The writers knew to never let Max and Rachel meet in the games bc that chemistry would've been explosive 🙂↕️ It's genuinely an insane dynamic if we think about it. We got one girl that everyone has something to say about, whether they hate her or love her, wears so many masks and basically roams around as a social chameleon; and then another girl that's always looking at the world behind a camera lens, constantly positioning herself as an observer, capturing all these different images of who Rachel Amber was in her absence. Max is the one person that knows Rachel's life AND death from a removed lense, looking at Rachel as a collage built up from all these contrasting pieces painted by others. And she's never even met her. We know the obvious motivation that drives Max to near insane choices in LiS1 is saving Chloe, but there's also an underlying catalyst of it all, Rachel Amber. And in turn, what a fascinating and terrifying presence Max must be to Rachel. A girl she's never met, that knows all her mistakes and worst moments, (knows her last moments, damn near lived through the same fate in the dark room), and how that must be a terrifying thing to someone who's so accustomed to wearing masks and controlling exactly how much of herself she allows others to see. I always think about an AU where Max goes back in time far enough to save Rachel, and it's crazy to think what Max and Rachel would mean to each other.
