Post by Damien Sweets on Feb 3, 2015 15:43:56 GMT -5
Damien sat behind his desk at the library listening to yet another complaint about someone taking up space in the animal section of the library. This was the third complaint in ten minutes, and Damien decided that he would have to go check it out. Reassuring the lady that he check it out he gave her a smile before heading towards the source of the complaints. Spotting the source of the complaints Damien chuckled slightly. A young man was sitting in the middle of a passage between to shelves with various books spread around him. Clearing his throat he walked closer to the young man. "Excuse me, you seem to be blocking the hallway. There are plenty of tables were you can sit instead, I can't imagine the floor to be that comfortable." He said in an amused tone.
Gesturing in the direction of the tables set aside for reading in the library, Damien came to a halt. "My name is Damien Sweets, I work as a librarian here." Damien introduced himself, and stuck out his hand for a handshake. He couldn't remember talking with the man in front of him before, though he had seen him around town. It was always nice to talk to new people, and one who sat reading in the middle of a library with several books spread around them was bound to be interesting.
"I'd be happy to help carry some of the books you are reading to one of the tables." Damien offered with a smile, before inquiring: "May I ask what it is you are so interested in?" Whatever the young man was reading, he had to be interested in it with as many books that he had picked out.
Taking up a whole aisle of the library probably wasn't a good idea, but Tobias didn't want to come back and forth gabbing a few books and then returning them only to grab a few more. In his mind, it made perfect sense to take up the aisle, despite several people complaining to him about not being able to pass through to which he replied "It sucks to be you" which probably wasn't the best way to speak to other people, but he could careless as he was too focused on his reading. It was interesting to see how many of these books were correct when it came to dog behavior after all, he should know it like the back of his hand from his two shifting animals, the Saarloos Wolfhound and Czechoslovakian Wolfdog. Giving out a faint yawn, his head turned when he heard someone speaking to him and was about to snap his normal come back when he noticed the outfit... By the looks, he had to be one of the librarians that worked here.
"Yeah, fine... I was going to move anyway." The male muttered out after all, he didn't want to get kicked out of the library just yet, as he had a couple more books that he wanted to get to. Picking up a few of the scattered books, and a gesture was made towards the table, but what surprised him was that the other introduced himself. Not only that, but he stuck out a hand towards him for what he assumed for a handshake.
“No really? I could have sworn you worked over at my department in Petsmarts… Darn.” Pure sarcasm, and a small glare was given as he settled the books he had gathered down in a pile. Gazing at the other, he avoided the handshake and went back to gathering the few books left as he spoke up.
“Yeah, I can tell… I’m sure anyone could tell. I’m guessing you want my name now, and it’s Tobias Thoreau, but I go by Toby.” Once having the books stacked, he divided up the piles seeing as he couldn’t carry one huge pile over to one of the tables before his gaze snapped over to Damien once more at the offer of help.
“Knock yourself out.” Picking himself up from the floor he took one of the stacks, and was about to head over when an actual question was asked.
“Dog behavior.” Was the simple reply, and he headed over towards one of the closet tables before settling the stack down and heading back over for another as there were only three stacks.
Post by Damien Sweets on Feb 4, 2015 6:11:43 GMT -5
Damien awkwardly lowered his hand when the young man made no move to shake it. As the man went about gathering up his books, Damien stood there waiting before what the young man said registered. Letting out a short laugh Damien gave him a wry smile. "Yes, I can see why you would assume that. I do have the look of a Petsmart employee." Damien joked with a touch of sarcasm. "Well nice to meet you Toby, and I don't know about that. There was this old lady once that gave me a scolding for skipping school. She didn't believe me when I told her I had finished school and was working as a librarian here." He laughed, smiling sheepishly at Toby. He could almost feel the pain from where she had grabbed his ear.
He hummed thoughtfully at Toby's reply, before picking up one of the book stacks he followed Toby to the table carefully making sure not to lose any of the books. The book stack was a bit tall, and he tried to balance it with the help of his chin. He managed to set the stack down without tripping over his feet, gave a self satisfied grin. He turned towards Toby at the question. "I'm a curious person by nature. I like to get to know people, plus being a librarian can get boring unless one finds way to amuse themselves." He explained cheerfully, leaning his back on the table for a few seconds before following Toby again. Taking half of the last book stack from Toby's arms he went back to the table and set them down.
