Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[MzHyde]

Fia just nodded at all the parting words, guessing that Jay's was more to Sykes than it was to either of them. When John said if they're not where they are now they'll be back at The House, she gave the thumbs up, "okay sure" she simply replied to him as she left the out the back door with Rinaa and the dogs and she could see the dogs weren't sure who to listen to. Fia knew that at least Nat and Dan were in the fields as she had seen Dan there earlier and Nat had told her he was going to give Dan a hand. So she could only presume that Benji was also there as he hadn't been in his family house for a while since helping to fix up Rinaa's arm.

Seeing the dogs look between her and Rinaa, and hearing Rinaa ask her where to go, she looked around before deciding. "let's go up into the forest on the main path and round, we can make a big loop back here. Maybe stop at the river incase the dogs decide they need a drink before coming back?" she suggested, figuring it was the best plan of action as it meant the dogs hopefully couldn't get too dirty after their grooming. "and no messing up mine and Nat's hard work on your coats you three" she warned the dogs. Looking down briefly, she noticed Rinaa tapping her foot, hoping the walk will help relax Rinaa and not make her more anxious about being around her.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa nodded at the suggestion, it was an easy enough walk, not to hilly and keeping to one of the main paths which she knew was an attempt to keep the dogs clean. The grooming hadn't gone amiss on her, even in a state of light headedness with blood dripping from her arm she had seen the state that Meyer was in and had seen Nat grab the grooming bag. They'd done a good job, then against he wouldn't expect any less of them, Nat ahd been grooming dogs for years and she knew enough about Fia to see that when it came to the dogs she would give her all. It was a good plan too, despite none the fact that none of the paths on the island being tarmacked (apart from the boat slipways down to the harbour and the area around dry dock), the main forest path was so well trodden that on a regular day it didn't get muddy.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Rinaa nodded, smirking ever so slightly at the words of warning Fia gave to the dogs. "You heard her, we're going the main forest way. So behave you three." She told them sternly. "No running through the muddiest patches of the forest on purpose Meyer." She placed extra emphasis on the youngest dog's name as they set off walking, the dogs racing on ahead. Rinaa slipped easily into her 'long distance walking mode' which consisted of long, loping strides, her hardened heels hitting the ground first. The loose pebbles and rock bits didn't bother her, she barely felt them through the thicker bottom layer of skin.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia smiled, glad that Rinaa agreed with the suggestion and always felt a slight pang of achievement when she could make Rinaa smirk with something she said. This time it was the word of warning to the dogs that made it happen and she smirked as well as chuckling when Rinaa put extra emphasis on the warning to Meyer, agreeing with her words. She started walking with Rinaa and the dogs, falling into a steady pace as she did so, letting the dogs walk ahead slightly if they wished to. She knew this path well from her walks with Matteo so she wasn't worried about doing it, and she proved to herself with the aid of the dogs earlier she could go on a decent hike and not get lost.

Rinaa doing the walk barefoot didn't go amiss on Fia at all, she was used to seeing Matteo doing it, so it didn't particularly bother her, not that it should anyway. "I'm gonna miss doing these kinds of hikes" she commented, thinking out loud whilst trying to come out with an ice breaker to break any kind of tension that would be between herself and Rinaa. She just wanted the walk to be light hearted and relaxed without much tension between them, as she was stills determined to make right by Rinaa. She was also trying to find conversational topics that wouldn't bring Sykes out in an angry rage at her. "so err.. You seen the river with the rope swing here?" she asked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa kept one eye on the dogs who had happily scampered off ahead of the two girls, she knew they wouldn't go too far out of sight and she trusted them to know where they were going, this was their home after all. Aside from a few hunting trips on other islands and tagging along with the family when they went to visit neighbours, the island was pretty much their whole world. And it was a beautiful world in Rinaa's mind, she'd always loved visiting Cliff's home- the scenery, the people, the fishing and hunting lifestyle were just some of the things that made it an amazing place to go as a kid, a teenager and now a legal adult. Like Fia she enjoyed walking the island, it was something she found relaxing, yet she was always aware of the darker more dangerous side of the island.

Rinaa knew that if she stayed silent it would make things awkward, but she honestly had no idea what to break the ice with, she never really did when it came to Fia. Keeping her mouth shut seemed the safer option, that way neither she nor Sykes (who was mercifully still asleep) could hurt the other teenager any more than she already had. She could see that Fia had the same problem, and couldn't blame her, Rinaa knew she wasn't really approachable or likeable when around family, she did better with strangers rather than her own flesh and blood. Even if the first part wasn't aimed at her, she had a sort of joke answer to it. "Yeah, hiking here sure beats my daily climb up to the eighth floor with a bag laden with textbooks, groceries and gods only know what." She had no idea whet Leah's student accommodation was like, or if Fia knew what Leah's was like, so she stuck with her own experiences. The apartment block she lived in was divided into floor shares, she lived on the eighth floor, sharing a common kitchen, bathroom and living room with four others.

