#| ‘It means a lot to me… and Blackwell’

[xnarlie-starlightx]

Mark’s giving her heart eyes when Maxine finally enters her photo for the contest just the way he expected to be: ❤️👄❤️

[snailvibes]

Stupid life is strange au I thought of based off the fact that I’ve seen a handful of swap au’s where something happens to Chloe instead of Rachel, but this is my variant where smthn happened to Max instead!!

Idk if I’ll do anything with it, if people are interested I might make stuff for it, but here’s some various ideas and thoughts I had below the cut

- Au is called the butterfly effect because I’ve always seen the blue butterfly as being Max’s animal imagery thing (the doe being Rachel and Ravens being Chloe’s) and also to show how much things would change with Rachel being alive still and Max being the one to die

- Rachel got expelled don’t ask me how cus idk and that’s how she avoided Jefferson and didn’t know about Max being back

- Max was still there for around a month, like a week before the first day of the game she gets kidnapped and is dubbed as missing. Warren and Kate were probably the ones primarily putting up missing posters

- Kate would be even more depressed and a wreck in this au than canon considering not only did the video stuff still happen but her one main support is just gone now

- Rachel and Chloe would probably find out about Max from being at the bathroom at Blackwell still to deal with Nathan. Chloe only lives because Rachel shoved Nathan off of her when he tries to shoot her.

- no one gets rewind powers but since I am a firm believer of Rachel having powers related to nature and her emotions in this universe she’d actually discover that about herself and they’d utilize them to solve shit somehow

- Rachel’s means of getting away involving Frank would definitely be a major thing as yknow Chloe would find this out with Rachel still alive to talk to her about it and a lot of the story would be dedicated to their bond and figuring out what they mean to each other

[amethystfairy1]

amethyst i love u and your fics but what in the breaking the fourth wall is that other blog supposed to be

also that URRGH in one of the posts made me laugh so hard

Who you mean @preston-blackwell-official?

I dunno how that smarmy ass politician got on tumblr but I think his blog will definitely be interesting!

Meta Response: The Tinted Glass Crew is having a great time, let's just say that 😅

It's all in good fun! Just like my own blog, the Blackwell blog is not gonna be required viewing to still be able to read and enjoy TTSBC, it's just something we thought would be lots of fun to have up for the readers who keep up with us here on tumblr, and also a unique way to continue engaging and building this awesome little community that we've made! 💖

So please, by all means, go ask Head Councilman Blackwell some questions! I'm sure he'll have some truly inspiring responses for you!

[emma-cantmakeuphermind]

Just A Project | XI

Nathan Prescott x Reader

Masterlist

Parts: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Warnings: fluff like gagging fluff, swearing, ooc nathan, the whole shabang

Words: 957

A/N: AHHHHHH at last it has arrived. please enjoy this ones cute

As we finally reach the top of the infamous lighthouse, I have to take a moment to fully catch my breath. Damn those stairs will take you out. Nathan stands to the side waiting for my reaction to the nearly impossible view. I finally look up, and the sight I see nearly knocks the breath right back out of me. I’m absolutely speechless, my mouth kinda hangs open dumbly. “I told you it was good.” He smiles at my dumbfounded expression and grabs my wrist to pull me to the railing, giving me the full experience. 

My hands grip on the railing, taking in the view. Nathan stands close behind me with his hands in his pockets. He's so close the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. He leans down a bit, speaking softly into my ear. “I think now would be a perfect time for some shots.” Another small shiver runs down my spine. “Yeah,” I do my best not to stutter. “That sounds good.” I turned around to face him, not fully aware of how close he was, basically nose to nose. We both go wide-eyed for a moment before Nathan backs up a bit. I glance around awkwardly, “So, uhm… Am I posing?” I ask, Nathan looks around, “Yeah, I have a few visions in mind.” He gives me a small smirk, which I return with a shy smile.

He poses me all around the top of the lighthouse, getting different angles of every pose. I feel shy under his lens, but I’m not gonna lie, the strings of praise that leaves his lips when he is pleased with a particular shot keeps me going. He stops and looks at the pictures. He looks pleased? I’m not sure. I mean after almost an hour of posing there better be something worthy enough for Nathan. I sit still in my sitting position, back against the railing, knees pulled to my chest. I look up at him, just studying him. He’s so… not what I thought. To the naked eye Nathan is just a spoiled rich kid whose father basically owns the town you live in. Nobody really gets to know Nathan, and I feel sorry for them. I feel sorry that they’ll never know how funny, and kind, and caring Nathan can be under his hard exterior. I feel so honored and lucky that he was able to let me in. 

My thoughts were interrupted by Nathan himself. “There isn’t a single photo that isn’t perfect.” His words are spoken so softly I almost didn’t hear him. I laugh a bit nervously, “I don’t know about that.” He looks up at me and moves to sit next to me on the floor. “I’m serious, Y/N, look!” He hands me the camera, and I go through the photos. He was right. They’re all perfect. But not because of me, but because of him. His eye is so unique, and so him. Though it's nice to see myself from his perspective. “Nathan…” It’s so hard for me to formulate the right words. He looks at me, waiting for my response. Having his eyes on me so intently makes my cheeks turn a little pink. “These are so awesome. You’re an amazing photographer, Nate.” I look back at him. The eye contact throws me off, it feels so intimate. He shrugs, “You’re a great subject.” I smile and his goofy smirk only grows. “Whatever.” I mumble with a small eye roll. The sun is going down and it’s getting late. Nathan sighs and starts to get up. He’s looking up at the roof, “Come on, Nerd.” He finally looks down and holds out a hand for me to take. I grab his hand and he pulls me up. We go back to Nathan’s truck, and we drive back to Blackwell. 

The ride is silent, not awkward, just comfortable. Though I notice Nathan shifting around a lot, almost nervously? I try to not really think anything of it. When we arrive at Blackwell we both sleepily get ou of Nathan truck and walk towards the dorms. It’s a nice walk, just me and him, silently enjoying each others presence. We reach where the girls and boys dorms split and turn to face each other. I look up at him sleepily but with a smile on my face. “I guess this is where we part ways then.” I say with a yawn at the end. Nathan chuckles with his hands in his pockets and says, “Yeah I guess it is.” We just stand there smiling at each other, we must look like idiots to an outside view. I realize I’m still wearing his jacket, and I rush to shrug it off my shoulders, and hand it to him.

He looks at me like I’m dumb, and just shakes his head. “Keep it, Nerd. I’ll just get it tomorrow yeah?” I just smile and put the jacket back on, butterflies in my stomach for some ungodly reason. “I’ll see you tomorrow then, bright and early!” I put on a stern face with, in my own opinion, an amazing Mark Jefferson impression. It gets a fake laugh from Nathan, “Yeah, yeah okay nerd, whatever.” We both slowly start backing away to our own respective dorms, not breaking eye contact, our goofy smiles still present in our faces. “Goodnight, Nate.” I call out to him. “Goodnight, Y/N/N.” And with that I turn around walking to my room. A heat rising to my cheeks at the nickname. Little did I know that as I was walking away, Nathan had stopped to watch me get to the dorm hall safely, with his own coat of pink on his cheeks.

[sunshine-and-her-ikevil-stuff]

Started downloading Ikerev. You know what that means!

My first impressions of the characters based on the downloading screen profiles!

Noticeably there are less profiles here than other Ikemen games I've played

Ray Blackwell:

Nothing stands out about his appearance, at least with this image. He doesn't look/seem like a king, but for all I know 'king' might mean something else here.

Fenrir Godspeed:

This one looks more interesting 👀 I feel like I have a good sense of his personality just by looking at him. He seems fun

Lancelot Kingsley:

"I am not immune to pretty blond men with blue eyes and sad faces."

I am currently most attracted to him, but that might just be because he reminds me of Elbert (ikevil). We'll just have to see if I like his personality

Jonah Clemence:

Pretty. Not my type of pretty (unless he were a girl), but conventionally pretty. He intrigues me.

