Application - Deerington

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IN CHARACTER

Character Name: Maxine “Max” Caulfield
Canon: Life is Strange (Season 1)
Canon Point: One week after the “Sacrifice Chloe” ending

In-Game Tattoo Placement: Right shoulder and upper arm (like so)
Current Health/Status: Healthy
Age: 21 (18 in canon plus 3 years CRAU) – she appears 18.
Species: Human

History: Game canon history. Also, here’s a list of in-game choices.


CRAU History and Impact:

Three years in the sometimes pleasant, sometimes twisted realm of Wonderland (entranceway) served as Max’s grueling entry into adulthood. Besides meeting a wide variety of people and creatures from many different worlds, Max also had to go through “events” drawn from residents’ memories every two weeks. These events ranged from enjoyable (a Halloween themed unlimited-trick-or-treating bonanza) to deadly (an alien species’ invasion and subjugation of all humanity) to emotionally traumatic (reliving the worst moments of her life over and over).

The negative events left a far more lasting impact on Max than the positive ones. One event led to her death (which is not permanent in Wonderland) at the hands of a friend – though not deliberately, as Max had been under a mind-controlling effect and was a threat to other residents, and the attempt to stop her was accidentally lethal.

As a result of these events, Max grew more and more suspicious of her reality (as events often relied on fooling the victims). She also became more thoughtful in her actions, as a single wrong step could lead to very real consequences. She also became more concerned over her physical ability (the more combat oriented events required her to be quick on her feet at the very least).

The emotional scars from Wonderland are the worst by far. The first year of her time was spent with her best friend (and eventual girlfriend) Chloe Price, who served as a key support for Max during times of distress (which were fairly often). Max became very reliant (perhaps overly reliant) on her presence. The girl’s sudden disappearance left a gaping hole in Max’s emotional stability. What’s more, it began to convince Max that Chloe was forever gone and that she had failed to save Chloe yet again. She remains guilt-ridden and infuriated at herself for this perceived failure. Max developed a smoking habit as a coping method, since the smell reminds her of her best friend.

Other people also had a significant impact on her. Alex Kralie was her first friend (an unlikely one for sure) in Wonderland. Her attempts to help him through his mental instability were largely unsuccessful, which was discouraging to say the least. But it was nevertheless comforting to find someone who shared and understood her struggles, both in Arcadia Bay and Wonderland. Tim Wright later served a similar role – but by then Max had learned to be less nosy in her attempts to be helpful. Tim was someone she listened to and hung out with, rather than someone she wanted to figure out. Chara and Frisk each helped Max learn to be more forgiving of herself, though through very different ways: Chara by being brutally honest and Frisk by telling her it was okay. Sans was Max’s most constant and closest friend from Wonderland – the two of them shared similar time-related trauma, which they skirted around talking about most of the time. They kept things light, but were nevertheless there for each other during the worst of times.

Physically speaking, not too much has changed. Wonderland residents don’t physically age, though many physical processes are imitated (such as hair and nail growth). Nevertheless, Max carries several scars from her time in Wonderland: a deep one under her collarbone from when she was stabbed by Alex, two right above her elbows from when she fell during an event, and several smaller cuts throughout her arms and torso from when she died of blood loss. That said, she's currently as physically fit as she's ever been, after participating in a strict training regimen designed to keep Wonderland residents prepped for dangerous events.

In terms of mental changes, Max underwent two major shifts. First, her grasp of what’s real and what’s not is much more tenuous, since Wonderland events often to ‘pretend’ to be real in order to fool the residents. It gives Max comfort to separate her experiences by what she considers ‘real’ and what she doesn’t, but this has the damaging side effect of making what’s ‘real’ more subjective.

Secondly, Max has come to realize that her constant rewinding has had a damaging effect on her mind. She sometimes hallucinates other Maxes’ voices in her head, giving her advice or insulting her. She has yet to decide if these are real or not, but considers them to be other Maxes from other timelines that she’s created by her rewinding of time.


Personality:

Max is a shy, introverted young adult with a deep passion for photography, which has defined much of her life.

In her younger years she went through an IEP (Individualized Education Program) which is normally provided for students with a specific learning disability, behavioral disorder, or some other disability (such as blindness and hearing impairment). While the game is ambiguous as to what Max’s disability was, it’s highly implied that it was behavioral. The program likely began Max’s feelings of low self-esteem and self-depreciating thoughts, perhaps with the idea that she was ‘emotionally inferior’ to her peers. Later on in her high school life, we see Max has adapted much better – in fact, her prior experience with learning to read and understand emotions makes her emotionally mature compared to many of her classmates (as mentioned by her professors), though she retains many of her awkward behavioral habits (zoning out, not bothering to remember people’s names, moments of strong anxiety). She also retains the habit of looking down on herself, an idea she’s grown comfortable with. The IEP may have helped Max immensely with her social and academic interactions, if not with her own view of herself.

