Max kicked her legs off the edge of the building. She had moved in with Victoria a while ago, but she still came back here from time to time. Penny and her both still had a lot of affinity for the old brownstone where they’d first met. Watching the sun go down here was one of the first things they’d done together. Well, that, and recovering from grievous injury. It was like poetry, it rhymed.
“I love you too. Thank you, V. I’ll see you soon.” She hung up the phone. After yesterday, she had decided with Penny to spend a bit more time with their girlfriend. She’d been worried.
And with reason, Penny said. We could have died there, Max. They were using a tone Maxine was, to her chagrin, familiar with. The symbiote had always been a voice of reason, even if she didn’t want it. You not wanting a voice of reason is the problem. Max felt their sigh in her head. But that said… it was a kid.
“Yeah,” Max said. “It was. That’s the problem, isn’t it?” Usually, she and and Penny allowed each other into their thoughts. It was a good way not to be misunderstood, to be on the same page. It helped with rapid decision making. But sometimes, talking things out was better. Something about dialogue made the final decision feel more… right, somehow.
You know, I get the distinct impression your problem isn’t with saving kids, Penumbra quipped. What do you mean?
“The problem,” Max said, “is that we’re obviously going to save the kid. So… where does that end?” She felt Penny’s understanding coming off of them. It wasn’t a fun thought to have. “I was willing to risk my life if it meant saving a kid. Sure, we risk a lot every time we go out and help but…”
We’re very sturdy, Penny agreed. So the question is…
“Where do we draw the line,” Max said. “How many lives are ours worth? Do I get to make that decision? Do you? Do we?” She waited for a quick-witted response from Penny, but it didn’t come. “You’ve made me so strong, Penny,” she said. "And I don’t just mean physically. Without you…”
I chose you and you chose me, they said. It’s not worth thinking about beyond that.
“But not everyone is that strong, are they?” Max said. “There will be more people like that boy Eric. More kids getting into trouble. Into fires. I know I’m going to keep jumping in after them because I know I can and I know the odds are high I’ll walk away from it. But you know…”
One day you might not. Max nodded as she jumped off the building, slowing her fall with one hand pressed against the wall. They were both still healing, but since Maxine was their ‘face’, so to speak, they’d agreed that she needed most of the energy. Which meant that Penny was still not in the best shape. And that’s the problem.
“That,” Max agreed, “is the problem. A lot of people have written about this and a lot of people always begged the question. Ignored it outright, took the answer as a foregone conclusion.”
They landed on the street on the edge of town, close to one of the city’s many rivers. The apartment Victoria and them had bought with the donation from someone whose life Penumbra had saved wasn’t too far from there, and they began walking. Victoria would be home soon, too.
The question, Penumbra said quietly. Does great power come with great responsibility?
“That’s the question,” Max said. “That’s the problem.” She sighed and stuffed her hands in the pockets of her hoodie. When Penny felt under the weather, Maxine always did too, and it manifested in her clothing always being more comfy. Sometimes not even by choice, it was subconscious. “We can save loads of people, and we do. And one day it’s probably going to get us killed.”
Should we let it? Penny continued the thought for her. Our risk saves lives. Statistically, one day that will kill us. Victoria will be devastated, and we will never be able to save anyone after that.
“So then what?” Max mused as she walked by the waterfront. “Only take small risks? Never go out of our way to save those whose lives would cost our own?”
That feels wrong, Penny said. I hope Rue says yes.
“I do too. Do you think that’s the solution, then?”
It was the solution for you, Penny said. For us. You and I can risk more because we are more powerful together. We can save people risk-free where others would risk everything. Just the two of us.
“So what if there weren’t just two of us,” Max said. “Yeah. With great power comes the responsibility to do a lot of networking, I guess.” She groaned. “I’ll have to workshop that.”
Yeah, that one’s kind of garbage, Penny chuckled. What about “fire may light the darkness, but a burnt candle burns for no-one.” That one got to Maxine, she nearly choked on her own spit.
“Didn’t think you had it in you!” She laughed. “Penny the poet!”
