toby-determined

[toby-determined]

@ugly-anastasia

"Oh. Oh! Of course, sorry–" Toby stopped himself before he could say I didn't know or worse yet, I forgot. Both of which were true and not at the same time.

This, he had already known but could tell was going to be reminded of over and over again, was going to be a very frustrating existence.

And it was only amplified by her presence. He felt like a poor reader or film go-er. He wanted to know everything right then and there. He didn't want to wait, to sit back and let the story unfold as it was supposed to be told. That didn't apply here, surely. He'd already known the story at one point, it wasn't his fault that someone had stripped it from him.

...

Okay, it had actually been pretty much entirely his fault, but that wasn't the point.

Toby barely managed to keep himself from suggesting that they just use this road trip back to the town with her telling him everything he was supposed to know. Everything that had happened between them. Everything about her and more.

Because that wasn't a fair demand and, as Amanda had drilled into him, would be half the truth since the other half lay with himself. Which was why Amanda herself had refused to tell him, citing that she was an innocent third party who hadn't even been there in person.

Instead he settled into his seat and asked, "So, what's Swynlake like? Is it all the website cracks it up to be?"

To Be Or Not To Be | Anatoby

[toby-determined]

@ugly-anastasia

"I need you–" he started to explain, but then got caught up with his own whirling thoughts. Toby looked up again, eyeing the canopy that sat over them. Sunlight poked through on the occasion, which was fine for sitting under to get away from it, but that wasn't what was needed fro this experiment.

"We should go to the beach," he said, thinking aloud. Then he nodded, firm, as that sold him on the idea. Yes. The beach. Where there was plenty of water in the case this worked a little too well, and where they wouldn't start some sort of bush fire in the place they wanted to settle. Toby picked up the sticks, and started off back toward the sandy shore.

"I think I've thought of a way to start a fire," he said as they went. Occasionally he would reach down to pick up something, dried brush or leaves, and add it to the pile in his arms. "I'd do it myself but– well, you'll see."

As soon as they broke through the tree line, the sound of the ocean soft and inviting, he let everything fall to the sand. He followed it down, kneeling to dig at the sand and shuffled the sticks into an arrangement, putting some of the dried leaves underneath them. He kept a pair of the sticks and a bundle of brush out and motioned for her to join him.

"My family had a tinder box with a lens on the lid. If you got the sun to pass through it and focus on a certain point on the tinder, it would be hot enough to start a fire. I'm thinking we can use my glasses the same way," he said. "I can't do it– my vision is, quite frankly, horrible without them so I wouldn't be able to really tell where I was aiming. But you could!"

Toby turned to look at her, smiling a little with the excitement at the prospect of this working. This dimmed a touch though as he added, "Just, try to be gentle. Otherwise I'll be rather useless to you without them."

Lips Sink Ships | Anatoby (Valentine's Day)

[toby-determined]

@ugly-anastasia

"I asked, you answered," Toby said, not in a way to placate her or to dismiss her. It was more so just a fact he was stating. It was very much something he found himself saying to people he interviewed who felt the need to apologize for going off on a tangent when it was probably a highlight of the conversation– it meant they had felt the need to go off script to include the tidbit because it meant something to them.

Obviously her children were going to mean everything to her.

Well, he supposed that wasn't an obvious thing. There were plenty of very bad and neglectful parents out there in the world. Or ones that just should never have been parents. But she didn't seem to fall into those categories to Toby. She very clearly loved them.

"Yes, hold on, I've got...an address..." he said, having to rearrange his bag straps so he could pull his phone from his pocket. The device was new. The police hadn't been able to recover his old one and he figured it was best to have a new one when going to the UK anyway, right? New service, new plan, etcetera.

"Turns out I'd backed up most of my data and when I was going through my contacts I found one marked flatmate. I gave it a ring and he answered. Apparently I was still under a lease and never subleased before I left, and he hadn't found anyone either. He was willing to take me back," he explained. Toby silently read the address Mr. Godfrey had relayed. "Do you know where Castle Suites is?"

