Controversial opinion apparently but a fucking ad should not have control over my phone's volume or the ability to pause anything else that is playing

I feel so insane about ai. I've had face-to-face conversations with people who use it for therapy, who use it to calculate the safety of pill interactions, who use it for all their emails and grant applications and legal documents and academic papers and finance sheets and for every single question they have about the world, and if you tell them about the ecological costs they just laugh and say "I guess I've used a lot of water." and I've been in multiple gatherings of 10+ people where I'm THE ONLY PERSON who doesn't use chatgpt. it's turning me into a ranting raving pariah, because how don't you people see??? why don't you understand??????? this bullshit didn't exist five years ago, you absolutely do not need it, and it is destroying everything

Max, it's... it's Nathan

Soft canon-accurate injuries version under the cut

I'll never say Nathan Prescott is a good person but I will die defending the fact that he is a complex character and not just Evil Guy Who is Evil because his Dad is Mean and he Loves Being Evil. that guy is ruled by fear, shame and schizophrenia I don't think he's thought before acting or speaking in his entire life

It’s not hard to imagine that Nathan Prescott wouldn’t have been involved in any drugging, kidnapping or murder/manslaughter had he not been taken up under the wing of a psychopath who orchestrated it all, let alone had he received proper psychological and drug rehabilitation. Or better yet, a family that actually cared about him from the start. That is the tragedy of his character.

Other similar morally reprehensible characters like Jinx, Eren Yeager, the Joker, Walter White, Sephiroth, Thanos, just to name a few, are fan favorites who receive far more understanding despite committing similarly (or far more) atrocious deeds.

Why?

I’d argue the main difference between these characters and Nathan is that their backstories are told far more clearly and “in your face” in a way that is designed directly to elicit empathy from viewers. It's easier to understand why Jinx murders people in cold blood and maniacally cackles about it when you saw her as a child having a mental breakdown panic attack just after having accidentally murdered her family and being blamed for it...

...and subsequently being taken under a psychopathic father figure who groomed her into becoming a violent criminal (sound familiar?).

Nathan’s story, on the other hand, is instead told vaguely through investigating secondhand items and easily missable (or even purposefully misinterpretable, for the sake of the plot) details.

We don't see scenes of Sean Prescott's active verbal and physical abuse, Mark Jefferson's grooming and pushing boundaries with him (beyond what he divulges to Max)...

...or his talks with his psychiatrist showcasing the warning signs of his deteriorating psychological state, as we do with Josh Washington in Until Dawn.

Viewers have to instead write Nathan's backstory themselves. But what if we instead saw Nathan falling apart over his own actions leading to the death of Rachel, one of his few friends? Or arguing with his hallucinations as his psychological state deteriorates? Imagine these scenes but with Nathan instead— how much more sympathetic would we feel if we actually saw his guilt and "disconnection from reality" happening in real time?:

It's understandable why some players see Nathan Prescott as simply evil, especially given how Life is Strange presents his story in fragments steered in a very clear antagonistic direction. It hardly invites empathy for him. But that same ambiguity also allows for a far more tragic interpretation; one that views Nathan as the product of severe abuse, untreated psychosis, and emotional collapse. That tension is what makes him such a striking villain to so many of us, and why his story holds so much untapped narrative potential.

ship so good, a future where they’re safe and retired is called an au

love it when mutuals i don’t really talk to reblog one of my posts it’s like hell yeah. glad you liked that. please don’t leave me.

shoutout to all high school dropouts, students who didn’t get accepted into college, students who used to be on honor roll but became overwhelmed, students who study for hours but still fail tests, or student who don’t study at all due to depression/anxiety, you are all stars and I’m wishing y'all the best luck possible to get back on your feet

You’re welcome

This is the most useful thing I’ve ever reblogged.

i used to think when people said my cousin twice removed that their cousin must’ve did some fucked up shit to get kicked out of the family twice

my daily affirmation as an author

yeah tumblr i guess that snow is pretty fuckable. thanks for warning me.

There will be a lot of posts soon from people sharing how much they achieved in 2025. But in case someone needs to hear this... it's okay if the only thing you did this year was just get through it.