Poking her head out of the breakroom, Luci called, "Oooh … Philomena?!"

Her voice carried down the corridor and made the stunning woman standing outside of Luci's bedroom snap to attention. She twisted her upper body toward Luci. Her copper hair fanned out and landed in disarray over her face. Her hands hovered at her sides, fingers splayed. A big crease appeared in her forehead as it lifted up. She raised her hand and pointed across her body at the door next to her.

"Aren't you in your room?"

Cocking her head and smiling, Luci asked, "Hmm? What are you talking about?"

Philomena blinked in confusion as her slender neck turned her head back and forth, from the bedroom door to the breakroom door.

As an invitation, Luci stuck the large plastic bowl cupped in her hand out into the corridor and shook it, making the cream inside swirl and jiggle.

"Moishmush is ready!" she called.

Shaking her head, Philomena walked down the corridor with a turbulent expression. Before she could reach the door, Luci retreated into the breakroom and trotted over to the couch. As soon as Philomena appeared in the doorway, Luci waved her hand and gestured at its ratty cushions.

"Allow me to apply it," she said.

Philomena crossed the room on her long legs, which always had such a confident stride in them. As she came closer, she seemed to get slowly taller. She stopped right in front of Luci and looked down her nose at her. As Luci stared up into those stern, yet lovely, eyes, the heat threatened to melt her flimsy, plastic smile right off her lips.

She gulped.

Then Philomena whipped her hand up and thrust her finger into Luci's face. On instinct, Luci's head jerked back, trying to get away from the danger. The neatly-trimmed fingernail hovered in front of her nose like an insect, so close that her eyes couldn't focus on it.

"Don't you try any funny stuff," Philomena said. "I told you, I'm not interested in other women."

The finger wagged with each syllable its owner emphasized, like a shaker sprinkling salt into an open wound.

Well, I knew that already, Luci thought, so it's not a surprise, but … maldita sea, it still hurts.

Although Philomena's words had fried Luci's heart to cinders faster than a blaster bolt to the chest, nonetheless she strove to kept the pathetic weak smile glued to her face.

"Sure thing, Philomena," she said with a weak chuckle.

Withdrawing her slender finger — but not her suspicious stare — Philomena circled Luci and then laid down on the couch. Her body was tensed up stiffer than a steel beam.

"Relax!" Luci said.

She draped a tablecloth over Philomena's chest and then patted it against her shoulders, being very careful to keep track of her hands and steer clear of touching the woman she loved in any way that might seem even the slightest bit lewd.

This isn't a manga, Luci! It isn't going to go well if there are any … 'misunderstandings!' Accidental, or otherwise!

"If you keep your face like that, it's going to ruin the effect of the moishmush," she cooed.

Exhaling through her nose in one long stream, Philomena eased her muscles and settled into the cushions. Her lovely face smoothed out, until only the barest trace of contempt lingered in her downturned lips and furrowed brow. She aimed her stare directly at the ceiling, as if saying to a doctor, 'Let's get this over with.'

Next, she used another tablecloth to cover Philomena's hair. Luci herself had never had long hair — it tended to get in the way when fixing starship engines — so she didn't have the first clue how to wrap a towel around hair like most women did. She wrapped it up as best she could and tucked it in half-assedly, hoping the lovely woman she was attending to wouldn't notice.

At last, Luci thought.

Her stomach went funny at the idea of actually touching Philomena's soft, pale skin. She raised the bowl, scooped a bit of cream out using her fingers, and reached for Philomena's cheek. As her hand came near, Philomena's eyes rolled around to stare at it.

"Looks like vanilla pudding," she said.

Luci froze up. Her heart skipped a beat, sending a tremor through her petrified hand as it hovered in mid-air. The breakroom's calf-high trash can was barely visible in the corner of her eye. Empty pudding cups rested on top of the garbage. In her panicked brain, the only way they could be more obvious was if a blinking, buzzing neon sign pointed right at them. She kicked herself for not taking the trash out first.

