Grime And Slime (Toby)

[Deleted]

Ashley stood outside on the grounds, trying to decide what she should do with the rest of her day. It was pretty good weather out, not too cold, which she was glad for. Ashley absolutely hated the cold and was not looking forward to winter here at Hogwarts, but she was also trying to not think about it. She'd deal with the cold when she had to, which was not today. 

There were a few other students out, but not many and Ashley found herself watching them absentmindedly as she tried to make up her mind. She could go on a run, though she'd have to go back inside first. She was not wearing things she would want to run in, but at the same time she didn't want to go back inside. She could just wander the ground, though that did seem a little lame if she was doing it on her own. Ashley sighed as she looked around. Fine. She couldn't think of anything else to do. She started walking, pausing when she saw a familiar figure walking across the grounds. What was he wearing? "Toby?" Ashley called, curious if it was really him or someone else walking around like they were on a mission. What was he doing?

tobias charles watkins

[tobias charles watkins]

@ashley

Note: SUP

Toby was on a mission. There wasn't much that could distract him when he had an idea, or a goal to accomplish. Today was one of those days. Toby, being the typical overachieving Ravenclaw he was, was always seeking new ways to get extra credit in class. Not that he needed it, at all, really. If he wanted to slack off a little bit, he could, but Toby wasn't a slacker in the slightest sense of the word. He cared too much, grades practically kept him up at night, which was weird because his parents weren't too hard on him when he received anything below an 'O'. Maybe that was why he tried so hard, he wanted to make his parents proud of him, but sometimes to was exhausting. He just cared about having the highest score possible he could get in all of his classes - he was a bit obsessive about it actually. Blame it on a hyperactive mind, but at least he knew where to channel the energy into something good. Most of the time.

Armed with a net and a messenger bag crammed with essential supplies, he made his way down to the lake, determined to collect supplies for Potions class. It was a silly extra credit assignment he never really got around to doing before, and he had a bit of free time today, so he was in the mood to get a little bit messy if he had to. The weather wasn't dreadful, so he'd take advantage of lake slime and frogs, other 'gross' ingredients. Toby wasn't phased by that stuff, it just didn't bother him, he thought scavenging could actually be kind of fun.

Toby was rolling up his pants legs when he heard someone calling his name from across the way. "Hey Ash" Toby greeted with a smile and waved her toward him, leaning the handle of the net against a tree. Well, she was the perfect person to run into at that moment. Ashley Fontaine was his lab partner for Potions. He was planning on putting both of their names on the extra credit because Ashley had been one of his best lab partners he had, ever. Usually he was stuck with really shitty partners because the teacher thought he could 'help' them, ultimately making Toby have to work harder than necessary. So he was happy to have her as his partner. "How goes it?" he asked her nonchalantly, dropping the messenger bag to the ground with a thud, glass phials clanked against each other inside. "You doin' anything right now?" Toby asked her curiously, he wasn't sure if she was into recreational activities involving getting dirty so he wasn't planning on pushing her to hang out with him, but he felt like they were mates by now so it didn't hurt being cordial. He also really liked Ashley too. She was cute and smart, with a great personality, one of the American kids that had easily become a friend to him.

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What was he doing with his pants? Ashley still wasn't entirely convinced if she was watching Toby or someone that had a similar profile to him, but she watched curiously until she heard the familiar voice greeting her and saw him waving. Ashley started approaching him slowly, a slightly skeptical look on her face as she realized that he had a net and a bag and he actually was rolling up his pants. What in the world was he doing? 

