Walk right on in as if nothing happened.

Karyssa was grateful Gene had planned this neighborhood so conveniently, as Gene's Hangout and the Capitol were basically right next to each other. After the short walk, they were greeted by Nucleina on the front steps.

"Your new keys, Karyssa. Don't lose them." Karyssa had to stop herself from smirking, since she was already mentally getting off on that hint of scorn in Nucleina's voice. Nucleina was holding up a card and a blue magnetic key in her hand. Karyssa began to reach out, but Nucleina briefly held them back.

"Uh! Seriously girl..." She continued, mildly startling Karyssa. "Don't. Lose. The. Fucking. Keys." Nucleina finished as she finally turned them over to the future Queen. Clearly the alien elf was in a foul mood. Nucleina was still a little resentful as to how her first meeting with Karyssa went.

"After you." Nucleina gestured towards the entrance. Since Karyssa still only had no other clothes besides the ones she had on, she used her magic to create a zipper pocket for her keys on her skirt and put them there. Karyssa followed Gene into the building. They were greeted by Lilly, who was already glaring at Karyssa menacingly the moment she walked through the door. Karyssa could tell Lilly was quite jealous of them, but Karyssa didn't care. Gene was hers and hers alone. At least as far as future marriage was concerned. She didn't mind letting others be Gene's lovers, however.

Gene and Nucleina gave Karyssa a quick tour of the facility, showing her the cafeteria, press conference room, all the offices, and the secure Command Center downstairs. Karyssa's introductions with most of the staff proved... Less than ideal. Most of them glared at her, but nonetheless acknowledged her as future Queen. Reluctantly. Afterwards, Nucleina gave Karyssa a quick rundown of her future duties as Queen in the royal office, and how Gene wishes to run the Empire, with Gene chiming in as needed.

The day overall was pretty mundane. Internationally, it was mostly a slow day, save for Australia declaring a state of emergency due to a particularly devastating fire season, and the American president still stewing on Twitter on and off, infuriated by the Plutonian Empire's behavior. He tried countless times to exact military, even nuclear, ****, but was again and again repeatedly talked out of it by his family and staff. Especially since any retaliatory strikes would prove utterly futile against the TPE's impenetrable defenses, as countless tests by ground forces and scientiests on the two statewide shields throughout the day repeatedly confirmed. By evening, Nucleina finally got a message from Sol's supernatural residents pledging loyalty to the Plutonian Empire.

After reading the message, Nucleina got up from the cafeteria table she was sitting at and went to the King's office to inform him and Karyssa of the news. As soon as she stepped out of the cafeteria, Nucleina saw Lilly flagging her down, and headed over to her receptionist area.

"You okay, Lilly?" Nucleina asked. She could tell Lilly was quite uncomfortable. Lilly leaned in and began whispering

"Are we really going to just..." Lilly hesitated, uncomfortable with even bringing it up at all. "Are we really gonna let... her walk right in here just like that or some shit?" She finished. Nucleina noticed a sense of terror in Lilly's voice.

"She's that girl I talked about, that's meant for Gene, hun. She's the one other human with magical abilities." Nucleina whispered back, also leaning in.

"Well, I knowwww..." Lilly whined, still hushed. "Just... I don't... I can't explain it... She's..." She hesitated again. "She's... Just... Wrong somehow. Like, not wrong for our bae, but just... Wrong... Somehow..."

"Look, hun, I'm gonna be honest here." Nucleina began, reluctantly. Lilly was tempted to pout, but momentarily had a mildly pained expression on her face instead. Nucleina continued, "I feel the same thing. I don't like her one bit. I had my first encounter with her last night, Karyssa basically greeted me by putting me in a **** hold..." Lilly's jaw dropped. She closed her mouth again and glanced left, worried someone saw her, before looking back at her boss. "And called me out for not telling Gene about her sooner, nose to nose."

Lilly almost jumped out of her seat, as if to hunt Karyssa down, but stopped herself. And glanced left again with a scowl. She was sorely tempted to give Karyssa a taste of a pissed off Lilly, but she knew she had to stay professional. The look in her eyes said it all.

"And as much as my own intuition is blaring alarms all over, I also feel Karyssa still has tons of good in her... Somehow... But I just know it will be an extremely long time before she can even begin to truly get ahold of herself, and that it'll all work out..." Nucleina paused. "Somehow..." She began to drift off, but caught herself. "That's all I can feel on this."

Now Lilly pouted. Nucleina was right. They were in this for the long haul. "Okay..." Lilly responded, feeling discouraged, and ending the convo. And still quite uncomfortable about the future Queen.

"I know, hun. I know." Nucleina began heading to the door behind Lilly, gently rubbing Lilly's shoulder and regaining composure, as Lilly went back to what she was doing previously, distracted as all get out.

After entering her security credentials, Nucleina entered the hallway, heading to the royal office to her right, down the end of the hallway. Once getting there, she hesitated a few moments, not knowing what to expect, before knocking and entering. Karyssa was on Gene's lap as they sat at the desk, slowly rubbing Gene's back consolingly, as he was wiping constant tears away. Karyssa glanced at Nucleina, and gave a consoling smile before looking down, and turning to kiss Gene's upper forehead.

Nucleina felt a thick, emotional atmosphere as she quietly entered the room and gently closing the door behind her, feeling a bit awkward walking into such a situation, having seen Gene weep only one or two times during his stay on Belle Hades, and who finally noticed Nucleina walking in.

"My fam disowned me pretty hard today." Gene stated in between sniffles and tear wipings, as Nucleina sat down on one of the guest chairs. Gene's weeping was barely under control. It took a few more awkward moments before Nucleina could speak up.

"I got a message from the supernaturals in the rest of the system, they have pledged loyalty to the Empire now."

"Nice." Gene smiled and nodded, feeling slightly better from the news. Karyssa almost shot Nucleina a quizical look before realizing she meant the Solar system. Nucleina hesitated a bit, not knowing what else to say at first, before wondering what was up with Gene's family.

"Y'wanna talk about what happened?" She finally asked. Gene revealed that he received an angry phone call earlier in the morning from his mom. He didn't say much during the call, causing her to hang up on him. Several minutes before Nucleina came in, Gene tried calling back after finally having some free time. But as soon as his mom heard his voice, she told Gene to fuck off and that his family no longer welcomes him, before finally calling Gene a sick fuck and hanging up and blocking him. There wasn't much else Gene could say about the situation, really. Nucleina got up and got up beside the still weeping Gene.

"I'm sorry bae." Nucleina side hugged Gene, still in his chair. "But you know what? You have Karyssa now." She nodded at Karyssa, still on his lap. "You can now have your own big fam." She said encouragingly. Gene gratefully thanked her. Nucleina asked if Gene needed anything else at the moment; he asked her to stay a little while for company until he felt better. Nucleina complied and they all stayed in the office a couple hours chatting while Gene slowly calmed down. The rest of the night was relatively uneventful, so there wasn't much to interrupt them before everyone retired for the night.