I almost feel like I need to do a first impressions based on the prologue or the opening video because this isn't a lot of characters in comparison to the cast I saw in the opening video

[bumblebyaf]

the pricefield breakup was good

just finished double exposure and while the game had many flaws i entirely disagree with one of the biggest complaints i’ve seen both before and after the games release: the pricefield breakup. in fact, the pricefield breakup is my favorite part of the game and one of the most fascinating character writing decisions that defined a lot max’s character for me…so here’s my essay on why max & chloe could never work long term, the breakup was incredibly natural, and how its the only way for both of them to move on. don’t bother reading of course if you don’t want to hear any of these opinions <3 

to start off the bat (and this will be the paragraph people hate the most): max & chloe are one of the weakest lis pairings (and again this is obviously all my opinion). they honestly never even had that much chemistry to me and i probably never would have shipped them had the game come out later but since the game came out when it did and it was the first gay game i’d ever played and they were like the only gay rep i knew it was brilliant & i think nostalgia for this clouds a lot of what people see when they think of pricefield but objectively they never make sense as a pairing to me and i find their scenes together quite awkward or boring. chloe is an asshole to max throughout the whole game (and i am a huge chloe supporter, i understand absolutely where all of her anger and issues were stemming from and it made sense!) and max is either a pushover who just lets her do it or like entirely indifferent to it/ignores it i guess depending on how you play; and max is shitty too i mean we know she ghosted chloe for years and then went back to blackwell for like a month or whatever without ever looking up chloe and who knows if she ever actually would have. which like max doesn’t have an obligation to do that but she clearly wanted to after she meets chloe again and then she spends so much of the game thinking about how chloe replaced her with rachel when max left first and trying to just slot herself back into the exact spot she left (also chloe did not replace her anyway they were entirely different relationships). (unrelated but this is why i hate when people have max add her name to the wall in the junkyard hide out lol) max spends the entire game watching chloe die in several different ways and trying desperately to keep her alive which has got to make a crazy trauma bond/attachment and honestly aside from one or two very obviously written “gay” scenes chloe barely registers as romantically interested in max to me (which…yeah chloe is spending the whole game going through a lot of stuff!) right up until the end where chloe realizes how hard max has been trying to keep her alive/max has been helping her with all the struggles she’s having this week/backing her up with her family drama etc during a time where chloe doesn’t really think anyone cares about her…which i don’t know again seems like a trauma bond to me! and then max sacrifices an entire town for her? of course they get together. you also have to remember that this game takes place during like the WORST week of these two young girls lives it’s just crazy to me how people define their entire relationship/personalities by this time period 

also like i know a lot of LIS fans don’t love BTS because its a different studio and the original LIS writers never wanted a prequel & that for some reason a lot of LIS fans think rachel is the devils fucking spawn BUT thats a different argument (bts being my second favorite game & rachel my third favorite character) but after watching chloe in bts (still with Issues and trauma but less heavy and more shared) and seeing her fall in love with rachel there i could never see her with max the same way

also to be clear i’m not saying at all that i think max & chloe don’t care for each other deeply; i do believe they love each other my argument is just that this relationship could never really last long term and mostly stemmed from the trauma they were going through which brings me to the main part:

max & chloe breaking up makes perfect sense for their characters, especially the reason given as well. chloe telling max that she wants to move forward and live in the future but max is always looking to the past- this single line sold me on the break up immediately i found it fascinating! max does live in the past! its her entire power! her entire game is about rewinding over and over to make the perfect moment etc. max’s character is constantly being brought into question when it comes to how she uses her powers even when she only ever tries to use them for good reason (in particularly i really like the subtle way the comics handled this too, BY CHLOE, but i know not everyone likes the comics either and they’re obviously not canon to the games since they contradict double exposure lore as well. but in the comics an alternate timeline chloe criticizes max on how reflexively she uses her powers to save/help people without considering how rewinding a moment affects everyone around them as well- and how sometimes things go wrong but can work out anyway. this is proven by us also following a second timeline without max there to rewind and we see how those characters navigate the issues max erased and in some instances they turn out even better and i like a happier healthier chloe having this perspective).  i feel like the chloe we meet in life is strange is so specific to that one game (she is going through so much active trauma and it is literally like the worst week of her life) but the pieces of her i’ve seen outside of that game show me how much her character can change when given space to breathe so i don’t think its fair to hold her to just that week. i can very easily see how chloe would want to put everything behind her and try to fully move on/away from everything that has happened and this being the only way she feels she can move forward- similarly how max could spend everyday stuck living with the choices she made and the effects its had on her, how much harder it is for her to separate and move on. 

i also think it makes perfect sense that chloe could grow some resentment towards max for her mothers death- i’m sure chloe wouldn’t act on this but i can see them both knowing it’s there and chloe not really being able to help feeling it. i mean chloe really is fully accepting of her death in life is strange and its max who makes the choice to keep her alive (and yes it’s shitty of chloe to make it seem like a choice at all but that’s also just like…the game having to give the player a choice too). chloe has to live with knowing her mother and everyone she knew died so she could live and max has to live with knowing she directly made that choice and both of them have to just…know and live and think about this everyday they’re with each other how can they move on? is that not suffocating? with some space they can at least maybe start to really separate from it 

i also think chloe’s implied insecurities around max rewinding parts of their relationship also make sense to be honest…max spends the entire game trying to fix every interaction to be the right one like i KNOW she would rewind mistakes because i DID that as her; and maybe you can say max would never use her powers again after the storm but to be honest i don’t think thats true…i think she would never redo grand scale things again (except i guess she does in double exposure) but i just don’t know if i believe she could resist the temptation to keep her and chloe’s interactions perfect- at least in the beginning. i’m not saying she DOES but i GET it- i understand chloe’s paranoia (if it is just paranoia and not fact) because i don’t think i could trust either because i also understand MAX. max who killed an entire town for chloe & their relationship- wouldn’t you feel like you had to keep doing everything in your power to make sure it works? to keep it good, to keep chloe happy?  it’s a really complicated feeling for both of them i’m sure

and i think chloe is right when she says max is always living in the past because we literally see her doing it during the game. she’s still journaling to chloe, she keeps chloe in her wallet & on her wall, we keep having flashbacks to arcadia, max keeps a box of arcadia with her (even though we know she’s also been traveling/on the road most of her adult life), she’s never discussed any part of her past with her friends, her photography focus is about the lonely and abandoned. the entirely of double exposure is about max learning how to really stop living in the past and the harm it could do (through what happened to maya and safi and how its still happening four years later because no one ever really dealt with it etc) and that’s why this undercurrent and the pricefield breakup is my absolute favorite part of this game and the best part of it

i also think it’s really worth pointing out what a lot of people seem to have missed (in the complaints i did see); max & chloe didn’t have some horrible explosive ending and they hate each other forever now and the two are forever ruined or whatever…chloe simply saw she could never truly move forward with max and maybe more importantly she saw max could never move forward with her (how could max move forward from the worst choice she’s ever had to make in her life when she’s also sharing a bed with it?) chloe still loves and cares for her, max still loves her, they could be on friendly terms very easily- in fact i think the only reason they don’t talk right now is because of max (which is for the best during this time i think anyway) and chloe would be absolutely open to their friendship whenever max is ready. chloe wants the best for both of them & chloe’s text at the end of the game proves she’s still thinking of max & open to talking again whenever max is. max also has feeling by the end of the game that’s ready to really start moving forward from arcadia now and one day she will be ready to confront chloe again and i think whenever that happens the two will be really good friends again- like they always were.

[arcadiabaytornado]

Wanna know something?? When I first watched the “Sacrifice Arcadia Bay” ending my dumb brain thought that only nameless background characters would die in the storm and that everyone else (Joyce, Max’s Blackwell friends, etc) would survive 🤡

With that said, kudos to LIS for having the guts to actually sacrifice Arcadia Bay. If most of the people Chloe and Max cared about conveniently survived, it would have made the ending and the finale choice a lot less impactful imo 

(sorry if this sounds really dark. I’m not as good as explaining my LIS thoughts as you are lol)

No it's not really that dark! I get what you mean! From a writing perspective I think a story is always stronger when there are actual consequences to the choices characters makes.

Like. Sure. The sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending could have had just Mark Jefferson die in the storm while everyone else ran off happily into the sunset. That would have been ending. It just wouldn't have been a strongly written ending in a game about living with the choices you make.

The point in sacrificing Arcadia is that Max is accepting the consequences of saving Chloe, and in a very morbid way, it doesn't feel like there are strong consequences if only a handful of strangers die because of her choice.

While the lives of strangers obviously matter, most people would still pick their loved one over a handful of strangers if it came down to it. That's why it's such a strong writing decision to go "No. This isn't a trolley problem where Max picks her childhood best friend or five people who have had no impact on her. This is a trolley problem where Max picks Chloe or everyone else they both care about."

