Undo

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Set a few days after One Match.

Distance wasn't something Lucy was used to in the slightest. Days without her counterpart had left her in something of a daze. Of course, she had people to spend her time with, but it went without saying that nothing was the same without Penelope Blaise in her life.

Lucy found the most difficulty in the idea that she existed in a place where she belonged; every inch of her room reminded her of the girl who could literally live through those imprinted memories. Keeping busy after  scheduled classes was a sudden drag. Sleeping soundly throughout the night was already deemed impossible after the first attempt in her own bed, and it hardly got better when she switched rooms. Lucy was sure the dragon on the wall in hers seemed lonely, and any kind of transfer was impossible. So instead, the ink manipulator spent more time in the room that wasn't her own, filling in the missing scales she'd been too distracted to paint in.

Skype was becoming a total lifeline. Without it, she had no idea when she'd be sale to see the Brit again. Given how quiet her morning had been so far - in tandem with how early she'd woken up - she was sure she'd be able to catch her without a problem. And as she logged in, she was right. Her own room might have been a bit of a mess, but Lucy could only hope such a thing would be ignored. After all, she'd lost the very person who maintained it for her. Hands dragged the hood of her sweatshirt up over her head, thumb gliding across the line of her hair to keep it as good as it could be.

A stretch of her hand and she brought her knees up to her chest, pressing them against the edge of the desk before she finally managed the call button.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Although away from the state she was beginning to call home, Penny still tried to maintain something of a routine while visiting her parents. That proved harder than ever, however, with the distance created between herself and her counterpart. Time passed was more of a blur than a collection of actual moments. Memories came flooding in more than they had in months, as did exhaustion.

She woke up earlier, if she could call the hours of tossing and turning sleep. There was a certain point where starting her day earlier was easier than laying in an empty bed. Even if the sheets hadn't held memories of her counterpart, the shirt she wore did. The psychometrist was practically torturing herself by choosing to wear it, yet that hadn't made a change in her decision as nights passed.

Technology was always a struggle for the Brit, but bright and early she had her laptop running, Skype logged in. Already stretched, showered, and dressed, she brought a cup of tea to her room, setting it beside her laptop. It was far too early, but the chance still remained, and she was there. After all, there was no doubt that she was awake. Thus, Penny was on standby, reading the news.

She had moved onto a book by the time the growingly familiar call tone of Skype filled the air. Dark eyes immediately looked up from her book, easily the most awake she'd looked in hours. Her middle finger worked along the track pad, pressing down once her mouse hovered over the green accept button.

It took a moment for the call to connect, a black screen before suddenly she appeared. Hoodie covered her hair, but she still caught sight of those familiar eyes, even if it was through a screen, Penny immediately felt a shot of relief, a smile taking over her expression at the mere sight of Lucy Serrano.

"Good morning."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

As it were, Lucy was beaten to the call button by mere moments. She answered as quickly as she could, though she did her best to settle back in her seat before anything had really connected. But it was hard to remain remotely still and settled the moment she saw what she was waiting for. The ink manipulator couldn't help the broad smile that quickly overtook her features. Only a few seconds into a call a few days from the instance at the airport and she already couldn't help the expression she wore.

Thankfully, it was still too early to feel those sinking feelings akin with the obvious loss. Instead, it was far too important to remain interlocked to the moment itself. "Morning." She replied lightly, giving a small nod with her head to the greeting. But beyond that, she had no idea what to say next. Her jaw dropped with the intention of filling the potential silence with something extraordinary, but nothing happened. Nothing remained.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

A screen could never do Lucy Serrano justice, nor could even the clearest of memories. Still, being granted to chance to see her counterpart was far better than nothing in comparison. To be able to talk to her despite the miles of distance put between them. It was impossible to tell where she looked on the screen, but Penny allowed her own gaze to shift nonetheless. From those dark, often lively eyes down the length of her nose to where Lucy's lips had parted, yet silence remained between them.

Her fingers twitched with the moronic desire to reach out in hopes to actually feel her. They stayed still, however, as she intertwined her own fingers tightly, eyes darting back up to Lucy's.

Often, the psychometrist didn't mind silence. Usually Lucy was the first to fill it, and thus Penny let it settle for a few spare moments. She could have spent hours just staring, but her mouth caught up with her first. "I can't stand this." She let out on a breath, lips pursing just moments after she spoke. It was hardly the way to start a conversation, especially when there were still days left before she could touch the ink manipulator again.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Rarely one to actively feel like a failure, Lucy registered the way it stung by way of an impenetrable silence. The last thing she wanted to do was put the pressure on her counterpart; to force her to think as to what she might fill the air with. Because more to the point, it was hardly going to cloud the moment with pleasantries. It was bound to pierce the skin, sharp like a knife by way of deceptive lips.

