[Fin] Earthshaking revelations

[TawnyAngel]

He almost couldn't remember a time when he hadn't had a headache so this was refreshing to say the least and he even had a few days of holiday left to enjoy! Everything that was going on with the egg, and all the other crazieness come to that, had him thinking more than ever about his team and the fact that it lacked somewhat in diversity and it was for this reason that a pleasant mid-morning found Dith riding through Sagestone. The giant man atop his giant Rapidash was sipping a coffee and munching a bagel, very much looking forward to his planned hike towards the mountains. What he needed was... well anything he didn't have really and that included rock types and ground types which ought to be plentiful around here. Something like a Geodude would be ideal, or perhaps an Aron or something? He didn't have a steel type either and they were eternally useful things, or maybe a fighting type? Well, he would have to see what he saw when he was out there but for now his gaze wandered idly around the shops and buildings of the little town; sure was a change from Camphoreon.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Today found Abel in a somewhat better mood than he had been for the past few weeks, mostly because he wasn't in Camphoreon because of 'business reasons' and therefore couldn't be bothered by a certain someone he didn't particularly care to think about at the moment. His 'business reasons' were actually legitimate; he'd been tasked by his boss with transporting a few boxes from their building to a smaller shop in Sagestone. Early that morning he'd spent some time helping pack said boxes before loading them all into his car, then spent at least an hour - he stopped keeping track after a while - driving from Camphoreon to Sagestone.

Once he arrived, it hadn't taken long at all to find the shop, so he guided his car into one of its empty spots and parked it there. Just a minute or two later, he'd opened the trunk and one of the doors, had loosed all his pokemon, and had acquired Sonia's and Elizabeth's help in carrying the smaller, lighter boxes while Caleb and Isaac watched the car in his absence. The blond paused a moment to ascertain they'd be okay - and that Elizabeth wouldn't drop her box on purpose just to see what would happen if she did - he shouldered the shop's door open and entered, then held it open with his foot while his bipedal pokemon followed after him. The door quietly swung closed once they'd gone in after him, and didn't open again for several minutes; once it did, Abel and the two larger pokemon repeated the same as before, carrying in boxes and returning to the car empty-handed - or empty-clawed - except Abel, who insisted on carrying a sheet of paper every trip and pausing to refer to it or mark it with a pen he kept stuck behind his ear when he wasn't using it.

After a couple such trips, Elizabeth flopped down onto the ground beside the car in a way that clearly indicated how done she was with carrying boxes. Sonia merely snorted at her and remained standing by the blond's side as he once again pulled the pen from behind his ear and referenced the sheet of paper. Occasionally he'd glance in the trunk or in the back seat of his car for other boxes, and sometimes checked off things on the piece of paper in his hand.  

[TawnyAngel]

The sight of a familiar figure entering one of the shops along the street made Dith pull Dolly up short and made to call out a hello, until he spotted what sort of shop it was and paused with the words dead on his tongue. He'd never liked guns and a renewed close association with them over the last few years hadn't made him any fonder, quite the reverse. A lot of people just saw them as necessary tools or even liked them but they'd always perturbed him. The only thing you ever used a gun for was trying to kill or at least seriously harm another person and that didn't sit right with him at all. It wasn't a huge earthshaking deal or anything but it still brought him up short to see somebody he knew a bit taking boxes into a shop like that when he hadn't known they had anything to do with firearms until now.

When Abel next emerged from the shop however and Elizabeth flopped down by the car Dith gave himself a mental shake and waved. "Abel, hey there! What's up?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

With the paper sufficiently marked for now, Abel hummed lightly as his gaze drifted over the few remaining boxes and he idly tapped the pen against the paper while he thought. While he wasn't exactly expecting to be addressed, he would've expected it more from inside the shop instead of outside, so he lifted his head and looked around to see who... Oh, well, fancy that. "Hey," he said as he tucked the pen behind his ear so that he could wave with that hand, and turned a bit so that he could actually face the other blond. "I didn't expect to see anyone I knew around here. I'm just making a delivery," he explained as he jerked a thumb backwards to point at his car. Both the trunk and one door were still open and a couple plain cardboard boxes were visible. "What brings you out here?" If Dith moved closer, he might notice a weariness about Abel's person that went deeper than just being tired out after carrying some heavy boxes around; he had bags under his eyes and his typically clean-shaven face looked as if he hadn't used a razor in a couple days.

