Music by the Picnic tables (7-15-11) [Open to all]

With the sun shinging in the sky above, Tobias, having just finished his lunch, decided to take in the grounds of Meinior properly, the sheer size of the grounds surrounding the mansion causing him to lose himself in thought for a second as he crossed the threshold of the green house door and onto the grounds. Shaking his head, he soon began to make his way around the grounds, stopping by at the pool and the lake as well as looking out at the large expanse of grassland that the mansion seemed to have.

Before long, Tobias soon found himself at the picnic tables, taking a seat on one of the tables upon reaching them. Dusting himself off, Tobias looked around to see if there were any other students around. Lying back on the table upon seeing no other students, he reached into his pockets and began to feel around, as if to suggest he was looking for something. After a few seconds, a smile appeared on his face as he found what he was looking for, the item soon being revealed to be his harmonica.

After a few seconds and some practice notes, Tobias raised the harmonica to his mouth and began to play, the cheery and upbeat music it produced carrying out on the breeze as he lost himself in the music, the serenity of the location causing him to play without a care. While playing, he soon found himself losing focus on his surroundings, unaware of any students that may also be taking the chance to explore the grounds of Meinior.

Aemilio, a young indivudual who might be considered clinically bored, passed by. Holding onto some discretion he sat down on the picnic table Tobias was at, silently, and looked at him play with a tilted head and the expression of one who was looking at something new to him.

Continuing to play, Tobias initially didn't notice Aemilio taking a seat at the picnic table, his eyes locked skywards as he continued to play his upbeat song. It wasn't till he looked to the side however that he noticed Aemilio looking at him, Tobias' eyes widening as he let out a short, sharp note from the harmonica in surprise, the sudden appearance of Aemilio causing him to jolt up in surprise from his sitting position as he locked his gaze on Aemilio.

"Goddam, I really need to stop being so jumpy" he said with a chuckle as he looked away for a second, trying to regain his composure as he did so. Shaking his head and shifting his gaze back to Aemilio, Tobias shifted in his spot to face him properly. "Sorry about that man, hope I wasn't being a pest, I just have a tendancy to lose myself when I play" he said with a smile as he looked to him. "Aemilio, right ?" he soon added as he looked to him.

"My fault entirely," Aemilio replied with a smile, "I just didn't want to interrupt your playing; I quite enjoyed it."
Despite being a little weirded out by Tobias' jumpy behaviour he maintained a nice and pleasant attitude; "I just hope I didn't disturb a masterpiece in the making? And yeah, I'm Aemilio." He looked puzzled for a moment and gave Tobias a questioning look, as if not wanting to have to speak out he didn't remember his name.

Finally regaining his composure, Tobias smiled as he listened to Aemilio speak. " Nah don't worry about it, should have been more mindful of my surroundings. Thank you, by the way, about the music" he said with a chuckle as he kept his eyes on Aemilio. Breaking his gaze for a second, Tobias lifted his legs onto the table, crossing them as he did so before looking to Aemilio. Upon hearing the word masterpiece, Tobias' gaze quickly shifted back to Aemilio, a laugh soon escaping Toby's lips as he ran a hand through his hair.

"I don't think I'd go that far personally, but thank you nonetheless, always nice to hear someone enjoys my music" he said with a smile as he looked to Aemilio again. Upon seeing him struggle to remember him, Toby smiled as he extended his hand to him. "Tobias, or Toby if you prefer, we met, albeit breifly, in Azar's room when she moved in to the building" he said with a smile as he waited to see if Aemilio would shake his hand.

Aemilio shook his hand and smiled, nodding his head as a thanks for helping him remember Tobias' name; "yes I remember us meeting, just not your name. Nothing personal, I'm just rubish with names." That wasn't entirely true, but he felt no need to explain all his attention was stolen away from their brief meeting because Azar was in the way.

"So, how do you like it here so far?" Aemilio asked, "now that it's not raining and everything?"

Shaking his hand, Tobias also nodded in a friendly manner before lowering his own hand, putting both of them on his harmonica as he continued to look to Aemilio. Twirling the harmonica in his hands every few seconds and hearing him talk about how he wasn't that good with remembering names, Tobias chuckled. "Happens to the best of us man" he said with a smile. "But yes, I'm really enjoying it here so far, so nice and secluded, reminds me of home in a way" he added as he looked around at the grounds surrounding them. "What about yourself ?" he asked soon after as he looked back to Aemilio.

