[FIN] We Have to Stop Meeting Like This

[TawnyAngel]

Taavi's expression shifted to one of concern and he squeezed Abel's hand gently. "Oh! No, don't be sorry it's not your fault you got- Really that's not something you have to apologise for. But yeah, I mean we weren't just going to give up! Once I'd checked you weren't with Zev I knew you had to be in trouble, I couldn't leave you in it and just go to bed so once we'd checked a few likely places we split up the city and- Yeah, then your friend Dith called me and now I'm here and... and I really didn't mean to go on a ramble at you but I just did. Sorry. Um..." He didn't want to ask Abel what had happened but he needed too, before Zev got here. Ugh. He already felt like he knew what the answer would be, or if not the answer then the truth.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

No, it wasn't his fault he got stabbed... Except--

'How can you protect someone else if you can't even protect yourself?'

"Yes it was," he said with a shallow sigh, his head dropping back against the pillow as his eyes slid shut. A moment later he tightened his grip on Taavi's hand, turned his head back and fixed him with a stern look. He even went so far as to point at him with his index finger on his occupied hand, his voice firm, "I got mugged. I didn't see who it was; they came up behind me."

With that done, he relaxed his grip again and focused on his breathing. Dith was right, he really couldn't talk much... Not that he'd said as much, of course, but it was still implied. Moving on from the previous topic - one he had no intention of discussing further - his eyebrows knitted together as he finally processed the rest of what Taavi said. He'd called Zevran? "You were both looking for me?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Oh, so it was like that then? It was probably for the best that they didn't say anything aloud, the look Abel gave him said enough. "Still not your fault," Taavi replied with a shake of his head. "I'm sorry you didn't see who did it," his lips pressed together in a thin flat line for a moment, "but mostly I'm just glad you're going to be okay." This seemed like extreme revenge for not letting her play with Zevran like she'd seemed to want to but he wasn't surprised, not from her.

"But, um, yeah," Taavi nodded and retrived one of his hands from Abel's in order to tuck a braid of hair behind his ear. "I thought you guys might have met up or something so I messaged him. When he said you weren't with him I headed out with Sonia and Isaac but they're with Zev now because he was going to be on foot checking out some likely places while I was flying. They should be here pretty soon, Zev was waiting for a cab just before I came in here."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Ah.." Well no, it wasn't like he'd asked her to stab him - twice, even - but he knew that playing with fire would result in a burn. Almost literally; he hadn't realized getting stabbed would feel like someone lit a fire in his chest, and not the passionate romantic kind.

"I wish," he said with feeling, choosing to focus on that rather than on the previous train of thought. It was much more appealing. "That would've been much better than.. yeah. This." Infinitely better, even. Ah, Isaac and Sonia were with Zev too then, so they'd know he was fine. While he worried about all of his pokemon, those two he worried about the most. Or rather, he worried about Isaac the most, since Sonia could take care of herself, but he didn't want either of them to have to wait and wonder what happened. Pretty soon... He couldn't help but wonder how soon 'pretty soon' was. Instead of asking, he offered his friend another apologetic expression. "Sorry you didn't really sleep last night."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Heh, quit apologising," Taavi replied with a warm smile and a shake of his head. "I'm happy to give up a night's sleep for you, like, more than one in fact and I'm not even working today so I can catch up later on. I guess you're going to be stuck here a few days though hu?" And off work sick again but at least he was working himself now so bills and stuff would be paid... so long as Alyssa left him enough money to do that. s**t, why did she have to be alive? Everyone would be a lot better off if she was dead. He still wondered what it was she had on Abel but there was no way he was ever asking, if Abel didn't want to tell him it was probably better he didn't know.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Knowing Taavi would willingly and without any hesitation put forth so much effort on his behalf was touching, and a warm smile slowly, hesitantly spread across his face. He didn't deserve such a good friend. "Thank you."

Ah, a few days... Abel's expression soured a bit. "I think so. I'm not too sure." It wasn't like he'd been conscious many times between now and when he'd been admitted the night before, so he hadn't had much of an opportunity to find out, but that sounded like a standard length of time to be in for stab wounds and a punctured lung.

