#the family members only found out Some of it through the things siff shouted about in that fight

[aria0fgold]

Okay, theory time! Basically, what I think is the reason for Wish Craft to smell/taste of burnt sugar! So... to start of, Wish Craft is a type of Craft that can grant wishes, and we all know that the power to do so is a double-edged sword. It depends entirely on the contents of the wish if it'll turn out good or bad, and in In Stars and Time, the wish can be granted in a variety of ways. For one thing, it can be granted immediately and outright (Siffrin mumbling whenever he makes something and unknowingly using Wish Craft during then. Whatever he makes turn out great if that's what he wanted! Like a wood figurine looking amazing). Another thing is that the wish isn't "granted" but you're instead given the means to fulfill it yourself (Such as leading you to an item or person that is the solution to your wish).

So, why is Wish Craft's specific scent "burnt sugar"? First, let's take a look at "sugar." Sugar has a very rich history, it symbolizes wealth and happiness. There's also various expressions related to sugar as well, anything that can be described as "sweet." Overall, many positive meanings is tied to sugar. But then Wish Craft has the scent of "burnt sugar," something sickly sweet. Burnt sugar is basically caramel, but Bonnie also described the scent as "caramel left to burn for hours," so it can't just be simple burnt sugar, but it's "burnt caramel." If caramel itself is a very sweet dessert, what'll happen if caramel, something that was made by burning sugar, burned even more? It'd taste Bitter.

Bittersweet is an expression, the combination of something sweet yet bitter. It can also be used to describe something that is a mixture between happy and sad. Kinda fitting in a way for a wish granting power to be bittersweet, isn't it? Because granting wishes can be something happy, it can also turn out sad, and most of all it can be bittersweet, all depending on What the contents of the wish are and Who is affected by it. For Siffrin especially, it truly was something bittersweet, his wish was granted in the form of power over time (the ability to use Time Craft, specifically looping time). It's sweet at first, because no matter what happens, everyone is safe, no matter what mistake Siffrin makes, it'll be fine because he can just loop back before that mistake ever happened. A wish that started off sweet yet later turned bitter. To start again and again and again, countless deaths, a routine repeating seemingly endlessly, none of their family members ever remembering anything.

It was sweet then turned bitter. A bittersweet wish, throughout the game, the scent of Wish Craft was mostly described as "burnt sugar," something sickly sweet. But during Siffrin's fight at the end, Bonnie described it as "burnt caramel," because that's what's technically happening to Siffrin's wish. It keeps Burning. Like a star nearing its end. It just burns and burns until nothing of it is left, Siffrin's wish kept burning, so much so that it got to the point of being able to destroy the world. Because at that moment, Siffrin reached his breaking point, he couldn't handle it anymore, the seemingly neverending loops, the fact that no matter what he does his family members will go their separate ways at the end of the journey, leaving Siffrin all alone without the Home he found himself in which is their family members.

So that's why I think Wish Craft's scent is "burnt sugar" as a way to signify wishes themselves. Wishes can be sweet, wishes can burn, wishes can be bitter, and wishes can be bittersweet. But that's also not the only thing wishes can be, because sugar isn't only found in good things, it's found in the dead as well, specifically plants. When a plant wilts, its scent is "sickly sweet," isn't it? And the way Euphrasie described it every time you talk to her, she says "something is rotting," because she can smell that "sickly sweet" scent of Wish Craft like Bonnie could. Euphrasie is especially familiar with the scent of rotting plants considering how she's surrounded with plants everywhere. So wishes too, can rot.