tobias julian dark. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dehumanizing) wrote2014-05-04 03:43 am
dehumanizing) wrote2014-05-04 03:43 am
application.
PLAYER INFO.
✖ Handle: Kyuu
✖ Contact:
![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
_ayato;
pms to this account.
✖ Other Characters Played in Consignment: n/a
CHARACTER INFO.
✖ Character Name: Dark, Tobias
✖ Genre: Does "cosmic horror coming of age story" count as a genre, because............. (if not, "cosmic horror" works just fine.)
✖ Character Appearance:
✖ Pick A Number:
(first choice) 98
(second choice) 9
✖ World Setting:
As briefly mentioned in the "Age" section of this app, Tobias's world is one that has gone through multiple timelines. Every time one universe comes to its end, a new timeline begins. Most of these timelines tend to be similar to our world in terms of history and pop culture, but a few have some small deviations. For example, one world may be stuck in a Pangaea-like state for all of history while another may have Al Gore winning the 2000 elections. To make a very long, very technical explanation short, I'll be listing some of the most important and relevant concepts here.
✖ Character History:
Tobias was born during the 98th timeline, to a father of good socioeconomic standing and a teenage mother who had ran away from her family in order to marry the young man she loved. Although there's nothing remarkable about his early childhood, it was a happy and comfortable one. This continues up until he's 8-years-old, when his mother dies from unidentifiable causes and his father remarries in a misguided attempt to provide his son with a maternal figure. While this turn of events might not sound too downright horrible, there's also the teeny, little fact his father unwittingly married an experienced con-artist. Experienced enough, in fact, that she manages to get away with nearly a decade of money laundering, abuse and adultery. Adultery that results in the birth of Tobias's little sister, Norah Dark, who then becomes legally recognized as his father's daughter despite the fact she did not resemble anyone in the household.
The next eight years of Tobias's life come and go in a blur. He skims by school with average grades, takes care of his little sister, receives his daily dose of parental neglect and dabbles in teenage alcoholism. His father continues to work as an accountant for a well known hotel chain, and all in all? Tobias does not know how to feel or how to act, so he does not. He becomes passive and submissive, overly inclined to tell the truth and incapable of acting in his own self-interest. If his life sucks, it cannot be helped. If he has no friends and the only person he feels happy around is his little sister, that must be normal. If he daydreams about making a run for it and living a new life, then he needs to stop fantasizing and focus on reality instead.
If this all sounds terribly cliched, it's because it kind of is.
By the time he's 16-years-old, he's become the picture of passivity. To say his personality and sense of self is "vague" is something of an understatement. As his mother was the only person who could understand the things he saw, Tobias convinces himself he's imagining it. That it's a result of one too many hang overs, despite the fact he's been seeing things no one else could ever since he was a child. He pretends to be normal, averting his eyes every time he spots something too horrible to describe. For a while, it works—but it doesn't last much longer.
A couple of months after his sixteenth birthday, his family is invited to a party. Apparently, his father's boss's daughter has recently gotten engaged, and her family has decided to throw her and her betrothed a party at one of their hotels in order to celebrate. This all sounds nice and well, and it's hard to decline an offer to spend the night at a cozy hotel free of charge, so the Dark family decides to attend. While Tobias can't quite find it within himself to enjoy it, the party isn't half bad and it serves as a welcome respite from everything. The hotel is stunning and the party even more so. He gets to spend time with his now 7-year-old little sister, and that is something he would not trade for anything in the world.
And then the Glitch happens.
As mentioned in the World Setting section, Artifacts are immune to Glitches. Humans are not. Artifacts can survive the most dangerous and reality damaging of Glitches with little to no damage. Humans cannot. If we understand that, then we can understand how 87 hotel guests and 43 invitees suddenly died that night. Police reports could not explain how 130 corpses were produced that night, some headless, some with their midsection crushed, but all with their viscera turned into unidentifiable pulp. Said reports could also not explain how all exits to the building had been hermetically sealed to the point where creating a new opening was required the next day, nor could they explain the scratches along the walls. For a while, some theories said it was a monster. Others claimed the only possible culprits were the two sole survivors. After all, they could have been in cahoots all along.
But even though he had attended her engagement party, Tobias had never met Amelia Seur before. He could not have been in cahoots with her, and he could not have murdered 130 people in less that 12 hours. When he wakes up in the hospital the evening after the events, the first thing he sees is a young woman with short black hair and white pupils. She is not Amelia Seur. She is not anyone Tobias has seen before. Regardless of that, however, she clicks her tongue and proceeds to speak to him like it's the most ordinary thing.
"The police will question you. Lie, and they'll believe you."
And when they come to question him, he forces himself to lie. He does not tell them about the stench of rot nor does he share how it felt to to be pushed and shoved by party invitees after the first victim had been claimed, running away from a grotesque creature only he could see. Instead, he comes up with some half-baked story where he hit his head and passed out before he could witness anything. And, despite his nervousness and the lack of serious head injury, they believe him. They are forced to believe him, because selling people lies is what his ability enables him to. He becomes quite the liar from there on.
A week and several tedious processes later, he's finally let out of the hospital. As his father was the only child of a recently deceased couple and he never met his mother's side of the family, he suddenly finds himself startlingly alone. Being that Amelia's situation was the same and she had the added benefit of being well into adulthood, she extends an invitation to him. Even if they never got the chance to talk before, she invites him to live with her. Figuring that he has nothing to lose, he accepts. When he settles in, he quickly learns that she is quite similar to him. Although neither of her parents experienced what she did, she also had the ability to see things no one else could ever since she was a child. She managed to keep it quiet until now, preferring not to give her peers reason to gossip, but the events at the hotel forced her to use her ability. What her ability is, exactly, she does not reveal—but she does reveal many other things.
As it turns out, his new host had a bit of a twisted flair for the dramatic. She had become engaged to Anthony Devitt for the sake of irony, as it didn't get more dramatic than marrying the man who was partly responsible for the death of the one you loved. According to her, she originally planned to make his life hell in ways only a woman scorned would, but when a certain someone gave her a tip that something disastrous was about to happen? She let things flow naturally. And even though anyone in their right mind would throttle Amelia after that little revelation, Tobias doesn't. He's too tired and passive and not entirely sure of what is going on anymore, so Amelia extends him another offer.
A friend of hers, the one that gave her the tip, will come visit them in three days time. They will offer him a contract. If he wants to make sure his family continues to exist, then he should consider accepting their terms. She has done it herself and guarantees it's a safe thing to do. If he doesn't, nothing is certain. After all, who knows what would happen if they're considered too boring to keep around? Tobias doesn't say anything at the moment, too busy quietly grieving his sister and his father and not Daniela, but he begins to heavily consider it.
