Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[_gallifrog_]

Elliott's choice of topic change struck the others as pretty bizarre, but John had a fairly goo idea why Elliott was asking now (and it wasn't just because of his growing awkwardness at hearing Cal talk about such things). Elliott had intended to ask Rinaa at breakfast, but then they found out about Fia wearing an orange band and that became the number one priority to find out more about. The mention that it had been her ex that 'inspired' her to do this was a surprise, Rinaa was still clearly cut up about being dumped by Cass, yet she was still willing to paint her nails like this? That was unexpected. Hearing the story made Cliff chuckle softly as she remarked "that's certainly one way of curing nail biting."

At Fia's mention of the fact that the nails would just get wrecked, Rinaa couldn't resist the urge to check her own nails which were chipped and flaked already, even after a lazy day in the flat. "Yeah, mine never last long, sometimes they don't even last the night playing guitar causes them to get utterly destroyed, but eh, well-maintained nails with heavily chipped paint is just the kind of quirky contradiction that most overlook and I like, so I go with it." "Fair enough" Jay shrugged in a 'you'll get no judgement from me' kind of way before making her own input on the topic. "I've probably painted my nails the most compared to everybody else, but then again I used poison paint."

 

[MzHyde]

Neither Kay or Fia could deny that painting nails would be a proven way to stop nail biting, having heard that people have done that before. Out of all the bad habits that both girls had picked up to deal with stress, nail biting wasn't one of them. Kay usually turned to drink or the more healthier option of sketching to deal with her stress, whereas Fia turned to her violin or combat training. She was caught every now and then nibbling the skin at the sides of her fingernails but it was rare for her to do. Out of her, Kay and John, Fia probably had the most healthy way of dealing with stress that wasn't so self destructive which her future parents could never fathom out how she managed such an accomplishment if it could be called such a thing.

She nodded at what Rinaa was saying as she did get it, she could get wrecked nails even by playing the violin to an certain extent as it did still require using her fingertips on the fretboard of it, just like using the guitar. Yet most of her wrecked hands did come from combat training with and without Jay, and from learning magic with her father. She then listened to Jay's words, smirking at the last part feeling not the least bit surprised as it seemed like such a typical Jay thing to do. "that seems entirely typical for you" Fia commented to Jay in a casual tone. Kay had to agree that it didn't seem like a particularly shocking thing for Jay to do as she could imagine such a strategy would be highly effective on certain jobs that Jay would do in the past. She found herself really pulling on her hoodie sleeves, not that they needed it as they were already too long, making her hands get completely engulfed in the sleeves as she felt unborn Fia kicking a lot which giving her a lot of discomfort, but she just let it happen knowing there was nothing she could do about it.

 

[_gallifrog_]

By now they were all pretty much used to such statements from the ex-assassin, she didn't beautify herself for the sake of it, choosing to dress and style herself in a way that was both a) practical and b) typical of the planet she was on so as not to draw attention (which was why on Earth she dyed her roots black to give the impression that her hair was actually dyed blue as opposed to being naturally blue. Elliott had only ever seen her glammed up for a job that involved infiltrating events in high end buildings, or the one time she'd accompanied Kane to an event on 'bodyguard duty'. But every once in a while she would say something that would catch one or the other of them off guard as they'd somehow managed to forget for a brief moment that the blue haired woman was a trained killer. Poison tipped fingernails made a lot of sense, out of all the places one would think to look for concealed weapons, fingernails were not one of them.

"It's pretty standard trick among female assassins" Jay replied in response to Fia's stating that it seemed 'pretty typical of her'. "Unfortunately there's quite a lot of cultures and civilisations where women or the xenogender equivalent are only valued for their beauty, which is total SHIT, but it does give you an advantage as people don't think you can so thoroughly kick their ass. It's not as common among males, though there are a few I'd knew who'd use a clear coat." "I'm guessing you took antidote beforehand just in case you accidentally scratched yourself?" Cliff asked to which Jay nodded "That's exactly what I did, and I'd usually carry an antidote somewhere just in case I lashed out at somebody who was working WITH me as opposed to against me. I'd disguise it as an epi-pen usually, though I'd have a real one of those too, allergic reactions..." Jay pulled a face "not fun, for anyone involved."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia wasn't surprised that it seemed to be pretty common amongst female assassins, as like the others figured out, it's the one part of a body no one would think to check or think could even be used as a weapon. She nodded as Jay continued her spiel, about alot of cultures having their own version of what should be considered beautiful when it came to the female form of any kind. It wasn't far off even on Earth she learned an dit never sat well with her. She'd hate to be told how she should look and be constsntly told to be remotely flamed up to be considered beautiful. Sure, she glammed up every now and then for a job, like the time Elliott, Chas, Kay and John all saw during that one mindwalk trip to find out who Dean was. Yet she only enjoyed it when she decided to, not when she was told she had to.

