Alcor—Tyrone, currently—walked hand-in-hand with Toby through concrete streets. He did miss a time when you could find trees outside of recreational parks and the Historical Forrest just outside of town, but at the same time it was interesting to watch how humans progressed. Currently, the sun was rising, shining between reflective buildings. The streets were fairly empty of pedestrians, most preferring cars or other forms of automatic transportation that did not involve physical activity.
Toby was having to keep his little legs moving fast to keep up with his guardian, the literal demon that was the nicest person he'd encountered. He was seven, but he looked small enough to be starting pre-school, not first grade, and he had a yellow pack that he himself had gotten to choose settled on his back, full of goodies Alcor had said would be good for school.
Yes, Toby Pines was going to school. He had spent all summer learning how to read and count, and now was when he finally got to go to this school Alcor made a big deal out of. Honestly, Toby didn't really want to go to school, but he was feeling bad about always being a slug around the house Alcor let him stay in, and he knew Alcor simply must be getting sick and tired of him always being around. This would be a good way to get off Alcor's nerves for a while.
Alcor, too, was having his own doubts about sending Toby to school rather than keeping him close. What if he dropped the act and became Him around the other kids? He could seriously hurt someone, and it would all be Alcor's fault, as he knowingly let a monster into the school. This is a terrible idea, horrible, horrible. Let's go home now.
But if Toby does have more social experiences, and is more like a normal kid, maybe there'll be less of a chance something will run him over the edge? Maybe if he's properly ingrained into society, he'll be less of a risk in the future? Maybe he won't have a reason to snap, and kill people because he didn't understand them, a something even Alcor felt at times. It could be beneficial for everyone—the whole world.
But, then again, Ian did have a proper childhood, and he still... yeah.
And there was also the issue of Toby's bad eye. His hair and the eye patch did a fair job of hiding the white and scarred orb, but did fairly little to hide the scarred pink skin surrounding it, tracing down his neck. Heck, even adults had a tough time tearing their eyes off Toby, but kids? Kids could be cruel, Alcor knew this first hand from when he was a child. That was a long time ago, but he doubted human nature, human children, had changed that much. He could still remember being Toby's age, coming home in tears, and having his father hold him in his lap, till the tears stopped. (But which father was it? Mark? Lionel? Off topic.)
He didn't want Toby to be picked on. Because.. it would be bad for his mental health, yeah! It could throw off his mental stability, making him more susceptible to snapping. Who knows what he could do to the poor kid that teases him, snapping and ripping the child's heart out with his bare hands, and shaking with demonic laughter. Yeah, he was a danger to the other kids. Alcor didn't care about Toby, getting bullied, just the poor kid that bullied him and got their throat ripped out. (Is that really how you feel, Bro-Bro?)
But it could be good for Toby to get some more experience with people his own age. The kid was so small and shy. Maybe talking with other kids could help him come out of his shell. Stop being so freaking meek and submissive all the time, put some hairs on his chest, help him to be more assertive. At current, the kid was a pathetic, sniveling mess. It could do him good to learn how to person—something Alcor never truly learned, even when he was human and thus could not help Toby to learn. It would be nice to see his kid—charge, young human he looked after—able to properly interact with other humans. Maybe even make some friends.
...Because, if he's able to better interact, there's less of a chance of him snapping?
It was while he was still in a pro-school mood that they arrived at the large building. The interior tried to be kid friendly—posters with bright colors, with fairies on the playground and griffin handlers letting kids pet the animals. It actually looked like it was doing more to frighten kids than assure them. All the halls were well marked, making sure kids knew exactly where they were expected to be. The first grader hallway was in the very back, right across from the kindergarten hallway, making a backwards 'K' shape with the rest of the building.
"Remember your teacher's name?" Alcor—Tyrone, he was in public—asked Toby, who was clutching his hand for dear life.
"Ms. Swanson?" the boy asked his answer as a question, looking in wonder at all the other kids who were walking by, all also hand in hand with their parents, like he was with Tyrone. Some of them looked exited to be here, bouncing and tugging their parents along. Others looked weepy, hiding behind their parents' legs, refusing to go into classrooms.
"Good boy." Tyrone patted Toby on the head, and began to walk further into the hallway, humorously noting signs for a 'Kiss Goodbye Zone' that wouldn't be going into effect until the second week of school. Ms. Swanson's room was at the very end of the hallway, right next to a slightly tinted window that displayed the covered playground outside. "Ready?"
Toby didn't want to go. He didn't want to go into that big room full of big loud people he didn't know. He didn't want to sit with those kids his age, all loud and snot-nosed. He wanted to stay in his quiet house, just him and Alcor, where he could just read, stay out of the way, do whatever. His hand that wasn't holding Tyrone's reached across his body, and clutched Tyrone's pants. He shoved his body as close to the other's as he could. Maybe if he got small enough, Tyrone wouldn't notice him clinging to his leg, and go home with him there.
Tyrone did notice Toby attach himself to his leg, and look like he was never gonna let go. He gently grabbed both the kids hands in his own, and pulled him into the corner, where he knelt down to better get on eye level with him, and talk with him.
"How are you feeling, Kiddo?" he asked, hoping he wouldn't scare the boy too much, as he often did without even trying.
