Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[_gallifrog_]

"Yeah, it's gettin' fishier and fishier the more we look at it and discuss it." John replied as Elliott pulled them out of Fia's mind and back into his own. There was an edge of 'why can't things be plain and simple' to his tone. There was more to this Dean than met the eye, even if it was just his species identity. It had been worth looking into, not just for the guy, but see how incredibly capable Fia was in general. The triumvate of John, Chas and Elliott were displaying their usual mindsets towards things. John, the person who saw the worst in any situation, Chas was as usual keeping a more optimistic outlook, while Elliott was somewhere in the middle. a realist. Their three mindsets were what made them such an effective team, and it was John and Chas' opposite outlooks that had drawn them together in the first place. "Funny really, if it wasn't for Moya, we wouldn't have all found out about this." Chas remarked. "Yeah, she's a good kid that one, pity about the timeline difference." Elliott replied, the winged girl had got the short end of the stick, but hadn't been surprised when Rinaa outed herself as terminally ill in front of everybody, so evidently his daughter had been open with her, more open than she was with them.

"Yeah, she claims to work for a branch of STAR labs, who are pretty cutting edge in our time, and even more in hers, what with the war economy, but it really doesn't sound like a typical lab, at least not when it comes to the young interns and students working there. It's worth pushing." Elliott nodded in agreement, it wasn't surprising that Rinaa was keeping something from them, it was practically expected. "I'll ask or get Jay to, she's the most open around Jay, which is ironic." "Or Deke, those two get on extremely well." "So if that's that settled, ready to back to the real world?" Elliott asked. Once everybody indicated they were, he kicked them out of the MindWalk. Back in the main living room Cal, Cliff, Charlie and Nat had gone, as had Jay, Rinaa and Moya. A note on the table, written in neat handwriting read;

"The teenagers are in the attic, food is in the fridge, your sister and siblings in law are out, and I'm helping the pilots read for launch up at the airfield.
Try not to get yourself into trouble while I'm gone - J"​

 

[MzHyde]

'understatement' thought Kay to John's bremark about it becoming fisher and fisher each turn and day that went by. On the outside she just nodded in agreement with the others, deciding that the moment she wasn't in earshot of Fia and it was safe to talk about it, she'd mention her other morbid theory to the guys, whether it be one of them, mainly John considering he was Fia's father, or them all together. All she did know was that theory could Not in any circumstance be spoken about in front of Fia. Both women then looked at Chas and Elliott when they mentioned Moya and how they seem to be getting more out of Rinaa since Moya came into the picture, and even then it was still very little.

Neither of them had much to say on the subject of Rinaa, Fia certainly didn't for always having that fear of saying the wrong thing even when Rinaa wasn't in earshot of anything she could say. They nodded when they were asked if they were bread to come back into the real world, letting Elliott boot them all out of his mind. Back in the living room, they both saw they were the only ones around, at least on this floor. Fia noticed the letter glancing it over as she couldn't help the curiosity that always gripped her when she saw such things. "that explains the silence down here " she remarked. Kay instantly looked for a spare piece of paper, finding a piece underneath the note and grabbed the pen that was laying there. If she didn't start sketching right away, then she knew she'd forget the face and would then be of no use whatsoever. "I never thought I'd be using my art skills for this sort of thing" Kay smirked, putting pen to paper, deciding it only needed to be basic enough that the features would be detailed enough but it was basic enough that it wouldn't take her absolutely hours to complete. It had also been a little while since she drew straight in pen so it could go either way in her mind. She leaned on the table to draw as it was a single epiece of paper she had and not a sketch book. Her hand moving quickly but methodically making sure to remember every distinguishable feature this Dean guy had.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Elliott read the note, recognising Jay's handwriting, meticulous, just like so many other aspect of the assassin's life. He flipped it around so the others's could see, not minding that Fia had been reading over his shoulder. There was nothing personal on the note after all. "So basically everybody's just buggered off?"
John summarised, kicking his feet up onto the coffee table and making himself comfortable. "Seems so yeah, hardly surprising though given how many are military and doctors whose superiors will want to have them back and working as soon as possible. At least we get another few days here before returning to whatever shitshow awaits us." Elliott replied, heading towards the fridge. "Don't even mention Attil right now" John groaned "I'd managed to finally forget why we even managed to know about this whole wedding in the first place."

