After the dog finished its ritual of getting to know her scent and deciding she wasn't going to harm them, Maxine actually crouched down to pet it a little. "What a good boy!" She said in a baby voice, rubbing behind the dog's ears all the while smiling up at its owner. "I'll bet it is, I apologize if I sounded excited, I really did not mean to marvel in your despair." She told the man.
Magic gone crazy was a very, very broad explanation for what had happened here. Maxine's best bet was a master earth elemental with a grudge...or some serious not-quite-human magic. Narrowing her eyes, Maxine finally realized every odd event in town might be connected, and it all reeked of one thing: "Faeries..." She sneered. It only made sense. With more or less malice, everything from the colorful berries to the hieroglyphics on street signs, giant balls of light and a tree springing up from a book shop...
So distracted was she by the quick elaboration of this theory that Maxine simply did no notice the man's flat response to her joke, or the somber look he had adopted after replying. When he announced he was going inside Maxine nodded after him, smiling thankfully. "Thank you, but it's no matter if not, really."