Numb and insensate, Max walked the entire distance to the Lighthouse overlook. The place where it all started - more or less. She felt like she'd come full circle. It was a day, much like this one, in early October. This was the place where Martinet laid it all out for her. Plied her with pretty half-truths, the spiel about saving the world. And how important it was to keep her safe from it, as well.
She begged him not to hurt her parents. And he did it anyhow.
She let the mental control she'd summoned up for the walk start to crack, then peel away at last, like scraps of burning parchment blowing away in the wind. From up here, she felt like she was the only person in the world. Prayed that no one was nearby, no one who would hear what was about to come out.
She took in the deepest breath that she could...
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Her cry reverberated in the woods behind her, startling the wildlife, and driving the birds away. Beyond the immediate buffer of the trees and the constant, gentle ocean breezes, she might have sounded like a fatally wounded creature giving one last defiant bellow; it was a perfect description for how she felt.
She fell to her knees in utter defeat, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Noooooooooo!" she moaned out again.
Every day, every lonely, terrible, horrific, dehumanizing day, every moment when she hit rock bottom, the only way she kept going was when she told herself it was worth it. William had been saved. Chloe would have the normal, happy life that she herself was denied. Max continued to endure because she was secure in the knowledge that her sacrifice had purchased happiness and normality for her best friend.
The one she adored since she was four.
And now, that sacrificed had been rendered meaningless. In barely a year.
She could handle - maybe - the notion there was some sort of karma in the world, some sort of balance. That William was always fated to die, and all she'd done is given Chloe a little more time with her father than she was originally allowed. That might have been enough to salve Max's wounds.
But damn Camilla Davies; she'd done her job too well. Taught Max to consider as many of the angles and variables in a situation as she could, based on limited data. To think outside the box, make intuitive leaps of logic. She only had a limited amount of raw talent for it, but that small amount was now honed to perfection.
"Yeah, well, not long after you left, she got big into volunteer service and shit."
Not long after...
In her mind's eye, Max catches the piece of fruit before it hits Alyssa in the face.
"H-holy shit, Max. That was amazing!"
"Just do me a favor and pay it forward sometime soon, right?"
Max trembled, stared out into the briny abyss from the cliff's edge, the wind whipping at her face, sea salt mingling with her tears.
I did this. I...I saved him. And then I killed him.
Like the single butterfly crushed underfoot in Bradbury's short story, Max's small, almost trivial-seeming acts of random kindness, on the day she was discovered by the SOAP, set a chain of events into motion that ultimately resulted in William Price's death. Another auto accident, just as before.
She was being punished. She couldn't make herself believe it was all mere coincidence.
What was the point? What was the point of any of it?
"Why!?" She screamed out again, towards the clear sky.
Why? Why give me this power, only to punish me for having it? Why make my life a living hell?
"All because I wanted to help people." she whimpered. "All because I wanted to stop other people from hurting."
She curled up on the ground; The setting sun glinting off the water, the clouds gently floating in the breeze, birds soaring on the wind currents. Peaceful, idyllic, lovely. A perfect counterpoint to the base, unremitting sadism of existence.
But there was still New York City. Millions of people dead, millions more injured or crippled. And she stopped that. She saved them all. Somehow. She couldn't even remember how she'd done it, and yet she must have...
How will you punish me now, God?
All she ever wanted to do was help people, and inspire them to help others as well, just like someone special had helped her once, a long, long time ago.
And with Alyssa Anderson, she'd succeeded. In the worst way possible.
I could have been just awful, you know? Mean, and selfish, and greedy. I could have run away. I could have made the world bow before me. But I didn't! I didn't! And it's not like I did any of the good things I did, expecting a reward. Not - not really...
"I didn't deserve it! I didn't deserve any of it!" she roared out, towards a world as beautiful and alluring as it was bitter and atrocious.
Still, It seemed something was punishing her. The universe? Time? God? What was she to do?
One idea came to mind: she was right on the edge of a rather sharp, sudden drop.