Three days later, Amelia's friend arrives. In true dramatic fashion, her friend just so happens to be the same woman he saw when he first woke up in the hospital. She introduces herself as Jude Gottfried, a "lawyer for those with special needs", and extends her hand to him. Being a grieving 16-year-old boy with nothing to lose, he takes it and she smiles at him. She then begins to explain the terms of the contract, providing him with helpful exposition on the existence of timelines, multiple worlds and his family's heritage. Although he does not quite understand what it means, she tells him that his great grandfather was a very good friend of the woman who happens to be both her surrogate mother and employer. Because of this, she's been asked to enlist his services. If he accepts the terms of the contract, then she'll take care of passing his loved ones to the next timeline and will guarantee the continued well-being of anyone he wishes. Modifications to that list of people are allowed, to boot. As he counts more reasons to accept than to refuse, he says yes.
Because he accepted Jude's offer willingly, he then become affected by her ability, Demise. While he cannot be affected to the extent a normal human being would, he is now obligated to fulfill his end of the deal. In order to do that, he and Amelia are taken away while the current timeline is put to an end. After that is done, they are both deposited into a "safe space" where everyone's soul must go through in order to reach the next timeline. This so called "safe space", despite sounding somewhat heavenly, is anything but. Taking the form of a twisted town from which nobody can escape, the "safe space" could be more accurately compared to something out of a horror movie.
Souls, in that place, come in batches. The souls then take the form and personality of the person they belong to at the most important point of their life. Even if someone died at 21, they could show up as their 15-year-old self if that stage of their life marked them. Tobias is tasked with posing as one of them, blending in with the batches and making sure no one realizes what is going on until it's time to send them off and welcome the next batch. In order to do this, he must lay in wait until he receives further instructions.
Still, even though he's told to wait for further instructions, the instructions are always the same. In order to forcibly eject them from the town and into the next timeline, he must kill them. That last part was not mentioned by Jude, which causes him a bit of a breakdown. But once he's gotten over the initial shock that comes with murdering someone and is gently reminded of the terms of his contract, it becomes easier. He teaches himself how to stab, shoot and bludgeon other human beings. He even teaches himself how to efficiently escape, in case things went downhill. Batches come and batches go, and he loses track of how many years, decades or centuries have passed. Jude's contract does not allow him to age as long as he's inside that space, and he finds himself losing himself to the process. He forgets his mother's face, his father's voice, who Daniela was—but he does not forget his little sister. His little sister is the goal. Even though he meets many people while acting as a mole, he finds it hard to feel anything for them. He lies, he pretends and then he kills like he's nothing like a machine. Rinse and repeat.
And then the last batch finally arrives.
Even though he had always found it hard to connect with others, he meets people he likes. People he can bring himself to care for and people he will unfortunately have to kill. Although he knows they will hate him once it's time to send them off, he finds himself befriending Akuji Durden and Aimee Harris. Both from different worlds, but both people he comes to care about. He laughs with them, cries with them and generally bonds with them. When the time comes for him to lie and kill everyone, he finds himself unable to lie to his friends. Not because they have become immune to his ability as an Artifact, but because he is physically unable to hide the truth from them. His chest tightens, his mouth clamps up and his hands feel cold. He risks telling them the truth. Fortunately for him, they do not take it as badly as they could have. Unfortunately for him, someone overhears the conversation as he begins to explain why there is a mole in the town. The send off of the last batch, after that moment, becomes a mess unlike no other.
In a series of events where the existence of a mole is revealed to the rest, tensions are raised and the last batch becomes a bloodbath. Unable to confirm who is a mole and who isn't, people begin to rally against each other. They had no way or knowing if the person standing next to them was an enemy, so they killed and slaughtered indiscriminately. Even though it was Tobias's role to send everyone off, he ended up killing only for the sake of defending his friends. When Aimee becomes a victim and everything calms down, only he and Akuji end up as survivors. In the same way he was unable to lie to his friends, Tobias also finds himself incapable of killing them. Akuji then decides to kill him instead, and Tobias never finds out how Akuji was sent off himself.
He remembers the previous timeline the next time he is 9-years-old. Because Jude's "mother" found the last batch rather exciting, he was allowed to continue living. His father is there, his sister is there, and so were many others he recognized. Because the new timeline is one where only a single Earth exists, he is also able to reunite with Akuji and Aimee a handful of years later. However, they do not remember the events that took place at the town. All things considered, it's probably better that way.
From there on, Tobias lives his life as an employee of the resident cosmic horrors. He makes sure things are in order, protects his friends, and even ends up being wooed by his little sister. Timelines come and go, the universe requires several more cooling periods, and he even has twins once everyone manages to stay alive long enough to grow old. There are strange holes in his memory from around the time the twins are born for the first time, but he brushes them off. If Jude and Amelia do not mention anything about it, then it's unimportant. If he can't remember it, then it has nothing to do with him—and he's somewhat right. From thereon, his life falls into a routine, but he is content as long as he can keep his loved ones close.
✖ Character Personality:
Tobias, at his very core, is a rather empty person. During the first 16 years of his life, he developed a spotty sense of self. He drank himself into stupors, barely paid attention during school lectures, pretended to see nothing and spent most of his free time taking care of his little sister. Even though he often fantasized about running away and taking Norah with him, he never did. Instead, he strove to become as quiet and unassuming as possible. His logic being that, if he spent enough time in the background of things, everything would be alright. If he spent enough time letting people walk all over him, then nobody would have to shout at him and maybe Daniela wouldn't be mad at him. Maybe, if he smothered his own existence enough, his father would stay at home for more than two or three hours. He honestly believed he could fix everything by metaphorically ceasing to exist, which only resulted in the creation of an assortment of anxieties and an inferiority complex.
Several hundred timelines later, this attitude persists. He is still quiet and unassuming. He stutters when he speaks, lowers his head when approached by others and does not dare to look strangers in the eye. His voice is soft and his fingers are calloused and scarred from being wrung and pinched in nervous fits. He continues to pretend he sees nothing. The only change, however? Is that his previously shaky sense of self has now reached its logical conclusion. That is, he does not think of himself as a human being. Rather, he thinks of himself as an object. Worrying about himself is a ridiculous notion. He is a tool to be used by all of those around him, regardless of whether they want to or not. If someone is making his friends uncomfortable, he will gladly punch the offender in the face with vitriol. If someone is bothering his friends to the point where they are visibly affected, then he will gladly make the offender go on a long vacation, move across the county and maybe even wind up dead in some remote location. It all depends on what the situation calls for, really.