"Where are you from then?" Aemilio asked mildly curious, his eyes a little distracted by the continuously moving harmonica. He managed to focus his eyes on Tobias' when a question was redirected to him though, and replied: "what you said, it's nice. And everyone around here seems really nice," he added with his mind on certain people more than others. Then he shrugged a little less happily; "the secluded part is nice - I guess - but a little boring too... I'm from a pretty small place myself but... well I suppose things will be more lively here when all the students get back from vacation."

"But..." he said with a shrug, "I might miss the peace later on."

"I'm from a province of Canada called Nova Scotia, beautiful place, very quiet. What about yourself man ?" he said with a smile as he finally stopped twirling the harmonica, resting it in his hands as he did so. Hearing him express his feelings about the grounds, Tobias nodded as he continued to listen. "Well hey man, I guess it could be worse and yeah the people seem nice enough, at least from experience." he said as he looked back to the building, looking back to Aemilio upon hearing the less than happy tone in his voice.

"Count yourself lucky though man, I live on a lake that's....how can I put this......out of the way of civilisation" he said with a chuckle as he locked his gaze on him again. Upon hearing him say he'd probably miss the peace later on, Tobias chuckled again. " Yeah, places like this tend to have that effect..." he said. Deciding to change the subject, Tobias looked to him. "So man, what are you here to study ?" he asked Aemilio, a look of interest on his face as he did so.

His attention span shortening with every passing second after the mentioning of Canada, Aemilio put his brain in stand-by. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't that he is discriminative to people of certain originins, he's just a snobistic bastard.

“Ah, well I’m from Spain. The place I live isn’t too big but the tourism is still madening sometimes during the summer...” Everything about his way of saying that showed he didn’t like tourists, but his mood seemed to cheer up again immediatly after dropping the topic.
“Jurisprudene,” he replied to the study-question, “or... law, to put it easy. What about you?”

"O by the way," he couldn't resist but asking with a slight grin, "is the place you live at least a bit of fun then? Or are we really talking about the middle of nowhere?"

Unlike Aemilio, Tobias' attention span didn't falter as he listened to Aemilio talk about his home town in Spain, nodding as he listened to him talk about his dislike of tourists. Seeing the shift in his tone upon the changing of the subject, Tobias chuckled as he continued to listen on, nodding upon hearing Aemilio tell him that he was here to study law. " Wow, nice" he said with a smile as he placed on hand on the picnic table, leaning back as he did so.

Upon hearing Aemilio inquire into what he was there to study. "Well as geeky as it sounds, I'm here to study history, American and Canadian studies being my major....exciting stuff, I know" he said with a smile as he kept his gaze locked on Aemilio, a hint of sarcasm apparent in his voice upon saying the last part. Seeing his sly grin and hearing his question, Tobias raised an eyebrow, a chuckle escaping his lips as he heard Aemilio's question about his home.

"Well, given the closest town to my place is a port town, I think you can figure out the answer yourself" he said with a chuckle as he leaned forward. "Nah I kid, Dartmouth is a nice place, very nice even, it's just my house is a bit out of the way" he said with a smile. " My family and I live by a lake in Dartmouth called Lake Micmac, which is a few hours drive from the nearest town" he said with a smile as he looked to Aemilio, awaiting his response.

"Well," Aemilio replied slowly, repressing a small grin as Tobias spoke out what he himself was thinking about the study of American and Canadian history, "I can only assume it has it's own charm..? Otherwise you woulnd't be following that course right?"

He still couldn't keep his attention with Tobias' story of his home town and one who would know him could read this in the look in his eyes... others might only notice if they were extremely observant.
"So what made you decide to come here?" he asked, trying to get the topic going from Canada without changing the topic to rapidly.

((my most humble apologies my friend, Aemilio Valdez is a bastard =P))

"I suppose, very diverse at least " Tobias said with a chuckle as he scratched his head again, looking to the side before back to Aemilio. It wasn't till Tobias looked back however that he noticed something off about Aemilio, not through sight, but through sound. Using his powers for the first time in what seemed like ages, Tobias was able to pick up on Aemilio's disinterest, the pattern of his breathing suggesting that he wasn't exactly enthralled with Toby's story. Upon seeing him look back to him, Tobias shook his head and proceeded to answer his question.

"What can I say man, it looked nice on the website, plus the history program they have at the university is better than most others I saw" he said as he kept his eyes locked on Aemilio. " Are you ok man ? Your mind seems to be somewhere else at the moment" he asked, uncrossing his legs and letting them hang off the side of the table again. "Unless it's my story, in which case I can only apologise. Sadly my story isn't as thrilling as some of the other folks currently staying here" he said with a chuckle, awaiting Aemilio's response upon finishing.

