Re: Max and Shayna Mae
"Before they go missing," Max muttered before he could think it through. It was a pessimistic and shitty thing to say, especially at a nice party so he gave Shayna Mae a small apologetic smirk before moving to stand by her side and slinging his arm around her. "Not sure I want to get my palm read, you think she's legit or just full of shit? Am I the only vanilla human in here tonight?" God that sucked, but it was par for the course of his life - being surrounded by supernatural geniuses. He was pretty sure even Rost had something special going on, some sensitivity to ghosts or whatever - the guy had a lot of charms of his own and they didn't all come from the witches in town.
Going missing was accurate, although there were worst things that could happen here. But it was a party and starting a conversation about the doom and gloom of Point Pleasant felt out of place. "Uh, you're not the only vanilla human," Shayna Mae said, hoping that would lift his spirits some. "I mean, the palm reader might be something, but I think it's more intuitive, like Rost? I didn't get a bullshitty vibe from her at all, and she's very nice. Reagan Kelly is a vanilla human now," she said, lowering her voice some as not to be overheard. "She lost her magic. Not sure how. So now you two have something in common, can you believe it?" She nudged him playfully with her elbow. "You can start a club or something."
Max's eyes went wide and he automatically looked around for Reagan Kelly, as if he might be able to see the difference in her. "That's nuts," he whispered. "How do you just lose magic? I didn't think that was possible." It was a rhetorical question since Shayna Mae didn't know either. For all Max knew magic was something people were born with. Both his siblings had it because they got it from their father who wasn't Max's biological dad. It seemed like something woven into the DNA and how the hell could you remove something like that? "That's about the only club we could start together," he added with a wry smile. "And even if I wasn't in it it doesn't sound like a club she'd be thrilled to be a member of."
"Probably by using really dark magic," Shayna Mae said. "Could have been backlash? I don't know. Caius didn't really tell me anything, but he took my pot in a pint to make her feel better, so I hope it helps. But you're right, she probably wouldn't want to be a member of that club, especially if you're in it. No offense," she added with a grin. "But being a vanilla human doesn't mean you're boring. I think you're more interesting than a lot of the people in this house right now, for what it's worth."
Max knew Reagan wouldn't want to deal with him even if he was a witch. She was stuck up and always had been whereas Max was almost literally trash from the other side of the tracks. Stuck up or not, losing their magic wasn't something he'd wish on anyone and he was glad Shayna Mae was helping in some way. He gave her one of his sweetest grins at the compliment, even if he didn't really believe it, then gave her cheek a little smooch. "Now you're just bein' sweet 'cause it's almost Christmas," he teased.
"You're probably right," Shayna Mae countered with a teasing grin. "I'm glad you're home though. I'm not sure what we were going to do for Christmas, if anything, but if you're here there's more reason to celebrate and have a nice dinner and everything. Do you have everything you need right now? Clothes, that kind of thing? Knox could probably drive you into town tomorrow to get anything else." She could drive him too but with her driving record and the weather, she would rather not get behind the wheel.
Max knew all his stuff was in storage out in the garage and it would probably take a while to go through all that. He probably needed to wash the clothes that were there since they'd been sitting in a box for two years and so maybe he could stand to buy some clothes. "I can go by myself," he said with a little shrug. "Just need to borrow the truck." He'd also need to borrow some money from their dad if he wanted to buy more than a single cheap shirt but that wasn't something he wanted to talk about tonight. "I got you guys some presents but they're dirt cheap so don't buy me anything fancy, you hear?"