#i imagine this is them before 2hats

[moons-among-distant-stars]

maybe it's time for a change of scene...

i could be loved... i could get my happy ending

[pillowspace]

Do you have any info on the ISAT Audience of Vaugarde AU you'd be willing to share? (Only if you wanna!!) :o

I'm really curious about it, I have SO many questions

During the loops, Loop would only ever see the faintest signs of a presence, but nothing that'd confirm one. They always thought it was just a bad memory springing up, like a faint scent or the faintest whisper of a familiar voice. The Audience watched everything. Sometimes, some would follow behind Siffrin into the House, while someone else would remain with Loop at the Favor Tree. Loop was rarely ever left alone. I imagine that, whenever some would follow Siffrin, they saw things they would have rather not, but there's not much to do but chat amongst themselves and spectate. It does give perspective to what Loop may have gone through though, so it's not like they wouldn't Understand Loop by the time the loops were broken.

I have nothing to say about this, I just want to note that I need to draw the bad touch event someday with Loop and Isabeau just STARING from the tree like [Live Loop Reaction] and [Live Isabeau Reaction], it's really funny to me.

Nobody was really too sure what to call Loop during the loops, constantly hesitantly switching between names. Eventually Mirabelle suggested they just stick to Loop if they can't ask, so they did. But I'd like to imagine that, once before that, Loop had caught a close familiar whisper of "Siffrin" and felt... unwell.

AFTER 2hats but BEFORE Loop reappears in the world is what this first drawing is. It's Loop's "in this moment, you are loved," but it's so hazy that it might as well have been a dream for them. Think of it like how at the start of In Stars and Time, the star is shown being eaten, and Siffrin wakes up.

Loop's still in Vauguarde, but they have NO idea where they are when they wake up. Their head is human, but not the rest of their body. Their hair is long and tangled and greasy, as if their hair had always been growing just out of sight. Some sort of barrier has been broken between Loop and the Audience, so as the days pass, the voices slowly grow clearer, and Loop starts slowly... seeing things.

Loop needs somewhere to stay, so an older woman lets them stay at her house. Let's call herrrr... Smithing One?? This is only a temporary arrangement.

If I draw Loop with really messy greasy hair and little to no clothing, that's the stage in which Loop is deeply afraid of any sign of the Audience's company. Example from a previous drawing:

If I draw Loop with hair slightly better taken care of and in a headband holding the overgrown middle piece back, Loop's now tense and nervous around the Audience but won't panic anymore, and will often communicate back. (Note: don't interpret this as Loop not liking them! Loop loves them very deeply and suffered a lot of grief, there's just a lot of feelings of fear and reopened wounds clashing.) I think maybe partway through this stage, Loop leaves Smithing One's house to go travel. Example from a previous drawing:

There is a stage I haven't drawn yet where Loop is entirely happy with the Audience and a lot more healed. I'm guessing Loop will have a high ponytail, and some hair accessory holding back the middle piece or something like that. I would like to draw that at some point.

After learning that Loop can't handle being called Siffrin and is only settling for the mild discomfort "Loop" brings, Odile will start calling them Little Crow, as per chipper-smol's reply:

I'm out of things to mention honestly, feel free to ask whatever you want

OH yeah. By the way, I do want Loop and Siffrin to reunite at some point, I'm just not sure how yet... The thing is, the Audience isn't actually ghosts. They're LIKE ghosts, but they're not dead. As I've said, Loop's first wish to stay with their friends simply merged with their second wish for help, so the Audience is more so just oddly disconnected from reality. Maybe after a lot of time has passed, the Audience is so tangible that anyone can see them, even if they have a little bit of an off air to them (and maybe they still can vanish at will). So... surprise! Siffrin's party would eventually realize that they ALSO have alternate versions of themselves walking around. Ohhh wait, wouldn't it be fun if one accidentally met their clone in a public place before ever even being aware of Loop's supposed "audience"? And Siffrin never wanted to talk about Loop's business to his family, so they never even found out what Loop was at all? Something in me tells me that it'd be most fun for it to be the Mirabelles to spot each other first

...............okay, now I'm out of things to mention

[forflightlessbirds]

liveblogging tmagp 22 except it's really incoherent

INTRO BABY I MISSED TOU

grrrrr alex j newall ily

mixed signals ooohhh

29 minute episode oouhh

IT STATETRD

GWEN BACK. GWEB BWEGGN BACK.

