Chance Encounter(Toby, Open)

[Hope Taylor]

What a day. Everything was going so well to. Without Becky around to make her life miserable things were looking up. In the Library she met Arya. She didn't make fun of her or make her feel bad. Actually she was nice and made her feel warm inside. It was a good feeling that she hadn't felt before but she liked it. Things were definitely looking up.

Until after gym class the other girls thought it would be funny to lock her in the changing room. She kicked at the door for hours till the night janitor found her in tears and let her out. Why does everyone have to be so mean!? I'm a good girl. Daddy says so. Thus it must be true, daddy was the only one that never lied to her.

Walking through the halls all by herself she felt the hum of power running through here. That was odd. There was nobody here so there shouldn't be any power flows running through here right now. Oh well, nothing to worry about now.

Outside it was all ready dark and getting cold. Instantly she felt a bit lethargic and sick. She better get home before her dad started to worry about her.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a man, no a boy crossing courtyard in her direction. He moved quickly and quietly with a fluid grace she hadn't seen before. Something about him frightened her and she started to pick up the pace to get into a more populated area. When she turned around to see if he was still following he was no longer behind her. Breathing a sigh of relief she turned to continue on her way and bumped right into the man and fell back on the ground in shock and surprise. Looking up at him with a mixture of surprise, awe and a bit of fear.

He didn't look like a bad person but he definitely looked different.

[Tobias St Valentine]

A school! That's what this place was. He knew that, he did. He'd been to school, not long ago...or was it long ago? He wasn't sure, anymore. But he could remember. He could remember studying hard and keeping to himself, and watching with a longing gaze at the groups of friends who'd kept together, talking and laughing. He'd never been social. But he had rather enjoyed school all the same, just for the learning.

He hadn't know this place was that, to begin with. But Tobias was a curious childe, and the closed main gates, with only the side gate propped open, and the mass of sprawling buildings had intrigued him. He'd only been coming through here to go back to the pretty, chiny shop, to see if the pretty girl was there again, because he had wanted to see her again. He still did. But this place had distracted him. He wouldn't stay long, just long enough to look around. Julian had never taken him hunting in a school, even though young blood was always the best. But Julian said it was right for vampires to kill when they ate, like Axel said, and Toby still wasn't sure about that. He liked letting them run again.

There were tables in here. Wooden tables, with benches, spread out over the courtyard like area. He'd had fun jumping from one to another, then back again, not noticing how large the gaps between them were, just enjoying the feeling of the air whooshing past him.

A faint sound had made him stop though, and jump to the ground, looking around. A sound of a heartbeat...a human? Here? He had noticed the smells, but wasn't it too late? No one else was really moving around, were they? No...and it was dark. He was intrigued. And for some reason, humming the Mission Impossible theme under his breath. He stopped that quickly though; that was worse than the purring. He caught sight of the girl just as he stopped, walking past her, and onyl realising that he had seen her once he'd gone beyond. Then he went back, darting around the outskirts to stand in front of her, too curious now not to.

"Hello!" he said brightly, sticking out a hand...then frowned slightly as she fell over. Oh. He hadn't meant to do that. "Oh, sorry! Sorry, didn't want to suprise you, or shock you. My bad..."

[Hope Taylor]

Looking up into the smiling face with what must have been a surprised and frightened look of her own. He seemed nice, but there was something....odd. She couldn't put her finger on it. Quickly getting to her feet she took his hand in a timid handshake. Not wanting to appear rude she smiled and said "I'm Hope. Sorry about that. I'm a bit jumpy thats all." Just then she felt the reason why this man felt a little odd to her. "You, Y..Your not human."

Her smile slipping slowly into a look of confusion. Don't vampires eat defenseless girls like me? But here he is talking to me friendlier then almost all of the humans Ive met. "Are you going to try to bite me now? I don't think I will taste very good". "But if you want you can. Might make things easier in the long run." She really should be scared but for some reason the thought of this boy drinking some of her blood wasn't as frightening as it should be. If anything, that thought scared her more.

With the surge of fear her heart started to beat faster and the boy seemed to get excited by it. Should she run? She knew he would catch her. Maybe scream? Nobody would hear her out here at night. Staying quite would be the smart thing to do. But nobody ever said she was smart. Or had good survival instincts for that matter. "Whats your name? You dont seem like a vampire. But....you are arent you?" Reaching out to touch him timidly.

[Tobias St Valentine]

Oh...were people meant to know what he was? Well, there was no fun in that, was there? Besides, he had to practise being not what he was, because he didn't want the pretty girl to know. If she'd act as scared as this one was...well, that would be bad. He liked her. "Vampire?" he inquired, raising an eyebrow and adopting a tone of confusion. He glances down at the hand still outstretched, wondering what had given it away. Probably because he was so cold. "I'm not a vampire. Bad circulation, that's all. Why, is that some common thing you like to do, accuse strangers of being vampires? You don't seem the gothic type. And me neither, see. Don't have many dark clothes. I prefer grey."

He was chattering now, but that was something he often did when he was in a happy mood. And he was in a happy mood today. He'd eaten already, eaten one walking through an alley, and although he craved blood, it didn't hurt, so he didn't have to eat. And he was looking forward to seeing her again.

"I'm Toby. Not a vampire, strange girl. What are you doing out and about this late?" He wondered whether it would actually fool her or not, this acting human thing. She had proven to be awfully perceptive, and he wasn't sure whether that was a good or a bad thing. Probably a bad thing...he didn't want to die, after all, and both Julien and Axel had said someone wanted to kill creatures like him. Which...he didn't fully understand. Wait, was it this girl? He inhaled deeply, checking her scent...then relaxed. No. Human.

