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]

"Oh I gave the old Ran a punch to the ego. And then Wren did too. Followed by his girlfriend." She was a sharp type, Wren's girlfriend, her own stubborn brand of fearless that probably sent Wren wild.

"I figured my shit out, I guess. Or more than it was before. God, Wren and I were such a mess. I'd ask how you could stand us, but you didn't. You got smart and fucked right the hell off."

In the end, it had been good for all of them. He takes Sophie back into his lap and teases her by waving a teething biscuit briefly through the air before letting her have it.

"Well, there's only so many good bits of me to inherit."

[lovelylight]

"Damn," Lexi lets out a low whistle. "I wish I could have been here to see that. I'm guessing old Rian was asking for it?" She hasn't even met Wren's girlfriend yet and Lexi already decides she likes her. "And has that old beating of the ego whipped you into shape then?" She arches an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah, I did, didn't I?" Lexi says, laughing though the sound of it and her smile quickly fade. She knows she was fed up at that time; fed up with both boys and their emotional damages. Their ceaseless strife with each other. In some ways, she feels like she abandoned them in their time of need. "I mean, I was pissed. No doubt about it. But really, I could have put in more of an effort to at least keep us all on less hostile terms."

But Rian looks happy now, teasing his daughter as though he didn't have a care in the world. Lexi watches him with a smile that verges on regret.

"There's plenty of good bits of you," she's quick to point out. "I suspect little Sophie here is going to grow up to be a heartbreaker, just like her old man."

[wastelandflower]

"I may have made some truly offensive and unacceptable remarks regarding her deafness," Rian says, chewing his lip and clearly feeling like a real cad about it. The shit he'd said had been beyond unacceptable and he's honestly amazed that Wren's only response had been to tell him to fuck off.

It's times like these and conversations like these that Rian sort of wishes he still smoked. It would have given him an excuse to step out, poison himself, and think very carefully about what to say next.

"Not sure I blame you. Playing Switzerland between us because we couldn't be adults." He shifts Sophie in his lap and smiles. He has to be better for her sake.

"Sophie is going to grow up smarter than me."

[lovelylight]

"Jesus, Rian," Lexi says, giving him one of her trademark glares, her arms folded across her chest for extra emphasis on how much she is judging him right now. "I've seen you be an asshole before, but that is a new low." She eases up though, observing in his posture and the expression on his face how much he regrets his actions. "I'm glad you realized your mistakes, this time," she says, softly.

Lexi still smokes; she's never been a chain smoker, but she's used to having a cigarette now and then to help take the edge off. She's been falling a bit more into the habit after leaving Enna behind. If she didn't know Rian had quit, she'd offer him a cigarette now.

"It was exhausting, but let's not pretend that I was this perfect angel while you two were acting out your worse demons," she points out. It had been a low point in her life, feeling cornered to the point where she felt she had to leave the two most important people in her life.

"She'll make you proud, I'm calling it now," Lexi nods, glancing again in the direction of Sophie.

[wastelandflower]

"I'm a nasty thing when envy gets hold of my tongue." He's pretty sure he wrote a lyric like that. Off the top of his head though, he can't even remember most of their songs. What Rian remembers is notes, chords, progressions. He'd sung his fair share, but mostly he'd been violins and harmonies.

"But I am too. God, if I ever ask for a smoke, don't let me have one," he says, guessing that she's got at least one pack in her bag. "I quit. Smoking, drinking, drugs. All of it."

He glances at Sophie. That's all he needs to do as explanation for why he's sober.

[lovelylight]

"Didn't you write a lyric almost exactly like that once?" She asks, a teasing light returning to her expression. It's been awhile since their last session as a band, but Lexi has something of a photographic memory, especially when it comes to things she's truly passionate about; she still remembers all of their songs and notes. Where they were when they wrote specific lyrics.

"I won't, I promise," she tells him. She has a pack on her now, but she wouldn't pressure him into anything. Not when she knows that Rian has a damn good reason for getting sober. "Good for you, man. A healthy, stable life seems to suit you," she tells him with a smile, following his gaze to Sophie.

