Even though Professor Airey was acting, like... super weird, Toby sort of... recognised what he was doing or at least what he THOUGHT he was doing. Like... centering himself or something. Pulling himself together. Controlling emotions. Not far off from being accurate, really, though if he knew exactly about how he was shoving his emotions away, Toby would have been able to relate. A whole lot.

The smile wasn't a normal Flamsteed smile, but Toby would take it. He met it with one of his own; not a gleeful grin or anything like that, Merlin knew he couldn't even manage one of those at the moment. But... a sympathetic smile, hopefully.

"Well, y'know... I just wanted to help you, uh... find her and stuff," he replied, unwittingly using That Word. "I had an idea, actually. Something that might help? I'm on The Quill, aren't I? I thought I could perhaps... write an article. Get the word out and stuff." Toby watched Airey carefully, trying to gauge his reaction, even though he had an abysmal track record of reaction-gauging. "What do you think?" Obviously he still had yet to consult Gabe, but surely he'd be okay with this. PET ROCKS and HAPPINESS were at stake.