This is Home

Busy days served him best, was the conclusion Lucas Hamilton had had to draw after much thought lately. Busy days that kept his mind preoccupied and away from letting his thoughts run off to far-away places and none existent worlds of utter confusion and plain confrontation. The academy, although home, was just that. Busy days. The upcoming graduation had been a joyous affair with loud laughter and more team-building than any planned event could have ever provided, and for the first time in ages, his face was glowing and his cheek rosy from the laughter and the buzz that had taken hold of the entire school. Things were settling in well with the new Headmistress and he felt part of a wholesome organisation that he could take pride in; a feeling he wasn’t entirely used to but was absorbing like rays from the sun. At ease for once. At ease and in his element.
Everyone had some together to decorate the Great Hall and Luke had enthusiastically been setting tables and climbing ladders to hang an array of little lights from the beautiful, deep-red roses that had grown through the arched windows. It was beautiful, it was simple, it was incredibly romantic and nostalgic and they had all done it together; smiling and giving each other encouraging nudges and back claps of appreciation for a hard year that had come to an end and the Vice Principal had proudly finished his first year in this important post with handing diplomas and shaking hands, for once not shying away from the stage. He had smiled so much already that his cheeks were sore, and his heart was full, knowing that the graduates had all done well in their exams and were happy with what he and the rest of the team at the Academy had provided them with.

There had been a short, blissful moment of quiet where they had all retreated and he had managed to catch a breath. Short indeed, for he only really had time to change into his outfit before having to head back out – only that … those papers on his table should really be dealt with sooner rather than later. Casting a quick look at his wristwatch, he had sat down, signed what he needed to sign and then, with racing heart, walked out the door, quickly walking past his office to put the documents back, make sure the door was locked and the lights were off. It really wasn’t very like him, being late. He always thought he would be, but somehow always seemed to catch up with time, arriving a little befuddled and in a hurry, and it seemed that tonight would be no different.
The hallway was summing of light chatter as people started drifting towards the party and Luke contently followed the stream of people back to where his day had started. Dressed in a deep blue suit, he’d decided to wear a dotted tie and a light blue dress shirt, wanting to move away from the classic black and white-shirt and suit combination, that seemed to have become his default option when having to dress up for work.

It was really marvellous what they had done with the hall, and his heart fluttered gently as he halted his steps and took it all in. The soft lights from the dark roses, the little flickers of fairy like glitter in the air and the greenery that could have contested those of the Sleeping Beauty.
His keen eyes scanned the room, slowly filling with students as they gawked and goggled at the beauty that surrounded them, excitement over the transformation of their dining hall. He located colleagues and team-mates and some perhaps-absolutely-favourite students and – but – someone was missing. He had definitely passed her on his way up to the living quarters, hadn’t he?
With a click of the tongue, the split-second decision was settled in his mind and he spun around on his heel; venturing back to find Maeve Poe. It was a lot more unlikely for the human female to be late than him, and especially for a social gathering like this where she always seemed to blossom delightfully.

He read the numbers on the doors as he passed them, making sure he would remember the number of hers, too caught up in his mission to even have contemplated what to possibly say to her if she was at home. Only as he stopped and raised a hand to knock, did he hesitate, letting his thoughts and feelings settle a bit more. Was she okay? Perhaps she just needed a moment?
Lucas shook his head stubbornly, convinced that if he let it, his head would run off without him; so his hand continued its movement and he gently tapped the door with his knuckles.
“Poe?” He paused, letting his keen ears catch onto any sounds behind the walls. “Just checking in. You good?”

