Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[_gallifrog_]

By the time they'd all finished with their praises Rinaa's ear were glowing with embarrassment, and some colour had crept across her cheekbones, she was so unused to getting so much praise from her family at once. Cliff, Cal and Jay were never together as often as they wanted to be. When Earth closed it's borders to aliens there was no way they could get to Earth for visits. Rinaa was used to such praises and motivational words from her friends, but from family it was completely different. Part of her knew they had a point, and knew they meant every word and wanted to bask on the praise, but the other part of her of was more hesitant to accept it, thinking it safer if she just slipped into the background and acted as unremarkable as possible. She settled for a small, shyish smile (if she had long hair she would definitely be using it to cover her face) and "I guess I don't really see how impressive it is when doing such things is the norm for me."

"I'm just a mine of information." John shrugged immodestly in response, before properly explaining. "Ravens have a lot of links with all kinds of mythology" John knew Fia would know that there was all kinds of folklore associated with ravens outside of one involving the Tower of London. The classic example being the two Ravens of the Greek god Odin- Huginn (Old Norse for "thought") and Muninn (Old Norse "memory" or "mind"), whose job it was to fly across Midgard and bring him back knowledge. There were also links to various Celtic and Scottish deities. Given that they were carrion birds, they ate corpses on battlefields and in many cultures were considered harbingers of doom who brought messages from the other world. "And there's never really been an exact way to get rid of them, they're tenacious and feisty and don't give up a kill easily. There's rumours of people who are born with the gift of controlling birds- 'bean na n-éan' they're called in Gaelic folklore" John's pronunciation was flawless (ban nah naay-n), he was nowhere near fluent in Irish, but he'd learned how to pronounce it properly when helping out a mate called Brendan. "Though I've never heard or seen any. Closest I've got is people like Madame Xandu who keep ravens as magical familiars. But for the rest of us, it's really just a case of chucking things at them until they go away. When they flock and attack together they're pretty damn brutal, Chas can confirm that." he said the last part louder to grab the cabbies attention.

Chas nodded. "It sucks, I'll have you know. I've been killed both by regular ravens and carrion crows, which are basically demonic ravens. They rip the flesh off your bones with their beaks and those talons are deceptive serrated." The second instance he was referring to was also the first time Kay had seen him die and the first time Fee had properly revealed herself to John. "Anyway there was this one time, I needed to nick a corpse" John told them in an 'as ya do' kind of way. "But the ravens had got there first, so I started chucking stuff from the nearest alleyway dumpster. There was a half-empty bottle of Sprite, one of those two litre ones, so I chucked it, not expecting it have such a dramatic effect. It burnt them like it was toxic. A little research later and you learn that stuff is crazy acidic, even more so if you get it blessed."

"Well that's the point, they're meant to look real." John replied in response. "Took somebody somewhere a hell of a lotta work to get that far, plus they're always mixed with a certain amount of real ravens to sell the illusion, and by sell the illusion, I mean shit everywhere." He smirked. "And as for how I found out, The Tower's just a fascinating place in general, all kinds of gruesome deaths, not just executions took place there. Great place to sneak into as a reckless teenager -a mate of a mate was a tour guide, I nicked his keys, made a copy and used to sneak in a lot to do magic illegally. Still do occasionally when circumstances call for it. One of those nights I saw somebody doing something seriously dodgy to one of the ravens, looking like they were molesting it. Turned out they were just changing the batteries."

 

[MzHyde]

Both Kay and Fia just smirked and rolled their eyes at his lack of modesty when saying he was a mine of information. Yet both girls listened to what John had to say nonetheless, Fia as she always did in her timeline looking very interested in tuned in to what he was saying. Fia nodded to show she knew that folklore and ravens was extensive and in many cultures all over the world, it was one lot of folklore that fascinated her due to her own ties of the avian variety. The moment he said that Chas can attest to how brutal they can be when fighting and attacking in a group, Kay instantly started to think of the time she saw Chas die for the first time. Her thoughts and memories were only added to when Chas chimed in with his agreement and explaining about the demonic carrion crows, making her nod and give that face of 'don't remind me'. She barely remembered the whole fight but she remembered seeing them coming straight for them before Fee made herself fully known and seen by the two of them, making her black out inside her own mind.

Both girls smirked when John went on to explain the bottle of sprite and ravens story, the smirks coming from his manner in which he explained he needed a corpse. Hearing that he found a random 2litre bottle of sprite laying around and using it to throw at the ravens, Fia couldn't stop the small snigger that came out of her mouth, just imagining the bottle flying toward the birds, despite loving animals and normally would be very anti such an action if it was any other situation. "damn, that's crazy but yet its still not put me off my favourite soft drink somehow" Fia commented, thinking it probably should have done. They both then listened to his comment that was reply to Kay's comments about rhe ravens seeming ever so real from what she knew of them at the tower, finding what he had to say curious and interesting whilst not being in the slightest bit surprised that he had snuck in one night and found the truth via accidentally catching someone changing the batteries. "never been there. But that's actually really interesting" Kay admitted to him. "I know of the history, just never visited
Never had a chance" she added.

 

[_gallifrog_]

At Kay's remark about not ever visiting John smirked. "I'm kinda the opposite, been there a loada bloody times, but never for the touristy stuff. I know only the bloody and magic related history of the place, but not the foggiest of the stuff that was taught in school. I used to sleep in history." "When you actually showed up that was." Chas called over with a teasing grin. "Fair point, though I showed up for pretty much every class when we had Mr Rat-toupee." John gave the nickname of his old history teacher, partly because it was funny, but moreso because he couldn't remember the man's actual name. "That's because his classroom was the one of a select few that had heating that actually worked, and he always turned it up full blast." "Mate, i didn't say I showed for the lessons." John smirked to which Chas rolled his eyes, but conceeded that round of bantering to John.

"Surely that's just an incentive to keep a can on you at all times, you never know when you might need to throw it at some ravens in order to nick a corpse." John drawled in response to Fia's words, before adding with a fake musing expression on his face. "Or is that just me?" "Definitely just you." Elliott smirked having only caught the very tail end of the conversation, but had lived with John to know that when John said 'or is it just me?' he was talking about something crazy that nobody sane would ever do. John flipped him off with a "cheeky git", but there was no malice in the gesture. "What are we talking about?" Rinaa asked, jumping at the opportunity to talk about something that wasn't her and her timeline before she spontaneously combusted from embarrassment. The colour was only just beginning to fade from her face and she cursed whatever genetic quirk meant that she had blushes that lingered way too long.

