InsaneJournal

Lanni Kerrigan has always appeared to be a woman of grace and poise. It’s in part due to her upbringing - in both of her lifetimes, she was always part of the upper crust and has the mannerisms to prove it. The fact that she spent most of this lifetime as a dancer helps as well. She’s a trained ballerina and now owns her own dance studio, keeping her fit and the family financially stable at the same time. Of slightly above average height for a woman, at 5’7”, with long blonde hair and even longer legs, Lanni is the kind of woman that commands attention the second she walks into a room. It’s not conscious on her part, but the effect is definitely there, and Lanni definitely uses it to her advantage.

When it comes to her style of dress, Lanni is spoiled and she damn well knows it. She’s always had the money to buy whatever she wants, and her sense of style has always been classic. Nice dresses, professional blouses and skirts, high heels, the whole nine yards. And Lanni knows she looks damn good, and wouldn’t have it any other way. It makes it even more amusing when you put her next to her goofball husband, Ross, and one starts to wonder how they got together in the first place.

In her bird form, Lanni is a tiny hummingbird with red feathers, with a few flecks of gold.

Straight up: Lanni is a fierce bitch, and no one can deny it. She tackles life with all the passion of a fire elemental, and she never takes no for an answer. At times, she’s passed herself off as a fire, and no one has ever been any wiser. Except, of course, for her two husbands - Daniel, in her first life, and Ross, in her second. To anyone who doesn’t know her well, Lanni can come across as high-strung and demanding, in desperate need of either A) a joint or B) to get laid. That’s just how Lanni is when she’s on a mission. It’s easier to just get out of her way when she wants something, because she will be successful whether you like it or not.

That being said, like any good phoenix, Lanni is a loving person and is quite devoted to those who hold an important place in her life. She genuinely wants to see everyone be happy and successful, from her husband to her children to her dance students. This is why she’s active in the PTA, the community - anywhere Lanni can step in, she probably will. It’s in her nature to help out, and she can’t turn away someone in need. You might be afraid to ask Lanni for help, but you shouldn’t be. She’s already said yes.

Perhaps Lanni’s biggest Achilles heel is also her greatest asset: her husband, Ross. His mellow nature balances her out, gets her to laugh and loosen up like no one else has ever been able to do. Lanni believes that lightning only strikes once as far as love is concerned, and she’d do anything for him. She’s also well aware that she’s going to outlive him, and even though her memories of this life will be lessened when she regenerates, the thought still terrifies her. Lanni has the sense that she’s living on borrowed time, so to speak, especially in the wake of the car accident that killed her children, who she subsequently revived. She won’t show it on the outside, but that sense of dread is always there.

Mariana Eve Edmunds was born May 18, 1918, the only daughter of Vivian and Roger Edmunds. Her father was an investment banker in Manhattan, and as such the family always had a comfortable lifestyle. It was obvious that Vivian had married well, and while she might not always love her husband, she was definitely in love with the socialite’s life. Vivian always liked to brag about who she knew and what connections she had. Roger, for his part, doted on his only daughter, and Mariana was definitely daddy’s little girl.

Mariana learned early what society expected of her - to sit down, shut up, learn your manners and make someone a good wife someday. At least, this was what Vivian told her and Roger didn’t say anything to contradict it. To that end, Mariana was a shining example of the perfect daughter. Granted, when your education didn’t extend much beyond how to set the perfect table for when your husband had company over, that wasn’t exactly hard. She pleased her parents, and that was all that mattered.

That all changed in 1929 and the stock market crash. Roger’s investments all fell apart at once, and the money they’d all gotten used to having dried up almost overnight. Distraught, unable to find work and unable to face his friends who had fared better than he did, Roger put a gun in his mouth that winter. Mariana was 11 years old, and only vaguely aware of the reasoning behind what was happening. All she knew was that her daddy was gone, and her mother was simply not cut out to survive on her own.

Then, six months after Roger’s death, Mariana became deathly ill, ravaged by fever. Though Vivian would never actually wish ill upon her daughter, there was the thought that medical care was expensive, and at the end of the day, she was one more mouth to feed. Regardless, the illness came on suddenly, and nothing Mariana said while she was feverish made any sense. She talked about fire, about being resurrected, all the stuff she dreamed about while sick. That, more than anything else, convinced Vivian that her daughter was near death.

In actuality, Mariana was being transformed into a phoenix. When the fever broke, and she miraculously survived, she knew exactly what it was she’d become. And she knew that Vivian would never understand the change her daughter had gone through, too self-absorbed to believe in, much less care for, a phoenix. Shortly after Mariana’s recovery, Vivian remarried, purely to save her own social standing. And, the moment Mariana turned 16, Vivian found her a husband too.

