Real Life

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

December 26th, 2015

Christmas back home was something of a rush for anyone who wasn't quite ready to handle it. The Serrano family's numbers strung well into the double digits once everyone was invited, and everyone would always turn up. It was never easy to comprehend - for outsiders, at least - why anyone would drink so early in the morning. Why anyone could ever love being around such a pressing group of people for a whole day. Perhaps in turn, that alcohol had been the answer.

And for Lucy, it was the very thing that had her cornered and questioned in the kitchen a day later. Conversations on the day itself had fast turned to insights to the ink manipulator's childhood; an obsession with space, the Adventures of Major Lucky Swindle, all the way to how she cried over her first legal tattoo just days before she had to move overseas. It had her father thinking, evidently, and so he felt the burning desire to ask. Pressed hands to either side of her face were practically begging for some kind of clarity. The Serrano family was a big clan; she was already older than he was when she herself was born. Surely it'd crossed her mind at least once.

And it had. Hell, it almost formed itself in two conversations with the psychometrist already, but they weren't really talks at all. Just fast comments here or there in overwhelming moments. Being practically interrogated by her dad, she supposed, was just what happened when she left the confinements of her room to get a bottle of water for the one who wanted it.

When she was free, lingering minutes had left her counterpart alone. But she was as quick as she could be to ease herself back through the break in the door before she closed it completely. Before she locked it in turn. Steps were already dragging her to the Brit's side of the single bed. "Here." She offered lightly, placing it down on the side table without a thought for its secondary contents. Because a moment later her hands were curling into the hem of the shirt she wore, and she was already fast to discard it.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Australian Christmas was the most overwhelming holiday Penny could think to experience, and not in the usual way her counterpart made a moment hard to handle. It was hot. Brutally hot, mixing unpleasantly with high humidity. Even though they were by the ocean, it still wasn't enough to make the Brit get in, despite claims from Lucy's father.

Oh, and those Serranos - there were so many. She had been warned, but always thought her counterpart spoke with some sort of exaggeration when it came to an actual number. She wasn't. They littered the beach by the dozens, and they were all such...Serranos. Loud. Obnoxious. Rowdy. Alcoholics. Penny was sure beer literally ran through their veins.

But she was there. Every step of the way. Though a Serrano herself, Lucy did her best to guide Penny towards relative safety in any given moment, and she did so well. The psychometrist held onto her like a lifeline.

The next day, things were slightly more settled. Or, at least, Penny felt comfortable letting her Australian out of sight for more than a few moments without having to be concerned about being intercepted by some random relative. Penny could hide in the comforts of Lucy's room. To distance herself from the booming voice every Australian seemed to carry. By the time early evening fell, Penny was determined to not leave the room at all, which in turn meant sending Lucy out to get her water for the headache that wouldn't seem to go away in this country.

She'd been gone longer than expected, but Penny kept herself preoccupied with a book. Great Expectations. Something so incredibly British to off balance where she was staying. "Thank you." Penny replied when the Australian returned, already reaching for it, though her gaze settled elsewhere entirely as a shirt peeled away from her skin.

So when her fingertips collided with the bottle, she hadn't expected to have to brace herself over such a strong memory. Firm hands pressing to either side of her face. Demanding answers to questions were quick to make Lucy flustered, and in turn, Penny as her eyes snapped up towards Lucy's. She twisted the cap off the bottle, trying to follow through as if she really hadn't paused at all as she took a sip.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

With her own attention deterred to her own task, Lucy had missed what signed she could have caught for a psychometric connection, eyes hidden by the shift in fabric that later fell to the floor. Natural was the slow rhythm to the wings at her hips, bodies half hidden by the band at her waist. It carried that second nature to the presence of her wife alone, and it was highly known just how simple it was for her to force a greater shift.

There was nothing quiet about the whethered Queenslander home they stayed in, but there was defined solace in a locked door, a dim lamp and idle light by the moon through the window that simply had to stay open for the sake of circulating air.

Sitting at the edge of the bed, Lucy still kept herself close. Close enough to just press a hand to the bed to lean the distance. It might have been irrefutably hot, but there was so little that could keep her from pressing her lips against those slightly cooled by the water.

"Are you tired?" The ink manipulator asked sincerely, the tip of her nose brushing against hers with a simple turn of her head.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Her fingers remained curled around the bottle tightly; she was often so considerate of Penny's psychometry that she had to wonder if the Australian purposefully used it as an in towards a conversation. However, she recalled the last time Lucy had actively used a physical item to carry a memory for her to see. And how she responded to it after further thought. Though yelling her sexual activity to a gymnasium full of high school students and talking to her father about having children were two incredibly different subjects.

