Re: Aidan, Max & Zania
"I'll find them," Max tittered, draping his arm over her shoulders as they left the foyer. "I would kill for a drink," he added suggestively. "Something with a kick, I got a feeling you got plenty of that sitting around." He could see more of the decorations now and his eyes went wide as he took it all in. It was crazier than on the outside, that was for sure, and the treats on the tables looked entirely too tempting. He couldn't see his family right away, but there were some familiar faces in there and other not so familiar ones.
“We have plenty of booze,” Zania laughed, leading him into the room and towards the bar. “Lots of mulled wine, but then all kinds of other things. Make whatever sounds good to you and grab yourself something to eat.” There was plenty of food and liquor to go around, Zania had made sure of that. As much as she loved the decor, that came second to what she considered to be party essentials. So long as you had a good amount of alcohol, anywhere could be a party. “So are you home for good?”
Max made an appreciative sound as he helped himself to the bar, sniffing some of the wine before pouring himself a glass of the most tempting one though he had no idea what it was. It smelled good, it had alcohol in it, he was happy. "Mmm, a while at least," he replied to her before taking that first heavenly sip. He'd had a little moonshine once while in prison but it had tasted horrible and only really served to get him drunk in a bad way, this was so much better.
“Holy shit!” Aidan exclaimed, then laughed as he bound across the room towards his brother. He was normally a quiet person, and rarely wanted anyone focusing on him, especially a big group of people, but it was hard to contain himself when his older brother was standing in the fucking room with him after being gone for two years. Any other time he might’ve felt that constant stab of guilt he felt when thinking of what happened, but tonight he’d been drinking and his brother appeared to be free. “What the fuck are you doing here?” he grinned, wrapping his arms around Max in a hug. “You could have told us!”
As soon as Zania saw Aidan coming, she stepped back, giving Max a little wave. She’d catch up with him later. If there was one thing she understood it was that family always came first.
His family had done a good job of coming down to see him, despite the long drive, but it just wasn't the same. He'd been allowed to hug them but it always felt so subdued and miserable in the surroundings at the time. This was so different and as soon as he heard Aidan coming, Max put his drink down and turned to face him with a bright grin of his own. Aidan had long since gotten taller than Max but he was lean and Max lifted him easily, giving him a tight squeeze. "That wouldn't have been any fun," he laughed as he set him down again and pushed him back to get a good look at him. "I missed your ugly mug, you scrawny bastard. How are you?"
It didn’t matter that Aidan was taller than Max; Max would always be his big brother, fully capable of lifting him off the ground like he was still a little kid. “My ugly mug? You’re the one who looks like they took a beating on the way here. Krampus hunting down the naughty already?” he asked. It was said in jest, though he really did want to know what had happened, since it looked like Max had been in a fight. It wouldn’t be the first time, or the last, but it didn’t feel like he’d been out of prison long enough to get into trouble yet. “I’ve been good. Keepin’ busy. Got some good apple hooch you might like. And tryin’ to see how much I can lift tonight,” he grinned. “Mostly just, you know, doin’ my thing.”
Lecturing his little brother on not stealing from friends was a moral thing Max didn't much care for doing and it didn't do much good anyway so he just scoffed softly, rubbing at his split lip for a second. "This was a goodbye present, we're a sentimental bunch in the joint. Did you bring the hooch? I can use all the booze I can get before Shayna starts judging me." He glanced around but didn't see his sister just yet, which was just as well. He loved her dearly but he also knew he exasperated her and even the joy of seeing him would probably be marred by appearance.