My BlueSky profile: https://bsky.app/profile/rookmaevsch.bsky.social (Adding this in because this will be where I post updates regarding pages, like if I decide to take a break, or fall ill, ECT.)
I wrote off the hug thing as a joke at first, but now that you've put it like that. It probably does because even in a cold, calculated way it anchors orion to the group in that biscuit will surely want his 'arm' back right?
Not totally, as they sat down in the final frame, the base of one ear has a visible crack again. It's interesting how he decides to shut everyone out, and choose to just... shove his own nose into the grindstone. No emotions, only results.
THIS is why he can't empathize with others! Why he doesn't care about how badly he hurt teddy! It's because he doesn't care about emotions, and he chooses to just squash his own. And I guess, based on him telling Teddy he should just rot, he also sees emotion as weakness.
I live with someone like this. I fucking hate them. They don't care how you're feeling, they don't care if they're adding to your turmoil or anxiety or fear, they O N L Y give a shit if you can perform and how well. In fact, not being able to perform is considered "disrespectful". If you can't remember everything that was ever said, even once in passing about a different topic, you might as well go die.
It seems like Orion is insufferable even to himself.
It's not that he can't empathize with the others, rather than he can't allow himself to show it (well he also just got to know Stringbean and Teddy, with only the tales of Biscuit about them, followed by Teddy unknowingly hitting a soft spot). On multiple occasions he took on more then his fair share of responsibilities. For example when they were stuck in the cave the most cold and effective solution would have been to dislocate teddys shoulder. If he said nothing they would have to either do it or all die in there. Yet he still made the effort to find a way to get them all out risking his own arm in the process (and the plan was far from 100% certain to work). Immediately after that when he and Biscuit pack he is carrying all their stuff with even Biscuit questioning him if he is sure that he wants to carry everything. He cares about them but he can't admit that to anyone, not even himself.
As for the person you live with it sounds like they are just an asshole.
Yeah I agree, its not that Orion cannot empathise, and they are shown to care no less then any of the others. But its something I say a lot, Orion clearly has deep self worth issues and their method of handling it is "I need to be in control"
And even here, the onus that Orion is trying to use to handle their trauma is "Control it", to them safety and everything is predicated on their ability to control the situation. This is why they popped the fuck off on Toby, because intentionally or no Toby directly called into question their control and ability.
I think part of why I despise Orion so much is because of this person I live with. I see Orion helping, as you say. They carried the stuff, they risked their arm. The person I live with also does good things... But it's only transactional actions. "I carried this for you, THEREFORE you should be grateful to me and do these things." They never have anything fucking nice to say.
I must be nice to him, I have to say the right things to him. If I accidentally use the wrong word? Anything I was saying is dismissed, I was wrong, I will be wrong and I will be told how wrong I am. How stupid I was for being wrong. He puts you down so effectively.
The gestures do not, will not ever make up for someone who poisons you from the inside with words. When they tell you "I'd rather leave you to rot", it helps nothing when they carry things for you. It's just future indebting, evil proof that you need to be okay with what they said to you, and how they will continue to treat you.
Do keep in mind that what I'm about to say is based on your comments only.
It sounds like you are projecting the thing that troubles you. Similar to Orion you are haunted by what someone has done/is doing to you. You see fragments of the person you are living with so you subconsciously expect danger and fill in the blanks. So far we have no indication that Orion does all of this expecting anything in return, but because that is what you expect you immediately assume that that is the case.
Ironically enough you have a lot more in common with Orion than you think. Your reaction to him (someone who resembles the person that made your life hard) is very similar to to his to Teddy when he got called a runt (something that made Teddy resemble the one who made his life hard).
