Speculated post-game behavior

Finding balance

Baxter: Ah, don’t worry- I sincerely swear I will respond when you reach out, and keep in touch myself.

He pulled out his most bold grin, even if his words still faltered a bit at the end.

Baxter: Everyday- multiple times a day, in fact. Well, if that wouldn’t be an annoyance.

By the end of Baxter’s Story, he mentions he’d keep in touch multiple times a day every day. In my entirely subjective opinion, that’s a bit excessive. So in my perspective, while in the past Baxter was hard to grasp and kept dodging, he almost completely flips 180 degrees and becomes somewhat clingy in an excessive effort to “deserve” the chance for a relationship he’s been given. Erasing anxiety about being left behind isn’t a one-and-done deal, so I think he would have to learn moderation with the amount of effort he puts in trying to make things last. I believe throughout the course of his relationship, he’ll have to go through the process of finding a healthy balance for both himself and the protagonist, and everyone else he comes in contact with.

A taste of his own medicine

Baxter has only ever been the one who has left people. As the protagonist leaves Prim Vista at the end of the epilogue, he will have experienced being left behind–in a sense–for the first time. Despite knowing he will visit, still being physically apart can take an emotional toll. As visiting each other becomes a regular occurrence (at least until/if they end up living together), he may have to deal with a deeper cutting guilt about everyone he’s left in the past now that he knows how it feels from their perspective, even if it’s not permanent like he’s done to others.

Analysis

What’s real, what’s fake?

There’s an idea that Baxter isn’t actually suave because he’s trying to impress others while masking his issues to prevent disappointing them. The idea is his outward persona isn’t actually him, but rather a mask. In Step 4, he even voices this perspective on himself: “In short, what I’m saying is that I’m a fraud in all regards. You can’t take any of it seriously, including what color my hair is.”

His behavior is so honed and trained that it gets difficult to tell where he starts and where the mask ends. As a child he was likely taught to praise others for social gain. To appear proper, pleasant, attractive. Part of me starts to think of the idea of “growing into the mask,” where the mask becomes part of the real face; it would explain why people are seemingly split on how people view his character: the suave man who sweeps people off their feet, or the insecure man who merely puts on a show for others' pleasure to cope.

Incidentally, these are black-and-white perspectives on his character. And just like his hair color, it would be fitting if he’s actually somewhere in between.

Baxter: I don’t feel the need to keep words of praise to myself. And when I say something, I mean it.

We know that Baxter grows to be disdainful of his parents' shallow ways, disliking them and preferring the genuine warmth of his childhood friends. By Step 3, he knows this enough to spurn his parents and never look back. His charming demeanor at this point, though initially built as a shallow social skill by the way he was raised, … [my brain farted i will finish this later] - 24/02/20

Intimacy

Considering Step 3 Baxter’s openness to flings or hookups but not both at the same time, his willingness to be friends but not “belabor” them with his emotional problems, it seems he compartmentalizes intimacy into areas. He’s willing to do any area, but not a combination of them.

Baxter: Am I only trying to score a hookup or get a romantic fling started by saying those things? No. That isn’t the point of speaking well of others. I was raised better than that. Though, would I be fussed if that’s what my words led to? Also no. I am flexible, not a surprise, hm? I can back off with the lines if you don’t like the attention. But I would like to be friends, if we can.

Baxter wants company more than he wants to get laid. That makes things more complicated than lighthearted dates (which he is up for).

– GB Patch

Protagonist: That’s a terrible way to deal with emotions. You shouldn’t bottle that kind of thing up and hide it from everyone.

Baxter: This whole situation…it’s asinine. I haven’t known you long enough to be causing this kind of trouble. I’m quite literally a stranger. And I won’t even be here long enough for that to change. As welcoming as you all are here, that can’t be forgotten. This was-I was-only ever supposed to be part of the fun. A worthwhile piece of summer scenery. Someone who added to the experience, not held it back. You shouldn’t have to baby me! To sit there and spend your time making me feel better when I don’t keep it together. The mess I am in the mornings, the drama I cause in the evenings: the person I am when the show is over. Those aspects shouldn’t be any of your concern. I don’t provide that support to you, do I? And how could I when I don’t know you? No. It’s not fair to make you worried or, worse, guilty over what happens to me. What matters is that when we’re together it’s for the pleasant parts of existence. The less ideal shades of life can be managed separately. That’s all I wanted.

It was clear that when Baxter came to Sunset Bird, he had set himself a series of rules. Rules about how much to involve himself, how much of an impact to make. Like the tourist concept of ‘leave only footprints behind,’ but taken to the extreme. There wasn’t space for him to be complicated, to have negative emotions, to show different sides of himself to anyone. To do so would be a dereliction of duty. You weren’t going to criticize him wanting his privacy. It was important to him, and you respected that. But this kind of framing, one where he had an obligation to minimize himself for others' benefit… it was only causing pain.

Speculation

Parents & Sunset Bird

Baxter: They understand care through the lens of control and protection. That’s been their way ever since I was young. In that sense, they treat me no different from a child.

Baxter explains that his parents are controlling and that they sent him to Sunset Bird to “keep him out of trouble.” aruban-spaceshuttle on Tumblr suspects they intentionally sent him to where what scares him is in abundance (the ocean), so he “won’t even think of toeing the border line.” Basically, it may be a move to purposefully “scare” Baxter into “submission,” in a way.

That sounds a bit dramatic, and his parents possibly didn’t consciously think about their actions in that dramatic frame. Because it could be that them reinforcing their control on him is what they genuinely believe to be “good parenting” in that they “know what’s best.” That would make sense with Baxter saying that “they are, on the whole, good to [him]” and “love [him].”