"Good," Ashley answered, still giving him a strange look as she heard glass clinking when he dropped his bag. Her mouth opened to ask what he was doing, but then he asked what she was doing. Caught off guard, it took Ashley a moment to answer. "I ..." she coughed to clear her throat. "I'm not really doing anything ... why? What are you up to with all of this stuff?" Ashley couldn't deny the fact that she was extremely curious. She thought Toby was one of those bookworm Ravenclaws, so what was he doing outside with a bunch of equipment. She chuckled a little bit. "You look ... what are you doing?" She took a step closer and looked at all the things around him again. Ashley wasn't trying to make fun of him, she just couldn't figure him out.

tobias charles watkins

[tobias charles watkins]

@ashley

Note: SUP

When Toby asked Ashley what she was doing, he knew by the look of her face that he stole the words from her mouth. He smirked slightly, raising his eye brows to gauge her reaction. Toby laughed as Ashleys eyes adverted to the bag as the glass phials made a clinking sound, looking at him like he was pretty suspect. "I'm collecting ingredients for Potions." he informed the blond, crouching down to his bag and dumping out a variety of glass phials onto the grass. There were many shapes and sizes amongst the pile. "I know that neither of us need the extra credit realistically, but hey, it never hurts to get ahead." Toby said, like a true overachieving nerd.

Toby gave Ashley a pair of awkward shifty eyes, "You have to promise not to get mad at me...but I was secretly gonna write your name on it too, even though I know that isn't really your 'style'." Toby admitted with a cautious smile, putting up a pair of animated air quotes on the word 'style'. Even revealing the plan to Ashley made him feel a little naughty. Toby learned during their first assignment together that his friend wasn't okay with him doing all of the work. Which was a bit of a struggle at first for Toby, because he had always been such a control freak when it came to his grades and group projects. He just wanted to do everything so he knew it would be perfect.

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Ashley honestly couldn't decide how she felt about the way Toby looked right now. It was downright goofy and she had no idea what he was up to. If Katherine and Bianca were here, they would undoubtedly make fun of him, which made her very glad that they weren't around. She liked Toby and didn't want her other friends to pick on him for being a nerd. "Collecting ingredients?" Her eyebrows rose and Ashley started to laugh. "What kind of ingredients are you looking for?" She wasn't exactly being skeptical ... but she was. Couldn't he collect ingredients dressed normally? She grinned when he mentioned that it was extra credit. "Ahhhh, it all makes sense now," Ashley teased. What Toby wouldn't do for his grades, huh? Though she knew he had to have a fairly high grade in Potions because they were partners. As long as his essays were decent, he should be doing fine. 

Her eyes widened when he mentioned that she had to promise not to get mad and a mischievous grin covered her face. This was going to be good. At least, she thought it was. Honestly, once he confessed that he planned to give her credit for his extra work, she laughed. Why would that make her mad? "What's not my style? Extra credit? Or having other people give me credit for things I haven't done?" she teased, obviously not upset in the slightest. Toby was funny. "And what exactly is my style?" Ashley quirked an eyebrow and tilted her head to the side, considering Toby curiously. He was so funny.

tobias charles watkins

[tobias charles watkins]

@ashley

Note: -awkward turtle activate-

When Ashley inquired about what kind of ingredients he was scavenging for, he picked up one of the glass phials off the ground and removed the cork, "Meh, whatever I can find... Lake slime, kelp, leeches, maybe an unlucky frog or two if I can find 'em..." Toby shared conversationally. All of the above actually sounded really gross and a pretty girl such as Ashley probably wasn't looking to do that sort of activity with her free time. He wasn't sure Kinsey would have been down for that, so he didn't even ask, because he knew she'd probably say 'yes' just to be nice. Toby was happy to have company, even if she even just decided to poke around and look pretty.

Hey, at least she wasn't mad at him planning on forging her name on the extra credit assignment. Maybe he wouldn't even have to forge it, though he wasn't against it. Ashley asked Toby what exactly 'her style' was, which immediately made him regret his choice of words in his last statement. The Ravenclaw let out an awkward laugh and he gave her a pair of shifty eyes, like 'do you really want me to answer that'. "Your...'style'...?" he repeated while swallowing, his nostrils flaring uncomfortably, while considering her question. He turned to the blond and earnestly answered her question. "Erm. You probably look lovely in pastels and floral patterns. Or, like, 'preppy chic'." Toby answered honestly, smiling innocently. Okay, maybe he took it too literal..

