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yourdeepestfathoms · 1 year

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Oxenfree Headcanons but they’re just about Alex being freed from the loop by Riley

Being brought back to reality is incredibly jarring after spending five years in the loop.

First of all.

Panic attack.

This is not a part of the script. This has NEVER been a part of the script. She’s given up on getting free a long time ago, but now she suddenly IS FREE, and it doesn’t make sense.

Cue Riley having to quickly calm her down.

Second of all.

MAJOR sensory overload.

She’s so used to the loop, reacting to the exact same stimulus, that so much other sensory input is extremely overwhelming. Her senses have basically heightened, and now everything is too much, too much, too much.

The sun is too bright. It feels like her corneas are being melted off or her eyeballs are being carved out with hot iron tools. Colors are so vivid and vibrant, and it gives her a headache.

Every single sound grates on her ears. The splashing of the water, the chatter of other people, the blare of the ferry’s horn. Even Riley’s voice, soft and gentle, is enough to make her ears bleed.

The smells. Saltwater, gasoline, wet grass, smoke from a burnt out campfire, baked goods from a storefront, even her own unwashed body. It stings her nose and makes her nauseous.

And the sensations.

Oh god, the sensations.

Every single touch is mind-shattering agony.

Her skin is so unused to feeling anything beyond what’s scripted in the loop that everything is foreign, terrifying, and painful.

Riley supporting her weak body is like being stabbed right in the arms.

It’s so bad that even her hair brushing against the nape of her neck is like dragging a serrated saw blade across an exposed bundle of nerves.

She feels so raw.

But that’s not the only thing she feels.

She can feel everything going on inside, too.

Her biological processes completely stopped while in the loop, and after awhile, most of her organs stopped functioning, too. The Sunken would keep her alive, after all, so there was no need to expend energy on things that didn’t need to work.

But now that she’s out of the loop, her entire organ system is rudely awakened like they’ve just been shocked by jumper cables.

And she can feel all of it.

In her stomach, her small intestines writhe like eels.

In her chest, she can feel her lungs expand and deflate.

When she speaks, her vocal cords rub together like the slimy legs of a cricket.

She’s acutely (and uncomfortably) aware of every vein transporting blood through her body, every twitch of her diaphragm, every beat of her heart.

Her fingernails connected to her nail beds, her hair sprouting from her scalp, her teeth growing in her gums—she feels it!

And, for a moment, she considers asking Riley to throw her back into the loop like she’s a fish being returned to a lake.

Sure, the loop was a fate worse than death, but at least she doesn’t feel like this.

But she endures. She has to.

She just wishes her body would make it a little easier.

So, she’s freed, and everything hurts!

But despite this, she still can’t bring herself to pry away from Riley, who she’s been clinging to ever since she got free like the woman is her lifeline.

And, to her, Riley very well may be one.

Alex is so afraid that if she lets go for even a second, her connection to the real world will snap, and she’ll be right back in hell.

But they can’t stay like that forever, and when Riley eventually coaxes her to let go, nothing happens. She’s still solid. She’s still stable.

Walking is kinda hard. I feel like gravity in the loop and gravity in the real world, as well as gravity in the void, which she definitely spent time in, is very different from each other.

It certainly doesn’t help that when she stands, she can feel the aching drag of her tendons in her legs and the discomforting creak of her knees trying to support her.

For lack of better words, she looks like a baby horse trying to walk for the first time.

Maybe if she wasn’t in such a deep daze, she would have cared more about how silly she looks.

Because, oh yeah! She is still heavily in shock. What happened, being set free, hasn’t really caught up to her just yet. She’s only dimly aware of what’s happening to her.

But the pain? The pain she’s fully aware of.

She doesn’t get mercy from that.

Because when is the world ever that kind to her?

Anyway.

The early morning this is hypothetically set in is pretty cool, but Alex is shivering like she’s naked in Antarctica.

Her body isn’t really used to regulating its own temperature.

So she’s just so cold.

Riley gives her her jacket to try and keep her warm. The last thing she or Jacob need is the poor kid keeling over from hypothermia.

Speaking of those two!

They have obtained a void child! What now?

Well…neither of them know.

When they went to the island, they were expecting spooky ghost shenanigans. They were expecting weird cult bitches. They were expecting the concept of time being majorly fucked up.

But a tortured child trapped in a time loop? They never could have predicted that.

