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

[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."

[fairywren]

"One or two," he smirks.

Wren knows better than to deny that particular expression, and he finds himself not wanting to. The fact that Lexi wants anything to do with his life now feels good. "I'm not going to turn down the offer of free food," he shrugs. "There's something you can bond over, meringue. Hana bakes too." He pauses. "Or battle over. But I'm just going to be quiet and enjoy the spoils of war if that's the case."

"You're probably not far from where I am, then. Rian's all set up with a house and a store like a proper grownup, but I've got a big renovated space in the warehouse district. High ceilings, suits me fine."

Their drinks come out and he scouts a place to sit, raising an eyebrow. "I won't pry, but you know I want to hear as much as you'll let me. I've been doing some writing too." He flops himself sideways into a chair. "Messing around with infrasonics under my melodies. As it turns out, having a deaf girlfriend makes you think about sound differently." He takes a drink of coffee. "Doing some family research, too," he adds, vaguely.

[lovelylight]

"Ugh, don't rub it in," she sticks her tongue out at him, unable to help herself. God, but she's missed even this easy, simple teasing with Wren. It feels like an eternity since they've last been able to be like this with one another.

"Good, you did gain some brains in the time we've all been away," she remarks with a smirk. She does care what both of them might think of her cooking; their opinions matter more to her than anyone else's. "And that sounds lovely. I'm always happy to meet other bakers. Especially when they make my friends so happy," she says with a pointed look at Wren.

"Jesus, Rian really does have the whole white picket fence thing going on," Lexi laughs. "And you and me are still living like the magpies we are. I love it."

She takes her drink, savoring the sweetness of it for a few moments. "Seattle got complicated. That's all I will say for now," she tells him. "You've done some writing too? Very nice. And yes, it does seem that this Hana is one hell of a muse for you," she observes. "Family research?" She asks.

[fairywren]

He rests his arm on her head for a second as if he's not thinking about it, and grins. Few people can get a full grin from Wren: his smiles mean more than they say, most times. But he hadn't been expecting Lexi, and he certainly hadn't been expecting this -- this easy, friendly banter, as though nothing had happened, and his chest feels as though it's not big enough for the air in it.

Wren shoots her an eyebrow raise back, but he can't protest her pointing it out. Hana does make him happy. It's -- easy, with her, in a way it had never been with Rian. In a way he had never quite expected or asked of that relationship, but also one he didn't quite know how to ask for. He's a little scared of how natural it feels. Like the other shoe is going to drop, like she'll figure it all out, still. Love, in his experience, only ever hurts. But he trusts her. "She doesn't expect me to be anything but myself, baggage and eccentricities and all," he says, looking at his coffee. "And that makes me want to be better for her."

He smirks. "Complete with baby," he says. "Rian always had more of an idea of the future than either of us." There's a bitterness to that, but he feels no real animosity about it. "If I ever stop being a magpie, smack me. This place deserves a few."

Wren raises an eyebrow. "The way things do," he observes, but he has not stopped being aware of Lexi being shady. "Yes," he moves on. "My family's from this town, originally, that's what brought me in the first place. Way back, on the Sauvageon side. Legend has it they were sirens." He doesn't elaborate on that, just gives her a mysterious smile. "I want to dig up the dead a little bit. Metaphorically." He gives her a mischievous look like mostly.

[lovelylight]

Lexi returns his grin with one of her own, pleased by the brief contact of his arm on her head. She never expected for their reunion to feel so easy and so lacking in the entanglements that broke them apart in the first place. She feels lighter than she has for years now; not even Seattle, even when she thought she was at peace, held the same extent of contentment for her.

She remembers, of course, all of the glances and tension while they were all on the road together. Rian's yearning and Wren's tendency towards never settling down. She's happy to see that Wren's found someone that makes him happy in a way she hasn't seen in him before. "That's how it ought to be," Lexi nods with enthusiasm, before taking another sip of her drink. "Love is accepting people, flaws and all. I like this Hana the more I hear of her."

"I know, Jesus," she presses the palm of her fist against her chin for a moment, contemplating it. "I still can't believe he married her. Robin. They were never right for each other. Although, Sophie is damn adorable." She grins again at what he says next. "Duly noted."

"Sirens, huh?" Lexi raises an eyebrow. Rian's already told her he's a witch; she supposes she can't be surprised Wren's a siren. She rolls her eyes fondly at that. "Yeah, well. Let me know when I need to get my shovel."

[fairywren]

He nods. That's something neither he nor Rian had been prepared for. Prepared to accept all the flaws they shared, maybe, but not to compromise on what they thought was their future, or to decide that was a dealbreaker peacably and without the drama. With Hana, there are fears, but it's not that one of them has to change.

"You're making me anxious to actually introduce you two," Wren says, with a wry smile. "Either she's not going to live up to all this hype, or you and she are going to decide I don't deserve her and abscond." He smirks. "More likely the latter."

They are going to have to all meet at some point. He isn't sure that he's become enough of an adult to do something like a dinner party and he isn't sure Enfants and Hana and presumably her friends (he may be long past the shovel talk, but he's still pretty sure one of them will want to give it to him) all being peaceful and patient through a sit down meal.

Tea, though. That's flamboyant enough to not feel like they're all mature.

It's important to him to have the chosen parts of his life like each other, more than he would have thought.

"Ugh, Robin," Wren says and makes a face. "Am I allowed to say that? He might have deserved better than what I was to him, but he deserved better than her, too." He softens at the mention of Sophie. "Yeah, Sophie's going to have us all wrapped around her finger, and she knows it. I thoroughly intend to teach her everything Rian doesn't want her to know."

He grins. "You'll be the first." He takes a drink. "So, tell me something else. It's only been, jesus, four years?" Wren winces at that a little.

[lovelylight]

"Wren, I'm sure neither of us will abscond without you," Lexi says, sighing with a good-natured smile and shake of her head. "I know we've had our rough moments, but honestly. This Hana of yours sounds like she likes you a great deal. I wouldn't take that away from you."

"You absolutely are; Robin is the worst," she agrees, wrinkling her nose at the mention of her name. "I understand why he tried to make things work with her but still. He could do so much better."

"Sophie already knows she's the star," she says with a nod and a smile. "As is only right."

"I was running a bakery, before I came here," she says, figuring that's okay to share. She can keep the rest of the details vague if she has to. "Back in Seattle. It was kind of nice."