Who: Aidan & Max Where: Home When: June 1, late night
Max had not been doing well since he came back home. He was happy to be there which was part of the problem because going anywhere else felt almost impossible. He kept imagining getting in the car and suddenly having an uncontrollable longing to go somewhere he wouldn't actually want to go. Like that night when he drove to Blackwater where a crowd had been gathered in the most fucked up event of his life. He knew that the pull would be the same whether he was driving or not, he'd probably go get in the truck and go, but somehow it was the idea of driving that felt overwhelming. Like he'd lose control of himself again, go on autopilot again, end up doomed again.
So he was home all the damn time, trying to gather the courage to go into town to see Greer or Caden, spending most of his time in front of the TV or out on the porch smoking. He knew the family was worried but they were giving him the time and space he needed and he appreciated it. He just felt like the deadline was coming soon, that definite 'today is the last time you're allowed to be a sorry piece of shit' moment. He was just hoping it would come from within him instead of from anyone else but he was getting in some exercise, lifting weights and walking around the property so his body seemed content with this near prison-like lifestyle.
He was sitting out on the porch at the moment, breathing in the mix of smoke and fresh air, listening to the crickets. It was peaceful to be out there in the dark, especially since he knew he was back under Knox's protection and their homestead was warded to the nines. He was pretty sure everyone but him and Knox was sleeping at this hour but who even knew with this family. All he knew was that nothing could hurt him here and that was a mantra he kept repeating to himself.
It was late, but Aidan was awake, as was often the case. He was generally quiet about it, but he liked the night. He liked the way the shadows hid him away from prying eyes and the mystery of all the little animals scurrying away in the dark, only heard and never seen. Most of all, he liked the stars and the way they lit the sky, creating just enough light to see by. When he stepped out on the porch, he left the lights out, his eyes already well adjusted to the dim light. He immediately spotted Max and smiled. His brother had had a hard time since his return, but maybe he’d be able to lift his spirits a bit. “Hey there. Mind if I join you?”
When Max heard the movement next to him his first instinct was wariness but it didn't spread out into full out panic, not here. He half expected it to be Knox but was pleasantly surprised to see his brother was up and about. "Don't mind at all," he murmured and while he'd spent some time with the family, he hadn't spent much time one on one with anyone but Knox lately. He'd gotten his wish a few times where they all just piled together and watched TV, a much needed distraction and warm familiarity, but maybe he'd been avoiding the potential for deep conversations so far. He scooted a bit, making space for Aidan on the porch bench. "You're up late."
“Usually am,” Aidan answered as he took a seat and began to tap out a cigarette for himself. He’d been trying to give Max his space since his return, aware that he’d gone through something pretty traumatic and that he might not want to talk about it. Aidan tended to be a bit of a loner, but he knew being isolated in some nightmare world with only a handful of people for company would’ve made him a bit crazy. It had to be weird to be back, even if it was a good thing. “Can’t sleep or just hanging out?” he asked casually. He was eager to give Max his gift, but also felt like he needed to gauge how things were going with him and if the time was right. They didn’t usually give each other gifts outside of Christmas, but this was a special occasion in his opinion.
"Oh man," Max murmured. "I can sleep so much, sometimes it feels like all I do." At least he wasn't having nearly as many nightmares as he feared he would when his memories all came crashing back. There had been a few, but none of them felt real enough to shake him to the core and most of them had more to do with his guilt about harming his family, non-violent nightmares about the house being a wreck and it all being his fault. He watched Aidan for a beat, then reached out to ruffle his hair. He couldn't get enough of touching everyone these days, no matter how small it was, it was almost like a reflex to remind himself he was here and it was real. "Sleeping a lot just means you're awake at weird hours." He glanced around, half expecting to see Aya skulking around but was glad she wasn't there too. He still didn't know what her deal was, just that she'd been helpful and nobody truly trusted her. "Where's your door pixie?" he asked lightly, giving Aidan a crooked grin.
Aidan smiled as Max ruffled his hair, laughing to himself. He wasn’t big on random acts of physical affection, but he didn’t shy away from them either, especially from family. It was so nice to have Max back that he’d be fine with him hugging every hour. It might even rub off on him and then he’d start hugging too. “She’s off somewhere, doing her thing,” he said, pausing to take a drag off the cigarette. He blew the smoke up into the night air, watching as it dissipated. “I can’t keep tabs on her. She walks out the door and I think she’s going to the kitchen, when instead she’s miles away.” It didn’t bother him though. When she was there, she shared his room and his bed, more often in a friendship capacity than anything else, which was fine. He wasn’t sure he needed a live-in girlfriend anyways.
