#OKAY i posted this before but then i looked at siffrin and i was like: i can do his hat justice than this... so i deleted post

[aria0fgold]

Hmmmmmm I think some is wrong with my copy of OMORI

[remxedmoon]

your friends don’t know what to do.

so!! i redrew every single enemy in the game. in the span of like 9 days (excluding the king i made him right after the last update). that’s abbbout 79* drawings total, with only 3 custom ones for once!! i’m so normal. as always, these are free to use with credit!! go nuts!! spritesheets are included <3

got some notes under the cut, along with As Many Enemies As I Could Fit without making this post obnoxiously long. and i failed. i had to swap between the app and browser several times and i still couldn’t fit every drawing. open this post at your own risk (silly).

okay so first of all. what’s with the asterisk. well. I Drew A Lot More Than 79 Assets Actually. they’re getting posted separately, because this post is ABSURDLY long. you can find most of them in the miscellaneous folder, but for a bit of clarity, i added the teleport map and a bunch of ui elements that reference sprites from the icon sheet. and also the game over and loop back animations but i haven’t finished the spritesheets for those because they’re a pain in the ass so they’re not in the drive yet

if you missed my complaining a few days ago, a few enemies might look a bit crunchy in the actual game? specifically, calamité and désespoir were drawn at the wrong size, because their images in the files do not match the spritesheets! i avoided the issue with most of the other enemies, those two just blindsided me. sorry about that!

^sadnesses having inconsistent designs was actually a running theme with these. détresse rock has an unused design in the files (which i managed to catch before having to redo it thankfully), anxiété has extra spikes that don’t appear on the spritesheet (sorry i was too lazy to fix that one), even the version of the friend rescue in the files doesn’t match any of the frames in the spritesheet. hfjfhfj. sorry about the quality issues.

tangentially related to that, massive thank you to @riggedbones for grabbing the individual frames for the animations for me!! they made my life so much easier. vs friends would’ve been so annoying…

speaking of the animations! hi can you tell i’m not an animator. these were my first time doing Anything animation related since, like, middle school. super sorry for the Jank in some of these! the friend rescue looked way better when i drew it 💔💔.

bourdon’s hands also might act a bit odd, my apologies. the sizing ingame is SUPER inconsistent (why is one of the hands SMALLER than the other????). once i’m able to actually test the mod, i’ll try to fix it wauaua.

the 3 custom sprites are for the triplets! i ended up making two versions for each, one that follows the ingame art, and one with my personal designs for them. i like my own designs for them, but they’re a lot easier to tell apart? so if you want to use the ones that fit the gimmick better, they’re also in the drive 👍

this update. was originally going to have way more custom art. i’ve actually got an act 6 siffrin enemy asset in my art program! but school started and i decided it’d be better to just get the normal stuff done. so the mod can actually come out in a reasonable timeframe. promise that’ll all come out Later! sorry about the wait 😓😓😓

also adding this because i almost forgot: no i don’t know if these are compatible with sasasaap. i don’t have the game still and it’s not my main priority atm, apologies!

okay! that was a lot! and there’s a ton of art down here! thank you for reading all this, i’ll be back with the game over animations and teleport map pretty soon! like. within the weekend. enjoy!!!

[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.)

[basilpaste]

i am very out of it atm and if i wasnt i could make a more coherent post about it. but do yall ever think about how all of the things siffrin 'misses' are a direct consequence of him being recently disabled?

their depth perception is off and the one eye they do have is probably significantly worse than it was because it has to overcompensate. so they miss the switch in the death corridor.

and he misses the key in the head housemaidens office. because its on the bottom of the drawer. and he wouldnt be able to see that at all, but if theres any indication that the drawer looks off, like a weird gap at the bottom, itd be really easy for them to miss it.

and the same goes for the key in the classroom. its in a thick book and chances are they cant really process the fact that the space between some of the pages is larger than normal.

and theres the counter. and how he trips in bonnies friendquest. and they blame themself for these things EVERY TIME. they call themself stupid and bad at their job and he LOST AN EYE. and its just like. its all internalized ableism, baybe! all the fucking way down!!!!!

he wants to operate how he did before losing his eye. He wants to be able to do all the same things the exact same way. and that just isnt feasible. which is okay! and people would understand if he just TALKED ABOUT IT. but they wont!!!!!

anyways ive been thinking about siffrin and the fact that they got so used to fighting on flat ground. and like what that means post-loops. ive been thinking about him knocking into something or missing a little detail and just fucking losing it because hes SO frustrated. so unbelievably mad at himself for not noticing something obvious, not seeing.

and im thinking about them being forced to learn that they run differently now. and theres no going back! no fixing it! and he just has to live with it!!!!! because the eye is gone and they cant just get a new one. and maybe they dont have to be okay with that, but he has to learn to accept that hes changed.

waugh.

[the-bitter-ocean]

( ISAT OPTIONAL ACHIEVEMENT SPOILERS) I finally get to post the writing I made for @sharkylass Isa looping au “In Repetition and Change” which is very cool and everyone should check it out! I wanted to try and make my own take on what the interactions for a memory of puns achievement would look like ^_^. Writing is under the cut:

[ You’re back here again. ]

[ Sif should be arriving right around…]

<| “Isa!!!”|>

[ …Now.]

[ Sif comes along to greet you at the start of every loop. ]

[ He makes a pun about the favor tree and the two of you banter- making each other laugh. ]

[ Every time afterwards, you think of reaching out to him… but you usually tend to chicken out before doing anything. ]

[ It’s cowardly behavior sure, but you’d rather play it safe than ruin anything.]

[ It’s a routine that has never deviated, at least not in any way that was notable to you. ]

<| “..Isa? Are you okay?”|>

[…?]

[ “Oh uh..sorry Sif! Didn’t mean to zone out like that!”]

[ Okay genius, think of something!! He’s getting worried about you!!]

[“..I was just lost in thought thinking about the Favor Tree! Isn’t it cool?”]

[ You make sure to smile. You hope that’s enough.]

<| Sif smiles back at you. |>

<| “..Yeah it is..!”|>

[ Siffrin has the look that they’d only make right before making a pun.]

<| “One could say it's a pretty..."|>

[ You get ready for it.]

[“Uh-huh?”]

<|"...TREE-mendous tree."|>

[ You do your best to laugh convincingly and focus on the information you’ve heard dozens of times before. ]

[“Right right, sleepover at the clock tower. Sounds like a ton of fun!”]

[ It’s not like you’d go anywhere else. ]

=> [ Do you need anything from me?]

=> [ Stop talking. ]

=> [ Stop talking. ]

[ You don’t really feel like talking anymore and you can’t think of anything new to say. ]

[ Sif looks at you and frowns a little. ]

<| “…?”|>

<| “..Alright that’s it..my turn!”|>

[…]

<| “…okay a good joke.. what’s a good joke to make-“|>

[ Did he not realize that you could hear them muttering? ]

[ You’ve done this a couple of times already but you find yourself still repeating your usual lines. ]

[ “..Huh? What for?”]

