Save me from myself (Lucy)

[Evony Vasiliev]

There was rarely a time where Evony had felt so utterly lost in her own emotions and thoughts. Most of the time the thief's mind danced from one sensation to another, constantly granting her a healthy, albeit occasionally illegal, dose of adrenalin. The girl flourished in this spontaneity, or she did up until the sensations in her heart and mind became a blissfully sickening mess involving a certain Australian. These short term bursts of satisfaction no longer quenched the kleptomaniac's desires, they felt like empty rewards that could not measure up to the torrent of emotions that came with her new found appreciation for the one person she could not escape. It always returned to Lucy, drunk or sober it was always the Australian on Evony's mind.

The thief could not, dared not, explain why she felt the way she did. The things she found comfort in; objects and sex, tangible things, simply couldn't compare to Lucy. The tattooed beauty was a great mystery, one that had the skinny swindler's heart fluttering and stomach in a knot and it was this overwhelming devotion that made the thief's troubles all the more real.

Even though Lucy and Evony ended 2013 on good terms it still weighed heavily in the back of the thief's mind. Was that really all they could muster? A suffocating distance filled with people who either cared little for their thing or passionately loathed the acrobat for her mistakes. Evony wouldn't settle for mediocrity, not when it involved Lucy. Regardless of her fresh aims to be more forgiving and wise with her decisions over the new year, Evony could not avoid the paranoia that drilled it's whispers into the back of her skull.

Sawyer's assault on her room, the chance meeting with Penelope and her own fragile bond with the Lucy were a few of the reasons why the thief lingered at the front of a very familiar door in dorm 202.

It felt like she was treading on foreign soil, returning to a battlefield that didn't deserve another war. wasn't peace good no matter how brittle it was? Evony's doubts flooded her mind. questions stacked upon more questions till her mind ached and her lower lip was bruised from the subconscious gnawing. It shouldn't of mattered, Lucy knew her more than anyone else did...and that's what worried the thief so much. She knew so little of the Australian compared to what Lucy knew of her, by now the tattooed beauty could write a detailed dictionary detailing all of the acrobat's flaws with illustrations.

So there should stood, fidgeting with the bag slung over her shoulder and mentally rehearsing everything she was going to say and in what order. She was barefoot, blue eyed and blue haired, just like the first time all of this started. The Blue Bird reborn.

Sucking in a deep breath, Evony locked her knees and bit hard on her lip. There was no turning back, she had to take the first steps sometimes, it was only fair. Without further thought the Blue haired thief knocked.

She was ready.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

As it stood, Lucy’s current life was much more unstable when she gave it a decent amount of thought. The only constant she had were her friends – those she spent Christmas and the subsequent New Years with. Sawyer and Rowan didn’t waver from her life. She was building a decent friendship with Sawyer. Rowan had always been hers, and simply continued to be.

She was busy on her computer, desperate to gather a decent distraction that would keep her grounded in her own room for more than a few minutes. Since her last violent outbreak, she’d managed to pick up the pieces of her room in its entirety. The place was, well, relatively spotless. Her clothes were away. Game cases stacked in a relatively neat order – alphabetically, minus a few hiccups. She’d even attempted to make the forest green bed. It wasn’t perfect, but it was settled enough.

The knock at the door came as a surprise. She doubted it would be either of her two close friends. It wasn’t the knock she recognised as Penny’s; no matter what mood the OCD Queen was in, she just didn’t knock like that.

As Lucy stood up, she instinctively stretched her arms over her head and cringed. Her muscles strained as they moved, a little painfully within themselves, but not unbearable. Before she made the move to face anyone she shrugged an oversized grey cardigan over her tank top and high waisted denim shorts; a relatively usual outfit by now. As she went to open the door, she noticed that the sleeves on the thing were still very much rolled up.

Opening the door, Lucy didn’t know what or who to expect. She didn’t expect to see so much blue.

“Shit,” She swore instinctively. She looked so different. Her eyebrows furrowed instantly; “Where the fuck did you go?”

