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Post by <Fallen>:. on Nov 8, 2008 16:44:06 GMT 12
I've Always Been a Little Dark...
No-one ever really cared about Tobias'... darker pursuits. But they were always there.
Not having any outlet for his anger at home, he took to catching the animals he found in the streets; charming them, befriending them, oh-so patiently... And then crushing them.
Later on, of course, such habits had to be stopped. He had to move up in the world, and one going up shouldn't continue habits from the bottom. Not in the same manner, at any rate... Tobias was occasionally allowed to indulge his fancies with the prisoners he was given charge of. So really, he moved from cats, rats and dogs to slightly larger game.
He goes hunting too, when the fancy takes him.
'Love' is a severely uncommon emotion to him. He sees it, recognises it, knows how to manipulate it... But doesn't really feel it.
Kindness... Kindness he feels. Tobias can be kind, loyal, honest... All traits the 'bad guys' are supposed to abandon. He believes that he does what he does for the betterment of the minority. 'You're better off fearin' the underdog. Y'can kick 'im till he's low, but you can't break 'im. And when he gets back up, well... Watch your back, 'cause once bitten won't have a chance at twice shy.'
Appearances Are Everything:
Brown haired, intensely brown eyed, golden skinned... To be honest, many would consider Tobias a bit of a looker. If it wasn't for the disfiguring scars that twisted his body, of course.
The most noticeable ones, when he is dressed as usual, are the ones on his face. A single slash mark twists from the bridge of his nose to the base of his collar bone, and another scar, one that sliced his mouth open, runs from the left corner to the upper left of his cheek-bones.
Knife slashes, randomly places on his torso, form thick lines of scar tissue almost impossible to hide. Numerous scars mark his legs; callouses cover his feet and hands; and burn marks are apparent all over his arms. They appear to have been made by cigarettes.
All of these make him move like a man twenty years older than him. With the scars, all the youth has been torn from him.
But No-One Will Ever Know:
Cassandra James was down on her luck. Derek Reynard had just started to get back up with his own. He decided to indulge his fancy a little... Which was the first mistake of the episode.
Cassandra had been warming men's beds for years, and so knew what to do when she saw a well-dressed man like Derek approaching the brothel across the road. The long and the little of it was that Cassandra went away tired, but with more cash than she had had previously, and Derek dreamed the dreams of the pleasured.
It was like any other night in the city, and neither of the pair considered what would happen a few months later. Cassandra discovered she was pregnant. The idea came as a shock to her; Tobias was the first 'mistake' she had ever made. Or, at least, decided to keep. She immediately knew that she couldn't afford to abort the child... But certainly couldn't afford to keep it. For the sake of this, she had tracked down the single man she had managed to catch in that fateful month, and told Derek the news. Derek, a well-educated but run-down lawyer, had immediately told her not to keep the child... But Cassandra had already made plans. A few months later, Derek found himself in court, on trial for sexually abusing the mother of his child. There were no mentally sound witnesses to give evidence that Cassandra was, in fact, a prostitute. And the reason, Cassandra argued, that she had not reported this assault two months ago? Derek had soundly beaten her to keep her silent, then locked her in the cellar of her flat when she insisted she would keep the child. Derek's case, though the truth, and well presented, didn't stand up. Cassandra had the scars, the bruises (the child) and the acting experience to back up her case. And when the case was resolved in her favour, he was obliged to pay her two hundred dollars a week for child support.
He was, essentially, ruined.
And in return, Cassandra got two things she had always wanted: money and power.
Such was the life into which Tobias, then Tobias James, was born. Not much of the money sent by his father ever went towards food and clothing for the boy; he was left to fend for himself much of the time, while his mother was drunk. He developed asthma at five because of all the cigarette smoke. Twice his mother beat him, blaming Tobias for her drunken state, for the state her life was in. She had no job, and between grants, she had no money.
Tobias never understood what a mother's love meant. It didn't take him long to decide that the streets were a better place for him than his own home. No, home was the wrong word; it implies safety. The house he lived in was anything but.
He learned early on that life wasn't going to be easy for him... And that his mother had no control over him if he was out of her sight. He vanished for long periods, exploring the cities. At nine, he had already seen much of what his town had to offer... and had the scars to prove it. He had no problems with this world; after all, it as the only world he'd ever known, and was only better than 'home' because his mother wasn't there. He never called her 'mum'. Always Cassandra. She'd shout at him if she called him anything other, insisting that she was no-one's mother. She represented nothing of mother-hood to him; what did he care?