I wanna add to this: based on the comments from the creator about the dude who got their survivalist behavior right few pages back and their thoughts overall, Orion's strategy is not from selfishness, but from desperation. Their main thoughts in all interaction I've seen is basically "See? I'm useful. WHEN you are going to get rid of someone, prioritize Teddy, not me. Please not me again..." That WHEN, not IF, is learned behavior: they always think that there will be a time, WHEN the group decides who to let go, because of their past. Basically, the behavior I see is from fear, not pride like in a case above.They never witnessed anything else in their life it seems, so, naturally, they anticipate the same pattern as they saw previously (and they were the ones getting a short straw, so, again, naturally, they want it to never happen again). All their deeds is a combination of genuine care (like with Biscuit, based on what they wanted to do with Teddy if they got hurt during a small incident in a cave) and proving everyone that they are not the weak link in a group (because of that WHEN I spoke before).
Think about it this way (example is a lil stretched, but still): when cats or dogs are mistreated, they are usually INCREDIBLY aggressive/defensive even to someone who never did them wrong (say, their new owner). Not because they are evil, but because they ALWAYS anticipate the same behavior from others: aggression and pain, which they want to prevent by pushing everyone aside. Can we call this type of behavior prideful or simply fearful? Shockingly to no-one, this pattern usually continues for a while, but basic principle in healing it, from what I remember, to not feed their negative emotions (therefore, proving that their worldview is correct) and prove that the situation changed and new owners will not do what others did. This is basically Orion 101. (Yes, I just compared intelligent being with less intelligent animals, but the principles are generally the same (we are from animal kingdom, after all). Plus, scientists really like (or liked, not my specialty) to use animals for explaining how our behavior works as well. If there is someone from psychology field, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, cause, again, not my specialty).
As for Teddy... I will say that it's a bit of a surprise to me that a lot of people treat Teddy like a defenseless child here, always near the suicidal cliff. First, Orion words did hurt them, yes, still sucks (and I do hope Orion's behavior will change and I don't think that's acceptable), but the effect was pretty much immediately multiplied by zero by someone who cares about Teddy deeply. Like, they have a family now, and, unlike Orion, who doesn't have a family due to their worldview of survival, loneliness and pain, Teddy have an upper-hand in their interactions with Orion due to their friends anytime. Second, Teddy kinda anticipates that Orion hates them, sooooo, like, they should care less and less and less with each interaction. That is also kinda expected: "Orion was aggressive from the start, why would you expect something else from them?" Is it bad? Yes, but Teddy is not even remotely near the cliff like when they were with Stringbean at the start. They have their support group now, something that Orion doesn't. Words can hurt, ye, but they can deeply hurt only if you care about the person you are talking. But I don't think they care that much about my favorite tsundere here. Maybe I'm biased here, don't throw forks at me, but one thing is hearing this from a friend, another from the dude who never showed any kindness before.
Excuse me for butting in, but while I do see and agree with most of the analysis towards the why i do find myself disagreeing with the last part. Sure words from someone you trusted hurt but that doesn't mean that others don't and that they should be just taken as is. Especially when it comes from someone who is part of the group and never being reprimanded for it. If someone was hurling insults at me and everyone was just accepting it without standing up against it i'd have my doubts about where they truly stand. It still alienates one member specifically and over time it's going to break any group apart. As blue said so himself, depression is a reoccurring thing that has to be fought back constantly and this is very much a thing that can make it worse.
I mean i had a friend whose discord group ran risk on breaking apart because he kept a friend around who alienated everyone because they kept being rude to everyone they didn't like and no one ever properly told them to shut it. The motivations might be different in Orions case but the result is the same.
Also the opposite can be true and people shouldn't treat Orion as a defenseless child either. They were hurt in the past and their actions are understandable but they are still their own. In the end it is still Orion who choses what to say and learning that the pain you experienced doesn't justify inflicting it on others is as much important for character growth as is knowing that it can get better and won't happen again in the right group.
I totally agree. The analysis was from Teddy's perspective, not group perspective. The group suffers from Orion's actions, no doubt. It's just Teddy in particular shouldn't be effected as much as some people think. As for actions from others, Stringbean and Bisquit are both against conflicts, so for them it's realistic to first try to separate the two. Realistic, but also dumb, since this strategy just postpones the inevitable conflict in a future. Plus, main support for Teddy was unbelievably tired, so that's also the case why. But, as stated before, I'm biased here. I also think that people shouldn't be affected as much by words from people who showed them only hostility or randos and they shouldn't always think that someone got their back all the time. It's about balance in my view, you shouldn't pick all independence, because then you will just push everyone around you and indulge in self-hatred, or all "please support me", because people who support you might not be able to help you all the time due to multiple circumstances (they are also people with their own problems). But, again, I'm not denying that this is very likely personal bias and you can openly disagree with me. It's based on personal traumas and lessons, so don't take that as a fact.