Another something began poking around in the back of his mind, but thankfully this time it didn't take as long to figure out what it was. Abel turned to Taavi with a questioning expression; hopefully he wouldn't mind... "Could you call Chris for me? I'm supposed to work today."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Being in hospital sucks," Taavi said sympathetically as Abel's expression changed, he obviously wasn't thrilled by the idea. "I ended up having to be in for four days that time I fell off the cliff and snapped my arm, they were short staffed and had a bunch of emergencies so I couldn't have surgery right away. My friends kept me company though, and we'll keep you company too." He had shifts to work after today but so far as he could tell Zev didn't actually have a job - the less he thought about where the blonde might get his money the better - so between them they could be around plenty.

Speaking of work though; "Oh, shoot, yeah," Taavi nodded, "I'll go call him when Zev turns up okay? He probably won't be much longer."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Ew, four days? "Four days before you could have surgery?" That sounded awful, wouldn't it have started trying to heal by then? Actually he didn't really want to think about that too much anymore. He didn't really want to think too much about anything, especially with how muddled and foggy his head felt. It was much easier to focus on simpler things, or just not try to think at all.

Ah, he would give him a call; perfect. Of course he would though. How could he say no? This was Taavi after all, Abel had expected him to agree immediately if he had told him to do something for him, but that was besides the point. He still felt the need to ask. It was only polite, after all. "Thank you," he said gratefully, the smile on his face warm and appreciative, if a little worn out. He really wished he could talk more, ask more questions - he had quite a few - but his injuries prevented him from speaking more than a handful of words at a time. It was kind of really annoying.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Yeah it kinda sucked but," Taavi smiled and waggled his arm expressively, "all good now and there was a lot of chocolate, and box sets." It had been pretty unpleasant on the one hand - haha, the broken one - but on the other hand it had been nice to see just how much his friends had cared about him. Maybe he should get back in touch now that he wasn't a complete failure here in Kodo anymore, they'd still probably think he was nuts but at least they'd see it had worked out well.

"If you are going to be stuck here a while we can bring you stuff to do as well once you feel like it again, you look pretty wiped out right now. Well, obviously you would be but... yeah, you know what I mean! And even if you're feeling kind of out of it a crappy movie is something nice to have on in the background yeah?" Yeah, well he thought so anyway.

Just as Taavi was trying to think of something else to say there came a rhythmic knock on the door, which then opened to reveal Zevran along with Isaac and Sonia.


"Good morning you two!" Zevran said with a bright smile as he stepped into the room; he was exhausted and he looked it but he also looked cheerful, being stabbed certainly wasn't great but it was a lot better than being dead in a gutter somewhere. Greeting given Zevran first closed the door behind Abel's pair of pokemon and then padded across the room to the bed to take a better look at his friend. "You look like s**t;" but, again, he was alive and going to stay that way and that was what really mattered.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Ooh, chocolate and... box sets? What? His brow furrowed thoughtfully at the puzzling phrase of 'box sets' which he felt he really should know what Taavi meant, but then he kept talking and the meaning hit him. He was talking about movies. Of course, why hadn't he figured it out right away? Probably due to the copious amounts of medication in his system, which he much preferred over the burning pain said medication dulled. "Yeah," he agreed to several of Taavi's comments but only specified one, "movies are good."

The instant the door cracked open Isaac pushed his nose through and darted inside, not even waiting for it to be opened even halfway, and immediately leapt up onto the bed. In short order the Espeon carefully but swiftly padded over and curled up in the crook of Abel's neck and shoulder, resting his head on the latter with a soft, almost inaudible whine. It was loud enough for Abel to hear though, and he turned his head to gently lean on the psychic-type.

Sonia didn't wait much longer than Isaac - which meant Zevran needn't wait at all for the pokemon to enter the room before he could close the door - and she trotted over to the side of the bed, bent down and carefully burrowed her nose under her trainer's empty hand. He obliged her and stroked it over her head where it paused so he could rub his thumb over her ears; she whined quietly as well, though hers was much more audible than Isaac's.