Elliott plonked himself down on the couch with his dish, some kind of pasta leftovers from the night before with some meat added in. He elbowed John in the side, "budge up will ya? I need to eat here." "Old pointy elbows strikes again, huh?" Chas smirked, referring to Elliott's uncanny ability to elbow somebody directly in the most painful point on the ribs. Elliott merely flipped him off using the fork to emphasise his point. John smirked when Kay declared she didn't think she'd be using her art skills to draw what was, essentially, a mug shot. "Happens to us all, eh? And I somehow doubt this will be the last time you use your skills for something like this, given the kind of shit that follows me around."

 

[MzHyde]

When Fia read the note over his shoulder, she felt like she was at home all over again in that split second. She was known to do such things when she was younger particularly, which just came across as a typical younger sibling thing to do, and it was very typical of her. She did it to everyone in her timeline, no one was exempt from it if they were family. The only times she didn't do it was if it was a case of someone looking at their phone or clearly something personal. She nodded when John summarised that they were all alone in the house for a while, or at least, alone downstairs in the house. She leaned back and away from Elliott though when he got up to get some food like he always did after a MindWalk, before getting comfortable again in her place on the couch, whilst watching Kay grab for the paper and pen.

Even when she was sketching Kay found herself able to concentrate on the conversation that was being had around her so she could still be sociable whilst doing this for Fia's benefit. She smirked again when John responded to her declaration, nodding not doubting that fact for a single second. "I don't doubt it either. But hey.. At least it's coming into use for something helpful I guess, rather than me constantly sketching random bits and your mug" she chuckled back at him. After a few moments she then spoke up once more, "Fia I'll need you to make sure I got this guy right afterwards incase I miss anything" she told her teenager. "sure, I kinda guessed as much" Fia replied simply before getting up to go and get a drink from the kitchen. "and get me a drink too kiddo.... Please" Kay then called out to her, making Fia just giving the thumbs up behind her as she reached the kitchen and going into the fridge to get two drinks.

The sketch seemed to be coming along alright in Kay's mind and it seemed to be looking like this mystery bloke named Dean. It took all her might to not really delve into the sketch and go full on detailed with it. Fia came back handing Kay her drink whilst looking at the sketch, "hair seemed to swoop a bit more over." Fia pointed out, making Kay edit it before putting the pen down and opening her drink.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The three stayed seated on the couch as Kay worked on her sketch, for the most part they didn't watch as it progressed, all to busy doing their own thing and trusting that between Kay's skills and Fia being the one who actually saw the guy a suitably good likeness could be reached. "My mug... mugshots, what the difference?" John smirked, that Kay had no real reason to complain about drawing him. It was Kay herself who drew John of her own accord, he never asked to be a model, but didn't mind that she did it. "Let me think on that...." Elliott drawled, making a face of fake concentration before declaring "None!" That bit of cheek earned him a dig in the ribs, which Elliott promptly retaliated to, keeping a firm grip on his bowl in one hand, using the other arm to get back at John.

Chas just looked at them with both fondness and weariness. These moments where John was genuinely happy and relaxed were rare and Elliott had been the cause of so many of them. He could easily see, looking at the two of them that losing Elliott would tear John apart. Even with the foreknowledge of Rinaa's timeline, Chas knew there was nothing he could do to stop John taking up the bottle if Elliott died. It was how he grieved, spending weeks and months as a barely functioning human, surviving only on alcohol, leftovers and a poisonous emotional cocktail. As horrible as it was to watch him go through, not letting him go through it was even worse, those were the days where John became what the League feared, a loose cannon with no limits morally. Elliott had to live, the alternative wasn't worth living through. "You're both children." He sighed, but fondly.

The soundproofing runes had been undone in the attic, and every so often the sound of loud laughter and raised voices would drift down to the ground floor. There were other sounds too, musical instruments, with the drums being the most audible.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay just had to smirk back at him when he retorted with what he did, her finding it slightly predictable but that didn't bother her in the slightest. Of course she loved to draw him, he had an interesting face to sketch which always brought a nice challenge she welcomed with open arms so to speak. She also knew it never bothered him that she drew him a lot which helped. She was about to say something similar when Elliott beat her to it, the retaliation of elbow digs just making her shake her head whilst a smile was on her face. It was at the point Fia pointed out Dean's hair needed tweaking that Chas called both John and Elliott children, making Kay chuckle once more and Fia smirk. Neither Kay or Fia wanted Rinaa's timeline to win out and see Elliott die, like Chas they knew it would destroy John for who knows how long. If the worst should happen Kay did think she'd have to figure something out on what to do, knowing she'd have no choice but to let John go down the self destructive road, but also that with a baby on the way it wouldn't be good to be around that if he went down that path. Sure it was slightly selfish, but if it came to it she knew she'd need the help of Chas so much more.