It’s kind of like unexpectedly picking up a puppy that’s being sold on the side of the road, but no. It’s really not. Because at least caring for a puppy is common knowledge. Something you can get the supplies for with ease.

What the hell do you do for a teenager rescued from the void?

They decide that’s something they can mull over later. Right now, they need to get the hell out of dodge.

So, they decide to take Alex back to Riley’s house and go from there. What else is there to do?

Operation Disguise A Girl Who Went Missing Five Years Ago So She Won’t Be Recognized: COMMENCE!

Alex has Riley’s jacket on, so that’s one thing covered, and Jacob tucks all her hair up into a hat to hide that, too. And then she’s told to keep her head down and don’t talk to anyone.

She’s fine with that. She’s not really in a talking mood, truthfully.

Jacob probably has to carry her to the ferry because, like. Homegirl is having some trouble walking. Also still having a sensory overload. Also still in a lot of pain.

Alex has another panic attack while they’re going across the water on the ferry because she’s never made it to the other side. So she’s just waiting for the illusion to shatter, and for the void to press itself in again.

But that doesn’t happen.

That’s what makes her a little more lucid. Everything starts to feel a little less like a dream and a lot more real.

Riley keeps assuring her again and again that she’s safe, that she’s okay, that she won’t let anything happen to her, and that she definitely won’t let her go back to that horrible rift, and Alex is just so daunted because it’s been so long since anyone has treated her with kindness beyond the scripted lines spoken in the loop.

The moment she gets to the car, she passes out. Somewhat from the pain, mostly from fatigue.

It’s been FIVE YEARS since she’s had a nap. She is EXHAUSTED.

Riley and Jacob are pretty shot, too, but they shake it off for the sake of the girl. They can rest later, once this is all settled.

They go pick up breakfast and then have no idea what to get Alex. And they don’t really want to wake her up because she’s clearly tired.

“A sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich sounds good enough, right?” “What if she’s a vegan? Or a vegetarian?” “Shit, you’re right. Do you think she is?” “I don’t know! Should I wake her up?” “No! No. Let her rest. We’ll think of something.”

“No, Jacob, we’re not giving her coffee. I think coffee will stop her heart.”

They do eventually have to wake Alex up when they get back to Riley’s house.

Riley gives her a little tour.

Alex, although tired and dazed, gets the gist.

Now that she’s awake, they give her the food they bought, but she isn’t up to eating very much. Even though it’s been five years since she’s eaten anything (or drank anything, aside from a little alcohol in a few of the loops), and even though she should be hungry, the mere idea of food makes her even more nauseous than she already is.

But Riley convinces her to at least eat a little bit, just to have something in her stomach, and Alex complies.

She has to stop after just three bites, though, because the tastes are so strong they burn her mouth, and she almost throws up.

But at least she’s eaten something.

Riley then convinces her to take a shower while Jacob runs to the store to get her some clothes that he hopes will fit. After all, they can’t have her lying around in the frankly disgusting clothing she has on.

Even though she’s extremely exhausted, a shower does sound nice, so Alex agrees.

Maybe she can wash away all the trauma sticking to her skin like glue.

(Ha.)

(As if it would ever be that easy.)

Parting with her jacket is a bit difficult, but Riley swears up and down she’ll give it right back after it’s washed, which she does while Alex is in the shower.

In hindsight, perhaps letting the barely awake girl in a ton of pain take a shower unassisted wasn’t the best plan.

The hot water is like an assault on Alex’s sensitive skin.

It’s so excruciating that she literally goes blind for a few seconds.

Long story short, she blacks the fuck out, and Riley has to go do ANOTHER rescue mission to help her.

After that whole ordeal, Alex is dressed in the clothes that Jacob bought (he had to guess on her size, but it was good enough), got her newly washed jacket back, and then promptly conked out again, this time in an actual bed.

Meanwhile, Riley and Jacob slump into the couch and reflect on what the fuck they’ve gotten themselves into.

Here’s some fun appearance things as a bonus!!

A majority of Alex’s hair is chopped off because it kept bothering her (see the part where her skin is so sensitive that even her ponytail brushing her neck hurts). And they need to try to make her look not like herself.

They don’t go to a hair salon, as they’re afraid she may get recognized, so Jacob very confidently takes scissors to Alex’s hair while Riley supervises anxiously.

The result is…very messy. Even when Jacob was looking at a WikiHow article on how to cut hair (with pictures!). There are uneven parts and it kinda sticks out weirdly, but Alex doesn’t really seem to mind.