Leaning on against the table Damien absentmindedly rubbed his stomach. He was starting to get hungry, and he should probably start paying more attention to the obituary in the paper. Hopefully he'd get access to a fresh corpse soon. Distracting himself he looked over at Toby again. "I'm going to assume you're working at the Petsmarts then. Do you have any dogs of your own?" He asked as he leaned over to look closer at the assortment of books. Dogs were nice animals, though he had always preferred cats. His family had had a small terrier when he had been young, a noisy little thing that had followed his sister everywhere. Ignoring the pang of sadness at the thought of his sister, he gave a sheepish smile. "I prefer cats to dogs myself, but dogs are loyal and intelligent creatures."
"Well at least you don't have murders coming in. I much rather deal with boredom, then be asked stupid questions." Toby spoke up as he watched the other bring in a stack, but his statement held a truth to it. Most people did whatever they pleased when it came to certain animals and never bothered to do research as they assumed caring for an animal was like caring for a rock. You just kept it outside to look pretty until it died and they questioned why it died when the reasons were in plain site. At grabbing a second stack of books, Damien swooped in and took about half before carrying them off to the table as well. Rolling his eyes lightly, he followed after settling the stack down as well.
"I do, and no, not yet... As much as I would love to get one, I have plans to attend college and so right now isn't a good time." As much as he loved dogs, owning one right now wasn't in the plans as he wanted to give college a try at least. Petsmarts didn't pay well as he liked it too, and so getting into a different career seemed to be the best choice. Snapping his gaze, he gave a light shrug at the cat comment.
"Cats are alright... I'm more of a dog person. Even so, I've been told that I act much like a Saarloos Wolfhound..." The last part was more for his head, then spoken out loud after all, Salem was known not only for the Supernatural, but the hunters who lurked in the shadows. As much as he hated them, he knew going up against them was a wrong move in every way. "By a quiz." He quickly added that part in after a moment of silence.
Post by Damien Sweets on Feb 4, 2015 10:49:48 GMT -5
Damien blinked at Toby when he said that. Murderers? Was he referring to convicted criminals, or careless pet owners? "Murderers?" He questioned shooting Toby a confused look. "I wasn't aware there had been any murders around here recently..." He hoped not at least, he'd rather not get in trouble with the police again. Knowing his track record he'd probably become a suspect.
Nodding thoughtfully, he gave Toby a bright grin. "That is a great idea. College is a lot of fun, I'm sure you'll enjoy it." He said before a wistful smile spread across his face. It was a long time since he had been to college, not since before his death and subsequent resurrection. Those two years had been great, unfortunately that time had been cut short way too early. The though of going to an art college had crossed his mind a few times after he became a ghoul, but every time he thought of it the memories of that night would spring forward. Shuddering slightly his smile slipped of his face. "You've gotta be careful though. It can be rough at times too."
"All animals are nice actually. I love to paint, and I've painted some portraits of animals through the years." He added before laughing slightly. "I've never taken such a personality quiz, but I guess there's something for everything. I feel a bit old sometimes, I've only recently gotten myself a facebook page, but other than that the internet still mystifies me at times" He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment at the admission. He often tried to pass that off as a personality trait, but it was a problem sometimes that he didn't always manage to master these new technological devises. He hadn't owned a computer before moving to Salem, and so it had been a challenge to learn all of these new things when he had decided to get one. At least now it didn't seem like he had crawled out from under a rock or something.
The shocked expression on the others face made the other shake his head seeing as he didn't explain the full details. "Pet owners... You have people who do not research, and end up killing them with the wrong food or giving them a 'friend' who ends up killing them. Ignorance kills."
"If it's anything like high school I doubt it..." The part was muttered out as he leafed through one of the many books that sat on top of a pile. High school had been rough, but most of the time the blame was on him. He didn't trust people, and people hated him due to his rude tenancies, but it was just how he was. Of course, he placed the blame back on his parents who didn't allow him to interact with kids his own age until Middle School. By then, it was too late as he already loathed pretty much everything and he was far too late to be saved from his own destructive personality. The only thing that could be done was to watch the show and see if he would change...
