callmeemily | CLOSED - Les (backdated 2/12)

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CLOSED - Les (backdated 2/12)

Sure, Raleigh knew she was finally coming back to Siren Cove. Of course, she'd woken up this morning and kissed her mom on the cheek and reassured her that yes, she wanted to go home - it was still home, even after the last few months in Tennessee. She'd known she was coming back, but that didn't stop her from realising about three steps out of the taxi from the Portland airport that she'd done something really dumb.

She forgot her keys.

And it was about three degrees outside, with snow everywhere. "C'mon, buddy." Squinting in the snow, Raleigh didn't even try going to her place -- there wasn't a point with no keys. Her roller bag behind her, she made her way to Les's apartment. She'd gotten dropped off close by, and hey - she guessed that he'd be home.

Ringing the bell, she tugged her coat closer around her-- sure, she'd remembered her boots, but she'd forgotten her gloves so her hands were shoved as far in her pockets as she could manage, Oscar's leash around her wrist as she talked to no one in particular. "Please be home. Please?"

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A surprise knock on his door this late a night didn't phase Les aside from being a tiny bit irritated that his work down in the basement was interrupted. Just at the good part too. He put aside his concoction of magical ingredients and headed up the stairs, hoping that whatever waited on his doorstep wasn't bad news. "Yeah, hang on," he shouted just as made it to the top of his steps, flinging away the towel he wiped his hands over his shoulder.

It wasn't Corry. She hadn't knocked in the last two years. Besides she was out of town. He shrugged wondering if he'd missed a call; he left his phone upstairs.

He opened the door and found Raleigh Harper on his doorstep looking tiny and cold. His favorite human, which she hated for him to say but it was true. "See if you had called first I would've combed my hair," he said with a grin, getting a longer look at her. "Hmm. I feeing a lot of emotions right now. I might cry."

"I hope you are feeling like you want to let us in, because it's cold." She flashed a bright, please let me in sort of smile, and looked up at him hopefully. "And.... I forgot my keys. In Tennessee. Because I'm smart."

Wrinkling her nose, she huffed out a breath, looking up at him for just a long second because it'd been so long. So long. "I missed you, you know that?" Oscar was already trying to get into the house and to Les instead of standing on the doorstep the way Raleigh would, snow sticking to his fur.

"I am missable, aren't I?" Les chuckled at her statement, eyeing her fondly. He had missed her too. She wasn't just his friend. She was one of those people inside Les' messy inner circle, where he latched onto things he didn't want to be without. Now she was back, her and Oscar.

He pushed the door open wider to let her inside. "You can stay if you give me a hug and I won't even point out how ridiculous is that you traveled five states without remembering your key."

"My mom's going to mail them," she said over her shoulder, and she got her wet luggage and wet dog and wet boots all into his hallway and waited for him to close the door before she hugged him tight. "Hey, you." Her voice was muffled against his shirt before she pulled back. "And I know how ridiculous it is, and you're totally missable. Much missing. All the missing."

Oscar kept hopping up, his wet paws on Les' pant leg. "Hey! Hey. Manners, you."

Raleigh's admonishments didn't do much (alright, they did nothing) to affect Oscar's behavior.

"I missed you too," Les said, squeezing her back in a hug. She had become an important fixture in his life, and he understood why she needed to get away but having her back was a relief. He liked having all his people in one place.

The excited dog jumping at his leg pulled away his attention, and he laughed. "Oscar buddy, I missed you too," he said scratching him under the chin. "He's got great manners..."

He stood back up, sighing then smiled as he grabbed for her bag. "Come on, upstairs. I wanna know everything I missed."

"I mean, he learned from the best," Oscar's manners had never been exactly stellar, if she tells the truth. He grabbed her bag, and Raleigh smiled in thanks as he moved ahead of her. "I mean, there's not all that much to catch you up on," she said as she followed him a bit slower thanks to her leg, Oscar trotting ahead of her but stopping to look back at her every few steps.

