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Maxie had never really had all that much time to celebrate Christmas (or any other holiday) before. His work had been his life, and he’d drowned himself in it, metaphorically speaking. His team members had though, of course, but he’d never really… allowed himself to be pulled into all the festive cheer, despite Tabitha’s and Courtney’s best efforts and attempts at doing so. All in all, hindsight was a bit of a pain, because lately, the Magma leader was starting to realize he’d not been particularly happy with his life at all, and he was actually surprised there were people that had still stayed by his side despite it all. By all means, they shouldn’t have felt any sort of loyalty; he didn’t feel like he’d done as much for them as they had for him, and it was not only a baffling thought but also carried along with it a warmth that he knew had little to do with his comfortable clothes.
Granted, he wasn’t a bucket of rainbows and sunshine now a days either; people didn’t change in such extreme ways, and he didn’t really want to change who he was at the core. He’d been shown that he didn’t really need to change all that much anyhow; May still showed up on a near daily-basis, and for unknown, baffling reasons… seemed to actually enjoy his company.
No tricks. No ulterior motives. No traps.
It was a daunting idea, and being the paranoid person that he was, Maxie had once-upon-a-time actually asked her why she kept visiting. Why was she sitting there, on that sofa when she could have been literally anywhere, sharing her time with anyone else in the world.
She could have been with Steven, Brendan or even Archie, all of whom, he had to admit, had much sunnier, nicer and altogether much more pleasant dispositions than he had. So why was she there on that sofa?
The girl had looked at him in confusion (because apparently confusion tended to go both ways during their shared time together - Maxie felt as if it’d been a prominent sentiment at the very start of those visits, and while it had lessened considerably… was still present even now). She had frowned slightly at the time and then seemed to go inward, as if pondering his words. After a few beats, she had finally looked back up at him, and despite the fact Maxie knew they were sitting several meters apart, his whole world had zeroed in on her (it was an unusual, and rather strange sensation, to say the least), “I like you,” she’d said, “Do I really need a reason to come around here? I thought…” and here she had faulted a bit, obviously unsure of herself, her hands, which had previously been busy grooming his Camerupts’ fur… stilling, “I thought I was welcome here.”
Unfortunately for poor, poor May, Maxie had kind of stopped listening to her somewhere around the word ‘like’, which his mind had been entirely unable to process at the time. In fact, his mouth had opened before he was even aware of it, “Why?” it had been an honest question; he simply couldn’t wrap his usually sharp mind around the concept.
"Do I really need a reason?" the girl had still seemed a bit confused, surprised even, but the sentiments had lessened in the sheer light of his own bafflement. She had, however, decided to throw him a bone, because after a few beats, she began to count on her fingers, "You’re smart, you’re passionate about what you like and you’re interesting. You also seem willing to learn!" here she’d paused and offered him a winning smile, "Also, you own a Crobat."
His mind, which had slowly begun to recover, seemed to halt and latch onto her last statement, “Meaning?” he’d been reduced to single words, which was both humiliating and strangely new for someone that prided himself on being a walking, talking dictionary.
"Well, I remember that the first time that I really paused and looked at you… the first time I really saw you, was when you sent out your Crobat against me,” she’d said, finally returning to her task of grooming the Camerupt, whom let out a sigh of contentment at being once again, more or less, the center of attention, “I figured there had to be a little bit more to you than met the eye, if you owned a Crobat.”
And that had been that.
Maxie had been, at the time, too blown away by the revelation to continue any sort of intelligent conversation, and she herself, had never really revisited the topic in question.
Still, the fact remain that he didn’t particularly posses the sunniest disposition, but he did try. He still put forth effort, and as such, when the time for a Christmas party had come around… he’d even attempted to have fun (even if his definition of fun differed greatly from the rest of the worlds’; he’d have much rather been sitting by a fireplace, with a nice book in hand). He had not really anticipated May’s appearance at the Magma party; she’d had places to be, and people to see after all. However, she’d let him know that he’d already stopped by all the places convention deemed necessary, and that the Magma base was the last on her list.
The celebration had been… fine. It had been… simply just ‘okay’, though that whole reading and fireplace scenario would have been the by far superior choice, as far as Maxie was concerned. It could have been worse though. Much, much worse, and thus, content with the outcome, (not to mention tired out from the commotion) he’d slipped away unnoticed from the feast.
He figured baby steps were in order, and that he’d endured quite enough time at the party, which warranted him a safe, slightly early retreat back to his office.
What he had not expected (though really, by now he probably should have) was for May to follow him, just a scant hour later; there was no knocking for lack of door, but the teleporter was a dead giveaway, and very few people would have dared to follow him. Two of which were currently probably occupied with the party.
To her credit, the girl did pause as she peeked around the corner of the hallway that led to the teleporter, “Am I bothering you?” her arms were, amusingly enough, wrapped around a pokemon egg, which needless to say was… intriguing.
