Who: Max Mayfield & Constantine What: Bonding and going to pick up some stuff for her new room. Where: Their place then the store. When: Back when Zari and she moved in with him. [Backdated] Warnings: Nothing major. Status: Closed/Completed gdoc
Max had agreed to go hit up the store with John. She figured it would be nice to get out, and she figured they could use some more time to bond. He made Zari happy, which she considered a win because she liked her guardian. But she also could say that she liked John for other reasons besides that. At the same time, she was cautious with adults and Max was a bit on the careful side. Zari had earned her trust, and John was starting to work his way in that direction, but she was being cautious.
Glancing to see if Max saw John, she even leaned back a bit in her chair to see if he was coming. She was counting down the days until her casts would be gone, then it’d be PT as long as she didn’t cause them to need to be on longer. That was mostly the reason they were still on since Max hadn’t quite listened and delayed the healing process just a bit. Only her leg was really itchy. Pulling out the keys that she had for things like the front door, she tried to use that to get the itch. Taking her eyes off her surroundings and forgetting to keep an eye on any approaching adults, knowing John should be coming at any moment to go hit up the store.
It was interesting, if one were to ask Constantine, to have both Zari and Max living in his home. Zari was someone that he trusted with his life and he'd known her for a very long time. Max was someone that the dome had dragged in and he knows the girl had been through quite a bit. Something that no child should ever have to go through. He's seen children, unfortunately, go through quite a bit and they hadn't deserved what they'd gone through.
He'd left the work he was doing to one of the others and had come home to take Max off to the store. He knows that he's yet to gain her full trust, not like Zari, but he'd keep working on it. There's even a part of him that wondered if Gemma would've liked someone like Max. He's sure that his niece would've.
"Having a bit of a hard time there, love?"
Max had no intention of ever going back to her world, or at least, that was the plan, but she knew it didn’t always matter. Why would she return back to her world when she was in a coma with more broken bones on her than she had now? The fact she had died was something she knew from her worlds, and she felt there was no point to return, especially since it wasn’t like she could help her friends. Here, she had Zari who she cared a great deal about, even considering her family. John wasn’t quite there yet, but she hadn’t shut down any chance of it, willing to keep an open mind and give the guy a chance. So far he hadn’t let her down and was inching closer, but it wasn’t going to happen overnight with her.
The voice that she knew belonged to John caused her to glance up for only a moment. “How much trouble do you think I’ll be in with Zari if I cut it off before I’m meant to take it off?” Her tone was serious because even though she wouldn’t, the thought was very tempting. More so further down her leg where the keys weren’t going to reach. “I’m managing,” she said, refusing to admit she was not getting it all, but she also was stubborn when it came to asking for help. “What places were you wanting to hit?” She asked, turning her attention to him, but also still slightly itching the top part of her cast.
Constantine knew what it was like to not want to go back to one's own world. There were a lot of things back home that could happen. He's not gone back nor did he want to. Not when he had friends in Madison Valley and Zari, someone that he cared a great deal for. Someone that he'd come to love and trust. The dabbler in the dark arts also liked Max. The young woman had been through hell and back.
"Zari would be pretty upset with you if you cut it off before you're meant to," He tells Max. Zari cared a great deal for this young woman and wanted her to get better. So the cast needed to stay on. "Are you in pain or just itchy?" After all, if she wanted he could use his magic to make the feeling go away.
As for the places," Figured we could go to walmart, comic book store, and music store. If you're up for it. We'll need to get some paint if you want to paint your room." Or he could paint it for her once she decided the color that she wanted.
Max knew Zari would probably be upset if she did, especially considering she had already had her time with the cast extended once because it needed longer to heal. If it wasn’t for Zari, then she probably would have done it without a care, but she liked the woman and wasn’t about to have her upset with her. But at least she was alive and not in the hospital, so dealing with a cast and not having an upset guardian was the better option. “No pain, it’s just itchy. Or I have somehow become very numb to the pain that it has now turned to itchy,” she doubted that considering she had felt it when things were hurting. But she couldn’t help herself with the comment.
She was very excited at the sound of all three places, especially the comic book store. That and the arcade were her two favorite places….well the arcade not as much until she was out of the cast, but she knew it would be once again. Plus she had some high scores to take back once she was able to play the games. “Yeah, all of that sounds good! Are you going to say any certain colors I’m not allowed to have?” Max figured he was going to set some rules down on colors like most adults did, especially with her considering she never went for the girly type. It was bad enough how her step-dad when he had been around refused to call her Max, but also she wasn’t allowed to have certain things because it wasn’t girly enough. Rolling back, she let him open the door so they could head off to Walmart.
Casts, as it were, could be a pain in the ass. No one wanted to extend their time with something like that. Besides, Zari cared a great deal for this girl. Someone that he's sure the other saw as a daughter. Hell... he even kind of saw Max like a daughter. Not that he'd say anything like that right now. Not when she was still getting used to him. "Let me know if you want help," he tells her. The itching? He could use a little magic and make stop. He'd understand if she didn't want it though.
