#-be able to see it in vaugarde

[onenightbreak]

i like this map of isat's world from one of the q&a devlogs a lot. for one, southern hemisphere realness, my entirely imagined polaris vs crux beef is pleased.

but for two, dev said they only made up two neighbouring country names, just enough worldbuilding to make vaugarde feel like its not alone in the world, don't need anymore than that! nothing else to see here!!

[siffrin-enthusiast]

can you imagine being mirabelle isat. can you imagine barely escaping the king's takeover by the skin of your teeth and its only because of the sacrifice of everyone else. can you imagine going to vaugarde's defenders, the people specifically designated to help you in situations like this, and all but one refuse. you tell them everyone will be frozen in time, that you almost were, that they will be frozen and they refuse. can you imagine seeing more and more of your home frozen in perpetual decay. can you imagine your only companions, the only people left, being strangers you've known for barely a few months. can you imagine having to bring a child in your quest to save the world because there is nobody left to take them. can you imagine fighting remnants of grief of people you know, and they can rip out an eye in one attack. can you imagine spending what might be your last days trying to sort through dating profiles and trying to force yourself to fit the mold of your religion. can you imagine praying and waiting for your god, the god you're fighting to honor, and only being able to hope they show up for once. can you imagine being home again but its the furthest place from home

[codacheetah]

Tell me your opinions on the stuff. Any stuff.

Grins. Smiles, even

I'm using you as an excuse to infodump my theory about the Island because I've had no in to do that, and my theory is pure opinion. Anyways:

THE ISLAND IS STUCK IN THE FUCKING FUTURE

(SCARE CHORD)

Hi so you might ask me. What the fuck do you mean by that. Well. Let's start with what we know about the Island, the King, and Wish Craft. (long ass post under cut. sorry)

The Island was redacted from the perception of outside world, via Wish Craft.

Wish Craft has the power to enable Time Craft. We see this primarily through Siffrin's timeloops, but also through the King's powers.

One of the King's powers is to show the saviors a "vision of the future."

...And this same attack is deflected back at the King by Mirabelle in ACT 5, in which the King is able to see the Island before being frozen in time.

...So. The King's "vision of the future." We're never told explicitly what this vision is. All we know is that it's apparently powerful enough to wipe the party in one hit, hearing it from a distance hurts your head, and that whatever Siffrin (and Loop) saw, they don't seem to actually be able to describe it. Even the King himself doesn't know what his vision entails.

We don't know whether the party all sees the same thing when struck by the vision, and Adrienne's answer to the question about it in the Reddit AMA is. vague? It's not a "no," and the specific wording makes me think the answer might be yes. But that's me reading into it.

Now. What do we know about the Island's redaction? The Island was affected by the wish recently, as in "like a decade ago" recently. We know that nobody in Vaugarde or the rest of the world is capable of thinking about the Island, anything closely tied to the Island's culture, or people on the Island for very long. When they do recall these things, they slip right out of reach. Particularly, the consequence for trying to think about the Island (or, more specifically, break the wish that forces the Island out of perception) is significant pain, localized in the head.

And that said pain is enough to become lethal, if pressed hard enough.

From here forward I'm running with the assumption that the King's "vision of the future" is not personalized to any individual, and is unchanging throughout the course of the whole story. Now. Remember the end of ACT 5, where the King gets hit with the deflected "vision of the future", and instead of dying, he recalls the Island and gets frozen in time? Very odd, yeah? Why wouldn't the King just die like everyone else does? He even does take 9999 damage when trying to say its name, like Siffrin does, and like the party does when they're hit by the attack.

Well. We know that he has a "true wish" that the ability to freeze Vaugarde in time grants. I don't think it's at all a stretch to guess that the King's "true wish" is to be able to remember the Island. My personal guess is that the King (and Siffrin) brought this "true wish" into effect via the "SAY ITS NAME" sequence- he even tries three times, a significant number in wishing.

The King (and Siffrin's) wish breaks, because it can't be fulfilled in this moment without breaking the wish to prevent the Island from being thought about. However. Consider the conditions at the end of ACT 5- the King sees the vision of the future reflected back to him, and what he sees is the Island. He remembers the Island, fulfilling his own wish, and is frozen in time. I consider this a compromise between his wish and the one binding the Island- the King gets to remember the Island, but nobody alive is able to think about it, because he's frozen in time; it's like the Universe is correcting itself (I WILL GET BACK TO THIS). The wish of all of Vaugarde to defeat the King is fulfilled, since he is no longer a threat, and Siffrin's wish wraps itself up soon after.

MY POINT BEING. The King's attack is a vision of the future. This "future" is of the Island, in some uncorrupted state. The saviors see it when he attacks them, and he sees it when it is deflected back to him.

The logical next question is "okay, so the Island exists in the future, but how do you know time shenanigans are even related to the Island?"

Recall a very odd series of interactions throughout the game, in which you try to interact with a piece of equipment that you already own.

The game rewinds slightly, before the item disappears, as the Universe corrects itself.

This is awfully similar to two particular events: looping back without seeing the death screen, and talking to the Daydreaming One about her sister. The latter is more interesting to me for the purposes of this theory.

In both instances, something is misaligned within the Universe (an item existing in two places, someone remembering something they're not supposed to) and it is corrected through some sort of rewind. Also compare the dialogue above to when you try to give Mirabelle the Stylish Bow when you already own it.

The world glitches, but Siffrin defuses the situation before the Universe has to intervene. Omitted from the screenshot is the fact that Mirabelle's portraits switch to happy from "catastrophically anxious" with no transition after Siffrin shows her where the bow is. Important to note is that when Mirabelle tries to recall receiving the bow, her head hurts, much like how trying to break the Island wish causes a headache.

