#OLBA Liz

[hadraws-11]

Anyway- IS THIS TRUE?!?!

[Twitter(X)] [Instagram] [BlueSky]

[crayoncat-works]

olba week day 2: seashell

liz showing off her seashell necklace to an unimpressed cove and a very impressed mc

[adventuresofeme-sea]

The optional phone call to Derek in Baxter’s route really cements Derek’s continuing regard for the MC regardless of route, imo.

When you call Cove or Liz and tell them the shocking news about meeting Baxter once again, they both are a little slow to catch on. Cove had to think a minute to figure out how he knew that name, and Liz straight out was like who’s that?, before you remind her.

Not to say that once Liz and Cove are reminded of who exactly Baxter is that they are not appropriately concerned for you. What with Liz calling Baxter “That Loser”, and all that.

But Derek? Nah, he knows exactly who Baxter is, despite not seeing the man for 10 years. In fact, his absentminded (and quite funny) musing about how Baxter appears in your life in 5 year increments is incredibly telling in how much weight the name Baxter Ward has in his own mind. Of course Derek would remember every time the man came into your life. This weird little man ends up dating his dream partner! Derek must be incredibly indignant that this, guy, managed to do the very thing he himself longed to do, but would never dare to allow himself. But instead of cherishing the incredible opportunity granted to him, Baxter squanders it and breaks your heart instead. Oh, yes, he must remember Baxter Ward very well.

[crowdeerdire]

I did a lot of work today and wanted to reward myself! Liz is seriously one of my favourite characters 🥺

She believes in you! [Cove] [Derek] [Baxter]

[ignacia-redhead-vampire]

I love this game

[onedreamaday]

Once again, this is all @im-pure's fault, based on this post. They enable my angsty side so much.

They are the worst enabler /jk

I had this song on repeat while writing.

Can be seen as a follow-up to this, which takes place a few months later.

This was supposed to be an introspective kind of fic, but Liz sorta bullied her way into being here. Then it turned into Bax and Liz being catty in-laws. (but not really, they just mostly snark at each other- it's out of love)

TW 's apply here: character death and mentions of depression/depressive episodes. Remarks of implied alcoholism (Liz accuses, Baxter denies, but nothing is confirmed.)

Sidenote: Liiy didn't bother changing her last name when she and Bax married. One, she kinda doesn't see the point in changing her last name. Two, she found out how much of a hassle it was to do if she did change it and wanted nothing to do with that paperwork.

Elizabeth Last, Baxter is starting to truly realize, is an unstoppable force of nature when she wants to be. Case in point, she has apparently made it her life's mission to show up unannounced whenever she's in town.

Since she doing some type of job near Prima Vista, that means he's been seeing her a distressing amount.

Liz does, at least, knock first before she opens the door, using a key Lily gave her years ago. The light spills into the room and it's do bright, Baxter involuntarily lets out a curse. It's way too early for her presence. He checks the time on his phone, which reads 10:54 am.

There's the smell of food and even better, coffee. A peace offering, then. He'll take it. And mentally prepares of whatever uncomfortable topic she feels she needs to talk to him about.

He groans inwardly. Lily, he imagines, would find all of his hilarious. She was always far more patient with her sister's antics than he could ever be.

“Really? All you've been doing is drinking?”

Ah, an old topic it is then.

Baxter rubs eyes and sighs. “I didn't drink that much,” he says.

Liz hums. “That bottle of whiskey is suspiciously empty.” The tone is light, but the accusation heavy. It sets Baxter on edge.

“It was over the course of a few days,” he replies bitingly. “After work, and never excessively.”

“Oh great, you're back working. I was worried you'd be living on the couch, growing mold.” Liz places the food on the table. A veggie omelet with toast. Simple but decent.

“Unfortunately, my rent and bills don't care if my wife is gone and my depression refuses to go away.” He surprises himself with how flippant he can say that, and going by the look on his sister-in-law's face, perhaps she has the same thought.

There’s silence as he eats, and he notices Liz's eyes keep drifting to a stack of papers.

Or rather, the letters he's written to Lily since her passing. They help, sometimes. On the days where the grief is all-encompassing. Where he watches old videos on her phone just to hear her voice. There’s a voicemail on his phone from her on his phone he refuses to delete.

“You can read them,” He tells her. “It's not as if there anything particularly embarrassing written there.”

He flashes a grin; it feels weak on his face. “There's nothing to blackmail me with, I'm afraid.”

