Welcome to Gaia! ::

As Seth walked the halls, a second set of footsteps soon trailed after him, not making any efforts to soften their sound on the solid floor. A few seconds more, and a voice was calling after the man as well.

"Seth-sama?" it said, cheerful but astonished as it addressed the suited figure. "My, you left this place so fast I didn't even have time to execute that surprise farewell party I had planned for you! How have you been? Not back for long, I take it?" The informant tilted his head slightly as he watched the businessman's formally-clothed back and fixed posture. "That's a real shame. I missed you so much~!"

The grunt giggled at Seth's response, sticking his hands in his pockets and continuing along his course without breaking stride. "You say that without even knowing who I'd planned to invite! You know, Nadja-san was supposed to be there," he added casually, withdrawing one hand to study his fingernails as they walked.

"Aw, don't be that way, Seth-ou," Izaya pleaded with a grin, hurrying to walk alongside his taller, fellow Japanese rather than behind him. "I'm working too. Talking to people and gathering information is what I do, remember?" He beamed up at the brunette. "So, what are you up to?"

Izaya's glee was unmistakable when Seth's demeanor changed upon the mention of the female executive. "I know how she looks in a bathing suit~" he teased, laughing. "And a few other things. But nevermind that." He waved a hand dismissively. "What interest would she be to you? Like you said, you've got a job to do. I doubt at the moment that it has anything to do with her."

He smiled as Seth answered him, somewhat surprised that his question had been responded to seriously. "Ah, so you had been listening. You can take the Rocket out of the team, but you can't take the team out of the Rocket, mm?" Izaya reached up to pat the businessman on the shoulder. "It's so nice to know we still have your aid and support on our side! Admit it. You love your teammates~"

Though the informant had an idea of what Nadja and Seth's relationship had been with one another, he had no way of knowing what Seth felt about the woman now. What information he'd gotten had only been from rumors and Nadja herself, but Izaya knew better than to believe others who spoke for someone else. Only Seth had the capability to recognize how he felt about her even if he didn't feel like acknowledging it to himself or anyone else.

Izaya doubted he could convince the blue-eyed man to tell him a lie about his feelings, let alone the truth; at least not now. If he put him on the spot, there would only be trouble. All he could do for now was to coax little hints out of his superior, like the abrupt glance and the question Seth had asked. He wanted a better idea of what the brunette was thinking, but he couldn't make it obvious that was what he wanted, either.

Best to leave the subject on the sidelines and make it seem unimportant. The less interested the grunt seemed about it, the less likely he figured Seth would have his guard up about it. At the very least, Seth might figure he already knew more than he actually did and therefore not worry as much about divulging information he guessed Izaya already had.

"You give me too much credit, Seth-sama!" he cried, sounding flattered as he waved a hand. "Romantic relationships aren't high on my 'need to know' list. They're always changing and people often aren't clear on their own feelings, so there's no point in claiming anything under that category to be 'fact'." He put a hand over his mouth, pretending to stifle a yawn. "I'm far more interested in where you've been all this time. I've never heard of a Rocket who's been allowed to operate as such outside of headquarters. At least not since the outpost was compromised."

Walking with a merry skip in his step, he continued, "Forgive me for not recognizing you were still a Rocket. I wasn't really kept in the loop on the topic, and you higher-ups keep things so tight-lipped up there on the higher floors." He picked at Seth's sleeve. "This doesn't look anything like uniform, regulation or otherwise. Are you...undercover?" Izaya guessed.

"Does that mean you've switched to my department? That would explain why you promoted Hayes to the head of yours, I suppose." He beamed. "But this 'Mr.' business! So formal. If you're still a Rocket, why don't you address me as 'Grunt' like you used to? Aren't you still my superior? We've never encountered each other within the business world, so far as I recall."

News spread of Seth's return to base, almost the instant he drive in from the garage.
But surveillance got the news well before he was even in the HQ, and had been the first to tell the other in the tech department.

Agent Faleen, being one of them.

It had been some time since Seth had left, and his return, while surprising, was welcome in her opinion.

She suspected he knew about the problem they were facing with the missing group of Rockets, including the Boss Lucere's brother and the new head of the tech department.

Faleen left the other robotic engineers working for the time being, as she went to go see about meeting up with Seth.
she walked the halls, knowing if he was heading to the tech department there was really only one way he could go.
By the time she had intercepted the hall with the Elite on it, she found that another individual had already found Seth.
Izaya was the first to interact with the returning Elite.
To no surprise, she half suspected the informant had found about before even she did.

"Elite Seth." She said, walking over. "Sir, welcome back."

"Yes," was Seth's curt reply to Izaya just as Faleen suddenly appeared on the scene and welcomed his return. He nodded to her but suddenly Izaya was throwing himself at his partner, resulting in a rolling of the eyes.

"Good for you," was all Seth cared to say on the matter. If they chose to do sleep overs, that was entirely their business, not his.

It was then that he started walking again, whether or not the two decided to follow.

"What's it called? Or are you going to play hard to get and make me look it up myself? Though I warn you, that method might involve some intensive stalking and spying. I hope you don't mind your privacy being invaded."

Somewhat peeved that Seth knew better than to let most of Izaya's words get to him by now, the informant bushed aside his minor irritation and continued along after the business man. But not without his partner, of course. Without a word to Faleen, he took her hand and strolled along in Seth's wake, though she had already started after him on her own.

Fortunately, he continued to remain silent as Faleen asked her question, curious himself as to the answer.