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Toby started to explain that he was really looking for any kind of ingredients he could find and Ashley made a face. "You would capture poor little frogs? What have they ever done to you?" She was teasing, but kept her expression serious, wondering if Toby would believe her or not. That was one thing she liked about making new friends. They didn't know her well enough to know exactly whether or not she was kidding, which made it fun. She hesitated, but after a bit she added, "Maybe I could join you for a bit ...?" Ashley didn't want to get dirty, but she did think if sounded like fun, maybe even worth it.

Ashley watched with interest as he started laughing softly before talking again. He repeated her question back to her, but Ash didn't think it required an answer, so she merely cocked her head at him and waited for his answer. She started to giggle when he gave his answer, saying she would look nice in florals and pastels. "Oooh, I guess I'm going to have to try some of those out then," she said, winking at him. Then she took pity. "Okay, so where are you planning on starting?" She glanced around, wondering where he was going to begin his ingredient search.

tobias charles watkins

[tobias charles watkins]

@ashley

Note: SUP

It was a nice surprise running into Ashley here, it also seemed like she was entertained by the idea of staying too. She asked him how he could sacrifice a poor frog and he shrugged apathetically, "The first step is to stop feeling bad. I guess I don't care anymore because we need their precious brains, legs, eye balls 'n things for Potions so often." he said casually, sending her a funny face with quirked eyebrows. "Trust me, if it were the other way around, they'd do the same thing to you." Toby told pointedly with a solid nod.

Toby went instantly red when she decided to tease him a bit about the 'style' comment. "Oh, Merlin, that's not what you meant." He swallowed and laughed awkwardly, shifting his eyes downward to the phials on the grass. How did she always get him so effortlessly?! Whether he knew it or not she was starting to condition him a bit with her sense of humor. It was all good, he enjoyed the blondes company quite a bit. "I would love for you to join me, you don't even have to get dirty, you can just stand there with the glass phials and look pretty." he told her jokingly, knowing how she felt about that already; since he tried to pull that their first assignment and she shot him down. Maybe it was a bit of reverse phycology, who knows... Toby picked up a couple of glass phials in one hand and the net in another, "I was thinking of collecting some lake slime first...since sometimes frogs will be lurking in the water and rocks around there anyways, so we could kill two birds with one stone -- or frogs in this case." he corrected himself with a chuckle, pushing his glasses to the bridge of his nose as he started heading to the edge of the water where there was a lot of rocks and different colored mossy water.

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Ashley couldn't help but be amused by how seriously Toby was taking this, the whole situation with the frogs. In all honesty, she wasn't particularly concerned for the frogs. She'd never caught any before, though she'd dealt with ones Joe put into her bed growing up. She definitely knew how to handle frogs. She watched Toby curiously before smirking a little again, "I'm just having a hard time figuring out how you got past that first step. You're just such a nice guy, I thought your kindness would extend to the frogs as well ..." Ashley couldn't help but tease him. She wasn't exactly sure why, but she was glad for it. She lifted an eyebrow when he said that the frogs would do the same to her if they could. "I'm not sure they could. You know, even if they were bigger than us, they don't have opposable thumbs." 

She giggled when Toby started blushing, then reached forward and pushed his shoulder lightly, "Hey, it's fine. That was sweet. I should probably by thanking you for the compliment." As much as she enjoyed teasing him, she didn't want him to feel uncomfortable around her. Then she rolled her eyes at him, "If I'm going to join you, I'm going to go all in Toby. You should know me well enough to know that by now," Ashley answered as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. Then she scrunched her nose as she looked at all his "protective" gear. "But I'm not going to wear ANY of that," she added with a smile, pointing. 

He said that he was planning on going for the slime first and Ashley nodded. His logic was sound, even though the thought of collecting slime made her want to grimace. She held back, at least for the time being. Then she gave him a serious expression. "Toby, I might as well stop you right there ... I have no intention of killing frogs with stones. That's where I draw the line." The corner of her lip twitched upwards and a second later Ashley was giggling. "All right, give me a net and let's see what we can do," she answered, holding a hand out before she followed him to the edge of the water. 

