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There was but word to describe Motterossa: dull. It was a quiet town of a suburban feel, a definite opposite from Katarina's hustle and bustle of fashion, public, and power. Cetus would have preferred the latter to Motterossa, but settled for the quaint town instead.

Her green, grumpy bonehead, Thanih al Naamat the Marowak, had gotten himself into a battle while the two scouted the Seatance Valley searching for experiment 89585. There had not been much sightings of her in the area and Cetus was convinced she'd never see the Mewtwo again. The last time she had seen the Rocket creation was during the caravan and that was, dear Arceus, ages ago. Thanih crossed paths with a rather upset mother Persian trying to protect her Meowth kittens. Of course, feeling her protective vibe only wanted the battle hungry senior to duke it out with her more.

Well, let's just say after a few minutes of clashing bones and katana sharp claws, Thanih was pronounced the loser and the Persian made her way off into the Seatance Valley with her kittens mewling in tow. Cetus gathered the remains of her disheveled Marowak, sighed under her breath for her deep feelings of sympathy for the poor thing (she had grown fond of the senior Pokemon, but knew never to disturb him whenever he battled), and cradled the shiny Pokemon until she reached Motterossa's Pokemon Center.

Thanih rested in the center for an hour or two until Nurse Joy had brought up to his original strength. Coming to a realization to where he is, Thanih hobbled out of the Pokemon Center in disgust while in the middle of his tests. Though the nurse protested against the Marowak leaving, Cetus followed after him and bid Joy a quiet goodbye.

"You know you need more rest," Cetus said as she followed behind the grumpy Pokemon. "C'mon let's go back inside-"

Thanih cast a disdainful eye on her and the grunt immediately shushed. "Okay, fine, we won't go back," she said, not questioning her Marowak's disgust over the building. Considering a tumble of grey clouds was rolling overhead and a dew droplets stained her seaweed colored hair, they'd have to find shelter soon. Rain was obviously coming. "How about there instead? It's the only damn place in this town that looks entertaining."

Awkwardly enough, it was the town's local library, the last place the grunt would find herself going to.

As always, Thanih took the initiative and continued onwards, casting his narrowed, yellow gaze across the floors. Cetus followed after, the click of her heels against the linoleum marking every stride. She observed just as her Marowak and when she caught the sight of an elevator, ushered her shiny Pokemon in its direction.

Poking a slim figure onto the ^ button, Cetus waited patiently until the doors of the lift slid open. Her face twisted up a bit in awkwardness at the two waiting inside: a glasses wearing man who looked a few years younger older than her carrying a stack of books and a stiff faced Jynx to his side. Huh.

"Okay, Thanih, let's go . . . " Cetus said softly, literally pushing her Marowak inside when he wouldn't go. Eventually, the elevator closed, and Cetus tapped the button for the forth floor, one floor under the other duo's destination of fifth.

Cetus's feet did not move. She was plastered where she stood, staaaring at the Jynx with wide eyes. Arceus, it was a creepy looking thing!

The older man, who was slightly struggling to hold the stack of books by now, sweat-dropped at her pause. "Uh, ma'am?" he asked, urging her with his inflection. "Ma'am?"

Cetus remained stoic and likewise, so did the Jynx. Suddenly, the Jynx's red lips puckered and she scowled. "Jeeyingx?" it huffed, weird members for hands reaching a rather broad pair of hips.

"Oh, uh, right . . . " Cetus blanched, than slid out of the elevator.

Thanih toddled after, shaking his head as he descended, and continued with his trainer across the carpeted floor. The library was terribly quiet with a few people milling about the floor. Most of them seemed to be medical and science students clogged up in the section to Cetus's left. Of course, considering Cetus, she avoided any and all sciences like the plague, favoring a seat towards the Fiction section. She plopped her butt at an empty table, of course, not before hefting up her elderly Marowak into a seat.

The random, undecipherable message piqued her interest. Cetus flipped to the trivial page of 126 only to discover the storybook didn't even go to the hundreds. It promptly ended at page forty-six.

"Huh," Cetus mused, finding her interest come to a complete halt. Than, she remembered the extra titbit, "the rose that wilts," and decided it must have been a title to something.

"Hey, Thanih." she said and firmly jabbed the Marowak in the side. Thanih responded by making a whack at her with his bone club and missing. "Help me look for this book titled, "The Rose That Wilts."

Thanih growled at her but complied. He hopped off the chair, taking a moment to recover from his landing, than began to scan the bottom levels of the bookshelf for anything stating the dying flora. Cetus took the top, sliding her fingers across the many books. After a good moment of inching up and down the bookcase, Cetus came up with nothing as did Thanih.

