swagger like us [toby]

[FINNIGAN CLARKE MACLEOD]

Today, Finn had decided to try his hand at bowling. That kind of made it sound like he'd never been bowling before, probably – he had, he just was really, spectacularly terrible at it. As in, the last time he had gone bowling was probably thirty or forty years ago, with Zoe, and she had laughed at him so badly for rolling gutter ball after gutter ball that he ended up making 'the ultimate sacrifice' and springing for lane guards just so he could stop epic failing all over the place. Because that would make him less likely to be ridiculed, right? Not a chance. Of course his best friend was just being playful, threatening to revoke his 'man card' just because he couldn't bowl worth a damn, and really, how hard was it to roll a shiny ball down a lane and hit some pins? Timing, arm strength, aim – he had all that. It was freaking hard. Yet, when his friend Toby had sent him a text asking for a 'bros' day' where they could go bowling, catch a movie, or 'whatever,' Finn had been happy to say yes. His career was pretty much the most important thing to him other than Zoe and his family, and he wasn't ashamed of that, but it didn't give him tons of time to actively seek out other friendships or hang out with the people he had gotten close to. And the warlock was a pretty cool guy – and that was saying something, since Finn was both a mama's boy and had a best friend who was a girl. Men were just... most of the time, Finn had a tendency to think their womanizing, douche bag, Neanderthal ways were atrocious, because he respected women. And okay, okay – Zoe was a womanizer, too, so it wasn't just men who did that, but he'd gotten used to putting up with Zoe's shenanigans. Toby was a nice guy, and Finn liked him. Even though their first meeting hadn't exactly been... well, Finn would have liked to have a better showing, but such was life, he supposed.

The demon had always had difficulty being 'one of the guys' because he was just... well, okay – he was a nerd. Computer genius, played cello, wrote his own dub-step tracks, thought that shiny technology was more beautiful than most women, and could basically quote every 'cult classic' movie in existence. From memory. Toby was... well, he was tall and athletic in ways that put Finn to shame, even though the demon was boasting some decent height at six foot four, and certainly was no slouch in the physical department. But, you know, being trained to do covert operation missions such as reconnaissance, theft, and the occasional assassination was different than, say, playing hockey or basketball. Team sports had never really been his thing, but if it meant being social, he was usually more than willing to try. That had been almost as big of a mistake as the lane guards. But Toby hadn't picked on him for not being able to grasp basic sports maneuvers like... well, dribbling or passing the ball, let alone shooting it when Finn had wandered onto a group of tall, athletic sorts 'shooting hoops.' They must have thought he looked like a capable enough specimen, which was severely flattering to Finn, but he should have just said 'no thanks' and gone back to working on writing a new hacker script or outlining plans for his next stealthy explosive device. Long story short, he had made a fool of himself, but Toby had been the only one who had patted him on the back with a 'you'll do better next time, buddy' and actually stuck around to talk to him after the game.

Finn had already paid for their lane and three games, rented his shoes (and paid for Toby's in advance), and was meticulously looking for the right size bowling ball when he caught sight of his friend out of the corner of his eye. Finn balanced a navy blue, fourteen pound ball in one of his large, nimble hands and waved with his other. ”Toby! Hey, over here!” Then, when he realized that Toby would probably try to pay for something that Finn had already picked up, he moved over to the counter, fingers tucked into the holes in the bowling ball until he didn't have to shout over the music that was playing just to be heard. ”Don't worry about it, already picked it up. Just, y'know, supply me with all the chili cheese fries I can eat when I get all depressed about how much I suck at this game. You're probably good at bowling, aren't you?” Finn didn't mind losing when it was something out of his element, but when it was something he was actually good at, he got a little grumpy. Therefore, Toby beating him mercilessly in bowling wouldn't be a terrible loss – and at least he was likely to have a few laughs and a good time with his good-natured friend. Even if he had to spring for the lane guards again.

