It's an ominous text; it would've been enough to get his attention even without Gavin's concerns for his fellow underboss at an all-time high. The events in cyberspace had rattled him, from Mars' near-death experience to his brother's attempted suicide.

They're all safe. They're all alive.

Something was wrong with Mars, though. Gavin knows, but he's unsure what. Had it reverted, as well, the way his own missing arm had been restored by the system? Gavin can only hope.

He shows up at his friend's Sootopolis home, not far from his own beachfront property, and knocks on the door.

Martín del Mar

"Mars." Gavin frowns. "You look... unwell."

It's the kindest way to put it, but Gavin doesn't mean any offense. He sees in his friend a reflection of the many sleepless nights he often suffered, haunted by nightmares and fragments of a ghastly past. Cyberspace. It's the logical assumption; what wounds had healed on the surface were no reflection of the lasting psychological effects.

His trepidation only grows when the banker tells him to sit, to drink.

"Please don't tell me you're dying."

It's meant to come across as a joke, but there's a shadow in Gavin's eyes that betrays his true concern. Not again. He'd already suffered through it with Chu-e Choi, with oscar clayton — must he see another friend waste away?

The presence of the Unown is barely registered. Gavin has come to associate Mars with the unusual symbols.

Gavin sits, uneasy.

Martín del Mar

Mars seems caught off guard by the question of mortality; it's more reassuring than perhaps it should be. His fragile psyche is only barely beginning to heal now that Tempest Quinn is out of the woods.

"Good," he breathes, "that's... good."

Though he tries to hide exactly how much it's affecting him, the subconscious slump of his shoulders as he allows himself to relax into the couch is telling in its own right. He makes a face at the mention of the Cloud, expression pinched.

"How could I forget?"

He thinks often of how readily Rowan Wrynn had sacrificed himself to the light.

But they're not here to talk about that. When Mars mentions the Unown, Gavin can immediately picture the stream of letters flowing into his friend like a virus, taking him over. He'd thought that Mars was dead when he'd collapsed.

"Okay." He nods, processing. "Do you know what...?"

Martín del Mar

They were inside of me.

He can't help but draw a parallel with Chu-e Choi.

After a moment is taken to process, Gavin's expression sharpens with alarm. "All of it?" he asks of the data. "Can you still access that data?"

Though he doesn't say it, the implication of his concerns might be gleaned: What did you learn about me that I might not have wanted to share? Yet Gavin trusts Mars, more than he'd trust many of their fellow Rockets, and so any accusation is softened. It's vulnerability in front of a good friend that Gavin fears. Fear is a weakness. Would Mars think less of him for knowing what Rocket had stripped him of? Cyberspace had removed the shackles once closed around his will to rebel.

It had frightened him, on the beach, when his restraint had returned and he'd realized how ready he might've been to test the boundaries of Rocket's control. It was fortunate, perhaps, that Walsh had not been there as witness.

I can see what they see.

"What do they see?" His brow furrows. "Or do you mean like, looking through a camera?" How would that work, with so many of them at once? The very thought of it makes his head ache. "What do they say?"

Martín del Mar

Gavin may not sigh in relief, but the release of tension in his muscles is telling enough.

"Well. If that changes, let me know."

It may not be something he has to hide from Mars, not some dark secret that might compromise their friendship, but the experiences lost to the Cloud had been deeply personal in ways he couldn't explain aloud if he tried.

More than eager to shift focus back to the Unown, he leans forward with elbows on his knees.

"I definitely can't do that with my Unown, so that's... pretty fuckin' weird, yeah." Granted, he'd never tried, but from the sounds of things Mars hadn't been trying either. It seemed to have been something that happened to him. "Always thought it was weird that your name was in the report. Adrian Malcolm's, too. Have you talked to him about this?"

That the SYSTEM RESTORE had come as a result of Mars had seemed evident even at the time, though it had all happened so fast that Gavin had barely processed what he'd seen. He'd been focused on his siblings upon his return to the beach.

"Did you do that on purpose?" he wonders. "Or did it just... happen?"

Martín del Mar

Wrynn.

Gavin grimaces at the mention of Rowan Wrynn. He's not too each to think about his brother's eagerness to die, even if Rowan had dropped by to confess his doubts. He's not certain where he stands in the hierarchy of his brother's priorities. Not high would be the guess.

Of course, Mars doesn't even know they're brothers, so he keeps his mouth shut.

"You did start sketching out pretty early on," Gavin recalls. Being that he'd stuck close to his fellow underboss for most of their trip through cyberspace, it hadn't been difficult to notice. "Might've checked on you sooner if Silph didn't pick a fight."

He scowls, dark, at the mere thought of FERNANDO SILPH.

"Do you think it's a good thing?"

Once, he'd have been certain of it. Now, with Chu-e Choi and Killian Decker displaying the various drawbacks of becoming host to things little understood, he's not so sure. Quietly, he thanks Lugia for not invading his mind.

Martín del Mar

With Martín del Mar status as a well-known civilian CEO, Gavin's never sure of his friend's opinions of the various League members he's forced to interact with. He treads carefully around the issue of Silph as a result, but what little he says seems to spark a frustration in Mars that Gavin doesn't expect. Good. He can use as many allies as he can get.

"Don't worry about it," he assures Mars, dismissing the apology with a flick of his wrist. "I took a risk in showing up without a disguise. I didn't expect anyone to be so bold." A hollow laugh. "Suppose they're braver when Lugia isn't around." For much as he hates to admit it, without the terror of his patron, Gavin is only a man. A powerful one, yes, but a mortal man all the same. There's a brief pause, just long enough to be noticed, before he looks the banker in the eyes and says with deliberate intent, "After what he did to my sister, he's lucky that creature helped him escape."

See, Gavin Merlino doesn't have a sister, so far as anyone knows.

I trust you, is an implication that needs no voice.

"You think Lulu Flint took his eye for no reason? I told her we should've taken something else." Gavin's jaw clenches. "Bastard."

The rest, Gavin leaves to the imagination.

A wry, cruel smirk twists his lips at Mars' request.

"An eye. Why not?"

Martín del Mar