In the moment he was too distracted to even think that she would not only know where the apartment complex was, but that she would also know where he had lived. That, since they had been in a relationship, it would be normal for her to have been there several times over, be familiar with the space as she had with him– then, their relationship had never been normal. But it wasn't as if he knew that either.

Toby looked up at her in innocent anticipation to hear her answer.

To Be Or Not To Be | Anatoby

[toby-determined]

@ugly-anastasia

His brows raised at her words. Had that been a compliment? Those were hard to come by for him, but in the short time he had known her, Toby never would have thought to hear one pass from her lips.

It would seem that a great many things he never thought possible were taking place on this day. He reached up to touch his head, running a sore hand over his hair to feel and– no, he didn't seem to have any major knots or sore spots. So, either he had perished in the ocean already and was stuck in some odd Purgatory, or this was all real.

"They were hanging from a tree. My guess is they're some sort of fruit or nut. The casing is very tough, though. It'll probably take some sort of rock to get it open," he said, also standing, but only to shuffle over and sit next to the sticks she had managed to get. Toby glanced up at her, wanting to protest against the idea of her going away but knowing he couldn't argue either since it needed to be done. "Don't stray far. The trees all start to look the same after a certain distance."

He began to sort through the sticks, making a new pile of the driest ones. This was the part he was dreading considering he had no clue what he was doing. Without flint, how were they supposed to get a spark going? What he wouldn't give for a tinderbox, something he now knew he had taken for granted all this time.

Striking two sticks against one another wouldn't have the same results. Nor would two rocks. Or a rock against a stick. At least, not without significant friction, which took a lot of power. Something he knew he did not possess. So, how did one do it? How had people done it before they knew of flint? Aside from just keeping one going for ages, being looked after by the community.

He sighed heavily, reaching up to take his glasses off and lean to swipe the sweat from his face against his sleeve. For all the heat the sun was radiating, you'd think a fire would just–

Toby squinted upward, only really able to make out a blurred version of the canopy above, his fingers rolling the temples of his glasses. A thought occurred to him.

"Wait!" he said, looking around before realizing he needed his glasses for that, and put them back on his face. "Wait! I need your help with something, actually! That is– if you wouldn't mind."

Lips Sink Ships | Anatoby (Valentine's Day)

[toby-determined]

@ugly-anastasia

At first, it had been out of a sense of good manners to ask after her family in return, but then when she'd shared more (Harylnne. 7. Middle child. Lost a baby tooth.) Toby remembered that this was the reason he was here. Of course he was keen to try getting his memories back with the spell Doctor Elliot and her team had drawn up for him, but this woman, this Annie Tremaine, had been the other large draw to leave the comfort of his family and home behind. So, any amount of information she was willing to share with him was more than welcome.

Because he had no idea what she wanted from him. Or if she even wanted anything from him anymore. She had said she loved him, but...he wasn't exactly him anymore. And he didn't know what had all transpired between them, if he had still carried feelings for her after they had apparently parted ways. The more information he gathered, even before they started trying to get his memories in order, would help him figure her out.

Though, as he listened to the sound of her voice and chanced another glance in her direction, he couldn't help but to think something serious must have had to transpire if he had left someone as stunning as she.

"And Jaxson?" he asked, going off of conversations from after he had been released from hospital. "That's the eldest boy, right?"

To Be Or Not To Be | Anatoby

[toby-determined]

@ugly-anastasia

Toby hardly had the patience for her, but he had even less energy to argue. Even if what she said was rather infuriating, it paled in comparison to the aching pain in his body. He wasn't used to manual labor of this caliber, having been someone who worked at a desk for his entire career, both as an apprentice and then when he'd taken to publishing his own works.

Yet all he could think about was how there was still so much more to do. He may have gotten the materials, but now he had to build the blasted thing and he only had a vague idea of how to do such a thing– his father had worked to construct buildings, but that was obviously vastly different to what Toby intended to do here.