"This is the finest Cartoobian moishmush. So relax … and just let it moishmush, okay?"

Philomena exhaled through her nose again. Then she settled down and closed her eyes, getting cozy on the worn cushions.

Frozen with fear, Luci's hand remained hovering in the air near Philomena's lovely apple cheek. Then, she pressed her pudding-covered fingers into the pale, pink-white skin. When they made contact and formed a little crater, she gasped.

I'm touching her …

My fingers are making a dent in her skin … my fingers are moving her skin around …

Because I'm touching her!

She stroked the skin tenderly, painting it with pudding until a layer of paste-like white goo masked that lovely face. The whole time she applied the 'facial', she thrilled at the sensation of touching her crush's skin and also despaired that she'd never go any further than that.

"There," Luci said.

Putting the finishing touches on the 'facial mask', she lifted her hand away from Philomena's warm skin.

"Now, just lay down and relax, okay? Let the moishmush soak in and mush-ify your pores."

Philomena puffed her cheeks up and then blew the air out her mouth.

"Fine," she said.

Moving as quietly as she could, Luci stood up and crept over to the trash can. Along the way, she wiped her pudding-covered fingers on her cargo pants. She brought her boots down ever-so-carefully, moving heel-to-toe, heel-to-toe. Shifting her weight very slightly, trying not to upset the resting woman on the couch — and especially not to draw any attention to herself. When she stood over the trash can, she thought, Now, time to get rid of the evidence. She bent over and slowly pinched the plastic between her fingers …

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Instantly, the bag crinkled very loudly.

Luci whipped herself away from the can, lifting herself onto the ball of one foot while the other left the floor entirely and bent, poised to start running. Her arms thrust upward and spread out wide, trying to put as much distance between her hands and the trash can as humanly possible. Even her fingers splayed as wide open as they could manage.

On the couch, Philomena stirred and murmured wordlessly, but her eyes stayed closed.

Easing herself back into a somewhat-normal posture, Luci leaned forward and held her hands out towards Philomena's reclining body, as if to pat the air and somehow reassure her while maintaining an appropriate distance.

"Sorry!" Luci said quietly. "J-Just taking the trash out. I, um, wouldn't want it to … sully the air in here. While you're, heh, beautifying. You know?"

Philomena murmured in a vaguely agreeable way.

Turning back to the trash can, Luci plucked the bag out in one swift — albeit loud — motion. She hurried to the door and tied the top in a knot as she strode out into the corridor. Once the evidence was disposed of, she spent ten minutes pacing in the hallway, her frazzled body torn between emptying her mind to calm her heart, or treasuring the memories she'd just made and jacking her heartbeat way, way up.

I don't know how much more of this I can take! she thought.

Luci wondered how long facials took, and decided ten minutes was enough. Not like it mattered, anyway. She wasn't sure if anybody had ever tested the skin-cleansing power of pudding, but it probably wasn't that great.

Trudging up to the breakroom door, she raised her hand to press the intrapanel.

But right before her finger made contact, the door snapped open, and it spooked her so much she jumped back like she'd spotted a predator stalking her through the jungle. Standing there in the doorway … well, she wasn't a predator in the usual sense, but she did tend to rip Luci's heart out of her chest.

"Ramirex," Philomena said.

She'd already cleaned most of the pudding off her face, and now she was patting away at the last moist spots with the tablecloth. Her skin had a radiant, slightly-wet sheen.

"I don't know if you really deserve it, because of all that time you wasted, but I feel so refreshed that I'm going to give you some praise."

Luci's eyes widened, like it was finally sunrise on a planet where each day lasted a hundred years.

Philomena cleared her throat, then leaned forward and, in a patronizing tone, said, "Good job."

As Luci basked in the sunny light of the compliment, over the course of fifteen seconds a huge smile budded and bloomed on her lips until it had grown to cover half her face.

She praised me! I'm in her good graces now! Ay caray, maybe I have a chance with her after all!

