Private Roleplay between myself and Merrihop. Anyone who posts here will have their posts reported for spamming.

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Though Zaitsu preferred the idea of spending the day alone without making any fuss over it, Tobias had once again managed to gather everyone she could find in Silver Door to the dining room behind the ground-floor kitchen to 'spend quality time together'. Of course, this meant that everyone had been pulled away from their activities regardless of their protests and desire to remain solitary creatures, all to celebrate the birthday of a man who felt a birthday was just another day of the year and should be ignored.

He sat at one of the tables, his left elbow on the table and his forehead in his palm, his eyes closed in an attempt to block out the light of the room. He hadn't been feeling very good lately. Seventy-three years old today, quite an accomplishment for him, and the longest life he'd ever lived - not that he was aware of any past lives. His body looked as though he were in his late thirties, only people who actually knew him would be able to guess at his real age.

"Dad...? Are you okay?" Amani asked worriedly, placing his hand on his father's shoulder.

"Yeah, I just don't feel very well. Probably just caught something while outside in the cold weather, nothing to worry about..." Zaitsu replied quietly with a soft sigh.

Tobias peeked out of the kitchen, smiling sweetly. She soon backed out through the door with two different types of cake. One was a special recipe sour lemon cake, the other was marble cake. She knew Zaitsu preferred sour foods, and she'd invented the recipe when he was a child. She set them both on the table with a smile, but her expression faded a bit as she noticed Zaitsu looked like he didn't feel well, "Zaitsu? Sweetie are you alright?" She kissed his head affectionately, tilting her ears at her son.

"I think I've just been spending a little too much time outside in the cold. I'm really sorry, but I think I'm going to go to bed early... Maybe I'll feel better in the morning."

Tobias nodded softly, a bit sad that Zaitsu felt unwell on his birthday, "It's alright sweetheart. I'll save your cake for tomorrow." She gave him a gentle smile, pulling back his chair, "First priority should be your health." She brushed his hair from his face, folding down her ears and continuing to smile.

"I'm really sorry... You went through so much trouble..." He slowly got up, his movements somewhat sluggish in his slight daze. Walking with the same tired slowness of someone who'd just woken up, he made his way towards the hallway that led to the bar.

Tobias shook her head, taking her son's arm and walking with him back toward his room, "It's alright Zaitsu, you can't help it if you don't feel well." She squeezed his arm affectionately, "I just wish you felt better."

She tilted her head for a moment, smiling, "Zaitsu I know you think it's silly of me to throw a birthday party, but getting to be your mother's been one of the best experiences in my life. We love you very much." She paused walking, looking up at him with the adoring smile of a doting mother, "You know that, right?"

"Even though I'm the middle child, you've always treated me like I was the youngest. I know you love me, at least as much as you're capable of... It feels like you hold yourself back from something... Like there's some deep dark secret rooted inside of me that everyone's afraid to mention." He gave a soft, sad smile and shook his head a little.

"Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I know there's something more to me and I seem to be the only person here that doesn't know it." He gave the small feline woman a gentle hug. "Goodnight, Mom. I'll see you in the morning." Slipping into his room and locking the door before his tiny mother could reply, he undressed himself and went to bed.

Tobias stood and looked at the bedroom door for a while, then nodded, "Goodnight sweetheart... I love you..." She replied to the door. She sighed quietly, then made her way back to the party in progress, going to Eirose immediately and hugging him tight, "I think we should probably let everyone go on to bed..." She leaned her head against her husband, worrying quietly about what Zaitsu had said.

"Mm. You wake the dead and assemble them for sweets then send them off before they've had their fill," he said, pulling her into his lap and resting his chin on her shoulder. "Tobias, dear, I love you. But parties are meant to be held at the beginning of a war and the end of a war, birthdays are meant to be private affairs."

He gently ran his hand up and down her back. "What's wrong, Tobi?"

Tobias blushed a bit. She always felt like she had when they were newlyweds when he did that, "Zaitsu... said something... He said he'd always felt like there was more going on that he didn't know about... I guess I feel bad that we've had to walk on eggshells all his life..." She cuddled against her husband, sighing quietly.

"Would you rather him remember his past life? Tobias... Secrets are better than pure misery. He might only feel that way when he's tired, you know. He taps into certain vibes when tired, especially ones he wouldn't normally feel while wide awake. Just let him rest for now, he seems like he really needs it."

Tobias nodded, "You're right love... You usually are. I just worry sometimes that he may have always felt this way, and never told us..." She rubbed her cheek against Eirose's gently, lovingly, "I hope he feels better in the morning..."

"Mm. We'll see." He gave her a soft kiss on the lips and snuggled her for a few moments, before yawning. "Tobias, I haven't slept in nearly two days. I think it's about time for some sleep, what do you say?"

