give all my secrets [penny]

[MAX TAYLOR MORELLI]

Today, he had decided to kill two birds with one stone. It was a terrible reference, one that would make some of his family members who were especially fond of animals cringe, but effective. See, his sister Graciela's birthday was coming up, and he usually tried to get her music that was on the 'cutting edge' so she'd have new things to listen to throughout the year. They definitely had different musical tastes, but that wasn't a bad thing – it just meant that they got to broaden each others' horizons, and use their differences to expand instead of be a cause for conflict like some siblings did. Max loved his sisters, but they weren't the only family members he was close to, and that was where the second stone came into play. The warlock hadn't been expecting to get something of an SOS text from his cousin, Penny, because usually she was so wrapped up in her work and taking care of five thousand animals in her basement or wherever that she didn't have time to socialize. In a word, she was... quirky. But he still loved her, and the two of them got along really well. Even though she had a close relationship with her own sister, the two cousins shared just about everything with each other, and Max figured that if Penny was reaching out to him, there had to be a reason for it, and he wasn't going to just deny her cry for help. Even if it wasn't really a cry... she was more than capable of taking care of herself, but when left to her own devices, she had a tendency to sit and stew, which usually ended up with her being even more neurotic than she already was.

Max had texted her back, told her about his plans to go music shopping for Graciela, and she'd agreed to meet him at Demonic Music, which was kind of a weird name for a shop that was more on the bright and cheerful side than dark and gloomy, which was what most people probably thought about demons. There were light side demons, though, and he knew that even though he'd never met one. The warlock ran a hand through his messy, styled hair and went into the shop, giving a dazzling smile in the direction of the female cashier, even though he knew he had to be on his best behavior because he had a really good thing going with his girlfriend, Calla. Oh, he and Penny definitely had a lot to catch up on, even though she knew some of what was going on in his personal life, he hadn't given her too many details about the thing with Calla, or the cool ten grand he'd won in a poker tournament the weekend before. Max's pockets were feeling heavy, not that it would matter, because he'd spend his last dollar on a gift for one of his sisters, but that was besides the point. He and Penny could use some time for retail therapy and chatting, since they usually had tons to chat about.

The little ringing of a bell sounded above the door when he was haflway through the vinyl section, looking at old albums to see if there were any that he needed to add to his personal collection before he started shopping for his sister, and his head turned to see Penny walking in the door. The look on her face was... well, he couldn't really place it, but she looked kind of frazzled. Stressed, maybe. Worried. He'd fix that in a jiffy, though – there was something about his easygoing attitude that he knew had a positive effect on most people, especially when they knew he was just trying to help. ”Hey, sourpuss!” Max laughed, not even able to tease her without chuckling a little, because she really wasn't a sourpuss at all. Penny was pretty happy, most of the time, and had a smile that could brighten up an entire room when she used it. ”Get over here and suffer a hug from your favorite cousin.” As soon as she reached him, Max wrapped her up in his arms and gave her a tight hug and a little spin, picking her up off the floor to do so. Then, he let her go and took a step back, looking into violet eyes that almost matched his, but not quite. ”Glad you met me – probably gets exhausting with your nose in a book all the time, huh?” Max grabbed an old The Doors album and put it in his basket, then turned to his cousin again, deciding that beating around the bush just wasn't the way to go here.

”So, what's with the distress signal? You gotta tell me, you know. I won't stop bugging you about it until you do, so you should just spill and save us both a lot of trouble.”

OUTFIT:

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