Then there was the matter of fire and trying to figure out how to get to the meat of the coconut with the tools afforded to them by the land. And then finding more food because that surely wouldn't sustain–

His spiraling, tired thoughts came to a stop when he felt something touch his sore hands. Toby blinked and his eyes came into focus on the scene of her hand on his. It didn't last long but it had felt...nice. The first kind touch bestowed upon him in ages. Since he'd left home many years ago.

"Yes, I'll be fine," he said, like her statement had been a question instead. "How did you fair?"

Lips Sink Ships | Anatoby (Valentine's Day)

[toby-determined]

@ugly-anastasia

Toby fell into step beside her. As soon as they stepped outside he found the weather rather jarring. He had known that it was going to be different to the end of summer that he had left behind in Australia and was not a stranger to the cold, but it caught him off guard anyway.

"They're good, yeah," he nodded. "For the most part, anyway. I think it was hard for them, first adjusting to me not knowing anything and then having to say goodbye."

Amanda especially had been getting very frustrated with him and his lack of context to a lot of the things she said. He was normally a quick study but the amount of things she had tried to drill him on had his already damaged brain swimming.

"After my sister realized she could show me a bunch of things I'd forgotten, though, she came around to liking the idea of my brain being scrubbed clean. Like erm– that whole thing at the Oscars a couple years ago? When the guy'd announced the wrong film winning Best Picture?" he said, as if this was some little known fact. "She quite liked my reaction to that one, I couldn't stop laughing."

He looked up at her from where he had been focusing on the pavement below them, trying not to trip or run into anyone hurrying by in the opposite direction. Then he quickly looked away again, because he felt rather awkward in her presence and their odd predicament. "And yours? How are your children?"

To Be Or Not To Be | Anatoby

[toby-determined]

@ugly-anastasia

That managed to startle a huff of amusement from him, a smile lighting up his features. It was such a dark thing to say that it had turned over into absurdity. He turned to look at her and shook his head at the question, smile quieting but still lingering. Toby looked down to begin rolling back his shirt sleeves and began walking, off to find either suitable supplies for a shelter or any form of food. Or, if they were fortunate, both.

When he did return some time later it was in a series of back and forth trips. The first few were with lengths of bare, straight branches or large leafy ones with long green fronds. After that was with an arm full of coconuts.

He sat down next to everything in an exhausted heap, and looked down at his hands, of which had been chewed up by the work at prying everything off the trees. As well as the ants that had been crawling all over the place.

Lips Sink Ships | Anatoby (Valentine's Day)

[toby-determined]

@ugly-anastasia

"Welcome back," the person behind the sneeze guard said to him.

"I'm sorry?" he asked.

They lifted his passport, showing the stamps on the page. "Were on you holiday?"

Unsure of what to say, since he very much doubted they wanted him to stand there holding up the absolutely massive line of weary travelers behind him, Toby just smiled and nodded, doing his best to look resigned. They chuckled and returned his passport, wishing him a good day. He returned the sentiment and continued on his way.

Right off the bat, he could tell England was going to be very strange. It was so...normal. Which he supposed should have been the opposite of weird to him, especially since he was a Mundus himself, but– after having lived his whole life with magic at every corner it was odd to suddenly be in a place where it was tucked away. Swept under the rug, hidden behind the curtain, trying not to be acknowledged.

Why the heck had he come here, of all places?

He hiked his bag higher up on his shoulder as he followed the signs directing him on where the exit was, moving with the crowd, until it spit him out somewhere else. Toby almost continued down the way until he noticed the sign– and then the woman holding it. He breathed in at the sight of her, slowing his steps for a moment to gather his wits about him before he approached.

"It was long," he told her with a little sigh, fingers splaying out where he was holding the strap of his bag before they settled again. "But– well, you know that."

She had been through it herself before him. At least, from what he knew. Toby looked down at the sign, searching for something else to say, and smiled.

"Have many Toby's approached you before me?"

(outfit for once since I could not fathom him wearing the usual fit on that long ass flight lmfao <3 )

To Be Or Not To Be | Anatoby

[toby-determined]

@ugly-anastasia

Toby frowned at the request, about to suggest that if she was really that fatigued, that he could go ahead and come back for her when he found a suitable place to set up a camp.

