The Silver Lining (Lucy)

[Evony Vasiliev]

Evony's chance meeting with Penelope a week ago hadn't changed much, it did, however, confirm the thief's own feelings towards the situation she'd found herself in. It had become an unfortunate anomaly, the scarce moments with Lucy that would result in several months of agonizing silence and doubt. The thief missed the girl. She missed that rare and beautiful smile, the overtly Australian humour and the warm tender moments that would light her heart on fire. These things the Blue Bird had come to adore, their remnants still lingering in her mind even though it felt like a century since the last time she witnessed them.

In their last moment together, Evony tried to regain the girl's attention... but that ended so badly that the thief was left with a broken heart and a bitter taste in her mouth. The fantasy she had built up had been discarded for the hard truths of reality and as much as she loathed to view things so objectively it helped separate her emotions from the overwhelming confusion that swallowed her being.

All she wanted now was peace, a chance to get rid of all the poison that ravaged what she once thought to be greatest thing ever. Evony couldn't allow herself to dwell on the negativity any further, nor could she bear the distance wedged between herself and Lucy.

There was nothing she could offer now but herself. No gifts, no pretty lies or unrealistic expectations. Just her.

Crossing the threshold into Lucy's dorm felt peculiar, a feeling she was yet to ascribe a good or bad response. It simply felt weird. She knew Lucy now had Penelope, so the chances that she may walk in on something she didn't want to see hung in her mind. But she needed to do this, for herself and for the Australian her heart would not let go of.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Lucy, it's me...can we talk?" even if the Australian didn't answer, Evony was still proud of the fact that she'd manage to come this far.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy had been caught in such a spiral as of late. Things were progressing in ways she couldn't really consider. She tried not to spare a thought for most of the dramatics in her life any more. Whatever happened, happened. And how those things happened was exactly that. The logical girl had been trying her best not to get so caught up in her usual demeanour. But she did. Of course she did. She wondered where Dom was. She wondered why she'd said Penny's full name when she never had before. And she had to wonder what the hell happened to Evony.

Fiddling with the pencil in her hand, Lucy cradled the sketchbook on her lap as she stared down at it. She'd been determined for months to finish this thing. But every time she looked at it, it changed. She understood more of the expression behind it.

The clarity of a thoughtless mentality.

Her dark eyes glanced up when she heard a knock at the door. Not a familiar one at that; not the type readily pressed into her memory. Besides, it was a rarity for Evony to use a door. But her voice was something Lucy couldn't held but find familiar. How could she forget it?

Momentarily, she held her eyes closed.

"Hold up." Lucy offered aloud, pulling herself off the bed and closing the book. She twisted the pencil between her fingers before tucking it behind her ear and moving to open the door. There, she saw her. A quick glance down and back to her face made that much obvious. As it was, she made no move to stand aside. She held herself within the break of the door.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to invite this girl in.

"Hey." The ink manipulator started, surprise colouring the singular word.

[Evony Vasiliev]

Doors were always a hindrance. Ever since the girl discovered her gift she'd become so accustomed to using mirrors as her entry and exit points. She couldn't see through doors, she could not breach through them and view people's lives in comfortable silence and secrecy. Mirrors offered her freedom where doors barred her movement and it came as a quick reminder that it was Lucy who addressed said issue.

She even went so far as to remove her own mirror from her room.

The memory brought a smile to Evony's lips, much to her surprise and the eventual answer to her knocking only served to keep her more alert. It had been a while since she'd heard that distinct voice, it was both nerve wracking and mesmerizing and it alone was enough to grant her some semblance of relief. Lucy was here and more than likely alone.

The door opened and there she stood, tattoos and all. Was smiling appropriate? Evony wasn't entirely sure but she managed a simper and kept her gaze firmly on the girl she'd come to see. there was no move to let her in but the thief expected it, their last meeting didn't exactly bode well for future conversations.

"Hi." Evony managed, somewhat awkwardly. The surprise in Lucy's voice did not go unnoticed, how long would've it taken for the girl to actually come knocking if she wasn't so fed up with the situation at hand? Maybe never.