With Cliff asking about taking an antidote, both Fia and Kay had to smile slightly and both thinking 'forever the concerned doc'. Neither could ever imagine Jay using such a strategy without an antidote on hand or consumed. The idea of having it concealed as an epi-pen was quite frankly genius in Fia's mind and figured if she ever needed such a thing to hand, it was a move she'd have to remember for the future. "smart" Fia remarked. Kay nodded in agreement, though she found herself thinking Fia was getting ideas during this conversation and she wasn't sure if she should be proud or worried that her future child was getting such ideas in her head.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cal gave her wife a look filled with fond affection and love when Cliff asked about whether Jay would self administer antidotes beforehand. It was so typical of her, while they'd all been thinking, 'hang on, that's an excellently stealthy idea', Cliff was ever the doctor and ever the practical one, asking the right questions, while at the same time being impressed like the others were. It was one of the numerous things she loved about Cliff- you could take the doctor out of the hospital, but you couldn't take the medical mindset out of the doctor. As she and Jay conversed Cal wrapped an arm around her wife's waist. One the topic of epi-pens disgusing antidote or antivenom Cliff couldn't help be impressed. Nobody in their right mind would take away such a device, nobody wanted their guest to drop dead due to anaphylactic shock (no matter how little regard people had for other's lives a death like that would be incredibly bad publicity).

"Now that's quite something" John remarked, just as inspired as Fia was. He'd kept an adrenaline pen or to on him before (including the one he used in Kay when she had her panic attack) but he'd never thought of hiding antidote in it. The reverse he thought, could also be true, you could hide a posion in such a device.
"Yeah, it's smart alright, though I can't take complete credit for it, it wasn't my idea." Jay agreed that it was a very cunning way of concealing an antidote, but because of who had come up with the idea, she wasn't going to take total credit. "And before you ask Cliff" she could practically see the doctor's next question written all over her face. "I had a way of telling the difference between the real epi-pens and the antidote epi-pen." "I suspected as much, but what I actually was going to ask was, who has the allergy? It's pretty clear at least to me, that somebody you know has an allergy and the same somebody also came up with the epi-pen as an antidote holder idea too."

Jay was caught off guard by the question, she knew that was due to her tiredness after over four and a half days without a proper night's sleep, but managed to sufficiently mask her shock (apart from a very slight flicker in her eyes). "Very good deducting there doc." She replied with a sort of smile, making it clear that had Cliff not asked so directly she wouldn't have said what she was about too. "It was my brother.... he had a severely acute allergy to this particularly obscure type of fruit, well, its' rare in these parts anyway. It was ironic really as Satrax fruit is one of my favourites. I'd always carry an epi-pen in case, SOMEBODY had to be the responsible one after all and he figured, why not use it for carrying antidotes to OTHER things."

 

[MzHyde]

When John expressed his own reaction of being impressed to the epi-pen trick, Kay couldn't help but think 'seriously is like father like daughter' when it came to John and Fia. It never failed to amaze her just how certain things like this seemed to impress the both of them and give them both the same idea. Just looking at the two of them, she could tell they weren't going to forget that idea any time soon. The time John used the adrenaline one on her hadn't escaped her memory either, it always being a strong memory in her mind, having never thought to use such a thing on someone who was having a panic attack, thinking under any other normal circumstances it probably would have done more damage than good.

At the mention of it not being Jay's idea, Fia couldn't stop her eyebrows raising in curiosity. If it wasn't her idea then Fia was wanting to know whose it was, which luckily thanks to Cliff, they got to find out who it was and it wasn't someone she would have thought of. She didn't know why she didn't think of Jay's twin brother, but he was the last person she would have thought of. Listening to how the idea came about, she had to admit her brother had a damn good idea. "well, it proved to be a good one, even if it had to come out a crappy moment" she spoke up again. "what she actually means is- well it's a good idea and one I'm going to steal for when I'm back in my timeline" Kay smirked. Fia rolled her eyes at her mother's teasing, even though she couldn't deny what was said was indeed true.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Jay giving the credit for the idea to somebody wasn't a completely rare occurrence, both Elliott and Rinaa could vouch for that. She tended to adopt a policy of 'credit where credit is due, unless that person is an arsehole/somebody I don't like'. It wasn't exactly an invitation to ask, but it was a hint that she would be amenable to answering further questions. The fact that it was Cliff who asked so directly had something to do with why she answered, she liked Cliff and respected her, both for her numerous skills and as a person. John was thinking it had potentially been Quin (thought his opinion had definitely been influenced by the photos he and Fia found), and as a result was surprised to here it had not only been her brother who came up with the idea, but that he also had an allergy like that. Sure they all knew assassins weren't invulnerable and fundamentally were people like everybody else, but this was the first specific weakness they'd heard of. Had her brother been still alive, Jay wouldn't have told them without Jack's consent, but he was dead.

