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Urania was miffed. Being pulled from her anime was one thing, something she could easily shrug off, but being forced to feign patience due to her late partner was another matter altogether. Her task at Galactic Sub-Branch Headquarters was always the same: keep new recruits in check. In other words, Urania supplied new beaming Galactic grunts with their uniforms, assigned their dorms and key cards, provided them with the basic equipment, and so on. But because recruitment had reached an all time low in the region known as Zatao, her job warranted more off days than usual. However, this particular day, out of the blue, she was assigned to research an object coined as, "J-0."

Urania knew nothing of the project besides its name. Well, that wasn't the only thing she knew. She also knew the name of the grunt whom she was to study the object with. That certain individual was none other than the infamous Galactic Grunt Cetus. The middle aged woman had earned herself a name in G-Sub, mainly for being the branch HQ's location finder. Unfortunately, that was the only good matter to press onto the woman's name. Other than that, she was quite known for her questionable attitude and constant flow of failures. She was more a disappointment than a valued member towards the syndicate's objective. Besides stealing a good amount of expensive jewels to fund experiments and better their tech, her primary goal to recruit members was something she didn't fulfill every inspection. In other words, for the past few months, her quota to recruit so and so numbers was always met with a zero.

Even so, why did Urania have such an insufferable attraction to the woman? They hardly knew each other and Urania seemed to value the organization much more than her late associate did. Nevertheless, her eyes tended to find the woman when in a crowd and she'd clam up whenever Cetus sidled past and lightly brushed against her. Truth, love did not take any single form, but Urania has had her share of geeky, anime-obsessed boyfriends in the past. Yet, she never felt so strongly about a woman until now! This harboring crush almost caused the death of her. There has been days she's believed there was terribly something wrong with her, ignoring food and drink, because the matter bothered her so much. Maybe she was out of it. But even visits to the HQ's stoic psychologist could not grant her a solution to her problem!

Plus, plus, there was the matter that Cetus likely had a lover out of HQ. Though she was likely stretching the syndicate's rules and regs if she was dating someone, Urania was still unsure. But Cetus's constant disappearances from G-Sub seemed to be her answer. This, too, was torture. It meant that her stupid, stupid crush was to remain one-sided. Ugh. When was she going to get-

Urania's thoughts came to a complete halt when something clambered outside the metallic door. Suddenly, the white panel shifted aside to reveal her partner standing in its frame with something hard and glittering between her arms. The grunt's lips pursed , almost to an intense line, as she withheld the want to gush. Cetus was actually there, in her r-room, s-s-s-s-standing there . . .

"Sorry I'm late," Cetus apologized and strode in, dumping the ebony lump onto the table. "Something came up."

"O-Oh, well, it's alright." Urania answered and turned her face away. Damn. Couldn't help her face from growing red. "All that matters is that you're here . . . " With me, here, to study this thing. Arceus, why are you so pretty?!

Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

Hiccup.

Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

The DAMN SILENCE! The green haired grunt's lips thinned and she turned her head to Urania. The grunt clammed up again, causing her to twist up her lips in confusion, than finally asked, "D'ya mind if I smoke?"

"Uh, sure, no problem." Urania replied, shaking her head.

Cetus tugged opened the side of her vest and it gave way from its yellow velcro holds with a rip. Shifting her head into its side, she pulled out a coppery gold case, and slid the edge of her thumb against the side. It gave way from the small lock with a click, revealing a set of four thin cigars wedged onto the left side. Urania perked up at the sight. Cetus didn't appear the type to be so classy. Cigarettes were an easier fix, right?

Cetus slid one out from the case, fixed it between her lips, than stared at the rectangular case fondly for a moment. She and Osmond had argued, again, and they weren't talking to each other. It was the same old complaint; Osmond wasn't sure if he could keep up their relationship (considering he is a cop), Cetus said they could break it off anytime, he would fall silent, she'd call him weak, he'd call her a b***h, she'd slap him, he'd slap her back, punch, kick, slam, slam again, than they'd wake up exhausted from turning their physical fighting to a bed romp. After fornication, it was ritual of her to have a smoke. This time, she stole Osmond's entire case instead of a single cigar. He'd likely be pissed later on when he realizes its missing. Oh well. At least, than, he would be talking to her again.

She lit the end with a stray lighter, sucked and swallowed, than let a large plume of grey ripple out her nose and mouth. Urania twitched her nose at the smell. It held a finer stench in comparison to cigarettes. It smelled of a fine wood, dried leaves, and some unknown spice (almost like cinnamon and paprika) that likely gave it a spicy tang when smoked. Urania couldn't deny she was fond of the lingering waft. She never smoked, but this smoke smell was different. Or maybe it was the spewer that made it so wonderfully impeccable.

"Y'know, those cause cancer . . . " she said and this earned a spiteful frown from the grunt.

