Waiting out the winter [open]

[Lucas Blacke]

Winter was upon them! This meant going home to family, friends, frolick in the snow and have fun! For some it just meant having no homework or having time to catch up on homework. For some people it just meant a time to rest up and sleep the pain of the previous year away.

Luke was one of those people who chose to sleep and be lazy just to forget what he was originally doing. No Karalie, no Marnie, maybe an Anthy but things with her weren't as volatile as with the other two. Other than with those three he had no idea who stayed at school and who went home for the holidays. But fuck those who went home right? Fuck them for having a family to go home to.

On second thought he figured that he was okay with it as them being gone meant that the school was pretty much empty aside from a handful of students that had the time and space to do whatever they wanted right now! Sadly for Luke this just meant having enough time to catch up on sleep and laze away while watching television. And this also meant one of his bad habits resurfaced due to very nearly being alone in the student lounge.

He turned on the television and lowered himself on the couch with a loud plop and put his legs over the edge of it, sitting comfortably as he flipped through the channels randomly before finding something he didn't hate. And before long hs lips started to move. ''I know this.'' He said as the screen turned to show a machine and how it worked. ''Would be fuckin' handy to bash in some skulls with.''

His bad habit was talking to himself when watching television, almost responding to whatever they said aand in turn reacting to his own reaction. He was known to have full-blown conversations with himself because of this.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

A quick trip. That was all it was supposed to be. A mad dash to the vending machine to grab something packed full of sugar before Lucy would make her way back to her dorm and the person waiting for her. In a quick hype she'd grabbed whatever aimless coins she could find, but the right amount was there, slipped into the back pocket of her skin tight jeans.

By the time she walked in, some guy was having a pretty mad chat to himself, and Lucy knew better than to actually say anything to him. She just laughed to herself, intent on doing what she needed to do and getting the hell out of there. She had somewhere to be. Hell, she had a home to go back to, too, but that didn't mean she was going to fly home for the holidays.

With a hand in her pocket, she fished out every ounce of loose change she'd scored from her desk.

"Fuck me," The Australian cursed under her breath, dark eyes continuing to filter through the change in her hand. It was only then that she bothered with the presence of some guy actively chatting to himself. With a nickel - or was it a dime? - in hand, she tossed it towards the back of his head, "You got change?"

Because now, she was either five or ten cents further from the mark.

[Lucas Blacke]

He was so hung up in the show and with his own chatting that he failed to notice someone coming in. It seemed his idea of catching up with this thing called rest was a no go, and some peace and quiet wasn't really a thing of the now, was it? What had come in wasn't half bad, he could some himself getting some exercise with this broad even if that was what he wanted to avoid, especially since he knew what it could do. Okay so right now he didn't have all that much going on he could fuck up, but still. The temptation needed to be fought in whatever form.

Sadly this form of tempation had started talking to him only if a minor question if he had anyu change. He normally would have responded in the form of a joke by telling her he had spare clothes back in his room, but sadly for this one he wasn't fully okay yet. He knew people could and would call him a girl for hanging on to his loss for so long, but it was the only wasy he knew he could feel something right now even if it made him not care about most things. What he had found out thoough, was that his mood was slightly influenced by whomever he was talking.

Or in this case, should respond to. He shut himself up and muted the television before violently throwing the remote in the chair opposite from him. ''There goes my day..'' He muttered as he turned to face the girl who he assumed was wanting to buy something from the vending machine judging by how she stood near the thing. That or she was weird, but that would just give them something in common.

''Aye.'' He sighed out as he got off of his ass and stood up. ''Got change.'' He said as he put his hand in his pocket and ruffled through the coins a bit to make it known that more than enough was in there.

''Ya want change, ya get over here and take it.'' He grinned deviously.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy crinkled her nose. A direct hit from the little piece of shiney metal and he didn't even respond. Some people were used to projectiles. What a weird thought.

She raised her eyebrows when he replied that he did, in fact, have change. She watched the way he stood, and listened with slight disinterest as he continued on. A bold faced grin for someone who was, for whatever reason, just that little bit familiar.