As should be easily apparent by now, Tobias has some issues regarding the people he cares for. To say he is fiercely overprotective is an understatement, and this may or may not stem from how hard it is for him to connect with others. When he finds himself caring for someone else, he latches onto them and refuses to let go. He will do anything for them, even if it means dabbling in behavior they would surely disapprove of. What they don't know won't hurt them is what he believes in, and he's capable of taking drastic measures for their sake. Anything to keep them close, because he fears they will leave him if he lets them go. Even though he thinks of himself as a mere object, he's surprisingly scared of being alone. Nothing is more terrifying that loneliness.
Pinpointing why Amelia, Akuji, Aimee and Norah are so important to him is a hard task, as there is no particular type of person Tobias relates to with more ease. What could factor in, however, is the fact that they are all people that make him feel like a person. Despite the fact he vehemently denies being anything other than an object, it feels nice to be treated as a person and not a problem. Even with Amelia's morbidly frivolous attitude, Akuji and Aimee's constant bickering and his hang-ups over the implications of allowing his little sister to publicly date him, he's happy to have them around. He could not imagine being without them, because they make him feel real. As long as they're around in some shape or form, he doesn't have to feel scared of being alone. He loves them and nothing will ever change that.
Naturally, because of how hard it is for him to connect with others, he tends to have a hard time empathizing with people he does not care about. If someone's parent died and they come bawling to him, he will probably not know what to say other than a halfhearted "sorry". Even if they come to him with experiences he should be able to relate with, it's nearly impossible for him to care about them. After all, it's not like they won't get another chance to fix things after they've died. He simply cannot understand why human beings whine and moan about things that happen to them during their current life. He honestly believes that they should work more on tossing their feelings aside, despite the fact that most human beings are incapable of remembering their previous lives. They wouldn't know they have another shot at life, and this is a fact that often escapes him when speaking to people who don't happen to be Norah, Amelia, Akuji, Aimee or his children. Even though he bends over and mumbles and stutters and lets people do as they please with him, he has a hard time thinking of them as anything but faceless masses. They are human beings, yes, but that does not mean he has to think highly of them.
Following this, this type of attitude helps him carry out his contract with efficiency. It's a lot easier to be cruel when you can't bring yourself to care about people, which is why he's capable of lying, manipulating and killing others without even batting an eyelash. Even though the concept sickened him the first few times he was forced to do it, he's managed to turn it into an art form. If he considers it necessary for any reason at all, then he will not hesitate to profusely harm a complete stranger or even a casual acquaintance. He does not enjoy having to do it, but he no longer hates it. It's gotten to the point where he doesn't mind killing people during timelines, where they are still alive and well and there is no sending off to be done. If he needs to kill a complete stranger? He can do it. If he needs to kill that boy he took an English class with? He can also do it. If he needs to kill someone he's come to care about, however? He cannot do it. Not even if he's in immediate danger.
This also applies to lying, although telling simple lies tends to be decidedly less fatal than murdering someone. He can spin outrageous tales and come up with convoluted excuses on the fly if the need arises, but he can't lie to someone he's bonded with. It's silly, but he feels some vague moral obligation to tell the truth and only the truth to those select few. If he even thinks about lying to them, his chest tightens and a lump forms in his throat. Even though he can make them believe anything, he gets too nervous to do it. Using his ability to manipulate them feels like a betrayal to him. He can cross many lines, but this is one of his few hang ups. For better or for worse, that's just how it is.
Regardless of his less than stellar mental stability, Tobias makes an effort to act normal during most circumstances. Although there's not much he can do about his nervousness and anxieties, he tries his best not to say or do anything alarming. He will not start talking at length about previous timelines no will he bludgeon people in broad daylight. That's a stupid move. You do not get to play mole when you are incapable of avoiding detection, and you cannot avoid detection if you don't pay attention to details. He remembers when certain people are slated to die, what accidents could occurs, what happens when news reports change and even the answers to every final exam he's taken in his life. He can't remember everything, as there's only so much the human brain can do, but he tries to remember the most important details. If he wants life to proceed smoothly, he needs to be able to discreetly avoid unfortunate events. Being able to predict what happens next gives him a sense of security, as twisted as it may be.
In the end, Tobias is either a really nice guy or a very terrifying one depending on how you act towards his loved ones. He mumbles, he stutters and plays with his hands in nervous fits. He is also capable of murder. If not for his memories of the past, he could easily run away and live as a normal young man—but that's only a wistful "if". He is a tool of reality, capable of becoming attached but incapable of caring about himself. Nothing more and nothing less.
✖ Character Powers:
Despite being an Artifact, Tobias's physical abilities are limited to what a normal human can achieve. If he gets stabbed, shot or bludgeoned, you can be sure he's going to die. If he gets punched in the face, you can be sure he's going to have a nasty bruise for the next week or two. If he has any extraordinary physical abilities, it's only because he's worked for them. His supernatural abilities, on the other hand, are a direct result of his status as an Artifact. For the sake of keeping things neat and tiny, I'll be listing all his abilities here.
CHARACTER SAMPLES.
✖ First Person POV:
test drive thread!
✖ Third Person POV:
It's a Saturday morning. The sun is up and it is drizzling lightly.
He pulls his hoodie over his head as he steps out of his house, making sure to lock the door behind him. His sister wasn't at home and neither was his father. He can't recall anyone breaking in on this specific date, so he stashes the keys in his pocket without testing the lock and leaves. Amelia had asked him to come over today, so he supposes he should do that before anything else. He wasn't sure what she wanted, exactly, having lost track of her monologue after she started talking about last night's rousing game of charades and something about more alcohol than he could ever imagine—but he doubted it was anything grave.
After all, he's known Amelia long enough to distinguish her tones of distress from her tones of boredom. She wouldn't have been able to laugh as easily over the phone, had one of the events slated for this week taken place. Knowing her, it's more likely that she's bored out of her mind from an overall lack of excitement. Typical Amelia, really.
He stares at his feet as he walks, careful not to step over any puddles as he does. Even though he hasn't been down this street in a while, it's hard to forget all the details. The cracks in the pavement, the crooked lamp posts and the faded stop signs. The bus stop is also intact. It is pleasantly unmarred by any number of grisly traffic accidents. If he could have it his way, it would remain like that for the rest of history. Even if he knows he'd be able to see him again, he prefers it when Akuji is alive and well and not involved in any fatal accidents. Many would agree with him on that sentiment, or so he believes. He would just have to pay special attention to details, keeping a careful eye on the calender until New Year's Eve.