The Universe leads you away from perception, and you can only follow.

My theory that I keep circling around is that through Wish Craft, the Island has been displaced temporally. The denizens of the Island, as well as the Island itself, still exist, but they are in the future. The Island is still loaded into the world, like how equipment is before you try to interact with it, and the Island cannot leave this quantum state, because it never actually went anywhere. The magnitude of the redaction event is so severe with the Island, because it is so much larger as an entity than a sword or a bow. There are of course things I don't really have pieced together, like why somebody would wish the Island into the future, how far into the future it is, or why equipment behaves this way. But it's the only Island theory I've seen that I have some level of confidence in, so I might as well lay out my cards for it.

[pixxyofice]

🏰 cursinguponcastles

of course i manage to grab everything EXCEPT for my anxiety medications. they're still stuck there!! in the House!!! every night I worry my friends are going to leave me for asking them to come along and some part of my brain is like "you wouldn't be worrying if you had taken your meds" and I have to then tell my brain the meds. ARE NOT WITH ME!!!

(this post is unrebloggable.)

-

(anon) asked:

plum? how have you been running this blog without anxiety meds?

🏰 cursinguponcastles replied:

Um! How did you know I didn't have my anxiety meds??

-

(anon) asked:

Don't the Houses keep stuff, like, forever? I'm sure if you go back to that House you'll be able to get your meds back. Unless it's like, frozen or something?

🏰 cursinguponcastles replied:

Oh. Ohhhh. Well, um! I am going back to get them! They're back in Dormont! I just won't be focused on getting my meds when I'm there, you know??

-

🎗 ribbpeat reblogged from 🍑 yetanotherfinepeach

🍑 yetanotherfinepeach

so was anyone going to tell me the savior of vaugarde runs a horror blog account or was I supposed to just find that out from her APPARENTLY LEAVING HER MEDS IN THE CENTER FREEZING POINT

-

🍙 chateau-riceballs reblogged from 🧦 socks-to-be

🍯 lovelyhoney-truths

and just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, the savior of vaugarde turns out to be a tumblr user

🛴 offowchmy-nkee

and this is bad... how?

🍯 lovelyhoney-truths

How is this not obvious to you people? She's on tumblr. She's been ACTIVE. Instead of doing her job of saving us she's been giggling about her little vaugarde boys getting eaten. I'm sitting here typing with one arm waiting for vaugarde to be saved, and she's wasting time reading. Boo-hoo she left her anxiety meds in the House where the King is freezing all of us from. Actually, wait! Why didn't she just turn around and take him out? If she's supposed to save vaugarde, assigned to, and she was close to its starting point, why the hell did she walk the other direction and faff about?! Some Savior she is! Most of the country is frozen because of her! And instead of just shutting up and doing her job she went on a funny little pilgrimage. I'm not calling her a Savior anymore. 

🐱 ChangeGirlClaws

do you know about the existence of paragraph breaks. Like at all.

🎀 darts-chatting-blogg

Instead of looking at... all of that, apparently not everybody knows this so look at this.

THE DOORS OF DORMONT GOT LOCKED BY THE KING AND THE SAVIORS HAVE TO FIND FIVE ORBS TO BE ABLE TO EVEN TRY TO SAVE US. And in case you don't know, Vaugarde is huge! The saviors passed by my place a week ago and they only had four Orbs then.

I think Plum and her friends are making good progress, actually! I think she's allowed to relieve stress by reading about guts and gore, actually.

🍙 chateau-riceballs

she's what

-

🐝 finalgirl-standing reblogged from 🐮 The-Cointry-of-Voigarde

🍯 lovelyhoney-truths

Not only does that orb bullshit sound made up and stupid, but apparently Plum also runs a guts and gore blog??? what the fuck is wrong with her. Has she Changed to be so disgusting when she should be Changing herself to be able to save the country?? Do you guys really believe that shit? I haven't heard of a House where Orbs lock the gates, that's clearly her making up excuses for why she can't just go there and beat him. How can her friends stand to be with her when she's this irresponsible?

🎀 darts-chatting-blogg

One. The King warped the place (see image here!) and Dormont was known for experimenting with locks. People just be saying crab, I guess.

Two. Defenders. Get their asses. I'll start.

C

🎗 ribbpeat

R

🍑 yetanotherfinepeach

A

🛴 offowchmy-nkee

B

🐱 ChangeGirlClaws

P

🍙 chateau-riceballs

O

🦴 justanotherchange-blog

W

⚓️ insertcreativebloghere

P

🧦 socks-to-be

E

🐮 The-Cointry-of-Voigarde

N

🐝 finalgirl-standing

I

(this post is unrebloggable.)

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⚓️ insertcreativebloghere reblogged from 🦴 justanotherchange-blog

🦴 justanotherchange-blog

if I was on a journey to save the country and I forgot my focusing meds at home I would just forget everything. Honestly, Plum's doing much better than I am???

⚓️ insertcreativebloghere

If i had to save the country without my meds i would've thrown myself into the sea

-

🐮 The-Cointry-of-Voigarde

(a picture of the countryside. Half of it is frozen, and the other half isn't)

Well. It was an honor, everyone. I'm glad to have contributed to the crab pow.

-

🏰 cursinguponcastles reblogged 🐧 penguin-do-be-writing

🐧 penguin-do-be-writing

hi everyone, sorry for the silence! My family has been loudly debating what to do about the freezing country, I think i touched something weird and my feet have stopped working for me, so it's hard to get to my writing desk. whoops! it's been a struggle to get words written down. Don't worry, though! I've got a chapter for everyone! This time, things get INTENSE. That internal organs being not internal warning was for a reason!

