drawn_to_magic (drawn_to_magic) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2010-03-30 17:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | 2009-07-08 |
Surprise!
Who: Alice and Max
Where: Max's place
When: Afternoon
Parking the rental car she had driven in from Ann Arbor in front of Bargain Books, Alice climbed out of the vehicle humming softly to herself as she closed the door and walked around the front of the car to the other side to release Marnie from the backseat, the large dog eagerly bounding out of the vehicle onto the walk that ran past the bookstore. With a smile fixed on her face Alice started for the door trailing by the Harlequin Great Dane.
"She's not going to be overjoyed to see you."
"Nonsense. Maxine will be absolutely thrilled I've come to visit her." Alice chirped pleasantly to the large animal whose thought was voiced within her head as she reached for the handle of the door to pull it open and step past the threshold and into the building.
The very last person Max had expected to see standing in her small bookshop was her sister. So when the bells above her door jingled, she didn't look up from her book, even when she smelled a dog that wasn't her own. "Good morning, sorry, no dogs allowed." Her voice was quiet and distracted, Orion coming to perch beside her head.
'This is good, you are not going to like this.' The large black raven sounded joyous and that was never a good sign. He was, she'd learned, always trying to get her into awkward situations as a way to push her out of her comfort zone and had, on more than one occasion, purposefully brushed his feathers against her. Little did he know, that it didn't actually bother her. His past wasn't nearly as invasive as anyone else. 'I'm serious and this isn't even my doing. I kind of wish it was...' Max sighed and rolled her eyes, finally deciding to humour him she looked up and stopped. "Alice?" she said, completely dumbfounded. 'What the hell! Why was she? How did she?' All thoughts that kept running through Max's head and that kept her rooted firmly in her place.
The Great Dane woofed almost as in protest to what Max said about the no dogs allowed rule. Alice, though paid no mind to her "companion", and stepped further into the shop her sister owned with the brightest of smiles illuminating her features holding back on saying anything until her older sister acknowledged her with a look.
"Surprise!" The light haired witch chimed happily with a half a laugh before stepping forward to embrace her sister, something she felt was a necessity, and quite unaware that her older sister might not be sharing Alice's brand of sisterly love.
It wasn't that Max didn't like animals, in fact she rather loved them, but she had two cats and a dog running around her shop more often than not. They were friendly and sweet, but she didn't trust other animals to not hurt them so any animal that was not her, wasn't allowed it. There was of course exceptions for Familiars, although she didn't know that this particular dog was Familiar.
At a loss for words she simply stood with her younger sister wrapped around her. Very gently she pulled away and was thankful she hadn't seen anything. "Wh-what are you doing here?" she asked, her voice tight but still trying to sound some sort of happy. This wasn't good, Max had gone to school and moved away to, you know, get away from her family. If she'd wanted to see them, she would have gone back. Although Max would never say this out loud, the only one who heard was Orion and he ruffled his feathers, staring at her with his beady eyes like she'd insulted him personally.
"Why to see you, silly." Alice smiled all big as if that should have been clearly obvious to her older sister when she finally disentangled herself from her sister. "I was thinking to myself just the other day, Alice it's been ever so long since you saw Maxine, so here I am." Which seemed to Alice to be a completely logically thought. "Oh, and momma says to tell you that you need to call home more often."
'Yeah, to see you silly!' Orion said cheerfully in her head, making Max scowl discreetly in his direction. Max just smiled tightly and shifted her eyes, not really sure what she was supposed to say. "Well... great." she said after a few minutes of silence. Her voice was no where near as happy as she was supposed to sound and she really didn't care. Max didn't want her sister her, or anyone from her family that wasn't her grandmother or grandfather. It hurt, though, that they hadn't told her that Alice was coming to see her, she spoke to them nearly every day. A little fair warning would have been nice. "I do!" she said irritably. Once a month was good enough.
"So. Tell me how you've been lately." Alice said in a sunshiny voice with smile to match, the younger Stiltner quite oblivious to the fact that her older sister didn't seem as enthused as she was with her unannounced arrival into Scarlet Oak. Granted the two weren't exactly as close as sisters could be, but it would never cross Alice's mind that her sister wouldn't be happy to see her, even if she didn't seem to look it, but Alice was simply putting that off to it just being how Max was. She might not look thrilled on the outside, but Alice knew Max was quite thrilled on the inside to have her sister there. It just showed how different the two sisters were in thought and demeanor.
With a disposition quite the opposite of her sisters, Max just shrugged and moved back behind the counter. "Fine," she said shortly, pushing around papers on the counter. It was clear that Max wasn't comfortable and that she didn't want her sister here, but other then acting as she was, Max wouldn't say anything. Not now anyway. If there was a part of her that was excited Alice was here, it was very small and overshadowed by the fact that Max was still resentful over her childhood.
She doesn't sound like she's fine. Marnie voiced in Alice's head, which made the younger Stiltner send the large dog a somewhat annoyed glance.
"You have to be more then just fine." Alice chimed cheerfully while settling herself up on the counter Max moved behind. Granted it was exactly a piece of furniture a person normally sat on, but with the place lacking such near the counter, and it appearing to Alice to be sturdy enough to hold her, the young woman went right ahead and made herself at home in her sister's bookstore.
