Social interaction is a human need

[De'Ryanna Aybara]

It had been a while since De'Ryanna had taken the time to associate with anyone after her incident with Benjamin in the gym. Something odd had happened and she wasn't quite sure what it was, what she did know was that she felt a bit more in control. The anger that she had was still there but instead of it running rampant throughout her system it was restrained to the area around her heart. Anger bred from an assortment of negative emotions and able to break through the containment at any time. For her that meant limiting contact, with her job she couldn't put contact out the way all together.

The late night fights had stopped. She had gone out one night to participate and even before she had reached the building her adrenaline started to pump and spread through her body, needling at the contained anger. It was the wrong thing to do and so regrettably she had turned around to head back home. Her days were spent mostly in silence and she only spoke when spoken to which was rare being that she performed her duties when the others were not around. In her silence she practiced focus activates she learned in the Tower and spent time in the gym doing ballet. The dancing was for the body. Despite the focus and muted anger there were still physical needs her body needed.

People needed social interaction. Even if they only occupied the same space simply knowing that you were not along could do wonders. Aside from the market to get supplies De'Ryanna had been robbing herself of a basic human need. Perhaps she didn't know who to go to because the last time she reached out to someone they had rejected her and it had stung. But there was one person she had been wanting to go back to only didn't know the proper way to go about it after their last encounter.

Thinking about him made her legs weaken and a pull below the waist. It was a different feel than the adrenaline rush acquired from anger, this was more natural and tonight, tonight she had decided that she was going to go see him. And knock on his door as she had been examining it for the last few minutes from the outside. Telling herself that the only reason she had not yet knocked was because she was preparing herself. Perhaps he wasn't in - she didn't sniff at the door and she wasn't trying to listen for anything. If it turned out that he wasn't there she would figure out something else.

Pushing back her hair and straightening her long olive green skirt she knocked on Tobias' door.

[Om Kennedy Yajna]

Been a while since the sound of bongos were heard from behind the door. Didn't mean he wasn't around. Just meant he hadn't been banging his drums. When he was there, the time was mostly spent in silence. Sleeping, meditating, fasting by only eating as much as he needed to have the fuel to get through his day job.

That's right, a Kennedy trip with a day job. Samantha knew about it but only because she'd tailed him to work one day when she suspected he was up to something. What she thought he was up to was a lot worse than what she saw so it turned out the joke was on her.

The job wasn't because he needed the money. It helped him get a load of aggression out daily without ending him up behind bars or dead. Demolition. Doing that he could use his mutation to a badass advantage and there wasn't any consequences. A lot of demolition done around Rhy'din was done with flashy magic. When people could snap their fingers to do anything including wiping their own asses why do anything the old fashioned way, right? The answer's easy: magic. Just like a person could use magic to knock a place down they could use it to keep a place protected from magic attack. A lot of the old buildings the civic department was looking to knock down and renovate were protected with some seriously ancient spells. That's where Toby and his crew came in. To do it the old fashioned way.

Anyway. Was he home? Yeah. If she'd put her sharp ears to good use she would've heard the shower running. Lucky for her he'd decided to take one today after getting home from his shift. Otherwise he would have been rank.

He heard the knock and turned the shower off. Yelled loud as he could. "Heyla!" Toby was assuming it was Sammy or else he would have said something more polite like 'hold on' or 'just a minute'. Grabbing a towel he gave his body a once over and his hair a rub dry. He threw on the first pair of clean sweatpants he saw, and a clean white T-shirt from the drawer.

That was how he answered the door. Still wet some and he smelled like soap. "Ryanna." He looked surprised when he saw her and he knew it. It's why he said, "thought you were my sister, sorry. Would've answered faster. Coming in or are we going out?"

Are we going out. He didn't realize how that sounded until he said it.

[De'Ryanna Aybara]

It was because she didn't want to get her hopes up or feel any other way about whether or not he was in. That's why she had only stood there and waited until she eventually knocked. That's when all the sounds and smells started to come into play.

His loud shout of "Heyla" set off her senses and she heard the water and and the smell that soap put into the air. Now, she did appreciate cleanliness but this was not something that she expected to smell coming from his room. Clean. He had told her to not get use to him being clean and now...She closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh as she remembers what he had smelled like the last time they were together. His natural scent and that of the emotions pouring off the pair of them had caused her system to go into overload, not to forget how his skin felt against her own.

Addictive. Intoxicating. Merely thinking about it as she was set a spark to her emotions and she would have gotten pulled into her thoughts had the click of the door knob turning hadn't snapped her out of the memory. Her eyes opened just as he opened the door and she was able to replace the reminiscent expression with a more neutral one with a smile.

Until she saw how he appeared and he looked as surprised as she felt, the smile changing as she drew in her bottom lip to bite on it. It was one thing to have the smells hindered by the door or kept in thought; quite another to have them standing directly in vision.

Why did he have to be wet?

De'Ryanna was going to stay in control and not let herself get carried away. Letting go of her lip she put back her shoulders and lifted her chin, but only a tad. "As I recall you mentioned before that I was your sister due to the fact that we are all connected. Has that changed Tobias?" Maybe there was a different sort of connection now.

It did not take too much effort to inflict her words with her normal tone but it also held a bit of a teasing and playful edge. De'Ryanna wore thin golden laces that tied up each arm from wrist to elbow, the matched the color of her bodice, and her fingers were itching to mess with them to ease herself. Outwardly she remained calm save for a tip of her head. "And to answer your question, until you are dry I'm coming in."

The next bit she didn't have to say but it came out in a softer tone as she placed her right hand on the door frame and stepped forward. Her eyes stayed focused on his when she moved but she would not step close enough to touch him but enough to almost put her in the threshold.

"I need you."

[Om Kennedy Yajna]

"Okay." He leaned out the door some. Enough to give a thumb towards the door of his sister's room. "I meant -that- sister, Sister." He smirked as he leaned back. Wasn't she the one that didn't want him calling her that? But there she was bringing it up. "The one whose bed I short sheet and who gets spiders dumped on her head when she talks back too much. Or do you want to sign up for that too?" Big smirk now. Smug bastard was the kind of teasing Toby did.

But the last thing she said changed the mood. Eyes on her when she came closer. No gloves on his hands since he'd just come out of the shower and figured it was Samantha at the door. He dropped the smirk. Nodded. "I can handle that." He good at being there for people when they needed someone to be there. It was what kept him close to Sammy. Even though he didn't look like to most of the time he was the hero type. Probably came with the Kennedy blood.

He moved so she could come in. There were a couple of new things in the room. His work gear, for one. Despite his mutation the job insisted he wear the stuff, hard hat steel toed boots the works. The other thing was a sitar. He'd spared no expense. Made of tun wood it was done by hand and so were the carvings on the tumba and tabli. Rosewood pegs, bone tuning beads, but that wasn't the biggest deal to him. He'd picked it because of the sound. Incredible. Before Uncle Teddy's death he'd never played one. A new challenge. To help with grief and shit.

"It's good to see you Ryanna." He shut the door behind her. "You look good." She dressed her body well. Didn't escape his attention. "What happens when I dry?" He had to ask.

