[FIN] Smoke Signals of Distress

[Tymiko]

((Or 'De-stress'. Please excuse the lame title. The others that came to mind were worse like 'Mental Escape on the Fire Escape' or 'Smoking on the Fire Escape' and other stuff like that... >_>; ))

The sun had just set and twilight was fast approaching. It was one of Tymiko's favorite times of day because of how the sky almost appeared to glow blue as everything else was silhouetted black against it. Before it got quite that dark, however, the trainer decided to take a walk with her Eeveeloutions. Well, one of them, anyway - Fathom was feeling too sluggish after dinner and preferred to sleep off his food. That just left his daughter, Distance the Umbreon, which worked quite well because she loved dusk and twilight time, too.

While Fathom rested at the Camphoreon Pokemon Center, Distance and Tymiko strolled around some of the alleys and streets that were much less crowded than during the day. As they were walking along, the Umbreon's night vision alerted her to a familiar-looking human perched way up top on perhaps the third or fourth floor of an apartment building staircase. Both excited and suddenly worried, Distance stopped where she was and barked up at the man. She was glad to see him but at the same time, should he have been up there? It looked really dangerous.

"Distance, shh, you'll wake people up," her trainer advised in a whisper before realizing the dark type was focused on something in particular. There was smoke and at first she thought something might have been on fire before locating the source sitting outside on the fire escape. Ironic that it was a fire escape.

"Hello?" she called softly, feeling bad to disturb the person. Distance's reaction to them had her intrigued, though. "Excuse me...are you alright up there?" Maybe they needed help? What if they were stuck? For all she could tell, though, the figure was just relaxing outside while smoking a cigarette.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

A spell of restlessness took hold of Abel early that evening and led to the blond pacing back and forth across his apartment like some sort of caged animal that had, at one point, known freedom. Eventually the pent-up energy drove him to grab his jacket before climbing out onto his fire escape, an action which agitated his ribs and prompted him to sit motionlessly for a while until the pain died down.

Once it had, the blond rummaged around in his pocket for a small box from which he pulled a cigarette and his lighter, then frowned lightly down at the almost empty box. He'd have to buy more soon, clearly. After closing the box and slipping it back into his pocket, it took but a moment to lift the cigarette to his lips and light it, and once he put his lighter away he shifted to a more comfortable position -- or as comfortable as he could, considering the sorry state of his ribs. He slouched against the brick wall of the building with a sigh and stretched his legs out until the toes of his sneakers brushed up against the black metal railing that surrounded that level of the fire escape.

His mind wandered absently, thoughts drifting in and out as his gaze similarly drifted over various things - other fire escapes on other buildings, the occasional Pidgey that flew by overhead, the light disappearing from a window across from him as a lamp was switched off - and every so often he'd take another drag, hold the breath in for a few moments as he lowered the cigarette, then exhale a small, shifting cloud of smoke that rolled through the air briefly before it slowly dissipated. The pain had alleviated some of his restlessness, and the chill in the air was slowly alleviating more of it. None of it really helped with the pain in his heart though, and so for the time being he just tried to do what he'd been doing this whole time: Try not to think about his missing Espeon too much when there was absolutely nothing he could due to change the situation. It worked sometimes - now being one of those times - but they'd been few and far between in the time since Isaac was taken.

Without guiding his thoughts except to steer them from a few painful topics, his mind had somehow wandered to his nieces and how they were doing. He hadn't seen them except in pictures in a couple years now, maybe he should go visit them and his sister...

The bark didn't attract his attention - pokemon passed by occasionally, and hearing one wasn't anything new - but the voice did, and Abel blinked a few times as he pulled himself back to reality. He leaned to one side a bit - only a bit, lest he bother his ribs again - and peered down at the alleyway below. Who was... Oh, a girl and her Umbreon. The pair were familiar to him - the pokemon more than its trainer - but he couldn't recall their names. The Umbreon's was on the tip of his tongue; the young woman's was not. Still, was she talking to him? As if to make sure, he glanced upward to try and see if he could see anyone above him on the upper levels of the fire escape; nope, nothing. He looked back down again and couldn't see anyone on the lower levels either, so it was probably safe to assume she was speaking to him... Just to be sure, he asked curiously and pointed to himself without pausing to think if she'd even be able to see the gesture from her vantage point, "You talking to me?" She probably was; he couldn't see anyone else she'd be talking to. If she wasn't then he could simply apologize, but he didn't want to rudely ignore her question if she was indeed talking to him. "Yeah, I'm fine; just wanted to sit outside for a while, was all."  