And as a sacrifice Arcadia Bay player, it DOES make me sad that so many people die because of the storm. But I do really admire the writers for going "Both endings are fucked up, and if you want to save Chloe, then you're going to do the same thing as Max and live with the consequences ." I respect that writing choice a lot, because even though, yeah, I wish everyone would have been fine in the storm, if a story's going to tell a story with a strong theme, then embrace the theme even if that means you can't have a one hundred percent happy ending, y'know?

[lifeissimssnapshots]

Going Ape

*shout out to @dalekofchaos for the prompt*

His mind was filled with fleeting thoughts that morning as he walked to the girl’s dormitory. The Newberg drive-in was having a Planet of the Apes showing this week and he had already bought two tickets. His only issue was inviting the person he bought the second ticket for: Max. He wanted to ask her in the parking lot on Monday when she brought him his flash drive, but then that asshole Nathan Prescott entered the scene and tried threatening Max, giving him a black eye in the process. It didn’t seem like the right time to ask her then, but now he wanted to catch her early before anymore crazy shit happened.

Warren had fallen for her almost immediately when she arrived at Blackwell just a few weeks ago. Sure, there were a lot of girls at school who were cool or smart enough, and there was Brooke too (who he suspected might have a crush on him). But they paled in comparison to Max Caulfield. She was not only beautiful and talented, she was also kind, funny and had great taste in music and movies. She had surprised him when she mentioned that she had enjoyed watching Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, one of Warren’s favorite selections from his flash drive. She was the first person he thought of when the drive-in announced the showing of the Apes movie.

As she walked down the steps of the dorm entrance, he tried his best to play it cool, fidgeting with his phone. Her footsteps neared him and he looked up to meet her eyes.

“Warren! What’re you doing here?” She asked

“Oh, nothing-waiting. For a call? I mean, I already took the call..” Real smooth, idiot, he thought to himself. “Anyway, I wanted to rap about that action yesterday.”

“By the way, thank you for stepping in. You were pretty badass, Warren. I owe you”

“Oh yes, you do. I got knocked on my ass by that dick. I’m some personal superhero”

They continued to talk about Chloe and how she rescued Max from the chaos in the parking lot, leaving Warren to take the blow from Nathan. He was curious about the connection between Nathan and Max, but she was hesitant to disclose the reason for Prescott’s aggression, only that it wasn’t safe for Warren to get involved. The irony of the statement throbbed in Warren’s right eye.

“Weird fucking week. Like that bizarro snowfall yesterday. Speaking of dystopia, that drive-in is having a 70’s ‘Planet of the Apes’ marathon. Let’s ’Go Ape’!” He waited in anticipation for her response. Part of him was expectant of her turning the offer down given the situation in the parking lot and any other chaos that ensued from that interaction. The other part of him was hoping she would say yes, especially since he bought the tickets with her in mind.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I need. I love those old-school ape films” her answer eliciting his eyebrows to arch in excitement.

“Well, that was easier than I thought. Cool. I’ll text you the info” the words came out smoother than he had anticipated.

As she waved goodbye, he beamed with joy. He was excited at the prospect of being alone with her at the drive in. Would this be considered a date?

___________________________________________

The days before their outing went on as usual, classes beginning and ending, only now he had the excitement of going to the drive-in with Max. Right before science class on Thursday started, Max walked in and briefly talked to Ms. Grant about signing her surveillance petition. He admired the way she took the time to try and make a difference for others. She walked over to Warren’s lab table and he moved his things to make room for her.

“Hey Dr. Graham, did I miss anything?” He looked up in admiration at her beautiful freckled cheeks.

“Not a thing, just me and my bromies. Get it? We’re using Bromine today” his toothy grin shining up at her. They shared a laugh and started preparing materials for the lesson.

As Ms. Grant went on about electron configuration, Warren couldn’t help but give quick glances at his lab partner, taking note of how she bit her lip when she concentrated on the worksheet that was in front of her.

“So, for this problem, you just have to know the atomic mass and number of the element and subtract them” he moved his stool closer to her, nearly touching her hand while he wrote numbers on her paper. From the corner of his eye he could see the beginning of a blush spread across her face. He smiled in return and they continued listening to Ms. Grant, not wavering from their close proximity to each other. When class ended, he asked “Are we still on for tomorrow?”

“Of course, I’m still all in to go ape with you” her smile widening.

“Did you, erm, wanna have dinner before we get to the drive-in?” I should’ve waited to ask that, I’m so stu- , his thoughts interrupted

“Sure! But only if we can get some cheeseburgers. I’ve been wanting some since I saw someone order it at the Two Whales last week.”

“Your wish is my command, fair maiden. We should probably leave around 4 tomorrow if we wanna have enough time for dinner and to find a decent spot” audible excitement oozing from his words.

“I’ll be ready by then. It’s a date!” At the sound of her last sentence, Warren’s body froze, ignoring her wave as she left to her next class.

It’s a date. She said that it’s a date. I have to make sure everything is perfect for tomorrow. His thoughts scrambled as he gathered his belongings from the table, accidentally walking into the wrong class.

When he arrived to his room later that day, he noticed some new writing on his slate. He figured it was Nathan or Zachary writing something offensive and was pulling his sleeve down in preparation to erase it. To his surprise, it said “Are you made of Copper and Tellurium? Because you’re CuTe” written in the familiar handwriting that he looked at in Science class. A wide grin spread across his face as he pulled his phone out and entered his room.

Thanks for the writing on my slate, I’m never erasing it.

You can’t, it’s in permanent marker.

Kek :p Wanna meet in the parking lot tomorrow at 4?

Sounds good! ^_^ see you then xomaxo

___________________________________________

Friday morning came quick and since he didn’t have class until 11, Warren stayed in his dorm and finished all of his assignments for the day. He wanted as much time as possible to get ready for their date. He laid his outfit on his desk chair and looked for the directions to the cheeseburger joint near the drive-in.

4 o’clock rolled around and he pulled his phone out:

Hey Dr. Ape, I’m walking over to your new wheels in the parking lot. Be there in 5. xomaxo

My chariot awaits you, madam.

He leaned up against his blue coupe and watched as she approached across the lot. She was sporting a black t-shirt with a grey butterfly across the front paired with her usual denim.

“You look sharp, Warren G.!” She said, glancing at his 3D chicken t-shirt and jeans.

“Speak for yourself, Supermax! You look..great!” His voice slightly quaking. She always looked great in his eyes.

He opened her door and waited until she was inside before closing it. On their way, they talked about school, their families, and other movies and shows to add on Warren’s flash drive including the first season of Twin Peaks.

They pulled up to the restaurant and ordered before taking a seat at the booth.

“So..” he began

“So…are you excited for the showing?” she asked as she folded her hands on the table.

“Oh yeah! It’s a classic. The special effects makeup isn’t as impressive as it is in newer films, but it’s still way ahead of its time.”

“Let me guess, you’re a big Romero fan?”

“You have me pegged. He’s made some classics besides the Dawn of the Dead. We really should have a marathon in my room-“ he stopped himself. The implication of Max being in his room alone with him made him suddenly blush, on full display for her to witness.

They exchanged a long glance, neither stirring their fixed stare.

“I’m really glad you invited me to come with you Warren. I really needed to get out, but I also.. I want to spend more time with you.” Her words caused him to sit straight in his seat.

“You do?”

“Yeah, I really do. I owe you for saving me when Nathan tried attacking me. Sorry again for the eye.”

“As your personal bodyguard, it’s my job after all!” He said with his hands on his hips in superhero form.

They both laughed, and then he stared more intently before asking “But I do I have to ask you Max. Did you agree to come because you felt bad? Or because you wanted to spend time with me?” His heart was racing so fast in his chest, he could hear its beat in his eardrums. The question was risky. It’s what he wondered since she’d agreed to go with him earlier in the week.

“Warren, I-“ her words were interrupted by the waitress bringing their food. They paused their conversation to eat. When they were done, he stood to pay the bill. She interjected, trying to hand him money for her share.

“You said this was a date, so dinner’s on me” he said.

“I did say it was a date” recalling her own words. They walked to the car where they continued their previous conversation

“So as I was saying” she continued “I agreed to come tonight because I feel the same way you do”

He understood what she meant, but couldn’t believe it himself.

“You do?” He fought back a smile just in case she was mistaken.

“I..sort of, really like you Warren. That’s why I said yes, and why I wrote that note on your slate” now she was the one blushing.