And she was right. What she got was more or less what she expected. Of course, Lucy figured they'd get to a point like this eventually, but she hardly wanted to jump to it so soon. Maybe a few rounds of falsities first, or something. Anything to dull the inevitable way it stung.

Personally, she sat up in her seat, her back straight as if the statement had called her to attention in a way nothing else could have. And then, there was a choice to make. Lucy landed herself between the desire to let loose and reciprocate and the potential need to be a little more stoic. "Come on, you can't say shit like that." Lucy conceded, her tone on edge with the distinct understanding that she was still somewhere between the two prior options.

"Tell me you're sleeping."

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

With the dull ache of her muscles, Penny kept her back straight. A free hand worked its way to her shoulder, fingers working against her skin, trying to drive out an unfamiliar and unwelcome soreness that took over. It was exhaustion on a whole different medium, but the Brit still mustered the energy to crinkle her nose at the accented voice as it cursed over her speakers.

Her counterpart held a valid point; it might have been easier to follow along with some idea that the distance put between them were okay. Or even just to look on the brighter side of things - she'd be back in days, yet it still felt like months. With her lips pressed more tightly together, Penny let out a short exhale through her nose, resisting the urge to argue. Despite how irritable the psychometrist was, she could still see Lucy now, and for once she backed down from a fight after having already dampened the atmosphere of a Skype call.

It wasn't a question, but still a request for Penny to reassure her counterpart. One that the Brit hadn't been expecting. The flash of alarm was quickly masked as her hand left her shoulder, working its way to to her face, where Penny pinched the bridge of her nose, head tilting forward slightly.

"I don't know."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy completely expected Penny to answer with an honest no. Had she asked the ink manipulator, that kind of honesty would have been considered before put into practice. But then, anything other than the truth would have been been a blatant lie. After all, it was no secret that Lucy only ever slept better when Penny was around.

Confusion radiated through her dark eyes at the answer she received. A single word would have directed her in the best way, but instead she got a muddled statement, and the way she lost her eyes could only radiate distress in the Australian. Even though technology, she could see that her counterpart seemed tired. Almost a little vague. It felt as if they were wandering down a dangerous path already, and they'd only just started.

"How do you not know?" Lucy asked, and even now she could do so little to rid her expression of that confusion.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Wording was key. It was what dragged the response out of Penny in the first place. She could have easily said that she wasn't sleeping as much - because it was true. And obvious. Her eyes squeezed shut tightly as she kept her head down, index finger and thumb creating pressure at the bridge of her nose. With it, she lost the distressed look her counterpart wore, although she knew well enough that it existed.

Really, it was a fair question to ask. More or less, a person knew relatively well if they had slept or were stuck tossing and turning all night. Two different states of mind, but for a psychometrist? A third came into play. Lines blurred.

"There are times where I think I'm sleeping," she started slowly, exhaling through the explanation. "Or, rather, I think I'm dreaming, and I'm not." Penny slowly lifted her head, eyes slow to open as she focused back on Lucy and her hand dropped to her lap. "It's becoming harder to differentiate."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Despite how distracting it could be sitting where she was, Lucy refused to let her eyes wander. Her attention was completely wrapped up in the girl on the other side of the line, here. Undivided attention was the only kind of comfort she could offer now, and even then the Australian had to wonder just how weighted that could prove to be. It wasn't as if it was easy to control her face. It wasn't as if it was easy to decipher what Penny was even talking about.

But she wanted to help. Or more to the point, she wanted to try.

"How can you think you're dreaming? Most people can't even remember that sorta thing." She offered. And when she considered it further, she couldn't recall the last dream she'd even had. Pressing her lips together, Lucy wondered if there would be much fruition to asking what it was she might have been dreaming of, but to ask was surely a case of salt to the proverbial wound. She hardly wanted to make it any worse.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Despite how difficult this conversation was, Penny did her best to keep working at it. To try and offer the best of an explanation her tired mind could provide. She kept her gaze fixed on Lucy now that she was looking again; at least with her, there was something to hold her attention. Look at rather than through, even if it was through a screen.

Her jaw clenched, although not out of irritation, but rather, how to proceed. She barely understood the situation she found herself in every night, if there even was a baseline understanding. So Penny took a moment to pause and collect her explanation. "I recall many of my dreams." She replied, knowing well that it was a rarity among the average person. "But it's after I wake up - or I snap out - that I consider it at all."

Penny's eyebrows furrowed as she continued, unsure if she was only adding to the confusion. "I'm not trying to think about it." She added, although she was sure that went unsaid.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy felt caught between two impossible places. On one hand, she realised she never should have asked the obvious question; bringing up sleeping patterns was one of the worst subjects available, but she had held some faded promise of a clearer answer. But on the other side, to fill a conversation with vague pleasantries until they were done would have clouded the space with more confusion, more distress, and even more anguish.

