Lyla Oceans

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* Render

> "I like to picture the entire world as a large ocean, and we are all underwater and the sky is the surface. But we are underwater drowning while the stars are alive, we die." - **Lyla to Okamoto in Volume 2**
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## **Overview**

Lyla Oceans is a secondary character in Withering Oceans who was the significant other of Okamoto-san and an acquaintance of Hitomi & Ethan during volume two. They were born in Japan from a Japanese mother and North American father. Okamoto describes them as "the piece of my life that I lost", and he defines them as his meaning. At the end of Volume two, they overdose on painkillers and goes missing, which has a huge effect on Okamoto's behavior.

## **Appearance**

Lyla is shown in both Volumes 1 & 2, however, in Volume 1 they are only shown in a photograph. Lyla was a seventeen-year-old Japanese American in their third year of high school (Japanese school system). They have blue eyes and dyed hair with the color of dark purple. They are always shown wearing long sleeved tops which usually includes their "LONEWOLF" hoodie or their school issued uniform, but only when they need to, claiming they "do not like skirts".

Lyla has been said to not look Japanese at all by many of their students and instead resembles the looks of a North American. Lyla explains that they got mainly their father's looks, who is North American. Lyla states that they look almost exactly like their father, just a teenager version. They are not sure what parts they inherited from their mother, who is Japanese, though.

They have a few tattoos that are visible like the ones on their right hand and the one on their neck, which they acquire at the end of Volume 2 before they go missing. They never truly explain the meanings of the tattoos on their right arm besides just saying, "I guess I wanted to be different". They later explain that they got the tattoos on their seventeenth birthday from their dad who is a tattoo artist.

Lyla is also always in a very closed position, whether that is holding their arms, crossing them, trying to hide their face, or sitting with their legs touching each other; they have a desire to "not be found or discovered". They feel more comfortable when holding their body together since they are self-conscious about their body and surroundings. In addition, they try to be concealed so they feel safe of danger from their surroundings.

## **Personality**

Lyla Oceans is very different compared to their other classmates. They are very quiet and taciturn. When interacted with, they do not say much. They are also very reticent and struggles to collect their thoughts and putting them into words. In addition, they are afraid of being too assertive and expressive because they are afraid of being judged by both themself and others and being rejected or insulted. They are very secretive about themselves and their personal life and rarely speak of themself.

They have always been neglected by everybody, including their parents. When they moved with their father to North America, their father abused them emotionally and sexually. This gave them their submissive behaviour around people, and when insulted or commanded, they will stay silent and accept it. Their loneliness caused them to develop apathetic behaviours since they never had anyone they could relate to emotionally. In addition, they also gained a incognizant desire for empathy from others since they have lacked it for so long. They have subconsciously developed certain social behaviours that helps them get this desire. This desire that they are unaware of causes them to become very attached to those who provide consideration or empathy for them, like Okamoto.

They are very submissive and reserved. They usually do not rebel against others and just keep silent and comply to what they say. They are very easily intimidated in social interaction and especially commands from people. They are afraid of upsetting others and making people harm them. Also they are afraid of upsetting themself, doing something they regret or not saying what they wanted to say.

They hate themself for many reasons. This includes their mental/emotional issues, fears, existence, differences, body, & social behaviours. They have gender dysphoria and prefer to go by they/them pronouns, even though everyone is unaware of this and calls them by she/her pronouns, except Okamoto. This self-hatred they have makes them very sensitive towards any judgments. These judgments can be even unintentional like jokes and comedy, which causes them to not like comedy. When they are put into a state like this, they become very uncommunicative and depressed, and try to hide themselves. They will run away to somewhere of which they feel they are safe and free of judgments, which then they will resort to crying alone in despair and maybe self-harm.

They are very ignorant about their mental health and getting help. They have accepted that they are too broken to be repaired and they have received irreversible damage. Therefore, they refuse to seek help or accept advice regarding their mental health. They only cope by listening to music, drugs, self-harm, and drawing. They are very hopeless about their future and believe that they will never change, and things will always stay the same for them.

## **Trivia**

* The artist, timidweeb, claims Lyla is the most complicated and special character they have ever came across
* To read a full in-depth analysis of Lyla Oceans as a character, read this: File:Psychologyoflylaoceans.pdf. It was written by Timidweeb.

## **Gallery**

Photograph of Lyla which Okamoto keeps with him. The photo was taken by him as well.Lyla as shown in Vol. 2.