Liz hands lingers, as if she's unsure before she takes the topmost letter. “Other than that monstrosity dyed hair you had when you first moved to Sunset Bird.”

“Lily found it charming.”

“She had terrible taste. How she liked it, I'll never know.”

“I might add, she wished I never stopped dyeing it that way.” He finishes eating and takes the plate to the sink. There’s not much to wash, but Baxter cleans the dishes anymore, moreso to give him something to do.

There’s silence between them, but it’s not tense or heavy, despite their banter earlier. Eventually: “You have the most flowery writing I’ve ever read.” Liz pauses, her eyes softens as she reads. “She fell in love with such a dork.” She returns the letter back to the stack, but doesn’t reach for another. “She would talk about you a lot, after that summer.”

That surprises Baxter; the way she acted after they met in the restaurant three years ago, he suspected she wanted nothing to do with him. “I honestly thought she hated me for a while there.”

Liz smiles. “Lillian Last actually hate anyone? I highly doubt that. If she was willing to give Shiloh and that Jeremy guy a second chance, she definitely was gonna give you one. She was just being dramatic. She’s good at that.” A pause. “Was good at that. Sorry.”

Baxter nods his head. He understands completely. There are days when he thinks of Lily in the present tense; sometimes he expects her to come walking through the door, talking excitedly about her job. He misses those moments when they cooked together (or attempted to, in Lily’s case. She was a bit of a disaster in the kitchen.)

He misses the floral perfume she would wear, the way she would laugh when he swept her up into an unprompted dance, her snuggling up next to him even if it was absolutely sweltering from the summer night.

Liz leaves with a well-meaning snark, telling him she will beat his door down if anyone hasn't heard from him in a few days. Entirely unnecessary, but he understands all the same, and it's well deserved. His attempt to go no contact had everyone thinking the worst and the last thing he wants to do is put his friends and family through all the stress again.

Baxter looks at his stack of letters; his fingers itching to write another is too hard to ignore.

Giving into temptation, he sits and writes, pouring out feelings he can't get himself to say out loud. He finishes it with

"In the afterlife, or wherever you are, do you miss me as much as I miss you?'

[homeforall]

Olba characters you say?

Any artists please do some of the OLBA characters 🥺🙏🏻

[akiacia]

multi-step shenanigans

[differenteagletragedy]

Just an unreasonable amount of angst, takes place some time after Baxter's Step 4!

If there was a through line of your love life, a neat little string that wound through everything and wrapped it all up in a nice, pretty bow, then you'd hoped it was Baxter.

You wanted it to be Baxter. You needed it to be him.

And for a while, you convinced yourself that it was. You'd met him for the first time at 13, where you shared a formative dance on a crowded floor, then again at 18, when he spent a short summer by your side.

You fell in love with him then, you were sure of it. And then five years later, when fate brought him into your life once more, it felt undeniable. Life wouldn't be so cruel as to take this beautiful person in and out of your life over and over, would it?

It wasn't that cruel, you learned. But maybe you were.

A hand touched yours, pulling you out of your thoughts. You looked up and warm amber eyes met yours, the corners pulled up.

Baxter smiled at you, gently running a finger along your knuckles.

"Where have you been, darling?" he asked quietly.

You glanced around -- he'd taken you out to dinner, a particularly nice dinner, even by his standards. You'd finished up most of your meal, but you saw that as your thoughts had been wondering, you'd used your fork to make a mess of the remaining food.

You winced a little, looking at it. It looked like a toddler had been playing in their food. It was disgusting, just like ---

"Are you with me?"

Baxter squeezed your hand, and you forced yourself to look at him, really look. You took in his crisp maroon suit, his artfully styled hair -- grey now, you noted, not jet black. The little bits of lightness showed up in the twinkling light of the candles on the table, and you saw it as you always had -- proof that you'd helped him feel comfortable enough to truly be himself, imperfections and all.

For a while, you thought he'd helped you in the same way, but his worried eyes and the pit in your stomach told you that even though years had passed, even though he had been nothing but kind and loving and gentle with you, you weren't as healed as you liked to think.

You were still broken. Irreparable, even.

"Hey," he said, just above a whisper. "What's wrong?"

You gave a slight shake of your head and forced a smile, thankful in the moment that you'd faked it enough in your life that you could make it seem real.

"I'm fine," you told him. "Just tired, I guess."