"they may be both children but it's not like we'd have them any other way is it?...... Our standards can't get much lower for a start" Kay said, making a point by putting in a slight pause before she came out with the second part of her remark. Fia almost choked on her drink when Kay said the second part as she stifled laughter, thinking that Kay was bloody lucky she was pregnant at this moment in time. "you can be really savage sometimes" Fia commented, but Kay just shrugged with a smirk. With the sounds every now and then coming from up in the attic, Fia then realised that the sound proofing was taken off, which wouldn't have been difficult to do as it was a case of just wiping the sigils off and 'breaking' them, or more to the point, one of them as they were all linked together. "they sound like they're enjoying themselves" Kay thought out loud between gulps of her drink, sitting right back and stretching her legs out, her feet being under the coffee table, unlike John who had his feet on the table.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Chas just snorted "Speak for yourself, I do actually have standards" John knew that part was definitely true, Chas had far higher standards than he did, but knew that roughing it was part of the job and the territory. The prime example of Chas' standards would be seen in where he lived (comparing it to John's apartment) and what he did for a living to keep him and the rest of his family in that lifestyle. "But I'm also loyal to this sod" he gestured at John, "and that's the route of my problems." "I would say you could do a lot worse, but that'd be a lie of sorts, as many of the people who could have been worse than John are dead, making him pretty low on the scale." "Well y'know what they say about the mates you make as kids, if they stay with'ya after school, then you've got'em for life." The saying was made up on the spot, but that didn't make it any less true.

John, Chas and Elliott nodded when Kay mentioned the attic group. "Well it is technically an open house for them, all of us being in the MIndWalk doesn't count as actually being adult supervision. So that puts who? Matteo? in charge here." "Well it is his family's house, so Rinaa being the oldest counts for nothing." He waved a hand dismissively knowing it was just normal teenage behaviour to have a bunch of mates around and mess about when the parents were out. Evidently this group were musically inclined, given that both drums and a keyboars coud be heard, and he suspected if they went closer to the attic, there would be singing of some sort. "Ah as long as they don't trash the place, I say let them have their fun." Which reminds me, I'm so gonna take advantage of having your apartment to meself John, we can finally do stuff somewhere that isn't A.J's or Kane's place." "I thought you said you were movin' out. Now you're staying? Which one is it?" John asked, a teasing tone in his voice. "I can multi-task y'know."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay laughed when Chas said he did have standards. Deep down she knew he did, and would never actually mean that their standards were truly low in the ground. Luckily, this group always knew that she didn't mean the digs she spoke and she did care about the lot of them a lot. She smirked as the banter continued from her little quip and just chuckling at what Elliott and John also added to the chat. Fia just found herself shaking her head at the lot of them.

Both Kay and Fia then nodded at Elliott replying to Kay's remark about the other teenagers sounding like they were having fun upstairs, glad that they could find something to do to entertain themselves whilst the rest of them were in the MindWalk. Kay heard the keyboard being played in between the drums, never realising that this family had such a thing, though she wouldn't know and there would have been no reason to even ask. She nodded at Chas' words, agreeing with him just glad that Rinaa could find some people to hang out with and have fun, instead of being trapped in her own thoughts. Though her attention snapped out of the thoughts of the teenagers when Elliott said about making the most of the apartment when alone in there and even more so when John said about Elliott moving out.

"hold up... You're moving out of the apartment?" Kay asked, leaning slightly forward to look passed John so she could see Elliott better. This was news to her as John never mentioned that this conversation was had between him and Elliott or if he did she sure didn't remember it. The news wasn't as surprising to Fia as she knew Elliott moved out but when she was a lot older would crash over several times, so it was like growing up with him at home even though he wasn't.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John hadn't mentioned anything that had been said when he went to visit Elliott on the boat that night, it had started with Elliott stating about his intentions to move out and eventually worked it's way around to Elliott's birth father (the thing John had wanted to talk about in the first place). Elliott had asked John not to tell Kay just yet, and he knew by her reaction that John had done just that. Chas on the other hand didn't look surprised, due to the fact that Elliott had come to him before he broke the news to John. Three exchanged glances which could be easily read as something along the lines of; 'You didn't tell her?' 'course, I didn't you asked me not to' 'you don't look very surprised' 'neither do you'.