At the real question she nodded. "Yeah, I have it's brilliant, not gonna lie." She smiled slightly, before her face turned thoughtful. "I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I'm pretty sure it was that river where I first learned to swim as a kid. I started learning around the age I first came here, but I can't say for sure, like with a lot of things from that time."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia found herself smirking and giving a slight snigger at the joke comment Rinaa gave back at her out loud thought. She could definitely see how it would be better than climbing eight floors with heavy books constantly, taking a guess that she was talking about her student accommodation as John's apartment wasn't on the eighth floor, and in her timeline she was more than certain that Elliott, Jay and Leah didn't live on an eighth floor either so it only really left some kind of student accommodation. "I bet! Also beats parkouring up the side building the apartment laden with crap and climbing through a window" she smirked.

As for her answer to Fia's real question, she nodded as she figured that would be the answer as she did remember she said she spent a lot of time on this island in her timeline. "thought as much, and yeah it is." she first responded, before listening to Rinaa say she was pretty certain that's where she learned to swim. "that's cool, could think of much much worse places to learn how to swim" she continued the walk, every now and then avoiding the loose rocks out of habit more than anything. She kept a close eye on the dogs as she did so, glad that the ice was finally breaking between herself and Rinaa and a conversation had been started.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa nodded in agreement at the parkour comment, knowing that Fia would be referring to sneaking in and out of her own bedroom in John's apartment. Rinaa had parkoured carrying all kinds of stuff, mostly weapons or sensitive information when she was 'on duty' as a vigilante, but there had been times where she'd parkoured out of the window in John's apartment in order not to be caught in there. "You kinda get used to it, but it's something easy to fall back on to bitch about with mates or flatmates." On the word 'kinda' Rinaa made the universal gesture of 'sort of' her flat hand tipping from side to side. Her next sentence expressed her agreement with Fia"That it does, it's a pain in the arse trying parkour with a schoolbag, completely skews my balance. Climbing through a window laden with stuff is the easy bit.... in my opinion at least."

Rinaa hadn't been surprised that the rope swing was one of the first places Matteo had showed Fia, not only was it located in a beautiful area of the woods, it was great fun and would appeal to nearly everybody. Rinaa hadn't taken Moya there for the simple reason that the other girl couldn't swim, her massive wings just became waterlogged, the feathers clogging up with water and dragging her down. Having been born with the wings, Moya had never learned to swim, hence why one of her biggest fears was drowning, with such large wings she physically couldn't stay afloat. "Yeah it is, learning to swim on a spaceship just makes no sense, that much water in one place, something is bound to go wrong. Sci-fi moves got that trope right" She paused in thought, before asking "So how did you learn to swim then?"

 

[MzHyde]

Fia nodded whilst making the universal noise of agreement consisting of 'mhm' when Rinaa said the first half of her reply to the parkour comment. She did agree you kind of get used to it after a while, but Fia being Fia did always prefer an easier route if she could take it. Mostly because of the times she did have to parkour up to her room, she didn't have much of a choice as it was either because she was sneaking in and out or she forgot her keys and was just too damn stubborn to admit that but knocking on the door to be let in. She remembered she also lost her keys once and got into so much shit for it, but luckily she used a tracking spell and managed to retrieve them before she got into even more trouble than she already was in.

She smirked when Rinaa spoke about learning to swim in a ship wouldn't be the greatest idea, something she just couldn't imagine but then thought of the film Passengers and the ship having a giant swimming pool in it, soon enough when things went bad, it went really bad for that area. "yeah I can totally imagine." she wasn't expecting Rinaa to ask how she learned to swim, but smiled remembering the day fondly. It wasn't as lavish as Rinaa learning on this island or lavish in any sense of the word actually, it was rather.... Normal. "Me? Oh, its nowhere near as unique as yours learning here. Chas managed to convince mum and dad to let me go swimming with Trish one day in a public pool. He only managed to convince them because Chas said he'd be taking us both and would stay incase I get into trouble. Swimming based or otherwise. So they took me to the large outdoor one in Uxbridge, Hillingdon Lido I think it's called. There I had Trish mostly teach me but Chas helped from the sidelines. For a lot of the normal things Trish actually had great involvement if it wasn't my Aunt Sam" she explained, smiling fondly at the memory. "think I was about 6 when they took me" she added.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa nodded along as Fia told the story of how she learned to swim, it was a question that had entered Rinaa's mind before. It couldn't have been off world like she had learned, and it had to be somewhere in the greater London area as Fia hadn't ventured any further than that area in her life, which was something Rinaa found quite saddening (though she probably wouldn't ever admit it). Rinaa loved travelling and seeing new places and cultures as well as just the sheer variety of possibilities out there, she was in awe of the diversity and variety that could be seen not just across the universe, but in different parts of the one planet. To hear that Fia had the chance to everything out there in the universe, but never the opportunity was saddening. It seemed a waste in her mind to be able to go to the stars, but never actually go staying stuck in one place.

