#Looping back is a skill that only Siffrins know

[multifandomshell]

Op, kinda derailing from the jackpot combo, but I wanna add that while the weak rock and paper attacks may follow how siffrin gets along w isabeau first before odile, or perhaps also the natural speed / turn of attacks (odile is the slowest without any swapped equipment), the stronger attacks actually follow the friendquest orders (mirabelle is first because she triggers the friend sidequests, isabeau is always last so you're bound to get odile's shiny skill before him)

It also add on the fact that this may be foreshadowing the act 5 botched quests, with siffrin naturally will tear into odile (tear you apart) first before really setting in how he messed up that whole loop with everyone after isabeau leaves for the clocktower (rock bottom)

Alsoalso interesting to note that isa is the only one that has 2 sif breakdown events (bad touch + confession) which REALLY cements the rock bottom position imo. The bad touch event especially does a great job at showing that they're at the worst point in their life, prior to act 5.

Alsoalsoalso the odile susquest is literally odile compiling all the facts that made siffrin suspicious and throwing it back at their face. Literally no one is in 'bad terms' with siffrin prior to act 5 that cuts as deep as odile, not even bonnie, because bonnie doesn't know and therefore cannot attack siffrin where it really hurts the most.

She really did tear their composure apart with every facts she lists that hints at the timeloops. The fact that they went from this

To this

To finally this

Honestly I have not seen siffrin be this volatile to any of the other party apart from odile. Even in act 5, siffrin never makes an angry face like that to any other party member. The closest one I could find is in bonnie's friendquest after bonnie told him to leave them to die.

And the only other instance of this expression being used in act 5, when siffrin is tearing into odile in return.

Anyway I could make a lengthy explanation about isa and rock bottom also but maybe in another post, this got long too long lmao

my super cool and awesome headcanons about jackpots

So I've actually talked about this on the ISATcord before, but since I have a Tumblr now and can talk about things you all get to be subjected to my jackpot headcanons, which is also my theory as to why jackpots don't exist in SA3P (the Watsonian explanation, anyway; the Doylist explanation is a very obvious "ID5 didn't invent them yet").

So what do we know about jackpots? When the party does the same type attack 5 times in a row, they can unleash a super massive "jackpot attack" that does a fuckton of damage (6X Siffrin's attack stat, ignoring defense. For comparison, the basic attack is 2X the user's attack stat). To figure out how jackpots work, though, it's more important to look at times where moves do not behave normally with the jackpot counter. (Spoilers for literally everything below!)

Bonniequest - both Siffrin and Bonnie's attacks do not add to the jackpot counter. While Bonnie's attacks normally do neutral damage, Sif does not.

Act 5/6 - when Siffrin fights an enemy in Act 5, as well as Loop in Act 6, none of their moves add to the jackpot counter. Notably, if you somehow manage to mod the party into Act 5, this will still be true - the special moves Siffrin gets for Act 5 do not add to the jackpot counter no matter what.

(Just attack.) - this does not add to the jackpot counter (that one random bug notwithstanding).

Siffrin's rock/paper type moves - all four of these moves add two symbols to the jackpot counter instead of one.

Okay, so what do these have in common? It seems like contributing anything to the jackpot counter is tied to Sif's mental state at first glance, since (Just attack.) and the Act 5 moves don't count toward it. I think this is only partially correct, though; Siffrin is having a much better time in Act 6 and during Bonniequest. And, of course, Tear You Apart and Rock Bottom (the strong equivalents of the earlier Rose-Printed Glasses and In a While, Rockodile) are pretty obvious indicators that they're doing absolutely awful, but they're actually doing more for the jackpots than any other move.

So what makes a jackpot work? Simple enough explanation: It's the whole team working together in unison. Building up to a jackpot requires enough team coordination to pay attention to each other's attacks, and they all have to unleash their attack together. This would mean that when Siffrin is fighting on their own (or with Bonnie, which is very much not the whole team), jackpots don't work out. It also explains why the previously mentioned moves that don't add to the jackpot end up being like that - Siffrin is losing patience and thus completely disconnected from the group, basically doing whatever the hell they want because they're super tired of the loops and not bothering with team coordination and all that.

"But wait! Why do the other rock/paper moves add double to the jackpot?" This one is more speculative (but so is this entire post so who cares), but my answer has to do with the way Siffrin's level-up moves work. After they get another scissors move at a more reasonable level, their movepool starts diverging, and they learn two healing moves, two rock moves, and two paper moves. Who does that sound like? In the loops, Siffrin is likely watching the way each of his party members fight, and then adapting their moves - first Mirabelle, then Isabeau, and finally Odile, which goes along with the turn order. (His strong attacks are actually learned in the opposite order, with paper coming before rock, but that's likely to be a more practical decision - the King is weak to paper attacks, after all.) Note that the weak paper/rock moves are significantly weaker than every other kind of attack in the game (save for Bonnie's normal attacks, which is saying something!) because this isn't something they'd have learned naturally, it's something that's a different Craft type and thus takes a lot more practice. The spoiler FAQ for the game supports this:

So yeah, Siffrin is totally looking over at the party and learning their moves, which is why it adds two symbols instead of one - he's more in sync with the party because he's following along with their moves! (You could also say since the move is copied it's also copying the jackpot symbol and thus the counter gets two. Or something. Whatever works.)

This brings us back to SA3P, and the complete and utter lack of jackpots. SA3Pfrin is basically in perma-Act 4, but somehow even more burned out than ISATfrin is in that act. There was no tipping point to shove them off the deep end, so they just...walked off the edge, very slowly, and now they're mega depressed. Jackpots aren't working because SA3Pfrin is currently so out of sync with the group's attacks that they just...don't build up anymore. The team is not a functioning team. :( Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk where I make up a diagetic answer for a feature that is included in the game because "this is literally just a quality of life feature and also gameplay balance is good ".

[maddilynmuse]

Memory of Liar

Another fic for @mari-lair ‘s Siffrin? More like Sif’s Out AU based on this memory exclusive to it. This one got a lil long, as I think y’all can see. Also I enjoy writing Odile. Apologies for any formatting opposed, I wrote this on my computer but had to upload on my phone.

No major CW’s beyond just “Odile questioning Siffrin’s mental health.” Enjoy!

It hadn’t been too long since that one loop. That loop where they found out just how good Siffrin was at pretending to be fine. How convenient that not long after, Odile got a skill to deal with it. Memory of Liar. It allowed her to know when Siffrin was lying (albeit not by omission, but still). Ideally, it would be a niche skill at best, one to keep on for a loop or two and forget that she had-

“Hey Odile!”

Siffrin began his usual greetings. Seems Mirabelle reminded him about the clocktower “sleepover” this time. She must be feeling nostalgic; they’d all planned to meet up at the clocktower afterwards anyways, so there was no need to send Siffrin on a quest to go talk to them all, but given how low he got, how useless he felt, it made sense for her to give him a task. Would it be too cynical to say Mirabelle was establishing a baseline? Perhaps.

“So, what will you do after?” Siffrin asked her.

After. Gems, at this rate such a thing felt laughable, but she bit her tongue well enough. What had she planned to do after this? So much time had been spent on loops and the breaking of them that leaving Dormont was starting to feel like more of an impossibility than beating the King ever had been.

“I’ll probably go back to Ka Bue,” she said. It seemed like the next most logical step. She had a home there, after all. Besides, it might be nice to get far, far away from Dormont.

“And wrap up your research?”

“Research?” Oh, right. Her fake research.

“Your research into cultures-ology?”

Had he said that last time? When was the last time Mirabelle called for a sleepover? Gems, she didn’t like this.

“Cultures-ology isn’t a field of research, Siffrin.”

“But it is the field of research you spent your life trying to create…”

“No,” she said bluntly. He looked a little put off by that, so she changed the topic the most natural way she could. “What about you? What will you do after we beat the king?” If they ever get to leave Dormont, that is.

“Come up with my own field of research.”

… huh?

Something about what he said there, it sat oddly in her gut. It felt… wrong. But how could-

Right. Memory of Liar. He was lying. Of course he was, why wouldn’t he be? She knew from the start that was likely a joke, and a joke could count as a lie, she supposed. Maybe this ability wasn’t particularly discerning. She’d have to test that too, wouldn’t she? Would it activate at anything that wasn’t true? Or would it only activate if Siffrin was actively trying to deceive?

As Siffrin walked out again, only then did it occur to her… what did the rogue intend to do when he got out? Well, a question for the others, she supposed.

------

They were back at Dormont. It wasn’t of much use, asking the others. Bonnie and Mirabelle couldn’t remember off the top of their heads, but apparently Siffrin had told Isabeau they intended to start a comedy club… That sounded considerably more likely than them going into research, but she was still inclined to double check. It was nothing wasting a whole loop over, but they’d agreed that next time they looped back to Dormont, Mirabelle would tell Siffrin about the clocktower, and Isabeau and Odile would “switch places,” so to speak. She needed to be the one to hear him, so she had to come last.

