[FIN] I Don't Speak Your Language (Izaya & Mathis)

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

A black-haired man in a trainee uniform met his Gardevoir in the hall of the Rocket base, walking briskly as he looked through each room he passed until finally halting before her. "Kare o mitsukemashita ka? (彼を見つけましたか？)" he asked, his inquiry curt.

Namie shook her head solemnly.

"Tch...Mi tsudzukeru (見続ける)." Izaya restarted his long strides down the cooridor past his pokemon as she continued in the opposite direction. He slowed his pace, however, when he heard someone in the rec room. Although he highly doubted it was the person he sought due to said person usually being too busy to be found in such a room, perhaps whoever was in there had seen him.

Not bothering to knock, the ex-Rocket leaned over to peer beyond the door that had been left ajar. At least if he didn't alert whomever - or whatever - it was to his attention, he could quickly move on if need be.  

[insidiousEnigma]

"Oh c'mon, baby!" Mathis groused, phone held tight to his ear as he perched casually on a table. He rolled his eyes at whatever the person on the line said and heaved a loud sigh. "Alright, alright, don't have a cow, Zacharie. You promised we'd hang out and you'd teach me those smooth moves." His sneakers knocked together as he absently swung his feet. "You're always busy, you shuck. What about me? What about us, baby?"

He snickered when he was hung up on.

"Ehhh, whatever. Who needs 'im, right baby girl?" He looked over to the Arcanine curled up in the corner of the room. She gave him a steady stare before closing her eyes. "Royally shafted." Mathis laughed lightly, leaning back to stare up at the ceiling.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Fury and impatience and something else he didn't dare try to name bubbled up in the crimson-eyed man as he caught on to the conversation. He pushed open the door the rest of the way to see someone in a grunt uniform. The guy must have been relatively new because Izaya didn't recognize his face or voice.

Deciding he could afford to interrupt without getting into trouble of any significance, the information broker marched into the room with purpose and nearly tripped as he heard the words 'us' and 'baby'. Fortunately, years of surviving near-death experiences had quickened his reflexes enough to correct the near-blunder before it occurred and to continue to his destination without breaking stride.

Sure, the guy had mentioned 'baby' earlier, but that was before he had referred to Zacharie by name, which made the second 'baby' that much more startling once Izaya recognized who, exactly, was being called by that term of endearment.

He was just about to snatch the phone when he realized from the stranger's reaction that Zacharie had hung up. Izaya cursed under his breath in his mother tongue and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Kare wa doko ni imasu ka? (彼はどこにいますか？)" he demanded before realizing that, in his impatience and irritation, he had forgotten to switch languages. This person probably didn't speak Japanese. Taking a breath, he repeated himself in English. "Where is he?"  

[insidiousEnigma]

Mathis' gaze slid over to the intruder as he burst into the room, "Hey, Daddy-O. Ya ever heard of knockin'?" He raised a hand in greeting only to raise an eyebrow in confusion. What kind of nonsense was this guy speaking? "Whoa, whoa, what's buzzin', cuzzin?"

Yeah, there ya go. Good ol' English.

"Where's who?" He asked, cocking his head slightly as he eyed the other man. He hadn't seen this guy around, even when he was a trainee. Which was a real shame because the guy wasn't too hard on the eyes. "And what's it to ya?"  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"...Eh?"

'Daddy-O'? 'Cuzzin'? What sort of weird slang was this? Izaya wasn't sure he'd ever heard it before. At least not spoken by any modern-day human beings.

Slowly recomposing himself, the older man attempted to get his emotions in check. He wasn't making a very good first impression, after all, and here was another human as interesting as any other. Maybe more, if he was speaking funny words and calling Zacharie affectionate pet names.

"Your 'baby'." His gaze shifted to the Arcanine who had been addressed in the same fashion. "Or one of them, at least. Zacharie. Agent Zacharie." He adopted a sweet smile and unfolded his arms to ease up his forbidding stance. "...That was who you were conversing with just now, ne?"

Honey caught more flies than vinegar. Irked as he was, it wasn't this guy's fault, and even if it had been, since when did he go around acting exactly how he felt? He was losing his touch.

"Excuse me; I'm Izaya. I wouldn't have barged in so rudely if I hadn't been so desperate to get in touch with that agent, but as you said yourself, he seems to be terribly busy these days. Not easy to get ahold of, especially when you need him."  