Orion wasn't impressed, he kept ruffling his feathers pointedly and saying things like 'You could at least pretend to be happy,' or 'You do realize you're a jerk, right? Just checking.' Max did her best to ignore him and continued pretending to be busy with things behind the counter. "I'm great," she deadpanned, looking up momentarily at her sister. "I can't touch people and my bookstore is always cold, life is great." Max tried not to sound too bitchy but since her talk with Alanna, it was hard to not think about her powers.
Fluttering down from his nearby bookshelf, Orion landed right in between Alice and Max. 'Hello, I'm Orion. Max's Familiar.' Although he couldn't smile, his voice had one in it and he ruffled his feathers excitedly. 'It's a pleasure to meet you, I've heard quite a bit about you.' Glaring at him, Max tried to brush him away but things with Orion were never that easy and flew a little closer to Alice.
"Surely you don't spend all your time within these four walls?" Alice questioned with a light wave of her hand around the place as if to add to her point.
Alice smile at the voice which intruded into her head when the bird fluttered down from the bookshelf to settle on the counter. It wasn't such a strange thing for the younger Stiltner to experience as she had grown accustomed to Marnie speaking to her through the same kind of mind-speak. "Orion," a slight nod was given then, "quite the befitting name." Alice acknowledge just as her own familiar, Marnie, lumbered on over to stand on her hind legs with her fore paws set to the counter with a sniff given to the raven. </i>He's not all that.</i> The large dog sent to Alice in a voice that clearly held disdain for the smaller creature. Alice took it all with amusement and simply gave a light scruffing to her familiar behind one ear.
Arching an eyebrow, Max tried to think of the best way to answer. 'That isn't it.' Orion chimed in, nosey little bugger. Always listening to her thoughts. Max had contemplated another snarky remark, but left it for another half hearted one. "I don't have many workers, it's up to me to run this place." She said, which was only a half truth. Max had two other people working here, part time but could take more time off herself if she'd give them full time.
'Thank you,' Orion said, lowering his head in something that was unmistakably a bow. 'Hello,' he directed now to the dog that Orion could sense didn't like him or Max. Her problem. Max looked down at the dog and lifted the corner of her mouth in a smile. "And you? What's your name?" she asked, her voice softer and more kind. It was easier to be nicer to her sisters Familiar than her sister herself. It wasn't that she hated her Alice, she loved her, she was just hurt and that hurt when deep, deeper than Max had ever let on.
"Marnie." Both Alice and her Familiar answered almost in sync, though Alice's response was voiced cheerfully whereas Marnie sent an answer through mind-speak to Max. 'You should be a bit nicer to her,' the Harlequin Great Dane answered with words directed solely to the older Stiltner.
"She can be a pain sometimes, but Marnie here is lovable none the less." Alice added with a bright smile giving the big oaf of a dog another scratching behind her ear.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Marnie." Max said, nodding her head once. Arching an eyebrow she sighed and then shrugged. "I am." she directed to Marnie, shifting uncomfortably. Having this dog around wasn't going to easy for Max, she already had one Familiar who invaded her thoughts, the last thing she needed was a second and this one was connected to her sister.
Smiling tightly, Max nodded. "I'd like to say the same about Orion, but I wouldn't want to lie to you." She deadpanned, receiving a harsh look from the Raven and hiding a snicker. It was always fun to get back at Orion, who liked to think he was hilarious.
"Goodness!" Alice smiled brightly as she stepped forward to move around behind the counter embrace her sister once more. "It's so good to see you again, Maxine." The younger Stiltner chimed happily hugging her older sibling a short moment before releasing Max again as she took that single step back. "Do you think maybe you could lock up shop for a few minutes to take me upstairs to your apartment?" Surely with no customers roaming the small bookstore at the moment, Max could lock up for a few short minutes to take her sister upstairs to her living quarters. Alice didn't think it would be too much of a disruption to her older sister's business.
Once more Max was thrown into physical contact and she stiffened against the embrace. Patting her sister awkwardly again, she prayed for the moment to pass and for it to go without a glimpse of her younger sisters past. "Yeah, you too Alice!" Her voice was considerably more cheerful, but still tight and uncomfortable. Max shot a look at Orion who merely nodded his head encouragingly.
"Wait, what?" Looking like she'd just noticed that Alice had a second head, Max backed up and shook her head. "Y-you mean you don't have a place to stay?" It seemed a stupid question, in hindsight, but the very fact that Alice was here was shocking enough for Max to stop thinking about things like that. Of course with Orion and now Marnie glaring at her she wouldn't be able to say anything. "O-of course." she answered dazedly, standing silently a half a second longer than was normal before leading the way upstairs.
"Now how could I come to town and not stay with you, silly." Alice grinned happily to her sister after Max pulled herself from the embrace. "We couldn't spend quality sister time that way." Alice was just so happy to be in the same town as her sister that she was just letting Max's non happiness at finding her younger sister in Scarlet Oak slip by. With Marnie trailing behind her, Alice followed Max through the shop to the staircase that would take them all up to her older sister's apartment.