Welcome to Gaia! ::

There wasn’t really a choice at this point. He knew so much that he was gonna have to get involved, and Sylvite was just glad he was still ready.

She went a little bit quieter, and stepped even closer, reaching into his chest and wrapping her fingers around the starseed. She stayed there for a second to let him get used to that sensation before doing anything more.

“This is intense,” she said, her voice as serious as the rest of her. “It’s a lot of energy all at once, but it’s so, so worth it.”

She sucked her cheeks in and took a quick breath. Then, slowly and carefully, the way that Axinite has guided her through with Cybele, she let the Chaos move through her fingers and into his soul.

When he started shaking and screaming, Sylvite had to bite down on the insides of her cheeks to keep herself going, but she kept steady until it was done. Nobody was getting half awakened, or turned into a youma, or anything, not on her watch.

She let go as soon as she could tell it had taken, and she stepped back towards the door, taking her own shaky breath. Nobody had warned her that giving the powers would take it out of her, but the smile crept back onto her face as she looked at the Lieutenant in front of her.

"I know. That part sucks," she said, her voice still a little bit softer than normal. "But it worked! You're magic now."

He was her Lieutenant now, and that had a nice ring to it.

She rested her weight against the doorframe, not wanting to show that she was tired too. "Are you okay?"

It wasn't exactly great that he was on the floor. Sylvite winced, but she also didn't really want to get in his bubble after putting him through all that, so instead she ducked behind her desk and pulled out some juice and animal crackers that she nudged in his direction.

"I brought snacks," she said, nodding towards them as he stood back up, "To, like, help you feel better."

She had wanted to be prepared for her first recruitment.

"Yeah, the outfits are definitely one of the fun parts, and you look awesome," she said, really taking in his outfit. She wasn't so into the vintage stuff compared to some of her fashion school friends, but on him, it really worked.

"But you'll see just how much stronger and faster you are once start moving around a little bit more. No rush on that, though. I'd chill for today."

After another second, she pushed her desk chair towards him, too.

"Wait."

Sylvite went quiet for a second, the wheels turning in her head as she thought about the pieces she hadn't quite put together. "The streets?"

Her brows knit, and she made her way to the desk, standing over it since he had the chair and she wasn't about to ask him to leave. She pulled the tablet out and within a second her fingers were flying over the keyboard. "Okay, I'm signing you up for a barracks room right now," she said. "We're not gonna worry about anything else right now, we're gonna get you taken care of."

After her message was sent off, she rocked back on her heels. "There's usually food in the castle, too. Kinda hit or miss on if it's good, but," she shrugged. Cybele had been eating it towards the beginning, and she hadn't complained too much. "What about, like, a job? I bet we could get you set up if you wanted, once you got settled in."

"Questions are okay as long as you're up for them," she said with a small nod. "We'll go over everything soon, once you're feeling better, but I know it's a lot and there's stuff you're gonna wanna know about now."

Curiosity was good. That was part of the reason that he was here, in her office, as her Lieutenant.

"Our codenames come from minerals, since we're protecting the Earth and everything. It all ties together." She wiggled her fingers a little bit. "It's my job to pick one for you. I was thinking Thorite, maybe?"

She'd been looking through the list on Google earlier, and that one had stood out as sounding strong, and also kinda like that cool guy from the Avengers.

She pushed away from the desk and moved to the door. "We're gonna have to walk to the barracks, it's the next building over. Is your juice kicking in?"

Sylvite looked at the tiny hammer with glee.

"Woah," she said. "Thorite really does fit you, then!"

She wasn't quite sure if he was trying to summon lighting, but if he was, nothing was happening. "Yeah, you gotta wait to get promoted until you get actual magic," she said. "You gotta, like, prove yourself. Again, we'll go through the ranks and stuff in a bit."

For now, her mission was to get this boy a roof over his head, and nothing more.

The offices weren't too deep into the castle, and she led Thorite outside. That was when he'd really get an idea of what Negaspace looked like. The castle towered over them, and almost everything else was purple crystal, too. It was dark, and classy, and equal parts beautiful and intimidating.

There was a building nearby that seemed a bit more normal, and that was the one that Sylvite nodded to. "Here we go," she said.

Sylvite gave the castle a sideways glance as they walked. "I don't think it looks like a villain castle," she said, quieter than usual. It looked strong, sophisticated, militaristic, and magical.

Although now that he'd brought it up she could totally see what he was talking about. She pursed her lips.

"I guess it's kinda dark down here 'cause we're underground, and that changes the vibes?" she said, but it wasn't the kind of thing that she was going to dwell on, and she skipped ahead of him until they came to door of the barracks.

"Welcome, welcome," she said, giving a bow and presenting the building with a flourish of her hands. "We got the approval. You can take any empty room you want."

There was a slight pause before she asked, "So, uh, do you have any stuff I should pick up for you from the city?"

For once, Sylvite was quiet. It wasn't 'cause she wasn't curious about his life or his situation, because she was, it was just that this was one of those situations where it seemed like actions would speak louder than words.

In a couple hours, she'd be back with whatever housewarming gift she could find. She didn't exactly have a ton of money, either, but she was sure she could at least find some new bedsheets and like, some nice candy or something for her new lieutenant.

The silence was broken by the door to the barracks swinging open from the inside, right after Sylvite sent off another text. A mint-haired Eternal stood there, nodding first to Sylvite and then to Thorite.

"This is Cybele," said Sylvite. "She's one of us, and she lives here, so you can talk to her if you need something, or if you wanna go back to the city and I'm not around. She'll show you that room, and you can rest up, and we can go over all your questions when you're feeling better, okay?"

She still looked mildly concerned about him, but she smiled through it.