Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[MzHyde]

When John called back to Kay saying Fia wasn't the only one who wanted to know what was said to Blue, Kay rolled her eyes, smiled and shook her head, finding it was just another mirror trait between Fia and John. She wasn't in the least bit surprised that John was just as nosey as Fia was, it was just easier to call Fia out on it in that particular moment. She couldnt see Chas roll his eyes, but something told Kay that he reacted in a similar manner to herself over Fia and John being that nosey and intent on finding out what just went down.

Fia nodded at Elliott stressing he doesn't know the full context of what was going on and that he could relay what was actually said. Fia listened intently to what was being said raising an eyebrow at the mention of having a right to see said girl which made her think it wasn't a girlfriend or even a sister. It had the feels of a niece to her but she also felt she could be completely and totally wrong. But what was evident it definitely got Fia thinking even though it really was none of her business to be prying or thinking about it. She then continued to listen as John asked about the cutting final words from Simeon before Blue left obviously extremely hurt. "ouch...sounds like there's a deep and long back story there. Almost sounds like Blue has a niece or something, but it's not for us to know" Fia remarked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John also nodded when Elliott made a point of informing them that he didn't have the full context and therefore not to read too much into his words. Had it been anybody he would have said something like 'just bloody get on with it, I don't give a shit about the ethics or whatever'. But it was Elliott, and John was very biased when it came to his adoptive son, treating him in a completely different way than he did everybody else on the planet. He was tempted to roll his eyes and scoff when Elliott said there was a girl involved. A girl getting between two brothers was a pretty well worn trope on Earth and he had no doubt that that also applied off-world. Like Fia, once Elliott started talking about Blue saying he had a 'right' to see this girl, John and Chas' focuses shifted away from an adult, towards a younger person. If it was an adult- a girlfriend, partner, half sibling for instance- surely they'd get a say in this feud between the brothers?

"You could be onto something with there being a kid involved in their.... thingy." John agreed with a slow nod, glancing over at the apprentice who was leaning against the wall, head tipped back towards the ceiling, talking to Cliff, Cal and Dan (giving some kind of explanation, or maybe just venting, it was hard to tell). The apprentice was about three years younger than Elliott, him having a kid wasn't totally impossible, but it did suggest a teenage pregnancy- always a controversial topic. Both men grimaced at the insult (Chas more noticeably than John), it was cutting, and referring to Blue as 'the favourite child' suggested some major family tensions at play, particularly combined with Elliott's understanding of Blue having sided with his parents and not his brother. "It's certainly not out of the question, but yes, Fia's right, and as Dan said earlier, this Simeon has had a rough time these past few years, if he wants to tell us, he can, but it's really none of our business and we should stay out of it and get back to what is our business- this whole court and trial rigmarole." Chas agreed firmly, making it quite clear that for him, the topic was closed. "Agreed" Elliott nodded firmly. "John gave you a run down of the news our end I take it?"

 

[MzHyde]

Fia didn't feel like she thinking far out with her guess when John thought her theory was completely plausible, even if she did think that it would mean Simeon would have had said kid at a really young age depending on the age of said child, if it even was that. She also took notice that Chas also thought her theory was credible but glad he also agreed that it wasn't for them to pry in whilst closing the subject matter. She nodded at Chas saying they should focus on their own situations at hand and not someone else's before nodding again at Elliott's assumption. "yeah he did" she confirmed, whilst noticing out the corner of her eye what Cal and Cliff were doing but her main focus still on Elliott.

"it's quite the bombshell to drop about the trial but just another positive step forward" Kay commented, now having got up and walking over to the others after just listening in on the conversation they were having. "it certainly surprised us all that's for sure but like mum says, a positive step forward which I'm all for" Fia agreed, feeling that whatever hopeful step they got, they'd have to hold it tightly with both hands metaphorically as in her eyes, it meant Elliott had even more of a chance of walking away from all of this very much alive which would leave her satisfied before going home to her time. She really didn't want to think about going back to her time and finding a large change of possibly Elliott dead.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Yep I did" John replied at the same time as Chas nodded and Fia verbally confirmed it. "Came as quite a shock to us all that we'd been looking at the whole thing the complete wrong way since day one of me arriving here." Elliott replied, leaning against the wall of the forge so that he could look at them all as he talked. Despite having had his hood up, some of the rainwater had managed to bypass it and was slowly dripping from the loose strands of hair around his face (ever since that first time going out in public in disguise, he'd become quite a fan of keeping his hair tied back in a sort of man-bun, and the fact that Jay liked it also had something to do with his decision to keep the style for a bit longer). "Though it does mean we have to do a lot of re-thinking now that were doing the persecuting as opposed to the defence. But I'm certainly not complaining about it" he added hastily.