As Siffrin got up sleepily, almost tauntingly laid back, he greeted Mirabelle saying the nap was a solid 9 out of ten… The thought that their rogue was rubbing in their lack of exhaustion was illogical, something she knew all too well, but maybe she wasn’t in a particularly giving mood as she squatted in the bushes against the protest of her knee. A few more pleasantries were shared and…

“Where will you go after?”

“Oh! You know… maybe a pilgrimage? I-I suppose this all kiiiiiinda already counted as a pilgrimage, but, um… does it?” Does it if she only half remembers some of it, so much time taken over by these last few days? Or was Odile projecting here?

It didn’t matter.

“What about you though Siffrin. What will you do after?” Mirabelle asked.

Odile watched him like a hawk as he had his little smile, looking up to the sky, and, “Go on a pilgrimage too, maybe.”

“Oh! That’d be lovely,” Mirabelle said.

If only it were true.

Odile waited for them to get to the store—the store she often started at but currently housed Isabeau—forcing herself up and stumbling like a drunk from the woods, knee seizing up all the way. Mirabelle rushed over, using a bit of healing craft on her.

“Are you okay?”

“Fine, I’m fine…” Odile said, though sighed in relief at the healing craft easing the pain.

“… so?” Mirabelle said.

“He was lying. He has no intention to go on a pilgrimage.”

Mirabelle sighed but nodded. Neither of them were surprised, really?

“Can you even go on a pilgrimage if all you do is travel anyways? What’s even the difference?” Odile muttered to herself. “Ah, no use now. I have to catch up before Isabeau runs out of ways to stall.” Thankfully it was a short walk. The door was open, she simply had to linger near it.

“What will you do after?” Siffrin asked Isabeau.

Seems she was right on time.

“Eh, I’ll probably just go back to Jouvente. Not sure about rejoining the Defenders, not after they left Mira, but maybe I’ll try some clothing design?”

“Oh? I didn’t know you were interested in that. That sounds great, Isa!”

“Heh, thanks Sif. But what about you? What will you do when we beat the King?”

Assuming Isabeau did a good enough job of recapping what he said before, presumably Siffrin’s answer would be the same…

“Start a comedy club!”

… that one wasn’t true either? She’d honestly thought it might be, or at least that it was fifty fifty, but no. Almost a shame, it fit all too well. Then again, it meant more people were spared his puns…

She tuned out the rest in favor of trying to get a head start on making it to the East side of town. Siffrin tended to dawdle when left to his own devices, but still would be nice to find a way to listen in that wouldn’t be physically painful this time…

Oh right. There’s a building here, right near Bonnie. She’d basically gone blind to it, considering it no more than any other house: pointless. Though she did know the open phrase, well, the only thing of value was the “Long Thingy Thing” (as Bonnie put it), and they didn’t really need to go through the trouble of crafting a bomb at this point. That said, she did know the open phrase, so she could probably get inside, and she could hear Bonnie, but could she hear Siffrin? Then again, once Siffrin was near Bonnie, she could sneak closer.

And so she did. It went off almost disappointingly easily. Gems alive, what she wouldn’t give for something to go awry in a way that would let her dig her teeth into something again. But no, no. This was more efficient. (Everything was efficiency these days, that’s how Siffrin got so bad).

She crept closer as the two talked. Siffrin was needling Bonnie, and Bonnie was rising to the bait. Was it genuine irritation and stress, or just their mimicry of it? She wasn’t sure, maybe both. Not too long in, the question came up.

“Well what about you, Frin? What are you gonna do?”

“I’ll go to space.”

… she didn’t even need the Memory equipped to know that that was a bald-faced lie, but she supposed that confirmation was nice? Well this one was a waste of time. Best to try to slip out towards the favor tree and play her own part.

Four different answers, none of them true. Why would he hide what he intended to do after? Maybe earlier in their adventure together she would’ve assumed that it was for nefarious purposes, but if he was an assassin on the behalf of the King or anything like that, he’d probably have done something to stop them on at least one of the occasions that they killed him. Whatever happened with Euphraise usually seemed centered on him, but he always looked shocked, so it was unlikely he expected it any more than the rest of them had the first time.

So if not foul play, then why? Some charitable part of her mind wanted to say his plans were just embarrassing, but…

As they’d recently learned the hard way, their little rogue wasn’t nearly as fine as he seemed. All it took was one day of them taking the lead a bit too much for him to consider himself a useless idiot. He rarely spoke of home. Never spoke of loved ones, at least not for more than a few sentences. He’d taken losing his eye almost too well. She wouldn’t say that he was at risk of becoming a Sadness or doing something willingly stupid, but the more she thought on it, the more things painted a picture she didn’t like the look of, but couldn’t afford to look away from either.

If she didn’t know better, she could mistake him for a ghost. A spirit. Maybe even some Expression. Nothing but a being floating through to help. But she’d seen him eat, seen his blood splatter on the floor, heard his gasps and screams at hard hits. She’d seen him lose an eye. Ghosts didn’t do that. He was flesh and blood yet missing so much he seemed almost insubstantial. Was he aware of this one some level? And what could do that to a person? Gems alive, she knew he had bad memory, but maybe she should’ve been delving deeper into it. Why hadn’t she? It wasn’t like her to see something so strange, to see someone start stories over and over that never reach an end, to see him speak of things and lose his train of thought halfway through, and she just…

Never questioned this?

Gems alive, her head was pounding along with the beat of her heart, but she screwed her eyes shut and blocked the world out, determined to follow this rabbit hole down. Something was wrong here, and maybe if she could puzzle out what, if she could find the missing piece, she could somehow make him whole again and, expressions willing, maybe that’d be the key to fixing this whole mess. Maybe it’d set them free. She just had to figure out why-

“Hey, Odile, are you okay?”

She jolted, whipping her head around to see, “Gems, Siffrin. You startled me…”

“Sorry,” he said. “Thinking on your wish?”

“Hah, no, I already made that,” she said. A stupid wish to win a coin flip that came to nothing in the end. And unimportant. She had to figure out… figure out…

Had to figure out what Siffrin intended to do with his life, right? Yes, that’s what she’d been doing.

“I was just… trying to figure out what to do afterwards,” she said. Maybe it was manipulative, but if she pretended she needed suggestions, maybe he’d offer something more tangible?

“Hmm? You don’t already know? I figured you’d wrap up your research.”

No, that’s right. He already had that idea in mind, didn’t he? She let out a bitter chuckle. “I’ll let you in on a secret. There is no research, Siffrin. It was just a convenient lie to explain why I’m here.”

He looked at her with a hard to read expression. “But… huh???”

They were off balance. Good. Maybe it’d trick him into saying something real.

“Yes, yes, sorry to give the game away, but I guess I realized that if I don’t admit it now, I might never. And I wouldn’t want to actually beat the King and then have to figure out what next. Plus I figure if I have a plan for after, if I have a goal, I might be more driven to reach it. Whatever helps, yes? So, any ideas?”

He was looking at her like she’d grown a second head, clearly thrown off. “You could… actually start researching something? Or, um… aren’t you writing a book?”

“My journal? That’s just personal notes. It’d be nonsense to anyone else.”

“Oh.”

She waited but, no, they weren’t offering anything up, were they. She’d have to take the offensive.

“What about you, Siffrin? What do you plan to do after?”

“Oh, uh…” he looked around and shrugged. “I haven’t really given it much thought.”

… not a lie. Interesting…

“Oh? Why not? I mean, you’re not even from Vaugaurde, you must have joined for some reason, right?” She could list theories, but that’d likely give him an out. She was wise to his game. At least half his answers, maybe more, were just mimicking what the other person intended to do. Otherwise it’s just what they’d most likely want to hear, save for perhaps telling Bonnie they’d go to space. An interesting outlier, that one. It seemed innocuous, but maybe it was important?

No, focus now. Theorize later.

Siffrin squirmed a little and finally chuckled awkwardly, offering an awkward shrug. “I didn’t really have anything better to do…”

And gems alive, he was not lying.

“I… see.”

Maybe she should let him go, but she needed to know one more thing first…

“And after we all go our own ways, you’ll be alright, right?”

“I guess I’ll go back to how I was before.”

Not a lie, but not an answer either. “And were you happy before?”

“Of course!”

She needed to talk to the others about this.

——————

I prefer tea, but buy me a Kofi?

[felikatze]

QoL as Kindness: ISAT's diagetic tutorials

This is the hopefully first of a series of posts I'll be doing reinterpreting ISAT's Loop through the lens of START AGAIN: a prologue's context. As such....