It would be so easy to end it all. To fling herself off the cliff, bring an end to this twisted mockery of an existence. Take herself off the field of play, and let the world go back to taking care of it's own damn problems.
What should she do?
Max pulled herself up herself up and sat back down on the bench. Bowed her head. She didn't have to wait long before the answer came to her in a slow burning flash.
Endure. Struggle. Inspire others.
If these good deeds and kind actions only pushed the universe to punish her, then the best way to flip Life, the Universe, and Everything both middle fingers was to continue to do better. To be the sand in the gears of the cruel and meaningless machine that was Reality.
She wiped her eyes, snorted through her nose, and stared out defiantly towards the horizon.
You will not stop me. Because I welcome your hatred.
And as the minutes ticked by, as the roiling surge of heartache and wrath and defiance drained from her body, Max heaved a huge sigh, flopped her head back, almost to the point where she could see behind her, and groaned.
"Well Jesus fuck...that was a little over the top, huh?"
While the pain of discovering William's death still was still as an aching throb in her heart, the absolute worst of it was passing, leaving her with the next order of business: what the fuck did she do with herself from here?
When she was going through the pockets in her cargo pants earlier, she'd found a compact satellite phone. She recognized the design as one Cammie came up with a while back. Useful for making a few untraceable calls, and if she remembered correctly, also had the ability to 'spoof' its location . The weird, disquieting thing was that Max totally had no memory of taking it with her, certainly not while she was gearing up at Zion. So where did she find it? New York City, maybe?
Because she must have been there. The ATM receipt in her pocket was proof of that...
She could go back to Seattle. Report in to HQ. Hope that maybe PAN-Opticon picked up something weird, something in the way she changed the flow of time, and then they'd believe her.
But even if everything went okay, was she really so eager to willingly walk back into her cage? Even one that was the only life she knew at this point? She'd forgotten what freedom, true freedom tasted like. How sweet. And the thing that made it so awful, at the same time: the fear of having it taken away.
It was like her eyes were opened at last, after a long, terrible nightmare.
God, I really was developing my own personal case of Stockholm Syndrome, huh? They had me so fucking beat down, I had to be kicked out of the door and back into the harsh light in order to see what was really going on.
Assholes...all of them.
Even Cammie and Alanna seemed that way to her at the moment, though God knows they were definitely the best of a bad lot.
And...I mean, it sounds like the SOAP wasn't so bad until Martinet took over, and then I came into existence and freaked everyone out. Totally kicked the status quo...in the dick. Heh.
"Fuck. You're doing it again, Max." she muttered, catching herself making excuses for her jailors.
"Doin' what?" a voice behind her asked.
A soft, gentle hand rested on her shoulder. Just behind her, Chloe was there, a soft, bright smile on her lips.
"H-hi." Max breathed out.
"Hey, SuperMax. Room for one more at the Fortress of Solitude?" Chloe asked.
"For you, Che? Always. Even Superman needs his...uh...Jimmy Olsen?"
Chloe flopped down onto the bench, crossing her legs and leaning in against her side. "Whaaat?! Bitch please, I'm obviously Lois Lane."
Max blushed at this, "Maybe...more like Wonder Woman." She felt the bottom of her stomach drop out, the way Chloe smiled at her. It felt terrible. And awesome.
Like something she'd love to feel again.
"Yeah, but Wonder Woman with the pants and the leather jacket, not the star-spangled panties and hooker boots." Chloe said.
Max giggled, wiping her eyes dry again. "That's totally more your style."
"You alright?" Chloe asked, her voice filled with concern, even as she removed the fattest joint Max had ever seen. Admittedly, it was also the first and only joint she'd ever seen.
"No. But I'm gonna be. I think." she whispered.
"I'm sorry, that was a really shitty way to find out, about Dad. I mean, I don't think there was a better way, although it would've probably involved you finding out first, and having time to process before being exposed to the Step-shit. Oh my God! Thank you again by the way for screwing with him, that was - ha ha! So fucking awesome!