[insidiousEnigma]

"Izaya, huh." Mathis smiled amicably as he leaned forward, his hands curling over the edge of the table. "The handle's Mathis, nice to meetcha." He studied the others face, quite obviously amused at the smile that was being sent his way. The guy seemed pretty riled up, he wondered why. Was it because he couldn't manage to find Zacharie? Or perhaps it was the way he'd addressed the Agent. "Yeah, I was talkin' to him." He confirmed with a nod, his smile growing a bit mischievous. "Wouldn't say he's hard'ta get a hold of though, least not for me." He shrugged. "Whatcha need from my baby boy to go lookin' for him so desperately?"  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Izaya's smile froze in place along with the rest of his expression as he stared at Mathis. Well, this was certainly a peculiar predicament. He'd teased enough people about being jealous before to recognize when he himself was being teased, but really? Really? And jealous of Zacharie, no less?

Well, whatever. Let him think what he wanted. As far as Izaya could tell, this guy was just taking shots in the dark. "Is that so? From what I heard - well, from what I could understand of what I heard - he's always too busy for you, too. And he seems to have no qualms about hanging up on you, to which you had to ask yourself 'who needs him'. So forgive me if I don't believe you, but it sounds more to me like the only time he's not hard for you to get a hold of is in your dreams."

His grin only broadened, threatening to split his face as he broke into snickers when Mathis went on to call Zacharie his 'baby boy'. "I'm afraid that information is just between he and I. But I have to ask - do you call him that to his face? Or in front of his older brother? Because I can't imagine the former appreciating it and the latter might not let you live."  

[insidiousEnigma]

Mathis shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah? Least he answered when I called instead of makin' me hunt him down." He retaliated with a sharp smile. "Ya got his personal line or do ya message through his 'Dex?" He asked, leaning forward enough so he could prop his chin up in the palm of his hand though he curled in on himself a bit as he snorted. "That kid would hang up on his boss if he was busy with his weirdo science mojo. Can't even argue that."

He seemed to perk up at the mention of Andre, his eyes lighting up with appreciation. "Andre? Boy is that cat letha." He whistled lowly and rubbed his stomach, still bruised from where he'd been kicked. In fact, he lifted his tshirt to show it off to Izaya. "Pretty boy's got a temper but damn was it worth it." He wondered just how close Izaya was to Zacharie that he knew about his older brother. Zacharie didn't seem like the type to really talk about his life outside of Team Rocket. Hell, the only reason he'd met Andre was because he'd demanded it as payment for the ride. "They both got tempers, actually. My baby's more like a...hrm..." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Like a lil' kitten. Nothin' like his brother."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

The ex-Rocket's shoulders tensed. "...That's because I didn't bother trying to call him, yet," Izaya answered in a voice dripping with honey...or venom. His smile was tighter than ever. "I didn't realize he was off-site since he usually seems to spend so much time cooped up with his mold and fungus and pokemon in the labs."

Not to mention he didn't want to give Zacharie the satisfaction of thinking he was all that desperate to find him to the point he would actually try to call him. Not when he was supposed to be waiting for Zacharie to contact him next. He would have seemed far too desperate. At least if they met in the base, he could try to play it off as needing him for something else or just having run into him by chance. Calling him, though, was far too direct.

Why was this guy telling Izaya things about Zacharie as if he thought he knew him better or for longer than he did? And the crimson-eyed man knew for a fact that wasn't true because was fairly certain Zacharie had said he didn't have friends or know how to make them. Unless this guy wasn't someone he considered a friend, but even then, Izaya couldn't have imagined Zacharie not having ever mentioned him before. He really must have just gotten to know him recently and probably only through work.

Izaya blinked at the bruise on the man's stomach as it was exposed to him. Then he sneered. That was Andre's work, alright. The only reason it probably wasn't worse was likely because Zacharie had been there to restrain him. Still, it was curious that Mathis knew Andre at all, let alone had gotten close enough to have been injured by him. That must have meant they had met outside of the base, which meant Zacharie spent some of his time out in the field with this strangely cheerful grunt.

...Why was that bothering him?

...Maybe because he had gone out with Mathis - out as in out of the base, not on a date or anything - and not Izaya. Even though he said he would take him. Had he met up with Faleen since their last conversation? Had he brought along this idiot who couldn't even speak proper English? The thought just burned him up.

"Yes...I went to high school with his older brother," he couldn't help mentioning offhandedly. "I know him well. But that's besides the point." He tilted his head. "Two things - one, do you know who Faleen is? And two...if you're so good at getting ahold of him, can you tell me where Zacharie is right now?"  