Chas, seeing that teenager wanted an out, gave it to her. "The fact that you can use Sprite to get rid of ravens, cos it's like an acid, even more so if you get it blessed, like you would holy water. And the fact that the ravens outside the Tower of London are robots apparently." He added, knowing that the tech side of it would interest Rinaa far more than the magic side of things. "The robot ravens are awesome" Rinaa agreed, a small smile appearing as she sunk back into her comfort zone of technology and engineering. "they got hacked once and somebody made them do flashmob style dancing. It was hilarious to see, the clip went viral in a few hours. The government promptly covered it up" "Of course they did." Jay remarked, picking up one of the knifes and a whetsone, carefully starting to sharpen it as Rinaa continued. "They said it was just highly trained normal birds, some bird trainers having a laugh. A good chunk of people believed it, but the governments are even more notorious for cover-ups and keeping people in the dark, so anybody with half a brain knew there was at least SOMETHING more to it."

 

[MzHyde]

The fact that even on these little things, John was the opposite to Kay didn't go amiss on her. For the seemingly many things they had in common or were clues given to them before they met that they were to come into each other's lives, they had enough things that were the complete opposite to each other, which Kay actually enjoyed as it meant they were always learning about each other. She rose an eyebrow at the nickname he remembered giving an history teacher and soon smirked over it, remembering giving her own teachers nicknames if they were either really awesome or really awful. For whatever reason, they had to earn it from her and it was actually only Sam that ever knew of said name calling as she didn't have any friends in school. The banter between John and Chas was always amusing to Kay and Fia, feeling like they could always watch it and never get bored of it.

When the others joined in via Elliott giving his quip to John, both girls chuckled as it was due to a comment toward Fia. Neither was surprised that Rinaa would eventually change the subject of the other conversation and wo der what had got the rest of them talking and chuckling so much, whilst noticing that the praise Rinaa was receiving earlier had her still blushing and it was only just fading. Fia was going to reply but Chas beat her to the metaphorical punch, letting him explain about the sprite and the ravens. With Rinaa confirming that the robot ravens were cool, both of them looked at her as she gave her own story of them being hacked to do a flash mob style dance, making Fia laugh as she imagined the sight.

"I think anyone with a curious mind would think there was more than bird trainers having a laugh. Training domestic dogs is hard enough to do... Or so I've been told, let alone ravens" Fia replied, quickly covering up the fact she had a dog unknown to her family (or as far as she was aware, having forgotten the fact she asked her timeline's Leah to check on Max for her if she could due to the lock in her mind). "I'm surprised anyone believed that excuse" she added quickly after.

 

[_gallifrog_]

jay was the only one not looking directly at Elliott and John, and later John and Chas as they bantered back and forth. But it was clear she was amused, from the half-smile on her lips. She'd seen Chas and John together the least out of anybody else in the room, but the fact that they had so much shared history meant once they started reminiscing the banter was pretty much guaranteed to be funny. When Rinaa declared she liked the robot ravens, it was evident to everybody in the room there was way more to this story, although this was tech tech were talking about, it was rare for Rinaa to voice any kind of fond feelings for most Earth things. And the story didn't disappoint. The mental image John got made him snort loudly (had he been drinking at the time he would have done a spit take of epic proportions). "I wish I could have blood seen that, or the politicians scrambling to try and cover it up."

Elliott had a grin on his face at the though of the dancing birds, while Cliff's face was one of undisguised glee at somebody doing such a thing. "That's brilliant, i don't even get half the context and I already love it." "I'll explain the places later, might have some pictures." "John definitely does, and I think I might have a few from one of Trish's educational school trips." Chas replied, to which Elliott nodded appreciatively. "I might take you up on that if I can't be arsed to MindWalk." Jay laughed along with everybody else and at the sound, a pang of homesickness shot through Rinaa. It had been years since she'd heard her Jay laugh, the last time had been before she went time travelling, and this Jay rarely laughed loudly with a group, usually an amused expression with her silver eyes dancing sufficed, or a low chuckle if it was particularly funny. Rinaa's eyes closed for a brief second as she stabilised her mind, opening them again as she answered Fia's question.

Nobody was even the slightest bit surprised that the government had tried to cover it up, they were already covering up the existence of the birds in their timeline, so Fia's question was very valid. "My mate trains birds actually, well, I say trains, but that's another story. Some people just have a knack at getting others, be it animals or people to do what they want." Had Rinaa not been in a sort of truce with Fia and slowly accepting that this Fia was almost nothing like the one in her timeline, those words would have come out as an acerbic barb, making it clear that her Fia was a manipulator of the highest degree, both in terms of emotional manipulation and some blackmailing. But it didn't come out like that, it came out softly like the rest of her words. "But yeah, I guess it's a coping mechanism for some, with the world going so to shit, they want to believe in something, some join those fundamentalist cults- there's been a lot of mass suicides- some throw themselves into science, art, music, charitable works, academic, research, whatever floats your boat really. But some others go a drastically different route, they blindly believe whatever the government says, taking whatever they say as being right. It's easier than facing the truth of how shit it all is I guess and having somebody else make the decisions and tell you it's gonna be alright, it helps. But most people are massive sceptics now, election campaigns are now fascinating. Even John watches them, and NOT to take the piss out of them like he usually would in this timeline, but because these politicians are getting grilled alive by sceptics, who ask all the right questions and don't take vague drivel and stock statements as an answer."

 

[MzHyde]

Witnessing Jay actually laugh was a bit of a surprise to Kay and a little to Fia as neither have witnessed this Jay laugh properly in this timeline. Fia had seen Jay laugh a few times in her timeline, albeit still rare but not as rare as in this timeline. They both smirked at Cal's comment, knowing that the history of the Tower of London and the ravens (real or robots) would no doubt interest her, especially with photographic context to go along with it. Kay wasn't surprised that Trish probably went on a school trip once and he had photos from it, it felt quite typical of a parent to have such things and knew her own adoptive parents probably have something of those lines featuring herself in.