[Tymiko]

When the man spoke, his voice struck Tymiko as familiar and it took her a moment to place it. "Yeah, I..." What was his name, again? "...Abel? Is that you?"

Distance looked from Abel to her trainer and back again before barking once more. Abel most certainly did not look fine to the nocturnal pokemon. Before Ty had drawn his attention, the man looked tired and perhaps even melancholy to the Umbreon.

Maybe Distance wouldn't have been as worried if she could see Isaac around to tend to his trainer, but the colorful Espeon was nowhere in sight. It was possible he was in his pokeball, but since all the times Distance had seen Abel, Isaac was out and at his side, it struck her as wrong to see one without the other. she called to Abel as if her meaning could reach him through her sounds.

"Distance! Distance, calm down!" Having thought she had understood the reason the dark-type had drawn her attention to the fire escape, Tymiko had assumed her Umbreon would fall silent, but evidently that was not the case. What was she missing, then? "Shhh. Okay, I get it, there's something else. Just please quiet down before someone wakes up and yells at us or calls the police!" she whispered urgently.

"I'm sorry, she's not usually this vocal," Ty apologized, looking back up at Abel. She was still trying to understand what was getting Distance worked up enough to be so loud. Normally, the moonlight pokemon would have simply pawed at her or run up ahead to block her path or used some other method to tell her something. "I don't know what's gotten in to her."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Aw shoot, she remembered his name but he couldn't remember hers; now he felt like an a**. "Yeah, it's me," he affirmed easily as he tried his hardest to recall her name. It was something unique, not a common name like his... Didn't it start with a 'T'? Shoot, what was it...

Ah, that was the Umbreon's name though - Distance. She seemed rather vocal - which was apparently uncommon for her - but he didn't know the dark-type well enough personally to really know her behavior and what her different reactions meant. Still, if she kept barking like that, someone was bound to open a window and yell or throw something... Ah. "Hey," he called down to them softly, "d'you guys wanna come up here and join me?" He sure as hell wasn't going down there - though he supposed, someone would have to to lower the staircase so they could ascend - but maybe they'd want to come up here? Though in all honesty he wouldn't blame them if they said no; he wouldn't want to climb up three or four floors of a fire escape if he didn't have to.

Just in case they did, though, the blond raised his free hand to tap a knuckle on the nearby window a couple times. A few moments later the window slid open and a Zoroark stuck her head out with a querying noise. "Sonia, could you go and lower the stairs so they can come up if they want?" The dark-type's eyes followed her trainer's gesture to the pair below - though she had to lean further out the window to even see them - and she nodded once before slipping out the window and trotting her way down to the first level of the fire escape. Once there, she turned around and planted her forepaws on that level while carefully putting first one hind foot, then the other, onto the bottom set of stairs. Once she placed enough weight on it, its hinges squeaked a bit as the stairs swung downwards towards the ground, allowing the pair to ascend if they so chose.  

[Tymiko]

"You probably don't remember me, but I'm Tymiko. We met during the fossil hunt in those caves a while back, I think," she explained. If she barely remembered his name, she hadn't expected him to remember hers. She had more reason to remember him because she felt indebted to him for looking out for her pokemon.

Distance had quieted somewhat, but her barks were only reduced to loud whines instead. No one was telling her or even giving her a clue as to where Isaac was. Maybe Tymiko wouldn't have understood what she was upset about, but wouldn't Abel, at least, maybe have guessed at the hint? As soon as Abel invited them up, Distance ran to the foot of the fire escape and started bouncing up and down impatiently in place, looking back to make sure her trainer was following.

"Whoa - alright, alright already! Sheesh!" Ty muttered, her eyes following her blur of an Umbreon. Raising her head back to Abel, she asked, "Thank you, but, er, did you want us to go in through the main entrance, or...would that cause too much of a hassle for you?" He looked quite comfortable where he was at the moment and she would have hated to have made him get up only for her and Distance's sakes.

Before she could properly finish her thought, however, the young man seemed to have said something to someone - was that a pokemon? - through his apartment window. The pokemon and trainer pair stared up at the other pair for a moment as the newcomer leaned out of the window to regard them herself before joining her trainer outdoors. From there, she leaped down to lower the bottom staircase for the fire escape, granting Ty and Distance access to the upper levels.

Distance said to the Zoroark as she bounded by, nodding once briefly to her fellow Dark-type. Maybe Isaac was just in the apartment indoors upstairs and that's why she hadn't seen him outside with his trainer. There was only one way to find out.

