Going Nowhere

[Lucy Serrano]

It had been three nights since Lucy had been to see the senator. It wasn't as if she often went consecutively, so a little distance every now and again wasn't completely out of the question. Truth be told, the thief doubted she was being waited for at all. She had plenty of things to do to keep her busy, least of all entertaining someone who stole her property for a living.

But on the fourth night, Lucy ventured to the familiar home she hadn't been to in days. The time it took to reach a familiar place l was incredibly strained; the muscle was certainly out in abundance tonight. New guards practically littered her entire estate, and still managed to situate themselves right where she preferred to go. On the roof, too, which made the usual balcony out of the question.

It took time to pick the lock of a window, but Lucy doubted she knew that at all. Up a set of stairs she posed quiet footsteps to the bedroom door that was closed. Probably locked.

Absolutely locked. She didn't bother trying the handle; she could feel the tumblers set in their place. She worked the door free of them as quietly as she could.

And when the thief finally managed to open it, there was no able body waiting for her. No gold to catch her eyes. She almost looked as if she were sleeping, but surely it wasn't that late. It didn't take Lucy that long to get there.

“Should I come back later?” She asked from a distance, using the words themselves to announce her arrival.

[Penelope Blaise]

It was the forth day since she'd had the thief as a visitor, and as time had passed the thought turned more towards breaking and entering than anything else. A dinner she hadn't wished to attend had only gotten worse when she caught sight of the thief for the first time in a public setting. There was a reason she hadn't before, but she never thought the reason would be for this. She hadn't touched her meal, dark eyes looking past her colleagues as they so often did, but rather than stare into nothingness, they were acutely focused on the turned back of this woman - and to the barmaid she was talking to.

She left. Unnoticed. Perhaps it was better not to have gained that sort of attention after all, but staying another moment seemed far too much to handle, especially when she recognized those lines and moves. She knew exactly how things were to end between the two.

Rumors of a threat to her life sprung the air when she suddenly had a surplus of guards at her home. More than she had ever managed to hire before. And because she refused to offer a reason for the extra security, people made their own assumptions. Nobody would have suspected it was to keep the thief that once frequented her home out completely.

Not even she had realized it.

The covers were drawn up over her shoulders, eyes squeezed shut tightly even as she heard the minimal sound of a door lock unlatching. The senator did nothing to recognize her existence.

She gave the question a few seconds, letting them settle in the dead silence of the room, perhaps to make her realize how quiet it could be alone. "Do you not have somewhere else to be?" She asked instead, voice sounding hoarse. Tired.

[Lucy Serrano]

Lucy closed the door behind her, pointedly locking it to provide as much seclusion as she could. It was hell out there. It was hell in here. She didn't feel the usual sense of company wanted, but she immediately assumed it was nothing major.

"No," Lucy replied honestly. If she had, she surely would have been there already.

It was like a reason to move. Lucy let herself be dragged inward by the entire moment itself, taking steps through the room, she let those movements be heard as she brought herself closer to the bed wasn't being invited or dragged to.

"Are you feeling alright?" She asked, opting to sit at the edge of the bed. A slight lean of her form and she rested a hand to the body wrapped in shared sheets.

[Penelope Blaise]

Penny could practically feel the thief draw nearer, and while she registered the shift on the edge of her bed, she hadn't made a move herself. The blankets were pulled up past her shoulders, face hidden within the covers she found sanctuary in. She was thankful her back was to the thief, even if her eyes were closed. If anything, she looked as distressed as she sounded.

The hand on her form only received a grunt from the normally graceful senator. She pulled at the sheets more tightly.

"So you always sound like you care?" Penny questioned instead, though her time sounded more exhausted than angry. Left alone too long to think.

[Lucy Serrano]

Lucy wasn't sure what kind of response she should have expected from the body hiding in a set of covers. They were pulled instinctively, almost like she were trying to shrug the thief off entirely. That never happened. Then again, this girl was always in certain spirits when Lucy managed to visit.

