[FIN] Pancake Party

[TawnyAngel]

"That is exactly what I am saying," Zevran replied with a little smile, adding; "See you in a bit then," as Abel headed off to get his fix.

This left Zevran alone with Elizabeth, who he still found slightly concerning even though her tail had yet to set light to anything. "Has Abel ever cooked anything over your flame?" Zevran asked as he laid his ingredients out on the worktop. "I imagine it must be quite useful for camping and so on." Eggs first: he cracked three into the large bowl, set the shells back in the box of the time being, and then located a fork to whisk them with. Next was flour - 'some' - which he started to mix into the eggs.

"Thanks," Taavi replied, curling his legs up under himself and leaning back against the couch cushions. Where was Valour now? Had they already turned him? Or would they decide not to and experiment on him instead. He'd never work for any of them willingly so those would be the only ways to get profit out of him... Unless they did sell him. If they sold him he'd be back soon. Despite himself Taavi found himself looking over at the window with a faint glimmer of hope but it soon faded again, the Rocket who'd taken him would want to do something awful to him to pay him back for the death of his Scyther. He couldn't imagine it would actually matter to the Rocket who'd done it or that the monster actually cared about the pokemon, no, he'd only care about the insult.

When Abel passed by Taavi acknowledged him with a glance and a nod of thanks but couldn't summon the energy for even a weak smile.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

After he'd climbed out onto the fire escape, Abel spent some few moments collecting himself and his thoughts - thankfully exiting through the window out onto the fire escape didn't hurt like it did when his ribs were broken, but it still hurt quite a bit - and once he felt a bit better, he sat himself down cross-legged on the metal grating and pulled out a cigarette and his lighter from the pack in his hands so he could light up.

Elizabeth tilted her head up at Zevran as he spoke to her, watching him keenly - or more precisely, watching him handle food - and in response she opened her toothy jaws to yawn a reply. "Chaaaa...aaarr."

Blankets and hugs... weren't really helping. Vanessa hugged Taavi's arm a little tighter and buried her nose into it. Tight hugs! Were tight hugs more helpful?

Tabitha quietly padded over and watched her charge hug the mournful human to comfort him as best she could, with Swift and Isaac curled up on his other side. A sad frown alighted her face before the electric-type decided to help as well, and she stepped over to press her head against his knee. That.. probably wasn't helpful though. Tabitha lifted a leg and waved it a bit - not close enough - then did a small three-legged hop to get closer, but her leg was too short to hug him with. And she couldn't use both legs at the same time to even give a proper hug... Well, that was unacceptable. With a slightly vexed frown and a huff to match, Tabitha flopped down on her wooly rump and curled her tail close to her leg. She promptly began to glow white, to morph, to grow. When the white light faded, the newly evolved Flaaffy lifted both arms to hug them around Taavi's leg. There, much easier. Pleased with her success, the electric-type laid her cheek on his knee and made a soft, soothing crooning sound.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Thanks you guys, I-"

Taavi had been about to say something about how much it meant that they were all there but the sudden white light surrounding Tabitha stopped him mid sentence. Tabitha had just evolved so that she could hug his leg. Taavi swallowed hard and squeezed Vanessa's arm a little tighter in return.

"I... you guys are..." He swallowed again, trying not to cry. "You're just... you're really great. Um. And congratulations Tabitha, you look great and you give great hugs."

"Oh, you are hungry are you?" Zevran gave Elizabeth a speculative look as he put a little butter into the big pan to melt gently on a low heat and started to mix milk in with the eggs and flour. "Are pancakes good for your kind? Well I am sure one would not hurt, and certainly some bacon or eggs? You like those?" He had brought plenty of everything with the thought in mind that the menagerie of pokemon who lived here might want to share the breakfast, as might some of his own come to that.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Tabitha didn't really respond to the congratulations or the compliments. Instead, she twisted her head up to look up at Taavi with her large eyes - tinged with blue now instead of brown - she continued to rest her cheek on his knee, and she crooned again in the same soft, soothing tone - almost encouraging - as she gently patted his leg with one leg.

The Charmeleon perked up at some of the words as Zevran spoke - specifically eggs and bacon - and she nodded her head. "Chaaar!" She circled around to his other side and shoved her nose under his elbow to get a better look at whatever he was doing - even if he didn't happen to be doing anything in particular at the moment.  

[TawnyAngel]

Taavi smiled weakly and rubbed the Flaafy's foot with his own. "Thanks Tabi." He didn't understand what she'd said but the gentle tone got through just fine.

