(Props to Sam Kieth, as I am borrowing heavily here from his most excellent characterizations in The Maxx series to tell my own impure fiction.) In the Real World, Maxx is the alpha, the disturbed alter ego of a bisexual Computer Science professor who's real name is Professor David Wright. Maxx has an interest in becoming friend and confidant to a woman called Ms Julie (the bravo), because he feel
s that he is the spirit animal she needs to overcome her deep-seated insecurities and start a new life free of Mr Gone. Mr Gone (the delta) is the gay confidant of Ms Julie, who has an Outback in her mind called Make-Believe (the papa) which Mr Gone exploits using original psychological theories he has developed during his doctoral research. While Mr Gone is failing his doctorate, he is succeeding to manipulate Ms Julie's Outback to his own ends, and this is enough to sustain him despite ridicule at the University. Ms Julie is a freelance social worker who is contracted to the University as a counsellor, but she also took some lectures which Mr Gone attended in his undergraduate studies. Mr Gone first meets David in the Uni bar. Mr Gone has been drinking, and has been whining to Ms Julie all night about the lack of respect his colleagues have for his work. He goes outside to smoke a cigarette, and from the bar David notices Ms Julie alone. David's colleagues from the Computer Science department pick up on David's interest in the woman, and coach him on how to approach her. Feeling like he needs to be more sociable, he accepts their advice, and attempts to introduce himself. Ms Julie is not in a very welcoming mood, but she greets David amicably enough. David is unusually disarmed and manages to be much more charming than usual, and the conversation becomes a lively but friendly debate about University politics. Mr Gone is amused when he returns to find the pair engaged in such a dry (to him) discussion. However, the conversation turns to dress codes, and David makes a remark about Ms Julie's shoes which upsets her. Already upset at Mr Gone, she decides it is late and leaves despite David's hamfisted and desperate attempts to explain what he "meant" by the remark. After she is gone, Mr Gone starts complaining about his colleagues to David in much the same manner as he had to Ms Julie before. Normally David does not drink alcohol, but Mr Gone encourages David to drink heavily, and they end up having a one night stand which goes very badly. However, the two agree to remain friends, ostensibly because friendship is something that David values above all else, but also because he doesn't want to lose contact with Ms Julie. Over the next several weeks, David starts to experience what turns out to be his first manic episode associated with a previously undiagnosed psychological condition. The initial shock of his first homosexual encounter coinciding with one of his better attempts at becoming friends with a woman triggers an escalation to a manic state, and David begins to absorb Mr Gone's research even though he has no previous psychological training. He reads psychological texts at night and spends all his free time at the University with Mr Gone, talking about his thesis. Due to their emotional connection, David starts to become aware that Ms Julie is Mr Gone's unwitting test subject, even though Gone is pretty adept at hiding the details. It all comes together in an epiphany or breakdown late one night when David happens to find Ms Julie's creative writing from matriculation college in a forgotten corner of her personal website. The final piece is then in place for the character transformation of David into the Maxx.
