Oscar had not intended to visit the bar, he was just passing through. He was only on the sub to get a treatment session from Lulu Flint; forty five minutes of IVs and odd fluids he could not begin to understand. Oh well, it was keeping him alive for now. Oscar had been sick, very sick. A bad mix of circumstances was causing very slow organ failure, which has put him in a bit of a state. He was getting better though, very slowly but every inch was progress. He was hoping that he could fully recover with Lulu's help, but perhaps that was being a tad blindly optimistic.

As Oscar passed by the sub's bar, he allowed himself a passing glance out of boredom. This chance-glance would allow Oscar to spot Gavin, who seemed to be sitting alone currently. Oscar smiled to himself, it would be nice to catch up with Gavin. He hadn't seen him since the Tree of Life, and the beast was starting to miss their conversations. 

Oscar limped toward the bar, his black iron cane clicking heavily with every step. He threw himself into the stool next to Gavin without warning, harshly clearing his throat as he waved down the bartender. "Water." Was all he could manage before softly coughing into his arm. He looked over to Gavin, attempting to smile despite how he felt physically. Oscar's face was a horror story of its own; the illness had caused him to lose weight he could not afford to, leading to Oscar appearing more like a living corpse than a person. 

"Hey boss, long time no see."

Cillian Quinn

In all his wallowing, Gavin doesn't register the click of Oscar's cane on the approach. It's delegated to nothing more than background noise, like the hum of machinery or the sound of water running in the tap.

It's the movement in the corner of his eye that draws him, and Gavin turns a fierce glare upon the intruder with full intention to frighten them off. Miasma swirls around him, and there's ice in his eyes.

Then he sees that it's Oscar, and he almost laughs.

Try not to fuck the next person who talks to you, eh? Of course it would be him.

Anger shifts to exasperated amusement and again to something bordering on concern as he takes in the gaunt, haggard appearance of his friend.

"Apparently," he agrees. "All right, Oz?"

oscar clayton

Oscar nearly thought Gavin was about to reject his friendly approach, what with the growing miasma and scary look. After a moment however, Gavin seemed to cool down. Seemed like he did not recognize Oscar at first. Oscar chuckled lightly, clasping his water glass as it was brought to him. He hurriedly took a sip before his chuckle could invoke a coughing fit. Perhaps a bit too hurriedly as he ended up choking a bit on the water anyway.

Oscar huffed as he got himself under control. "Uhhh, not really. Had a rough couple of weeks. But fuck that, what's up in your world? You looked about ready to rip my head off, are you doing alright?"

Oscar circled the rim of his water glass with his pinky, an absent minded gesture as he kept his focus on his troubled friend.

Cillian Quinn

Gavin is a selfish creature. So many of his crimes, committed in the interest of his own survival. Yet when it comes to Rocket, and especially when it comes to his friends, it is easy to set aside his own burdens — at least temporarily.

"Naw, fuck that," he counters. "I've had a shit week, looks like you've had a shit few months. Look at you."

He gestures sharply. Gaunt cheekbones, the cough, the cane.

"We can worry about me later. What's wrong?"

oscar clayton

Oscar sighed, drowning another cough with a long gulp of water. If he could not avoid the topic, he might as well spill everything. He pushed the glass aside, clearing his throat as he faced Gavin. "Do you remember Ever Grande? The church of Arceus?"

Oscar let that hang in the air, perhaps to give Gavin space to jog his memory--or at least realize where Oscar was going with this. "I had a close encounter with--something. I can't exactly explain it. I'm not entirely convinced that it wasn't mostly a hallucination caused by a gas leak or whatever. Point is, I unwittingly breathed in an excessively toxic agent that may or may not have been an otherworldly demon." 

Oscar paused for a moment, staring at Gavin before bursting out laughing. His laughter, while out of his control, was a mistake as he ended up coughing and being forced to drink the remainder of his water. "Sorry, that just sounded so ridiculous coming out of my mouth. It's one hundred percent true, mind you, but fuck what a crazy sentence." Oscar pushed his glass forward, and the bartender came by to pick it up and fill it with more water.

"Anyway, at first I thought there would be no lasting damage. It hurt to breathe for a week but it was hardly what I'd call debilitating. However, after what happened at the Tree of Life and that M.A.G.M.A. treatment that my body rejected--well it caused something fucked. I didn't think any of it would be related at first, but I keep seeing--things. The kind of stuff I saw under the church. And I keep coughing up with substance. Black, a bit thicker than blood. Whatever's going on in there, it's slowly killing me."

