dust in the wind

mid-20's | ao3: selfieho

[artioptera]

Works 𓂃✍︎

(currently selfieho on Ao3)

minors dni w explicit content pls.

۝ Every Version of You (Caulscott, 150k+, ch19/26?)

Tags: Timeline-switching AU, no Jefferson, No Storm/Non-Canon Powers AU

⋆｡° currently undergoing revisions ✩

Summary: Max starts slipping between timelines; it reveals one version of Nathan Prescott tender and healing, contrasted with the one she is familiar with, spiraling out of control. As the worlds bleed together, her nightmares turn into warnings, and she realizes she might be the only person who can save him.

♪ Spotify playlist

𐦍 Seraph and Sentinel (Caulscott, some Amberprice, one-sided Amberscott, other undisclosed ships, 80k+, ch13/30?)

Tags: Closest to Canon, No Storm/Powers AU

Summary: Max comes back to Blackwell months ahead of canon, only to find herself caught between three very different people: Rachel’s magnetic charm, Chloe’s fierce loyalty, and Nathan’s unexpected vulnerability. As their relationships deepen and collide, Max becomes a witness—and a participant—in the fractures running through Blackwell Academy. All of them, knowingly or not, are moving toward a confrontation with Jefferson that will reshape everything.

♪ Spotify playlist

⛶ Miss Caulfield and Other Bad Ideas (Caulscott, 58k+, ch10/16?)

Tags: No Storm/Powers AU, Post-Blackwell, Undergrad!Nathan x GradTA!Max, Teacher/Student Relationship

Summary: Nathan Prescott is trying to outrun the person he used to be. Max Caulfield—his unexpectedly kind, frustratingly talented photography TA—keeps catching glimpses of the person he could be. This is a story about second chances, longing, and the one person who sees through all your defenses.

♪ Spotify playlist

Other Works

Maxed Out on Revenge Dick (Explicit, 16k+, WIP) — Warren's been selling Max's nudes behind her back, and accidentally messages an offer to Nathan. Max decides to team up with Nathan for revenge.

Monsters in the Mirror (One-shot, 4.5k, Completed) — A series of vignettes exploring the parallels of Jinx from Arcane and Nathan Prescott.

Others

Nathan Prescott Character Analysis tag

My playlists (WIP)

[thaismarendaz]

i will wait patiently for you to draw billy barrett as nathan pretty please 🥺🥺 JUST A QUICK DOODLE AND MY LIFE IS YOURS

I have accepted your offering. Your life now belongs to me 🫡 Thank you for the ask !💕

[loserr1zz]

Imagine Blackwell in Massachusetts instead of Oregon.. Victoria as a New England girl 🙂‍↕️

yes Yes yes… new england vic Absolutely plays tennis u cannot convince me otherwise.. she’s So annoying abt it too

in General the vortex club Absolutely becomes 10x richer Feeling now that they aren’t in a small hick town like Arcadia. imagine the Yacht parties

nathan & hayden r Matching their little polo shirts 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ n victoria forces them to come to her tennis games or potentially start playing bc of her

[artioptera]

New England Blackwell??? You’re speaking my language now👀

Nathan and Hayden would absolutely wear vineyard vines, those dreadful salmon color chinos, and the baseball caps worn backwards in high school. Fuckboy New England Nathan is a sight to be feared (someone please draw him)

lanky middle school nathan who wears under armour constantly before he figures out how to have a fashion sense

Victoria who talks about how she flew to Aspen or Vail to ski on winter break but the snow was “sooo not powdery enough, last year was so much better”, and tans nude by her swimming pool in the backyard because she hates tan lines, not caring about the landscapers working around her

also Victoria and Nathan probably met as kids at the clubhouse of a golf course while their parents did “business meetings”

or they met on the beach at Martha’s Vineyard

nathan drives either a red jeep with the doors and front windshield removed, or a BMW 3 series which is a “hand me down” from Kris ever since she left. he can easily be convinced to speed on I95 at night and has memorized all the bridges and turns where the cops hide

at first Nathan is sent to an expensive psychiatrist in Boston or Manhattan before he’s sent to western Mass or upstate NY for “private personalized care treatment”

Vortex afterparties after parties go cray

there are indeed yacht parties with questionable decisions involved and parents covering up boating violations. At worst one of them is put under “house arrest” for 2 days and then it’s scrubbed from their record

Victoria who plays tennis competitively in high school and secretly takes selfies constantly in her little fits knowing thinking she looks hot af (she does)

[artioptera]

follow the light: a Nathan one-shot

this was inspired by a dream told to me by @thaismarendaz and I really felt like it was something Nathan would also experience, so this short one-shot is what my brain came up with! no ships in this one. enjoy <3

It was nighttime.

Nathan wasn't sure in the sense of the time or where he was; it was more an omnipresent knowing that permeated through him.

