[attr="class","beck"]"i tend not to dwell on risks. besides, i doubt i'd have much of a choice if it was offered."

he knows little of merlino's avatarship, nor flint's, but he knows rocket. if they were to offer him power only for him to turn it down — he tenses at the thought, mind briefly wondering about what merlino had to go through. he decides to ask.

"how did you receive yours?"

[attr="class","noodles"]Cillian Quinn

"It wasn't Rocket who chose me; it was Lugia."

Lugia hadn't asked with words, and he hadn't answered with them. But Gavin had been open to its power, and the settling of its dark influence over his soul had felt as natural as breathing. He can't remember how he'd felt without it. It didn't matter.

"It was Walsh who entrusted Lugia to me. When he came over from Kanto to take over for Cadis, there was a meeting held in the submarine. And it was Walsh's device that did — whatever it did, for Lugia. It couldn't speak, before, and there was just — anger. But it knew everything that had happened to it. It remembers." There's a brief flicker of melancholy, quick to dart behind his mask. "It remembered I was good to it."

He closes his eyes a moment as he recalls the dizzying rush of power. His lips form the ghost of a smile before his eyes reopen.

"But I'd have said yes, either way."

Even if he'd known the price.

[attr="class","beck"]"ah."

though quick, the flicker of emotion is noticed behind it's masked. it isn't difficult to find subtleties in something so familiar. if anything, those subtleties are what stand out now. his eyes drift away and a nod follows, acknowleding.

"then lugia is yours. no one can take it away, not even rocket."

and though it goes unsaid, certain implications lie behind his words.

[attr="class","noodles"]Cillian Quinn

Gavin shakes his head.

"No. I belong to Lugia."

A small clarification, but an important one. He feels the possessive legend's satisfaction with the words. Gavin doesn't seem bothered by the notion; rather, the ghost of a smile plays upon his lips.

"But the end result is the same: they will not separate us, not without force."

He understands the implication, acknowledges it with the intensity of his gaze.

[attr="class","beck"]a final nod is giving, acknowleding what is unsaid.

"we have work to do, but we'll get there."

[attr="class","noodles"]Cillian Quinn

We.

It feels good to know THEO BECKETT is on their side — his side.

"We will." A pause, then, "Your rank may have been stripped from you, Beckett, but mine grants a good deal of sway. Blatant favoritism is out of the question, but if you were to settle quick enough..."

He trails off, lets the implication click on its own.

[attr="class","beck"]"i understand."

his phone buzzes in his pocket. he pulls it out, reads the little notification, then sighs.

"choi's calling for me."

[attr="class","noodles"]Cillian Quinn

Gavin tilts his head, as if curious, then nods toward the door.

"Best you see what he wants, then."