"watching figure you mentioned" NO. STOP STOP SHRJEIF SYOP NDOKS

"i know what you're doing." 2hat

LENA THREATENING. OH LORD. i don't liek womrn but for her

that thing was an EXTERNAL???

DEMOTION?????????? WHATSTT.

don't quit bbg

she didn't!!!!

yeaaah gwen stop being unstable GWEN

stop theyre so. ugh i hate them all

CASEMENT STARETD

it's a lteer???

AUGUSTUS I MISSED YOUUUUUUU

experimentation??

oh no. experiments on thibgs

alarmign results???

EXPERIEMNYS ON PEOPLE??????? STOP THIS.

i must say i don't like this

charts??! brain charts????

using silver for conductivity... ooooyh

you did what with the wires

erratic results??

okay the double coil makes sensw

PHOTO

the work of whom.

REPUTATION???

no no not intensive

he had a RIGHT to be hesitant.

CONSTANTINE

I'M WHAY NOW HE DID WHAT

oh no i don't like this

2 seperate animals in one bofy.. where gave i heard that before.

i can see where this is going oh no oh lord

QUESTIONS OF THE SELF.

as you sjoild

data reviewing.. yaaay

me too bae

OCEAN. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO

RADIO SIGNALS AND OCWANS OG FUCKS SAKES

these two things would never meet

okay fun science

deconstructed them all and did what with then.

WHAT WAS THE DEISGB

oh no no no plumbing

questions of the self part 2: electric boogaloo

TICKING.

"imagine yourself." i don't inow

i kind of love tmagp's more intimate feeling to it. it feels less detached than tma an d i love it

UNCHARACTERISTIC WHIMSY

oh no he's sending

imagine yourself

dead. oh no

yaaaayy activity

TIDAL WAVE IF SIGNAL

i loeeeveee

oh no wait actually this seems Dangerous

FUCK. NO. THERE WILL BE A REPLY????

SMOKE

what on EARTH happened

ursula are you oajy

ursula. what is happening

is he okay?? is she okay???? what's happening

hear WHAT.

be patient with your wife fuckass

OH NO THE PATIENT

oh my lord????

good lord. arteries.

SCREAMING

tetanus comparison

rictus.

his tongue.

crescendo.

cracking.

background music i love it

WHAT.

they severed the sense of self.

shiiiiiit.

IT'S ON THE FLOOR

oh he's dead

"you could not hear it?" what.

"just another case of unfortunate frontier science" die

what did you find. this better have been worth it

a pattern you say

OH SHIT WHAT DID HE REALISW

there's no misfile.

FINGERPRINTS PROVE IT

what did you understand??

"she was always a better communicator than i" yeah makes sense babe

what had she HEARD.

oh my god

oh holy shit

holy shit

we are.

i am here.

here alone

we are i alone

all alone

so alone together

together alone

i think we get the message

he's alone

help

help we us

alone

help out

OUT????

WAIT.

i'm connecting threads.

i don't know what they are but i'm connecting them

violence is discovery of life or something idk man

yeah you delay those findings babygirl

robot voice again

WAIT. I KNOW THAT NAME

casement ends.

ALICE AND SAM

OH SHIT HE KNOWS

i hate her and him and UGH

he knowszs

alice you're really in it now

okay sam you're being a bit mean

but alice is also being a little obsessive

alice is losing all her friends around her.

she's just like me fr

"i just thought that you'd be different. that you might actually listen to me" sobbing

why is she still here. good point.

it's easy money??

oh lord she's me

"we could-" alice honey we all know you're not over him

ohhhh theyr3 so complex ily

OOH WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW

sam and celia oooh

i can't hear a word they're saying actually

SHE CAN EITHER GET OVER IT OR GET LOST??? OUCH.

celia stop encouraging ot. this isn't healthy celia

names??

