Under Rug Swept [Lucy]

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

It wasn’t hard to get into Serrano’s dorm. Penelope had convinced one her dorm mates to let her in – the small girl was quite sweet, but also very naive, and had let Penelope in without a second thought.

“Oh dear god.” Penelope opened the door to Lucy’s room, if you could even call it that. She raised a hand to her mouth, eyes wide at the sight in front of her.

If there was any form of organization to the mess, Penelope could not figure it out. She visibly cringed at the art supplies that were spread across the floor and the unmade bed. Pictures were unframed across the walls, and the desk was carved into as if it were the school desk of a student in detention.

How could somebody possibly live this way?

Penelope dropped her bag in what seemed to be the only clear spot of the floor. She rolled up the sleeves of her turquoise shirt. This was going to take longer than expected.

About an hour and a half later, Penelope had made a large amount of progress. The room actually looked like somebody could reside in it. She had made the bed, tucking the dark green blanket into the sides of the mattress, so not a wrinkle could be seen.

The closet (oh, that closet. How Lucy could had found any clothes was beyond Penny) was neatly organized. Shirts and jackets were put on hangers, organized by style. Jackets. Long sleeves. Blouses. T-shirts. Then undershirts. All other clothes were folded neatly enough to look like they were on a display in a store, and stacked neatly in a similar style. Jeans. Shorts. Undergarments.

Penelope had to resist the urge to buy an entire cabinet to account for all of the art supplies lying around, but managed to find little homes for everything in accordance to what they were used for.

She had just finished alphabetizing Lucy’s stack of video games when she heard the door click open. Without missing a beat, Penelope continued with what she was doing.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

The cold had never been kind to Lucy Serrano. She wasn't used to snow, or temperatures that frequently dropped below zero. She was used to sunshine; humid heating. So when the season came around once again, she was back to beanies, gloves and a khaki coloured parka. She hadn't gone out for long - at least, not as long as she realised - but a trip into Pilot Ridge ended up taking longer than she expected. She returned with a plastic bag carrying various tubes of paint, a few new brushes and two particular sets of pencils - one of which was a decent a wide set encompassing shades of blue.

Swinging the door wide open, Lucy took a step in as if nothing was different. Because she didn't expect anything to be different.

But oh, it was.

She froze, like the wind she'd come in from had finally gotten underneath her skin. Only her eyes moved, scanning the room and of course, landing fixated on a certain entity that really shouldn't have been in there. Her first thought was a small sliver of relief, that all the colours were there.

Her second was something akin to; what was it with girls and breaking into her room?

"-The fuck are you doing in here?" Lucy asked, quietly as she tentatively pulled the gloves from her hands. Quiet talking was always a worry; it meant something ferociously harsh was waiting to burst forward. She tossed the gloves down on the ground.

At least she looked good in turquoise.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Ah, how nicely everything was coming together. Penelope finally turned as Lucy spoke. She was surprised how quiet her question was. Penelope had rarely experienced a quiet Lucy, actually it was quite the contrary, Lucy was normally obnoxiously loud in Penny’s opinion. She had no idea what was to come.

“Well,” Penelope straightened her back and crossed her arms, but overall seemed quite relaxed compared to her normal self, “You had taken the liberty of…decorating my room. I decided to return the favor.”

As if the Australian didn’t see this coming.

Penelope’s eyes followed Lucy’s gloves as they hit the ground before flickering back up to her eyes. “What? Are you more surprised that I got that stain out of your floor, or that you actually had a floor to begin with?” She stepped forward before reaching down and snatching the gloves off the floor. Like hell Lucy Serrano was going to dirty that room with Penelope was still in it.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Oh, look at her smug little face. Her smug little voice and her pole-up-her-ass attitude. Lucy stared at her with the most dumbfounded expression on her face. If she were in a lighter mood, she might have been a little proud of the girl for taking the concept of revenge and running with it. Lucy messes with the OCD chick's room, she cleans hers in return.

But how was she supposed to see this coming!

She didn't respond with words. She grumbled a low, unappreciative groan as her eyes narrowed further. Favour not returned.

"I know there's a floor." Lucy snapped back, her fingers hooking around the buttons of her parka as she slowly worked to undo them. Her eyes flickered with a very rage-worthy fire when she watched the other girl pick up the gloves she'd only just thrown. "Hey!" She shouted the word as she dragged the jacket off her body and purposefully tossed it at the well-made bed she didn't want. It provided some crinkles to the cover before falling onto the floor.

"What're you doing with my clothes!?"

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

It didn’t surprise her that Lucy was angry – hell, she was half expecting to be hit in the head with a club or something of the sort. It would have been worth it, of course. But the girl could at least appreciate how nice everything looked.

Seeing Lucy Serrano frustrated was much more enjoyable than Penelope realized. “I meant an actual, proper floor.” She tapped the floor with her foot, “Not one that was created out of paintbrushes and paper.”

Ah. There was the shouting.

Penelope remained unphased as walked over to the bed, picking up the parka and straightening out the blanket, ridding the wrinkles that had been put in it.

