#maybe Isabeau dies too
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generaltraitor · 4 months ago
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Pacific Rim Au where Isa and Belle are Drift compatible pilots. Odile is a mechanic. Bonnie is basically the groups adopted kid (orphan). Siffrin is a potential pilot who's never been drift compatible (cuz they don't talk about their issues). Time loops start after Mira dies fighting a Kaiju (The King)
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artilite · 5 months ago
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fuck you *lethal companies your in stars and time*
(long) exposition under cut (spoilers for ISAT + lethal company logs)
This au takes place around the time of sigurd's logs/before them (i haven't decided if Sigurd's crew exists here or not yet)!
Siffrin was someone who used to live on the Golden Planet before it got eaten. They may not remember anything beyond being found in an escape pod, but they're still paralyzed by fear when getting close to the selling window. He's always first in the facilities, making jumps, braving traps, and heading as deep as he can for scrap.
Mirabelle and Isabeau are the medic and fighter respectively, who both came from the same moon colony. They were both pressured into taking jobs by a work-based society, and applied for the company under the impression that it was a short, high-paying internship with nebulous risks.
Odile is their resident ship manager. She keeps a watchful eye over everyone and relays information about monsters, scrap, etc. In absolutely dire situations, she may come help with scrap. Despite claiming to be a first-timer, her badge says Leader??
Nille and Bonnie ended up with the crew after taking a chance to run away from their parents. Seeing a high-paying job that provided everything and would take them far away sounded too good to pass up. Nille lied about Bonnie's age to take them with her. After seeing the reality of this job, though, she regrets not finding another way out. Bonnie is permanently on ship-duty; they mainly type in whatever numbers Odile tells them. Nille is also a fighter, though she prefers the weighty stop sign as opposed to Isabeau's shovel.
Loop, after hundreds upon thousands of quotas, dying every possible death, learning everything they could- even the real identity of The Company- realizes there was one thing they've never done before. They've never died to The Company. Desperate for a way out, and haunted by the whispers and screams beyond the wall, they give themselves up. Maybe that would finally satisfy the monster- to have devoured every last piece of the Golden Planet. Maybe their crew could finally rest easy that way. Well, they didn't loop back. But through the dark and damp, there's static on the walkie talkie. Loop picks up, and hears their own voice just beyond the wall.
(Loop's design is the most different by far, since instead of consuming a star, they themselves are slowly getting digested. They're inspired by the visual of red crying faces from the logs :D)
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auncyen · 3 months ago
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Bonnie looping au where the first loop has them freaking out about Frin having died in front of them and they have no idea what happened/how to explain it so the adults are kind of like. They really try to understand. Time Craft is impossible. The best understanding they have is "we've been horrible terrible irresponsible adults and Bonnie is traumatized?? Possibly afraid Siffrin's going to be hurt again?" so they have. A talk. And Bonnie wakes up to a clocktower empty save for a villager who tries to explain to them that everyone wanted them to rest so they'd feel better, maybe Odile wrote out an explanation behind the decision (and Isabeau and Mirabelle might've added apologies) but Bonnie's not reading any of that they run out of the clocktower through Dormont north all the way to the House yelling but it's already too late.
Bonnie freezes outside the House crying.
Bonnie spending the next loop angry and upset at everyone but still trying to figure out how to keep Frin from dying so they just. bluntly tell everyone at dinner that Frin shouldn't be trap finder. They have to think there's a way past the trap but Frin didn't find it so they've been trying to reason why Frin didn't find it and...oh. His eye. That's why. They feel sick with guilt, but it just makes them more sure they have to say something that the others will believe. And it's easy to point out that Frin is half-blind now, even if it feels awful.
Siffrin probably tries to reassure Bonnie that no, it's fine, really, he's got it covered! which just gets Bonnie more worked up and making angrier comments and people are trying to calm Bonnie down, but, it gets too heated. Or maybe someone else makes a comment that Bonnie might have a point. And Siffrin gets upset and walks out.
Where Siffrin's going: to look at the stars and empty their mind for a bit, breathe in, breathe out, and then go back and try to pretend everything's fine because like, what else are they going to do? Their friends need their help saving Vaugarde tomorrow.
Where Bonnie thinks Frin's going: away forever, they finally made him hate them, now everyone else is going to hate them too because even if Frin doesn't find traps as well now they were still helping fight and now what are they going to do, everything's going to freeze again Nille will never move again and--
They loop back to the start of the conversation. Belle tilts her head curiously, asks them what they were going to say and they just. cry for a bit and then insist "nothing" when everyone prods with concern. The adults are very worried about this but still take Bonnie to the House with them in the morning, probably doublechecking with them first if they still want to come with, no one will be upset if they don't, etc. and Bonnie is like "NO I'M COMING WITH" and then quiet all the way to the House, thinking about the Death Corridor.
When they get to the corridor, the second Odile's attention is off Bonnie, they dart ahead of Siffrin to search the next set of pillars. Because if it was because of Frin's eye, they should be able to see it, right? And as long as they stay next to the pillars they don't think they'll get squashed by the big rock but they're shaking so badly because they really could get squashed by the big rock and everyone's yelling and chasing them because Bonnie??? and in the brief moment before someone catches Bonnie and pulls them back to the side, the Corridor's trap doesn't trigger because every single person in there is terrified, and Bonnie finds something on the pillar they were frantically patting down. They ignore everyone else being upset and keep shouting at Frin where the switch is until they find it as well, gesture for everyone to stand back, and hit it.
After the boulder falls, the room is silent. for maybe two seconds.
And then Bonnie gets the lecture of a lifetime with four people being like "Bonnie you scared the daylights out of us what were you thinking". They probably tell about Frin dying to the boulder again because they don't know what else to say, and they're afraid the others won't believe them again but like the big rock is right there, and everyone's just. Kind of. ...Time Craft is still impossible but also Bonnie has usually been about as composed in dangerous situations as you can expect a preteen to be, and also, even if this is some kind of emotional outburst that's been building up because they were horrible terrible irresponsible adults and allowed the preteen in their care to be traumatized, well, they are already in the Sadness-filled House so there is now no place safe to leave Bonnie. Everyone knows that, so it doesn't even come up.
That loop probably continues until it ends, not with Bonnie pushing Frin into a Tear, but 'Za trying to be a goof and "oh no I'm not looking where I'm going" straight into one.
...Bonnie getting into a pattern, at least at first, about keeping quiet about the time loop until they get to the Death Corridor and then being like "Frin, the switch is on that second pillar on the right. When you hit it a big rock will fall in this spot, so everyone else needs to stay here" and everyone being like "..........well okay Siffrin you heard the kid, check out that pillar" and then after the rock falls "Bonnie how did you know that" and THEN they talk about the time loop.
But. maybe they don't talk about how they're feeling for a while, even with the adults realizing "a time loop that keeps ending badly cannot be good for Bonnie" and trying to encourage them to talk. Because that first loop still hurts.
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lucabyte · 9 months ago
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i am looking at nohats au 👀 please share more
So! NoHats! I'm going to grab you and use this to ramble. A Lot.
The NoHats AU is @samhainian's it's just that I'm the strange little freak who takes the words said unto me and executes on them. But I can still do a little explainer on what our overall thoughts and vibes are. (And, that we are in fact propping up a little box with some cheese under it here. 🪤 Please (PLEASE) feel free to pick up what we're putting down.)
