Tobias Matthews (Toby) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rockandrollvampire) wrote2022-06-19 09:16 am
rockandrollvampire) wrote2022-06-19 09:16 am
Entry tags:
Duplicity App
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Name: Serina Age: 30+ Contact: PMs to Serina#3113 on Discord or Timezone: Pacific Time (US) Other Character(s): Amelia Royer rogueinladysclothing |
Name: Tobias (Toby) Matthews Door: Submissive Door Pass (Peanut butter, yes please!) Canon: Confessions of Dorian Gray Canon Point: Post All Through The House Age: Physical - 20; Mental - 284 Appearance: Here; 6'0", lanky build; Green eyes; Sandy blonde hair (that's always a little messy) History: tl;dr with episode names here In 1724, a 20 year-old, human Toby snuck out of his mother's house to visit a traveling circus that had come to town. He was utterly fascinated by everything he saw that night and by a man named Ivor, who worked behind the scenes and showed the young Toby all the secrets hidden outside of the main tent. When he returned a second night to enjoy the circus and meet his mysterious new friend again, Toby was attacked by what he was told was a bear, his chest torn open before he was left to die. Ivor found him, promising help with a single question, "Do you want to live?" To which Toby quickly replied, "I don't want to die." That was the night that he became a vampire. But after teaching him to hunt that first, Ivor vanished along with the traveling circus before the following night. Toby trailed the circus for the time, but the vampire had disappeared and no one knew where his sire had gone. Fast forward to the 1980's. Specifically, 1986. The immortal Dorian Gray walks into a party in Whitby, and Toby springs his trap to ensnare the man he's heard whispers of for so long. It takes weeks of chasing on Dorian's part as the vampire leads the man on, but eventually Toby takes Dorian home to tell him his secret. What falls out of a night of heavy drinking and Dorian witnessing Toby's grotesque nature is a relationship neither of them truly expected. The cynical pair became best friends and lovers, completing each other in ways that seemed impossible before. In Dorian, Toby found a companion who wanted adventure and fun, someone who had read at least as many books as he had (even if their taste in authors was vastly different), and someone he could feed on without having to kill. In Toby, Dorian found someone who brought beauty back into his life, not just through his pretty face, but also with the visceral high and expansion of his mind through a vampire's bite - and the intimate connection between him and his lover. The two completed each other in a way only two immortals ever could, but it wasn't quite enough for Toby. After agreeing, very reluctantly, to allowing Dorian to paint a portrait of him some months into their relationship, Toby's mood changed drastically. He no longer wanted to bite Dorian or to indulge in any of their other favorite activities together. Instead he insisted on a car trip, one without a destination in mind. Dorian of course agreed and the two went off the following weekend seeking adventure. They stopped at a secluded beach to sit and swim under the stars for a time together. That's when Toby confessed that seeing the picture of the dead man he was had reminded him that all around him he saw only decay where Dorian saw beauty. The two lived separate lives beside each other, and Toby could no longer stand by and drag Dorian through that. Devastated, Dorian asked for Toby's last wish, and the two sat up on a cliff to watch the sun rise together for the first - and last - time. Toby turned to dust in his boyfriend's arms, his last words a declaration of love for Dorian. Then, much to the surprise of both Toby and Dorian, the vampire returned from the dead in the year 2014 when Dorian pulled a mystical tarot card that promised to bring him his Heart's Desire. Dorian was rightfully angry with his former lover for leaving him behind the way he had (his own cynicism had grown immensely in 30 years), but the two managed to work things out. After tearing down Ivor, who had been feeding a siren a human heart (minus Toby's, as Ivor had decided at the last second he couldn't do it to the boy back in 1724) for hundreds of years to keep his traveling circus a success, the lovers reunited over a series of strange events that ended with the destruction of the Lowell Foundation and some of its key players. The next year and some odd months were downright blissful for the two immortals - up until Christmas 2015. After hearing rumor of a hotel that only appeared every year at Christmas called The Brigadoon, Toby talked Dorian into visiting the place for the night as a treat. What they found when they arrived was worse than either of them could have imagined. The hotel was haunted, with the souls of the dead and damned trapped inside playing out various scenarios that were meant to keep any guests from reaching the top floor and leaving the hotel alive. The two fought all the way through to find a manifestation of Lucifer waiting for them. The demon, or whatever it truly was, made them an offer to leave and to return Dorian's lost soul, on the condition that it get a ride out in Dorian's soulless body along the way. Toby begged Dorian to ignore the offer despite knowing they would both be trapped in the hotel forever going forward, but the immortal agreed to the terms in exchange for getting out with his boyfriend and having his soul again as he continued to live as he had since the fateful deal that had bound him to his portrait. But as happens with deals with the devil, things weren't completely as they seemed. Unbeknownst to the lovers, Toby's return to the world had come with an unexpected bonus: Dorian's soul had been residing in Toby's body since the vampire came back from the dead, a pre-planned gift from Lucifer to make way for this very event. When the pair escaped from the cursed hotel, Dorian reclaimed his soul from Toby, leaving the vampire's body open to possession. Lucifer took advantage of this, claiming a body that didn't need to give consent to possession and stealing off into the night after choking the life from Dorian when the man finally