"I know it's been a long time, but Tennessee isn't exactly the social hub of the universe, you know? But what about you? Siren Cove definitely always has more going on. Are things okay?" That's the first question, because this place... you never know what's OK, or not.

When Les made it upstairs he pulled her wet bags in the corner to dry and picked up the poker near his fireplace. He had let most of his fire burn out earlier while he was downstairs, but he stuffed in a few more logs with his fire powers bringing it back to life. Maine winter was in full swing, and the fire would warm the draft room up.

While he arranged the fire he gestured for her towards his sofa. "I'll take your word for that one. Tennessee isn't exactly on my bucket list either," he said chuckling. "But here? Here has been quiet. It's been a little creepy. I was used to...well, you know." He had learned to be careful how he spoke. She got freaked out sometimes by the things he said.

"It's been nice. A little boring," he admitted.

"Used to a bunch of weird shit?" She moved to grab one of his dishtowels from the kitchen, and while she sat herself on his couch she started towelling off Oscar so that he wouldn't get all of Les' stuff wet. "I'm glad, though. I mean, not the boring, but the nice. And the quiet." She personally is the kind of person who thinks that quiet and boring were good things, because the alternative...

Well.

There's a reason she'd been in Tennessee for so long, even though she thought of Siren Cove as her home, now. Too much weird shit that just ate at who you were.

She'd left, after that. After the mess with her soul, with the IOU from her dad of all people. She'd needed to stay with her mom for a while, needed to just... chill. Find herself, again.

But now she's back home. "How's Corry? I pretty much didn't stay in touch with anyone," she admits sheepishly. She'd been back for a few days a while ago, but had ended up needing to go back home.

Les isn't going to say so, but he actually at times misses all the weird shit. It keeps things interesting, and he thinks part of the charm of Siren Cove is its weirdness, that it felt like a place where anything could happen. He isn't sure he belongs anywhere else. Where in the summers all the witches turn out on midsummers eve and run amok. Where someone casts spells to make evil mists and scary monsters. Where people turn to sirens Where even simple things like cats could be more. Les likes the weird 'cos the alternative: boredom, seems worse somehow.

He gives her a smile, taking a seat in the reclining chair near the couch where she fussed over Oscar. Only one good thing has come out of quiet nights at home. "Really good," he says fondly, maybe a little proud too. "She finished the Waterhouse, and she's taking projects again. And it's just good, you know? She's just doing better than I've ever seen her. She's happy I think."

And considering how Corry showed up, life destroyed two years ago, he thinks she deserves it.

If he'd actually said that he missed it, Raleigh wouldn't have been all that surprised. After all, it mostly seemed like people who had powers, at least to her, were a lot better equipped to deal with the fallout. That, and Les just generally seemed unshakeable by a lot of the stuff that had happened to them.

Honestly, Raleigh didn't mind a lot of that stuff-- the generally weird things that honestly were why she had Oscar, why she even knew Les much at all-- but that's different from the bad things. The bad people, the things that hurt people.

That was something she'd needed to get away from for a while; but now... it was time to come home. It was weird, that apparently it'd been sort of... simple, when she'd been gone.

"Great. That's really great, Les. She should be happy - both of you should be," she said with an emphatic nod, finally letting Oscar go when she was convinced that he was sufficiently dry. "And Ariel? I mean, your wombat should be happy, too." Even though it still - still! Was totally weird. But it was just part of him, the way that Oscar was for her.

Les smiles brightly. They are happy, him and Corry. Together. And he can't remember a time, except maybe when he was a kid, and even then things back then could be hard and messy, when he was genuinely as happy as he is these days. He has Corry, and his friends, and even a decent job. He couldn't have imagined the life he has now two years ago, and he isn't sure how he got all of this but he's happy he did.

