Toby nearly made a joke about Prince Charming showing up to carry her away, but fortunately, he remembered that Kori's Prince Charming was gone, so he kept that comment to himself. Instead, he said, "Fortunately, barring the unforeseen, I don't think we'll have to run. I hope you're being sarcastic, though," he said, glancing at her dress. "Oh good." He laughed. "Man cards are hard to earn, so I'd hate to have to turn mine in." As for whether he'd have been fine or not, he shrugged. "I did, it's true, but now that I have met you, it's a lot easier. I don't think you understand how long the girls have gone without a female role model," he pointed out. "They had my sister a couple of years ago, but by that time, Emma was just getting to the age where she needed one." Now, that time was in full swing. "I do what I can, but there are some things they need to look to women for, you know? Things women understand better than men." Simply as that.
With a nod, Toby smiled. "I really think we should have more moments like this, you know? Times where we can just forget about everything. Maybe not all in costume, but humans have an instinct to blow off steam, anyway, don't they?" he asked. "So, why not have more things like this, right? If we've got people willing to collaborate to make it happen, I don't see how it isn't feasible." She talked about college and he nodded his head. "I didn't really... I didn't do this type of thing in college," he explained. "So it's nice. Doing them now, I mean."
He shrugged. "I don't think there's anything wrong with being luckier than most. It just means that you have a lot to be grateful for, right?" he asked. "And I'm sure there are some people that resent you for it," he said, never one to mince words. "But everyone resents someone. Everyone has someone they're jealous of. It's just a human thing, you know? Just something that we can't avoid. But just because they resent you doesn't mean they hate you." Honestly, he couldn't see how anyone could hate her; she was friendly and easygoing, and nice to talk to... but that was just his opinion. "And besides, it's not like you rub things in people's faces, either. So, if they do resent it? They have no one to blame but themselves," he offered.
"It's never too late," he pointed out with a small smile. "Maybe you could come with me to help find a cat for the girls, and you could get one for yourself?" he suggested. "You don't have to decide right away, but it's something to think about. Cats are fairly low maintenance. They just want to be petted, fed and cleaned up after," he chuckled softly.
Toby looked at her with a sad smile when she mentioned Mike. "I think if anyone around here has earned some cutting lose time, it's you. You work hard, and you're good to everyone. And I don't think I've ever heard you complain once about anything. I don't think anyone would fault you for relaxing." She offered to corral them away, and Toby shook his head no. "I don't want them held back by my fears," he told her honestly. "They're having fun. If it gets to be too dangerous, then I'll tell them to move back, but—" he trailed off when she mentioned fire-breathing. "Oh..." he muttered. "It's okay. I don't think he'd go near them, anyway. I'm sure he'd tell them to stay back." He pressed his lips together and internally tried to calm himself down, so he didn't accidentally project any panic on the people around him. "It'll be fine," he said, though he was mostly telling himself.
He snorted a chuckle. "If you want to. You already do enough for us, though, so I wouldn't ask you to do that. It's okay. They're just younger at mind, I think. Because of how young they were when the infection hit. You know?" he shrugged and smiled a little bit. "They're wonderful; the lights of my life. And I wouldn't change them for anything."