realized that it wasn't his boyfriend in bed with him. There was no more Tobias Matthews, Lucifer claimed, and it was time to rain Hell down on Earth. Note: In canon, Toby dies at the end of All Through The House, his soul lost and body taken over by Lucifer. In coming to Duplicity, Toby will find he died at the end of 2015 and has been brought back to life (...again) seven years later in 2022. Personality: Positive Trait: Fun-loving Toby is all about having a good time. When the chance arises, Toby is all-in on doing something fun and diverting - provided it won't attempt to kill him, Dorian, or their chance of ending up in their bed together before the night is over. He enjoys everything from the simplicity (and excitement) of Christmas lights, to going out for drinks or karaoke, to late night gaming sessions on his PlayStation. It was this same drive for something fun (and new!) that had him talking Dorian into going out on Christmas night, imagining the awful London rain was instead beautiful snow, and heading for an adventure at the Brigadoon. He was so excited to explore this new hotel with Dorian that he ran through the front door to the desk when they stumbled on it, laughing as he challenged his soulmate to race, eager for the mystery he knew waited inside (though not at all ready for the horror that followed). Negative Trait: Suspicious Toby, at his core, is a very suspicious person. Out of an abundance of caution and wanting to preserve his own existence, he keeps his guard up at all times around anyone or anything new. There's no reason for him to risk his safety when he could instead put up his defenses, do a shit-ton of investigation, and then decide if he's okay with going forward with a thing. This is what keeps him alive and (usually) keeps him - and his soulmate - out of trouble. After coming back to life under unknown circumstances in 2014, Toby seeks out Dorian at his home in Mayfair. While the two are fighting their way through a reunion, Toby's sire, Ivor, arrives at the door. The two vampires leave together at Dorian's insistence, but Toby later tracks Dorian down to ask for his help. Ivor had claimed to know nothing of how he came back, but also wanted Toby to intercede on his behalf to get Dorian's help. The combination of the two is exceedingly suspicious to Toby, especially given their previous history in which Ivor turned him and then ditched him in the span of a single night. Toby can tell Ivor isn't telling him something, and he asks Dorian to investigate with him. He finds his suspicions confirmed when Ivor admits to needing help getting rid of the siren he's using to keep his traveling fair afloat and needing that help to come from Dorian, as he's immortal and can recover from offering up a still beating heart to satisfy the siren. Suspicions are further confirmed when, upon enacting a plan that was supposed to dispatch of the siren, Ivor turns on Toby, telling him Dorian can now feed the siren forever while he and Toby leave, run away and make a new life together. This is far from what Toby wants, and in the end, he kills Ivor for hurting him and attempting to sacrifice his soulmate to a siren, and then dumps the siren into a lake inside a weighed down oil drum. Negative Trait: Self-Loathing For all his good or ambiguous traits, Toby is full of self-loathing. As a vampire, he thinks of himself as a completely monstrous creature. No amount of practicing or pretending to be a "normal human" can take away what he is. He must feed on humans to survive; can never be wholly unaware of how much faster, stronger, or more perceptive he is than a human; and is always separated from them by no less than the cold of his skin. He carries death and decay with him everywhere he goes, and if he feeds from a human? By his nature, he spreads it. It was because of this self-loathing that he fell into a deep depression after Dorian painted his portrait in the 80s. Where Dorian saw a beautiful man, Toby saw a dead one who had only been playing at living. He was reminded that nothing he was doing was living, as that was only a thing humans - even immortal ones like Dorian - can do. Rather than continue living a lie, he asked Dorian to go on a spontaneous trip with him, and told him after arriving at their beach destination that he wanted to see the sun rise - to commit suicide. He died in Dorian's arms, following through on his wishes to end his hateful existence despite a brief flash of hesitation at the very end. Negative Trait: Manipulative Even without using his vampiric abilities, he's spent years mastering the art of manipulation. To move safely through human society, he trained himself to manipulate everyone to his advantage - and for his own pleasure. He used all his best manipulation techniques to net Dorian as his boyfriend once he'd surveilled him enough to get a good sense of his character. At a party, Toby walked in late, drawing all attention to himself as he made his way through the room. Dorian strutted right up to Toby and offered to get him a drink, but found Toby gone when he'd obtained it. After tracking the vampire down, he demanded to know why Toby had left him behind. Toby told Dorian that he wasn't special or different from anyone else, setting off Dorian's arrogant nature. For the next several months, Dorian showed up at parties looking for Toby, and found himself left wanting for the vampire's attention. With the man's interest secured, Toby finally cornered Dorian, told the man he was coming home with him, and led him into an entire new life. Other Traits + Romantic + Loyal + Charming + Worldly + Intelligent - Good-Humored +/- Nerdy +/- Easily excitable +/- Amoral +/- Attention-seeking - Possessive - Jealous - Insecure - Cynical - Arrogant - Selfish Powers and Abilities: -Vampiric speed and strength (can cross a large room in 1-2 seconds and lift large, sectional shaped/weighted objects) -Vampiric healing (insert blood and time, he can heal all major and minor injuries) Inventory: -A small silver key, gifted to him by Dorian their last Christmas together, that unlocks the attic of their Mayfair home -A vintage David Bowie Zippo lighter Samples: Fight with Dorian The Most Painful Morning on the Beach (waking up post death in 2014) |