And so, dark eyes tracked the length of him. From his grin to as far down as he could see. Eyes lingered on his feet for a few spare seconds before she worked her way back up again. Still disinterested. Whatever happened to finding the awkward grin of a ballsy, up-his-own-ass guy endearing? It used to be a little hot, even. She quickly chalked it up to the fact that he was familiar.

Finally, eyes widened. Because she'd left him in silence long enough. Her free hand flew out towards him, and she pointed.

"You fucked Sawyer!"

[Lucas Blacke]

He did whatnow? It was one thing to ignore his comments and keep him waiting for a response, but when she finally did say something he forgot to be annoyed by those small facts as she pointed at him, opening her mouth and saying those words which would hit him like a brick instead of whatever she threw at him.

His hand stopped moving aand his eyes widened a bit at hearing not the sentence, but the name. He thought that was a thing of his past, and knowing what it had caused he would have liked it if it remained a thing of the past. Last thing he needed was to relive those moments because, now he was doing just that by just the mere mention. Overthinking his own issues was often his downfall.

''Sawyer.'' He repeated as the hand in his pocket turned into a fist and actually pressed down harder on his palm than he could do himself. It seemed the thought of her no longer made him think of Karalie and instead of making him sad it made him angry. Though maybe it wasn't time that had healed that wound but the fact he was pretty down right now, even for his own standards.

Then, it connected. Well, it didn't connect, but he knew that this girl knew Sawyer somehow. What that exactly meant for him he didn't know, maybe it was an excuse for him to get violent now that Sawyer wasn't around. It was the only thing he hadn't tried really, he had tried fucking the pain away, flat out ignoring it or talking about it, but there was one thing he still hadn't tried.

Perhaps now was the best time.

''Ya don't mention that fuckin' name near me!'' He totally skipped over multiple ideas he had and skipped straight to being angry instead of asking how she knew and why it mattered. ''Not unless want a vending machine up yer ass!''

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

His immediate repetition forced Lucy to cloud the air with a quick laugh. Because really, if anyone were to know the situation, it would be the voice mimic's best friend. Having the information at her hip like the laser gun tattoo she wore proved helpful when it came to certain altercations with a certain gay-hating roommate she kept running into.

But damn, did he look pissed. Rowan's roommate - or former, by now - had few interactions with the ink manipulator who remembered faces, never names.

She exhaled a humoured breath when he spoke again. How she shouldn't use the name around him unless she wanted shoved square where the sun don't shine. Wasn't he supposed to be better than this? A real son of a bitch, or a jackass, or something a little less shitty?

"Or, really, she fucked you." Lucy reasoned, pursing her lips as she pressed her index finger against them briefly, "Stole you from the line up at Captain Hetero's God-forged chastity belt, did she?"

[Lucas Blacke]

She did fuck him, in more than one meaning of the word. ''Yeah.. she kinda did..- but that's not what we're talkin' 'bout!'' He had forced his thoughts back on track, focusing both on the bitch who had done that shit to him and the bitch who knew about the bitch. She was known as the bitch to him now due to lack of a name.

''Hold the fuck up!'' He mimicked halting her by throwing up his hand that had previously occupied his pocket and tilted his head slightly as he looked at her and repeated the words ''God forged chastity belt.'' It was obvious who she meant with this and Luke did not appreciate it. It seemed like he would need another meet up with Doctor wrinkles and maybe one with the school nurse or something due to busted up knuckles.

Somewhere this amused him though, the last time he had felt like this was with that winged guy and back then he found out that yelling at and beating people up was pretty good of a stress reliever. The only thing holding him back from getting all physical with this girl was the fact he didn't like going over to Doctor wrinkles, a fact she would surely say helped her looking back on this in the future.

He grew a smirk and lowered his hand finally, balling it into a fist and cracking his neck. ''No matter.'' He said, trying to ignore whatever he just thought, mainly because it included Karalie at some point. HHe widened his eyes and inched a bit closer to the girl, trying to stay subtle but really just looking retarded with a grin and oggling eyes as he snapped his head back to the regular position.