Her childhood best friend Chloe Price was a constant pillar of emotional support. Chloe showed great empathy toward Max, fully understanding and being patient with Max’s inability to properly express difficult emotional concepts and to manage anxiety. (Depending on your choices in the Farewell episode, for example, Chloe easily forgives Max for her inability to talk about leaving Arcadia Bay.) Chloe and Max’s friendship as outcasts (one due to financial issues, another due to some form of disability) began Max’s reliance on and attachment to Chloe as her best friend and comfort zone. Unfortunately the same is not true the other way around; Max was by no means a solid emotional support for Chloe after Chloe’s father died and Max moved to Seattle. This again points to Max’s difficulty with handling complex emotional issues, something she regrets greatly following her return to Arcadia Bay.

Even at a young age, Max already showed a strong passion for photography, closely linked to her creativity and persistent curiosity, both of which are necessary to take unique and impressive pictures of the world. Several people note Max’s talent for photography (especially her professor Mark Jefferson) and for her ability to capture the world in her own unique way. Her curiosity often has the negative effect of making her too damn nosy, as voiced by many characters in the game.

Max’s low self-esteem extends to her photography skills as well, which she considers to be sub-par despite the compliments of her professor and peers. She rips up her intended submission for the Everyday Heroes photography contest in frustration, despite it being good enough to later on win the competition.

Max is also consistently caring and empathic throughout the game, especially for her friends that she perceives as victims, but also for those she’s not particularly close to. She is one the few people that sticks up for Kate Marsh in the midst of intensive bullying, she provides support for Dana Ward after she finds out the latter was pregnant, and she shows strong empathy even for the people that are mean to her (ex. Taylor regarding her mother’s hospitalization, Victoria regarding her friendship with Nathan). She shows strong empathy toward Rachel Amber due to the missing person posters, before she ever knew anything about the girl; and the moment that she learns Rachel was Chloe’s best friend, sets out to rescue her.

The fact that Max is so caring and empathic also has a downside. She often tells people what they want to hear, out of a desire to make them feel better or feel that they are cared for, and her rewinds make this all too easy.

Finally, Max displays bravery over the things she feels responsible for. She stands up against David when he berates Chloe, and especially after learning about his questionable behavior. She defends Kate against the bullies and the people that watched her video. She risks her life several times to ensure that justice is served in Rachel’s case. And of course, when she finds out how her rewind powers have been damaging reality, she does everything she can to fix it. Jefferson notes how Max has displayed more fierceness than before during the week of the game.

As a result of her experiences in the game and in Wonderland, Max also has a great deal of frustration toward herself, especially as she feels like a failure when it comes to helping and saving her friends.

Max’s key moral codes (by the end of the game):
- Freedom of expression, even when against authority figures
- Importance of art, within certain limitations (she draws the line at Jeffereson’s sick ideas)
- Justice and fairness, especially for those that are marginalized
- Friendship and loyalty to one’s friends
- Non-violence except in moments of self defense

Max’s insecurities and inner demons:
- She doesn’t think she’s good at photography
- She severely regrets sacrificing Chloe to save Arcadia Bay
- She considers herself a screw up when it comes to helping her friends with major issues
- She thinks she's a bad person for constantly rewinding, but she rewinds anyway
- She’s afraid of forming more close connections
- She believes she is and always will be Chloe’s second choice after Rachel
- She thinks she has mental health issues and therefore questions her reality
- She actually does have mental health issues (PTSD from the events in Arcadia Bay and hallucinations as a result of her rewinding)


Abilities/Powers/Weaknesses & Warping:

Here is a much more comprehensive post regarding Max’s time abilities. In Deerington, she’ll have the standard time-related warping of it tearing at her skin the longer she does it.

Max can rewind time for a few minutes at a time. This doesn’t take all that much effort for small rewinds, but longer ones will drain her quickly and result in nosebleeds, migraines, and eventually falling unconscious. During moments of extreme duress, she can also stop time (though again this puts a massive strain on her). She can also use pictures of herself to temporarily travel back to that moment in time and, through her actions, create changes in the timeline.


Inventory:
- Her shoulder bag
- Her Polaroid camera, and a handful of packs of instant film
- Her pencil case containing various writing and painting materials
- Her journal, including the photos tucked inside
- A pack of cigarettes and a lighter
- The clothes she was wearing in Entranceway


Writing Samples:
Deerington TDM
Max welcomes the December snow

OUT OF CHARACTER

Player Name: Julio
Player Age: 27
Player Contact: artfullydodged or PM this account

Other Characters In Game: None
In-Game Tag If Accepted: Max Caulfield: Julio
Permissions for Character: Here!
Are you comfortable with prominent elements of fourth-walling?: Yes! Hoping for warnings ahead of time, but certainly comfortable.
What themes of horror/psychological thrillers do you enjoy the most?: Hallucinations, descents into madness, questioning one’s reality
Is there anything in particular you absolutely need specific content warnings for?: Very unnatural kinds of sex

Additional Information: