You know the rules. This is a 1x1 roleplay, which means that only Merrihop and I are allowed to post here. Anyone else who posts here will be reported for spamming or some other offense. Or a mod will be contacted.

That means none of your, "Oops," posts, got it?

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"Where did you learn to do that?" he asked, keeping his ice blue eyes trained on the man sitting only a few feet away.

Red eyes glanced up at the man questioning the origin of his skills. "By watching people," he replied, almost coldly, turning his eyes back down to the needle in his hand.

"When did you watch people?" the blue eyed man pressed on, genuinely curious as to how Zaitsu, the man he'd known for centuries, had learned so many things without anyone ever noticing.

"I watched people when eyes were off of me. There's a lot of things I did when he wasn't watching," he replied as he continued to sew. Eirose had been questioning him for nearly an hour now, and it was beginning to try his patience.

"You refer to him so casually, aren't you scared he'll find us?"

"Saying his name won't make a difference. If he finds us, he finds us. Talking about him won't change that," he said, a bitter tone in his voice.

"Ah, you are scared..."

"I don't see how my personal feelings have any relevance."

"Even as a runaway he still has you trained like the perfect guard dog," he said, a thoughtful look on his face.

"You're the dog. Unlike you, I don't lower myself to stand on four legs and beg for food. I'd rather starve."

"To each his own..."

Without any warning, the dark street outside was light up by a brilliant rosy flash, briefly illuminating the streets as if it were the middle of the day. For those that missed the light, the resounding crack was more than enough to get attention. When the light faded and the ear-splitting noise had echoed off into the distance, the streets were dark again. The only change was the form of a young woman on her knees on the ground, vibrant pink hair cascading down to brush the tops of her hands.

The woman quickly raised her head and looked around rapidly, large brown eyes wide. She reached up to clutch at something around her neck, her breathing becoming more rapid. She clambered around, finding a parcel of sorts and unwrapping it to find a bound book of blank pages and a charcoal pencil. She opened the book desperately and started to sketch ignoring everything around her as she tried desperately to get down whatever it was she was trying to draw, but she was only a third done when she dropped the charcoal and started to shake, looking around again at the dark streets, a couple of wary eyes peering out their windows at her.

Tobias looked back down at the sketch, tears welled in her eyes, and she started to whimper. She grabbed the unfinished sketch and pressed it against her chest as she started to shake uncontrollably, choking on the first of many anguished sobs.

Eirose's attention shot towards the window, his eyes wide. "What the hell was that?" he asked, quickly getting to his feet and making his way to the window. He pulled the heavy drape back just enough to peer outside, his eyes narrowing to better focus on the source of the commotion.

"What is it?" Zaitsu asked quietly, standing and setting down the cloth he'd been sewing to go to Eirose's side.

"A woman," he replied, his eyes returning to their normal gaze. "But something's not right..." He let the drape fall and quickly heading towards the door.

"That's obvious," he muttered, rolling his eyes a bit and following after Eirose.

Tobias whimpered and clung to the book in her arms, seeming not to notice the fuss as people began to emerge from their homes to inspect the strange sight on the street.

Until a very loud man burst out of his front door, wielding a wooden club and bellowing, "What the bloody hell is going on out here?! How did you do that?!"

Tobias' head shot up, seeming to be snapped out of her anguish by the loud noise. She turned to look toward the yelling man, and saw all the people staring at her. The young woman clambered to her feet, clinging to the book all the tighter and starting to back away, "I... I... I didn't..." Her voice was quiet and frightened, unsure of her surroundings and with no clue what would happen if she let the armed man closer to her.

So she did what seemed logical at the moment, threw off her shaking as best she could and took off at a sprint away from the crowd and their staring eyes, leaving behind only the empty bag, charcoal pencil, and a few teardrops on the cobblestone street.

"It's better to keep your voice down," Zaitsu said threateningly, glaring at the loud man once he'd reached the place where the young woman was fleeing from. "Loud mouths like you frighten all the women off. No wonder you live alone," he sneered.

Eirose had taken off after the girl, catching her by her upper arm and gently pulling her back towards him. "What's wrong, Miss? Did something happen to you?" he asked, turning her around to face him. His eyes widened as they fell upon the gem around her neck. It felt like the breath was being sucked out of him as the matching gem around his neck glowed brightly, the gem around hers reacting to his.

