sweetchaos (sweetchaos) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2023-01-20 16:53:00 |
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Entry tags: | #july 2018, caden, caden x max, max, max x shayna mae, shayna mae |
Who: Max and Caden, Max and Shayna Mae
When: Sunday, July 8, Mid-morning
Where: Phone
It was while he was opening the bar that Caden shot Max a text message. It wasn’t so early that it would be bothersome but he didn’t know how long Max liked to sleep in. Everyone else was either home or at church, but Miles would be in shortly and Caden would have time to see Max, or at least have a private conversation over the phone.
hey, you got a sec? Need to talk to you about something.
Gavin would probably be in later too and Caden wanted to at least have something to tell his brother about Max and the O’Reilly’s. He was still wary of witchcraft but again, Caden trusted Max and had no doubt his remaining fingers would stay intact.
Max was technically of the 'texting generation' but neither he nor Caden were big fans so he was fully expecting Caden to call once he'd replied to him. Got a min even he texted back since he wasn't really up to anything. He sure as shit didn't go to church and if he was honest he wasn't even sure why he was awake. He'd stayed up late watching some dumb show with Patrick and then slept sporadically before waking up fully at ten. Right now he was kind of itching to do something, he just wasn't sure what and he wasn't about to ask his siblings lest he get roped into helping them with chores or something.
He picked up when the phone rang and flopped down in the chair next to his bed. "Hey man, what's up?" Something was up, Caden didn't just text early on a Sunday for no good reason.
Caden slipped into the back, his phone at his ear. "Hey, I've got a problem and you may be the only person who can help." It was such an insane conversation and Max might end up laughing at him for even asking, but Caden was willing to put up with the humiliation if he was wrong... because there was a chance he was right and Max's family could help Gavin and Kat. "I'm going to ask you something and you can tell me to fuck right off if you want to, but... your family... are the rumors about them true? They're witches?"
Max groaned at the question, how could he not? He'd made a point of not talking about his family's magical status with his friends, enjoying the normalcy, but he supposed it was only a matter of time before one of them asked. The fact that it was Caden would have been a little disconcerting, considering his history with witches, but thankfully he'd prefaced it with a good reason. "Man, this'll make the FBI agent assigned to spying on me excited," he said instead of answering right away, then sighed. "Yeah. Everyone but me. You get in trouble with the D'Onofrios again?"
The groan was better than being told to fuck off, so Caden waited patiently for Max to respond, occasionally glancing out into the bar to make sure no one needed anything. One brow cocked when Max confirmed the rumor, though he was surprised that Max was not like the rest of his family. That was a small snag, but one that could be remedied. "No, not the D'Onofrios," he muttered. "And I'm not the one in trouble, believe it or not. Gavin's got a problem. My sister too, actually. You ever hear of the Dark Man? Some skinny motherfucker roaming the streets in a fucking bowler hat?"
Max had heard of most things in town, he was pretty sure, and the dark man was one of those things. A lot of the scary things in town that he'd heard of had come in the shape of horror stories from friends or a warning tale from his parents so it could be hard to suss out what was real and what wasn't. It was also hard to know what was still a threat and what was long dead and gone. "Yeah I've heard of him," he said, his tone more serious now as he tried to remember what he knew about the legend beyond him beeing creepy as fuck. "Our very own bogeyman." Shayna Mae would know more and if not her, then Knox. Max knew he really wasn't the guy to talk to but if Caden's family was in trouble then he'd bring them right into the fold and maybe even pay attention this time.
"Yeah, that's him." Caden ran a hand over his face wearily, at least relieved that he wouldn't have to explain the whole thing to Max. "Apparently this thing is attacking people in their dreams. It got Gavin and Kat... I haven't spoken to Kat but Gavin seems pretty convinced this thing could kill him. Maybe someone in your family knows a way to kill it... or at least have something to protect them when they're asleep. Do you think that's possible?"
"Fuck," Max whispered because that was worse than he'd thought it was and it sounded like a time sensitive matter as well. "Yeah, I mean, yeah, there must be. None of those things bother us out here." Of course there were centuries worth of wards on the O'Reilly homestead, powerful wards maintained by multiple generations. If all else failed, Max thought it might not be a bad idea to let Caden's siblings sleep in the old house until they found a more permanent solution. He had a hard time imagining grouchy Gavin Lucas taking him up on that offer, but Kat might. "Listen, I'll talk to Shayna Mae, see if she knows something, otherwise... Hell, bring'em over. This house is like a supernatural fortress."
Caden had no idea if Gavin would want to go out to the O'Reilly's, but if it meant a solution... he couldn't see his brother saying no. "Talk to your sister, see what she can do. The sooner the better. We can pay... whatever she wants, she'll get it done." He barely remembered Shayna Mae, but he knew damn well she'd be easier to deal with than Reagan fucking Kelly and her psychopathic husband. "I'm at the bar until three. Just give me a call when you've got something to share. I'll talk to Gavin and Kat about going out there."
Max had a hard time imagining Shayna Mae wanting to make a buck off something like this, especially when it was friends of the family, so to speak, but he didn't want to make empty promises to Caden so he just agreed for now. "Let's get this sorted before they go back to sleep," he said and was already on his feet, ready to head downstairs to find his sister. She was probably outside at this hour and in this weather, at least he hoped she wasn't busy with Knox with something he didn't want to walk in on. "Sit tight," he murmured before hanging up and jogging downstairs.