[ You tilt your head and do your best to act confused and unassuming. ]

[ It’s what you’re best at. ]

[ You already know the answer as to why Sif is doing all of this for you. ]

[ They told you a few loops ago.]

[ Sif did all of this to make you happy.. because the two of you are friends. ]

[ It’s awfully sweet of them isn’t it? ]

[ You really don’t deserve that kindness at all… but you keep those thoughts to yourself because you’re smart. ]

[ Besides it’s nice to hear it again even if you’ve heard it all before. ]

[It’s reassuring to hear someone say they care about you. ]

[ So you will sit here and listen through the same batch of jokes, like you always have. ]

<| “…!!!! Oh- well because you seemed sad. So I wanted to make you laugh! It might help you feel better.”|>

<|…?|>

[Sif looks around and their gaze focuses on the Clocktower in the distance. ]

<| “Ooh, I know! Why did the clock get kicked out of the library?”|>

[“.. I don’t know, why?”]

<| “Because It tocked too much!”|>

[…]

<| “..Oh so you must’ve heard that one already then huh?”|>

[…?!]

[ You forgot to laugh. ]

[ Sif waves his hands and laughs awkwardly. ]

<| “.. It’s okay! I have way more puns at my disposal, so I’ll just find a new one.”|>

[ While Sif is thinking of a new joke to make, you remind yourself to actually respond this time. ]

<| “How do clocks greet each other?”|>

<| “They say h-“|>

[“Hour you doing?”]

<|…!|>

[ Sif falters at your response for a second before recovering. ]

[He laughs awkwardly. ]

<| “..You knew that one too.. I must’ve told you earlier and forgot.. haha..”|>

<| “…Stars, I’m really off my game today arent I?”|>

[ When has acting like a know it all ever helped you? Why did you say that? ]

[ He clearly just wants to help you and all you ended up doing is making him upset instead! ]

[ No, you need to calm down. You can still salvage this. ]

[ Let’s try this again. ]

[ “Oh crab- I didn’t mean to take your joke, Sif!”]

[“If you have any more you’d like to share then I’d be happy to hear it, okay?”]

<| “..! Oh okay? If you say so, Isa.”|>

[ Siffrin nods and scrunches up their face. ]

[ It’s clear they’re trying extremely hard to think of a pun you haven’t already heard from them yet. ]

[ Siffrin mumbled to themselves again. This time it’s barely audible. ]

<| “..Please be funny please be funny please be funny...”|>

[…?]

<| “..! Okay I think I got it..”|>

<| “A fashion designer made a belt with clocks printed on it for a time traveller…”|>

[…? Oh, that’s a new one! ]

[ Sif noticed your brief look of surprise and smiles. ]

<| “Do you know what they called it, Isa?”|>

[ You shake your head no in response to the question and let Siffrin answer. ]

[“No, I don’t. What did they call it, Sif?”]

<| “A waist of time!”|>

[…?!]

[ Heh.]

[Ha..AHAHHAHAHAHAHA]

[ You laugh and laugh and laugh. You can’t seem to stop. ]

<| “Yes! I knew I still got it-“|>

[ The joke wasn’t even that funny but you feel tears start to prick at your eyes ]

<| “..?! Isa??”|>

[ Can’t you see that the joke is over now? ]

[ He’s going to think you’re being weird!!!]

[ You struggle at it, but you somehow manage to force yourself to take a deep breath in and out. ]

[ You smile and give a shaky thumbs up to Sif. ]

[ He hesitantly smiles at you back.]

[ “..Thank you Sif, I really needed that.”]

<| “..? Are you..”|>

[ Sif looked like they wanted to say something else but stopped himself. ]

<| “..Nevermind. I’m glad I could help cheer you up for a bit, Isa.”|>

<| “I’m going to go to the clocktower now!”|>

<| “Let me know if you need anything from me, okay?”|>

[ Siffrin waves goodbye and runs off. You watch him go.]

[[ You got a MEMORY OF PUNS. ]]

[ You will always remember this.]

[[ When Memory of Puns is equipped, your Dramaturgist will have a higher chance of landing a critical hit on an enemy.]]

[eldragon-x]

Gonna write out this idea that Silver inspired in me in a post because I'm not sure I'll get around to actually writing a fic for it and I just need more people to think about Mirabelle and Odile moments with me.

I've brought up before that it's kinda insane that Odile pulled out a spell that stopped Siffrin from looping back in time. Like whatever she used here is able to interact with Time Craft, which itself would normally kill the user.

So I think it's quite possible that she herself might suffer craft exhaustion as a result of this. Add on that the party had to run through the distorted House at night to catch up with Siffrin and that Odile isn't the most physically fit person at her age.

But maybe she pushes that aside. Siffrin was hit harder by Craft Sickness, everyone was concerned about him, the party decided to leave Dormont rather sooner than later for their sake, she can handle it.

But it does catch up to her soon enough after a long day of the party fighting their way through Sadnesses and making it to an Inn by the evening. She's tired, her body hurts, she feels ill, and she's bruised and dirty from the battles, not helped by her performance already dwindling since the party left Dormont.

So she's sitting on her bed, dizzy and aching, wishing she could take the opportunity to take a bath but feeling too weak to do so. It affects her to the point where Mirabelle can tell that she's not doing well and asks if she can help her in any way.

Odile admits at this point that maybe she didn't give herself enough rest since that day in Dormont and that she's frustrated because she can't do much at all right now. And now that she brought it up, she wonders if Mirabelle is alright, since she also performed a powerful spell that day.

Mira appreciates the concern, but assures Odile she's doing okay. The shield spell was complicated, but not so exhausting that she wouldn't have recovered over a good night's sleep. Moreso she feels rather guilty for not having checked up on Odile earlier.

All that being said, she offers to help Odile bathe. Being a healer and having spent a lot of time studying about anything in the House of Dormont, I imagine she has some degree of medical training and trusts herself to handle people.

Odile gets tense but weighting her options, decides it's probably the most logical step here and she'd rather Mira assists her than anyone else. It turns into a bit of a back and forth of them trying to assure each other that they don't have to if they're uncomfortable, but Odile wants to be practical and refresh herself, and Mirabelle can take the innitiative when she needs to and at worst will feel slightly awkward about helping someone she knows personally in such a vulnerable position.

Odile actually feels a lot more embarrassed about the whole situation because it's strange having to rely on someone notably younger than herself after essentially assigning herself as the Adult™️ of the party looking out for everyone else. But Mira doesn't hesitate, gets straight to the point, and after helping Odile settle, she stays to sit down next to the bathub in case Odile needs help reaching something or getting out, make sure she doesn't fall asleep and goes under, and tries to ease the tension for her by bringing up a book she's been reading.

Odile is surprised to hear that Mira's into horror literature but gets genuinely invested which helps her relax. Mira ends up convincing Odile to borrow one of her books and jokes that she will have to read through it while the party decides to stay at the inn for the following week so she can recover.

Odile's tempted to protest the suggestion that they should stop for over a week, just for her, but drops it. The party can take their time now, that the curse isn't threatening the country anymore. She supposes they also did promise to look out for each other, she just didn't think she'd need to rely on anyone else.