"Yeah, I can imagine it would be hard keeping tabs on someone like that," Max muttered with a little smile. He'd been uneasy about her being there at first but these days he couldn't muster the energy to care. It had been months and she hadn't killed anyone so she wasn't high on his list of worries. If she really meant them harm, all of Shayna Mae's magical wards wouldn't allow her to stay on their property. That was the idea anyway, obviously Max had no idea what she really was and he didn't think the others did either. She had helped him so that counted for something. "Saves on cabs, I guess."
Aidan still wasn’t certain he knew what Aya was, but he knew she wouldn’t hurt him and, so long as she wanted her life to be easy, she’d extend that courtesy to his family. She was occasionally difficult, but weren’t they all from time to time? None of them lived normal lives, which made it easier for her to fit in. “Saves on a lot of things,” Aidan said, smiling as he took another drag off his cigarette. He’d been a thief long before Aya had come along, but her abilities had opened all kinds of new doors for him. He’d have never travelled as far without her. “I got something for ya,” Aidan said as he rose from his seat, moving to grab a bag just inside the door. “A welcome home present.” He held the bag out with a smile. “Sorry it’s not better wrapped.”
Max's brows rose at that and the fact was he loved presents and he rarely got one outside of gift appropriate holidays. The bag Aidan was holding was pretty big too and he left the cigarette in the corner of his mouth as he accepted it, a new twinkle in his eyes. "No bow?" he teased as he opened it and god he already knew what it was. That new leather smell was unmistakable and he wasted no time in pulling it out of the bag to take a look. It was a leather jacket, not exactly like the one he'd had before but similar and Max felt a little misty eyed as he dropped the bag to hastily try the jacket on. It was like being gifted an armor and that was what it felt like slipping into it too. A new armor to face the world in. Throwing away the old one had been the hardest thing he'd had to do after he came home and there'd always been a lingering regret there, an idea that maybe it could have been salvaged, even if he knew he never wanted to touch that rotting thing again. "You're fucking kidding me," he muttered with a near manic grin, grabbing his cigarette from his mouth so he could full on big time hug his little brother.
Aidan usually didn’t feel good at gift giving. He almost always stole what he gave, but the real issue was often that what he was drawn to steal wasn’t always what other people wanted. Practical gifts always felt impersonal, but personal gifts were hard. Except this hadn’t been hard. For as far back as he could remember, Max had worn a leather jacket, finding a use for it almost all year long. Even the summer nights were sometimes cool enough to need one. Seeing his brother without it felt weird, like he’d been sheared of some part of himself that wouldn’t grow back. Now he looked complete again, and the smile that he wore was thanks enough. “I know the other one can’t really be replaced, but… I hope this one’ll do,” he grinned as he hugged his brother back. “Needs to be broken in. It still smells like the store.”
"It smells good," Max drawled, clinging to him for a little longer before letting go and giving him another big grin. "And it's close enough to the old one but not rotten so that's a huge improvement." He ran his fingers along the zipper then slipped his hands in the pockets. Yeah, this felt right and he'd be used to it in no time. "Maybe now I'll leave the fucking house, is that it?" he teased but that was more along the lines of what he himself was thinking. He did want to go places, it had just been hard and he felt so vulnerable leaving the protected area of their home. This would probably help a little. Maybe even a lot. He could go see Greer, get a drink with Caden, maybe do something resembling normality.
Aidan didn’t often feel giddy, but seeing his brother so happy put a little spring in his step and he bounced lightly on his toes as Max examined the jacket. He was going to have to find some way to thank Aya for her contribution, seeing as how he couldn’t have done it without her. “Why would I want you to leave? We just got you back,” he laughed, since the whole point was that Max was finally home. Aidan hadn’t noticed that he hadn’t left at all since his return, but a big part of that was that Aidan didn’t get out much himself. He’d never been a social butterfly and leaving the house rarely meant leaving the grounds, at least for him. He got into town when he needed something, not because he wanted to socialize.
It warmed Max's heart a little and he grinned back at his little brother before pulling him into another hug. He'd always been affectionate, more so with Knox than Aidan since the familiar loved hugging, but these days it was such a treat to be able to hug a person without the lingering smell of rot in his nostrils. Everything was so clean and nice and he was just so damn happy to be home. "You might not want me to leave but I'm starting to feel the urge," he muttered as he pulled back. He'd always gone out more than the rest of his family, to drink or screw or just feel like his own man for a while. He might be happy to be home but that itch was starting up again even despite his fear of what might happen.