Maxie, whom had been sitting at the sofa, with that book he’d been craving all afternoon, looked up and silently shook his head. At this, May offered him a smile and approached, flopping herself down on the sofa as if she her world had brightened just a touch at not being deemed a ‘bother’ (he was still having trouble figuring out why she cared what he thought), “Here,” she said as she extended her arms, offering him the egg she’d been carrying, “This is for you. You left before I could give it to you, so I had to follow,” she sounded almost sheepish, as if she knew he’d retired from the party for a reason, and hadn’t really wanted to interrupt, “I’m sorry.”
Maxie had been stunned into silence by her offering, but by the time her apology came, the Magma leader had shaken himself out of his stupor, and slowly extended his arms to take the egg from her, “You are always welcome here,” it was an echo of something he’d said in the past, but it apparently bore repeating, even if his words did come out softer than he’d intended them to. If May noticed, she said nothing however.
As he continued to look at the egg that now sat on his lap, the girl offered him another smile and continued talking, “It should hatch soon. I timed it. Made sure it’d hatch juuuuust on time. So be ready,” she paused for a moment and seemed to ponder, “I would get myself some anti-chomping gear or something, if I were you though.”
"Thank you," Maxie stroked the egg once, and was about ready to ask her how she’d gone about timing the hatching when a thought struck him and he narrowed his eyes, "May," he drawled, "What kind of pokemon is in this egg?"
"It’s a surprise! You’ll see as soon as it hatches. Should be soon!"
“May.”
"What?" she sounded absolutely innocent as she looked up at him, but he was no fool; he could see the edge of mischief, twinkling right there, in the corner of her eye.
His eyes narrowed further, as he lifted the hand he’d been resting on the egg, “May, this better not be a Carvanha,” he watched as the girl’s smile widened for a moment and she devolved into laughter. She sounded honestly amused, and though she wasn’t lost into hysterics, she did take a few moments to collect herself, “If this a Carvanha egg…” I swear, so help me, he thought to himself.
"Geez, no! It’s not a Carvanha egg,” she said after a few moments, “Besides, I thought you’d made up with Archie by now?” May received a slightly sour look as the Magma leader placed his hand back on the egg, no longer reluctant to touch it, “It really isn’t a Carvanha egg, I promise.”
Maxie knew his dislike for that particular pokemon was childish, but he figured he was allowed to retain his dislike of Sharpedos for just a little longer. He’d outgrow it eventually, he was sure, but for now… he rather not train one. Or be anywhere near one, if he could help it, “Well then,” he said after the few moments of comfortable silence which followed, “I figure you have saved me the trouble of having to find you tomorrow,” that said, he balanced the egg on his lap with one hand, and then used his other one to dig around one of the pockets of his jacket, pulling out a small, but brilliant, rainbow colored stone, “You gave mine back to me, and so you were left with none. I figured I should remedy that.”
The cameruptite fell into May’s outstretched hands, “Maxie… you didn’t have to,” she looked down at the stone and then back up at the Magma leader, “I gave yours back to you because… it was yours,” she paused and then frowned slightly, “Besides, I don’t have a Camerrupt or a Numel.”
"Yes you do."
"No," she countered, looking more and more baffled as the seconds passed, "I really don’t.”
"Yes," he mimed, albeit not unkindly, "You really do,” given all the confusion he’d been made to suffer at the hands of the girl sitting by his side, Maxie decided to prolong her own for just a few moments further before he once again stuck his hand into his coat. After a few moments of searching, he pulled out a pokeball, which he tapped and made large, releasing the creature that had been dormant within.
A small, vacant-eyed numel materialized on the ground before them; a rather large, almost stupid looking red ribbon was tied around its neck. After looking around, it slooooowly turned its hooded eyes upon both humans. Its colors differed greatly from all other Numels May had ever set her eyes upon; this one had a large, blue marking on its hump, rather than the normal green.
"Maxie, it’s…"
"Yes, yes it is," came the Magma leader’s voice, which had adopted a small note of triumph at her awe, "We breed Numels here at the base, and Tabitha showed it to me a few weeks ago when it hatched. We decided you should keep it," he watched as the girl bent over and placed the creature on her lap, "You seemed adamant on grooming mine, so I figured you might want one all your own."
"Thank you, Maxie, I…" she paused as she watched the creature turn its head to look up at her as she spoke, "Er… why does it keep turning towards me expectantly whenever I say the word ‘Maxie’?" she watched as the creature tilted its head at her, "See? There it goes again!"
The Magma leader patted the egg on his lap again, allowing a soft sigh to escape him, “Tabitha hatched it,” he drawled, “He decided to nickname the thing as such,” he let out a mock-sigh, “As an homage,” a pause, “I am deeply considering demoting him after the holiday season.”
"No you’re not," the girl grinned, vacant-eyed Numel in her arms as she finally stood up, "Your bark’s worse than your bite," she chuckled to herself and then slowly made her way towards the hallway that led to the teleporter. May only turned to look over her shoulder once she’d reached the device in question, "Have a good night, and thanks!" that said, she vanished from the room, which soon enough returned to it’s previous peace and quiet.
It left Maxie alone to contemplate not just the egg on his lap, but the girl that had left.