Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[MzHyde]

Kay gave an amused smirk to the comment about John's niece Gemma and hoe she could give Fia a real run for her money when it came to worshipping John. She didn't have any motivation to change John's mind on the matter because she knew it would a pointless endeavour to do such a thing. She knew there would no doubt be times when each other would let a comment slip about their skills of bringing Fia up, and she knew both would deny it or try and brush it off. The sense of amusement from Chas didn't go amiss on Kay when mentioned about being just panicked over the whole situation as John was. She listened to Chas, knowing that if she could trust the advice from anyone it would be him. ".....right. Good to know its normal I guess" she chuckled slightly. "I'll tell you one thing, I'll be glad when this is over. The back pain, the emotional moments, the struggle just to get dressed and out boots in... The novelty has well and truly worn off. Not that it was ever a novelty so to speak" she smirked.

Fia was oblivious to just how talented John thought she was or not. She knew she could play, she always had faith and confidence in her playing, that much was always evident. Yet when it came to what others thought about her playing, unless they ever told her to her face, she was always oblivious. With her song over, she followed John's lead, breaking just long enough just to get a feel for what he was playing, listening to the kinds of chords he strumming and when she got it, she lifted her bow back up, found the chords on the neck of her violin and began to play with him, somehow managing to keep the tempo with him. She absolutely adored playing fast paced songs on her violin as it meant it really tested her ability. As she played she couldn't get rid of the smile that had crept into her lips, her foot now tapping the floor to the beat.

 

[_gallifrog_]

What Chas didn't say was that the list of 'side effects' Kay was complaining about from being pregnant was only the beginning. As the pregnancy got more and more advanced, that list was going to grow and grow- some things would get would, but it would mostly be a whole new category of complaints. He'd heard about most of them from his own wife (and to an extent Cheryl), so he figured that after Cliff he was the most informed person about pregnancies. Aside from the accelerated growth, there didn't seen to be anything about the pregnancy that was different from a typical human pregnancy (which was a relief to everybody, not just him). "It would be a very strange novelty if it was." Chas remarked, trying to keep a straight face, not wanting to let it show on his face that he was imagining an ad campaign praising the novelty of pregnancy in the same way that a novelty brand of biscuits might be advertised. "Yeah, nobody misses that part of the pregnancy, whether they're the one pregnant or the partner." Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw a figure moving, but it vanished from his eyeline again, so he dismissed it as paranoia, concentrating on the conversation at hand.

Like Fia John also enjoyed fast paced songs, though his reasons were different. It wasn't so much a test of memory- the chord and strumming patterns of such songs were repetitive enough that enough practicing had committed them to muscle memory, but interesting enough that he had to pay some sort of attention to what he was doing. For him, a fast song meant an angry song, which was exactly the kind of things he liked to sing- dark, angry and with a sense of either loss or demand were the kind of things that appealed to him. He didn't play love songs, laments or anything vaguely balllady, and more often than not he'd play things with mainly minor chords and opposed to mainly major chords. It was a reflection on his mindset he supposed, and his personality that he was naturally drawn towards the darkness as opposed to the light.

 

[MzHyde]

If Kay let herself let herself think about it, she would have known that things could only get worse for her than the couple of examples she mentioned. Unlike most new parents, she hated it when unborn Fia was kicking as for her it hurt like hell, made things even more uncomfortable and only made her think of when the time would come and contractions became a thing. She was dreading the day she went into labor as she just didn't want to experience that kind of pain. She didn't even know if giving birth would be the same as a human or would it be different for her because of her bloodline. She knew eventually it would have to be something she and John would have to look into but she was just too worried to do so at this stage. "I'll take your word on that. I just keep hoping that something not normal doesn't occur out of the blue for me. "she said, seeing that his attention for a split second trailed elsewhere. "everything alright?" she asked.

Fia was used to hearing John play faster and darker pieces in comparison to her, who could play pretty much anything of any tempo. She just always played what felt like was the right thing to play at the time. She also put it down to being a young woman and music was her way of letting out any extreme emotions she felt at any one time. On the whole, she liked the fun pieces that she could choreograph a dance piece to go alongside with, but there were times when the slower more intense pieces needed to be made, the piece she played in front of Chas was a prime example of that. She continued to play with John until the piece was over, when she put the bow down for a brief moment to stretch her fingers, as well as her other hand that was holding the violin. As she lowered her violin holding arm, her elbow made a slight cracking sound making her grimace. "ow.." she remarked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Well if something does happen, at least we have a qualified doctor around who can keep a cool head and think logically." Chas replied. It was one of the first things that had gone through his head when he made the connection between Cal having a fiance and Cliff being in the apartment in scrubs. Chas liked to think that they're group could keep a cool head in times of medical crisis, but realistically he knew that when there was a pregnant woman around, they'd all lose their heads, none of them having even the slightest idea where to begin. At Kay's question he shrugged his shoulders. "Thought I saw somebody following, but it seems to be just a trick of the light or something or some kind of hallucination since John put the notion of a tail into my head." Chas gave another discreet look over his shoulder as they rounded the corner of the block, but saw nothing.