“Wowzers Max, I guess I’m pretty dense. I didn’t know for sure how you felt, but I’m glad now we both know.”

As they started driving away, she placed her left hand into his right, locking fingers the rest of the way to the drive-in.

After gathering snacks from the concession stand, they moved their seats back and settled in for the movie. Warren tuned the car stereo to the radio station for the audio of the movie.

When the movie started, their hands found each other again. He could feel her eyes on him as she snuck glances in the dark. He met her gaze and smiled. Before he could process what to say, their faces inched closer and before long, the space between them was closed by their lips meeting. Their kiss was hesitant and gentle. They paused to look into each other’s eyes before their lips met again, this time achieving a deeper kiss.

The rest of the night consisted of periods of watching the film, gentle kisses, and caressing hands.

[pavlovianpanic]

as for lis btw, did no one else when first playing the first game ...

tangent line: i guess this depends a bit on when you played it, we technically played it when it came out but didn't start writing it until until dawn came out, which we started writing immediately, but what i mean by "when" you played it is more like ... did you play with no other lis content available or with the dlcs and other games already having been out? because for the question i'm posing, it does i think change how you'd view this idea because the only context you'd have from lis 1 is time powers and not "more powers exist in this universe" ie max isn't the only one.

... did no one else think rachel was also going to have time powers? based on how everyone speaks about her and the way she operated while she was alive, it sort of seemed to me and otter like that was where they were going to go or at least infer more? she always had the right answers, was able to do everything, like ... it made a lot of sense because max and rachel intentionally parallel a bit but heavily divert, they are entirely different people that touched the same parts of chloe ... but also entirely different parts. rachel gave chloe what max could not, max gave chloe what rachel couldn't. but they could never exist together. the time max and chloe spend together in lis isn't even supposed to happen. only max will remember that. it makes me wonder how many moments rachel had with chloe that only she can remember, if the theory still held ground.

based on the new empathy powers, it would also make sense to me that rachel might have that ability ... again, just based on how ... everywhere she is, how involved she was with everyone. she has a 4.0 but is also partying, is a quintessential student to the representation of blackwell (but nathan's family is the most influential? ig financially speaking but it's inferred rachel's family isn't doing poorly, nor is that established in bts), is in like every single extracurricular... all while also doing drugs, having these affairs, hanging out with chloe all the time, but also is just so so involved, like tell me she doesn't have time powers ... ?? rachel gets caught with a lot in some of the evidence we see, particularly with like contraband / drugs, but max also has limitations to her power, so it makes sense that rachel couldn't "fix" everything.

also ... the deer. the deer is confirmed to be rachel's spirit by devs. it appears at blackwell, at the junkyard (where rachel is buried), and leads chloe and max to the lighthouse (the lighthouse rachel is noted to have gone). it's oddly fitting that max's powers sort of come to fruition only when rachel is gone.

chloe tells max that she is "the real storm". in a way, rachel was also a storm herself. ik bts tries to infer a lot with rachel, it conflicts a lot with lis 1, so just looking at the first game ... this makes sense to me.

i could make a huge real meta but ... i don't write rachel nor any lis cast member, so all my metas will stem into josh and until dawn stuff, but just interesting food for thought.

[deeptrashwitch]

A Haunting Past (Part 15)

Tw: Mention of death

Enjoy this part of the story! We're getting near to the juicy part of this >:3 soon...SOON!!

Also, shout out to Taro as usual 💖 love you, dear! You're amazing 🥰

Taglist (just to show :3): @alypink @snootlestheangel @islandtarochips @hollywood-is-bleeding

@cynicvice @midnight193 @mutantthedark @justasmolbard @welldonekhushi

@tapioca-milktea1978 @imagoddamnonionmason @stargazing-sapphire2 @milkteaarttime @blacktacmopsi

@maymaylyn @thatonesillyducko @seraphiixiao @me-is-confused @gunnrblze

The hours passed in silence, at least until the phone rang and distracted Alicia from what she was doing. She answered the phone as she started to figure it was from her workplace. Especially when she knows it was Wraith to call her with such urgency.

“Dominique, what happened?” Alicia asked while she cleaned part of the stables.

“You need to come back.”

“What? But I'm still on my leave-”

“Something arrived here and you need to see it yourself.” Wraith suddenly sounded nervous, which it tensed Alicia immediately.

“...How bad?”

“Honestly? This explains things and the reason why it puts you in danger.”

“I'm on my way.”

“Bring the badge.”

“Um…why?”

“Just trust me.”

Alicia had already spoken with her parents and Alejandro as soon as she ended the call. While she didn't explain a lot, the Colonel noticed the nervousness that she’s trying to hide. Then he offered to take Andrea and Jack back to Las Almas with him while she figured out everything. In less than two hours, Alicia was driving back to Killeen while the other three packed everything.

As soon as she arrived at the base, Wraith signaled her to follow her. In silence, they arrived at the main comms office, where all the team was. Over the desk, a single box awaited her. Already opened.

“Did you-?” Alicia asked.

“It’s not a bomb or anything like that, we made sure.” Wraith said with a sigh. “But it has the date of the operation written on the tape. And well, you need to see.”

Alicia was just dead silent before taking a deep breath. “Guess we'll learn what this shit is.”

They all stared at the box while Alicia took a look inside. As soon as she noticed what was inside, she had to close the box and sigh deeply. For a second the Captain didn't move and simply stayed in silence. Then she opened it again, staring at the things inside.

“I get what you mean now.”

Wraith sighed. “So you recognize it too.”

“It’d be weird if I didn't.”

Alicia looked at her team before starting to speak. “Go to rest, all of you. Blackwell, Jackson, bring your badges and then go with the rest.”

“Ma’am…” Luke tried to intervene.

“It's an order, this is something only Station Chief Wright and I will be looking after.”

All the Specters shared a worried and surprised look when Alicia mentioned Wraith’s formal title. In the end they obeyed and only Jackson and Edward left their badges and went. As the two started to talk.

Wraith raised an eyebrow while they compared the badges. “They’re original, so this isn’t some kind of knock off or distraction.”

“Now I'm not sure who we should go after first.” Alicia said with a sigh.

Wraith crossed her arms over her chest. “This is getting more dangerous.”

Alicia took out a blood-stained name tag from inside the box. “You managed to speak with him?”

“Taylor Smith? No, and seeing what was inside that box? It's fair to assume his destiny.”

Alicia started to unpack the things from the box. The stained name tag with the last name ”Smith” on it, broken pieces of glass and five badges given to the soldiers who were involved in Operación Firewall. Both Dominique and Alicia looked at the five badges, burning medieval tower over the laurels, but these were stained with ashes.

“Any of-?”

“None. No fires around the last place they all were living.” Wraith answered with a frown.

“Do you think they’re going after everyone involved?”

“No. It's unproductive, too many people, too many variables.”

“Then?”

“They go after the ones that survived Carabalí himself or are near to know the truth.”

“That’d explain why William was the first, he was the easiest target and the more dangerous at the moment. Mostly considering the state we were in after what happened.”

For a minute the two of them just looked at the things over the desk, feeling both disgusted and angry. Then Wraith patted Alicia's shoulder and made a sign towards the main computer. In a second, some archives and folders opened on the screen.

Dominique didn't say anything while she opened a personal folder protected with a password. Inside there was text with just a few lines, but with enough key words to make sense.

“What the WTF found inside Maroon Salamander’s ship wasn't only a report about the SEAL 3.” Wraith said, serious and even uncertain. “The code in it, Nicholas managed to break past the first two or three code lines while you were out.”

Alicia scoffed and managed to smile sarcastically. “And the rest?”

“Favors, of course.”

“Wow.”

“Shut up. Anyway, the important thing is what was hidden inside that code.” Wraith said with a frown again. “It was some kind of agenda.”

“Agenda? How come? Like appointments or something?”

“The schedules are about the ship's cargo, the last ones at least.”

Alicia sat down and pinched her nose bridge. “Great, just great. How that shit ended in a report like that? And how the fuck did no one notice?”

“Well, about that, how can I say this…? The traitor is Red Dragon.”

“Ex-fucking-cuse me?”

“Trust me, I hated to know about this. But I confirmed with other data we have.” Wraith said with a heavy sigh. “Red Dragon is the traitor.”

Alicia laughed sarcastically and bitterly. “Are you telling me that we have a traitor AND the head of the biggest crime web we encountered so far…inside one of the Marine Corps bases?”

