Down, down, down the line (Lucy)

[Dominique Chevalier]

It had been somewhere between his 11th and his 17th drink that Dom had found he had any real trouble walking. And it was not keeping a straight baring that was causing him to halt in the grass with his face creased in a glaze-eyed frown. It was a sudden, startling tiredness instead, that worked at his knees and feet. He was so fed up. He needed to stop.

Sitting on the grass, the slightly disheveled Chevalier set the elegant necked bottle down beside it, fingers lingering on the neck as if it was flesh and not glass he’d been warming with the heat of his hands.

He wasn’t close to the school, or any major road that could be counted on to carry a taxi or two, and the distance suddenly seemed impossible.

There was no real reason to bother anyway, was there?

And it wasn’t like he could call his brother and explain just why he’d felt the compulsion to walk into town and persuade someone to part with a rather expensive bottle of whiskey. Whiskey that was now mostly gone, so even that possible enticement was wasted.

It was growing though, he could feel it. A dull roaring in his ears that pushed out behind his eyes and tried for force him to look, to see and to comprehend. And he’d be here, alone with just that, just having to... comprehend.

His phone had been in his pocket the entire time, but now it was grasped and stared at as Dom pressed the heel of one palm against his forehead as he lent over it.

There was really only one person he could have called, anyway.

Dialling Lucy’s number, Dom sat in the grass as his nose started to sting with cold. He had no idea what he would say, even if she picked up.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

The undeniable sound of Lucy’s ringtone blasted through the silence that enveloped the ink manipulator’s room. As much as she did so love Janelle Monae’s music, it just wasn’t fun when it woke her up at such a time of the night. Or was it morning? Lucy’s frustration was audible as she grumbled through her drawl from slumber, a hand flying out of her blanket to paw aimlessly for her phone.

The second she’d moved away, Lucy felt the familiar hands of her British counterpart reach towards her, as if requesting that she come back. Despite the fact that the Australian faltered to the desire, she pushed forward anyway and found her phone.

She glanced at it as best she could, the name on the screen almost immediately jolting her back into reality. Still, she took a spare few seconds to stare at it.

Falling onto her back again, Lucy ran her hand across her face and closed her eyes before actually bringing the phone to her ear. “Aye,” She offered as a type of greeting, exhaling an exhausted sigh; “Yeah?”

[Dominique Chevalier]

Dom preferred texting over phone calls, but that wasn't the reason for his silence. It had just been allowed to occur that he could think of no real thing to say. "Hey," he managed, his face crumpling into a frown as his fingers tightened their grip.

What was he supposed to say after that? For a short while there would be no sound but his faint breathing, which hung in the cold hair like smog. It was late. So late it was early. But, she hadn't screened his call, or told him to fuck off and let her sleep. Dom took a shallow, faltering breath.

"I'm sorry if I woke you up," he started, looking at his bare feet in front of him, "I just-" Again, he paused. Just what?

say it

He didn't want to. He didn't want the thought there long enough to solidify in his brain, let alone his mouth. "Fucked up," he managed, finally. He was fucked up drunk, perhaps. Or he had fucked up, and was hiding from it. Or, he was just fucked up. A fuck up. His mouth moved, but none of those possibilities seemed worth saying out loud.

And anyway, he wouldn't be able to pick.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Dom's small greeting was a very confusing one for Lucy. Had she been a little more awake, she might have been more susceptible to the way in which he struggled with the singular word. As it was, she was just confused.

For a brief time, she only heard breathing. And so he only heard breathing, save for the occasional shuffling sound she made as she moved to procure comfort underneath her blanket. That and the quiet grumbles she made each time she moved to stretch a muscle.

His apology made her eyes snap open again before she cringed at her ceiling. Now things were getting weird. So within the break - between his faltered statement and the time he picked it up again, she offered; "It's fine."

Because to her, it was. Still, she turned her head slightly and glanced at Penny. She switched the phone between her hands, breaching the minimal distance between them to idly run her fingers through her hair. Just once, at first. To remind her she was there.

His statement forced Lucy to falter in the simple movement she was providing. It felt weighted. She took her time to consider it.

"What happened?"

[Dominique Chevalier]

A stumble of a laugh followed Lucy insisting it was fine. Quickly clapping his hand over his mouth, rubbing at the traitorous lips, Dom cleared his throat. He hadn't meant to laugh at her, but for her to let a late night call go without even one insult-

He must sound bad. The call again lapsed into silence on both ends again as Dom lent back to look at the sky, his teeth sinking into his bottom lip as he waited and listened to the inquiry when it came.