The story made her smile slightly, just like in her timeline Chas was the voice of reason and normalcy, who could take the side of the teenager/kid and give them a shot at normality, making the parents back off while at the same time fulfilling his godfatherly duties and making sure the parent(s) in question knew that their child was in safe hands. In Rinaa's opinion Chas was was a good, loyal, kind, amazing person, something that reassuringly didn't change in either timeline. She was going to say something along the lines of 'sounds like a fun day for you' with 'seems like Chas and Trish are always the cool people' but that changed with the mention of 'Aunt Sam', a person she'd never heard of at all in her life. "Who?" She asked, looking genuinely baffled.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia saw how her story made Rinaa smile slightly, knowing that Rinaa could understand what she was getting at when she said it was Chas enciting his godfather role to make John and Kay back off and get Fia a day of normalcy. If there was one thing they had in common through both timelines it was that Chas was always the voice of reason and was always having their backs. She wished her story could have involved some grand adventure of going off world or even to another country on Earth and she learned in the great ocean somewhere, but sadly for her it wasn't to be. She learned to live with that fact, and if she was brutally honest with herself and everyone else, one of the reasons she wanted to stay here in this time was to experience somewhere that wasn't London. She wanted to live and not exist inside the same four walls.

When Rinaa asked who Sam was, genuinely showing just how baffled she was, it made Fia look at her. "I'm guessing she's not around in your timeline huh?" she replied with a sad sigh, she felt like if Sam was around then just maybe Kay and that Fia wouldn't grown so much hatred into their hearts. "Aunt Sam is mum's adoptive sister, and before that her childhood best friend. The one person who always had her back growing up and never once treated her like a freak because of Fee's voice inside her head. The only person that mum really had" she started to explain, tapping the side of her head. "she lost contact with Sam when she went on the run because their friend Ethan got possessed and tried to kill her, but in my timeline they reunite when I'm a few months old I think and basically becomes my aunt. She taught me all my normal schooling like English, maths, history etc whilst I learned downworld, phoenix and mage lessons from mum and dad." she finished explaining. She wasn't hundred percent certain of when they did reunite, but she was sure she was told it was either when she was about to be born or just after she was born.

 

[_gallifrog_]

At Fia's question Rinaa shoved her hands in her shorts pockets and shrugged, drawing her shoulders up towards her ears with an expression that quite clearly said 'how would I know?'. She could hear the sadness in Fia's sigh, a sadness she recognised well as it had been present in her own voice at the parting of ways after Quin gave her cryptic farewell. It was the sadness that came from missing somebody you loved, somebody who was important in your life and not being to convey just how much they meant to you to the people you were closest to. Fia hadn't even given an explanation of who Sam was, but already Rinaa knew this woman was an important person to Fia.

Rinaa only knew fragments of Kay's past, what Jay had known and what had slipped out of either John or Chas when they started talking about the past, so when it came to some of what Fia was saying, it was the first time Fia had ever heard it. From what Fia said, Sam sounded like a good person, if she'd had Kay's back even as a kid, then surely those traits of goodness and her moral compass would have carried through to her adulthood. As Fia explained Rinaa's eyes narrowed in thought as she cast her mind back to her timeline, looking for some form of evidence that Sam could have been around in her timeline. Rinaa knew full well that she really didn't know much about what John, Kay, Fia and Chas got up to when she wasn't around. The more she thought about the more likely it seemed to her that there was a decent chance there could have been another person in their lives and she wouldn't have known about them at all. They had no reason to tell her after all. Rinaa didn't speak for a couple of minutes, but the gears could clearly be seen whirring away in her head as she considered what she was being told.

"She sounds like a good person to have around. Really." She replied, glancing over at the other girl, genuinely meaning her words. Rinaa then looked away, eyes narrowing and darkening, her tone becoming detached and analytical, as she began talking about her life as if from a third person perspective."I honestly can't say whether she was around in my timeline or not. If she did appear at the same time as in your timeline, then the odds are high I wouldn't know. Those were the years Jay went AWOL, no communication, no signs or attempts at contact, only an increasing trail of dead bodies. If she appeared at a later stage, between when I was five and fifteen, then the odds are still high I wouldn't know. Those were the years spent off world, only coming back only for essential functions, essential family gatherings, a funeral, unavoidable legal stuff related to Elliott and of course the times AJ's crew and Kane labs needed Jay's expertise. After that, the odds drop to about fifty-fifty, I may have been living, working and performing illegal activities in London, but I was hardly welcome in the apartment, and Jay just straight up boycotted it, as did my s..." Rinaa caught herself in time before she said something she really shouldn't "AJ's crew, out of solidarity. So what I'm saying is that it's fully possible that she could have been around in my timeline and I didn't know. It would certainly explain why John would call you and Kay heading off for a weekend to who knows where 'girl time', some weird phrasing of sentences when Jay and I were around. And....." her eyebrows scrunched together as a particular incident came to mind "there was that time I was going to sneak into the apartment to grab something, looked through the window and saw there was a woman in there with Kay, Dismissed the woman as being Nat at the time. I did think it was a bit strange John didn't mention Nat was around at the time, but then again they have a really weird friendship so it wouldn't be uncommon. But looking back, this woman was wearing the complete wrong clothes to be Nat."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia was unsure if Rinaa would actually give a damn about what she was telling her, but the fact Sam was family, she felt she could tell her who she was nonetheless. She glanced at the other teenager when she finally replied to her, nodding at her words whilst sensing she really did mean what she said. "she is a good person. Utterly insane at times, though not as much now compared to her younger days, but a good person none the less. She means the world to me and not just because she's my aunt, but because like Chas, she gives me a sense of normal teenage life. She's take me to coffee shops and things like museums whilst she used the excuse of "it's studying outside as our weird little field trip"" she chuckled as she said the last bit. She then saw Rinaa's eyes narrow and darken and wondered what was going through her mind, when she started to talk.