“I’m putting them where they belong.” Penelope stated matter-of-factly, making her way over to the closet and opening the door, revealing how beautifully organized it was. She slipped the parka on a hanger and placed it in its proper spot, and placed the gloves in a small basket on the floor. “See?”

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"Better than being boring as fuck." Lucy retorted clearly. She didn't mind that there was no clean space on the floor. She did what she wanted, where she wanted. If that meant commandeering a clear space on the ground then so be it. But it was... Too clean. Too refined for her to be comfortable.

Oh, watch as she cleaned up the mess Lucy made. She felt the corner of her mouth pull into something of a snarl at the mere movement. She had to stop this. She had to stop being so outrageously pissed and think of a way to stop this.

"Put these where they belong." Lucy instinctively pressed the toe of her boot to the heel, kicking it off in a swift motion and allowing it to land close to the girl. Of course there was mud. There was always mud. She even got it on her uneven socks when she went to kick the other one off. Though it hit the side of the bed and left a mark on the deep green cover. "And these."

She reached down and peeled the socks off her feet, balling them together and throwing them at the girl. She didn't see if they connected, because she was looking down at her loose fitting sleeveless shirt, her fingers curled into the material.

"This too, y'want this?" Lucy asked.

And without waiting for an answer, she started pulling it up over her head.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Mud. Penelope hated mud. She gritted her teeth as she watched the first boot soar across the room, landing next to her feet. Now that was just plain rude. Before she could pick it up, she watched as the second boot hit the bed, leaving a muddy print on the blanket, to which she visibly cringed.

“Of course you wouldn’t mind sleeping in a muddy bed.” Penelope stated, shaking her head in disbelief. The girl really didn’t care, did she? It was unbelievable.

Suddenly, she felt a shock hit the top of her head, quickly followed by another that would have hit her nose if she didn’t lift her arms up as a defense. What the—

“You’re absurd!” Penny snapped, but her eyes grew wide as Lucy grabbed the bottom of her shirt. She wasn’t really going to—

-- Oh dear, she was. Penelope promptly approached Lucy just as she started to pull the shirt up over her head. “What the hell are you doing!?” Penelope reached for the material in an attempt to pull it back down, but instead just struggled with it

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy didn't have the time to respond to what Penny was saying. She didn't care that the girl was having a go at the mud left on her blanket. She probably wouldn't wash it - ever since things went south with Evony she'd been boycotting her other cover for legitimate reasons.

What she didn't expect was the girl to come at her. Wasn't she a freak for personal space? Lucy was forced to stop mid-plan, and it only made her angrier.

"What, you wanted to clean up after me!" Lucy interjected, knowing all too well that this outburst was going to be more difficult with someone actively trying to stop her. It was something of a stalemate scramble - she couldn't move while Penny was holding her shirt, and from this angle she couldn't get her off either.

Taking a chance, Lucy pushed herself forward with every intention of knocking the girl back onto her bed. If she didn't let go, Lucy would probably land right on top of her. If she did, Lucy'd be free enough to take the shirt off and throw it right in her face.

It all depended on how Penny reacted.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penelope was happy to see that Lucy was struggling to get the shirt fully off, even if they were practically stuck. Yes, she was a freak about personal space, but she was also a freak for decency. She didn’t want to know how she would react to Lucy stripping down, so really, she had no choice. As they struggled, Penelope actually thought she had the upper hand for a coment. There! She had no choice but to pull the shirt down! Ha!

She certainly wasn’t expecting to be pushed backwards. Who does that?! Then again, it was Lucy she was dealing with.

Unfortunately, although Penelope was quick with her language, she was lacking in the department of actual physical reaction. Because of which, she didn’t have time to free her hands from the shirt, and found herself falling onto the bed with Lucy in tow.

She winced as the other landed right on top of her, and as she opened her eyes she was startled to find her face only centimeters away from Lucy’s.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

In hindsight, Lucy could have thought of several ways to get out of this moment without going the way she did. She could have lied to make the other girl back off and then pulled it off anyway. But she was angry - seethingly so - and so most common sense, maniacal or otherwise, went out the window.

How could she expect that the girl wouldn't let her go?

She fell onto the bed, dragging the Australian with her in the same moment. Lucy crashed down onto her, her shirt half lifted between them as they were pressed against each other. She finally worked to free her hands from the article of clothing, struggling for a moment before pushing up. At least her face was no longer right in front of hers.

Lucy stared down at her, her jaw unlocked as if she was prepared to unleash an onslaught of swears and frustration at her. Words had always been her forte. But they were gone.

"Why're you doing this to me?" Lucy asked instead, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was literally right on top of the other girl. "Why're you even here? Is this supposed to be revenge?" Every ounce of verbal frustration was present, but it simmered under the surface of her words. She wasn't shouting; "You think what I did for you was a bad thing?"

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penelope was still trying to comprehend the situation at hand. Exactly what had happened. She blinked a couple times in an attempt to clear her head, but it was quite hard to think with Lucy right on top of her. She felt her cheeks start to heat up, likely turning a slight shade of pink as well.

