Toby Bryson

( Damn Tyre )

( Email to Kris, Hayden, Rhiannon, William, Izzy, Connor, Whistler, Logan, Sonya, Faith, Juliet )

(Takes place before this)

Having been given their orders, Inquisitors Bryson and Maragos split off from the group. He had left his more obvious weaponry behind at the base they had set up and he did feel quite naked without it. He kept reaching down for the reassuring handle of his pistols but they weren't there. Of course they weren't. It was improper to walk around with such weaponry in an unfamiliar world, and the worry of being picked up by the authorities of this place before they had established themselves as friends rather than enemies was on that they were all painfully aware of.

Tobias frowned, his long legs covering the ground in quick and confident steps as he and Victoria moved towards civilisation. They had seen people everywhere, women in scarcely anything, men being chastised by their women (most unusual), disrespect and defiance everywhere he looked.

It was very late at night, they passed a clock that put it well into the wee hours and he wondered why these people were all out.

( Godforsaken )

( Humanoid Fungus )

( Text to Hannah )

Nathan was out on one late evening, having pulled himself from the isolation he'd lost himself in for a while, it was a necessity at times given the dreams and the endless hours of one's eternal life. Sometimes you just needed to escape and forget the world and all its inhabitants existed.

Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world this was the last place that Nathan thought he would find Toby, but it would certainly seem like the man frequented these places when he wanted to scrape the barrel. That reminded the vampire of somebody else whom he scared off with the display of his true fangs.

Whatever happened to the dear neurotic, miserable Rebecca?

"Don't you know that stuff'll kill you," Nathan drawled as he picked up a nearly empty glass of brown liquid. He dipped his head and took a sniff of it, determining it was scotch, before he finished it off, catching a wayward droplet in the corner of his mouth with the edge of his thumb.

( All is Not Right )

( Questions and Answers )

( Scratching an Itch )

( Pick Up )

Toby had spent most of the day in the upstairs part of his coffee shop, going through paperwork and trying to make sure that everything was in order for when it eventually opened. That included scheduling boring things like fire safety checks and a guy with a clipboard coming around and poking at the walls to make sure that it wasn't going to fall down. There was so much legal red-tape that it made Toby's head hurt.

He raked his fingers through his hair, locking the front door to what was slowly shaping up to look like a cafe. He had the counter and display cabinet ordered and it would be arriving within the week. He needed to speak with Bastian at some point.

He crossed the street, pulling his jacket tighter around himself, adjusting the way the bag was sat on his shoulder.

( Predator and Prey )

( Voicemail for Kris )

( Text to Alec )

It was half ten and Toby was sat on the steps of Kris' gym. It was a nice day, for a change, and he was a little early for their lesson but he hadn't thought it would be a problem, Kris was usually there and since the whole place was still being renovated he would have figured she would have been there too.

After about half an hour, and there was no sign of Kris. Toby started to worry. She was never late, not to anything. Ever. Not as far as he knew and not when business was concerned, anyway.

He pulled his phone out of the pocket of his jacket and knocked his heel against the step a couple down from the one he was sitting on. His thumb found Kris' number in his contact and he tapped it with a long finger, lifting the phone to his ear.

( No Answer )

Knock knock

Toby stood outside Alec's room with a hand on the doorknob, almost pressing his ear against the door but not quite. That might be a little bit creepy. Not that lurking in the hallway outside his housemate's door wasn't creepy, but still.

Since Alec's return from the hospital, Toby had barely seen him. They had bumped into each other in the kitchen but Alec had always disappeared off before Toby could get anything other than 'hi' out of his mouth and to be honest he was a little terrified that he was going to open the door and Alec would be unconscious on the bed or something. Or in the bed.

Or dead.

That wouldn't be good! Toby had freaked himself out on more than one occasion with that thought crossing his mind, sending him into some what of a panic.

( Can I come in? )

( Superhero )

(ooc: This scene takes place before the portal event and before this)

The elevator doors slowly parted open when they reached the twelfth floor of the Streeterville Center. Kathleen stepped out of the elevator with a medium cardboard box with U-haul written on the side in red lettering. Most of her things had been kept in small moving container that was kept at some storage facility at the naval training base in North Chicago which had been loaded way back in August. The military kept it for her until she found more permanent housing in the Chicago area, but never did she imagine she would find a place in the middle of Chicago.