I am no longer baby, Penny said. Now I want literary awards.
“Well don’t quit your day job yet,” Max chuckled. “You’re better at saving lives.” She felt Penny pout a little bit. “I do like it, though,” she continued. “I like the ‘don’t burn the candle at two ends’ idea of it. On the other hand… does that mean it’s my — our — responsibility to ‘light the way,’ then?”
Could be a good basis for the LIT project, Penny said. Could give you a better selling point than appropriating slang from a generation half your age. Maybe something more… fitting for you instead? How about cowabunga? Or tubular?
“Ouch,” Max said. “Okay, point taken, I’m old.” She crossed a small bridge and paused halfway to look across the water, toward Lockridge port. “I want to help, Penny. I want to make the world a better place, now that I finally feel like I’m…”
Good enough? There was an annoying-yet-endearing smugness to their voice.
“Yeah, yeah,” Max said. “Rub it in, you’ve made me a happier, healthier person.”
Don’t mind if I do!
“But yes. Now that I finally feel like I can. Like I’m strong enough to make a difference. Who knows, maybe I can do for someone some day what you did for me,” she said.
What, turn them into a girl? I mean, it would be pretty funny but what are the odds of you getting a trans girl on your first go? I was cosmically lucky, pun not intended.
“No, not turn them into a girl,” Max said as she resumed walking. Their place wasn’t too far. It was not a particularly nice neighborhood — from an urbanisation point of view. There were few trees, and half the streets didn’t have sidewalks. But at least the community was nice. Good neighbours. “I mean help someone go through the worst of it and come out the other side… healthier. More well-rounded, well adjusted of a person.”
I know, I was just teasing you.
“Rawr,” Max said.
UwU.
“You’re the worst.”
I get it from you, mom.
“Don’t you dare,” Max groaned as she entered her building. “The last thing I need is for people to call me Mommy. I feel old enough as it is. Hi, Miss H.” She walked past the older lady in the stairwell, waving and ignoring the stare. Everyone in her building thought she was just the strange girl from the third floor who talked to herself, and she was fine with that. Technically it was possible for her to talk to Penny without speaking out loud, but…
You like the sound of your own voice now? Penny offered.
“Yeah. Sure,” Max said. She unlocked the front door and walked into heaven. Soft music was playing, a new album she kept forgetting the name of, there was the gentle flickering of candles and the room smelled like…
Chinese food! Penny exclaimed excitedly. She got us dumplings! They’d discovered a love of cheap takeout Chinese food that nobody in Maxine’s memory could even begin to equal. Wait, there’s something else. Wine.
“Hey, you two,” Victoria said. Max and Penny both perked up the instant they saw her. She’d been sitting at the table, reading something, looking like a vision from a dream. They were sure she was wearing something gorgeous but neither of them had been able to tear their gaze away from her face.
“Hey,” they said. “We missed you.”
“I can tell.” Victoria smiled happily as she walked over. “It’s cute when you merge like that.”
“I’m not cute!” Max protested, but Penny wrested control of the body away from her.
“I am!” They said. Victoria giggled, then wrapped her arms around their neck.
“You are. Both of you.” Max grumbled in protest, but with Victoria this close by, she couldn’t find it in herself to protest. “Come on, I ordered in.” She walked over to the couch. There were several boxes of takeaway already on the small living room table. More than two people could ordinarily eat. But they weren’t two people, and they certainly weren’t ordinary. Max could feel Penny salivating. She had to clamp her mouth shut to keep from drooling.
“What’s the occasion?” Max asked as she joined her girlfriend on the couch, looking at the candles. “This all feels very… formal.” She jerked backwards for a moment. “Are you okay? Are… we okay?”
“No, Maxine Powers, I ordered you two’s favorite food and I lit candles because I’m breaking up with you.” She gently bopped Max on the head. “Yes, I’m okay and we’re okay, silly. I just wanted to… I don’t know. Touch base. The two of you have been put through the wringer lately and —" she shrugged "— I wanted to let you know that you’re not alone. Neither of you are an island. Hell, not even together. I’m here. Talk to me.”