"I've come to settle things." She stated calmly, searching the girl's dark eyes for any hint of annoyance. She couldn't let this end as badly as every other opportunity she was given. "If this is a bad time...I can always come by later." She offered, not entirely sure whether she interrupted anything of importance.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

There was something distinct about the way Evony had chosen to smile at her. Perhaps it wasn't even a choice at all. Still, the corner of the Australian's mouth twitched into a smile of her own - a response.

A month, Lucy suspected. It'd almost been a month since the last time they talked. She'd seen her around, of course, but never made the move to start a conversation. Still, she raised her eyebrows once at the reciprocated greeting. A simple hi.

She sounded so definitive. That she'd come to settle things. When Evony searched her eyes, she wouldn't find annoyance. She wouldn't find any ill feelings. "It's fine," Lucy replied eventually, opting to slip through the break in the door and close it behind her. She curled her fingers around the edge of the book she carried as she made her way over to the chairs in her common room.

Lucy fell into one of the armchairs; "Go for it."

[Evony Vasiliev]

A month was one twelfth of a year, it didn't seem like much but it felt like an eternity. What time there could've been spent strengthening a bond and going on adventures had been completely wasted and Evony was loathe to have the same thing repeat itself.

Evony's gaze settled once she gauged a neutral response from the girl. Much to her relief Lucy wasn't exhibiting anything remotely negative, a good start although the thief knew how quickly such things could go haywire.

The decision to talk outside the bedroom was a curious one and Evony did well to avoid thinking about it. Getting lost in her thoughts would only serve to distract herself from the real reason she was here.

Taking a seat opposite Lucy's armchair, the Blue Bird sucked in a deep breath before drumming her hands against her thighs. Now was a time to think properly and speak with clarity.

"Okay well." She paused, making herself look at Australian rather than her hands. "I guess I'll just get to it then. I can't deal with not having you around anymore." She stated, pursing her lips and looking at the girl. "I hate how we only manage one day together before everything turns to shit, I mean...one whole month avoiding each another? There was that other time as well but if this is going to become a habit of ours then I know for a fact it will get worse." She sighed, running a hand through the waterfall of hair.

"I know this might all sound like it's coming out of nowhere, but it's true." She murmured, glancing down at the floor before returning her gaze back to Lucy's.

Was she even making any sense?

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Settling into her seat, Lucy watched her as intently as she normally did. This whole thing felt relatively confusing for the Australian. She felt a little guarded; what happened when Evony left wasn't something she wanted to get into. It wasn't something she'd readily admit to. To anyone. She still hadn't told anyone.

She caught her gaze as she started talking. As much as Lucy tried to listen, she found herself scrutinising every word offered to her. Every phrase. She was searching for the inner meaning. It was so rare for Evony to speak openly enough that Lucy didn't have to search. Lucy furrowed her eyebrows in mild confusion. She supposed to an extent she understood. But at the same time, she felt as if she really couldn't. Even when she tried to speak clearly, she was difficult to read.

"What will get worse?" Lucy asked, once she'd finished talking. But before she could offer an answer to that, Lucy continued on with; "What's coming out of nowhere?"

[Evony Vasiliev]

Whether her words were being absorbed or not came as a second thought, Evony was simply relieved she'd managed to regurgitate the thoughts she'd been dwelling on over the past weeks. She spoke not from bitterness but concern and regret. She'd made too many mistakes and the cost was great, almost too great for her properly acknowledge.

"This. Me talking about this, us. What we are, or were, and how it's becoming so...toxic." She furrowed her brow at the last word, because it felt true. "I can't deal with it anymore, we both deserve better and I don't want to become apathetic towards someone I really care about." She added, nodding at Lucy.

Her nails scribbled deep into her thighs as her mind attempted to deconstruct her thoughts and turn them into understandable English.

"I guess I just don't want this to feel like it was all for nothing." She sighed, easing herself into the chair. "I don't want us to hate one another."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

The word toxic was the first thing Evony had said that drew a visible response from the Australian. Surprise in her eyes. Then scepticism. Did she really need to use a word like that? When she spoke in such a way, Lucy knew what she was doing. Unconsciously or no. Evony had a penchant for shifting blame. For searching for the equal factor to give herself a better hold. Decent footing.

She resisted the urge to say that she made it toxic. She started this.

A small breath of laughter for the fact that she had the nerve to say she couldn't deal with it any more. That they both deserved better. Lucy honestly believed she deserved so little in life - why would she believe this now? From her, of all people? She'd done nothing but belittle the Australian's need for personal space and slow growth from the moment she pulled her into bed.