In a lighter moment, she wanted to learn more about this revelation. To remember dreams that might have been hanging memories carried obvious intrigue to anyone who considered a greater world than this. But she left it for now, settling in a brief silence as she tried to keep her thoughts internal. "I know you're not." Lucy replied instead, shrugging her shoulders at the fact. But there was something more, and while she knew she should have refrained, it was never easy to stop.

"What're they about?" Lucy asked daringly, but it was hard not to assume the answer, "Why's it like this?"

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

She knew. As difficult of a subject as this was, there was comfort to be found in the reply her counterpart offered. Even in the shrug of her shoulders. Few understood the inner workings of Penelope Blaise, but at least she would always go in with an open mind. Closeness brought light to the life Penny lived. To the fact that she could never simply stop thinking, especially once her mind was put in a place of stress.

Admittedly, she was surprised by the curiosity that Lucy displayed, although she couldn't mark it as something of a bad reaction. She took a chance when disclosing the information with the only person she disclosed anything with, and regret was too far from her mind to even consider. How could she when she was dealing with Lucy?

"You." She replied honestly. "Us." Vague at first, the Brit's eyebrows lowered with the thought. "Sometimes it's just me, but I'm always thinking of you." So by proxy it was still about Lucy in the end. "Last night it was New Years. And then graduation -" Her lips pursed as she paused. "The dragon on my wall."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Psychometry was something Lucy never asked about. Really, she never got the chance. It was a conversation she never felt she had the right to start, and given her counterpart's distaste for the ability, it was a topic she rarely breathed life into. Patience followed in tow, and Lucy would never pry, but she had to run with the opportunity when it presented itself.

Until now.

Because she herself was the topic of the haunting ability. How it lingered still hadn't quite dawned on the ink manipulator, but of course, she could never really understand a lack of interconnected control over her ability.

"It's not always like this." Lucy denoted, exhaling the rest of the air on a heavy sigh. Surely that much went without saying, but she offered life to the statement anyway, "But there's..." A delicate pause, because even she didn't know how to speak about it all properly, "It's not even there. Isn't it all here? Cauee if I were you, I'd be dying just sitting in this room." So there, the unspoken question remained; if every imprint was left behind, what kept it so prominent?

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

It must have been painful to hear - just as painful as it was to say, on some level. By no means was Penny trying to put fault in Lucy by giving light to the memories that so often plagued her when the Australian wasn't around. She had asked, and an honest answer was deserved. Penny herself knew how rarely she spoke of her ability, and in the same how rare it was for Lucy to press forward with it, so she offered anything she could while a screen between them for once made it easier.

"I don't know." Penny answered, hearing the distress in her own voice. To not have an explanation killed the girl who so often worked to be able to reply to anything thrown at her. There wasn't a book that covered this. "I've changed everything." She replied, with a brief pause. "At first." She didn't glance to the bed behind her, or the shirt that laid folded neatly on top of it. "To make sure there was nothing because -" Her lips pressed shut tightly before she forced herself to continue. "It's not really you." Coming back to an empty bed was a constant reminder of the fact.

The corner of her mouth pulled downward, wondering just how hard it was for the Australian to sit in that room, even if she lacked a memory based ability, it was impossible to ignore the space they shared. "It's why I don't know if I'm dreaming it - or maybe I'm living a memory of a memory?" Her tone was stressed, despite the way she tried to speak clearly, exhaustion and desperation managed to take over. "I'm not sure if that's even possible."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

It never dawned on Lucy, within this short exchange, that a key piece of clothing would be the culprit to such restlessness. Rather, she believed her in everything she offered. Because surely such things were switched out in line with the rest. It was hardly the time to cross examine her over probable details; it wasn't as if she really had the capabilities.

Concern still clouded her eyes all the same, pixilated as the emotion was to hers. To be the cause without laying a hand was a shock to the system; she wondered if it was always this way when distance was involved. If that were the case, then why did she only know about it now?

"So what's left? I mean, it's not like you can change it, then." And the feeling of difficult straights pulled her attention inward again, but if nothing else, the ink manipulator was sure she couldn't let it rock the nature of her expression. There were still days left, and this daze had an incredible overhang. Dragging herself forward, the Australian dropped her legs from the edge of the desk, feet hitting the floor. And she leaned inward in her seat, elbow pressing to the surface, her hand cradling the familiar curve of her jaw.

Fingers drummed across the familiar curve, like she could really find a solution to a mess like this. For someone who had an answer to just about anything, Lucy suddenly felt incredibly stupid. "I fixed the dragon." She offered aimlessly.