Lucy — Mind Games

{User} has been having quite a lot of free time, and decided to give a surprise visit to the Sons of Calydon, specially because it's winter, so, in theory, the heat would be less obnoxious, right....? Well, no. The second {sub} arrive, it's pretty damn clear "seasons" is not really a concept here. Some degrees below, sure, but only locals could really tell the difference. Guess who's a local? Not Lucy, of course, but it's the first one {sub} could find at the bar's counter, as she's often the second first waking up. She seemed to have just came from a bath and put her clothes, as she was not wearing her hat, but brushing her blonde hair as it's loose and still a little wet from the bath. Her eyes were unusually relaxed and her appearance showed serenity, but the second she notice someone is near and it's someone she knows, her head snaps up and she immediately jumps away like a scaredy-cat.

"HUH!? W-w-WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE SO EARLY!? AND WATCHING ME, TOO? WHAT ARE YOU, INFATUATED OR SOMETHING!?"

Lucy took her bat with the free hand and pointed at {obj} with a blazing rage on her red eyes... Her serenity was all but a fragile dandelion, one blow and it's gone.

"TURN. AWAY. AND WAIT."

She... Forgot everyone else was sleeping, and in the process of threatening the visitor, Caesar left her room still on pajamas using the blanket as an makeshift armor.

"WHO'S THERE!? Lucy, are you oka- uh...."

The second Caesar realizes all that's going on, she hugs the blanket tighter.

"Oh, it's you, {user}! How ya doin?"

And then she notices Lucy's hair down, and her eyes shone.

"Lucy! Finally revealing your true colors, hmm? Your hair looks so pretty like this! It makes you look soo much cuter."

.... And that's when Lucy snapped and Burnice burst her room's door open, immediately noticing the current scene.

"Hair down Lucy!? Aaawn, that's so adorable!" Burnice was as enchanted as Caesar, but Lucy's reaction...

Lucy, presented with two compliments and an accidental admirers, threw the bat aggressively against Caesar's head (and missed) and ran away straight to her room while screaming "I HATE ALL OF YOU!!!!". Lighter rose from the shadows already dressed up and glasses high.

"Someone's full of energy today, huh?"

He quickly realized how everyone is. Burnice disheveled, Caesar using a blanket like a greek robe and {User} just... Lost in all this chaos.

"What even happened here?"

"Lucy snapped, you know how it is. You give her a compliment...." Caesar spoke while taking the bat from the ground and putting on the counter. "She gives you a death sentence."

To fill the plate with misery, Pulchra briefly appeared at the entrance and passed straight to the other side of the building. She saw it all... And no one knows what she might do with it. But better not let Lucy know. Piper was still dead sleep inside the truck, though. Lighter was the first one to speak again.

"Uhh, about you, Caesar, your... You know."

"What?" She looked at herself, and instantly turned red. "O-oh! Right! I need to dress myself up! I'll be back!" And darted straight to her room.

Lighter simply left a brief giggle and left the place, probably was gonna work out or something alike. Burnice looked at {user} instead right after taking a sip of some spare nitro fuel from yesterday.

"Hey, {user}, what about you go after Lucy? I'll need to fix myself up, too, but feel at home as always! Lucy's always like that, y'know? Don't let her intimidate you from getting close.~"

And then, Burnice went back inside her room, and {user} was left with an option... Throwing heads or tails mentally, the answer was heads: go check on Lucy. Her room's door was close, but not locked. When {user} tried knocking....

"WHO IS IT!? I'M NOT DONE! I SWEAR, CAESAR, IF IT'S YOU, I WON'T MISS THIS TI-"

... Well, it couldn't be Caesar, now that she thought about it. She wouldn't just knock.

"It's you, isn't it, {user}? What do you want? Come check on me? I'm fine! I'm leaving in some thirty minutes. My hair, it... Needs a lot of work to stay smooth and shiny."

She sighs, and continues on.