So she watched the Australian quietly, and though her eyes were quick to snap up to Lucy's face, she still hadn't missed the beating wings that peaked up from the band at Lucy's hips. And when her counterpart - her wife - drew herself closer, Penny's free hand instantly pressed to the side of her face, keeping her close to draw out the moment just a little longer. Nor could she help the nature in which she reciprocated, a conversation she still wasn't sure if she was meant to hear.

"No, not really." Penny admitted with a roll of her shoulders. She still struggled through the time difference, and although Lucy's family was entirely exhausting, the Brit couldn't imagine herself sleeping any time soon. She leaned forward and caught her lips again. "Why?"

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

For Lucy, the conversation between herself and her father was easily the furthest thing from her mind. The second she lingered in the presence of her love, it was very much like nothing else mattered. Nothing could flag her attention or fuel interest quite like the psychometrist could; pressure lined her lips in an almost intoxicating way, but she didn't see much into that. That wasn't exactly out of the ordinary. Chances were, Penny had missed her in those few minutes away.

More time in her company couldn't be a bad thing, so Lucy had to look and be grateful that she wasn't tired. That said, she knew how exhausting present company could be, so she wouldn't have been surprised if she'd been asked to stop talking for the rest of the night. It had already happened once.

"No reason. You can keep reading." She replied, else she might seriously consider taking place of the book that'd been in her lap. But as it stood now, she had no intention of bordering on anything serious with the easily overwhelmable. It wasn't as if she didn't suffer the same quality.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

The immediate response Penny received put a small crease between her eyebrows. Though still incredibly close to Lucy, her lips pressed together in an attempt to hide the frown that wanted to take over. Really, it was a fair call to keep reading. It was no unknown fact that the pair weren't the only ones up in the house, and despite the way her own heart raced like the wings at her hips did, she couldn't fall into the usual physicality that they often reveled in.

But Penny twisted the cap of her bottle, setting it on the nearby table as her free hand reached for the book. A clever movement of her wrist and it was closed, set aside. On her side, as if she could really mark the territory as unavailable with a novel.

Though she doubted Lucy would try to go far as it was, because Penny's hands were already back on the ink manipulator's form. Fingertips brushed across her rips at either side, one tickling smart lettering as she tried to ease her closer. "I'm done reading." She replied gently.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

With free hands, it didn't surprise Lucy how those had reached for her almost immediately. To breach minimal distance was total second nature, just were the proverbial wings threatening to cause such trouble. Reassurance clouded the words given to her, light as they were against the previously furrowed nature of her own expression. But yes, she new very well by now just how Penny struggled with the country they resided in. She chalked any negativity up to that.

And it didn't take much to draw her in completely. To coax the prior thought into reality those hands seemed to call for. Pushing her hand harder into the mattress gave her the traction needed to draw onto the bed completely; to crawl onto her counterpart's lap with a leg at either side. Hands were fast to press to either side of her face, fingertips following the curve of her jaw before settling at the base of her neck. "Okay, cool." She replied then, shrugging her shoulders idly.

"You can watch that dumb show you like again." She offered in turn. Though she tried not to be offensive, there was nothing nice Lucy could say about Downton Abbey.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

All it took was minimal persuasion and Lucy was breaching through the little distance left. When the ink manipulator settled on her lap, Penny's hands naturally fell at her waist, the cool metal of the ring on her left hand pressing gently against her bare skin. She smiled, because though Lucy had only just suggested something as innocent as reading for the evening, it hadn't taken long to bring her close in. Within the minutes she was gone, she had missed her, and that feeling only grew with the time spent on a memory that wasn't hers to own.

But that smile was short lived when the corner of her mouth dragged downwards by a twitch of her lips. Her nose creased at the bridge. "It's not dumb." Penny couldn't help to defend her love for the British period drama. It was one of the few television shows that she could actually sit down and watch. She was even disappointed to know its final season was just around the corner in the upcoming year.

More to put a look of distaste on her features was the way Lucy seemed hide the subject she spoke of with her father so incredibly well. "You were gone for a while to just get water." She tried to prod, though she wouldn't dare be the one to start the conversation. At least not properly.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy had to laugh at the quick way Penny practically rejected her borderline offensive statement. For the ink manipulator, there were few things to watch that could be more boring than a British-based period drama that seemed to be about nothing. She couldn't harbour the interest, but simply wait around while she was interested. Still, she had to laugh at the choice or reprised words given; a description so beneath her vocabulary had just passed her lips like it was second nature. She almost wanted to joke about how the current location was clearly affecting her.

Almost. But attention was flagged and the need to joke about it fell to the wayside. It wasn't like Lucy to remember the little things for later. At least, not things like that.