Max sighed deeply and then slumped against Victoria. “Just… worried we’re doing the right thing,” she said. “Should we be doing more? Less?”
Ah,” Victoria said. “Moral philosophy. My favorite.” She grimaced. “This is why I studied astrophysics. Until we meet aliens, other aliens, official ones, all I need to be concerned about is the consistency of very distant balls of gas. I don’t envy you.” She gently stroked Maxine’s hair. Penny purred.
“And we want to do right by you, too,” Max continued. “We don’t want you to feel like you’re not important enough, or that we’d sacrifice ourselves without thinking of you and…” She sighed again. “It’s a lot. A lot a lot.”
“Well,” Victoria said, “I would like it very much if you came home every night, and if you didn’t die. Those are both pretty high up my ‘this is what I’d like from you being a superhero’ list. Other than that… I like you for you, Max. You and Penny both. Sure, you’re an over-thinker, riddled with anxiety and fighting depression. But you’re also incredibly kind and clever, and as long as you’re kind and clever, I know you’ll do the right thing.”
“What about me?” Penny asked. “I’m pretty clever!”
“You’re a little monster, a little gremlin creature from beyond the stars,” Victoria said with a little laugh. “You’re also the sweetest, most insightful alien I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. Despite the terrifying-yet-oddly-arousing forms you take, you are incredibly human, and I mean that as a compliment.”
“Then I’ll take it that way,” Penny said with a smile in their voice.
“Together… there is nothing you two couldn’t do if it meant helping people. You’ll figure it out.” She gave them a little kiss on top of their head. “And I’ll always be here to help, bringing your strange selves home to me. Now come on, let’s eat. The food’s getting cold!”
Penny nearly fell off of the sofa in excitement.
Elamimax
Ayyy we're back! By the way, there are still 30 more chapters for patrons at the moment! Consider joining up! It's really cheap, and you get essentially a free book every other month! Also, you know, supporting minority artists and all that jazz. But free stuff!
Anyway bye :3
Max kicked her legs off the edge of the building. She had moved in with Victoria a while ago, but she still came back here from time to time. Penny and her both still had a lot of affinity for the old brownstone where they’d first met. Watching the sun go down here was one of the first things they’d done together. Well, that, and recovering from grievous injury. It was like poetry, it rhymed.
“I love you too. Thank you, V. I’ll see you soon.” She hung up the phone. After yesterday, she had decided with Penny to spend a bit more time with their girlfriend. She’d been worried.
And with reason, Penny said. We could have died there, Max. They were using a tone Maxine was, to her chagrin, familiar with. The symbiote had always been a voice of reason, even if she didn’t want it. You not wanting a voice of reason is the problem. Max felt their sigh in her head. But that said… it was a kid.
“Yeah,” Max said. “It was. That’s the problem, isn’t it?” Usually, she and and Penny allowed each other into their thoughts. It was a good way not to be misunderstood, to be on the same page. It helped with rapid decision making. But sometimes, talking things out was better. Something about dialogue made the final decision feel more… right, somehow.
You know, I get the distinct impression your problem isn’t with saving kids, Penumbra quipped. What do you mean?
“The problem,” Max said, “is that we’re obviously going to save the kid. So… where does that end?” She felt Penny’s understanding coming off of them. It wasn’t a fun thought to have. “I was willing to risk my life if it meant saving a kid. Sure, we risk a lot every time we go out and help but…”
We’re very sturdy, Penny agreed. So the question is…
“Where do we draw the line,” Max said. “How many lives are ours worth? Do I get to make that decision? Do you? Do we?” She waited for a quick-witted response from Penny, but it didn’t come. “You’ve made me so strong, Penny,” she said. "And I don’t just mean physically. Without you…”
I chose you and you chose me, they said. It’s not worth thinking about beyond that.