I don't see Orion as defensless, though, their actions inevitably will lead to some action from the group, if their strategy of separation will not work (which I think will not). Their worldview is extremely flawed, and that will be the main conflict, I presume, in latter chapters. I mean, they act most aggressive out of the group, so I don't see issues with drawing them as a villain. Realisticly, they will need some sort of push from others to explain, rationalise and cure that behaviour. To be quite honest, Bisquit didn't try as hard as Stringbean with Teddy did in the beginning of the latter relationship. It was kinda "Wanna talk about it? No? Alrighty then!" Don't get the wrong idea that I judge Bisquit here, their behaviour is realistic and not wrong, I'm saying that there was no push in Orion' direction for now, which is needed. It's just thinking that they are coming from pride, not fear, is wrong. We already saw that's not the case. They act, sadly, the way that is realistic for them, even though it's wrong.
Some think the group should just ditch them aside or scare them enough to drop the act, but that will be extremely uncharacteristic for both Bisquit and Stringbean (although, might be interesting to test their ideas this way (by test, I mean in narrative perspective, it's common to have something/someone as a test for a certain worldview/position)). Plus, this way of radical treatment can backfire tremendously and only make situation worse. If you lash at a person that is being aggressive, their behaviour usually don't change, mostly because you treated them exactly like they wanted/anticipated. If they changed, there is a high possibility that they just never going to be open-minded again and were never truly cured. Plus for the group, harmful to person, if you care about them anyway. I think it's best to keep probing them until the breakthrough, but this might take a while and in the meantime Teddy will suffer. That's however is realistic for both Stringbean and Bisquit, since they hate conflicts. Both options are bad in their own way, but let's see what happens next. Social interactions are never easy and there is no unifying strategy that works every time, especially if someone is broken inside.
Oh by no means do I see Orion as a villain or irredeemable, I'm just pointing out that their way of coping is nit healthy and that it is fair to dislike them for their actions.
Their experiences do not justify their behavior and while they should be given a chance their condescending actions towards teddy should be addressed and confronted as that is important for a healthy group dynamic. You can dislike someone but there's no reason to remind them of that at any given opportunity.
That being said i do disagree with Orion being a "random". They're a friend of a friend and still part of the group, it's easy to cast aside stuff said at you from someone you'll probably don't see more than once in your life but hearing that from someone whose presence you'll be exposed to for the foreseeable future is a different kind of beast.
So the issue i take with advice like "just toughen up" is that while it is true to some extent, it's also often used to shift blame on the victim and just because you can take it doesn't mean you should just put up with it.
My hatred is for his actions towards Teddy, nothing more. Teddy was hurt and scared and hating himself which is the position that relate to personally, and Orion took that to to drag him down further.
I mean, if you think about it, thats probably because of the facility? Thats all the scientists cared about, were results. And when Orion couldn't bring those results...
still tho I doubt a completely mentally well person would be like that anyway, I'm not saying every person like that has cPTSD or somethin but like they probably had bad parents or something at the very least
Im not sure, but i think someone made it as a joke ( why specificaly airfryer[maybe bevouse the character have food names] i dont know) and the joke caught on, and now people make airfryer jokes.
I...really didn't expect to relate to Orion this much. Growing up my dad was always too busy with one thing or another so I just didn't see him much at all, and my mom was a compulsive perfectionist whose version of encouragement was to drill a mantra of "Good enough is the enemy of best" into my head. Over the years my entire concept of self-worth became tied to how well I could do a task and how useful I could be. I'm 36 years old now and barely remember most of my childhood, but I don't think I'll ever forget the look of disappointment in her eyes or the way her jaw set in frustration the first time I brought home a B on a report card in middle school. How crushing it felt to be reduced to nothing with a glare over something so trivial.