Max nodded a few times, not looking straight on at Chloe; she needed to tell her the truth. About William and how he died once before, and how saving him was the trigger for her powers emerging. She couldn't keel something like that locked away forever, where the weight of it would slowly, poisonously gnaw away at her.
But the truth sure as hell didn't have to be told today.
"Believe I owe you an audience, for a story, right?" Chloe said. "So I'm gonna sit here, and smoke my dutchie, and if you like, I'll even pass it on the left hand side. Unless you're still straight-edgin'?" She winked, then added. "But seriously, no pressure. If it isn't for you then...hey, more for me!"
Max shook her head, emphatically. "Five years of trying to be the good girl. Fuck that, what did it get me? Five lost years, parents who don't remember me, and people dead or worse. Doesn't look like weed's killed you yet, so what the hell, right?"
"Yes! Das what I likes to hear! Fight the power! C'mon girlfriend, lets get you stoned. First hit's free. And uh, second and third, and so on." Max gently clamped her lips around the tip, as Chloe lit up the front end with an old Zippo.
Max puffed away, coughed hard to the point of choking, completely unprepared for the heat of the smoke.
Chloe laughed gently. "No..no...you gotta pace yourself a little, take it in sips if you're starting out. Here, try it again."
It took a few more attempts until she managed to get a lungful of smoke, at least such that it didn't make her hack and wheeze, and consider abandoning the entire effort.
A few minutes later, and she was already feeling...well...something. A definite something. A fun something! A buzz, a giddy sense of relaxation and warmth. A feeling that everything was actually pretty okay at the moment, and she really ought to just kick back and chill.
God, the first signs of sunset wereg magnificent; Max could stare at it forever. The cry of the gulls lilting and lovely. The sea glittered with a golden patina, as the sky brightly burned in shades of sapphire and violet.
Just like Chloe's hair.
Chloe must have caught her zoning out, and said, "Yeah. You're good. You're soooo good for now, no more. Trust me, you don't wanna get over-stoned your first time, and you still need to be able to concentrate so you can talk. But-but it's good yeah?"
Max giggled, rubbing her arms.
Oh man. Flannel feels awesome right now!
"Y-yeah. Good. I think I kinda like it, Che"
Chloe took a long, luxurious drag, and then held it for a good five seconds. She didn't bother to blow it, instead letting it bleed out as she spoke. "Maxaroni and Che! We're getting the band back together at last. I'll make a stoner queen of you yet!"
Max laughed now, tilting her head back and lolling it about. "Ha! Oh...oh fuck! Maxaroni and Ch-che...Oh God! I forgot about that one. Jesus...I missed you, Chloe. I missed this. I mean, we never quite had this shit before, but we had stuff like it. Age appropriate and everything, right? Every year, every day we had Our Thing that we shared, just the two of us. Whatever it was."
"Yup. And now Our Thing is weed, apparently. Anyhow, start talking. I'll just sit here and listen." Chloe wrapped a comforting arm around her.
Max found the physical contact reassuring, only heightening the warm and lovely haze she currently inhabited. "It was five years ago. I...there was...I found I accidentally went back in time somehow. Like two weeks back. Made a change that altered the future."
Stoned or no, she still wasn't in any shape to tell Chloe the whole truth right now.
Maybe even later this week. But now? No. I just can't.
"Oh yeah? What did you do?" Chloe asked. Max wasn't sure if she believed her, but she at least was listening without judgment.
"Um...I drew a butterfly on your fireplace. You know, so I'd know it was for real? And uh...your Dad took a picture of us, so I went and took a picture of you and your Dad together, as well."
Chloe blinked. "Is that all?" She paused quietly, at the mention of her father. "I mean, I remember those pictures. Some of my favorites. Pretty sure I still have them both. Oh wait! I think I remember that day, kinda. Joyce needed to get picked up from the diner, and Dad had to take the bus, because he couldn't find his keys for some weird reason."
