#READ BELOW THE CUT

[robo-dino-puppy]

horizontober 2023 | 15: train (watch out grazer training dummies!)

(bonus below the cut)

[cervideity]

cervi liek book 2!! CERVI HATE BOOK 2!!!!!!

i cannot top the original exchange. but i couldnt get it outta my head i needed to draw it. BONUS PAUL BC FUCK IT!

[falling-hand-in-unlovable-hand]

orderweek day 1 (change)

The city glowed even in the dead of night. It was like an ant mound split open, that nest of humans full of light and noise. Bellroc crouched on the edge of one of the massive buildings, wind whistling through their feathers. Skrael sat beside them, kicking his legs over the deadly drop like a child. 

“I've never seen anything like this,” said his whisper thin voice, barely audible over the wind and blaring horns. 

Bellroc nodded, eyes glued to the burning mass of mortal life below.

“The world has changed.” they said distantly, voices made raspy by the polluted air, “Gone on without us.”

Skrael nodded slightly, soft visage glowing and indigo in the unnatural mix of lights. His hood billowed in the air, obscuring and revealing his face in quick snatches.

“It won't matter for long. Once we've found her… we'll leave all this behind.”

Bellroc found themself unable to look away from the shifting crowd of mortals on the streets. 

They laughed suddenly, low and hopeless.

“How the hell are we going to find her? One little god in a thousand mortals?”

“We’ll manage, Bellroc,” Skrael said in that familiar grim assurance.

They sighed, finding no option but to believe him. And they reached out to his hand, the only familiar thing in that bright nighttime.

[cosmoknightchaos]

Hiii:) for the ask game thingy can you pretty please do anyone you’d like for sky:) I just wanna hear you ramble!!!!

As a quick forward- I love you so much Dill and I'm so glad that you are interested in my OCs. Sky is my baby girl and she makes me so happy. I love that you love talking about her. Everything I'm about to say is all very silly and I'm not mad at you I promise. With that being said...

I have mentioned on multiple occasions that Sky is not a complex character and she is absolutely NOT the character to use for this ask game.

So. Here's every single ask from that list that I cannot answer with Sky because she literally does not experience character trauma or complexity!

Betrayal, Bound (unless you count the Horizon but that's stupid, that's her fucking home), Failure, Ghost, Guilt, Heartbreak, Hide, Hunt, Mask, Secret, Skin, and Torture. 12 of 24. I can't answer 50% of these questions because they simply do not apply to Sky.

Of the remaining 12, Break, Desire, Fear, Hate, Midnight, Mistake, and Pain aren't really gonna have interesting answers, or I can't answer in the way the question implies it should be answered (ex For Midnight, it's implied that it's talking about fears, and Sky wouldn't be sleeping because she's reading a good book). So, that leaves us with 5 questions that I can provide a good answer for for Sky! Out of 24!

Okay woah. Passive-aggressiveness is done. Sorry I just really like emphasizing that Sky is not a complex character. Here's a few of the questions that I can answer!

Alone: How does your OC deal with loneliness? Have they ever been completely alone before? How do they act when there's no one around to see them?

Sky has spent most of her life being alone. She's not that bothered by it, but it gets to her every now and then. When she's feeling more lonely, Sky will typically go out, interact with a few of the Horizon citizens that don't hate her (Looking at YOU, Moongoons, how dare you hate my girlie), and often bring Ru with her. Or, she'll spend the day taking care of Ru, walking him, giving him plenty of food, dressing him up, all that. She'll also spend time working on her garden. It really boils down to trying to stay out of her house, since the confinement makes her feel more lonely. And, of course, if ETC is in town, she'll visit xem.

Fear: What is your OC's greatest fear? What do they do when confronted with it? Are they open with their fear, or do they hide it away? Future: What's the worst possible future for your OC? Are they taking steps to avoid that outcome? Are they even aware it's a possibility? Hate: What does your OC hate? Why? How do they act towards the object of their hatred?

Lumping these three together because they have similar answers. Sky's worst fear is King Moonjumper finding a way to get out of the Horizon, because the result of that would be disastrous. It's not a severe, pressing fear, but it's definitely there and it's definitely her worst fear. The worst possible ending for Sky would be exactly that- King Moonjumper winning and finding a was out of the Horizon, specifically in a way that ends up with Sky staying alive. Because then she would get to witness him slowly tear apart the space-time continuum and destroy her entire home!

