[FIN] Who Will it Be?

[BlackFireKitsune]

As his arms were already wrapped around the shorter blond - draped might've been a more accurate word - Abel tightened his grip just a tad as he shifted just enough to plant a kiss on Zevran's forehead. "Mmn," he half-hummed, half-sighed in response, his eyelids sliding closed again even though he headed firmly for wakefulness. His fingers flexed around and meddled with the folds of Zev's shirt, and he couldn't help but think if this were any other day it would've been a marvelous way to wake up.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Murfh." Taavi buried his face in his pillow and groaned internally. Did he had to be awake again? Deal with things? He'd rather just lie here forever covered in pokemon and pretend that Valour was somewhere outside, that Alyssa didn't exist, that everything was okay. Life had other ideas though, and when Aurelia jumped off his stomach to the ground, pressing all of her weight into one of his kidneys, he gave in and sat up rubbing his eyes with the back of his good hand.

Zevran made an appreciative noise at the attention from the sleepily fiddling fingers and gave Abel a gentle squeeze. "You have a very comfortable shoulder," he murmured.

No matter how comfortable he was physically however worry was starting to worm its way back into his heart, he had so many questions but he didn't want to ruin the moment of peace while it lasted. It was unlikely that they would be answered in any case or at least not in any meaningful way. The questions remained however and wound themselves up in the worry, and so although he remained physically as relaxed as a Persian in front of a fire Zevran's brain had flipped from half asleep into running faster than a Rapidash at full gallop.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"And you're a comfortable blanket," Abel replied, his voice still tinged with sleepiness. While his thoughts immediately started to wander back to his troubles, his complete and utter lack of energy prevented him from really worrying about them nearly as much as before.  

[TawnyAngel]

Maybe alcohol would help.

With this vague thought in mind Taavi dislodged a couple of other pokemon and got to his feet in search of the vodka and soda Zevran had brought.

"Ah, well I am a man of many talents," Zevran murmured, but it didn't sound as though his heart was really in it.

After a few moments of silence he sighed and gave Abel another squeeze. "Why are you with Alyssa Abel? What hold does she have over you?" And did it have something to do with what was wrong now? One question at a time though or two at most, he might have pushed his luck too far even with what he'd already asked.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

As exhausted and tired as he was, it wasn't hard to tell Zevran didn't sound as smooth and confident as he usually did. That was his fault too, of course; his friend was far too worried about his well-being, and he didn't deserve it. The question caught him a little by surprise, but he really shouldn't have been. He'd stopped trying to keep secret his hatred for Alyssa long ago, and anyone would be able to pick up on it unless they were both blind and deaf.

Briefly he debated dodging the question but found himself too tired to even think of a way to do it; being honest was the simplest and easiest way to answer it. And at this point, it didn't really matter anymore. Not much did, not now. The taller blond inhaled deeply, exhaled long and slow, and replied simply without much feeling, "Blackmail."  

[TawnyAngel]

Taavi paused with the bottle in his hand and glanced quickly over to the chair full of blonds. He hadn't honestly expected Abel to answer but he was pretty close to Zevran now. Heh, that had almost felt funny. Almost. He poured out his vodka and topped it up with soda without comment, there wasn't really a lot for him to add here.

"Ah," Zevran gave Abel another squeeze, "that makes sense. So she is using you, taking your money." That would be why Abel never had food in the house and Taavi too; he must be tangled up in this too to be living on Abel's couch for months despite employment.

He could ask what information Alyssa had but that didn't feel like the right question to follow up with. Instead he said; "And this trouble now, does it have to do with her?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Mhmm," the taller blond sighed, his eyes opening again, his gaze drifting over the far wall.

Ah, there it was; Abel was honestly surprised he hadn't asked sooner. "Yeah," he admitted, one of his hands lifting to press against his face, traces of his previous misery returning. "I kind of... Uh. Punched her in the face." A pause. "She didn't take it very well."  