Wraith nodded and Alicia sighed, letting herself fall over a chair, exhausted.

“Anything else?”

“Something inside Artemis’ journals.”

“Just say it.”

Dominique gave her a paper and waited. It had a number written, ten numbers with MC in the beginning. As she read it, Alicia sighed deeply and left the paper over the table.

“Well, fuck.”

“Do you recognize it?” Wraith asked calmly.

Alicia shook her head. “Marines ID number. But if you ask me who has this number, I'm blank.” Then she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Even if I worked a year with the records. I still won't recognize the number. And I doubt I have permission to investigate it, considering that this bastard is probably a higher ranked Marine.”

“So what now?”

“Can't you do anything as a Station Chief?”

“I don't think so.” Wraith said with a sigh, taking off her glasses. “Even I have limits at some point.”

“...Really?”

“I mean, legally I can't do anything.”

“And since when do you do things the legal way?” The Captain had said with a small teasing smile on her lips.

“Touchè.” Wraith rolled her eyes at the Captain. “You’ll owe me a big one for this, Alicia.”

“I know, but at this point, I’ll go for all or nothing.”

“That’s what worries me the most.” Wraith whispered to herself.

“What was that?” Alicia asked curiously.

“Nothing, forget it.”

[rainbeausworld]

The Horned Serpent

So before I get started on this one, I have a couple of things to get out of the way. First, I will be using she/her pronouns for the Horned Serpent; this is just because UPG and because I'm used to it. I know someone else who venerates/worships the Horned Serpent, uses they/them pronouns for them, and considers them to be beyond gender / present as whatever gender they feel like. Second, I will be focusing on my interpretation of her on the Gundestrup Cauldron, in part because there's really not a lot of literature on her, even when you include works that specifically analyze Cernunnos' depictions. Third (and related), I will be using the National Museum of Denmark's estimate as to when/where the Gundestrup Cauldron was made, which is roughly in the Danubian or Wallachian Plain(s) around 150 BCE to 1 CE (link).

So first a little historical & cultural context. This area, as far as culture groups, would have been a heck of a melting pot, between the Dacians and Thracians that already lived there, the Scythians coming in and also living near by, the Gauls that moved in around the 300s-200s, the Greeks who came up and started establishing colonies along the Black Sea in the 300s, and the Romans, encroaching on everyone's business around the time the Cauldron was built. A pretty solid primer on the history of the region is A Companion to Ancient Thrace, published by Wiley Blackwell.

So I'm gonna try to make sense but it might be a little disorganized going forward. Anyway, onto the actual thoughts & stuff. So anyone who's taken even a passing glance at Cernunnos is well aware of the Horned Serpent, since she is present in basically every ancient art you can find with him. On the Gundestrup Cauldron, she appears three times, all on the interior panels. One is at the Hero's heel, who's holding the wheel; a second is at the end of a line of heroic riders, which seems to be a Thracian horseman motif; and of course the famous Cernunnos panel. In Thracian Tales of the Gundestrup Cauldron, published by Najade Press, Jan Best presents an interpretation of the interior panels as a story, and assumes that Cernunnos is singing in his famous panel, specifically about the secrets of immortality, a concept which was very popular at the time. I agree with this and I also assume that the depiction of Taranis / the wheel god is that he is also singing, and if he is singing then the lions and griffins - both predators associated with kingship (griffins were protectors of the pharaoh, and also decorated certain tombs out in ancient Persia), then the action of passing off the Wheel must have symbolic meaning, such as being handed the Wheel of Heaven.

The Gundestrup Cauldron's exterior also has very clear influence from the Scythians, you can almost 1:1 map the gods based on Herodotus's retelling of the Pontic stories. I believe there are also thematic parallels going on here on the Wheel God panel, featuring a new god/king being given the symbol of his domain. Wikipedia actually has some relatively thorough articles on Scythian religion as well as the genealogical myth specifically, which is the myth that I personally associate with the wheel-giving panel. As well, the animals in this panel don't appear to be particularly concerned with attacking anyone - if anything, the griffins and lionesses are slightly tilted from one to the next, which makes me think it's more likely that they are dancing, especially if the human/divine subjects are singing, especially if the human with the helmet is receiving a high honor, potentially his rank amongst the gods. In this panel, she is just at the hero's feet, not really joining the parade if the animals, but clearly not ready to attack either, but her attention does seem to be drawn towards the hero.

The final panel she is on is the panel featuring the nine soldiers and the heroized dead, represented by the "Thracian horseman" motif. After Alexander the Great and his penchant for having statues of himself be on horseback, it became popular for wealthy men and nobles to depict themselves riding horseback to a goddess or sacred tree (unfortunately my best source discussing this in English is also not great and he comes up with some..... questionable theories), but the popularity seems to have blown up to the point where even deities such as Zeus were depicted on horseback in a similar manner. There are also mentions in a few other sources that the Thracians believed in the ability for people to essentially become immortal after death. Unfortunately, I'm having trouble sorting out my notes and this essay has been nagging me for weeks now.

Anyway, I interpret this panel as what is expected to happen to us after we die - the "ordinary", so to speak, are lead to a deity, likely to be reincarnated (this is honestly just a guess on my part largely due to the popularity of that in Greece for ever, and Grecian influence was in full swing by the time the Cauldron was made), meanwhile the "extraordinary" are lead by the Horned Serpent.

This is where I tie all three together to my upg/theology: The Horned Serpent is a friend and ally to Cernunnos. He teaches the secrets of life after death to those who will listen. The Horned Serpent is by his side during his teaching, and when we die, if we have proven ourselves worthy during life, she guides us through the trials of the afterlife. If we succeed in these trials, we are awarded with apotheosis - becoming a god or godlike - and she stands by our side as we earn this prize.

@musingmelsuinesmelancholy sorry it took me so long x.x & I hope this makes sense!

[carriehobbs]

Please tell me all about your Thicker Than MCs (no pressure!!!).

i would love to talk about my thicker than mcs!! 💕💕 i've done all the romance routes, but i don't have really solid mcs for all of them (sometimes i'm just inputting the first name that comes to my mind so i can see what a route has to offer without really getting attached to or thinking about a character, if that makes any sense). the mcs that i do have also all have some similarities (because i find thicker than (and blood moon too) has a fairly strong semi-set personality for the mc), so i'll try and focus on what makes them different from each other

isabelle

isabelle is my minimum wage schmuck (path of the master) and her whole thing is about power and control. she went from being completely powerless and exploited in her shitty job to being powerless and exploited as blackwell's thrall and now she's finally got a chance to turn the tables and make sure she's never subjugated like that again. she revels in the power that she gets from being a vampire lord. i waffle back and forth on whether or not she makes fledglings pay rent (she doesn't care that much about preserving human lives) or if she kicks them out entirely (it would give her a status boost and, arguably, more power and prestige that way). when she was human, people used to call her izzy but she always hated the name, so when she became a vampire she chose to reinvent herself a little bit and started going by isabelle (she thought it sounded more mature). her relationship with marcel is really interesting because there are major themes of power and control in his romance route. given that isabelle is all about never being exploited again, the amount of trust she places in marcel in their romance is incredibly significant. she's rather submissive to him in the bedroom, but it's this incredibly meaningful gesture that says i trust you with my body. i trust you with my safety. i trust you not to hurt me in any way that i don't ask for. when you drink my blood, i trust you not to take more than i can give. she also super gets off on the fact that marcel is nominally in control, but she knows that she really wields a lot of the power in their relationship (i think a lot about the kiss after the sword fight in chapter 4, where marcel insists on drinking from you first because you're a fledgling and he's older than you, but then gives you back more of his blood than he drank from you originally). isabelle is also incredibly jealous and possessive (the money heist scene in chapter 7 always makes me laugh because marcel brings james, one of his fledgling retainers, and isabelle gets sooooo huffy about it. like what do you mean you brought this fucking fledgling here to help you. i'm your fledgling. you're not allowed to have other fledglings. marcel kill this guy). this also means she's very attached to who she considers to be "her" people and will do just about anything for them and will go after people who try to harm them because they're hers. don't touch her stuff. she's so shacked up with marcel, they're going to spend eternity together (unless they die first lol) 💕