Fia listened to Rinaa explain that she has no idea if Sam existed in her timeline and why she wouldn't know. Listening carefully, it just made her sad hearing the reasons why she wouldn't know Sam, not entirely surprising but still sad. It made sense to Fia why she wouldn't know, especially after what she had been told about the kind of people her timeline versions of Kay and herself were truly like. She'd imagine it was a case of either woman not wanting Sam to know who Rinaa or Jay were and so kept Kay's past as far from the two of them as possible. She noted how Rinaa was about to say something but then stopped herself, making her curious but knew better than to pry so let the teenager just continue with what she wanted to say instead.

Hearing that it was possible shhe could have seen Sam with Kay in the apartment at one time, it made Fia grab her phone from her pocket and flick through her gallery, where she had a completely separate family album set up in it. She flicked through the album and then showed Rinaa a photo of herself with her aunt. Sam being ever so slightly tanned skinned, dark brunette hair and dark brown eyes. It was clear from the image she was around Kay's age, but was aging well and didn't look her age. She was at a three quarter angle as she posed with Fia, with one arm round her shoulders, Fia having a broad smile on her face. "I know it's a long shot but was she wearing these sort of style of clothes and hair? If you remember that is... But that's her. My crazy aunt" she enquired. "the only other style she could have been in, or at least from what I know of my timeline is work clothes, like suit ensembles. Home schooling me wasn't always the best pay, she works in an office mostly now, but she usually prefers her biker jackets, shirts, jeans and is always in heels of some kind" she then added.

Spoiler: Sam

 

[_gallifrog_]

If Rinaa had to guess at why her and her mother's existence had been concealed from Sam one theory would have come to mind straight away, the 'denying the black sheep of the family exist' move. It was no secret that she and Jay were outsiders in the family, Rinaa was the only one of the two with anything close to a blood claim, and even then it was a blood claim via adoption- a tenuous link at best. Rinaa and Jay had never even met John's sister- one of the few people who knew Elliott (and had met him on numerous occasions before he died) and one of the even fewer people who knew just how much his adoptive son meant to John- which just emphasised to Rinaa how few people knew about her. If John's own sister didn't know about Rinaa's existence, then why would Kay's adoptive one? When describing her family situation to those who didn't know the full details Rinaa usually said something along the lines of 'I'm basically the illegitimate child that everybody knows about, yet nobody cares enough about'

Fia's description of Sam made Rinaa smile ever so slightly, she sounded like the kind of person Rinaa could get along with and have a good time with. The warmth and affection Fia had for Sam was obvious, not only in her voice and tone, but in her body language and when Rinaa looked over at her briefly, the other teenager's eyes. The sheer affection when she said the words 'my crazy aunt' were staggering, and Rinaa couldn't help but smirk slightly as she used nearly identical phrasing to refer to Cal and Cliff- 'my crazy aunts' or 'my crazy gay aunts' being her two favourites. The photo was pretty cute actually (not that Rinaa would say such a thing out loud around Fia, or anyone for that matter) and it brought another slight smile to her face. She knew without being told that Kay had no idea Sam would reappear in her life and it would be best if it stayed that way. Not that Rinaa would say anything anyway, it wasn't her business. Rinaa had long learned how to ignore the pangs of jealousy and sadness that popped up upon hearing all the things and people this Fia had in her life that Rinaa didn't, so it was instinctive to squash down those feelings and line of thought when they popped into her mind uninvited.