We're far from the only ones exploring a "what if siffrin fucking died" AU, though the main difference with NoHats is the placement of the death in the timeline. Instead of being 'Mal Du Pays Wins' or 'Act 6 encounter goes horribly wrong', the death is… Just after the (literal) falling action.
(This placement is because Sam is a comic book fan who thus has become used to characters being ripped away at the cruelest times by shitty writers. THANK FUCKING GOD adrienne is not that and isat is delightful yippieee, but, back on topic.)
Giving the party the full understanding of What Happened that you get by putting the death after black hole siffrin, but before the A6 encounter leaves an interesting gap to be filled. See, making Siffrin's death very much not Loop's fault means that… this once again reads (when not read as simply a tragedy...) as the universe doing what it sees fit to fulfull Loop's wish… Thus making Siffrin's death Loop's fault again, but only in their eyes. And only in a way they could express if they were honest about who they were…
And this is where having had excuse to waffle about my general Postcanon Loop thoughts the other day comes in handy, because Sam and I have that as our canon-compliant reading to begin with, NoHats plays off of a lot of the same readings of Loop's character. Namely: Uh Oh Somebody's Lying By Fucking Omission Again. (BECAUSE TO BE FAIR THIS TIME… HOW THE FUCK WOULD YOU HANDLE THAT?)
Now, neither Sam nor I are fanfic writers, so this has been a little bit trapped in our heads and DMs (and my unfinished art but,)
But our thoughts on how NoHats like… Goes.
Siffrin's death is peaceful, but that does not mean the aftermath of it is. I can't imagine the party takes it well, especially after understanding the circumstances of the Loops. (And, of note, in A5 where nobody had the discussion on what to do with each other's bodies should something happen…) But I'd imagine it traumabonds them somewhat (understatement of the century) and now knowing how the rest of the party feels, they resolve to travel together for the forseeable future.
The party track down Loop to deliver the terrible news, since they were clearly Siffrin's friend too, and invite Loop along to travel at least long enough to (let them grieve) get the burial over with. Loop, here, can be helpful in knowing what Siffrin would've wanted where the party would be at a loss. Loop, I think, takes a bit of a lead on the funerary aspects of it all, because, um. (Performing rites on your own body, huh?)
Then, as things are after a death, life just… Kind of has to continue on as normal. The party travel, pick up Nille, and get to know Loop as this mysterious new person. Maybe in this situation they might stay in Bambouche for a while to give Bonnie more stability since. They are probably taking it the worst. It would've come out of absolutely nowhere for everyone in the party obviously but god, for a kid? For A Kid?
It should be stated NoHats is not intended to be grimdark, just y'know. An exploration of grief. This is also why it's got a bit of a lopsided focus on Bonnie vs the rest of the party because hhrrhghghhghghhhghhghhh <- incoherent
Now, a crossroads.
How does the party discover Loop to be Siffrin? How long does it take. How much have the party embraced them as part of the family (especially with something as intense to bond over as this)?
There's the Odile option. Have her put it together and have to bring it up somehow. This could also be done by Isabeau, perhaps. He's smart. (which. God. If anything's the real Isabeau Torment Nexus it's this)
Then there's the other option batted around by Sam and I. The: The Universe Dislikes Duplicates option.
The items in the house that fzzt away when inspected. The Universe doesn't like there to be two of something, at least not when they're acknowledged. But one of something is just fine…?
Which is to say. I'm not a personal proponent of 'Loop getting their body back'. EXCEPT …… except this one time.
There's only one Siffrin now, so they don't need to be obfuscated to exist.
Consider, if you will. Loop swallowing their guilt for long enough to be comfortable. Falling back into old habits. Without another Siffrin around to compete for the niche of, they actually begin to act like Siffrin again. Not intentionally, it's just… The party is as welcoming as they've always been. And the party swears they keep catching glimpses of a face under all the light.
Then, one day, while still not fully human again, the resemblence becomes undeniable. Loop having not even noticed until everyone looks at them like they've seen a ghost.
Has it been months? How long have they kept up this lie? Is it even a lie, to them? They're Loop. But they were, once, Siffrin.
Even after explaining it, does that make it better or worse?
Bonnie cuts through the betrayed, struck-nerve reactions with a sobering "I missed you."
… Anyway !
Yeah so that's the vibe for NoHats. As for LoopLoops? That's more nebulous. I think it can go anywhere really in the NoHats timeline. I err personally toward the "Loop continuously replays the last 10 minutes before Siffrin's death almost immediately after they find out and have to parkour their ass up the House in the most distressing situation possible to try and get them to hold on, just please hold on." (Remember! Siffrin can remember the contents of Loop's loop backs in the A6 fight!)
But there is the possibility that this happens months, or worse years down the road. One last Loop back. Throw it all away for the chance to just get that one thing you didn't know you even wanted but now know you NEED.
Misc:
Okay miscellaneous time.
This is where I admit that I have a bunch of unfinished NoHats art that I haven't gotten around to yet because I feel like a right tool being so obviously Loop-Centric with my fancontent (I AM . . I REALISE I AM NOT DOING MUCH TO BEAT THE ALLEGATIONS.) So like if people want to see that please say because euaghghghhfh <- the nervous.
this is like the most fucked up place to do isaloop fr. anyway.
one of Sam's mid-game observations that I'm just going to share for no particular reason is that Bonnie's hair shares a bunch of shapes with Siffrin's. The flick up at the top, the 3 pronged shape of the fringe… just something to think about.
Without 2 Siffrins around to compare each other to it'd likely be a lot harder to notice Loop's similarities. Doesn't mean that those similarities don't sting more in this context though.
If you do NoHats without LoopLoops. The concept of this all fading into memory years down the line while they just have slightly-glowy but otherwise regular Siffrin hanging out is fucked up to think about. Just like real grief. Augh
6. a peek into the original dms as a treat from us
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vulpixisananimal · 8 months ago
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(. . .)
(What. WHAT. What do you have to say! I KNOW you have something!)
(. . .)
(We're back here again. AGAIN. After ALL THAT WORK. Do you have NOTHING to add to that?)
(Using the blinding dagger to get us back here. STARS. You want to protect Siffrin and you do things like THAT. Disgusting. You're Terrible, TERRIBLE! TERRIBLE!!!)
(And now we're stuck here! Again! Stardust can't come out because of that BLINDING MIND CRAFT. YOU I can't even trust to be sensible, and we blinding KILLED SOMEONE LAST LOOP!!)
(And you have NOTHING to say?!?)
(. . . It left, didn't it. Stars. . .)
(Even if it was annoying, a danger, stupid, whatever. It, it was someone to talk to. Stars.)
(You breathe in, and out. Let's just get this over with.)
(You open the bathroom door just as Isabeau knocks on it.)
"O-oh! Morning Sif!" (He doesn't remember.)
(You look up at him. What was your next line again? He was going to ask if you were ok and- You know what, no. You need this.)
(You hug Isabeau.)
"O-oh!!!" (After a second, he hugs you back.) "Is, is everything alright?"
(No. Nothing was alright. How do you explain this to him? How do you tell him you killed his friend. How do you tell him you're not who he thinks you are. You can't!! That's the punchline!! You couldn't get accross what you were feeling in a thousand Loops!! But what does that matter, you needed this.)
(. . . Was it selfish? Maybe. Maybe. . .)
(You made Stardust promise not to screw up with their family again. If you couldn't get that happy ending, they could at least. You still remember that fight, you still remember loosing. You still remember wanting to tear out Siffrins throat and stab him through the heart.)