Max paused at that, then nodded once,"Yeah well, I know it's going to sound crazy, but the picture of you and your Dad didn't exist before I went back in time to take it. And...and the Government found out. They have sensors and satellites, for people like me. We're called Specials. And...and they came into town and found me..."
She spent the better part of an hour, recounting the tale. Arcadia Bay's terrible fate, the one that would have struck had she not left the way she did. Why the whales and the birds were dying, why the snow flurry came. Why she suddenly stopped chatting with her, the last time they texted each other. What the government did to her parents. Her life in Zion Control. The people who were kind to her. The people who made her life a living hell. Everything up to and including heading off on her mission to New York City.
She let it all out, in almost one, non-stop narrative her hands becoming animated during the particularly intense parts. At times, Max needed to pause, pull herself back together lest she start crying.
Chloe listened all the while. Asked questions here and there. Laughed at some parts, and glowered with almost murderous intent at others. But she never mocked her, never cried 'bullshit'. She was Chloe and she was her best friend, and she listened, really listened.
And that made all the difference.
There was one aspect to it that Chloe immediately jumped on.
"Wait a fucking second! Shit! So some asshole was brainwashing your parents?" Chloe exclaimed with disbelief.
"Don't be so hard on him. Reese hated doing it. He hated it, and it kind of destroyed him in the end. He wanted to be good, do the right thing. It's easy to judge, what people do under orders, when you're outside the machine, looking in. I get that now. I hate it, but I understand it."
Chloe paused. "Wait...wait. Was he a guy in his thirties, kind of pudgy but still cute, black hair?"
Max nodded. "Yeeeah. And yes, if you're about to ask, you saw him, once. He was drunk, and broke down in front of you. Told you that I was being kept prisoner, and that I wanted to write you. And that I missed you. All true, by the way."
Chloe's eyes widened, gripping her head, absolutely incredulous. "Fuck! I...I thought that was a dream! Like I didn't remember it, and then, I don't even know when it happened. I guess when Rachel and I were...anyhow. So it wasn't a dream! Shit, dude!" She reached over, and affably slapped Max on the shoulder. "I remember most of it now! Holy shit, like...like I was about go all Xena on his ass, you know? Storm the castle and shit for you. Honest! Damn, That's so hella uncool. Fucking with my mind like that."
"He didn't want you to get hurt, Chloe. He slipped up, and he was just trying to protect you. That's all." Max said softly.
"Whatever! Pfft. Asshole." Chloe dismissed.
Max grinned. "But I know about you getting ready to kick ass in my name. I saw. He, uh, he shared those memories with me, or more like...he created copies of his memories in my head. So that I could see you, and see how you were doing. And if you want to do me a solid right now, give me another puff. I think my buzz is wearing off."
"Ha ha! Yes, yes, m'lady! We gonna git you down wit de reefer madness!" Chloe said, as she handed Max the remains of the still considerable joint, and lit it up for her.
Max took another long, greedy inhalation; it was getting easier with practice already. She blew the smoke out. The warm rush quickly returned, and Max called out, "Fuck you, DEA! America's precious secret super weapon is getting totally baked!"
They both dissolved into peals of hysterical laughter, almost falling off the bench. Chloe held on, supporting herself as she called out in a cheesy, Eastern European accent. "Yeeees, capitalist peeg-dogs! Your precious ZooperMax is now in our zexy, zexy clawtches!"
Max held out her arms, zombie style, and started to chant. "Must destroy...family values. Baseball. Apple pie." She stopped. "Oh shit! I could totally go for an apple pie! Fuck, I am starving." She turned to Chloe. "Are you starving? I think I forgot to eat for a whole day again. Jesus, I better break out the emergency rations."
Chloe took one more drag, and started to laugh again. "Munchies munchies, cha cha cha! Yeah, I could go for a whole bunch of In-And-Out Burger. They just opened up a new one in town." She paused. "Uh Max, what the fuck are you sucking down?"