Even today I seek out extra tasks and responsibilities even when I know I'm already at my limit because of an irrational fear that everyone will realize I'm not worth their time, notice, or care if I'm not the most useful that I can possibly be. There's a real dopamine hit at being trusted to do something, but it's a trap. I'll break myself to keep those plates spinning, always thinking if I just work a little harder somehow they'll all love me. Each little dopamine burst works to glue me back together but the cracks are still there, spreading, just under the surface while what I am underneath is stripped and hollowed out.
Sometimes I feel like all I am is a crumbling shell of expectations that sometimes tricks itself into thinking it's whole. I hope Orion learns that he doesn't have to prove he's not a burden in order to feel love, but honestly that's a lesson I struggle with.
I really feel for you man. That's sounds like a painful rock and awful hard place to get stuck between. I really hope you can find a soft individual to help you learn to be soft with yourself. Obviously it takes time, but every interaction where your emotions, intentions, and desires are considered and appreciated will act like tokens in the trust bank.
In my experience, it won't feel right for a long while, like it's all just silly and made up. Only once enough of these trust tokens are deposited, will it begin to tip the scales and feel different to you. But it can and will feel different.
Unfortunately I can't relate to Orion at all. I grew up lonely and struggling to connect with others above all else. Mother moved me multiple times in childhood so whatever friends I had got reset multiple times before I was 12. I wanted NOTHING MORE than to be part of a group. "One of the gang". It developed over time into a subconscious awareness of other's emotional states. I run little simulations of how people might be feeling, based on how I want to say the next thing. Judging if they're in the right place to hear something, judging if it's the right time to try and make them laugh (sometimes it can hurt someone deep down to make them laugh when they're upset, like their pain is getting dismissed just so everyone can move on), and judging how best to share my frustration with someone. I put in WORK to make sure that people I'm with always know that I am on their team, even during stressful moments. When I'm ANGRY, I will make little jokes and pre-manufactured funny voices, so that the people around me know that I'm still approachable, I won't take my anger with me into a new conversation.
Orion is doing sooooo the opposite of this, with the way he tore Teddy down, while he was already terrified and unsure of themselves, hurt, feeling bad about themselves.... I cannot imagine. If I was willing to do that to someone, I... I don't know what point there would be to living. If I ain't living in service of others, am I really alive?
I definitely feel you on working hard to be better at interacting with others, and for the most part I'd say my personal experience has been largely the same. I've found tabletop roleplaying games to be indispensable as they allow me a mostly safe space to test out different ways of communicating, and generally let me pretend for a time to be someone who is better than I am at dealing with interpersonal issues, anxieties, depression, etc. Honestly roleplaying has helped me more than any therapy (not discounting therapy, just my personal experience) in learning how to share in joy or provide comfort in sorrow rather than staying silent for fear of saying or doing the wrong thing at the wrong time.
I suppose it's sort of ironic that my longest-running character, a Gnoll who happens to feel empathy unlike most of his kind and who wants more than anything else to do good in the world and find acceptance for who he is, has honestly taught me more about being human than any other single factor. I've been playing him off and on in different games for about twenty years now, and though different versions of him have had different stories they all revolve around an intense desire to be a positive force in a world he doesn't fully understand, to which he doesn't fully believe he belongs (at least at first), and isn't always kind to him in return.
I'm ashamed to admit it though, and this is where I really think I relate to Orion, that I more or less had to learn kindness. Growing up with undiagnosed AuDHD and parents who for years refused to believe that either condition existed, let alone that I might have them, I had a lot of difficulty with making friends. I'd say or do the wrong thing, or act on impulses that I didn't yet understand I shouldn't which resulted in ridicule (from my family as well as others my age). I was very lonely, and the worst part was that invariably I'd either not understand what I'd done wrong, or I'd know after the fact that the mocking was my own fault for doing something stupid.