[wastelandflower]

"I'm pretty sure I did. I wasn't the one to sing it though." But if he had written it, he'd written it for Wren, heart aching for it to ring as true when he sang it as Rian felt. Of course, that hadn't worked out.

Rian laughs and strokes a thumb affectionately along Sophie's cheek, kissing the top of her head. "As long as you don't think I'm boring," he says. "Quiet life in a small town, owning a shop and all."

[lovelylight]

"No, but we could all hear you through the words, even if you didn't sing it," Lexi points out. Rian always put so much of himself into the music he wrote for the group; it's one of the things Lexi admires most about him. Even as it provided complications at the same time.

"Well, I never said I didn't think you were boring," she teases with a smirk. "But boring's not a bad thing, either. As long as you're happy, man. That's all that counts."

[wastelandflower]

"Maybe you and Wren could." The fans had always–not incorrectly–seen Wren as the biggest driving factor of all of them, no matter the shared writing credits. And his voice had been seductive–he knows why, now.

Which means he should probably tell Lex the other thing.

"Well, there's something that makes me...very out of the ordinary. Which I should have told you years ago."

[lovelylight]

"That's because no one else knows you like we do," she says with a crooked smile. She knows how much Wren and Rian both drew people to their music as much as the songs themselves; she can still picture the crowds of screaming people, calling out to them from beneath the stage. She misses the wild days the more she dwells on them.

"Don't tell me," Lexi begins, entirely deadpan. "You're finally coming out of the closet? That's sweet Rian, but I think I figured that one out ages ago."

She doesn't know what else he could have possibly kept from her.

[wastelandflower]

"You're right, no one does." Which is why he's so sorry he never had the courage to tell them. If only he'd known about Wren. Hell, if Wren had only known about Wren.

Figuring that it's best to show her, not just tell, Rian holds out one slender hand. "Give me your hand, please."

[lovelylight]

"My hand?" She arches an eyebrow, but goes along with his request. Not that she could ever deny Rian anything; she still remembers the look on his face when she found him in New York. She'd known he'd had a hard life, but he also still managed to appear like a puppy in spite of it. A kicked puppy. "I can't say this is the oddest thing you've asked of me. Remember that time in New York with the glitter and the rubber ducks?"

She grins, thinking of it. They'd all been high as kites, and painting ducks with glitter had seemed the height of entertainment at the moment in time.

There's a lot she doesn't miss about the past, but she does deeply miss those sorts of times.

[wastelandflower]

"Oh I remember," he says, letting himself have a laugh. "I don't think they'll ever get glitter out of that bus."

But now it's time to get serious and Rian lays both his hands on hers, activating his psychometry. With careful concentration, he lays his powers in through her skin, transmitting the history of witchcraft in his family and the powers he'd hidden from the band because he thought they'd never believe him.

He doesn't tell her about Wren's powers, just that he knows. That's for Wren to tell.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

[lovelylight]

"No, they definitely won't," she agrees, delighted at the sound of his laughter. It's been too long since she last heard it. She's missed the noise of their happiness; the shouting and the laughter. Her life's been too quiet without it.

Lexi feels as Rian imparts his knowledge through their connected hands; she receives the information about his magic and the history of it running in his family.

"Holy shit, dude," she says. "That's incredible!"

"You don't have anything to be sorry for," she tells him, her expression turning serious. "I wish you would have felt comfortable enough to tell me sooner, but ultimately, they're your powers, and you should be the one to decide when you let people know about them. Always."

[wastelandflower]

Her reaction takes him by surprise and Rian leans back, wrapping both hands around Sophie's middle again. "You're not mad?" he asks, voice one of dull surprise.

"You're...not...I just did magic, Lex. Magic is real and you're not..."

Once again, Rian thinks of how fully he's underestimated this woman.

[lovelylight]

"Mad?" Lexi gives him a look as though he's just asked her if she's lost her mind. "Rian, why would I be mad? I've known about magic for awhile now. I've made friends with witches and sirens. Mostly after the band fell apart, but even then, I've known people. How could I be angry at you for simply being yourself?"