With all that being said. Guess who Sky hates.

Monster: Is your OC monstrous in any way? Is there something that makes them monstrous? Are they aware of their own monstrosity? Do they accept it or reject it?

Besides the obvious visual indicators, Sky does sort of consider herself to be a monster. Not a monster as in a horrible person, but quite literally a monster. She's a native Horizon citizen, she's visibly not human/humanoid (kind of?), and she doesn't consider herself to be human in any way, including using human as a measure of moral standard. Sky is a creature a critter and she likes that.

Which. This is somewhat my reasoning behind why I hate making Sky in Picrews, which I think I've mentioned on Discord once or twice. She is very much a critter to me and I don't want to take that away.

Wound: How does your OC handle being wounded? Are their wounds mostly physical? Mental? Emotional? What's the worst wound your OC has ever experienced?

Sky gets hurt a lot. Thanks, King Moonjumper. She's fairly okay with it, since she is capable of regrowing limbs, but it does still hurt. She has a higher than average pain tolerance. As for emotional pains, Sky doesn't get many (once again, not a complex character), but every now and then she'll get really frustrated with King Moonjumper or very lonely or just overall have a bad day and those tend to be a bit rough for her. But she's always able to bounce back!

[caulfect]

life is strange : dust opinions, featuring issue one only .

note : i’ve read through all the max and chloe centric comics before, and this is mostly a reread. i was sick when i first comsumed the material and rushed it in many ways, so i wanted to give it a second shot. it should be said that my max is not comic max, as their paths are completely different due to how much the comics and double exposure contradict each other. if you like the comics or abide by them, you’re valid! they are canon! but i follow a different universe and a different possibility, so they’re not ‘canon’ to my max, if that makes sense. still, i have many opinions due to my love for the series and max herself.

messages at 3:23 pm.

‘and in a multiverse of infinite possibilities, this is one version of what happened next …’

it will never not kill me that the comics give this disclaimer in every issue, every volume, etc. and yet people still cry about double exposure just existing lol

messages at 3:31 pm.

‘i used to wonder as a kid ; if the butterfly knew what it was doing, the damage it was causing … would it keep on flying?’

this is a nice thought and all, but i’m pretty sure the game made it clear that max never really dwelled on the butterfly effect ( which they say is also chaos theory ) and needed chloe to explain it to her. this first page seems so heavy handed and edgy but i’m going to try and suspend my disbelief a little bit

‘i wasn’t the butterfly. i never was.’ well yes. chloe’s the butterfly.

messages at 3:45 pm.

so. long winded thought time given the consensus the comic is trying to give in the first page! i think i’ve offhandedly mentioned before, when discussing vinh’s blackwell au with you, that max’s choice in saving chloe wasn’t just about chloe herself. chloe was a huge part of it, as was selfishness, but there was another thing i wasn’t commenting on which has been echoed by save bae truthers for years. i do think that in that moment, when presented with two impossible realities ( as max says in de ), that a strong drive was the unfairness of it all … i do not think max saw this choice as fair, nor did she view what fate / the storm wanted as fair. i do agree that for a couple of seconds max is gripped with this addicting spiral of : no, this isn’t my fault, this wasn’t me, and it wasn’t chloe, and why do we have to pay for it? it is a sense of injustice as well as a desperate dodge of responsibility : max is nothing but horrified at the idea this is her fault, can even refuse to say it herself until warren implies it for her … she does not want to believe she’s caused this with her power, which is her initial thought before chloe realizes it’s her being alive that’s causing everything. max is distraught on the cliff, at the beach, tortures herself about it until chloe snaps her out of it … it is weighing on her significantly, and then chloe says it’s both of their faults, essentially, and that max has to fix their mistake.

max, notoriously, puts herself down and puts chloe up. not even in a particularly resentful way, just in general. this is how she functions and works … so then this new idea, that chloe’s at fault just as much as max is, and that the price is chloe’s life, well. it changes things. it isn’t fair. it’s too severe of a consequence for it to be fair. the universe gave max powers to save chloe, and then punished them both for daring to play the game? for doing what it wanted? i do think it’s telling that max’s reaction, if you save chloe, is initially full of an almost frustrated anger as she impulsively rips the photo and says ‘not anymore’ to chloe’s ‘it’s time.’ i think ripping the photo is max not wanting to bend to the will of forces unseen to her, forces who don’t care for her or chloe or anyone else. i’m not explaining it well, but this wounded ‘i wasn’t the butterfly, i was just dust caught up in it’s wings like everything else’ is a sentiment i do think max had at some point. an excuse, a reasonable feeling of betrayal and hurt at the world, etc. but i do not think max carries this opinion for long given her devestation at seeing the storm eat arcadia bay

so this like. feeling now? it feels very weird to me. i think it was easy to justify in the moment ( i’m not playing your games ) when her emotions were so high and extreme, and the pain outweighed all else … but this isn’t an opinion that would last.