🏰 cursinguponcastles

CHANGE, THIS WAS SO GOOD!! I'm really sorry you're close to being frozen, but I could see how it affected how you wrote Dembélé struggling to get away! It felt too real, haha!!

I'll miss your fics! I, well, hopefully, will see you in a few months!!

[moipale]

wish craft uses seen/referred to in-game:

at the favor tree

the king's use of time craft / the island gone / the colors gone

siffrin asking the "change god" for blessings

siffrin sharpening the keyknife

the way that siffrin carves their artwork

the default defeat of the king

hear me out on that last one.

what we know of wish craft is that it requires both a wish and the "correct" ritual to enact. but siffrin's talk about wc in the secret library reveals that "correct" is kind of a wobbly concept—repetition is a key factor, but the amount of repetitions is about "what feels right" rather than any concrete, correct amount. the rest of the details he describes are somewhat favor tree-specific, but we get a general idea that, for a wish to be enacted, you need to: make the wish, create a link between yourself and the universe, and tether yourself to your wish. this leaves a lot of room for what a ritual could actually be, in a concrete sense. (reference for wish craft details here)

thus brings me to defeating the king.

in the canonical ending, the king is defeated when mirabelle reflects his own attack back at him with a mundane use of shield craft. this freezes him in time, and as a side effect frees vaugarde, since (one can assume) he can no longer tether his own wish.

in the default ending, the saviors repeat the word "disappear" five times (once per party member), mirabelle uses some unspecified craft attack, and the king... disappears.

as fun as it would be, i think we can all agree that mirabelle does not have the capability to literally obliterate him on the spot, even with the power of friendship at her side. so! i posit that what actually happened was some accidental wish craft.

my idea requires that we reorder the steps of wc that siffrin lays out in the secret library, so i'll just say that upfront, but given the wobbly nature of "what feels right," to me this makes sense as something that would be viable: that you can switch up the order of the ritual as long as all ritual components are present/all conditions are fulfilled. that's the premise i'm operating under.

so. what happened?

five saviors came together for the singular purpose of defeating the king & built and pursued this intention through a stretch of determined weeks or even months (goal as representation of self/making a link to "what you're wishing to"). in the House, they enter into physical combat with the king (touching & tethering selves to the wish). and at the end of the fight, they verbally speak the same desire, one after the other, their leader/impetus the last voice to speak (making & repeating the wish).

they wish that he disappears. and he does!

the connection between the party & the universe is probably the flimsiest of what i've laid out here, but... i still think it makes sense. all that time on the journey + all that time of wishing, hoping, praying they'd be able to see the journey through and save vaugarde, all that building of desire/determination... for people who don't know about the universe, that feels like as close as they're going to get to it. and for a god whose followers no longer remember how to reach out... maybe it would be more inclined to listen.

[lucabyte]

thinking about the very specific reading of isat i had during act 3 for the most part

anyway yeah ill ramble here about this. since it actually explains my headcanons for what the disappearing island wish was

disclaimer: taken as a whole this is way too allegorical for what i'd consider a holistic reading of isat, but it was part of my running theories at the time.

anyway my guess for the real-world equivalent of the island ended up being French Polynesia by the end of the game. I had initially thrown a dart at siffrin being greek wrt europe, sisyphus allusion, enjoyment of plays and seafairing-- but the moment that little guy started getting real weird about stars and specified they were from an island i switched my guess to him being polynesian. And then that reading only really strengthened from there (and i was pretty close, tbf!)

but yeah during act 3, especially the king plotline, i started thinking about the themes of cultural erasure + lack of identity that the game has and how that plays wrt vaugarde's extremely welcoming and diverse nature.

reading far too much into it but it made me wonder if they are the results of a fallen empire of some kind. somewhere that gathered people from across the globe (as empires are known to do) before dissolving into what seems to be a localised theocracy of some kind?

like. vaugarde is basically the Good End for an empire. Fully demilitarised (they barely have use for police to the point where the defenders are surprised by burglaries, and almost CERTAINLY have zero army), extremely diverse, not caring where one comes from.

(either that or they've been a socialist utopia like, forever? and thus just aquired migrants perpetually... but ka bue is characterised as harsher by odile in a lot of respects so one can assume its not that the whole planet is Niceys All The Time.)

this lines up pretty well with the um. Whole France Thing. Boy do they own a lot of islands still that they maybe shouldn't. Also lines up with bonnie's word-of-god french creole dialect. So Vaugarde as the welcoming, ideal form of former-colonialiser-nation is like. one i vibe with if we're gonna read too hard into the worldbuilding as presented.

Anyway all this to say I did for a time wonder if the Northern Island wish was 'For The Island To Be Safe'. Assuming this world to have any level of inter-country conflict-- Wish craft is powerful stuff, and a singular island might not be able to defend itself against those seeking to take it by force. Hiding the island from the world would protect it.

... though that felt like an unusually cruel read. The implication that cloistering away like that is a 'valid' strategy for a culture to be safe (albeit with the splash damage of hurting any diaspora).

Plus, wish craft is superbly powerful, with evidently its use on the island only becoming more widespread after it was discovered how to make it work Consistently.

(i work here under the assumption that Siffrin's growing cloak is imbued with wish craft, assumedly the same as the king's armour? Since there's no way that was created at that scale...)

So it almost makes more sense, to me, for the wish to be to 'Protect The World (universe) From Us' or to 'Keep The Universe Safe'.

Wish craft being so second nature to the Islanders (See: Siffrin, favour tree), that a wish that breaks the universe is almost inevitable were the knowledge to become widespread and ingrained.