[Evony Vasiliev]

Clutching the woven strap of the bag filled with goodies tightly, Evony waited with her lips tightly locked and her brow furrowed in concentration. This was the first time seeing Lucy in a month, how much had things changed? What happens if she wasn't even in the room? Or with someone else like Sawyer? The thought of her well endowed roommate sent a pang of discomfort coursing through the thief's body, she wasn't ready to face that girl, not anytime soon.

Lucy was the source of all of her concerns so it was best to tackle that first. Although tackle was probably the wrong word, more like shower with souvenirs and attempt to forge something worth the endless time and effort she put into this thing. Was it even still a thing?

Shaking her thoughts from her blue haired head, the porcelain skinned waif fidgeted in silence as she waited for a reply. Footsteps were heard and after a second fixing up a loose strand of hair the door was finally opened, revealing the girl who refused to leave the thief's mind.

"Wow." She whispered, her eyes widening a little at seeing Lucy after so long. But it was a verbal slip and the instant she caught onto it, Evony tried to save herself. "You're looking good Lucy." The Blue Bird smiled, noting that there was something different about the girl standing in front of her.

"Oh...I was overseas for a bit." She mumbled, fiddling with the mass of bracelets adorning her bony wrists. "Sorry I didn't say goodbye." Evony added, actually embarrassed that Lucy had noticed her absence, whether the acrobat was expecting that or not didn't matter. She still felt a spring of warmth flower beneath her momentary embarrassment.

"I brought back souvenirs for you. I mean if you're not busy or anything, I can always come back another time or something." Evony fumbled, internally kicking herself for not staying to script, she wanted to be here, she needed to be here. Averting her gaze from the overly attractive individual in front of her, the Blue Bird's gaze finally settled on the extremely foreign spectacle that lay within Lucy's dorm.

"Umm...have you been robbed?" Evony asked, one eyebrow raised as she pointed at Lucy's new bedroom. Now that in itself was a weird sight. Shooting a humoured look back at the Australian, the waif found herself smirking. "I like it."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy blinked a few times at the sudden word that dropped from the thief's mouth. What was that for? Had it really been so long?

Of course she knew how long it'd been since she'd seen her. "Didn't know I looked any different." She replied, as deftly as possible. Maybe it was the concept of absence. She'd boil it down to that for now.

"Cheers for that, yeah." Lucy replied instantly. She felt relief in knowing that she hadn't just disappeared off the face of the earth for no reason, but it didn't excuse her decision not to tell the Australian. Then again, it wouldn't surprise Lucy to know that Evony didn't think she'd care.

But last time they were really together- Didn't her own admission count for anything any more?

Lucy looked visibly surprised to learn she had some things for her. Usually she was stealing from her, so it was a welcome change. "I'm not busy." She shot back, "Just doing what I always do." With a shrug she motioned over her shoulder towards computer. But she felt Evony's gaze travel in the room, not quite welcoming the difference in design. The cleanliness of it all.

"Ah yeah," Lucy replied, running her hand through her her hair, "A friend of mine's going through some heavy life shit. When he gets stressed he cleans like an OCD freak." Well, it wasn't exactly a lie. Rowan was crazy neat when he panicked. And he'd been panicking a lot lately. This time she'd cleaned it up on her own, but it hadn't started that way.

Standing to one side, Lucy motioned with a tilt of her head that she could walk inside; "Beside, you've been away," Lucy pointed out with a hint of a grin, "Who the fuck else is gonna rob me?"

[Evony Vasiliev]

Evony strangely found comfort in the fact that the greeting wasn't as awkward as she initially believed it would. There was the verbal slip but other than that, she was glad Lucy was here speaking with her. The doubts in her mind still simmered but for now, the thief was simply content with being there. It was like a replay of times shared before everything turned to shit, the Blue Bird knocking on the Australian's door with arms full of goodies.

Although this time the goodies were purchased legally and there would be no thread of guilt attached to the objects stuffed inside the thief's bag.