"Arts cool." He admitted after all, his left arm held a tattoo sleeve of one of his favorite video games; Call of Duty. He played the zombie parts a lot, and ended up doing one of the zombies in a space suit out in space. Yet, the next statement made him give an odd look before a light laugh reached his throat.
"Dude, what century are you stuck in and how do I get you out?"
Post by Damien Sweets on Feb 4, 2015 12:05:22 GMT -5
Damien almost let out a sigh of relief, when it became clear Toby had been talking about ignorant pet owners, but figured that would be rude. Though he did have a point, a lot of animals died due to neglect because their owners were ignorant. "I can see your point. But I guess you'll just have to help people when they come to buy a pet. Give them advice, and suggest books about their kind of animal." He spoke as he swept his eyes over the many books at the table. Though of course, he thought, willful ignorance is one of the worst things that exist.
He shrugged as he heard the muttered comment. "I'm sure it'll be different." He commented uncertainly, he didn't really remember much from his high school years. He could remember loving art class, hanging out with friends whose names and faces he has forgotten. Sometimes he wished he could go back home, and talk to his friends and family from when he was alive, but he knew that wouldn't end well. "Do you have a specific college in mind?" He asked giving Toby an encouraging smile. From what he could gather from his comment, his high school years had most likely not been happy ones. Some change would probably be good for the young man.
Damien gave a delighted grin at the admittance, and started talking while gesticulating with his hands. "Art is very cool." He agreed cheerfully. "I'm a fan of painting with oil paint myself. I'm still not sure if I want to become a famous artist though. The anonymity of being unknown is kind of safe, though when I was young I had big dreams of becoming world famous for my paintings." Damien continued, before noticing his slip up. "When I was young" probably sounded strange coming from a man seemingly in his twenties. Hopefully Toby wouldn't notice the slip up. He really didn't want to attract any kind of negative attention to himself.
Rubbing his head sheepishly Damien chuckled lightly. "Ah well, I didn't own a computer before moving here, so I didn't start learning how to use one until recently." He admitted before grimacing at the memory of first learning to use the computer. That had been a disaster and a half. "I suppose I've never really had a reason to throw myself completely into it. Plus I prefer going for walks in the National Park here."
“If they listen… Trust me, I do my best, but most of the time it falls on deaf ears. I tell them three hamsters are going to need a large cage, they get a cage made for one because it cheap or they feel they know better.” A light head shake was given after all, it felt like the information he gave out when people asked fell on deaf ears as they only heard what they wanted to hear. It was sad knowing an animal was going with someone who wouldn’t listen to words of advice. Luckily, the other caught his mutter and gave a bit of reassuring that it would. Perhaps it wouldn’t, he did run into that strange blind girl who seemed to take a liking to him for some reason.
“Probably the local college here…. I heard there are a couple of courses I might like to take advantage of.” Of course, all the courses were only two years, but they dealt with the behaviors, patterns, and everything in between about dogs which was already declared his favorite subject by the mass amount of books that sat on the table.
“I doodle here and there just for the fun of it. Even so, I think I missed that part of my childhood because as far I remember I was busy pretending to be a dog.” The statement spoken was true in a sense, most shifters didn’t get control of their powers until they were older, and so most of Toby’s toddler stage was spent as a Saarloos Wolfhound. Which also meant leaving the house for the park was hard, and he mainly stood inside most of the time.
“Still, not knowing how to work a computer is like not knowing how to write a letter properly. Just something everyone should know.” A smirk grew on his face after all, how could one not know how to work a computer. “I like the national park, but I’m not a fan of you know the hunters… They aren't there all the time, but it kind of sucks running into them as they can be complete assholes.” As much as Toby loved exploring in his true form, it was hard to run free knowing a Hunter’s bar was only a couple miles away.
Nodding as Toby spoke he conceded that he had a point, not everyone was able to accept and use advice. "The local is good. I've heard nice things about it." He remarked before asking: "What kind of courses are you thinking of taking?" There were after all offered several different subject courses, and it was always interesting to hear of people's future plans. If he had to make an educated guess, he would say that Toby would most probably study something pertaining animals.
