Max stands in surprise at his front door. Josh's attention suddenly closing in on him as he stands there without speaking.
"Jeez dude, who is it that's got you so spooked like that."
Josh put his cereal down and stood up walking over to check it out. As he reaches the door he pulls Max out of the way and instantly locks eyes with a very red Emma Embers.
"My oh my, its the strong woman! Hey are you gonna throw me again?"
Josh stepped back putting his guard up.
"T-Throw you?! I-I'm sorry I-If I hurt you."
Emma put her face into her hands as steam flowed off her head from the heat of her face.
"W-Whoa I was joking its all good."
"E-Emma how did you figure out where I lived?"
"I-I asked Jim where you lived so we could do more work together. I-I know we worked a lot yesterday, b-but I wanted to show you more designs I worked up."
Josh sat there confused holding a thinkers pose while Max and Emma continued talking.
No way this is the same woman that threw me on my ass, or even took down that giant robot. Something weirds going on here.
Josh then shrugged and went back to his cereal.
"That makes sense I guess, Remnants closed for a while due to the robot attack so..."
Max leaned back in to see Josh laughing out loud while eating cereal.
"We... Probably won't be able to get much done here. Why don't we go somewhere else?"
"O-Okay!"
Max rushes back in leaving Emma to stand outside by herself for a second.
"Alright listen, I'm going to go do some work. Please clean up a bit you've been making a bit of a mess."
"Oh come on its not that bad."
Look around the room, labels for both Max's and Josh's stuff starts popping up. Mostly pointing out loads of Josh's clothing and boxes all over the floor.
"You know it was cleaner two days ago."
"That's because you moved in two days ago!"
"Huh, that makes sense. Felt longer honestly."
"Speaking of which! WHEN ARE YOU GOING BACK TO WORK!"
"Don't worry Cap! I'll return when they need me."
"You're on the programming department. You are needed!"
"Nah, Lars has it handled."
"You need to stop feeding that guy his ego."
"Ha, Lars is a chump."
"..."
Max picked up one of Josh's shoes that was right beside him and launched it at Josh. Hitting him in the face forcefully. Causing Josh to throw his cereal up and causing a mess everywhere.
"Aw man! What the f***! I stepped in dog shit yesterday!"
With a blank stare Max opened the front door.
"When I get back I expect this place to be cleaned up."
Before exiting to leave with Emma.
"W-Whatever how hard can it be to clean."
Josh stood up covered in milk and lucky charms.
"Yeah I'm sure I can do this... I think."
*Outside with Max and Emma*
"So you had some more designs sketched up? Can I see them?"
"Y-Yes!"
Emma hands over her Sketchbook with the pages already set to the new designs.
"Wow, is this the main character corrupted?"
"Y-Yes I thought we'd take a hero to villain e-ending."
"That'd be interesting, I wonder how we could incorporate it. Do you have any ideas?"
"M-Me?? I-I just draw, I'm not very g-good at coming up with story things."
"But you designed this great concept art you've got to have something in mind."
"W-Well what if he lost his love interest?"
"...Wait."
H-Have I thought of that path? I mean I've been stuck on keeping the hero the hero instead of developing him into something else.
"Tell me, how do you come up with stuff like this?"
Emma shortly smiles as she blushes regularly at the thought of her next words.
"Well, I just think love is a strong emotion and one of the best emotions a person can have. If someone was to lose that love it would turn into many things. Most of the time it can turn into hatred or despair."
Max feel into a trance while listening to her speak. For some reason everything she was saying was mesmerizing and relatable.
"But even after all that, we still go out and look for love because we crave it and its such a beautiful feeling."
Emma looked over at Max, and locked eyes with him immediately. Suddenly her face being turning red and she took several steps back to put space between her and Max.
"Wow, I didn't know you could talk so passionately about things."
"I-I just got l-lost in thought! T-That's all!"
Max chuckled as he continued looking through Emma's sketchpad, till he stumbled onto a page with small doodles of him.
Emma quickly took the sketchpad from him and held it to her chest.
"I-I was just p-practicing! T-That's all!"
"They were accurate, except you were missing one thing. Max lifts his glasses up to his forehead and points a little low under his left eye. I have a small freckle here. If it helps with your... Practice."
Max smirked as he lowered his glasses and continued walking onwards.
Emma stood still, face red, sketchpad against her tight chest.
"You coming or are you going to stand there all day?"
Emma snapped out of her trance and quickly rushed to catch up with Max. While putting her sketchpad back in her pack.
"S-Sorry!"
As they walk Max glances at Emma a few times trying not to get caught. But Emma just continues looking forward with her beet red face.
*Lee Park, At Night*
"I've always wondered. How do you fit everything in such a small bag?"
"O-Oh! U-Uh its kinda like magic. Or in video game terms an inventory."
"Is it endless?"
"S-Sort of."
Emma and Max sit on a pair of swings, looking up at the night sky. They sit in silence as the breeze blows through slightly. The street lights and moon producing enough light to see each other in the dark.
"Did you memorize me after only looking at me a few times?"
"W-What?!"
"For your practices, did you do that from memory?"
"O-Oh! S-Some were yes. Others were from when you were super into your w-work."
Max smirks but its hidden slightly hidden from the darkness.
"A-Are you mad at me?"
"Huh? No, no! I wouldn't be mad at you for something like that."
"R-Really? P-People usually g-get upset with me when I draw them."
"Wow, I'm sorry. That's incredibly awful of those people. But I'm not like that."
Emma swung in silence, pondering on Max's words.
"M-Max... Can I ask why that robot wanted to-."
"Kill me? I-It's complicated. But... Basically my Ex turned evil and has been trying to make my life miserable. At first it started small, bad rumors, blackmail, manipulation, and even going so far as to corrupt my work progress."
"S-Scary..."
"She wasn't always like that. But I guess I'm to blame for it. I'm poison to people."
"I-I'm not exactly peoples favorite either... P-People dislike how shy and t-timid I am. It annoys them or irritates them. That's why its hard to meet people."
Max holds onto the chains of the swing and leans all the way back.
"I guess that means we're on the same page. We're both misunderstood..."