Tobias nodded softly, "I agree. Let the young ones enjoy the cake. I doubt anyone has it in them to eat all that lemon cake in one sitting." She snuggled Eirose gently, then got up and took his hand, pulling him carefully so they could go to bed. She never let him go to bed without her since she came back from London.

The next morning, Tobias rolled over in bed and opened her eyes. She'd slept restlessly, concerned about Zaitsu. She got up and rubbed her eyes, yawning softly before she made her way out of the bedroom and into the hall. She tapped on her son's bedroom door, then opened it, "Zaitsu? Are you awake sweetie?" She peeked into the room, spotting him in the bed, and slipped into the bedroom to approach him.

He lay on his right side, his back to the door. His skin was ghostly white and cold to the touch.

Tobias had barely touched his body when she realized what had happened. She drew back and stared for a long, long time. It felt like world had stopped, taking her heart with it.

It was somewhere between seconds and minutes before she was able to move again, reaching out once more to smooth the dark hair, her hands shaking. Tears were running down her cheeks, but she made no sounds other than her shuddering breaths. She bit her lip and looked down at the floor, before making her way back to hers and Eirose's bedroom, putting a hand on him, unable to speak to wake her husband.

"Mm?" He could feel it through his heart gem around his wife's neck; a heartbroken, nearly hysteric emotion rattling through her small frame. His eyes opened and he sat up, blinking tiredly up at Tobias. "What's wrong? Did something happen?" he asked through a yawn.

Tobias opened her mouth to respond, and shut it again, before nodding as she reached for the strength to make any noise other than heartbroken sobs, "Zaitsu..." Was all she could manage to say.

He continued to blink up at her for a moment, his heart pounding in his chest as the gears in his tired mind began turning. If Zaitsu had been sicker than last night, Tobias wouldn't be in their room waking him sobbing and shaking. She'd be bustling about the kitchen making him soup and tea and doing everything she could to care for him. But that's not what she was doing... Zaitsu's name was on her lips, and she was shaking and heartbroken.

"Oh... Baby..." he whispered, his eyes widening as his mind came to the logical conclusion of what had happened. He held his arms out and pulled her to him, holding her tightly, resting his jaw against the top of her head. "Oh Baby... Please remember, seventy-three years is an extremely long time to him... This was the first time he ever even made it to forty..." He stroked her hair and held her close as tightly as he could without hurting her, trying not to let his body shake the way it wanted to.

He had to be strong for her, he'd have time to deal with his own feelings later.

Tobias didn't have the will to resist Eirose's embrace, and she sank into it, trembling. She couldn't speak, and buried her face into her husband's chest, shuddering as she finally began to weep, but it was so intense that she wasn't able to make a sound.

Over the course of several years, since he'd somehow managed to retrieve Tobias from the past and bring her back to her rightful future, Eirose's body had badly degraded in condition from passing through the time barrier. The effects of the barrier had warped parts of his physiology, greatly aging his internal organs to the point of nearly ceasing their function. He'd been doing his absolute best to hide from his wife the great deal of pain he was often in.

He knew it had only been five months since Zaitsu's passing, and feared it would be too soon to that devastating event to tell Tobias, but he couldn't will his old, damaged body to continue living for much longer, and he thought it would be horribly cruel and unfair to his wife not to tell her he was dying and instead to let her find out one morning by waking up next to his corpse.

Sighing, Eirose made up his mind to finally tell his wife that he had to let go of this life to repair the damage done. After all, not even Andrew could help him with it. He bit his bottom lip and took a deep breath, before approaching Tobias in the ground floor library.

Tobias sat quietly in a large chair, working on some cross stitching. She didn't feel the drive for art, or for reading, or many other things since Zaitsu had left, but she found some peace in the small activity. She was recovering, but when it was too quiet, the feline became sad, missing her son. It felt wrong here without him.

"Tobias..." he said quietly, sitting on his knees in front of her chair. He felt a knot in his stomach, and there was a worried look on his face. "I've been putting this off as long as I could... But we need to talk..."

Tobias perked her ears, looking quietly at Eirose. The tone of his voice made her nervous. She set her project aside and got up, tugging him with her to sit on a couch nearby, "What is it sweetheart?" She hugged him gently. Bad news or not, she needed to be close.

"I needed to tell you before, but when Zaitsu died, I couldn't bring myself to tell you... Tobias... Even before passing through the time barrier, my body was starting to degrade... But passing through the time barrier nearly killed me, if you haven't forgotten what happened when I showed up in London... Well, coming back wasn't much easier, I just managed to hide it better. But Tobias... This body is about ready to give out on me...." He reached out and gently caressed her cheek, a sad and apologetic look on his face.

"I have to let this body die. I'm sorry. I'm living on pure willpower right now, and it's just too painful to keep up anymore..."