On Mira's insistence, Odile gets bed rest for the following days, with the rest of the party helping her get whatever she needs, while she picks up Mirabelle's book whenever she can.

[livesworthlivingau]

Memory of a Kiss

The first of a series I'm calling 'Memories Of' which show a moment from Siffrin's original 30 years post game. Though as you can see here, they won't all be from his POV~

CW: Suicide, Blood, Strangling.

|It's been 2 months since everything went down back at the house of change, and Sif had been a lot more emotionally stable as of late. You've been wanting to give them space and not pester them about your feelings for them, but now they're starting to show signs of expecting it. Still, you want to make sure it's something special, so you've been planning a special date to finally begin your relationship together.|

"Alright everyone, wish me luck!" |You say with a light blush before everyone cheers you out the door of Bonnie and Nille's place. With a bouquet of flowers in one hand, and a wrapped up, fresh pain au chocolat from Bonnie in the other, you set out to the docks where Sif said they'd be hanging out today.|

|Finally, you spot their familiar darkless cloaked and hatted form laying down at the end of the dock.|

"Sif! Siffrin!" |You call out eagerly, but they don't move. They must have taken a nap by the sea, just like them to pass out in the strangest of places... but despite the reasonable explanation, you can't help but get a sinking feeling deep in your gut...|

"He's fine, totally fine, just napping." |You beg, plead, pray calmly tell yourself, walking up closer and kneeling behind them, laying on their side. You lightly grab his shoulder and give it a little shake.|

"Hey, Siffy, Siffarooni, wake u-" |Their form falls towards you onto his back, limp and lifeless, lightless fluid soaking into a large pool in front of them from their carved wrists... Your heart stops, your body freezes, you just stare in absolute horror, taking in the soft, relieved smile on their face.|

"S... Sif..." |You whisper out, as if a wish to the universe, to take it back, to reveal it's fake, to loop back so you could stop this. You slowly pull his cold corpse close to your body, hugging it as tight as you could, lightly rocking back and forth as your brain won't let you fully process what you've seen.|

"It's okay Sif... I'm here... I won't let go..." |You whisper as tears silently flow down your face. You continue rocking back and forth, holding them tight as their blood soaks into your clothing.|

"... Isaa..." |Your eyes widen as you hear their raspy voice, quickly pulling them back to look at their face|

"SIF?!" |Their still limp form dangles in front of you for a moment, before it suddenly lunges to life, grabbing your throat. His eye is pure darkless and empty, staring into your very soul.|

"Why weren't you strong enough?... Why couldn't you help me?..." |You choke out a gasp, gripping at his arms and trying to pry them off of you, but it was no use. He continued to squeeze your neck tighter and tighter, his lifeless expression turning to that of anger.|

"WHY COULDN'T YOU HELP ME?!" |He shouts, clenching even tighter. Just before you'd feel a snap, you suddenly jolt awake, sitting up instantly in bed and gripping at your throat. You pant out heavily, slowly coming to your senses as you realize you're still in bed, it was just a horrid nightmare...|

"Sif... Sif, you awake?" |You ask to your side, reaching a hand over, only to find the bed empty... You try to stop yourself from panicking. You try to take a few deep breaths like Sif does... You... You... You have to find him!|

"SIFFRIN!!" |You shout as you practically faceplant from how frantically you rushed out of bed. You dart for the door and yank it out, quickly rushing through the house for the front door, you have to find him, you have to find him before it happens, you have to find him now!!|

"Isa?!" |You skid to a stop just before the door, looking to your right to see Sif and Nille sitting at the kitchen table, having a cup of Coffee together. You quickly shift your face to a bright, eager smile as you realize what's going on.|

"Sif! Couldn't sleep, huh?" |You ask casually, nervous drops of sweat trickling down your face. Nille gives a slight snort at that.|

"Smooth, big guy~." |She teases before sipping at her coffee.|

"... I'm sorry, Isa, I just couldn't sleep well, I didn't mean to worry you." |They tug their hat down a bit, trying to hide under it like usual. You really stepped in it this time.|

"No, Sif, you didn't do anything wrong, I just... I had a bad dream is all, made me worry about you, it's stupid." |You try to lighten the mood, though your freak out a moment ago made it pretty obvious you're lying.|

"I'll give you two some alone time." |Nille says, getting up from the table and leaving her seat open for you. She pats your shoulder as she walks past and whispers.| "You got this Za~."

|You sit down with a heavy sigh, rubbing the back of your head.| "You sure you're doing okay, Sif? You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"I-I know! I am! Much better at least... I just... You haven't really talked about 'us' in a while, a-and I was getting worried that you might not feel the same anymore... I was talking to Nille about it and she said you were planning something really big and special..." |You carefully study their face to see how they feel about that, and they seem... disappointed?|

"Is that... bad?"

"N-No! Not... exactly? I just... I don't need anything fancy like that." |They put their hand on the table, inviting you to take it, which you quickly do in a snug yet careful grasp.| "I just need you..."

"R-Really?" |You start to feel your own face heating up quite a bit.|

"Of course... D-Do you remember... what we talked about? A-At the top of the house?..." |You remember talking about a lot of stuff up there, but once they make that familiar face, you know exactly what they're referring to.|

"I remember there being mention of practicing a certain activity... If that's what you might be referring to!" |They give a little nod in response. He slowly gets out of his chair to walk closer, standing nervously beside you and waiting. You take the hint and gently take him into your lap.|

|He closes his eye, and you close yours, leaning in close to press your lips to his. The warmth of your bodies pressed together, the little spark in your heart, the light parting of your lips. The moment was absolutely perfect, just as you wished it would be.|

This was actually concocted for a trade with @eldritch-araneae who specifically requested that sweet, sweet Isa angst~ I sure how I did it justice! Hope y'all enjoyed~!

[snazzy-mushroom]

Hey yall I made some dialogue between Siffrin and Bonnie pre-loops! I’ll probably make this into a comic but I kind feel like posting the dialogue now for funsies, let me know if you guys think i could add anything to make it better!

Bonnie: “and then nille climbed up the tree and got it for me!”

Siffrin: “haha wow bonbon, your sister sounds pretty cool…”

Bonnie: “that’s because she is cool! She’s the coolest ever!”

Siffrin: “oh wow, the coolest ever? Even cooler than Odile?”

Bonnie: “well…nille is the coolest sister ever. But nille and dile are probably the same amount of cool”

Siffrin: “hehe oh I see”

Bonnie: “yeah! Heh…uhm frin?”

Siffrin: “yes bonbon?”

Bonnie: “did you have any siblings?”

Siffrin: “oh uhm….”

…

…

…

Bonnie: “FRIN!”

Siffrin: “-! Y-yeah?”

Bonnie: “I asked you a question”

Siffrin: “you did?”

Bonnie: “How did you already forget that, you crab head?!”

Siffrin: “oh I’m sorry bon bon, what was it again?”

Bonnie: “I asked what your family was like”

Siffrin: (…my family) “I…don’t really know…”

*bonnie gives Siffrin a weird look*

Bonnie: “how do you not know what you’re family was like”

Siffrin: “I…”

Bonnie: “frin, are you messing with me?”

