Into the woods to mind the wolf, to heed the witch.

[lovelylight]

The studio apartment she's found for such a steal of a price is crappier even than Lexi could have imagined it to be. Which makes sense, given that the building appears situated in the less wealthy section of town. It ought to depress her, but instead, Lexi finds herself delighted by the process of reinventing the space into her own. She spends most of the day cleaning and restoring the parts that need to be restored. She only gets around to moving her stuff in and unpacking by the middle of the afternoon. She's covered in sweat, dressed as she is in her corset and fishnets. She laughs to herself as she catches sight of herself in the mirror. She is the very definition of hot damn mess.

She gives up for a bit when she loads her box of dolls and Beanie Babies into the corner. She still has to sort and organize them, and that is going to take ages. And Lexi, with her current bout of inspiration, doesn't have ages. She has the strongest desire for iced tea and something sweet. Preferably something minty and sweet.

So she abandons her moving project in favor of seeking out refreshment from what seems to be the place to be in town: The Quill. It doesn't take her long to get there, even as people occasionally block her path, turning to gawk at her state of dress. It doesn't bother her in the least. She always does enjoy making people stare, anyway.

After this, she promises herself as she pushes through the doors of the Quill, she will text Rian, and even Wren. They still have no idea that she's arrived, after all.

She grins at that prospect, making her way over to the counter to place her order.

[OOC: Open to all! Lexi's first post. Find her at the Quill; she's very much a people person, so she will be delighted to say hello. Feel free to recognize her if your pup is an Enfants fan. :3]

Comments

[wastelandflower]

Before the text can even be written, Rian comes and looms over a familiar petite frame and pink head of hair. "You never could tell us what you had planned," he says. Figuring it's a fair toll, Rian grabs her coffee and holds it above her head.

"Alexia Cassandra Gibbs," he says, putting his other hand on his hip, as if he can really chide. "So you got my text, then?"

[lovelylight]

Lexi whips her head up in time to watch Rian lift her coffee from her, and she scowls. Playfully, as she reaches up to try and reclaim her much needed caffeine break. "Hey to you too, asshole," she says by way of greeting. But her voice is all affection; it's been too damn long since she's seen her boys in the flesh.

"And yes, I did. So here I am. To witness the miracle of miracles for myself," she says, still grabbing for her drink. "Ugh you're such a jerk. You and your giraffe height."

[wastelandflower]

Rian laughs and takes a sip, pulling a face. Still too sweet for him and he hands the coffee back. "I'd keep it, but I think I need to go have a sugar coma." He steps aside from the line and tugs Sophie's stroller along with him, turning it around so Lexi can get a good look.

"I did not, in fact, rent a baby for the photo op. I promise."

[lovelylight]

She shakes her head, outright laughing at his reaction to her drink. She always did have more of a sweet tooth than Rian could handle. "Yes, well, that's the point," she says, grabbing her drink back and taking a sip herself, savoring the sweetness. "The combination of sugar and caffeine is supposed to make me invincible for the rest of the day."

When he steps away to reveal the baby carriage with Sophie in it, Lexi admits, her heart actually melts. "Aww, what a cutie pie," she says, leaning over to get a good look. "I see you've already inherited your father's ability to charm anyone he pleases."

[wastelandflower]

"Is that how potions work these days?" he asks, grinning and pulling her into a hug, bright and happy.

Maybe it's fate, after all. The three of them are just tied by that red string they share at the pinky. Rian used to imagine only one string but now he thinks they must be connected by hundreds. Theirs are just strongest.

"Meet Sophie. And yes, she's got my few good qualities."

[lovelylight]

"That's how they ought to work, at least," she replies, all but throwing herself into the hug, just as bright and happy as he is. "Damn, but it is so good to see you."

Despite the clusterfuck that is their history, Lexi finds that maybe they're always meant to be in each others' lives. Like bad pennies, they all always seem to turn up sometime.

