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[Laurie and Tobias are heading to do laundry at the same time when Laurie notices there's blood-stained clothing, inclusive of what appear to be a cute lady's blouse and colorful skinny jeans, in his laundry basket.]

Oh, hi—Laurie. [He seems sleepy and more than a little surprised to see her.] Do we, uh, have anything here that helps get stains out?

[ Ooookay. That's-- What was the question? ] Oh, uh. Yeah. Hang on.

[ Instead of just telling him where the stuff's kept, she sets her own basket down and heads for the little alcove where the washer and dryer sit. There are shelves above the units, and Laurie gets on her toes to retrieve a mostly-full bottle of stain-fighting laundry product. She turns to pass it over, looking more at Tobias' laundry than at him in an attempt to double-check that what she'd seen is actually there. ] You can just pre-treat it with this. The instructions are on the bottle.

[ A beat, and then: ] Um. If it's okay to ask... What happened?

[...when she double-checks, there's still bloody clothing—far more than a man has any business having. Also, that sure is a cute lady's top, though it might be cuter if it weren't blood-stained as well.]

Thanks.

[He take the product and doesn't notice Laurie's gaze on his basket. It's when he turns the bottle for instructions that he realizes that maybe he should've covered it up more. Hindsight and all that, but sleepily dumping clothes into the basket does that sometimes.]

Oh, um. Unexpected dinner engagements gone a little out of control? [Now he wonders whether she knows about the lady he's currently harbouring in his room... Anyway, he tries to wave the topic off dismissively.] But it's nothing serious, not really.

[ Okay, so she doesn't want to call him a liar, but she definitely has a hard time buying that story. The stain's not a food stain, she's pretty sure. That's blood. There are reasons she recognizes this. She's not sure she wants to point the fact out, though, because yikes. ]

Is-- Is she alright? [ Maybe it's just, like, a cut or a nosebleed or something. ]

[He tries to sound less dismissive and just a little more concerned that, yes, someone may have been injured, and that's nothing to balk at. But after such a trying conversation with Demona about supernatural beings and society, and how sleepy he feels, it's kind of hard to do so.]

Yeah. It's—

[Pausing here to actually lay out the blouse on top of the washer which goes to show that some lady wasn't the only one injured... Either that, or Tobias just so happens to like blood on his shirts? Not on all pieces, of course, but a notable number do appear bloodied.]

—it wasn't anything we couldn't handle, not really. Took care of it without a doctor or medic.

[ Wow, okay. Maybe she should just cease the line of questioning and move on with her life, potentially with an increased wariness of this individual living in her house. ]

Right. Well, that's... That's good. I'll, um-- I'll let you take the machine first, then.

Uh, no—it's all right. I've got to let these things sit, so you can take it first, if you like.

[Toby makes sure that sets in and then sets it aside before grabbing a shirt to treat from his basket. He uses the product generously on the stains, laying out shirts and treating one at a time.]

Sorry, I don't... mean to get in the way here, or trouble you.

Yeah. That's fine. I'll just-- I'll go get my stuff. [ It's only a few steps away, so she's listening as she goes to retrieve her laundry basket. ] You're not in the way at all. It's just a coincidence that we came out at the same time.

[ It's totally cool, and she's totally not troubled, so please don't ever invite her to dinner and reenact whatever happened to those clothes. ]

[The awkwardness hangs thick in the air, and Toby can't help feeling like he needs to "fix" it somehow.]

So, uh. Day off today or something?

[Operation: Smooth Transition - WIN?]

Oh. Yeah. I'm still only part-time at the store, so... [ She's got one or two days a week in which she doesn't work, even in the summer. And yeah. Totally smooth. ]

And you? I mean, um... Do you go in tonight?

Tonight? [A thoughtful hum.] No, I don't need to go in, but I think I might have a night on the town. Care to join me?

[Given the awkwardness that was literally only a few seconds earlier, he'd understand entirely if she rejects him. He wonders if there's some better way to connect with her.]

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action; backdated to early July, before the Peter Pan thread

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