[FIN] Lamenting the Loss of a Lousy Livelihood

[TawnyAngel]

Afterwards he'd gone home, there didn't seem to be much else he could do. He lay on his bed looking up at the ceiling, his anger had burned out for the time being leaving him with nothing but cold sick dread. It had taken him too long to get this job - that job - how was he going to get another after being fired? How was he going to pay rent, buy food? The gray Vulpix - tentatively nicknamed Swift - cuddled up beside him and Valour sat on the floor with his head resting on the bed; he appreciated their presence, it wasn't much comfort but at least he wasn't alone.

At some point he must have fallen asleep; he found himself opening his eyes to the orange light of sunrise spilling in through the window by his bed; the window was open and Valour was gone, he must have let himself out to get breakfast. Eventually Taavi managed to summon the energy to get out of bed and go take a shower; after that he considered making breakfast but he couldn't face the idea of eating right now so he just sipped listlessly at a cup of coffee and stared at the wall for a while. What was he going to do?

A little while later he got out his 'dex and opened his chat thread with Abel. //Hey, r u free to meet up today? I could use some company.// Maybe talking about it would help.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel scrubbed at his wet hair with the towel a bit more before inspecting it in his bathroom mirror, and coming to the same conclusion he came to yesterday: He'd need a haircut soon, but with what money would he get one? Maybe he could convince Alyssa to not bleed his wallet completely dry, but she probably would regardless. With a sigh the blond tossed his damp towel over the shower rod and slowly made his way into the kitchen to check on the status of his coffee maker. Fortunately for him it was nearly finished, so he gathered his coffee-related necessities in the meantime.

While he didn't hear his phone buzz from the new message, Isaac did, and upon seeing the name on the phone - he couldn't read, but he did know how various names looked and related them to the respective people - he enveloped the phone in a soft bluish-purple glow and lifted it with his psychic powers to bring it from Abel's nightstand into the kitchen. Once the lithe psychic-type arrived, he sat on his haunches and gave a single "eon" as he set the phone down on the counter.

"Mmh," Abel made a small noise of acknowledgement and appreciation as he swallowed the sip of coffee to thank his friend properly, "Thanks bud. Text or call?" He received another simple "eon" in reply, and that coupled with the fact he probably would've heard it ringing made him lean more towards the former than the latter, so with the tap of a finger he woke up the screen to see for himself. He took another sip of his coffee as he read over the text, but it took him a few thoughtful moments to work out his schedule for that day before he tapped out a reply.

I don't work until late afternoon today, so sure as long as it's before that. Meet up where?

With his reply sent and the assumption he would indeed end up hanging out with Taavi today - that and he'd probably go out eventually anyway - the blond headed back into his bedroom to find a shirt to wear and to make sure his hair didn't look too disheveled or unruly.  

[TawnyAngel]

Where? That was a good question. He found himself really struggling to have an opinion on that but after a minute or so he ventured; //Park? It's free.//

A soft "Vul?" down beside him and then a pair of paws on his leg alerted Taavi to other things he needed to do, namely feed the Vulpix. "Sorry," he smiled wearily and stooped to give him a stroke, "I forgot you might want breakfast, hang on."

There was no meat in the house at the moment but there was some kibble; he only put out a small measure in the hope that Valour would bring in something the pair of carnivores could share, allowing him to save the kibble for a day when Valour might not bring anything home. And how long was this going to be home? Okay so he'd kind of hated it up until yesterday but now he was really beginning to see the appeal, it had four walls and a roof for a start.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Once he'd found a suitable shirt and returned to lean on the kitchen counter, he lifted the mug to his lips to take another sip of his coffee while tapping away at his phone in his other hand, Free is good. See you in 20?  