This too is an oddly cruel read, that a culture's rituals can be dangerous to that degree, but ... ? Dunno. Like I said, reading it as hard allegory makes it fall apart somewhat. Symbols can mean many different things at once until you flatten them for direct analysis like this. I don't think it's quite so 1-to-1, and it's honestly slightly too 'no story only lore' for my tastes, so I did push a lot of this stuff out of my analytical mind once I started getting to the back and of act 3 and into act 4.

Anyway. Not the most coherent explanation in the world, but still some thoughts I had mid-game that i figure i should put somewhere at least, even if I don't think they are really what the game is going for.

As a bonus, the discussions on what the island wish were in this context also lead my friend @samhainian to speculation on the colour wish that i really enjoy. Which is....

The wish that removed colour from humans perception of the world being something along the lines of:

"I wish the world was simpler"

ergo, removing colour as an invocation of Nuiance VS Black and White Morality. The world is simpler, easier to understand.

I think it's a fun headcanon! I like it.

Well anyway. A work is more than the sum of its parts and dissecting something so sloppily as this often does it a disservice. So don't take my theorising as anything more than a general rundown of where my head was at mid-game before i had all the pieces. The emotional core of the story is far more where it's at for ISAT sooooo. [Shrugs and scampers away]

[insertdisc5]

does isabeau have a confirmed lgbt identity or he's just queer like odile?

i love to say he's gay but realistically i see him being able to fall in love with anyone, so probably pansexual would be more correct. i do want to say that those words do not exist in Vaugarde, people just Are, there are no labels over there

[abowlofsourcream]

⏳💫Switch a Loop: It’s not your Fault…💫⏳

Context: “Memory of Sailing” post!

* Everyone is at the Clock Tower.

*Siffrin seemingly went straight into bed after dinner, Bonnie followed shortly after him.

*However, the other’s stayed behind.

*They were right, Siffrin and the King are from that same island.

*They are one step closer to solving what is going on… But at what cost?

*Him choking on their own blood, being cradled by Odlie, reaching at the ceiling.

*For stars he couldn’t even see.

*Mirabelle is the first to speak…

Mirabelle: I… I shouldn’t have pushed him so much-

Isabeau: Mira, don’t even start.

*Isabeau holds both of her hands in his.

Isabeau: You couldn’t have known… None of us could…

*Odile taps the table, keeping her distance.

Odile: Yes, Mira… There is nothing you could have done.

Mirabelle: No! I should’ve have known! I should’ve known that Siffrin would have pushed themselves that hard! That even if it was killing them, he would do it!

*Tears welling up in her eyes.

Mirabelle: I… I… Just wanted to be able to helped them, like they… helped me…

*Mirabelle quietly begins to cry, Isabeau slowly pulling her into a hug.

*Odile frowns and looks away. She sighs.

Odile: I… I understand how you feel Mira… I really do.

* The two of them look at her, she continues.

Odile: You know… When Isabeau suggested having Siffrin help us with any “Unfinished Business” and how the two of us went on a “secret quest”. Do you know what we were looking for.

*The two of them looked confused, but later spooked their heads.

Odile: We were looking for a Familytale.

Isabeau: Oh yeah, you tried looking for one at the secret library… But, why are you saying this now?

*Odile nodded.

Odile: Well, It was when I figured out that he may have something to do with that disappeared island.

Mirabelle: O-Oh? How?

*Odile took a deep breath… In. And. Out.

Odile: W-well… We were talking about our upbringings… Well, I was at least- And he brought it up to comfort me.

Isabeau: Ha… Yeah, that’s Sif a’lright…

Mirabelle: Comfort you about what? I-If you don’t mind, Madame…

*Odile smiles at her.

Odile: Well, I’m actually Half-Vaugardian… Part of the reason why I’m here is to try to connect with that part of myself.

Odile: Asking you about your culture, your practices, even your food! Mirabelle, the way you were so passionate about your beliefs in the Change god… Isabeau, all of your wonderful insights of the town’s we’ve visited… Bonnie made food that I was interested in trying.

Odile: And Siffrin, knowing nothing about both Vaugarde or their own country, still comforted me.

*The two of them looked at her, quietly listening. She continued.

Odile: Ha! It’s funny… How even an old lady like me can still feel lost, hm? At least I still have Ka Bue I could returned to… A place, while not perfect, I could call home. They had nothing…

Odile: I guess part of the reason why I wanted to help him find more about the island was to repay him for his help… Or maybe the guilt, who knows.

Mirabelle: Madame… I- I never knew! You seemed so wise and sure of yourself. If anything, I thought you would have scolded me…

*Odile rest her hand on her shoulder, still smiling.

Odile: Like Isabeau says, you couldn’t have known. And… You are far more capable than you think you are and I am more than sure that you proved your worth…

*Odile awkwardly looks away.

Odile: Um… I not really good at communicating these kind of things…

*Mirabelle laughs, returning her smile.

Mirabelle: Your fine… Thank you, Odile.

Isabeau: Aww~! Group hug?

Odile: Don’t push it.

*They all laughed together.

*…

*But…

*…

[wish-upon-the-universe]

"What if the King adopts Siffrin-" "NO what if Bonnie and Nille adopt him-" "Wait what if Odile adopts them-" WELL WHAT ABOUT EUPHRASIE ADOPTING SIFFRIN.

Hear me out.

Housemaiden Euphrasie finds a dark haired teen with nothing more than the clothes on his back, a shitty dagger in hand, and a handful of Vaugardian and Porterian phrases under their belt. She hears their accent, sees those metal pins, knows that darkless hair far too similar to her own and decides. This child should be protected.