[De'Ryanna Aybara]

Tobias' sense of humor was something she appreciated. One of the things she liked about him and the bed comment tugged a smile on her lips. To think that he would put spiders in her bed was funny though not enough to make her laugh. De'Ryanna stepped almost in sync with him as he stepped back into the room. Smooth and fluid forward steps and her hand released the doorway. Moving past him those fingers danced in the air like playing a piece on a piano and they might have made contact with his t-shirt unless he had moved back enough. It was a quirk that sometimes came when ruminating on pleasant thoughts. There were a lot to be had in relation to this room.

“If you were to come to my bed I’d think it to be for something other than shorting the sheets.” Was her answer to whether or not she wanted to sign her name on that sister list. She didn’t. If her answer had to be clearer she would state it again in a more straightforward manner. Stepping more into the room she thought about what she said and then of his mutation so she added to her statement. “Unless it was for your own comfort.”

The new items in his room were easy to notice due to the lack of furniture – pretty hard to miss something when there wasn’t much to see – and the workmen’s gear was glanced at. Tobias could do well in construction she thought. The heavy lifting, and hard hitting work, he had the shape for it and Light knows he could make his body tough enough for the workload. Not to mention that construction could be a good way to work out energy. This is why she merely glanced at them but set her eyes on the instrument.

It looked like a guitar with an elongated neck and small bottom, she couldn’t recall if she had seen anything like it before. Gliding steps with the dancers walk took her to the instrument and she circled around until she was on the side able to face him. De’Ryanna moved her fingers along the back of the neck feeling the texture and work of the wood.

“I’ve had thoughts of you Tobias.” The closest she may get to saying she missed him. She appeared to kneel down by the sitar though the imprint of her knees against the fabric of the skirt told that she was balanced on balls of her feet in a crouch position. The instrument in front of her she placed a hand on the head while the other was still on the neck. ”Will you play for me? I’ve never heard music from this before.” Not to her knowledge.

“You can play while you dry. Once you dry I may be able to touch your skin without feeling wet.” She did not know how his ability worked when he came into contact with water and thought that perhaps if he were wet then he was not fully solid, but soluble, like water.

[Om Kennedy Yajna]

He didn't move back. He wasn't worried about touches to his shirt or his chest. Those areas were usually under control. Besides, could be that he'd absorbed something already. Before answering the door or after. Doorknob, doorframe. Plenty of possibilities.

"I don't mind sheets." Was his answer back. All he had in here was a bedroll and a flannel blanket but it hadn't always been that way in the past. A little grin. Maybe he took what she said as an invitation. Not for right now but sometime.

He followed her over to the instrument. Watching her look it over. "From a sitar?" He sounded surprised. To him it was a pretty common sound. But he was a hippy. Hand closed around the top of the long neck but he waited for her to pull her hands away before he picked it up. "Sure you don't want to take a few hits from the hookah before I play it?" He smirked. Just braid pulling her even though he did think smoking changed the experience. For the better. But he was a hippy.

He sat down on the floor Indian style so he could sit with the instrument in his lap. "Once I dry? Are you a cat?" Afraid of water. He didn't realize she thought he wasn't solid. Things got tricky when Tobias absorbed something like water or Jello or something. If he was made up of something like that right now she'd know it.

He started tuning the sitar. Eyes on the pegs. "What thoughts?" He could tell her the same. That he'd been thinking about her. Some of it worry because of how wound up she'd been before they'd come up to his room last he'd seen her. But turning pegs and plucking strings he couldn't come out and say it. He was bad with shit like that.

[De'Ryanna Aybara]

De'Ryanna watched as he crossed the room to where she croutched buy his sitar. She had never watched him from a lowered position before and so she did her best to examine and not stare at him until he took a seat. There were different things to notice about a persons walk depending on the angle you saw them - having been taught that a persons emotions could often be seen in their walk. Even if they had a lame leg they could still have a walk that spoke of strength, or grace, nervousness, joy, any number of emotions and she was watching to try to read his. And to simply watch him move.

A shift in her position had her sitting on the wooden floor, legs to the side and she fluffed her skirt over her feet and ankles that stuck out from the bottom. There was a mirthful smile on her face when he joked about her being a cat. Stabilizing hand on the ground for support De'Ryanna leaned in his direction and made a soft purr while tipping her head so that her hair fell to one side. Something he'd remember? If she was capable of teasing then this could be considered just that. "Thought you liked the kitty." Comment and a question all in one, but not one that he had to answer.

It was strange, but she felt as though she could get comfortable in a room with no furniture. Perhaps because her own room was simple, nearly made her want to lay out on the floor but she wasn't going to be that relaxed.

"You can smoke if you want, I'm already loose. Naturally." adding that tidbit.

Tobias had his eyes on the pegs and she had hers on him and what he was doing. "I've been thinking about our time together and what happened." Spoken as she skipped a few fingers over her thigh. "Those thoughts tingle my skin and threaten to steal my breath. That's some of my thoughts."

Her gaze stayed on him while she spoke. What she didn't say was that she had thought that their time together had changed his perception of her and perhaps he didn't want to see her. Of course there was no use in saying that since he said it was good to see her.

Besides, she wasn't one of those girls.

[Om Kennedy Yajna]

Something about the way he moved said he was tired. He used the demo job for all it was worth. Gave it all he had until he was exhausted. What else did he have to do with his days anyway? Took care of his need to work out and did some good. Which was good enough for him. Plus it was outdoors. Added bonus. Nothing about how he moved said he was injured or sore. That didn't happen much.

When she teased he stopped tuning. Because he did remember that sound. Head lifted to look up at her. Slowly. They were eyes to eyes. His hand left the tuning pegs long enough for him to run his fingers down her hair. Not her cheek. Her hair. "I did." She was teasing. He was answering seriously. Figured right? "Course I got a reputation for not caring about that stuff. The family joke is I'm gonna be the first Kennedy monk." His voice'd tell her he didn't care for that joke much.

Hand returned to the neck of the sitar. Thumb strummed down them all. He was satisfied with the tuning. Before he played anything else he slid a wire mezrab on his index finger on his right hand. It was the sitar version of a guitar pick. Something he was still trying to get the hang of. "I've only been playing this a couple weeks." So she was warned. If she noticed this sitar had just over twenty strings. So it wasn't the simplest instrument to play.

He started out just hitting one note. Letting it ring. Pulling the string to bend the sound. Repeating. It was how a lot of songs started with this instrument. Pick a note, repeat, feel it and see where it takes you. "Are you saying I'm not loose?" He smirked. His focus was on the instrument now. Had to be because he was still getting a handle on where all the strings were at. That note repeated and bent so the sound held out, he plucked two others. First quick, second he drew out. Starting to build a song.

"I'm glad you came by." The repeated note was left behind as the two new ones were alternated in pattern as a drone. The main strings he plucked, looking for a melody. "I didn't know if you wanted to see me."

[De'Ryanna Aybara]

Tobias was looking at her.

She had hoped that he wouldn't continue to keep his eyes down upon the instrument for the entire time. There was the understanding that people had to look at their fingers when they played - at least from time to time - but she didn't want to hold a conversation without any visual contact.

It was one of the things she feared and disliked about who and what she was. De'Ryanna had told Tobias about people not wanting to be around her once they knew what she could do. He didn't care and he still wanted to be around her. And now he even reached for a touch.

