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Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:23 pm
His feet ached, immensely. It probably didn't help that he had been kicked to the deepest pits of hell and back by girls (well, magically superpowered ones, but still girls), and it probably didn't help as he was recovering, he got kicked again. At this point he might as well just give up his professional career as an -ahem- aspiring items 'borrower' and retire early, have a small savings account, and- ok who was he kidding?
At this point, there was no way he was walking all the way from school back home. He wasn't even sure if he could walk the next block: with that much ability to think he zombied over to the nearby bus station, shuffling in with the rest of the masses lining up to get in, slowly ambling up the bus stairs-
- when he was suddenly stopped by the bus driver. Toby stared at them blankly.
The bus driver tapped his change counter impatiently, and the sign that clearly said "Free bus rides are not allowed."
Aw, darnit. He searched in his pockets for what could possibly resemble anything coin or money-shaped, and came out with his results of, a marble, a coke bottle lid, and a nail clipper. At this point the people behind him waiting to get on the bus were getting a little impatient, littering the once-quiet air with sighs and taps of feet, making Toby feel just a little more than embarrassed. He dug deeper into his pockets: there had to be money in there somewhere!
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Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:47 pm
She had to get some new shoes for dance lessons.
Eve couldn't believe she had overlooked something as important as that, and rather than face the wrath of Madame, she had decided that she had enough time to rush out and get the shoes before coming back in time before curfew. Crystal Academy had also gotten a lot stricter with them these days, what with the senshi and negaverse characters running around the city. The whole city seemed to be rather panicked over this; and Eve saw the newspaper headlines plastered with something about them every single day.
But people still had to get on with their lives. They still had to go to work, to school, walk the streets, take public transport... and indeed, there were a lot of people still clamoring to take the bus. She had given her fare then made her way to find a seat, when she noticed that the boy behind her seemed to be fumbling for his own, looking rather panicked. For a while, Eve watched him and the impatient crowd behind him, then when realizing that he probably didn't have it, dug her hand into her own pocket for her purse. The girl then darted forward and flashed both the bus driver and the boy a smile before handing over some money. "Wouldn't want to hold up everyone else, would we?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 10:47 pm
Still tinkering in his pockets (he had finally been able to come out with 13 cents, and what suspiciously looked like a Chinese yen coin), he didn't even notice the bus driver give him the get-go until the person behind him literally, pushed him.
With a small yelp, he lunged forward awkwardly, and nearly got a facefull of... well...something soft, and, you know. Face burning, he shuffled to the side, letting the masses behind him file inside the bus, before staring at the girl who seemed to have been smiling at him, holding her purse.
He blinked for a second, and finally put two and two together. "Wait.. did you...?" he signaled to the cash counter on the bus, and then mimicked putting money in. There was NO WAY normal people would spend perfectly good money on others right?
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Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 11:33 pm
He seemed rather hopelessly oblivious, Eve decided while watching him continue to fumble for change. It was rather ironic really, because most would usually use that word to describe her. Most acquaintances, that was, also known as people who didn't know her that well.
The blonde girl merely bobbed her head in reply as blue eyes darted about to scan the inside of the bus. Aaah...it seemed too crowded at this time for her to find a seat and she briefly made a face, grimacing before turning back to the boy. "It's alright; it's just a bus fare!" Eve assured him, whom she was sure was about her age, or possibly younger perhaps? She really had no idea; she wasn't exactly very good at guessing ages. Plus boys at this age were hard to decipher, since they were edging into their growth spurts, breaking voices and what not.
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 5:34 pm
His eyebrows nearly shot to the tips of his hairline. How could she say it was "just" a bus fare - it was a whole one dollar and seventy five cents (can you imagine how many bottles you'd have to collect for that?!).
He nearly lost his balance again as the bus lurched to another stop, doors opening to relive half the vehicle of its passenger content. With most of the seats emptied now, he sat down, feet sighing in relief, a little belatedly scooting over to give the other girl a seat too.
"Augh," he began, "I seriously owe you a big big favour." Scratching his head, Toby pondered how exactly he could ever pay her back for the huge debt, and suddenly, beamed. "If you ever need anything to st-, um, to obtain, I am your man. I am a pro items collector!"
As if to prove his point, he searched deeply in his pocket (the lady who was sitting on his left gave him an annoyed glare) and pulled out quite a few trinkets that he had collected over the past couple of days. As they were rather crammed from their session in The Inside LIning Of Toby's Pants, it was rather hard to make out exactly what half these items were. Regardless, he shoved them eagerly out for her to see. "'Did you want to see em all?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 4:02 am
Eve sat down beside him, flashing him an appreciative smile. "It's not that big of a favor. You're exaggerating." She teased him with a laugh. At least she had helped out someone that seemed nice. Eve wasn't in the mood for stupid boys after the whole panty raid incident. Her mind was still in the 'Boys are stupid ew ew ew, especially those from Hillworth', but the fact that he was wearing the Meadowview uniform had let down her guard.
She watched amusedly as he pulled a variety of paraphernalia out of his pockets, raising her eyebrows in surprise. Did boys carry so many things in there? She already didn't comprehend why they liked shoving coins into their pockets instead of their wallets; and Mr Summers had simply brushed it off by saying that it was much more convenient to do so. "What are all these?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:16 pm
If his grin could grow wider, it would have. It was the first time in well, ever that he had shown his collection to someone who did not flee who was not an inanimate piece of furniture (or a box).
Excited, he tried to untangle a part of a stereo cord from what seemed like a solo chopstick. "Ok, this is my," and he made a face, as the knot seemed to only wedge itself deeper, "fishing rod. Well it would be, if I could just untangle it! Anyway, its supposed to fish out the paranormal and stuff, like a dousing rod, but for ghosts!"
