Shayna Mae O'Reilly (shaynamae) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2019-06-12 14:39:00 |
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Entry tags: | #december 2017, knox, knox x shayna mae, shayna mae |
Who: Shayna Mae and Knox
When: Morning, Tuesday, December 19th
Where: The O’Reilly House/Town
Status: Complete
The weather was warmer today. Not by much, but the bite in the air that had been there for the past couple of days was gone, allowing Shayna Mae to head out into the garden without a scarf wrapped around her face. She wouldn’t give up the earth for anything, but there were times she envied the witches of air and fire and their ability to keep the more unpleasant weather at bay.
She had braided her long hair and tugged a wool hat down over her ears before pulling on her winter coat and gardening gloves. Her boots were old, but still sturdy enough that she had yet to feel the need to spend money on a new pair.
The snow still remaining on the ground crunched beneath her boots as she walked farther away from the house, reaching out to brush her hand against the trees that she passed. While the air wasn’t as cold as it had been, it was still quite blustery out and Shayna Mae hoped that the enchantments that had been placed around her garden held true. Magic was magic, but Mother Nature was another force entirely.
Finally coming upon the garden, Shayna Mae smiled at the sight of the ripened tomatoes. The garden remained untouched from the winter and she knelt down in the dirt, placing the bucket she had brought with her beside her. She began to pluck them from the vines, contented with the task. She could feel the magic from her family vibrating around the perimeter of the garden that was currently growing plenty of vegetables and strawberries as if it were mid-summer. Shayna Mae usually made a pretty decent profit during the warmer months when Point Pleasant held their weekly farmer’s markets, but it was a bit harder to explain where her produce came from when she walked into a grocery store to try and sell food that had long been out of season.
In any case, her family always had plenty to eat, and that was the important thing. She placed several large tomatoes in the bucket and then stood, carrying the bucket with her to the edge of the garden to find enough strawberries to bake with later. As she was examining them she felt a shift in the air, one that sent her skin humming pleasantly. It was a different brand of magic, one much older than her old. She smiled and glanced over her shoulder at Knox approaching. “Did you come out here to help me?”
Knox was one of the lucky ones who didn’t feel the weather. At least not how humans did. He knew it was freezing, he knew the snow was coming down and there was more on the way, but none of it caused him any discomfort. Just as the heat didn’t bother him in the summer. He was a part of nature and vice versa, nothing it could throw could harm him. His family wasn’t so blessed, at least not to the extent as he was. Knox made sure that the snow never got too heavy for the roof of the old house, and that the mosquitos stayed away from the property, and that the crushing heat that could build up in the forest didn’t affect them as much. And that the little wild critters stayed out of the garden. It was humble work, most of the time, but he did it with dedication.
He’d been lounging on the high roof when Shayna Mae came out to start tending plants, that tingle of family-awareness making him sit up to peer over the edge. He could feel all of them when they were home, the O’Reilly clan, though some vibrated harder than others. Knox watched her pick some tomatoes, idly admiring all that blonde hair and the curve in her hips as she bent down. With an impulsive flutter, Knox moved from the roof to the ground and ambled toward the patch of green. He gave Shayna Mae a little grin. “If by ‘help’ you mean sample the goods ...?” he offered with a soft snicker. Knox reached around her to pluck his own strawberry and popped it in his mouth.
"That's help enough," Shayna Mae said with a small laugh. Her breath puffed out in small white clouds. "At least you can tell me if they're ripe enough." She already knew, but she liked it when Knox spoke, so any excuse to make him do it was a good one in her book. His company was also always welcomed, especially these days. Shayna Mae was rarely rattled or frightened of anything, but she had been feeling somewhat off for the past couple of days, and that feeling continued to linger. It was like something was out there, watching. Point Pleasant always felt on the cusp of something horrible, but it was worse somehow. Like it had lost its footing and now the town was teetering perilously close to the edge of some disaster. She went back to picking the berries. Shayna Mae hadn't talked much about the feeling, but she didn't think she was the only one it was happening to. "How are they then?" she asked, squinting up at Knox. "The goods?"