Rinaa had to bite back a small chuckle when Jay remarked that she carried the epi-pen because 'somebody had to be the responsible one'. Her brother wasn't careless with medication, but it was always amusing for Rinaa when she saw her mother acting like the sibling she was. Jay was right saying that there was a certain irony in the fact that her twin was allergic to one of her favourite foods, especially when it was such a rare delicacy. Despite that even some of the Earth based group would know the name as it was the chocolate bar filling Jay had bought for herself and Rinaa had bought for Jay when they were in the spaceport. "I think we had a few patients in A&E with Satrax fruit poisoning, but I can't say I ever had one with an allergy." Cliff mused. "I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't, it's a very rare allergy, even by the standards of other allergies, and for most it shows as an intolerance as opposed to being fatal." If Kay was to think back to the journey to Attil, she'd remember that when Jay was taking blood samples to try and get a match with Rinaa's DNA she'd remember that Jay's twin had a fear of needles, which would give another reason as to why Jay always carried an epi-pen.

At Fia's comment and John's nod of agreement Jay rolled her eyes. "Yeah I figured that was the translation" she replied to Kay. "I could PROBABLY get Kane to make up a few when we're back on Earth, or I could just do them myself. It's not as easy as it sounds to make 'em. Or more precisely to make them without contamination getting in."

 

[MzHyde]

If Fia had really given it a thought of who could have given Jay the idea, she probably would have come to the same conclusion as John or thought it was maybe one of the isogrii that gave her the idea, rather than her brother. She also could see just how ironic it was that of all people to be allergic to one of Jay's favourite foods, it was her twin brother. Both her and Kay listened as Cliff spoke about having had patients in due to poisoning from said fruit, finding it wasn't entirely surprising that she had have dealt with that sort of medical issue amongst anything else that could come her way. They only had to think about all the kinds of things that required a doctor on Earth to know it wasn't always insane injuries or removing of limbs to save lives that they dealt with. They listened as Jay replied, and it was then Kay was thinking about all the times conversations about allergies or similar and she did seem to remember something about Jay's twin being fearful of needles, just like she was very hesitant about them herself.

It was something she didn't want to remember but now the conversation was cropping up, it was coming the forefront of her mind. She remembered feeling utterly stupid in front of everyone for not liking the idea of stabbing herself with a needle, she was just thankful Jay in particular didn't judge her for it, whilst telling her about her twin brother. She still found it utterly irrational that of all things in her life she really didn't like needles, but if truly thought about it wasn't surprising considering what she went through as an out patient at a hospital. As Jay said about figuring out the translation, Kay did have to smirk slightly as she found it rather amusing that even Jay could see through Fia by this point. "well I know what I'm doing when I'm going back to my time!" Fia chimed in an almost sing song tone, making Kay shake her head and face palm. "as if she needed anymore ideas in that cluttered mind of hers" she retorted, but there was no malice in her voice. It seemed that every day that went by, Fia was proving that Kay and John were in a roller-coaster of a ride with their daughter.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cliff agreed whole heatedly when Jay said it wasn't as easy to adjust an epi-pen as one might think. On Attil they were almost identical to ones on Earth, both designed not to be tampered with and not to break easily. It had taken a fair bit of trial and error on jack's part to figure it out, he'd had to go to both doctors and engineers to find a method that was safe and wouldn't damage the mechanism of the pen. "There's no point in having an antidote, when using it on somebody means they end up with blood poisoning instead." "Especially when it's used on yourself, I've never had blood poisoning myself thankfully." "Neither have either of us." Cliff gestured between herself and her wife "but I've seen a few field patients get it. It's NOT pretty."

John could only smirk at Fia's words, knowing that his alternate self and Kay's alternate self (in fact all of their alternate selves) would be in for it when Fia came back to her timeline, there was no doubt that this Fia would be looking for change in her timeline. His personal on the future divergence point (aside from making sure Elliott lived through it) was that, not all selfishly, he didn't want either Fia or Rinaa's timeline to happen, but a different one, where both kids got better live. Sure Fia's was leagues better than Rinaa's, but it was far from perfect, and there were many things he knew should be done differently.

"Well since we're on this topic" Rinaa said, leaning over the arm of her armchair towards the couch Cal, Cliff and Elliott were on (there wasn't enough space on the couch for Jay, so she'd pulled over one of the kitchen chairs). "I DID get blood poisoning once, not that I remember much about it, I was kinda....." she scratched the back of her head almost sheepishly, playing for time "in a coma at the time."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay couldn't help but also think that in Fia's timeline, or their actual future depending on what will happen after this divergence point, that out of the two of them it would be John who would probably encourage quite a lot of Fia's crazy ideas compared to herself. Especially if the fact that Fia was an utter daddy's girl was anything to go by and put into consideration. She just hoped that she wouldn't be so controlling and as serious as her alternate self was being with Fia. As the universe was adamant she had to be a mother to a future phoenix mage hybrid, she wanted to at least be a fun mother and not an utter 'stick in the mud'. John's smirk at Fia's outburst didn't go amiss on Kay in the slightest, nor did it go amiss on Fia.

