Welcome to Gaia! ::

Getting that edict from Faustite sent a thrill down his spine.

He'd probably get Tincalconite on task with that too, but as always his priority was himself. Something was delicious about the concept of receiving a promotion for something he had been practicing on his own. Collecting starseeds was thrilling. From the white moon? Even moreso. Sometimes they put up such a fight. Sometimes they didn't. Each approach could come with its own kind of excitement.

So today, unlike his usual of targeting civilians for starseeds and going after the senshi and knights when they were convenient, the targets were the senshi and knights. And he'd find them. He'd find as many as needed to fill up that damn pastel vomit mug. Where had that even come from--

Did he feel something?

His attention turned to the left.

... He did feel something.

The flare of such a tiny aura. Would have been cute if they hadn't been so foolish. Of course, cute sometimes increased the tragedy, and Borax was far more of a sadist than he let his underlings at work believe. In the Negaverse they may have had a clue by how prolific at his duties he had become, but perhaps for this person it may never matter.

He advanced.

Being next to a dark alleyway gave a bit of an advantage. It made it easier for him to sneak up on his target even if they had been aware of how oppressive a Captain's aura must have felt in comparison. (Not nearly as oppressive as it could be, but this one would be a fantastic assistant to that, couldn't they?)

He tapped the one holding a teacup in confusion on the shoulder.

"Hey," his voice sounded like a welcoming purr, at first. "What's your name?"

Looked like a pastel knight to match that pastel cup.

John. Cute.

Borax reached out to take the cup being offered. Also cute. Fitting for a Lysithea page, he supposed. This seemed like the foolish things they had been spotted carrying around. He thought having a dip pen had been a tragedy. The ******** would he have done with a cup?

Break it intentionally and stab with the shards, perhaps. Tempting.

Punked? John'd wish, in a minute.

"You've received the gifts of the Code, it seems. Via the world of Lysithea. Does that name ring a bell?"

This one looked like he might have made a charming agent to lure in his classmates. Too bad Borax lacked the ability to force that.

Soon, perhaps.

This might have been a good experiment on if he could hang onto a discarded knight artifact. Borax considered it before disappearing it behind the veil of his pocket dimension or whatever this subspace backpack was actually called.

He didn't care. It was convenient. It was where he kept his Hestian tea, after all.

"Lysithea is a moon out in space. A whole world granting power to people who do things like pick up cups off the ground." Something in his smile was horrifyingly charming. He was a businessman. He had been a CEO before that other damn princess interfered. He was good at keeping people thinking he was a friendly face.

The video game comparison didn't feel entirely inaccurate. There was a reason why he thought this whole deal was some kind of MLM bullshit at the start.

"You could say that. There's a whole world out there of people from worlds, fighting against invaders, protecting their peers..."

He reached back out to John, and his grip on his shoulder was suddenly quite tight.

"... And then you have the villains."

Something was changing in Borax's expression as he inched just a bit closer to make sure the Lysithean baby wouldn't try to bolt.

"You said video game, right? A lot of those have a hero going against an enemy. A villain, usually. Someone with big aspirations for what they want for the world. Perhaps truly aiming for good things but going about it all the wrong way."

Borax's grip got just a bit tighter. Was he taunting a child?

Maybe.

"Maybe some would think I'm a hero." He snorted. "I have no illusions about that."

He knew he wasn't. Taking souls from people to feed to whatever Metallia was?

Or, in this case, to fill up that damn cup and get that long due promotion. Faustite would be thrilled to find out he was getting Lysithean pages, he was sure.

His other hand snapped forward, pushing inside the page's chest.

"The name is Captain Borax. Think I'm the villain in your little video game arc."

His lips lifted just a touch at the side.

Borax swore he could almost feel the fear coming from his target. Something was thrilling about that, every time. Something about knowing he had someone else's life sitting in his hand, cradled by it. He could just crush it in his hand if he wanted to, and perhaps the extra pressure on the starseed wasn't necessary, but he did it anyway.

Not enough to do damage. He needed an intact seed for the pile.

"No one really wants a villain, do they? Kind of the whole point of being a villain." ... There were people that wanted villains, of course. He had run into that situation before. Tincalconite qualified in some ways. He suspected John here wasn't one of them. "Got offered a promotion if I could bring in enough starseeds, especially from pages like you."

He paused.

"Sorry, new word. By starseeds, I meant souls."

"Good news, it's not supposed to be funny."

Maybe it was funny to him, in a way. Delightful? Complaining that it has been such a good day as a way to get out of it. Cute. Too bad it was about to be his good day instead. A sour ending for John here. Probably even more sour for his family. Pity.

Too bad he didn't know the kid's last name. John was terribly common.

"It's nothing personal, really. I know my boss has a vendetta with your princess, Lysithea, though. That might be personal."

He pursed his lips as if thinking about it, but then he turned his attention to John fully and pulled his hand out of his chest, holding the prize he wanted.

"Sorry about your good day, John."

The power in the freshly awakened starseed was all he really cared about.