(And now you were here, forced to see that happy ending play out while you, once again, are relegated to stagehand!!!)
(You're starting to cry.)
"No." (You finally say. Hugging a bit tighter.)
"Aw Sif, could I-"
"S-shut up." (You're crying more.) "Just, just shut up!"
". . . Sif. ."
"Don't call me that!" (You can't stop yourself.) "Every blinding time, every time you come check on us, to talk to him! And I have to sit back and pretend!! Pretend to be that happy Siffrin you all like!! Just so we can maybe get out of this BLINDING day!!!"
(Isa doesn't respond.)
"And now you probably think I'm crazy! Oh look! Siffrins gone all loopy~ TEE HEE! LOOPY~ Maybe they finally cracked!"
"S-. ." (He stops himself.) "I, I don't think that."
"Of course you do! Tee hee~ After all what else could, you. . ." (You look up at him finally, and stop.)
(He's. . . He's crying too.)
(There's a silence before he speaks up.) ". . . I. . . I don't, I don't know what you're going through right now but. . ." (He's looking for the right words.)
". . . . I'm sorry." (You finally say.)
"It's alright." (He respons, putting a hand on your head.) ". . . Do you want to talk about it?"
(You burry your face in his shirt and mumble.) "Maybe. . ."
"Did. . . Have you been looping again?"
". . . Yes."
"How long? And, and why?"
"Today, this is 8 or 9, I think. Looping because a defender, friend of yours, using mind craft on us. Keep trying to stop it."
"Oh. . ." (Isabeau gently scritches your head. It's nice.) "And, I'm guessing there's a lot more details to that?"
(You nod. Your breathing is steadying, finally.)
"Alright." (There's a pause.) "And uh, something, bad happened last loop I'm guessing?"
(Your breath catches, and you take a second to reply.) ". . . Yes."
"What was it?"
". . ."
". . ."
". . . We, we confronted your friend, they're going by Ramos now, and, and they turned into a sadness."
"And we died?" (He tried finishing.)
"No, we won. But Ramos, they. . . they. . ."
(There's a pause, then Isabeau hugs you tighter.) ". . . That, that sounds aweful!"
"You're not angry? Or, or scared?"
(Isa shook his head.) "I'm, well, I'm greatful and proud, proud that you came back to today even if you won to try again, but. . ." (Another pause.) ". . . I'm, a little scared, scared if Ramos is ok, and even more scared about if you're ok."
"Hehe. . ." (That's. . . Reasuring at least. You finally pull back a bit from the hug.) "I have had to deal with your memory getting changed, Mira getting accused of kidnapping Bonnie, Nille getting K.Oed by Ramos in one hit, oh stars I haven't even mentioned that looping is giving us craft exhaustion~"
"That's. . ." (Isabeau looks. . . Surprisingly okay? What a strange man. . .) "That does sound like a lot, but, I bet we can deal with it! Right? How many loops did you say it took in Dormont?"
"176~" (You say, now smiling slightly. You really WERE loopy.) "Give or take a few dozen."
"Then lets beat that record then!!" (Isa struck a heroic pose, it made you giggle.)
"Well it'll take a while to get to 177, but-"
"NO!!! NOT WHAT I MEANT!!!"
(You both laugh, oh, stars. You stumble Forward, light headed. Isabeau catches you.)
"Aw no, you sure you'll be alright?"
"Maybe..." (You take a breath. You DO feel exhausted. Last loop was the first time you properly fought something, and Mal Du Pays decided to go all out. You probably where slowly getting yourself killed with all this craft.) "Just, tired, and hungry."
"Do you want to go lie down? I could carry you back to your room if you want." (He was looking at you so sincerely.)
"I. . ." (That, sounded really nice, but.) "I need to explain this to everyone, and make sure they're ready, and think of a plan and-"
"Later, we have time! And you look beyond exhausted."
"But I need to-"
"If you try and push yourself I will pick you up and carry you to your bed."
(You look away. Ok. That DOES sound nice, you can't deny it. Stars. Why was he being so nice to YOU?)
". . . You, I'm, you do understand I'm not-"
"Oh! I guessed as much don't worry."
(WHAT?!?)
(You snap your head back. He could tell?!?! Oh stars you were REALLY rusty. Then again, you did just have a huge breakdown.)
(Isabeau saw your look and continued.) "W-well, Siffrin talked about all this yesterday, so I was thinking about it all night. And so when you ran to the bathroom this morning I wanted to make sure you were ok because, well, I was worried. . ."
"Tee hee. . ." (Defeated, you lean on Isa and start walking back to your room.) "It's, it's Loop. By the way."
"Glad to see you again, Loop." (There was a pause.) "a-and, uhm, sorry."
"Sorry?" (You asked.)
"I-if, if me and Sif ever, made you, y'know, uncomfortable..."
"Oh!" (Ah right. The PDA. Those two idiots had yet to kiss, but they got close. You were around sometimes for that. Well, sometimes it was JUST you around.) "O-oh! Nope! Nooooo issue all!"
"OhthankChangeok" (He sighed in relief.)
(He helped you back to your room, you didn't realize just how exhausted you were. When you got there you practically collapsed onto the bed.)
"I can get you breakfast!"
"Please, I think a quesadilla would fix me."
"Oh! Is that what Bonnie made today?"
"Every time, tee hee~"
(You both laugh, Isa goes to the door, but pauses a moment.) ". . . If. . If you ever do want to talk about, well, anything. . ."
". . . I'll, I'll think about it."
"Thanks, be right back, Loop."
(. . . Why is it that a bed only makes your body hurt more.)
(You close your eyes, you're so tired, Stars, you're so, so tired. You just need, need a rest. . .)
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aluria-sevhex · 6 months ago
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ToT Bonnie i love you but that is not how it's pronounced
NOW FOR MY NOTES, COPIED FROM MY NOTES APP INSTEAD OF SCREENSHOTTED THIS TIME (edit: put it under a read more because long)
ACT 2
-THE TIPS ON HOW TO PLAY ARE FUCKING DIAGETIC?
-"stardust" are you the starhead bitch from the trailers
-i feel like i'll have to ask the librarian for a book eventually
-THE RUNNING ONE IS CALLING OUT SIF LOL (for running from his problems) (hmmmm Sif what problems r u running from?)
-ugh. it's the starhead bitch
-plot twist the star head is Siffrin and that's why he's depressed :P
-their name is Loop. i don't trust them
-"Yeah, better know this one's pronouns so you can think very clearly in your head that they're getting on your nerves."
-LOOP CAN READ THE PROFILES? WHAT KIND OF META BULLSHIT IS THIS </positive i fucking love meta bullshit>
-hm is Loop some sort of weird representation of the player. or a god.
-learn WHAT?
-hm feel like this game might explore some of the moral iffiness that tends to arise with time loops. is a friendship genuine if one person knows exactly what the other will say?
-"don't eat pineapples. you're allergic" fuck you. i WILL eat pineapples and i WILL enter anaphylaxis and i WILL die stupidly but it will be WORTH IT
-WAIT HOLD UP WHAT WAS THAT DIALOGUE IN THE >> TUTORIAL "don't make the same mistakes i did" I THINK THAT'S WHAT THEY SAID HOLD UP
-maybe Loop was a normal person who got stuck in a time loop for too long and fucked up somehow? and that's why they're like this
-idk if i'll zone out much i don't wanna miss any differences
-altho if there's a difference won't i zone back in?
