as impressive as that was, the 'highlight' of this whole MindWalk (if highlight was even then right word) was the mysterious boy.

It was clearly written all over his face that not only was this guy shocked at Fia's tattered, battered, scuffed and bloody appearance, he was also suffering from an acute case of 'there is a hot girl in front of me and I am unable to think properly' syndrome. John and Elliott had to refrain from laughing at his expression, while Chas had a bit more sympathy for the guy. Looking at him, Elliott could see nothing noticeably alien about him, his eyes, ears, mouth and the angles of his face suggesting he was more human. Elliott could tell the difference between humanoid aliens and humans very eaisly, having grown up with both, as well as a range of other non-humanoid species. "Well if he's alien, it's not a species I recognise, so I'd put my money on him being an Earthling." John looked at the guy, he looked fairly normal, if a bit scruffy, with a questionable taste in facial hair, but there was something about him that didn't add up. It wasn't an obvious physical thing like with a vampire, were-wolf or half-blood. But there was something, a gut feeling based on nothing he could identify, telling John he wasn't fully human. And whoever the guy was, he wasn't dressed for a black tie event, so what was he doing in the area?"My gut says he's not homo-sapien, or at least not fully. But I can't tell what he really is though." He told them.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia noticed the raised eyebrow in both Kay and John at the dress choice which actually made her smirk ever so slightly. Under any other circumstances she wouldn't wear such a thing, the dress she wore at the wedding being a lot more like her, however for the heist in question it was needed as she didn't want to look like a 17 year old kid. She needed to look in her twenties at least to get in. She also noted how disapprovingly Chas looked, which just brought home that godfather vibe that he was to her. As for the phoenix ruined box, future John definitely didn't know about it and nor did Kay. Kay would have well and truly gone berserk if she had known and Fia was pretty sure that John would have taken Kay's side on this one instance. Which was why she did this on her own accord.
As for her fighting style it was definitely a mix of her own flair and what Jay had taught her, along with what Elliott had taught her on the side with defense and evasive actions. So when she did fight it was truly unique but still deadly, especially when she used magic in between her melee attacks.

She watched as her family watched on with varying expressions of her fighting skills and when she showed up asking for the guy's bike. Now she watched it back with everyone else, Fia did find it weird that he was just there right when she needed a quick getaway. Kay had been silent throughout the whole thing due to just being utterly surprised and impressed at how adaptable Fia was and how deadly. She had no idea just how capable Fia was at looking after herself and she could understandably see why her future self had habits of being very worried and over protective of her daughter. When John and Elliott said this guy wasn't alien but not fully human or just a generic by stander both girls nodded. "you know.. I never really thought about how convenient it was he was just there at the time, but now I can" Fia admitted, as she watched herself climb onto the bike after ripping the dress on the other side to give her the movement to be able to sit on it properly.

"I can ride in this and I will, just.. Get out of the area yeah? Its not safe in there. I'll leave this somewhere you'll find it" her memory self said rather quickly shooting him one hell of a smirk and smile, "but..!" the guy protested but he just watched her ride off effortlessly in 5inch heels and a form fitting gown that was now ripped to the state of not being wearable any more. The guy just stood there with shock and admiration on his face, finding how that was incredibly hot to just witness. "as if this day couldn't get worse Dean.. Now you lose your bike to a redheaded Lara Croft" he sighed as he saw two bitch suited guys run out seeming to look for the girl. "she went that way" he said gesturing the opposite direction to the demons that Fia actually went on. Which was something she obviously didn't know about. "well that's new information for me" Fia admitted.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Well he isn't dressed for black tie, so there's gotta be a reason he was there." John added before the memory restarted. If he wasn't there for the party, then there must have been some other reason, especially since he wasn't on his bike at the time Fia appeared. "John's lack of belief in coincidences must be rubbing off on me." Chas added, nodding agreement with John. "That's not exactly an area you go to without a reason." He gestured at the buildings around them and the general state of the area.

They watched as the rest of the memory progressed, John still finding the guy's disbelief absolutely hilarious. He couldn't blame the guy for looking so dumb founded, not only was he watching something incredibly badass, it involved an extremely hot teenage girl (whose current attire was enough to make any male who swung in the direction of females have some seriously inappropriate thoughts). The guy's thoughts were written all over his face clear as day as he watched Fia just ride off on his motorbike. The aside he made to himself sounded exactly like what Chas would be thinking if he'd been in such a situation at that age.

But what was surprising was his next move. Not only did this guy show no noticeable fear of the demons (who were not exactly concealing what they were), he pointed them in the wrong way. So this guy, Dean, had a conscience then, willing to protect a random girl, even if the girl in question had stolen his bike. Fia didn't know that bit, even without saying it, the others could see that easily. "Well he has a good moral compass, at least in this situation." "And we now have a name to work on." "And more importantly, he didn't look scared at the demons, and for him, them making an appearance was less shocking than getting his bike stolen by a quote unquote- redheaded Lara Croft." It didn't escape their notice that both the guy, and Fia had used Lara Croft to describe her antics.

