((A cookie to whoever gets the title reference!))

It seemed like any other day. She trudged out of bed, she showered, she applied makeup as if it were any other ordinary day. Lipstick, eye shadow, mascara, foundation; she went through the motions, slowly but surely.

But it certainly didn't feel like any other day.

October 13th. 286th day of the year. And to the citizens of Destiny City, it was just another sunny fall morning. To Ursula, however, it was far from being an ordinary day.

It was her birthday.

Ursula frowned as she stared at her own pretty reflection in the mirror, setting down her hairbrush upon the vanity counter. Birthdays were days of celebration, days of alcohol and ignoring calories and presents. Why, then, was she not happy? For years now, she'd gotten wasted and pulled all nighters, work be damned, but this year for the first time, she hadn't requested the day off.

"Twenty two." She murmured softly to herself, watching her painted lips talk to her from the mirror. "Twenty two."

Now, twenty two wasn't a terribly old age by any means, as Ursula was well aware she still had years before the worry of wrinkles and crow's feet would set in. All the same, however, the realization of her own age was an unsettling thought.

Twenty two and still a Lieutenant. Her father, damn him, had always told her she'd never amount to anything if she continued on the same path as mother did. Beautiful mother. Ursula had continued down that path, however, and now look at her. She was just as beautiful, if not moreso, than her own mother.... but was that all she was? Just a beautiful woman, sitting alone on a vanity stool, staring at herself quietly on the anniversary of her birth?

She watched as her lips pursed and her eyebrows furrowed. Ursula Johnson may not be much of anything, but then again, she was never meant to be. She was no longer just Ursula. No, she was Nealite, proud Lieutenant of the Negaverse, and she answered to a greater power than her father could never have fathomed. She was someone, and she would make a name for herself.

Letting out a forced sigh, she fluffed her hair one final time before rising from her vanity stool. Birthdays were becoming less of a party and more of a jolt back into reality. Would she still be in this same position, doing these same things in birthdays to come? Or would all the effort, all the asskissing and work finally pay off in the end?

Moving out of the bathroom, she picked up her handbag off the living room coffee table and made her way to the door. Giving one last glance to the darkened apartment behind her, she slipped her way outside and began her journey to work, thoughts of the unknown future plaguing her mind.