#Nathan feels so bad about Kate but he jumps around

[nprescott]

// man. My Nathan watched the Kate video over and over and over because it's like.... A self harm thing. Makes him feel human to feel so fucking guilty. My hc is watched it once before her suicide (attempt) and after he watched it so many times.

[arcadiabaytornado]

Thoughts on Nathan Prescott?

He's almost as bad as Mark, and I don't have a lot of sympathy for him.

I know that Nathan had mental health issues, but that doesn't absolve him. He knew the difference between right and wrong. He would have gone around telling everyone about the dark room if he didn't. The fact that he knew to keep his mouth about what he and Mark had done proves that he knew what they did could get him in trouble. He also admits that he hurt Kate and Rachel during his phone call to Max. So he knew what he did.

Speaking of the phone call, I don't think he was actually that sorry. He only confesses to what he did when Mark is coming after him, or if you sacrifice Chloe, he only confesses when he's been arrested for her murder. In both of those cases, he decided to confess only when he was screwed. If he felt bad about what he did and wanted to make it right, he could have turned himself in to the cops on Monday. Or even confessed to Wells after Kate tried to jump. But he didn't do either of those things. Instead, he waited until he was in such deep shit that the consequences of his actions no longer mattered.

So, yeah, I don't have a shred of sympathy for Nathan, and I kind of hate how often his mental illness is used as an excuse. There are plenty of people who struggle with their mental health, and yet they never end up doing the terrible things Nathan did. In fact, people with mental illnesses are far more likely to be the victim of a crime than be the perpetrator. Nathan wasn't a monster because he was mentally ill. Nathan was a monster who happened to be mentally ill. And I don't feel bad for him.

[dalekofchaos]

Ways I would change Life IS Strange

Much like my BTS one, I will do a fix it post for LIS. 

Before we begin, I will make something clear. 

We will have the option to romance either Chloe, Kate, Victoria or Warren

One specific change about Chloe’s character model is that she has piercings. Inspired by cosplayer/fanfilm actor arcadia_brat, Chloe would have a earings, lip rings and nose rings.

Rachel would be Native American. Here’s why. 

Sean Prescott and Mark Jefferson are the villains. Jeffershit is the killer, but Sean is pulling the strings

Keeping in the cut plotline about Nathan seeing the storm

Episode 1

The choice to comfort Victoria will give Victoria the much needed wake up call to change and make amends, this will lead to friendship and something more

If you chose to take Victoria’s picture, Chloe keeps it because she likes seeing the bitch taken down a peg.

After saving Kate from David, Kate says she’ll make it up to Max by taking her out for Tea. 

Chloe does not park in the handicapped spot

Have Max and Warren both jump into Chloe's truck. This way Warren could be allowed to develop more as a character and help out Max and Chloe throughout the game

Chloe stops guilt tripping Max after the first truck ride

Cute scene where Max helps Warren reduces the swelling of his black eye and you have the option to hold Warren's hand or not.

Warren takes off when his eye is healed up enough and wishes Max well in reconnecting with Chloe

If you chose to stay in the closet or chose not to take the heat for the pot. Chloe will apologize

Episode 2

If you comforted Victoria, instead of Victoria acting all mean and bitchy to Kate, Victoria acts remorseful and apologizes to Kate for what happened at the party and is doing everything in her power to take down the viral video. If you chose to take the picture of her, Victoria will act the same.

After Nathan trashes your room, Max will take the photoshopped picture as evidence and take a picture of Nathan’s threat. This will come into play in the end on if you implicate Nathan at the end

If you choose to reject Warren’s offer, Max can insist that he should take Brooke as she really likes him and Warren responds positively and still sees Max as his best friend

Instead of making it mandatory to go to Two Whales with Chloe. Instead you get to choose. Two Whales with Chloe, studying with Warren or Tea with Kate. If you choose Chloe, same as what happens in canon. If you choose Study with Warren. We go to the library to study together. Max gets to explain her powers and the situation with Kate and Nathan. We get to prove it to Warren, we also get to learn more about Warren as a character. We find out Warren is basically the boy version of Matilda. Was neglected as a child, so he chose books and science as his passion and sci-fi and it made him feel whole.(idk this was the best I could come up with, but it’s more than what DONTNOD has given us) then Warren will promise that he will look around and help out with Kate.  Tea with Kate. We also get to explain Max’s powers and test it out. Kate will be in awe and Kate will tell Max that God has blessed her with a gift and even call Max a real angel. During the Tea date. Kate begins to remember more. Max will promise to help Kate out.  After we are done with Warren or Kate, we will go to the Junkyard with Chloe. Chloe will be annoyed like she would be if you took Kate’s call, but this way around, it’s not as bad as not taking a suicidal person’s call

Chloe would not get pissy with Max if we chose to spend the day with Warren, Kate or Victoria, mostly because she understands she has other friends and Max is making up to chilling in American Rust. 

We also have the option to hangout with Victoria, which is only accessible if you chose to comfort her. Victoria takes Max out and buys her clothes and they do a photoshoot together. Victoria also confides in Max about Kate and how awful she feels. Max tells Victoria it isn’t too late to change and this inspires Victoria to do something good later down the line(more on that later) and Victoria says she is glad she took a chance on Max and her friendship and says the Vortex Club needs more cool people like Max and less suck ups and bullies

During the desk scene, Victoria will defend Max from Nathan and Victoria asks Max to be her date at the EOTW party. Only accessible if you spent time with Victoria and comforted her.

If you took Victoria’s photo and Chloe kept it. In episode 2, let’s say in addition to showing off our powers to Chloe, Max tells Chloe about Kate’s ordeal and Chloe’s just as pissed as Max. Maybe in the Junkyard or on the way back to Blackwell, Chloe will offer Max to mass produce the pictures, post them everywhere at Blackwell and email the picture so she can post it online. She says “let’s call this Kate’s revenge”  if you accept this will happen throughout episodes 3-4. -Victoria feels what it’s like to be humiliated and bullied and feels some humility -Everyone in the Vortex Club except Nathan turns on Victoria -Everyone in Blackwell calls her “paintgirl” and some things worse. -Victoria absolutely hates us and when she sends her texts, Max can either apologize or stand her ground and call her out like the bitch she is “karma’s a bitch ain’t it? this is what you made Kate feel. You deserved every bit of it.” -At the party, you can try to make nice and Victoria will learn a lesson that there are consequences for her actions. You can either forgive or condemn Victoria. Whichever you choose, you then choose to warn her or not about Nathan. 

During the final confrontation where Max chooses between Nathan, Jefferson or David. We can present the evidence from Max’s room to present if we chose to blame Nathan. This will result in Nathan spending the night in jail. 

If you chose to blame Jefferson and if you stuck around to eavesdrop on Jefferson and Kate’s convo, Max will tell Wells what Jefferson. “I overheard a conversation between Kate and Mr Jefferson. Kate told him to leave her alone.  Mr Jefferson told her to “knock off this martyr crap and to stop being brittle” and when Kate told her “being on a viral video will do that” he told her “Maybe this is your way of getting attention.” and that’s when Kate ran away crying before I saved her on the roof” Wells reaction to this will be much harsher. He will then fire him, not just remove him from the Every Day Hero competition.

If you choose to comfort VIctoria, Victoria will be present. Victoria will interject between whatever choice we choose and explain that she uploaded the video and takes full responsibility. This will result in shutting down the EOTW party and the Vortex Club(temporarily until Sean uses his influence on Wells)

Episode 3

Max, Chloe and Warren will be investigating Blackwell together. Warren will use his hacking skills to help them break into school and turn off the cameras. They each search for clues. In the Principals office of course, but also searching where the last Vortex Club was in search of anything that might help

It’s clear that as they gotten to know each other, Chloe and Warren are total bros  and they each understand why they love Max lol

Instead of stealing from the handicapped fund, it’s stealing from The Prescott donation(aka Wells’ bribe money)

During the pool scene, depending if you didn’t attempt to start a romance with Kate or Victoria and only showed interest in either Chloe or Warren, you get the choice to kiss either Chloe or Warren. When you kiss Chloe, Warren does a nerdy little clap and cheer. When you kiss Warren, Chloe goes “ABOUT FUCKING TIME NERDS!”

You get the choice of choosing between going to Chloe’s place or going to Warren’s dorm

In Warren’s dorm, it will open with Max and Warren cuddling and the two taking a selfie together. They talk about how much they love each other and how much Max appreciates Warren. They will talk and say they should go on a date to the End Of The World Party as a date and a means to spy on Nathan and make sure he doesn’t hurt anyone again. Chloe texts Max to come over and Max kisses Warren goodbye and says “see you later my white knight.”

In Chloe’s room you can admit to Chloe that you either like Kate or Warren, Chloe will be supportive no matter what. If you tell her you like VIctoria, Chloe will say “you and icky VIcky? Whatever makes you happy Max” But if you choose an option that leaves Chloe hanging, it’s hinting that Max likes her

While also in Chloe’s room, during the convo where Max asks Chloe if she had any boyfriends, Chloe pretty much tells Max she’s gay. “Max, I’m gay. I was never interested in boys. Yeah, Rachel was my girlfriend.”

When we kiss Chloe, Chloe doesn’t push back, she embraces Max in a kiss

When we choose the “Side with Chloe” option in episode 3, we print out David’s evidence and take pictures of the surveillance footage as proof for Joyce. We talk about it but we don’t show it to Joyce and Joyce automatically sides with Max. I’d also have David snap and attempt to hit Chloe and Joyce stops him and finally puts her foot down with David and shows him the door.

Max will get to stand up to Chloe. Basically she puts her foot down on Chloe.  If Chloe does snap after finding about Rachel and says the same things she did about Kate as she did in canon. Max can then lose her shit and stand up to Chloe. Basically says the way she treats her is not okay and if she wants to help her find Rachel and seek justice for Kate, then things are gonna have to change or they are finished. Then Max leaves Chloe behind with Chloe realizing that she needs to change. Ideally something like Bojack Horseman “You can't keep doing this! You can't keep doing shitty things and then feel bad about yourself as if that makes it okay! You need to be better!  Chloe, stop. It's not alcohol, drugs, or your parents, David, Rachel or all the bad things that happened to you before. It's you. It's you. I want to find Rachel and get justice for Kate, but if this is how you’re gonna keep treating me...Fuck, man... What else is there to say?“ I know LIS came out way before BJHM or that particular episode, but it’s the perfect example of how Max could’ve stood up to Chloe’s toxic behavior

Episode 4

When we go to the alternate world in episode 4, we would see everything is right. Chloe was not put in an accident and we can see a world in which Chloe Price is happy and safe. We’d get to meet Rachel, we’d find out it’s Max, Chloe and Rachel who have a close friendship, not Max and the Vortex Club. Chloe lives a happy life with Max, William and Rachel in it. Max would only go back because the storm came early and she had to choose to go back and save her Chloe

After the returning from her time jump, Max returns to her dorm and goes to Chloe. Chloe properly apologizes for how she’s been acting since they got back together and agree to put everything in the past so they can work together to find Rachel and give Kate justice

Before we begin our investigation in episode 4. Max calls Joyce and David so everyone could let it all out. It’s basically the therapy that Joyce wanted David and Chloe to go to but didn’t. Chloe calls out David for his abuse for the last 3 years of her life and the fact that he made her feel like a prisoner in her own home and how much the cameras made it worse. Then Chloe calls him out on Rachel. “Rachel was my angel. She was the only good thing that ever happened to me since my dad died and you and the spoiled rich kid took her away from me. Worse. You stalked her like you stalked Kate. And now Rachel is missing. Congrats, David I hope it was fucking worth it.” Then Chloe unloads on Joyce. For all the times she covered for David’s abuse, choosing to either ignore or condone the abuse and for the fact that she’d rather pretend everything was fine. Maybe end it with “I didn’t need a fucking step-father, I needed my mother when I needed her most and your first instinct was to chose the worst fucking man to bring into my life. Fuck both of you.”  Maybe after David and Joyce say their piece.(hopefully both of them being remorseful) Max can either choose to tell Chloe to forgive them or “fuck them” basically Max calls out David for his bullying and abusive behavior,  Max can call out David. “You saw Frank, who was an adult, perving on Rachel, a high school student, you even had the evidence and you did nothing? Kate needed help and instead of being that help, you treated her like shit” David admits he fucked up with Rachel and wishes he could’ve sent his evidence to the police and Joyce for being a shitty mother. “I used to think you ruled Joyce, but you are a terrible mother. Chloe needed a mother and you failed her.”  I don’t know how forgiving them would play out, maybe it would be therapeutic and would result in closure for the Price-Madsen family and they have a chance to start over after Max helps them in that direction.  After that. I think Chloe would tell Max. “Max, thank you. I needed to finally let all that shit out.” “You deserved so much better Chloe.” “I got better Max, I got you.” And if you chose forgiveness. “I will still hate them both for how life went for the last 3 years, but I think we can start fresh. Thank you Max.”

Chloe would enter Kate’s hospital room with Max. We’d see Kate talking with Chloe and we find out that Kate was there for Chloe when Rachel went missing and made Chloe feel a little better, that’s why Chloe said “she’s cool”

If we chose to go on a Tea date with Kate, we get the option to confess our feelings for Kate and kiss Kate in the hospital.

Before leaving the hospital, we have the option of warning Kate about the Storm and telling Kate to leave as soon as possible(why could we warn the homeless lady, but not Kate?)

Nathan’s cut dialogue of “THE STORM IS COMING” stays in.

Max calls out Frank on his bullshit. Instead of choosing to befriend Frank, Max gets to call him out. Calls him out for turning Pompidou into a violent attack dog, the fact he sells drugs to kids and his predatory obsession with Rachel. “You didn’t love Rachel, you were obsessed with her and whatever you did drove her away and honestly? You’re not just a creepy drug dealer, you’re a pedophile, Frank.” Frank of course would get violent and you have two choices. Rewind and call the police or let Chloe shoot Frank and afterwords Max calls to animal services to protect Pompidou and give him a new home. Either you get the client book off of Frank’s dead body or you get it after the cops arrest Frank. Either way you get rid of a predator. Sorry, not sorry. I have no sympathy for people who prey on children. 

Warren would use his hacking skills to get them into the Dark Room

Taylor and Courtney would do Max’s makeover and dress Max for the Vortex Club party. Max would look like how she did in the alternate reality.

While Kate helps Max via text, if we romanced Kate, Kate will call Max her “Time Angel” and Max will call Kate her “Cinnabun”

At the EOTW party, we meet Sean Prescott. Sean threatens us and Max shuts his shit down and defies him. Sean leaves him with a friendly warning. “Be careful of the dark room, Miss Caulfield.” and this is enough to send chills down Max’s spine

We can either dance with Warren, Victoria or Chloe and kiss them in our dance

We are given the opportunity to enter a photo for the Everyday Hero Contest. We enter at the last minute as Jefferson would give Max the opportunity. So Max with Kate’s permission, Kate would let Max take a photo of her in the hospital. Which wins the Everyday Hero Contest. Max gives an inspiring speech about how everyone can be a hero and that Kate has always inspired her, how much she loves Kate and that she hopes that Kate knows that she is loved by everyone in Blackwell and everyone would cheer Max on. This would also give Jefferson the means and opportunity to drug Max. It honestly works better than Jefferson magically appearing at the Junkyard with no explanation(and it never being brought up).

Episode 5

We would find out that Sean Prescott is the mastermind. He knew about the storm and so did Nathan. But Sean wanted the storm to happen. Sean Prescott wanted to prevent Nathan from warning the town, so Nathan was drugged to stop his visions. Mark Jefferson and The Dark Room was meant to “guide” Nathan to his destiny. Jefferson and The Dark Room killings were meant to be scapegoats while Sean Prescott gets away with everything. Sean Prescott wanted the storm to destroy Arcadia Bay so everyone who survived would be forced to move into Pan Estates. 

Nathan would be alive. Jefferson and Sean want Nathan to fulfill his destiny and kill Max. After his refusal, Jefferson and Sean proceeds to punish Nathan. Max has the choice to either save Nathan or let them kill Nathan.  Cut dialogue indicates there was something more meant for Nathan. Jefferson says this to Max "Like you Max, I... am a camera. And like some cultures believe I'm going to use my camera. To capture... your... soul. Now take a break. I need to deal with Nathan first. Don't worry, our session is just... getting started." I think Max could've helped Nathan in the dark room, to owe her the favor, Nathan would help Max.

If you chose either Chloe, Warren, Kate or Victoria. Either of them would be with David to rescue us. If you chose Kate, Kate will direct everyone the clues to the dark room due to remembering everything. 

You can hug and forgive Nathan for finally stepping up to his abusers and for saving her. 

Max will either hug or kiss her partner and they’d head to the Lighthouse. 

In the nightmare scene, Max would meet Rachel. Basically confirmation that Rachel was the Doe and that her spirit was finally put to rest. True confirmation that Rachel did indeed love Chloe and that she was just looking to scam money out of Nathan, Frank and Jefferson.  Max finally put her spirit to rest. Max insists she can and will save her. and tells her you did not deserve to die. Rachel’s spirit just fades with a smile

Using the Dark Room pictures of Rachel or even the picture Chloe had of Rachel, Max would use her power to rewind and warn Rachel about Frank, Nathan and Jefferson she would in fact save Rachel, Chloe and Arcadia Bay. 

5 possible endings. Ending 1. Max, Chloe and Rachel leave together for LA. Ending 2. Max and Warren finally Go APE! montage of them as boyfriend and girlfriend and Chloe looking on approving. Ending 3. Max and Chloe choose to leave Arcadia Bay together or stay as girlfriends. Ending 4. Max and Kate writing a children’s book together as girlfriends. Ending 5. Max and Victoria in Seattle together leading their own photogallery. Also a montage of showing Nathan getting the help he needs with Victoria, Hayden, Kristine and Max visiting him. While also showing Jefferson’s execution and Sean’s life sentence. 

[tangent101]

Max Caulfield and Post-Storm PTSD

One thing I find interesting (and have done so myself) is speculating on how broken Max will be in a Post-Storm (either Sacrifice Chloe or Sacrifice Arcadia Bay) setting. While some people (usually those who killed Chloe) like to say "she'd bounce back!" the predominant view is that we have a shattered Max after this who needs a lot of therapy. So I thought I'd unpack this and look at why I look at this this way.

At this point I should add there is potential triggers here. I'll be examining my own PTSD and elements of Max's state of mind that may in fact result in her being in declining mental health in the wake of the events of Life is Strange.

First, let's consider what PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) is, and what causes it. And for this I'm going to start by sharing my own trauma. Because I have PTSD. I gained this after I saw a vehicle go out of control and hit two people and run over two others. The final person was trapped under the vehicle and they had to push the van at an angle to pull him out, do CPR, and... he was dead. Even if EMTs had been right there, he'd not have survived.

I suffer flashbacks thinking of this, though it's gotten better. I will flinch, visualize what happened, and feel nausea. I get tense over this and... well, it's not a happy experience to put it mildly. And I have what is likely a milder case of PTSD. I also developed it despite being in an environment that put me at a lower risk of developing it. And yes, I had minor twinges of PTSD writing this up. Two years ago I probably would have had an actual visualization and anxiety break. So you can get better with therapy and help.

But what specifically is PTSD? According to the website for the National Institute of Mental Health, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) develops in some people who experience shocking or dangerous events, with people who have PTSD feeling stressed or frightened even when they are not in danger. PTSD can occur within 3 months of traumatic events or even have you be fine and then crop up *years* later. And symptoms include flashbacks where you relive the trauma, bad dreams, and frightening thoughts which can disrupt a person's everyday routine.

People with PTSD are easily startled, can feel "on edge," have angry outburst, and have difficulty sleeping. They could go through avoidance of staying away from reminders of the experience and avoiding thoughts or feelings related to the event. Further, cognitive and mood symptoms include problems remembering key features of the event, self-negativity, distorted guilt or blame feelings, and loss of interest in enjoyable activities.

Okay, so how can you avoid PTSD? And how could Max avoid this? Well, factors promoting recovery after trauma include seeking support from friends and family, finding a support group, learning to feel good about your own actions in the face of danger, positive coping strategies, and learning to act and respond effectively even when feeling fear.