It was only when Rinaa spoke up about the subject of blood poisoning, did Kay snap out of her thoughts and listen to what was being said, having completely zoned out and not really heard any of what Jay and Cliff were saying. "how did you end up with blood poisoning whilst in a coma?" Kay asked, her tone showing surprise and an hint of concern. She would have thought if it happened in this time on Earth there'd be some serious consequences for that happening if it happened in a hospital or somewhere similar. Or at least, she would like hope there would be consequences to such a fatal problem happening.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Had Kay not asked how Rinaa managed to contract blood poisoning whilst in a coma, Cliff would most definitely have asked. Medicine was her area after all. Her mouth was open and she'd leaned forwards, propping her arms on her knees with ever intent to quiz the teenager, but Kay got there first. "What she said, but phrased more like a professional doctor would ask such a question." Cliff added. It was obvious to Rinaa that Kay hadn't been fully paying attention the direction the conversation between Jay and Cliff had veered along and had been caught off guard by her admission. Kay's slightly loud tone when asking the question had drawn everybody else's attention to what Rinaa had to say for herself, so she took a deep breath and began to relate the story.

"There'd been a particular heavy bombing raid the night before and I was volunteering with the recovery team, pulling people out of the ruins of the half collapsed buildings. There was a group of survivors trapped in the sub-basement level, the only way to get to them out was to send somebody down the lift shaft, the stairwells were blocked with debris and we had no idea how much longer the building would stay upright. I went down the shaft, trailing all the ropes so that everybody on the ground floor could start pulling up the survivors. We got everybody else out and I was being pulled up to the surface when the building came down around us. My ropes got cut.. or dropped in the haste, it doesn't really matter, the important bit is that fell down the rest of the lift shaft, and got my leg was broken by a beam, among various other injuries. I was just about conscious when they pulled me out and when they got me to hospital I was put into an induced coma, then right into the operating room. The hospital was flooded with victims and nowhere near staffed enough to cope." It was clear in Rinaa's tone that she wasn't blaming the hospital for what happened just the fucked up world she'd grown up in. "I was kept in the induced coma for the bones of a week and somewhere during one of those days one of my various cuts became infected and I ended up with blood poisoning. Luckily it was caught early and obviously wasn't fatal."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay had to smile shortly when Cliff echoed her question in the way she did, having a feeling that Cliff out of them all would be the most curious to how such a situation occurred to Rinaa. She didn't think anyone really noticed that her trial of thoughts made her zone out of the conversation, but it seemed unknowing to Kay, that it was noticed by Rinaa at least. Seeing the teenager take a deep breath told Kay that she was willing to tell them all the story, so Kay made sure she listening intently to the whole thing and not zone out again.

The story was longer than Kay initially thought it would be but due to that, they got a lot of context and explanation to how it happened and that it wasn't down to the hospital staff at all, but a freak accident that happened because of other injuries. It was actually strangely a relief to Kay to hear that it wasn't down to negligence that Rinaa got blood poisoning, and she was seen to quickly so it didn't become anymore dangerous than it possibly already was. She could indeed tell that Rinaa didn't blame the hospital staff in the slightest and she still, even after many stories from her timeline, couldn't imagine what it must have been like in those kinds of jobs for people. "I'm glad it wasn't fatal, seems to me you were pretty lucky" she commented in reply, propping her feet up on the very edge of the coffee table in the need to stretch her legs a bit.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Seeing how Rinaa took a deep breath and squared her shoulders before speaking made it obvious that there was quite a story s to how she'd ended up hospital. There was a brief moment before she started her tale when Elliott thought the story she was about to launch into was the one about how she'd nearly died in a burning building (but then he reminded himself that Rinaa wouldn't talk about that because of the pain it would cause her to relive such memories, nor necessarily because of the pain it would cause the others). Which meant there was a second time she'd been hospital, not exactly encouraging as she'd previously said most minor injuries Jay looked after.

Faces grew solemn as she explained about the bombing raid and her volunteer work helping locate survivors in the aftermath. They were all aware her timeline was a warzone, but hearing first hand really drove home how awful it was there. Both Jay and Elliott felt immense pride hearing that their daughter would climb down lift shafts in unstable buildings to save strangers. It proved that despite everything, the potential for good hadn't been stamped out of her, she hadn't gone completely to the dark side, that her moral compass rang true when faced with such devastation. There was a quiet pride in her voice as she spoke, not at her own actions, but that of the team she'd been working with. It didn't matter to her that she might have been dropped by a teammate, the building was collapsing, better one buried person, than two seemed to be her mindset. Cliff was also relieved that she'd only contracted blood poisoning because the more severe injuries were dealt with first (a broken leg was no laughing matter). She wasn't thrilled to hear that hospitals were understaffed, and the staff potentially overworked, but that was the status quo in many war-torn regions. It wasn't a complete shock that the blood poisoning had managed to slip through unnoticed. However the greatest relief for her was that despite the immense pressure, the staff had managed to spot the blood poisoning in time and do something about it before it became fatal.

"That's one hell of a story." John told the teenager, flopping back into the couch. Chas nodded his agreement. "It's quite something alright, glad they caught it in time." "So am I, that's not the story I was expecting, and I can't say I'm completely thrilled that you ended up with blood poisoning, but from a field doctor's perspective I can also understand why and how it happened." "You should be proud of doing that, not everybody would climb down a lift shaft in that situation." "You really don't do things by half do you?" Jay asked, though it was clear from the inflections in her tone that her words were meant as praise, not as any kind of rhetorical question. Elliott on the other hand was far more forthcoming with his praise. "I said it before I'll say it again, doing that kind of work is both incredible and inspiring. Doing work like that seems a right fit for you and your talents."