Max had retrieved one of her emergency calorie packets, and was now slurping away from the silver wrapper. "'Ish calt Plumpy'Nut." she muttered with a full mouth. Swallowing some of it, she added. "It's for emergency treatment of malnutrition, but I take a few packets with me sometimes, because I get a little confused from time travel, and forget to eat as often as I should. It's kind of like Super Nutella and...ooooooooh fuck that's so good right now! Man, this stuff tastes way more awesome than I remember!" She continued finishing up her packet, while handing one to Chloe, who tore it open and tried a few nibbles.
"Wow. Your weird ass government superhero chow is surprisingly tasty, dog. Course, helps we're hella stoned." Chloe remarked, as she continued to take judicious bites.
"Ha ha! Oh my God, we totally are! This is the best! I actually kinda love this!" Max cried out, wiggling in her seat.
Chewing through the cocoa peanut butter paste, Chloe asked. "Okay, serious talk time again. Max, I wanna believe you. I totally do. I'm working my way there. This story though, about time travel, and superpowers, and fire blasting women, and smart hot British chicks and government assholes and...on one hand, it's too good to be true. I mean seriously, can you blame me for thinking it all sounds like you went crazy and made up a weird ass delusional fantasy world for yourself?"
She took another small drag before continuing, "On the other, it makes too much fucking sense. I mean seriously! What happened to your parents. Shit, what happened to me! I...may not believe you as much as I should, okay? Not yet. I'm trying my best to get there. But I don't think you're lying. Does that make sense?"
Max nodded once. "Ya-huh." she murmured, mouth thick and sticky as she worked some of the paste off her roof of her mouth.
"So...so what are you gonna do now, then? You saved New York City, but you can't remember how you did it. And you don't have this metal doodad with all the proof that you were out on a mission. So now if you go back, they're gonna think you ran away from base?"
"Something like that. Probably" Max nodded. "I'm fucked. I'd probably be freaking out over it more, except...between the weed and being home, and being with you. I just don't care. At least for the moment. I don't care as much as I probably should. Maybe it's like shock, and later tonight or tomorrow, I'm going to totally freak." She paused, weighing over the enormity of what she was about to say next.
"I...I don't think I'm going back, Chloe. It's different now. Compared to when I was being watched non-stop, and they convinced me that having what little life they were starting to give me was as good as it was going to get. That it was all I could hope for...but I'm out here now. I'm smoking weed for the first time, I'm hanging out with the girl that..." Max turned, and looked at Chloe with an intense gaze. "The one they made me give up hope of ever seeing again."
If there was one thing she couldn't forgive them for, aside from what was done to her parents, it was that. Making her lose that hope.
Max continued. "It's all different now, out here. Not to mention that something so terrible happened to me, that I can't even remember it. I mean, I'm assuming it was terrible. I don't know how to explain it, but I just have this feeling in my gut. Something broke me, on that mission." She shook her head. "So no. I can't go back, Chloe. If I do, it's going to kill me. Bit by bit, day by fucking day. That much is obvious."
"Wait, so doesn't that mean you're going to end up being a fugitive from the Feds?" Chloe asked.
Max didn't even hesitate. "Yeah. It does. I mean, as much as this has been awesome, I probably need to get ready to head off tomorrow. I'd probably be running now, except I seem to have somehow gotten out of the base without my tracker on, so that's awesome! And all their satellite trackers only really work when someone Emerges. That was years ago for me, and while Davies might have built better sensors, there's a kind of natural background radiation that exists here, that I added to years ago, that's giving me a sort of shield. And if they were expecting me to be in New York city like, hours ago, then they may not think to start looking out here for a day or two."
Tucking away the empty wrapper in her pocket, Max continued, "Still, I gotta hit the road, get some distance between me and the rest of the US. All I've got is one set of clothes and three hundred bucks and a few more packs of Plumpy'Nut, but there are places I can sneak into, across the Canadian border. Catch a boat to Iceland, beg for political asylum maybe."
"Uhhh...sounds like maybe you've given this more than a little thought over the years, Maxima." Chloe smirked.
"Just...just a thought exercise. You know, like if a mission went bad, and I had to escape. Uh, kinda like now, I guess?" Max demurred.