And this is the kicker. This is why Max is likely screwed as a result of the events of Life is Strange, especially in a Sacrifice Chloe setting. Because Max blames herself and her time travel for the Storm and all the weird shit that happened. She may very well believe that if she uses time travel for any reason, it will result in the Storm and a lot more people dying. And this will get in the way of being in a healthy environment to avoid PTSD.

First, consider friends and family. Max can't tell them what happened because she has absolutely no proof of what she went through. She can't prove her time travel because if she does then she dooms wherever she is and a lot of people die. (It doesn't matter if this is the case or not, she assumes it is true.) So Max is not going to confide in Warren or Dana or Victoria or anyone. She can't. And she's quite likely going to isolate herself because we have already seen at the start of the game, Max is a bit of a loner who doesn't have many friends.

In fact, her two "friends" are Warren (who she feels threatened by due to his attraction to her, as seen by his inclusion in her Nightmare sequence including learning he doctored photos of her to include himself in the picture, his peeping activities on the second day, and the honestly-creepy "Go Ape" thing), and Kate. Kate is going through her own shit and Max remembers Kate killing herself. Is Max going to unload her own issues on someone going through a lot of shit as well or is she going to swallow her problems so not to trouble her friend? And Warren is someone she feels nervous around and who has engaged in some activities that set up warning flags in her psyche. Further, when she told Warren the truth, he promptly blames her time travel on fucking everything up. In short, she trusted Warren and Warren said "you caused all this destruction." (Even if Max initially blames herself, he reinforces that point of view before Max jumps through the photo to save Chloe.)

Nor can I see her telling her parents. Again, she has no proof. Her parents are overprotective already. If she starts going off on this fanciful tale, are they going to believe her? Or are they going to assume their daughter is cracking and force her into therapy and possibly hospitalize her "for her own good" (and thus she ends up medicated and miserable, having lost her autonomy and agency)? It doesn't matter if they wouldn't as Max will worry this could happen. It is better to never say a thing. So Max internalizes everything. And we already see evidence that Max has done this sort of thing in the past. Max keeps her secrets close to her heart. She never told her parents of the time travel even when she could have had proof. So why tell them after Chloe died?

I have been overcoming my PTSD by revisiting it and working through it. Part of this was guided by therapy. Max would not be in a position to talk about this. And how could she? After all, she didn't find Rachel Amber's body (and we have no proof her body is uncovered in a Sacrifice Chloe setting). She didn't see the Storm. She didn't see most of the incidents. The closest that happened was being in the bathroom when Chloe was shot. And her story of what happened would change from the week that beta-Max was in charge and when Max Prime returned to the timeline. So even if she was talking to a school counselor? She'd quickly learn that her story changed and probably shut up and stop seeing them so not to give away her story.

Remember: Max cannot admit to the time travel because doing so means either killing hundreds of people due to the Storm or being locked away for being crazy because she has no proof.

Next, we have feeling good about her actions. For five days Max had hammered into her skull her actions have consequences. More, those consequences are predominantly bad. Far too often Max has to Rewind to fix things from her actions. If she can't Rewind? That means by acting, she's going to fuck things up. In fact, the fundamental aspect of Sacrifice Chloe states that her action to save Chloe caused all of this destruction. Max is going to second-guess herself constantly.

I mean, if she sees Kate on the roof again at a later point (because women who are the victims of crimes are often blamed by society for the crimes inflicted against them as seen time and time again with how we blame victims of sexual harassment and rape for the crimes committed against them, so of course her church and mother and aunt will continue to blame Kate for what she went through), will Max dare to act? If she does, then she might cause another Storm. She might cause damage. If Kate is on that rooftop again, maybe she was supposed to die. Who does Max think she is by trying to stop Destiny?

So yeah. Max is not going to feel good about her actions. She is going to second-guess herself. She already had that tendency at the start of the game, and Sacrifice Chloe hammers down the truth that action is bad. Better to do nothing and not interact.

We end up with Avoidance. Well, what is the biggest Avoidance? Photography. Max already has a murderer who kidnapped her associated with photography. She remembers being in the Dark Room, being powerless in the face of the man who murdered her Chloe. (Just like she murdered her Chloe. She might not have pulled the trigger, but she caused Chloe's death.) She will see Chloe's death and Rachel's death and her own suffering each time she looks at a camera and remembers Mark Jefferson. More, she knows if she focuses on a photograph she could end up traveling through time and causing the Storm. So she can't even enjoy pictures anymore because they are a threat.

That's not to say that the Sacrifice Chloe setting is all dark and dire. She does have music. She loves music. So if she puts aside the camera she might pick up her guitar and embrace music. (Hannah Telle, Max's VA, once speculated that Max would enter a career in music, probably due partly to her own musical inclinations.) So while she might give up her greatest loves, she might eventually embrace a future in music. I doubt she'd ever play in public but... that might be an outlet for a hurting soul.

Now, I've gone on at length about how dire things are for Max in a Sacrifice Chloe setting, but what about Sacrifice Arcadia Bay? Well, things end up a bit more positive in this setting because she can actually talk about going through some of these things. For instance, Max dug up a body with Chloe. She saw Chloe almost shot by Nathan in the bathroom. She saw Kate attempt suicide (whether or not she stopped it is immaterial to the suicide attempt). She learned that a trusted teacher and mentor was in fact a predator who was kidnapping young women, saw pictures of these crimes, and thus "suffers flashbacks visualizing herself in this setting." She can go to therapy and talk about many things she cannot in a Sacrifice Chloe setting and in doing so she can start to work through elements that could result in PTSD developing.

She can also talk to Chloe about what happened. Chloe knows about the time travel. She knows about almost dying (and Max witnessing Chloe's death multiple times). This gives Max a needed outlet for overcoming her own fears and concerns. But more importantly is this: Chloe is likely to tell Max to face down her fears. Chloe is the person who always pushed Max to try new things. And I honestly cannot see that changing as a result of what they went through.

Max also will learn to feel good about her actions. I mean, she chose Chloe over Arcadia Bay. This is the ultimate action, and while she may feel remorse for those deaths and that destruction... she also knows she saved Chloe and Chloe is by her side. She knows that her actions led to the capture and arrest of Mark Jefferson and saving Victoria Chase's life. Hell, it led to David Madsen (and probably a couple Arcadia Bay police officers) surviving the Storm because they were in the Dark Room at the time of the Storm. Her actions have consequences... and those consequences need not be dire. They can be beneficial.

So the Max of Sacrifice Arcadia Bay has a support group, she has access to therapy and can talk about some of the things she went through, she has someone she loves who believes her, she knows that her actions have benefit, she has someone who urges her to move forward. This isn't to say she won't have PTSD... but she is in a far better environment to overcome this to the point that in Life is Strange 2, we learn (in the Save Chloe timeline) that Max is submitting to galleries and that Chloe is still with her. So she's taking pictures and is in a good place in her life.

Now, what about Chloe? After all, Chloe went through some truly horrific shit herself. Chloe was almost shot by Nathan, she almost got hit by a train, she was threatened by Frank, she dug up the body of a girl she truly cared for, dozens of yards from where she was hanging out regularly, she saw a huge-ass Tornado wipe out her home town and kill her mother... yeah, Chloe's been through some horrific stuff, about as horrific as Max. More, she is in an unhealthy position at the time of the game.

But much of what benefits Max in the Save Chloe timeline also benefits Chloe. She can talk to a therapist. She has Max by her side. She has Max by her side and Max out-and-out chose her over hundreds of people. Joyce chose David over her, and for four years Chloe was in an unsafe environment. Rachel was... Rachel, and she was cheating on Chloe anyway. But Max... Max comes back, she saves her life several times, she helps Chloe time and time again, and at the end she chose Chloe over Arcadia Bay. That is big. That is bigger than big, it is... for once, Chloe was told "you are important." I mean, I'm getting teary-eyed just thinking of how big this is. Chloe has realized just how much Max loves her.

So... Chloe might develop PTSD. She is at risk of it. I think her triggers might similar to Max's - both girls probably will freak over thunderstorms for a while, and both may develop an aversion toward guns... at first I thought they'd differ but really, they'd align fairly well. About the only trigger issue Max would have Chloe doesn't has to do with photography (which is why Chloe is the person who'd help Max overcome any such issues).

[angelsunflowers-fanfics]

Nathan Prescott x Female!reader (The Sketchbook incident)

Request: I had this idea for a Nathan Prescott and female reader imagine where he’s secretly her muse and she drawing him every day in her sketchbook but one day he sees and destroys her sketchbook and she gets so upset she stops drawing and he feels bad and realizes how special it was to her and buys her a new one Sorry if that long, it’s my first time Also love your writing <3

Fandom: Life is strange

Genre: Mix of Angst and fluff (Happy ending)

Linktree

~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Rough sketches, pencil marks, pen and an assortment of colors rubbed onto her fingers and arms as she shaded in a certain area of the model, of her picture of Nathan. As an artist, (y/n) needed a muse and without his knowledge, she had chosen Nathan Prescott to be it. She didn’t know how he’d react if he even found out. Would he be embarrassed? Angry?

Who knew?

(y/n) grunted in an effort as she finally finished shading the base of Nathan’s neck in her beloved sketchbook. The book itself had been used and filled up to the brim with photographs and sketches of the school, her friends but most importantly, of Nathan.

The two didn’t talk very often, but she saw how soft he could actually be; in the little moments, he let his facade vanish. She wanted to be closer to him, but… How do you approach a person like that? Not to mention, that he had a reputation for going too far.

(y/n) pulled herself away from the sketch, glancing around at the yard to admire everyone enjoying life peacefully.

Max was talking to a few people as always, being a bit nosy, but nice. Evan was taking pictures, Warren was probably watching another weird movie of his in his dorm. Everything was pretty normal except for Nathan Prescott storming up to (y/n) with rage-filled eyes and clenched fists. He was angry, anybody within 50 feet of his could see that. He was too obvious with his anger, didn’t even try to hide it.

(Y/n) gave a polite smile to the obviously Pissed off Prescott, nervous about what he might say or do. He could be a bit unpredictable. He stopped in front of her, glaring at the large sketchbook in her hands.

“Good morning Nathan. Lovely day, isn’t it?” (y/n) asked. 

Nathan only continued to glare harshly, the students in the surrounding area began to stare In curiosity.

No one dared to say a word, they didn’t want the wrath of Nathan directed toward them.

He dug a hand into his pocket to fish out his phone, he found the photo that could be the cause of his anger of the day and shoved it into (y/n’s) face. It took her a moment to realize that the photograph was of one of her drawings of Nathan.

And she knew exactly how it got onto the web. Victoria Chase.

“What the fuck is this?” He asked, anger seethed into his words.

(y/n) nervously laughed but soon stared up at his eyes. Those gorgeous blue eyes and that pretty dirty blonde hair wasn’t helping. It was the perfect combination. There didn’t need to be a reason as to why she liked to draw him so much, the pretty face and different expressions he used in day-to-day life were amazing. So was he. (y/n) wanted to find a way to tell him that she actually liked him but knowing Nathan, she wasn’t sure if he would recuperate her feelings.

“Um, a drawing of you that I made… Nathan, I’m sorry. I showed it to Victoria, I didn’t know that she took a picture and posted it online,” She confessed. 

The taller boy slowly pocketed his phone before he grabbed the sketchbook out of (y/n)’s nimble fingers. 

“Wait, what are you doing?” (y/n) asked, panic seeped into her chest.

Nathan tossed the sketchbook into the trash can before lighting a match, (y/n) stood up quickly knowing what he was going to do. (y/n) rushed to him, trying to grab the match out of his hand but failing in the end as he dropped it into the trash can watching the sketchbook go up in flames.

The students surrounding (y/n), stared at her with empathy but didn’t say a word. Nathan slowly turned to (y/n), crossing his arms over his chest. He still looked angry, even after destroying the one thing that (y/n) held precious.

“I’m not your subject to use,” Nathan growled.

Nathan glanced into (y/n)’s eyes just in time to see her tears building up and drip from the pools in her eyes. Nathan felt a strike go through his heart, guilt. An ugly emotion that he felt all too often, but now toward (y/n)? Someone who was actually nice to him no matter what other people told her?

He clenched his jaw in anger, this time toward himself. He watched as (y/n) slowly turned around and walked into the dormitory building, needing to be alone for a while. He made her cry. Nathan Prescott made (y/n) cry. He messed up, big time. Was there even a way to fix what he broke?

The group surrounding Nathan slowly disbanded, not wanting his anger to blow up again in such a short period of time. 

Nathan was left alone with his thoughts, he ran a hand over his face and picked up his phone as it rang. Victoria. Fuck, what was he supposed to say?

“Hey,” Nathan whispered, his voice hoarse. 

Nathan slowly trudged back to his own dorm, he had thinking to do indeed. How was he going to make this up?

“Nathan, what the hell happened? Did you burn her sketchbook? I told you to go talk to her. There are videos all over social media… The comments are brutal,” Victoria said. 

Nathan barreled into his room and sat on his bed, running a hand through his hair to tangle it lightly. He didn’t know what he was thinking. If he was thinking at all during that moment. The sketchbook that he burned… sketchbook, maybe he could try to make it up by buying her another one? It was a start…

Nathan and Victoria conversed over his previous actions and how he could fix them while (y/n) on the other side of the dormitory building, stared out the window, wanting to fly away to get away from these gross feelings. Even after what happened, she still liked him. Anybody that found out about her feelings would call her insane. She had no will to draw anymore, what was the point if her own muse didn’t want to be drawn? Right?

She fumbled with her fingers lightly before glancing at her watch, great. She had physics in 10 minutes, at least she wouldn’t have to worry about art for a while now. She slowly grabbed the bag she threw onto the ground and slowly left the dormitory building, hesitantly. If it were her choice, she’d stay in her dorm all day, but she didn’t.

She slowly trudged into the academic building and into her class, wait. No. Nathan was in this class as well, how did she not realize that sooner? (y/n) ignored Nathan’s pleading stare and sat next to Victoria, hoping for some peace and quiet before class started.

“He feels awful you know. I know what he did was terrible but–” (y/n) shrugged her shoulders, cutting off Victoria’s plea.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. I’m done,” (y/n) whispered. 

Victoria glanced to Nathan, giving him a pity look before turning her attention to the front of the class as it finally began. Maybe she and Nathan could try again later.

The class was boring and dull. All Nathan could think about was how to make it up to (y/n). For over a year now he had been trying to get closer to her but each time he talked, everything just blew up in his face. 

The bell for the end of class finally rung, Nathan quickly shoved all of his things into his bag before trying to talk to (y/n). She was almost out the door now. So close. Nathan maneuvered to be right in front of her, using his arms to block her from leaving before talking to her.

“Wait, just stop for a second. Look, I feel real–” Nathan spoke, regret spilled from his lips. 

(y/n) glanced around the room for a moment before ducking under one of his arms and leaving, using his height to her advantage. Nathan blinked for a few moments before leaving the classroom and trying to find a sight of her but (y/n) had quickly disappeared into the crowd of rowdy teenagers. 

“Fuck,” Nathan whispered to himself. 

The crowd slowly began to disperse as teenagers found their next class or left the building but there was still no sign of (y/n) anywhere. Nathan groaned and slowly walked back to his dorm to try to figure a way to talk to (y/n).

(y/n) on the other hand, was holding her breath as she watched Nathan walk past her hiding spot and to the dormitory building. She stood out of the spot and started to walk to her own dorm when she bumped into Kate Marsh, she was an absolute sweetheart.

“Hey, (y/n). I heard about what happened. Are you alright?” Kate asked.

(y/n) brushed her hair back stressfully, she didn’t even know where to begin in what was wrong at the moment. So many things. Too little time.

“Yeah, I just… I didn’t expect him to do that. I’m kind of thinking of giving up drawing,” (y/n) mentioned. 

Kate’s eyes widened slightly but that didn’t stop her from pulling a brand new sketchbook from behind her back. (y/n) was slow to grab the item, she had been thinking about not going to Blackwell anymore because of what happened.

“Well, in case you want to pick it up again. You can use that. Okay? Maybe things will turn out alright?” Kate offered.

(y/n) gave Kate a genuine smile before gesturing to the dorms, “I’m gonna head to my room for the night. I’ll see you later.” 

Kate stepped out of the way and watched as (Y/n) carried the sketchbook naturally and quickly walked to her dormitory. But what she didn’t know was that all of the girls in the dormitory building had a little surprise in store for her.

(y/n) rubbed her eyes tiredly and walked through the main door of the dormitory to see all of the girls crowding the hallway bearing gifts of the art variety; sketchbooks, pencils, markers, etc. She jumped back lightly at the picture in front of her.

“Um, hey?” (y/n) asked akwardly.

Max was the first to walk out and grab one of (y/n)’s hands, guiding her to the center of the hallway to talk to everyone. (y/n) wasn’t normally very social but with the girls that live in the same building as her? Quite close.

“The video of Nathan burning your sketchbook is everywhere… we just wanted to do something nice for you,” Max said. 

(y/n) smiled gratefully and took more sketchbooks from her neighbors. She knew that they were only trying to help but how could someone draw if their muse didn’t want to be a muse? It was difficult to find someone else.

Max grabbed half of the gifts from all of the girls and followed (y/n) into her dorm to put all of the gifts on her desk. She didn’t know if she’d even fill these out at all considering that her will to draw was drained because of what Nathan did…

“Oh, I get it… Nathan was your muse…” Max set everything down, taking a seat on (y/n)’s bed before continuing with her thought, “That’s why you’re not drawing… he gave you the will to draw…” Max gave her friend one last smile before approaching the exit of the dorm. “Oh, before I forget, Warren had something to talk to you about. He’s In his dorm.”

(Y/n) stared at all of the art supplies given to her a few short minutes ago. It was stacked high on the desk, about to topple over. She was happy that her friends cared so much.

Without much thought, (y/n) walked to the boys’ dormitory building to visit a friend. Hopefully, she wouldn’t run into Nathan. She just needed to be careful.

(y/n) walked through the main door to the dormitory building and made a beeline for Warren’s room, she didn’t even bother with knocking on the sophomore’s door and just let herself in. She didn’t want to be caught by Nathan again. She was not ready to face him.

“Warren? Max, said you wanted to see me?” (y/n) called out.

The younger student quickly popped out of his desk chair and strolled up to (y/n), arms spread out for a bear hug. He was the most touchy of the group of friends she had, which was perfectly fine. (y/n) gave him a soft smile before slowly closing the gap and letting him hold her fragile form.

“Everyone said you were having a hard time and then Nathan… I’m sorry. Maybe everything will be better soon?” Warren apologized sympathetically.

(y/n) could only shrug lightly before slowly pulling away, letting herself become comfortable in the small room. But the thought of being in the boy’s dormitory, where Nathan lived, was peaking from the back of her mind. Warren stepped out of her space for a moment before grabbing a pack of oil paints from his desk and slowly handing them to (y/n); cautious to not scare her. 

“I got you something, you said that you’ve been wanting to try oil paint for a while now, right?” Warren said.

Though, she wasn’t sure when or if she’d be able to draw again, she appreciates the kind gesture. (y/n) slowly slipped the paints into her bag for safekeeping as she slowly gave Warren a small smile.

“Thanks, Warren… I think I’m gonna head back to my dorm… Sleep everything off. I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

The younger classmate only nodded lightly and watched as (y/n) slowly walked out of the room to hide away for the rest of the evening. The events of the day were hectic and cruel, all she wanted to do was sleep it off and hope that the morning would be better.

(y/n) peaked around the hallway for a few moments before deciding that it was safe and leaving Warren’s room before heading toward the main entrance of the Dorm building, wanting to find her own dorm before Nathan caught onto the fact that she was even in the same building as him. 

She breathed a small sigh of relief as she slowly started to pass the last dorm room and reached a hand out for the door when a pair of hands reached out from the last dorm and grabbed (y/n) to pull her inside.

(y/n) started thrashing in the arms of her unknown attacker as they placed a hand over her mouth so she couldn’t scream out for help. (y/n) stiffened as an exhale slowly reached her ear, causing her to shiver and listen closely.

“Stop squirming, It’s just me.” 

(y/n) roughly shoved Nathan away and faced him, her back pressed against the door. She stared up at him with a confused stare, why did he basically kidnap her? What for? He was fidgeting with his fingers nervously, he was scared to what will come next.