Her hair was smooth and felt thick with pressed out curls; not silky or stringy. Eyes stayed on his and she didn't question why he touched her hair instead of her as she figured it had something to do with what he had absorbed. Tobias had been touching the sitar so perhaps his skin felt like hard wood or the material the strings were made from. When he pulled away she found herself wanting to ease closer but stayed herself. "Don't touch me and then think that I wouldn't want to see you."

A small fidget, a shift as she sat on the ground. "That's a silly idea and you should rid your head of it." The notes made by the plucked strings settled about her and made her eager to hear what would come next, so much that she forgot she was suppose to stay where she was. He was focused; he looked focused, so her rising up on her knees to ease forward and slightly behind him shouldn't be a distraction.

"As for your family, I think that they will have to come up with a new joke." She spoke in a softer tone as she moved into position. If he was testing the strings to find a melody she did not want to hinder him by adding in the quality of her voice. The position she put herself in allowed view of his fingers on the sitar from his vantage point. Close enough to it anyway. "That or they should mind their own business."

For De'Ryanna, the back of Tobias' shirt was about to become a sort of canvas for her hand was raised and ready to move across his lower back once he plucked the next note. Her position caused her soft spoken words to be more aimed towards his ear. "I'm glad that you are here so that I may spend time with you.”

He wasn’t the only one that wasn’t too good on vocalizing feelings. Those things were easier to express through actions.

[Om Kennedy Yajna]

He and Ryanna had the same problem. When people found out what he could do some of them had strong reactions. So he'd never treat her that way. Plus where he was from some people could do things. All kinds of things. And yeah some of those things were f-cking scary if you really thought about it. Like Dex's ability. So to him what De'ryanna could do was just another day of the week.

"My family isn't too great with new jokes." There was a whole history behind that but he didn't say anything on it. Now that she was behind him his eyes were on the sitar. He was still exploring. Plucking around to find something that matched what he was feeling. Maybe that was part of the problem. He didn't know what he was feeling. It was why he was fasting. Doing the demolition. Trying a new instrument. "And the whole country's in our business." No escaping.

When he thought about that he found it. What he wanted to play. Fingers tapped the wood three times and he plucked just one drone note up-tempo. To keep the beat. Maybe that's why the sitar made sense to Tobias. Drums were all about keeping beat with the melody and harmony. Notes were fast plucked. Started with one. Went one higher. One, one-two, one-two-three-three-three, one-two-three-three. The setting up the cord. Then he added the fourth, holding that note out. Plucking it harder. Determination. Repeated it all. But always the notes ended on the fourth. Leaving the cord unresolved. No escape. That's what the song became. All these variations of those four notes in the cord he picked but no matter what there was no escape to the fifth.

"Sitar's a good instrument to dance to." He'd remembered just then. The day when he caught her dancing in the gym. She was good. He liked to watch her move. "If we were back in the states there'd be pictures of us. In the papers. On TV. Times we thought we were alone, they'd prove for us we weren't." He hadn't let go of those thoughts. The no escape. He bent his head. To save it for the song. Playing it out that way instead of talking about it more.

[De'Ryanna Aybara]

As she had intended, once Tobias started to pluck at the sitar's strings De'Ryanna's fingers started to move along his back. The distance her fingers moved along his back was dependant on the length of the note he played. The quick ones caused her fingers to skip whereas the longer ones resulted in them gliding smoothly across his t-shirt. Her eyes traded between watching him and her own actions and not wanting them to be distracting for she wanted him to continue to play.

The drum and guitar were the two instruments she loved the best out of all she's heard even though she couldn't play either one. Being a female she had been trained in the piano like 'a proper lady'. Now Tobias was playing what seemed to be a mix of the two and it started to stir her desires. "We're not in the states Tobias." She was a smart girl, she knew of where he was speaking though she had an idea of why there would be pictures and news stories. He was important back home and therefore always watched. Under scrutiny for everything he did, people wondering what his next step would be. She knew that life. No matter how hard you tried to stay out of the public eye you were always found.

After a slight moment of hesitation her other hand reaches up and rest upon his shoulder right above the hem of his sleeve. Slight amount of pressure as she moved closer. "You're here, with me." She debated on whether or not to remind him of her connection to Benjamin but, as that was not something she wanted to talk about she didn't. "No one is going to disturb us right now." She could always seal the room from entry, even of she was already thinking of doing so from eavesdropping.

She chewed her bottom lip a moment as her hand squeezed his shoulder and moved to fall down his back. "I would dance for you. If you asked.” There was a slight pause between those two seconds. Eyes having been on her hands they were now focused again on Tobias and seeing the way the muscles in his arms moved as he handled the sitar. “I haven't wanted to dance for anyone since leaving the care of my Foster."

[Om Kennedy Yajna]

"Thank the god damn for that." Not being in the states and being here instead. It was the first time Tobias toned down his language in front of her. Not out of manners though. Swearing like the kind he had in him when it came to home took energy to let loose. He didn't have the energy to bother right now. With the swearing or the topic of home period.

"Do you play something?" The way she moved her fingers had a musician quality. The size of the strokes and stuff. After he asked it he realized the moves could also be because of her dance background. Maybe she was multi-talented. No harm in asking.

How she touched his back changed the song some. Subtle but maybe she'd notice it. Her fingers were matching what he was playing but now it worked in the reverse too. His notes he was taking from the pattern of her fingers. So when he repeated the main part of the song if on one note she'd held it for short and three other she'd held for longer that's how he played it the next time around. Like she said he was here with her. Song should reflect that right? Maybe if he kept taking cues from the touches she was giving him the song would find a way to escape. Find the fifth. How deep.

It didn't seem like he was worried about her touching him. Meant he felt he had his ability under control. He hadn't absorbed anything. Was normal to the touch. He could keep this way no problem, so long as she didn't touch his palms.

"I'm not going to tell you to dance." Because he hated when people demanded things of him. Toby had to be in a certain mood to get demanding. In those cases his demands became borderline. Out to take control. He wasn't in that mood right now which is why he wasn't making demands. He glanced back at her as much he could before looking back down at the sitar. "But if you felt like it I wouldn't mind."

After a beat he added. "Sister's got -moves-." Smart-assed grin. "And a real nice ass that I betchu can bounce a quarter off of when she shakes it just right." Hopefully De'ryanna got the picture that he was talking about her. Not his biological sister.

[De'Ryanna Aybara]

"The piano," said with a sigh of indignation. "I play the piano. Just like a good girl should." The whole tone suggested that this wasn't an instrument that she had wanted to take it. More of an obligation. There was a subtle change to Tobias' playing as it flowed differently to her ears. It felt different as the notes settled about her body. Different and yet somewhat the same. She could still follow it -though the notes seemed to take her lead - and she had even started a soft hum to accompany the tone of the plucked strings. Ryan was in a current state of rest, finding all of it to be a bit soothing. Then there was the ‘tell’ part. A small laugh trickled from her mouth, hand moved upon his shoulder. "I said ask, Tobias, not tell." The tips of her fingers graced across the skin just under the sleeve. "There's only a certain time when you can tell me to do anything." this 'tell' was more of a commanding tell, not the causal telling of where a person or thing was. With his last comment she moved her hand from his sleeve and chanced to move her fingers into his hair. It was a chance for it may have broken his concentration with the sitar. "I do have moves. But I don't think you have a quarter."