"It's excellent news" Chas agreed with a smile. "How'd the other three take it?" "Cal nearly fell off the chair in shock" Elliott smirked, in such a typical younger sibling way, clearly getting delight out of the memory "and asked them to repeat it. Cliff and Jay were far more dignified in their reactions than me and Cal, managing to actually ask the intelligent questions while us two wrapped our heads around it." "Speaking of Jay, dare we even ask how she is or what she's doing right now?"Chas asked, a tentative and a worried edge to his tone. Elliott let out a long, slow breath, which told John everything he needed to know. "Honest answer? Rinaa leaving put a massive downer on her day. Kid reminded her of what it was like to have a sibling around I guess, those two did click fairly well all things considered. It's best to let her do what she needs to do to cools off and not get in the way of it" he told them, having learned that if Jay wanted to be alone, she would find a way to be alone and no matter how much he cared about her and how much he wanted to give her some kind of comfort and emotional support, he knew that being around her at such a time wouldn't be a good idea. Best to wait until she was back. "Before Rinaa left she was talking about breaking into either the court, the government buildings or both and snooping around to see what their side had for the trail so we could come up with suitable counters. Which I'm honestly not completely opposed to as an idea. So I guess she'll throw herself into that when she gets back."

 

[MzHyde]

To say they had a lot of rethinking their strategy and direction was a complete understatement. Fia had to smirk at Elliott stating he wasn't complaining about the change of circumstances, which she really didn't blame him for. She wasn't particularly complaining about it either, knowing that if it was going in Elliotts favour she was all for it. Hearing that Cal nearly fell off her chair at hearing the news made Fia chuckle in a typical teenage way as no matter how mature she was for most things, the idea of people falling off chairs was still highly funny to her, just like it was hilarious to her if someone fell over in the snow or just in general which she found was justified as she could fall over enough herself and be on the receiving end of said laughter.

Kay however refocused her attention to the rest of the conversation, particularly about how Jay was doing or if they had any idea of her whereabouts. "to me Jay's a strong enough woman who'll come back when she's good and ready and will be fine wherever she's gone. If she gets into serious trouble that she can't get out of alone, she knows we're all on the other end of a call" she explained. She never once thought Jay would get into that amount of trouble but it was point she was getting across that mattered. "so whilst you guys have been getting all that info and falling off chairs almost, we've" Fia gestured at herself, Chas, John and Kay, "been playing cards, getting way too competitive and eating." she finished saying. "whilst deciding I want you to teach me Attili" she then added with a smile that seemed to echo in her eyes.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Elliott agreed with everything Kay was saying about Jay, it was an accurate representation of the assassin alright. He didn't think Jay would do anything so stupid that would get her into serious trouble, but he had to accept that the possibility was still there. "As Cal put it, it's not necessarily Jay we're worried about, it's the people she crosses paths with today." John smirked at that comment, from what he'd seen of her Jay wasn't the type to normally take shit from people, but in a mood like the one Elliott was describing, she'd be even less inclined to do so. "And getting documents translated" Chas added quickly to Fia's list of things they'd done that day, wanting to make it clear that they hadn't been loafing around doing fun things all day, leaving all the 'hard' work to Elliott, Cal, Cliff and Jay.

Elliott's face split into a broad grin when Fia declared her interest in finally learning Attili, looking genuinely happy and delighted. "Finally! I was thinking you'd never ask and just keep taking the lazy way out of learning. I'd love to teach you" he paused then added in a more musing tone "pretty sure you're the only one here who doesn't speak a non-extinct second language in some form of another" His words made it clear that the ancient phoenix language or any Latin/Ancient Greek Fia knew didn't count as they weren't widely used by anybody (both on Earth and off it). Elliott himself spoke three languages- English, Attili and Japanese (Scott had been teaching him). John spoke English and Attili along with various smatterings of other languages (which included a surprisingly extensive knowledge of Welsh). Chas had taken both German and French in school, but preferred and was far better at the former than the latter. The only one he wasn't sure of was Kay, with her he was hedging his bets, guessing that the school system she'd grown up in had made learning a non-English language mandatory. Cliff spoke three and was fluent in sign and he expected the same was true for Cal. It was a toss up between Rinaa and jay for who knew the most languages, with both having learned multiple as kids, having a knack for learning languages at that young age. "Jay said once she could upload languages via her brain implants." "What, like the Matrix or something?" John asked, faced scrunched up sceptically. "That was my reaction too, I think she was just making it up, but with her you can really never say for sure."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay smirked and nodded att Elliott's comment about Jay, easily believing it to be the truth and thinking if Jay was to get into serious trouble and needing their help, it's be because they'd need them to bail her out of somewhere and not because she was laying on the floor at death's door. At Chas adding to actual work they were doing Fia just smirked and gave the wave that said 'yeah and that' before just seeing the broad grin appear on Elliott's face at her request to learn Attili. At the mention of him wondering how long it'd take her to ask, Fia rolled her eyes, "dad said the same thing and yeah I probably am" she then replied to him, not even denying that she was no doubt the only one who didn't know an non extinct language or dead language. She knew everyone knew more than one language, even Kay who knew a fair bit of french from school days, only because Canada was quite literally across the water and a bridge from Seattle and a lot of Canadians spoke French, so it made sense to her to learn it.