Major spoilers for both ISAT (all acts, including optional content) and SASASAP (all endings).

One of the biggest differences between ISAT and SASASAP is it’s QoL – it’s Quality of Life. QoL refers to all the little things that make a game just that little bit more playable; quick to navigate menus, quicksaving… tutorials.

It’s not really a surprise that SASASAP is as RPGmaker as RPGmaker gets. This isn’t a criticism, just an observation, and also a compliment to how much Adrienne’s skills with the engine improved between releases. Still, there’s some things that ISAT has over SASASAP.

ISAT’s QoL is absolutely essential to making it bearable. Anyone ever watch an ISAT playthrough where the player sighed in relief as the tutorial on picking where you loop came up?

SASASAP lacks a lot of ISAT’s QoL because it’s an earlier project without a studio backing it, but what impresses me is how this change ties into narrative.

Because the greatest chunk of ISAT’s greatest QoL is provided by Loop.

Even before you ever meet them, they’re already over your shoulder. Loop is the tutorial, speaking to you inside your brain. It’s genius, in that no player is ever going to question this. Hell, SASASAP’s movement tutorial is the exact same thing with less flavoring

This reframes what the QoL is – it’s not just a convenience to the player, it’s a convenience to Siffrin, too. It’s diegetic. It’s not something the game is giving you, it’s something Loop is giving you. Let’s look at what Loop gives you, and more importantly, why.

Zone Out

The first of the QoL features I want to talk about is the Zone Out function, the absolute bread and butter of not making this game a total slog.

The Zone Out feature as is did not exist in SASASAP (because Adrienne didn’t know how to do it yet) – instead, some doubled scenes let you just skip them entirely outright. There’s only two extremes: listen to all of it again, or none of it.

ISAT’s zone out system is much more dynamic, since it fast forwards dialogue line by line, letting you zone in whenever you’d like, and forcing you to zone in whenever a) something notably new happens, or b) whenever Siffrin speaks.

The way this feature is introced by Loop is kind of genius. Because Loop’s tutorial is about one thing – it’s okay to skip.

“You might miss what your party is saying, but who cares, right? If you make them mad, you can always loop back and they'll have forgotten all about it!”

It’s a cruel joke, or at least it seems that way on the surface. It’s also genuine advice. And a cruel joke at the same time. For Siffrin, freshly starting the loops, this is scandalous, but for Loop, who’s long since desensitized, it’s the same old same old.

What Loop’s doing here, by joking about Siffrin not listening to the party, is alliviate Siffrin’s guilt when they inevitably take Loop up on the offer. Because, even though Loop loves their party members…

From SASASAP, when sitting outside the bathroom:

(Will you get farther this time?) (Will you live this time?) (Or are you stuck listening to the same lines forever?) (…) (Stars, you’re so tired.)

Loop knows intimately well that Siffrin is going to drive themself insane trying to be a people pleaser every single loop, so this joke is telling the outright – don’t bother.

At first, Siffrin (and the player) still might. I really enjoyed reading the same conversations five times minimum because they’re fun and I’m deranged, but at some point I did start skipping them. And it was a relief to know there wouldn’t be anything new.

Siffrin: “Should I check everything again?” Loop: “You mean, should you check the same barrels, the same closets, the same objects on tables every loop?” Loop: “I mean, you can, but… You know things won’t change, right?” Loop: “If you really want to get a certain item again, or listen to your friends repeat something funny, you should!” Loop: “I personally would only check two or three things every loop, and ignore the rest.” Loop: “It will just make you crazy to expect something to change, when nothing will.” Loop: “All that might change is your reaction to it!”

The game is telling you, Loop is telling Siffrin, don’t drive yourself insane playing, please. The characters aren’t going to remember if you skipped something.

In the course of my script wizard activities, I’ve gotten an in-depth view of just how much that actually holds up. Pretty much all major differences are by Act, unrelated of how often you’ve done something. Minor variations apply for other things, but… those variations are minor.

And this also points out what all those variations are. Siffrin’s reactions!

Loop’s pre-empting Siffrin’s guilt, cuz they probably felt it themself. Hell, we do know they felt the pressure to perform and make sure nobody notices anything’s wrong, in SASASAP! Right up until the finale, Loop was driving themself up the wall.

(You have to act, you can't crack, you have to fake it and play it exactly as you did the first time for the whole way through so your friends don't find out anything is wrong) (You don't want to know what would happen if they knew their quest was in vain) (If they knew their quest for justice and change always ends in stillness and death!)

Acting everything out perfectly is one of the ending paths for SASASAP, which results in… complete and utter failure. Obviously.

(You acted perfectly normally, didn't you?) (Nothing out of place, nothing weird, every line the same as it might've been the first time?) (Ah…That was your mistake, wasn't it…?) (Because… Didn't your very first time… end exactly like this?) (The King throws the Housemaiden's body onto the floor again.)

Zoning out for too many conversations actually awards weird points in SASASAP, locking you out of the Perfect Ending. On the other hand, acting “perfectly” in ISAT… has no awards whatsoever. No special scene or or optional event or anything at all. You get nothing for paying attention!!!

So spare yourself the pain already, m’kay?

(On that note: I don’t think Loop not being sarcastic about it would’ve like… worked. At the start of ACT 2, Siffrin isn’t going to believe Loop when they say “Stop forcing yourself to relive the same thing over and over because you’ll start seeing your friends as disposable actors and lose touch with reality.” That all comes later, when Siffrin can look back on Loop’s words and see how right they were.)

Loop Back

The second biggest sigh of relief in any given ISAT playthrough is probably this specific tutorial.

Loop graciously shows you that you don’t need to loop back all the way to the beginning every single time. You can pick and choose where to go, even going forward by paying up with Memories of Skirmish.

This is a feature SASASAP does not possess, for the reason that it is much, much shorter, only covering about as much as one floor of ISAT’s three floor House.

But… since this is a character showing this to you, Loop showing this to you, we can ask… when did Loop learn this? After all, START AGAIN, Loop’s loops, do not have this feature.

“It'll save you time, so it's important, so listen up!”

This feature not existing in SASASAP means this is a thing that Loop did not know exists during their own time as Siffrin.

And that’s just the thing, isn’t it? SASASAP’s Siffrin does not know how to do this. They cannot pick and choose where they end up, as demonstrated wonderfully by SASASAP’s True Ending. There’s an even more wonderful implication, though –

On SASASAP’s Perfect End path, when exiting the final room before the King, Isabeau says this:

Isabeau: “…I'm glad you're feeling better, though!” Siffrin: (…?) “What do you mean…?” Isabeau: “Oh!!! Um, you were…” Isabeau: “Well! You were acting a little weird when we were way closer to the Castle's entrance……” Isabeau: “You weren't really listening to us, you were kinda smiling the way you do when you're actually not happy…” Isabeau: “…and you like, almost acted like you knew exactly where you were going?” Isabeau: “But clearly you're feeling better now! You're acting just like normal!!!”

SASASAP’s Siffrin knew how to do this, somehow managed to lock themself into the House’s last floor… and then forgot how to get back. By making this tutorial, Loop is ensuring that Siffrin never will.

“What can I do next?” – SASASAP’s greatest flaw

So, if you’ve had the pleasure of playing START AGAIN START AGAIN START AGAIN: a prologue yourself (as you should), then you’ve probably faced this scenario, or some variation of it:

I got to the end, I died to the King, but… what do I do next? The game tells me to go for the extremes, but how do I do that?

(edit: apparently some of yall just managed to speedrun sasasap in two loops. You're gonna need to stay with me here, please. Suspend your disbelief a bit, because a lot of people [including me] were dumbasses about it)

Maybe you try another loop, but just get the same ending again (or a differnet one, depending on a coinflip). You’re getting frustrated. Getting the Perfect Ending demands pinpoint precision to avoid everything weird, the True Ending demands good memorization of every single damn key in the game, and the order you do everything in. (Though, to be fair, the requirements on that one are actually more merciful than one might expect.)

Point is, in SASASAP, it’s incredibly easy to get stuck in that endless loop of “What the fuck do I do now?” It’s not uncommon to think you got it right only to get the same result anyways. What does one do in this situation?

They consult a guide, obviously.

START AGAIN’s ending requirements are frustrating. They are. When I tried to go for either the Perfect or the True Ending, I saved inside every single room, just so I could get right back to it when I inevitably fucked up five times minimum. This is both criticism… and praise. Because Loop is the major reason that ISAT does not suffer from this same problem.

Whenever you’re stuck in ISAT, Loop is just a single loop or call away at any times. And besides that, no plot requirement in ISAT demands nearly as many moving pieces all at once as SASASAP does – the “Sus Route” has been relegated to an optional ACT 4 exclusive event, instead of the game’s True Ending.