"Might not have a quarter, but I've got other things." To use for bouncing. What exactly he'd leave up to her imagination. Smirking down at the instrument his fingers were working. Her fingers in his hair didn't break his concentration any. With all the meditating he did Tobias had damn good focus through most shit that came his way. The melody didn't resolve but he did bridge it to a new set of notes. Chord that sounded less down than the last one. Still didn't have a fifth though, he left the song unresolved. "Didn't know that the piano was a good girl instrument." He didn't play the piano. Never interested him. "What time is that? Gotta make sure to get my list of demands ready." He was with it during the conversation. Playing the music. His mood was just kinda sedate is all. Tired from work. Which was his own fault from all he put into it.


Ah his words were almost cheeky and it caused a small bit of laughter to fall from her lips. It was good, being here. Settling. and the more he played the more she settled internally. However, the laughter was followed up with the fingers in his head giving a push-tap. It wasn't harmful and it may not have done anything but she she did it. "Funny. Why don't you get your demands ready. When the time comes for it, you will know." That was said with confidence. Either he would know, or he wouldn't for she couldn't give him more of an answer because she couldn't give anything exact. The fingers on his shirt allowed her to get a better feel of him, and the tired muscles of his back. The next question was not thought much of before she said it. "Is this how you feel Tobias? The unabsorbed you underneath this shirt?" her words were spoken pretty near his ear. "Or are you as tense as the strings of your instrument.?" A curious question. His hands were on the sitar... he could very well feel like the sitar.

"I will. When the time comes I'll even nail them to your door." Just like Martin Luther. Least he didn't say he'd dress like a priest while he did it. Not that an off-color comment like that would be a surprise. "These strings aren't tense. If they were, one would've snapped by now." When he played through the refrain of the song he bent and drew out a couple more of the notes. To prove just now loose the strings were. No snapping. "I haven't absorbed anything. Don't know if I can say I'm not tense though. Muscles might be tight from work." Then there was just music for a little while. He was thinking. Then he said. "That bother you? That I haven't absorbed anything?"


Saying that he was going to nail something to her door caused her to give a satisfied sigh because of the picture it put in her head. Far from suggestive it was more aggressive, even if part of it remind her of Tower training. Waking up every morning to a list of chores to do in between training. When he said that he had absorbed anything her eyes widened and she pulled her fingers from his hair and from his shirt, an abrupt stop where her fingers lingered in the air. He hadn't absorbed anything.... the absence of her touch may be taken as she was bothered by it, but she was only thinking. "What type of work have you been doing? Taking care of peeping photographers?" She touched him again, hands on the side of his waist at the bottom of his shirt. Slowly her fingers worked their way under the fabric of that shirt and slipped upwards, only letting the tips of her warm fingers touched his skin as her hands moved up.

He noticed she pulled her hands back. He didn't say anything about it because he was used to people touching him or not touching him depending on what they felt about him at any given time. Head bobbed lower as he bent a low note and then his fingers did some fast work of the strings. Combining the first part of the song with the second with only a truncated bridge between the two. Stretching the limits of his skill on the instrument. The risk he'd hit a sour note or get tangled up a lot higher now. "Demolition." Beat. "So they take snapshots of me at their own risk I guess." Might get hit with a falling beam or something as they were focusing a lens or something. Touching his bare skin she might feel a brief shift in how it felt. Since there were times Toby's fingers absorbed things he didn't want to. But least when that happened if it was a simple absorb the texture passed out pretty quick. Otherwise he felt like any other well-toned body did. "Just don't touch - well, shit." He was braid pulling. Trying to make her think she just touched somewhere with consequences.


His last words gave pause to her fingers. Her body shifted, rising up on her knees now as she was behind him, to bad he couldn't see the wicked grin upon her face. He was teasing... right? Maybe, she didn't know for sure but if he was this was a joke he was going to have to follow through for a bit. "Don't touch.... what, exactly?" Fingers lowered as they moved against his skin, reaching around to caress her fingers across his stomach. It drew her closer to him so that her chest was pressing against his back; she even placed her cheek upon his shoulder. The fingers on his stomach didn't intertwine but even dared to start creeping up his chest. "What shouldn't I touch?"

When her fingers paused he smirked. So far where she was touching was alright with him. His mass stayed the same, no absorbing changes. Where she touched were places that didn't get in the way of his playing. So hands kept moving on the instrument. A new note was added for the first time. The lost fifth. Resolution. The note was plucked repeatedly like a record skipping. Long enough to make a person wonder that now that the note was found would any other be played again? They were. In strums. Full chords with the fifth notes of the two chords played in alternating and repeating series in between. A celebration of finding what's lost. The start of the end of the impromptu song. His focus was calm and steady. On the music and on his own body. "When the time comes you'll know." Playing her words back on her. How was that for teasing?


Should I hammer a list into your body?" Touché Tobias, using her own phrase against her. It was a fascinating game to her. "Or maybe my own nails should wander." Fingernails that is and it was an option that sounded pretty good to her right now. "You feel different to my touch." Than last time when he was made of rubber. Hands moved up his chest as her fingers pressed in here and there, feeling for the tense muscles he spoke of from the demolition job. From his chest to his shoulders she drew in a deep breath of his scent. "But in a good way. Besides, it's still you and your music is soothing." Her ending trailed off and she pressed her lips to his shirt. "Your emotions are in it. That makes it even better"

He smirked at her hammer and nails comment. "Not to far off from what I already do with the tattoos." The how and why he got them for anyway. Other people might see his tattoos differently than he did but he knew why each one of them was there and what purpose they each served. Depending on how she'd been shifting the shirt she'd get a view of the labyrinth one since the maze covered his entire back from top to bottom. When her fingers pressed to the high left of his chest near his armpit he winced. He'd pulled there yesterday. Aggravated it today by working anyway. He took some time to finish the song before saying anything else. Pulling out those chords like a purr from a cat. He was good at picking up new instruments. Sure wasn't expert at this one but he'd kept what he played within his ability and articulated it well. Ending on the fifth note of the second chord he'd chosen the song felt complete. "Not still. Is." He wasn't considering how he'd felt last time really him. "Unless because what I can do means no matter what I am I am, but that's kind of getting deep isn't it?" Now that the playing was done he relaxed his spine some. "I don't know if I feel soothing." He put the instrument down. Taking care with it. Head now turned to look behind him at her.


