[Fin] Home for Christmas

[TawnyAngel]

"You bet!" Taavi grinned as he leant his elbows on the rail and tilted his head back to look up at the sky where Valour still circled, it was the best sight he'd ever seen. After a few moments however he managed to tare his eyes away and look down at the docks, where a lone figure still stood looking toward the ship. "You too?" he asked, now looking over to Abel with a smile that kept twitching at the corners as though it wanted to be a smirk. "I mean, I know you are, buuuut you didn't seem keen to leave." Would Abel notice the man still watching their ship?  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Once they'd moved well enough away from the gangplank in case anyone else boarded, Abel joined Taavi in leaning on the rail. He followed his friend's gaze skyward to watch Valour for a few moments before it drifted down to the rippling waves below as they ebbed and flowed around the moored ship, then they roamed up the dock and to the blond-haired man standing there, watching them. Abel hesitated a moment, his expression softening just a tad before he spoke. "Yeah, I am. It's going to be so great seeing everyone again." For the moment he refrained from commenting on the 'not keen to leave' bit. He wasn't. He thought he'd be excited and would've been the first one on the boat, but that hadn't been the case. That hadn't been the case at all.  

[TawnyAngel]

Taavi gave Abel a nudge and a warm smile. "It's going to be great! But that doesn't mean you can't be sad to leave some things behind. Or some people." He'd half expected Abel to ask Zev along too.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Despite the nudge and the smile, Abel couldn't help but keep staring at the figure on the docks. "It's only two weeks," he pointed out, as if Taavi wasn't aware, or as if justifying why he shouldn't feel sad to leave his friend behind. He shifted to curl his hands around his elbows as his arms rested on the railing, finding the position more comfortable. "And it will be great," he agreed, a wistful air tinging his smile. "It'll be so great."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Grah," Taavi said eloquently and reached over to hug Abel around the shoulders. "It will be great, you'll hardly notice the time passing, and you can call him every day if you want. I bet he'd like that too." The only thing he wasn't really clear on about Abel and Zev was why they weren't already dating properly.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel opened his mouth to speak.

He shut it after a moment and finally tore his gaze away from one best friend to aim a knowing half-smirk, half-grin at the other. "I know what you're doing. You don't have to try to make me feel better about anything, you know."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Well I know I don't have to but I thought I'd try anyway," Taavi replied with a shrug and a grin in return to Abel's own. "You can admit you'll miss him without taking anything away from being excited to see your folks." He'd hated going for a week or more without seeing Sasha.... Ugh! No, nope, he wasn't even going to think about them. Life was amazing and he wasn't going to let his mood be spoiled for one moment by thinking about that selfish a*****e.

"Oh! If you want to change the subject," Taavi grinned again as he firmly shoved all thoughts of his ex out of his head. "What did you get for your nieces in the end?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

You can admit you'll miss him.

Abel chuckled and lifted a hand to give Taavi's arm a pat. "Well I appreciate the sentiment, so thanks," he said, his gaze drifting back to the figure on the docks as a horn sounded and the ferry began slowly moving away from the harbor. Now that they weren't busy driving or in a crowd of people or anything, the blond took a moment to pull out two pokeballs to release Isaac and Sonia. Both pokemon shook themselves off a bit before looking out over the ocean and Kodo's eastern shore. "Oh, I got them a couple small things, toys and stuff. I got a doll for Callista and a pokemon plush for Camilla; Alex told me which ones they wanted that she hadn't already bought for them, so that was helpful. Did you ever find a good Christmas present for your half sister?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"Oh, cool," Taavi nodded and smiled. "I bet they'll like that! And um, yeah, I've sent her a shiny Vulpix plush because it kind of looks like Aurelia. I sent her pictures of all of my partners too and a bit about them, and I wrote a letter to Mom. I've given her my number now so... well she can call me if she wants. I think she probably will. The letter and stuff won't reach them for a few days yet though so I'm trying not to hold my breath on it." He'd never given her a way to get in touch with him in response to the cards he'd sent, maybe that hadn't been fair of him. The way she'd acted hadn't been fair either but that had been years ago now and this year felt like a time for making amends. If they were both sorry, and he didn't have to hear from frikkin Tristan, maybe everything could be okay.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Oh I'm sure they will. Cally's a bit girlier, Cammy's the tomboy. I'm sure you'll see that for yourself after we get there though," he added with a smile. Before they pulled too far away from the harbor, before Zevran's figure faded to a blurry shape, Abel lifted a hand to give him a wave farewell. It was only two weeks, it really wouldn't be that long at all. He'd text him later and call him when he got the chance, of course, but everything would be fine. They were going to visit his family, after all. He should be looking forward to that, not looking back to what he was leaving behind -- even if only temporarily.

He'd still miss him though.

Pushing the thoughts aside, Abel nodded his head. "That sounds good. I never thought about it before but yeah, she kind of does, doesn't she? That all sounds good though, family is important. But yeah, don't hold your breath for a few days, I don't think that would end too well," he noted with a hint of amusement in his voice and a small grin working its way onto his face. "In the meantime you can hang out with my family instead. I mean at this point, they're practically your family, too." Even if he hadn't met them yet.  