"Hello Sophie," she says, pulling away from Rian to offer the baby a wave. "Let's hope you take after more of your father than mother."

[wastelandflower]

"God yeah it is. This is a fantastic surprise, Lex. Has Wren seen you yet?" he asks, lifting her a few inches off the ground before releasing her with a kiss on the cheek. "Does Wren even know you're in town?"

Not that he thinks Wren will complain. Rian thinks that of all of them, Wren has always been the excited one, most embracing of the unknown. Rian had loved it about him, on the good days.

Except the skull lyre. Fuck that thing.

"Let's hope she takes after someone sensible."

[lovelylight]

"You know me," she says, throwing her head back and laughing as he lifts her up. "I do love my surprises. And no, I haven't gotten a chance to see Wren. And I haven't texted him, either." She offers him a slightly rueful smile at that. "It was all rather sudden, me coming here. Everything just sort of...happened."

Lexi hopes Wren will understand. She's always been closer to Rian, having known him longer, but she adores both of her boys equally, and even when they were being complete idiots, she could never block them completely out of her life.

Even Wren and his rather ghastly skull lyre.

"Sensible?" Lexi snorts. "She was born into the wrong family for that, I think. Since when have any of us been sensible?"

[wastelandflower]

"Wait until you meet his girlfriend. She's like a punch to the throat, that one." Rian says it with a smile. Despite his initial misgivings about Hana, he's found her to be strong-willed, funny, and very good for Wren. He's stopped being jealous, mostly, and learned to be happy for Wren.

"And I can only pray." Rian grins and passes her the handles of the stroller, "Think you can keep an eye on my best girl for a minute while I go for a coffee?"

He's back in line before she can object but the line moves briskly and he's got his dirty chai in only a few minutes. "Now darling, where were we?"

[fairywren]

It may be warm out, but that really doesn't mean much in terms of the colors of Wren's wardrobe. It does, however, mean he's lost the leather jacket in favor of a white vest over a tank top. And sunscreen.

He's thinking of heading over to the zoo, maybe catching Hana, but there's some time to kill and he has music in his head, so he wanders into Quill to grab a drink and think.

At first he thinks he's just seeing things. Every tiny redhaired (or blonde, or sometimes pinkhaired) girl with a corset or sufficient spring in her step was Lexi, for a while, after they all parted ways. It had been maddening: every word something to tell Lexi or Rian or both, every corner filled with their faces and knowing he could have done something, something better, been better, less -- him.

He's been thinking he's over that stage, so he has to hold himself still and remind himself he's fucking in his thirties for a second.

And then she turns very slightly and he realizes it is her.

"Fuck me," he says out loud, drawing stares from patrons, including a glare from someone with a small child. "Lexi Gibbs. Were you planning on saying something?"

[lovelylight]

Lexi doesn't expect to literally run into Wren in a quaint little coffee shop in a quaint little town. She figured she'd order her coffee, maybe something sweet to go along with it, and tuck herself into one of the booths in the corner to text to Rian and Wren both, announcing her presence quietly. But she should have known better. Wren is the sort of person one happens to run into more often than actually meeting by way of making plans. There's something especially poetic in seeing him like this, after their drifting and split from one another. Almost as though no time had changed at all.

"Well, I'll be even more damned than I already am," Lexi smirks, delighting in the obviously ruffled feathers of the more conservative patrons in the cafe. "Wren Bellamy. I should have known our reunion would be bold and dramatic."

She doesn't hesitate after that; she breaks out of line and saunters her way over to Wren.

"And to answer your question, no, I wasn't. It's much more fun to catch you off-guard this way."

[fairywren]

Wren wants, very much, to be bitter about lost time, to be hurt over silences, and he is, and guilty about them too. But it's a messed up knot of feelings he can't tug free on the spot.