"I don't bleeding care what color you make your room, little love, as long as there's no symbols on the walls that shouldn't be," Constantine tells her. "Paint the bloody thing black for all I care. Black, purple, green, blue... or a mix of them all. Splatter paint the thing." He didn't really care what color she had. Not when he knew that she wasn't a girly girl. She would never be one of those and he knew it. Which was fine by him.
He gets the door for her before leading her off to Walmart. "Anything you think you want or need?"
Max studied him, looking at him carefully as if she was trying to judge whether she trusted him or not. That was definitely not what she was doing, but one might take the look that way. No, she was trying to see if she was correct in what he might be assuming. “You mean with magic, don’t you? It’s not going to come back with me owing my first born or something like that,” she asked. Not that she thought John would do that; however, after everything, she wanted to make sure. No surprises. Be a different story once the cast was off because she didn’t think ahead, but right now, she was being careful to avoid ending up longer in the cast.
“But what if I was wanting to put a pentagram?” It was the only symbol she even knew, and even then she wasn’t completely sure what that would do. So Max was only screwing with him since she was pretty sure any symbols she might want didn’t go to anything…or at least nothing in her world. Who really knew in his or one of the others. “Oooo, I could have a lot of fun with that free range,” the excitement all over her face as she moved past the messing with him on the symbols. Her brain already working on so many ideas, that she knew it was going to be hard to only pick one. “Do I have a bathroom that I can color as well?” Max realized she might be pushing her luck, but it was too late now to take that back. John wasn’t like her family back home; however, she prepared herself for the word no like she would’ve back home.
Heading out and following him to Walmart, she bit her lip in thought. “I’ll probably know more when I see since I know colors and furniture is different from my world. More like there are many more options, so I’m keeping myself open to see. Though I do know I want these room darkening curtains I saw last time I was at the store. With summer coming, I want to sleep in without the sun waking me up.” Then again Max said that, but she knew she’d probably still be up. A lot to do in so little time before school came back around.
"Depends on the bloody symbol you use," Constantine tells her. Or if she made a deal with Lilth or one of the other demons that were out there. Things that he would not recommend. Though, that didn't mean he wouldn't teach her about them if it came down to it. She wasn't wrong in thinking that he'd meant magic. Magic was a dangerous game, one he'd been playing for a very long time.
"Pentagrams are for protection and exorcisms," He tells her. So he didn't care if she wanted a pentagram. Maybe he'd even put the same symbol on her door that they'd placed on Liv's. Something that would keep her protected in their own home. Max was, after all, worth protecting as far as he was concerned. Especially with how close the girl was to Zari and that bird was important to him, so was Max.
"Aye, little love. There's a bathroom for you to color as well if you want. Place has two of them." One was in the master bedroom and then the other was not. So, he didn't care if she wanted to paint the bathroom too. "Make the bloody thing glow in the dark if you want," he teases.
Once they do get to Walmart he makes sure that they have a cart and he gives a bit of a nod," We'll get you some blackout curtains." He would possibly even infuse them with magic a bit but no need to go spilling all his secrets just yet.
Max had never been one of those people into magicians because they were a load of shit with their tricks. It was a slightly different story with Constantine mainly because he wasn’t one of those annoying pull-a-bunny out of a hat type of things. Then again, maybe it was a coverup. Though she doubted it. But he had an awesome attitude and style, which was why she liked him regardless of the whole magic stuff. That was more for her friends who were into that stuff; however, she was not about to skip out on that considering he would most likely make it fun. “If you ever want, you’re welcomed to teach me about the different symbols?” Okay, maybe part of her wanted to, thinking it would be pretty cool. Not that she had any magic, but she could still learn for her own knowledge.
Hearing what pentagrams were for, she nodded and found that rather interesting. Even more so with the nightmares starting to come back. Though Max was pretty sure it was the trauma rather than how the nightmares were previously. “Good to know,” she said after a moment, and it was. With how her life had been lately, it was definitely something worth knowing.
The excitement was written all over her face on hearing that she had free range over two different rooms for styling. Would he regret it? Possibly, but Max was already running away with a bunch of different ideas. “I might need to go back to the drawing board for the bathroom and see what I can come up with after we do my new room.” Since now she’d need to think about what she wanted the bathroom to look like. No matter, she knew it was going to be kickass, and that was what mattered to her!
“For now, we will focus on my room, then move to the bathroom.” It gave them time to get to know one another and work on setting up the two rooms to her liking. He was important to Zari who she loved like family, so she was taking the opportunity to get to know him even if she did like him. Max wasn’t one to make things easy though. Nodding, she looked around Walmart as she rolled into the place. “Okay, that sounds good. Can we also make a stop by the electronics? We don’t need to get anything, but I love looking at the new video games that are out and won’t be out in my world for a long time!” And she couldn’t wait to be able to play them once out of the casts since right now it was a pain to try. Heading in the direction towards where she figured from the signs above where the curtains might be.