These words, and the thought itself, died as her hair fell freely down her back, around her shoulders. It was more memorizing than the natural phenomenon of cascading water just over his shoulder because– because he knew he should not be staring so openly. Toby forced himself to turn away, putting his back to Miss Tremaine as he pretended to otherwise be occupied by the canopy that sat above them.

He dared to glance her way at the sound of her voice but quickly averted his eyes when he realized she'd intended to keep her hair down.

Right. He needed to get a grip. As he had been preaching to her, they needed to get the essentials if they wanted to survive this ordeal. Getting distracted could lead to ruin. They had been lucky neither of them had been hurt from their submergence in the ocean and hadn't needed medical care. If they did so out here, it could be disastrous.

"Thank you," he said and took a faster pace to get ahead as they walked up the slight incline along the bank. The land eventually evened back out and Toby, not wanting to go too far from the water, slowed down when they came across ground that was mostly clear of burdensome foliage and was still shaded by trees. The waterfall could still be heard in the background. It would do.

"I think this should be our place of refuge," he told her. "May I task you now with finding any sticks you can on the ground and piling them next to that tree?"

Lips Sink Ships | Anatoby (Valentine's Day)

[toby-determined]

To Be Continued || Annie + The Determined's

For Context/Prior Reading: To Be Determined To Be Better Hey Girlie! I’m Concerned About Your Brother’s Well-Being!

Annie goes to Australia to help find Toby, who has seemingly gone missing. Amanda, Toby's sister, tags along for the roller coaster ride.

Triggers: kidnapping, minor violence, guns, medical talk (but it's all within a magic context), meeting the parents/sister.

Read Here!

[toby-determined]

@ugly-anastasia

"What?" he asked, genuinely not understanding her question. It made him pause and look down at the water as it passed by, as if trying to figure out what she had seen in order to pose such questions. "No. It's wonderful! I'm glad we came across it. But, as I said before, we've got to figure out shelter, food, and fire. And, I don't know about you, but I'd much rather have those things before it gets dark."

Fire especially. He had no doubt in his mind that it was going to be the hardest thing on the list. Toby had no idea how to bring it about without the proper tools. There was a theory floating in his mind, but he would have to wait to put it into practice later when they'd found somewhere to settle for the time being.

"I figure it's best to build away from the water in case it ever rains," Toby continued, thinking maybe that she just wanted to know his thought process. "Wouldn't want to be swept away, or have the water come in. It looks like higher ground this way."

Lips Sink Ships | Anatoby (Valentine's Day)

[toby-determined]

@ugly-anastasia

Toby frowned as he watched the woman drop down to claw at the water, not out of distaste or anything. He was mainly just surprised by the overt display. She was quite a dramatic being, wasn't she? Everything she said and did seemed as if she was doing it with every ounce of her being. So much of polite society seemed to keep a sharp hold on their emotions.

But, then, like he had been observing before, they were in quite the dire circumstances. He could hardly fault her for such reactions. Toby took an extra moment to observe her before looking back to the waterfall.

He stepped toward the edge of the bank, bending his knees so that he too could touch the steadily moving water as it passed by. He scooped up what he could and reached back to rub the back of his neck with it, the cool temperature a balm on the skin and stress of– everything that had happened.

Only a few seconds later did he stand back up and said, "Alright. That's one down. Plenty more to go. Come on, our work isn't finished yet."

Lips Sink Ships | Anatoby (Valentine's Day)

[toby-determined]

@ugly-anastasia

"Yes, it is rather ironic," he answered, voice somewhat absent as he was half paying attention to what he was saying and half searching for the things he had only just listed off for her. "Then again, the ocean is a vast weight of contradictions. Peaceful one moment, chaotic in the next. How can something that is so often prescribed as an aid to illness also be the cause of so many deaths?"

Toby sighed, wistful, and then realized– wait a moment. Had she just tricked him into polite conversation? Well, he supposed he shouldn't have been all that surprised. It was what they had both been taut and it could hardly be purged from their manner, despite their circumstances.

