[Fin] Not such a good evening

[TawnyAngel]

"Hu?" Oh, water? Zevran gave the bottle a puzzled look and reached out to take it but his eyes didn't seem to agree with his hands on quite where anything was and he missed. On the second attempt he managed to grip it and bring it up to his mouth but again everything didn't seem to be where it ought and he ended up spilling some down his chin before managing to take a sip.


After clicking through a few links Taavi discovered that the world was a horrible, horrible place full of horrible people. "It depends on what it was," he said, twiddling a braid of hair distractedly with his free hand as he read. "But uh, it sounds like it should all be out of his system in forty eight to seventy two hour but he might well be sick for a few days... Uhh... flu like symptoms, 'like the worst hangover ever', vomiting, hot flashes, messed up coordination...." Who would give something that did things like that to somebody else? The side effects were the least of it though, if Abel hadn't been there.... Taavi bit his lip and kept reading in case there was anything else useful.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Well, spilling a little wasn't too bad. It was spilling a lot he was concerned about. His brows furrowed and he frowned a bit, trying to think if he had anything to give him that might help... In the morning of course, he had no desire to see how well Zevran would be able to handle swallowing pills tonight, plus he didn't exactly want to give him anymore drugs on top of whatever he'd already had. For all he knew, they could have some awful reaction to each other and make everything worse. "So I guess for now, water and sleep... Lots of both. I'll.. find a trash can or something to keep near the bed too, just in case." A trash can was easier to clean out than carpeting.

Well, at the very least he'd had some water... Once it became clear that he'd more or less drunk what he wanted from it - or spilled a bit more - the blond held a hand out for the bottle again. "I'll take it if you're done, we can leave it on the table in case you get thirsty later."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Yeah," Taavi nodded, "that sounds like a good idea... better keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't choke or anything. Oh and getting tight clothes off is a good idea." On inspecting Zev outfit - buttoned shirt and jeans, top two buttons of the shirt undone - Taavi added; "I guess just his belt then, uh, and shoes." It was probably better not to stress him out by fiddling around with him any more than that.

With that said though wasn't sure if there was anything else useful he could actually do now, he thought about offering to take Amigo out to the kitchen for some food but the bug looked pretty set on staying where he was on the end of Abel's bed. "Is there anything else I can do?" Maybe Abel would think of something.

Was he done? Zevran looked at the bottle in his hand and then over at the tall man. "Am I done?... I... yes I think I am." Having more or less decided this he held the bottle out vaguely towards the man's hand.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Yeah, I'm probably going to keep checking on him all night and make sure he's okay. ..oh." Well. As if he didn't feel horrible enough for this happening to his friend, now he had to try and get his belt off him. Guh... He made a quiet noise in his throat as he rubbed at his face again; he felt so bad, so bad for him. Why did this have to happen, especially to a friend of his? At least he'd been there at the right time, otherwise--

Shoving the thoughts and minor panic aside, Abel accepted the bottle and set it on the bedside table nearby. "I don't know, man," he sighed. He didn't even really know what to do, especially since he couldn't exactly take him to the hospital. That would've been the best thing to do, but...

"Okay," he said gently as he reached up to gently, hesitantly touch Zevran's shoulder, "you need to get some sleep now, but you need to take off your shoes and your belt first, alright?" Maybe.. maybe he could just take them off himself?  

[TawnyAngel]

Shoes, belt. Zevran nodded and managed to kick his shoes off but his fingers were too clumsy to manage the buckle on his belt. He had been told to do it though and so he sat quietly and fruitlessly fumbling with it.

Taavi stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, arms wrapped tightly around his torso. "He'll be okay," he said aloud and then wince internally at the slight ring of uncertainty in his voice. "I mean, he shrugged off getting mauled by a Skarmory right?" he added but he didn't sound or feel any more certain as he said that. Getting attacked by a wild pokemon certainly sucked but this was completely different.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel rubbed at his cheek some more, brows knitted together and feeling more and more terrible, if such a thing were even possible. Ugh, why...? "Here, let me help," he said, though he hesitated quite a bit before reaching over to help him undo the buckle. He could do the rest himself though, surely. "He should be fine," he said to Taavi, though he couldn't help the uncertainty in his own voice. "He did, and he's not unconscious or anything. At least he's.. somewhat alert. Sort of." Even though he.. couldn't really focus on much and didn't recognize them. He'd be better in the morning though, right?  

[TawnyAngel]

When Abel reached towards him Zevran went still and his breath hitched just barely audibly. When Abel withdrew again Zevran remained motionless, waiting to see if anything else was going to happen. When that seemed unlikely he slowly removed his belt, looked at for a few moments and then held it out to Abel as he had with the water bottle.

Taavi looked down at the floor, watching Zevran fumble around felt invasive somehow. "Yeah," he replied quietly with a nod, "I guess he just needs sleep and water, like you said. He might feel like crap tomorrow but he'll be fine." If Abel hadn't been walking down the street at exactly the right moment, and if he hadn't happened to look in the right direction....  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Wordlessly he accepted the belt offered to him and coiled it up into a tight circle, then set it on the table as well. With that done, he stood up and pushed the blankets aside. "Here, lie down and get some sleep," he said to the shorter blond. All he wanted to do was hug him and reassure him that everything would be just fine, but he couldn't help but think the gesture would be poorly received at the moment. He didn't have anything else to say to Taavi just yet - he couldn't think of anything - so he refrained from continuing the conversation for now.  