Her eyes were red and puffy from crying all day. The last thing she wanted to do was face the cause of her sorrow. Nathan Prescott, prestigious figure of Blackwell Academy… he was flustered by her mere appearance. He felt guilty about what happened this morning, he felt lower than low. To make it up to (y/n), Nathan wanted to get something for her… all she needed to do was open it.

“What do you want, Nathan? I should get back to my dorm, it’s late,” (y/n) said resentfully.  

It was not late, but everyone knew that (y/n) usually liked to return to her dorm after school and relax instead of partying like all of the other kids on campus.

Nathan took a step back to grab a wrapped box before presenting it to (y/n), a red hue was covering his features. He had never really apologized to someone, this was a first for him. Luckily, it was in the comfort of his own room and not the courtyard for everyone to see… again.

“Open it, please. This is my way of saying sorry… I… wasn’t thinking… I can be reckless and irritable…” He apologized.

(y/n) stared up at Nathan with an unknown look, she was not sure if she should take the gift. It could be anything, right? But Nathan didn’t go around giving just anybody random gifts… Maybe he really just wanted to try to redeem himself?

(y/n) ran a quick hand through her hair before making the mistake of glancing into Nathan’s eyes for a split second. His gaze was soft and pleading as he held the gift in his hands, his breath shaking only in the slightest from the nervousness of being near (y/n) once again; so soon.

“Fine… But if this is a joke–” (y/n) started to threaten but Nathan cut her off by carefully handing the recklessly wrapped gift into (y/n)’s paint-covered hands, their fingers brushed together lightly. The action quickly sent jolts of electricity through her and Nathan’s veins but neither person said a word about what they felt, too scared.

“It’s not. Promise. Open it,” Nathan said. 

(y/n) sighed lightly but gave him a half-smile before slowly opening the present before her hands run over the cover of a brand new sketchbook. Did he buy her a new sketchbook? She slowly let the wrapping paper fall to the floor so she could look at the sketchbook as whole, quickly glancing through the paper and the little accessories attached to it. (y/n) didn’t say a word as she discovered the feeling of the new gift. 

“I was angry and scared… Not about you or anything you did or said… I didn’t mean to take it out on you. I would never dream of doing that,” Nathan apologized.

(y/n)’s smile brightened as she realized that this was the sketchbook that she had been eyeballing for months now. She wasn’t able to buy it because it was far out of her price range for a sketchbook, but this one was special. It even came with pockets and sketching pencils. She glanced up and slowly placed the sketchbook onto his desk to grab both of his hands in her gentle grip.

“Nathan… I-” He was quick to cut her off, paranoid that she was going to yell at him like just about everyone in his life did. He was too used to it by now.

“I know that this will never replace what I did to your last sketchbook and I didn’t realize that I was your… Your muse. But I’m hoping that this will be a star–” 

(y/n) reached her hands up to grab Nathan’s face to slam her lips onto his, surprising him surely. Nathan flailed his arms for a few moments before deciding to rest his hands; one on the door next to (y/n)’s head and the other tangled in her hair. Nathan slowly relaxed into the motions, pressing his body closer to (y/n)’s.

Nathan tugged on (y/n)’s hair as he deepened the kiss, eliciting a soft moan from (y/n)’s lips. Before Nathan could ponder on the small action further, she bit down on his bottom lip. She wanted him to know how long she had been wanting this kiss to happen.

Nathan felt the same way, but before things could escalate, (y/n) softly slid her hands from Nathan’s face down to his chest to lightly push him away. She didn’t want things to go too far tonight.

“I forgive you… I was never angry at you for what you did, just sad. It hurt to see my muse destroy my work but maybe you can help me?” (y/n) asked.

Nathan didn’t say a word as he launched himself to his bed, propping his head up with one of his hands as he brought one of his knees up; turning to the side to face (Y/n). a small smirk ignited his face as he says the simple line that made (y/n) burst out laughing.

“Draw me like one of your french girls.”

(y/n) ignored her phone as it lit up with a few texts from Warren and Max, both worried. But she couldn’t be bothered with the sweet scene in front of her.

Maybe everything would be okay?

(y/n) glanced up from her sketchbook to get a quick glance, the growing confidence in him caused Nathan to send a small smile her way.

Yep, everything was going to turn out okay. Her muse was still hers, this time with his knowledge.

Nathan liked the idea of being a muse, it felt foreign but fitting.

[softgothsweetheart]

Colors {Out Of Time}

Paisley’s early morning consisted of nothing but cleaning the house and caring for Amelia, she’d had no morning classes. Amelia was rather quiet and hardly requested anything of her, making taking care of the house easier. Her aunt was at work and Mark was teaching class, which she had in the afternoon. Warren had agreed to pick her for it. Some time during the early morning she’d felt light headed and sick, Lee had figured Max had rewound for something.

“Can I get my juicy?” Amelia asked, making grabby hands at it. Paisley nodded, taking it from the island and walking, setting it on the kitchen table where her cousin immediately picked it up. They were waiting for the bus to take Amelia to her preschool, when she left that meant Lee could leave. The cartoons loudly played, her cousin was so focused on them. Paisley sat on the couch watching them, backpack in hand when a searing pain passed through her head and she winced.

Flashes of the storm, horrible ones. It seemed to be getting bigger, worse, more destructive. She gasped and sat up, the flashes stopped playing behind her eyelids and instead Amelia was in front of her, giving her a funny yet concerned look.

“Pailey—my bus is here!” Lee nodded, standing up and picking up her cousin, placing her on her hip. She kissed her forehead and walked outside, down the four steps and up to the bus where she set Amelia down and handed her the princess backpack that was newly bought for her.

As Amelia climbed on the bus and the bus drove away, Paisley noticed the storm clouds rolling in fast. She went inside and changed into a pair of Nate’s sweatpants and one of her oversized shirts with some gym shoes. She put her hair in a bun, ignoring her messy bangs and instead putting on a light shade of lipstick as her phone buzzed.

Warren > I’m outside.

Paisley < Alright, be out in a minute.

She grabbed her umbrella and her bookbag filled with what she needed for her classes. Paisley turned off the TV, locked the doors and closed the windows, locking the front door behind her and getting into Warren’s car.

“Nice car, Warren. I can’t wait until I get my license.”

“Trust me, the test is fucking difficult.”  He turned to face her, and she fully saw his black eye, she immediately felt bad.

“Sorry about your eye.”

“Hey—you didn’t punch me.”

“I mean… I guess?” She said as if it were a question, she was very unsure. She’d told Nathan about Max being in the bathroom.

“Your cheek doesn’t look well either.”

“Thanks.” She laughed as he finally took off.

“So yesterday, you wanna explain? I- I mean you don’t have to if you don’t wanna.” He drove carefully and expertly, much unlike her. Though she’d never know because she had never driven.

“Nothing. Max and I got in trouble. When I went to see what Nathan knew, he figured out they weren’t my polaroids—meaning there was more than just me in the bathroom.”

“Why was Nathan in the girls’ bathroom?”

“Long story.”

“You’ll understand if I’m skeptical, right? I mean, you hang out with the Vortex Club.” Paisley scoffed, rolling her eyes and searching through her bag for her cigarettes.

“It’s not like I had a choice. Uncle Mark says Nathan and Victoria have good eyes when it comes to photography. He’s the one who got me into the club.” He sighed in relief.

“I’m glad you didn’t join willingly, you don’t fit in. In a good way, I mean.” He corrects himself and it made Paisley just a little bit happier, despite the weather. She’d long given up searching for her cigarettes, coming to a conclusion that she’d left them at home.

“Thanks Warren.” She watched him closely as he parked, watching his fluffy hair and his brown eyes. Some things she liked about him. His short laugh broke her reverie.

“We have to get to class.”

“Yup, thanks for the ride.”

“Anytime. Study well, Paisley.”

“You too doctor Graham.” Warren had gone straight into the building while she remained outside, when she went to the main campus she saw Max pulling up. Paisley went inside the school, Max wasn’t far behind as she went into the photography classroom, briefly greeting her uncle who was occupied with Kate Marsh. First noticeable thing was Nathan and Victoria sitting on Max’s desk, something she’d undoubtedly get pissed about.  

Paisley unpacked her stuff right cross from Stella. Just her camera was all she really needed. She had good memory and could always right it down later if she wished. The sky outside of the big windows seemed to get darker, gloomy. It was depressing. When Lee looked up at her uncle, he was now talking to Max who seemed to be focused or arguing something important.

When she’d come in, she’s noticed Nathan and Victoria sitting on her table, she’d rolled her eyes and walked past. Lee turned and heard bits and pieces of the petty arguing from them before the Vortex Club king and queen removed themselves and chose to stand in a corner, probably gossiping some more about her. That’s when Warren had come in, heading towards Max, that’s when Paisley went over too. He was quickly made to leave, and she took her shot.

“You knew the girl from the bathroom? You didn’t tell me.” She whispered, careful of Nathan who was exiting right behind Warren.

“She was my best friend since forever. I didn’t realize it was her and I didn’t realize I had to tell you everything.” Max glared at her, two could play at that game.

“You’re causing that fucking storm, Max, you’d best stop now.” She warned, sitting back at her desk again.

“We have a lot to cover today, and so little time, as usual. I see the usual suspects here… anybody seen Kate Marsh?” he looked around, trying to find someone to answer as Victoria snickered.

“I think everyone has seen Kate Marsh by now.” Mark wanted Victoria to be his next model? She was like all three of the Plastics in one with an extra Gretchen and Karen just for the hell of it. Taylor chuckled at Tori’s joke, paisley knew what they’d done was anything but hilarious.

“She’s not feeling good.” Alyssa covered for Kate, and Lee began zoning out on the beginning of her uncle’s lecture. The lecture on chiaroscuro was nothing but white noise to her until a loud shout came and startled her.

“Yo, some crazy shit is going down at the girls’ dorm! Check it!” Mark scolded Zachary, but the obnoxious football player had already gone. Everyone made haste to leave and Lee was no exception, she and Max, along with the rest of her class had made it to the courtyard and saw what their classmates did. Up on the roof, in the middle of the rain, Kate Marsh stood on the edge of the roof and ready to jump. So, she did, both Lee and Max rewound.

The impact of them rewinding meant Kate was a few feet away from the ledge, Max had a headache and a bloody nose, but Paisley was fine. When Kate had jumped again, they were outside of the door to the dormitory. This time it froze, time froze, and they exchanged a look before Max went up to the roof to save her. She’d made it in time too, Paisley watched as she convinced her to come down from the roof. When Kate tumbled away from the ledge into Max’s arms, she sighed in relief and glanced at Nathan who seemed to be in shock.

After Kate was taken to the hospital in an ambulance, classes were cancelled for the day, announced before the large crowd has dispersed. And paisley decided if she didn’t need to be on campus, she was safe to go anywhere she pleased.

Instead of choosing to go somewhere with Nathan, she walked to the diner by herself and sat in a random booth, she ordered a burger but wasn’t sure if she could eat after what she’d seen. Paisley should’ve been hungry considering she hadn’t eaten since dinner last night. All she could do was pick at her burger, eating what she thought she could as she watched people enter and exit the diner.

Paisley paid and left the diner, deciding to walk around town. She’d seen it all already, so it didn’t matter. It’d been sunny again since Kate had been taken to the hospital but now the sun was setting after a gloomy day. She had to find Nathan or her uncle Mark, but she was hoping it was Nate. Lee couldn’t get over what happened to Kate since they had caused it. She was sure they’d still be on campus, so she went back there, only taking ten minutes before she arrived at the main campus. Paisley then spotted Warren and Max huddled close, talking. When Paisley looked back at what they were watching, she realized it was eclipse, now numb because of what she’d seen, she sat at a picnic table and captured it.

“Holy shit. The world’s gonna end.” She mumbled, sifting through the photos she’d taken. Paisley was so focused on her camera she didn’t hear the footsteps approaching her. Hands pulled her up roughly and to her feet.

“Hey!”

“Let’s go, Paisley.” Nate said, she barely had enough time to grab her bag before he’d let go and began walking away. He took a hit from his lit cigarette once more.

“Where are we going, Nate?”

“Do I need to answer that question. It’s ridiculous.” He’d slowed down for her in the parking lot and they both climbed into his truck. The drive to the decrepit barn was long and Nathan wasn’t saying a word, just smoked his third cigarette. Obviously a tell tale sign he was nervous and worried. Paisley put her headphones in and plucked the cigarette from his lips, taking a slow drag and trying to relax her fingers. She removed an ear bud, putting the music low as she blew the smoke out of the window.

“I prefer cigars.”

“They’re not much different from cigarettes. Jefferson let you smoke?”

“You think they give a shit at my house?” She asked. Her aunt and uncle didn’t care about anything she did so long as she cleaned the house and did what they said. They obviously didn’t mind her drinking or smoking or participating in doing drugs recreationally if they allowed her to be in the Vortex Club.

“Hey—kid, word of advice—don’t do stupid shit. That shit is bad for you, don’t follow my path, don’t end up like me.”

“I’m probably already headed down that road.”

“You may already know that shit—the shit we do—fucks us up and those girls. It’d fuck anyone up inside and out.” He leaned over, driving carefully as Paisley let him hit the cigarette. The drive came to an end as they approached the barn, parked the car and turned it off before getting out.

“Thanks for giving me a talk, Nate. I feel cynical today.”

“Understandable. I mean—fucking Kate Marsh was gonna jump.” He guided her inside through the main entrance, a sleek black car was parked in the barn—her uncle’s she recognized.

They walked over to the hatch and descended the stairs, the bunker door was opened, meaning he was waiting for them. Once they were in the first room, Paisley left Nathan’s side and made a beeline for the white couch in the next room. She peered over the back of the sofa to where Nathan had stopped in front of Mark’s desk. Mark was standing with his glass of whiskey, sipping it as he had Kate’s red binder open and the photos he’d taken were sprawled everywhere. He was putting her binder together, placing the pictures into a collage on each page perfectly. It made Paisley sick; she didn’t like what they did. Every time someone took her picture, she’d have flashes of what they did in the dark room. It was the reason she didn’t like flashes, it was why she didn’t like pictures of herself or them being taken. It was abhorrent, and they’d be prosecuted and found guilty for kidnapping these girls, drugging them and scrapbooking photos of what had happened to them as if they were family photos.

“Paisley!” Mark shouted, gathering her attention. The look on his face said he was quickly losing his patience with her.

“Did paisley tell you, Nathan?” Nate and Paisley exchanged a look as he turned and shook his head. Mark smirked darkly.

“She’ll be taking the photos this Friday.”

“Who is it this time?” Nathan sounded worried.

“Oh, this one should be easy, it’s Victoria Chase of course.” The expression on Nathan’s face showed that he was worried, and Paisley knew she’d have to find a way to stop her uncle from taking Victoria but that in itself was not going to be an easy feat. Mark Jefferson was extremely dangerous and wouldn’t hesitate to kill Nathan or her.

[fandom-imagines]

Love is Strange

Chapter Three:

<- Previous or Next ->

Pairing: Nathan Prescott X Reader

Masterlist: X

Wattpad link: X

"And I honestly thought she was gonna fight Nathan," Max said as we all sat on Chloe's bed, discussing today's antics.

"I would've if the guy seemed like he wouldn't shoot me. I honestly think he's going to kill me now. He seemed so shocked that somebody stood up to him. Jerk." I sighed, running a hand through my hair in annoyance.

"Victoria's face when you stopped her was great. No idea what you said, but her face was priceless, uh no pun intended." She laughed, nodding towards Chloe as she realised the potential pun on Chloe's name.

"Well, she deserved it. She really pissed me off. A lot of things have today." I shrugged.

I looked up at the mess of a room in front of me, smiling to myself as I realised it was classic Chloe.

Always so messy.

I remember cleaning up for her when we were teens a lot. The mess was just extremely distracting, to the point I couldn't concentrate.

"You're so badass." Max grinned, seemingly proud. "I honestly aspire to have the confidence to do the things you do." She sighed, seemingly embarrassed to be expressing these types of feelings.

"You will one day, Max. I believe in you!!" I grinned, patting her on the shoulder.

As the three of us continued to chat, I began to recall today's events.

First I had received a gross text from my ex-boyfriend. I then went on to threaten a girl called Victoria Chase, seemingly extremely popular before accidentally bumping into then continuing to be rude to Nathan Prescott, son of the guy who basically owns Arcadia Bay and could have me arrested or worse.

Nice.

~

Sighing to myself, I flopped down onto my bed. I had been out all of today and it had been extremely tiring. Usually, I enjoyed spending time with my best friends but after the text I had received earlier this morning, I was hit with a sudden wave of depression. It didn't happen often, just every now and then.

I was diagnosed with clinical depression when I was 15 after a suicide attempt; depressing, I know. My parents were devasted. I was hospitalized for a few days before being sent to a psychiatric ward for around a month. It was horrible.

I decided to try my best to shrug today's events off instead of processing them in my head. Unhealthy, but it's learned behaviour. I try my best to not let things get to me, not wanting to be hurt. I have a tendency to push people I truly care about away as a self-defence mechanism.

I let out another sigh, a habit I had developed over the past few years, before jumping to my feet and grabbing my shower supplies.

As I walked down the corridor towards the showers, I looked around the numerous whiteboards that were placed outside each person's door. They had cute drawings on most of them with the person name below. One of them was different, though.

'Will twerk for God.'

Annoyed, I quickly erased what was written on the board, hoping whoever that room belongs too didn't see it before I erased it before making my way to the showers.

As soon as I walked in I internally groaned.

"Oh, look who it is," Victoria smirked, crossing her arms, seemingly braver now she had her loyal minions by her side.

"Piss off, Victoria. I'm seriously not in the mood." I said, making my way towards a sink away from the three and washing my hands.

"Did Nathan talk to you?" She giggled, making me scoff.

"Totally, because I'm sure he cared enough about our little confrontation that he felt the need to come to me and threaten me. Of course not, Victoria. Plot twist, not everything is about you." I shot back as I continued readying myself for sleeping.

Victoria remained speechless for a few moments before shooting out a line that had nothing relevant to the conversation at all.

"At least I don't dress like a slob." She said, nodding towards my ripped jeans and oversized jumper.

"That has nothing to do with our conversation at all. In fact, you're only saying that because you have nothing else to say. If you would excuse me," I said, pushing my way past Victoria and her two minions before making my way back to my room.

~

"I'll do it!" A boy, around 16, yelled holding a knife out in front of him.

"No, you won't," I warned, holding my hand out, ready to grab the knife whenever possible.

"Don't test me!" He screamed, spinning around and stabbing Max, who I hadn't noticed, straight in the stomach as she let out a harsh scream.

"Max!" I called as I was pulled out of my nightmare.

Groaning, I swung my head back onto my pillow, glancing at the clock as I did so.

3:14am.

After numerous attempts to fall back asleep, I finally gave up, instead deciding to take a walk to clear my head.

~

The moon shone brightly as I quietly closed the door beside me. The only sound outside came from the owls whose wings were flapping as they swooped around the late-night sky. Gravel crunched beneath my feet as I took slow steps around Blackwell Academy.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a guy I had seen around school earlier today holding a camera pointing up, into the sky towards the moon.

"You look very into that," I commented, startling him as he quickly spun around to face me as if he expected a lecture about being out so late.

"Hello to you too." He replied, turning his attention back to his camera, forefinger messing with the buttons as he snapped some photos.

"You should try laying down," I said, offering my own suggestions, "It'll capture the branches and the moonlight peeking through." I smiled.

His attention turned from the expensive camera towards me.

"That's not a bad idea, Miss-" He began, waiting for me to give him my name.

"Y/N, Y/F/N Y/S/N." I introduced, favouring to not shake his hand.

"Hi, Y/N. I'm Evan." He smiled, crouching down to take some photos of the sky.

"Hi, Evan."

~

The two of us decided to take a walk around campus to see if there were any more shots Evan could take for his portfolio.

"What brings you here then, Miss Y/S/N," Evan asked, looking around campus before spotting a pair of owls hunched on a branch, the moon shining brightly behind them.

"Well, I'm taking photography. If I'm being completely honest, I only came here for my mom. It was always her dream to attend a big college, but she never got to pursue her dream," I explained, "How about you, Evan?"

"Well, like you I'm also taking photography, presumably a different class to you. I like working with a professional photographer, he really knows what he's talking about and I aspire to be like him one day. He really captures the beauty of the world." Evan said, talking about Mr Jefferson, or Mark as some would say.