Tymiko blinked in astonishment at the speed with which her pokemon ascended the steps before following in suit. "Thank you," she told Abel's helpful pokemon and Abel himself, smiling at the former and calling up louder to the latter. "I guess this works." It hadn't been her first idea as to how to join him up there, but she wasn't going to complain.

At least she wouldn't have to disturb anyone by going through the main lobby or asking for access to this building. Besides, she wasn't all that eager to leave the twilight atmosphere in favor of going inside and she had always wondered what it would have been like to use a fire escape - without the desire for an emergency accompanying the situation, of course.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Nah, I do remember you," he assured her. "It's just hard to remember clearly, it was a while ago." Tymiko, that was it - Tymiko. He remembered it now that he'd heard it again. Why couldn't he have remembered it before though? Oh well.

Her question received a shake of his head in response. "Fire escape's a lot easier," he said, watching idly as she and her pokemon moved around to ascend the steps, "plus I don't feel like going inside just yet." She didn't need to see how much of a struggle it was for him to get back inside, or wait until he wasn't in too much pain to go about letting her in. No, having Sonia lower the fire escape stairs was far easier on everyone involved, and so the blond remained seated where he was, leaning comfortably against the brick wall.

Sonia offered both trainer and dark-type a quiet noise of acknowledgement, but other than that she remained silently in place until they'd both climbed the steps up onto the lowest level. Once they had, she slowly took her weight off the stairs so it would raise back up into the air before she trotted back up after them.

"Anyway," Abel said in a normal voice once they were high enough that he didn't feel the need to speak loudly so they could hear him anymore, "I haven't seen you guys in quite a while, yeah? How've you been?"  

[Tymiko]

"Yeah, I don't blame you. And Tymiko's a weird name to try and remember, anyway. You can just call me 'Ty' if it's easier," she told him offhandedly, coming up on his level. "And I don't feel like going inside either, honestly."

Distance, meanwhile, scrambled up to Abel's floor and jumped onto the railing to get a look into the window of the trainer's apartment that the Zoroark had peered out of, hoping to catch a glimpse of Isaac without actually having to invade their home.

"We've been okay, thanks. I've caught a bunch of new pokemon recently, so I've had my hands full training them, but other than that, not much has happened. Which, considering the usually malicious nature of things that happen to people around here, particularly in the city, I'd say would be a good thing."

Tymiko tried to examine Abel's face more clearly with the light from his apartment window without outright staring. He seemed awfully worn out. Had he looked that way the last time she'd seen him? It didn't seem to be just mere physical fatigue, either. Something about his features almost seemed...pained. Not in the obvious sense, but in the way that traces of people's emotions show on their faces subconsciously without them even realizing. Like there was something he was trying to forget or not think of. Ty knew that look and that feeling all too well to not recognize it on another's face.

"How about you? Did something...happen?" Her aqua blue gaze briefly darted to her Umbreon who was leaning so far over the railing to try to see into the apartment that Tymiko was worried she was going to lose her balance and fall. "Not that it's really my business since we barely know each other and all...but...you seem kinda down."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Nah, it's cool," he said with a shake of his head, "unique. I can all you Ty if you'd like though, but only if that's what you want. I'd rather call you by what you want to be called, not just what's easier." It wasn't something he'd given a whole lot of thought to before, but after Taavi had a stint of being called 'Mark' because his name was deemed too difficult... Well, the blond felt a little more sympathetic to the topic than he used to be.

Sonia followed the pair of strangers up onto Abel's level of the fire escape, and she offered Distance a displeased, almost scolding look before she slipped back into the apartment and closed the window behind her. Inside, Distance would be able to see a sparsely furnished apartment - a TV sat on an entertainment stand, a guitar hung on the wall nearby and its case sat below it - and apart from Sonia, the only other pokemon in view was a black Growlithe with orange markings curled up on the floor, fast asleep.

"Ah, yeah," he agreed, nodding a bit as he lifted his cigarette to his lips again, "new pokemon can be a handful, especially if they're rambunctious or something." Like little kids, some of them... Of course, of course she'd mention bad things going on... Oh well, at least nothing bad had happened to her lately; he was at least grateful for that.

