more than meets the eye

Maxine Bennett || 37 || Actress

[maxine-bennett-blog]

Asami Sato and Maxine Bennett

Hardworking, Kindhearted, Mature

Both Max and Asami have been undermined or looked down upon for both their beauty, renown, and wealth. Max is an actress in a business where she is easily written off as a pretty face who makes money for standing there and looking nice while Asami is the daughter of a wealthy businessman and written off as having things easy because of her wealth and money. Despite their favorable circumstances, both Max and Asami are hard workers and never take anything they have for granted. Max has worked for decades to get where she is and trained in her craft while Asami has a keep business mind and a good understanding of mechanics (what her father’s company revolves around) so that she is rightfully able to take over the company after him.

Both try to use their standing and abilities to help others. While both do have their emotional moments and can get angry, they are highly collected and mature, making sure to think with their brain as well as their heart. Because of this, neither holds grudges and are quick to forgive within reason. Both are happy to be a pillar of support for their friends and will always make themselves available if their loved ones should need a shoulder to lean on.

[maxine-bennett-blog]

nathan-morrissey-chi:

Nathan was starting to let frustration get the best of him. No matter what approach he used, this woman seemed to be nothing but annoyed and frustrated with him. Maybe she was exactly like how he imagined those L.A actresses to be. Self centered women who thought the world as out to get them. 

“For all it’s worth. I’m thinking you’re being a bit paranoid.” He said, having his eyes on hers. “I get how my words can be misinterpreted, but that doesn’t mean I meant it in a bad way. But with how private you have been, and how you send out the double standard of helping strangers, but calling them out on whatever they say.. I guess maybe you are hiding something.” He didn’t care if she was going to kick him out at this point. It wasn’t all that much further to walk. 

“And it wasn’t a vacation getaway… Alright… And it isn’t somewhere private… but I guess now you’ll never get to find out just what that place was” Yeah… she was probably exactly like those other divas. “And before you ask.. yes.. I’m fine walking from here.” 

When Nathan snapped at her, Max did have the decency to feel a little guilty, but she also knew she was within her own right to protect her privacy. She was hiding something. She was hiding who she was because it being late at night and her coming right off of a several long hour flight, she wasn’t in the mood to deal with fans and assumptions. Maybe she shouldn’t have offered the ride to begin with, but she’d made the commitment now.

“Look, I understand you’re just trying to be nice. I do. But I don’t need a tour, and I can’t afford to go off on mystery adventures whenever I please.” Even if she wasn’t actively working towards auditions and meetings in Chicago, she still had the other side of the business. Publicity, interviews, her schedule was packed and the free time she did have she preferred to spend with people she knew.

“I’m not kicking you out into the cold,” She turned back to look at the window, content to sit in silence until they arrived at wherever he lived. Sure enough, a few moments later, the car pulled to a stop outside a building, waiting for him to step out before driving off again.

[maxine-bennett-blog]

nathan-morrissey-chi:

“I didn’t mean that I literally owed you, it’s just a figure of speech. But sure. I’ll pay it forward.” He said with a light shrug. Sure, he was disappointed that she hadn’t agreed to it, but then again, he knew it was a long shot and had an idea the answer would be no. Well, since it seemed like he had nothing left to lose, then there was no further point to keep pretending. Yet he was starting to enjoy talking to this woman as an equal. If he let her know that he had recognized her, then he feared it would just lead to more arguments. 

Maxine seemed content with the way her life had to be lived, and why should she be? It was the price she paid to do what she loves, wasn’t it? If someone truly wanted to make it as an actress, then fame, rumor and paparazzi become a normal part of life. Yet he couldn’t quite by it. It seemed to easy. How could some enjoy never being able to let oneself go?

“What if I wanted to?” He asked, with light in his eyes. He knew he had so much to learn from this woman. “What if I wanted to show you a side of Chicago you’ve never seen before? Where nobody cares who you are, or what you’ve done, they just care what’s in your heart. A chance to spread even more goodness into the cold heart of Chicago.” He knew exactly where he would take her, and he hoped it would do good for even more people that just the two of them.

Max frowned when this man kept making generalizations about her rather than taking no for an answer. She was used to people making assumptions about her and her lifestyle. It came with the territory of being a famous actress, but she’d been under the assumption that Nathan didn’t know who she was…at least she had been until he started talking about people not caring who she was or what she’d done.