[TawnyAngel]

Ah. Well, that was never a good thing to do to somebody who had power over you. "Do you know what she's going to do next?" he asked, and this time when he tightened his arms around Abel he didn't relax again after a moment. Keep him safe, somehow, there had to be something he could do. He couldn't be powerless when Abel needed help the most.

Taavi returned to the couch and sat down with his eyes on his drink. What was she going to do, and what was she blackmailing Abel over? He still didn't know that and he half wished Zev would ask.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

His other hand joined the first, and both pressed into his eyes as his misery grew. "No, I don't." What would she do? He had a guess - a sneaking suspicion - that his nieces would be involved, and he hoped so hard that he was wrong. But who else would it be? There was a chance she would target Taavi or Zevran, or anyone else in his family, and that wouldn't be any better. What was he going to do? Even though his anxious misery returned, he felt a little more alert, a little more aware of himself and capable of a bit more thought than before when all he could think were strings of expletives or morbid thoughts. Not that his thoughts now were much better.  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran grunted acknowledgement. "Then we can only wait for her next move," he said, and though he sounded serious he did not sound in the least surprised. "I take it that simply disposing of her is not an option?" he added as an afterthought, that would be far too simple but he would be remiss not to mention it.

Taavi paused with his glass half way to his lips. Had Zevran just suggested killing Alyssa? It wasn't like he hadn't wished her dead himself, more and more recently and practically non stop since yesterday but the question had sounded so... so casual.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel opened his mouth to respond, thought better of it, closed it, and lifted one hand a little so he could peer down at Zevran thoughtfully for a few moments. When he did speak, he said carefully, "When I first met her - when she first started blackmailing me - she told me that she always has contingency plans in case anything unexpected happened to her."  

[TawnyAngel]

Damn. Zevran nodded slightly, his brows knitting and his lips forming a serious line. "She is no amateur," he surmised. If not an amateur though what was she? Other than very much too familiar for his tastes of course, information was as precious as life and was bought and sold just as casually in his experience up until recently.

"I'd never thought much about where she came from," Taavi put in quietly, eyes still trained on his glass. If she wasn't an amateur then what, she was a professional? Professional blackmailer? She must have got hold of the information she had about Abel somehow or other, and it probably wasn't something you just stumbled across any more than he own secret had been.

"Do you know much about her Abel? Anything about her?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"No, she's not," the taller blond agreed with a sigh. One arm flopped listlessly over the arm of the chair while the other draped across Zevran's back, his thumb running slow, thoughtful circles there. "I have thought of it - a lot, actually - but no, I don't know anything. She's too careful, she doesn't let anything just slip out, and she made it painfully clear that Sonia and I shouldn't try to follow her to find out anything, either." No, she was no fool... She'd known everything about him before he even knew what she looked like or who she was -- before he'd even known he had a blackmailer in the first place. He'd been too afraid to try to go against her wishes so directly, lest he incur her wrath and suffer the almost assuredly morbid consequences. Too bad he'd been so careful and incurred it anyway.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Humm," Zevran said thoughtfully. After a few moments he added; "Of course, the risk of doing so would have been too great." Only now that he weighed up 'what is the worst that could happen if she used her information' did it occur to Zevran to wonder exactly what that information was. It didn't really matter he supposed, all that mattered was that Abel was afraid enough of the consequences to live on ramen, coffee, cigarettes, and anxiety for-

"How long has this been going on?"

"Oh... Well almost a year now, for me," Taavi admitted with an awkward shrug. "Since new year. Abel...?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Oh yes, the risks would've been too great; she could've used the information against him right away, or she could've punished him for trying, just like she punished him for trying to protect or defend his friends. Rather than voice such thoughts, he merely hummed his simple response, "Mhmm."

Taavi's question drew forth a deep sigh as the blond thought about the answer, not because he really needed to think of how long it had been, but because he couldn't believe how much of his life he'd wasted cowering under Alyssa's thumb. "Almost two years," he answered. He was a little surprised Taavi admitted his own situation, but at this point it was probably obvious he was involved too.

Something else that had been entirely Abel's fault.