If it meant keeping Akuji safe, he could afford to obsess over dates for the next eight months. It was worth it.
When he gets to the first intersection, he raises his head in order to check for any incoming vehicles. If he remembered correctly, it should only be a ten minute walk to Amelia's house from this point. Possibly even less, if he was careful to avoid getting in people's way. Having made sure that the coast was clear, he quickly crosses over to the other side of the street.
No traffic today. That was a good sign. A great sign. Maybe everything would be okay. Maybe he wouldn't have to bury any friends this year. Maybe they'd get to grow old and see their grandchildren graduate high school for once. That would be nice. It would be fantastic, in fact. He avoids another puddle, taking note of the fact that it seems to have stopped drizzling by now. He couldn't remember if the rain ever affected whether something happened or not.
"Ah — yes! You, young man!"
That, however, he could be certain had never happened before.
He turns his head in the direction he heard the voice come from, spotting a young woman with a clipboard waving at him from a couple of yards away. For a moment, he's almost certain she isn't calling out to him, but then he realizes how ridiculous that would be. After all, there were no other "young men" on this side of the street. Attempting to swallow a lump that had suddenly formed in his throat, he forces himself to walk towards the young woman. This would change nothing, he was sure of it. Everything would be okay if he talked to her.
"Can..." He begins, quietly, pinching the skin between his thumb and index finger. He could do this. It was going to be okay. "C-Can I help you?"
"Why, yes!" The woman chirps, not put off in the slightest by his attitude. She pushes a strand of stray hair out of her face, and Tobias quickly glances away from her. He did not want to make eye contact. "I'm running a short survey for the Costumer's Delight Corporation. Could I have a few minutes of your time, young man?"
Well. He supposed a survey didn't sound too bad, regardless of never having heard that name before. There was no knowing what number of things this event could change, of course, but it didn't seem too foreboding at the moment. After a moment's worth of hesitation, he ends up nodding, wringing his hands in an attempt to soothe his nerves. Everything would be alright. He would talk to Amelia as soon as he got out of here. She would know what was up. Or, she would ask Jude and Jude would know what was up. A new variable in the equation was nothing to worry about. "Aha... I don't mind."
Which was a lie, because he did mind. Not because she was holding him up, but because he didn't know how things would turn out after this. Would Akuji be okay? Would Aimee and his sister be affected in any way? He didn't know. That kind of uncertainty was one he had become unaccustomed to. Still, the young woman seems perfectly oblivious to his plight. She simply grins at him, pulling a pen out of her clipboard and glancing down at whatever was written on the paper.
"Name and age, please?" She asks him.
For a moment, he's inclined not to answer. He's always thought surveys were anonymous things—but what does he know? He could be wrong. Maybe this one needs a name, so he quietly mumbles something out. "Tobias. I'm," he pauses, and clears his throat. "I'm 16."
"Wonderful, wonderful," she responds, quickly jotting something down. He keeps himself calm with the promise of speaking to Amelia about this once he's able to flee. "First question, Tobias. If you could save the world, would you?"
He blinks and opens his mouth to speak. A second after, he closes it. Would he? No. Probably not. The world could not be saved. It was natural for it to fall into ruin in order to begin anew. It would be disastrous if the world wasn't allowed to end. But—that didn't sound like something a normal person would answer. If he wanted to pretend to be normal, then he needed to give normal responses. The kind of response someone would thoughtlessly give.
"...Yes?"
Almost immediately, the young woman places her pen back where she pulled it from and lowers her clipboard. The text is too small for him to read, and her expression too vague for him to understand. Despite what she had said earlier, she does not ask any other questions. "That would be all. Thank you."
CHARACTER ITEMS.
✖ Pick a Team: Red Team.
✖ Mission Freebie: If it's allowed, he'd like periodic updates on how his little sister is doing.
✖ Personal Item or Weapon: A sharpened, 10 inch chef's knife.
✖ Character Inventory:
(one) XXL size hoodie, in gray.
(one) Long sleeved, white dress shirt.
(one) Pair of pants, black.
(two) Shoes, black.
(two) Socks, white.
(one) Pair of briefs....................
✖ Handle: Kyuu
✖ Contact:
pms to this account.
✖ Other Characters Played in Consignment: n/a
CHARACTER INFO.
✖ Character Name: Dark, Tobias
✖ Genre: Does "cosmic horror coming of age story" count as a genre, because............. (if not, "cosmic horror" works just fine.)
✖ Character Appearance:
✖ Pick A Number:
(second choice) 9
✖ World Setting:
THE DELTA TIMELINE:
Also known as the original timeline. Tobias did not exist during this time, but his great grandfather did. It existed billions and billions of years before "timelines" were even a thing, and the events that happened during it are responsible for the fact that the universe ends and starts up all over again in a never ending cycle. As nearly everyone that existed within it did not get to resurrect, it's considered a deleted timeline. Anything that pops up from it in the current timelines is considered a Glitch. This, of course, includes anyone. As Tobias has no idea this timeline even existed, its only relevance is explaining the origin of Glitches.
TIMELINES:
There are two types of timelines in Tobias's world. Timelines where multiple Earths exist at once, and timelines where only one version of Earth exists. In multiple Earth timelines, people who used to be good friends or even lovers may find themselves scattered across worlds. Because the "multiple Earth" aspect of this type of timeline is unknown to most, those who remember their past lives simply assume their loved ones were never born. In single Earth timelines, the opposite is true. There is only one Earth and everyone is squished into it, whether they like it or not.
Which type of timeline succeeds the other is completely random, so there's no way to predict what type of world someone will be born into the next time they die. What is not random, however, is that the universe needs a cool down period. In order to keep reality running, everyone's souls are deposited into a "safe space". This space has the sole purpose of keeping certain people from being deleted as reality stabilizes itself. If this is not done, it's possible everything will fall apart—but nothing of the sort has been allowed to happen so far.
DEVICES:
Also known as "the cosmic horrors responsible for keeping the universe stable". They are strange, grotesque living beings who more often than not consider humans to be nothing more than free entertainment. Each Device has a series of very specific abilities, and are usually invisible to normal human beings unless they chose to reveal themselves. They can also take on a human form, although they can never hide their true selves completely. One sure way to know if the "human" you're speaking to is actually a Device is by looking at their eyes, as they have white pupils. At the point in time Tobias is from, there are currently three Devices.