i also think the comic leaning into this angle inherently robs max of any responsibility or guilt over her choice. it’s a sort of shrug, a sort of ‘i made the right call’ which i do not think is true. i think it’s okay to acknowledge that saving chloe is the selfish choice and the ‘wrong’ one, just as much as it’s okay to stick by it without regret. i don’t even think max would regret saving chloe, which is why her guilt about her hand in the deaths of all her friends and classmates and chloe’s family is important. if she doesn’t regret sacrificing arcadia bay, if she doesn’t feel guilty about her choice … then what’s left? the comics never answer this outside of a vague ‘grief’ max feels for the people and town she loved. a grief that isn’t explored, a grief that centers around chloe, etc. this is the same girl who took kate’s death as a personal failing, the girl who said she’d trade away her powers forever if it meant kate would still be here … for someone who feels so inherently responsible and is brutalized by the death of a girl she didn’t help kill, then you’d imagine max would be almost comatose and numb after causing the deaths of hundreds all because she used her powers poorly and couldn’t part with one soul to save many.

gestures. i don’t know. i think these comics in particular irritate me because they really cater to bae truthers’ dreams of pricefield healing without the actual steps to do so. but i digress

messages at 3:53 pm.

pixie : it’s like you have magic powers.

max, suddenly uncomfortable : they’re … they’re just photos.

i do enjoy this scene. and i do like max taking photos as a side hustle while staying with her parents if i remember correctly. baffles me that people were so mad about max taking up photography again in double exposure because of the jefferson trauma, yet said nothing about the comics doing the same thing. this is a running theme i’ve noticed, which i’ll keep pointing out

chloe’s ‘time is a construct’ graffiti and subsequent tortured expression is a nice touch. it sure is, chloe.

messages at 4:25 pm.

ah, yes. the arcadia bay rebuild project. perhaps i’m too cruel but i still highly doubt that blackwell wasn’t completely demolished in the storm … when max recieves her first vision about it, at the very start of the game, there is an orange blackwell banner draped across the lighthouse’s information board. the storm is also referred to as rachel’s, her revenge, and i find it hard to believe that she wouldn’t level blackwell for all the good it did her … if you’re to view the storm as rachel’s rather than max’s. i think blackwell in particular being nothing but rubble is a bit more poetic? it’s the setting we spend the most in, it’s max’s home in arcadia bay, it’s where rachel and chloe and nathan and kate and victoria were. a majority of our relationships and major players hail from blackwell and i think such a profound place in max’s adolescence no longer existing or being salvageable is important in many ways. i do not like that the comics show a picture of blackwell and it’s recognizable? and barely damaged? it feels like a cop out to me … just like how much of this plot really takes away from the totality of sacrificing arcadia bay. for example, the prescotts live. even though the storm came out of nowhere and there was barely any time to make it to a bunker. i suppose i can forgive sean’s and caroline’s lives, if it weren’t for the fact they’re rebuilding arcadia bay … i know it’s disrespectful on purpose, but the idea of any rebuilding ( again ) really takes away from the choice in my eyes. it makes it easier to swallow, destroying the town for the girl, because hey, the town can be rebuilt but chloe can’t! forget how warren can’t be rebuilt, or joyce, or how everything they remake will never be what it was, now devoid of the rich history behind it and the people who lived there for years. i also don’t see why sean would be interested in this? yes, he wanted to give the town a do-over, but given the death of his heir and the impractical debris of everything, would it not be easier to go somewhere else? start anew? there is also no town to control anymore either. almost everyone sead had under his thumb is dead. he’d have to build a town and put new people in it and restart from scratch without any promise of a prescott continuation once he’s gone … again, i just don’t like it. there’s stuff to be done with the prescotts after destroying the bay, but i just don’t know if this angle is it.

i’d be more interested learning more about about kristine prescott and how she’s holding up after everything than sean or caroline.

like, the prescotts seem like another scapegoat here in the sense that they are the villains again. for rebuilding the town. for dedicating it to nathan, whom they believed to die in the storm. there is nothing to be said about how max gave sean prescott exactly what he needed to turn the bay into his vision, nothing that compares the two … it is just so simple.

messages at 4:34 pm.