She did not have a lot of possessions. She sold her share of the furniture to her formal roommate in Maryland. Most of her things were in boxes; except for the large flat screen HDTV which she won in a raffle a few years ago. That might have been the biggest thing they had to haul up and required the both of them to carry together.This was an easy move. The apartment was already partially furnished with a bed and furniture in the living room.

She turned her head back to see if Toby followed. “You’re not tired are you?”

Toby was behind her, carrying a couple of boxes in his arms. He peeked at her over the top as he followed her and shook his head. "No, not yet. My arms are hurting a little but that's because they've become lazy and unaccustomed to carrying things." He chuckled, his feet making a soft padding sound against the floor even though he was wearing heavy boots. He approved. No loud sounds were always good. Made for easier living conditions.

( Chicken Scratch )

( Alcohol and Starbucks )

( Gotta call a guy about some coffee )

"I'll take it."

It was a fairly sized building. It had been a big cafe at one point, so it had an equipped kitchen, but the business had gone bust, they had shut up shop and the building had been sold off. No one occupied it and Toby wanted it.

If he was going to start his own business, there was no time like the present. He had been around looking at buildings for a while and there was only so much of sitting at Alec's bedside he could do before he started to worry about the amount of time he spent around the man.

This was the only one that he had visited more than once. Even though it was dusty and a little run down, it just needed some TLC. It was in a good location and it wasn't too far from Kris' studio either so he could drag her kicking and screaming to make sure she ate at least one decent meal that she hadn't had to make herself.

...Wait, that meant he actually had to serve real food instead of just cakes and drinks. Maybe he'd branch out into sandwiches.

Okay, so maybe he didn't have all the logistics thought out, but he would. He glanced over the contract and signed it, buying the building from its previous owners.

"Thanks for your business, Mr Bryson," the young woman said, clutching the folder against her chest, clearly relieved to get rid of the building that had apparently been dragging her down.

Toby offered her a charming smile and snatched the keys up from a lone dust covered table nearby where they were standing. "Thanks for you building, Miss Jones," he said with a wink. "Hopefully you'll come in for coffee some time."

She smiled at him, her heels clicking as she walked out, shoes leaving footprints in the dust.

Toby stood, surveying the building from the center of the room before he let out a whoop that echoed around the walls.

"Look at me, bein' all grown up," he said softly to himself. He moved to flick the lights off, the inside of the building succumbing and being lit only by the light from outside and, to be fair, was fairly impressive anyway. He twirled the keys around one finger before he, too, headed for the door, locking it behind him.

He needed to make a detour on the way home, to check on Alec. He knew he was going to have nightmares about the whole throwing up black ectoplasm thing for quite some time. Though, hopefully now that that thing was out of his system, he would start to get better.

Alec finally had a night off and he'd spent the day convincing Toby that it would be a good idea to go out, let their figurative hair down and just have a little fun. It couldn't hurt, he needed it after dealing with his cancer patient who was showing no sign of improvement. It was depressing and Alec was not doing well with distancing, keeping his emotions seperate from his work, and he could just tell he was going to be upset when he lost this one.

Fortunately Toby had caved and agreed to go out so Alec had spent the last hour or so getting dressed for the occasion. He had on a pair of slacks that left very little to the imagination, a tight fitting dark shirt and a leather jacket that did wonders for his appearance, it drew the eye to his shoulders instantly. The look itself was finished off with polished shoes and a neat styled head of hair, the sort of hair you might like to sink your hands into and see how messy you could make it.

"Toby," Alec hollered over his shoulder as he stood impatiently outside of the other man's bedroom. "We gotta go so hurry up already." He lifted a hand and rapped his knuckles against the door, restless and itching to get going already. Alec blew out a breath and reclined back against the wall, folding his arms across his chest in an attempt at stopping himself from knocking again, but his fingers ended up tapping against leather anyways.

He tipped his head towards the door. "We're not going to get attacked by a vampire if that's what you're worried about."

"I'm not worried about that. And it's not like we've got a time limit, can't be late when we didn't specify a time of arrival," Toby called, accompanied by the sound of him searching through his wardrobe for his jacket. He had decided to go with a dark pair of jeans and boots, accompanied by a long-sleeve button down shirt. His hair was messy, but he hoped it was artfully so. "Don't be so impatient, I just gotta grab my jacket and put my contacts in."