"Oh, stop." She replied, and she even laughed. A light chuckle for the equally light words she offered. Fingers curled into the sheets she was so used to gripping, and she offered a pull back in her direction. For Lucy, she had to find humour in the belief that she didn't care on some level.

"Is this what you're like when you're unwell?" She asked, still settled completely in her oblivious state, "Because that doesn't surprise me in the slightest."

[Penelope Blaise]

A laugh was hardly the answer Penny was searching for. If anything, the thief managed to make an entire situation worse just with the way she responded. The senator was silent, though it had nothing to do with the way she was told to stop. If anything, she simply wished to ignore the legendary thief until she figured out enough to realize her company was not wanted.

But for someone so cunning at times, she was moronic.

Penny's hold on the sheets tightened when they threatened to be pulled away, entire body curling into them to keep them secure against her form. "I'm not ill." She practically snapped, then. She was so skilled with this act that Penny had to wonder how long it had been going on for.

"Did you enjoy your night with that barmaid?" She asked instead, as it seemed like the thief wouldn't make the connection herself.

[Lucy Serrano]

It seemed her little attempt to make any headway was perfectly blocked by the stubborn hands curled into those sheets. To be told she was wrong had Lucy contemplating what else it could be instead. Perhaps she was irked by the four days between encounters, but it wouldn't be like Penny to express that by any means.

On instinct, Lucy reeled her hand back. It was the kind of action made before she even considered how incriminating it was. That said, she could easily tell the body in bed didn't want to be touched. She was doing everything to sever that connection entirely.

"My night?" Lucy asked her, sounding as confused as she truly was. And the second she asked, Lucy regretted it. The notion of further incrimination really wasn't what she was going for. Why did it even matter? Why did she even care?

She kicked off the boots that had dragged her over all those walls, hauling herself better on the bed as she opted to lean over her instead; "Hold on, love." The thief added. When it came to this, a bit of a back step felt completely necessary.

[Penelope Blaise]

It was an assumption, and while Penny rarely allowed herself to be caught in assuming much, she felt justified in this. There didn't need to be proof when she spoke. How she leaned against the bar to look at this woman. It was so suitably smooth of the thief. Like she'd played that charmed before. Like it worked, because it absolutely had.

And before she could think to offer any sort of answer on any of it all, she felt the bedding sink in behind her with the shift of the body drawing closer. Rather than leave, Lucy managed to believe that the opposite would have some better effect. Coupled with that nickname, it certainly did not.

"Love?" Penny actually laughed. It was almost humorous, though she sounded more exhausted than she did amused. It was absurd. She had yet to realize just how close she was when she pushed an elbow up to the bed, sheets falling down past her shoulder as she finally revealed her face. At least it was somewhat dark within her room, details of her face were somewhat masked through the shadows.

"What makes you believe you have the right to call me love?"

[Lucy Serrano]

Despite her best efforts, there was no avail to the newly developed need to see her face. Lucy knew without worry that the senator was stubborn. She was a force to be reckoned with in her own way. She got mad when Lucy was late and she certainly liked to remind her of that fact every chance she got. She held grudges. Evidently, this was set to be one of the biggest.

And when she saw her eyes, dimly lit as they were, she couldn't help the way she breathed. A fast exhale for the face she had missed for four days in honesty, despite how that wasn't to be believed.

She even smiled; short and from the corner of her mouth. Just briefly before she was called out again.

Now probably wasn't the time to address the fact that that wasn't exactly a mutually exclusive nickname to bestow. Not on someone so raw; "You got someone following me? Is that your new thing now?" She asked her instead, because she knew how infrequently this girl ever went anywhere. To her then, it was the only thing that made sense.

[Penelope Blaise]

She had missed seeing her, as much as it pained her to admit the fact. Those eyes were just as bright as she recalled, and an uncontrollable glance down to her lips caught onto the small curve they had taken. Her eyes felt sore, but they recognized that look. Or, she thought she had for so long.

Her eyebrows furrowed immediately when the thief spoke. Even Penny could recognize she had a somewhat off sense of affection when it came to this individual, but she wasn't one to stoop so low. She was so quick to assume that she would do so, too. It irked the senator.