‘bathroom break?’ / ‘bathroom break.’

i think chloe and max should have a secret third love language which is commonly accompanying each other to the bathroom under lieu of dump taking but it’s actually just them talking privately. and also because chloe going to the bathroom alone makes max nervous due to trauma

‘why do we hold memorial events to remember awful things?’

‘so that we’re never allowed to forget.’

again, the comic does such heavy lifting to imply max’s choice was not a choice she willingly made, knowing the consequences of it. they have new characters complain about the one year arcadia bay storm anniversary and imply it’s to torment the survivors of it, when in fact it’s to honor the lives and town lost because of such tragic circumstances. it’s max and chloe who are rendered inconsolable due to guilt because not only are they survivors, but they’re the ones who let this happen to begin with. they should feel bad about it. it’s good that they do, and that these are feelings they can’t run away from and have to sit with. to just never think about arcadia bay would be cruel. idk. i just think this exchange here perfectly encapsulates a lot of my issues with the comics in general in terms of storytelling and themes … they do not want to approach heavy topics too deeply and they never want the reader to feel ‘bad’ for the choices they made to get this universe. i find it rather cowardly to suck all the nuance and moral grayness out of the final choices of the game, but perhaps that’s just me.

messages at 4:41 pm.

‘you’d think i’d never want to find solace in a bathroom again. why the hell do they still feel so safe?’ / ‘because i saved you in one?’

chloe has a complex about bathrooms too confirmed. i think she should believe this is true and forget the very important max elememt of it all, then go into a bathroom alone and have a breakdown in fear. and she also gets mad about this because what the hell, max, she wants to take dumps all by herself.

to preface : i do not mind chloe still hating nathan. she has every right to. but the fact she’s more mad about nathan’s ‘storm caused death’ story seems rather heartless because yeah, that’s a lie. what really happened to nathan was that he gave up and was murdered by that ‘piece of shit’ jefferson who then hid his body where no one could find it. it just seems so odd she’s mad about nathan’s dark room involvement being covered up, when their choice ensured that it would be … while also condemning nathan prescott to death. he is dead. he likely died scared. there is nothing more you could do to punish him so the insistence of people knowing about what he did is strange … nathan wasn’t even liked at blackwell anyway. so.

‘they’re all gone now. however they went, they’re gone. none of that matters anymore.’

max speaking the truth as always

messages at 4:51 pm.

max telling chloe how much she missed her while away, how happy she was to come back and see her is very, very adorable. but max devaluing her genuine giddiness to go to blackwell ( ‘you’re why i’m so happy in that photo’ ) once again ties back into everything i keep saying lol.

i do agree with chloe’s sentiment that everyone they lost deserves to be remembered outside of their choice, and the storm related tragedy they birthed. obviously, so much horror happened leading up to it … the tornado was almost a accumulation of everything else, of all the pain and hurt and suffering. just because it was the final nail in many people’s coffins, it wasn’t all there was and that is important to remember. max and chloe have many issues to work through on their own time without the storm : max’s dark room trauma, chloe’s multiple deaths, rachel’s death, kate’s attempted or successful suicide, etc. i think the inherent extreme trauma of the storm can coexist with their other traumas, and that every aspect of those wounds deserves individual exploration.

chloe’s concern and anger over max possibly using her powers is very valid ... and then her saying, ‘you were walking away,’ is nice foreshadowing to the rest of the comic. how max is the one running away. how she’s the one really unable to handle everything, not chloe. which does align vaguely with my views on pricefield post save bae.

on that note, max’s total meltdown when chloe isn’t in her line of sight for a second / chloe didn’t let her know where she was going deserves a special callout. chloe is all she has. chloe is her number one priority. chloe is what she chose, what she let everything else die for … it always ties back to max’s codependency i think. and there is a trauma response inherent in it too, this fear that chloe could crawl away just to go die somewhere max can’t save her. idk! there’s a lot there.

[sematarygirls]

bro. why would you spoil a show that has been out for less than twelve hours ??? i'm gonna find your house.