And... was that a lead-in? Abel frowned as he turned his head away from his company, exhaled a cloud of smoke and flicked his cigarette to rid it of ashes, and he absently watched as both danced away on the breeze before disappearing. How was he supposed to answer that? He lifted his free hand to run his fingers through his hair before they settled on the back of his neck. "There's always stuff happening," he replied eventually, "good and bad. Seems like lately it's only ever bad things, but," the blond shrugged and dropped his hands back to his lap as he turned to offer Tymiko a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "none of that's really anything you need to worry about, yeah? I'm glad things've been good for you lately, though."  

[Tymiko]

The trainer grinned. "Thanks. Tymiko is good, then. That's awfully considerate of you." Certainly more considerate than the average person.

Distance, catching Sonia's look, tilted her head in puzzlement and then was hit simultaneously with realization and guilt before tipping over off the rails with a yelp. Tymiko's eyes widened and she leaped forward to catch her Umbreon in outstretched arms.

"Distance! What's the matter with you? You're not usually this careless." She stroked her pokemon, checking to make sure she was alright.

Distance responded by giving Tymiko a worried look. She hadn't seen Isaac in the apartment, but the fact that other pokemon were out like that Growlithe meant that he likely wold have been, too. It was possibly he was just out of sight of the window, but...

"Ummm?" the Eeveeloution asked Abel, turning her head toward the blond man with a long, sad, drawn-out note. "Umbreon bre?" The pale dark type didn't like how he was avoiding their gazes. She fidgeted in Ty's grip until her trainer got the message and let her jump down out of her arms. Freed, she hurried over to Abel and put a tentative paw in his lap. "Bre breon, um?" Distance pawed gently at his hand, tilting her head first one way, then the other.

Ty was dumbstruck, too busy trying to decipher what was going on between the lines to do much speaking herself. Lips parted slightly in surprise, she looked between Distance and Abel and back again when her Umbreon seemed to be trying to ask him something.

She cleared her throat, wondering how to handle the situation without sounding like she was prying. "They've been...well enough," she agreed, but it's difficult to stay positive when other people I care or worry about are having their own troubles." Nord came to mind and how his Eevee, Bill, was more communicative about the man's feelings than Nord himself was. "Er...Abel, if there's anything I can do to help, I'd really want to. I'm the sort that actually gets restless if life's too peaceful, so..." she said with a small smile, trying to lighten things, "did you feel like sharing? Or is it not something you'd want to let me in on? Which I can totally understand and respect, us still being pretty much acquaintances and all."

Ty watched Distance. "Even if I might not have a very strong connection with you yet, Distance seems to want to make your business her business. But if you'd rather us not meddle, I can take her and we can go." She rubbed one arm. "I wouldn't want to cause more trouble for you than you already have to deal with."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel merely offered her a quiet smile and shrugged at the thanks. It was her name, after all; what sort of person would he be if he just dismissed it or called her something more convenient for him? Distance's continued anxious behavior furrowed his brow though, and he watched her with some concern. It seemed like Tymiko wasn't too sure, either. At least it wasn't just him... And now she was pawing at his lap. Both to discourage her from climbing into his lap and to offer her some attention, he held his hand out palm-up to her, inviting her to sniff or nose it or whatever else she felt like doing. "What's wrong, girl?" He murmured softly to her, wondering what was causing her such distress.

"That's fair," he said to Tymiko, though his gaze was still focused on her Umbreon for a few more moments. Eventually it shifted so he could offer the young woman a weary smile. "I appreciate it, but all my s**t's stuff I have to deal with myself. It's not really the sort of stuff anyone can help me with..."

Did he want to share? He frowned lightly again as he pulled another drag from his cigarette and held it in his damaged lungs. There wasn't much he could share, lest he tell her all manner of things she didn't need to know, but Distance did seem really eager for... something, he still wasn't sure what quite yet. He turned his head away from them both to exhale smoke into the evening air again before he returned his gaze to his company to reply, "Nah, you guys wouldn't cause me any trouble at all, so don't worry about that. Plus, I appreciate having some company," he added with another quiet, weary smile. Company was always nice, especially when it didn't involve Alyssa.  

[Tymiko]

Distance sniffed Abel's hand, but only smelled his cigarette and its smoke. No scent of Isaac. She frowned and whined, putting her paw atop his palm purposefully. "Umbreooon," she cried sadly, looking up into his face. "Breon, breooon!" Where was Isaac?!

"Yeah? I can get that," Ty said, leaning against the rails and looking out into the night. There was a nice view from up there, especially with the darkening twilight. "Sometimes there are things only we ourselves can fix. But sometimes it helps to just talk about it with someone else so we don't feel so alone, right? Or get ideas as to how to fix things."