Siffrin: “no! I just…I just…”

Bonnie: “you have to have at least one story about them”

Siffrin:….(why can’t you think of anything, they’re right you must have something you can say about your family…how many siblings you had, how many parents, what your relationship was like, what you used to do for fun as a kid? Where you lived?! Stars, why…why can’t you remember)

*bonnie seems concerned now*

Bonnie: frin…are you okay?

Siffrin: (WHY CANT YOU-*memory resets*) huh? Yeah I’m fine…

Bonnie:…are you sure?

Siffrin: yeah, why do you ask?

Bonnie: *looking away* you were… *looks at Siffrin*…never mind

Siffrin: (…?) ok?

Bonnie:…I’m gonna go start making lunch

Siffrin: oh do you want help?

Bonnie: uhm…yeah okay…

An alternate ending for this dialogue is Siffrin not immediately forgetting their train of thought and freaking out over it to Bonnie before they forget. Bonnie would probably most definitely tell the other adults to which would cause they to try and talk to Siffrin about it

I think it’d be interesting if the party realized that there is something going on with Siffrin’s past/childhood pre-loops rather than them all thinking that Siffrin simply doesn’t want to talk about it

(I know the party not knowing is important in the game I just mean it’d be interesting to think about what would happen if it went differently)

[traumaboyexo]

CARRION!Sif Memory of Sadness

[[Immediate new post! But that's just because I already had this written.]]

(Your stomach growls as your family enters the familiar first hallway.)

(It's the same sadness. Every time. Annoying. Frustrating.)

(...)

(You're. So. Hungry.)

(Perhaps...perhaps payback is due.)

(It's almost breakfast, isn't it?)

"A Sadness, huh? The House must be crawling with them..."

"O-okay everyone, let's, um, uh--"

(You pounce.)

(Your prey is almost immediately within your grasp. You don't waste a single moment and anchor it to the ground.)

(STAB!)

(Your dagger has pierced straight through the sadness and into the floor. It screams and struggles in agony. Music to your ears.)

(Feasting time.)

(You can barely focus on anything else. You're so hungry. You stare and tower over the Sadness, wrapping your tentacles around it, making sure they're tight enough to cause more pain.)

(It begins struggle faster. Good.)

(You rip the Sadness off the floor. Your jaws are already open, excited, anticipating the sweet meal.)

(You bring the sadness closer, and closer.)

(The tears are flowing. The screams continue.)

(You're starving.)

(CRUNCH.)

(You chew. Your hunger is satiated as the salty sweet taste and prime meat texture churns around within your mouth.)

(It's amazing, delectable.)

(It really is better to make your own food.)

(You chew and chew and chew, making sure the taste lingers for as long as possible.)

(You finally swallow.)

(For the time being, you are no longer hungry.)

(...)

(You concentrate.)

(You feel your hands and fingers and legs and toes return to you.)

(You turn to your party.)

"I'm full!"

(...they're horrified.)

(That's to be expected.)

(You really are unlovable.)

[REWIND]

"A Sadness, huh? The House must be crawling with them..."

"O-okay everyone, let's, um, uh--"

"I'm hungry."

(Everyone looks at you in surprise.)

"Already?" (Isabeau says with a confused smile.) "Right now?"

(Bonnie digs around their pockets.)

"Hold on Frin, I might have something here--"

"Hehe." (Mirabelle giggles)

"Thank you Siffrin."

"...oh!" (Isabeau snaps his fingers.) "Were you trying to calm Mirabelle down, Sif?"

"Ohhhh. That's pretty clever!" (Bonnie says with a point.)

"Indeed. A joke before battle. As though you don't say them enough DURING them." (Odile says, a smirk across her face.)

(...you give a laugh of your own.)

(Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.)

(You can't lash out like that again.)

(You can't let them know.)

(No matter how much your stomach growls.)

(Stick to the script.)

[twigthedoodler]

You loop back with all of them... Pt. 3

in stars and time spoilers ahead! Inspired by this post! Part 2 is here! Part 4 is here!

@moonsart

(They all glare at you, annoyed, and concerned for you.)

(You can’t help but laugh! It’s funny! It’s SO funny how they care but you don’t! It’s funny how you knew they would hate you! It’s funny how they are only characters to you now! You're disgusting Siffrin! Of course they hate you!)

“What you say doesn’t matter. It all ends the same anyways.”

Isabeau: “What!? Of course it does! We care about you Siffrin! We just wanna know what’s going on so we can help!”

Odile: “‘It all ends the same anyways…’ Something tells me these two days have happened for a while now. isn’t that right Siffrin?”

(They give a suspicious, knowing, stare at you.)

Mirabelle: “This has happened before???”

Bonnie: “What do you mean?”

“...”

“You figured it out again, huh? Well that doesn’t matter… We need to focus on tomorrow and defeating the king! Let’s talk about it later!”

(You did not intend to talk about it later. You never did. You never will. You fake a smile again. You take more care this time to make it more convincing than last time…)

Isabeau: “Hey guys… Let’s just drop it for now. Siffrin clearly isn’t comfortable talking about it… And Siffrin is right. We need to focus on tomorrow. We can talk about it later.”

(Very naive… even though he was wrong, you were grateful to change the subject all the same.)

Odile: “No! We shouldn’t, we all know very well Siffrin won’t say it later!”

Bonnie: “Yeah! He won’t! He never talks about anything that bothers him!”

Mirabelle: “Can we just chill out? It’s okay! We can force him to say it later! We do need to focus on tomorrow! So… Can we just stop fighting about it…? …Please?”

(Odile sighs, and Bonnie thinks about it and hesitantly agrees)

Odile: “Fine. Mirabelle you’re right, we shouldn’t fight right now. But we will get Siffrin to talk later. Or I’ll figure it out myself. Okay?”

“Okay. Sure! Later!”

(You keep on that fake smile. You knew it wouldn’t happen so you were not worried! You kept your act on that you had on for all the other loops before, the whole night long! Ah! Familiarity! Nice! You all went to bed without the play going off the rails of the script too much!)

…

(I was worried about Sif. I think we all were… I couldn’t sleep at all. So I knew Odile knew more than me so I nudged her.)

“Hey… Ma’am… I think you know more than me, and I’d like to help you! May I please?”

Odile: “Isabeau… I do indeed have an idea of how to figure out more of what’s going on with Siffrin… If you promise to not tell Siffrin, you may.”

(She had a lead? She trusted me with the idea? Of course I was going to listen! Anything I could do to help Siffrin I would do it!)

“Of course. I won’t say anything! What is it?”

Odile: “I don’t want anyone to hear… Let's get out of the Clocktower before we talk.”

“Okay!”

(So the both of us sneak out of the Clocktower. Once outside Odile looked around before telling me her idea.)

Odile: “So I saw the direction Siffrin was coming from when we found him today… I think we should look around there.”

“What direction did he come from?”

Odile: “The Favor tree… Are you in with the plan?”

“Of course! I wanna help Siffrin! Let’s check it out! What do you think we should be looking for?”