He was, however, pretty sure he was going to spend the whole evening watching Alec get hit on. The guy was gorgeous, after all, and Toby wasn't so. Not that it usually bothered him, he supposed it just meant he had material to mock Alec with for the rest of time. Especially if they did end up cavorting with a vampire. He finally located his jacket and pulled it on, the material stretching over his shoulders but nowhere near as impressively as it did over Alec's. Comparatively, Toby was like a weed.

He pulled off his glasses and quickly slid his contacts in, blinking and wiping at his eyes that still insisted on watering even though he had been using lenses since he was about fourteen and pulled the door open, patting Alec on the arm as he passed and headed down the stairs.

"So, are you coming or what?" he asked, turning to look at Alec with a grin. "Can't wait for you all evening, princess."

( And so the night begins )

( Found someone to dance with )

( An unexpected interruption )

Toby always thought that asking for a house mate or telling someone that you had a room spare was somewhat like selling your soul, the whole process seemed vaguely ridiculous and a little bit desperate, if he was entirely honest.

Though, he was getting tired of living alone and as much company as his pets were, they didn't speak much, and Toby was starting to get sympathetic looks from the manager of two of the coffee shops that he spent a lot of time in. He didn't appreciate the sympathetic looks. It made him feel like he really was pathetic. But he had found himself craving human contact, which was why he was sat at his computer (all new and shiny, he loved new, shiny things) and sending an email to a housing company that advertised rooms for rent. It had been a kind of impulsive idea, something he didn't want to run past anyone else for fear that they might talk him out of it, or worse, encourage him.

He preferred doing these things online, even though you could never be sure of who you were getting. He supposed if an inbred, psychopathic hick appeared at the door with an axe, Toby could scream like a girl, utilise one of those kicks that Kris had taught him and then run the hell away in the hopes of living to look for someone else.

He'd bought another cell phone specifically so that he didn't have to give his private number out, with the idea of either selling it on when he was done or just giving it to someone and letting them have their way with it. It wasn't like he needed two cell phones. Maybe his new house mate would need a cell?

He shook himself off and went back to typing out the ad, hating how he felt like he was pimping himself badly.

One double bedroom available in a newly refurbished apartment, furnished with double bed, wardrobe, chest of drawers, desk and option of shelving. House comes with owner and two pets (a dog and a cat), rent (roughly $300pcm) will include all bills. Driveway currently not in use.

He'd rewritten the damn thing about six or seven times now. He figured each one was as lame as the last. He head butted the keyboard, adding yhyuj7 to the end of the ad before he cursed underneath his breath and tapped the backspace key.

He added the details about his age, name and how to get hold of him before sticking a picture of the house up and, closing his eyes, gingerly clicked on the 'OK' button. The page was whisked away from him before he could change his mind.

Now, he supposed, he just had to wait.

This time of year was not one Toby enjoyed in the least. It had only happened once before but he wasn't exactly joyous when the time rolled around. Last year, the first year, he had spent three days consuming nothing but alcohol and watched bad movies. He was basically paralytic for four days. He didn't want to do that this year, not in the least because he had meetings with Kris, training sessions that he knew she would kick his ass for missing - she didn't seem like the kind of gal to let anyone wallow - and he knew that Kathleen and Michaela would worry if he suddenly dropped off the radar completely. A part of him wondered if he had met Rhiannon and Kris earlier, he had had known Slayers back in California, perhaps he wouldn't be in this mess? He just wasn't feeling like he wanted to talk to people. Didn't think he could handle the kindness of the familiar, but the kindness of strangers? He was sure he could fall into their embrace pretty easily enough. There was something to be said for a kindly face behind a bar that was willing to supply him with as much alcohol as he wanted as long as he kept on paying.

More than anything, he didn't want to be alone right now. Since he had woken up, he'd had nothing but flashes of Cassie and Kelly, the look on Kelly's face when she had told him she was pregnant, how happy everyone had been that Toby was finally going to be carrying on the Bryson name, that maybe something good would have been able to come out of his sham-marriage. And then coming home to the stench of blood, the memory of which still made him retch, sightless eyes staring up at the ceiling and mouths an open 'o' of surprise. He remembered the anger, the pain and the fear that shot through him, the feeling of fangs against his neck and how completely and totally helpless he had been to stop it from happening to him. How he had struggled.

