Welcome to Gaia! ::

If it was at all possible for Laven to become any paler than she already was, the little Lieutenant half-youma would have likely been thought of as a ghost. Then again, the effect was still the same as when she shifted into her water form and became partially seethrough. For that reason, she was very grateful that she was alone when the response to her application request came through on her tablet.

Many moments passed as she tried to gather the courage to open the reply after seeing who it was from. Queen Laurelite… Laven swallowed thickly, hands shaking to the point she almost dropped the device on the floor but managed to sit down on the edge of her bed instead.

She had expected a General, or maybe even a Captian, to respond to the form she had sent in, someone mid-ranked on the totem pole that could point her in the right direction. But not a Sovereign and definitely not Queen Laurelite. Laven’s stomach churned as her mind ran through all the possible reasons that the application would have been declined.

I don’t understand why it would have been escalated so high up. Maybe it’s because even though I try to fulfill my quota it still comes in shy of the minimum requirements. Or maybe it’s because I’m still weak and not training hard enough. Oh god… could this be because I didn’t go to the meeting or tournament last summer? Did that kind of thing even go on your record?

Her mind reeled with all the possibilities to the point she actually considered deleting it and saying it happened by mistake, but she knew that doing that would only make things worse assuming she was in trouble. And so, after almost a half-hour of trying to gather the courage needed to open the reply, Laven tapped the screen and opened the message.

It took reading it, then re-reading it a second time, for her to really process what was being asked of her.

Queen Laurelite wants to meet with me? It felt a bit like a punch in the gut because nowhere did it mention what they were going to be talking about. The only thing she could assume was that given the subject line it was something regarding her request and just pray to whatever God that would listen that it wasn’t because she had done something wrong to get her application rejected.

Between 2 o’clock and 3 o’clock… Laven glanced over at her alarm which read 2:48.

“Oh s**t!” Quickly launching herself off the bed she scrambled to the door and haphazardly ran through the barracks hallway. Once outside she shifted to her water from for the extra boost in speed while sprinting through the courtyard and up the steps towards the castle entrance.

I’m going to be late! Lesson one on why you don’t wait to open a message from the queen. Had she just read it the moment her tablet notified her of the reply then she wouldn’t have landed herself in this mess.

When she got inside, Laven used the castle blueprints on her tablet to navigate her way through the first floor to the stairs that lead to the second floor. From there she walked at a more suitable pace, least someone with a stack of papers steps out of their office just for her to collide into them. That would be a horribly unfortunate thing to have happen and would probably get her punished for being reckless in a place such as this.

It was a little bit easier to figure out which office the Queen was in when she got within range to sense her signature. The sheer strength and power of it were enough to cause her to pause in cowardice, her hand stopping just a hair’s breadth away from the door she was about to knock on. For all the abnormal or terrifying things that have happened in the last two months, this moment undoubtedly ranked among the top three of that list which was only made worse because Wolframite hadn’t been there at the time to give her a quick etiquette run down on what to do and what not to say.

Lavendulan bowed first before stepping inside Laurelite’s office space. It was a graceless jerky motion, evidence of someone unsure of their own response or intimidated beyond reason. This being the first time she had ever seen the Queen, Laven easily fell into the latter category. With how sudden the summon was, she had little to no time to ask Lopezite or Wolfrmite the proper protocol on how to address a Sovereign or respond without offending her by mistake.

Her mind felt scrambled as she tried to not overthink her reply or ramble some incoherent nonsense and just keep her answers simple. “I - I’m doing well My Queen.” Laven hazarded a glance across the table before taking a seat across from Laurelite. There were definitely things she could complain about but this was neither the time nor place, nor person for that matter, to bring them up with.

“Is there something I can help you with?” She asked after a moment’s hesitation and only after the last word left her lips did Laven realize how impatient she sounded in cutting straight to the chase. I should have asked how her day was instead. Stupid… stupid.. ugh When it came to normal work she was never this flustered but that was when dealing with a supervisor or owner. This was like talking to the CEO or CFO of a large corporation except rather than fire you and ruin your career she could literally kill her right here which wasn’t a daunting or terrifying thought at all...

At Laurelite’s comment of keeping an eye on her, Lavendulan would have paled considerably if her skin wasn’t already almost the color of snow. It was terrifying to learn that the Queen had been watching her and probably knew that she hadn’t been as proactive in gathering energy as she otherwise should have been. Compared to Wolframite she was a B- student at best. Doing enough to pass but could be doing better.

“I would be happy to take a look” She reached out and accepted the folder with a polite bow of her head.

While in college Marissa could have been considered a bit of a speed reader but in this instance, she didn’t want to overlook something important and began reading the documents carefully. On one hand, she didn’t want to waste the Queens valuable time but Laven also wanted to be able to make an informed decision based on her capabilities and not agree to something that she might ultimately fail in.

There were only a few pages that included a diagram and a summary of the research done so far. “You’ve already been researching ways to extend glamour.” It was more of a statement than a question as she continued to read. The last page was recent results from the last prototype which ultimately ended in a failure and explained why Queen Laurelite was looking to recruit more help.

“I’m definitely interested in helping with this project.” Lavendulan closed the folder and set it back down on the desk in front of her. “My research experience is in oceanography, I’ve done field research with gathering samples and lab work as well. If you believe I could be of use I would like to be a part of this team, please.” Plus, it would give her something to focus her mind on since she couldn’t exactly hold a full, or even part-time, job in Destiny City.

"Thank you, Queen Laurelite." Lavendulan rose from her seat and bowed deeply. "I truly appreciate this opportunity." While fighting was not her forte, research was right up her alley.

"I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to invite me to participate in this project." She looked up then and with a hopeful smile, the half-youma then added "I won't let you down." The promise fell from her lips before she could stop them and was left mentally cringing because now that the words had been said, she was worried that something unexpected might happen and would cause her to fail.

For all her worry, Lavendulan felt confident that this interaction went well enough despite her former attempts at not drawing the attention of the Sovereigns. Granted her etiquette needed some work, but that was something either Lopezite or Wolframite could easily fill her in on.

Lavendulan rose from her seat then bowed deeply. "Thank you, My Queen." It was such a foreign thing to say and yet at the moment, it felt right in light of the high praise she had just received.

Not wanting to be any more of a distraction, she righted herself then exited the office. Only once she was out in the hallway did her composure slip as a wide smile that reached her icy colored eyes lit up her face. For the first time in a long while, she actually felt like she was doing something right and that this was finally a step in the right direction towards finding her place in the Negaverse.