“I assure you, there’s no side of Chicago I haven’t seen that you could possibly show me.” She’d grown up in the city all her life. It had raised her. She’d played on it’s streets and gone to it’s schools, been looked at with scorn by security guards in the gold coast, and gone to numerous shows at it’s theaters. She knew the little hole in the wall restaurants and the best times to visit the tourist attractions without being overrun by tourists. This man was certainly presumptuous.

“What do you mean by that? Who I am. What I’ve done.” She turned to face him fully now. “I think you have some kind of opinion of who I am. You’ve spent ten minutes with me, and already you think you have the perfect vacation getaway for me? Let’s be straight. The cryptic descriptions aren’t doing anything for you, and that is most certainly not the way to lure a woman to go anywhere with you in private.”

[maxine-bennett-blog]

nathan-morrissey-chi:

Nathan nodded slowly, his brows risen into an impressed expression. He hadn’t made it exactly hard, but she had still put the pieces together fairly quickly. “I’m impressed.” Still, he rose a finger to correct her. “But you missed on one small detail though. I’m not an aspiring writer, but a screenwriter.” He tilted his head to the side with an uplifting smile. Maybe it had been what she meant, but she still didn’t want to create that misunderstanding. There was a big difference between the two art forms. 

“I agree with your word choice though.. what I consider authentic… because in 2018.. none of us are really truly authentic, are we? If we don’t alter the truth, at least we make sure to keep some stuff out. often hiding the very thing that makes us special.” Nathan had done it himself and still did it. He never really spoke about his father’s side of the family, or how his father denied him any of his millions to chase after his dream. 

His gaze returned to the window as he thought of Maxine. How hard it must have to be for her to ever be authentic. Never know who would leak a story to the tabloids, or who would use it to emotionally manipulate their way into her life, or into her industry. He could imagine just how little authenticity she had been facing. “ Alright, I’ll stop asking about your story alright. Let’s focus on the present. And before you shut me down completely just let me remind you that some fun impulses are healthy for the human mind!” 

“So! What is one thing you really want to do while you’re in Chicago? And how can I make it happen? I owe you, don’t I? After you saved me from that freezing cold.”  He slowly took a glance over at her with a calm hopeful look on his face. Hoping she would accept it. “Just please don’t say you’ve always wanted to kill someone.. because I might not take you up on that.” 

Max rose a brow at his correction. So he was one of those sorts of industry people. As far as she was concerned, a writer and a screenwriter were one in the same. A writer was a more umbrella term, but she could admit that it wasn’t her job, so she couldn’t know the intricacies of it. She knew better than to go in on that topic though. People in the business could be very particular about the specifics of things like this, and she was on her downtime.

She sat quietly while he explained his point of view about authenticity before weighing in herself. “I disagree. Authenticity is life. It’s everything, all of it, even the bad and the lies. Only telling the truth for the sake of being authentic isn’t by it’s very nature authentic because no one does it for honesty’s sake. People aren’t just one thing. They change and adapt throughout life.” This was what she’d meant by perceived authenticity. It wasn’t as pretty as people liked to think it was.

She shot him a look as soon as he told her not to shut him down. It could only mean he was about to suggest something she wasn’t interested in, and she wasn’t wrong. “You’ve missed the point. It’s not about owing, you don’t owe me anything. Or if you feel like you need to owe me, then pay it forward instead.” There was nothing in Chicago she couldn’t do if she didn’t want to, and she knew better than to step out with a strange male off the street, both from a personal safety standpoint and from a how the paparazzi would take it stand point.

“It’s really fine. You don’t need to take me up on anything.” She’d already been exposed to enough scandal after the coffee shop incident with the crime scene. She had to be especially careful of how she went about doing things while she and her publicist tried to recover her reputation. “Knowing you aren’t freezing is enough.”

[maxine-bennett-blog]

nathan-morrissey-chi:

Nathan had to chuckle about her question concerning other people. “You’d be surprised about just how much people do enjoy talking about themselves to strangers when they finally get a chance. tourists especially… And that’s coming from someone who has worked as an Uber driver for years.” He shocks his head, remembering all the conversations he had experienced as an Uber driver. There just seemed to be something about the thrill of meeting a stranger and getting the chance to pour your heart out. “Some don’t even need alcohol in their system.” 

He nodded when she mentioned family. It was the exact same reason he had come back to Chicago himself. And the only thing making him consider staying in this town. “That’s fair.” He said in response.

