A/N: Nakashima Hatsuharu, 'Mishka' is just Tobias' nickname for her. Her real name is Tabitha.
Tobias stood at his desk, staring at the small attache case that Javier had left on his desk. He hadn't opened it yet, but was almost... hesitating. As if he didn't want to know what his mask looked it.
A sudden knock at his door made him turn, revealing it to be Javier himself.
"Ah, Young Master, I was hoping to catch you here."
Tobias glanced back at the case for a moment before raising an eyebrow towards Javier, who stepped inside and gently closed the door, revealing that he had another, larger attache case in his grasp.
"I managed to complete your mask's basic design, and wished to present it to you for approval." Javier indicated the smaller case. "I plan to manufacture the final version out of metal."
Tobias nodded, then opened the case to find a leather half mask shaped to resemble the lower half of a human skull.
"Hmmm..." Tobias gently lifted the mask out of the case, examining it closely. "Is it able to be worn?"
"Yes, Young Master. It can be worn." Javier nodded once.
Tobias smirked as he placed the mask onto his face, closing the clasp around the back, then shifted the mask slightly into a more appropriate position.
"Thoughts, Young Master?" Javier seemed pleased by the outcome, but wanted to hear Tobias' opinion on the design before going ahead with the final, metallic design.
"What metal do you plan to use in the final design?" Tobias spoke in a slightly muffled voice, staring at Javier thoughtfully.
"The next prototype version of the design will be made of steel, but if you have a particular metal in mind, I can see what I can do to make it out of the metal of choice." Javier seemed intrigued, like any artist should at a new design idea.
"Quinque steel." Tobias smirked behind the mask. "I'd also like the mouth area designed to be opened and closed, if that's possible." He tapped the skull's teeth with his index finger. "If that's not possible, then I don't mind the static design."
"Oh? It will take a few days to acquire the Quinque steel, but I can easily make the jaw open and close. It should be ready by next week, at the earliest." Javier was truly inspired by Tobias' design idea. In fact, he was enthusiastically inspired to continue with the design of the mask's second prototype right away - after fixing Tabitha's coat, that is. "For the time being, I'm afraid you're going to be stuck with this basic design, at least until the modified steel model is fabricated."
"That's fine. But before you leave, I wanted to see the design for your mask, if that's alright." Tobias raised an eyebrow out of curiosity.
"Certainly, Young Master." Javier lowered his attache case, extracting his mask from his suit jacket and placed it on his face, revealing the flamboyant colours of a peacock, shaped similarily to Alice's red and white winged mask. "Mistress liked the design of this mask, and asked me to model her own after it."
"I can see the similarities." Tobias nodded, turning to the small attache case on his desk, closing it and holding it out to Javier.
Javier took the case with a slight bow, then picked up the larger case from the floor and departed the room, closing the door without a sound.
Tobias held up his hand for a moment, forming a smooth flat disc of ice, creating a convenient mirror-like surface. He then held up the disc to view his masked face, frowning with thought behind the skull.
Considering that the mask covered from his nose and cheekbones down to his jaw, it left his eyes exposed. After a moment of consideration, he sat at his desk and opened a drawer, extracting some black eyeliner.
Placing the ice mirror on the desk's surface, he concentrated for a moment, causing the disc to rise up onto an ice stand, bringing the reflective surface to eye level for him to carefully apply the midnight black eyeliner to both of his eyes with both hands.
After he had finished, he regarded the change in focal point to his eyes, smirking beneath his skull mask. He liked it, and imagined what it would look like with the Quinque steel final design.
After a moment, he remembered that Tabitha and Alice were waiting for him downstairs. He kept his mask on as grabbed a fresh shirt before he left his bedroom, closing the doors behind him with a smirk hidden behind his mask.
"Tabitha, sweetie, how many times do I have to keep sewing your jacket?" Javier had long since lost the battle to get Tabitha to remove her oversized trench coat, so he was carefully sewing the hole closed while she still wore it. "Honestly, I don't think there's a single stitch in here that wasn't one of mine."
"I don't like anyone touching my coat..." Tabitha pouted as Javier carefully moved her a bit closer.
"We know that." Both Alice and Javier smiled at her comment, just as Tobias entered the dining room.
"I'm clearly missing something, so I won't even ask." Tobias' mask-muffled voice sounded slightly amused as he sat down between Alice and Javier.
"Excellent work, Javier. His mask is well suited for him." Alice smiled appreciatively at Tobias' leather mask.
"Just a prototype, Mistress." Javier kept his gaze focused on his sewing. "Young Master requested a modification, and a different material for the final design."
"Oh?" Alice turned to Tobias, her eyes sparkling with interest.
"I wanted the jaw to open and close, and the material I asked for is Quinque steel." Tobias explained, smirking as he removed his mask and placed it on the table.