Odile: “I’m not entirely sure right now. But I'm sure we will know when we get there. Now let’s go before anyone notices we are gone.”

“Gasp! Ma’am are you researching Spy-ology?”

Odile: “...no I'm not. That’s not a thing. Now let’s get going.”

“Fine. Let’s go!”

(So we sneak around the town, making sure no one was following us. Finally we get to the East side of town. We walk past the trees to the Favor tree. It loomed above us in the darkness. The tree itself felt off, and for a moment I swear I saw a strange glow.)

“Did… did you see that?”

Odile: “I believe I did…Hmmm…I wonder what exactly that was…”

“We should check it out!”

…

(I heard them. I heard Siffrin’s family…Odile and Isabeau at the tree… I can’t let them see me! If I do, I would just remember them…)

(On branch I was holding on for dear life! If they saw me- It wouldn't happen! They will leave right!? But to my dismay they came closer. They looked at the base of the tree… I was losing my grip! I fell… I FELL!? OH NO!)

…

(There in front of us was… was… It looked like what’s in the sky!... Didn’t Siffrin say those were-)

“Are you a star?”

(The star looked so scared!...why? Well maybe it was because Odile and me was too tall.)

???: “I- I- It’s- It’s you!... No Isabeau I am not a star…And Odile… I’m not a wish.”

“How do you know our names!?”

Odile: “Do you know us?”

[quantumfeat72]

Hi, hello, I would love the details on the isat-undertale crossover thingy you have if that's okay :3

(og post)

:>>

ok SO

the basic conceit is that, after siffrin dies for the first time, chara just shows up outside the house on the next loop. they introduce themself as a defender-in-training from the nearest big city (this is a lie), and casually hand siffrin a ring. "For luck!"

(You got the crafted ring...?) (Might be useful.) (You put the ring in your pocket along with your Souvenirs.)

the ring can only be used outside of combat, when at least one party member is wounded

(You rub the ring between your fingers.) (...Oh!) (Everyone's HP was restored.)

siffrin naturally assumes they have something to do with the other mysterious they/them stranger who showed up at the beginning of this loop, but after meeting them more than once it becomes clear that chara doesn't remember previous loops

so after talking about them with loop (who claims not to know anything), siffrin starts asking chara increasingly pointed questions until they spill that they're aware someone must be looping in time, and they think it's probably one of the "saviors" (or, if the level gap is large enough, they'll say they're pretty sure it's siffrin)

Siffrin: "Wow, weird :) I have no idea what you're talking about :) :)" Odile: "...You've encountered time craft before, then?" Chara: "Of a sort. Regardless, I just thought that ring might be of use! Good luck in there."

after this, siffrin starts interrupting their introduction with "Hi again, Chara! Loop said you wanted to give us something?" (this has the desired effect of speeding through the conversation, but it does earn them an early Weird Point)

("Loop told me" becomes a code/shorthand between the two for "I know because of time travel." chara's usually surprised if/when siffrin mentions that loop is a real person, which is what finally convinces him that the two aren't in cahoots. the shorthand sticks though, partly because it annoys loop to no end)

meanwhile, as they explore the house, siffrin & co can find frisk in their dorm room

(The youngest housemaiden, frozen in time.) (They have an arm out, as though to protect the people behind them...)

mirabelle didn't know them well, but she remembers when they showed up - it's been about two years, she thinks, and they were with their older sibling (whose name is escaping her at the moment). the two of them were in the infirmary for a while (she doesn't know why), but frisk almost immediately decided they wanted to become a housemaiden. so they've been living here ever since, even after their sibling left. (where did the sibling go? mirabelle's not sure, and was always too anxious to ask - anything to do with frisk's past seemed to make them really sad! so she didn't want to bother them about it!)

if you look through frisk's room a bit, you can find a chain for the bell pendant. it still doesn't do anything except go "ding ding," but siffrin is happy to have completed the necklace

starting in act 3, siffrin can ask chara to go into the house with them.

Chara: "...Are you that desperate?" Siffrin: "Loop said you've dealt with time craft before..." Odile: "I hardly think we need to bring another child along, just to gather information." Mirabelle: "But... maybe they would be safer with us?" Chara: "Oh, you do not need to worry about me!" Siffrin: "You said you were a defender-in-training, right?" (Chara nods.) Isabeau: "Still, though..." Chara: "I will also be eighteen this coming fall." Odile: "What?" Bonnie: "WHAT?!"

anyway. chara's not thrilled about the idea, and the others are apprehensive (and confused why siffrin suddenly wants to gather info about time craft), but everyone does eventually agree to it

chara will help fight if someone's KO'd (and acts similarly to bonnie, albeit stronger and more likely to attack) but, this being act 3 or 4, siffrin & co don't need their help in combat. what really changes is that chara comments on things, makes reference to the nature of time craft as they understand it, asks leading questions when they find books & such about time or wish craft, and during snack breaks siffrin can disappear with them for a few minutes so they can talk privately

("It's about Loop..." is their go-to excuse, which combined with the aforementioned shorthand, tends to lead the others to believe that this "Loop" person is very sick, psychic, deeply untrustworthy, or some combination of the three)

i have a lot of ideas for how acts 3 & 4 could go, some of them mutually exclusive, and some i want to draw rather than just describe. chara has a lot of advice for siffrin - some good, some bad, some Ominous and Kinda Fucked Up - and is very confrontational because they know if they wait before saying something, siffrin could just go back and keep them from ever saying it. a few events go differently with them present, and a couple of new ones can happen!

aand in the interest of not writing an entire novel, i'll stop there for now. act 5 is another thing i dunno if i want to summarize without drawing it (the broad strokes happen the same way, it's just that Chara is Here Now and has some Things to Say about it)

[amuseintime]

Post-Recital (Pt 1)

The chronological start of the Scriptfrin Saga and Prequel to Line, Please, but can be read before or after. Also available on AO3.

It’s been a little bit since the loops all ended. Siffrin thought he’d thrown out the script, but he and his family discover his lines are ingrained.

Semi verbal Siffrin ahead, and oooh boy this first chapter is not kind to them... Warnings for: Blood, lashing out, yelling, and general panic.

That said, I'm a hurt/comfort girlie at heart. Enjoy~

NEXT >>

It’s been some time since they’d beaten the King. Without his rule, well, it’s not as though all those Sadnesses completely disappeared, but without new ones being spawned by the dozen, numbers had been dropping rapidly. It hadn’t been this safe to travel in months!

That didn’t mean it was completely safe though…

“BE MORE CAREFUL, BONNIE!” Siffrin yelled.

It’d taken no more than one craft-enhanced swipe of his dagger to fell the thing, and he’d always been quick. It was already dead before the rest of the group had the chance to realize a Sadness had snuck up on Boniface while they were picking berries.

“I’m fine!” Bonnie protested. “You don’t gotta save me EVERY time Frin.”

They all ran over regardless, of course. Bonnie looked more spooked than hurt, but Mirabelle used some healing craft on them anyways. The Sadness was gone, Bonnie wasn’t injured, so that left Siffrin.