OUTFIT:

[/color] Here![/blockquote][/justify]

[TOBIAS ANTHONY WARREN]

[style=width:400px; height:15px; font-family:oleo script; font-size:30px; line-height:85%; color:#876363; border-bottom: 5px solid #c1a2a2; letter-spacing:-1px; text-decoration:italic; text-align:right;]stay away from my friends

cause i need them,

It wasn’t very hard for Toby to make friends. If someone didn’t give Toby a reason to dislike him or her, it was pretty easy to slip into the friend’s status. His heart was probably as big as he was. Making fun of others was teasing fun, of course, but when it was just mean, he got really upset. He remembered exploding with power because he was trying to stop a group he was hanging out with from doing whatever to this woman in the middle of the night. It was easy to say they weren’t his buds anymore. It was type of situations like that. Though his family as pretty strict as to whom Toby should be hanging out with, that was probably the one thing he didn’t listen to them on. He liked being social. He liked going out to random places and meeting individuals. Later those individual people could be the best people he ever knew. Like Finn.

Not many people would expect someone like Toby to be friends with Finn. Sure, sometimes Finn’s ridiculously smart…ness was a little intimidating to someone like Toby. But those people Toby would probably frown at. Just because he was very athletic and strong didn’t mean everyone he knew how to be. In fact, diversity was better. Hanging with someone exactly like you could only be fun for so long. Being with someone different was what made it interesting. Toby was rather proud how many people he had met since he had been in Manuka. Getting texts of people asking if they would like to go out. There were few times Toby would say no. When getting the text from Finn, he was just watching TV at his house. Nothing much. After meeting the entire family he was going to be in-laws with, he felt that he had been running around frantic. His parents really liked this group. More so than the past, which was good. It meant he hopefully wasn’t going to be engaged again. It did mean he was going to have to work now very hard to keep it up on his end. Perfect husband.

Needless a night just to do something casual was more inviting than Finn probably understand. With a great smile, Toby walked over and put his leather jacket on. The summer nights were starting to become a little colder there in Manuka, especially since the rain was starting to be equally as cold. Satisfied with his look in the mirror, he raced over to the bowling alley. God, he couldn’t even remember the last time he had gone bowling. Had it been in college? Before he dropped out? Somewhere around there. It seemed like so long ago with all that happened between them. What he remembered, he remembered that he would get a strike once and the next time not hit either of them. It all depended. Sometimes he angled it just right and other times, he angled it right into the gutter. Typical of most people who didn’t bowl religiously. Very little people said ‘never done it’ and then got a couple of strikes on the first few. At least, in his professional opinion. As professional as it could be.

Walking in, he saw this place was oddly packed. Wow, these many people went out here? He’d have to see how this night went and check it out again. He stood on his tip toes for a moment, gazing around for his tall friend. Heading over to the counter to a dark haired woman, Finn found him just in time. With a half smile, he listened to him explain. Man, he didn’t have to do that. Toby had loads of money. His family had quite a bit of money behind them. Toby, as long as he did what he was told, could have as much of it as he wanted. When he was younger, there were those who dated him because he was pretty and rich. Pretty rich. It didn’t occur to him, of course, until a friend told him later, so he kept cautious about that. Still, those girlfriends didn’t really matter in the end, did they? Maybe it was better that way. That’s what made him the trophy husband. His hope was that Penny didn’t divorce him for the money, but so far what he knew of her, she was nothing like that.

”Thanks man.” Patting him on the back, walking over to the game Finn had already set up for them. ”Just let me know how many you want. We can buy the whole load if you want.” Just as long as this place could break a hundred, of course. Did he bring smaller bills? Toby tried to think. Yes, yes, he did. He didn’t know if having to try to decide that made him stupid, appealing, or just plain obnoxious. With a small chuckle, he shrugged, ”Last time I played it, it flipped back and forth. I have nothing steady with this.” giving him a crooked smile, ”Just watch you go all super pro on me.” Which had happened before. Sometimes the first person to say ‘I sucked at bowling’ was the winner. We’ll see.

[style=width:400px; font-family:courier; font-size:10px; text-align:center;]THANKS TO MAC !

