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 Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 2:20 pm
For a moment Toby was quiet. A new garden. Ever since he'd been sane and able to leave HQ, he had worked on that garden. Now it was going away. Maybe they could save the perennials. Maybe it didn't matter. So why did it feel like it did?
Dari looked to Toby and reached out to touch his arm. Toby smiled to him.
"I'm okay. Really."
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Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 3:13 pm
Maia took Toby's hand and gave it a squeeze. Maybe they could move some of the perennials with them. It had to be hard. Toby'd lived here so long, and he'd tended that garden... What could she say?
"Hey," she said. "You, me, the baby, we'll work on it together." The baby was a someday thing, still, even while they were preparing.
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Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 3:23 pm
"The baby~" Dari chimed. "I wonder what it'll be?" Species, gender, age, any of it!
"I know," Toby said. He leaned over and kissed Maia on the temple. "It'll be even nicer." The important part was that it was coming with him. People had to keep living and move on, but that didn't mean you should forget the past entirely.
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Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 4:27 pm
Maia smiled at Dari. "A surprise," she said. She had no doubt the baby would be perfect, whatever he or she was--as long as it wasn't a nuckelavee. Or something else that'd decide to make them a meal.
"What about this one?" Cody offered Dari his phone. There was a three bedroom with a furnished basement. The ad boasted of large windows and natural lighting. "We could go see it this weekend."
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Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 4:29 pm
Dari looked down at Cody's phone, up at Toby as if for permission, and then took Cody's phone. It didn't look so bad.
"The shutters are a strange color," Dari said casually.
Toby leaned over to peer in. "They're green."
"No they're not." Dari handed the phone back then and smiled, "but we can still look at it."
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Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 4:46 pm
"We could paint them," Cody offered, with a smile. "Whatever color you like." Dari saw so many things he couldn't; he couldn't see anything wrong with the green. "Did you see any you'd like to check out, Toby?"
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Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 6:02 pm
"There's a couple, I guess," Toby said with a nod. "We'll just have to see. Pictures can be deceiving."
Their actual trip out only went to prove just that. Pictures narrowly avoided capturing the actual dimensions of a room. Charming little features masked horrible defects. Toby was already frustrated when they began past the new development. It was a lot of white houses of varying sizes set exactly the same distance apart from each other all throughout a grassy field.
"What about in there?" Toby asked.
"I've never seen it before," Dari responded, and he pulled around in the parking lot of a diner to head inside. A sign proudly proclaimed the newness of the development and the number to call for the available properties. "Is it worth a call?"
"...hell knows. It can't be worse," Toby said as he pulled out his phone.
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Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 6:17 pm
The houses had been for the most part, disappointing. Water damage, old wiring, rooms that had looked bigger due to the way they had been furnished, rushed paint jobs to hide damaged walls... Maia had never expected finding a house to be so difficult.
She looked over the sign. The houses wouldn't have any of the old-house issues, then. "It's worth a look," she said.
"We'd have to paint," Cody mused. "The white is terrible."
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Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 6:23 pm
"That looks white to you?" Dari asked, and then smiled to Cody as they pulled into the development. "Just kidding."
"Can you even paint tho-- oh!" Toby had got someone on the other end of the line, "Yes, we were interested in seeing a house, maybe. ...the development on...? Dari, where are we?"
"James Street."
"On James. Yes! Yes, actually, there's four of us. Oh, no. My brother and I are both in the market. Yes. ...sure! Sure, yeah, that's fine! We'll just go grab some lunch and come back. Yeah. Alright, thank you, Donna! Goodbye. Goodbye." He terminated the call. "We can have a tour at 1:30. That okay with everyone? I said 'yes.'"
"We heard you."
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Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 6:45 pm
Maia was grinning at Toby. "So, let's go get lunch," she suggested. "We'll come back and see." These had to be better than the houses they'd seen earlier. "What would you guys like?" She asked, glancing back at Cody.
"We could get sandwiches at the cafe," he suggested. "That way we don't have to head home."
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Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 6:49 pm
"I used to have to not eat," Dari remarked casually, and then resolved it to: "Sandwiches sound great."
"Don't you still get bigger?" Toby asked.
"Sure. On the inside. Nobody else can tell."
"We're measuring you when we get home."
"How would you know it's different than this morning?"
"...okay. Next time, though."
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Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 7:08 pm
"He cheats," Cody revealed. "He still purges so he's not a giant." He looked to Dari affectionately. "You know I don't let you skip meals."
"Cafe sound good?" Maia asked, looking to Toby. She hoped there wasn't a list of rules that came with these houses. Apartments seemed to have those. No pets, large damage deposits, no noise after a certain time. Bleh.
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Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 7:27 pm
"I always purge. How'd you like to be carrying around so much empty weight?"
"Literally everyone else does that every day," Toby said, "and I know for a fact you can't feel it."
"I have to adjust pressure."
"Not with those legs you don't!"
When they returned after their trip to the cafe, there was a woman standing in the empty development. She was middle-aged with red-dyed hair that could only be measured in inches and was dressed rather smartly in a pencil skirt and jacket. Dari parked the car and Toby got out to greet her.
"Hello! We spoke earlier on the phone!"
"Oh, hello! I'm Donna."
"I'm Tobias. This is my wife Maia, my brother Dari, and his fiancee Cody." It would be a good way to weed out a shitty neighborhood, the whole gay people thing. Donna didn't even react.
"It's so nice to meet you all! Now what are you interested in seeing?" she asked. Toby smiled
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Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 7:53 pm
Maia gave the woman a smile when she was introduced, taking Toby's hand. "Hello," she greeted. "We're looking for a family home," she said. "With a backyard?" And a large kitchen. And maybe a tree large enough for a swing--and would these houses fit their needs?
Cody smiled, looking around. "Dari, what do you think?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2017 3:26 pm
"So, what did you think?" Donna had showed them a number of properties, a few too big, a few with not quite enough room--and two that Maia had especially liked. They'd both come with backyards, large kitchens, four bedrooms. They were almost identical, one being slightly more spacious. She was setting the table for dinner. "I liked the last one," she added. It seemed like a safe community, and it was new enough to have several houses open--Dari could be right there.
They'd have to paint. They'd have to build a fence, the open field wasn't particularly ideal for entertaining--or for child safety.
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