It was okay if he leaned back against her, and she didn't get to see the back tattoo as she was already close upon him. Though she did take note of that wince he made. "You're hurt. Again." Rather pointed this time. a touch of sternness to her voice. "Last time we were together you were injured too." She looked straight at him when he turned his head around to look at her. "Let me heal you. I'm not overly good with healing as that's not what I am, but I can help." Adding salt to the wound she pressed in on that spot of his shoulder again. She would tell him that it wouldn't hurt much but she hardly thought that would have made a difference considering what he could do and the other pains he goes through. What would a little healing pain be? "As you are... injured and unabsorbed. I like it and wonder how all of it feels. Injured or not." Moving her hands she leaned back from-d him and started lifting up his shirt. "Come now. Take off your shirt. "

"I was injured last time because of something totally different." He said that like that fact made a difference. In something. "A solid injury's just the sign of well-done day's work if you ask me." Ha. Tobias Kennedy trying to sound working class when he was brought up nothing like that. His current job was blue collar which is probably another reason why he took it. What he just said to her, whenever Ryanna pushed on the injured area it put a pause in those words even if a pause didn't really belong there. Pausing through the pain. "Don't you know what being injured 's like?" She definitely knew what being unabsorbed was like right? He was wondering about her wonder. He wasn't going to argue with her though. If she wanted to heal him he had no reason to be a stubborn asshole about it. He reached behind him, grabbing his shirt by the back to help her pull it off. Tossing it in a corner of the room where a bunch of his clothes were. "I mean if you just want my clothes off...." Okay, he couldn't help the one asshole comment. And the shit-eating grin.

"I've been injured before. Learning to dance makes you bleed." It all sounded past tense, but she could still get injured now, it only didn't last for the damage healed itself in a short amount of time. To her injury was injury, whether you got it from a fight or falling down a flight of steps. It didn’t' make sense to her to make differences. He pulled off his shirt and she got a good look at his back. True she had seen his tattoos before but at the time they were not really a focus and she didn't see much of his back. "A Labyrinth. You're a puzzle?" He didn't have to answer the question but she pressed her hand against the back of the shoulder where he had the pain. How long would he hold the grin and perhaps she will just press her luck. "If you take your clothes off, I'll have no choice but to get on top of you. So strip." There was that sparkle in her eye that was almost a challenge. "You're halfway there already."

[De'Ryanna Aybara]

"The wood in the shoes? I saw something about that." He was talking about her ballet shoes. He was going to leave the part out about how one of his fraternity brothers told him to stay away from the dancers for two reasons. He swore their feet were a horror show and they were always bitchy because they never ate anything. Back then Tobias had followed the advice. "No, I'm not a puzzle. I got that to try to work through something." So he answered the question. But he didn't -really- answer. "Sounds like me taking my clothes off would be a distraction. I mean, never had a doctor who fixed me up by getting on top of me before." Smirk. Halfway there anyway. He had to smirk through the pain of her pressing on him.

At least one of the dancer references were not true about her - De'Ryanna ate. She liked to eat and if anyone saw her in the kitchens or at the bar when she wasn't working she was eating something. Nothing like a good meal. "Then you were working out a puzzle." The want to trace along it or move her finger through the maze was there and that's what one of her fingers was doing: traveling through the maze. Her other hand stayed upon his hurt shoulder, near the area where the injury was. "Back in Court..." she trailed that off with a sly smile on her lips. "I'd hear ladies say that many ills of a man were solved in a females treasure." That got a small chuckle from her. 'I always thought it was a joke but then again...how I was I to know." She drew in a breath as she tipped her head to look at him.. "Now, your sister can be ice. So this shouldn't be too painful for you. Are you ready?" Since he did not oppose, she was going to heal his shoulder.

"In a bunch of faiths people used to walk labyrinths to be closer to their god. As a substitute for a pilgrimage to their holy land if they couldn't go for whatever reason. Or they'd walk them when they were trying to figure something out. Or come to terms with something. Walk the journey and the maze part is the challenges you're up against literally there. Instead of just these intangible facts or emotions or whatever. I had something I needed to come to terms with. I walk that labyrinths on my back during every meditation I do." Which meant he hadn't come to terms with whatever it was. If she really tried to walk the maze, she'd see that for herself. Because in his labyrinths there's no way out. "Back in college, all my ills started because of what happened when I was treasure hunting." He didn't chuckle when he said that. Because it had to do with why he got that labyrinth tattoo. It was the closet Toby'd ever come to saying what his 'problem' was. Even Samantha didn't know a lot of the bits he'd told Ryanna. "I'll be fine." Not exactly him agreeing that it wouldn't be painful but it was permission.

So he didn't find it funny. Surely he got the joke or reference to what she was referring to, so there had to be something about it. Therefore she only listened as she saw that there were no escapes. Ryan was pretty good at puzzles - logic and all that - so this wasn't that difficult. Treasure hunting. Treasure hunting. Unsolved puzzle. Her eyes narrowed in the slightest as she thought over the things that he said. She mentioned a treasure, he mentioned hunting. Before then he told her something that he found out about himself and now she was starting to think a few other things. Still, she smiled a bit , always did while she was thinking. "Some of the treasures we find backfire." As she finished that's when she started Healing. It would feel like a cold dagger of ice that was suddenly jabbed into his shoulder directly at the point of the injury. Healing was always cold, even if it was by the best Healer that wielded the Source, though there was never any explanation for why it was that way. Maybe it's because the weave combined Sprit and Air, woven together and spread throughout the infected area. The cold helped to numb the area, chilling it thoroughly, but the Spirit and attachment to the one performing the Healing would ensure that they didn't pass out or have any organ failure due to the sudden chill. Just like sewing a tear in a fabric the damaged area was smoothed away and connected. She took her time with it because she wasn't the best. But buy the time she was done with it Tobias' shoulder would be as good as new, maybe even better as any injury or deformation that he wasn't born with was dealt with. The finger on his back had stopped tracing and was still. It only took a few moments, a little over a minute, and she withdrew her hand. The cold retreating as well. "But that doesn't mean we put away our maps." Her voice was a bit quieter and she sat back .

He closed his eyes. Not because of the cold. So that he could keep his focus. Make sure that he didn't absorb anything from the touch of her hand that he wasn't supposed to. If it caused him pain he didn't show it on the outside. Didn't even tense up. He'd weathered a lot over the years and learned how to not make a big deal about it. He didn't say anything about her backfiring treasure comment. It wasn't the girl's fault. It was his. He couldn't even get himself to say anything to the map comment. Finally was too close to the bone. "Thanks Ryanna." When the cold went away he shrugged both his shoulders and rolled the one that had been injured. "Feels great." It did. No pain at all. "You've got a lot of tricks up your sleeve, don't you. Were you born with them?" He had to ask. Because she reminded him a little bit of what he was. Which was genetic.

"It is genetic and I'd rather have this than the wolf in my blood." very pointed because it was true. Though she did manage to hold back a great deal of edge in her voice when she said it. "Passed down from the Mother." That's how it was thought, that the gene was in the female. "It's the ability of mine that I will openly admit to having. The wolf," she stopped there and flexed her fingers. Whenever she pulled away from the Source it left her empty for a few moments. An empty type of sadness. "Just imagine what would happen if our blood mixed together." It would probably make a very strong individual and now the thought was moving around in her head. It was a thought that she wouldn't give much consideration to after this. That's what she told herself. "Healing you risk a transfer?"

"I'd rather not have what I have. Period." Now that she healed him and he was done playing he turned himself around to face her. Rude to sit with his back toward her when there wasn't a reason for it. "Sammy was trying to find a cure. She kept it secret for a while but I found out. But even if she found one I wouldn't take it. Not yet. Not until things straighten out back home and all of us aren't in danger anymore." Tobias the hero talking. No way he was going to be without his ability when it helped him protect him and his own. "If I have any kids I'm hoping they get luckier genes than I did." He tried not to think about kids and family. Between being a Kennedy and a mutant what kind of life would his kids have? Toby wouldn't wish the crap he'd had to deal with over his life on anyone. He shook his head. "Not really. Small risk, I guess. But too small to worry about."