Especially when Lexi smirks like that. They were always hers, more than their own or even each other's, just a little, and right now he can feel it. That part of him that's just a citybound Lost Boy, would fall so easily into being one again. Late nights and big crowds and every feeling laid bare and the poorest of decisionmaking skills. Another part of him isn't sure how he managed it the first time.

"It might have been more dramatic," he says, hiding the torrent of emotions behind a small smile, "if I'd known there was one. Better staged, anyway."

Wren just stands, bites his lip for a second looking at her, wanting to give her a hug, and not sure he deserves one, and some childlike part of him petulant and wanting her to give in first. "Does -- Rian know you're here?" He's texted her, occasionally, they awkwardly comment on each other's Twitters anyway: he's pretty sure she knows Rian's here.

[lovelylight]

Lexi knows that she's always favored Rian over Wren, in spite of the three of them always winding up entangled together. She likes to think that it's only because she's known Rian longer; regardless, she ends up thinking of all the times she could have texted Wren and didn't. She feels guilty for the lack of communication and the rifts between them. She'd felt furious at both Wren and Rian for acting like such jerks, but she also remembers feeling angry at Wren for breaking Rian's heart.

But then, she'll always think of both Wren and Rian as her lost boys. Lexi the magpie Peter Pan and her precious boys. She likes to think that, no matter the rifts between them, that fact will remain unchanged.

She hopes, though, running into the both of them in Siren Cove, that maybe they can put the past to rest and build something better from it in return.

"Well, you know me," she says, gesturing with her hands wildly to accentuate her words. "I do love keeping you boys on your toes."

She notices his posture and the way he stands, biting his lip. Without a second thought, she throws herself at him, pulling him in for one of her earth-crushing hugs, typically reserved just for him and Rian. "He knows," she says when she pulls away, looking up at Wren with a bright smile. "I saw him before you got here. He also told me the most fascinating story; that you got yourself an amazing, badass girlfriend."

[fairywren]

Wren is still angry at himself, at who he was, for breaking Rian's heart; he hasn't gotten over Rian breaking his, for making promises he couldn't keep and for not seeing how pointless it was to do. Maybe he'd never admitted, even to himself, he was offering a heart to break. Maybe that was the problem, and maybe there were so many problems there's not one to blame. But they're both forgiven, anyway, even if he can't be content or over the past. It's not something he can let fester inside him anymore. Not after everything.

Definitely not with Lexi in town.

"You have always succeeded very well," he says, letting a smile curl at the edge of his lips, but then she's wrapping him in a hug tight enough to break ribs and he didn't know, until this moment, just how much he needed a hug from her, to feel like she wants to give him one.

He wraps his arms around her and picks her up off her feet, one of the few along with Hana who's shorter than he is, presses his face into her hair. He wants to say I've missed you, I'm sorry, a million things, but instead he sets her down and tries to maintain some semblance of dignity.

Wren can't even be indignant that Rian knew first; Rian was Lexi's before he was, anyway, she's why they all tumbled into each other in quite the way they did. But he does arch an eyebrow at that. "Did he say that? Those exact words? Did you happen to record this?" He grins mischievously and nods, the grin turning into a self conscious smile, all too aware of how stupidly, dangerously in love with her he is. "Hana," he says, and signs it at the same time. There's something a little unnatural to him about just saying her name, because she doesn't say it out loud. It's like transliterating badly. "She is. Amazing." He smiles wryly. "And patient, when I don't deserve it. You'd like her. She keeps me in line pretty well."

"But enough about my love life. You can get that on the Enfants forums." Not that he'd know, or anything. "What are you doing here? ...And what do you want to drink?" He needs some caffeine for this conversation.

[lovelylight]

Lexi likes to think that coming to Siren Cove will help tend the wounds of the past they've all left behind, now. She knows how intense the relationship between Wren and Rian became, and how quickly it spiraled apart once the cracks in the tension began to show. Rian seems more self-aware, from what she's seen so far. And Wren, well. Wren still seems to hold his thoughts to himself. After everything that's happened between all three of them, Lexi can understand and respect that part of Wren's character, at least.

