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It had been a crazy few weeks since arriving in this obviously nuts town of Destiny City, but Toby was determined to make the best of it. He'd made a few friends already, which was definitely nice, but there was no question something really odd was going on around here.

He didn't know what it was, and while curious, concluded that for now he should live like he'd always had--cheerfully end having a nice time.

On this particular Saturday, he'd invited one of his first friends here, Michiko, to come join him for a nice easy afternoon hike in a park nearby. His parents trusted him enough to not worry too much about it. They made sure he got there, and then went about their own day.

He'd brought along a small bag with some food and drink, plus a few bits for preparing food on a grill out here--Michi said she'd like to cook something, which would be much better than that coffee she'd bought on his birthday.

It wasn't necessary, of course, but he was of course happy about the prospect of a fancier meal out here than usual, plus company, of course!

He met her at the park, and upon seeing her, cheerfully said, "Hi, Michi! I brought you something!" And offered up a long, smoothed branch: A decent hiking stick. He had one too, of course.

"You're welcome!" He replied happily, then turned and pointed his stick (still planted on the ground) toward a sign that indicated the start of a trail. "We're gonna go down that one! It's a couple miles long, and I hear it's pretty, but I haven't hiked it yet."

He started walking that way and said, "And don't worry, it's an 'easy' trail, so it's mostly just walking uphill a bit, nothing too tough. Those are over there." He gestured off in another direction.

As they walked, he pointed out different plants and rambled some about 'interesting facts,' and would occasionally point to birds and bugs he saw...but there's not always much else to be seen on a trail.

"So, seen any more, uh, giant spiders or other weird stuff lately?" Toby asked when he didn't have anything else to point out. There were other people on the trail, but he chose to ask that when there was clearly no one nearby.

"Well..." Toby began slowly, a small smile on his face. "Yeah, actually... a couple days ago, I was riding around on my bike, just to, you know, see around town. Then this, er, well, evil deer thing attacked me. It had, like, glowy eyes," he gestured at his face, "And weird colors. It was charging after me, knocked me down, then," he paused for effect there, leaning forward a little bit.

He glanced to the side, and noticed some other people going on the trail the other way. He waited a moment for them to pass, and concluded more softly, "Then this girl, well, she looked like she might've been in college, I guess, came out of nowhere and shoulder checked the thing into the ground like it was nothing! Then she punched it so hard it turned to dust!" He held up a hand, as if expecting objections. "I know, it's crazy, but it really happened. I guess, uh, those sorts of creatures are common here? Wish somebody'd told me that before..." He shook his head. "Least, she said they are, and she seemed really cool! She did this weird glowy thing, and I didn't feel hurt anymore. A... 'senshi' she called herself. Sounds like something out of an anime, and google got me weird results when I typed it in."

He took a breath then, and obviously realized he was rambling, as he blushed ever so slightly and remained quiet to let her get a word in.

"Huh?" Toby seemed briefly confused, then nodded. "Yeah, of course we should keep going, the end of the trail's not too far off, and it's supposed to be real nice." He was grinning, both from telling somebody about this, and that Michi said she was glad he's not missing.

With that out of the way, he considered for a moment, then said, "Yeah, I guess it'd make sense to stay secretive, since the news always says they're evil terrorists...but what kind of terrorist wears a frilly dress and saves people? It's weird." He shrugged. "I think somebody's wrong, and everybody else believes them, but..." He shrugged again, and raised his arms some in a bigger 'oh well' sort of gesture.

"All I know is, those 'terrorists' are probably, er, not. But what they are...I dunno." He kept leading on even as they talked, and the turn around point wasn't far off.

"Well, those monster things sure are," he agreed, as they looked out over a river flowing by beneath them. "And so are frills if the 'senshi' people are trying to lay low." He laughed lightly.

"Nice view, huh?" He asked, obviously deciding to change the subject. "Once we get back, there's a place we can do some cooking, I brought everything we'll need...except the food."

"Yeah, let's go," he replied cheerfully, and began the journey back. After a few minutes, he said thoughtfully, "you know, if those senshi people are trying to stay hidden...shouldn't they hide their faces when doing, uh, what they do? That one i met didn't seem like she picked what she wore, but still...I'm sure I'd recognize her if I saw her again, even if she wasn't glowing!"

Clearly, he had no idea how the whole glamor magic worked. And why would he know?

Toby happily chattered about less potentially scary things as they set about dinner--mostly anime all told. He made sure they had sufficient heat from fires, and all the tools and utensils were good to go, though he admitted to not really knowing how to cook at all...happy to learn, though.

He did occasionally look into the woods, though, watching perhaps slightly worriedly, but refused to let that stop him from having a good time. And he said nothing about those glances...why spoil a perfectly good afternoon?