Distance was getting frustrated. She didn't expect Tymiko to understand, but was Abel playing dumb, or did he really not know what she was so upset about? Removing her paw from Abel's palm, she paced around in a couple of circles, trying to think of what to do. Then she darted onto the railings again and tried to leap for the sill of the window that Sonia had preciously emerged from.

Tymiko, who had been briefly distracted by the scenery, turned at the sudden movement. Her eyes widened. "Distance! What - ?! Where are you going?!"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel frowned at Distance as she placed her paw in his hand; something about her growing distress and desperation made him uncomfortable, guilty. She was obviously trying to communicate, but the blond wasn't used to her, her behavior or her body language like he was with his own pokemon, so it was much more difficult to know what she wanted.

His gaze shifted from Distance to her trainer as the latter started speaking, though his eyes soon drifted off to the side again. At least he had Taavi to talk to about it, since Taavi knew what had happened and he didn't actually need to talk about it - about what happened - but he didn't particularly enjoy talking about it often regardless. How to fix it, though; that was something he wasn't sure he could do. No, there was pitifully little he could do. "Yeah, that's fair," Abel replied quietly, idly curling his fingers inward once Distance removed her paw. "I don't usually like talking about certain things though, and I don't--"

And then there was Distance, jumping for the window. Unfortunately for the Umbreon, said window was firmly shut and didn't open inward like doors did. "Ah, careful," the blond said as he reached his free hand out towards Distance, lest she hurt herself or fall off the fire escape with her antics, "you won't get in that way. Why do you wanna go in there, anyway? I promise there's nothing exciting or interesting in there." No, nothing of interest, unless she liked guitars or handguns, or frightened Lopunny, or grumpy Growlithe, or...

...oh.

"Oh," the blond said with a surprised expression as the realization struck him, though his demeanor quickly shifted towards despondence, "oh. You're.. oh." Of course. The last time he'd seen her, she'd seemed to have taken a shine to Isaac, so of course she'd be looking for him now, wouldn't she? Not that that explained her near-desperation, but that didn't really matter in the end.  

[Tymiko]

WHAM!

Maybe Distance didn't know or forgot that the window was closed or she had purposefully rammed it to try to break in or maybe just make a point. The Umbreon didn't have much prior experience with windows since neither she nor Tymiko spent a lot of time indoors. Whatever the case, the impact against the glass hurt more than she had anticipated and she fell back onto the balcony somewhat stunned.

Tymiko was horrified, unsure of what to do, but before she could do anything, Abel was reaching out to the pokemon. "Distaaance! What in the world are you trying to do?" She knelt down beside the dark type and Abel.

Just then, the latter made a sound of surprise and Ty looked up at him curiously. "Abel...? Are you okay?" Her brows furrowed, concerned about what she might have missed that was going on between the two before her.

"Breooon," Distance whimpered weakly, pushing herself back up to her feet and taking a moment to get her bearings before trying to shake off her slight disorientation.

"Careful, you! You might have a concussion!" her trainer scolded, gingerly checking the Umbreon's head where she had rammed the window.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Sonia's mildly startled, mostly annoyed face appeared in the window, frowning severely down at Distance and her human before she disappeared again.

Abel hesitantly withdrew his hand, watching Tymiko interact with her Umbreon now that she was safe on the fire escape. He was glad she was staying relatively still for the moment - all of her jumping around in her distress made him worry she would accidentally fall off the fire escape or something - and though he glanced at Tymiko briefly when she spoke, it was to the Umbreon that he gingerly offered his hand again. Not the top of her head though, in case she really did get a concussion from the blow - though he suspected probably not - and instead reached for her cheek, if she'd let him. It took him a moment before he asked her quietly, "You're looking for Isaac, yeah?"  

[Tymiko]

Ty looked up at Sonia's face when it appeared and tried not to smile, but it amused her to see such an expression on the Zoroark. Sonia was almost like a disgruntled parent or neighbor. Tymiko wanted to apologize to her, but before she could open her mouth, the pokemon was gone again.

The pale Umbreon pressed her cheek affectionately against Abel's hand when she realized he was offering it to her once more. "Umbreooon," she cried in acknowledgement, softer and more sorrowful than before. Something had happened to the Espeon now, she was sure of it. Why else would his trainer have sounded so subdued and mellow upon finally mentioning him?

"Isaac?" Tymiko repeated, trying to understand. She held her tongue to keep from asking more, however, recalling that perhaps it wasn't her business to pry.