Covered In The Colors

[Lucy Serrano]

Talking through made the whole process easier for Lucy. More, she couldn't ever really help the content behind her lips, but it so rarely got her into trouble that she never bothered trying to find a filter. She was sure she had many other things to say to this girl in this moment, but it all came to a crashing halt when she was spoken to like that.

There was, admittedly, a second or so of a pause where Lucy stared at her. She was searching for reason; reason the stonewalling actress clearly sent want to give.

"Message received, boss." She announced clearly. Surely even she could take that statement and read it as directed.

Silence finally caught the Australian as she spun back around again, searching for the next available piece to press to the exposed skin in her chair.

[Penelope Blaise]

She came to a screeching halt, and for the little amount of time Penny had spent with the artist, the fact that she stopped at all surprised her. It felt like this woman existed merely to create art and push her buttons, but she looked back at her - the artist's dark eyes almost felt irksome with the way they stared at her.

Penny's eyebrows quirked upward, but she didn't complain with what she heard. Instead, she leaned back in her chair, eyes drawing shut on a relieved sigh. Like the new silence had put her in a new relaxed state. Except it didn't. The lack of conversation was so quiet it was deafening.

So she opened her eyes again, glancing towards the box she rummaged through. At the very least, she could watch.

[Lucy Serrano]

It was a sparing little glance; one over Lucy's shoulder that wasn't directed to her eyes at all. Rather, she focused her attention to the arm she had slowly started to cover. Her teeth unknowingly sunk into her lower lip out of a kind of instinct; she wasn't willing to budge now that she had forced herself into a stint of silence, no matter what great things she considered filling the moment with.

Trying to find something specific hardly ever worked in the artist's favour. Rather, she preferred the fluidity of a striking choice being practically made for her. So when she idly tugged on a specific drawing, she felt as if she had no choice. She even grinned to herself; it was practically perfect.

Composing her expression before she turned back around, Lucy was silent to take the seat she had given herself. She unfurled the black and grey depiction of a lion's face without a word, pressing it against her skin only seconds after the choice was known to her.

[Penelope Blaise]

This was supposed to be something of a team effort, though Penny supposed that she was to blame in part for the way she told this woman to shut up. It carried a new weight to the already thick air between them. Lips pursed as she strained to see the print she had chosen. A lion.

Again, a perfect fit. But Penny hadn't the chance to even weigh in on her opinion, positive or not, before it was being pressed to her skin.

She exhaled a sigh, nose crinkling as she stared forward into the mirror again. At her. No matter where she directed her gaze it seemed to land back on the Australian again and again.

"How is it that you are somehow more irritating when you don't speak?"

[Lucy Serrano]

Clever hands pressed the print against unfamiliar skin. Fingertips fanned out across her arm as Lucy worked to keep it flat. To maintain that perfect pressure. She didn't bother looking up as she waited for the proper connection to be made. But when she was spoken to, she couldn't help the way she initially laughed.

"You asked me to stop." She replied then, stopping the movements of her hands to look at her properly. It's be the first time she offered direct eye contact in minutes. "All I was doing was complimenting you. Mightn't be what you're used to, but that might be because I'm not trying to make you happy so I don't lose a job."

Lucy shrugged her shoulders as she peeled the latest addition away; "I was just being honest. Maybe that's weird for you."

[Penelope Blaise]

Honesty was weird for Penny. In the career she had thrown herself into, the Brit was used to everything being part of a scheme. Everyone had reason for being where they were, and most was so they could get higher. Nobody was nice for a reason - even this woman - because she was behaving this way because of evident attraction to the actress.

So her eyes instead focused on the lion that now lived on her skin. How fitting it was to live there. When she looked back up at the artist, she quickly realized she wanted to stare. Often, her attention couldn't be drawn to another individual for so long.

Her eyes dropped, yet only a few inches and only for a few moments before they flicked back up. "Why the lion?" She asked, though she was certain she knew the answer herself.

[Lucy Serrano]

Indifference seemed to be heavy in Lucy's approach to most things. She knew perfectly that the work she provided could stand on its own; if anything, her attitude often held it back. There was the belief that she mightn't be worth it. Surely, if she opted to make a complaint of that nature, it'd hold its weight far better than the minutes they had spent applying anything of great magnitude. In the scheme of things, she didn't really matter. Perhaps that was the point.

Or rather, that was supposed to be the point. It was an easy conclusion drawn. Lucy wondered how long she'd been holding onto that mentality when it came to similar people in her position. Despite the loss of steady eye contact, she held her own and kept looking for the set of dark eyes that easily acted like she didn't exist. That was okay, and she was evidently okay with answering the question she found to be inevitable.

"Because," She reasoned, like the word could be enough as she paused simply, "They make you brave." And on some level, the Australian was sure even this girl could use that.

