Gavin's silver Corviknight lands some distance from the house, atop the hill on which the shrine had been built. There was no one around to witness his arrival, but he'd wanted to be safe. He spends a few minutes by the shrine just in case, then descends the hill toward the isolated house.

He spares a glance to the sleeping cat Pokemon on the porch, lip twitching fondly before he rings the bell.

[break]

Chu-e Choi

After a moment, the door swings open.

"Cavalli!" Chu-e is dressed down, a plain white button up and mildly faded jeans on. A smudge of flour is on his cheek but otherwise he looks put together if not a little tired. "Come in, come!" He grins and steps back, allowing the other inside. His house is clean and lived in without being cluttered. A shelf on the wall is full of books, there are knickknacks and small plants on tables and in corners, and more pet paraphernalia.

Chu-e motions for him to follow, leading him through the living room and past a couch with too many throw pillows. The kitchen is a little dated but spacious, a small dining table meant for four connected to the room. A plate of fresh macrons, pistachio as promised in his letter, sits in the middle. A tea pot, shaped like a glameow, is steaming lightly. Two porcelain cups with a soft floral patterns sit, ready to be filled. Chu-e had been ready.

He sits and starts to dole out the tea, still smiling lightly.

"Thanks for coming all the way out here. I hope it wasn't too much trouble." He does sound at least a bit apologetic.

Chu-e looks positively domestic with the flour accenting his cheek, and Gavin can't help but to be amused at the sight. He mostly saw his fellow Rockets (and ex-Rockets) during business, and it was easy to forget how human they all were, at the end of the day.

"Cute," he says of the teapot, then looks up to meet Chu-e's gaze. "No trouble at all. I'm used to the travel."

Unspoken is the fact that Rocket's submarine patrolled the ocean depths, and the trip to Mossdeep from his Fallarbor home was not unlike his route to work. He wonders if Chu-e even knows about the sub; unlikely, but who knew?

He inclines his head toward the plate. "May I?"

[break]

Chu-e Choi

Chu-e had no idea about the submarine and would be unlikely to visit even if he did. Sea travel of any kind had always been hard on him, seasickness taking a toll on him. Just the ride from Mossadeep to Lilycove would put him out of commission for hours. Which was a shame, since he was the genius who decided to live on an island.

"Oh, of course." He pushed the plate a bit towards Gavin, grabbing a cookie for himself before sitting back down. The tea was a simple blend, sweet and light.

"I would like to catch up on things." Vague. He nibbled at his treat and seemed almost sheepish and apologetic. "But I also have some questions. I'm sorry if I've pulled you into more business when you want to relax."

"Ah, you know my line of work," Gavin says lightly, nibbling at the edge of a macron. "Never a moment's peace, but that's what I signed up for."

He could be described as a workaholic, provided one accredited his service to Rocket as work. He certainly felt that it was. It stressed him out, ate up a great deal of his free time, and it paid the bills. That this was a job he couldn't quit bothered him less and less, these days. He'd started to settle.

"I'm all ears," he invites. "Delicious, by the way."

He holds up the half-eaten macron as if toasting with it, then pops the rest in his mouth and waits.

[break]

Chu-e Choi

"Well, to make up for it, I promise next time will all be gossip. No work." Chu-e held up his own half eaten cookie to 'toast' back. He would never let Gavin know that he had burned the first two batches. This batch was maybe a little misshapen but at least they tasted good.

"I gueeeeess..." He frowned, not unkind, as he thought about how to word what he wanted. "I'm interested in rejoining Rocket." That was one way to start. It was safe to speak candidly in his own home. "But I have questions. Think of it as... an interview? Except backwards, I guess." He puffed out a soft, awkward laugh.

"First off, since it's the most important, what would I be expected to do? I won't, can't be a Beast anymore." He glanced at the table, not so much to avoid Gavin's eyes but more to center himself. "Physically I'm not able. I'm sick, real sick. I'll live, but I'll never be the same... and I don't think my mind could handle it, either." Killing someone was easy. It shouldn't have been easy. Gavin was lucky if he didn't know some of the sickening stuff that Blackwell had them do while he was still 'active' in Kanto. The rumors often were tame compared to the truths.

