Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[MzHyde]

Kay was of the same opinion of both Cal and Cliff when it came to both the fact that Chas just didn't look anything like a Francis and that he would always just be 'Chas' to her, also that there were times when coincidences were just exactly that. Sure, some things clearly weren't, but sometimes they were. For example, she wouldn't class as her being saved by John a coincidence, but she would see something minor like turning on a TV and finding your favourite episode of your favourite show purely a coincidence. She just wouldn't say it out loud in front of John because she just knew he'd try and find a way to disagree with her which would just make her roll her eyes and amuse her. Especially when she saw him smirk at them all echoing his words that he had said many a time, even here on Attil. Fia couldn't help give John the look of 'no need to be smug over it dad' before listening to Elliott just putting it down to yet another mystery.

Kay particularly couldn't help but smirk slightly when John admitted he would just spout a load of bullshit about the name similarities if he was anyone but Elliott, but knew not to bullshit his adoptive son. "some things just remain a mystery no matter what, and who knows. Maybe you'll find an answer when you least expect it. Like the old saying goes, you'll find things when you're not looking for them" Kay said, always finding that mindset and saying never really fails her as she always found that there were things she was desperate to find but couldn't, until the day she just stopped actively looking and it showed up, whether it be answers to something or something materialistic.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Elliott knew that John's words were his way of saying that he genuinely cared about Elliott. When it came to clients John's was more motivated by the money than he was by an intrinsic desire to go good. If making a relatively simple problem sounds worse than it was, or making the reason behind it sound more dramatic than the actual mundane explanation would get him more money and make him look good, then more often than not John would do just that. But with Elliott he'd tell the truth because he genuinely cared about him and didn't want to disillusion him or string him along by getting him to believe a pile of bull crap. Elliott nodded as Kay spoke, her optimistic mindset on the situation clearly visible in her words. "Maybe I will one day, maybe I won't, who knows?" he shrugged.

With the brunt of the siblings discoveries about their father shared and somewhat discussed the bulk of tension and stress had dissipated from Cal and Elliott and they began to slowly return to their normal selves. The old proverb 'a problem shared is a problem halved' was certainly proving true for both of them. Had the siblings been alone, without the support network of an extended adopted family and/or a spouse they would have taken far longer to come terms with the information they' just been told, and significantly longer to decide what to do next. Cal and Elliott had both decided that the strategy of 'sleep on it for the night, then ask Zan a whole load of follow-up questions in the morning' was the best way to go. Along with asking about their grandparents, and whether or not it was a young Zan in that photo, the siblings had other points they wanted clarified.

 

[MzHyde]

Like with a lot of things Kay said, she never really thought much about how her optimism was coming across to others. To her she was saying it as she saw it, and not particularly trying this time to be the optimistic one out of their group, yet it seemed that even without trying she was being exactly that for their group. She nodded at Elliott's words and just let the conversation continue on u til it started to clearly make the siblings feel a lot better and get back to their usual selves. She felt glad that they were feeling a lot calmer and upbeat after sharing all their discoveries with them all, and get differing opinions from them all.

Everyone knew that until the morning nothing could be right away and it wouldn't be productive to try and do everything right there and then anyway. They needed to remain as relaxed as they could be between each trial as each trial was proving to be stressful of varying levels to all of them for various reasons. She just hoped it would come to an end soon and not get stretched out for longer than was necessary to save all their sanities. "well I say we talk or do something that's alot less stressful on the mind for the rest of the evening or something." Fia spoke up, sitting up straight finally as she was just starting to hurt her back from sitting at an angle.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Elliott nodded in agreement with Fia's words. While he and Cal hadn't said everything they'd learned from and about Zan (neither had mentioned that they'd seen the bullet scar- it had passed through his lower rib cage, but avoided damaging any organs), both siblings felt they'd done enough talking about for the day. Doing something to distract themselves sounded like an excellent plan. "I don't know about my brother but I'd rather do something than talk." Cal replied, shifting into a more comfortable position, pulling Cliff closer so the two were leaning on each other as opposed to just Cal leaning on Cliff. "I'm with you on that" Elliott agreed, not intending to remove his head from John's shoulder any time soon.

