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 Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 6:03 pm
"Well I mean like 'black and white and weird sizes' old, but okay, come on." He stood and retrieved his photo albums and came back to the table; really Maia didn't have to follow him anywhere. One of the albums seemed especially old, and he opened it up to find photographs of a blonde toddler.
"I got lucky with things like this. The Bureau took what my parents left and kept it for me in case I survived. That's me." He pointed to said toddler, grinning through the nubs of baby teeth and rocking on a wooden horse.
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 6:11 pm
Maia studied the first picture indicated, smiled and looked back to Toby. "You were precious," she said. He still was, in an entirely different way. Precious to her.
She sat at the table and invited Toby to sit next to her. "We should make one of these together." When she figured out how to get photos off of her phone.
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 6:14 pm
"What?!" A baby?! Make a baby?! "I, uh... I mean..." He scratched his head. "Maybe some time in the future?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 6:20 pm
Maia stared at Toby for a long moment. Sometime in the future? What? What on earth was he talking about? Oh. He thought she'd meant a baby? She snickered. "A baby, sometime in the future," She agreed, kissing his cheek. "Peaches is enough for now. I meant a photo album."
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 6:26 pm
"OH! Jesus..." Toby chuckled and shook his head. "We should pick one out and get some photos printed. I'd like to be able to keep up with it. There were only so many pictures you could take of yourself and your partner before they just all looked the same. He'd stopped taking more some time ago.
He continued through. There were fewer photographs than a modern family might have, but it was easy to watch Toby grow. They reached about 1957 and there he was, hair slicked, brow furrowed against the back-lighting, leather jacket and all; teen Toby. Another photo near it, though, showed him with two party hats strapped to his head apparently playing 'monster' with a small child. It was the same old Toby and both sides of the coin.
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 6:33 pm
Maia was still amused by his reaction, she smirked and looked back at the photo album. "You look like you were an engaging child," she observed. She did pause at the picture of him as a teenager, and she looked back up at present day Toby.
"So you really wore stuff like that?" she asked.
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 6:36 pm
"Everyone did!" Toby said with a laugh, pointing to the photo with an upturned palm. "This was the late nineteen-fifties! Think Elvis! I'm not going to show you any more of these." She had actually managed to turn Toby a bit pink and he was, in fact, starting to close the album.
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 6:43 pm
Maia put her hand between the pages in attempt to keep Toby from closing it. "I think you looked very handsome," she said. If a bit silly. "Look with me. Tell me about when you were a kid. I'll trade stories."
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 6:46 pm
"What is there to say? I was a teenager. I had friends, I went out, I listened to rock and roll, I chased pretty girls. I had a family, I had cousins and aunts and uncles and... it was a good time." He smiled and nodded to Maia. It was a good time too now, of course, it was just different. His family had nothing to do with blood relations, and he only had his eyes on one girl. Besides, the people n these photographs were either very late in life or long-since deceased. It was nice to see their faces again, even if only printed on paper.
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 6:56 pm
Maia took her hand from the photo album and took Toby's hand instead. "Tell me about before things changed?" She suggested, expression softening. She'd avoided questions about his life before being sired, she didn't want to upset him.
"Tell me about Carolyn?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 7:00 pm
"It was just so long ago, I--wh." Oh. Right before things changed. He swallowed and leaned down to kiss Maia's hand. His head lingered at that height. "Are you sure?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 7:07 pm
"Yes," Maia said, giving him a reassuring smile. Carolyn was still so important to Toby, she was still so prominent in his heart.
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 7:12 pm
"Um."
He didn't think Maia would like to know. No new lover liked to hear about old conquests or even the long-lasting relationships. It usually sparked jealousy. He had no expectation that Maia would be any different, but here she was asking.
"We actually met at the bar I used to work at. She seemed really uncomfortable. Her friends dragged her in, so I went to talk to her. I was about... tthhhhhhirty?" He clearly had to think on the age. That was an okay place to start, right?
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 8:09 pm
"You made her feel better?" Maia guessed. No jealousy radiated from her, just curiosity. "What happened then? You saw her again?" she asked. She took the album from Toby, putting it aside. Maybe he'd show her more pictures later?
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Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 3:25 pm
Toby nodded. "I think so. I got her number, and we went on a proper date the next weekend. Dating was different back then. More innocent."
And then it just seemed to strike him.
"She was really... natural. She loved nature, preferred food fresh, preferred men equal. She was a femininist. She was the one who got me to like camping and exploring. We actually never lived together, except when we went on vacation." He smiled softly. Oh, Carolyn. "We had a good few years for us."
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