Around late middle school/early high school, in my loneliness and self-loathing, I became more and more desperate to fit in. Eventually I got it in my head that the only way I could make myself look better in the eyes of my classmates was to make someone else look worse. For a time it sort of worked--the more cruel I was the less others seemed to notice or call out my flaws. I was never popular, but at least I felt in on the joke by making someone else the butt of it. Guilt mounted over time, but it took me a while to really feel how wrong I was being and how I'd only been tricking myself into thinking I was happier.
I don't really remember much else from my childhood/young adulthood, but those years still haunt me.
I see!! First, we can't exactly blame ourselves for what we did as kids. We did the best thing, the most correct thing that we thought we could, with the tools and information we had available at the time.
Second though, my parents made us move multiple times in elementary school, and then in middle school we moved entire states. My friends got recycled multiple times. I also got so desperate for friends, desperate to understand what I was doing wrong, why I never got the jokes, never understood other kids' interests like sports or cars, and that all absolutely led me to craving connection. I NEEDED to stop getting picked on like I was drowning and needed to breathe.
But I never figured out how to pick on someone else to get by. I don't blame you for your path, it's just not how it worked out for me. My biggest thing was "Why? How are you able to continue saying things that you know will hurt me, when you see me already crying in a ball in the corner of the hallway? Why do you need to call me out and yell stuff about how much of a loser I am when you find me in public?" Every bullying just made me more desperate to find someone who just wanted to be friends and play and stuff.
Bullying became kinda evil in my mind. It's one of the worst things you can do. Take a person who doesn't understand why they've been picked to be "different" (because there's actually nothing wrong with them), continually make them feel worthless (fucking them up for life), and give them as many insecurities as possible. I got FUCKED UP by bullying and couldn't imagine even accidentally saying something that would make ANYONE else feel the blackness that I felt in my heart. I wanted to die so many times as a kid because of bullying. I could never do that to another, even as a kid that felt evil.
Teddy deserves it. Orion needs to drop his stupid fuckin wall and learn to give a shit about others' emotions. I don't see why Teddy would or should ever give Orion a single inch of respect after how he treated him.
While trapped, while terrified, Orion told him he should rot. Tantamount to intentionally kicking a broken limb.
Sure. There is a reason, but that reason is so similar to the reasons that they ALL have trauma and damage and baggage. Orion was making his problems into everyone else's problem. That is where Orion is unique compared to the rest of them. Offloading his pain onto Teddy so that he could feel good enough about himself to think.
People who tear others down to feel good about themselves are a struggle for me.
definitely a good point but at the same time the part of Orion's backstory that we do know (not to brag, but thanks to the comment I found lol) is that Orion specifically learned that he had to push others down to get himself up and not suffer in life. None of the issues of others involved that kind of thing, really. It's not really in his control what kinda trauma he's gonna get.
Still tho, fuck Orion. I knew he was an asshole from the moment he started to make plans to kill my absolute GOAT Teddy. But I'm just trying to put myself in his shoes regardless to understand him from a writing standpoint, since he does seem to be a very well-written character
I agree that he's well-written. I feel it is similar to seeing an actor that plays a villain you hate. If you hate the character, the actor is doing a fantastic job.
“So long as you do it well”?
The poor little bastard still doesn’t get it. I hope we’ll never have to see Orion in a situation where he actually struggles or messes up. Can’t imagine he’d take it too well with that mindset.
We’ve seen him shatter because he felt like he wasn’t good enough, but he’s never been in real risk of others thinking that. He still thinks he’s one mistake away from being abandoned. How would he react if he actually screwed up in a way that disappointed someone? (Falling asleep and dropping Biscuit’s arm into the fire? God forbid)
I don’t think Orion’s dumb, but he probably has a learning disability. Bluewolf said he did some work as a tutor, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some firsthand experience behind Orion’s character.
On my way to go get teeth removed because they're causing issues and decided to check Reddit quickly. I think this is the earliest I've ever shown up to a new upload.
He's only going to get better when he can fully fall apart. Only then will he stop running from how he's treating others during crisis moments. Tears others down to keep himself up. It's a hyper-selfish behavior, and as long as that's his "defense", he will never fully connect with them.