Out of all of teenage John's coping, mechanisms, music was probably the most healthy of them all (the others being alcohol, sex, drugs, adrenaline highs and exploring the darker side of magic). At that age John was full of anger, anger at the world, at his father, at the abuse, at the fact that his sister had pretty much abandoned him and that nobody really gave two shits about him. Music (particularly punk) was a way of venting it all, and being around people just as angry as he was helped in a way. He still retained those feelings to this day, but they'd dialled down a few levels and were a sort of background emotional cocktail as opposed to an all-consuming one. While Fia stretched out her fingers, John took a look at his own fingers. Despite not playing in a while, they were retained their guitar string callouses. John raised an eyebrow at the sound coming from Fia's elbow. "Is violinists' elbow a thing then?" He asked, which was John speak for 'is that a normal thing to happen after playing violin or is it something to worry about?'

 

[MzHyde]

Kay nodded knowing that he was right, that if anything were to happen then having Cliff around was a blessing. She listened to his next remark that answered her question and suddenly she remembered the chat about being followed that Fia, Cliff and Cal all spoke about a few days ago after their run which made John's comment about a tail make so much more sense. "right, I almost forgot about that whole thing what with everything going on" she admitted sheepishly. "if someone is following us then they're doing a good job at it if we can't see them" she then added, finding she herself was looking every now and then discreetly to see if she could see anything out of the ordinary. Yet she then realised she was on an alien planet so pretty much everything was to be considered out of the ordinary.

Fia had known John's fingers to be nothing but calloused for one reason or another as she grew up. Yet it was those very calloused hands that always made her feel safe or calm if she was upset or frightened or stressed out for whatever reason triggered such an emotion out of her when she was a kid (and even now in her teenage years). When he asked about if violinist elbow and if it was even a thing, shhe realised the cracking sound was heard by him as well. "sadly yes it's a thing. If I go for any length of time not playing it, every now and then it'll lock up if I then suddenly play it for a decent amount of time. Doesn't always happen and its not always painful, but sometimes it's loud and hurts temporarily like a bitch" she explained. "it's kinda like if you lay down with a bent knee for a long time then it cracks as you stretch it out, can hurt for the same amount of time as that if it does hurt." she added. She remembered the day it happened for the first time when she was first learning the violin, she wondered what the hell it was and thought she had broken the violin for a split moment before realising it was her making the cracking noises.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"I probably would have too" Chas had admitted, also sheepishly, but not as sheepishly as Kay was "had John not reminded me, and the others of it on the way out of the flat. It's all so different" Chas refrained from using the word 'alien' as technically they were the aliens in this place, their non-golden eyes marking them out as not being Devra (even half blooded Devra had golden eyes Elliott told them, which to him meant that Rinaa did indeed possess golden eyes, even if she preferred to mask them from people, they were still there) "so picking up a tail in all of this is pretty hard. No wonder it was only Cliff who saw something the last time, she probably has the best eyes of that group along with knowing the territory." Chas had no idea that his words were echoing what Kay thought about the situation. Though he still did vow to keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary, things were cranking up a notch with their new inside source (in the form of Elliot's father) and both Rinaa and Jay chasing down spooks).

John listened as Fia explained that, yes, unfortunately this was normal. It made sense too, the arm positioning when playing a violin meant that the player's arms were not supported on anything, at least while sitting down and playing guitar he could rest one arm on the body of the guitar (playing standing up was another matter of course). "Makes sense. There's nothing like that for guitar, only guitarist's fingertip. Everybody who starts out with guitar gets blisters and sores on their fingers, to the extent where it bleeds and you can make 'I put blood, sweat and tears into this' jokes. They only build up into calluses after a couple of months of continuous practice. And if your fingernails are too long they break and splinter painfully, but if they're too short you run the risk of getting bits of string embedded right under the nail. Hence why a lot of people use picks." John himself never played with a pick, but Jay did as she hadn't played in years and didn't play with any regularity, her hands never had the chance to form guitar calluses (gun calluses, knife calluses and rope calluses, yes, but guitar calluses no).