"I wake up early to take my bath and stay outside by sunrise to let the hair dry quickly without weighing on the electric bill, but it's not often someone DARES to be looking at me. So, here I am, stuck in this room. Waiting for it to dry fully so I can put the hat. And smoothing it down. Wait outside, I won't repeat myself."

.... Well, it was the safest option for sure, but... Is it the best one? It was the rare chance to engage with an "disarmed" (Literally and metaphorically) Luciana, but knowing how she is, {sub} would need to literally beg for her to let {obj} in.

Lucy was in an particularly angry day. Dust got on her eyes, her hat flew away thrice while riding, debris inside the boots, flying rocks blocked three of the bat's holes for some goddamn bizarre unluck, Grassy (accidentally) stumbled once inside her room and made a parfum fall off, she was feeling very, VERY in the need to beat someone to death or be locked away from the world for the rest of the afternoon. Lighter, in attempt to help, propose a spar (better said he just defended patiently and pretended she was overwhelming him to give her confidence), in which she ended up hitting so much he actually got taken by surprise once as the bat hits his gauntlet, making a loud clank spread in the air.

"... You really are full of punches to give today, aren't you?" He quoted, almost impressed.

"Why are you just standing still? Too afraid of me all of the sudden?" She replied while staring him with red eyes still burning of repressed anger.

"... In truth, I never meant this to be a fair fight. Just help you vent." Answered Lighter as he calmly retreats.

She slowly retreated too.

"Help me vent?! What do you have to do with any of this? ARE YOU THINKING OF ME AS A FRAGILE FLOWER NOOOW!?"

She lifted a rock and shot it with all her strength to the point even the bat felt it, Lighter with some effort took the rock with his left hand, but it still managed to pierce through his glove, and leave some blood he fortunately do not stare at it even after he left the rock fall. Lucy, noticing that, rose a hand to her mouth in shock, and she was filled with instant regret. Causing him pain was one way of reprimanding, now making precisely the hemophobic person to bleed? He, itself, didn't seem much affected at all.

"Not bad, but not enough. How do you feel about the idea of calling that friend of yours to help you? Guess {obj} might be the only one really willing to put up with your tantrums. I... Don't really believe in my abilities to comfort people."

Lucy briefly stopped. Her red eyes briefly shone, before shutting it down with crossed arms and a huff.

"{User}? Don't get {obj} into this. It's my problem, and only my problem..."

"That is a yes, then..."

He took his phone and dialed the number on, Lucy started panicking.

"Wh-wh- HOW do you have {poss} number again!? I am serious, do NOT call {obj} just to make me company! I don't need any more dumbasses surrounding me in such a bad day. TURN. IT. OFF!"

"Hello...? Yes. It's Lighter, remember me? Good. Blazewood, the usual place. You can take her wherever you want as long as you come back alive."

She desperately tried several times to snatch his phone or at least click the button to cancel the call, but he would almost dance as he feints and steps away while talking with incredible nonchalance to the current situation, even adjusting his glasses mid movement.

"I'll wait here. Don't take long, if you could..."

"LIGHTEEEEER!!!!"

The scream was such it could even be heard by {user} on the other side, but then Lighter turned the call off and stored his phone, staring Lucy.

"{User}'s coming. Ten to twenty minutes, {obj} said." Lighter stated.

"Ugh.... Wait."

She actually processed the information, and eyes went wide once more.

"TEN TO TWENTY MINUTES!? I-I must get going!"

Betraying all the frustration she was having with the event, she ran straight inside the bar, right into her room and saw her face in the mirror of the vanity table.

"Gods, my hair is all weird, my hat got two extra scratches..."

She desperately started straightening the hair with her nails, but then she noticed her hands.

"EECK! It's stained with soot!"

She didn't even thought twice, took her spare clothes and went straight to a bath. Having the fastest bath she ever had to take, she went out of there and ran straight back to the room, drying her hair at max heat with the hair drier...

"Come on... Come on... Get dry already!"

Fifteen minutes in, she was only half ready, and a familiar voice could be heard from outside, and it was Burnice greeting the anticipated visitor: {user}. Burnice told {obj} where Lucy is, and she shut the door as fast as she could.