-then again there's a lot of dialogue
-maybe this will be plot-important somehow?
update after being gone for a bit:
-Tears weewoo
-SIFFRIN SAID NYA
-side note i am so glad i fought that thing that dropped the crest even tho it was hard. fighting it again on future loops is gonna suck tho
-also fun fact right after i died to the Tears i ran ahead and accidentally got crushed by the rock again. which i think is bullshit because I RAN TO THE SIDE OF THE ROOM
-back to more important things. like Siffrin saying nya. or the thyme pun.
-ODILE SAID IT. look she has a phd or whatever equivalent there is here probably, she's like 40, i think she's earned the right to do whatever the fuck she wants
-Isabeau is AOBB (Assigned Omelette By Bonnie)
-"It'd be awful to keep yourself from becoming a person you feel comfortable with just because it would upset someone else."
Breaking news: the game where the protagonist uses he/they, two other major characters use they/them, and there is a conversation explicitly referencing pronouns and giving them, unsurprisingly supports trans rights
-BONNIE DO NOT EAT THE EGG KEYCHAIN
-BONNIE HAS A WOK >:D
-uh... why are the Vaugardians freaking out over crab. does the Change religion ban it?
-Vaugarde is weird. first, they have a VERY SPECIFIC RULE where entering the FIRST ROOM of a house is fine, but any further is rude. second: crabs??? ok i guess???
-an openphrase... ya mean a password?
-fuck it i am fully in "taking gratuitous extensive notes" mode
-hehe protector craft is gullible :P
-oh hey tasteful artistic nudes. so this room's resident is an art student. hopefully their grasp of anatomy was improved :]
-Mira said what the crab instead of what the hell
-"what the CRAB did you let Bonnie do when we said no!!!"
-YOU LET THE PRE-TEEN DRINK VODKA???
-LMAOOOOOOOO IT WAS WATER. I LOVE HOW MUCH OF A LITTLE SHIT SIFFRIN IS
-checked it again. the people are "doing fun things" eh so what if an art student draws porn, that's on me for peeking ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ still hope it improved their grasp of anatomy. if the anatomy was bad and the narration didn't tell me i would be disappointed in it :P
-ooo drawn tarot card. isn't the Six of Swords a bad one? i feel like it's foreshadowing somehow but i don't feel like looking its meaning up
-i fucking hate the triplet Sadnesses they're so annoying
-the reason the Mandela Effect with Berenstein/Berenstain happened is because Sif equipped the e
-OH? saving records party progress if you loop back to that spot :0
-yippee i beat the Sadness boss that changes its type (this is like the first enemy that does that i think)
-Mira are you hungry
-YEAH LET'S FUCKIN' EAT
-this question keeps popping in my head but where the fuck IS Siffrin from plot twist the kid was right and he's from the sky idk i'm saying random shit
-SNACK TIME
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quantumfeat72 · 6 days ago
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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)
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tobiasdrake · 10 months ago
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That's everyone. Time to check out the Favor Tree, then we're on to the Clocktower meetup.
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So how's this work? Do I just tell the tree what I want? Do I yank off a leaf and then write my request on it?
I dunno. Given that the rules are lax enough that a Favor Tree is as simple as "the biggest tree nearby" I think there's probably some leeway here. There may not be any particular rules for how we're supposed to pray to it.
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Then again, that is the kind of logic that leads to the Bystander Effect. If everybody thinks like that and then nobody wishes for Vaugarde's salvation, that's a whoopsy-doodle. So it's better to inconvenience myself, at the risk of redundancy, for the sake of locking in aid for people in crisis.
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Of course, it's not impossible to have your cake and eat it when it comes to wish-granting. All of these potential wishes are things that my team wants to do once the King has been defeated. Granting a wish for these things necessarily requires that Vaugarde be saved.
Therefore, I can wish for something for myself that nonetheless adds the strength of my wish to whatever existing pool of wishes towards Vaugarde's salvation already exists! This is what we call "gaming the system".
And while I wish the best for everyone, there is one person whose desires matter more than anybody else's.
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Odile, Maribelle, and Isabeau all have dreams and ambitions for the future. That's great. I'm happy for them. But Bonnie doesn't. Bonnie has trauma. If I'm going to spend a wish on anyone, it's going to be for Bonnie to be healed.
If only one of us can have what they want, it should be them. A lost child's wish to save their family is worth more than gold.
Okay PARTY TIME
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Alright y'all, come clean. Who ripped the bread in half and just left it on the table like that?
Or. Wait. Is that the bread, of "breaking bread"? Did we literally break bread? And then not eat it?
Are... are you supposed to eat it? Is it rude to break the bread and then not eat it? Or is it sacrilegious to eat broken bread? I feel like the bread's just going to waste if you don't eat it. But maybe it's a holy gesture? Maybe the act of letting the bread go stale... symbolizes its Change from a state of freshness to a state of badness.
Or maybe one of us here is just a dipshit who doesn't understand the phrase. Looking at you, Isa. On the "Risk of Dipshit" Scale, you're Suspect #2.
Suspect #1 is me but I'm, like, 65% sure I didn't do it.
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You made the entire feast all by yourself? I am simultaneously very impressed with you and also tremendously disappointed in the rest of us. Four grown-ass adults and not one of us pitched in to assist the child in the kitchen. I am ashamed of every single one of us.
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SPEECH SPEECH SPEECH SPEECH
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Uh. No. Appreciate the sentiment but you're wrong. I don't know if you have Pocket Notes on the stakes of this thing but "Everyone dies tomorrow" isn't something people get to opt out of.
I know you don't want to think of membership in this crew as compulsory but... it kind of is. Our options are "Roll the dice tomorrow" or "Find a nice place to die". The latter of which is something most of the town is actively preparing for.
People are capable of tremendous acts of selfless courage when they have no hope of survival. With that in mind, I intend to be very brave tomorrow. There's only one place to do that.
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You know, I'm used to rousing campfire speeches having a lot more swearing, raging narcissism, and thematically inappropriate criminality. But this is nice too. All-a y'all are swell. I'm happy to be a part of this.
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My dude, I was wide awake. I slept all day today. I was just trying to be politely still so everyone else can sleep, while quietly going over Rock Paper Scissors strategies in my head.
The trick is to not throw the wrong symbol. But to make them think you're going to throw the wrong symbol, so they play into your hands when you throw the right symbol. *sage wisdom*
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I love you too, man. Still making sense of things too much to decide if that's romantic or platonic but one way or another we're tight.
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Mm. Pillow beats Rock. Good to know. See, that is why I've been silently reviewing Rock Paper Scissors strategies.
Good night, Isa. We'll continue this talk on the day after tomorrow, so long as it comes to pass.
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greatbritishsimchallenge · 8 months ago
Note
have you ever regret not having choosen another sim for a specific era? for example instead of kennedi maybe have sophie be the main sim in the roman era
Love this question!
I don't tend to find I have much choice.
For example, I actually intended to follow Sophie in the Roman Era... and then she died by being struck by lighting. So I made a pivot to Kennedi.
Another example for the Tudor era is that I loved Isabeau, but needed to play mainly as Cassian for the challenge goal of having a sim with the six wives of Henry VIII.
Now that I think about it, age, challenge goals and who survives end up meaning I only have one option anyway. I've genuinely never had to ponder who to choose as my heir. If anything, I pray a particular sim will get to survive so they can be my heir!