"Well isn't this ironic." She almost huffed. There was a hint of it in her voice when he talked about not wanting his ability. She had been sitting cross legged and now she pulled her right knee up against her chest. "I suppose this is the time where I get to tell you to accept what you are and what you have. Though that's what I assume all the meditation is for - to help you to deal with all the complications of what and who you are." She wasn't getting angry, it was only a discussion of a sorts. "If everything were straightened out back home and there wasn't any danger would you still want to get rid of what makes you? Is it really all that bad that you would throw yourself away to be like everyone else? " He couldn't mean that. Ryan had to have interpreted it wrong, She knew that it caused him a lot of grievance, but he couldn't really want it to be gone. Did he?

He was not going to get angry. He told himself that. He was going to keep cool. Long day and he wasn't in the mood to be questioned like this. Wasn't De'Ryanna's fault that his sister had this debate with him a thousand times before today so it wore old on him. "My ability is more complicated than it looks, alright? I think I already told you that. When I don't have my gloves on and I touch metal and absorb it without intending to yeah I know it. Can feel it. If I touched you and absorbed the wolf part of you yeah I'd know that too. But if I shook some guy's hand downstairs and he had the flu or something like that, I don't feel disease. I don't get sick. I just become a carrier for it. Back in college I was at a party. Danced with a lot of people that night. Didn't wear gloves back then. Couldn't tell you which one that I touched that had HIV, or hell maybe it was one of the guys I shook hands with that night who had it. Point is I was carrying it, didn't know it, was drunk and stupid and slept with a girl that night. Just like everything else it passed out of my system and I got off scott free. She didn't. Didn't even kiss a girl since before you, and that happened back when I was nineteen. Don't even touch people without gloves on since that day, just to make sure some fucked up thing like that doesn't happen again. Back home isn't just the only danger. -I'm- the danger. And there are people back home who know it. That's why they come after me. Because if they can figure out a way to steal my ability and give it to other people, imagine what could be done. So yeah, that's why I meditate. Want something to drink?" He was already up and going to the fridge. He needed a beer.

"Tobias." She said that as he started to get up to go. He carried around a lot of guilt didn't he? That's what it sounded like to her. Guilt that he killed someone because of what his ability could do and that he had no control over it. She could relate to that. How many people's lives had she ruined by being in contact with them and having Benjamin reach through her to get to them. People she didn't know, people she did. Never really knowing for sure if they were acting honestly or out of being controlled. "Tobias." The second time she said his name she stood up from the floor to watch him go to the fridge. Come on De'Ryanna, think. What was she to say to what he said? All the words that ran through her head did not seem comforting to her and she held them back, searching for something better. "We can't control everything." That's what he was trying to do with the gloves, taking control of his ability to make sure it didn't happen. The gloves were the control. She couldn't tell him that no one here would try to steal his ability, that would be a lie. Just as back at his home there were sure to be others here who'd want what he has, at least just to study it. People liked to control things. She knew. "We can't control everything and dammit don't turn your back to me." Already walking up to follow him and, if she happened to catch him before he reached the fridge or got too busy she would wrap her arms around him if she could to simply hold him. "We can't control everything. It's not your fault." That he gave the girl HIV. In a way, yes, it was his fault since it came through his body, but nothing was ever completely. "It was her time, you were only the vessel that was used for the job." Yeah, that had to really be comforting. . .

He got to the fridge first because he'd moved like a bat outta hell. He took three beers out of the fridge, even while her arms were around him. Two were put on the counter. The third he lined the cap up with the top of the counter and smashed his hand down. The cap popped off and fell to the floor. He didn't say a work until he drank half the bottle down. He'd absorbed the glass. Had to. With his state of mind right now he knew his focus was shit. "The hell I can't." He turned around to say it to her face so he was talking about controlling everything, not saying he could turn his back on her if he felt like it. That was all he said about what he'd just told her. Looking right into her eyes. "Don't tell anyone what I told you. No one knows. I want to keep it that way." He already knew that he was going to regret telling her. It was a secret he'd been planning on taking to the grave. Toby polished off the rest of his first beer and reached for the second.

[De'Ryanna Aybara]

He felt different once he absorbed the glass. Perhaps that’s why she ha went to put her arms around him because she knew that the feel of him would change and she liked how he felt naturally. Now it was different. Glass.. It wasn't too bad of a feel but it wasn't really him either. "Why would I tell anyone what isn't their business to know?" It wasn't their business and she saw no reason to tell anyone. He told her. "If you wanted the world to know you'd tell them." Rather plainly and she dropped her arms and backed up to the counter to take one of those beers he had put out. Didn't ask, he had already asked if she wanted one so there was no point. After picking at the top she popped it and the smells of the can filled her nose. Rather interesting, but she didn't drink it yet, instead she only continued the staring contest, inwardly chewing on her tongue to keep herself in check and from tapping her foot or any other visual quirks that would give away her sense of unease. "Are you afraid of killing people then? It's not just about absorption is it? You don't want to give them something that they won't be able to recover from."

Was she trying to keep him from drinking too much? Because if there was one thing Toby always gave himself it was a well-stocked beer fridge. That's what 90 percent of the contents of his fridge was for christ's sake. He didn't care that she took the beer. If this were any other day he would have applauded her for finally taking him up on it. "I really don't think I can go round this bend tonight Ryanna." At least he was honest. "I'm not kicking you out, I'm not pissed off at you, I'm just not up for talk like this." He'd never been up for talk like this. One of many reasons why he never told anyone.

What she was going to say was going to sound selfish. It sounded that way in her head, selfish. Her pinky finger tapped against the beer in her hand as the only visible sign of unease. "If you didn't have your ability I wouldn't be able to touch you." It sounded selfish in her ears. Self centered. "If you were cured and became like everyone else I wouldn't be able to touch you without hurting you. You're the first person I've really touched since I was young girl." Drawing in a breath she lifted her chin. It was a bit of a defensive stance for her for she was beginning to feel slightly vulnerable and her hand tightened around the beer. "I told you before that I'm alright. I wouldn't die so don't... don't," Her other hand waved backed and forth between the two of them. She didn't have the words for what she meant. "This." This. That was a lot.

Nevermind that the rest of the world could die if he ever carried some messed up plague strain or something, she'd be fine. Solved everything. It was a good thing Tobias kept his mouth shut and didn't say that out loud and that De’Ryanna didn't read minds. It was a thought out of anger. He understood what she was saying. Most of it, anyway. "Explain to me." He was impressed with how calm and collected he sounded. "Why you can't touch people without hurting them." He felt like he should know the answer to that from all the talking they did. Maybe it was just because of tonight he couldn't remember. He definitely wanted her to remind him.