Isaac offered the other man a friendly "eon!" in greeting, though his other pokemon remained silent for now.  

[TawnyAngel]

As Dith slid down from Dolly's back and headed over he decided that maybe now wasn't the time to be querying Abel's profession; the man looked tired, worn, and a little disheveled over all. In any case Abel had kind of explained with the comment about making a delivery, no need to go prying... at least not about the job.

"I didn't either," Dith replied, smiling and raising his coffee cup in a greeting to Isaac as he spoke. "I'm on leave from work and I've been meaning to try to expand my team, I could use pretty much any of the types that are most common on the mountains and in the mines out of town. I just made a stop for refreshments," he waved the bagel, "can't go adventuring on an empty stomach, da?"

Now, how was he going to do this? 'So you look kind of crappy, what's up?' was a bit too blunt he felt and it wasn't like he knew Abel well but he liked the man and couldn't help feeling concerned.

Dith brightened abruptly as an idea occurred to him and he waved his bagel again, this time in the direction he had been heading. "Hey, do you finish work any time soon? Want to come with?" A bit of fresh air and a good hike might do Abel good and certainly couldn't do harm. Anyway, it would be nice to have his company.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Ah, cool," Abel responded with a nod, then rubbed his chin thoughtfully - and frowned at the stubble there. "Expanding your team, huh? That sounds like a good idea - and something I should probably work on sometime," he added a bit ruefully. Yeah, sometime... Maybe when he had time to actually train and try this whole 'trainer' thing, but unfortunately that wasn't an option for him at the moment. "That's a good idea, too; I definitely wouldn't want to go hiking without eating first..."

Did he finish working soon? His brows raised a bit and he glanced down to the list in his hands, then to the boxes still left in his car. There weren't many, to be sure; with Elizabeth's help, maybe two more trips... Without, maybe three. "I'll be done as soon as I get the rest of these boxes inside and get this signed," the blond raised the sheet for emphasis, "but after that I'm done." Did he want to go too? While part of him was somewhat averse to hiking through the woods or up into the mountains, he realized something that made his face slowly light up: The longer he was out 'on business' in Sagestone, the longer he could avoid being bothered. Sure, he could always just sneak home and pretend like he wasn't there, but why pretend to not be at home when he could actually legitimately not be at home? Plus he had the added benefit of hanging out with the other blond; he'd always seemed pretty cool, and he felt a little bad that he didn't know a whole lot about him. A brightness started to break through the persistent weariness in his demeanor as he said at last, "Sure, I'd love to, if you don't mind waiting maybe ten or fifteen minutes."  

[TawnyAngel]

Excellent! Hiking bonding experience, and maybe talking about what was bothering Abel. Or not as the case might be, he'd have to wait and see if he could think of a way to approach it that wasn't too blunt or invasive. "Sure, no problem," Dith replied with a grin. "You want a hand with those last boxes? Hefting things is one of my many talents, and I'd feel stupid just standing around watching you." Offer thus extended Dith finished off the bagel, he couldn't exactly carry things while he had a bagel in his hand and he couldn't just put it down somewhere like the coffee.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

While his offer of help was tempting, Abel shook his head, "Thanks for the offer, but no thanks. I'm at least getting paid for it, so I'd feel bad if you helped do my job for me." So saying, he folded the paper and stuck it in his back pocket before swatting playfully at the top of the Charmeleon's head, "Come on, let's finish moving these boxes and then you can run around in the woods, alright? ...as long as you don't set anything on fire," he added while he turned and lifted up a box to hand to her.

