[FIN] Picking up the Pieces

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel rubbed at his face wearily as he stopped beside Taavi and stared at the blanket fort. Had it really only been the night before that they'd made it together, had curled up in it together and fallen asleep in each other's embrace? And now it and he were both still there, perfectly fine - more or less - and Zevran was barely alive in the hospital. Why did things have to happen this way...?

After what was probably a little too long Abel shook himself from his miserable reverie. "Yeah, okay," he mumbled in response finally, though it was a few more moments before he could convince his feet to carry him further into the living room to sit down as instructed.  

[TawnyAngel]

Eat and then lie down, he could cop with that but not a lot more. Taavi yawned as he opened the fridge, there was nobody to see it so he didn't bother trying to hide it. Okay, instant food....

A couple of minutes later Taavi came back into the living room holding two plates and two sets of knife and fork. "Um, okay. There's some tortilla, a little of that spicy tomato potato stuff, a couple of meatballs in sauce, and some olive bread. I kind of just split it between two plates... there's really not a whole lot here but I don't feel like eating much." He felt kind of sick to be honest but his body needed food whether he liked it or not.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Upon his return to the living room Taavi would find it relatively empty, save for Tani and Elizabeth flopping over each other and wrestling in one corner. "Alright, thanks," Abel replied, his voice - probably unsurprisingly - floating up from within the blanket fort, "and I don't really feel like eating much either." To be honest he wasn't interested in eating at all but he'd only had chips and soda for hours now and that wasn't exactly the best thing to have, not when he'd make himself sick from not eating.

He was used to not eating much, but Dith had told him to eat something, and he knew he had to anyway... plus he knew Zevran would want him to eat. The guilt was the worst out of all of them; he would eat if for no other reason than the fact his boyfriend would want him to, but wasn't here to encourage him to do so himself. Inside the blanket fort Taavi would find Abel sitting cross-legged with Isaac curled up in his lap and Vanessa, Tabitha and Rebecca curled around him. They'd all left enough room for Taavi to join them, though their half of the blanket fort was a little crowded. Abel didn't mind this fact one bit.  

[TawnyAngel]

Abel wasn't visible when he stepped back into the living room so either he'd gone to his bedroom or-

Yep, he was in the blanket fort.

"Hey." Taavi held out one of the plates to Abel as he sank to his knees and then shuffled into the space that had been left for him. Once he was settled in with his plate on his lap he sighed slightly and nodded. "Yeah." He was only agreeing with Abel agreeing with him but he wasn't sure either of them were up for a lot of conversation.

After a few moments Taavi speared a bit of potato with his fork and started to eat slowly. It felt kind of safe in here, cut off from the real world by the blankets and the huddle of people he cared about. He could almost pretend that Zev was out in the kitchen doing something and would soon squirm his way in with them, probably draping himself on Abel 'to save space'... But it was only almost; the image of him in the stark room, covered in wires and tubes wouldn't go out of his head. He ate another bite of spicy potato, which Zev had made because he knew he liked spicy food. s**t.

Taavi rubbed his sleeve over his eyes and cleared his throat. "Um, I forgot to get us drinks. You want anything? I was just going to get water but there's beer and stuff."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Thanks," Abel replied quietly as he accepted the plate Taavi offered him, then just stared down at it -- at the food Zevran had made for them before. He didn't even feel like eating at all anyway but seeing his boyfriend's cooking only ruined his appetite further.... But Zevran would want him to eat. He had to eat.

Reluctantly Abel speared a bit of it and stared at it for a moment or two as he debated his brother's question. "Beer please," he said at length. Really he should drink water but he needed alcohol. He needed a lot of alcohol. Instead he merely attempted to shut his brain off for the time being and let his body run on autopilot, his movements more mechanical than anything as he lifted his fork to his mouth to start eating.  

[TawnyAngel]

Beer probably wasn't the best idea but Abel didn't care about sensible right now any more than he had himself when Valour had disappeared; alcohol helped you think a bit less for a while, or at least you always hoped it would.

"Sure. Back in a moment." He didn't bother with trying to put on a smile now, they both knew it was forced, and so he just put his plate down and crawled back out of the fort.

A minute or so later - after the sound of a running tap and then the fridge opening and closing - Taavi returned with an open bottle of beer and a glass of water. "Here." Taavi passed over the beer and then settled back down beside Abel.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

And as promised, Taavi returned in short order with drinks, so Isaac vacated Abel's lap so the blond could set his plate there and take the drink his friend passed him. "Thanks man," he said softly as he accepted the drink. It wasn't nearly as strong as he wanted - not by a long shot - but it was better than nothing, and he tipped his head back and downed half the bottle in one go. With a sigh he lowered the bottle again and then glanced between it and his plate with a soft frown. If he put the bottle on the floor he ran the risk of it tipping over, but he couldn't just hold it because then he couldn't really stab anything with his fork lest his plate slide off his lap...