"Suurrre. But...wait! No...you...you can't leave tomorrow! You just got here, dog!" Chloe whined softly.
Max shook her head. "Can't stay, Che. Too dangerous. Fuck, bad enough you know what you know now. Putting you and your family at risk."
Chloe grabbed her arm gently and pleaded. "Look..just...just stay. Okay? I mean, not forever, but a week? Three days? Just more than one lousy night! What's the worst that happens if you really get caught? You were so screwed up when I found you, so obviously something really bad happened to you right? Like maybe you got caught in an explosion or hit on the head. If they find you here, we'll just tell them you had amnesia. That you barely remembered who you were, that you thought you were thirteen again. Or whatever. But you didn't say anything about any superpowers to me of course, and whatevs. Maybe you'll get lucky, and it'll just be your friend, the one that shoots fire, who finds you. She sounds cool. And cute! Anyone who drinks rattlesnake juice sounds absolutely hella cool. And then I'll...something something, distract her, and you can run away again."
"You know...it may be the weed talking..." Max started.
"Speaking of which, here, one last big drag, you know, to continue your evil brainwashing." Chloe handed Max both the joint and the lighter now, letting her blaze away on her own.
The last drag left her lungs aching, her throat burning, and her head floating on cloud nine.
"...but...but uh. Um. Yeah. What was I saying? Oh right...you were talking. With your plan. Huh. That might work. As an idea. But we have to do a few things, to not make it so, you know, obviously unsafe." She handed the Zippo back to Chloe.
"Liiiike?"
"Ummmm...like, I should wear a hoodie outside, as often as possible, sunglasses too. Keep a low profile. You got more hair dye? I should dye my hair. And we'll need to stay away from any major surveillance zones: bus depots, airports, sporting arenas, casinos." Max began to tick off the points of her plan.
"Aw shit! Really? But I was gonna drive us up to Chinook Winds and see if your power could win us more cash!"
Max blanched. "Geezus Chloe, casinos are more heavily monitored than most military installations!"
"Alright, alright, no worries. My dreams of instant wealth and power have been so totally crushed." Chloe paused. "Wait...no wait. What about keno? Keno is like in every fucking podunk bar in town, even the ones that are part restaurant, and you can play it if you're eighteen. It's not a lot of money, but if you tell me what numbers to pick, we'll have the rest of the money I need in no time!"
Max blinked. "Oh. Oh fuck. Oh fuck fuck fuck, that could kinda work! I mean, we'd have to keep the individual amounts small, hit a few places..."
Chloe rose up, tugging at her arm. "C'mon. We can grab some take out, and then we'll drive home, and I can start on dying your hair, and plotting our evil plots to make the world bow before us. The only other color I have is black though, that ok?" Chloe asked.
Max giggled. "Black. Black and blue? Ha ha! Yeah. Yeah that's awesome. Really, we'll be awesome. For cereal."
Chloe guided her down the path to the truck. They gorged themselves on cheeseburgers, fries, and milk shakes once they reached the local burger shack. She proceeded to fill Max in on the highlights - and lowlights - of five years worth of pop culture, events, music. Anything she might have missed during her cloistered existence in Zion.
They sparked up just a little bit more, to keep the high going, quickly sneaking past Joyce and David without being noticed when they got back to Chloe's house, and then rushing into the bathroom.
Max was leaning over the tub, as Chloe prepared the dye.
"You know, this reminds me of a computer game I just finished playing. came out a few months ago." Chloe mused, as she started to rub, slow, soft and deep against Max's scalp.
"Mmmmmhmmyeah? Was' it called. Was' it about?" she asked.
"Gone Home. It was...ah...about a couple of girls. Our age, really. And they're riotgrrls, total authentic, 'cause the game, you know, it takes place in 1994. And they make 'zines because the Internet didn't exist back then, and they go to concerts, and one of the characters dyes her hair, her friend does it for her and..."
Max smiled to herself, as she listened. It really felt nice, Chloe rubbing her scalp like that. Close.