ARTIFACTS:
Also known as "what happens to a human when they or an ancestor existed during the Delta Timeline". Tobias, thanks to his great grandfather's glitchy as heck existence, is one of these. While Artifacts are technically human, they also carry a series of unfortunate Glitches with them. Glitches, as they manifest in human beings, are abilities that affect reality in some way or another. Some Artifacts even have Glitches bad enough to lay waste to a world, which comes in handy when a timeline must be forcibly ended. Most Artifacts are also born within specific families, but it's not unheard of to see an Artifact born outside of one, even if they don't have an ancestor from the Delta Timeline.
Artifacts, thanks to their nature, are also capable of resisting the abilities of Devices, other Artifacts and any other Glitch. They can see things normal human beings can't, resulting in long family histories of questionable mental stability. As with Devices, you can also tell who is an Artifact by looking at their eyes, as their pupils could be any color but black or white.
GLITCHES:
Glitches, as can be garnered from what has been mentioned so far, are very important aspects of Tobias's world. They can manifest in many, many, many ways. Name something odd or horrifyingly unnatural, and it's likely to be a Glitch. For example, certain timelines suffer from a Glitch that grants powers to normal human beings and enables their world to become something out of a comic book volume. Another Glitch could cause a mindless monster to spontaneously appear for a few hours before fading away. Glitches are mostly unpredictable, although Devices may be able to "sense" when one is about to manifest. They are also undesired by most who are aware of them. Unfortunately for everyone in Tobias's setting, random Glitches become more common when reality is in need of a cool-down period. If they wish to get rid of a rather detrimental Glitch, then they must force the current timeline to end.
PREVIOUS TIMELINE MEMORIES:
As you might have guessed from the age section, Tobias also has memories from every timeline he's lived through. This is not the norm. Most humans, Artifacts included, do not get to remember their previous lives. Even fewer do so during every life they live, as Tobias does. Who gets their memories back and who doesn't is entirely up to chance, but Artifacts seem to remember with more frequency than their peers.
TOBIAS'S ORIGINAL TIMELINE:
The timeline Tobias was first born in, as well as a multiple Earth timeline. It is also one of the first hundred timelines after the end of the Delta Timeline, being number 98. While technological and medical achievements are comparable to those of our world during the 1980s, aesthetics seem to be firmly rococo. Ethics and morals have also developed to the point where they resemble the 1990s, making Tobias's world quite the anachronistic mess. To distinguish it from the other versions of Earth present during this timeline, Tobias's world is known as Earth-009.
CURRENT TIMELINE:
At the point in time Tobias is from, reality is currently going through its ████th timeline. The timeline is a single Earth timeline, where the world is practically identical to our own during 2009. There are no major differences to note, aside from maybe the Hilton family being replaced by the Seur family. Currently, Tobias resides in the continental USA, in the state of Texas.
✖ Character History:
The next eight years of Tobias's life come and go in a blur. He skims by school with average grades, takes care of his little sister, receives his daily dose of parental neglect and dabbles in teenage alcoholism. His father continues to work as an accountant for a well known hotel chain, and all in all? Tobias does not know how to feel or how to act, so he does not. He becomes passive and submissive, overly inclined to tell the truth and incapable of acting in his own self-interest. If his life sucks, it cannot be helped. If he has no friends and the only person he feels happy around is his little sister, that must be normal. If he daydreams about making a run for it and living a new life, then he needs to stop fantasizing and focus on reality instead.
If this all sounds terribly cliched, it's because it kind of is.
By the time he's 16-years-old, he's become the picture of passivity. To say his personality and sense of self is "vague" is something of an understatement. As his mother was the only person who could understand the things he saw, Tobias convinces himself he's imagining it. That it's a result of one too many hang overs, despite the fact he's been seeing things no one else could ever since he was a child. He pretends to be normal, averting his eyes every time he spots something too horrible to describe. For a while, it works—but it doesn't last much longer.
A couple of months after his sixteenth birthday, his family is invited to a party. Apparently, his father's boss's daughter has recently gotten engaged, and her family has decided to throw her and her betrothed a party at one of their hotels in order to celebrate. This all sounds nice and well, and it's hard to decline an offer to spend the night at a cozy hotel free of charge, so the Dark family decides to attend. While Tobias can't quite find it within himself to enjoy it, the party isn't half bad and it serves as a welcome respite from everything. The hotel is stunning and the party even more so. He gets to spend time with his now 7-year-old little sister, and that is something he would not trade for anything in the world.
And then the Glitch happens.
As mentioned in the World Setting section, Artifacts are immune to Glitches. Humans are not. Artifacts can survive the most dangerous and reality damaging of Glitches with little to no damage. Humans cannot. If we understand that, then we can understand how 87 hotel guests and 43 invitees suddenly died that night. Police reports could not explain how 130 corpses were produced that night, some headless, some with their midsection crushed, but all with their viscera turned into unidentifiable pulp. Said reports could also not explain how all exits to the building had been hermetically sealed to the point where creating a new opening was required the next day, nor could they explain the scratches along the walls. For a while, some theories said it was a monster. Others claimed the only possible culprits were the two sole survivors. After all, they could have been in cahoots all along.
But even though he had attended her engagement party, Tobias had never met Amelia Seur before. He could not have been in cahoots with her, and he could not have murdered 130 people in less that 12 hours. When he wakes up in the hospital the evening after the events, the first thing he sees is a young woman with short black hair and white pupils. She is not Amelia Seur. She is not anyone Tobias has seen before. Regardless of that, however, she clicks her tongue and proceeds to speak to him like it's the most ordinary thing.
And when they come to question him, he forces himself to lie. He does not tell them about the stench of rot nor does he share how it felt to to be pushed and shoved by party invitees after the first victim had been claimed, running away from a grotesque creature only he could see. Instead, he comes up with some half-baked story where he hit his head and passed out before he could witness anything. And, despite his nervousness and the lack of serious head injury, they believe him. They are forced to believe him, because selling people lies is what his ability enables him to. He becomes quite the liar from there on.
A week and several tedious processes later, he's finally let out of the hospital. As his father was the only child of a recently deceased couple and he never met his mother's side of the family, he suddenly finds himself startlingly alone. Being that Amelia's situation was the same and she had the added benefit of being well into adulthood, she extends an invitation to him. Even if they never got the chance to talk before, she invites him to live with her. Figuring that he has nothing to lose, he accepts. When he settles in, he quickly learns that she is quite similar to him. Although neither of her parents experienced what she did, she also had the ability to see things no one else could ever since she was a child. She managed to keep it quiet until now, preferring not to give her peers reason to gossip, but the events at the hotel forced her to use her ability. What her ability is, exactly, she does not reveal—but she does reveal many other things.