 

[MzHyde]

Kay nodded, noting Chas' slightly sheepish admittance and choice of wording for her his reply. She understood exactly where he was coming from, knowing that for once they weren't just forgeiners in another country, they were considered 'aliens' to the Devra and nothing they did could hide that fact. She may be able to make her eyes go a golden ember colour but even then, that's when Fee wants control and she has no say on the matter. She couldn't just change her eye colour at will similar to how Rinaa could. Hearing Chas mention about how it was now not surprising that only Cliff could sense the tail the other day, she nodded once more. "I was just thinking the same thing. From what I understand both Cal and Fia are more than capable of spotting a tail, but if there is a tail they're beyond good if only Cliff could sense them. Its also not surprising now that something like this would happen, things are ramping up when it comes to getting Elliott justice and closure" she replied.

Fia let what she said to John compute to him, not that it was a difficult thing to comprehend. She then listened to what he said about guitarists and how none of them have the issues she does with her violin. She smirked at the blood, sweat and tears comment as she continued to listen, nodding in understanding. "makes sense. Never seen you once use a pick and I know you've never done so even before I came around. In my timeline you tried teaching me the guitar because I went through a phase of wanting to find which instrument was 'suitably me'" she told him, making sir quote with her fingers before continuing, "and I can play the very very basic things but I'm not particularly good at it. Mum tried teaching me the piano, or more to the point the keyboard coz of space and absolutely hated it with a passion. Don't get me wrong, I love listening to mum play, something incredibly warm and comforting about hearing her play, but for me? Not so much. Can't even play chopsticks" she chuckled, "then one day I came across this violinist online and their talent just blew me away. Which lead to finding bands like apocalyptica, this incredible trio cello metal band and in that very moment I knew I had to play the violin" she explained with passion and fondness.

"the looks on everyone's faces when I walked into the main room and declared I wanted a violin was hilarious, looking back on it. To say you were all shocked in an understatement" she chuckled.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"We all know what Cliff says about how good her eyesight is." Chas replied with a smile. Cliff had made it her business to make sure the whole family knew that the urban myth of 'when you lose one sense, the others get better to compensate for the missing one' was utter bullshit. What actually happened was that she had become more dependent on her other senses, particularly her sight to guide her through the world. That particular day she thought she'd seen a tail, her hearing aids had been out, so she was relying almost exclusively on her eyes to keep her safe. "The only real question is, was the tail friend or foe? And are they anything to do with either Elliott's father or the spook in the Attilian government." As they rounded the corner into a narrow street, Chas discretely nudged Kay's arm to get her attention. "Looks like somebody else knows the meaning of the murals." He whispered in a low voice. They weren't alone in the alley, there was another person at the far end, running a hand over the 'justice' mural. Their face was obscured by the hood of their hoodie and they had a bulky military-esque kitbag on their back.

John listened as Fia explained how she'd been through what she dubbed "a phase of wanting to find which instrument was 'suitably me'". As stereotypical as Fia may have thought it was to go through such a phase, John himself had never had those kinds of musical doubts. It had started with him attending a lot of punk gigs and figuring he was just as angry and screwed up (and suitably grimy and bashed up looking) as everybody else on stage, so he might as well give it a go. Playing guitar meant he could be a vocalist, and if John was gonna be in a band, he was damn well gonna be the leader and the front man. He smirked along with fia when she described everybody's shock at the instrument she ended up choosing. "Maybe future everybody were all expecting you to come out of the closet or something, instead of voicing what instrument you wanted to play, and their brains just crashed."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay had to smirk and half chuckle at Chas' comment about Cliff and the enhanced senses. "how could we ever forget" she joked, but she meant it at the same time. With his next comment, she found it was a question that was in the back in of her mind the whole time. She hoped it was a friend and not foe, but she wasn't going to solely rely on her hope, knowing it was just as possible to not be a friend. She just simply nodded with a 'mm' noise in response as she continued walking with Chas, before ehe nudged her arm making her look up and toward where he was gesturing. "interesting" she quietly spoke watching the nysterious person's actions and body language. "should we try and talk to them?" she asked, not one hundred percent sure what would be the best course of action to take.

