2019-11-21 - I'll Be There For You

It's a rainy Thursday afternoon in November -- warm enough that it doesn't leave one chilled to the bone, but wet enough with that steady rain that there is no tour currently running -- not enough tickets sold to make it worth burning the fuel. So, Tobin sits on the deck of the boat underneath the awning where it's dry, seated on one bench with his feet propped up on the other, phone in hand, and seems to be texting someone. Dawn's already checked out for the day. The little shack that serves as an office has a "CLOSED" sign in the window. He just hasn't bothered to walk back home in the rain yet.

It's a weekday afternoon so Byron shows up in business attire-- a dark buttoned down shirt beneath a a simple navy blue blazer with dark slacks. A heavy gray coat is worn over the ensemble, his hands tucked away into black gloves. For now, his umbrella is up to protect against the rain as he makes his way down the docks towards Tobin's boat. Looking rather blasé at this dreary day, one which they are used to by now, living in Gray Harbor, he addresses Gilford while his eyes remain staring out into the horizon. "I figure the tour season will be slowing down for much of this colder weather? That is, unless we're lucky enough to get a clear day."

Tobin is in a pair of jeans and sneakers, like he so often is, with a Grey Harbor Boat Tours t-shirt on under a light jacket to keep out the rain. He glances up when he sees someone approaching and says, "Yeah. It's starting to get too wet too often to keep them going. I figured I'd squeeze out a few more before Thanksgiving then call it for the season. I think we did well enough this year to carry me through the winter." He shrugs his shoulders then and asks, "How are things going at Bayside? Quieter, now?"

"Speaking of Thanksgiving. My mother and I might be having dinner with Lilith." Byron says, turning to Tobin. Often enough, they would sometimes spend Thanksgiving together, sometimes with Mary Thorne. Sometimes just sharing a dinner. "I'm curious as to how that will play out." In honestly, he sort of is, but he has a feeling that things won't go as smoothly as he'd like. "We could join you for the occasion, like old times. But I don't want to interrupt if you have other plans too."

The question about Bayside brings a touch of a smile to his lips, "We're still doing damage control. The summer tenants are gone, but," there's a shake of his head, "A lot of the drama happened while they were here. So I'm having my lawyer look over some lawsuits that are only now coming in. I'm sure she'll be able to sort it all out."

Tobin nods his head at that and says, "I'm sure she will. It will all work out." He lifts his eyes to look out over the water for a few moments and then asks, "How are you doing?" He glances down at his phone, answers the last text that comes in, and then tucks it into his pocket, slipping it away for the time being. Instead, he folds his hands on his stomach, making himself comfortable.

Making his way aboard the boat, finally, Byron keeps the umbrella up for now. "Besides receiving a mysterious invitation from the dark side?" He says this with a grin of sorts, "I'm doing alright. I've yet to hear from Vivian," Since they broke up and not in the best of terms, "but I'm hoping that she's doing fine. She moved out here for me. Just packed up, without telling me ahead of time that she was planning to. And for whatever reason, she's not planning on returning to L.A. or anywhere, though in truth," He turns to Tobin, "I think that she really should. Gray Harbor is dangerous and she's new to this stuff." His gaze drifts back out to the sea, "And it's not like there's anything exciting here to keep her tethered to this place."

"Besides the weirs message from the dark side," Tobin says with a faintly wry smile. "We can come back to that one." And he will, at some point. He rarely forgets a conversation thread, just sometimes doesn't come back to it immediately, or ever if it doesn't seem to be necessary. He nods about Vivian and says, "I haven't seen her, but then I haven't spoken to her since before your birthday so.. that was some time ago." And he'd only really met her the once, so he has no particular reason to be in touch with her. "I get the impression though that no matter what she does, she'll be just fine. She struck me as someone who can very much take care of themselves." He then tilts his head and asks, "How's Lilith doing?"