When Maxine asked if he was from L.A he once again had to shake his head, but a calm smile was visible on his face, glad that she was finally trying to have a conversation. “I’m from Seattle actually. L.A has never been my sort of thing. Seems to be all about competition, money, sex, and explosions. Haven’t been there though so I could be wrong. And I know it’s not all bad.. just wouldn’t want to let a city like that change me. So why bother giving it the chance?” He was silent for a moment, contemplating what to say next. “No.. I want to write stories that matter. Stories that move people and make them experience the world around them in a new way. You know what I mean?” 

“That may be true, but it’s one thing for them to freely give the information and another completely to ask a stranger for stories,”she shrugged. She had no trouble believing there were people who loved to talk about themselves. Her industry was full of them, and if he was an uber driver, then no doubt he was told many a story by many a drunk or high passenger. It did sort of explain his outlook on strangers.

Max listened quietly to Nathan’s interpretation of LA. He wasn’t entirely wrong, but she didn’t agree completely. She found that what he described was more a nature of the business than the city. The two were just so intertwined it could be hard to tell, but once again, she was wary of how much she actually wanted to bring up about the business as it would only invite more questions about what she knew.

“So that explains it then.” The pieces suddenly fit together. “You’re an aspiring writer looking for people’s stories to inspire you. That’s why you feel the way you do about LA and that’s why you lead with that question. You’re looking for what you consider authentic.” Though what authentic really was and what it was perceived to be were two very different things, and it was hardly as black and white as it seemed.

[maxine-bennett-blog]

nathan-morrissey-chi:

When Maxine started speaking again he looked back over at her, hoping she was better at small talk that how he seemed to be doing. And althought it wasn’t typical small talk, she made some fair points about his behavior. “Well.. I guess we both got a wrong first impression of the other, as I would think that someone who invites a stranger into their car would be more outspoken as well..” If not lonely. Yet he didn’ t dare to speak those last three words and make everything worse. 

He looked back at the traffic, wondering how the world most seem like to her. He had never had a need to worry about his privacy. Most people had no idea who he was, and there wasn’t much to gain from leaking his secrets to someone. It had to be so different from her. She couldn’t trust most people she met, and he was guessing that it was so easy for people in her life to take advantage of her fame. It seemed lonely indeed.

“I just flew into Chicago myself, last month. So I’ m also sort of new to the city too.  Although I grew up here, I haven’t been back in 7 years.” He offered her a polite smile. If he couldn’t ask about her, perhaps it helped to have shared a little bit about himself. “May I at least ask you what brought you here? Since you mentioned how you just flew in. If it’s your first time here then I might have a few recommendations.

Max shrugged, “You don’t need to be outgoing to do a nice thing. I saw you freezing out there and thought I could do something good.” She’d been the kind of person to lend a hand even before she’d become a star. She always liked trying to give back or pay it forward. “Do most people you talk to tell you their story in the first five minutes of meeting you?” She tried to start a conversation of some sort that didn’t need to have anything to do with her.

When he turned to look out the window, Max also glanced out hers, watching the snow lined streets roll by in the darkness. Even at night, the city was still bright. “Family.” She’d been in LA for work, but she knew better than bringing that up as a topic. It would only lead to questions about what she did and that was not a conversation she wanted to have, especially in the wake of the videos from the crime scene she’d been spotted at. That was a whole other slew of questions she didn’t want to deal with.

“My parents and sister live in the city, so it’s not my first time here.” She turned her head to look at him. “You’re obviously very interested in film if you’ve cited a meet cute. Should I assume that means you’re from LA?”

[maxine-bennett-blog]

nathan-morrissey-chi:

Great. Nathan had been the presence of a well-known actress for less than five minutes and had already made a fool of himself. Of course, he knew she would know the romantic setting the word was usually put in after he found out her identity. “I’m sorry.. once again.. I didn’t necessarily mean meet cute in a romantic way, even though that is where it’s mostly used. I just didn’t know you would pick up on it. Or jump to conclusions” He looked down at his shoes, pressing his lips together, wondering how he could get himself out of the situation.

Eventually, he looked back over at her. “Max.. I expect nothing more out of this evening that a ride how and a funny story to tell my friends. And on the topic of me being outgoing.. I would disagree. Yeah.. I might not be shy, but surely.. you must be able to tell by now that I’m not very good at small-talk.” He shook his head, not feeling satisfied with himself. It seemed like most of what he was doing at this point made everything weirder. Conversations were just so much easier when they were written down as dialogue. He took a deep breath and turned his head to the window, focusing on the streets passing by as they drove into the night. “Idiot..” he mumbled about himself under his breath, far to low for anyone else to hear.