 

[MzHyde]

"this just gets more intriguing by the second if you ask me." Kay commented, wondering why someone who looked like they should be at a dive bar would be just hovering outside a building in an upper class area of London with his bike. She could also see how much the bloke was ogling over Fia in her current state whilst Fia seemed utterly oblivious or at least, not letting on that she was noticing the looks. It made her wonder if Fia really was oblivious to someone finding her attractive or not. She also agreed that John had a very good point, "I was thinking the same thing, he looks like he should be a dive bar not in this area." Kay agreed. She was also making a point of noting how hilarious John was finding this Dean's mannerisms over his daughter, which felt so typical of John. As the rest of the memory progressed, giving them a little bit of extra information in the process, Kay could only think of one thing, this Dean somehow knows of Fia and was seeking her out for some reason, which didn't fill her with much joy.

Yet what surprised her the most was his lack of reaction to the demons that ran out after Fia. She was thankful that he at least gave them the wrong direction for her route but things just didn't seem to add up totally at all. "which means he just know about this world in some manner or another, because no normal human being would be do casual about it or come out of that alive. If what I've experienced with demons is anything to go by anyway" Kay replied to John. "and what's the lara croft reference constantly?" she added. "I don't know, all I know is that I got away and dumped the bike about four blocks away before making my way in other ways to get home" Fia spoke up once more finally. "I've got a decent enough look at him to be able to sketch him anyway for Rinaa and with the name it's better than nothing, but it's very clear this isn't nothing like we thought it would be" Kay then spoke up one more time with Fia nodding in agreement.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The lack of reaction only confirmed what John suspected, whoever Dean was, he knew enough about the Downworld to know that demons existed, and those who knew about the Downworld, were either mages or members of it themselves. weren't worth fucking with. He didn't have any of the signs of being a mage, which confirmed John's earlier suspicions that he wasn't human. Giving the wrong directions to a demon was extremely risky, it wasn't unknown of for demons to hunt down those who had wronged or misled then (John could say that from personal experience). But this guy looked completely calm doing it, so chances were he'd done it before. "Yeah yer right, that's not normal behaviour, even for most mages, we think twice about lying to demons, getting caught out lying to one pretty much always results in consequences. So he has to have a reason."

What John didn't say out loud was that he suspected it was more than just wanting to protect a random girl. The thought that this person had been deliberately looking for Fia did cross his mind, and it was a worrying thought. This Dean clearly didn't know her name and he didn't see any signs of recognition in the guys eye's that meant he'd crossed paths with her before. "As for the reference, it's pretty iconic across various forms of pop culture, so it could be a coincidence, there aren't really many other references to describe what just happened." "But we all know that coincidences are never just that. Could be code of some sort? ....." Elliott trailed off, rubbing a hand on his shoulder blade. "Or are we all just reading too much into this?"

When Kay said she had enough for a drawing Elliott nodded "Right, lets see if her data base memories turn up something. And am I the only one thinking that there is far more to this lab post than she's telling us? Cos I don't think any normal lab would have data on London citizens." "Yeah, but when has she properly explained anything to us, leaving out no details? Even her MindWalk persona makes no real sense."

 

[MzHyde]

Both Fia and Kay nodded in agreement at what John said, if this Dean character was being methodical in his reasonings, he was being bloody good at it to even baffle them to what or who he was. As the topic briefly continued with the subject of the reference, Kay just nodded knowing Chas was probably right but yet Elliott had very valid points as well. If it was a coincidence then it was a weird one, but if it was more? Well.. Then they'd definitely need to look into that, because no way was Kay going to let some random guy track down her kid easily like that. She k ew first hand what it felt like it be hunted down and she didn't want that for Fia. Then another morbid thought came into her head, what if he was linked in some way to that image of Fia dead on a car that she had seen in her own MindWalk? The thought made her shudder internally.

"at this stage with our lives? I don't think anything is worth ruling out now. I thought this was nothing but now I'm really not so sure. So I'm actually glad that you lot made me do this." Fia finally admitted, whilst replying to Elliott's theories that it could be a code name of some sort." see we're not always talking shit for the sake of it kiddo." Kay told her. After she said about having enough for a sketch, she nodded at Elliott's and John's words about Rinaa and this lab that had been vaguely mentioned of. "there are some things I think aren't worth delving into with Rinaa but this lab she keeps bringing up I think is worth it. Especially if we're gonna let her put this Dean bloke through the database" Kay replied, giving her opinion on the matter. "rather you lot than me, that's all I'm saying on the matter" Fia chimed in.