Aidan might not be a huge hugger, but he would never turn down a hug from family. He thought that if he’d gone through a situation similar to Max’s, he might be a little clingy himself. He laughed softly into the hug, then settled back in to hang with Max for a bit. “I’m cool with you leaving, so long as you keep coming back. On a regular basis, I mean. No more of this being gone for months shit,” he teased, though he knew Max couldn’t do anything about his time in prison or being trapped in a bizarre portal world. Well, maybe he could’ve avoided prison, but Aidan didn’t want to go there. The past was the past. He wanted to help Max move on from those things, though he realized that was easier said than done. “You should pop into town soon. I’m sure there’s some people who’d like to see you.”
Max nodded and he knew he should. There were people he wanted to see but he also wondered just how much some of them knew. Did Caden know what had happened? Or was he going to have to explain all this bullshit to him? Jasper had been missing too so maybe he was all caught up and they could just not talk about it like they didn't really ever talk about anything of substance. "I'm not going anywhere if I can help it," he murmured. "Not for months at a time. Tried it, didn't like it, not repeating it." It was nice to pretend he'd have a say in it the next time around, even nicer to imagine there wouldn't be a next time. Surely he'd filled his quota of fucked up for now.
“Good, solid plan,” Aidan agreed with a little smile and a nod. He knew that on his part, he’d do everything in his power to make sure nothing like that ever happened again. He’d been helpless last time, unaware of how bad things were until he was way past the point of doing anything about them, but he swore to himself it wouldn’t happen again. “Have you talked to… to any of the others? The ones that were there with you?” He’d heard that they’d come back as well, something that was still somewhat amazing. No one seemed to have an explanation for how it had happened and Aidan didn’t really care himself, so long as he got his brother back.
"No, been on my way to talk to Greer but-" Max started but it was harder than he thought to admit out loud he'd been scared to leave the place. Maybe it was nothing to be ashamed of after everything he'd been through, but he still was. "It's just nice to be home, everything else can wait. I'll go check on her soon." He'd heard it through the grapevine that she was back, that most of them were back if not everyone. He just hadn't been very close to any of them so it was hard to care much. The only ones who really mattered to him at this point were Greer and Jasper - Jasper only because Max knew his family and not because the kid had made that kind of impact on him.
While Aidan hadn’t sensed any fear on Max’s part, he wouldn’t have blamed him for staying close to home. They were protected here, not from everything but from most things, and if something did happen then he’d be surrounded by witches and a familiar that could help. They were cut off from the town in many ways and sometimes that was both a blessing and a curse, depending on the situation. “It’s no rush,” Aidan reminded him. “Pretty sure everyone wants a chance to get settled again. You can start making house calls when you feel up to it. Maybe… maybe we’ll go into town and get some drinks soon?” He didn’t need to get out for himself, but he thought it might be good for Max. They could drink just fine on their own porch, but The Back Porch might do him some good.
"Yeah," Max said with an easy smile that absolutely did not reflect the sudden nervous jitter he felt. If he thought about it too hard he wanted to take Knox with him everywhere because Knox had not been affected like the rest of the family and he was the only one who could stop Max if he got Strange again. The memory of Knox catching him draining Aidan flickered through Max's mind and he felt a little queasy when he considered just how far he could have gone. "I could use a drink now," he said though he had no intentions of going anywhere. "Right here, I mean. You want a beer?"
"Yeah, sure, if you're buying," Aidan grinned, unaware of how unsettled Max was, but fine with having a drink there on the porch. He hadn't been suggesting they go out tonight anyways--he'd almost always prefer hanging out at home, but that was him. He was probably the worst at getting out of all of them. It had changed a little lately, with Aya around. But then she could take him places far more exciting than Point Pleasant, so he was rarely inclined to say no when she wanted him to go.
"I am so not buying," Max admitted with a little laugh since he wasn't contributing shit to the household these days. That would change when he got back on his feet and he didn't feel particularly bad about it. It just meant that someone else was buying the beer and with Aya in the house he couldn't even be sure if it was paid for or not. "I'll go get it though," he added playfully and moved past Aidan to do just that. "I wonder if your girl can open a fridge door with her ability, that'd be handy as fuck," he mused as he headed inside but Aya's gifts were really just another thing on a list of things other people could do and Max couldn't so it was as annoying as it was convenient at times. He didn't wait for Aidan to answer but a minute later he returned with four beers, knowing full well one beer wouldn't last very long and he didn't want to have to run inside so soon. He handed a couple to Aidan, then flopped down on the bench and popped his open. "How far can your girl travel anyway? You should make her get us some weird exotic beer from Japan or something."