The berry was perfect and sweet juicy in his mouth, and Knox gave a contented little hum as he plopped down into the dirt, crossing his long legs in front of him. “They’re perfect. Good goods,” he told Shayna Mae, flashing a quick smile before he sucked some more of the remnants off of his teeth. He sampled from the garden often, even though he didn’t strictly need to eat, and it was always delicious. Knox was far from immune to the sense of foreboding that had been hanging over everything for the past little while. It wasn’t the first time he’d felt it, bad feelings were interwoven with the very fabric of this place, but sometimes it got cranked up to eleven, and this felt like one of those times. Knox idly plucked a few more berries from the vine to drop into Shayna Mae’s bucket. “Feels like a storm’s coming,” he said, glancing at her face. “Snow and something worse. You feel it too?”
He was definitely there to keep her company and Shayna Mae stepped over his long legs to the next patch of strawberries. She always felt better when he was around, though she supposed most could chalk that up to Knox being her family's familiar. She still thought of him as hers, though, even if she kept that mostly to herself. When he spoke again her smile slipped just a bit before she nodded. "I've been feeling it since Sunday morning. Just that uneasy squirming in my belly. The last time I felt it that strongly was when the fog came in." She plucked several more strawberries and turned to drop them carefully in her bucket. "But I think this time it's not just the weather. Feels a bit more..." Shayna Mae trailed off thoughtfully for a brief moment. "Personal. If that makes sense?"
Shayna Mae had always seemed like the most intuitive of this generation of O’Reillys, Knox had taken a shine to her early. She was beyond talented as a witch, and more than fit to take over the family. Not that anybody ever asked his opinion on things like that, but he still formed them. Knox nodded his agreement -- there was something extra about it. And something familiar, though he couldn’t quite put his paw on it. His memories were often unreliable, the decades drifting in and out and mixing together. A few centuries of history were difficult to hold in mind all at once, it turned out. But Knox felt like he’d felt this feeling before. “It does,” he said thoughtfully. “We’ll keep our guard up, just in case. Hopefully whatever storm is coming will blow right through.” The O’Reillys benefitted sometimes from being slightly removed from the town, making their own way and watching out for their own ... but not always.
Shayna Mae got the feeling it wouldn't be that easy, whatever it was. She was trying to let those feelings come without resistance, to see if opening her mind would somehow reveal answers, or at least give her ample warning as to what to expect. But she knew nothing more than what she had just told Knox. It made her realize it wasn't the weather this time, but something deeper, and darker. "Do the storms ever blow right through without leaving a bit of damage?" she asked him, her lips quirked. "We'll be prepared. Might be worth it to reach out to some others, see if they feel what we do. Might be easier to figure out if we know it's not just us." Not that Shayna Mae was dependent on the other magic users in Point Pleasant, and she didn't exactly trust them either, but her magic had been tingling all week and this felt much bigger than her family alone.
A bit of damage was better than complete devastation, but Shayna Mae knew that, Knox didn’t have to tell her. They would weather whatever it was. They always did, even if not all of them made it in the end. Life was a zero-sum game, nobody made it out alive, so on and so forth. Knox would do his everything in his not-inconsiderable power to keep the current alive ones alive, that was the only thing he was really sure of. “Mmm ... Castells?” he suggested, smirking a touch in spite of the topic of conversation. They were the magical family that the O’Reillys were the most civil with. The Castell twins, anyway, their parents were just as snooty as the rest. Knox reached to snag another strawberry to munch on. It was a bit less ripe, so more tart, but still good.
After another moment of plucking strawberries Shayna Mae moved to sit down near Knox, facing him so they could speak properly. If this became something to truly worry about, Shayna Mae would take care of it. In fact, it might be nice to have something challenging to sink her teeth into, so to speak. Obviously she didn't wish darkness on anyone, but it had been a while since she had spread her magical wings. Sometimes she got a bit restless and needed the outlet. "Probably the Castells," Shayna Mae said, taking a strawberry to bite into herself since Knox was enjoying them. "Rostislav isn't a witch, but he may feel what we're feeling. He seems to be in tune to things from time to time. Maybe I'll wander to the cemetery soon and see him if this feeling doesn't go away." Shayna Mae smiled. "It's been a while since we went into town. I wouldn't mind seeing the Christmas lights."