"Yeah well..." Rinaa shrugged, slightly embarrassed. "I wouldn't take it back or put somebody in my place, it was the right thing to do and I have no regrets. I was already diagnosed at the time, so it made sense to send me down. And besides, luck is a two-faced beast. I almost certainly would have bled out if the others didn't know the exact spot where I went down. So yeah, from that point of view, I'm lucky to still be here. Plus I made a friend at physio afterwards, decent bloke, for somebody who plays a loada sports. On the other hand I was switching between crutches and a wheelchair for MONTHS, which is incredibly annoying- I couldn't ride my bike at all, my sense of balance was utterly thrown with the cast and was dependent on mooching lifts to get ANYWHERE. Dealing with stairs and heavy bags was a nightmare. The worst bit was probably having a picture of my unconscious body being stretchered out of the rubble splashed on the front of a lot of newspapers. Sure my name was kept out of it, underage minor, data protection and all that jazz" she waved a hand in a 'you know what I mean' kind of gesture. "But all my friends knew it was me and kept quoting the whole 'hero volunteer' thing at me for AGES afterwards."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia found herself nodding in agreement with everyone's words of reaction to the story told. She'd like to think she would have done the same thing as Rinaa in that situation but truth was, she couldn't even picture herself in such a world or situation because her timeline was far from it. Just like shhe couldn't truly fathom what life must have been like during the London bombings or the world wars that happened. Knowing people survived all that was utterly mind baffling to her as it was, so to imagine all that sort of life happened all over again in Rinaa's timeline was just as baffling to her. Yet, she knew that if someone innocent got hurt whilst she was on a job she would do anything to help, knowing she had her phoenix side and her mage healing rune to help her overcome anything that would come her way.

Both her and Kay continued to listen as Rinaa responded to all the praise, clearly slightly embarrassed by it all and not used to it coming her way in such a large amount. It was by the end of her words that Fia had to smirk, easily imagining that Rinaa's friends would do such a thing after hearing the little tidbits about the group that she had. "sounds like the perfect group of friends to me if they'd tease you like that. I'd presume true friends wouldn't miss the opportunity to tease the living heck outta you" she said, the smirk not leaving her lips. "you're right to presume it, true friends will always tease the living crap out of you if they can. It's how you know they're true friends and not fake" Kay told Fia, it was a weird way of looking at things but to her it was true. Fake friends would be too scared to tease you whereas true friends knew what they could and couldn't say to you to wind you up.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Hearing she'd already been diagnosed at the time wasn't particularly surprising. They knew she'd started time travelling a few months after turning seventeen and had entered university almost two years early (her birthday was early in the academic year so she turned sixteen in the first term). As awful and morally questionable as it sounded, there was a logic in sending the terminally ill person into the riskiest situations. As she laid out the pros and cons of surviving, it was clear she'd given it considerable thought, that this wasn't the first time she'd made such an argument- in fact the first time had been with Jay when she'd come out of the coma, the second with Jay's partner. But while those two had been pretty bad, they paled in comparison to the monster of a five-way shouting match that had taken place when John and Chas found out (Jay deliberately hadn't told either of them).

They knew that Rinaa was fiercely independent, so being unable to ride her bike and being dependent of everybody else must have been unbearable. "Not being able to ride sounds like the worst part." Jay remarked. "I could still work on it, if it was jacked up high enough, so I didn't go into COMPLETE bike withdrawal." The teenager quipped back. Hearing Rinaa describe somebody as being a good guy 'for somebody who plays a loada sports' made quite a few people smirk. They'd all known people who fulfilled the 'asshole sports-obsessed jock' stereotype and reading between the lines suggested that Rinaa had lumped this guy off as one of them before getting to know them. There was genuine annoyance and awkwardness in her tone at being on the cover of so many newspaper, clearly she wasn't doing this for the glory. But it was the fact that her friends teased her about it that caught most of their imaginations.

"That's basically the status quo for teenagers though, anything you can tease somebody about, they'll be teased about at some point." Elliott pointed out, sure adult friends also raged each other, but teenagers did it far more frequently and over far more trivial things. "They sound like great people, clearly they were hella proud of you." "Yeah I know that they're amazing people and weren't doing it to piss me off, and it WAS funny at the start to come back and find my work station adorned with clip outs" she smirked fondly "and I certainly didn't complain about getting free food. I'm not a complete heathen, nobody in their right MIND turns down free food." She then shrugged slightly sheepishly. "I would've done the same for anybody else, making me a bit of a hypocrite, but when somebody makes THIS as a spoof Christmas card I think it's safe to agree taking the piss has gone too far." She reached over to her backpack and reached for the leather bound notebook, carefully prying open the concealed pocket in the covers (unlike Deke and Fia's copies, her notebook had incredibly thick covers due to the volume of things she'd concealed in it). The photo was a cropped version of one of the newspaper photos, showing a figure just about recognisable as Rinaa being stretchered out of the ruins by two others (all covered in grey dirt and dust). Somebody had added a thick layer of snow over all the ruins and rubble, a sign saying 'North Pole this way', a Santa hat to Rinaa's head and two elf hats to the other rescue crew members with some form of photoshop. The caption below 'after spending 24 consecutive hours delivering presents, Santa trips, falls down own chimney and knocks self out'.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia and Kay both just listened as Jay gave her opinion on felt like the worst part of the story. Neither knew about the other part that as unspoken, just as no one did but if they had known that alternate Jay keeping the news from John and Chas caused a five way shouting match, they wouldn't have been entirely surprised. They knew little about the family feud in Rinaa's timeline, but what they did know was enough to know that despite everything, they would have been absolutely mortified to find out Rinaa was in such a state. Both could also tell Rinaa really didn't particularly like being plastered all over the newspapers in such a manner, both totally understanding why she would be as it wouldn't be something they'd be on the papers for either.