june

june is my gambler (path of the master). june isn't really about ideals or hard work and (prior to vampire prison) was really more interested in enjoying being a vampire. she likes the power and freedom being on the night court offers her (compared to other fledglings), but she doesn't really care a lot about amassing power for herself. she's not a big schemer (she's more than happy for tracy to handle a lot of the actual running and politicking of her domain) or a planner (she kind of reminds me of astarion in bg3 if you ask him about his plan to kill cazador and he's like "well, first we find cazador, then we kill cazador, and maybe we kill some other people too, i don't know, i'm not a details person" (paraphrased)). she also definitely still has problems with risk-taking from her gambling days: when she's presented with a gamble, she has to take it, even if it is bound to end poorly (for example, when you meet nathan in chapter 5 and he tries to kill you if you've not been a good little vampire, she made every single dumb decision that put her in danger and risked her getting shot just in case it gave her the upper hand). my rule for playing june is that, if i'm presented with a set of decisions, i have to pick the one that seems the riskiest. june is romancing iliya, so she's having a great time as of the last few updates lol. i think they both share a lot of similarities in that they really like parts of being a vampire, and a lot of what drew her to him is that she finds him fun to hang out with. she just enjoys being around him. his betrayal in chapter 8 was very rough for her, because she's kind of in love with him (whoops, she didn't mean for that to happen), and she's still really hurt by it. she's trying to forgive him, though, because in her mind, starving in vampire jail for five years with her is both a) punishment enough and b) pretty good proof that he cares about her too and is sorry. so she's trying to move past all that

lucas

lucas is one of my criminals (path of the beast) and he has a daughter named ella ("ella" was originally a placeholder kid name while i thought of something better, but then it stuck, and now if my mc has a kid they're automatically a daughter named ella. it feels weird to have the kid be named something else now, even if it's for a different mc). lucas's whole thing is that he looks like (and thus everyone expects him to be) all brawn and no brain, but he's actually one of my more strategic mcs. he's cautious and thinks things through from multiple angles and deliberately lets people assume that he's less intelligent than he is so that he can use their assumptions to his advantage (he reminds me a lot of iliya, who actually is his bff - weirdly enough, they look kind of similar, too). lucas cares a lot about making his domain a safer place for humans because he hopes (or hoped, after the last few updates, lol) to be able to one day bring ella into his domain so that he could watch over her (without being indebted to marcel) and know that she would be safe. he's romancing freya and they're really rather sweet together. he liked her instantly, mostly because when they met, she was one of the first people to really know him and still treat him like a person. most people either knew he was a vampire and treated him as one (or, worse, knew he was blackwell and treated him like a lord) and had all these expectations for him, or they didn't know he was a vampire and treated him as they would any other human. freya, however, knew he was a vampire, and treated him as if he was a person anyway. being with her was this piece of normalcy where he didn't have to pretend to be something he's not (either a lord or a human), and he could just be himself. prior to vampire jail, he also privately held hopes of introducing freya and ella to each other. on lucas's end, freya is someone he can be soft for and take care of. she gives him an outlet for his desire to care for and (to a much lesser extent) provide for someone (see the scene with freya in chapter 7 where you take her back to your place after her debacle with the ghost and get her food and insist she rests - lucas wants to be able to protect and provide for and take care of the people he cares about).

jackie

jackie is one of my divorcees (path of the shadow) and she was actually the first mc i made for thicker than, and in her first iteration she was a super-pathetic 40-year-old divorced dude named jack. the goal for jack was to be just an incredibly pathetic, cowardly, self-serving person, and while you can get a lot of that in the game, i found the feel of the dialogue really didn't fit the particular kind of pathetic feel i was going for with him. but then i realized i could age jack down a bit so that the dialogue would feel more natural and then her gender got swapped (mainly because i found the thought of the scene with tracy in the bathroom in chapter 5 to be really compelling when i imagined blackwell as a woman) and jackie was born. i took the "you're a loser" opening very seriously with her and imagined her as a character who went almost overnight from being a loser with no power, no friends, a bad relationship with her ex, and nothing going for her, to being a vampire lord (and, personally, i think the power's kind of gone to her head). she doesn't really care much about human life, and, prior to being in vampire jail, leaned hard into the power and prestige being a vampire lord gave her. now she mostly wants to tear lucius a new one and, if the rest of the night court goes down with him, that's fine by her. i think she and tracy share a kind of mentality where they prioritize self-preservation over other (what she would call) lofty ideals (e.g., preserving human life, etc.)

kate

kate is my doctor (path of the shadow). her entire thing is that she has a very strong code of ethics and strongly prioritizes human life. she trained for years to be a doctor to help and save people's lives, and she's not going to let some asshole decide to kill her and change all of that. she has a lot of anger towards the previous blackwell and the night court (it's not just that blackwell murdered her, but that he asked permission from gaius to do it. gaius made an executive decision about whether or not kate should live or die as if she was just some object, because her life meant so little to them, and then blackwell murdered her). she hates the night court and always felt trapped and unable to leave it (because being in the night court offered protection that fledglings normally don't have), and the second she met nathan, she jumped on his offer to help him destroy the night court. kate is romancing nathan, which works really well with their mutual hatred of the night court and desire to protect humans from vampires. he also brings out a kind of teasing, playful side of her that she doesn't normally get to indulge in anymore: she used to joke around more as a human, but being murdered and turned into a vampire and forced to become a lord all while trying to simultaneously maintain as normal a life as she can have doesn't really leave you with a lot of humour left. but she finds it so fun to pester him and get under his skin, and being with him makes her feel more human (and not just because she can mimic him). she also really admires nathan, his commitment to fighting against vampires who hurt and kill humans, andnthe way he turned the pain he experienced into a driving force that allows him to try and do good. i think she recognizes that instinct in herself.

ken

ken is my other criminal (path of the beast), also with a daughter named ella (they're attempting to romance minjo - we all know that's not going well right now). she's also my only mc who has a tag (even if there are only 2 posts in it right now, lol)! ken is nonbinary and uses they/she pronouns (even if the game defaults to they/them). ken is fun because they're genuinely kind of a mess. they're have pretty poor impulse control, have no filter, and can be really irreverent. i think they're gaius's favourite of all my mcs because they will not act deferential to him (which, after hundreds of years of posturing courtiers, entertains him). most likely to be murdered by werewolves after saying something stupid. ken's very much the kind of person to say "what could go wrong?" and then fuck everything up so extremely badly. ken, like lucas, is driven to keep her domain safe for humans out of a desire to bring ella into their domain some day and become a bigger part of her life. they appreciate pete for trying to take care of ella and keep her safe, but they also would not hesitate to kill him if given the chance because he pisses them off so badly lol. they're currently trying to work things out with the werewolves because they feel really bad about everything that's happened with minjo (bailing on them for 5 years and the other thing. if you've read the most recent chapter 11 update you know) and they want to be able to work things out with her, but they really don't expect to be able to. however, if anyone could get werewolves to accept the world's weirdest vampire in their pack, it would be ken.

abby

abby is my divorcee (path of the shadow) who has a good relationship with chris (mostly because she's romancing them). abby was only recently promoted from the amorphous ooze where all the other "mcs" who just have names and exist only to show me romance scenes from other routes live and is gradually growing a personality, so i'm kind of studying her like a bacteria culture and i don't really know what she's going to turn into yet. she is trying to get back with her ex and co-parent their child (ella!! i wasn't kidding when i said all my thicker than kids are named ella) together and, though they've hit some stumbling blocks, she remains optimistic! abby, like lucas and ken, is driven to keep her domain safe for humans because she wants her domain to be a safe place for chris and ella, but she does still care about the well-being of all humans (they're just not as important to her as chris or ella). abby is generally a pretty positive person who tries to avoid conflict (cue her disappearing on chris pre-divorce, which caused a lot of problems in their marriage) and has, over the past few years as a vampire lord, changed for the better, oddly enough. she's become more confident, more assertive, and more willing to fight for what she wants (whereas, in her pre-divorce marriage with chris, she was avoidant, petty, and argumentative, and willing to use her positive thinking to ignore problems chris tried to raise in their relationship). however, her five years in vampire prison have changed her too, and she's finding herself to be a little more brutal and cut-throat than she used to be.