Rostislav. Knox liked him, whenever he came around. It took a special kind of people to constantly work with and around death, and the Point Pleasant cemetery wasn’t your run of the mill boneyard. Knox had spent plenty of time there. He sat up straighter when Shayna Mae joined him on the ground. He always liked being close to his people, especially the pretty one who smelled good. “We should go,” he said warmly, smiling at her. “I dunno what their Jesus has to do with strings of lights, but it makes everything pretty.” Christians were so good at stealing pagan traditions and celebrations though, Knox supposed it didn’t have to make sense. “It’s cold, come here,” he murmured, reaching for Shayna Mae’s arm to gently tug her closer. She had a coat on, but winter ground wasn’t nice to butts ... his lap was far better.
Shayna Mae chuckled as she wiped a bit of strawberry juice from her lips. "I don't think their Jesus has a lot to do with anything around this time of year. But I know they got a skating rink." She didn't resist any when Knox took her arm and Shayna Mae scooted close until she slipped onto his lap and leaned her head against his shoulder. His body was warm and definitely felt much nicer than the ground had. "Let's definitely go, though. We can talk to Rostislav, see the lights and I can see how graceful you are in ice skates."
The best part about being bound into physical form was touching people, and Knox indulged in it as often as he could. He was affectionate with the entire family in some form or fashion, but cuddling Shayna Mae had been his favorite for several years now. She was so small, she fit perfectly on his lap and against his chest. Knox sniffed her hair and curled his arms loosely around her, just enjoying the pressure and warmth. “I’m graceful like a swan,” he told her, amused. He doubted his 6’5” bulky frame, long hair and beard scruff made him look very swanlike. But appearances could be deceiving, as they all knew. “Did you want to go today, or later?”
Shayne Mae was only affectionate with her family. She preferred something of a bubble around herself when she was out and about, but hugging and touching her family came naturally to her. And Knox was definitely family, just... in a slightly different way than her dad and brothers. And Knox was solid and warm and she had to resist burying her face against his neck. That would only tempt her to flick her tongue against his skin and see what it tasted like. Shayna Mae tried really hard to keep those particular fantasies to herself, when she was alone in bed in the middle of the night. Looking up at him, she smiled. "Would you want to go today? I wouldn't mind if you would be willing..."
Feelings were different for Knox than for the humans he looked after. That knowledge hadn’t come easy, and it was sometimes difficult to navigate, but he’d had a long time to observe them as they came and went, and compare their emotions to his own. Some of them had thought of him as more than just the family familiar, and even though his nature made him Different, Knox had returned that extra level of feeling for a select few down through the years. Some of them were just special. Shayna Mae felt like one of those to him, but Knox had never done anything to let her know that. Not yet, anyway. She’d been so young and he didn’t want to seem like he was playing favorites as the power dynamics in the family shifted around. Maybe someday. Knox had the luxury of patience. He smiled brightly at her now. “I’m more than willing,” he said easily. “More than enough room in my calendar for you.” It wasn’t like he did much of anything else but serve the family, and keeping Shayna Mae company was part of that.
Going into town would be a trek, but it had been a while since she did enjoy the way Point Pleasant decorated Main Street and the harbor for the holidays, so it would be nice to take a break. Not to mention the amusement she would get from walking down the street with Knox. He was an intimidating figure, especially next to her and people always seemed to instinctively move out of his way when he was coming. If only they knew how sweet he really was. "Then we should go," she said with a smile, pressing her cheek to his before slipping off his lap carefully to stand. "I'll run these inside and change." Maybe wash the dirt from under her nails too. "You want to drive?" She had her truck but she knew how the men in her family felt about her driving skills. Shayna Mae thought she did all right for herself, but the truck had its share of dents and scrapes because of her. Ah well.
Knox’s sweetness was a matter of perspective -- he would never mistreat his family, but gods help a motherfucker who tried to hurt them. But he didn’t mind mingling in public, it was fun to people watch, and it was sometimes good to stretch his legs off of the property. He wasn’t at full strength out there, but Knox could deal with that. He could do enough to protect his Shayna Mae, and that was what mattered. “Sure, I’ll get it warmed up,” he told her with an amused grin, moving to stand up himself. He’d learned to drive a long time ago and always found it fun, so he never minded doing it for errands and such. Knox started to amble that way, dipping into his pocket for his personal set of keys that hadn’t been there a second ago.