“… I shouldn’t have yelled.”

Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief, only relaxing further when Siffrin said, “Breathe with me?”

Oh why not? Everyone from Bonnie to Odile needed that, it seemed. The trouble seemingly over, they started to drift back to their respective tasks…

“It did not, no,” Siffrin said.

What?

“Uh, Sif. What did not?” Isabeau said.

“I can teach you, but don’t go ahead on your own,” Siffrin continued.

“Teach me what?” Bonnie said.

Mirabelle, Odile, and Isabeau looked between each other. Mira, as she often was, looked anxious, and Odile had a slight frown—not necessarily an upset one, but a deep in thought type. Isabeau tried to smile, but there was a sinking pit in his gut.

Siffrin stood up, looked around, and pointed off into the distance with one hand, putting a finger in front of his mouth with the other. He took a few steps before running directly into a tree and falling on his butt.

“Frin! Are you okay?” Bonnie said, rushing over.

Siffrin blinked owlishly, looking around with the confused and slightly alarmed demeanor of someone waking up somewhere different than they fell asleep. “Yes.”

Bonnie squinted down at him. “You’re lying. Stop lying, you crab! You’re acting weird! Guys! Frin’s acting weird!”

“Yes, we can see that, Boniface,” Odile said.

“Odile,” Siffrin said. Everyone waited, but no, that was all that was to be said.

“Siffrin,” Odile eventually replied.

“Clocktower, sleepover.”

“Siffrin, the- um- the clock tower is back in Dormont,” Mirabelle said. “We’re camping now, remember?”

“We can forget about our problems!” Siffrin said, plastering a grin on for just as long as it took to say that before clamping hands over his mouth.

Bonnie backed away, half-hiding behind Odile. “Frin, you’re acting weird…”

Isabeau cleared his throat, “Siffrin? What’s going on?”

“We’re fighting the king tomor- mph!” he cut himself off with his hands, eye wide in terror.

“Siffrin?!” Mirabelle said. “What’s going on? Is this- is this like Euphrasie? Are you looping again?! Is someone else?!”

Siffrin opened his mouth and, “DO YOU REMEMBER?! Stars . No! Hehe, haha, flower for you! Let’s talk about something! Let’s talk about something. LET’S TALK ABOUT SOMETHING!”

“Siffrin!” Odile snapped. It was enough to make their rogue stop, if only for the moment. Her expression softened into concern. “You’re repeating stuff from the loops, aren’t you?”

“Let’s talk- let’s talk- what should I do next?” Siffrin stammered. “We’re fighting the king tomorrow! Sleepover, clocktower-“ He tugged at his hair. Isabeau moved forward to stop it, but Siffrin slapped his hand away. There was something feral in his eye, something scared and wild and desperate. His hands made a scissor pose, but didn’t strike, not yet. “ARE YOU THE ONE DOING THIS TO ME?!”

Isabeau went pale, backing up. Odile put an arm between Siffrin and Bonnie as Mirabelle cast a shield over all of them.

If only for a moment, Siffrin’s voice somehow seemed even less his own, “Something’s broken, something’s failing, rotting!!!”

They all knew that one. But what could they do but watch in horror? He still had his sign up, ready to strike…

Isabeau walked to the front. If anyone had a chance, it was him, right? “Siffrin? Please Sif, breathe…”

“BREATHE?! READY! NO! STARS , NO! NO!” He grasped handfuls of his hair. “WHERE ARE YOU FROM?! WHAT DID YOU WISH FOR?! WHAT SHOULD I REMEMBER?!” He was shaking, unseeing. His hand went out to strike, but he turned it away at the last moment, slicing into his own arm instead. “Heh, hehahaha! SPEAK IT! SPEAK IT, BRIGHT ONE! WE CAN REMEMBER IT, PLEASE!!!                !”

It felt like a spike going through Isabeau’s head. Blinding pain behind his temples, bright shade that should not exist crackling in front of his eyes, splitting the trees, the sky, covering Siffrin -

“Siffrin!” Mirabelle shrieked. She dove forward, holding her hands out in craft.

As the dancing shades in front of Isa’s eyes cleared up, he could see why. Blood. Dark, thick blood, running from Siffrin’s nose, from his mouth, blood stained with the lingering remnants of that nameless shade. He hacked it out, coughs wracking his whole body. Sif was always small, but he looked almost Bonnie-sized like this, curled up like a wounded animal.

Isa was sorely tempted to scoop him up in a big hug and try to protect him from the world, but even if Siffrin apparently liked touch—to a degree—he still tended to be jumpy, sometimes violent. So instead he knelt down beside Mirabelle as she finished crafting her Super Sparkle Heal; close to Siffrin, but not overbearing.

“Hey Siffrin, Sif, Siffarooni, can you hear me?”

“ISAAAAAAA!” he cheered from a still-raw throat, clapping hands over his mouth in seeming horror as he coughed. “What a— cough —TREE-mendous tree…” he whimpered and started tugging at his own hair again.

That… wasn’t really an answer. Okay Isa, think, put that big boy brain you used to kinda hate to use! Siffrin technically could speak, but apparently couldn’t say anything but his lines from the loops. Some of it seemed related to what was happening, but not enough to have an actual conversation, much less a feelings talk. Either way, between the fact that what he could say wasn’t helpful and was actively distressing him, it might be better to treat this as someone completely nonverbal. He had a little experience with those—it’d been a class in defender training.

“Hey buddy, how about this. Nod if you can hear me.”

Siffrin nodded. Poor guy was shaking…

“There we go. So now we know yes and no questions can work,” Isa said.

“Are you okay Siffrin?” Mirabelle said.

Siffrin nodded.

“Or he’s just nodding to anything that sounds like a question,” Odile said.

Siffrin shook his head.

“Well, in that case, he’s lying, because clearly you are not okay, young one,” Odile said.

“Siffrin, we-we just want to help! But, um, we can’t do that if you lie,” Mirabelle said.

“Yeah! You’ve gotta tell the truth Stupidfrin! You already get to ferret out of real answers!”

“Weasel,” Odile corrected.

“Out of real weasels!”

Okay that was a stretch even for Bonnie, but it made Siffrin snort and crack a smile.

“Hehe, made you laugh!”

Oh! It was on purpose this time. Adorable.

“Snrk- it was a very fruitful meeting!”

Most of them were confused, but Bonnie was just unimpressed, “Frin, if you’re gonna make puns, you at least have to have the first part too.”

“ Stars ,” he huffed.

Isa grinned. “Feeling a little better now?”

Siffrin opened his mouth, but apparently thought better of it and just nodded. One of his arms raised a little, hand hovering by his side, then he reached out to take Isa’s hand.

Oh crab oh crab this was so cute he was gonna-

Focus! Siffrin is having a hard time, you can have the heart of a maiden later. “Want to hold my hand?”

“Yes Mr. Amazing-Wonderful-Funny-Buff-Isabeau.”

“HWA- SIF?! WHAT?! YOU CAN’T JUST SAY THAT?!”

Siffrin stuck his tongue out between bouts of laughing, though he was blushing too.