"Got any good films that I wouldn't have seen?" Elliott asked. "Not crime or action or anything with lawyers obviously. Or anything too serious. I've got more than enough of that in today." "I'm sure we could find some absolutely horrendous musical with some incredibly earwormy songs." Cal smirked, to which Elliott groaned "absolutely not" loudly, knowing all too well the childhood incident she was referring to. Had he not been sandwiched between jay and John he would have thrown a cushion at his sister. Instead he settled for a rude gesture. "There's plenty of good comedies." Cliff offered with a shrug, before turning to face her wife "there's that new one we haven't seen the one with.... whats his face..... y'know the one with the nose." She made a gesture indicating a massive nose. "Ohhhh that film, the one Bekk wouldn't stop talking about?" Cal asked, elongating the 'oh' as she connected the dots as to what film Cliff was talking about. "That's the one." Cliff confirmed. "I'd be up for that."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia didn't think they'd want to do much more talking, but she thought if she worded it as 'talk or do' then it left the decision up to Cal and Elliott the most for what they were up to doing whilst being completely impartial in the process. So to hear that Cal expressed her need to do something instead of talking, it wasn't a shock to Fia. She did however nod and smile at what she said, and how she was pulling her wife closer to her to get even more comfortable, always finding it endearing to see. The refusal to move from John's shoulder on Elliott's side didn't go amiss either to her, knowing that she seen it before but very very rarely in her time, as it was usually her doing the curling up and not Elliott. It just reminded her that Elliott was so much younger and she wasn't in her time.

As the discussion of a film was suggested, neither Fia or Kay had any issues with the suggestion, being more than happy to watch something. When Cal said about a musical as a joke, Fia couldn't help but smirk at Elliott's reply, always finding it amusing just how anti musicals he truly was whenever it was brought up. She personally liked the idea of a comedy to properly lighten the mood and make them all laugh, thinking it was the one thing they all desperately needed right now. "then it's decided, comedy it is" Fia remarked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Nobody had any objection to watching a comedy movie, and relaxing by laughing together. Even if they did, they would have kept to themselves, the whole point of the exercise was to distract Cal and Elliott for a while (and also objecting to the plan would also mean they'd have to come up with an alternate one). As Cliff found the movie and fiddled around getting subtitles in English (they were available she insisted, but as English wasn't spoken very much, if at all, in this particular corner of the universe, they were right at the bottom of the subtitles list below all kinds of other unusual and exciting languages) those who had an appetite went to kitchen to grab popcorn and drinks.

Once the movie started it wouldn't take long for all the others to understand why Cal and Cliff referred to the lead male actor as 'the guy with nose', his nose was of impressively large proportions. John snorted upon seeing it for the first time "now that is one hell of a schnoz" he remarked to which Elliott chuckled. "It's the reason why he was so famous when I was younger." "It's the same reason why he's still so famous now." Cal told him, catching up her brother on all he'd missed in terms of pop culture in the last twelve years was a mammoth task, but she had to start somewhere. "That nose is something else. There's actually whole load of fan accounts purely dedicated to it. Some are utterly hilarious." The movie was surprisingly good, not as trashy as John was expecting it to be. Some of the jokes were lost on the Earth group (sometimes because they didn't translate into English well and other times because they simply didn't know the context surrounding the joke), one gag in particular had Cal, Cliff, Elliott and Jay in fits of laughter.

 

[MzHyde]

As Cliff scrolled down the long list of subtitles so she could put the English ones on, Fia jumped up and helped with getting the popcorn and drinks for those who wanted them (iniding herself) as she never watched a film without some sort of snack if she could help it. She also quickly went to the room she was occupying to grab some of the chocolate she still had left over and to grab a hoodie for added comfort. As she got back, she sat back down next to Kay, curling her feet up onto the couch to find that everything was pretty much ready to go.

As the movie started, Fia tried so hard not to laugh at the actor's nose, but she failed miserably when John commented on it, whilst Elliott and Cal have more information, even as far as to say that fan accounts had been made dedicated to just the nose in question. She could only imagine how hilarious some of those accounts must be, but soon got into the film as best she could with the translations. Some of the jokes she got, glad that her basic knowledge of Attili was helping, but like with the others, some just went over her head and she didn't get it at all. Kay was the same to a certain extent, some she managed to laugh at, especially if it was a visual joke, but others she just didn't understand but seeing Jay, Cal, Elliott and Cliff all burst into fits of laughter was a great and amusing thing to witness, especially after the day everyone had had.

By the time the film would finish, Fia and Kay would have eaten all their shared portion of popcorn and Fia would have finished her drink and a great chunk of her chocolate (which Kay only managed to steal a couple of pieces of before being caught).