She smirked and rose an eyebrow at Elliott saying about what Jay once said thinking it had to be bull, but she also knew there were plenty of things about Jay that should be bull and we're in fact true, so she couldn't place all her bets on one opinion or another. "anything is possible with Jay if you ask me" she remarked. "so believe everything she says as a possibility but don't be surprise if it turns out to be false" Kay added, just feeling happy for Fia that she was able to learn another language with her brother and spend some quality time with him in this time. She was certain she had spent less time with Elliott than the rest of them, so figured it'd would be a good thing all round.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Elliott nodded at Kay's words, finding that they echoed what he himself thought on the matter. Jay was a superb liar, her tics were extremely subtle and you had to know her extremely well to catch them. (Elliott was certain that if jay wanted to deceive him, she could as his read on her wasn't good enough to catch everything). The assassin had found an immense source of amusement in getting a reaction of shock, horror and disgust out of AJ's crew. Back when she'd been essentially their prisoner, it was a way of getting her kicks, as well as making sure that they didn't forget that she was dangerous and wasn't bound by the same rules as they were. A surprising amount of what she said later turned out to be true, or mostly true, but there had been many other times when Jay had cackled with laughter at their gullibility. As she got on better terms with the crew, the habit had begun to die back, but every now and again she'd let out another nugget of information.

"That's how I see it, yeah." Elliott agreed with a nod, seeing out of the corner of his eyes that Cliff and Cal had finished with the apprentice and were heading over to their group. "I tend to read into it as there is some grain of truth in it somewhere, the best lies are based off facts after all. She's been to more planets than any of us and grown up in cultures vastly different to ours, not to mention that she's definitely been involved as a freelancer with the spooks at some point. I'd put money on it. We certainly can't deny that this is her area of expertise." "That we can't." "Agreed." "But the part about her having neural implants is one hundred percent true though, you can just about feel them if you know where to look." He indicated a quarter arc of circle section of his own skull that arced over his ear, starting and finishing a few centimetres into the hairline. "Though it's also visible in one of her MindWalking forms." Jay never shaved her head in Fia's timeline, so Fia would never have seen them in person. There were photos of Jay when she had a hairstyle that flaunted them, but she'd never shown them to Fia.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay and Fia both nodded at Elliott's words of agreement to Kay's initial words on Jay. They both learned by themselves at various times that the beat lies were indeed weaved through elements of fact to make them utterly believable. They also agreed that all of this was Jay's element of strength and she knew what she was doing no matter what, as well as basing what had been proven factual, they knew anything Jay said could be true. As he gestured on his own skull where the implants were on Jay, both of them found it really interesting, and whilst only Fia knew Jay did have them, she didn't know where exactly they were had or seen them herself. "that's actually pretty cool. I always knew she had them, but never knew where exactly they were" Fia remarked, being the typical teenager who would find that sort of thing cool, now she knew for certain it wasn't a lie told in her time as the same information got confirmed here and now.

Kay noticed Cal and Cliff walk over to their group after talking with the apprentice in what she guessed was a way of helping to calm him down. "everything alright with him now?" she asked out of curiosity to the two women, hoping they managed to help Simeon in some way after the argument. Whilst Fia was still focused on what the rest of them were talking about, whilst still being excited at the prospect of being taught by Elliott. She always loved it when he taught her anything, and like he did with Kay, she was taught most of her parkour by him making some of them the most cherished memories she has, which she hoped the language lessons would also bring.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John also though the idea of skull implants was pretty dang cool, had such a thing been on offer when he was a teenager and going through his tattoos and piercings phase he'd definitely have gotten a few as they'd have worked perfectly with his punky style. The mental image he had of a arcing row of implants along the path Elliott indicated combined with some kind of asymmetric shaved cut was very edgy. The fact that Elliott had felt where said implants were suggested that when everybody else had gone to their respective rooms to sleep Jay and Elliott were using the time very differently. "Very cyberpunk" John smirked, his liking of the idea very clear in his tone and expression. Based on Fia's reaction that particular style mindset was in some way hereditary (though the more realistic part of his brain would probably point out that elements from both his and Kay's style could be seen in Fia).