Instead of consulting an external guide on how to progress, you have one right there in the game, always ready with the next tip. They’re not infallible, mind you – enough time in Isatcord’s #game-help proves that, but Loop solved all of the moments I got stuck and frustrated in ISAT for me.

(Primarily that one time you need to figure out that a photo is similar to being stuck in time. That moment in particular is actually commendable, as you need to ask Loop about it twice before they tell you, leaving you a last shot to try and figure it out on your own.) Loop is a feature that nullifies SASASAP’s greatest flaw in its successor, and they choose to do so.

Memory of Keys

In my humble opinion, Loop does this because… they do not want Siffrin to suffer as they did. They want Siffrin to escape. And there is no greater example of their kindness than how Loop treats keys.

First of all, all keys in the game have a sparkling effect on them if you’ve picked them up at least once before, making it immediately clear where in the room they are. This means you don’t need to search every single room top to bottom for them, as you had to do for any keys and Star Crests in SASASAP. It’s some nice QoL that just means you don’t have to re-search the same area if you happened to forget which specific cupboard the key was in.

Key point being: SASASAP did not have this feature. In SASASAP, you did have to memorize where all the keys are, and doing so is expected if you want the True Ending.

Loop does not want Siffrin to have to do this. Because…

From SASASAP’s True End:

(The torch in the infirmary? That’s important!) (The key in the book? Soooo important.) (The names of your friends, that have been by your side throughout this entire adventure?) (Not worth remembering.)

Compared to ISAT’s ACT 2:

Siffrin: “How come I can see where the keys are?” Loop: “Whaaaaat? You caaaaaan? How can that beeeeeee?” Siffrin: “Is it thanks to you?” Loop: “Maybe.” Loop: “I figured you'd have other things to worry about than where a stupid key is.” Loop: “No need to thank me.”

To Loop, that they memorized the House’s layout over their friends’ names is a defining moment to their own failures. After all, in all likelihood, the True End of SASASAP is the last loop before they called it quits. It’s a traumatic experience from them, one that came from having to remember all the dumb fucking keys.

They do not want Siffrin to experience this. They do not want Siffrin to have to memorize the House, to push away what actually matters in favor of efficiency. So Loop is directly, personally, giving them a boon, so that Siffrin does not have to.

Conclusion

There’s probably more tutorial things I could talk about, but I feel like you’re seeing the pattern now, even if I don’t bring up saving level ups or keeping equipment or the “You’re stuck” signifier, least of all cuz they don’t have direct points of comparison with SASASAP like my other examples do (SASASAP has no changeable equipment, and saving levels doesn’t matter if you only have one floor, and you can’t softlock either.). So.

Loop’s tutorials all belie a fundamental kindness to their character. Everything that made their own experience trapped in the timeloop just that bit worse, they’re choosing to do away with it for Siffrin. They are choosing to make Siffrin’s time here easier.

Zoning out too much lead to them never paying attention to their friends, forgetting their names, so they make sure that Siffrin can still zone back in whenever something new happens.

Loop trapped themself for years on the final floor, locking themself out of progress that might lie further back, so they’re ensuring Siffrin knows exactly how to loop forwards and backwards so it doesn’t happen again.

Loop lets Siffrin keep equipment across loops to cut down on time spent doing the exact same thing over and over.

They are saving Siffrin time, and they are giving Siffrin comfort. At every single turn, Loop is saving Siffrin from the same pitfalls they fell into without anyone to guide them out.

It's honestly incredible to transform an increase in skill into an actual narrative element. Yes, SASASAP sucks more to play. But ISAT sucks less, because Loop wants it to. It's the perfect marriage of real world circumstance and storytelling. I could... probably pull another comparison here, saying it's like a game and its remake - overhauled graphics, expanded story, and loads and loads of QoL, because the makers of the remake realized something. They love the original, but parts of it do suck, and there's so much that can be done to make a new player's experience smoother. Metanarrative commentary,,,, woah,,,,,

Every single one of these QoL elements I’ve mentioned function as a crutch for a player’s failing memory, but also Siffrin’s (similar to what I talked about in my previous essay on ISAT’s ludonarrative - the player and Siffrin are always in sync, even in how tutorials benefit them). Loop doesn’t know the player exists though (only the Change God does), so they do everything for Siffrin.

To keep Siffrin from forgetting. To help Siffrin focus on what’s important. To make Siffrin’s journey just a little bit less miserable. Loop directly improves ISAT’s QoL. For you. For Siffrin.

From Loop’s introduction:

Loop: “See, I’m useful! I’m very useful! That’s why I’m here, helpful Loop.” Siffrin: “Why are you helping me?” Loop: “…” Loop: “Because I think you should be helped.” Loop: “I won’t always have the answers, but… I think having someone on your side to talk to is better than dealing with this alone.” Loop: “Right?”

From Loop’s hangout:

“But it’s fine.” “Whether you believe me or not, I’m here to help you.” “So you can escape this loop.”

And finally, from the start of ACT 3:

Siffrin: “Are you really here to help me?” Loop: “Stardust…” Loop: “…” Loop: “Yes.” Loop: “If you can believe anything, believe that.” Loop: “I asked to be here, so I could help you.”

And I do believe them. Loop’s feelings on Siffrin are… complex, to say the least. They love Siffrin, and they hate him in equal measure. They’re jealous, and spiteful, but underneath everything…

In SASASAP, if you die to a Sadness thrice, you get this monologue:

(Sometimes, when you loop back here…) (In the corner of your eye, you can sometimes see someone that looks just like you.) (Is it a you from another loop? Remnants of your past failures?) (Are you going crazy?) (May they succeed where you cannot.)

[sillylittlecharacters]

HE IS!!!

he puts the flower that Siffrin offers him in his hair and is the only party member that knows how to build a bomb from memory. he spends potentially hundreds of loops trying and failing to confess and when he finally (FINALLY) does he hits Siffrin with an 'Yeah I knew you liked me back I have eyes': he's smart enough to do complex mathematics instantly and assumes it's an average skill; he's capable of following along with craft theory that makes even Odile confused; he can analyse the high-level craft on a piece of clothing in seconds and he was capable of researching a forgotten country to the extent that he managed to remember constellations just for a not-date.

and he gets regularly bullied by a pre-teen.

what's not to love?

it always feels weird whenever people blorbo-ize isabeau too much. like, sure yeah he's a silly little goober. but he also thinks about killing his older self with his bare hands. tearing her apart limb from limb. hes so dreamy

[patch-of-roses]

In Stars and Time AU where everyone is looping. However, each member can only remember the loops that they personally reset.

So, everyone thinks that they're the only one stuck in a time loop. The only person who actually knows what's happening is Loop, who is having a very frustrating two days.

Siffrin: "Since I remember, isn't there a chance? A chance they'd all remember?"

Loop, who just had this conversation with Isabeau last loop and is currently trying to bottle up seven different layers of anger and exhaustion: "... Who, your party?"

I'm imagining Odile determining that she's currently in loop 24 despite knowing for certain that she's only looped back four times so far.

Mirabelle pretending that she doesn't know about the Carrot Method shield skill when Siffrin tells her about it before thinking, "Wait a second, they shouldn't know about that either!"

Bonnie trying to zone out of the conversation about what to do should any of them die (it doesn't work).

Isabeau recognizing that for some reason everyone seems a lot more tired and stressed than they were at the beginning.

I thought of this as a funny concept and wondered how long it would take for the party to communicate with each other before realizing that, if they don't talk about it, they're going to find out at the end of Act 3.

[oriorchids]

hi tumblr. hands you a vega

more thoughts under a read more

they're for a fic i will post eventually (thought they do not show up for like 10 chapters and only meet the party after like 30) and they're my silly little goober of a human loop design. except they're kind of very obviously not human aside from the head. and even then they glow and emit sparkles wherever they go.

their expression is constantly ^w^ until it isn't because they forgot they have a visible mouth. they disappeared from existence and then their survival instinct kicked in and they wished themself back to life. they fell from the sky like a pmd protagonist

they're a walking sadness beacon and have been telling everyone they've met that they're a star that fell from the sky one day for no particular reason. no one where they landed knows who the saviours are because news is slow and they froze like a day into the king's march across vaugarde to dormont. when they first fell back to the earth they were threatened at scissors-point because they were a stranger who fell into someone's garden

they don't become a housemaiden but they do stay in a house for a while since they need to get their bearings. vega didn't have a name for a little while because they didn't want to be loop and couldn't be siffrin, so they just said that stars didn't have names up until they remembered the star vega and decided that's who they were now

gameplay-wise (because i always have gameplay thoughts):

vega is completely typeless and deals typeless damage. using craft they can change their type and do whatever type damage they want, which changes their basic attack until they use another type-changing craft

they probably still have the better healing skill (healy-bealy) they just call it something else. they also have make up the time which they also call something else

they have no qualms about using (just attack.) it's just typeless now. or whatever craft type they are when using it

(speaking of craft types, my dnd brain has been seeing paper as slashing, scissors as piercing, and rock as bludgeoning for a while so. putting that down)

while they start in the 50-somethings level-wise they get to 75 pretty quickly. how? well... sadness magnet

post-game party member that's pretty strong

they share the darkless high-heeled boots with my other human loop (from whumptober). the constellations in their hat are ursa major, lyra, and virgo. vega got the base dress from a friend and edited it while they had time. they also turned their cloak into a cape. the hat is from the universe. it's not even the starry hat, that's in siffrin's hands. it's just a universe-given free wishcraft hat

[guided-by-stars]

Everyone’s always talking about facades in ISAT. Loop’s facade weaving itself into their true self, Siffrin’s acting breaking down over hundreds of performances, how Isabeau uses masks to cover his insecurities. But not all facades are constructed purposefully and not all are so consciously maintained.

