"Yeah.... yeah, I think I will soon. He... he deserves to know. Been good to me." Actually, would Cillian Quinn know him?

"You know Leon Vercetti? That's him. Thinks with his dick but he's a good guy. Any sass I give him he can take and then give right back." A small, soft smile, a slightly flush of the cheeks- even when he had been married, Chu-e had never talked to anyone outside of Arthur about their relationship. No one else he knew had cared; or it would have been something to turn back on him.

Sometimes he wonders if he was the reason Arthur was gone. If his fuck up had cost Arthur his life, too.

"I should.... I should tell Eris Halla, too. She's been staying with me a lot."

Then, soft.

"She started calling me 'Pa'."

"Vercetti? Yeah, I know him."

Better than he cared to, now that he knew where Leon Vercetti was putting his dick. Gavin's seen the man naked, after all, and doesn't particularly want to imagine them having sex.

It's thankfully easy to focus on other things, like the soft flush to Chu-e's cheeks Gavin's never seen him get before.

"I'm glad you've found someone. You deserve it."

Then Eris is mentioned, and Gavin's expression pinches with pain. Pa. Oh, no.

"She's... more mature than anyone her age should have to be," he sighs. "She knows what Rocket's done to her family and she still fucking hugged me and held my hand. My heart breaks for the kid."

"I might leave my house and money to Leon and her. I want them to be comfortable." After he was gone he wouldn't be able to do much- so he would do what he could for them. It it could improve their lives even a little...

"She's real smart, too, ya know? She could be an amazing scientist one day. If Lulu Flint would be into it, I bet Eris could learn a lot from her. The kid showed me how to make fireworks. Sharp as a tack, just really trusting, I think."

A soft sigh.

"She deserves better than us."

"She does."

Soft, sad.

"I'd let her go, if we could find a way. Give her a chance at a normal life."

There's a certain gravity behind an admission that would've been treason in Blackwell's day. It still feels like treason now, Gavin's gaze shifting to the shadows along the wall as if expecting them to come alive.

"Those who were forced into this, they — we let them go, after Blackwell. Anyone who wanted out. It's why I never went for you, or for Emma. I don't know if Eris — if they explained that choice to her, then. I wonder if we could still..."

"At this point I'm not sure if she would."

Which, was kind of sad in it's own way, wasn't it?

"I'll... explain it to her sometime. That she can have the choice. We have pull, Gav. If anyone can make sure one little girl 'vanishes', I'm sure it's the two of us."

Treason slips easier off of Chu-e's tongue than it does Cillian Quinn's. His conditioning had been different, had been snapped long ago. Chu-e loved Rocket, wanted the best for people in it, wanted the best for everyone inside it. You didn't grow up wanting to be the bad guy, after all. Chu-e, however, he didn't love Rocket quite the same as Gavin loved Rocket.