Chapter Text
The last traces of steam curls lightly above her cup, it's warmth fading against her nose; the scents of steeped berry leaves had soothed away some of the tension in her shoulders while it had been fresh. -It might have helped more, had she'd time to actually drink it.
Being a Captain in the Galaxy Expedition Team came with daily -sometimes hourly- headaches. Requests and reports were flung at their Team from all angles, and somehow it had fallen to her, as Captain of the Survey Corps, to make sense of it all. Commander Kamado had come to depend on her steadfast determination to accomplish just that; despite Captain Zizu's insistence that her saber-swordsmanship was mightier than any pen-pushing she was now stuck doing. (And sometimes, Almighty Sinnoh forgive her, she almost agreed...)
But it wasn't the constant stream of requests begging for guides on collections or reports of Pokemon running a little too near the settlement that really bothered her, -nay.
It was the infuriatingly coy Captain of the Construction Corps.
Captain Sanqua.
The charming, aggravating Captain Sanqua.
Who was now striding into her office as if she had every right to do so.
-As a fellow Captain of the Galaxy Expedition Team, she technically did. So Cyllene says nothing at the woman's approach.
Sanqua seemed wholly unbothered by her grim face or the mountain of paperwork she was honor-bound to sort.
Her demeanor was befitting her talents, Cyllene supposed; the Construction Corps oversaw all development in Jubilife Village afterall. A task that often demanded skills in patience and... personable candor; a feat she herself had never aimed to master. There was even once a time she'd admired her fellow Captain for it, until the mischievous woman had aimed her talents on her.
Honestly, she didn't know what she'd done to spur Sanqua's teasing. As far as Cyllene could recall, they'd gotten along well enough.
There had been times she'd had to deny the woman's requests for new materials, depending on the weather and temperaments of the local wildlife, but that could hardly be attributed to anything like petty squabbling or sabotage.
A soft chuckle catches her attention; she looks first to the floor, where Sanqua's eevee chirps playfully at her loyal abra. It was cute, though a misuse of the Survey Corps' time.
And then she realizes the Captain is not in her field of vision, and she tenses. Warm breath tickles her ear, and Sanqua's soft silvermist tresses brushing along her cheek.
This was far closer than she'd expected the other woman to be, but it was not the first time she'd invaded her space in such manner. So she doesn't grab for her saber, or charge her abra to teleport the woman to a more reasonable distance, as she'd done the first few times this had happened.
Instead, she merely turns, Sanqua's face mere heartbeats from her own.
"Captain," she greets, though the word is flatter than she really means. She's not angry, not really. Just... tired.
Captain Sanqua hums, a flicker of something rippling behind her silver-blue eyes that Cyllene can't quite categorize.
She doesn't ask what it is.
"Have tea with me?" the woman asks; a innocent sounding request no-doubt hiding a lake of quilfish.
"I have some," Cyllene answers, gesturing to the lukewarm cup still lingering on her desk.
Another flicker passes the woman's eyes, and Cyllene doesn't move a muscle, as the Construction Corpse Captain darts a deceptively delicate hand out, sending her cup and its contents to the floor with a cracking clatter.
The smile on Sanqua's face is eerily pleased. Deceptively disarming.
"I made some fresh," she coaxes.
Cyllene's eyes fall to the floor, -their pokemon already lapping at the dark liquid, each of them convinced that anything below the doorknobs wholly belonged to them.
(Which, she supposes was a fair trade, all things considered.)
"A waste of resources," she remarks, pulling herself from her thoughts.
"It wouldn't have been wasted if you learnt to take proper breaks for yourself."
Sanqua's words were as sharp as any saber; always cutting through the heart of a matter, when she wasn't seeing fit to dance circles around her opponents in matches of wit.
The woman's brow also furrowed slightly, betraying a genuine annoyance; in that, a bolt of fear wavers Cyllene's resolve.
She concedes.
"I... suppose I am no use to the Galaxy Team or the Survey Corps if I fail to keep in proper health."
Sanqua smiles, bright as Hisui's unending skies.
That smile was more terrifying than the beasts roaming the wild lands, Cyllene thinks; at least the beasts only wanted to eat trespassing humans.
She couldn't fathom what it was the Construction Corps Captain wanted from her...
"Strengthening our bond will surely strengthen our Galaxy Team," Sanqua chirps, slipping an arm around her own; "-Or something like that..."
Cyllene scowls. -Was she so easy to read?
~~~~
The tea is good.
The chairs more comfortable than her own, thanks to the additions of purple cushions.
Cyllene sips her sup precisely, struggling against the temptation of comfort.
It takes a little longer for her eyes to open, between blinks.
"...Would Zizu not be a better companion?" she asks, not having meant to, but backing down from it either, once the words leave her mouth.
Sanqua's eyes widen, the smirk on her face dissipating, before a gleaming dazzle reflects back.
"I adore having lunch with Captain Zizu. She never fails to embolden one's spirit," she replies.
Cyllene nods, leaning back in the traitorous chair. A small frown stretches bigger on her face.
"But."
"But?"
Sanqua giggles, crossing supple legs and leaning just so. Her smirk looking hotter than the fires of ‘Lord of the Isles’.
Cyllene flinches under it's bright glare.
"I adore you, Captain."
"...Perhaps you should have captain Pesselle examine your head..." Cyllene mutters, hoping the chair could somehow swallow her and hide the way her face burns under Sanqua's inescapable giggling...