Elizabeth seemed okay with this - though she pouted a bit at the concept of not setting anything on fire - and accepted the box he passed to her. Sonia, meanwhile, grabbed her own boxes, and Caleb huffed as he trotted to try and push the door open again. As his pokemon headed towards the interior of the shop again, Abel paused with a box in his hands and turned to Dith, "Where d'you want me to meet you when I'm done?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"Okay, fair enough," Dith replied with a smile and a shrug, it wasn't worth pressing over if Abel preferred to do it himself. "I was heading north out of the city, how about I meet you where the uh... what's it called?" Dith's brow furrowed and he fetched out his pokegear to pull up a map. "Here," he indicated a foothpath leading into the mountains to Abel, "it's about ten minutes walk from here I think? Maybe a bit more. I can hang out and wait there, there's be nice scenery!" Anyway, he should probably check his emails.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

If Dith didn't know what it was called, then Abel sure as hell didn't, but the older man soon indicated on a map the location he meant. "Oh, sure," the blond replied with a quick nod as he repositioned the box in his arms, "that sounds just fine. See you there." So saying, Abel went back to work, his pokemon following after him.


A little while later saw Abel heading towards the spot indicated, a small backpack slung over one shoulder and all of his pokemon in tow, and trying to spot the larger blond - something he didn't expect to have too much trouble with.  

[TawnyAngel]

It wasn't all that long before Abel arrived but, gaze fixed on his phone, Dith did not immediately realize that he was approaching. Fortunately however the spotted Esepon - who was perched on the fence Dith was leaning against - was paying attention and chirped a greeting which caused his human companion to look up.

"Oh, hey there, that was quick!" Dith smiled at Abel before glancing back down at his phone to close his emails and put it away. "Now," he returned his attention to his friend and made a sweeping gesture to the path, "Shall we? Adventure awaits!"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Viktor's noise got Dith's attention and so saved Abel the trouble of distracting him from his phone - it might've been important, and then if it was he would've felt bad - so the blond instead simply raised a hand in greeting. "Yeah, it didn't take as long as I thought it would," he said once he got closer, "so I took a page from your book and grabbed a couple snacks first." One hand lifted to grab the strap and readjust the bag on his back to indicate where the aforementioned snacks were.

Isaac trotted forward and halted beside his friend, ears perked and eager to adventure. He said cheerfully, his forked tail flicking. Sonia and Caleb remained silent - the former calm and patient while the latter simply looked around, bored - and Elizabeth's gaze darted every which way, never staying on one object for more than a few seconds before shifting to something else.

"You first," Abel said, making a sweeping gesture of his own, though not as large. Despite the persistent weariness in his demeanor, he seemed more upbeat than before. "This is your adventure, after all; I'm just going along for the ride."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Ha, always good to have supplies, and as you say!" Dith nodded agreeably and set off up the path at a fairly leisurely pace, though given the length of his stride this was perhaps less leisurely for others involved.

Viktor responded, ears likewise perked up attentively. he added, starting after his trainer.

"So, what is up with you at the moment? Anything fun going on?" Dith asked of Abel after a couple of moments, shifting the hang of his backpack slightly to make it more comfortable.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Yep," Abel agreed readily, then followed after Dith once the taller man started walking. While the pace was definitely quicker than what he was used to, it wasn't that bad, all things considered. The blond found himself quite glad he wasn't short, otherwise he would've had a harder time keeping up with Dith.

Sonia offered a quiet, agreeable noise in response, but Isaac took the initiative to speak once more. he said happily as he turned and started trotting along after their trainers. Caleb merely made a gruff sound and otherwise remained silent.

"Anything fun? Of course! I'm going on an adventure with you; that's something fun," Abel replied with a chuckle, readjusting his grip on his bag's strap. "But, in general? Not so much, so. Lots of long shifts at work, mostly. How 'bout you?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Viktor replied with a small chirp and a bob of his head.

"Well, the egg!" Dith gestured expansively at nothing in particular. "Damn thing has given me - all of us who were around it a lot - a headache since we started, but it's passed now thankfully." Hopefully without long term side effects, he didn't want to think too much about that possibility. "It's a fascinating thing to be close too even if it did make me feel like my brain was being pressed up against the inside of my skull or something. It wasn't awful in itself just... eh, just persistent and nothing seemed to help with it."