Oscar's water refill came by, and he coughed softly as he took a hurried sip. "Lulu's helping though. Shooting all kinds of chemicals in my veins, and I'm starting to feel a bit better. I think." Oscar peered at Gavin, hoping everything he said did not paint him out to be going insane. "You believe me, yeah? I swear I'm not crazy Gavin."

Cillian Quinn

Gavin's expression is grim when the Church of Arceus is mentioned. How could he forget? A simple brush of skin against stone was enough to give him nightmares, and more than once he'd stepped outside his Sootopolis abode and swore he'd glimpsed eyes watching from cracks in the chalk white stone. Gone when he blinked, or looked too close.

"I remember."

When Oscar recounts his tale, not once does the underboss look doubtful. Nor does he laugh along with the Beast. He thinks of Chu-e Choi, chest aching at the memory of such a simple mistake. How they'd laughed and joked about the 'rock' until the parasite that was Necrozma had slowly consumed his best friend from the inside out. The cold, dead eyes of a monster.

"I believe you."

His heart is heavy. Must he lose another friend, so soon after the first?

"I'll talk to Lulu Flint. I was at the Church, too. I saw things. Maybe something that can help figure this out." But he doesn't sound as hopeful as he had with Chu-e; that was a mistake he wouldn't make twice. No promises.

oscar clayton

Oscar had forgotten that Gavin was at the church as well. He wondered what horrors he had witnessed, although he would never ask him to recount them. Oscar simply gave Gavin a weak smile, "I appreciate that, thank you Gavin." He let the sentiment hang in the air for a moment before he knocked his knuckles on the bar surface. It hurt more than he intended, but he played it off.

"Enough of my problems for now. You got that look of wanting to kill the next person you see, what's eating you?" Oscar let out a few light coughs, reaching for his glass only to realize that it was empty. He was about to wave down the bartender, but before he could even raise his hand the man slid by and dropped off a pitcher full of water. Oscar nodded a thanks as he poured water into his glass. This guy was gonna get a great tip.

Cillian Quinn

Loathe though he was to embrace a change in the subject, Gavin knows better than to press. It's not his first time dealing with a sick, dying friend. Better to take their mind off things than to drag them deeper into despair.

"Eh," he grumbles, then begrudgingly admits, "had a fight with Temp."

It's been nearly a year, but the parallels of his split with Emma weren't lost on Gavin. It had been this same bar that he'd stalked to in refuge, though a different man sitting next to him. And thank Arceus for that. He couldn't handle another repeat of last summer. His chest aches with the memories, tightening around grief. Coward.

"Think we might be done."

oscar clayton

Oscar raised an eyebrow, not expecting this particular scenario. "Done? Nah I don't see that." Oscar turned himself on his seat, facing Gavin fully. "I can't imagine the fight could have been that bad. What happened?"

Oscar was fully intent on hearing out Gavin fully, but a great build up in his throat would force him to jerk away and cough into his elbow. It was a long fit, long enough to be comically awkward. However it would soon die down, with Oscar waiting to turn back until he was sure it was out of his system.

"Good heavens excuse me, anyway yeah what happened?"

Cillian Quinn

How could he put into words the finality that was felt, the moment that word left Tempest Quinn's lips?

Coward.

He'd felt it before, with Emma.

He's in the process of attempting to put words to that feeling when Oscar devolves into a violent coughing fit that has Gavin, perhaps blessedly, forgetting all about Temp as his concerns shift toward his friend. It was no smoker's cough; even at his worst, Gavin's never had such a drawn-out episode. This was something else.

Whatever's going on in there, it's slowly killing me.

Not again, Gavin laments. After Chu-e—

"Arceus, dude, no need to apologise. You good?" His own problems hardly seem relevant in comparison, so he's almost blasé as he explains, "We got into it and he called me a coward; I don't abide by that shit."

oscar clayton

Gavin again showed concern, and Oscar's face grew red. That was what he was starting to hate most about this damn sickness, he drew so much attention to himself. He felt like a blinking light, he was not used to being so--exposed. It gave him conniptions. He waved his hand as if calling off a doting nurse.

"I'm fine I'm fine--ahem what is this about being a coward? You're quite the fuckin' opposite I say--though then again I lack context."

Oscar coyly sipped his water, smirking a little to hopefully invoke amusement from Gavin. His intention was to invoke a wily old woman waiting to hear the latest scandals. He dropped the gossip bit pretty quickly though, this was serious business and he wanted to take it seriously. 

"For real though, what happened?"

Cillian Quinn