He gasped a few times, desperately trying to fill his lungs with air, his heartbeat erratic. Head spinning, he stumbled backwards, though reached for the gem around her neck.

"Eirose!" Zaitsu called, running towards him. After picking up the girl's bag and pencil, he had gone after the two of them. He wrapped his arm around Eirose's back and under his arms, supporting him should he fall.

"Eirose, wha-" His voice died instantly on seeing the gem around the girl's neck and realizing that it was causing this strange panic in Eirose. "There's two of them?" he asked, bewildered as he looked down at his clearly distressed partner.

"I... I think he found us," Eirose said weakly through his struggle to breath.

Tobias jerked backward sharply, grabbing the gem defensively, "Don't!" As she pulled away, the hood over her head fell backward, revealing a pair of large calico cat ears which were folded down in fear. She stumbled backward a few feet, watching the two men warily, holding onto the gem around her neck as if her life depended on it, "You can't have it... I- I won't let you..." She stammered, starting to realize running off into the dark may have been a bad idea, and now she was alone with two strangers that could easily overpower her. And to make matters worse, she had no idea what the fuss was about the gem, but something in her knew that she mustn't give it up at any cost.

"You dropped this," he said hotly, thrusting her bag and pencil into her hands before hoisting a now unconscious Eirose up onto his back. Now wasn't the time for threats or fighting - there was a chance that Damian had found them. Now was the time for retreating and possibly fleeing again.

He quickly removed himself and Eirose from view, making it back to their home within a moment or two. Gently dropping Eirose onto their bed with a very soft 'thump', he went to the door and bolted it shut, hoping against hope that they hadn't been discovered.

Meanwhile, a tall man with golden eyes that had watched the exchange stepped forward from the shadows. "Come with me," he said softly.

Tobias whimpered and watched the two men go, still holding the gem in her hands tightly enough to turn her knuckles white. She was about to sigh with relief when they were gone, but the third man came forward.

She backed away a few more steps, watching the man nervously, "Why?... I don't... I don't know you... I don't even know where I am..." She brought her other hand up and clasped it over the other, tears welling in her eyes. She was confused and terrified, and didn't understand at all.

"Would you rather attract a crowd and be left to fend for yourself? I'm not going to hurt you, I have no reason to," he told her, his bright golden eyes meeting hers, an expression of utmost sincerity upon his features.

Tobias sniffled, then sighed, "Alright... " She bent down at picked up the charcoal pencil off the ground, along with the empty bag, which was more of a sack anyway. Stuffing the book into the bag, she took a moment and stared at the pencil in her hand, giving it a look of betrayal, before walking tucking it away and quietly toward the man, "You don't have any reason to help me either, though..." She said quietly, looking down at the ground and wrapping her fingers around the gem at her neck, as if it were the only item of comfort to her in the entire world, though she didn't know why.

"If I don't help those in need, then I'd never deserve help if I should ever need it myself," he replied, turning to head back the way he'd came. "Pull your hood over your head, these people aren't used to seeing humanoids with feline ears."

Tobias nodded quietly, reaching back and pulling her hood up with her free hand. She tucked her hair away and started back after the stranger, sniffing again, "Where am I?... Who are you?... And what's going on? Those two men behaved so strangely... and the second one acted like I did something wrong... That first guy was the one who chased me..." She didn't realize she might have been rattling on a bit much, but she was completely baffled and wanted any answers she could get.

"You're in London. My name is Matthias. As for the rest of your questions, answers will have to wait until wandering ears can't listen," he said, leading her down a narrow road.

Tobias nodded and continued following, "I do appreciate your help Matthias. Please pardon me... The only things I really seem to know about myself at this moment is that my name is Tobias, and this... thing... around my neck... is important, and i have to hold onto it no matter what..."

He came to a stop at a decently hidden door and pulled it open, ushering her inside of the small two room house. "That's because the object around your neck is the heart of your husband,"he said, pushing the door shut and locking it.

Although both rooms were cluttered, everything was perfectly organized. Most of the clutter was contributed by books, scrolls, quills, bottles of ink and rolls of parchment. The first room connected to the second room by a large opening. There was a fireplace in the first room and a wood burning stove in the second room a few feet away from his bed.