Cliff gave a slight sigh before answering Kay's question. "He's better" she replied truthfully, speaking softly, even though she knew Simeon wouldn't understand what she saying "but not fully over it yet. But that's normal really, that kind of anger and annoyance doesn't just vanish after a few minutes." Cal then spoke, also beginning with a sigh that matched her wife's for both sadness, worry and a tinge of annoyance. "Sadly, this isn't the first time they've had that particular argument, and I don't think it will be the last either. It's been going on-off ever since Blue tracked his brother to here and started living in the area for uni. Which of those came first- him finding his brother, or him moving here- I'm not really sure. Blue's stubborn and determined to do something, but Simeon? Well there's no force on any planet like somebody whose been scorned by their family." Elliott and John both nodded sombrely, while Cal hand't revealed what had been the reason for Simeon leaving his family, both had been through incredibly traumatic events because of family and could sympathise and empathise in some way with the guy.

 

[MzHyde]

The moment John said it seemed very cyberpunk, Fia nodded in agreement think exactly the same thing and seeing that yet again herself and John were of very similar mindsets. She was truly a mix of both her parents, yet still managed to make her personality and style her own even after all the times she had elements of her parents pointed out at her. She had her mature ways like Kay, her moments of making pop culture references like both John and Kay, her style was a perfect blend of John and Kay as well. She liked her dark jeans either ripped at the knees like Kay or in perfect condition, she liked her boots to have a heel so she didn't feel so short (despite not being tiny in the slightest) but there were times when her style matched John's as well, especially if she had a between seasons jacket that wasn't her biker jacket. "totally cyberpunk" she agreed.

Kay let John, Fia and Elliott continue talk about Jay's implants as she listened to Cliff and Cal, seeing that by the time Cal started explaining a bit more, John, Elliott and Fia all stopped talking and listened to what was said. Like the others, Kay understood what it was like to have a rough family life in some extent. She herself got abandoned by her real father and scorned because of who she was, who her mother was. She nodded sadly as well, "poor kid... I know what that's like, as a few of us can. That pain never really goes away, just gets easier to deal with" she replied, her tone somber.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cal and Cliff let Kay say her piece, sensing that she really did know what it was like to go through such a horrible experience. While Cliff didn't have a tragic family related backstory (the exact opposite in fact- everybody had seen that Cliff's family were friendly, accepting of everything and everyone, caring, loving and loyal) she and Simeon got along pretty well, both as doctor and patient and as two friends. He was closer to Cal than he was to Cliff, but that was natural given that they worked together. "You just learn to live with it." Elliott added, to which the others nodded. "He's a tough guy though, he'll get through it, of that I have no doubt. He's got a great partner back home, not to mention that like Cal has been taken in by Dan, who is just an amazing person in general."

"That he is." Chas agreed, out of everybody on Attil, it would be Dan he'd miss the most when he headed back home. It was nice to be able to talk to somebody who was normal, yet at the same time understood the crazy world he inhabited and wasn't going to pass judgement about it. Back home on Earth, the only person who could really fulfil that outlet was John or Elliott (but often he wanted to complain about them, particularly John, so going to one of them to vent would completely defeat the point of venting in the first place). "Gotta ask, does Dan deliberately going looking for kids with powers who got chucked by their families or does it just sort of happen?" John asked, his words were blunt, but it was clear in his expression that he meant no offence to Cal. The woman understood this and chuckled slightly, shaking her head. "The second option, it just sort of happens. Obviously powers like his and mine are really useful in a forge and that certainly helps, but he's had none powered people working for him before. I guess what it really is is that he has a soft spot for those who have been abandoned and/or marginalised and believes in giving people second chances. Me and Si, we owe him a hell of a lot more than just our jobs. Dan took a chance on us when others didn't." The love she had for her adoptive father figure was clear in every word Cal spoke, as well as the soft expression in her eyes. She meant every single word.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay nodded in agreement at Elliott basically echoing her words. For her, you learn to live with it and as time goes by it gets easier to live with it, or so was her experience on the latter. It was never easy as such, but it did get easier than when it first happens and as a kid you're left wondering 'what the fuck just happened?'. She smiled and nodded in agreement at Cliff's words, knowing that even though she hadn't known Dan long, she knew he was a good bloke and a truly special soul to be able to take in abandoned or lost kids and give them a second chance at life. It took a unique and special person in Kay's eyes to be able to do that without even really thinking about it, and Dan fit into that category perfectly. She could tell by Chas' reply just how much Chas had gotten along with Dan and knew deep down he would miss the guy and the chance to just escape to this forge for a moment of calm and chat.