''I'm sure ya would gladly tell her something for me, no?'' Something he asked as he was still inching his way closer to her. ''Tell her she's done for.''

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"Nah, you can tell her yourself." Lucy replied, crinkling her nose a fraction at the idea that she should give the voice mimic anything from him.

But her grin, which rightly outmatched his through longevity alone, never faltered. Not even as he made his way towards her with his slow steps and his cracked knuckles and shifty neck business. "But I mean, really, you can't blame her for the fact that you can't keep it in your dacks." She continued on, pursing her lips with that particular sense of musing to her tone.

"Maybe you shouldn't wrap yourself up in a long lasting relationship if you can't steer the bloody thing out of some chick's pants, y'know?" Idly, the Australian shifted the coins she carried in her hand, "Don't sign for that chastity key if you're gonna dive into the first box that's open for you."

[Lucas Blacke]

I need to talk to Sean, and soon. That was all that was going through his mind as she spoke. The things she said did come across but failed to register as he just kept moving closer and closer. He had half a mind to walk straight past her and see Sean, maybe this was the best way to solve something like this, but on the flipside he currently wanted nothing more than to beat her up like he had done that winged guy some time ago if only to see if that could lighten his mood.

It wasn't until she mentioned signing up for the chastity key that he responded, if only on a physical level at first. He halted his steps and looked at her with squinted eyes and a slight pain eminating from his fist, it seemed he was angry down to the very core of himself, and because of that the control over his ability was shaky right now and this meant that every now and then some part of his body would do something he couldn't normally do. Like exert a great amount of force, greater than he could handle.

But when he searched for a comeback, or just something so he could break the silence he found himself stumped, he couldn't find anything. Maybe because he was just that angry, but maybe it was because she did have a point.

His hand finally unclenched as it went back into his pocket and grabbed some spare change. He looked at the girl and bluntly dropped the change on the ground. ''Yer not worth it.'' He finally said just to break the silence as he turned around and took a seat on the couch.

''Yer change is right there. Hope ya choke on whatever it is yer buyin'.''

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

With a small roll of her shoulders, Lucy shrugged. She knelt down and snagged a few spare coins, because in the end, that was what she wanted and she got it. Her attention went right back to what she wanted. She'd taken enough time already, and she had the joy of someone actively waiting for her to come back to her room.

Momentarily, she raced her tongue over her bottom lip as she stared at the glass. Either to coax something out of her mouth or to keep it at bay.

"She's a right bloody sep, that broad you were keen on." Lucy offered, dropping newfound coins into the machine in question. A purposeful pause as she momentarily tapped her fingers against her chin. "But no one deserves the shit you pulled. Much less someone who can see and literally feel it on you." And she felt the slight burn of her own statement, sterner qualities for a spare set of syllables. Dating someone with memory-based powers could be an active chore. It took a baseline amount of thought most people never had to put in.

A free, spare coin in the palm of her hand.

Kneeling down again, Lucy snagged the necessary sugar injection and reeled herself back up again. "How's she gonna get anywhere near you without thinking she's gonna witness you fucking some chick? Fuck knows how long that takes to go away." She asked, taking definite steps back towards the door, "If she takes you back, she's dumber than she bloody well acts."

[Lucas Blacke]

Seemed that going back to his original position had little effect on this whole situation. He had taken what he thought was the moral high road and took a step back from the conversation and fgave the chick what she wanted. Well, gave.. let her ''come across it'', just to avoid getting near her and he did decide once more that violence was the solution.

''Yeah.'' He said as he flopped his feet on the table in front of him. ''Yer right. Shit does hurt. No one deserves it.'' He'd calmed down enough to be able to form coherent sentences and take in what was being said, and the control over his ability seemed to come back so his hand stopped causing him pain. ''If, hypothetically speakin' she took me back, which we both know won't happen, she'd see me fuckin' other people. Yeah, great, I get how that would matter for her. And indirectly for me, 'cause not bein' 'round her hurts.''