[TawnyAngel]

When Abel raised his arm to wave back to the shore Taavi turned to look and waved too; the small figure on the docks raised his arm in return for a few moments and then lowered it again but he didn't turn away afterwards. Was he going to watch their ship until he couldn't see it anymore? That was... welp, that was pretty sweet. Also, ship; hehe.

"Yep, it's just a guess but I think not breathing for a few days might not go awesomely for me," Taavi grinned as he turned back to Abel. "Just a hunch, you know? And I'm really looking forward to meeting everyone! Um, and I feel the same. I mean I wouldn't have said that about them not having met them, but you're definitely family. I'm kind of nervous about meeting everyone actually, I'm looking forward to it too! But nervous." This probably didn't come as a huge shock to Abel or anything, it wasn't like he was known for his confidence with people or anything.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Zevran seemed perfectly content to watch them go, and Abel was just as content to lean on the railing and watch him in return, even if he couldn't really see him that well anymore. A part of him wished he could go back for just one more kiss, they... didn't normally kiss like that. Their types of kisses varied quite a bit depending on the circumstances, but that one was... unique. Unique and wonderful and caused a warm, fuzzy feeling to bloom in his chest. He could get used to kissing him like that.

"Nope, definitely not. That would not go awesomely at all. That would go the opposite of awesomely, actually." Abel chuckled a bit, his expression shifting to a small, amused grin, though his gaze remained fixed on the small figure on the docks that now looked so far away. "But... I'm glad. Don't be nervous though," even though he knew for a fact Taavi would continue to be nervous until well after meeting them, "they're going to love you."  

[TawnyAngel]

Taavi huffed in amusement and tilted his head back again to look up at Valour. "Yep, probably! And I'll try not to be, I'll just keep myself distracted for the voyage. I've got plenty to do! And it's nice just being up here on deck enjoying the breeze." It wouldn't be too long, and he would feel better once he met some of them. Hopefully not too many at once! If there was already a full house though he'd be okay, if there was anything to worry about Abel would have told him.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Yeah, it is pretty nice, isn't it? I haven't been on a boat since... not for a while," he finished after a moment or two of thought, and shrugged. "Probably not since the last time I went to visit my parents, actually." Despite the chill in the air, the sea breeze felt nice all the same, perhaps because it reminded him of the journey home to his family. Abel fell silent as he slowly got lost in thought, his gaze still focused on the figure on the dock, then the dock itself, and then the shoreline. Once they'd all faded away into the distance except the small blurry blob of Kodo, Abel finally tore his gaze away and turned to see where Taavi had gone, and to find somewhere to sit for a while before they turned in for the night.

Bright and early the following morning and after a relatively smooth, uneventful trip, the ship finally eased into Sunyshore's harbor and moored to the dock there. Tiny snowflakes danced on the wind, swirling up and around and everywhere before finally landing, adding to the thin layer of snow that had already accumulated on the ground. Back on deck, Abel flashed Taavi perhaps the biggest grin he'd shown yet - which by now had been quite a few, each brighter than the last - as he practically bounced on the balls of his feet in his barely-suppressed excitement. Several questions passed through his mind, such as 'are you excited? Isn't this great? What do you think of Sunyshore?' but his excitement prevented him from voicing any of them. All he could do for the moment was eagerly await the moment - the very instant - they could disembark.

Isaac and Sonia both appeared quite eager too, though not quite as much as their trainer. The former stared out from the warm depths of Abel's jacket, his head sticking out from it and his large ears practically framing his trainer's chin, as his bright, colorful gaze darted from building to somewhat-familiar-building. They'd never really spent too much time in Sunyshore, but he'd seen it enough times to call it sort of familiar.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Oh, we went to Peppermint Island remember that?" Taavi prompted with a nudge to Abel's elbow. "We me Cadence, Mulder, and Scully there. And you met Sasha, and you didn't get along." Big surprise! Maybe he should have taken the hints Abel was dropping from the start, but he hadn't really noticed them that much until they'd split up. Maybe it was for the best, if you were going to be with somebody then it ought to be somebody who stuck with you especially when things were bad. If you didn't have each other's back when it counted what was the use?

Most of the rest of the day was uneventful but not in a bad way, it was nice to just relax and play around with the stuff he'd brought to keep himself occupied. He's also spent some time sneaking pictures of Abel when he wasn't looking, there was a couple of really good ones of him staring back at the vaguely visible lump of rock that was Kodo with a wistful expression on his face. This was going to make a great album to show Zev at some point! Not just now though, he didn't feel like he knew him quite well enough yet to gently tease like he was with Abel.

Thanks to calm seas Taavi slept pretty well and was up before it got light to wash up, shave, and let Valour out for a fly before they arrived.

When they docked in Sunnyshore the wistful Abel of the day before was gone, replaced by one wearing am enormous grin at the front of the line which was forming waiting for the moment they could go ashore. "Mmmh, you're not all that excited for today hu?" Taavi asked him with an innocent smile.