He studied you for a moment longer, and you could tell he was trying to decide to just what extent you were lying. It wasn't a good feeling -- both lying to him and knowing that he knew you were -- but you pressed on.

Finally, he stood, tucking his chair in behind him. He walked to your side of the table and once again reached for your hand.

"Care to dance, then?"

You took his hand without thinking too much -- just enough to know that if you thought more, you might find a reason to say no. It was a terrifying thing to consider, so you just didn't.

Baxter slid one hand into yours and placed the other on the small of your back, pulling you in close. The restaurant had a small dance floor with a piano off to the side, and a few other couples were already there, moving together like the two of you were.

You idly wondered if they were happy.

Time passed, you weren't sure how much, but long enough for your discomfort to ease. Baxter was a charming dance partner, and the way he held you tight against him, coupled with the two drinks you shared at the bar between songs, had you feeling better.

It was just anxiety, you reasoned. Unfounded fear. It didn't mean anything. You wouldn't let it.

It was easy to be brave with Baxter. After a string of failed relationships over the years, some small, some big, sometimes you struggled with letting people in, but he was always different. So gentle and supportive, he provided you with unrelenting grace.

"Can we go for a walk?" he asked, and you agreed.

He paid the bill, and soon you found yourself being led to a nearby strip of shoreline. The salty air bolstered you mood even more, enough that you almost felt OK.

You leaned your head against his shoulder, and he placed a kiss on top of your head. When you pulled back, you offered him a smile -- a real one. He smiled back.

And then, in the blink of an eye, he let you go and knelt down on one knee. He dug around in a coat pocket for just a moment before pulling out a small black jewelry box, which he moved to open.

Before he could say a word, long before he could get out the question you knew he was going to ask, you gave him an answer.

"No."

His mouth was left hanging open. He'd been ready to launch into a speech, one you just knew he'd rehearsed, something full of warmth and tons of little lies about how wonderful that he somehow thought were true, but now he was lost.

You couldn't say for sure who started crying first, or if you'd tried to pull him up or if he'd tried to pull you down, but soon you were both hunched over together on the beach, tears falling fast. You were trying to cave in on yourself, and despite the fact that you'd just broken his heart, he was holding you through it.

"Can you just talk to me?" he finally asked, his voice husky with emotion. "Please, can you just talk to me?"

But you couldn't, not really. Not in any way that would have made a difference.

You tried anyway.

The explanations you offered him were messy and sad and disjointed -- "you can do better than me," "you don't have to stay," "you deserve better" -- and while they were true, they didn't quite get to the heart of it.

You wanted to give him an out, a reason why he should leave, an excuse to walk away clean. A quick, easy break that you should have given him a long time ago. If you couldn't do anything else, you could do that much.

What you should have anticipated was that your boyfriend knew a thing or two about keeping people at a distance, and even more about self-loathing.

He cried with you, clutching you against him on the sand. He rocked you gently as you sobbed desperately, and he ran shaky hands over your back, through your hair, all over to try to find a magic spot that might soothe you.

"Let's go home, all right?" he asked when you finally settled. "We don't have to talk about it. We can pretend it never happened."

"How is that going to work?"

He chuckled darkly, and said, "I'm not really seeing another choice here, love."

You paused, then told him, "You could leave."

He kissed your temple, then your cheek.

"Not an option," he said plainly.

You saw there with him a while longer, long enough for the panic to recede. The surrounding streets became quieter as it got later, the city emptier.

"Let's go home," he repeated.

It wasn't a fix, of course. You weren't sure a fix existed for what was wrong with you. But he wasn't running, and he wasn't letting you run either. And at least for tonight, that would have to be enough.

[covesdadappreciation]

Cove: No one knew where you were! Derek: And your phone was off! MC: I texted Liz!

Cove:

Derek:

Liz:

Liz: I’m sorry for not responding to like ONE TEXT, MC. 

[sheynchankawaiiuwu]

I hate how Shiloh acts in the DLC(I've never played it but I read the wiki) but happy birthday to him ig

@gbpatchupdates happy birthday to Shiloh!