| Outfit |

_____

Fingers still in a gentle grip on the small zippers and body still contorted in a rather awkward and nearly unnatural posture to properly reach it there on the side of the dress, right under the right arm, right by the ribcage, Maeve Poe halted to look towards the door as she’d heard the light knock. She hadn’t expected any visitors so there would not be much to be said about the surprise that had painted over her face in the short-lived moments before she heard a voice coming calling from the other side. Not only did it debunk a faint theory of her simply having heard things that weren’t there – the knock had been awfully faint – but also revealed the spontaneous visitor as she immediately recognized his voice and what little freeze that had taken hold in her body unconsciously and unintended melted away for her to not ever make note of and she resumed motion out of her halt. In a fairly quick moment, she returned to her zipper; looking back down and tugged maybe a little too hasty and a little too frantic that, to her dismay, resulted in it getting caught in the tiniest bit of carnival striped silken fabric. “Bloody -..!” She cursed her luck in a loud mumble, making another attempt at pulling the zipper free upwards and only made it worse by it then denying to zip back down as she tried that approached next before finally calling back to the man on the other side of the door: “One second, Luke! – Why do you have to be problematic now,” she continued to mumbled at the zipper. And then as the horrible position her arms had to be in started to put strain on her neck and threatened to cramp up every muscle in her body, she gave up with a heavy sigh. It was fine. Not like it would cause the dress to slip off of her. And who cared if you could see a little skin through the remaining hole?!
In stomping steps, possibly audible from the outside even without her heels on, she emerged from the bedroom of the quaint twin-room apartment, she’d been given as accommodation at the academy, and B-lined directly for the door. However, on the way she had to stop while passing the coffee table. On it was a display of a couple of magazines and typical coffee table books – the kinds you had mainly for décor or to occupy a bored, curious mind – and then there was that brownish yellowy document envelope. Her throat closed up automatically and only her mind hesitated while her hand acted on instinct when reaching down and through the magazines over the envelope to hide it from view. Out of side, out of mind. Her throat cleared and that last distance to the door was taken care of in long determined steps. And reaching the door she was just as quick to grab the handle and basically ripped the door open.

Brown eyes prettied with, not thick stylish eyeline, but with a wash of deepening brown shadow over the lids and framed with volumizing mascara, looked up at Lucas the exact moment he came into view and primed and drawn eyes brows rose in a questioning expressing. “Hi.” She sent him a smile. “Sorry? Was I taking too long? I promise that I’m almost ready to go. I’m just having a some troubles with-..“ In the middle of gesturing towards the trouble with the dress she was referring him too, she suddenly had to stop and stare. The smile even disappeared from her naked lips and was first replaced by naked bafflement as she ran her gaze over the shapeshifter as he stood there. Tell, well-groomed, washed and scrubbed – and what exactly was she wearing?!
The bafflement turned into a frown and looking back up at his face, the disapproving look was prevalent in her eyes. Her dimples where even doubt – but not from smiling. Instead, they’d been sunken due to tension in her cheeks. Her head fell to one side. “No. Come on, what is this? You can seriously be wearing that down to the gala. Isn’t it the same suit you wore to the ceremony in the beginning of the school year? Yea, no.” Maeve opened the door a bit wider and then stepped back, hand waving him inside. Her insistence was very clear in everything she did and it was pretty obvious that she didn’t give him a choice in the matter. I she had to, she’d simply grab him and pull him inside.
After making sure that he complied with her demands she turned around on her heel and marched bac through the apartment – leaving him with the task to close the door after himself and follow her into the bedroom. If he didn’t or take too long to do so she would clear her throat at him. The bedroom was fairly clean. Her attire had been planned out before the day so clothes were shattered all over the place but the bed was only messily made and a clutter of a half-empty glass of water, a book and her trademark fitness-tracker wrist-watch laid thrown on her bedside table. A good sign, it was. She no longer obsessively cleaned and tidied her living space as she’d done the previous year. Without really checking if Lucas had entered the bedroom, she pulled open a closet. “Take your shirt off, would you? I’ve bit my tongue before but I can’t have you walk down to the gala wearing that assemble. Honestly, you look like you’re auditioning for the role Alice in Wonderland’s The Walrus and The Carpenter all at once,” she spoke, entirely freely while tiptoeing to reach something on the very top shelf of her closet. She’d forgotten all about anything else in that moment and had created a sort of tunnel vision. It wasn’t often her old work-self had chances to flutter like this and yet it came so very naturally to her.
She finally got a steady hold of the stuff she wanted and with a relieved exhale she got down on flat feet as she pulled down three black covered outfit hanger bags and turned fluttering around to finally face Lucas.