We walked in a comfortable silence for around thirty minutes, the clicking of Evans camera and the hooting of owls being the only sound heard for miles before it was broken by Evans soft voice.

"You know, Y/N. You're pretty chill for a girl here." He commented, leaving me slightly amused.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, you're not stuck up like other girls, mostly Victoria and you're not shy like Kate. You're casual, I like that."

"Thanks, I think"

~

"Thanks for walking me back to my dorm." I thanked Evan, handing him my phone to put his number into so we could hang out again.

"It's no problem. Just as a gentleman should." He smiled, bidding me a polite goodbye as we parted ways for the night.

[becuzpurple]

Father’s Day

(an Ed & Kate one-shot)

21 June 2016

Lucy brushed some dirt and debris from the surface of the stone, clearing it for me to place a half dozen red and white tulips across it.  Nathan staked 3 mini Cubs pennants into the soil at its top.  Then we sat, mostly quietly, surrounded by a sea of trees, flowers, and grave markers.  It was a beautiful first day of summer - the peaceful setting lending itself to quiet contemplation.  It was Father’s Day.

When I was a child, and my parents took us to the cemetery to pay respects to our deceased relatives, we’d clean up the gravestones, plant flowers, and say some prayers.  Since Jason’s passing, though, I’ve found that reciting prayers at his gravesite just doesn’t work for me.  It feels almost forced, as if it’s expected, but it holds no actual meaning for me - they’re just empty words.  I completely understand and respect that others find doing this to be very meaningful and comforting, but it just isn’t for me.  

I talk to him instead.  Sometimes I’ll talk to God, too, but more often I talk to Jason - not out loud, but in my head.  I tell him about our lives - stuff with the kids, our family...and I talk to him about Ed, too. As weird as that sounds, I find it to be therapeutic.  It gives me a way to sorting out my joys and worries, my hopes and fears, all without judgement. Sometimes I can imagine his reply.  

It helps.

On that Father’s Day, I shared a secret with him - a big one, that no one but I knew, yet. That would change soon enough, I supposed.  It was strangely comforting to think that I no longer held the secret entirely alone, even if it wasn’t with anyone currently alive.

“Do you think he can see us?  Or hear us?”  Lucy was pulling random weeds and dandelions from around the stone as she spoke, eyes focused downwards.

I paused before answering her.  It’s something I wonder about, too.

“I don’t really know.  But I like to think so.  You know, sometimes, in my head...I talk to him.”  She did look up at me then, and I grimaced in a self-deprecating way...trying to keep things from getting too heavy.  “Is that weird?”

“No, I do that, too.” 

Nate had been quiet, but was nodding in agreement, as well.

Oh, my babies

“I guess...it’s comforting to think that he might hear us.”

“Yeah…”  Lucy nodded and resumed weeding.  

I glanced at Nate, who watched us curiously, also nodding.

“I think he does,” he added softly.

---

We didn’t stay much longer - cemetery visits tend to be emotionally exhausting for us. From there we met my parents at The Pancake House for a Father’s Day brunch.  Filling up on family and sugary, carby comfort food helped us transition from our melancholy moods.  

My dad is the best.  I’ve literally never met anyone who didn’t love him.  He’s smart and funny, yet on the quiet side.  He’s a hard worker and a devoted family man.  He loves baseball, sci-fi, and giant jigsaw puzzles.  He’d do anything for us.  He really stepped up to be there for the three of us after we lost Jason, and I’m so grateful for that.  There is no better father or grandfather out there, so celebrating his awesomeness (on Father’s Day, fur sure, but at other times of the year, too) has become very important to me.

“When does Ed get back, Kate?”  I have to smile at how my mom’s face lights up at the mention of his name - even when she’s the one saying it.  She loves him, and it’s adorable.

“Today, in a few more hours.”

“Ah, good.  I hope things went well for him out there.”

“Yeah, he said they got a lot done,” I shrugged.  “He sounds pretty happy with everything.”

He’d been away for a week, in southern California, working on the next album. From how he described it, it sounded like they were in an absolutely beautiful setting - a gorgeous chalet in a wooded area, a river nearby, and distant mountains.  He’d been with some of his favorite people in the business - people he considers dear friends - and they seemed to have had an abundantly creative and productive week.  He was really pumped about it.

He’d wanted me to go with him, but my schedule just wouldn’t cooperate. The kids started their summer sports and art camps, I had a few looming deadlines for work that couldn’t wait, and I had a doctor appointment mid-week that I didn’t want to put off.  It’s too bad, too - I would have loved to have witnessed their collaborative songwriting in action.

---

That night after the kids were in bed, we’d finally caught each other up on everything - his stories of the last week were much more interesting than the mundane details of my suburban mom life, but, lovely man that he is, he wanted all of them, anyway.  Ed genuinely loves things like that - anything involving family.  Which is a good thing, considering what I was about to drop on him.

“So, I have something for you, but I left it in the bedroom.”  I stood and wagged a finger at him, grinning at his curious, wrinkled brow.  “Don’t move, I’ll be right back.”

I left him there on the family room couch while I jogged to our room to grab the small, gift-wrapped box I’d been keeping hidden away.

Without a doubt I was dying to finally tell him, but at the same time I almost felt a little sad that it would no longer be my secret.  I laughed to myself at the idea of being possessive of it.  But I’d had a whole week for that - it was time to spill the beans, and giving him the little gift was how I planned to do that.

As soon as I re-entered the room Ed’s eyes zeroed in on the small, prettily-wrapped box in my hand.  Before I even reached the sofa I could see that he was starting to look a little freaked out.  Maybe he had an idea of what this was about.  He knew what day it was, and there I was with a gift for him - it wasn’t a difficult jump to make.  But I know him well enough to see that he was trying not to psych himself up, in case he was wrong.

But he wasn’t wrong.

I re-joined him on the sofa, mirroring his pose by sitting with one leg tucked under the other, our knees touching.

“What-what’s this, then?”  He tried to appear calm and casual, but between the stutter and the wide eyes, it was clear that he was not feeling calm.

My plan had been to not give anything away before he opened the gift, but that all went to pot because I was way too close to falling into a fit of nervous giggles. This was more than obvious to Ed, who was eying me dubiously, waiting for me to say something.

“Umm, this is for you.”  I gave him the neatly wrapped present, about the same size as a watch box.  But there wasn’t a watch inside, nor any other jewelry.

He held it in his hand, just staring at it, eyes wide.  He glanced at me a few times, finally asking, “What is it?”

He was nervous, watching me with barely reined-in wide-eyed excitement.

A few giggles finally spilled loose from me, and I couldn’t stop smiling - I was just as anxious as he was.  Attempting to calm the both of us, I placed my palms flat on his lap, just above his knees, tapping my fingers before murmuring, “Ed.  Open it.”

He took a calming breath and looked down at the box in his hands, again.  Smiling to himself, he began pulling off the ribbon.

“I - I might know what this is about...maybe?  But I also have no idea what’s actually in here.”

“That’s...probably completely accurate.”

“Jesus…”

“Open it.”

“Yeah.” He wore the cutest little grin, and kept shooting small glances at me as he carefully unwrapped the paper from the box.  How he wasn’t tearing it apart I’ll never know.  Maybe he wanted to savor the feeling of anticipation.  Maybe he was a little scared, too.  I know I was.

He removed all of the paper and turned to me with a look of pure bewilderment, holding the unopened box.

“I - I’m nervous to open it...fuck’s wrong with me?”

I gently shook my head, unable to stop grinning. “Nah, you got this.”  I gave his leg a little squeeze, as my hand still rested on it.  “Please open it, though, because I can’t take this much longer.”

He laughed, and then finally opened the lid.  He just stared for a few seconds - no response whatsoever.  I’m not even sure he remembered to breathe.  He blinked several times, and then he smiled - a slow-growing, tentative expression of stunned wonder.

“It’s a pick.”  His eyes lifted to meet mine, his voice barely more than a whisper.

I nodded.

“A ba- we’re gonna...you’re pregnant?” His voice broke on the last word.

I nodded again, my heart pounding with nerves.

“Bloody hell, I knocked you up?!”  He found his voice again, and his accent was much more pronounced than usual.  He looked at me in complete astonishment.

I hiccup-cry-laughed all at once.  “Yeah, you did!”

He glanced down again at the custom-designed guitar pick I got for him while he was away.  “January...”

“My due date is January 12th.”

“January the 12th.  Holy shit, this is for real...”

“This is real, Teddy.”  We shared a tender look at my use of the phrase he’d once used to reassure me when we first started dating.  “We’re going to have a baby.”

We’re gonna have a baby.” He repeated the words slowly, trying them out for the very first time, himself.  “I…I’m going to be a dad.”

There was a sweet shyness in the way he said it, a self-consciousness in saying the words out loud - I’m going to be a dad.

Nodding again, I cupped his jaw in my hand, bringing his earnest, deep blues back to me. “You’re going to be an amazing dad.”

He was quiet, eyes still on mine, listening.

“Your parents did good raising you and Matthew, right?”

“They are literally the best parents, yeah.”

“You’ve been learning your whole life from the best, then.  And I’ve seen you with kids - my kids, your godchildren...Ed, you were meant for this.”

His tentative smile grew, his eyes lit up, and soon his entire body was practically humming with hyper energy.  It must have been contagious, as I was nearly vibrating with giddiness, myself.  I’m sure we looked completely ridiculous beaming at each other like that. Or just deliriously happy.

He tilted his head to the side, eyes on me curiously and gave the sweetest, closed-mouth smile.  “You’re happy Kate?”

“Oh, yeah!  I - well, I’m feeling a lot things right now, but ‘happy’ is definitely at the top of the list.”

My thoughts had been going in so many different directions over the last few days - I was absolutely over-the-moon.  I never thought I’d have any more children, and I was thrilled to get this chance - and with Ed!  It made my heart feel whole and complete.  

But I’d be lying if I said I had no worries.  I’m older now, and that brings more risks to a pregnancy.  Also, there was the fact that Ed and I aren’t married - we’d only been together for six months at that point.  I didn’t know if that would be an issue or not, but I knew it was something we should probably talk about. I also worried that he might not be thrilled with the timing of the pregnancy, relative to his career.

“Me, too!  It’s crazy, right?  I can’t even keep up with everything going through my head right now.”  He huffed out a breath, surely still trying to wrap his head around the news.

“I know.  I mean, the timing isn’t great, like with your work, and-”

“-Oh, no, no,” he interrupted.  “this is everything, and it-it’s perfect.  Like, work is well and good, but this?  Family?  Is what we’re all really here for, right?  To love, and to teach our children to love.  I feel like I’m finally about to really start my life, now - the most important part of it, and I get to do it with you?  I'm - I’m so fucking in love with you, and I'm just...really chuffed right now...”

His voice caught as it trailed off.  He took off his glasses, wiped at his eyes and cleared his throat, and that’s when I started to lose it a little bit, too.

“Baby, stop.”  I sniffled as I shifted closer against him.  He pulled me in even more so that my legs were across his lap, his arms secure around my waist.  

I don’t know how he does it - he has a knack for saying the very thing I need to hear, and even better - he means it every time.  I sent a quick word of thanks to the universe, or maybe it was God (I’m not entirely sure there’s a difference), for somehow bringing us together.  “How’d I get so lucky?”

He pulled back just enough to see my face and wipe a stray tear from my cheek with his thumb.  “I ask myself that same question every single day, sweet girl.”

“I love you, Ed.”

“I know,” he answered, grinning cheekily.

I couldn’t even pretend to be annoyed.  I adore him and I’m happy to say it for the rest of my life.  But there was something else I wanted to say, too.  

“Oh, and one more thing…” I grinned.

“What’s that, love?”

Happy Father’s Day.”

---

just a friendly reminder that I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!  Send me likes, or reblogs, or send Anon questions/comments - these are the only ways I know what you like.

Thanks, guys!

[lifeisstrangeshortstuff]

React: S/O has a down period - no specific cause.

TW: Mentions of drug use.

Some days just don’t feel all that good, and that’s okay. It’s always alright to let yourself feel sad - it’s shown that people tend to feel unhappier when they think they should feel something that isn’t what they’re thinking. This is when people sometimes just feel really shitty, and the day just makes it feel kinda worse. Lately I’ve had an unusual down period, wish me luck that my first psychologist works for me ^_^ 

I did include Nathan in recovery and Jefferson pre-murder-y, and since this divulges from canon, it probably seems really out of character. I’m gonna warn the readers before the canon-timeline Nathan and Jefferson’s response because this is a piece meant to gear to someone who’s not feeling very well, and tbh, they’d be really shit at comforting someone. 

Disclaimer: Feel free to interpret how you like, and to start a discourse if you think my interpretation could use a tweak or two~

Max Caulfield

Max definitely notices that you’re not feeling well. At first, she doesn’t make a comment on it, not wanting to live up to her reputation as ‘nosy’ but she asks a little while later, worried. 

Upon hearing that you’re not feeling too good, and you yourself aren’t so sure, she’s initially clueless on how to comfort you. Max is surprisingly goal-orientated, preferring there to be some sort of cause she can alleviate or use her time-travel powers to help you. When there’s nothing to ‘solve’, she feels strangely restless.

She first suggests going out together to the Two Whales diner because it’s a familiar place that serves nice food, and she thinks that being away from the campus might make it a little less stressful. That, and, she can have a conversation with you about how you’ve been feeling and if there’s anything she can do.

It’s a sweet little date, and after that, you both can just walk around town, hand in hand sharing music through earbuds, before taking the bus home. She’s a comforting presence after a long day, who is very much in-tune with your emotions.

Chloe Price

She’s torn between giving you space and coming right up to you trying to pull you up because she hates seeing you like this but at the same time, she understands that sometimes, space is what’s needed. She’d never force comfort on you. She can really empathise with how you’re feeling, especially because she’s been in an emotionally terrible place. 

However, if she had her way, she’d take you out on a drive when the sun sets or when it’s nighttime and blast the music with the windows opened, to let the wind run through your hair, eventually parking somewhere where you both can sit and she can ask you what’s been going on, or where you can just cry on her shoulder.

If you’re irritable-not-feeling-good, then she encourages a more aggressive outlet, which is the way she vents her anger.

In general, her comfort is a bit more external, because she understands that if there isn’t a specific cause for your mood, it’s difficult to talk you into feeling better. 

If anything, she’ll play music on her phone and slow dance with you in the junkyard, away from everything, then stargaze. 

Warren Graham

He picks up on your down period early, because he has a slight tendency of being a little hyper-vigilant on how his s/o seems to behave, ready to jump in as soon as there seems to be a cause. 

He’s a little awkward about comfort, because he doesn’t want to overstep boundaries, but you’re his s/o, he cares a lot about you and doesn’t want to see you like this. Despite this awkwardness, you can tell that he is sincere in his actions. 

He asks you if you’re okay as soon as he sees you seem down, although he asks in a casual/slightly comical but caring manner. He’s patient and is more than willing to let you lay everything him.

If you want him to cheer you up, he proposes going for a drive-in date where you both can cuddle up and watch a movie, with the experience of an informal cinema, and you’re free to talk to him about anything at the time. 

Warren’s probably the most supportive guy you’ll come across, and the last person to come across as overbearing. If you choose to see someone for your moods, he’s 100% supportive and willing to come along and wait outside the room/office for you, if you ask.

Kate Marsh

This bean knows all about sad days. She’ll wrap you up in a blanket and make a cup of tea, offering an ear if you need one. If it’s just been a bad day, she’ll shower you with love and hugs. 

If there’s something specific bothering you, or a whole chain of events that just lead to this, she’ll be the most patient angel listening to you, validating your emotions and helping you understand that sometimes, you don’t need an excuse to feel sad, and that experiencing emotions are normal. 

If you haven’t been taking care of yourself lately due to your moods, she’ll help you out. For example, if you haven’t been eating, she’ll try to cook something for you - she’s not a fantastic chef but she can serve up a meal or two. If you haven’t been sleeping well, she’ll see what she can do to help, whether it’s read you a book or play some lullabies.

She’ll encourage you to get some fresh air and take a walk around in a park as the sun goes down, bringing along that old-fashioned picnic basket. 

There might be a few soft kisses - on your cheeks, forehead, nose, and lips. She’ll tentatively ask you if you want to seek help for your down period, and is respectful of your answer. 

Victoria Chase

If there’s no cause for your sadness, she feels at a loss for words. She wants to help you but she doesn’t know exactly what would ‘cheer you up’. It might sound like she’s dismissive, in that she thinks that there’s a clear solution, but it stems from wanting there to be a clear solution - dealing with Nathan is already difficult, and she doesn’t want all her close relationships to be stressful.  

She eventually asks you if you’d like to go out together and window-shop/shop in general. She doesn’t want you staying and moping in your room all day, thinking a walk around and maybe an ice cream date would cheer you up.

If you do go out, then she’ll buy you something that you like but decide not to spend your money on. She’s not as rich as Nathan, but she still has a considerable amount of money and doesn’t mind spoiling you to cheer you up every so often. 

She really wants to pamper you, like take you out for a spa day to just relax and forget about your problems. Or offer to smoke marijuana. (As someone who isn’t familiar with the culture, I didn’t write much here haha ^_^;;) 

If you really, really don’t want to go out… then she’ll reluctantly stay. But expect her to pamper you at home then, with a bath and the works - bath salts, essential oils, a little bit of alcohol, tea candles, and music. She’ll sit next to you, dipping her fingers in the water and asking you how you feel. If you let her, she’ll join you. Expect a few kisses.

Recovering!Nathan Prescott

Assuming Nathan is receiving the appropriate treatment and in a supportive environment (FUCK OFF SEAN PRESCOTT), post-Jefferson. 

He’s not in the best place to offer support since he’s currently in the middle of figuring himself out as well, but he offers what he can and it… it’s surprisingly good. A little similarly to Chloe, he’s been in a really shitty place and can empathise with you. While he always had cause to feel upset, he knows how it feels to suddenly just drop in your mood. 

Even though he’s not the guy who can healthily cope with someone who’s not feeling well (since he has his own issues), helping someone he loves does validate him a little bit, easing his feelings of uselessness and being disposable.

If you wanted to watch something to take your mind off of it, he’d pop on New Romantics and sit next to you and might occasionally make snide comments to try cheer you up. He’d watch your facial expressions to see if it was working - if not, he’d eventually be quiet and just sit next to you, letting you lean into him and pressing a soft kiss on your head. 

If you just seem upset and don’t mind him to do whatever he wants to do to cheer you up, he’d turn off the lights and close the blinds. Not for anything sexual, but just to cuddle with you and play some whale noises - things he used to have done to make himself feel better. It’s not for the sole purpose of feeling better, but it’s a good environment to cry in, especially if there’s nothing to be said because sometimes you don’t know why you’re upset. It’s good for catharsis, and if you don’t feel better, you’ll at least know that he’s there for you. 

If it seems like your mood has lasted for a good long while and affects your daily routine, he tries to ‘casually’ slip by the idea of seeing his therapist, but would completely drop it if you refuse.

Young!NotMurdererYet!Mark Jefferson

In general, Mark is a pretty distant person, especially with emotions. It’s not that he doesn’t experience emotion, but more that his empathy isn’t really tuned. However, he is adept at mimicking emotions and knows the appropriate responses to accommodate distress.

He does care for you, not as much as himself, but enough to not want you to be miserable. He’ll use his knowledge to comfort you, whether it be by listening, physical contact or just being a bit more considerate and affectionate than he’d normally be. 

Even though some people might say it’s disingenuous, since he’s drawing on his ‘social norms’ knowledge, and his version of ‘comfort’ is unusually structured, you could also say that he decides to actually do something about your sadness because he cares about you to some extent, instead of ignoring you and continuing with work that could be seen as more productive. 

He wouldn’t go out of his way to do something that disturbs his schedule too much, but if he sees a florist on the way, he might pick up a bouquet.

:: Now comes canon-timeline Nathan Prescott and Mark Jefferson, whose reactions are considerably less… considerate. If you’re not feeling very well, don’t read because it’s unlikely that their reactions would make you feel any better ::

Nathan Prescott

He has a lot of shit on his plate, even though he doesn’t want to dismiss the feelings of someone he loves, he’s too busy neck-deep in his own issues to notice if you haven’t been feeling well. This… probably doesn’t help. 