 

[_gallifrog_]

At first Elliott didn't have much of an appetite and was only nicking the odd piece from the massive bowl John had commandeered for himself and the slightly less massive bowl Jay had made for herself. But as the film progressed he relaxed, his appetite returned and by the time it was over he'd eaten about a third of the popcorn from the bowls either side of him (the advantage of sitting in the middle of two people who wouldn't stop him from stealing their food after the rough discoveries of the day). It felt good to be watching movies in his native tongue again, as fluent as he was in English Attili was still his first language- the language he thought in and dreamed in. This was something that didn't change in Fia's timeline and it was perfectly normal for Fia to find some combination of Elliott, Jay and Leah (as well as Cal and Cliff when they came on the occasional visit to earth) watching a programme or movie in Attili when she visited Elliott's place. Leah had been raised tri-lingual; speaking English, Attili and Jay's native tongue.

Cal had also relaxed greatly during the film. It had been a good choice, living up to the raving of her and Cliff's friend, just the kind of light-hearted silliness needed to chase away the ominous, serious atmosphere that had been hanging over the group since before the siblings returned to the apartment. The few spoilers their friend had given were only minor ones, so both were reacting to the funniest jokes and gags for the first time. The reactions of the 'Earth group' to lead actor's nose was also highly amusing to them, the man had quite literally made his career out of his distinctive nose and when he performed his trademark nose wiggle the looks on Fia, Chas, John and Kay's faces had sent the others into fits. "The way I see it we can continue watching comedy movies, said movies getting steadily trashier and trashier as the night progresses until we pass out, justifying it by saying our mental health is more important. OR I could be predictable and suggest sleeping." Cliff declared once the film was over and the credits were rolling.

 

[MzHyde]

Even though Fia and Kay couldn't fully understand half the jokes in the film, seeing Cal and Elliott relaxing properly and laughing made it all worth it in their eyes. Fia was indeed all too used to experiencing films being watched in various languages when she ever visited Elliott and Jay, whether it be after she trained there or she just needed to get out of the apartment and see a different set of four walls. Neither were also surprised that Elliott, Cal and Cliff found the Earth group's reactions to the actor's nose everytime hysterical. It was certainly something to witness and Kay was pretty certain she would never say anything about the likes of Owen Wilson's nose ever again after seeing this actor.

With it now over and Cliff speaking up, both of them thought about the options they now had, neither feeling particularly tired enough to go to bed which Fia put down to the amount of chocolate and popcorn she ate. "well I'm not particularly tired yet, so I don't mind another movie, but if others want to go to bed I'm sure I can amuse myself somehow" Fia spoke up honestly. "I could easily watch at least one more film if everyone else could" Kay then added. She had to admit this was the most wide awake she had been for quite some time in the evenings, but she also didn't want to take up the living room any longer than necessary knowing Chas and Co slept in there. "but I'm fine either way to be honest" she then added.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cal smirked at Cliff's words, recognising the tone of 'I am a doctor and am using medical knowledge to make my bullshit sound good' in Cliff's voice and knowing that what the woman was actually saying was 'I'm damn well up for watching a whole pile more movies, but I at least need to pretend to be consistent about bossing people to get enough sleep and eat properly'. "Don't think I'll be falling asleep any time soon so count me in." "Same here, I'm not even anything REMOTELY close to approaching tired, so another film sounds good to me" Jay replied with a shrug, rearranging her seating position on the sofa so that her feet were tucked under her crossed legs and the bowl was balanced in her lap. If the others had wanted to sleep she more than likely would have ended up following John's example and got out of their hair by going for a late night walk about the city.

"Well I'm an insomniac these days" John said instead of simply the words 'yes, I'm also in favour'. if he was going to be unable to sleep, he might as well do something with his time and the movie had proved to be surprisingly good. "And watchin' movies is better for me than smokin', so I'm in." "I'm also perfectly happy to watch another movie, that one was good. Your friend was spot on with their praise of it." Chas told Cal and Cliff. "I'm the same as Cal, no signs of falling asleep any time soon, and might I suggest" Elliott gave the title of the movie in Attili. "If you have it of course. I think this lot would like it." "Oh that's a classic!" Cliff grinned. "My family loves it, or more precisely, they love the dubbed version of it as I'm the only one who can speak Attili." With that decided Cliff once again booted up the movie and the group settled back into their seats/against their respective partners. The movie was older than both Elliott and Cal (the camera work noticeably different to that of the previous film), but the humour was the kind actually that aged well and the nearly all the jokes were still understandable all those years later. It was centred around a group of people going on a road trip, the kind of comedy disaster movie where everything that could go wrong did go wrong with hilarious consequences.