Apparently meeting strangers was a skill he would need to work on. That, or this Maxine was just a hard nut to crack. He had never really needed to work to make friends before. In high-school, he naturally fell into the group of film fanatics, and so he made more connections in the same group much easier post-graduation. Here in Chicago, no one knew him, no one cared, except for his family, and so he wondered once again if it would be better to just sell everything in his father’s name and move back to Seattle. 

Max could see the young man becoming deflated before her, and she did feel bad, but she didn’t necessarily regret her immediate reaction to him. People in the public eye like her had to be careful. It wasn’t uncommon that stars could come across stalkers. She’d learned to be wary of people who asked the big questions first. Pair with that that she was actually an introvert and Nathan’s outgoingness had been quite a shock to her system.

“A meet cute is typically used in a romantic context. You can see why I would get the wrong idea. I wouldn’t really call it jumping to conclusions.” Maybe for someone who didn’t know what the word meant, it was, but if anything, she’d never heard it used outside of a romantic context until Nathan had tried to use it as that.

“Well, I wouldn’t be that harsh on you, but I could agree that it’s not a skill you go about delicately,” she offered him a small smile. Small talk could be hard, she understood that. She’d been there. It was only after years of interviews and award shows and meetings that she’d forced herself to learn the skill.

“Try to look at it from my perspective. Granted, picking someone up off the side of the road is not a hugely brilliant idea, but you’re a stranger who jumped in right away asking me to basically tell you my life story. That’s cause enough to give me pause I think, even if you didn’t mean any harm by it.”

[maxine-bennett-blog]

nathan-morrissey-chi:

Nathan was just about to ask the lady where she had flown in from but decided not to when he noticed how she was sending out a negative energy, apparently, he had crossed the line by asking if he knew her for anywhere, or perhaps it had been to ask her for her story. Well, he didn’t want to offend the woman who had saved him from the freezing cold, so it would be better to take a step back.

“I’m sorry if I came on too strong, Madam.” He said with a calm smile, wanting to explain himself. “You see I’m a lover of stories. Films especially, and I couldn’t help to be intrigued by our unique meet cute.” It was a term normally used in reference to when the lovers of a romantic comedy meet for the first time, but Nathan liked to use it for important character meeting in general. “It’s when two lead roles in a film meet for the first time, often creating a misunderstanding or event which sets the stage for the rest of the movie.” 

It was as he was talking about film that it dawned on her. That was where he knew her from, film. If he wasn’t mistaken, he had just been picked up by the acknowledged actress Maxine Bennett. Yet she had been anything but eager to reveal herself when he found her familiar, and he feared that asking about her identity again would be to cross the line, so he kept his mouth, feeling a little embarrassed that he had just tried to educate an actress in how movies worked. “Well.. I think I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Nathan. Pleasure to meet you” 

Max couldn’t help but look at the man like he was crazy. She was often very level headed and she handled a lot of things well. The crazy life of a movie star had trained her well. She could handle fans and paparazzi with finesse, but when this man who she didn’t know, who was already a bit peculiar apologized for coming on too strongly then proceeded to describe their meeting as a meet cute.

Now Max wasn’t bothered by the fact that he explained a film term to her. She had plenty people try to teach her things she already knew. One of the downsides to being an actress in Hollywood was that the men of the business didn’t tend to respect you and over-explained everything to you. It was the fact that he’d just insinuated they were potential lovers within five minutes of meeting her.

“It’s, um, don’t worry about it,” Max gave the man a smile though it was a bit strained. She definitely didn’t expect to be dealing with something like this at this time of night. “That’s really  urm…sweet, but I hope you don’t expect too much out of this…meeting. It’s just a ride. No need to look too far into it.”

Even as unnerved as Max was, she was still going to be polite, although she’d take extra steps not to reveal herself. Knowing this man was a film fanatic made it seem all the more likely his reaction might be big if he found out who she was, and Max was still too jet lagged for an altercation. “Max. Pleasure. You’re a very, er…outgoing young man, Nathan.”

