Who: Splendid splendid & Max madman What: Clarity/Awkward Kiss When: Backdated, December, During the Wish Plot Where: Splendid's Place Rating/Warnings: Low/Some Vague Insanity Status: Closed/Completed GDoc
~*~
The snow was lovely. Splendid honestly hadn't expected to see any after she moved away from New York, but it appeared as if they'd have a white Christmas. The very thought made her smile as she stood in front of her kitchen window holding a cup of hot chocolate. Valerian was sleeping peacefully in his crib, down for his afternoon nap after his last feeding and Splendid was enjoying a little bit of time to herself.
She had absolutely no complaints about the fact that she didn't get as much alone time these days, but she was going to enjoy the few moments that she was able to get while she could.
Splendid sipped on her chocolate, eyes still focused outside watching the snow as it fell.
There was nothing more serene or beautiful in her opinion.
Pushing away from the counter, Splendid moved into the living room, and sat down on the sofa. The television was on, playing softly in the background so that she could hear Valerian over the baby monitor if he woke up from his nap. The Holiday was on, one of her favorite Christmas movies and she was lost in it for a good twenty minutes when a knock came at her door.
Splendid's brows furrowed slightly, her heart beat quickening in her chest from fear, a feeling all too familiar now. Putting her cup off to the side, Splendid stood and moved quietly toward the door. Peering out the peephole, she breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Max even if she hadn't been aware that he was coming over.
Splendid didn't mind him stopping by, he was always welcome at her home.
"Hey," she greeted as she pulled open the door and moved away so he could entire, "come on in. Would you like some hot chocolate?" She asked, shutting and locking the door after he'd entered.
~*~
Clarity weighed heavily on Max Rockatansky's shoulders. He felt strange, seeing the world through sane eyes. There was something bitter about everything in spite of the beauty of the snow. He could see the things he lost all the time when he was sick in his mind. This reprieve was its own kind of Hell. Max had chosen to go to see Splendid and Valerian because he needed to see them at least once while he could see.
Sanity had him shifting from foot to foot as he looked Splendid over.
Her body was perfect. No woman could come close to her in her perfection; it was unbelievable to think she would spend time with the likes of him willingly. Splendid should have a man who kept her protected at all times. She should have a husband who worshipped her. In the dreams, she'd had a keeper, a master, a key-holder. In this world, Splendid was her own woman yet she looked no happier.
"I've always liked something warm to drink on a cold night. Never cared much if it was sweet. May I come in? I've my mind about me. Seems to be a Christmas wish come true. Or something of the sort."
Max wasn't certain it was a good thing he was sane. All his memories were back in full force. They haunted every breath he took in. There was nothing pretty about some of his remembrances. He'd seen death in war. He'd seen death in his home. He'd witnessed the death of his wife and child. Max could remember everything when he was sane. It wasn't necessarily good to have it all clear inside his mind.
~*~
Her brows furrowed low over her eyes. That was more words than Max had ever spoken to her during the time that she'd known him, or at least it felt like it was anyway.
"Of course you can come in. You're welcome here anytime." She moved away from the door to allow him to come in. Once he'd entered her home, Splendid shut and locked the door behind him and thought for a moment. "Well, that's an interesting turn of events I suppose." Splendid was happy as long as Max was happy, for that matter she was happy whenever any of the people she cared for were happy.
"But something warm to drink is a thing that I can do." She gave a nod of her head toward her kitchen, and then moved around him to move into the kitchen. "So how are you liking it? Is it better or worse than?" She glanced over her shoulder at him, a curious brow raising.
"And tea or coffee instead of hot chocolate?"
~*~
"Coffee. Black."
Max made his way to the couch in the living room. It was a familiar port in the storm currently waging through his life. He didn't know how to answer Splendid. She understood the madness he suffered in this life though she had known little of him in the other. They were not those who had been given enough time in the Dream World.
Which was his fault.
His alone.
If Max had not wounded her to make a point, Splendid would have lived. She'd given her life and the life of her child to save the other wives. All Max had done was take. His survival had resulted in his taking much from many. Furiosa and the wives were only one story of many in Max Rockatansky's long, long life as a survivor in a world where there was nothing to be gained from anyone save more time.
Time for what? Breathing in and out? Struggling to keep on keeping on?