Looking carefully at her options, Ashley jumped nimbly to a rock that was only partway submerged in the water. It was a big rock, quite sturdy, and surrounded by other rocks much smaller that were covered in all sorts of slime and moss. "This look good to you?" she asked, arching an eyebrow as she looked back at Toby. Might as well make sure she was about to get the right stuff.

tobias charles watkins

[tobias charles watkins]

@ashley

Note: SUP

Toby was slowly getting used to Ashleys sense of humor. She was constantly teasing him and keeping him on his toes, but it was funny how often she got him all frazzled. Sometimes he felt the need to explain himself too much, which only made it worse. But for some odd reason, he kind of liked it. Ashley was quickly becoming a good friend of his this year, definitely one of the first Americans he clicked with from Ilvermorny. Toby was glad that they were partnered up for Potions because she had so far been a great companion. As they made their way to the waters edge, the blonde teased him about how she was surprised his kindness didn't extend to frogs and he shrugs his shoulders at her with a sigh, "You know, our kindness has to stop somewhere.. And they may not have our handy dandy opposable thumbs, but I have a feeling since they have carnivore tendencies, if they were our size they'd have no problem swallowing us whole." Toby stated darkly, ending it with a smirk. Okay, Toby really liked animals.

The Ravenclaw quickly tried to push the awkwardness aside from before, allowing the color to drain back into to his face in replacement to beat red. All because Ashley quickly let it go by already changing the subject, thank Merlin, because he wasn't sure how he was going to get out of that one. Ashley shared that she couldn't kill frogs with stones, but he took her words a little too seriously, again. "Ooh! Nooo, Ash, I'm not killing them! I wouldn't be able to do that!" Toby exclaimed with wide eyes and shaking his head in fervent disagreement. This wasn't going to be a killing spree. "We just gotta stun 'em...put them in that jar with holes...and deliver them to the Professor." he quickly walked over to grab the said jar, picked it up and unscrewed the lid so it would be readily available if they found an unlucky critter. "I couldn't ever hurt an animal on purpose, but I guess I'm not opposed to delivering them for their demise, so it all depends on how you look at it really..." he laughed awkwardly, shifting his eyes to the ground.

Toby peered over to what Ashley was asking about and he nodded his head up and down enthusiastically, "Aye! Excellent! That's the stuff. Good eye, mate." he encouraged her with a dorky thumbs up. Funnily enough this sort of excursion got Toby excited, he was very eager to learn and find things. Toby stepped onto the rocks to get to some green, smelly, mossy stuff. It was a bit slippery, even with proper materials, so he was careful with his footing. "I don't know if we can 'Accio' the stuff into phial or...we may have to do it the old fashioned way." he laughed, ready to get his hands dirty. It appeared that Ashley was more than ready too, which was quite impressive, considering she just dropped whatever she was doing to join him. That was really cool.

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Getting to know Toby was more interesting than Ashley really expected. He was pretty easy to predict when it came to things like his homework and such, but when it came to him answering her questions and stuff, Ashley could never expect what he was going to say. There were times when he took her so seriously she couldn't help but wonder if maybe he was actually teasing her, but one look at him showed that was not the case. Ashley laughed when he started talking more about frogs and how he couldn't be nice to them always. "They have carnivore tendencies?" That was one Ash never heard before, so she couldn't help but question it. "I had no idea you were so into frogs." Yes, Ash was teasing him again, but mostly she just wanted to learn more. Toby seemed to respond pretty well to her teasing, so she might as well use it while it worked.