If you act irritable, it’s a recipe for disaster - he already feels like the world is against him and this is just making it worse. He’ll snap back without much thought as a defence from feeling hurt, ending in a fight where nothing is solved and both of you are just feeling even worse. 

If you act particularly melancholic to the point where even he notices, he’ll ask what’s wrong because he cares, but he’s not the most attentive or supportive person. How is someone who’s breaking down able to support others? He just… he doesn’t have the energy to help in a long-term way, he can only offer a shoulder to cry on or drugs/alcohol to forget everything. If there’s anything his money can offer, he’ll buy it, but other than that, it’s pretty difficult for him to support you. 

If anything, as soon as you tell him how you’ve been feeling, it worsens his feelings of being incapable or ‘not worthy’ to have you, because he doesn’t know what to do.

Mark Jefferson

Coming to this guy with your vulnerability exposed is such a terrible, terrible idea.

If he has need of you, he’ll be the comforting, sweet lover who says everything that you want to hear, soothing you. He’ll use this show of kindness as a way to guilt you into fulfilling whatever use that he has of you, and as a ‘get out of jail for free’ card when he gets angry and hurts you.  

[aion-rsa]

Doctor Who: Ranking Every Single Companion Departure

https://ift.tt/35el4vd

Graham and Ryan have left Doctor Who, and it was sad/joyous/on telly (delete as applicable), but where do their departures rank on the all-time list?

The question of “Who counts as a companion?” is a tricky one. Overall it’s an ad hoc combination of different criteria, with allowances made for the exceptions that are intended to fulfil the companion role on a one-off basis. The ranking system is based on whether the departure makes sense for that character, how well it’s built up to, and what it says about Doctor Who in a larger sense. The article only covers TV stories because I value what remains of my sanity.

That’s all the exposition. Please enjoy this non-linear history of production compromises.

47. Peri

Peri spends almost her entire time on Doctor Who being miserable, scared and under threat (even Big Finish doing a timey-wimey farce with Peri has abuse as a plot point), but there’s no compassionate release for her. Her mind is erased so her body can host another. She dies scared and alone, and it’s unlikely the Doctor could have saved her. While this is horrible, it could function, very bluntly, as an indictment of the Doctor and his treatment of Peri, but then it is revealed that this didn’t happen.

Peri is instead married with a pink love-heart around the flashback (the Matrix is corny AF apparently). This is because producer John Nathan-Turner changed his mind about killing Peri after they’d filmed her death. 

On one hand: yay, someone not dying. On the other: she only goes to a slightly better place, and when companions return from the dead it tends to require some cost to the Doctor. Here, any previous suggestion that the Doctor mistreated his companion is abandoned. Peri’s happy ending, rather than death, is that the Doctor abandons her without explanation and her new husband is an angry warlord who doesn’t seem the type to understand PTSD.

46. Leela

Producer Graeme Williams hoped that Louise Jameson would stay on in the role of Leela, despite Jameson insisting that she was leaving, and so didn’t write the character out. Leela was a warrior, intelligent but steeped in tribal superstition, and the investment in making a potentially problematic character work in her earlier stories gave way to more generic writing, hence Jameson’s departure. At the end of ‘Invasion of Time’ Leela abruptly announces that she wants to marry the Captain of the Time Lords’ Guards.

To borrow a term from critical theory: this is total f****** dogs***.

Jameson was happy for the character to be killed off but instead she ended up married on Gallifrey. We never see her again. It’s a lazy piece of writing; disrespectful to the actress, the character and the viewer.

45. Dodo

Poor Dodo never really stood a chance. Originally intended to be from Sixteenth Century France, producer John Wiles and script editor Donald Tosh remembered that previous historical companions had been deemed unworkable and so another was probably a bad idea. Instead, Dodo started off Cockney until the BBC told the Doctor Who team that she had to speak in Received Pronunciation English.

A happy-go-lucky soul, the production team never warmed to their creation and Dodo is sent away to recover from hypnosis halfway through ‘The War Machines’, and we never see her again. Polly tells the Doctor “she’d like to stay here in London and sends you her love” two episodes after her final appearance.

44. Sergeant Benton & 43. Harry Sullivan

Sergeant Benton and Harry Sullivan appear in ‘The Android Invasion’ as if it’s just another story for them. Benton last appears as an android duplicate and Harry says nothing during the final fight scene. They never appear again. For all of the strengths of early Tom Baker stories, emotional resonance is not one of them.

42. Katarina

Katarina was brought in for the final episode of ‘The Myth Makers’as a replacement for Vicki, and then sacrificed herself in ‘The Dalek Master Plan’. The production team had decided that, as a Trojan handmaiden, Katarina’s ignorance of modern and future technology meant she’d be hard to write for. This makes sense to an extent, except that her death involves her activating an airlock. So we have a production team creating a problem but solving it by suggesting that it wasn’t insurmountable anyway. As the Doctor says at the end of ‘Dalek Master Plan’: “What a waste.”

41. Sara Kingdom

Having killed off Katarina, the production team needed a new companion to fill her role for the rest of ‘The Dalek Master Plan’, so Terry Nation wrote in a Space Security Agent inspired by The Avengers’ Cathy Gale. After killing her own brother, believing him to be a traitor, Sara Kingdom joined the Doctor and Steven’s attempts to stop the Daleks from using the Time Destructor. Ultimately Sara is killed by the device, ageing to death. As the planet around them turns to dust, Sara’s body does likewise and is blown away by the wind.

It’s a horrific fate, to the extent that cuts were made to the sequence. Sara Kingdom was always designed as a short-term companion, and actor Jean Marsh wasn’t interested in joining the show permanently.

Companion deaths aren’t intrinsically a bad idea, it’s just that they can’t be regular, expected events or else the show becomes ‘Come with me for an adventure, you’ll probably die. Yes I’m a psychopath’. They’re usually short-term solutions to mistakes but the momentum of the Doctor’s failures here could have gone somewhere. Instead, the show casually resets itself to the status quo on a flimsy pretext, so these deaths mean little. If Doctor Who doesn’t care about their impact, why should the audience?

40. Liz Shaw

New producer Barry Letts had decided that Liz Shaw was too intelligent to be a Doctor Who companion, and the interpretation most generous to Letts here is that Liz wanted to continue her own work rather than be drafted by UNIT as an assistant. While I hope this was the intention, it’s still a move that implies a reductive take on the role of the companion (that they’re a function rather than a character) and reinforces the paternalism of the Doctor: fatherly, yes, but also dominating and controlling.

39. Polly and Ben

Polly and Ben follow the Doctor into the TARDIS in ‘The War Machines’ and discover at the end of ‘The Faceless Ones’ that they’re back in London just when they left. They ask the Doctor his permission to leave, saying they’ll stay if he needs them. The Doctor is sad to see them go but doesn’t stand in their way, although he does suggest that Ben can go back to the Navy to become an admiral and Polly can… look after Ben.

It’s a pat, patronising little scene that comes and goes suddenly, especially as Polly and Ben haven’t actually been in the story since Episode Two. Polly and Ben leave and the Doctor and Jamie immediately start talking about their next adventure.  The production team had decided the characters weren’t working, and the best you can say is that they were given slightly more ceremony than Dodo.

38. Astrid Peth

The thing about Astrid’s death is that it’s impossible to type ‘She pushes a mugging gold-toothed businessman down a ravine using a fork-lift truck (in slow motion)’ in a way that conveys any sense of pathos. People talk about Andrew Cartmel’s time on Doctor Who influencing Russell T. Davies’ approach, and while they’re wrong (RTD would have written it like that anyway, even if the Cartmel era didn’t exist, but fair play to Cartmel for being on that wavelength) few ever mention ‘Time and the Rani’as an influence. Russell T. Davies’ writing sometimes feels like he’s gleefully trying to combine the tone of Sylvester-McCoy-playing-the-spoons-on-Kate-O’Mara-while-Kate-O’Mara-is-dressed-as-Bonnie-Langford, with the opening ten minutes of Up. Sometimes he actually does it! This was not one of those times.

37. Adric

The Davison companions tend to get good leaving stories that are apparently based on some unbroadcast version of Doctor Who in which they’re completely different people.

So on one hand obviously the death of Adric was a memorable piece of television that affected people deeply on broadcast, but on the other hand it’s a glorified jump-scare. Adric is on board a space freighter about to crash onto prehistoric Earth and cause the extinction of the dinosaurs. He doesn’t know about that last bit, so instead of getting into the escape pod he attempts to solve a logic puzzle that is stopping him from controlling the ship. His bravery in going back to the ship doesn’t achieve anything. In fact if he had succeeded it would have changed history dramatically, so he dooms himself for nothing.

It’s brutal, in comparison with earlier companion deaths the emotional fallout is poorly handled, and it doesn’t pay off anything we’ve seen earlier. Consider Adric’s character up until his final story – a reckless know-it-all who keeps joining the bad guys – and it doesn’t join up with his final story and fate. The initial setup of Adric feeling like an outsider is swiftly resolved rather than used as motivation for his death. There’s no redemption, just a cruel and unlucky moment of bravery for the sake of a semblance of drama.

36. Amy and Rory

Steven Moffat’s first companion departures are not his best work. Initially Amy and Rory broke a trend: companions leaving as they get married off. Only then Moffat wrote a poorly handled pregnancy storyline where the characters’ emotional responses felt implausible, and unlike his softening of the Twelfth Doctor’s character the attempts to address this were bumpy. Then for Amy and Rory’s departure he has River Song, the Doctor’s wife who he rarely meets in chronological order, tell them that he doesn’t like endings and “never let him see you age”.

This reminds you that the Doctor isn’t only manipulative and scheming on an epic scale, and the fact that he tries to convince Amy not to try to go after Rory continues is more in-your-face selfishness (another example of the Seventh Doctor era being on similar wavelengths to the post-2005 show), rather than feeling like a genuine concern for her safety.

Now, I love Doctor Who, I like that the hero is flawed but that they try to be hopeful (and Moffat addresses this successfully elsewhere). The issues with giving the Doctor flaws are whether they’re dealbreakers for people watching, and whether or not they’re deliberately done. This feels like it’s aiming for a commentary on the Doctor but goes too far, and I can understand people finding this hard to watch.

As with many of Moffat’s ideas, just because it didn’t fully work here doesn’t mean it won’t crop up again later.

35. Kamelion

There are a lot of cases of a companion leaving because the production team can’t make them work, but this is a bit on the nose.

Like Adric’s death, Kamelion begging the Doctor to destroy him would have much more impact if it followed through more substantially on previous stories. Unfortunately Kamelion’s character was that of a shape-shifting robot where the robot prop didn’t work, and rather than have him just assume a human guise they simply never wrote him back into the series until his final story. As a result, there’s no real relationship in play when the Doctor grants Kamelion’s wish. On the other hand the robot’s plight is consistent with what little we know of him.

While it’s never fun to watch someone beg for death, it’s more of a testament to Gerald Flood’s acting and Peter Grimwade’s script for ‘Planet of Fire’ that his death scene works.

34. Donna Noble

Everyone remembers the sequence in ‘Journey’s End’ where the companions pilot the TARDIS and drag the Earth back to the right place while “Song for Freedom” builds and Freema Agyeman looks directly at the camera. It’s joyous. It’s huge. It’s wonderful.

The 10 minutes that follow are bleak.

Rose gets her compromised happy ending, then it’s the fate of Donna. She gets given some of the Doctor’s mind, becomes even more brilliant, but then comes the turn: this will kill her. She can’t be this brilliant, she can’t have any more adventures with the Doctor. As she shouts “No” the Doctor wipes her memories of their time together.

33. Lady Christina de Souza

Flying off in a knackered double-decker bus to further adventures is a really good way to go. This would rank higher if it weren’t for the fact that the character is hard to warm to. Unlike Donna Noble’s first appearance in the show, Christina’s role in ‘Planet of the Dead’ doesn’t allow for much pathos or depth, and the character never returned on television to show these. As it is we’re left with a bored member of the aristocracy flying away in some very British iconography, but without the promise of a Barbara Wright figure puncturing their ego.

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32. Mel

It’s worth stressing that any critique of Mel as a character has to firmly centre on the inadequacy of her creation. She was devised as a computer programmer from Pease Pottage who was into keep-fit, and that’s her entire character. It seems churlish to criticise Bonnie Langford for playing the part as “Bonnie Langford in Doctor Who” because there was nothing else for her to go on.

Mel leaves the series because she decides to travel with Glitz, a mercenary. Does this follow on logically from her character? All we know about Mel is that she’s wholesome and enthusiastic and seems extremely unlikely to go off with a violent intergalactic Del Boy.

However, she gets another leaving scene that would be wonderful if it reflected a recognisable character. We get a sense of the Doctor’s affection for Mel and a series of wonderful melancholy moments: the Doctor shutting the conversation down so he doesn’t have to deal with human emotion, his obvious sadness at another friend leaving because that’s what his life is. Mel’s last line about putting a message in a bottle and throwing it into space (“It’ll reach you. In time”) is brilliant.

This scene bears comparison with Sarah Jane’s leaving scene, specifically because it wasn’t in the original script but the lead actor insisted it be added in its place. It was the scene Sylvester McCoy read when he auditioned for the role.

31. Adam Mitchell

Adam joins at the end of ‘Dalek’ and leaves at the end of ‘The Long Game’, the next story, and has a piece of future technology in his forehead so whenever someone clicks their fingers a little door opens up and you can see his brain.

Yes, in the grand scheme of things this is unfair. Other companions have done stupid things and the Doctor has helped them. The Brigadier flat out murdered people. But Adam was deliberately rubbish and this is reminder that the Ninth Doctor is a damaged man who lashes out. When he says ‘I only take the best’ it seems more like an excuse to get rid of Adam than anything factual, but then the Doctor starts acting like it’s true. 

30. Vicki

Vicki left the series because producer John Wiles heard actress Maureen O’Brien complain about her dialogue in ‘Galaxy 4’, so decided to let her go when her contract expired one story later. This led to her being paired off with Troilus at the end of ‘The Myth Makers’, set during the fall of Troy. A late decision requiring rewrites, this is quite an enigmatic fate. We see Vicki fleeing Troy after its fall with Troilus, the Doctor hopeful that she’s safe, but we never see her again. Given the TARDIS’ translation gifts, one imagines she suddenly has to learn Luwian.

29. Nyssa

Nyssa, a scientist/fairy princess mash-up whose entire family and planet was destroyed by the Master (who took over her father’s body) could be a great character. Her innately calm, generous and curious nature contrasted with all the horrors of her past is full of potential, and indeed her choice to stay behind at what is essentially a space leper colony is consistent with this. However, because none of this is ever seriously addressed in the show, the potential pathos of her leaving is greatly reduced. As is often the case we have to make do with a sad leaving scene, where Tegan flat out says to her “You’ll die here” to which she replies “Not easily. Like you I’m indestructible.”

As with Adric’s death, there’s the vague shape of something weighty and dramatic there but without the substance to fill it. John Nathan-Turner hated soaps, but actually using their techniques might have given us a stronger sense of Nyssa and Tegan’s relationship, meaning the audience wasn’t left to fill the gaps.

28. Jackson Lake

Considering during the course of ‘The Next Doctor’ Jackson Lake is in a fugue state, has a breakdown, remembers the death of his wife and the abduction of his child… he seems quite well adjusted by the end of the story. Reunited with his son and suggesting a Christmas dinner honouring the people they’ve lost, Lake seems to be in a better place than the Doctor.

27. Steven Taylor

Steven went through a lot: Wounded in Troy, witnessing the deaths of Katarina, Sara, and the Huguenots of Paris. Initially conceived as a replacement for Ian, meaning he took on most of the action sequences, he leaves in ‘The Savages’ to mediate between two societal factions after a story designed as a more cerebral alternative to biffing. It’s a good place to leave for a character who had stagnated (which, as you can see, happened a lot).

26. Graham and 25. Ryan

Ryan didn’t get killed or converted by Cybermen, so that’s progress. What did happen is that the Doctor accidentally returned to Sheffield ten months late. Yaz is hurt and Ryan returns more comfortably to his old life. Graham is also there.

The returning character of Robertson, an American tycoon with interests in becoming President functions as both a Doctor Who villain and a Donald Trump analogue (in a story universe containing Donald Trump) and this version of Doctor Who isn’t currently capable of dealing with that. Ryan watches Robertson on telly, unpunished by the Doctor and resolves to do something. This is a good reason to go, especially given the concerns of the Chibnall era (at its best focussing on the impact on well-drawn individuals, at its worst expositing over abstractions and sketches).

Graham decides that he will stay with his grandson after Ryan’s sudden announcement. This pays off their development in Series 11, where they had the main character arc of that series.

So far so good, but we also see Graham and Ryan deciding that, actually no, they’re not going to deal with real world problems, just Doctor Who-style adventures instead. It’s a useful microcosm of the era: good ideas present but not followed through on, being not shown Ryan’s reasons for leaving, and not successfully tethering the characters to either the forced whimsy of Doctor Who or the contemporary societal issues it wants to highlight.

And a final issue, which may be resolved: why is this the break-up of The Fam?

This ending doesn’t preclude the Doctor coming back to visit them in any way. In this respect it’s a classic companion departure: practically speaking actors aren’t always free for a cameo or a return visit (for example William Russell wasn’t ultimately available to play Ian Chesterton for ‘Mawdryn Undead’, so the Brigadier was written into the role of a school teacher instead), which means the Doctor not returning for their friends becomes a feature of the character. So while Ryan and Graham are choosing to leave, rather than being drastically and permanently separated, is the Doctor is still making the decision to cut them out of her life?

24. Mickey Smith

Mickey is given, in ‘The Age of Steel’, a proper old-fashioned companion exit, by which I mean some plot points are introduced at the start of his final story and by the end they’ve caused him to leave. Here it’s based on the Doctor and Rose’s behaviour and Mickey’s worth being dismissed until he does something heroic. He’s finally able to say to Rose that she doesn’t need him anymore and move on. Broad brushstrokes stuff in a busy episode, but it continues the idea that the Doctor makes people better that was emphasised from 2005 onwards.

Sure, he does it by being a bit of a prick here but the point stands.

23. The Brigadier

What is the Brigadier’s final story? I’m looking for a story that is written as a final departure, ideally after sustained involvement in the show. For the Brigadier that means ‘Terror of the Zygons’ doesn’t quite work, it wasn’t meant to be his final story (he was unavailable for ‘The Android Invasion’). ‘Battlefield’might have been his final bow, but writer Ben Aaronovitch set up the Brigadier’s death then found he simply couldn’t kill him off. The episode the Brigadier is initially written out of the show in is ‘The Wedding of River Song’ – where the Doctor receives news of his death by phone – and this is swiftly retconned with the divisive Cyber-Brig from ‘Death in Heaven’.

These two were written after Nicholas Courtney’s death, and the first one is used for dramatic weight but is over with too quickly. The latter does show the Brigadier, even in death and converted, saving the life of his daughter and helping the Doctor before going on to possibly eternal life – as seems right and proper – but as it involves the Brigadier’s buried body being reanimated there’s an invasive element connected to a beloved figure. As with many of Steven Moffat’s ideas, just because it didn’t fully work here doesn’t mean it won’t crop up again later.

22. Turlough

Peter Grimwade deserves credit again. Given the job of writing out Turlough, Kamelion and potentially the Master while also writing in the new companion Peri, Grimwade actually makes the brief for ‘Planet of Fire’ work. Here Turlough realises early on that his home planet is involved, and by involving his family Grimwade makes the stakes personal. Turlough also gets to use his brains here, rather than just wander around with a gun looking scared.

Turlough’s departure is developed through this story, and the farewell scene is a low-key goodbye as he admits that travelling with the Doctor has made him a better person. Again, it doesn’t follow from previous episodes, as Turlough isn’t developed as a character after ‘Enlightenment’, but in the context of this story it works well.

21. Mike Yates

An example of Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks addressing how being a regular Doctor Who character might make you feel, Captain Mike Yates is shaken by his hypnosis when undercover at a petrochemical company and becomes concerned about the environment. He falls in with a plot to reduce overpopulation and restore Earth to a golden age by time scooping dinosaurs into central London, because Doctor Who, and is discharged from UNIT. He goes to a meditation centre to recover, and uncovers a sinister plot – because Doctor Who– and ultimately gets better. Yates gets an arc and closure, especially in comparison to his fellow UNIT soldiers.

