[FIN] Tonight's Gonna be a Good Night

[TawnyAngel]

"Mmmh, no." Zevran curled his fingers around Abel's and squeezed gently. "I think I am convinced, no need to call upon your references. Thank you for this." And for everything else too.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

With a warm, soft smile Abel's fingers intertwined with Zev's and gave them a gentle squeeze as he pressed a fond kiss to his forehead. "Ah, I'm glad I could convince you then," he murmured, "and you're welcome. Hopefully it helps a bit?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran turned his head to look at Abel and smiled faintly. "I am happy," he replied. Saying either no or yes would have felt false; there wasn't any help for what was looming ahead of him but at least here, now, he could snatch a few hours of happiness. Beyond that however....

"I should read the messages," Zevran said reluctantly, reaching into his pocket for his phone with the copied correspondence as he spoke. "Perhaps they will shed some light on their plans, give us an advantage... Though they must assume that I will have access to them so if there are any particulars recorded I am sure they will change them. An insight into how they are thinking though? Better than having nothing at all."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The warmth in his expression grew and spread, and it had nothing to do with the ambient temperature inside their blanket fort. "I'm glad," he said gently, lifting a hand to carefully brush his fingers over Zev's cheek as he gazed into those gorgeous amber eyes. "I want to make you happy as much as I can."

Though there... wasn't much he could do to make him happy while reading something that would so obviously be unhappy... At least he could snuggle him though, if nothing else. With that thought in mind Abel wrapped his arm around the shorter blond to stay nice and close to him. "Reading them's a good idea, yeah; any advantage is a good advantage. Hmm.. They'll probably assume that once they realize what happened to her, but how long d'you think that'll take?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran frowned as he started to scroll back through the messages and shook his head. "Impossible to say, maybe I will learn more as I read?" Where to start? Right at the beginning? Probably for the best but there was quite a lot, so many messages dedicated to Taliesen's plans to kill him. How had it come to this? "What drove me to leave but him to stay?" Zevran wondered quietly, mostly to himself as he reached the top of the chat. They had been close, all three of them, closer and more caring than Crows really should be... but Taliesen had still killed her.

"The messages begin eight weeks ago," Zevran began again as he started to read the messages. "There are six people in the conversation... Taliesen and 'Callisto' do most of the talking." Was that her? It seemed a reasonable guess. "They are discussing leads... Taliesen calls them to regroup at the docks six weeks ago to come to Kodo. It does not say how he picked up my trail but I am hardly an unobtrusive presence, somebody must have seen me and remembered." Had Taliesen paid for the information or simply talked it out of somebody? It could be either, Taliesen could be very charming and seem very genuine; he had never been as good at all that as Zevran could be himself but he wasn't bad at it.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Learning as he read sounded like the most plausible - or at least he hoped so; there was always the possibility that he'd read everything and not learn a single thing - but rather than say so he merely cuddled closer to his boyfriend and pressed a soft, fond kiss to his temple as he read and explained the messages.

Six people... Taliesen was obvious, but Callisto was not, and he had no idea who that was. Was it the woman from earlier -- the one who called herself Charlie? Both started with the same letter, but that was hardly conclusive. "Hummm... So does that mean they've been here in Kodo for the last six weeks?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"Yes," Zevran confirmed as he read on, "two of them leave Camphoreon - Diego and Luciana - but the others remain. Taliesen wagers with Diego that I will be here... 'He will not leave the bright lights of the city or the sea, I know him'." And there he had to pause, breath caught in his throat and heart squeezing painfully in his chest. "We used to watch the sun go down together," he mumbled after a few moments of silence. "When we were little we dreamed of the places we would go, the things we would do once we were true Crows. When we were older we drank, and we talked about the things we had done. Missions. Pretty girls we'd chatted with in the market. Pointless jests."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

So two had left Camphoreon at least, but the other four were still there somewhere in the city... ah. That... Why did things have to be this way? "Those sound like the sorts of things best friends do," Abel noted quietly, and he gave the shorter blond a gentle squeeze. A few moments later he asked just as quietly, "Do you miss him?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran closed his eyes and pressed closer against Abel. "Why does it have to be this way?" he asked softly, which was not an answer but probably told Abel what he needed to know anyway. What if he had asked Taliesen to come with him when he'd fled? He had killed Rinna but- but things could still have been.... No. They couldn't. The person he had shared those moments with, the big tough boy who had promised to look after a smaller weaker one, was dead.