"Sure, she can take care of herself, but she can do that outside of Gray Harbor too." Byron says with some irritation in his voice. "I don't want her life to be endangered /here/ because she wanted to move in with me. She wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for me." This might hint that he's feeling just a small bit guilty about it all. Not the break-up, but the fact that Vivian was in Gray Harbor. The edge of his lips tugs into a smile, eyes returning to Tobin, "Lilith is doing well enough. There was a girl's night out recently. Seems like they had a great enough time." Which probably mean that they, or Lilith, were wasted. "Seeing as she got a memo too, it gives us an excuse to sleep over at one another's place. Not wanting to be caught off guard when whatever is going to happen, happens."

He then turns to Tobin, "What about you? How is Rafael doing?" He considers, "Has he experienced more of our Gray Harbor 'charm'?"

"Vivian's a grown woman and if she chooses to stay here because she wants to stay here, then that's really not on you, Byron. She may have come here to move in with you, but if she stays -- then she's staying for something else at this point. If she goes, she's going for something else," Tobin says from where he sits, studying Byron. He chuckles and says, "Well, that's good to hear that she's having fun. Was that the reason for the sudden Guys Night Out the other day? With Easton Marshall, no less. You need to tell me how the two of you ended up... friends?" The word is said as though not sure if that's an applicable term or not. Then he laughs, "Do you really need an excuse to sleep at one another's places, man? I mean.." One brow creeps up. "Me? I'm fine.. I'm always fine. Raf is good, working as much as he can, since there aren't a lot of music students in Gray Harbor and he has to go out of town to play gigs. I think Ignacio's seen way more shit than Raf has, at this point. But, I'll be honest, if it means keeping him out of the worst of it, I'm okay with him having dodged that bullet thus far."

"Hopefully, Vivian decides to leave before it's too late and she's drawn into something that she can't escape." Byron will say that much, but he seems willing to drop the topic of his ex. "And no. Well, besides the fact that I thought we needed a bit to unwind, catch up on things a bit. Disclose a few things that might be going on in our lives." That last part makes any semblance of a smile fade from his features, though when he brings Easton up and this 'friendship', there's a quirk of a brow and the smile returns. "It's a Landlord-Tenant relationship, for the most part. It doesn't excuse the fact that he was an asshole as a teenager, but look. One of my tenants kinda owns a bar? So I'll take it."

That grin broadens even more at this sharing sleeping arrangements with Lilith, "That's what got me into trouble to begin with. You know... That I wasn't considering getting together with Lilith when we first ran into each other. Or, I couldn't shake the fact that she this was the same girl who left, you know? And when Vivian surprised me by showing up one day with all her belongings..." He shrugs, his smile tightening, "That should have cemented this idea in my mind. And for a time, it did. But then things started happening to Lilith. She was pulled into all of these bad things and, I guess, despite my anger with her, my protective side game out."

He then arches a brow, "Ignacio. The guy who writes that one column?" He hasn't really met the guy in a more official capacity, so that's all he has to say. "But yeah. Maybe Rafael is just good luck. Let's hope that's the case."

"Makes sense," Tobin says at the explanation regarding Easton and his connection to Byron. "I didn't realize he was living at Bayside." So that seems to make the connection for him. He tilts his head as he listens to Byron talk about Lilith and he says, "I knew from that first day when all three of us were in my living room that the two of you were going to get back together. I could have told you that right there and then." His lips tick a little bit into a slightly amused smile. But then he shakes his head and says, "That girl is a magnet for trouble. I don't think I've known anyone who has been perpetually through thing after thing the way that she has." Which doesn't seem to be a judgment so much as an observation.

"Ignacio, yeah, the guy who writes the column. He also works for me part time doing the tours so I can spend more time either just piloting the boat, or you know, not working all the time," Tobin chuckles. "He's also Rafael's brother." He smiles then and says, "Whether he's good luck or not, he's definitely made me happy. I'm really glad that someone sent him looking for my mother, and that he found me."

"His was a summer family." Byron says as further explanation of Easton, "Wealthy enough that when they'd drag him out here, he felt the need to be a douche to everyone." At least to the not-wealthy. "They, his family, had leased that apartment out for years. Ever since we were still in high school." He'll consider a few things, those too-dark eyes of his looking thoughtful, "Do I think he's a changed man? Possibly. He was military. A marine, after all."