"Yeah, I am." Elliott confirmed, resisting the urge to run a hand through his hair, now that it was tied back, he couldn't do that. "I was thinking about it before you" by 'you' he meant Kay "even showed up. But now that you have, and there's Fia on the way, it just makes even more sense. It's not that I don't want to be involved in the whole newborn baby fucked-up sleep schedule thing, it sounds delightful given what Chas has told me" Elliott knew it was important to state the point that he wasn't leaving purely because John was getting anew family, he wasn't that kid who resented the new family so much they moved out and cut ties."I do want to be a part of that, but me moving out and getting my own place is a long time coming. It's fine couch surfing, but it gets tedious after a while and I've crashed at A.J's so many times, I'm practically living there like Jay does. Though John's promised that my room in the apartment stays mine, so don't go eyeing it up to make it into a home gym or something equally ridiculous" He added with a smirk.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay found herself looking between the three men by her as they all exchanged glances that said they were having that unspoken conversation before deciding to actually reply to her question. She knew she shouldn't be surprised by the revelation yet somehow she was slightly. She listened as Elliott finally decided to give her the answer to her question and explain why, making sure to take on board everything he was saying to her. With the beginning of his reasons, she had to smirk ever so slightly at his words not envying him for wanting to be as far away from that as possible. It wasn't a part of the upbringing she was particularly looking forward to herself.

She continued to listen to his reasoning nodding so he could know that she didn't blame him for wanting to move out when they got back, and that she did fully understand where he was coming from. At the last remark she had to chuckle. "and there goes all my plans to turn it into a kid's playroom full of princess decor" she said sarcastically. "but on a serious note, I get it. I wouldn't dream of trying to take over your room. Just know in future you don't need to hide this sort of thing from me Ell and leave me in the dark, you can tell me straight. I'll be sad to see you move out but I do get why you would want to and will respect your decisions" she told him truthfully. She did wonder why he felt the need to make John not tell her before now, but as she said to him, she respected any choices he made.

Fia just watched and listened to the whole conversation go on whilst staying out out of it. It wasn't her place to say anything even if it was weird hearing them talk about her baby self in front of her. "what she means is, don't be a stranger because she'll miss your food when she'll want a break from feeding everyone" Fia smirked, making Kay throw a cushion at her, whilst Fia laughed catching it.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Just no, that should be considered a crime, plus the apartment is in John's name and he'd veto it anyway." "I was thinkin' of turnin' it into a sauna, add a touch of the class to my shithole" John smirked at the expression of Elliott's face when a full on princess playroom was mentioned, if Kay ever got any notions of doing such a thing, John had a feeling Elliott would move straight back in to protect 'his territory'. John personally was completely against bringing up a girl child surrounded by the princess stereotype, as he had issues with various gender stereotyping, a person's abilities weren't based on gender they were based on hard work, elbow grease and refusing to give up. Chas just rolled his eyes at the sheer idiocy of the sauna idea.

"Yeah, I know that now." Elliott replied in response to Kay's words, knowing by her face and tone that she genuinely meant them. "But when I was originally planning to tell John this you were just the random stranger in the living room and there were other more important factors to deal with so I didn't get around to it, though I did go to Chas for advice, like everybody else in this family does. And after that, I've basically just being procrastinating saying it" not to mention vanishing to another planet giving no real warning "and it's John's apartment so he has the right to know before you do, no offence." At Fia's comment he smirked, sighed and rolled his eyes all in one gesture."I'm not moving planet y'know, I'm not even leaving London, I'll probably end up in the same apartment block knowing how things tend to work out"

 

[MzHyde]

Kay would never ever genuiny turn any room into a princess playroom for Fia. She wasn't entirely a fan of that stereotype herself, having had to deal with a child and teen Sam always swooning over Disney's beauty and the beast which totally put her off that whole thing. The only thing she liked was the fact that Belle read books, that was it. Though she did have to admit Brave was pretty decent because 1) it wasn't a musical and 2) Merida was anti arranged marriages, anti needing a bloke to do anything for her and she was a badass archer who could shoot whilst riding bareback. She rebelled against everything that was 'princess etiquette' which was appealing. The level of animation always drew her in on an artist's perspective. Not to me toon that Fia was clearly far from the type of teenager who was all about princesses. If she ever liked anything she'd imagine it'd be the villains. "trust me, I wouldn't actually go through with it. I'd rather poke my own eyes out with a dessert fork than do that" she replied after John said about adding a sauna and it was just even more ridiculous than a kid's playroom.