Odile looked at him with one eyebrow raised and a sly grin, “… I’m almost afraid to ask, but I’m quite curious as to under what context that would ever possibly come up.”

“THANK YOU SNACK LEADER FOR THIS DELICIOUS MEAL!”

“Thank you, that explained almost nothing.”

Siffrin blew a raspberry.

“Oh, having a laugh are we? Showing off that we can’t reasonably expect you to explain? Well, rest assured, you will be telling us that when you’ve recovered your full vocabulary.”

“Even Za?”

Mirabelle said, “ Especially Isa.”

Isa started making tea kettle noises, but stop short as he looked at Sif. Siffrin’s gaze was downcast, his hand was trying to tug down a hat he no longer had.

“Hey buddy, what’s up? Do you not think you’re going to get your words back?”

Siffrin shook his head, paused, nodded, then just kind of shrugged.

“Hmm. Let’s rephrase that,” Mira said. “Do you think you’ll be able to talk normally again?”

Siffrin hesitated, staring a hole in the ground. His grip on Isabeau’s hand tightened. He shook his head.

“Hey, don’t worry, alright? You’ll get them back,” Isabeau said. “Might take a bit, but try not to stress over it too much, okay?”

“What he said! This’ll pass too, okay Siffrin?” Mirabelle said. She went over to take his free hand, beaming.

“Yeah! Just ‘cause your words got scared away doesn’t mean they’ll stay hiding!” Bonnie said. “Hmm, gonna hug you now!” They wrapped arms around Siffrin’s neck.

“I think they’ve said it better than I can, and unless you intend for me to seize your legs, I’m afraid you’re out of limbs to hold onto,” Odile said. “Then again…” She walked over and mussed up Siffrin’s hair. “This’ll do.”

Siffrin did not, could not, muster up anything to say, but he didn’t need to. Later, they would talk, but for now? The tears tracing lines around the smile on his face said enough.

-------

I prefer tea, but buy me a Kofi?

[boos-gh0st]

Okay I’m gonna start giving you guys name variants for my friends I can’t just keep saying “my friend” and then proceed to another story with a different so before I start my next one

Friend I played the game with: Butwhy (you already knew this)

Friend who did 36 Loops: qib (variant)

Other friends will be labeled in time

ANYWAY ONTO MY STORY

Butwhy and I have this funny thing we do ever since we played ISAT that when discord glitches and adds two reactions to a message in DMs rather than just the one (pics provided) we say hi to Loop. It’s goofy, and we do it because it’s like “lmao there’s two and one of us didn’t react to it, must be Loop”

Yesterday we were texting and it happened in a casual conversation, so I said hi to Loop.

This man comes back with a VOICE NOTE in his loop voice saying “oh hellooooo stahdust [cause his loop is British for whatever reason]! I just felt the need to add a little reaction emoji, because I thought your good friend Butwhy was sooo funny, so I just felt the need to updo that. And also to go through the funny air waves to do a funny voice message [airy laugh]”

So we spoke about loop being in my wifi

Which quickly turned to loop checking my search history! So we had recieved two voice notes from loop yesterday.

“Oh! Stahrdust, let me take a look at your search history euh- ……… [gets very close to the mic, lowers voice] stardust why do you have- st- stardust why do you have siffrin x isab-“

This sounds so unfunny in text GUYS PLEASE I PROMISE IT WAS A HILARIOUS CONVERSATION it made my day yesterday okay it’s silly

I would’ve added videos of the voice notes but I would need his permission to do so and I don’t feel like asking so you are just revieving images of our prior “hi loop”’s

The first one is yesterdays, needs no context as there is this entire post. In the second one the voice note he replies with is “hey stahdust, by yourself on a Friday night? PATHETIC.” WITH HIS ASS GIGGLING AND STIFLING A LAUGH THE ENTIRE TIME 😭😭😭

I’m sure there’s others but I can’t find them

[openphrase123]

okay........so sorry for all these questions lol feel free to pick and choose.

73, 65, 45, 32, 26, 20, 11, and 10!!

AH? well don't worry i like answering things :) thank you for the ask >:3

however this shit's going under a readmore (there isssss a preview of tomorrow's four eyes update in here though :3) (and also fic recs)

73. What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works?

I think I format things a little differently on ao3 than what i've seen in other fics? me and my doublespaces. sorry if this makes them harder to read it actually makes it easier for me to read with my visual processing

for actual CONTENT... idk i think i have the tendency to take things that are extremely high concepts that veer into crackfic territory and ground them in reality as best i can. but i think it feels more real because i deal a lot in slow boils and longfics, so i take lots of time on atmosphere before immediately coming out with things like "siffrin is a literal star banished from the sky by the universe"

also i think i'm really strong at romance writing especially but that's neither here nor there

65. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

i actually just noticed you left a comment on my seizure-induced post about my future 20 years later fic and it reminded me that i'm so on my high horse about how i named the isafrin fankids i made up for it. you know how siffrin's name is sisyphus but id5 mangled it into siffrin? i did that with all of the isafrin fankid names. took greek mythology heroes and mangled the names. theseus -> thessan and aeneas -> aeney

anyway they're fun to write and i keep writing about them as a treat when i need it :3 they're both forgotten island castaways that washed up on shore as toddlers so they couldn't just learn vaugardian and move on, and everyone in bambouche was like "hey siffrin can you take care of these kids since you're from the same country" and he panicked for a full month before saying yes

45. Do you want to break your readers‘ heart or make them laugh?

por que no los dos? can't i do both? sometimes i do it at the same time, even. i do want to END with them laughing though i don't give hits without a comfort at the end

32. Name three of your favorite fanfic writers.

club of never missing in my heart is entryn17, faedemon (hi @moipale :3), and grech (HI @isuggestwishcraft) although i need to like. catch up. there are fics on grech's profile i haven't read yet. this is a mistake

26. Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

um. :)

it's a tie between inutile and four eyes (curtain call is SO MILD) but they're wild rides in different ways. inutile is like a proper steel roller coaster where you can see what the next drop is going to be if you look ahead. four eyes is a 50 year old wooden legacy coaster that you wonder if it's stable enough to ride on safely the whole time you're on it. (in case you were wondering, the 20 years later fic is like a teacup ride that you get sick on in between breaks and curtain call is a log ride that has lots of drops but you can still take your nephew on it without scaring the shit out of him)

20. Have you noticed any patterns in your fics? Words/expressions that appear a lot, themes, common settings, etc?

when i write in the second person i am so guilty of "you feel yourself/you see yourself/she seemed/she looks" like i need to stop that... however i don't make multiple drafts of fanfiction, i do it a lot less in Fully Original Edited Works

my friends that know me outside of isat would say my biggest writing theme is clones and duplicates and doppelgangers so. [sweats]

isat is lacking in some of my other writing themes which how blood family interacts with found family but [looks at four eyes and starts sweating again] aw beans i didn't realize i was doing that there until now

11. Link your three favorite fics right now

backstitching has been taking over my entire life. i need to start leaving comments on it but i'm shy

@riggedbones has also made me insane about their odile looping au, pspsps you want to read find chance in consequence sooooo bad

i do not know where the wild hunt is going but i am grisping it really hard. i'm eyes-emoji-ing it.