Fia smirked and held back a chuckle when John asked his question about Simeon's abilities in such a matter of fact manner, using Dan as his way of asking. As his kid, she could tell he didn't mean anything malicious by his words before hearing what Cal had to say about it. She definitely could hear the fondness and love for Dan in Cal's voice and that made her smile. "he's a great guy" Fia said. "it definitely takes a special guy to do what Dan does. He certainly has my respect" Kay agreed.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John didn't really care how blunt he sounded, he just wanted some kind of answer on the matter. As everybody knew he didn't believe in coincidences at all, firmly believing that things happened for a reason (it was whether that reason would affect your life or not that was important). And when a blacksmith took in two kids, both with powers suitable for learning to forge, both of whom had cut ties with their families and were at the lowest point of their lives within the space of a few years (he'd inferred from the way Cal was talking, from their respective ages, and their skills that Elliott's sister had been taken in first with Simeon being taken in at a later date), his interest was bound to be piqued. There had to be some reason.

As Cal explained what it was, John found himself believing every word. Had it been anybody else telling him and anybody else they'd been discussing, he wouldn't have believed it. In John's experience people rarely never did things out of the goodness of their own heart (and he included himself in that category, anything he did for anybody, you could guarantee he'd be calling back that debt at some point in the future). It was extremely, extremely rare to find somebody like Dan in the world- somebody willing to give a second chance, not bothered by a person's past, providing not just a job but a second home and family to the person question. It arguably took more strength to be good than to be an asshole. He could respect the blacksmith for that (though he was definitely biased, as he felt he owed the man in a weird way for taking in Cal, even though that had nothing to do with John and he saw a number of similarities between the blacksmith and his best mate). "He's a good 'un alright, not many like him in the universe, let alone on one planet."

"He's the best bloke I've ever met, I can say that easily. I'll probably miss him the most when we get back." Chas replied. As Elliott listened to his sister speak he could see just how much Dan really meant to her, how the blacksmith had filled the void, not just left by the absence of their parents, but by the absence of Elliott himself. The blacksmith had been one of the first people she'd spoken about at their reunion (after they got over the 'you're alive, you've grown so much' part and the copious amounts of hugging needed for both of them to verify that what they were seeing wasn't a figment of their imagination. After meeting him, Elliott knew that everything his sister said of him was completely true, he was an incredibly man- kind, trustworthy, loyal, considerate, patient and more importantly he was there. "They're all right, he's more than just an amazing person, he's..." Elliott paused clearly searching for a word, then gave up and said it in Attili instead. Cal's smile grew at the praise, whatever her brother had said, it meant a lot to her. Elliott then turned back to his other half-sister/adopted sister with a smirk. "And look at it this way, when you learn Attili, you can actually talk to him as opposed to just being a member of the fan club of Dan." Elliott added with a smirk in response to Fia's words, bringing the topic neatly back to Fia's new found desire to learn Attili.

 

[MzHyde]

Neither Fia or Kay had any reason to doubt what Cal said as to be anything but true, as she hadn't made them believe she would lie to them so far, so why should they doubt her now? Neither of them were also surprised when Chas openly told them all that he would miss Dan the most when they leave Attil and go back to Earth, as it was clear what a bond the two men had struck up between them, despite the language barrier. They couldn't stop the smiles from showing when Elliott agreed with the rest of them that Dan was a top bloke, but Fia got curious what the Attili word he used to described the man.

As Elliott turned to Fia, she smiled at what he said to her and nodded one strong nod, "right!" she replied, liking the idea of being able to talk with people like Dan and not just rely on others to translate and trust the translation was correct. Not only that, she would love to just talk with him about his tattoos if he would allow her to have that conversation properly. She knew they briefly spoke of it, but as she herself had her own runes tattoos, she'd love nothing more than to have that comparison chat with him one day. "so when you gonna teach me?" she grinned.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John took the fact that Elliott had to revert to Attili as an indicator of just how highly he thought of Dan. It was rare that Elliott couldn't find a suitable word in English, (despite it being his second language he was incredibly fluent in it), but sometimes Elliott had no choice but to revert to Attili as it had a whole pile of words that simply didn't have an equivalent in English (or if they did it took a whole sentence to sufficiently explain it). His final comment had the others smirking, seeing the underlying jab in the words. There had been vague promises made that when on the island Dan would tell to anybody who was interested the story of his runes and why, instead of counter-banding them he had fakes done, but that had never happened. The only thing they had found out was that it had been his brother who did the faux counter-banding. Elliott's final words made John snort slightly. "Fan club of Dan. Good one Ell. We all did sound quite a lot like groupies back there" he remarked to nobody in particular.