Aidan knew the fridge had a door on it, but he was pretty sure that was one Aya couldn’t open. It was made of metal and other man-made materials, the sort of stuff that seemed to limit her abilities. He still didn’t know the ins and outs of everything she could do, but that was one ability that he felt like he had a decent handle on. He grinned as Max handed him a couple of beers, setting one aside before popping the top and considering Max’s question. “It depends on if I go with her,” he said, taking a sip before continuing. “I don’t think she can travel too far from me, but if I’m with her, we could probably hop around, I dunno how far. I think crossing the ocean might be a stretch, but if we took the long way around, through Alaska, maybe we could get to Japan? It’d be a lot of work for a couple of Sapporo.”
"Hey, it's not about the goal, it's about the journey," Max told him, waving a finger in his face before laughing at the tacky life advice. "Live, laugh, love, man. Live, laugh, love. It sounds amazing though, you could literally be in Japan. Beer or not. You could go to those insane arcades and karaoke clubs. Buy some weird ass japanese stuff, try to eat a live octopus, I don't fucking know, man." He'd never even left the States, didn't have a passport, had no real ambitions to do anything or go anywhere but given such an easy way to travel? Fuck yeah.
“I guess we should try it, shouldn’t we?” Aidan said with a little laugh. He’d never had the aspirations to go much of anywhere, but a big part of that was due to time and money. Traveling was expensive and he wasn’t sure he could handle a trip around the world in a flying metal box. Traveling with Aya potentially removed those limitations, so maybe it was worth a try. If nothing else, they could see how far it took them. Aidan knew he’d enjoy the experiment, even if he wasn’t into the destination. “Where would you go first? Any place special?”
"I don't know man," Max said as he thought about it. "Acapulco, go cruise the beach, get wasted at some clubs, pick up some fine senoritas." He shrugged and gave Aidan a toothy grin. "I haven't looked into any of that since before prison. I remember wanted to go Puerto... Val- something. Now I have no idea which places in Mexico are cool. I could look it up, I guess. How about you? Where would you wanna start if you could go anywhere at all?" It was nicer to ask Aidan because he wasn't so sure about his own choices. They'd been based on another version of him that he wasn't sure he could still live up to. Would he still like clubs? Or would he end up like some crazy war veteran, freaking out about every weird sound? There was only one way to find out, he just wasn't eager to test it all yet.
There were probably a thousand different beaches that Aidan should consider, but none of them came to mind. Instead he was thinking of forests and mountains, old cities that he’d like to explore. “I’d like to go to Ireland,” he said, aware his answer had gone in the opposite direction of Max’s. “I’d like to see where the O’Reillys hail from, see some of the more mystic places. Maybe wander around London a bit while I’m on that side of the world. See some castles, that kind of thing.” He also thought places in Italy might be interesting, except he spoke absolutely no Italian and he thought that might be an issue. Maybe there was a spell that could help with that? He honestly didn’t know because he’d never considered it. It would be interesting to look into.
Max liked to think of himself as an O'Reilly but the truth was he had no idea where his biological father hailed from, Ireland sounded sweet though and he shrugged with a little smile. "Well with a girl like yours you can do both in a day, that's pretty crazy, huh?" He had no idea if that was true or what Aya's limitations were or if she'd even be willing to bring him along. "Hell, I'd be happy to swing by some big music festivals. Hell, we could go to concerts without paying." The options really were limitless it seemed and he wished he could do this himself without needing someone else there with him. The kind of money they could make from that kind of power was staggering.
"I dunno, man," Aidan smiled. "Maybe. She's quiet about her limitations, so we'd just have to try it and see." Sometimes it frustrated him that he didn't know everything Aya was capable of, but he'd also come to understand that keeping it to herself was for her own protection. The skill she had could make her a valuable asset and, had Aidan been a more ambitious man, he might've been inclined to take advantage of her. But Aidan liked Aya and he'd never been very power hungry. He might be a thief, but it was more for fun than for growing an empire. "We can go anywhere without paying," he laughed softly. "If there's a festival you wanna swing by, let me know. I think she'd dig that kind of thing."