Chuckling lightly Damien shot Toby a grin, before scratching his cheek. "Haha, yeah childhood games are always fun. I always pretended to be an adventurer, exploring new places each day" He chuckled before a wistful sigh escaped him. Those days had been fun, filled with innocent joy and mischief.
At Toby's comment Damien blushed a bit before he started fiddling with his hands. "Yes, well as I said. I've never really had a reason to learn about it in depth before. Though I suppose I'll have to learn more now, only so you can'r ridicule me about it any more" He joked, but Toby did have a point. It was highly unusual not to be skilled with computer now, especially if you are a young adult. Though he was becoming more skilled at using his computer, as more and more things required a computer to be able to do it.
Hunters? Damien thought. Could he mean hunters that hunt the supernatural? Damien didn't think there was any ordinary hunters in Salem, so most likely he was referring to hunters of the supernatural. The chance of Toby being a supernatural creature, suddenly seemed quite big. Damien though subtly of dropping a hint, but wasn't quite sure how. Maybe he could try and drop a small one. "Yes, I've had a few unfortunate brush ins with similar types. I heard the Salt and Silver Bar is a popular hangout for hunters"
"I'll probably do a zoology major, for about two years, but focus more towards the behavior side. After that, I might transfer over to the ASPCA or something to work on the behaviors of their dogs. So basically trainning." He explained after all, he wasn't sure if dog training was his only calling as it would be neat to leave Salem to go to Yellow Stone to research the wolves over there or even somewhere in Montana would be nice as well. Chuckling, he shook his head at Damien's childhood adventures.
"I would have killed to leave the house as a kid... My mom was kind of a worry wart when it came to me." The words of mom came out a bit on the bitter side, as much as kids loved their parents, Toby wasn't one. He always felt himself blaming them more and more each day for a different problem that arose in his life after all, not everything was his fault.
"Even if you do, I'm sure I can find something else to ridicule you about like have you played the xbox 360?" Another grin came on his face hoping the other hadn't played the video game console before. After all, if he hadn't touched a computer until he arrived at Salem, then he probably hadn't touched a game console either.
The mention of hunters were common when trying to figure out if another was a Supernatural. The comment before hand was a slip up, as he didn't feel Damien was a supernatural being as he tended to have a third sense only to be proven wrong. The mention of the bar had a scowled form on his face before it vanished. "Of course, hunters like to get drink... I don't go near that place. Heck, I wouldn't even want to be on the same road it was on, but sadly thats the only good route to take when trying to get to the national park." It was obvious the other was a supernatural being just by his statement alone.
Damien nodded along as he listened to Toby explain what courses he was thinking of taking. The young man was obviously passionate about animals, so his choice of major didn't surprise Damien. "Sounds interesting. I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun" he smiled as he spoke. The ASPCA did good work, and Damien admired the people who volunteered to work there.
"I guess it differs from family to family. My mother meant that if we never got hurt form doing stupid things, we wouldn't learn. Not that she didn't tell us to be safe, but she did let us have a lot of freedom." He said chuckling at some of the things he remembered doing. He and his siblings hadn't exactly been the perfect children. Running around getting into mischief, though he had calmed down somewhat when he discovered art. "But your mother was just worried for you I guess. Though I can certainly see it being suffocating not to be allowed to leave the house. It doesn't allow for much of a childhood."
Damien blinked owlishly at Toby. The word xbox 360 didn't mean much to him, he only got the feeling that he had heard the word somewhere before but he couldn't place it. But from Toby's wording he could guess that it was some thing involving games of sort. "I haven't played on one no. In fact I'm not too sure what it is" he chuckled sheepishly. He really needed to get up to date on all the new technological devices. He winced mentally, that was going to take forever. Technology seemed to be evolving at an almost abnormally fast rate.