There was definitely going to be a recount of the holiday, whether it happened now or later didn't matter. Besides, knowing how her absence may have irked the Australian didn't entirely encourage the thief to go over every strenuous detail of her trip to Hungary. That and the reason why she left, that in itself was a whole new can of worms waiting to be spilled over.

Upon finding out what exactly Lucy was doing, Evony could not help but feel herself smile at the thought. "Right, being a nerd." She giggled, lightly nudging the Australian in the shoulder before slipping into the overly clean room that was Lucy's.

"Well...he did a good job I guess. Although I do miss some of the old flavour, all those drawings everywhere and that pile of clothing. You do remember that right? Unless you're not who you say you are and the real Lucy is tied up somewhere waiting to be rescued!" The girl exclaimed with childish glee, offering Lucy a genuinely cheeky grin. It was good to be back.

"Lucy, you need to give your peers some credit. I'm not the only one with...borrowing issues." She sighed with a roll of her eyes, dropping the contents of the bag on top of Lucy's organised bed before sitting down next to it, legs crossed and cheeks a tad pink. Amongst the gifts was an ornate dagger, several brushes, a large pack of Túró Rudi and several silver pieces from her dear old father. "I didn't know what you would like so I got you everything." She shrugged, rifling her fingers through the contents til she found a charcoal coloured bracelet.

"It's a good luck charm, keep you away from robbers." Evony winked, motioning with her hand for Lucy's wrist. Tying the waxen fabric with deft hands, Evony found herself enjoying the comfort in the act. "How have you been anyway? How's your sister and stuff?"

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"Yeah, yeah." Lucy retorted, nudging her back with ease. She was well aware of her nerd status, to the point where she knew it wasn't something to be ashamed of. Hell, she wore it on her skin. Though most of those tattoos were covered, save for the usual guy on the back of her thigh. At least his face was hidden from view.

Lucy listened to everything that was said to her, turning away to close the door once Evony was inside. Crossing the room, Lucy went back towards her desk and opted to lean against it. She still had a significant wall of drawings near her bed. The usual snippets of individuals with some newer workings pinned atop the others. It was as organised as that wall was going to get.

"I almost forgot, you don't know how to shut up." Lucy replied with a nonchalant roll of her eyes. She folded her arms and watched the girl make herself comfortable on her bed. She tilted her head to the side slightly, unable to recall the last time she'd been there. The mere notion of her bed flooded her memory with thoughts of a different girl entirely. Lucky this one's attention was too far drawn away to notice any look from the Australian. From the distance, she couldn't really see anything specific.

Unfurling her arms, the ink manipulator took the necessary steps towards her when she was waved over. She extended her sworded wrist out, pulling the rolled up sleeve back towards her elbow. "You lookin' to keep yourself away?" She asked, her eyebrows raised. She was the only robber Lucy knew of. It felt strangely personal; Lucy had to wonder how long it'd be before this one got stolen back. The thought made her smile in a strangely amused way.

"Fine. We hung out on Christmas because we couldn't be fucked jumping on a plane to go back home." Well, she couldn't. Her sister seemed to be content enough to go along with the idea. "I hung out with Saw on New Years. There was some party in the dorms."

The details of the night were pretty lost on her.

"Why'd you even get me anything?" Lucy asked suddenly, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly.

[Evony Vasiliev]

Evony could not help but enjoy the momentary jab in her direction, scrunching up her face with mock insult as she fiddled with the thought. It was no lie though, she didn't want to come on too heavy after a month of relative silence but the very notion of trying to keep tight lipped about petty things seemed silly. The thief missed talking to Lucy, she missed the girl's strange accent and the occasionally lukewarm reactions at the flippant change in topics.

Relinquishing her grip on Lucy's wrist, Evony allowed the notion of disappearing once more settle in her mind. The thought alone made her uncomfortable, for reasons she didn't want to admit to herself but the Blue Bird simply shrugged, feigning amusement with the idea. "Oh believe me, it's going to take a lot more than that to keep me away." Evony smiled, nodding towards the woven trinket.

It didn't have to be the bracelet. It could easily be friends that humiliate and frighten the thief to stay away from the Australian, although that was not going to be mentioned just yet.