[hadraws-11]

(WIP) OLBA Week 2024 Day 4. Family 🫶👥

"They talked about their families. He show him a photo about his own family, and told him about all the stories and adventures with them through all his life. They were definitely the best…

Although the creature enjoyed his enthusiasm, he seemed a bit melancholic about it. It must be sad not been able to visit your family anymore…"

[Twitter(X)] [Instagram] [BlueSky]

[Our Life: Beginnings & Always Week 2024 made by: @olba-week-event]

[crayoncat-works]

olba week day 4: family

Hosted by @olba-week-event

I think so often about this particular line (spoilers for baxter's dlc under the cut):

[nikiswonderland]

Cove and Cillian got a bit bored, and found Elizabeth’s skincare…

[otomes-and-tears]

it’s meeeeeeeee i’m shiloh enjoyer #3!!!! revolving him around in my brain every day like it’s a microwave 😭😭 i know you’re busy with a lot of other asks at the moment but i’m eagerly awaiting the lizzie post!! and all of your other writing ofc <33 you brighten my day :D

HELLO TO THE MYSTERIOUS SHILOH ENJOYER #3! I think we're all here now haha I'm glad you enjoy my analysis posts! NOW BUCKLE UP, BUCKAROOS! THIS ONE IS GOING TO BE LOWKEY SAD: Elizabeth is perhaps the most complex and defining relationship in Shiloh's life.

First of all, it's one of the few we see glimpses of throughout several steps in his life-- we see how he idolises her as a child, how he acts towards her when they reconnect in his teenage years and glimpses of how the different versions of him act with her in adulthood. It's likely the oldest relationship he maintains that isn't familial, and I think that's incredibly significant when we take into consideration what I believe to be one of the paradoxical cores of Shiloh's character: Connections and relationships are disposable to him, but Shiloh is only Shiloh as long as there’s someone there. He still feels lonely.

I talked a little before about Shiloh's childhood. How the social dynamics he established as a kid ended up influencing his behaviour as a teenager: He sees Lizzie as the obvious leader, since she's older and more assertive than him and MC, and follows her around and obeys her every whim because of it. Whether he genuinely likes her or not is up for debate, but I don’t think it matters to Shiloh. What she means to him is something that can far supersede any simple likes or dislikes that he might feel at that age:

She provides stability and purpose. She’s his anchor against the mean kids, the teasing, the isolation. All he has to do is stay in her favour. Lizzie is his first encounter with a power dynamic he can rely on and emulate as he grows, and therefore she becomes someone he idolises.

Shiloh doesn’t need to be honest, or even be himself, as long as he’s useful and needed. He understands social hierarchies all too well, knowing what happens to people at the bottom. It’s why he insists he isn’t “different” and loses it when Cove calls him “weird.”

He was probably one of the kids who got picked on, so he’s always scrambling to stay just above water and not sink to the bottom with the rest of the “outcasts.” MC doesn’t mean much to him, but in Lizzie’s absence, he sticks to them just as obediently, as they’re the next best thing. Cove, on the other hand, is mostly just a mild annoyance but does give Shiloh a bit of relief because, for once, he’s not the one at the bottom. And it’s not like Cove was ever going to be Lizzie’s favourite anyway.

Whenever Shiloh gets ignored, he panics and tries to wedge himself back into the conversation however he can. And as soon as Lizzie shows up again, he immediately runs back to the safety of their old dynamic.

I think that while most of him admires her at that age, there's a little part of him that resents not being like her. Not being able to be a leader and being relegated to a follower, feeling aimless when she isn't around. As a kid, he's more prone to lashing out when angered, unlike older Shiloh who acts with fake cheeriness and this strange, eery coldness when annoyed. And that's why he pulls her down with him into the water in Step 1.

If he isn't willing to voice these things because he doesn't want to rock the boat and cause issues, he expresses it more subtly.

Shiloh’s just scared—a scared little kid who figured out a way to fit in. And because that method kept working for him, through moving out of state and getting through life without Lizzie, he never really had a reason to change, even if it did a number on his very sense of self.

He got better at these tactics over time, making sure he’d always have a way to fit in, but it cost him a real personality and genuine social skills beyond the manipulation tactics he fine-tuned throughout the years. Eventually, he started taking control in small but crucial ways: He’s the one who walks away from relationships, now. Removing himself from them becomes a choice. It’s not only about leaving when people cease being useful to him but about imposing a sense of control that he felt like he lacked in childhood since he moved schools and states a few times and was likely used to being the “new kid” in different places.

He learned to hide his feelings better, so he wouldn’t blow up the way he did when he was seven. That’s why his relationship with Elizabeth—and the times he had to start fresh somewhere new—were so essential to shaping who he is: Lizzie set the standard for the kinds of relationships he’d chase, and moving around gave him fresh slates and new people to practice on.