He chuckles at the Ariel question. "Ariel certainly will appreciate you asking about her. She loves any attention," he says, and he doesn't think his pet wombat is that weird. She kind of found him. What was he supposed to do? "She's still giving Corry the blues. She just doesn't see her positives like I do though Ariel does try to bite her some times. You know that show It's Me or the Cat? Do you think they take cursed wombats?"

"She's jealous," Raleigh says with a pointed look. "Which, I mean, have you seen Corry? I'm not surprised. But she knows that you like Corry more than you like her." Which, thankfully, Raleigh didn't say loud enough that Ariel could hear. "Ariel trapped us up on a counter. There's a lot of negatives there." Oscar had rolled onto his back, and Raleigh bent to rub his belly.

"I don't think they take cursed wombats, but... how do you uncurse her? Have you figured it out?" Her brows furrow. "What if you like... I don't know, gave her beads to try and spell into letters?" That seemed like a long shot, but Ariel's smart, and Raleigh knows -- she knows from when she was wombat-sitting (okay, maybe she just assumes, but still) that Ariel understands English. Maybe she can write, too?

Les gives her a look. It is possible that he himself is the main reason for Ariel's stubborn crankiness around people, mostly Corry, because he spoils Ariel like any good over indulgent pet owner. But why not? She is not just an ordinary animal, and he always knew she was special okay. Despite all that even he isn't quirky enough to like that his pet wombat is jealous of his girlfriend...

"It's possible I'm wrong that she's cursed. I just assumed when she turned into a human during the whole fairytale thing that she was, but maybe it's not true," he says. Though sometimes he swears she looks at him too self-aware.

She sees the look, and rolls her eyes. "Look, that happens with dogs all the time. They get jealous when other people take time away from their person." She's rubbing Oscar's belly. "Whether she's a person or not. I mean, she's--" Raleigh paused.

"When I pet sat for you, I swear she understands English. Like, seriously, truly understands English." Frowning, Raleigh shakes her head. "I seriously wish I was making this up. You know? But... maybe she does. Maybe she is actually cursed." Not even beliving that she's saying this and meaning it, Raleigh huffs out a breath. "I mean, it could be a thing. This place has done weirder things, right?"

"Are you suggesting that this place turning a wombat into a hot chick is more or less weird than a wombat understanding English? It feels like those are on equal levels of strange," Les says with a smirk. Because he didn't know if Ariel could understand him, but he knows for sure she was an actual human being for a week last year.

He just didn't know how to turn her back. If that even was a thing that could be done.

"Maybe she doesn't mind being this way. I give her everything she could possible want." He even made her a nice little habitat downstairs, and she really seems to like him. And human Ariel was kind of in love with him so she might not mind her situation.

"I'm suggesting that... I mean, both of them are about equal, I think? You're right, but I still think she does understand English." He says that maybe Ariel wants to be wombat, and Raleigh actually pulls back as she makes a face. "What? I mean."

Frowning, she actually had to think about it for a second. ".... I mean, I guess so? That seems weird. Do you think you'd want to be a wombat? Instead of a person? That seems....." Hesitating, she finally found what she was trying to say. "I guess... maybe she doesn't like the person she is?"

"No, I wouldn't want to be a wombat. I like being a witch," he says without needing to consider it. "But I mean---" He gestures vaguely as if Ariel were sitting there with them, but she's thankfully down in the basement. "Human Ariel was kind of like wombat Ariel if I'm honest with you," he says with a shrug.

Granted, Nerium's spell had given him false memories, letting him live an entirely different life, but it is still the truth. "This makes me sound a little obnoxious, but that's kind of why I liked her. She thought I was perfect, and she wanted to do anything I wanted to do. Kind of like now." He shrugs again. "She may just want to stay."

Raleigh frowned when she said she was kind of like wombat Ariel. "What? Like... she looked like a wombat?" But he explains, and Raleigh sighs, still rubbing Oscar's stomach. "I mean... it doesn't make you sound obnoxious, it's just.... weird. This is a weird conversation. And I mean that in a really nice, 'Les, you're one of my favorite people' way, you know?"