He took a short pause and looked at the girl, part of him wondering how he had gone from wanting to beat her up to being able to open up to her in a matter of seconds. He blamed Anthy for that one, girl made him way too trusting of people. And another part of him wanted to chuckle and tell Marnie ''Ha! I have changed!'' And another part wanted to respond to this girl in front of him. For someone who seemed so crude at first she did stick around, and just sticking around was a big plus in Luke's book.

''But if not me..'' He took his legs off of the table and leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees as he shot the girl a grin. ''How is she gonna get close to anyone? Damned hard to find virgins in this 'ere world.''

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

As he rambled on, Lucy continued in her desired trajectory. She briefly reached for the phone in her back pocket, quickly dismissing the device with the knowledge that Penny barely used it anyway. She was bound to be cross with the time the ink manipulator was taking. Instead, that hand ran through her hair, drawing it idly to one side as she continued on.

She laughed. It was probably a bad time to do so, but she did anyway. A light chuckle to the notion of virgins. Evidently, they were hard to find. Yet in the course of her secluded sex life, she was two for two. Three, if she'd banged Sawyer like she knew she could have years ago.

Hand on the door handle. Dangerously similar sounding, weren't they? It was only days ago that she'd clearly become the future to someone who lived in the past. Every action required delicate thought. Every negative encounter required tact. Sure, there might have been something she could offer. From one individual in a taxing, memory-based relationship to someone actively trying to get back to one.

But she turned and look at him, the manic reaction of the gay-hating roommate stuck in her mind at the mere mention of his name. Lucy couldn't even entertain the idea of theoretically injecting this situation onto hers. She couldn't even feign the hypothetical idea she might ever sleep with anyone else.

"Someone a hellova lot better than you." She replied, shrugging her shoulders at the nonchalant fact. Because as far as she was concerned - as far as her experience reminded her - there were hardly ever second chances with those forcibly stuck in the past. "Might as well piss off. It's not like you love her or some shit."

[Lucas Blacke]

He put his hands over his eyes and coverd his face as she spoke. Her first reply though, when it hit him he knew he should have been angry, but something about thinking of the other people in his life lowered his guard and kept him from being hurt by that statement. In fact, he had gone back to his sad and serious side of things. So hearing her say that about Karalie finding someone better was probably a fact of life. She was right; she would find someone better. Surely that wouldn't be hard to do, right? The thought he had come back to, now that his mind started taking in and rejecting other ideas was that he had fucked up.

He couldn't even bring up the will to put on a fake smile to show her, thinking it would do something like stave her words off or something, keep his already nuked image standing. But what was more weird was that he didn't think this was hurtful, he knew it was the truth and had spent a few weeks trying to get it through his skull. But what she had said, how she had said it struck him frontal. Like the truth was more obvious when said by someone who didn't care about feelings or something and just said it.

Luke wasn't going to cry, he wasn't even all that sad but more accepting right now. The word would have hurt him were it someone else, but having no ties at all to someone made it easier to cope.

''I guess.. maybe yer right..'' He offered silently as he lowered his hands onto his knees. He raised his brow and looked at her. ''But I do love her!'' He replied sternly. ''Or.. I think I do.. I think I did.. we had somethin'.. it..''

''She's gone for good ain't she?'' It took some time, but he was now showing her a genuine smile, albeit a sad one. He was starting to move on.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Delusions about love seemed to run pretty deep within this couple in their respective ways. One could argue that she couldn't possibly love her psychometric counterpart. The other could claim that despite his wandering interest, he definitely knew what love was.

And that he had it. He thought. Maybe.

"Oh who the fuck are you trying to kid?" She shot back, an evident rise in her tone without any delay. Because this was suddenly more than just belittling some useless guy who clearly deserved it, "As if you would have done anything that unbelievably fucked if you really meant it."

She laughed. Again. Either at one or the both as she held that insignificant stolen coin in her hand so tightly before she dragged the handle down and yanked the door open. "Maybe you're perfect for each other. You're both idiots."

Without delay - without time to think for either party or to bother listening for a response - she walked out the door.