With a great effort Zevran pushed down the urge to simply curl up and deal with none of what was happening; lips pressed into a tight thin line he started to read again. "There are messages back and fore of where they search, the other names are Velasco and Belladonna... Oh." Zevran paused and licked his lips, read the screen of messages again. "Three days ago Callisto reports that she has found me. Diego and Luciana return to the city. They make plans for Callisto to meet with me and... and Taliesen says that she knows the plan, to stick to it." What had the plan been and had she stuck to it? Had she been supposed to take him alone? It seemed unlikely, especially in light of her dropping out of contact. "s**t."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

When Zevran leaned closer the taller blond didn't hesitate to hug him a bit tighter. Why did it have to be this way? It was a question he really wished he knew the answer to, had a solution for; they had been good friends, possibly even best friends, and now Taliesen wanted to kill him. What must that feel like? What could he even say to that? Rather than voice any pointless or useless condolences or wishes, Abel instead hugged Zevran tightly again for a few moments. It seemed... highly unlikely that this would end well between the two.

"Three days ago..." When had she spotted him, how long had she tailed him, how much did she see? Had she seen him too, had found out where he lived? If so, had she told anyone else either in messages or in person? While he was fine with being in danger - it wasn't like this would be the first time, after all - he wasn't fine with the fact that Zevran would also be in danger. He'd wanted so badly for him to have at least one safe place, but now he wasn't even sure... No, he'd make sure it was. "So he didn't repeat what the plan was, exactly...?" Well wasn't that nice and vague of him? "So I guess that means Callisto was the woman we met earlier, then... Are there more messages after that?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"No he did not," Zevran frowned at the screen. "Not out of any pretence, deceit, or fear the messages would be read I think; he simply takes it for granted that she knows and will do her duty... I know the names Diego and Luciana, we passed a few words on a few occasions. Velasco and Belladonna I do not know nor Callisto, all three could be from the same place?... There are more messages, and a flurry starting at lunchtime today - yesterday by now? - demanding updates. Callisto however does not respond. The last message I have downloaded was sent when we must have been in the bar, Taliesen orders a search. He seems to think that Callisto has betrayed him."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

So he had seen two of them and wasn't familiar at all with the other two... And the plan had apparently been discussed enough that Taliesen was confident everyone knew it perfectly. "Huh..." After a few more silent moments to think he continued, "That's kind of telling then, isn't it? If she stopped messaging them long before she even approached us and he started a search before we even left with her..." Ohhh, how close they'd come to running right into them without any of them even realizing it. Had one of them gone to her hotel room to check on her? ...had any of them even known she'd gotten the hotel room? "Do you think she did betray him, and if so... if she wasn't following through on his plan with what she did - if that was her acting on her own plan - then what was his plan?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"Mmh." Zevran's frown deepened and he read the last few messages again. "They are searching, they do not know where she is. The hotel may not have been in the plan at all, if it had been they would probably have been waiting there for us... Yet..." Zevran shook his head. "I don't understand. Perhaps," he gestured vaguely, "perhaps she wished to take me alone, without his knowledge? Bringing in a traitor's head - so to speak - would be quite a cache for a woman from an absorbed house, for any individual. He has been calling the shots... she did not wish him to take the credit?" Zevran sounded and looked uncertain as he spoke, and soon added; "There is so much unsaid between these lines. We have an idea of their numbers now at least, though it is possible there are apprentices involved who are not included in the chat."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Ah, I was wondering that... It didn't really seem like she'd spread out her things in it much, now that I think about it, so maybe she'd only gotten it this afternoon? I feel like with them searching for her before we even left with her, if they'd known about the hotel room then we probably would've run into them, but obviously we didn't..." Abel frowned, his brow wrinkled and a thoughtful hum in his throat. This was quite the puzzle. "That sounds plausible, I suppose... But like you said there's a lot left unsaid, that we can't really figure out from these messages, especially since some of them are so vague... But knowing numbers is good - always good - so we did learn some things, at least," he finished, taking what positives he could from it as he pressed another soft kiss to Zevran's skin.  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran locked his phone, slipped it away again and leaned closer to Abel to appreciate the kiss. "We did. We have names and two of them I know... I hope he has not brought apprentices. They could be young, probably fourteen but not more than eighteen." Zevran closed his eyes again, added; "That would not have troubled me, once upon a time. It was normal."