Elliott hadn't expected Fia to be quite so prompt about wanting to learn, yet it made sense. She was the type that once she'd made her mind up about doing something she would do it and woe betide anybody who got in her way. She was also incredibly passionate about things, be it magic, music or the three dogs back on Cliff's homeworld. "Now's as good a time as any really, doing the basics is going to make a welcome change from talking about legal shit." Cal nodded in agreement. "Agreed, I'm so glad I didn't get into in law, the jargon is so fucking confusing." Cal sighed. "Says the woman who joined the military AND the Royal Guards who have so much jargon it practically counts as another language." Cliff remarked drily with a dramatic roll of her eyes, that Elliott was fairly sure Simeon and Dan could see from the other side of the forge. "Says the doctor." "Ahhhh, but that's the difference, I'm not denying that I practically speak in acronyms at work." Cliff shot back with a smirk.

 

[MzHyde]

Had Elliott not started his little jab with the remark about teaching her and the upsides to learning Attili, she would have made more a reply on the fan club comment, but her brain was solely focused on the fact that she got bond with her brother more and learn his native language with him. To say she was a passionate person who wouldn't let something go once her mind was set on it was an understatement, like with many things about her. She adored having things that gripped her mind, creativity or imagination so tightly that she had to see it through or she wouldn't be satisfied or happy with herself, or anyone who tried to stop her. Just like how when John set his mind on something, he wouldn't budge on the matter either. Kay was similar but not to the levels of Fia or John. The only thing that made Kay ever be that determined was when she decided to not give up and keep living and surviving. That determination only grew when she thought she really was a goner from the iron shard in her side, making her realise that she really didn't want to die after all.

Fia grinned happily when Elliott said now was as a good time as any to teach her, before chuckling at Cal and Cliff's remarks agreements on learning political or legal jargon. "she's got you there Cal" she smirked, siding with Cliff before turning to Elliott, "may as well get comfy at the table then? Unless you got a better idea for where to go?" she suggested, figuring the table she ate at earlier was as good a place as any to learn without having to shout over all the forging work going on. Kay could see how excited and happy Fia was at what she was letting herself in for, wondering how she'd get on learning the proper way and not the cheating way, but also seeing that same determination of John's in their kid. She also found it amusing that out of the legal jargo chatter, Fia sided with Cliff rather than Cal. "at least now she's with you Ell, we get a break" Kay smirked, gesturing between herself, Chas and John.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Ever since he first saw how teasing banter flowed so easily between Cal and Cliff, Elliott knew for certain that his sister had made the right choice in her partner/fiance. Before that things had been sort of stilted between him and Cliff, neither knowing exactly how to around each other, both feeling entitled to a say in all matters involving Cal, yet at the same time like the other person's opinion superseded theirs. He only vaguely remembered Cliff from his childhood, at twelve he really wasn't that interested in the girl who teachers kept pairing his sister up with for classes that involved honing their powers. The two had been reserved when in the same room as the other, and the ice only properly broke when Cal and Cliff started bickering about some aspect of the wedding planning, momentarily forgetting he was there and slipped back into their normal routine (which Elliott had found so funny he'd started laughing). Now he would be quite happy to listen to them snipe back and forth for hours on end.

Cal smirked slightly, holding up her hands in a mock surrender gesture, before wrapping one arm around her wife's waist. She knew she'd been beaten "fine, fine, you win this round" she said fondly. "Table works for me." Elliott replied with an easy grin. "You can move any shit that's on the spare chair to onto the kitchen counter to fit everybody in, as I assume none of you want to go back outside in the rain anytime soon." "I certainly don't want to, and I'm water-repellent." Cliff agreed. She was the only of the group that was completely dry, having perfected the art of completely tying up and tucking back her hair in a raincoat when growing up on the island. Her hair was it's natural blonde, as she'd never gotten around to dying it back to purple and was actually considering staying blonde for a while. "Not that much of a break then" John replied "we're gonna be in the same room as them, which is going to bloody hilarious if he does those tongue twisters."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia had to chuckle when Cal admitted defeat, it reminding her of the amusing moments in her time during their visits when one or the other of them would have to admit defeat during the banter, despite some of them not wanting to back down. Even in her time however, she did know Cliff and Cal the least well in comparison to everyone else, but that didn't mean she didn't think the world of the two women and really did see Cal just as much of a sister as Elliott was her brother, and Cliff her sister in law. She nodded at Elliott agreeing being at the table works for him, which made her start to turn on her heels when Cal mentioned about moving anything that was on the spare chair so they could all fit in the cosy room. She then walked over and instead of moving the shit on the spare chair, she sat down where she did before.