Fia looked at Rinaa when she spoke up after her little comment, nodding in agreement that there were people out there that had a knack for training animals relatively easily, but in her eyes it still took time, determination and patience to do such a task. She didn't respond to the first part of what Rinaa had to say but did note how much softer she said it, knowing that not that long ago she would have used that moment to slander her other self or try and mix her up with her other self. Instead, she listened to the rest of what Rinaa had to say, nodding once again in agreement that anything could be seen as a coping mechanism in a person's mind if they thought about it and justified it enough. For her, it was music and her secret dog. She put all her emotions of feeling trapped inside her two homes and being kept away from other teenagers her age into her music playing, coming up with such pieces like she let Chas hear on Cliff's home planet that she ironically named caged bird.

Then there was the other side of her that used Max was her other coping mechanism. She used looking after him in the alleyway near John's apartment, taking him out for a run, feeding him and yes, even teaching him tricks as a way to combat the loneliness of having no friends. So she did truly understand how most things in life could be used as such a thing in one's life. Hearing that her dad however was even interested in watching political broadcasts and not to take the piss out of them was a surprise to her. "wow, they must be something if he gets interested" she chuckled, not letting that opportunity to make a dig at her dad slide passed without some comment.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Hearing Rinaa explain it was a coping mechanism made sense to the others, especially when she mentioned the other things people did. At the mention of fundamentalist cults John rolled his eyes and muttered "of course those knobheads are doing a killin'" his tone full of derision. It wasn't surprising in any way that John had issues with such cults, he'd had many dealings with them in the past, mainly in the States where nearly been killed by one as a ritual sacrifice on one occasion, but there had also been an incident up north in Scotland where he and Nat poked their noses into some seriously dodgy cult shit. He raised his eyebrows in surprise when Rinaa said that future him actually purposefully watched political debates and not to take the piss out of them. Most politicians were good for nothing in John's opinion, except for making arses of themselves and gobbling up money. To hear that future politics was so different intrigued him. "Tell me more. How sceptical are we talking here?"

Rinaa smirked ever so slightly in response. "they're quite something alright" she nodded."The politicians are being unrelentingly grilled, the interviews and questioners just don't stop. The Freedom Of Information act has been completely changed to benefit the public along with a couple of other information acts being invented. Various documents are being declassified so the general public aren't just asking questions based on nothing, they have info, facts, stats, formerly private conversations and it's like the politicians are being cross examined in a court, except they're telling the truth for once. If the questioners went one step further, they'd be bringing back the rack for political debates and talk shows." She smirked as she said the last line, it was actually a quote from future Jay, current jay was nodding almost approvingly at that statement, while it was clear from John's expression that he was how more interesting it would be listening to politicians trying to justify Brexit (which was possibly one of the stupidest political decisions ever in John's opinion) if there was a medieval torture rack involved in proceedings.

"Some can stand up to it well enough and it works to their advantage as you can see just how knowledgeable and/or dedicated they are to a topic- those would be politicians from all the new political parties mainly and the independent candidates. But for others, those with only basic media training or those who next to nothing about the issue they're supposed to be talking about, they stand out like a massive sore thumb and make utter arses of themselves. You have't seen a politician TRULY squirm until you've watched a debate from my time about the war and what's being done diplomatically to stop it. John even goes so far as to make popcorn for the occasion."

 

[MzHyde]

With John's interest well and truly piqued, both Kay and Fia listened intently and curiously to what Rinaa was going to say as a reply. They had to admit to themselves that although Rinaa's timeline was utterly shit, there were elements such as what the teenager mentioned just now that we're highly interesting and intriguing to listen to. So both of them always morbidly enjoyed listening to what Rinaa could disclose to them all, especially as it turned out things even got John interested, when he previously couldn't stand things. Listening to what Rinaa explained about the politics and how things were run, even Kay was genuinely curious to how things were changed so much.

Fia smirked when Rinaa said about how much politicians truly squirmed at the debates in Rinaa's timeline, trying to imagine it all and finding the mental image rather amusing even if she wasn't interested in politics (just like her parents) in the slightest. "sounds like it's truly an entertaining sight to see if dad gets the popcorn out every time" Fia chuckled, still impressed that Rinaa would know such a thing as she wasn't always around them and for very solid reasons. She also started to think if she did witness it like she thought it was implied, then her other self and other Kay must have either not been around or been made to have a truce when Rinaa was around. It was a large side thought but one she had nonetheless.
"it's certainly an intriguing idea" Kay agreed with a smirk.

(sorry for late reply)

 

[_gallifrog_]

By the end of Rinaa's spiel John was smirking and nodding along, trusting what she was saying (unlike other times when she spoke). From her description of politics it sounded not only like something he'd enjoy, but something he'd actually get involved in. He knew from experience that it was great fun to either interrogate the people in power, questioning their every decision or to watch somebody doing a thorough interrogation. It was Rinaa's popcorn comment that was the cherry on the top, he could see the scene easily- himself stretched out on the couch, tie and coat slung over a nearby chair, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, with a massive vat of popcorn on his lap, laughing his ass off as politicians were slayed and by the sounds of it, publicly and thoroughly humiliated. "Sounds like a pretty damn good way to spend an evening, I gotta admit." "Yeah, it's sounds exactly up your alley John." Elliott agreed, Rinaa's explanation making it clear to him why John would enjoy such a thing. Elliott himself had never really gotten into Earth politics, but that was more to do with the past trauma of the system that failed an exiled him than anything else.

Neither of Fia's theories were correct when it came to how Rinaa knew. She'd found out from her source of pretty much all things Constantine related- Chas. The cabbie kept her and Jay up to date on what was going on with john, Fia and Kay. He didn't tell them absolutely everything and focused on John more than he did on the two women, knowing that if Jay hadn't made an unbreakable vow to Elliott before he died, she'd have murdered the both of them for what they did to Rinaa (probably not permanently, when somebody could come back to, it was more satisfying to kill them multiple times than to kill them once). The fact that John treated political debates as entertainment came up when they were in the cab, with the radio on and the presenters were discussing the debate the night before. Jay had been working late the night before and missed it, and asked the cabbie if he'd seen it. He explained that he had, John had invited him over to watch it with the others. From there the whole story had come out.