But the mention of Sawyer during Christmas time only seemed to strengthen the thought. The bedroom incident happened the same day as the partying, so Lucy was probably in the know of what happened. That alone was enough to force the thief into a contemplative silence, her fingers twiddling with the edge of her shirt.

Not now, not yet.

Shaking her head and reverting her gaze back to Lucy's face, the porcelain skinned waif cleared her throat as allowed an easy smile to slip over the uncertainty. "Well that's good, hopefully you got spoilt." Evony said quietly, glancing around at the room. Maybe this new set up was a 2014 resolution.

Lucy's question was enough to throw the skinny swindler back into reality, a sheepish grin finding its way onto her lips.

"Because...why not?" She shrugged, feeling her skin get a bit warm around the cheeks. Evony could be very generous when she wanted to be, very. "You've been a good person to me and it's a late birthday, Christmas and New Years present." She explained, deftly organising the assorted gifs. During all of those events forces beyond her control demanded she stay away from the Australian.

"Can I ask you something?" Evony cringed, not knowing whether this was a serious way to start debunking her worries. "Did I...snore when I slept with you?" A nervous laugh soon followed and the thief found her gaze firmly on the pillows. Surely, one of them snored.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy nodded once. She'd keep it in mind that this girl had no intention of going anywhere.

She seemed... Uncertain. Lucy wasn't sure why, or how to take it. So she opted to ignore the fact for now, but it wouldn't leave her mind completely. "Dunno about spoilt. It was pretty awesome, though." She replied anyway, bringing her adorned wrist up to her sight line briefly. Hn.

"You reckon I've been good to you?" The ink manipulator asked, glancing back at her again. Truthfully, she didn't feel as if she deserved any of it. Lucy was awkward about getting gifts or anything of the like. Just as awkward as she was about words of thanks and sorrow. She ran her hand across the back of her neck, shifting the material of her cardigan to ensure her shoulders stayed covered.

She cringed again idly when Evony asked if she could ask her a question. Though she doubted they were cringing for the same reason. "I dunno, I don't remember." Lucy replied with a shrug, folding her arms in front of her chest again. "I spelt pretty sound when you were around, save for a couple of times, I guess. So maybe. But if you did I never cared." Lucy watched her for any sign of a reaction, but her confusion was pretty evident.

It was a weird thing to ask. "Why? Did uhh-" She faltered slightly, "Did someone tell you you do, or something?"

[Evony Vasiliev]

Rolling the tongue stud against the roof of her mouth, Evony contemplated the very notion of Lucy being good to her. It was a subjective term, one the thief wasn't going to use foolishly. Yes, there had been times where the Australian hurt the thief. She was crass, dismissive and emotionally distant but compared to a wide majority of people, Lucy exhibited a supernatural patience for the Blue Bird. By now, Evony was convinced no one else would've lasted this long.

"I don't know, can't I spoil my friends?" She shrugged, pursing her lips and rolling some candy between her fingers. In actuality and as ironic as it may appear, Evony's displays of affection were often exhibited in gift giving and physical acts. In her mind she was a very touchy feely Robin Hood.

"You've been better than most." She said quietly, offering Lucy a tender simper. It may have come off as a surprise to the Australian but it was spoken with the utmost sincerity. Even if Lucy was some mastermind planning out the thief's suffering at least she was doing well to hide it. Not that Evony wanted such a thing to be true, not at all.

A sigh of relief quickly followed once her question was answered, of sort of answered. This in turn only confused her even more. Something was up, something was wrong and things weren't adding up.

"No...no it's nothing." She frowned, scrunching her brow as she glanced out at the window. "It's just something I've always wanted to know." Evony spoke, noting Lucy's question. Did she think there was someone else?

"The last person I slept with was...you, not counting my sister." Evony nodded, feeling the tug of her dangerous curiosity begin to unravel. "So no need to worry about that I guess, I think my cold feet scare everyone else." A hollow laugh followed, this wasn't working.