“But not everyone is that strong, are they?” Max said. “There will be more people like that boy Eric. More kids getting into trouble. Into fires. I know I’m going to keep jumping in after them because I know I can and I know the odds are high I’ll walk away from it. But you know…”
One day you might not. Max nodded as she jumped off the building, slowing her fall with one hand pressed against the wall. They were both still healing, but since Maxine was their ‘face’, so to speak, they’d agreed that she needed most of the energy. Which meant that Penny was still not in the best shape. And that’s the problem.
“That,” Max agreed, “is the problem. A lot of people have written about this and a lot of people always begged the question. Ignored it outright, took the answer as a foregone conclusion.”
They landed on the street on the edge of town, close to one of the city’s many rivers. The apartment Victoria and them had bought with the donation from someone whose life Penumbra had saved wasn’t too far from there, and they began walking. Victoria would be home soon, too.
The question, Penumbra said quietly. Does great power come with great responsibility?
“That’s the question,” Max said. “That’s the problem.” She sighed and stuffed her hands in the pockets of her hoodie. When Penny felt under the weather, Maxine always did too, and it manifested in her clothing always being more comfy. Sometimes not even by choice, it was subconscious. “We can save loads of people, and we do. And one day it’s probably going to get us killed.”
Should we let it? Penny continued the thought for her. Our risk saves lives. Statistically, one day that will kill us. Victoria will be devastated, and we will never be able to save anyone after that.
“So then what?” Max mused as she walked by the waterfront. “Only take small risks? Never go out of our way to save those whose lives would cost our own?”
That feels wrong, Penny said. I hope Rue says yes.
“I do too. Do you think that’s the solution, then?”
It was the solution for you, Penny said. For us. You and I can risk more because we are more powerful together. We can save people risk-free where others would risk everything. Just the two of us.
“So what if there weren’t just two of us,” Max said. “Yeah. With great power comes the responsibility to do a lot of networking, I guess.” She groaned. “I’ll have to workshop that.”
Yeah, that one’s kind of garbage, Penny chuckled. What about “fire may light the darkness, but a burnt candle burns for no-one.” That one got to Maxine, she nearly choked on her own spit.
“Didn’t think you had it in you!” She laughed. “Penny the poet!”
I am no longer baby, Penny said. Now I want literary awards.
“Well don’t quit your day job yet,” Max chuckled. “You’re better at saving lives.” She felt Penny pout a little bit. “I do like it, though,” she continued. “I like the ‘don’t burn the candle at two ends’ idea of it. On the other hand… does that mean it’s my — our — responsibility to ‘light the way,’ then?”
Could be a good basis for the LIT project, Penny said. Could give you a better selling point than appropriating slang from a generation half your age. Maybe something more… fitting for you instead? How about cowabunga? Or tubular?
“Ouch,” Max said. “Okay, point taken, I’m old.” She crossed a small bridge and paused halfway to look across the water, toward Lockridge port. “I want to help, Penny. I want to make the world a better place, now that I finally feel like I’m…”
Good enough? There was an annoying-yet-endearing smugness to their voice.
“Yeah, yeah,” Max said. “Rub it in, you’ve made me a happier, healthier person.”
Don’t mind if I do!
“But yes. Now that I finally feel like I can. Like I’m strong enough to make a difference. Who knows, maybe I can do for someone some day what you did for me,” she said.
What, turn them into a girl? I mean, it would be pretty funny but what are the odds of you getting a trans girl on your first go? I was cosmically lucky, pun not intended.
“No, not turn them into a girl,” Max said as she resumed walking. Their place wasn’t too far. It was not a particularly nice neighborhood — from an urbanisation point of view. There were few trees, and half the streets didn’t have sidewalks. But at least the community was nice. Good neighbours. “I mean help someone go through the worst of it and come out the other side… healthier. More well-rounded, well adjusted of a person.”
I know, I was just teasing you.
“Rawr,” Max said.
UwU.
“You’re the worst.”
I get it from you, mom.
“Don’t you dare,” Max groaned as she entered her building. “The last thing I need is for people to call me Mommy. I feel old enough as it is. Hi, Miss H.” She walked past the older lady in the stairwell, waving and ignoring the stare. Everyone in her building thought she was just the strange girl from the third floor who talked to herself, and she was fine with that. Technically it was possible for her to talk to Penny without speaking out loud, but…
You like the sound of your own voice now? Penny offered.