"I'll keep that in mind," Max said and he'd probably think of more things that could be done when any door could be opened from anywhere. Of course his mind instantly went to burglary, that had been his game before he got ratted out and arrested and it satisfied some part in him that went beyond just the money. Stealing from the rich? Hell yes. "You guys have been around some, right? Where have you gone?" Off to somewhere to buy this jacket, clearly. Max was still happily breathing in that new leather smell, getting used to the way it felt on him. Leather and beer, it really did make him feel like he was coming back to himself, however slowly.
“You know, I don’t always know,” Aidan said. “I usually let her pick the destination, unless I have something specific in mind. I know we’ve gone to a couple clubs in New York, and at least one in Chicago. We went up to Canada, but that’s not exactly a hike. Most of the time we go dancing, any place with loud music and lots of people, but we went to some facility sometime, just to mess with a security guard, so it varies.” For as long as she’d been there, Aidan thought they should have gone more places, but it had taken a while before he’d trusted her enough to go with her. Even now, he worried about her leaving him behind. She might not be able to go as far without him, but he’d be the one stranded without a way back.
"Look at you getting all cocky," Max said and barked out a laugh. "Not much of a hike. You literally walked through a fucking doorway, you jackass." He reached over to ruffle Aidan's hair affectionately, shaking his head in amusement. "You blitz the cameras on those places, right?" he asked then because he could too easily imagine someone somewhere picking up on the weirdness of how Aidan and Aya would appear in one place after another, hundreds of miles apart. The odds were low of someone actually seeing all those security feeds and putting two and two together but the world was fucking weird so it was easy to get sucked into conspiracy theory rabbit holes.
“Of course!” Aidan laughed, batting away Max’s hand. “I’m not an idiot. The first thing I do is disable the alarm and kill the cameras.” It had to be in that order, otherwise killing the cameras could set off the alarm. He’d learned that the hard way, when he’d been younger and still getting a feel for what he could do with his abilities. Aidan sometimes liked the puzzle of how to get in more than he liked whatever they were there to steal. He just didn’t want the same things that most other people did. Money was good for partying and buying groceries, but with Aya around it was easy to party and skip out on the bill. Maybe if he left home and had to actually pay for things, he’d feel different, but his situation in life allowed him to be lazy.
Max was far more focused on the money. He had paid rent and he wanted to buy a new bike - or ideally get his old bike back - and there were just so many things that cost money. He also didn't think Aya would do him a whole lot of favors; she was Aidan's girl, if she was even a girl at all. Given the chance, he'd clear out the registers in every place Aya took him, that was for sure. Not that any of that money would go to the household, he was pretty sure Shayna Mae wouldn't want their crime infested cash if she knew where it came from. He opened his second beer after setting down the empty bottle down by his foot, pocketing the cap for now. This really was all he needed in life, his family and his safety. After all the trauma he didn't really feel the need to go anywhere and experience adventures in the same way he had before. It made him feel a bit empty, like he wasn't quite himself yet, so he'd have to work on that. Maybe a crazy trip with Aidan and Aya would be good for that sort of thing. "If I'd had her powers, I never would have been arrested," he sighed. "Endless possibilities, man."
“Yeah, probably not,” Aidan agreed. “But I think it’s her powers that got her locked inside a little metal bird for a hundred years, so… there’s downsides to everything.” He knew it had to be a bummer to be the non-magical one in a family of witches, but Aidan truly believed in running with the gifts you were born with. Aya’s magic was incredible, but it had it’s limitations. And she was bound to him, which was either a blessing or a curse on both their parts. He realized that she might eventually hate him, that he might be a bore compared to what she was used to. And she could literally drive him insane if she wanted to, trap him in a loop while he descended into madness. He didn’t think she could kill him, but she could probably hand him the knife. He could see how his brother might envy her abilities, but it was probably better that he didn’t have them, and that he wasn’t the one that was tied to Aya.
"You sure it was her powers that got her there?" Max murmured. "I'm having some trouble connecting birds with doors." He shot Aidan an easy smile, not really expecting an answer. Yeah it frustrated him that he was the only one with no magic in the family but at least his family had never treated him unfairly and they'd known better than to complain about the gifts they had in front of him. Aya wasn't family, hell if Max knew what she really was at all. "At least I had space to wander when I got locked up - and locked away. I don't know how you fit a whole girl inside a little bird. Sounds like some fairy tale shit. Or maybe she was the bird. What kinda animal do you think you'd turn into if your powers got you into that kind of trouble?"