As the conversation went on about friends raging on each other and how it was normal, both girls smirked slightly when Rinaa agreed that at the beginning it was funny but it did lose its humour quickly. Kay could see why it would lose its humorous side rather quickly and get rather tiresome to hear, especially after seeing it be made into a Christmas card. "yeah, that is taking it too far" Kay agreed, as she watched Rinaa pull out her copy of the leather bound notebook that looked a lot more worn than Fia's. As the teenager showed them all the card, both Fia and Kay had to admit to themselves it was very well put together in the image and if it was a random character or actually Santa Claus it would have been remotely funny, but seeing Rinaa in that state really made it just a somber image. "damn... I mean, props to your mates for the well put together photoshop skills but yeah...not really funny to look at. If it was actually Santa then I MIGHT find it hilarious, but seeing you like that? Nah..thats just really somber" Fia said honestly. "I agree with Fia, that's definitely taking it too far on a massive scale" Kay agreed.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John hadn't given any though to how the alternates would have reacted to finding out Rinaa had nearly died (again). He couldn't even claim to make a guess at how his alternate self would react, given that his alternate self was, at times, little more than a puppet controlled by a corrupted bond. But the argument in question had been one of the worst their group had ever had. There weren't even clear-cut sides, with each person taking their own stance on the matter. Jay and John's disagreement with one another had been the worst with each at the other's throat. The shouting part ended with Rinaa picking up her crutches and hobbling out of the room, but the tensions (particularly between Jay and John lasted) for weeks afterwards.

Seeing that there was a concealed pocket in the cover of the book made Elliott wonder what else was being hidden in there. The card itself was battered around the edges. None of them opened it as it was passed around, whatever message was inside wasn't intended for their eyes. There was no denying that the concept was clever, but what was more striking was the utter destruction visible under the fake snow. Rinaa's climbing suit was covered with dust and blood and her skin was too pale. It was a parody of happiness with visible, darker undertones. The humour was both morbid and sickening. "The idea's good, but.... it's not right to joke about at the same time." "You look far too much like a dead body for it to be comfortable to laugh at." Elliott added.

"In my timeline a lot of people have the mindset of 'if you can't laugh about it afterwards, you end up crying and depressed about it'. And I can say that is very true and the latter happens far too often if you don't have a good support group" she was tempted to say something along the lines of 'which is probably why I was so fucked up as a kid, I didn't have the people to get me through' but she decided not to, the card was already bringing down the atmosphere and the last thing anybody needed was to hear the deep dark thoughts of her mind. "I know the idea came from a good place, but it backfired with style and didn't get the laugh factor. But if you think that photo's bad be glad they only used the cropped version, the newspaper cover one is..... hard to describe to people who haven't seen it with their own eyes."

 

[MzHyde]

Both Kay and Fia felt quite a bit relieved they weren't the only ones who thought it was too much and utterly distasteful. There were times when they both wondered if they were two people in the group who didn't have enough of a morbid sense of humour to find such things funny, when in reality that wasn't the case at all. They had just as much of a morbid sense of humour as anyone else, even if Rinaa beat their entire group with the levels of said humour style. So when Cliff and Elliott both agreed it was no way humorous, they were glad they weren't just being the over sensitive ones.

They heard Rinaa out when she gave more information on the card in question and they both could see how that mindset would be a bit of a saviour for everyone's mental state in her timeline. Fia just had a feeling that Rinaa was holding back some of her comment for the sake of the rest of them, but she didn't press on it, and instead just continued to listen Rinaa speak. "I think I can speak for all of us when I say, if that cropped version is as bad as that then none of us would want to see the full newspaper version and glad we're not seeing it" she replied. Kay nodded in agreement at Fia's words, finding there wasn't a single piece of what her daughter said to be disagreeable.

 

[_gallifrog_]

There was truth in that kind of mindset, John could see it, there were those who tried to make light of the situation afterwards through comedy (Rinaa did a fair bit of that what with her penchant for morbid humour), but it was more common for people to just spiral downwards into a state of bleak depressive despair (which was undoubtedly the method he took in such situations when ignoring the problem ceased to work). Had the situation been different, maybe the card would have worked better. Rinaa took it back, carefully slotting it into the concealed compartment. She didn't really like it, but it was, at the same time a tangible link to her home timeline and the people who cared, so she kept it as a reminder of who was at stake if Elliott was to die.

