Max

Convincing Silas

Silas loved his father and the fact that his father loved his work. However, Silas didn't love plumbing as much as Charlie loved plumbing. So when the text from Kota came, stating the situation was non-emergency, Silas only had to stretch the truth a little to be excused from the lesson on the different type of pipe fittings needed to install a tankless water heater. He would much rather be spending time with his Academy family, even if it wasn't for Academy business as he may have led Charlie to believe.

There wasn't much detail in the text from Kota. There never was. Talking face-to-face was always the preferred method of communication. Silas was patient and learned to never walk in with any preconceived notions. Things tended to get weird with his brothers, even if the Academy itself wasn't involved.

He just never expected things to get this weird.

Silas looked down at a man who was clearly older than him, who was trying to stand on his tip toes to reach up and sniff his cheek.

"I thought you were taller," the blonde man named Max said.

Silas leaned over to look at his brothers and Sang sitting at a picnic table from over Max's shoulder. Kota, Gabriel, and his Aggele Mou were trying to stifle giggles behind their hands.

"Tell it to me again," Silas said as he put his large hand over Max's face and held his head back at arm's length. "I think I lost some meaning in translation."

Kota shook his head back and forth with pity and some sympathy mixed in. "It's crazy. I know, but it's true. You understand it correctly."

With his other hand, Silas pointed at the mop of orange hair poking out from between his fingers. "You're saying this," then pointed at Kota, "is your dog."

Kota, Gabriel, and Sang's heads all bobbed up and down in unison.

He repeated the statement in Greek for his own benefit. The three of them nodded again, despite not knowing his mother tongue.

Silas muttered a few curses in Greek before releasing Max, lest the flailing arms manage to reach and smack his face.

As soon as Max was free, he sneezed. It was a whole-body affair and nearly toppled him over onto the green grass of the public park. That in itself wasn't weird; how he tried to rub his nose with his knee afterward was the weird part.

Nothing in particular was the singular piece of evidence to fully convince the Greek. Everything added up together did. First, Gabriel and Silas chased after Max as he bounded across the tennis courts and right into the middle of a match between two middle aged women. Impressively, Max caught the felted green ball in midair...with his teeth. Kota had to apologize profusely and use the excuse of Max being off his medication before giving the women the tube of the tennis balls they had just purchased at the store.

Then there was the dog chasing. Dog walkers and joggers bonding with their canine companions found themselves being pursued by the full grown man shouting, "Hey!" repeatedly and at the top of his lungs. The moment Max caught up to the confused people and now-excited dogs, he would drop to his hands and knees and shove his nose under the doggie's tail. The pets returned the favor and sniffed at the butt of his jeans. The first time, Gabriel snapped a picture with his phone of the Piscean arrangement of dog vs man. The third time, however, the teens were tired of the antic.

Silas focused Max's attention with trying to teach him how to pitch baseball style with the stolen tennis ball for a game of catch. The best laid plans go to waste, for Max was more interested in chasing after the ball Silas threw among the trees of the park. Every time, he ran back panting with the ball somehow shoved into his mouth.