JON AND MARIOGIB

JMART.

J. MART. MENTION. WHAT. THE.

OH MY GOD

OH MY GOF OGG MY GOFK THEYRU BACK TEHEY RYHD WHAT TTAHT WEHAT DOES YHDI MEAN

EPISOODE ENFS

FUCK

[artsycloudysleepy]

(Obviously this my own headcanon, so it's cool if you disagree! Also large warning for angst! This is all based on my opinion that 2hats' fight is what gives them a happier end than 1hat's.)

My personal (sad) headcanon is that they either:

a) Fade away like in 2hats but never come back. They become one with the Universe by dying fully, because they never confronted their own fears and emotions + they did a 'special kind of giving up' like Sif in their own world. You could also see extra angst potential here where they see Sif place the coin as a grave before passing, or them still being semi/fully-conscious in some void, maybe stars, and the Universe is mocking them that they couldn't close the curtains of the play where Sif could. Until they lose any sense of who they are.

And becoming one with the Universe and failing to truly change the script (despite their wish, they still lost themself, died, and never ended the loops) - in truth, whatever they did in Siffrin's world really didn't matter. They wanted help, yes, but Siffrin didn't solve how they had most likely killed themself in their world for good. They learned how to stop the loops, but they can't go back to stop them.

b) They hide in the tree like at the start of 2hats, but due to the coin convo not factoring into their hatred of Siffrin, they leave them be. And their self-hatred and want to be punished for the loops/their selfishness causes them to never leave the favour tree. They sit under the thing that started it all for the rest of time, as a constant reminder that it was all their fault that they went through this, that Siffrin went through this, that Dormont went through this, that their family went through this. And potentially, in their world, they've left their family behind to cope with their death as Siffrin, assuming it still exists. Plus extra angst potential! If Siffrin had the convo with Loop about meeting the Change God, imagine how Loop would feel sitting in Doormont forever more. The Change God found their suffering funny.

Loop also learned how to stop the loops, but they can't go back. They have to live with the knowledge that they could have ended them at any time, yet they were too scared. And now they have to pay the price, for eternity. They're already kind of dead, so they could, theoretically, be immortal. And they force themself to sit there, invisble to everyone, for the rest of time. Maybe Isa and Sif propose in front of the Tree. Maybe Sif and Bonnie (and maybe Nille) play hide and seek around it. Maybe Mira and Sif have a mutual ace convo on its roots, where Loop used to sit. Maybe Odile reads to Sif in the same spot. Maybe Sif tells the coin, as a grave, about how they are. How they're healing. How they wish Loop was there to have fun with them and their family, too. Maybe Loop watches the coin rust over thousands of years. And still has to be glad they're not repeating the same two days. Likely a worse fate than option A.

tldr; they either die and have a horrible 'afterlife' of sorts, or they sit under the favour tree forever as punishment and watch everyone but them heal.

-------

1hat is the ending where I don't think it would be right for them to have a happy end. In the whole of ISAT + SASASAAP (I'm 99% sure Loop is Siffrin in that game, just with a few tweaks), Loop is doomed by the narrative. Even in 2hats, even if you headcanon they live (yes they do yes they do please stars), their end isn't exactly happy; more bittersweet. They still can't undo anything, they still have to cope with being stuck in the wrong body, they still have to see their family not recognise them, they still have to see a clone live the life they wished they could live, after having looped for less time than them, having beaten the King so many times, and having faced up to their own emotions. Something Loop could never do - what they face up to is their emotions regarding Siffrin, not their own loops, and not to their family. In 2hats, they change their ending to have a semi-happy tone, but it's still overall a sad one. In 1hat, without that frustration being taken out on Sif, there's no happiness to be had.