Damien sighed and could feel a scowl form on his face. There had been an incident a few years back where he had been running from a hunter after he had been feeding in the graveyard. Trying to explain he never hurt anyone hadn't seemed to help, but he had learned afterwards that some hunters killed the supernatural with extreme prejudice. It seemed not every hunter just killed those who harmed humans. Though admittedly they weren't all bad, he had met a hunter whom had a strict moral code and only killed evil creatures. They had hit it of, and had spent some time together before the hunter had continued his trek across the country. "Yes, I can understand that. It's difficult to judge which hunter follow a certain code, and which are complete psychopaths"
"Yeah." Toby agreed upon the statement of the courses being fun, and it probably helped out that he enjoyed the behaviors of animals or more towards dog so he felt the course would be a breeze in a way. A smile was given to him, before Damien started to explain his family situation. Unlike his own, if he got hurt it meant a trip to the doctors or emergency room. Of course everyone else would see the mother's reason after all, her son suffered from a rare condition, but he felt she went a little over board at times when it came to becoming injured.
"I didn't experience my first taste of freedom until Middle school. I had been home school during elementary school." Toby explained with a light shrug before going on as he heard the words his mother was worried for him. "Overly worried more like it."
Yet, he couldn't help, but noticed the odd look Damien seemed to form at the words of an xbox 360 which seemed to entertain Toby after all, who hadn't heard of the gaming console as it had been out for a good couple of years by now. Heck, the newest version came out just about two years ago, and so the 360 was now considered old news in a lot of gamers eyes. "Okay, I think you somehow managed to time travel. Don't worry I will take you back to your timeline." A light tease came from him as he found it quite hilarious someone didn't know too much about modern technology. Some may even say it was amusing to see someone stuck under a rock for his whole life until this point.
"More like ninety-nine percent follow the code of kill everything in sight." A small huff came after the statement. Although he hadn't run across any hunters due to shifters being a bit more difficult to tell, but he had heard stories from the locals or those who have been around longer like the vampires and mermaids who had so many tales to tell. It didn't matter if the Supernatural was trying to live a good life or follow a moral code like other mortals, the only thing that mattered to the hunter was that they were dead. Shifting his gaze as if he could spot a hunter from a normal mortal, his tone grew low just in case. "If I had a choice, I would rewrite all stories and make the thing that goes bump in the night one of them."
"Until middle school?" Damien asked, feeling his eyebrows rise in surprise. That certainly certainly crossed the border from reasonably worried to over protective. "Were you sick a lot as a child?" he inquired before grimacing in embarrassment. "Ah sorry, that's probably private." He didn't want to be rude and pry into someone else's business.
Burying his head in his hands Damien let out an embarrassed groan. Living a mostly minimalistic life before Salem was coming back to bite him in the ass. Plus those 5 years in jail for grave robbing had also let him miss out on much. He still wasn't sure how the police had figured out he would be there in that graveyard. "Well, then you'll have to return me to the late 60s, early 70s." He huffed in slight amusement. "And I'm not completely clueless, I do know some things." Like the basics of operating a computer, and he was really getting the hang of using the internet now.
Scratching his head thoughtfully he considered Toby's statement. Maybe he had had some bad encounters with hunters, though he could understand the bitter attitude. Trying to kill you and your species doesn't exactly inspire good willed thoughts. "I guess so. Though I do have hope that if hunters can just get to know those of us who are peaceful then maybe they will change their attitudes" He admitted, a foolish hope maybe, but if good supernatural creatures and hunters could work together they could minimize the damage of those who sought to harm others. Maybe then he wouldn't have been bitten, and turned into what he was today.
Damien furrowed his brows in confusion at Toby's remark. "What do you mean by that?" He asked, confusion coloring his voice. Did he mean to hide the existence of supernatural completely, by erasing all clues of their existence?
"No, it was the whole fear of me becoming sick. I suffer from Congenital Analgesia, it's a rare condition, but basically I can't feel pain. If I get sick or hurt, then no one knows basically because I can't say what is wrong." Toby explained, of course the condition was rare, but those who suffered from it hardly lived long. It was basically a death sentence as if he got sick from something that had the possibility of killing him without showing signs other than server pain well he would never know and end up dying from the disease. Of course knowing this information gave him the worse feeling in the world, and was the reason that he feared dying as he knew he wouldn't die naturally, but instead, from a simple disease that could have been cured. Sharing the information didn't faze him as he was used to it by now, but it was the whole act of sorry people gave him or people claiming that he had an advantage to the world that bothered him. He wasn't born with an advantage, but a disadvantage that could possibly be the reason he died early, and people who said sorry never had anything to apologize for after all, it wasn't like they magically made him become the way he was.