"I can make some educated guesses" Cliff said sombrely, and out of them all, she was the most likely to be able to. While she hadn't worked directly in an active warzone, she had dealt with patients from such areas and had done training drills in simulated war ravaged environments. Her wife had also done drills in such places, but she hadn't seen the damage to people that the doctor had. Hearing that the card only showed a fragment of the horrors struck home for John, Chas and Elliott who'd all grown up in London in one way or another. There was nothing like seeing your home place destroyed- Jay could speak for that. "Yeah, you probably could Cliff. And I'm not offering to show the full photo anyway, it's not worth it, and besides there's far more interesting ones than those telling the story of how and where I broke my leg"

 

[MzHyde]

If anyone of them could have been able to make any kind guesses that would be the closest to reality, Kay knew it would be Cliff. Like John, Chas and Elliott, seeing London in such disrepair was heartbreaking to Kay. She may have only spent her first nine years growing up in London before moving to Seattle until she was eighteen where she moved back to London, but it was still considered home to her. Even if London held a lot of grievances for her, she would always consider London her first and primary home over Seattle, no matter how much she loved being surrounded by a place of music and accepting of people who were different.

Hearing Rinaa say she's not planning on showing the proper dull picture was of relief to Kay and Fia. Kay in particular really didn't want to see such devastation when she was pregnant, knowing it wouldn't sit right with her state in the slightest and she definitely want to be back in the bathroom with Cliff holding her hair back again. "of that we don't have any doubt" she said to Rinaa's last sentence. "there's gotta more uplifting stories to tell whilst we're all still up surely by now?" Fia then chimed in feeling like they all could do with ending the night on a more positive light, rather than seeing Rinaa and London in such a bad state of play.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"I've got a fair load of uplifting ones from back home." Cliff replied with a smile. "Or there's a whole pile of anecdotes from our school years, see how much this one" Cal reached over and ruffled her brother's hair (something he hated people doing) to make it quite clear who she was talking about "was paying attention when we were younger." "That's a tall order given the constant stream of drivel you used to spout on the walk back." Elliott snorted only to earn a sharp elbow in the ribs "OI!" Cal yelped indignantly. "It wasn't all drivel, there was some very valuable information there." Elliott rolled his eyes dramatically "yeah, like I needed to know who had a thing for who and whose haircut was appalling." "Oh PLEASE" Cal snorted in disbelief "you were just as bad as I was when it came to bitching about people's hair and latest fashion revolution" the word 'revolution' was said with dripping sarcasm. "Okay maybe I did enjoy complaining about people's horrible style choices, but in my defence remember when that guy accidentally dyed his skin lime green?"

Cal and Cliff let out identical peals of laughter at the memory. "Oh gods! I'd forgotten about that. He practically glowed in the dark!" Cliff chuckled delightedly. "Pretty sure he actually did, I had science with him, and they turned out the lights for a demonstration and bam! glowstick!" Cal made a gesture like and explosion to convey her point. "How on Attil does somebody accidentally dye themselves lime green?" John asked sceptically. "You could get these coloured powder things for hair, they were this big fashion craze at the time and I'm pretty sure this guy decided to improve on it to make the colour better, but instead the next time he had a shower he washed the stuff right out and his skin absorbed it instead. Resulting in well.... a hot lime mess and something the guy could never get off his reputation probably ever."

 

[MzHyde]

The moment Cliff declared she had some uplifting stories she could tell, followed by Cal declaring she has some that would include testing Elliott's memory, Fia instantly sat forward, elbows on knees and chin in hands with a 'pray tell me everything' grin on her face. If an uplifting story meant she could learn more about what Cal and Elliott were like as kids then she most certainly wanted to know everything. She chuckled at Elliott nudging Cal in the side as the banter continued between them. As the story came out about someone dying themselves lime green, she became even more intrigued. If John hadn't questioned how someone dyed themselves green, she most certainly would have.

Like with the others, she listened to the story and laughed at how the person in question basically became a walking glowstick. "that's crazy! But utterly hilarious. And to think now there's such hairdyes in existence that glow under a black light without any home made improvements needing to be done" she remarked. Kay had to admit it was rather amusing that someone had such an accident with hair dye, feeling like it was such a rookie mistake to make, but one that would never be done twice. "well, at least I'm guessing he learned his lesson not to fuck around with box dyes?" she smirked whilst questioning what happened next. "so how long did he end up staying bright green?" Fia asked, finding that to be a much more pressing question.

Spoiler: How I imagine fia

Legit had rapunzel in my head as I wrote Fia's action XD!

 

[_gallifrog_]

The bickering between Elliott and Cal was far too amusing for it's own good, Jay and John had almost identical smirks while watching the spectacle. Rinaa was also fascinated and had adopted a pose not completely unlike Fia's in that both involving propping her head on a hand which was resting on a knee, the difference being that Rinaa was only doing so with one hand and her other leg was tucked underneath the rest of her body. Chas had snorted in a rather undignified manner when he heard the siblings and Cliff reminiscing about somebody accidentally dying themselves green, the mental image he was getting was quite something. The chuckling only increased when he heard that the poor sod in question did actually glow in the dark.