[junior-high-rui-official]

...

Rui wakes up on his couch-bed as his alarm goes off. 7am. Time to start the walk to school.

When he wakes up, it's quiet. It's too quiet, silence hanging in the air like fog. It makes his legs freeze up with an anxious dread, like the way the cold, misty air outside pierces his skin and makes it difficult to walk.

He looks around the sidewalk.

He doesn't belong here.

...once he reaches the school, he walks into his homeroom class, as usual. He doesn't want to- the dread travels up from the stagnant place it took in his leaden legs and travels up the rest of his body.

Taking a deep breath in and entering the classroom, squeezing his eyes shut while he tries to tune out the short murmur of giggles and indecipherable comments that take place whenever he enters this classroom.

He doesn't belong here.

For some reason, it feels worse.

Why can't he tune it out?

Why can't he tune anything out? Not the commentary of the students or the lessons from the teacher, nothing. It's beginning to get to him, but he'll manage.

...

The bell rings. He stands up.

He walks straight down the hall to the stairs, and trudges up them. Something is gnawing at him, scratching out a hole in his chest, it feels. The trip up the stairs seems longer than usual. His legs are sore by the end of it.

He sits down on the rooftop's bench.

Something's different.

What is it?

What's different?

What is it, grating down his heart so dreadfully?

...

Mizuki's not here.

That's what it is. Mizuki isn't here.

He opens his phone to message them, only to find their number isn't saved anymore.

Oh.

They must have blocked him.

He sits, paralyzed.

He wasn't supposed to be up here.

He doesn't belong here.

Mizuki would be there any moment, and she wouldn't want to see him up here.

She wouldn't want to be around him, period.

...

He remains there for an undetermined amount of time, before he suddenly stands up and begins to run. Down the stairs. Through the halls. Being up there must have warped time. he hears the end bell ring and sees students pack up. He's still running.

Running, until he reaches his house. It has an eerie aura about it. he can't call it home, no matter how he tries to. It's not his home. He doesn't belong here.

He stares at the residence next to it. Nene's.

It's like moving through tar, but he drags his feet to her front door, and rings the bell.

Nene opens the door. Her lavender eyes are...blank. looking straight at him, devoid of emotion. Devoid of any surprise, or timidity, or cheer, or anything.

She stares at him for what feels like an eternity. Time stops. He stops breathing. His heart stops beating. His blood turns to ice.

She closes the door in his face.

He hears the lock turn.

a wordless rejection.

He doesn't have a place here, either.

He doesn't belong here.

He doesn't belong here.

He doesn't belong here.

.

.

.

He wakes up with a start.

He can't see through the darkness of the room, nor can he hear anything over the ringing in his ears and his heart pumping ice-cold blood. He can feel his chest moving, pressing against the shaking hand he's clutched to it.

He reaches for his phone.

He turns on the screen.

4:38 A.M.

It was a dream.

He drops the phone, allowing it to slide down his leg, off the couch and come to a quiet thud on the floor.

Dream or not, it's left him horribly agitated. The feeling of loneliness- less like a gnawing feeling now and more like something that rips at his heart, tearing him apart from the inside out.

He didn't want to be alone.

He couldn't stand it, or the thought of it, but he had no choice at the moment. He felt strangled. He couldn't speak if he wanted to.

The dream... thinking about it shook something deep within him, something that made his body want to tear itself apart, that made his limbs feel like those of an inanimate ragdoll, that made his head feel full of static, that made his stomach churn and tie itself in knots.

...!!

Hardly able to move, he stumbles out of bed and across his room, dragging his blanket with him as he drops to his knees and grabs onto the small garbage can next to the door and begins retching and sputtering.

He can't do this. He can't.

He can't stand to be alone.

But that's all he is, is alone.

And it feels like that's all he ever will be.

...

once he can move again, he stands up on shaky legs, trying to get his bearings.

He can't. His head is spinning.

He creeps over to a corner of his room, and situates himself in that spot, pulling his legs tight to his chest. Tighter. Tighter. Making his arms shake and go numb. Digging his nails into his knees.

The pitch-black darkness of his room, cut only by the moonlight barely making its meager way through the curtains, is thick and heavy. oppressive. suffocating.

He breathes it in, and it makes its way through his body, chilling him to his core.

And in that deafening, stuffy darkness, he begins to shed cold tears.