Tabitha made a soft noise in the back of her throat as she reached her small paws over to carefully grasp the bottle; Abel let go of it with a quiet word of thanks before he picked his plate up again. This was awful. Everything was awful. Why did everything have to be so awful? "Ask me something," the blond said abruptly as he appeared another bit of food with his fork and stared down at it. Taavi had been so patient with him - perhaps with both of them - and deserved answers, but with how exhausted and tired he was he couldn't really begin talking about or explaining anything without being handed a solid starting point. "I can't promise I'll answer everything completely but I can at least tell you some stuff if you want."  

[TawnyAngel]

Ask me something.

Taavi paused with his fork half way to his mouth and then lowered it again. This was what he'd wanted right? Only now he was a bit afraid of the answers he might get, or of what it would hint at if Abel refused to answer a question.

Perhaps he'd better start simple, and if he only got to ask one question then this was an important one. "Um... Did what happened tonight have anything to do with Aly- with Patty?" Had somebody she'd known found out what had happened and come for revenge? Who else would want to kill Abel or Zev? People didn't just try to kill people for no reason, and if it was nothing to do with Patty when why?  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Well that was a simple enough question, and not one Abel had expected. It gave him pause for a brief moment before he shook his head, "Nope, not a thing." With that said, he took another bite of his food.  

[TawnyAngel]

So it was something else, something one of them had got mixed up in more recently? After all they'd been through he couldn't imagine Abel deliberately getting into anything shady. He didn't want to think that Zev would either but the fact that he'd known him for months and had no idea what he did for a living....

"What- I mean, who..." How was he going to phrase this question? "What did they want? Did you know them, or did Zev know them?" One of them must, if they didn't Abel would probably have explained by now that it had just been bad luck; wrong place, wrong time, mistaken identity or whatever. It had to have been somebody one of them knew and there had to be a reason for it, not a good reason - he couldn't think of many good reasons to try to kill people, at all - but a reason that made sense to them at least.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Ah, that was a little more like what he expected Taavi to ask. Still the question gave him pause, and he frowned down at his plate as he chewed thoughtfully. How to answer, how to answer... "I didn't know any of them, no," he said with a shake of his head once he'd swallowed, "but Zev did. Or, well, he knew one of them. Um... That question's a little more difficult to answer," the blond admitted as he lightly tapped his fork against his plate, and rather than continue on he remained silent; Taavi would let him know if he wanted him to try or if he'd be okay asking another question, he was sure.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Oh." Taavi sipped his water and looked down at his plate. "I... Could you try? I want- I mean, neither of you owe me an explanation but..." He shrugged, struggling to put his thoughts into words. "I just don't understand how- or why this happened. Did they want him, or both of you, dead or was it something else?" Was it about money? People killed over money all the time and... Well he could sort of image Zev with his blasé attitude pissing off the wrong people. Hell if he was going to say that though.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Mmh, he wanted him to try; that was fair. More than fair. Abel took another bite of his food and stared down at his plate for a few more moments while he tried to think of how to explain it. Eventually he set his plate down - not finished but he'd eaten as much as he could stomach when he didn't even want food at all - and took his beer back from Tabitha but didn't take a sip yet. "Uh.. It's... complicated," he admitted with a frown aimed down at the bottle in his hand. "Um... Well I guess... let's start somewhere else, so it makes sense. How much d'you know about him -- about where he's from?" He asked, lifting his gaze to Taavi for once as he took a sip of his beer.  

[TawnyAngel]

Where he was from... Wait, so this wasn't something new? Something had followed him here? Facial tattoos kind of suggested a less than... well less than conventional life but he'd never thought too much about it.

Taavi set his plate down too and shook his head slightly to express his ignorance. "Somewhere called Antiva right? In uh... Thedas? They have much nicer weather than us and great food... and that's about all I know, it's not something that's really come up I guess?" And now it seemed like maybe there was a good reason for that.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Ohh, the weather and the food -- the very same things he'd talked at length about way back when he first mentioned it. Those were almost assuredly the only topics he felt comfortable talking to anyone about that he didn't know or trust. Was he breaking his trust by talking about any of it? Maybe a bit, but they couldn't just leave Taavi completely in the dark, not when it affected him too. Not as directly - or as potentially fatally - as it affected himself and Zevran, but they couldn't just pretend it didn't have consequences for Taavi too. So, what was the best way to explain things without divulging more than absolutely necessary... It was a difficult line to tread.

Abel nodded and passed his beer bottle from one hand to the other, feeling like he had to do something with his hands. "That's right. From what I've noticed he doesn't really... talk about it much more than that. Everyone has s**t they'd rather not talk about though, and some people are more private than others with that kinda stuff. He's one of the sorts that's really private. It's taken months of getting to know him more - and becoming closer friends - for him to trust me enough to tell me more than that, so I'm not going to talk about everything -- only as much as I feel comfortable with since it's his business, not mine, and if he wants to tell you more himself he can. Fair?"