Fia's trial and error of different instruments was down to a few factors that she left out of her explanation. One of the left out bits of information was the fact she went through a phase (or what would be considered a phase if she was fully human) of being more hyperactive than she could be considered now. With her genetics and upbringing, she mind and body went through a point in time where she was incredibly hyperactive. She couldn't focus on one thing for long, and wanted to do more than one thing at a time. That's where her affinity of dance came in as she'd dance around the apartment or The House just to try and wear herself out, before deciding she wanted to be like her family and learn an instrument which lead to the many trials and attempts to find the one she stuck with. She smirked and chuckled at John's theory, finding he strangely wasn't that far off with the assumption. "you're not far off with that to be honest. Pretty sure my versions of you lot have pondered mnay a thing about me and discussed me at great lengths when I'm not in the room" she replied.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The idea of approaching the person and talking to them really hadn't crossed Chas' mind. He'd pointed them out purely because he'd never seen anybody outside of their group paying attention to the graffiti mural before. "I don't know" he sighed, having paused before entering the alley, giving the stranger their own time to appreciate the mural. Given how long they had spent just looking at it and running a hand over the wall, it was safe to say that they knew the meaning of it. "Chances of them speaking English are pretty slim, even if this is a military base, and my conversational Attili isn't the greatest either." In the end the other person solved the problem for them, hefting the kitbag further up their shoulders and exiting the alleyway at the far end, giving no indication that they'd seen Chas or Kay watching.

"Pretty sure that what almost every parent and relative does when somebody is out of the room." John smirked in response, not doubting for even the slightest second that their future selves did that. It would be hypocritical not to think so as they had spent a considerable amount of time discussing Rinaa, her actions, her reactions, her timeline and whatever other nugget of information they'd found out about her behind her back. They discussed fai too, but to a far lesser extent, as, out of the two teenagers Rinaa was definitely the more troublesome and volatile of the two. John adjusted a string on the guitar before shrugging"I 'spose that's just how families are really." John knew that when he was a kid his father had talked about him behind his back, the only difference was that Thomas Constantine had no difficulty saying those things to his son's face.

 

[MzHyde]

When Kay suggested talking with the person, it was one of those first things she would have thought of possibly if she was at home. So it was a suggestion she just didn't think twice about. It was only when Chas replied with the very fact that the person probably didn't even speak English and neither knew enough Attili to make conversation, did she realise what a stupid suggestion it was to make. "good point" she replied, when she noticed the person suddenly shift and adjust the the weight of his bag and then left. "I just said it without thinking, but either way, looks like we don't need to worry. Anyway, what direction now?" she added, ending her comment with a question, looking between their options of directions.

Fia nodded smirking slightly at John's reply. She wasn't expecting much of a reaction if she was perfectly honest with herself. "suppose so. I'm pretty sure they've all got a bet on on what way I'll swing when it comes to finally meeting someone." she smiled amused, really putting it passed any of her family for doing such a thing. In fact she was near damn completely convinced that was the case of what was happening between everyone. She didn't make it a secret that she could appreciate the looks of both genders, even if she didn't make it clear whether it was because she was crushing on either gender or not. She remained completely neutral, and just had the attitude of 'if I meet someone, and they make me happy, that's what matters to me'. She was still working through everything after all, something that she had made clear to Rinaa before.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"It's a good idea" Chas told Kay "if it was Earth, but I think we've all had a moment where we think we're on Earth and not some alien planet lightyears from home." And besides, we're probably never going to see them again." Even though he said that, Chas couldn't help but look for the figure when they exited they alleyway (though he didn't see them). The alleyway opened onto a sort of square, the road to the right leading to the steeper slopes of the city wasn't a good idea for a pregnant woman (no matter how beautiful the view from above may be). "How about straight on? I don't think I've been that way before" He suggested, having genuinely not been down that particular route before.

"You could be onto something there, given how willing our group is to bet on something, or anything. Somebody once said we'd be on the opening of an envelope if there was one at hand and we were slightly bored." John replied after Fia's remark on how she suspected her family in the future had a bet on which way (if any) she swang. It didn't really matter to him what sexuality Fia was, and if she didn't figure it out, so what? Sexuality was hardly clear cut anyway. John labelled himself as bi, but he'd been attracted to (and involved with) non-humans, agender beings and species that had genders beyond 'male and female' so the label wasn't exactly right. He then smirked in wry amusement. "They were probably right." His smirk grew (and was joined by an edge of realisation) as he remembered something from his youth. "Me and Cheryl actually used ta have a bet on Chas y'know?" It was phrased as a question, though John highly suspected Fia wouldn't have heard about it, given how rarely Cheryl was around to stir up memories of their youth. "She was convinced that he was ever so slightly bi, and that there was a very, very, very specific type of bloke he'd go for, though the chance of him finding said type was nil to none." John's tone made it quote clear that he thought Cheryl's logic was a cop out to cover her back in the future. "I on the other hand said he was completely straight."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay nodded, glad that she wasn't completely stupid for suggesting what she did earlier. She was also glad that he had to admit how he was sure they've all forgotten where they were at some point which strangely made her feel slightly better about the whole situation. "sure thing, straight on is fine by me" she agreed, starting to walk straight on ahead. So far she was feeling good and not tired enough to think about heading back or resting. She could feel the odd little movement from unborn Fia but thought nothing of it as she was used to feeling her kick.