There were a couple arm chairs scattered throughout the little house, some with books stacked around them, another near a small table. A pure black cat laid sleeping on his bed, both rooms dimly lit by oil burning lamps.

Tobias perked her ears, staring confusedly for a long moment, "Husband?... I don't have a husband... do I?..." She looked down at the gem in her hand, staring at it as if she could convince it to give her some information. When she realized staring was pointless, she raised her head and looked around the home they had entered, before turning her gaze to Matthias again, "But how would you know? We've never met... have we?"

"We've met in another life. In the future, to be more precise. Your husband is my cousin. Apparently possessing his heart when you died caused you to be drawn to him in another life, and thus, you were brought here in the past," he explained, going to the chair closest the fireplace and removing objects from on and around it. He turned it a little and motioned an offer for her to sit down.

Tobias perked her ears at Matthias, a baffled expression on her face, "That's not possible... How can I have had another life in the future and come backward? It doesn't make sense..." She shook her head going to sit down in the chair she was offered, "No one can move through time..."

"Many things about you never made sense. I never fully understood how you could do it myself, but you can. Every time you die you skip through time and end up somewhere in the future or the past. All you're left with is your name, a sketchbook and a pencil. But this time, you were left with the gem around your neck as well. That man that followed you didn't have any ill intentions, he only wanted to know if you were alright. The heart around his neck reacted to the heart around your neck, and he doesn't fully understand it yet."

Tobias hugged her arms softly, leaning against the back of the chair and looking off to the side, "I don't see why it should bother him... That other man seemed angry at me..." She fidgeted with the parcel quietly, not thinking about the contents. The urgency of the sketch inside seemed to have faded, as had any memory of the person it had been of, or their importance.

"It affected him because the heart you're wearing is the heart that he's wearing. His heart. The other man became angry because he didn't understand it and was frightened for his partner."

Tobias' head shot up and she fixed her gaze on Matthias, "Wait... his?! That man is... well... was... er... is going to be... my husband? But... the other one... his partner?" She reached up and rubbed her head, "This is too much... apparently I died recently... or... in the future, and now I've got a husband who has a male partner and none of it makes sense... I don't remember anything... and I don't have a home or anything else but this useless book..." She dropped the parcel on the floor frustratedly and pulled her knees up to hug them, burying her face in the folds of her long skirt and started to weep anew.

"You have to keep in mind that this is the past. Hundreds of years before when you died. Yes, that man is your husband, but not in this time and place. For now, he's with his lover before you. You can't do anything to change that, or you risk altering the future." He walked over to one of the small windows and pulled the thick drape back just enough to see outside into the darkness.

"You can stay here, if you'd like. It might not be much to you, but it's better than nothing," he said, letting go of the drape and moving into the other room to sit on the edge of the bed and stroke the sleeping cat.

Tobias' tears slowed a bit, and she sniffled into the fabric of her skirt before raising her head. She stared at the floor, a forlorn expression on her face, "I don't even know him... I wouldn't just try to break up strangers I don't know anything about..." She shook her head, then rested her chin on her knees, "Thank you for your kindness... but eventually I'll have to figure out what to do with myself..." She stared down at the parcel on the floor, hugging herknees close.

"Well until then, you can stay here if you'd like. It's better than nothing," he said, slowly standing up and walking over the other side of the room to clear a place on the floor for him to sleep on. "You can sleep on the bed, I hope you don't mind sharing it with Icarus. He's a spoiled cat and refuses to sleep on the floor."

Eirose regained consciousness with a start, quickly leaning over the edge of the bed and vomiting. After emptying the contents of his stomach, he let out a sick groan and laid back down, putting his arm over his eyes in an attempt to rid himself at least little of his pounding headache.

"Zaitsu...?" he called weakly, hoping he wasn't alone.

"Do you really think he found us?" Zaitsu asked, walking over to the bed and throwing a dirty blanket over the vomit on the floor.

"Yes... We need to leave here before he decides what to do with us..."

"No," Zaitsu said firmly, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "I'm not leaving. I'm not going to run from him. If he wants me, he's going to have to fight for me. And I don't care how many buildings or people are destroyed in the process. I'm tired of this."

"You're such a fool..."

"No, I'm not. I'm happy here, and I'm not going to give that up without a fight."