[TawnyAngel]

Just as he was bid Zevran eased himself slightly awkwardly down onto the bed and managed to shift onto his side and then to curl up into a safe-feeling ball. He would still much rather be at home but the bed was comfortable and he was very, very tired; he closed his eyes and let the world drift away.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Once Zevran laid down, Abel covered him with the blankets and looked down at his Espeon. "Could you stay here and watch him? I need a minute."

"Eon," the psychic-type said, then hopped up onto the end of the bed near Amigo.

The blond ushered Taavi out of the room and left the door open behind them. He turned to lean his back against one of the living room walls before abruptly sliding down to a sitting position and pressing his hands to his face. <********>  

[TawnyAngel]

At least Zev was lying down, that seemed to be about all they could do for now. Taavi nodded and moved quickly out of the room at Abel's ushering, trying to think of something to say as he went but his mind was blank. Well, no, it wasn't blank but what it was full of wasn't anything he wanted to bring up.

When Abel sat down very suddenly Taavi hesitated a moment before slowly sinking down beside him. He still couldn't think of a single thing to say and so he simply reached up to put a hand on his friend's shoulder and squeezed gently.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

He didn't react to the hand at his shoulder and remained sitting there silently for some time. Finally he sighed deeply as he slouched backwards, one hand dropping to his side while the other remained covering half his face, and he tilted his head back against the wall, eyes closed. "Arceus, I just..." He trailed off with another sigh, eyes opening to stare at his knees. His hand dropped to his neck and the small silver chain there; his fingers curled around it and deftly pulled the pendant from under his shirt so he could rub his thumb over it.

"Everything is so ******** up," Abel said at length once he'd found some words to speak, though he kept his voice quiet. If Zevran was asleep already, he had no desire to wake him. He needed as much sleep as he could get. The blond frowned down at his knees for a few moments, then expelled yet another sigh as he pushed himself back up to his feet, letting the pendant drop to his chest as he reached a hand down to help Taavi up. He'd needed that minute, even though it had probably actually lasted several minutes. "Alright, you should get some sleep too. I'll leave the door open in case of.. I don't know. Just in case, I guess."  

[TawnyAngel]

He wanted to say something into the silence but it felt like a space that would just suck away anything that tried to fill it and so Taavi stayed quiet, still with his hand on Abel's shoulder.

When the blond got to his feet Taavi accepted the hand to help him up too and, still lacking words, pulled Abel into a hug. "Yeah," he agreed eventually, it was a pretty weak response but he didn't have a better one right now.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The hug was unexpected but not unwanted, and Abel wrapped his arms around his friend to return the gesture. However stressed he was with everything, he had to remember that at least he wasn't alone. "Thanks," he said quietly, continuing the hug for a few moments before he withdrew and gave Taavi a pat on the shoulder and a wan smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Alright, see you in the morning." With his goodnights said, the blond padded back into the bedroom, shut off the light, and proceeded to get ready for sleep.

Getting ready for sleep apparently started with smoking a cigarette on the fire escape off his bedroom window, and ended with him sitting on the floor beside his bed, his knees pulled up to his chest so he could use his arms as a pillow. While his bed was plenty big enough for two people, he didn't feel even remotely comfortable sleeping in it with Zevran suffering the way he was, so he remained sitting on the floor. Sleep came in fitful bursts with short periods between in which he got up to stretch out his aching, protesting limbs and check to make sure Zevran was still okay, after which he'd curl back up on the floor to sleep a while longer. Isaac lay curled up at the end of the bed, Vanessa slept draped over the thick plushy legs of her stuffed Nidoqueen while Tabitha dozed nearby. Sonia had taken to sleeping not far from Abel rather than in her chair like she usually did, while Caleb and Elizabeth slept out in the other room with Taavi - Caleb in his dog bed stuffed behind a chair and Elizabeth sprawled out in the kitchen.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Any time," Taavi replied, returning the unhappy smile and tucking a braid of hair behind his ear. "Um, and maybe not in the morning; I'll be out before dawn, heading out for final assessments before graduating." He'd been feeling really nervous about that but suddenly it didn't seem all that important anymore, if he failed he could go through a few more weeks training and then try again. "I'll ask Valour to stay here though, in case you need somebody who can fly," Taavi added as the thought occurred to him. Being without his oldest friend and strongest team member would make things tougher but he'd feel a bit better about going if Valour stayed behind. "If everything okay by tomorrow afternoon he can follow me though, he knows where we're going. G'night Abel and..." Ugh. "I hope you get a bit of sleep and... yeah." With that rather awkwardly said he fetched his sleeping bag and settled down on the couch; he didn't get a lot of sleep before he left in the early hours via the window.

It was perhaps an hour after Taavi's departure that Zevran started to drift back to consciousness. Not drift, drift was too soft a word, it was like being dragged slowly but inexorably over rough concrete. He did not, he realised groggily, have any idea where he was or how he'd got here. Everything ached, he was soaked with sweat and everything spun and he felt sick. Really sick. He wasn't restrained in any way and he wasn't injured so far as he could tell, ill not injured....

s**t! He needed to get out of here and back to the warehouse; he remembered now - a bit - and in light of that he was surprised he had his clothes on, though he guessed it was probably had them on 'again' and in a few hours the b*****d would come in and tell him he'd got himself too drunk and so he'd taken him home to be safe.

With limbs that felt like lead and trembled beyond his control he managed to push himself into a sitting position and from there he tried to get his bearings. s**t. Thinking was hard enough and the darkened room was swimming before his eyes, how was he going to get to an exit let alone out and away?