Intimate.
"...and she talks in her journal about how intimate just getting the dye job was." Chloe said, as if reading her mind.
Max rubbed back against the fingertips, just a little bit, smiling happily, as she replied. "Cool. Cool game, Che. Sounds kinda like us."
"Ah. Hah. Yeah. Maybe? They...they run off together. Because one of the girls, she's about to join the military, and the other she...well...anyhow, like I said, they run off together."
Max could hear the catch in Chloe's voice, but she was too sleepy, well fed, and stoned to make anything of it. Just way too happy to care about much beyond focusing on the feeling of contentment, between a belly full of fries and Chloe's hands on her head.
A half hour later, she washed the dye out, Chloe's fingers returning to her scalp, rubbing her head under warm rivulets of water.
Max toweled. off, and apprised herself in the mirror. Turned her head this way and that, watching the smile on her face blossom.
"Ohhhh yeah. Look at me. Yup. I'm bad." She started to preen. "I'm gonna gel it, slick it back in the morning. Sooooo bad. Evil! I'm like...evil drunk Superman in that old, old movie." she murmured.
Chloe giggled and asked, "Oh yeah? Which one was that?"
"I think it was called Superman: The Drunkening."
They dashed back into Chloe's room, giggling all the way, closing the door behind them.
"Well, Evil SuperMax. Welcome to the Chloe side. We have cookies." She tossed a package of Little Debbie wafer snacks at her. "We also have movies, which you and I are totally gonna watch now. Staaaarting...with. You said Canada right? Like yeah, you'd run off to Canada? Here, this one is cool." Chloe started to rummage through her DVD rack, until she pulled out a slim case; an obvious bootleg copy.
"Rock And Rule?" Max asked, uncertain.
"It was made in Canada though. That was my point. But It's good. Oh shit, it's so good. Like cheesy good. You just trust me, okay? "
Max spread herself out on the pile of pillows that Chloe laid out on the floor and then smirked upward. "Seems I really don't have any choice. I'm rather powerless to resist your wicked charms."
They both burst out into laughter again, and curled up together watch the movie. It didn't make much in the way of sense to Max, but any cartoon about a post-apocalyptic world ruled by mutant animals and demon-summoning rock music was absolutely the shit right now.
Still, she couldn't entirely fool herself. Her potential doom was still hanging over her head. She was Damocles. The sword of chaos, held back by the slim thread, was ever threatening. She glanced up for a moment, at the ceiling as if she could see that sword suspended above her.
Well, if I'm screwed...then fuck it. I'm screwed. At least I'm in the best place to make a last stand.
A/N: Hey Swanketteers, it's Black Swan Saturday! And so Monday comes to a close with the three parter that was my favorite thing to write thus far. My thanks as always to the ever awesome Corentin IV, to whom I'm sending extra loving vibes tonight. She knows why. *hugs*
Oh! And while I'm at it, I have started following not one, but TWO awesome medieval LiS AU series that have recently premiered. Long time Awesome-Friend-Of-The-Lyta Theodur launched Closer Than Sisters, which is a mashup of LiS and Dragon Age. I don't know much about DA, but I'm liking what I'm seeing! Also, Not as long time, but still Awesome-Friend-Of-The-Lyta rowanred81 is publishing Wyrd Ways, Strange Days, set in an original medieval, swords and sorcery setting. And shit, I totally need to catch up on the latest chapter.
So seriously, check them both out, give them both love!
Speaking of Gone Home - which by the way is awesome, and you should play - Ashley Burch's latest episode of "Hey Ash, Whatcha Playing" addresses the topic. I wrote this chapter weeks ago, so it was just a happy coincidence :-D
The next couple of chapters are going to be a bit of an interlude, filling in some of what happened to Max in New York City, and what Cammie and the Gang are up to right now. And then by chapter 18, it's the Max and Chloe Show again!
Have a great weekend folks...and happy belated Veterans Day as well!
Also: Rock And Rule is awesome. There, I said it.