Rinaa took the phone carefully and considered the picture, her eyes still narrowed into slits. She considered the woman in the photo for a few moments, comparing her to the memory of the figure she'd seen with Kay. At the time she had thought it was quite strange that Nat would be alone with Kay, Nat was purely John's friend after all. But looking back now, there were small details that were wrong. She didn't speak as she analysed the photo, and stayed silent for a few moments longer than necessary before she spoke up. "I'm about 90% sure it was Sam" Rinaa said eventually"the hair length matches, this woman had long hair well past the shoulders. Nat's style is a scruffy bob style that she cuts herself. And the clothes the woman was wearing were definitely 'Sam's style' from what you told me of her. Looking back it WAS a sort of business suit, but she'd chucked the jacket over a chair and rolled back the sleeves. The heels were the clincher though, Nat wouldn't wear heels to save her life and she fits the 'butch biker woman stereotype' pretty damn well and she always has a sort of rough, scruffy edge to her." She handed the phone back. "So yeah, seems Sam is around." The unspoken part of that sentence was "And I never had a clue, looks like I'm not the only one with a secret relative."

 

[MzHyde]

Whenever Fia spoke of Sam it was indeed out of warmth and love. She absolutely adored her aunt, especially the crazy teenage days stories she would tell her about Kay and herself. Just envisioning her mother in half of the situations that Sam would tell was so difficult to Fia, but yet, at the same time, not difficult at all... Especially now she has got hang out with her mother's younger self. It was down to the sheer amount of affection and fondness that always escaped her when she spoke about Sam, that made her decide she shouldn't disclose that piece of information to this Kay, and yet keep it a surprise. For Kay, it would be a big moment and thus, important to the timeline. She could never deny how her body language changed or how her eyes conveyed so much love when she spoke about Sam and she was pretty sure if it wasn't for Sam being in her life, homeschooling her, she wouldn't be nearly as well rounded as she currently was.

She could tell that Rinaa was noticing all of this in her and she could also see the slight smirk still on Rinaa's face as she spoke of her family. When Rinaa took the phone to scrutinise the photo, she let her take all the time she needed to try and compare it to the memory she had of that time Kay was spotted chatting with someone on the couch. She j ew it was a long shot but she figured she'd try anyway. She then glanced at her when she finally spoke up, nodding at the reply. She listened to the description of both Sam and Nat and could hear the drastic differences in both women. Like Kay, Sam was always slender for as long as Fia had known her, and even before then. Hearing that Sam was in a business suit but had her signature jacket on the back of the couch, Fia had to smirk as that did indeed sound exactly like Sam. Taking the phone back, she exited the gallery and put it in her pocket again. "yeah, sounds like her to a T. In my timeline she'd every now and then come in after work shifts or before to see mum, especially if mum needs it emotionally. So I'd imagine it would be the same in your timeline, especially considering...well..you know" she replied.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa simply nodded when Fia explained how it sounded like the woman she'd seen that one time was Sam. Either way it didn't really make a difference to Rinaa, she had no plans on returning to her timeline, and if she ended up having to, she certainly wouldn't be telling John, Kay and Fia she was back, maybe she'd tell Chas, though it would hardly be fair on him to ask him to keep such a massive secret. But it wouldn't be fair to exclude him either, he had always tried by herself and Jay, in fact he was the person Jay was on the best terms with. They'd crashed at his place a few times and he'd kept it quiet that they were in town and he regularly updated them on what was going on on Earth, his e-mails always made both her and Jay smile as they were written in a style that was so typical of Chas.

When Fia left the sentence hanging the gallows humour was out of Rinaa's mouth before she could even stop it in the form of a set of rhetorical questions delivered in a sad tone. "The interplanetary feud that's getting worse by the day? The planet wide bombings and the growing list of the dead? The fact we have to carry masks at all times? The fact that Jay is finally managing to move on and heal? The other Fia acting out and doing who knows what? My existence? Whatever the latest Downworld threat to phoenix kind is? The fact that the world is slowly going to pot?" Rinaa gave a sad shrug. Before Fia could take offence of question anything she just said Rinaa gave another sigh of annoyance (the annoyance being aimed at herself), then added in a quieter, more level tone. "Yeah, we all need somebody to talk to at times like that, I'm not saying all that shit to be a bitch."

Rinaa then began to list some examples, feeling she needed to back up her point so it couldn't be taken as a bitchy remark or a personal slight."For John, it's always been Chas. For Chas it's either Renee or John, depending on the situation. For Cal it's Cliff or Dan. For Cliff it's Cal or one of her siblings. For Matteo it's his husband. For me it's my best friend or Jay. And for Jay.... well it SHOULD be Jack, those two were always there for each other when it counts." There was sadness in her tone when she mentioned Jay's dead brother, Rinaa had met him a few times time-travelling and had liked the guy. "Or Elliott I suppose, but he's not around either. Took her a long time to find somebody, but my point is, yes, everybody needs somebody to talk to when shit gets real and deep."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia knew it wouldn't make a heap of the difference to Rinaa, but it was just reassuring to her that no matter the timeline, Kay got her sister back in her life. Despite her grievances with her mother (that were getting less), she did still want her mother to be happy in any timeline possible. Kay had gone through too much crap from such a young age that she deserved true happiness, a happiness that was different to the level John gave her. They all did. When Rinaa started listing off a bunch if dark humour scenarios, she had to smirk ever so slightly, so small someone could almost miss it. She did mean Elliott's death amongst everything else, but she just did tlike saying it out loud, so she resorted to the open ended statement instead. However she did think Rinaa have valid points with her list, even if she didn't particularly like the other Fia one and the last one about her kind. She nodded when she said she wasn't just saying it to be a bitch, she did believe Rinaa that wasnt the case.