It was Jay who changed the subject, her question being directed at Cal and Cliff. "Cal, Cliff, can either of you tell me whether the military section of the space port here is part Hyperiac network? And if it isn't where is the next place that would be part of it is?" It was Cliff who answered, almost instantaneously. "Yes, it is a part of that network. There's three or four light shuttles a week, and when the new batch of squaddies are coming in there'd be a big ship, cattle class obviously." Jay smirked, knowing that giving new cadets the most uncomfortable and basic flights was a deliberate way of putting them in their place. "But they also have short range, military grade teleport stations for if it's an urgent journey OR you have the right rank or right contacts who can pull rank and get you permission."


(It's grand, Happy Halloween by the way)

 

[MzHyde]

Both girls smirked when Elliott agreed that it sounded right up John's alley. Fia could see it being his thing a lot easier than Kay could but that wasn't to say Kay couldn't see it either. It was purely down to the fact that Fia had known John technically longer, having been brought up by him and Kay, whereas in this time Kay hadn't known John in the great schemes of things that long. With Jay changing the subject, neither took much effort to listen in on it, even though there was a slight curiosity to why now it was asked.

If Fia had asked outwardly how Rinaa knew that tidbit of information and got the answer, she would have wondered why she didn't even think of that as a possibility as it was the most plausible and obvious reason for her knowing that John got into politics like it was watching some comedic movie. Yet again, she would have also realised quickly that it was almost always the most obvious answer that never came to the front of the mind first. Either way she did like the idea of her dad watching politics in such a way, it making her think of all the times she made him watch films with her and they shared a giant bag or bucket of popcorn in the process.

When Jay changed the subject, Kay couldn't help but curious to why she wanted to know such a thing but she also felt like it wasn't her place to question why Jay wanted to know anything. She then listened to Cliff's answer without paying too much attention to it, as she absentmindedly looked at the clock at the time as it felt like it should be late, even if it wasn't. To her it was just one of those days when every now and then it felt like it should be later than it was all day. Fia was always have flickers of thoughts in her mind trying to debate whether to go to bed first before everyone else and film her prank in process from behind the door or just wait in the living room to hear it. Her mind was being so busy with various thoughts and keeping focused on what everyone was talking about as well.

(happy Halloween!)

 

[_gallifrog_]

With the conversation moving away from what future John did, John himself lost interest in it and decided that now was as good a time as any to take a piss. Glancing at his watch he was surprised to find just how much time had passed since Cliff had come in with the files. He'd attempted to read them, but Cal, Cliff an Elliott were right, he lacked both the technical terminology and a sufficiently deep understanding of Attili and other off world legal systems. He'd given up trying to understand them and left the files back on the table. As the others talked he made his way to the bathroom.

Cal hit the nail on the head with her next question. "Planning on going off-world?" She asked, to which Jay nodded. "All the direct contact details I have for Dakkon are out of date. Data is always changed after a major cyber or intelligence breach, though those are usually very rare. And it's policy for the contact details of high ups to be changed ever so often, not at regular intervals, that's too predictable." "So you've got to get in touch another, which involves travelling?" Elliott summarised. "Exactly." Jay confirmed with a nod. "Luckily dead drop locations don't change, unless the place is blown up. All I need to do is drop this off." She held up another dagger, holding the pointed end between her thumb and forefinger. It was a far older one and wouldn't be a very useful weapon, as, not only was it extremely blunt along the edges, it was also criss-crossed with soldering scars from where pieces had been broken off and stuck back together again. It had once been ornate, a more ceremonial blade than a warrior's weapon, but over the years it had been worn down, the intricate detailing on the blade and handle either worn away or soldered over.

"With a coded note of some sort, and he'll know, one, that it's me, two, what my new business number and three, that we need to meet. Using military transport and rank is just easier to do all this- less connecting shuttles. Deke sorted me out with military papers in an alias I've used before, and I picked up the necessary uniform stuff earlier today." Rinaa had been rooting through the laptop case for a set of headphones, but stopped searching when she saw the knife Jay was holding. "Been a long time since I've seen that particular knife. You actually had to get a new one in my time as you called in and paid back so many debts."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay half listened to the chat that was going on between Jay and Cal about Jay going off world to find Dakkon. She noted John going to the bathroom as she glanced back down from looking at the clock and realised that for once, it was as late as she felt it was. They had pretty much done non stop talking, easily flowing from conversation to another that the time just seemed to fly by. She noted the knife that Jay pulled out and showed, seeing how battered and useless it looked as a weapon, but she was in no doubt that Jay if pushed to it could find a way to still make it useful as one. She may not know who this Dakkon is, but she didn't doubt that with such a knife and a note from Jay that he would know it was her contacting him. She also found it interesting that the drop boxes never changed, even if everything else did, but at the heart of it all, she knew if Jay said Dakkon would know it was her and she needed him to see her, he would indeed know it and come.

Fia was weighing up the pros and cons of her master plan in her mind whilst making it look like she was mentally in the room with everyone else. In the end shhe decided she would behind her room door and film it as it was late. She also figured if she was one of the first people to head to bed it wouldn't come across as suspicious in the slightest as it was pretty normal for her to be either fully awake or tired, just like her mother.
She convincingly faked a yawn and stretched her arms up above her head before lowering them and stupidly leaving the bag of sweets on the table in perfect reach of the likes of Elliott, stood up. "anyway, I'm gonna call it a night, I've come over tired" she said to the people nearest to her. "okay kiddo, night" Kay replied, "night" Fia said once more, 'heading to bed'. She of course wasn't going to go at all, not yet at any rate.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cal and Cliff knew why Fia was leaving, but were too professional to look at each other and give conspiratorial looks. Ever since Rinaa's laptop was booted up, Cliff had kept her hearing aids out and was relying on lip-reading to follow the conversation. The others gave the good nights, before turning back to Jay, cal and Cliff's conversation. "Night then" "Night Fia." "Yeah night." "Sleep well."Both Cal and Cliff gave their remarks with completely straight faces, letting out no clue that they knew anything untoward was going on. Rinaa didn't say anything, just gave a nod. "If I'm not here in the morning, don't be surprised" was what Jay said instead of good night. "For those of us who've never seen it before, mind explaining why it looks like it's been broken so many times?" Elliott asked, his curiosity piqued, he could see it in Cal and Cliff's faces that they knew the significance of such a broken knife, but he personally had never heard of anything or seen anything vaguely like this knife in the time he'd lived on Attil.