If anything, Mariana was hardly surprised by this turn of events. Having a husband meant she was no longer under her mother’s roof and she could start making some of her own decisions. Her new husband, Daniel Jacobsen, was a nice, gentle soul, and Mariana was lucky they got along well. He made sure the young woman was taken care of, and in exchange for a few dinners and social functions, Daniel didn’t ask much of her. He even gave her a private bedroom on his family’s estate.

Still, it seemed Daniel was hiding something, and while Mariana had been taught not to pry into things that were none of her business, she worried about him. He hadn’t even tried to consummate their marriage, and Mariana didn’t have the slightest clue as to why. It was in her nature to care about him, and even though they might not have chosen this marriage for themselves, they were still in it together, and she felt they could make it work.

What Daniel told her astounded her. There was nothing wrong with Mariana, he told her - he just wasn’t attracted to women. When he’d stalled and stalled on the idea of getting married, his family simply arranged one for him, because it was the socially acceptable thing to do. Daniel was at a loss for what to do, and he implored Mariana to keep his secret. In his words, he would do absolutely anything for her if she’d agree to be his cover wife.

Mariana’s heart broke for him. Above all else, she did just want Daniel to be happy, and it wasn’t like she didn’t have her own secrets, too. She’d never told a soul she was a phoenix, and though she was young, she knew she’d regenerate eventually and would need someone to be there for her. So, at 17 years old, Mariana cut a deal with Daniel. She wouldn’t tell a soul he was gay, and they’d present the image of a shiny, happy couple to the rest of the world. In exchange, he would help her with her next regeneration, keeping her phoenix status a secret as well. Daniel agreed, and as such, their marriage became more of a partnership than anything else.

And, over the years, the duo became quite successful at the rouse, too. They became more like best friends than anything else, and Mariana knew she’d been lucky to end up where she did. Granted, it meant all of her relationships were kept hush-hush, and nothing could ever last forever. But then again, when you were going to outlive everyone anyway, Mariana didn’t let herself get too caught up in anything. Whenever someone asked why she and Daniel never had any children, Mariana would either smile and change the subject, or simply say that it wasn’t meant to be.

Daniel made plenty of money, so Mariana never had to worry about finding a real job. She was never content to be just a housewife, however. If there was a place where she could be active in the city, then Mariana was there, simple as that. Be that through donations to support the arts, welcoming home soldiers from World War II, working with underprivileged children - think Princess Diana meets 1950s housewife, and you’d have Mariana. Though she still felt restricted by her place in life, knowing her society would never let her enjoy some of the same freedoms because she was a woman, at least she was doing something, and that made the phoenix side of her happy.

By the time Mariana reached her early 60s, she knew it was time to move on, and she told Daniel as much. Both of them knew it was coming, and Daniel had been putting away money into a separate account for years so she’d be set once he passed. The couple sold their Manhattan penthouse and moved to their summer home in upstate New York. And, there, Mariana Jacobsen went up in flames, leaving nothing behind but a pile of ashes. The year was 1979, and she was 61 years old.

Less than a day later, a 14 year old girl emerged from the ashes. She took the name Lanni, Daniel went through with Mariana’s “funeral” as planned, and then said he had a young great-niece coming to stay with him for a while. And this arrangement? Worked out beautifully for the two of them. Daniel never moved back to New York City, content with his retirement and probably more comfortable in his own skin than he’d been at any other point in his life.

And as for Lanni? Things were a lot different now than the last time she was this age. She was no long held back by her gender and the role society expected her to stick to. No, now Lanni was free, and Daniel urged her to take advantage of it. It was not rare for a phoenix’s personality to undergo at least some sort of shift when they regenerated, and with Lanni, she became more assertive, more self-confident, and she did not take no for an answer. If anything, she was a fierce bitch who knew exactly what she wanted out of this round of her life. She’d always loved dancing, but what had been a hobby for Mariana turned into a passion for Lanni. She liked to sing too, but kept this to a minimum, knowing that a phoenix’s song might draw attention to herself that might lead to her discovery. Instead, she took every dance lesson she could get into, and pretty soon she was talking about going into dance professionally after graduation.

She stayed with Daniel until he passed away, when Lanni was 17. She was at his bedside when he passed, grateful again that he’d been such a good friend to her over all these years, the best a phoenix could ask for. After Daniel died, Lanni auditioned for and got into Julliard on a dance scholarship, and moved back to New York City. Though she had Mariana’s memories of the place, she could see so much more of it now, almost like a tourist would, every experience somehow new when you saw it through young eyes again.