With the mentions of who had who to talk to during difficult times, she noted how she said Matteo had a husband and she guessed it was Chris who he was now with, though she also heard the sadness in Rinaa's tone when she got to Jay and who she had or more to the point... didn't have. "you're right...we all do. I got dad or Trish mostly. But you say Jay did find someone new?" she asked, not being able to not ask about that particular wording that Rinaa said. Her curiosity wouldn't let her just let that bit slip by and not go unquestioned. Yet she did think from what she knew of Rinaa's timeline, the fact that Jay could find someone was a good thing.

 

[_gallifrog_]

It was a relief to Rinaa that Fia took the list of shitty thing about Rinaa's timeline as dark humour instead of a bitter rant about some of the many things that were wrong with her timeline. That's not to say Rinaa wasn't bitter about her timeline having such horrible things, but in the grand scheme of things, everybody else in her timeline was going through the exact same thing, so it was hardly worth complaining about. Had Fia taken offence at any of what Rinaa had said, the other teenager would have started massively back-tracking and apologising, not wanting to hurt Fia more than she already had.

Mentioning that Matteo had a husband was hardly a slip up in Rinaa's opinion, for all she knew Matteo and Chris had married in Fia's timeline too, therefor it didn't count as a spoiler. What was a slip up was mentioning future Jay, Rinaa had caught herself earlier, but this time it was too late, Fia had latched on. And once a thought was in Fia's head, Rinaa knew she would do damn well anything in her power to get an answer. Rinaa knew she really shouldn't say anything, but after years and weeks of keeping all kinds of secrets in, she really did need somebody to tell. In a way Fia was the perfect candidate as she couldn't say anything due to the fragility of the timelines.

Rinaa gave a small nod, followed by a long, slow exhale of breath. "Yeah, she does, eventually." She didn't look towards Fia at any point during her elaboration. "Losing Elliott damn near broke her, and I don't think she EVER really stopped loving him. It took her fifteen years to meet the right person, somebody who'd loved as hard and lost as much as Jay had. Both of them thought they'd never love again, and as a result it took another one and a half for both of them to get their heads out of their arses and realise that they could. I never had a father growing up, but I did have a second mother by the end of it."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia could have easily taken offence to some of the things Rinaa said, but she knew it would be pointless, Rinaa's version of Fia wasn't her, so getting offended about that would have been stupid in her eyes. She knew Rinaa wasn't implying anything negative about her personally which is why she cottoned on quickly that it was just her dark humour coming out. As for Matteo it was different to her timeline, he wasn't married but there was talk of it possibly happening sometime soon so she found it nice that Matteo did actually go through with it in at least one timeline. Yet she did notice that when she asked about future Jay, Rinaa didn't intend to say such a thing.

Fia was fully ready to tell Rinaa that if she didn't want to say shy thing they could change the subject but Rinaa began talking about it anyway, so she lent her an ear and listened to her, sensing she did need to get it off her chest. She was shocked deep deep down that it took Jay that long to start to heal, but it was mostly sad to her because it showed just how much she truly loved Elliott. As Rinaa got to the end of her explanation and said she got a second mother, she smiled shortly and nodded. "well, I'm glad she found someone eventually. Jay deserves to have someone after all the heartbreak" she commented, leaving the unspoken bit out which consisted of 'even if she did turn out to be borderline psycho in your timeline because of psycho me'. Rinaa's version of Jay did still leave a haunting scar on her mind, even though she did understand why Jay turned out the way she did. She just wished she backed off of her more when it was proven she wasn't the same Fia she knew.

As they walked she was unaware she drifted to the side slightly, as all her attention was on what Rinaa was saying and so didn't see a loose twig on the ground making her kick her foot on it, tripping over it, flying forward and landing face first in the dirt. "bloody hell!!" she cursed.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa had expected Fia to be far more shocked upon finding out that Elliott wasn't the only person Jay could love. She knew that in Fia's timeline Elliott and Jay were a couple that always had been there in Fia's life and always would be associated with each other. To hear that Rinaa had not one, but two mothers should have warranted some kind of major reaction, but Rinaa saw nothing in the other teenager. She had expected a barrage of questions on the subject, questions which she wouldn't want to answer, yet the exact opposite had happened. Fia asked nothing and seemed to accept it as if it was the most normal thing ever.