"They exist alright" Rinaa confirmed to Fia's statement about UV dyes. "I haven't actually used them personally, but they're hella fun to see in alien nightclubs where being blasted with UV isn't a massive health problem." "Sadly, he didn't learn his lesson straight away, one of those slow learners. Took him a number of attempts to realise what most of us knew already." Cal replied with a face of mock sadness. "That was the most noticeable fuck up, but he had another few hair adventures, all involving dodgy homemade products. Eventually he learned his lesson and stopped messing with products." "I'd put money on him having nicked stuff from the science lab for his experimenting." Cliff added before Elliott answered Fia's question "Almost a month" he looked at Cliff and his sister for confirmation, both nodding at that estimate "we though he'd accidentally made it permanent, that the pigment and had properly bonded with his skin cells, but it gradually faded over time." All three chuckled again before a thought occurred.

"Were you there when Mr Noita was signed up for a blind date Qui?" Cliff asked, leaning over to look at Elliott who shook his head. "Old Tortoise face?" he asked, tone a mix of shock, scepticism and intrigue."Noooo... you've GOT to be pulling my leg. There's no way that EVER happened." "I'm not!" the doctor protested firmly. "That genuinely happened!" "Who?" Chas asked. "This teacher in our school, he looked to be at LEAST a million years old. Despite being Devra, he had this really wrinkly leathery skin like some kind of turtle." "And used to make this face that was a cross between a smashed pie and sucking a lemon." Elliott added, contorting his face an utterly ugly, yet ridiculous grimace that sent Cal and Cliff off laughing again. "That's pretty accurate of the face he used to make."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay wasn't surprised to hear that uv dyes existed in both Fia's and Rinaa's timeliness as they already did in this time. She had seen videos of them being used online but never tried them herself as she knew it was pointless to do. Fee never let her keep her hair dyed and it just faded it out straight away, hence why at school she used a black bob wig to convince her teachers that she had normal coloured hair at the time. Hearing that the kid at the time didn't learn his lesson and still kept making the same mistake just made Kay laugh and shake her head in disbelief that someone could be that slow in learning their lesson. She was about to answer when Elliott answered Fia's question which brought a load more amusement to the teenager. "bloody hell, that must have been sooooo hellish for him!" Fia laughed.

As the reminiscing continued for Elliott, Cal and Cliff, Kay and Fia were also curious to who this other person was that Cliff mentioned. It just so happened that Chas beat them both to the punch when it came to questioning who this person was. Both of them looked at the three of them as it was explained and Fia burst into laughter at Elliott's impression of what the teacher looked like. It was just too funny to see her half brother in such a way, it reminding her of when he'd pull such stupid faces when she was super young to cheer her up and always making her giggle hysterically. It seemed that she was realising it still remained to be the one thing that would easily break Fia into laughter. "that is the ugliest face you have EVER pulled!" she declared.

 

[_gallifrog_]

They all had a right laugh hearing that this guy didn't learn his lesson and continued to make his own hair products. the idea of nicking chemicals from a school science lab was ludicrous, no wonder the guy had ended up such a mess, he clearly didn't have a clue what he was doing. It being permanent would have served him right, but to hear it lasted a month was quite impressive"Sounds like that guy was a right idiot for not stopping. He didn't become a comedian by any chance with shitty hair disasters as his main gimmick?" "Sadly not" Cliff shook her head. "But I WOULD watch that, had it actually happened."

In John's opinion when the phrases 'teacher' and 'blind date' ended up in the same sentence there was always a good story to be heard. Watching the two siblings and Cliff reminisce about the past was quite something and they were unknowingly fulfilling so many stereotypes of gossipy middle aged women- he was fully expecting to them to start talking about who'd gotten married and who'd died, with Cal using her scarily in depth knowledge of the local family trees going back a couple of hundred years to explain exactly who they were talking about. Elliott's face sent everybody in the room into fits of laughter, both Jay and Chas snorting upon seeing it. John hadn't known it was possible to contort ones face like that. "Havta say I didn't think it was possible to do that." John remark gesturing at his adoptive sons face "with your face" "More importantly how could you keep a straight face while that teacher was teaching?"

"The honest is answer is with great difficulty, and the assistance of a thick scarf to muffle any snorts." Cliff replied, indicating what she meant using her arm as a stand-in for a scarf. "And you got a small bit desensitised to it as the terms passed, which of course meant after the summer holidays we were exposed to it in all it's glory having forgotten just how BAD it was." Cal added, before explaining how one of the other students had signed this teacher up for a local blind dating thing, which was hilarious, with everybody pitying the poor person who'd be stuck with him for the date. Though it back fired, as said teacher actually succeeded in finding a partner and as a result starting smiling far more often, which didn't do his face any favours at all. Elliott (as Cliff had suspected) was gripped by the story.