[maxine-bennett-blog]

nathan-morrissey-chi:

“Well. I lived in Seattle for 13 years, and trust me, I’ve experienced worse. And I have a car.. actually.. I have.” He was about to admit how his father’s garage had four of them but got cut off by the driver asking for his address, which he gladly gave him. His gaze returned to the good Samaritan as she chose to call herself. “Well.. I guess we’re both lucky we found each other then.” He replied, leaning back and making himself comfortable as he removed his scarf and beanie.

“So what’s your story?” He asked, looking at her intently. Why was this woman, wealthy enough to have a driver, yet humble enough to give a stranger a ride? She either had to be trying to make up for something, or she had had too many bad experiences to make sure no one would ever go through what she had to go through. And he couldn’t quite figure out which. And with all this in mind, he still had a weird sensation that he knew her from somewhere. “And have we ever met?  You look oddly familliar..”

Max raised a brow as the man stopped himself from speaking and then changed topics altogether. “Well whether you’ve experienced worse or not, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s smart to stay out in this weather too long.” She didn’t know if she’d classify it as lucky that they’d run into each other. It was just a matter of circumstance. She didn’t gain anything from helping him. She’d only been trying to do something good.

“My story?” Even if she hadn’t been an actress who had no intention of outing herself to people that couldn’t figure it out for themselves, she wouldn’t have exactly been eager to give her full life story to a stranger she’d met two minutes ago just because she’d done something nice for him. She was kind, but she was careful. “I’ve just flown into Chicago. This is actually a car from a shuttle service that I scheduled to come pick me up.” All that was true. Neither the driver nor the car were hers. “I’m afraid not.” She wasn’t a fan of the intensity with which the man was looking at her. She hadn’t expected an interrogation when she picked him up. “I can’t say I remember ever seeing you before.”

[zoranelsonxx]

Blow Us All Away || Maxine and Zora

[maxine-bennett-blog]

zoranelsonxx:

@maxine-bennett

The camera flashes briefly blinded Zora as she smiled big for the photo with the President and a few others from the museum. Tonight was a big night for her and her boss. They had come across a rare Georgia O’Keeffe painting that any museum would be happy to have. Zora went to a party that her grandparents’ friend was hosting in Winnetka. She didn’t want to go but she owed her grandparents a lot. While she played the part of “sweet and darling granddaughter” for all the rich folks, she found herself wondering the mansion only to find a study with an unusual painting. 

After months of negotiating and lots of ass kissing from both herself and her bosses, she was able to get the painting on loan from the couple. It was then her boss, the head curator, gave her the job of putting together this special exhibit and opening in honor of O’Keeffe. It was a rare and great honor but it was the chance to show off her work and really put her name out there. “Hidden in Transition: The World of O’Keeffe” was Zora and her bosses ode to the great American artist and to celebrate this new piece. Yet Zora knew that for folks to rally get into this exhibit, they needed a well known face to help them promote the whole thing.

After a lot of wrong turns and wrong numbers, the PR coordinator was able to find Maxine Bennett’s manager. Zora had mentioned that she saw the Chicago artist in town not too long ago at the museum and that maybe they should try and see if she would be interested in speaking at the opening. She was classy, smart, well spoken, and to Zora the perfect person to introduce the main attraction. Once she was done with the picture, she looked around the room for Maxine to thank her. The painting hadn’t been revealed yet so there was still tie before the actress had to speak. Finally spotting her, Zora quickly grabbed some champaign and walked over to the actress with a friendly smile. 

“Thought you might like a glass.” she said, offering the actress one of the glasses. “Thank you again for being free to come and speak tonight. Having you here really elevates the importance of this reveal.”

Despite the police woman’s best intentions during the altercation in the coffee shop, she hadn’t quite been able to gather every phone and stop the photos and videos from leaking. People didn’t care that videoing a crime scene could be problematic for the police, they only cared about what it looked like: actress Maxine Bennett being detained by the police at the scene of a crime. Max had been trying to stay out of the spotlight altogether, but this did nothing good for her reputation and her publicist was less than pleased.

As soon as the pictures and videos had come out, they issued a statement about how Max had been helping a police officer in trouble, the the public didn’t like the truth. They liked spectacle. Ever since then, her publicist had been scrambling to try to find a way to spin her reputation back into a better light. That opportunity came in the form of the young woman she’d met in a museum not too long ago. Somehow, she’d managed to get a hold of Max’s information, and convinced her manager that it would be a great idea for her to speak at an art opening.Of course Max was happy to do it, but she was more impressed by the woman’s gumption.

