Welcome to Gaia! ::

N Albite posted himself up alongside Celadonite, half a hair from swinging an arm around his fresh new subordinates shoulders and tugging him in to stay. Tucked his hands behind his head instead, and swayed ever so slightly in place. A curious humm and headtilt away from asking infinitely growing queries; because everything out of Fuastites mouth was suddenly - interesting - newtohim enough that his whole attention stayed raptly caught on every word that fell free, at pace.

Fixed his gaze there, at the small of Faustites back, where the grate hid spine and spiraled up beneath cloth encased ribs, and he listened. With absolutely all the intent; because emotions were happening. Little flint sparked flickers across his fireboys face, and he wanted to ingrain them - while he walked, while he stood. Wanted to eat them up while Cela did the calm, clear, asking of things he'd never bothered with before.

He liked the history - but never cared for the 'whys and hows' so much as he cared for the simple bright warning labels that told him what to touch or what not to touch, and even then? Only when it resulted in threat of bodily harm. Every word let loose though, every lesson leaked out? How surprised he was to find that he liked it - wanted to spend an hour, ten, a hundred - standing in the dead night, of the violet, lightning lanced rift to hear out the rest.

"Well, I like that part of you in particular. N the history's good s**t. Important." Shrugged sigh and glance over their purple clad lieutenant. Hummed for how Cela maybe wasn't that into the place. Not like he was, like he wanted the rest to be. The rift was Theirs - the Youmas, yeah, but also? T h e i r s - right of passage and link to all sorts of insanity. Thing that Cela would get to have a part of - that he wouldn't.

Oh, how he was jealous for it.

Because for him? The whole place'd always screamed 'power'. Thrummed with it. N that? Helluva feeling, too good to ignore. No matter how creepy the walls n floors crawled, with all the people that had once been. Things twisted into otherness and beyond from times long before.

Albite had never really been bothered by it all...loved it....

"Didn't know you had a personal Youma tho' firebrand. We should totally meet it, yeah? I mean - whenever it's trained up enough to your liking. Cause, team bonding is important." he hoped Cela would learn to love them. Haymitch, Nembs, Lils, the Orbies. Could make friends and memories amongst them, even if he was suddenly caught fresh in the middle of..All the ways Albite forgot there was an actual, honest to gods, 'War', sometimes.

Cela would be fine though. No, he'd make sure of it. Would set him up for success, even if he had to beg, borrow, and plea favors from other people in order to get it done right.

"It's just..Cela, a lotta people spend their time not knowing what's above or below 'em. Live n' die that way. Cause it is, inherently, a war. Not a fashion war, either. Like - a legit 'Magical War'. So, I don't want you to miss out on what seems to trip everyone else up. Especially down here. Not when you're starting out on the right side of it." They would have to go over handbooks, quotas, Starseeds, and energy orbs. Boring little sidequests, but also, not too hard? He'd show him the way he'd learned, play practice dummy even, at least until he got the basics down. Would figure out what Cela wanted, needed, and slot him in to stay. For Faustite's smiles - if nothing else.

"If what you really want are pretty people dressed to the nines? We've got those in ******** spades."

Faustite loosed a worried, exasperated sigh for how Albite liked the part that wanted to eat him. Like the boy wanted to be prey. Like he wanted to pay the dues the senshi of old owed each and every youma that still lived. Sighed for how he didn't want that.

He liked Albite better alive. Liked him as more than emergency rations.

"Later," he promised. Albite could meet Headache once Faustite dusted the damned thing two dozen times, or however much it took to ingrain a sense of deference. He didn't want to think about that cloud of awful ******** strobe lights right now, didn't want to dwell on how Headache's obstinance was a sign of his inability to properly break and train a youma. As if that was something he was supposed to have done a dozen times.

But as something part youma, wasn't he supposed to be better at it than the human officers? Or, by virtue of understanding them a margin better, was he at a disadvantage when training them? Faustite grit his teeth. Kept down an answer.

It was cute, a welcome distraction then, to listen to Albite try to guide his new subordinate. Try, because he doubted Celadonite was willing to follow at this point. Speaking of the austere vastness of the Rift straight at the start, instead of discussing quotas and expectations — it wasn't a conventional route, but it was something so very Albite. Faustite only hoped that his subordinate's enduring charm could replace some of the loyalty he might've lost by doing this.

Faustite's attention returned to the Rift itself when he heard a bray, once far, now nearer. They may have lingered at the mouth of the Rift, but its denizens began to take notice, and Faustite hadn't the authority to tell all of them to ******** off.

His gaze returned to the pair, to Celadonite paying some diligent lip service to his boy, and — Faustite tried, unsuccessfully, to stifle a snorted laugh at 'himbo overlord' — he waved for them to follow. "Better that we return," he assented.

If Celadonite made it through his first day without leaving the Negaverse out of spite, Faustite would be astonished.