So she gives him a place to stay, among her fellow housepeople at the House of Change in Dormont.

And Siffrin grows up there. He visits the Observatory with her, studies that eternally locked door, takes a few classes and learns about the Change God. He clings to her when there's too many people in the cafeteria or when that one new scientist girl starts flirting with """Euphie""". Siffrin reads so many manuscripts of plays, takes classes to learn other languages and acting courses to occupy time and maybe sometimes he visits other cities to explore other Houses (with Euphrasie, ofc). He can help her see who wished for Vaugarde to be saved, and run away faster than anyone and escape the House when the King arrives. And later he can stumble on that study-all girl, rumored to be blessed by the Change God (how strange!) after helping her growing party defeat a particularly large sadness. Then he can see Euphrasie and panic when she starts to speak nonsense, saying something is broken, failing, rotting, and realize that Vaugarde's intent, as pure as it was, has trapped him in time. And then he can cry when he "shoves" (threw like a broken doll) her and apologize and she can just hug him and promise them that its ok!!!! Its all over, its all ok, and she's more than happy to bless them on his new journey.

And Euphrasie!! She cares for Siffrin almost like her own child. He has a family, somewhere, but until they can be reunited... she can be a guardian. She can play favorites just a little when she's nominated and accepts the position of Head Housemaiden (she pretends not to see Siffrin cry with pride). She can teach him, and try to bury the past under the changing future with them. She can tell him about the wishes, and they can wish for a savior from the King together. She can cry and hope that Siffrin escaped, or that Mirabelle was able to save him with her blessing. She can see the broken, rotting, failing wish and Siffrin with tired eyes and an exhaustion deep in his bones, and know that their past- even just a little- has caught up and it has ruined them. She can see the haze of something familiar take over her and wake up to a viscous shade still in the sky, coming from... Siffrin? She only gets a glimpse, though, before she's out like a light and waking up to overhearing Siffrin talk with his party about continuing to travel. She can heal herself as as much as she wants to hold them close again... they deserve to explore the world with a new family. So when she blesses them, she asks they never forget her and the promise to come back and write letters and they whisper "I love you" before parting ways.

So yeah, Euphrasie adopts siffrin

[lunarmoff]

You're not alone!

Sooooo I got into In stars and time a while ago and I came across an Au by @tealgoat called in tales of time. And its awesome!! I highly recommend it!! This fic takes place between Siffrin blast and End of act 5 falling. Anyways down below everyone has their own color for when they speak!

Odile: Blue Siffrin: Red Mirabelle: Pink Isabeau: Orange Bonnie: Green

<You can’t let them find out! No, no, no, no, no, NO! THEY’LL HATE YOU.> <What did Loop tell them!? IT DOESN’T MATTER JUST LOOP BACK-> <You feel a tug on your stomach. . . <. . . !> <You feel something grab onto your coat before you can loop back…You glance down to see none other than Sffrin climbing on your coat.> “Odile! Please! Stop running! You’ve been through all of this many times haven’t you? The way you went through the house without any problems by yourself… You knew what Mira’s papers were about…How you knew about Isa’s dream to design clothes…You taught  Bonnie to stand up to that sadness…And how you got me to open up about my forgotten past…” <Suddenly Siffrin looks up with you.> “Odile! What did you wish for at the Favor tree?!” <! No, no, no, no, no, NO!!!!> <The others down below become determined.> <NO! YOU CAN’T TELL THEM IF YOU DO THEY’LL HATE YOU- YOU DON’T WANT TO!!!!> “Tell us so we can help you Madame!” <Isabeau..> “Tell us already Dile!!” <Bonnie..> “Odile!!! This is what I wished for! I wished for Vaugarde to be saved!” “I wished for Nellie to be okay!” “I wished to be able to find you! To help you!” “And I wished to be able to help everyone!!! What about you Odile?” “What did you wish for!” <Mirabelle..> “What did you wish for, Dile!!!” <PLEASE STOP!!!!- I’M JUST SO TIRED! IT WON’T MATTER IT NEVER WILL!  I'M TRAPPED FOREVER IN THIS BLINDING PLACE!!! IT’S NOT LIKE IT WILL EVER COME TRUE!!!!!!!> <THEY CAN’T MAKE YOU TELL THEM! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE- LET ME REST!!!> “Tell us!!” “Tell us!!” “JUST TELL US!!!!” “TELL US- whoa- wha- AAAHHH!!!-” <Siffrin loses their grip and starts to fall. No! You won’t let him die because of you again!!!> <You quickly catch them with your hand and he looks up at you.> <Then- > <A flash you feel yourself return to normal. Your hair tie come out of its place letting your hair fall lose…> <You feel air around you as your family link their hand with each other and you as the stars shine above you.>

Art does not belong to me! It belongs to @tealgoat!!! Go check out her Au named In tales of time!! If you want to read the rest of the fic I'll put it down here! https://archiveofourown.org/works/58817581

[auncyen]

Bonnie looping au where the first loop has them freaking out about Frin having died in front of them and they have no idea what happened/how to explain it so the adults are kind of like. They really try to understand. Time Craft is impossible. The best understanding they have is "we've been horrible terrible irresponsible adults and Bonnie is traumatized?? Possibly afraid Siffrin's going to be hurt again?" so they have. A talk. And Bonnie wakes up to a clocktower empty save for a villager who tries to explain to them that everyone wanted them to rest so they'd feel better, maybe Odile wrote out an explanation behind the decision (and Isabeau and Mirabelle might've added apologies) but Bonnie's not reading any of that they run out of the clocktower through Dormont north all the way to the House yelling but it's already too late.