It was difficult to even know where to start. Saying "everything" was melodramatic, and wasn't entirely true... In the frantic moments it took the Chevalier to wrack his brains for something in his life that was important and hadn't been damaged or destroyed or dented.

"I failed," he said finally, his breath hitching slightly.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Failed. The word was a pretty strong one to choose, and so Lucy had to wonder why he picked it. Dom was always particular with his words, and that was important.

"Who?" Lucy asked, taking a literal shot in the dark. She raised her eyebrows at the mere concept, completely oblivious to what his problem was. She hadn't spoken to him since November. His life was a mystery to her. "Or... What?"

She ran her hand along the Brit's arm, searching for her hand to intertwine their fingers. The eldest Serrano already felt the familiar touch of frustration because she couldn't find the right words. "Fuck. I dunno." She started, pressing her lips into a hardened line, "I need more."

[Dominique Chevalier]

On the other end of the line, Lucy would hear a long sigh as Dom's teeth clenched together and ground against each other like millstones. It was like having something long and slimy being dragged up his throat; Dom had to keep fighting the urge to try and just choke it down.

"Lucy," was the first thing he said, leaning back on the grass with a soft thud. His balance was still off, his vision blurring the stars into streaks of white. "Lucy, I know. Je suis désolé." For a moment, Dom's blue eyes blurred still further as he lay on the ground and reached out to snag a handful of grass.

"My dad's going to be so disappointed in me." For a moment, his breath hissed as the blonde boy sniffed and quickly rubbed his nose to discourage it. "I'm not graduating."

The words seemed to sit in the air like suspended balloons, right in his vision. There now, and impossible to ignore. "Again," he added bitterly. "I'm not graduating again." His pale throat worked as Dom's mouth twisted and finally spoke the death knell. "Cater doesn't know."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Usually, the Australian snapped when people used other languages. Don't speak that shit to me. But she knew he knew that. So she remained silent, her eyes closing as she breathed a sigh. Whatever it meant, it was completely lost on her.

And that was usually the point when it came to Dom.

It was strange to hear him talk about his dad. He'd never mentioned him before. Not to her. Lucy furrowed her eyebrows at the notion before he said what she needed to hear.

He wasn't graduating; "Shit."

Instinctively, she squeezed Penny's hand. When his tone grew more bitter, she felt the corner of her mouth pull into a frown. "How does he not know?" Lucy asked, her tone clearly confused. The more she talked and listened, the more she settled into an awake state of mind.

[Dominique Chevalier]

It was a good, honest question; Lucy knew better than most that there were few things of significance the twins hid from each other. But Dom winced all the same; it had been months. "Because we're not talking," he managed to clip out from between his clenched teeth. "Because I'm a pathetic idiot." It was said as fact, the dry edge not nearly enough to take the sting out of the words.

Never, in a million years, would Dom even imagine bringing up exactly what was said about Lucy between the twins. He wasn't sure he'd be able to stomach them himself, let alone let Lucy hear it. And how would he explain the fight to her anyway, without sounding even more pathetic?

Why had he called her?

"I shouldn't be telling you this," Dom realised suddenly, sitting up again and holding his head as it spun. "This was stupid of me. Go back to sleep."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy's jaw dropped involuntarily when Dom told her they weren't talking. That was just... The most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard. It was a fact she couldn't wrap her head around. Not because they were joined at the hip, or the same person, or anything of that mentality. But they were so important to each other. Anyone with half a brain knew that. It was practically palpable.

"Jesus." She dropped the word finally, and it was all she could say. What else was there to say?

Then suddenly he was back, trailing his way through the conversation to the beginning. Threatening to shut it off. But this was the first she'd heard from him in months. She couldn't let that go.

"Where are you?" She asked instead, "Doesn't sound like your dorm."

[Dominique Chevalier]

From the pause, it was clear that Lucy understood how highly irregular the state of affairs were between the two Chevaliers and Dom could relax a little. She might not get it, as it was something that was hard to get if you weren't them, but she understood enough. He wouldn't seem so stupid as to be drunk dialing about anything other than the end of the world as he knew it.

"I'm not in my dorm," Dom said scornfully, rolling his eyes up at the sky. "Why would I be in my dorm? I went for," looking around, Dom tried to see a path, "a walk," he finished. "I may have lost my shoes."

It should be funny. A part of him registered that this would be funny, one day. Maybe in fifty years he would find this whole story hilarious. The bottle glugged as he took another swig from the neck.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy felt her eyebrows twitch again when he shot out about the fact that he wasn't in his dorm. She was in her dorm. But then, she wasn't calling people at three in the morning in such a state.