That might be too limiting for some, but I really prefer my story being heavily guided by gameplay. If I had to purely make it all up, I seriously doubt I'd have come up with the dramatic turns of events we've had up to now!
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wyvernwriterarchive · 7 months ago
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OC WEEK DAY 7
Free Day/ Fun Facts!!
We are finally done! Yay!
This was a fun challenge. Thought I admit, it did distract me from writing about my other projects...so woops-
Anyway, to close this off, I wanted to give you guys some random fun facts about Taurn. Because I think it would be neat.
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Past Developments
His original story was about him going to an East Asian inspired country, meeting the locals, and stopping his dad from colonizing it. His arc was centered around controlling his anger to not hurt his loved ones. Also, his dad... wasn't even an emperor OR abusive. He was just... a dick ig.
Actually, in some iterations, his father was cowardly? For some reason??
"Taurn" used to be the name of the country he was from. His original name? Taur. Yep...just the same name without the N.
He used to have a peace loving younger sister who dies in the story to help him learn to control his rage.
Other Details
Since it's pride month, ig I should say that Taurn is bi! I dont actually currently ship him with any male main characters, other than Leon, but uhh... yeah!
Taurn is based on Hector (Fire Emblem 7), Diamant and Alfred(Fire Emblem 17), Isabeau (In Stars and Time),Akihiko, and Kazushi (Persona 3), as well as a few other characters, maybe.
He's a bit too easy to fluster when it comes to receiving affection. He gets really red in the face. It's because he's not really used to it.
He’s really warm. Both his hands and body are warm to the touch.
His pockets are usually filled with snacks for his friends.
Paladin/House Emblem is the head of the bull with the sun in the middle of their horns.
In the Persona AU version of him, he would be named Taiyou. His persona would be Samson,Heracles, and/or Atlas.
In DND/Pathfinder, he would be a Paladin/Champion.
Welp. Thats the end. Thanks for looking at my stuff! Feel free to check out my other stuff too!
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ask-paperville · 7 months ago
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1- like them all really, but Siffrin and Odile a bit more
2- the tutorial kid
3- secret one with loop if you know, you know.
4- memory of sadness? (Don’t remember for sure the name but the one where enemies run away from you)
5- like them all too, but for me events with Bonnie hit really close to me.
6- jackpot baby! As soon as possible.
7- those timelines where Siffrin dies and loop back are REALLY erased or they just continue without him? And what the hell happened to the island to north of Vaugard?
8- I would like to actually see all of their adventures, see Bonnie’s sister, see loop join to them, maybe even journey to the island…
9- I am 100 % convinced that colours disappearance and island erasure somehow connected, also I think that maybe those who stayed on island are still alive and live good and that wish to erase everything about island is a deliberate wish made by someone in power there to hide their technology or something from everyone.
10- like I said, the islanders are alive and well on their island. At least that I think.
11- it’s a bit sad but I head-cannon that those little crystals on Odile glasses are her father’s as in Ka-buan tradition on turning their dead into gems. Also Bonnie is definitely half islander because of few think I noticed like sometimes you can see little stars when they excited or the cat shaped eyes.
12- I was just a sucker for loops and time shenanigans, but this game changed that…
13- If I remember correctly I was on my 127 loop when I get to the last act.
14- most of Loops, and most of Siffrins. I actually like all the portraits really)
15- thinking about it, I can’t even think what would you even CAN change in the game everything work as intended I think even frustrating parts.
16- definitely rock type, I actually look like Isabeau minus buff. I don’t really like sport to be honest but I am not fat or skinny sooo yeah. Rock type it is.
17- pretzels.
18- what you feel when the game ended?
in stars and time ask game 🌌
1- favorite character?
2- favorite npc?
3- favorite soundtrack?
4- favorite memory?
5- favorite optional event?
6- do you have a battle strategy you’d like to share?
7- anything you’re still curious about in-game?
8- any post-game things you’d like to see?
9- any theories on unanswered questions from the game? (about the forgotten island, why colors disappeared, etc)
10- any headcanons about the in-game world? (about the forgotten island, craft types, just like. world building hcs, etc)
11- any character headcanons?
12- what got you interested in the game?
13- if you’ve played the game, how many loops did you do? if you’ve played it multiple times, whats the least amount of loops you did? the most?
14- favorite character portrait(s)?
15- anything you’d change about the game? be it game mechanics, a new feature, a change in plot, etc
16- what craft type do you think you’d be?
17- if you could have any of the snacks bonnie makes during the snack breaks, which would you choose?
18- free question!! send a question of your choice or treat this as an opportunity to let receiver ramble about anything they’d like
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auncyen · 11 months ago
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(this is slightly morbid but nothing bad actually happens. If that makes sense.)
-
"Oh, cruel whimsy," Siffrin whispers right of Odile.
"Oh, cruel whimsy!" Siffrin wails from below as he lies, sprawled dramatically, dying.
Odile's seat vibrates because of how excited Siffrin is next to her. "Now leave me, light--" they continue.
"--let all shade come upon me--"
"--and with this last Change--"
"--I end this sordid tale, and pray my next be humorous enough to remedy."
The Siffrin on stage finally dies several minutes after he should have passed out from blood loss. The curtain falls. The Siffrin next to Odile claps wildly, shouting along with the crowd. "Bravo! Bravo!!!"
Mirabelle, on Odile's left, is still crying from the play's tragedy, but has recovered enough to comment, "that's another liberty they took. We don't all believe in reincarnation. It's mostly the Houses in Brisseau."
"And that's fine?" Odile asks, raising her voice just enough to cut through the applause around them.
Mirabelle shrugs, dabbing at her eyes. "The Change religion doesn't focus too much on what happens after death anyway, so it's not really that big a deal, I guess?"
"I don't think the Poterians are worried about accuracy anyway," Odile says, casting an eye around them before focusing on Siffrin--their Siffrin, not the actor who is back on their feet now that the curtain has risen again and taking a bow.
She cannot believe this is the first play Siffrin wanted to see. They'd loved plays, yes, but then those two strange days in Dormont happened, and the first time Isabeau suggested watching a play as a way to take their minds off things for a bit, Siffrin had gotten the strangest look on his face before saying he wasn't really in the mood and maybe they could just look around the market instead. They'd left the topic there for the day, but slowly, with a joint effort, they'd gotten Siffrin to talk about how he'd come to think of life as a play during the loops. They were supposed to say these things to Isabeau, or Odile, or Mirabelle or Boniface, and then the others would always say the same lines, and sometimes deviating from the script was good and created a better script and sometimes it resulted in something so awful that they immediately messed up the next loop and then spent the next six strictly following the better script and making everyone smile, over and over again, so that that "bad loops" wouldn't count anymore. Which was completely illogical, but Odile had to assume whatever had happened--Siffrin had yet to talk about whatever that was--had been traumatizing enough to make Siffrin cling to the safety of repetition even as it was driving them insane.
Needless to say, plays had been taboo for some time. Mirabelle hadn't even been sure at first if she could talk about her books, if any fiction might make Siffrin uneasy, but Siffrin had taken her not reading books by them as her not having any and had dragged Odile on a Secret Quest to procure some, so books were clearly safe.
The taboo on plays was broken today, when Boniface noticed Siffrin's name on a flier and immediately called it out, making everyone notice it. It hadn't taken very long for awkwardness to settle in as they all read further and realized "Siffrin" was the titular character of a play, but before Isabeau or Mirabelle could find a distraction, Siffrin had lit up. "...My name! I named myself after the hero! I love this--that is--" His cheeks shaded with fluster as he realized just how enthusiastic he'd gotten. "...can we go see it?"