Were he more alert and had his wits about him more than he did, Abel might've feigned ignorance to give an appropriate comeback like 'oh really, I had no idea' or something, but as it was he was not and did not. Instead, he responded with a wry grin and a soft, slightly sarcastic and slightly grateful, "Thanks." A pause, in which he realized he had an opening for something better. "You do too."  

[TawnyAngel]

Oh, well, that was one way to say hello! Taavi found himself smiling a bit too though, mostly at Abel's response. "Abel's right, you kinda do, and what's your excuse?" he asked, trying for banter even though he wasn't all that good at it; self deprecating humour was his style, not jabbing at other people even in fun. As he spoke however he got to his feet so that Zev could have the chair, the blond had been walking around all night while he'd been flying so it was probably only fair really. Speaking of having been flying all night he was still pretty stiff from that and so he took the opportunity to stretch.

"My excuse?" Zevran chuckled and smirked. "Oh is it not obvious? I thought it was! Abel is a great trend setter, I am only following his example." He was glad of the chair and took it with a nod of thanks to Taavi; the night and early morning of walking around the chilly streets had drained him more than he had anticipated, perhaps because he had been worrying all night and early morning too.

"How do you feel though?" Zevran asked a moment later, reaching out to brush Abel's cheek with the backs of his fingers with a softer smile on his lips. "I'm quite glad to find you awake I must admit." Knowing that Taavi had said that the doctors had said that Abel would be fine wasn't as good as seeing him with his eyes open - if bleary - and hearing him talk.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

A trendsetter? Abel's grin morphed into a smirk and he briefly wrinkled his nose. Some trend to follow. "Don't follow it too far," he warned half-jokingly. Obviously neither of them would, but he didn't want either of them to get stabbed. Again, possibly, in Zevran's case; his friend had quite a number of scars, and he'd wondered on more than one occasion just how he'd acquired them. He wasn't sure he wanted to know though.

The soft touch of Zevran's fingers against his cheek softened his expression to a warm smile, similar to the one he gave Taavi earlier. "Like s**t," he said decisively. A few moments later he added, "Thanks for looking for me; sorry you didn't get any sleep." He wanted to say more, to elaborate on both statements, but his injured lung didn't allow him to say much more than that at once. Hopefully it healed quickly, but with his poor diet, amount of stress and smoking habits, he couldn't help but suspect it would take its sweet time. Damn.  

[TawnyAngel]

...Okaaaay, well, he hadn't expected Zevran to greet Abel quite like that; the tender touch seemed a bit out of place but also sort of sweet and Zev was apparently a pretty tactile person so he guessed it... made sense? Anyway.

"Um, yeah," Taavi nodded, "two stabbed people is two too many. Oh! Right but I'll go call Chris now okay? I'll be right back." With a flash of a smile to the pair of blonds Taavi turned and headed out of the door.

Chris? Oh, that was Abel's boss wasn't it? That would make a lot of sense.

Having worked out who Taavi would need to rush off and call in such a hurry Zevran relaxed languidly in his chair and waved Abel off with a smile. "De nada, friends do these things for each other no? Walk around all night, sleep on floors all night; correct me if I am wrong but it is part of the territory? All the same you are most welcome my friend."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Ah, Taavi was going to call Chris for him, a--aaaand he was gone. Well, so much for thanking him before he left. He'd just need to thank him when he returned.

Ha, he was right. "Yeah, it is," he agreed, ignoring the urge to nod and remained still instead, though he did give his friend a sheepish smile. "I almost forgot." Man, the floor had been quite uncomfortable, but he really didn't want to sleep in the same bed when he was so unlike himself. How could he?  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran smiled slightly, shrugged, and looked down; sincerity was quite difficult sometimes. "I did not," he replied. He then cleared his throat and looked back up with one of his characteristic grins. "But enough of that! Is there anything you would like brought from home later?" Abel looked quite tired, he might doze off at any moment for all Zevran knew so he thought it better to find out now just in case.