He went back to the house once, surrounded by police and not alone at all. He didn't think he could have done it if he'd been alone. He'd ordered someone to clean the house, gut it completely and then sell it, moving away from the area as soon as he was cleared of the charges against him.

And he had started a new life. But his old one kept haunting him, flashes of Cassie and her fangs, how they sank into his neck, wondered if that was how she had killed his family.

As he tugged his jacket on, he found his thoughts turning to Nathan. Again. And he hated how that seemed to be the logical jump that his brain had started to make: vampires to Nathan. Whatever the vampire had done to him it had stuck in his mind, thoughts of the man came unbidden into his head and he was struck by what he had said. He wanted to understand why someone would choose that life for themselves (or unlife, he supposed, considering they were the undead and everything). Never to see a sunrise again, to have to live off human blood? It was all a bit grim and gross for Toby's liking.

But he had to admit, he was fascinated. In his readings, he was yet to come across anything that would explain why Nathan could do what he did.

Memories of his family knocking about in his brain, the constant accusation I killed them haunting his thoughts, he tugged on his jacket, grabbed his wallet, keys and cigarettes before he headed out of the house, a cigarette between his lips before he was even halfway down the newly finished porch. It was cold and windy, the sun setting slowly above the houses but Toby had spent enough time wallowing in the past. Now he needed to drink it away. And maybe, just maybe, there was a part of his mind that wanted him to meet up with Nathan again. A part of him that wanted to understand, to taste that danger.

Perhaps alcohol wasn't the best way to deal with things, he was thinking, a beer or two later as he nursed a whiskey glass, rolling it between his palms and looking into the amber liquid like it could solve everything, but it would do for now. The bar wasn't especially crowded, but it wasn't empty either, a couple of young things dancing to some beat that they could only hear because they were drunk out on the dance-floor. Toby knew all too well that at some point more people would join them and the whole bar would heat up, start to smell of sweat. The sun had set, people were coming out to party.

He planned on being far drunker by the time that rolled around.

He knocked back his whiskey and hissed as he felt it burn a path down his throat before he tapped the bar and asked for another.

One of those people emerging from the shadow of night was Nathan Turner, perfectly content to lose himself in the nightlife of Chicago and the very human thirst for life.

Thus far he had been to three bars and one club and had lost his interest in them minutes after stepping foot in them causing him to pick up and move on, whoever said that the dead rested peacefully?

Nathan slipped through the line outside of another bar and bypassed the bouncers, disappearing into the crowded space and navigating it successfully enough. The place was quite full, bodies moved on both sides of him and he could almost pick out every face if he looked at them closely enough.

He approached the bar and ordered himself a brandy, slipping out of his jacket to drape it over the bar before he himself slid onto the stool and inclined his head. Nathan wasn't the sort to miss anything, he was aware and observant of his surroundings and the people within it. Yet, somehow, he managed to miss a familiar face on the other end of the bar.

Fancy that.

Toby was nowhere near as drunk as he wanted to be by this point of the night. Apparently, something in his mind was making him slow the pace down. It wasn't going to be easy to pour himself into a cab in the middle of the night if he couldn't feel his toes.

Damn, he hated being sensible sometimes. It really sucked. He swallowed and took a sip of his whiskey, turning on the barstool to watch the people moving about, leaning his elbow against the bar, the other hand swirling the glass, watching the liquid catching the light. His eyes tracked a couple of people as they weaved through the crowd and turned his head as they did, stiffening as he saw a familiar profile sitting at the other end of the bar.

A part of him knew just how ironic this situation was; he'd been thinking about Nathan and then there he was, but hadn't actually envisaged himself seeing the vampire. His stomach twisted uncomfortably and he knocked back his whiskey, waiting until it had stopped crawling down his throat, leaving a burning trail in its wake before he found himself slipping off his stool and crossing the distance, sitting down near Nathan with a stool between them.

( Got a light? )

( Curiosity killed the cat )

( Chain-smoking and alcoholism )

( Can't stop caring )

( End of an evening )

The wipers swished left to right and right to left on the windshield as she drove her hybrid vehicle in the pouring rain. It would have been very difficult to find Toby’s place in the rain if it had not been for the voice prompts from her vehicle’s GPS guiding the way. It now chimed that she had arrived at her destination.

