This is less than ideal.

‘I feel like you’re not taking this seriously.’

I promise you I am. Serious like a pavement to the face.

‘Alright, smartass. I can tell you’re being smug. I can feel it. What are you hiding?’ Maxine resisted the urge to petulantly cross her arms in mid-air as she began her descent. Talking to Penny was becoming easier, she noticed. They were starting to communicate at the speed of thought. In theory this was definitely a good thing. It meant that they’d be able to formulate ideas and plans a lot faster than if they had to say things out loud. Right now, however, it meant that she had to look forward to witty banter all the way to the ground. 

Not necessarily, Penny said with a smug little wink and Maxine realized she could barely remember what it was like not to have Penny in her head, and that she didn’t want to. Smug and coy and sassy as they were, there wasn’t an aspect to their personality she’d want to change. She finished that thought and realized that Penumbra was, for all intents and purposes, blushing. She couldn’t help but smile. Flustering Penny was no mean feat. Listen. Shut up. Anyway, thank you. Then she felt the polite nudge of the symbiote feeling their way into the spotlight without forcing her out, and she stepped back. With curiosity, she observed. She wondered briefly if they’d grow wings. Not quite, Penny said as the wind roared past them. It was getting quite loud, and they rushed along the shattered windows of the skyscraper. Victoria’s window would be coming up in just a second. 

It was always interesting to feel Penumbra move her body. They always moved with a deliberateness that she lacked, presumably because they were much more aware of every small movement than she was. They flattened their arms against their body, and she felt a tingling sensation across the oily skin. Then they opened their limbs, starfishing in mid-air, and their fall was instantly slowed down dramatically. Being in the back, Maxine could feel what was going on, but she barely understood. It wasn’t until Penny carefully tilted their body forward to move towards the building that comprehension dawned. 

“Did you grow a wingsuit?” she asked with incredulity as they now glided through the air. Penny grinned with satisfaction and did a barrel roll. She could feel it, and she wondered if Penny’s appearance changed according to their mood if they were fronting. “Did you watch some kind of extreme sports documentary that I don’t remember?”

Nah, Penumbra said as it aimed for Victoria’s window. They still had a lot of speed, but it was incomparable to the speed with which they would’ve hit the ground if they hadn’t slowed down. Flying squirrels, baby. With that, they tried to rotate their body as gracefully as possible. Partly to avoid breaking something, partly to avoid that something being Victoria’s floor. It would have worked, if it hadn’t been for the small carpet. When Penny tried to land on all fours in the living room, three out of four limbs made contact with the rug, which was not attached to the rest of the floor and was immediately carried on by their momentum. They had only a moment to come to terms with the fact that they hadn’t stopped when they should have, and that Victoria was standing off to the side of the room, absent-mindedly sweeping glass, before they, carpet and all, slid across the wooden floor towards the kitchen.

The kitchen island crunched when they slammed into it, but it was solid enough not to be too broken by the impact. The marble countertop, at least, was intact. Maxine observed all this while slowly peeling themself off the side of the kitchen island and falling backwards. They hit the floor with a soft thud and looked up at the ceiling for a moment. ‘You okay?’ Penny groaned. 

Having a body is hard work, they said. Still not convinced it’s worth it. Maxine giggled for a moment and then reminded them that bodies allowed for food and also possibly kissing. Strong arguments both. Counterpoint: ow. Victoria’s head appeared above them, upside down and concerned. 

“Max?” she asked. Both Maxine and Penny were excited to see she was still okay. They’d been slightly worried she would have freaked out over everything but she still seemed to be coping. She hadn’t run away, at least. 

“Hi,” they said. Maxine cleared her throat. “Hey. Sorry about the, uh…” She looked at the ruined furniture and the shredded carpet, “Y’know.” Victoria didn’t even look at it and instead walked around and knelt down. 

“Are you okay?” she asked, and Maxine sat up. Penumbra slowly retreated until it was just Max sitting on the floor again. Everything was sore. Being decked by a magical version of themselves had hurt. Well, it was good to know they could hit harder than a good season finale, at least. 

“I’m fine,” she said, and several joints popped as she sat up. The crack her neck made was especially gnarly. She smiled sheepishly at Victoria. “I promise.” She looked at the apartment. It was still, indisputably, a mess. Vicky had done what she could to clean up the glass but it was everywhere. “Are you?” Max added. Victoria nodded and helped her up. 

“Yeah, I called the Masters and then realized it’s like, three AM there. But after I told them what happened they couldn’t be mad.” Maxine raised an eyebrow. In her experience, rich people came in only two flavours with regards to their possessions: completely callous and uncaring, or completely possessive. “They said not to worry about it, and that they’ll have someone come over as soon as possible to get a new window installed and they’ve hired some cleaners to fix the place up. There’s also going to be a guy who’s going to assess the damage to see what furniture needs fixing… I’m sorry, I’m rambling;”

Max put a hand on her arm to reassure her and felt that that wasn’t enough. “Can I?” she asked and opened her arms slightly. She knew from experience that an event like that could leave people shocked, and as romantic as it probably would have been to sweep her off her feet --  like a knight in shining armor taking the princess in his arms, the mean voice in her head said -- Victoria’s comfort was more important than Maxine’s theatrics right now. Victoria nodded softly and Max pulled her in for the hug. “You’re fine,” Max whispered softly. “You’re doing really well, especially considering the situation.”