Aidan wasn’t sure of anything when it came to Aya, in large part because Aya didn’t seem to know herself. He knew someone had locked her up, but he didn’t know why, though it seemed to come with a curse of some sort, otherwise why would she be bound to him? She wasn’t really a familiar, that wasn’t how that worked, nor did she seem to be a gin of some sort. “The way she broke out of that bird was fairytale shit. I’m just not always sure it’s the good kind,” Aidan said with a little snort of amusement. “You know, the weirdest part? The kind of animal I would’ve turned into if my powers got me into trouble? Would probably be a magpie. A thieving little bird, just like the one I stole.”
"That is fucking weird," Max agreed, squinting at him for a long moment as he thought about what it could mean or if it meant anything at all. Maybe it just meant a guy like Aidan was supposed to get that statue - and Aya - or maybe there was something more sinister behind it all. Or maybe it didn't mean shit. It was hard to suss out just if supernatural and superstitious things were real when he knew at least half of them had to be but he didn't know which ones. "Fairytale shit can be dark as hell," he finally muttered, going back to staring out into the darkness, sipping on his beer. "I don't want my life to be a fairytale anymore."
"Fairytales can have happy endings," Aidan reminded his brother. "So long as you're a princess. Too bad you ain't pretty enough." He was teasing, of course, in hopes of lightening things up a bit. Max would always have magic in his life, so long as he stuck with his family, but he understood that he wanted something a bit more mundane and boring for a while. He'd had enough excitement for a lifetime and deserved a fucking break. Hopefully he'd get one, but it had been quiet all spring and that didn't bode well when it came to Point Pleasant. Things always cropped up after the dust settled. They just needed to be more prepared next time around.
Max gave him a phony pout at being told he wasn't pretty but he had no idea what role he'd play in a fairytale if it came to it. Some side character, most likely. One of the three little pigs, ripe for eating. Maybe a starving wolf, sickly and useless. He was being hard on himself but it was hard not to on a good day and he hadn't had a whole lot of those lately. "And who would you be in a fairy tale?" he asked with a smirk. "Prince fucking Charming? You might be a little too scruffy for that but who knows, you clean up nice."
“Oh, god, no,” Aidan laughed lightly. “I’d probably be, I dunno, a bandit. Or maybe a pirate. I kinda like that, actually, even if pirates aren’t the good guys, so they usually end up dead or something. I think sailing around in a big boat might be kinda fun.” He was imagining a pirate ship, something gritty and salty, not some big yacht or even a speed boat. A fairy tale pirate, not a modern one. “If I was a pirate, you could be my crew, if I was lucky enough to be a captain. Unless you prefer something else? What would you be?”
"One of those chumps who gets cursed by a witch and turned into a small animal," Max replied with a snort. "And joke's on her because I'd be a lot happier." God that was morbid but being human really sucked sometimes. "Imagine just being a frog, chilling in a pond, eating flies and not worrying about anything as long as no ditzy girl comes alone looking for a prince, kissing every frog she finds." He downed the rest of his beer and nudged Aidan. "Or I could be your parrot if you're a pirate captain. That sounds like a sweet life."
It was a tad bit worrisome that Max might be happier as a small woodland creature, or even a frog, but since they were talking fairytales Aidan didn’t take the comment too seriously. They both knew a lot of witches, but he didn’t think any of them would turn Max into anything, even if he begged. “Hey, animal sidekick could be a pretty sweet gig,” Aidan grinned. “I can’t think of any situations where they didn’t survive, at least in the movies. And they always seem to be enjoying themselves.” Life as the comic relief wouldn’t be too bad, though it would probably get annoying after a while.
"Right?" Max said with a little laugh. "And they're always more fun than the humans, like that dragon in Mulan. Dishonor on your cow!" He was sure that dragon wouldn't have gotten mauled by some beast in the fog only to be transported to a hell dimension so yes, he had decided his role in any fairytale with this. Of course with his luck he'd find himself as a rabbit in Watership Down or one of those tragic cartoons where the small animals did get hurt and terrified. "But I guess Knox has that role in our lives, he's the only animal shifter." What did that make Max? God he didn't know, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know. "Think I'll head inside, watch something fun. You wanna join or are you going to sleep?"
“I’ll come with,” Aidan said, rolling to his feet. “Not sure I’ll make it through anything, but I’m not quite ready for bed.” He would be soon though, so there was a chance he’d pass out on the couch before getting there. Or maybe he’d actually drag his ass up to the third floor and crawl into bed. It was a toss up, but not one he was willing to settle right now. It would be nice to hang out with Max a while longer. After him being gone for so long, first one, then again, Aidan felt like he needed to take advantage of it.