I think a lot of people underestimate Mirabelle. Both in our world, and in theirs. She’s very disarming, isn’t she? Anxious, biting her nails, conciliatory, kind, overly careful with others. The first member of the party, the protagonist, but always letting everyone but herself take the lead, except when dealing the final blow on the King. You’d be forgiven for thinking she’s shy. But she’s not, is she? She was given incredible responsibility by her mentor that could, by all her knowledge, be dead, and instead of crumpling under that pressure, like many might have, she seeks out the Defenders to ask for their help, and even after they deny her, she ventures out, with only one person by her side, unquestionably dedicated to her quest to save Vaugarde.

She’s incredibly brave! And smart too! It’s hard to stand out in that regard, when you’re traveling with a Researcher, head always buried in books, reached the age of 40, almost twice as long on this world as you have been, and a man who grew up the literal stereotype of a nerd, who still knows how to calculate numbers in his head in an instant as if it’s nothing, and this mysterious traveller who has been disarming all these traps for you and finding all these keys and has an incredible number of random skills and survived on his own for how many years? But Mirabelle is clever and perceptive! And the most emotionally intelligent and least repressed out of anyone there. She always notices when Siffrin is feeling awful and attempting to hide it. In Dormont, in Act 3, she asks if he’s okay, and when he says that he is, she straight up pushes back against it and says that she’s pretty sure that he’s lying about being fine. She’s aware that Siffrin has put up a wall, she just doesn’t like overstepping. If she was the type who didn’t care about pushing boundaries, she would have confronted him far before Act 5. And she knows how to do so many things!! She’s taken over a hundred classes. One thing about Mirabelle, is she’s absolutely ravenous to learn. Everything.

Sure, she holds some things back. She’s not open about how much responsibility she feels has been placed on her back, and is nervous about how others will perceive her lack of interest in dating, but overall, she’s far more open about her own feelings than anyone else in the party. When she’s anxious, she says it. When she needs help, she accepts it. Now this. Is crazy.

And then there’s her interest in the schadenfreude of it all. The morbid. Mild mannered Mirabelle loves seeing little guys being put through… the horrors. (Oh Mirabelle…you would love In Stars and Time) She has a collection of gory books in her bedroom, and takes the horror anthology into her pocket when you find it. Part of it is because seeing others in danger makes her aware of how safe she is by comparison, part of it is the catharsis, the emotional relief of seeing the Chase being fulfilled. But I think some of it is just fascination and curiosity. As mentioned earlier, she desires very deeply to Learn Everything. Learning how someone might be torn to bloody pieces by the Beast? Part of that.

Mirabelle is kind, sweet, and cute. Yes. But she is also incredibly capable, clever and perceptive, tremendously brave and courageous, and is fascinated with horror and gore and danger. When Euphrasie blessed her, said that she was the only person who could have done it, she was right. I feel like people in general are prone to flattening out optimistic and positive characters and seeing them as more shallow, while digging deeper into more negative and externally emotionally turbulent ones. Mirabelle is not shallow!!!

And all of that is said without any mention of her fixation on Changing!! I am going to explode!! This post is too long already but maybe I’ll make another one about her unhealthy fixation on always Changing and how that drives almost everything she does, both before and during the same!! It is so core to her psyche! Ahhh fantasy religion!!

[mari-lair]

I have so many questions about your Researcher!Siffrin! How did they meet and join the party? Since Siffrin is the researcher, what are the rest of the party’s roles? What would the King’s reaction be to Researcher Siffrin? Does the party react differently to Siffrin losing his eye since he was already partly blind before they met the party? (I’d imagine there still being a guilty feeling about it, but Siffrin’s unique sight situation would make it a bit more complicated) Does Researcher Siffrin get stuck in a time loop or teach the party member wishcraft?

Overall, absolutely love your Researcher Siffrin to bits! Would love to see more of them and how they interact with the party!

Thank you! I'm so happy you like them :D

I have very blurry party plans, I am trying to get a feel for Siffrin first before figuring out everyone's else's place in the au and how they interact with each other . As of now though (which means this is a placeholder and can be changed) Bonnie will be the housemaiden, Isabeau the traveler, Mira the fighter, and Odile the cook.

I am not sure how they let Siffrin join them, cause honestly? Siffrin is not ready for an adventure. They have problems being in cities and are bad at fighting.

living their day-to-day life after being dragged out of the safety of his home is hell to the Researcher. His lack of Vauguardian knowledge + his rusty social skill + passion/study in a culture (his culture!!) that no one takes seriously + excellent hearing + tendency to just run when he is overwhelmed make it so not only is a normal conversation very taxing for them, but it is also very easy for people to say microaggressions, even the well-intentioned/genuinely worried people do it. (I have so many comic sketches of this poor fella being mistreated by accident... save them save them!) So they are constantly associating people with being stressed. They don't want to stay with people for too long.

On one hand it means they will visibly dread entering the party of savior, but on the other hand, I know he will be the one to approach them and try to join them cause "if we defeat the king I can go back to my lovely isolated home, oh Universe please let me go home!" ---> is being genuine in his desperation to go home but will have a "!!!!" moment when he forms a connection with his party members.

I do know siffrin won't be the one-time looping though, i will give them that much of a mercy. I don't know who will though yguytfgyt

Siffrin will sympathize a bit too much with the king. Again, no solid plans for it yet but I do know they'll say "I remember" about his question, and talk about constellations.

Same with his eye, my plans are vague for it as of now.

In battle the researcher is really cool tho: They have no knives! he uses a book. They are more of a support/debuff person than an attack one and start as the weakest. His HP is god awful, like 300, he is not a fighter, he is not fast, and he gets KO easily. They do learn new skills the fastest though so leveling him up? It's absolutely worth it please keep him alive, when he in a high enough level to get attack skills they are an absolute powerhouse (still low hp though)

[basilpaste]

oh i literally never posted my osis skills, huh? here are all of isas skills in osis btw.

Skills [Of Stitches In Sequence]

[Default at Level 45]

SMASH!!! - Deals Rock damage to one enemy. [1 turn]

KABOOM!!! - Deals Rock damage to all enemies. [2 turns]

COME ON!!! - Boosts all friend's DEFENSE. [3 turns]

YOUR TURN!!! - Give your turn to a friend, boosting their ATTACK and CRIT chance. [1 turn]

[By Level Up]

SO WEAK!!! - Lowers one enemy's ATTACK. [3 turns] (Level 48)

CURE!!! - Heal 30% of a friend's HP and boost their DEFENSE. [2 turns] (Level 52)

SLASH!!! - Deals weak Scissors damage to one enemy twice. Chance of giving two JACKPOT points. [2 turns] (Level 56)

SHRED!!! - Deals weak Paper damage to one enemy twice. Chance of giving two JACKPOT points. [2 turns] (Level 62)

BACK TO IT! - Lowers all of a friend's Craft Skill Cooldowns by 3 and boosts their ATTACK. [4 turns] (Level 66)

Cut! - Deals big Scissors damage to one enemy twice. Chance of giving two JACKPOT points. [2 turns] (Level 72. Replaces SLASH!!!)

Tear! - Deals big Paper damage to one enemy twice. Chance of giving two JACKPOT points. [2 turns] (Level 80. Replaces SHRED!!!)