Though most people would feel embaressed when being called out like this, being caught being openly bored at someone's story, to Aemilio this was merely a reason to wake up; if Tobias was clever, observant (or whatever) enough to notice something like this he might be far more interesting that his manner of story telling may have suggested...!

"Not at all," Aemilio replied to Tobias' spot-on remark on the cause of Aemilio's less than interested state of mind. The innocence with which he spoke, however, gave away easily that Aemilio very much thought the story of Canada was to blame.
In some situations he would keep opinions like that to himself but the situation had changed. Now Tobias proved not to be oblivious to Aemilio's thoughts - even when he tried not to let them show - Aemilio found the young man interesting. And much like a (seriously mentally ill) child with a new toy, he was now going to push some bottons, seeing how far this guy could bend before breaking. Of course he'd go easy at first... Just some subtle poking here and there... trying to get something of a rise out of Tobias.

"I'm sorry," Aemilio fianlly said, his apology obviously hollow as to be told by the chuckle that escaped him upon saying it, "but indeed, your story was a little... dry. I hope you don't mind me being honest?" he asked then, this being an extremely discreet way of saying what he really thought; he didn't really expect this to affect Tobias much, but he decided to start easy.

Picking up on his shift in tone, Tobias rose an eyebrow as he kept his gaze locked on Aemilio, unsure as to what he was going to do next as he kept a smile on his face. Listening to him speak on, Tobias crossed his arms, as if to suggest he was listening with intent now to what Aemilio had to say, unaware of what he was hoping to do next. Upon hearing him apologise, Tobias, his powers once again coming into play, picked up on the insincerity in his voice as he continued on, Toby tilting his head to the side as he waited for Aemilio to finish.

Upon hearing him stop talking, Tobias chuckled, looking to the side before back to him. " Like I said man, sorry. Sadly, given some of the stories that surround the folks here, as well as the land itself, my history tends to pale in comparison" he said with a chuckle as he continued to look to Aemilio. "Ah no need to apologise about that, I prefer when people are open, better than being indirect with what they want to say" he soon added, waiting for how the conversation would advance from there, a smile on his face as he waited.

Though he wouldn't show it - starting now paying extra attention to keeping his interior and his exterior experiences entirely sepperated - Aemilio was a fair bit disappointed Tobias stayed so calm. And even more, he seemed to forgive him with no trouble whatsoever. Was he going to be a doormat like Axel*?

"What kind of intersting background stories have I missed then?" Aemilio finally asked Tobias, when the young man once again brought up that his stories weren't interesting compared to those of others. Did Azar reveal her true form to others yet? Or had Axel possibly betrayed his own secret? These were all things that went through his head at Tobias' second mentioning at the other tennant's anekdotes.

When it went on to honesty Aemilio couldn't do much more than grin; openness... what a joke!
"So you don't mind...?" he asked, testing the waters with a little less care, a small sparkly in his eyes, "if people speak their mind?"

*I wish to point out Axel isn't a doormat, that's just Aemilio's pet name for him =P

Sensing the disappointment in Aemilio at the fact he couldn't get a rise out of Tobias, the sound of his heartbeat being the thing that gave him away this time, Toby smiled as kept his gaze locked on Aemilio, realising now that he was probably trying to get him to lose his temper. Listening with intent once again to Aemilio as he inquired about the interesting back stories he heard, he scratched his head again, as if to suggest he was thinking about it. After a few seconds, he looked back to Aemilio. " Well for starters, there's this girl called Keo. I don't know if you've met her but man, talk about a colourful back story." he said with a chuckle as he continued on.

"I won't say anymore though, rather not go discussing peoples histories without them being here." he soon added as he continued to think. "There's also this dude Creed who you may or may not know. Nice guy, very friendly. The stories he's told me though....wow" he said with another chuckle, not letting on that he didn't exactly know much about Creed's history and was only assuming at this point. Upon seeing the glee that Aemilio seemed to get from hearing Tobias mention that he didn't mind people being forward, he rose an eyebrow, his smile still persisting as he kept his gaze locked on Aemilio.

"No...." he said, a moment of silence lingering before he spoke again. "...I don't.... Why, is there something you want to get off your chest ?" he asked with a smile as he continued to look to Aemilio. Having realised at this point that Aemilio was in fact trying to get a rise out of Toby, he decided to see how far he would be willing to go, unaware that Toby had his own way of dealing with problems should they happen to arise.