"It's a gift, really," she tells him while she still has him in her arms, wrapped up with all of the tightness of a spider locking hold of prey. But the friendlier, and less deadly, version of that intensity.

"Hey!" She protests, but she doesn't mean it, as evidenced by the way she laughs when he picks her up. "What is it with you tall people and your need for picking us lowly short people up?" But she doesn't mind, and when Wren presses his head into her hair, she leans into him, giving him one last squeeze before he sets her down.

"Well, not those words exactly," she admits, smirking at Wren's request. "But so I gathered, from what he did say about her. "Hana," Lexi repeats, making note of the way Wren signs her name and also making note to start studying sign language as soon as possible. "I already like her, and I haven't even met her yet!"

"Yes, I can get all of our love lives on Enfants forums. Occasionally illustrated, or with bad Photoshop, as well," she points out with an arched brow. "But I'm in the mood for actual conversation today, so here I am."

"And if you're offering, I'll take a black raspberry iced tea," she says, very pointedly ignoring his first question.

[fairywren]

He smirks. "It's because I'm only tall to a select portion of the population. Gotta take the advantage where I can." Wren is 5'9 rounding up, though his bearing and lanky frame tend to make people over-gauge that. Hana and Lexi are some of the few he looks reasonably taller than. And next to Rian, forget it, even in platform boots.

He smirks back. That sounds more like Rian. Not that the image of Hana intimidating him isn't really, really funny. Wren smiles at Lexi's enthusiasm. "You two should meet. I mean, we should all --" He waves a hand. "She's part of my life, and you're part of my life, and." He isn't verbalizing well. "I'd like that." He's already thinking about the logistics; he'd do a lot of translating, he thinks, but that's all right as long as no one uses him as a shortcut, and if he knows Lexi, she'll pick up fast. None of them take very long to throw themselves into new things.

Wren exhales a laugh. "Or really disturbingly good Photoshop. I'll take the conversation. It's been too long." He doesn't fail to notice her avoiding the subject of why she's here. All right; he'll work it out himself.

He orders them both drinks - Lexi's iced tea and his triple espresso - and leans on the bar to wait for them. "Where are you staying?" he tries, a more neutral question.

[lovelylight]

"Yeah, well. You're at least taller than some people," Lexi grumbles, though the corners of her lips twitch. She doesn't really put a lot of stock into height. Besides, she rather enjoys catching people off-guard because of her height. It's amazing how many people will underestimate someone because of their short stature.

"Well, I should certainly hope so!" She says, hands on hips and with a demanding expression. Truly, she wants to meet this Hana. She sounds wonderful, and Wren's insistence that they meet only further confirms Lexi's suspicions on just how good Hana is for Wren. "We should all get together for tea or something. I can bake macaroons or something," she mentions casually. She knows Wren and Rian both know about her habit of picking up hobbies and throwing them away just as quickly, but baking has been one that's stuck around for awhile now.

She slides into a stool by the bar, drumming her fingers on the surface of the wood as they wait for their drinks. She's glad Wren doesn't insist on pressing the point as to why she's here, for the moment.

"I've found a studio apartment in the cheaper section of town," she mentions with a shrug. "I've got enough saved up that I can get by for a couple of months, but I'm looking for a day job." She pauses. "I'm also working on a solo record."

[cry_reaper]

After seeing Wren in the paper and running into Rian at the SCOTUS decision celebrations, Lily probably shouldn't have been all that surprised to see the third Enfant sitting at the Quill enjoying a drink. It didn't stop her from being actually surprised. Surprised and quite pleased. All three of them had been friends of a sort, going to the same parties, taking the same drugs, waking up in the same states of undress and confusion after the other two, but Lexi had been the uneasy center. Or the strong center on two uneasy legs? Shit, they'd all been various messes when Lily knew them. And now here she was, sipping a drink and looking just as manic pixie as she had the last time Lily'd photographed her.