It was equally easy for Tobias to move on to smoking, gangs... everything that a mother is supposed to warn her child against. He was cornered in an alley way one day, age seven. Four big guys, scarred, tattooed and emblazoned with gang symbols, had caught him looking at them openly across the street, his permanent sneer apparently mocking them. By then, he had gotten around a little, having escaped by sheer luck from any fights he had been forced into, so he thought, rightly, that these teenagers wanted more of the same.
Tobias immediately put on his show of bravado, careful to be the first one to speak. "What'a'you want?" he'd snarled. The others laughed at him, none too kindly. Funnily enough, he was beaten bloody... Only to be accepted into the gang, a few weeks later.
And that was when, running from a rival gang, that Tobias discovered school. Ironic, isn't it, that a boy who should have been itching to get away from that place of learning (heaven forbid that any should rub off on him!) and mess around with all the things that Tobias had done, was aching to get into it!
He soon became a regular at the gates of the Saint Dominic School.
The other students, at first indifferent, then curious, finally began to talk to him. Although they were richer and better educated, Tobias had a charismatic air that he had obtained from his time in the gangs. He loved the attention they showered on him; lapped it up even.
The teachers began to notice the wiry young boy hanging around the back fence. They didn't approve of their charges talking to the 'riff-raff', and resolved to do something about it. But one felt sorry for the child, on the outside looking in. She began to talk with him every once in a while, slowly gathering information about him; who his parents were, where he lived... He wouldn't say who his friends were, or how he spent his weekends, because that would mean betraying his gang.
No, he said nothing about that... But the teacher wormed enough information out of him to know that his home-life was impossible at best... And soon began to take a liking to the child, which Tobias reciprocated. Before long, he found his mother relinquishing custody to the teacher... And to be blunt, he was far from sorry to see her go. Cassandra was always ten feet under a haze of alcohol, and as has been aforementioned, was never the mothering type.
Tobias got a better education than before. He began to grow up, in more ways than one. Before long, he was quite the high-school achiever; balancing his studies, sports, and new friendships with a finesse that even those brought up with such a life envied.
At his last year of college, he was made the Dux. It was possibly the proudest moment of his adoptive mother's life.
And then his gang roots came back to haunt him.
Long story short, he was harassed for many a year; unable to find the usual work because of the gang's now far-reaching influence. So instead, desperate, he joined the darker side of the Government.
Tobias was (and still is) a fast learner, and managed to rise pretty swiftly through the ranks. His charisma, apparently easy smile, and quick thinking made him favourite for many people in high places.
He performed a brief stint as the (hitherto unknown) interrogator for them; did a spell in advertising for his chosen candidate's campaign, and helped him get elected to office.
He did a few years as the then-leader's advisor, before the leader was murdered in a suspicious accident. (Tobias swears he had nothing to do with this; besides, many people know that he was a pretty good friend to the man.)
Since rising, his ideas, governing, and sometimes deeds, have made him very unpopular with Twilight's, and he's made more than a few enemies there. He's not too fussed... outwardly.
Well, What They Don't Know Will Hurt Them:
The Living:
Adoptive Mother: Natasha Harding [Female]. Fifty three. Retired teacher; now resides in a nursing home north of Miami.
Half-Sister: Serena Reynard [Female]. Twenty seven. Degree in biology and trained in fencing (Natasha's second adoptive child). 5"7, black hair cut short. Cinnamon-coloured skin and a red rose tattooed on her ankle.
Other Relatives: Kit Law [Male]. Twenty eight. Cousin, approx. 5"3, spiked black hair with a single neon-green streak. Dress sense is 'quirky' at best and 'disturbing' at worst. Skin tone olive to rich brown.
The Dead
Father: Derek 'Doc' Reynard [Male]. Died age fifty three.
Mother: Cassandra James [Female]. Died about thirty six; alcohol poisoning.
Other Relatives: Samuel Myers [Male]. Died thirty six; Tobias' partner in crime.
In My Best Interests:
Generally, he keeps a pair of PT99 Taurus pistols in holsters; one in a pocket in the lining of his jacket, and another in a hip-holster, where everyone can see it.
Hey, 'it is the right of all Americans to bear arms.' Who's going to complain?
In addition to these little beauties, he has a Nighthawk hunting knife concealed in the small of his back, for when things get messy.
I Have Many Secrets.
...Not the least of which being that:
A) He's bi.
B) He's mildly allergic to wheatgerm, ruling out most kinds of baking from his life.
C) He has a pet snake; an albino boa constrictor, which he named Ad Mortus.
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