The edges of his eyes crinkle when he smiles when Tobin brings up already having it in mind that he and Lilith would be hooking up again. "It was a possibility, sure. But so much time had passed and we'd moved on, you know. To be honest, though, we only really started coming together when our circumstances forced us in that direction. With her being hunted and haunted by..." He shakes his head slow, the smile fading, "Whatever it is that wants her. To my being grievously injured a couple of times during that same point that she felt a need to be there to heal me, though she doesn't consider herself a healer. To... the situation with the cursed ring." His tone quiets, words slow with consideration, "If those things hadn't happened, I'd probably still be with Vivian right now." For better or for worse.

Hearing Tobin bring up his mother, through Rafael's searching for her, he finally looks back on his friend, "Do you want to search for her? Over there? There are people who can open those doors for you."

Tobin nods when Byron mentions that Easton's was a summer family, remembering at least that much about him. "Yeah, I remember that. He used to hang out with some of those other kids that used to go to all the Addington parties." Something that Tobin and his very middle class folks were definitely not a part of. "Some people change, mature, as they get older. No reason that he couldn't. He seemed alright." He then sits up, letting his feet fall to the floor and leans forward a little, resting his elbows on his knees. "Maybe you would be, but I don't think it'd be quite what it is with you and Lilith." He shrugs his shoulders. That's just his opinion, as someone who has spent a lot of time observing them both. When his own mother is brought up though, Tobin glances out over the water and says, "I have been. Searching for her, that is."

Byron doesn't have much more to say about Easton too now, simply nodding to what Tobin says. It's often difficult to determine whether he's still pondering on something or not, but he changes subjects easily enough. "That's one thing Vivian was upset about. I mean, believing that I chose Lilith because she possessed these incredible powers, which Vivian does not." There's a subtle narrowing of his eyes in thought, "That's not the main reason, of course, but I can't deny that if Lilith wasn't Lilith, this thing of brilliance that the shadows seem to want to posses. This Healer..."Rather than continue with that thought, he grins again. "Nevermind and I can't change Vivian's mind on the why, I'd moved on."

While he can't be truly surprised to know that Tobin has been searching for his mother, Byron is curious about one thing. "How? How are you searching?"

"There's something about a shared experience, even if it's not the /same/ experience, of being with someone who shares some of the same shadows and light, in different ways," Tobin observes as he lets his gaze wander out over the water. He seems to be lost in some train of thought or another when Byron asks him how he is searching. "By finding the thin points in the Veil, and walking through them, by trying to feel her, some sort of sense of her, from memory, from how she felt, from what I can pick up when I.. touch things that resonated with her. She's not dead, Byron. I can still feel her. I just can't find her."

"I'm nothing like Lilith." Byron starts to say, before adding on, "She was born to be something great." He almost regrets uttering those words, his gaze shifting to view the horizon once again. The gloved hand not holding on the umbrella, tucks into his pocket. "Just like you were." He's talking about their light. Their shine. However Tobin, himself, differentiates those with the gift from the mundane. Byron Thorne had always been a proud sort, somewhat boastful, in his own confident, good-natured way. At least, as a child and a teenager. That doesn't mean that he no longer shows signs of this, but in recent months, especially, he has contemplated on the difference between them all and just how special they really were.

"But you know that I'm always here to help." He adds on, his face slowly returning to look on Tobin. "Is there anything that I can do? Things that you've thought of, but haven't been able to test out or investigate yet?"

"No, you're more like me than Lilith," Tobin says as he studies Byron, slowly pulling himself up to his feet and coming to stand closer, to really look at him. Dark eyes flicker over his features. "You are a force to be reckoned with in your own right, Byron Thorne. I don't know as I was ever meant to be anything great. I shine bright, but I can't even find my own mother. I can wrestle a dragon within someone else's mind, but I can barely keep my own business afloat. Let's be honest, Byron.. what I am here? It's perhaps unique, and it's perhaps a lot -- but in the big wide world? I'm just the same scruffy kid who really doesn't know what he's doing with his life. You've always known what you wanted, always had a plan, were always thinking ahead, and you went out and you made for yourself the life that you have. I've always admired that. I'm not sure that Lilith and I being beacons of tasty deliciousness for a bunch of creepy shadow people is really a good thing, when all is said and done. But you are like us, for better or worse, even if differently so." He then shrugs his shoulders, hands slipping into his jeans pockets. "You guys have a lot more to deal with than I do. This is my personal quest. It seems you guys have way more going on, in way more different dangerous ways, that you need to worry about. I wouldn't feel right asking you guys to help with this."