"It's a way of keeping track of debts, it started as an Isogrii tradition hundreds, if not thousands of years ago. Since then it has been adopted by other cultures- warrior cultures mainly and militaries, as well as espionage groups like the spooks and all other ones you'd only know of as whispers, if you've even heard of them at all. Knives are obviously incredibly important to an assassin, it's one of the first weapons you learn to use and master, training with them usually starts from about five or so onward, but if the kid comes from a race with impenetrable or extra tough skin, then it starts earlier. As a soldier it's your last line of defence in a battle, the weapon you use after all other contingency weapons have been used. So breaking a knife is highly symbolic, it's like disarming yourself and placing yourself at the other's mercy. When a debt is made, a serious one, but not serious enough to warrant an unbreakable vow, the knife is taken and broken along the blade, or cut to give a distinctive edge pattern." Jay indicated a zig-zagged soldered line along the blade. "One person keeps the hilt, the other keeps the blade fragment. When the debt has been paid back, the knife is soldered back together. This is the knife Dakkon and I used, he gave it me when I was just the green squaddie with an aggressive buzzcut and kinda out of my depth" Seeing the looks she was being given Jay rolled her eye "yes, I had that newbie phase like everybody else EVER and yes, I've shaved my head quite a few times."

John meanwhile had finished up in the bathroom, he'd shaved that morning, but still checked his face anyway. he'd never admit it, but he was damn picky about the level of stubble on face. It was a fine line between 'rakish and rougish' and as John would put it 'wispy douchy beards that only wankers like Tommo have'. Tommo was the kind of mage that infuriated John by existing. He was a new age hippy, into crystals, home-brewed beers, artisan coffee shops, crystal healing, auras and similar bullshit. Satisfied with his appearance he exited the bathroom, and decided to head to the bedroom and plug in his phone. He opened the door with one hand only to be assaulted with the sound of an airhorn. "CHRIST!" he yelled, leaping backwards, it was only instinct that stopped him from crashing backwards into the door of the utility room.

 

[MzHyde]

Like the majority of the others, Kay thought absolutely nothing of Fia wanting an early night for once. She watched as Fia gave a wave to everyone to say night back and headed to her bedroom. She then listened as Elliott asked the significance of the broken blade and Jay gave the long in depth answer to make sure they understood it. She had to admit it was highly interesting to listen to as she found herself seeing how much sense it made for her wanting to leave the blade with a note in a Dropbox.

Fia got into the room she was using as a bedroom and hid behind the door against the wall where she pulled her phone out and set it up for video, the moment she heard John leave the bathroom. She hit record and expertly angled her phone between the wall and door, where she saw on her screen John coming into view. She smirked and managed to not to laugh too soon, but she knew this was going to be oh so good and she couldn't wait to capture his face on camera. As he opened the door and the air horn went off, making him jump back and shout in shock, she walked out the bedroom pissing herself laughing. "GOT YOU!!! YES!!" She exclaimed between laughter. Tears from the laughter started streaming down her face as she filmed him to see his face properly. "told you I'd get you back! Your face is priceless!!" she laughed harder, unable to stop as she stopped the video to revel in her devious work.

When the airhorn went off Kay jumped in her place on the couch wondering what the fuck it was, especially when she heard John yell in surprise. "what the bloody hell was that?!" she questioned, her hand on her heart as shhe composed herself from the jumps are it gave her. She then heard Fia laughing hysterically and gloating with glee and pride, which made her realise it was the payback that Fia had sworn to get back on John. "oh damn...Fia got her own back didn't she?" she guessed, getting up to see the carnage that Fia created.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The only one not to jump at the sudden unexpected airhorn noise was Cliff, with her hearing aids out, the airhorn was loud enough that less than twenty percent hearing was sufficient for her to know that something had gone off loudly. Chas, Elliott and Cal all reacted similarly, one hand going to their ears, turning around trying to see what was going on. Jay's shoulders tensed, a second dagger, gleaming and sharp, appeared in her hand, as she was expecting some kind of attack, in the first split second her brain taking the airhorn noise and deciding it was some kind of sonic grenade. but once she realised what it was, she calmly placed the dagger back down on the table, almost all the tension draining from her shoulders. Rinaa's (or more precisely Sykes') reaction was the most dramatic (aside from John's) but as all the others were looking the other way nobody caught it. At the sound of the airhorn, the body was flooded with fear hormones, eyes flashing to amber as the wolf side, in it's panic took over, prompting all the teenager's hair to stand on end and all the blood to drain from her face as she literally jumped a solid foot in the air. The loss of control was momentary, Rinaa through some inner reserves of mental strength forced the wolf back into her head and regained control of the body.

"Fia, without a doubt." Jay agreed, there was nobody else it could possibly be. She didn't even need to hear Fia's voice gloating with triumph from the other side of the wall to know it was the teenager. Sure such a prank could be triggered remotely, but as John and numerous others, including Jay herself, had filmed Fia being dragged out by the dogs, it would make sense that Fia would want revenge on that front too, wanting some kind of footage she could use in the future. "Revenge was promised, looks like she's delivered." "Guess she wasn't actually tired then." Chas remarked with a smirk as they, all bar Rinaa, got up to take a gawk at what was going on.

Even if Fia hadn't appeared, almost bent double with laughter, John just knew it was her. He couldn't deny that the airhorn had scared the ever living crap out of him. He'd been in no way sleepy beforehand, but there was no way he'd be able to get to sleep, every nerve was on fire, his flight or fight reflex well and truly triggered. John wouldn't admit it and there was no sign of it showing on his face, but for the very briefest of second he'd been back in his childhood, the scream of the airhorn replaced by the enraged, incoherent yells of his father in another one of his alcohol fuelled rages. The kind of rage that resulted in John being beaten. It was only the briefest of flickers, it usually didn't happen to him, flashbacks were rare and he could only put it down to the earlier discussion about Zan. He turned to face Fia, not even surprised that she was holding her phone. He figured if they did decide to delete the memories of her she'd have to delete that footage, so as not to trigger anything, but other than that, there was no Earthly (or Attili) way he saw her getting rid of that footage. "Fair enough, we're square now."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay chuckled at Chas' comment about Fia not actually being tired whilst nodding in agreement. "I guess not" she replied. She had to five it to Fia, it was a simple but highly effective form of revenge she took, impressed that she wasn't witnessing Fia being scolded like crazy or anything else in retaliation. So she had to give John credit for taking it in his stride even if it did scare the utter crap out of him. She made her way to the hallway and saw Fia still trying to compose herself from the hysterical laughter whilst John looked less than impressed but telling Fia they were indeed even now.