"Quinque steel, huh?" Alice raise an eyebrow thoughtfully, but said nothing else as Victoria and Antonio entered the dining room from the kitchen, bearing three plates topped with what appeared at first glance to be near-raw steaks.
The moment the plates were placed before them, both Tabitha and Tobias' Kakugans activated, and Alice smiled in amusement. Sure, Toby's was practically guaranteed to activate, given this was his first time being presented with human flesh. But Tabitha, on the other hand, she was just really hungry.
Tobias fought hard not to tear the slab of flesh apart like a ravenous beast, despite every fiber of his being screaming to do so. With shaking hands, he picked up his knife and a fork, slicing a piece off the end of the meat properly... without any excessive mess, either.
Alice watched Toby intently from the moment his plate touched the table. She was impressed by his willpower. The inner conflict he was facing was almost visible on his face, and his hands were shaking violently too. As he lifted a small piece of flesh to his mouth, she noticed for the first time, she could see his breathing, due to his Cyrokinetic aura.
Alice kept her thought to herself, for the time being. She just ate in silence, keeping a close watch on Toby out of the corner of her eye.
Tobias, however, ate the first piece of flesh after a small smirk momentarily flashed across his face. The instant it touched his tongue, he was struck by the most delicious taste he could imagine. Nothing he'd ever eaten compared to the succulent taste of the human flesh on his tongue...
Panting slightly, he swallowed the piece, put his fork down, and realized that a single glistening tear was rolling down his left cheek.
Alice leaned forward, smirking at Toby's single tear. "That good, I take it?"
"I have no words to describe this..." Tobias wiped the tear from his face, a small smile twitched on his face. "And I get to eat this... every day?"
"And coffee." Tabitha smiled brightly. "We can also drink water, but that's basically it."
"Coffee?" Tobias raised an eyebrow, his Kakugan eye staring at her in confusion.
"Ghouls have only been able to find one substance, other than human flesh, that they can enjoy without being struck by intense nausea... and that substance is coffee." Javier explained, still busily sewing Tabitha's trench coat.
"He's right." Tabitha nodded vigorously, the edges of her mouth stained with a small amount of blood from her slab of flesh. "I only get to drink coffee with Alice, so I don't drink it very often."
"Hmmm... I see." Tobias picked up his fork again to resume eating. "Is that by choice, or by circumstance?"
"Choice." Tabitha slid another piece of flesh into her mouth and began chewing. "I don't really like the coffee from the cafe near my apartment."
"Apartment, at your age?" Tobias smirked, his expression skeptical.
"I live with my big sister." Tabitha replied simply, swallowing her flesh and cutting another piece.
"Oh, now it makes sense." Tobias noticed out of the corner of his eye (mostly from his white eye, in fact) that Alice was breathing a sigh of relief. She knew something, and wasn't letting on that she did. "I thought you were living on your own, Mishka."
"Nuh-uh." Tabitha shook her head. "I told you, I live with my big sister, Ri..."
"All done!" Javier suddenly announced, cutting off Tabitha very suddenly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, Mistress, Young Master, Miss Tabitha." Javier bowed to each of them in turn, then left the dining room with his attache case in hand.
Tobias didn't fail to notice that Javier just so happened to cut off Tabitha, right as she was saying her older sister's name. And by his knowledge thus far, Tabitha's sister was almost certainly Rize.
"Hmmm..." Tobias hummed thoughtfully as he ate more of the delicious flesh, which Alice noticed right away.
"Something on your mind, Toby?"
"I was wondering why all of the staff call me 'Young Master' instead of my name." Tobias shrugged, chewing his flesh in further thought.
"Well, I can explain that." Alice smiled, almost as if it was her idea in the first place. "You are, by all rights, their employer, just like me. So, that's the 'Master' part... but the 'Young' prefix is because you're not eighteen... yet. Once your birthday comes, they'll likely drop the 'Young' prefix, and just call you 'Master'."
Tobias smirked, mulling her words over to himself. Once he turned eighteen, then he would simply be called Master. For one brief moment, he imagined what it would sound like if Natasha called him that, bowing just a little bit too low...
"Toby?"
Blinking for a moment, he turned his gaze back to Alice, finding her smiling in amusement yet again.
"I asked why you were wondering about the staff calling you by your title." Alice leaned forward, holding her fork in mid air with her Telekinesis, her blue eye glowing brightly. She laced her fingers together, resting her arms on the edge of the table with obvious interest.
"Just coming to terms with it, I guess." Tobias answered, not willing to admit the slightly perverted thought he had about Natasha's large bust size. Oh, who was he kidding! 'Slightly perverted' was a blatant lie! That was very fucking perverted!