"I had a dinner to attend to." Penny replied flatly, feeling the tension rise up her spine and neck, filtering into a clenched jaw. "I saw you almost immediately." She had a power to pull attention. "And of course you didn't see me."

[Lucy Serrano]

To the glance at her mouth, Lucy couldn't help the slightest lean inward she gave. Four days had a kind of power she didn't really know how to control. Even in the midst of an argument, some things were just standard.

The explanation given proved to Lucy that she was wrong. Though she wouldn't put it past the senator to delight in monitoring her own endeavours, she never expected to be caught in that set of eyes.

"Because I should have every reason to suspect that you would ever leave this bloody fortress." Lucy replied instinctively. It wasn't a concept that she spared a thought for; this girl was always here. Always within reach, even when she probably shouldn't have been.

And then she breathed. It wasn't the time to get in any kind of fight about it. There wasn't even anything to fight for. At least, that had been her hope. There was a large question looming, but she didn't have the strength to ask it. "Stop," She said again, this time as lightly as she could manage. She let go of the sheets she held and pressed her hand against the side of her face instead; "What's going on?"

[Penelope Blaise]

Penny felt the way Lucy neared her, and while she was angry with the thief, she didn't back away. There had been dozens - if not more - times they'd found themselves like this within her bed, but under completely different circumstances. Penny couldn't think of a time she had actively wanted the thief to stop.

Her lips had immediately parted with that reply, ready to argue that it was her job to go out, even when she did prefer to stay inside her own home in any instance that she could. It was absolutely true. But that hardly excused the thief's behavior in the least. Penny expected not to be noticed; she never held the attention of anyone, and it shouldn't have surprised her to find herself under the same circumstances with the thief.

But she was told to stop, and she felt Lucy's palm press to her cheek. The senator's eyes drew shut as she exhaled. A moment to appreciate that connection before she lifted a hand to curl fingers around her wrist to try and pull it away. "How many girls do you court?"

[Lucy Serrano]

There was a short moment of clarity. There was something calming in the way any real connection could be appreciated. Lucy watched the way the senator seemed to settle in a kind of lost company. In that spare moment, she thought to scold herself for her decision not to come back for so long. After all, it wasn't as if Penny had the means to find her. Every inch of power in that respect landed in the thief's hands.

She didn't fight the hand that requested distance again; using strength against her in that way wouldn't be fair. But she twisted her hand as it was held, intent to interlock her fingers with hers. It couldn't be that easy to change things here.

"Court?" Lucy repeated, stressing the word as it sounded so foreign falling from her mouth. It confused her. She sounded and probably even looked confused by it; "I don't really know what you're asking, because I don't know what you mean by that."

[Penelope Blaise]

While Penny fought against such an intimate connection, she didn't stop the way her hand was held, but she refused to offer a tightening grip on those interlocked fingers. Her eyes remained shut for a few moments longer, like it was easier to handle anything like this when she couldn't be seen, but a question had those dark eyes opening again. Confusion briefly flickered across her eyes until she had realized that the thief's vocabulary was not up to par.

Her jaw clenched, lips pressing into a thin, hardened line as she gave herself a moment to rework her question. It had been a struggle enough to ask at all, and now she had be be more forward with it. Penelope Blaise struggled with anything forward.

"How many have you been seeing?" She tried again, emphasis on the word to hope to better drive her point. But she was desperate for an answer - so desperate she hadn't the ability to yell as she thought she would have hours ago.

[Lucy Serrano]

The repositioned question made a lot more sense to someone with a skewed view of any kind of traditional dating sense. Being a thief called for a naturally differed perspective on every aspect of life. This, then, was to be no exception.

At least Lucy didn't look overtly phased by the question. It had been the better of two options, and configuring a response to it wasn't all that difficult either. Truth be told, she didn't know how to answer that. She squeezed the hand she held instinctively, eyebrows raising in her own obvious concern.

"Does it really matter?" She asked instead, but she seemed desperate herself for a clear answer; "Honestly."