Bonnie freezes outside the House crying.

Bonnie spending the next loop angry and upset at everyone but still trying to figure out how to keep Frin from dying so they just. bluntly tell everyone at dinner that Frin shouldn't be trap finder. They have to think there's a way past the trap but Frin didn't find it so they've been trying to reason why Frin didn't find it and...oh. His eye. That's why. They feel sick with guilt, but it just makes them more sure they have to say something that the others will believe. And it's easy to point out that Frin is half-blind now, even if it feels awful.

Siffrin probably tries to reassure Bonnie that no, it's fine, really, he's got it covered! which just gets Bonnie more worked up and making angrier comments and people are trying to calm Bonnie down, but, it gets too heated. Or maybe someone else makes a comment that Bonnie might have a point. And Siffrin gets upset and walks out.

Where Siffrin's going: to look at the stars and empty their mind for a bit, breathe in, breathe out, and then go back and try to pretend everything's fine because like, what else are they going to do? Their friends need their help saving Vaugarde tomorrow.

Where Bonnie thinks Frin's going: away forever, they finally made him hate them, now everyone else is going to hate them too because even if Frin doesn't find traps as well now they were still helping fight and now what are they going to do, everything's going to freeze again Nille will never move again and--

They loop back to the start of the conversation. Belle tilts her head curiously, asks them what they were going to say and they just. cry for a bit and then insist "nothing" when everyone prods with concern. The adults are very worried about this but still take Bonnie to the House with them in the morning, probably doublechecking with them first if they still want to come with, no one will be upset if they don't, etc. and Bonnie is like "NO I'M COMING WITH" and then quiet all the way to the House, thinking about the Death Corridor.

When they get to the corridor, the second Odile's attention is off Bonnie, they dart ahead of Siffrin to search the next set of pillars. Because if it was because of Frin's eye, they should be able to see it, right? And as long as they stay next to the pillars they don't think they'll get squashed by the big rock but they're shaking so badly because they really could get squashed by the big rock and everyone's yelling and chasing them because Bonnie??? and in the brief moment before someone catches Bonnie and pulls them back to the side, the Corridor's trap doesn't trigger because every single person in there is terrified, and Bonnie finds something on the pillar they were frantically patting down. They ignore everyone else being upset and keep shouting at Frin where the switch is until they find it as well, gesture for everyone to stand back, and hit it.

After the boulder falls, the room is silent. for maybe two seconds.

And then Bonnie gets the lecture of a lifetime with four people being like "Bonnie you scared the daylights out of us what were you thinking". They probably tell about Frin dying to the boulder again because they don't know what else to say, and they're afraid the others won't believe them again but like the big rock is right there, and everyone's just. Kind of. ...Time Craft is still impossible but also Bonnie has usually been about as composed in dangerous situations as you can expect a preteen to be, and also, even if this is some kind of emotional outburst that's been building up because they were horrible terrible irresponsible adults and allowed the preteen in their care to be traumatized, well, they are already in the Sadness-filled House so there is now no place safe to leave Bonnie. Everyone knows that, so it doesn't even come up.

That loop probably continues until it ends, not with Bonnie pushing Frin into a Tear, but 'Za trying to be a goof and "oh no I'm not looking where I'm going" straight into one.

...Bonnie getting into a pattern, at least at first, about keeping quiet about the time loop until they get to the Death Corridor and then being like "Frin, the switch is on that second pillar on the right. When you hit it a big rock will fall in this spot, so everyone else needs to stay here" and everyone being like "..........well okay Siffrin you heard the kid, check out that pillar" and then after the rock falls "Bonnie how did you know that" and THEN they talk about the time loop.

But. maybe they don't talk about how they're feeling for a while, even with the adults realizing "a time loop that keeps ending badly cannot be good for Bonnie" and trying to encourage them to talk. Because that first loop still hurts.

[fatalglitter]

I was thinking about Siffrin's amnesia again and I am once again suffering. I don't know much about linguistics so know that this is just speculation. Anyways, the game establishes that The Forgotten Country and Vaugarde have their own distinct languages. It's also made clear that Siffrin forgot how to speak, read, write, and understand their native language. Not even reading words in his language jogs his memory, it only causes a headache.

Did Siffrin have to relearn human language when they first lost their memories because of this particular loss? Or was he lucky enough to already know how to speak Vaugardian?

I'm thinking that it might be the latter to some degree, since they have a distinct accent despite forgetting their language and, subsequently, how it sounds. It's possible that they learned some in their childhood, and because Vaugarde's language doesn't have direct ties with the island, they could've retained what they learned. It makes sense for them to learn it in the first place, since it's normal to be taught the native language of a neighboring country to some degree.

Or maybe it was the muscle memory of how they speak that kicks in that results in their accent. They don't remember how their language sounded, but they're still inclined to speak a particular way because it just feels right. We can see they retained their procedural memories with things like woodcarving and fishing, so it'd make sense.

But like. What if they weren't taught any other language? How would that have worked? Would their thoughts have solely consisted of the few bits of Vaugardian that they happened to know? Judging by their memory of running away from home, they were completely alone on the open ocean when that fateful wish was made. With their language gone, were they even able to put a word to how they felt at that moment?

[sillylittlecharacters]

Mirabelle vs the World AU

(Not a Scott Pilgrim AU, sorry to get your hopes up.) Sure, in canon Mira is seen as the Savior of Vaugarde. The Hero. The Chosen One. But what if she wasn't? What if, through no fault of her own, she was seen as the villain by the very people she was fighting to protect?

Read more below to see a (very long) explanation!