"I also don't want to be a Grunt again. Maybe that's selfish. I don't want power, I don't even want respect. I kind of just want to be left alone and assist when needed."

He sighed.

"Ugh. I feel like I'm word vomiting all over you."

"Gossip? I look forward to it already."

There's something predatory in his smile, a flash of what Rocket's shaped him into. It could have been a nice smile if not for the danger it telegraphed to a trained eye. It's accompanied by a flash of interest in his amber eyes as Chu-e expresses his interest in returning. He hadn't dared to hope, in spite of his offer, that the former Beast would return. Freedom was a hard thing to walk away from.

His brow furrows at mention of sickness; he thinks of Cadis, and there's something like sadness in the pit of his stomach. He'll ask more questions later. For now, he leaves Chu-e to speak.

It's not until the other sighs that the underboss finally responds.

"On principle, many returning members are made to work their way back up... but I'd be willing to overlook that." It's hardly a favour; to have a former Beast return to their ranks was compensation enough, even if he wouldn't be reprising his role. "As for what you'd be doing, well, I think it all depends on what you want to do. Intel? Trafficking? Your skillset could be of use in training up our new blood — not the way you were treated, mind." Gavin is quick to correct a potential misconception, tone placating. "I assume you'll have plenty of questions regarding our methods, but I can assure you that they've changed."

[break]

Chu-e Choi

Even if Chu-e was still a little tense, at his own discomfort in the conversation he had brought up, the smile was almost... comforting. Was that weird? It was probably weird. But those kinds of smiles, the ones where you could see the needles and broken glass that held them together, they were what he enjoyed best. They were what his own smile was, when he wasn't playing the role of a sweet young man. While most would be intimidated Chu-e felt relived to be on the other side of a smile like Gavin's.

"Well, that actually answers a few of my questions in of itself..." He thought his training; more like dog fights where the goal was to rip out someone else's throat. Only the strong had survived, for better or worse. "I might... actually, hang on." Standing, he walked into his living room a moment. He was in full view of Gavin as he opened a bag, pulled out an ID, and came back into the room. He slid it across the table. "I don't think I can be as useful as any League plants, but I do have this." His fake identity. Ji-Hoon Ki, a top Sinnoh Ranger, now retired. "Technically, I'm supposed to be here just to 'live'." He let that hang in the air between them.

"I have something in mind, but before I bring it up, what's Rocket's goal right now? Under Blackwell... was terrible. But I knew what we were working for. Hell, I even took pride in it, for a while. Now, I couldn't imagine. Hide? Make money? Build up power?"

Gavin's sharp-edged stare never leaves Chu-e as he enters the other room, rifling through a bag. The underboss is aware of the weight of his gun, of exactly how long it would take to draw it and fire if this had turned out to be a trap. The fingers of his left hand twitch.

Chu-e pulls out some sort of card, instead, and the tension in Gavin's muscles abates.

Ji-Hoon Ki. He recognizes the name, both from what Chu-e had told him during their encounter and from the letter the other man had sent. This time, Gavin's smile is sly, sinister in a different sort of way.

"I'm glad you asked," he drawls, and the smirk broadens. "It's all of those things, and more; we're working to poison the League from within, now, rather than the direct approach which — well, you saw how that went." He thinks of Kanto, where they'd succeeded in such an approach. Secretly, he's glad he won't have to see Hoenn burn. "No more blackmail, no kidnapping children, no murdering families. We're after loyalty, now, and there's no need to threaten a loyal man, hm?"

Something's shifted in Gavin's tone as he speaks. He's proud of what Rocket has become, what he is helping it become.

[break]

Chu-e Choi

After Chu-e sits back down, hears what Gavin says next, there is a visible draining of tension from his shoulder. Loyalty... hard to earn. More valuable than any treasure that Rocket could take. Everything they had to do before only brewed bitterness and resentment.