"I think it's worse," Max decided, nodding an agreement to himself, "The madness makes it all farther away. It may hurt in ways I can't find words to express, but the lack of words? That makes it some easier. Can't say having the words does anything except make me wish I were still mad. Sane? I know what I'm missing. Make any sense?"
~*~
Moving to the kitchen quickly, Splendid took a moment to grab a coffee cup and a K-Cup from the drawer that she kept them in. A few moments later, she emerged with a fresh cup of cocoa for herself and a cup of black coffee for Max.
Handing it off, Splendid took up residence where she'd been sitting previously. She shifted on the couch, pulling one leg to tuck underneath her before she reached for the remote to mute the television. Now the only sounds were the static coming over the baby monitor and Max's voice.
Curiously, Splendid canted her head to the side, brows furrowing until a line appeared between them. "It makes sense." She responded with a nod, "With the madness things are jumbled, sane? Well, it's all right there." Splendid worried about Max, she couldn't help herself, and she knew that he placed all of the blame of her death in the dreams squarely upon his own shoulders.
Splendid had been angry after he'd shot her, in real life and in the dreams, but honestly it could've been worse. He could've damaged her leg badly enough to where she couldn't walk, and thus she wouldn't have been able to put herself between them and Joe.
"You'll be fine, though. I'm sure it's hard and it hurts, but you have us here to talk to about anything." Splendid meant that too, she was always happy to lend an ear to her little family to make sure that they were all taken care of. "And if you don't talk to us when things are bothering you? We'll all gang up on you and gab until you do." She teased with a smile and a wink in his direction.
~*~
Gangs were real in The Other World. The War Boys who'd followed Immortan Joe were nothing compared to those who'd been under Toecutter's command. Max had gone mad from the gangs waging their war on what was left of the world after. He still couldn't manage to remember what had caused the world to end. There were holes in his memory even though clarity had been restored to him and Max was grateful for them.
Some questions didn't need to be answered.
"I don't like talk of gangs. That's what they were. The ones who killed my Jessie and my boy. They followed a man called Toecutter. Ran them down in the road. I can't remember much about---I have holes still in my memories. Those? I'm grateful for just like you. I'm grateful for you."
He took a deep drink from the coffee. It should have scalded his mouth, instead it made him feel warmed.
"All the same, you don't gab. You're not the gabbing type. What type are you, Splendid? I've not figured you out except that you're good."
~*~
Splendid's brows furrowed, a line appearing between them. He'd never shared with her how they'd died before, perhaps that was just another part of the clarity he was feeling. Splendid's lips turned down into a frown, "I'm sorry. No more mention of that then." The frown she sported was quickly replaced with a smile, "And I'm grateful for you too, Max."
That was a simple truth.
Splendid didn't know how she'd manage to survive without all of them there. They kept the darkness in her soul at bay that sometimes dared to consume her. Splendid was strong, but everyone had their breaking point. She thought she was going to come to that a few times, especially when she'd been dreaming.
"Fair enough." She laughed softly with a small shrug of one shoulder, "I don't know if I fit into any type. At one point I was a spoiled rich kid, but…" she paused, swallowing hard, "things change. Sometimes life doesn't work out the way you've planned it, or think that it will go for you. Now? I'm just me. I just live each day as it comes, and try to show the people I care about that I love them." It was the best answer that she could give him at this point and time, Splendid didn't enjoy talking about things that had happened in the past.
~*~
"I have never been a wealthy man. Not in the sense you mean. Working class here. Military and then on to over-the-road driving. Logistics as they call it. In my Dreams? I had a wife and a perfect son. That made me feel wealthier than any man alive."
Splendid came from a world of privilege. She was the result of very good breeding and very good raising from what Max could tell. There was a sophistication to her which made Max wish he could offer her more than the care of a sick man. He was a sick man, too. Mental illness lurked in the dark recesses of his mind the way cancer hid inside the body's organs until it was too late to save anyone from it.
He reached out to trace his finger down the soft slope of her cheek.
Perfection.
There was no wonder Splendid had been collected by Immortan Joe for his harem. She was everything a man could want only more. Other women didn't compare to her as Max saw it. Her beauty was in the fierceness of her love, the purity of her heart, the kindness with which she treated others. Splendid was the perfect name for her because of those reasons and more. Max was grateful she'd give him the time of day.