"Yeah, she needed somebody in her corner that wasn't her kid, somebody who gets her on a level that isn't a mother-child bond. And my second mother gets Jay, and Jay gets her, even if Jay knows she can't feel the same way about her second partner as she did Elliott. Losing her brother scarred her, losing Elliott scarred her a whole load of other ways. That kind of experience changes you right down to the core" she hit her fist of her chest to indicate her point. "The Jay I know, the Jay you know, and the Jay here might as well be three different people, they have some traits in common sure, but they're so vastly different. At the end of the day, Jay needs somebody by her side, though she won't ever admit it. On her own she's just......surviving I guess." Rinaa's shrugged sadly.

She hadn't been looking at Fia as she talked, she found she couldn't do that without running the risk of a serious breakdown. The first thing she knew of Fia's falling was the loud cursing that came from the other teenager. The dogs heard it too and came running back and Fia would quickly find herself surrounding by three dogs and a crouching Rinaa. "Are you...... all right?" Rinaa asked, the words feeling foreign on her tongue, she'd never said that sentence to any Fia before and it went against all her instincts to say such a thing

 

[MzHyde]

She was so interested in hearing what Rinaa had to say and she could tell she wasnt expecting Fia to just accept the news. To Fia it was completely normal, more normal than Rinaa would probably realise, and it was all because she did think it was normal. Growing up with gay couples in the extended family made her see from a very young age that it didn't matter if a kid had one mother an done father or two mothers or two fathers. To her all that mattered was that the parents loved their kids and did right by them. There was one time in her timeline when herself and Kay were convinced Sam was going to marry her ex girlfriend and adopt a child together, but sadly the relationship ended before that could happen, but she knew it was still on the cards for Sam. So hearing that Jay met another woman and thus gave Rinaa a second mother, it didn't come as a shock in the slightest. She knew Jay was bisexual so to her, it wasn't a big deal.

It was because of the continued conversation with Rinaa about Jay that made her not see the twig in the ground and made her trip up. For someone who could be so observant with her surroundings, she could also be extremely clumsy at times. It was like there two versions of Fia inside the one body when things like this happened. She was always called an enigma by John in her timeline for it because none of her family could understand how she could be so sure footed one moment then completely clumsy the next. It did surprise her trough when Rinaa asked if she was alright as the dogs came bounding over to her. "yeah..pretty sure I am. Just caught my foot under a twig in the ground." she sheepishly said, dusting her hands off as she saw her jeans ripped in the left knee with a graze on it. What she didn't see was the graze on her right face of her face running from her forehead down to her cheekbone. "times like this I know why dad calls me a bloody enigma" she smirked, before wincing slightly.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa nodded at Fia's explanation, her dark green eyes flicking to Fia's feet where, yes, there was indeed a broken twig and a tree root that had burst above the ground. "This is a forest after all. Random twigs lying on the ground for no reason? It's to be expected..... I guess." She finished with a shrug, once again unsure of what to do or say next. The dogs, having thoroughly sniffed Fia and were satisfied her injuries were nothing serious or life threatening had backed off a few paces to allow the teenager to get up again. Rinaa had never seen Fia's clumsy side, apart from one time where the Fia in her timeline had somehow managed to fall of a roof while practising her violin and dancing (Rinaa, who had been watching from one of the nearby rooftops nearly bust a rib trying to keep the laughter in and not give away her position). She put it down to the other teenager being distracted by what she was saying.

"We called a meta villain Enigma" Rinaa said in response, her mouth opening before her brain even knew what was going on. She hastily backtracked to add some context, which didn't make it any less weird."Or more precisely, my friend code named him that. He's got a knack for naming things, be it vigilantes, villains or even the coffee machine in the break room." Rinaa stopped talking when Fia turned to face her and she caught sight of the graze on the side of her face. She knew the injury was superficial, it probably wouldn't even bleed, but she'd seen bomb survivors with similar injuries from where they were dragged from the rubble. "You've got a graze...." Rinaa gestured at her own face, mapping out the path of Fia's graze on her own face. "You should probably do something about it." She added, leaving out her other thought, which was "or else they'll think I went and had a go at you."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia rolled her eyes at Rinaa's comment about it being a forest so it's to be expected. She let the dogs sniff her to make sure she wasn't seriously injured, knowing it would have been pointless to shop them away, not that she entirely minded anyway. She gave the dogs a smile as she pulled herself back up onto her feet, dusting herself off more, deciding that clearly today was a day that she was destined to get dirty constantly. With the mention of a meta villain being called Enigma in Rinaa's timeline, she rose an eyebrow, letting Rinaa clarify a bit better about such a comment. "interesting" she simply replied.