"Ha! You have never been fed in your life, have you?" Zevran chuckled as Elizabeth shoved her nose under his elbow. "This is the raw batter, you do not want this," he told her as he twirled aside to escape her investigation. Most of the melted butter from the pan went into the bowl next, then some for one of the small pans, and then he turned the heat up under all three. "Eggs and bacon will come faster if you don't shove your pretty face at me my fiery friend," he informed Elizabeth, wagging his whisking fork seriously at her before using it to finish off preparing the batter.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel opened the window again and slipped back inside, bringing with him a breath of chilly morning air and the lingering scent of smoke, and as he straightened up one hand rubbed gingerly at his chest a bit while the other shut the window again. He turned and padded over to the couch to give Taavi's shoulder another squeeze, did a double take, then smiled down at Tabitha as he reached down to give her an affectionate pat on the head. "That's my girl," he murmured softly.

Tabitha made a soft cooing noise in the back of her throat, still hugging Taavi's leg.

Once he straightened back up, the blond headed back into the kitchen and deposited his pack of cigarettes on the counter on the way in. He fixed Elizabeth with a look, just as the Charmeleon made a guttural rumbling noise and tried to snap at the whisking fork. "Elizabeth, you're behaving yourself, yeah?" The fire-type immediately hunched down to make herself smaller and aimed an I'm-completely-innocent look up at her trainer, who hummed thoughtfully for a moment as he turned to pull three coffee mugs from a nearby cupboard. Obviously she wasn't, but there wasn't a mess anywhere and nothing was on fire, so that was probably okay. "That's good." He paused a moment to pour out the steaming coffee into the mugs, set the pot back down, then picked one of the mugs up and offered it to Zevran, "Here. Sorry it's not very good coffee, I don't blame you if you want to put something in it. And thanks again for making breakfast - it looks good already," he noted aloud as he peeked over his friend's shoulder - an easy feat given his height advantage - to look at what he was doing.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Ta-da," Taavi said weakly as Abel passed by. It was weird how life just kept happening, it was like nothing had happened so far as the world was concerned. He guessed in the great scheme of things it hadn't. Sometimes he really felt like Arceus had a plan and was watching over everything, other times.... Was it give and take? After a couple of amazing, unbelievably lucky coincidences did you have to give something back? Him and Sera meeting Diancie, Abel spotting Zevran at just the right time, had those things been given to balance what was to follow? Or was Valour's fate inflicted because of them?

"Ahh, welcome back ojos encantadores." Zevran glanced over his shoulder and up at Abel as he laid out stripes of bacon in the ungreased pan; they sizzled deliciously. "I welcome the hot coffee even if it does not have flecks of gold leaf in, which is my usual taste of course." Zevran accepted the mug Abel offered him with a smirk and asked; "How do you like your eggs in the morning?"
 

[BlackFireKitsune]

Somehow, despite the night Taavi had had and all of the implications it had, Abel found his thoughts drawn to all of the things he wanted to do or say in response to Zevran. They all faded rather quickly though, given recent events weighing more heavily in his heart than brief levity, so instead he leaned one hand on the counter on Zev's other side so he could lean into him a bit as he peered over his shoulder a bit longer. "Mmm, bacon," he murmured before he lifted his own mug of coffee - black as well - to take an experimental sip to see how hot it was. Ah, still quite hot but not hot enough to burn his mouth; that was acceptable. "Of course it is; I'll be sure to find some gold leaf flecks for your coffee next time. And I like my eggs any way you want to make them, though preferably not burnt or anything like that," he added with a ghost of a smirk.

He leaned away again and grabbed the milk to add a bit into the third coffee mug. After fishing a small spoon out of a nearby drawer to stir it with, he picked up his mug and Taavi's mug, then headed out into the living room to finish delivering the promised coffee. Once close enough to the couch, he perched on the armrest again and offered Taavi the third mug. "Here," he said in a gentle voice, "I added some milk to it for you. Did you want anything else in it or anything?" With his question posed, the blond searched Taavi's face for any signs of anything he could do for him, though he expected little. No, in all likelihood he probably didn't even want the coffee he'd said he'd have, like the breakfast he agreed to eat before acknowledging he wasn't even hungry.  

[TawnyAngel]

"I will do scrambled then, easier to have with pancakes I think," Zevran decided aloud, setting the milk next to the stovetop so that he could add a splash when he started cooking the eggs. He then took a sip of the coffee, raised his eyebrows, and nodded; "Not bad at all, thank you." He would still have been glad of a hot drink even if it tasted of tar, but it did not and this was quite a bonus.