She wonders if she ought to tell Rian about the time an angry, former fan cursed her, but she decides against it. For the time being.

With a sigh and a smile, she reaches and squeezes his hands.

"You don't have to worry about this stuff with me, I promise."

[wastelandflower]

Rian takes a look at her and bursts out laughing, shaking his head at all of it. "As always, I have deeply underestimated you, Lex," he says. A little more at ease, he weaves their fingers together and swings their joined hands from side to side. He should just know by now that Lexi knows best.

"I didn't know many witches outside my family until I came here. I thought, you know, who would believe me? I wouldn't have."

But then, he's always been the cynical leg of the triangle. Lexi was always open-minded and a bit of a fairy all her own.

[lovelylight]

"Are you ever going to learn, Rian?" She grins, letting out a long breath and shaking her head. "I always keep my best tricks hidden up my sleeves. You know that." She swings their hands with Rian, delighted by the simple motions. She gives him one of her patented, Lexi looks. "It takes a hell of a lot more than magic to scare me away."

"Well, luckily for you, I'm an optimist and fond of strange things," she tells him. "Even on tour, though? You never met witches on tour at all?"

Lexi is all-too human, but she likes to believe that fact serves as her own magic.

[wastelandflower]

No. Lex should know that by now. Rian will always think he's an island unto himself and–despite knowing that Lexi is always right–that he knows best. It never fails to bite him in the ass and he always fails to learn.

"Are you calling me strange?" he says, a token protest.

"I met a few. And I met a lot of people who thought they were witches."

[lovelylight]

The beauty of the three them is that, in their own, individual ways, they all prove stubborn as ox. Lexi, in trying to get both Wren and Rian to appreciate the good in life; Wren refusing to see what's right in front of him. And Rian trying to convince himself that nothing can be forgotten or forgiven.

"The strangest," she confirms with a nod of her head and a smile. "Why do you think I adore you so much?"

"Yeah, I've probably met more people who pretend to be witches than actual witches, but I've definitely slept with my fair share of them," she muses.

[wastelandflower]

At their best, it had made them creative and complementary, filling in the spaces like the gears of a beautiful machine. At their worst, it had made them recalcitrant, everyone determined to outlast the other for sheer stubbornness. It had meant they were spectacular and sometimes miserable.

"Oh just you wait," Rian promises. "There's more strangeness in this little town than in all of Boston."

They must be on a ley line or something. Soon Lexi will have more fun than she can stand.

[lovelylight]

When they all worked together, their collective stubbornness could drive them to great heights; pushing towards better lyrics and melodies, fueling the energies of the crowds they were playing for. At their worst, it drove them towards bitter, drug and alcohol-inspired messes. Ultimately, that balance of brilliance and disaster defined them as a band.

"Really, now?" Lexi replies with an arched brow. "More strangeness in one little town than in any city? Now this I have to see."

Maybe the strangeness can help her settle, for once in her life.

[wastelandflower]

"It's in the name, my love," he says, gesturing to the street outside the window. "Siren Cove is full of sirens and witches and all sorts of nonsense besides." In this direction, he can almost see the shore or he thinks he can. There are probably sirens out there right now, doing their thing.

Shrugging, he waves his own fingers a little, alluding to his own powers. "I think we're on a ley line or there's a long lost dead princess from Cornwall buried here or something."

[lovelylight]

"And here I was thinking that the name was just some fairy tale nonsense," Lexi says, shaking her head. Such an obvious name seems as though it would repel actual sirens, witches, or anyone associated with magic. But then, maybe people in this town don't worry about keeping their magic hidden.

"Long lost dead princess from Cornwall?" She arches an eyebrow at him. "Hmm. Maybe I'll use that on my album."

[wastelandflower]

"Oh no, you missed the fairy tale nonsense. That was two months ago." Rian scoffs, shaking his head. "My ma would have been proud. I turned into Tam Lin."

He's about to correct himself, since he doesn't actually know any legends about Cornish princesses but what Lexi says catches his attention more. "You're recording again, Lexi?" he asks, excited.