As it turns out, his new host had a bit of a twisted flair for the dramatic. She had become engaged to Anthony Devitt for the sake of irony, as it didn't get more dramatic than marrying the man who was partly responsible for the death of the one you loved. According to her, she originally planned to make his life hell in ways only a woman scorned would, but when a certain someone gave her a tip that something disastrous was about to happen? She let things flow naturally. And even though anyone in their right mind would throttle Amelia after that little revelation, Tobias doesn't. He's too tired and passive and not entirely sure of what is going on anymore, so Amelia extends him another offer.
A friend of hers, the one that gave her the tip, will come visit them in three days time. They will offer him a contract. If he wants to make sure his family continues to exist, then he should consider accepting their terms. She has done it herself and guarantees it's a safe thing to do. If he doesn't, nothing is certain. After all, who knows what would happen if they're considered too boring to keep around? Tobias doesn't say anything at the moment, too busy quietly grieving his sister and his father and not Daniela, but he begins to heavily consider it.
Three days later, Amelia's friend arrives. In true dramatic fashion, her friend just so happens to be the same woman he saw when he first woke up in the hospital. She introduces herself as Jude Gottfried, a "lawyer for those with special needs", and extends her hand to him. Being a grieving 16-year-old boy with nothing to lose, he takes it and she smiles at him. She then begins to explain the terms of the contract, providing him with helpful exposition on the existence of timelines, multiple worlds and his family's heritage. Although he does not quite understand what it means, she tells him that his great grandfather was a very good friend of the woman who happens to be both her surrogate mother and employer. Because of this, she's been asked to enlist his services. If he accepts the terms of the contract, then she'll take care of passing his loved ones to the next timeline and will guarantee the continued well-being of anyone he wishes. Modifications to that list of people are allowed, to boot. As he counts more reasons to accept than to refuse, he says yes.
Because he accepted Jude's offer willingly, he then become affected by her ability, Demise. While he cannot be affected to the extent a normal human being would, he is now obligated to fulfill his end of the deal. In order to do that, he and Amelia are taken away while the current timeline is put to an end. After that is done, they are both deposited into a "safe space" where everyone's soul must go through in order to reach the next timeline. This so called "safe space", despite sounding somewhat heavenly, is anything but. Taking the form of a twisted town from which nobody can escape, the "safe space" could be more accurately compared to something out of a horror movie.
Souls, in that place, come in batches. The souls then take the form and personality of the person they belong to at the most important point of their life. Even if someone died at 21, they could show up as their 15-year-old self if that stage of their life marked them. Tobias is tasked with posing as one of them, blending in with the batches and making sure no one realizes what is going on until it's time to send them off and welcome the next batch. In order to do this, he must lay in wait until he receives further instructions.
Still, even though he's told to wait for further instructions, the instructions are always the same. In order to forcibly eject them from the town and into the next timeline, he must kill them. That last part was not mentioned by Jude, which causes him a bit of a breakdown. But once he's gotten over the initial shock that comes with murdering someone and is gently reminded of the terms of his contract, it becomes easier. He teaches himself how to stab, shoot and bludgeon other human beings. He even teaches himself how to efficiently escape, in case things went downhill. Batches come and batches go, and he loses track of how many years, decades or centuries have passed. Jude's contract does not allow him to age as long as he's inside that space, and he finds himself losing himself to the process. He forgets his mother's face, his father's voice, who Daniela was—but he does not forget his little sister. His little sister is the goal. Even though he meets many people while acting as a mole, he finds it hard to feel anything for them. He lies, he pretends and then he kills like he's nothing like a machine. Rinse and repeat.
And then the last batch finally arrives.
Even though he had always found it hard to connect with others, he meets people he likes. People he can bring himself to care for and people he will unfortunately have to kill. Although he knows they will hate him once it's time to send them off, he finds himself befriending Akuji Durden and Aimee Harris. Both from different worlds, but both people he comes to care about. He laughs with them, cries with them and generally bonds with them. When the time comes for him to lie and kill everyone, he finds himself unable to lie to his friends. Not because they have become immune to his ability as an Artifact, but because he is physically unable to hide the truth from them. His chest tightens, his mouth clamps up and his hands feel cold. He risks telling them the truth. Fortunately for him, they do not take it as badly as they could have. Unfortunately for him, someone overhears the conversation as he begins to explain why there is a mole in the town. The send off of the last batch, after that moment, becomes a mess unlike no other.
In a series of events where the existence of a mole is revealed to the rest, tensions are raised and the last batch becomes a bloodbath. Unable to confirm who is a mole and who isn't, people begin to rally against each other. They had no way or knowing if the person standing next to them was an enemy, so they killed and slaughtered indiscriminately. Even though it was Tobias's role to send everyone off, he ended up killing only for the sake of defending his friends. When Aimee becomes a victim and everything calms down, only he and Akuji end up as survivors. In the same way he was unable to lie to his friends, Tobias also finds himself incapable of killing them. Akuji then decides to kill him instead, and Tobias never finds out how Akuji was sent off himself.
He remembers the previous timeline the next time he is 9-years-old. Because Jude's "mother" found the last batch rather exciting, he was allowed to continue living. His father is there, his sister is there, and so were many others he recognized. Because the new timeline is one where only a single Earth exists, he is also able to reunite with Akuji and Aimee a handful of years later. However, they do not remember the events that took place at the town. All things considered, it's probably better that way.
From there on, Tobias lives his life as an employee of the resident cosmic horrors. He makes sure things are in order, protects his friends, and even ends up being wooed by his little sister. Timelines come and go, the universe requires several more cooling periods, and he even has twins once everyone manages to stay alive long enough to grow old. There are strange holes in his memory from around the time the twins are born for the first time, but he brushes them off. If Jude and Amelia do not mention anything about it, then it's unimportant. If he can't remember it, then it has nothing to do with him—and he's somewhat right. From thereon, his life falls into a routine, but he is content as long as he can keep his loved ones close.
✖ Character Personality:
Several hundred timelines later, this attitude persists. He is still quiet and unassuming. He stutters when he speaks, lowers his head when approached by others and does not dare to look strangers in the eye. His voice is soft and his fingers are calloused and scarred from being wrung and pinched in nervous fits. He continues to pretend he sees nothing. The only change, however? Is that his previously shaky sense of self has now reached its logical conclusion. That is, he does not think of himself as a human being. Rather, he thinks of himself as an object. Worrying about himself is a ridiculous notion. He is a tool to be used by all of those around him, regardless of whether they want to or not. If someone is making his friends uncomfortable, he will gladly punch the offender in the face with vitriol. If someone is bothering his friends to the point where they are visibly affected, then he will gladly make the offender go on a long vacation, move across the county and maybe even wind up dead in some remote location. It all depends on what the situation calls for, really.