She also listened to Elliott say he knows that now which she nodded at with a fond smile. "no offence taken, you had every right to think that way back then and in a way even now. Of course he has the right to know first. I still feel like I'm just a guest in the apartment in a way truth be told" she admitted despite it was probably wasn't the case whatsoever. She also smirked at Elliott's reply to Fia knowing he was probably right in the end. "I'm just ragging on mum. And no one is going to put princess shit onto me. I'm stating this right now. The only acceptable one is Merida because she's an archer and doesn't act like a princess. She even tells people to go do one when forced to 'pick a suitor'" Fia added aiming the second part of her statement to everyone, making Kay rise an eyebrow because it was like her kid just read her mind. It was clear then that Fia just have watched the film to know that much about the character.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John couldn't deny that up until a few weeks ago Kay had essentially been a guest in the flat, living in the spare room, which neither he nor Elliott bothered to take the spare boxes out of. That would have to change when they got back, given how much had changed between him and Kay in the meantime they'd surely be inhabiting the one bed. The whole flat was due to be updated anyway and it would definitely be a good time to sort out the damp problem before Fia arrived. Not to mention baby proofing the whole place. But he didn't say any of that as the moment wa lost when Disney princesses came into the equation.

None of the men got the reference, which wasn't surprising at all as they had managed to miss out on almost every single Disney princess movie between them and had no plans on changing that. Ever. John found the idea od Elliott ending up in the same apartment block pretty damn funny. "Lets face it, that's far too real of a possibility. If you get the apartment next door we could knock through and do some redesigning to make it a high class shithole." John smirked, knowing that knocking two apartments together would be pretty awesome and give them tonnes more space to work with. They could do something decent with it, even if they knew next to nothing about interior design in general."Or even better, you get the apartment above John's Ell, then ye guys could knock through the floor and have a totally badass mezzanine set-up"

"What like Clint Barton's loft in the legendary David Aja-Matt Fraction team up?" Elliott asked. "My thoughts exactly." "Scrap that for John's place" Elliott declared, knowing just how unrealistic his next sentence was going to sound. "That's what I want to do now with whatever place I do get. That'd be awesome and no doubt Toby, being Toby would stick an oar into our interior design plans and would insist on adding monkey bars to the ceiling or something so you could train parkour in there."

Spoiler: Clint Barton's loft in the comics

 

[MzHyde]

Kay didn't mind that she was essentially just a guest in John's apartment and living in a store room. The way she saw it was that sure, it wasn't ideal or perfect by any means but it was better than a cold damp concrete floor or some hobo's sleeping bag or tent. So she naturally and politely never said anything or protest her living quarters. Yet now it was clear that both herself and John liked waking up next to each other in a comfortable bed. Even if she was an utter pain to get out of bed most mornings. She also had it in her head that she would help around the place to baby proof everything and do what she could, even if it came to the day she was about to go into labor. She didn't want to be that person that just sat around and did nothing, even if she got told to. Which would no doubt have to happen with her or she wouldn't stop doing whatever it was she started and then complain if she stated to feel any kind of pain or ache.

The fact that none of the men understood who Fia was talking about didn't go amiss when it came to the Highland Princess. It didn't go amiss on Kay either and knew that if Fia ever tried to make them understand how bad ass Merida was in her timeline there would have been great protests by them which gave Kay quite the amusing mental image. They then focused on the apartment interior design topic that had naturally come into focus, both smirking or chuckling or rolling their eyes at what was being said. Fia also was starting to think many things to be a smart ass to John in this very moment, which she tried to refrain from saying but it was getting more and more difficult as it went on. "please don't let him" Fia pointed at John, "near a sledgehammer to work on a apartment. The whole place will probably fall down!" she said flashing her usual cheeky grin as she did so. Kay almost spat her drink back out into her bottle at that remark, but managed to stop herself from doing so. "you are so asking for it at this rate. And you said I was savage" Kay said.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John had to admit the idea of a mezzanine loft sounded great in theory, maybe it wouldn't be so great in practice, and probably not the most practical for most people. But he could see the potential and the idea of being able to launch oneself from the mezzanine to a set of monkey bars on the ceiling was pretty appealing as a training idea, allowing for training even if it was pissing raining outside (which was a far too frequent occurrence). The chances of it actually coming to fruition in reality for Elliott were slim, but it was good to see him so genuinely excited about the prospect of having his own place, which he was going to need in the coming months. The use of the word 'our' didn't go unnoticed by Chas, and although he didn't ask for confirmation on his thoughts, he expected that it meant Elliott was considering asking Jay to live with him. Which was a gutsy move, but Chas expected Jay would accept, she really did like Elliott after all.