Kathleen stopped her Mariner and then peered through the water drops and wipers on her windshield. She saw the address number on the house and turned onto the short drive way to park. She could not clearly see the entire house, but the front portion looked like a work in progress with a half painted front porch, which looked to have been abandoned for other work projects.

Once she parked and turned the vehicle and radio off, she could hear the rain drops plop heavy against the SUV. Another heavy shower had started to fall. It was then that she remembered that she left her umbrella back at the hospital. She could stay inside and wait for it to past or she could make a run for it. Instead she stalled for a moment while she gathered some things together.

Toby had snuck a smoke in his kitchen - one look at the weather outside and he thought screw it to his own rule of 'no smoking inside the house'. He waved a hand to dispel the smoke because he had a guest and he hated it if his house smelt like cigarette smoke.

The rain sounded super heavy and he really wished it hadn't come on now because he had been painting his front porch earlier that day and then the rain had started... and he hadn't been able to finish it. It was frustrating him. Most of the inside of the house was done, it was just the odd bits and pieces.

And he had to take off the plastic covers too...

He moved into the living room, stepping over Wolf - who had decided to make himself at home lying across the doorway between the living room and kitchen - to pull the plastic covers off the chairs, making what was, in his mind at least, the most god-awful racket.

He glanced at the clock. Kathleen ought to be over soon.

He wasn't sure what had bought on the spontaneous visit, but he wasn't about to complain. He hadn't spoken to many people at all, and since he hadn't heard back from Michaela about dinner yet...

Well, company was always good. He enjoyed company. He was, after all, a social creature.

( Making a run for it )

( Freudian Slip )

( The Grand Tour )

[ooc: scene was so long it needs to be posted in 2 parts]

Toby gripped the sink with his hands, knuckles turning white and arms shaking with exhertion. He kind of felt like he was trying to rip the sink from where it was attached to the wall, a freakish display of strength that would somehow settle the demons that were crawling beneath his skin.

It was bad enough that everyone was dead because of him, but now that... encounter, that vampire that somehow captured Toby's attention... He couldn't stop thinking about that meeting, how normal it had seemed and how easily he had fallen sway to Nathan's eyes. How he had almost relished the idea of having control taken away from him, having someone else take the reigns of his life because he had kept it together for so long. The idea of letting go was as tempting as it was terrifying.

It scared him how easily he had tipped his head, exposing his neck to the monster. He looked at his reflection in the mirror and tilted his head, the harsh light catching on the messy scar that sat at the edge of his throat, where he had nearly died, that fateful night. A memory that would forever haunt him.

Nathan would have bitten him. Toby knew that much. What he didn't understand was the almost sickening thrill that coursed through him at the idea, or why the vampire's face kept flashing into his mind at the most random and inappropriate of moments. He didn't understand why he wanted to know more about what Nathan had been saying, about how it wasn't all the way that it had been portrayed, the implication that not all vampires were mindless, bloodsucking fiends.

They still sucked blood to survive. Toby didn't think that was healthy. But then, a part of him figured it was just like eating chicken or beef; it was a means of survival as brutal as any other, it didn't make it less valid just because he was part of the food chain. He caught himself rationalising vampirism and made a small sound, disgusted with himself. He shook his head and huffed out a breath, wishing it wasn't five am, wishing the sun was up so that he could take Wolf for a run and clear all this from his head.

But, like an irritating song that got itself tangled up in your mind, he couldn't stop thinking about what it must be like, whether or not it was like smoking, that first taste that coursed through your veins like the best drug, the fulfilment of an addiction. He wondered if that was what it tasted like to drink from someone, to lost yourself in their taste. To know that you were, irrevocably, in control of whether or not that person lived or died.

He looked at himself in the mirror, eyes falling to the scar before he pushed violently away from the sink. He needed to stop thinking those thoughts, needed to stop entertaining the possibility of running into Nathan again, how that horrible streak of curiosity that sat low in his stomach made him think that maybe... just maybe... he wouldn't run away if he saw the vampire coming at him.