Grabbing her own espresso (one of the few things she really missed from Italy, not that The Quill was bad, it just wasn't home), she plopped down into the empty chair across from her old friend and leaned back. "I seriously should have put money on it. Once I knew they were both here." No need to elaborate on who they were. "And me without my fucking camera for once. Lexi, darling, aside from the obvious, what are you doing in this quaint little hell?"

[lovelylight]

Lexi is quite lost in thought at her table in the Quill. Memories, of concerts and after parties, of shared drinks, drugs, and bodies, and all the consequences that came with such a lifestyle. She smiles to herself. Debauchery having been so much a part of herself for so long, she does rather miss it, all things considered. She's given up on the drug use, mostly. She still smokes pot and tobacco, and she still drinks. But in her time away from Enfants, she's managed to mostly get her life together. Mostly.

She nearly starts when Lily joins her at the table, but once she recognizes her friend, her eyes light up and she tosses her head back in delighted laughter.

"Why didn't you? I'm sure my arrival could have garnered you quite the fortune," she replies with a smirk around her drink. "Yes, where is that camera of yours, anyway? 'Quaint little hell?' Mind if I borrow that for my album? It has such a nice ring to it."

"But to actually answer your question, I just kind of meandered over here. It's just fate or destiny or some shit that they're already here," she tells her with a knowing smile.

[cry_reaper]

"It's all yours, please, with my condolences." Sipping at her own drink, she regarded Lily for a moment. She was a little older, they all were, time being the bastard it was, but she seemed pretty together. Fucking miracle, she supposed. Of course she didn't remember reading anything about rehab stints so maybe she was a leg up on Lily. Or just had better luck hiding from the press.

"This place reeks of hipster hippies. Which I'm not entirely against, but they don't have to be so damn cheery about it all the time."

[lovelylight]

"Wonderful," Lexi says, in between sips of her drink. She watches Lily, thinks of how wild and crazy all of their lives had been back when they all knew each other in a haze of partying and drugs. Lexi never really stopped any of that so much as she simply cut back. She drinks and smokes still, but she doesn't do hard drugs anymore. Lexi might appear flighty and prone to the lifestyle at first glance, but she's stronger than most people give her credit for.

"Hipster hippies," she snorts, shaking her head. "Yeah, it's definitely one of those towns."

[cry_reaper]

"Oh, well, it's only for a year." That was her mantra. Stay a year, prove whatever fucking point Mama was looking for, and go back to New York. Or out to stay with her father depending on how he's doing. She knew he needed at least one other surgery, but that was going to be later in the year after the immediate danger had passed.

"Are you here to stay, then? Or just passing through to look after the boys?"

[lovelylight]

"Only for a year, huh?" Lexi arches an eyebrow at that. She knows too well feeling trapped when settling in one place too long; she can understand Lily's determination to serve her sentence and move on. "How come a year?" She wonders what could keep Lily in a place she doesn't necessarily want to be.

"Looking after the boys, of course," she replies with a grin. "Whether I stay for good, well. That remains to be seen."

[cry_reaper]

"Mama laid down some ground rules. Shit happened and money's tight, so she's taking advantage. I've essentially been grounded like a fucking child." Tapping her finger on the table, Lily forced down the endless wave of rage and frustration she felt. Here she was, a grown ass adult, living at her mother's whims because she loved her father too much to let him down.

Fuck her straight to whatever hell sirens went to.

"But so long as people like you and the boys are around, I guess it won't be all that bad. What are you up to the rest of the day?"

[lovelylight]

"Jesus," Lexi says, shaking her head. "That fucking blows. Anything I can do to help you out?" Lily's an old friend, from back on the scene. She can only imagine how stifled she must feel to live by someone else's rules.

"I didn't have any plans," Lexi says. "How about you?"