Fia grinned as she managed to stop laughing eventually and nodded, "damn straight we are. Now you know I take my revenge pranks very seriously" she chuckled. What she didn't add was 'so enjoy the years starting from when I'm 11 and start my pranking life'. "you didn't just scare the crap out of him, you scared the crap out of all of us!" Kay commented, making it known she was standing there with a few of the others. "kind of the point to be fair! Dad was the main victim, of course, but you all filmed and laughed at me that time, so you're all guilty" Fia countered smugly. "I gotta ask though... How did you get ahold of an airhorn?" "Rinaa" "of course it was" Kay rolled her eyes.

"you alright John?" she then asked, knowing that if it was loud for them, it most certainly was deafening for him.

 

[_gallifrog_]

As Cliff headed to see how John was taking it all, she slipped back in her hearing aids, knowing that it was now safe to wear them again. "I for one didn't doubt that, I've seen this one" Chas jerked his chin in John's direction "getting his revenge before, it's brutal." Chas placed extra emphasis on the word brutal, making it clear that John on the warpath and actively seeking revenge was a sight to see. It was his extreme scorched earth, not caring about what happens to anybody else, take no prisoners tactics that made him such a danger both to the League, and those he actually liked. It was also implied in his words that it could be John where Fia had gotten her penchant for such dramatic revenge from.

Kay's question was a valid one, and one also on John's mind, he would have asked Fia that as he leaned comfortably against the wall (making sure it wasn't the door of his room, not wanting to lean on it and fall through it setting off the airhorn again. Once was enough for everybody. Hearing it was Rinaa wasn't particularly surprising. "Not just sweets in that bag then?" Elliott smirked wryly, he knew by looking at hm that John was over the initial shock and that the blond was glad he hadn't done a Fia and said something like 'shit on a stick!'. John's relationship with Christianity was questionable, he was all to aware that it was actually a polytheistic universe will all kinds of blood thirsty gods, but yelling their names didn't have quite the same wring to it as 'CHRIST!' Rinaa hadn't joined the others in the narrow hallway, but she didn't need to, her enhanced hearing meant she could say every word. And as they were all unable to see how pale she was, she felt safe in yelling at them in response to Kay's question. knowing that her voice wouldn't betray any of Sykes' turmoil. "It was Moya actually! She knew a place that sold them and picked it up the other day. The duct tape is mine though!"

John nodded when Kay asked how he was. He wasn't going to say no, that would be losing face to a teenager, which tried his damnedest not to make a habit of doing. "Well there's no way i'll be sleeping anytime soon, not that that's anything new." He gave a 'not much I can do about that' kinda shrug before continuing. "And there's no ringin' in me ears, unlike the last time I was so close to such an explosion of noise. Though that was an actual explosion last time. If it wasn't highly offensive to Cliff I would have been pretending to have been actually deafened by the thing. Wouldn't be the first time I had to fake bein' deaf."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia smirked at Chas' reply nodding, getting the implication of what he was saying completely and agreed that it was no doubt John she got her brutality from when it came getting revenge. She had never known what Kay was capable of when it came to fighting for survival or getting revenge on anyone, she had of course just grown up with her mother being the quiet one unless she was telling her off for being a pain in the ass, which usually lead her to going to the safety of her dad or her room. With Elliott asking if it was indeed in the bag of sweets she nodded grinning like the smug smart ass she was. "yup!" she replied simply. She couldn't help but look toward the main room when Rinaa called through that it was actually Moya that had picked up the air horn and Rinaa was only technically responsible for the duct tape. "Still makes you both accomplices!" she countered teasingly.

Kay was glad that John was over the initial shock, even if he was keeping face for the sake of not letting Fia see him lose it. She nodded at his comment about now not sleeping any time soon, somewhat not surprised in the slightest over it, knowing he can find it difficult at the best of times, and this would only just make it worse, even if Fia was still finding it to be the greatest thing ever. "somehow doesn't surprise me you've done that" she replied to him. "at least now you two can call this a truce and move on from this whole revenge seeking prank war" she smirked, aiming the comment at both him and Fia. "a prankster's time is never over but deal, a truce is formed and I promise I won't do anything else if no one pranks me" Fia smirked. "good because I never wanna hear that burst of noise again, I hope it's put in in a way that we can get into the room by only having the door a jar" she added. "what do you take me for? Of course I put it in a way that you can do it and remove it. I'm not an idiot" Fia smirked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Hardly my first time in such a role." Rinaa called back to Fia, before adding some other remark in a lower tone, too low to be understood by the others on the other side of the wall. It was far from her first time being an accomplice, growing up with the other Isogrii kids she'd gotten up to all kinds of mischief with them, as well as various kids who lived on the pilot bases she stayed at. On Earth there were her friends, her band mates, her coworkers and her fellow vigilantes. When she'd been a criminal pulling heists to get a reputation that warranted being put in the same prison as Jay (and later when she'd actually been in prison) there had been the a whole host of other partners in crime.

"Deal then." "I don't think anybody will, unlike Cliff's home world there's neighbours here who we don't want to offend." Chas replied after Fia agreed to a ceasefire. "The two next door are both doctors and work similarly long shifts to me, so sleep and peace and quiet are scared things. They're both out on duty today before you ask, I checked." Cliff added, gesturing in the direction of the flat next door, Cal nodding her agreement. "Pissed-off, over-tired doctors? Not something you want to deal with, at any hour of the night." 'I speak from experience' was implied in her tone. Hearing that the door could be opened halfway without setting it off, John wasted no time in doing just that, seeming to squeeze himself into the room as if he was some kind of liquid and could just flow effortlessly through small gaps should the occasion arise. After plugging in the phone to charge, it was on about 6%, he carefully cut the tape holding the can in place, using the shard of blade from his trouser pocket, then picked the rest of the tape away with his nails.