20. Nardole

Nardole, chiefly a comic relief character with moments of depth, is entrusted with the task of evading the Cybermen for as long as possible while keeping a group of humans alive (a continuation from his assigned role of monitoring the Doctor). It seems likely they will eventually fall, and though this is de-emphasised to stop an already tragic episode from overloading, it’s quietly harrowing. Adric’s death shook up the children watching, Nardole’s affects the parents: the feeling of being a guardian to children in an uncertain, dangerous world is all too familiar right now.

19. Sarah Jane Smith

Sarah Jane’s departure in ‘The Hand of Fear’(written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin) comes out of the blue. An early outline for the story involved the Brigadier’s death, sacrificing himself to save the world. This was lost in development, and the story delayed while it was simplified. In the meantime Elisabeth Sladen asked to leave and for Sarah not to be the focus, married or killed off. Sarah was going to be killed off though, in a story called ‘The Lost Legion’. Script Editor Robert Holmes disliked the story, so a simplified version of ‘The Hand of Fear’returned to replace it with Holmes writing Sarah’s leaving scene. This was rewritten by Sladen and Tom Baker, with Holmes unavailable to do further rewrites. This is why Sarah’s departure is sudden. There’s no huge focus on her and then unrelated to the rest of the story the Doctor receives a summons to Gallifey where humans are not allowed (and given what happened last time he went he probably doesn’t want to take Sarah). What the scene does have is a strong sense of the unsaid to it, a sense of wistfulness akin to seeing someone else living in your childhood home.

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18. Wilf

Essentially, if Bernard Cribbins is crying then I’m going to cry. It’s Bernard Cribbins, for god’s sake. He’s so lovable its actually weaponised against the audience, and while ‘The End of Time’ might not be to everyone’s tastes, Cribbins makes every scene he’s in work, so you’re thoroughly invested in Wilf and his responses. However, this is harks back to Susan’s departure. It’s undeniably moving that the Doctor is making this man cry with happiness… after lying to him (no mention of the safeguards he put in Donna’s mind, or that Donna didn’t want her memories wiped anyway) and who he emphasises is “not remotely important” before saying it would “be my honour” to save him. It’s said of the Doctor “words are his weapons” in ‘Hell Bent’, and the pattern emerging here is that they’re weapons he uses on his friends; when the Doctor says “I only take the best” this is not only another weapon, it’s asking the question: the best for what?

17. Bill Potts

Potentially eternal life you say? A walking dead person? Maybe keep the dead body aspect of it and this idea has legs. Bill follows the Brigadier in becoming a Cyberman, and Clara in returning from the dead to travel the universe. The images of Cyber-Bill carrying the Doctor, the reaffirmation of who Bill is, the arrival of Heather: all of these are great.

Steven Moffat was right that the show hadn’t been diverse enough in its casting, but presumably no one behind the scenes understood that there are unintended connotations to a white man telling a black woman that she can’t be angry if she wants to be accepted – as happens to Bill in ‘The Doctor Falls’ – or that Clara got a gore-free death compared to the lingering shots of Bill’s gunshot wound. There’s also ambiguity in ‘Twice Upon a Time’as to when Bill dies – in that episode she is represented by an avatar taken from a moment near death, but given everything that’s happened to Bill this could be tomorrow or in a million years’ time – so overall this one has some extreme highs and lows.

16. Romana and K9

After Mary Tamm left the show, feeling similarly to Louise Jameson that despite a strong start her character was reverting to the stock companion figure (a damsel in distress, tripping ankles, screaming for help to advance the plot that’s being explained to them) Romana regenerated with Lalla Ward taking over the role. Ward left the show as new producer John Nathan-Turner came on board, and while Romana’s departure was foreshadowed well in advance, Nathan-Turner didn’t want any soap opera elements creeping into Doctor Who, and so Romana’s farewell scene was understated and rushed against Ward’s wishes. Otherwise it’s a good exit for Romana, who refuses a summons to Gallifrey and, finding herself in another dimension, decides to go off on her own journey after her travels with the Doctor.

K9 goes with her because John Nathan-Turner hated K9. Compared to ‘School Reunion’ this is just completely dismissive, but there is at least a coda: another scene at the end of ‘Warriors’ Gate’ where K9 and Romana face their future together with optimism, and Adric asks the Doctor if Romana will be alright: “Alright? She’ll be superb.”

15. Susan Foreman

The first companion departure, and something of a template. Susan falls in love and stays behind. Actress Carole Ann Ford left as she was unsatisfied by Susan’s lack of development.

It’s the Doctor’s decision to leave Susan, his granddaughter, behind. He locks the doors on her, believing that she stands a better chance of happiness staying on Earth rebuilding after a Dalek invasion. William Hartnell didn’t want Ford to leave and channels that into his performance. A clip of this scene was used to represent Hartnell at the beginning of the twentieth anniversary special ‘The Five Doctors’, and with Susan’s fate unconfirmed after The Time War his line ‘One day I shall come back’ lands even heavier: we know he never did.

No wonder he never comes back for anybody else.

14. Captain Jack

‘The Parting of the Ways’ is Jack’s departure story as it’s his last as a regular companion before moving to Torchwood.

Torchwood was not announced until after Series 1 of Doctor Who, and so when it became clear that Jack – with his cheesy grin and action hero posturing – was going to die, it was unexpected. There’s a sense of inevitability about the Daleks killing him when everyone else is dead but, because this was a new series, it was never clear how far it would go. Maybe there’d be a last-minute reprieve. Ultimately there was, but as far as self-contained character arcs go Jack’s journey from con-man to sacrificial hero works, and if it had ended there, it’d have been on a high.

13. Adelaide Brooke

In Base Under Siege stories we have the stock character of a distrusting commander who doesn’t get along with the Doctor. A fun idea in ‘The Waters of Mars’ is ‘Hey, what if they were the companion for one episode?’

One of the less fun but still powerful ideas is also that the Doctor’s behaviour be so unnerving that this stock character would kill themselves in response. So here we have someone standing up to the Doctor as he states the laws of time “are mine, and they will obey me!” What’s interesting is that this is not dissimilar to the standard companion departure, but operating in the epic register rather than a more intimate one. The Doctor has previous on saying that companions have to leave and not giving them a choice, but here the controlling behaviour is scaled upwards to time itself. Possibly the show was not ready to explore this explicitly in a smaller scale just yet.

12. Grace Holloway

Sneaking in unnoticed is the fact that Grace Holloway, the one-off companion for the 1996 TV Movie, ends the film by kissing the Doctor at midnight under the fireworks but refusing to go with him because her experiences have given her renewed self-confidence. Grace is that rarest of things – a Doctor Who companion who gets to leave on her own terms without the Doctor being a dick about it.

11. Ian Chesterton

Ian and Barbara are the first humans in Doctor Who to explore the universe in the TARDIS, taken away by force when the Doctor kidnaps them. Initially they want to return home, but this desire fades. However, when they’re presented with a chance they take it. As a contrast to Susan’s departure, Ian and Barbara’s departure is joyful as it turns out that you cantravel with the Doctor and leave on your own terms as richer, fuller people.

10. Rose Tyler

Rose and the Doctor. The Doctor and Rose. It’s easy to lose track – amidst the melodrama, epic gestures and various tensions – of the way Series 2 sets up Rose and the Doctor being torn apart almost straight away. They’re so wrapped up in how much fun they’re having that it stops them from noticing other people’s feelings. It becomes clear that had the Doctor and Rose done this, the Torchwood Institute wouldn’t exist, so Harriet Jones wouldn’t have had a weapon to fire at the Sycorax in the preceding Christmas episode. However, the show is also telling you that Rose and the Doctor being split up is a colossal tragedy; performances, visuals and music tell you this is incredibly sad while the stories are reminding you they’ve contributed to their own downfall.

This is a companion departure with the heartbreak turned up to 11, to the point where the pretty loud “Brought this on themselves” track can get lost in the mix. Here’s the beginnings of companions burning out rather than fading away.

There’s also the unfortunate business where Rose Tyler, the beloved character who helped bring Doctor Who back as a critical and popular success, rips holes in the universe to find the man she loves.

Said man takes her back to the place she had the worst time of her life, gives her a genocidal sex clone and then quietly leaves when she’s making out with it.

9. Ace

Bearing in mind that Ace has left Doctor Who in so many different canons over the years, it’s specifically her departure in ‘Survival’ that I’m taking as her final story. I’m heavily indebted to Una McCormack’s book on ‘The Curse of Fenric’ here, as it makes the very good point that for everything that could happen to Ace – whatever fates spin-off media has in store for her – there’s nothing quite as perfect for where Ace has reached at the end of Season 26 as the promise of further adventures, the possibility of joy rather than darkness, an ellipsis rather than a full stop.

8. Barbara

Why is Barbara’s departure better than Ian’s? Because:

In ‘An Unearthly Child’ the Doctor asks them “What is going to happen to you?”, the single most important question in the entire series. Firstly because that is half the format of Doctor Who, and secondly because the other half is the same question in reverse. If Barbara Wright doesn’t happen to Doctor Who, then Doctor Who is a short lived 1960s sci-fi show about a cantankerous old git who kidnapped some school teachers (Missing presumed wiped).

7. Zoe and 6. Jamie

Zoe and Jamie both leave suddenly at the end of ‘The War Games’. Patrick Troughton was leaving and the actors decided to go with him, and that sense of an era ending bled into the fiction. 

At the end of ‘The War Games’ the Time Lords are named and appear for the first time, represented by a group of solemn men in robes who wield immense and ineffable power. The Doctor is put on trial for stealing the TARDIS and interfering on other worlds. His companions are returned to a time after their first meeting with the Doctor, their memories of their travels erased. This isn’t built up to, but there’s a general sense of unease in the final few episodes and the Time Lords seem aloof enough to mete out this sort of punishment.

Jamie and Zoe try to escape with the Doctor, but when they’re recaptured he gives up. With Patrick Troughton’s Doctor this is especially shocking, and it’s only his melancholy resignation that convinces them to give up too. Zoe ends up back on a space station, and knows there’s something she can’t quite remember, but with Jamie – who has been with the Second Doctor for almost the entire incarnation – he ends up back at the aftermath of Culloden, charging a redcoat. In a kind touch, the redcoat turns and flees, suggesting Jamie might be alright in the aftermath of the battle.

Doctor Who wasn’t really huge on tearjerkers until 2005, but it was very, very good at quiet melancholy.

5. Martha Jones

Martha is in love with the Doctor. The Doctor spends the entire series pining for Rose and being oblivious to this fact.

Martha Jones puts up with a lot, looking after the Doctor while in his human John Smith guise and having to restrain herself while being continually patronised, racially abused and treated like an idiot. She then spends a year travelling the Earth avoiding capture as the Master enslaves and murders the population, holding Martha’s family captive while she does this.

So frankly when Martha says she’s leaving and the Doctor still doesn’t understand why (“Is this going anywhere?”) it’s hugely cathartic for the audience and for someone who deserved better. Some people do get to choose when being with the Doctor stops, and it’s usually great when they do.

4. Jo Grant

However muddled the reasoning behind Jo Grant’s existence, the casting was inspired. Essentially a remix of Jamie (which suggests that Jo and Liz could have worked if Jamie and Zoe did), Jo Grant wasn’t the brightest but wasn’t stupid, and was incredibly loyal and brave.

With the Doctor’s paternal streak fully activated, the production team decided that Jo falling in love and telling the Doctor “he reminds me of a sort of younger you” would be exactly what the Doctor didn’t want to hear. In contrast to Victoria’s departure and the Doctor’s selflessness there, the Doctor doesn’t do what Mike Yates does when marriage is announced (looks upset and does his best to mask it) but instead quietly slips out and drives away by himself. The fact that he leaves in a way that suggests jealousy or loneliness is a huge change; now we see the Doctor closer to Susan’s position and he does not like it.

3. Tegan

Coming at the end of ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’, where she’s seen a lot of people killed and the Doctor pick up a gun and announce that he’s going to kill Davros (who Tegan presumably hasn’t heard of), Tegan’s leaving scene is very close to being perfect.

Firstly there’s the line “It’s stopped being fun”, which begs the question of when it started being fun for her, but that’s ignorable. Secondly, and this is more about personal taste than an inconsistency in characterisation, there’s a case to be made for Less is More here. Tegan runs from the Doctor and Turlough as he begs her not to leave “like this”, which causes the Doctor to consider his actions before he and Turlough leave in the TARDIS. As it’s dematerialising, Tegan runs back in has one final line. For me it’s just a line too far, and Tegan being unable to say anything at all would have been more powerful, especially for the self-described “mouth on legs”.

However, that’s more window dressing rather than substance: the reasons for Tegan leaving are excellent: it’s a commentary on the stories and Doctor we’ve seen recently, and a plausible emotional response to them. It sets the Doctor on his way to ‘The Caves of Androzani’ where the show comes even closer than ever to paying off a sustained period of grimdark storytelling. Adric’s death might be more famous, but Tegan’s departure is much better writing from Eric Saward and deserves more plaudits for it.

2. Victoria

Actor Deborah Watling wanted to leave, and so Victoria goes in ‘Fury from the Deep’. Here the character has a plausible response to screaming at monsters and getting into trouble: she leaves. She says that she’s having a miserable time screaming and getting into trouble, but isn’t sure if she can go: her father died saving the Doctor, she’s an orphan out of her own time. The Doctor intervenes and suggests a family she can stay with.

Most importantly, the Doctor and Jamie stay an extra day to give her time to think it over, and the Doctor stresses that it must be her decision. On top of this, the final scene of the episode is the Doctor quietly trying to make Jamie feel better about her leaving. Rather than the usual one scene and gone deal we have something drawn out, stemming from character, full of warmth and empathy.

1. Clara Oswald

Potentially eternal life you say? A walking dead person? Maybe lose the dead body aspect of it and this idea has legs. ‘Hell Bent’ is a divisive episode (referential meta-commentary on Doctor Who isn’t what everyone was looking for from a season finale) and the ideas in it are incredibly pointed: the grieving Doctor overthrows Rassilon, shooting a potential ally to retrieve Clara from a moment before her death, and tries to wipe her mind to save her life, addressing the long-term trends of companion departures head on.

Rather than a Gallifreyan epic, this is focussed on one relationship and the shade it casts on the Doctor’s behaviour, all the while dancing in and around threads from other plotlines. The Doctor wanted Gallifrey back so badly, but now it’s simply a means to an end for him to bring Clara back.

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Clara’s final story is often compared to Donna’s departure because of the mindwipe element and the idea of Clara being a Doctor-like figure in her own right – here realised rather than excised – but looking at this list you can see how it harks back all the way to Susan: the Doctor thinks he knows what is best and often gets it wrong, and what seems like extreme behaviour in this story is actually pretty standard. Here he gets properly called out on this behaviour, the show finally able to address this in an intimate rather than epic setting.

The post Doctor Who: Ranking Every Single Companion Departure appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1258

Sunday, April 14, 2019

 I know it's a day early but I will be offline tomorrow. The temperatures are finally getting above double digits and the snow is disappearing fast. Now there's the fear of flooding as we are expecting a deluge of rain in the next 24 hours. Climate Change isn't so subtle this year.

 Off the rack will return April 29.

 Avengers LGY #716: No Road Home #9 - Jim Zub, Mark Waid & Al Ewing (writers) Paco Medina (art) Jesus Aburtov (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). The penultimate issue shows us who gets the last Shard of Darkness. I know that (spoiler alert) the heroes save the universe but I still can't wait to read the conclusion next week to see how they do that.

 Age of Conan: Bêlit #2 - Tini Howard (writer) Kate Niemczyk (art) Jason Keith (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). This young Belit has gumption but I can only give this two issues and I'm done. I might read this if it was a small week for comic books but the art doesn't thrill me.

 The Unstoppable Wasp #6 - Jeremy Whitley (writer) Alti Firmansyah (art) Espen Grundetjern (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). The new art is more cartoony than I prefer but I so enjoy the writing. I like issues like this that just shows the characters interacting with each other in their daily lives. We learn new things about them and there's no unnecessary fighting. A good comic book doesn't have to have action scenes in every issue.

 Fairlady #1 - Brian Schirmer (writer) Claudia Balboni (art) Marissa Louise (colours) David Bowman (letters). This new fantasy book is about private investigators or Fairmen. The only Fairlady is Jenner Faulds who takes cases no one else cares about. She's after a missing person and some missing money in this first issue and she finds one but not the other. Her client will not be happy. I liked Jenner and her cat sidekick but magic and talking animals just isn't my thing, but if you like fantasy and mystery please give this a try.

 Catwoman #10 - Joelle Jones (writer) Fernando Blanco (art) John Kalisz (colours) Saida Temofonte (letters). This issue starts with a high speed chase and proceeds to jump back and forth in time to make sense of what is going on. It forced me to pay close attention to who, where and what's happening as the story progresses. I like that Selina's cat burglary is being featured again.

 Journey Into Mystery #1 - The McElroys (writers) Andre Lima Araujo (art) Chris O'Halloran (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). The first Thor stories I ever read were in Journey Into Mystery and I was wondering what this War of the Realms spin-off was going to be about. Thor is in it briefly but this new super team is lead by his brother Balder the Brave, recently returned from Hel. Balder has vowed to protect his baby sister and he gathers a team to help him do that. What a team it is too. There's Kate Bishop/Hawkeye, Miles Morales/Spider-Man, Simon Williams/Wonder Man (who is a pacifist now), Deathlok version 2.0, a sorcerer named Sebastian Druid and last but definitely my favourite, Thori the god of dogs. This was fun and action packed. The team is trying to stay under the radar by traveling around in an RV but the enemy is after them in a Mad Maxmobile. Wait until you see who's driving it. This goes on to my "must read" list.

 Batman #68 - Tom King (writer) Amanda Conner, Dan Panosian, John Timms & Mikel Janin (art) Paul Mounts, John Timms & Jordie Bellaire (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). Knightmares part 6. This will be confusing because it shows events that happened before Batman and Catwoman's wedding. It's not until the last page that you realise we're still in Batman's head. I still had fun reading this because I enjoyed the "real" events with Selina and Lois, Clark and Bruce. Plus I always like Amanda Conner's art.

 Symbiote Spider-Man #1 - Peter David (writer) Greg Land (pencils) Jay Leisten (inks) Frank D'Armata (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). If you're feeling nostalgic for the old black costume then this is the book for you. These stories take place right after Peter comes back from the first Secret Wars wearing what he thought was a new costume made from alien technology. True to continuity, his girlfriend at the time is Felicity Hardy the Black Cat. The super villain he fights in this debut is Mysterio. I wouldn't normally want to read something like this but I like the creative team so I'm going to stick around for more.

 X-23 #11 - Mariko Tamaki (writer) Diego Olortegui (pencils) Walden Wong (inks) Chris O'Halloran (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Dear Gabby part 1. The two sisters are at cross purposes in their mission to stop bad guys from exploiting their DNA. There is fallout from this family feud. I hope this change isn't permanent because it may make me stop reading.

 Detective Comics #1001 - Peter J. Tomasi (writer) Brad Walker (pencils) Andrew Hennessy (inks) Nathan Fairbairn (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). The last story in Detective Comics #1000 introduced the Arkham Knight. This issue reveals a tidbit more about the new Batman adversary. This guy's got minions. It's not a fair fight. I'm going to keep reading until his origin story is completed.

 The Amazing Spider-Man #19 - Nick Spencer (writer) Gerardo Sandoval (art) Edgar Delgado & Erick Arciniega (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). I was starting to gag while the Vulture narrated a part of this Hunted story but then I realised that he was being written in character and forgave Nick Spencer for the overwrought dialogue. I almost benched this book again but now that I'm 5 issues into the story I'm going to finish reading it. There are enough teasers for upcoming events that still hold my interest.

 Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #5 - Tom Taylor (writer) Yildiray Cinar (art) Nolan Woodard (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). This issue highlights what's at the core of this character. Spider-Man is about power and responsibility. The car chase shows us how powerful Spider-Man is and how Peter deals with Aunt May's medical diagnosis shows us how responsible he is. Yildiray Cinar's art isn't as pretty to look at as Juann Cabal's but as long as Tom Taylor is writing these stories, I'll be reading them.