As she stood at the gathering sharing small talk with the patrons, she glanced over to see Zora coming over and smiled warmly. “That would be lovely, thank you,” she took the glass gratefully. “Oh no, I’m happy to do it, and trust me, this event came at a great time. I’ve actually been meaning to tell you, I’m very impressed you managed to get through to my manager. That’s not something everyone is able to do, you know.”

[maxine-bennett-blog]

nathan-morrissey-chi:

Nathan nodded slowly before he entered the car and sat down with the generous woman. She had been surprised, and she had the right to be so. His appearance, nor his attitude was something you could expect of a young man from his neighborhood. But then again, it wasn’ t really his neighborhood. It had been a decade since he called it home.

“Just because you can afford something doesn’t mean you need to buy it.” He said with a shrug, to answer the lady’s question. “I was visiting my cousin’s a few blocks down the street here and decided I would take the CTA for old time’s sake. That was until an even more intriguing option came along.”  He tilted his head and looked over at her, being equally as confused as she probably was. “Tell me.. is it a habit of yours to pick up strangers on the sidewalk? Or are you just trying out something new?” 

“Yes, but a car is a pretty basic thing to want to buy.” True, Max didn’t have one of her own at the moment, but that had more to do with her strange living situation than anything else. There wasn’t much use in owning a car when you spent half your time in LA and half your time in Chicago. It simply wasn’t practical. “Well to be fair, when I offered you the ride, I thought you might be freezing out there.”

She shrugged as the car started to move again and the driver asked the stranger for an address to take him to. “I wouldn’t call it a habit, no. More that I try to be a Good Samaritan. I know it could have gone poorly, but I’ve got Mr. Jones here, so I’m not alone, and I decided to take a chance. Better to take the risk and do something good, I think.”

[maxine-bennett-blog]

nathan-morrissey-chi:

Nathan looked over at the sound of someone speaking to him, at least he thought it was him. It wasn’t like there were a lot of other people to choose from in this cold weather. He found it surprising, even weird that someone would drive up and offer someone a ride, especially in a town like Chicago. Perhaps the city had changed the last decade, or maybe this woman was a unique exception. Nathan was never one to turn down an adventure, or the possibility to make a great story for the next family get together, so he decided not to decline her request. 

“Need? No.. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t start taking permanent damage by this cold for at least another hour or so. However, a man would be stupid not to admit that he wouldn’t want one, especially in this weather.” He made his way over to the car and looked at the other woman. “I’m heading to Gold Coast. If it isn’t much trouble then I would love a life, yes.”

“The Gold Coast?” Max raised a brow when the stranger gave his destination. Anyone from Chicago knew that the Gold Coast was where the rich lived, as if the name wasn’t enough to give that away. It seemed odd that someone of those sorts of means thought it was a good idea to walk out in this kind of weather when they could easily drive or be driven home.

That, paired with the man’s strange philosophical way of talking, and Max could only assume he was some eccentric rich kid. It gave her an even better reason to get him in the car and give him a lift before he slipped on ice and hit his head on worse. “Well you’d better hop in the car and we can get you to wherever you’re going. If you can afford to find your own way, why are you walking through the slush at this time of night?”

[maxine-bennett-blog]

deputy-marshal-avery:

“It means if there is trouble, I can deal with it.” Leland grumbled, not quite sure what Max wanted, he was a cop, so clearly any trouble he was in was legal (the truth of that could be thought about later). How much could a lady want from a stranger she picked off from the streets. His brown eyes slid over to her, and he itched for something to drink, but the car was warm and he didn’t want to provide her another reason to be kicked out.

“Listen lady, you do realise we lay our lives down so you can have this very nice car drive you to your home, instead of gettin’ mugged on the street in the middle of the night. Have a little gratitude.” 

He scoffed at Max’s questions. She was so very testy, he was reminded of a squirrel trying to be fed. They run off even though you’re feeding them. He was just saying words and yet some how she was finding offense. This was Leland being kind. God knows how’d she’d feel on a bad day at the office with him. “I just called your driver a damn driver, by god’s lady, you love busting balls. I’m thankful to all of ya, thought you normally save that once you drop me off, so pardon the delay.”

