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We'll make them pay.

It's different from the promise he'd made to Mars in one, significant way: Gavin's promise had been to Mars alone. That Martín del Mar would extend that vow to encompass Gavin's sister, to whom Gavin was certain Mars was not close...

He picks up the glass and drains it.

"We will." And then, softer, "Thanks."

He meets his friend's gaze, his own shadowed but determined.

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Gavin laughs, sudden and sharp, as Mars successfully draws him back from the depths with a touch of humour.

"I have noticed things seem tense between the two of you," he confesses, and now he's definitely starting to feel the effects of the alcohol, "but my dear sister is tense with me half the time, so I didn't think much of it."

He loved her for it, all the same.

"You thought she was Triad? Oh, that explains so much." He scoffs into his glass. "If she is, she's done a hell of a good job nailing 'disappointed sister'. Her mind, though? No way they'd be able to fake that. She's brilliant." He's so proud of her for pursuing her dreams. "Always has been. She warned me about it too, y'know. The report."

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"I'm like, ninety-nine percent convinced she's thought I was a doppelganger before." It's the way Lulu Flint looks at him sometimes, like he's an alien who can't be trusted. He doesn't mind, however; he'd rather she be suspicious of him than too trusting, especially with Walsh's abilities. "We have a code-word, just in case." He doesn't share it, because even tipsy he's not a fool. He squints. "Hm. Should we have a code-word?"

Right. He'd never told Mars about Walsh.

He hesitates with the truth on the tip of his tongue, then swallows it with another sip of Scotch. He'd only told Lulu Flint because she'd thought Walsh was out to get her. Was Walsh out to get Mars, too? I hope not.

"You know. Just in case."

One of the unfortunate side-effects of drinking too much, for Gavin, is that it feeds into his paranoia.

"I didn't listen, either. I guess I should've. But." He punctuates the word by setting his glass down with a thunk. "If you had, you wouldn't have your crazy-weird powers."

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Thankfully, Mars doesn't question it.

"Hm..." Gavin hums in his throat, tracing the edge of his glass with a finger as he tries to think of a ridiculous word. Perhaps it's because he's drunk and thinking while staring into a glass of half-drank Scotch, but he giggles after a moment and jokingly suggests: "Sobriety." As if he'd ever consider it!

He's still smirking when the conversation shifts to the Unown, though it softens into a more contemplative look.

"I've yet to speak to Xerneas," he confesses, but Lugia seems to enjoy the company of bryan delarosa's patron. Perhaps it was simply that Xerneas wasn't actively hostile to the corrupted Guardian, even if it did desire her purification. "Adored, though. That makes sense. They've certainly never spoke to me." He'd been surprised to learn that they could speak, even if their words were cryptic echoes of the Unown Report. "What did you think before?"

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A breath is huffed through his nose, a muted laugh that echoes in the empty space of his glass.

"I'm sure you'd have Lugia's go-ahead too, if you asked."

It was the opinion of the Guardian of the Seas that her vessel did not spend nearly enough time within the ocean's depths. She understood his reasoning, but he knew she longed for what he could not offer.

Suspicion is on-brand for Martín del Mar, and so Gavin nods along as his initial mistrust of the Unown is explained.

"Perhaps they are," he shrugs, "but that doesn't mean they're malicious. That's why all the legends are taking sides, isn't it? Because they want a say in stopping the end of the world, or whatever?"

He certainly doesn't think Lugia blessed him solely because of his kindness toward her, even if it did help.

He laughs, loud, then winces with a glance toward the bedroom. After a few seconds pass, his tense shoulders relax.

"You're the furthest thing from modest."

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"Not legends, no," he agrees, "but they're certainly special."

After all, not every Pokémon could claim to be present at the apparent creation of the universe. Gavin remembers seeing the eggs break into swarms of Unown, remembers the Cloud in all its terrifying warped reality.

In a way, they're more mysterious than the legends.

Mars hushes him when he laughs, but his subsequent silliness has Gavin clamping a hand over his own mouth to stifle further giggles. It's utterly ridiculous in the way that they're not often allowed to be, these two men at the center of Team Rocket's power.

"Stop," he hisses, but he's grinning in spite of the scolding. "We're gonna wake my husband."

He's still smiling when he pours more liquor into his glass.

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