[Story]

I'll Protect You! - Boost all friend's DEFENSE and ATTACK, boost your own ATTACK SPEED. [5 turns] (Only accessible upon completing all Friendquests in a loop.)

stitch in time. - Deals big Rock damage to all enemies. Doesn't give a JACKPOT point. Always does CRITICAL damage. [4 turns] (Start of Act 4)

change is destruction. - Sacrifices some HP to do additional damage next turn. [3 turns] (Upon entering the House, Act 5)

[Act 5]

rock. - Deals big Rock damage to one enemy. [None] (Act 5)

paper. - Deals big Paper damage to one enemy. [None] (Act 5)

scissors. - Deals big Scissors damage to one enemy. [None] (Act 5)

buff. - Boosts ATTACK, DEFENSE, and ATTACK SPEED. [5 turns] (Act 5)

debuff. - Lowers an enemy's ATTACK, DEFENSE, and ATTACK SPEED. [5 turns] (Act 5)

heal. - Heal. [3 turns] (Act 5)

heres some extra waffling under the cut also:

its mostly about the story skills im gonna be honest.

if osis were a fangame in my beautiful mind ill protect you would get less effective by some percent chance with each family run. completing the friendquests without skipping through anything would be like. a .05% decrease and skipping through dialogue would decrease it by .1%. is that balanced poorly? maybe. i dont know how often most people do the friendquests in their playthroughs.

but the thought process is that isa is the Emotions Guy and he does genuinely get a lot out of helping his friends but as that helps gets more and more fake what he gets out of it is less and less effective.

stitch in time is really just isas just attack. is a skill that always does crit damage WAY too busted for isa to have? yes. which is why its cooldown is longer than just attack. it was originally just called 'attack.' but i think it was ocean that mentioned how 'a stitch in time' was a good attack name for osisa? and it was its true.

change is destruction is prettyyyyy new? but its supposed to mirror ill protect you. instead of being a skill meant to protect his friends, its a skill that puts isabeau in a more physically vulnerable position when hes already at his worst. the skill isnt announced by loop since isa already did a. real good job cutting that tie, but he does reference it himself.

the skill takes a random percent of isas current health (probably not more than half. or 75% maybe), and adds however much he lost to the damage done with his next attack.

as for the non story skills: generally they mirror how siffrins skills work, but with some fun adjustments for isas personality and also balancing. skills hit twice but because of that they dont always give two jackpot points. the skill names get less and less enthusiastic with time, too !!! yay !!!!!!!!!

[starlightshore]

Just wanted to pop in and say, if you were to give us a percentage, what are the chances that ghost-frin turns out to be a delusion? :)

There are no known percentages; I'd prefer the story to exist only from Loop's POV. We're never going to know the real truth any better than they could, which is to say, "Good luck!"

But as to your second ask, everything is theoretically still possible as Loop-only. Before Ghost!Frin was revealed, Loop rationalized the "walking back to the House" scream-cry episode as crying while sleepwalking

granted, that's stupid, but as spectators, we can come up with a better answer. We've seen how badly Loop spaces out + Loop could be blacking out the memories of crying. Their whole Thing so far has been "deny reality, DENY DENY!" as hard as they can, it's not out of the realm for them to do any of this.

All that said -Siffrin said they had accidentally made a "death wish." Wishes are very much real in this universe, so Siffrin surviving in some traumatic wish-altering way would be in line with this world. It fits in my eyes because it's basically Loop and Siffrin switching their places as the "wish-altered ghost."

BUT, none of that means every time we see Ghost!Frin that it's 100% really them. We already know in ch8 it very much was not them speaking then.

Basically:

[transcript of meme below since its text heavy:]

[img id:

4 panel comic of Human Loop from Place Your Bets on Winning Hats fanfic.

Loop is doing the poses that Gru does in the original version of this meme, but now with a much more forced smile.

Panel 1: Loop declares the following: "Steal my alternative timeline self's body. Nobody will ever know!"

Panel 2: Loop mimes "small" with their hands. Text: "Use the skills I gained by timelooping to cope with the 'little' trauma I have"

Panel 3: Loop smiles awkwardly at the camera, grin too big. Text: "Rely on it so heavily I lose all sense of time and reality and can't communicate how much I NEED TO LEAVE OH STARS HELP ME"

Panel 4: Same text. Loop reacts with an even more strained smile, looking pained.

id end.]

[radioroxx]

I wish to know more about the Bonnie and Siffrin double looping au. Please. Destroy me emotionally.

HI SORRY this took a bit to answer lol

thought a bit for how to answer this because on one hand i could spill literally everything i have thought of for this au up to this point (which, while a lot, hasnt actually reached some of the Angstier segments yet. i have vague ideas for those but still workshoppin’ and all). but ahh. i will save some stuff for separate askers maybe lol. for now heres some random points of no particular connection:

- i screwed up a lil in the og post by calling it a bonnie. “joins” the loops au. it is definitely a, bonnie is there from the start, au. i considered for a bit making it more of likee… they start to remember post death to the king, but that wouldve placed em in act 4, and while thats interesting i felt like there wasnt as much to explore there. yknow? (plus. bonnie death to the king is still Very much going to happen in the au. soo)

- bonnie doesnt meet loop until a couple loops in! this was partially loops decision, about being worried to meet the party + how they would react, buuut siffrin is only so good at keeping secrets from people whos memory cant be wiped through time travel, bonne does learn about loop, and insists on meeting them. the timeline is a lil vague in my head, and this interaction i dont have compleeetely planned out? but know that it takes place around the back half of act 2, after first death to the king

- speaking of loop- bon has a pretty interesting dynamic with them too :) this is before bonnie and siffrin are able to have the Talk about his eye, and while looping back and forth together has brought them closer regardless, bon still holds a grudge against them! at least, slightly. that combined with the fact that theyre talking to some… celestial beast? sick as hell star creature?? that GLOWS? bonnie takes the loop pretty easily (this is aided by the fact that siffrin seems to trust them well enough. not completely, he is ofc still skeptical of loop throughout, but its enough that bonnie will trust them too). however, you could probably imagine bonnie is much less tolerable to loops… nonsense. more willing to bite back if they say something out of hand, and more likely to react Badly if they say something upsetting. (still 50/50 of whether or not bonnie would take loops side if they say something mean about siffrin tho lol. depends on the insult. and obviously loop would never,, say stuff like that to bon). iii could keep going about them this dynamic is very fun to me

- the friendquests go relatively the same, the only difference being that it is actually siffrins idea to set bonnie up with that big feast for everyone. !! teamwork! the training session for bonnie becomes a multiple-loops thing, letting them build up their skills over time. i think with the stress of the loops, trying to figure out what to do next now that they know killing the king doesnt work- the talk about the eye and that whole freakout takes a bit to actually get to. i have ideas about how that would go too, because it would be Different and mean something New, but…. that would be so long to put here……… just know that they. still promise to look out for each other. promise to let themselves be helped.

you may be looking me in the eyes at this point with deep frowns and wondering… Pluto….. what are all these happy silly ideas, you are missing out on so much angst potential here ?? and to that i say uuuuuuhhhhhmmm i have thought about it. and look. i dont think having bonnie- or anyone really- joining in on the loops would really solve or lessen siffrins shit mental state. but theres definitely also a layer there, on top of breaking the loops, on top of keeping everyone happy, on top of figuring it out and finding out about their country and the king etc etc- theres a priority in keeping this kid happy too! he will, and has, died dozens of times in these loops, and that sucks, and it sucks that poor bon has to remember it all, so the least they can do is. try to keep things lighthearted around them. Pretend to be hopeful for their sake. encourage them to try out new recipes on different loops to see what sticks with the family! let them run their own experiments in the loops! let bonnie join in fights with sadnesses once their training goes well enough!! do their best to at least have some fun, and some time to relax. sticking to the excuse that its all to make bonnie feel better, without realizing how much thats helping themself as well.

aaand that all sorta falls apart in act four. bonnie is killed- directly, painfully- by the king, and siffrin distances himself as he is so prone to, falls back into trying to get everything done himself because hes the one whos “responsable” for it…. ah you get the idea..

[str8rat]

WHAT IF THERE WERE 'LOST SOUL' ( AKA UNDERTALE STYLE ) ENCOUNTERS IN THE ISAT/FUNGER AU?????

-> REMIND

( You ask the Lost Soul to remind you of a word you've been searching for, trying to pretend being annoyed with your memory issues. She's not sure why, but she feels urged to jog your memory.. )

-> TIME CRAFT

( You remind the Lost Soul of when she used Time Craft to stop you from looping back. Her fist seems to clench on her side. )

-> MEMORY OF SECRET QUEST

( You remind the Lost Soul of the time you've spent searching for a Familytale. You remind her of the conversation you've had, about searching for a home, about feeling "other". Suddenly, the memories are flooding back..! )

-> PUN

( You say a really terrible pun. The Lost Soul seems to love it, quickly bursting with a loud, infectious laughter. Something about this seems so very familiar to him.. )

-> TOUCH

( Hesitantly, you reach out towards the Lost Soul, trying to take his hand. He seems to become nervous, his hand becoming clammy in your own. His fingers twitch. He seems to be remembering something.. )

-> MEMORY OF STARGAZING

( You remind the Lost Soul of the time you've spent Stargazing. You remind him that you have never, ever been ashamed of him. Not even a little bit. Suddenly, the memories are flooding back..! )

-> POINT

( You point to the Lost Soul's nails, trying to mimic the same motion you always do when she's anxiously biting them. Somehow, this seems familiar to her.. )

-> CHANGE

( You remind the Lost Soul of the time you've met the God of Change. She doesn't know why, but she feels an odd, bitter feeling in her chest at the mere mention of the God. )

-> MEMORY OF FAITH

( You remind the Lost Soul of the time you've spent together on that bench in Dormont. You remind her that she doesn't need to change for the sake of her fate, if she doesn't want to. Suddenly, the memories are flooding back..!)