The look on Toby's face was hilarious when Ashley said she wasn't going to kill any frogs. She burst into giggles for a few seconds, honestly unable to help herself. "I didn't think you would be able to," she finally admitted with a nod. She was definitely getting to know him better and Ashley was enjoying the process more than she expected. She nodded when he explained what they were going to do to the frogs. "Okay, that I can do." She listened as Toby explained he couldn't hurt animals. "So you like animals then?" she asked, remembering a time when she'd said something similar to Eli last year, though that conversation had been about plants.

She nodded, smiling a bit wider than she meant to when he confirmed that she found the right stuff. She summoned a phial, glancing over at Toby when he started talking again. After a moment, she spoke. "I think we might as well do it the old fashioned way, don't you? I mean, we're already out here in the middle of it. Why not go for the whole experience?" Ash asked, watching Toby to see how he reacted to that before she dipped her phial into the water and started scraping some of the moss into it. Oddly, she found doing things like this strangely therapeutic, she'd just never admit it, especially if Joe was anywhere nearby.

tobias charles watkins

[tobias charles watkins]

@ashley

Note:

When Ashley had questioned about frogs being carnivores, he nodded his head with a fervent nerd fueled excitement. "Aye, frogs are actually pretty cool." he said quickly, even though he knew that Ashley was teasing him again, he could never contain himself from sharing useless information. So, Toby continued, "Another 'fun fact' for you: Frogs don't drink water, they retain any water through their skin by submerging themselves in water." He breathed, hardly able to contain his excitement now. "Ooh, I really hope we find some frogs now." he admitted while laughing darkly, offering the girl a very comical 'evil' grin while twiddling his fingers menacingly.

When the blonde asked him about his undeniable love for animals he couldn't help but nod in confirmation. That was a little known fact. Toby honestly liked animals and books more than people. Normally he wasn't delivering innocent creatures for their demise, but he'd do many thing for the highest grade possible. Today wouldn't be a good day to be a frog... "Yes, quite a bit." he tried to hide the bashfulness from his smile at her proclamation, but gave up immediately. Toby gave her a dorky smile and eye brow waggle instead, "I'm sure if you have a favorite animal, I have a fact. Whats your favorite animal?" Toby challenged curiously, more light hearted and jokingly than anything. However, that was an honest question they hadn't quite gotten to yet in their friendship, so it was pretty important. This expedition was going to be fun.

Toby was constantly surprised by Ashley's willingness to work. He sadly wasn't used to pretty girls actually taking pride in their schoolwork - and work in general - apparently. She easily started to gather the green slime into the phials and Toby watched with interest, ready to do the same. "Yeeah, that's the spirit. There's nothing wrong with getting our hands a lil dirty." Toby agreed while nodding head in agreement. He stepped onto another large, slippery rock, trying not to make a fool of himself in front of Ashley. He crouched down, the phial in one hand, he started to collect the green liquid. "Psh. This is easy." The Ravenclaw announced, probably too confident so early in the mission.

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Ashley laughed, shaking her head slightly when Toby continued to talk about frogs. She didn't mind, his facts were actually pretty interesting. It was just funny how excited he got about frogs, but also pretty endearing. Most people didn't get so happy about simple things, which was actually a bit of a shame, but since Ashley was among their number rather than Toby's, she couldn't really judge anyone about it. "So if you find a frog under water, they're probably trying to re-hydrate?" she asked, teasing a little bit, but serious at the same time. She laughed at the face he made when he said he wanted to find frogs. "I'll do my best to help you then," she promised, still laughing. She could touch a frog, she just had no intention of letting it touch her clothes. Good luck to the frog that ruined anything she was wearing.

Toby admitted that he liked animals quite a bit and Ashley nodded. That fit him. He seemed like the kind of person who would like animals, despite the fact that he was willing to take frogs to his teacher. "Oooh really? Umm I like Unicorns a lot," she answered with a shrug. That was probably a typical answer, so she was sure he knew plenty of facts about them, but she'd like to hear all about them. She'd been sick at Ilvermorny the week the class actually got to see a Unicorn and was very disappointed by that fact.  