He needs to HUMBLE himself, and apologize to Teddy for being an absolute bastard during a critical moment. He needs to be swept out to emotional sea.
He's on his boat, clinging to the mast. His boat of "I can only trust myself, only I truly matter, if they all die, it would be sad but it would be whatever and i will move on." He needs to be KNOCKED OFF THAT BOAT. Experience that he's not all that, and that the others (and their emotional well-being) aren't things he can burn to keep himself warm.
I like Orion, but it's undeniable the need of a fall, amongst other things, for us to see an improvement on the displayed behaviour with not only Teddy but Stringbean and, most important, Biscuit as well.
Orion is already accepting that being abandoned and alone again is not an option with this group and that's a very welcome progress, yet I do believe that Orion needs to get down some pegs, accept help when needed and open up to talks before doing the work of apologizing to Teddy.
I know it will happen, I just don't know when and I can't wait for that downfall.
I just discovered this story today and have spent the majority of the this day just going back to part one and scrolling through all of your post to read this whole thing. And I love it!!!!! This is what I want to create one day, I have plenty of stories I want to get out into the world! And this only fuels my inspiration! The symbolism of the light and darkness is genius and I love the characters development! I can't wait to see where you take this, I wish you the greatest luck!
And remember, people like you bring like to this dark world.
Thank you! And please, don't let anything stop you from telling the stories you want to tell! I really wish I could put into words just how... Amazing it feels, to be able to give people the spark to start their own projects <3
I definitely want be a person who inspires others like others content creators inspired me! And her, who knows, if I take off maybe we could collab on something together!
Biscuits arm... awww. No what would be gloriously dramatic would be if he fell asleep with it in his arms. It would ne mortifying to the onion in many ways.
Can I just say, I just love his expressions. More and more with every passing panel. Him hugging the prosthetic was especially sweet.
"so long as you do it well" a thought that'll never last as he keeps doubting himself for not being good enough. Not to imagine the eventuality where one of his ideas doesn't go as planned, because that "simple task" of keeping everyone safe and being the "idea guy" will not always be that simple. Too many unknown variables in the depths of the caves, even for someone like him. But if that ever happens, at least the group SHOULD be awake and close by, ready to intervene and support him hopefully, because that'll probably cause a nervous breakdown; it'll all come flooding back at once.
Reassuring words are good and all, but when you are dealing with trauma from a past experience, they only work temporarily, especially without outside help. And the bad thoughts only come back stronger. It's been perfectly depicted so far. I resonate with Orion more and more.
Hey, I noticed that compared to the earlier pages Orion’s design had changed to resemble a milky a lot more accurately, (rounded horns, flatter face) just found that detail interesting.
People think intelligence just means using fancy words and doing maths in your head.
What it really means is being able to quickly find good solutions to hard problems. Especially those you have never dealt with before. It's when you don't know what you're doing, but you're doing a great job at it anyway.
For some reason, i like to connect them with the undertale souls..
Stringbean: Freedom, he was the one that began all of this. (Freedom soul is a theory from someone)
One-Paw/Biscuit: Determination, its weak, but becoming stronger. He has learnt to do things on his own through finding motivation after learning to keep going despite losing an arm and saved Orion's life, even doing things for him and to survive when Stringbean was gone with teddy. Also hes red.
Teddy: Integrity, hes honest and knows alot of words, also hes blue.
Orion: Perseverance, because he's smart as heck and also purple. However, he doesn't seem to be learning that much from his mistakes, until NOW.
I even made a green expie OC and hes meant to be related to the kindness soul. His name is XP (which is short for experience)
Hey, I'd like to ask if i could edit the pages to translate them to portuguese. I am from Brazil but i fully understand english because i learnt it since the age of 5. I wanna translate it so other brazilian C:U fans can read it too!!
Im very sorry if this is a rude comment
Funny thing:
In my language, 'CU' (the game's abbreviation) means butt
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u/Necessary-Watch3163 Hollow Sep 01 '26
This counts as a hug, right? Right?