[FIN] Relaxing Day Trips

[TawnyAngel]

Swift stayed where he was - poised to dart at the Charmeleon if it tried to make a break past the others - and Aurelia nudged the fallen Vulpix and glanced anxiously over at the brewing confrontation.

While Aurelia tried to get the Vulpix to move again Taavi knelt down beside the pair and reached out slowly to the injured fire-type... No, more sick then injured. He frowned and stroked her flank gently, from the look of her it was a wonder nothing had preyed on her so far.

As Taavi began to examine the Vulpix a shadow swept over the group, circled around, and centred over the Charmeleon. It then started to grow larger, rather rapidly.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Sick indeed; unlike the Vulpix he'd been used to, the prone one under his fingertips, with her labored breathing and inability to even move, let alone stand to flee or respond to Aurelia's nudge, radiated none of the usual warmth that was typical of fire-types. The only self-defense she could manage was a weak fire attack -- but even that only resulted was a small puff of dark smoke that slipped out of her jaws.

Well that settled that matter, didn't it? With his decision made for him and trusting their pokemon to protect them, Abel jogged forward before kneeling down at Taavi's side to inspect the fallen fire-type as well. While he'd had plenty of experience with a variety of pokemon, that variety was small, and Vulpix weren't part of it, so he had no qualms turning to his friend with traces of worry and concern in his expression and his tone as he asked, "Is it okay? Is it sick or something?" While it was a little difficult to tell, apart from the layer of dirt and dust from the fall and the bit of matting on its tail, it didn't really look injured or anything... but something was definitely wrong. Was it sick? It was probably sick, wasn't it? That would explain the poor thing's current state, weakness and all.

Suddenly finding its quick, easy meal rapidly turning into an impossible one, the Charmeleon snarled at the assembled group one last time -- a snarl which promptly turned into a disgruntled huff as it turned tail and dashed through the trees in search of something else to prey upon, fleeing the confrontation and the ominous shadow both. Once the threat had departed Abel's pokemon began to relax, and though most didn't show very much concern for the unfamiliar Vulpix, Isaac showed more than enough for all of them combined as his ears flicked back and he looked over the fire-type's prone form with worry clear in his features. This situation was far, far too close for comfort, far too hauntingly familiar, and he didn't like it. Not in the slightest.  

[TawnyAngel]

Taavi didn't notice when the Charmeleon left, he trusted his partners to take care of that for him and focused all his attention on the Vulpix. "Yeah," he replied when Abel spoke, his brow furrowing deeply. "She's way too cold, breathing's all wrong...." Taavi huffed out a breath and looked up at Abel with a slightly sad expression, yet oddly he looked more confident than he did in casual conversation. "Either we need to take her with us or we need to be merciful, she won't make it on her own like she is."

//We'll take her with us right?// Aurelia rubbed herself against Taavi's leg and looked up at him pleadingly. //Please! We were... well I knew her, I liked her! We can't leave her to die!// Or do whatever else Taavi had been implying with his soft sad eyes.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

When Taavi described what was wrong with her, Abel frowned as well, and gingerly reached out a hand to gently, gently brush over the small pokemon's dusty fur. The lack of heat emanating from her was almost disturbing.. "Damn, yeah," he agreed, his own brow furrowing just as deeply. It wouldn't have been that bad for any other pokemon, but for a fire-type? Definitely not okay. Taavi was right; she wouldn't last long on her own like this. Honestly she almost didn't make it this far on her own, not with that Charmeleon trying to have her for an early dinner.