 

[MzHyde]

Out of the rest of them, it was John who Kay figured would be the one that would stay up no matter what was decided, knowing how bad his insomnia was being at the moment. Yet it was a nice relief in some small manner that everyone was more than willing to watch yet another film and go from there and it wasn't just herself and Fia who were still very much awake. With the film decided thanks to Elliott's suggestion, they gladly settled down to enjoy the next film, finding it an enjoyable watch, despite its age. Kay particularly had no qualms in watching an older film as she was used to being made to watch films that were deemed old classics due to being decades old, even from a young age. She always figured that the old classics (from old black and white movies to some of the first ever colour pictures) was what got her interested in carrying that through to reading old classic literature.

The plot and trope was incredibly cliché and done to death, even since this one particular film was made, but Kay could really appreciate how it still held up over the years and could still be funny. She was all too aware of films that didn't hold up well over the years, and had seen a few too many that just were plain awful in this day and age, but could see how they'd be considered a masterpiece when they were initial made. Some of the jokes brought out remarks of amusement from Fia and Kay, as well making them glad that they had finished most of their snacks because Kay was certain that if Fia still had popcorn, it'd have been thrown everywhere in her fits of laughter.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Elliott was all too aware that the plot of the movie he suggested had been done so many times it was now a well worn trope and also that quite a few of the characters and events were little more than overused clichés. He was also aware that the others mightn't like it or consider it as good as he did. But regardless of those faults he still wanted to watch the movie anyway. It had been always been a favourite of his as a kid. Up there among the happiest memories of his childhood were the memories of him, Cal, Zan and his mother all watching it together. After everything that had come to light about Zan that day, he felt the urge to relive this particular part of his childhood, but with his new found family. He also had a less important secondary motive for wishing to rewatch it, as a kid he hadn't quite grasped all the jokes, but now as an adult he suspected it was because some of the jokes were dirty ones and he'd been too innocent as a young kid to understand them fully.

Cal had her suspicions about why her brother picked this particular movie (correctly assuming it was to do with the times she, him and their parents had watched it together back in the old days). But she said nothing, just nodded in agreement and smiled fondly when Cliff mentioned that her family also enjoyed it. She was surprised by how well the humour had aged, some older Attili films (and films from other planets in the system) had attitudes (racist overtones usually) that just weren't acceptable any more. John found the movie to be more on the trashy side than the previous choice, but he wasn't complaining. It wasn't the kind of movie for taking seriously anyway and it wasn't completely god-awful. Some of the characters had surprising depth and development for a light-hearted comedy. As they'd watched Elliott removed his head from John's shoulder- a sure sign that he was feeling better- and had sat upright properly, giving Jay the opportunity to lean against him ever so slightly (they were nowhere near the stage of comfort and relaxation around each other that they had achieved in Fia's timeline).

 

[MzHyde]

Neither Kay or Fia truly knew why Elliott wanted to see it but every now and then Fia would glance over and see Elliott move from being on John's shoulders to upright and he had that smile that she always linked with nostalgic memories, which got her wondering when he first saw the film and what it made him think of. Seeing how John was reacting to it, she didn't think it was a case of ever watching it with him, so that only truly left seeing it before he left Attil at some point. That was as juvh as she figured before her attention went back to the film, focusing on the jokes and character development of the characters.

When Jay leaned on Elliott only slight, Fia could tell out the corner of her eye that it really was still very new to the both of them when it came to signs of affection when in front of other people, in comparison to what she was used to seeing in her time. It made sense to her though as it was only on Attil that they even admitted how they felt about each other so she couldn't expect to see them being so close straight away. It also reminded her of how her parents were, despite Kay's moments of leaning on John, it was still not nearly as often as it was in her time. The only thing that she did take away from it all was that there was plenty of time for the respective couples to become that comfortable and close with each other. She also had to admit to herself that she enjoyed seeing how the relationships began by coming back to this year.