They also have to re-dye her hair. Alex doesn’t care what color, so Riley and Jacob argue over what’ll look the best. Alex gets a little kick out of it.

They settle on green.

Okay, so y’all know the whole glowing red eyes thing? Well, consider: Alex’s eyes are permanently red. Like, the irises. It’s like they’ve been branded by the possession she once went through.

Also consider: Alex, covered in scars from injuries in past loops.

#i have. many thoughts #i’ve said it before and i’ll keep saying it again and again #I WANT THEM ALL TO MEET SO BAD #FREE THAT POOR GIRL FROM THE LOOP ALREADY #oxenfree 2 #oxenfree #oxenfree ii #oxenfree lost signals #alex oxenfree #riley oxenfree #riley poverly #jacob summers #jacob oxenfree #oxenfree headcanons

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yourqueenb · 1 year

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Out of all the mystery books on Choices, were there any that you found particularly fun and/or well written? I'm not sure if it's just me bcs it might be a matter of taste which is super subjective, but something about the way PB does mystery stuff feels kinda...lackluster? I'm not sure what exactly it is about their mystery books (like TUH and MAH), but while they're not necessarily terrible they usually don't feel super satisfying

It’s def not just you. Idk how many times I’ve talked about this, but PB can’t do mystery. I believe that 100%. Maybe in the very beginning they could because I remember enjoying Most Wanted. But I haven’t played it in forever. And all of their mystery books after that have been lackluster as you said. (And I do mean all of them, including VoS and CoP, which are fan favorites).

I think one of the issues is that they always feel the need to make us investigate whatever noble pursuit the person had along with their death. And they really play up the fact that the victim was basically a saint and loved by all. And it’s just like 9 times out of 10, I do not care. It gets annoying and old. One of the other issues is that they also always do the collectibles for clues and stuff. And it’s usually either that you need almost all of them to understand whodunnit, how, and why (see: TUH) or pretty much none of them because they’re actually just extra pieces of information that aren’t all that interesting (see: MaH). Of course the former is worse because paywalling plot/other important story aspects is flat out ridiculous. But the latter annoys me too because premium content should add something to the story, not just little factoids.

I think writing a mystery book is a balancing act. And we all know PB already struggles with balance outside of that. They don’t know how to set the stage, build intrigue, and stop throwing in red herrings to let the story come to a conclusion at the right time. Or if they do manage to build intrigue, they still can’t craft a proper twist that feels shocking but makes sense/is believable at the same time. So that’s why VoS had a good setting/all that suspense throughout, but fell flat in the end. And that’s also why MaH never really found it’s footing as a mystery to begin with imo.

Didn’t intend to write an essay, so last issue I’ll speak on is the fact that PB also rarely writes good villains/a good dynamic between the MC and the villain. I think what their mystery books are missing is the feeling that whatever we’re investigating is a puzzle that needs to be solved. And one of the ways they could create that is by writing both villains/antagonists and MCs who are actually intelligent and fun to go up against/play as! It’s usually that the villain is 10 steps ahead. And not because he/she is particularly crafty but because they dumb MC down to drag the story out for 16-20 chapters. CoP is an exception because MC was actually pretty smart, but we had the dumbass murderer and her even dumber minion. So I truly believe that if we had characters who didn’t just bumble their way through the story and were legitimately formidable adversaries to each other, we would have a lot more fun maneuvering around the obstacles/red herrings/etc. thrown at us and solving the mystery OR being surprised by the twist/resolution but able to pick up the breadcrumbs and connect the dots after it’s revealed

#choices #choices stories you play #playchoices #choices app #choices ask #of course they don’t *have* to do the whole ‘the villain is a mastermind’ thing to write a good mystery #Glass Onion is a prime example of that #but (excluding MW bc I don’t really remember what happened in that book at all) PB has never done an intelligent villain/MC combo—#— in their mystery books imo #so I just think that would be a lot of fun #but even if they never decided to do that there are still a number of things they could do differently #to make their mysteries not so mediocre #but I’ve been on my soapbox for long enough 😭#I’ll just say that if it isn’t already clear I do not think any of PB’s recent mysteries are particularly well written anon #there are certain aspects that made them fun — namely the LIs and/or MCs #but as you said the mystery parts themselves aren’t terrible they just aren’t satisfying either #and I’ll also say again that MaH specifically should’ve been like a 5-7 chapter slasher that’s it

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