Be merciful... It was a concept he was all too familiar with, especially having lived on a ranch. Pokemon grew old or got sick, and sometimes they needed to be put down to end their suffering if nothing else could be done to help them; his father normally handled them, though he'd helped on a few occasions. If there was even a chance to save them though, or something else they could do, then they would always do so. Abel glanced down at Aurelia and Isaac, the latter whining softly and staring up at him with bright, colorful, sad eyes that pleaded just as much as the golden Vulpix, though he didn't need their begging faces to reach a decision. "I guess we'd better hurry then," he said as he carefully reached down to scoop up the Vulpix; she squirmed a tiny bit and whined softly, so softly, but mostly she just felt like a limp doll in his arms. Poor thing... "I can set her on Caleb while we head back so he can help keep her warm, and if she makes it through the trip back to Kodo we can bring her to a pokemon center and see what they can do. If they can't do anything, then," he shrugged a bit as he pushed himself back up to his feet, "at least we can say we tried, yeah?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"Ahh..." Taavi frowned a little as he considered Abel's words and then nodded as he started to head back towards the boat, the sooner they could get the Vulpix settled somewhere the better. "Yeah," he continued, "I don't know if what she has is contagious but so long as Caleb - and the others - keep clear of her face so they don't inhale her breath it's probably okay."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel paused halfway to his Arcanine, a frown tugging at his lips. "I hadn't thought of that," he admitted, though a moment or two later he continued and carefully nestled the small fire-type in Caleb's thick furry mane atop his shoulders. "I agree, I think they'll be fine as long as they don't get too near her face or anything, and plus I'm sure if whatever she has is contagious, I'm sure it isn't some rare or incurable disease or anything. We can ask at the pokemon center once they figure out what's wrong with her." With this rather optimistic thought in mind, the blond patted his Arcanine's side and continued walking back towards the boat. As they walked, and since they really weren't that far away from the dock, he pulled out a couple of his pokeballs to return Elizabeth and Tania, though he left Isaac, Sonia and obviously Caleb out for the time being.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Yeah, um, agreed," Taavi nodded and despite the 'um' he still sounded confident in himself.

As they headed back to the ship Taavi kept a close eye on the Vulpix and touched her flank every so often to check her temperature and breathing, she didn't seem to be getting any worse for now but that could easily change.

Once they were aboard the ship they located a quiet place to settle down where nobody would come over and bother the Vulpix and Taavi hunkered down beside Caleb and his passenger to stroke her again. "We'll have to ask her what happened when she recovers, if there's something going around Tarragon the islanders ought to know," he said with a brief glance to Abel. Of course the rangers ought to know too but they didn't have any of those! He'd bring it up at work if it seemed like there was a potential problem but it wasn't really their remit to run around after wild pokemon like that.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

When they arrived at the dock safely Sonia too returned to her ball, though Isaac accompanied the human pair and Caleb as they boarded the boat. The Arcanine quickly sought out a quiet out-of-the-way spot to curl up for the trip back, and Abel took a seat beside him to keep an eye on the ill Vulpix huddled between his shoulder blades, a pensive frown on his face. "Well they should probably know regardless. I don't know if something's going around or if whatever she has is a one-off thing, but we should definitely make sure they hear about it so they can figure out if it's a problem or not and deal with it if it is."  

[TawnyAngel]

The trip back to Kodo was uneventful but rather slower than Taavi would have liked for the Vulpix's sake. After what seemed like a very long time they reached the Camphoreon Pokemon centre which fortunately wasn't too busy, Taavi was able to walk straight up to the front desk without waiting in line. "Um, hello," Taavi gave the receptionist a slightly worried smile and gestured to Abel and the Vulpix. "We found this wild Vulpix on Tarragon island, could we get her checked in please?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Once he'd retrieved the Vulpix from Caleb's back, Abel returned the latter to his ball and followed Taavi inside. The young woman at the counter aimed a cheery smile their way and nodded her head. "Sure! That's--oh." Her response faltered partway through when she laid eyes upon the small fire-type with her limp form and labored breathing, and she carefully accepted it from the blond. "First let's make sure she's healed and then we'll bring her into the back for a more thorough exam to see what exactly is wrong with her," she explained, and while she spoke she moved quickly and efficiently to do just that; the Vulpix was laid over a machine that glowed briefly and beeped, and then with a short "be right back" she scooped the little creature back into her arms and whisked her away into the back, leaving the pair and their other pokemon waiting at the desk.

Thankfully they needn't wait long. The young woman returned in short order and spread her empty hands out to gesture with them, "I've passed her along to one of the other nurses who'll examine her and set her up in an incubator to bring her temperature back up until we diagnose her. Since it's not so simple an ailment, we're not sure how long that'll take," she went on in apologetic tones, her eyebrows lifting up with her concern for the small fire-type's well-being, "so we'll have to wait and see. Were you intending to keep her?" With that question posed she glanced between the pair briefly.

"Eon!" Isaac put in eagerly from Abel's feet, so the blond glanced down before nodding at the young woman.

"Yeah, we will." The thought hadn't exactly crossed his mind yet, so focused was he on getting her to the center to make sure she lived, and it left little room to think of her future since they weren't even sure if she'd live to see it.

