buttercupshands

[buttercupshands]

The Traveler And The Pit

(748 words, major ISAT spoilers)

"Once, a long time ago, a Traveler jumped into a pit.

He tried to jump back out, but the pit was too high. He tried to climb out, but the dirt walls crumbled under his fingers.

'Oh no,' they lamented. 'Woe is me! I'm stuck in a blinding pit for some reason!'

But obviously he couldn't expect anything to change if he just sat there lamenting, so he tried climbing again. Digging at the walls, embedding dirt and rock and root under his nails until they chipped and broke. Forming handholds slick with sweat and blood. But he could only dig for so long each day before he collapsed at the bottom of the pit, and each morning when he awoke, his hands were pristine and the walls smooth and straight.

The Traveler dug for a long, long time. They dug until they couldn't remember anything else but the pit. They dug until they forgot that the leaves far above their head were attached to branches and trunks and roots. They dug until their pristine morning nails felt alien. They dug and dug and dug and every handful of dirt that they moved they dumped straight into their soul.

They didn't notice when they started crying. It could have been days or months or weeks or years, but they didn't notice the tears running down their cheeks until the evening that they realized: the pit had turned into mud so thick and wet that they couldn't dig at all anymore. Dirt and tears had mixed and now each scoop slid between their fingers, now the walls flowed to fill each indent, now the floor of the pit sunk under their feet.

They were being pulled in. They would soon drown. And yet, they couldn't stop crying.

'Please!' they cried, 'Someone, anyone, help me!'

The Universe frowned. A Traveler stuck in a pit, huh? That wouldn't do. It would have to send someone to help.

Someone who was an expert on pits, maybe.

The Universe reached down and scooped out the Traveler's insides. The poor thing was full of mud, of course, mud and only mud from head to toe. The Universe scooped all of it up, took the mass of dirt and tears and shaped it into a simulacrum of a person, and stuck a star on top.

'There!' it said. 'A Helper.' And it gently set its creation down in the pit, next to their old body.

Since the Traveler's body wasn't full of mud anymore, it had space for other things again. Things like memories and ideas and plans. The Traveller woke up and he knew what tree trunks were and he wasn't surprised by the cleanliness of his hands. He looked around with fresh eyes, and quickly realized that he was stuck in a pit. He even remembered jumping in.

They tried to jump back out, but the pit was too high. They tried to climb out, but the dirt walls crumbled under their fingers. 'Oh no,' they lamented. 'Woe is me! I'm-'

'Don't bother,' said the Helper. 'Digging doesn't work.'

'Oh,' said the Traveler. 'Hm. I suppose... I'll have to try something else, then?'

The Traveler inspected the pit, and the Helper warned him of the spot where worms would fall out of the dirt onto their head. The Traveler squinted up at the sky above, and the Helper assured him that the weather would never change. The Traveler patted down his pockets, and-

The Helper hadn't remembered that they had pockets.

'Thank you!' said the Traveler, smile wide, eye brimming with unshed tears, rope in hand. 'I never could have gotten out of here without your help!' And he tied a loop in the rope and threw it, and hooked it over a high-up root, and used it to climb up and out of the pit.

The Helper figured, well, they might as well climb the rope too. So they did! They climbed until they stood on solid ground, and they looked around at the tree trunks and the grass and the road that stretched from one horizon to the other. They were out of the pit, and now they could leave it behind forever!

But it didn't matter. No matter how far they traveled, they would still be made out of mud."

The bird chirped, "piou, piou." It pecked at the ground one final time and then flew off.

"Yeah," said Loop, "I didn't think it was a very good story, either."

[buttercupshands]

Your blog is so awesome, please keep posting!

I'm glad you're enjoying it!

I'm on a bit of a break for now, mostly bc I'm working on one thing, other things bc I have exams rn

I have some things drawn, but that's for another day!

[buttercupshands]

If you don't really care about kids you can get basically infinite deals with witches

[buttercupshands]

You've posted about milgram. How are you holding up

...good enough! sure, three of my faves are probably dead now but that was to be expected??? I guess??? It IS sad, but I'm just waiting now hyped too! t3 will be interesting if only because t2 didn't have any actual deaths

[buttercupshands]

my favorite thing about the internet is that you can straight up make up a guy and if you keep posting about him long enough he'll show up

[buttercupshands]

such a profound sense of delight when I realize that a piece of media is matching my freak to the very letter. there are creators out there who are my exact kind of sicko and we are reaching out to each other as if across the cosmos.

[buttercupshands]

[buttercupshands]

[insert poetic title here]

fun fact: this did not start out as isat fanart

(rambling in tags)

[buttercupshands]

[buttercupshands]

Uhm question about your co op au-

Do saapfrin and isatfrin act very differently? Like does saapfrin act more like loop while isatfrin acts more like, well, isat siffrin? Or do they still both act like siffrin, just splitting his traits between them or something like that?

Sorry if this question is confusing lol, i don’t know how to word this

In short: their personalities start the exact same, they grow different, but not on a scale as large as canon Siffrin and Loop.

Late into the AU, SAAPfrin becomes a lot more Loop-like since a lot of what being "Loop-like" means is... trauma. But not entirely like Loop though, since SAAPfrin hasn't had to learn the art of utter dishonesty to ISATfrin and they never really lost their own party. They're still half Siffrin-like, more so a Siffrin with Loop qualities if you understand. Later on, they'll still give those little teehees and disgusted looks, but they never formed the habit of shaping their every negative thought behind acting especially pleasant. Not... much more than the average Siffrin would anyway

As for early in the AU though (them figuring out the House), the Siffrins are largely similar but SAAPfrin is a bit more playful than ISATfrin is. (Not to say that ISATfrin isn't! Just that SAAPfrin is more so). Why? Because I want that <3 and thus because SAAPfrin wants to lean into that trait to keep the atmosphere with ISATfrin more welcoming. It's a bit hard to work with each other if you're both trying to be the "quiet listener." Then, like Loop, a habit forms. It's not much, but a single seed has been planted in separating them that will grow more with time

Sorry for the length, it's 3am, I ramble at 3am 😭

[buttercupshands]

[buttercupshands]

can I offer you a couple of odiles in this trying time?

[buttercupshands]

dying star

[buttercupshands]

i don’t even get what’s wrong with this gif

i mean she pours the soda perfectly why do they all shit their pants

[buttercupshands]

I'm normal about act 5. why do u ask

[buttercupshands]

That could have been worded differently.

[buttercupshands]

Uno✨