John merely smirked at Fia's words. "That's where you're wrong kiddo" he told her, before giving an explanation as to why. "A sledgehammer can't break the structural steels in a wall, I did try at one point, long story, but it's much more effective to get an angle grinder" "Or a bomb" Elliott added, putting his empty bowl on the table. "Or a bomb" John agreed."And the load bearing walls in my apartment are reinforced with those, and magic. As for my building skills? You'd be surprised, I did a stint in construction to earn some cash when I was younger, so it's not like I'd be making shit up as I went along."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay could also see how genuinely excited Elliott was about the prospect of having his own place and with Jay. She also thought at first how awesome the idea was but how in so many ways it'd be impractical in the kind of apartment that John lived in. Yet she just mostly took from the chat Elliott's excitement. He deserved to have something to look forward if things went the right way for everyone. Making life plans like he was in this instance wasn't such a bad thing in her mind. She would do similar when on the streets to make her feel like she could take that next right step to try and back into society properly. It just so happened that meeting John was her get out of the lifestyle she had even if it wasn't exactly anything she could have thought of at the time.

She smirked when John managed to debunk everything that Fia said, watching Fia's face go from 'I got one over on john' to 'bloody bollocks I failed' which was highly amusing to her. It also gave her a tiny insight to the kind of chats she'd witness between the two of them over the course of the next seventeen years which was a nice feeling to have. "John 1, Fia 0" she chimed in laughing "I'll get one over on you dad one day, mark my word" Fia retort, showing she was stubborn enough to make sure that would happen. "I'm gonna have my work cut out with you two aren't I ?" Kay commented but she was strangely looking forward to it as she knew it'd mean there'd rarely be a dull moment in the apartment or The House.

 

[_gallifrog_]

It didn't surprise John that there would be a constant thing of him and Fia trying to one-up each other. He suspected Elliott would stay out of it for the most part preferring to watch, unless he could say something that would one-up both of them in spectacular fashion. John often said the first thing that came into his head (which was usually cutting, snarky, acerbic, abrasive, rude, insulting or a combination of those options), a tactic which was effective, but his jokes often missed the mark or caused offence, particularly with those who didn't know him or like him. Elliott and Chas, on the other hand, were better at playing the long game and timing things perfectly in order for there to be maximum impact. "I don't doubt it will happen, but for now, in this time point, it ain't."

"You get used to it." Chas said with an easy smile in response to Kay's comment. glancing across at the sketch Kay had done, which was already looking like this Dean fellow to his untrained eye. Whether it was accurate enough in Fia and Kay's opinion was another thing."So is the sketch done enough that we need to call down the other teenager from their attic gig thing to see if she can tell us anything we don't already know?"

 

[MzHyde]

Fia would take all the time she could if it meant she would finally get one up on John, but for now she'd have to accept that John debunked her jibe. She was also used to his sense of humour and retorts that she very Very rarely got offended by anything he said. The only time he did was if she was in a bad place mentally or overtired and not in the mood for being ragged on. Yet most of the time she was pretty laid back and not juch got to her, which she was always tha kful for the fact that she was brought up to have a pretty thick skin. The issues with Rinaa was a whole different story which was why she always reacted differently to the other teenager.

Kay noticed Chas look over at the mug shot she drew up before asking if it was done enough to warrant getting Rinaa down. "I think so yeah" she tried making Fia look over, "yup that's definitely him alright" she agreed and confirmed. Kay nodded glad that she wouldn't have to redo it for whatever reason, as she always hated having to completely restart a sketch, no matter how detailed it was. "good because I'm not redrawing it" Kay said with a smirk, finishing her drink in the process. Fia always admired how quickly Kay could draw up someone from just one look, something she would have thought would be a very handy skill if she ever had to describe someone to another person. "hoping she's seen him around and it's not just me being stupid or anything. I don't feel like getting paranoid if I have to go out" Fia commented, not that she went out a lot, especially alone, she still didn't feel like she'd have to keep an eye out for random blokes as well as anything demonic related.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Once Kay and Fia had confirmed that the sketch was done, Elliott nodded and pushed himself off the couch, swinging his feet onto the floor."Right then, I'll go get her her from the attic, I'll be back in a few." Elliott made a slight detour to the kitchen to drop off his bowl to the very growing pile of crockery, cutlery and mugs that somebody was going to have to deal with later. He didn't envy that person at all. By the looks of it, some of them were left over from the wedding fest the day before. Elliott made his way up the first flight of stairs, across the landing and up the second flight, the music getting louder and more audible as he climbed up, by the time he reached the second floor it was perfectly clear that the teenagers were spoofing the intro of an old action show he'd loved as a kid, making up ridiculous fake lyrics.