He shut off the bathroom light and moved towards the lounge, plastic cover on the couch making a rustling noise as he collapsed onto it, leaning forward, elbows on his knees and fingers in his hair, the heels of his hands pressing against his eyes. He needed to stop thinking, needed to get away from the thoughts of death, of vampires and of that man's insanely encapsulating eyes.

It was like they had been burned into Toby's mind and he couldn't for the life of him stop thinking about them, about the sensuality of their whole encounter, the way his skin had prickled with the touch. He knew it had just been the vampire's influence, but a part of him had been so starved for attention that that small, primal part of his brain had latched onto those touches and the way they had made him feel, even if he wasn't in control of his actions properly.

It was that same part of him that almost wanted to seek Nathan out again. Almost like he wanted the vampire to get his hooks into him again.

It was... disturbing, to say the very least, and he was scared because he did kind of want. Not just to understand, but to feel.

The sun was coming up now, early morning rays filtering through his curtains and he pushed off the couch and walked over to the window, standing in the gap between the curtains, pressing his palms against the surface of the glass as he started into the sunrise, feeling those first, weak rays lick the barest hint of warmth over his skin.

His eyes burned as he watched it become stronger, the colours scattered across the sky like it was God's canvas and he bit down on his lower lip, feeling that familiar surge of relief that the sun had risen again, that it was a new day.

And, at least for the next fourteen hours, he would be safe from the threat of vampires. Physically, at least.

It was an unusually warm day for October, perhaps maybe the last chance for normal outdoor type activities, before the cold weather arrived to hold the great mid-western city hostage. The five day weather forecast called for warm days and cool nights, Indian Summer days they were called, where the temperature hovered above seventy degrees or more for a few days.

Kathleen schedule at the hospital had become split between shifts in the Emergency Room and AMEDD duties. The shortage of civilian doctors willing to work so close to Lincoln Park was still an issue, but such a large hospital had to remain open for the community. She saw it as an opportunity to learn and to sharpen her skills in general medicine, plus she could use the hours to sub-specialize in internal medicine. If when she left military service, she might look into private practice somewhere out West maybe, something closer back home.

The schedule change allowed her to work mostly during the days with some evening shifts in the ER. This allowed her more time to do things during her free time, and regular exercise was one of those things. Today she wanted to go on a long run, since the weather was so nice.

Her running pace was easy and unhurried. The neighborhood she ran in was not too far from her new extended stay hotel. The trees in this up-scale residential neighbor was full of autumn colors, especially on the street she was on. Many of the residents were also taking advantage of the warm fall weather.

It was a surprisingly sunny day in Chicago and Toby was indulging his impatient dog in taking him for a walk. It wasn't as if Wolf had been massively well behaved, but Toby blamed the paint fumes. Spacey had been acting a little crazy the past couple of days too.

Great, his animals were high. Next thing he'd do would be to come home and find that they were sniffing paint or wallpaper glue, throwing his shit around. Then they'd end up in rehab and boy, that would be messy. He leaned against a tree, Wolf at his heels as he thought about his animals going into a rehab facility, lips curled up into a small smile as he amused himself with the thought for a little while. Then animal cruelty would come and he'd be done for neglect or something, and that would seriously suck. It wouldn't be his fault his his pets became serial paint-sniffers! He hadn't even noticed when Wolf wiggled his leash free from where Toby had been standing on it, looking up seconds too late to see his Husky bounding away from him, looking back once, gleeful, willing Toby to chase after him.

Goddamnit.

"Wolf!" he yelled, pushing off the tree and walking after the dog, speeding up a little into a light jog when the dog just ran faster, stupid bloody thing. "Wolf, get your furry ass back here!"

But, of course, that didn't work. Of course it didn't.

Kathleen had just turned onto the street on the side walk cluttered with orange, yellow, and red leaves. A slight breeze blew past her face, stripping a few more leaves from the trees around her. For the brief moment it seem like she was back in a familiar neighborhood back in Helena. Where she used to walk through while returning from school and where her friends used to live.

There was some commotion up ahead, she had noticed some guy zig zagging around. It was too far for her to see exactly what he was after, but it was amusing. He then disappear from her view behind some trees and parked cars. She continued ahead on the side walk, reminded again that she had forgotten to charge her mp3 player, it laid idle inside the pocket of her training jacket.