The sky was inky black, the kind that pressed down like a book-weight on a loose stack of papers. His usual loud mind was empty of its usual buzzing pests, though. Instead, what he felt inside was a striking hollowness — like looking into the eyes of a taxidermied animal.

Where the hell was he?

And then, from the dark, foggy landscape: light. A crimson glow. It pulsed in time with his heart beat, as did his breath. He was breathing heavily.

Thump. Thump.

It was a fire. He was walking along a beach. Arcadia's beach? He wasn't sure. It looked familiar yet distant at the same time. The pale orange spotlight of sand became closer before it became farther — a tricky oasis in the dark desert of night.

His feet brought him forwards — he was a ghost tethered to the will of an unseen force.

There were people there. Friends, sitting in a circle around the fire. Victoria, Hayden, and some others from the Vortex Club. Logan, holding a beer. Even Rachel with a cigarette dangling from her upturned, soft-looking lips.

They were laughing. Saying things. What things? He couldn't hear them.

Thump thump. Thump thump.

Read more here.

[katetorias]

I think about this line in max’s journal a lot. Jefferson’s sure way to get a mentally ill teenager to do whatever he says: build trust, introduce extremely inappropriate topics and then literally just drug him all the time with stuff that has very adverse reactions to his psychiatric medication. 👍🏼 so easy right?????? I need mark jefferson publicly executed

[wevvix]

　I asked for requests a while back and got to get one from the amazing @artioptera !!! (YAY) (TYSM FOR REQUESTING) [even if I’m late 😭]

　Request: “if you drew soft Nathan trying to relax on his bed holding a whale plushie he usually keeps hidden or something I'd probably pass out”

　I like the thought of Nathan having the Fahlo whale tracking bracelet/plush so I gave him both (so he can track two whales haha get it)

Anyway I tried drawing him w the shirt from his bed and messier hair like in concept art so I hope it still resembles him,,, 😭😭

　Okay so um,, took a longer break than I thought; a lots been going on and I was in a prettty bad hole so I apologize for the vacancy,,,, ;-;

[artioptera]

oh my god no WHAT thank you?? this is exactly what I envisioned and more!!!💙💙 this is AMAZING!! thank you so much for this lovely art, I did indeed pass out a lil bit (he looks so cute!)

[betty-fran]

what is the nuanced way in which you ship rachel/max?

Looong story! This is obviously not my ship-ship (for me it's caulscott), but it's probably one of the most interesting and underrated dynamics that exists in LiS in general. They, more than anyone else, are narratively connected: first Rachel takes Max's place, then Max takes Rachel's place, and where Rachel begins the story, Max ends it. When Rachel's story is a classic "dead girl haunting the narrative," Max is the one who has to figure out why. They're Laura Palmer and Dale Cooper of their place. But they're also a good example of the narcissist-empath dynamic, being the complete opposite of each other. In many ways, Max is everything Rachel wants to be but can't, and where Rachel's exotic birds' brilliance hides a deep, echoing emptiness, Max has a fundamental integrity not initially apparent beneath her quietness. I think if they were able to be in the same space and interact with each other, it would be incredibly tense, because Max obviously didn't fall for all of Rachel's existing charm, and that would make her incredibly dangerous to Rachel. And where for Rachel it would be a turbulent somewhere between "do everything you can to not let her touch your vulnerability" to "I want to be her, take her place, take her things, her friends, her voice, her thoughts, wear her skin", for Max it would be a critical confrontation with her self-doubts and a struggle to realize her own worth "you easily have everything that I can never have, why is this not enough for you, what is really wrong with you deep down?". They're also both closely connected, narratively and psycho-emotionally, to Chloe and Nathan, which makes the dynamics between them all (especially with Nathan) incredibly interesting to explore, and which, unfortunately, the game itself never fully allows us to do. I also find it interesting precisely in its nuance, halftones, psychological complexity, unhealthy codependency, and that it can have a lot of sexual tension, but it certainly becomes incredibly boring when it turns into basic happy-together-amberpricefield fanfiction, and should I even be surprised by that?

[artioptera]

okay, first off thank you SO much for this really thoughtful response.

What you said about the way they are opposites is fascinating to me. To add: while Rachel is adored by everyone, yet understood by none, Max is unknown to everyone, yet seeks to understand all those around her (through her journal and thoughts). An interesting duality.

And what you mentioned about parallelism through Chloe is fascinating, too: I think Chloe sees Max's unassuming presence and seeks to "add back" that charisma and allure that Rachel carried around with her wherever she went — hence why Chloe wanted to get Max "out of her shell" by getting her to shoot guns, dance and listen to loud music, and kiss her. which, sure, there is simple teenage rebellion in all of that, none of those actions are necessarily "bad" on their own— but I think it speaks to a fundamental misunderstanding that Chloe had of Max, especially following Rachel's act. Max's strength as a person comes through her ability to see people clearly, without being obscured by unhealthy social pressures -- she can do so with Victoria, with Nathan, with Kate, even Dana and Taylor, heck even Frank-- and the fact that Chloe doesn't really ever quite pick up on this, and instead tries to "turn" Max into Rachel, who was so misguided herself, is another interesting and tragic dynamic to the Max/Chloe/Rachel pairing.