Shayna Mae watched him go with some appreciation, absently biting into her lower lip before she came to and realized she couldn't just stand there in the middle of her garden staring at Knox's backside as he walked off. Shayna Mae sighed and quickly grabbed her bucket to head back towards the house. She washed the tomatoes and strawberries quickly and left them in the kitchen before hurrying upstairs to her room to change into cleaner clothes. She at least attempted to get most of the dirt out from under her nails, and she brushed her hair before slipping her hat back on over her head. After grabbing some cash she had stowed away in her top drawer, Shayna Mae headed downstairs and outside to where Knox waited with the truck. The front porch stairs creaked a bit as she walked down them and she made a mental note to check the wood later to make sure it wasn't rotting. "Ready," she said breathlessly, once she had climbed into the truck and shut the door.
Knox stayed in the truck as it warmed up, gnawing on a toothpick from his pocket and idly flipping through the radio stations. So many of them were filled with Christmas music, which he didn’t really have a taste for, and he could never remember the numbers of the stations he actually liked. Shayna Mae arrived before he found it, so Knox left it the radio on the country station it had landed on and straightened up to give her a smile. She looked so cute all bundled up, and he could smell that she’d changed clothes. There was less earth on her. “Alrighty then,” he murmured as he put the big rumbling truck into gear. “Where we goin’ first?” Knox started down the long driveway that led from their sheltered house toward the road to town.
"Oh... I don't know. Maybe we can park at the pier and just walk? The rink is over there, and the shops." She didn't have a ton of cash on her, but maybe she could find a few small things for her brothers. And Knox. Her lips quirked. "I promise I won't make you ice skate, but I like seeing the tree. And of course, anywhere you want to go," she added, just so he knew this trip into town wasn't entirely for her, even if it sort of was. "I'll buy you some hot chocolate," Shayna Mae added, an unnecessary bribe and a way to thank him for coming with her.
The pier, the pier ... Knox was pretty sure he knew how to get there on the roads. He just had to head toward the water, right? He definitely knew where the water was. He just wasn’t so good with street directions, because most of the time when he went to town, he was flying. Driving wasn’t nearly as fun, but he didn’t mind making that sacrifice for Shayna Mae. “I’m gonna hold you to that,” he said with a chuckle, shaking a finger at her and grinning. “I was serious though ... if you wanna skate, we’ll skate. Giant graceful swan, remember?”
"Really?" Shayna Mae tried not to appear too hopefully eager but she had always had difficulty hiding her emotions and she reached over to grip his arm in excitement. "It would be fun! And we don't have to do it long if you don't like it." Afterward, she would take him to that bar in town and buy him a beer if he felt like one. It would be nice to spend some frivolous time with Knox. Not that she had to share him much, but they didn't do much visiting of the town, especially not in the winter unless they needed supplies.
Her enthusiasm was adorable, and Knox gave a pleased laugh and reached over to pat her hand where she was gripping him. He almost didn’t have the heart to tell her that he’d ice skated before and been fine at it, it had just been a long time ago. Making her happy put a warm glow in his chest. “We don’t have to do it long if you don’t like it, either,” he said, glancing over at her with a grin. They’d reached the road now, and Knox was glad to see it was pretty clear. The weather was going to turn, but not today, so they were safe being out. Keeping Shayna Mae safe was his top priority, after all. “Should be fun. Probably plenty of people to watch, too.”
"I'll like it," she said confidently. Not because she considered ice skating to be super fun or anything, but because she was spending time with Knox. Shayna Mae kept her hand on his arm as she looked at her window. A small smirk played at her lips. "We'll people watch, and people will be watching us too. Those O'Reilly's emerging from the woods to play with the rest of civilization. I should have put tree branches in my hair and smeared my face with dirt." It was a bit of an exaggeration but Shayna Mae knew what the locals thought of her family. Not that she cared much. She felt like her family helped keep this town from completely ripping apart. They might not know it, but she did.