When she was finally done, Lucy rolled her shoulders once. She shifted in her seat to lean forward, crossing a leg over the other as she curled both hands around the sketchbook.

"Sounds like you're breaking up with me." Lucy pointed out factually, her tone carrying no ill feeling. She was neutral. After all, that was what she was trying to articulate, wasn't it?

[Evony Vasiliev]

The last thing Evony wanted was a repeat of their previous 'meetings'. Not only were they so scarce, detached and painful to endure but they offered little more than stress for thief. The further she fell for this girl the further she was out of her element, she couldn't control much and when she tried it always backfired.

So when Lucy finally answered, Evony could not help but furrow her brow and offer a slight gasp. "No. No, that is the last thing I want." She blurted out, knowing how easy it was for this to turn ugly. "I can't really break up with you if we aren't technically a thing anyways." She quickly offered, breathing out a nervous laugh only for it to dry up.

The skinny swindler wracked her mind for any inconceivable reason as to why Lucy came to that conclusion. Were they truly on divergent paths?

The very fact that Lucy's question was so easily uttered felt jarring as well. Evony knew the Australian processed her emotions much more differently to her but simply considering such a notion should have summoned something. Anger perhaps, sadness maybe...even relief was better than nothing.

"I just...want to save this." She muttered, clutching her knees before glancing back at Lucy.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

The way she dropped her breath caught Lucy's attention. Lately, she'd become acutely aware of the way other people breathed. She'd learned it spoke volumes, even if it was so rarely audible. Still, she took the statement that followed on board. And the other. She just didn't respond to it. Not yet.

Neutrality was a colour Lucy wore with pride. She wore it well - well enough that even the swindling thief couldn't take it away from her to see what hid underneath.

Lucy caught her eyes when she said she wanted to save this. This, that she'd so simply dismissed with her actions. Her lack of genuine conviction. And her simple savouring statement from only moments ago. "Save what?" She asked, "You don't reckon it's a thing."

[Evony Vasiliev]

Lucy's answer was a frustrating one, she was always so determined to unwrap every single word, action and suggestion and study them like a surgeon would, picking out parts and bringing them back out for later. In truth, Evony expected nothing less of the girl, it was a real skill of hers. But sometimes, sometimes things would be so much easier if Evony was either a mute or Lucy was wasn't as observant as she so often displayed.

"Save us. You know what I mean! Stop trying to make me trip up on my words." She groaned, running a hand through her hair and feeling the knots unravel. "We aren't girlfriends, I don't even know what name this thing is, am I missing something in the English language?" Evony answered with a slight raise in her voice. Always the argumentative type this one.

"Look, sometimes I think it'll just be better if I let things die and just let us go our seperate ways, who knows...maybe that would do wonders. But I don't want to do that because it would be just another dumb move on my part." She sighed, leaning back into her chair and lightly dragging her hands down her face.

"What do you think this is anyways?" She asked, finally leaning forward and hoping to give her voice a rest. The less she spoke the more likely things would go well.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Such was the way when the analytical met the not so. When logic met emotions. Though truthfully, Lucy had been experiencing a jarring mix of the two as of late. The way emotional discourses distorted her ability to think. To breathe. She didn't falter to the nature of humanity so easily. She had to be more comfortable for that to happen.

Lucy wanted to argue again. This time, that she wasn't trying to make her trip up or falter over her explanation. She was trying to find the answer the only way she knew how. But she was far too caught up in another statement.

We aren't girlfriends.

She didn't need to be a psychometrist to feel herself launched into the memories such a statement provided. They were the very words she offered to Penny. Time and time again. And she gave them back as they were served. It was a mutual understanding. One often coupled with the phrase; You don't love me. Or; We're not in love. Some variation of the line. Always keeping herself and her counterpart in check.

The words didn't seem to sit right with the Australian. Not wrapped in an accent such as Evony's.

As it stood, she practically missed everything else that was said to her - save for the eventual question posed. Evony always posed too many statements. Impossible to keep up without stirring multiple topics. Lucy stared at her. "Do you really-" She started, but her voice caught on the word. This was impossible. The word didn't suit her mouth. "She said you really fell for me." Lucy offered instead. She didn't like the phrasing any more than the singular word she struggled with, but at least she'd managed to say it.