-> RECIPE

( You ask the Lost Soul if they'd like to make malanga fritters together. For some reason, they feel giddy at the thought. )

-> HUG

( You hug the Lost Soul carefully. They seem to stiffen in your hold. They're not sure why, but they really want to hug back.. )

-> MEMORY OF TRAINING

( You remind the Lost Soul of the time you've spent together, training in the outskirts of Dormont. You remind the Lost Soul, that they don't need to feel guilty for things that are out of their control. They are loved, and they're doing enough as it is. Suddenly, the memories are flooding back..! )

- - -

DID ANYONE THINK OF THAT??? I couldn't stop thinking about this. I'm not re-entering my undertale phase again please not again

Ok so this is still in relation to my Fear and hunger / Isat AU, so bear with me here. What if Loop's battle didn't only consist of fighting them? Maybe they've come to know some sort of forbidden craft, which stole the party's memories? Kind of trying to erase their memories of "Siffrin", and instead enter "Loop" in it's place. Since Loop doesn't want to, nor can, be Siffrin anymore- if they actually manage to kill Siffrin and insert themself instead of him into the timeline, they can live with their identity as Loop, with the party already loving them, having no memory of Siffrin. There would only be Loop. And then Loop could finally be happy, and have their family back.

And well everyone knows how it goes, Siffrin enters a battle with each of the party members, which is interesting i think, since we've only ever fought Sadnesses in canon Isat (not counting the king) Picturing the party attacking Siffrin would be awesome lmao. I also really like the idea of the memories we gain from each party member's hangout actually having more of a role rather than just being buffs or skills to learn.

here the memories of their hangouts are essential to jog their memory, and also i feel like it would be kind of cool if it granted them like the ability to remember those occurnaces, even though they know now that it didn't actually happen. not in this loop anyway. With them being aware of the loops by that point in the story, and aware of the hangouts happening countless times before in other loops, they would realize just how hard Siffrin tried to grow closer to them. I feel like that would tighten the party's ties together. so yeah, cool.

Siffrin jogs all of their memories, which causes them to either pass out or fight alongside them. i think the latter would be worse for loop though, having those people fighting them. It would hurt them a lot.

well, I still think Siffrin would fight Loop alone and everyone else would be passed out. I like to keep the 'Loop wins the fight' as the canon outcome here, with Loop not being able to bring himself to kill Siffrin after everythin that happened. Siffrrin comforts them, Loop cries, Siffrin cries, Loop fades away, the party soon wakes up and confronts Siffrin on what had happened, he passes the fuck out from craft exhaustion before he can explain anything. WOO

hope this made sense cuz it's like 2 am and my brain is NOT working rn

[your-average-art-dealer]

Cult of the Stars AU - Height Chart + Info

Might change some things here and there later but overall this is it!

Some info about the squad in the AU below the cut:

Siffrin (The Lamb): The Vessel of The King (The One Who Waits). Was brought back from The End (because they were forgotten along with all the rest of the sheep, who are the residents of The Island North of Vaugarde basically) to aid The King. Their Mission is to create a following for The King and to slay the bishops who banished him for trapping the island in a plague of darkness. But they aren't as faithful to The King as they first appear...

Bonnie, Bishop of the Green Crown (Leshy): Doesn't know how to run a cult properly, but the others are helping them. Their sister was originally the Bishop of the Green Crown after their parents were martyred, but because The King trapped her in darkness, the crown fell to Bonnie. Before the crown was corrupted, it was The Crown of Order, but it has been changed to Chaos. Still trying their best to be strong.

Mirabelle, Bishop of the Blue Crown (Kallamar): A pathetic wet thing (affectionate). Euphrasie was the Bishop of the Blue Crown before Mirabelle and like Bonnie, got it after Euphrasie was trapped. Before the crown was corrupted, it was The Crown of Healing, but it has been changed to Pestilence. Barely holding on to be honest, but she's got her friends to lean on.

Odile, Bishop of the Purple Crown (Shamura): The only one who's had their crown since before The King. Teaching everyone else how to run cults properly. Before the crown was corrupted it was The Crown of Concord, but it was been changed to War. The group mom, as always.

Isabeau, Bishop of the Yellow Crown (Heket): Same story as Bonnie and Mirabelle, Someone else had the crown, they got trapped, and he has it now. May or may not have a massive crush on The Lamb and would be totally okay with them killing him if it didn't mean The King would be closer to being freed. Before the crown was corrupted it was The Crown of the Bounty, but it has been changed to Famine. Built like a fridge and has the flirting skills of one too. Very nice though.

Loop (The Goat): A version of The Lamb who rose up against the king and failed. They are now relegated to helping Siffrin on their quest (which they do NOT care for)

And that's it! again some things might change but honestly, I'm pretty proud of it!

[also want to thank one of my friends, who listened to me blabber on about this and also gave some ideas as they too are an ISAT and COTL fan, love ya bro (platonic) ]

[vulpixisananimal]

BEHOLD!!! MOVES AND EQUIPMENT FOR THE CONSTELLATION!!!

There's a lot so I'll get into it bellow. Also make sure you're up to date on the fic!

Siffrin

Switch-you later is the only unique skill Siffrin has, and it's simple! Sif tags out to a different headmate! The only status' that cary over are current % of HP, and any buffs/debuffs EXCEPT confusion.

Loop

Helpful Loop is essentially Odiles analise skill but for Loop!

Mal Du Pays

Inhumanity is the first PASSIVE skill here! Mirabelle has a passive skill after all, since she's immune to time craft, so I can do whatever I want! Anyway, Inhumanity is a skill that lets Mal Du Pays embrace it's sadness nature, especially in combat. It's highly resistant to confusion and mind craft, and is very hard to hit.

{Rock} {Paper} {Just attack} and {Breathe} are all the same as act 5.

Null

No skills? Null isn't from here and focuses entierly on direct combat. Looping back and slow-mo time aren't even craft skill!

Saffron

[(Smile!)] and [(Joke!)] Are renamed versions of Make up the Time and Done Heal. [(Just attack!!!)] Is the same

Asterion

Cries of the Lost deals medium rock damage to all enemies!

Begging, Pleading speeds up all your allies, and Howl of the Desperate increases their attack!

Vision of Reflection is a surprise tool that'll help us later~

Rosmarinus

MEMORIES!!! All the memorie moves are copy-pastes of the same moves each party member knows! Mostly

Memory of Billion Blows Technique Deals heavy rock damage to all enemies.

And Memory of Bomb is, well, bomb! Summon a bomb once per battle! Have fun! Bomb!

Oh yeah she also has the Keyknife because of Memory of Keyknife

Socks

Get me-owt of here!!! That's just a cat!!! A cat can't fight!!! This PASSIVE is just Socks sticking to the backlines, as they struggle with fighting properly. So all the skills here work like Bonnie's (and Jasmines).

nyoom, claws at you, and meow buff your party's speed, attack, and defence respectively. Helping!

Mrrp heals your party for 40% and cures confusion. They're purring!

[itstheval]

Under The Stars

A Sidestory Of @amuseintime 's Scriptfrin/The Play Is Over, But The Script Remains AU.

Siffrin had a plan.

It wasn't common for Sif to have plans, especially now that the King was dealt with. Most of his plans had been hiding things from the rest of his family, and he was certainly trying better to not do that. But you recognized the specific set to his jaw, the focus in his eyes, as he walked over. Sif had a plan. You moved over on the log you were on, staring into a fire during your night's watch, to make room for them.

You'll admit, it had been quiet enough to not warrant a watch since you left Dormont. Sadnesses were few, and even freshly woken from their sleep, any of you could handle the few that were remaining. Sif had even taught you some of the skills you learned during those accursed loops, making it even more trivial. But, you liked your time under the moonlight, where you didn't have to wear any masks and could just be yourself, so you still took watch.

Change seemed to be rewarding you for your choice, as Sif sat next to you (on purpose! With no one else around!) and stared intently into your eyes, with the same focus you usually see in a fight. He was planning something, and it took all you had to keep yourself from flushing completely dark with that attention turned on you.

"Clocktower, Sleepover."

That was the codeword you'd agreed on. Sif was Scripting again. Oh.