 

[_gallifrog_]

When the film finished Cal turned towards her brother raising an eyebrow as she asked "well, was it as good as you remembered?" unable to contain her curiosity any longer. "Yeah actually" he replied, nodding slowly, a thoughtful look on his face and a matching tone in his voice. "I was half expecting it to be one of those films that you love as a kid, but as an adult think is absolute shite, sure some of the jokes aren't as funny as an adult, but others are far funnier than I remembered." "ie the dirty ones" Jay smirked, having gleaned from Cal's question and Elliott's earlier reaction to the film that he'd watched it as a kid many times and this was his first time seeing the film in at least twelve years. "She's got you there." Cal grinned. "Yep, I know" Elliott gave a sigh, but the look in his eye made it clear he was only joking around and not seriously put out by the comment. "See how I'm not even trying to deny it?"

"So I take it this was a childhood favourite then?" Chas asked, fairly certain that was the case, but after what they'd learned earlier he knew more than ever they couldn't just go by appearances. Seeing how relaxed Cal and Elliott were now (watching comedy movies had been an excellent decision on Elliott's part to bring the mood back up), he felt now was the best opportunity he'd have to ask this question. Both siblings nodded in response. "Yup" Cal replied "for both of us, and our parents. One of those movies you watch maybe twice in every three years because if you watched it more often than that it'd ruin it." "Even though it's a good bit older than both of us, it still holds up. Unlike some other older movies I've had the privilege of seeing on Earth." Elliott didn't make an airquotes gesture around the word 'privileged', but it was clearly implied in his tone of voice.

 

[MzHyde]

With Cal asking whether it was as good as Elliott remembered, it only confirmed Fia's nostalgia theory she had during it, even making her smirk and chuckle at Jay calling out on the fact he blatantly found the adult dirty jokes much funnier now than when he was a child, which in her opinion was a given. It was only obvious to her that anyone who watched a film as a child that included such jokes would only find them truly funny as an adult. As the chatter went on with Chas asking if it was a childhood film he used to watch, she too found herself wanting to know the full answer to the question. She listened as Cal gave the answer which Elliott continued on, seeing what he was getting at by his comment, but not as much as Kay got what he meant.

"I've certainly seen worse films that are old that's for sure. Most just make you cringe out of how bad the jokes aged. But this aged pretty well" she couldn't help but comment, giving a perspective of someone who had never watched it before. She also could understand where Elliott was coming from when he said about having a privilege of seeing old films on Earth, hearing the sarcasm in the word 'privilage' clearly. "too many Earth films are in the pure embarrassingly cringey category, even if they were considered something of an utter masterpiece or cinematography game changer in the day for the world of film" she added.

 

[_gallifrog_]

There was muffled laughter both at Jay calling Elliott out on now being able to get the dirty jokes and the smug shit-eating grin on the assassin's face as she did so, knowing full well she was right and intended to take full advantage of that situation. John nodded, listening with interest as the siblings answered Chas' question about the personal significance of the film. He'd figured by himself out that Elliott would have had to have seen it as a child (he most certainly hadn't seen it with John), but hadn't gotten any further than that. John was logically aware that not all of Elliott's childhood had been bad, in fact most of it had been normal and happy, yet it still took him by surprise that Elliott could talk about such times from his childhood with both fondness and nostalgia.

Chas nodded in agreement with Kay's words, while he wasn't a fan of early film like she was, being a cabbie meant he had just picked up all kinds of titbits of information on a wide and various range of topics for his customers and he knew enough to know she was right with her opinion. "Not to mention that quite a lotta of older films past a certain point from Earth are just outright racist, sexist, misogynist, and incredibly homophobic." John added with a shrug. "The biphobia isn't as bad as the homophobia, but that's more to do with the complete misunderstanding and lack of acceptance of being bi as a legitimate sexuality in it's own right. Sure times were different back when most of these films were made, but for some of the stuff made only twenty years ago, there's really no excuse for those kinds of attitudes."

 

[MzHyde]

When it came to the older films, Kay could take them or leave them. There was some that were soft spot for her mostly because she was brought up on them and they were one of the few things that reminded her of her birth mother and the better times with her father before things turned so bad. Yet as an adult she was picky with what ones she still liked, yet those very ones she loved dearly. So for her there was much more to them than just being a good film. Just like Elliott and Cal had good memories with the comedy they just watched. She also wasn't entirely opposed to musicals like the men in their group/family were due to said upbringing. She put them under as a guilty pleasure thing and only something she would ever listen to on her old mp3 player that she annoyingly left back on Earth (a fact she only realised when going to Cliff's home world for the wedding).