Knox chuckled at that mental image ... though he wasn’t picturing it in the same light Shayna Mae probably was. He thought she would look wild and beautiful with leaves in her hair, smudged with dirt. A woman of the forest, like she was. Fierce and powerful and magical. It made his guts stir and clench in a pleasant sort of way. It was a sign that he wasn’t going to ignore. “You have shoes on and all your teeth, they may not recognize you,” Knox joked back, huffing another laugh. Some of them might recognize him, but hopefully not too well. Knox had an aura around him that made him a bit dim to all humans who weren’t his family. Easily forgettable, in spite of his size. It was part of how he survived, unaging and unchanging, for so long. Humans -- especially the ones without magic -- tended to want to kill what they didn’t understand, and many of them couldn’t understand him. Whenever any of the O’Reillys were asked, they just said Knox was a cousin and let it rest there. That usually satisfied the curiosity. Settling in for the drive, Knox moved his hand off the steering wheel to catch Shayna Mae’s and thread their fingers together. It just felt natural.
Her fingers curled around his without a second thought and Shayna Mae found herself studying nearly every house and building they passed. Her family's history was woven so intricately into Point Pleasant that she felt the magic in the earth, even surrounded by coffee shops and clothing stores. She preferred the woods where there was less noise and she could smell the salty ocean air without the hint of car exhaust and pollution. At the same time, Shayna Mae always felt a bit of a shift when she went to town. It was a prickly sort of feeling in her bones, but not necessarily in a bad way. There were times she felt outright euphoric, and Shayna Mae often wondered if it was because of the other magical families in closer proximity. They all did their own thing, had their own grimoires and performed their own magic, but at one time, centuries ago, they had been a coven. She wondered if any of them knew that. "Might be better if they don't recognize me," she said with a smile. "I kind of like the thought of anonymity while we're here. But then again, I kind of hope someone recognizes me and people start wonderin' who I've put a curse on this time."
Knox outright laughed at that, and he squeezed Shayna Mae’s hand. It felt so tiny in his, but far from fragile. He’d seen her do some amazing things with those hands. “Keep ‘em on their toes, right?” he said, amused. He had known a lot about the connections between the magical families in the area once upon a time, but the knowledge had faded for him somewhat. They’d all drifted apart and forgotten themselves, so there was nothing fresh to remind him of how things used to be. Knox just knew that the power had been muted, like someone had turned down the volume on it all. It was still there though, playing under the surface, waiting to be tapped into competently again. Like almost everything else, Knox knew it was only a matter of time. They were close to the pier now, Knox was pretty proud he hadn’t gotten lost, and he pulled them into a parking spot near the back. If people didn’t recognize Shayna Mae directly, they would probably recognize the O’Reilly truck. He lifted their hands to kiss the back of hers and then cut the engine off and aimed a grin over. “Ready to get fuckin’ festive, mistress?” he teased.
Shayna Mae often had feelings deep in her gut about the nature of the town, but she couldn't predict what may or may not happen. She and her family were always prepared though, and they would be this time, if something bad came around. They had an advantage in Knox too, and she didn't know many other magical families in town who had a familiar. That wasn't to say there wasn't one, but if there was, she imagined Knox would know about it. Her smile widened when Knox kissed her hand and she felt her skin tingle pleasurably beneath his lips. It was hard not to imagine his mouth on other parts of her body, and if he was able to make even her hand feel that good, Shayna Mae could only imagine what he would be capable of elsewhere. Not that she ought to be thinking about that right now. She could wait until she was home, alone in her bedroom again. "More than ready," she said, squeezing his hand before letting him go so she could climb out of the truck. "Can we look at the tree first? I didn't think to come on the night they had the lighting."
“‘Course,” Knox said agreeably over the truck hood. It was kind of adorable that she asked him those kinds of questions, like he had anywhere else to be or any preference in the order they did things in. He was just happy to be out and about with her. He walked around the front of the truck to walk next to Shayna Mae as they headed through the parking lot. Knox was feeling relaxed, but he was still on alert to some degree, glancing around the lot several times before they reached the sidewalk. Being watchful was part of the whole thing, it was as interwoven into his being now as anything else. The tree was rather impossible to miss as it towered over the booths around it, so Knox headed that way.
