[FIN] Surprises in Store

[TawnyAngel]

"Ah, yes." Zevran rubbed his forehead and nodded. "Maybe they... I don't know. I would like to find them." He wasn't sure how long he could stand to remain here but he didn't want to just abandon Abel without trying to help. "I will look too, though ah... I may leave if -" Instead of finishing the sentence Zevran gestured vaguely, he was sure Abel would understand what he meant. "And our pokemon can help too? We will surely find them quickly between us." The teens hadn't been clear on where they had tossed the phones but he didn't think they would have made much effort, perhaps they would just have kicked them aside somewhere?  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Mmh.." Abel frowned a little and glanced around. "They have to be here somewhere, but yeah, using our pokemon to help is a good idea." He paused to fish around in his pocket not for his pokeballs, especially since Zev still had those, but instead for his keys to offer them to the shorter blond. "Here. Stay as long as you feel like staying for, and when you're not feeling it anymore you can go sit in the car if you want. I don't want you to push yourself too hard, alright?" Zevran wanted the phones and so they would be found; he wasn't sure how long it would take but he'd make sure to find them one way or another. Eventually. Hopefully sooner rather than later.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Thanks." Zevran accepted the keys and passed back Abel's pokeballs in return; he smiled his gratitude too but it wasn't a very happy expression.

Along with Clara, Amigo, Copper, Vision, and Estrella Zevran started to move around the warehouse, poking behind old boxes and other debris in search of the broken phones. The longer he looked however the more nauseous he felt, and his chest started to feel tight too as though there was no air in here. Eventually it was too much and with a mumbled apology he turned and hastened out of the building, leaving Abel and the pokemon to continue the search.

It became easier to breathe as he walked quickly away from the warehouse but he didn't feel like closing himself away in the car and so instead he sat down on the hood and occupied himself with a mindless game on his phone as he waited to Abel to return.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel accepted his pokeballs with a quiet word of thanks before letting out Caleb and Sonia to help in the search. They started on the other side of the warehouse from Zev and his pokemon, peeking behind or around or sifting through discarded junk, and he was glad that none of the things he touched or moved showed any signs of anything unpleasant besides dust or dirt. The task was difficult enough as it was for him, he could only imagine how bad it was for Zev; thankfully he left soon enough though, and Abel offered him a small tight smile briefly before he resumed his search.

Finally, after what felt like forever the phones were found - a little crunched, splattered with old dried blood and covered in a thin layer of dust - and Abel had to swallow a feeling of nausea at the sight. Instead he focused on just breathing and firmly banished any thoughts of the fate of their owners as he tried and failed to clean them off. Abel muttered a curse under his breath and pocketed both phones instead. Well, at least they'd found the phones, even if they'd definitely seen better days...

He couldn't let Zev see them until he'd at least cleaned the blood off.

Hoping that wouldn't be too much of a problem, Abel returned his pokemon and gestured for Zevran's to follow before he left the warehouse, sighing in relief once he stepped out the doors into the open again, and headed towards the car. "Alright, found 'em," he announced once he drew close enough to his boyfriend. Hopefully he was alright, although he at least looked a little better than he did inside. "Two of them, that is. If there's more we couldn't find them. Ready to head home? We can still pick up some lunch on the way if you want."  

[TawnyAngel]

"You found them?" Zevran echoed as he slid off the hood of the car to greet Abel, his expression somewhere between excited and anguished. "Whose- how many?... And where are they?" Zevran frowned slightly as he absently recalled all of his pokemon, beside Amigo and Clara. Was Abel trying to keep him in suspense? That didn't seem like Abel to him!

The thought of lunch was nowhere near the top of his list of priorities right now and so to that question he said nothing.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"I did, or at least some of them," he affirmed with a nod and hooked his thumbs into his pockets, where the found phones remained. No way was he about to show them to Zev until he could at least clean them off first. "I found two, so if there's more than that I couldn't find them, but I dunno whose they are, I couldn't get them to turn on. Which makes sense, really, they've been sitting for a while so the batteries probably need to be recharged. They're, uh, in my pocket," Abel added, awkwardly reaching a hand up to rub the back of his neck as his gaze shifted to somewhere, anywhere other than his boyfriend's face. "They're a little - ah - a little dirty. I'll clean 'em off once we get home."  

[TawnyAngel]

A little dirty.

Oh.

Zevran turned away from Abel and cleared his throat. "Ah! Well yes, of course, that is fine." He wasn't going to be sick, he was not going to be sick. "Could... could we perhaps go straight home? I must confess I... Can we just go? There is food in the cupboards, we need not stop." The food in the cupboards would need making into a meal but he could deal with that in an hour or so, when he'd had enough time to close away his emotions.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Oh good, he wasn't going to push to see them. Not that he thought he would but-- well he was just glad.

And he didn't want to think about the bloody, chewed phones in his pocket anymore.

Abel cleared his throat a bit as well and nodded firmly. "Going straight home sounds good to me too, we can figure out food later on if we feel like it." All things considered he didn't feel like he'd want food for a while.


By that evening they managed to pull old pictures off the phones, and the next morning they left a bag of non-perishable groceries outside the ex-apprentices' room along with a small pad of paper, some pens, an envelope with more cash, and a note with both their phone numbers on it, in case they needed anything.