"I know, but it wasn't so bad, right?" Lucy asked her genuinely. It was rare in this place for Lucy to leave Penny behind at all. This time, she knew she was keeping her behind a closed door, and she doubted anyone would be so pushy as to press intently to try and find her. Curiosity about such a relationship and light scrutiny over such a courthouse marriage were difficult to hide from. "Bet I was back before you knew it."

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy was being either very stupid or very clever, and frankly, she was more stupid than clever in any given moment. The Australian seemed to have no interest in even bringing up that she had talked to her father, let alone the subject he pushed her into. Were it not for her counterpart's affectionate state, she might have been annoyed with her.

But instead, her hands circled around to Lucy's back, creeping gently up the length of her spine before back down again in a fluid motion. "I wouldn't say that..." Penny replied, though admittedly she had been caught up in her book until the undressed state of her counterpart and a water bottle had distracted her entirely.

She leaned forward, the tip of her nose brushing against Lucy's lightly. "I thought you'd want to hurry back to me." She pointed out, eyebrows quirked.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Penny's words were almost unusually needy. Unless she was tired, she wasn't really one to express such open and blatant emotional discourse that could seem potentially weaker. It was the kind of thing that forced the rhythm of her heart and in turn those wings at her hips to shift at a faster rate.

"I did, though." Lucy replied, sincerely lining her tone, "It could've been heaps longer."

Which wasn't hard here; between her parents and her youngest sister, Lucy often found herself pulled in a myriad of directions. Staying fast to her counterpart was the ultimate necessity. She breached the minimal distance between them to brush her lips against hers lightly, doing the most she could to keep it so despite the compromising position they were in.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

When her hands continued their path down Lucy's back, they brushed past the band at her waist by a few inches, pressing palms against material rather than her skin to drag her even closer, were it possible. It was impossible not to get tangled up in the way Lucy kissed her, more so in a moment where she wasn't allowed to.

Being so close was incredibly dangerous. Lucy was tempting in any given moment, but it only made matters worse to keep her close, and Penny lacked the willpower to push her away. She was, after all, the one that pulled her in.

She wasn't being fair. Penny's nose crinkled with the thought of being so forward on a subject that she was now entirely caught in. When it wasn't even her own fault. So she kissed her again, instead. Eyes were shut tight as she barely allowed the words to hit the air in a whisper. "No, I don't think you would have lasted much longer in that conversation with your father."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

It was so hard not to get completely wrapped up in the usual inevitable physicality. Lucy could feel the sweeter pressure behind her mouth; everything she wanted to give that Lucy couldn't take despite how badly she might have wanted to. She would settle for words given, but that series had rocked her to a new level.

The need to answer her was absolutely paramount. Her eyes had squeezed shut in an instant to keep surprise from being obvious, even with the space between them as dwindled as it was. The air grew thin as the details of that conversation flooded her mind instantly. There was more to it than just wanting to take her away, there were kids, and she didn't know which part had her playing first.

So she kissed her again, as drawn out as she could with the need to stall her time. But the expression through that contact served a purpose within itself. The curve to her spine grew to arch beneath the hands that held her. These weren't subjects they communicated about with words.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penny had tried. Really, she had. Without the ability to fall into the usual means, she had to communicate she knew, because something like that wasn't a subject that simply went away. At least, now, they were on some sort of common ground. Or understanding. Or something. But her eyes remained shut tightly, much like her counterpart's though she couldn't see it as such.

Her breath already felt weak; Penny was never one to talk about anything. Especially something so overwhelming. With multiple things so overwhelming. She opened the opportunity for conversation, but she had no idea where to move forward from that point on.

So when she felt the purposeful way Lucy kissed her, Penny naturally reciprocated with her own desperation. The movement of her form was impossible to ignore, and though every logical piece of the Brit told her she shouldn't fall into the inevitable, it was incredibly hard not to. Her fingertips were already dragging across the inseam of Lucy's pants, up to the band at her waist as her hand ducked beneath the fabric.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Aligning a memory to an inanimate object was almost always a mistake. The last time Lucy did so with purpose, the higher feeling of regret had rocked her senses minutes after the fact. She didn't like remotely using something her love saw negatively against her; it wasn't fair. The last thing she expected was to have a thought or feeling or conversation imprinted into the plastic for her to catch onto. She was sure she wasn't ready to talk.

A clever hand kept her stable by still settling at her back. She dropped the remnants of a useless breath against her lips when a seam was followed expertly. The first sign of skin to skin contact and she was forcing her fingers to curl around her wrist. Never did Lucy try to stop a situation, but she could stall it.

"I do want them." She tried, but those four words were all she could manage with the air she had before she had to take another breath; "Kids, I mean." Another breath for something that seemed to steal it far too easily, "I already said that." Though not with those exact words; perhaps nothing so overtly admitted. But she still thought to mention it all the same.