"Its scary in there." he answered. "There's lotsa loud people, and I don't wanna go in there." he rubbed at his blue eye with one hand, the other still holding Alcor's. His happy yellow shirt seemed like an insult now.
"C'mon, Kiddo, it's really not that bad." yes it was. Alcor didn't want to go in there either. It was really loud, and the kids were annoying even from this distance, with a closed door and everything. But if he told Toby that, he'd never go. Toby needed to go. It would be good for him. "Here you can learn stuff, more modern than what I'd teach you. And less accurate." he smiled at his own joke, while Toby still looked miserable.
"I can't just stay home?" Toby looked at him with watery puppy eyes he'd seen on many Mizars.
"Only on weekends and holidays." the kid didn't look relieved by that, not even a little bit. He actually looked even closer to crying—crap.
"Hey," Alcor began, quickly trying to remedy the situation before there were tears—he would break if there were tears and would rationalize keeping Toby home another year. "after school, why don't we go get some treats. To celebrate."
"Ice cream?" Toby looked hopeful, eyebrows rising a little, tears in his eyes not quite dissipating, but not quite welling.
"Yeah, with all those toppings." Alcor agreed, looking forward to the promise of treats himself. (He also liked that the kid was happy shhh)
"Sounds good." Toby looked almost exited now, having something to look forward to. He shook Alcor's hand. "Deal." there were no flames or theatrics—they were in a school, an elementary school—but the deal was still solid. Toby would go to school, Alcor would get ice cream, and Toby would too. He didn't look like he was about to cry anymore.
"Sorry." the little boy whispered as he was being led back to classroom slowly, tiny feet shuffling. He felt absolutely ridiculous. He'd put up such a big fuss over this—there was no way Alcor'd let him stay now. He was gonna have to go back to the streets, or back to the home and he really didn't wanna, but now he'd hafta 'cause he made the only person that had any reason to keep him safe angry, so now he really deserved it, and-
"It's fine kid, everyone gets nervous." Alcor patted his head a little. Even just that made Toby feel better.
Toby wanted to point out that no, Alcor never got nervous, but that would be mean and Alcor really didn't deserve anything like that, especially after the stint Toby just pulled, and how nice he was to even take Toby in in the first place. If anything, Toby deserved it.
Of course, Toby was still reluctant to enter the classroom, but was not outright refusing like he had been minutes ago. He let Alcor take him by the hand, and pull him into the loud room.
"Can you find which desk's yours?" he asked the kid. Each desk had a holo-screen on it, with children's names along with various other first day messages pulled up on them, obviously for the parents, as children at this age weren't expected to be able to read at such a level.
"That one." Toby pointed to the back, and sure enough, there it was, an empty desk near the back with the name 'Tobias Pines' printed out on it in large lettering.
The information other information on the desk was very cookie-cutter, the usual 'Glad to Get to Work with You!' first-day messages lining the screen in scrolling letters. The walls had alphabet charts, for the more modern alphabet it still took Alcor a bit longer to decipher—he was an all knowing demon, he didn't need to be literate—and number boards and the such.
"You think you'll be all right, Toby?" Alcor knelt beside the kid that had already slid into his seat.
Toby hesitated a moment, before nodding. "Yes," his voice was tiny.
Dang it, now Alcor's the one having trouble leaving the kid. Toby looked so small, and helpless, feet not even touching the floor, scared of all the people in the room, just putting on a face. This is a bad idea, Toby's just to sweet for school, and other humans are just to cruel for him.
No, it'd be good for Toby in the long run to be able to interact with other humans. Alcor can't be there forever, right? Well, actually he could... it wouldn't be too hard to ignore summons and just stay with Toby, right? He didn't want to leave him at school, and be all alone again. ...that's to say, he didn't want to put other children in danger?
No, he didn't want to be alone. The company Toby gave was great, if meek and apologetic, and he didn't want to leave him in this human institution that would try to corrupt his sweet little boy, and make him into another kid. He didn't want to leave his Toby behind.
But he had to, he'd made a deal, and Toby was already in the classroom, all he could do was assure himself that this would end up being a good thing for Toby, before bidding the child farewell and leaving, not looking back though he could feel the gaze focused on his back the whole way out.
He wanted to yell at Toby for staring at him with those adoring, innocent eyes, like he didn't know what he's done, all the evil things he did in past lives. Alcor wanted to yell at him for being this sweet kid that it would be impossible to hate. And he hated him for it. Except he didn't because the kid was so kind, and sweet, and naive and he was gonna get himself killed.
He forced himself to calmly walk down the hall and out the doors, back out into the cement city. He was glad he had it over with. He had gotten Toby out of the house and into school, victory! He had been able to leave Toby behind there, something he almost thought he wouldn't be able to do.
But that's not to say he wasn't counting down to the end of the school day.(because he'd get ice cream, not because he missed Toby already.)
But that's not to say it didn't feel like time was going slower just to spite him.
But that's not to say he wasn't among the enthusiastic parents waiting for their children at the end of the day,
But that's not to say his face didn't light up just as much as Toby's when the day was over, and that he didn't gladly soak up the kid telling all about his first day of school.