[Hope Taylor]

Could she be wrong? She was never wrong. But... he said he wasn't a vampire. Didn't act like a vampire. That and the fact that he looked ... nice. Really nice in fact. Getting confused at a time wasn't a good thing but she hadn't had this feeling before. A big part of her wanted to nuzzle into his chest and take in his scent and revel in it. Why would she want to do that? But that would either scare him away or make him angry. She didn't want any of those things to happen. But he was so pretty.

Maybe she should try what the girls in school do with boys they like. She had seem them kiss and hug in the hallways of school, but she had never felt the urge to do that with anyone. It looked strange and didn't know why anyone would want to do that until right now. But what if he didn't want to? Boys had tried to kiss or hug girls and sometimes the girls would slap at them. She didn't want to be slapped or slap him. How would she know if she had to slap him or not?

This was so confusing. All that she knew for sure was that she liked this boy named Toby. She couldn't put her finger on the reason why he affected her so much. Maybe it was the fact that she had never met a human that felt so much like a vampire. No.. that wasn't it either. Toby felt....out of place. Just like her. It must be that we are kindred spirits. Gathering up her courage she quickly darts in and gets on her tippy toes to give him a small peck on the lips. "Will you be my friend?" Her voice shaky and unsure of itself while she asks. She really hoped he would say yes.

She felt it was really important that she be near him.

[Tobias St Valentine]

Friends? Toby couldn't stop the smile that spread over his face. Friends were good. Even though he wasn't alone anymore, not now he had Julien, and Axel, and perhaps Christine, if he was nice enough to the pretty girl, it was nice to have friends. He'd never had any, before the burying incident (which Julien had called his 'turning', but his old family apparantly called it his 'death', so he wasn't sure about that). He'd been the one on the outside, too concerned with working and keeping out of trouble to ever do anything fun. But now...now he felt different. Young. Full of energy, standing still was trouble, for Toby. And he liked to meet new people. He liked to bite them as well, but he was pretending not to be a vampire right now, in practise for seeing Christine.

"Friend's are good!" he said happily, nodding his head. He probably looked quite simple, doing that...Toby wasn't simple. He was easily confused, and young, and naive, but not simple. He'd been studying in University before all this had begun, after all. Been one of the top law students. Simple people didn't manage to do that. "I'd like to be friends. There. You're not a stranger now." He paused, considering that. "Or maybe not. I don't know. Can a stranger be a friend? Can a friend be a stranger? Can't be friends if I don't know your name anyway, can we? That's just not fair."

He looked at her properly, for the first time. She was young. Younger than him, although he couldn't really remember how old he was now, true, but still...she was younger. She was still in school, evidently, and he'd done that already. But still...he didn't know what, but something about he didn't seem...right. He frowned, a tiny frown but a frown none-the-less, trying to concentrate on that, but then gave up, getting distracted by the girls hair. It was blonde, and pretty, and perhaps it was like his. He wasn't sure. He missed not being able to use mirrors now.

[Hope Taylor]

Toby had a really pretty smile. It made her smile as well. "I'm Hope." "Nice to meet you Toby". She was so happy to have made a friend. She didn't really have many of those. Only Arya, and maybe Christine. Though Christine probably didn't like her anymore since the incident in the cafeteria. She would have to find out if Christine was still her friend.

While she was thinking about Christine, Toby looked at her appraisingly. Looking her up and down like he were trying to understand something about her. When he gave a slight frown she almost wanted to cry. He probably thought she was to young to be friends with her. Or thought she was ugly or something. She wasn't really ugly. But she was small for her age and under developed.

Trying to ignore the look she put on a bright smile. "Well Toby it was nice meeting you!" "I need to get back home before my daddy starts to worry about me". Gathering up her pink bunny rabbit backpack with her book and homework inside she starts to wave goodbye to her new friend. He was a little weird, but she knew he was probably thinking the same thing about her. As she walked away she had a strange feeling that she might have been to forward with the vampire. Vampire's could be dangerous after all. But it was to late now.

All that was left was to go home. The consequences would be seen later.

[Tobias St Valentine]

"Hope. That's a nice name, Hope. Having Hope is a good thing." For some reason, that made him giggle a little. Oh...Oh well, having friends was a good thing. He had quite a few now, which was good, because it meant that if one was busy there would probably be another around, so he wouldn't be alone. Of course...Christine and Hope were humans, and were out during the day, and he couldn't do that...But then he had Axel and Julien, didn't he? It was all nice. He liked it, liked getting friends. Friends made him feel...happy. And not alone. He didn't like being alone.

He tilted his head to the side, watching her go with a slight smile. Yes, it was nice meeting new friends, and new people. No one he'd met since coming to this town had been nasty to him, or cruel. It was a very nice town. He liked it more than the other one he'd been in, where he'd died. Or...not died, more like woken up. Although, this town did have demons in it, and a Slayer. He was more afraid of demons than of the Slayer though, come to think of it.

Hope was walking away. His eyes was stuck to the bunny rucksack, with a small smile as he watched it. A bunny rucksack. That was rather cute...but he was suddenly struck by that lonely feeling. He knew, in the back of his mind, that he should be going to the pretty shop, to the pretty girl, but...well, he didn't like giving up company so easily. So after a moment, he broke into a run, covering the distance between himself and the walking-away girl faster than a human would, if he'd noticed.

"Can I walk you home?" he asked, hopefully. Company was a good thing. Losing company...no, that was bad. Besides, it was dangerous on these streets. There were monsters around, after all.