Shayna Mae slipped her hands into the pockets of coat, smiling against the cold air and occasional chilly breeze. She could see and smell the water, but the closer they got to the tree and the skating rink, other scents joined in. Cinnamon. Popcorn. Even apples. Maybe she would buy some roasted nuts and take them home. Being an earth witch, it did break Shayna Mae's heart just a little to see a tree cut out of its natural habitat but it was decorated beautifully and seemed to be bringing a lot of people joy. Little kids were staring up and pointing at various ornaments with bright smiles on their pink faces. The smell of pine was stronger the closer they got and Shayna Mae breathed it in happily. "They did a good job this year," she said, tilting her head back to look up at the top of the tree where the star was lit up. "I guess the D'Onofrio's are good for something," she added with a small smirk in Knox's direction.
“Mmm, spending money, mostly,” Knox commented with a smirk of his own. He glanced over and down, amused that Shayna Mae more or less had the same expression on. It was a beautiful tree, for what it was, and the kids were cute, and everything felt festive and pretty happy around them, so Knox couldn’t be too cynical about it. It was a magical time of year, for different reasons than most people knew, but they all still felt it in some way, all of that focused energy. There was some rope around the base of the big tree, just to keep it protected, Knox guessed, and he reached over it to finger one of the branches, heavy with pine needles and ornaments. He didn’t love seeing trees cut down either, but this one felt content enough. “It had a good life,” he murmured, then slung his arm around Shayna Mae. “You want cocoa? I’ll get it.”
Well, he was right about that. When their eyes met she suppressed a laugh before returning her attention back to the tree. Touching it was lovely too and she brushed her fingers along the needles, sighing softly. People would probably think she was weird for caressing the damn thing, but Shayna Mae didn't care. It wasn't her fault most people in this town took nature for granted. She could hear some bells jingling in the distance, and the low sound of Christmas carols playing over the rink. But the thought of hot chocolate was pretty appealing and Shayna Mae smiled at Knox before nodding. "Yeah, that sounds real good. I'll come with you, I want to see some of the stuff they're selling." Maybe she could get a handcrafted ornament for their small tree at home. Shayna Mae turned toward him, rubbing her hands together and grinning with a playful glint in her eyes. "What do you want for Christmas? I know I'm asking super late, but I'm just curious if there's something you think about that you might want to find under the tree Monday morning."
One thing Knox had always loved about Shayna Mae was her reverence for nature. She was earth-focused, so it made sense, but it was something Knox had always felt they had in common. Humans in general were so disrespectful and destructive, forgetting where the very atoms in their bodies came from and that they returned to the earth as food once they died, it was wonderful to have one so close to him who actually cared. So he didn’t give a shit who thought they were nuts, petting the Christmas tree. It was another living thing that deserved love. His eyebrows lifted but he grinned at that playful look on her face, and he let out a bit of a laugh. “Me? Uhhh ...” Knox scrunched up his face. He didn’t really need anything, he got everything he wanted from the forest or the family. Clothes were just for fun, and Shayna Mae didn’t cook well so food wasn’t good to ask for ... “How ‘bout you?” he suggested, flashing her a smile as they headed toward one of the food vendors. “A whole day, just you and me, doin’ whatever we want. Not that day, of course, but sometime.”
Shayna Mae was used to be judged or laughed at. It didn't bother her now the way it used to when she was young and in school. She had hid her magic when it triggered the way she was supposed to, but she had never shied away from nature. Talking to tree and plants when she was a kid had come naturally... making friends had not. But she had her family, and she had Knox and Shayna Mae quite liked the life she had now. She felt confident and powerful in ways most of the people in this town would never understand. Sometimes she felt the urge to show them exactly what she was capable of, but then she figured that was a bit too much like Carrie at the prom, so she simply left it to fantasies instead.
Shayna Mae's cheeks turned pink with pleasure at his answer and she didn't think to point out that he could have her anytime he wanted. "I think I might be able to make some time for you in my incredibly busy schedule," she teased. Shayna Mae had no idea what they would do, or where they would go, but it didn't really matter. Knox always seemed up for anything and Shayna Mae liked being able to step outside and just see where the day took her. "I'll put some Christmas ribbon in my hair and wait for you under the tree," she promised, nudging him gently with her elbow. “Are you sure you don’t want anything else? Cologne?” Her smile widened. “What about a nice tie?”
