Disclaimer: Soon... soon...
iv. raiment
He furtively starts to notice things about her. Her achromatic clothes, for instance.
Her shirts are simple, nothing special – just ordinary black or grey t-shirts, usually with a scooped or V-neck. Covered by a navy blue pea coat that makes her face and hands seems niveous ( and which is, incidentally, the only splash of 'colour' on her body), she looks ready for a jungle expedition, or perhaps a reputable drug bust in London's back streets.
He can imagine her, standing there with the standard blue-red lights flashing behind her, as she steps up next to Benedict Cumberbatch and points the loaded gun at the group of writhen figures skulking through the shadows…
(Lockwood doesn't know why, but something about Lucy makes his usually analytical, straightforward mind bend and go off on creative, inspired tangents, which he hasn't done for the past ten years.)
Still, Lucy's uniform doesn't end there.
She wears skirts. Always skirts. Short pleated skirts or fit A-line ones, they're always a dark colour like black, grey or blue. (She seems fond of ruffles as well, he observes. Ruffles and metal studs.) She's backstreet gloaming hour in person.
He legs are not bereft of clothing – wrapped in shiny black tights, they strike out sharply when she strides through the corridors among her fellow students. The wiry mesh is always plain – although stylish rips and sags in the netting are common.
Her feet are clad in black leather combat boots with high soles and metal studs adorning them. Reaching well above her ankles, and laced up tightly, they make her strike him as a sort of warrior princess – an amazon, perhaps, a tenebrific angel of vengeance.
(Going off on tangents again… Something is definitely not right.)
All in all, her outfit screams of confidence and independence. She doesn't peacock around in it; she simply wears it with silent venerability.
Lockwood muses as he sits in front of her in Mathematics, that she might not be so different from him, in style, at least. He dresses dark and efficient, and never leaves his apartment without his black trench coat. Yet as he strides past an eye-catching painting of a Lady in Grey that hangs on the wall like a death sentence (it's that good) and reads the caption underneath it (Lucy Carlyle, Grade 12), he shakes his head at the little naiveté. She's obviously the artistic type. He couldn't draw a fair stick figure even is his hands were being guided.
Being artistic hasn't stopped her from matching his grades in one stride across the whole curriculum, to be honest. (Lockwood even finds himself stressing over grades for the first time... ever.)
There is also something ever so familiar about her self-seclusion – yes, Lockwood dares to actually hope that they might form a sodality, if simply because society has thrown them in together as pariahs.
(That hope fades from day to day, pales and is washed away as Lucy continues to sit for herself, never talking. Her pen is still always over her paper, movement when the rest of the world is still.)
It's when he's sitting peacefully in his apartment, quietly jotting down notes for a Science assignment that he by happenstance sees a navy blue coat pass by his window. His eyes ricochet towards the glass, the pen diverting ever so slightly from its path.
It isn't her, but his mind has flashed back to a vivid image of her, like she always is – standing tall, baleful, laid back, her messenger bag slung loose over her shoulder. An ashen figure against the bright background.
And that's when he realises just how deep in trouble he is already.
(Slowly, guilefully, logic has been forsaken.)
I feel like Lockwood comes off as a bit of a creeper in this... Your thoughts?
I changed Lucy's outfit a little just because I think she would dress slightly differently if she didn't have to fight spectres at every corner. It isn't much, just tights instead of leggings and t-shirts and a coat over the top. Plus combat boots, because she'd rock those.
Next chapter: demeanour
Review Replies:
skydancerfyremagyk: Cookies! *attacks cookies* Thank you! Here's the update; hope you enjoy! :)
Mayflowers123: Really? Glad you liked it, here's some more!
Anonymous (guest 1): Uh... you okay?
Addicted to fandoms: Thank you! *updates*
Anonymous (guest 2): Nice, although the only thing I'd like to learn about at this point are Lockwood's parents. Sorry, but I can almost with absolute sureness say that I will hate you if you spoil something for me. Sorry, I just don't like spoilers that much. :(
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