Satisfied with his response the nurse nodded her head at him and reached over to tap away at her computer. "Alright. You're free to wait here, though like I said I'm not sure how long you'll be waiting, or if you'd prefer you can leave your phone number with us and we'll give you a call once we know more about whatever illness she has. Either way, though, we'll likely hold her until tomorrow to keep her condition stable unless something changes before then."

"Alright, that's fine," Abel agreed readily, and after mulling it over he gave her his number, which she dutifully typed into her computer. With that done, he turned to look over at Taavi. "I guess since they'll hold her for the night, we should.. head back?" Even if they did wait, it would only be to hear about her condition rather than being able to take her home with them.  

[TawnyAngel]

When the nurse returned Taavi smiled gratefully at her and nodded along as she spoke. "Thank you, I'm glad we were able to get her here." If they'd walked a different way or been a bit earlier or later they'd never have seen her. That sort of thing happened every day but it wasn't nice to think about especially as Aurelia knew her, it made it personal rather than one of those things that just happened.

"Um, and yeah," Taavi nodded again as Abel gave his number, "I think that makes the most sense, and the others at home will be wondering where we are before long too and wanting dinner." He'd be wanting dinner soon too probably, he'd been a bit preoccupied with worrying about the Vulpix but now she was safe he was kind of expecting to be hungry with how long it had been since lunch.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Yeah, me too," Abel agreed with another nod. It would've been so easy to have missed her - to have walked by earlier or later, or gone a different way, or anything else - but he dismissed the thoughts, unaware that Taavi had thought the exact same thing, and aimed a slightly weary smile down at his worried Espeon. "She'll be alright for now. Let's head home and get some dinner, yeah? We've all had a long day and it's been a while since we had lunch, plus Taavi's right; everyone'll start wondering where we are before long."

Isaac made a soft noise in the back of his throat at the thought of just leaving but he couldn't really argue; the Vulpix was safe now, somewhere she could receive the help she needed, and they all did need to get home... With that thought in mind, the Espeon looked once more towards the doors the Vulpix had disappeared through before he turned and headed towards the main set of doors; Abel smiled down at him, hooked his thumbs into his pockets, and headed after him. Partway there, though, he pulled his phone out of his pocket to send a text to Zev saying they'd be back soon.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Right, and we'll pick her up as soon as we can," Taavi concluded with a nod and a reassuring smile down to Isaac. "Now let's get back, hu?"

When they did get back and Abel opened the door to the apartment the smell of cooking wafted tantalizingly out; cooking meat, spices, yum. Taavi's mouth started to water and his stomach growled insistently, it had been a very long time since lunch considering they'd had an active day! "Hey! We're back!" Taavi called, probably very unnecessarily but it was the sort of thing you did. Rather more importantly he added; "Something smells great!"

_______________________

"Tacos!" announced Zevran's cheerful voice from the kitchen.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

When they finally got back home, Abel's mouth and stomach mimicked Taavi's completely. That smelled so good. He paused at the closet door only long enough to loose all his pokemon into the interior of his apartment, slip his jacket off and kick off his shoes. With that done he promptly turned and headed into the kitchen. "Mmmmh, that smells amazing," he sighed as he stopped behind Zev, slipped his arms around his waist and settled his chin on his boyfriend's shoulder so he could peer down at the food he was preparing. A moment later he gave him a fond squeeze and pressed a kiss to his jaw. "You're amazing."  

[TawnyAngel]

it was no surprise that Abel disappeared very quickly, Taavi took his time over removing his boots and coat to give him and Zev some time to say hello before he entered the kitchen himself. He did however add; "Awesome, thank you!" Coming home after a long day to a nice dinner already cooked for you? Yes please.

________________________

When Abel entered the kitchen Zevran was squeezing lime juice into a small bowl of guacamole, his fine blond hair tied up out of the way in a bun. Already sitting on the counter were a couple of other types of condiment and a stack of corn tortillas, while a pan of fragrant meat steamed on the cooker top.

"Mmmh, I am glad that you noticed," Zevran purred and leant back into the hug, and when Abel kissed his jaw he turned his head to reciprocate. "Everything is just about ready, I just need to wash my hands and then we need plates and spoons to serve with- ah, and a bowl for the meat to go into. Your day was good?"