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Chrysocolla just wanted to head home. It was late -- it was -- and she did need to study for finals; so even though she'd only been out draining energy for maybe half an hour, she felt rather happy with herself: but all that vanished when she felt a Lieutenant's aura (alone!) and the sobbed yells of a young woman -- and if she thought about it...same place.

Lieutenants shouldn't be out alone, anyways. The Senshi got brutal. But if they were young -- young like her, young like Amphitrite (she knew Amphitrite was young, factually, but sometimes it still boggled her that her sister was barely an adult the way she held herself and took care of both of them), young like Sylvite --
Well. She'd never needed guidance as a first-stage. (She couldn't remember that at all, anyways. Not even her fuku. Nothing.) But Amphitrite would understand if she was a little late...if her sister was even home at all.

She steeled herself and teleported around the corner from Sarabauite, trying to look as harmless as possible even with her aura, and stepped around the corner. "Um. Are you okay? I mean, I know you're not, but -- if I can do anything to help, or anything...."

Chrysocolla held her hands out in a placating gesture, trying to seem as small as possible (which wasn't physically that difficult, given that she was 5'2"). Was this what Cinnabar felt like all the time? It was...honestly more than a little uncomfortable, to have a girl older than her cower. They were allies! Maybe friends. She just had to not shove her foot in her mouth.

"Um -" it took a second to figure out what to say - "you don't have to lie to me, okay...? I can hear you're not okay. It's kind of my powers." (No it wasn't.) "If you'd like, I can power down...I know the aura is kind of distracting? Are you new? I don't think I've seen you before..."

Nailed it.

"I was new too, um, last July," Chrysocolla admitted softly, taking hesitant steps closer to Sarabauite.
"It's kind of scary, right? You find out you have this whole new secret identity, and you have to fight the forces of evil or whatever and they think they're better people than we are...it sounds like something out of a comic book. And it's all big and horrifying at first, and you think it'll replace your life, but it just..." She shrugged. "It doesn't. It adds on."

(To be fair, if Sarabauite had known Chrysocolla better, she'd know that about 75% of that entire thing was bullshit. Chrysocolla hadn't had a life to be replaced -- she'd built her entire life off of what little she'd had still. But it added on and upwards, and she wasn't just Chrysocolla, anyways.)

"Oh, sorry, um, I didn't see that -" she fretted for a second, grabbing for something not quite real - until suddenly she was holding a little glowing orb, and she pushed it towards the Lieutenant, eyes wide. "This'll make you feel a little better, um, if you want it? I don't mean you have to, but - it's the best I can do...I'm sorry about your mom."

Chrysocolla smiled meekly, her entire demeanor nonthreatening without even really trying. Compliant. Gentle. If not for the aura, she could have been just as new as Sarabauite.

"It gets a little easier, I promise, really...you learn how to figure things out. Oh, um -- it's an energy orb...! If you eat it, it'll give you some of the energy; just think of it like some candy." She paused for a second, contemplating. "It's kind of weird at first, I guess. But when I got thrown in, I had my sister, so...she'd already been a part of this. Sorry if this is kind of rude, but...who recruited you, and did they tell you anything beyond your name? Some of the generals are --" Chrysocolla winced -- "they're...they're not super great at making sure you know what you're doing."

"Aurostibite," Chrysocolla contemplated, humming quietly to herself. "...I've heard of him, but I don't think I've ever met him, actually...but sure, um -- if you have any questions, I'll do the best I can!" She perked up at the chance to be helpful, eyes bright and smiling with ill-contained excitement. "I know it really sucks when you don't get good answers, so...lay it on me, I guess?"

Chrysocolla winced, when Sarabauite's questions all came at once; it was loud and it hurt and even though she'd gotten better about making conversation, something like that...it still hurt. A lot. But she plastered a polite smile on her face and waited for the lieutenant to repeat her questions, fingers twitching restlessly.

"We collect energy to basically keep us going. Think of it as kind of like...a tithe, I guess? An car needs gas to run...and we need energy." She smiled, friendlier this time. "And it doesn't hurt when you collect energy...if you give me your hand, I can drain a little from you? And then you can drain a little from me, if you'd like."

"It doesn't hurt," Chrysocolla tried to assure the older girl, hands folding over Sarabauite's wrist with unpracticed movement. She fumbled, then, for a second with her hands -- trying to get her fingers to line up and feel right -- before realizing belatedly oh, wait, I'm actually trying to be a good role model, aren't I. And that, if nothing else, got her to shape up.

She bit her lip and furrowed her brow, focusing on her hands, on the sense of withdrawing and taking - and a flickering orb formed in her cupped, looser palm, dim but growing slowly brighter and more solid every few seconds. After maybe half a minute, she decided that was enough, disengaging and handing the energy to the Lieutenant. "It just feels like that. It's tiring, I guess? But it's not going to kill you, or hurt you; you'll just need to catch up on sleep. And now you try!" The Senshi smiled nervously, stripping off one of her gloves and holding out her dark-skinned wrist. "Just, um, kind of focus on the concept of pulling the energy out, ok? On your hand, too...like you're channeling something into it. It's weird if you're talking about it, sorry."