Caulscott

Caulscott is the het ship between Max Caulfield and Nathan Prescott from the Life is Strange fandom.

Life is Strange
In 2013, Max and Nathan are both students at Blackwell Academy. Max witnesses an altercation turned violent in the girl’s restroom between Nathan and Chloe Price. Nathan pulls out a loaded handgun and ends up shooting Chloe in the abdomen, killing her. Prior in the day, Max discovers she has time-manipulation abilities. She uses her new-found power to rewind time, bringing Chloe back. Before the same event can occur again, Max pulls a fire alarm, spooking both Nathan and Chloe, forcing them to leave the restroom as other students and school faculty evacuate the building from the pulled alarm. Max is now aware Nathan has a ready-to-fire gun on school property. She speaks to Principal Wells, either snitching on Nathan or not.

Sometime later, Max is talking with Warren Graham outside in the parking lot. During her and Warren’s conversation, Nathan comes up to her wanting to know what she told Principal Wells earlier. If she told the truth by snitching on him, Nathan is furious that she told on him, as he was “dragged” into Well’s office. When asked if all he was given was a “stern lecture,” Nathan claims that nobody can lecture him, even though everyone tries too. If she didn’t tell the truth, by not snitching on him, Max claims that all she saw was a butterfly. Nathan deems her to be “full of shit,” saying that he’d “respect her more” if she told the truth. Max quips back that she doesn’t need Nathan’s respect, only for Nathan to tell her that she’s “clueless,” as she has no idea who he is or what he can do.

Their conversation becomes more heated, with Nathan getting closer into Max’s face, trying to intimidate her. Warren steps in, telling Nathan to get away from her. At Warren’s intrusion, Nathan harshly headbutts him, knocking Warren to the ground. Nathan goes back for Max, physically assaulting her, forcing Max to claw at his face to get him off of her. Moments later, Chloe shows up in her truck, with the girls recognizing each other. Despite the pain, Warren gets back up and tackles Nathan to the ground, yelling for Max to go, saying that he can handle Nathan. Max jumps into the truck and speeds off as Nathan gets Warren off of him, kicking the truck before it’s too far away.

The following morning in Mark Jefferson’s classroom, Nathan is sitting with Victoria Chase on Max’s desk. Depending on Max’s previous interactions with both Nathan and Victoria will determine how their conversation goes when Max wants to sit in her seat. If Max didn’t snitch on Nathan, he’ll call her “mysterious” and a “pixie hipster” before getting up with Victoria, not before glaring wordlessly at Max. If Max did snitch on Nathan, he’ll smugly tell Victoria to be careful as Max is a “master snitch” and a “liar,” before getting up with her. As he leaves, he’ll step into Max’s space, telling her, “Shit’s just starting, Max.”

Later in the day, Max’s friend and fellow classmate, Kate Marsh, either committed suicide or Max was successful in stopping her and saving her life. Due to the day’s events, Max is called into Principal Wells’ office, along with Nathan and two of the school’s faculty members. Between the three people brought in, Max can blame either of them. If she blames Nathan for Kate’s suicide or suicide attempt, as Kate was in a video that Nathan was very prominent in. Blaming Nathan will lead to an argument between Max and him, ending when Principal Wells speaks up and expels Nathan.

Moments
Episode 1: Chrysalis
 * Max claws at Nathan’s face.

Fanon
Caulscott is a small, though notable ship within the Life is Strange fandom, given how Max is the main character and Nathan acts as the game’s secondary antagonist.

Due to the heavy themes that the series is known for, mental health and other forms of recovery are common within Caulscott works. Throughout the course of the game Nathan is visibly struggling with his worsening mental state, under the manipulation of Jefferson. Fan works usually have Max helping Nathan through his pain and turmoil and often have Nathan developing a peace in her, sometimes resulting in fix-it works where Nathan lives.

A notable scene that fans of the pair especially love is the voicemail that Nathan leaves Max during Polarized, showing that even through Nathan knows he’s going to be murdered by Jefferson, he still takes the time to warn Max that she’s next on Jefferson’s hit list. In this scene Nathan also reveals that he never wanted to hurt anyone.

On AO3, Caulscott has 150+ works in its het/romantic tag, as well as 20+ its general/friendship tag.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Max/Nathan tag on AO3
 * Max & Nathan tag on AO3
 * Max/Nathan tag on FanFiction.net

ART

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