It had been a unanimous yes, of course. If Siffrin was rediscovering an interest the loops had taken from them, good. Of course they'd watch it, both to make sure Siffrin enjoyed themself and because they were all a little curious what Siffrin had seen in this play to name himself after it.
Well.
Well.
"...Wait, where's Bonnie and Nille?" Siffrin was asking. With the play over, he was finally regaining awareness of his surroundings and noticing the other seats in the aisle, already empty. "Isa?"
"...Boniface went out with Petronille because they were uncomfortable with how dark it was getting--we all warned them it was a tragedy, please don't feel guilty, Siffrin," Odile says when Siffrin's face falls. "They knew they might be uncomfortable, they still wanted to try, and they left with their sister when they realized they might get upset. I'm sure Boniface is fine."
"Okay...Isa...?"
Odile is certain Isabeau walked out because he'd overthought the connection between Siffrin naming himself after a character who was from the start of the play almost certain to die at the end of it. She's certain, because she's overthinking it herself. "I'm not sure," she says instead, because he didn't actually tell her that and she'd rather not put words in anyone's mouth with a topic this delicate. "So why did you name yourself after the hero?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Siffrin asks.
She doesn't like the answer that seems obvious. "I'd like to hear your own thought process, though."
Siffrin bounces on their feet. "That monologue in act four--and his banter with Gaston! I can't believe I remember so much of it!"
It is impressive how good their memory is with plays, and Odile wonders if it's because plays, while inspired by the real world, very much take place in their own little worlds, far from memory-erasing islands.
"And, well..." Siffrin sobers. "He loses everything in the play. And I--I guess--I don't really remember if I tried telling people or not, about my past, but I don't think I felt like anyone would have believed me...so...it's not the same, he still remembers, but he felt that sad and everyone feels bad for him, so... it felt like a relief that way?" He shrugs, awkwardly.
"Oh," Mirabelle says, clapping her hands together as she stands up. "Now I get why you like these plays! It's the catharsis!"
Siffrin brightens with a smile at Mirabelle. "That's it! The catharsis."
"I see," Odile says, hoping the relief isn't too obvious in her voice. Yes, she and Isabeau definitely overthought this.
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themalhambird · 7 years ago
Note
37 for Isabelle?
Everything’s happened too quickly. 
Isabelle was supposed to have days, between marrying the English King and needing to go back to his home with him- where have they gone? The Wedding is still at the forefront of her mind - it was terrifying, and exhilarating, and the excitement of it is still there, but it’s fading rapidly to anxiety as she realises that now it’s over, and so is the time allotted for farewells and a whirlwind of packing…
She’s going to leave France, she realises with a jolt, and it doesn’t seem real. England doesn’t seem like it could be a real place, not really, though she knows it as and-
She agreed to this, she reminds herself crossly. More than that- she
wanted
this: she wants to be a great lady, like maman and aunt Valentine, and she
wants
to see outside of France, so that she can fill in the blank spaces where it seems like nothing exists. And the King- her husband- he’s like she’d hoped he would be, or at least seems it: he’s kind and gentle,
  and
he’s handsome whatever Kate says about his long hair being girly-
Isabelle
thinks it looks romantic, a silky auburn waterfall curling around his shoulders like one of the illuminated knights in her Great Uncle Berry’s stories of King Arthur, which he let her look at once though she wasn’t allowed to actually
read
it- 
But there’s something about him that does jar with all her daydreams and it’s worrying her: now that she’s about to leave her home with this man, she can’t ignore it. She’s been picturing her wedding to some important nobleman in various ways since she was a very little girl, but however she imagined it- be it to a King or Duke or…she always sort of assumed he’d be, well,
happy.
Not in love with her necessarily, she’s always known that love is often the kind of thing that only happens after a wedding, but they exchanged their vows and King Richard’s eyes were sad. His hands shook as he took hers- she was so nervous herself that she didn’t really register it all at the time but the more she thinks about it…
She leaves first thing tomorrow morning; she’s running out of time to seek reassurance. In a moment of decisiveness, she swings out of bed, jams her feet in to her slippers, snatches a shawl to wrap around her shoulders, and slips from the room, leaving Kate snoring behind her. She intends to go and ask the King- maybe she’s done something wrong, in which case she needs to fix it, or maybe there’s something else the matter in which case, she’s his wife now and shouldn’t that mean she has a duty to try and fix it? She wants him to be happy. Something tells her he has a beautiful smile, and she can’t wait to see it. She reaches his door and pushes it open a little- then freezes as she hears voices inside. “…do this to yourself…”That’s the King’s cousin, she thinks- the nice one with dark hair and good French who she met first, not the other, scary one with French that’s passable but horribly accented. Heart pounding wildly in her chest, she looks through the crack in the door. She blushes furiously as she realises that both men are naked, or as near to naked as she’s ever seen a man anyway: King Richard has only his shirt, and his cousin- Rutland, she remembers suddenly-only his underpants…they’re lying on the bed, on top of the covers, the King closest too her though his face is turned away from the door: he’s looking at Rutland, who’s propped up on one elbow, other hand laced with the King’s.“I can’t help it,” the King says. “I’ve tried- God knows I’ve tried- that I’m trying. Princess Isabelle is…she’s a lovely girl, she’ll make a good queen, in time-I like her. I like her, very much. But Ned, she’s not Anne. She’s not Anne.”
Isabelle wanted to pull away, to run back to bed and forget this had ever happened, but she couldn’t move. Of course, how had she not seen this! Richard was a decade older than she was…twenty seven, to her seventeen, and they were only marrying because of politics…of course he would have someone: Isabelle could picture her, Anne, an English Lady- married to someone else, perhaps, or not married at all, but not a wife he could take without angering his nobles. As a mistress, though- well perhaps, she thought, panicking, they could be friends. Though the relief she had been feeling that her husband had gently suggested deferring their wedding night until she was a little older, and they knew each other a little better, was quickly turning sour- if he and his mistress were in love- and he sounded very in love, the anguish in his voice was unmistakable- he would probably never want her; she would be set to one side, a spare part, an interloper. 
“Oh, Dearheart.” Isabelle didn’t know what Rutland had just said meant: it must be an English word. But the tone was unmistakable in it’s sympathy, as though Rutland’s heart was breaking as much as his cousin’s, and he pressed a chaste kiss to his King’s mouth-Isabelle jumped as a hand clapped her shoulder, and she spun around to see her Uncle Orleans disapproving frown. “What are you doing?” he hissed, and then, seeing she was on the verge of tears, the frown became concern as he pulled her away from the door and in to an alcove. “Isabelle, what’s wrong?”
“He has a mistress!” Isabelle sobbed. “That’s why he’s been so sad! He doesn’t want to be married to me because he’s in love with her!”
Orleans frowned again, in confusion this time. “…what? But he-” he asked, brows knitting together. “What did you overhear?” he said, a gentle reprimand slipping in to his tone. There was a reason eavesdropping was never a good idea: this was it.
“ I heard them talking! The King and his cousin…The King’s upset because I’m not Anne, her name is Anne-
”Oh dear God, Orleans thought: he had known from the very beginning this was a bad idea- and had Isabeau told her daughter nothing of the man she’d been given to? No hint, no warning? “Isabelle,” he said, “Isabelle, listen to me: King Richard does not have a mistress.”“But they were-”
“They were talking about his wife. His first wife.”Isabelle looked at him with round, confused eyes. 