Sadly Shayna Mae was not busy with Knox, but she was outside, tending to one of her many gardens. She used her magic often, but she did love getting her hands full of the earth, so she was kneeling in the dirt, working on tugging out some of the weeds that had snuck past her. She knew Knox was off in the woods somewhere and Aidan, well, who knew where he had snuck off too. When the backdoor opened, she looked up to see Max there, a look of purpose on his face. Squinting against the sun, she straightened a bit and watched him.
"Is everything okay?" she asked, trying not to assume the worst.
Max didn't come to his sister for help as often as he should but it was different to ask for help for someone other than himself, easier somehow, and magic wasn't in his wheelhouse. He moved to sit down near her, resting his elbows on his knees as he looked over where she was working. He'd helped sometimes, enough to know weeds from useful plants, but for someone who felt like weed most of the time, he felt like a hypocrite tearing it up and unlike his sister, he didn't like to get his hands dirty in the physical and literal sense. "Do you know any surefire ways to protect people from the dark man? You know, the bowler hat motherfucker?" he asked, tugging up a strand of grass to play with and peel apart.
Her brows furrowed together in confusion at the question, but she settled comfortably on her heels since it seemed as though this might be more than a quick conversation. "Yes, I know about the dark man," she repeated, setting aside the handful of weeds she had recently pulled from the dirt. "Why do you ask? Have you seen him?" Max didn't look scared, but he rarely looked scared when he was around Shayna Mae. Even so, she wanted to make sure her brother hadn't found himself in a mess, or at risk for something terrible happening. She did her best every day to protect her family, whether they knew it or not.
"Ooph, wouldn't that be a kick in the balls," Max groaned because while he felt like he'd had enough weirdness to last a lifetime, he was pretty sure their lovely town disagreed. "Nah, Caden's brother and sister saw him and now he's fucking with them in their dreams. Like, leaving real physical damage kinda deal. Understandably kinda freaked out about going to sleep. So, you know any cool ways to keep him away?" There was no telling how much of the wards at their home came from Shayna Mae and how much was just kept going by her, but Max knew she was powerful so he was cautiously optimistic.
Shayna Mae's brows rose in surprise. "I've never heard of the dark man being able to hurt people in their dreams. That's... dangerous. Obviously." Sighing, she looked away from Max, letting her mind work over the problem. "I can ward their homes," she said finally, "but it'll only protect them if they're sleeping there. It won't help them if they fall asleep somewhere else..." Shayna Mae trailed off again and began to idly grow flowers from the dirt beneath her hand as she gave it more thought. "I think it would be difficult to kill him, especially in dreams. We would need a dreamwalker for that, and a brave one at that. But... I can do a ritual that would protect them, even if he showed up in their dreams again. It's just a bit complicated and requires blood. They would have to come out here, if they're willing."
A dreamwalker was yet another thing Max had heard of and decided to ignore. There were so many weird things in the world, he couldn't really keep track nor did he care to try anymore. "I'm sure they're willing, it sounds better than getting murdered in a dream," he said and it was reassuring to hear she had some ideas how to handle this, it would really suck to call Caden back with no solutions. "It also probably sounds better than my first idea which was to let them crash here until we find a better solution." He grinned, the idea of Gavin sharing a house with anyone but family kind of laughable to him. "I know here is always safe from... pretty much anything."
Shayna Mae smiled, amused. She was sure someone like Kat Lucas would be okay staying at the O'Reilly's while they sought help but it was hard to imagine a curmudgeon like Gavin Lucas agreeing to stay the night at someone else's house that wasn't blood related. "We're safe because we have centuries of magic protecting us. Not everyone in town can say that, even the other witches. But I'll do what I can to help them. I know you and Caden go way back." Personally she thought Max was better off without a friend like Caden Lucas, but she didn't want to sound like his mother about it. "If the dark man is attacking them in their sleep, then we probably don't have much time. Find out when they can come here and I'll make sure I'm ready."
Max would never go so far as to say Caden was like a third brother to him, but they'd had each others' backs for years now and he wasn't going to sit idly by if his family was in danger. Not when he had the resources to help. He might be a selfish prick at times but asking for help for someone else was easier than asking for help for himself so it was no skin off his back. "Hell, I'm willing to bet they'll come today if they think it can help. I don't think I'd be eager to sleep if I was them, you know? I'll call Caden back and arrange something." He hoisted himself to his feet and leaned down to press a little kiss in Shayna Mae's hair. "Thanks, sis. You're the best."
Shayna Mae wanted to tell Max not to praise her yet, because she didn't know for sure if she could truly help or not, but she knew that would fall on deaf ears. The fact that she was willing to try was enough. And if they were coming today? Then she had work to do. Sighing, she looked around her garden and knew the rest of the work would have to wait. Wiping her hands on her thighs, she got to her feet to follow Max back inside the house to start preparing. She could get a lot of her preparation done before anyone stepped foot in the house. Thankfully she still had some blood in her work room, but... she was going to need more. "I'll be in my room," she told Max. "Just come by and let me know when they're coming."
"Will do," Max said and got out his phone as he jogged back up the stairs. He'd call Caden and get all of this set up and hopefully that would be the end of this particular nightmare. It was times like these that reminded him how privileged he was to live at this house, an actual safe haven from the madness that was Point Pleasant and Blackwater Woods. He wasn't sure he could sleep so soundly if he thought he might slip back into the hellish dimension he'd so recently escaped from and with his new curse or gift or whatever the hell it was, that was feeling more and more likely.