#for some reason sage did not do what Felix did when he brought back rime if he even did bring him back

[salem-xx]

reversed and upright ending for Sage & MC

So the final showdown with Mike happens and Sage turns but MC manages to change him back or something and they're about to take down Mike but Mike gets the upper hand and decides you know what i'm gonna actually kill MC and be successful this time and manages to kill them in front of sage and sage goes berserk and kills mike not before mike dies he's laughing and tells sage that MC basically died for nothing and that it still worked out for him bc sage went back to being corrupted

so then sage is filled with grief and corruption and tulsi and the group do what they can to try and pull him back, but sage is a master of alienating himself from the people who love him and he's so angry (imagine he never even got to say I love you until MC was dying in his lap IMAGINE THAT TO HEIGHTEN THE ANGST) and he decides he's gonna bring MC back (it's giving beginning of the whole damn story but i don't care) and sage goes to felix for help and felix and rime are like ummm don't think you should be doing that and sage is like i have to try so they tell him that maybe he can reach MC in the void if their soul is there. so Sage goes and is trying to find MC and finds them and tells MC his plan of trying to bring them back and MC is like no blah blah i love you blah blah the price would be too steep blah blah i don't want you to lose yourself and your humanity, you need to be with your family/friend (this would be an upright ending) and they have a final goodbye where they kiss and say i love you

in a reversed ending, the void works weirdly so maybe he has to leave before he dies for real and MC warns him against the plan but they don't get their final goodbye. in the real world he lies to rime and felix and says he couldn't find you bc he got lost and in that moment he decides he's gonna bring MC back consequences be damned I don't remember sage ever using magic in the story but say for argument sake he becomes basically the lord of shadows/rime in felix's route but instead he has to gather a shit ton of souls and trade them in order to bring back MC. so he goes around collecting souls (the logistics do not matter and I can't explain it) and finally he gathers enough souls and goes to where MC died and maybe the group had caught onto what he's going to do (time and felix had their suspicious that he had lied but felix was trying to give him space) and they're begging him not to

maybe they're about to fight him (felix telling sage not to and sage yelling at him like you got rime back why shouldn't I get MC back blah blah) bc they dont recognize this angry broken shell of sage (maybe he's even worse than when MC found him bc this time that mc "died" there was a body and the visual confirmation that they died and he blames himself partly) but sage manages to fight them and do the spell or whatever and he opens the void and trades ____ amount of souls for MC's soul and life force. he gets it and MC comes back from the void and MC is visibly different (they have white streaks in their hair or different colored eyes idk depends on what you would want your MC to look like) and everyone is stunned that MC is back

i've run out of ideas but MC is alive but asleep bc coming back from the dead is exhausting and the next day comes the angst, they're so happy to see sage and sage is happy too, but MC starts getting headaches and it all starts coming back in flashes--MC dying, MC talking to sage in the void, and then the coming back to life and (let's say sage has been hiding from them lowkey bc he noticed they didn't remember) eventually MC is just like uhhh what did you do ? and sage explains and angst ensues where MC is grappling with the fact that they're life was brought back at the expense of so many others and the fact that sage literally fell even more off the deep end and idk someone write this bc i cant write and MC grappling with the fact that they're basically an "abomination" and they try calling the astrolabe but realize they've lost their connection to it (so more angst)

[poisonouswritings]

M3 Finds The Pamphlet

So at the end of the intro, MC still has the Ex Nihilo pamphlet. I always just assumed we subsequently burnt it or something to make sure no one from this world found it, but what if we didn't? What if, after a while, the others find it?

Felix Escellun

Man corruption did great things for his hair

Surprisingly the least affected

I mean like, yeah, obviously seeing a version of himself that's been (presumably) driven insane by dark magic is,,, concerning

But let's be real, this is Felix we're talking about. He spent five years combing through forbidden tome after otherworldly knowledge after insane screams of forgotten gods trying to find a way to revive Rime

I mean... Realistically... He's probably seen Last Legacy stuff before. Some piece of merch got shot through The Void probably a young!Escell body pillow and he immediately threw it back With A Vengeance ™

Anyways augury exists in Astraea so it isn't out of the realm of possibilities for someone on Earth to see into Astraea's past/future and for them to base a story off it

Frankly, you're probably freaking out more than he is

Felix is,, loveable obviously but also very cocky

He is the Great and Clever Necromancer from House Unaffiliated after all

So he's the one to hold your hands and kiss your fingers and assure you everything will be fine.