However, when he mentioned he lost his shoes, even she couldn't help the small, tired laugh that fell from her mouth on a singular breath. Not because it was funny, but because it was so... Him.

The subtle swish from the other end of the phone helped piece everything together. In her exhausted state, such puzzles weren't so easy. "Where'd you walk to?" Lucy asked, her tone lighter than it had been.

Walking was a good sign, at least. It meant he didn't drive. It meant he wasn't far. Lucy idly trailed patterns across Penny's hand with her thumb, her eyes still staring up at the ceiling; "I'll come find you. What're you near?"

[Dominique Chevalier]

At her the sound of Lucy's laugh, Dom's mouth crept into a smile that quickly faded. Looking around for distinguishing landmarks and finding none, Dom let out another loud sigh. Well, he could solve that pretty easily, he supposed. Just be the king of his own mountain and that'd stand out. He turned on his side when an ugly thought prodded him. He didn't need help. He didn't want her to- He wanted to go inside, where it was warm, actually.

The need to see her face again was also getting unbearable when prodded by her voice. There were also, he suspected grass stains on his jeans and the elbows of his blazer. The hair wasn't even worth-

The bottle flicked up again, bubbles racing through the liquid. "Ok," he said, breaking the silence his internal deliberation had caused, "I'll get myself up high. I walked here from the path by the lake."

His fingers sunk into the ground beside him as he twisted his head a little to get more comfortable. "It's cold," the boy added suddenly, "put on a scarf."

Swiping his finger over the screen, Dom scared at his hands, and then at the phone, with a look of total betrayal. Put on a scarf. He really was pathetic. Closing his eyes, the blond boy sighed and frowned as he pushed the earth he was lying on, plus a few extra square feet, 7 feet up off the ground.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

As Lucy waited for an answer, she detangled her fingers from her counterpart's, her hand trailing back across her arm idly. She knew she'd have to leave her. And she likely knew it too. But it was important to Lucy, even if her half of the conversation didn't make it sound so.

"Okay, got it." She replied, cringing at the concept of him getting himself to higher ground. She knew what that meant. Drunk terrakinetic powers sounded as unstable as it likely would be.

When he mentioned it was cold, she wanted to laugh again, but she didn't. "Wai-"

The call was cut.

"Dom?" Lucy asked, waiting another moment before pulling the phone away. Yes, he most definitely hung up on her.

Tossing her phone back to the side table, Lucy finally granted the psychometrist her full attention. She pressed a hand to her cheek, leaning in close. Close enough to kiss her, if she so chose to. "I have to go." Lucy said, her voice low. But she knew Penny knew that much already.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penny was a light sleeper, so when Lucy's phone started to blast music, the Brit had been suddenly woken from her slumber. Her immediate reaction was to close her eyes more tightly, but as she felt her counterpart shift, she couldn't help but to reach out to her. Wanting to pull her in.

Even as Lucy stopped the music, Penny briefly opened her eyes, instinctively searching for a sign as to what time it was. However, she knew well enough that there wasn't a single clock in the Australian's room, so it wasn't long before she closed her eyes, taking letting out a long tired breath as Lucy answered the phone. Really. Who possibly called at such an hour?

Sawyer would. Or possibly family from Australia? It wouldn't surprise Penny to hear they had yet to grasp the concept of time differences, or possibly that was just the annoyance of being woken up thinking.

Yet, as the conversation continued, Penny couldn't help but to attempt to follow along with what she could of it. She wrapped her arms around Lucy's waist as she felt the ink manipulator's hand run through her hair.

Something was wrong. Penny kept her eyes closed even as she heard the light concern in Lucy's voice. The way her hand stopped. It only became more and more evident through Lucy's short responses. The occasional question to clarify whatever it that was happening.

The moment Lucy asked where this person was, Penny knew she'd leave. She couldn't help but to suck in a short breath. She wasn't upset Lucy was going to fetching a friend – if anything, that was sweet of the Australian – it was just something about the idea of laying in Lucy's bed without the ink manipulator at her side.

Still, she remained silent. Her muscles easing under the familiar touch.

Dom.

It was a name she wasn't expecting. And immediately the psychometrist recalled the memory associated with the blonde boy. She wasn't sure what to think. How to react. She said it didn't matter. That she didn't need to know. But she wanted to nonetheless.

When she felt Lucy shift over to her, she leaned forward, pressing her lips lightly to her counterpart's, bringing her hand upward to run gently along the line of Lucy's jaw. “Okay.” she said softly, “I'll be here.” Slowly, she drew her hand away.