That brings us to the serendipity moment in Our life and what we know from him in Xoxo droplets. Now, I know a lot of people haven’t actually played XOD and only have a cursory knowledge of it and the fact that a few characters from it cameo in the Our Life series! But did you know that Liz is mentioned by name in Shiloh’s route?!?

Yes! Back in 2017 we actually had Shiloh mention the events of Serendipity, which I think is a crucial scene to understand Shiloh’s character.

But before we talk about that, Let's talk Serendipity!

After Jeremy brings up “Shiloh’s famous memory” and Liz realizes he lied about not remembering her in the Step 3 prologue, Shiloh actually goes ahead and explains why he is the way he is. His explanation lines up with what we know about him from XOXO Droplets and how he acts in Step 1.

I don’t think he’s lying. Not about all of it, at least. Some of the only concrete information we have on Shiloh’s character and how he functions comes from his childhood, and I think that what he’s saying is a natural progression of that information. He only does things for his own benefit, he’s afraid of being left out and he asserts his sense of control through his relationships with others. But it’s really important to remember that Shiloh doesn’t do things without it benefiting him. While I believe in the core of what he’s saying, the fact that he’s divulging this information at all (how he’s going about it, by putting Liz and her feelings on the matter first, and framing his choices as being mistakes he made out of care for an old friend and by reiterating that they’re too good and putting himself down for pity points) instead of trying to dodge the conversation again, he’s employing a few of his known manipulation tactics: the real me strategy.

Shiloh knows that this new information is hurtful to Liz, and like in Step 1, her opinion is really the one that matters to him. He knows that there’s a limit to how much he can play dumb before they snap, and by Jeremy revealing part of his MO, there isn’t a lot he can do to smooth things over, so the least destructive path is to do exactly what Shiloh does to JB during his route in Xoxo droplets: He feeds Liz little bits of truth because he knows he’ll damage their relationship if he doesn’t. He gives her enough so she feels like she knows him better, like she’s got some new, special insight into the “real” Shiloh that nobody else has, which keeps her around. He pretends to drop his manipulative schtick because by telling her this, she has “figured him out” and there isn’t a point in trying anymore. That itself is a manipulation tactic.

But why bother? He’d be gone again by the end of the afternoon regardless of her forgiveness or not.

It comes back to what I mentioned earlier: Shiloh is the one who exerts control over his relationships. He is the one who decides when they start, and when they end, and by Liz being upset and deciding she doesn’t want to be around him, not only does he lose the control he craves, but Shiloh loses it with the person he based all of his subsequent relationships on.

In the few hours that he spent in Sunset Bird, they all fell back into their old dynamics even though it had been so long since Shiloh stepped foot in that town. He still remembers that she prefers popsicles over ice-cream sandwiches, and even though he’s better at including MC and Cove, Shiloh in a lot of ways fell back into their old routine, looking back to Liz as his leader and following into step as her sidekick. It doesn’t matter if Liz isn’t an active part of his life any longer, what would it mean to him to have those memories tainted? For that perfect template to be ruined?

But Liz stays. 

And because of that choice, we get to see the ultimate consequences of it. Shiloh isn’t a good person. As pitiful and as tragic as he might be, he simply isn’t one. And I think that can be encapsulated perfectly in how he frames his interaction with Liz to his girlfriend in Xoxo Droplets.

He glosses over what he did wrong, he casually exploits that event to garner points with his girlfriend. He ultimately doesn’t care if she takes his and Liz’s relationship the wrong way and frames it as being romantic, even if that’s far from the truth. Even with Elizabeth being miles away and already hurt by him, he still finds ways to use people and spin narratives to his advantage. 

I do believe he holds Liz in higher esteem than most (and arguments can be made that JB, the main character in XOXO droplets and his love interest, and Elizabeth share similarities in both appearance and their strong-willed, confident personalities), since she was his “idol” by his own admittance, but this is a tiny way in which he asserts his control over the situation. It doesn’t matter if Liz believes she holds the reins. If she’s older, admirable and if he still follows her around like an obedient puppy when she’s around.

By choosing to stay, she tipped the scales in his favour. He is the one in control once again, and he's able to continue his interminable cycle of holding people at arm's length while playing the part of a devoted companion.

[gracjananas]

Liz has it tough sometimes