At this stage Aemilio did nothing much but listen, already knowing about Keoki but not missing an instant of Creed. Despite Tobias' lack of detail on this person- and maybe because of it - Aemilio was awfully curious about him already.
"Do you really not like discussing people when they're not around?" he asked quite forwardly, though his composure seemed careless, before he turned his head an confronted Tobias with a challanging and mocking; "or do you just not like the idea of them finding out you did so?"

He felt Tobias question up in the air, not to recieve a reply until he'd gotten one that satisfied him.

Tilting his head to the side upon hearing Aemilio inquire into whether he really didn't like talking about people when they weren't there or if he was just afraid of getting caught, Tobias chuckled as he looked down at his harmonica for a second, looking back to Aemilio soon after. Putting his harmonica back in his pocket, Tobias crossed his arms as he leaned forward with a smile. " Well Aemilio, I don't know about you, who knows, maybe you like to talk about folks when they aren't here and I ain't one to judge if you do" he said with a smile as he kept his gaze locked on him. "But truth be told....If I have something to say to somebody, I'd prefer to say it to their face and I'd expect nothing less from them" he said, his smile still persisting as he waited for Aemilio to respond.

"Ah," Aemilio said in a light voice. Next he put his arms over each other like Tobias, grinned and shook his head as if talking to a complete fool, an expression verbalised by a sighed: "what a fool you must be then..."

Seeing the shift in Aemilio's body language and hearing him sigh, Tobias uncrossed his arms, placing his hands on the table and leaning back as he did so. Upon hearing Aemilio proclaim him a fool, Tobias chuckled again, looking to the sky before looking back to Aemilio. "That's one way of putting it I suppose..." he said, his almost cheshire like smile persisiting as he leaned forward, his arms leaning on his legs as he did so. "Aemilio... would I be correct in the assumption that you are trying to get a rise out of me just now ?" he asked him, his gaze locked on him as he waited for Aemilio's reply, hoping to get a reason as to why he felt the need to act out in such a manner, if he was in fact trying to get a rise out of him.

"I'm doing you a favor in getting that ridiculous smile of your face," Aemilio replied, hiding that he felt a bit caught by Tobias' correct guess. But by now his intentions truly started to shift; Tobias' seemingly unbreakable spirit annoyed the hell out of him. Why didn't he have the decency of getting upset like any normal person?!
"But if you were to suspect me of something like that... why wouldn't you be at least a little upset about it?" he then asked, curiously as well as mockingly.

Hearing the partial snap in his voice and the claim that he was doing him a favour in getting him to stop smiling, Tobias continued to smile anyway, raising an eyebrow as he leaned back again, listening to Aemilio continue on as he did so. Upon hearing him ask why he wouldn't be upset if he was aware that Aemilio was trying to get a rise out of him, Toby shrugged, looking to Aemilio as he did so. "Who knows man, maybe I'm just patient, maybe if you were to hide your tics a bit better, you'd have gotten the rise that you had wished out of me, or maybe....." he said with a smile as he leaned in towards Aemilio.

"....You aren't as bad as you think you are" he said, his smile growing a bit as he began to lean back. Chuckling, Tobias swung his legs around and stood up on the picnic table, dropping off it soon after doing. As he landed, he looked to Aemilio again, taking out his harmonica again as he did so. "This was good talk Aemilio, we should do it again some time" he said with a smile and a wink as he bought the harmonica to his mouth, playing an upbeat song as he started to walk away. As he left however, he kept to a slow pace, knowing Aemilio wouldnt be one to let things lie that easily.

((can Aemilio kill him? - I'm not kidding =P ))

Despite finally getting what he was aiming for, Aemilio was less than pleased. Gritting his teeth with anger when Tobias - after insulting him in several collors - still smiled and walked away, dismissing him just like that. Feeling ridiculled and mocked - not in the least taken seriously which was something he couldn't stand - he needed a brief moment to return to a mental state where he could do anything more than just imagine Tobias' slow and painful demise.

After calming himself down with soom soozing thoughts (think something along the lines of dead puppies) he finally got up and went after Tobias. Apart from his eyes, that reflected the hatred burning inside him clearly, he came of completely at ease again.
"I'm glad you enjoyed the talk," Aemilio said as he joined Tobias by his side, "because no I don't have to feel bad about not letting it end there."
His expression softened a little as he went on: "I apologise for pushing your bottons... I just like to do that sometimes. I know that might sound mean but like you already said- I'm not that all that much of a bad guy, right?" His tone towards Tobias changed throughout those words, and at the end his entire attitude towards him was genuienly friendly.
"I would say 'I hope I haven't offended you' but I'm pretty sure of what you'd say so I'll skip that pleasantry."