Fia smirked at his reply, finding his lack of surprise of them betting on her sexuality really wasn't all that out of the question to their family. She listened to him bring up a memory as he clearly remembered something judging by his smirk, and that instantly made her interested in what he had to say. "seriously?!" she asked, the interest written clear on her face which also showed his assumption of her having never heard that story before to be correct. She let him explain how Cheryl as convinced Chas was even the slightest bit bisexual, which John didn't think was the case at all. "he's never given me bisexual vibes ever personally. Pretty sure he's as straight as they come." she replied. She was tempted to continue the conversation by starting it with 'speaking of which...you and mum' but she didn't know whether to bring it up or not and was contemplating it hard in her mind. She knew he was a hard closed book on that topic for the most part, but she was still a kid at the same time and asking awkward questions was a common occurance.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Straight on it was. chas was right in thinking he hadn't been this way before, the path took them in the opposite direction of everywhere they'd seen so far- the forge, the hospital where Cliff worked, the spaceport, Deke's lab and the main town where Elliott grew up. The architecture was simple, most of the buildings constructed using locally sourced stone and the rock powder used in the cement came from the thousands of tonnes of rubble that had been formed when the top of the mountain had been levelled. Mist buildings were reinforced with metal superstructure and had shock absorbing properties- this was near an active military base and while there had never been a bombing since the base and adjoining town had been constructed- it was still a target if a war was ever to break out, so it was best to be prepared. Chas let the conversation lapse into a comfortable silence as they walked, just taking in the sights and the clean air, enjoying being able to properly walk after being cooped up in the apartment.

"Yeah, seriously." John replied, a slight smugness lacing his tone, along with an edge of amusement at Fia's reaction. "He's never given me that either, and I should know what I'm talking about." John's claim was based both on the fact that a) he himself was bi and had a sort of sense allowing him to recognise other bi people (though as Elliott, Jay and Rinaa could all attest to, it wasn't entirely accurate) and b) he and Chas had been mates for so long that there was very little they could keep secret from the other and Chas would full well know that John wouldn't give him hassle of any sort for being bi. "But if there's anything I've learned about people it's that they never fail to surprise and don't fit into boxes as easily as you think." John paused, then added "he doesn't know about it obviously, so don't say anything, even though it was years he might get weird about it, yeah?"

 

[MzHyde]

Kay didn't complain about the comfortable silence that befell the two of them. She always enjoyed Chas' company whether they were talking or not, and this was no different in her eyes. She looked around at how different the area was in comparison to what she had already seen on her little walks to either eat out or her walk alone with John. All she did hope was that they wouldn't accidentally walk onto some land that they weren't meant to. Like him, she was just glad that they weren't cooped up in the flat for once and getting a much needed walk done.

Fia could tell that John felt rather smug over the realisation that he managed to tell her something about her family that she didn't know already. She smirked at the emphasis he put on when declaring he should know what he was talking about. She knew if anyone would know if Chas was anything but straight it would be John because of how long they had been friends. "mm, that's true. Let's face it, all our group ever do is surprise each other" she smiled. "hey dad? Can I ask you something?" she asked cautiously, "and tell me to butt out and forget it if you want to" she continued, pausing before continuing, "you and mum...what stage are you at figuring out how you feel for her?" she finally asked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

As soon as Fia said 'can I ask you something?' John knew he wasn't going to like where this was going, Fia had that look on her face, (he couldn't describe it if he tried), but John just knew that the teenager had ulterior motives for wanting to spend time with him, and this question was her voicing said ulterior motives. And given that it was Fia, he had a sneaking suspicion he knew exactly what she wanted to ask him about. And as soon as the question left Fia's mouth John refrained from letting out a very loud, 'extremely sick of people asking me this kind of shit' sigh. His face however showed a mixture of annoyance, being sick of being asked this kind of shit, an edge of frustration and very slight edge of 'I wish the ground would open up and swallow me right now so I don't have to talk about this'. If he was being honest with himself on where he was, he'd just managed to get past 'denial', but had gone not further. Even if Fia was his daughter, she was from the future, and not technically his kid yet. They may be related by blood, but they were still very much strangers, and felt no obligation to tell her anything.