[TawnyAngel]

//Great, thanks, see you soon.//

Taavi sighed and rubbed his face, he was already mostly dressed but he should find a jumper and his coat; it was cold out. Sweater, coat, boots... Right, wallet, 'gear, keys. Was that everything? It seemed like it. After checking he'd turned off all the power and the heating too - he'd leave that off now, he thought - Tavvi stepped out of the apartment with Swift keeping close by his side.

It wasn't too long a walk to the park so he was there before the twenty minutes were up, he'd half expected Valour to meet him part way and give him a lift but he guessed the Braviary was still hunting.

With his hands shoved in his coat pockets and his shoulders slumped Taavi made a dejected figure as he wandered along the central path running through the park; he glanced around every so often in search of the familiar figure of Abel but carefully avoided the gaze of anyone he didn't know. He was not in the mood to end up talking to weird strangers, he didn't think he had a lot of polite smiling and nodding in him today.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Text received, he decided against replying - he didn't see any need to do so - then lowered his hand with his phone and turned to his myriad of pokemon, "Who wants to go to the park to hang out with Taavi?" He received an array of responses that varied as widely as his assortment of pokemon, so he nodded to the group and went to the front closet for more cold appropriate outerwear while they either went back to whatever they were doing or hovered near the door for him to be ready.

Jacket, shoes, phone, keys, wallet, thermos of coffee, pokemon... With everything settled, the blond left in short order to give himself enough time to walk there in time. While he could've driven there easily, that would consume gas, and he had very little extra money with which to buy more gas, the choice was obvious. Isaac and Caleb trotted along at his heels while Elizabeth lagged behind to investigate various objects - usually garbage on the sidewalk - but then hurried forward whenever she found herself too far behind the pack. Whenever she didn't notice how far behind she was, Abel had to stop and call her or wait for her to eventually catch up, so twenty minutes had come and gone by the time they reached the park. Taavi was probably wondering where they were... Abel pulled his phone out to send him a text, Here, where are you? Gonna send Caleb on ahead

Text sent, he slid his phone back into his pocket and glanced down to his Growlithe, "Hey Caleb, think you could run ahead and find Taavi? He should be here somewhere, probably along the main area. I doubt he's hiding off in one of the side paths or alcoves." He received a bark in reply before the fire-type turned on his heels and darted off, bounding ahead of them with his tongue lolling out of his mouth and tail waving behind him like a fluffy white banner. While they hadn't hung out too much, Abel knew Caleb was an intelligent Growlithe - he expected nothing less from his parents' stock - so chances were he remembered what Taavi looked like and would find him. Even if not, maybe Taavi remembered what he looked like and they'd find each other that way.  

[TawnyAngel]

Maybe Abel wasn't coming after all, or had been hit by a car or something. That seemed pretty much like what he'd expect out of today- Oh, a text. Well, okay, not not coming or hit by a car then; that was good.

//I'm on the main path through, on the bench under the willow tree.//

The willow tree was a pretty depressing sight in winter, or maybe he was just in a depressing mood, or both maybe.

After a little while Taavi spotted a familiar Growlithe bounding along and raised his hand in greeting, a tiny hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth; life was terrible but pokemon always made it better.

Swift had spotted the Growlithe too but it was unfamiliar to him; he hopped up onto the bench to cuddle up against Taavi's leg and regarded its approach with caution.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

When his phone buzzed with another reply, Abel pulled it from his pocket to check and made a mental note of the location. Willow trees didn't seem to be as common as most other types of trees, so it wasn't that difficult to spot a couple willow trees, but only one was on the main path with a bench under it. And surprise surprise, there was a person on it and Caleb was running towards it, so that had to be Taavi. Abel slipped his phone back into his pocket without replying to the text - again, no need - and continued walking in that direction.