That's why it sounded selfish, because she wasn't caring about anyone else. She did that from time to time. When he asked she turned her head a bit. Barely an inch but it was still away from the point blank stare she had earlier. "Remember in the gym? I told you about him." She was not going to say his name. There wasn't any need to draw his attention to the situation any more than what was already there. "The one who is connected to me. He can reach right through me and control people how he wants. Kill them. Make them his toy. If I touch them it's easier if he's not there physically. I use to think it was me." As to why all the bad things were happening to people. Why they were simply vanishing or distancing themselves from her. It was only him isolating her so he could have him to herself. "He can take what they have." that was said quieter. I know I put you at risk by being around you ." Said softer because he had just said he didn't want anyone to have what he has. "But I don't think kill you." she hoped he wouldn't but there was no telling for sure.

"You didn't tell me that before." The beer was put on the counter. "You didn't tell me that he could take what I have. That's. Fucking christ! How does that make me the only person you -can- touch? If he can take what I have do you realize what he could do with it! Absorb, I don't know, a flesh eating virus. Wouldn't hurt him, but while he carried it he could pass it along however it needs to be passed. Even if it was just to five people those five people would spread it to ten more, those ten to more... I don't. -Fucking christ-. You're not putting me at risk. You're putting -everyone- at risk. Explain how me being like I am now is a good thing. Tell me I'm seeing this wrong. Please." He wasn't afraid for himself. Toby was never afraid for himself. He wasn't afraid for De'ryanna because she'd already said she wouldn't be affected. He was afraid for everyone else in the damn world who could be.

"Everyone is going to die Tobias. Everyone. Whether it's today, tomorrow, or thirty years from now. Sooner or later they're all going to die." She was less than a hairs breath away from getting angry. The hold she had on it was growing slim and she could tell it by the way her blood started pulsing through her veins. "Outside, right now, someone's probably getting killed in town. That's life. That's just the way it goes" Probably not the best conversation to have considering the recent death in his family but . . . "He doesn't need what you have to kill people, he can do that without you, without me, with nothing but what he already has in his ability." That was her reasoning for why it was okay for him to be how he was. "I realize what he can do with his powers. I've felt what he can do with his powers." She brushed a hand up against her face, pushing the heel of her hand at the corner of her right eye. "It's only life. Can't be afraid to live. Living life on the thought of what could happen."

"Where I come from people like him don't do what they do out of need." If only people acted out of need. World would be a lot different place. "So he doesn't need what I can do and that's why I'm the only person you can touch without hurting? Which means that he needs what everyone else can do so everyone else is all at risk?" He could tell she didn't like his questions and what he was saying. But he was having trouble understanding her logic here and it was important for him to understand. "I never said I was afraid to live, De'Ryanna. You asked me that and I didn't answer you. It has nothing to do with fear. It has to do with what kind of man I want to be. Just because people die I'd never pick up a gun and put some bullets through a couple people's brains to add to the body count. If I knew back then that what I did could pass an illness like that I wouldn't have done it. It was her time? I don't think like that. If we just let people go because their time we wouldn't bother having surgeons or hospitals or medicine or any of that shit. We'd just look at a sick person and say, 'Oh well it's their time'. They'd have told my uncle 'sorry man you've got a tumor it's your time' instead of giving him therapy that gave him some extra time with his family and friends. Can I control every fucking thing around me? No. Do I want to control as much as I can to protect the people who come in contact with me from getting hurt? Yes. That has nothing to do with fear. That has to do with me being a good god damn person who believes that people deserve to have the best shot at a long healthy life they can possibly have."

"If I didn't think people should attempt to be save I wouldn't have Healed your bloody light forsaken shoulder." Second half of that word was a cross between a the actual sounds and a growl. It was slipping. felt it with the growl. Tighter hold on the beer and she remembered it and brought it to her lips to drink. Really she didn't remember it was beer, just that it was something to drink. Until it went down her throat and almost made her cough. Holding that in she put down the beer. "There's differences between those who can be saved and those who are too far gone with more than half the body in the grave. If they're beyond help there are just things that need to be accepted. That's what I was raised to believe. help who you can and the rest go." Maybe it was a philosophy of only the strong surviving a spin on that. Everyone couldn't be saved, she knew it and she knew that some people were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but even that was how fate would have it. She tsked. "Everyone else is at risk anyway. Perhaps he likes you. I can touch you because you're not afraid to touch me and fight me back. You can fight me back." by absorbing what she had even if it came to that though he was a good enough opponent on his own. "I can't hurt you easily."

[De'Ryanna Aybara]

He knew she believed what he said to some degree because she healed his shoulder. It was why he brought it up. He was well-trained in debate and politics. The points that made the most impact where the one's that were true for not your reality, but your 'opponents'. "I was raised to believe that the difference between a person who can be saved and a person who couldn't be saved was in the hands of the person who could make that decision. If you were more than half in the grave, De'Ryanna, I wouldn't just walk away." Fact. It wasn't just because of whatever relationship they had. Toby would do the same for anyone even a total stranger. Because that's who he was. The good Kennedy hero. "I mean, have you read up on my family at all? Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country? I would be surprised if Mom told me that hung over my damn crib." Or was stenciled on the walls. "I believe wearing the gloves helps everyone I can. And that getting cured is just a more fail safe way of doing that. When I asked you why you could touch me and no one else can you said it was because of him and now you're saying it's because of the wolf. You're backing up. Is that because you're afraid that I'm going to tell you we can't touch anymore if you keep your answer that you can't touch people because of him?" Tobias didn't confirm or deny that, just asked the question. Child of politics at work. He took a swig of his beer that turned into polishing it off. In the time it took to drink he'd made a decision. "I think it's time you me and him sit down over a beer. I'm off on Saturday."

"There is no 'one' answer to the question Tobias. That would make it a constant and it's not. It's because of him. It's because of me, there's not much of a difference there but what it's called." She wasn't going to cross her arms though it was what she wanted to do. No, instead she kept her arms down and pushed flat against the counter instead. "We're different when it comes to our way of thinking, you don't seem to be as cold as I am. Ask what you can do for your country." She knew that line. While he was away she brushed up on her knowledge of the Kennedy's. "That's what you were brought up with and mine was to make things the way they need to be. For the greater good? Possibly. All to achieve an end." She was talking on more of a broad term. Not fully what she believed, just what she was brought up to believe. If group A needed to be destroyed for B to rise into power then that's what would be done. "If you want to talk to him you can, but I have no desire to willingly put myself in the same room as him. Not anymore." Partially for she didn't know what would happen if she saw him again.

"That's a shame." He really meant that. Something about the way he said those words it rang like truth. The three of them sitting down together was a way Tobias saw to get at the root of this problem. Because he did see this as a problem. Whoever this guy was who's to say the dude wouldn't wake up in the morning and stop liking him, and then boom big trouble in little Rhy'din and he had no way of knowing it was coming. "Is it because you afraid? It's just life, right? Can't live it based on thoughts of what might happen." When De’Ryanna obvious had a temper and this habit of slapping him he was brave for quoting her words back on her. Even if he didn't quote them exactly. He didn't do it to rub her face in it though. Maybe he hoped it might change her mind. Since he figured she followed what she preached. He wasn't trying to change what she preached. She was raised how she was raised and he got that. His point was that he was raised how he was raised and by how he was raised he thought he was a danger to people and that in the name of doing what he could to help others he should take care of it best he could. He believed having a talk with this guy and her could help him figure out how to best do that.