So, I was thinking (which is always a dangerous pursuit when I'm involved) that it was a good thing that Vaugarde was such an accepting culture - an another world Mirabelle's story could be much different. So I decided to make that concept myself!

A couple of massive changes to the story would have to be made. In this AU, the King won't bother warming up with tearing through other cities or villages in Vaugarde, and instead attacks Dormont first and only Dormont. Perhaps he was practicing his abilities for a while in the woodlands around the House, giving Euphrasie time to secretly investigate why and how all these animals were mysterioiusly freezing in time, and just as soon as she perfected the blessing he attacked for real.

From the perspective of the rest of the country, an inescapable curse is spreading across the land with nobody to help slow its crawl and an entire House full of the most capable Housemaidens in the land was completely decimated, with no forewarning, and no clear culprit in sight. Except from, of course, the lone Housemaiden stumbling out of its gates, completely uninjured and unfrozen. Such a convenient scapegoat - not least because the hulking sobbing giant in armour she claims to have attacked the house is as ridiculous a concept as it is physically impossible! Mirabelle (and eventually the rest of the party) has to deal with the ramifications of being the only people able to save a country that hates your guts. Should they try to redeem herself in the eyes of people determined to blame the party for their suffering, or should they lean into their villainous image to save the people from themselves?

Buuuuut that's not the only interesting part of the au. Because of her newfound status as Public Enemy No1, every member of the party starts out as a minor or major antagonist that Mirabelle ends up befriending! I thought that it was a shame that the only RPG trope missing from the main cast ISAT is the 'enemies to allies', so this is the perfect opportunity to explore that idea! Whether it's escaping from a Defenders' prison cell, recovering stolen orbs or running from an angry mob, pitchforks and all, the journey to defeating the King just got a lot more complicated. Feel free to send me asks about this au or make fanfic/fanart about it yourself - I know I will!

[koshiaoi]

More sif from In Galaxies And Eons, he gets a bit worn-out whenever he loops.

My hc is he is affected by the craft exhaustion way more than normal sif, by way more I mean while in the loops, and that's because it's not just local to Vaugarde and is instead just reversing time completely! But his body does still feel the effects of it harshly, as each time he dies the scar on his cheek and the black bits of his hair, hat, and the inside of his clothes gains another star. All the black bits slowly turn a dark blue! Just cuz I wanna and I love blue.

If anyone is wondering, the scar on his cheek he got from loop, this loop spent way longer in the time loops than the original loop (around 10k I think?) And doesn't really talk to siffrin because of this. Loop attacked sif because he wanted to replace him and get back his actors.

From everyone else's perspective, they were a few days before they got to dormant and were taking a break when they heard sif scream, they rushed over and saw him almost dead being attacked by a "sadness" that somehow could talk? They hear it say something about ripping his skin off and replacing him, at which point they were able to save sif. Frightening loop, causing them to run away. Isa and odile noticed something in its eyes though... a weird shade that gave them a visceral feeling.

Bonnie wouldn't be able to leave sifs side after this, as they were told that he was 'just going to take a nap' and he ended up getting attacked. So bonnie sees this and knows that they can't leave the rest of the party anymore, but what's worse about it is that even though frin looks half dead, they're not bleeding, like at all. Instead, every scratch and wound is this weird back nothingness, which is even more reason to not let him alone ever again!

Mira tries her best to heal him, but nothing happens, almost like its permanent damage, like its scars, which stress her out even more! The person who she thought she could trust with her life is now badly injured because of her! If she just didn't ask him to come along, he would never have gotten hurt! It's all her fault! Its-

And isa would hide his true feelings about the entire thing, just trying to cheer sif up by telling him how cool he is for being able to hold his own against that sadness, they that couldn't even damage... wait what? Why couldn't they damage it? Why could only sif damage it? Well that doesn't matter! Sif looks really cool now! He tries his best to help out the freaking out siffrin.

Odile on the other hand would take that thought and run with it. When she saw that when they tried to attack the sadness, not only did it not flinch, like at all, it's form also didn't even react! No small bits of water, nothing. And then there's the fact that whatever it did to siffrin is permanent and can't be healed, what it said was weird to, not to mention that IT COULD TALK? No something wasn't right here... they should really talk to siffrin later.

Yes! I am using some headcannons for this! Specifically the loop appeared before the loops and was just hiding, the loop being sap!sif but I made him worse, and one thing that's just true, is that odile will know that isa also saw the weird thing and will talk to them about it and everything.

[pixxyofice]

Nobody else on the main team has a tumblr (by word of god) so... hm.

One post about someone serving a savior and self admitting to panicking about something they can't remember, scaring the savior off.

A post from someone who's like hey guys so I'm in stage one of the King's curse so I won't be able to update my fic for a while, and also I've queued up my blog. Look out for the tag "(user)'s frozen queue", that'll be the sign!

A post from someone in Ka Bue like "so why the hell IS vaugarde being frozen???" And then someone else going "THERES A KING WHO HATES US"

A post like. AITA for wanting to keep vaugarde unchanging forever and the confessions box person is like ARE YOU THE KING WHO IS CURRENTLY FREEZING ME. THIS IS SKIPPING THE QUEUE FUCK YOU

A post from a non-vaugardian like "Well I'm glad we're out here and he's in there and"

Another post like lmaooo anyone else just get a wicked headache and blink and suddenly ten minutes have passed? And other people agreeing and sharing their own stories. Yes they are all islanders.

A 0 note post that goes "can anyone see this. please". It is unrebloggable.