She listened to what John as saying about the old films of Earth nodding in full agreement. "I completely agree. A lot of Earth's old films are highly problematic in today's standards, to the point some have either outright banned or have warnings flagged up before the beginning of said films" she replied. "but as bad as a lot of them now are, it has meant film making is taking a great step into correcting all that in great strides. They're not perfect even in my time, but they're even better than they are even now. There's very few complaints made about things and everything from diversity to all sexuality preferences is just a normal thing to see in film,and not even questioned by the majority" Fia couldn't help but add. Kay found it highly interesting what Fia said about how the film industry was in her time, thinking it was amazing that in just a short few years in the great scheme of things, things were improving greatly. She noted that Fia said things weren't perfect but the idea of things not being made a massive deal out because of casting choice or the sexuality of a character was quite something to hear.

 

[_gallifrog_]

While debating racial diversity, sexual representation and sexual orientation representation in film, TV, literature and other form of pop culture wasn't something John did particularly often it was something he had particularly strong feelings about. It was most definitely something he'd acquired as he got older, as a kid he'd cared little for social and societal norms immersing himself head first into the more alternate sides of life and entertainment where things like race, gender and sexual orientation mattered less. He didn't usually have the opportunity to voice his opinion on such matters, but both Chas and Elliott would be able to confirm that when around the right people John could go for hours debating the merits of more diversity in everything not just film and tv.

Hearing Fia say that it did actually get better in the future was a pleasant surprise, it often seemed to him like the world was going backwards. "'bout bloody time that happened" he declared. Even if it wasn't perfect the fact that Fia could say there was a noticeable difference spoke volumes on just how much things had moved on. "If all else all the diversity makes the story more interestin' and means people can stop relyin' on old tropes and make some new ones instead." The more cynical part of him however couldn't help but wonder if the world had only moved on Fia's timeline because people had found a new target for their hatred, suspicion and discrimination. If that was the case he'd put his money on the meta-human and alien populations being the new targets. The Americans were already showing signs of such hatred.

"Good to hear people are finally seeing sense on that front." Chas smiled, after all the shit things they'd heard about Rinaa's (and to an extent Fia's) timeline they needed this kind of good news. He'd always known John was bi and it really hadn't bothered him in the slightest (neither had it bothered him when Elliott had come out, though it had been blatantly obvious to both men that the teenager was bi) it had but it had only been after Trish came out that he'd truly began to notice the extent of the lack of representation. "That's amazing it's turned around so fast. The lack of representation and acceptance was probably one of the biggest culture shocks of living on Earth." "I can only imagine given that here so long as you're of age and consenting people are fine with it. Though you do get the odd racist, sexist, homophobe, biphobe, but their so fringy you can generally ignore them." Cliff nodded in agreement "same where I'm from and you've all met my siblings. My parents have raised pretty much the whole spectrum- gay, straight until proven otherwise, ace, bi and will shag anything that looks good."

 

[MzHyde]

These kinds of conversations were always a welcome thing for Kay as like John, she never really had much chance to talk about them, as 1) when she was in university it was all about the new piece of coursework and theme of said coursework, or learning about the a history of art or 2) she was on the streets keeping as low a profile as she possibly could and draw any attention to herself. Even when she did speak to the odd fellow homeless person in the camps, alleyways or abandoned buildings, such intellectual topics were the last things on anyone's minds. Instead finding that they were all about helping each other out to try and get food and drink into their bodies so they didn't completely wither away and quite literally die. So hearing Fia something was for the better in the future was of some relief, especially after hearing only devastating news in Rinaa's world.

Fia waited until everyone had spoken their reactions to her little tidbit of information about the future before she would address what everyone was saying. She could see the genuine sense of relief at hearing what she said, knowing that they'd appreciate knowing not everything was doom and gloom. For the bigger situations in her timeline however, she didn't want to risk telling too much so not to put any bigger of a spanner in the works than had already no doubt been thrown in. "trust me, when I got told how it was in this time I was shocked to say the least it was so different. I remember being told that it wasn't so accepted to see same sex couples on the screen so often, and that if such a thing happened there'd be some kind big announcement about it in the media, declaring the makers of such shows as 'woke' or if such a thing wasn't given without some kind of announcement there'd so many complaints being sent in. It baffled me to no end but made me realise that I was rather lucky to see such things without all the black lash in the public eye." Fia started saying, addressing the time comment in Elliott's comment first. "and yeah, there's still racists and homophobes and people just anti LGBTQ in general still around but you don't hear it in the media nearly as much when it comes to film and TV. Which yes, it has opened up a lot of new tropes to be created, as well as the old ones still around" she then continued.