I also think in 1hat, they'd feel even more guilt over Siffrin leaving the coin as a grave. Their thought process of 'wow I really want to kill this person. Who cared about me despite me lying and mocking them. Who felt remorse after their manic episode despite everything I did to them. Who remembered a forgotten country's tradition for death rituals. Who thought I was a good person, who did this out of the goodness of my heart. And I couldn't even tell him how disgusting I was. I pinned it all on him. And I still want to kill him'. They probably wouldn't be able to process that. Probably feeding into the 'you're disgusting, Siffrin/Loop' mindset of theirs.

There's also the possibility that they return to their own world. I personally don't headcanon that, so my take is here instead: Say they do go back. They learned how to stop the loops! Great! But can they stop them? What if they returned, back to the meadow, and couldn't bring themself to be vulnerable, because they deserve this? They deserve to suffer, Siffrin was the star actor, not them. What if the loops stopped the moment they did the 'special giving up', but upon return, they would be left off however they last died, likely with their own dagger in them? Maybe they return days or years later, in a frozen Doormont, unable to save their family and unable to try again?

And even if they were honest with their family, they're not Siffrin now. Overnight for them, Siffrin's been murdered and replaced with a selfish, snarky, snappy version of themself. Would they even look like him, or would they still be a star? Would they believe them, even? SASASAAP was slightly different to ISAT, after all. Maybe the hangouts were completely different. Maybe they've made no real progress. Maybe they have to be honest every loop, only for it to end and repeat because they still die or lose hope. Until they just can't do it anymore. They don't tell them, they don't do anything, maybe they give up specially again. And maybe then they die like in option A.

(I feel in 2hats, if they did return, it wouldn't be so angsty. They've been honest with their feelings about Siffrin, and made him promise he'll be honest with his family. They should only do the same. And then I feel they would get out without having to loop any more times.)

Ofc this is all my own headcanons! Give the nb of all time some fluff if you prefer! I just save the fluff for 2hats ('travelling with the gang + odile figuring them out and comforting them' believer here) haha

Also I am so sorry for the length and the angstiness lol. Can you tell I might be a little neurodivergent and hyperfixated /sarc

speaking of loop what do you think they do postgame if you don't unlock twohats. they don't even show up at the favour tree in the epilogue. somehow that worries me

[pillowspace]

hi! hope ur doing well! out of curiosity, do you have an ISAT playlist? and if so, would you be cool with sharing it? I’ve been trying to find some good songs related to the game and i’m familiar with a lot of the artists you listen to so i figured i’d ask :)

I only just recently joined the In Stars and Time fandom, so I don't have many songs yet, but yeah!

I also started typing out notes under the readmore for (most of) the songs because I thought I'd only have a few, but then I... kept thinking of more songs, so the notes section got bigger? So uh...!! Feel free to read that or not. Up to you, shrug

I actually had not heard this song until my Spotify started randomly playing recommended songs while I was in the middle of drawing Siffrin, and the second I started processing the lyrics about familiarity and time travel, I did a startled glance over like "wh... what's playing??" This song plagues my ISAT visions

---

Genuinely been wanting to make an animatic out of the first minute but I don't know if I have it in me. Just saying, the "smi-i-i-ile" has enough in it to fit every different photo from the mirror

---

FLASHING COLOURS AT THE 3 MINUTE MARK:

One specific thing I have to note with this song is that I like to envision Siffrin waking up in the meadow on the line "the day I wake up naked in the dirt."