Keeping to a neutral, yet attentive expression, Byron quiets to listen to Tobin talk, explaining their differences to him and how much any of that truly molded into the people they are today, with their varying degrees of successes. There are things he feels he could counter with, especially this idea in his mind of just how much more he could accomplish if he were.... better trained? Born gifted in the way many in town were? He's not quiet certain himself. Though there's this look in his eyes when Tobin brings up that he'd always thought ahead, made plans. Perhaps, against his best judgement, he says, "To get ahead, sometimes you gotta do a lot things you might not want to. Make sacrifices here and there." He won't go into details of this, but then again, that's how business works-- if you listen to those who have been crushed by capitalism and the like.

"You're probably right, but you know I'm here to help promote and, expand, if you'd like, your business. I just don't want to intrude, though I'll sometimes toss out ideas." He grins at that last part, before takes in a deep breath through the nose.

"Your mother was like a mother to me as well. She was a mother to the whole neighborhood. With how often I was there, mooching off her cookies and warm smiles, I believe I owe her that much. To help you out." The gloved hand tugged out from his pocket, he reaches to place it firmly and reassuringly on Tobin's shoulder.

"We all make sacrifices for the things that we want," Tobin says. "I could have left this town. I could have gone anywhere, and gotten free of this place, and gone to college, and gotten a degree, and maybe a great job somewhere exciting instead of.. staying in the same place I grew up, doing the same job I've essentially had since high school. But I stayed here for the only family I have left, to be here if they came home." He shrugs his shoulders slightly. "And sometimes, we do things that we have to, because circumstances force us into those positions, whether we like it or not." His eyes go a little distant, with his own memories for a moment before he looks back to Byron again. "I'm happy to listen to ideas, about the business, if you have any. You know I've always valued your opinion, and your advice."

Then he nods at Byron's words about his mother and he says, "Okay. Well.. if you want to, then maybe.. once this business with the invitation, and whatever that entails, is done.. we can talk about that. For right now, I'm more worried about what that means for you and Lilith."

This talk of sacrifice elicits a nod from Byron, his hand lowering to hang at his side as he takes a step back to admire the tour boat that they are standing in right now. "This casino might just draw the attention we need to town. Not that the high rollers are coming here for a boat tour." He's not going to lie about that. "But I always like to think that they'll bring their families, who might enjoy that and the dinner." Despite the casino having it's own high class restaurants as well. "Other than though, I'll definitely look into possibly packaging boat tours and/or dinners with other things to lure people to town and its surrounding areas. The Masquerade was to help garner some interest. The casino will do the same. We just need to keep the interest high."

"And we'll be in good hands." Byron starts to say, this tight smile on his lips, "Well, in good company anyway. I'm sure no good will come of this, but as long as we make it out of it all unscathed. That's all that I'm hoping for. And besides," the smile widens, "It could be nothing." Wishful thinking right there. "So do you have plans for tomorrow? Otherwise, I'd say you can spend Thanksgiving with us. You know how my mother always takes interest in your business and the tours."

"Perhaps. With the casino already being out on the water, I'm not sure how much the casino crowd will be interested in even the dinner cruises, but perhaps their families during the day. Kids, definitely, tend to like the boat tours," Tobin says thoughtfully. "It's not a bad thought. And the Masquerade did bring a lot of people. Our event alone sold out quickly. I probably could have done more than one and filled both. If we do it again next year, then I might."