“…He has been married?” she whispered, hiccupping. “I assumed you knew,” Orleans said softly. “That you’d been told…” he exhaled. “King Richard was married. Her name was Queen Anne, and they loved each other very much, everyone said so.”“What happened?”
“She died,” Orleans said quietly. “Three years ago. I understand that the English courtiers find it better to avoid speaking of her, than to risk reopening the King’s grief, it was…great.” He would not go in to specifics. Isabelle didn’t need to know that in the months after the Queen of England’s death gossip all across Europe said that King Richard had gone mad. He burnt down the palace where she had died, that Orleans knew for fact; there were other rumours, too, that he did not sleep, or that he did not stir from his bed, that he would not eat, that his anguish howls could be heard right across England, that he passed each night on his knees in the chapel begging God to give her back…or else take him too…“Uncle?”
“…You mustn’t worry,” Orleans said finally. “It may be…difficult, at first, for you both. But in time…”Isabelle sniffled, drying her eyes. “What if it doesn’t,” she said. “What if…” she trailed off, gesturing as if to say: all the things that could go wrong, what if they happen? What then?“
Then you come home,” Orleans said firmly. “If you don’t like England- if you’re even the slightest bit unhappy. You come back home.”
“What if there’s a war and they won’t let me?” It hadn’t occurred to her, until this moment, but now it had-
“Then, I come and rescue you,” her uncle said. “The slightest hint of trouble: if you need me, I’ll come get you.”
“You promise?” Isabelle asked, feeling a little better at the prospect of having her uncle’s help, if she ever needed it. She would not be alone, after all…
“I promise,” Orleans said firmly, “You have my word…”
(three years later, Queen Isabelle of England was given the news that France formally recognised Henry Bolingbroke as England’s King and thought:
Liar.)
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overlycaffeinatedwarmage · 7 years ago
Text
RtS Ch 38-40
The analysis in which I say “fuck” and other assorted grownup words often.
Chapter 38
Mircea explain what Dory is.  If you’ve read the Dory books you already know all of this. The block he built in her mind is crumbling because the vampire side in her mind is stronger and wants out. Dorina mistook Cassie’s rescue of Mircea for an assault and wants revenge.  He has a fucked-up family to say the least. But this says something about the unconditional love of a parent?
 Mircea stands at the door looking at her but not touching her.  She’s glad but at the same time says, "But it hurt nonetheless, staring up into that beautiful face, wondering if I knew what was going on behind those eyes at all." You don't know a thing Cassie, he's using you. Don't trust the bastard. He’s been using you since day one, as you’ll soon discover.  You know nothing, Cassie Palmer.
 Then Mircea says about Dory, ““She has a way of turning up whenever there’s trouble. You two share that ability.” He smiled slightly.” Ewewewewewewew!!!!!! Dude, don't compare your girlfriend and daughter, it's creepy as fuck. Not cute, not at all.  That’s some fucked up Freudian level shit there, man.
 Mircea mentions the Consul pulling strings.  He doesn't want to tell her anything that actually matters, not about his life, politics, anything. Just about stuff she can help with. That's not a relationship. She knows it, he knows it. He just doesn't care. He doesn’t really want a relationship.  He wants an errand girl.
 (Re Consul: “But she has spies everywhere. And they notice more than expressions—heartbeat, breathing patterns, a thousand tells a human would never see.” Could this be a clue about Pritkin?)
 Mircea reminds me of Mantis from GotGv2, pulling away emotions.  It sounds like that’s what he’s doing to Cassie here purposefully or not. I don’t like it.  Mantis uses her power for good in the movie, Mircea uses it to manipulate and calm Cassie to make her more pliable.  Fuck you dude.
 Cassie is putting stuff together here, Mircea treats her like a moron, or a child. That's how he views her more often than not. He claims not, but he actions speak otherwise.  
  “Are you reading my mind?” I asked sharply.
“Your face. I doubt I could pick up on even surface thoughts tonight. After the last two days . . .”
 So, Mircea claims to not be able to pick up thoughts, he isn’t able to read her mind on Pritkin.  She either told him outright, or someone else did here.  He didn’t pick it up mentally. He found out the old-fashioned way.
  Chapter 39
The chapter in which we find out Mircea's true motivations for wooing Cassie. The fucker.
 So, years had passed since he left Elena, yet he goes back to give her the choice to follow him or not? Is he so arrogant to think she just waited for him and pined after him, for years? Yes, of course he is. She just sat by the window waiting and watching, wasting away to nothing waiting for him.  I really dislike him more and more. Jackass.
 How did the townspeople know Dory was a dhampir? Especially as a baby.  Because of him? She reads as human most of the time. We get the history of Elena's death and Vlads part in it.  Mircea starts projecting, so Cassie sees the truth of things from him for once. What a rare opportunity!
 More story tellers, she lets Mircea get away with it though. Dammit girl take your power back from him. We see him visiting the Pythias. He learned charm for them.  All his diplomatic skills he learned for the Pythias.  
 Future trivia fodder: Bernice with the dogs in Constantinople. Eudoxia moves to Paris. We see him seducing Isabeau, who wants an English garden, see tensions with circle starting here.
 Chapter 40
Answer is always no, maybe it was no because Cassie needed it to be no?  She needed his sorta-protection protection as a kid? The power says no because it knows what’s coming and knows it's needed. If all the Pythias don't remember then Cassie can't use that to stay in Wales, to prove herself, save Pritkin and defeat Ares. Cassie hasn’t looked to see yet so we don’t know. But those are my theories.  Without those 500 years of No’s we wouldn’t have Cassie as we know her.  
 Cassie is crying because her heart is breaking here. Her conscious mind hasn't caught up yet but she knows what this means. I hate this motherfucker for breaking her heart like this. We all knew it was coming but still.  Fuck him and the horse he rode in on.
 In Cassie’s memory scene she talks to ghosts. She lets him in on the secret few know about.  Giving up her power even way back when.  He gives her attention, not jewels, though sorts of those too. He really researches people well.
 She asks why he's asking now, he gives excuses, but I think it's because he finally has leverage. He projects the vision of his night with Elena, it tells Cassie that they were married. This is why he kept Vlad alive, to tell him where and when Elena dies. How does Mircea know now? Actually, I think he doesn’t but he thinks he has Cassie wrapped around his finger enough that she’ll figure it out for him.  Dick.  
 The daughter thing is the first time Cassie officially caught him in a lie.  And that, folks, is the game.  It’s all over now.  She was willing to play along until now.  Then we have lie number two.  The potion. He's been stringing her along, promising the potion he doesn't have and can't get, you motherfucker.  I mean, we knew this all along.  That would be too easy.  But it still stings.  Cassie uses what precious little energy she has left and blindly shifts away.  God damn girl, it’s about time you really, truly stood up to him.  Finally. Nice to see him outted for the POS we knew him to be with regards to Cassie.  Let him go Cassie, he’s not worth it.
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auncyen · 4 months ago
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warning: falling rocks ahead
True to form, Mirabelle is fretting.  You don't blame her, given this is the final day of the quest she was saddled with by no less significant a figure than the very God she worships, but you'd hoped the refresher tutorial had settled her nerves, and then you reached what she called 'The Death Corridor'.  She's going to exhaust herself, and while experience says she usually finds her second wind when it's most needed, you would rather you all reach the King with a calm demeanor.