It was while she was at Julliard that she first met one Ross Kerrigan, an art history major at Pratt. At first, Lanni brushed Ross off, thinking he was too much of a goofball for her tastes. But, he kept sticking around, and she found that she was always happy around him, always laughing. Soon he was coming to her recitals and she to his lectures. Then, after one said lecture, Ross asked if she’d like to join him for coffee, and Lanni said yes. She’d never felt like this before, the butterflies in her stomach having nothing to do with nervous and everything to do with excitement. Having never actually been in love before - her marriage to Daniel had been one of mutual convenience and agreement, nothing more, nothing less - she was a little surprised when they made it official, when Ross brought her flowers after one of her recitals. It was perfect and simple and it was very much them, something Lanni had never expected to find.

All the while she was worried about her phoenix nature, though. By this time, Mariana already knew who would be taking care of her when she regenerated, and Lanni did not have that reassurance. Who knew how Ross would react to the news that she was somehow less than human? As it turned out, Ross already knew something was up - and confronted her about it. He was a psychic, and could already hear what she was thinking thanks to his telepathy. Startled, Lanni confessed what she was, and in turn Ross promised that he’d always be there for her, for whatever she needed. Lanni couldn’t have asked for anything better than that.

The couple stayed together all through the rest of college and beyond that. Lanni joined a dance company in the city while Ross worked on completing his masters in art history, and he proposed to her at his graduation party. They married within a year, and shortly after that, Lanni gave birth to their first child, daughter Capri. Together, Ross and Lanni had two more children, Alexan and Lynne, completing their happy little family.

With their growing family and the responsibilities that came with it, Lanni couldn’t keep up with the high-paced life a professional dancer led. While Ross eventually landed a job as an art critic with the New York Times, Lanni retired from dancing to open her own studio, which she named Pirouette, and teaching dance instead. Her students learned quickly that Lanni had very high expectations, but that if you were willing to put in the time to learn, she was more than willing to help you out. The walls of the studio’s office soon became covered in pictures and notes from former and current students, some of whom had gone on to work professionally, something Lanni couldn’t be happier about.

For the most part, the Kerrigan family was just living day to day, dealing with problems as they came, and Lanni honestly couldn’t be happier. Sure, there was the occasional fight, but that happened, and for the moment, she was able to pretend that her long life didn’t exist, and was content just living in the moment.

Since the Light of May. As a phoenix, Lanni found the Light of May to be more dangerous than anything else - if all these other races were coming out into the public, how long would it be before phoenixes were revealed, too? She knew how hunted they were before everyone knew everything, and it only worried her more that someone might find out her secret. She only confided this fear to Ross, however, and since May, she has been less likely to use her powers than she already was. She’s lucky her bird form, that of a small red and gold hummingbird, isn’t all that uncommon and thus she could slip in and out of places relatively unnoticed. When it comes to other people, she honestly doesn’t care if you’re a were or a vampire or an elemental or what, so long as you’re a decent soul.

Ross received a job offer in Michigan several weeks after the Light of May, as the Museum Coordinator for the Detriot Museum of the Arts, as well as a visiting lecturer at the University of Michigan. While Lanni loved living in the city and all that came with it, she knew how excited Ross was and getting to see someplace new would definitely be a good thing. So, the family didn’t hesitate to pack up their things and head out to Scarlet Oak, buying a house there. Most of their things were shipped out, and all that was left was for the family to fly on out and settle into their new home. While Ross went to a farewell party with his co-workers, Lanni gathered up the kids and was planning on meeting him at LaGuardia to catch their flight.

On her way there, however, things took a turn for the worst. An oil tanker crossed the center line and ran right into Lanni’s car, resulting in a rather horrific crash and fire. Lanni survived - the fire wouldn’t hurt her - but when she came to, she panicked, because none of the children would answer her when she talked to them. Terrified, she went back into the flames and pulled their bodies out; Capri, Alexan and Lynne were all dead. Lanni lost it, and she did the only thing she thought of: She used her blood to revive them before the paramedics arrived. That was how her children learned what she was, and she has begged them not to breathe a word of it to anyone.

When she called Ross to tell them what happened, she knew he was going to be shaken up, but she managed to stay calm over the phone. If anything else, the incident brought to light how fragile Lanni’s family actually was. While she’d been ignoring the fact that she was going to outlive them, now it was thrust in her face. She’d saved them once, but she couldn’t continue to do so forever. Someday, they were going to grow old and die and she’d be left alone.

The Kerrigan family eventually made it out to Scarlet Oak and settled in, with Ross still traveling back and forth between Michigan and New York for both of his jobs. Lanni eventually put her foot down, reminding him that while he loved his work, his family needed him more. While Ross opened up a gallery for local artists and started a blog about art, Lanni opened up another dance studio, still under the name Pirouette. Hey, there had to be dancers in Scarlet Oak too, and she would teach them to the best of her ability.