[Penelope Blaise]

Lions make you brave. The corner of Penny's mouth twitched at the last word that passed hers. The English woman was considered to be one of the bravest people in the industry. It was one of the most common statements told to her, that she was brave. She herself had never seen it as such. And perhaps she needed that boost of bravery in the form of a lion imprinted to her skin.

She leaned forward. Closer. Only a little.

"Is that why you wear one, too?" She asked, daring enough to reach out and curl her hand around the artist's forearm, thumb brushing along the wavy locks of the lion's mane. Dark eyes didn't have to glance down at the creature to knew where it existed. She had noticed long before she let the observation be known.

[Lucy Serrano]

It wasn't hard to catch the way this girl leaned inward. It might have been a fraction of a movement, but it was still one nonetheless. Given how little she offered up until that point, Lucy couldn't help herself.

That was, until she felt the way a physical connection surpassed that. It was the first time the famous actress had given her any kind of physicality; a very real part of her had assumed she'd be slapped before she was touched in any other way.

"Oh, absolutely." She replied honestly, like perhaps that was enough of a statement without further explanation, "Tattoos are worth whatever reminders they can give you when you need them."

[Penelope Blaise]

Her own movement was practically blind to her, but she felt the chemical reaction with a spark in her pulse as she made that contact. Really, the actress couldn't actively recall a time when she reached out for a person without it being scripted. It almost felt intimate to feel the ink that lived permanently on her skin. Even if she didn't look. Even if it was because she was staring.

Tattoos were for girls with father issues and motorbikes, Penny was sure. She had held that opinion high in her mind for years, but the role she took on for an inked up character provided neither of those features. It made hearing this particular tattooed individual sound almost poetic in nature.

And she leaned in a little further, fingertips never leaving the lion on her arm. It burned like it could truly roar while she crossed the line and pressed her lips to the set that she tried to quiet moments ago.

[Lucy Serrano]

It had to be a kind of trick, surely. Lucy doubted the actress would fail at selling her on a belief; it was, after all, her line of work. She was so good at lying to make a living. More, to make a name for herself. She would have pulled apart every action given to her if she hadn't been so preoccupied.

An unfamiliar set of lips hit her own and on instinct she knew she shouldn't have given in for every reason already considered. A trick. A lie. Some kind of perfect deception to get her back for her own attitude.

But she didn't think, and perhaps that was the real point if it all. Lips pressed against her own and felt real enough to reciprocate without hesitation. And even more, she felt inclined to reach out to the person who practically begged her for silence, fingertips brushing up the new set of flowers from her shoulder to the back of her neck instead.

[Penelope Blaise]

A stint of curiosity, surely. Penny herself hadn't reason for her own actions. It felt like a magnetic draw, though she'd never admit it to the Australian who was actually attempting to seduce her in some sense. She'd never dare say it worked. Because it hadn't. She was in control. She was the boss.

Unfamiliar fingertips had already worked against her skin, but this time it felt different. Her hand tightened around the only other connection she made as just as harsh a pressure pressed against her lips. Heated. Almost desperate.

And suddenly, gone.

The English actress reeled back, releasing the Australian only to raise her hand, palm swinging forward with every intention of colliding with the artist's cheek.

[Lucy Serrano]

Lost in the proverbial moment, Lucy had no way to know she would be met with any kind of resistance. This wasn't a move made on her part first; why would something negative be built from her own actions of following a coursing river?

When she opened her eyes at the sudden loss, they were curious. Then, they were wide, because she had no way of judging the fact that a hand would come for her. It marked a collision with the side of her face, roaring with an equal sound that had the Australian promptly reeling back.

"What the fuck!" She swore, unable to maintain any kind of control as she let go of the actress, pressed her hand to her own face and promptly hauled herself out of her seat to step back through the trailer. At least she turned her back, because even she couldn't control the pain induced tears that watered her eyes.

[Penelope Blaise]

She hit with enough force to make her own hand sting. She hadn't even realized the strength she put behind it until her palm ached and she was forcing a new distance between them. When the artist stood, so did Penelope, back straightening as she crossed her arms over her chest. It seemed the easiest way to cover herself for the time being.

Lips felt raw, and they pursed as she watched the way the Australian reacted, her own expression steel in comparison, despite the heavy way she breathed. "This is your fault!" She announced in response, but she wasn't done, and although she was the first to break the connection between them, she was stepping forward, fire burning her lungs as if she could breathe it like the dragon on her skin.

"What makes you think you can just behave like that?"

[Lucy Serrano]

Distance was the only thing Lucy wanted now. Her initial steps had been those in haste, and she didn't realise how trapped she was until she was spoken to. It was enough of an accusation to have her reeling back to look again at the shirtless actress with the mean right hook. The girl who stood between herself and the door. Who stepped closer and inched Lucy back towards the back of the trailer.

"Are you bloody kidding?" She asked genuinely, and then she laughed in her disbelief.

But look at her; Arms crossed and lips pursed. She clearly wasn't.

"You hit me!" Lucy continued; "You kissed me!"