[livesworthlivingau]

Behind the Vale Chapter 12

ISAT Spoilers below and Two-Hats! CW: Dysphoria

"How about this one? OH! Or this one?! No wait! This one is gorgeous!" [You practically squeal at all the lovely outfits on display in the tailor shop you found in the next town over. You were in the presence of a true master of their craft, and in awe at all of their work.]

"Vale, sweetie, you've been going back and forth for an hour and haven't even tried anything on... I'm sorry but I'm gonna have to recommend that we move it along, please." [You pout in response, it was rather clear she didn't appreciate true fashion like you, but she was right that your indecision was getting to be a bit much.]

"Fine, fine, you're right... It's just such a big decision! I haven't gotten to pick an outfit for myself in a long while..." [Your voice trails off, looking down over your star infused form. You place a hand to the star on your chest, very warm to the touch as always...]

"Vale?... You good?"

"Hmm? Oh yes, just uhh... lost in thought... I think I know what I want now~." [You say, returning to a rack you spent a while glancing through. You pull out an outfit with a lovely dark vest with coat tails, a loose shirt with puffy frills at the ends of the sleeves, a lovely pair of dress pants, and a cravat to go with it all. You also find a pair of half lightless half darkless gloves and heeled dress shoes to go with it all.]

[Several minutes later you finally emerge, all gussied up and gorgeous, flaunting about the room to show it off. Nille just laughs at your display before clapping some.]

"Okay, okay, I gotta admit you look crabbin' fantastic. There goes our whole rainy day fund with it though."

"Oh don't you worry yourself about that, we can always pick up more odd jobs here and there. Besides Vaugarde is known for it's hospitality~!" [You assure her, to which she rolls her eyes a bit but shrugs.]

"Alright alright, you've sold me. Besides wearin' that is probably the first time I've seen you REALLY smile since we met." [... You don't respond to that one, just looking away and going back to the mirror, admiring your new outfit. You glance up, looking into your own eyes to see that genuine softness Nille was talking about... Huh... Maybe we could make a life for ourselves... If not for this damned star head...]

"Heh... I guess you're right... It's so nice to be able to express myself again~."

"Glad to hear it, Vale. You ready to head out? We still gotta find Bonnie, remember?"

"Right, right, of course~! Don't worry, I haven't forgotten~!" [You reassure them, paying for your new threads and gathering all of your belongings to head out once more.]

[You stand at the edge of town... pausing for a moment. You close your eyes and take in a long, deep breath. You focus on your connection with Stardust, getting the vaguest sense of them in the direction of the right path...]

"Vale? Which way are we heading?" [You stare down the right path... your heart races... There's no harm is us taking a bit longer, right? Who knows how long we'd be searching for them either way... we can keep this going for a bit longer... we don't have to say goodbye...]

"Left, I... I don't like the aura the right path gives off~." [You wave your hand dismissively at the path, heading down the opposite way. Nille just rolls her eyes at your little display before following along.]

---------------------------------------------------

[Nille sleeps soundly in her sleeping bag while you camped out that night. You couldn't sleep... maybe it's the guilt of thinking you deserve happiness... You head over to the lake near where you had setup camp. You look down into it to see yourself... your beautiful outfit from neck to toe... and your blinding face, quite literally, staring right back at you...]

[You suddenly snap out of it, getting the ringing sensation in your hand that happens whenever Stardust calls you... Stars, why now... Against your better judgement, you bring your hand up to your head and silently listen...]

("Loop?… Can you talk to me?… Please?… I just want to know you're okay…") [Your other arm drapes around yourself, just holding yourself close as you feel shame even hearing their voice again...]

("Do you remember that time... I forgot Mirabelle's name?… I was so freaked out, all I could think to do was call you for help… Without a second thought, you helped me… you helped me remember everyone's names, their nicknames even, and why I started using them… You brought me back from the edge, and it helped keep me going… I don't think I ever thanked you for that… So thank you, Loop… Thank you for keeping me going when I thought I couldn't anymore…")

"... Stardust..." [Your hand slaps over your mouth as the words simply escape without your approval, panicking and feeling tears flowing down your face.]

("Loop?! Loop where are you?! Are you alri-") [You quickly pull your hand away and shake the gesture off, ending the connection immediately. You fall to your knees, holding yourself as tears keep pouring from your eye...]

"Stars... Stars why do I still care?! Why can't I just blinding leave you behind?!" [You shout to the lake, sobbing heavily.]

"... Vale?... Wh... What's wrong?" [Nille sits up sleepily, rubbing at her eyes. You shudder, quickly trying to compose yourself, wiping your tears again and taking a couple deep breaths.]

"O-Oh, s-sorry for waking you... just a nightmare, no need to worry about me~!" [Nille just gives you a look, clearly not buying it. She unzips her sleeping bag, getting up and walking over to you.]

"Do yah need a hug, hun?..." [She asks, offering a single arm as to not overwhelm you.]

"O-Oh, n-no thank you, I-I'm not much about... t-touch..." [You stammer out, rubbing your elbow some, wincing as you still feel tears slowly dripping from your right eye.]

"You're either getting a hug, or we're gonna talk about it, your choice, pretty they." [She teases with a smirk, holding up the other arm invitingly now. You hesitate still, taking one last deep breath and nodding.]

[You close your eyes tightly, bracing as if you were about to take a hit from a sadness, flinching heavily as you felt her arms slowly wrap around you... It almost stings at first, such an... unfamiliar sensation... but after a moment it's nice... her warm body pressed tightly to yours, like a weighted, heated blanket... Your arms very slowly wrap around them, placing your starry head on their shoulder, letting the tears pour from your eyes again.]

"There, that feel better?" [She asks, about to break the hug, but you find yourself holding her tight still... You don't know how long you stay like this, but you can tell it's far too long...]