She didn't say anything. For the second time this night De'Ryanna stood there watching him after he asked her a question she didn't want to answer. Was it because she was afraid. How to answer that truthfully but in the way she wanted it to sound. Really it was a yes or no question. "I'd rather not have you used against me." There, that wasn't really saying that she was scared. "He's not pleased with what happened between us. If we all see each other I don't know if he'll try to use you to get me to do what he wants." Now her fingers started to tap on the side of the counter. "Who's to say that he won't now, or tomorrow but maybe if you stay apart he'll simply leave us alone." Perhaps if Tobias read between the lines he'd read that she was scared. Afraid of what would happen. After she spoke she shut her jaw tight to keep from saying anything more.

"So basically, you're making choices based on what might happen." Just to make that clear. It wasn't a great virtue of his but if she got on him for wanting to be cured of his mutation because of the damage he might do, yeah. He'd bring this up to make a comparison. To show that everyone made choices based on 'might'. "Because you want the best case scenario when it comes to what might happen. Instead of the worst case. Just like I want. Or anyone else wants. Because who wants what's worst when it comes to something they have a stake in." He felt like he made his point. Setting his empty beer on the counter. "Call it foolish optimism but I do believe if people can table their beefs long enough to sit down with each other and hammer it out through negotiation, things end up a lot better." Yeah it was getting real obvious just how much the political process had shaped Tobias. "I won't push it." For now. He had to think about this. Seriously think about it.

"Not might. Know." She was watching him with a slight narrowing of her eyes. "I know that if you see him something will happen. But if you're so sure that sitting down with him will straighten everything out then give me something to write on and I'll give you his name for I will not call him so that he can smirk with the pleasure of me calling him brings." Yes,.. she would give it to him. Let Tobias call him if he was so set on meeting the man. Calling him, or setting anything up with that man was not something she was going to do. "And, if you do decided to call him I will be with you."

There were a lot of things he could say. He didn't say any of it though. Right now he was choosing the high road. He knew he wasn't going to get anywhere with an issue like this without having time to think about it alone. Some meditation. Maybe some sitar. Maybe some other things. When a group of people back home had gotten their hands on him and were nearly successful at extracting his ability, he'd made a decision that it was best he left home before they or someone else tried again and real damage happened. Now he was faced with the same issue here because of this guy who bothered De'Ryanna. He'd meditate on this. Then he'd talk to his sister. Though he ragged on Samantha a lot she was a damn smart woman who wouldn't let him get away with making a stupid decision. "I'll think about it." He was tired and he wanted to make a smart ass comment about if she ever got tired of believing she was a know-it-all. But making a comment like that wouldn't get them anywhere he had enough sense in him to know that.

She hoped that he would forget the whole idea but she didn't think that he would and that thought made her anxious. Made her want to go away, stay away. Maybe even go and talk to Benjamin and ask him not to agree to anything. But that would have it's own set of issues. Her eyes turned away from him and now her arms across over her waist and fingers started playing with the gold strings that were laced up either arm. She stood there a moment. "Alright then." And she pushed off from the counter to leave the kitchen. "I don't think I like beer. Makes a funny taste." That was a random comment, but it was a comment to break the odd silence about the other man. "I'm ... I didn't aim to put you down for your ability. I like you as you are. Even if you were normal I'd still feel for you as I do."

""Gotta find the one that matches the chemistry of your mouth. Otherwise it just tastes bitter." He just made beer drinking a science. She was leaving the kitchen. He followed a couple steps behind her. But not before pulling another beer from the bridge and popping it open. Even chugging them down like he did two beers didn't do a thing for him. "I wasn't surprised about what you said, you know. There's been only one person yet who I told that I wanted a cure that didn't say the same thing." The fact that said person didn't disagree with him said something to Tobias. Not because he wanted to be agreed with. It was because of who the person was. Someone who knew things. If what he'd watched about the person was true. He used his beer as an excuse to pause. Pushing himself to say this. "I thought I was doing the right thing. Telling you what happened to spare us from having a false debate about it. There's no point when other people take the issue up with me because they don't know what the real problem is."

"I'm glad you told me. Really. I am." She wasn't looking at him. Instead she was looking at that sitar on the floor and stopped quite near to where she was sitting before they went to the kitchen. "What you want to do and are trying to do is really a noble act. Perhaps if I was brought up the same way I'd want to do the same thing. On top of all that.. I'm thankful that you can talk to me and tell me things like that." It was important. They told each other things and were even open to a degree with their feelings. It was refreshing. "I still won't tell anyone. I can learn something from you and your ideals. It's not something I'll simply cast aside." Which is what she would haev done a few years ago and she knew it. If this would have happened back then she would have stated her mind and walked away from it all. But she was trying to take other people into consideration, their thoughts, feelings, way of doing things. Relate to people instead of always having them fall into her way of things.

"Glad to hear it." He was. About all of it. Made him real glad he didn't ask her if she got tired of being a know-it-all. Because things would have gone in a different direction and he wouldn't have gotten to hear her say that. She went to his sitar. He went to the other side of the room where his bedroll was rolled up. Kicking it so it unrolled. "I'm not going to kick you out. I don't want you to think I'm pissed off or something. I'm not going to lie, I think what that guy can do is pretty serious shit. Something I have to think about. It's not about that though. I get up at five." For work. "If you want to stick around I know this place isn't real comfortable for most people but you're welcome." It was important to him to offer that. Because he seriously didn't want her to think he was kicking her out or shutting her out or anything like that.

"I won't stay." She said that almost quickly. "Because you get up at five." Reason enough wasn't it? Though it made an awfully good excuse. Turning then to him and heading towards him and his roll. "Your room is comfortable enough for me now as it was the last time I was here. If I stayed I'd want you to hold me, if I go, I'll only take one thing before leaving you to rest and get your strength." What the other guy could do was serious.. and she was avoiding that for the moment.

He didn't think she would. For the reason she kind of said. But he'd offered. That was the important thing. A small smirk when she mentioned the last time she was here. During moments like that anything was comfortable. Was how he saw it, anyway. It was all a matter of perspective. "What are you going to take? The bed roll is off-limits." Was that a bad joke? He was trying to lighten things up before she left. It felt serious in here still.

"What's mine to take." Oh there was a small smirk on her face with that as she approached him. She didn't stay within 'comfort' limits, stepping right up close as she looked up at him without turning her head up. Her hands came forward and rested on his chest. Looking at him her eyes were almost challenging wondering if he was going to move. He had absorbed glass earlier.. it was possible he still felt like glass. Even still, she was going to do what she wanted. One hand moved up his chest to his neck and De'Ryanna aimed to kiss him. That was how she was going to end their argument and their parting. What he may not know is that she was going to kiss him whether they had a peaceful parting or if it had come to blows.

If it were a different kind of night he'd have said something smart assed to that take comment. His skin didn't feel like it had when he was playing sitar. It meant he'd absorbed something. Maybe glass maybe something else. The what didn't matter. He didn't stop her from touching. He didn't stop her from kissing him either. He returned it. It was something he meant. He wasn't the kind of person who kissed to placate people. When he stepped back his hand touched at the back of her neck briefly to pet down her hair. "G'night, Ryanna."


. . . le fin

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