“Yeah. Sure,” Max said. She unlocked the front door and walked into heaven. Soft music was playing, a new album she kept forgetting the name of, there was the gentle flickering of candles and the room smelled like…
Chinese food! Penny exclaimed excitedly. She got us dumplings! They’d discovered a love of cheap takeout Chinese food that nobody in Maxine’s memory could even begin to equal. Wait, there’s something else. Wine.
“Hey, you two,” Victoria said. Max and Penny both perked up the instant they saw her. She’d been sitting at the table, reading something, looking like a vision from a dream. They were sure she was wearing something gorgeous but neither of them had been able to tear their gaze away from her face.
“Hey,” they said. “We missed you.”
“I can tell.” Victoria smiled happily as she walked over. “It’s cute when you merge like that.”
“I’m not cute!” Max protested, but Penny wrested control of the body away from her.
“I am!” They said. Victoria giggled, then wrapped her arms around their neck.
“You are. Both of you.” Max grumbled in protest, but with Victoria this close by, she couldn’t find it in herself to protest. “Come on, I ordered in.” She walked over to the couch. There were several boxes of takeaway already on the small living room table. More than two people could ordinarily eat. But they weren’t two people, and they certainly weren’t ordinary. Max could feel Penny salivating. She had to clamp her mouth shut to keep from drooling.
“What’s the occasion?” Max asked as she joined her girlfriend on the couch, looking at the candles. “This all feels very… formal.” She jerked backwards for a moment. “Are you okay? Are… we okay?”
“No, Maxine Powers, I ordered you two’s favorite food and I lit candles because I’m breaking up with you.” She gently bopped Max on the head. “Yes, I’m okay and we’re okay, silly. I just wanted to… I don’t know. Touch base. The two of you have been put through the wringer lately and —" she shrugged "— I wanted to let you know that you’re not alone. Neither of you are an island. Hell, not even together. I’m here. Talk to me.”
Max sighed deeply and then slumped against Victoria. “Just… worried we’re doing the right thing,” she said. “Should we be doing more? Less?”
Ah,” Victoria said. “Moral philosophy. My favorite.” She grimaced. “This is why I studied astrophysics. Until we meet aliens, other aliens, official ones, all I need to be concerned about is the consistency of very distant balls of gas. I don’t envy you.” She gently stroked Maxine’s hair. Penny purred.
“And we want to do right by you, too,” Max continued. “We don’t want you to feel like you’re not important enough, or that we’d sacrifice ourselves without thinking of you and…” She sighed again. “It’s a lot. A lot a lot.”
“Well,” Victoria said, “I would like it very much if you came home every night, and if you didn’t die. Those are both pretty high up my ‘this is what I’d like from you being a superhero’ list. Other than that… I like you for you, Max. You and Penny both. Sure, you’re an over-thinker, riddled with anxiety and fighting depression. But you’re also incredibly kind and clever, and as long as you’re kind and clever, I know you’ll do the right thing.”
“What about me?” Penny asked. “I’m pretty clever!”
“You’re a little monster, a little gremlin creature from beyond the stars,” Victoria said with a little laugh. “You’re also the sweetest, most insightful alien I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. Despite the terrifying-yet-oddly-arousing forms you take, you are incredibly human, and I mean that as a compliment.”
“Then I’ll take it that way,” Penny said with a smile in their voice.
“Together… there is nothing you two couldn’t do if it meant helping people. You’ll figure it out.” She gave them a little kiss on top of their head. “And I’ll always be here to help, bringing your strange selves home to me. Now come on, let’s eat. The food’s getting cold!”
Penny nearly fell off of the sofa in excitement.
Elamimax
Ayyy we're back! By the way, there are still 30 more chapters for patrons at the moment! Consider joining up! It's really cheap, and you get essentially a free book every other month! Also, you know, supporting minority artists and all that jazz. But free stuff!
Anyway bye :3