Caleb bounded over to Taavi and halted roughly a foot in front of him and offered him a bark. He had found him, yes, good, perfect. The rather serious Growlithe turned on his heel again to face Abel once more and barked a second time, louder this time, and despite the distance the fire-type could see the blond raise a hand in response. Good, he knew that he had found him and that he was good. Satisfied, the Growlithe turned back to Taavi and flopped down onto his fluffy haunches and offered him a gruff, quieter bark. The Vulpix was treated to a wary, if not suspicious glance.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Hey there Caleb, how're you today?" Taavi asked with a smile, getting off the bench in order to crouch down and offer his hand out to be sniffed in greeting in desired. "My friend on the bench is.... Well I've been calling him Swift but he hasn't decided if he wants to stick with it yet, he moved in with me and Valour a little while ago. Swift, this is Caleb, and that's Abel heading over now; they're friends."

<> Swift echoed a little hesitantly, not yet making any move to leave the reassuring elevation of the bench; the Growlithe was larger than he was and looked tougher than he was so for now - despite Taavi's assurances - he was going to stay where he was. <>  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Caleb gave a gruff-sounding huff in response as he stepped forward to sniff at his hands. Detecting the scent of kibble, however faint, got his hopes up, so just in case he nosed and licked at the man's fingers. Unfortunately he didn't actually have anything on his fingers, so he abandoned them just as quickly and shook himself off. Unlike Swift, the Growlithe's demeanor and movements were confident and without hesitation. he corrected when Swift spoke, and turned to look at the fire-type while retaining his wary, guarded expression and curt behaviors. His wary expression turned skeptical and vaguely suspicious.  

[TawnyAngel]

<> Swift replied with a small bob of his head, <> It was a whole different world to life in the alleys, a much nicer one in his opinion! He was safe, warm, fed, and he was never lonely anymore; whether you called it a pack, a gang, a pride, or something else it was very good to have a group at your back.

As the pokemon started to talk Taavi straightened up and waited to Abel to catch up to them, half listening to the pokemon conversation in the hope that he might suddenly find himself understanding. He wouldn't though, he hadn't had the headache yet and he hadn't heard of anyone developing the ability without that stage.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Caleb replies gruffly, turning his head this way and that as he studied the Vulpix.

Isaac interjected as he trotted close enough, halting near the bench and offering a polite dip of his head in greeting.

Abel finally got close enough to offer his own "hey" to Taavi, coupled with a wave of his free hand. "What's up?"  

[TawnyAngel]

<> Swift replied, slightly relieved that this pokemon seemed a little less intimidating than Caleb. <> he offered to Caleb, <>

"Hey," Taavi waved back and offered a wan smile. "I, ah... kind of got fired. And when I say kind of I mean really fired. Sooo... yeah, I just wanted to get out of the house, thanks for meeting up with me. Are you okay? Sorry, I could have asked that before I just dropped that on you. Sorry."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Swift? Isaac made a mental note to remember the name.

was Caleb's curt reply.

Abel winced. "Ohh, ouch. That sucks, man. D'you wanna talk about it?" He probably did, given he'd reached out for company today, but it felt prudent to ask all the same. Maybe he didn't want to talk about it. He waved away the concern, however. "Nah, I'm fine, don't worry." Truth be told he wasn't fine, but even if Taavi didn't have termination hanging over his head he still wouldn't share his predicament. No, he'd much rather keep it hidden away for as long as he possibly could. It was better that way.  

[TawnyAngel]

<> Swift replied slightly hesitantly, Caleb still made him feel a little nervous but Isaac really did seem nice. <> the Vulpix added after a moment, he wasn't really used to smalltalk yet so his range of conversation topics was pretty limited.

"Ah... I guess, yeah, thanks, I would," Taavi responded, bushing his hair back from his face and shaking his head with a sigh. He'd been so angry yesterday, angrier than he could remember being for a very long time; he'd actually shouted at Tony! He was pretty surprised at himself for that but pleased surprised, he'd been wanting to say all of that for ages but he'd just been too spineless.

Taavi gestured vaguely off down the path; "Um, could we walk a bit? I feel kind of dumb just standing around here. Is that okay?" Maybe Abel would prefer to sit on the bench... well he'd say if he did, he was sure.