[artioptera]

what are the songs you dedicate to each lis characters?

hey sorry to respond so late! ❣️ I'll do my best to answer this, it's so hard to choose! And I hope you don't mind that I'll mainly focus on the characters that interest me most from LiS.

Max Caulfield - Catacombs // Fog Lake

This song isn't really so focused on the lyrics and the connection to Max, but more like an overall vibe based on the songs she listens to by Syd Matters canonically. It's just something I can picture her listening to in her dorm room as she relaxes on her bed. (also, bonus points for the album cover being a polaroid)

Nathan Prescott - Control // Halsey

"The house was awake, with shadows and monsters The hallways, they echoed and groaned I'm crying, "They're coming for me" And I tried to hold these secrets inside me My mind's like a deadly disease And all the kids cried out, "Please stop, you're scaring me" I can't help this awful energy Goddamn right, you should be scared of me Who is in control?"

I feel like this song is almost too perfect and well-known, so I almost chose something else haha, but I still went with it, because it really fits Nathan to a ✨T✨: the psychotic/hallucinations ("the house was awake with shadows and monsters") aspect, the social ostracization/fear at Blackwell/in Arcadia Bay ("And all the kids cried out, 'Please stop, you're scaring me'"), and Nathan's arrogance/rage ("I can't help this awful energy, goddamn right, you should be scared of me"). I personally interpret the beginning: "they sent me away to find them a fortune", to refer to the no doubt expensive psychiatrists Sean sent Nathan to from a young age -- of Sean not being truly concerned with Nathan's well-being, and instead shoving as much money as possible at others to "fix" his son. This song, to me, feels like the ever-present internal conflict within Nathan: his arrogant front vs his internal paranoia. In the end, the song ends on, "who is in control?": Is he really in control of himself? Or is it his father, his mental demons, or Jefferson...?

Rachel Amber - Strangers // Ethel Cain

"In your basement, I grow cold Thinking back to what I was always told "Don't talk to strangers or you might fall in love" With my memory restricted to a Polaroid in evidence"

This song feels like the despondent, regretful reflections of a lost girl, sung post-mortem to all of her "lovers" who never truly saw or understood her. For all Rachel was popular, we can see signs of her insecurities: seeking lovers in dangerous, lost men, who promised to provide her some form of solace -- either financially, aspirationally, or "medicinally", through substance abuse. For that, "don't talk to strangers or you might fall in love" feels like a line she might've "always" been told - maybe by a grandmother when she was young, maybe by her mother in her lucid moments (working with the trailer park/addict idea by Michel Koch). "Am I no good?" "Can I be yours?" feel like Rachel's very own questions for her lovers, wondering if they would fill the void inside of her. But in the end, she became a "memory restricted to a Polaroid in evidence" -- both in the posters of her face around Blackwell ("when my mother sees me on the side of a milk carton"), and literally, through Max trying to save Rachel using her Polaroid camera. Most hauntingly, she "grew cold" in Jefferson's "basement".

Victoria Chase - Machine Girl by Adéla

"Mean girl, mean girl Make-you-wanna-scream girl Why you comin' at me, baby? Yell at the machine, girl

She's a product of distortion Brutalistic in her own ways

Hollow body for projection Past her lips, you will find her brain Pinned-up poster of pop perfection Misinterpreted shot to fame"

This song is about how a female artist (musician in Adéla's case, but applies to visual art, like Victoria, too) has become everything that is expected of her ("mean", "perfect", "hollow body"), and how she feels misunderstood. She's telling people to look past her outside appearance, which was crafted by the "crowd" anyways, and to actually listen to what she's saying ("past her lips, you will find her brain"). This song especially reminds me of Max's conversation with Victoria in Episode 4 at the Vortex Party, where Victoria reluctantly admits to Max that being bitchy is what it "takes" to make it in the art world, and (especially when Max makes the effort) Victoria agrees that they could've been friends. Underneath the "mean girl" who wanted a "shot to fame", was a girl who simply wanted to be understood. Also, "pinned-up poster of pop perfection" just reminds me of all of Victoria's posters she puts up of herself in her room. Which makes me wonder: is Victoria really so self-obsessed to the point where she truly enjoys seeing huge pictures of herself like that all over her room... or is she simply filling out a mold that she feels is expected of her in order to make it in the art world?

thank you so much for your ask!! <3

[calebsbones]

rachel run girl (not a ship(for any of the three))