"I hate the League, you know? It's why I joined Rocket when I was so young. If you're still gunning for that bloated parasite I'll find a way to kill Arceus if that's what Rocket needs." There was a bit of bitterness there in his tone.

"But, ah, I do have an idea, then, for what I want to work for. If the public hates the League, they would tear them apart for us, yeah?" Humming, Chu-e picked up his tea and finally took a small sip. "It's all framing. Making someone see one thing but it's really another. It's easy."

Picking up one of the macarons from the table, he broke it in two over the table. A grainy powder spilled out on the wood. "Like this. If I thought you were going to hurt me, I was going to feed you this." Dusting off his fingers, he dropped the remains of the cookie. "That was the only one, by the way." Almost an afterthought.

"When I was active in Kanto, that was my job. Everyone knows what I did in Cinnabar, but they don't know how I did it. A whole island of civilian refugees and League resistance slaughtering each other, no Rocket casualties. Framing."

"They all want the same thing as we do — money, power — and they'll step on as many people as it takes to get it. Thing is, they get to call it legal." Gavin's disgust is clear in his tone. He nods as Chu-e brings up public perception, his amber eyes dark with thrill. "We've got plants in HNN, in the gym circuit, on the council..."

He doesn't mention names.

He does, however, quirk a brow as Chu-e breaks open one of the macrons to reveal its deadly contents. "If I'd sensed this were a trap, I'd have gone for the kill as well. Nothing personal. But since we're on the same page, yes, I think that would be a wonderful use of your skillset."

[break]

Chu-e Choi

Oh, Chu-e agreed. "It doesn't even need to be legal. As long as they have people in charge, they can cover the bad shit they do, too." There was an equal bitterness there, personal experience, but he did nod along as Gavin spoke. Knowing they were there was enough for Chu-e. Names were dangerous.

"I'm glad you understand. It's no offense at all." If anything, Chu-e was more pleased than anything that the other took this seriously enough. It showed a forethought he wasn't always used to dealing with in Rocket.

"Then it sounds like you can officially add me back to your ranks." Nodding, Chu-e gave another small smile. "As a returning member, may I make a small request? I would like my own little... squad, I suppose. Any Rockets who may not be suited for direct combat or missions. Who can smile and pretend they're something else. No more than two or three, and of course they'll follow other's orders."

He tapped his chin lightly. "Actually... I do have one in mind. Recently I met a jayden cross. I remembered him from when I was younger, faintly, and the kind of things I need done I know he could do." A pause. "... more personally, after our conversation, he is an empty as a doll when it comes to orders. I'm of the opinion that isn't good." Chu-e wanted to try and bully the other man to be better.

"It brings me great joy to twist their corruption in our favour," Gavin drawls, scowling. His tone in that moment implies he draws no joy from anything, but the glint of steel in his gaze supports the words.

Similarly, he is thrilled at the news of Chu-e's return, though he does little to show for it except to dip his head. His first thought is that Walsh would no doubt be pleased to have another Kanto veteran among them... and his second is of Emma Wolfe, and how she'd detested the idea of him seeking approval at all. It settles uncomfortably in his stomach, but his expression does not falter.

I'm just doing my job, he tells himself firmly.

"I can make no promises, but that shouldn't be a problem. If you're amenable to working with me directly, I would have further sway. Less chance of stepping on the toes of our admins." Rocket was a workplace like any other, when the violence and crime was subtracted from the equation. Part of his job was to keep things running smoothly. "To be frank, I have a great deal of respect for our Beasts, current and former. I'd offer a degree of freedom you might not get from the others."

His gaze turns suddenly sharp at mention of Jayden. "Especially if you'll be working with Cross. He and I are acquainted, and I share your opinion of his... obedience."

What he doesn't say: I worry about him, about what the wrong Rocket could do to him.

"Understand that I'm giving you the choice," he adds, for old Rocket wouldn't have. "It will be good to have you back, regardless."

[break]

Chu-e Choi