[snailvibes]

Evening chat I give you my list of some of my autistic Max Caulfield related headcanons except a lot ended up being pricefield related oops (does include spoilers)

Remember these are all HEADCANONS and me just being silly and having fun projecting on my fav lol

- that grey jacket she’s always wearing? That’s her comfort clothing item why do you think she’s still got it in double exposure

- even ever since she was really young Max has always been a picky eater bc of dealing with food textures and generally not liking a lot of things. Chloe always tried to make sure her mom bought things that Max liked so she could always have stuff to give her no matter what

- Max doesn’t really know how to like. Enter group discussions, it’s a lot easier for her to talk to people if it’s either one on one and with someone she’s familiar or comfortable with, she knows what she’s gonna say to someone before going in (like “I’m going to go up to Kate and check in on her” or “I’m going to go up to Brooke and ask about her drone”), or it’s someone talking to her and asking her questions, so when it’s people just generally chatting in a group she usually gets left out cus she doesn’t know how to jump in

- loud noises usually overstimulate her (vortex club party was hell) and growing up one of the more common times that occurred was when it stormed outside :) [which still held true throughout the game :))] post sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending she just kinda completely shut down in Chloe’s truck for a long while through a mix of it and the emotions from everything

- aside from Chloe, Kate was the first person Max found who actively listened to and engaged in her infodumping. During their first few tea hangout sessions she’d find herself accidentally going on about photography and stop herself, and every time Kate would encourage her to keep going cus she enjoyed hearing about it (ultimate Loves to yap + loves to listen duo)

- a lot of the time when Max shuts down she ends up going nonverbal for long periods of time and Chloe is the only one who can translate what she’s trying to communicate lmao. Everyone else, while they mean well, tend to just get confused so if she’s like with Kate or Warren when it happens they’ll just be like “shit time to track down Chloe”

- Chloe’s hair is one of her favorite things to mess with and play with cus she loves the sensation of running her hands through it, so when she’s overwhelmed Chloe will just take off her beanie and let Max run her hands through her hair for as long as she needs

- The Captain is her comfort plush which is why she brought him with her to Arcadia Bay. Usually she carries him around with her as much as she can but she didn’t wanna get made fun of for it at Blackwell so she started keeping him in her dorm. Post Sacrifice Arcadia Bay, she drags Chloe back to Blackwell before they leave so she can retrieve him from the rubble and starts carrying him with her everywhere again. Post Sacrifice Chloe she just starts carrying him with her everywhere at School without really worrying about what people will think, and everyone just doesn’t say anything cus they can tell she needs it.

- Max relies on music a LOT to block out the world when everything is too much. Chloe knows this and when she’s not using her earbuds to do it alone, will always offer to sit quietly and listen with her if she wants

- Warren Graham I know what you are /ref him and Max infodump about nerdy movies together almost every chance they get and sometimes they have to be pried apart in the halls to get them to go to class bc they will go on for hours if left alone to

- going back to that “Max struggles with conversation in groups” point, if said convos are happening in the photography classroom whether it’s a “class discuss this” moment or a group project, Kate will always try her best to get Max included in ways that work for her like asking for her thoughts or just pulling herself away from the group to chat with Max one on one

- girlie needs very specific instructions for things because otherwise she will overthink what to do and get confused and this has screwed her over with so many class assignments but I think she’d get help from Kate in that regard because she’s the only one she’s not anxious about asking if she knows what someone meant by something

[blackmagickwolf]

in honor of the new LiS game coming out i think it's time for me to actually yell into the void my LiS Amphibia AU idea, bc fuck yes

okay so, it WOULD be easy to place Marcy in Max's place bc she moves away and Sasha in Chloe's bc rebel punk and all that... but we're NOT DOING THAT

HERE we're placing Marcy in Chloe's place, having been the one "left behind" and Anne being the one that moves away. That leaves us with Sasha. Sasha here is... (drumroll) Rachel Amber. DUN DUN DUN

SHE DOESN'T DIE THO! NOT IN THIS AU SHE DOESN'T!! NOBODY DIES!! (just some people that do need to die, but not our main girlies)

these dynamics would be SO tasty to explore mostly bc we have an angry, spiteful, defiant, punk-rock Marcy. instead of Joyce and David it would be Olivia and Yunan, and they're at their wits end (lmao) bc even tho Marcy's... behavioural issues are at the forefront of things with her most of the time, she actually never stopped appliying herself with school. if that, she actually became more applied (her escapism here is of course still her games and books, but also her schoolwork, bc then it means she gets to leave, and if Anne ever comes back and she's not there? well, it wasn't her fault now, was it?). in Blackwell Academy she would be focusing on digital art, for her webcomic.

Sasha as Rachel Amber i feel it doesn't really need to be changed a lot lmao. her dad is rich and her mom walked out and that ofc gave her ✨issues✨, and so one day she finds Marcy, maybe at the junkyard while they're both separetly trying to do some mischif (Sasha doing graffiti, Marcy chucking things into a fire) and they bond over her woes and the like. at Blackwell she would be focusing on music, writing and composition.

Now for Anne! i feel like she would want to go to Blackwell mostly so she could see Marcy again. those years she spent away she did make friends, but those friends weren't Marcy. she started to take up photografy bc she "wanted to show Marcy all the new things and places they could go when/if Marcy visited", and obviously that never happened but she ended up liking the hobby enough that she started to go pro, tho she likes using analog cameras the most. she's like her show self in the way that she's just adrift in life, her only real goal being seeing Marcy again, so she tells her parents she want's to study photografy and of course Blackwell is the best choise.

everyone is like their S1 selves personality wise at the beginning, but the inminent threat of the end of the world and time and space just fucking collapsing make them have their character arcs in speedrun lmao.

IT'S SASHANNARCY!!! and it's such a clusterfuck 💖

Marcanne love eachother v much but Marcy has now abandonment and anger issues to deal with while also wanting to hold Anne and never letting her go again, and Anne just feels so guitly for practically ghosting her childhood best friend, so they're walking on eggshels the most of the time.

Sasharcy truly try to bring the best in eachother, but end up bringing up the worst most of the time. they enable eachother a lot, but sometimes (just some) they do get the emotional mature brain cell enought to not just fall to pieces bc they love eachother so much they'd to several legally and morally questinable things for the other.

Sashanne, oof. Sasha wants to hate Anne. that's the person that caused Marcy so much hurt! but she just... can't. she is absolutely smitten and whipped for Anne (for Marcy too, but in a different way) and feels guilty about it bc she feels like she's betraying Marcy by not hating her. and Anne for her part at first feels jelous and intimidated by how strong of a bond Sasharcy have, and kinda doesn't like Sasha for her Head Bitch In Charge attitude/persona she puts at school, but THEN she sees her defending Kate (she's staying there as a character) from Victoria (she's also staying as a character), and sees her in a different light.

Sasha and Anne would see eachother more frecuently at first bc they're both in the dorms and Marcy isn't (but she stays over visits so much she might as well be. the dorm sign says SASHA in big bold letters and at the bottom theres a little "and Mar-Mar" added), but they all meet for the first time (as in Sasha and Anne meet eachother and Marcy and Anne see eachother again after years) in the dorms a few days before classes start, and just a couple of days after the move-in day (i feel i need to disclose that i am not a USA citizen so i have 0 idea how dorms work) enough that everyone is fresh in the dorm but Anne's parents are not there anymore.

I just have such the strong visuals of Sasha lounging on her bed either reading or on her phone, the door is open, Marcy is sitting like a gremlin on the little desk chair (you know, the ones with lil wheels) playing some game on her switch and she wants to show Sasha something, so she kicks the chair around so it moves and turns so she can show her something on the screen.

meanwhile Anne started to hang out with some of the girls and maybe Kate invites her out for tea or someone else invites her out of the dorm, and on her way almost out she passes by an open door and just hears

"Sashy!! look! godamnit you GOTTA look at this!!" followed by someone else's laugh

and she goes COLD. bc she knows that voice. it's been years and she will never forget that voice. so she literally backpedals and sees Marcy and a blonde girl she doesn't know. and can only say

"...Marcy?" still as a fucking statue and almost in shock

and Marcy, who was mid leaning in the chair trying to show some horny character design (she was playing Hades in her switch, i have just decided) to Sasha for them to joke about, just fucking freezes and as consequense just crashes in the fucking chair. Sasha catches her before she hits the ground tho, and is so focused on Marcy that doesn't even notice some is at her door until Marcy speaks

"...Anne??" and she sounds so incredulous that Anne is kinda hurt. Marcy for her part, thinks she's got a concussion, bc there is no way that Anne Boonchuy is right there, in Arcadia Bay and more importantly in Blackwell Academy.

at the moment of the fall anne also reacted but a bit slower than Sasha, so she's left with literally just a foot at the door and an arm mid reach motion. Sasha is confused as fuck and looking between Marcy and Anne as she connects the dots, dawning realisation making a tension so thick like a boba pear stuck on a straw. Anne then is about to talk when

"Anne! hurry or we'll miss the bus!" and the tension is broken. Anne backtracks out of the room and turns to the person calling and to Marcy in quick succession

"I-?... you??...gonna- later!" and runs away, following the calling friend "I'm coming!!"