10. Cltr+f "blinks" on your WIP & copy paste the first sentence/paragraph that comes up

hahaha. lol. from the four eyes chapter i'm formatting right now, that's coming out tomorrow:

[a-weepin-willow]

I DID MY OWN HUMAN LOOP DESIGN!!!!

Notes below the cut :

NOTES!!!!!!

- Okay so the only way I can imagine post-game loop is if Siffrin wished that ”Loop could also get a happy ending” and thus Loop’s back in the same body as before the star eatining and is immedietly freaking the FUCK out!

- Wants to look like Siffrin as little as possible. They’re not him anymore.

- They get to wear a skirt because they went through a 1000 loops hoping to one day get to wear one so I think they deserve it

- also the skirt is made out of their old cloak, flipped inside out, with the upper part made into a scarf

- and now, maybe you’re asking yourself, there’s one of their pins in the scarf…. Where’s the other one? WELL ITS HELPING TO HOLD UP THEIR SHITTY DIY SKIRT!!!!

- primarily black shades to work as the opposite of Siffrin

- tiny braid!!!

- FRECKLES!!!!!

- the shitty ass boots are my fault so don’t blame them-

- AAANNNNNNNDDDD A boob window….. as a treat

- also earrings are a reference to my design for Siffrin’s mom…… don’t tell Loop, they don’t know and they would start crying.

[the-bitter-ocean]

(ACT 3 SPOILERS) Hi everyone! I Wanted to post writing I did for @tealgoat In tales of time au!! For context it’s set around act 3, where Odile reached the end for the first time with a family run. The art I used in this post is made by teal and you can find the links to those drawings individually over here and here! Writing is under the cut:

< You’re here again. >

< But something feels different. >

< You managed to beat the king like always… but this time..>

< This time you had the courage to call your companions your family. >

< You got to understand all of them a little better and in turn that made you all grow closer. >

< Is that what you needed? Is that the solution to the problem? >

< You didn’t think that helping them would amount to anything much, but the story’s outcome changed a little didn’t it? >

< Even if it was small.. you know how important it is. >

< Your father used to tell you that rereading a story allows you to see details you may have not noticed on a first pass. >

< That it can your change your entire perception of the story itself, even. >

< Is this what you needed all along? >

<Your heart feels warm. >

< He used to read you stories like that all the time. >

< Fairytales about love and friendship saving the world. >

< It gave you comfort then.. and it seems it’s giving you comfort now. >

< You’ve talked to everyone.. they all said different lines then the ones you’re used to.>

< With that logic in mind.. then it should be obvious that the Head Housemaiden should say something different. >

=> < Talk to her. >

=> < Don’t talk to her yet.>

=> < Talk to her.>

< You’ve said everything you needed to say to your companions. >

< It’s time for the moment of truth. >

< You approach the Head Housemaiden and greet her. >

< “Hello!” >

< The head Housemaiden smiles at you and waves. >

((“Hello traveling one! Are you done talking to your companions? Yes, wonderful wonderful-“))

< ….?>

((“ I’d like to thank you for accompanying young Mirabelle on the journey. You have my gratitude.”))

((“ Odile, yes? If there’s anything I can do to thank you, please don’t hesitate to let me know!”))

<….?!>

((“I know you will go back on your travels soon but I do hope-”))

<…>

<…… Ah. >

< Of course. >

((“ Just know that no matter what that Dormont will always be open to you! Please come back any…time….”))

((“…!!!! Oh… oh no no no.. oh nonono-“))

< Ahahaha…!>

< You should’ve expected this. >

< Why would whatever happened before change the story’s ending now? >

< Just because you felt loved and safe? Stupid stupid stupid- you should’ve known better! Why did you decide to rely on how you felt instead of looking at the reality of the situation you’re in? >

< You try to breathe. >

((“ Oh Odile! I’m so sorry..!”))

< It’s fine. It’s just the end again. It’s the same. >

((“ I’m so sorry..there’s no way we can stop it now!” ))

< You’ll just be..>

((“- going back! Back when everything started!”))

< You know her lines by heart, now. >

< If you know what happens next…then you can always know how to react and never be disappointed.>

< You’re fine. >

< You’re…>

<| “…? Odile?” |>

<| “Is everything okay?”|>

< You turn your head and look in Siffrin’s direction. >

< He’s staring right at you. >

< You can’t shift your expression fast enough. >

<| “ Odile what’s wrong- “|>

{“ Head Housemaiden, is something the matter?” }

((“ I cant fix it on my own, not before it all ends… if only I noticed it all sooner!”))

[“Huh? What’s happening? ]

(“ Dile?”)

< You can’t move. >

< You’re frozen. >

{ “Madame, what’s-Urgh!”}

[“ Is something happening? The air around us.. it feels like.. AGH!” ]

(“ My head hurts!!!”)

((“ It’s my fault you have to suffer like this…”))

<| “ODILE!!!”|>

[“ M’DAME!!!”]

< They’re all running, reaching towards you..>

(“ Dile come back! Somethings wrong!!!”)

< You have to move. >

{“ MADAME ODILE!!!!”}

< Maybe you can catch Isabeau’s hand if you reach out to him. >

((“I just hope that one day..”))

< You slowly hold your hand out for him to hold. >

< You take a step forward. >

((“ You could learn to forgive-“))

< And you- >

__________________________________________________________

<You open your eyes, your hand reaching out to nothing. >

< You’re back in the store once more. >

< You grip unto the shelf and take a deep breath. >

< Foolish. >

< You press your fingers against the bridge of your nose and adjust your glasses. >

< You laugh quietly as you can. >

< You truly believed this could work, didn’t you?>

< You really thought helping them all would be the key to your escape! >

< That if you helped them, if you were loved, then surely it had to free you, right? >

< Hahahahaha! >

< That was awfully childish of you! >

< They loved you but it’s not enough to save you! >

< And why would it? When has anything ever been that simple for you? >

< You should know better. >

< Everything was reset back to the beginning. >

< Any character development reversed and undone. As if it never happened at all. >

< Mirabelle is back to feeling out of place because of her identity. >

< Isabeau is still hiding everything about himself, pretending to be something he’s not. >

< Boniface is back to feeling like they’re useless and that they don’t contribute enough to the rest of you. >

< Siffrin won't remember the times you spent together.. back to being scared of you..! >

< And you're back here.. again.. and again .. and again! >

< That's what you get for hoping! That's what you deserve, for being so blinding incompetent and - >

< You slowly look up and glance at the clock. >

< Siffrin will enter the shop soon, won't he? >

<…>

< You need to cut this spiral of yours short then. That’s fine, it’s not like crying ever did you any favors.>

< Focus on the present. >

<The power of friendship didn't work. That’s fine. >

< All you can do is try something else now.>

< You owe it to everyone to keep going. >

< The story isn’t over for you yet. >

| You got a MEMORY OF FAMILY! |

< You'll always remember this. >

| When equipped, Memory of Family doubles everyone's EXP gained in battle, except for yours. |