She wondered why Rinaa was looking at her for a brief moment until she explained it was due to a graze across her face. "wondered it stung just now and yeah.. I guess I should" she agreed, touched her fingertips to the tune on her neck with her left hand, and her fingertips on the graze with her right hand and healed herself up, using her mage side instead of her phoenix side because one) she preferred to do it that way and had learned how to way before her phoenix healing ability activated and two) she didn't want to freak out Rinaa by using her phoenix side so close to her. She too didn't want to make the others to think that Rinaa took a swipe at her and they had a fight. The graze on her knee stayed only because her jeans were ripped and that was easy enough to explain that she just tripped over because she was clumsy. "shall we...continue?" she asked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa watched as Fia healed herself up, this wasn't the first time she'd seen mage healing, but it was the first time she'd seen it done by somebody who had a mage rune on herself. Rinaa actually understood a surprising amount of the runes on display on Fia's body from her general knowledge of runic languages and the hours she'd spent in The House library researching anything that vaguely looked like a time-travel rune. Magically induced time travel had been a viable option for her at first.... until she started to flesh out her plan and realised it would require multiple time jumps, so unless she wanted to bring a mage along with her, magic was out of the question. Had Fia used her phoenix side Rinaa suspected she would have been okay with it, so long as there was no fire or smell of burning involved, the later could and had triggered flashbacks before.

She rocked back and forth on her heels as Fia healed herself, not because she was impatient, but because she felt she needed to do something rather than just hang around uselessly. She could hear the uncertainty in Fia's voice when she asked whether they should continue or not. She couldn't tell whether the uncertainty was because it was Rinaa she was asking or if she was always like this after a fall. "Yeah, I think we should, at the very least it will let the dogs have a proper walk... c'mon you three, lets go." The girls would walk in silence for a few moments until Rinaa would break it. "Obviously Jay can't know any of what I said... or Elliott... or any of them really. I'd rather not fuck up my biological parents' relationship before it even properly begins."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia never minded when people watched her heal herself or use any of her runes that she adorned her body with. So when Rinaa watched her it wasn't really a big deal to her. Fia had also learned master the art of self healing without her stele through many sleepless nights of practicing after getting grazes and such from sneaking out and there were times when she inflicted some kind of light injury on purpose to practice the healing. If she had used her phoenix side it wouldn't have meant fire but it would have meant heat and an intense firey glow giving the illusion of flames, which was why she didn't want to risk it with Rinaa around.

For Fia, the uncertainty wasn't intending to come out, she always got a little thrown off for a brief moment after a fall but she usually got over it just as quickly. "yeah, I don't wanna cut their walk short because I'm a clumsy arse" she smirked, as she started to walk again. The silence was quite frankly deafening to Fia as she just didn't know what to talk about after her tumble cut the last conversation short rather abruptly. So when Rinaa broke the silence she internally sighed with relief, whilst nodding wholeheartedly. "don't worry, you got my word. I won't say anything to any of them.. Just like I trust you won't tell mum about Sam." she replied to her, giving her a glance before looking at the dogs again. Unlike Rinaa's Fia, her word was her always her bond.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Had it been anybody else who'd made the clumsy arse comment, Rinaa would have added in some self depreciating humour of her own, but that tended to go very dark very quickly and the last thing she wanted to do was spew out all the darkness in her head. There were thoughts in there that nobody needed to hear, least of all this Fia, who really didn't need to be burdened with any more of Rinaa's shit than she already was. By the time it occurred to her that she should say something along the lines of 'you're not a clumsy arse' the moment had passed. She was woefully unused to how to act around this version of Fia, just as this Fia had no idea how to deal with all of her... 'Rinaaness'.

Rinaa nodded in relief when Fia said she wouldn't say anything, she knew Fia genuinely meant it. After all both knew how fragile timelines were and how much impact (usually negative impact) knowledge of the future could have on people. "Good, cos that's a conversation I really don't want to have, it can ONLY go badly. There's a reason most of my photos on these" she pulled at the cords attached to the flash drives around her neck "are encrypted with just about any method I could think of." To hear Fia say that she trusted Rinaa caused an expression of shock to flicker across the older girl's face, a 'blink and you'd miss it' expression. "Not to be morbid, but I will take that stuff about Sam to the grave." Rinaa told her, genuinely meaning it. She took any bond or vow she made with the utmost seriousness, a trait that had been instilled in her by the Isogrii. And with so little time left it was more likely that she'd die before there was ever a suitable opportunity to mention Sam.

 

[MzHyde]

The nod and sigh of relief from Rinaa didn't go amiss on Fia. She took it as a sign that Rinaa knew she meant her word and took what she said seriously when it came to a promise, her parents raised her well in that regard. She listened to Rinaa reply and saw out the corner of her eye, the older teenager pull out her flash drives to make a point with her words. She nodded, knowing that Rinaa did everything for a reason. She just about caught the blink of shock flash across her face which made her smile ever so slightly. She had a feeling it'd surprise her that Fia would ever tell her she trusted her in doing something.

She nodded at Rinaa's words about taking it to the grave. It was morbid but she got why it was worded in that manner. She could tell Rinaa meant her word, knowing that she took any vow or bond seriously. "I know you will" she said whilst still walking, making sure she missed every possible tripping hazard as she didn't feel like repeating such a moment for herself. She kept an eye on the dogs as well as she walked with Rinaa.