---

"The million what if Is between your ears. The feelings of regret, and now I'm running to forget. But know, the consequence of imagination's fear" thinks about Siffrin and Bonnie, thinks about Siffrin and Bonnie, thinks ab-- oh yeah, and the bit about ruby eyes reminds me of 2hats

---

FLASHING AT THE 3 MINUTE MARK AND LOUD POTENTIALLY OVERWHELMING SOUNDS AT THE END:

A song about feeling hurt and giving all that you've gone for an acting performance?? Back to the stage, Siffrin

---

There's some lines that aren't too too fitting for ISAT, but I'm fond of this song, so I can spin a meaning onto them with enough thinking power. Nonetheless, there still are plenty of fitting parts. Post-canon Siffrin coping after the loops :)

---

Interestingly, I've actually had this song associated with going mad from time loops since ages before I played In Stars and Time. "Maddening. It's a regular bad thing" and "nothing's really happening." Plus "I'm afraid to lose you" ties into ISAT pretty well

---

Specifically Loop tends to cross my mind whenever this comes on lately

---

I like to imagine this being about Siffrin as a child on their island being a little wanderer before that meant something else, then it slowly leading into Siffrin's adulthood (bend gravity and space being about the loops)

---

I'll never hear the sound of someone calling me home... I was the beast all alone in my hell........

[rgbfall]

Prev I am putting your tags on my post because you Get Me. I said before you probably have more isat knowledge than me bc I haven't got 2hats yet, and as for exocolonist you don't really need much info from the other ending? Honestly having run through the game at least once is good enough.

"...how sif and sol merge with the other world" think of it like. This is an alternate universe where they've always lived there, but now they have memories of not living there, if that makes sense. Everything about them is like they've always lived there (ie siff doesn't have craft but has a genetic augment, sol does have craft), and as far as everyone around them is concerned they've always lived there. So yes they pretty much entirely swapped without leaving a trace of the other. There's probably some mistakes that, if pointed out, could help them prove to people around them that they haven't always lived there (eg sol speaking esperanto and siff speaking french, and also siffrins name doesn't mean anything).

As for sols craft, I was thinking paper fits them, or otherwise scissors bc that's what siffrin has and i wanted the team to stay reasonably balanced (ie. not 3 paper types). So. Not sure yet! And for siffs augment, I was gonna go with super strength? I considered eagle eyes, but considering siffs missing eye and the fact that they keep missing items and traps means. it's probably not best.

"Does loop know somethings up?" Not sure yet!!! I will decide. when I finish 2hats ahah.

"Does siffrin become the child of sols parents?" Yep! Geranium calls him his "little cabbage" bc it's similar to his nickname for sol and based on the french pet name "mon petit choux" (my little cabbage). "How does siffrin react to having "parents" now?" Conflicted... on the one hand, woah! this is what it's like to have a childhood? crazy! on the other hand. these are Not Siffrins Parents. Then also a general sense of dread from not quite remembering past lives, but knowing something bad is going to happen to them. and also. siffrin keeps a meticulous diary. They Will Not Forget This Time. It started as a way to make sure they don't forget their friends, and now they just write everything that happens.

"I feel like sif would probably end up befriending dys" YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT THIS WILL BE HAPPENING. Siff, feeling like being friends with anyone else is betraying the party, would kindof end up a bit of a loner? Which then means being friends with dys. And ofc he's trying to find answers about how he got here, and potentially trying to find Vertumnas version of a favor tree.

"Sym would probably remind siffrin of loop" ohhh my god I hadn't thought of that but you're so right..... I'd imagined sym (and potentially loop) will be driving forces in getting answers, loop bc they'll know more than sol and sym bc they have dreams of someone Who Is Not Siff.

"Would the change god notice something up?" I... hadn't even thought about that. Probably. And they'd probably not be helpful at all!! The king would not notice anything, sol is still "bright one" to him.

As for siffrins lack of wishing causing the loops well. I have ideas for it that I will keep under wraps in case I write stuff for this (which I plan on doing kyekyekyekye)

Hmmm for sol learning about siffrin.... as far as the party knows about, siffrin never existed! So sol would be learning about themself through the party's eyes! I'm thinking sol is probably wayy more open about the situation than siffrin is, so the party is very helpful and very concerned. Unfortunately for sol, this also means that if they want help they need to tell the party. Every. Loop. which makes for good angst later on teehee ^_^

Ok hold on are there any isat fans who also like i was a teenage exocolonist who would like to talk to me about a potential au I have