[breegullbeakreviews]

Summary: With over a year since I’ve last played the original and with the final farewell at my back, I’ve decided to take another look at one of my favorite games of all time and grab the platinum trophy on PS3 while I’m at it. Spoilers inbound obviously as this is going to be entirely thoughts and observations of the original with hindsight of the entire series up until this point. So Spoilers!

Overall: Even after what most consider to be one of the best years in gaming last year, this is my favorite game of the PS4/Xbox One console generation. Life is Strange has moved into my top five games of all time and I can’t see is slipping out of it. No matter where you play it, Life is Strange is something worth experiencing.

Episode 1: Chrysalis:

           I was lucky in when I first played this game. I, like Max at the time, had no idea who the blue haired girl in the bathroom was. When it’s revealed later that she’s Max’s friend she didn’t talk to for five years I was making that revelation with the characters. Max never even tried to contact her according to her journal entries which while inelegant are really important to getting into the mindset of Max early on. That being said I love Max. I’m a straight white dude and I’ve never related to any other videogame character like to do to Max. She is a socially awkward dork who isn’t good at saying goodbye and really isn’t good at keeping in contact with people. She is female, but not overtly feminine. While I’m not a Final Fantasy fan like she is, by the way the Square Enix self-promotion in this episode is cringe worthy, I do love how unapologetically dorky she is. She’s also pretty socially awkward and oblivious to a lot of social things, particularly with Warren who is clearly into her. I don’t think Max isn’t interested as much as she’s unaware, but that does come down to player choice. I think this game leaves Max’s sexual orientation much more open ended than Before the Storm did with Chloe, at least for this first episode. At most I think she’s still exploring her sexuality and is open to either sex, but again it’s all open to interpretation which is part of why this game shines so much.

           Especially in a post Before the Storm world it is interesting to see just how bad an idea ever showing Rachel was. I’m not saying it couldn’t be done, I just don’t think it should have been done. Outside of pictures, all Max and the player know about Rachel is what she and the player are told about her by those who knew her. This paints her as an idealized perfect school girl. She was so popular she was above the schools popular kids club, did all of the after school activities, and everyone loved her. It’s an unrealistic standard which you can doubt is all true, but it’s all you have to go on. Showing Rachel turns the character into concrete fact as opposed to whatever you pictured in your head. Maybe what you know is being romanticized by those who miss her in this game, but Before the Storm says that it wasn’t. If Before the Strom did two things right with this it’s that it painted a much clearer picture as to why Victoria Chase hates Rachel Amber. While she was around she was the second most popular girl in school and was always coming in second to her. Rachel having serious parental issues that Chloe doesn’t bring up when Max asks how her parents are handling it at first seems like an oversight of the prequel, but this actually shows Chloe’s denial in this situation. These two details aren’t enough to warrant the prequels existence though.

           The student body at Blackwell I like a lot to. Well you know besides Nathan Prescott obviously, he’s an ass. They make Blackwell feel more like a real school than Before the Storm did which didn’t show a lot of students unless they were tied to the main narrative in some way. The small side stories each character has never overwhelm the main narrative, but they are there to explore and all have enough depth to make that exploration worth it. This episode has Dana’s teen pregnancy and abortion plot line along with Juliet’s cheating boyfriend. While more tied to the main narrative, dealing with Victoria to get into the girls dorm gives depth to Victoria. Sadly her posy needs to wait for future episodes to get depth.

           Back on Max and Chloe, it is funny how Max talks shit about Chloe’s car that’s double parked in the handicap spots when she doesn’t know it is Chloe’s. As soon as she does know it’s hers she doesn’t bring it up. It does take until after Chloe realizes that Max saved her life for Chloe to be cool with Max again. She’s very pissed that Max not only didn’t talk to her for five years, but also didn’t try and get in contact once she was back in Arcadia Bay. Chloe however didn’t hesitate to save Max’s ass which is why I still feel like she was super open to welcoming her back into her life with open arms. Both Max and Chloe are in desperate need of a friend and are willing to overlook the missing time in their relationship to have the comfort they once had with each other. While Max talks about not leaving Arcadia Bay with the goal of fucking Chloe over, they also don’t mention “the day”. Chloe’s dad is dead and her mother is remarried to an abusive controlling prick named David. Replaying the entire game again I’m also now aware that at no point, at least as far as I saw, was it mentioned that Max leaving was as close to William dying as we now know it to be. Obviously it was relatively close, but the fact that it was all in the same week makes you understand why Chloe was so hurt.

           Also back on Warren, he isn’t a creep like a lot of people claim. He’s clearly interested and Max is oblivious but he’s never forceful with her. She is comfortable with him, enough that she was going to tell him about her time travel powers first, and eventually does. I’d be curious how differently things would have played out if Nathan didn’t show up to stop their talk. Straight white guy talking again here, but I feel like Warren isn’t the type of guy who would suddenly lash out like the rapey guy in Before the Storm if Max said flat out she wasn’t interested.

           Another little observation I made is that the bird swarms can be seen outside of Chloe’s house in the backyard. Not sure if this is a bug or intentional but there are two swarms, one on either side of the house in the distance. Having this episode end and start with the lighthouse was a nice touch. While it obviously works to set up the ticking clock element to the story, it also gives you a taste of what’s to come. It gives you a little bit of action which will be component of every future episode. Max telling Chloe the truth about her powers is a great way to end the episode. I think leaving Chloe seriously doubting it would have been more effective in the next episode, but the snow is more powerful as it makes certain that that vision is indeed of what is to come. Also the fact that Chloe was almost a victim of the dark room is horrifying.

           The episodes epilogue shows Chloe’s Mom which so far has only been mentioned in passing and seen in pictures. Luckily the teaser for the next episode doesn’t spoil anything major about the next episode. If it ruined the ending I’d be pissed. We also get the first tease of the dark room with the row or red binders.

           One last thing in regards to this episode is how it talks about the supernatural. This town, Blackwell in particular has ties to the supernatural it seems. While I don’t want to see Chloe or Max in Life is Strange 2, I wouldn’t mind seeing the school again. Its ties to Native American culture are something that can explain the supernatural powers being a reoccurring thing. Obviously you’d need to set this in the past or far future to not have to deal with the aftermath of this game, at the very least tying these powers to something like this could be a cool uniting theme for the games.

Episode 2: Out of Time:

           This episode is in my opinion the weakest in the season, perhaps maybe even in the franchise, but its ending is worth it and after this it’s all high quality. Now why is this episode the weakest? Well I guess that might not be the best word for it, but it comes down to the puzzle segments. They all suck. Memorizing what is in Chloe’s pockets and what happens in the diner in the next 30 seconds isn’t fun. Finding bottles and shooting them isn’t fun. The reason they aren’t fun is deeper than just the gameplay not working though. It’s mostly that all of this kills the pacing of the story. The first episode is introducing Max to her powers and the cast while establishing the mystery of Rachel Amber. This episode is just Max and Chloe fucking around up until Kate Marsh tries to jump off the roof of the girl’s dorm. If this episode was Max and Chloe looking into things for Kate and in the process hitting some of these same beats I think this episode could have been a lot better.

           Kate Marsh is the star of this episode as even when you aren’t with her, she is the focus and if you don’t give her your full attention you will lose her. Even once you go hang out with Chloe, she is still calling and texting you, and nothing outside of her scenes leaves any lasting impact in my opinion. If anything this all makes the memorizing Chloe’s pockets work, if in the wrong order. If you weren’t doing that with Kate and her room earlier, then you probably aren’t going to be able to prevent her from jumping. The thing that set Kate off is a video of her, drugged, making out with a bunch of boys at a party going viral. She’s the good little Christian girl so several people find it funny, but it turns out that Nathan Prescott was involved and she was taken to what will later be revealed as the dark room. I’ve never been a girl with depression, nor have I had a viral video of me shared like this, but I have had thoughts of suicide in the past and Dontnod did a fantastic job of treating this subject with care. It lets you see all of the little cuts. Her aunt disowning her, her mother concerned, all of the tissues from the tears. While there were obviously hints at all of this in the previous episode, here it’s the focus and it’s handled with care and respect. Pulling Max’s powers away from her for this part of the game makes it all feel less gamey which is important to portraying this topic seriously. Max in the shower still feels creepy to me, especially since she’s barely legal. It doesn’t take away from the conversation she overhears, but it makes me feel dirty nonetheless.

           I still love all of these side characters so much and it really does set this game apart from its prequel. This whole series takes place in early October and while some Halloween decorations were up previously, this is when the spooky atheistic takes hold. There is a Halloween party in the works and I’m not sure if it’s always an option, but Max and Warren get an invite from Dana. It’s interesting that you get the choice to decline or accept the invitation considering the series wraps before then. Victoria’s posy starts to fall apart here as she tells of Taylor for not being fast enough yesterday. Once you talk with Taylor though you get to find out that she hangs out and puts up with Victoria because Victoria is supporting her emotionally while her mom is sick. Samuel the custodian is a werido, but I love talking with him. Even once you reach the diner all of the characters there are worth talking with. The Dana subplot continues with two of the boys, Trevor and Justin having both been interested in her be cool with each other when Trevor finally hooks up with her. The cast is just so much larger here and while it’s all optional, it’s all interesting enough to be worth looking into.

           Max apparently went home after the previous episode and worked with Warren to research time travel to the fullest extent possible. Max not knowing how she got her powers or how long they’ll last gives this episode a little something extra for that first play through. This is especially the case when Max’s powers seem to be fading when Kate prepares to jump off the roof. I turned down Warren’s date proposal this time around seeing as how I’d end up missing it anyway, but I still think Warren is the one true pairing in this game.

           I guess I should talk about Max and Chloe outside of the context of just the bad puzzle stuff. This episode cements why I’ve never seen Max and Chloe as a potential couple. Chloe is a massive bitch in this episode in a lot of ways. She gets mad at Max if she answers her phone for Kate, holds grudges over Max when she doesn’t take the blame for Chloe, and god forbid I don’t try and shoot some guy I just met. I understood Chloe to some extent in Before the Storm, but here she’s still a bitch who I only put up with because Max is willing to because of their past. A lot of Chloe’s issues in these major choice segments don’t work because of the time travel aspect along with other little things. If Chloe didn’t want to wait inside the diner while Max answered the phone she didn’t have to. Max could have rewound to before Frank showed up and she and Chloe could have made a run for it. Hell even in the last episode you aren’t able to toss the blunt out the window to try and avoid that whole drama. I know they want to make hard choices, but these ones don’t work and Chloe is always a bitch if you don’t do everything in your power to please her.

           Despite not liking the gameplay or story direction at the Junkyard, I understand the importance of the setting. This is where Rachel was buried and with Before the Storm to add context, this junkyard was where Chloe built her car and also where her dad’s car ended up. Sadly that car isn’t here and quite a lot has been added to Rachel and Chloe’s home away from home. I wish Before the Storm’s montage would have shown the passage of time in that strange cement structure instead of what it did. The Doe over top of where Rachel is buried is rather ominous as is the torn shirt nearby. Frank having Rachel’s bracelet is another thing I wish Before the Storm covered in some form. I know it’s eventually covered here, but I’d have loved to have seen it from Rachel’s perspective in that games closing montage.

           This episode closes with possibly the games strangest decision, and I don’t think any other choice in the game has this many outcomes. You blame either Nathan, Jefferson, or David for what happened with Kate, but there are more than three outcomes. If you pick Jefferson you’re safe, but if you blame David or Nathan, depending on previous choices Max could get suspended. I’ve never gotten suspended in the game though as it requires making what I’d argue are some of the dumber choices in the game. What makes this whole thing work is that while in hindsight you know Jefferson is the mastermind and Nathan is his pawn, the final moments before you makes this choice do everything they can to make you think it’s David that caused this despite actually being innocent. While none of these choices really impact the progress of the story, it is a clever piece of misdirection that will likely make you regret your choices later.

           The episode wraps with a musical montage set to Mt. Washington, which might be my favorite song on the soundtrack. The episode wraps with Max believing that Rachel and Kate’s situations are tied together, and the episode closes with a confirmation in the form of another look at the dark room where on a table not far from the red binder marked Rachel is one being made for Kate. Of course prior to that is an unscheduled eclipse.

Episode 3: Chaos Theory:

           This episode finally kicks off the actual detective work of Max and Chloe trying to find out what happened to Rachel and Kate. The episode wastes no time diving right into it. Max is woken by a text from Chloe Tuesday night and Max heads out to meet her in front of the school. The focus of this episode is the mystery and Max and Chloe’s relationship.

           The school doesn’t get seen much today, at least not while the sun is out. Regardless the student body is still present. Max is now taking care of Kate’s pet rabbit. All of the slates outside the rooms haves condolences written on the, Two girls are still up at this hour and both will let you know Victoria has snuck out. Dana was apparently good friends with Kate and you can talk about Kate’s fate with her, whatever it was. Taylor I didn’t chat with much, you can use the fact that Victoria is out to snoop in her room, but you won’t find anything of value which is a good thing. Before you can reach the main campus Principal Wells is getting wasted on the path between there and the dorms, but that’s it for the student body.

           Out front of campus Max is still shaken up by the events of the day and isn’t a fan of Chloe joking around. Both are concerned about Rachel and Kate, but Chloe is the first to bring up the coming storm. Before the two can use David’s keys to enter the main building, they catch Victoria and Jefferson coming out and Victoria is trying to bribe and blackmail Jefferson into winning the Everyday Heroes contest. It does not go well for her.

           The following chunk is a fun puzzle that pushes the plot forward. Max and Chloe need to get into the Wells’s office, so Max contacts Warren on how to build a pipe bomb, not exactly what she asked, but it’ll do. It’s pretty much just an object hunt, but it’s fun to see the school at night. Once inside we get the first hint at the Dark Room in Nathan’s actual file. Apparently Nathan and David were onto Rachel selling drugs. Before leaving you can choose to steal the money from the handicap fund. The issue with this choice is not only is it tied to Chloe and Max falling in love, but unless you try stealing the money, no compelling reason is given to do so. The reason to steal it is paying off Frank.

           After this Max and Chloe go take a swim in the pool. Snooping around the Boys locker room you can find Zach’s phone along with his dirty texting with Victoria. Max’s is also super clueless about Warren’s crush on her when she finds a picture of the two of them in Warren’s locker. The graffiti in both restrooms is hilarious. They are all super immature like beaver eating jokes and to more direct knocks at students like Max, Kate, Rachel, and Victoria. The two swim around for a bit, but Chloe misses Rachel so the conversation drifts to her and Kate again. As soon as the two get dressed security shows up for a little light stealth. The two head back to Chloe’s house for the night since sneaking back to the dorm would be impossible. The Pool is a nice break from the mystery for both the player and the characters.

           When Max wakes up she puts on some of Rachel’s old clothes since Max’s stink of chlorine. This outfit of course is also the one she is seen wearing in Before the Storm because why not. Max also is dared to kiss Chloe, the only real significance to this choice is that it decides if Chloe and Max kiss at the end of the game, of course that’s already determined by Chloe’s phone background which is based on how often you stuck up for her earlier. These choices being the pot in episode 1, the phone call in episode 2, trying to shoot Frank in episode 2, and the money in episode 3. I always go with the kiss because why not.

           Downstairs Max helps Joyce make breakfast and Joyce gets some needed development. She doesn’t believe anything good has happened to Rachel but is holding out hope. She also says that Chloe wanted to be more like Max which I really find odd. While Max is eating she brings out the photo album and stumbles upon the last photo William ever took. This is also when it’s finally brought up that William died in a car accident. Max is given this photo of the last time either of them remember Chloe being happy. Chloe comes down and distracts Joyce so you can break into David’s laptop. In it you discover he has files on Rachel, Kate, and even Max. Rachel was totally hooking up with Frank, he was convinced Kate was on drugs, and he’s got his eye on Max to the point where he knows her online aliases. Before Max can relay the info to Chloe, David comes home and the two get in a fight and you must pick a side. I don’t have a hard time siding with Chloe here. Even in hindsight it’s clear David is overstepping quite a lot. I forgot Max brings up the files she just uncovered though.

           The duo heads to the diner to break into Frank’s RV. Getting the keys is where the famous “beans” joke comes from. The same colorful cast is here at the diner this trip. You’re able to warn the homeless woman about the storm. The puzzle to get the keys is a fun one. It also establishes Rachel and Frank’s history among other juicy details. This challenge puts your ability to use new information to start dialogue with a leg up to its fullest. There are at least two paths through this puzzle and both are interesting in terms of what you learn about Frank. The choice to throw the bone towards the road or the parking lot is a stupid ass decision. One the dog dies, the other he doesn’t. Anyone who killed the dog is a monster.

           Hidden away in the RV’s vents is proof that not only was Rachel hanging out with Frank, but they were involved and she was using drugs. You can also steal back the gun here if Frank took it. While you explore Chloe searches Frank’s computer and makes all sorts of porn jokes. Rachel has a meltdown when you show her the pictures though and goes off about everyone in her life betrays her. She drops Max off at school in a rage after refusing to accept blame for anything that has gone wrong in her life or even accept that there is no one to blame.

           And this is where shit gets good. Max goes up to her dorm room and discovers that she can jump back in time by focusing on photos, and uses this power to jump back in time to William’s last photo. This scene is hard to play now. Knowing that not only is this three days before Max moves, but it’s also the day of the accident, I’m prepared to cry when I get to episode 4 when Max undoes what she does here. In the episodes final puzzle, you need to hide the car keys so William takes the bus and therefore doesn’t die in a car accident. On the way back to the present as this moment in time ends, the timeline is shown to have been altered. Before you solve the puzzle you can leave a few other marks on the past.

           Max arrives in the present as a member of the Vortex club, Warren is hooked up with another girl, and David is the bus driver. Max races over to Chloe’s to find William still alive. Only issue is that Chloe is now wheelchair bound with plenty of heavy duty machinery and pipes on her. Max’s face when she sees the wheelchair bound Chloe had me worked up. I guess there is one other problem, the end is still nigh as dead whales start washing up on the shore.

Episode 4: Dark Room:

           This is my favorite episode of the season, and that might be unfair to the finale, because what makes this episode work is how damn well it works as the penultimate episode. The puzzles are at there peak, the story picks up the pace, and the opening is exceptional, and it ends just in time for the finale to be non-stop suspense and action.

           This episode kicks off in the alternate timeline with Max and the Wheelchair bound Chloe down on the beach. Chloe is in this chair because of a car accident she was in on her 16th birthday. Without a step father to rebel against, this Chloe never smoked, swore, or dyed her hair. She still loves punk music, but this is a very different Chloe. Max kept in contact in this timeline, though considering Chloe was wheelchair bound that whole time it comes off as ill advised to some extent seeing as he pictures Max sent were her off seeing the world.

           Rachel still went missing in this timeline, though Chloe never met her. I think this is the biggest knock against Before the Storm’s main three episodes. At the end of the day whatever Chloe does back then doesn’t matter. Rachel still ends up with Frank and later a shallow grave. Prequels are hard to do well and ones in a series based around narrative choice are harder. That being said this introduces a very interesting opportunity when piled on with two other facts. One being that Max is part of the Vortex club in this timeline and two being Max is good enough friends with Nathan that she’s been to the Dark Room. I’d love to see a prequel set in this alternate timeline or at the very least more details on it. Max isn’t a good person in this timeline and with Chloe pretty much irrelevant, what happens with Rachel could be interesting to see. This at the very least is prime fan fiction material.

           Max spends the night in this alternate timeline and the entire time everything is designed to show you exactly how awful this reality is. Chloe has no friends and spends all of her days in constant pain. The insane medical bills are threating to have the Price family lose their house. Chloe wasn’t expelled from Blackwell in this timeline, instead she was no longer able to attend because the school wasn’t equipped to handle Chloe’s medical needs. Basically everything is awful. Once Max wakes up and goes to get Chloe’s Morphine injector, she finds out that Chloe’s respiratory system is failing as a result of the spinal injury. Max and Chloe look through an old Photo Album and come across the picture that sent Max back to create this alternate timeline. Chloe apparently already knows that she doesn’t have long and asks Max to overdose her on Morphine so that her last day will have been the happy one she spent with Max and her family won’t have to worry about her medical bills anymore. This is your choice, but whichever way you go about it, Max’s next choice is to fix the timeline by going back to that day once more. Personally I’ve always agreed to do it for Chloe.