As Cal guessed correctly about not wanting to leave the forge any time soon, Kay was about to say her reply when Cliff made the comment she did making her chuckle. She had to admit the idea of being water resistant was almost something she could be jealous of, as to her water resistance would be a lot more useful than fire resistant, especially somewhere like in London where it rained a lot. She then chuckled at John's quip about not getting much of a break because of them being in the same room as Fia and Elliott. "true and if that's the case then maybe not having a break from her will be worth it" she grinned. "you two are such assholes!" Fia complained, pouting even though she wasn't actually offended in the slightest.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Elliott and Chas both smirked when John mentioned the tongue twisters, both having forgotten about them. When John began to get fairly good at the basic Attili pronunciation Elliott dredged up a whole selection of tongue twisters from somewhere in his memory and put John through his paces. it devolved into a lot of swearing (on John's part), and said frustration had sent Chas and Elliott into fits of laughter (particularly Elliott because like with with any good tongue twister if you mispronounced them they took on a whole different meaning). "By tongue twisters do you mean the ones from Mr 'Sil'Corman?" Cal asked, before giving an example of one, doing it at such speed that to the non-native speakers just sounded like a string of sounds. When her brother responded with the positive a shit eating grin spread over her face. "Oh please call me or film it or something when you use them on her, I gotta hear her trying them." "Don't worry I will. And if that doesn't work, I'll just show you in a MindWalk." He didn't actually say the word 'MindWalk' to his sister, instead using the proper Attilian name for his ability.

John dismissed Fia's 'you two are such assholes' comment with a roll of his eyes as they headed back into the kitchen-dining room of the forge. The others took the same chairs as last time (John sitting closest to the door) while Elliott took his sister's advice and cleared the spare chair. Cliff chose to stay in the work area of the forge, sitting close to the door where the cold air from outside created a temperature she could comfortably sit in. Elliott didn't waste time in getting started, first figuring out what exactly Fia already knew, guessing she'd know some insults and swear words, maybe his and Cal's birth names along with how names in Attili were structured (as he'd based his English name off the phonetics of his Attili name). Anything after that was a bonus (but only if it was pronounced properly).

 

[MzHyde]

Fia couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the mention of these tongue twisters that were being mentioned baout not just John but Cal and Elliott too. She was going to ignore the last moment from John but when Cal brought them up to the point that she wanted to either be in the room or have Fia filmed so she could see her attempts of said tongue twisters, Fia had to acknowledge it and raise an eyebrow, esppecially when she gave an example of one. This did also just give her more conviction and determination to be a quick study and learn well through Elliott's teachings. At John's eye roll to her asshole comment, she knew it was always fruitless to call her parents such things as they knew even in this time, that she didn't mean it and she was just being a pouty teenager. She even saw as Kay just gave her a smirk and waved off her so called insult. "tell us something we don't know kid" Kay told her before letting Elliott take over.

Just as Elliott guessed, she knew his and Cal's birth names and remembered how they were structured in Attili, along with somehow remembering the odd swear word as she had heard Elliott say it in her timeline for whatever reason. She then continued to make sure she was listening intently at the pronunciation of words and little sentences that would get her by before repeating them. Some she was better at than others buts on the whole she was proving a quick study just like Kay always was with learning new things. The things she struggled with she wasn't ever ashamed of, just finding that she was asking for Elliott to really break it down to the real basics so she could wrap her tongue around the words, even if one little saying was making her get frustrated at one stage.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Attili was a tricky language to learn, getting something sounding right the first time in these super early stages proved to be a fluke nineteen times out of twenty. The way things were pronounced in Attili was completely different to that of English, despite humans and Devra having mostly similar physiology, their languages had evolved in completely different ways. Some of the most common sounds were ones Fia would never even have used before in the context of speaking. Elliott could see just how hard Fia was working to try and wrap her head around them. He'd begun with the most basics of basics, numbers (Attil used a decimal system like Earth- there were universal laws making sure that planets hosting intelligent life and sufficiently advanced civilisations used the same common measurements), letters and how to say 'my name is'. Half of his time was spent showing Fia the basic alphabet runes that Attili was written with and teaching her their names and phonetic sounds. It was hard work on both their parts, though it was harder on Fia than on Elliott (this was his second time teaching the language and at this time his grasp of English was good enough that he could explain what his sister was doing wrong).