That immediately took you from the cloud-9 feeling of being with Siffrin to the focus of something unusual. They were scripting…They had a plan. You didn't know what was about to happen, but you had a feeling deep in your gut that it was going to be significant.

"Well! Good evening! I, uh, I'm not in the way, am I?" You stumbled over your words, for all you tried to keep them focused. But it was Sif! With THAT look in his eye! Who wouldn't?!

"No, no, you're fine, hahaha!"

That was.

An answer.

"SIF?!?! Are you…Did you…I mean, it's fine if you didn't, but…Are you, can you stop scripting now?! When you want to?!"

The words spilled out of you, fully of hope, as you stared at him with a wide eyed expression. He'd! Answered you! Even though he was!!! Your heart soared, and then sank at the slight shake of their head. Then how-?

"…No, you didn't step in it." Were you that obvious? Or…no, no. Use your smart boy brain, Isabeau. And pay attention, they're talking again.

"I'm ready now." Ready? To talk? You stared, then realized you were staring and looked away, your face burning. Okay. You can do this. You can totally do this. Sif needs you. You can't be a blushing maiden about this. You took a deep breath in, and out, and let the pieces fall into place.

"You're…You've remembered more lines. You want to…try to use them? To…have a full conversation?" You guessed.

"You can be a smart jock." WHEN?! DID THEY SAY THAT?!?! DURING THE LOOPS?!?!?! You stared, trying to find the words, your jaw working uselessly for a moment as Siffrin once again changes the whole mood with just a few words. They said it with such finality, too, like it was just a fact. You tried to focus, but when?!

"Isabeau." The word brought you back to reality, as Siffrin drew your attention back. Right. Scripting. Even if they can answer a few things, you still have to lead, since he can only follow.

"Aheheh…Sorry about that, Sif! You just…caught me off guard, there. So you're exploring what you can say, huh? Pretty brave of you, Sif. But I'd expect nothing less from my Sifarooni!"

"Oh my!" The words sounded fake, but from the blush staining his pale cheeks, the sentiment wasn't. A hand went to his chest, and he managed a laugh.

"I mean it! If I'd wound up in something like that, I'd be lucky if all I got was a couple scars and a speech thing. Every day, even like this, you remind me you're still the same Sif I knew, deep down."

"I didn't say anything." It was a declaration, but they went into turtle mode again. Trying to hide their face, ducking down to peek up with the most adorable eyes. You could get lost in that look, if you weren't focusing for their sake.

"I mean…before, I guess you didn't? Or you didn't talk too much. But, well, that's alright! Sometimes it's nice to have somebody you can talk to, you get it? Someone you know won't judge you. So you can just…Be yourself, without worrying." You knew what was coming next. You weren't going to lose it. You WEREN'T.

"I've never been ashamed of knowing you, Isa."

You lost it. You blushed, you hid your face, and you found your mouth leaking nonsense sounds. No matter how many times they said that, you knew it was true, and you lost it every time. They'd even said it then! You didn't know when, but…during the loops, during the time-shaped pressure cooker, they'd said it, and they'd meant it!

"Let's have a look, then." You heard, barely over the sound of your own nonsense, and you felt his hand on yours. It was pulling! He was seeing your face! Like this! You felt the old you spurring you to run, and that alone told you to stand your ground. You managed a soft smile at him, even as you took a deep breath.

"He looks nice?"

You're gone again. Sif - Sif! Master of Hiding Emotions! - wasn't letting you hide your face, and the verbal garbage you were spilling refused to form itself into coherent words even as you closed your eyes and tried to find it in you to think. Big boy brain, you tried telling yourself, but the rest of your head was way too full of those three words to say anything.

"I have time now!" Okay, okay. You think that meant he was giving you as much time as you needed. Which! Was good! You needed time to! Recover! It was several quiet moments before you managed to get your thoughts back in order from the unexpected Siffrin Charm Assault. Well, that proves he can communicate, if he tries!

"Sorry 'bout that, Sif. You know I have a delicate heart."

"The heart of a delicate maiden." Sif is doing the deeper voice, for a line you'd said before in the past. Oh no, that was in his arsenal and he was getting clever. You were doomed.

"Absolutely!" You agree, for lack of a better option. "So…Want to just, uh, sit together for a while?" You offer, smiling down at him. "I think you've proved your point."

"I do!" they say, and lean into your side, just a little bit. You decide tonight? It's going to be a good night to just relax. You grab for your book again, to have something to enjoy as you rest together, only to feel Siffrin over at it, the slight body shifting against yours.

"…The book, is it related to your research?" Okay, that one you can guess. That was definitely something they asked Odile. But, well…When you let yourself be, you felt almost as smart as Odile, so that wasn't a surprise.

"Oh, I guess…I'm not really a researcher, you know?" You laugh, and feel the way it jostles them, and the way they cling tighter to feel more. Adorable. "I just sorta…read stuff, when the Houses let me borrow them. Which they do! As long as I drop it off at the next House, they're usually fine. Changing who has what information, you know?"

"So this is why…" They look up at you, not finishing the sentence, not seeming to have it in them to finish the sentence. You allow yourself to nod in return. "Why I've been the Smart Jock even more? Well, if I want to keep helping you, I've got to learn even more, right?"

You didn't like the expression Siffrin got at that. Like he was a rotting carcass. Like he was a weight making you sink, instead of a joy bringing you smiles. "So what do you need me to do?" They asked, and you could tell they wished they could make it sound more bitter. Oh, Sif…

"I mean! You just have to keep being you! I'm doing this because I want to! And, you…I mean, Sif, if I didn't want to spend time with you, I wouldn't bother doing this. But you make it worth it, every time! You know?"

"I do." Simple, cold, to the point. Not looking at you. Oh, you really stepped in it now. You reach down and turn his head to face you (and such a novelty, your fingers on his chin, without worrying!), staring down into his eyes with what you hope is an expression that matches your own intensity.

"Hey. Sif. Sifarooni. You've said it a lot, but it goes both ways. I've never been ashamed of knowing you, either."

For once, you get a bit of revenge on Siffrin, seeing the way his face flushes almost lightless and he buries himself against your arm. "What was it you said before?" You ask, pulling them away so you can see their face, even as they try to hide. "He looks nice?" You do your best imitation of their voice, and the two of you laugh together as they punch you lightly in the arm.

You could get used to this, you think. You wouldn't mind that at all.

[rose-petal123]

Super curious about the one armed siffrin you keep drawing 👀 what’s that au about if you don’t mind sharing?

OH GOOD LORD. That au happened because I was listening to epic the musical just a man. And then I had a vision. I already wrote a whole description of au shenanigans for this because a friend asked for it and also au rp shenanigans soooo!! I'll just copy and paste that. It's probably one of my favorite aus I've made tbh. I think about it A LOT!!!

CW/TW: Various deaths, War, idk what else. Um. OH YEAH LOSS OF LIMB. Let me know if I'm forgetting anything

War au(?) idk to be named technically

Basic premise is Northern country and Vaugarde are at war. Over what? Idk I haven't really decided. Probably something stupid like land or religion.

Mirabelle/Nebula

A knight that is part of the Vaugarde army. She's more of an on field medic, extremely skilled in healing craft. During an attack on the northern country's castle, she killed the king who was the baby brother of Sirius(Loop) and Altair(Siffrin/North). The reason for this was because she got a vision from the universe telling her she needed to kill the king or else he'd later grow up to destroy Vaugarde as an act of revenge.

Altair/North/Siffrin

Middle child of the royal family! Growing up they were pretty rebellious! Still kinda is tbh. They'd often sneak out without permission and steal random shit. Talk with people in town etc. When the war started a few years back, they ran away from home, not wanting much to do with it. In the past year, they met Mirabelle who had been stranded by her allies. They befriended her (unaware of what she had done), and showed her around the northern country. They grew really close (QPR BLAST!!!) and Mira eventually confessed what she did to the king. North hesitantly forgives her, understanding why she had to do it.

Sirius/Loop (only goes by Sirius)

Eldest child of the royal family. They were put in charge of the country due to their mother dying in childbirth and their father disappearing. They were very quickly pissed off by Mirabelle killing their youngest brother. Even more so when they ran into North and Mirabelle during an attack on the coast. They attempted to attack Mirabelle, who was shielded by North. In the process, Sirius accidentally took off North's right arm. They labeled their brother a traitor for defending the enemy and killing a few royal guards (out of self defense.)

Misc but still important info

- Mirabelle and North stowed away on a Vaugardian boat to get back to Vaugarde.

- Mirabelle and Isabeau are best friends! She introduces North to Isabeau when they visit Jouvente

- Siffrin is the name North uses while in Vaugarde

- Mirabelle shows North around Vaugarde like they did for her while they were in the northern country

- Mirabelle and North want to attempt to convince both countries to make peace.

- Altair is North's real name