"I know," Cetus replied, the charm of a grin in her voice when she added, "That's why I smoke them."

Urania winced a bit at the reply. "I know what'cha mean . . . " she said. The redhead didn't know of Cetus's feelings, but honestly, they could relate. Both were members of high society, beaming in their prime, who hit rock bottom as soon as they climb to the tippy-top. Before she was making enough to barely feed herself from buying a table, she was an assistant scientist studying the dream theory in Unova. Irrelevant, but Munnas are some of her favorite Pokemon.

Cetus flashed her a smile and the grunt reddened a brilliant shade of scarlet. "Want a smoke?" she asked, leaving herself bereft of the cigar and offering the end to her partner.

"Sure," Urania said, hand almost trembling when she reached a hand out and than pressed the cigar to her lips and inhaled. With an explosion of flavor, Urania calmed a the wonderful taste. She was right, it was spicy, but also tangy with an underlay of strange sweet -- like a grilled Pecha berry. Holding in the taste for too long caused her to cough the smoke up and Cetus chuckled as she raised her palm and beat it gently against the redhead's back.

"There, there," she said, pearly whites still evident on her face. "Remember to let it out next time, haha."

For an hour and a half, the duo did extensive numbering crunching. Or, actually, most of it was Urania. They counted up everything on the list, from the awkward diameter of the rock to the number of pulses that could be heard from inside it. After their work, Cetus grunted for a break, and Urania complied without any argument. She slumped down on the table before her, tucking the bridge of her nose under the slope of her arm, leaving only her teal eyes peeking out. She was staring intently at Urania, studying her face, and leaving the poor redhead uncomfortable. Finally, she flopped up and rested the bridge of her chin into the palm of her left hand, leaving over towards her.

"Say, how old are you?" she asked, tilting her head with the question.

"Twenty-two." Urania replied, nervously, and turned her gaze away. "Is that a problem . . . or something?"

"Oh, no, no." Cetus replied, shaking her head. "You just look young for your age."

Urania sneered a bit, playfully. "Well, you look young for thirty-five." she replied in retort, than immediately blushed at her reply. Oh Arceussss . . . She wasn't suppose to know that! C-Cetus and her were suppose to be complete strangers . . . Oh goodness!

Cetus's eyebrows raised in surprise, than slumped down in a thinking frown as she asked, "Huh. How exactly do you know my age . . . ? I'm not the most talkative person in the base . . . "

Oh Arceus! Oh Arceus! How would she cover for this one?! "W-Well, I o-overh-heard some idiots from security talking about women in the base, age, weight, y'know. T-They mentioned you. Just happened to hear, aha."

Cetus's eyebrows remained twisted, deliberating the idea, until they finally relaxed when she nodded. "Aha, I see." she said, nodding her head. "Boys will be boys."

"Aha, yea . . . " Ahh, she lied again! It was great she got away with it, but Urania wasn't a complete fan of stretching the truth. Her mother rebuked her a lot for lying as a kid. Due to that, she's learned to feel a bit muddled when she spoke anything other than the truth. Yet, Urania only knew of Cetus's info because she has an ex in Security, so it wasn't a full stretch of the truth. Thing is, she asked him impatiently for her info, and he complied when she lied to him and said she had a vendetta against the woman. Oh goodness, she was just full of lies!

Cetus's noticed the woman's features soften and her eyes suddenly peeked at her with concern. The hell? Urania was becoming her first friend in the entire damn base and now she was sad? Weren't they laughing and working like likeminded partners a moment ago? Did Cetus . . . have that effect on people or something?

"Hey, you alright?" she suddenly spoke up.

Urania jumped at the question, littering tossing her slightly watery eyes on Cetus. A hand instinctively ran along the side of her face when a stray tear fell. This was too embarrassing. Why'd she have to cry now? Of all places, why now, right in the front of well, her?

"Uh, um, no, a-actually, I'm not." Urania replied, summoning the courage to finally speak about her predicament. Of course, she'd never outright state it was Cetus, but she'd improvise . . . change the situation a bit . . . and hopefully work out a way to deal with her problem. Plus, with Cetus's teal gaze concentrated so tightly on her and urging her to explain, she could do nothing but explain.

"Whelp . . . you see, I like someone." Cetus nodded. "'Kay, um, not just like him . . . I really like him."

"Love?" Cetus interrupted, but Urania shook her head.

"Ah, no, not that far. I mean, I don't know him that well, but I get, y'know, I pretty much turn into a clammy schoolgirl whenever he's near." Cetus chuckled a little and Urania smiled. She loved her laughter -- it was so airy and charming. "But there's a problem . . . "

"Yes?"

"He's taken."

"Ahhh . . . " Cetus's voice rung out like a reverberating cymbal. Urania blinked. "Now there's a problem."

Urania lowered her head. "So what do you think I should do?"