The ladder was down, so he climbed up it enough that his head and torso were fully visible to those in the room. Moya was at the drums, one of the other girls was on keyboard and both Elliott/John's guitar and Jack's guitar were there (Rinaa herself using the later, not sure how Jay would react to anybody other than family using it, but knowing that Elliott and John would be more open to their guitar being shared). Rinaa saw him appear and instantly knew why "Sorry to burst in on the lyric party, but we need to borrow this one for a bit." He explained. "I'd like to say I'll be back soon, but you know meetings, they always go on for ages." Rinaa told the others with an easy smirk, putting the guitar carefully back in the case before descending the ladder after Elliott.

Once back on the ground floor, Rinaa took a position near one of the armchairs, leaning the guitar case against it. "I take it there's a workable sketch then?" The words came out harsher than she meant them to. "Yeah, there is" John indicated the page on the table near Kay, which had been turned face down, so Rinaa couldn't see the sketch. "But first off, what's the deal with this lab of yours, a data list on various people in London, that's not normal surely, even if there is an interplanetary war going on."

 

[MzHyde]

Both Kay and Fia nodded when Elliott pushed himself up off the sofa to say he'll go get Rinaa. Fia pulled up her legs at this point to get into a new comfortable position which ended up being her favoured position of legs bent up in the single chair with one foot slightly hanging off the arm rest. Kay wondered how Fia found being so curled up like that was comfortable to her but she let her kid do whatever she wanted as long as she respected the fact this wasn't her home, and she had at some point kicked off her sneakers before putting her feet up. She let John turned the sketch over when Elliott went upstairs to get Rinaa, even though she didn't fully get why he did it.

She did however understand it when he brought up the question about this mysterious lab that had records on people in London after Rinaa appeared back in the room with Elliott. "have to admit, I'm intrigued by this as well" Kay commented in agreement with John. It didnt seem normal even in Rinaa's timeline to do such a thing and just felt like the ultimate breech of personal privacy. Fia could tell that there was no way John was going to let Rinaa look at the sketch without giving them all answers and she really didn't hold it against him. Not even in her timeline did Fia know of any mysterious labs that had records on people. Though that wasn't exactly surprising considering her upbringing and life.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa sighed, running a hand through her spiky hair, pushing the strands upwards. "It's a long story" she started, to which John snorted slightly making a noise that quite clearly said 'no shit it's a long story, get on with it'. Which she did "and I doubt any of you will exactly approve of it, not that's anything new really." Rinaa was conflicted, in a way she wanted them to know and understand what she did and why, but in another way she didn't care what they thought of her for doing it. "In my time there is a highly organised, highly secretive network of scientific research facilities, sports training centres, underground medical clinics, places to lie low, bolt holes, bars, places to get information, tech support, tech, vehicles and suits fixed and on rare occasions alibis for people who chose to operate in the grey area." "Vigilantes?" John asked, both surprise and scepticism in his tone, he knew of various vigilantes, Arrow being the main one, Batman being the original and knew that they only worked because the teams were small and easy to keep a secret, something on the scale Rinaa was describing sounded too good to be true.

"And the people who work behind the scenes, the tech makers, suit builders and the people who hack and monitor traffic cams, track metas and liaise with the trusted police members. In a war the League just isn't enough, you have to take matters into your own hands if you want to achieve anything. And the people who came up with it, they're bright and relatively young and know that the war will rob them of a proper future. So they join, in the hopes it will give life meaning. The data base lists the criminals, the vigilantes, themselves, people who drop into the clinic under false names, the various teams, people of interest and more recently, at least in my timeline, photos of the unidentified bodies dragged out of bombed buildings." Rinaa spoke with her head held high, holding the gaze of whoever was making eye contact, her eyes dark and determined.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia and Kay both listened to what Rinaa began saying, Kay glancing at John when he snorted in his typical manner to make the teenager spill the information she was holding back. It was clear that Rinaa felt slightly conflicted on whether to tell them or not, but if they were going to let her run this mug shot through any kind of underground systems, then Kay particularly wanted to know what exactly it was. She looked at Rinaa the whole as she began to explain in a long round about manner, explaining who it was run by and so forth, finding it interesting and curious all at the same time.

Fia listened also, deciding to remain utterly silent as Rinaa spoke in comparison to John who asked the odd question. "so they set up a network to keep people in a database.. To what? Keep an eye on ones they found suspicious or what?" Kay asked, trying to wrap her head around the first lot of information Rinaa was telling them. She wanted to understand but she had to admit that it was a lot to take in and they were only just skirting across the surface of this information. Fia still chose to remain silent, finding herself glancing at the turned over sketch every few seconds, wondering if this Dean really was in such a database, thinking he must be if he didn't even flinch at two demons beside him whilst lying to them to save her skin. So many thoughts rushed through her mind about who he could be or what he could be, even though John didn't get any vibes of him being a mage like himself. He had to be SOMETHING. Yet he gave off no vibes of being anything not human, so who was this mystery bloke and why would he risk his life by lying to demons to make sure she got away safely after stealing his bike?