As should be easily apparent by now, Tobias has some issues regarding the people he cares for. To say he is fiercely overprotective is an understatement, and this may or may not stem from how hard it is for him to connect with others. When he finds himself caring for someone else, he latches onto them and refuses to let go. He will do anything for them, even if it means dabbling in behavior they would surely disapprove of. What they don't know won't hurt them is what he believes in, and he's capable of taking drastic measures for their sake. Anything to keep them close, because he fears they will leave him if he lets them go. Even though he thinks of himself as a mere object, he's surprisingly scared of being alone. Nothing is more terrifying that loneliness.
Pinpointing why Amelia, Akuji, Aimee and Norah are so important to him is a hard task, as there is no particular type of person Tobias relates to with more ease. What could factor in, however, is the fact that they are all people that make him feel like a person. Despite the fact he vehemently denies being anything other than an object, it feels nice to be treated as a person and not a problem. Even with Amelia's morbidly frivolous attitude, Akuji and Aimee's constant bickering and his hang-ups over the implications of allowing his little sister to publicly date him, he's happy to have them around. He could not imagine being without them, because they make him feel real. As long as they're around in some shape or form, he doesn't have to feel scared of being alone. He loves them and nothing will ever change that.
Naturally, because of how hard it is for him to connect with others, he tends to have a hard time empathizing with people he does not care about. If someone's parent died and they come bawling to him, he will probably not know what to say other than a halfhearted "sorry". Even if they come to him with experiences he should be able to relate with, it's nearly impossible for him to care about them. After all, it's not like they won't get another chance to fix things after they've died. He simply cannot understand why human beings whine and moan about things that happen to them during their current life. He honestly believes that they should work more on tossing their feelings aside, despite the fact that most human beings are incapable of remembering their previous lives. They wouldn't know they have another shot at life, and this is a fact that often escapes him when speaking to people who don't happen to be Norah, Amelia, Akuji, Aimee or his children. Even though he bends over and mumbles and stutters and lets people do as they please with him, he has a hard time thinking of them as anything but faceless masses. They are human beings, yes, but that does not mean he has to think highly of them.
Following this, this type of attitude helps him carry out his contract with efficiency. It's a lot easier to be cruel when you can't bring yourself to care about people, which is why he's capable of lying, manipulating and killing others without even batting an eyelash. Even though the concept sickened him the first few times he was forced to do it, he's managed to turn it into an art form. If he considers it necessary for any reason at all, then he will not hesitate to profusely harm a complete stranger or even a casual acquaintance. He does not enjoy having to do it, but he no longer hates it. It's gotten to the point where he doesn't mind killing people during timelines, where they are still alive and well and there is no sending off to be done. If he needs to kill a complete stranger? He can do it. If he needs to kill that boy he took an English class with? He can also do it. If he needs to kill someone he's come to care about, however? He cannot do it. Not even if he's in immediate danger.
This also applies to lying, although telling simple lies tends to be decidedly less fatal than murdering someone. He can spin outrageous tales and come up with convoluted excuses on the fly if the need arises, but he can't lie to someone he's bonded with. It's silly, but he feels some vague moral obligation to tell the truth and only the truth to those select few. If he even thinks about lying to them, his chest tightens and a lump forms in his throat. Even though he can make them believe anything, he gets too nervous to do it. Using his ability to manipulate them feels like a betrayal to him. He can cross many lines, but this is one of his few hang ups. For better or for worse, that's just how it is.
Regardless of his less than stellar mental stability, Tobias makes an effort to act normal during most circumstances. Although there's not much he can do about his nervousness and anxieties, he tries his best not to say or do anything alarming. He will not start talking at length about previous timelines no will he bludgeon people in broad daylight. That's a stupid move. You do not get to play mole when you are incapable of avoiding detection, and you cannot avoid detection if you don't pay attention to details. He remembers when certain people are slated to die, what accidents could occurs, what happens when news reports change and even the answers to every final exam he's taken in his life. He can't remember everything, as there's only so much the human brain can do, but he tries to remember the most important details. If he wants life to proceed smoothly, he needs to be able to discreetly avoid unfortunate events. Being able to predict what happens next gives him a sense of security, as twisted as it may be.
In the end, Tobias is either a really nice guy or a very terrifying one depending on how you act towards his loved ones. He mumbles, he stutters and plays with his hands in nervous fits. He is also capable of murder. If not for his memories of the past, he could easily run away and live as a normal young man—but that's only a wistful "if". He is a tool of reality, capable of becoming attached but incapable of caring about himself. Nothing more and nothing less.
✖ Character Powers:
DUPLICITY:
As the name implies, Duplicity is the ability to lie. This is Tobias's unique Glitch as an Artifact, which enables him to make others believe every single word he says. Even if it's an outrageous lie, such as saying the grass is blue and the sky is green, they have no choice but to believe him. For someone who murders for a living, this is a useful skill to have. However, as with any other ability in Tobias's world, those with resistance will be immune to it. Naturally, this will extend to any character in Consignment who can block out this type of ability.
Duplicity also has a second purpose Tobias is unaware of. To make a long story short, it guarantees Tobias's body will exist even if his soul isn't in the current timeline. What this means is, that if Tobias's mother copulates with someone other than his father, Tobias's body is born but with another soul in it. This is why he has strange holes in his memories, as he technically was not alive during those timelines. Instead, someone named Aloysius Gott took his place. Because Aloysius and Tobias are separate characters, this aspect of his ability will not come into play at any time and Aloysius's history and personality are irrelevant.
RESISTANCE:
Also as an Artifact, Tobias can resist any supernatural influences. What this means, in the most basic sense, is that he's immune to any type of ability that directly affects him. For example, those with telepathy would be unable to read or control his mind, those with body altering powers would be unable to use their abilities on him and those with clairvoyance would be unable to see his future. What this also means is that he is not immune to abilities that indirectly affect him. For example, someone with fire powers would still be able to blast him, someone with super strength would still be able to toss him across the room and someone with super speed would still be able to run laps around him.
The only time any of the abilities he is immune to can work on him is when he allows them. If he consciously allows someone to read his mind, then they'll be able to. It takes a little bit of effort, but if he concentrates enough and feels confident about allowing someone to use their abilities on him, they'll work. This is how Jude's Demise was able to have any effect on him.
SEEING:
Also a type of resistance, but not quite. Aside from looking pretty bizarre, an Artifact's eyes enable them to see things normal human beings wouldn't. This generally means Tobias can see anything that's invisible or hidden by an illusion. If it's necessary, however, he will not be able to spot anything PCs shouldn't see for plot reasons.