“Look Sir, I don’t mean any trouble.” She obviously wasn’t going to openly point out the fact that police didn’t exactly do much to put people like her at ease. If anything, they put them on high alert. “It’s nothing personal, really, but the last time I ran into a cop, I helped her out and then she turned around and accused me of being associated with the crime.” That much was true, and wouldn’t cause a huge debate she was hoping to avoid.

“So you’ll understand if I’m a little cautious. I honestly don’t want any trouble.” It was clear that this man wasn’t an entirely friendly person, and he had very strong beliefs. As much as Max tried to be kind, she was wondering if it might have been better for her to leave him to trudge through the snow, and yet at the end of the day, she knew she never would have been able to.

Now that she was getting a better idea of his temperament and his position of authority, Max was much more inclined to keep to herself. Being a celebrity wouldn’t keep her safe, even if he knew who she was. It was actually better she not bring it up or he might find reason to have even more of a vendetta. “No, I don’t love busting balls, I just…” she took a deep breath. It would do her no good to get frustrated. “Never mind. I appreciate your thanks.”

[maxine-bennett-blog]

Maxine Bennett Moodboard

[daisyridley]

Gugu Mbatha-Raw being adorable for Vanity Fair

[maxine-bennett-blog]

miss-florence-taylor:

So, perhaps this hadn’t been the best idea that Florence had had. She’d only been in the city for two months, two months of not knowing what street lead where, and not knowing what shops were just around the corner. She had walked out of her apartment with a spring in her step and a desire to meet people and get to know the city – and now she had found herself in the Museum, specifically The Loop (she believed it was called), and she had a passport in her hand. The map was all sorts of confusing, and a heavy sigh passed through her lips as she headed through the doors to the Aquarium floor. 

The cool, dark blue hue of the room calmed her slightly, and a nervous hand ran through her brown locks as she moved over to the first tank, praying that one of the creatures inside matched one of those she was looking for. “How am I supposed to see the clown fish if it’s hiding in an anemone?” Florrie spoke without thinking, the worlds coming out a little louder than intended.

Max was back in town for the week after another week of meetings and auditions out in LA, and it was wearing her down. She could feel the tiredness in her bones, and with the photos that had come out of her at that crime scene two weeks ago, she’d been bombarded with questions. All she wanted was some quiet time to herself, so that morning, she donned a some jeans, a hoodie, and some sunglasses to try to blend in with all the tourists visiting the museums.

She wound up at the aquarium, walking through the dark hallways lit by tanks when she found a vaguely familiar figure standing in front of one of them speaking to herself. Max usually had a good head for people and names, and the fact that she couldn’t place this person was driving her nuts. “I’m sorry,” she said softly so as not to scare the young woman. “I could swear I know you from somewhere. What’s your name?”

[maxine-bennett-blog]

deputy-marshal-avery:

“I’m always on the look out, never know when life can hit you with a rotten apple.” Leland murmured vaguely as he settled into the seat. He couldn’t stop himself wincing, his ribs hurt more than he was expecting, probably bruised to all hell. He could feel his eyes on her and wished absently that he had his hat to cover his face partially, he was never a fan of interest. Cops with interest about them tended to be dead pretty quickly, his large stitched scar told him as much.

He let out a breath at her questions. He was glad for the free ride but he’d have liked the disclosure about being put under a microscope before he decided to ride in one. Leland wasn’t the kind of guy who answered questions, he was the kind go ask them - normally not very nicely. He thought about his reply for a moment and just shrugged. “Maybe a little bit of both.”

“Don’t worry sweetheart, I’ve got a badge, you won’t be getting yourself in no trouble. You and your…driver.”

Once again, Max wondered what kind of man Leland must be to be so concerned about suddenly being ambushed by, as he’d put it, a bad apple. She watched him silently, the way he held himself, the way he winced when he moved certain ways. She’d been taught to observe people through her job, and this man was something to observe.

From the one word answers, she could tell he wasn’t a very talkative sort. She rose a brow when he told her he had a badge as if that was supposed to reassure her. “Pardon me for saying so, but knowing you have a badge isn’t doing a great job of convincing me that trouble doesn’t come along with you.” She wasn’t an enormous fan of cops. They always brought trouble wherever they went, and she’d just had an awful run in with a blonde cop not too long ago to solidify that believe. “If anything, they cause more trouble than they solve.”

“What is your fixation with the driver? He’s hardly mine, he came with the shuttle service, and he’s doing a wonderful job. He allowed me to have him pull over and pick you up from the middle of a snowstorm, so you could show a little gratitude.”