"--So there must be a trap-- Something weight-sensitive, or something!  Or, or!!! Maybe it's time-sensitive! If we spend too long here...!"
"There's nothing weird in here," Siffrin tells Mirabelle, and you believe him.  This room is rather empty, with only six pillars that you watched him check as you rested your legs.
"But there must be!!"
"Belle, Belle, don't worry about it," Boniface reassures her. "Frin isn't good at many things, but they know stuff about traps."
You smirk at the face Siffrin pulls before adding in your own two cents to calm Mirabelle.  And tease them more.  "Right. If we can't trust the one who's supposed to lead us THIS early, this won't bode well for later..."
"But, but--"
Siffrin sighs before taking a step away, deeper into the hallway.  "We're not dead yet, are we?"
Mirabelle tilts her head, considering with a furrowed brow.  "...Well, that's true..."
Good, she's calming down.  Time to convince her so you can all move on. You have only hours before the King's Curse will have frozen everyone but her.  "We HAVE been in this room for a while...  And Siffrin has been walking everywhere, so if it was weight-sensitive, something would have killed him by now."
While Isabeau was clucking over her before, he nods along at the end of your logical argument.  "Exactly! It's all fine!"
"Oh... ...yeah! Yeah, okay! I'll believe you!" Mirabelle shifts from doubtful to relieved to embarrassed in only a matter of seconds, ever expressive.  "Sorry... for worrying... I'm a little on edge.."
"We're good, Mira."  Siffrin smiles at her, their eyes closed. "See?"
They say something else.  There's a click.  A deafening THUD.
You don't know if the click was before Siffrin's words, or after, or during.  You have no idea what Siffrin actually said.  The THUD, which was definitively final, knocked the words right out of your mind.  Your ears are ringing as you see a colossal boulder where Siffrin stood, and for two slow heartbeats, you wait for Siffrin to somehow pop out from behind it, or call out a 'tada!', because of course he sidestepped it (it's too large), he's the trap finder because he's fast enough to outrun the ones he accidentally sets off (it dropped too quickly)--
Blood
seeps
from stone.
Screaming
fills
the room.
Your vision
goes darkless
and your throat hurts
you're screaming
you're the only one screaming
at a tree?  it's too bright, how is it so bright in the House, how is there a tree--
"M'dame!  ODILE!"
Isabeau yells, but he sounds far behind you, when only a moment ago he was close by--and you had your back to the end of the room.  You blink in confusion, clearing your eyes, and try once again to make sense of what's in front of you.
It's a large, healthy deciduous tree.  It's not Siffrin, it's not a boulder, and it is most certainly not a boulder crushing Siffrin.  It's...it's Dormont's Favor Tree.
And then it's Isabeau, who's circled in front of you with wide, concerned eyes.  "M'dame, what's wrong?"
"Siffrin--"  How can he ask what's wrong?  How can he ask that when Siffrin just died?  "Siffrin--"
The words catch in your raw throat.
Isabeau looks even more alarmed.  "Siffrin?!  They're--did something happen?  I thought they were still napping...!"
Isabeau thinks Siffrin is napping?
His reaction is so incongruous with what you just saw that it momentarily shocks the grief out of you.  Because Isabeau is not acting like he just saw his friend crushed by a boulder.  And you cannot explain how you could have been in the House, seeing just that, and now be back outside it.
Was it... not real?  But how?  You know there are rare Sadnesses that can make you see terrifying fears come to life, but if that had been the affliction you should have come back to your senses with a fight on your hands too, or the conclusion of one.  Instead you're just...here, with no one else but Isabeau, who is growing more fretful with your silence.
"I... I need to check on them," you tell Isabeau, just to give him some kind of answer, and then walk as quickly as you can back towards Dormont.  It's a gait Isabeau easily matches with his own long legs, still looking at you with alarm.
"Y, yeah, sure, let's check on them!  But--M'dame, I have never heard you scream like that--"
You don't know what to tell him when 'Sadness-inflicted affliction' seems to be off the table right now.  But frankly, explaining yourself is not an immediate priority.  "I need to check on Siffrin."  That's all that matters. "Where are they?"
You already have an idea where they might be, given where they napped yesterday. But you want certainty.
"They said, um, the meadow to the south?"
Same as yesterday, then. Or perhaps it's still today, if you just hallucinated over half a day in the blink of an eye.
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auncyen · 11 months ago
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act 5 au
today's writing progress which. may very well require changes lol
-
"I still have some questions," Odile says, and you bite back a sigh because of course she does. "You've been looping in time. What was this afternoon about? Why not just tell us then? What was the point of showing me the familytale today? You could have shown me when the loop was over."
"Because it makes you happy, and then you learn a useful skill." You hate the answer as soon as it leaves your mouth. You don't want to lie, but maybe that's too honest. Just tell them you're manipulative, why don't you?
Well, you are. That's why you showed her the familytale.
"Oh, huh." Isabeau sounds pensive. "Yeah, I've heard emotional clarity is good for figuring out new techniques. …You were trying to teach Bonnie something, too, weren't you? Though, putting yourself in danger really isn't a good way to do it, Sif. That was, uh, about the worst thing you could have done with them."
You roll your eye. "It always worked before. I wasn't in any real danger." The worst case scenario was that you'd need to loop, and it'd be really pathetic if such a weak Sadness caused that.
"Thaaaat's not how it sounded." Isabeau leans against the sink, folding his arms. "…You were trying to do that with all of us, weren't you? We were supposed to go stargazing? And, uh…" He looks over at Mirabelle, who huffs, seeming to have calmed down from her tears enough to manage indignation.
"I don't know how I would get any kind of 'emotional clarity' from that--"
"I said it wrong! I meant--"
"No, no! I want to figure it out myself," Mirabelle insists, puffing her cheeks out at you, so--fine. She doesn't need to know that skill anyway, her regular shield will do just fine--
You still haven't reminded her about the CARROT method. Stars. "Okay, but you do need to learn how to make a shield. So, remember the CARROT method, and figure it out."
Everyone looks baffled by various degrees, but that's fine. Mirabelle always looks confused when you hint it to her at the start of a loop anyway. "You know about the CARROT method?" Isabeau asks.
"No, I just know that she knows the CARROT method, and it helps her figure out how to make shields."
"What happens if I don't figure it out?" Mirabelle asks.
"King kills us."
…Oh, that was definitely a too-honest answer. Mirabelle's eyes go round as saucers as one hand flies to her mouth, and even Odile looks alarmed next to her. "…Sif," Isabeau says slowly. "The way you said that…have we actually died?"
You look aside. "He finishes me off first and then I loop back, so, I don't think so?" Not as long as there's only one timeline getting reset, which you have to believe. You can't stomach the situations you've left the others in if they stayed after you were gone. "But it doesn't look good."
"You've died." Isabeau doesn't seem to take any relief from the clarification.
"And then I loop back, and I'm fine!" You sweep your hand in front of yourself, from the brim of your hat to just below your hips, and smile at him. "See?"
His eyebrows stay hovering far above where they normally would rest. You keep smiling at him, fighting not to bare your teeth.
"Sif--"
"Stars, Isa, am I bleeding?" you snap. Why can't he just believe you? "Do you see some gaping wound I've missed? Looping resets everything! I'm not hurt! I'm fine!" You turn to Odile. "Why would I tell everyone I'm looping through time when people are going to get hung up on stupid things like this?"
Odile looks so disappointed with you. "Do you really think you're fine, Siffrin?"
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