CONTRACT:
Not so much of an ability as it is a long lasting status effect. It doesn't grant him any major abilities, but he has a small counter on the nape of his neck as a result of it. Resembling a series of number shaped scars, the counter keeps track of how many people he's killed during his current life. As the resident cosmic horrors are not omniscient, it's a nice and handy way to make sure their employees are carrying on as they should. Every time he adds someone to his kill count, the number changes to reflect this. Because there's no backing out of this type of contract, the counter remains there even if Jude is nowhere to be found.
PHYSICAL:
While there's nothing supernatural about his physical capabilities, he's had ample time to work on them. This means he knows his way around a number of weapons, including guns, knives, cleavers and even improvised weapons like sticks or baseball bats. He's also quite agile, being skilled in parkour and free running for the sake of being able to run away at a moment's notice. He has to retrain himself every time a new timeline rolls around, because muscle does not built itself overnight, but he does so despite the tediousness of it all. As he's currently 16, he's had time to familiarize himself again with the skills already mentioned. He's nowhere near an expert's level in parkour and free running, due to his physique, but he's good enough.
CHARACTER SAMPLES.
✖ First Person POV:
✖ Third Person POV:
He pulls his hoodie over his head as he steps out of his house, making sure to lock the door behind him. His sister wasn't at home and neither was his father. He can't recall anyone breaking in on this specific date, so he stashes the keys in his pocket without testing the lock and leaves. Amelia had asked him to come over today, so he supposes he should do that before anything else. He wasn't sure what she wanted, exactly, having lost track of her monologue after she started talking about last night's rousing game of charades and something about more alcohol than he could ever imagine—but he doubted it was anything grave.
After all, he's known Amelia long enough to distinguish her tones of distress from her tones of boredom. She wouldn't have been able to laugh as easily over the phone, had one of the events slated for this week taken place. Knowing her, it's more likely that she's bored out of her mind from an overall lack of excitement. Typical Amelia, really.
He stares at his feet as he walks, careful not to step over any puddles as he does. Even though he hasn't been down this street in a while, it's hard to forget all the details. The cracks in the pavement, the crooked lamp posts and the faded stop signs. The bus stop is also intact. It is pleasantly unmarred by any number of grisly traffic accidents. If he could have it his way, it would remain like that for the rest of history. Even if he knows he'd be able to see him again, he prefers it when Akuji is alive and well and not involved in any fatal accidents. Many would agree with him on that sentiment, or so he believes. He would just have to pay special attention to details, keeping a careful eye on the calender until New Year's Eve.
If it meant keeping Akuji safe, he could afford to obsess over dates for the next eight months. It was worth it.
When he gets to the first intersection, he raises his head in order to check for any incoming vehicles. If he remembered correctly, it should only be a ten minute walk to Amelia's house from this point. Possibly even less, if he was careful to avoid getting in people's way. Having made sure that the coast was clear, he quickly crosses over to the other side of the street.
No traffic today. That was a good sign. A great sign. Maybe everything would be okay. Maybe he wouldn't have to bury any friends this year. Maybe they'd get to grow old and see their grandchildren graduate high school for once. That would be nice. It would be fantastic, in fact. He avoids another puddle, taking note of the fact that it seems to have stopped drizzling by now. He couldn't remember if the rain ever affected whether something happened or not.
"Ah — yes! You, young man!"
That, however, he could be certain had never happened before.
He turns his head in the direction he heard the voice come from, spotting a young woman with a clipboard waving at him from a couple of yards away. For a moment, he's almost certain she isn't calling out to him, but then he realizes how ridiculous that would be. After all, there were no other "young men" on this side of the street. Attempting to swallow a lump that had suddenly formed in his throat, he forces himself to walk towards the young woman. This would change nothing, he was sure of it. Everything would be okay if he talked to her.
"Can..." He begins, quietly, pinching the skin between his thumb and index finger. He could do this. It was going to be okay. "C-Can I help you?"
"Why, yes!" The woman chirps, not put off in the slightest by his attitude. She pushes a strand of stray hair out of her face, and Tobias quickly glances away from her. He did not want to make eye contact. "I'm running a short survey for the Costumer's Delight Corporation. Could I have a few minutes of your time, young man?"
Well. He supposed a survey didn't sound too bad, regardless of never having heard that name before. There was no knowing what number of things this event could change, of course, but it didn't seem too foreboding at the moment. After a moment's worth of hesitation, he ends up nodding, wringing his hands in an attempt to soothe his nerves. Everything would be alright. He would talk to Amelia as soon as he got out of here. She would know what was up. Or, she would ask Jude and Jude would know what was up. A new variable in the equation was nothing to worry about. "Aha... I don't mind."
Which was a lie, because he did mind. Not because she was holding him up, but because he didn't know how things would turn out after this. Would Akuji be okay? Would Aimee and his sister be affected in any way? He didn't know. That kind of uncertainty was one he had become unaccustomed to. Still, the young woman seems perfectly oblivious to his plight. She simply grins at him, pulling a pen out of her clipboard and glancing down at whatever was written on the paper.
"Name and age, please?" She asks him.
For a moment, he's inclined not to answer. He's always thought surveys were anonymous things—but what does he know? He could be wrong. Maybe this one needs a name, so he quietly mumbles something out. "Tobias. I'm," he pauses, and clears his throat. "I'm 16."
"Wonderful, wonderful," she responds, quickly jotting something down. He keeps himself calm with the promise of speaking to Amelia about this once he's able to flee. "First question, Tobias. If you could save the world, would you?"
He blinks and opens his mouth to speak. A second after, he closes it. Would he? No. Probably not. The world could not be saved. It was natural for it to fall into ruin in order to begin anew. It would be disastrous if the world wasn't allowed to end. But—that didn't sound like something a normal person would answer. If he wanted to pretend to be normal, then he needed to give normal responses. The kind of response someone would thoughtlessly give.
"...Yes?"
Almost immediately, the young woman places her pen back where she pulled it from and lowers her clipboard. The text is too small for him to read, and her expression too vague for him to understand. Despite what she had said earlier, she does not ask any other questions. "That would be all. Thank you."
CHARACTER ITEMS.
✖ Pick a Team: Red Team.
✖ Mission Freebie: If it's allowed, he'd like periodic updates on how his little sister is doing.
✖ Personal Item or Weapon: A sharpened, 10 inch chef's knife.
✖ Character Inventory:
(one) Long sleeved, white dress shirt.
(one) Pair of pants, black.
(two) Shoes, black.
(two) Socks, white.
(one) Pair of briefs....................