"See, great bosses like me know how to keep moral up," Philomena said.

Luci swooned, too lightheaded to bother pointing out that 'moral' and 'morale' were two different words with two different pronunciations.

"Hmm," Philomena said. "I don't know why, but suddenly I'm hungry for more pudding."

Harsh winds blew in, and instantly covered the sunny skies with terrible stormclouds. As the booming thunder of her ominous words rattled Luci, lightning whips cracked in the gray skies and pledged to fry her backside if her deception was uncovered.

Philomena opened the door to the breakroom again and peered inside. "Ramirex, what happened to all that pudding I left on the counter?"

Taking a big step back as quietly as possible, Luci asked, "Wh-What pudding? I didn't s-see any pudding."

"I left it right there!"

She took another step backward, lifting her boots carefully so they didn't drag on the carpet. "Maybe you misremembered …?"

"I don't mis-member anything. I have a mind like a steel tarp!"

Inching away in reverse, Luci thought, Easy does it … easy does it …

"… d-don't you mean like a steel trap?"

Philomena scoffed. "'Steel trap'? That doesn't make any sense—"

And then, she glanced in Luci's direction. Luci stopped in her tracks at once, but that didn't stop the shrewd scowl from springing onto Philomena's face. She narrowed her eyes as they went up and down Luci's body.

Think of something!

"Well, hope you find it!" she blurted out. "I have to go, um … tsun-tsun my dere-dere." She shuffled on the spot, itching to take off running, yet not wanting to leave without the right parting words. "Um, um … bye!"

Luci whirled around so quickly she nearly kicked her leg out from under her. She hurried down the hallway so stiffly her muscles began to ache from the tension. As she approached her bedroom, she dared to shoot a look over her shoulder. To her eternal relief, Philomena had lost interest in her. The redhead stalked into the breakroom in pursuit of her missing pudding, giving Luci a chance to sneak away.

Oh, maldita sea! That was close.

Luci seriously needed some time to unwind and de-stress herself. Luckily, she had a stack of brand-new yuri manga waiting in her bedroom. She got closer, and felt the beautiful, radiant glow of Girl x Girl get brighter. Waiting for her on the other side. Burning intensely in the darkness of real life, like a beacon guiding ships to safety. She approached the intrapanel, and its red-bordered touchscreen.

Yuri, she thought. All that wonderful yuri.

She reached into her pocket to pull her keystick out, and—

Luci halted like she'd suddenly been magnetized to the floor. No, it-it's just … I just couldn't find it because I was walking, and my pocket was … No, it has to be here! But the more she slapped her pockets, hunting for her missing keystick, the more the realization slapped her all across the head.

Where did it go?! I had it when I came … in …

Slowly, she craned her head and stared at the ceiling.

Did it fall out when I was crawling through the vent?!

Suddenly, the stress of being alive became much too great for Luci's poor, fragile little body. She sank to her knees like the artificial gravity had quadrupled in strength. Her hands clenched into fists and beat against her skull. Sobs of grief choked the back of her throat and nearly drowned her in spittle.

No! I didn't survive almost getting stranded on that rogue planet to give up now!

A surge of passion ignited inside her like a starship firing its engines and soaring off into the sky. She picked her head up, snarling with defiance at the cosmos, and lunged for the door. Her fingers clawed at the surface, trying to pry open the maintenance panels that concealed the manual release. But no matter how hard she dug in with her fingernails, they remained flush with the door's surface. And all her work tools were on the other side of the locked door. The engines of hope and passion fizzled out. She slowly arced towards the ground. Flaming out, picking up speed, headed for a colossal crash.

Sobbing under her breath, she slid down the door — her fingernails failing to find purchase on its surface — and collapsed in a heap on the floor.

It was so cold out there, in the bleak corridors of reality.

The bright flame of beautiful yuri burned on the other side of her bedroom door, just hot enough to cruelly tease her.

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Kestrel Mining Introduction Arc

"Coming & Going"

FIN

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