Lucy knew her well enough to see through the thinly veiled uncertainty.

"It's funny though...I mean, the other day I was at the gym and along comes this other girl named Penelope? Yeah that's right. Penelope. She hates you or something, got really bad vibes from that girl, anyways we were talking and then she did this weird thing where she mentioned your sleeping habits or lack thereof." Evony paused, taking a breath and shoving one of the pieces of candy into her mouth.

Her eyes found the familiar chocolate brown, no longer drowning in them but waiting for a reaction.

"Who is this Penelope and why does she hate you so much?"

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"Well, shit." Lucy replied, running a hand across her jaw idly. She was trying her absolute best not to grin her way through the concept of someone thinking she was actually good to them, but it proved difficult to quell, "So y'don't hate me."

She knew she didn't. She knew a lot more than that. But the information that this girl was in love with her was just... Damn near impossible to process.

Lucy shrugged at first. Okay, maybe there was nothing to the question. Evony was a bit strange at the best of times, so it wasn't out of the ordinary for her to ask random questions from time to time. It'd happened before. It'd probably happen again. She raised her eyebrows when Evony felt the need to mention that she hadn't been sleeping with anyone else. Lucy was the last. "Okay." She replied definitively. She at least wanted her to know that she got the message.

She raised her gaze back to her eyes when she chose to launch into what Lucy could only describe as a really random conversation. She searched her eyes for the point to all this, because there had to be one. What Lucy took from the explanation was more than likely unexpected. A meeting between the two was information to process later.

"You don't know her?" Lucy asked, chuckling lightly at her own question; "She's in like, half our classes Ev." She was hard to miss there, too. She liked belittling the Australian for her lack of a decent work ethic from time to time. "We clash, I guess. It's like she's got a stick up her ass every time anyone tries to bloody talk to her. So... It's funny to bug the shit outta her."

She was also hot, but whatever.

When her laughter died down, so did the amused look on her face; "You've been back for... A while?"

[Evony Vasiliev]

Evony granted Lucy's momentary amusement, empathising with the notion of it all. Whether it was simply because she was hanging on to old hopes and dreams may have well been the case, but Evony knew some good came out of whatever this thing was. What it was she was yet to fully understand. "Nah don't think so." She smiled, scoffing at the thought. Hatred got her nowhere.

The slow transition from the small talk to things that mattered felt jarring, but the thief's dire need to know what she didn't spurred her forth. Something as small as the snoring debacle was enough to concern her. What if she did snore? Why had no one told her that? But more importantly, the underlying concern was why and how Penelope knew about the mystery snore, or lack thereof.

Gnawing on her lip, Evony have herself time to breathe and consider everything that came rushing out of her mouth.

Penelope didn't matter. She was just another strange metahuman in the maze that is Hammel. What mattered was Lucy and where she stood in all of this. The thief needed confirmation for things she could not understand and that was enough to spur the paranoia even further.

"I just never noticed her that's all." Evony shrugged, genuinely ignorant to the Brit's existence for a worrying amount of time. In reality, Evony spent most of her time in class doing anything but pay attention. "She did come across as a bit volatile." Was that the right word? The Blue Bird wasn't entirely sure but it felt right. Something about the Brit irked her and it wasn't her accent.

Once the lightheartedness stopped Evony felt the spotlight shine on her, a question that would get the ball rolling as it were. Straightening her posture she offered Lucy a thoughtful gaze before beginning.

"I've been here for five days." She said quietly. "I had a lot to do before I came here.." Like cleaning up her room and getting over the fear of being pushed back by the girl.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Truthfully, it didn't surprise the ink manipulator that Penny had gone unnoticed by the thief. Not a lot of people noticed her unless they happened to get on her bad side. Were it not for that fact, Lucy likely would have no idea who she was. "She's a real bitch, yeah." Lucy denoted. Again, it wasn't a lie. Penny was just about as rude as the Australian in her own way. She knew that about herself.

Why would she divulge the intricate moments of her relationship with the psychometrist? Lucy could see little good coming from that. She could play up her dislike as well as downplay her interest.