"Here? I'm wealthy because I've you. Can't offer much. Can love you. Cherish you. I know what you're worth. That's something isn't it?"
~*~
"I can understand that." Her eyes briefly went over the baby monitor, and she could understand all too well what Max meant. No one could fault Valerian for anything, he'd not had a say in the circumstances of his conception, but Splendid could make sure to give him a wonderful life. There was never any need for him to know anything about his biological father either as far as she saw it.
The touch to her cheek surprised her.
She'd not known Max to be a physical man, although he had held her once or twice while they'd watched a movie and napped.
A light smile tipped up the corners of her lips, "That is something." Reaching out, she captured his hand with hers, and laced their fingers together. It'd been a long time since a man had treated her with respect, with love and adoration. Splendid wasn't sure what to think of it other than it all made perfect sense in a world where things didn't make sense a lot of the time.
"I think we both deserve it, and I think that we could definitely be wealthy in all of those ways." Maybe things could work out for them here, however, there was a niggling thought at the back of her mind. What if after everything returned to normal things were different? Would the madness make Max change his mind?
Splendid didn't know, but she was willing to try.
~*~
Clarity didn't make Max a smarter man, only one who was no longer insane. He leaned forward, bumped his nose against Splendid's before tangling his fingers in her hair and pecking her lips with his own. It wasn't enough to even be a kiss except her lips were as soft as they looked, softer than her cheek, and Max was scuttling back as if he were being burned. Splendid hadn't asked him to do that.
Kiss her.
He had no right.
"Sorry. I had no right. I'm sorry. I care for you. That's the truth. I care. I can't tell you properly when I'm a madman, but I care so much for you."
Max squeezed her fingers as he tried to convey to her he didn't mean her any harm. He'd never take what he wasn't offered. Max understood how much Splendid was worth because he understood her as a woman, as a person, as a friend. It was his own fault he couldn't offer her more than friendship and it was his own fault for trying to offer it all the same. She deserved to be treated better than he could manage.
"I don't need to touch you. I don't. I want to. Sometimes. Even when I'm mad and I know I can't do anything about it thanks to my drugs. Is that bad? That I want to touch you?"
~*~
Splendid didn't even have time to register what was happening until it did. She was confused as he moved back away from her, a line appearing between her brows as she tried to figure out what exactly was going on with him.
"No, you're fine. Don't...don't be sorry." The kiss from Max hadn't been unwelcome on Splendid's part, even if she wasn't ready for other things, a little physical contact didn't bother her so much. The kiss had barely been a kiss, and it was perfectly fine.
She returned the squeeze to his hand, a soft smile gracing her lips as if in understanding. She knew that he would never hurt her, or put her into any situation that she was uncomfortable with.
"No, it's not bad. It's normal, actually, cause I've found myself thinking the same things." A light blush touched the apples of her cheeks, "For now, though, I'm not ready for anything like that, so it's okay. We'll cross that bridge whenever we get there, alright?" She was trying to be accommodating to him and his needs as well as her own.
"What about we just snuggle on the couch and watch a movie, or just sit and talk some more?"
~*~
Nodding almost frantically, Max raised their joined hands to his face to press soft kisses against Splendid's knuckles. She wasn't angry with him. He'd no idea why he'd done what he had. There was no reason to kiss her. Max couldn't be a man with her the way she'd want a man to be with her---not even sane as he was at present. He'd have to let the drugs leak out of his system before that would be a possibility.
As his Dreams unfolded, Max wondered how truly mad he was or if he was simply someone who chose to hold back everything in fear of losing anything else.
He was a man who'd already lost too much.
Max Rockatansky didn't have anything left to give up.
"Yes. Movie is a good idea. We'll sit here. I'll hold your hand. We'll be normal."
They could pretend to be normal for a time. It wouldn't last forever. Max knew there was something suspicious about his sudden clarity. He also knew there was no way he'd trade this moment for any other. Splendid made him feel safe. Strange to think that a man his size was comforted by a woman of hers. Sometimes safety wasn't about physicality at all. Sometimes it was about keeping the monsters at bay and Splendid was a bright enough star in the sky to chase away all his nightmares.
"Normal," Max repeated.
They'd just be normal for the night. They'd worry about tomorrow when it got there.