[Evony Vasiliev]

Although she'd opened the floor for the Australian to voice her own view on things it did take some time for anything to be spoken. Internally, the waves of Evony's emotions churned continuously, splashing over memories and words unspoken. This girl was too much for her heart to handle and yet the Blue Bird couldn't get enough, no matter how hard she convinced herself that such deep feelings would only leave her vulnerable and all the more easy to strike down.

She waited, with eyes firmly placed on the girl opposite her, watching those brown eyes deliberate over logic and meaning, things that Lucy held dear. What could be said would've been intensely marinated in that Australian brain of hers.

Although, what came out only faltered halfway. Rare, but Evony had witnessed it before. The same thing happened when Lucy once apologised to her, in other words, she was dealing with a dirty word. The girl sat still, listening as the tattooed meta corrected herself, sweeping into a subject that quickly forced a slight pang to bounce in her chest.

"Who said?" She asked quietly, wondering who on earth had revealed that not-so-little secret. Evony had not told anyone other than Luxanna and that girl had left the school two months ago.

How long had Lucy known?

The thief could feel her heart give way to a quicker tempo, feel the surge of heat of breathe into her cheeks as she chewed on what had been said. "I have." Was all she could say with a slow nod of her head, swallowing the stutter, the excuses, the explanations or the arguments. That was all that Lucy wanted to know wasn't it? What the Australian thought of that was another thing entirely.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy should have expected the question, really. She dropped the pronoun so absently in the moment that she almost didn't register the point of the question. Her eyebrows lowered, furrowing in her confusion as she glanced away. She recalled two separate occasions. Two different girls. Two different responses and reasonings. At least one of those was factually sound.

"Doesn't matter." She replied in the end. Neither deserved to be called out. It really didn't matter. It shouldn't have - it wasn't the point.

But the admission didn't drag surprise to the Australian's features. Not to her eyes. She glanced back at her, dragged by her voice, not the conviction she tried to use. Lucy leaned back in her chair, her fingers moving to curl a page of the book she held. It was more of a life line by now. Something to fiddle with. She could never sit still.

"I don't understand how." Lucy replied in time, her voice low. Quiet. It was why she struggled to believe it. "Or when. Or why."

[Evony Vasiliev]

How many people who used the 'she' pronoun possibly in the know about Evony's love life or lack thereof. Names were listed in her head, one by one and a reason next to their image. Lux, she might of let it slip. Sawyer, maybe she heard it when the thief was sleep talking. Kimmy, there wasn't any real reason why she'd spill those beans and tell Lucy of all people. But still, the mystery snitch eluded the swindler's grasp and she frowned at the australian's less than helpful answer.

"Fine, fine." She sighed, running her hands through her hair and wondering how many other secrets of hers were in the gossip circles around the school. How much did Lucy know about her that she had yet to spill?

Evony could feel the girl's gaze on her and it burned. What was she thinking? She's known all this time and that alone terrified the girl, how far had she tainted that knowledge with her missteps?

Lucy's queries only made her delve deeper into the pit that was her emotions. By now her heart was pummelling her ribcage and the girl could feel the pressure rising. She'd never spoken about that before! Up until a few months ago it was a completely foreign concept to her, a mysterious cousin to the more easily accessible lust and now inspector Serrano was demanding answers. Evony could not help but pluck at the fabric of the seat, chewing on her lip as she attempted to make sense of this all.

"It's not something I can explain!" She answered, although quickly stopping short knowing Lucy wouldn't accept that answer. "I just did. I thought it was something else at first and I'd never felt this way before... I actually thought I was sick." She smiled sheepishly, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear before continuing. "I guess I knew during those two months apart. I could've simply left all this behind but I couldn't, my heart wouldn't let me."

Explaining this was a challenge, in English especially.

"As for the why...you acknowledged me as someone other than a dirty little thief, which was a great start. I feel challenged being around you, sometimes it's exhausting but it helps. Things are better, I don't rely on stupid obsessions to get me by...there's no simpler way to put it." She simpered, flicking the chair fluff off her fingers before glancing back at Lucy.

"Who knows, maybe I fell too hard too fast but I can't take back these feelings no matter how hard I try." Evony shrugged, gauging the Australian's response for anything remotely positive.