She took in a breath as soon as Lucy pushed herself up, and Penelope herself untangled her hands from the shirt, and also started get up.

But then she realized Lucy wasn’t actually planning on moving much more than the few inches of space she put between their faces. Penelope sunk back down into the bed, feeling increasingly uncomfortable under both Lucy’s body and gaze.

Penelope looked at the other, as if trying to figure out what she had in plan, and she only saw anger. She had expected an outburst or something of the sort, but found herself faced with a question.

Her eyebrows rose as she paused a moment before answering. Revenge? Not quite, but either way, Lucy didn’t quite see the point of it all. She felt the need to pick her words carefully and speak calmly as a reaction to the strange gentleness of Lucy’s question. “And do you think what I did for you is a bad thing?” It was the same idea, really. As to why she was doing it all, other than to prove a point, she had no real reason. If it was anybody else, she would had dealt with it differently. But this was Lucy.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

No. Lucy wasn't going to move. She had a penchant for attracting people who liked to run away from her when she confronted them with questions. And while she knew it wasn't conventional, for whatever reason she'd been given the ability to trap and confront the person who disturbed her space. Her habitat.

The space she was only just finding the means to reclaim.

"Yes." She replied stubbornly. There was no possible reason why someone would come in and adjust her living quarters so drastically. "You think I went into your room to fuck up everything you own?" Lucy quickly shut her eyes tightly, frustrated at how poorly she was coming across."I didn't mean to break that stupid fucking dumbass globe thing."

Truthfully, she hadn't even thought of it as a relevant thing. Not until she realised how important it must have been.

"I was trying to show you what you could be." No, that wasn't right. She shook her head. Shit - she had this periodically mapped out before it got so intense. "I don't know, what you could reach for. Maybe that you can actually feel something if you just fucking well let yourself feel it!"

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penelope started to feel the anger begin to bubble inside of her. “Yes.” She snapped in a similar fashion, “I do think you did.” She gritted her teeth, unable to believe the words she was hearing out of Lucy’s mouth.

“It’s not stupid!” Penelope burst out, the volume of her own voice surprising her. She stared into Lucy as her eyes started to water again, remembering just how careless the other had been about the whole situation.

“Do you think I like this?” Penelope asked, genuinely. “Do you think I wouldn’t choose to be all…flowy and careless if I could, do you?” It was Penelope’s turn to struggle with how she was coming across. “But maybe if you looked around you could glimpse into my life and realize that it isn’t as bad as you make it out to be!”

Penelope shook her head, trying to straighten out her own words. “You think I don’t feel anything, but you went and broke the one thing in that entire room that I actually cared about. Well congratulations, I felt that one!”

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy felt the unwavering need to explain her point, so she didn't stop to contest any of the counter statements Penelope was throwing at her. It wasn't even about what she'd broken. At least, not how she saw things.

But she was wrong. Though she'd never admit to it. Even when Penny's eyes were watering. Lucy looked down at her with a faint sliver of concern; the emotion didn't suit her dark eyes.

Lucy watched her when she spoke. More to the point, she scrutinised every word. Every expression. Every twitch of a facial muscle. This was legitimate. This was a genuine response. It felt like this girl was exposing her soul to the Australian. It was strangely intimate, but in that moment she didn't even seem to care. She didn't even register how dire the situation was.

She wanted to spitefully laugh at the concept of being flowy and careless. Her life was far from that.

But when Penelope Blaise started in on her again, she felt her insides turning. Her blood boiling. She just didn't get Lucy.

"Shut up and listen to me for a fucking second, you idiot!" Lucy shouted at her. She hated when she didn't make sense. Almost as much as she hated the girl that was trapped underneath her. "I know you can feel things. Jesus, that's what I just fucking said to you!" She had to calm down.

She knew that.

"I'm-" She choked on the word.

This wasn't happening, was it? Lucy pushed herself off the bed completely, taking a sharp step backwards as the hem of her shirt fell to her waist again.

"I'm sorry," Lucy stared back at her; "Okay?"

Truer words were never spoken. The Australian had only ever mustered one other apology in the years she'd spent at Hammel. And that had been just as private.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Why was she saying these things? The fact that she was being so honest fueled her anger with Lucy. It always came down to her. Maybe it was the anger itself that allowed her to open up. She didn’t know.

But whatever happened, it worked. Penelope thought she saw just the slightest amount of concern in Lucy’s eyes. She studied Lucy’s face carefully for any other sign – but now Penelope wasn’t sure if she had seen one in the first place.

If Penelope was going to shut up and listen, well, Lucy would have to as well. She felt as if Lucy wasn’t getting it, but the problem was that neither was she.

“…Pardon?” Penelope’s eyebrows knitted together as Lucy pushed herself off the bed. The distance put between them somehow felt more uncomfortable than they were only moments before.

Lucy’s words were so honest. Genuine. It almost hurt.

Penelope pushed herself off of the bed as well, brushing herself off. She wanted to yell at Lucy, even to possibly hit the girl out of pure frustration. But she couldn’t.

She hesitated a moment, shifting on her feet before she spoke. “I’m sorry…too.”