Kay nodded hearing what her daughter was saying, thinking it was still one hell of a turn in the right direction. She also found it interesting that she commented on how she found out what it was like in this time. That there was a time when someone in their family told her what it was like, and spoke about this very topic to her, confirming yet again that they did see what an mature and well rounded being Fia was. Knowing they could have such intelligent conversations with her, even if her future self did want nothing more than to wrap her kid in bubble wrap and not let her out of her sight.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John couldn't resist smirking at Cliff's comment about how between her and her siblings they covered almost all the sexuality spectrum. He'd never heard anybody's family described like that, a large group of friends (at least ten strong) maybe, but never a set of siblings. He hadn't made that particular connection when on the island, but now that Cliff brought it to their attention he was easily able to match the label to the respective sibling. Fia's speech explanation was fascinating to Cal and Cliff, both appreciating the strangeness that meant out of everybody she was the one who'd grown in a society closest to the one they had. the two had just about managed to wrap their head around how different earth's attitude was towards certain things, neither afraid to ask Elliott or Chas to fill in the gaps (or Jay, who had the unique perspective of somebody who'd lived in all societies from the most open to the most conservative). To hear it had all turned around so quickly, so much so that Fia barely knew what it was like to live in the old discriminatory society was incredible really and a testament to the fact that people could do good and change the world for the better when they wanted to.

Chas was also utterly blown away by just how quickly the change appeared to have come about in Fia's time and it gave him hope that humanity wasn't going to fuck everything up by descending into war and nuking themselves out of existence because of some idiot politicians posturing going too far. To hear that this kind of change wasn't just possible but had happened in one timeline gave him hope, not just for the far future, but for the next few days as well. "I can confirm that, it is still the kind of thing people will debate over for weeks. But hearing how it's changed, it's pretty amazing to hear how much better things can get and I look forwards to seeing it." "So do I, trust me on this as somebody whose grown up in both worlds, the accepting and open one is far better." "Agreed. I've seen it on even more extreme scales, as in so illegal it's punishable by death bad. Open and equal societies have far less problems in general, sure they're not perfect, but without repression it's just easier to live and have a life."

"Gods those articles just piss me off." John groaned even at the mere thought of them. "Writin' that kind o' article is really just asking for people to make an even bigger fuss about it than there already is. And in some cases just acts as a massive target for cracks, quacks and cranks. And if you're gonna keep constantly drawing attention to LGBTQA + etcetra representation then it's never gonna become normal and acceptable, it's always gonna be this thing that has to be given special treatment. Which is not the way to make progress."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia had a feeling that out of all of them it would be Elliott who would be most excited to see how the world changes into a more accepting one over the years because of him having seen both sides of the coin on Attil and Earth. It was refreshing for her to see something she said brought a sense of hope to her family and made them happy, whilst still giving them an opening to still discuss such things. She could also tell that Cal and Cliff were utterly fascinated about what she was saying because of her lack of vivid memory about what life was like before the world she actually lived in. The way she found herself being able to understand it was to imagine that there were things that weren't around when her parents were only just born or even before they came into the world and her grandparents (albeit on her father's side they weren't around, and on her mother's it wasn't known if they were around or not) lived through moments in time that were vastly different to even her parents.

She nodded at John's words, imagining how frustrating it must be to have to read such things instead of companies just doing it and not make a big deal to out of it. "I can imagine how that must be annoying. Back home it's just done with no warning of any kind. Which for me is just normal, but I know it wasn't always the case. When I first got told about it, and in some ways learned about the different ways of the world when being taught some history, I thought everyone was legitimately pulling my leg and winding me up" she replied, being careful to choose her words so not to let slip in front of Kay that Sam comes back into her life and is her homeschool teacher for the normal school subjects. Kay had to smirk at the wind up remark, knowing exactly what Fia was on about, feeling that she was pretty sure when everyone was a kid and learning about the world, that they thought their parents and teachers were winding them up and making up everything.

 

[_gallifrog_]

When Jay said she'd lived in places where being anything other than straight was illegal on pain of death, quite a few heads turned in her direction. Cal, Cliff and Elliott had all heard of such planets, but none had ever been to one (not even Cliff who had worked in all kinds of places). Their general knowledge of various planets and civilisations told them that general such attitudes were either found in settlements of religious fanatics or in places where an oppressive totalitarian regime was in place. The grave expression on jay's face made it quite clear she wasn't messing around, and the hardness of her tone made it clear she didn't have many good memories from that time of her life.