"I gotta say, I'm surprised." Lucy replied slowly, unsure how else to bring that up. It wasn't as if she could say the news hurt. But it definitely put things into perspective for her. She unfurled her arms, pressing her hands to either side of the desk. "But y'know, that was your call."

[Evony Vasiliev]

Pursing her lips, Evony granted herself a second to relapse into the memory of her chance meeting with Penelope. The girl presented more questions than anything else and although the thief pinned that on her own paranoia it still weighed heavily on her mind. Whoever the Brit was, the Blue Bird was determined to find out one way or another, mirrors were helpful for more than just travelling. Whether it be the immense need to sate her curiosity or to quell the worries that whispered in the back of her mind Evony made it a personal project to figure all of this out soon.

There was one thing that needed to be dealt with in the present and that was her current status with Lucy. The Australian, ever present in the thief's mind, didn't hide her displeasure as well as the skinny swindler was used to and the girl found herself burn with a sliver of shame.

"It's not because I didn't want to see you, believe me...it's just, I wasn't so sure you would want to see me." Evony mumbled, furrowing her brow as her mind bounced back to he scuffle with the voice mimic. "You know, after Sawyer came and trashed my room." Evony sighed, finally looking up.

Gauging for a reaction out of this girl was generally a challenge and even though Evony hoped Lucy knew nothing of the assault, it all seemed too coincidental to merely be an accident.

Why did it happen after their little reconciliation?

"Did you know about that?" She asked quietly, pursing her lips whilst keeping her eyes on the girl. "...Did you send her?" The words tasted bitter but they weren't spoken rudely, rather in a voice that demanded a proper answer.

As much as she adored the Australian some things, dirty things, needed to be cleaned up before anything worthwhile started. This being one of them.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy watched her as she spoke, her fingers drumming against the desk where her hands kept steady. She deftly remembered being backed up against the damn thing by a different girl, her body pressed against that of the Australian's; searing declarations in her ear by way of a British accent. But she blinked the thought away as quickly as she could.

Thankfully, she didn't miss what was said to her.

Sawyer did...

She didn't look surprised. Or confused, for that matter. Instantly she raised a hand, scratching a non-existent itch on her jaw and glancing away. When the hell did the voice mimic have time to do that?

Unfortunately enough, the ink manipulator laughed when she asked if she'd sent her. "I don't think so." She replied, raising a hand to rub the back of her neck idly. "I mean, I didn't like, tell her to go kick your ass or fuck your shit up." Had she really expected that of Lucy? Well, it wasn't completely false.

"I told her what happened, though." She added a shrug to the statement. It wasn't as if she was going to hide that fact. "With us, I mean."

[Evony Vasiliev]

It was an uncomfortable notion to bring up the confrontation with Sawyer, let alone speak about it with Lucy. The entire act was birthed from the voice mimic's desire to defend her friend whom Evony had foolishly deceived and it almost seemed petty to bring it up. The thief deserved it didn't she? The question hung heavy in her mind ever since it occurred but there was always the defiant stubbornness that demanded she fight back. She paid the price and any more suffering was overkill on her tormenter's part.

The laugh was enough to worry the swindler. Whilst she had forgiven much of what happened during the event it still hurt, and the seemingly dismissive response from the Australian felt inconsiderate.

"I see." Evony mumbled, a weak sigh escaping between her teeth. So Lucy didn't order a hit on her, which was good. The thief should've felt relieved, happy even, but it all just added more doubt in underneath the burning torrent of devotion she felt towards the girl.

The thief couldn't help but gaze at the Australian, wondering how far she would have to trek before she regained any semblance to what she once shared with Lucy. It was a bitter pill to swallow and one that itched the base of her heart. If distance made the heart grow fonder than the recent months apart were torture.

Now all Evony had were scraps and a feeble shell of what once was. Regaining it seemed impossible.

"You're still not over that are you?" She asked quietly, actually keeping her eyes on the girl she betrayed. It was a dangerous question, but any notion of self preservation seemed futile now.