It's his turn to reach out then, lightly touching Byron's elbow, clasping it with one hand. "It's never nothing," he says with a slight shake of his head, expression very serious, and filled with concern. "But you will be in good company, and you're all capable." When asked about tomorrow he says, "I've got plans with Rafael. He and Iggy aren't going back to New York, not with the way things are with their father. So I was going to try and do Thanksgiving with them. Pass on a hello from me to your mother, and a Happy Thanksgiving?"

He pauses for a moment and then picks up a thread of thought from somewhere that he'd set down and only now seems to be getting back to, "If there's anything that I can help with, teach you, about what I know about our abilities, I will, if you ever want. I know you really didn't like what Alexander and I had to do to get Isabella to wake up but.. doing it? Straining against that powerful potential in her head? It made /me/ stronger, afterward."

"That's definitely what I'm talking about. The kids." Byron says with a quick nod. "They might rent a place full time, though primarily come over the summer or any other family vacation. The parents can spend their days and nights gambling, the kids can comb the beach, enjoy the boardwalk and go on various boat tours." He smiles that winning salesman smile now, "Especially tours that tell them about all the weird, fascinating the spooky history this town has to offer."

This is followed by a slow nod, "I'll let her know. That means it's just me, Lilith and Mary Thorne." He sounds so thrilled about that! "Trouble at home, huh? It's good that Rafael and his brother have a friend in you then. I hope that you all enjoy the holiday as well. Lilith and I... will be cooking up some turkey for the first time. I mean, it's not that I've never done it before, but usually, I'm there more in an assistant capacity. This year, we'll both be floundering." He checks his watch. "Speaking of, we probably should get a start if we want the entire meal done prepared for before bed tonight." And the way he says this, he expects it to be a whole production of cooking.

He then blinks at Tobin's offer. "It's not--" He starts. "I'm not really comfortable with linking minds up with anyone." He probably has his reasons, though most of it is distrust and the fact that no matter how strong his mental defenses are to keep his secrets... secret, this is still opening up an opportunity for possible disaster. It might not happen the first time. Or the second. But it will happen eventually.

"But, I have been working to hone my skills to get stronger. I mean, c'mon. My main focus is business and convincing people to put their trust in me." He smiles like a hungry cat now. "Not that I'd do anything to abuse that power, of course." This is said with a straight face, before he laughs. He's joking around... probably. "But, I'll listen to any tips and advice that you have to offer." That much he'll say. "For now, I need to run to Safeway and the deli. Pick up a few things for tomorrow."

"I wasn't asking you to link minds with me," Tobin says with a slight shake of his head. "Just.. back when we first started getting together with Geoff and Lilith and practicing, and we started all telling each other about what we could do.. it was something that I wanted to mention, and then.. things just kept happening and I never got around to actually saying it." He gives Byron's elbow a little reassuring squeeze and says, "You know me, Byron. I wouldn't ask you to do something you didn't want to, and I know that's not something you want to do."

Then he lets his hand fall away and says, "Yeah, issues with their dad. But.. they're here now, and we're going to make the most of it here." He smiles then and says, "Okay, I will let you get on with your cooking extravaganza. I'd offer help but Ignacio's the one who cooked in the restaurant so is probably better at it than me, that's for sure." He pauses then and says sincerely, "It was good to see you. Let's get together after the holiday?"

Byron can't help but wonder something now, the way his brow furrows, when he asks, "I only recently learned how to... project images. I do it as if I were in some board room meeting, to show people what I'm talking about. Projecting memories on some holographic screen. And here I always thought I was at the height of my abilities, having relied on some of them for, well, three years. Ever since I returned home and began learning everything I'd forgotten." A pause and he even smiles, "Not that I was an expert before I left town." This is followed by another nod, "I'd mentioned it before, but if only there were instructors out there who could've saved some of us some grief by teaching us how to use our powers." He then looks to Tobin, "I mean, we could possibly work to set something up like that?" It's a suggestion.

"And sure, we definitely need to meet up after the holidays." He explains as he starts down the ramp, "James inherited his uncle's home, who just happened to be a hoarder. He might need some help cleaning the place up. I figure, why not do it over a few beers with the rest of the Guild." Pausing at the bottom of the ramp, on the docks proper, he offers Tobin a salute, "Enjoy the holidays, man. Catch you later."