"I'm going with the bog-off option." John told her firmly. "And besides, I've been more worried about making sure Ell lives through these next few weeks than figurin' out anything' else." John didn't need Rinaa to spell it out for him, he wasn't as stupid as people sometimes made him out to be- the way she acted and the fact that she knew an extraordinary amount of information about these specific few weeks in time told him all he needed to know- that Elliott in her timeline had died during the trial (more than likely due to some form of assassination as opposed to natural causes). And given what Rinaa said, if the timeline did go to shit, his feelings wouldn't matter, he was already bonded to deep.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia knew deep down she wouldn't get an answer but as they were speaking about people's sexuality and relationships, she couldn't help but ask anyway. It was partly also a way of her gauging her parents development in their relationship in comparison to hoe they were in her timeline. Her curious mind always got the better of her sometimes when it came to asking questions she probably shouldn't, and this was no different. She nodded at his answer after seeing how frustrated her question made him. "that's fair enough. And of course, we're all worried and focusing on making sure Ell survives this." she replied, knowing that from what had been discussed, it was obvious that it was this trial that triggered Elliott's death. "I won't ask again, it just came to my mind when talking about what we were. Sorry for annoying you with it." she said honestly, never wanting to annoy her dad, even if technically this John wasn't her father, to her he still was. She did feel bad for irritating him, but she knew if she didn't just get the question out in the open, it would eat her up inside because her curiosity would be too much. "just also figuring out timeline things in my head that's all, along with everything else. I have this annoying knack for thinking of hundred things at once" she added, trying to justify why she asked him. She didn't want her time hanging out with him to be tarnished because of her thoughts, or for him to think that was solely the only reason she wanted to hang out with him. She genuinely did want to just spend time with him, because it was what she was used to in her timeline. She was still all too aware of some kind of blockage in her head but she couldn't remember for the life of her of why it was there which didn't help her need to ask questions and throw all her curiosity in other things that on her mind.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John probably should have felt bad about using the possibility of Elliott's impending death to avoid talking about his emotions, but he didn't feel even the slightest smidge of guilt. It wasn't a full lie, he had spent hours and days out of his mind, churning over everything they'd learned in the background, trying to fit together the slivers of information Rinaa had let slip to understand the big picture. And if Elliott was to die, John was in no doubt that, even knowing what his grief caused in the future, he would go right off the deep end. This kind of grief wasn't something one could just stop. Maybe there was an edge of procrastinating to the fact that he kept putting off talking about what it was he felt for Kay, but the implications of the depth it could grow to? That was something that scared him. Those who loved him were pretty much limited to family and certain, extremely close friends. But those John himself loved? Outside of his sister and Elliott, the only two people he'd ever believed he loved had all but smashed his heart into a million pieces- one betrayed him and things between them had never been the same between them, the other had ended up in a coma, and in the end the plug had been pulled.

John could understand where Fia was coming from with asking the question, but that didn't mean he had to like it, which he told her. John wasn't angry at Fia as such, sure part of him was, but in a way he was more angry at himself for being so unable to verbalise these kinds of emotions. Cheryl had dubbed it 'emotional constipation' in an attempt to put a more lighthearted edge to it, but they both knew it ran far deeper than that and like pretty much everything wrong with the two of them (Cheryl had problems too, some the same as her brother, some different). "Well you've asked" 'and hopefully got that line of questioning out of your head' was implied in his tone, making it clear that even if Fia did try different versions of the same questions, she'd be getting nowhere "time to move on." He paused thinking over Fia's words "I probably don't want to know what the other ninety-nine things were, probably tear a hole in the fabric of space and time."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia just nodded at what John said back to her, instantly understanding the implications of what he was saying and just as she said, she wouldn't ask again. When he paused and then replied with what he did, she couldn't help but smirk at the wording. "eh, probably. It's not just actual timeline doohickeys" she said, waving her hands around to imply she meant both their timelines, "but like...where things slot in time wise to know how things develop or become what they are in my timeline. It's a curiosity thing I guess. I'm too curious for my own good as someone dear to me once said" she smirked, remembering that it was Elliott that said to her. "not only that I tend to think of just random crap all the time. I have a very busy mind I guess you could say...before I found the violin everyone was convinced I was borderline ADHD because of my human and phoenix sides were battling each other with growing up." she continued, not even sure if any of what she said was even making sense.

