The three siren sisters had taken the day off from recording, following a long and exhausting tour around the world. In a coffee shop downtown to their mansion, all three sauntered in like modern geisha and caught the eye of patrons who recognized the famed singers. Adagio and Aria happened to be caught in an argument as they approached to buy coffee. Sonata sighed and rolled her eyes. She spotted a young man and went to sit by him instead of her sisters. "Hi!" she chirped. [for Briar!]
Briar was actually fairly oblivious to modern music and celebrities; his boss ran a literature-themed bar on the other side of downtown and only played instrumental tracks to make it less distracting to read. So all he knew was that three young ladies--who must be important, judging by other people’s reactions-- had shown up, two were fighting, and one... had... sat down next to him? He was getting dirty looks because of it, too, and wished he knew why.
“Hi...” he replied, with plenty of hesitation in his voice but none whatsoever in the haste with which he shut the romance novel he’d been reading and stuffed it in is messenger bag. Out of habit, he almost asked What can I get you today? in his talking-to-customers voice, but instead he managed an awkward, “How are you?”
The curse woven through him had some marked similarities to the sirens’ own magic: Divine, suggestive, eager to bring out the most cruel and destructive impulses in those who’d heed it. He was just the bait instead of the beneficiary. Going out at all on a day off was a non-trivial risk to his life, but today loneliness had driven him from the safe, maddening isolation of his small apartment. He wanted to be near people, even if he hadn’t intended to interact with them much.