Knox didn’t have any idea what they would do either -- well, he did have some ideas, but those might be more accurately called fantasies. One of which now involved Shayna Mae wrapped in nothing but Christmas ribbon. There were times, some of them decades long, where Knox didn’t care much about the pleasures of the flesh. He’d gone years without eating, without sex. For one generation of O’Reillys, he’d stayed in animal form ninety percent of the time. But he felt himself moving into another season where he was rooted in the body he had, changeable as it was. He’d never quite worked out the reasons for his own moods, but he had a feeling this round was due to her. The upcoming matriarch. Something in her was calling to something in him, and Knox didn’t think he was the only one feeling the pull of that gravity. He laughed heartily at her other suggestions. “A tie for all my important executive meetings,” he agreed with a grin. “Don’t forget the set of golf clubs. ... I do like books though, if you find any good ones. A scarf, maybe.” There was just so little he needed.
Shayna Mae enjoyed Knox in any form, but she was especially fond of him as he was now. She had always admired him, even when she was younger, but for the past several months she had felt that admiration... more acutely, for lack of a better term. Not being a generally shy person, Shayna Mae had no problem being suggestive in a way that she hoped wasn't overly suggestive. Maybe she just wanted to plant tiny thoughts of her in his head to mull over later. Knox still belonged to her family, and to her father, but that would change soon even if no one else realized it. But maybe Knox did, deep down. "I would give anything to see you with a golf club in your hand," she said with a laugh. "You don't even have to swing it, just hold it and pose. I bet you would be good at golf though, if you ever played. You're graceful and strong." Shayna Mae paused in front of the vendor selling the hot drinks and rocked back on her heels as they waited their turn. "Books and a scarf. I think I can manage both of those things." Her family never celebrated Christmas quite like all of the others. They didn't even really need gifts to give to each other, but Shayne Mae enjoyed doing it anyway, even if she got nothing in return. "It'll be nice just having everyone together for a couple hours... hopefully we don't all end up tryin' to kill each other."
“Maybe I’ll give it a try sometime.” He chuckled a bit over the mental image of himself with a golf club slung over his shoulder, his long hair fluttering in the breeze. He looked like he belonged in a biker bar over a country club, that was for sure. Knox thought it was sweet of Shayna Mae to want to get him any gift at all, much less more than one. He was going to make there was something under the tree for her top open too. One couldn’t always rely on her brothers or father for things like that, but Knox wasn’t going to let her be empty-handed. “Nah, you’ll all be okay,” he said easily. “Just make sure the wine keeps flowing, everybody’ll stay happy.” His smile was a little wry -- Knox knew as well as any of them that wasn’t always how it went. But he hoped they would all behave themselves for the sake of temporary family harmony. “And I’ll be there to play referee if I gotta.”
"You mean moonshine," Shayna Mae corrected with a grin. "There'll be plenty of that, I bet." Aidan would make sure they all had a decent day, even if they all had to be drunk to do it. Shayna Mae stepped forward to place her order for a hot chocolate. Her cheeks were pink from the cold now but it didn't bother her much. Spending time with Knox was worth the discomfort. She was having fun, which was so much nicer than staying home and letting those ominous feelings settle in even deeper. "Maybe that's all I need to get. Find some of those fancy bottles of whiskey or something and get one for Aidan and dad. They'd probably like that more than some useless trinket I'd find here. I really never know what to buy anyone for anything. What'd you get someone who don't want much?"
“You get ‘em booze, obviously,” Knox answered with a laugh. It was an easy gift, but he knew the boys would all drink it down and enjoy it, so why not? Their lives weren’t very materialistic to begin with, they were all too connected to the land and their magic for that. Except for maybe Max, but he wasn’t even currently around, so the house hummed with magic. “More interestin’ than sweaters, at least.” Knox turned to the young girl behind the counter and ordered a hot chocolate for himself too. He wasn’t cold, but it still always felt good to be warmed up from the inside. Once they had their drinks, he led them away from the booth and toward the ice skating rink instead. He’d been serious about trying it if Shayna Mae was, and she certainly had sounded like it. Once their drinks were done, they could strap on the skates and see how they fared. “What about you? Anythin’ special you want?”
Shayna Mae wrapped her hands around the cup, taking in its warmth. It smelled great, though she knew it would probably get pretty cold here soon. Knox's questions prompted a smile from her and she glanced up at him before shaking her head. "Not really. I haven't really given it a lot of thought to be honest. Would you laugh at me if I said I wanted a sweater?" She arched a brow and brought her cup up to her lips to take a sip. It burned her tongue a little, but it tasted good. "I mean, I got a few but they're all starting to fall apart or unravel and my room gets drafty sometimes, in really bad weather." Sweaters weren't special, or interesting, but it felt weird asking for frivolous things for Christmas when she wasn't much of a frivolous person.