 

[_gallifrog_]

There was a lot of information to take in, a vigilante network operating in London, coordinating things to this high a level. John was shocked that Rinaa could be involved in such a thing, he didn't exactly approve of vigilante operations, particularly the more publicly known ones. But what Rinaa was describing was something else entirely, a whole hidden network in London, operating without the League knowing and without getting caught it seemed, since she had indeed mentioned false alibis. It was scarcely unbelievable. For Chas it made a sort of sense, Rinaa was an engineer, and the things she had talked about working on made no sense for a regular R&D lab- crossbow motorbikes and jet boots were hardly going to be paid for by government funding. It was exciting and the he suspected the thrill of it appealed to her. Elliott was just trying to wrap his head around the fact that not only had he manged to be a secret vigilante, his daughter had followed in his footsteps, but takne it a whole new level.

Rinaa shook her head at Kay's understanding of it. "It doesn't work like that." She sighed, before explaining further, hoping that Kay would understand. "Having a data base on everybody isn't the goal, it's a side effect. It started with notes on the vigilantes themselves, for medical purposes, allergies, intolerances, bio data on powers. It then expanded to villains and criminals, their tactics, suspected locations and rap sheet. A way of confirming who was in your area and seeing signs of gangs moving in. No casual drop in gets put in without their consent, and most use fake names anyway. No personal contact or location details are listed. The only reason we'd pass on data is if the person is dead from a bombing raid, then any data gets passed onto either the police or the medics and for ID purposes only. The aim isn't to create a society where everybody is watched, it's a way of keeping the field workers and the backing teams safe in the field. Knowledge is the difference between life and death."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay wasn't too surprised that she was misunderstanding what Rinaa was saying, the fact her mind was taking its time trying to comprehend it all, it was a given that she'd not correctly get what Rinaa was saying. She listened to what Rinaa corrected her on whilst going into more information, finding it starting to make a bit more sense. She wasn't entirely surprised that someone like Rinaa would end up being involved with vigilantes however. That bit she fully got considering everything she had previously told them and what kinds of things she was involved in engineering wise. "right... I get you now" she replied.

"but that can't be all surely. Why else would you be so vague and secretive over it if that was all it was?" Fia found herself asking, finally speaking up after remaining silent for so long. She couldn't help but ask as it was running through her mind the entire time along with the whole Dean thing. Sure, she thought she could be barking up the wrong tree entirely but there was always more to Rinaa and her not so legal activities. It also hadn't escaped Kay's and Fia's notice that Rinaa followed in Elliott's footsteps with this whole lifestyle. They really were just trying to get all the facts before they let Rinaa take a look at the sketch. The only thing that was making Kay and Fia both a little relieved was the fact that in this time this Dean guy was either not born yet like Fia or just a young toddler at most judging by the look of the guy. At most, Kay figured he couldn't be any older than 19, Maybe 20, but she hoped he was nearer Fia's than not after he gawked at her the way he did.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa sighed internally, this was going to be an excruciating cross examination of her life, something she really didn't want to be going through. She was honestly wondering how somebody could have got the concept of vigilantes mixed up with a 1984 style dictator. She sat herself down in the armchair, sensing that she was going to be there for a while explaining, so she might as well be vaguely more comfortable. She resisted the temptation to sit there cross armed and defiant looking, instead, drawing up one leg, bracing her foot on the edge of the chair. At Fia's question the wolf side of Rinaa snarled in her mind, causing her eyes to darken ever so slightly, as well as causing her to wince slightly, rubbing her temples.

She resisted the urge to say something smart, knowing it would get her nowhere. "Well putting aside the whole preserving the timeline without giving spoilers thing, which dictates basically everything I CAN say." She began, though that was really just an excuse, she didn't want people to find out and disapprove of it. "First off, it's highly illegal and dangerous, so I don't really think anybody here would exactly approve of what I do, John's stance on vigilantes and organised rogues being exhibit A for this. And considering my existence in general isn't approved of, what chance does my double life as a crime fighter have?" There was a bitterness in Rinaa's tone, showing that she genuinely believed what she was saying."Then there's the fact that I work in the field, suited and booted, stopping crime and more recently pulling the bodies from the rubble. And more importantly, I'm keeping the identities of the people who are a part of it secret. I swore an oath to do that, and I will hold it to the end."