“Thanks,” mumbled Victoria, and relaxed onto Maxine’s shoulder. Her breath on Max’s ear was making her heart do a little cartwheel but she tried to focus on what was important right now. 

“Do you want to sit down?” Victoria shook her head and pulled away a little, observing the room with a resigned sigh. 

“I don’t know. I want this cleaned up, but there’s going to be people here for that tomorrow. I kind of want to go to bed.” She looked at Max again, not pulling away from the embrace, putting their faces in lethally close proximity to one another’s. Max’s blush got worse but she was in no mood to remove herself from the situation. “What happened?” Victoria asked, but the breathless way in which she said it made it hard for Max to focus.

“Oh,” Max said softly, trying to look everywhere except Victoria’s eyes. She knew if she looked in them she’d be lost, a gibbering mess on the floor. “You know. The usual. Super person with power on the roof.” She barely managed to raise her voice above a whisper. 

Earth to Max. This woman is in shock. Penny was right, of course, and Max shook her head softly and took a small step backwards. She didn’t want to take advantage of Victoria’s addled state of mind, and she was already getting mad at herself for even considering going along with the woman’s need for company. Stop that, Penny said. If that was traumatic for her, it impacted you too. You’re running on adrenaline and some other chemicals I can’t quite place right now. 

“Okay,” Max said, in equal parts to Penny, herself and Victoria. “You need to get some rest, and we need to get out of this room. This high up, it’s going to be freezing in here tonight. Do you want to stay anywhere else?” She looked around the room. Victoria shook her head and the spell was broken. 

“No, but the bedroom is pretty well isolated. I think I’ll stay here tonight. That way I can be here when the people get here tomorrow.” Max nodded and looked at the broken window. It went from the floor to the ceiling, and even though her fear of heights had been pretty much conquered with Penny’s help, the thought of going close to that edge was terrifying. It was just a hole in the side of the building. She wondered if everyone else would be okay, and she wondered which of the distant sirens were cops and which were ambulances. At least the people living here would be able to afford repairs. That’s when she realized that there was someone living in the apartment she’d all but forgotten about. She looked around and relaxed when she saw a big ball of fluff that, hypothetically, had a front and a back and possibly four paws somewhere in there. Tilly was curled up and asleep, although her tail was still a little puffed up, the only proof she’d even been aware of what had happened. 

“Are you going to be okay, V?” Maxine asked. She didn’t want to go home, of course, but she also didn’t want to push Victoria into discomfort or, possibly worse, pressure her or take advantage of her. Victoria nodded thoughtfully. When she looked Maxine in the eye, the thousand yard stare of shock was already melting away, and Max couldn’t help but wonder what this girl had been through to rebound so quickly from weirdness. 

“I will be. Right now, I think I want two things,” she said, and Maxine raised her eyebrows as she could see the gears beginning to spin. Victoria looked around the room until she found what she was looking for, a laptop bag adorned with a host of stickers of small creatures, most of them furry or fluffy. She grabbed it, then went up to Maxine and took her hand resolutely, then led her to a door. It was only after she was pulled inside that Max realized that this was the master bedroom. It took her breath away. It was huge and so was the bed, beautiful satin gray sheets and an abundance of pillows the likes of which she had never seen before. The room was tastefully lit. It looked like something out of a catalogue. She could barely contain her ‘whoa’. Victoria threw the bag on the bed and unzipped it, retrieving a small laptop. Compared to the opulence of the apartment, the laptop itself was clearly cheap and good almost exclusively for, Max assumed, writing a paper on. “What I want,” Victoria said as she booted up the laptop, “is for you to tell me everything about the person on the roof.” She plopped herself down on the bed and was quickly joined by Tilly, who curled up against her after headbutting her thigh for a few seconds. 

Victoria looked at Max and her focused expression softened. “I would also like to not be alone. Unless you want to leave, of course.”

Max shook her head so fast it gave her and Penny both a headache. Ow.

“I can stay on the couch,” Max said with a little smile. She wanted to offer Victoria as much space as she might need. Victoria just scoffed.

“Nonsense. Right now, that thing is probably about as comfy as a cheese grater. The bed is big enough for both of us.” 

Max tried not to panic.

‘Aaa,’ she thought.

Aaa, Penny agreed.

Elamimax

Up and down like a yoyo.

So I've been trying to make writing my official profession, and while I'm also talking to publishers, I'm also relying on all of you through my Patreon. I want to do this for a long time, and I can only do that with your support. I also have a twitter (here).

I also want to point people at the discord server of the ever-prolific QuietValerie (right here) where you can find her wonderful stories, like Ryn of Avonside, Falling Over and The Trouble With horns, as well as other authors' works, and talk about them with fellow fans, and even the authors themselves! I heartily recommend joining it and reading their works! 

Thanks again for reading, and I'll see you all in the next one. 

<3