#now some of u might say 'sketcher can someone not be traumatized AND also just into some freaky shit' and to that i say

[seventeendeer]

I’m really glad you mentioned the Susie and Noelle dynamic. When I was playing through chapter 2 it felt like not only was Susie “oblivious” to noelles advances, but even kinda rejected them sometimes. (denying to share the teacup ride with her and when the player picks for her to say something romantic in the Ferris wheel she completely goes the opposite direction)

I’m not saying that Susie is COMPLETELY opposed to Noelle in a romantic sense but I honestly am leaning towards an aromantic and asexual Susie! Knowing Toby fox he may go that direction to challenge our expectations but I really hope he wont get any backlash if he DID decided to do that. It’s still too early to tell, this is just my personal thoughts on it!

While aroace Susie is an excellent take, I do think a lot of narrative choices point to her liking Noelle back - I just think it's also trying to contrast Susie's more relaxed and (for a lack of a better word) "natural" crush against Noelle's almost obsessive feelings. Susie likes Noelle a lot and thinks she's cute, but that doesn't mean she's going to jump at every opportunity to get closer to her, especially because she's still inexperienced at even just making friends with people. On the other hand, Noelle seems to turn into a completely different person whenever Susie is so much as mentioned in conversation, even though she barely knows a thing about her prior to chapter 2.

Coupled with all the other weird stuff surrounding Noelle, I'm predicting future chapters will dig into her mental health problems a lot more and reveal that her trauma and her fixation on Susie are linked. I think she does sincerely like and respect Susie as a person, but I also think she's using her own crush on her as a coping mechanism. Noelle craves being protected and cared for, but she also seems to struggle with self-loathing and depending on how you read certain bits of symbolism, she might be at danger of self-harm - the idea of being with someone big and strong and mean like Susie might appeal to her because she would simultaneously have someone to protect her and someone to inflict the pain and humiliation she feels she deserves.

As previously mentioned, I do think they'll get together in the end, but I think it'll be a bumpy ride on the way there. I'm guessing as Susie gets more friendly and more traditionally heroic, Noelle might realize that she actually likes this version of her better than the role she'd been projecting on her up until that point. This could coincide with other positive development for Noelle, where she realizes she actually deserves to be treated with kindness and care. Discarding the Susie in her head in favor of the real Susie could be used as a symbol of her choosing recovery over self-destructive coping mechanisms.

I didn't care that much about Susie and Noelle's relationship in chapter 1, but when it was hinted in chapter 2 that Noelle's feelings might be a lot more complex, I got super hyped about it, I think there's a lot of potential for a really cool and unconventional storyline with those two and I really hope that's where the story's gonna go!