It wasn't like before she left when she said that Ariel was weird, and meant it in an insulting way. This was so much stranger than that, for one, but also she just doesn't tend to roll quite so.... insulting. At least, she tries not to. "I think Oscar's magical, so it's not like we don't both have weird pets." She says it fondly, still rubbing even though Oscar's blissed out on the floor.

"No offense taken," Les tells her, mostly pleased to be one of her favorite people because it's not as though he isn't aware of that but it's a title he thinks he deserves. He is quite happy to be her really weird but awesome friend, and that's why he's also happy to have her back in Siren Cove. She belongs here. There are others, not just Les, who have missed her.

He watches her rubbing Oscar's belly with a smile on his face. Then a moment comes where it is the right time to say something. "No one blamed you for what happened. I mean I understand why you thought you needed to leave but I can't say I was..." He trails off for a moment, as he's usually perfectly okay to just let things go. What happens happens, nothing you can do. Settling back in against the couch, he shrugs. "I was kind of pissed that you did."

"Yeah," she says as she looks down at Oscar for a long second, but then she decided what she was going to say. "I mean, I was too. Pissed at myself, even, but... Les, what happened? I had no freaking idea who I was anymore, and you know how it is here. If it rains, it pours, and I couldn't handle another thing."

She huffed out a breath. "I could barely handle it even without another thing. Just got too... mind-fucked, I guess. Gross term, but I have no idea what else to call it."

"I know. I'm not pissed now," Les assures her because as he said he understood why she left. His attitude was mostly selfish in that he didn't want his friends to just up and leave town. It reminded him too much of the past. Even with Corry, even though he knows she loves him, and knows she's always going to come back, he doesn't exactly like it when she jets off.

He reaches over and pats Oscar on the belly. "I do understand. I wish I could've done more. I should have. I know it can, but magic isn't suppose to hurt people," he says. "It's not supposed to mind-fuck people."

"Well... that's good." She's glad that he's not pissed now - mostly because she doesn't really know how much she could handle it if he was. Les doesn't get mad all that often, and it's disconcerting to say the least.

She leans back against the bottom of his couch, and looks at him for a long second. "You know, I thought about it a lot. Why people didn't notice, and then I realised-- like... if you just suddenly were acting different, I'd assume that there was something going on, not that you were having your soul sucked out by some weird witch lady. You know? Nobody's to blame except the witch."

He looks at her for a moment, quietly. He isn't sure why she thinks they didn't notice. They all noticed. He knew something was wrong with her, that she wouldn't just be acting that way without a reason towards him, towards Coop, towards all of them. They all knew she wasn't herself. He just wishes he had seen that it was magic making her act this way, and not some brand-new Raleigh that showed up one day.

"Of course, it's the witch's fault. When you were, not you, you asked me remember? Why I didn't just go around using magic to make money or doing whatever I wanted?" He shrugs a little. "Magic, it's yours. Whatever it is, you live with what you do."

What he says doesn't make sense to her. It just... sort of doesn't, and she can't stop the way she frowns.

"But... I mean, how would that be hard to live with? I mean, I get now why not to do it, but--" She pauses. "I don't even know why really the witch did that. The stuff with my dad, sure, but..." Trailing off, she shakes her head and rubs her arms with her hands. It still scares her, still freaks her out.

"Let's talk about something different."

Honestly, Les hates to upset her especially over things such as magic. He would like for everyone to see magic the way he sees it, as something good and amazing and spectacular. The things about magic that upset her, upset him too, but perhaps he's less scared because he's able to defend himself. She has reason to be afraid, living in Siren Cove.

But she's right, they should talk about something else. She's just returned back, and he's happy to see her.

"I'm glad you're back home," he tells her instead of responding to her questions. "I had no one to wave pastries under my nose while you were away. You know? I've basically been starving for a couple months. Don't I look it?" He asks with a smile.

Edited 2016-03-21 03:21 (UTC)

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CLOSED - Les (backdated 2/12)

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