She was told her borderline ADHD behaviour in her years 9-12 was possibly because her phoenix genes wanted to take over completely and make her grow up faster than a normal human, but her human genes were stopping that from happening but they couldn't prove it because it never happened to Kay due to her grief of losing her birth parents. They also thought it could have just been her natural personality coming through in those years and ever since it was a mystery to them. Alongside all that, she was thinking about her worries of losing her half brother and become a complete monster with her mother, despite knowing deep down it'll be a whole new timeline that occurs. Then ontop of all that, she was always thinking about when she'd have to go home and when Kay would be going into labor as she knew she couldn't be around when that happens.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The way Fia said 'someone very dear to me' made John think it had been Elliott who said it, the girl had admitted, on numerous occasions that, despite him having moved out of John's place and having his own partner and daughter, he was still very close to John and would come round on a fairly regular basis. (John couldn't help but be pleased about that, he did miss Elliott when he was off wandering, and definitely did not want him to feel unwelcome just because John now had a biological child. Seemed that was one thing he didn't fuck up in Fia's timeline). Despite the timeline being very different, Fia's timeline's Jay had still insisted that Leah spend at half her time growing up off-world, as Jay believed it would both round her off, make her very capable and confident in herself and teach her things that living on Earth couldn't. (Like Rinaa she'd spent time on Attil, time on Cliff's homeworld, and lots of time with the Isogrii). And Leah was happy to do so, having a sort of wanderlust from a very young age and in her teenage years, a desire to understand her own roots and heritage.

To hear that they suspected Fia of having ADHD when she was younger was a bit of a surprise to John. Sure Fia was energetic and seemed to bounce easily enough from one topic to another, but she didn't have the other 'quirks' of ADHD. John didn't have a massive experience of being around people with ADHD, but there was somebody in the cell next to him in Ravenscar who had ADHD and schizophrenia (John never actually saw them, just conversed through the walls, or listened to them screaming due to the nightmares or the so-called 'treatment'). But it made more sense when Fia said that it could have been the phoenix and human sides fighting with one another for dominance. "It's a good theory and I could see why we would have thought that." John then let out a sort of huff of amusement. "Looks like no matter what the timeline, we'll be keeping Cliff in business getting her opinion on everything." John was referencing the fcat that they'd already fact that they'd already gone to Cliff for guidance on the pregnancy, the fact that in Rinaa's timeline, Jay had gone to Cliff when she suspected her daughter had a coordination disorder and both in this timeline and the alternate one, Cliff had been dealing with Rinaa's medication (as well as being the one to confirm that she was indeed dying and would be dead within a couple of months, if she was lucky).

 

[MzHyde]

Fia could tell that what she waa saying was of some surprise to John, and she was sure she probably shouldn't have even said anything, but she said it anyway. As it turned out, she didn't have ADHD, she was just extremely hyper when people were round and very very interested in so many things because she loved to learn. It was why she worded it in the manner she did of 'borderline adhd' and not flat out she was suspected of having it outright. As she got older her hyperactivity did mellow as her body and genes managed to learn to live harmoniously so to speak. When he brought up Cliff she had to chuckle and nod in agreement, "yeah, she helped a lot to reassure you both that no, I'm not ADHD I was just hyper and said theory of my two genes came about. It was the only theory everyone had really as when I grew up it mellowed quite a bit." she replied. "so good luck when that stage comes about with my other self" she smirked cheekily.
She finally put the bow part of her instrument down on the table but left her violin on her lap, running her fingers over the structure out of habit, just like she did with her other violin back in her time.

 

[_gallifrog_]

It was a strange sort of relief for John to hear that Fia did mellow out and essentially grow out of this extremely hyper phase (even though the fact that Fia was standing in front of him and hadn't acted particularly hyper around any of them was proof that she'd already grown out of it). John chose to roll his eyes at being wished good luck when it came to dealing with, what was for them Fia's future self and for Fia her past self. This was exactly the kind of messiness associated with time travel (and trying to wrap your head around alternate timelines) that made John wish people would just stay in their own timelines and stop messing up the future (even if having these kind of parenting spoilers was incredibly useful). "Gee thaaanks" he drawled sarcastically.

Had this been his own guitar John probably would have balanced the instrument slightly precariously on his legs in order to lean back more comfortably on the arm of the chair. But as it wasn't his guitar and more importantly he was sure that if even the slightest scratch was to appear on her twin's guitar, Jay would be on the warpath. Despite acquiring a set of picks and all her talk, he was almost certain that Jay hadn't actually played the instrument yet. Unless of course she'd snuck out with it to play to an audience who wouldn't know or care about the context of it. "Cliff is probably a due a bloody medal for putting up with us, or another one if she has already received one for some kind of military medic related heroics." John remarked. Neither Cliff nor Cal had mentioned anything about rank or military decoration (apart from the fact that Jay outranked them), though they weren't the type to boast about those kinds of achievements.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia just found herself smirking at his sarcastic retort to her wishes of luck being given to him. She knew from. Now on she would have to hold back alot of the stuff she knew about her being brought up, but she hoped that one little snippet would be useful for him so he didn't have to worry that there was anything wrong with his biological kid. She figured that if only one of her parents had it in the back of their minds that it would be nothing to fret over, it would make things easier on the both of them, even though she also knew deep down that they'd probably have to mind wipe themselves of her presence in this time. Listening to his suggestion and opinion of thinking Cliff deserved a medal for everything she does for their group and has put up with, she chuckled and nodded. "I agree with you there. She really does. She's one hell of a woman that's for sure." she replied.