"Shss, I'll find the time machine. Have faith in the guy who can peeve off at least fifteen people within ten minutes." He admitted after all, he was pretty sure most of the people he peeved off didn't complain to the desk or maybe that had? Who knows, all he knew was that he had a lot of people complain at him before storming off when he refused to move. Yet, he frowned at the hunter statement as he shook his head a bit.
"Trust me, we would probably change a few minds, but the rest would stick to their ways... It's like trying to change people's mind about religion. Once they are dedicated to it, then there is no stopping them." He explained after all, that's how he imagined it to be like as once again he had never faced a hunter head on. The only thing he had were the stories told between species and even the stories that he mention about the things that go bump in the night that mortals knew about, but believe to be fairy tales.
"Most stories portray the Supernatural as being the evil villain in the story when everyone knows that is not the case..." A quick glance around was made once again after all, one could never be too careful when in the town of Salem. "Some are good, and some are bad... Like mortals, choices are made. Stories should reflect upon that. Hunters on the other hand, kill innocents every day without a care yet, not a single story is known to mortal kind about their deeds."
Damien grimaced in sympathy, it sounded like a pretty dangerous condition. Pain was after all one of the body's warning signals that something was wrong. "That's really unfortunate." He said, giving Toby a sympathetic smile. Damien didn't know what else to say, after it wasn't really his business. Toby would probably not appreciate any pity either, and so he stayed quiet. He understood Toby's mom's worries much clearer now, children hurt themselves all the time and if Toby couldn't feel pain that would make it even more dangerous for him.
The heavy mood lifted as Toby joked, and Damien found himself chuckling. "Yes, there certainly was a lot of people that came complaining to me about some rude man blocking the hallway. He laughed, and shook his head fondly at Toby. "I was expecting some rude delinquent, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised to discover the opposite." He really had been expecting to have to tell off some asshole who thought it was funny to block the hallway, instead he had met Toby. A bit rude at first perhaps, but all in all quite pleasant to converse with.
He gave a sad smile at Toby's next words, who seemed quite certain about what he was saying. He's probably had some bad encounters with hunters, Damien mused quietly. "Well, let's agree to disagree shall we? He proposed, before he resumed talking quietly. "I met a hunter some years ago, a good man. Not without his flaws of course, but you could tell he meant well. He tried to attack me at first, but due to some circumstances we both got into a bit of trouble. We then helped each other out, and became sort of friends afterwards. If most hunters are like him, then I think we can all reach an understanding." A soft smiled graced Damiens lips as he told the story, last time he hear Mike, the hunter, was in Washington tracking a Vampire nest that had been leaving a trail of bodies after them.
"I can see your point. Though popular media is changing that now isn't it? I actually managed to drag myself to the theater to see Maleficent a couple of years ago, as I've always been fond of fairy tails. The modern adaption was quite stunning, and the portrayal of Maleficent was refreshing." He pointed out to Toby, he had especially noticed this when it came to books. Supernatural creatures seemed to be a popular theme, the current fad you could say. Though many of them were grossly incorrect, and probably insulted some of the creatures in question.
Welcome to the scenic town of Salem, Michigan where our story takes the stage. It’s the year 2016, a date not quite far for us to be unable to imagine. Whispers of rebellion are starting to shake the supernatural world, hunters are loading their pistols while the humans are nearly wetting themselves in fear. Each side has their finger on the trigger, itchy and waiting for the other to strike to set off this war. Which side will you choose or how will your story unfold? That, my friend, is left to the wiles of time unless you think you can play your cards right…. But only in the end will they truly be revealed.
Another Supernatural Roleplay was created by Maidinmisery. Content is copyrighted to Another Supernatual Roleplay unless otherwise stated. The skin is created by Wolf of Gangnam Style. The board and thread remodel is by Kagney.
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