The Galactic grunt stepped inside, turned on her heel, and stabbed a finger into the ground floor button. Cetus tried to ignore the beady eyes of the Grass and Ice-types beside her, but couldn't help it. Her head twisted aside, she leaned forward, and staaaared at the Jynx in the corner. However, her teal gaze also fell upwards to where she was not only staring at the Jynx, but marveling at the height of the Tangrowth simultaneously. It was such a behemoth Pokemon that its bundled head almost scrapped the lift's top.

Suddenly, the elevator dinged and the door slid aside with a few jumbled clicks. Thanih hobbled out, but couldn't help barking at Cetus to get her a** a-moving. She was likely still staring at those who awkward Pokemon. Thankfully, Cetus was following behind him, but kept her head turned and plastered on the Pokemon until the elevator door shifted close and broke her gaze.

Thanih only shook his head.

Pausing a small distance from the elevator, Cetus scanned the area for the library. Finally, she settled from the large, mahogany barrier set up a few lengths away. She stepped forward, searched about for an open desk assistant, but saw nothing. Cetus huffed, figuring her investigation to be more difficult than it should be, but than saw the table bell. Stretching out her hand, she banged it rather harshly, and a thick ding reverberated. Someone mumbled a set of curses and exited from a side door Cetus had not noticed, slamming the door behind them rather haughtily. Who it was, though, gave Cetus pause. Likewise, the stranger also seemed surprised enough to halt.

It was Willamina.

Willamina's lips twisted up in complete disgust. "Look up the damn thing yourself," she said, face tightening. "The internet exists for a reason."

"Listen, you brat, I don't know s**t about computers," Cetus responded to the Rocket grunt's haughty tone. "And I don't know where to find specific info in this hellhole. Can't you, like, do a database search or something?"

"Ugh, fine, I will!" Willamina sighed, almost prepared to throw her hands up in complete chagrin. "I'll do it, I'll do it."

She began to walk down the aisle of the desk and Cetus followed her, until the two came to a halt at an old desktop probably twice the age of the Galactic grunt. Mina's hand reached down and wiggled the mouse before ticking a few keys on the keyboard and turning back to Cetus.

"Alright, what is it?" she asked and Cetus promptly answered with the quote from the book: "the rose that wilts."

The tall, lanky man seemed to be, uh, skipping his way over to Willamina, before cocking up a stretched grin on his face and slapping his book onto the table. The expression was not directed towards his supposed sister. Instead, the fellow was looking straight at Cetus, eyebrows raised and ready to make a pass at her.

"Oh, well, 'ey there gorgeous." he said, keeping that smarmy grin plastered on his face. " 'ow you doin'?"

Cetus blinked. Wait, what-? Was this fella actually hitting on her? "You're kidding, right?" she said.

"I don' kid, love, I joke." the man continued. "But if yer interested in makin' kids, I don' mind takin' ya up on that offer~"

"Serrano." Willamina said, trying to interject, but her voice to pushed to the back as Serrano continued.

"Been a while since I've see a good lookin' gal like yerself. D'ya come here often? Maybe yer friends with Al here?"

"Serrano."

"Thank you. I don't and . . . Yes, you could say that. I do know your sister well enough, but not enough to consider friendship."

Cetus glanced to her right and could admit she was amused. Willamina was incredibly tense, clutching the edge of the library counter with her nails digging into the underside of the running rubber's groove. This man -- Serrano, was it? -- seemed to be her Achilles's heel.

Willamina's other harsh and poison trickled words did not scare Serrano. Instead, he blanched as white as the woman before him who appeared too young to be the aforementioned age. She couldn't be that old!

"No way-" Serrano gulped, pinpointing squinted eyes straight onto a bemused face. "Yer really . . . thirty-five?"

"Yes, I am thirty five years old." Cetus replied, tucking one arm under the other and throwing her chin up as if defining some sort of age-defined superiority over the taller man. "That would make you twenty-two. Huh. Now, unless you're interested in older woman-"

"Aw, 'ell no!" Serrano gaped, shaking his head against Willamina's grip still upon him. Realizing she was still latched on, Willamina released him more out of annoyance than mercy. "I don' like 'em old! 'ell, even if yer a Liepard or somethin'-"

Cetus brows twined together. "Why you little-" Catching her anger, Serrano suddenly tensed up, bid his sibling a quick farewell, than departed from the library as quickly as he had marched up to Cetus and hit on her.

With him gone, Cetus rolled her shoulders and turned back to "Al." "Your brother is quite eccentric." Cetus grinned.

"Half-brother," Willamina corrected her. "He's the child of my father's first wife, I'm from his second."

"Oh," Cetus replied nonchalantly. Honestly, she really didn't care. "Do you mind looking that phrase up for me now?"

"Oh, right," Willamina said, casting her eyes down and to the side. "Right."