"Thanks Abel." Taavi reluctantly freed his arm from Vanessa's grasp in order to take the mug, but not before giving her shoulder a friendly rub/ "Nothing else for me, um, but maybe you could bring out a bit of that maple syrup that Zevran brought for Vanessa to try?" He tried the coffee and hardly tasted it at all but maybe he'd enjoy seeing Vanessa enjoy something?  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Scrambled eggs sounded good, Abel had no objections; he did have questions about Zev's taste in coffee though, though maybe he was just being polite.

When Taavi withdrew his arm, Vanessa loosened her grip on it and snuggled up against his side instead.

"You're welcome," the blond replied before he took another sip of his coffee, his gaze drifting over to the Lopunny in question as he debated Taavi's suggestion. He hummed a tad, meeting her gaze as she looked at him curiously and not without some hopefulness. "Well I don't want to just give her a plate or bowl of it, but we'll definitely give her a pancake with one when Zev's done, for sure. And maybe some of the cream, too, that stuff's always good." Maybe he could spray some on Caleb's nose... Would he be able to reach it? It'd be funny to watch him try, at any rate, so he made a mental note to do it later.

As the scent of sizzling bacon wafted through the apartment, Elizabeth slid around to Zevran's side and stuck her nose dangerously close to the bacon pan, her yellow eyes wide as she eagerly inhaled the delicious aroma.  

[TawnyAngel]

"That sounds pretty good, let's do that," Taavi agreed, a bit of silly fun wasn't going to cheer him up really but it was something to focus on. "You had pancakes before Vanessa?" he added, turning to look at the Lopunny again. "They're really good, I don't know anyone who doesn't like them."

"Ah-ah!" Zevran tapped Elizabeth on the nose with the fork, which he had rinsed off for use in scrambled egg stirring and bacon flipping. "You wait until it is done hot sauce and you will have the first piece of bacon, how about that?" Zevran kept an eye on the fire type and - with the fork still held in on hand - he used a big serving spoon he'd found to put a couple of dollops of batter into the big pan, which he then picked up and twisted around to distribute the batter. "Now, eggs!"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

A small smile pulled at the corners of Abel's lips as he watched Taavi turn to Vanessa. The Lopunny blinked up at him. she began as she put on a rather thoughtful face, though it didn't take long for her to come up with an answer,

The tap of the fork to her nose caused Elizabeth to jerk her head back and slap a clawed paw to her face in surprise. She made a quiet, guttural sound as her eyes watched the fork intently, and as Zevran expertly handled the pan, the fire-type snapped at the fork in his other hand to try and bite it.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Oh, well, they're made from eggs and flour and milk and..." Taavi looked faintly puzzled, his brain really wasn't working for anything was it? "They're made into a thin kind of batter than fried in a frying pan until they go nice and brown on both sides. Sometimes they big and fluffy, sometimes they're thin, but they're really nice either way. I like them best with fruit and cream, I think we're having that? At some point?" Taavi looked up at Abel for confirmation because, yeah, he hadn't been listening.

"Ahhh, haha, do you wish to duel with me?" Zevran chuckled, twirling his fork out of Elizabeth's reach with a lightning quick twitch of his arm and an expert flick of his wrist. "Did you know I once fenced to the death with a b*****d prince of Antiva? He was not very good and I stabbed him in the guts!" This was in truth an absolute lie but he didn't get the impression that the fiery pokemon care too much about what you said unless it involved something she wanted, tone and gesture seemed to be more the things.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Vanessa said, her orange eyes growing rather wide. Those sounded delicious. she added hastily. Maybe she could try one with honey on it...

Unfortunately Abel had just taken another sip of his coffee when Taavi asked his question, so he merely nodded for a moment. Once he'd swallowed he added, "Eggs and bacon first, and then fruit after that I think."

Elizabeth flexed her claws and her head whipped around so she didn't lose sight of the elusive fork. A deep, playful growl rumbled up from her throat, and a few errant flames wrapped around her jaws as she snapped them hungrily at the fork, though for the moment she merely waited for it to be within reach before she made another attempt on its life.  

[TawnyAngel]

Bacon? Well that sounded good too. "Maybe Vanessa can have the syrup first, if she doesn't want bacon and eggs?" Taavi suggested, glancing between Abel and the Lopunny to gauge their reactions.

Ha! He wasn't going to get out of this morning without minor burns was he? Zevran whisked the fork just out of Elizabeth's reach again and felt the heat of her flames on his skin at the narrow miss. While one hand and the fork it held kept the pokemon busy he glanced briefly to the side as he used the other to flip the first pancake; perfect!