"I AM NOT READY YET! WAIT!"

She shouted, the sound muffled through the door. Mumbles and quiet curses could be heard, until, five more minutes in, she gets outside her room, sighed deeply and took a look at her cherished friend, that is, {user}.

"I hope Lighter hasn't planted any ideas on your mind, I'm just-" She adjusted her throat... "Doesn't matter, I'll give you the honor of having me for today. Where are we going?"

She rose her phone, frantically typed and then sent a message to Lighter, both as an apology for earlier and subtly suggesting him to clean his hand. She couldn't afford to go personally apologize to him now, and despite the remaining resentment she felt, Lucy would do anything but show her inner emotions in a transparent way. Before it gets awkward she stores the phone again and gazes at {obj} once more.

"It's nothing." She dismissed before {sub} even asks. "Just solving something. Now answer my question."

It was a pretty boring day in Blazewood, surprisingly. Slow pace, low activity, zero emergencies... And everyone had their way of solving that. Lighter, weird as it sounds, was assisting Burnice, or better said, she suddenly thought he needed a better... Lighter. Yes, Lighter, the champion, needed a better lighter, the flame-making tool, and she was extremely convicted nitro fuel could be a key. Caesar was off doing a regular patrol with Pulchra just to be safe, Piper was playing with an old engine she found on the junk of an hollow some days before, trying to make it work. Lucy? Lucy was taking care of herself before anything. A second bath, straightening the frizz, face care, hand care, cleaning her clothes... And when she was ready, she left her room with her bat and went straight out, already screaming around for the three boar thirens.

"ALL RIGHT, TIME FOR SOME PRACTICE BEFORE YOU SLACK TOO MUCH! GRASSY! WOODY! BRICKY! OUTSIDE!"

The three dwarfs immediately arrived and formed a line behind her, marching like soldiers serving their commander. Outside the building, she went to an wall and started speaking once more. They formed a line in front of the wall, instinctively.

"Very well, hear me out. Today we will train your skills. What skills? Dodging. You dumbasses always take hits like punching bags! How will this translate on our tricks?"

They looked to each other, discussing, debating, but that's not the answer Lucy wanted, and the reprimanding was instant.

"It's NOT to plan how to counteract it, it was a rhetorical question!"

*She spun the bat on her hand, took some small stones from the ground and pointed the bat to an spot on the wall.

"Right there. I'll count down from 3, after 1 I'll shout GO, that's when you should jump away from the incoming rock. Understood?"

Initially they seemed nervous, oinking between themselves and nearly curling into balls, but Lucy's shouting immediately calls them back.

"I WON'T HIT TO HURT, YOU STUPID! It's on the head! You have helmets, remember!? Now, Grassy, you're first!"

... But for some reason, Grassy, Woody and Bricky were fixated on something at distance.

"... What? Fearful now? Should I tell Big Daddy about this?"

Woody pointed out, and Lucy turned... It was {user}. Whether they were always there or just came following the loud noises, the intense staring might mean the boars want {obj} to be their saving grace. Lucy was really quick to adjust her head, her tone, her pose, her expression, everything that she could to give a better impression.

"Oh, {user}! What brings you here? Came to pay us a visit? I must apologize in everyone's behalf, but they are all, currently... Busy. You can enter the bar and take one or two bottles while you wait. Water, if you preserve your health. If you can't wait? No one's doing something important, y'know, I can help you assemble them all."

Grassy, Woody and Bricky went and kneeled right in front of user, repetitively bowing like begging for mercy. That is what triggers Lucy again, arching her brows and spinning the hat.

"OH, IS THAT IT!? You're a bunch of tiny cowards, is that what I see!?"

She... Slowly sighed as she rose her eyes back to the visitor.

"Ah, we were... I was about to train them, they are a little rusty, and I thought I could use this to train my aim a little more. If you want, you can join us, too. Do what you want, really. If you want anything, ask now."