With the excitement over, the others returned back to the living room. By then Rinaa had found her headphones and was setting out various textbooks and notebooks on the table in front of her, along with a large array of highlighters. Her skin was back to it's normal tone, although as she moved her head, the light bouncing off her hair made it look more like the deep inky indigo black of Sykes' fur, rather than the regular straight black of Rinaa's hair.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia didn't doubt for a second that this wasn't Rinaa's first time being accomplice in any kind of scheme, she had gotten herself into the same prison as Jay after all, so it was only a given in her mind that Rinaa would have been an accomplice and had accomplices in others for certain jobs. She was glad that John also agreed to ceasefire and call it a truce, nodding in agreement with Chas and what he said. "what Cliff said and yes I did check with Cal and Cliff before I did this prank before anyone thinks I didn't. I'm not completely inconsiderate" she said, putting emphasis on the word 'completely' even though she did always try her best to never be inconsiderate to others.

Both Fia and Kay smirked and chuckled when John wasted no time in slipping through the partially open door to do what he actually originally wanted to do in there and hearing him untape the airhorn from the wall behind the door. They both then headed back to the living room with the others and sat back down on the couch where Fia had to revel in her prank by watching her video of John's reaction all over again with the volume low for obvious reasons of the airhorn. She noted how Rinaa already had her headphones on with all her textbooks on the table but said nothing. "show us the moment then" Kay said to her kid, leaning over her shoulder to see the phone screen.

 

[_gallifrog_]

By the time John finished removing the duct tape from the wall, including picking off the disgusting gluey bits with his fingernails, leaving the wall exactly as it had been beforehand. He was a guest after all, it wasn't something cal and Cliff should be doing- they'd already done so much for the group- and he doubted Fia would do it. Besides the glue stuff could stain permanently if left too long. By the time he did make his way back into the main room, all but the two usual suspects had gathered around the back of the couch to watch Fia's clip of his reaction. With Kay and Fia on the couch, holding out the phone the other four could fit themselves around the back of the couch so that everybody had a suitable viewing angle. "Well, give us a look then too, as the star of the show, I think I've earned that right." John smirked, squeezing himself in beside Elliott.

Jay and Rinaa were both engrossed in their respective work and respective computers. Jay was plotting a flight plan, putting in her transports request through all the official military channels. There was no need to use Cal and Cliff's contacts to pull any strings yet, and Jay was confident that both the rank and record of the alias she was using would be more than sufficient to get what she wanted. Rinaa had selected some music, from a band that was her guilty pleasure, she'd use their songs for a warm-up, but she would never sing them on stage. As the two women worked, they were unconsciously mirroring each other, both had their non-dominant hand clenched into a fist, resting their chins on that hand, heads slightly tilted to one side as they considered what was in front of them on their respective screens.

 

[MzHyde]

John's assumption of Fia not cleaning the wall would have been incorrect as she would have done it, feeling its the least she could do after Cal and Cliff allowed her to do such a prank in the first place. She always cleaned up after herself when doing pranks if cleaning would be needed. She just would have left it for a little bit before doing it, not knowing when Kay or John would have gone to bed during the evening as it was getting late. When he got back into the living room and declared he needed to see the video for himself, Fia smirked and rolled her eyes at his declaration of being the star of the clip, putting the video back to the beginning as he squished in next to Elliott and pressed play.

The video showed exactly where Fia was hiding and even though the beginning showed she was between the wall and the door, it did show the perfect viewpoint and managed to show off John walking to the bedroom unexpecting. Then came the yell and the sound of the air horn going off in his face making him jump back and try to compose himself before it showed her showing herself and pissing herself laughing as she walked to in front of him to show his face. Yet again, watching it all back got Fia giggling almost hysterically, making Kay take the phone from her to steady it as she was convinced Fia was going to drop the phone. Kay had to admit it was hysterical to see, impressed that Fia managed to catch John off guard so perfectly. "I am NEVER gonna tire of this, just sayin'" Fia laughed, holding her stomach as she felt the muscles in it tighten from her amusement.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Had he been watching the clip happening to somebody else, John would have been laughing along with the rest of them. While Fia's John may have years of experience dealing with a teenager's pranks, the John of now didn't. Pranking had never been a thing in his childhood, nor his teenage years and it was far more fun to verbally spar with somebody or to just straight up nick their stuff and order all kinds of stuff on their credit card (John had pick pocketed Bruce Wayne a few times and racked up all kinds of bills buying dodgy shit to be delivered to Wayne mansion). And the kind of life style he lead meant that more often that not a prank would trigger some reflex he'd honed from years of being involved with the darker side of magic, or, like earlier, it would trigger his fight or flight reaction. But in this case it was more important that Fia be happy, as given what they'd learned earlier, shit was clearly going to hit the fan soon. He rolled his eyes at Fia being reduced to hysterics again and refrained from grabbing the phone and deleting the footage, settling for a dry "suuuure" There'd surely be another prank in her timeline, whether it was played on him or on somebody else that would make her forget about this clip temporarily.

While the others were engrossed in watching the video of John (naturally they wanted to see it more than once) Jay managed to slip out of the room, nobody noticing her leave, not even Elliott or Rinaa (the two people in the room who liked to think they knew her best). When she returned, she was transformed. Gone was the Jay they'd all got to know on Attil, the one who wore casual, almost bland clothing (the kind of outfit that was universally accepted as casual- a plain t-shirt, leather jacket, straight cut trousers or jeans and thick soled boots). She was decked from head to toes in military gear- boots so thick and sturdy they looked like they could used to beat somebody's head in, tank top with a plain grey t-shirt over it, cargo trousers in a grey-black colour, with a matching over jacket. There was a taser, sleek firearm that neither John nor Chas could name and one knife holstered to her hips, a knife in each boot and a shoulder harness containing another gun. The knuckle dusters were hidden away in a pocket somewhere. Unlike the military gear of Earth, this gear was far more form fitting, emphasising that while Jay may look lean, more of a runner than a fighter, she was very well muscled. Down the left sleeve of the outer jacket and across the breast pocket was a set of coloured lines indicating Jay's rank, one that made both Cal and Cliff whistle, clearly impressed by it. She'd also put some form of product in her hair, it was normally shoulder length when loose, but this stuff was military strength hair gel and allowed Jay not only to slick all her hair back, but also up onto the top of her head. She'd plastered her hair down in such a way that it looked from a distance like she had a sort of pixie cut. This was a common practice among military women (and long haired men), long hair was just too impractical, even in a pony-tail it could get in the way in high pressure situations. Her hairstyle exposed her pointed ears fully. Jay wasn't one for fancy or even very noticeable earrings on a normal day, all of the thirteen ear piercings up the side of ears (bar those on her lobes) were small rings with a pattern of silver, and blue/black, but as part of her outfit she'd swapped them all for basic black ones.