[insidiousEnigma]

"Who said he's off-site?" Mathis asked as he leaned over to pet his pokemon as she came to sit at his feet. He really couldn't help but laugh, the sound rich and full of mirth but not a trace of spite could be heard. "Ya really don't know where he's gone off to, do ya?" He don't know why he found that so amusing, but he did. Could be because this guy seemed to be trying so hard to be nonchalant in his desire to speak with their mutual acquaintance when it was quite obvious that he didn't like that Mathis might know more than he did. Which he supposed he could understand. Zacharie was like some sort of mystery, strangely private despite being so transparent.

That's why he was so fun to pick on.

"Faleen?" He cocked his head slightly, not sure where the sudden change in subject came up. "I've heard of her, yeah. Went off the deep end and cut out." He'd heard some rumors in the garage though he hadn't been here for the actual event. "And I could tell ya where he is...but why should I?"  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

At last, the older man's smile faltered. This was getting to be ridiculous. It was like Zacharie was the new Jerome and Mathis was the new Zacharie and he was getting jealous all over again. All he had to do was keep calm and focus on gathering the information he sought out. For his former partner's sake. He could tolerate this.

"...I had assumed he was off-site since I couldn't find him, but if he isn't, I'm not terribly surprised." The info broker shrugged. "I haven't been looking very hard or long."

He nodded once at the response to his question about Faleen, not bothering to correct him about the specifics regarding her defecting. Good. That meant Mathis hadn't met her. But if Zacharie was still on base, then there was no reason to suspect he'd gone to see her without him since their last talk after all.

Izaya's gaze sharpened at being asked why Mathis should tell him where Zacharie was and his smile returned in the form of a sinister grin. "I take it you haven't heard of me, Mathis-kun, but I'm an information broker. If you have information I want, I'd be happy to barter for something you want."  

[insidiousEnigma]

At that, Mathis raised his gaze thoughtfully to the ceiling. "An information broker, eh?" Was there something that he wanted to know? There wasn't anything that he could think of off the top of his head and honestly, he could always just ask the person he was curious about. "Gimme fifty bucks and I'll rap." He proposed with an overly cheery smile. He wouldn't complain if the guy actually forked the money over but he was much more interested in ******** with Izaya than actually telling him where Zacharie had gone. Maybe the trainee would just give up and message the agent himself...but even then he'd prolly feel like he'd won.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Fascinating, but worthless to me," the ex-Rocket answered, his grin receding into something more politely disinterested. Evidently, this grunt wasn't about to tell him anything; whether because he didn't want to, didn't care, or didn't know. No matter. Izaya had already concluded the guy was no closer to Zacharie than any other subordinate - not that he really would have minded if he was - and Mathis hadn't seen Faleen, which was what he'd wanted to know the most.

Under other circumstances, the info broker might have decided to play with this new acquaintance a little more, but for the moment, he wasn't interested. The man seemed too predictable. He'd probably just beat around the bush all day long just to waste Izaya's time.

"Well, if that's all you have to offer, I suppose I'll be taking my leave," he said, bowing at the waist almost sarcastically before turning to go. "If you do see the agent, I hope you'll give him my regards. A pleasure meeting you, Mathis-kun."  

[insidiousEnigma]

Mathis didn't really get what Izaya was after. Did he want to talk to Zacharie or not? Maybe he did but it just wasn't worth fifty dollars.

Man, this guy sure was fickle.

"I stated my price, Daddy-O." He shrugged lightly, turning his attention down to his pokemon. "How 'bout you and I-" The shrill tone of an incoming call cut him off and the grunt seemed to perk up immediately as he reached for his phone. He grinned from ear to ear as he looked at the screen and hopped down from the table as he took the call. "Heeeeey, baby boy~" He crooned before snickering, motioning for Vox to follow him as he headed towards the door. "Yeah? Really?!" He paused, a shocked expression taking over his face. "Yeah, I 'spose I could give you a lift. Anything for you, baby." He waved at Izaya from over his shoulder as he nudged the door open. "I'll swing by and grab ya, no worries."  

[Kitomyx]

"And what could I possibly want with a rap?" Izaya inquired incredulously, pausing as he adjusted his stance and leaned on his other leg. Then Mathis received a new phone call and the impact it had on him interested the human-lover. Did he look like that for every call he received, or only one person in particular? Had he been expecting the call or did he simply guess who it might have been? And upon reading the caller ID, why did he look so happy?

The older man rolled his eyes as he followed after the grunt. Not because he was curious or wanting to eavesdrop, of course - he just so happened to also have been leaving. But if he managed to overhear a few words and pick up some more info in doing so, what was the harm?

Snorting at the snippets of conversation, he murmured aloud - mostly to himself - "Now the agent needs his very own chauffeur grunt, does he? Since when did he become so dependant?"