Did he ever mention he was obsessed with the paranormal?
Ok, scrap that idea, that thing wasn't getting untangled unless he physically cut it apart (and that would ruin his pet project!). With a little resigned exhale, he moved onto the next 'project'. "This is my alien-o-matic censor, its supposed to sense aliens in outer spac-" A though occurred to him as he looked at her somewhat-neutral expression. "I... I'm not boring you am I, I mean, I collect stuff, but its a little weird and..."
Not waiting for a proper reply to the sentence quite yet, held up one finger. "Um, wait, I think I've got more interesting stuff in my other pocket!" While shifting over to search his pockets without taking up too much space, something carelessly dropped from his collection, rolling a little on the ground before he quickly scooped it up. It looked ridiculously girly for a 'guy' item: a reindeer keychain made from beads sparkling every colour of the rainbow.
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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 11:50 pm
"I've never seen a fishing rod like that before." Eve said in genuine honesty, without a hint of sarcasm in her voice, picking it up and peering at it curiously. "It's really cute! All these knots need a lot of patience to untangle though." She herself wouldn't be able to sit still and do it. Perhaps when helping a friend untangle a braid, but hair was entirely a different story. "How is it able to track ghosts?"
"No, no, it's fine." She assured him with a laugh. "I've never seen things like this before, so it's really terribly interesting." Granted, she didn't really believe in stuff in fantasy books anymore, but hey, everyone secretly hoped that it would happen right? Plus with all these monsters, senshi and negaverse people running around...
"That's cute!" Eve exclaimed, pointing to the colorful keychain. "Did you make it yourself?"
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Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 12:16 pm
He paused for a second, all previous pocket-searching item-fumbling action forgotten. If nerdiness was a physical trait one could exhibit, he would be pretty much all but oozing it. "I knew someone would be interested in it one day!" He said, (pretty much to the air), "Well you see the thick wires of the cord siphon the otherworld energies in the air, until it senses a source of ectoplasm - that's ghost blood - and then tugs on it, and ideally, should catch a ghost!"
Cue the lack of a snag on the fishing rod. "Err I'm still working out the complications," he admitted, "But that's how they did it in Supernaturalistic anyway."
Wow, she must really not go out much if she hadn't seen anything like what he was making. He then turned his attention to the other item in his hand. "Uhhh I didn't make it," (Not unless you count stealing a creative art), "I found it, but it's a little too um, colourful for my collection anyway."
Toby's eyes lit up at a sudden idea. "Did you want it? It can be partial payment for you bus fare."
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 2:43 am
"I've always wondered about the thing about ghost blood." Eve said meditatively, twirling a blond curl around a finger. "I mean, technically, they're dead, so they can't be hurt right? They're all ethereal and can float through stuff." At least it didn't make much sense to her, but she didn't know as much about this than the boy. He seemed to be pretty knowledgeable about this subject, and if it were to be tested in school, she was sure he would have aced that class. "I've never really watched that show." She shrugged.
"It is pretty." She smiled, then did a double-take. "Really?" It wasn't as if she needed more accessories dangling off her cellphone, but she could easily squeeze it in somewhere, right? "Partial payment though? It's pretty enough, and like I said, it's really fine!"
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 5:31 pm
All prior comments about bleeding ghosts and whatnot forgotten, Toby all but shoved the keychain into the other poor girl's hands. "Consider it a deal!" He grinned, "Well, a partial deal, but you catch my drift uh..."
It suddenly occurred to him that he never quite got a name out of her. Consciously wiping one hand on his pants, he offered it to the girl. "I'm Toby by the way, though you can call me," - and here he put his nose to the air, imitating a state of extreme exaltedness - "The great items collector, the one and only!"
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Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 7:42 am
Eve merely grinned and nodded, accepting the gift and tucked it away into one of her pockets. She figured that it was easier not to argue with the other boy, since he seemed to feel pretty indebted to her for that small favor. And seemed bent on insisting that it wasn't small at all.
"Eve Summers." She said, shaking his hand, chuckling at his full introduction. "Is that an official title? I don't have one, sadly."
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Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 10:46 pm
"Well as official as it gets anyway," he chuckled to himself, as if laughing at a personal joke. "It's ok, we can just call you oh, 'Eve of the Very Generous'."
A thought occurred to him. "Hey, Imma be heading over to the Free Movies Night on Tuesday, did you wanna come by any chance?" Oh wait, that might sound a little weird. "Err I mean, like you know, to hang out. Me and another classmate of mine usually go, but he had plans last minute, so the spots open and stuff."
Not to mention his logic was more along the lines him being eternally debted to her for for the whole $2.50.
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Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 7:11 am
The girl giggled, a slight embarrassed flush crossing her cheeks. She had expected him to be grateful, but not to this extent. She still thought it was cute of him, however; not many people were that enthused at a good deed being done these days. Whatever was this world coming to?
"That sounds fun." She said cheerfully, giving him a nod. "I'd like that! Oh," She added as the bus pulled up at a traffic light, "my stop's the next one. I'll see you on Tuesday then!" Eve gave him another smile before getting off her seat and making her way to the exit before the light became green and the bus lurched forward.
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 2:42 pm
He watched Eve hop off the bus and waved abstractly to her retreating form from the clouded window. Next time he saw her, he would have even more stuff for her to admire, yes!
Chuckling at this thought, Toby slid back in his seat, enjoying the small comforts of public transportation. It was great just to sit and let someone else do the work, with not an ease in the world.
As the bus closed its doors and began to roll to a start again, he saw something awfully familiar pass by his somewhat-restricted vision. Wait, wasn't that his HOME??
Toby groaned as the bus slid past his stop and over the long highway inter pass. Next time, he really shouldn't take the express bus.
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