Zoom! A furry brown and white Husky bounded across the sidewalk in front of her. The dog caused her to slow down, as she watch the Nordic dog playfully hurried around the yard, sniffing along the bushes, exploring. The Husky, then paused to look back to see if his master had followed, and it was then that she figured out what the guy she saw earlier was after.

Kathleen stopped and turned toward the dog. "Here boy." She could at least try to get a hold of the mischievous dog for the owner who was not too far away now. "Come, here," she then whistled.

( Is he bothering you? )

( Read more... )

It was starting to get a little darker now, and the chill in the wind had begun to pick up too. Toby hadn't understood why Chicago was called 'The Windy City' until he stood out one evening and was accosted, no, molested, by a very cold breeze.

At least he wasn't too far from home. He lit up a cigarette and took a long drag on it, blowing smoke up towards the sky as he strolled back towards his house. Today had been a good one, all things considered.

It wasn't that Toby enjoyed physical labour unless he was working on a car, but some things just needed doing. Renovating his new house was just one of them. Mostly, he just had to clean (and he hated cleaning) and paint the whole house from top to bottom.

He had indulged in some DIY and had bits of sawdust (or plasterboard dust, he wasn't sure which) in his hair when he took Wolf for a walk down to a nearby corner shop to grab a couple of essentials, and got a weird look from the young woman behind the counter. When he ran a hand through his hair, he realised why and laughed.

"Sorry, I'm trying my hand at some of that do it yourself crap," he chuckled and rubbed at his hair again, "Apparently DIY includes taking bits of wall everywhere with you."

The server laughed softly and ran his items through the till and he slid them into a bag, holding them in one arm and pocketing his change with the other hand.

He bid the woman farewell, promising that the next time he came in, he would be sans wall but covered in something equally random (but not disgusting), just to make her day interesting.

"Hey boy, you ready to go back to our new home?" he greeted, rubbing behind Wolf's ears as he reached out and grabbed the lead. Wolf huffed and just got to his feet. "I'm sorry," Toby grumbled as the dog walked ahead of him down the street. "I know you're mad, but you and Spacey gotta get used to the fact that this is a new house." He paused and then laughed softly, "You gotta admit, you have the better deal, Spacey's stuck in the house." He fell into silence, as if expecting a reply from his dog before he blew out a breath and carried on walking back to the house. When they arrived, he pushed the door open, wrinkling his nose at the overwhelming stench of paint.

"God, I'll be attracting all the solvent-abusers in the neighbourhood if I'm not careful."

Sure, he could pay someone to do this make-over for him, but what fun would that be?

He put the milk and beer in the fridge, leaving everything else in the bag and then going in search of his kitten, sweeping her up into his arms and kissing her fur. "Hey gorgeous," he murmured, scritching behind her ears and listening to her purr against his chest. He closed his eyes and thought about Kelly, how she had loved cats and always wanted one, though she hated dogs. She wouldn't have liked this house either.

He bit back on a soft sound and squeezed his eyes shut against the burn of tears, hiding his face in Spacey's fur. It had been over a year now and he was getting better at not crying every time he thought about his family. But he wasn't there yet, not fully.

He needed to go out again, just for a walk. Find something to do.

He put Spacey down, told Wolf - who didn't understand him but Toby spoke to him anyway - that he would be back later and that he was to look after the cat (to which Wolf actually walked over and licked Spacey's head, she just made a disgruntled sound, licked her paw and did the cat equivalent of flattening down her hair) and then he was leaving again. But not before cracking open a couple of windows. He didn't want his animals to get high, he'd come back to find that all of his DIY work had been ruined.

*

Toby wandered for hours, he passed a shelter for the homeless and a place that offered help to people who had been through traumatic events. He made a note of the numbers and addresses, filing them away in his mind and returning a little while later with a sizeable cheque for each, walking in and putting the envelopes in the care of the receptionists with "F.A.O whoever's in charge" and a promise to hand it on to whoever was 'in charge'.

He walked back home feeling better. It was a waste to have that money and not do anything good with it. He was doing something good, or at least, he hoped he was. Money like that went a long way in helping places run. He would do more eventually. He wanted to. He just... he didn't know how to go about doing it.

He needed to get his head permanently screwed on right before he did anything else.

He also needed to learn how to fight. Which was right on his list after re-insulating the attic.