[attr="class","beck"]"he will soon enough."

the growl is understood and reflected in the way his expression sours. caldwell had gotten away not once, but twice. he exhales, mind deciding to focus elsewhere.

it decides on comfort.

"tori's wanted to see you for a while now."

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

Gavin acknowledges the shift in topic, pulling his arm tighter around Beckett as if to reassure without words.

"She was still a teenager, last I saw her." He shakes his head in quiet disbelief. "I've really been away from you all for too long."

For Rocket was his family, his home because of them.

He, too, shifts toward a rare comfort.

"Just means we'll have a lot of catching up to do. Bet she'll lose her mind when she meets Lugia."

She'd always admired strength, he remembers.

[attr="class","beck"]"you have."

far too long. he won't allow it this time.

he shifts closer into the comfort cillian provides.

"lugia makes me uncomfortable."

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

The admission does not surprise him. Many were uncomfortable with the shadowed legend's presence, especially those closest to Gavin. He remembers Marcel, Emma, wonders if Theo too thinks it wrong.

But he does not jump to conclusions as he once might have.

Instead, he fixes Theo with a curious look.

"Do you know why?"

[attr="class","beck"]"it's power, likely. i've never seen anything like it before."

it would wipe his team without breaking a sweat, that much he knows. he had seen its powers firsthand — he knows what its capabilities, its potential, and it both excites and frightens him.

"i'll get used to it."

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

Gavin's curiosity softens with a smile into something like relief.

"Scared the shit out of me when I first met it, too. Shadow Pokemon are — really aggressive, usually. Only reason mine aren't anymore is because of Lugia, I think, but — it used to look at me like I was a bug it wanted to step on."

He shivers slightly at the memory of its malice. How they'd both known with intimate certainty that the beast ball was the only tether keeping its obedience to Gavin in check until the Blackout and Necrozma had changed things.

"I was worried it might be the corruption that made you uncomfortable."

His tone suggests I'm glad it's not.

[attr="class","beck"]uncomfortable? he shakes his head.

"you know of my indifference towards pokemon."

he shrugs.

"they're tools. nothing more."

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

In most cases, Gavin would agree — because it is what's been taught.

But the word tool makes his muscles tense, something Theo will no doubt feel with Gavin's arm draped around him.

All Pokemon exist for the glory of Team Rocket. Yet Lugia had saved his life. Had granted him a purpose beyond the shackles of his organization. Gavin thinks of Declan Walsh's words and clenches his jaw. By extension, that includes avatars too.

"Lugia is different. It is not a tool."

I am not a tool.

[attr="class","beck"]"lugia is a pokemon."

he feels the tension but something nags him to stand his ground even at the cost of isolation.

it's a heavy cost.

"or am i mistaken?"

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

The warning in Gavin's tone is either unnoticed or unheeded.

Theo is a smart man. Gavin assumes the latter.

He does not yet retract his touch, but the calm note to his breathing shifts to forced rather than natural. Miasma swirls around his hands, but he doesn't notice.

"As I am its avatar, Lugia is my patron. I should certainly hope you don't view me as a tool, Beckett."

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

he shifts, moving away from his touch. he stands, miasma going unnoticed.

"as long as you don't bend to its will."

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

"I do not."

Gavin remains seated, though his amber eyes burn as he looks up at Theo.

"But nor does it bend to mine. It is my partner, not my slave."

The windows rattle against a violent breeze.

"I bend to the will of Rocket. To Walsh. Does that make me nothing more than a tool? You don't treat me as such."

[attr="class","beck"]"in that context,"

he pauses, hesitating. but he knows his place.

"you are. as am i; to rocket, not walsh."

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