"So with Ell's case... You think we stand a chance of getting him justice and out of here alive?" she finally asked, not knowing what else to talk about and like everyone she was terrified of losing her big brother. She wanted to know what John thought of Elliott's chanced now that no one else was around to plants opinions into everyone's heads. "or.. If you don't wanna talk about that either, we don't have to. Just trying to come up with a conversation. If you wanna do something else we can" she quickly added.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John was far more willing to talk about Elliott's upcoming trial than he was about his intimate, emotional thoughts. But he did appreciate the fact that Fia gave him an out not to talk about it, it was a touchy subject, none of them wanted to lose him, everybody had more specific reasons for trying to keep him safe and get him through it alive, but at the root of every single one of their motivations was love- whether it was love between siblings (John was including Cliff in that category, she and Elliott were already starting to be a double act and gang up Cal, as well as swapping embarrassing times about her), parental love (which went both ways, love a parent had for a child, and love a child had for a parent) or love of a friend that had potential to grow into something deeper."Nah, I don' mind talkin' about it" he told her.

"We've certainly got a far better chance when we started out, there was no plan as such there" it was no secret to anybody and John had admitted it a few times that as soon as he'd seen the news footage of Elliott being arrested, he didn't have any form of plan, beyond getting Elliott back. "We'd have been royally fucked if Cal and Cliff didn't exist, though I suspect Jay would have taken over and made her own plan, doing it with ruthless efficiency." John shrugged, one hand keeping a firm hold of the body of the guitar. "With all the people we've got in this, I think we've got a fighting chance of getting him out alive and doing some kind of justice." John began to count off the various groups on his fingers. "There's Cal and Cliff's group who know the prisons inside out as well as the political situation and motivations of the opponents in-depth, there's that coupla lawyers Alex knows" ever since they'd returned back from Cliff's homeplanet, there had been a steady stream of correspondence from Alex and Chris, in the form of legal documents, advice and checks on the people in the files from Elliott's birth father and various sites, including one that had Jay delighted as it contained geo-tag information. "There's the street art people spreading awareness, with this level of public, it won't be a farce. Then there's Jay's contacts, she's playing another angle no doubt." Jay had taken her laptop with her to continue working, but it hadn't escaped anybody's attention that she was clearly working on more than just making a map of all the murals, she'd been getting a considerable about of correspondence from her old crew- 'the rats'.

"Then there's Rinaa" John let out a sigh as he said the teenager's name "who has in all likelihood been playin' us from the very start. She has nothing to lose and everything to gain from this, which makes her the most reckless and dangerous of them all. She's not just here to see Elliott and get to know before she dies. She's up to summat. Though what is anybody's guess." Rinaa wasn't the last person on John's mental list, there was one more person left. "And there's Elliott's birth father in the mix as well, he sent those files for a reason, we know he completely flips alliances and turns whistleblower in Rinaa's timeline. Still don't trust him though."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia listened to John as he agreed to talk about it and said his thoughts on the whole situation. She gave him the opt out option because she knew it was a sore subject for absolutely everyone. If it wasn't for Elliott's trial, she probably wouldn't have stayed and instead headed back to her own timeline, but she wanted to help save Elliott after finding out that Rinaa wasn't from her timeline, but one where Elliott didn't survive. Like John thought with her want to hang out with him, she had an alterior motive to want to stay in this time as well. One that she no doubt had suspicions everyone figured out by now. She listened to him explain how when they first got here they had no plan and would have been fucked if it wasn't for Cliff. The very point making her smirk ever so slightly as it seemed not much was different in her timeline to now, as not many plans were ever put into place in her timeline for certain jobs.

She continued to hear out what he was saying about everyone else and why he thought their chances were higher than before, nodding in agreement and understanding at everything he said. She, like John didn't fully trust Elliott's birth father yet either, but she did accept the fact his future change into whistle blower and clues of becoming said whistle blower even now, was very hopeful indeed. "oh I definitely think Rinaa is playing another angle somewhere down this long line we have going. I can't put my finger on it but I definitely sense she's up to something and it's something no one is going to like in the slightest" she replied. "I also agree that Ell's father doesn't feel trustworthy yet. This whole case is just one big headache so to speak but I don't plan on going anywhere until its done because I wanna help and I know I can be useful" she added.