Aidan, Max & Zania
Max felt a bit like a Christmas decoration himself when he finally arrived at the Castell's house on Ludlow. Snow kept bunching on his shoulders and in his hair, and his nose and cheeks were a bit red from the chill. It wasn't too bad though, snow tended to make it all a little warmer. The Castell's house was insane of course, he expected nothing less and it made him feel a little melancholy being home in time for the holidays. He dusted some of the snow off his shoulders and rang the bell, wondering if everyone they expected to be there had already arrived, if he knew everyone, if it would be weird. It didn't really matter, his brother and sister were in there, that was what counted.
Zania didn’t expect anymore guests, but that didn’t mean she’d ignore the door if the bell rang. She excused herself from conversation, then made her way to the door, laughing a little to herself along the way. She hadn’t expected an apology from Caius, but it left her feeling lighter, the hurt and anger that had been bubbling up for months, maybe even years, finally starting to dissipate a little. And with everyone else around her, all in good cheer, and Gabriel by her side, it was hard to stay in a mood for more than a minute. Plus, there was wine. And the brownie she’d had in the kitchen. All of it combined left her in a bubbly, happy state, so when she opened the door to see Max there she practically pounced on him. “Max! Oh my god, I didn’t expect you!” she grinned, wrapping him up in a hug. It was only when she released him that she realized he looked a little worse for the wear. “Are you okay? You look like you had a rough time getting here!”
Her laugh was infectious and Max laughed too, hugging her back and realizing just how fucking long it had been since he hugged anyone. It was too brief but there was more to come so he didn't lament it too much. "Eh," he said dismissively at the state of his face, then gave her a lazy grin. "Got room in there for one more?" He looked her over. "You're the embodiment of Christmas, I see you and Nic went all out this year." And god the house smelled inviting, full of warmth, food and holiday cheer. He could hear the voices inside like a soft melody of chatter and laughter and yet again it felt like a dream, too good to be true.
"Always!" Zania grinned. "Always have more room for another O'Reilly." Even the ones she didn't know well would have been welcome, especially in her current mood. "I thought it would be fun and now we're going to have to do it every year. But not the same. It's going to have to be different, you know? This is a once in a lifetime event!" She wanted the feel of the party to be the same, but not the theme, which would mean coming up with something new. But that was a year away and didn't need to be worried about right this minute. "Did your sister and brother know you were coming?" If so, they hadn't mentioned it, but that was okay. She was just curious if this was going to be a surprise for them too.
She was positively buzzling with energy and it was nice to feed into that for a moment, just listening to her planning and speculating on future events. Max hadn't been around anyone this happy in a long time, it was exhilirating. "Nah," he replied to her quesetion. "Unless they've become psychic on top of everything else. I just got off the bus." He tugged on his backpack strap pointedly before dropping it in the hallway. "Sounds like you got a lot of guests, almost feels like a welcome home party. And you guys have like two years worth of gossip to fill me in on."
“It can happen,” Zania said, pointing her finger at him for emphasis. Nic hadn’t been psychic until suddenly he was. Granted, it was limited to a few other people, but it was still random. She didn’t think that had happened with the O’Reilly’s though. “But oh my god, don’t let me keep you then! We can catch up for sure, there’s so much gossip as always, but you should totally go see your sister and brother first. Everything else can wait!” She distinctly remembered how hard it had been to have her brother behind bars and thought they would be thrilled to see him. It was like Christmas come early!