"I can see why you'd think that, parents are definitely prone to exaggerating things from the past, I've definitely been guilty of it before, I'll hold my hand up to that." Chas replied, knowing full well he'd exaggerate certain details to make a story better (though he also took pride in the fact that he was nowhere near as much of an exaggerator as John, who sometimes just gave up on the truth and went straight to making up bullshit that sounded good). "But I'd never do it topics as serious as those ones, it's both disrespectful and just downright offensive." John nodded in agreement with his mate's words. "We do actually have standards, you don't just make up stories about those kind of topics. I certainly don't, those to can attest to the 'say it as I see it but without exaggerating' kinda stance I take." Elliott and Chas nodded. "It's the truth, believe me." Elliott replied, knowing that Fia would believe him.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay felt in some ways she wasn't the only one to be entirely shocked by Jay's news as she knew all too well that there were sadly places on Earth that had such drastic laws about homosexual relationships. Laws that should be something of fiction, but unfortunately was not the case. She was however in disbelief that it spread to other planets and that there were other places out in the universe that had those same barbaric beliefs and laws. So she didn't need to take full look at Jay's face to know she wasn't lying in the slightest about it. It was the reason why she swore she would never visit places in the world because she refused to give that country her cash when she was strongly protective of her sister for example, and a strong lgbtq+ ally.

Fia nodded at Chas' words, glad that they could see why she would think such things, even if she didn't want to think her family would lie about things. She then turned to John as he spoke declaring he would never stretch the truth of history, especially on certain topics before seeing Elliott confirm he wouldn't lie, making her half smirk half smile as it was now clear that he figured out if he said something was true, then she'd believe him. "I do believe you, I learned pretty quickly no one was pulling my leg on such things. Funnily enough it was your future self that told me the same thing at the time" she replied to Elliott with a slight chuckle, now she was remembering a bit more of that day.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Elliott smirked slightly when Fia revealed that, not only was it was future him who'd made her understand that nobody was pulling her leg with regards to how such things were in the past, but that the future version of him used almost exactly the same wording to do so. "Looks like future me still talks sense then." Elliott replied, he'd inferred from various things Fia had said about her timeline, that he was pretty much the same person in many regards. It was a relief in a way, especially when compared with the other possible timeline they knew of where he died. "Well somebody had to do that in order to give Chas a day off." John smirked. "You still owe me a holiday mate." The cabbie told him firmly "as great as this has been, I like my holidays not to have life changing legal trials in the middle of them."

"Really can't fault you on that, I'm exactly the same with my holidays. Though in my case it's more of not wanting anybody to even get the slightest bit hurt within a ten kilometre radius of me." Cliff shrugged, she couldn't blame the cabbie for wanting a proper holiday with his own family. Out of all of the Earth group he was the one who could do with some proper relaxation the most. Cliff also though Jay could seriously do with a week (or multiple weeks) off where she could just relax and be a normal person. The assassin had done that to an extent on the island, it hadn't escaped Cliff's attention the friendship that had formed between Charlie and Jay. But she also knew that Jay was somebody who couldn't just switch off, her training simply wouldn't let her. "It's true, one time we were away for a weekend and somebody had a severe allergic reaction in the restaurant we were in, and this one just took charge of the whole scene."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia didn't let the smile leave her mouth when Elliott commented what he did about speaking sense. That smile turned into a proper chuckle when John mentioned about giving Chas a break from being the one talking sense, knowing exactly where he was coming from with that remark. Chas did deserve a proper break, and although she knew there was a time in the future he got that mu h needed break, she wasn't going to spoil it for him just yet as she didn't want to risk jinxing it and it changes, making him lose out on a proper holiday and much needed relaxation break with his own family. She was about to give Elliott a little remark when what Cliff said, followed by Cal got her attention.

"that doesn't surprise me in the slightest." Kay smiled, thinking back to how she just jumped into action when she herself was being sick in the bathroom the morning after they arrived. It was clearly just in Cliff's soul to always help people no matter whether they were a stranger or friend, at work or not. They all knew what kind of person Cliff was by now, and how much empathy she had toward someone else if they were worthy of it, so to hear she would take time out of her holiday to help someone who was having an allergic reaction wasn't surprising. "I can only think how grateful that person was to have someone who knew what to do help them" she then added.