Gods are nothing more than puffed-up spirits, so the future is as uncertain as Sage picking an alcohol

So you shouldn't torture yourself being scared. The two of you will research and plan and probably accidentally commit several crimes on the way

He doesn't tell you this because he doesn't want to scare you but he starts looking into spells to basically Avada Kedabra just in case he really does lose it and you need to protect yourself

But overall he's genuinely not That Worried about it.

Anisa Anka

Oh gods she's gonna become a tyrannical shadow overlord on no oh fuck oh gods

She uh,,,

She doesn't take it great

She's less concerned about the video game aspect for similar reasons to Felix

She knows star seeing well enough. She grew up in Rivath after all.

It's the fact that this just confirms her worst fears. That she's going to become her father no matter how hard she fights against it

That history will repeat herself

But she sees your face, how scared you are, and she swallows her fears and hugs you tight and promises everything will be okay

She is Your Knight™ and she will Protecc

She definitely starts furiously overthinking while trying to appear calm

She doesn't do a great job of it

Please

Please grab this woman by the shoulders and bump your nose against hers and run your thumb along the ridge of her ear and remind her that she is and always will be your knight in shining armor and you trust her so so much please

On God she's so scared that she'll lose you

She gets scared whenever the subject of her being LoS' daughter is brought up, but sitting here, with the proof,, of her corruption,,, in your faces,,,,

But then, you know this whole time what she was and what she may/will end up doing, and you stayed anyways

You stayed and you loved her

Sit down with her. Both of you have some tea. Take a look at the pamphlet together. Once you two have calmed down she'll want to start scanning it for clues, to try and figure out what you two can do about it.

Sage Lesath

Doesn't even recognize himself at first,,, poor little meow meow when it finally clicks,,,,,

He is angry

Okay it's more like he's terrified but the only way he can figure out how to cope with it is anger

Why? didn't? you tell him sooner?? Why did you let him do something so stupid like fall for you when you knew this would happen???? When you would always lose him??????

You try to explain it all. You get about seven words in before he storms past you out the door, pamphlet clenched tightly in hands, knuckles gone white

He half-expects you to follow him and normally you would but you just.. don't... This time. This is something serious. This is the first time he's ever been really mad at you versus himself/a situation he can't face. And frankly he isn't even really mad at you, but you feel like he really should be and that's practically the same thing

He nearly crumples pamphlet up and throws it into the ocean but Tulsi shows up and invites him to drink

And if there's any possibility that he can protect her, well, he can't just run away from this. He has to face it. And gods damnit, he's failed Tulsi enough over the last few years. He won't do it another time.

He gets a bottle of something - bourbon, scotch, vodka, whatever burns the worst - and sits on a bench and looks at the stupid little thing

He can't bare to look at the picture for too long, so he reads the words. Sees the tagline

"A mysterious newcomer spells doom for the Starsworn..."

oh

oH

He looks at the pamphlet, not the words but the pages. It isn't crinkled or anything but it just looks so old. so worn. The colors on the edges are faded like sweating fingers have trembled against it for hours on end. The creases are practically falling apart like they've been open and closed a million and one times.

How many nights have you stayed up late reading a spellbook and woken up with heavy circles like bruises under your eyes? How many mornings did you get up early and go for a run around the moat? How many afternoons have you pestering him to teach you how to fight?

How long have you been shouldering this pressure?

He goes to find you after a bit, waiting until he's just buzzed enough to not be so nervous but still be mostly coherent

It's well past midnight and your room has light coming in from under the door.

He doesn't even knock. Just steps in with an awkward apology already on his lips

If you fell asleep, maybe waiting up for him or maybe just researching, you're obviously startled awake. He apologies for scaring you, shoving books away until he can sit on the bed and put an arm around your shoulders and promise whatever this stupid picture book is saying, none of it is your fault. His corruption started long before he met you.

Gods the guilt and pressure he still feels over what he did to Lucan is something he never wants you to experience

At first he's a little withdrawn. Part of it is because he's letting you speak - you've been holding this in for a while and having what's literally the pressure of the world tossed on your shoulders is a feeling he remembers well enough - and part of it is because he's still thinking

How do you still have so much faith in him being able to fight his corruption when this whole time you've known the risk he poses??

And then he thinks...

You've known the whole time. And you've loved him anyways.

So he'd better get his shit together

Ngl tho, he's scared.