It wasn't just the outfit that had changed, her posture had too, Jay was standing straight backed, shoulders drawn back. She looked confident as if she could just walk into anywhere and be in complete control of the situation. There was a visible edge of harshness about her, her eyes had darkened, not quite shark or gun metal grey, but grey enough to let anybody know that she was the top predator, fuck with her at your peril. There was a white scar crossing her cheekbone that definitely hadn't been there before. This was a glimpse at the assassin renowned across systems for her kills. It was a look that was most definitely doing things for Elliott. "You're gonna have to do without me for a few days" she declared, striding across the room to where the kitbag she'd backed earlier was waiting. "Somebody's gonna have to kind this too." She added, sliding her personal phone onto the coffee table.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia didn't mind in the slightest that everyone wanted to see it more than once, and every single time it cracking Fia up. She felt incredibly lucky that she was who she was, as she was certain that if she was anyone else she wouldn't be getting away with such a prank or pranking John in general. Yet she always had that demeanor and vibe about her that meant she almost always got away with such things around John. Or at least, her John, which made her assume it'd be the same here after they had bonded in some form since her coming back to this time. John was also right in assuming that this most certainly wasn't going to be her last prank on any of her family. If she was in her timeline, she would have put on the 'I'm your doting daughter and you love me really' innocent facade on before declaring 'I love you really dad' but she wasn't and so she wasn't going to say anything of the sort. Kay could tell that something in Fia wanted to say something but refrained from doing so, guessing it would have been something she would have said to her timeline's John. "upside? We know what we're to expect with this one" Kay commented.

When Jay came back into the room dressed extremely differently in every sense of the words, both Kay and Fia wondered when she even snuck out of the room and changed. Fia noticed what the look was doing to Elliott and smirked, knowing if she was sitting next to him like earlier she would have given him the teasing side nudge in the arm and wriggling her eyebrows, but being in front of him made that near damn impossible to do. She like the others, really took in the look, the badges to I dictate her rank and all the ear piercings, finding she wasn't as surprised as the others as she had seen almost similar when Jay trained her growing up, though even now she had to admit the sight was quite something to see every single time.

"I'm sure Ell will cope without you for a few days" Fia teased grinning. Her teasing making Kay just shake her head at her future daughter, feeling this teenager was on top of her game still after pranking her dad. "you just don't stop huh?" "what's the point in being the baby sister if I can't tease the crap out of him, or generally being a little shit every now and then?" Fia countered. "touché"

 

[_gallifrog_]

John didn't startle at the sound of Jay's voice appearing from behind them, but after the air-horn incident his nerves were still slightly fried and was surprised to hear her voice from behind them. He hadn't noticed her leave, and there was something almost scary about how she could move so soundlessly. He, liked the others turned to face the assassin. The transformation was quite something, there had been glimpses of what Jay as an assassin had been like, terrifying, but brief fragments of a cold living weapon, but the woman standing in front of them, she wasn't Jay, she wasn't Jamie, and she certainly whatever the full name Quin had called her by was. This was somebody else entirely. The brief look that came over Elliott's face at the sight of Jay very nearly made John start chucking in amusement, he certainly hadn't known before that Elliott was into that.

There was a moment of silence while they all took in the complete change in appearance. It was broken by a stage whisper from Cal. "Are we supposed to salute?" She hissed loudly at her wife, though it was clear from the look of mischief in her eyes that she was just messing around and already knew the answer. "You probably should have been from day one" the assassin smirked "this isn't even my real rank by the way." Jay indicated the patches on her arms. "Figures, guess I'm still the lowest in terms of military ranks." She was about to continue, but Jay beat her to it. "But any solider with a brain knows that if the medic says to do something, you do it. Ranks be damned." Jay finished with a raised eyebrow and a look of 'am I right or am i right?'. Cliff grinned broadly and nodded. "Exactly, you had that speech too?" "More than once, though that;s cos some of the people I worked with were pompous idiots." Cliff and Cal made sympathetic noises. "We know the type, all too well." They said in unison.

Jay rolled her eyes drily at Fia's remark. "Well doing that kind of shit is basically the reason younger siblings exist in the first place" she replied, in a way that said, 'trust me, I know what I'm talking about, I have experience'. But the experience she had wasn't necessarily the one the other's though she did. Jay had never mentioned, not even to Elliott who was the older twin out of her and Jack and (nor did she intend to tell anyone that little nugget of information). If anybody was to make some 'speaking from experience are you?' quip, she'd have said something about when she was taken in by Quin's family and the fact that she was actually a couple of weeks older than the other girl.

Not rising to the bait Fia was putting out, Elliott knew that most of the others in the room could see plain as day that Jay's military look was a pretty big turn-on for him. He fully expected John to never let it go, and decided to keep a straight face and focus on what he considered the more important question, the one nobody else had asked so far. "Is that a fake scar, a new scar or was it just clever use of make-up to hide it the whole time?" He asked, running a finger across his own cheekbone to indicate what he was talking about. "High end facial prosthetic actually, designed to blend in with real skin." Jay explained. She'd see the look on Elliott's face, that was something to definitely investigate further when she came back. "The only real scars on my head are under my hair." She added, knowing full well she'd been lucky with her lack of visible facial scars, she'd been cut and slashed there many times, but her healing ability had been strong enough that no marks were left behind.

Rinaa pulled the headphones down around her neck and reached over to take the phone. "I can mind it. You're taking a burner?" Although it was phrased like a question, it was actually a statement of fact. Jay nodded, pulling a second phone from her pocket, the case and phone screen scuffed and slightly cracked for authenticity. "The burner number is already programmed into this I take it? Only to be used if there's an absolute end of the world emergence here, not for idle gossip of course. Is it the usual disguised text code and procedures? And is it three or four days that this will take?" Even though this was technically her mother she was talking to, Rinaa suddenly looked and sounded far older than she was. This was far from her first time being left behind while Jay was on a job, and far from her first time quizzing somebody on procedure. The experience showed both in her body language and in her tone.