He guessed what was so odd about it was that he was agreeing with her. It felt like all they'd ever done was argue and he had anticipated that was all they would do until they were able to be out of one another's company.

His thoughts were interrupted by a sound and he stilled, reaching out to put his arm out in front of Miss Tremaine to get her to stop, too. He listened carefully then lit up a little, already moving without glancing back at her. "This way!"

Toby picked up his pace as he followed the sound, it growing stronger and stronger as he trekked through the foliage. It seemed to have gotten thicker the closer they got until, finally, a water fall came into view. The water rushed over a series of steep drop offs until pooling into a small basin that led off into a stream, probably off to meet the ocean elsewhere.

Lips Sink Ships | Anatoby (Valentine's Day)

[toby-determined]

@ugly-anastasia

Honestly, he had not expected to hear her voice after that except for the distant grumblings as she wandered off back to the beach to stew or pout, whatever it was she planned on doing for her remaining time. Instead, her questions persisted.

Toby cast her a glance. It wasn't an outright agreement to help, but he figured if she was going to continue following him then it was just an unspoken one. Very well then. It seemed she could think somewhat rationally after all– she just didn't want to let on that she could for some odd reason.

"We need to find water, first and foremost. If we can't find that, then no. We will surely die," he said. "After that we'll need to build some sort of shelter. Then I think it prudent to find some source of food and make fire. Once we have everything we need to survive, we can start thinking about how to signal that we are here to help those looking know where we are."

Lips Sink Ships | Anatoby (Valentine's Day)

[toby-determined]

@ugly-anastasia

Toby nearly walked right into her but stopped just short, blinking and taking a step back at the shock of the abrupt obstacle. Her words and tone quickly sobered him, allowing the emotions that had been overtaken to come flooding back in.

It was actually quite amazing how many slights she managed to pack inside a few sentences. He almost felt compelled to ask her where she head learned the technique. Toby could not remember ever meeting someone who could so quickly evoke such emotions from him. He was not known for being so easy to anger or to frustrate, but she seemed to have an inherent understanding of just what strings to tug at to unleash them. It probably also had to do with the highly stressful situation they were in, but– good lord!

He let that last sentence hang in the air for another moment, letting it pull the air tight around them before he began to reply.

"Since the moment we met you have done nothing but insult and belittle me. I may be a man, but I am also a person which means I am free to deny you anything." Toby, fully encouraged by his own anger, did the uncharacteristic action of regaining the ground he had given up to her. He stepped forward, peering up at her with narrowed eyes through his spectacles. "I shall say this for a third and final time; No. Now, you may either help me secure the needs of our survival, or you can be free of me sooner than our return to mainland."

He stepped around her, the fabric of his coat barely brushing that of her garments, and called over his shoulder after a few steps, "The choice is yours!"

Lips Sink Ships | Anatoby (Valentine's Day)

[toby-determined]

@ugly-anastasia

This assessment of Toby was true, everything he knew about the world he had read in a book or heard in a lecture he'd attended. He was usually hard pressed to leave the confines of his own residency, so any information he had been obtained through a primary source rather than an experience of his own. He had never anticipated all the journals and field books from those that had explored the wilderness that he had read to have had any application value, he had just been curious!

But he supposed it was a good thing he had read them. Otherwise he would haven't a clue as to what to do. He still didn't really, but he had more of an idea than he would have otherwise.

Toby let out a sharp bark of laughter at her and then turned his head, trying to make out if there was any bleeding coming from her scalp. Her red hair was wet, but he couldn't make out anything else. So, he could rule out head trauma– which meant this was just her character.

How unfortunate.

"No I will not," he snorted. Toby knew he was not conducting himself in the ways of a gentleman but, as he had observed before, did all of that really matter when they were facing certain death? Finally having reached the tree line, and ever so thankful to not be stepping in the ever shifting sand anymore, Toby continued forward.

Lips Sink Ships | Anatoby (Valentine's Day)