If this happens before That Scene in Chapter 5 then this is what ultimately pushes him to ask you that

If it happens after Chapter 12 then his reaction is probably a lot more subdued. Obviously he's angry but really not at you. He focuses it all on Gramme. He knows that you're probably hurting and blaming yourself but he uh

He wasn't great at emotional support before but now he's really struggling

He tries tho!! Awkwardly sits next to you in front of the fire and gently holds your hand. If you guys are alone he may press his cheek against the top of your head and purr

*concerned traumatized little meow meow*

[6okuto]

having a crisis it’s like 9am so i saw this post that went WHY does felix like mc when he’s liked rime for like ten years and that’s actually a really good point what are ur thots 🙏

oh yeah i missed out on all the discussion but i saw it happening nd honestly. valid. i don't think i'm a very good thinker/analyst but i will try to give some..points...

Optimist - tldr?: mc showed up and they were Good and supported him while rime showed up and quickly proved that (at the time), he was Not good//very different, thus pushing felix to move on.

- almost as quickly as mc appeared, rime showed that he wasn't the same as he was pre-death. when felix saw him fighting mc, in a way he was watching how his past (and clinging onto it) would inevitably lead to the destruction of his future because he would never have a chance at moving on. Rime's Redemption Arc aside, it was made clear to felix that 'having' rime again wasn't really feasible. as someone who's had their perception/hopes of someone crushed in an instant it kind of Makes you go Oh. you know.

- and it's not like mc Isn't a good match for him in the first place? they're kind, they listen to him and support him, they get his humor, and while i have my issues with how enthusiastic they could be about his interests,, they still accept them and don't tell felix that he should change. They Get Along Well. they help him navigate the Shit show going on, they help reunite the starsworn, they help with his confidence, they help in So many ways despite their own reasons to distrust and be bitter towards him, and that's probably important/inspiring. and like,, mc's appearance marks a new beginning for felix where he doesn't have to face his grief alone. they're a big contrast to everything else with his family, people downplaying(?) his skills, feeling like an outsider and failure because of it all, etc...mc stays consistent with their support and acts as a pillar/light for him. i guess.

- also while you don't have a reason to really trust strangers,, we have to remember their circumstances . mc didn't sneak their way in, they were accidentally brought there By Felix so if anything, mc should be suspicious of them. and mc has no real reason to backstab the M3 or felix considering they're how they get home. (+ y'know,, being a fan of the franchise. blah blah) add on the fact that they spend the majority of their time together with felix teaching them and i'd assume that speeds up bonding

- and i don't think i've seen anyone touch on this but like,, is there not a chance that at some point felix was working to bring rime back less for the fact that he loves him, and more for the fact that he had come so far and didn't know what else to do. that Yes, he never stopped missing and grieving, but the romantic affection he had got mixed in with desperation and clinging onto the fact that he lost someone so dear to him...who represented an entire part of his life he lost.....yeah i read the great gatsby. LOL i'm not saying this is true but i think it'd be a Little Funny. maybe for some angst later ┐(´ー｀)┌

Realist/Pessimist?? - tldr: unhealthy coping and/or it just Doesn't make sense time-wise

- they remind him of rime and show him a kind of affection that he hasn't received in years. sorry. it does make sense i cannot lie to you. years trying to bring rime back apparently without anyone/anything around to try helping him heal healthily? the trauma and unhealthy coping mechanisms you'd get? as well as the fact that the rime felix expected did Not come back,, i see how felix would see mc as a lifeline of sorts and 'fall' for them because...they're..There.

- i could go on a whole thing of Love Is Unpredictable and mc just happens to be good for and with him and they hit it off!!! and that can happen but To Be Frank,, i assume a lot boils down to the limited chapters time crunch + how much work would be needed to make his route's timeframe more realistic. sort of the same thing with sage, imo the comfort we got last chapter would realistically have taken longer (even just that one scene) but i think the devs only have so much wiggle room with their constraints :o

despite this i Do think felix has valid reasons to and DOES like mc, and their relationship if it were just [Stretched] would Make Sense. and maybe mc does remind felix of rime, but that doesn't mean he sees them as a copy or replacement (at least not anymore if ever) !! imo it's pretty fair for him to compare (not in a toxic way) because of,, everything. their relic, their relationship dynamic, etc. but he's continued to choose mc despite it all and, as far as i can remember, has never actually compared the two ? shrug.

anyway take everything i say with a grain of salt i have one braincell working rn ermrmmm