Ashley laughed at his enthusiasm when she started gathering the slime. "I have no problem getting my hands dirty, but this stuff better stay off of my clothes," she muttered loudly enough that he should be able to hear. Granted, gathering the slime was easy enough that shouldn't be a problem, but still. She chuckled, "Don't jinx yourself," she teased.

tobias charles watkins

[tobias charles watkins]

@ashley

Note:

"I feel like that is a safe assumption." he nodded, not even catching that she was teasing him. Again.  He was so innocent sometimes it was embarrassing how much he took words to heart! Now that he was flooding Ashley with these useless facts, it was hard to hide the dorky excitement from his face. The Ravenclaw droned on with a comical, unintentional clinical tone, "Their eyes and noses are located on top of their heads, which makes it possible for them to breathe while submerged which is pretty cool." he stepped onto another rock, extra cautious with his footing.

Ashley revealed that her favorite animal was unicorns, and the look on Tobys face showed that she had said the right thing. Unicorns were his favorite animal. Other than werewolves. Or dogs. "I fricking love unicorns." he breathed deeply, a nerdgasm of sorts. "--And dogs, non-magical. Toby shared with a chuckle, obviously highly stimulated. He was trying to think of an interesting fact about unicorns for Ashley that she wouldn't already know. She was a smart girl, so he had a feeling like she already knew ~everything. When she revealed that she didn't want to get anything on her clothes, he laughed again, offering her a sympathetic look. "Don't worry, I will help you 'scourgify' it out if you do get anything on you." he offered sweetly, trying to hide the bashful smile from his face.

Toby corked his first phial and tossed it lightly into a fluffy part of the grass. "Did you know unicorns are Scotlands national animal? They even have a day where they ce--" he stopped suddenly, shooting upwards into the sky, nearly slipping on the mossy rocks as his eyes widened crazily at the blonde, "Crikey! There's one, right behind you!!" he exclaimed, pointing down by her feet excitedly while trying to gain his own footing.

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Toby was so serious. At least, while he was talking about creatures he was. Obviously it really was his hobby, which made her feel a little bad for teasing him, but he hadn't noticed. So maybe she didn't need to feel bad for teasing. He thought she was being sincere. Ah, he was so sweet. She needed to be nicer. She glanced over at him while he continued, smiling as he gave more and more facts about frogs. "And now it all makes sense," she answered with a smile. Ashley hadn't really wondered about that before, but it was interesting and she hadn't had to research it to find out, which made it even better.

It was obvious that Toby liked unicorns from the look on his face and Ashley grinned. Good! At least if he liked them too he'd probably have plenty of facts about them. "Unicorns and dogs," she repeated with a nod. "Do you have any dogs? Or pets?" She wondered if he had any creatures to care for, since he loved them so much. She laughed again when he offered to help her if she got her clothes dirty. "Thanks. I'll probably hold you to that ... if I get anything dirty." Which was not the plan, but still ... accidents happened. She hoped they wouldn't today though. 

He started talking about unicorns then and Ashley focused on the green slime. She was now almost done collecting her second phial, but she jumped when she saw Toby jump up. Her head whipped around when he said there was one behind her. A unicorn!?! "What, where?" Her heart was beating furiously, but when she looked she didn't see anything. No beautiful, white creatures. She lowered her gaze and realized what he was talking about. A frog. Ashley chuckled lowly, rolling her eyes. This is what she got for getting so excited. A unicorn instead of a frog. "Well hopefully one will turn up near you, because I have no intention of- ARGH!" She squealed when the toad jumped, landing right on her shoulder. Her mouth dropped as she glared at the creature. "I was going to leave you alone, until you did that," she growled, ever so slowly lifting a hand to grab the creature off her shoulder. Ha! She got it! As she lifted it off her shoulder, leaving a large mud spot on her shirt, she turned to look at Toby, a triumphant grin covering her face, when her knee slipped on the moss and, before she knew what was going on, Ashley Fontaine was sitting in the pond, still clutching a green frog in one hand. 

tobias charles watkins