Chas found that days newspaper and began reading it, half because he wanted to be informed about the goings on in the military and main town, and half because he wanted to see if there was anything about the upcoming trial of Elliott vs the Attili government. There was very little, mostly rumours, which he supposed made sense, the date had only been decided that morning, by which point the newspapers had already been printed. (Or maybe the government were trying to keep the details out of the press). But it was when he reached the arts section that found not one, but two articles that he knew their group would be interested in. The first was an extensive article about the murals that had been cropping up, not just on Attil, but on other planets in the Attili system and even further afield than that. The selection of photos accompanying it was impressive, all were based on the same design but the artists had gone to town with colours, textures, size and location. The closer the trial got, the bigger, bolder and more reckless the artists seemed to be getting. While the first article made him smile happily at the sheer volume of people behind Elliott (he passed the page over for John, Kay, Fia and Elliott to all look at), the second article brought that mood down as it was about Rinaa's performance on stage only a few nights ago. Seeing the photo of her alive and happy, it really hit home that the kid had gone and her time with them had come to such an unsatisfactory conclusion.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia, despite finding some things a bit difficult to grasp for the first couple of attempts, she refused to give up and get things right. She was thankful Elliott was starting right from the very beginning with her and being so patient with her as she made sure to do her utmost to get things correct. She felt thankful that she had learned languages like Latin this way and not cheated as it made learning Attili not so unknown territory in a bizarre manner. Among all of that, she remained ever so fascinated with how the language was constructed and how certain things made more than one meaning depending on hoe it was said or words out together. It reminded her of how certain English words can have two meanings just by switching out the odd one letter and so forth, she just hoped she was doing her brother proud.

Kay minded her own business as Elliott taught Fia, every now and then looking up to see the two of them working together and smiling before Chas found the art article which he showed them all, feeling a sense of pride of how open and bold people were getting now it was becoming so much closer to the trial whilst it brought that stronger sense of hope that they could beat this and walk away with Elliott being an innocent and free man. Yet when the article and photo of Rinaa being on stage at that night out at the club with Fia popped up, it made her smile diminish, realising that when they all go back to the apartment Rinaa would not be there to greet them or see the end of this momentous occasion.

 

[_gallifrog_]

As Fia was just beginning to get a sense of, Attili was utterly different from English, not just in terms of alphabet and pronunciation, but also in terms of sentence structure and grammar. Attili was one of those languages with a very rigid and complex grammar structure, there was only one (occasionally two) ways in which a sentence could be arranged to convey the correct meaning. If you didn't construct it right, it was just a string of vaguely related words that somebody could infer meaning from, but it would be as grating to a native speaker as broken English was to a native speaker. Attili also had a very particular certain rhythm when spoken correctly, a certain, slightly musical fluidity that Cal, Cliff and Elliott had all mastered. John and Chas on the other hand hadn't mastered it, not having spent enough time speaking it to learn it's oral nuances.

Like Chas and Kay John also found himself slightly overwhelmed by the outpouring of support that was coming out for Elliott and growing as the fateful day grew closer. The murals were really doing their job of spreading some kind of word. The original John had really liked, something about the raw, bare bones nature of the design- so much conveyed by so few lines- had struck a chord with him. But these new ones were impressive not just for their sheer size (the bigger they were the more people that could see them), but because they were genuine works of art that somebody had extensively designed and planned beforehand. Some of the places these new ones were cropping up on made John wonder how the artist had managed to do so. There were a number of spaceships that had been tagged, (mainly commercial passenger shuttles), billboards, the side of glass faced high-rise buildings, and cliff faces (suggesting the artist or artists had been working while hanging from some kind of rope system as they worked) long a startling number of prison walls as inmates sympathetic with the cause smuggled in or stole supplies to create murals. John made no comment on the photo of Rinaa, but let out a slightly melancholy sigh as he took the second article to read.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia kept trying and at times even found herself every now and then with the very odd word, jotting it down on paper as how it would be pronounced and how it should be spelled so she could see how she would get that sound out of that word. It proved more than useful and a trick she learned to do with her learning of Latin and the old phoenix language. It could be considered an unusual way of getting to grips with a new language, but it worked for her and soon enough she was starting to be able to say the basic lines like 'my name is Fia', along with other things. Elliott proved to her to be a good teacher, just like in her time when he would teach her more practical things like survival skills. She wasn't fully mastering the musical lilt to the language but she had hope that with her natural musical ability, she would gain it soon. She wasn't even afraid to ask Elliott questions, as in her eyes if she was going to learn, then she needed to ask questions.

Kay refused to say anything on the photo of Rinaa, knowing that just seeing it was enough of a downer and they didn't need to focus on rhe negatives right now. They all felt shit about how Rinaa had to leave, words didn't need to exchanged on it. As Fia learned Attili, Kay couldn't help but look up as she saw how Fia was choosing to wrap her head around the language, "she seems to be doing well for such a short amount of time" she remarked, avoiding saying 'our girl' at the beginning even though part of her mind was thinking along those lines. The teenager was growing on Kay, and making her learn to accept the fact that Fia was coming into their world and going to be changing their world forever. It was helping her fight that worry and fear of being a mother, even if it wasn't completely squashing it.