Knox chuckled. “Of course not. You need what you need, babygirl,” he said, the affectionate term rolling easily off of his tongue. There were a few open benches around the skating rink, presumably for people to watch others glide around the ice, and Knox plunked down on one of them. They could people watch and sip their hot beverages and just enjoy being out. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He was pretty sure he could get a nice sweater, wasn’t he? That probably wouldn’t be all he gave her, she should have something frivolous too even if she would never ask for it. But it was nice to give people what they did ask for specifically, and Knox didn’t trust her male relatives to do it. Knox sipped on the sweet drink and cast a look around them. Nobody seemed threatening, so he felt pretty settled. His attention returned to Shayna Mae. “So how long’s it been since you been out there?” he asked, nodding toward the rink with a little smirk. “Think you’ll be all right while I skate circles around you?”
Shayna Mae liked it when he called her... well, just about anything that sounded endearing. Even babygirl, though sometimes she felt the urge to show him she was neither a baby, nor a girl. She knew it was nothing more than a term of affection but occasionally Shayna Mae felt surges of desire, so carnal and intense that it bordered on painful. Nothing she couldn't take care of herself, but it was becoming harder to control around Knox. She chalked it up to being twenty four and a virgin... and maybe the knowledge that once she had her father's talisman, Knox would belong to her more than anyone else in their family. At least that's what she believed.
She tried not to stare at him too long and when his gaze found hers again Shayna Mae quickly looked out over the skating rink. It was busy, but not annoyingly so. "Oh, about two years? I didn't make it out last year at all for one reason or another. But that doesn't mean I've forgotten how to ice skate. It's like riding a bike, I think. I think I'll be just fine though." She sipped her hot chocolate again before smiling innocently. "Are you sure you want to do this? I promise I won't tease you if you want to sit it out."
Knox wasn’t completely oblivious to the attraction, and he was honestly glad for it. It made things much easier. There was no doubt in his mind that Shayna Mae would take over the role of head of the family, and thusly take possession of his talisman. He served them all, but he especially served whoever was at the top of the food chain. The O’Reillys needed a leader, or they fell apart. Knox had seen it happen more than once over the years. Shayna Mae would be a good one, and he would only make her better. The closer they were, the stronger and more powerful that bond would become, the stronger and more powerful she would become. But besides all that, Knox found her gorgeous and brilliant and alluring, and he would be more than happy to be at her service in all sorts of ways they hadn’t explored yet. Knox laughed at her words and expression, then narrowed his eyes at her, still grinning. “Why do I feel like I’m about to get hustled?” he teased. “I’m glad I haven’t put any money down, shit. Were you a figure skater or something and I missed it?”
Shayna Mae laughed, her cheeks flushed with pleasure. She loved making him laugh. It was a wonderful sound, and quite contagious, actually. "You forget that I love the earth, and it loves me," she said, her gaze shifting back to watch the skaters. Some looked pretty graceful. Others sort of moved along awkwardly, their arms reached out and wobbly as they attempted to keep their balance. "Ice may be a bit more tricky, but I think we have an understanding. I can do a figure eight, but you won't see me attempting an axel or anything like that. Come on." She tugged his sleeve a little to lead him over to where they could pay for skates. Shayna Mae supposed she could have pretended not to know how to do this at all so Knox would hold onto her, but she knew it would be more fun if they could both just skate and enjoy themselves.
It was a perfect answer, and Knox gazed at Shayna Mae’s profile as she watched the skaters for a moment. The earth did love her, and as a part of the earth, he did too. There were other reasons, of course, but that was definitely one of them. “Let’s see if me and ice have an understanding too,” Knox said, amused, as he got up to go with her. He finished off the hot chocolate in his cup and dumped the trash in the nearest wastebasket. Getting skates was a bit tricky -- he could never remember those arbitrary numbers for his sizes, so Knox had to try a couple pairs before he got it right -- but once he was strapped in, he felt good about getting onto the ice. Especially with Shayna Mae at his side.