Marcy proceeds to have a slight breakdown and ends up falling asleep with Sasha hugging her. that's the first time she stays the night in Sasha's dorm (the first of many)

by the time Anne comes back to the dorms, the door is closed.

[valpogossip]

VALPOGOSSIP TEACAP: JULY 2024

You lot sure have be busy the last month. If I was of lesser mind or simply someone with something better to do, I would have resigned myself to my silence and let you all carry on. But business pays. And unfortunately for you, it's yours that pays me, and you're all not going to believe this.

July saw the epic failure of the anticipated winter festival ! A freak snowstorm left all of our beloved residents forced to face their biggest fear: talking to people they don't know ! Before we get into the general tea, let's recap what happened at the winterfest shall we ?

Putting any so called foodie to shame, Javi Domginuez-Herrera, Jackie Grimaldi, and Tobias Northcott risk carbon monoxide poisoning to get their snack on. While poison might not have been in the food, that didn't mean something wasn't as they began having hallucinations of the truck being similar to the wardrobe to narnia. Thinking if they left they wouldn't be in kansas anymore, wrong movie? Oh well. They're all still here, anyway.

In a much sweeter turn of a event, Noah Fontaine, Leia Munoz-Silva, Rachel Kang, and Seba Dominguez-Herrera huddled closely together for warmth. They spent time discussing the age old philosophical debate: is it a sneed or a snood. Also mentions of wondering if befriending a mountain lion would go faster if they used weed or if they used catnip. Yeah, I'm not sure how anyone made it out alive either. Though I don't think we should tell Astrid Blackwell about the cuddling though. Something about a rule being broken.

Lucky for Rania Chadha, Luna Dominguez-Herrera, Salem West, and Reyna Artiaga they were tucked away extra safely: locked backstage. Don't know if they ever solved the mystery of who locked them inside, but they had bigger things to worry about inside! Like Salem getting her something on her feet after getting her ice skates of, Luna's boyfriend freezing to death, and Reyna's unconventional hobby of picking locks? They all moved past that last one a bit too fast for my liking.

Moving on too quickly, let's talk about Felix Kang, Charlie Hastings, and Sade Akerele. For a trio locked in a game booth, they had no interest in the games around and instead, like your baby cousin who breathes a little too hard and always has a snack in their hand, opted to play games on their phone. Sade and Felix tried to convince the group chat of Felix's disappearance and Charlie tried to convince God that it was simply his time to go.

Back to ' how did any of these people make it out alive' we turn to Arlo Hwang, Wylie Henderson, and Rafael Cisneros in the ice skating rink booth. They skipped right over the small talk, and went straight to the worst case scenarios. Cannibalism was discussed and Rafa had the idea to make a fire inside using the ice skates around.

In the Igloo with Nevaeh Thompson, Quinn Hawley, and Giovanni Vallato the only thing bright in there was Nevaeh's lighter. Quinn was overly confident in her abilities to claw it out like she did in ireland (which could mean anything). Vanni wasted his signal, battery, and time on tiktok but made sure to share his empanadas, cold as they were. And Nevaeh had a lighter.

Something about being trapped in the dark in a Parade Float made Delilah Jane Harrison, Abril Valdivia, and Spencer Westin want to share their deepest darkest secrets. I guess they thought they'd stay secret but here they are: Delilah Jane forged her cosmetology license, Specer stole their dad's grammy and sold it and making him believe it was a robbery, and Abril has been spending more and more time with a certain pop star ! (She didn't say that, but I think if she was honest with herself she might've)

Saffron Barton and Poet Hawley were locked inside a security guard car that Poet was determined to get hotwired with the help of the blade she keeps on her, interesting fun fact. Despite Saffron's disbelief, Poet got it going ! Not far though. They just went around in circles until security got them to stop. Wonder if Poet and Saffron saw the voucher promised to everyone.

It's a good thing that Leon Amos, Yazmin Taylor, and Rohan Kaur were in The Washroom, the tissues surrounding them were a must need. Everyone was at each other's throats, there was a lot of sharing between strangers about babies and lifelines and Rohan unsettled by the display of emotional vulnerability. Unfortunately for us, there was no punch thrown but they did all make up and shared their deepest philosophies on life.

Trapped on the Tilt-A-Whirl, Astrid Blackwell, Zaid Hassan, Drew Crane, and Nikhil Hari went on a Dr. Seus like journey. They were out in the open and with Nikhil's generous offer of his body heat everyone decides they'd rather face the cold! They manage to get into a booth where Drew becomes the winner of the only Jolly rancher available, and they all freeze their hands off to text their loved ones.

NOW onto the general drama you don't want to miss:

Arlo and Reyna seem especially jittery and stuttery at the Inherited Escapes counter.

Charlie is running the risk of getting a restraining order if he keeps popping up at Secondhand Style without plans to purchase anything.

Delilah Jane and Rohan seemed to have finally gotten a good jog set for those circles they keep running around in.

Vanni and Yaz are expecting a baby after a few months of dating ! Congratulations ! We think?

Jackie and Spencer? I don't know what's going on over there, but I'm watching very closely.

Leon took the bold step to Salem's door and Salem took an even bigger step to show him the door. For how long? Only time will tell.

Nevaeh has run in to not only 1 but 2 of her exes? Omar and Seba, whichever one of you is praying for her downfall must have a direct line to god.

That's all I have for you today, but don't worry. We'll be back next month with even more delicious tea for you to catch up on. Let me know what you think, my inbox is always open.

[msnihilist]

Doyle for the character ask game!

For the ask game!

My first impression

I don't remember the first time I watched The Secret Saturdays, unfortunately! What I wouldn't give to go into this show blind again...

My impression now

I just love Doyle so much. His dynamic with Zak makes me ill in the brain... I want Doyle to be happy and loved so fucking bad.

Favorite thing about that character

I love seeing Doyle get... softer over the course of the series. He goes from a ruthless mercenary with no loved ones, to having a family and opening himself up to love and he stops running away from his feelings, and I just love him so much!!

Least favorite thing

Just that he was kind of sidelined in season two. I know why he was, narratively, but Doyle is strongest as a character when he's bouncing off of his family.

Favorite line/scene

"Trust me — whatever I'm doing, it's for your own protection."

This says so much about Doyle's growth, I adore it. He's always protected Zak before, but he's never said it in as many words. Ugh, he cares about his nephew so goddamn much!

Favorite interaction that character has with another

The implication in "Where Lies the Engulfur" that Doyle was going to sacrifice himself for Zak. And that Zak was smart enough to not let him. And that Zak and Doyle understand their relationship isn't "like that" in the sense that neither of them addresses it, they're just grateful to have each other alive when it's all said and done.

A character that I wish that character would interact with more

I am SO hungry for more Zak and Doyle interactions. But Doyle and Drew having one-on-one time more often would have also been much appreciated!

Another character from another fandom that reminds me of that character

Bro Strider from Homestuck

A headcanon about that character

Doyle curses like a sailor, and he personally doesn't care if Zak is around or not... But Drew would kill him if Zak started swearing, so he's gotten pretty good at biting his tongue.

Also, Blackwell is not his real last name, nor is it Drew's maiden name. It's made-up because Doyle was too young to remember his last name when he ended up in an orphanage.

A song that reminds of that character

"Golden" by Fall Out Boy. I even did a MEP part with the song to prove it.

An unpopular opinion about that character

I guess I don't really like the fandom interpretations where Doyle's relationship with Zak is... easy. Particularly with the high-emotions of season two, I think Zak and Doyle if they were alone together would end up with a lot more arguments than in season one.

Zak would lash out or get too real, and Doyle wouldn't know what to do or say. They really haven't known each other very long, in the grand scheme of things. Doyle really isn't good at communicating or empathizing. I think he'd try his best, but feel disconnected from Zak as he went into his teenage years.

Doyle is the "cool uncle," sure, but he's also a person. Just because he's laid back doesn't mean his emotions and relationships can't be complicated.

Favorite picture