           Back in the past this time is not something you get to play. Max goes back and does one thing: she burns the photo so she can’t come back here again. When William walks out the door Max collapses against the wall in tears and Chloe goes to comfort her in concern. Max is apologizing but can’t say what for without messing with the timeline. Max just keeps telling Chloe that no matter what happens she’ll always be with Chloe. This entire scene right here is truly powerful. I didn’t cry the first time, but this last time I was closer to crying this second time around. I don’t know if it’s because of the Farewell episode, or maybe it’s because I know for certain how this ends. Either way, it’s a scene that exemplifies the tragedy of this series.

           Back in the normal reality, Max is in Chloe’s room and the two are putting together the clues they’ve uncovered. Apparently last night Max and Chloe did more digging. The duo has a lot of information, but they need a few more things before they can put together the puzzle. First up is David’s photos and coordinate listings. Apparently he was tracking a whole bunch of vehicles.

           If Kate lived you get a bonus scene before you head back to school to dig up more on Nathan. Kate in the hospital if she didn’t die and Max goes to visit her. This entirely miss able scene redeems Chloe for bitching at you for answering Kate’s call. She admits to not knowing what Kate was going through. What makes this scene even more interesting in hindsight is that it wasn’t part of the original script. Apparently as the season was coming out fans really wanted more Kate so this scene was worked in here. Kate has turned around in a big way and will text you Nathan’s room number later on if you talk with her about it. This scene obviously isn’t heavy on story, but it is on character.

           Next stop is the dorms where you’ll bump into Jefferson on the way in. Here is your first does of the student body this episode. Depending on if you said yes to Warren’s date proposal, Brooke might not talk to you here. She’s super into Warren but Warren is far more into Max. You need to snoop round to figure out if Nathan is on Campus, but even once you find out you can still talk to everybody first. Daniel will let you know he saw Jefferson and Nathan talking earlier. Samuel believes the strange weather is supernatural in nature while Ms. Grant believes its climate changes. Once you get in the boys dorm room you can hear Dana in Trevor’s room.

           In Nathan’s room I found a graphical bug among other things. The projector was shooting out a black cone. Nathan’s room reveals quite a lot. One is that Chloe’s conversation in the bathroom at the games start is over the time Nathan drugged her in his room. There are also some pictures in Nathan’s drawers. Max manages to find Nathan’s phone, but before they can escape Nathan shows up and Warren once again steps in to protect Max. You can choose to call Warren off after he’s got Nathan down or let him keep going. This can give Chloe a gun if she lost it in episode 2 and never picked it up in episode 3.

           Max and Chloe ask Warren to look into Nathan’s father while they head off to talk with Frank. Max is now totally aware Warren has a crush on her, but doesn’t say anything to him about it. Getting Frank to talk is a conversation puzzle. If you’ve got a gun you can’t lose. Worst case Chloe kills Frank and his dog. Best case no one gets hurt. There is a middle ground where Frank gets wounded, but which way you go is up to you. This is a rather time consuming puzzle, but that is mostly because it’s replaying the same conversation a lot.

           Now it’s time for the complicated puzzle. You need to figure out when Frank sold Nathan drugs by matching the code names to the sales papers. You need to match license plates from David’s pictures to the coordinates he’s been keeping. You need to break into Nathan’s phone to get his texts with Frank. Once you’ve done all of that you need to match up the texts, coordinates, and the drugs dealings to figure out where Nathan went that night with Kate. It’s a tough puzzle, but it’s satisfying to put this all together. You can cheat Nathan’s phone, but everything else you need to figure out on your own.

           At the barn the two discover the hidden bunker beneath. This is the notorious Dark Room. A few light puzzles make up the process of getting into the barn, getting to the bunker door and finally opening that door. In the Bunker is binders for Victoria, Kate, and Rachel, along with plenty more. Kate’s binder is full of pictures of her drugged out of her mind on the nearby set. Rachel’s on the other hand show her in a hole in the junkyard. Victoria’s binder is empty hinting that she is next up. The two races to the Junkyard where Chloe and Max start digging with their hands to find Rachel dead and buried where that photo was taken. As Chloe cries and Max comforts her, the spirt of the Doe looks on. For whatever reason this scene never hit me that hard. I always assumed the worst for Rachel and sure as shit it’s what happened.

           Onto the end of the world party. Max wants to go to the Police, but Chloe wants true justice by her own hands so the two head to the Vortex clubs party. To continue with the unexplainable phenomena there are two moons in the sky tonight. Warren is wasted and Chloe is on a war path, but Chloe stops while Max and Warren take a Selfie together, and later this picture is important. The party itself is at the pool and pretty much every student is there. Chloe marched on ahead so Max looks for Nathan alone. The search continues until Max talks with Victoria. If you weren’t nice to Victoria in episode 1 you can’t successfully warn her here since she won’t believe. It’s all for naught though, because Nathan isn’t the mastermind, Jefferson is. In fact warning Victoria successfully will get her killed. Before you can leave the party with Chloe, Jefferson announces Victoria as the winner.

           Chloe and Max head out to find Nathan when he texts them implying he’s destroying Rachel’s body. At the Junkyard Max is drugged and Chloe is shot in the head killing her instantly. Before Max blacks out she sees that it was Jefferson who did this and he stands over her menacingly. No musical wrap up, just cut to black and credits. The tease for next week has a meek voice saying no in the Dark Room while a gloved hand gets more drugs, and outside the Storm has arrived.

Episode 5: Polarized:

           The final episode of Life is Strange has a polarizing reception. Personally I love it but I understand the complaints. What makes this ending work is exactly what must people don’t like. There are some dialogue choices here, but only one matters, and that’s the final choice before control is ripped away from the player. The entire episode is mostly fast paced action paired with psychological horror, and I’m going to try and explain why this works by comparing it to one of my other favorite games, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Metal Gear Solid 3 is a stealth game, but the final hour is anything but. It goes from boss fight to over the top chase scene to boss fight to somewhat slow segment to boss fight to finale cut scene. Polarized has a similar style it upends the normal gameplay style and goes bat shit insane for the majority of the episode before it hard stops. The sudden dramatic shift in tone helps land that punch. You’re already thrown off by the different tone, but switching back to the original tone is still jarring, and before you can readjust they nail the final blow. Now to be fair I don’t think it works as well in Life is Strange since this isn’t a game built around action sequences, but I do think it works.

           The first chunk of the episode is Max trying to escape the Dark Room. This involves Max, who is tied to a chair on set using her ability to jump back in time to when photos were taken to go back and relieve the photo shoot with Jefferson in order to work a way out. During these jump backs Max learns that Jefferson befriends Nathan in order to use his money to fund this little side project and that he killed him last night. He also plans on killing Max. After enough little changes Max jumps back in time to the selfie she took in Jefferson’s class on Monday. She texts David everything she knows about the Dark Room and turns in her photo for the “Everyday Heroes” contest. When Max jumps back she’s on her way to San Francisco having won, but with Wells since Jefferson was arrested. Everything is wrapped up to nicely though. Max gets another vision of the storm and sure as shit it’s hitting Arcadia Bay right now. Desperate to get back to Arcadia Bay, Max jumps into her submission and destroys it in the past. The only reason this fake out doesn’t work is because of the collectibles and how early into the episode it happens. Of course it’s not over yet.

           Back in the new present Max is back where she started this episode, but this time Max’s journal has been destroyed by Jefferson so she has no pictures to jump to. Before Jefferson can kill Max suddenly someone enters the bunker. It’s David and you guide him through a fight with Jefferson. With Jefferson down and out you’ve got the chance to make up with David and tell him what happened to Chloe. If you do the latter he kills Jefferson in rage. This is set up as a major choice, but as I said earlier, there is only one in this episode. Max still needs to save Chloe and luckily Warren took that picture last night so she can change the past and save Chloe, but she needs to get to Warren first. He’s at the Two Whales diner in town and Max steals Jefferson’s car to get there. I love this little action scene here. Max fighting anyone wouldn’t be fitting of the character. Having Max fight through someone else however works. It’s a boss fight in a roundabout way.

           Nathan sent Max an apology for everything last night before Jefferson killed him along with a warning which she listens to on the drive into town. He’s sobbing as he records this and it feels genuine. Max has to get out of the car before her destination because of wreckage on the road. On the last stretch of road before the diner there are four reoccurring characters Max can save along with several people who are already dead. Even when Max gets to the diner she needs to stop it from blowing up before she can go in the back. Inside is Joyce and Warren along with Frank and Pompidou if they didn’t die. You can convince Joyce on whether or not to forgive David and if Frank is alive tell him how his dealings killed Rachel. Max tells Warren exactly shy she needs the photo by explaining her powers, and that she believes that her powers started this storm. He believes her. Before you jump into the phot you get the option hug Warren, kiss him, or just leave. I always give him the smooch since why not. The timeline is fucked anyway. The actions stuff here works, though the exploding diner is a bit much. I also wish the dead bodies were of some of the students or something. The grieving woman over her dead lover towards the end could have been Dana and Trevor and that would have carried a lot more weight than two no names.

           Back before the party Max tells Chloe everything that is going to happen. Nathan is already dead, Jefferson killed him and drugged and kidnaped Max. Max also reveals he alternate realties here including the one where she saved William and fucked up Chloe’s life to the point where she wanted to die. Max knows when this moment ends she’ll forget all of this and come back in the present. The plan is to tell David everything and hide somewhere safe. Yes this saves Chloe, but the Storm is still heading towards town while Max and Chloe flee to the lighthouse which is out of the storm’s path. Before Max can get there though she passes out. Queue the insanity.

           What follows is Max’s nightmare. A twisted and fantastical series of scenes remixed and in some cases wholly original in order to convey Max’s internal conflict. Things start with a recreation of the opening class room scene where birds crash against the window leaving splatters of blood until the bell rings and everyone disappears. When Max goes to leave, Jefferson reappears and all Max can say in regards to his offer for her to stay in the Dark Room forever is either acceptance or demeaning herself. I think this scene is a representation of Max’s lack of confidence in herself, particularly in her photos.

           If the latter is true, than this next scene is Max’s fear that she just ruins everyone’s lives. This twist on the girl’s dorm requires you to find the right door to exit in each loop. Kate either blames you for letting her die or for making sure no one will ever leave her alone again for fear she’ll try and kill herself again. Most of this isn’t reacted to by Max, but the scene with Kate is and it shows.

           I don’t know what the next scene is supposed to convey, but it’s the opening title scene from episode 1. What’s changed is that everyone but Max is going backwards. This includes a backwards version of “American Girls”. The optional photo in here is even taken in reverse by opening your journal. Entering the Bathroom enters Max into the final real gameplay segment.

           What follows is a hellish otherworldly maze where Jefferson is looking for Max. The walks are decorated with his photos of Kate, Rachel, and Max in walls decked out like the art gallery from earlier. The second part of the maze is just sneaking past a spot light shaped like the statue out front of the main building. The next part of the maze is all lockers and a bunch of guys from the school are looking for Max. The final part is inspired by the junkyard and even has bottles to find for the final picture. Max comments about them being hard to find which is funny and Frank also references the beans thing here, that one kind of kills the creepy atmosphere.

           Sitting on the bench at the lighthouse puts Max inside a snow globe on the mantle back on the day William died. The view is right over the fireplace where Max burns the picture. Max also gets a text from William about letting him die. In fact there are a lot of texts. The scene fades to Max strapped in a chair in the dark room and Jefferson shooting Chloe while they both insult her. Then Chloe kissing Warren, then Nathan hanging out with Chloe. Then her in Victoria. Then Chloe in the wheel chair, then Chloe photographing Max. This scene is obviously Max feeling like she isn’t good enough for Chloe.

           Suddenly Max is locked in the diner bathroom with a key lock on her side. Once she escapes everyone is in the diner but perfectly still and blaming Max for ruining their lives and killing them. Max is sitting at the same seat where she showed her powers to Chloe, but that’s not the Max you’re playing as. This Max is a remnant left behind by Max’s time manipulation. This remnant believes Max has used her powers for selfish reasons and tries to guilt trip her. Then Chloe walks in and says that this remnant Max is talking crap. Cut to another hellish landscape with models of all of your time spent with Chloe. It ends with Max walking back into the present and consciousness atop the hill with the lighthouse.

           Max changed enough to cause the storm and realizing this Chloe gives Max the photo from the Bathroom to go back and not save her. This is the final choice. Sacrifice the bay and Max and Chloe ride off leaving the town in ruins. Sacrifice Bae and every choice you made this week is undone leaving Max with just the memories of a week that never was. This is the final choice. It’s important to note that Chloe is willing to sacrifice herself to save the town considering she brings it up, but she realizes it’s Max’s choice as only she can do it.

           I always will sacrifice Chloe, I got the kiss this time without getting the Max and Chloe phone background in episode 3. Max goes back in time and doesn’t save Chloe and instead just cries in the corner. No more words after Chloe’s last. Just Spanish Sahara. The moment in time ends and Max is returned to the present. Nathan is arrested. Jefferson is arrested, I assume turned in by Nathan. Max meets with the Price family to morn Chloe. When Max arrives in the present she’s at the lighthouse dressed in black. The funeral is the next day after Max returns to the present. Kate is still alive in this timeline, regardless of what choices you made because none of the situations in that episodes came to pass. The blue butterfly lands on Chloe’s casket and Max smiles. The end.

           So why do I not save Chloe? Well to be honest I didn’t even think it’d be a choice. As far back as the ending of episode 3 when I first played this game I knew where this was going. Chloe would need to die. When the choice came up and Chloe accepted it was long past her time I went along with her because I value the lives of many over the life of one. When someone pointed out that this ending invalidates all of your choices it cemented my choice as what I believe as the right one. I believe Max got her powers so she could have that last adventure with Chloe and spend some time with her before she died. Without that power Chloe and Max wouldn’t have seen each other in the final five years of Chloe’s life. As soon as Nathan was arrested the truth about everything would have come out as it does. It was about creating memories.

[lifeisstrangeshortstuff]

Headcanons: Halloween! <3

TW: Drug and alcohol mentions

Hi guys! It’s time to get spoopy~ I don’t really celebrate Halloween because my family isn’t a very celebrate-y family, so I didn’t write as much as I normally do. Hope you’re all okay with that ^_^ <3 It’s not a reader-insert, but there’s some mentions of activities they’d do with someone else (feel free to insert yourself, an oc or another character there!)

Disclaimer: As always, feel free to discuss it with me if you disagree with my interpretation!

Max Caulfield

Max’s favourite holiday! 

She likes doing the traditional pumpkin face carving, even if it might be a little wonky. She’s really just there to do the activity with friends. If you guys decide to keep going, her pumpkins get increasingly artistic as she tries out different patterns. 

She’d dig out a pirate outfit because she’s a sucker for nostalgia - one almost exactly like the ones she’d wear long ago, with Chloe. She’s into dressing up for these occasions, but you’ll never catch her in a revealing outfit. 

She’s definitely bringing out her polaroid camera - the night and costumes are perfect for odd photos, where it’ll be certain that she’ll capture little monsters out and about or a cat’s glowing eyes.

Would be down for some horror movies like the Blair Witch Project, and can stomach more than what her outward nature would suggest. Coraline is good, too! The unique, auteur style combined with the thrill is something she’d enjoy. 

Chloe Price

This is HELLAween--

She’ll definitely go trick-or-treating! As a rockstar pirate, perhaps- I think she’ll always have a fondness for pirates since she used to dress up as one with Max when she was younger, but she might give it an update due to her later aesthetic. 

She’ll start off by trick-or-treating but eventually wander off, bored but eager to explore. She’d playfully grab you by your hand and pull you away from the festivities to adventure in the dark, telling you ghost stories all the while. 

She’d fucking love playing scary pranks on Halloween, like jumping out behind bushes and freaking out people she knows. Or even trying to spook people she dislikes, by making them think someone’s following them. 

Did somebody say haunted house? Hell yeah! After touring poorly-made haunted houses, she’d definitely sneak into a few of the more expensive/well-made ones. After that adrenaline rush, she’ll insist on going to places that are supposed ghost hotspots.

She wouldn’t pay for it herself, but if a friend (or s/o) paid for an escape room activity, she’d enjoy the hell out of it because it can be thrilling!

Warren Graham

[Insert Ross Geller’s spud-nik joke] 

Generically, he could go as a mad scientist - and it’s not that far of a reach. While generic, Warren strikes me as the kind of guy who’d be excited for Halloween but forget about the costume last minute. Lab coats, rubber gloves, and protective goggles are easy for him to get a hold of, so it would definitely be in the realm of possibility. 

If given time and someone reminds him constantly, I think he’d love to dress up as the Doctor since he seems to be a fan of the Doctor Who series. That, or a Dalek or Cyberman because it is Halloween and you’re supposed to look a bit scary. 

Clumsily done gore makeup, his hands aren’t the steadiest, but the effort is there and it’s kind of endearing. He really wants to do a couple outfit, but he’s a little bit embarrassed and only really hints (not very subtly) about it. 

He tries his best to put on a straight face if he gets jump-scared, and it sort of works - only that you can feel him shake a little bit. He wants to be the pillar of strength, even if it’s not needed, and to be depended on. 

He might suggest going on a horror-movie marathon and put on stuff like Paranormal Activity or Saw, It, and The Shining… not only because he’s a movie buff but because he kinda hopes you will cling onto him. Popcorn all around!

Kate Marsh

Children’s storybook characters, like Alice from Alice in Wonderland and Little Red Riding Hood

She doesn’t really trick-or-treat, but not because she doesn’t want to - she just wants to give the candy out to the kids, because the way their faces light up just melts her heart. 

She’d love to do some pre-Halloween prep by baking her own Halloween treats to give out! Not that she’d make enough for a lot of kids, mind you, but enough to give to some kids whose outfits she loves. Something like cute Halloween-themed cookies shaped like pumpkins or little ghosts. 

She’s not huge into the dress up but may put on a pair of bunny ears or a halo just so she doesn't seem too out of place.

Not much of a horror-movie fanatic, but totally up for movies like the Corpse Bride or Frankenweenie because they’re slightly creepy but still has an adorable charm to it. But since she does enjoy The October Country (a collection of 19 macabre short stories), she might unexpectedly suggest movies The Babadook, especially due to its use of symbolism.

Victoria Chase

Might go to a haunted house or two if a lot of her clique wants to, but god would she dread those escape rooms. The time constraints and potential to get dirty just grosses her out. 

She’d definitely want to dress up in something revealing, and she’d have the money to make it look good, not like some store-bought costume. Due to her closeted weaboo status, she may dress up in a gothic lolita style, but sexier. She’d make sure her friends are also doing so because she doesn’t want to turn up overdressed. 

She loves group couple/group outfits, with her gang or current partner. It’s not a must but she thinks it’s cute, especially if she has a chance to show off a significant other.

As evidenced in the game, would probably throw some sort of party and get Nathan to supply some… other recreational hobbies. She’d definitely get a little tipsy that night~

Would be totally down to trash bad acting or effects in horror movies! 

Nathan Prescott

Halloween can be a little stressful for Nathan because he’s not fond of jump scares or screamers, even if he’s a bit of a hypocrite and thinks it’s funny when he’s in on the joke. 

Do not bring him to a haunted house, that is a terrible, terrible, terrible idea. 

He’s embarrassed to wear a costume in general because he thinks he looks fuckin stupid in one and he hates looking dumb. If he does wear one, it’s after a lot of consultation with Victoria, who he knows, knows what to wear. 

Although, he might secretly dress a little similarly to a character from New Romantics

He’s not much of a trick-or-treater because the idea of showing up to someone’s door and ask for candy embarrasses him (even if a little part of him wants to do it since he never really got to as a kid). He’ll grumpily follow if Victoria’s doing it, but if she doesn’t, no one can convince him to do so. Except for perhaps an s/o. 

He’s a lot more at home at a vortex-thrown Halloween party where he can get high or drunk, since he’d be more relaxed and less jumpy.

Mark Jefferson

He’s already a monster, he doesn’t need a damn costume

Kind of a grouch, Halloween isn’t that interesting for him, wouldn’t really offer candy to kids even though he knows that it would improve his reputation. He’d just make the excuse that he’s a little tired or that nobody sane would like to see him in a costume. He may possibly put out a bowl of candy outside his door just to seem ‘normal’, but he wouldn’t re-stock it or check on it. 

If there’s a party that requires chaperoning, he might do it to keep up appearances or look for his next… ‘subject’.