[thaismarendaz]

Lyrics from "Eblouie par la nuit" by Zaz

translation :

From our smoke-filled nights

Almost nothing remains

But your ashes come morning

A little close-up on these two, in case anyone’s interested ^^

[betty-fran]

I was tagged by @b1uetrees to post 5 songs I've had on repeat lately, sooo:

Burning by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Into The Dark by Danielle Ponder

God Gave Me Feet For Dancing (feat. Yazmin Lacey) by Ezra Collective

Want Want by Maggie Rogers

Dressed to Suppress by Metric

no pressure tag for @ladytharen, @anghraine, @captainjanewayandtheunicorndog, @alderaan-babe, @lavshaze ~

[elusivedew]

Thank you for the tag, Elizabeth! I actually have songs that aren't all all taylor swift for once:

[artioptera]

thank you for the tag Elise <3

[elusivedew]

fuck marry kill silco, nathan, and Stan. impossible question go

So ur actually going to hell for asking me this, i was stressing about this at the hospital all day but when it comes down to it:

Marry silco, that doesn't need any second thoughts

Which puts me between stan and nathan, and someone's gotta die

They're both struggling mentally, both have daddy issues, and theoretically you would kill the older one and keep the younger one alive

In canon one of them is dead at 18 while the other lives a pretty long fulfilling life at the end so he should be ready to kick it any day

But since the other option is 'fuck' then it's not just about the murder and more so about who I carnally desire the most right now which

Unfortunately for nathan, is stan.

Fuck stan, marry silco

And kill nathan

[artioptera]

you're welcome <3 tbh this is the exact response I expected (you've been thirst posting stan for ages okay and I know silco is your longtime romantic muse)

my response would be: f/m/k nathan/silco/stan

[elusivedew]

This is fucking me up but it's so true

[artioptera]

this is me btw

[katetorias]

based off a source memory I tried to write out. I was thinking about Prescott farm, how horrible it is to turn something tied to Nathan’s family into a place of abuse. it feels like a last cruel cherry on top to his grooming of Nathan. with Jefferson’s ties to the Prescott family I find it so disturbing that he clearly targeted and made himself trustworthy to the family, to get closer to their son, then use and abuse him ://

[elusivedew]

fuck marry kill silco, nathan, and Stan. impossible question go

So ur actually going to hell for asking me this, i was stressing about this at the hospital all day but when it comes down to it:

Marry silco, that doesn't need any second thoughts

Which puts me between stan and nathan, and someone's gotta die

They're both struggling mentally, both have daddy issues, and theoretically you would kill the older one and keep the younger one alive

In canon one of them is dead at 18 while the other lives a pretty long fulfilling life at the end so he should be ready to kick it any day

But since the other option is 'fuck' then it's not just about the murder and more so about who I carnally desire the most right now which

Unfortunately for nathan, is stan.

Fuck stan, marry silco

And kill nathan

[artioptera]

you're welcome <3 tbh this is the exact response I expected (you've been thirst posting stan for ages okay and I know silco is your longtime romantic muse)

my response would be: f/m/k nathan/silco/stan

[katetorias]

these were meant to be our first pictures of each other. the photo of Jefferson is outside of the barn, and taken without permission. the one of Nathan is in Jefferson’s classroom, and he’s meant to be not sober in some way. I dated it for Jefferson’s birthday, closer to BtS era (making Nathan closer to 14/15 ://) I wanted the power imbalance to be clear

[artioptera]

What should I write next? 😋

chapter 3 of moord 💜

prequel to Restraint (what happened the night before) max pov 🫰

a 3some of max X nathan X ??? 🥰

Voting ended onMay 17

[artioptera]

y'all are freaks holy shit

drumroll please! the threesome will be between Max, Nathan, and...

dis bitch!

[elusivedew]

what's your favorite line/part of sextape by deftones? how does it relate to Nathan in your opinion?

I like how you phrased this like a literature/English assignment question so I immediately dropped what I was studying and wrote up this very thoughtful annotation

[artioptera]

WAIT okay I'm absolutely living for this English class analysis omfg

I love how you connected so much of the water language/elements to the whale sounds element of his character! I also really like how you connected certain metaphors to his mental instability and loneliness ("the ocean takes me", "out of my head")

also my caulscott brain sees “the ocean takes me in to watch you shake it” as Max’s Polaroid shaking habit. haha I am def not reaching w that one

also also, I'm cackling bc of your wholesome interpretation of "the sound of the waves collide", bc I always interpreted it as the sound of butt-smackin sex 😭 I'm a fucking degen ... I also think the last line I brought up is actually about “watching you shake [that ass]” but that’s neither here nor there… but also also, the way the whole song gives me the sense of a hint of ✨angst✨, I interpret it as pain and yearning underlying all that boinking so... it fulfills my Nathan angstporn agenda 🙈