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[FINNIGAN CLARKE MACLEOD]

Now that the war had started, Finn knew that he had to be careful about who he spent time with and how much he trusted people. Naturally, he was a trusting, open person. His parents had always exposed him to different viewpoints and ways to look at the world, even though they had chosen their alliance and place in the 'bigger picture' of everything. Their alliance and his loyalty to both his family and to Zoe was why Finn was not only firmly seated on the light side, but an integral member of the 'Task Force' that Zoe had helped to create. However, he never saw an issue with stepping outside of the box and continuing to make friends and spend time with people who might share in a different view than his primary. Toby was refreshing, though, because he was simple. No, not in a bad way. Toby was smarter than he gave him credit for, even if he wasn't going to win any awards for being a genius, but that didn't really matter. Sometimes Finn had to over-explain, which was something he rarely did for people, but he never minded with Toby. Toby was... Toby was a genuinely good person, who saw people for who they were on the inside, not who they were affiliated with, what they'd done, who they were related to, or any of that other nonsense. Finn had decided from the first meeting they had that the world could use more people like Toby; people who would see someone utterly useless on a basketball court and not ridicule him with all the other guys just to look 'cool' or keep his place as one of them. Instead, he had encouraged Finn, and even though the demon knew that he'd probably never be that good at sports, the encouragement felt good, and gave him a reason to take interest in the warlock with a heart of gold. So yeah, Toby was simple, but he was good, and that was what mattered most to someone like Finn.

Part of the reason why Finn had chosen bowling was because it seemed... easy. Well, not easy skill-wise, because the blonde was pretty sure that he was going to keep being as terrible at it on that particular day as he had been in the past. Bowling was easy fun, and didn't require a lot of excess talking or expectations. The two guys could just kick back, have some food, laugh at each other, high-five and do other 'manly' things. Finn needed more guy friends, truth be told, because even though he loved Zoe, and she had always been like an older sister to him, there was a level that he just couldn't relate to her on because she saw things from a female's perspective. And she saw a lot of other females, which was besides the point, but she had one-up on him there, too. Toby seemed to have decent success with women... the few times they'd gotten to talking about their personal lives, he'd mentioned something about engagements, which made Finn think that maybe he'd landed some great girl. Lucky guy. Finn kept holding out for his 'true love' just like his parents had found in each other, and knew that even though he had a really long time to look, he was a little impatient when it came to that kind of thing. Who didn't want someone to love them? Who didn't want someone to come home to at the end of the day and just vent to about everything going on? And then there was the physical and romantic stuff, and he definitely wanted all of that with a woman.

Finn finally saw his friends, and was quick to inform him that the games had already been paid for. The demon got the idea that Toby's family was pretty well-off, but Finn had several million dollars to his name, and that was just in one bank account. The kind of work he did was lucrative, to say the least, so he really didn't mind paying for bowling. Couldn't put a price on friendship, after all. ”Not a problem, just happy that we get to hang out where there aren't six other guys to pick on me for not being able to dribble a basketball. It's dribbling, right?” Finn's eyebrows furrowed because yuck, sports terminology. He could tell you every teeny tiny part inside a computer, but ask him what it was called when you did a specific sports maneuver? Not a chance. They got to talking about bowling, and Finn was a little surprised when Toby told him that his skills at this game were pretty varied. Finn laughed and started putting on his bowling shoes.

”Really? C'mon, now... don't pull my leg, mate. You seem the type who'd be good at all sorts of sports,” Finn said, teasing him a little in his playful Scottish accent. Toby wouldn't lie, and he knew that, but it was fun to joke back and forth with friends, and if someone couldn't handle a little verbal rough housing, they had no reason to want to be friends with the blonde man. Finn picked his ball, which was bright green, and then lined up his first shot. ”You think it'll help if I do a little Fred Flintstone or somethin'?” Toby would surely get that reference, and for the hell of it, Finn got on his tip-toes and shuffled down the aisle before throwing the ball... right into the gutter. ”Okay, so maybe should be more serious.” The next throw got him six pins, which was nothing spectacular, but at least it wasn't two gutter balls in a row. Finn went back to the table and plopped down. ”I'm going to need some of those chili cheese fries, keep up my strength. You want I should order while you throw?” Finn was waiting for Toby to take his turn, and had a feeling he'd be impressed, but it was all for good fun, win or lose.

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